Opposition Follows Faith

Ezra 4:1-2 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the LORD God of Israel; (2) Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither.

In Ezra chapter 3, we see that the Israelites who returned to their land upon permission of Cyrus, king of Persia, first built the altar (3:2) and then laid the foundation of the temple (3:10). Notice that the priority was the altar. The altar is where sin was dealt with. It was a foreshadowing of the final sacrifice on the altar of the cross.

Immediately after the people wept and shouted over the laying of the foundation, their enemies overheard and came to start trouble. But notice that the did not begin with a direct and obvious assault. Instead they said, "Let us build with you." They even claimed to seek the same God and even to sacrifice to Him*. Satan still uses the same strategies. He often tries to marry the Church and the world. Concerning "false apostles" and "deceitful workers" Paul said:

2 Corinthians 11:14-15 And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. (15) Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works.

But praise God for the discerning leadership He had given Israel at that time. They said, "Ye have nothing to do with us to build an house unto our God; but we ourselves together will build unto the LORD God of Israel..." (4:3) Let that be a lesson to us. All too often we would welcome help from almost any source, and it is hard to refuse. But there is a clear command in Scripture to "come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you..." (2 Corinthians 6:17) As well we are told not to be "unequally yoked together with unbelievers..." (2 Corinthians 6:14) What is really interesting is what is recorded between these two verses:

2 Corinthians 6:16 And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

Following this type, we can see in Ezra that the temple cannot be restored until the altar is built. And as soon as we build that altar (make Jesus Christ and Him crucified the object of our faith), we will experience opposition from the enemy. So let us not despair, because this is "situation normal." Just remember that Satan couldn't touch Job without God's permission.

Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

*2 Kings 17 gives the account of the peoples of various nations who were brought in by the Assyrians to assimilate the people of the northern kingdom; this is where the Samaritans came from. The account states that the people "feared the LORD, and served their own gods, after the manner of the nations whom they carried away from thence." (2 Kings 17:33) So by serving their own gods, they could not possibly worship the only true God since "He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad." (Matthew 12:30) Thus the attitude of the leaders of those who returned from captivity.