The King's Treasury
Notes
Transcript
60 second hug
This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel:
Setting the stage. Initial return has happened. Temple has been rebuilt. The altar has been rebuilt so sacrifices can resume. Ezra desires to return the people’s heart to that of devotion and worship to God. He has this strong desire to guard against the attitude Jeremiah had warned about ‘this is the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord.
From time to time there were lists given of the returnees. Ch2 and ch8
Temple had been built and dedicated, although not without opposition.
There have been conversations and plans. And he gets a letter from the king…
12 “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven. Peace. And now
13 I make a decree that anyone of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom, who freely offers to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.
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,
15 and also to carry the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,
16 with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia, and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priests, vowed willingly for the house of their God that is in Jerusalem.
17 With this money, then, you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God that is in Jerusalem.
18 Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold, you may do, according to the will of your God.
19 The vessels that have been given you for the service of the house of your God, you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem.
20 And whatever else is required for the house of your God, which it falls to you to provide, you may provide it out of the king’s treasury.
21 “And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree to all the treasurers in the province Beyond the River: Whatever Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven, requires of you, let it be done with all diligence,
22 up to 100 talents of silver, 100 cors of wheat, 100 baths of wine, 100 baths of oil, and salt without prescribing how much.
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.
24 We also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute, custom, or toll on anyone of the priests, the Levites, the singers, the doorkeepers, the temple servants, or other servants of this house of God.
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. And those who do not know them, you shall teach.
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.”
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 that is in Jerusalem,
28 and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors, and before all the king’s mighty officers. I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me.
We see the ‘King’s Treasury’ in two ways:
God opened the heart and hands of a pagan King to benefit His people. God opened the king’s treasury so that Ezra had all he needed to accomplish God’s work. Great precept of God’s economy there! God uses any resources He chooses to further His work. What’s in my pocket? His to use. What’s in my toolbox? His to use. What’s in my mind? His to use. God will use, yes, ‘the cattle on a thousand hills’ to bring His light to the lost.
Carl D Greene
The other way we see the ‘King’s Treasury’ is that of the King of the Universe. The storehouses of heaven have no measure! The supply is unlimited. Whether we talk of grace love and mercy or of strength or of actual riches, there is no exhausting the treasury of the Father!
Thankfulness flowed because of what God did.
Look what He did for His glory. There is a lot around us we don't understand. But there is a God in Heaven who is working all these painful and confusing circumstances for His glory! So often through the death of a loved one, God reminds the family of His will for their lives and they are drawn back to Him. All the sickness around us right now is spurring us on to good works. People are checking on and helping their neighbors! God is absolutely working for His glory AND for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. Ezra was able to give thanks for the greatness of God’s glory.
Look what He did for His child. When God acts on behalf of those He loves, it gives testimony to the world of the GOODNESS of the Creator! What a great time to live to see His goodness toward mankind revealed! Now that may show up as love. “The love of God, so rich and pure, so measureless and strong…” Or it may show up as justice. There is a world full of people out there who need to know God will right the wrongs a broken, sin-stricken world had dealt to them.
One of the things I’m going to ask you to do in response to today’s message is pick a thing you can thank God for. Either a memory or something happening now. It may be a hard time you came through. Ask God to help you remember He worked it out for your good and His glory.
The other thing I’m going to ask of you is much more open ended: Do something that will cause someone to thank God.