WEBVTT 00:00:00.719 --> 00:00:10.240 Well, last week we looked at Ezra chapter 5, and we saw that the Israelites were trying to build a temple, and they wanted the temple for really one reason. 00:00:10.400 --> 00:00:12.560 They wanted the temple so they could worship God. 00:00:12.800 --> 00:00:19.679 They had gone through generations in the exile without the temple, which meant the priests had no job. 00:00:19.839 --> 00:00:22.079 There was no place to celebrate Passover. 00:00:22.160 --> 00:00:24.960 There was no place for the prayers to be made. 00:00:25.039 --> 00:00:27.440 There was no focal point of the Israelite religion. 00:00:27.519 --> 00:00:33.679 There was no, in their mind, sense of the capacity to have your sins forgiven without the sacrifices. 00:00:33.759 --> 00:00:39.200 And we've read a lot of scripture, even from the New Testament, Hebrews 9 and 10, about that already tonight. 00:00:39.439 --> 00:00:53.679 The Jews were living kind of in that earthly purgatory, knowing the Lord was sanctifying their people for their sins, but without access to the complete forgiveness that came through the obedience to the Torah. 00:00:53.840 --> 00:01:00.000 They couldn't obey the basic documents God had given them in the Torah because they didn't have the temple. 00:01:00.640 --> 00:01:13.280 And then after an exile, after generation in Babylon, the Persian king who conquered Babylon, Cyrus, directed the Israelites to go back and to rebuild the temple. 00:01:13.439 --> 00:01:17.920 We read at the beginning of Ezra how they started that work, and then opponents rose up. 00:01:18.079 --> 00:01:22.159 Most of those opponents were what we would consider Samaritans, to borrow a New Testament term. 00:01:22.319 --> 00:01:27.120 Some of them certainly were left over from the Israelite exile a couple hundred years earlier. 00:01:27.359 --> 00:01:28.719 They were not taken out of the land. 00:01:28.799 --> 00:01:33.840 Some of them remained and intermarried and had some kind of syncretistic approach to worshiping God. 00:01:34.000 --> 00:01:40.079 And they tried to partner with those from Jerusalem, those from Judah and Benjamin, who returned to rebuild the temple. 00:01:40.319 --> 00:01:46.480 And we saw earlier in the book of Ezra, they refused to partner with that syncretistic approach to religion. 00:01:46.640 --> 00:01:48.319 They rejected that cooperation. 00:01:48.480 --> 00:01:49.760 And that turned against them. 00:01:49.840 --> 00:01:53.280 Remember, those that were rebuffed wrote letters to the governor. 00:01:53.439 --> 00:01:56.719 Their state, their province, was called the beyond the river province. 00:01:56.879 --> 00:01:58.319 They wrote letters to the governor. 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:00.879 The letters reached all the way to the emperor. 00:02:00.959 --> 00:02:04.799 This happened cyclically throughout the time of Israel in the land. 00:02:05.920 --> 00:02:19.919 We saw last week that God allowed them to start rebuilding again, but sixteen years had gone by, and it took Haggai and Zerubbabel coming and lighting a fire under them, or Haggai and Zechariah coming and lighting a fire under them and compelling them to get back to work. 00:02:20.080 --> 00:02:25.039 And so they started a second time, only to be met again with a second lawsuit. 00:02:25.280 --> 00:02:26.879 They were taken to court again. 00:02:27.039 --> 00:02:38.639 This time by the governor of the region, not by the Samaritans, but we saw in chapter 5, verse 6 that it was the governor of the province beyond the river and his associates that did not want the Jerusalem temple to be rebuilt. 00:02:38.719 --> 00:02:40.560 So they ordered the building stopped. 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:45.840 The Israelites appealed to the Persian appellate process, and it goes all the way to the Emperor. 00:02:46.000 --> 00:02:49.280 And that's where we left last week at the end of chapter 5. 00:02:49.520 --> 00:02:54.479 Chapter 6 begins with the Emperor Darius giving his verdict on this. 00:02:54.560 --> 00:02:56.639 He made a decree, verse 1 says. 00:02:56.960 --> 00:03:02.159 And a search was made in Babylonia, in the house of the archives, where the documents were stored. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:09.520 And in Ekbantitav, which is the capital in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which it was written. 00:03:09.759 --> 00:03:14.560 And so it's worth noting here that the Babylonians had their own capital in Babylon. 00:03:14.719 --> 00:03:16.159 They were conquered by the Persians. 00:03:16.319 --> 00:03:18.400 The Persians had kind of split up. 00:03:18.560 --> 00:03:20.159 The kingdom had grown so big here. 00:03:20.240 --> 00:03:22.479 They had different areas where documents were stored. 00:03:22.719 --> 00:03:29.039 They didn't find the official court record in the first, you know, archives they searched in. 00:03:29.120 --> 00:03:36.960 It had to be found in the second place, which is often commentators point out the place where some of their emperors went to summer, I guess, have a vacation out there. 00:03:37.039 --> 00:03:41.360 It'd be like President Trump saying, I was looking for the executive order in the White House, but I couldn't find it. 00:03:41.439 --> 00:03:44.560 It was down in Mirilago, or however you say that place where he often is. 00:03:44.639 --> 00:03:45.599 That's where we found it. 00:03:45.840 --> 00:03:46.639 Still counts. 00:03:46.879 --> 00:03:49.759 Still written by the president, still counts, just the wrong office building. 00:03:49.919 --> 00:03:50.879 And that's what happens here. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:57.599 Remember with the the Medes and the Persians, if their emperor made a decree, it could never be violated, it could never be taken back. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:01.599 There was no reversing of a process with the Medes and the Persians. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:05.120 Once the Emperor made a decree, it could never be undone. 00:04:05.199 --> 00:04:07.520 That was part of the fabric of their worldview. 00:04:07.599 --> 00:04:09.759 And the Jews were taking advantage of that. 00:04:10.000 --> 00:04:16.160 The Jews were saying, you can't tell us to stop building the temple, because after all, Emperor Cyrus told us to build the temple. 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:17.519 So what do you want from us, huh? 00:04:17.759 --> 00:04:18.560 What do you want? 00:04:18.959 --> 00:04:24.480 You tell us to start, and then you tell us to stop, but that's contradicting the first emperor, which we know you would never ever do. 00:04:24.879 --> 00:04:26.240 So what about that? 00:04:26.639 --> 00:04:31.839 Well, they do a search, they find Emperor Cyrus' declaration in verse 3. 00:04:32.079 --> 00:04:33.759 In the first year of Cyrus the King. 00:04:33.839 --> 00:04:35.439 So we're back in the Wayback Machine here. 00:04:35.519 --> 00:04:37.360 This is, you know, 40, 50 years earlier. 00:04:37.519 --> 00:04:54.480 Cyrus the King had issued this decree, in fact, concerning the house of Jerusalem, to let it be rebuilt, the place where sacrifices were offered, and its foundations be retained, its heights would be 60 cubits, its breadth 60 cubits, there would be layers of great stones and one layer of timber, and the cost would be paid from the royal treasury. 00:04:54.639 --> 00:04:58.319 Our tax dollars at work would be the sign outside of this construction project. 00:05:00.240 --> 00:05:08.079 Now, of course, Cyrus actually said that, and um, had Adarius just read Ezra 1, he wouldn't have needed to look in the archives. 00:05:08.399 --> 00:05:13.360 But he did, and he finds it, and he begins uh laying it here. 00:05:13.439 --> 00:05:20.240 Verse 5 Let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem and be brought to Babylon, let him be restored. 00:05:20.319 --> 00:05:23.759 And remember those gold and silver vessels, they were pillar pillaged from the temple. 00:05:23.920 --> 00:05:38.399 That's what Nebuchadnezzar uh had put in his own place, and that's what the Babylonian king was really partying with the night the handwriting went on the wall and told him he was going down, he was defiling them, and God punished him by taking his kingdom from him. 00:05:38.480 --> 00:05:46.240 That night it happened, the river was stopped up, the Persians came under the wall and conquered them, and those vessels got put back in storage again. 00:05:46.480 --> 00:05:51.199 And Cyrus, sixty years earlier from Ezra 6, says, Get him out, send him back. 00:05:51.920 --> 00:06:03.120 Now, therefore, verse 6 Tetanei, the governor of the province beyond the river, Sethar Bozani, and your associates, the governors who are in the province beyond the river, keep away. 00:06:03.360 --> 00:06:04.879 That's what the emperor says. 00:06:05.279 --> 00:06:09.279 And I wish our sometimes our courts talked with that kind of clarity. 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:12.240 We hereby rule, stop bothering them. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:16.000 That's what the emperor rules here. 00:06:16.240 --> 00:06:19.120 Stop bothering them, stay out of Jerusalem. 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:21.439 You governor, don't meddle in their work. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:24.959 Let the work on this house of God be left alone, verse 7 says. 00:06:30.000 --> 00:06:32.720 Now, Darius is going to keep going here. 00:06:32.879 --> 00:06:38.959 Moreover, he says, I make a decree regarding what you shall do for these elders of the Jews for rebuilding this house of God. 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:43.040 So he's not just giving the verdict, he's also slapping damages on top of it. 00:06:43.360 --> 00:06:50.399 You're gonna let them keep working, and to punish you for filing a frivolous lawsuit, you have to, in addition, pay this. 00:06:50.639 --> 00:06:57.600 The cost is to be paid to these men in full and without delay from the royal revenue, the tribute of the province from beyond the river. 00:06:57.759 --> 00:07:02.319 So he's this is the emperor saying, You're gonna spend your own state tax dollars on this. 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:04.079 Again, our democracy doesn't work this way. 00:07:04.240 --> 00:07:10.879 President Trump can't say, you know, I'm mad at New York and say they're gonna build a President Trump library and it'll be paid by New York's tax dollars. 00:07:11.120 --> 00:07:12.240 But that's what's happening here. 00:07:12.399 --> 00:07:23.839 The Emperor says, I want this temple to be built in Jerusalem, and you, governor, because you wasted my time by making me hunt down this record in two different provinces, you're gonna pay for it from your own tax dollars. 00:07:24.079 --> 00:07:25.680 That's what'll happen there. 00:07:26.160 --> 00:07:31.439 And he says, verse 9, whatever is needed, that is a blank check. 00:07:31.680 --> 00:07:32.879 Whatever is needed. 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:52.720 Bulls, rams, or sheep for burnt offerings to the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, oil, as the priests of Jerusalem require, let that be given to them day by day without fail, so they make pleasing sacrifices to the God of heaven and pray for the life of the king and his sons. 00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:55.279 That is fascinating, isn't it? 00:07:55.439 --> 00:07:59.839 He tells this pagan governor, You better pray for the Jewish king and his sons. 00:08:00.000 --> 00:08:08.079 Well, I mean, he's to you better pay for them to make their temple for their God, and so they can pray for me and for my sons. 00:08:08.399 --> 00:08:11.600 So he's funding their own prayer from their own tax dollars. 00:08:11.759 --> 00:08:24.000 Also I make a decree, verse eleven, says, If anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made into a dunghill. 00:08:25.920 --> 00:08:26.560 Wow. 00:08:27.600 --> 00:08:33.840 So go ahead and fork up the cost of cows and sheep and whatever they want, because if you don't, you're gonna have a beam coming out of your head. 00:08:34.159 --> 00:08:44.799 May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:48.320 I, Darius, make a decree, let it be done with all diligence. 00:08:48.399 --> 00:08:51.759 So again he says, Don't mess with this, or your house will be torn down. 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:55.440 But notice he can't throws in this interesting phrase at the end. 00:08:55.679 --> 00:09:03.600 Not only will I put a beam in your head and turn your house into a dung hill, I'm gonna let their God also deal with you however he wants to. 00:09:04.000 --> 00:09:11.360 So I'll destroy you, but in addition to me destroying you, I'm letting Yahweh do whatever Yahweh wants to you. 00:09:11.600 --> 00:09:15.039 Yahweh can do as he sees fit to you. 00:09:15.279 --> 00:09:15.919 Verse 13. 00:09:16.080 --> 00:09:26.720 Then according to word sent by Darius the king, Tetzani, the governor of the province beyond the river, Shethaz Benanzai and his associates, did with all diligence what Darius the king had ordered. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:33.600 And the elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai and the prophet of Zechariah, the son of Edo. 00:09:33.759 --> 00:09:40.000 They finished their building by the decree of God of Israel, and by the decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerces, the king of Persia. 00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:41.679 And so now we're jumping ahead. 00:09:41.840 --> 00:09:50.399 All of the temple gets finished building, and it happens because of, and it just brings you through a history here of all the faithfulness that went into this. 00:09:50.799 --> 00:09:57.519 Even the governor's own objections the Lord used to bring it, bring fruition. 00:09:57.679 --> 00:10:00.159 But notice who gets the really the credit here. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:06.960 It's the prophesying of Haggai and Zechariah, allowed by Cyrus and Darius, and even Artaxerces. 00:10:07.360 --> 00:10:11.600 Arta Xerces is going to be the emperor of Esther times. 00:10:11.679 --> 00:10:18.000 And so God uses these three different emperors, all to bring to pass his own decree. 00:10:18.159 --> 00:10:23.759 It's really an incredible look at how God is protecting his people who are certainly in the minority. 00:10:23.919 --> 00:10:27.279 You know, Israel at this time we mentioned last week maybe a hundred thousand people. 00:10:27.840 --> 00:10:32.080 Maybe a hundred thousand people this time in the world's largest empire. 00:10:32.320 --> 00:10:41.519 And God uses these just this all these emperors, so different, Cyrus, Darius, Artisurces, very, very different individuals. 00:10:41.919 --> 00:10:48.240 But God uses them to protect this very minority religion, these Israelites, just a speck on the map. 00:10:49.279 --> 00:10:51.440 It's so kind of the Lord to do this. 00:10:51.840 --> 00:11:00.960 And thus the house was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, which is the end of April, the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. 00:11:01.120 --> 00:11:10.159 And the people of Israel, the priests and the Levites, and the rest of the returned exiles, celebrated the dedication of his house with God with joy. 00:11:10.320 --> 00:11:21.759 They offered at the dedication of this house of God a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs, and as a sin offering for all Israel, twelve male goats according to the number of the tribes of Israel. 00:11:22.000 --> 00:11:30.320 And they set the priests in their divisions and the Levites in their divisions for the service of God at Jerusalem, as it is written in the book of Moses. 00:11:31.039 --> 00:11:38.720 God silently and mysteriously worked through these Persian kings through his even more powerful divine word to bring this to pass. 00:11:38.879 --> 00:11:52.000 If you jog back up to verse sixteen, that word, the dedication of his house with God with joy, uh, the word dedication there, you may not know this off the top of your head, but it is the Aramaic word for Hanukkah. 00:11:52.159 --> 00:11:53.200 That's the word that's used here. 00:11:53.279 --> 00:11:56.000 This is where the word Hanukkah comes from, is this verse right here. 00:11:56.159 --> 00:12:00.480 It's the dedication of the temple that God made for his people. 00:12:01.519 --> 00:12:03.919 Well, they're gonna celebrate Passover. 00:12:04.000 --> 00:12:08.720 Now, Passover is described in Exodus chapter 12, Leviticus 23, Numbers 9. 00:12:08.799 --> 00:12:10.480 It's supposed to be an annual feast. 00:12:10.639 --> 00:12:14.639 There have been a few times in Israelite history where they didn't celebrate it on the right day. 00:12:14.879 --> 00:12:23.440 There's been a few times where they celebrated away from the time that Passover was supposed to be celebrated to commemorate a national, a day of national significance. 00:12:23.519 --> 00:12:28.080 This is after the Red Sea crossing, after the walls of Jericho fell, they celebrated Passover. 00:12:28.159 --> 00:12:32.080 After Josiah's revival, when Josiah recovered, you know, discovered the Torah. 00:12:32.240 --> 00:12:34.320 Remember, he commanded they celebrate Passover. 00:12:34.480 --> 00:12:37.200 Hezekiah led a revival, they celebrated Passover. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:13:03.600 I remember when I was in South Africa, we had a short-term mission team come over and they brought us uh pumpkin and they brought us um some canned turkey meat, which is very weird and disgusting, but they brought it because it was not things that the family I was with could get there, and because they showed up and they had like cranberry sauce and stuff, and pumpkin, like canned pumpkin, and the the lady I was with can make all kinds of things out of canned pumpkin. 00:13:03.679 --> 00:13:05.600 And so we did, we celebrated Thanksgiving. 00:13:05.679 --> 00:13:07.120 I think it was the middle of August. 00:13:07.360 --> 00:13:12.960 But we celebrated Thanksgiving because the short-term mission team brought us the stuff we needed for our own Thanksgiving. 00:13:13.039 --> 00:13:19.759 That's sort of what's happening in these times in Israel's history, where they're gonna celebrate Passover because the time is right. 00:13:19.840 --> 00:13:22.320 They have what they need to do it. 00:13:22.960 --> 00:13:28.480 Verse 20, over at the end, verse 19, and the returned exiles kept the Passover. 00:13:28.720 --> 00:13:33.519 The priests, the Levites, had purified themselves together, all of them were clean. 00:13:33.840 --> 00:13:39.200 So they slaughtered the Passover lamb for all the returned exiles, for their fellow priests and for themselves. 00:13:39.360 --> 00:13:48.960 It was eaten by the people of Israel who'd returned from exile, and by everyone who had joined them and separated himself from the uncleanliness of the people of the land to worship Yahweh, the God of Israel. 00:13:49.120 --> 00:13:54.480 So here is again another verse that describes they are separating themselves from the people around them. 00:13:54.639 --> 00:14:03.440 Remember, there were people that were living there, namely Samaritans and other people that were living in the land, and the Jews separated themselves from them to celebrate this Passover. 00:14:03.919 --> 00:14:05.840 They kept the feast of the unleavened bread. 00:14:06.080 --> 00:14:10.639 Feast of unleavened bread is seven days long, really eight days long, because it encompasses two Sabbaths. 00:14:10.799 --> 00:14:12.639 It goes after Passover. 00:14:13.360 --> 00:14:14.879 It goes after Passover. 00:14:15.039 --> 00:14:23.759 If you celebrated Passover on Friday, and remember the Jewish calendar, the Friday would start the evening before, you know, what we would call Thursday night, but that's Friday in the Jewish calendar. 00:14:23.919 --> 00:14:25.200 The Sabbath starts Saturday. 00:14:25.279 --> 00:14:30.320 That first Sabbath begins the feast of the unleavened bread, and it goes all the way through the following Sabbath. 00:14:30.799 --> 00:14:34.240 They celebrated that after they celebrated the Passover here. 00:14:34.720 --> 00:14:38.559 This is the celebration where they refrained from eating unleavened bread. 00:14:38.639 --> 00:14:40.399 Remember, they had this, this goes back to the flight. 00:14:40.480 --> 00:14:44.399 Remember the first Passover, they they killed the lamb, put the blood on the doorpost. 00:14:44.559 --> 00:14:47.200 That was so that the angel of death would pass over their family. 00:14:47.279 --> 00:14:48.639 That's why it's called Passover. 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:52.000 They would eat the lamb, and then God tells them, any lamb you can't eat. 00:14:52.240 --> 00:14:55.039 Remember, they had to eat that night with their running shoes on. 00:14:55.440 --> 00:15:00.320 They had to have their bags packed, their belt on, their shoes on and laced and tied. 00:15:00.399 --> 00:15:03.360 And then I mean the they didn't have running shoes, but that's the idea. 00:15:03.440 --> 00:15:04.879 Like get your shoes laced up. 00:15:04.960 --> 00:15:08.399 You gotta be ready to bolt while you sit down for a Thanksgiving dinner. 00:15:08.480 --> 00:15:10.080 For Americans, that would be so rude. 00:15:10.399 --> 00:15:11.919 You know, you come over for Thanksgiving dinner. 00:15:12.080 --> 00:15:12.960 Can I take your jacket? 00:15:13.279 --> 00:15:13.600 No. 00:15:14.879 --> 00:15:16.879 Got my car keys in my hand, but thanks for the turkey. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:18.080 It's like going anywhere. 00:15:18.159 --> 00:15:18.960 Yeah, feed me. 00:15:19.039 --> 00:15:19.919 Let's go. 00:15:20.240 --> 00:15:22.399 That's how they ate the Passover meal. 00:15:22.559 --> 00:15:26.480 It was to demonstrate that they were having to get out of there in a hurry. 00:15:26.720 --> 00:15:32.720 And then any leftovers, we take them home in our car and put them in the refrigerator and all that leftover turkey for like a month. 00:15:33.120 --> 00:15:33.759 Not then. 00:15:33.919 --> 00:15:37.840 If you had leftover lamb after the Passover meal, you burned it that night. 00:15:38.000 --> 00:15:40.000 You could leave none of it behind. 00:15:40.559 --> 00:15:44.639 And then you left with no leaven, no way to make leavened bread. 00:15:44.720 --> 00:15:50.879 And so to celebrate that, commemorate that, for a week, they couldn't eat any leavened bread. 00:15:50.960 --> 00:15:53.279 It was the feast of what they call the feast of unleavened bread. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:56.320 And it's a it's a strange phrase, the feast of unleavened bread. 00:15:56.879 --> 00:16:01.039 You know, that's like the I don't know, it's like the whole 30 feast. 00:16:01.120 --> 00:16:05.120 I mean, you're not eating anything and calling it a feast to make it sound better. 00:16:05.200 --> 00:16:06.080 I don't buy it. 00:16:06.639 --> 00:16:09.440 But that's what it is, the feast of unleavened bread. 00:16:09.759 --> 00:16:16.000 And notice they did this for seven days with keyword joy. 00:16:16.639 --> 00:16:17.200 With joy. 00:16:17.279 --> 00:16:19.440 They ate gravel and they were happy about it. 00:16:20.480 --> 00:16:26.639 They were excited for it because the Lord had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them. 00:16:26.799 --> 00:16:33.519 Now, you might think some liberals say a king of Assyria, you know, Ezra forgot who the what nation he was part of here at this time. 00:16:33.679 --> 00:16:35.200 Ha ha ha ha, silly Ezra. 00:16:35.360 --> 00:16:36.879 No, Ezra is being intentional here. 00:16:37.039 --> 00:16:45.440 He has now identified the Persian emperor as the king of Persia, the king of the media, which merged with Persia. 00:16:45.519 --> 00:16:49.120 That's where they found the other document, the king of Babylon and now the king of Assyria. 00:16:49.279 --> 00:16:55.279 Do you notice that Ezra has identified this emperor as the king of every nation that has conquered the Jews? 00:16:55.519 --> 00:17:04.000 Their nations come and go, but the Israelites are right there celebrating Passover where they have really been in God's sight all along. 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:11.839 How kind it is of the Lord at the end of verse 22 that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. 00:17:12.160 --> 00:17:16.880 That's the picture of the first Passover they had celebrated in 120 years, probably. 00:17:17.279 --> 00:17:18.640 Was that one right there? 00:17:18.799 --> 00:17:23.200 Nobody who was there had probably celebrated a Passover ever before in their life. 00:17:23.839 --> 00:17:25.599 This was their first one. 00:17:25.759 --> 00:17:31.039 They had, you know, in Exodus it describes the head of every family sacrificing the lamb, but not here. 00:17:31.279 --> 00:17:32.799 Here it's not the head of every family. 00:17:32.960 --> 00:17:34.160 Here it is the head. 00:17:34.400 --> 00:17:35.279 It is the priest. 00:17:35.359 --> 00:17:39.359 They're doing it for all of the people, likely because the people weren't sanctified. 00:17:39.519 --> 00:17:45.200 So I want to give you a quick outline to end with tonight as we go and look back at these last few verses. 00:17:45.440 --> 00:17:48.480 Six reasons that we have a bloody religion. 00:17:48.559 --> 00:17:54.799 Because what stood out to me the first time I read through this was just the sheer number of animals killed in this. 00:17:54.960 --> 00:18:02.960 If you jog your eyes back up to verse 17, they offered the dedication of this house a hundred bulls, two hundred rams, four hundred lambs. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:06.640 As a sin offering for all of Israel, twelve male goats. 00:18:07.039 --> 00:18:11.039 And it's just interesting that the twelve tribes are not back in Israel. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:17.039 Only two of the tribes are, three if you count the Levites, but they're going to sacrifice goats for all of the nation. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:18.160 All of the tribes. 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:20.960 The people didn't make it back, but their their goats did. 00:18:21.519 --> 00:18:22.960 Their goats are there. 00:18:23.440 --> 00:18:24.640 What a powerful image. 00:18:24.799 --> 00:18:28.319 Even the Emperor in his letter says, fund all of their animals. 00:18:28.480 --> 00:18:33.599 The Emperor understands that they need lots of animals to sacrifice. 00:18:33.839 --> 00:18:35.519 And it'll be paid for, even. 00:18:35.680 --> 00:18:37.839 It's such a critical part of this. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:40.240 This goes back to the very first Passover. 00:18:40.640 --> 00:18:49.839 Numbers 9, verse 13 says, in describing the Passover, that the man who is clean and is not on a journey, he shall never cease to keep to observe the Passover. 00:18:50.000 --> 00:18:56.000 If he does, he will be cut off from among his people because he did not offer a sacrifice to Yahweh at this appointed time. 00:18:56.240 --> 00:18:58.400 That man will die in his own sin. 00:18:58.480 --> 00:18:59.759 That's Numbers 9:13. 00:19:00.000 --> 00:19:07.440 If you are an able-bodied Jew, so to speak, and you're clean, in other words, you haven't touched a dead body, then you have to celebrate the Passover. 00:19:07.519 --> 00:19:09.200 And if you don't, you're cut off from your people. 00:19:09.440 --> 00:19:16.480 This is why the Pharisees didn't want it to have anything to do with the body of Christ and the cross after sundown, because then they wouldn't be clean. 00:19:16.559 --> 00:19:18.160 They wouldn't be able to celebrate the Passover. 00:19:18.240 --> 00:19:24.240 So they hand them to a, you know, a Gentile king and let him kill Christ so they can keep the Passover. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:30.240 They're such hypocrites, but that's that image that if you can celebrate Passover, you must do so. 00:19:30.319 --> 00:19:33.440 And here's six reasons why that's true. 00:19:33.680 --> 00:19:35.599 First, blood protects. 00:19:35.759 --> 00:19:40.640 And this is all in your booklet if you have the Ezra booklet, but first, blood protects. 00:19:40.880 --> 00:19:42.880 Passover marks the flight out of Egypt. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:48.880 And if you remember why they had to flee Egypt, it was because they were in slavery there, and God had been giving them the plagues. 00:19:49.039 --> 00:19:50.720 Passover was really the tenth plague. 00:19:50.799 --> 00:19:51.839 It's the death of the firstborn. 00:19:51.920 --> 00:19:54.880 If you remember the plagues, the water turned to blood and the fish died. 00:19:55.039 --> 00:19:56.960 Frogs, gnats was the third one. 00:19:57.119 --> 00:19:59.759 Flies, the cattle died was the fifth one. 00:19:59.839 --> 00:20:03.599 And starting at the fifth one, the Israelites were spared from these. 00:20:04.240 --> 00:20:06.000 The Israelite cattle did not die. 00:20:06.319 --> 00:20:12.960 Boils and hail fell on the crops, locusts, darkness descended, and the death of the firstborn. 00:20:13.440 --> 00:20:17.680 The Israelites were spared the brunt of many of those plagues because of God's protection. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:19.440 And that was seen in Passover. 00:20:19.599 --> 00:20:25.519 They had to literally spread the blood on their doorpost, and God would spare them. 00:20:25.920 --> 00:20:27.519 The hail didn't hit them. 00:20:27.839 --> 00:20:29.359 God was sparing them. 00:20:29.599 --> 00:20:33.119 That's why they had to be ready to run, because God was sparing them. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:37.359 The point of the blood is a reminder of their protection. 00:20:38.000 --> 00:20:45.759 They put the blood on the door as a visible reminder that as long as they made the sacrifice, God would protect them. 00:20:45.920 --> 00:20:48.319 God protects his people through the shedding of blood. 00:20:48.559 --> 00:20:50.720 This goes back to Cain and Abel. 00:20:51.119 --> 00:20:53.039 Cain wanted to offer grain. 00:20:53.279 --> 00:20:57.519 Abel wanted an animal sacrifice, and God told Cain, I can't protect you. 00:20:57.680 --> 00:21:02.880 I can't forgive you of your sin unless you sacrifice an animal. 00:21:03.599 --> 00:21:05.759 It has to go back to blood. 00:21:05.839 --> 00:21:07.359 That's the first reason. 00:21:08.000 --> 00:21:12.799 The second reason, I have this on here just in case we have any PETA members here tonight. 00:21:13.440 --> 00:21:14.880 Blood offends. 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:16.559 It is offensive. 00:21:17.119 --> 00:21:20.880 This is not politically correct to sacrifice this many animals. 00:21:21.200 --> 00:21:24.559 And these animals were innocent animals, and they had to be flawless animals. 00:21:24.640 --> 00:21:26.799 They couldn't be defiled. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:29.519 It's stunning how God made animals. 00:21:29.680 --> 00:21:31.440 Animals can be domesticated. 00:21:32.079 --> 00:21:33.359 Animals trust people. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:34.960 They have an inherent trust in people. 00:21:35.119 --> 00:21:36.400 Domesticated ones do. 00:21:36.720 --> 00:21:37.839 It's remarkable. 00:21:38.240 --> 00:21:42.480 You know, you c if you have a cat or a dog, there's even a sense of loyalty. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:46.480 We have two gerbils right now, and I think those gerbils are loyal gerbils. 00:21:48.000 --> 00:21:50.400 They don't even bite, they're just the gerbils. 00:21:50.480 --> 00:21:51.599 They're so cool. 00:21:52.319 --> 00:21:55.599 How did God make these things loyal to us? 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.759 I mean, they look like a mouse, but a mouse would bite you, a mouse would give you. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:03.519 The plague and then bite you and defile your house and run away. 00:22:03.599 --> 00:22:06.559 But not these gerbils, they only bring love into our family. 00:22:08.160 --> 00:22:12.480 And this is what God is doing is He made animals this way. 00:22:13.920 --> 00:22:17.680 And then He wants you to kill them for your own sin. 00:22:19.119 --> 00:22:20.480 I mean, imagine that at our house. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:22.799 We've got to kill the gerbil so that we can live. 00:22:23.039 --> 00:22:25.200 I mean, if my daughters would never talk to me again. 00:22:25.359 --> 00:22:26.640 But this is what happened with the lamb. 00:22:26.720 --> 00:22:28.880 Remember, you would bring the lamb in the house for a week. 00:22:28.960 --> 00:22:30.880 He had to be in your house for a week. 00:22:31.200 --> 00:22:32.720 That thing would be named. 00:22:32.960 --> 00:22:34.640 He'd be sleeping with the kids. 00:22:34.799 --> 00:22:44.559 And then on the Passover, the father gathers the family around and cuts the lamb's throat in front of his family, the lamb that they've named and bleeds out in front of everything. 00:22:44.799 --> 00:22:48.720 Well, he explains to them, we're doing this so that God doesn't kill you. 00:22:49.039 --> 00:22:52.240 It's supposed to be offensive. 00:22:53.920 --> 00:22:55.440 The animal, of course, is innocent. 00:22:55.519 --> 00:22:58.319 The animal doesn't break God's moral law like you and I do. 00:22:58.400 --> 00:22:58.960 They're innocent. 00:22:59.039 --> 00:23:04.000 They have big eyes and furry necks, and yet they get killed because we're sinners. 00:23:05.039 --> 00:23:07.680 It's supposed to just be abrasive. 00:23:08.079 --> 00:23:10.400 It's not supposed to be clean and neat. 00:23:10.480 --> 00:23:13.359 It's supposed to offend clear-thinking people. 00:23:13.839 --> 00:23:17.039 Thirdly, blood cleanses. 00:23:17.839 --> 00:23:18.799 Blood cleanses. 00:23:18.960 --> 00:23:21.680 Fifty-one times in the Old Testament. 00:23:21.759 --> 00:23:26.079 It says that our sins are cleansed by the shedding of blood. 00:23:26.319 --> 00:23:27.759 And forget the Old Testament. 00:23:27.839 --> 00:23:31.200 I read earlier in our scripture reading for the evening, Hebrews 9.22. 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:34.160 Under the law, almost everything is purified with blood. 00:23:34.319 --> 00:23:37.200 In other words, the blood actually does purify. 00:23:38.319 --> 00:23:42.400 Hebrews 9.23 is just an incredible verse, which I don't understand. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:50.640 Thus it was necessary for the copies of heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 00:23:50.799 --> 00:24:00.640 In other words, what it's described in Hebrews there is that the temple layout is a mirror, a model of something that is in heaven, and what is on earth needs to be cleansed with blood. 00:24:00.799 --> 00:24:05.599 What is on heaven needs to be cleansed with something better than the animals that are bleeding out on earth. 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:10.880 In other words, the blood of Christ cleanses the model in heaven of what is on earth. 00:24:12.640 --> 00:24:14.880 Blood actually purifies. 00:24:15.759 --> 00:24:18.400 And that's because God makes a real substitution. 00:24:18.559 --> 00:24:22.640 Our sin is really, in a real sense, placed on Christ. 00:24:22.799 --> 00:24:24.720 That's why the offense of it has to be so clear. 00:24:24.880 --> 00:24:28.480 It is offensive that we are sinners, it's offensive to God. 00:24:28.799 --> 00:24:31.359 You're bothered by an innocent animal being put to death. 00:24:31.519 --> 00:24:33.759 Imagine how God feels about your sin. 00:24:35.680 --> 00:24:41.359 And then, because of the death, you have a picture of what sin does. 00:24:41.599 --> 00:24:45.039 You can have your forgiveness, which leads to the fourth point here. 00:24:45.200 --> 00:24:46.720 The blood instructs. 00:24:47.440 --> 00:24:49.440 Teaching was a central point to Passover. 00:24:49.519 --> 00:24:54.880 The family gathered around, the head of the household taught them while they were gathered around the Lamb. 00:24:55.279 --> 00:25:00.559 They would gather the family around, and the Father would teach them why they're doing what they're doing. 00:25:00.799 --> 00:25:02.240 It was not just ritual. 00:25:02.319 --> 00:25:03.759 It was not allowed to be ritual. 00:25:03.839 --> 00:25:08.160 There had to be teaching so that you would know what you were doing. 00:25:08.240 --> 00:25:15.279 This is why Jesus, on the night he was crucified, brings his disciples together to celebrate what they're doing. 00:25:15.440 --> 00:25:16.319 Celebrate the Passover. 00:25:16.400 --> 00:25:17.359 That's Jesus' language. 00:25:17.440 --> 00:25:18.880 Let's celebrate the Passover. 00:25:19.039 --> 00:25:22.160 And then he instructs them in how the Passover points to himself. 00:25:24.240 --> 00:25:30.480 The beginning of a Passover meal, which I'm sure many of you have taken, the very beginning of the meal, a piece of bread is broken in half. 00:25:30.880 --> 00:25:34.319 And then you hide half of it until the end of the meal. 00:25:34.559 --> 00:25:41.279 This is the time that Jesus would have broken the bread and said, This is my body broken for you. 00:25:41.599 --> 00:25:48.480 He's going to go into the grave and be hidden from us until the end of the meal. 00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:58.400 They would eat bitter herbs then, usually horseradish, which would point to the just the bitterness of sin and the bitterness of separation from God. 00:25:59.359 --> 00:26:03.599 Then a child, of course, goes to the door and opens the door to see if Elijah is outside. 00:26:03.920 --> 00:26:05.039 Did Elijah show up? 00:26:05.119 --> 00:26:06.880 It's like a little ritual. 00:26:08.240 --> 00:26:11.279 Looking for the Savior, because Elijah comes before the Savior. 00:26:11.440 --> 00:26:14.400 Then they read and sing Psalms 113 to 118. 00:26:14.559 --> 00:26:20.559 Psalm 118, of course, is the passage of the builder, the stone the builders rejected, becoming the cornerstone. 00:26:20.880 --> 00:26:23.359 There's four cups of wine throughout the night. 00:26:23.519 --> 00:26:27.119 They represent the four different key promises God made Israel. 00:26:27.440 --> 00:26:29.839 The first promise is that God would rescue Israel. 00:26:30.000 --> 00:26:35.119 And so you talk, you pour the first glass of wine and you talk about how God has rescued Israel. 00:26:35.759 --> 00:26:38.480 The second cup of wine talks about how God freed Israel. 00:26:38.640 --> 00:26:41.519 He didn't just rescue them, he gave them freedom. 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:47.119 The third cup of wine talks about how God redeems Israel through the sacrifices. 00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:51.519 And the fourth cup of wine talks about how God owns Israel. 00:26:52.000 --> 00:26:58.960 Jesus took the cup of the Passover on the third cup, was the one that he took, and said, This is my blood, the cup of redemption. 00:26:59.119 --> 00:27:00.720 This is my blood. 00:27:02.079 --> 00:27:03.519 Given for you. 00:27:04.240 --> 00:27:07.200 There's no record of Jesus ever taking the fourth cup. 00:27:07.359 --> 00:27:14.240 In fact, Jesus expressly says, He will not drink the wine of Passover again until he drinks less in his kingdom. 00:27:14.319 --> 00:27:20.559 So the closing cup, the last glass of wine designed to close out the Passover meal, he never drank. 00:27:21.119 --> 00:27:24.400 The bread was hidden, never found. 00:27:24.880 --> 00:27:27.119 The last glass of wine never drank. 00:27:27.359 --> 00:27:29.359 Elijah not outside. 00:27:30.079 --> 00:27:32.240 Only Christ's betrayal. 00:27:32.559 --> 00:27:33.599 That's all that happened. 00:27:33.759 --> 00:27:39.759 By the way, it was probably the second cup to speaking of freedom when he sent Judas out to betray him. 00:27:42.720 --> 00:27:45.200 All this is going around Passover. 00:27:45.279 --> 00:27:50.000 They would have talked about all of this here in Ezra chapter 6, all of it pointing, of course, to Christ. 00:27:50.400 --> 00:27:52.000 Blood sanctifies. 00:27:52.400 --> 00:27:59.599 As I mentioned this earlier, it doesn't just cleanse you, is what the language of Hebrews, but it actually sanctifies you. 00:27:59.759 --> 00:28:03.279 Passover is an ethical celebration, it has ethical implications. 00:28:03.359 --> 00:28:06.000 This is what Haggai says in Haggai chapter 2. 00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:09.359 It was Haggai's preaching that would have taken place here at this Passover. 00:28:09.440 --> 00:28:11.599 And some of us recorded Haggai chapter 2. 00:28:11.680 --> 00:28:28.240 Haggai asks the question: if someone holds holy meat, Passover meat in the fold of his garment, and he's walking around, and he touches something unclean, he touches a dead body, Haggai asks, does his Passover meat in his garment become defiled by touching the dead body? 00:28:28.319 --> 00:28:31.359 Or does the dead body become sanctified by touching the Passover meat? 00:28:31.440 --> 00:28:33.440 Well, obviously they both come defiled. 00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:34.720 That's what the priests say. 00:28:34.880 --> 00:28:40.160 Haggai says, So is it with this people and this nation before me, declares Yahweh, with every work of their hands. 00:28:40.319 --> 00:28:43.279 What they offer here is unclean because they're not sanctified. 00:28:43.359 --> 00:28:48.720 That's likely why in Ezra it says only the priests in verse 20 could do the sacrifices. 00:28:49.599 --> 00:28:52.079 The idea was the sacrifices would sanctify you. 00:28:52.160 --> 00:28:55.039 If you were unclean, you could not touch the Passover. 00:28:56.480 --> 00:28:59.839 And then finally, blood celebrates. 00:29:00.079 --> 00:29:01.200 There are no tears here. 00:29:01.279 --> 00:29:03.279 When they completed the temple, there was weeping. 00:29:03.440 --> 00:29:05.279 There are no tears here now. 00:29:06.079 --> 00:29:07.359 There are no tears here now. 00:29:07.519 --> 00:29:09.599 Now there is only celebration. 00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:11.759 They're rejoicing. 00:29:12.000 --> 00:29:19.680