The Grand Reopening

When a new business opens, the owners usually hang banners, blow up balloons, and invite everyone to their grand opening. Of course, you need the giant scissors. You know the ones I’m talking about. At every grand opening, one the muckety-mucks backing the business uses a huge pair of scissors to cut the ribbon. But that’s pretty weak stuff compared the grand reopening of the temple in Jerusalem. The Israelites throw a huge blowout when they cut the ribbon on the new temple. The author doesn’t say anything about the giant scissors.

And why shouldn’t they? It’s been almost exactly 70 years since King Nebuchadnezzar obliterated the one Solomon built. In His sovereign authority, God taps the Persian king Cyrus to send His people back home and rebuild the temple. Once the Jews hit Jerusalem, the Samaritans sabotage the project for 16 more years. While the Israelites throw in the towel, Yahweh doesn’t. He uses a pair of prophets to light a fire under them once again. Now the work is complete. Now the job is finished. It’s time to party. It’s time to cut the ribbon. It’s time to celebrate.

The construction of the new temple caught a couple of local bureaucrats off guard. Tattenai and Shethar-bozenai sent a note to the home office to make sure the king was cool with all this (Ez 5:6-17). King Darius ordered a search of the archives in order to see if there was any paperwork on file. Sure enough, they found it (Ez 6:1-5). As a result, the king sent instructions back to local officials to stop hindering and start helping (Ez 6:6-12). They were to not only hand over their tax check to the Israelites but give them all of the livestock and groceries they need.

Tattenai and Shethar-bozenai never batted an eye when they got the royal response. They “did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered” (v13). At this point, the temple project was in high gear. They had the backing of the Persian government. They had the full support of the local pagan administrators. But most importantly, they had God on their side. “And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo” (v14). This lets us know that God is clearly in control of the project. He spoke through His handpicked spokesmen to guide the rebuilding of the temple. Flip over to the book of Haggai to see what the LORD had to say through him (Hag 1:7-11). Remember, God inspires the Gentile dictator Cyrus to get behind the project (Ez 1:1). God inspires His people with the passion to return (Ez 1:5). Despite construction delays, God uses Haggai and Zechariah to get folks back to work (Ez 5:1). God even works through the seemingly boring administrative process (Ez 6:1-12). You see, Yahweh is the real architect and project manager here.

At just about every grand opening of a new building, there’s a plaque on the wall letting everyone know who was behind the project. Ezra lists the royalty that backed the temple reconstruction. “They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia” (v14). Three of the most powerful dictators in the history of ancient Near East got second billing to the Sovereign God of the universe. He raises up kings (Dan 2:21; Ps 75:7). He gets them to do whatever He wants (Prov 21:1). This time it was to send His people back home and rebuild His temple. You might wonder how Artaxerxes slipped into this list. How very observant of you. That’s because Ezra has the perspective of time on his side. He knows that Artaxerxes is the king who backs his return to Jerusalem 60 years later in 458 BC (Ez 7). We’ll see that God was the One pulling the strings on that Persian king as well.

Once they lay the last brick, it’s time to fire up the grill. Folks “celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy” (v16). It was time to party, boys and girls! People are stoked that the LORD has graciously blessed them with the privilege of not only returning to the Promised Land but allowed them to rebuild the temple too. They bring “100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs and as a sin offering for all Israel 12 male goats” (v17).

But that pales in comparison the massive shindig Solomon held 500 years before when he dedicated the original temple with “22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep” (1Ki 8:63). Does that make Solomon’s offering better? No. Remember, we’re to give from what God has given us. Jesus made the huge point that the widow living in poverty who gives a single penny gave more than the millionaires writing six-figure checks (Lk 21:1-4). Don’t miss the point about celebrating what God has done. Yahweh’s people should be party people. 

It’s easy to get lost in the amount of meat on the grill at the party. But God is pointing to something much bigger. Or should I say Someone much bigger. He wants us to see Jesus. While the people offered sacrifices, Jesus is the ultimate sacrifice. He is the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” (Jn 1:29). Jeshua served as the high priest over the sacrifice (Ez 2:2; 3:2, 9; 4:3; 52:2), but Jesus is the ultimate High Priest (Heb 4:14-16). The people dedicated the rebuilt temple, but Jesus is the ultimate temple (Mt 12:6; Jn 2:19). And if that’s not crazy enough, Jesus is building a new temple using us (1Cor 3:16)! Jesus is the point of the story. Jesus is THE Hero of the story!

Remember who He says He is. Remember what He’s done for you and me that we could never dream of doing for ourselves. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like a GREAT reason to party! Let’s fire up the grill and find those giant scissors.