“We are theservants of the God of heaven and earth and are rebuilding the temple that wasbuilt many years ago, which a great king of Israel built and finished.” (Ezra5:11)
The book ofEzra tells the story of the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple after theBabylonian captivity. God’s people had spent 70 years as exiles in a foreignland because of their rejection of His purposes in them and their sin ofidolatry. The Jews who returned from the captivity to rebuild the temple andthe city of Jerusalem faced much opposition, poverty, danger, and hardship. Mostof them had been born in Babylon and had never seen the land of Israel. Theyhad to leave everything they had in Babylon to return to Jerusalem. Babylon wastheir home, but it was not their identity. Their mission to Jerusalem was notjust to rebuild the city and temple, but to restore the Jewish nationalredemptive identity – God’s prophetic purpose in His people. They were few innumber and had no resources for the task set before them. At times they becamediscouraged by the relentless attacks of their enemies. They had to rejectproposed ungodly alliances and partnerships which were intended to dilute theirefforts in reclaiming their national redemptive identity. They had to put awaytheir foreign wives and children. The city and temple had been destroyed. Therewas much “rubbish” in the streets which needed to be removed, and the walls andgates of the city had to be rebuilt. They were mocked and attacked as theyworked and had to arm themselves with their swords as they labored. Yet theypersevered. In all of these challenges, they turned to the Lord, knowing theycould not complete their historic task without Him. Indeed, it seems as thoughtheir struggles were designed and allowed by the Lord to purify their hearts,ensuring the integrity of their efforts, and the integrity of their nationalidentity as the people of God.
TheKeystone Project is also assigned a great task which is not without challengesand struggles. We have grown more quickly than our infrastructure can manage.Every month we have to literally “pray in” enough money to make payroll andfood to feed our students. We do not have sufficient housing for our staffingneeds. Most of our staff are doing multiple tasks for which they are not beingpaid. In addition, we deal with many spiritual attacks against our redemptivecommunity. In the midst of all this, we reject discouragement and despair, andrejoice that we cannot do the task we have been assigned without the Lord. IfHe does not show up, we will fail. We have not failed yet, but have, in fact,succeeded beyond our capacity. That is not a testimony to us, but to the Lordwho never fails and is never, ever late. We cry out and He hears and answersour cries. All we can do is laugh, even as we study our bleak financialreports, because we know the numbers in them reveal the greatness of our God.
Where did the Jews get the strength and faith,they needed to rebuild the city and temple? It came from the knowledge of whoGod was and the knowledge of who they were because of Him. “We are the servantsof the God of heaven and earth.” They also knew their mission, “and [we] arerebuilding the temple that was built many years ago, which a great king ofIsrael built and finished.” At this moment in history, with the forces of evilseeking to destroy all that is of God, we must find a supernatural strength andfaith to accomplish the task before us. Do we know who He is? Do we know who weare? We are the church of the Lord Jesus Christ! Though we are in the world,the world is not our home, and it is not our identity. We know who we are, andwe know what our mission is - to make disciples of all the nations. Though themission is with great struggle and hardship, and though our enemies are manyand strong, we will prevail. Jesus declared that the gates of hell cannot standagainst us!
