In Ezra Chapter 3 we see the finalization of the restoration of the temple and sacrificial system in Israel after the Babylonian captivity. This is extremely significant in the history of salvation and God’s revelation to His people. God had laid down this History before it even started – all the way back in the Torah (Deut 28, Lv 26), Proclaimaing the end from the beginning. And this motif was carried through much of His prophets, that one day the people would be exiled for their unrelentingly rebellious hearts. But because of god’s great mercy and for the preservation of His holy name in Israel, a day of restoration would come. Needless to say this was a pretty big day for the people of Israel.
Ezra 3:12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.
They were witnessing this fantastic day of the fulfilment of God’s revelation, and it was in a miraculous way. The circumstances that brought about the return of the exiles were extraordinary. Cyrus the Great reads the Lord’s message from a bygone era, prophetically addressed to Him by name (Er 1:1-4), and is thus compelled to commission the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem. The significance of this day is met with great jubilation from the people – a cacophony that is so loud it is heard “far away” (Er 3:13). However, it is not merely the sound of rejoicing that echoes across the land. Mixed within the roar is the sound of weeping, the broken hearted cries of the old ones who remember the splendor of Solomon’s temple and are crushed by the weight of that glorious splendor – now lost forever (so they think), due to the consequences of sin. I find this picture to be so beautiful, and descriptive of true believers’ heart’s cries throughout the ages. My own heart is so often a mix of, “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” 2Co 6:10. It is a mixture of sorrow for what has been lost through my own sin, yet joy at the grace that God has given me in the shadow of that sin, and the promise of unimaginable glory to come through the cross of Christ.