Life is Complicated – But, God is Greater!
Part 1: Ezra 1-6
By Pastor Dan Kennedy
© April 3, 2016
In every life…from the beginning of Creation, there have been seemingly impossible circumstances to overcome…in every life, every family, and every society.
Life is complicated, but God is greater.
· When we rebel against what we know to be God’s Laws, temporary success may prevail at first (even for what may seem to be a long time), but life will eventually become seriously complicated. Carnal fulfillment and satisfaction may lure us further and further down the road to a fateful, destructive conclusion.
Psalm 73:1–19; 23–24
1 Surely God is good to Israel,
to those who are pure in heart.
2 But as for me, my feet had almost slipped;
I had nearly lost my foothold.
3 For I envied the arrogant
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
4 They have no struggles;
their bodies are healthy and strong.
5 They are free from the burdens common to man;
they are not plagued by human ills.
6 Therefore pride is their necklace;
they clothe themselves with violence.
7 From their callous hearts comes iniquity;
the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.
8 They scoff, and speak with malice;
in their arrogance they threaten oppression.
9 Their mouths lay claim to heaven,
and their tongues take possession of the earth.
10 Therefore their people turn to them
and drink up waters in abundance.
11 They say, “How can God know?
Does the Most High have knowledge?”
12 This is what the wicked are like—
always carefree, they increase in wealth.
13 Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure;
in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.
14 All day long I have been plagued;
I have been punished every morning.
15 If I had said, “I will speak thus,”
I would have betrayed your children.
16 When I tried to understand all this,
it was oppressive to me
17 till I entered the sanctuary of God;
then I understood their final destiny.
18 Surely you place them on slippery ground;
you cast them down to ruin.
19 How suddenly are they destroyed,
completely swept away by terrors! …
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23 Yet I am always with you;
you hold me by my right hand.
24 You guide me with your counsel,
and afterward you will take me into glory.
· Life becomes complicated when God allows those who are godly to go through trials for our good and His glory, or He disciplines us so that we need to endure very difficult times.
· Life becomes complicated when we honestly try to do what is right, but there are those who demean Godly decisions and want to destroy those who choose to follow God’s Word and live an honorable life before God.
· Life becomes complicated when what you are doing for good is deceptively misrepresented, maligned and your reputation is critically undermined.
· But God is greater. Clarity about healthy decisions and a righteous life may not be visibly noticed right away, but faithful perseverance will bring positive, enduring fruit, with the greatest fulfillment and eternal reward.
· But God is greater. God knows how to deliver the righteous. Complications in life are often resolved through the tests of time, and these will be fully resolved, in the end, before the Throne of our Righteous, All-Knowing, and All-Powerful God.
Life is like the building of a Temple – God’s Temple!
“Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you,
whom you have received from God? You are not your own”….
1 Corinthians 6:19
Israel: Brilliant Successes and Horrific Failures
Today, as we review the book of Ezra, we will see the rebirth of a nation, which had experienced great complication and peril. Israel had gone through decades of brilliant successes, spanning from the Patriarchs to the Prophets, from David and Goliath, and King Solomon, including Hezekiah and Josiah, etc., but God’s People had also experienced a rash of tragic kingdom failures…failure, primarily, through a rebellious relationship with God through disobedience to His Word, along with enthusiastic involvement in most every form of pagan, idolatrous worship and salacious lifestyle, which, in turn, had capitulated a godly nation into the horrific consequences of war, plague, defeat, death and bondage.
Israel’s Demise
Life can get quite complicated when the majority of your family either dies from the plague and starvation while cloistered in fear in your besieged city surrounded by a huge enemy army, or are slaughtered when savage, mongrel troupes breach your city’s walls to plunder, rape and kill its frail and exposed inhabitants; or, when your surviving emaciated loved ones are forced to stumble away from God’s burning Temple and city, herded like animals in large groups – carrying all they owned on their backs, for a 1,000 mile forced march to a hostile, foreign empire to work as slaves.
Today, as we speak, life is complicated for hundreds of thousands of immigrants, carrying all they own on their backs, fleeing terrorists. From this perspective, egregious times for some have not seemed to change much over the past 2,500 years. We assume that our age is more sophisticated, more enlightened – we do have much more destructive weaponry and technology in our war machines, but corrupt and troubled hearts have not changed.
Israel’s Slavery in Babylon
In 586 B.C., the forced march from Jerusalem to Babylon would take a month or more. Upon arrival the thousands of slave-immigrants must have first begun to seek out huts and hovels to call home in the outskirt slums of Babylon, only to wearily begin their new demeaning daily routine bright and early the next morning. They would be given the most menial and disgusting tasks as slaves, under the thumb of the proud and wealthy families of their overlords. They were to settle in for the “long haul”, as prophesied by Jeremiah to be 70 years (Jer. 25:11-12; 29:10) – which was easily over a lifetime for many (the life-span of slaves, according to some historians, may have been around 35 years). The life of these captive Israelis had considerable complications.
The sorrow that the Israelites experienced, being brought into the bondage of Babylon, is expressed in the first chapter of the Old Testament book of Lamentations:
How deserted lies the city, once so full of people! How like a widow is she, who once was great among the nations! She who was queen among the provinces has now become a slave.… Joy is gone from our hearts; our dancing has turned to mourning. The crown has fallen from our head. Woe to us, for we have sinned! Because of this our hearts are faint, because of these things our eyes grow dim for Mount Zion, which lies desolate, with jackals prowling over it. You, O Lord, reign forever; Your throne endures from generation to generation. Why do You always forget us? Why do You forsake us so long? Restore us to Yourself, O Lord, that we may return; renew our days as of old unless You have utterly rejected us and are angry with us beyond measure.
Lamentations 1:1; 5:15–22
Rejecting God has a price – sometimes sooner, sometimes later. It always has a price…but, God is Greater. God provides a way for the repentant to return, to be redeemed and to be restored.
Ezra is a Book of Restoration – the Renewal of a Nation, which had been painfully Corrupted by Sin and severely Disciplined by God
The Book of Ezra - The Restoration of Israel
I. The First Return: Rebuilding the Temple (1:1–6:22)
A. Background of the Return (1:1–11)
1. The edict of Cyrus (1:1–4)
Response. God is Greater: God used Cyrus, king of Persia, to Fulfill God’s Word for Israel returning to the Promised Land…God’s Word to Isaiah over 150 years before.
God, in fulfillment of the prophetic word He had given to Jeremiah (Jer. 25:12; 29:10; cf. Daniel’s prayer in Dan. 9:4–19), stirred up the heart and mind of Cyrus king of Persia to bring back the exiles of Israel to their own land.
Ezra 1:1–4
1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing: (please read verses 2-4 in your Bible)
Cyrus, king of Persia, Responded To God’s Word To His Heart And Acted To Accomplish God’s Purposes
God works in the hearts of those who can change history, who are moved to accomplish His Will. No one else can do what God can do.
God even identified the name of the king, through the prophet Isaiah over a century and a half previously, who would initiate Israel’s restoration following their judgment. His name would be Cyrus.
[It is I] who says of Cyrus, “He is My shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundation be laid.’ ”
Isaiah 44:28
“I will raise up Cyrus in My righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild My city and set My exiles free, but not for a price or reward,” says the Lord Almighty.
Isaiah 45:13
· Are we eager to respond should God prompt us to accomplish His will?
· Is God prompting you to encourage restoration for others?
2. Sacred items Restored under Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. (1:5–11) (Sheshbazzar could be the Chaldean name for Zerubbabel.)
Note:
Daniel and the three other Hebrews were given Chaldean names once they were taken to Babylon.
Daniel 1:7
7 The chief official gave them new names: to Daniel, the name Belteshazzar; to Hananiah, Shadrach; to Mishael, Meshach; and to Azariah, Abednego.
Restore. God is Greater: God prompted King Cyrus to Restore all the Items Dedicated to Him which Nebuchadnezzar had captured from His Temple
Ezra 1:7–11
7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god. 8 Cyrus king of Persia had them brought by Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah.
9 This was the inventory:
gold dishes 30
silver dishes 1,000
silver pans 29
10 gold bowls 30
matching silver bowls 410
other articles 1,000
11 In all, there were 5,400 articles of gold and of silver. Sheshbazzar brought all these along when the exiles came up from Babylon to Jerusalem.
· Are we eager to be restored in areas that have been captured by the world, the flesh, or the devil?
Return. God is Greater: God prompted King Cyrus to Allow His People to Return to the Land He had Given Them
B. List of Those Who Returned (2:1–70)
1. Leaders (2:1–2)
2. Families (2:2–20)
3. Villagers (2:21–35)
4. Priests (2:36–39)
5. Levites (2:40–42)
6. Temple servants (2:43–58)
7. Others (2:59–63)
8. Totals (2:64–67)
Ezra 2:64–67
9. Settling in (2:70)
· If we have been away from the Lord, are we eager to return?
Initiating the Rebuilding of the Temple and Worship of God in Israel
C. Rebuilding Temple Worship (3:1–13)
1. The altar rebuilt (3:1–3)
2. The Festival of Booths (3:4–6)
3. Rebuilding of the Temple begun (3:7–13)
There was great joy!
Reactions and Opposition to Rebuilding
Whenever the reality of the worship of God is begun or restored there always seems to be a rise in opposition.
D. Opposition to Rebuilding (4:1–24)
1. During Cyrus’ reign (4:1–5)
Ezra 4:1–5
Opposition to the Rebuilding
4 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the exiles were building a temple for the Lord, the God of Israel, 2 they came to Zerubbabel and to the heads of the families and said, “Let us help you build because, like you, we seek your God and have been sacrificing to him since the time of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here.”
3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the families of Israel answered, “You have no part with us in building a temple to our God. We alone will build it for the Lord, the God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia, commanded us.”
4 Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. 5 They hired counselors to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.
· Have you experienced opposition when seeking a growing walk with the Lord?
· Have personal battles intensified? Issues with friends or family…or other things?
· Did life get more complicated?
When King Cyrus’ reign transitioned to the next king, the opposition discovered a way to possibly defeat the completion of the building of the Temple.
2. During Xerxes’ reign (4:6)
3. During Artaxerxes’ reign (4:7–23)
a. A negative letter to the King Artaxerxes (4:11–16)
b. A negative response from the king Artaxerxes (4:17–23)
“Thanks for letting me know: Stop the building”
23 As soon as the copy of the letter of King Artaxerxes was read to Rehum and Shimshai the secretary and their associates, they went immediately to the Jews in Jerusalem and compelled them by force to stop.
· Have circumstantial changes affected your relationship with God?
4. The work on the Temple stopped (4:24)
E. Completing the Temple (5:1–6:22)
1. Haggai and Zechariah exhort rebuilding (5:1–2)
2. The governor halts work (5:3–5)
3. A report sent to Darius (5:6–10)
4. Answer to Darius (5:11–17)
5. Searching for Cyrus’ decree (6:1–5)
6. Darius orders the temple to be rebuilt (6:6–12)
7. The temple completed (6:13–15)
20 years after the building of the Temple had begun, it was finally completed – through all the opposition, the stoppage, the passivity, and the building, but it had finally been completed.
There was a great dedication and a Passover Celebration!
8. The temple dedicated (6:16–18)
9. Passover celebrated (6:19–22) [1]
There were many complications in building this temple, just like there are complications that are involved in building the Temple of each person’s life. There are stops and starts. There is opposition and blessing. There is pause and progress.
Life is complicated, but God is greater.
· When we rebel against what we know to be God’s Laws, temporary success may prevail at first but life will eventually become seriously complicated. The Jewish people experienced this in the most disastrous way.
· Life becomes complicated when God allows those who are godly to go through trials or discipline for our good and His glory. Those seeking God, such as Jeremiah and others also had to endure the destruction of Jerusalem and God’s Temple.
· Life becomes complicated when you try to do what is right, but there are those want to destroy anyone seeking to obey God, by deceptively misrepresenting and maligning your reputation and goals. Those rebuilding the temple experience this firsthand.
· The outcome of healthy decisions and a righteous life may not be visibly noticed right away, but faithful perseverance toward God will prevail. God is greater. He loves His Children. God will make all things right in the end.
[1] Basic outline of Ezra 1-6: Richards, L. O. (1991). The Bible reader’s companion (electronic ed.) (307–308). Wheaton: Victor Books.