Worship Begins with Prophecy

In the book of Ezra we have a window into how someone, not Jewish, looked at the rebuilding of the "house of God" in Jerusalem.  Fortunately for us the author of Ezra has left us a letter from Rehum to King Ahasuerus father of Darius, in Aramaic. Aramaic was the language of the Persian empire and for some reason the letter's original language was brought over to the Hebrew Bible. That is right. Two books of the OT have part of their text in Aramaic, Daniel and Ezra. Since the original letters in their native tongue are left in these books it gives a fresh authenticity to the way others looked at the Jews during these troubling years, the time of the exile and the following restoration.
 From the author's point of view he saw the rebuilding of the temple being accompanied by the prophesying of Haggi and Zechariah as one of the contributing factors to getting the work done on the temple there in Jerusalem. We see at the end of chapter 4 that Rehum the govenor of Jerusalem persuading King Artaxerxes to stop the building. He was successful and it remained stopped, the Aramaic report says, until prophets arose who prophesied to the people of Jerusalem and created the desire to rebuild the temple. It sounds like they literally cause two guys to rise up like Ezekiel's bones (Ezekiel 37).  Here is the scripture;

Ezra 4:24 Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia. 

Ezra 5:1 Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel, even unto them. 

Ezra 5:2 Then rose up Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem: and with them were the prophets of God helping them. 

 Haggai has been called the prophet of the temple and we can see why.  Nothing happened until prophets arose and spoke the word of God to the people of Jerusalem. How important is prophecy? Would the house have stayed unbuilt without Haggai and other prophets speaking the word of the Lord? I think they needed the word of the Lord, His creative force to get the work done.

Is this story helpful to me today? Well, I ask myself, is worship to the Lord going on unimpaired in all areas of my life?  If I look at work, at my home, or in relationships I have to ask, "Do I see God glorified?" If I am honest, not always! Maybe I need a Haggai to start the ball rolling. Or maybe I can start prophesying and see the changes happen.  I think we all need prophets and the creative word of God spoken in our lives.  There is still too much destruction going on. Marriages failing, people getting sick, financial problems, kids getting hurt, unnecessary negativity, on and on it goes. Homes in disarray. Cities needing a place to worship. Okay, I get the point! God created the whole universe by a spoken word. Christ is that word, can I speak it too?  Paul says that the word is near you, even in your mouth (Romans 10:8). Our release may be a spoken word away. Moses desired that all would be prophets (Numbers 11). Paul echoed the same desire in 1Corinthians Chapter 12. "Rather that you may prophecy... because one that prophecies edifies...."

 It is neat that the Persian scribe notes how the prophets helped Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple. And beyond that Darius the king warned that if anyone resisted the Jews their houses would become like...well to say it nicely a "dunghill" (KJV).  He also furnished money and material for the work! The prophets spoke the creative word of God until the very government's attitude was changed. Do we need more political rallies? Or do we need to start prophesying to principalities and powers? "I am feeling the need, the need for speed" or that is prophecy.We need the prophetic word made more clear until the day star arises in our hearts (2Peter 1:19). We are dependent on the prophectic word. Maybe God has committed to us to get the job done. At least Haggai and Zechariah thought so.

Want to learn more about prophecy? Go to The Living Word  for literature on prophecy.