1 – Ezra 3:6 (ESV) 6 From the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord. But the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.
RAF: In days of restoration, as these were for the exiles, priorities are sometimes more clearly defined. While there had been no work on restoring the Temple proper yet, the altar was restored first and rightly so. When we have gone through seasons of estrangment from God, perhaps the distance that has followed a fall into sin, we know where to go first – to the cross. We go to God’s altar. Where the one true Lamb that was offered for sin was slain. We go back there and renew ourselves in the knowledge of what our sin deserved, how the Father sent His Son to take our punishment in our place, and how He is the only sin offering we can bring. And isn’t He our fellowship offering too? And our thank offering? Everything is restored to focus on this one place – Christ Jesus, and His death for us.
