09/30/2018 - Ezra 2

Ezra’s Return from Captivity and the Careful Record of God’s People

Ezra chapter 2, and we're going to be going to Psalms 139 at some point, and Romans chapter 12 at some point, primarily the two texts outside of this second chapter that we'll be looking at this morning.

But it is very important that as we consider and we go through this chapter today, we're going to read, by the way, we're going to read verses 1 through 70, and this many times may not seem as though it is much of an exciting chapter.

One of the more exciting chapters in the Word of God itself, it is nonetheless very important. So as we're dedicated to preach through the book of Ezra verse by verse, it's important that we not leave it out or that we do not assume that one part of the Word of God is any less important than the other Word of God simply because it does not seem as important.

To us.

We have the Word of God inspired and preserved for us, and it is very important that we cherish what we have. So this morning, turning into the book of Ezra in the second chapter, and before we do read this, let's go to the Lord in prayer together this morning.

Heavenly Fathers, we come before your throne this morning. I want to come and thank you that things are as they are today. I thank you, dear God, for the seeming difficulties that pop up in our way, the things that might normally cause us to be sidetracked or to go here or to go there.

Dear God, I'm thankful that we still have your Word as a beacon of hope in the dark world in which we live, and we still have a standard in which we should stand. Lord, I thank you, Heavenly Father, for that, and today, Holy Spirit, I would ask that you lead us and that you guide us into all truth and all righteousness from your blessed and your Holy Word, and Lord, show us Jesus from this.

Help us, above all, to see how you have worked all things together for the good to those who love God and are the called according to his purpose, Lord, in this text of Scripture today. Help us, show us, teach us, and guide us, for it's in Jesus' name, I pray, and for your sake I ask this, Heavenly Father, amen.

Is Ezra chapter 2, the Word of God, reads like this,. Now these are the people of the province who came back from the captivity of those who had been carried away from Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, who Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his own city.

Those who came with Zerubbabel were Joshua, Nehemiah, Saraiah, Realiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mizpah, Bigvi, Rehum, and Banah. The number of the men of the people of Israel, the people of Perosh, 2 ,172, the people of Shepetiah, 372, the people of Arah, 775, the people of Pehoth Moab, of the people of Joshua and Joab, 2 ,812, the people of Elam, 1 ,254, the people of Zatu, 945, the people of Zechai, 760, the people of Bani, 642, the people of Bebi, 623, the people of Asgad, 1 ,222, the people of Adonikim, 666, the people of Bigvi, 2 ,056, the people of Aden, 454, the people of Hezekiah, 98, the people of Bezai, 323, the people of Jorah, 112, the people of Hesham, 223, the people of Gibar, 95, the people of Bethlehem, 123, the men of Netopha, 56, the men of Anathoth, 128, the people of Asmaveth, 42, the people of Kirjath Aram, Shapira and Beoroth, 743, the people of Ramah and Geba, 621, the men of Mikmas, 122, the men of Bethel and Ai, 223, the people of Nebo, 52, the people of Magbish, 156, the people of the other Elam, 1 ,254, the people of Haram, 320, the people of Lod, Hadid and Ono, 725, the people of Jericho, 345, the people of Sinai, 3 ,630.

So he names the people. Now he's going to name the priests. The priest, the son of Jediah, of the house of Joshua, 973, the sons of Emer, 1 ,052, the sons of Pesher, 1 ,247, the sons of Haram, 1 ,017, the Levites, the sons of Joshua and Kadmiel, of the sons of Hodaviah, 74, the singers, the sons of Asaph, 128, the sons of the gatekeepers, the sons of Shelom, the sons of Eder, the sons of Talmon, the sons of Akub, the sons of Hatida, the sons of Shobai, 139 in all.

The Nethanim, the sons of Zihar, the sons of Hasupah, the sons of Taboth, the sons of Kiros, the sons of Siah, and the sons of Padon, the sons of Lebanon, the sons of Haggabah, the sons of Mahidah, the sons of Hatifah, the sons of Solomon's servants are listed, the sons of Sotai, the sons of Sofereth, the sons of Peruda, the sons of Jaala, the sons of Darchan, the sons of Gedel, the sons of Shepetiah, the sons of Hatil, the sons of Pokereth, of Zebaim, and the sons of Ammi.

All the Nethanim and the children of Solomon's servants were 392. And these were the ones who came up from Telmila, Telhashah, Cherub, Adon, and Emer, but they could not find, but they could not identify their father's house or their genealogy, whether they were of Israel.

The sons of Deliah, the sons of Tobiah, the sons of Nicodah, 652. And of the sons of the priests, the sons of Habiah, the sons of Chaz, and the sons of Barzillai, who took a wife of the daughters of Barzillai, the Gileadite, was called by their name.

These sought their listing among those who were registered by genealogy, but they were not found. Therefore, they were excluded from the priesthood as defiled. And the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things till a priest could consult with the Urim and the Thummim.

The whole assembly together was 42 ,360, besides their male and female servants, of whom there were 7 ,337. And they had 200 men and women singers. Their horses were 736, their mules 245, their camels 435, and their donkeys 6 ,720.

Some of the father's houses, when they came to the house of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem, offered freely for the house of God to erect it in its place. According to their ability, they gave to the treasury for the work 61 ,000 gold drachmas, 5 ,000 minas of silver, and 100 priestly garments.

So the priests, and the Levites, and some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the Nethanim dwelt in their cities, and all Israel in their cities. Amen and amen. And may the Lord add His blessing to the Word of God today.

The Lord’s Sovereignty in Cyrus and the Return from Babylon

Some of you may be going, that took my breath just listening to that. You should try reading it. By the way, don't try, you should. I encourage you to read it. Again, we have this Word preserved for us, and we're going to see several things in this chapter today.

And just to give you a rundown on those, the three things we're going to look at from this chapter. Number one, we're going to consider the personal manner in which the Lord knows His own children. We see this from the great care and the detail that we have preserved for us in the Word of God, that the Lord cares greatly, and deeply, and intimately, and has an intimate knowledge of His own children.

Secondly, we're going to take note of the detailed account of even the smallest of those returning families. And we're going to be looking a little bit at that. Thirdly, and last of all today, we're going to look at the scrutiny that God puts to His own children.

And I'm going to say this from the forefront, because there are a great many who are in the church world today, who are in every church that calls itself a church today, who profess to know Jesus Christ, but Jesus Christ does not know them.

And so I would ask each of you to carefully consider that question today. We profess to know God, but does God know you? And so, beginning here in this text, from verse one there, we see the fulfillment of God's Word.

Remember, God moved Cyrus, king of Persia, to call for a release of God's people from the Babylonian captivity. So God moved His Spirit. And I want to read you something Matthew Henry said concerning Cyrus, because it is very important to know this.

Just because God, in His sovereignty and by means of His providence, moves the spirit of someone, does not necessarily mean He moves them to salvation. Matthew Henry said this, it is said of Cyrus that he knew not God, nor how to serve Him, but God knew him and how to serve Himself by him.

We won't go there, but if you want to, in your time this week, to look at Isaiah chapter 45, verses 1 -7, and you'll see what God spoke directly to Cyrus, and how God told Cyrus in chapter 4 of that 45th chapter of Isaiah, why He was doing the things that He was doing.

And God said unto Cyrus, I am doing this not for your sake, but for My children Israel's sake. It is for the honor and the glory of God. Matthew Henry went on to say this, whatever God governs the world by His influence, we understand that by the definition, we understand that God is sovereign because He has the right and the authority to govern all things, and how does He govern all things?

By providence. God governs the world by His influence on the spirits of men, and whatever good is done at any time, it is God that stirs up the spirit to do it. Amen? Remembering when folks come to you and you tell them, we're learning about the sovereignty of God, some people will say that's an awful, mean doctrine to be teaching and to be holding to, but friends, it is not, because the sovereignty of God, God is not sovereign in that He causes men to sin, we sin because we are sinners.

Sin runs its natural course, I've said this every week for the past month and a half, two months now. We sin because we are sinners, and we are tempted to sin, but anything good that takes place is of the Lord.

The scripture tells us in the New Testament, every good gift and every perfect gift comes from above, from the Father of lights, of whom there is no variableness nor shadow of turning. Matthew Henry went on to say, God is the fountain of power, the kingdoms of the earth are at His disposal, whatever share any of them have, they have from Him.

And concerning Cyrus, he said this, and those whom God has entrusted with great power and large possessions should look upon themselves as obliged thereby to do much for God. What a strong statement there is, but in this first verse, we see the word of God says, these are the people of the province, God's saying this has taken place, just as I said, who came back from the captivity.

God had said that those who went into the captivity were going to come back out of the captivity of those who had been carried away. Very specific, whom Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had carried away to Babylon, and who returned to Jerusalem and Judah, every one to his own city.

Remember this, that God in His sovereignty and by means and working of His providence moved Cyrus' spirit to release the children of Israel from the Babylonian captivity. God in His sovereignty moved the people of God who were in captivity to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple that had been destroyed.

And God in His providence saw to it so much so that the very temple articles that were kept in the temple at the end of chapter 1 were preserved through all of this captivity. So much so that a record of them had been kept, and to the record that what had been taken had been returned.

God is well aware of what He is doing, I am thankful for that today. And it may seem that here in this second chapter, 70 verses and mostly genealogies, that you may think, well, what's the big deal about that?

I wrote this, in chapter 2 we see that the Lord knows His people personally, that even the seemingly unknown and small in number amongst His people are worth taking note of. Ain't that good? Somebody might say, well, I wish we could be a great big church like the churches around us.

Friends, listen, this church is no less or no more insignificant or more significant than a church of any different size. What the church is gathered for is to exalt and lift up the name of Jesus Christ.

We do not see our strength in numbers. The Lord told Israel at the beginning, you want to know why I have chosen you? It is not because you are the greatest, it is not because you are the strongest, but simply, He told Israel this, I have simply chosen to set my love on you.

If you are saved today, it is not because of any good in you. It is not because you have more talent or more skill than anybody else, it is simply by the grace of God. Let's move forward. So verse 1 we see that God fulfills His promise and then we begin to see the listing of the names of the people here.

And it is important when interpreting Scripture that we interpret the Scripture, how? With the Scripture. Are you all awake? Okay, we interpret the Scripture by the Scripture. So if I am going to talk to you this morning about the personal care that the Lord takes for each of His own, I am going to have to use the Scripture.

I am not going to be able to say, give you the example of April and my relationship and say we love each other and these are the things that we do to care for each other and these are the things that, this is how we know each other.

Friends, the love of a human being is different than the love of God. God is able to love in a way that no man can fully explain, fully understand or fully know. But what we can know is given to us in the Word of God and so that is where we are going to go.

If you would turn to Psalm 139. And we are going to look for just a moment at Psalm 139 and try to get a little bit of a grasp of just how greatly the Lord knows and cares for His own people. Psalm 139 beginning in verse 1 and we will read down through verse 18.

Psalm 139 verse 1, this is what the Word of God says. The Psalmist David is crying out here and he is speaking to God about how God knows him. And friends, as a Christian today, you need to understand and you need to know and you need to realize and you need to have this hidden in your heart so that when the hard times do come, because they are coming, they have come, they will come and they shall come.

But when they do come, that you have a strong tower in which you can run to, that you have a hope that is steadfast and unmovable in the midst of life's storms. The Psalmist said this in verse 1. Oh Lord, you have searched me and known me.

You know my sitting down and my rising up. You understand my thought from afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down. To comprehend means to know, to have a comprehensive knowledge of what is lying ahead of us.

He said, God, you comprehend my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways. He said, for there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, oh Lord, you know it all together. And listen to what he said here.

You have hedged me behind and before and you've laid your hand upon me. This is not the testimony of someone who just experientially comes to church ever so often and feels the Spirit of God and gets a tingle up our spine.

But my friend, this is the testimony of someone who has been through thick and has been through the thin. And knows that through it all, God is there. And you have hedged me behind and before you laid your hands upon me.

Such knowledge is too wonderful for me. And the Psalmist said, it is high. I cannot attain it. That's a word that was put in from the original languages there just to help us as human beings get a grasp of what's being said.

He said, the knowledge of God is so high that I cannot attain it. I cannot reach it. I cannot grasp it. I cannot fully know nor understand it. And then in verse 7, he said, where can I go from your Spirit?

Friend, this is a testimony of how God knows us. Friends, think about the children of Israel there at Babylonian captivity. How awful. Though they knew it was coming. Though they knew it was going to be bad.

And they maybe even the first year or the first ten years endured and bore through what they had to go through. And as time goes by, as natural course, we all tend to lose hope from time to time.

Amen?

I do.

But friend, we have one in whom does not change. One who is immutable. Who is unmovable. Who is always the same ages through hell end. And so the Psalmist said, where can I go from your Spirit, O God?

And he said, where can I flee from your presence? If I ascend, verse 8, if I ascend into heaven, you are there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there. If I take the wings of the morning and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, even there your hand shall lead me and your right hand shall hold me.

Verse 10, even there your hand shall lead me, your right hand shall hold me. Verse 11, if I say, surely the darkness shall fall on me, even the night, I love this, even the night shall be light about me.

Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from you, but the night shines as the day. The darkness and the light are both alike to you.

Let me say this to you.

You are not God. You will never be God. There are some things and some limitations that we have as human beings that we will never ever get away from. Some people may say, I've got 20 -20 vision. I've got perfect eyesight, friend.

It does not matter how good your eyesight is. If we were to go over here and to flip off these switches,.

You would be in the dark just the same.

As the person who can't see holding their hand in front of their face. You're going to be just as limited as they are. But friends, the Bible said here, the psalmist cries out in confidence to the Lord, and he said, even when the lights go out, it does not...

God sees us just as good in the light as He does in the dark. Or you can go the other way. Ain't that good? That we've got a God who is not limited. Then the psalmist went on to say this. You formed my inward parts.

You covered me in my mother's womb. Oh friends, how many of you know and realize this? You think you're powerful. Friends, not a one of you had any choice or any say to who you was born to. You didn't have no choice or any say about the conditions that you was going to be raised up in.

You didn't. But I know someone who did. And I know someone who does. And I know someone who's in control of it all because he is sovereign and he works all things together for the good to them that love him and are called according to his purpose.

You formed my inward parts. You covered me in my mother's womb. And the psalmist said in verse 14,. For I will praise you for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. And he said this,.

Marvelous are your works.

And that my soul knows very well. Friends, these are more than just simple words. Look into these words. Marvelous. Boy, that's something big. That's something that's not ordinary. That's something that's not normal.

That's something that's not every day in run of the mill. He said, Marvelous are your works. Verse 15, He said, My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in secret and skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.

Verse 16, Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed. Friends, God knows you. And God knows His children. The only thing I don't like about that song New Name Written Down in Glory is it makes it sound as though it was just written down on the day you got saved.

Friend,.

God knew from the foundation of the world that you were going to be saved. He intended by His Son to save you and I. If you are saved,.

Ain't that good news?

That despite the fact that we are who we are and we act like we act, that He still loves us. That's good news. He said, Your eyes saw my substance being yet unformed in evidence and proof of what I just said and in your book they were all written.

God's not editing the Book of Life.

Amen?

He's not editing the Book of Life. There's books that we read today that have got a first edition, second edition,.

Third edition.

Because they are constantly editing and trying to make them better and better and better. The Book of Life is perfect as it is. The Lord knows them that are His according to the Word of God.

And He said this,.

In your book they were all written the days fashioned for me when as yet there were none of them. I stopped right there in my study and I don't know really why it just jumped out at me. I got curious about that word fashioned.

In the original Hebrew it's a word called Yotsar. Now I know that don't mean much to you but something I learned about when there's a letter with two little dots above it that there's a certain way to pronounce it and that word is spelled Y-A with the two little dots above it, S-A-R.

Yotsar is how the word is pronounced but the meaning of that word means to be formed. It means to squeeze into shape. It means to craft. To intentionally, to intentionally create or to create with intentionality.

If we go back to I believe it was Genesis chapter if you don't want to you don't have to turn there but I'm going to look it up real quick. Genesis chapter 2 verse 7. And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life and man became a living soul.

In Genesis that word Yotsar was used there when it speaks of God forming man.

He didn't just.

He didn't just do this and say I hope this is like this. He intentionally and carefully made man in his image after his likeness. How good is that? And then last of all in verse 17 and 18 there the psalmist said this.

How precious also are your thoughts to me O God how great is the sum of them. Oh listen when you consider God when you consider the sovereignty of God when you consider how God has mercifully and graciously through means of providence brought you number one to himself and number two to where you are today have you thought to yourself God how good you are for we ought to praise God continuously.

In verse 18 he said and if I should count them they would be more in number than the sand when I am awake I am still with you. And so that my friend is an example of how detailed and how carefully that the Lord loves his own and how that the Lord knows his own children so much so that he took time to make us to shape us to mold us into his image.

The Significance of the Smallest Families and Members in God’s People

Secondly back in Ezra let's notice just a few things here as we continue to move forward let's note the detailed account of even the smallest number of the returning families. Now some of you may not be like me but as I studied this over the past several weeks because our intention was last week to preach this as we're doing right now but the Lord had a different plan and we had prayer meeting and I thank God for that but as I continue to read this and I read through what seems like boring parts to most folks my friend all I can see and all I can think about is how even the smallest in number of this people were detailed and laid out and preserved for us in the word of God.

It's amazing when we think about Netopha was numbered at 56 people. Now there were several groups that were numbered in the thousands and it would have been easy for the Holy Spirit to say those people don't really matter that much but the Holy Spirit.

Deemed it so.

That we have in the word of God that those few people truly do matter and we learn that we see the principle in the New Testament. In the Sunday school lesson we learned about that it was mentioned in the Sunday school lesson how the Lord cares for the few.

The one lost sheep the one lost coin the one lost son. The few are very important to the Lord and so we're reminded of the reference to the New Testament the reference I gave you Romans chapter 12. Romans chapter 12 in verse 3 through 5.

This is what.

The word of God says in Romans chapter 12 verse 3 through 5 for Paul speaking to the church he says for I say through the grace given to me to everyone who is among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think but to think soberly as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith.

For as we have many members in one body but all the members do not have the same function so we being many are one body in Christ and individually members of one another. Meaning this that even the small and the seemingly unimportant matter and make a difference.

If you don't believe me I would challenge anybody when you get home today. Men go to your toolbox wives go to your toolbox. If you've got a toolbox go to your toolbox and have your husband lay out his hand on the table flat like this and then just his pointy finger take the end of that hammer and just whack the end of it.

Oh you say.

It ain't gonna hurt me.

I beg your pardon if your husband's finger gets hurt and you're used to him doing some of the things that he does around the house it very well will affect you and I will doubly assure you that it very well.

Will affect him.

You say oh it'll just affect the end of his finger no when you smack that hammer down on his.

Big fingernail.

Guess what's gonna happen his whole body's gonna go.

Into convulsions.

Because it's gonna be affected because even the little members matter. I've got ugly feet.

But guess what.

My big toe matters cause it helps me.

Balance.

The little things are important and the little things matter. They all made up the people of God and so we see that. So notice also that there is a distinction made in the text here in the word of God throughout the word of God but particularly within this text is what we're learning about today a distinction made between Israel and the people of Babylon.

And I wanna make an application here concerning the word of God and say this. There's a difference between the people of God and the people of this world. We are called to come out from among the world and be separate.

So let me just stop right there. Go on in God's providence. God made it so that by having previously in history through his providence remember God works things through providence by natural as well as supernatural means.

But God made it so that in history he set Israel apart as his particular people so that at this time at the point in time for their deliverance to come as he had said when the decree did go out from Cyrus for God's people to go to Jerusalem that they were already pre-identified.

I made this statement a couple of weeks ago but I'm saying it again they were already pre-identified and given liberty to go free. What I'm saying is this. Let me make it as simple as I can. They were taken into captivity by the Babylonians.

The Babylonians knew who they were. They knew who the Babylonians were and that even through time through the 70 years that passed though their lives even though in captivity their lives still went on.

They were still a difference between them and the people of Babylon so much so that the people of Babylon were able when this decree from Cyrus went out for the people of God.

The God of Israel.

That when they were called to go out of Babylon and to go back to Jerusalem.

That there was an identification.

That God had placed on them that stuck with.

Them when God.

Calls a man woman boy or a girl and we're going to talk about salvation right now from here on out when God calls a man woman boy or girl to salvation.

He identifies you.

As a new creature you are no longer.

The same.

And from the day that you are saved you are.

A different person and you live differently.

You will not live according to the standards of the world you will not live according to the standards of the flesh but you will live according to.

The spirit of God.

And what does the spirit of God do for us. The spirit of God leads us and the spirit of God guides us into all truth and all righteousness. So my question would be to you I've put this down to ask are you identified as a child of God.

And if you are identified as a child of God I would ask this are you different than you was. Because if you're not then you ain't and you need to examine yourself to see whether you are in the faith.

The Scrutiny of Those Who Claim Israel and the Need for New Birth

Thirdly.

And lastly let's look at the scrutiny of those who said they were a part of Israel and were unable to identify their connection here in verse 59. Verse 62 through 63. Let's look at that real quick. Verse 59 here in Ezra chapter 2 says this.

And these were the ones who came up from Telmelah, Telhashah, Cherub Aidan and Emer but they could not identify their father's houses or their genealogy whether they were of Israel now later in this.

Toward the.

I believe it's the 64th verse gives us the total number of the people.

Over.

43 ,000.

Now have you ever been to Neyland Stadium during a football game. I'm not going to bash Tennessee I'm just making an example here. So nobody fear, roll tide Neyland Stadium holds. What Pat?

104 ,000.

104 ,000 people.

102 ,541.

There you go 102 ,000 people but even if half that stadium is full if you've never been could you imagine being in a crowd of people.

That big.

And in a crowd of people that big still being able to.

Identify.

Every person that was.

There.

And there be some semblance of fashion and order in that large of a number. What we have here in the text is in the 43 ,000 not to mention the 7 ,000 servants and the other singers that were with them so around 50 ,000 people.

Out of 50 ,000 people there were still other folks trying to get in but they were not able to get in because the Lord knew his own so well that detailed records were kept and that they could not.

Even identify.

They couldn't say who their fathers was or who their fathers were kin to and there was no way to trace their genealogy which had been so meticulously documented in the text that we read to you. There are so many today just like this, just like them.

And by the way let me finish reading those two verses so that I don't leave that off. 62 and 63 the word of God says this. These sought their listing among those who were registered by genealogy but they were not found.

Therefore they were excluded from the priesthood as defiled and the governor said to them that they should not eat of the most holy things till a priest could consult with the Urim and the Thummim. Now the Urim and the Thummim historically is represented and known by it was a practice of the priesthood that God had set up.

The high priest was someone who was set apart for the work of the ministry and would do temple service specifically. And there was a specific outfit that the high priest would wear and he had a breastplate and on this breastplate there was a pocket for what was called the Urim and the Thummim typically.