Ezr 3:13 | KingComments | STEP | Those who today think of the church of God in the beginning can understand the weeping of the elders ( ). This is the case with those who have been more deeply introduced to the truth of the Scriptures about the church. They see how far one is from the ideal church life, that many believers live on in the old routine of what has been handed down by the fathers. With the young people there is another expression. They experience for the first time that something of the church as the house of God becomes visible, even in a time of weakness and decay. Youth is a period of enthusiasm and exuberance of spirit, while old age is a time of reflection. Both are necessary. The danger of the youth is to see the future too carelessly, to make plans too enthusiastically, while the elderly are in danger of clinging too much to the past. It is important that they both understand each other. Young people would do well to ask the advice of older people when they are looking for a new work. For the elderly it is sometimes difficult to recognize a special work that God has entrusted to young people and in which they will not be able to share for long. Sometimes they also forget their own youth. Elderly people who rejoice in what God works in young people will be able to make their indispensable contribution. God rejoices in the joy of His people and understands the tears of the elderly. There is room for both expressions of feeling. They merge together in one big sound ( ). This is the true expression of the state of affairs. Both feelings express the reality that is within them. The Spirit approves of this. This is harmony and not discord. It must have made an overwhelming impression. A whole people, one part of which loudly expresses their sorrow and the other part loudly expresses their joy, on the same occasion and with a commitment that is equally great to both sides. The number that can remember the glory of the first or previous house, that is the temple of Solomon, is small. Their crying must have been irresistible and loud if it can mingle so well with the cheers of the majority. We must not regard them as ungrateful and melancholic, as if they would spoil the enjoyment of the others because of this great event. It shows us the other side that cannot be missed. However blessed a revival may be, our joy is tempered by the remembrance of the grace and power revealed under the apostolic energy, as we see in the beginning of the book of Acts.

‏ Ezra 3:13

Mixed Feelings

Those who today think of the church of God in the beginning can understand the weeping of the elders (Ezra 3:12). This is the case with those who have been more deeply introduced to the truth of the Scriptures about the church. They see how far one is from the ideal church life, that many believers live on in the old routine of what has been handed down by the fathers. With the young people there is another expression. They experience for the first time that something of the church as the house of God becomes visible, even in a time of weakness and decay.

Youth is a period of enthusiasm and exuberance of spirit, while old age is a time of reflection. Both are necessary. The danger of the youth is to see the future too carelessly, to make plans too enthusiastically, while the elderly are in danger of clinging too much to the past. It is important that they both understand each other. Young people would do well to ask the advice of older people when they are looking for a new work. For the elderly it is sometimes difficult to recognize a special work that God has entrusted to young people and in which they will not be able to share for long. Sometimes they also forget their own youth. Elderly people who rejoice in what God works in young people will be able to make their indispensable contribution.

God rejoices in the joy of His people and understands the tears of the elderly. There is room for both expressions of feeling. They merge together in one big sound (Ezra 3:13). This is the true expression of the state of affairs. Both feelings express the reality that is within them. The Spirit approves of this. This is harmony and not discord. It must have made an overwhelming impression. A whole people, one part of which loudly expresses their sorrow and the other part loudly expresses their joy, on the same occasion and with a commitment that is equally great to both sides.

The number that can remember the glory of the first or previous house, that is the temple of Solomon, is small. Their crying must have been irresistible and loud if it can mingle so well with the cheers of the majority. We must not regard them as ungrateful and melancholic, as if they would spoil the enjoyment of the others because of this great event. It shows us the other side that cannot be missed. However blessed a revival may be, our joy is tempered by the remembrance of the grace and power revealed under the apostolic energy, as we see in the beginning of the book of Acts.