Ezra 2 (Part 2) Bible Study (The Exiles Return) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Book of Ezra Series)

Father, we thank you for gathering us this night.

To be able to look forward to an anticipate week after week time

in the Word with a with a people who love you is a gift in

itself, and we give you glory for it.

And we ask now that you would assist us and guide us through

these passages in a way that would make everything and

everyone disappear except for the man Christ Jesus.

That he would be front and center in our mind's eye, that

He will pull out of us greater affection and devotion, and that

we would leave here awe struck by His absolute beauty and His

infinite glory. Only by the Spirit can such a

thing be possible. But we pray in faith that you

would move in great power and that we would leave here knowing

that God was surely in this place.

We don't rely on any personality.

We don't rely on any equipment, we don't even rely on any

knowledge. We come to you admitting that we

need your grace to rest upon this time and we trust that you

will make it known. In Jesus name we pray.

Amen. You know, as I was thinking

about this time together earlier today, my heart quickly became

swollen with encouragement because I really just thought

about it. I am in a few hours, about to

gather with a people who will fill a church sanctuary to study

an ancient genealogy on a Friday night.

That seems strange, doesn't it? But we know that we're not here

just looking at any ordinary historical record.

We've come because we realize that this document is found in

God's written Word. This is divine revelation, and

we believe that. Even a list of names and cities

and numbers. Have something for us, for our

spiritual growth, for the increase of our worship, for our

sanctification. And if you were not here last

week, then perhaps you didn't taste that.

How? We just carefully looked at this

registry and realized that there was so many profound truths for

us to feast on and to be nourished by.

And in case you weren't there last week, we began Ezra chapter

Ezra 2 · chapter mention

2. And in Ezra chapter 2, we looked

Ezra 2 · chapter mention

at the first steps of a faithful remnant who chose to return from

exile and to go back to a desolate city called Jerusalem,

located in a ruined state called Judea.

And what we saw in those steps. With many groups of people who

have collected their faith and made this effort together.

And although one can organize these different peoples and

names and families in various manners, we chose to look at

them through the lens of a total of 8 categories, 8 categories of

people who made the bold step of going back to the Promised Land.

Does anybody remember the first three that we covered in our

study last time? You can say it if you know it.

The leaders are #1 #2 the men of Israel, or in parentheses, the

families of Israel. And lastly, very good, the

priest and the Levites and we pause that verse 40 of Ezra 2

last week and we'll now pick up right where we left off to see

the fourth group that the Spirit of God draws our attention to.

Let's read one verse to begin with.

In Ezra 241, the singers, the sons of.

Asaph 128. Even if you are a diligent

student of the Bible, this could be the first time you've

discovered that there is actually a designated group of

people who were called to sing at this time.

Now what's interesting is that their origins go back to King

David, who set apart different groups of ministers in

preparation for the temple to be built later by.

His son Solomon. And among those different groups

of ministers were musicians and vocalists, and the details of

their designation are found in another obscure part of the

Bible, First Chronicles, chapter 25.

1 Chronicles 25 · chapter mention

And I just want to read to you, unless you want to turn there to

see it with your own eyes. I just want to read to you the

first verse of that chapter because there is something very

important regarding it. Here's what it says.

First Chronicles 25 One David and the chiefs of the service.

Also set apart for the service the sons of Asaph, and of Heman,

and of Judgothan, who prophesied with liars, with harps, and with

symbols. The list of those who did the

work of their duties was and it goes on to list the names of the

singers. Three families were chosen by

David, who was evidently led by the Spirit of God to facilitate

the music. And the choirs and the singing

in the House of God known as the Temple.

Why is that important? Because we only learn of one of

these families who chose to return to Jerusalem, the sons of

Asaph. And for reasons not explained to

us, we don't know why the two other families did not go back.

But what's in focus here is Asaph and his descendants.

Asaph should be familiar to us. You know why?

Because if you read through the book of Psalms, you have looked

at 12 of his own writings, his own pieces he's attributed 12 in

the spirit of God has preserved his songs, his journal entries,

his poems, if you will, in the Psalter.

And perhaps he is most known for the soul bearing transparent

work in Psalm 73. Psalm 73 is really Asaph's

confession of a crisis of faith. And the thing?

That he was really wrestling with was how is it that the

wicked can prosper, that evil doers can enjoy life, while

those who are righteous and committed to the truth suffer?

And he even admits at the beginning of that Psalm that

these doubts were so intense that they almost derailed him

from his walk with God altogether.

Do you remember what he said in Psalm 73, verse 2?

Psalms 73:2

He mentions. But As for me, my feet had

almost stumbled. My steps had nearly slipped.

I couldn't make sense of this to the degree that I was willing to

walk away from all of it. This is a minister.

This is a praise team leader. This is a man of reputation.

This is a man that people knew who were blessed.

By and at one point in his walk with the Lord, he said I was

ready to give up on everything but praise God.

He made a choice. And in the very last verse of

that Psalm he gives us another. But he says in verse 28 of Psalm

73, but for me it is good to be near God.

It is good to be near God. I have made the Lord God my

refuge that I may tell of all your works.

That's the punctuation mark of that Psalm.

I'm going to stay near God, which implies something It's

possible not to be near God. I didn't mean to say this, but

it's worth asking right away. Are you near God tonight?

I pray that this Bible study would draw you closer if you're

not, Asaph said. I want to be near him, and

here's what I want to argue. I'm convinced that Asaph's

decision with this crisis of faith had generational

consequences. That's not something I'm

inferring. That's not something I'm trying

to make happen in the text. Remember, I told you First

Chronicles 25 is a chapter that tells us about the beginnings of

this ministry group known as the Singers in the Temple.

Asaph is named there, among others.

But there's this interesting verse and verse six of First

Chronicles 25. Don't turn there, but listen to

what it says. They were all under the

direction of their father in music, in the House of the Lord.

Speaking about the sons of these worship leaders, they were all

under the direction of their father, including Asaph.

Asaph was not just a dad. To his sons he was a ministry

team leader. He was a spiritual guide.

He was again a man of great reputation in the land.

And you can only imagine what would have happened if Asaph had

turned away from his faith. What if he had decided to walk

away? Or what if he had decided to

diminish his zeal to give? God half of his heart because he

couldn't reconcile the dilemma that was ever before him.

What if he recanted? What if he became apostate?

What if you became worldly? What if he had never concluded

It is good for me to be near God?

What would have happened to His sons who took His direction, who

trusted in him, who watched him, who were inspired by Him?

But I believe. Because this man vowed to

declare his works not just to the nation, but to his own

family. When it came to the point that

the sons of Asaph were taken into exile and the opportunity

arose for them to return, they thought to themselves, we're

going back, we're going back. You know, Asaph said.

It is good to be near God physically.

We're not near God here in Babylon.

Let's go back. Let's go back.

Listen, never underestimate the far reaching, glorious

consequences of your choice every single day to walk close

to God. It may be the very reason why

your children. Will choose to walk close to God

even when you're no longer around.

Your consecration and mine carries consequences beyond our

own lives. I'd love to see that that 128 of

the descendants of Asaph chose to go back to Jerusalem and

being near his presence again. And it could be that Asaph's

decision to be near God while he was still alive made a mark on

them. Now, there's one more thing I'd

like to highlight about these singers before we move on.

Did you know that these exiles in Babylon made a different kind

of vow while in captivity? They vowed that they would never

sing God's songs while in captivity.

Did you know that actually there's an entire Psalm about

it? There is a Psalm in the Psalter

written by the Exiles. While they were in Babylon.

Did you know that? Well, now you do.

Psalm 137. Look at it.

Now let's turn there. I want you to see it from verse

one down to verse 6. This is marvelous Psalm 137,

verse one by the waters of Babylon.

There we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion on the

willows. There we hung up our liars.

For there are captors required of us songs, and our tormentors

mirth, saying, Sing us one of the songs of Zion.

How shall we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?

If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its

skill. Let my tongue stick to the roof

of my mouth if I do not remember.

You if I do not set Jerusalem above my highest joy.

O the vast amount of insights and principles concerning

worship and praise in these verses.

One thing that stands out to me is how these exiles refused.

To sing God's songs merely for entertainment's sake, even

though they were pressured, even though there was a demand to

sing these holy songs, these holy lyrics.

Just to please some people who are outside of covenant with

God, they said we will not do that.

And unfortunately, today we're seeing an entire industry in

Christendom moving in the opposite direction.

Catering supposed worship music for the carnal mind, for the one

who is not in covenant with Christ.

No hesitation whatsoever. To capitalize on the Lord's

songs. This is tragic.

This may offend some people, So be it.

I believe a lot of what we call worship today has been infected

by a Babylonian mindset. But what we find here is a group

of people who refused. This belongs to the Lord.

This is holy. This is this is for his

pleasure. Everything that we organize,

everything that we write is for His ears primarily.

But that's not why I brought you to the Psalm.

The main thing I want to show you is how, according to these

verses, sin robs us of the soul enriching experience of singing

to the Lord. They're writing this while in

captivity. We will not sing.

We cannot sing. No one can truly sing it.

It's amazing how human nature is wired to belt out things.

If you think singing is just a Christian exercise, there are

stadiums filled with people who will repeat lyrics and even lift

their hands to those who are rejoicing over sin and evil and

darkness. And what is that?

What makes people want to sing? We're wired that way.

But to sing the songs of God? Truly and genuinely is

impossible while you're in captivity is impossible while

you're in bondage to sin. In Proverbs 29 six, it says that

the evil man is ensnared in his transgression.

But a righteous man, what does he do?

He sings and rejoices. Only a went man who's been truly

suffering from the shackles of sin can really sing.

And that's why I think highlighting the singers in Ezra

2 is helpful and insightful because it shows us that one of

the things that we recover when we are restored to the Lord,

when when we rebuild our relationship with Christ is our

singing and the joy and the pleasure that comes with it.

So this is what we see with the singers, but we move on now to

the fifth group according to verse 42.

The sons of the gatekeepers, the sons of Shalom, the sons of

Ater, the sons of Talman, the sons of Akub, the sons of

Hatita, and the sons of Shabaya in.

All. 139 The fifth group are the gatekeepers.

Who are the gatekeepers? They're essentially the

bodyguards of the temple. Their responsibilities included

opening the entrance into the temple, monitoring who comes in

and who leaves, ensuring that the utilities that go out and

come in are are are fined, that they're still there, they're up

to date, they're they're clean, they're preserved and other

menial tasks like this, They were, they're essentially just

supervising the temple grounds. And at first glance, when you

look at the gatekeepers and what they're called to do and compare

them with the priest and the Levites and the singers, their

duties don't really seem that impressive, rather ordinary.

And that's what makes this so special.

So you had the priests who interceded, you had the Levites

who taught, you had the singers who move the hearts of people

with their prophetic songs. And what about the gatekeepers?

They just had a clipboard at the front, making sure that the

right people were coming in and making sure that nothing was

taken out. It's not very glamorous.

In fact, we might say it's easily replaceable.

And yet, when it came to this genealogy, the Lord recognized

the gatekeepers. The Lord highlights these

ministers and he rewards them. He applauds them.

He inscribes their names in our Bibles to say in my eyes.

Oh, Gatekeepers, you are so valuable.

You are very much needed for the operations of my house, my

dwelling place on the earth. I do not overlook you.

I, I place you among those who truly play a part in my Kingdom.

So I told you that in First Chronicles 25 is is the chapter

where we learn about the singers.

Well, on the very next chapter in First Chronicles 26, we learn

about the designation of the gatekeepers, the people

associated with it, the people who are in charge of it, They're

descendants. And then you find this verse as

you read through those names in First Chronicles 26, as though

to reassure the gatekeepers of the significance of their

ministry. Just listen.

First Chronicles 26, verse 12. These divisions of the

1 Chronicles 26:12

gatekeepers, corresponding to their chief men, had duties.

Just as their brothers did, ministering in the House of the

Lord. Isn't that precious that moved?

Me, no matter how menial, how practical your service in the

Church of Christ may be. Do you see what the Lord is

saying in this verse? Make no mistake, you are

ministering in the House of God. You are important.

God requires your participation in your involvement.

So maybe you serve in the sound and visual team and you think

that you just come here on Fridays and Sundays to push some

buttons. No, no, no, no, no.

You're ministering in the House of God.

Maybe you're with the hospitality team.

Maybe you've been recruited by the hospitality team.

To do what? Clean those tables and sweep

those floors. Take out the garbage and you

think, all right, God, I'm waiting for you to call me to

something. And maybe He does have something

in mind for you. But do you not understand that

even in that you're offering service to the Lord?

To God Almighty in his house. Here's the Lord going out of his

way to say, you gatekeepers, you have duties just like your other

brothers. Yeah, just like the priests and

just like the Levites and just like the singers.

You are ministers in my sight. These are the gatekeepers.

But now we come to another group in our main text.

Let's look at verse 43 and we're going to listen.

Now you have to pay attention because we're going to read

through these names down to verse 58.

The temple servants. The temple servants.

This is the sixth group that we are looking.

At of the returnees back to the promised land.

The temple servants, the son of sons of Ziha.

The sons of Hasufa, the sons of Tabaoth.

The sons of Kiros, the sons of Saya, the sons of Paden.

The sons of Libanah, the sons of Hagabah.

The sons of Akub. The sons of Hegeb.

The sons of Shamlai. The sons of Hainan.

The sons of Guedel. The sons of Gehar.

The sons of Raya. The sons of Resin.

The sons of Nikoda. The sons of Ghazam.

The sons of Ouza. The sons of Pasiya.

The sons of Bisai. The sons of Asna.

The sons of Meunim. The sons of Nephisim.

The sons of Bakbuk. The sons of Hakufa, The sons of

Harhour. The sons of Bazluth.

The sons of Mehida, The sons of Harsha, The sons of Barkos, The

sons of Sisera, The sons of Tima, The sons of Niziah and the

sons of Hatifa, The sons of. Solomon's servants.

The sons of Sotai, the sons of Haisophoreth, the sons of

Peruda, the sons of JA Allah, the sons of Darken, the sons of

Gidel, the sons of Shifataya, the sons of Hatil, the sons of

Pokareth Hezebaeim, the sons of Amy, all the temple servants,

and the sons of Solomon's servants.

Were 392. So we looked at the singers, we

looked at the gatekeepers, we briefly touched on their

origins. Who are the temple servants?

Is it even important asking? I think it is.

Does anybody here read the new King James of the King James

translation? Do you have that in your hands

here tonight? Anybody.

Is everybody? Phew.

Do you see the temple servants or do you see something else

mentioned? Another name?

Say that again, Nephenim. If you have the King James and

the new King James, the temple servants are not identified.

Instead you have this title, the Nephanim.

Why is that? Because those translations chose

to use a transliteration of the Hebrew word Nephanim, whereas

the ESV and the NASB for example opted to translate the function.

Of this group of people, and the word nephanim essentially means

to be given. Given to others.

And so the idea here is that they are given.

Once they are, they are consecrated and they are brought

forth to someone else for a specific purpose.

So both really mean the same thing.

And when we understand the role of these temple servants, the

name makes perfect sense. This group, the temple servants

in the original Word, are found in First Chronicles, Ezra and

Nehemiah. And when you?

Look at where they're mentioned. You realized who they were in

more detail. So we're sticking in Ezra.

Now Fast forward and go to Ezra chapter 8 and look at verse 20.

Ezra 8 · chapter mention

This is going to give us a clear understanding of who we're

looking at here. Ezra 8, verse 20.

Ezra 8:20

Besides, 220 of the temple servants the same group of

people. Whom David and his officials had

set apart to attend the Levites. These were all mentioned by

name. Let's backtrack for a moment.

The priests, were they Levites? Good, yes.

But from which family line? The sons of Aaron?

That means not every Levite was a priest.

So you had the sons of Aaron from the tribe of Levi who were

set apart to be the priestly line.

The Levites were given to assist the sons of Aaron to perform

their priestly duties. We understood that right?

But there's another layer to this now.

So you have the sons of Aaron, the Levites, who assist them in

their priestly role. But now we learn about these

temple servants who were given to help who?

The Levites, Interesting. Now we understand what they're

supposed to do, but we still haven't answered the question

who they are. Do we have any clues where they

come from? Well, we can determine one

thing, right? Are the temple servants Levites

or not Levites? They're not Levites.

Why? Because they're assisting the

Levites, so they're outside of the Levitical tribe.

So we're one step closer now, but there isn't any explicit

text that shows us really their origins.

But there is one place and all of the Bible that gives us a

very strong clue of their ancestry.

Who here remembers the Gibeonites?

You would remember if you were with us when we went through the

book of Joshua, the Gibeonites were Canaanites.

The Canaanites who lived in the Promised Land before Israel

entered into conquer, were destined to be judged by God for

their centuries upon centuries of iniquity and rebellion.

These Gibeonites heard about Moses, heard about the miracles,

and heard that now Moses, successor Joshua, is leading

this nation into our own land to take over everything.

They're terrified. And so they come up with a plan.

Let's pretend that we're coming from a distant land, approach

Joshua and the leaders, convince them that we are not among the

Canaanites and make a covenant with them.

And once they make a covenant with us, because remember a

promise back then a whole different way than it does

today. We're coming up to that in a

moment here. We are going to trick them to

believe that we are their allies and we'll make a pact, we'll

make a treaty, and we'll be safe.

So they did it, Joshua. And then the leaders did not

seek the Lord. According to Joshua Chapter 9,

Joshua 9 · chapter mention

they make this covenant. And it didn't take very long

before they realized we've been lied to, we've been tricked,

we've been hoodwinked. And so they approached the

Gibbey Nights saying, you lied to us, you deceived us.

And the Gibbey Nights say, well, OK, look, we heard about who you

are. We heard about your God.

This is how we responded to do with us as you please.

And Joshua was a man of integrity.

And so he decided not to slay them, not to kill them.

Why? Because they're protected by

this oath. And So what does he do?

He assigned to them permanent servitude that as long as they

would remain with the people of God for generations upon

generations, they would. Be servants to what capacity?

Let me show you in Joshua 9, verse 23.

Joshua 9:23

Now, therefore, Joshua's speaking.

Now therefore you are cursed, and some of you shall never be

anything but servants. Cutters of wood and drawers of

water. For what?

For the house. Of my God.

He emphasizes this in verse 27 in Joshua 9.

But Joshua made them that day, cutters of wood and drawers of

water, for the congregation and for the altar of the Lord.

To this day, in the place that he should choose, I believe the

non Levitical background and the responsibilities of the

Gibeonites aligned perfectly with this group known as the

Temple Servants. In other words, it's a high

possibility that the Temple Servants are Gibeonites and it

could be that over time they were formerly given to the

Levites to assist them in their labor.

And with that, the Nephanim and some of your translations became

their official title as a group. K solved, in my estimation at

least. But there's still more to

understand from this. What do they have to teach us?

What spiritual lessons do they have to offer us as Christians,

as followers of Christ? And I was meditating on this.

I was thinking, now that I know something about their history.

And here we are in Ezra. If the temple servants are

indeed the Gibeonites, they're now in a brand new land, They're

in Babylon. There's different rules.

Here. In other words, imagine being in

their shoes where as long as you were under this government, you

did not have the freedom to choose your own career.

You you couldn't explore and dream about your kids becoming

this or becoming that. You were held by an oath that

for the rest of your life and for generations to come, you

would disciple your kids to know how to cut wood and draw water

efficiently. In order to help the Levites

better do their work, so they can help the priest better do

their work. That is all that you are known

for. That is all you have to look

forward to. You are servants forever.

But then one day Babylon comes knocking on the door, takes you

and everybody else. Now there's no more temple.

Now there's really no more people.

At least for 70 years. Blank Slate.

A brand new opportunity not just for you, but for your

descendants, for your progeny. And now Cyrus speaks, and he

says whoever wants to go. Back.

Go back. I wonder what some of these

temple servants thought. Why would we go back to that?

Cutting wood and drawing water? We have a brand new life here.

Do you see? What I'm saying?

And then you come to Ezra too, and you read that the temple

servants, along with Solomon's servants, packed their bags and

made their way back to a destroyed temple to do their

part to resurrect it, to go back to their duties.

How do you make sense of this? I think there's only 1 logical

answer. Covenant.

Covenant. These temple servants understood

that they were joined to the people of God and they benefited

from the people of God and the promises that they inherited

from God. And so they were, they were

bound to this God and this people.

And even though they could have started all over, even though

they could technically make an excuse and not be blamed for

staying in Babylon, they said, no, no, no, no, no.

We are part of this group. We are part of this nation.

We serve this God. We're going back even if we have

to cut wood and draw water. This is a remarkable display of

unbreakable faithfulness. What you have with the temple

servants is a marvelous example of keeping your word.

It's a lost art today. Did you know that one of the

marks of a citizen of the Kingdom of God according to

Jesus Christ is how we make and keep oaths?

Did you know that? Read the Sermon of the Mount

carefully. Our Lord, our Savior, our Christ

desires of us to have such trustworthy character that you

will not even need to rely on a promise.

You would have to rely on elaborate kind of vow.

All it would require of you is a yes or no.

Imagine that. Imagine living to a degree of

trustworthiness where nobody has to squeeze out of you.

Do you promise? Do you swear on this?

Do you swear on that? I just, I just said yes.

That's it. Well, we want to be disciple,

right? This is discipleship.

This is discipleship, making oaths and keeping them.

And this is what we find here. You have here this group of

people who did not really have the most impressive tasks, who

are really stuck, but they made a promise.

They made a promise. Today it's more common for

people to break their promises. It's actually not even

surprising anymore. People break their promises all

the time. They said yes at the altar when

they got married. And all it takes is a few years

for that to mean nothing anymore.

People say yes in memberships when they become members of it.

And it takes very little for them to no longer hold up to

their covenant. It's it's becoming a lost

reality. And here's a Bible study to

remind us how beautiful. It is when somebody says yes and

they mean it even for generations to come.

May the Lord convict us, and I say us, including myself.

Who knew that you can learn something from the temple

servants? These men have menial jobs, but

giant character. They convicted me.

That's group number six. We still have two more.

Let's come now to group #7. This is probably the most

intriguing group listed in this genealogy, which we can label as

the following The unidentified. The unidentified.

Let's read from verse 59 down to verse 63.

The following were those who came up from Tell Mila, Tell

Harsha, Kirab, Adan, and Imer, though they could not prove

their father's houses or their descent, whether they belong to

Israel, the sons of Delaya, the sons of Tobiah, and the sons of

Nikoda. 600 and. 52 Also of the sons of the priest.

The sons of Habaya, the sons of Hecos, and the sons of Birsalai,

who had taken a wife from the daughters of Verzalai, the

Gileadite, and was called by their name.

These sought their registration among those enrolled in the

genealogies, but they were not found there, and so they were

excluded from the priesthood as unclean.

The governor told them that they were not to partake of the most

holy food until there should be a priest to consult Urim and

Thummim, the unidentified. The most important part of this

whole section is how these individuals and families could

not prove their father's houses or their descent, whether they

were part of Israel or not now, whether they lost their family

records while in exile or they were pretenders, or a mixture

of. Both is not exactly clear.

However, what the Holy Spirit wants to under score is the

vital importance of being able to prove your status and their

inability to do so. They couldn't so.

The call was out. We're going back to Jerusalem.

All the people of God pack your bags, make your way.

And you have some who came to the leaders and says we want to

go, but we don't know which family line we come from.

Hold on, you don't know. And and what's more staggering

are some of the priests who when they looked at the registration

like we can't find you here. And so they weren't outright

rejected, but they were severely limited.

What's the lesson here? Here's the spiritual lesson.

This is a staggering picture of those who cannot give a clear

testimony of their salvation. This is a strong illustrations

of professing Christians. Who do not know how to prove

that they are really of Christ. And we have many like this who

exist in our churches. By the way, they long to be part

of the community of God's people.

They can even recount their background growing up in church.

They might even show how they have been involved in some level

of ministry. But upon closer examination,

there's a troubling lack of spiritual evidence that they

actually belong to God's family. And this is more common than you

think. I can't tell you the amount of

conversations I've had with other pastors and even other

serious Christians. And maybe a name.

Or we discover mutual friends and at some point the question

is asked. Is so and so a believer?

And the horrific answers that surface along the lines of, you

know what I don't know? I mean, they come to church from

time to time and they seem nice and but when you talk to them,

it just, it's not that obvious. And sadly, this is something

that's becoming all so far too common.

And I want to ask you, is that something that people say about

your faith? Would that be said of you by

those who know you or who observe your life?

I have to say that there are far too many people in Christendom

who make it very difficult to confirm their testimony because

you look at their choices and you look at their social media

and you look at their priorities and you hear how they speak and

you're. I think you are, but I don't

know if you are. I've been to those funerals.

Those are the worst funerals. And I've mentioned this before

where the person has enough churchianity in their history,

but you don't know if they've really been been.

Born of God and you're wondering how confident do I have to be

behind that pulpit when I give this eulogy about where this

person is? This is exactly.

You have an Old Testament picture of that today.

Are you an Israeli? I think so.

I mean, my mom is this and what about.

OK. But yeah, I I visited Israel

before I've been there. Actually there's some mission

trips here in. The but what?

I need concrete proof and they're unable to provide it.

And perhaps you're here today and this group and this

genealogy resonates with you the most because you don't know if

you're saved. You might, you might have been

coming here week after week and you're like, I just like hearing

interesting thoughts from the Bible, But you don't know if

your heart has really been transformed by the Spirit of

God. And maybe that's troubled you.

I hope that's troubled you. I understand that there are

those who have a very sensitive conscience and they're godly and

they, they, you can smell the fruit of the spirit off their

lies And, and this and Satan, I'm not talking about that.

I'm talking about when you look at your own life, you can't

really determine I I'm a follower of Christ.

Can I let you know something? There is instruction here for

you. There are so many things that we

can pull out of this text, but I want us to look at what?

The governor told the priest in verse 63.

Look at verse 63 again. The governor told them that they

were not to partake of the most holy food until there should be

a priest to consult Urim and Thummim.

What are Urim and thummim? They're gemstones according to

the book of Exodus, that were kept by the High priest and were

used to make decisions or get clarity in a supernatural way by

God in cases. Such like this.

We're not told anywhere how the Urim and the Thummim worked.

There isn't this, you know, explanation or protocol of what

they would do. So there's debate about how this

worked. Were there, were there markings

on it that would shine? Would, would one turn this way

and another way? We, we don't have that.

And I think that's by God's wisdom, because there's a lot of

superstitious people out there who might try to copy this.

So it's veiled. And another thing that's

important is that you see no such practice in the New

Testament or any encouragement to seek God's will in this way.

You priests, or at least those who claim to be priests, you

cannot partake in the holy fruit of the temple or function as

priests until we figure out by God through the Urim and the

tomb if you are truly His. You and I don't have access to

such things. But we have another thing at our

disposal to confirm our status the Bible.

The Word of God. Did you know that the Bible

wants you to know with absolute certainty that you're a child of

God? The Bible, God's Word, does not

want you doubt for a moment. So the same man who wrote the

Gospel of John with the intent of seeing people say by

recognizing this Jesus Christ of Nazareth is indeed the Son of

God, wrote another epistle called First John.

And in First John, he's not writing so that people could

believe. He's writing to the believer so

that they would know that they have eternal life.

Here's a reference, First John 513.

Notice what John says in First John 513.

He writes here. I write these things to you who

believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that

you have eternal life. Let me give you this in case

anybody approaches you the way I've been approached.

There are different people on the spectrum of doubts that I

have talked to that that sometimes they even come

trembling eyes filled with tears.

Other people come dragging their feet.

Just curious. Hey, how do I know if I'm really

a Christian again? More more people were broken

than that, but I give them the same instructions.

You go to 1st John. And you read from cover to

cover. It should take you no longer

than 15 minutes. And ask yourself this, Can I

Amen all that John says about those who are born of God?

Just read it and read it again and check off every box.

Because John uses this kind of language.

Those who are born of God fill in the blank.

Phil and Blake are those who are born of God.

And what you need to do is come before that book and say, yes,

that's true of me. Yes, that is me.

Yes, I know that that happened to me two years ago.

That was a turning point. And if you can pass that test,

you can know that you have eternal life.

The Bible wants you to know. Don't be like those who don't

know because it is crippling. Notice that the priest could not

function as priest. You know, missionaries and

pastors of old would not hire people on their teams unless

those people knew for certainty that all their sins have been

forgiven. Did you know that that was one

of the requirements that if anybody wanted to be a

missionary, if anybody wanted to be an evangelist with these men

who have changed history through their ministries, they had to

know I have been forgiven of all my sins.

Because if you're not convinced, what, what are you going to

convey to those that you're preaching to?

So the Bible wants us to be totally assured.

And when you do doubt, even as a sincere believer, you don't stay

there. You fight for that assurance

with the truth and God will bring you there.

Because if you don't, it's going to impact your ministry.

It's going to impact your testimony.

It's going to impact your joy, which in fact impacts your

testimony. So the the unidentified is 1/7

group. But now we come to the eighth

group and this is an interesting one as well.

I called them the assets. The assets.

Look at verse 64. The whole assembly together was

42,360, besides their male and female servants, of whom they

were 7337, and they had 200 male and female singers, not the same

singers as the ones in the temple.

Their horses were 736, their mules were 245, their camels

were 435, and their donkeys were 6720.

Some of the heads of the families when they came to the.

House of the Lord that is in Jerusalem made free will

offerings for the House of God to erect it on its side.

According to their ability. They gave to the treasury of the

work 61,000 derricks of gold, 5000 meters of silver and 100

priests garments. So the Holy Spirit now wants to

tell us also the resources that join the people who went back,

the total number of people in this first wave.

Remember, this is just the first cycle of returnees.

We're still going to look at two more in our future studies.

Total that what 42,360 now. Besides that we learned that

there are just over 7000 male and female.

Servants. What does that tell you?

What does that tell you about your social status if you have a

servant? You're wealthy, so looks like

some of these families in Babylon became wealthy and they

brought their servants with them, which tells us that their

riches and their possessions did not hinder them from

prioritizing God's house. As much as riches and promotion

and growth and economy is a snare to many, it's possible in

this life to be successful and spiritual.

It just takes an incredible amount of discipline.

And you constantly asking God to satisfy your heart so that

you're not tempted for other things to attempt.

To satisfy your heart. These people with their servant

says we're going back. Oh, you can imagine their

estate, you can imagine their land, you can imagine their

comfort. But no, no, no, we're going back

to the rubble and we're going to do what we can to build God's

house. May God raise up more

businessmen like that in this place.

May God raise up more entrepreneurs like that in this

place. We don't get so caught up in

their own success, but use their success for the advancement of

an eternal thing. But not everybody was so

successful. Look at the numbers of the mules

and the horses and the camels. When you add them all up, it's

just over maybe 1000, but for 42,000 people it's clear that

wealth and resources were unevenly distributed.

So you have a mixed crowd of faithful returnees here, yet

some who are more wealthy, others who are not so.

And yet the Lord highlights something that is so incredibly

encouraging about their first investments for the House of God

once they came back to Jerusalem.

Do you realize now that we're back in the promised land at the

end of Ezra 2? This phrase soothe my soul.

Look here, verse 69 again, according to their ability, they

gave to the treasury of the work.

According to their ability, that's what God looked for.

For those who really want to do great things for God, for those

who have prayed, Lord, how, how can I give myself more to you?

That's a wonderful thing to desire and request, but you have

to be careful. You have to be careful that.

What you are? Doing for the Lord with with the

best of your ability is not discounted in your own sight, or

worse, thinking that God doesn't see it as valuable and as

beautiful. There was a change in my own

heart, if I can be transparent, when I finally realized early in

my walk what Christ really asked of me.

Because I remember being handed books of revivalists and

missionaries and people who won thousands to Christ and.

And the things that they endured and the persecution that they

evaded and the steadfastness of their faith though they were

being tortured. And I thought, what am I doing?

I'm a, I'm a 20 something year old studying creative

advertising in Toronto, Canada. Who am I?

Lord, launch me somewhere. I'll drop out right now.

Actually, just put me wherever you want to put me.

Let me do something for you. I'm limited here.

I'm trying to do the best I can. And in the sweetness of the

guidance of the Spirit, he began to show me things in his Word

that made me realize exactly what God was asking of me.

And the clearest memory I had was what Jesus said of Mary of

Bethany shortly before he would be killed.

You know the story very well that Jesus and his disciples are

having dinner, Mary and her siblings are in attendance.

And spontaneously Mary goes out and she gets this bottle of

perfume and she breaks it open, doesn't open it.

She breaks the neck, meaning I'm not taking a drawback, And she

pours it on Christ from head to toe.

And if you look at the Gospel accounts carefully, Judas was

the first one to criticize. What are you doing?

And then we're told that another gospel account that all the

disciples criticized. Because complaining is

contagious, isn't it? And Mary, what I love so much

about Mary's, wherever you see her in the New Testament, she's

at the feet of Jesus. In every scenario, she's at the

feet of Jesus. And in this final one, she, she

gives this extravagant sacrifice and she's being criticized.

She does not speak up for herself.

Christ defends her. And I want to read to you, don't

turn to just soak this in. I want to read to you what Jesus

Christ, the Son of the living God, said about this woman in

her attempt to show honor to her Christ before he would die.

He says in Mark 14-6, leave her alone.

Why do you trouble her? She has done a beautiful thing

to me. She has done a beautiful thing

to me. And you can think, OK, so Lord,

if if you want me to do a beautiful thing to you, do you

want me to just like empty my bank account and give it to my

local? What is it that what is

beautiful to your site? And then you read on verse 7 For

you always have the poor with you and whenever you want you

can do good for them, but you will not always have me.

And here it is in verse 8. She has done what she could.

That's the phrase. She has done what she could.

She has anointed my body beforehand for burial.

What was beautiful in the sight of Christ.

Mary doing what she could so. You might be sitting here and

thinking, I only have so much time.

My body can handle only so much. I only really have one gift that

I think God has given me, but I look over there and that person

has five. And that person, it's like no

matter what they do it, it turns into gold.

I just have this. If you're not careful, you can

think to yourself, I don't know if this really means much to the

Lord. You find it in the old, you find

it in the new. All Christ is looking for is for

you to do what you can, and if in the sincerity of your heart

you are doing it with all that you can, though you may have all

these restrictions and obstacles, it will be beautiful

to Him. Do you understand this?

It will be beautiful to Him. The last verse of Ezra.

Just as a conclusion of chapter 2.

Now the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers,

the gatekeepers and the temple servants lived in their towns

and all the rest of Israel in their towns.

What stands out to you about that verse?

Who came back to Jerusalem? A remnant from primarily 2

tribes, Judah and Benjamin. What does the Holy Spirit say

the rest of Israel? Wait a minute, Israel was taken

by the Assyrians many years before this.

So what's going on here? We have another instance where

Ezra by the Spirit speaks of all Israel, not just Judah, because

it reminds us that in God's eyes, even though the small

remnant comes back, He has in view the eventual restoration of

all of His covenant people. Let's pray.

Thank you, Lord, that you have used these two weeks to show us

the glory of this genealogy. Thank you that we have put in

the depths of our hearts these gems from these different

groups. Thank you, Lord, that you showed

us multiple ways how we can honor you, and you've warned us

in multiple ways as well. Lord, we are, as you know, a

very forgetful people. And Lord, if we forget much of

what we've learned these past two Fridays, help us remember

this, that whenever we encounter genealogy in your word, to not

dismiss it, but to believe that your voice is there, that

inspiration is there, that gold is there, and that you're ready

to speak to us and furnish us through a list of names and

numbers. Oh Lord, we we just end with the

final thought of our study. Remind us that you were just

after what we can give you. I pray that that would comfort

the mom of four. I pray that that would comfort

the man working 2 jobs. I pray that that would comfort

the one who has a disability. Show us what you ask of us and

Lord, may we trust that it is pleasing in your sight.

We worship you because we've heard you today.

In Jesus name we pray. Amen.

Amen. If you want to remain seated and

respond to any of these truths from your heart, you're free to

do that. If you want to stand and join

the praising to sing to the Lord, you're invited to do that

as well. But whatever you do, take these

next few minutes to really speak to the Lord and give Him your

heart.