Restoration

For fifteen years after the first captives returned to Palestine from Babylon, little was done to restore the temple that had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Most of the people seemed satisfied to build homes for themselves and settle down. They were not prospering, but they seemed to make no connection between this fact and their failure to fulfill the Lord’s command. Under such circumstances there could be no restoration and rebirth of the nation. Was God’s plan to fail even after He had preserved Judah and brought some of them back to start over again? Here was another task calling for prophets in places of leadership and counsel.APAY 158.1

“Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts; Consider your ways.” Haggai 1:3-5. As a result of the challenge, work was begun on the temple. The testimony of Zechariah was added to Haggai’s, and within fours years the rebuilding was completed. Later Ezra and Nehemiah, who were used to help re-establish the Jews, instructed them in the word of God, and led out in reform movements. So the temple was completed and its services reinstated, the city and the walls rebuilt, and government re-established. God had again used the prophets to meet the exigencies of the situation.APAY 158.2