The Return to Jerusalem (Ezra - Series: 1/4)

“The Return to Jerusalem”

Ezra Series 1:4

Last Week Recap:

If you were with us last week we were in the book of Ruth and we looked at Ruth 4:13-17, where we focused on the concept and idea of being Redeemed… we learned:

That that the Word REDEEM in Hebrew means = “to buy back”…

We ALL need to be REDEEMED

The Redeemer paid a PRICE for YOU

We do not DESERVE the REWARDS of our REDEMPTION

This week however we will be turning our focus and gaze towards the book of Ezra… and we will be spending 4 weeks in this book…

OVERVIEW OF THE BOOK OF EZRA:

The Book of Ezra was named after the priestly scribe - Ezra…

it describes the exiles return, the temple’s restoration, and the institution of the law… In fact the Books of Ezra & Nehemiah were originally one work and a single book…

WHO WAS EZRA?

Ezra was a scribe, priest, and a teacher of the Law… Ezra led the Jewish exiles (people who were banished and evicted from their native land & home country) back to Judea from Babylon… He spear headed the task of religious revival for the Jews…

FRAMEWORK OF EZRA…

The book of Ezra could easily be split into two sections:

SECTION #1

- The First 6 Chapters of the Book of Ezra contain the Edict, law, and order of Cyrus (The King of Persia) to rebuild and reconstruct the temple

SECTION #2

- The Works of Ezra

One reason I am excited to walk through the Book of Ezra is because it highlights and brings to the surface the actualization or manifestation of God’s Word - the written law - in the midst of a community… In other words Ezra provides us with an example of how the Word of God is suppose to be the framework of how a community of Christians are suppose to live. It demonstrates a blueprint for community to be founded and built upon the written law of God for everyday life…

This week will will be focusing our attention to Ezra1:1-4… but before we read through the text our goal is to attempt to answer two questions:

What is God teaching us through this text?

How do we apply God’s teaching to our lives?

With those two questions in mind… follow along with me as I read Ezra 1:1-4

Ezra 1:1–4 (ESV)

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

“Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

Context

The original temple in Jerusalem, built by Solomon, was burned by the armies of Nebuchadnezzar when they destroyed Jerusalem in 586 BC (2 Kgs 25:9; 2 Chr 36:19).

the mouth of Jeremiah Likely refers to Jer 25:11–12 and Jer 29:10, where the prophet predicted 70 years of captivity for the Jews.

In fact, the 70 year period of captivity more than likely began when the temple was original destroyed in 586 BC to when the temple was re-built 515 BC…

All this to say… the people of God had been under captivity and waiting for an opportunity to re-build the temple to worship the Lord their God…

And God moves and acts… and we see God on full display in first two verses… for God stirred up the spirit of Cyrus… and caused him to allow the people of God to return to Judea and re-build the temple…

Why is this important?

Why does this matter?

How is this significant?

POINT #1: GOD is in CONTROL of those in POWER on EARTH

EXAMPLE:

I can remember when I was a senior in high school and I was sitting at home on a Friday evening. It was about 10 PM at night when two of my buddies knocked on my front door and asked me to come hang out with them. I remember getting in their car and driving across the street to another neighborhood and they stopped the car. I asked them what the plan was and they said that we were going to sprint through other people’s back yards and try not to get caught. And before I knew it, they took off and began sprinting through people’s back yard. Fearing that I would be left behind and thrown into prison, I take off with them. We are literally sprinting through people’s back yards, knocking things over, and breaking stuff left and right… and all i could think about was not getting arrested because my dad would kill me… and it was in that moment I realized that I was still under the authority of my dad and his rules… I was still accountable to him and he was still in control…

I can remember when I was in 8th Grade and my parents and I would go over to a friends like every Friday and weekend. My parents would play a card game called spades and I will hang out with my friend Luke. Luke and I loved to play video games on the weekend when our parents were playing spades. I can remember one night, Luke and I were laughing so hard and yelling at the tv screen when we were playing BMX game on the playstation. My dad came in the room one time and kindly looked at me and said… Tanner… hey bud, I am happy that you are having a good time, but I need you to calm down and lower your voice… us parents are trying to talk and you are way too loud… All this to say, I did not lower my voice… So my dad yells my name and I do the walk of shame out to the card table… and my dad makes me sit down on the coach and remain silent while they played cards… And I learned two very valuable lessons… The first one is… man I better take what my dad says seriously, because he means what he says… but the second one was, no matter where I am, no matter who I am with, no matter what the circumstance is… as long as I live under my Dad’s roof… what he says goes… he holds the power and authority… no matter whos house I am at…

The same is true with God… no matter who may be in political power… no matter what war may be going on… no matter what coach, teacher, or principle may be in power or over you… God still remains as your absolute authority… regardless of your circumstances…

1 Samuel 2:7 (ESV)

The Lord makes poor and makes rich;

he brings low and he exalts.

EXALTS = “to rise in rank, character, or status”

In other words, God is well aware of who is “in charge” on earth… because he placed them their… he positioned them their… he put them their… And God decides and determines what happens next…

When we look at Ezra we see that God stirred up his Spirit in King Cyrus and declares that the temple will be re-built in Judah…

This is important to see and understand because the King of Persia was a pagan… he did not believe or Worship the One True God - the God of Israel… so for him to release God’s people to go and re-build the temple so that they could honor, praise, and worship the Lord is something only God could do…

In other words, no matter who may be in a position of power over you (teacher, parent, coach, or anyone else)… God remains as your highest and most exalted point of authority… He is always in control and pulling the strings…

Why is this important?

Because no matter how bad things get… may seem… or how dark those in a position of power may be… God is still in control of the outcome…

POINT #2: We no longer NEED a TEMPLE made by MAN to WORSHIP God

We can see in the Book of Ezra that Cyrus decreed that the people should go back to Judah and build the temple of the Lord… why was this important?

In the Old Testament the Israelites and the Jews needed temple’s to interact and engage with the Lord… There only means of communication to God was through a man-made building or Ark… They did not posses or have the ability to cry out to the Lord or be in right standing with God in the same sense or way that you and I get to today…

Offerings were made in the temple, prayers were conducted in the temple, and those who were looking for a relationship to be restored with the God would seek it at the temple… the temple was the vocal point of Israel’s worship… and it symbolized the very presence of God

The re-building of the temple was crucial for people of God… in fact, the original temple built by Solomon was beautiful…

Many scholars believed it took about 7 1/2 years for the temple of Solomon to be built…

The court yard of the temple reflected elements of creation and the Garden of Eden…

The temple was shaped in a rectangle… similar to the temples of Syria…

The exterior of the temple was built with unhewn stone (not given a finished form or look)… stone that was cut or shaped by human hands)…

The entrance of the temple had two large bronze pillars that contained floral decorations…

The floors of the temple were covered in Gold…

The temple had an inner room - which was called the holy place… it was separated from the rest of the temple with two wooden doors that were overlaid and covered with gold… the doors were decorated and carved with cherubim’s. palm trees, and open flowers…

within the holy place contained the golden altar of incense, the golden table for the bread of the presence, and ten gold lampstands, half located on the north side of the temple and the other half located on the south side of the temple.

Within in the holy place was the most holy place… where the inner most room of the temple was… it did not have windows… two more doors overlaid with gold lead to the most holy place… the ark of the covenant was in this room… where the Lord’s presence would dwell…

All this to say… the temple of Solomon was built with great detail… care… caution… reverence… and respect for God… because communicating with God was not casual… rather communicating with God was ceremonial, conventional, dignified, ritualistic, and required measures of extreme care and caution…

My point is… our casual mentality and lack of care when it comes to our communication, conversations, worship, and being in the presence of God show our lack of understanding of how perfection was prerequisite to standing before God…

In other words… God demanded perfection in his presence and that perfection was fulfilled in and through Jesus Christ… and it because of Jesus that we get to worship God any time, any place, and anywhere… we no longer have to depend upon a temple that was built with perfection in mind because or savior was perfect when he died on cross for our sins… allowing us to freely communicate with God in Spirit and in truth…

Oh what a joy it is to be a Christian today and not depend a building made by man… rather I am dependent upon the perfection of the person named Jesus Christ! and I have received the Holy Spirit through faith alone in Christ alone… so that I can now reach out to the Lord at anytime!

Acts 7:48-49 says,

48 Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says,

49 “‘Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest?

POINT #3: God’s WORD will come to PASS

Isaiah 55:11 (ESV)

so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;

it shall not return to me empty,

but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,

and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.

The Word EMPTY in the original language means = “without effect, results, or accomplishment”.

In other words, God when God speaks and says that he is going to do something… it always happens… what he wants is accomplished, what he desires is done… what he wills withstands… and what he enacts is always effective…

we have to stop treating God’s Word as if it is not relevant… we have to stop treating God’s Word as if it might not actually happen… we have to start getting serious about our devotion, dedication, and discipline when reading God’s Word because what it says will come to pass…

God does not speak just so you can hear his voice… he speaks so that you will know what is to come…

And I know what you may be thinking or may have thought before… you may be thinking… it just does not seem as if God is working right now… it just does not seem like God is moving right now…

I guarantee that the when the Israelites where wondering in the wilderness for 40 years… it probably seemed like God was not moving

I guarantee that when Noah was building the Ark… it seemed as if the day when never come when the boat would actually be finished… or that he thought to himself… is God really going to flood the entire earth?

I guarantee that the Jews who waited… and waited… and waited… for the Messiah to come… that at one point in time… when is God going to send the Messiah? Why has it been so long? Is God actually going to send the Messiah?

My point it… there have been many times throughout history when humanity looked at, questioned, and doubted the validity of what God has said he was going to do… and every time humanity has been shocked or surprised when God actually comes through…

My question for you is… are you going to be shocked when does what he says he is going to do… when God says that Jesus will return for those who have put their faith in His name… are you going to be shocked when it actually happens? Or do you truly take what God says seriously…

Because if you know that what God says will come to pass… then you will take what God says seriously…

Question: Do you take God’s Word Seriously? Do you truly know, believe, and study the Word of God because you know that God’s Word will not return “EMPTY”. Or do you acknowledge that God’s Word when come to pass in your head and not allow it to change your heart? Do you truly realize that the scriptures are superior to everything else because the scriptures were spoken by your Savior - God.

Example:

I can say that I care about you guys and that I love being your youth pastor… but if I never listen to what you have to say, or take interest in what is going on in your life… then I do not actually care about you…

If I say that I love my wife… that I cherish and value what she has to say and is thinking… but never listen to her when she is telling me about her day or how she if feeling… then I do not actually care, cherish, or value her…

If you say that you care about, cherish, and know that God’s Word will come to pass… but you never read it or take it seriously… then you truly do not care about or value it…

We live in a world today that values what other human beings say, think, teach, and post on social media… rather than the Word’s of our God…

How do I know this?

I can quote song after song… I can tell you what is going on in the NBA right now… I can tell you conversation after conversation that I have had with friends and family over the years… I can teach you all about soccer… I can tell you about how I am going to raise my son… I can tell you about the interest rate on my home… my retirement… for plans to build wealth over the years… I can tell you about so many things that this world declares is so important… but I do not know enough about God’s Word and what He declares is important…

What about you? How much of God’s Word you know? How much of God’s Word do you Cherish? Or is your mind occupied with other things…