Ezra 1-6 The Story Before the Story Part 3

Ezra and Nehemiah

Restored - God's Faithfulness, Real Repentance, and Radical Obedience

The people are in exile. Captives in the land of Persia. How did they get there?

Review Psalm 104,105, and 106

Psalm 104: God is the all powerful creator of the universe and he is worthy of our fear and our praise

Psalm 105: Remember: Our God Desires Relationship with Humankind To Bring Him Glory, Our God is a promise maker and promise keeper, Our God is in control no matter how things look or feel, Our God is more powerful than any earthly king or kingdom, God’s direction is Good and his way is blessed, God has not changed, and will not change.

This is the story that played out in the people of Isreal from Adam and eve, through Noah, Abraham, Joseph and Moses

Deuteronomy 7:9–11 ESV

9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, 10 and repays to their face those who hate him, by destroying them. He will not be slack with one who hates him. He will repay him to his face. 11 You shall therefore be careful to do the commandment and the statutes and the rules that I command you today.

But did they obey?

No

Psalm 106 Sins of Unbelief, discontent, jealousy, Idolatry, complaining , apostasy, provocation, Paganism ETC

Judges Period: 325 years cycles of obedience and disobedience

United Isreal: 120 years 3 kings: Saul, David, and Solomon

After these kings because of their sin and failure to lead their sons and the people in the right way, the kingdom was divided. 10 family groups/ tribes in the north and 2 Tribes in the south.

The north is known as Isreal and the south is known as Judah.

The north is full on evil.

216 years of full on evil

10 tribes of Isreal captured by Assyria

The southern kingdom is a mix of obedient kings and disobedient ones, ( the people at any time were a mix of obedient and disobedient. )

God sent prophets to both the northern and southern and southern kingdoms, calling them to repentance. They were punished, warned, given grace, given extra chances, and on and on and they kept on choosing sin.

They survived another 111 years

Meanwhile: Assyria conquered by Babylon

Babylon colonized and then captured the remaining jewish people: Judah

Babylon conquered by The Medes and the Persians.

God has always given grace. God has always saved and redeemed his people.

Ezra 1:1 ESV

1 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:

Jeremiah 29:1–14 ESV

1 These are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the surviving elders of the exiles, and to the priests, the prophets, and all the people, whom Nebuchadnezzar had taken into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. 2 This was after King Jeconiah and the queen mother, the eunuchs, the officials of Judah and Jerusalem, the craftsmen, and the metal workers had departed from Jerusalem. 3 The letter was sent by the hand of Elasah the son of Shaphan and Gemariah the son of Hilkiah, whom Zedekiah king of Judah sent to Babylon to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon. It said: 4 “Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon: 5 Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their produce. 6 Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease. 7 But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. 8 For thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel: Do not let your prophets and your diviners who are among you deceive you, and do not listen to the dreams that they dream, 9 for it is a lie that they are prophesying to you in my name; I did not send them, declares the Lord. 10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. 13 You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

Right Place Restored

Ezra 1:2–4 ESV

2 “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. 3 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. 4 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.”

Not all, only some returned.

What did they return to?

A land that was repopulated

A city and temple in ruins

2 Chronicles 36:19 ESV

19 And they burned the house of God and broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all its palaces with fire and destroyed all its precious vessels.

Ezra 2:64 ESV

64 The whole assembly together was 42,360,

Right Worship Restored:

Ezra 3:2–3 ESV

2 Then arose Jeshua the son of Jozadak, with his fellow priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel with his kinsmen, and they built the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings on it, as it is written in the Law of Moses the man of God. 3 They set the altar in its place, for fear was on them because of the peoples of the lands, and they offered burnt offerings on it to the Lord, burnt offerings morning and evening.

First things first. Put the right guy on the throne:

Real restoration and repentance MUST be accompanied by right worship.

This is no frills, bear bones, worship.

Restored People are Tested:

Ezra 3 goes on to tell about the beginning of rebuilding the temple

It’s going well, they have funding, they have supplies etc…

Ezra 4:1–3 ESV

1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the returned exiles were building a temple to the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers’ houses and said to them, “Let us build with you, for we worship your God as you do, and we have been sacrificing to him ever since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria who brought us here.” 3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of fathers’ houses in Israel said to them, “You have nothing to do with us in building a house to our God; but we alone will build to the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us.”

Lets collaborate.

Why is this a problem?

they are not telling the truth. They have not been worshiping God as he commanded that he be worshiped. These were people who had been relocated to isreal and intermarried with the leftovers of the exile and worshiped their old god’s and the new god of the new place the moved

The thing that God Israel into trouble before was comprise and melding with the people around them, specifically the worship of the people around them.

Ezra 4:4 ESV

4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build

Sent letters to the persian emperor

15 years of delay

Ezra 6:13–17 ESV

13 Then, according to the word sent by Darius the king, Tattenai, the governor of the province Beyond the River, Shethar-bozenai, and their associates did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered. 14 And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia; 15 and this house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. 16 And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of this house of God with joy. 17 They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel 12 male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

So What?

Two parallel realities God’s grace is real/sin does have consequences

Ezra 3:10–13 ESV

10 And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel. 11 And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.” And all the people shouted with a great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. 12 But many of the priests and Levites and heads of fathers’ houses, old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, 13 so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.

Ezra 6:17 ESV

17 They offered at the dedication of this house of God 100 bulls, 200 rams, 400 lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel 12 male goats, according to the number of the tribes of Israel.

1 Kings 8:63 ESV

63 Solomon offered as peace offerings to the Lord 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people of Israel dedicated the house of the Lord.

over 200 times more sacrifices when dedicating the original temple

Our choices have consequences and they will effect generations to come

Look at your life are you a radical obeyer or a compromiser?

Psalm 119:68 ESV

68 You are good and do good; teach me your statutes.

It’s good enough

Its better than other people

It’s better than it used to be

We are trying