The people did not panic or get derailed through this time when encountering opposition. Why? Because the Word preached had produced stability in their lives. They obeyed the Word. They stayed true to the Word. They stayed steadfast. The reason that Ezra is actually writing the way that he does in terms of the order—Ezra does not appear until Ezra 7:1–28—is because he is actually looking back on the history. The reason he writes that is to remind us, contemporaries, of the necessity of remaining faithful just like those who had gone before us. And so through the preaching of Haggai, through the preaching of Zechariah, the people of God actually were infused with the iron tonic of God's Word and they were strong, just as Daniel 11:32 says, those who know their God will be strong and do great exploits. They were stabilized and strengthened by the preaching of the Word of God. It is a reminder to us. If we neglect the ministry of the Word, we will suffer for it; we will be weaker for it; we will not be stable when difficult times come; we will not be strong. We actually depend upon the living Word of God, preached in the power of the Spirit of God, to stabilize and strengthen us, and to help us move forward in the cause of God and truth.¹

Brian Borgman