Because Israel had turned away from the Lord, all the people were taken captive to Assyria (Israel) and Babylon (Judah). The temple was destroyed. After seventy years of captivity, Zerubbabel returns with a large part of the people to the temple residence, approximately fifty thousand people (Ezra 2:64-65). The problem with these people is that they have not had a personal experience with the Lord. Israel passes from generation to generation the understanding of the parents. Among these experiences were the great wonder that was the departure from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the forty years of desert, the manna, the tabernacle, the great prophet Moses and the priest Aaron, the wars of conquest under the command of Joshua, the greatness of the reigns of David and Solomon. But for them, this was just history from a distant past. Later generations did not know the Lord. Sacrifice was a meaningless custom; worship became commonplace. For those without experience with the Lord, there was no difference between serving the God of Israel or the god of the Assyrians, the Egyptians, or any other.
When the time came for the rebuilding of the temple, as we saw in the introduction to the reading of the book of Ezra, a spiritual reform was also needed among the entire people. The return to Jerusalem was also the resumption of the journey with the God of heaven and the renewal of the covenant made in the desert. Thus, we find the builders working to rebuild the temple: The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. They work to restore man as a temple of the Holy Spirit, a dwelling place for the Lord. The temple's foundations represent the lamb Jesus (John 1:29), his death, shed blood, and resurrection. The foundation of God's work for man is the Lord Jesus, the Firm Foundation. The priests, already dressed and with trumpets, represent the church, already redeemed, with garments of salvation and in possession of prophecy, of the eternal gospel to proclaim to the world (Apoc 14:6). When they saw the foundations, they praised the Lord. Now, the people would serve the Lord with all their hearts as they saw the foundations of the work. When a man meets the founder and foundation of this work, he rejoices because he understands how great and excellent the work of the Lord is. It is only possible to understand and live the work of the Holy Spirit if you have seen its foundation. Thus, the people, with their personal experience with the Lord, can say, like the prophet: "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts." (Haggai 2:9).
The rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem prophetically represents the restoration of the spiritual life of the people of Israel. Like all things written in the Old Testament, although they speak of Israel, they were written prophetically for the church. Ezra's message is directed to the man that the Lord wants to save and carry out his work in him. King Cyrus here typifies the Holy Spirit, the one who received in heaven the task of building in man a place of encouragement for the name of the Lord. Let's look at some details in Chapter 1 of Ezra:
Verse 3: Whoever is among you of all his people. It is a word directed to those among the people, but the God of heaven is with him; that is, it is directed to the elect.
Verse 6: The hands were established with silver, gold, cattle, and precious things vessels. When man comes forward to get involved with the work of the Holy Spirit, his intention is confirmed in the heavens, and his hands are strengthened with all the resources necessary to complete the job.
There will be no shortage of silver; that is, grace will be abundant;
There will be no shortage of gold; that is, the power of God will be upon it;
There will be no shortage of cattle for the continuous sacrifice; that is, the power of the Blood of Jesus will be continually upon them;
There will be no lack of precious things, such as gifts, the operation of the Holy Spirit, revelation, and experience. These are the precious things of the Lord's work.
Verse 7: King Cyrus returned everything that was taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar. When man walks away from the Lord, he loses all these things, but when he is willing to return to his presence, the Holy Spirit will return everything he has and lost.
Verses 9-11: Everything was counted and checked. Nothing will be lost, but everything will be restored. As the word says:“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me; because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;” (Is 61:1).
The Law of God is fulfilled in Jesus (Ezra chapters 5 and 6)
During all the time that Judah worked on rebuilding the temple and, as we will see later in the book of Nehemiah, on rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem, they suffered heavy attacks from their enemies. Hence, the work still needs to be completed. The person who ordered the rebuilding of the temple was Cyrus, the Persian who then reigned in Babylon. The reconstruction of the temple took time, and kings succeeded Cyrus. First, it was Ahasuerus, the one who married Esther (Jewish), as we will read later. During his reign, Judah's enemies wrote false accusations to the king against Judah and Jerusalem. Still, during this period, Ahasuerus's advisor was probably Mordecai, Esther's cousin, and the intention of these men was frustrated (Ezr 4:6). After Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes reigned. Accusations were also written to him, and the king ordered the reconstruction to be stopped (Ezr 4:7 and 24). According to Ezra 4:24, the work was halted until the second year of Darius, and then Zerubbabel and Jeshua began construction again. Because of this, a new attack took place against the Lord's people, but this time, King Darius was asked to search the archives for the law of Cyrus, which ordered the reconstruction of the temple, and to the shame of the Jewish adversaries, Darius confirms the decree of Cyrus and also decrees that the king would not only help with the construction, sending resources but also decreed that those who tried to impede the work would be killed (Ezr 6:8-11). The confirmation of the Cyrus (Persian) decree by Darius (Mede) was significant for the Jewish people, and its prophetic meaning was terrific for the church.
But why did Darius submit to a law proclaimed by a king he had subjugated, and now he reigned in his place? Sometime before this, Darius was induced by men who wanted to kill Daniel to write a law, and they reminded him that the law of the Medes and Persians could not be repealed (Dan 6:8). Shortly afterward, he discovered the wickedness of these men. Still, the Lord delivered Daniel, and the enemies died. Now, the same king, Darius, orders this determination to be enforced so that the law of the Medes and Persians cannot be revoked. Prophecy and deliverance point to the first law: If man disobeys, he will die. No man could fulfill this law because if he dies in sin, he does not inherit eternal life but is guilty of eternal judgment. A sinless man needed to die, paying the price for sin, and dying without sin, he would not be guilty of judgment but would receive eternal life. But the Bible says that everyone has sinned. Who could then enforce the law? So, if it was impossible to keep the law, why didn't the Lord revoke it? The answer is in the books of Esther and Daniel: it cannot be revoked; it needs to be fulfilled. Jesus says in Matthew 5:17, "…I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil." No one can prevent the rebuilding of man before God because the Lord Jesus was born without sin, lived without sin, died, paying the price of sin and fulfilling the law, and being righteous; he was resurrected, overcoming death. Just as Darius decreed in Ezra 6:11 that he should change his decree, the Lord says in Revelation 22:18-19: “For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.”
Let us give an account of our stewardship to the Lord.
By order of King Artaxerxes, all the utensils and treasures belonging to the temple and which had been taken to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar were handed over to the Levites to be restored to their place (Ezr 8:25-29). Furthermore, the king gave a considerable amount of gold and silver so that they could buy animals for the daily offerings, as well as a large amount of wheat, wine, oil, and salt (Ezr 7:21-22). Faced with such great wealth, the king offered an escort for defense back to Jerusalem, but Ezra felt ashamed of depending on this resource and told the king that the Lord would guard them on their return, but all the servants who were there fasted during the way back so that their lives and treasures would be guarded until they reached their destination.
When a man puts it in his heart to return to the presence of the Lord, He opens the windows of heaven and returns all the riches that this man lost. The power of God will be over man, the fun, the power of the Blood of Jesus, the operations of the Holy Spirit, etc. However, the responsibility to ensure that nothing is lost or stolen on this way back lies with man and not with the Lord. All gold, silver, and utensils were weighed, recorded upon departure, and handed to the Levites. They were to be kept until they were weighed again upon arrival in Jerusalem, in the chambers of the house of the Lord (Ezr 8:29-34). One day, everything that the Lord gave to man in this earthly life will be accounted for in Eternity. The Lord has a record of everything He makes available to each person. Every act of mercy, every deliverance, every advice, every blessing, every gift, every time he visited, renewed, forgave, consoled, taught. All this will be weighed again before God, and man will give an account for everything. And if found a faithful steward before the Lord, he will be prepared to enter Jerusalem, the Eternity of the Lord. Lk 16: ... give account of his stewardship....
The need to be focused on the Work of God
King Artaxerxes gave an order that those who were in his kingdom and from the people of Israel, priests, or Levites, whoever wanted, could go to Jerusalem together with Ezra (Ezra 8:21 and 22). However, when Ezra gathered the people together at Ahava, he discovered no Levites. So, he sent some men to get the Levites to serve in the temple in Jerusalem. A wise man named Sherebiah brought eighteen men; Hashabiah brought twenty, and two hundred and twenty of the temple servants (Ezr 8:18-20). It is also apparent when Cyrus gave the same order that only seventy-four (74) Levites were willing to return to Jerusalem, in contrast to 4,289 priests (Ezr 2:36-40). This situation was troubling because the Levites must have desired to return to their homeland to restore the temple and the service for which God nominally chose them in the days of Moses. However, they preferred to stay in Babylon, and Ezra only got a reasonable number of Levites because he sent after them to get them.
The Lord performs an outstanding and excellent work in favor of man. This is the subject covered in this book. However, only some people who were called one day are involved in this work today. Some retain the name of believers (they are Levites), but their hearts have settled into Babylon (a religion without God), and they do not want to go into trouble reforming it from its foundations. Not all who call themselves Christians are involved with God's salvation project. Still, they have other secular occupations (political, cultural, artistic, material activities, etc.), as in the parable of the Great Supper in (Luke 14:16-35). Even so, out of mercy, the Holy Spirit takes some by hand and, nominally (Ezr 8:20), inserts them into the context of the Lord's will.