Ezra 2 (Part 1) Bible Study (The Exiles Return) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (Book of Ezra Series)

Let's turn in our Bibles now to Ezra chapter 2.

Ezra 2 · chapter mention

Maybe you're already there, but if you're here visiting us, if

you're here joining us in this journey for the first time, we

are beginning Ezra chapter 2. And before we start this new

Ezra 2 · chapter mention

chapter, it's important to remember that the return of the

Exiles from Babylon will very much mirror their removal from

the promised land, in that their recovery and their restoration

will not happen all at once. It will actually take place in

three major waves. The first cycle will be led by a

man named Zerubbabel, who we will learn more about tonight.

The second will be led by Ezra himself.

And finally, we will see Nehemiah guiding a remnant back

to the promised land. Unless we think that these

cycles happen in close succession.

In reality, they all took place around 100 years over a span of

a century, close to a century at least.

So these these didn't happen one after another.

There was actually gaps in between these movements.

And in a moment, we're about to explore the very first steps of

the first Jews who were in captivity for decades now,

making their way back to what God had originally promised

them. And the way the Holy Spirit is

going to unfold this pivotal moment in the history of God's

people is by recording and providing for us in remarkable

detail the names of those who responded to the invitation

given by Cyrus. Now, if we're honest, although

the significance of this text is monumental, the content may not

be the most exhilarating because if you look quickly, the last

verse there, there might be a number.

There should be a number in your Bible.

At least we have the number 7070 verses of all virtually names

with little commentary. And so at first we might be

struck with the thought, what value does this provide God's

people, especially today? Well, clearly it's meaningful,

and not just because it's found in the Scriptures, but because

this very same registry is actually repeated in another

part of the Bible. This very same genealogy is

found in the book of Nehemiah when he decided to update the

population of the returnees and use this very same catalog as a

resource. So if you like taking notes of

references, here's one. To begin with, in the margin of

your Bibles, Nehemiah 7 five. Let me read it to you.

This is what he says as he's about to introduce almost a copy

paste of what we're about to study this evening.

Nehemiah 75 reads. Then my God put it into my heart

to assemble the nobles and the officials and the people to be

enrolled by genealogy. And I found the book of the

genealogy of those who came up at the 1st and I found written

in it. And that's where the verse ends.

So this verse shows US1 what we already confirmed that what

we're about to look at is the first way, right?

Nehemiah says that himself. But I believe there are many

reasons why this particular text would be valuable to the

original readers. Let me give you a few.

Number one, this was God's way of honoring those who made the

sacrifice of going back to a land that was devastated,

brought to absolute ruin, and left behind their community,

left behind their success, left behind their comfort zone with

the priority of rebuilding God's house. 70 years.

Just imagine what your neighborhood would look like if

it was unkept for 70 days. What about 70 months?

70 years? This is not an attractive

endeavor. This would be extremely

challenging. This would be something that

would demand much faith and again, sacrifice.

And we could say right from the beginning, the fact that these

names are mentioned is a way of God the Holy Spirit honoring

those who took this bold action for His name's sake.

Secondly, this would be a document that would grant

confidence to the people of Israel about their covenantal

relationship with God remaining intact, that despite their

expulsion from the promised land, despite years of being

separated from what God had granted them.

This would reveal no, no, no, we have our identity still.

We have proof that we are still connected to Abraham.

So this would reassure the people of God that God has not

abandoned us. He's not erased us from history.

He still has a purpose for us. There's still hope.

Finally, very close to the second point, this would also

serve as a validation of the ancestry of the Jewish people

for generations to come. For what purpose?

Demonstrating that their return to the land was their inherited

right. This is your right, people of

Judah. This is your invitation to

somebody that already belongs to you.

And so we can look at this text as Christians and think this is

irrelevant to me, but to the Jews, even to this day, this was

a historical landmark providing so much promise and so much

hope. But what about us?

What does this text offer the Christian?

How does this apply to those who have pledged their allegiance to

the Son of God under the New Covenant?

Well, this Bible study hopefully will prove that it has much to

offer, but it will require patience, and it will demand

careful attention in order to unearth the treasures within.

And maybe you're like the average reader who comes to Ezra

Ezra 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2 and immediately thinks, where do I even begin

with interpretation or application?

And I want to offer some help. The first step is simple.

It's to read through this catalog and to realize that this

long list of names and and cities and towns and numbers are

actually grouped differently. And though you may have

different people group these sections and these different

categories, there's debate about what should be included, what

should be excluded. Personally, I think that there

are 8 solid classifications, 8 solid classes, groups,

distinctions of those who will make their way back to the

promised land. And when you understand that and

you make that distinction, it makes all of this a lot more

manageable. It's not as overwhelming.

And so tonight, we're not going to look at all 8.

Originally, I thought we're going to complete this chapter

in one sitting, but then as I looked more carefully, I

realized that there's too much too much here for us to rush

through. And so we're actually only going

to go through three. We're going to look at the first

3 and I'm sure you'll see why we need to do that.

And so let's begin here by reading the first group

mentioned in Ezra 2, one to two. Now these were the people of the

province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles from

whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, had carried captive to

Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and

Judah, each to his own town. They came with Zerubbabel,

Joshua, Nehemiah, Soraya, Realiah, Mordecai, Bilshan,

Mizpahr, Bigvi, Rehum, and Banna, the number of the men of

the people of Israel. We'll stop there.

Can we pray and ask God's help? Lord, we pray that in a perhaps

intimidating text like this, you would bring illumination in a

way that would bring you so much glory, in a way that would

captivate all our hearts to stand in awe of Your Word.

So we need the help of the Holy Spirit to arrive there, and we

have come in faith, trusting that you will teach us and that

Lord, you will receive worship because of it.

We thank you in advance. In the name of Jesus we pray.

Amen. If you're taking notes again,

the first group that is underscored here are the

leaders, the leaders of this first movement, this first wave

of exiles returning to the land. And as much as we would like to

think that the Nehemiah and Mordecai that are mentioned in

these verses are the same ones from the books that we are

familiar of Nehemiah and Esther, they are not.

They come much later in the story.

And you just have to remember that there are people even in

biblical times that had the same names and every generation had

popular names, and these might be some of them.

So these are not the same characters.

What we are faced with instead are unfamiliar individuals, 11

of them to be exact. But when you look at Nehemiah's

version, there is an added name bringing the total to 12.

And it could be that the number 12 in terms of the leaders is

meant to symbolize the totality of God's people who are now

being restored to the Lord and their covenantal relationship

with Him. What is more obvious, however,

is that the leader of the leaders is Zerubbabel.

He's the first one mentioned and as we read through this story,

we will learn that Zerubbabel was the appointed governor of

the re established inhabitants of Jerusalem and Judah and will

play a key role in rebuilding the temple.

But he's more than that. More texts will show that

Zerubbabel was not just a trusted leader, he was a

descendant of David. He's actually from the royal

line, which again makes him the heir to the throne, but also the

ancestor 1 ancestor of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Zerubbabel appears in another genealogy, the one that belongs

to our Lord in Matthew 112 to 13.

His name is found there. Now this is remarkable.

This is this is where we need to pause and ponder because if you

do, you will relish in the depth of God's faithfulness.

Think about it. God did not just preserve his

people over these 70 years in exile.

He did not just safeguard the articles of the temple.

He actually protected the Davidic line.

He did not abandon or forget his messianic plan.

This is amazing against all odds, through so much

decimation, devastation after years and years and years of

captivity. One of the first things we learn

in this chapter is that God still has the promise he made to

David in mind, and He wants us to see his faithfulness in it.

But the royal line is not the only thing that he preserved.

There's also the priestly line. How do we know that with a name

that comes immediately after Zerubbabel?

Joshua. Is he not there?

Joshua. Now Joshua, if we look at Ezra

3/2, look at it quickly, just flip over there for a moment,

you'll realize what his role is among the leaders.

It says you're in Ezra 3, two. Then arose Joshua the son of

Josadak with his fellow priests, and Zerubbel the son of Shaltial

with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel

to offer burnt offerings on it. He's a priest.

He's a priest, but when you read texts like Hegei 11, for

example, he's not just a priest, he's the high priest of this

time. This is fascinating.

So you have in the first names mentioned in this genealogy, a

call to remembrance that God has now preserved the royal line and

the priestly line. And as encouraging as this is,

as much as this duo will do much for the restoration of the

people of God and their walk with God, right?

Because what we're going to find is that they are working side by

side frequently. They're mentioned together.

They're almost inseparable in their partnership.

They point to a coming leader. They point to one who will

combine both offices, who'll be both king and priest, and he

will do something far greater what they were able to

accomplish. He will bring the people of

Israel to an everlasting covenant, to a superior way of

worship, to an ultimate relationship and contract with

God. And we know that the Hebrew

Scriptures predict this in the person of Jesus Christ.

That leader arrived 2000 years ago, and we are living in the

reality of the captain of our salvation, who is still now not

just drawing the Jewish people, but all nations, and he's

delivering them and he's rebuilding them, and he is, more

importantly, regenerating them, and He's creating a new people

in preparation for his Kingdom to come and to be established

for all eternity. Who thought that we can find

Christ in a text like this? But he's there.

Zerubbabel and Jeshua, yes, separately, but working

together, pointing to one who combined these things, the seed

of David and a priest after the order of Melchizedek, Jesus

Christ of Nazareth. But before we move on, we also

have to observe something practical about these leaders.

They show the importance of leadership, and this is

something for us to consider even as Christians, as the

Church of Jesus Christ. I find it fascinating that when

the Lord stirred the hearts of this remnant to return to

Jerusalem, that move of the Spirit led to structure and

order, not chaos and confusion. When the Spirit of God was

working in the hearts of the people, you didn't have these

Jews saying every man for himself, every family for

himself, and independently make their way back home.

Evidently they rally together and they put some structure.

They appointed their leaders and they understood their own

separate roles. And here's the lesson for us.

There are many ways, even unique ways, that a move of God, a work

of God, can begin. But in order for that work to

last, it requires proper, biblically qualified leadership,

among other things. You see, without spirit

appointed leadership, a genuine move of God becomes vulnerable

to many dangers that can spoil or even snuff out that work.

That's important in a day and age like today.

That is vehemently against the idea of authority, but you find

this principle throughout the Scriptures.

The one that came to mind is what Paul instructed Titus in

Titus 1/5 and Titus 15. Paul says This is why I left you

in Crete, that you may put what remained into order and appoint

what elders and every town as I directed you.

That was one of the priority things that Paul instructed

Titus when he had left them back in this region.

So you had evidently souls who were saved in Crete.

We don't have any record of that in Acts or other places in the

New Testament, but clearly it happened.

Souls were saved and one of the first top things that needed to

be done almost with urgency. Find leaders, find pastors

qualified, called by God so they can supervise and they can

supply the needs and they can shepherd these souls.

This is amazing. God is a God of order.

God is a God who has given us a blueprint, A blueprint that has

positions, a blueprint that calls for accountability, A

blueprint that again calls for organization.

Because, again, God's Spirit can do many things, and He can do it

in things in ways that can't even be copied.

But if that thing is going to last, it needs to have, among

other things, qualified leadership.

Be careful of those who downplay or ignore the necessity of the

local church elders. Accountability.

God has commanded certain things to be in place in order for His

work to be sustained through His people.

So those who promote and even teach, oh, we don't need this

and we don't need that. I have me and my Bible.

We'll read it carefully and see what it asks of you.

And if you read it honestly and in humility, it's going to lead

you to a church and it's going to call you to identify and

prayerfully select leaders who will be held accountable for

supervising your soul. They will stand before.

There is going to be a separate line on Judgement Day for

pastors realize that according to James three, those who teach

God's word and so leadership needs to stand in awe of God and

the people of God also need to stand in awe of God and both

realizing their need for one another.

More can be said about that. But this is the first group, the

leadership of this movement. But we move on now to the second

part of verse 2 to look at the second group of people.

And you can write it and you can categorize it as the following,

the men of Israel, the men of Israel.

And you can put in parentheses the families of Israel.

Notice again the last part of verse 2, the number of the men

of the people of Israel. What should stand out to you

about that part of verse 2? You would think that it would

read the people of Judah or the people of Judah and Benjamin.

Why? Because those were the tribes

who were dislodged, who were removed by Nebuchadnezzar.

But again, you have yet another clear indication that God is

beginning a new work and he is wanting to encompass all his

people. He wants to restore the unity of

the nation, and he's using this kind of language, Israel.

Israel's coming back. It just shows us God's longing

for the unity of his people in every generation.

And this is refreshing to us after centuries of studying what

a divided Kingdom, northern tribes, the southern Kingdom.

But as the people are coming back now, the language is

changing. It's going back to its original

design. Now, within this long list, the

names that you find here are actually organized into two

subgroups, and they're easy to remember.

You have the the recordings of those who are listed by family,

the sons of the sons of the sons of and you have those who are

identified by their towns or their villages, the men of the

men of. That's how you tell the

difference between the two. And although we can attempt to

spend our time looking at every single detail, I want to under

score at least one, one family and one town.

One family and 1 town and the first family is what I want us

to look at the top of the list of verse 3.

Let's look at verse 3, the sons of perish 2172.

So if you compare this family with the rest, they rank among

the highest and the largest of families returning back to

Jerusalem. That says something about the

value system of this family. That says something about their

shared faith and making this decision.

A lot of them have hundreds, and there are a few others that are

are up there with the thousands. But the Sons of Perish are up

there in terms of how many are going back from a single unit.

And this should be encouraging to us, but it's also a warning.

Do you know why it's a warning? This very same family reappears

at the end of the book of Ezra, when the Holy Spirit, through

Ezra, puts on record those who became guilty of the sin of

interfaith marriage. That after years of returning

and settling in the land, there were many of the Exiles who

committed the grievous sin, one of the sins that actually led to

their exile to begin with, by yoking themselves to idolaters.

And I want you to see who first appears on the list among the

men of Israel. I'm sure you can guess, but look

at Ezra 10 verse 25, Ezra 10 verse 25, and of Israel, of the

Ezra 10:25 Ezra 10:25

sons of Perosh, Ramaya, Izia, Malkia, Miemin, Eliezer,

Heshabaya, and Binaya. What a sobering warning of how

our spiritual senses can grow dull over time.

The same men whose spirits were stirred by God to leave comfort

and community for a wasteland to glorify the Lord.

Over time, we're stirred by intense lust to partner in

marriage with those who hate the God of Israel and the truth.

And you and I, looking at this, learn a very valuable truth.

We cannot afford our devotion to Christ to ride on a single

moment or series of events. We must nurture and guard our

hearts daily, every day, every week, every month, year by year.

They were stirred in Ezra chapter 1.

Ezra 1 · chapter mention

Surely Ezra 2 proves it. They made their way back to

Jerusalem where their hearts still stirred in Ezra 10.

Evidently, no, you can't. You can't afford to rest your

faithfulness upon some past experience.

We are forgetful. We are easily distracted.

It requires a daily effort to seek the Lord, to plant your

eyes on Him, and to feed your soul with His word and to

fellowship in His presence. The sons of Paris show us that

you can start well, but overtime lose track and even return to

the very things that you you said you would never do again.

Oh, what a sobering lesson. And this is what we learned from

at least one family. Can you imagine what else we can

learn if we look at more? But we won't.

We're going to read now, and this is where it's going to

demand your attention. We're going to make an attempt

to read through all these names and stop at verse 23.

Can we do that? Verse 4.

The sons a chef Ataya 372. The sons of Ara, 775.

The sons of Payath Moab, namely the sons of Joshua and Joab,

2812. The sons of Elam, 1254.

The sons of Zatu 945. The sons of Zakai, 760.

The sons of Banai, 642. The sons of Bibai, 623.

The sons of Asghat, 1222. The sons of Adonikem, 666.

The sons of Big Vai, 2056. The sons of Aden, 454.

The sons of Eder, namely of Hezekiah, 98.

The sons of Bizai, 323. The sons of Jorah, 112.

The sons of Haisham, 223. The sons of Gibar, 95.

The sons of Bethlehem, 123. The men of Nitophat, 56.

The men of Anathoth, 128. I was stopped in my tracks when

I came to verse 23, and the same should be true of you.

Does Anathoth sound familiar to anybody here?

Any idea why this town is significant?

It is the hometown of Jeremiah the prophet according to

Jeremiah 11. And what's amazing about this

hometown is it not only had a claim to fame, if you will,

unfortunately, they developed a notorious reputation for

persecuting Jeremiah. And so ugly and nasty was their

treatment of the servant of God that the Lord addressed this

specific town in the book of Jeremiah and gave a very

harrowing promise. Jeremiah 11.

Let's turn there and see what happens.

Jeremiah 11, verse 21. Says therefore thus says the

Jeremiah 11:21

Lord concerning the men of Anathoth who seek your life and

say, do not prophecy in the name of the Lord, or you will die by

our hand. Can you imagine this men from

your hometown, children that you grew up with on the streets,

playing families that integrated with your own, are so sick and

tired of your ministry, are so turned off by the word of the

Lord through your mouth, that they threatened to actually kill

you? Let's read on in verse 22.

Therefore thus says the Lord of Hosts, Behold, I will punish

them. The young men shall die by the

sword, their sons and their daughters shall die by famine,

and none of them shall be left, for I will bring disaster upon

the man of Anathoth the year of their punishment.

If you have never read the book of Ezra, or maybe you have but

decide to skip chapter 2 because you glance at the list and

thought this isn't really important to me, and then you

come to this text. For example, you might arrive at

the conclusion that when God spoke and promised to destroy

the men of Anathot that he did so completely.

This sounds like total annihilation at face value, does

it not? I will destroy you.

None of them shall be left. But then you come to Ezra

Ezra 2 · chapter mention

chapter 2, and you read down that list, and you make a

startling discovery. The men of Anathoth are still

around #1 and #2 they're actually going back to

Jerusalem. What an important reminder never

to skip any part of the Bible. And more than that, this

genealogy teaches us that the Lord not only preserve the

remnant of this condemned town, but stirred their hearts to come

back home. Did he judge the the generation

that harassed his servant Jeremiah?

Yes, he did, But He did not hold their sin against them forever.

And when it came to this move of God in Babylonia after Cyrus the

king of Persia took over, God did not skip over the men of

Anathoth when he decided to woo his people back into his arms.

You would think if we had that kind of power and scanning

through the Exiles and finding the men of Anathoth, oh, yeah.

You were the ones who didn't believe my word through my

prophet. You were so despicable, so

disrespectful, so persistent in your rebellion.

How about you stay in Babylon? It's actually what you deserve.

It's not what the Lord does. This move, this moved me so

deeply that here, these men with a very dark past, very

dishonorable history, had their spirits moved by the hand of

God. It's time to go home.

It's time to come back. It's time to go back to the

promise that I even gave you. Who who thought that you can be

moved by the grace of God in a list of names?

But it's there. And what a refreshing thing for

us, who might even have many failures, that every time you

even think about it makes you cringe, makes you ashamed, makes

you want to hide. Look at the men of Anathoth and

look at the grace of God in this.

He can restore anybody. And you look at these other

names in these other towns, and that's just reinforced over and

over. It's amazing when you actually

look at the accounts of these towns and these families and

their histories, how much this chapter drips with mercy.

This is the second group, the men of Israel, And we just

looked at one family and 1 town, and there's a lot left in there

for you to discover on your own. Let's come to the last one for

our study where we will spend the most time.

We read to verse 23, but let's come down here to verse 36.

The priests, the sons of Jediah of the House of Joshua, 973 The

sons of Imr, 1052 The sons of Pashur, 1247 The Sons of Harem

1017 verse 40. The Levites, the sons of Joshua

and Cadmiel, and the sons of Hoda Vaya 74 Now it would be

totally acceptable to separate the priests and the Levites in

their own categories, but I chose to merge them under a

single heading. So here's the third group, the

priests and the Levites. Now, remember, every priest in

the Old Covenant had to be a Levite, but not every Levite was

a priest. Within the Levitical tribe, you

had one family that was set apart to be the priestly line.

Which family? The sons of who?

Aaron. Very good.

So only the sons of Aaron were permitted to offer sacrifices,

for example, and other functions within the House of God.

So then what about the Levites? What, what, what were they

called to? Well, they were ministers as

well, but they were called by God to assist the priests.

In fact, when you look at the Book of Numbers, the Levites are

called a gift to the sons of Aaron.

They would, in many helpful and practical ways, help and assist

the priest in doing what they were called to do, but they

could not be priests in the same way.

So the Levites were ministers in and around the temple, but they

were never to be priest. Only the descendants of Aaron

were permitted to do so. And here's what we have to ask

ourselves when looking at this. There's a staggering

observation. If you have only one family

within the Levitical tribe that were called to be priest,

wouldn't that mean then that the rest of the Levites would

naturally outnumber the priests? Wouldn't there be more Levites

than sons of Aaron? Answer yes.

And in fact, when you look at other genealogies in the Bible

and the priests are accounted for in comparison to the

Levites, the Levites always, always, always outnumber the

sons of Aaron. Did you see the numbers that we

just read? Look at it again.

Compare the numbers of verse 36 down to verse 39 with what we

find in verse 40. Look at it again.

The sons of Jediah and verse 36 of the House of Jeshua in 973.

The sons of Emer, 1052. The sons of Pascha, 1247.

The sons of Harem, 1017. These are the priests.

These are the sons of Aaron. And then you come to verse 40.

What do you discover? The Levites, the sons of Jeshua

and Cadmium, the sons of Hodavaya 74 That's strange.

That doesn't seem right. Now some want to say, well, hold

on. Look at what we find next in

verse 41. The singers, the sons of Asaph

128 The sons of the gatekeepers. Scroll down in all 139.

Well, singers and gatekeepers were what?

They were also Levites. OK, but even if you combine

them, they are still far fewer in number than the sons of

Aaron. Now, in case one might think

maybe we're reading too much into the small inclusion of the

Levites, I want to actually let you know that it was a concern

to another person, not a commentator, not a modern day

theologian, to Ezra. Who was the one who led the

first wave back to Jerusalem? What's his name?

Very good. Who is the 2nd leader of the

second wave? Ezra.

Very good. Look what Ezra does in Ezra 8,

Ezra 8, verse one, just to confirm that this is his own

genealogy of the men and the families that he led back to the

Promised Land, Ezra 8, verse one.

These are the heads of the father, their father's houses.

And this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from

Babylonia in the reign of Arctic Xerxes, the king.

So this is his own genealogy now of the people that he led back.

Now Scroll down to verse 15 of Ezra 8.

Ezra writes in verse 15. I gather them to the river that

runs Sahaba and there we camped 3 days.

As I reviewed the people and the priest, I found there none of

the sons of Levi. Then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel,

Shamaya, El Nathan, Jereb El Nathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and

Meshulan leading men, and for Joy Rib and Al Nathan, who are

men of insight, and sent them to Edo, the leading man at the

place of Casafia, telling them what to say to Edo and his

brothers and the temple servants at the place Casafia, namely to

send us ministers for the House of our God.

So Ezra, on his journey back, stops.

He pauses, He reviews the registry and he realizes we

don't have any Levites. And So what does he do?

He begins a recruitment campaign and he sends trusted men to go

back to Babylonia under a new ruler at this point.

And he says, hey, find as many Levi's as you can and call them

to their original purpose, and that is to serve God and his

people. This is shocking.

Chapter 2, in the first wave, you have 74 Levites, and then

when the second cycle begins, that number goes down to what,

0? And this is the question that I

had. How is it that the very people

who are set apart from all the other tribes to have unique

access to the House of God and the elements of the place of

worship and being in close proximity to the presence of the

Lord? How is it that such a privilege

group were so reluctant to return to their inheritance?

And people speculate, people guess.

And I believe there is one answer that makes the most

sense. What did Jeremiah instruct the

people when they were in exile in Jeremiah 29?

He gave him many instructions and one of them we reviewed last

week. Build homes, plant gardens, eat

of the fruit of the land, have families.

You're going to be there a while.

Pray for the welfare of the city, because in their welfare

you will have welfare. Now.

You can imagine how difficult it would be after almost 2

generations of investments. To suddenly uproot yourself,

pack your bags, and walk away from it all.

To go back to what? A destroyed city with virtually

no resources, surrounded by vicious enemies?

How much harder would it be for a Levite who could never own

land in Israel? God was their inheritance.

Remember, they did not have the right to own real estate.

That's how they were differentiated from all their

siblings. I'm your inheritance.

God says you live by faith. I'll call the other ones to take

care of you. So they only lived in cities

within the tribes of the promised land and here now they

come to a brand new country and they're actually granted homes

and fields. They don't have to wait for the

yearly tides. They can actually just walk in

their slippers and go to the backyard and pick their own

fruits and vegetables and they can even sell it.

And what you have here is an honest commentary of a

temptation that has kept many throughout history from obeying

the call of God into full time ministry, held back by money,

held back by worldly pursuits, held back by pressures even from

their own family. There have been many since the

days of the prophets who have reluctantly answered the call of

God, or even though they answered it disqualified

themselves because they they went after things that God said

was not yours. And so this shows us the

temptation of the world for the one who's been genuinely

summoned by the Lord to serve him in the capacity of

vocational full time service to him.

But it's not limited to that. It is true for those who have

received the nudge from the Holy Spirit and providential

confirmation to pursue something like full time ministry.

But it's it's also a call for those who are so invested and

consumed by the world that they don't have any room in their

lives to serve Christ. And I find it so amazing that

this illustration of a haunting temptation that looms over so

many, even perhaps some who are listening to me now, does not

just stay in the Old Testament. It shows up in so many different

illustrations and even one that looks similar to this in the New

Testament. When I when I found this earlier

this week, I rejoiced because of God's Providence and what we

heard last Sunday. Do you remember who we spoke

about for those who were here for the baptism service?

Barnabas, the son of encouragement.

And do you remember what we learned about Barnabas?

One of the first insights about him, in fact, the introduction

to him in our Bibles. Let me remind you, and maybe for

those who have never seen this or weren't with us last Sunday

in Acts 4, Barnabas was what a Levite.

And what does Barnabas do as a Levite?

Acts 436 when the church was experiencing revival and out of

the abundance of people's hearts we're giving to the poor and the

needy, Acts 436 reads. Thus Joseph, who was also called

by the apostles, Barnabas, which means son of encouragement, A

Levite, a native of Cyprus, sold a field that belonged to him and

brought the money and laid it at the apostles feet.

Do you see how understanding the Old Testament helps you

interpret the new? If you didn't know the Levites

or how they were called by God and what was permitted and what

was prohibited, you can just read by this and just think.

OK yeah, Barnabas was a kind man and he was clearly a Jew.

No, no he wasn't. He was more than a Jew, he was a

Levite. What's a Levite doing selling

land? You shouldn't be owning land.

God didn't allow you to own land.

So we have, we only have two answers here.

One, like many of God's commands over time, they were not as

binding. They were not taken as

seriously. Or two, because we learned he

was a native of Cyprus. His land was there.

So you can imagine how hard it was for a man like Barnabas as

he witnessed and saw a genuine move of God with the essential

message that the Messiah has come, is now wanting to,

prompted by God to give up land. And he does so, so willingly, so

joyfully that it was a means of encouragement to others.

Yes, he came from a heritage that could not experience this.

The safety and the comfort. I can pass this down to my

children. That didn't matter to Barnabas.

He saw the cause of Christ and the message of Christ worth

everything he had and when he had opportunity to give in his

own way. And this is not a call for us to

just sell everything. That's that's not the message.

It's to give yourself over completely.

He did so look at how Barnabas is so much more different than

the Levites in Ezra chapter 274 down to 0 with such a wide open

door to go back and to actually be one of The Pioneers of

rebuilding the House of God and ministering to the people of God

from the presence of God. And they thought my cucumber

field is better than that. You think that's silly?

OK, there are people like, like the Levites today who are

slaving over the silliest of things.

And then you meet Barnabas. And he reminds us, I'm sure even

of what we find here in Ezra, that there was something far

greater than a temple, far greater than land, far greater

than borders and walls, far greater than regions and

mountain tops and land flowing with milk and honey.

Christ, Christ, where's our excuse with someone so much

greater than whatever they had under the old covenant?

How can there even be hesitation in any person's heart or mind to

do whatever Christ asks of them? Don't we not have a greater

promise? Do we not have a greater king?

Do we not have a greater covenant?

Imitate this man and beware of falling to the trap of the

Levites in Ezra chapter 2. Is there anything you're holding

Ezra 2 · chapter mention

back tonight? Is God calling you to something

and it's been weeks? It's been months and you

hesitate to answer because you're afraid what He might ask

of you. You know those Levites who

stayed back? Can you imagine what they missed

out on? The prophecies that would be

shared through the prophets in that restored place?

The privilege of being able to, though they didn't know, have

their names written in God's word for all to see.

It may seem like a sacrifice now, but when you really think

about it, it's a privilege always.

It's always an honor, no matter what the Lord asks of us.

I mean, you're here for how long?

On average, 72 years. Give every part of who you are

to him, just every day. Lord, it's yours every day.

Pray something like this, Lord, Whatever you ask of me, I will

gladly give it. Now, encouragingly, some of

those Levites that Ezra invited did join them.

But what a sad sight to see here at the outset of chapter 2.

That's so few, so few did. We'll stop here before we

continue in the other categories and give thanks to the Lord for

how He spoke to us tonight. Well, we do thank you that even

through verses like this, there's gold and silver and

precious stones. Lord, it is my prayer that every

person here would be inspired, that every part of the Bible

speaks. And Lord, help us remember that

it takes the whole Bible to make a whole Christian.

So Lord, may we never be negligent of any book, any list

of names. May we always remember that

you've designed your word to be cross referenced.

Your word interprets itself. So by your grace, may we mature

even with things like names and cities.

And more than that, help us see Christ, the foreshadowings, the

promises. We want it all.

We want it all, Lord, we pray for our leaders, that they would

be strong, they would be holy, they would be God.

Fearing that you would raise up more leaders so that when your

spirit moves, when revivals break out, when mass evangelism

takes place, that work could be sustained because there are

right leaders ready to serve God's people.

We pray, Lord, as we saw with these families and these towns,

that we would not be like the sons of Parachu in the

beginning, we're so zealous and committed, but overtime became

cold and indifferent and even dangerous in their decision

making. At the same time, we think of

the men of Anathoth who are undeserving of experiencing the

move of the Holy Spirit in their hearts, but were recipients of

it. We see the hint of your mercy

even in that. And we pray for those who are

broken and wounded listening to this study, that they would also

sense your Spirit stirring in their hearts.

And Lord, we look at the priests and the Levites, and we see your

wonderful grace in preserving the royal and the priestly line.

But oh Lord, these Levites, what discouragement is this?

Lord, if there's anything of this world that's holding us

back from giving our all to you and being a part of building

your house, show us how foolish and how feeble these things are

that we may be constantly ready to run in the direction of Your

call for our lives. For some that might be full time

ministry. For others, it may just be a

place in the church where they can fill a gap and they can

serve the purposes of God within the local assembly.

Lord, we are eager to see the other groups and what you have

to teach us. Until then, may these Drews

marinate in our hearts and bleed into our souls and change us.

For your glory and your name we pray.

Amen. Let's stand and worship the

Lord. Give him thanks.

Let's give him. Let's give him thanks for Genie,

all of the Geez, tonight. We thank you for those names.

We thank you for those numbers. We thank you that your wisdom is

woven in between it all. You know, over the years, I have

heard people who would dare to handle a text like that.

And I've been more discouraged than encourage of how that was

done. And one of the reasons for that

is because the impression that was given as it was being

expounded was this is almost like silly, like let's just do

this to get it over with because it's there and it's God's word,

and let's just try our best here.

And so frivolous, even borderline irreverent.

But I'll be honest, if you came to me in the first few years of

my walk with the Lord and said, you know, you can actually

worship God in this genealogy through this genealogy, that

would probably hard be hard for me to believe at first.

But I'll tell you something so early in the study of Ezra,

especially in this chapter, because of the nature of the

framework of this text and what I was discovering as I was

reading on. And there's things that were

even left out. I worshipped, I worshiped God in

my study. I found myself at a new level of

worship. Lord, this is incredible.

I'm, I'm just like God's voice was vibrating through those

names and those numbers. And I thought one of my main

prayers for this study was I want every person there to feel

the same way. And I hope your heart is

encouraged and don't be frustrated and don't, don't beat

yourself up. If you're like Anathoth,

Anathoth, come on, man. I would have read right back

that I would have probably, I don't know what I would have

done with Anathoth. This is what the study is for,

not just for you to hear, but to be equipped not just to learn,

but to be built up, and over time you will develop the lens

as we endeavour to do this together, to see gold in every

part of God's Word. Amen.

We do worship you, Lord. We actually almost tremble,

Lord, in your presence with a text like this, to see just your

wisdom and your brilliance and your glory behind every aspect

in detail. We come before you in lowliness,

but also with excitement, thinking this is truly Your

word. Oh, we pray that that would be

our realization every morning when we wake up.

I have to hear him speak. I can't wait to.

What is he going to say to me in Leviticus?

What is he going to say to me in Zephaniah?

What is he going to say to me in Philemon?

Lord, give us the eyes to see and the ears to hear.

This can only come from the Holy Spirit.

Open our understanding so that we can fellowship with You in

Your word. Thank you for this part of this

chapter. Bring us back again should you

tarry, so that we can enjoy more of it in Jesus name, Amen.

Amen.