The Help of God - Ezra 5:6-6:22

0:55They had gotten there in 536. They stopped until 520. So about 15 years, they stopped work. And then, if you remember, chapter 5 at the beginning, now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Edo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who is over them. Then Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, the son of Josedek, arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, supporting them. At the same time, Tatanai, Tatanai, the god of God, Of the province beyond the river, and Shetharbazani and their associates came to them and spoke to them thus, Who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish this structure? And they also asked them this: What are the names of the men who are building this building? Verse 5, but the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius, and then an answer should be returned by letter concerning it. So they had gotten to the land in around 537, I think, and then started building that foundation, laid the foundation, and finished the foundation, and then got scared because of opposition. And we looked at that temple opposition, and then he kind of fast-forwarded to Artaxerxes, and they had opposition later on in a future king with Artaxerxes. If you remember, we had some troublemakers who caused trouble with the dates last time.

2:37Trouble with a capital T. So the original generation, if you remember, we have the original generation getting sent back by Cyrus in the year that he conquered Babylon. And they come back, they're excited, they build the temple right away, then they get scared and they stop. And they stop all the way through the reign of Cambyses. And then during the reign of Darius the Great in 520, so about two years after he starts to rule, you have Haggai and Zechariah, whose writings we have. Remember, you had homework last time to read their letters if you were interested, to read their prophecies. But you had Haggai and Zechariah who came and started prophesying about the temple and said, You need to do this. Get to it. You guys have all built your houses. Now you're working on making your houses fancy with paneled walls. Why don't you stop and go and build the temple? You need to stop and go and build the temple. And the people did. They started right away.

3:43And Tatanai came and he saw them. And he's some sort of governor for Persia. He's some sort of ruler who has come and he notices that they're building the temple and he's a little curious. He doesn't know if they have permission. He doesn't know if it's his responsibility to stop them. He doesn't know what's going on. And so he comes to the Jews and he says, What are you doing? And what are your names? So I can tell the king. And with the Jews' history, you might expect at that point for them to cower in fear and stop building. But they don't. They continue to build. So they respond to Tatanai. We're going to read that response today. They respond to Tatanai, but in the meantime, while they wait to hear back from King Darius on whether they can continue, they continue anyways. And they're brave about that. So, verse 6. We get to read an actual copy of the letter. It's kind of fun. You know, biographies are always more fun if you get to read the actual letters. Like, if you're reading a biography and they have a journal entry or something, it's fun to read their own writings. And we get to do that. It was saved for us. Verse 6, chapter 5, verse 6. This is a copy of the letter that Tatanai, the governor of the province beyond the river, and Shathar Bazani and his associates, the governors who were in the province beyond the river, sent to Darius the king. So these were these, one commentator I read, called these imperial troubleshooters, armed with the power of punishments. So they're going to travel around the king's lands. This is all under the great empire of Persia right now. And so these governors are traveling around, checking to see if any peoples are trying to mount a rebellion or being seditious or anything like that. And so they happen upon the Jews who are building this temple. Verse 7, so they sent to him a report in which was written as follows, to Darius the king, all peace. Verse 8, be it known to the king that we went to the province of Judah to the house of the great God. That's probably what they said the name of. Their God was.

6:02It is being built with huge stones, and timber is laid in the walls. This work goes on diligently and prospers in their hands. So it seems like when the prophets came and told them, get to it, and Zerubbabel and Jeshua said, okay, let's do this, it seems like they really got started. They've got these huge stones, they've got these timbers, and they started building this building. And Tatsanai is telling Darius, Is this okay? They're building this. The stones and the timbers, that was the same kind of materials that they would have used in Solomon's temple. So we'll see throughout this passage that they seem to be trying, at least to their best ability, to copy what had been built by Solomon and making it even earthquake-proof. Verse 9. Then we asked those elders and spoke to them, who gave you a decree to build this house and to finish the structure? We also asked them their names for your information, that we might write down the names of their leaders. Verse 11. Listen to their reply. We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.

7:23That's a bold response. You know, there's none of this, oh, dear King Darius, please. Let us keep doing this. We grovel at your feet. They don't keep anything secret. They're very bold. And actually, this whole interaction so far is pretty pleasant. This isn't like the opposing forces that we read last time that are making up stuff and accusing the Jews and being mean to them. No, under Tatanai's instruction, they're being very courteous. He just seems to be legitimately curious, Darius, do you want this to happen? And so the people of Israel just respond honestly. And they say, We are just trying to serve the great God of heaven. And there was a great king a long time ago who built and finished a temple many years ago, is what they say. And we are just trying to rebuild that temple. So again, verse 11: this is their reply to us. We are servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are rebuilding the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished. But because our fathers had angered the God of heaven, he gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried away the people to Babylonia. However, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, Cyrus the king, made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. And so they continue to be honest. They're saying, it's not because Babylon's gods were. Greater than our gods. It's not because it was a war of the idols, a war of the gods. No, it's because they were disobedient to the true God. And so God gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. And that's exactly what we read in Scripture. So their response is informed. They're being faithful as the people of God. They realize their history. They realize what they've done wrong. And they're fessing up to it. So they go into Babylon, verse 13. However, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. And this is like their main line of defense.

9:41They are saying, look, King Cyrus, whenever he took over Babylon, he made a decree. And this would have resonated with Darius, because Darius was known for trying to continue on Cyrus's legacy, from what I understand. He knew Cyrus was well beloved by the people, and so it seems like he's trying to continue on in the legacy of Cyrus. And so when he heard Cyrus made a decree, that probably would have started ringing in his ears. One interesting thing. You guys notice anything strange in verse 13? However, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, Cyrus the king made a decree that this house of God should be rebuilt. Anything peculiar?

10:39What was Cyrus the king of? Persia. And he just said, however, in the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon. Do your translations have that? Cyrus, king of Babylon. It's kind of a strange thing, but he'll actually later, towards the end, call it the land of Assyria. And so it seems like once Persia started conquering these different kingdoms, he would call himself the king of whatever this other land was as well. And so, since Babylon was the big world emperor before, he would sometimes call himself the king of Babylon. We actually have a little clay barrel or cylinder where it's his decree, and he calls himself the king of Babylon. So it seems to be something he called himself. Maybe you don't care. I thought it was interesting. Verse 14. And the gold and the silver vessels of the house of God, remember, that was a big deal at the beginning of Ezra.

11:37The vessels had been taken away out of the temple. And Ezra was careful to note that all of those were brought back, just like God had said. All of the vessels were brought back. So verse 14, and the gold and the silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple that was in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon, these Cyrus, the King took out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered to one whose name was Sheshbazar, whom he had made governor. That's something else a little peculiar. We don't really know who Shesh Bazar is, but right now the governor is Zerubbabel. And so people have different theories about it. People say maybe it's the same guy, and Shesh Bazar was his Persian name, and Zerubbabel was his Hebrew name. I think it's more likely that Shesh Bazar, Shesh, Shesh Bazar was the Persian governor that was put over them. And maybe he's out of the picture at this point, but whatever the case, Zerubbabel is the governor who's now in charge. And so under this Shesh Bazar, they did bring the vessels back for the temple. Verse 15, he said to them, Take these vessels, go and put them in the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site. You notice anything weird about that verse?

13:14It's a little bit backwards, right? They're supposed to take these vessels and go and put them in the temple, but there is no temple. And so he says, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its site. And so it's kind of assuming the second part that the house of God is going to be rebuilt. So they can put the vessels in it. So they have the vessels. Verse 16, then this Sheshbazar came and laid the foundations of the house of God that is in Jerusalem. And from that time until now, it has been in building, and it is not yet finished. Therefore, if it seems good to the king, let search be made in the royal archives there in Babylon to see whether a decree was issued by Cyrus, the king, for the rebuilding of this house of God in Jerusalem. And let the king send us his pleasure in this matter. So it's a very polite request. He's saying, just send us what you want us to do.

14:12I wanted to let you know that these people are building a temple. And they claim that it's because Cyrus told them to, and they just haven't done it in a long time. They laid the foundations, and then it stayed incomplete for all this time. And now they want to finish it. Do they have your permission to finish it? They say, look in the royal archives, see if there was a decree from Cyrus. See if this is true. And if it pans out, tell us what you want us to do. Any questions so far or thoughts?

14:47Rosemary? I guess I assume that when they come back, it's not a occupied land anymore. It's their land. But obviously not. They have clear Even feeling the healers? Yeah, there are people who had started to live there. And those people are the troublemakers. We saw them in this generation. They're causing trouble because they come and they act like they want to join them in building the temple. We saw that in chapter 4. But then also the troublemakers come and they scare the people, they don't want them to build.

15:26So the people are there, and then this Tatanai guy seems to be someone that the king maybe sent to be a governor over this region. And so he's coming in and he's got no idea what the situation is, and he's trying to understand it. Something like that. There also actually might have been Jews that had stayed behind in the land and had infiltrated with the different peoples that had stayed in the land. Did I answer your question? I would just point out that people have lowercase T. Yeah, with a lowercase T.

16:00Also, remember that we talked about this last time, just a side note. Remember that the Persian Empire liked to swap peoples. It was a way of kind of still being nice to people, but causing them to live in a land that wasn't theirs. So not being really nice to people, but still letting them live somewhere and keeping them in subjection. So they would take a people out of their land, but then they would put them in another land. And they would take those people and put them in another land. And it kind of Of it killed their spirits for rebellion. Any other thoughts or questions?

16:44All right, chapter six. Then, Darius the king. Oh, I forgot to say. Last time, we ended last time with the kind of ominous isn't the right word, but foreboding isn't the right word. But the phrase that looks forward to them, anticipates in verse 5, but the eye of their God was on the elders of the Jews, and they did not stop them until the report should reach Darius, and then an answer be returned by letter concerning it. You get this picture that this whole time God is watching them, and he's taking care of them. And we can already see with this governor Tatanai that that's true, that God has put a man who maybe other men would be kind of stuck up in their pride that they have this special position and they want to be ruthless to the people. But God allowed it to be this man who allowed them to continue to build. He's very polite.

17:42He's seeking out the king's order honestly and not lying. And you can just see the good hand of God, the help of God in this situation already, that he's being faithful to them as they listen to the prophets and do what they're supposed to do. Okay, chapter 6. Then Darius the king made a decree. And search was made in Babylonia in the house of the archives where the documents were stored. And in Ekbatana, the citadel that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was written, a record. And then it's going to tell us what the record says. So the king, he gets this letter and he takes interest. And it seems that he kind of eagerly issues this decree and says, we need to find this with this other decree from Cyrus. And so they're looking through the royal archives. He's been told to look in Babylon, and they look in Babylon, but they actually find it in Ekbatana. And so what this was was the Persian kings, starting with Cyrus, they kind of had seasonal homes. And we've heard of that with even Americans that are more wealthy have a summer home and a winter home where they can move north and south and go back and forth. Well, Cyrus did that. And so he had at least three homes that we know of. In Babylon, he stayed there in the winter, the city Babylon, after he conquered it. He stayed in his main capital, Susa, for the spring, and I guess the fall as well. But the summer, when it was hot, he would go up to a place called Ekbatana, because it was up more north in Media, or Media.

19:30It was up in the mountains and it was cooler. And so apparently, this is where the decree had gone from. And so they searched in Babylon, and the implication is they didn't find it there, but they found the decree up in Ekbatana. They had a copy of this decree that had gone out from Cyrus. So that's why he's mentioning those cities there. So, verse 2: And in Ekbatana, the citadel that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was written: a record. In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king issued a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem. Let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained. Its height shall be 60 cubits, and its breadth 60 cubits, with three layers of great stone and one layer of timber. Let the cost be paid from the royal treasury.

20:28And also, let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and brought back to the temple that is in Jerusalem, each to its place. You shall put them in the house of God. So they read the decree, or at least a summary of the decree that we had already heard about at the beginning of Ezra, in the first year that King Cyrus had defeated Babylon. And they search for the decree, and sure enough, it says everything that the Jews just said. So it confirms all of their testimony that sure enough there were these vessels that were supposed to get back. And sure enough, they were even supposed to use stones and timber. What the governor Tatanai had said, they're using these huge stones and they're using timber to build the temple. Well, sure enough, that was in a decree from Cyrus. And Cyrus said it should be built on its site.

21:23That is in verse 3. Let the house be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and let its foundations be retained. So they wanted to build it where the temple was. Likely, Cyrus was a little bit superstitious, and he thought maybe sending these countries back to their land would give him favor. And we'll see the same thing from Darius. But he's saying, give them everything they want, build it on the spot, just like the Jews have said. Okay, verse 6. Now, therefore, Tatanai, governor of the province beyond the river, Shathar Bazanai, and your associates, the governors who are in the province beyond the river, keep away. Let the work on this house of God alone. Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews rebuild this house of God on its sight. Moreover, I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews, for the rebuilding of this house of God. The cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue. The tribute of the province from beyond the river. And whatever is needed, bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, or oil, as the priests at Jerusalem require, let that be given to them day by day without fail, that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. So again, we see the good hand of God. We saw this in the early chapters of Ezra with Cyrus himself, who had sent them back, but he didn't just send them back, he sent the decree to all the nations and said to every nation, when you see these people going by, you're required to help them and give them things, give them money, give them food. Well, now Darius is doing the same thing. Tatanai has written to them, and maybe the Jews back home, as Tatanai has kind of come and talked to them, they're a little fearful. They keep building because they trust the Lord, but they're a little fearful that maybe the response is going to come back. You guys got to stop building, or there's going to be persecution. But the exact opposite happens. As they're waiting for this letter that they don't know if it's going to come back positive or negative, it doesn't just come back positive. He doesn't just say, keep building. Instead, he says, keep building, and the whole province that's over there, everyone now has the responsibility of helping them. He kind of repeats that same attitude of Cyrus: everybody pitch in and help them. So this whole province would have had. A royal revenue that was supposed to go to the king of Persia, and the king of Persia said, Why don't you use that royal revenue that's supposed to come to me? Use that to build the temple. It's amazing, right? That God has worked in the heart of this king to cause him to be such a blessing to his people, to give him so much money. And not only money, everything they need for offerings. Verse 9: Whatever is needed, bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven. Wheat, salt was used for the grain offering, wine was used for the drink offering, oil was used for one of the burnt offerings. As the priests at Jerusalem require, let that be given to them day by day without fail. So every day, anytime they need it, you give them whatever they want. If they're getting ready to sacrifice and they say they need something, you better give it to them without fail that they may offer pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. And then he doesn't just make a suggestion, he puts a threat, a huge threat on the end of the statement. Everybody has to help him, and if you don't, verse 11, I also make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made as Dunghill. May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. I, Darius, make a decree. Let it be done with all diligence. So he says that he's putting all of his authority behind this. Anyone who doesn't obey this, his house is going to be ripped apart. He's going to be killed. His house is going to be turned into a dunghill. And if any kingdom comes and tries to attack them or stall them, may God Himself stop them and ruin their kingdom. It's pretty amazing. He doesn't just have a little bit of a positive response for the Jews. He takes their back. He gets their back. Forget the phrase. He has their back. There we go. He has their back for any situation. He has put all of his authority behind this and said to all the people there, this has to happen. Everybody pitch in.

26:36Verse 13. Then, according to the word sent by Darius, the king, Tatanai, the governor of the province beyond the river, Shathar Bazani and their associates did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered. And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo. They finished their building. By the decree of the God of Israel and by the decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes. We'll come back to that. It doesn't quite belong. King of Persia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel, 12 male goats according to the number of the tribes of Israel. And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses. So the governors obey Darius. They give the Jews all the help they need. And about four years later, four and a half years later, they actually finished the temple. About four and a half years after the prophets had come. So just to catch you up on timeline. Uh-oh. Hey, that's okay. All right. So catch you up on timeline. They had come back to the land in the 530s. They started, and then they stalled because they were scared. The prophets came in 520, right after the reign of Darius the Great started. Haggai and Zechariah, and they said, you guys stop this. It's time to restart. And so they restarted. And within about four years, so from like five. 20 to 516.

28:32They worked on it, and they actually finished because of the help of the people. Everything was exciting. They offered 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel, 12 male goats according to the number of the tribes of Israel. So they're having this huge, probably a feast of dedication. They're full of joy. They have joy in their hearts that the temple is finally finished. And they offer all these hundreds of animals, which is a lot of animals. It's not a lot compared to Solomon's temple. Do you guys remember how huge the numbers are for Solomon's temple? 22,000 cattle, 120,000 sheep and goats. So there also were a lot more people in Israel at that time, so maybe that explains it. But still, for the amount of people that are in Israel after the exile, this is a lot of animals. 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs. So this is a big to-do. They are very excited. The temple's finally done. They're rejoicing. God's promise has been fulfilled, and they have their temple again where they can worship. Any thoughts or questions?

29:43Oh, yeah, Artaxerxes. I said we'd come back to them. So look at verse 14. They finished, this is the second half of verse 14. They finished their building. Notice it doesn't say of the temple. It just says they finished their building by the decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes, king of Persia. So God's decree, they obeyed God's decree that they should build this temple, and God's decree that they would build this temple. But he's also saying that they're building according to the decrees of these kings, Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes. Seems kind of like he fast-forwards and puts this out of place, like we looked at last time with the opposition. And I think it's just helpful to remember that the author of this book, whether we say it's Ezra or Nehemiah or both, is living in the reign of Artaxerxes. So Artaxerxes has sent them back and given them permission to build things, the walls and things like that. And the author is writing after that time. And so it's not far-fetched for us to say that the author, as he's remembering that they finished a temple in Cyrus and Darius' reign, to say, and they were also building in Artaxerxes' reign, not the temple, but something else. So it seems a little out of place, but I think it's easy to see once we remember that the author is actually down in that generation, in Artaxerxes' generation. Any thoughts or questions, James?

31:16Yeah, I think so. And you can sense the joy of the people. It says this, maybe in the part we're about to read, but it mentions their joy over and over, how joyful they are that they've. Finally, at this temple. But you have to imagine that it's probably mixed with this pain of what their sin had cost, what the sin of their forefathers had cost. This generation likely would have grown up hearing the words of Jeremiah and Ezekiel and Isaiah and Daniel and those prophets that talked so much about the exile. And they probably could look back and say, wow, God meant what he said all along. And the people just wouldn't listen. They wouldn't listen. They wouldn't listen. But he also meant what he said when he said we would come back. And even though that punishment has happened, God has been faithful to also keep his promise about the temple and bringing the people back. Any other questions or comments?

32:21All right, the last part, verse 19. So they finished the temple. In verse 19, on the 14th day of the first month, this would have been about three weeks later, after the temple was completed, on the 14th day of the first month, the returned exiles kept the Passover. So this is going to be the first big festival that they get to keep in the temple. For the priests and the Levites had purified themselves together, all of them were clean. So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests and for themselves. It was eaten by the people of Israel who had returned from exile and also by the people. By everyone who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord, the God of Israel. And they kept the feast of unleavened bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful. And I turned the heart of the king of Assyria. That's that tricky part I mentioned earlier. Turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. So they're back, and almost right away after they finish the temple, the priests start right away because they're faithful, and they go through the required cleansing so that they can be ready for the Passover. And the Passover comes, and the people are excited as they remember the Exodus. And then they have the feast of unleavened bread, which was right after the Passover. And they're doing this with joy because I love what it says in verse 22, for the Lord had made them joyful. God had made them joyful. He kept his promise to them. And he brought them this joy of being home with the temple.

34:08He says, and he had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them. That's the same thing. I think it's talking about Cyrus again there, who was the king of Persia, who earlier called him the king of Babylon, and now it's calling him the king of Assyria. And I think the picture is he's conquered all these lands. Assyria was the one that was the group to take the northern tribes captive at the very beginning. Time they were taken captive, and now it's a blessing to remember that this king of Persia, who has taken over all those lands, has sent the people back with his full blessing.

34:44I think, I meant Darius. Did I say Cyrus? Okay, yeah, I meant Darius. Thank you. The king of all these lands now. And the Lord, you see here that the author is clear, is very clear to us that in all of this, the whole point of this is that God has done it. They wouldn't have been able to do it without God's help. God sent them the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah. He spoke through them to kind of kick them into action, and they listened. And then God turned the heart of that king, Darius, to give them above and beyond what they ever imagined in answer to their prayers and in answer to their hopes that he gave them everything they needed. And it was God behind the scenes being faithful to do all of that.

35:43Any thoughts or questions? I think that it is so exciting for us to look back at God's faithfulness. And this is something we've seen throughout the letter of Ezra. So it sounds kind of like a broken record, but God is there constantly, over and over, behind the scenes, working this out. And if you remember at the very beginning of Ezra, we talked about how Ezra's generation, this is before Ezra, but Ezra's book, as he's remembering the people coming back from the land, it's very parallel to them coming out of Egypt. But that coming back was full of those miraculous signs and wonders with the plagues and the parting of the Red Sea and all these amazing things that God did. But this one is maybe even more amazing because of how behind the scenes God is. He's working so faithfully for his people, but he's doing it in a way that we can't even understand. He's turning the hearts of kings. He's blessing the people so much. He's keeping his promise just like he did to the generation in Egypt, but he's doing it in this really special way where he's sending them back and blessing them. It's a special blessing for us, and I think more normal of how God works in our lives, even today. I think God is, as he's keeping his promises to us, I think he's doing it in this more providential way versus this miraculous way in our lives. I think we see that the Lord works more behind the scenes.

37:25Another application that I think we can take from this is just. To note how they weren't fearful. This people who had been so fearful for so long, who had, even after they had come back and God had kept his promise of bringing them back to their land, they got afraid again for 15 years and stopped building until the prophets came and said, Let's get this started again. But in this time, they aren't afraid. And even when the governor comes, they just boldly say it plainly. They say, We disobeyed God, and he gave us into the hand of this king. But now we're back and we're building this temple. We're rebuilding the temple that Solomon had built. And they're bold and they keep building and they trust the Lord. And I think that the call is the same for us: that we can keep trusting the Lord, we can keep being faithful, we can keep trusting that the Lord is going to take care of situations. And in the meantime, instead of worrying, there's a forgotten a reference, so I can't tell you. It's a verse in Peter about doing good.

38:37Well, I can't say it, but basically, while we wait, we get to do good. And it's kind of the same idea of, you know, we don't know what the future holds, but in the meantime, we are going to do good. In the meantime, we're going to be faithful and do our job. I was going to read that hymn one more time unless anyone has a comment or a question. I love this poem, and I think that it describes how God has worked so well in this, behind the scenes, in a way we can understand. Hymn 664, God moves in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. You fearful saints, fresh courage take. The clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break in blessings on your head. Judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. Blind unbelief is sure to err, and scan his work in vain. God is his own interpreter, and he will make it plain. Let's pray. Father, we're amazed at how faithfully you keep your promises.

39:59And I pray that we wouldn't get lost in the historical details of this text. I pray that we wouldn't think that this is too hard for us to understand, but that we could look back and realize that you were so amazing and faithful to this generation. We thank you, Lord, that you do keep all of your promises. And we trust in you that you'll keep your promises even in the New Testament about salvation, that we can turn to you. And you will be our rock. And I pray, Lord, that in the meantime, as we wait to see you face to face, that we would even now be faithful in our life, continue on to be obedient and not be scared or fearful. In Jesus' name, amen.