Ezra, Part IV

Ezra is one of those books where the main character doesn’t come on scene until the story contained with its pages is half-way over.  For the longest time, I wondered why the book was even named after him because he doesn’t really show up much.  It’s only in Chapter 7 that the leader Ezra comes to Jerusalem.  

Ezra is a righteous man, one who has devoted himself to the study and observance of the Law of the Lord.  It is, oddly enough, Ezra’s decisions in this book that offended me at first.  Ezra was completely sold out to the will of God and was willing to do whatever it took to make right his life and repent before God so that he and his followers could experience the full blessing.  While his actions might not exactly be those to emulate today, his heart of repentance is most certainly one to use as an example.  

With Ezra’s life, we ask ourselves the question: What are we willing to give up to be right with God?

In Ezra Chapters 8 and 9, Ezra and others make the journey to Jerusalem.  Upon arrival, he learns from the leaders that “the people… including the priests and Levites, had not kept themselves separate from the neighboring peoples with their detestable practices” (Ezra 9:1).  The people who had planned to rebuild the temple— a presence of long-term worship in their lives— had ultimately lost sight of their goal.  In the lull of waiting for permission to go forward, they had prostituted their hearts with what had once been detestable to them.  Did they marry the very enemies who had threatened them in the first place?  Whatever the case may be, they had lost sight of the will of God and had settled for less than what was best.

It is so easy when pursuing God’s will to be like the people of Israel.  It is so easy to lose patience, to take your eyes off the prize— especially if your goal is temporarily deferred.  What will you do when you find yourself waiting?  Hopefully we can all learn from the lesson based off the seriousness with which Ezra handled the situation.

In Chapter 9, Ezra tears his clothes (verse 5) and falls on his face before God, crying out with repentance.  This was not the first time Israel had turned away from God, and it most certainly wasn’t the last.  Ezra’s repentance leads to the conviction of the hearts of the Israelites, as in Chapter 10:1, “ a large crowd of Israelites— men, women, and children— gathered around him.”  They too wept bitterly and declared their unfaithfulness (verse 2) and that they were willing to do what it took to be in relationship with God again.

I think the book of Ezra is often overlooked because of what Ezra decided should be done.  For our culture, it is extreme, and as can be seen by Jesus’ teachings, it would not be right to do today, under the New Covenant.  But, Ezra said in 10:10, “You have been unfaithful… Now honor the Lord… and do his will.  Separate yourselves from the peoples around you and your foreign wives.”  

Yes, by separation, he meant divorce.  He meant a complete end to the union that should have never been.  Is this an excuse for divorce today?  No— I believe this was one of those decisions unique to the Israelites who were rebuilding the temple.  But there is a spiritual lesson for us today— we should divorce that in our hearts which has been an illicit union taking the place of what God wants, and God wants what is ultimately the best for us.  Not only this, but I believe we should walk in such  way that we are separate from all those distractions, all those time-fillers, all those things that will not ultimately satisfy, and walk in such a way that we are single-minded about the Lord and pursing His will.  

We should be like Ezra himself— devoted to the study and observance of the ways of God (7:10).

Ezra, Part III

Through the first two parts of Ezra, we see God move kings and leaders and provide for those in His will, and we see how those who have come into the promise of God should respond upon arrival to that place— in both an initial posture of worship and the building of practices that will cultivate life-long worship.  In Part III of my insights on Ezra, we see how life inevitably brings opposition to those moving in God’s will, and how we should respond.

At the end of Ezra Chapter 3, we find the Israelites in a moving corporate demonstration of worship where (verse 13), “No one could distinguish the sounds of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise.”  This verse adds, “And the sound was heard far away.”

From my own personal experience, whenever I have achieved a great spiritual victory, there always seems to be some negative repercussions afterwards.  It’s as if a land mark event in your life makes a larger target in the enemy's sight, like the way the pyramids might better show up in a sniper scope, and that landmark becomes the next gathering point for the forces of darkness and destruction.  Ezra Chapter 4 seems to demonstrate this principle by showing the reaction of the people around the Israelites to the loud sound of corporate worship.

Ezra 4:1-4 (with a few parts left out for the sake of time) says:

When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord [Ace’s thoughts here: they must have literally heard them], the God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him…”  

But Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God.  We alone will build it…”  

Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.  They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.

This passage demonstrates how the enemies of Judah and Benjamin first tried to sneak in the back door and “offer to help” but probably secretly sabotage the Israelites’ efforts.  It might have been tempting to accept the additional help, since many hands make for lighter work, but the leaders said to them that comforting though the offer many be, they would have no part in something that would ultimately lead to their destruction.

It is harder to find a present-day analogy for this part of the story, but I would ask how many times we compromise in trying to do God’s will in a short-cut way— our own easy way— when ultimately that will lead to disobedience?  How many times do we reach for instant-gratification when patience or wisdom should mark our steps?

When the people of Judah said no to compromise and yes to doing things the Lord's way, their enemies attacked, “setting out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building.”  I feel often times this is why a spiritual victory seems to always follow with a feeling of attack— when we are doing  what we’re supposed to do, the enemy tries to discourage us by making it feel daunting.  

Sometimes, we won't just be discouraged or afraid, though.  The opposition will be so hard that we will feel defeated.  The enemies of Judah actually managed to get the whole temple-rebuilding-operation shut down for quite some time.  Ezra 4:24 says "the work on the house of God… came to a stand still.”  How about that for a feeling of utter defeat!  But, did people of Judah give up?  No, eventually, Zerubbabel and Joshua started rebuilding the house (Ezra 5:2), continuing to be obedient to the will of God.  5:5 says that “the eye of their God was watching over the elders of the Jews”, making me wonder if it was because of their obedience despite opposition.  Whatever the case may be, the government officials who had shut down the building because of the trouble-makers eventually investigated the whole situation, and ultimately (unknowingly), upheld the sovereign will of God.  God willed it, so it would take place, and the government officials then decreed in Ezra 6:7 “Do not interfere with the work on this temple of God.”

What we can take away from this passage of scripture is: If we are obedient to the will of God despite our circumstances, and press into the things of God despite opposition, God’s eye will watch over us— He will make a way, and we will succeed.

Ezra, Part II

The beginning of Ezra is full of promise— the promise of the Lord— and the steps He takes in His sovereignty to fulfill His will.  God basically moved the government, moved on the hearts of the leaders, and gave provision for that which He called His people to do.  Ezra Chapter 3 transitions as the people are resettling into their lands, demonstrating how a person should respond when their heart has been moved by God and they settle in to claim the fulfillment of His promise.

Ezra Chapter 3 starts out with the Israelites settling into their towns.  When they had done so, verse 1 says in the seventh month, “the people assembled together as one in Jerusalem.”  At the very beginning, they were unified, and not just for their own purpose.  Verse 2 says the first thing they did was begin “to build the altar to the God of Israel to sacrifice burnt offerings on it.”  So they, who were in God’s will, were unified in purpose, and the first thing they did was worship God!  Verse 3 says they did this despite their fears of the circumstances— the peoples around them who were their enemies.

Being in the will of God can be a scary place because you’re not in your comfort zone, and you might feel like you’re in enemy territory.  But regardless of this, our first response, as seen in Ezra, should be to worship God in all the many ways that one can— festivals, sacrifices, and free-will offerings, and the modern equivalent of these today.

While the altars were small acts of worship, the people set into motion the rebuilding of the temple— a more permanent place of worship— a place where the spirit of the Lord could dwell.  This took much more effort than the small altars the people initially built— planning, giving, and time.  They did this, accompanied by musical worship.  Verse 10 speaks about trumpets and cymbals, and verse 11 says they sang to the Lord with praise and thanksgiving.

My favorite verse is the worshipful response of those who waited such a long time for the promise to be fulfilled.  Verse 12 says these people wept aloud, while others shouted for joy.  Verse 13 says, “No one could distinguish the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise.  And the sound was heard far away.”  It makes me wonder what those people, whom the Israelites were so afraid of, were thinking.  If I were them [the enemies], I would be afraid.

While the situation of the Israelites and their culture is so different from ours, I feel there is an applicable spiritual lesson that we can carry away from this and use today.  For those walking in the will of God, our first response to the reception of His promise should be worship, praise and thanksgiving.  There, of course, should be the initial altar in our hearts, but it shouldn’t stop there.  When we have moved into the will of God, we need to take the steps necessary to establish a more permanent “house of worship”.  Whether this is joining in unity with the local church or putting into practice spiritual disciplines in your own life so that your own life can be a temple for God to dwell in, it is clear the correct process is intentionally putting the stones in place for a foundation of a lifestyle of worship.

Ezra, Part I

Ezra is a small book in the Old Testament that’s often overlooked.  I’ve never heard a sermon preached on Ezra, and personally, the first time I read through the book, I hated it because I thought it promoted divorce.  I could not see through the surface to understand the lessons that can be learned from this priest’s writings, lessons that are applicable today.

Ezra, Part I

The first thing that strikes me about the book of Ezra is the fact that a non-Hebraic king, Cyrus, is the instrument of God’s will— for His temple to be built, Jerusalem to be repopulated, for His promises to His people to be fulfilled and His presence to be given to both the Jews and eventually through them, the Gentiles.  Cyrus, a non-Hebraic king declares that God has “appointed me to build a temple for him” (Ezra 1:2).

How crazy is that?!  A heathen king is used by God— “the Lord moved his heart,” 2 Chronicles 36:22 says, and Cyrus was no small player in the kingdom arena— he felt as if he had been given “all the kingdoms of the earth” (Ezra 1:2).

I am further impressed in the first part of Ezra by God’s sovereignty in selecting leaders— family heads and priests and Levites (1:5)— to help accomplish His plan.  Someone had to direct and oversee the repopulating and rebuilding, and this would take a move away from the known life in captivity into the unknown, unfamiliar Promised Land.  The verse says God moved their hearts as well, setting into motion a grand scheme that eventually made salvation possible.

Not only had God prepared the powerful king Cyrus & the leaders to accomplish His plan, but He also made provision for the leaders to move in His calling.  Ezra 1:6 says their neighbors were moved with generosity and assisted them with extravagant and practical gifts— making it possible for those leaders to move and accomplish God’s will.  They didn’t have to worry about how they were going to resettle Jerusalem because God provided them with gold and cattle in advance.

The over-arching lesson that can be carried away from this grand-scale maneuvering, then is:

If God has willed for something to happen, He will make sure all the details are in place so that it will happen.  God is sovereign, all-powerful, and reliable.

For a person following Christ, this is amazing because if you know God’s will, and you are acting within it, then you can expect to see everything work out— permission from the King, the right leaders, and provisions, and all the metaphorical things these might stand for.  You don’t have to fear when you are walking in God’s will because if God wants it to happen, it will happen.  You just need to be wiling to have your heart moved by God like all those involved in the first part of Ezra, and then step out.