Ezra 3:6-13 From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings to the LORD… — A weighty truth is enshrined in this apparently incongruous fact. The worship itself is felt to be more important than the house in which it is to be celebrated (John 4:21-24). How vain is it, then, to treat the erection of churches as though it were a revival of religion! As surely as the empty seashell can never secrete a living organism to inherit it, a mere building — whether it be the most gorgeous cathedral or the plainest village meeting-house — will never induce a living spirit of worship to dwell in its cold desolation. Every true revival of religion begins in the spiritual sphere. (Walter F. Adeney, M. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid. |
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