The weeping in Ezra 3 shows us that the final restoration that the exiles were hoping for did not take place. Their return to Jerusalem was not the final and glorious restoration of God’s people. God’s presence would no longer be in their midst since the ark of the covenant was no more. The people of Israel still looked forward to the day when God would finally come back to dwell among his people and where they would enjoy God’s blessing and rule.
The prophet Haggai promised the people of Israel that the temple they were building would be even more glorious than the first temple (Haggai 2:9). But this would only happen when the desired of all nations comes
to fill God’s house with glory (Haggai 2:7).
At his coming, the Lord Jesus Christ is shown to be the new temple (John 2:19–21), he is the manifestation of the glory of God in the midst of his people (John 1:14). The presence and glory of the Lord was absent from the second temple until the Lord Jesus came to earth.
Through his death, Jesus Christ has reconciled all believers to God and he is now busy building his church (Matthew 16:18). The church of Jesus Christ is often compared to a temple/building (1 Peter 2:4–10; Ephesians 2:10–22) in which God dwells through his Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 6:19).
God the Holy Spirit dwells in Christian believers but we do not yet live in God’s presence in the same way that Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden. Just like the exiles in Jerusalem, we are still looking forward to the final restoration of God’s world, where we will see God in all his glory and live under his blessing and rule. This final restoration will only take place when the Lord Jesus Christ returns to judge the living and the dead and to bring the new Jerusalem of God down from heaven (Revelation 20:11 – 21:27). On that day it will be said, Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God
(Revelation 21:3).
While we look forward to that day, we praise God for the love and mercy he has shown us in rescuing us from our sins, but we also weep while we realize that the final restoration and fulfilment of all God’s promises has not yet happened. We weep because sin remains, not only in our own lives (we still struggle with sinful desires and temptations even though we are Christians), but also in this world (horrible things still happen that affect our lives and the lives of those around us).
1 When the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the towns, the people gathered as one man to Jerusalem.