WEBVTT 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:14.080 Picking up our study in the book of Ezra, thankful for Ryan for teaching last week and uh really introducing Ezra to us, showing us his importance in redemptive history, and that sets us up for tonight. 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:17.600 Let me pray before we dive into God's word again. 00:00:17.760 --> 00:00:22.719 Lord, we are thankful for your word and we pray that it would be active in our hearts tonight. 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:39.679 Build up our thinking about you, build up our theology about you and what you've done for us, so that you can build up our worship towards you, that we can live better in light of the knowledge of what you have done for us, who you are, how you've revealed yourself in Christ Jesus. 00:00:39.840 --> 00:00:42.960 We pray that you would do that tonight for us through your word, which is living and active. 00:00:43.039 --> 00:00:44.320 We ask this in Jesus' name. 00:00:44.560 --> 00:00:45.119 Amen. 00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:51.759 Well, Ezra 8 is a really neat chapter. 00:00:52.000 --> 00:00:56.079 This is uh a chapter that has got a hold of my attention at the very beginning of the book Ezra. 00:00:56.240 --> 00:01:00.719 I feel like so much of what's going on in the book of Ezra comes into focus in chapter 8. 00:01:00.799 --> 00:01:06.959 Uh, until now we're kind of looking at things in a distance, and then in chapter 8, the distant and the near collide for us. 00:01:07.040 --> 00:01:10.079 And so I want to look at this chapter from two perspectives tonight. 00:01:10.239 --> 00:01:16.159 I want to look at Ezra 8 from inside of Ezra 8, and then from above Ezra 8 looking down on it. 00:01:16.319 --> 00:01:24.400 So we're gonna go through the chapter verse by verse tonight, and we're gonna look at what is described inside of this chapter as if we're going through the narrative with Ezra. 00:01:24.640 --> 00:01:37.120 And then after that, if the Lord gives us more time at the end tonight, we'll go above the chapter and look at how Ezra 8 fits in the context of the Bible, which I think is just critical to understand. 00:01:37.280 --> 00:01:40.159 The focal point of this chapter really is a bold prayer. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:47.280 Everything in Ezra is moving towards the middle of the chapter, from the beginning to the middle, and from the end, it goes from the middle down to the end. 00:01:47.519 --> 00:01:57.120 The middle of this chapter is Ezra's prayer that God would protect him and would lead all of these people and all of this treasure into Israel. 00:01:57.439 --> 00:02:01.120 Ezra is doing a really a staggering journey. 00:02:01.359 --> 00:02:04.239 It's a journey of, I mean, a thousand miles. 00:02:04.319 --> 00:02:10.159 He's got five thousand people with him, and he's walking across the desert in the middle of the summer. 00:02:10.319 --> 00:02:13.759 I mean, that's really what's what's happening in this book. 00:02:13.919 --> 00:02:22.400 It is incredibly hot, and he has thousands of people with him of varying ages, and he's leading them through really the wilderness. 00:02:22.560 --> 00:02:32.240 In a sense, this is, as Ryan pointed out, last week, almost a second Moses kind of experience here, where Ezra is leading his people through the wilderness into a dramatic entrance into the promised land. 00:02:32.479 --> 00:02:35.439 There's lots of people, and there is lots of money. 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:38.319 Thirty tons of gold and silver they have with them. 00:02:38.560 --> 00:02:39.840 There is no army with them. 00:02:39.919 --> 00:02:40.879 We'll look at why tonight. 00:02:40.960 --> 00:02:42.800 They have no protection except for the Lord. 00:02:42.879 --> 00:02:54.879 And so the middle of this chapter, down in verse 21, Ezra proclaims a fast at the river there for a safe journey to seek from God a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. 00:02:55.039 --> 00:02:56.800 And so that's kind of the focus of this chapter. 00:02:56.879 --> 00:03:02.000 And so this chapter provides us from the inside an illustration of the kind of prayer God answers. 00:03:02.080 --> 00:03:05.039 I mean, spoiler alert, Ezra makes it through. 00:03:05.199 --> 00:03:09.120 He gets through the wilderness, he brings the people safely into the promised lands. 00:03:09.360 --> 00:03:11.759 He doesn't lose any of the golden treasure. 00:03:12.080 --> 00:03:13.439 He survives to write the book. 00:03:13.520 --> 00:03:15.840 I mean, it's like when the hero of the movie is in peril. 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:17.039 You know how it's going to end. 00:03:17.199 --> 00:03:18.080 That's what's happening here. 00:03:18.240 --> 00:03:20.639 Ezra survives to write the book that's named after him. 00:03:20.800 --> 00:03:22.479 So we know that God answers this prayer. 00:03:22.560 --> 00:03:29.680 And so backing up to the beginning of the chapter, I want to go through this chapter, looking at what kind of prayer it is that God answers. 00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:33.599 It's fascinating to me that we are introduced to Ezra. 00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:37.680 He's introduced to us last week in chapter 7 as a preacher. 00:03:37.840 --> 00:03:39.840 He is skilled in the word of the Lord. 00:03:40.000 --> 00:03:46.240 He is skilled to study the word of God, to understand it, to apply it to himself, and then to teach it to others. 00:03:46.319 --> 00:03:47.039 That's the flow. 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:49.360 And yet we don't meet a sermon of his yet. 00:03:49.520 --> 00:03:51.599 We haven't been introduced to how he's preaching yet. 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:56.639 The first way we see him interacting with his people is through prayer. 00:03:57.280 --> 00:03:57.840 It was D. 00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:01.759 Al Moody who said, I'd rather be able to pray than to be a great preacher. 00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:03.680 And I think that's true. 00:04:03.919 --> 00:04:07.360 The way a person prays says more about them than how they preach. 00:04:07.520 --> 00:04:10.879 You know, Jesus Christ never taught his disciples how to preach a sermon. 00:04:11.439 --> 00:04:13.680 He didn't say three points in an alliterated outline. 00:04:13.759 --> 00:04:15.680 He didn't say whether or not you should use PowerPoint. 00:04:16.480 --> 00:04:18.079 I think you should sometimes. 00:04:19.040 --> 00:04:20.000 This PowerPoint. 00:04:21.839 --> 00:04:23.839 But he did teach his disciples how to pray. 00:04:24.240 --> 00:04:25.600 He taught them how to pray. 00:04:25.839 --> 00:04:33.040 And that's why it's fascinating to me that you meet Ezra not behind a pulpit, although he's introduced as a preacher of Israel. 00:04:33.360 --> 00:04:36.399 You meet him not delivering a sermon, although he certainly does. 00:04:36.560 --> 00:04:38.800 We'll see his sermons next week in the week to come. 00:04:39.040 --> 00:04:43.680 But you're introduced to him praying for the God's help on his people. 00:04:43.839 --> 00:04:47.439 So the first kind of prayer that God answers is a prayer that's from his people. 00:04:47.600 --> 00:04:49.680 And this charts of chapter 8, verse 1. 00:04:49.759 --> 00:04:51.279 These are the heads of their father's houses. 00:04:51.439 --> 00:04:52.959 Remember, Ezra has thousands of people. 00:04:53.040 --> 00:04:54.959 He's leading them into the promised lands. 00:04:55.120 --> 00:04:57.120 And they're going to be introduced to us by a family. 00:04:57.199 --> 00:05:03.920 This is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia in the reign of Arta Xerces the king. 00:05:04.000 --> 00:05:08.319 Remember, there's some chronology in Ezra where we go forward and backwards, but this is during Artaxerces. 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:11.920 This is 80 years or so after the return in Ezra chapter 2. 00:05:12.000 --> 00:05:13.759 We saw a genealogy at the beginning of the book. 00:05:13.920 --> 00:05:15.360 Eighty years have gone by then. 00:05:15.519 --> 00:05:17.199 This is the second return. 00:05:17.680 --> 00:05:19.759 But, well, I'll read you the names first. 00:05:20.079 --> 00:05:21.920 Remember another thing I learned last week. 00:05:22.000 --> 00:05:23.759 It doesn't matter how you pronounce them. 00:05:24.560 --> 00:06:41.040 Verse 2 of the sons of Phineas and Gershem, of the sons of Ithmiar, Daniel, of the sons of David, Hatush, of the sons of Shekaniah, who was of the sons of Parosh, Zechariah, of whom were registered 150 men, the sons of Pahath Moab, Eliahaniah, the son of Zarariah, and with him two hundred men, the sons of Zatu, Shechaniah the son of Jahaziel, and with him three hundred men, of the sons of Aden, Ebed the son of Jonathan, and with him fifty men, of the sons of Elam, Jeshiah, the son of Athaliah, and with him seventy men, of the sons of Shephathiah, Zebediah, the son of Michael, and with him eighty men, of the sons of Joab, Obadiah the son of Jehael, and with him two hundred and eighteen men, of the sons of Bani, Shalmaith, and the son of Jephaniah, and with him a hundred and sixty men, of the sons of Bibi, Zechariah, the son of Bebi, and with him twenty-eight men, of the sons of Azgad, Johan, and the son of Hakatan, and with him a hundred and ten men, and the sons of Adenikim, and those who came later, their names being Eliphat, Jewel, and Shemaiah, and with him sixty men, of the sons of Bigvieh, and I have no idea how you would even say that in Hebrew, Uthiah and Zakir, and with him seventy men. 00:06:41.759 --> 00:06:48.720 What's interesting about this list, you take it all together, you tally it up, you're dealing with about 1,500 people. 00:06:48.879 --> 00:06:51.600 They're very much different than other genealogies. 00:06:51.839 --> 00:06:57.600 These are listed as the heads of their family, and it's implied for a couple of them, it says even to the end of their family. 00:06:57.680 --> 00:07:00.399 In other words, for some of them, their whole family came, but you don't get all their numbers. 00:07:00.480 --> 00:07:03.519 You just get the numbers of the actual men of the family who are coming. 00:07:03.680 --> 00:07:05.360 So it's reasonable to deduce from here. 00:07:05.519 --> 00:07:08.160 1,500 men, you're up to at least 3,000. 00:07:08.240 --> 00:07:15.759 We're assuming most of them are married, add a kid or two each of them, and you're dealing with five or six thousand people in this second return. 00:07:15.920 --> 00:07:19.920 The other interesting thing about this, there are 12 separate family names. 00:07:20.079 --> 00:07:23.199 All of them are the same family names from Ezra chapter 2. 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:23.920 Not the same people. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:27.839 Obviously, we're 80 years later and those people came, but there is a repeat here. 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:51.759 In other words, many of the families came before 80 years ago, but this is very similar to, I think, modern immigration, where a family might send one person into the new a new land, and that one person might even be supported by people back in the home country for a while until they get a job and they start to develop income, and soon that one person starts sending money back, and that one person starts bringing his family with him slowly but surely. 00:07:51.920 --> 00:08:00.160 And if you jump forward 80 years, you have a whole new family there, a whole new wave of immigration to tag along with the first person who came 80 years earlier. 00:08:00.319 --> 00:08:01.439 That's the way it is in the U.S. 00:08:01.600 --> 00:08:06.160 today, and that is certainly the way this return to Babylon or from Babylon was going. 00:08:06.319 --> 00:08:12.319 These are the same families that came 80 years earlier, but now they're bringing in all of the kids with them. 00:08:12.399 --> 00:08:13.920 That's the image of the families here. 00:08:14.079 --> 00:08:20.879 The other interesting thing, all 12 of these families are the same 12 families from Ezra, chapter 2. 00:08:21.600 --> 00:08:23.519 And there had to be a little bit of work, by the way. 00:08:23.600 --> 00:08:27.360 Some of them are combined to get to the number 12, and Ezra's counting here. 00:08:27.519 --> 00:08:28.079 But it's interesting. 00:08:28.240 --> 00:08:31.839 Ezra works hard at making this genealogy fit into 12 groups. 00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:33.519 And I think it's obvious why. 00:08:33.679 --> 00:08:37.679 He's picturing himself here as returning to repopulate the promised land. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:40.799 Israel was populated the first time by the 12 tribes. 00:08:41.039 --> 00:08:48.480 The second time it will it will not be the 12 tribes legitimately, but it will be these 12 families from Judah and Benjamin. 00:08:48.639 --> 00:08:52.559 They will come and they will repopulate the promised land with their 12 families. 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:57.440 This is very much an indication that God is re-establishing his people in the land. 00:08:58.000 --> 00:08:59.679 Remember the promise to Abraham. 00:08:59.759 --> 00:09:05.440 The Abraham would have people, he would have land, and he would have a gospel, a blessing to the nations. 00:09:05.600 --> 00:09:15.440 And well, Ezra is going back to the promised land with the gospel, he's going back with the lands, and now he's enumerating the people to the twelve sons, the twelve tribes of Israel. 00:09:15.519 --> 00:09:19.759 Just as Jacob had his twelve sons, Ezra is bringing forward these twelve tribes. 00:09:19.919 --> 00:09:24.720 And so our first indication here is that God hears the prayers that come from his people. 00:09:24.879 --> 00:09:33.840 Ezra is very much aware that God has extended his ear to him because he is bringing God's people back to God's place, back to God's lands. 00:09:34.240 --> 00:09:38.159 The second kind of prayer that God hears is from his priests. 00:09:38.399 --> 00:09:39.440 From his priests. 00:09:39.600 --> 00:09:45.519 I gathered them in verse 15 at the river that runs to Ahava, and there were camped three days. 00:09:45.759 --> 00:09:50.799 As I reviewed the people and the priests, I found there were none of the sons of Levi. 00:09:52.080 --> 00:09:53.120 Can you imagine? 00:09:53.279 --> 00:09:56.559 Thousands of people gathered there, and there's no Levites. 00:09:56.720 --> 00:09:57.919 They need Levites. 00:09:58.000 --> 00:10:01.120 They can't do the ministry in the temple the right way. 00:10:01.200 --> 00:10:04.559 This is the motivating factor for getting back to the promised land, remember? 00:10:04.720 --> 00:10:08.960 They, as the psalmist says, How can I worship God in Babylon? 00:10:09.120 --> 00:10:10.960 How can I worship God in a foreign land? 00:10:11.120 --> 00:10:12.240 There's no temple there. 00:10:12.399 --> 00:10:13.919 You can't do the Passover there. 00:10:14.080 --> 00:10:18.480 You can't sing the Psalms of Ascent unless you're ascending to Jerusalem. 00:10:18.799 --> 00:10:22.000 You need the priests to worship God. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:26.399 And Ezra looks around and nobody brought the priests. 00:10:27.039 --> 00:10:30.720 Now, Levites and priests are not exactly overlapping groups. 00:10:30.879 --> 00:10:34.399 Priests were, in a sense, a subset of Levites. 00:10:34.720 --> 00:10:39.120 Levi had four sons, many of the priests descended from Levites. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:43.120 All of the priests were Levites, but not all Levites were priests. 00:10:43.360 --> 00:10:50.639 And so Ezra is looking around here and he's noting that there is no none of the sons of Levi, if there are any, that are actually priests. 00:10:50.720 --> 00:10:53.919 So they can't do the temple worship. 00:10:54.320 --> 00:11:00.480 And we saw some of the sons of Levi enumerated earlier, so we know there's some of the family there, but there's just no priests. 00:11:00.960 --> 00:11:03.440 So Ezra sends out an SOS. 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:06.559 He sends out a distress signal, verse 16. 00:11:06.639 --> 00:11:19.600 I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemiah, Elnathan, Jarev, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshualim, leading men, and for Joriarib and Elnathan, who were men of insight. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:33.039 And I sent them to Edo, the leading man in the place at Cassaphia, telling them what to say to Edo and his brothers and the temple servants at the plat place of Cassaphia, namely to send us ministers for the house of our God. 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:38.960 Cassaphia is a place where it seems like many of the Levites in exile took up residence. 00:11:39.279 --> 00:11:46.080 It's about twenty miles or so outside of modern-day Baghdad, and this is the place where the Levites had gone into hiding. 00:11:46.240 --> 00:11:48.000 And so Ezra sends a message there. 00:11:48.159 --> 00:11:52.639 Remember, he's got thousands of people camped up by a Babylonian river. 00:11:52.879 --> 00:11:54.879 This is no KOA campgrounds here. 00:11:54.960 --> 00:12:00.000 They're dependent upon food and money from families that are staying behind. 00:12:00.399 --> 00:12:01.679 But they have to delay. 00:12:01.840 --> 00:12:04.799 He's got to send a message far away that we need Levites. 00:12:04.960 --> 00:12:05.919 There's a city of them. 00:12:06.159 --> 00:12:11.519 The message gets to Eto, and he dispatches Levites. 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:15.919 By the way, interesting name that may sound familiar to you, Sherubiah. 00:12:16.000 --> 00:12:23.360 He's mentioned seven times in the book of Ezra and Nehemiah, and almost every time, twice here in this passage, he's introduced as one of the leading teachers of Israel. 00:12:23.600 --> 00:12:25.360 He did not go in the return. 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:32.240 He stays here in this Ezra's return, but he does gather up Levites and send them back. 00:12:32.399 --> 00:12:37.440 It's so important for Ezra to have priests, because without the priests, they can't do the temple worship. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:39.039 You see this at the end of verse 16. 00:12:39.360 --> 00:12:42.399 We needed ministers for the house of our God. 00:12:42.799 --> 00:12:45.519 How can they minister without a priest? 00:12:45.759 --> 00:12:47.600 The third kind of prayer that God answers. 00:12:47.759 --> 00:12:49.279 It's from their dependents. 00:12:49.840 --> 00:12:53.200 Verse 18 By the good hand of our God on us. 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:54.559 What a great phrase. 00:12:54.799 --> 00:13:09.200 By the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, the sons of Mahlai, the sons of Levi, a son of Israel, namely Sherubiah with his sons and kinsmen, also Hashabiah, and with him Jeshiah, the son of Mariah, with his kinsmen, and their son twenty. 00:13:09.600 --> 00:13:16.480 Besides two hundred and twenty of the temple servants, whom David and his officials set apart to attend the Levites, these were all mentioned by name. 00:13:16.559 --> 00:13:19.039 And so now he's got a couple hundred Levites. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:21.519 This is enough to staff out the temple. 00:13:21.759 --> 00:13:34.399 And so as a result of that I proclaimed a fast there, Ezra writes in verse twenty-one, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. 00:13:34.559 --> 00:13:48.480 For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, 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. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:53.519 So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. 00:13:53.679 --> 00:13:58.639 There is a lot in that little paragraph right there that is very profound with implications for our own life here. 00:13:58.799 --> 00:14:00.320 Do you see what Ezra is saying? 00:14:00.480 --> 00:14:01.440 He has a lot of money. 00:14:01.519 --> 00:14:03.039 We'll see that in a second. 00:14:03.360 --> 00:14:05.279 Thirty tons of gold and silver. 00:14:05.360 --> 00:14:08.000 I think 25 tons of gold and five tons of silver. 00:14:08.240 --> 00:14:09.919 That's a lot of cash. 00:14:10.240 --> 00:14:11.600 He has a lot of people. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:14.399 He is ripe for attack, ripe for plundering. 00:14:14.480 --> 00:14:15.600 He has enemies everywhere. 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:19.679 We have already met their enemies in Ezra II all the way through Ezra 6. 00:14:19.759 --> 00:14:22.559 We've encountered enemies at every turn. 00:14:22.799 --> 00:14:26.080 There are those that hate the Jews and don't want the temple rebuilt. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:29.919 So what's to stop them from attacking them and taking the gold? 00:14:30.559 --> 00:14:32.639 Ezra needs a military escort. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:35.120 The king would most certainly give him one. 00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:37.759 After all, this is the king's cash. 00:14:37.919 --> 00:14:40.240 The king is the one who gave the money for this. 00:14:40.399 --> 00:14:42.720 The king wants temple worship to be successful. 00:14:42.879 --> 00:14:46.799 So if Ezra were to ask, he would get it most certainly. 00:14:47.360 --> 00:14:50.559 So why doesn't he ask for a military escort? 00:14:50.799 --> 00:14:57.840 He says he was ashamed to, and we don't get the full background of Ezra's conversation with Arta Xerxes, except what Ezra gives you here. 00:14:58.080 --> 00:15:07.600 Apparently, Ezra was one of Artaxerces' main advisors, and Ezra asked if he could go back to Israel and help the people repopulate, and Artaxerces said yes. 00:15:07.679 --> 00:15:09.679 Now you get a little window into the conversation. 00:15:09.919 --> 00:15:18.320 He asked by saying, Yahweh is the real God, and he is sovereign over the world, and he cares for his people, so I need to go back to his temple. 00:15:19.360 --> 00:15:23.600 You see this conversation in more detail with Nehemiah when Nehemiah has to ask to go back. 00:15:23.759 --> 00:15:25.679 He has the same kind of conversation. 00:15:26.240 --> 00:15:34.159 Obviously, Ezra highlighted the sovereignty of God over the world in his appeal to Arta Xerces, saying that God does care for the world. 00:15:34.240 --> 00:15:37.600 The hand of God is good on those who seek him, Ezra said. 00:15:38.720 --> 00:15:44.799 So how can you tell the emperor that my God is sovereign over us? 00:15:45.360 --> 00:15:48.559 By the way, can we get some police just to keep watch too? 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:52.320 Trust the Lord but carry heat kind of attitude. 00:15:52.639 --> 00:15:54.240 Ezra says, I can't do it. 00:15:54.480 --> 00:15:55.200 I can't do it. 00:15:55.360 --> 00:16:00.080 I can't look him in the eye and say, Give me some weapons. 00:16:00.240 --> 00:16:00.960 I can't do it. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:03.679 My hypocrisy has some limits, Ezra says. 00:16:03.919 --> 00:16:07.200 This does not mean that it is wrong to ask for a military escort. 00:16:07.360 --> 00:16:13.039 It does not mean that it's it's wrong to, you know, have security guards at church, to use a very practical example at hand. 00:16:13.120 --> 00:16:18.799 We say that God is sovereign and God cares for us and watches over us, but we have security guards at church. 00:16:18.879 --> 00:16:19.919 Isn't that a contradiction? 00:16:20.159 --> 00:16:21.759 No, and let me play this out. 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:33.759 Because in Nehemiah, Nehemiah is in the same kind of situation where he is going to bring a military escort, or he's going to bring gold and people back to Israel, and he does ask for a military escort. 00:16:33.919 --> 00:16:35.919 He does ask for help and for guards. 00:16:36.080 --> 00:16:39.600 Why does he get to have guards, but Ezra doesn't? 00:16:39.759 --> 00:16:43.840 Why is it hypocritical for Ezra to ask for police help but not Nehemiah? 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:45.519 Well, the difference is simple. 00:16:45.679 --> 00:16:47.279 Ezra was going back as a priest. 00:16:47.440 --> 00:16:49.840 He was going back as a minister to the people. 00:16:50.000 --> 00:16:53.600 He was going back as a religious leader on a mission, so to speak. 00:16:53.840 --> 00:16:56.480 Whereas Nehemiah was going back as a political leader. 00:16:56.639 --> 00:17:02.559 He was one of the king's advisors, and he was going back to be designated by the king as a ruler in Jerusalem. 00:17:02.720 --> 00:17:07.599 So he went as a government worker, and so it's fitting for him to have government protection. 00:17:08.079 --> 00:17:11.359 Whereas Ezra is not going as a government worker. 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:13.279 He seems to have resigned his post. 00:17:13.519 --> 00:17:15.440 He's going back as a priest. 00:17:15.759 --> 00:17:19.680 And so he doesn't want to ask for government protection and to Americanize it. 00:17:19.839 --> 00:17:24.559 This is why it's good that we do have armed security at church, but not the pastor. 00:17:26.240 --> 00:17:27.119 Not the elders. 00:17:27.200 --> 00:17:28.799 The elders get to trust the Lord. 00:17:30.079 --> 00:17:33.279 Although I'm pretty sure a couple of the pastors are packing hate too. 00:17:35.599 --> 00:17:38.559 This is an example of prayer from dependence. 00:17:38.880 --> 00:17:42.960 Where Ezra gets to tell the Lord, I'm broken, God, I'm dependent. 00:17:43.039 --> 00:17:46.079 If you don't watch out for us, we're going down. 00:17:46.480 --> 00:17:47.680 We're going down. 00:17:48.960 --> 00:17:50.319 And the Lord hears his prayer. 00:17:50.480 --> 00:17:56.640 Verse 23, we fasted and implored God for this, and he listens to our entreaty. 00:17:56.880 --> 00:17:58.160 He listened to our entreaty. 00:17:58.240 --> 00:18:00.720 And we see why this is so important here. 00:18:00.799 --> 00:18:07.119 I set apart twelve of the leading priests, Sherebih, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with him. 00:18:07.279 --> 00:18:14.880 I weighed out from them silver and gold in the vessels of the offering of the house of our God, and the king of his counselors and his lords, and all Israel present that it offered. 00:18:14.960 --> 00:18:21.920 I weighed out into their hands 650 talents of silver, and silver vessels were two in her talents, a hundred talents of gold. 00:18:22.240 --> 00:18:25.680 So 25 tons of silver, five tons of gold is what that is. 00:18:25.839 --> 00:18:28.000 Twenty bowls I think I got it opposite earlier. 00:18:28.160 --> 00:18:32.640 Twenty bowls of gold worth a thousand dericks, which is this massive coin with Darius on it. 00:18:32.720 --> 00:18:33.599 That's why it's called a deric. 00:18:33.759 --> 00:18:34.640 It's a massive coin. 00:18:34.799 --> 00:18:36.880 It's an insane amount of value there. 00:18:37.039 --> 00:18:41.279 And two vessels of fine, bright bronze as precious as gold. 00:18:41.519 --> 00:18:50.559 And I said to them, You are holy to Yahweh, and the vessels are holy, and the silver and the gold are a free will offering to Yahweh, the God of your fathers. 00:18:50.799 --> 00:18:53.920 This is one of the few places the word free will is used in the Bible, by the way. 00:18:54.079 --> 00:18:56.319 Free will in the New Testament is used ironically. 00:18:56.559 --> 00:18:59.839 Free will in the Old Testament is used as a sacrifice. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:07.440 The Old Testament describes certain sacrifices, and if you do a sacrifice outside of those sacrifices, it's a free will sacrifice. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:08.400 And that's what this is. 00:19:08.559 --> 00:19:14.960 This is a massive amount of gold from a Persian king to build, rebuild the temple. 00:19:15.119 --> 00:19:16.720 That's not prescribed in the Bible. 00:19:16.799 --> 00:19:20.400 There's no commands for when a Persian king sends you back, he should send this amount of gold. 00:19:20.559 --> 00:19:23.119 So this is all a free will offering, by the way. 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:26.319 And it is massive amounts of money. 00:19:26.640 --> 00:19:31.599 It's all because of Yahweh, it says in verse 28, the gar the God of your fathers. 00:19:31.839 --> 00:19:43.599 Verse 29, guard them and keep them with you until you weigh them before the chief priests and the Levites and the heads of the fathers' houses in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of Yahweh's house. 00:19:44.240 --> 00:19:45.759 You catch what he's he's doing there? 00:19:45.920 --> 00:19:51.359 He's saying, I mean, they just spent three days praying and fasting for protection. 00:19:52.079 --> 00:20:03.440 After this fast for protection, he then hands them gold, counts it out in front of all of them, and says, just so you know, I'm recounting it in the temple in Jerusalem. 00:20:03.680 --> 00:20:06.160 This is a way of saying, you're going to make it there. 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:07.440 You're going to make it there. 00:20:07.519 --> 00:20:15.759 This is a soldier who's getting deployed, and before he goes off to a combat zone, his wife hands him a note or a picture and says, I want you to bring this back. 00:20:15.920 --> 00:20:18.079 Or an empty, I've heard of people doing this. 00:20:18.160 --> 00:20:20.480 Here's an empty, uh, an empty jar. 00:20:20.640 --> 00:20:23.920 I want you to bring back to me sand from where you're going. 00:20:24.160 --> 00:20:25.200 No, what's laid in that? 00:20:25.279 --> 00:20:26.400 Do you really want the sand? 00:20:26.559 --> 00:20:27.920 No, you don't want the sand. 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:30.319 But what's laden in that is I'm giving you this jar. 00:20:30.400 --> 00:20:31.759 You are bringing it back. 00:20:32.000 --> 00:20:32.880 You will come back. 00:20:32.960 --> 00:20:33.519 Do you hear me? 00:20:33.599 --> 00:20:34.559 It's that kind of attitude. 00:20:34.640 --> 00:20:37.200 That's what Ezra is doing here to the group of people. 00:20:37.279 --> 00:20:43.200 He's saying, Here is the gold, and you will count it out in front of me again, only next time in the temple. 00:20:43.440 --> 00:20:45.119 We are going to survive this. 00:20:45.359 --> 00:20:50.960 But you just get this sense of this urgency, this desperation with them as they head out. 00:20:51.519 --> 00:20:55.519 Well, they're doing this, and God is going to hear their prayer. 00:20:55.839 --> 00:20:58.319 He's going to hear their prayer and give them protection. 00:20:58.480 --> 00:21:04.319 Verse 34, the whole of this was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded. 00:21:04.640 --> 00:21:10.640 This leads to the fourth indication of kind of prayer that God answers for worship. 00:21:10.799 --> 00:21:15.839 God answers prayer from his people, from his priests, from their dependents, and for their worship. 00:21:16.000 --> 00:21:17.279 That's the purpose of all of this. 00:21:17.359 --> 00:21:19.359 It's all for the worship of Yahweh. 00:21:19.599 --> 00:21:32.799 At that time, verse 35, those who had come from captivity and the return exiles offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel, twelve bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs as a sin offering, twelve male goats. 00:21:32.880 --> 00:21:35.279 All this was a burnt offering to Yahweh. 00:21:36.160 --> 00:21:39.359 This all comes as a form of worship. 00:21:39.519 --> 00:21:41.039 And I think I skipped a few verses earlier. 00:21:41.279 --> 00:21:42.880 Jog your eyes back up to verse 32. 00:21:43.039 --> 00:21:46.000 We came to Jerusalem, and there we remained for three days. 00:21:46.079 --> 00:21:52.319 And on the fourth day they went into the house of Yahweh, and they recounted all the gold, and it was all exactly as they said. 00:21:52.480 --> 00:21:56.480 They arrived, verse 31 says, on the twelfth day of the first month. 00:21:57.119 --> 00:21:59.759 That would be just a few days before. 00:22:00.720 --> 00:22:04.319 Passover, August 4th, actually is what commentaries say that date is. 00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:08.960 They would have averaged nine miles a day for several months of journey. 00:22:09.039 --> 00:22:11.119 And when they got there, they waited three days. 00:22:11.279 --> 00:22:18.319 I think that's likely because they had to rest, or likely because they arrived there on a maybe a Thursday or Friday and they didn't want to come in as the Sabbath was approaching. 00:22:18.480 --> 00:22:20.319 So they waited outside Jerusalem three days. 00:22:20.400 --> 00:22:22.799 And they enter, they re-count out the gold. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:24.880 This is all designed for the worship of God. 00:22:25.039 --> 00:22:27.680 They were not praying for just this normal protection. 00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:29.759 They weren't praying out of a sense of arrogance. 00:22:29.839 --> 00:22:32.240 They weren't praying just for things they wanted. 00:22:32.319 --> 00:22:35.680 They were praying that God would help them worship in a righteous way. 00:22:35.759 --> 00:22:36.880 And so God hears their prayer. 00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:42.400 And then finally, God answers prayers, not just for worship, but through their sacrifices. 00:22:42.559 --> 00:22:44.960 This all culminates in verse 35. 00:22:45.119 --> 00:22:47.519 They begin offering burnt offerings to the God of Israel. 00:22:47.599 --> 00:22:55.440 They offer twelve bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs. 00:22:55.599 --> 00:23:01.839 So, in addition to thousands of people, I mean they have a circus with them as a sin offering, 12 milgoats. 00:23:01.920 --> 00:23:04.400 Remember, one for each tribe, one for each family that is back. 00:23:04.559 --> 00:23:06.880 All this was a burnt offering to Yahweh. 00:23:07.039 --> 00:23:08.799 They also delivered the king's commissions. 00:23:08.880 --> 00:23:15.279 So apparently the king sent papers with Ezra, government commissions that he's going to elevate different people in Israel. 00:23:15.440 --> 00:23:22.480 Remember, this whole building project had been shut down for decades by Israel's enemies that were government officials in the province beyond the river. 00:23:22.559 --> 00:23:25.839 So now the king has given Ezra paperwork for them to fill out. 00:23:26.000 --> 00:23:26.799 Explain yourselves. 00:23:26.960 --> 00:23:28.799 Promotions for some, demotions for the others. 00:23:28.880 --> 00:23:30.079 We don't know the content of them. 00:23:30.240 --> 00:23:31.920 But Ezra delivers them. 00:23:32.079 --> 00:23:38.960 All the king's commissions to the king's satraps and the governors of the province beyond the river, and they aided the people in the house of God. 00:23:39.119 --> 00:23:41.440 Part of it was commanding them to work for the Lord. 00:23:41.599 --> 00:23:44.559 This all culminates in these sacrifices. 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:48.240 Bulls and goats and lambs. 00:23:48.480 --> 00:23:52.559 All of them would have their necks cut, would be bled out. 00:23:52.640 --> 00:23:53.680 They would be butchered. 00:23:53.759 --> 00:24:05.440 These priests were in many cases just butchers who then would burn the meat in the prescribed fashion, burn the fat, the incense rises as a pleasing smell to the Lord as they sprinkle the blood in the temple. 00:24:05.599 --> 00:24:07.680 That's the scene that would have taken out there. 00:24:08.000 --> 00:24:09.599 So that's this chapter from the inside. 00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:18.640 When you look at this chapter from the inside out, what you see is the kind of prayer that God answers, a desperate prayer from desperate people for their worship. 00:24:18.880 --> 00:24:25.920 But as you look above this chapter, I want you to see the main theme that is in this chapter is that of the priesthood. 00:24:26.079 --> 00:24:28.240 That Ezra needed priests. 00:24:28.319 --> 00:24:30.160 You see the genealogy in here? 00:24:30.480 --> 00:24:31.279 No priest. 00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:32.799 He hits the panic button. 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:34.079 He summons priests. 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:36.000 He gets to go back into the promised land. 00:24:36.240 --> 00:24:41.200 Now with priests, the priests then do their offerings and their sacrifices. 00:24:42.160 --> 00:24:45.359 The priesthood is so critical in the Old Testament. 00:24:45.680 --> 00:24:48.799 You cannot worship God without a priest. 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:53.279 And I submit to you that the same thing is true at this very day. 00:24:53.440 --> 00:24:57.759 And this is one of the main distinguishing features between us and the Roman Catholics. 00:24:57.920 --> 00:24:59.599 The Roman Catholics, they have a priest. 00:24:59.680 --> 00:25:04.079 And oftentimes when you hear of priest, you think of that kind of person, you know, with the backwards collar on. 00:25:04.160 --> 00:25:08.480 And the Roman Catholic Church, ordination is one of the seven sacraments. 00:25:08.799 --> 00:25:10.799 It's how the other sacraments are dispensed. 00:25:10.880 --> 00:25:13.119 Without a priest, you get access to no grace. 00:25:13.279 --> 00:25:23.839 You can't have penance, you can't have confession, you can't have confirmation, you can't have communion, you can't have last rites, you can't have marriage without a priest in the Catholic system. 00:25:24.000 --> 00:25:29.039 It's so critical to them because they, I think, rightly understand that you need a priest for worship. 00:25:29.200 --> 00:25:34.880 They wrongly understand that it is their ordinance of ordination that empowers somebody to be a priest. 00:25:35.039 --> 00:25:38.160 In the Catholic world, you look at a priest as if he is God for you. 00:25:38.319 --> 00:25:39.200 That's why he's called father. 00:25:39.440 --> 00:25:42.480 This is why Catholics call priests father, because he's representing God. 00:25:42.640 --> 00:25:46.240 When you're interacting with a priest, you're interacting with God Himself. 00:25:46.960 --> 00:25:49.440 That's not the kind of priest the Bible describes. 00:25:49.599 --> 00:25:51.759 It's not God coming to us. 00:25:52.240 --> 00:25:58.640 In the Bible, a priest is someone who is put out from you, who then is the bridge between you and God. 00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:00.880 A priest is very much a mediator. 00:26:01.119 --> 00:26:07.279 He mediates the holiness of God to the sinfulness of people, but he is a priest from among you. 00:26:07.599 --> 00:26:10.799 This is why the Old Testament makes it very clear time and time again. 00:26:11.119 --> 00:26:15.279 As people, as priests, as priests, as people, they reflect each other. 00:26:15.920 --> 00:26:19.680 When the priests are corrupt, the people will be corrupt. 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:23.279 This is one of the ways the Israelites were rebuked in Jeremiah chapter 2. 00:26:23.359 --> 00:26:24.000 We saw this morning. 00:26:27.920 --> 00:26:30.319 Nevertheless, you do need a priest. 00:26:30.480 --> 00:26:36.160 This is a truth that is taught from Genesis 4 all the way through the book of Revelation. 00:26:36.960 --> 00:26:39.920 A priest, in its most basic sense, is a mediator. 00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:46.559 A priest has to be sanctified, he has to be holy because he is the bridge in that sense between God and man. 00:26:46.720 --> 00:26:58.559 And to get your, I think, your mind around the Bible is the elevation of the priesthood, I want you to see just in one screen here how the priesthood really, I use the word evolved, evolved through scripture here. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:02.400 At the beginning, every person was their own priest. 00:27:02.480 --> 00:27:04.960 And you see this outside the Garden of Eden. 00:27:05.279 --> 00:27:11.200 Cain and Abel, and by extension, Adam and Eve, were required to offer their sacrifices. 00:27:11.440 --> 00:27:16.160 They had sinned, and so blood had to be shed. 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:20.640 When it was just Adam and Eve, God sacrificed the first animal. 00:27:20.720 --> 00:27:22.480 In that sense, God acted as the priest for them. 00:27:22.640 --> 00:27:30.240 God took the sacrifice, killed the animal, skinned the animal, and applied the covering to Adam and Eve directly. 00:27:30.559 --> 00:27:34.400 But from that point forward, God was not in the sacrificing business. 00:27:34.559 --> 00:27:35.119 People were. 00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:37.039 People had to bring their sacrifices. 00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:42.400 Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sin, because sin results in death. 00:27:42.640 --> 00:27:44.400 The wages of sin is. 00:27:45.039 --> 00:27:47.279 That does not just come from Romans, my friends. 00:27:47.440 --> 00:27:55.599 That comes from Genesis, when God tells the people, the day that you sin, you will, and you die spiritually when you sin. 00:27:55.759 --> 00:27:56.720 That's the point. 00:27:57.279 --> 00:28:00.799 Spiritual death produces physical death. 00:28:01.359 --> 00:28:03.039 It's not reversed. 00:28:03.519 --> 00:28:07.200 When sin enters the world, people die spiritually. 00:28:07.359 --> 00:28:12.400 Because they are spiritually dead, it works out physical death as well. 00:28:13.039 --> 00:28:18.880 When the New Testament, when Paul says the wages of sin is death, he's not even just talking about spiritual death. 00:28:19.039 --> 00:28:20.720 He's not even talking about physical death. 00:28:20.799 --> 00:28:23.119 I believe he's talking about eternal death. 00:28:23.359 --> 00:28:29.839 That the wages of sin is spiritual death, which leads to physical death, which in turn leads to hell. 00:28:30.000 --> 00:28:31.839