Ezra chapter 6 beginning in verse 13. This is the text that we have been waiting for. We have been a long time in building the temple in our text and now we find where it brought to completion. Ezra chapter 6 verse 13. Then Tatnai, governor on this side of the river, Shethuboznai and their companions, according to that which Darius the king had sent, so they did speedily. And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo. And they builded and finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel. And according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. This is the word of the Lord. you will remember that shortly before this the temple building project had languished for 16 or 17 years as the people were overcome by discouragement they were pressured from the foreign powers that were around them and put off from this task it being a dangerous and a difficult thing to do with so much powerful opposition around but God according to his grace and in fulfillment of prophecy sent Haggai and Zachariah to stir the people up he sent his external call through the prophets and then accompanied it with his internal call the prophets moved to stir the people and they are stirred by the power of the Holy Ghost they begin the work of building up this temple again the elders of the Jews are intent upon going forward and when Tatnai comes and wants them to stop the work until he can have the answers to certain questions of propriety the elders of the Jews will not stop having a command from God the God of heaven the God of Israel the God of the Persians and also having the commandment of Cyrus they will not stop so Tatnai writes to Cyrus and he wants to know about the propriety of this is this in keeping with the mind of the king Darius goes back and he finds the decree of Cyrus that Cyrus had indeed warranted this building and then Darius enforces Cyrus's decree Tatnai is to get out of the way of their building Tatnai is to support The building of the temple with tax revenues is to provide the substance for the sacrificial worship. Beasts, wine, salt, oil, all of the material substance that they need. And finally, Darius threatens disobedience with death. Anybody that stands in the way of the temple building is going to be put to death. And here we see something of the result of the decree. And we find what a powerful thing it is when a magistrate will function properly in the building up of the church. Verse 13, first we'll go through this text verse by verse and then we'll derive two doctrines. Verse 13, Ben Tatnai, governor on this side of the river, sheeth her bosni and their companions according to that which Darius the king had sent so they did speedily so here we have the effect of the king's decree if you back up a little bit to verse 7 you get the substance of what Darius had commanded them to do which is very important we've already alluded to it verse 7 let the work of this house of God alone so first thing that he wants get out of the way let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place moreover I make a decree what ye shall do to the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God that of the king's goods even of the tribute beyond the river forthwith expenses be given them to these men that they be not hindered so here you have the tax revenues that are commanded And that which they have need of, both young bullocks and rams and lambs, for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine and oil, according to the appointment of the priests which are at Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail." So here you've got a different kind of tax. Beasts and goods that are necessary for the sacrificial worship to continue without hindrance. So verse 13, in a summary statement, it simply says that Tat and I and his companions did what they had been commanded to do. Interestingly enough, they are even obedient with respect to the manner. Look at the end of verse 12. I, Darius, have made a decree. Let it be done with speed. He wants it done right now, verse 13b. So they did speedily. same word in Aramaic he commanded these things to be done he wanted them done right away these things were done and they were done right away so the magistrate removes all of those things that might hinder this project and positively gives support financial and substantial support so that the work might be carried on verse 14 and the elders of the Jews build it and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo and they build it and finished it according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia as I mentioned earlier the elders did not stop for Kat and I before when he was trying to hinder them now they've got every support and help for pressing on to completion they have supplies from the government now for completing the work that they had begun interestingly enough they're pressing on to completion you might at this point expect that the support of the government would be highlighted because there's been so much discussion of it but rather the chief support that is talked about here in the temple building is the preaching of the prophets the government supporting but now that kind of slips off to the side and the chief support that is highlighted that they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah Haggai and Zachariah are continuing in the work that they had started, which was to encourage them in their work. And as you look at the prophecies of Haggai and Zachariah, they're twofold. They reproved the people for their backwardness and their slothfulness in the building up of the temple. So there is a rebuke in what they do and in their teaching, but there's also a positive encouragement. The thing that God has promised, the thing that he has prophesied will be done. This temple will be completed. God will settle his glory upon it. So they are rebuking on the one hand and encouraging on the other. Put off that sin that has delayed this and rather believe the prophecy and work towards that end. and the people are responding appropriately the house is finished according to the commandment of God God has commanded it and so they are doing and this is very consistent with the answer of the Jews you will remember that they were asked by Tatnai by what authority are you doing this? and they gave a twofold answer by the authority of God who has commanded it through his prophets and by the authority of Cyrus the king that twofold authority is still not recognized here we're doing this in accordance with the commandment of God first and foremost but we also have the warrant of Cyrus Darius and Artaxerxes if you remember the work we did in chapter 4 and I don't want to do too much with this but this is perplexing the mention of Artaxerxes is odd in one regard chronologically it's odd the temple is going to be finished in about the year 516 or so that's during the reign of Darius Artaxerxes won't take the throne until 458 which is quite a ways distant there's all kinds of speculations I'm not sure that anybody knows for sure about is this that Artaxerxes that we know from history as Artaxerxes is this just the name of a king? Old John Gill thought that Artaxerxes is none other than Darius, so you might translate it according to the commandment of Darius, that is Artaxerxes. So it's very interesting, I do think on balance that this is the very Artaxerxes that we know from history and although you have a dischronologizing of the text at this point and looking into the future we do find that that Artaxerxes does support the temple, now it's already built, but again material and substantial provision through the work of Ezra. But again this is a very difficult question. You survey 20 commentators you'll probably get about 20 different views on exactly who this is and what is the chronological relationship between Zerubbabel's mission and Ezra's mission and Nehemiah's mission. It's not very clear the time frame of all of these things. But we will find in our desert seas in chapter 7 supporting the temple, supporting Ezra in his mission so literarily it all ties very neatly together even if chronologically these things are spaced out finally verse 15 and this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king so Adar was the last month in the Jewish calendar about our month February or so And the year of completion was about 516 or 515. Remember that they began back in 538. So you're looking at more than 20 years, maybe about 22 years or so for this project to finally be brought to its completion. from this text we want to look at just two doctrines and the first somewhat briefly we've had so much occasion to look at it but here it is in our text again and it seems as if God would have us to focus our minds upon it temple building is greatly facilitated by a properly functioning magistrate You see how affected their work becomes when Darius supports the work of the temple. They've been frustrated for 16 or 17 years. Darius gives his support and before you know it, they're done. This principle is evident in more than just the book of Ezra. We do see it with Darius. Once he gives his support, the opposition of Tatanai falls away. He provides all of the material support that's necessary for going on to conclusion. But in some ways it's not necessary for me to cite just any one other text. What could be more obvious in the book of the kings than that the spiritual character, quality and actions of the king profoundly affects the spiritual condition of the people and the church. over and over again it said you get something like this this king was righteous and he did after the works of David his father and he went and tore down high places and became a great support to the church and there was revival when the king lifted up his countenance upon true religion but we also see the opposite sort of thing when a king will continue in idolatry and continue in the works of Jeroboam in the northern kingdom what do we find but that the people have a tendency to follow suit and to continue in idolatry so kings have a powerful influence over temple building or temple wasting both of those things are true you remember that Manasseh had left the temple in quite a ruin, the physical structure so much so that the book of the law of God was little known except by tradition when Josiah comes to the throne and they are surprised when they discover the book of the law the temple had been lying in a ruin so you see that depending upon the religious character of the magistrate there are going to be implications for the church We have to observe the teaching of scripture in our day and age. We like to think of it very much in the other way. And it can be by God's grace. God can do these things in any way that he wants. But we'll simply rally ourselves as a people and then the magistrate will simply follow suit. And that can happen. but we see in redemptive history that usually it's going the other way when God is pleased to revive a people he'll revive the heart of the king and he'll revive the hearts of the priests, his ministers to bring the people along in reformation it's a normal way that God has worked and so it's our application of this doctrine we said it over and over again we have a great duty to pray for the magistrate and it seems in this day that God will not let us forget it as we've been going through Ezra in your bulletin you ought to have a section from the directory of public worship this comes from the section of the prayer before the sermon and here we get some practical instruction on how to pray for the magistrate and then some illustrations of how they did in their own time so the minister is to pray for all men authority especially to the king's majesty that God would make him rich in blessings both in his person and government establish his throne in religion and righteousness you see this is something we're to be praying for not a secular government but that the throne would be established in religion and biblical righteousness and that the king would be saved from evil counsel we know that our people in government are continually surrounded by lobbyists whose mouths are full of evil counsel. And this is not new. Of course the court of King Charles, which is what the Westminster divines are dealing with, he was surrounded by evil counselors continually. Counselors that may very well have been largely responsible for the folly of the king and his execution ultimately. save him from evil counsel and make him a blessed and glorious instrument for the conservation and propagation of the gospel how many times have we seen that in Ezra that this ought to be part of our prayers that the magistrate would be useful for conserving preserving the gospel but more than that to advance it or forward it in our nation for the encouragement and protection of them that do well and the terror of all that do evil and the great good of the whole church so that the church would be blessed by the work of the magistrate and of all his kingdoms so here you have some general things concerning prayer given and what's very interesting about this is now you get some of the particulars that they were praying for concerning King Charles at that time makes this very interesting I don't know if you know this but one of the great concerns of that generation was that King Charles had married a Papist and that the royal seed was being brought up under Roman Catholic tutors and they were very concerned that the entire work of Reformation would be overturned in a generation by Roman Catholic King see this very much in their minds they pray for the conversion of the queen a papist the religious education of the prince you see they wanted him brought up in the reformed religion and the rest of the royal seed for the comforting of the afflicted Queen of Bohemia, sister to our sovereign. Now you're looking at Charles' relatives that were Protestants but were experiencing difficulty in various places in Europe. So there's prayers for the Queen of Bohemia, and for the restitution and establishment of the illustrious Prince Charles, Elector Palatine of the Rhine, to all his dominions and dignity. So this Protestant prince had been driven out. and they're praying for his restoration for a blessing upon the High Court of Parliament when sitting in any of these kingdoms respectively the nobility the subordinate judges and magistrates the gentry and all the commonality so here you see them in quite a bit of detail praying for civil society from the king king's household working on their way down to parliaments, other governments and government officials that are related in other places, subordinate judges, magistrates, the gentry, upper class and the commonality, the lower class, that everybody in civil society would be of one mind. we ought to be praying towards this end and I know that it seems like a thing incredible to think of and so very distant but if you read carefully the book of Judges and then again John's Apocalypse you'll find that our God has frequently been delighted to rescue his church when it's in the utmost peril and danger it seems that he'll do that to make it clear that it is only his power that has done it that the church had no strength for delivering herself or doing anything for herself but God by his own power and for the glory of his grace will reach down and save a people and so we ought to call upon the name of our God and we're well assured that it's nothing for him to turn the heart of the king even as he turned your heart to Jesus Christ he can turn the heart of a prince or magistrate and so we ought not to pray unbelieving in these things but believe he's well able to do the thing that we ask just another thing to consider in history and from this very period of time shortly before this if you are a Presbyterian in England and they found you preaching without authorization of the Anglican Church and the Crown they might take you before the Court of High Commission brand your face so that everybody would know that you had been preaching without authorization and slit your nostrils so that you wouldn't be able to enunciate or project your voice anymore and there were even crueler torments than that, I mean the cutting out of the tongue this is what was waiting for you as a Presbyterian in England shortly before the sitting of the Westminster Assembly a depressed church, a persecuted church, a church that could only meet in secret but then what happens in God's providence? there's a war between King and Parliament the parliament recognizes that the Anglican church is a bulwark for the king so they disestablish Anglicanism and those very ministers that have been persecuted just years before suddenly government is going to pay for us to have an assembly of divines and to meet about the settling of religion a thing that had looked impossible you see impossible but suddenly God changed it in his providence Now this took hold in Scotland but not so much in England ultimately. But you see how very quickly God can reverse these kinds of things. It doesn't take very much. The mighty Lord of Providence can do many things unexpected, many things marvelous. So we ought to be praying to this end that the temple would be built up and that the magistrate would function properly according to his place and calling. We see how powerful it is. Darius is an unbeliever but he functions appropriately with respect to God's temple and you see how effective it is. Our second doctrine this morning I set forth largely for your comfort and to be received in faith. This temple will be completed. Just as that temple was in that ancient time after so many years of frustration and difficulty and fear was ultimately completed, this temple will be completed. There's a certain restless energy in history, the energy of the spirit. He's not going to stop, he's relentless in this way until that temple is finished. The living temple of Jesus Christ. turn in your Bibles to Matthew chapter 13 we see here the Lord Jesus Christ and you have to understand the context Israel is the visible church but almost universally corrupt and unbelieving temple is really really small Jesus and a few disciples you have to understand in order to understand the power of this parable and what it was that Jesus foresaw concerning the future. Matthew chapter 13 beginning in verse 31. Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field. which indeed is the least of all seeds but when it is grown it is the greatest among herbs and becometh a tree so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof so the Lord Jesus Christ portrays the beginning of the advancement of this temple as like a mustard seed a very small and weak and hidden thing goes away hidden into the ground we might borrow some of the other scripture language where it dies small, weak and hidden but it will become exceeding large as it advances you see something again of the preaching of the resurrection that tree is not going to come forth until the seed goes into the ground and it dies but then it comes back with that resurrection life and it becomes very very large as Jesus portrays it here I mean you think of the proportion between that seed that's hardly visible and that great tree that's going to come from it that's a very large difference in scale and so we've seen it in our day that that little bit of gospel that was preached in the next parable that little bit of leaven that was sown in Palestine by just a handful of men is now spread throughout all of the earth a most remarkable thing but we ask the question well how large will it become? turn in your Bibles to Psalm 72 here we have a psalm for Solomon as it's titled here but as we read through this psalm I think you'll begin to get the impression that this psalm is about something more than Solomon for indeed Solomon's kingdom never attained to the greatness that's spoken of here Indeed, this is a psalm about David and Solomon's greater son, the Lord Jesus Christ. And Solomon's kingdom, as great as it was, was only a glimmer, a shadow, an image of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 72. Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. He shall judge thy people with righteousness and thy poor with judgment. The mountain shall bring peace to the people and the little hills by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people. He shall save the children of the needy and shall break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure throughout all generations. like a little something more than Solomon here very much like what we had in Psalm 110 a priest forever endless days Hebrews chapter 7 he shall come down like rain upon the moon grass as showers that water the earth in his days shall the righteous flourish and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. So what greater than Solomon? They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemy shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isle shall bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all nations shall serve him. You remember the intercourse that Solomon's kingdom and his court had with Gentile kings and rulers, just an image or a shadow of the Prince of Peace reigning not only over Israel, but over all of the nations of the earth as all kings fall down before him, all nations serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the poor also and him that hath no helper. an exceeding good king. He shall spare the poor and the needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence, and precious shall their blood be in his sight. And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba. Prayer also shall be made for him continually, and daily shall he be praised. There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains. The fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon, and they of the city shall flourish like the grass of the earth. His name shall endure forever. His name shall be continued as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in him. All nations shall call him blessed. Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doth wondrous things. And blessed be His glorious name forever, and let the whole earth be filled with His glory. Amen and Amen. The prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended. As if this is his last and his ultimate prayer, the capstone of his prayers for his whole life. A prayer for Solomon, yes. but about the greater than Solomon indeed we find here what is the extent of that kingdom it's going to comprehend and subsume all nations and it's an eternal kingdom all of time and all of the people forever and we are assured in scripture that the kingdom will advance to its foreordained size Romans chapter 11 Turn there with me if you will. For those of you that know something about the interpretation of these verses, you know that they've been very controversial. We don't need to enter into the controversy in order to establish our point and our concern. Verse 25. For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, unless ye should be wise in your own conceits. that blindness in part has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles be come in and so all Israel shall be saved. Now there's been a lot of question about whether or not Israel here is the visible ethnic Israel or all of the church we don't necessarily need to get into that but we are assured that the fullness of the Gentiles will come in all of those that God has ordained to be part of this living temple will come and all Israel will be saved there are two ways that that is taken in either way it establishes the point if you take Israel here as an ethnic category basically it's saying that the fullness of the Gentiles will come in and the fullness of believing Jews will come in this is the way that I take it and understand it because Israel is an ethnic category throughout Romans chapter 11 but some will take this as basically all the church which is the same point and in this way the entire church will be saved the entire body of believers either way it makes our point which is that the temple will expand to its foreordained size every block every living stone is going to take its place in that and God is going to continue this on until he completes it I wanted to go a little bit further sometimes we are portrayed as a temple corporately and sometimes we are portrayed as little temples individually and that temple building work will be completed as well Philippians chapter 1 verse 6 being confident of this very thing that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ a very comforting truth that the work of grace that's been begun in you the temple building work that's begun in you as an individual will continue on until it's completed in you no one gets a partial salvation nobody gets an election and justification but no sanctification and ultimate glorification in union with Jesus Christ by faith you get a full and comprehensive salvation which means that it will continue on until you are glorified and perfected in Christ that's a very comforting thing so when you think about us corporately are we small in your eyes? so were the 120 before that Pentecost sermon 3,000 are converted in a single day from a single sermon do you believe that such things can happen? they seem like such a small body and suddenly made large we're reminded, you remember the text in Samuel where Jonathan goes up against the Philistines alone something that as far as military tactics might leave a little something wanting but he goes up by himself with his armor bearer and he assures his armor bearer it's nothing for the Lord to save by many or by few and so let's go up and Jonathan becomes responsible for their victory over the Philistines on that occasion because of the greatness of his faith and knowing that God doesn't deliver by the strength of men's arms we recently had in the psalm in our family worship God doesn't delight in horses or in the legs of a man he'll do these things by his own power he worked a deliverance through just a few Jonathan and his armor bearer and we're told concerning the temple in particular will not be by man's might nor by man's power but by the power of the spirit so when he tells us that this temple is going to be completed and we look around us and we think well we're so very small it makes not the slightest difference the way that things appear not the slightest difference he'll complete his temple building project even as that small poor group of Israelites in Palestine surrounded by enemies finish their temple because God promised them it would be so so it is with us this temple will be finished because God has promised that it would be so when we think about ourselves as individuals and we hear this promise that the work that's begun in us will be completed then we always think and object but my sins my sins are a great obstacle but you ought not to think in those terms your sins are nothing to withstand God and the power of this grace and that's what salvation is but the overcoming of your sin He was mighty to blot out the guilt of them, and that same Lord Jesus Christ is mighty to break the power of them. And they're nothing to withstand. As we had it this morning, the devil was nothing to withstand him. He overcame the world. He overcame the grave. Your sins are nothing to withstand him. I once heard R.C. Sproul explain the Calvinistic doctrine of irresistible grace in this way. He said, it's not that your sins won't resist, it's that God by sovereign power will overcome all of your resistance. The temple will be completed in you, and you are nothing to withstand or oppose him. He'll turn your heart to it. I would observe here, finally, That with this word preach, just like in the time of Ezra, we need to respond to this word appropriately. They heard this preaching from the prophets. They were reproved concerning their sins. They turned away from their sloth, unbelief, and fear. And they embraced the encouragement. It's one of my favorite parts in our confession of faith. It talks about saving faith, responding appropriately. to the word of God. If we're threatened, then we tremble. That's receiving the word in faith, believing it. But when God gives us comforts and consolations, it's sinful not to be comforted. So when he gives us these precious truths, your temple is going to be finished. We receive it in faith, believing and we're comforted and we move forward in that faith. When he rebukes us and tells us, put off that unbelief and that fearfulness, It's got nothing to do with your power anyway. Then we respond by repenting, just as they did in that ancient time, responding to the preaching of the word appropriately. And so believe concerning our own temple building work and be encouraged. Let us pray together. This Reformation audio track is a production of Stillwater's Revival Books. SWRB makes thousands of classic Reformation resources available, free and for sale, in audio, video, and printed formats. Our many free resources, as well as our complete mail-order catalog, containing thousands of classic and contemporary Puritan and Reform books, tapes, and videos at great discounts, is on the web at www.swrb.com. We can also be reached by email at swrb.com, by phone at 780-450-3730, by fax at 780-468-1096, or by mail at 4710-37A Edmonton, Alberta, abbreviated capital A, capital B, Canada, T6L3T5. You may also request a free printed catalog. And remember that John Calvin, in defending the Reformation's regulative principle of worship, or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship, commenting on the words of God, which I commanded them not, neither came into my heart. From his commentary on Jeremiah 731, writes, God here cuts off from men every occasion for making evasions, since He condemns by this one phrase, I have not commanded them, whatever the Jews devised. There is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than that they are not commanded by God. For when men allow themselves to worship God according to their own fancies, and attend not to His commands, they pervert true religion. And if this principle was adopted by the Papists, all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground. It is indeed a horrible thing for the Papists to seek to discharge their duties towards God by performing their own superstitions. There is an immense number of them, as it is well known, and as it manifestly appears. Were they to admit this principle, that we cannot rightly worship God except by obeying His word, they would be delivered from their deep abyss of error. The Prophet's words, then, are very important, when he says that God had commanded no such thing, and that it never came to his mind, as though he had said that men assume too much wisdom when they devise what he never required, nay, what he never knew.