[Quote #1]

     Jerusalem means “city of peace.” Babylon means confusion. Ultimately, what happens when the Lord’s people stop resting in God and trusting in his provision? They lose their peace and end up in confusion.

    When we look at the whole story in the Old Testament, we find there were two great deliverances for God’s people. The first was their deliverance from bondage in Egypt. The second was their deliverance from their captivity in Babylon. In our Christian experience, God wants us to go through both of these deliverances—deliverance from Egypt and deliverance from Babylon. What are the differences?

   In Egypt, the people were born there. Through the Passover Lamb, God provided redemption for everyone and brought them all out of Egypt. Everyone was saved by the blood of the Lamb. All of them had become part of a new nation bound for the Promised Land.

    But the deliverance God provided from Babylon was different. They were in Babylon because they had sinned and they were being disciplined. In Babylon, all were invited out, but not all came out. Those who came out had a name. They were known as the remnant.”

[Quote #2]

   When Ezra returned with his troop to Jerusalem, he did so with purpose. He returned with a heart to teach the people the Word of God and to adorn the Temple and strengthen the Temple service. God still needs people to do those things today.

    God needs those who can teach the Word of God to others, so they will be instructed and see Christ in the Scriptures. But what does it mean for us that Ezra returned to “adorn or beautify the Temple?”

    For example, take the gift of hospitality. God has gifted many people within the church, to one extent or another, with the gift of hospitality. They have hearts to entertain guests and even open up their homes to visiting Christians and strangers. Maybe they are already doing this, but maybe with a little instruction, this ministry could be developed and “beautified.”

   Let’s say a couple comes to your house to stay for a while. You could offer them the couch or a place on the floor to sleep, and tell them that the bathroom is down the hall, and hope for the best. Or, you could offer them the bed in the master bedroom, set out some towels for them, and place a bowl of fruit or some chocolates and bottled water by their bedside. There’s a big difference between the two! Simply receiving those guests, on one hand, is quite different from the hospitality of treating them as if Christ himself had walked through your door. The latter takes hospitality to a new level and really beautifies the house of God.

[Quote #3]

   By the third century A.D., Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire. The Church and the state were wed. The Church became more and more institutionalized and influenced by the world. Interestingly, a similar structure seen in Rome’s political system found its way into the Catholic Church. A hierarchical church “government” crystallized, with the pope at the top, and beneath him 70 cardinals, and beneath them the archbishops, the bishops, the priests and finally, at the bottom rung of this hierarchical system, the masses of common lay people.

   This hierarchical, chain-of-command system of rule and authority can easily be traced back to the Persian and Babylonian empires, and more likely, back to the original city of Babel, the first city organized by fallen man at the dawn of civilization. But did it have an even earlier origin than that?

   The Bible teaches that all authority comes from God. The question is: Does God want a hierarchical system of authority in his Church? Is this the way the kingdom of God is governed? Is this the way God governs his own house?

   Clearly, we can find in the Scriptures one species in God’s creation that operates under this hierarchical type of system. It’s the angels. God ordained arch-angels (including Michael, Gabriel, and Lucifer, the fallen arch-angel) and under these arch-angels are the angels, demons, and principalities. So, this hierarchical system was ordained by God—at least for angels. But did God ever intend this system for the sons and daughters of God?”