In His Image Ministries

Tuesday August 22 Bible Reading:      Ezra 3: 8 - 11 Topic:                   Building For God's Glory It was fourteen months after the return from exile to Judah that the actual construction of the Temple began. Levites were given the role of supervising the work. When the foundation of the Temple was laid, the Priests and Levites sang praises with thanksgiving to the Lord accompanied with musical instruments. Then all the people gave a great shout praising the Lord, because the foundation of the Temple had been laid. While the younger generation was shouting for joy at what had been accomplished, many of the older generation wept aloud as they remembered the beauty of the old Temple built by King Solomon. It is very important to build to the glory of God, whether the buildings are other projects. More ...

Saturday August 19 Bible Reading:      Ezra 2: 64 - 70 Topic:                   Rebuilding The Temple In this passage, we see that the first batch of returnees from exile was carefully recorded (vs. 64 - 66) Their servants and transport animals were also indicated (vs. 65, 66) In addition major contributions for rebuilding the Temple were specified (v. 69) In today's units of measurement, these freewill offerings amount to about 500 kilograms of gold and 2, 900 kilograms of silver. What will be their monetary values? Probably millions of naira. In v. 58, we note that only some of the family heads contributed towards the Temple rebuilding effort. What must have prevented the other leaders from making their own contributions? - See Hagga 1: 2 for possible answers. Consider your own contributions towards the work of God so far this year;...

Thursday August 17 Bible Reading:      Ezra 2: 1 - 19 Topic:                   Faithful God This passage gives a long list of the families of the first set of exiles who returned from the captivity in Babylon, led by Zerubbabel the Governor and Jeshua the High Priest (v. 2; Neh. 7: 7; Haggai 1: 14) Those mentioned in verse 2 were probably the leaders of the returning exiles. Each returned to his own town (v. 1) The Babylonian exile had been a very humiliating experience for Israel as a Nation. A large number of the people died by the sword or from starvation (Jer. 52: 10 - 11). Others were forced into exile to different cities in the vast Babylonian Empire. Only the very poor were left in the land probably under worse conditions than those who had been exiled (Jer. 52: 15 - 16) Yet after 70 years of desolation, the Faithful God remembered...