WORSHIP: FROM EXILE TO RESTORATION

1. WORSHIP: FROM EXILE TO RESTORATION Lesson 10 forSeptember 3, 2011

2. HISTORICALCONTEXT During the kingdom of King Josiah, in 627 BC, Jeremiah received the prophetic call and predicted the divine punishment for Judah’s sins. That punishment was carried out by the Babylonians and generated a seventy years long exile. 605 BC Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem and took Judah’s princes captive to his court in Babylon. Daniel, Meshach, Shadrach and Abednego were among them. 597 BC When Jehoiachin rebelled against Nebuchadnezzar, he conquered Jerusalem again and took some people captive to Babylon. The priest Ezekiel was among them. 586 BC Zedekiah rebelled too, so Nebuchadnezzar conquered Jerusalem again and totally destroyed it and its temple. He spared Jeremiah’s life. 537 BC Cyrus let Zerubbabel to come back to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple with an important group of exiles, seventy years after the first captivity. 515 BC The rebuilt of the temple was finished thanks to the support of prophets Haggai and Zechariah. 444 BC Nehemiah was designated governor of Judah and rebuilt Jerusalem and its walls.

3. WORSHIP IN JERUSALEM(EZEKIEL 8) Ezekiel was carried to Jerusalem in vision to see the way how priests and elders worshipped in God’s temple. They had an idolatrous image next to the altar. In the rooms next to the temple, they had drawn every kind of reptiles and abominable beasts and they were worshipping them, offering incense to them. Their wives were mourning for Tammuz, a rite where they cried for the death of the god. They worshipped the sun with their backs to the altar. The people of Israel had slowly abandoned the truth of salvation and had acquired the customs of the peoples around them. Their secret idolatrous practices led them to the fake security of believing that God didn’t see what they were doing. • As church or as individuals, are we acquiring “pagan” customs that are separating us from the truth?

4. WORSHIP IN BABYLON(DANIEL 3) Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego refused to worship the statue that King Nebuchadnezzar built on the plain of Dura. Not even death threat could make those young men change from worshipping the true God to worshipping idols.

5. WORSHIP IN THE END TIME (REVELATION 13-14) The first four commandments of God’s law and worship are closely related. Priests and elders corrupted worship when they transgressed the two first commandments in Jerusalem. The Hebrew young men worshipped God correctly, refusing to transgress the second commandment in Babylon. We can find the last test that the people of God will experience in Revelation 13. “He was granted power to give breath to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak and cause as many as would not worship the image of the beast to be killed. He causes all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and slave, to receive a mark on their right hand or on their foreheads” (Revelation,13: 15-16) In those moments, the problem in worship will be based in the obedience or transgression of the fourth commandment.

6. “The vainglory and oppression seen in the course pursued by the heathen king, Nebuchadnezzar, is being and will continue to be manifested in our day. History will repeat itself. In this age the test will be on the point of Sabbath observance. The heavenly universe behold men trampling upon the law of Jehovah, making the memorial of God, the sign between him and his commandment-keeping people, a thing of naught, something to be despised, while a rival sabbath is exalted as was the great golden image in the plain of Dura. Men claiming to be Christians will call upon the world to observe this spurious sabbath that they have made. All who refuse will be placed under oppressive laws. This is the mystery of iniquity, the devising of satanic agencies, carried into effect by the man of sin” E.G.W. (The Youth's Instructor, July 12, 1904)

7. When they came back from Babylon, God sent them the prophets Haggai and Zachariah to show the people which mistakes were they making, and to encourage them to rebuild the temple. RESTOREDWORSHIP

8. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: "Consider your ways! Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified," says the Lord. "You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?" declares the Lord Almighty. "Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house."” (Haggai, 1: 7-9) “The lack of temporal prosperity was the result of a neglect to put God’s interests first, the prophets [Haggai and Zechariah] declared. Had the Israelites honored God, had they shown Him due respect and courtesy, by making the building of His house their first work, they would have invited His presence and blessing” (E.G.W. “Prophets and Kings”, cp. 46, p. 573) HAGGAI’SMESSAGE If we make the work of God our priority, He will bless us.

9. ZECHARIAH’SMESSAGE “"Do not be like your fathers, to whom the former prophets preached, saying, ‘thus says the Lord of hosts: "Turn now from your evil ways and your evil deeds."' But they did not hear nor heed Me," says the Lord” (Zechariah, 1: 4) Zechariah invites us to repent, to come back from our bad ways, to learn from the past, and to pin our hopes on God and on His promises for the future. The attitude we must have when worshipping must be an attitude of faith, repentance and obedience.

10. INTERCESSORYPRAYER The work of reformation that Zerubbabel began soon declined because of opposition and despondency. In those moments, God called Ezra and Nehemiah. While Nehemiah was in the court of Artaxerxes serving as butler of the king, his brother told him about the appalling state of Jerusalem. He was touched by the Holy Spirit and he raised an intercessory prayer for his people and offered himself to God so He could use him as He needed in His work.

11. “…I confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father's house and I have sinned” (Nehemiah, 1: 6) There are three main points in that intercessory prayer: Nehemiah makes himself guilty of the sins of the people. He reminded God of His promises to Moses and asks Him to fulfill them. He offered to carry out the work of reformation. “Remember, I pray, the word that You commanded Your servant Moses …” (Nehemiah, 1: 8) “"O Lord, I pray … let Your servant prosper this day, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." For I was the king's cupbearer” (Nehemiah, 1: 11) INTERCESSORYPRAYER

12. “The work of restoration and reform carried on by the returned exiles, under the leadership of Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah, presents a picture of a work of spiritual restoration that is to be wrought in the closing days of this earth’s history.... God’s remnant people, standing before the world as reformers, are to show that the law of God is the foundation of all enduring reform and that the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is to stand as a memorial of creation, a constant reminder of the power of God. In clear, distinct lines they are to present the necessity of obedience to all the precepts of the Decalogue. Constrained by the love of Christ, they are to co-operate with Him in building up the waste places. They are to be repairers of the breach, restorers of paths to dwell in” E.G.W. (Conflict and courage, September 20)