Paper trails…

 Paper trails….

When my husband purchased a piece of mining property in the 1970’s, besides the ground itself, he acquired the paperwork that went back into the 1930’s, it’s  mining history,  it’s ownership, maps, drill logs, any correspondence, everything the former owners  had written…it was a thorough paper trail which is very important in so many instances…and I am still receiving a part of the current paper trail on that same piece of property..it is filed away for current and future use…almost a hundred years later…

I appreciated Ezra 5 and 6, where “they searched the archives that were stored in the treasury at Babylon”…to find out what had been directed by a former king…

 A scroll was found in the citadel of Ecbatana in the province of Media, and this was written on it:

“Memorandum: 

In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem:Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundations be laid. It is to be sixty cubits high and sixty cubits wide, with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The costs are to be paid by the royal treasury. 

Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to Babylon, are to be returned to their places in the temple in Jerusalem; they are to be deposited in the house of God. Now then, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and you other officials of that province, stay away from there. 

Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God. Let the governor of the Jews and the Jewish elders rebuild this house of God on its site. 

Moreover, I hereby decree what you are to do for these elders of the Jews in the construction of this house of God:Their expenses are to be fully paid out of the royal treasury, from the revenues of Trans-Euphrates, so that the work will not stop. 

Whatever is needed—young bulls, rams, male lambs for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, and wheat, salt, wine and olive oil, as requested by the priests in Jerusalem—must be given them daily without fail, so that they may offer sacrifices pleasing to the God of heaven and pray for the well-being of the king and his sons. 

Furthermore, I decree that if anyone defies this edict, a beam is to be pulled from their house and they are to be impaled on it. And for this crime their house is to be made a pile of rubble. 

May God, who has caused his Name to dwell there, overthrow any king or people who lifts a hand to change this decree or to destroy this temple in Jerusalem.

I Darius have decreed it. Let it be carried out with diligence. “

Then, because of the decree King Darius had sent, Tattenai, governor of Trans-Euphrates, and Shethar-Bozenai and their associates carried it out with diligence. 

So the elders of the Jews continued to build and prosper under the preaching of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah, a descendant of Iddo. 

They finished building the temple according to the command of the God of Israel and the decrees of Cyrus, Darius and Artaxerxes, kings of Persia. 

The temple was completed on the third day of the month Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius. 

Then the people of Israel—the priests, the Levites and the rest of the exiles—celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.

Ezra.6.2-16

These people diligently searched for a proclamation about the building of the temple…

We have the same opportunity to search diligently for the building and edification of our lives…we have an ancient book written telling us of God, his judgments, his love, his plan for redemption, his Son, the Holy Spirit…it has spoken to people down through the ages and continues to speak truth now and will in the future…

People have tried to destroy it, archive it, but it remains the very Word of the Living God of the universe…a letter written and saved for us…

Thank YOU….

Ancient Words….

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NcSAdzLXKVE&list=RDNcSAdzLXKVE&start_radio=1