After introducing us to the reformer Ezra, Ezra 7:11-28 explains how Ezra set out for Jerusalem bearing a letter of authority from King Artaxerxes of Persia. Although he was a relative ‘nobody’ in Jerusalem (depsite his important ancestry), this letter gave Ezra the authority to do his work. The letter from the King also sets out the kind of work Ezra was to do. He was being sent to Jerusalem to enforce both the laws of Persian rule but also the law of God which Ezra knew, taught and lived out. The law of God is helpful for God’s people all the time because it shows up how far short we fall. Yet God has not left us with His law alone, He has also given us His gospel which is the cure for our sin that is revealed by the law.

Due to a recording error, the first part of this message is not found on the audio, but the missing introduction is reprinted below!

“There are not many times or occasions in your life when you are likely to receive a letter from royalty, maybe if you hit the 100 mark it will happen, but even then it will only happen the once. In my first parish our secretary was privileged to receive a reply from Buckingham Palace in response to a copy of our church’s history which had some photos of the Queen in it dating back to her visit in 1954. But even then, the response came from one of the Queen’s attendants, and not Her Majesty directly. Continue reading →

There are lots of men in the Bible. 956 to be exact. Ezra is one of them though he is not as well known as some of the others. In Ezra 7:1-10 we are finally introduced to the man whose name is both the title and the author of the book. Ezra’s ancestral line is given to us to show just how important a man he was. He was born into a priestly line and could trace his heritage back to Aaron, the first high priest of Israel. Ezra was also a man of importance. He had the honour of being appointed by the Persian kind Artaxerxes, to return to Jerusalem to help the people re-establish themselves. Ezra was also a scribe and was therefore a student of the Scriptures, but it was not just with his head that he approached God’s Word, but also with his heart, to learn it and be changed by it. This is why Ezra is a great model for believers today to imitate.

Four months after the dedication of the Temple, the people of Israel gathered together for a special Passover celebration in Ezra 6:19-22. This was the first Passover to be held since the time of exile in Babylon (90 years earlier) and so it was a very special time. The meaning of the Passover was defined by God in Exodus 12. It was a feast to mark the night in which the angel of death ‘passed over’ the people of God when he came to punish Pharaoh. At this joyful celebration of the Passover, it was significant that the meal was not restricted to Israelites by birth, but included all who through repentance and faith put their trust in the Lord. Since Jesus came to be our ‘Passover lamb’ believers are assured that his death in our place as a (substitute) not only means our sins are forgiven but also means we will celebrate the victory of His sacrifice for us forever.

After the work on the Temple of Israel had been completed under the good and sovereign hand of God, Ezra 6:16-18 tells how the people set about to dedicate their new place of worship. Although it was a great day of celebration and thanksgiving and was marked by great joy, the day was little comparison to the dedication of the first Temple that happened centuries before during Solomon’s rule. Nevertheless, the celebration was marked by the offering of many sacrifices and worship ‘according to the Law of Moses’. The way they worship and they way we worship is also defined in detail by our God. The New Testament picks up these them of the Temple and reminds believers that we are the temple in which God lives by His Spirit. And God’s Spirit lives in us because Jesus paid the price of our purchase with His blood. We are not our own but have been bought at great cost. Our worship, and all of our lives are therefore to be a reflection of this truth.

After the Temple had been left unfinished for many years, the preaching of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah stirred the people of God into action. Ezra 6:1-15 tells us that despite the local governor’s attempt to get the building work to be stopped again, under God’s good hand and with the confirming signs of His providence and His provision, the Temple was finally completed just over four years after the work had been re-started. This was a great day for the people of God. But greater still was God’s plan, as announced through the prophet Zechariah, that the One called the ‘Branch’ would one day come into His Temple. Jesus was the One who was the ‘Branch’. He was descended from David and was known as the ‘Son of David’, the Messiah. John chapter 2 tells us that when He came into His Temple, He acted like He owned it and spoke of it being torn down and rebuilt in 3 days. He was speaking of His body of course, and this was one of the first promises of His death and resurrection by which God’s people are saved.

After 15 years of inactivity and with the Temple foundations laid but no building work begun, Ezra 5:1-17 tells of the way that God moved His people to get back to the task of rebuilding the Temple. God did this through His Word by sending the prophets Haggai and Zechariah with a message of encouragement. He also did this through circumstance as He once more allowed a local government official to get angry enough write to the King of Persia about the rebuilding work that had begun. Then He also did this through His Spirit as the people finally became aware that they were His people – His special people – and that they needed to get back to this work because He had called them. We also must not lose sight of the special people we are in God’s sight and also need to be reminded that God is always at work and pray that He might revive and His Church here and to the ends of the earth.

Ezra 4:7-24 describes how the people who lived in Jerusalem not only opposed the work of rebuilding the Temple in the days of the returned exiles, but also how they continued to oppose this work and thwart God’s people for the next 70 years, right up until and during the days of Nehemiah. By spreading false reports and claims about the Jews, they managed to convince successive Kings of Persia that the Jews were a threat and the Temple should not be rebuilt. Such situations continue in today’s world. God’s people will always have their adveraries who try to thwart the progress of the gospel. However, we are not to ‘laty down tools’ until Jesus comes, no matter how difficult the opposition becomes.

After laying the foundations of the new Temple, Ezra 4:1-6 tells us that the people who lived in Jerusalem began to oppose what they were seeing. Although they presented themselves as friendly and fellow worshippers of Israel’s God and offered their help to rebuild the temple, the leaders of the Jews quickly saw through this approach and denied their offer. As a result, opposition towards the rebuilding of the Temple began to grow and soon this grew against the Jews themselves. This story is nothing new. God’s people who have sought to do what they must do in obedience to God, have always faced opposition from those who do not value God’s Word. The prophets, the apostles and the Lord Jesus all faced this opposition and so will all His people who seek to follow His ways. That very facts calls His people to be on guard and to perservere in being faithful regardless of the consequences.

After God’s people returned from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem, Ezra 3:8-13 tells of the day that the people got to work and laid the foundations of the second temple. The work was hard and involved many who contributed their skills, and the end result was that the people achieved what they had set out to do. A stranger to Jerusalem that day might have been surprised by the very loud sounds of joy and crying coming from the Temple site. Joy, because progress had been made and the Temple work had begun. Crying, because those who knew the glory of the first Temple could only remember ‘what once was’. There is always a danger that God’s people look back with longing to the past, but God is at work today and calls us to be ‘His living stones’ of a different kind of temple, made up of all who believe in Jesus.

When the people of Judah returned fron Babylon to Jerusalem, there must have been a whole host of matters to attend to after a 70 year absence. But the text of Ezra 3:1-7, tells us that once the seventh month of the year came, the month in which Jews observe many of the Old Testament feasts, what gained top priority in their lives was the re-introduction of the worship of God. They did this through reconstructing the altar that had been torn down and offering the required sacrifices and feasts as outlined in the Law of Moses, remembering the past and how God saved them and looking forward to the future when all nations would come to Jerusalem to worship God. Today God still desires His people to worship Him and the be those through whom the message of His grace will reach the whole world.