20140622 ezra

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Journey Through The Bible: The Book of Ezra The Fear of the Lord Bible Readings: Ezra 3:7-4:5 Page 336 1 Corinthians 3:10-17 Page 808 1 Sunday, 29 June 2014

Transcript of 20140622 ezra

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Journey Through The Bible: The Book of Ezra The Fear of the Lord

Bible Readings: Ezra 3:7-4:5 Page 3361 Corinthians 3:10-17 Page 808 1

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The Fear of the Lord

•The fear of the Lord describes the relationship with God in which we obey God because we have great love and great respect for Him.

•We obey Him because we love Him.

•We obey Him because we know His great power.

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The Book of Ezra

•The Book of Ezra describes the first 80 years of the returned exiles in Jerusalem.

•They had been defeated and exiled because of their disobedience to God. - They did not fear Him.

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The Decree of King Cyrus 539 BC

•The Jews were given permission to return to their land. Unprecedented decision.

•Josephus: “History of the Jews” recorded the reason for the decree.

•Daniel had shown Cyrus the prophecy of Isaiah concerning him which was made 200 years before Cyrus was born. The Cyrus Cylinder with cuneiform writing

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Isaiah 44:24-28

•“Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, Who formed you from the womb: . . . Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he shall fulfil all My purpose’; saying of Jerusalem, ‘She shall be built,’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation shall be laid.’ ” (Isaiah 44:24–28, ESV)

The Cyrus Cylinder with cuneiform writing

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Ezra 1-2

•Records the decree of King Cyrus.

•Lists the names of the principal families who decided to return.

•The exiles were led by Zerubbabel a descendant of King David and Jeshua the High Priest.

•They brought offerings from the Jews who preferred to stay in Babylon.

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Ezra 4 - Opposition

• “The enemies of Judah” were the Samaritans.

• The Samaritans were pagans who copied the worship of the Jews.

• They saw God as simply a local “god” of the land who required sacrifices. They did not know or have the Law of Moses.

• They wanted to share in the rebuilding of the Temple. The Jewish leaders refused because they knew nothing of the Law and the true God of heaven and earth.

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Ezra 4:4 - 5:1 Intimidation

•The Samaritans wrote letters and hired lawyers to lobby the King to stop the Jews from building the Temple.

•As a result of the campaign very little work was done on the building for 14 years.

•The returned exiles became preoccupied with building their own houses and making money.10

Cyrus the Great

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Ezra 5: The Call of God

•“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. 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.” (Ezra 5:1–2, ESV)11

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Haggai 1:1-4 “My house is in ruins!”

• “In the second year of Darius the king, in the sixth month, on the first day of the month, the Word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest: “Thus says the Lord of hosts: These people say the time has not yet come to rebuild the house of the Lord.” Then the Word of the Lord came by the hand of Haggai the prophet, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your panelled houses, while this house lies in ruins?” (Haggai 1:1–4, ESV)12

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Haggai 1:1-4 “My house is in ruins!”

• Before Jesus had sent the Holy Spirit, the Temple was God’s appointed way of keeping Himself at the centre of His people’s life.

• The Temple was the focus of the Lord’s presence among His people.

• Neglect of the Temple was symbolic of their neglect of God.

• By failing to rebuild the Temple the people were saying, “It doesn’t matter if God is among us or not.” 13

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Haggai 1:1-4 “My house is in ruins!”

• The problems the people faced:

• Lack of personal fulfilment.

• Poor harvests.

• Never having enough money or savings.

• A wood panelled house in those days was a great luxury. People had built themselves luxurious homes but had done nothing about the Temple.

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Haggai 1:12 “Fear of the Lord”

•“Then Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent him. And the people feared the Lord.” (Haggai 1:12, ESV)

•The people obeyed because they feared God more than the threats of the Samaritans.15

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Ezra 6 The Temple is completed

• Haggai prophesied in 520BC in the second year of King Darius.

• The Samaritans lobbied the new king to stop the Jews.

• Darius ordered a full investigation.

• Darius renewed the decree of Cyrus and commanded the Samaritan governor to supply the building materials.

• The Temple was completed in 5 years.16

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Ezra

•Where was Ezra?

•Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in 458 BC, 37 years after the new Temple was built.

•Ezra was part of a second wave of returning exiles that also included Nehemiah the new governor.

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Ezra and The fear of the Lord

•The people began with goodIntentions but the fear of man stopped them obeyingThe Lord.

•When the Lord was not the centre of their lives they were not able to achieve what they should have been able to achieve.

•The Prophet Haggai challenged them to rebalance their lives.

•Make sure God is and remains at the centre of your life. Doing His will is more important than what other people think of you.18

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