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Conquering
Hopelessness and Fear, Part Five, Ezra 7 & 8
How Can We
Experience God's Hand?
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In this series on the book of Ezra
we've been talking about conquering hopelessness and fear.
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In part one, we saw that when we
listen to God we make choices that matter.
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In part two, we observed that
because God is faithful and good he will help us conquer fears.
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In part three, we saw that God's
mission will not fail because of opposition.
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In part four, we observed that since
God is with us, we can keep doing his will joyfully.
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For the rest of our series in the
book of Ezra we are going to be looking at what is called the second section of
the book.
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Ezra is divided into two parts:
part one is chapters 1 to 6 and part two is chapters 7 to 10.
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Between chapters 6 and 7, there is a
delay of almost 60 years.
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The events that we read of in
the book of Esther occurred between chapters 6 and 7
when Haman conspired to have all the Jews wiped out in an Empire wide genocide
endorsed by the king.
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All of us probably remember the famous
line of the wicked Queen in the story of Snow White, "Mirror, mirror on
the wall who's the fairest of them all?"
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Of course, the evil Queen really did
not want to know the truth. She believed she was the fairest.
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She was so charmed and in love with
herself, so self absorbed that on the day the magic mirror answered with the
name of Snow White she became very angry.
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By the end of the story the wicked
Queen becomes an evil hag, ultimately destroyed by the foul poison of her own
overinflated sense of self.
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We have all known people who were so
consumed by their own hate and bitterness toward someone else that it defined
who they were, eventually destroying them.
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But this principle can also work for
good.
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Ezra was a man completely
fascinated with God. He set his heart to study God's
law, to put it into practice, and to teach others to do the same.
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Because of that vision, Ezra's life
was defined by his Lord.
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As we look to our story from God's
Word today, we see that Ezra was descended from the priestly line of Aaron, the
brother of Moses, Israel's first high priest.
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He was also a scribe who was skilled
in the law of Moses.
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As we read the story, we discover
that Ezra traveled with a group from Babylon to Jerusalem for five months.
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King Artaxerxes granted Ezra
everything he asked for and the hand of God was upon him.
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In fact, as we read chapters 7 and 8
we hear from Ezra 5 times that the hand of God was upon him and upon the people
of Judah.
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Well, why did King Artaxerxes
want Ezra to go to Jerusalem anyway?
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Artaxerxes wanted to make sure that
things were okay in Judah and Jerusalem after the Haman affair.
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Artaxerxes did not want to offend
any of the gods of the people in his empire, so according to verse 23 he wanted
to make sure all of the offerings decreed by the God of heaven were done
zealously in the Temple so that God's wrath would not come against the king and
his sons.
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Artaxerxes also sent Ezra to appoint
and teach magistrates and judges the laws of God and the king. He wanted to be certain that justice was
being upheld in Judah and Jerusalem, verse 25.
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Artaxerxes sent Ezra because it was
God's will to beautify the Lord's Temple in Jerusalem, show his love for his
people to the king, his advisers, and officers, and show his hand in the life
of Ezra.
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We have already heard that Ezra was
skilled in the law of Moses.
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He knew God's law, he understood it
and how to apply it. Ezra was an expert and to become an expert it takes two
things: ability and practice.
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God blessed Ezra with ability, but
Ezra practiced to the point where he is described as skilled. It takes repeated
practice and study to become an expert.
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Now, Ezra had to have served an
important role at the court of King Artaxerxes to be personally appointed by
the king to make political and judicial appointments in the province of Judah.
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Ezra was busy, but to become skilled
he had to give the study of the Scriptures priority in his life.
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How are we at giving Bible
study top place in our daily lives?
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We live in a time of great doubts
and turning away from the Bible, the God of the Bible, and the church, but Ezra
declares that the law was written by Moses and given by God.
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This statement shows us why Ezra
worked so hard to become skilled in the study, application, and teaching of
Scripture.
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Ezra believed the law was God's
word.
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Do we respond the same way? Do
we work hard to become skilled to study, apply, and teach the Bible because we
believe it to be God's word?
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We've already noticed that the hand
of God was on Ezra and on God's people.
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Ezra said it three times of himself
and twice of God's people, but why and how?
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Well, Ezra tells us plainly in verse
10 of Chapter 7: "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." (ESV)
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We serve the same God and Lord as
Ezra.
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When we set our hearts to
study, do, and teach the Bible, we win!
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If we want to conquer hopelessness
and fear, then we need to set our hearts to study, do, and teach the Bible and
the God of the Bible who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
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When we set our hearts to study,
do, and teach the Bible, we win!
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Let's take a few minutes and
consider what Ezra was able to accomplish because the hand of the Lord was on
him and those with him. (And let's limit it to just Chapter 8.)
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In verses 15 to 20 of Chapter 8, we
read that Ezra was looking for Levites and finding none he sent people out
looking and he found 38 Levites and 220 Temple servants.
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In 8: 21 to 23, we read of Ezra's
unwillingness to ask for soldiers from the king for protection as they travel
to Jerusalem and of Ezra's faith in God to provide that protection.
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So Ezra proclaimed a fast to ask God
and God answered their prayers.
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In 8:24 to 30, we read of how Ezra
set apart 12 priests and weighed out the gold and the silver to be taken up to
Jerusalem.
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This ceremonial commitment was to
prepare the priests and the wealth and the vessels for the worship of God and
to set them apart as holy to the Lord.
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Those priests took on that
responsibility of the silver, gold, and vessels and brought them to Temple in
Jerusalem to be presented to the Lord.
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In 8:31 to 34, we read of how they
traveled to Jerusalem and the hand of God was on them, i.e., God was with them,
and God protected them and the offerings were presented to the Lord at the
Temple.
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In 8:35 to 36, we read of the burnt
offerings, the worship of God's people at the Temple, and we read of Ezra
delivering the King's message to his satraps and governors and as a result the
people who lived in the province of Judah were helped and the Lord's Temple was
made more beautiful.
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How was Ezra able to accomplish
these things?
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Ezra tells us how plainly, "The
hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is
against all who forsake him" (8:22 b, ESV).
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When we set our hearts to study,
do, and teach the Bible, we win!
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Ezra was convinced that the only way
that God would lead him to carry out God's plans was if he studied, practiced,
and taught God's word.
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At the beginning of his journey,
Ezra was in Babylon. He lived in a
culture that was hostile toward the Jewish belief in only one God.
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But he determined in his heart to
study, to practice, and to teach God's Law.
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We also live in a hostile
culture. People are increasingly hostile
toward the teachings of the Bible, the Christian church, and the God revealed
in Scripture.
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God is calling us today to follow
the example of Ezra because when we set our hearts to study, do, and teach
the Bible, we win!
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If we want to win, if we want to
conquer hopelessness and fear, if we want to see God at work, then we need to
set our hearts to learn and apply the Scriptures.
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We must not settle for anything less
because we need Jesus Christ and the best place to get to know him is in the
Bible.
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It's the Bible that the Spirit of
God uses to open hearts and lives to see and experience the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Only in the Bible do we find the
eyewitness testimonies of those who saw and experienced Jesus firsthand, that
testify to his love and compassion, his mercy and grace, his joy and zest for
life, and his suffering, death, and resurrection from the grave.
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The Holy Spirit uses the Bible to
open eyes and lives to the life of Jesus Christ.
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We need to study it; we need to do
it; and we need to teach it!
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We need to study it because we need
to know God and understand his ways.
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We need to study the Bible because
knowing God and his ways leads us to obedience.
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When we study and know God and obey
him, then we will be able to teach others from our experience of God, his word,
and how he has worked in our lives because we obey.
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When we set our hearts to study,
do, and teach the Bible, we win!
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It is obvious from the life of Ezra
that God was at work in him.
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Faithful and unfaithful alike saw
the difference in Ezra.
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When others think of us would they
describe us as the Scriptures describe Ezra?
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What was it that made the difference
in his life?
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Is there anything Ezra did that
opened him up more to the work of God?
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If there was, then what was it and
can we do it?
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Scripture shows us plainly that Ezra
determined in his heart to do three things: study the word of God, obey the
word of God, and teach the word of God.
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If we set our hearts on these three
things, then would the hand of God be upon our lives?
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Would others be able to see the hand
of God on our lives?
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Do we want to experience the hand of
God at work in our lives?
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When we set our hearts to
study, do, and teach the Bible, we win!
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