Word of God
Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from the mouth of God
Matthew 4:4
Matthew 4:4
The Book of Ezra 3:11
Brethren:
God was praised at the laying of the foundation of the temple; the priests with the trumpets appointed by Moses, and the Levites with the cymbals appointed by David, made up a concert of music, not to please the ear, but to assist the singing of that everlasting hymn which will never be out of date, and to which our tongues should never be out of tune, God is good, and his mercy endureth for ever, the burden (See Psalm 136).
Let all the streams of mercy be traced up to the fountain. Whatever our condition is, how many soever our griefs and fears, let it be owned that God is good; and, whatever fails, that his mercy fails not. Let this be sung with application, as here; not only his mercy endures for ever, but it endures for ever towards Israel, Israel when captives in a strange land and strangers in their own land. However it be, yet God is good to Israel (See Psalm 73:1), good to us. Let the reviving of the church’s interests, when they seemed dead, be ascribed to the continuance of God’s mercy for ever, for therefore the church continues. Let us make note as to how the people were affected. A remarkable mixture of various affections there was upon this occasion. Different sentiments there were among the people of God, and each expressed himself according to his sentiments, and yet there was no disagreement among them, their minds were not alienated from each other nor the common concern retarded by it. There were those that only knew the misery of having no temple at all praised the Lord with shouts of joy when they saw but the foundation of one laid, to them even this foundation seemed great, and was as life from the dead; to their hungry souls even this was sweet. They shouted, so that the noise was heard afar off. Note, We ought to be thankful for the beginnings of mercy, though we have not yet come to the perfection of it; and the foundations of a temple, after long desolations, cannot but be fountains of joy to every faithful Israelite. Likewise there were those that remembered the glory of the first temple which Solomon built, and considered how far this was likely to be inferior to that, perhaps in dimensions, certainly in magnificence and sumptuousness, wept with a loud voice.
If we date the captivity with the first, from the fourth of Jehoiakim, it was about fifty-two years since the temple was burnt; if from Jeconiah’s captivity, it was but fifty-nine. So that many now alive might remember it standing; and a great mercy it was to the captives that they had the lives of so many of their priests and Levites lengthened out, who could tell them what they themselves remembered of the glory of Jerusalem, to quicken them in their return. These lamented the disproportion between this temple and the former. And, there was some reason for it; and if they turned their tears into the right channel, and bewailed the sin that was the cause of this melancholy change, they did well. Sin sullies the glory of any church or people, and, when they find themselves diminished and brought low, that must bear the blame. Thus in this mixture of sorrow (See Psalm 51:17; Isaiah 66:2), and joy (See Psalm 30:11; Galatians 5:22) herein is found a representation of this world. Some are bathing in rivers of joy, while others are drowned in floods of tears. In heaven all are singing, (See Revelation 21:4) and none sighing; in hell all are weeping and wailing, and none rejoicing; but here on earth we can scarcely discern the shouts of joy from the noise of the weeping. Let us learn to rejoice with those that do rejoice and weep with those that weep, and ourselves to rejoice as though we rejoiced not, and weep as though we wept not.
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