Ezra 5:2

Many years passed before the ban on building came. I have examined the prophecies that throw so much light on this same period, and compared their dates. It seems clear to me that the real hindrance was the remnant's own lack of faith. There were enemies in the land who made them afraid and so stopped their building... They began to build again not because someone brought them the king's decree, but because they feared the Lord and did not fear the king's command, as seeing Him who is invisible... The source of their weakness was that they had forgotten God. This shows the great grace of God in waking them up through Haggai.

Fear of the enemy was not the only thing that led them to stop their work. Their own hearts were also settling down on their own ease and comfort. They found time to build their own houses while saying, "The time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord."

When it was a matter of building the house, the leaders do not wait for everyone to agree, nor do they try to stir up some common action. This will always be the case. The only way to stir up the activity of faith in others is to take up that activity yourself. It takes a heart deeply marked by what is due to the Lord and by our responsibility toward Him. We may be only two or three... but we may be sure that our zeal will bear its fruit.

No doubt they were under the powers God has ordained, and a decree forbade them to build. But God Himself had spoken. So if they were to give Caesar the things that are Caesar's, they were also to give God the things that are God's. When God stoops to speak, His claims come first, above every other consideration, whatever the consequences. Peter and John, builders of a later day, recognised this principle. 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." In truth, faith links itself with God Himself, with His objects and His power, and can then peacefully leave every other question with Him.

How bold faith is! And God justifies the faith that He gives. This looked like a lack of respect for royal authority. In fact they had at least as good an authority for going on with the work. Artaxerxes stops the building of the house here, but Cyrus had authorised it earlier. They did what was quite right... They went back to what Cyrus had commanded.

This last phrase refers to the ongoing work of the prophets while the building went on. Through it the Lord encouraged His people to keep at their labours. He unfolded before them the glory of the future, tied to the coming of the Messiah and the setting up of His kingdom. The people built and the prophets prophesied. Both alike filled their appointed places, and both alike carried out their task in fellowship with the mind of God.

Haggai prophesied about the house of God. Zechariah emphasised the city of Jerusalem... The city was only to surround the house, but the house was God's centre.

Joshua and Zerubbabel stood at the head of those left of Judah and Benjamin. When they returned to Jerusalem, their condition was one of deep humiliation. They were weak representatives of the priesthood and of royalty. At the same time they were forerunners, pictures, of the Messiah in His future glory.