Starting Over(Rebuilding the Temple, Reforming the People)

The Book of Ezra

Ezra 7:11-26

Part 18

Here is a list of Kings that God turned to favor the exiles:

1st King – Cyrus – Ch 1:1-4, 7-11 First return of 49,000, the Temple is built

2nd King – Darius – Ch 5, 6:1-12 He writes a very strong letter – going way out of his way to help the exiles – seeing the Temple get rebuilt

3rd King – Artaxerxes – Ch 7:1b, 11-26 60 years after Darius – God is still ruling Persian Kings hearts – 7:11-26 If you thought Darius was generous, WOW!

Vs 22 - Need for worship materials

3 ¾ tons of silver

650 bushels of wheat

600 gallons of wine

600 gallons of oil

Salt

Application #1 - The 2nd Principle of the Reformed Life - Doxology

Ezra’s Doxology 7:27, 28

Vs 27a “Blessed be the God of our fathers…”

Vs 27b “who has put such a thing as this into the kings heart…”

* Yes king Artaxerxes makes the decree & grants the permission, but why does he do so? Because there is a King behind the king!

* Our God does not always practice His sovereignty with flashiness and noise

- Often He is hidden and subtle - Often He chooses to carry out His decrees and decisions through the decrees and decisions of lesser Kings & rulers of the earth

* The faithful see this happening & praise God for it!

Vs 27c “to adorn the house of God in Jerusalem…”

Vs 28a “and has extended loving-kindness to me before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty princes

Vs 28b “thus I was strengthened according to the hand of the Lord my God upon me”

- Ezra revels in the thought of God’s amazing goodness

Vs 28c “and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me”

Application #2 – The third principle of the reformed life is appreciating in your heart the greatness of God’s ways.

When God says He will do something, He does it in a way that displays His goodness & His love & His blessing

The God of Ezra 7:11-26 is the same God that Paul knew.

Ephesians 3:20a “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us”

Note - 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…”

Jeremiah 25:1-14 “The word came to Jeremiah concerning all the people of Judah in the fourth year of Jehoiakim son of Josiah king of Judah, which was the first year of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. 2 So Jeremiah the prophet said to all the people of Judah and to all those living in Jerusalem: 3 For twenty-three years—from the thirteenth year of Josiah son of Amon king of Judah until this very day—the word of the LORD has come to me and I have spoken to you again and again, but you have not listened. 4 And though the LORD has sent all his servants the prophets to you again and again, you have not

listened or paid any attention. 5 They said, “Turn now, each of you, from your evil ways and your evil practices, and you can stay in the land the LORD gave to you and your fathers for ever and ever. 6 Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not provoke me to anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.” 7 “But you did not listen to me,” declares the LORD, “and you have provoked me with what your hands have made, and you have brought harm to yourselves.” 8 Therefore the LORD Almighty says this: “Because you have not listened to my words, 9 I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar

king of Babylon,” declares the LORD, “and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin. 10 I will banish from them the sounds of joy and gladness, the voices of bride and bridegroom, the sound of millstones and the light of the lamp. 11 This whole country will become a desolate wasteland, and these nations will serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 12 “But when the seventy years are fulfilled, I will punish the king of Babylon and his nation, the land of the Babylonians, for their guilt,” declares the LORD,

“and will make it desolate forever. 13 I will bring upon that land all the things I have spoken against it, all that are written in this book and prophesied by Jeremiah against all the nations. 14 They themselves will be enslaved by many nations and great kings; I will repay them according to their deeds and the work of their hands.”

Jeremiah 29:4-13 (NASB)

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, 

5     ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce.

6     ‘Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease.

    7     ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’

 8     “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream.

     9     ‘For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the Lord.

     10     “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

    11     ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

     12     ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

  13     ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

When your own sin is the cause of your trouble, heartache, suffering, even then God delights to rescue and restore you!

God seems often in the bible like a loving parent who allows his/her

dearly loved child to be disciplined, but with great love and concern He

swoops in to help as soon as time has allowed his perfect wisdom to work

Application #3 – When your life has been attacked and destroyed or ruined (family forever changed, job lost, home can never be home again) and the blame or focus can be upon one group or person…. And now you are living in your changed or new circumstances What should you do?

1. Remember no matter how awful, hurtful or difficult it may be and no matter hoe hard it may be for your faith or mind to comprehend…

You must come to the place where you believe & trust God enough so that you can say, “I have been sent from Jerusalem to Babylon…”

Can you trust the “I have sent you…” as much as you trust Ezra 7:6 “a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given..”

Jeremiah 29:4-13

“Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, 

5     ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce.

6     ‘Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease.

    7     ‘Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’

 8     “For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘Do not let your prophets who are in your midst and your diviners deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams which they dream.

     9     ‘For they prophesy falsely to you in My name; I have not sent them,’ declares the Lord.

     10     “For thus says the Lord, ‘When seventy years have been completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill My good word to you, to bring you back to this place.

    11     ‘For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.

     12     ‘Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you.

  13     ‘You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.

2. Next (29:5-6) – You go on with your new life.

-Build houses

-Plant gardens

-Eat produce

-Take wives

-Become fathers

-Get your sons and daughters to marry

-Multiply and do not decrease

i.e. Go back to living a normal & productive life

- ‘Victims’ never move on

3. Jeremiah 29:7 “Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you…”

- Hard command? – You bet, but it is clear as it is hard.

- Seek the benefit of those who tried to destroy you “and Pray to the Lord on its behalf ” for God to bless those who at one time were your enemies but now under their regime you live

WOW! This is the backdrop for the verse everyone loves to quote, Jeremiah 29:11

Is this some strange O.T. doctrine that really is not that important? No! Does not our Lord and His apostles teach this again and again?

Matthew 5:43-47 (NASB) You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44     “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,45     so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.  46     “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same?  47     “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

I Peter 2:18-25 (NASB) “Servants, be submissive to your masters with all respect, not only to those who are good and gentle, but also to those who are unreasonable. 19     For this finds favor, if for the sake of conscience toward God a person bears up under sorrows when suffering unjustly. 20     For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

     21     For you have been called for this purpose, since Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example for you to follow in His steps, 22     who committed no sin, nor was any deceit found in His mouth; 23  and while being reviled, He did not revile in return; while suffering, He uttered no threats, but kept entrusting Himself to Him who judges righteously;24  and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.   25     For you were continually straying like sheep, but now you have returned to the Shepherd and Guardian of your souls.

I Peter 1:3-7 (NASB)

“Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,

who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,    

4     to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away,

reserved in heaven for you,

     5     who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

     6     In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,

 7     so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire,

may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ”