Coming Home: Reflections on the Book of Ezra

1. Sin will always take you far from home (9:7). 9:7: From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today.

2. No distance is too far for God (2:1). 2:1: Now these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity of those exiles whom Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon had carried captive to Babylonia. They returned to Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town.

2. No distance is too far for God (2:1). Jeremiah 29:14 I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

2. No distance is too far for God (2:1). Psalm 107:1 3 1 Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! 2 Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he has redeemed from trouble 3 and gathered in from the lands, from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.

3. Our hearts are made to be God s home (6:14 15; 9:1). 6:14 15: 14 They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel 15 and this house was finished in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king. 9:1: After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations

3. Our hearts are made to be God s home (6:14 15; 9:1). John 14:23 If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.

3. Our hearts are made to be God s home (6:14 15; 9:1). Ephesians 2:19 22 19 So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, 20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21 in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord. 22 In him you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit.

3. Our hearts are made to be God s home (6:14 15; 9:1). Imagine yourself as a living house. God comes in to rebuild that house. At first, perhaps, you can understand what He is doing. He is getting the drains right and stopping the leaks in the roof and so on; you knew that those jobs needed doing and so you are not surprised. But presently He starts knocking the house about in a way that hurts abominably and does not seem to make any sense. What on earth is He up to? The explanation is that He is building quite a different house from the one you thought of throwing out a new wing here, putting on an extra floor there, running up towers, making courtyards. You thought you were being made into a decent little cottage: but He is building a palace. He intends to come and live in it Himself. C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity

4. Your response to God s Word will determine the legacy you leave (2:1; 8:1; 10:18). 2:1: Now these were the people of the province who came up out of the captivity 8:1: this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia 10:18: Now there were found some who had married foreign women

4. Your response to God s Word will determine the legacy you leave (2:1; 8:1; 10:18). Psalm 1:1 3 1 Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; 2 but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

5. The Word of God shapes the people of God for the mission of God (1:1; 5:1-2; 7:6, 10).

5. The Word of God shapes the people of God for the mission of God (1:1; 5:1-2; 7:6, 10). a. God s Word keeps us hoping (1:1). In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia

5. The Word of God shapes the people of God for the mission of God (1:1; 5:1-2; 7:6, 10). b. God s Word keeps us building (5:1 2). 1 Now the prophets, Haggai and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the Jews who were in Judah and Jerusalem, in the name of the God of Israel who was over them. 2 Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua the son of Jozadak arose and began to rebuild the house of God that is in Jerusalem, and the prophets of God were with them, supporting them.

5. The Word of God shapes the people of God for the mission of God (1:1; 5:1-2; 7:6, 10). c. God s Word keeps us growing (7:6, 10). 6 this Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD, the God of Israel, had given 10 For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the LORD, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel.

6. Applying God s Word is the hard part (9:4; 10:3). 9:4: Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice. 10:3: Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law.

6. Applying God s Word is the hard part (9:4; 10:3). Matthew 7:24 27 24 Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.

7. The good hand of God is on his people (8:31). 8:31: The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way.

8. God s mission will always face opposition (4:4 5). 4:4 5: 4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to build 5 and bribed counselors against them to frustrate their purpose, all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

9. Our greatest threat is not from outside but inside (9:1). 9:1: After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations

10. Every soul is starving for the fullness of Christ (10:44). 10:44: All these had married foreign women, and some of the women had even borne children.

10. Every soul is starving for the fullness of Christ (10:44). Genesis 50:26: So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

10. Every soul is starving for the fullness of Christ (10:44). Genesis 50:26: So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. Joshua 24:33: And Eleazar the son of Aaron died, and they buried him at Gibeah

10. Every soul is starving for the fullness of Christ (10:44). 10:44: All these had married foreign women, and some of the women had even borne children.

Coming Home: Reflections on the Book of Ezra