Ezra 4 … Consider His Love Unhindered

Originally posted: 6/26/2020

Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, ² they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ households… (4:1-2).

The enemy is working overtime with one goal: hinder the work by any and all means possible. This chapter lays out the numerous ways and times the adversary attempted to thwart God’s work:

• Through feigning allegiance to the God of Israel.
• Through discouragement and fear.
• Through paying counselors to frustrate the plans.
• Through trumped up charges.
• Through an edict that ultimately halted the work.
• Through continuous, relentless attacks.

As a side note, the writer (uncertain; but presumed by many to be Ezra) inserts two kings between the reigns of Cyrus and Darius; Ahasuerus and Artaxerxes; both actually ruled after that of Darius [apologeticspress.org]. As is often the case in Hebrew writings of old, authors inserted parenthetical information according to their dedicated theme rather than according to chronology. In this case, the writer was emphasizing that the attempted hindrances were unrelenting and continued over a period of more than 100 years.

And as the returnees read, or heard, of all the attempts to stop the rebuilding of God’s temple and the city walls, they would again be reminded of His absolute Sovereignty. And in His perfect time and according to His eternal covenant established in His lovingkindness that endures forever, the work would resume; and all would know. While adversaries may attempt to hinder the work, they are absolutely powerless to Hinder His Love.

Consider His Love Unhindered

• His Love is Unhindered, providing His Peace when hindrances from feigned allegiances arise.
  • Now I urge you, brethren, keep your eye on those who cause dissensions and hindrances contrary to the teaching which you learned, and turn away from them. ¹⁸ For such men are slaves, not of our Lord Christ but of their own appetites; and by their smooth and flattering speech they deceive the hearts of the unsuspecting…²⁰ The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet, (Romans 16:17-18, 20).

• His Love is Unhindered, providing His Presence in times of discouragement and fear.
  • “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you;
    And through the rivers, they will not overflow you.
    When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched,
    Nor will the flame burn you.
    ³ “For I am the Lord your God,
    The Holy One of Israel, your Savior…” (Isaiah 43:2-3).

• His Love is Unhindered, providing Contentment when our plans are frustrated.
  • I know how to get along with humble means, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need. ¹³ I can do all things through Him who strengthens me, (Philippians 4:12-13).

• His Love is Unhindered, providing His Vindication when we are falsely accused.
  • “No weapon that is formed against you will prosper;
    And every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn.
    This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord,
    And their vindication is from Me,” declares the Lord, (Isaiah 54:17).

• His Love is Unhindered, providing Hope when our plans are halted.
  • “For I know the plans that I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope,” (Jeremiah 29:11).

• His Love is Unhindered, providing Power when the attacks relentlessly continue.
  • For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline, (2 Timothy 1:7).

• His Love is Unhindered, for He is Forever Faithful to His Covenant.
  • Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? …³⁸ For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, ³⁹ nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord, (Romans 8:35, 38-39).

• His Love is Unhindered and Endures Forever
  • “For the mountains may be removed and the hills may shake,
    But My lovingkindness will not be removed from you,
    And My covenant of peace will not be shaken,”
    Says the Lord who has compassion on you, (Isaiah 54:10).

How do we respond to His Love Unhindered?

The best way we can respond is to beleive what He tells us and to take Him at His Word. This means taking time to meditate on His Word, and to ask that the truth of His Love Unhindered take root in our hearts.

that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, ¹⁷ so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, ¹⁸ may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, ¹⁹ and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God, (Ephesians 3:16-19).

His desire for each one of His children is to know beyond any doubt, to be absolutely convinced in every moment of His Unhindered Love.

Today, as we wrap up, in addition to the Scriptures referred to above, let us spend time pondering more amazing truths regarding His Love Unhindered. And let us pray that He will grow us to examine every circumstance through the lens of His Unhindered Love.

But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious,
Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth, (Psalm 86:15).

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good,
For His lovingkindness is everlasting, (Psalm 136:1).

“The Lord your God is in your midst,
A victorious warrior.
He will exult over you with joy,
He will be quiet in His love,
He will rejoice over you with shouts of joy,” (Zephaniah 3:17).

“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life,” (John 3:16).

“Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends,” (John. 15:13).

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us, (Romans 5:8).

But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, ⁵ even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), (Ephesians 2:4-5).

See how great a love the Father has bestowed on us, that we would be called children of God; and such we are… (1 John 3:1).

As we become convinced, more and more, of His Love Unhindered, may we also grow to share His Love with others; that they too may fall in love with Him Who has been so gracious as to grant the great gift of His Love Unhindered through His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, our Lord.

By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another, (1 John 4:9-11).

Let’s Grow Together!