Destination: Ezra 1-10 | Skip Heitzig

[Music] we know the King David left the building of the first temple here in Jerusalem to his son Solomon after the captivity of Judah in Babylon two men led the reconstruction effort of the new temple and now before we take our flight over Ezra let's get some detail about the new temple that was constructed just above where we are standing when Ezreal led his band of exiles back from Babylon to Jerusalem God did more than repair the ruined temple ezra helped refocus the national heart and mind in israel back on jehovah as the temple became the symbolic focal point of this transformation I was on a plane a few years back and I remember the monitor reading 30,000 feet and so at 30,000 feet I looked out the window and looked down it was over Italy and they were the dolomite mountains just bathed in white fresh snow it was a clear day so you could see the mountaintops the green valleys the rivers all the way down toward the lakes and the sea it's quite a view quite an impressive view it's like being on top of the world you see so much differently a 30,000 feet than you do on the ground however from 30,000 feet there's things you miss you don't meet the people who are living in those villages down below you can't smell the aroma of the food they're cooking you can't taste it you get a very different view but there's things that you miss so going through the Bible at 30,000 feet at cruising altitude it's a great view we see things we've never seen before we see how it all fits together we see how Christ is outlined anticipated and predicted in the Old Testament but it leaves us at a disadvantage there are certain people we'd like to know more intimately there's certain events we we skip why didn't you cover that because it's 30,000 feet you know you can't do it from us snails or a driving in a car kind of a view you're doing it at 30,000 feet we do have the Bible from the car you might even say the bicycle view because it took us 14 years at one time to go from Genesis to Revelation and we went through it all we commend that to you anytime you want to pick those up or borrow them and listen to them or get them on the web they're free do that but this is 30,000 feet now what's great about the book of Ezra is there's only ten chapters so we sort of have a 30,000 feet we kind of get out of the plane after we land and meet a few people get back in and fly a little more so we can do a little bit better with 10 chapters then say with 36 chapters like in second chronicles so we're gonna be doing that tonight going through the book of Ezra by the way Martin Luther said he reads the Bible like that let me explain Martin Luther said I read my Bible and study the scriptures like I shake an Appletree first I shake the whole tree and whatever is ripe falls off and I eat that then I climb into the tree and I shake every limb and I climb up a little further and shake every branch and then every twig and then every leaf and so there's a lot of different ways to study the scripture what's great is that you're here tonight studying the scripture now the book of Ezra is called the second Exodus let me tell you why you remember the exodus out of Egypt right the children of Israel had been there for four hundred years and they grew into a sizeable people group for hundred years Moses led them out of that captivity and brought them into the land then they were kicked out of the land as we saw last week and a few weeks before that the Babylonian captivity took them out to a foreign country for 70 years now we have the second Exodus the second return after the Babylonian captivity now the book of Ezra will show us not one but two different returns two different returns the first return is under a political leader by the name of there's a lot of weird names in this book Ezra's the easiest zerubabbel zerubabbel is in the lineage of King David the great grandson or the grandson I should say of the last king of Judah before the captivity he comes brings a group of people 58 years later Ezra comes so it's divided up into two different returns two returns mentioned in Ezra keep that in mind because we get next week to the book of Nehemiah there is it a third return of the Jews from Babylon back to Jerusalem so there were three ex Isles and three returns follow me triack's Isles remember we said that it wasn't one time the Babylonians came but three different times 605 BC 597 BC 586 BC three separate X Isles of people from Jerusalem from Judah into Babylon and then there's three different returns erupt ball Ezra and Nehemiah three different trips that people took okay the book of Ezra outlines itself it divides itself it's very easy to see you simply divide it by those two returns from exile chapters one through six and chapters seven through ten chapters one through six when people come back to Jerusalem under zerubabbel about 50,000 of them return and it's all about national restoration national restoration they're building the city they're building the temple and then the second part of the book chapters 7 through 10 is all about spiritual Reformation when who comes back Ezra comes back the priest comes back the spiritual leader comes back so national restoration and spiritual Reformation that's how you could divide the book right into the book divides itself now according to the Jewish Talmud Ezra wrote not only Ezra but first Chronicles and second Chronicles and if you've read those books and I've read Ezra now through about 6 times this week and I've compared the language from The Chronicles to Ezra and they're very similar in style in fact the last two verses of second chronicles 36 are exactly with some minor linguistic variations the same as ezra chapter 1 verses 1 through 3 same language same description is used ezra is a priest he's a descendant of Aaron and the lineage is traced here that we're not going to get much into it remember 30,000 feet but he is a direct descendant of Aaron through Eleazar Phineas and Zadok and he's a well-educated priest and he's called ask and I want you just to remember that because we're gonna go back and explain what that is by the way the first time we read about scribes is here and that's important because when you get to the New Testament all of a sudden you see Jesus squaring off with a group called scribes and Pharisees and you wonder where did those characters come from who are the scribes and a lot of that is explained right here so let's look at chapters 1 through 6 National restoration three words sum up chapters 1 through 6 three words easy to remember return rebuild resist return rebuild resist return from captivity rebuild the temple and resist the enemies who are trying to stop it those six chapters are summed up with those three words so chapters 1 and 2 they return to the land chapter 3 they start rebuilding the temple they lay the big foundation stones they set up the altar of sacrifice on its base and in chapters 4 through 6 they resist the enemy that's trying to stop it and a very interesting way they resisted by the way they resist the enemy by preaching there's a couple prophets that come in as the people are scared of the enemy these two prophets come in and encourage the people not to listen to them but to do what God wants them to do and through the preaching of the word through these prophets it gets taken care of so you're gonna notice something about Ezra and again he's really gonna be mentioned in the second half of the book but he's a man of the word and he's a man of Prayer a man of the word a man of prayer he studied the scripture hence he's a scribe that's what his job was is to serve a study know the Bible and we see him here is a great spiritual man a man of prayer who brings conviction on the people who know him and watch him and serve with him he was also a gutsy guy because Ezra like zero bubble will take a group of people and take a long journey his journey was about 900 miles it's about 540 miles straight shot but the way they went about a nine mild by foot journey to go from where they were to where they were going and he takes a smaller group of people not 50,000 just a little over 1,400 people go with him on a very gutsy move because he likes a rebel think maybe God wants to use my life maybe God wants to use my life there's a great story told of Dwight Lyman moody DL Moody when he was just a kid and he listened to a preacher in a church by the name of Henry Varley and Henry Varley was preaching about the possibility of God using a person and Henry Varley said in his sermon and little Dwight Al moody was in the pew when he heard it the world has yet to see what God can do through one man totally devoted to him they made such an impression on little Dwight Lyman moody and he said in his heart by God's grace I will be that man he grew up to be quite a man a man of God a man after God's heart a man of evangelism who started churches and sunday-school programs very gutsy Ezra one verse one now in the first year of Cyrus the king of Persia the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia so that he made a proclamation throughout all of his kingdom and also put it in writing saying thus says Cyrus king of Persia all the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me and he has commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah you say who in the world is Cyrus well Cyrus is the boss the big boss he's the king of the world at that time he was half median or he was half Meade and half Persian or Iranian half Meade and half Persian and because he was half-and-half he was able to take the median Empire and the Persian Empire and combine them into the great medo-persian Empire that took over babbling he's a Persian or a medo-persian he's in control of the world now maybe a question is going through your mind like this okay skip let me get this straight the Babylonians captured the Jews and now the medo-persians are letting them go how does that work here's how it works there were a bunch of superpowers at that time that we're trying to fight for control of the world and you remember Assyria was one of the member of Syria the greatest Syrian Empire they were the guys that came in in 722 BC and took the ten northern tribes captive they tried to take Judah and Jerusalem they were unsuccessful one hundred eighty-five thousand were wiped out in one night remember that story that's Assyria later on the Babylonian Empire took over Assyria and they came in and conquered Judah and Jerusalem and brought them captive to Babylon under three deportations then the medo-persians came in and conquered everybody and cyrus is the guy in charge at this point of the world charge of the world now cyrus had a policy a repatriation policy meaning whoever was left or a part of this newly conquered kingdom who were from different parts of the world his policy is let him go back home where they belong they don't need to be here if they're from Israel or Judah or if they're from any other conquered country let's repatriate that group of people let the subjected people go back to their homeland and so in 539 BC he gave that commandment for that to happen now Cyrus the guy in charge of the medo-persian Empire when did he conquer Babylon when did the medo-persians take over Babylon and I'll do it real quickly well one night when they didn't even know it was happening they were having a drunken feast Daniel chapter 5 Belshazzar drunk with all of his buddies and suddenly a hand starts writing on the wall it says many many checkol you farce right you've been weighed in the balances and found wanting and your nation will be divided to the Medes and the Persians it happened that very night and while he was drunk daniel said you know basically they're here and that night they were captured chapter 1 verse 3 I better move ahead quickly who's among you of all of his people may his God be with him and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and build the house of the Lord God of Israel he is God which is in Jerusalem and whoever is left in any place where he dwells let the men of his place help him with silver and gold Goods livestock besides freewill offerings for the house of his God which is in Jerusalem then the heads of the father's houses of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites with all whose spirits God had moved arose to go up and build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem ok I want you just to pause for a minute a hundred and fifty years before Cyrus was born so he didn't exist for 150 150 years before he was born Isaiah the prophet writes his name down he's not even born yet Isaiah the prophet a hundred year and fifty years before Cyrus is born makes a prediction as the Spirit of God comes upon him and makes a wild prediction I'm just gonna read it to you this is Isaiah 44 verse 26 and 28 God who confirms the word of his servant and performs the counsel of his messengers who says to Jerusalem you shall be inhabited and do the cities of Judah you shall be built and I will raise up her waist places who says of Cyrus he is my shepherd and perform all my pleasure saying to Jerusalem you shall be built into the temple your foundation shall be laid now when that prediction was made Jerusalem was still standing and there was a temple standing right there in Jerusalem but Isaiah predicts the temple will be built inferring it's going to be destroyed and that the city will be rebuilt inferring it's going to be destroyed now again it was standing when the prophecy was made and Cyrus his name is written down listen to the words of the Jewish historian Flavius Josephus he says Cyrus learned of this the building of the temple by reading the book that Isaiah left of his own prophesies these things Isaiah foretold a hundred and forty years before the temple was destroyed when Cyrus therefore read them and had admitted their divine character in impulse and emulation it seized him to do what was written he gave the command but he had been somebody showed him maybe Daniel showed him the writings of Isaiah the prophet maybe that night when they came in Daniel was ready to and it's all predicted I just gonna show this guy where his name is written in the Bible amazing prophecy chapter two is a list of the people who return from Babylon to go to Jerusalem now here's the thing there's not a whole lot of people to go back fifty thousand people not even go back you go that's a whole lot of people will hold on verse 64 of chapter 2 the whole assembly together was forty two thousand three hundred and sixty beside their male and female servants of whom were seven thousand three hundred and thirty seven and they had two hundred men and women singers and I tab you lated all of the numbers that are given here in this chapter forty nine thousand eight hundred and ninety seven to be exact people came back from the captivity say well that's a lot of people not in comparison to the people who stayed there you know what move forward fast forward to the new testament by the new testament time in jesus time there were a million jews still living in babylon a million jews still living in Babylon though what happened they got taken from Jerusalem to Babylon they settled down there and remember Jeremiah the Prophet sent a letter to them in captivity Jeremiah chapter 29 saying build houses plant gardens have kids pray for the Peace of the city for I know the thoughts that I think toward you says the Lord thoughts of peace to give you a future and a hope you know that chapter there's a letter written to them settle down make the best of it they settle down but they became a little too settled down so when the call came let's go back and build God's house a lot of people said and they stayed so only 40 9897 felt LED or the Spirit of God moved their hearts to go back verse 70 so the priests and the Levites and some of the people the singers the gatekeepers and the Neth and NIEM you go who are they well they're the Gibeonites does that ring a bell to some of you the Gibeonites chapter 9 of Joshua there's this group called Gibeonites who dressed up and pretended like they were from a faraway country but they were just over the hill because they knew that Joshua would probably kill all of them so they pretended to be from another country and when Joshua found out about the Gibeonites plan he made them perpetual servants for God's temple or tabernacle that's the netha name they dwelt in their cities and I want you to notice this and all Israel in their cities look at that phrase all Israel in their cities have you ever heard somebody talk about the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel I've ever heard that phrase anybody the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel that's all the people have ever heard of it okay sometimes you'll hear that you'll come across that in books or some groups of theologians say well there's 10 Lost Tribes and we're the true lost whatever let's just make it simple there's no such thing as 10 Lost Tribes of Israel they're not lost how do I know that because by the time I get to chapter 6 of Ezra the priests offer 12 male goats for each of the 12 tribes of Israel who had returned now they don't know everybody from every tribe some do some don't so the Assyrians took the ten tribes captive to Assyria the Babylonians took the other remaining tribes to tribes over to Babylon the medo-persians conquered everyone together and sent everyone back home and they ended up in Jerusalem there are no Ten Lost Tribes just because a person doesn't know what tribe he's from today doesn't mean they're lost God knows what tribe they're from if God knows they're not lost also if I read ahead into revelation chapter 7 in the end times there's the listing of the tribes of Israel 144,000 12,000 from this tribe that tribe that tribe they're all mentioned none of them is lost there are no 10 Lost Tribes and they return here chapter 3 is the rebuilding of the temple verse 1 when the seventh month had come and the children of Israel were in the cities that people gathered together as one man to Jerusalem that's a show of unity then joshua the son of josedech and his brethren the priests and zerubbabel the son of shealtiel and his brethren arose and built the altar of God in Israel to offer burnt offerings on it as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God verse 4 they also kept the Feast of Tabernacles that's in the seventh month of the Jewish calendar verse 5 afterward they offered the regular burnt offering and those four new moons and all the appointed feasts here's a question why did they have to get that altar up what's what's the big deal in rebuilding the temple first thing on the agenda get that altar up and running because it was the center of worship sacrifice was the very center of their worship Leviticus says without the shedding of blood there's no remission of sins there has to be a sacrificial system blood has to be shed sacrifice was the center of their worship as it is for us today all of that was anticipatory of Christ for us the center of our worship is Christ and the cross I'm determined Paul said I know nothing among you but Christ and him crucified and so tonight was communion we do it often the shed blood the sacrifice of Jesus Christ well they kept the Feast of Tabernacles we read it was all paid for by money donated by the medo-persian government as well as the free will offerings by people who gave it to them to return the people celebrated joyfully man it was a big spiritual party in the temple precincts of that day well in part there were a group of people just shouting and so excited but not everybody was happy not everybody was excited there were some people who had been living in the past I want you to notice something verse 10 of chapter 3 when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord the priest stood in their apparel with trumpets and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals to praise the Lord according to the ordinance of David the king of Israel and they sang responsively that is one group sings one part one group sings another part we had to try that praising and giving think not right now to the Lord for he is good for his mercy endures forever toward Israel and all of the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord because the foundation of the Lord's house was laid man it's time to celebrate because God promised Jeremiah 25 and 11 and 12 this day would happen seventy years of captivity we come back to the land we build the temple so it still ruins its still rubble but the foundation stones are being laid and it's it's getting sketched out but many of the priests and Levites and heads of the father's houses old men who had seen the first temple wept with a loud voice when the foundation of the temple was laid before their eyes yet many of them shouted aloud for joy so that 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 sound was heard afar off it was a confusing noise it was quite a noise but it was a combination of so is this interesting cacophony of sounds some happy some sad why were they said they remembered what it used to be like a Temple of Solomon some of them remembered the gold the bronze the height the width and they're building this thing not even looking anything like it it's hard to move forward when you're always looking backward you want to live a miserable life I'm going to give you a recipe this is how you can live miserably ready I notice you're not taking notes on this if you want to be miserable just live your life looking back over your shoulder Oh could've should've would've it used to be like this all I remember just live your life like that and that's a recipe for misery even Paul the Apostle said in prison forgetting those things which are behind and pressing forward to those things which are before see he lived his life in the present and in the future not in the past you see it would be easy to compare even what God is doing here now in our lives in our town you can say God is doing a great work you can look at it that way God's doing a great work I had somebody this weekend it said man my son and my father got saved just this last week and I watched him go forward i but what if we were to compare the present work of God with the day of pentecost or the present work of god with a period called the great awakening or some other great revival we could say Oh depends how you look at it some people look back and they're miserable now the Babylonian Talmud says that in zerubabbel temple there were five things missing that had been in Solomon's Temple number one the ark the Ark of the Covenant number two the holy fire remembered the fire fell down from heaven and they lit the altar with that and that perpetual lamp stand in the temple Ark of the Covenant holy fire number three the Shekinah glory of God number four the spirit of prophecy this is in the babylonian talmud and number five the Oram and the Thummim remember those two stones that they could discern the will of God that's that record the Babylonian Talmud says those five things that were in Solomon's Temple were missing in zaraba Bulls temple so I suppose there was reason to go oh but God promised whatever it lacked he personally would be present with them lead them back to the land and be there when that temple was rebuilt so for whatever lacked God was there have a shout make it a shindig don't be wail over what it used to be like well that was the reason for that noise so chapters one through three is the return and the rebuild and now chapters four through six is the resisting of the enemy the enemy comes now the enemy's subtle some of you remember in school Newton Sir Isaac Newton ever heard the name Sir Isaac Newton what what do you think of me think of Isaac Newton Apple somebody said laws of motion the third law of Newton says every action has an equal and opposite reaction that's a spiritual law as well I found every action of God has an an opposite reaction whenever there's a great work of God Seaton didn't like it he gets angry Thanks oh really well I'm gonna get busy doing something also look at it this way whenever you turn on a light the bugs come a light had been turned on in Jerusalem a temple was starting to be rebuilt God was at work and the enemy is angry get used to that whenever you attempt anything for God get used to that if you're going to believe it the devil so get used to it as part of the warfare well by the spring of 535 BC the temple foundation was laid you may want to remember that date 535 BC here's why this marks the end of the 70 year Babylonian captivity if you've ever tried to number that and you go I don't see how you get 70 years out of it if you start with 605 BC the first attack and deportation of the children of Israel into Babylon member there were three right 605 597 586 605 is the first one and the temple foundations are laid that's 535 that's a total of 70 years that's why there was great rejoicing that was the end of the 70 year captivity well by this year 535 BC cyrus who let him go back is dead his successor kamba sees is his name called a Hodja whereas here in the book of Ezra chapter 4 as well as Esther was in charge and there's a group of people living in the Land of Israel who are lobbying to stop the work of the temple so chapter 4 verse 1 when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel they came to zerubabbel and the heads of the father's houses and said to them now watch this let us build with you for we seek your God as you do that's a red flag we have sacrificed to him since the days of SR had the king of Assyria who brought us here but zerubabbel and Joshua and the rest of the heads of the father's houses of Israel said to them you may do nothing with us to build the house for our God but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah they troubled them in building he said what's going on here talk about a kind of a bad attitude and we want to help you build your not get out of here you're not gonna help us at all where they haven't like a real bad day no they weren't they knew that something was up and here's what was up when Sr had on the king of Assyria the first big bad superpower came in in 722 BC and took the ten northern tribes captive he had a policy not of repatriation but he had a policy of bringing in other groups from all over the world that he had conquered and mixing it up a little bit so you take somebody from that country bring him into this country this country bring him into that country and scatter the population with different people groups from different people different countries so that none of them will unify and rebel and to crush their nationalistic spirit to crush their Jewish unity to break that down that was his policy so this is some foreign group had been brought in and they hear about the god of Jerusalem and so they go yeah we're into that God your God we want to help you now this group this mixed group will later on be called the Samaritans the Samaritans were part Jewish and part lots of other people that's why the people in Judah at the time of Christ saw the Samaritans as half-breeds not not true worshippers of Yahweh that's why it says in John chapter 4 remember the woman says to Jesus why are you a Jewish man talking to me a Samaritan woman for the Jews have no dealings with the Samaritans that's why it all started then they even built their own temple by the New Testament times they even had their own worship system by the New Testament times and it all started with this Assyrian captivity so verse 5 they hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus the king of Persia even until the reign of Darius the king of Persia in the reign of Ahasuerus in the beginning of his reign they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem so they tell this new King Artaxerxes that the Jews you know you write some a letter and says just look it up look it up man these Jews have a pattern of rebelling against any foreign power who's an occupying power at the time they're a rebellious group of people and there they are again rebelling and we suggest since they're going to rebel against you you order them to stop so a letter comes back now from Persia and says even if you have to use force stop the temple from being rebuilt so what do they do they stop the government says stop we stop these enemies come in with their weapons and at the point of force the temple stops so chapter verse 24 thus the work of the house of God which is at Jerusalem ceased and it was discontinued until the second year of the reign of Darius the king of Persia now between chapter 4 and 5 there is a 16 year gap where the work stops 16 years nobody touches the temple nobody lifts the tool nobody moves the stone the temple building has stopped but what do you do people are discouraged they don't want to work because they're in trouble they don't want to get killed it's already hard to be back in this new land there's a bunch of rubble everywhere from the past captivity so God sends two preachers haggai the prophet and Zechariah the Prophet and both of their books are featured in the Minor Prophets there are two guys who come to Jerusalem and through several messages Haggai preaches four sermons to zerubabbel the governor and Jeshua the high priest for messages and Zechariah comes and preaches messages and basically says what are you guys doing you're building your own little homes and beautifying your own little homes and you've left the house of God in ruins get up and build so verse 1 of chapter 5 the Prophet Haggai and Zechariah sons a son of II do the prophets prophesied to the Jews who are in Judah and Jerusalem in the name of the God of Israel who is over them so the rubble the son of shealtiel and Jeshua the son of josedech rose up and began to build the house of God which is at Jerusalem and the prophets of God were with them helping them people are discouraged they stopped building to prophets come in and this is the word of the Lord do what God sent you here to do so the two leaders go let's do it I'm sure somebody said newsflash it's against the law the law of the land you got to obey the law of lensses don't do it they confer with each other and say yeah but the law of God says build it so let's build it so here's the point I want to make the Word of God does the work of God in the lives of the people of God the revival continued through the preaching of the word so what happens they're building it the enemies come again they see what's happening they write a letter to the new guy in charge in Persia saying they're building that temple and that letter is featured in chapter 6 verses 6 through 17 the guy in charge over in Persia who gets the letter opens it up his name is Darius here he says here's a letter from these people who don't want the Jews to build their temple now he doesn't remember the history but they're in Persia is up is a room where all of the scrolls are kept that tell the history so Darius tells his his men hey go into the archives and see if you can find anything about an edict that was given by King Cyrus for the Jews to build their temple they find it and says here it is the guy told him to go back in fact told him to fund it with our money so he's got the original edict and now he adds his own decree chapter 6 verse 8 he says moreover I issue a decree as to what you shall do for the elders of these Jews for the building of this house of God let the cost be paid at the Kings expense from the taxes on the region beyond the river now those taxes were the taxes that funded the enemies that came to Jerusalem to complain okay this is to be given immediately to these men so that they are not hindered well the governor on that side of the river was a governor called Tatton I he was one of the guys who snitched on him and wrote the letter this is gonna cut into his share right because this is your tax dollars at work building the temple which was his own private stash so verse 9 and whatever they need young Bulls Rams lambs for the burnt offering of the house of God wheat salt wine and oil according to the request of the priests who were in Jerusalem let it be given to them day by day without fail that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons so the rest of the story the temple is completed it is dedicated the Passover is celebrated but again the point is this it's the Ministry of the preaching of the word that inspires the people to go forward with the work that's the value of teaching through the Word of God that's the value of it God works through the preaching of his word and you never know what God's gonna do I the first time I went to India I was in a town called Bangalore which is now the high-tech capital of that kind three and I was preaching to a group of pastors wives would be pastors Christian workers I gave my testimony I've been in college I was studying medicine I felt God called me to go into the ministry I went and I obeyed him and I started the church and I just told my story a year later I get a letter from a man who said I was there the night you gave your testimony about going to medical training and leaving and starting a church I've been a doctor he went all the way through Medical School got a medical degree and I felt that my god stirred me to be a pastor I loved medicine and I'm reading is going oh what have I done I made the guy lose a great career I left medicine I studied for the pastor it I went out and planted a church and it's a new church right now it's a year later pray for us and I got news of it as the months and years went on how God was adding to the kingdom of God through that young man that young doctor turned preachers work and I just thought the weight of words when prompted by the Lord to speak and there's Haggai and there's Zechariah marching through Jerusalem giving their messages and now the temple is built here's what I want to say about that to you what work has God called you to do that you stopped you started it was fun you were getting all excited and well people didn't come and rally behind me that stopped you from doing God's will in your life well the funds didn't come in that stopped you well there were enemies around that stopped you let this be an encouragement whatever God has put on your heart to do for building up his house his kingdom do it so risky good do it do what he's called you to do heed the call follow the call great psalm psalm 37 delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart I've heard some Christians wrongly interpret that meat to mean I just focus on God and he gives me whatever my little heart desires I don't think that's what it means I think it means if you focus in and delight in pleasing God God will give you desires he'll implant desires in your heart to do something and you think where does that desire come from came from God God put that desire in your heart to do something for him that's a God implanted desire before I was a Christian I didn't want to read the Bible after I became a Christian I couldn't put it down before I was a Christian I didn't want to go to church now like I live at church and I love it God puts desires in people not only at salvation but through their lives they get easily discouraged the Prophet would say go for it water at 211 degrees makes very hot but very good coffee but just one more degree 212 degrees just one more degree turns water into steam which will power a locomotive an old steam locomotive or an old steam ship across the ocean one more degree it's that one degree that as I believe the spirit inspired desire so let him turn your hot water into steam ask God for that one degree they finished it up now chapters 7 through 10 is the spiritual Reformation chapter 7 and 8 Ezra comes to Jerusalem what you don't see by reading this right off the bat is between chapter 6 and 7 is a 58 year gap Ezra didn't show up for 58 years he's the spiritual leader there's a 58 year gap between the completing of the temple under zerubabbel and the return under Ezra okay during that 58 year period just in case you want to know and I hope you do want to know during this 58 year period the whole book of Esther is taking place in Persia so you can fit Esther into gap between zerubabbel and ezra jerusalem the whole book of Ezra with Mordecai and Esther over in Persia is taking place during this time and we'll get to that in a couple weeks chapter 7 verse 1 after these things that's 58 years after these things in the reign of artaxerxes king of persia ezra the son of seraya the son of Azariah the son of Hilkiah the son of the son of etc the lineage of Zadok is being pushed out here verse 6 then ezra was a scribe well-versed in the law of moses which the lord the god of israel had given to the people of israel he came to jerusalem for from babylon the king gave him everything he asked for because I love this because the gracious hand of the Lord his God was on him I don't exactly know what happened but apparently Ezra had heard that zerubabbel had gone that the Temple Foundation started to be laid the sacrifice has started going the temple was finally rebuilt but but he must have felt there's a spiritual component that is still missing so God puts it on his heart and a group of 1496 others to go back to go back to Jerusalem now Ezra's described and ascribed as somebody who knew how to read interpret and write scribe write translate copy the scripture and if you know anything about the way the Hebrews copied the Bible you know that there was a science and a methodology to writing down the Word of God and counting the columns vertically and horizontally and if everything didn't match exactly at the end of a page they would rip up the page and start all over again very exact that's why the scriptures were passed on so exact throughout the ages the scribes were learned educated scholars they copied and they taught the Word of God they wrote down and made copies of the first five books of Moses the Torah the Pentateuch they also were the guys who wrote down a little pieces of paper different scriptures that were put in little boxes on the head called phylacteries and on the hand called phylacteries they were also the guys who wrote little pieces of scripture down and so on the doorpost of your house if you go to Jerusalem you see these little things on the side post called Mizzou sour Mizzou salt it's the Word of God as you enter the house scribes did that something else tradition says Ezra was the founder of what's called the great synagogue these were the guys who sat down and decided what should be put in the Old Testament Scriptures the Canon of Scripture they decided that what books are the Word of God because there's a lot of other books apocryphal books that were rejected Ezra we believe was the founder of that well the king gave Ezra an expense account for Treasury to accomplish this it was a four month journey look at what Azra prays utters in verse 27 blessed be the Lord God of our fathers who had put such a thing in the Kings heart to beautify the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem and he has extended his mercy to me before the king and his counselors and before all the Kings mighty princes so I was encouraged as the hand of the Lord my God was upon me and I gathered leading men of Israel to go with me chapter 8 they leave for the trip as they leave they go to a river called Ahava Ahava they'll have a river they camp there they fast there they pray there he gets a few more Levites to come with him and priests to come with him and then he gives the money that the king gave him and divet ease it up to the priest and says hold on to this protect this when you get to Jerusalem put it in the Treasury chapter 9 Ezra is in Jerusalem he's there for a few months and somebody tells him about a problem the problem is the people of Jerusalem the Jewish people had married pagan husbands unbelieving husband pagan wives and now they have these mixed families mixed marriages now there's a lot of children and it started with the leadership the priests started doing this and when Ezra hears this he becomes unglued in a priestly sort of way he pulls his hair out rips his robes throws dirt in the air showing that he was in deep mourning because he realizes were committing the same sin already that got us into captivity in the first place he just becomes unglued verse 5 chapter 9 that the evening sacrifice ROI arose from my fasting and having torn my garment and robe I fell on my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God and I said oh my god I am too ashamed and humiliated to lift my face up to you my god for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has grown up to the heavens verse 14 should we again break your Commandments and join in marriage with the people committing these abominations would you not be angry with us until you had consumed us so that there would be no remnant or survivor Oh Lord God of Israel you are righteous for we are left as a remnant as it is this day here we are before you and our guilt though no one can stand before you because of this chapter 10 verse 1 now while Ezra was praying and while he was confessing weeping and bowing down before the house of God a very large assembly of men women and children gathered to him from Israel for the people wept very bitterly God answered Ezra's prayer in part the people started feeling the weight of their sin that started feeling convicted for what they were doing and some of them came and started confessing their sins like Ezra started in giving this example so they get together it's December by the way there's heavy rains the tech says so people are kind of cold it's cold and it snowed last week in Jerusalem so December can be quite cold it's the early rain and people are trembling half because they're under conviction half because they're just cold and wet so they come up with a plan look we've blown it it's gonna take a while to sort this out chapter 10 is the sorting of this out we're gonna make a covenant before God we're not going to do this anymore and and we're gonna put away these pagan husbands and wives that we have committed because we know what God said and we want to start off right now be careful with this verse of scripture this is not a proof text for you to divorce the wife or husband you're now married to because you think they're not hauling enough and here it says they did that it's not a scriptural precedent to divorce people whom you think aren't holy enough well I'll tell you right now my husband isn't just not holy enough he's an unbeliever ok 1st Corinthians chapter 7 tells us in verse 13 and a woman who has a husband who does not believe if he is willing to live with her let her not divorce him now that's put in the New Testament because there were people in Corinth in the New Testament who are saying I'm gonna divorce my husband because he's pagan and the Bible says be not unequally yoked together with unbelievers and besides out I met a really cute Christian guy the other day and I think the Lord could be in this Paul goes and don't do that if he wants to live with you live with and make the best of it you might win him to Christ till chapter 10 verse 9 all the people of Judah and Benjamin gathered to Jerusalem within three days it was the ninth month of the 20th of the month it's December of 457 BC all the people sat in the open square of the house of God trembling because of this matter and because of the heavy rain so they sorted all of this out in those months 3-4 months ahead of them okay that's the book where do we see Jesus in this book it's never quoted in the New Testament Ezra you'll never find a reference to it anywhere so where's Jesus in the book of ezreal well this is a history not only of the Jewish nation in the temple and there's a correlation we saw last week with the temple and the one who said somebody greater than the temple is here that's Jesus but also with zerubbabel zerubbabel is the descendent of the royal line of the house of David an ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ whom God empowers to do his will in bringing this temple now the Prophet Zechariah has a word to say for zerubabbel the ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ and you can read it about it in another time in the book of zechariah zechariah has a vision one night and he tells it to zhirova bel and here's the vision he sees the lamb stand in the temple remember the seven branch golden candlestick he sees the the lampstand and then a bowl on top of the lampstand hovering above it a bowl of oil and seven pipes going down into each of the seven lamps of that menorah that lamp stand on either side of the bowl are two olive trees that are dumping their oil into the bowl that goes into the lamps and it's like an automated menorah and God says hey Zechariah what is this he goes I don't know I'm just a prophet you tell me I'm paraphrasing a bit God says this is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel that it's not by might it's not by power it's by my spirit says the Lord this temple is going to be rebuilt and of the later will he even be more glorious than the former and it's the fact that God will through his spirit enables the rubble to do the building but also it's a far-off prophecy as you read true that text of the Lord Jesus Christ and we see a hint of that even here there's a thought I want to close with and I have 20 seconds to close with it 15 seconds are close with it I think I can do it okay it'll be short every now and then somebody will go I wish we could live in Bible times hey guess what you are living in Bible times right now you're seeing right now today a fulfillment of what the prophets predicted in this day and age they predicted the re gathering Isaiah chapter 11 11 the second time that the people would come back into the land it would be permanent and as Isaiah predicted that just like there was the coming back into the land under Ezra zerubabbel Nehemiah there is a regather May of 1948 David ben-gurion stood in Tel Aviv in Israel and proclaimed according to the UN mandate the regather of the people into their ancient homeland and against all odds the Jews have returned to what the United Nations called the Land of Israel the Land of Israel the Jewish state of Israel independent as God in the Bible predicted it and as we go through our Bible we'll be able to talk about all the mess and all the fuss and what's with Iran and Iraq and all this stuff going on with the Palestinians and the Israelis and all this mess that's going on you are living in Bible times in fact you're living in the most exciting period of human history I believe you're seeing stuff unfold before your eyes and you have the advantage of looking back at all that was predicted that has been fulfilled so you ought to have more hope and joy and not live like but yeah [Music]

Channel: Skip Heitzig

Views: 1,965

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: How to study the Bible, How to read the Bible, Jesus, Skip, Skip Heitzig, How to know God, Ezra, restoration, temple, reformation, faithfulness, promises, His people, homeland

Id: K-5Cf-KCsVQ

Length: 58min 1sec (3481 seconds)

Published: Mon May 13 2019