PREPARATION

"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 sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the LORD, after the ordinance of David king of Israel.  And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the LORD; because He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever 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 aloud 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." (Ezra 3:10-13).

 

The children of the Jewish captivity, who had been carried away as prisoners to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar, were later commissioned by King Cyrus to return and rebuild the temple of the Lord which had been utterly destroyed at Jerusalem.  The book of Ezra tells of the work done by the Israelites, and the opposition that they faced in completing this great work.  The verses quoted above tell of the great joy that the people expressed upon completing, not the whole temple, but just the foundation!  Preparation is the key to the success of any great project, and a proper foundation is the key to the strength and endurance of any building. 

 

There was a great deal of preparation that took place before the Israelites could even begin to build the foundation.  They had to clear all of the rubble and debris that cluttered the building site from where Solomon's temple had been demolished.  They then had to carefully lay out the line for the foundation; and, as each stone was put in its place, it had to be made level and plumb.  Even before all of this, however, there was an even more crucial work of preparation that took place without which the project would have been doomed from the start.  That was the preparation that Ezra himself made before his God.  "For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments." (Ezra 7:10).  Ezra had vision, purpose, and faith.  These are the things that prepared him to face the opposition and adversities that he encountered in finishing the work that God gave him to do, and these are the qualities that we need in order to accomplish the work that God has set before us.

 

Jesus said, "Whosoever cometh to Me, and heareth My sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: he is like a man which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock.  But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was great." (Luke 6:47-49).  The foundation that we build for our lives is critical to the success that we will have in life.  The rock that we build on is the truth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God, "…upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." (Matthew 16:18).  The foundation that we build is Jesus and the words that He spoke, and those which He inspired the apostles and prophets to set down for us (See 1 Corinthians 3:11, and Ephesians 2:20-22).  We must be like Ezra, and prepare our hearts to seek the Lord. This is vital to any other thing that we may do in our life.  We are told to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and everything else will fall in line.  To do anything else is like building on sand.  If we do that, our building will surely fall when the first flood or difficulty comes our way.

 

It is not important how beautiful our house is.  The thing that distinguishes a house from a home is the love that abides within it.  Likewise, it is the Spirit of the Almighty, and our love for Him that will make our lives glorious.  In describing the Bride of Christ, the psalmist says, "The king’s daughter is all glorious within." (Psalm 45:13).  Man looks on the outward appearance, but God sees the heart and judges accordingly.  When the ancient men who had seen and still remembered the glory of Solomon's temple, saw Ezra’s completed temple, they wept because it was not as rich or as fine a house as the first had been.  These men had the wrong idea, though.  God said, "The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith the LORD of hosts." (Haggai 2:9).  It is not the house that is important at all, beloved, it is the glory of God that fills it!  It does not matter what we look like, how young or old we are, how rich or poor we are, or even whether our body is wearing out - it is all about reflecting the glory of our God no matter what state we are in.  The vessel is irrelevant – it is the glory of God that is essential!  God is building a glorious house which will be without spot or wrinkle, and which will be full of the glory of God.  That building is you and I.  We are the temple of the Holy Ghost.  We are His Church, His House, and His Body.  God does not dwell in houses made by human hands, He dwells in His people! (See 1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19; Acts 17:24; 2 Corinthians 6:16).

 

Through the prophet Isaiah God foretold that one would come to prepare the way for the coming of the Lord.  That one was John the Baptist.  His whole ministry was about repentance, and preparing one's heart to seek the Lord Jesus when He appeared.  John's message was simple.  He said, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight.  Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." (Luke 3:4-6).  In other words, we are to make a smooth, straight highway for the Lord in our life.  Years ago, our family took an annual trip into the south of Missouri and I remember driving some of the highways that were built through very hilly terrain.  The road crews had dug, or blown, through the hills and filled in the low spots to make a fairly level road surface to drive on.  Besides making the road more level, though, they also straightened it out by not having to curve around every hill to avoid them.  This made for a shorter and easier drive as well.  In the same way, our crooked ways can make it difficult, or even impossible, for God to use us.  Just as in building a good road, the mountains and hills (our pride and arrogance) must be brought down, and the valleys (our insecurities and weaknesses) must be exalted. 

 

When the Israelites returned from their captivity in Babylon they found the city of Jerusalem in a terrible state.  When the Babylonian army had taken the city, they sacked it, demolished it, and burnt it.  The walls of the city, and the temple of Solomon, had both been destroyed and there was nothing but rubble, burnt beams, and other debris cluttering the site.  Before either the walls or the temple could be rebuilt, the people had to clear those areas and level the ground for the new foundations.  This must have been a monumental task, but it had to be done so that the foundations would be strong and secure.  Again, we see the importance of preparation in the work that was to be done. 

 

The first Apostles of our Lord warned of a time when sound doctrine will have become eroded and many will depart from the true faith, substituting instead a form of godliness that will deny the power of the Holy Spirit.  “Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience seared with a hot iron.” (1 Timothy 4:1, 2).  “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.  For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.” (2 Timothy 3:1-9).  Just like the Israelites had to clear the rubbish and debris from the temple site before they could build something that would last, so also must God’s ministers begin to clear away the lies and false doctrines that have cluttered the true Gospel of Jesus Christ.  Ever since the first century, Satan has tried to erode the simple truth that God established from the beginning.  God, however, has given to the Church certain ministries that will once more restore the unity of the faith among the various believers.  Modern day apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers have been set in the Body of Christ, “…for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:12).  It is their job to ensure that, “…be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; but speaking the truth in love, may grow up into Him in all things, which is the head, even Christ.” (Ephesians 4:14, 15).  

 

God is looking for vessels that He can use to bring glory and honor to Himself.  He is looking for those in whom He can show Himself strong.  He is not interested in what we can do for Him, He wants to show the world what He can do in us!  We must repent of all the dead works that have defined our lives, and walk in newness of life in the Spirit.  God wants to fill these temples, and He wants to move through our lives in order to reach the lost.  Preparation is everything!  Whether it is building our spiritual house, or laying a highway for our God, let us prepare our hearts to seek the Lord!