Email This Page

God Will Fulfill His Plans

Ezra 5-6

Ezra 5:1

• Haggai and Zechariah are prophesying and the people are coming back together again.

• For 16 years the Temple work has been stopped, but God is moving again.

• 50,000 have come back to Israel and the Temple is being rebuilt.

• In Chapter 3, the foundation was laid.

• In Chapter 4, opposition begins to emerge and the governors come against them.

• A letter was sent to the king and he sends out an edict that stopped the work.

• The work stopped for 16 years.

• Then last week, we looked at Satan’s ways and Haggai’s prophecies that give us insight into how to fight.

• Haggai is the first prophet since Jeremiah.  It has been 70 years since Israel has heard the voice of a prophet.

• When you determine to do a work of God, you are going to be opposed.

• But God is sovereign and He is using all of this to accomplish His plan.

• When you are doing a work of God, Satan is going to oppose you.

• God will fulfill His plans if your plans are His plans.

• God will fulfill your dreams if your dreams are His dreams.

• Chapter 5 is the building of the temple again.

Vs. 2

• When we begin a new work of God, we learn that only God can do the work this time, especially if there are setbacks.

• This is what Zechariah is saying to Zerubbabel:

Zechariah 4:6-10

So he answered and said to me:

"This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel:

'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,'

Says the LORD of hosts.

7 'Who are you, O great mountain?

Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!

And he shall bring forth the capstone

With shouts of "Grace, grace to it!" ' "

8 Moreover the word of the LORD came to me, saying:

9 "The hands of Zerubbabel

Have laid the foundation of this temple;

His hands shall also finish it.

Then you will know

That the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you.

10 For who has despised the day of small things?

For these seven rejoice to see

The plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel.

They are the eyes of the LORD,

Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth."

• After 16 years they begin the work again in the power of the Holy Spirit.

• Sometimes, God allow us to be stopped in our work because He is doing a greater work within us.

• God does an internal work before he does an external work.

• Often delays are to teach us, to build us up, as we look within.

• Ex.  When we started this new building, we encountered major problems with the construction company we were using and had to sever the relationship. It really was a huge setback and put us back about one year.  While praying one morning, God really convicted me of the mistakes I had made that had contributed to the setback.  God told me to go back to the president of this company and apologize.  I did and God showed up and suddenly:  Money started flowing again, the project went forward…

Vs. 3-5

• Let’s call Tattenai, “Tattletale”!

• Opposition never ceases when you choose to serve God.

• This is the “ACLU of Persia” still trying to stop the work of God.

• This is the letter…

Vs. 6-17

• Tattletale is saying:  Hey, we told them not to build and now their building again!  What about that?  Who are these guys? They don’t give up!  This is not fair…let’s take them to court!

Ezra 6:1

• There are political issues involved here, but God is the One really working behind the scenes.

• This looks political, but God is going to move and work through the political process.

• He’s not in heaven worried about who’s in control in Congress.  God is still working out His plans and strategies.

Vs. 2

• They can’t just go look online for this; they have to go to the different libraries to find this stuff.

• This is the summer palace of Darius, about 300 miles northeast of Babylon.

Vs. 3-7

• This is an Aramaic court reply:  Stay away from them!!

• God says that to Satan:  Stay away from My people!!

• I like that kind of answer.

• A decree from a king could not be altered, could not be changed.

Vs. 8

• The scroll says: Give them money to do it…use your taxpaying money and help them.

• Wow!  God is speaking through Darius, and instead of taking their tax money, he gives them money to help the work of God:

• God will fulfill His plans if your plans are His plans.

• God will fulfill your dreams if your dreams are His dreams.

• Ex.  Wouldn’t it be great if President Bush told the IRS to give us the extra $6 million to finish this building?!

• Wouldn’t that be nice?  Never happen.

Vs. 9-11

• The scroll says: Give them even more so they can have wonderful sacrifices.

• Darius even wants their prayers for his family too!!  Imagine that.

• The tables have really turned.

• History tells us that Darius impaled 3000 enemies for not following one of his decrees!  This is amazing…this is no nice guy.

• But God is doing this.

• Remember this…if you will persevere, even with setbacks, God is going to accomplish His mighty work in your life.

• Don’t quit, hang in there.

• The Jews must have thought that God had forgotten them…16 years of a standstill…but God has a plan.

• And this time, they are being financed fully by Darius!

Vs. 13-14

• Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi are the final prophets except for John the Baptist.

• Mission accomplished in just 4 more years, but it has taken 20 years altogether, 536-516 BC.

• Ezra wants us to know that this is not a political issue but a spiritual work of God.  God is the One who is working through these political leaders.

• God has a work for you to accomplish if you will obey!  Obedience in the little things is crucial to doors opening for you.

• Doors open when we obey God in our lives:  The doorbell of God is obedience

• It’s not skill, talent or spiritual gifts
• It’s relationships
• It’s your attitudes

Vs. 15-18

• 712 animals given…some people are weeping because they remembered Solomon’s Temple.

• Solomon offered 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep.

• But God says:  Don’t look back…don’t compare!  God loves it all because it comes from the heart of the people.

• You may not have much, and there are others who have so much, but God looks at the sincerity of the heart.

• Ex.  When that child comes and tells us that she has memorized that little verse…that is precious in God’s eyes.

• There is a day coming when every nation of the world will come to the New Temple and worship.

• Every nation will be represented and Jesus will be on the throne.

Vs. 19-22

• God is the One who gives us joy.

• God is the One who is at work…He has not forgotten them.

Psalms 137

By the rivers of Babylon,

There we sat down, yea, we wept

When we remembered Zion.

2 We hung our harps

Upon the willows in the midst of it.

3 For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song,

And those who plundered us requested mirth,

Saying, "Sing us one of the songs of Zion!"

• God will fulfill His plans if your plans are His plans.

• God will fulfill your dreams if your dreams are His dreams.

• There are struggles in our journey!  The ultimate destination of God is the “image” not the “end”.

• God is using all of this to create Jesus within you.

• Marriage is not to make us happy, rather it is the anvil to chisel out this image.

• A healthy marriage is a daily chore of hard work.

• Ruth Graham, celebrating 60 years together with Billy, was asked what the most difficult thing about marriage was.                                  She said, “Marriage is just so daily.”

• Life is relationships and life is daily.

• There is a purifying going on, that you might be more “God dependent” and less “independent”.

• We are about to celebrate our new building…and it feels like a dream.

• I remember when we were only 10 people…it all seems like a dream.