Satan's Pattern for Attack
We have seen God's pattern for blessing. Now we're going to see Satan's pattern for attacking God's people. In Ezra's day the Lord stirred up the hearts of some of His own people who had been in captivity. There was a restoration and they began to rebuild the temple. And when that happens, Satan always attacks. We have seen the positive side-the pathway to blessing in the life of Abraham. Now we're going to see the negative side and how Satan attacks in the time of Ezra.
The temple, which was being rebuilt, was God's center on earth. God's Church, the assembly, is how God manifests Himself on earth today. Those who are willing to put their heart, soul and energy into identification with God's assembly are going to face a tremendous onslaught of Satan. "Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity builded the temple unto the Lord God of Israel; then they came to Zerubbabel, and to the chief of the fathers, and said unto them, Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do." Ezra 4:1, 2. The answer is in verse 3: "Ye have nothing to do with us.”
First Tactic
Satan's first attack is to introduce those who were really Samaritans, who would say, "We are with you; we are one of you," but they were enemies and adversaries. Take that as a warning not to join hands with the world even if it is to accomplish something that may seem to be for the glory of God. If it is not done according to the Word of God, it cannot have the blessing of God in our lives. The children of Israel were faithful; they refused that.
Second Tactic
The second tactic of Satan is in verse 4: "Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in building." Satan is going to weaken our hands; he is going to trouble us and bring all kinds of things into our lives that are going to sap our energy and take away our strength.
In the book of Haggai we find they left building the temple; instead they went back to building their own houses. If we turn to Ezra 6:11, we find the result. "Also I have made a decree, that whosoever shall alter this word, let timber be pulled down from his house, and being set up, let him be hanged thereon; and let his house be made a dunghill for this." If we turn our energies to ourselves rather than God, it is going to bring down God's judgment on our own heads.
Third Tactic
Let us see Satan's next tactic in Ezra 5:3, 4. They had questioned God's authority. "Who hath commanded you to build this house?... What are the names of the men that make this building?" There is a tremendous movement in Christendom to question the inerrant authority of the Word of God. And there will be many who will come to us and say, "Who gave you the authority to meet in that simple way around the Person of Christ?" The authority comes from God Himself and the Word of God, and from the Holy Spirit who has the liberty to guide and direct our thoughts to Christ in the midst. The authority does not come from man.
Fourth Tactic
We will find Satan's last tactic in Ezra 9:2. "For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass." That was Satan's final tactic and the one that worked. That was the one that wrought havoc and brought in this awful mixture. The command in 2 Cor. 6:14,15 is so clear: "Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers.... What concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel [unbeliever]?”
May the Lord preserve us from Satan's tactics and give us the courage to follow the pattern for blessing and fruitfulness.