Let the work on this house of God alone.
– Ezra 6:7
That’s the declaration that King Darius made concerning the rebuilding of the temple. People were asking, are these Jews allowed to rebuild this symbol? And the king under the sovereign hand of God says, let this work on this house of God alone.
Ezra 6:7 portrays God’s protection and provision for his people.
In other words, do not oppose the house of God. What a word, God, protecting his people, providing for his house. Now, this is the story of Ezra, the rebuilding of the temple here. But I can’t help but to think about the New Testament and how the church is called the temple of God, and how the body of a follower of Jesus is called the temple of the Holy Spirit. If God protected and provided for this temple in Ezra 6, how much more will he do so for his household to use language from Timothy, his church today, the body, the bride of Jesus.
God will protect his church. God will provide for his church, particularly as people rise up to oppose his church. My New Testament reading right now is in the book of Acts where we are seeing all kinds of opposition against the church, people from within and without, and God continually is providing for and protecting his church. And then to think about your own life, your body as a temple of the Holy Spirit.
Ezra 6:7 reminds us God is committed to our protection.
God is committed to protecting and providing for you, ultimately to bringing your body to resurrection in a new heaven and a new earth. So you can always rest confident in the protection and the provision of God for his house, for his church, and for his people. So do not be afraid. Do not be dismayed. Do not be discouraged. God will defend his house, his people who trust in him and his church, his body, his bride, his household.
So we pray, God, we are so thankful to be in your house, not just in your house. We’re so thankful to be your house, your household, for our bodies to be a temple of your Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus for the privilege of being a part of your holy church, your holy body and bride, Lord Jesus. And so we pray. We pray for the protection of your church against all the attempts of the adversary to attack your church.
This verse encourages us to serve one another.
We pray for your provision in your church, for the health, for the good of your people. God, we pray for your protection and provision of our own lives, and we pray that you would protect us from fear, from discouragement or from dismay in our own lives. Help us to trust in you and help us to always work. We pray, just like we’re reading here about the temple in Ezra.
Help us to work for the building up of your church, never for the tearing down of your church. God, help us to work, to serve, to love, to care for the beauty of your bride and your body, Lord Jesus. And help us to honor one another as temples of your Holy Spirit for all who trust in you. God, help us to build one another up as temples of the Holy Spirit to edify, to encourage to uplift. Oh and God, we pray for those who are yet to come into the household. We pray for those who are yet to come into the family.
Prayer for the Yahia Bedouin People
We pray specifically for the Yahia Bedouin people of Morocco today. 116,000 of them. No known followers of Jesus among this Muslim people group. God, we pray for the good news of Jesus’ spread to the Yahia Bedouin people of Morocco, that they might be brought into your household, that they might become your temple, your dwelling place, that they might have this hope, this joy, this strength, the protection and provision that are found in being your children through faith in Jesus. We pray all of this according to your word in Ezra 6:7. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
