EZRA 1-10 THE TEMPLE REBUILT2013 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: Ezra 1-10 The Temple Rebuilt

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2013.

Well, this evening we're continuing on in the Bible in three years, looking at the chapters that we read this week. And this week it turns out we've read through the book of Ezra. Ezra chapters 1 through 10. And what an exciting book this is. An incredible work that God did through Ezra and the time that he's describing and writing about in this book. This book of Ezra was written by Ezra.

And it covers the time period 536 to about 432 BC. And we'll get to see that in just a moment. The theme or the focus of the book is the returning of the Jews to Jerusalem, to Israel, and then also the rebuilding of the temple.

Now what that looks like on the timeline, you can see here, we've been following along as we went through 1st and 2nd Samuel and 1st and 2nd Kings and then revisited some of the history in 1st and 2nd Chronicles. We've been following the timeline of Israel as they became a nation, rose to great power and the pinnacle of that was under King Solomon where Israel was in its fullest glory, its greatest wealth, its

greatest prominence under Solomon's reign. After Solomon, though, remember that the kingdom was divided in two. And so there was the northern kingdom, Israel, the southern kingdom, Judah. And those kingdoms continued to exist for a couple hundred years. But the northern kingdom immediately turned away from God, never had a good king, never sought the Lord. And so the Lord, uh,

allowed the nation of Assyria to rise up and to conquer the nation of Israel, the northern kingdom. The southern kingdom had some good kings, mostly bad kings, and as a whole, the people continued to go further and further away from God and into idolatry.

And so as a measure of discipline, as a measure of dealing with their rebellion against God, God raised up the nation of Babylon and brought Babylon against the nation of Judah. And Babylon conquered Judah and led them away captive as a result of their rebellion against God.

And so we followed that. We finished that in 2 Chronicles all the way up to when Babylon destroys Jerusalem, tears down the temple, and carries the people away captive. And now Jerusalem and Judah is desolate. There's nobody living there for some time. Now,

As they're in captivity in Babylon, the prophet Ezekiel, the prophet Daniel are ministering to the people and working there and we'll get to those books this year and are reading through the Bible in three years. But now as we go into the book of Ezra, we're coming back in this timeline to the point where they've been out of the land

land for some time. They've been in captivity, but God in his incredible grace and mercy is orchestrating events for the people of Israel to come back to

to Jerusalem. And that's what's happening here. That's what we're seeing described in the book of Ezra. The people are coming back. They're beginning to rebuild the temple and they're being re-established there in the land. God has brought them back and now they are once again where they ought to be. Where in the land that God had given to them

And they're going to be, once again, putting up the temple, worshiping God, and doing those things that he has called them to do. Now, the books Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther all go together as far as their time frame and the amount of time that they cover. Because there's two separate periods that we're talking about as we talk about their return from Israel.

from Babylon to Israel. The first period, 536 to 516, it's about 20 years. It's the first return to, to, to Israel from Babylon. And it's the rebuilding of the temple. Now this was all done by Zerubbabel and, and,

also Joshua. Zerubbabel was the governor, Joshua was the high priest, and they were the leaders that were instrumental in helping the people get back, but then also rebuild the temple. Well, then there's a next, another block of time that we'll see in the book of Nehemiah from about 457 to 432 BC, where the wall is rebuilt.

where the city itself is re-established. And again, that's under Nehemiah as governor and Ezra as the priest. And so we're going to be seeing that as we head into Nehemiah this week in our reading as well. So Ezra...

looks at and is kind of an overview of both periods of time with mostly looking at the first period but little glimpses of the second period. Nehemiah then is just focused on that second period and then Esther fits in really nicely right in between the two periods and we'll even see right in between chapter 6 and chapter 7 of the book of Ezra that we'll be studying tonight.

Let me just walk you through some of the timeline here so that you get a good understanding of what we're talking about with the Jews going back into the land.

Remember the Jews were conquered by Babylon. Jerusalem was destroyed about 586 BC. So about 50 years later, 536 BC is the beginning of Ezra chapter 1. When the first almost 50,000 people returned from Babylon back to the land. And this is the beginning of the work that God is going to be doing.

In the seventh month of that year, they rebuild the altar. We'll get to see that happen. And then they begin to work on the temple. They begin to build it up, but they don't finish it at that time because it's put to a stop by opposition of the people around them.

Then about 520 BC the work is renewed. The prophets Zechariah and Haggai come on the scene with words from the Lord and say God wants you to finish the temple. Put it together. Finish up the work that you started. And so 516 BC the temple is completed. And so that's the completion. Now it was destroyed. They were brought back to the land. Now the temple is completed and they're going to be able to continue on in the worship of God as he's called them to.

A little bit later, 478 BC, Esther becomes queen of Persia. So you can kind of see where this fits in here. And then in 457 BC is when Ezra comes on the scene and he leads the next phase of people back to Israel, back to Jerusalem. Then 444 BC comes Nehemiah on the scene and he goes to Jerusalem and begins the work of rebuilding Jerusalem's wall. That's completed.

Nehemiah takes off for a little bit and then comes back in about 432 BC. So we're looking at in Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther this time period of Israel after they've been conquered, destroyed, led away captive. Now God's doing a restoration work and that's what we're going to be considering this evening and for the next couple weeks in Nehemiah and Esther. Here's what it looks like on the map, the geography of Ezra.

So let me back up a little bit. You might remember, as I told you, the northern kingdom Israel was conquered by a nation called Assyria. That rose to power. It was the world dominating power at the time. Assyria was conquered by the nation of Babylon. And Babylon rose to power, conquered Assyria, conquered Judah.

Well, it wasn't very long after they conquered Judah that Babylon was conquered by the Medo-Persian Empire, or we often refer to it just as the Persian Empire. So this is the Persian Empire. After it's conquered Babylon, it's conquered.

are far more reaching than Babylon's or Assyria's. And here on the map you can see Nineveh, that was the capital of Assyria. Babylon, which was the capital of Babylon. And then the Persian Empire here, the capital actually is Susa. We'll get to that more next week as we look at the book of Nehemiah. So,

This is the territory that we're talking about. Now we're talking about the Jewish people under the Persian Empire being released to go back to their land and be reestablished there in Jerusalem. So that brings us to Ezra chapter 1. Verse 5 is the key verse. It says this,

Then the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. As we begin here in Ezra chapter 1, we begin in verses 1 through 4 with a proclamation of King Cyrus.

He is the Persian king who conquered Babylon. And so it's very early into his reign over the whole world. As he's conquered Babylon now, he's reached really the whole world empire stage or status. And so he makes this proclamation near the beginning of his reign, in the first year of his reign. And the proclamation is...

all of the Jewish people, whoever of you wants to go, you may go back to Jerusalem. You may go back to your land. And verse 3, it says, who 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 build the house of the Lord God of Israel. He is God, which is in Jerusalem.

Now hopefully you were here on Sunday and you heard a great message by David Downs as he shared the first part of Ezra chapter 1 and then also 2, 3, and 4. And it's great timing just how the Lord intertwines those things together. And if you've been reading through the Bible in three years with us, I know that really ministered to your heart. But he shared in detail as well. And so if you didn't, if you weren't here on Sunday, make sure you check out the message and hear those things that David was sharing.

It's amazing and miraculous how God has worked this out so that now this people who have been in captivity for some time are now given freedom by this

this emperor, this one who rules over the known world at that time, they're given the authority, they're given the great invitation to go back to Jerusalem. And this is fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah the prophet about 150 years earlier. You can see that in Isaiah chapter 44 and 45.

And so God has orchestrated these events to release his people, to give them the opportunity to go back. Now this isn't, you know, he's not kicking all of the Jews out. He's just opening up an invitation. Whoever wants to go, go. You have my blessing. You have my support. Go build the house of God. And Cyrus even says, because God's commanded me to build him a house.

And so in verses 5 and 6, we have the leaders who rise up to go. And they begin to gather together and get the resources and materials that they need. And so some people are saying, yes, I'm going. And then we also see here in this passage that others around them aren't going to go.

But they want to participate and so they support them. They help them financially. They help them with different valuables and treasures. And so they support them and it says that they encourage them in that way. I like that in verse 6. It says,

And so Pastor Rick is here tonight and he's asked that you would please encourage him with silver and gold. No, I'm just kidding.

You know, there's lots of ways to encourage those who are going out, those who are going forward with this open invitation. And, you know, here in our fellowship, it's something that we've just been blessed with, you know, a great amount of people who've said, hey, God's called me to go. There's this open invitation to go and preach the gospel. I want to do that. And so I would encourage you and I

as we always do and challenge you to really look for opportunities to encourage and support those who God is sending out. And so that's why on Wednesdays we take time to pray for our missionaries. That's why we make the information available on the board in the back. It's available on the website and you can send out emails. You can connect with them on Facebook. However you're able to do that. But the important thing here is

Whatever you're able to do. If you're not going, then encourage those who are going because there's a great invitation that was given and they're responding to it. Well, in verses 7 through 11, we continue to see God's grace working through King Cyrus as he gives them the temple articles.

So when Babylon conquered Jerusalem and destroyed the temple, they carried away all of these articles that were used in the temple. And they've been stored there in Babylon. But now they're being released. And Cyrus says, all right, here's the stuff that was taken from the temple so that you can go and reestablish the worship of God there. It's amazing what we see happening here is this.

This king who doesn't really know God. He's not, you know, Jewish at all. But God has worked and stirred up his heart. And so he's commanding the people to go. He's giving them opportunity to go. And he's also giving them all of the things that they need and making provision for them. Even for the expenses to be paid by the king's treasuries. By, you know, the government's expense.

And so that's the beginning here in Ezra chapter 1. A great miracle takes place. God can move the hearts of kings and send his people back to Jerusalem. So now as we move on to Ezra chapter 2, verse 64 is the key verse. It says, the whole assembly together was 42,360. So now what happens is the invitation has gone out and now people are responding.

And so verses 1 through 70 describe and list for us the people who came back from the captivity. Now it's listing the heads of houses and so this might be an exact number of people or it might be representing some of the families that were with them, that they were bringing with them. There's some discussion that could be had about that. But it's led by a man named Zerubbabel.

He is the grandson of Jehoiachin. Now if you remember Jehoiachin. He was one of the final kings. For the nation of Judah. He's of the line of David. And so Zerubbabel here. If they weren't ruled over by Persia. Would be the rightful king of Judah. Or the king of Israel. He was a descendant of David. But because they're ruled over by Persia. He's the governor. And he's the one who's leading this group.

back into the land and back to Jerusalem. This list, as you go through it, there's lots of names. Lots of them we don't really know anything about. And it's not super meaningful for us, but it's a list to keep track of those who returned. We also see an interesting little portion right around verse 62 where there was priests who were coming back with the group and they said, yeah, we're priests. We want to go back with you guys.

But they couldn't prove their genealogy. They couldn't prove that they actually were descendants of Aaron. And so they had to say, hey, no, you can come with us, but you can't serve as priests until we find out for sure. And so more investigation and seeking the Lord had to be done for those who wanted to serve.

But as we come to the end of the chapter, we see the total. It was 42,360 it says. Along with them was another 7,337 servants plus 200 singers plus different livestock and the different goods that they brought. But a total of just under 50,000 people are headed back now from the region of Babylon to

And here's what that looks like on the map. So here again is the nation of Persia or the Persian Empire. Now Babylon is right there. The capital of Persia is different, but the people were taking captive back to Babylon. So they're probably in the Babylonian region. And so they're heading back to Jerusalem.

Now if you go straight across, it's about 500 miles. But for them, that would be very difficult to cross through the middle of the desert that way. And so the way that was normally traveled was you'd go up the Euphrates River, up the northern area of Syria, up you see by Damascus. And then you'd come back down south.

to the region of Israel. And so altogether, it's probably about a 900 mile journey for them to begin to trek back from Babylon to Jerusalem. So I got a little bit curious. How far is that, you know, to think about that? And so here's what the equivalent distance would be like. You go down, just walking, hit the five, keep going north until you hit Eugene, Oregon,

That's 903 miles. And so then you'll feel like a little bit of what they felt as they were going back from Babylon to Jerusalem. That was the journey that they took. And so quite a lot of bravery there. You know, I mean, this was not an easy thing. They were dedicated. And now they're going back. They're making this journey.

Really big, long trek to Jerusalem to be reestablished in the land and to rebuild the temple and plant those things that God has commanded them and given them opportunity to do. All right, chapter 3 now, verse 6 is the key verse. It says, "...from the first day of the seventh month they began to offer burnt offerings to the Lord, although the foundation of the temple had not been laid."

And so in verses 1 through 7, the altar of God is built. So what they do first, before they begin to lay the foundation of the temple, is they set up the altar. The place where they can once again sacrifice to the Lord and begin that part of the priestly ministry. And so that's what they do first. Now originally, remember it was a bronze altar that God had instructed people

Moses to build there at Mount Sinai. And then we learn as we saw Solomon build the temple... He made a much more elaborate, much bigger altar. But that was carried away to Babylon. It's not clear if they brought that back or if what they did actually... Which is more likely is they just built a stone altar there on the foundation where the old altar was. And that's probably what they did. And so they put this altar together. They set it up.

And now they begin to offer sacrifices on it. And also at this time, because it's the seventh month, it was the appropriate time for the Feast of Tabernacles or the Feast of Booths. And remember, that's when they celebrated how God brought them out of the wilderness. And so they live in tents. You know, they were pretty used to that after traveling 900 miles across the region. But they're living in tents. They're rejoicing in what God has done and rejoicing in how God has brought them back to the land.

Well, then they begin work on the temple in verses 8 through 10. The builders lay the temple foundation. And this happens in the second month of the second year. The foundation work is completed. It's just, you know, the very first thing. They lay the foundation. They get it set. And so now there is a celebration that goes on in verses 11 through 13. It's shouts of joy, but then also mingled with the noise of weeping.

There's great celebration here. As you can imagine and understand, I mean, they've come back into the land. That's a miracle in and of itself. With the blessing and the command of the king to rebuild the temple. And now it's begun. The foundation is laid and now they're going to start building up. They've done that groundwork and now the temple is going to start to come together. And so they're rejoicing. It's a great cause for celebration.

But we also see in verse 12 that many of the priests, those older guys who had seen the original temple, it says that they were weeping at this time. It says that they wept with a loud voice. And so people were shouting for joy, but also people were weeping aloud. And it says in the next verse that it was hard to discern, you know, the shouts of joy from the weeping aloud. And so you can understand that.

it wasn't like they were quietly sobbing, but there was this great wailing going on as they mourned as the temple foundation is laid. As we studied Solomon's temple, we got to see that he, well, he took the tabernacle model and he quadrupled it. It was pretty impressive, the temple that he built. Not only that, but it was elaborate. It was decadent. It was just filled with gold from

Top to bottom, everywhere you looked, there was just all this gold and silver. Great values or valuables that Solomon had included in the temple. And we looked at that as we studied the temple together. Well, as it's being put together now and the foundation is laid, these older guys who remember the glory of the first temple, Solomon's temple, they're seeing this and they're realizing this is...

This is not going to be quite the same. We don't have the millions and millions and millions of dollars worth of gold. We don't have quite the same things going on. It's not going to be as glorious.

Now God's going to encourage the people regarding that through the prophet Zechariah and Haggai. And we're not going to get into that this evening. But later on he's going to encourage them. And he says, look, this temple is going to be more glorious because, of course, it's the temple where the Messiah will come to. And it's Jesus. It's a temple that Jesus attends whenever he is a small boy and then also as a man in the life of Jesus. And so it's a

small, you know, not as glorious temple as far as the gold and silver and all those things, but it has much more glory in store for it as they are putting this together. Well, that brings us now to chapter 4. Verse 4 is the key verse. It says, then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building. First, we see in verses 1 through 6, the people of the land tried to discourage Judah. Now, they

first of all, tried to join with them. In verse 2, it says that they come to Zerubbabel and they say, hey, we worship the same God you worship. Let us join with you. We want to help you in this work because we seek God too. And we've sacrificed to him since, you know, the king of Assyria put us here. When the northern kingdom was conquered by Assyria, their practice was take the people out of the land and

take people from a different place and put them in the land that you just conquered. And so the people who were there in that northern area of Israel were not Jewish people, but they had learned about God and learned to sacrifice. But they learned it from the priests from the northern kingdom, which never served God from the beginning. They worshiped false gods. So

They claim to worship God. They claim to seek God. But they really did not. And so Zerubbabel says, no, you can't have any part of this.

Now we can see looking through this passage that the hearts of these people were wrong from the get-go. They offered to help. They wanted to participate. But their hearts were messed up in this because, well, when they said no, when Zerubbabel said, no, you can't serve with us, then they said, okay, well, we're going to try to put a stop to it then. And we're going to discourage you and write letters and hire lawyers. And we're going to do everything we can to stop this work.

And so we see that their hearts were wrong, that they were offering to help, but it was the right thing for them not to be involved because their hearts were far from the Lord. It's an interesting thing to consider. Should everyone be allowed or even encouraged to do God's work?

And it's something that, you know, pastors and church leaders have discussed and wrestled with for many, many years. But here's a good example of, you know, not always is it a good idea. Not always is it appropriate for those who do not know God to participate in the work of

And maybe sometimes it is, but that's a whole different thing. But here we see it was not appropriate. It was not right for them to participate in this work. And you might think, hey, I mean, the more the merrier, you know, the more hands, we'll get this done quicker and then we'll be able to worship God in the temple as it's all fully completed. You know, why not have the more help?

But we see again that their hearts were in the wrong place. And so when they said, no, you cannot serve with us. You can't be part of this. Now they're trying to discourage them. And they're coming against them with fear. They're coming against them with legal things. They're coming against them with all kinds of opposition to try to discourage them from finishing the temple.

As an example of that, the rest of the chapter includes their letters to the authorities. In verse 7 through 16, you have the letter to Artaxerxes. And then verse 17 through 24, the command by Artaxerxes for them to stop building.

This portion here in the last part of chapter 4 seems to jump ahead in time a little bit. The way that they're talking about these things here in verses 7 through 24, it appears that they're talking about the building of Jerusalem. And so

Right now we're talking about the building of the temple. Through Nehemiah. We're going to be dealing with. The building of the wall. And things like that. And this seems to be happening in between. The temple is completed. Nehemiah is not yet there to finish the wall. And they're working on the city of Jerusalem. They're working on the wall. And...

Now the people around them who are trying to discourage them write to King Artaxerxes and he looks into the matter. He says, yeah, you're right. This is a rebellious city. And so he commands them to stop. So they send a letter warning the king saying, hey, Jerusalem,

Has caused lots of trouble in the past. They've caused all kinds of issues to kings before. So I don't know if you want to let them continue to build. And they're trying to persuade King Artaxerxes to command that they stop. It's interesting to me because it's a pattern that we can see where the enemy, talking spiritually now, Satan, will often try to use your history as

As a reason why you cannot do the work of God today. And they'll try to use your history as a reason why you cannot serve the Lord and do what God has set before you today. That's what they're doing. Look at their history, King Artaxerxes. Look at what they used to be. Look at what they've once done. But now as they're brought into the land, they're being reestablished in the land.

By the command of God, by God opening up the doors, it's not an issue of rebellion any longer. Before, it's true, they were rebellious. But God's dealt with them. That's what the captivity was all about, the discipline that they received. And so now being brought back into the land, God's instructed them to rebuild. But the enemy wants to say, hey, you can't do that. You can't be part of that. You can't be involved in that kind of service. You can't be doing those things because look at your history. Look at your past.

And we're so grateful for that verse that Paul wrote, right? 2 Corinthians chapter 5. Anyone who's in Christ is a new creation. All things have passed away. Behold, all things become new. And so this pattern that the enemy continues to try to use, don't let him knock you out. Don't let him discourage you from the work that God has set before you. Yes, you are a scumbag. Yes, you did rebel and do all kinds of hideous things.

But in Christ, we're a new creation and we have a new opportunity to serve God and do the work of God. And so we see the grace of God in that. But here the enemy is trying to discourage them and put a stop to them by reminding them of their history.

Now we see a few different kings mentioned. And so I just wanted to give you a quick rundown of the kings of Persia. So you understand kind of the time frames that we're talking about. First of all you start with Cyrus. He's the commander who conquered Babylon. And so now you have the Persian Empire ruling over the known world at that time. So he reigned to about 530 BC. Then Cambyses took the throne after him. Then Smyrdas after him. Then Darius I.

Then we'll see Darius I in just a bit. Xerxes comes on the throne next.

Also named Ahasuerus. And then Artaxerxes I. And then Xerxes. And then Sod. It goes on and on. There's a few more after that too. But some of these names are really familiar. So Cyrus of course we know. He gave the command. Go back to Jerusalem. God's told me to build a house for God. Darius we'll see in Ezra chapter 5 and 6. So the next couple of chapters as we talk about Darius. That's who we're talking about.

As we looked at Artaxerxes here in this chapter, that is the Artaxerxes here, 464 to 424. And so we'll see him again in Ezra chapter 7. We'll also see him in the book of Nehemiah. And that's going to be the king that Nehemiah is serving when he's sent to Jerusalem.

But then also Xerxes, you might remember him. That's the king that Esther marries. And so we'll get to that as we get into the book of Esther. And so you can kind of see how Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther go all together. It's kind of that same time frame under the reign of the kings of Persia. And so that's what we're dealing with. And that's what they're dealing with as they're trying to come against the nation of Israel. All right, chapter 5, verse 2.

So Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua, the son of Josedach, rose up and began to build the house of God which is in Jerusalem. And the prophets of God were with them, helping them. So in verses 1 and 2, Zerubbabel and Joshua begin to build again. Now they've stopped building because of the discouragement and the opposition and there's been these difficulties and complications.

But now Haggai and Zechariah come on the scene. And these prophets of God bring forth the word of God and they say to the people, it's time to finish the temple. It's time to get back to work. You've paused, you know, because things got tough and there was opposition. But now it's time to get back to work and to finish what you started. And

And so they begin to build again. And right away, once again, there's opposition. Verses 3 through 17, you have Tatanai, who is a governor of the region. He sends a letter now to King Darius. So writing to King Darius, he's questioning Israel and saying, Hey look, Darius, Israel is building. They say that Cyrus commanded them to do this.

Can you check it out? Can you look into that and see, you know, is that true? Did Cyrus really tell them to build this? And so this is a little bit farther down the reign. Now we're under the reign of King Darius. A new king is on the throne and now it's being questioned. Did Cyrus really command this? And so, well, we find out what happens in chapter 6. Verse 14 is the key verse.

It says,

So Darius searches the archives in verses 1 through 5. He gets the letter from Tatanai. He says, hey, check it out. They check it out. They find out. Yeah, Cyrus did command this. Now we have the recording of that command back in Ezra chapter 1. And so they find the same thing. Yes,

He did command it, and so he sends back, verses 6 through 12, the command to Tatsanite to leave the work alone. I like how he says it in verse 6. Keep yourself far from there. Just stay away from them. Don't bother them, except in verse 8, he says, here's the decree of what you shall do.

He says, It's amazing how God can work in the hearts of kings. He can stir up Cyrus to say, Hey, anybody who wants to go back, go back. Rebuild the temple. Here there's this question, this accusation,

sent to King Darius and Darius responds back, hey, not only should you not bother them, but provide for them. I'm going to, at my own expense, at my own cost, all the taxes that should be coming to me from the Euphrates down, give it to them so that their work is not hindered. It's amazing how God can stir the hearts of kings.

How God can orchestrate things that he wants to accomplish. It doesn't matter who's on the throne. He can accomplish his purposes. And so he does this amazing work in providing for them. In blessing them. And they're finding favor now. As they're doing the work that God has commanded them to do.

And that's key. Again, you have the prophet Zechariah and Haggai. God's commanded them to do this work. And now God is backing them up, supporting them and providing for them to accomplish it. And so the work is finished now in verses 13 through 18. The temple is completed in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius, which is about 516 B.C.,

The priests and Levites now are assigned and they begin the full work that they were assigned to. They've been doing the sacrifices on the altar, but now they're attending to, you know, the lampstand. They're replacing the showbread. They're offering incense on the altar of incense. And so they're beginning the full service of the temple now.

As it is completed in about 516 BC. And then to top it off in verses 19 through 22. They keep the Passover. And so the completion happens. Then soon after that is the time of the Passover. And so they're able to complete that. And remember God's great deliverance for them. As they were brought out of Egypt. And I'm sure it had new meaning for them now. As they've been brought out of Babylon. And they're able to keep the Passover. And just worship God and celebrate what God has done.

Here's a quick look at the layout. This is Solomon's temple. So we don't know exactly. We don't have the dimensions and all of that for the temple that they built. But it would have been, you know, similar pattern. A couple things that would not be there. The Ark of the Covenant.

At this time is missing up until today. We don't know where it's at. Whether or not it's lost or it was hidden. Some suggest that it was hidden by Jeremiah the prophet. We don't really know for sure. But in this temple that they've established, there is no Ark of the Covenant.

Also the pillars, Boaz and Jacob, they're probably not there. And so it's probably just the bare essentials, much more like what they had in the tabernacle back as God instructed Moses to complete it. But it would have been similar to this. They would have had a holy place. They still probably built the Holy of Holies, but there was just not an Ark of the

Ark of the Covenant in there. And we know from Jewish writings and traditions that it didn't have the Shekinah glory. Remember how when Solomon completed the temple and the glory of the Lord filled it so the priests couldn't enter in? There's no description of that. That never happened in this new temple that they built here in the book of Ezra.

This also completes what's referred to as the 70 years. It was prophesied by Jeremiah the prophet in Jeremiah chapter 29 verse 10. He says, after 70 years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word toward you and cause you to return to this place.

And so this is the completion of that. The accounting of that 70 years of captivity is generally accepted to be from the time that the temple was destroyed to the time that the temple was rebuilt.

There's a couple other ways to try to do the accounting, but I'm not going to get into that. You can check that out if you're interested. But the general idea, the general understanding is from 586 to 516, it's 70 years. He destroyed the temple. They rebuilt it. And that was the completion and the fulfillment of the prophecies of Jeremiah. Chapter 7, verse 8 is the key verse. And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month.

Which was in the seventh year of the king. So now Ezra comes onto the scene. So this is the book of Ezra. But he doesn't appear until a little bit of history happens first. And so the temple is rebuilt. It's completed. The work is done. And then after that, in fact several years after that, is when Ezra arrives on the scene.

And so he is a skilled scribe in the law of Moses, it tells us in verse 6. He's an expert in the law of God. He's a priest, he's a scribe, he's an expert in the law. In verse 10 it tells us why he prospered, why he was successful, because it says, for Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel. So he prospered.

the law of God. He practiced the law of God and he taught the law of God. A real great example for us. In fact, this is a verse that I refer back to often because it's what we're called to do. To seek God, to spend time with him in his word, to

Then to seek to live it out in our own lives. And then to pass it on and share with others those things that God has said. And to help them to learn to walk with God as well. So seek, do, teach. It's what Ezra did and it's what God calls us to do. Well along with Ezra he had the support of the king of Persia at the time. Which was Artaxerxes. And so his letter to Ezra is recorded for us in verses 11 through 28.

And again, this general invitation is given. As Ezra is going, King Artaxerxes says, whoever wants to go may go. So the second invitation now is given to the Jewish people. If you want to go back to Israel, Ezra is leading a group. So join up with them and go. Artaxerxes also gives him silver and gold to take with him. And he says, offer sacrifices and use this however you best or however you determine is best.

He also extends the, hey, the treasuries are open. You know, if you need any resources, you need anything else, then, you know, whatever you want, whatever you need, go ahead and take it. And he sets certain limits, but it's basically, hey, whatever you need, here's a blank check, you know, get what you need and be blessed on your trip.

In verse 23, Artaxerxes also says, whatever God commands you, let it be done. So follow the law, follow and worship God as you go back, you know, make sure that you're putting into practice the things that God has set.

And then the final part of the letter, he says, also you need to set magistrates and judges. And so set it up so that it continues, that people continue to worship God and continue to follow God, that there's some structure and some authority there in Jerusalem.

And so Ezra begins this journey here in chapter 7. We'll see it completed in chapter 8. But here's a quick look at the three different returns from Babylon back to Jerusalem. So the first one happens 536 BC under Zerubbabel. We saw that. That was the first six chapters of the book of Ezra. They went there. They rebuilt the temple.

Then now, 457 B.C., that's where we are in Ezra chapter 7. And so this is the second group now that's headed back to Jerusalem. And so Ezra heads back. He has quite a bit fewer people with him, but quite a lot of gold. 100 talents of gold, 750 talents of silver. So they have great wealth with them as they travel back to Jerusalem.

And it took him about four months to get there. And then 444 BC, which we'll look at this coming week in our reading, is when Nehemiah goes to Jerusalem. And so this is the third traveling back to Jerusalem from Babylon. And so Nehemiah, he goes back as the governor. He has an army escort. We'll get to see that. And his job is to rebuild the city itself. The temple has been rebuilt. Now the rest of the city, now it's

needs to be established and the wall needs to be built. Chapter 8, verse 21.

So as Ezra's about to head back, he says, you know, first things first. We need to just spend some time with God. Seek God. Make sure we have the right way for us to go to protect all of our little ones and these great possessions. Again, it was a far journey. It was...

a very potentially dangerous journey. And so they wanted to make sure that they were right in the center of God's will. Verses 1 through 14 describe those who went with Ezra. Again, it was a good-sized group, but a lot smaller than the first group. As they gathered together, they realized, hey, there's no Levites among us. And so he searches out in verses 15 through 20, calls the Levites. And so some of the Levites joined with them to head back to Jerusalem.

In verse 21 through 23, Ezra proclaims a fast. And so he says, hey, let's humble ourselves before God. Let's make sure that we have his direction, that we seek from him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.

Then verse 24 through 30 describes the treasures that were entrusted to the priest. So Ezra says, look, the king gave us all this stuff. Here's your responsibility. Here's all the weights. You know, here's the exact amounts. It's going to be weighed once we get to Jerusalem. So it's your job to make sure we don't lose nothing along the way, that it's all preserved for us as we travel.

And then verse 31 through 36 describes his arrival. He goes, he delivers the king's instructions to all the regions around and lets them know this is what we're doing. This is what King Artaxerxes has said. And so leave us alone. Don't bother us. We have his authority.

Again, here's the map. Now as Ezra goes back to Jerusalem, he probably followed the same route going up the Euphrates and then back down to Jerusalem about 900 miles. And as I said, it took about four months for them to make this journey there.

Chapter 9, verse 2 is the key verse. It says, So once Ezra gets there...

He right away goes and takes care of business and connects with all the different leaders in the region. You know, he weighs out all the valuables that they, you know, had been traveling with and make sure. So he gets all that, like the logistical stuff taken care of. Now he's a priest. And so now he's getting to work as a priest. He's beginning to work on the spiritual condition of the people. And he finds that the spiritual condition is not so good.

And so in verses 1 through 4, you see that Ezra is astonished at the news of Israel's trespass. After he takes care of those immediate things, then the leaders come and say, we have a problem, Ezra. Here's an issue, a situation that we are facing. And what is the problem? Well, there's been some marriage between the men of Israel and

and the ladies of the surrounding regions, the ladies of the surrounding nations. Why was this a problem? Well, first of all, understand this is not a race issue. This is not, you know, God saying there's no interracial marriage or anything like that. He's not saying that, you know, that would be impossible. In fact, you have examples that we've already studied through. You could look at Rahab.

Remember the prostitute Rahab in Jericho? And she got married to an Israelite. And, you know, they were blessed. In fact, she's part of the line of the Messiah. And then later on, you also have Ruth. We saw her as well. She was a Moabitess. And she got married to Boaz, who was an Israelite. So it's not an issue of, you know, it's impossible. It's never allowed to marry outside Israel.

of Israel. That's not what God is saying. That's not the issue here. It's not a race issue. It's an issue of idolatry. Now remember Ruth, when she went back with Naomi, she said, your God will be my God. Your people will be my people. There was a conversion that took place so that she, well, she worshiped God and she worshiped God alone. She submitted to God. She was converted and

What was happening here, what we're looking at in the book of Ezra, was not that. It wasn't that there was conversions taking place, that ladies were saying, yes, I want to worship God and God alone, but they were still worshiping all of their false gods that they'd grown up with, but these guys had married with them, and so now there's this idolatry going on in the midst of Israel. Now remember that idolatry is what got them there in the first place.

It was because of their idolatry and the worship of all these false gods that God raised up the nation of Babylon to conquer Judah and lead them away captive. He was dealing with their idolatry. Now that God has brought them back, it hasn't taken very long and they've jumped right back into that idolatry.

And so Ezra's astonished. She's shocked. How could you guys get back into that same sin that brought such devastation against us and the reason why God brought this destruction upon us? And so verse 3, he says, when I heard this, I tore my garments and my robe and plucked out some of the hair of my head and beard and sat down astonished. It would be really good for us to have this kind of response to sin.

We typically just kind of deal with it more casually. But Ezra is taking this very seriously. It's really hitting him hard. Sin is a serious thing. It brings great destruction. And so he's there astonished. And then verse 5 through 15, he cries out to the Lord. And his prayer to God is recorded there. He says, God, I'm too ashamed. I'm too humiliated to even lift my face before you. Because our iniquities are so great.

Verse 13 he says, And after all that's come upon us for our evil deeds and our great guilt, since you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserve, we see the grace and the mercy of God even in the punishment because it's less than the iniquities deserve. The amazing grace of God.

But here we are back in the same spot, he says. Well, this continues on now into chapter 10, verse 3. It says, As Ezra is there crying out to God, he's astonished. Verses 1 through 4 describe a large assembly that comes to Ezra.

So he doesn't have to call them all together. He hears about this news. He's broken hearted. He's crying out to God. And this big group of people come. And one of the leaders in the group says, okay, let's make a covenant. This isn't over. This isn't the end. God isn't done with us. Let's make a covenant. Let's do a new start today. To put away those wives and to obey God. Now I think verse 4 is interesting.

Because this is their idea. Let's make a covenant to God. But they look to Ezra in verse 4 and say, Arise, for this matter is your responsibility. Ezra, you're the priest. You're in charge. You have to deal with this. I know you don't want to. I know you're broken hearted about this. But you need to deal with this issue of sin. And so in verses 5 through 17, Ezra gets up and he calls the people to confess. In fact, all of Israel is called to Jerusalem. He says, everybody, you got three days to get here.

Everybody's got, this is, you know, everybody on deck. Nobody missing. You need to be here. If you're not here, there's going to be some serious penalties. We got to deal with this. So verse 11, he says, make confession to the Lord God of your fathers and do his will. Separate yourself from the peoples of the land and from the pagan wives. Separate yourself from this idolatry. Do not be unequally yoked, he is saying.

Now what's interesting about this is they take the next three months to examine the problem. As all the people are gathered together, they're saying, okay, yes, we agree with you. We've messed up. We've blown it. But it's raining. So let's not do all this right now with everybody here. That's going to take a long time. So call us in. Set up an order. Call us in. We need to deal with it. But it's a bigger problem than we can handle right at this moment.

So they take the next three months to examine the problem and question all the people involved. I like the way that David Guzik describes it. He says,

If the pagan wife had decided to keep her primary allegiance with her former people and their idols, she could not live among the covenant community and had to be divorced. And so again, what we're seeing here, it's not a racial issue, it's a matter of idolatry. So if she's like Rahab, if she's like Ruth, and she's turned to the Lord...

well, then there's no issue. There's no problem. But if she's insisting on continuing to worship these false gods, she can't have any part amongst God's people. She can't be there. And so there needs to be that separation. And so they spend three months going through family by family. All right, how's your marriage? How are things going? What's your decision about the Lord? Are you going to be serving God? Are you going to be serving these idols?

Taking time to connect with each one to find out the right situation or the right cause of action, course of action for each family. Now after they've figured it all out, they've sorted it all out, then in verses 18 through 44, we have the record of the pagan wives being put away. And so they're probably sent back to their families, sent back to the lands where they're from, and provided for there.

And that's the book of Ezra. It ends kind of on a high note, right? This great separation. But you know it is really something for us to consider as we finish up this evening. God calls us to separate from sin. And as we end on that note here in Ezra chapter 9 and 10, this dealing severely with sin, it's a call for you and I to examine, to consider. Maybe you don't have to take three months to examine because it's just one or maybe two of you.

But you need to take some time and consider. Lord, are we where you want us to be? Is there some kind of outstanding issue that needs to be dealt with? And Jesus talked about that as well. Dealing with sin in a severe fashion. He says, if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out. And he's not telling you to physically harm yourself. But he's saying, deal with sin seriously. Take some drastic steps. Don't let it continue. Don't just put up with it.

Don't be callous and casual regarding sin. But I would call you this evening to reconsider how you view sin. Is it something light? Is it something casual? Or will you be willing to take some serious steps to deal with it? To make a new covenant. It's a new day. Listen, God's done such a great work. We've experienced so much of His grace and His mercy. How can we continue then to live and practice sin?

How can we continue to rebel against God? Sometimes we think because God doesn't judge us right away, it's, you know, he's probably okay with it then. No big deal. I didn't get caught. You know, there's no real big repercussions. So it's probably okay. You know, it's not that big of a deal. But we need to learn from these lessons. Sin is a big deal because it does bring destruction. And we may not see it immediately, but it is promised. The wages of sin is death. And so as we close this evening, I would ask you,

To put away sin. Send it away. If it costs you greatly. If you have to go to great lengths. If it's going to be very hurtful. It's okay. Because sin is more hurtful. It will bring greater destruction. And so it's not about making a new resolution. You know for 2013. But a new covenant. Not about Lord I'm never going to fail you again. That's a promise you can never keep. But Lord today I'm going to walk with you. I'm going to do what you command.

Today I'm going to follow you. Let's pray. Lord, as we consider the book of Ezra, Lord, there's so many things here, God, as we consider our history and our past and how the enemy tries to use that to stop us, to discourage us.

Lord, I pray for any who are discouraged from serving you and doing what you've called them to do because of past issues and past things. I pray, Lord, that you would remind them of the grace and the mercy that we have in you. And Lord, even the command to serve you and to do what you've called us to do. You've gifted us. You've enabled us by your own grace and mercy and not because of our track record. And so, Lord, help us to be faithful and diligent with what you've called us to.

But Lord, I also pray for those who find themselves as Ezra found the nation of Israel where there was a serious situation. And Lord, it even says that the hands of the leaders were foremost in this. And maybe there's some who are leaders that they've been with you for a long time, but there's this issue of sin. There's this disobedience, this disregard for your word. God, I pray that you would help us to not think of it lightly.

To not just let it continue. But God, I pray that you would put upon our hearts the fear of God. The beginning of wisdom. Which is to turn away from sin. Help us, Lord. To be wise enough to deal with it. To put it out of our lives. To not let it continue. Help us to be wise enough to separate ourselves and not be unequally yoked. Help us to be wise enough to start today. To do what's right. To walk with you.

I pray, Lord, that you would purify us. And as we head into this new year, that it would be with a new covenant. We're going to walk with you. We're going to serve you because we want to glorify your name. You're so good to us and we love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of his word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.