4. EZRA 3:1-13
This is the story about how
Israelites came back to the city
of Jerusalem from years of exile,
how they built an altar and
rebuilt the temple of God.
5. When the seventh month came and the
Israelites had settled in their towns, the people
assembled together as one in Jerusalem.
2 Then Joshua son of Jozadak and his fellow
priests and Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel and his
associates began to build the altar of the God
of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it, in
accordance with what is written in the Law of
Moses the man of God.
6. 3 Despite their fear of the peoples around them,
they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed
burnt offerings on it to the LORD, both the morning
and evening sacrifices.
4 Then in accordance with what is written, they
celebrated the Festival of Tabernacles with the
required number of burnt offerings prescribed for
each day.
7. • 5 After that, they presented the regular burnt
offerings, the New Moon sacrifices and the
sacrifices for all the appointed sacred festivals
of the LORD, as well as those brought as
freewill offerings to the LORD.
• 6 On the first day of the seventh month they
began to offer burnt offerings to the LORD,
though the foundation of the LORD’s temple
had not yet been laid.
8. • 7 Then they gave money to the masons and
carpenters, and gave food and drink and olive oil to
the people of Sidon and Tyre, so that they would bring
cedar logs by sea from Lebanon to Joppa, as
authorized by Cyrus king of Persia.
• 8 In the second month of the second year after their
arrival at the house of God in Jerusalem,
Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, Joshua son of Jozadak
and the rest of the people (the priests and the Levites
and all who had returned from the captivity to
Jerusalem) began the work. They appointed Levites
twenty years old and older to supervise the building of
the house of the LORD.
9. • 9 Joshua and his sons and brothers and Kadmiel
and his sons (descendants of Hodaviah[a]) and
the sons of Henadad and their sons and
brothers—all Levites—joined together in
supervising those working on the house of God.
• 10 When the builders laid the foundation of the
temple of the LORD, the priests in their
vestments and with trumpets, and the Levites
(the sons of Asaph) with cymbals, took their
places to praise the LORD, as prescribed by
David king of Israel.
10. • 11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to
the LORD:
“He is good;
his love toward Israel endures forever.”
• And all the people gave a great shout of praise
to the LORD, because the foundation of the
house of the LORD was laid. 12 But many of the
older priests and Levites and family heads, who
had seen the former temple, wept aloud when
they saw the foundation of this temple being
laid, while many others shouted for joy.
11. • 13 No one could distinguish the sound
of the shouts of joy from the sound of
weeping, because the people made so
much noise. And the sound was heard
far away.
12. God used this new beginning
to reestablish His people in
their worship to Him amidst
the rubble of what once had
been Jerusalem
13. A disappointment
or trial may have
caused you to drift
from the close
fellowship with
God and His
people that you
once enjoyed. You
need a new
beginning.
14. There are times in our
lives when we need a new
beginning with God.
16. • When in the seventh month these Jews went
up to Jerusalem (3:1), they came to a city
where the walls were torn down and the
buildings, including the temple, had been
destroyed 50 years before. The hostile people
that had moved in viewed these returning
Jews with suspicion. There was nothing
happening spiritually. And yet God had
promised a new beginning in this desolate
ghost town (see Jer. 33:10-11).
17. •Whether it is to His people
corporately or to individual
believers who have fallen
into sin, our God is a God of
new beginnings!
18. • To the fallen but repentant King David,
the prophet said, “The Lord has taken
away your sin” (2 Sam. 12:13). To the
disobedient and chastised prophet Jonah,
vomited out of the great fish, “The word
of the Lord came … the second time”
(Jonah 3:1). To the weeping and broken
Peter, the risen Savior appeared privately
to restore him.
19. Have you failed the Lord miserably?
God graciously offers you a new beginning!
But, where do you start?
21. • The first thing that the
leaders, Jeshua and
Zerubbabel, did when
they saw the pile of
rubble where the
Temple once stood
was to rebuild the
altar (Ezra 3:2).
22. • Why did they begin with the ALTAR?
Because our fundamental need if we want to draw
near to God is forgiveness of our sins. God
designated the altar so that the one bringing the
offering would be “accepted before the Lord” (Lev.
1:3). Concerning the altar, God had said, “I will
meet there with the sons of Israel …” (Exod.
29:43). The sacrificial animals pointed ahead to
God’s perfect, once-for-all sacrifice for sins, the
Lord Jesus Christ.
23. • If you are a believer, but have strayed from the
Lord, the cross is still the place for a new
beginning.
• “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and
righteous to forgive us our sins and to
cleanse us from all unrighteousness”
(1 John 1:9).
Live daily at the foot of the cross!
25. How did they know to set up the altar?
We read (3:2), “as it is written in the law of
Moses, the man of God.”
We read (3:4), “as it is written,” and
“according to the ordinance.” They weren’t
making this stuff up according to their own
preferences.
They went back to the Word of God and they
obeyed it.
26. • When it comes to how we should live as
God’s people, we also must go to God’s
Word and obey what He commands.
• If you want a new beginning with God,
it’s available. Begin at the cross and then
walk in obedience to His Word.
28. • The temple or house of the Lord was
the place where He dwelled among
His people and manifested His glory.
His people went there to offer
sacrifices for forgiveness of sins and
for thanksgiving for His goodness to
them. It was a place of corporate
celebration.
29. The remarkable thing is that we as
God’s church are now His temple or
house, where He dwells in us and walks
among us .
A need to be built together with others
who have a commitment to know God.
30. How to Build God’s house?
A. Building God’s house requires the courage to
stand together against this hostile world.
B. Building God’s house requires giving our
resources.
C. Building God’s house requires working in
unity under Godly leadership.
31. D. Building God’s house requires a
renewed emphasis on corporate
worship.
E. Building God’s house requires a
spirit of cooperation and understanding
between the old and the young.
32. Conclusion:
New beginnings with God are
always possible and must
focus on the cross, on
obedience to God’s Word, and
on building His house.
33. "Arise, shine, for your
light has come, and the
glory of the LORD rises
upon you. See, darkness
covers the earth and thick
darkness is over the
peoples, but the LORD
rises upon you and his
glory appears over you.
(Isaiah 60:1)
