Latest / Journey Elgin / Journey Through Scripture- Zech 7-8, Ezr 5-6 & Dan 6
Transcript
- Phillip Thomas: It's good to see you today. My name is Philip Thomas, Pastor of Journey here in Elgin. And ⁓ this is our journey through Scripture. Glad that you're joining us as we continue and to to move through ⁓ the Old Testament in a chronological order, and then we'll eventually get to the New Testament, unless the Lord comes again before then, which is is possible. It this takes a while. So, but we're ⁓ I hope you're enjoying this series. I I really am enjoying this ⁓ walking through ⁓ scripture. There's just so many Truths that are reiterated over and over again. and hopefully we are able to apply those to our lives today. ⁓ remember we ⁓ started ⁓ looking at Zechariah. ⁓ Zachariah and Haggai are prophets, ⁓ God's spokesp people ⁓ during the the time of the return. Zerubbabel is ⁓ working on ⁓ rebuilding the temple. This is this is taking years, right? This isn't just happening right away. There's challenges. ⁓ involved in it, ⁓ but the process is being started, so ⁓ which is a really good thing. So we're gonna be in Zechariah seven and eight today, and then we're going to read Ezra ⁓ five and six and then Daniel chapter six. All right, so we're gonna be skipping around a little bit today. ⁓ so Zechariah seven through eight. ⁓ this is basically the temple is being rebuilt And one of the things that the people had been doing for the last seventy years that they were in exile ⁓ is there two different months out of the year that they would fast and that they would weep and mourn over the loss of the temple, ⁓ over being taken into exile, which made sense, right? They were remembering and mourning those things. So the question is being posed, ⁓ do we keep doing that? Do we keep fasting and and mourning? ⁓ because now look, we're back. And the temple is be starting to be rebuilt. So maybe we need to get rid of those ⁓ traditions. So ⁓ looking at Zechariah seven and eight, ⁓ that that's that is what they are are are talking about. So they asked the ⁓ priest who were in the house of the Lord of hosts and the prophets saying, Should I weep in the fifth month and fast as I have done for so many years? That's verse three ⁓ of Zechariah chapter s ⁓ seven. And so then ⁓ the word of the Lord came ⁓ to Zachariah, say to all the people in the land to the priest, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seven months during those seventy years, did you really fast for me, for me? When you eat and when you drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? Should you not have should you not have obeyed the words of the Lord proclaimed through the former prophets when Jerusalem and the cities around it were inhabited and prosperous, and the south and the lowland were inhabited? Right, so he's saying You know, this is you know, the reason you were doing this is to be a reminder of what had happened in the past, of how you had been disobedient, how the people had been disobedient. And so then he he goes on, ⁓ verse eight, then the word of the Lord came to Zachariah saying, ⁓ thus says the Lord of hosts, execute true justice, show mercy, compassion, everyone to his brother, do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother. But they refused to heed, strugg shrugged their shoulders, stopped up their ears so that they could not hear. Yes, they made their hearts like flint, refusing to hear the law and the words that the Lord of hosts had sent by his spirit through the former prophets. So this is just a reminder. Look remember what got you into the mess of being taken into exile. Chapter eight con continues kind of talking we'll talk a little bit about that, but also is now acknowledging The celebration that that things are getting back to the way that God desires them to be. ⁓ it says, I am ⁓ thus says the Lord of hosts, I am zealous for Zion with great zeal, with great fervor, I am zealous for her. I will return to Zion, I will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. ⁓ it is marvelous, ⁓ verse six, i ⁓ if it is marvelous in the eyes of the remnant of this people in these days, will it also be marvelous in my eyes, says the Lord of hosts. ⁓ he's so he's excited, he's celebrating with the people that they are getting back. ⁓ to the to the temple. ⁓ verse nine says, Let your hands be strong, you who have been hearing in these days, these words of the ⁓ of the ⁓ by my by the mouth of the prophets who spoke in the day the f fountain foundation was laid, for the house of the Lord of hosts, that the temple might be built. For before these days there were no wages for man, n nor any hire for the beast. ⁓ there was no peace for the enemy, for whoever went out or came in, for I For I set all men, every one against his neighbor. That's how it was in the past, but now things are changing. Says, But now I will treat the remnant of this people as in the former days, says the Lord of hosts. For the seed shall be prosperous, the vine shall give its fruit, the ground shall give her increase, and the heaven shall give their due. ⁓ So I will save you and you shall be a blessing. Do not fear, let your hands be strong. So so again, this is the reiteration that hey, things are headed in the right direction. ⁓ you're you've paid it paid the price of your unfaithfulness. Now things are going in the right ⁓ month right d direction. Sorry, then verse eighteen, it says The fast of the fourth month, the fast of the fifth, the fast of the seventh, the fast of the tenth, shall be joy and gladness and cheerful feast for the house of Judah, therefore love, truth, and peace. And it says, Let us continue to go and pray before the Lord, and this is verse twenty one, and seek the Lord of hosts, I myself will go also. Yes, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to pray before the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, in those days many will come ⁓ to that to the house of the Lord. So basically what Zechariah is saying, and that God is saying through Zechariah is, yes, keep those fast because you need to remember where you've been. You need to remember how it felt to be taken into Isr ⁓ into exile. ⁓ if we forget that, if we forget those those things, if the people forget that, they will just fall away again. ⁓ there there's a a good good lesson in there for for all of us. ⁓ that we need to recognize and to remember ⁓ where we have failed and where we have ⁓ gone wrong so that we don't do it again. Not so that we dwell in that and live ⁓ miserably because we're just stuck in in that place remembering ⁓ our failures. But no, we need to remember ⁓ what it is that we have done that has brought us out of God's presence so that we don't do it again. that's valuable for for all of us, I I believe. ⁓ then you we transition to ⁓ Ezra five and six, ⁓ and this is ⁓ going to get us to kind of the completion of the temple here in in Ezra. ⁓ the temple is being ⁓ built, but there are challenges. ⁓ and one of them are some of the local leaders there from Persia. ⁓ they are questioning whether they have the right to do this. So they've kind of tried to halt ⁓ construction on the temple. They send a a letter back to King Darius. ⁓ remember it was King Cyrus of Persia who gave them the the right ⁓ to rebuild the temple. ⁓ and so now they're questioning whether that that can happen or not. So Darius is now asked to get involved. ⁓ interestingly, ⁓ this part of Ezra is actually written in a little bit different language. You have Hebrew, the language ⁓ the Hebrew language, which is what most of the or ⁓ much of the Old Testament is written in, and then you have Aramaic, ⁓ which Aramaic is is similar, ⁓ but it would have been the language used, ⁓ the common language ⁓ used probably between the Persians and and the Jewish people. Right, they they both would have been able to speak Arabic. ⁓ this part of Ezra is actually written in Arabic. So there's kind of that reminder that while okay, yeah, you're back and you're rebuilding the temple and everything, but ⁓ you know what? You're you're still having to use our language. Why? Because we still technically rule over you. ⁓ so kind of a a ⁓ r even as things are good, there's that reminder, but we're still we're still under the the authority of someone else. ⁓ so chapter five, you have ⁓ Zerubbabel. ⁓ you know, he's ⁓ the guy who is trying to the governor who's trying to get get things ⁓ rebuilt, ⁓ the temple rebuilt, and then you have ⁓ the Persian governor, ⁓ Tatanai. Tatanai. who knows how you say that. But ⁓ anyway, he writes a letter and the letter is written out here in chapter five. It's really interesting. This is kind of a Cool political stuff going on. ⁓ and he he writes to Darius. He says, Let it be known to the kings, verse eight, ⁓ that we went to the province of Judea to the temple ⁓ of the great God, which is being built with heavy stones. He goes, ⁓ then we ask and we spoke, Who commanded you? So basically, why ⁓ where did you get permission to do this? ⁓ and they said, We are the servants of God of heaven and earth, and we were rebuilding the temple. that was built many years ago, which the g great king of Israel built and completed. but because our fathers provoked the God of heaven to wrath, he gave them into the hands of Nebuchadnezzar. So they kind of say, But we blew it, we lost it, but now we're ⁓ building. And then they go on to say, King Cyrus gave us permission to do this. ⁓ and so verse seventeen, ⁓ tatanai ⁓ says ⁓ writes Now therefore it's if it seems good to the king, let a search be made ⁓ they're in Babylon as to to find this decree by King Cyrus. So then ⁓ y you kind of get the feeling they're they're trying to get them shut down, ⁓ for for whatever reason, you know, that that they don't want the temple to be rebuilt, these the the local governing authorities. And so they they think ⁓ we'll do this, Darius will come back and say, you know what, we can't find that decree. I decree that you stop it. That's kind of the feeling. I don't know that for sure. ⁓ but you know, that that would ⁓ that would fit the the normal the the normal picture of it being a challenge ⁓ to to get the temple rebuilt. ⁓ so chapter six is Darius's response. ⁓ verse six says, Now therefore, Tatanai, governor of the region beyond the river, ⁓ Keep yourselves far from there. Let the work of this house of God alone, let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house ⁓ of God on its site. So it comes back pretty strong. You get out, get out of the way. ⁓ and then it actually says, and ⁓ use some of that tax revenue and pay for it. ⁓ so this this really went well ⁓ for Zerubal. ⁓ and ⁓ then ⁓ verse eleven in interesting says Also I issue a decree that whoever alters this edict, let a timber be pulled from his house and erected, and let him be hanged on it. So so he's basically saying, Get out of the way, let them rebuild the temple. and then you have ⁓ the rest of chapter six. ⁓ they they begin the ⁓ consecrating the temple, sacrificing for atonement, and then they celebrate the Passover again. ⁓ it it is interesting. That part ⁓ where it talks about the celebration of the Passover goes to be written in Hebrew again, because that's that is theirs. That's between them and God. ⁓ kind of a a neat, neat thing right there. ⁓ so so now the the temple is rebuilt ⁓ here in in Ezra. ⁓ and now now we're gonna stop there and we'll we'll hit more on that later. ⁓ but we're gonna read ⁓ Daniel chapter six. ⁓ this is the Daniel and the lion's den. story. It talks about Darius. There's there's lots of we don't really know which king this is. I because it says Darius the Mead at one point. Well he was but he was king over the Medes and the Persians. It was probably just a way that he was referred to. But there's controversy as to when exactly Daniel the story happened. ⁓ but it does make sense that it may have been under this king Darius. ⁓ which would have put it around the time that the temple is being rebuilt. ⁓ and so I encourage you to read ⁓ Daniel chapter six. ⁓ you've you're familiar with the story. Starts off, says ⁓ so Darius set up a a new system of government basically, and Daniel was put in a prominent position, and he was not liked because of that. ⁓ and it says verse three, then this Daniel distinguished himself above the other governors and satraps. Because an excellent spirit was with him, and the king gave thought to setting him over the whole realm. Now, can you imagine this foreigner that's going to be elevated to this kind of position? So the other governors and things did not like that, so they came up with this plan to get rid of Daniel, and ⁓ you can read about that in ⁓ chapter ⁓ verse six, all the governors and kingdom verse seven, excuse me. ⁓ consulted together to establish a royal statute to make a firm decree whoever petitions any god or man for thirty days except you, O king, shall be cast into the lion's den. So for thirty days, ⁓ you're not to to worship any other god or anything like that. All ⁓ reverence is to be directed towards King Darius. And King Darius is like, Hey, you know what, that sounds pretty good. Let's do that. ⁓ well they of course knew that Daniel would not do this. ⁓ Daniel goes to his room He does open his window, but it's not like he's flaunting this. they knew where to look, right? Because they knew that Daniel was going to pray. So he follows his same routine. Daniel prays to God. ⁓ they used that ⁓ against him. ⁓ King Darius doesn't like it ⁓ from the get go. Verse 14, the king when he heard these words was greatly displeased with himself. And set his heart on Daniel to deliver him, and he labored till the going down of the sun to deliver him. So in other words, he he didn't want to do this. He didn't give the command to go get Daniel, even though Daniel had clearly broken this law. He didn't even give the order right away because he was frustrated with himself. He was trying to figure out how to handle this. Then he gets reminded, hey, you the law can't be bent. You you have to have to do this. And he he knew he couldn't do anything about it. So ⁓ he gives ⁓ the command and they bring Daniel and cast him into the den of the lions, but the king spoke ⁓ saying he he will deliver you. so King Darius speaks to Daniel, it's kind of cool. Your God whom you serve continually, he will deliver you. Wow. That's really, really powerful. So man, even Darius is pulling for Daniel and Daniel's God. ⁓ verse eighteen Now the king went to his palace, spent the night fasting, and no musicians were brought before him. His sleep went from him. So he couldn't sleep. He went very early to find out if Daniel was a alive. Verse twenty one. Then Daniel said to the king, O king, live forever. My God sent his angels, shut the lion's mouth so that they have not hurt me, because I was found innocent before him, and also, O king, I have done no wrong before you. Right? So Daniel is letting it him know I I wasn't doing this to be an offense to you. I just worship God and God alone. I respect you, I listen to you, I will follow ⁓ what you ask me to do, but I am never going to quit worshiping the one true God. The king was exceedingly glad for him, commanded that they should take Daniel ⁓ up out of the den, so he was taken out of the den, no injury was found on him. Then He sent all the other guys that had plotted this because he realized he was just manipulated to get Daniel, and he threw them and their families ⁓ into the lion's den. ⁓ Little little brutal. ⁓ but hey, you know what? When you're the king, I guess you can do those things. I love what he he the the end of this is just a good testimony. This does not mean that King Darius started believing that God was the one true God, but he recognized something. I he said to all peoples, nations, and languages that dwell in all the earth, peace be multiplied to you. I make a decree that in every dominion of my kingdom men must tremble in fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, a steadfast forever, his kingdom is the one which shall not be destroyed, and his dominion shall endure to the end. He delivers and rescues and and he works signs and wonders in heaven and on earth, who has delivered Daniel from the power of the lions. So Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian. So this is just a cool story of God's faithfulness, of how God ⁓ protected Daniel, ⁓ but but mainly it reminds us of who our allegiance is ultimately to. It is to the one true living God ⁓ above any other, and we need to make sure that that we follow him before we follow ⁓ anyone else. And ⁓ you know, no matter what the consequences may be. All right. So we stopped there. Now we're kind of going going back in the in the Bible, and it's quite a bit, and you're probably gonna want to skim some of this, but ⁓ look at first chronicles one through nine, because though this is gonna give a lot of genealogy stuff, and this is important as the exile comes to an end. ⁓ it's important because the people are kind of put back where they're supposed to be. ⁓ but ⁓ so we'll we'll look at that again, just kind of ⁓ you may skim through some of that, but we'll read first Chronicles chapters one through nine. We'll see you then.