Route 66: Ezra - God's Sovereignty in Broken Places

I got a text from somebody this week.

Wait, you were in Kings, and now I'm seeing you're going to be in Ezra.

What happened to Chronicles?

We're not going to skip Chronicles, don't worry.

We're going to do it on a different Sunday night, but we'll hit Chronicles Tonight, though we're going to be in Ezra.

So turn over to Ezra.

Turn over to Ezra, chapter 2.

Ezra 2 · chapter mention

So that's in the Old Testament.

You got to go past Kings, past Chronicles, ezra 2.

I'll start at verse 1.

These now are the people of the province who came from those captive exiles King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon had deported to Babylon.

They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town.

They came with Zerubbabel, jeshua, nehemiah, sariah, rehaliah, mordecai, bilshan, mispar, bigvi, rahom and Banna.

The number of the Israelite men included Parash's descendants 2,172.

Shepthiah's descendants 372.

Arah's descendants 775.

Tehoth, moab's descendants, jeshua's and Joab's descendants 2,812.

Elam's descendants 1,254.

Zatu's descendants 945.

Zachai's descendants 760.

Bani's descendants 642.

Bebi's descendants 623.

Azgad's descendants 1,222.

Adonai Kim's descendants 666.

Bigvi's descendants 2,056.

Adin's descendants 454.

Adar's descendants of Hezekiah 98.

Bezi's descendants 323.

Jorah's descendants 112.

Hashem's descendants 223.

Gibar's descendants 95.

Bethlehem's people 123.

Netopha's men 56.

And Otha's men 128.

Asmava's people 42.

Kiriathim's, jepirah's and Beroth's people 743.

Rama's and Geba's people 621.

Micma's men 122.

Bethel's and Ai's men 223.

Excuse me, nebo's people 52.

Magbish's people 156.

The other Elam's people 1,254.

Hiram's people 320.

Lod's, hadid's and Onan's people 725.

Jericho's people 345.

Senna's people 3,630.

I'll stop reading there.

Let me pray.

Lord, we're asking again to give us this power in the scripture that we do have.

All of us who know the Lord.

We have an anointing from the Holy One and we know all things, but we want to know deeply.

We want to see and understand scripture as holy as we can.

So help us tonight in that.

In Jesus' name, amen.

Some of you know this song.

I don't think it's in our current hymn books.

It might have been in our previous hymn book, when the roll is called up yonder.

When the roll is called up yonder.

You might know that song.

That's a song about heaven.

Actually, bright and cloudless morning when the dead in Christ shall rise.

It's a song about heaven, but it mentions calling a roll.

Now there's the Lamb's book of life.

That's the list of those who are going to be in glory one day.

This is a different list, but it's still a list of people that we read.

And I could have kept going If you scan down there in chapter two, it talks about a number of other people's descendants right there in chapter 2.

So go ahead and turn over to chapter 8.

We'll be skipping around a lot in Ezra to give us kind of a picture of it.

Look at the way that chapter 8 begins.

These are the family heads and the genealogical records of those who returned with me from Babylon during the reign of King Artaxerxes.

And then if you look down in chapter 8, it lists another bunch of names and descendants.

There's another roll call.

Turn over to chapter 10.

Chapter 10, verse 18, the following were found to have married foreign women from the descendants of the priests.

From the descendants of Jeshua, son of Jezadek and his brothers.

And then it goes on down.

If you look down the way, the book of Ezra ends is with a list of these names again, the book of Ezra ends is with a list of these names again.

Now, not all of these lists.

There's three big lists here One towards the beginning of the book, one in the middle, one at the end.

They're not all identical but they're all a list of names.

It's a roll call of sorts.

It's a roll call for the exiles.

Go back to chapter one.

It's a roll call for the exiles.

Go back to chapter one, the way this book begins.

In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken through Jeremiah, the Lord roused the spirit of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and put it into writing.

This is what King Cyrus of Persia says the Lord, the God of the heavens, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and has appointed me to build him a house at Jerusalem, in Judah.

Any of his people among you.

May his God be with him and may he go to Jerusalem, in Judah, and build the house of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who's in Jerusalem.

Let every survivor, wherever he resides, be assisted by the men of that region with silver, gold, goods and livestock, along with the freewill offering for the house of God in Jerusalem.

For the house of God in Jerusalem, the people of Israel, the Israelites, the same ones that God rescued out of Egypt and brought into the land.

This is years and years later.

They had disobeyed and God allowed the Babylonian people to come in and take them captive.

So Babylon is pretty far away from where Jerusalem is.

So at the time of the writing of Ezra, it does kind of pick up where 2 Chronicles leaves off.

So if you go back at the very end of 2 Chronicles 36, and notice verse 22 there in the first year of King Cyrus, and then verse 23, this is what King Cyrus of Persia says.

So 2 Chronicles ends with this decree of this King Cyrus.

If you wanna talk more about that with Kevin afterwards, he would just love to talk with you more about that, but that's not for tonight.

Well, 2 Chronicles is not for tonight, but Ezra picks up with this decree.

So the people have been in captivity in Babylon, but then another empire, the Persians, come in and they defeat the Babylonians.

So King Cyrus is, as you see in verse one there of Ezra, the king of Persia.

But he sets a decree that Jewish people are allowed to go back to Jerusalem from where they've been scattered.

They want to do that and help rebuild the house of the Lord.

So when Ezra opens, the people are in exile and there's a list of all these names at different places of the people that are coming out of exile.

So God brings his people out of exile, kind of.

In the New Testament, peter says of us today that we are pilgrims, strangers, exiles.

Hebrews uses similar language, we're in a different place than the Jewish people, but we're still, in some sense, exiles.

We're going somewhere.

So what does this book Ezra have for those of us who are in exile?

Well, it tells us that God is in charge no matter where we are.

God's in charge no matter where we are.

Cyrus wasn't David, wasn't Solomon, wasn't David and Solomon's son.

He was the king of Persia.

And yet God used this other king outside of the covenant community to get accomplished what he wanted to accomplish to get his people to go back.

In Isaiah 45, verse one it's a fascinating verse.

Isaiah says that Cyrus is God's anointed one.

Yeah, he's his Messiah.

Not that Cyrus was Jesus, but that Cyrus, this pagan king, god had his hand on him to accomplish a certain purpose in history.

In Isaiah 44, verse 28, cyrus is called God's shepherd.

Isaiah 44:28

That should be an encouragement for us in exile.

The king's heart is in the hand of the Lord.

He turns it wherever he wills.

God's in charge, whether we're in the geographic place we want to be or not, whether we're in the stage of life we want to be or not, whether things seem to be going well in our family and friends or not.

God's still in charge.

You see that throughout the book of Ezra.

I'll have you scan some verses here.

Look at chapter five.

Flip over a few chapters here.

Chapter five, verse five but God was watching over the Jewish elders Chapter 5, verse 12,.

But since our ancestors angered the God of the heavens, he handed them over to King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, the Chaldean who destroyed this temple Doesn't mean that God won't discipline his people, but he's the one that handed them over.

It wasn't just God was napping and Babylon had a bigger army.

God was in charge.

Look at chapter seven.

Over just two chapters.

Chapter seven, verse number eight Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month.

So the book opens these people that are allowed to go back by Cyrus.

The first wave comes back.

Ezra, the scribe that the book is named after.

He comes in kind of another wave of people here in the mid book, but look what it says he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, during the seventh year of the king, verse nine he began the journey from Babylon on the first day of the first month and arrived in Jerusalem on the first day of the fifth month since the gracious hand of his God was on him.

Chapter 8, verse 18.

Turn there, if you would please.

8, verse 18.

Turn there if you would please.

This is kind of a little mini refrain in this book, chapter 8, verse 18.

Since the gracious hand of our God was on us, they brought us Sherebiah, a man of insight and descendants of Mali.

Over to chapter 8, verse 31, just down a little ways.

We set out from the Ahava River on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem.

It's like a big travel log, but God is with them wherever they are.

Verse 31,.

We were strengthened by our God and he kept us from the grasp of the enemy and from ambush along the way.

And this is the case even amidst opposition.

Even though there's this decree, the people start to rebuild and there are some other regional guys there in Jerusalem and they don't want the building to be successful, and so they start trying to oppose the building.

Hey, check out some of these historical records.

These Jewish people, I mean, they've had a history in this area.

They've done some pretty bad things.

You don't want to let them build their temple.

They're bad people.

So, even though these other bad guys in the book are trying to shape the story of Israel's history in a way that only highlights the negative things, and there's a little bit of success there for a while, and yet God's hand is on them, no matter where they are, even amidst opposition.

Another thing we can take away as people in exile from this book is that God's dwelling is our destination.

Yes, the people who are listed here, all these names, they want to go back to Jerusalem to build the house of God.

You know, it's not just like in Lord of the Rings.

They want to go back to the Shire just because they were from the Shire and it's so nice and pretty and everything there.

This is a little more narrowly focused.

The point is not just we happen to live in a certain geographical region and it gives us a feeling of nostalgia.

That's the place where God had chose to set his name.

That's the place where the original temple was constructed under Solomon.

So they're going back to set up this temple again, because the temple is God's dwelling place and they want to be in the presence of God.

They want to be where God himself dwells.

Chapter 1, verse 2.

I already read this verse, but just to look at it again here, verse 2.

I already read this verse but just to look at it again here, this king's decree, and it's fascinating.

He talks about the God of heavens, but he says that he's been appointed to build this God of heavens, a house at Jerusalem, in Judah.

So even the opening of the book puts our telescope right on the temple, the house of God.

If you go over to chapter two, towards the end of that chapter, verse 68, after they arrived at the Lord's house in Jerusalem, some of the family heads gave freewill offerings for the house of God in order to have it rebuilt on its original site Chapter 5, verse 2.

Let's go over chapter 5, verse 2.

Temple is central here.

Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua, son of Jehoshadak, began to rebuild God's house in Jerusalem.

The prophets of God were with them, helping them.

Go over to chapter 6.

We'll start at verse number 16 of chapter 6.

Then the Israelites, including the priests, the Levites, the rest of the exiles there's the roll call again celebrated the dedication of the house of God with joy.

From the dedication of God's house, they offered 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, as well as 12 male goats as a sin offering for all Israel, one for each Israelite tribe.

They also appointed the priests by their divisions and the Levites by their groups to the service of God in Jerusalem.

According to what is written in the book of Moses, the exiles second time exiles has been used right here in this passage.

The exiles observed the Passover on the 14th day of the first month.

Let's read it Right at the heart of this return to God's dwelling is a celebration of Passover.

Right at the heart of their dedication of this renewed house are sacrifices.

If God's going to dwell with his people, there has to be sacrifice.

That's why the cross should be at the center of our lives.

If we want to have that relationship with God, there has to be sacrifice.

That's why the cross should be at the center of our lives.

If we want to have that relationship with God, there has to be sacrifice.

And Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed once for all for us.

So when we think about communion with God, when we think about being in his presence, it here gives us instruction about the nature of sacrifice, the importance of it gives us instruction about the nature of sacrifice, the importance of it.

And then, last big idea for us to think about tonight as we live in exile.

God has to change the heart.

I said at the beginning, ezra is about God bringing the people back from exile, kind of.

Why did I say that?

I mean they marched from Babylon, many of them, back to Jerusalem.

They got the temple all set up Like we're good to go right.

There's these repeated lists of names and numbers.

It's almost like the original book of Numbers.

When the people come out of Egypt, it's almost like the original book of Numbers.

When the people come out of Egypt, god had redeemed them before.

He had rescued them, before they had been a mighty nation before.

But why did they get into exile in the first place?

They were carefully cataloged.

God watched over them.

The book of Numbers lists all these tribes and clans and now it's like they're listing them again.

They're getting back in the land again.

Why does it have to happen again?

How many more times might it have to happen?

Turn to chapter 3.

They're out of exile, kind of Chapter 3, verse 10.

When the builders had laid the foundation of the lord's temple, the priests dressed in their robes and holding trumpets, and the levites descended from asaph, holding symbols, took their positions to praise the lord, as king david of israel had instructed.

Constructed.

King David was long dead, but he had been instrumental pun intended in the worship of the original tabernacle and the temple that Solomon was going to build Verse 11,.

They sang with praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, for he is good, his faithful love endures forever.

Then all the people gave a great shout of praise to the Lord because the foundation of the Lord's house had been laid.

That sounds like some kind of celebration, and it was, but verse 12, many of the older priests, levites and family heads who had seen the first temple wept loudly when they saw the foundation of this temple, but many others shouted joyfully.

The people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shouting from that of the weeping, because the people were shouting so loudly and the sound was heard far away.

We do weep out of happiness sometimes, so there could have been an element of this, but it will pick up a bit in other books like Haggai, zechariah, nehemiah.

Part of what's going on is they remember the glory of the first temple and some of them think it's not quite what it was.

I mean it's great, and all the people that are seeing it for the first time, this is wonderful.

The older people remember something even better and they're out of exile, kind of.

Throughout this book of Ezra you'll see if you read it there's a lot of discussion of bringing precious metals and stones.

So when they're going to build this temple, they're not just going to look around and like, pick out some random desert trees and try to make it special.

They're not just going to look around and like, pick out some random desert trees and try to make it special.

They want it like the first one.

There's gold, there's silver, there's these kind of luxury items and precious stones.

And the people bring some of these precious stones from farther away, maybe almost like when they came out of Egypt.

They plundered, the Egyptians, brought some of their jewels and gold with them.

But the point of making that tabernacle special is only partial, because the Bible tells us ultimately God doesn't dwell in some human house made with hands.

He can't be confined to a building.

Peter, the same Peter who speaks of us as strangers and pilgrims, exiles, says that we're built together as precious living stones on the foundation of Jesus Christ.

So the ultimate need is for us to be transformed into a dwelling place of God.

To merely have a physical structure is not the end.

We are the temple of the living God.

Paul says in Corinthians Therefore, glorify God with your body.

We collectively as his body, his bride, the temple of the living God.

So the preciousness of these things helps us see that they needed a heart change.

They were in Egypt and they got out.

Then they came back, but there's still something that's not right about what's going on.

Over to chapter 9.

This is just towards the end of the book.

You might have heard when I read this in chapter 10, verse 18, that last list of people it begins the following were found to have married foreign women.

It's like okay, I mean, there's just kind of a note about where they're coming from.

That's actually a warning, it's a red flag In chapter 9, look how it begins here.

After these things had been done, the leaders approached me so this is Ezra now speaking and said the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the surrounding peoples, whose detestable practices are like those of the Canaanites, hethites, perizzites, jebusites, Ammonites, moabites, egyptians and Amorites.

Indeed, the Israelite men have taken some of their daughters as wives for themselves and their sons, so that the holy seed has become mixed with the surrounding peoples.

The leaders and officials have taken the lead in this unfaithfulness.

When I heard this report, I tore my tunic and robe, pulled out some of the hair from my head and beard and sat down devastated.

In our age that almost sounds kind of like racist.

Like what do you mean there's wrong for them to take foreign wives?

Keep in mind the context of what's going on here.

It wasn't about some all-time prohibition about intermarriage.

It says right there they took wives that had the practices like the Canaanites, the Amorites.

Those were the people that were idolaters rather than worshipers of God.

When they bring idolatry into their homes and families, it never goes well.

In fact, if you remember back to Bob's message from a few weeks ago, who was the person that was so instrumental in building the first temple?

Solomon, so the very first temple they had all of its glory.

Solomon's the key figure that helped to oversee it and dedicate it.

What was one of Solomon's biggest downfalls?

He married foreign women that the Lord had said they'll pull your heart after other gods.

So it's not an ethnic thing, but it very much is a God thing, right?

So we need to be careful and passages like this, unfortunately, have been used to teach against inter-ethnic marriage.

But it's not what the passage is about and that's a pretty significant error.

So I mentioned from the message this morning.

Exactly how you view the referent of the stars falling from the sky is not irrelevant, but it doesn't have the same kind of significance because it's still on the same path.

That's almost a different path, because you're taking God's image and saying God's image isn't good in all people and you're missing the whole point of what's going on here in Ezra.

What's going on here in Ezra is like what we find in Corinthians, where it says don't be yoked unequally with unbelievers.

What fellowship does righteousness have with unrighteousness?

That doesn't mix.

So even though the people are out of exile, they're still pursuing idolatry.

They're still willing to let the practices of the peoples around them so influence them that they haven't learned their lessons from the past.

So the book doesn't end so rejoicingly.

I don't.

Is that even a word?

Not sure.

But the book doesn't end happy in a sense.

You might've heard this expression.

You might have heard this expression.

You can take the people out of Babylon, but how do you get Babylon out of the people?

That's what's going on here.

They needed a heart change and they're still in exile as long as their hearts haven't been changed and transformed.

Now there is hope for us.

They do make a proposal and a covenant here to put away this idolatry.

At the end of the book there is corporate confession and mourning and another side application.

One of the reasons why we have, on Sunday mornings, a time of corporate confession is because we want to together acknowledge our sin.

We don't usually do all of the specific kinds of sins that Ezra does here, but Ezra sees himself as part of this group of people and he's wanting the whole covenant body to turn to the Lord.

Now, even though they have this covenant, it's gonna be an up and down road and we'll see that in other books, like Nehemiah, when we get to the prophet Taggai, zechariah, malachi.

There's still an up and down road.

The people are still, in one sense, in exile, waiting for the Messiah, the true cornerstone of the temple, to come to be laid.

There's an amazing turn that we can find encouragement from.

I hope, if you'll take just finally this morning or tonight, sorry, go over to Revelation 3.

While you're going to Revelation, chapter 3, there's a lot of names in Ezra, right.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

There's a lot of names in Ezra, right.

That was their clan identity, but didn't help them.

When we're baptized, we're baptized into the name.

There's our roll call.

We've got a new name written down in glory.

We've got the name of Jesus Christ placed over us, that we belong to the people of God, we're part of his assembly.

And look what it says here in Revelation, chapter 3, verse number 12.

Revelation 3 · chapter mention

To the one who conquers, I will make a pillar in the temple of my God.

They're excited to build this temple in Ezra.

And here's Revelation saying you've got a place coming, I'll make a pillar and temple of my God, and he will never go out again.

I will write on him not the names of the people who were in exile and had hard hearts and married foreign wives and became idolaters.

I will write on him the name of my God.

We're owned and identified by the Lord, not by our sin.

Isn't that so wonderful.

God doesn't look at us and see us as sinful people.

He sees us with the name of his son.

That's what we have, that's our hope, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from my God and my new name.

When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be.

Let's pray, lord.

Oh, thank you, lord.

Thank you that we have our names written in the Lamb's book of life, that we don't have to be part of the role of sinners though we are sinners, we see ourselves as the chief of sinners yet we've been adopted into the family of God, we've been placed as living stones in this new temple.

We look forward to the day when this name is given to us permanently and finally, in an even greater way.

Lord, help us to look back and see that, even though we haven't reached our destination yet, we're there and we're walking as repentant people, hopeful people, expectant people.

We thank you that you are in charge, no matter where we are, that it's your dwelling that's our destination, and that you have changed our hearts.

And we want you more and more to change our own hearts and the hearts of those around us, that we might worship you with purity and love In Jesus' name, amen.