Imagine walking through the aftermath in NYC a day or two after the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center towers. When I see those images, like the one I posted here today, I can’t help but wonder if there are similarities to what Jeremiah saw (and thought) when he walked through the ruins of the great city of Jerusalem, following the Babylonian attack that destroyed their beloved temple... as many of the survivors were carried away into captivity. And those people had warning as indicated from what Jeremiah wrote about in his book.

The sad part about all that is ...it didn’t have to happen. God’s judgments never...have to take place, or ‘happen’...if we’d just do what He says. If Adam and Eve had just listened to God and not eaten off that one tree....(Gen. 2:17). But here we are.

I came across a great quote years ago that said “The only difference between wisdom and experience, is that experience just cost so much more.”

If you got the chance to read through those first four chapters in Lamentations like I encouraged you to do in my closing remarks yesterday, you get a sense of the grief and ‘lamenting’ that Jeremiah had to be feeling as he took in all around him...the ‘wreckage and fallout’...that occurs when people continue to think their ways are better than God’s ways. He saw things that were unimaginable. Never in a million years could he have foreseen ‘the nations enter her sanctuary ...those whom God commanded not to enter His assembly’ (Lam. 1:10). “Who would have believed the adversary and the enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem...?” (Lam. 4:12). [you mean ‘Christians’ can have demons’?]

Something else you will see in those four chapters...is the explanation as to why this all happened. Beside the fact it was forewarned back in Deut. 29:20-28, Jeremiah points out how the ‘prophets/teachers’ had mislead the people...giving them ‘false visions and deceptive words’ when it came to teaching the law of God. (2:9,14; 4:13). And make no mistake about it, God was ‘instrumental’ in bringing this destruction on the people and the city. We are told that “The Lord was like an enemy” (2:5) and had ‘caused an enemy to rejoice over you’ (2:17), even suggesting that the Lord had been “like a lion in the ambush” (3:10)

Friends...who is our ‘enemy’ today? (1 Pet. 5:8). And what does this ‘enemy’ come to do, as we read in John 10:10 where he is described as a ‘thief’? And what did Jesus say the ‘day of the Lord’ would be like in 1 Thess. 5:1-4? Oh, do you recall the ‘word picture’ Jesus used in Revelation 3:3 and 16:15? (He is coming as a ‘thief’). I know...that’s a tough one to process.

So let’s fast-forward now, 70 years, which is commonly known as the ‘Babylonian Exile’, that 70 year time period where those who survived were carried away into captivity to live in Babylon. This had all been foretold by the prophet Jeremiah, but as God had also promised as well...a day was coming when He would bring them out of that captivity. This seems to be a common theme throughout the Bible, is it not? From Moses...all the way through to Jesus coming to ‘set the captives free’ (Luke 4:18; John 3:18; 8:34).

Welcome to the Book of Ezra, that tells the beginning of this next chapter in the lives of God’s people. Chapter 2 lays out how the ‘remnant’ would make the trek back to their fallen homeland, because plans were made to ‘rebuild and restore’. That has always been...God’s ultimate plan for His people. You sure have to admire the persistence and faith God has, not to mention His ‘longsuffering’ in wanting ‘all to come to repentance’ and to not suffer (2 Pet. 3:9; Luke 13:1-5)

Interesting historical side note here that I came across a few years ago. Only a very small percentage of the captives returned to their homeland... while most settled in and remained where they were, even after being warned of further destruction that would befall Babylon (Jer. 50-51). Hence why they are known as the ‘remnant’ who came back to begin the restoration work on the temple (Ezra 3). God has always had...a ‘remnant’.

Keep in mind...you had quite the mix of age differences involved, since many of those who returned were younger, having been born into captivity during those 70 years. I’ll give you a moment with that one to think about. And then...there were the older ones who had seen what the city looked like prior to the invasion and ensuing destruction. This helps you to better understand the scene that unfolds there in Ezra 3:10-13, following the laying of the foundation where the new temple would be constructed. You have all these younger people celebrating and excited about a ‘new work’ to be a part of, while the older ones were ‘weeping’...most likely for ‘all the reasons’ as they were older and were looking back, remembering what ‘used to be’.....and what ‘could have been’...if only...  

Please take a moment and read Ezra 4:1-5, because there is some vital insight offered up that every believer (regardless of where you are in your journey of faith) needs to make note of and understand: You have an adversary who will continue to work against you to ‘discourage and frustrate’ you in this ‘rebuilding/restoring process; and this ‘enemy’ we have is not to be ‘ignored’ ...but ‘resisted’ (1 Pet. 5:8-9; James 4:7) given we are not ‘ignorant of his devices’ (2 Cor. 2:11).

And as we see at the end of chapter 4 in Ezra...the enemy succeeded in bringing the work of the house of God to a standstill (23-24). I shouldn’t have to point out and remind you, that God ‘no longer lives in houses built by hands (Acts 17:24)...but that ‘we are His temple’ (1 Cor. 3:16; 6:19)...and we...are the ones being restored and ‘conformed to the image of His Son’ (Rom. 8:29). And yes...you have an enemy who will continue to work against this process, which is why we are admonished to ‘give him no place’ (Eph. 4:27), to ‘take up our armor to stand against him’ (Eph. 6:11-12) and to ‘bring into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ’ as we ‘war in the spirit’ (2 Cor. 10:3-5). And yet...’life happens’; and people ‘drift’ if not ‘fall away’ from this faith.

But God...(to be continued)