The sermon 'Help Comes from the Lord' by Jason Dohm centers on the biblical principle that true help originates from God, as illustrated in Ezra 6 and Psalm 121. It discusses the decree of King Darius, which facilitated the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem, as an example of God's providential assistance. The speaker emphasizes that while human agents like King Darius may appear to be the source of aid, they are merely tools used by God, the primary cause. The sermon draws parallels between the historical events of Ezra's time and the spiritual realities of today, urging believers to seek God's help in building the spiritual temple, the community of believers. The sermon outlines four main applications: recognizing God's hand in all forms of help, understanding that God can use unexpected means, maintaining focus on God rather than political or worldly solutions, and acknowledging that our ultimate need for help is met through Christ's work. Historical context is provided to illustrate the orderly nature of the Persian Empire and the importance of the king's decrees, while the speaker also highlights the duties of believers to be still and trust in God's deliverance.

Ezra 6, 1-12. Then King Darius issued a decree, and a search was made in the archives where the treasures were stored in Babylon. And at Achmytha in the palace, that is in the province of Meda a scroll was found and in it a record was written thus in the first year of King Darius King in first year of King Cyrus King Cyrus issued a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem. Let the house be rebuilt, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations of it be firmly laid. It's height 60 cubics and it's width 60 cubics, with three rows of heavy stones and one row of new timber.

Let the expense be paid from the king's treasury. Also let the gold and silver articles of the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple which is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon be restored and taken back to the temple which is in Jerusalem each to its palace to each to its place and deposit them in the house of God. Now therefore, Tattani, governor of the region beyond the river, and Sheffar, Bosani, and your companions, the Persians who are beyond the river, keep yourselves far from there. Let the work of this house be, let the work of this house be let the work of this house of God alone let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on this site moreover I issue a decree as to that as to what you shall do for the elders of these Jews. For the building of this house of God, let the cost be paid at the King's expense from taxes on the region beyond the river.

This is to be given immediately to these men so they are not hindered and whatever they need young bulls, rams, lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil according to the requests of the priests who are in Jerusalem let it be given them day by day without fail that they may offer sacrifices of sweeper sweet aroma to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons also I issue a degree that whoever alters this edict let a timber be pulled from his house and erected and let him be hanged on it and let his house be made a refuse a refused heap because of this and May the God who causes his name to dwell there Destroy any king or people who put their hand to alter it or to destroy this house of God Which is in Jerusalem I Darius issue a degree Let it be done diligently The title of the sermon this morning is, Help Comes from the Lord. And it comes directly from Psalm 121. Listen to Psalm 121 verses 1 and 2 again. The psalmist writes, I will lift up my eyes to the hills.

From whence comes my help? My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth. From Genesis to Revelation, the exhortation of the Bible is that the Lord's people should look to Him for help and should only look to Him for help. It's always a great temptation to look at towards a hundred different things for help, things that you think can get you what you need. But help comes from the Lord.

So the sermon title, Help Comes From the Lord, is both a description and an exhortation. It's a description of the text, which is a specific time and place. The Lord's people are there and they get help from the Lord. God helps them. But it's an exhortation too, about where help comes from.

It doesn't come from kings, it doesn't come from circumstances, it doesn't come from your mother and father, it doesn't come from your boss, it doesn't come from the president of your country. It comes from the Lord. And he has a lot of different tools in his toolbox. And he can mobilize his tools and use them in whatever way he sees fit. But behind the tools, You can't think that the tool is helping you.

This is the point. Don't give the credit to the tool. Give the credit to the Lord, because that's really where help comes from. I'm framing the text with this, with Psalm 121, with help coming from the Lord, so that we don't lose sight of the primary cause. God is always the primary cause.

So we have a text, it's a beautiful text, Help comes from a king, but it's really from the Lord. The king, King Darius, is the secondary cause. He's a tool. God pulls out of his toolbox as just one of a hundred different tools that he could use to help the Lord's people, and the king happens to be the tool this time around. But God is the primary cause.

In Cyrus' decree in chapter 1, right at the very beginning of Ezra, When we get the first decree from a king, from Cyrus the Great of Persia, there was lots of language about how he was stirred up by God. Cyrus actually says that, God stirred me up to build him a temple at Jerusalem. This week we don't have any of that kind of language, but it's no less true than in chapter 1. It's no less true in chapter 6 than it was in chapter 1. In chapter 1, God stirred up Cyrus to issue a decree and to put the Lord's people at liberty to return from their captivity and to rebuild the temple.

It still is true in chapter 6. There's another favorable decree from the king, But it's not the king. It's God who is helping his people. Last week we studied the letter that went from Tatani, the governor of region beyond the river, and Shefhar of Bosni, and their companions, to Darius. They were writing the king to say, is it okay that these Jews are rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem?

Look into this and let us know what you think. Let us know what we should do. And this week We get the outcome of that homework project and the response from King Darius. As we go to the text, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Oh God, I pray that you would help us to be a people who see your hand in everything.

Whatever comes into our lives, we would know that you're a sovereign God over all the universe, that you are moving atoms around just as you decide is wise. That we would see your wise hand and all of it not crediting the tools that you use for the help that comes to us, but seeing beyond them and knowing that our help comes from you. God, I Thank you that you are the strength of your people, the strong support of your people, that you fight for your people, and that help comes from you. Oh, make us a people who are always looking, looking to you for our help. In Jesus' name, amen.

So easy division of the text this week. The first part being 1 through 5, where it's described what they found when the servants of Darius went looking for the authorization from King Cyrus and then 6-12. So I'm going to read 1-5 again and then talk about these verses. Ezra chapter 6 verse 1, then King Darius issued a decree and a search was made in the archives where the treasures were stored in Babylon. And at Akmethah, in the palace that is in the province of Mediah, a scroll was found and in it a record was written thus, in the first year of King Cyrus, King Cyrus issued a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem.

Let the house be rebuilt, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations of it be firmly laid, its height sixty cubits and its width sixty cubits, with three rows of heavy stones and one row of new timber. Let the expenses be paid from the king's treasury. Also, let the gold and silver articles of the house of God which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple which is in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, be restored and taken back to the temple which is in Jerusalem, each to its place, and deposit them in the house of God. In verses 1-5 we have the findings from the archives. This is in the context of the very last verse of the last chapter we were in.

So just put your eyes on chapter 5 verse 17 because it sets the stage for our text. This is the end of the letter that the governor Tatni and Shethar Bosni had written to Darius. Now therefore, if it seems good to the king, let a search be made in the king's treasure house which is there in Babylon, whether it is so that a decree was issued by King Cyrus to build this house of God at Jerusalem and let the king send us his pleasure concerning this matter." So all of what we're looking at today is the response to that. There is a letter that goes to the king and it makes a request of him that he send his servants into the archives to look through the historical records to see whether what the Jews are saying is true is actually true and then to send back word of these things. So they make a request in their letter to King Darius and we see in verse 1 that the request is honored.

I have four observations of what they find in the archives. Here are my four observations. Number one, important documents were stored with the other treasures. That's my first observation. Important documents were stored with the other treasures.

In other words, the Babylonians and then the Persians thought that these documents, these decrees from kings, were treasures. They kept them with the silver and the gold. We see again that the scripture texts put forth the Babylonians and then the Persians as orderly societies. When you think of Babylonians and Persians like Vikings who eat everything without silverware and pillage and have no order, then you're thinking wrongly. I don't know whether that is an accurate description of the Vikings or not, but that's how we think of them.

No silverware on the table, just eating everything with the hands in no order. This is not the Babylonians and the Persians. They were very orderly and they kept track of things. What we see here is that 20 years later and four kings later, Cyrus to Cambyses to Smyrdis to Darius the first. That's the progression.

So 20 years and four kings later, they can go put their hands on the decree of a king. They're a very orderly society. Verse 1, it says that they search the archives and you probably have a note associated with the rendering archives that says literally, House of the Scrolls. Is that note in your Bible? It's in my Bible.

Literally, House of the scrolls. So this is a very specific place, it's a repository, it's where they keep these things. They're not here, there, and everywhere. There's a consolidation of records like you would have archives. The United States has archives where we have a repository of official things that are important that you might need to refer back to.

So did the Babylonians, so did the Persians. So the archives is literally a house of scrolls. It's where they keep these records. And then in verse 2, we see that they find them in a palace and while there's nothing wrong with that rendering of the Aramaic word, we're still in Aramaic here, that's being translated into English, The NASB renders it fortress and the ESB and the NIV render it citadel. So all three of those are good.

Palace, fortress, citadel. But fortress and citadel are a little closer to what you would expect for where the treasures would be held together, laid up. The treasures are laid up. The Silver, the gold, and the documents that we might need to refer back to. These are under armed guard, carefully kept and preserved.

So that was observation number one. Important documents were stored with the other treasures. These important documents were considered to be treasures, so they kept them with the silver and the gold. Number two, my second observation, this record wasn't found in Babylon. So the suggestion in chapter 5 verse 17 is, look in the archives in Babylon, tell us whether this is true.

And it actually isn't found in Babylon. So the king or his servants pursued it further. They were serious about this matter. They didn't just check what was in Babylon and say, well I guess it doesn't exist when they didn't find it there. They actually find it 300 miles Northeast of Babylon.

That's not Youngsville to Wake Forest. That's, I don't know, what is that? Youngsville to a long ways from Youngsville. 300 miles northeast is Akmethah. The NASB, the ESV, the NIV have Ek-Bataanah.

They're the same place. So your Bible says Akmethah, many Bibles say Ek-Bataanah. This is a city that was the capital of Medea. Cyrus conquered it in 550 BC. Eleven years before he conquered Babylon and added the Babylonian empire to his empire, he conquered Medea, which was an empire in its own right and its capital city was Akhmetha.

After conquering this city in 550, Cyrus made it his summer home. It's in the foothills and it has milder weather, a lot milder weather than Babylon does. Cyrus and subsequent Persian kings would summer in Ekbaton or in Ekbatha because it was a lot more pleasant to be there in terms of the weather. So it's 300 miles northeast of Babylon. Now I'm going to give you an air map, okay?

I don't have a real map, but I'm going to give you an air map in a mid-practicing so that I can make east for you, west for me. And I hope my brain functions when I do this because I'm trying to do it so it will be useful to you. Okay. So Israel is here on the air map. And north of it, the country north of Israel is Syria.

So Israel and then north of Israel is Syria. And then as you go east, so over here to the west of Israel is the Mediterranean. You have the Mediterranean, Israel, Syria to the north. Then as you go east, you cross over the Jordan River and you have Babylon, which would be modern day Iraq. So to the east, north Syria, east is Iraq in modern day, Babylon then.

And then, So then about halfway through modern day Iraq, you have the great river Euphrates. So everything here on the west side of the Euphrates is a region within the Persian Empire. We keep running into this region. It's called beyond the river. So the river is the Euphrates and the Euphrates divides modern day Iraq roughly in half.

And then when you cross over the Euphrates, you enter into Medea, northwest Iran. So there's more Iraq over there, and then when you keep going east, you end up over here at Akhmetha. So that is the air map. Israel, Syria, modern day Iraq, which was Babylon, then it's divided in half by the Euphrates. So all this huge land mass over here on the air map is the region of the Persian Empire beyond the river.

And It's a technical term for that region. Then as you go east, you exit Iraq and come into northwest Iran, all part of the Persian Empire, and you find Cyrus' summer home and the summer home of the subsequent kings. Okay, that was point number two. This record wasn't found in Babylon. It was found 300 miles away at the summer home where they also kept treasures including scrolls.

Observation number three. There is additional information from what we were given in chapter one. So the homework assignment was, go tell us if there's a decree from King Cyrus. And the outcome of the homework assignment is, yes, there was a decree of King Cyrus and we find out that While we were given a lot of information with the decree of King Cyrus in chapter 1, we didn't get everything. There was more to know that is now being revealed because it's important to know it now.

So now is when it's given to us. Observation number 3, there is additional information from what we were given in chapter one. Like what? Like specifics about the temple. Specifics about the temple that we didn't get in chapter one.

The dimensions, in verse three of our text today, we see dimensions of a height of 60 cubits, that's 90 feet, a cubit is about a foot and a half, so 90 feet high, That's really high. And width or the ESV and the NIV translated breadth, so it can be width or breadth. And same dimension, 60 cubits or 90 feet. So you sort of have this cubic dimensions of 60s. In 1 Kings 6 verse 2, we get the dimensions of the original temple of Solomon's temple, 1 Kings chapter 6 verse 2.

It was 60 cubits long, which matches what we have preserved from the decree of Cyrus, 20 cubits wide and 30 cubits tall. So the maximum dimension matches but then we have dimensions that don't match from the first temple. Solomon's temple was 60 by 20 by 30. Many of the commentators, most of the commentators take what we have in today's text as a max dimension that is given by the king. That makes a lot of sense to me.

In other words, what Cyrus is really communicating in the decree is that he's authorizing and paying for a restoration of the temple. Not as big as you want it, not unbounded, go back and build some kind of temple as big as you want it to be, but I'm paying, and so I'm paying for a restoration, not a reinvention. And so he gives the maximum dimension that you found in the first temple and he constrains them to no bigger than a 60 by 60 by 60. That makes a lot of sense to me why it would be put that way because he does say that he's paying for this and he does put a limitation. That's very consistent with how governments operate, isn't it?

When they give you approval to do something, there's a limitation if they're paying for it. So I think that's what we see in today's text. So we see dimensions that we didn't get in chapter 1 and we also see a configuration of the construction that we didn't get in chapter one. Verse four says three rows of heavy stones and one row of new timber. There's to be a particular configuration of the construction.

We didn't get that in chapter one. Three rows of heavy stones, one row of timber. Now listen to this. This is a description of the configuration of the first temple, of Solomon's temple, and This is from 1 Kings chapter 7. I'll read 10 through 12.

The foundation was of costly stones, Large stones, some 10 cubits and some 8 cubits. So from 15 to 12 feet, that's how large these stones are. So in today's text, when we see large stones, We come to 1 Kings chapter 7 and it's and how. Wow are they really big stones. 15 by 15 by 15, 12 by 12 by 12 feet.

Imagine the size of these stones. And above were costly stones hewn to size and cedar wood. The great court was enclosed with three rows of hew stones and a row of cedar beams. So were the inner court of the house of the Lord and the vestibule of the temple. This is exactly what we see of the first temple.

Three rows of stones, large stones, and a row of timbers. So again, what we have in view here is a restoration of the temple. Not a reinvention of the temple, but a restoration of what had been there before. Three by one. It was to be like Solomon's temple.

Now at this point I think it's worth noting that what is being described in some ways is very Jewish. So it's a record of a pagan king's decree, But it has very Jewish elements to it. In other words, where did the three rows by one row came from? It came from the original temple. It came from a Jewish prescription.

And this shouldn't surprise us because we know in the Kingdom of Babylon and forward, Jews were prominent in that court. Thank Daniel. Thank Daniel. And thank his successors. Hopefully There were more of the Lord's people who were wise, who were acknowledged as being good counselors, who were still there.

Even at this time in Ezra, there are two more waves of captives to return. There are still many Jews, so it shouldn't surprise us to find Jewish fingerprints, even on the decree of the pagan kings. So the first element from the decree that we didn't get in Chapter 1 was specifics about the temple dimensions and a configuration. The second thing is the promise of financial support from the King's treasury. We didn't get that in chapter 1, but listen here in chapter 6 verse 4.

Let the expenses be paid from the king's treasury. We didn't see that in the decree in chapter one, but that was part of the decree. The expenses being paid from the king's treasury. Now my final observation about what they found in the archives, number four. This confirms exactly what the Jews claimed.

Tathani the governor of the region beyond the river, and Shethar-Bazani come with their companions. They say, who told you to do this? And they say, Cyrus issued a decree to do this. And Then they go into the archives and they found that Cyrus issued a decree to do this. It was exactly what the Jews claimed to be true.

The Jews said, and He sent us back with articles from the temple. So they had physical evidence. That was one of the points of last week's sermon. They had 5, 400 pieces of physical evidence of what they were saying. Here, look at the gold and silver that he sent us back with.

Now they go into the archives, they do their homework assignment, and they find that it's exactly like the Jews had said. Cyrus had sent them back with the articles of silver and gold from the temple. The Jews end up looking great because they had said things that were true and that were demonstrated to be true when Darius sent his servants to do the homework assignment. Now the second half. We're back to Ezra verses 6-12.

Here is the reply from King Darius. Ezra chapter 6 verse 6. Now therefore, Tatani, governor of the region beyond the river and Shethar Bosni and your companions, the Persians who are beyond the river, keep yourselves far from there. Let the work of this house of God alone, let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its site. Moreover, I issue a decree as to what you shall do for the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God.

Let the cost be paid at the king's expense from taxes on the region beyond the river. This is to be given immediately to these men so that they are not hindered. Whatever they need, young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the request of the priests who are in Jerusalem, let it be given them day by day without fail, that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. Also I issue a decree that whoever alters this edict, let a timber be pulled from his house and erected, and let him be hanged on it, and let his house be made a refuse heap because of this. And may the God who causes his name to dwell there destroy any king or people who put their hand to alter it, or to destroy this house of God which is in Jerusalem.

I, Darius, issue a decree. Let it be done diligently." So here is Darius' decree, and it is stunningly favorable to the Lord's people. In fact, I tried to imagine, I just tried to think, how could this be better for the Lord's people? How could it be more favorable for the Lord's people? I couldn't think of one element, maybe you can, maybe you have a better imagination than me, but I couldn't think of one way in which it could be better than it was.

Often when a ruling comes from the government, even if there are things you like about it, you can think of things that could be better. But in this one, it's a more difficult exercise. God is really blessing his people through the decree of this king. And we find in the decree of the king that there are two sides to the coin. There are the don't do's and there are the do's.

There are the you had better not do's and there are the you had better dues. Let's start with the don't dues. Number one, don't go there. Stay away. Don't take on yourselves the management of this project.

Don't go do inspections. Don't go offer your opinions. Stay away. Verse 6 says, keep yourselves far from there. They're not at liberty to go and hang around and hover over the Lord's people as they do the work.

Wow, that is good news. Not only can they not micromanage them, they cannot manage them. They're to stay far away from there. Number two, don't do anything that could hinder progress. Number one was don't go there.

Number two is don't do anything that could hinder progress. It's almost exactly in those words in verse seven, let the work of this house of God alone. Let it alone. It will do one single thing that could hinder progress. Number 3, don't participate in the work.

This is very important. Don't participate in the work. In verse 7, the decree says, Let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God on its side. Let them do it. Don't you do it.

That's what's implied there. Don't you do it. This is their work. This is not your work. Don't go participate in that work.

And it solves the problem of early in chapter 4. Remember early in chapter 4, the people of Samaria come and say, let us work. Let us help. And it caused all sorts of problems when the Lord's people said, you have no part in us with this work. This is our work to do.

So now we have a decree from the king that actually keeps the people in Samaria from participating, which was exactly what the problem was when they left off the work. That's what led to the opposition, which led to the people stopping work on the temple, was wanting to participate and knowing that the Lord could not be pleased to have idolaters come and participate in the work. And so the king actually is so precise, is so specific in his instructions that the problem in chapter 4 is cut off right here in the decree. So those were the three don't-dos. Don't go there, don't do anything that could hinder progress, and don't participate in the work.

Now the dos. We see in verse 8, moreover I issue a decree as to what you shall do for the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God. There are things that you shall do, you must do, I command you to do. This is an essential part of Darius' decree. First, collect taxes and give it to the Jews to financially support the building.

Collect taxes from this massive region beyond the river Euphrates. Take proceeds and give it to the Jews to build. Verse 8, let the cost be paid at the king's expense from the taxes on the region beyond the river. This is to be given immediately to these men so that they are not hindered. He even eliminates the possibility of delay.

These very precise points are why I have a hard time thinking how it can be better because all the pitfalls, the delays that they can introduce into funding or things like that, it's taken all away. The forethought of the king in these things is tremendous. And so all the things that could be a problem like dragging your feet and not giving, delaying the giving is eliminated because he says give it immediately, Tax and give immediately. And then secondly, Darius says, give them whatever the priests request for the offerings. So he knows that the offerings will require things, young bulls, sheep, goats, salt, wheat.

And he says, whatever the priests ask you for, whatever requests they give you, you give it to them day by day without fail. How do you like that? Day by day, every day you're supplying and do it without fail. Finally, the king says he wants something in return. He wants something in return.

So he's providing the money for the building from his taxes, from his tax base, and he's providing even the animals for the offerings, but he wants something in return. He wants himself and his sons to be prayed for. He wants these sweet smelling aromas to go up to the God of heaven, and he wants himself and his sons to be prayed for. We're dealing with Darius I here. Historians say that there are at least five Persian kings named Darius.

This is the first one. Darius the first. He's known as that. Based on my understanding of Daniel, I don't think he is the first one. I think there's one that precedes him that historians haven't found the evidence of yet, but the Bible is more accurate, more historically reliable than even the history records that we have.

It hasn't been that long ago where historians knew nothing of Belshazzar, Nebuchadnezzar's grandson, who saw the handwriting on the wall in Daniel chapter 5. So historians thought that this was an invention of the Bible, and then they found the records. Nebuchadnezzar really did have a grandson that ruled in his place near Belshazzar. So don't be disturbed any time the historical records don't match the Bible. The historical records will catch up sooner or later.

The Bible is the dependent. It's the thing we can depend on. So Darius I. Historians tell us that he was a polytheist through and through. In other words, he didn't worship one god, our god.

He worshipped many gods. His favorite god was Ahura Mazda. I don't know who that is, it's an impressive name, so I thought I would say it. That was his favorite god, but it was one of many gods for him. Historians tell us that at the same time that he was reaffirming Cyrus' decree, right around the same time he was also authorizing a temple to be restored in Egypt to another god.

So He had a favorite god, Ahura Mazda, but he wanted to be at peace with all the gods. He wanted to be on good terms with all the gods, not knowing that there was only one God, the Maker of Heaven and Earth, and all the other ones are false gods. He was just a polytheist, one of many polytheist kings. It's probably true of Cyrus, by the way. Also, We don't know for sure if they ever repented and became monotheists of the one true God or not.

But at the time, historically, if you look at the historical records, it's very unlikely that this time in this man's life that he was a real believer. Probably not. Probably just trying to make peace with one of many gods. So what should the people do with this request in light of the fact that it's coming from somebody, a syncretist, someone who likes to jumble all the gods together and try to be at peace with all of them. What should they do with requests?

They should honor it. In fact, the request should be completely unnecessary for the Lord's people. It's okay that he asked for it, but he shouldn't have had to have asked for it. They should have been praying for him long before the decree. This was more of a central part of the sermon several weeks ago, So I won't go over all that ground again, but I do want to just remind us of the scriptures that make this so clear.

Jeremiah 29, in Jeremiah 29, the prophet Jeremiah is still in Jerusalem. Many captives have already been taken out of Jerusalem by the Babylonians, by Nebuchadnezzar. Jeremiah is writing to the people in captivity and here's what he says in Jeremiah 29 verse 7, and seek the peace of the city where I have caused you to be carried away captive and pray to the Lord for it for in its peace you will have peace. Pray for this pagan land. You're in the pagan land, You pray for the pagan land because in its peace you'll enjoy peace.

Or Paul in 1 Timothy chapter 2 verses 1 and 2. Therefore I exhort first of all that all supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men for kings and all who are in authority, that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence." The council of the Bible in the Old Testament is the same as the Council of the Bible and the New Testament. And that is we should pray for our kings and all who are in authority. We may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and reverence. We're not just to pray for The good kings.

The ones who confess that they love the Baptist Confession of 1689. Those are the ones we pray for. No. No. This is not the Council of Scripture.

Council of scripture is we pray for all of our kings because we have an interest. They affect how we live, how we can live our lives. God wants them prayed for. Finally, Darius gives clear sanctions for altering or disobeying this decree. Terrifying sanctions for all who alter or disobey his decree.

It's common for kings of this period to conclude their decrees with sanctions, and so it is here. For instance, if you've ever heard of the Code of Hammurabi, it's an ancient, Near East ethical and governmental code that's very inferior to the laws of God. That's a topic for a separate day. It's kind of a competing code of ethics and law. It ends with 250 lines of imprecations, meaning if you don't obey this, you're going to get it.

That's what imprecations are. If you've ever heard of imprecatory Psalms, they're the Psalms where David is praying for the enemies of God to get it, to get theirs, to get what they deserve. So the code of Hammurabi ends with 250 lines of imprecations, so that if you don't follow this ethical code, that you get what you have coming to you. So this is normal. This is common for a king's decrees of this time.

And he says, Darius says that if anyone alters the decree, first that a timber is to be removed from his house and that it's to be erected and that the disobedient person or the person who's altered the decree is to be hung on it. Now we see this through American lenses, meaning somebody's hanged, you put a noose there, you put their neck through it, and you hang them until dead. This is not Persian hanging on a timber. In Persia, a timber would be removed from the house. One end would be planted so that it would stay upright.

The other end would be sharpened. Then you would be lowered onto it from above so that it would pierce into your body and then your dead body after you bled to death would just hang there and you would be an example. So this is Persian hanging and almost undoubtedly this is what is being referred to in the decree of Darius. The timber being taken out of your house, one end planted, the other end sharpened and then you're impaled on it. In fact, the NASB, the ESV and the NIV instead of hanged renders it impaled and that's probably a better rendering of the word.

When Darius, Darius was a general of King Cyrus. He was one of King Cyrus' best generals. Then he served Cyrus' son, Cambyses. And then when Cambyses died, Darius was putting down a revolt in Egypt. He was doing the work of a general.

And there was a usurper who took over, named Smyrdis. And The reason he only lasted seven months was because Darius came and became king. Through conquest he came and he captured Babylon. When he captured Babylon, historians write that he impaled 3, 000 traders in this way. He left 3, 000 traders impaled on planks that had been sharpened and planted in the ground as a message to traders.

So this is what is being described in our text. And then after this happens, their house is to be made into a refuse heap. The King James and the ESV render it a dung heap. That's what their house is to be made into a refuse heap. The King James and the ESV render it a dung heap.

That's what their house is to be made into because they won't be needing that house anymore. So you make their house into a heap. Darius says that even if a king alters the decree or harms the temple or destroys the temple, Darius actually in the decree calls on God to come in vengeance on that king. So Darius knows he can't see out very far in time, but there might be kings who come after him to alter this decree or to destroy the temple. And so he pronounces a curse on them.

He calls the God of heaven into action to take vengeance on any subsequent king who would come and harm the temple. We read verse 12 again. May the God who causes his name to dwell there destroy any king or people who put their hand to alter it or to destroy this house of God which is in Jerusalem. I, Darius, issue a decree. Let it be done diligently.

This is how you inspire diligent work. This is how you inspire diligent work. This is how you inspire diligent work, or at least this is how Darius did it. And we'll see next week that they did it diligently. Good idea.

Excellent idea. The temple was in fact destroyed 550 years later or something like that, 600 years later. The great empire that did it is in fact no more. So I'm not putting too much stock in the curse of a pagan king, but on the other hand, the temple was destroyed and the empire, The great empire, really the unprecedented empire at that time that destroyed this temple is no more. Applications.

I have four applications from the text. Number one, whenever you are helped, it was God. Application number one, whenever you are helped, it was God. Undoubtedly he took a tool out of his toolbox and used something to help you see beyond the tool. Don't stare at the tool.

Don't give credit to the tool. Know that it was God who helped you. Proverbs 21 verse 1, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord like the rivers of water. He turns it wherever he wishes. The king is just a tool in God's toolbox, and the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord.

And like a river, he turns it wherever he pleases. Listen to what Matthew Henry says. Oh, nope, not yet. Sorry, I'm jumping the gun. Okay, so remember this.

The physical temple is the picture, right? We're studying the physical temple, the rebuilding of the physical temple. The physical temple was never the ultimate reality. It was the picture of the ultimate reality. In the New Testament, under the New Covenant, we know what the ultimate reality is, which is there is a temple, but it's not the physical temple.

It's a spiritual temple. It's people being built together, being built up as living stones to offer spiritual sacrifices. So God, in the Old Testament, we see He helps His people build the picture. How much more Will he help his people build the reality? Will he come and work in the hearts of kings, in the hearts of his enemies even, to cause them to help?

If God would help, if God would send this kind of help for the physical temple, which is just the picture. What kind of help should we expect? Brothers and sisters, will God let us languish if our desire is to build the spiritual temple, to build up the people of God for spiritual sacrifices. We are a holy priesthood. God will help us.

If our hearts are turned towards that thing, what kind of help will God give us? Think about that. If God would do this for the lousy picture, it was just the thing that was to point to the real thing. It wasn't even the real thing. If God would do all that, prevail upon the heart of this polytheistic king, this king who worshiped all kinds of God and just lumped it together and hoped for the best.

If he would do that, what would he do for his people under the new covenant to build the real thing, the reality, the spiritual temple, which is me and you as living stones? Number two, God uses even pagan kings. We're seeing it again. I'm sure that was an application the first week too when we studied Cyrus. Here we are again, God using a pagan king.

Listen to what Matthew Henry says. When God's time has come for the accomplishing of His gracious purposes concerning His church, He will raise up instruments to promote them from whom such good service was not expected. Meaning, who would have thought it would have been this Gentile king? Who would have thought it would have been this pagan king? It's the pagan kings who were supposed to kill us.

And yet God can prevail upon their hearts to help us, to favor us. God uses pagan kings. Honestly we should take a step back and just worship God for this text. Just step back and look at what he did. This wasn't a follower of Yahweh.

This was not a lover of Yahweh. God used him to advance his kingdom. And it should give us such confidence and such joy. Joy to look back and see that God did it. And confidence to know that if he did it then over what is a small thing, the building of the physical temple, He'll do now and so much more now for the building of the real thing.

We should have such joy and confidence in this text. We should take three steps back and look at the text and just worship God. Oh God, you did this. You were mighty on behalf of your people. You fought for your people.

Their obedience was challenged, and you fought for them. Number three. Number three comes right on the heels of two, so I'm going to give you number two again. Number two was, God uses even pagan kings. Number three is, don't count on it.

God uses pagan kings, that was number two. Number three is, don't count on it. And don't make it your objective. God can do this. God does do this and when he does it we should worship Him for His kindness and His goodness.

But if you set your sights on that and say, this is how God has to bless us, this is how God blesses His people, and all of a sudden looking to God ceases to be the objective and looking to the king for him to throw you a crumb becomes the objective, then you go insane. If political objectives become our hope, we'll go insane. We should praise God when he does it this way, but he doesn't always do it this way. He hasn't told us to count on him working that way. Sometimes he works through exactly the opposite.

Sometimes he sends persecution and hardship through the king, not favor and blessing. But the king is still the tool in his hand and he has a purpose for that persecution and hardship. If you make political objectives your hope, you are setting yourselves up to be disappointed. We are setting ourselves up to be disappointed. Listen to Exodus 14 verse 14.

In Exodus 14 verse 14, the people are backed up to the Red Sea. They've come out of captivity. Pharaoh let them go and then had a change of heart. And now The people are between the Red Sea and Pharaoh. And things are not looking good.

And then Moses says this in Exodus 14, 14. The Lord will fight for you. And you shall hold your peace. You just get still. Just get still.

God will fight for you. Just trust Him. Just look to Him. Just rely on Him. Just know that help comes from the Lord.

I know you're between the sea and an army. The Lord will fight for you. You hold your peace. You look to Him. You trust him.

As the Puritans were so fond of saying, duty is ours, results are God's. And this is exactly what we see in this passage in Ezra. The first time through, in chapter 4, they encountered resistance to their obedience and it caused them to drift away and to compromise. Now it's the second time through and their obedience is challenged and they're not about to make that mistake again so they just obey. They do their duty and then they look to God for help and He delivers them.

He fights for them. They hold their peace and they wait upon God and He delivers them. How many times would we find ourselves delivered if we would just get still and look to Him and trust Him and just wait for Him to deliver us? Him to deliver us. So number three was don't count on it.

Don't count on God using the pagan king. He might, But our hope is not in that. Number four, the last one. Our greatest need for help is accomplished through Christ. Our greatest need for help is that we're sinners.

We're defiled. We were born in sin. We're part of a whole race that is in rebellion to God. And so that every inclination of our heart is only evil all the time. We didn't have a fighting chance because we're part of a race in rebellion against God.

All our inclinations are turned towards ourselves, are turned away from God. We provoke Him to His face as we sang this morning. We provoke Him to His face. We're born wired to make him angry. So this is our great need.

The rest is small potatoes. The rest is so inconsequential by comparison. We need help in a hundred different ways, but You know what? The one way that matters is that we're at war with the Holy God. That's where we need the hope, the help most desperately.

That's where we're without hope, without Christ. This is a finished work. This is already done. This help has already been supplied in the work of Jesus Christ. We're just to take hold of it by faith.

Nothing we do, nothing we add, we just take hold of it by faith. His blood can cleanse us from the guilt of that sin that has us at war with God. Everything else is icing on the cake. So it's good. It's good when the King favors us.

But that's icing on the cake. The cake is, what do we do with our sins? What do we do with our defilements? We must be cleansed. Jesus has already accomplished this.

It is a finished work. It's done. We just apply it by faith. Let's pray. Father, I thank you for this great truth that we need help in so many different ways.

Our great need for help has already been accomplished. That you have sent your son into the world to die for sinners who would trust in you. Oh God, I pray that you would put it upon every heart today to trust in you, every heart that is here. To trust fully in this work of Christ. God, I thank you for this magnificent text.

We can Take a few steps back and just look at what you've done to fight for your people. And how effortless it is for you to come and work through a pagan king to give all that was needed more than was expected. Set you generous God towards your people. We thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.