Ezra 3:8-13 -- God's Lovingkindess

In the latter part of chapter 3, Israel begins construction of the temple.  They gave money to the Tyrians and the Sidonians for the materials needed, a request which was reinforced by the decree that Cyrus had made. 

 

What a difference this is from the way the first temple was built.  When Solomon didn’t need permission, but rather worked in harmony with the surrounding nations.  

 

Not only that, but they did not have the wealth that Solomon had and the current construction was nothing in comparison to what it had been.  Those who had been alive to see the first temple were even bereft at the difference between the two.  So much so that you could not discern the difference between the shouts of joy and the shouts of mourning. 

 

In the construction of both temples though, there was one thing that didn’t change from old to new, and that is the goodness and lovingkindness of the LORD.

 

2 Chron 7:3, after the construction of the first temple under Solomon it says – All the sons of Israel, seeing the fire come down and the glory of the LORD upon the house, bowed down on the pavement with their faces to the ground, and they worshiped and gave praise to the LORD, saying, “Truly He is good, truly His lovingkindness is everlasting.”

 

In verse 11 of our chapter it says –

 

“They sang, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, saying, “For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.” 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.”

 

“For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.”

 

What role did God’s goodness and His lovingkindess play in this?

 

Israel rebelled against the LORD.  They had been living out the consequences of that rebellion.

 

There is nothing they could have done on their own to merit any favor with God.  

 

They chose to rebel, and God was SO good to them. He plucks this nation out among all others, to call and draw to Himself and they throw it back in His face, and not just once, but over and over again.  

 

They play the harlot, exchanging the image of the incorruptible God for that which IS corruptible.  They ignore His messengers, mistreat His prophets. They seek after their own pleasures – exchanging the eternal for that which is only temporary.  Their sin hits a climax and God gives them over to its consequences. 

 

One of the biggest and most heart-breaking consequences of sin is separation. Sinful man cannot come near to God.  This is true of unbelievers, but at times this can also be true of God’s people. Sin creates a chasm between us and God. It takes us from walking with Him side by side to hiding our face at the sound of His voice. 

 

That separation doesn’t stop there though.  It affects every aspect of our lives. It destroys families, friendships, marriages. 

 

Separation is agonizing, but it’s necessary.  It can maybe seem that God goodness and love toward us has ceased for a time, but in fact the opposite is true. This is not God putting His lovingkindess on hold – but rather it’s very essence in practice – that which will not allow us to continue on in rebellion.  This is mercy, because it brings us to repentance.  It brings us to the end of ourselves, and back in fellowship with the God. 

 

One of the most loving things you can do at times is to let people feel the consequences of their sin. 

 

Ps 119:67 – “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep your word.” 

 

In the church, when someone sins and is unrepentant Matthew says, he is to be as a Gentile or tax-collector.  There is to be a separation that takes place, a consequence of their disobedience.  

 

Israel had been living with such a consequence. 

 

What does God’s goodness and lovingkindess have to do with the fact that once again despite their sin, they are standing in their homeland laying the foundation for the temple of God? 

 

It has everything to do with it.

 

It is the only reason they are there.  The only reason that once again they are granted the privilege to come before Almighty God.  

 

 

LOVINGKINDNESS

 

This word that is translated lovingkindess, used 240 times in the Old Testament. Most frequently in the Psalms. 

 

“In general, one may identify three basic meanings of the word, which always interact: “strength,” “steadfastness,” and “love.” Any understanding of the word that fails to suggest all three inevitably loses some of its richness. “Love” by itself easily becomes sentimentalized or universalized apart from the covenant. Yet “strength” or “steadfastness” suggests only the fulfillment of a legal or other obligation.” – Vines

 

Another translation of this word that is commonly used is – steadfast love. 

 

As Vine points out – the working of these two concepts in tandem is important.  God does not just act out of a sense of obligation.  He had made a covenant with Abraham and in the steadfastness of the promise made saw it through. The strength of His oath rests on the strength of His character. Which is to say it is unshakable. 

 

But fulfillment and obligation are not the only motives in regards to God’s dealings with His people.  Alongside His oath is His love. His actions towards His people are not cold business dealings.  They stem from a great Fatherly love and affection.   

 

His love turns His dealings from obligatory to voluntary.  He wants to act, He takes pleasure in it – because He loves His own. 

 

David says in Psalm 5 verse 7—

 

“But as for me, by Thine abundant lovingkindness I will enter Thy house,

At Thy holy temple I will bow in reverence for Thee.” 

 

The King James Version translates this verse –

 

“But as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy:

and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.”

 

“I will not stand at a distance, I will come into thy sanctuary, just as a child comes into his father's house. But I will not come there by my own merits; no, I have a multitude of sins, and therefore I will come in the multitude of thy mercy. I will approach thee with confidence because of thy immeasurable grace. God's judgments are all numbered, but his mercies are innumerable” – CHS

 

Israel recognized that the only reason they were standing there was because of the lovingkindess of the LORD.  

 

It is the means through which God is able to extend His grace and favor.  

 

“Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity

And passes over the rebellious act of the remnant of His possession?

He does not retain His anger forever,

Because He delights in unchanging love.” – Micah 7:18

 

Or lovingkindess.  I like what Spurgeon said before – “God's judgments are all numbered, but his mercies are innumerable.” 

 

And so here they are. From sin to separation to standing in their homeland laying the foundation of the LORD’s house. Verse 12 –

 

“Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.”

 

For those who had seen the first temple the sight of what was before them in comparison was heartbreaking. How the glory of Israel had fallen.  

 

Again, we see God’s steadfast love for His people. God could have said, well thems the breaks. YOU sinned. This is on you. But He doesn’t. Through the prophet Haggai, God encourages His people

 

“On the twenty-first of the seventh month, the word of the LORD came by Haggai the prophet saying, “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people saying, ‘Who is left among you who saw this temple in its former glory? And how do you see it now? Does it not seem to you like nothing in comparison? But now take courage, Zerubbabel,’ declares the LORD, ‘take courage also, Joshua son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and all you people of the land take courage,’ declares the LORD, ‘and work; for I am with you,’ declares the LORD of hosts. ‘As for the promise which I made you when you came out of Egypt, My Spirit is abiding in your midst; do not fear!’ For thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘Once more in a little while, I am going to shake the heavens and the earth, the sea also and the dry land. I will shake all the nations; and they will come with the wealth of all nations, and I will fill this house with glory,’ says the LORD of hosts. ‘The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’ declares the LORD of hosts. ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the LORD of hosts.” – Hag 2:1-9

 

God says, it may look inferior now, but just wait.  I’m going to fill it with the wealth of all the nations and with My own glory.  

 

The former house is going to pale in comparison to what I have in store.  

 

Israel had been brought very low.  The temple was really in some ways to them, the essence of their identity a nation. Their lives centered around the sacrificial system, around fulfilling all of the laws and ordinances God had told them to do.   What amazes me though is that the lovingkindess of the LORD didn’t just bring them back into fellowship with Him, it strengthened them to press on.  

 

In the midst of their discouragement, God gives them hope; and that is God’s lovingkindness too.  

 

He never abandoned them, not once in all their rebellion – because His love is steadfast. 

 

He had a plan – has a plan for His people and at the very core of its fulfillment is His lovingkindness. 

 

And you know, that is enough.  It’s enough to provide the strength and courage for us to keep on keeping on. Even in the face of failure.  What a thing – what a powerful thing.  

 

They may have felt that the temple was the essence of their identity, but it was not IN the temple that they lived and moved and had their being. 

 

The altar was the channel, the conduit – but God was the source. 

 

“ O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly;

My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You,

In a dry and weary land where there is no water. (David says, I am empty, I have nothing left. It’s then that he says --)

Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary,

To see Your power and Your glory.

Because Your lovingkindness is better than life,

My lips will praise You.” – Ps 63:1-3

 

Often it takes an emptiness – to realize how much we have. 

 

“Life is dear, but God's love is dearer. To dwell with God is better than life at its best; life at ease, in a palace, in health, in honour, in wealth, in pleasure; yea, a thousand lives are not equal to the eternal life which abides in Jehovah's smile. In him we truly live, and move, and have our being; the withdrawal of the light of his countenance is as the shadow of death to us: hence we cannot but long after the Lord's gracious appearing.” – CHS

 

-Augusta