Ezra 5:1

There is another thing of great interest. God did not set this right by the king's authority opening the door again. He set it right by His own power stepping in — the power of the Spirit of God through the prophets. It is by the prophets, not by the king — not by Darius. "Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem." How bold faith is! And God justifies the faith He gives... Artaxerxes had stopped the building of the house, but Cyrus had authorised it earlier. They were quite right to fall back on the word of Cyrus. Yet the great thing that moved their souls was that this was the word of God — through the prophets.

At first sight, the work in chapter 4 stopped because of things beyond the builders' control. What could they do when force and authority stopped them? And yet the prophecies of the two prophets named at the start of chapter 5, especially Haggai, show reasons beneath the surface. The people had lost interest in the house of God and turned to their own houses. Haggai had to deliver a stern message, addressing the consciences. Only after this could he deliver a message of comfort, assuring the people of God's presence and support.

Note that God raised up the prophet as the means of communication with His people when the responsible head or heads of the people had failed. So when the priesthood had failed under Eli, Samuel was God's chosen vessel for His messages to His people. This explains why the greatest of the prophets appeared at the darkest periods in the history of Israel — Elijah and Elisha, for example. In our chapter Zerubbabel the governor and Jeshua the high priest were the responsible heads of the people who had returned from captivity. But the constant attacks of their enemies wore them out. They gave way along with the people, and with them they stopped building the house of the Lord.

To produce this revival, two prophets are enough here. They were the bearers and the representatives of the word of God for the people. Through them the Word, brought again to light by the power of the Holy Spirit, reaches the conscience. Later, when Ezra comes on the scene, we will see this same Word presented to souls with no signs of prophetic power... A period of revival which is not followed by scriptural teaching will be short-lived and will die out.

The people did not wait for the Gentile authorities to renew their commission to build... but God Himself had spoken, and if they were to render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, they were also to render to God the things that are God's. When God condescends to speak, His claims are supreme, whatever the consequences. Builders of a later day recognised this principle. Peter and John were forbidden to speak or teach in the name of Jesus. They replied, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you rather than to God, you must judge, for we cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard."

When Haggai delivered his burning message, the LORD revived them again. They rose from their apathy and began to build the house of the LORD, the prophets of God helping them... No sooner had they obeyed and feared the LORD than another message came through the prophet: "I am with you, declares the LORD." They no longer feared their enemies or the king's command, but they feared the LORD... The Word of the LORD was used in their revival. Every true and genuine revival always started and always will start with the Word of God, hearing and believing what God has spoken.