Five Lessons from Ezra

Five Lessons from Ezra

Many people have sports stars or movie stars or singers etc that they regard as heroes in their life. I don’t have any heroes in my life but there are some I have regarded as truly great men. These include Tyndale (translator of the bible), Churchill, Abe Lincoln and in bible times, Joseph, Joshua and David. Ezra has never been on my radar as truly great man, but the more I read about him, maybe he should be. Ezra was a scribe and a priest that wrote Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah and Psalm 119. Until the third century, Ezra and Nehemiah were a single book in both the Hebrew and Christian scriptures. He also led the council of 120 men who put together the Old Testament canon and he led the 2nd part of a 3 part return of the Jews to Jerusalem. Ezra and Nehemiah record the final events of the Old Testament chronologically and the only prophet to write after Nehemiah is Malachi(who is a prophet about 15 years after Nehemiah arrives in Jerusalem to build the wall in 445 BC)  After this we have Matthew. And in the middle of Ezra- between Chapter 6 and Chapter 7 we have the story of Ester who remained behind in Babylon and saved the Jews there.

Let’s look at what’s happened to the Jews leading up to Ezra. After King Solomon died, and because of Solomon’s idolatry, ten tribes in the north split off under the leadership of Jeroboam. In the South, the remaining two tribes, Judah and Benjamin, were ruled by Solomon’s heir, his son Rehoboam  

During the centuries that followed both the leadership of the North and the South generally went from bad to worse  The Northern Kingdom of Israel lasted for 209 years after the split  During that time, they set up their capital in Samaria. They established a false temple, a false priesthood, and a distorted version of the Law. Eventually, in 722 BC, God puts an end to the Northern Kingdom and scatters the 10 tribes through the Assyrians, whom He sent against Israel (the norther kingdom). The nation is taken captive and the tribes are lost to history, even to today.

The Southern Kingdom of Judah have 11 bad kings, interspersed by 8 good kings. After 345 years, the Lord finally brought a consequence to the Southern Kingdom, and Judah went into captivity at the hands of the Babylonians, under King Nebuchadnezzar.  But unlike the Northern Kingdom, the Lord eventually restored the Southern Kingdom to the land, 70 years later 

So lets pick up the story of Ezra in 538BC

Ezra 1:1 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying: 2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 ‘Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 ‘Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.’”

1.  The first point or lesson to us is to note that yet again God is reminding us that He is in control of everything including the most powerful nations and people. Even if they don’t believe in Him or his power.

Just look at this prophesy by Isaiah  in about  688BC about 150 years earlier

Isaiah 44:28 28 who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please;

he will say of Jerusalem, “Let it be rebuilt,”and of the temple, “Let its foundations be laid.”

This was fulfilled in 538BC ( 150 years later).  It’s quite an unusual prophesy in that it names a king  not yet even born who will release the Jews to rebuild a temple.

Proverbs 21:1 In the Lord’s hand the king’s heart is a stream of water

 that he channels toward all who please him

Not only that,  but Jeremiah also prophesies in Jer 29:10 that the people would spend 70 years in Babylon. This prophesy took place in about 594BC ie about 8 years before they even went into captivity

Do we really think that God does not have the nations of the world in His hands today? Russia, China, America, Australia. That He does not control world events, that He does not have a plan? Its times like these where we may be in Babylon where we just need to trust Him, no one else. No matter who is the King at the time or the circumstances.

Psalm 2

1 Why do the nations conspire and the peoples plot in vain?2 The kings of the earth rise up and the rulers band together   against the Lord and against his anointed, saying,3 “Let us break their chains and throw off their shackles.”4 The One enthroned in heaven laughs;

    the Lord scoffs at them.5 He rebukes them in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying,6 “I have installed my king  on Zion, my holy mountain.”…….10 Therefore, you kings, be wise;  be warned, you rulers of the earth.11 Serve the Lord with fear and celebrate his rule with trembling.

We have nothing to fear about in the drama of world politics no matter how much chest beating nations and politicians do!

2.  In the end of the millions of Jews that went into captivity only about 50,000 return in 538BC with Zerubabbel and Jeshua in the 1st return of the Jews from exile.

Sometimes it’s not easy to leave Babylon, all your friends are there, you have family there and life is pretty good. It’s comfortable being in Babylon. But you can’t go to Jerusalem without leaving your comfort zone, without a sacrifice, without difficulty and almost certainly losing contact with friends or family. Besides it could be a long and difficult walk (more than 1400km+?)

We too chose a walk from Babylon to Jerusalem, and it too is fraught with difficulties and things we leave behind. And we too need to make that choice, but on this journey Jesus reassures us:

Matthew 11:28-30 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Hebrews 4:16 Amplified Bible puts it  like this as we journey to a spiritual Jerusalem from our Babylon

16 Let us then fearlessly and confidently and boldly draw near to the throne of grace (the throne of God’s unmerited favour to us sinners), that we may receive mercy [for our failures] and find grace to help in good time for every need 

But when we do make that journey and we do go to Jerusalem and to the throne of grace then we know through the peace of the Holy Spirit that we have made the right choice and the journey was the best thing we ever did!

3.  We see in Ezra chapter 3 what worshipping in spirit and in truth really means. First they build the altar:

Ezra 3:1 Now when the seventh month came, and the sons of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem. 2 Then Jeshua the son of Jozadak and his brothers the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and his brothers arose and built the altar of the God of Israel to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. 3 So they set up the altar on its foundation, for they were terrified because of the peoples of the lands; and they offered burnt offerings on it to the LORD, burnt offerings morning and evening.

Then they start the foundation to the Temple. And then when they laid the foundation we read

Ezra 3:10 Now when the builders had laid the foundation of the temple of the LORD, the priests stood in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the LORD according to the directions of King David of Israel. 11 They sang, praising and giving thanks to the LORD, saying, 

“For He is good, for His lovingkindness is upon Israel forever.”   

And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the LORD because the foundation of the house of the LORD was laid. :12 Yet many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ households, the old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, while many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the shout of joy from the sound of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Just let’s think about their situation.  They have an altar made from uncut stones (as is required) and they have a foundation to a Temple. There is no grand temple with all the gold trimmings. There are no walls to the city and they were fearful of the people in the lands around them (v3). They were a small group in comparison, but their priority was to worship God. They were vulnerable and had nothing to offer except themselves.

In other words this was not a show, no strobe lights, electric guitars and fancy sound systems. No fancy church or hall, but with their complete focus on God they Ez3 v10-11

took their places to praise the Lord, as prescribed by David king of Israel. 11 With praise and thanksgiving they sang to the Lord..”

“This is how all believers are to worship every day

• Stripped of meaningless ritual 

•  Recognizing our total dependence on God and

•  Focused on making ourselves a sacrifce for the glory of God”

• We don’t need a grand setting or the latest hi-tech equipment

The focus on God alone, vulnerable, fearful, inadequate, powerless, acknowledging their insufficiency and their dependence on God- no fancy church- no show.

4.  Then let’s just dwell on the order of the reconstruction. Why was the wall not built before the Temple? Nehemiah came later and built the wall. Well we know that the Temple is for spiritual purposes and the wall for military political (and so also for economic reasons) and the Jews knew (and we know) that no matter how high or how big the walls you build are, nothing would protect them or us if God was not with them. 

We too need to get that priority right and when we lose sight of the need for spiritual priority or antecedence over our financial future, over our own comfort, over all our other priorities then when try and build walls in priority to the Temple we too will see our world also come tumbling down around us just as happened to Israel and Judah.  But when our priority is to build the temple first and come before God with sincerity and thanksgiving because “He is good and His lovingkindness endures forever” ,then we too shall see the glory of the Lord filling the temple , the walls will be built and Jerusalem proper.

Leviticus 26:3-7

3 “‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey my commands, 4 I will send you rain in its season, and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit. 5 Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want and live in safety in your land.

6 “‘I will grant peace in the land, and you will lie down and no one will make you afraid. I will remove wild beasts from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. 7 You will pursue your enemies, and they will fall by the sword before you.

In other words the grace of God will be your security, your protection, your peace, your every need for then He has become your wall.

5.  Then we see just after they laid the foundation;

Ezra 4:4-5 NASB 4 Then the people of the land [a]discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, 5 and hired counsellors against them to frustrate their counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

This discouragement, fear and frustration stops the building of the Temple. And it stopped the building for about 15 years! It seems that nothing physically actually happened to make them stop the building, it was just simply fear, discouragement and frustration?

One thing you can be sure about, the minute you turn your focus to God, to serve Him, Satan will respond and almost in the identical pattern. Either through introducing fear and frustration or digging up the past just as these Samaritans did when they later wrote to the King (Ez 4:11-16) about the past rebelliousness and trouble the Jews had caused. Fear, discouragement and frustration is a common phenomenon to this day.

Zerubabbel was a great man in many ways leading the Jews back to Jerusalem in the first wave. Then he let discouragement and frustration get the better of him and he allowed problems and resistance to stop him. As it can us! But he allowed this to get the better of him for only a period – albeit a long one- 15yr period. Then to his credit he was receptive and open to God’s word through the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, and he learnt from his past and he completed the temple.

We too can go through periods of fear, discouragement and frustration with what is going on in the world and our lives, and while we don’t have Haggai or Zechariah to remind us that we need to overcome these obstacles that are sure to come our way,we have the word of God  and the word from Isaiah is this: 

Isaiah 41:10 – do not fear for I am with you, do not be dismayed for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will uphold you with my righteous right hand

John 14:27 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled .

So let just have a look at the final timeline.

So in conclusion we can see how God has everything in total control as He has now.  Fear, frustration and discouragement and digging up the past is the enemies way of trying to rob you of your joy and victory in God, but we must resist it and overcome it and stand firm. And while we don’t have Zechariah or Haggai to guide and encourage us, we have the word of God. And when we come to a place where we realise our insufficiency and see the grace of God we can say- 

Psalm 73:25-26

25 Whom have I in heaven but you?

    And being with you I desire nothing on earth.

26 My flesh and my heart may fail,

    but God is the strength of my heart

    and my portion forever.