A Defeated Foe....

Opposition will always exist when people want to exalt God. Satan knows he has lost the battle. He knows he can’t win. But even knowing this, he won’t stop. His goal is to get as many people as possible to either rebel against God, or discourage them enough to paralyze then into doing nothing. As far as those that continually serve God, Satan wants to destroy them as fast as possible. Here we see an example of opposition to God in Ezra chapter 4. The local people (none Jews) offered to help build the Temple. The Israelites refused their help because they were not Jews. The people were offended and thus set out to stop the rebuilding of the Temple by concocting a letter to deceive the Persian king. They succeeded, but it was only for a short while. When you oppose God, you can’t win. You may make progress, but it will be short-lived. You can’t stop God in accomplishing His will. If you think you can, you have a lot in common with the Devil, a defeated foe.

The enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were rebuilding a Temple to the Lord, the God of Israel. 2 So they approached Zerubbabel and the other leaders and said, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God just as you do. We have sacrificed to Him ever since King Esarhaddon of Assyria brought us here.”3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the other leaders of Israel replied, “You may have no part in this work. We alone will build the Temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, just as King Cyrus of Persia commanded us.”4 Then the local residents tried to discourage and frighten the people of Judah to keep them from their work. 5 They bribed agents to work against them and to frustrate their plans. This went on during the entire reign of King Cyrus of Persia and lasted until King Darius of Persia took the throne. Ezra 4:1-5