The Past Couldn’t Overcome The Future
When the foundation of the second Temple was laid, the ancient men wept because they remembered the past, they wept because they had lost so much by their failures in the past, but their weeping for what was gone, could not overwhelm the noise of joy for the future that had begun that day.
The end result that day was a noise heard afar off. The sounds of praise and joy echoed from the hills and through the valleys of Judah that day because by God’s promise and power they had restarted their nation. It was not the tears that predominated, it was the praise.
Ezra 3:13 the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.
Tears or Joy Depend On the Direction I’m Looking
Those who looked back suffer the loss of their joy but those who looked forward shouted out in praise and joy. I can be in danger of this. Looking back at what was, what might have been. Looking back at what has been lost and what never was.
If I do this, then I risk my joy in the Lord’s promises of the future. It has been said that the past should be a rudder to guide us, but not an anchor to stop us. Thank God for the past He has given us, but praise Him for the future He has promised us.
Zerubbabel and Ezra never built a temple as great as Solomon's. That wasn't what God called them to do. He called them to carry on the work, He called them to go keep going forward. It wasn't the same temple because it wasn't the same king, the same times or even the same people. God called for a temple He could use in the that time and for the people of that time.
The same is true for us in our lives, our marriages, our churches, our health, our circumstances and times we live in. We will never be able to restart the past, you can only restart if you are looking to the future.
What was it that C S Lewis said, “You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.”
That is one of the most joyful, hopeful and powerful aspects of Christianity. No matter what the past was and no matter how dark the present it, the future, by the power of God’s word and the renewing of His mercy, will always be shining bright.
The Greater Glory Awaited the Second Temple
When the Temple was restarted and years later when it was finally finished, those who compared it with the old, didn’t think it would ever be as glorious as the Temple Solomon had built.
Yet in time, the glory of the second Temple actually would outshine even the Temple of Solomon. They couldn’t know this, but God knew it and he used those here in the book of Ezra to restart the work for that greater glory.
Haggai 2:6-9 For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; 7 And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith the LORD of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith the LORD of hosts. 9 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.
It would be to the 2nd Temple begun by those in Ezra’s time that Jesus would come. The Messiah, the Son of God would be the one to shake the nations. He would be the glory that would fill the House of God, He would be the One who would give peace in this place.
Who other than God could have known? And who other than God can know what He will do when we are willing to trust Him in the restarts of our life. In the joyfulness of moving forward, in the faithfulness of trusting His word, as we step into the future with Him.
