‘The Temple – finished but with more to come’ (Ezra 6:1-15)

https://bendigopc.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/bpc20160828.mp3
After the Temple had been left unfinished for many years, the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah stirred the people of God into action. Ezra 6:1-15 tells us that despite the local governor’s attempt to get the building work to be stopped again, under God’s good hand and with the confirming signs of His providence and His provision, the Temple was finally completed just over four years after the work had been re-started. This was a great day for the people of God. But greater still was God’s plan, as announced through the prophet Zechariah, that the One called the ‘Branch’ would one day come into His Temple. Jesus was the One who was the ‘Branch’. He was descended from David and was known as the ‘Son of David’, the Messiah. John chapter 2 tells us that when He came into His Temple, He acted like He owned it and spoke of it being torn down and rebuilt in 3 days. He was speaking of His body of course, and this was one of the first promises of His death and resurrection by which God’s people are saved.