Whenever God’s people have a season of joy, it is because the Lord has worked. The Psalmist said:

For thou, LORD, hast made me glad through thy work: I will triumph in the works of thy hands. Ps. 92:4

After years of laboring to build the Lord a house, the Jewish nation had such a season of joy. As they looked back, they didn’t take the credit themselves or pay tribute to their leaders; they ascribed everything to the Lord. Ezra 6:22 says:

For the LORD had made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria unto them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

The Lord Turned the King’s Heart⤒🔗

You will remember how God initially raised up King Cyrus to give the Jews the right to rebuild the temple (Ezra 1:1-4). Their adversaries, however, intimidated them into stopping their work. Later, encouraged by the word of God’s prophets, they were bold in God and resumed their work. Then, Tatnai, the governor of the region, brought the issue before King Darius. He peti­tioned that the king validate whether the work should continue (Ezra 5:17). How the future must have seemed to hang in the balances! Some may have wor­ried that the king might turn against them! Others may have countered that Isaiah had prophesied that the temple would be rebuilt (Isa 45:28). After all, that had been the word of the Lord.

The Lord rewarded this faith of His trusting ser­vants. Darius stated that the Jews had every right to build the temple. This was wonderful news! As the Psalmist says: “Thou hast saved us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated us” (Ps. 44:7). God so influenced the heart of the king that the enemies of the Jews were put to shame. How did God do this?

First of all, God made the adversary cease his attacks and obstacles. Darius addressed the enemies of the Jews very pointedly: “let the work of this house of God alone” (6:7).

Secondly, God made the adversary help with sup­plies for building and offering. Darius instructed Tatnai: “That which they have need of ... let it be given them day by day without fail” (6:9).

Thirdly, God made the adversary fear God’s retribu­tion for disobedience. Along with his own threat, Dar­ius issued a very remarkable threat to the enemy. We read: “And the God that hath caused his name to dwell there destroy all kings and people that shall put to their hand to alter and to destroy this house of God” (6:12).

There is no question that this decision dealt the enemy of the people of God a harsh blow. Like Haman, who had to lead Mordecai on horseback through the city of Shushan (Esther 6:11), the adversaries of the Jews were constrained to help the cause of the Jews. As the text explicitly says: “The LORD had ... turned the heart of the king” (Ezra 6:22). The church’s ene­mies might rage and threaten. Yet in the end, “the sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bend­ing unto thee” (Isa 60:14). Truly, “no weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper” (Isa. 54:17).

He Strengthened the People’s Hands←⤒🔗

The king’s edict not only confounded the plans of the adversaries, but we are told that it also strengthened the hands of the Jews (6:22). This, of course, implies that the Jews, as courageous and zealous as they were, were still weak in themselves. They needed strengthening. Not only had enmity hindered them from the outside, but so had weakness on the inside. Here too, the Lord came to His people’s aid. He strengthened them in three ways.

First, God strengthened the hands of the people so that they continued building. Upon hearing the news from the Persian court, the elders of the Jews contin­ued to build (6:14).

Secondly, God strengthened the people’s hands so that they prospered in building. We read that the peo­ple “prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo” (6:14). The prophets continued to speak the word of the Lord, challenging and comforting the people. As a result, the people really succeeded in the work. The success ulti­mately derived not from the word of king Darius, but the word of the Lord through His prophets.

Finally, God strengthened the people’s hands so that they finished the building. The day came when the last brick was laid, the last piece of furniture installed, and all the tools were removed. The long-awaited temple stood completed — a monument of God’s strengthen­ing grace!

Who does not need this strengthening grace? Let us seek it in God’s Word and from His Christ. Then we will be strengthened with might in the inner man (Eph. 3:16). As Paul confessed: “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13).

He Gladdens His People’s Lives←⤒🔗

God’s work on His people’s behalf brought joy and gladness. This passage uses the word “joy” and “joy­ful” four separate times (16-22). True joy is the settled, inward posture of gladness in God, which has its source in God the Holy Spirit (Gal. 5:22). This joy comes from God and is focused on God.

What joy there must have been when they dedi­cated the temple to the LORD (6:16-17)! They gave back to God what He had given to them. It was to be His house! They sacrificed hundreds of cattle. The blood of bulls and goats began to flow again after these seventy years. This blood pointed to the blood of the Lamb without blemish, Jesus Christ the Righteous. By this blood, the house of God was dedicated to God and accepted by God. As Paul would later write: “We also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement” (Rom. 5:11).

What joy there must have been when the people set up the regular service of the LORD (6:18)! The priests and the Levites began to take up their duties and medi­ate between God and the people. There was again a sympathizing, sacrificing, singing priesthood.

What joy there must have been when the people could celebrate the Passover once again (6:19-21)! This festival reminded the people of their deliverance from Pharaoh, their cruel enemy. The Lord had delivered them from their more recent enemies as well, despite their sins. He had been zealous for His own name’s sake.

What joy there must have been when certain of the surrounding people joined them in their celebration! The text says that there were people who “separated them­selves unto them from the filthiness of the heathen of the land to seek the LORD God of Israel” (6:21). You could say: There were those who saw that God was with Israel. They forsook the pollution of the world and their sinful practices and lusts and clave to the peo­ple of God and sought the Lord God of Israel.

This joy was not the result of man’s works, but God’s. As the last verse says: “The LORD had made them joyful.”

Questions:←⤒🔗

1. In what way could Ezra 6 be called an emblem to God’s faithfulness?
    
2. How was the verdict of the king bad news for the enemies? Can you think of other times in history when God’s enemies were made to serve the cause of God?
    
3. The Lord’s people need God’s strength every step of the way. By what means does God usually pro­vide this strength? Where do we see this in the passage?
    
4. What is true joy? Can you think of some false kinds of joy?
    
5. Can you relate to the joy Paul speaks about in Rom. 5:11? How did these ancient Jews have the atonement set forth before them?
    
6. What is verse 21 describing? Compare this with Ephesians 2:1-3. Is conversion today essentially any different?
    
7. The joy of the Lord showed itself especially in the worship of the Lord. Define true joy. Can you think of someone who very obviously had or has this joy? What is it that demonstrates this joy?