Ezra 3:8-11
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 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. 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.
Book of Ezra is included in the canon because it is a record of revival. There are about seven Characteristics of Revival that I want us to look at this afternoon
Whenever revival comes, (1) people are conscious of their weakness, (2) ready to make long-term commitment and sacrifice, (3) marked by a return to God as the center, (4) Unity (5) Separation from the world, (6) obedient to the word of God and (7) live their lives in anticipation of the Coming Messiah.
When revival comes there is consciousness of own weakness –
A primary qualification for serving God with any amount of success, and for doing God’s work well and triumphantly, is a sense of our own weakness. God will not go forth with that man who marches in his own strength. Those who go forth to fight or do God’s work, boasting of their prowess, shall return with their banners trailed in the dust, and their armor stained with disgrace. Those who serve God must serve Him in His own way, and in His strength, or He will never accept their service. That which man and women do, unaided by divine strength, God can never own. The mere fruits of the earth He casts away; He will only reap a harvest from the seed of which was sown from heaven, watered by grace, and ripened by the sun of divine love. God will empty out all that thou hast before He will put His own into thee; He will first clean out thy granaries before He will fill them with the finest of the wheat. The river of God is full of water; but not one drop of it flows from earthly springs. God will have no strength used in His battles but the strength which He Himself imparts. Are you mourning over your own weakness? Take courage, for there must be a consciousness of weakness before the Lord will give thee victory. Your emptiness is but the preparation for your being filled, and your casting down is but the making ready for your lifting up.
When revival comes, there is a Spirit of commitment and sacrifice
When revival came, fifty thousand Jews gave up their lives in Babylon and making the long, dangerous trek back to the land. They rebuilt the altar, gathered in Jerusalem, celebrated the Feast of Booths, and laid the foundation for the new temple. Then the enemy hit and the work on the temple stopped.
Ezra and Nehemiah were born in Babylon and had close connections with King Artaxerxes. Both enjoyed comfortable living conditions there. But both men were burdened with the low spiritual state of the exiles that had returned to the land. Both men were willing to give up their comfortable situations in Babylon and endure the hardship and hassles to bring reform to God’s people. But how could they accomplish this overwhelming task? God’s hand was on these men (Ezra 7:6, 9, 28; 8:18, 22, 31; Neh. 2:8, 18). God’s hand is another way of saying God’s blessing. God blessed these two men and their labors for Him. If we want His blessing or hand to rest on us, we would do well to study their lives. If you have God’s blessing on your life, you may die a painful martyr’s death in your twenties or you may live happily into your nineties. You may live in a physically impaired body or in a robust and healthy body. But either way, you will be irrepressibly joyous and successful in the true sense of the word if God’s hand of blessing rests on you.
When revival comes there is a return to the God-given center
When revival comes, people return home to GOD. At the once we can see that the idols of Babylon can’t satisfy any soul. The whole prayers of Ezra is like a great trial wherein witnesses have appeared against the accused, and the arguments and excuses of the guilty have been answered and baffled. All has been heard for them, and much, very much against them, and the convicted stand at the bar to hear their sentence. Behold the Judge, instead of pronouncing doom of death, stretches out his hands to the condemned, and in tones of pity cries, “Welcome Home”!
When revival comes there is Unity in the body of believers
Satan always hates Christian unity in bond of peace; it is his policy to keep Christians apart. Anything which can divide saints from one another he delights in. Since union is strength, Satan does his best to promote separation.
When the enemy wants to stop any good work, often he disrupts the unity. When that happens (as has happened here in the past few months), there are several dangers. Leaders can be tempted to compromise important truth for the sake of preserving unity, but this always leads to greater disaster down the line because it undermines God’s Word. Leaders also can react in the flesh by lashing out in anger or personal counter-attacks, thus tarnishing their qualifications as spiritual leaders.
Gossip and false rumors can quickly spread through the body because people listen to those who are disgruntled and do not go directly to the source to ascertain the truth. All in all, Satan has a heyday and many of the Lord’s people end up wounded. So we must be diligent to preserve the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, while striving to attain to the unity of the faith that comes with spiritual maturity (Eph. 4:3, 13).
When revival comes there is Separation from the world
Holiness and separation from the world are vital component parts of a deeper experience with God. They are not required for an initial salvation experience. All that is needed to be saved from the penalty of sin and death, is to accept by faith the forgiveness that Christ purchased for us on Calvary’s Cross through His shed Blood. However, it is God’s plan that we then go on to a deeper relationship and experience with Him (Hebrews 6:1).
The Bible makes it clear that to cultivate a deeper experience with God, we must separate ourselves from worldly things and be holy. “Holy” means to be separated and consecrated to God alone. (Romans 12:2, Colossians 3:2, James 4:4, 1 Peter 1:15, 1 John 2:15-17).
One of the great keys to experiencing a deeper walk with God is the mystery of cultivating a constant awareness of the Lord Jesus Christ in our hearts and minds. This awareness cannot be cultivated without holiness and separation from the world. When our minds and hearts are full of powerful emotions and images of this world, our thoughts are like the proverbial “monkeys in a cage” and our focus is not on the Person of Jesus. When our hearts and minds are filled with worldly images, prayer becomes a drudgery, the Word loses its sweetness, and the heart loses its sensitivity to the prompting of the Spirit. The love for Jesus we once felt becomes a theoretical concept, instead of the compelling motivational force it once was.
But, thank God, for repentance. Heartfelt, loving repentance will lead us back to His Presence, and ruin the appetite for worldly things. A fresh experience of His Presence will remind us that nothing really matters but God. It will stamp His Presence anew on our minds. Like to old gospel hymn says,
♫♫ Turn your eyes upon Jesus! Look full in His wonderful face,♬
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace. ♫♫
When revival comes there is Obedience to the Word of God
The temple had been rebuilt under the ministries of Zerubbabel and Jeshua, aided by the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. The exiles that had returned to Israel during that first wave were either dead or very old by now. They had settled into the land and, as we will see, in many cases had begun to blend together with the pagans of the land. The walls of Jerusalem had not been rebuilt, leaving the city vulnerable to attack. God raised up Ezra and Nehemiah to bring spiritual reform to His people.
- When revival comes there is anticipation of the Coming Messiah
Of all the Minor Prophets, Zechariah (זְכַרְיָה) reveals the clearest and the largest number of passages referencing the Messiah, many of which have already been fulfilled.
Zechariah, for instance, prophesies that the Messiah will ride on a donkey into Jerusalem as a humble, victorious king:
“Rejoice greatly, Daughter Zion! Shout, Daughter Jerusalem! See, your king comes to you, righteous and victorious, lowly and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.” (Zechariah 9:9)
Zechariah tells us that Messiah will come again as savior, judge and, ultimately, as the righteous King of Kings and Lord of Lords ruling His people from Jerusalem (14:8–9).
This Hebrew prophet reassures us that in the Last Days, when the Messiah returns to His people, they will finally recognize Him, realize that they have “missed it” and react with a spirit of mourning.
The people of Jerusalem at that time will be moved by the “Spirit of grace and of supplication” that will be poured out on the inhabitants of Jerusalem at the Messiah’s coming.
“And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on Me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for Him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for Him as one grieves for a firstborn son.” (12:10)
The Messiah will return to Jerusalem and finally be recognized by His people.
Erick Chepkwony, TH.D 