Through the Bible - Ezra

God, we do thank You. That song we just sang, that You are all that we will ever need, is so true, Lord. It is important for us to remember that and to consider the truth of that fact: You are our everything. Just as Paul wrote to the church at Colossae, You are the fullness of all things, Lord. We pray that You would help us to see that we are only complete as we are in You, relying on You, and trusting in You.

As we consider this book before us tonight, I ask that You would speak to us and help us to understand the applications from it, Lord. Teach us, for we ask it in Jesus' name. Amen.

Now, with a finger in the book of Ezra, I want you to turn in your Bibles over to the book of Isaiah, specifically Isaiah chapter 44. In this chapter, there is a prophecy given that is one of the most important prophecies of the Old Testament. In verse 28, which was written around the late 700s B.C., we read, "Thus saith Cyrus, he is my shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, you shall be built, and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid."

In chapter 45, verse 1, it continues, "Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations before him. I will loose the loins of kings and open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut asunder the bars of iron."

Here, this prophecy is given through the prophet Isaiah that God was going to raise up a king by the name of Cyrus. We saw this last week in 2 Chronicles, in the very last couple of verses of chapter 36.

This is years after that point. Actually, in 538 B.C., is when this takes place. We read in 2 Chronicles, chapter 36, verse 22: "Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah, and also by Isaiah, might be accomplished. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom to put it also in writing, saying, 'Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, all the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me, and has charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you, who of all his people, the Lord his God, will be with him, and let him go up.'"

If you turn over one page to Ezra, chapter 1, we read the very same thing: "Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, 'Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, the Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to put him a house at Jerusalem, to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.'"

What is so great about that passage in Isaiah, chapter 44, is that it was written over 150 years before Cyrus was even king, before he was even born, and before the Persian Empire was even a great empire. At the point in time when Isaiah spoke those words in Isaiah 44 and 48, the leading empire of the world was actually the Assyrian Empire. Years later, the Babylonians would come and lead away the children of Israel captive, which we saw in 2 Chronicles.

Thanks, Mark. We saw there in 2 Chronicles last week that it was the Babylonians who led the nation of Judah into captivity. Those last three or four chapters of 2 Chronicles show us that. But 150 years before the birth of Cyrus, before the establishment of the kingdom, the empire of Persia, the Medo-Persian Empire, God speaks by name and says, "Cyrus is my servant." Even though he is a pagan king, God says, "I'm going to use him for my work." He is going to be raised up, and he is going to give a decree. That decree is going to be that he will lay the foundations of the temple and rebuild the temple at Jerusalem.

You remember that in 586 B.C., the Babylonian Empire came in and destroyed Jerusalem completely. They had already taken the children of Israel captive.

But years later, they finally destroyed the temple and the city. The city lay in waste. The prophet Jeremiah, in Jeremiah chapter 25, tells the people that this is when we read in Ezra chapter 1 that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be established. This correlates to Jeremiah chapter 25, verse 12. There, the Lord speaks by Jeremiah and says, "And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon and the nation," saith the Lord, "for their iniquity and for the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it a perpetual desolation."

The word of the Lord has been fulfilled. God spoke by the prophet Isaiah and by the prophet Jeremiah that these things would come to pass. Now, at the end of the captivity of the children of Israel in Babylon, the word of the Lord comes to pass. The mouth of the Lord has spoken it, and it will come to pass. We can trust that. That's one of the beautiful things about the prophetic passages of the Bible.

We will begin to delve into prophecy in about February, starting with the book of Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, and all these different great prophetic books. However, before you can really grasp and understand the prophetic books, you need to go through the historical books. It is important to read 1 and 2 Kings, 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Esther, and Nehemiah. Go through them and understand the history because many of these prophets lived during this time and spoke about things that would quickly come to pass.

Many of the Old Testament prophets also spoke about things that have yet to come to pass. However, their early prophecies have been fulfilled to prove that the latter prophecies will come to pass as well. When we come to the book of Ezra, it is a fulfillment of God's prophetic promise, as is Nehemiah, which we will see next week, and even the book of Esther. This is a fulfillment of God's word. He told His people back through Moses in the latter chapters of Deuteronomy that if they departed from Him, they would be taken out of this land. This land would spit them out, as God says. They would be removed from the good land that He had given to them.

We have gone through the history of the children of Israel. We read the book of Judges, 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, and 1 and 2 Chronicles. We have seen how the children of Israel departed from the Lord. God fulfilled His word and His promise, even though it was not the kind of promise that we would have enjoyed Him fulfilling—the removal of His people from the land. But God fulfills His word. In much the same way, He promised them that once they have gone...

And been taken out of the land, if you humble yourself and call to me, then I will heal your land; I'll bring you back. He told Jeremiah that the children of Israel, His people, would be in the land of Babylon for seventy years. He told Isaiah, the very king that was going to deliver the children of Israel.

We can be certain that somebody who knew the Scriptures and was high up in the household of Nebuchadnezzar and Darius, this man Cyrus, showed King Cyrus the word of God in Isaiah. In fact, the Jewish historian Josephus says that there was an individual in the household of the pagan king Cyrus who brought him the scroll of Isaiah and said, "Look, I want to show you. Your name is in here. God has called you for a purpose. He's raised you up to be king, to set in order His temple." Cyrus heard that and was probably blown away by it. Here, this prophet from Israel, this Hebrew prophet, wrote about him 150 years before he was born, talking about how God raised him up for this work.

Cyrus then makes a decree. Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, in verse 2 of Ezra chapter 1. This really sets the stage for the book of Ezra. The book of Ezra starts with this whole decree given by King Cyrus. Cyrus delegates the work to a man by the name of Zerubbabel. As you've read through the book of Ezra and gone through different books in the Old Testament, you know that name, Zerubbabel. He is the one that Cyrus would ultimately say, "I want you to go back to the land of Jerusalem. Take as many people with you who are willing and go back and rebuild the temple." Why? Because God called me to do it. God told me I'm supposed to do it. So do it.

It is a powerful thing that we see here in this book: God fulfilling His word. I think it's so important to take notice of that because there are times in our lives when we think that God is not going to fulfill the things that He spoke to us, the things that He revealed to us in His word. Even though it may seem to take a while, the Scripture says in Isaiah that at the appointed time, God will hasten His work. He will bring it to pass at the right time. God knows exactly what He is doing, and He has a plan that is far above any plan that you and I can come up with. There’s that old saying: if you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

You want to make the Lord laugh? Then tell Him your plans. But you know what? If you want to have surety, if you want to have a steadfast, immovable foundation, then consider the promises and the plans of the Lord, because they will come to pass. The books of Ezra and Nehemiah are a clear fulfillment of that.

These books, primarily the book of Ezra, could be given the theme or title "The Road to Restoration and Reformation." This is God's plan to restore the kingdom. The first division of the book, chapters one through six, deals with the restoration. This restoration comes under a man from the line of the king.

You may remember back in 2 Chronicles, actually in 1 and 2 Chronicles, that those books started with a genealogy. Remember that whole nine-chapter genealogy in 1 Chronicles? It was like a big funnel. It started with Adam and went all the way down through Abraham, then through the chosen son, Isaac, and then down through Jacob and two of Jacob's sons.

Which were the two tribes that were focused upon in the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles? Anyone remember? Judah and Levi. Judah was the tribe of royalty, the family that had the rulership of the nation. They were the kings, and from that line, from that tribe, would come David, the great king. The tribe of Levi, on the other hand, was given the task of the priesthood.

So, 1 and 2 Chronicles focused on the tribe of Judah, the king, and the tribe of Levi, the priest. We considered the king and the priest throughout those two books. As we come to the book of Ezra, it continues with this idea. It starts with a man from the line of the king. His name is Zerubbabel. He was given the task to rebuild the temple, to lay the foundation of the temple.

Thus, we start with the tribe of Judah in the book of Ezra. The first division focuses on that. The second division, beginning at chapter 7 through chapter 10, focuses on Ezra, who was of the tribe of Levi. Ezra was a Levite, and he is the one who figures into the priesthood. The king brings restoration, but the priest brings reformation. He brings a reformation into the land.

The first division of the book, chapters 1 through 6, deals with restoration under the king. Chapters 7 through 10 focus on reformation under the priest. If you read this ten-chapter book, you might find it a little easier than reading through 1 and 2 Chronicles. It doesn't have as many long genealogies, although there are a couple. Overall, it's a much easier book to read.

How many of you read the book of Ezra this last week? More than read Chronicles? I encourage you to take some time to read Ezra and Nehemiah because these books show us such an important principle. The first principle is that God fulfills His word. The second is that God is looking to restore and reform man. He is looking to restore and reform man. Remember, man is broken just like the temple in Jerusalem. The temple was destroyed by the Babylonians when they came under Nebuchadnezzar, who led the children of Israel away into captivity.

Do you see the correlation? You and I, the temple, have been broken since Genesis chapter 3. We have been led away into captivity under sin, and we need someone to come and restore and reestablish that temple. Who is the one who brings about restoration? Jesus does, doesn't He?

Hear the kingly line. The one from the tribe of Judah was a man by the name of Zerubbabel. Notice that it is always one from the tribe of Judah who comes to bring restoration. Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. He comes to bring restoration in our lives—a restoration of our lives, but also a restoration of our relationship with God. Man cannot have a relationship with God apart from Jesus Christ. Therefore, Jesus came to restore all things.

Furthermore, Jesus gives us the Holy Spirit, the one who comes in, and it is He, the Holy Spirit, who reforms our lives, doesn't He? He transforms us from the inside out, and we begin to bear the fruit of the Spirit, as Galatians chapter 5 speaks of. So we have the king, Jesus, who comes in and restores, and He imparts the Holy Spirit, who comes in and reforms. The book of Ezra shows us the road to restoration and the road to reformation.

It begins with God. It always starts with God. Notice that in verse 2. It says, actually in verse 1, "Now in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled." What is the next word? "The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia." It always starts with God doing a work.

He's the initiator. Even all the way back in Genesis chapter 3, who was it that came to try and restore relationship and fellowship? It was God, right? God walked into the garden and said, "Adam, where are you?" All throughout the Scriptures, you see that it is God who initiates this work.

Here, God stirred the spirit of a king who was a Persian, a man who was a pagan king. Yet, God stirs his spirit. How does God stir his spirit? Well, God uses His word, I believe, and perhaps someone in his household. I think you could make a good case that the person in his household who showed him these passages was a man by the name of Daniel.

We won't really meet Daniel until we get to the book of Daniel in several weeks, but Daniel was a man chosen by God to be a key individual in the households of these pagan kings. When the children of Israel were led away captive into Babylon, Daniel was one of the Hebrews who loved the Lord, followed the Lord, and was not willing to defile himself with the king's delicacies. Because of that, God established him even in a pagan household.

In the households of Nebuchadnezzar, Darius, Cyrus, and all these different kings, God established Daniel and used him. He was often looked to for deciphering mysteries and dreams. He was very likely the one who brought the word of the Lord to Cyrus, saying, "I want to show you something. I'm glad that you have come in and taken over this Babylonian empire because God has anointed you and chosen you for a very specific purpose."

Jeremiah the prophet said they would be in captivity for 70 years. Isaiah the prophet said, "You are the one who will send us back to our land to rebuild the temple. God has called you." When Cyrus heard this word, his spirit was lifted up, and he made a decree.

Now, remember the position of the children of Israel socially in the kingdom of Babylon and also in the kingdom of Persia. They were slaves, right? They were slaves. Yet, this king, when he took over the authority and rulership of the nation, said, "All you slaves, you can go free."

Contrast that with the king of Egypt, Pharaoh. How many times did Moses have to go to Pharaoh and say, "Let my people go?" God called them to go back and worship Him. Oh, at least a dozen times, Moses went to Pharaoh, but the heart of Pharaoh was hard. In contrast, the heart of this man, Cyrus, was pliable in the hands of the Lord. He didn't even need anyone to come to him and say, "Let my people go." He simply said, "Listen, all of you Jews who want to go back to your land..."

To rebuild, you can go. Not only can you go, but if you read the first chapter, you will find that I am also going to give you silver, gold, spices, linens, and everything that you need to rebuild the temple. You can ask your neighbors for whatever they want to give. If they want to provide an offering for the house of the Lord, just ask them, and they can give you whatever you need.

Look at the heart of this king, Cyrus. This pagan king hears the word of the Lord. His spirit is stirred up, and he says, "I have been called by the Lord to serve Him." However, I want you to note down in verse five that not only did God have to stir the heart of the king, this pagan king, but He also had to stir the heart of the people. In verse five of chapter one of Ezra, it states, "Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, and all them whose spirit God had raised to go up and build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem." The Lord stirred the spirits of these chief men of Israel as well, and they rose up to go back to their land, back to the land of Israel, to rebuild the temple and to reestablish the worship of the one true God.

The second chapter is filled with a whole bunch of names and numbers of different people from various families who rose up to leave and go back to the land of Jerusalem. As you go back through this whole account, you find that after the tally is completely taken of all those who were willing to go back, it was actually a relatively small group of people. Just about 49,697 people rose up and said, "We want to go back to our land." When you consider how many people there were in the land of Israel, in Jerusalem, who were exiled to Babylon, that's a really small group.

Why is that? What was the primary job of the children of Israel before they went into exile? You may remember that it is spoken of back in the book of Exodus that the reason the Egyptians hated the Hebrews was that all shepherds were an abomination to the Egyptians. The children of Israel were sheep keepers; they were a bunch of shepherds. However, when they went into Babylon, they stopped being shepherds. They stopped being sheep keepers and became shopkeepers. They became merchants.

When you consider the title "Jew" today, it mostly speaks of people who are merchants—people who are bankers, doctors, lawyers, and all these merchants in the world are still generally identified as Jews. The Jewish people picked up their merchant lifestyle in Babylon while they were slaves.

But the sad part about that is they also became materialistic. They ended up living in Babylon, and they had houses and possessions. When the call was given from Cyrus to say, "Go back to your land," a lot of them figured, "Why? We have everything just fine here. We're going to stay." As a result, a relatively small group of people, 49,000, just under 50,000, left Babylon to embark on a four-month journey through a difficult wilderness back to the land of Israel.

When you look at a map, it's evident that this journey was nearly the same trek that Abraham, their father, took. Back in Genesis chapter 12, Abraham lived in Ur of the Chaldees, which is in modern-day Iraq, also known as Babylon. When God called him and said, "I want you to leave all this," it was about the same exact route that he would have taken all those years before, which now his descendants took to return to the land, led by Zerubbabel, a man of the kingly line from the tribe of Judah.

As they journeyed back into the land of Jerusalem, they began to build the foundation. However, I want you to notice the very first thing they did in chapter three when they arrived. They didn't just survey the land, remove all the trash from the Temple Mount, or try to find as much of the sacred items as they could. It says, "When the seventh month was come, the children of Israel were in the cities. The people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem." Then Jeshua, the son of Josedach, and his brethren, the priests, along with Zerubbabel, the son of Shetiel, and his brethren, stood up.

They built an altar to the God of Israel to burn offerings thereon, as it was written in the law of Moses. The first thing they did was build an altar, just like Abraham. When Abraham came out of that area of Babylon and entered the promised land, he went to the area called Bethel, where the Lord spoke to him. He too built an altar. These people built an altar and set it upon its base, for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries. They offered burnt offerings thereon unto the Lord, even burnt offerings morning and evening.

The first thing they did was not, "Hey, let's gather things together and start building a temple and lay the foundation." No, the first thing they did was begin to worship.

By building an altar and worshiping the Lord, they kept the Feast of Tabernacles, as it was the seventh month, as it is written in verse four. They offered the daily burnt offerings by number according to the custom, as the duty of every day required. They started the continual burnt offerings, the burnt offerings morning by morning.

However, notice at the end of verse six, it says that the foundations of the temple of the Lord were not yet laid. They hadn't even begun the foundations. The foundation of their temple was worship, not just stones; it was worship. They built an altar and worshiped the Lord, and then the establishing or building of the foundation came next. The end of chapter three deals with the laying of the foundation of the temple.

When the foundation was laid, as noted in verse 10, the builders set the priests in their apparel with trumpets and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David, the king of Israel. They sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord because He is good, for His mercy endures forever toward Israel. All the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid.

However, in verse 12, many of the priests and the Levites and the chief of the fathers, who were ancient men—those who had seen the first temple—when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice, while many shouted aloud for joy. Notice that there was a mixture of joy and sorrow on that day. Those who remembered the former temple and its glory wept when they saw this foundation being laid, saying, "This is not like it once was." They remembered the glory of the former temple, and now they saw all the rubble of Jerusalem. They saw things starting to come together, but still, their hearts were torn.

On the other hand, those who were witnessing the restoration cried out with joy. As stated in verse 13, the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

I want you to consider something. The same thing takes place in my life and in your life as well. If we've departed from the Lord, if we've backslidden and returned to the captivity of sin, yet the Lord sends a Zerubbabel, the Lord brings us back.

To the land once again, a restoration takes place. There is always that mixture of joy and sorrow. The sorrow of those years that have gone by, years that have been lived in vain, fills the heart with sadness. Many of you, I see your heads nodding; you remember your former life and conduct before you came to Christ, and it brings sorrow. However, there is still joy mixed with that sorrow—the joy of God doing a new work.

As is always the case, when a restoration begins, what is the very next thing that shows up? After worship is reestablished, after the foundation of the temple is set in order and things are starting to move forward, yes, there is joy and sorrow. But in chapter 4, verse 1, we read, "Now when the adversaries," I want you to circle that, "when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of captivity built the temple unto the Lord, then they came." This is always the way it works: opposition. When you start to turn back to the Lord and a restoration takes place in your life, the very next thing after worship is reestablished is that the adversary comes. The opposition shows its face.

Notice that they first came as friends. In verse 2, it says they came to Zerubbabel, the chief of the fathers, and they said unto him, "Let us build with you. We want to be a part of this; we want to help. For we seek your God as you do, and we do sacrifice unto Him since the days of Esarhaddon, the king of Assyria, who brought us here."

These people, I want you to notice, are Samaritans. We will talk about them tomorrow morning. Actually, I don't know if we'll get that far. In John chapter 4, remember Jesus passes through Samaria and meets the woman at the well. When the northern ten tribes, which we discussed back in 2 Kings, were taken captive by the Assyrians, the Assyrians had a practice I like to call the Assyrian relocation program. They would move one group of people out of their homeland, scatter them around the kingdom of Assyria, and then move another group of people into that area. This is where the Samaritans originated.

They had a form of worship; they kind of worshipped the one true God, but it was a little mixed up. They didn't worship on Mount Zion; they worshipped on Mount Gerizim. They didn't fully follow all the ways that the Lord had commanded. And so here we see these Samaritans come to Zerubbabel. The opposition shows itself.

Its face first as a friend. But Zerubbabel and Jeshua, verse 3, and the rest of the chief of the fathers of Israel said unto them, "You have nothing to do with us to build a house unto our God, but we ourselves together will build." They asserted, "Hey, this is our work. We're going to do this by ourselves. We appreciate the sentiment, but we don't need your help. This is the work that our God has called us to. And so we ourselves will build together unto the Lord God of Israel as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, has commanded us."

Well, they didn't stop there. The opposition, verse 4, states that the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah and troubled them in building. They hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose. I want you to circle and underline that or highlight "to frustrate their purpose." That's what the enemy does in our lives as well. When we begin to follow the Lord once again, there's a restoration that takes place. Worship is established. Sure, there's joy and sorrow mixed together, but there will always come an adversary.

Generally, the opposition comes first as one that wants to make an allegiance with you. Remember the book of Joshua? There were people who came to Joshua saying, "We're from a faraway country, and we want to make a league with you." Joshua and the people didn't seek counsel from the Lord, and so the opposition came to befriend them, ultimately becoming a stumbling block. The same thing happened here. This group of people came to try and befriend Zerubbabel and the people of Israel who were rebuilding the temple. I guarantee they would have become a stumbling block had Zerubbabel said, "Okay."

I can kind of imagine it in my mind, and I'm sure you can as well. As they were building the temple, laying the foundation, and constructing the walls, these people would say, "Hey, listen, this isn't the way that we do it where we come from. You have to do this. You have to put this image over here, and you have to sacrifice in this way." They would have gotten hung up, so you have to be careful about what allegiances you make.

Well, after that, Zerubbabel and the people weathered that storm, but there was a group that continued to come against them to frustrate their purpose. They rose up counselors against the people all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, the king of Persia. So, there's a change of rulership in Persia that takes place during this whole frustration. In the reign of Ahasuerus, at the beginning of his reign, they wrote unto him an accusation.

Against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem, these people continue to force their hand constantly against the children of Israel who are in Jerusalem, trying to rebuild and reestablish worship. The opposition from Persia does not easily go away. They write a letter of accusation to the king who is now over Persia, warning him to be careful of these people.

In chapter 4, verse 12, it states, "Be it known unto the king that the Jews which came up from thee to us to come to Jerusalem are building the rebellious and bad city. They have set up the walls thereof and joined the foundations." The letter continues, "Be it known now unto the king that if this city is built and the walls set up again, they will not pay toll or tribute or custom, and so thou shalt endamage the revenue of the kings."

They send this letter to the king of Persia, asserting that he should not allow these individuals to build a city that has been described as rebellious, wicked, and bad. They urge the king to search the records, claiming that these Jewish people are essentially scoundrels. In the middle of verse 15, it states, "Know that this city is a rebellious city and hurtful unto the kings and provinces, and they have moved with sedition within the same of old time, for which cause was this city destroyed."

The opposition argues that the whole reason this city was destroyed by the Babylonians, under King Nebuchadnezzar, was due to the rebellious and seditious nature of its people. They warn the king not to let them build this city, as it would become a thorn in his flesh.

The letter eventually reaches the king of Persia, who has changed hands of rulership. In verse 18, he states, "The letter which you sent to us has been plainly read before me, and I commanded that a search be made. It is found that this city of old time has made insurrection against kings and that rebellion and sedition have been made therein."

Furthermore, in verse 20, he notes, "There have been mighty kings also over Jerusalem which have ruled over countries beyond the river, and toll and tribute and custom was paid unto them." The king of Persia acknowledges the findings, stating that they discovered it has indeed been a rebellious city. However, he also notes that at one point in time, it was a glorious city with a good king, to whom people from all over the world paid taxes.

Thus, he commands, in verse 21, "to cause the men to cease." This new king in Persia is taking a firm stance on the matter.

At this point in time, when the governors of the region of Judea sent him a letter, his answer was to tell them they had to stop building their temple. I guarantee you, at that moment, the people, this is Zerubbabel, were not joyful. No, their hearts sank. The word came to them, and they were told, "Listen, you have to cease the work."

In verse 24 of chapter 4, it states, "Then ceased the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem." So it ceased under the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia. For fifteen years, the house of God remained half-built. The foundation was laid, some of the stones had been hewn and set up, but it just sat there idle for fifteen years.

Now, do you think the people, these 49,000 Jews who returned to the land of Jerusalem, sat idle during those years? What do you think? No, they didn't. We read in chapter 5, verse 1, that the prophets Haggai and Zechariah spoke. They prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem.

I want you to turn over to Haggai chapter 1 and see what Haggai, the prophet, has to say to these people. This is after fifteen years of the house of God just sitting idle. Haggai chapter 1, verse 1 states, "In the second year of Darius, the king," which is exactly the same temporal marker, exactly the same time period. "In the first day of the month came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet unto Zerubbabel." Remember, he is the builder, the son of Shealtiel, the governor of Judah, and to Joshua, the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, saying, "Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying to this people, or this people say, 'The time has not come, the time that the Lord's house should be built.'"

This was the mindset of the people in Jerusalem. They thought, "Well, it must not be God's timing." Have you ever had that thought before? God begins to do a work in your heart, things start moving forward, but then opposition comes, and you think, "Well, it just must not be the Lord's timing." I don't think that's the way it is with the Lord.

Remember what Paul said in 1 Corinthians chapter 16: "A great and effectual door has been opened unto us, and there are many adversaries." When the door opens, I guarantee you, the enemy will come with opposition. The adversary will show up when the door is open. But what did the people say? "Oh, it just must not be the Lord's timing."

It's not the time to build the house. Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, "Is it time for you to dwell in your paneled houses while this house, the house of the Lord, lies in waste?" He says to the people, "Well, all right, you say it's not time to build God's house, but you've been building your houses all nice and beautiful. You've been focused on your material possessions, but what about the house of the Lord?" This was the word of Haggai the prophet to the people and Zerubbabel the builder.

Now, therefore, thus says the Lord of hosts: "Consider your ways. You've sown much, and you bring in little. You eat, but you have not enough. You drink, but you are not filled with drink. You clothe yourself, but there is none warm. And he that earns wages earns wages to put it into a bag with holes." Notice what God says to the people. They say, "We just don't think it's God's timing yet for us to build the temple." So, they've been focusing on building their own houses and padding their own pockets. But God says to the people, "I want you to consider your ways for a moment. If you really think it's not time for you to build the house of the Lord and you want to plant your fields and build up your houses, then why is it that you work so hard to plant and yet you don't reap very much? Why is it that you eat but you never have enough to eat? Why is it that you're looking for something to drink but you're not filled? You're seeking to clothe yourself but you're not warm."

He says, "Don't you see the correlation? If you serve the Lord and do what He's called you to do, all this other stuff is going to be taken care of." Just as Jesus would tell us in Matthew chapter 6, verse 33, "Seek ye first the kingdom of heaven and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you." What things? Well, just before that, Jesus says, "Don't worry about what you're going to wear, what you're going to eat, where you're going to live. After all these things, the Gentiles seek, but you seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness."

Here, the prophet Haggai comes and says, "Listen, you're seeking what you're going to wear, what you're going to eat, where you're going to live, and you can't seem to make ends meet. Nothing seems to be working. Do you wonder why? Well, here's the answer: Is it time for you to build your houses while the house of the Lord lies in waste?"

But sure, the people would say, "Well, we just can't do it. We have adversaries." The Lord would speak also by the prophet Zechariah. One book to the right of Haggai is the book of Zechariah. In Zechariah chapter 4, I want you to notice this: the word of the Lord came to Zechariah the prophet.

And the angel that talked with me came again. He woke me as a man that has awakened out of his sleep. He said to me, "What do you see?" I said, "I have looked, and behold, a candlestick of gold and a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top thereof."

In verse 3, there are two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side of the bowl. I answered and spoke to the angel that talked with me, saying, "What are these, my Lord?" The angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, "Knowest thou not what these be?" I said, "No, I don't, Lord."

Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying, "This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, 'Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,' saith the Lord of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain, before Zerubbabel? Thou shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof, and the shoutings crying, 'Grace, grace unto it.'"

Moreover, the word of the Lord came to me, saying, "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you."

So the Lord says, "Zechariah, I want you to go speak to Zerubbabel. Tell him, 'It's not by your might, it's not by your power, it's by God's Spirit that this work is going to be done. So get to work.'" Haggai tells him, "Listen, you gotta stop focusing on your own material things."

What do we read in verse 2 of Ezra chapter 5? "Then rose up Zerubbabel, the son of Shetiel, and Jeshua, the son of Jehozdak, and they began to build the house of God, which is at Jerusalem." Did they get a word from the king in Persia to say that they could? No. Did the people around them say, "You know what? We're gonna let up now; now you can build the house"? No. The word of the Lord came, and they obeyed.

So they began to build the house of God, which was at Jerusalem. With them were the prophets of God helping them. I love that. Yes, they had adversaries and opposition, but they had the word of the Lord by the prophets that were there.

At the same time, Tatnai, the governor on this side of the river, and a couple of his buddies came to them. They said to them, "Who has commanded you to build this house and to make up the wall?" They asked, "What are you guys doing? You're not supposed to do this. The king hasn't told you that you could do this."

Then they spoke unto the Lord and basically told Him, "Well, our God has told us to build this house." This is similar to what happened with the apostles in the New Testament. The leading people of Israel said, "You're not supposed to preach in the name of Jesus any longer." The apostles responded, "Well, should we obey you or God? You tell us. What do you think we should do?"

At this point in time, these people came to Zerubbabel and to the builders of the city and the temple. They asked, "Listen, who told you that you could build?" The builders replied, "Well, our God told us to build. We are the servants of the God of heaven and earth, and we are building the house that was built many years ago, which a great king of Israel established. However, our fathers provoked the God of heaven to wrath, and He gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this house and carried the people away to Babylon."

In the first year of Cyrus, king of Babylon, the same Cyrus made a decree to build this house. The people explained, "Listen, our God sent us to Babylon because of our sin, but when Cyrus became king, he sent us back here to rebuild." They also mentioned the vessels of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken out of the temple in Jerusalem and brought into the temple of Babylon. Cyrus, the king, took those vessels out of the temple of Babylon and delivered them unto us. He said, "Take these vessels, go and carry them into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be built in its place."

Then came Cheshbazar, who laid the foundation of the house of God in Jerusalem. Since that time, even until now, it has been in building, yet it is not finished. The people decided to send a letter to the king of Persia to explain who told them they could build this house. They stated, "We are the servants of God, and Cyrus the king told us that we could build this."

Now therefore, they wrote, "If it seems good to the king, let there be a search made of the king's treasure house in Babylon to see whether a decree was made by Cyrus the king to build the house of God at Jerusalem. Let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter." The people of Jerusalem, including Zerubbabel, sent a letter to the king of Persia because their adversaries were coming against them, laying out their whole case. They emphasized, "Cyrus the king told us to build this."

He gave us all the money that we needed. He provided all the golden instruments for the temple. In the same way that the adversary had told the king to search the records and find out if this city, the people of Jerusalem, was bad, they said to search the records and see if Cyrus the king had told them to do this.

Darius the king made a decree in chapter 6, verse 1. A search was made in the house of the rolls where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. There was found at Akamatha, in the province of the Medes, a roll that contained a record written in the first year of Cyrus the king. The same Cyrus made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, stating that the house should be built. Darius looked through this scroll and confirmed that what these men had said was indeed true.

Darius then made a decree for himself, saying, "Alright, you are to build this temple once again, and I will send you more money. I will provide whatever you need to rebuild it." Thus, the restoration began to take place once again.

In verse 14 of chapter 6, it says that the elders of the Jews built it and prospered. Notice that when they put their hands to the work of God that He had called them to, they prospered. They prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Edo. They prospered when they fulfilled God's word by the hand of the prophets. They built it and finished it according to the commandment of God, the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes, king of Persia.

This house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. The children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the rest of the children of captivity kept the dedication of the house with joy. They offered at the dedication of the house of God a hundred bullocks, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and for a sin offering for Israel, twelve goats according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

They set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their courses for the service of God, which is at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses. The children of the captivity kept the Passover on the fourteenth day of the first month. The priests and the Levites were purified together; all of them were pure, and they killed the Passover for the children of the captivity and for their brethren.

The priests and the children of Israel who had returned from captivity, along with all those who had separated themselves from the filthiness of the heathen of the land to seek the Lord God of Israel, did eat. Remember back in Haggai, at the beginning, when Haggai spoke to the people? They said they were trying to gather everything together, but they didn't have enough food. Now, here, when they did the work of the Lord and fulfilled the Passover, all these people ate and kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days with joy. The Lord had made them joyful and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, strengthening their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel.

Thus ends the first division of the book of Ezra, which covers the time of Zerubbabel and the restoration. They laid the foundations, built the temple, celebrated the Passover, and dedicated the house once again. This brings us to the second portion of the book. Between chapter 6 and chapter 7, there is a 60-year gap of time. After these things, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra went up to Babylon. In verse 6, it says Ezra was a ready scribe in the law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given, and the king granted him all his requests.

I love that he was a ready scribe. He did what the Lord had called him to do, and because of that, the pagan king gave him everything he requested, according to the hand of the Lord that was upon him. God's hand was upon him, and He prospered him even in the midst of pagan kings. Some of the children of Israel also went up with him. Years before this, when Zerubbabel the builder went up into the land, he brought about 49,000 to 50,000 people with him. Now, Ezra, this ready scribe of the Lord, went up to Jerusalem, and the hand of the Lord was upon him.

He came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, as verse 8 tells us, according to the good hand of his God that was upon him. Verse 9 states that Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it. Why did God prosper him? Why was God's hand upon him? Because he set his heart to seek the Lord and to keep the work of the Lord, the word of the Lord. Not only did he intend to do it, but he also aimed to teach it in Israel, the statutes and the judgments. God's hand was upon him because he was a man dedicated to this purpose.

Ezra was a man whose heart was given to the Word of God. He was willing to do what God had spoken to him and was also ready to teach it. As he traveled to Jerusalem, he found something fairly distressing. However, I want you to consider what happens as he leaves. It takes four months for him to make the journey. He leaves in the first month and does not arrive in Jerusalem until the fifth month.

During his journey, he stops at the river Ahava, as mentioned in chapter 8. The people with him were concerned because there were enemies all around them—adversaries who were against them. They wondered what they should do and how they should move forward. Ezra addressed this group of about 1,700 people. The first time the children of Israel returned to the land, they took 49,000 with them. Now, only 1,700 were making the journey.

As they approached the southern region of the land, almost to the city of Jerusalem, they were worried about the enemies surrounding them. Ezra gathered his people and said, "Listen, we need to ensure that we have more Levites and priests with us." He did not look for soldiers; instead, he made a call back to Babylon, asking for more Levites and priests. He needed the men who performed the service of the Lord to accompany him.

In that same chapter, when the people were worried about the enemies around them, Ezra reassured them. He said, "We cannot ask the king of Persia to send us soldiers to help us because we have already told them that the hand of God is upon us. If we trust in the Lord to keep us, then we must continue to trust that He will bring us into the land." The people were encouraged and strengthened, and they entered the land of Jerusalem.

However, upon their arrival, as described in chapter 9, the first thing Ezra noticed was that, although the temple was built and the foundations were laid, there was some form of worship occurring, but it was not as it should be. In verse 1, the princes and leaders of the area of Jerusalem came to him, saying, "The people of Israel, the priests, and the Levites have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations."

In verse 2, it states that they had taken the daughters of the surrounding peoples—the Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, and others—into their families for their sons. As a result, the holy seed had mingled with the people of those lands. This was a serious concern for Ezra and the community.

The children of Israel were told not to do certain things when they first came into the Promised Land and built the temple. The very same actions that the children of Israel were engaging in when God spoke through Isaiah were the ones He condemned. God said, "I don't care about your worship anymore. Yes, you've got a temple, and yes, you're offering sacrifices, but your hearts are far from Me."

The Lord speaks once again, bringing attention to a man who is going to bring reformation. There has already been a restoration and rebuilding of the temple, but the hearts of the people need to be reformed. So, God sends Ezra, a ready scribe and priest. When he hears about the situation, notice what he does.

In verse 3, Ezra says, "I tore my clothes and my mantle, and I pulled out the hair of my head and my beard. I fell down and sat astonished." Everyone who trembled at the words of the God of Israel assembled around him because of the transgression of those who had been carried away. Ezra sat astonished until the evening sacrifice. All day long, he mourned in shame and grief.

At the evening sacrifice, he rose up from his heaviness. Having torn his garment and mantle, he fell upon his knees and spread out his hands to the Lord his God. He said, "Oh my God, I am ashamed and I blush to lift up my face to You, my God. Why? For our iniquities." Notice that he uses "our" in this intercessory prayer. "Our iniquities are increased over our head, and our trespass has grown up unto the heavens. Since the days of our fathers, we have been in great trespass unto this day. For our iniquities, we, our kings, and our priests have been delivered into the hand of the kings of other lands—to the sword, to captivity, to spoil, to confusion of face, as it is this day."

Ezra continues, "Now, for a little space, grace has been shown from the Lord our God to leave us a remnant to escape and to give us a nail in this holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage. For we are bondmen, we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our bondage but has extended mercy unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us reviving, to set up the house of our God, to repair the desolations thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem."

Finally, Ezra asks, "Oh our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken..."

Thy commandment: notice how he places himself in the position of sin here. "Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, 'The land unto which you go to possess it is an unclean land, with the filthiness of the people of the lands and their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another in their uncleanness.' Now therefore, give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth forever. Why? That you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children.

Now, after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great trespass, seeing that thou, our God, hast punished us—notice this: God has punished us less than our iniquities deserve and has given us such deliverance as this. Should we again break your commandments and join affinity with the people of these abominations, wouldst not thou be angry with us till you had consumed us, so that there should be not a remnant nor escaping? O Lord God of Israel, you are righteous, for we have remained yet escaped as it is this day. Behold, we are before you in our trespass, for we cannot stand before you because of this.

Now, when Ezra had prayed and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the Lord, notice this: in verse 1 of chapter 9, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men, women, and children. The people wept very sore. All the people saw the contrition of this man. One man, as he bows before the Lord and cries out for mercy, they all saw his confession and they all followed suit. They saw the example of Ezra the scribe, and they all came and bowed down, crying out, "We have trespassed against our God."

In verse 2, they acknowledged that they had taken strange wives of the people of the land. Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing. Now therefore, let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives and such that are born unto them, according to the counsel of my Lord and of those that tremble at the commandment of God. Let it be done according to the law. The people came with willing hearts to do something that no doubt was probably the most difficult thing that anybody would ever do. Here they had wives and children that had been born by these wives, and they could see that it was a transgression. They were willing to put it aside. How could this possibly be? Yet we remember the words of Jesus when he tells us...

In the New Testament, Jesus said that anyone who should follow Him must have a love for the things of this world that appears as hate. He stated that if you do not hate your mother, brothers, and wives, then you are not worthy to be His disciple. These people were willing to lay aside everything.

Now, understand that this is not a prescription for us. It does not mean that if someone becomes a Christian and has an unbelieving spouse, they are to separate from them. That is not what is being said here. The principle we see in this passage is that we need to be willing to cut off whatever unclean thing is attached to us.

When the people saw Ezra the scribe on that day, he came before them, bowed himself, and confessed the sins of the people to the Lord. They recognized that this was what needed to take place, and thus a reformation among the people began. The Lord would establish the people as they did this. It wasn't going to be a quick process, but notice at the end of the book, in chapter 10, verse 44, it states that all these had taken strange wives. It gives us a list of many people, including chief individuals in the land, all of whom had taken strange wives. Some of them had wives and also children.

Yet, every single one of these people mentioned in chapter 10, from verse 18 down to verse 43, were the leaders and chiefs of the people of Israel among those 50,000 who came into the land. Every one of them was willing to cut off that which was unclean from their lives. Because of that, the land was reformed, and God protected His people. Although the wall was not yet built, we will see in the book of Nehemiah next week that it would not be for another 50 years that the wall would be constructed. They built the temple without protection. Why? Because God was their protection.

God protected them as they sought the Lord, built the temple, did the work He called them to, and reformed their lives. They came before Him with confession, and He cleansed them from the inside out. The book of Ezra is a powerful book; we see the work of God in restoration so clearly as He brings His people out of captivity, just as He has taken us out of the captivity of the world and sin and brought us into a new life. Yes, we experience sorrow and joy at the same time—the sorrow of the years that the locusts have eaten, but a joy in seeing God do a new work. As we come into this land that the Lord has given to us, the first thing...

He wants to do is reestablish worship. If you want to see God work in your life in the way of protection and in the way of building you up, you've got to worship and praise the Lord. It begins in the place of worship, just as it did with Abraham when he came out of Ur of the Chaldees, out of Babylon. It always begins in the place of worship.

Why? Because it's in the place and the attitude of worship and praise that we recognize that God is greater than we are, and He deserves to be on the throne of our lives. Amen.

Let's stand and pray. God, I do thank You for this book. I pray that You would help us to take away from it applications, Lord, things that we could take to heart and be transformed by. Lord, as every single one of us is in this place of restoration and reformation, You are restoring our lives to the relationship You desire to have with us, and You're reforming us so that we, Lord, can be clean from the inside out.

We thank You, Father, that as we, like Ezra, come before You confessing our sins, You are faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Help us to be those, Lord, like the city of Jerusalem at this time, a city set on a hill, a city that didn't have a wall because You protected it, but had the worship of the one true God.

We thank You that You are our shield, our exceedingly great reward, and we ask, Lord, that You would continue to renew and transform us. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Thank You.