“And they kept the Feast of the Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the LORD had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.” -Ezra 6:22
Sometimes a project takes longer than we would like. I know I constantly have things I am planning to do around the house that I just can’t seem to get around to; you may have the same problem, I don’t know. The people of Israel certainly understood this dilemma in Ezra 6, as they had been working on rebuilding the temple for generations. The temple, originally built by Solomon to be the place of worship and of God’s presence among His people, had been destroyed by the Babylonian armies as they took the people of Judah into exile. When the Jews returned to the city, it had been decaying and in ruins for seventy years. Once they got started, they then faced opposition from other people in the region, who all had a vested interest in seeing Israel remain destitute. Alas, despite multiple setbacks and challenges, the Lord turned the heart of King Darius and he made a decree for the temple to be finished.
Once the temple was finished, the people were anxious to celebrate, and wouldn’t you know it: the time had come for the Passover to be observed. The Passover was their annual celebration and time of worship, pointing back to when God saved them from Pharaoh in Egypt and the Death Angel passed over the houses that had been marked by the blood of a lamb as He defeated their enemies (for the whole story, check out Exodus 4-13). And man, they celebrated!
They didn’t just solemnly and soberly shuffle around and throw up a few half-hearted hallelujahs. They didn’t just mumble a few prayers of thanksgiving before the Passover potluck. They didn’t do any of this year’s celebration as if they were going through the motions. No, our passage today points out that they observed the Passover with joy!
They were full of joy and celebration, throwing their whole being into the celebration and worship, glorifying God in His temple presence with their whole voice and their whole heart. Nothing else mattered at this moment, except shouting out praise and worship and thankfulness and celebrating this festival with passion. And our verse even shows why they were joyful: the Lord made them joyful, and He worked things out for their good, even when all seemed hopeless.
Christians today have been lacking joy and celebration for a while. Many of our churches feel like a crypt on Sunday mornings: lots of dead air and somber faces going through a miserable ritual. This is not the way that the Lord calls us to worship. No, instead, we should be even more joyful than these Jews were!
For starters, God can make us joyful, too. The Bible says that one of the fruits, or gifts, of having the Holy Spirit within us is joy. That means that if you are a Christian, you have the very presence of God within you, and His almighty power is ready to fill you with joy. Remember how excited the Israelites were to have the temple back? They were hype to get this building finished because it meant that God’s presence could once again be among the people. But here’s the thing: as a Christian with the Holy Spirit dwelling within you, the presence of God is always with you! We don’t need the temple or any other building to worship in God’s presence, because He is already with us and is working to bring us joy–if only we will join in the celebration and worship ourselves!
Secondly, we can also find joy in how God is working for us. The Jews celebrated the Passover and God working in the heart of an Assyrian king, but we today can celebrate the ultimate Passover: the time when our sins were passed over because we found salvation in the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. When Jesus died on the cross for us, He took the punishment we deserved, and when He rose again, He gave us new life that we can live and live abundantly with. That abundance of life means that we have the power to find joy in all the amazing things God is doing in and through us, but we have to look for it. Our enemy doesn’t want us to celebrate and live with joy, and will gladly attempt to distract us from it with our own miseries if we let him.
So, Christian, here’s the deal: the job is done. Jesus said, “it is finished.” The temple, you yourself, is filled with God’s presence and He is working all around you. Will you choose to live with joy today, or will you walk away from it?
Thank you for this devotion