MIdweek Lenten -- 5 (2026)

Ezra 1:1-6

My Brothers and Sisters in Christ, it has been a wild time since we last saw each other, and there has been a lot of snow between then and now. But thankfully folks are out and helping, and have the equipment to get people out of their driveways. We can appreciate the feeling of being trapped even though we were at home, there’s a sense of powerlessness that takes hold when you realize that there are some things you can’t fix with just a shovel, and wading through the snow isn’t an option. In our passages tonight, we have from the prophet Jeremiah where God tells them that he is sending them into slavery. This passage is a difficult one for many people have ripped Jeremiah 29:11 out of context and think that everything is going to be peachy and without any problems.

In context, Israel has rejected the Lord utterly, they have mocked the prophets, they have mocked the priests, and they despise the Word. That same Word which promised to bring them into the promised land. They have spurned and rejected the Sabbaths, not just weekly, but also the year long sabbaths and the Jubilee that was designed to give the people time to rest. They threw it all away, and thought that they didn’t need God’s word, and since they didn’t need his word, which didn’t align with their goals, they sought out gods who would promise them everything they wanted. We have been working through this in our Sunday bible Study in Ezekiel. For Ezekiel was part of the earlier group that was taken hostage and transplanted in Babylon to keep the people in Israel compliant. It didn’t work.

The reason they were in such trouble, wasn’t because they were weaker, or had less, it was because they rejected God’s word and promises and sought their own ways. So God finally steps in and says no more. He had sent them prophets who had warned them and spoken to them His divine word and they rejected it, and so now he sends in a king to take them hostage. Now the the Scriptures tell us that what happened in the OT was meant as a warning and a lesson for those of us in the NT times. So we should take it to heart, and give thanks to God that this has been recorded to warn us away from it.

For we are like Israel, and not in the good way. How many of our sins have we been called to set aside, and how frequently has God’s Word prodded our listless hearts to change, to repent, to flee from sin, and yet what do we do? We brush it off, and think he doesn’t really mean it, he isn’t serious, i mean not yet anyway. God is saying that He has been serious, and He desired to correct us first by His Word. Which form of correction do any of us prefer? A word that rebukes us and corrects us, or a rod on our back? As kids, we try to say our parents were so mean for laying punishment upon us, but how many times did they warn us? How many times did they tell us to stop? Did we listen or did we ignore them? Let’s be honest, they might have been right, but we could never admit that as kids. There’s the problem!

We have this same issue when it comes to God’s Word. We look at the 10 commandments, and hear shall, and think that means should, but it doesn’t. You shall means, you will. They are commandments, not just things you should do, and yet when we treat them in that manner we find that the power of sin is prevalent across the world. Seeing what happened to the people in Jerusalem, we ought to be on guard against it.

For God sent them into slavery for 70 years, that’s why he tells them to build homes, to raise families. There will be some who come back to the destroyed city of Jerusalem, but they will not be the majority. Most will be taken to a land that doesn’t worship the Lord and they will have what their hearts longed for, a land of idols and pagan gods, where they are free to live how they want. For God does hand people over to the desires of their hearts. But he doesn’t abandon his promises. Even when we are faithless, he is faithful. God promised to send through them the savior of the World, and that child would be born in the city of David. Which means that even though they did not deserve it, he was going to bring them back.

Sure enough 70 years later, they came back in the book of Ezra and began the project of rebuilding the temple that God had given them to do, but it would never compare to the temple that had been built by Solomon. It would never be that city on a hill that it had been in its glory days. The surprising thing is that God used Cyrus, not an Israelite to free his people and send them back on this mission. It came with great difficult but God kept His Word and the city and a temple were rebuilt there in Jerusalem.

It once again was a journey by faith leaving a land of hardship, struggle, and pain to come to the promised land that God had given his people. We see this time and again as a recurring theme, that God in leaving our old lives we are brought into a new kingdom, a new place, a new paradise where we can receive God’s blessings.

We like Israel will find ourselves falling back into our sins, and they will enslave us. Make no mistake, but when we find ourselves trapped in some type of babylon far from home, it is important during those times to hold on to the Word, even when everything else seems lost. That’s what the exiles living in Babylon had, and they rejoiced when this day came that they got to leave Babylon and the that the Lord had brought Cyrus to this conclusion for the good of God’s people. Their journey back home wasn’t easy, and it wasn’t a simple endeavor to rebuild a city that had been decimated for 70 years, and a temple that had been reduced to rubble. The walls of the city were only knee high and they were surrounded by people that didn’t want them there. But they trusted the Word.

So we too learn to trust the word even when we find ourselves in a place or a location where we are not wanted, and where things get to be a bit scary. It’s important to consider did my sins lead me here, or did God’s word. That will help you figure out a lot in the next few moments, and it’s a good learning exercise, but the end is going to be the same. Trust God’s Word. No matter what hardship might come, God works all things to the good for those who love him and are called according to His purpose. This gives us hope in the midst of bleak and dire times that its going to be ok, not necessarily perfect or great, but it will be ok.

So my Brothers and Sisters in Christ, we should quote and use Jeremiah 29:11, but we want to remember the context, that God’s plan don’t just involve nice and pleasant days, and a path that smooth and easy. There are some hard times, challenging times, and times where you might just want to quit, and some of them might be laid upon us, because of our own stubborn sinfulness. Not our neighbor, not our government, not our boss, our own sins can bring those days upon us. A christian apologist once pointed out that Pain is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world, and we are at times pretty deaf. Wherever we find ourselves, let us remember to cling to the word until the very end, that we might not give up, but return to our hope in every hour of need, and that we are not alone for Christ has joined us in our pain, our suffering, and even our slavery, that He might set us free from sin, and death. In Jesus name. Amen.