Shabbat shalom, everyone. I want you to turn with me in your Bibles to the book of Ezra. We are studying the book of Ezra. Ezra was a scribe from among our people Israel. Ezra was one of those who returned to the city of Jerusalem to rebuild the temple in the land after so many years. The remnant of Israel had been in Babel, in Babylon. We have covered Ezra chapter 1. We have covered Ezra chapter 2. And we notice at the end of Ezra chapter 2 that nearly 50,000 Jewish people return to the city of Yerushalayim. And now in chapter 3 we are going to see some of the things that have happened to these Jewish men, women, children that have returned from Babel to the city of Yerushalayim, to the land of Israel for the purpose of rebuilding the house of God.

And so I'm reading the third chapter, 13 verses, in Ezra chapter 3, verses 1 to 13. And 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. Then stood up Yeshua, the son of Yotzadak, and his brethren, the priests, and Zubabel, the son of Shaaltiel, and his brethren, and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings their own. as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. And they set the altar upon his basis. For fear was upon them because of the people of those countries. And they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord, even burnt offering morning and evening.

They kept also the Feast of Tabernacles, as it is written, And offered the daily burnt offerings by numbers according to the custom as the duty of every day required. And afterward offered the continual burnt offering both of the new moons and of the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated. And of everyone that willingly offered a free will offering unto the Lord. From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the Lord, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid. They gave money also unto the masons and to the carpenters and meat and drink and oil unto them of Sidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the Sea of Jaffa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus, king of Persia.

Now in the second year of their coming, unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month began Zerubavel, the son of Shaltiel, and Yeshua, the son of Yotzadak, and the remnant of their brethren, the priests, and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites from 20 years old and upward to set forward the work of the house of the Lord. Then stood Yeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together to set forward the workmen in the house of God, the sons of Chandad, with their sons and their brethren, the Levites.

And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the son of Asaph, with symbols to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David, king of Israel. and they sung together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord because he is good for his mercy endures forever toward Israel and 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 and Levites and 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 allowed 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 the noise was heard afar off.

You know, it is amazing when I was preparing for the message to think of what those nearly 50,000 Jewish people who came from Babylon to the promised land because God gave Koresh, Cyrus, a call, a message. You tell the people of Israel, you tell the Jewish people, who is from among you wishes to go back to the promised land to rebuild the house of the Lord, let him go. And those nearly 50,000 Hebrews, Israelis, Jewish men and women and children left everything they've had in Babel and went forward to the city of Jerusalem to rebuild the temple there in that city. When I was thinking about that, it really moved my heart what it meant for them now to go back to their homeland, to go back to the land of our own forefathers that God had promised the people of Israel that he is going to bless them in this land but now that they are returning there are only such a small amount of people who are returning back to the land the vast majority of the Jewish people have remained in Bavan this third chapter beloved brothers and sisters teach us a very important lesson it's applied to you and I today as believers in our lord jesus the messiah were part of the assembly of the church of our lord you see when israel when those jewish people returned to the land the land was in a ruined condition everything was broken they left everything and they wanted so badly and eagerly to come to the place where god set his name and we learn that there is a possibility to start things afresh even if everything seemed to be broken to pieces.

It is possible in your lives and in mine that we can start afresh in our relationship with our Lord Jesus the Messiah even when things look so dark and terrible. God is in a business of restoration but we must be occupied with god's word it is the word of god that gives us instruction and we will see this that they didn't seek any other human opinion but they wanted the word of god in their lives thirdly we will learn from this chapter that not only that we are to be occupied with god's word when there is a restoration to him we also must be occupied with god's son the messiah himself who loved us and gave himself for us who became a sacrifice for us when he died for us on the tree.

And fourthly, we can learn from this chapter that even though there is a ruin among the people of God at large we must be those that are builders of the house of God. In Israel's time it was physically building the house of God. In our present day dispensation, we are responsible to build the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the ecclesia, the body of Messiah. Four things we learn from this chapter. When things are messed up, there is a possibility to start again. We must be occupied with God's word. We must be occupied with God's son. We must be occupied with building the things of God based upon the written word of God.

And let's see what the Lord has before us. Notice that the chapter divides itself into really two sections. Verses 1-6 speaks about the building of the altar itself. And verses 7-13 is occupied with the building of the foundation of the temple. First of all, it is the altar. Secondly, it is the temple. First of all, it is the way of worship. Secondly, it is the house of God. And even within those two sections, we have subsections in verses 1 to 6. And first of all, verses 1 to 3, they begin by setting up the altar. In Hebrew, we call it Mizbeach. Upon the altar, the sacrifice is laid. And the only way of approach to God is only on the basis of the sacrifice that is laid upon the altar.

And so notice what we read here in these first three verses, how God's altar must be set up first. He began in verse 1, we read that Israel as one man gathered together and they began to motivate each other, but they worked together. And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, that the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. Now this is important. Can you imagine? They are coming from far. Israel had been already taken captive for about 70 years. The temple was destroyed for about 50 years already. And now they are coming to the city of Jerusalem.

But they began, in spite of the ruin, in spite where everything was falling apart, they gathered themselves together. Notice it says here in verse 1, that the people gathered themselves together, notice the word, as one man to Yerushalayim, to Jerusalem. It comes from the Hebrew word echad. Echad means compound units. They are united together. You know, we often express the Shema, Shema Yisrael, Adonai, Echad, here we are Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. That word echad is a composition of united people, united persons of the Godhead in the Shema. But here the people of Israel are gathering together as one man. Why there are so many problems among the people of God often?

Because the people of God don't work together as one man. Everyone pulls to his own way. Everyone has his own desire, no submissiveness to the Lord. And when we all pull apart, how can we work together? Had these people would come to the land of Israel, to the city of Jerusalem, and not work together, they would never be successful. They would never honor the Lord. And you notice, beloved brothers and sisters here, they gathered together. And when did they gather together? It says here, when the seventh month was come. In the Hebrew calendar, the seventh month is the month of Tishrei. If you read in the book of Leviticus chapter 23, three feasts occurred on the seventh month.

The Feast of Trumpet on the first day of the month of Tishrei, the Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, on the tenth day of the month of Tishrei, and the Feast of Booth on the fifteenth day of the month of Tishrei. In other words, they were anticipating a full restoration of the people of Israel. And therefore, they were gathered together on the seventh month, the month of Tishrei in Hebrew. And here we see that they gathered together as one man. Now, turn with me for a moment to Psalm 133. There is a song that we often love to sing. And that song has to do with the unity, togetherness, that the people of God are exhorted to have.

The psalmist wrote in Psalm 133, Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity. Notice the word together. And then he said it is like a precious ointment upon the head that ran down upon the beard, even Aaron's beard, and went down to the skirts of his garment as the dew of Hermon and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. And listen to the last portion of Psalm 133, for there the Lord commended His blessing even life forevermore. The Hebrew psalm here, we sing it and the last words here it says for there the Lord commanded his blessing there when there is unity among the people of God God commanded his blessing oh no wonder at times we don't enjoy the blessing of the Lord why?

because everyone goes to his own way everyone has his own theology everyone has his own opinion and the moment we submit to the written word of God and allowing him to work in our lives it changes us it molds us and it makes us desire to bring together the people of God to build them up and as one man as they gather together they were able to begin to rebuild first of all to set up the altar and then to build the temple in the house of the Lord by the way brothers and sisters how do you think the church began? Ecclesia in Acts chapter 2 you notice the first verse of Acts chapter 2 in verse 1 it says there and when the day of Pentecost was fully come they were all with one accord in one place do you know in the city of Jerusalem and where the body of Messiah was formed some 2,000 years ago, when they gathered together, they came with one accord.

But how far are we today with the way it begins? How far is the church today with the way it begins? And look at our people of Israel. How far the people of Israel is today with the way it begins? But together is essential to build up the people of God. You know what the Lord said to us in his prayer in John 17? I pray, Father, that they may be one as we are one. Paul said in Ephesians chapter 4 and verse 3, Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in bond of peace. To work at it. And we have to be careful.

if there is any one of us cause division you don't expect the blessing of the Lord he will never bless those who divide among the people of God and you know there are homes divided there are family divided there are friends who are divided this is the work of the enemy and here we see when they start afresh and they take their place in accordance with the word of God verse 1 they gathered as one man imagine what joy it gave the heart of God to see these returning remnant broken because they look around they see everything is falling to pieces but they had determination we are going to start afresh we are going to

be builders and they came there as one man it reminds us of what's going to happen in the future when Israel is going to be restored and Israel is a nation going to be one nation united gathered around our Lord Jesus the Messiah Israel's king and for you and I today the church is so divided and scattered let us be in our own hearts motivated to say Lord I'm going to seek to be a builder and I'm going seek to unite and not to divide to bring people together closer to the Lord in accordance with your word rather than to cause people to stumble and to disperse the people of God for this God will

discipline those that are doing having such an attitude such as this he disciplined his people Israel he disciplining the church and it will discipline you and I if we don't have the right attitude but now notice beloved brothers and sisters in verse 2 israel building the altar of the god of israel and i want you to notice that they began with the altar verse 2 it says then stood yeshua and by the way that man by the name of yeshua he was a priest and his hebrew name is exactly similar to the hebrew name of our messiah yeshua yud shin vad ein in hebrew Not Yehoshua, not Yeshayahu, not Hosea, but Yeshua.

Very similar to the Hebrew name of Yeshua the Messiah. It means salvation. But nevertheless, you can see even by his name, you can get a message. He wanted to help his people, to bring them into harmony and salvation. And so Yeshua, the son of Yot-Sadak, and his brethren, the priest, and Zubavel, the son of Shaltiel, and his brethren, they built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offering thereon as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. The first thing they do is they're setting up an altar. What is an altar? The Hebrew word for altar is Mizbeach.

Mizbeach is simply a place whereby you lay upon it an animal, a sacrifice, blood must be shed, an animal that is innocent must be killed, and therefore it is enabled a sinner and a restored believer to have fellowship with God. You and I cannot approach God without the altar. In other words, they've learned a principle that had been taught already many years ago in the Hebrew scripture. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins. They've learned this truth that it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul. And they learned the truth that you and I know it. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us.

And He learned the truth that the blood of Yeshua the Messiah cleanses us from all sin. And notice it says here, as it is written. In other words, it was already written in the Hebrew Scripture. According, it says, in the law of Moses, the man of God, They simply said, wait a minute, how are we going to approach God now? Well, Moses already wrote about it in the Hebrew Scriptures. And by the way, they didn't have the book of Ezra yet. They didn't have the book of Nehemiah yet. They didn't have the book of Esther yet. They didn't have the book of Malachi yet. Or all the prophets, Haggai or Zechariah.

They didn't have this because they were living out this here. They didn't have all the scriptures that you and I have today. But they had the law of Moses. And it was sufficient for them to obey the law of Moses. You know, I'm troubled sometimes when people just don't simply read the Bible for what it says. And they say, well, it is written. And instead of simply submitting to what the Word of God says, they have their own opinion. Do you think God needs our own opinion? Do you think we're going to change the mind of God, who has already written to us in His Word, thus saith the Lord?

Sometimes we hear people saying, you believers in Yeshua the Messiah says that the only way to heaven is through Yeshua the Messiah. Well, I don't say it. The Bible said. If there was another way, why would he die for us on the tree? Why he would have to become a sacrifice for a sin of this world? Why? Well, there is no other way. God said, the only way to receive forgiveness of sin, it is on the basis of the sacrifice. The sacrifices pointed to the sacrifice of the Messiah, and in the fullness of time, he came and he died for us on the tree, on the cross, and he became a substitute, a just one for you and I, the unjust.

So notice how important we find here in verse 2, that it is in accordance with the word of the Lord. You notice what was the purpose in order to offer burnt offerings. I love this thought because the first offering in Leviticus chapter 1 is the burnt offering. What is the difference between the burnt offering, or the peace offering, or the trespass offering, or the sin offering, or the meal offering? Well, the difference is that the first offering speaks of the work of the Messiah totally for the pleasure of God. That's why the word burnt offering comes from the Hebrew word olah. The word olah is that which rises up to God, and it pleases God.

It reminds him of what Yeshua, the Messiah, his son, was going to accomplish when he died for mankind upon the cross, upon the tree. And so the first thing they do, they build an altar. They are united together. And I want you now to notice in verse 3a that they understood Israel built an altar knowing that only God can deliver them from their enemies because you notice what it says in verse 3a and they set up the altar upon his basis why for fear was upon them because the people of those countries now brothers and sisters let me remind you that about 722 BC Israel was taken by the Assyrian at about 586 BC the temple was burned and judah was taken to babylon and so now when they are coming back they found out that in the area where they live it is in samaria later on in judaea and all the area there were already many other people placed in this place according to second kings chapter 17 other people from all other nations came and dwelt already there.

And these people were not lovers of the Jewish people. We call them today the Samaritan, the Shomronim. They were a mixed breed. They believed in the God of Israel, but they had their own gods as well. They are what you call a mixture. Not only it's a mixture of some of them were Israelis mixed with the unbelieving gentleness, but it was a mixture of faith. In the living God, but also in many other gods as well. And they became the enemies. So these Jewish people, when they're coming back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, they immediately find themselves with opposition. Now you know what? If any one of us will want to continue to follow the Lord, and to go on the basis of His word, and to follow Him, you will find out immediately that you will have opposition.

You will find very quickly. Those of us who just became believers can honestly say, Well, I've just trusted in Yeshua the Messiah and I find out very quickly that the world around me don't like me for one reason or another. Enemies you find, people who don't understand you, and people who don't want to hear what you have to say. And you will notice that very quickly. When I want the Word of God, I will always find those who will oppose that which I'm seeking to do in accordance with the Word of God. Well, look at this. They are building the altar. And then they find out that they have enemies.

Now you would think the people around will say, Wow, here is the people who are coming back. We are so happy for them because they are going now to be restored. And they are going to build a temple soon. And we would be so happy for them. We will be glad to assist them to build the things of their God. But not at all, beloved brothers and sisters. They were enemies or the people of those countries were there and they were afraid of them because apparently they opposed them. Let me read you a verse in 1 Peter chapter 5 in the Brit HaChadashah. In verse 8, Peter, Shimon Petros wrote to these early believers and he said to them, listen, be sober, be vigilant.

Why, Peter? Why should I be sober and vigilant? Because your adversary, the devil, has a roaring lion walking about seeking who he may devour. Satan is opposing the people of God. The world is opposing the people of God. The flesh is opposing the people of God. The people of God always have enemies against them, and they need to be sober. They need to be vigilant to say, Lord, I depend on you. I want you to help me to be restored to you in such a way that your word is teaching me. Lord, help me. I have those who oppose me. Ephesians chapter 6 says, put upon you the whole army of God.

Why? Not to allow the darts of the devil who is shooting against his own people. Not allow those darts to fall upon us and to cause us to stumble and to depart from the will of the Lord. So we learn from the first three verses that God's people began with setting up the altar. Let me ask you, brothers and sisters, and I'm asking myself, do we take the time to read the Word and pray every day? Do we take the time to have an altar and to speak to the Lord and set before Him the person of Yeshua the Messiah? Do we take the time?

If we don't, we are the ones who are going to lose us. We know how the enemy always finds there is time for pleasure. There is time for business. There is time for many, many things in our lives. The devil doesn't want us to take the time for the Lord, for Yeshua the Messiah in our lives. What a challenging thing. So we learn here that no matter what's happening, when things are all falling apart, We can begin afresh if we turn back to his word and back to his son, Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord and our Savior. Just like our Jewish brethren of old, we turn back to build the altar and set it up.

Well, the next thing we find out in verses 3b to verse 6, that not only they set up the altar, but they began to sacrifice offering sacrifices upon that altar. And you notice what it says in verse 3b. It says in verse 3b, And they offered burnt offering their own unto the Lord, Even burnt offering morning and evening. You know, they began now to offer sacrifices. Morning and evening. Morning and evening. Morning and evening. It's so beautiful to see that. They understood the importance of the offerings, of the sacrifices. Especially, you notice how many times the usage of the word burnt offering. The Hebrew word olah, that which rises up to God.

Burnt offering, they began to offer in verse 3b. And notice in verse 4, not only that they have submitted to the Lord by offering the sacrifices, in verse 4, they have kept the Feast of Tabernacles. In Hebrew, we call it Chag Sukkot, the Feast of Booth. They kept also the Feast of Tabernacles as it is written, and they offered a daily burnt offering by number according to the custom as the duty of every day required. Now, why it is the Feast of Tabernacle mentioned? I wondered why they didn't mention here the Feast of, for example, Pesach, Passover. Do you know why? It is a simple reason because they have now been scattered for 70 years.

They are returning now to the Promised Land, and they are celebrating the Feast of Sukkot. Of course, it happened to be on that particular date, the seventh month, but also because the Feast of Sukkot is the Feast of Culmination. It speaks to Israel about the Messianic Kingdom, about the restoration of all the nations. You remember we have seven Feasts of Jehovah. The first four speaks about the first coming of the Messiah. the second three speaks about the second coming of the messiah and it culminate with the feast of Sukkot the feast of tabernacle tabernacles speak to us of the future messianic kingdom in fact perhaps in their mind and in their hearts they were saying god we are so thankful that you have restored us now back to the land we are anticipating the kingdom to be established you remember what Peter said in Matthew chapter 17 when he went to the Mount of Transfiguration he said to the Lord Yeshua the Messiah in Matthew chapter 17 Lord it is good that we are here let us build three tabernacles one for you one for Elijah one for Moses why did Shimon Petro say this to the Messiah he said it because he anticipated the Messianic kingdom to come the Lord was transfigured before them The Shekinah glory was present and he was anticipating the Messianic Kingdom.

The Feast of Sukkot speaks to us about the Messianic Kingdom. But they submitted to the Word of God. Notice it says in verse 4, They kept the Feast of Tabernacle as it is written. They went back to the Bible. You know, there's a program on the radio called Back to the Bible. We got to go back to the Word of God. not a human opinion not to man's ingenuity we got to go back to the word of god heaven and earth will pass away yeshua said but my word remain the same it will never change we have to change god's word will never change so there as it is written they offer daily burnt offering by number according to the customs as the duty of every day required.

If you're going to read Exodus chapter 29, you will notice that God gave instruction. Morning and evening, a continual sacrifice. Why? It's a freshly reminding of the price of the sacrifice of the Messiah who died on the cross, who died on a tree. It's a reminder to God of the finished work of His Son. who died for us on the tree. So verse 4, Israel kept the Feast of Tabernacle. Notice verse 5, Israel offered a continual burnt offering. And notice it was also for the new month, for a set feast. Notice this, beloved brothers and sisters, in verse 5. And afterwards they offered a continual burnt offering, both of the new moons in the English, But also, and of all the set feasts of the Lord that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the Lord.

Notice the two things that I mentioned here in verse 5. The new moon, and also the set feasts. Now do you know that every set feast, there was sacrifice offered. Every new moon, there was sacrifice offering. Now why does it call the new moon in the English? but in the Hebrew it doesn't use the word new moon in Hebrew it says to the month because the Jewish calendar doesn't go by the moon it goes by the sun it goes according to the moon and every month when a new moon new month began a sacrifice must be offered and here you find them offering continual burnt offering both for the new moons and of all the set feasts of the Lord where they were consecrated and everyone that willingly offer free will offering unto the Lord imagine they were out of the abundance of their hearts offering unto the Lord sacrifices in order to please him and glorify the God of Israel beautiful to see this here in these verses and now notice in verse 6a and 6b we notice a few things that are important first of all we know that the date that Israel began to offer.

What was the date that they began to offer? It says in verse 6, From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings. The first day of the seventh month is the Feast of Trumpets. Yom Tro'ah, or Zikaron Tro'ah in Hebrew. And then it says in this verse, They began to offer burnt offerings. It began on the seventh month of the first day. It again reminds us in their mind they must have been thinking about the restoration of Israel. Because the Feast of Trumpets speaks about the physical regathering of the people of Israel to the land. The Day of Atonement, spiritual restoration, regeneration of the nation of Israel.

The Feast of Booths speaks of the future Messianic Kingdom. here we can see that everything began on the first day of the seventh month according to verse 6 and verse 6b give us the fact that even though the hand the altar set something was missing what was missing according to verse 6b but the foundation of the temple of the lord was not yet laid so even though they had the altar, they had the sacrifices going on the altar, the burnt offering, they were celebrating the feasts that we had on the seventh month including the feast of Sukkot, the feast of Tabernacle, but one thing was missing.

And that is the Beit HaMikdash the house of God, the temple as it says here in verse 6. So something was missing and so they understood now okay now we began with the altar we began with the blood that had to be shed but now we are going to have to establish the temple itself and so beloved brothers and sisters in the next portion the next half of this chapter verses 7 to 13 they now began to build the foundation of the temple itself now that's very precious also because in verses 7 8 and 9 we see that they are setting up special workers to build the temple and in verses 10 to 13 we see that the worship of the lord began i don't know about you when we are not right with the lord we can't sing to him we can't worship him we don't have liberty to do so but when we are right with the lord there is a song that's coming out of our hearts We sing the praises of our Lord Yeshua, the Messiah, with joy in our hearts, because we know who he was, who he is, and what he has done for us.

And so look as the worship began here in this third chapter of the book of Ezra. And so we read, first of all, they gave money was given to the masons and to the carpenters. Well, if you're going to build a temple, you have to have the means to build. And so the first thing they do in verse 7, they gave money unto the masons, this is chotzvim in Hebrew, and unto the carpenters, this is the harashim. In other words, they were special individuals that are going to build the temple in the city of Jerusalem. They gave them the means to do so. This is important to teach us the lesson of those who serve the Lord need to be able to do so by the support of the people of God.

It is not only a New Testament teaching, it is an Old Testament, a Tanakh in the history of Israel. In order for them to build, they needed to be taken care of, supported so they can buy the material, take the time and work so they will be able to focus on the building of the house of God. Then notice that secondly in verse 7, not only that they gave them the means, the money in order to build the house, but they also gave food, drink, and oil unto them from Sidon and Tyre. These were not Jewish people. Sidon, Sidon, and Tyre, this is today in the present day Lebanon.

And what they were doing, they were giving them, listen, we're going to give you food, we're going to give you a drink, we're going to give you oil, please bring away from Lebanon the cedar trees. They did exactly the same, what Shlomo did, Solomon did, in 1st Kings chapter 5. King Solomon asked the king of Tyre to bring him the cedars of Lebanon. And in order to bring the cedars of Lebanon, King Solomon, Shlomo gave him means in order that he will have workers, and they were sending the cedars of Lebanon through the port of Yafo, in order to bring the cedar trees from Lebanon to the Sea of Yafo.

I was just there a week and a half ago. The Yafo is a port in Israel where in past history many ships and boats came in order to bring all kind of goods into the promised land. Today they use mostly the port of Haifa or Ashdod, but Yafo used to be in those days a place in which all sort of goods came to the land of Israel. In fact, Yafo, if you remember in the book of Jonah, Jonah went to Jaffa and he took a ship away from the land of Israel some years ago in the history of Israel. And so now they gave money unto the masons and the carpenters.

Verse 7, they gave food, drink, and meat unto the people of Sidon and Tyre. And all that cedar will come, the city of Lebanon, through Jaffa. And notice it says at the end of verse 7, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus, the king of Persia. You see, the king of Paras, Melech Paras, Koresh, was a man that was raised up by God, a Gentile man. He was a pagan king. He may have become a believer in the true and living God, but nevertheless, he was a pagan king whom God had used to give Israel, it says here, grant, or in Hebrew it's called Rishayon, license, to do what they were doing.

God has opened the door for these Hebrews to come back to the land and to rebuild the temple in the city of Jerusalem. Now notice in verse 8, in the special workers that they appointed, now they appointed the priests and the Levites to set forward the work. The priests and the Levites, those were, you might say, the spiritual leaders of our nation, of all the nation of Israel. And according to verse 8, it says, Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month began Zubavel, the son of Shaltiel, and Yeshua, the son of Yotzadak, and the remnant of their brethren, the priests, and the Levites, and all they that were come out of captivity unto Jerusalem, and appointed.

Listen to what they have done, Zubavel and Yeshua. they appointed Levites from 20 years old and upward to set forward the work of the house of the Lord. In other words, they were spiritual men who were leading the rest of the nation to build the house of the Lord. You know, how do we need today spiritual men to lead us in our walk with the Lord? God is able to raise brothers and sisters in their spheres to serve, to build up the people of God. How we need it in today, in the days in which you and I live today. They needed it, so Zerub Havel, Yeshua, these are the two leaders, main leaders of the people of Israel, they set up those Levites, they appointed them to set forward the work because they needed encouragement, they needed guidance.

How are we going to build the house of the Lord? Well, they needed guidance and instruction from those spiritual leaders to do so, according to verse 8. And then again, beloved brothers and sisters, this famous word that is mentioned in this chapter, the word Be'yachad, or the word Echad, is mentioned again in verse 9. It says, Then stood Yeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together to set forward the workmen in the house of God, the sons of Hanedad, with their sons and their brethren, the Levites. Another one here is again the word together. Unless they were working together, they could have never built what they were going to build, the temple of God.

And the importance of together is mentioned here again and again in this third chapter of the book of Ezra. So, verses 7, 8, and 9, the special workers were appointed. Special individuals were appointed to work together. And I want you to notice here, there were labors together. The Levites, the priests, and the ordinary workers, there were labors together. They were building together the house of God. The importance of being together serving the Lord. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians chapter 3 to apply this to us today. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verses 9 and 10. Paul said to the Corinthians those words. For we are laborers together with God. Ye are God's husbandry. Ye are God's building.

according to the grace of God, which is given unto me as a wise master builder. I have laid a foundation, and another builders their own. But let every man take heed how he builders there upon. You know, Paul gave a warning to the believers at Corinth. He says, listen, we are laborers together. We are working together in the work of the Lord. He says, listen, I have laid a foundation, and other ones continue to build upon their own, And then other men had his own responsibility. And then we have to take heed of how we build. We are to build the house of God. We are to edify the people of God.

We are core laborers. You know, it is important to understand that the body of believers is a composition of many members. Even the human body. We have a head. We have hands. We have feet. We have toes. We have all sort of members in our body. In order for our body to function, the members of the body need to be together to be in a healthy relationship, you might say, with each other. Spiritually speaking, that's applied to us as well today. When we are working together, we can accomplish much. I remember hearing a message many years ago about Psalm 133. Behold how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together.

So the preacher was trying to illustrate that. and I thought it was very nice because it's also written but what did he do he called his sons and he told them listen give me a stick and he gave him a stick one of his sons and he says here here's the stick he took it and he broke it on his knee he says now please give me two of them and he held both of them together and he broke them together it was harder but he did then he said give me three together they brought him three together and he tried to break it and with a lot of pressure he successfully broke the third one the three together he asked give me some more give me four together and he brought him four and he was trying to break it it become harder and harder and harder to break when we are all together and when we labor together we can accomplish so much more For the glory of God and for the blessing of mankind.

We are co-laborers together, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians. And here they were laboring together. Verse 9 of Ezra chapter 3. Yeshua stood with his sons, Kadmiel with his sons, the sons of Judah. And together they set forward the workmen in the house of God. Together, they move forward in building the house of God. But now listen to the final verses of this wonderful chapter, Ezra chapter 3. The last verses, verses 10 to 13, those last four verses, not only that they set themselves together to begin to build, Not only that they collabored together in building the temple, but now they have also worshipped together the God of Israel, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

Look and listen to those last verses. In verses 10 to 13, the worship of the Lord begins. And so we find out now in verse 10 that they setting up priests and Levites for the praising of the Lord.

It says in verse 10, and when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with the trumpets and the Levites the son of Asaph with their symbols to praise the Lord after the ordinance of King David king of Israel you see they now beginning to set up the order of service of worship they got the Levites they got the priests and they set them according to verse 10 the priests the Levites with the trumpets with the symbols to begin to worship the Lord and notice this expression to praise the Lord to praise the Lord is a setting up of the way whereby the Lord can

receive his praise and his honor and his glory now notice that he doesn't say that they set everyone together to pray to the Lord and ask him to give them more and more the opposite it says that they are setting up the Levites they are setting up the priest for the purpose of praising the Lord the God of Israel it shows us the understanding that they had in appreciation of what the Lord have done for them and so the beginning of the setting and notice it says according to verse 10 in the ordinance of david the king of israel now you see david the king of israel in first chronicles chapter 16 he was the

one that set up the order of the worship in the temple in jerusalem even before the temple was built and he set up special levites priests that they will be singing and praising the god of israel in the future temple that will be built now notice verse 11 how much they began with the giving of thanks.

That is precious, brothers and sisters. When you are discouraged, when you have problems in your life, when I have problems in my life, the best thing is to turn to the Lord and to give thanks and praise to Him. Look what we read. And they sang. And notice that? They sang together. This is the third time that the word together is mentioned here in this passage. They prepare things together. they were building things together, and now they are singing together. So beautiful to see that. And what they were singing. It says here, they were singing by course. They were praising. They were giving thanks unto Jehovah.

Why?

Because he is good, and his mercy endueth forever towards israel do you know brothers and sisters god is good god deserved the praises of his people when we're going to stand one day before him in the future day in the presence of the lord we are going to regret it we didn't give him more praise now when things are not always easy in our lives now of course there will be no more sin in heaven there will nothing to be you might say sorry about but when we're going to look back we would say i could have given more time of praise to my savior for what he has done for me i should have

been more time spending to worship yeshua the messiah who loved me and gave himself for me i should have complained less and give thanks more that's what i should have done you and i might say the first thing they do it is they give praise they give thanks and notice this expression unto the lord why because he is good and his mercy endures forever you know how merciful he has been with you and i had he dealt with us according to what we deserve we deserve to be punished and disciplined for what we have done in our life but he's gracious he's merciful i want you to turn with me to psalm 136 for a

moment one of the last psalms of our people Israel this psalm is a beautiful psalm almost every verse of this psalm have this expression His mercy endueth forever O give thanks unto the Lord for He is good for His mercy endueth forever O give thanks unto the God of gods for His mercy endueth forever O give thanks to the Lord of lords for his mercy endures forever to him who alone does great wonders for his mercy endures forever to him that by wisdom made heaven for his mercy endures forever to him that stretches out the earth above the water for his mercy endures forever to him that made great light for his mercy endures forever

the sun to rule by day for his mercy endures forever the moon and the stars to rule the night for his mercy and doeth forever to him that smote Egypt in their firstborn for his mercy and doeth forever and brought out Israel from among them for his mercy and doeth forever with a strong hand and with a stretched out arm for his mercy and doeth forever to him that divided the Red Sea into parts for his mercy and doeth forever and made Israel to pass through the midst of it for his mercy and doeth forever, but overthrew Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea for his mercy and doeth forever to him which led

his people through the wilderness for his mercy and doeth forever.

I'm not going to finish all the psalm, but I would like to tell you, beloved brothers and sisters, Psalm 136 gave us the whole story from bondage to freedom and ultimately arriving to the promised land. And you and I can say this indeed in our own life. We were far from God. Without hope. Ephesians chapter 2 saying you were without God, having no God in this world. But now because of our Lord Yeshua, Jesus the Messiah, we have a hope. Our sins are forgiven. Our hope is to be with Him one day in glory. He had been so merciful towards us. And so they began to sing.

When you and I complain to the Lord at one time in our life or others, remember, beloved brothers and sisters, to give thanks to him, because his mercy endures forever. He is a gracious and a merciful God to us. And now notice, brothers and sisters, in the very same verse 11, I'm back to our chapter. In verse 11, all the people shouted with a great shout. And all the people shouted, verse 11b, with a great shout. And when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. Can you imagine? They were praising the Lord. They were singing to Him. They were looking at the foundation.

It's not even the house. Only the foundation. You know, when you build a house and you look at the foundation you laid, He said, oh boy, I still have to build the house. But they were praising the Lord in anticipation for the house of the Lord to be built. And so notice what happened here in verse 12. Because this is important. In verse 12 we learn that there were some who wept. It says in verse 12, but many of the priests and the Levites and the chief of the fathers who were ancient men. In Hebrew, zkenim, ancient, old men, zaken, zkenim. that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, they wept.

Now why did they weep with a loud voice? They look at this house, the foundation of this house. And they were those who were carried captives by Nebuchadnezzar some 70 years ago, or some 50 years ago. Now they are coming back, and what do they see? A small place. Things are falling apart. Everything is burnt. Everything is in a chaotic situation. Well, the foundation is built. But they are thinking in their mind and they say, I remember when. And they remember the time when Hamelech Shlomo, King Solomon, had this magnificent building. The first temple. It was a temple to be seen. It was an amazing sight. The temple that Shlomo, Hamelech, the king of Israel, had built for the Lord, for the God of Israel.

So when they looked at this small foundation and they remember the past, they began to weep. They look back and they say, boy, it's small in comparison to the greatness of the temple that we had in the past. Now, you know, brothers and sisters, there is a great lesson here for us. You know how many times the people of God and the work of the Lord that began so precious, And you work, and you labor, and you labor, and you labor, and you build up. And then something comes and falls apart, and it's breaking into pieces. Those of us that are in ministry experience this more than once.

You labor, and you labor, and you labor, and you labor, and you build, and you build, and you build. And then something happens. The enemy attacks the people of God, and the assembly, the church, the local congregation is scattered abroad. And then you have to start again. And then when you start to build and you say, wow, I remember when we used to have so many brothers and sisters at the meetings. And we used to have such a nice fellowship. And we used to enjoy Yeshua the Messiah. But look, look at this. The enemy came and scattered the sheep around. What can I do now, Lord?

And you look back and you say, I remember those great days. And you kind of feel sad. And yet, beloved brothers and sisters, We can always look forward because God gives grace to enable us to look to the future and to continue to build because we know that when we're going to be in the presence of the Lord, nothing going to fall apart anymore in the future day. But we can label, but I can understand when they look back and they said, wow, we remember the temple and look at us right now. You know, in the time when King Solomon was leading the nation of Israel, There were 40 years of peace.

Solomon was in the utopia, you might say, in the kingdom of Israel. Everyone came from all over the nations of the world to Israel to see the glory of the temple and Solomon's kingdom. It was amazing. Even the queen of Sheba sent to ask for wisdom from Solomon and to see the way that the temple of God was at that time functioning. Now these people are looking and they remember the past. And now they look at the presence and they begin to weep. and you know sometimes we need to weep because it is said when you build and you build and things are falling apart but then others did not weep you know why?

because it says you look at this the same verse he says that but many shouted for joy and then he said that the last verse he said that so the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping You see, the younger generation were rejoicing, but they don't know any temple of the past. Oh, what they know, praise God, we have a temple now, we're going to be ready to be set up, the foundation is there. And they were rejoicing. The elder, the older one, look back and they say, boy, we used to have such a wonderful time together with a great temple, and look what we have.

But you know, all of us need to learn from this, to say Lord everything is in your hand you know better than all of us and here in this world there are tribulation there are challenges that we all experience in other words we have in the time joy and then weeping we have a mingle we have it both of these there are on the one hand there's joy and the other time there's sadness but that's the way life is even though we don't understand that why is it that it has to be so but as long that they sin in this world they will always be the same situation as it was in those old

days there was joy and sorrow mingled together in those days when they saw that and i just want to conclude with these words what do we do in a time like this when we remember the time when there was a lot of joy great ministry the people of god was growing the body of messiah was built together what do we do when things are falling apart and things are just not the same like it used to be in the good old days now do we are occupied always with the good old days and be discouraging everybody else no we need to look to the lord and i want to conclude with this verse in hebrews

chapter 12 the writer of the book of Hebrews encourage the Hebrew believers of first century.

Hebrews chapter 12 and verses 2 and 3. The writer says this, looking unto Yeshua, the author and the finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, despising the shame, and he sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. For consider him, who endure such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be weary and faint in your mind. The writer to the Hebrew believer says, looking unto Yeshua, the author and the finisher of faith, he, Yeshua, for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, he suffered, he despised the shame, But he sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high.

We too, beloved brothers and sisters, just like our people Israel of old, some years ago when they returned from Babel, from Babylon, we at times can be discouraged. But the important thing for us to learn from this passage, we need to look to the Lord. We need to be builders. And as I mentioned, the four things that I mentioned here in this chapter that we learned, even when everything is falling apart, we can start again. But it must be on the basis of God's Word. It must be in affiliation with God's Son and with a desire to build God's house. You will see how the Lord will bless us if we will do so just like he blessed the people of Israel, the 50,000 return remnant of the Jewish people who came back from Babylon to rebuild the house of the Lord.

May the Lord help us and encourage us to do so.