Rebuild: Ezra 7. The Lord continues to Give

Notes:

60 year separation between chapters 6 and 7.

Kidner: “His name stands very high in Jewish tradition, where he came to be regarded as a second Moses; and indeed it was he, more than any other man, who stamped Israel with its lasting character as the people of a book.”

4 months to travel

God’s grace in Ezra

God’s hand upon the King

Taking a Page out of Ezra:

Reception of God’s grace

v. 6: God gave Ezra the ability to be skilled in the Law of Moses

v. 6: God’s hand was upon the king to grant Ezra everything he needed.

Read Ezra 7

Rooted in the Priesthood and the Law

Artaxerxes king of Persia

“Hand of the LORD his God was on him.”

v. 13: Take people (priests and Levites esp.)

v .14: Take the Scroll (which is in your hand)— What’s in your hand? (and wallet?)

v. 15: Take Cash (silver and gold freely given by Artaxerxes). And freewill offerings

v. 15: Plunder Babylon

v. 16: Buy Sacrifices

Letter to all the Treasurers West of the Euphrates River

v.25: Set up Judges to exercise the Law

v. 26: Disobedience of the Law= Judgment shall be strictly executed on him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.

Ezra’s first Journal Entry:

v. 27: Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who put such a thing as this into the heart of the King.

To beautify the House of the Lord

v. 28: Extended his steadfast love before the king, counselors, and officers.

Ezra’s Reflection: “I took courage, for the hand of the LORD my God was on me, and I gathered leading me from Israel to go up with me.”

God’s hand is every where in this passage!

900 languages!

Introduction:

Better than Ezra:

Product of the 90’s, not a reference to a rock band.

Reference to Jesus.

!!Jesus was better than Ezra, and Ezra was a STUD!!

Talk about Ezra, and then compare him with Jesus:

Ezra’s Lineage goes back to the first High Priest and Liberator

Ezra to Aaron: High Priestly Blood

Who was Aaron? He was the first High Priest!

Ezra is also connected to Aaron’s brother, the liberator Moses!

Moses: Arguably the most important OT character!

Ezra is like this new Aaron: This New High Priest

Ezra is like this new Moses: This New Liberator

Jesus is Our High Priest

Jesus is Our Liberator

God gives Ezra the Ability to be a Skilled Scribe

v. 6: “He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD, the God of Israel, had given.”

v. 6: God had given him skill

Literally: “rapid”: He was a speed reader!

Kidner: “Quickness in grasp and ease of movement amid this complex material which was the furit of the devoted study described in verse 10.”

Gift from God

Jesus as a Child:

Reading in my devotions this past week the story of Jesus as a child in the Temple!

God’s Good Hand Guides Ezra

v. 6: “The king granted him {Ezra] all that he asked, for the hand of the LORD his God was on him.”

v. 9: “Good hand of his God was on him.”

God was with Ezra: External.

Jesus was God!

Colossians 1:15–19 “15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”

Commissioned as Law Enforcer

v. 10: 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.

Notice: Set his heart to study the Law, set his heart to DO the Law, set his heart TO TEACH the Law.

Commissioned by King Artexerxes to enforce the Law

Dale Davis: “Royal approval for a torah-mission”

Law is in your hand:

v. 14: For you are sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the Law of your God, which is in your hand.

Wisdom of God is in your hand:

v.25 “And you, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province Beyond the River, all such as know the laws of your God.

Transfiguration

Christ as the New Law

License to Punish Law Breakers

Wrath of God:

v. 23: Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons.

26 Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgment be strictly executed on him, whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment.”

Obey or die!

In Jesus, we see the last person’s sacrifice for Law Breaking:

Innocent man, but who took on our punishment!

Jesus as our high priest and as the sacrificial lamb!

“I’m too lofty a sinner!”

Given Extravagent Blessings!

Abundant Blessings!

Talent weighed 75lbs. 100 talents: Nearly 3/4 ton!

God’s love upon “ME”

Grow in Grace

You’ve been given the Bible: It’s right there in your hand!

You’ve been given Wisdom: It’s right there in your hand!

Trust it!

Christ our Captain promises to be with us!

Be Doers of the Word

Do it, despite you fears.

You have the hardware and software to go and follow Christ our Captain.

Remember what’s in your hand!

Capital One Commercials: What’s in your wallet?

Keep the Word.

God’s Good hand is up on you through Christ.

Keep God’s Word in your hands.

He had set his heart to study the Law, so he knew it…

Do you trust that God

Story of Christ’s Life in our Life:

Christ our Captain

Better than Ezra

Music Analogy: Just going for it!