The Daily Word of Righteousness

The Sons of the Kingdom, #19

Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel; Then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assur, which brought us up hither. (Ezra 4:1,2)

The helpers.

Why would the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin volunteer their services in the restoring of the Temple? A good question and hard to answer. For some reason Satan wants to be involved in the work of God. But it is a mistake to allow him to do so. The elders of Israel were correct in refusing this help.

When the "helpers" were refused their true nature was revealed.

Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building, (Ezra 4:4)

They were tares. When they were not allowed to do as they wished they did all in their power to prevent the Lord's saints from continuing. So it is today. There are people in the churches who will stay as long as they are permitted to do as they wish. When they are required to submit to the leadership they will leave and then do all in their power to tear down what at one time they were so anxious to construct.

Ezra was a priest and Nehemiah was a statesman. It is not recorded that God spoke to either of them. But God's personal word came to them through the prophets.

Then the prophets, Haggai the prophet, and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied unto the Jews that were in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel even unto them. (Ezra 5:1)

In both the Old Testament and the New we find God spoke to those who were to build His Kingdom.

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, (Hebrews 1:1)

God spoke to Abraham, Moses, David, the Prophets, the Lord Jesus, Paul, Peter, John, and so forth.

The Apostle Paul instructed us as follows:

I would that ye all spake with tongues; but rather that ye prophesied: for greater is he that prophesieth than he that speaketh with tongues, except he interpret, that the church may receive edifying. (I Corinthians 14:5)

For ye may all prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be comforted. (I Corinthians 14:31)

There is no need for the work of God to proceed blindly. God has given us a mouth in the local churches, the prophets, and they will keep us from proceeding according to our own reasoning.

And they rose early in the morning, and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa: and as they went forth, Jehoshaphat stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem; Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper. (II Chronicles 20:20)

If the Christian churches had listened to the spirit of prophesy they never would have been deceived by the "pre-tribulation rapture revelation," the faith and prosperity messages, and so forth. The modern heresies come from the mind of man, not from the prophetic spirit.

The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. If you are a sincere Christian, ask the Lord to teach you to move in the prophetic realm. This He will be glad to do. Speaking in tongues helps us learn to move into the prophetic realm, into the rest of God. Then we are not as apt to rush about in the reasonings of our fleshly mind.

To be continued.