Ezra 3:3

This is very beautiful. In a godly spirit, fear did not lead them to protect themselves by human means. Instead their heart turned to the Lord, and to the altar of acceptance they enjoyed through Him. Their first thought was the Lord; they brought Him in between themselves and their trouble from the enemy.

It is not that they began with the wall. This is all the more remarkable because another book of the Bible is devoted to building the wall — the book of Nehemiah. But they began with God and not with themselves. They began with the great expression of acceptance before God. The altar was the link between God and His people — the point of contact, so to speak, between them — the place where they made their offerings... this is all the more striking because the reason given is that fear was on them, and that fear led them to God and not to themselves or to other men.

If we set up our altar, it will serve for walls.

Despite their fear of the opposition to the true worship of God, they set the altar on its bases. They established their worship on the true basis of the Word of God, not hiding this from the eye of the enemy.

They presented their burnt offerings morning and evening. When it was first given, this was called the "continual burnt offering" (Exodus 29:38-46), and because of it God had been able to dwell among His people. His presence might no longer be among them, and He might no longer dwell between the cherubim over the mercy seat. Still, the power of the burnt offering remained. As long as faith brought this and presented it to God morning and evening, the people stayed under the Lord's protection as before. They were as safe as in the days when Jerusalem in her glory stood behind fortified walls and defences — in fact, far safer.

It was not the sacrifice for sin, but the burnt offering, the true image of worship. The people were to keep offering it, without any interruption, until the temple was finished.

It made no difference that the Jews were few in number. It makes no difference if we are only two or three. Some of the people had returned from captivity. Others were still scattered along the rivers of Babylon, or in unknown cities of Persia and Media. The altar, set up in the middle of the court, expressed the unity of them all. For them the question was not whether others would follow their example. They had the will of God, announced through Moses, as the basis for what they did.

First they obeyed His Word. They set up the altar for worship and for coming to God in the appointed way. Then they trusted Him to keep them among their enemies. The altar and the burnt offerings morning and evening are pictures of Christ, who is both the altar and the burnt offering. Whenever the Spirit of God sends a true recovery and revival, He will put the Lord Jesus Christ and His finished work first.