Worship in Progress

What are you waiting for? Yeah, I’m talking to you. What needs to happen before you worship God? For many of us who’ve been away from church for a long time, we think we need to get our life together before we can ever dream of getting religious (whatever THAT means!). We think we need to get cleaned up. We think conditions need to be perfect. We think everything needs to be just right. But here in Ezra 3:1-7, you’ll see that the people were so stoked about worshiping God that they weren’t going to let the mess get in their way. They made worship a priority. They didn’t need a building. They didn’t need a temple. They simply needed God. They needed to celebrate who He was and what He has done. It was a work in progress and a worship in progress.

Let’s set the scene. After being held captive in Babylon for 70 years, God’s people are allowed to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple. Yahweh had allowed Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians to haul away the Hebrews because they had completely turned their backs on His goodness and grace (2Ki 17:7-1; Jer 2:7-13). But their situation had changed drastically since they had been thrown in the supernatural penalty box. God dropped the hammer on Babylon when He sent King Cyrus and His Persian to knock them off the top spot as the world’s superpower. The LORD then stirred Cy’s heart to let God’s people pack up and head home  (Ez 1:1-4). Almost 50,000 Jews packed up and made the 500 mile trip back home. Just as Moses led the Israelites out of Egypt into the Promised Land, Zerubbabel led them on the Exodus 2.0 (Ez 2). 

Once the Hebrews are back home, the flipped their calendar over to the most special time of the year. “The seventh month came” (v1). This is the seventh month of the Jewish calendar, not seven months after they hit town. It’s Tishrei, a month that falls within our September and October. For the Jewish people, this is the most wonderful time of the year. It’s when they celebrate the high holy days. It’s the Big Three of Hebrew holidays. The Feast of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Booths. The city may be in shambles. The temple may be a pile of rubble. But that’s not going to stop God’s people. Their rebuilding project may be a work in progress but they’re going to worship in progress.

Despite the devastation all around, the people made worship priority one. “They built the altar of the God of Israel,” (v2). They didn’t let the lack of a temple keep them from worshiping God. They knew that this was NOT about a building! They didn’t need some brand spanking new church building in order to thank the LORD for who He was and what He had done. It’s about worshiping God! This is all about keeping the main thing the the main thing. And God is THE Main Thing! Rebuilding the temple is a work in progress. This is worship in progress.

Ezra tells us how they cranked up the grill “to offer burnt offerings on it, as is written in the Law of Moses” (v2). We find all the details of these offerings in everyone’s favorite book of the Bible, Leviticus. The LORD tells Moses all about these in Lev 1:3-17. There we read that we should “offer a male without blemish” (Lev 1:3, 10). That’s a preview of Jesus’ sinless sacrifice for our sin almost 500 years later. The other holy days of the seventh month are also listed in Leviticus (Lev 23:24-44). 

The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah) falls on the first day of the seventh month. This is the Jewish New Year’s Day and is a celebration of Creation of Adam and Eve. They blow a ram’s horn called a “shofar” to kick things off (makes me wonder if you have to have a “shofar’s license;” think about that one for a moment). This points us to Jesus “for by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through Him and for Him” (Col 1:16). And for those of us who are “in Christ, he is a new creation” (2Cor 5:17).

On the tenth day of Tishrei, they would celebrate the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur). God spends the entire chapter of Leviticus 16 going in great detail of this incredibly important day. This is the holiest day of the year for the Jewish people. As part of an elaborate ceremony, the high priest offers sacrifices as a sin offering for all the people. God uses these sacrifices to cleanse them of both their sins of commission and omission over the past year. Five centuries later, Jesus would one day act as the ultimate High Priest offer Himself for our sins once and for all (Heb 7:24-28; 9:11-14). Because of what Christ did to celebrate the supreme Day of Atonement on Calvary, we no longer have reason to do it every year.

Less than a week later, the Israelites would celebrate the Feast of Booths (Sukkot) on the fifteenth day of the month. They would remember how their ancestors lived in temporary booths when God brought them out of Egypt after Exodus 1.0. It’s a celebration of God’s deliverance from slavery. In 500 years, Jesus would deliver us from our slavery to sin (Rom 6:18).

So what does this passage about the Jewish high holy days have to do with a 21st century follower of Jesus? As you can see, each of these celebrations point to the One who would come to and fulfill them all. They also remind us that we don’t need a temple to worship God. We don’t need a gorgeous church building to show our love to Him. We don’t need to have all our ducks in a row in order express our thanks to Jesus. We don’t have to get ourselves all scrubbed up and buttoned down to worship God. We can worship Him in the rubble. We can worship Him in the mess. We can worship in progress.