“Ezra Sent to Teach”

Last week we were in the book of Ezra and we examined Ezra 4:1-6… and we learned and reviewed two points:

1: Your PARTNERSHIPS will

REVEAL what you PRIORITIZE

2: You will have to be more

CONCERNED with PLEASING GOD

instead of man

This week however… we are shifting our attention and focus to Ezra 7:6-10…

But before we dive into the text… we always ask ourselves two important questions:

1.) What is God teaching us through this text?

2.) How does that teaching apply to our lives today?

With those two questions in mind, please follow along with me as I read Ezra 7:6-10…

Ezra 7:6–10 (ESV)

this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants. And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For on the first day of the first month he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him. For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

Context

So far Ezra has not arrived or made an appearance until now… It is in Ezra 7 verse 6 where we see Ezra leaving Babylon and headed towards Jerusalem…

If you were to look back at the previous chapter - Ezra 6:13-18, you would see and know that the Temple was Finished and dedicated to the Lord… 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and 12 male goats (according the number of tribes in Israel) where sacrificed and dedicated to the Lord!

In Ezra 6:19-22 we see that the Passover was Celebrated… the returning exiles and priests slaughtered the Passover Lamb and they celebrated with one another… leading us to the passage we are looking at today… Ezra Chapter 7 verses 6 - 10…

Who is this Ezra?

In Chapter 7:6 we see Ezra was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him.

To be scribe meant more more than reading, writing, and keeping records; it identifies a Torah expert who could read and interpret the law. Some scholars understand the term here and in v. 11 as designating Ezra as a Persian government official. However, it probably more accurately refers to his role in the Jewish community as a teacher and interpreter of the law.

Scholars believe that it took Ezra 14 weeks or approximately nine-hundred miles to travel from Babylon to Jerusalem…

What We Know so Far…

The temple has been built

The people dedicated and sacrificed animals unto the Lord

The Passover was celebrated by the exiles

Ezra is a scribe and teacher of the law

Ezra traveled 900 miles - a 14 week journey - to Jerusalem to teach the law to the exiles…

Which leads me to point #1…

POINT #1.) Ezra was SENT by GOD…

One topic that has been coming up as we have gone through God’s Word so far this year… is the topic of God’s Sovereignty… the fact that he is in control over all things at all time… the fact that he is supreme ruler over all of creation and every circumstance… and that He carries out his plan, his will, and his desires here on earth… When we examine God’s Word we can know for certain that everything we see, experience, and watch come to pass is Father Filtered…

Isaiah 46:8–11 (ESV)

“Remember this and stand firm,

recall it to mind, you transgressors,

remember the former things of old;

for I am God, and there is no other;

I am God, and there is none like me,

declaring the end from the beginning

and from ancient times things not yet done,

saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,

and I will accomplish all my purpose…

I have spoken, and I will bring it to pass;

I have purposed, and I will do it.

PURPOSED = is a verb (action) and it means to make or work out a plan or devise something, understood as forming something”

In other words, the father forms the final plans in and out of his own hands…he is in tune with the details of what is to come he is aware of the fine print because he created the plans with his own hands for his own purposes…

EXAMPLE #1.)

When I was a Junior in College… I applied for an internship in Chantilly Virginia… It was with a Church called - new life… it was a sports complex that had partnered with a church… on Sunday mornings, we would go into this 4 - court gymnasium and set up a stage… AV/Sound system… chairs… and set up for a church service in the gym… As soon as the service was over… we would tear down and set the gym back up… My job or role at this church was to help with setting up and tearing down and running sports camps for MS and HS students…

It was evident when I heard about this internship that God placed a desire to be apart of it through his spirit… I had a desire to go, serve, and be apart of the mission of new life church… I wanted to use sports - specifically soccer - to tell others about Christ… and this church specialized in that… Since God is sovereign and in control of all things… I can confidently say that God directed my path and sent me work in Virginia for that summer…

EXAMPLE #2.)

My senior year of high school I desired and wanted to go Calvary Christian School… I wanted to be apart of a school that glorified, honored, and provided an education based upon the Word of God… I can remember being excited to go to Calvary… and thinking… surely God will make this work out, this is a school that focuses on Jesus Christ, where I can grow spiritually, and I could spend more time with my girlfriend - Brooke…To me… it all made sense… why would God not be on board with this brilliant plan of mine… but after looking at the details, options, and all that paths to attend Calvary… it was not an option for me… it was expensive and would be difficult for my family to afford and I would not be able to play soccer my senior year… all this to say, I ended up staying at Scott because that is where God needed, wanted, and planned for me…

My point is this… sometimes God sends you to another place, school, team, town, city, or country to accomplish his purposes for your life… but other times he keeps us right where we are suppose to be to fulfill his purpose his and plans for his glory…

QUESTION: Have you submitted your plans, your purpose, and your direction under the authority of God’s Sovereignty, providence, and will… Have you laid aside what you think is best, your plans, and your ideas of what your life would look like, to what God has for you… are you able to rest in, settle in, and trust in the Sovereignty of God’s plan for your life?

I ask this because I am trying to show you that it is not our job to plan out our lives the best way we see fit… rather our job is trust in God’s plan for our life and that he will accomplish his purposes for our lives because he is Sovereign over our lives…

Here in the text that we are looking at today…we see God’s Sovereignty… We see God exercising his right and power to send Ezra to Jerusalem to be the teacher and instructor of God’s Law to the exiles of Babylon…

To my knowledge… non of us have been sent to Jerusalem to teach the law of Moses and Scripture… but we have been sent and placed in our schools, families, sports team, youth group, church, and friend groups because God in his Sovereignty & providence has placed us there… If you are a leader you have a family, employer, kids, spouse, church, youth kids, and community group that God has placed you in or sent you to for a specific purpose…

And it is not by accident or random selection that we have arrived in our current circumstances… it was Father Filtered… Screened by the Sovereignty of our Savior…

Do you realize that you have been sent by God to be exactly where you need to be right now… that you have actively been living out the plans that God has in place for you in your life? Or do you look at your life now and view it as ordinary, un-important, and as if it was came about by your random decisions…? Do you see your life now as pointless or without purpose? Or do you understand and see that your life has been screened and set up by the Father?

This is an important question to consider… because if you view your life and your circumstance as pointless or without purpose then you will not be prepared for the plan that God has for you…

In other words, if you are living your life right now with the perspective that nothing is going your way, life is not going as you planned, and my time seems to be wasted… then you have missed the fact that God is using this time to prepare you for the plans and purposes he has for you in the future…

In Ezra 7:6-10 Ezra heads to Jerusalem to teach the law of Moses and the Scriptures… but before he was sent by God to teach the law of Moses… there was a time and period in his life where he was called to stay… to stay and study the law of Moses… so that he would be able and equipped to be sent to teach it…

My point is this… since God is sovereign, since everything in our life is Father filtered, since God has the power to accomplish his will in and his plans that he has set for you… are you prepared for what he has in store? Are you ready, looking forward to, and preparing for the plans that he has placed in your life?

Ezra was… Are you?

The first thing that God is teaching us through this passage is that He is Sovereign and that He Sent Ezra…

POINT #2.) We STILL have a PART to PLAY in God’s PLAN

When thinking about the Sovereignty of God… a logical and fair question may come to mind… You may be someone who is thinking… Tanner, if God is Sovereign… all powerful… able to accomplish his will, purposes, and plans… then what role do I actually play? What is my part? If he oversees everything… then how do my actions matter? Do I have a choice ? Do I have this free will to obey God or turn away from God? Do I have the ability to be prepare myself for the plans that God has set for my life?

In other words, the question becomes… if God is Sovereign… Do I have any free will or choice in what happens? Does what I actually do matter? Because it seems like… if God is Sovereign… then I do not have a choice or decision…

Often, people like to describe the concept of free will and the sovereignty of God as competing thoughts or ideals…

My goal today is to show you how Ezra shows us that they are not competing… rather… they highlight, glorify, and honor the Lord God because they work together harmoniously … because both are true…

When we look at this account in Ezra… God in his providence, wisdom, grace, and sovereignty… sends Ezra to teach the law of Moses or scripture to the exiles…

We also see.. that Ezra has set his heart towards the scriptures and is obedient to the Lord and goes and teaches the law of Moses to the exiles…

A plan was set by God… Ezra decided to learn and teach the law to the exiles…

In other words… or free will and the decisions you and I make… puts on full display just how sovereign, glorious, wise, and powerful the Lord is…

When I was 15 years old I asked my dad if I could kick a soccer ball against our house… my dad said I could, but recommended that I didn't because we had a window on that side of the house… I told my dad that I would never hit the window because I have played soccer my entire life and I am an expert and no longer a child so of course I will not hit the window… My dad said that is fine… just know that if you hit the window you are going to be in huge trouble… Drowning in overconfidence… I proceed outside and kick the ball against the side of the house… on my third kick… less than 3 minutes outside… I kick the ball and it hits the side of the window and shatters it… I instantly begin to cry uncontrollably for I knew that my dad was going to literally kill me… I walk in the front door and my father embraced me… loved me…. forgave me… and did not hold it against me… he had compassion on me…

and in some way… my Dad knew exactly what was going to happen… yet… I in my own free will made the decision to go outside and kick the ball… breaking the window… resulting in my father being correct, yet me still making my own decision…

I made a decision… yet my father in his wisdom already knew the outcome… and for me… this experience lead to me trust that my father knows what is best… he is aware of what is going to happen… the question became… am I going to trust him and make decisions that honor him?

You see… my dad could have looked at me and said… son… your going to break the window… you're not going outside… and the decision would not have been my own and I would have missed out on and not learned or saw how wise and compassionate my father was…

My point is this… because my father allowed me to make my own decision… I realized just how wise, in-control, compassionate, and merciful my father truly was…

and the same is for us and our heavenly father… we are called to set our hearts towards the scriptures and to be obedient to our God… decision that we make… yet the Lord knows and has dictated the outcome… but because my God is Good and trustworthy… I can make decisions under the reality that my heavenly father already knows the result…

leading me to trust in his sovereignty and make decisions that are obedient to his will and that will glorify him…

In Ezra… we see that God had set a plan for Ezra to teach the exiles the law moses… make no mistake… God could have done that without Ezra… but he chose Ezra and allowed Ezra to do it so that Ezra’s choices in God’s predetermined plan would ultimately bring honor and glory to the Lord our God…

Proverbs 3:5–6 ESV

Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths.

1 John 2:5–6 ESV

but whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

1 John 5:3 LEB

For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome,