Golden Paths
There are a couple of verses from the 3rd chapter of Ezra that I would like to relate here and then segue into some thoughts of my own. The Jewish exiles had returned from captivity in Babylon and Ezra recorded the building of the second temple on the foundation of the original which was under the guidance of Zerubbabel. Most of the people were excited, "praising and giving thanks to the Lord" as Ezra wrote, but the feeling was not quite the same with everyone for Ezra continued, "And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and heads of father's houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people's weeping..." The ESV Study Bible comments on these verses with "Sadness is mixed with this rejoicing, for some of the very old remembered the former temple and believed that this new one would not match the former temple's glory. The picture of mitigated celebration is a small symbol of the whole event of the return, which was in itself a triumph yet fell far short of the great hopes the people might have had."
These verses may, in some way, explain why not all Christians rejoice in much of the church growth today. There was no Golden Age of the church in either England or America but there were better and more glorious days as there were, and are now, less glorious days. Certainly we are in a lesser age for the preached Word even though we think that we are very enlightened in this. Our Biblical knowledge, particularly of doctrine, is weak. Unless one is familiar with our church heritage in both England and America one will most likely not weep as others rejoice today. We have become less and less enthralled with reading books written before this modern age. Personal letters of those who came before us are not valued as sources of great value, in fact, who even writes "letters" anymore? We are far too busy today to read the Puritans, let alone John Calvin or even biographies of great missionaries who opened up continents to the Gospel. Alas, we dress to the hilt for a celebration but have no where to go.
A similar situation exists with the history of our Republic. We no longer realize just how marvelous our Constitution is. Many rejoiced in Hope and Change not realizing that Change was the key word and it was a change for the worse....far, far worse. No, there was no Golden Age in our Anglo-Christian heritage but there were Golden Paths and it would behoove all of us today to heed the words of Jeremiah in:
Thus says the Lord:
Stand by the roads and look,
and ask for the ancient paths,
where the good way is; and walk in it,
and find rest for your souls.
But Jeremiah added:
But they said, "We will not walk in it."
Should we seek those ancient paths God may indeed have mercy upon us with a reformation in the church which may even lead to a restoration of our constitutional republic. Surely there is true rejoicing all over today for hearts rended and mercies given but just as surely there is also weeping for knowledge of what once was and how far we are from it!
