The Winslow mail., 1924-06-13

fort ye my people, saith your Cod
1sa- 40:1
PRIMARY ToP1C-Building House
for God.
JUNIOR ToPIC-Love for Gods
House.
INTERMEDIARY AND SENIOR TOP
IC-The Rebuilding of the Temple
YOUNG PEOPLE AND ADULT TOP
1C-Significance of the Return.
{. The Return From Captivity Pre-
dlcted Ger. 20 :10-14).
1t seems that false prophets were
fiourishing in Babylon, telling the peo-
pie that they would speedily be re-
stored to their own land. To counter
act this the Lord moved jeremiah to
send a letter to the captives in Baby
Ion Ger. 29:1-9). In this letter he adj
yised them to settle down and quietly
pursue their regular callings of life
and not to be led astray by false proph-
cts.
L. The Length of the Captivity ".
10). Their coming back was to be
f'after seventy years" From Daniel 9 2
1t is clear that seventy years means a
definite time. 1t dates from the time
when the first company was taken cap
tive among which Daniel was found
II. The Prediction of Captivity Full
filed ezra lid.
l. The Proclamation of Cyrus wv
1-4). This was not by accident, but
that the word of the Lord might be
fulfilled ". -. God never forgets.
What He has promised He will do. 1t
was by divine initiation-the Lord
stirred up the spirit of Cyrus. In his
proclamation he ordered that all who
desired should go back and build the
house of the Lord God, and those who
lacked this inclination should lend as
sfstance by making gifts of silver, gold
and beasts.
p The Response to Cyrus Proclama
tlon wv. 5, g.. The company which
returned was largely made up of rep
resentatives of Judah and Benjamin.
8. Royal FavOrs wv. lid. Cyrus
brought forth the vessels of the house
of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar had
carried away from Jerusalem and
placed in the house of his gods. This,
no doubt, greatly encouraged the Jews,
for there were 5,400 vessels returned.
III. The Temple Rebuilt (Ezra 3 :8-
6:10.
/. The Foundation Laid This was
an auspicious occasion and was cele-
brated with impressive ceremonies.
% The priests in their apparel w..
10). The priests garments symbOliZed
their conservation to the Lords serv-
ice.
(2) The priests with trumpets (v.
10Y. These rrumpets were made of sill
yer and were used in calling the peo-
pie together
(3) The Levites with symbols ".
10). These were to furnish the in
Strumental music of the sanctuary, in
accordance with the arrangements
made by David q Chron. 10 :10-2D.
(4) They sang together by course
" 1D. This means that they sang to
one another respOnsively. The one
company sang, "T'he Lord is good The
other responded, For his mercy endur
eth forever"
90 Mingled weeping and shouting
who had seen the magnificent and glo-
riOus temple of Solomon, which had
been destroyed wept much when they
saw how far short the present f0unda-
tions came from the former temple.
2 The Building Hindered (EZra A..
The leading adversaries were the Sa-
maritanS mongrel people, the Off
spring of the poor Jews who were left
5n Palestine and the foreign people
who were sent into Palestine after the
Jews were taken captive.
"a An unintelligent pesSimism
ezra 3:13). Under the circumstances
this was a glorious beginning and gave
promise of great things for the future.
Therefore it was no credit to the
priests, Levites and chief of the IA
thers to mar this occasion with their
weeping.
(2) Worldly compromise (Ezra y,
81. They said, Let us build with you,
for we seek your God" This is Satan's
most common and effective method to-
day
(3) Open opposition by the world
gEzra 4:4-24). When refused part
IN the work open opposition was re-
sorted to-
3. The Temple Finished (EZra :1-6 Z;
6:15). Through the ministry of the
Prophets Haggai and Zechariah the
people were encouraged to resume the
work of building the temple.
w. The Temple Dedicated Cara
6:16-22).
The people were united in this build
ing program and came together upon
its completion and solemnly dedicated
ct TO God.