God raised up opposition in order to confirm the work, in order to supply the resources to build the work, from the civil magistrate. No separation from church and state there. Imagine the situation. [Imagine that] you are one of those in Judah and you rise up and you build because the prophet said to do so. You are working but you are kind of looking over your shoulders and think,
Michael Voytekwhen are we going to get in trouble for this?And then some people come to you, the people from around you, the Samaritans whom you had forbidden to help join because they are compromisers..., and they get you in trouble. They send off a letter to the king intending for evil for you. And yet through it all, God in his sovereignty, loosen the heart of Darius, just like he did of Cyrus. And now you have the resources and the authority of the king to build. Wouldn't that be an encouragement to you? Isn't that a reminder of what we read in Proverbs,that the heart of the king is in the hands of the Lord, and he turns it whatever way he wants? God is control, even when we lose sight of that truth.1
1 Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them.