Lesson 01: “Making Sense of History: Zerubbabel and Ezra” - 3ABN Sabbath School Panel - Q4 2019

the Bible tells us in the beginning was the word and the Word was with God and the Word was God it says to receive with meekness the implanted word which is able to save your souls and to be diligent to present yourself approved to God rightly dividing the word of truth join us now for the 3abn Sabbath School panel our study today is ezra and nehemiah [Music] hello I'm Shelley Quinn and we welcome you once again to 3abn Sabbath School panel we're so excited because today we begin the fourth quarter of the Sabbath School quarterly and this is a study on israa and nehemiah lest you say what's the big deal about Ezra Nehemiah please stay tuned because this has so much rich information for the church we encourage you to get your own copy of this Bible study guide if you don't have it you can go to a seventh-day Adventist Church and ask them for quarterly they'll be happy to supply that even study with you if you'd like or you can go to ABS g dot adventist dot o-r-g and download your own copy well let me introduce our panel I have to my left Pastor John Roman King my pastors my friends to be here lovely to have you and then my precious sister Jill Marconi thank you privilege to be here we love having you on here kandi show can i stir kiddies we love you in your precious what good to be here thank you and then my dear friend Molly sue and we're so glad Molly Steenson that you're back with us it's good to be here wonderful well I'm going to say a short prayer and then we'll begin Heavenly Father would come in the name of Jesus and we thank you Lord that you gave us your word so that we could know you we thank you that you did not leave us as orphans here but you sent your Holy Spirit father that we may understand your word and father we ask right now that this study will open our eyes to new truths about you we just surrendered to you and asked for your leading in Jesus name Amen well let me just jumping into this because I want to give kind of a historical background so that you can understand Ezra and Nehemiah better SR begins where second chronicles leaves Offin this continues the narrative and the book of Ezra is about the of the temple under Zerubbabel and then the restoration of worship and the restoration of the Torah the law of God under Ezra then we go into Nehemiah and Nehemiah is about rebuilding the walls around Jerusalem and you know both of these books contain some similar information and they both are actually kind of fine you know what you find in Israel you may find in Nehemiah and vice-versa but they complete one another when you look at the composition there's personal memoirs there's inventories letters census records and the early Jews considered Ezra Nehemiah as a single book and they most they thought most likely Ezra had written both because he was a scribe and he had access to the decrees and the proclamations and inventory lists etc Ezra and Nehemiah were written in both Hebrew and Aramaic which was the official language of diplomacy during the Persian period but what's the purpose of this the message of Ezra and Nehemiah is the continuation of God's covenant grace in the fulfillment of messianic prophecy so let's look at lesson 1 making sense of history the ruble and Ezra it's interesting God used the Assyrians and the Babylonians to deliver his promised judgment on his unfaithful people so we have the Assyrians deported the ten northern tribes scattered them all throughout the nations and then when Judah persisted in covenant unfaithfulness what happened here comes the Babylonians right and they just nearly depopulated Jerusalem so God chastened his people with over 70 years of captivity in Babylon but there was this Persian king by the name of Cyrus mm-hmm and you know it's interesting to me we find in Isaiah 44 that before 150 years before Cyrus was born before his birth God prophesied that he was going to call Cyrus to overthrow Babylon so God purposed to rebuild the Jerusalem intent and the temple and he stirred in his people's heart to participate in this so that he could fulfill the prophecies of Jeremiah Isaiah and Daniel that takes this tour memory text ezra 1 in verse 2 the memory text says this thus says Cyrus king of Persia all the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me this is true and he has commanded me Cyrus a pagan King to build him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah so Cyrus issued that decree about 538 BC and he released God's people to return to their homeland to fulfill God's promise and what this demonstrates is God's sovereignty even over pagan kings so there were three waves of deportation into Babylon now there's going to be three waves of this concern of the exiled the first was led by the ruble and then after that first there's a 60-year gap in there and that's where Queen Esther and the story of artist circuses in that 60 year cap then the second wave of the return of the exiled is by Ezra and then about I think 1213 years later then Nehemiah leads the third so these are three key men that God used to fulfill his purpose of rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem so Zerubbabel reconstructed the temple and he was the governor of Judah and when he led the people back they were about I think was at 50,000 that one with him I had found that boy this was a long journey it was a 900 mile journey so the people who went were really committed Azra as I said restored the worship and the law and so Ezra was a scribe and he was a priest and you know what he taught the people how important the word of the Lord is then Nehemiah comes along and he was a contemporary of Ezra and what I love about Nehemiah is boy he was a prayer warrior wasn't he and so he is the cup bearer for King Artaxerxes and when he found out that the people in Jerusalem the temple is rebuilt but he found out that the gates had been burned down he was mourning because the people of God were being disgraced the name of the Lord was being disgraced so he petitioned the king and he goes off thirteen years later after Ezra here shows up Nehemiah to rebuild the wall because it couldn't be a city without the wall and what's amazing is even though he had so much opposition in 52 days they rebuilt that wall so Ezra and Nehemiah record people's interest in renewing the covenant with God and here's what I love although they had been unfaithful to God's covenant and he sent them into captivity for 70 years because they totally neglected his teaching God remained faithful to his government that's right when they returned to Jerusalem this is like when the second Exodus it's like when God's people came out of Egypt so here they come back and that remnant that came back they had to make a very hard choice because they had a relatively comfortable life in Babylon and now they went back because it was more important to them to be in right relationship with the Lord so the interesting thing about Ezra Nehemiah is that all these efforts played a key role in the life and the ministry of Jesus Christ so let's look very quickly at Sunday the first return of the Exiles I'm not gonna have time to read these scriptures so I'm just gonna give you a scripture list Jeremiah 25:11 talks about how God's people will serve the king of Babylon 70 years jeremiah 29:10 through 13 the Lord says after seventy years are completed at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word toward you and cause you to return to this place and then of course verse 11 is my favorite for I know the thoughts that I have toward you says the Lord thoughts of peace not of evil to give you a future and a hope then you'll call upon it and go and pray to man I will listen to you and you will seek me and find me when you search for me with your whole heart so here's God saying seventy years now we come to Daniel chapter 9 verses one through three and what has happening here Daniel has been studying the writings of Jeremiah and Daniel realizes that the seventy years are nearly up he says I understood by the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the Prophet that he would accomplish seventy years and that is in the desolations of Jerusalem so he realizes hey this time is nearly up so there's a new Persian Empire that has rate been risen to power and Daniel mourns and he turns toward God and he says he's calling on the Lord for the sake of your name he's saying Lord it's time for you to return your people so we see in Daniel 9 and verse 7 actually have this give you these references Daniel 9 let's look at 16 through 19 is what I would recommend that you read but he is saying to the Lord here for your name's sake Lord Oh God for the Lord's sake shine your face on the sanctuary so God answers his prayer how he sends the angel Gabriel with a message of hope and we find in Daniel 9 24 through 27 that message of hope is that God watches over everything the future has been planned he's going to send a deliverer to die for the people to atone for their sins bring righteousness and fulfill the sacrificial system how wonderful so the sovereign hand of God moved according to his appointed time and in his steadfast faithfulness he was 70 year prophecy comes to an end God stirred King Cyrus to command the release at the captives and Ezra 1 records King Cyrus Proclamation and then we see that not only does Cyrus let them go but he makes sure that they leave with lots of gifts it's just kind of like when they left Egypt and they took all of these wonderful things so the first group to return to Israel was about fifty thousand led by zerubabbel and then that 60 year gap with Queen Esther and by the way the ruble is Ezra chapter one through six but then Ezra chapter 7 through 10 is the second wave of the return how's that Wow so you pitch in it to me thank you for laying the foundation and those of you that are watching the listeners of the program you'll find that this part of the lesson laying the foundation is so vitally important to understanding what comes afterwards thank you for covering some of the history the chronological kings which kind of lightens my burden and having to reiterate that but if you go to Monday's lesson which is entitled the overview of kings and events what I'm going to do is not focus so much on the Kings but if I look at verses 1 through 7 what's amazing about this Jill and all of our panelists is my wife and I are reading the Bibles together we just finished second Chronicles now we're in Ezra and Nehemiah is one of my favorite books on it's like revisiting an old friend but Ezra and Nehemiah there was a time that you mentioned this Shelly and Jewish literature there was a belief that second chronicles Ezra and Nehemiah will one book but and even in Latin in the Latin Bible Ezra is called first Ezra and in second and nehemiah's called second Ezra because they run so fluidly together even in the Septuagint you find that they it's hard to separate these books because they cover so much of the same events and you'll find as we study this thank you for putting the Kings together and the leaders but verses 1 through 7 now are going to bring onto the scene some very chapter 4 verse 1 to 7 I'm gonna read that very quickly and break it down in the time I have left thank you for the Kings but let's now look at one of the first events that are very significant to the building now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendents of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the father's house and said to them let us build with you for we seek your God as you do and we have sacrificed to him since the days of SR Holland Esau hadn't king of Assyria who brought us here but zerubabbel and Joshua and the rest of the heads of the father's house of Israel said to them you may do nothing with us to build a house for our God we alone will build to the Lord a god 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 trouble them in building and hired counsels against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus king of Persia even until the reign of Darius king of Persia in the reign of has a heiress in the beginning of his reign they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem in the days of art exerts he's also fish lamb Meredith to Belle and the rest of their companions wrote to art exerts he's king of Persia and the letter was written in Aramaic script and translated into the Aramaic language that's a mouthful well praise the Lord for all those names thank you that little call people John and Kenny now really but these names have all meanings to them for example Ezra mean God helps and so significance there but what I want to point out in this because what I learned in studying about the kings and all the leaders in Ezra and Nehemiah there was one project the Lord wanted to rebuild and restore his city the wall the economy the the everything about the worship and we'll talk about this later on the wall the economy the temple the worship everything and anytime you participate in any building project they'll always be opposition but I want to point out let's look at the very first one so in these seven verses we find a number of warnings Jill here comes the list oyez the first one is the warning against unity with unbelievers verse 2 to 3 they came to Zerubbabel and says let us build with you for we seek your God as you do and we have sacrificed to him in the days of has fought on Assyria but here's what they said in verse 3 you may do nothing with us to build a house for our God but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel so what's happening here is the Lord is showing immediately even though they acknowledge God when you study this story further and this is going to come out later even though they said we'd like to help you they continued worshiping their own gods yeah they continued honoring their own gods what God was in essence saying is how could anybody help build a temple to the true God when they refused to stop worshipping the false god and so everything we do hinges on our view of God and so today the lesson there is we have to be careful in unifying ourselves with those that may say hey we would love the Lord just like you do but it doesn't that's not the single piece upon which unity is base because today in Christendom there's a push for unity when the division is we don't believe how you believe and what is being said since ancient times unless we are in one Accord in one place we cannot truly be unified to do anything to the true gods that's the first lesson second one Ezra for verse four and five the opposition seeks to stir up discouragement among the people so what they did they tried to get other kings to oppose zerubabbel since when they made the appeal to build they said no we're not gonna let you build so they decided to bring in discouragement my brothers and sisters discouragement will come but when God gives you a purpose push beyond with the discouragement look at how they created discouragement false accusations during has the eros rain that's the first six false accusations during the reign of artaxerxes verse seven they wrote an accusation in verse six against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem and here is what the accusation was trying they were trying to say remember how they used to be and this is something we have to be very careful of well the Lord someone threw something and they are they they repent and they are revived and they are now moving in the right direction we have to be very careful with highlighting who they were we must look at who they are now that's what the accusation was it says remember these folk those are the ones that used to be rebellious but they repented God skirt God caused them to break in their in their in their captivity and they saw the error of their ways but now they are reformed they repent they want to come back and do what God had told them to do but the opposition says remember how terrible they used to be so don't trust them now they try to bring an opposition the other one is the third point they tried to misrepresent the work that's as reformers 12 let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come up to us at Jerusalem and are building the rebellious an evil city and are finishing his walls and repairing the foundations instead of calling it God now this shows you that they had no allegiance to the true God because they call his city rebellious and evil how could you help me build a city that you refer to rebellious and evil your intentions were clearly unmasked in your reference to God city so they tried to skew the project this is not the good city this is rebellious the other one they pointed to the economic loss look at verse 13 let it be known to the king that if this city has built the walls and the walls are complete they will not pay taxes so they're saying if you allow this project to go forward you'll be such economic loss they're trying to give every reason for the project to be resisted and the other one they decided to be creating fear in the leadership I says we informed the king this is verse 16 that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed the result will be that you will have no dominion beyond the river all the opposition so what we're seeing here the very beginning panel is this God is trying to restore and here's the key we have to remember there will be tribulation whenever you participate in God's work what I've found in the example Jill was this in spite of all that was said about what God had called them to do they continued and you'll find out later on in the book of Nehemiah it was their mindset mmm they had a mind to work we'll talk about that later on it was their minds that they focused on the work and finally the end result was and I know you're gonna cover this in more detail because I know we are kind of overlapping each other in some degree the work was the work was forced into cessation finally one of the Kings that stopped the work and was stopped until Darius came and restarted the work and you find that in verse 23 and 24 and when the copy of King art exerts his letter was read before and the names of their rehome in shimshi the scribe and their companions they went up in haste to Jerusalem against the Jews and by force of arms made them cease 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 Moriah sking of Persia but they forced it into cessation but here's the reason why they did so god's thoughts and the thoughts of those who opposed the work were completely different different but he was the key those who had their mind and do God's work kept their thoughts in harmony with God's thoughts and eventually you'll find in the study of the lesson God honored their determination so here's the point inspiration will get you started determination will keep you going the inspiration is beautiful it'll just get you started but in opposition you have to have more than inspiration you have to have determination and dedication and that's what they had excellent they made John that was men right inside I'm so excited about this study and we want you to stay tuned we're gonna take a quick break but we'll be right back ever wish you could watch a three-bean Sabbath School panel again or share it on Facebook Instagram or Twitter well you can by visiting 3abn Sabbath School panel comm a clean design makes it easy to find the program you're looking for there are also links to the adult Bible study guide so you can follow along sharing is easy just click share and choose your favorite social media share link save a life for eternity [Music] well we're ready for Tuesday study until Morricone you have that one thank you so much Shelley and pastor John what a wonderful foundation and I was taking notes with the points as you were talking their pastor I love in this study I love the study of the word of God no matter what the quarterly is about I'm always blessed by it but this quarter in particular I'm excited about because Ezra and Nehemiah is all about godly leadership and godly leadership moving forward in the midst of opposition and whether at home you might be saying but I'm not a leader but we all have influence on someone else whether it's in your home whether it's in your church whether it's your neighbors or work or community we all have some measure of influence so that means these books are for all of us so I have as your chapter seven turn over a couple of chapters here Pastor John was in Ezra for Ezra chapter 7 and we're gonna look at some of as your chapter eight as well this is the second return of the Exiles as Shelly already talked about fifty thousand went back from Babylon to Jerusalem under 0 pible this is years before now Ezra comes on the scene he is a skilled scribe and we're gonna take a look at us right here Ezra this is under ad execs East the seventh year of ad execs ceases when Ezra returned and will see the number of people that went back with him as well so who was Israel let's look at as Ruth's chapter 7 verse 6 this Azura came up from Babylon and he was a skill described in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given the King granted him all his requests according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him now if you look in the original language for skilled scribe for skilled it means quick prompt and ready I like to think that Ezra was known for having a quick mind Pastor John he was one of those people who knew law of God and he had a quick and an intelligent mind and God can use that we also know that he was of the line of Aaron he was a priest as well he was a priestly scribe you could say let's look at 7 verses 1 through 5 I am NOT going to attempt to read all those names but when it begins it says after these things in the rain of adding Xerxes king of Persia Ezra the son of seraya and then it goes back the son of the son of the son of we won't read all those jump over to verse 5 the son of ABI Shia the son of Phinehas the son of Eleazar the son of Aaron the chief priest so 17 generations back from Ezra it takes us all the way back to Aaron Ezra was a Levitical priest there were several well-known of course Aaron Eli Ezra Zachariah those are the ones that come to mind initially who would be well known Levitical priests so we won't get into a pastor Kenny's portion which is the next portion with the ladder that he gave the letter of ad execs Keith was given to Ezra I just want to look at the last verse and then we'll jump into chapter 8 so the last verse of chapter 7 is verse 28 so I was encouraged Ezra was encouraged at the hand of the Lord my God was upon me and I gathered leading men of Israel to go up with me so who went with Ezra if we look at chapter 8 verses 1 through 14 you see there are 12 heads of families mentioned I like to think of this as it were the second axis remember when Moses brought the children of Israel out of Egypt and to the land of promise there were 12 tribes of Israel and here we see 12 heads of families represented in this Exodus as it were coming out of the land of Babylon going back to Judah and to Jerusalem there were some priestly returnees you see that in verse 2 it says of the sons of Phineas son of the sons of it Tamar Daniel now Phineas was Erin's grandson so here is another priest and it Tamar was the son of Aaron so this is some of Aaron's descendants there were priests in the line who had chosen to return with Ezra there was also royalty it says of the sons of David which I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm in verse 2 as our eighth verse to the second half of verse 2 of the sons of David had tush and then there were you could say lay people regular people who went now we won't read the list of all the names but it says with so-and-so who's the head of the household there was 218 males or with this person there was 60 or 110 so it lists the people if you count them all there's just about 1500 men then we get to the point where Ezra looks and says where's the Levites and so then they made a special call for the Levites and the temple servants which I know will study later and they all come together as well so we're looking maybe 1700 people with women and children there's probably five to six thousand people they predict that returned with Ezra now Shelly already referenced it's 900 miles it's a four month journey it took them four months crossing a hostile desert with no added protection remember as a rent went before the Lord and prayed and fasted and said God would you protect us on this journey on this trip so we're going to get to five qualities Pastor John of leadership as demonstrated by Ezra before we do that I just want to look at his personal preparation he was obviously called of God to lead the people back in the second return we know already we talked about his quick mind his intelligence his training as a scribe he obviously had training Ezzor 7 verse 6 he was called a skilled scribe in the law of Moses he obviously knew God's Word he spent time in they're after 8:23 so we fasted and entreated our God for this and he answered our prayer he prayed for help he prayed for forgiveness of sins another chapter over I was there nine he says my god I am too ashamed this is Ezra 9 verse 6 and humiliated to lift up my face to you O God for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has grown to the heavens so he spent time in prayer for help for forgiveness of sins and for direction as for 821 he proclaimed the fast there by the river and they humbled themselves before God asking God to give them a clear way through the wilderness through the desert so let's look at those five leadership qualities and the little time I have remaining first Ezra set the example in attitude and humility as true leaders lead by example as 4:8 21 to 23 talked about the fast at the river of Ahava that they would humble their hearts before God and seek Him the right way for them and their little ones and all their possessions and then at the very end he says so we fasted and entreated our God for this and he answered our prayer Ezra didn't just say now you all need to pray and you all need to do this he led by example and he himself got involved in the prayer and the fasting true leaders lead by example number two Ezra assigned responsibility true leaders learn to delegate as rate we won't read it but verses 24 through 30 there was tons of gold and silver that they were bringing back from Babylon back to Jerusalem in today's currency it would be worth millions of dollars and Ezra had a portion a certain portion of gold and silver to each family to each group and it was weighed and measured and then it was supposed to be weighed and measured when they got back to Jerusalem so true leaders learn to delegate number three Ezra provided motivation as your 8:28 and I said to them you are holy to the Lord the articles are holy also and the silver and the gold are a free-will offering to the Lord God of your father's he reminded them who they were and why they did what they did true leaders provide motivation number four as a remain tained unity as your 831 we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to jerusalem and the hand of our God was upon us and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road and we came to Jerusalem true leaders unite and mobilized for mission and finally number five Ezra accepted responsibility true leaders identify with the people that they lead you'll see this over and over Ezra nine Azra 10 when he's praying before God he identifies with the sins of the people he comes alongside the people so sure leaders lead by example they learned to delegate they remind the team of who they are and why they do what they do they unite and mobilize for mission and identify with the people that they need praise the Lord lot covered there yeah I like those points praise to God for that I I mean I was excited about Ezra and Nehemiah because they're they're men that we can all look to we can learn from see how God used them and how God can also use us I'm going to be looking at Arctic search C's degree decree and you know you have to yet we have to look at these things in terms of people sit down people begin to talk but then at the bottom line there's going to be things that we're gonna have to write down you know the quines going to have to know what's going on with this people with those in captivity and so just that we're looking to decree here and I'd say first of all is what would be the decree what would it be and right here is an official order isn't it and the decree is an official order or is this decision of the government anything settle or uncheck so they wanted to be all lined out everyone have a function everyone have a job to do this is what I'm going to do this is what you need to do and the decree was there and put forward to order to decide and to certainly to a point we're going to be dealing with Ezra you have your Bible as your chapter 7 we won't read all the verses 11 through 28 I know in the future lesson we're going to be looking when you're looking at the 2300 day prophecy and whole thing and you try to cover it in 10 minutes they've been impossibility so everybody needs to pray as we look at these things as each one is throwing things in we pray that you're paying attention writing them down because there's so much information sometimes we think there's not much information when you really begin to look there's a lot a lot of information here the Creed naturally was delayed here made here the components the ingredients consisted of the very most important things especially the instruction pertaining to Israel you mentioned someone mentioned that Ezra was a descendant of Aaron we know that a priestess scholar I like to say a smart brain quit quick wit and you I think you have to be in ministry and and work for the cause of Christ I believe that there's time so you have to make quick snap decisions and you're praying that you're you've been as I say prayed up and you've got the Holy Spirit leading and guiding you make those decisions because sometimes if you do not that opportunity will be lost and you can never go back to that so God will give us that what we need as a resume we find in here is a man of God we're just beginning these lessons so it's going to go on and on how these men really love Jesus with all their heart and as they love Jesus they they elevated the law of God and they elevated about being obedient they weren't worried too much about what the human code was what man was going to do but what God had had asked them to do and maybe challenge them to do because they had it they could make a decision whether they wanted to go through this or not but you know it's wonderful to know that God is leading guiding and directing and this is not just an answer near my time I want us to look at the opportunity we have here these are things that's going on today in the cause of Christ and it's looking at those of you who are leading out those of you in ministries and so on pastoring church these are things that you're faced every day that will help us if we just look at and listen to these things and go through this lesson you know Ezra made a good impression on the King we do know that and I think it's so valuable to us that we need to make a good impression as we can on those around about us because again you talked about unity and working together it's very very important that we do that and bottom line he was given whatever was needed I like this in that decree whatever was needed to restore and to build the city to beautify it to bring it back as the house of God because people were a little upset because the house of God had been deteriorated been you know broken down battered and bruised and it need to be restored and that's every 727 also there in 27 azor also was quick to give I like this part regards to how well or how ministries are going and how things never ever just you know never never just take it for granted stop and give God the praise always give God the praise quit elevating you know I say quit elevating man what is man he's clay he's nothing well sin comes surety's dirt god uses and so god's the one he'd be elevated and these men of god we find in here when they were doing what they should be doing they were elevating god it says there in verse 27 he blessed the god of our fathers which put such a thing in the king's heart amen so knowing that the Holy Spirit was intervening and as they were praying about it touching the team because we realized here the king here was not converted at this time you could not really call him a Christian he was trying to appease another God see and so in the end table peace God's by giving more gifts and things to them and trying to make everybody happy so the King made it easy for Israel to restore their homeland so it had to be God in charge because you mentioned turn this and it's going to get more and more as we go in here and depth of how much opposition and how the opposition came and always in the cause of Christ when you move forward because the enemy is when you God tells you to push forward the enemy will fight you tooth-and-nail every inch I the ground that's why you were talking about here we need to be persuaded by the grace of God know that God has called us to do a certain work and then depend upon God to fight our battles for us and I found out I just need to show up and then God can certainly do the rest so we to find the king here as persuades they doing what I'm going to give them everything that they need to go ahead to rebuild their homeland and so he he set the people free I love this every person that could make the journey was it was given the freedom to do it if they wanted to make the journey and you'd think about how many would not want to it seemed like but they had it pretty nice where they were at - and to start all over a lot of things I'm sure went through their mind but the King said go ahead everyone you take that make the trip and they begin to make the trip and I think it was what march of 457 thank you mentioned trip would last about four months and so on and I mean that's quite a we think about that today we think about driving two or three hours we say that's just too far but think about on foot to travel for in this mess that they were in for over four months and they arrived sometime I think they talked about in July a 457 those are big dates and we'll look at that more and more as week as we get into our study it would describe Ezra scriber the laws been mentioned here the God of heaven probably I'm looking at my study that Ezra was probably the most influential Jew of his time there is a seven verse 12 you can look at that in Babylon and this decree it is interesting to note Azra is called a priest and so there's kind of something going on they had preached the pagan priests and right then they had all Soviet that gods priests but they used different words in Aramaic and in the Hebrew one that would signify God's man and the other would signify a pagan priest thought that's very interesting it boiled down to it seems that the one who was making out this decree was writing it up you know you find very few and this be true that maybe the King wrote out the decree himself he always has counselors he had his helpers he had the people would do it for him and and he would sign it it seems that though that maybe there was a Jew that was in high position in the King's service that wrote out this decree with but with all the good things in mind that and they needed to have and so in there because of the wording and the way that he pronounced his words it was kind of just an interesting thought you know the true priests of God a king commissioned Ezra to notice this to ensure proper observance of the law of God as well as the law of the land that was I thought was awesome when the King says here but but yet there could be some issues there too because he said you must observe the laws listen everybody nowadays that we're living in the laws of the land things that's going on but also you're going to have to serve the Lord I want you observe the law of your God so in order to that is it possible there could be conflict good we know there will be there always has been conflict you know there comes a time and then we have to certainly choose God don't we need to be making that decision right now so the kinks that set up a judicial system and they set it up degree gave Azra the right to use money that you talked about here I think at one time I was like wow was it three tons of silver there's a lot of it there you know six hundred barrels you know of corn and so on and wine and oil he gave him everything that they needed to go do the job that was that was the repair work and the temple rebuilt and build the wall I thought was very very very good it gave him religious freedom so in the 457 we'll look at that answer later on the two main points is there in Daniel 9 24 25 26 27 you read all those down through there that we need realized is to restore and to build Jerusalem this is very important where I see a lot of people seem like get a little confused you know in their theology today because they want to take out that one week in the middle you know and put it at the end of the prophecy and certainly we do not want do that you know history reveals that from the time the decree in 457 BC I thought this was interesting when that decree was finally everybody began to work together see there were problems an issue that's why I said there's gonna be some problems when you're building the wall and so on because we realized that there was problems there with Egypt and the Persians but after they design this decree to let God's people have what they needed to restore and to rebuild there was a time of peace it was kind of settled and time of peace where God's people could do what they needed to do because God set that peace up because they needed that you see yeah they needed that so in our exact cease at least we realize I believe that God used him God used our exertion see in a marvelous way God can use you he can use me could use anybody he wants to use for his honor and for his glory and he will do it and he will bring it to pass well I have got Thursday and Thursday looks at the importance of education now do we all agree that education is important I can just speak for myself I wish that my mind was like a computer know don't you and so many things that are sub totally unimportant if I could just go in and delete the bad stuff wouldn't it just be be amazing but I wish I had been like Ezra when I was young I've got us in Ezra and we're chapter 7 and I'm going to repeat a verse of scripture that we've already read a few times Ezra chapter 7 verse 6 this is Rakim out from Babylon and he was a skilled scribe in the law of Moses now let me ask you how did he become a skilled scribe in the law of Moses did it just drop on him no honey he had studied studying is called educating yourself he had educated himself in the law of Moses which the Lord God of Israel had given the King granted him all his requests according to the hand of the Lord upon him now Ezra chapter 7 verse 10 for Ezra had and here are the things oh that I wish I had done when I was young prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord now let me make this relevant I think all of our lessons need to be relevant to us right here today what can we take from this Jill that's something Jo what can we take out of this so I am going to like and past alone we came to Ezra here for just a moment so past alone McCain has prepared his heart to study the Word of God pestle Oh McCain have you prepared your heart to study the Word of God Pat a soul and not just to study it but to do it not just to study it and to do it but to go one step further to teach statutes and ordinances and this was Azra it says to the nation of Israel to all the children of Israel so he made a decision just as at some point each one of us make the decision I'm using pass along a cane as an example because we've all seen him stand before the people on 3abn and pour out the Word of God sit here on this Sabbath school panel and let that word of God that he has educated himself on as has each one of you done if that word would come forward okay Ezra had wholehearted what kind of heart wholehearted devotion and his decision to practice and teach the Word of God prepared him for something prepared him for greater ministries Ezra made a decision by an act of Ezra zone will by an actor past alone McCain's own will he made a choice by an act of Shelley's own will she has made a choice to give herself to the study of the word of God Ezra by an act upon his own will made a choice that said is a decision we are all every one of us sitting on this panel and every one of you that are listening how are right now in the condition are the situation we're in as a result of decisions and choices we've made in our past act by will we made decisions and they are what has designed our future the Bible literally states that Ezra devoting him devoted himself to studying and doing and teaching the law of God that is the Word of God if you aren't happy let me just speak to you for a moment if you aren't happy with yourself make the decision to change choose a better way and and as an act of your will you make a choice and so wait how many of you have ever had made up by an act of your will you have chosen to make a better choice you're going to do it as soon as you get home you're going to do it as soon as it's summer you're going to do it as so you make the choice but you put it off and I want you to just tell you this change isn't change just because you decide to change this change isn't change until you change that's right and if you don't step change directions you're going to wind up where you're headed now I know I've said this before but if you want to make a change you have to take that a step further and actually make the change okay what was Azra doing when he was studying and doing and teaching what was this we're doing he was educating himself Ezra made a decision to be educated or to be in the Word of God to educate himself in the Word of God now I want to talk about ignorance for a moment ignorance okay there you know there is nothing wrong with being ignorant dalek y'all nothing nothing wrong with being ignorant if you're willing to be educated out of that ignorance ignorance is just a lack of knowledge so you can be educated out of any area that you're ignorant in and I'm going to just use myself in this example I couldn't bake a loaf of bread if I tried I ever baked a loaf of bread I will never bake a loaf of bread as long as there are good people in her church that make the best so I'm ignorant in that area now how could I change being ignorant in that area Kenny I could get one of those recipes and try to follow it you know I could be educated out of that so if you are ignorant in an area don't let that concern you make the decision to educate yourself out of it I dare say in this study of Ezra and Nehemiah I've read it I read both books I thought they were great books but do you know when I got down and was studying these books they are amazing they have just come alive why because I set myself to study to be educated out of my ignorance now here is what sister white says about Ezra in prophets and kings he was born of the sons of Aaron Ezra has to be given priestly training and addition to this he had acquired a familiarity with the writings of the musicians the astrologers and the wise men of medo-persia Ram now that was worldly education she goes home to say but he was not satisfied with his spiritual condition he longed to be in full harmony with God he longed for wisdom to carry out the Divine Will and so he prepared his heart to seek this wall of God and to do it not just to seek it but then to go one step further to do it this led him to apply to apply himself diligently to a study of the history of God's people as recorded in the writings of prophets and kings he searched the historical and prophetic books of the Bible to learn why the Lord had permitted Jerusalem to be destroyed and his people carried away captive to a heathen land now what did he give himself a study - he wanted to go to the root of the problem not just surficial he went to the root of the problem now what was the root of the problem the root of the problem was that God's people had given themselves to a dolla tree they had a pasta size they had disregarded the things of God so that was the root of the problem that led them into the condition they were in right now and he was dealing with people that had been in captivity for how long for 70 years so had these people that hadn't the majority so many of them were born in captivity they had had not been educated in the things of God Ezra's said about not only to learn the Word of God and to know the Word of God but he said about to go to the root of the problem which was to educate the people out of their ignorance to teach them the Word of God as we study this pure Word and learn of the plans that God has for him his faithfulness and goodness will dispel the ignorance this is is that amazing and this is what we found it happened as Ezra opened up the Word of God as he had the word written and distributed he into the hands of the people they their hearts were changed and they had a heart to serve God why because they were educated remember you can overcome your ignorance so easily and it's by education we have just a couple of moments left I'd like to give you each a few seconds to recap your day well when we go back to Monday which is about the overview of kings and events I can conclude that whenever the Lord calls us to a project it's important that we abandon our thought of the project and embraced his thought project the example is in Isaiah 55 verse 8 and 9 my thoughts are not your lung nor are my ways nor are your ways my ways says the Lord for the heavens are higher than the earth so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts and your thoughts abandon your thoughts in in preference to his thoughts and your ways will always be higher man I want to quote the verse you quoted Molly Ezra 7 verse 10 for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel and I think at home no matter what God has called you to do prepare your heart to seek the Lord and not just to seek Him but to walk in obedience to what he's calling you to do I mean amen you know I've thought through this lesson right here that God calls people to carry some special burdens and then we need to make sure by the grace of God that we fulfill that which God has called us to do you know be like as Renier mind that we're learning from this quarter it's going to just absolutely be awesome because the Lord knows we need a reform we need to reform probably also was they we need reform in our life would like to have reform in the church we'd like to have it but you know where does it start it starts with me it starts with you so why not today it's how that reform let's be positive let's be you know true let's come to God and say listen this needs to take place need to take place now in today's the day that we need to do it you know I'm thinking about anyone in our society today do we see our whole society crumbling around us if you don't have a knowledge of the Word of God then you think there is no hope but if you're educated in the things of God if you have a knowledge of God's Word and what's in store for us if we've made a choice to study as Ezra did to educate ourselves then you know what we are going to find in God's Word we've got a future and a hope no matter how bad it gets hey if you're connected to God if you've made Jesus Christ the Lord of your life you've got a future in a house right you know this is what I'm sitting here thinking and I hope I can make a sense of this is that we have three godly men here that we see in as our chapters one through six the River Bell then we have Ezra Nehemiah and all of them were concerned about God's temple you know Bible says that you are the temple Lord we are the Temple of the Lord and I think that as we go through this we're going to find things that we can apply to ourselves to help rebuild the temple in us all of us need attending and then you think about the wall that that they built around Jerusalem to keep out the bad influence that's something else that every word of the Lord has been given to us by inspiration of the Holy Spirit and certainly can be applied to your life so we encourage you to get your Sabbath School quarterly join us next time we will be studying lesson to the amaya and we're so glad that you take this time to be in the word with us certainly fun for us to break from our normal duties and dig in and we invite you to join us next time [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

Views: 70,812

Rating: 4.6666665 out of 5

Keywords: 3ABN, Three Angels Broadcasting Network, yt:quality=high, Zerubbabel and Ezra, Ezra and Nehemiah, the return of the Jewish exiles, Artaxerxes' Decree, 3ABN Sabbath School panel, Bible Study

Id: d6JMpBumEtg

Length: 58min 30sec (3510 seconds)

Published: Sun Sep 29 2019