Completing the building of God
Bible Text: Isaiah 44:26 – 45:7 | Preacher: Apostle André Pelser | Persons who were involved in completing the building
Divine Decree
Isaiah prophesied 200 years before it happened that someone called Cyrus
would sponsor the rebuilding of the Temple in Jerusalem. King Cyrus read it
and realized the prophecy referred to him. He discovered his redemptive
purpose through paying attention to the prophetic word.
Many people receive prophecies, but they do not pay attention to it. They
disregard the word of the Lord and therefore miss their redemptive purpose in
this world.
Isaiah 44:26 – 45:7
God confirms through Isaiah that Jerusalem shall be inhabited again and that
the Temple shall be rebuilt by someone called Cyrus. Cyrus means ‘throne’. It
was someone that ruled. It so happened that it was a heathen king. But God
called Cyrus, ‘My shepherd’. It changed the course of his life when he realized
God had a divine purpose for him in the earth.
‘And he shall perform all My pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, ‘you shall be
built’, and to the Temple, ‘your foundation shall be laid.’ Cyrus was a heathen
king that found the prophecy of Isaiah and read it. When he saw his name
written down 200 years before, he realized that God had him in mind to
rebuild the temple and the city of Jerusalem. He gave a decree that the Jews in
Babylon had to be released to go and rebuild the temple and the city of
Jerusalem. Today I decree that people will be released to complete the
building of our Church in Burgundy Estates, Cape Town.
A remnant rebuilt the Temple
This release of Jews was the second Exodus. This time it was from Babylon
where they went into exile. Only a remnant left Babylon. The rest stayed on in
Babylon. Only a remnant returned to complete the building of God’s temple
and the city of Jerusalem. The ones who went to complete the building were
written down by name and remembered forever. The ones that ignored the re-
building and completion of the Temple were forgotten. Among those who were released, was Ezra, the scribe. His name means ‘help’ or ‘God helps’. He restored the spirituality of Israel and taught and explained
the Word of the Lord so that they could obey and practice it. During his time,
Buddha, was active in India, Confucius in China and Socrates in Greece. Ezra
based a lot of his writing on a dairy kept by Nehemiah. In fact, the book of
Nehemiah, was originally called, the Second book of Ezra. Ezra was a priest and
a scribe. He encouraged the building of the temple through prophecy, teaching
and writing those books.
Encouragement to build
In order to complete the building of the Church, we need encouragement.
There is enough discouragement. We need prophetic utterances to encourage
and comfort us. But we also need ‘kings’ who would sponsor the work. God
has to confirm it in the hearts of people to sponsor the completion of the
building of the Church.
The prophets Haggai and Zechariah also encouraged the people to go back to
Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. King Darius found
the decree of Cyrus and confirmed it. He helped to provide whatever is
necessary to complete the building. Darius means, ‘possessing the good’.
Those who possess the goods of this world ought to help to complete the
building of the Church. King Artaxerxes from Persia also made a decree that
people should bring valuable gifts to Jerusalem to assist in the completion of
the building.
God helped them to rebuild the Temple
The building was completed on the 3 rd day of the month of Adar, which was in
the 6 th year of King Darius. They celebrated the dedication of the house of God
with great joy. (Ezra 6:15, 16) It only took 52 days to rebuild the Temple.
People had to acknowledge that God helped them to build it in such a short
time.
I made a vow on 24:11:2001, on the day I received news that my Mother
passed away, that if God allows me to build a Church, I will see it finished and
celebrate its dedication with joy. God will finish it for us.
The great palace of the Emperor
In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, I heard the story of a man that accidentally killed his
brother-in-law when they were fighting. They wanted to stone him to death.
The man ran and ran until he passed the place where Hailie Selassie was
building his great palace. He ran up to the emperor and pleaded for mercy. The
men that wanted to kill him arrived and told the Emperor what he did. The
Emperor said, ‘take him and kill him.’ The man fell onto his knees and pleaded,
‘oh, great Emperor, how can you let me die without seeing the completion of
your great palace with my own eyes?’ This impressed the Emperor and he
spared the man’s life.
The Emperor built a small house for the man at the gate to the palace and told
him he was not to venture far from that house and promised to send him food
every day until the palace was completed. Then he would order the killing of
the man.
During the construction of the palace, Emperor Selassie died. A new Emperor
arose and completed the building of the palace. After many years he enquired
of the servants who the man living at the gate was. They did not know, but
said, ‘he must be someone very important, because Hailie Selassie built that
house for him and gave him food every day.’ The new Emperor thought for a
while and said, ‘well if he is that important, he should eat at my table every
day.’ So, they invited the man to eat in the palace at the king’s table every day.
Soon the new Emperor also passed away. The man lived in the palace until the
end of his days. He did not only see the completion of the building, but also
lived in the palace for the rest of his life!
I believe God spared my life when I was declared dying in 2018 so that I will
see to it that the building of our Church is completed.
How can we live in nice houses if the Church lies in ruins?
The remnant of our Church, those who are here with us, will help us do it.
Others will also help. Those who have possession of the goods of this life will
assist us. Prophets will encourage us to complete the building. Kings who rule
in this life in their own domain, will help to sponsor the completion of the
Church building until it is finished. Then we will dedicate it to the Lord and
there will be great joy! I decree it today in the name of the Lord.
If you hear God speaking to you by name to help us complete our building,
then respond as the Lord directs you. This is the house of God we are talking
about. How can we all live in nice houses if the house of the Lord is not
completed?
How can we remain indifferent as if it does not matter whether the Church
building is completed or not? How dare we ignore such a great work for God?
We have an opportunity to complete it in our lifetime for our children’s sake
and to the glory of God. Let us not miss that opportunity. God will ask us what
we did to complete the building. What will we say to Him?
This is why God has spared you and me – to see the completion of the building
of the house of God. We dare not ignore this project.
Keeping a diary of events
Nehemiah means, ‘God comforts.’ Nehemiah kept a dairy about the rebuilding
of the Temple and the wall of Jerusalem and called it, ‘the book of Reform’.
When Yvette, my daughter, and I went to minister in India for several weeks,
Pastor Joshua in Tirapoor, India, and Pastor James in Loonoor, encouraged me
to write a step-by-step book of reforms and Nola confirmed it. We are keeping
track of all our efforts in this reformational move. I wrote a book, ‘God’s
Genius’, to capture all our understanding concerning the apostolic
reformation. But we need to finish the Church building that will house this
reformational move of the Spirit of God. From here the reformation can
continue to spread out throughout the entire world! It will be an epicenter of
the reformation with lots of resources made available.
Nehemiah was the cupbearer to the King of Persia and the King gave him
permission and gave him all the goods he needed to go and finish the
rebuilding of the Temple and the city of Jerusalem.
Opposition to build the Temple
Nehemiah and Ezra worked closely together. They had much opposition, but in
spite of all trouble they encountered, they managed to finish the work with the
help of God! Ezra means, ‘God helped!’ Nehemiah means, ‘God comforts.’ Ezra
would read the Word of the Lord to the people and explain it to them. The
other prophets would prophesy to encourage the builders. Nehemiah was the
leader among them. He announced, ‘the God of Heaven, He Himself will
prosper us! And we His servants will arise and build’ I decree that today!
Tobias & Sanballat (whose name refers to ‘sin, the moon god that supposedly
gives life) and many others laughed at them, mocked and scorned them, because they struggled to finish the building. They said the work is so feeble,
that even if a fox leant against it, it would crumble and collapse.
But God helped and prospered them. God fought for them. All their opposition
and people that worked against them came to nothing. They are all forgotten. I
decree that today!
Malachi also prophesied and even mentioned the evil opposition they faced.
Everyone worked together, the builders, the scribes, the prophets and the
leaders. Let us work together to complete our building.
The people had a heart to build
All the people that had a heart to complete the work, labored to finish the
work. God saw their hearts: they were not indifferent towards His house. He
helped and comforted them and stirred up the hearts of Kings to sponsor the
completion of the house of God.
The names of all the people that helped to finish the building of the house of
God and the city were written down and remembered forever! Those who
refused to help were forgotten.
Nehemiah’s prayerful obedience to the Word of the Lord and his skillful
leadership together with Ezra’s spiritual upliftment of the people, finished the
building! Nehemiah constantly prayed that God would strengthen their hands
and that God would remember them for good, for the work they did for Him.
May God remember all the people who will help us, in one way or another, to
finish the building of our Church. May God strengthen our hands today and stir
up our hearts to complete the building of the Church. I decree that today!
May those who despise or ignore the work that we are doing, be forgotten.