EZRA - CHAPTER 3 - Restoring the Altar
EZRA – CHAPTER 3 – RESTORING THE ALTAR
Tuesday Morning Bible Study
October 27, 2015, the Year of Our Lord
Pastor Carolyn Sissom
Ezra 3 is the principle of restoring the brazen altar of the temple. Before the temple was built, the altar was erected (The Cross). This was not a new altar, for there is only One Altar. Jesus’ Once-For-All offering of Himself is the basis for our becoming the Temple of God.
Hebrews 13:10: “We have an altar whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.”
Ezra 3:1: “Now when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem”.
In the seventh month, Tishri is October. The sons of Israel are in their cities a type of local assemblies (Neh. 7:73). They are gathered unto Jerusalem as one new creation man!
Eph. 4:24: “And put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.”
Jesus Christ and his brethren are standing up in a King-Priest ministry in the shadow and type of Zerubbabel and Jeshua. (Heb. 2:11b). “He is not ashamed to call you brethren”.
Ezra 3:2: ‘Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burned offerings, thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God.
The first step in rebuilding the Temple and re-establishing the nation is kept.
Before the city was built, the Temple was erected. Before the temple was built, the Altar of Burnt Offerings was erected. This reveals the priority of foundational principles, and the centrality of the Blood of Jesus Christ and the truths of His Cross.
All is done according “as it is written”... Jesus declared the Temple of His Body, “As it is written”. The apostles declared the Temple of the Holy Ghost in our bodies, “As it is written.”
Ezra 3: 3: “They set the altar upon its bases.” They removed the rubble and discovered the old foundation! This is not a new foundation. “for fear ( terror) was upon them because of the people of those countries and they offered burned offerings thereon to the Lord, even burned offerings morning and evening.”
The spirit of terror has always been upon the people of the countries of the Middle East. So, today as the threat of terror has increased in the world, this is the principle that as the people return to the foundation of God’s altar, the Cross of Jesus Christ, we will continue to stay the hand of terror. Just as terror was a threat to Zerubbabel’s temple, so terror continues to threaten Christians and Jews today.
The location of the foundation of Solomon’s Temple is identified with the threshing floor of Ornan, known as Mount Moriah, the location of the sacrifice of Isaac, and where David founded the altar of the Temple. Today this site lies within the enclosure of the Muslim temple.
Ezra 3: 4-6: “They also kept the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burned offerings by number, according to the custom as the duty of every day required. Afterward they offered the continual burned offering, both of the new moons, and all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering to the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burned offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.”
There was an order in which the Temple was rebuilt.
- They began with the building of the altar because they had to establish a right relationship to God as a matter of first priority. (death and blood of Jesus)
- Next they established the worship in the Feast of Tabernacles.
- After this, they began with the Temple --- which is the presence of the altar of God within each one of us.
- The city is the glorified community of God in Heaven and earth.
When faith is laid as a foundation, practice follows as the structure of life. Love will produce “duty”, but “duty” cannot produce love. The brazen altar is justification by faith. The Lord Jesus is Savior and Healer in this dimension.
This duty of worship was done by custom as required. For the church, let our worship be done in love. Through that love, we delight to do our duty. All this emphasizes the principle of willingness unto the Lord.
The continual burning and the new moons is the principle of entering a new phase.
Francis Frangipane posted this week, “You cannot do the will of God without causing changes. Changes will cause some to stumble.” Not all of God’s people are pioneers or warriors. When we get into chapter 4, the principle of the spirit of terror begins to persecute the remnant.
This began on the first day of the 7th month, the feast of Trumpets. Those who have ears to hear have heard a certain sound, a clear Word from the Lord. The message of transmutation of the Church has gone forth and has already pierced the ear of the new man.
“But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid” (3:6).
For the Church of the 21st Century, the foundation has been laid. The Lord has brought a remnant through salvation of the Cross, Baptism of the Holy Spirit, and the sanctification of the Third Day. We are no longer in the opening moments of the glory of the Church Triumphant. However, we are still in an overlap (or transition). We are waiting for the righteous to shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of our Father. We have yet to walk in the fullness of this New Day.
The Blood and the Cross is our first priority on the threshold of the New Day.
Ezra 3: 7: Now in the second year of their coming to the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity to Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the Lord.”
The materials are gathered. “They gave money (“silver”- redemption) to the masons, and carpenters; and meat, drink and oil unto them of Zidon and Tyre to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa (beauty, excellence), according to the grant they had from Cyrus king of Persia.”
This is an echo of King Solomon’s preparation for the first temple in 1 Kings.
The Cedar is the King of the trees in the Bible, noble, deep rooted, strong, full of sap, bearing fruit, refuge and shade, hard durable, not admitting worms, straight and upright, sweet-smelling, evergreen.
The grant of Cyrus is but a foretaste of the “wealth of the nations” and “the glory of Lebanon” which are promised to flow in One Day “to beautify the place of God’s sanctuary.” (Isa. 60: 1-13).
The work began in the second month. The first month was dominated by Passover. All this speaks of the principle of the Blood Covenant. “All” were involved. The Levites as a whole supervised the work of the laymen, and were themselves directed by their leading families.
1 Cor. 3: 9-11: “We are laborers together with God’s husbandry, you are God’s building. According to the grace of God which is given to me, as a wise master builder. I have laid the foundation, and another builds thereon. Let every man take heed how he builds thereupon. No other foundation can man lay than that which has been laid, which is Jesus Christ.”
Ezra 3:10: “And when the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord,” --- Not all are builders of the foundation. But when the foundation is laid, this day is a day of Praise! “They set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.”
The ministry is clothed with garments of praise and prophecy. These ministries made One Sound (sang in perfect harmony with Heaven).
Ezra 3:11: “They sang together by course in praising and giving thanks to the Lord; because He is good, for His mercy endures for ever toward Israel. All the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.”
“But many of the Priests, Levites and the Chief of the Fathers, who were ancient men that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this House was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy; so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people; for the people shouted with a loud shout, and noise was heard afar off.”
The new foundations were small and insignificant by comparison with Solomon’s Temple which the older people once knew. To them, this was good, but not good enough. We all long for another Pentecost with tongues of fire and the miracles of the Apostles. The Lord has promised the “greater works” to those who follow Him. Yes, we have experienced the great outpouring of the oil, wine and fire of the Charismatic Renewal. We all cry do it again Lord.
However, we are part of the root system of the Glory of God covering the whole earth through the saints’ movement. Let us not be weary in well doing, or faint in building the foundation. If we have done our assigned task, we will have our place in the foundations of the City. It is well to remember that the Kingdom comes not with observation. God’s day begins in the evening and ends in the morning.
Zerubbabel’s Temple may not look like much to some, but its glory is greater than that of Solomon’s
Haggai 2: 1-9: “In the seventh month, on the 21st day the Word of the Lord came to the prophet Haggai, saying,
“Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest, and to the residue (remnant) of the people saying, who is left among you that saw this house in her first glory? And how do you see it now? Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, says the Lord; and be strong, O Joshua, son of Josedech, the high priest; and be strong all you people of the land, says the Lord, and work; for I am with you, says the Lord of hosts. According to the word that I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, so My Spirit remains among you; do not fear. For thus says 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. I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of Hosts. The silver is Mine, and the gold is Mine, says the Lord of Hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former; says the Lord of Hosts; and in this place will I give peace, says the Lord of Hosts.”
We can hear in this Word of the Lord to Zerubbabel and to Joshua that they were discouraged. The Lord sent two prophets to encourage them.
Hag. 2: 18-19: “Consider now from this day and upward, from the 24th day of the ninth month (December 24th) even from the day that the foundation of the Lord’s temple was laid, consider it. Is the seed yet in the barn? Yea as yet the vine, and the fig tree, and the pomegranate, and the olive tree have not brought forth; from this day will I bless you.”
Zech. 4: 6; 9-10: “…the word of Lord to Zerubbabel, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord of hosts…The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For who has despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven, they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.”
The Spirit of God which formed the earth, parted the seas, and raised the dead was no less to be the driving force for God’s new work in the prophet’s day which is the day of Zerubbabel and Jeshua. The message, indeed, is that while all manpower, provisions of materials, and expertise were part of the Lord’s plan, over them all, his Spirit would unify all that was done to bring the work to a glorious completion.
The Remnant of the remnant labors still. This is a new day. This is not a day of mourning. It is the day of the shout of faith.
Zerubbabel will bring out the capstone. This is the stone of chief importance in the new Temple in that it completes and unifies all the rest of the building. It will be brought out amid cries of wonder: “God bless it! God bless it! The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation and he will complete the work.
It would appear that the two olive trees are symbols of Joshua and Zerubbabel. They are literally “sons of oil (Vs 14), filled with oil as two who have been clearly anointed to act as God’s appointed agents.
I asked the Lord this year to teach Zechariah. It seems He is answering that prayer through the teaching of Ezra.
I have a grateful heart.
Carolyn Sissom, Pastor
Eastgate Ministries Church
Scripture from K.J.V.
I entered into the labors of Principles of Present Truth on Ezra by: Kelly Varner and The International Bible Commentary. Comments and conclusions are my own and not meant to reflect the views of those who I entered into their labors.