Satan’s strategy (2)
“Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.” (Ezra 4:4)
When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles who returned to Jerusalem after their captivity and were building a temple in Jerusalem for the Lord, the God of Israel (Ezra 4:1), they set out to discourage the people of Judah and made them afraid to go on building (v. 4). How did the enemies of Judah and Benjamin hinder the rebuilding of the temple?
First, the enemies of Israel discouraged the people of Judah (v. 4).
Look at Ezra 4:4 – “Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.” The enemies of Judah and Benjamin tried to prevent the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem by discouraging the hearts of the people of Judah by intimidating and terrifying them. Even today, Satan's temptation continues. Satan tries to discourage our hearts and to prevent us from building the body of the Lord, the church. How does he discourage our hearts? I personally believe that one of Satan's many strategies for discouraging my heart is by instilling a crooked self-view in my mind. That crooked self-view makes God's word to look at myself crookedly. In other words, Satan makes me to look at myself crookedly by making to see and listen to God's word crookedly. So, in the end, when I look at myself, I get disappointed, discouraged, and hopeless. But even in the midst of such despair, God works together for good. He gives me hope by helping me to long for God in despair. And because of that hope, He revives my heart and gives me strength.
Second, the enemies of Israel bribed officials to frustrate the Israelites’ plan.
Look at Ezra 4:5 – “and they bribed officials to frustrate their plan throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia and until the reign of King Darius of Persia” (NRSVA). The enemies prevented the people of Judah from building the temple by bribing the king’s counselors (7:14, 28) or ‘someone like the king’s secretary’ (Yoon-sun Park). Dr. Yoon-sun Park said: ‘It is the action of the enemy who opposes righteousness to give bribes to officials to obstruct the fulfillment of righteous works, and that is the devil's action’ (Park).
What is a bribe? An Internet Web site defines bribery as follows: ‘An unclean gift of money given by the person of his or her powers as a request for special convenience’ (Internet). The bribe eventually blind people and pervert the speech of the righteous (Exod. 23:8), resulting in corruption [the public official who abuse his or her public role for personal gain (monetary gain, position, influence) or for any other purpose or deviates from the legal and social norms associated with that position (Internet)] and bears rotten fruits. I think the root of the bitterness of these rotten fruits is the love of money after all (2 Tim. 3:2). They take bribes because of the love of money. And because bribes cloud their judgment and conscience, there are strife, divisions, and turmoil in the church. We should continue to write deeply the word of 1 Timothy 6:10 in the tablet of our hearts: “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs.”
Third, the enemies of Israel accused the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
Look at Ezra 4:6 – “Now in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.” The adversaries wrote to Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, and accused the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem (vv. 6, 8). According to the accusation, the enemies of Israel said that the Jews who came up from them at Jerusalem were building the rebellious and evil city (vv. 12, 15, 19) and “if that city is rebuilt and the walls are finished, they will not pay tribute, custom or toll, and it will damage the revenue of the kings” (v. 13). Also, they said that this rebellious city was a place of rebellion from ancient times and had been troublesome to kings and provinces (vv. 15, 19). Furthermore, the content of the accusation was that if Jerusalem were rebuilt and its wall were restored, then as a result the king would have no possession in the providence beyond the River (v. 16)
These days, we hear a lot of suing. Of course, we hear it on the news countless times, but even within the church, we encounter cases of being sued in courts of the world. When I hear the news of accusations in the church like this, I sometimes think of 1 Corinthians 6:5-6: “I say this to shame you. Is it possible that there is nobody among you wise enough to judge a dispute between believers? But instead, one brother goes to law against another--and this in front of unbelievers!” As a member of the church, which is the body of the Lord, we are reminded of shame. It is very unfortunate that there is no one wise to judge between brothers, so we have to take church matters to the courts of the world. Satan not only makes non-believers accuse the church, but also tempts believers to sue the church. By doing this, Satan divides the church and also destroys it.
What was the result of this Satan's work of obstruction? In the end, King Ahasuerus issued an order to Rehum the prince, to Shimshai the scribe, and to their companions who were in Samaria, and to the people of other lands on the west side of the river, so that the people of Israel stopped their work, so that they could not rebuild the city (vv. 17, 21). After receiving this order, Rehum, Shimshai the scribe and their colleagues hurried to Jerusalem to the Jews, and stopped them by force of arms and put an end to the work of rebuilding the city and temple in Jerusalem so that the work of the house of God in Jerusalem ceased until the second year of the reign of Darius king of Persia (vv. 23-24).
Satan's purpose is to stop building the Lord's church. Satan is always persistently attacking the church to tear it apart and destroy it. Satan is attacking our hearts and is trying to discourage us so that we may stop building the Lord’s church. Satan also motivates us to love money, and makes us quarrel and fight among the church members over money. In the end, Satan even causes us to sue each other, so we take the matter to the courts of the world, ultimately hurting the hearts of many church members and causing them to leave the church and even faith. We must be wary of these works of Satan. And we must grasp Satan's strategies so that when he tempts us, we must fight and win by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As we can see in Ezra chapters 5 and 6, God's work eventually overcame the work of Satan. God helped the Israelites and encouraged them in the work of the house of God (6:22), so that the temple was being rebuilt. The church is the Lord's church and the Lord has promised to build it (Mt. 16:18). So no matter how Satan opposes us, the Lord will build His church. Therefore, we must not be discouraged, but strengthen our hearts and participate in the Lord's work of building His church. I hope and pray that we will be victorious in the good fight of faith with the assurance of victory in the Lord.