#Resistance In The Spiritual Realm - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Ezra 4:4-6,

"Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia. At the beginning of the reign of Xerxes, they lodged an accusation against the people of Judah and Jerusalem."

Following the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity to their homeland, the peoples of the surrounding areas began to oppose them. The Jewish returnees build an altar, began to worship the Lord in Jerusalem and laid the foundation for a new temple (the temple Solomon built had been destroyed).

These opposing people at first attempted to engineer a trick to stop the Jews by offering to help them build the temple. The Jews wisely refused. The next ploy was to write a letter to the king of Persia, Artaxerxes (who had allowed the Jews to return to their homeland in the first place.) In the letter, they claimed Israel was a rebellious people and that if they were successful in building the temple and city walls at Jerusalem, it would cause a disruption in the region and rob the royal coffers of Persia from the revenue it received from the region.

Although in the letter they claimed to be concerned about the political disruption it would bring about to Persia, and the loss of revenue for the king, their motivation to oppose the Jews had nothing to do with any concern for King Artaxerxes, but their own welfare. These surrounding peoples had been running the area as the power brokers and did not want to share that with anyone else. They also apparently feared a resurgent Israel, given the history of the area.

I can't help but see something else going on behind the curtain here. That is, there has always been opposition to the agenda God has for the redemption of mankind. The "dark side", the spiritual forces in dark places, have opposed the work of God throughout all ages. From the time of the fall of man in the garden, God has pursued his agenda of redeeming mankind in the midst of his enemies in the spiritual realm attempting to thwart him.

The "dark side" does its work in utter futility, losing at every turn and getting no where with their resistance to the work of God. Nonetheless, they press ahead. They truly are the "#Resistance!" movement and find lost and fallen mankind to be "useful idiots" to do their ever-failing dirty work. We see it today all about us.

God's plan was to use the people of his choosing, the offspring of Abraham, as his covenanted people, to bring his redemption to a lost and fallen world. The return of Israel to her homeland and the rebuilding of the temple with the restoration of Jerusalem was all part of setting the stage for the first coming of God's Son, Jesus Christ. This was God's plan and no amount of resistance from the dark side could possibly stop it. We will see a temporary halt to the work as we read through Israel's history. However, then came the prophets of God...

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

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