Ezra 7–8

0:00 Good morning again. We will be back in the book of Ezra. So if you were looking in the Pew Bible in front of you, that's going to be page 393. You're going to go ahead and turn to that as we get started. Page 393, Ezra chapter 7 is where we will be this morning in God's word. So in June 2018, coming up on six years ago, a team of 12 young soccer players and their coach in Thailand became trapped in a cave when a flood blocked their only way out.

0:36 You're probably familiar with the story. You've maybe even seen some different documentaries or movies about the story. It's truly a fascinating story. Most people thought they were dead. They'd seen their bikes and their backpacks at the entrance to this cave, and they knew that this was a long cave with many different tunnels, and the torrential downpours had gone on for days and days, and they thought there's really no way that anyone could be alive, but they went searching for them anyway. So they brought in team after team of expert cave divers to go through these water-filled tunnels in these caves looking for these boys and their coach.

1:15 Lo and behold, miraculously, they found them. About two and a half miles from the entrance, they found them in the midst of the darkness. And incredibly, all 13 of them were still alive. And not just alive, but actually healthy. It was a miraculous discovery. Truly the Lord's mercy. But now, they had to get out. Time was running out. These waters were not going to recede anytime soon. and getting out of there would be no easy, normal feat.

1:48 They would actually have to dive back out. So if you've ever seen cave diving or, you know, ever Googled this, if you've ever gone down the YouTube rabbit hole that I did recently about cave diving, it is horrifying, absolutely horrifying. Diving itself might be bad enough, but cave diving just basically means you can't see anything and you've got stuff pressed against you the whole time. imagine that and that's what they're doing right so they would have to battle strong currents zero visibility at times and in some passages that were 15 by 28 inches wide with gear on i don't even know how that fits through that but they say 15 by 28 inches wide for two and a half miles so it took the expert divers five hours to make this trip and these boys were no expert divers this was going to be a miraculous rescue if it happened would they actually make it that was the question that if you

2:49 were following it all those years ago you know kind of tracking it in the news you were thinking are they actually going to make it out alive would their rescue be completed well some of that same suspense is actually present in our passage for today and as we work through it we should be asking those same questions the people of God are on the cusp of rescue but can they make it out alive can they make it all the way home and if so how how's that actually going to happen well let's pick back up and kind of rehash where we've been in Ezra as we get to that passage but hold on to that suspense of that passage this is our final week in the book of Ezra for now Lord willing we'll finish off Ezra later on this summer but this is the final week for now in Ezra so let's run back where we've been we remember it's mid-fifth century bc so very very old and the people of god have been in exile in babylon and now they're coming back out right this book itself was written by a man named ezra who preached god's word to the people as the there

3:52 back in jerusalem as the temple had been rebuilt and the book itself is broken into two chunks so this will prove important yet again for us today so chapters one through six that's ezra kind of looking back 80 or so years before his time, and then chapter 7 through 10, that's where we'll be today. That's Ezra's time himself. Those are events he himself lived through. And overall, the book is showing us what it means to trust God's Word. When you look at God's Word, what does it mean to trust it, and then how do you live in accordance with God's Word? So it's immensely practical. It's a narrative set all those years ago, and yet it's immensely practical for us today. So in those first few chapters, we saw a people coming out of exile, right? It's this first wave coming out of exile. They'd been given this promise by God centuries ago that they'd be a people in a land with a blessing, and yet they find themselves in a foreign land under a pagan king, seemingly having no hope. And yet the Lord brings them back. He fulfills his promises to redeem his people.

4:54 He stirs up the heart of this pagan king, Cyrus, to send these people back to build their temple. And that's exactly what they go do. That's what the next four chapters are about. That's what we looked at last week. It talks about the rebuilding of the altar, the laying of the temple foundation, and finally the temple itself. And yet in all of that, you'll remember the people of God faced persistent opposition. They began seeing anew that the worship of God is always opposed by our enemy. So for decades, they faced physical opposition to the rebuilding efforts.

5:27 But more importantly, they were facing spiritual opposition. in the form of discouragement and frustration, but the Lord was faithful. He gives them prophets to speak his word to them, and the people actually obey it. They finish the work. They dedicate it, and that scene, as you'll remember from last week, closes with God's people celebrating. They're all gathered together, taking the Passover, and they're celebrating what the Lord has done for them, and our passage picks up there, but many, many decades later, right? So we're going to read Ezra chapter 7 and Ezra chapter 8. Again, it's a longer passage with some names, so we're just going to plow right through that as best we can. Ezra chapter 7. Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, Ezra the son of Sariah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, son of Shalom, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Merioth, son of Zerahiah, son of Uzi, son of son of Abushua, son of Phinehas, son of Eleazar, son of Aaron, the chief priest, this Ezra went up

6:34 from Babylonia. He was a scribe, skilled in the law of Moses, that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. And the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him. And there went up also to Jerusalem, in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king, some of the people of Israel, and some of the priests and Levites, the singers and gatekeepers, and the temple servants. And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. For on the first day of the first month, he began to go up from Babylonia, and on the first day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him. 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.

7:18 This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel. Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven. Peace. And now I make a decree that any one of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom who freely offers to go to Jerusalem may go with you. For you were sent by the king and his seven counselors to make inquiries about Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God which is in your hand and also to carry the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel whose dwelling is in Jerusalem with all the silver and gold that you shall find in the whole province of Babylonia and with the freewill offerings of the people and the priest vowed willingly for the house of their God that is in Jerusalem with this money then you shall with all diligence by bulls rams and lambs with their grain offerings and their drink offerings and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God that is in Jerusalem whatever seems good to you and your

8:21 brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold you may do according to the will of your God the vessels that have been given to you for the service of the house of your God you shall deliver before the God of Jerusalem and whatever else is required for the house of your God which it falls to you to provide you may provide it out of the king's treasury and I Artaxerxes the king make a decree to all the treasurers in the province beyond the river whatever Ezra the priest the scribe of the law of the God of heaven requires of you let it be done with all diligence up to 100 talents of silver 100 cores of wheat 100 baths of wine 100 baths of oil and salt without prescribing how much whatever is decreed by the God of heaven let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons we also notify you that it shall not be lawful to impose tribute custom or toll on any one of the priests the Levites the singers the doorkeepers the temple servants or other servants of this house of God and you Ezra according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand appoint magistrates and judges who may

9:27 judge all the people in the province beyond the river all such as know the laws of your God and those who do not know them you shall teach whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the king let judgment be strictly executed on him whether for death or for banishment or for confiscation of his goods or for imprisonment blessed be the lord the god of our fathers who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king to beautify the house of the lord that is in jerusalem and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors and before all the king's mighty officers i took courage for the hand of the lord my god was on me and i gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me. These are the heads of their father's houses and this is the genealogy of those who went up with me from Babylonia in the reign of Artaxerxes the king. Of the sons of Phineas, Gershom. Of the sons of Ithamar, Daniel. Of the sons of David, Hattush. We will skip from there down to verse 15 because those are lots of names.

10:30 I gathered them to the river that runs to Ahava and there we camped three days. As I reviewed the people and the priest, I found there none of the sons of Levi. And then I sent for Eliezer, Ariel, Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jareb, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah, and Meshulam. Leading men, and for Joy and Elnathan, who were men of insight, and sent them to Ito, the leading man at the place of Kasipha. Telling them what to say to Ito and his brothers and the temple servants at the place Kasipha. Namely, to send us ministers for the house of our God.

11:02 And by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion, of the sons of Malai, the son of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherebiah, with his sons and kinsmen, 18, also Hashabiah, and with him, Josiah, of the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons, 20, besides 220 of the temple servants, whom David and his officials had set apart to attend the Levites. These were all mentioned by name. Then I proclaimed a fast there 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.

11:38 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. So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. Then I set apart twelve of the leading priests, Sherabiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their kinsmen with them, and I weighed out to them the silver and the gold and the vessels, the offering for the house of our God that the king and his counselors and his lords and all Israel their present had offered.

12:11 I weighed out into their hands 650 talents of silver and silver vessels worth 200 talents and 100 talents of gold, 20 bowls of gold worth 1,000 derricks and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as gold and I said to them you are holy to the Lord and the vessels are holy and the silver and the gold are a free will offering to the Lord the God of your fathers guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief priest and the Levites and the heads of father's houses in Israel at Jerusalem within the chambers of the house of the Lord so the priests and the Levites took over the weight of the silver and the gold and the vessels to bring them to Jerusalem, to the house of our God.

12:50 Then we departed from the river Ahavan, the twelfth day of the first month, to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way. We came to Jerusalem, and there we remained three days. On the fourth day, within the house of our God, the silver and the gold and the vessels were weighed into the hands of Merimoth, the priest, son of Uriah, and with him was Eleazar, the son of Phinehas, And with them were the Levites, Josabat, the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah, the son of Benuai. The whole was counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded.

13:22 At that time, those who had come from captivity, the returned exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel. Twelve bulls for all Israel, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, and as a sin offering, twelve male goats. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. They also delivered the king's commissions to the king's satraps and to the governors of the province beyond the river. And they aided the people in the house of God. So it's a long passage again, but it's a fairly straightforward passage.

13:53 If you're trying to break apart the structure of all of this, it should actually feel pretty similar to what we've already seen if you were looking back a few chapters. So there's a quick introduction to Ezra. Then we have a decree from a king sending them back. Then you've got Ezra kind of narrating a little bit. And then chapter 8, it's really just the story of how they get back, of how these returning exiles make it from Babylon to Jerusalem. It's yet another incredible display of God rescuing his people, right? But it's also more than that.

14:26 It's a story of how God cares for them in the midst of that rescue. So for the rest of the time this morning, what we'll be thinking about, the main idea for our sermon this morning is this. Very straightforward. The Lord preserves those he rescues. The Lord preserves those he rescues. And there's two different points and two different ways we're going to consider this from the text. We'll see how the Lord preserves his people in two different ways through this passage.

14:57 The first of those is through his word. That's point number one. And point number two, by his hand. By his hand. So point number one, through his word. You know, immediately we're jumping ahead several years. In fact, about 57 years from the time we left off at the end of chapter 6 to the beginning of chapter 7. Scholars think 57 or so-ish years based on the different kings and when they were ruling. So remember that gap, right? We fast-forwarded all the way to Ezra's time just like that. And for the first time in this book, we're actually introduced to Ezra himself.

15:31 And he comes with impressive credentials, really incredible credentials. It's a little jolting and sudden as you read through it, even if you know what's happening, let alone in our context where we have to do a lot of work to get back to it. It's like, hey, guys, right, skip forward 60 years, and now here's this new character. Well, that just doesn't make for normal storytelling, right? That's hard to track at points. But the author here, Ezra, is trying to put himself into context. On the one hand, he's really not that important in the life of the exile, so it seems.

16:04 He's not the chief priest. He's not a prophet. He's not one of the heads of the father's houses. He's just a priest. He's in the lineage of Aaron. That's what that whole list of credentials is talking about. It's showing that he is one of Aaron's descendants. He's even a scribe. It says that he's skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. But that's kind of it. He's a priest and a scribe. There are probably many priests and scribes. or shown that this is the one that the story is going to be about.

16:36 But at any rate, he gets sent back with a bunch of different exiles to Jerusalem. And apparently, not all of them had left that first time. So chapter 1, all of them get sent back, except not all of them. There's still many of them left behind. And this is another wave of them that Artaxerxes is sending back. And look at how the text goes on to describe Ezra. Verse 10, there of chapter 7. It says he set his heart to do what? to study the law, to do it, and to teach it. And then in that next verse, he's called a man learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord.

17:14 Clearly, this kind of average Jew, this guy who was not the chief priest, not a prophet, not one of the heads of father's houses, had a reputation for knowing God's word. In fact, he has a reputation for knowing God's word in such a way that it's made it all the way back to King Artaxerxes, who really does not care about God's word. Like, not just anyone's going to get an audience with the king, let alone a commission from the king that says, Hey guys, this guy knows the law of your God. I'm sending him back to help you guys.

17:49 Now his reputation for knowing God's word must have been impressive. So Artaxerxes writes this letter, commissioning Ezra, sending him back, and that really takes up then the majority of chapter 7 at that point, all the way down through chapter 7, verse 26. A lot of different things in there. The key things in that long letter that Artaxerxes writes are this. Verse 14, he says, hey, go back, see what's happening, right? I want you to go back and see what's happening in Judah. Verses 15 to 17 says, take money with you to get any of the sacrifices that you need. Verses 18 to 20, use the leftover money to do really whatever else you need to to make sure that the temple worship is happening. Verses 21 to 24, he's giving an incentive even for the priests and the other temple officials to go back saying, you'll be exempt from taxation.

18:40 And then verses 25 and 26, Ezra's told, appoint judges and teach. Appoint judges and teach and enforce. So looking at all of that, at the very end of the chapter, Ezra just kind of seems astonished. Like, Lord, this is too much. How in the world did I get all of this? And that's the end of the chapter, right? He's sitting there blessing the Lord for how he's orchestrated all of this, all of these incredible things through Artaxerxes. So what's going on? What's going on there in chapter 7. Is it just another wave of exiles coming back, right? Another pagan king sending another wave of exiles back. Well, what's becoming very evident or should be very evident to us at this point? It's that the Lord is sending someone back who knows his word and who will teach his word. Someone who knows his word and who's going to teach his word. So if we go back a chapter

19:41 into chapter 6. Think last week we saw the returned exiles actually doing what they were told in God's word. You remember that? So chapter 6 verse 18 says that they did things according to how it was written in the book of Moses. So they were obeying God's word. We also see them prospering under the prophecies of Haggai and Zechariah. That's chapter 6 verse 14. But that was 60 or so years before chapter 7, right? That's a generation and then some of people. By this point, none of that seems to be the case any longer, and that will become very evident as we get into the final two chapters of Ezra later on. But for now, even prior to chapters 9 and 10, we can understand how this might have been the case, right? These are people who've been in exile for over a century and or have just newly returned to Jerusalem. These are people who've never lived in a golden age of an abundance of God's word, right? They've never lived in God's land with God's king,

20:47 with God's word being taught to them. They just haven't. That's not been their reality. And so what does the Lord do? How does the Lord preserve them? Well, the Lord shows he's going to preserve his people who've returned back by ensuring that they have his word. That's what he does for them. Look at how many times this shows up in chapter 7. This is just all over the place in chapter 7. So I'm going to call out several different verses here. Just follow along with me. So chapter 7 verse 6 says that Ezra was skilled in the law of Moses that the Lord the God of Israel had given. Verse 10 talks about the law of the Lord. Verse 11 Ezra is a man learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord. Verse 12, Ezra, a scribe of the law of the God of heaven. Verse 14, according to the law of your God which is in your hand. Verse 21, the scribe of the law of the God of heaven. Verse 25, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand. Verse 25, teach them to make sure that they know the laws of your God. Verse 26, whoever will not obey the law of your

21:50 God. You see the point? Ezra knows the law of God. Even Artaxerxes is aware of the fact that Ezra knows God's word. And now Ezra is to go to Jerusalem and to use the word of God to order the lives of God's people there in Jerusalem. But what is it that makes Ezra qualified, right? How can we look at that and kind of say yeah that i think that's what's going on here i think ezra is the one that's being sent back and he's being sent back for this purpose well look again at verse 10 ezra had set his heart to do what to study to do and to teach the law of the lord ezra finally was able to effectively teach the scriptures because he was first devoted to studying them and obeying them for himself. Like his devotion to God's law wasn't some sort of

22:52 academic venture. It wasn't a selfish ambition and drive to kind of look around at these other priests and say, I'm going to be smarter than this guy. I'm going to know more than this guy, right? Everything he studied, everything he learned, he actually set out to do. But even more than that, his concern wasn't just for his own obedience. This is crucial. He studied, obeyed, and taught the Word of God so that others would do the same thing as well. You know, with so many in here in this room right now who are aspiring to teach God's Word, who maybe are currently teaching God's Word in various ways, I think this should be a massive and critical lesson for us. When you aim to teach God's Word, you're committing to studying it. That should be a given. You don't just stand up and speak without having studied God's word. It's not easy, and it takes a heart devoted to it.

23:49 And like anything else in life, there are skills that you can acquire. There are things that can make you better as a teacher of God's word. For those of you devoting your lives even professionally, vocationally to that, you understand that. It's not just about skills, right? Lots of people can acquire skills, and it doesn't actually affect their heart. It's also about obedience. In other words, it's about letting what you study affect your heart. So brothers, in particular, those of you either aspiring to pastoral ministry, close to it or already in it, don't think that standing in front of God's people to tell them what God's word says is simply spouting off some information or something interesting that you found in your own study. No brothers, first it's about sitting under the authority of God's word for yourself, embracing it for the perfect word of truth that it is, and then seeking to obey what you're studying. Look, once you have personal experience

24:54 with that text, once you have submitted to that text yourself, then you're ready to teach it. There's just no shortcut to that. You can learn, and you should learn, all the skills you can to aid you in teaching God's word. But if you're not sitting under it, if you're not doing what Ezra is trying to do here, to study it, to do it, then and only then would you be ready to teach it. But that's, notice that that's Ezra's aim as well. So brothers, those of you again aspiring and aiming your life and your heart towards pastoral ministry, your job at the end of the day, should you find yourself in this type of position, is not simply to give data. That's not it. That's not what Ezra's goal was. That's not what he ever did. Ezra sought to study the Word, to then obey the Word, and then to teach the Word, not as an end in and of itself, but so that God's people would look more like their Savior. Brothers, that's exactly what our goal is as pastors. You stand up here,

25:57 you stand behind a podium in a Sunday school class, you stand behind wherever the Lord puts you to teach not so that you can impress with your data not so that you can show off with your skills but so that by God's grace and by his spirit you can see those whom you teach come to look more and more like their savior so the Lord was sending his people Ezra one who'd studied one who was seeking to obey his word one who could teach it to them the Lord was kind to do this he He hadn't brought them this far out of bondage in a foreign country only to leave them alone.

26:34 No, he was going to ensure that they knew his word by having someone who could teach it to them. Well, church. Now, not just brothers aspiring to pastoral ministry, but church. Don't you know that the Lord preserves us in the same way? It's the same mechanism that he uses to preserve us. We, too, are a people who've been rescued from bondage to our sin, slavery to our sin. But that rescue doesn't just leave us there. We're not just kind of dumped off here once the Lord rescues us out of our sin.

27:06 No, he cares for us by giving us his word. Think of all the different ways that happens in the life of this church. Various teaching ministries of Sunday school and children's ministry and Bible studies and home groups. The one another ministry of you and a buddy sitting over coffee and reading God's word together. You just studying the Bible on your own. the fact that you've got a copy of god's word that you can read and then maybe even more so this moment right here where every week we come back and we gather under god's word to hear it opened up and taught to us friends when you come here on a sunday you you need to recognize you need to remember and it's not an overstatement it's not a rhetorical statement you're coming to hear from your king. He's speaking to you through his word. Like sometimes that word will bring enormous comfort. The comfort that only his word can bring you. Sometimes it will bring needed correction.

28:06 It points you back to the way of life. Sometimes it will simply lift your eyes to the coming day when we'll see him face to face. But it will always, always be his word to us as his people. We don't have to wonder what our king is saying. We simply need to gather around and listen. So in all of this, we're getting a wonderful, beautiful picture of a new exodus. Just like chapters 1 and 2, right?

28:37 God's people coming out of bondage back to the promised land. They're being released. They're being sent back. It's another exodus. But now they have someone teaching them God's word. and appointing judges to help in the ruling of God's people. They're not just a people now on a new exodus. They actually have a new Moses as well. So God's working to preserve these exiles through Ezra, just like he did way back in Moses' day, and that's becoming all the more apparent, and he's doing that through his word.

29:11 But that's not the only way he's doing it. So point number two, by his hand. You know, if you want to read novels, even non-fiction in many ways, but certainly stories, if you want to watch movies and understand them and be a good reader, be a good kind of consumer of movies, you have to learn to pay attention to details. You've got to be able to see when there's subtle changes, when there's a movement between time and space, or there are different character traits that are being developed.

29:47 There's repetition of important themes happening. Now, you may not like the movie, may not have seen the movie, it's actually a little bit old, but I think the movie that pops into mind for me that displays this the best is The Sixth Sense. So if you've seen the movie, I'm not going to give away the whole plot, it's actually kind of weird, but the guy's dead and you don't know it until the very end. Unless you go back and watch it again and you see, oh, there are all of these clues along the way that this main character was dead. It just kind of blows your mind when you look back on and you realize, I'm not that good of a consumer of this. I did not pay attention to the details.

30:29 Well, it's no different here, right? We don't have any dead characters, right? That's not what I'm trying to communicate. But we do have many places where we need to be paying attention to what's going on as we read this story. So we've noticed a few different times already in the book of Ezra, a change in perspective. You've got chapters 1 through 6, that's in the past. Chapters 7 to 10 are current for Ezra. And then if you remember last week, in chapter 4 itself, Ezra sort of is detailing a historical account, jumps to the future, comes back, right? So a change in perspective there. Well, that's a little bit of what's happening here in chapter 7 as well. So chapter 7 introduces Ezra, says he's going to bring him back to Jerusalem, and then it backs up and says how he did that.

31:12 so you you've got to follow along with that do you see that that's that's verses 7 to 10 7 to 10 are like a summary of what follows through the rest of chapter 7 and then all the way through chapter 8 these people go to jerusalem they're led by ezra whose heart was devoted to god's word right and then immediately as you're reading through the text in verse 11 all of a sudden we're back in babylon right so you you get the whole ending and then all of a sudden you're back in the story itself. And that's the letter to Ezra. We've already looked at all that. That goes all the way into verse 26, verse 27. That's where Ezra is narrating on it. He's looking back, reflecting on the goodness of the Lord. And then chapter 8 puts us right back in the action.

31:53 And this is where it gets interesting pretty quickly. So Ezra lists off those who go with him. That's the names that we skipped for the most part. It's a small group of names, but actually a very important one. Those first two names, the ones that we did read, they're descendants of Aaron, the chief priest. And then the very next one is a descendant of King David. So you've got the priestly line and the Davidic line returning to Jerusalem. And it's no accident that Ezra puts those as the first of his list. But that's not even the most dramatic part of the story. Skip down to verse 15, where we picked back up. So everyone who's decided to go back is gathered outside the city at this river and they're making sure that they've got all their last preparations in place. Remember this would be a potentially perilous journey for them to go four months long into you know at least through parts of the desert to get back to Jerusalem. There would have been enemies along the way and they have to be prepared and as Ezra is going through the camp making sure that everyone is prepared he realizes there are no Levites. Now to us it's like what does that

33:00 matter. Okay, there are no Levites. Well, the king had said anyone who wants to go back can go back and none of the Levites show up. Not a single one of them. Well, they're super critical to the work that Ezra is going to have to do. Their job was to assist the priest and then we also find that they're officers and judges. They teach the word of God and none of them are there. That's why Ezra then scrambles, sends some men to go find some of the priests. That's verse 18 or leading up to verse 18. And then in verse 18, you don't just get any Levite, you get what the text says is the Lord by his good hand bringing forth a man of discretion, Sherebiah. So with that resolved, Ezra leads them to fast and pray. Apparently he'd already told Artaxerxes he didn't want a royal escort back to Jerusalem. He thought, no, we'll be fine without your royal escort. We'll just trust that God's going to provide us with a royal escort instead, kind of a divine one. See what Ezra says there in verse 22? The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against

34:05 all who forsake him. So he trusts with that saying that God is going to protect him. It's a long journey, very dangerous, and God will protect us. No thank you, Artaxerxes. Well, the last step then is to entrust all the money, all the temple vessels to the priests and the Levites. Verse 31, they head off verse 32 one verse later they make it right that's all the more we get of the narration of their journey itself and then they offer some sacrifices to the Lord I mean it's a fascinating story it's a wonderful story it's got twists and turns surprises and in the end the good guy wins it's the type of story we like right the people of God returning to their land out of exile well and as we pointed out in many ways this should feel like a repeat of chapters one and two you've got the king issuing a decree God's people going back and they all make it safe and sound but there's a critical thread through this round of the exiles returning did you catch it right they make it they're preserved along the way in one important repeated way throughout this entire

35:12 story. It's because God's hand is on them. Look at all the places that shows up in these two chapters. Chapter 7, verse 6, the king grants all of Ezra's requests, which are seemingly all the things he says in his letter, because the hand of the Lord was on him. Chapter 7, verse 9, Ezra is able to make it to Jerusalem because the good hand of his God was on him. Verses 27 and 28, Ezra acknowledges that the Lord is the one who put this idea into the heart of Artaxerxes in the first place and is the one who showed him great love to make it all happen so he's able to have courage he sees that God's hand is on them and on him chapter 8 verse 18 the good hand of God on Ezra brings them not just any Levites but the Levites they need chapter 8 verse 22 by this point Ezra sees the hand of God in all of this and tells Artaxerxes I don't need your help my God is going to provide for me and Then finally, at the very end, verse 31, Ezra claims they've been delivered from their enemy

36:13 and the ambush is on the way to Jerusalem. How? By God's hand on them. I mean, it's clear by now that Ezra has a massive theology of who God is. He has a big understanding of God. He understands that God is working in every single one of these circumstances, whether they are boring and mundane or huge and significant. He's working to care for and preserve his people. Notice, Ezra doesn't think that he got his request answered by Artaxerxes because he was so convincing, because he was such a persuasive speaker.

36:50 No, they were granted because God's hand was on him. They didn't just happen to find Sherebiah and these other Levites because they went looking for them, because they went and they found the best ones they could. No, the Lord's hand provided them. They didn't make it to Jerusalem finally at the end of the day because Ezra was such a good leader and could make it happen himself. No, they made it because God's hand was on them. Look, in the big and the small, Ezra sees God's hand at work. God didn't just rescue his people from bondage and let them fend for themselves.

37:29 There, I got you out of Babylon. Have fun. No, he preserves them along the way by his hand on them. you know this is true today it's true of your life as a Christian maybe you tend to think that the details of your life are are sort of left to you to figure out and to go make happen or perhaps you think the overarching direction of your life as it is currently is just a few degrees off from where you want it to be and it you're you're Growing discouraged moment by moment because of that.

38:07 Or it's possible and maybe probable for a room this size that there's some who just haven't given any thought at all recently to how the Lord is preserving you from your enemy. You haven't reflected on the Lord's hand being on you for good because you really haven't seen any reason you'd need the Lord's hand in the first place. Brothers and sisters, whatever the case, the Lord is preserving you by his hand. In your trials and in your difficulties, he's giving you strength to continue by his hand on you.

38:46 In your interactions with unbelievers, he's giving you favor with them by his hand on you. In the good things that he's given you, in the blessings that he's given you, you're enjoying those because his hand is on you in all the situations that you face every single day he's directing your steps toward holiness because his hand is on you and finally in our march in in our settled determined march toward heaven our promised land as his people he's protecting you, and he will bring you home by his hand on you. Like Ezra, see that. In the circumstances of your life, see that, recognize it, call it out, and then bless the Lord for it. Remind your heart of this and teach your heart to praise the Lord for the ways that he is orchestrating things by his hand on you. But what about those of you who aren't Christians? In a room this size,

39:48 there are some undoubtedly who are not Christians. Well, that's a frightening situation, or it should be. If you're honestly reading this text, that should be a frightening situation for you. Look back at chapter 8, verse 22. Ezra says that the power of God's wrath is against those who forsake him. That's why it should be frightening if you are not a Christian. The text actually says that God's wrath is against you. So the eternal, all-powerful God is ready to pour out all of his wrath on you and rightly so because of your rebellion against him.

40:30 That's horribly frightening. But look at the simple logic of the verse in its context, right? So God's wrath is against you if you forsake him, but what came right before that? His hand is good, is for good, if you seek him, right? That same logic actually kind of mirrors the greater logic of the gospel itself. The rest of the Bible is just going to tell us over and over again that all of us who have sinned, that's everyone, all those who sin deserve death. But all those who repent and cling in faith to Jesus Christ find life instead.

41:07 So, you unbeliever, non-Christian, you've just not, maybe you're a guest here, we're glad you're here. maybe you've come many times and you've heard this and you've just not, you've not actually bowed the knee to King Jesus. Your situation, whatever the case, can be changed. That's the good news of the scriptures. You came in here facing wrath, but you can walk out of here knowing that that's been swapped for eternal life instead. You just need to seek God. That's what the text says. And the way that's done is not to conjure up some sort of mystical ideas in your head. It's simply to see how he's provided for you through the gospel of his son Jesus.

41:45 You believe in him. You turn from your sins. And then the promise of this text for you is that you would find God's hand on you for good as well. Friends, this morning we need to hear that good news. We need to be reminded that in all things in our lives, the hand of our God is on us for good. For all of us who seek him. Your God did not bring you out of captivity of your sin to suddenly abandon you. Your God understands your circumstances, and his hand is on you, and it always will be.

42:21 So how does our rescue story look? How does our rescue story seem to be panning out? Left to ourselves, it looks impossible, right? Certainly improbable, and in reality, I think impossible. There's no way that we're making this journey out of captivity and to our home. There's just zero chance it's going to happen. We're worse off than that soccer team in Thailand. But praise God that he is the one who rescues us and preserves us.

42:53 We're not left to ourselves. He's given us his word so that we'll know him and so that we can obey him. And then his hand is on us. He's directing our path and bringing us to himself. God will preserve us. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that in your word we can have all the confidence that you are preserving your people. And you will finally bring them home to yourself. Oh God, we confess that and yet at the same time we live in this world with so many heartaches, so many troubles, so many difficulties, so many concerns.

43:30 And so God, we pray that by your spirit you would remind us that you've given us your word. that your hand is on us, and that you intend to see us safely into your hands. God, strengthen us, help us to believe that, help us to find joy in that good news today. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.