We observed yesterday from Ezra 4 that a good start doesn’t always guarantee a good or prompt finish. At the time I was reading Ezra 3 and 4, I was reading my friend Mike Metzger’s blog on “justification,” A Lesson from Lego. You may or may not be able to read the whole article, but here’s the gist:

Jesus said: “He who endures to the end will be saved” (Matt.10:22). What? We must endure to the end to be saved? I thought salvation is by faith alone. I was taught that salvation, or what is called justification, is only remission of sins.

We are saved by faith alone. But as the Book of James notes, “faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead” (2:17). We’re saved by faith alone, but the faith that saves is never alone. It requires endurance, a point on which most Christian traditions, if not all, agree.

Most traditions also agree on how, at the beginning of the Christian life, God forgives our sins and gives us the gift of righteousness. But he’s not done with us. He wants us to grow in righteousness over the course of the Christian life. If we cooperate with his grace, we will.

In some traditions, the process of growth in righteousness is called sanctification. Justification in those traditions is the first step. But in the Catholic and Orthodox traditions, justification is not just the first step. It’s the whole process of salvation. It isn’t something that happens just at the beginning of the Christian life. It happens over the course of the Christian life. – Mike Metzger, emphases his

It’s a weighty discussion, often hotly debated among theologians, and we won’t take on that debate here. But there’s something compelling about a “one-step” approach rather than, as is common in my tradition, a “two-step” approach. We say, “OK, now that you’re saved (justified), you need to think about discipleship, or “sanctification.” To which the response is sometimes, “Why? I prayed the prayer, and I attend church fairly regularly. What more do you want?”

So we get a good start, but we don’t always get a good finish – that’s the connection to Ezra 3 and 4. In fact, we celebrate good starts as they did in Ezra 3. “Got ’em saved; got ’em baptized. Whoopee!” But we have no mechanism that I’ve seen for celebrating even progress, much less a finish.

Something worth pondering. The Apostle Paul’s goal was way more than a good start:

And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1.9 – 11, ESV)

Only let your manner of life be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of you that you are standing firm in one spirit, with one mind striving side by side for the faith of the gospel. (Philippians 1.27, ESV)

For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. (1 Thessalonians 2.11, 12, ESV)

The rebuilding of the Temple began with great fanfare in Ezra 3, but it quickly ground to a halt. First, their enemies say they want to help:

Old enemies of Judah and Ben-jamin heard that the exiles were building The Temple of the GOD of Israel. They came to Zerubbabel and the family heads and said, “We’ll help you build. We worship your God the same as you. We’ve been offering sacrifices to him since Esar-haddon king of Assyria brought us here.”

Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the family heads of Israel said to them, “Nothing doing. Building The Temple of our God is not the same thing to you as to us. We alone will build for the GOD of Israel. We’re the ones King Cyrus of Persia commanded to do it.” (Ezra 4.1 – 3, MSG)

Why were they refused? After all, “We worship your God the same as you.” Not quite. Please review the blog “They Worshipped God BUT…”

They honored and worshiped GOD, but they also kept up their devotions to the old gods of the places they had come from. (2 Kings 29.33, MSG)

So…

…these people started beating down the morale of the people of Judah, harassing them as they built…In fact, in the reign of Xerxes, at the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against those living in Judah and Jerusalem. (Ezra 4.4, 6, MSG)

Later, they wrote another letter to King Artaxerxes who responded:

Peace be with you. The letter that you sent has been translated and read to me. I gave orders to search the records, and sure enough it turns out that this city has revolted against kings time and again—rebellion is an old story there. I find that they’ve had their share of strong kings who have taken over beyond the Euphrates and exacted taxes, tribute, and duty. So do this: Order these men to stop work immediately—not a lick of rebuilding in that city unless I order it. Act quickly and firmly; they’ve done enough damage to kings! (Ezra 4.18 – 22, MSG)

And chapter 4 ends:

That put a stop to the work on The Temple of God in Jerusalem. Nothing more was done until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. (Ezra 4.24, MSG)

Starting is easy. Finishing, especially in the face of opposition, is hard. I’ll have more to say about that tomorrow. Stay tuned.

Do you see what this means—all these pioneers who blazed the way, all these veterans cheering us on? It means we’d better get on with it. Strip down, start running—and never quit! No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins. Keep your eyes on Jesus, who both began and finished this race we’re in. Study how he did it. Because he never lost sight of where he was headed—that exhilarating finish in and with God—he could put up with anything along the way: Cross, shame, whatever. And now he’s there, in the place of honor, right alongside God. When you find yourselves flagging in your faith, go over that story again, item by item, that long litany of hostility he plowed through. That will shoot adrenaline into your souls! (Hebrews 12.1 – 3, MSG, emphases mine)

Back to Ezra, recall that the goal is to rebuild the Temple. We saw in chapters 1 and 2 that they have the support of King Cyrus, 42,000+ people, and A LOT of materials.

The foundation is laid 13 months after their arrival:

In the second month of the second year after their arrival at The Temple of God in Jerusalem, Zerubbabel son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua son of Jozadak, in company with their brother priests and Levites and everyone else who had come back to Jerusalem from captivity, got started…When the workers laid the foundation of The Temple of GOD, the priests in their robes stood up with trumpets, and the Levites, sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise GOD in the tradition of David king of Israel. They sang antiphonally praise and thanksgiving to GOD: Yes! GOD is good! Oh yes—he’ll never quit loving Israel! All the people boomed out hurrahs, praising GOD as the foundation of The Temple of GOD was laid. (Ezra 3.8 – 11, MSG, emphases mine)

Then something interesting:

But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away. (Ezra 3.12, 13, ESV)

It’s not clear to me why there was weeping. Maybe they wept for joy, but that’s not what it says. I’m thinking they might have been weeping because the old men knew this Temple would not be as grand as the first one.

Nicole Massie Martin, who works for Christianity Today suggests that this gathering of people, some weeping, some shouting for joy, is a model for how we should respond to the election. She writes in part:

This brief note [from Ezra 3.12, 13] about the mixture of triumph and despair is important because it reminds us that regardless of how they felt, the people remained together. Their covenant with God required that they learn to work together amid their differences, not simply for the sake of unity among themselves but for unity against outside adversaries. This passage should remind us that we too have a need for national unity amid our differences, that unity is necessary to preserve our freedom and democracy.

And while they differed in weeping and rejoicing, the crowd in Ezra 3 was united in praise and trust of God. “He is good; his love toward Israel endures forever,” they sang together (v. 11). American Christians of all political affiliations must keep this higher truth in mind in the weeks ahead. 

For those of us who are unhappy with this result, let me encourage you not to despair. I am praying for you, and I hope you will pray for me—and for our next president “and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness” (1 Tim. 2:2). Regardless of who leads our nation, we can seek God’s wisdom for how we can continue to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city” even when we feel we are in exile (Jer. 29:7).

For those who are happy with the outcome, let Ezra’s story remind you to be firm in your demands of accountability and justice from the administration you elected. Remember that your earthly allegiances must never supersede your faithfulness to God. And remember to pray for our next president, his cabinet, our nation, ourselves, and your fellow Christians who are worried about what comes next.

This week, I will take time to mourn with my daughters in what feels to me like a true loss. But I will do so alongside my neighbors and many Christian brothers and sisters who are reassured or outright joyful that President-elect Trump won. And I will praise God alongside them, too, for he is still good, and his love still endures forever. – God is Faithful in Triumph and Despair, November 7, 2024

A good word.

Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. (Romans 12.15, ESV)

Here’s a feel-good story about two Christian students at Stanford University. It starts:

Hadassah Betapudi and Elijah Kim met at a Christian fellowship at Stanford in 2022 and got to know each other by leading a Bible study together. Soon the duo—with their backgrounds in data organizing and computer science—was building an artificial intelligence startup.

The two sought to solve a problem: They had heard from students needing a lot of guidance on the essay-writing part of college applications. That mentoring wasn’t available to many because of their financial or cultural backgrounds.

So they built an AI (artificial intelligence) – based app that helps kids write their college application essays. It doesn’t write the essay for them, but it gives them specific, high-quality feedback. As expected they recognized the need from their own experience:

Neither Betapudi nor Kim felt that they had entered the application process with a lot of guidance themselves; Betapudi was the first in her family to go to college in the US, and Kim was homeschooled his whole life before college.

“Applying to college was a little scary because I lacked a lot of the insight and guidance that I think a lot of students take for granted,” said Betapudi, who was born in Memphis to Indian immigrant parents. “It’s not just about your test scores or your GPA but about presenting who you are holistically to a college admissions committee, which is very different than the way things are done in India.”

This year the duo launched their startup: an AI tool that provides college admissions essay feedback. The founders see it as more like a guidance counselor and editor, not a content producer like ChatGPT. It doesn’t write essays for students.

And the good news is, they see their tool as a ministry to the poor:

Nguyen grew up in a low-income family. Most students can pay a monthly fee to use the tool, but Betapudi and Kim have enough paying customers to be able to give Esslo access to high schoolers who meet certain financial criteria, like being on free or reduced lunch or being at a Title I school.

“It levels out the playing field, especially since I can’t afford private counselors or special programs,” Nguyen said. “Esslo is a really good example of using AI to the benefit of a lot of people, especially underrepresented and underprivileged people and communities.“

“The truly dystopian outcome of introducing AI into education or into the world is that these oppressive regimes or governments will have access or will develop better AI than the good guys—those who fight for the widow, the orphan, the poor, or the lame,” Betapudi said. “I have been gifted through grace the ability to go to Stanford. … As a believer, my charge is then to build tools that not just benefit the top richest 1 percent who is already using this sort of thing but making it equitable and making it easy to access.”

The article is worth the read in its entirety. When a Stanford Bible Study Led to an AI Startup, by Emily Belz, Christianity Today, November 12, 2024.

As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace… (1 Peter 4.10, ESV)

I’ve written about outrage before. It is, as my son Mark says, America’s favorite indoor sport. Sahil Bloom wrote about anger recently, and it’s too good not to pass on. After all, we remember a story better than we remember ideas:

When I was a kid, my grandfather told me the story of the Buddha and the Angry Man:

One day, the Buddha was walking through a village when a young man approached and began yelling at him.

​"You are a fake! How can you claim to have wisdom to teach others? You know nothing!"

​The Buddha paused and smiled at the young man, which further angered him.

​"What do you have to say to me? I attack you and you just smile?"

​The Buddha replied: "If you buy a gift for someone and that person doesn't accept it, to whom does the gift belong?"

​The young man, agitated, replied that the gift would still belong to him, because he was the one who had bought it.

​The Buddha nodded: "The same applies to your anger. If you come to me with anger, but I choose not to accept it, the anger still belongs to you. You are the only one who is moved by it."

This story offers two powerful lessons that we all need to hear:

1. Vocalizing anger and outrage often creates more damage internally than it creates impact externally. Think about whether there is a more effective pathway to voice your perspectives if impact is the goal.
2. If someone comes to you with anger, always remember that you can choose not to accept it.

Both lessons are worth contemplating as you navigate life in the days, weeks, and months ahead… – Sahil Bloom, November 9, 2024

Good counsel:

• You are the only one moved by your anger.
• Vocalizing anger and outrage often creates more damage internally than it creates impact externally.
• If impact is the goal, there are more effective ways to communicate than with anger.

Good counsel, confirmed by Scripture:

My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires. (James 1.19, 20, NIV)

The Ezra, Nehemiah narrative picks up where 2 Chronicles left off, with Cyrus issuing a decree to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem:

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—this fulfilled the Message of GOD preached by Jeremiah—GOD prodded Cyrus king of Persia to make an official announcement throughout his kingdom. He wrote it out as follows: From Cyrus king of Persia, a Proclamation: GOD, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has also assigned me to build him a Temple of worship in Jerusalem, Judah… (Ezra 1.1 – 2, MSG)

The rest of chapter 1 and all of chapter 2 continues with a list of the people and supplies they would need for the work, ending with:

The total count for the congregation was 42,360. That did not include the male and female slaves, which numbered 7,337. There were also 200 male and female singers, and they had 736 horses, 245 mules, 435 camels, and 6,720 donkeys. Some of the heads of families, on arriving at The Temple of GOD in Jerusalem, made Freewill-Offerings toward the rebuilding of The Temple of God on its site. They gave to the building fund as they were able, about 1,100 pounds of gold, about three tons of silver, and 100 priestly robes. The priests, Levites, and some of the people lived in Jerusalem. The singers, security guards, and temple support staff found places in their hometowns. All the Israelites found a place to live. (Ezra 2.64 – 70, MSG)

All those people, all those materials…but we’ll see next week that even with a good start and a lot of support, things can temporarily get off track. Stay tuned.

And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1.6, ESV)

1 and 2 Chronicles: different author, sometimes different perspectives, but the same ending as 1 Samuel – 2 Kings: the Southern Kingdom of Judah goes into exile in Babylon, as I’ve written before.

The Chronicles account makes the reason clear:

The evil mindset spread to the leaders and priests and filtered down to the people—it kicked off an epidemic of evil, repeating the abominations of the pagans and polluting The Temple of GOD so recently consecrated in Jerusalem. GOD, the God of their ancestors, repeatedly sent warning messages to them. Out of compassion for both his people and his Temple he wanted to give them every chance possible. But they wouldn’t listen; they poked fun at God’s messengers, despised the message itself, and in general treated the prophets like idiots. GOD became more and more angry until there was no turning back—GOD called in Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who came and killed indiscriminately—and right in The Temple itself; it was a ruthless massacre: young men and virgins, the elderly and weak—they were all the same to him. (2 Chronicles 36.14 – 17, MSG)

As I wrote after the election, things continue until they don’t.

He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing. (Proverbs 29.1, ESV)

[Jesus said, ] No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. (Luke 13.5, ESV)

The Chronicles account ends the way Ezra begins: King Cyrus orders the Temple to be rebuilt:

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia—this fulfilled the message of GOD preached by Jeremiah—GOD moved Cyrus king of Persia to make an official announcement throughout his kingdom; he wrote it out as follows: “From Cyrus king of Persia a proclamation: GOD, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. He has also assigned me to build him a Temple of worship at Jerusalem in Judah. All who belong to GOD’s people are urged to return—and may your GOD be with you! Move forward!” (2 Chronicles 36.22 – 23, MSG)

The book of Ezra tells us of the rebuilding of the Temple. Nehemiah tells us of the rebuilding of the Wall of Jerusalem. Stay tuned.

We’re wrapping up 2 Chronicles beginning with Josiah, the last good king:

Josiah was eight years old when he became king. He ruled for thirty-one years in Jerusalem. He behaved well before GOD. He kept straight on the path blazed by his ancestor David, not one step to the left or right. (2 Chronicles 34.1, 2, MSG)

He begins by, what else?, cleaning out the Temple. Why/how does it always fall into disrepair? The sad truth is, we don’t have to deliberately destroy something. Neglect and time will take care of that. And what is the greatest neglect of all?

While the money that had been given for The Temple of GOD was being received and dispersed, Hilkiah the high priest found a copy of The Revelation of Moses. He reported to Shaphan the royal secretary, “I’ve just found the Book of GOD’s Revelation, instructing us in GOD’s way—found it in The Temple!” (2 Chronicles 34.14, 15, MSG)

The greatest neglect is not intentionally pursuing God through his Word. It’s a complacency that I’ve written about before.

They read the book and find out that their behavior is going to result in judgment.

When the king heard what was written in the book, GOD’s Revelation, he ripped his robes in dismay. And then he called for Hilkiah, Ahikam son of Shaphan, Abdon son of Micah, Shaphan the royal secretary, and Asaiah the king’s personal aide. He ordered them all: “Go and pray to GOD for me and what’s left of Israel and Judah. Find out what we must do in response to what is written in this book that has just been found! GOD’s anger must be burning furiously against us—our ancestors haven’t obeyed a thing written in this book of GOD, followed none of the instructions directed to us.” (2 Chronicles 34.19 – 21, MSG)

Here I find it interesting that the priest Hilkiah consulted a prophetess Huldah who confirmed that judgment was indeed on the way:

Hilkiah and those picked by the king went straight to Huldah the prophetess…In response to them she said, “GOD’s word, the God of Israel: Tell the man who sent you here, ‘GOD has spoken, I’m on my way to bring the doom of judgment on this place and this people. Every word written in the book read by the king of Judah will happen. And why? Because they’ve deserted me and taken up with other gods; they’ve made me thoroughly angry by setting up their god-making businesses. My anger is raging white-hot against this place and nobody is going to put it out.’” (2 Chronicles 22 – 25, MSG)

As an aside, note that the priests went to a prophet, and a woman at that! In the Old Testament, we have the priests and the prophets. Priests were supposed to run the cradle-to-grave programs for the spiritual well-being of God’s people. When God wanted to give a special message, he used prophets, who rarely came from the priestly class. The Roman Catholic Church has the dioceses (networks of churches) and the orders (missionary societies like the Franciscans and the Jesuits). In our traditions, we have local churches and denominations, but special missions and ministries are often outside like the missionary societies and today’s “para-church” organizations like The Navigators or CRU or Missionary Aviation Fellowship.

Back to Josiah, even with negative news, he responded positively:

The king acted immediately, assembling all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem…priests and prophets and people ranging from the least to the greatest. Then he read out publicly everything written in the Book of the Covenant that was found in The Temple of GOD. The king stood by his pillar and before GOD solemnly committed himself to the covenant: to follow GOD believingly and obediently; to follow his instructions, heart and soul, on what to believe and do; to confirm with his life the entire covenant, all that was written in the book. Then he made everyone in Jerusalem and Benjamin commit themselves…Josiah did a thorough job of cleaning up the pollution that had spread throughout Israelite territory and got everyone started fresh again, serving and worshiping their GOD. All through Josiah’s life the people kept to the straight and narrow, obediently following GOD, the God of their ancestors. Josiah celebrated the Passover to GOD in Jerusalem. They killed the Passover lambs on the fourteenth day of the first month. (2 Chronicles 34.29 – 35.1, MSG)

It’s never too late to repent. As with the revivals under Joash, Hezekiah, and others, the revival doesn’t hold as we’ll see tomorrow, but “follow God today” is always the right course.

Mark a life of discipline and live wisely; don’t squander your precious life. Blessed the man, blessed the woman, who listens to me, awake and ready for me each morning, alert and responsive as I start my day’s work. When you find me, you find life, real life, to say nothing of GOD’s good pleasure. (Proverbs 8.33 – 35, MSG)

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 3.13, 14, ESV)

Back to 2 Chronicles, Hezekiah was a good king who succumbed to arrogance at the end. I wrote about this when we were in 2 Kings 20. His son, Manasseh, takes over, and once again we have a failure of succession:

Manasseh was twelve years old when he became king. He ruled for fifty-five years in Jerusalem. In GOD’s opinion he was a bad king—an evil king. He reintroduced all the moral rot and spiritual corruption that had been scoured from the country when GOD dispossessed the pagan nations in favor of the children of Israel. He rebuilt the sex-and-religion shrines that his father Hezekiah had torn down, he built altars and phallic images for the sex god Baal and the sex goddess Asherah and worshiped the cosmic powers, taking orders from the constellations. (2 Chronicles 33.1 – 3, MSG)

Then Manasseh is taken into captivity where he repents and begins to follow God!

Then GOD directed the leaders of the troops of the king of Assyria to come after Manasseh. They put a hook in his nose, shackles on his feet, and took him off to Babylon. Now that he was in trouble, he went to his knees in prayer asking for help—total repentance before the God of his ancestors. As he prayed, GOD was touched; GOD listened and brought him back to Jerusalem as king. That convinced Manasseh that GOD was in control. After that Manasseh rebuilt the outside defensive wall of the City of David…He tightened up the defense system…He also did a good spring cleaning on The Temple, carting out the pagan idols and the goddess statue. He took all the altars he had set up on The Temple hill and throughout Jerusalem and dumped them outside the city. He put the Altar of GOD back in working order and restored worship, sacrificing Peace-Offerings and Thank-Offerings. He issued orders to the people: “You shall serve and worship GOD, the God of Israel.” (2 Chronicles 33.11 – 16, MSG)

But, this time, the people don’t follow their repenting and reformed leader:

But the people didn’t take him seriously—they used the name “GOD” but kept on going to the old pagan neighborhood shrines and doing the same old things. (2 Chronicles 33.17, MSG)

Manasseh’s son, Amon, only reigns two years, starting bad and staying bad:

Amon was twenty-two years old when he became king. He was king for two years in Jerusalem. In GOD’s opinion he lived an evil life, just like his father Manasseh, but he never did repent to GOD as Manasseh repented. He just kept at it, going from one thing to another. In the end Amon’s servants revolted and assassinated him—killed the king right in his own palace. The citizens in their turn then killed the king’s assassins. The citizens then crowned Josiah, Amon’s son, as king. (2 Chronicles 33.21 – 25, MSG)

Josiah, the last breath of fresh air before the end. Stay tuned.

So here’s the king you wanted, the king you asked for. GOD has let you have your own way, given you a king. If you fear GOD, worship and obey him, and don’t rebel against what he tells you. If both you and your king follow GOD, no problem. GOD will be sure to save you. But if you don’t obey him and rebel against what he tells you, king or no king, you will fare no better than your fathers…But I beg of you, fear GOD and worship him honestly and heartily. You’ve seen how greatly he has worked among you! Be warned: If you live badly, both you and your king will be thrown out. (1 Samuel 12.13 – 15, 24, 25, MSG)

It’s Veteran’s Day! A day to remember the warriors among us. I’ve written before about how God values warriors. Please check it out.

I am a retired Air Force officer, but I don’t consider myself a warrior. But I served with warriors and knew many others. I want to tell you what Veteran’s Day meant to one of them.

I met Mac after he retired from the Army. He was proud of his service. He’s one of the few who would call to wish me (a non-warrior, remember?) a happy Veteran’s Day.

Mac flew helicopters in Viet Nam, rising to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer. He loved the Army. He picked up an MBA along the way and worked for a defense contractor after he retired. But it wasn’t the same. Soon he had a no-stress, no-responsibility job at WalMart. What happened?

Here’s what I think. For Mac…

• He had no greater purpose in life than serving his country, especially in a war zone.
• He had no greater community than his brothers in arms.

It’s hard to find anything comparable in civilian life. Please keep this in mind as you greet Veterans today, especially retired ones. By the way, Mac passed away 2014 of Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Blessed be the LORD, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle. (Psalm 144.1, ESV)