TRANSCRIPT
If you will turn with me to the book of Ezra, let us begin our study by going through chapter 1. Let me read this chapter for us. If you have your Bibles, you can follow along. Ezra chapter 1, verse 1:
“Now 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, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered.
Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods; Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.”
I trust we are here in this camp because we want to serve the Lord and we want to learn how we can serve the Lord better, more profitably, more fruitfully. And of course, we understand that serving the Lord means doing what the Lord wants us to do, not what we want, not what we decide. Serving the Lord means doing His will, fulfilling His purpose and His plan. And as we seek to serve the Lord and learn and improve in our service, we can learn from the examples of faithful servants who have gone before us.
And these examples are relevant because we are serving the same God, we are serving the same eternal purpose of God. There is a continuity to God's plan, and therefore there is a continuity also to our service. So even as we look at Israel in the Old Testament thousands of years ago, we can learn valuable lessons for how to serve the Lord. These things are written and recorded, as the Apostle Paul reminds us in the New Testament, for our learning, for our admonition.
I. Historical Context of the Book of Ezra
The history of Israel is relevant for us, important for us, profitable for us, because the history of Israel is the history of God's unfolding plan. From the beginning, from the Book of Genesis, from Genesis chapter 3, we read of the fall of man, and we read there of the first Gospel, the gospel message preached by God Himself: the coming of the Seed of the woman who will bruise the head of the serpent (Genesis 3:15). And it is that thread that we see unfolding throughout the history of Israel, culminating, of course, in the Incarnation, the ministry, the death, the resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, that very seed of the woman that was promised way back in Genesis chapter 3.
And we see that plan of God unfolding. We see Abraham called of God, given the gracious privilege to be part of God's covenant. We see Abraham promised that through him, the Messiah, the Saviour, will come; through him, all nations of the earth will be blessed. And we see the promise of a nation to be formed out of Abraham's seed: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the nation of Israel. We see a land given to them, and we see God fulfilling this promise, the people of Israel brought out of Egypt, brought into the land, brought out under Moses, brought into the land under Joshua. God made His covenant with them; they were to be His people; they were to be His witnesses; they were to be His instruments; they were to be His servants. Israel was God's servant.
If you look at the prophecy of Isaiah, in Isaiah 43:1, "But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine." And then down in verse 10, "Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.” Israel was God's witness that the God of Israel is the one living and true God; there is none else. And the whole history of Israel points to that truth, that there is only one God, the God of Israel. So they were in the land of promise by the mighty hand of God to show that there is none else.
And we read in Joshua chapter 2, when the people came into the land and the spies were sent into the city of Jericho, we read how Rahab testified that they had heard of the people of Israel, they had heard of the God of Israel, they trembled at the God of Israel because they had heard how He had brought them out from Egypt with a mighty hand, they had heard of the plagues that had fallen on Egypt, they had heard of how the kingdoms on the east of the Jordan River had been destroyed by the people defeated (Joshua 2:9-11). And so the very presence of Israel in the land is a witness to the power, the sovereignty of God. And as they were in the land, they were to live according to God's law so as to display to the nations God's wisdom, God's holiness, God's goodness. Moses reminded the people even before they entered the land, "This law is your wisdom in the sight of all these nations, that they may see and know what nation is like Israel with such a God so near them, a God who is so wise and who gives such just and wonderful laws" (Deuteronomy 4:6-8).
And the whole sacrifice and ceremony of Israel in the temple also was a witness to God, pointing to the Saviour, pointing to the Messiah, pointing to the Redeemer, the truth of the atoning sacrifice that the Lord Jesus would offer up on the cross, the One who would come to atone for our sins, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
All of this service was a great privilege for Israel. God chose them when they were nothing. God chose them not because of any greatness in them, not because of anything good in them, not because He saw some capability in them that other nations did not have, not because they were more in number than any other nation. In fact, again, Moses reminds them, they were the least of all people; they were lowly; they were in bondage; they were slaves; they were nothing. And yet God chose them. God took them when they were nothing. God made His covenant with them. God said to them, "You will be My people of all the nations on the earth" (Deuteronomy 7:6).
Why choose them? Why not the Egyptians, great and mighty people who had built great works, who were very advanced in their technology, very capable people, they had done great things? Why not choose them? Why choose Israel, lowly and weak, suffering in bondage? What is there in Israel? There's nothing. It's simply the fact that God sovereignly chose. God loved them. God chose them. God made His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This was a privilege. It's not something that Israel deserved, not something that they merited. It was their privilege to be God's people, their privilege to be God's servants, their privilege to be God's witnesses.
But the great problem, as we look through the earlier history of Israel, is they despised this privilege. They treated it with contempt. They took God's covenant for granted. And they lived in the land without gratitude to God, without the recognition of their privileged position as His servants. And so they served other gods. They forsook the one living and true God, the God of Israel, who had made His covenant with them, who had called them His people. They forsook Him, and they served Baal; they served the gods of the other nations. And in fact, they gave glory to these other gods and acted and spoke as if these gods had provided all the good things that they had been enjoying.
In fact, if we look at Jeremiah chapter 44, this is even after the exile. The people were still thinking this way. Jeremiah chapter 44 and verse 17. This is the people, the remnant left in the land, speaking to Jeremiah. Jeremiah has spoken to them and called them to return to God, to trust in him, to obey him, but they reject this prophet, they reject this word. Jeremiah 44:17-18: "But we will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth, to burn incense unto the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, as we have done, we, and our fathers, our kings, and our princes, in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem: for then had we plenty of victuals, and were well, and saw no evil. But since we left off to burn incense to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto her, we have wanted all things, and have been consumed by the sword and by the famine."
This is the stubbornness, the hard-heartedness, and the evil of their thinking. They have suffered the punishment, the judgment of God. They have suffered the exile. The Babylonians have come and destroyed Jerusalem, and they still say, "All these things have happened to us not because we forsook God, but because we failed to burn incense to the queen of heaven. If we go back to serving this false god, then we will have plenty and prosperity." That was the wickedness of Israel: to despise the privilege of God's choice, to despise the privilege of serving God, and to take it for granted that they should be called the people of God.
So again and again, we read how they lived in depravity, in violence, in wickedness, in idolatry. They took the temple for granted. Again, in Jeremiah chapter 7:4, this was what they were saying: "The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, The temple of the LORD, are these." The point of that saying is the temple of the Lord is here in Jerusalem, so we need not fear; nothing bad will ever happen to us. No army will take Jerusalem. Jerusalem will not be destroyed because the temple is here. They took it for granted simply because that physical building is in the city, the city is impregnable. They took their position for granted. And so they polluted and defiled Jerusalem with idolatry, with false worship that is an abomination to God. So much so that God said in Isaiah chapter 1, "Your burnt offerings, your feasts I hate. They are an abomination to Me. I'm sick of these hypocritical sacrifices that mean nothing."
And it is because they despised this privilege that they suffered the judgment of the exile, that the Babylonians came, besieged Jerusalem, took the city, destroyed it, burnt the temple, and took the people into exile in Babylon. This was not God breaking His covenant, but even in this judgment, God was dealing with the people according to the terms of the covenant because that was in the covenant all along. In Deuteronomy 28, verse 63, the people were told from the beginning, if they did disobey, if they failed, “it shall come to pass, that as the LORD rejoiced over you to do you good, and to multiply you; so the LORD will rejoice over you to destroy you, and to bring you to nought; and ye shall be plucked from off the land whither thou goest to possess it. And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone. And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind: And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night" (Deuteronomy 28:63-66).
So the exile was already part of the covenant. And as they experienced that exile, they had to recognise and acknowledge that God was dealing with them according to the terms of the covenant. This exile was not meant to destroy them utterly, but to bring them to repentance, to renew them. God had purposed to work in a new generation where the previous generations had failed. And that brings us to the time of the book of Ezra. That's the time period we're studying. This is after the exile. And now, God is working in that new generation to bring the people back to the land, to renew them as His witnesses, as His servants.
And the great question is whether they will learn the lesson, whether they will now acknowledge and appreciate the privilege of serving the Lord. This return from exile was promised by God, and they are returning as God's servants after learning this painful lesson concerning their role as servants. And this is something that again we can learn from today.
It is still our calling today to serve the Lord. And if we want to be profitable servants of the Lord, the first lesson really has to do with the privilege of servants. We need to learn, we need to recognise, we need to appreciate, we need to really take to heart what a privilege it is to serve the Lord. We cannot take it for granted that we are able to serve the Lord, that our service is acceptable to Him. We cannot see it as a light or trivial thing that the living and true God has called us, has called me, has called you to serve Him. We must see it for the honour that it is, the privilege that it is. When God calls, you must not take that call lightly. We must not despise that calling. That's the first lesson we need to learn here.
And as we go through the first chapter, I think there are two aspects of this privilege that we can focus on and learn from. First of all, we can learn that this is a privilege, a privilege to serve God because of God's purpose. Or to put it in another way, recognising God's purpose will help us to recognise the privilege of serving Him. And then the second aspect of this privilege is that serving the Lord is a privilege because of God's grace. Or again, to put it another way, recognising the grace of God in choosing us, in calling us at all, will help us to recognise the privilege of serving Him.
II. A Privilege to Serve Because of God’s Purpose
Let's look at these two aspects. First of all, we must recognise the purpose of God, and that will help us to recognise our privilege in serving Him. And again, as we come to the book of Ezra and look at Ezra chapter 1 and read of the beginning of this return, we have to consider what this return journey entailed for these people. Because this was a long and difficult journey to go from Babylon back to Jerusalem.
It was not an easy trip, not like coming here, two hours, maybe three hours, you can stop off along the way, there are conveniences, there are restrooms, you want to have a bite to eat, there's a place you can stop. This journey was not like that. And they were not driving. It was a long and difficult journey. There were dangers on the road. And we have to keep that in mind as we consider this return. We have to keep in mind also that this is 70 years after the exile. Many of the people who were now considering the return had never seen Jerusalem. Their whole lives had been lived in Babylon.
And then also, we have to keep in mind that they are coming back to nothing. They're coming back to a land that has been devastated, burned, destroyed, to a land that is now desolate. There's nothing there. Again, it's not like coming here. After the trip, you come here, and all the conveniences are available. Your rooms are ready. There's food to eat. You can unpack. You can settle in. But how many of us would come here if there was nothing here? This place was deserted, burned to the ground, and we have to start from scratch. That's what they were, that's what they had to look forward to. It's not like when they first came to Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, and all the cities were there, and after the armies came out and were defeated, all the cities were there for the taking. Now, they are going back to nothing.
So the question for us is, why did they go back? Why go back at all? There were many who did not go back. In the time of Esther, sometime after this first return, there were plenty of Jews still in Babylon. There were many who did not go back. They had all their lives in Babylon. They were not enslaved under the Persians, not like in Egypt. They were not under hard bondage. They could have been quite comfortable. There were many who were not interested really in God's purpose.
God calls, "Go back to the land," but they say, "Why should we? We have everything we need here. Our lives are perfectly comfortable here. What is there for us to look forward to in Jerusalem? There's nothing there. Yes, that's where our ancestors came from, but we've moved on now. We are here. Why not just enjoy our lives here? Why not put down roots here? Why go back to Jerusalem at all?" Even at the first exodus from Egypt, we read how again and again in the wilderness the people wanted to go back, didn't they? Every time the going was difficult, every time there was a lack of food, a lack of water, they began to complain, and they began to say, "Why don't we go back to Egypt? At least we had food to eat there." If it was so difficult for them at the first exodus when they were going to a land flowing with milk and honey, and now there is nothing for them to look forward to materially, carnally speaking, why would they go back? Why did they want to go back?
The answer is that there was all along among the faithful a longing for Jerusalem. We read this in the Psalms. We look at Psalm 137. This is a song of the exiles, Psalm 137: 4-6: "How shall we sing the LORD's song in a strange land? If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget her cunning. If I do not remember thee, let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth; if I prefer not Jerusalem above my chief joy.”
These exiles remembered Jerusalem. These exiles longed for Jerusalem because of what Jerusalem represented, not just their ancestral home, but God's holy city. Because of what Jerusalem represented in terms of God's purpose, in terms of God's covenant, in terms of God's plan. This longing for Jerusalem was really a longing for God, a longing for their place as His people, as His witnesses, as His servants. Jerusalem represented God's plan. It represented God's worship, the temple in Jerusalem, the sacrifices and ceremonies, the worship of the Living God. As Solomon had prayed at the dedication of the temple when God's people prayed towards the temple and he besought God to hear and answer their prayers. There was something special about Jerusalem because God had chosen that place. Something special about the temple in Jerusalem because God had chosen that place to put His name there. That's why they cared about Jerusalem. They recognised what it meant in light of God's purpose. And that to them was the great tragedy of the exile: "How can we sing the Lord's song in a strange land?"
Again, it wasn't just the fact that they used to be there, that this is the place where their forefathers had lived and grown up. But it was in light of God's purpose. And so, they wanted to go back to fulfil God's purpose. They wanted to go back to rebuild the house of God. They wanted to go back to worship the Lord once more according to His plan and purpose. The Lord raised their spirits (Ezra 1:5) to go to build the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem. And you see those words repeated again and again: "the house in Jerusalem" (verse 2), "to build him a house at Jerusalem" (verse 3), "the house of the LORD God of Israel which is in Jerusalem" (verse 4), "the house of God that is in Jerusalem" (verse 5), "the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem" (again and again), because that's the place God had chosen. The “house of the LORD” cannot be anywhere else. God chose to put His name there. That's why they wanted to go back to Jerusalem, because they wanted to serve the Lord once more. They wanted to worship Him once more. They wanted to bear witness to His saving plan through the sacrifices and ceremonies of the temple which is in Jerusalem, which must be in Jerusalem. They wanted to go back because they recognised that privilege of being part of God's purpose. They recognised the privilege of being identified with God's purpose, rather than being identified with anything else, with the world, with Babylon, with Persia.
Even though there is nothing in Jerusalem to see with carnal eyes, with spiritual eyes everything is there because of God's purpose. Just like Moses remembered in Hebrews chapter 11, we read how Moses, by faith, did not think it a great thing to be the son of Pharaoh's daughter. But he was willing to be identified with the Hebrews, willing to be identified with the people of God, with the children of Israel, rather than with the Egyptians (Hebrews 11:24-27). Again, from a human perspective, from a carnal or material perspective, that's a foolish choice to make. Why would you choose to identify yourselves with slaves when you have the opportunity to identify yourself as the son of Pharaoh's daughter with all the privilege that that entails? In worldly terms, that's a great privilege, isn't it, to belong to Pharaoh's household? Moses had that, but he chose rather to suffer reproach with the people of God. Why? Because he could recognise that it's an infinitely greater privilege to be part of God's purpose. That's something that we can only see by faith. That's something that we need to recognise spiritually, but that is the truth and the reality: to be part of God's purpose is an infinitely greater privilege than anything else, than anything the world has to offer.
Moses recognised that he would rather be the son of a slave than the son of Pharaoh's daughter because these are God's people. This is God's plan and purpose. So also here in Ezra chapter 1, the people whose spirits God raised, those who are willing to go back, recognised the privilege of being part of God's purpose. They are going back to rebuild God's city, going back to rebuild God's temple, going back to reestablish God's witness, going back to reestablish the Messianic line, the Messiah to be born in Bethlehem, the city of David. They're going back to fulfil this purpose of God. They saw that as a privilege. They were willing to leave comfortable lives in Babylon, go back a difficult journey to a desolate land to rebuild because of this purpose that they recognised. It might seem like a thankless task. They saw that it was one with an eternal reward. To be God's instruments to bring forward this great plan of redemption.
Now that is a recognition that we very much need today. In many ways, we are in a similar position. We are not like Israel in the time of David and Solomon and so on, in the land with all the institutions there. We are much more like the Jews in Exile in a foreign land surrounded by the world, just as they were surrounded by the Babylonians, the Persians, and so on. And just as they faced the attraction of a comfortable, conventional, carnal life in the world, so also do we. We are surrounded by these attractions, a life that is filled with the things of the world, the pleasures of the world. And for us, just as for them, the thought of serving the Lord can seem either daunting or something indifferent. "Why should I? Let someone else do it. I'm busy with my own things. I have all the comforts that I could want. What's in it for me if I serve the Lord? What's in it for me if I answer this call?"
"What do you offer, God?" That's the question, isn't it? When we go from one job to another, that's the question. "What can you offer me? What will this give me that the previous people didn't give me? How can I improve my prospects?" And sometimes we think about serving the Lord in this way. "What's in it for me? What's the point? What do I get out of it?" And sometimes, even when we mean to speak well of serving the Lord, we sort of betray this kind of thinking that is going on.
Sometimes people say to those who have given their lives to serve the Lord full-time, sometimes people will say “Oh, you're doing a good thing. You're doing a noble thing. You've given up a promising career in the world to go and serve the Lord." And of course, they mean it well. But the truth is we haven't given up anything. We haven't lowered ourselves to serve the Lord as if it's a lowly and demeaning thing to serve the Lord, as if we had better prospects in the world and we have given those up in order to do something base and low. We haven't given up anything. This is the highest of callings. It's a privilege. It's not something that we deserve. The Lord has graciously called us to do the most important thing of all: to serve Him. And that's the question for us: Do we see it as a privilege to serve the Lord?
What is the church to us? It's the house of the Lord, isn't it? Now, it's no longer the house of the Lord which is in Jerusalem, now it's the house of the Lord in every place, there a gospel witness. And when we serve the Lord, when we build the church, we are doing a great thing. It is a high calling. Do we recognise that privilege? Do we see the reward?
And of course, it's not just for those who serve full-time, but for all of us. All of us are called to serve the Lord, to build His house, to build up one another, to do the work of the gospel, to bear witness to the Lord Jesus and salvation which is in Him. Who will go and serve the Lord? Who will rise up and build the house of the Lord? Only those who see it as a privilege. Because otherwise, if we look at it carnally, there's nothing in it for us. Much better things that we could do out there in the world. But spiritually and really, there is nothing better, nothing greater, nothing more meaningful, nothing more significant. It is the purpose of God that we are serving. Everything else will crumble to dust and be gone. Every other purpose, every other plan, every other achievement will mean nothing on that last day. But those who serve the Lord, their works will follow them.
We are told in the book of Revelation, just as Solomon discovered in Ecclesiastes chapter 2. He goes through all that he had done, all that he had achieved, all that he had accomplished. ‘I made great works’, he said. ‘I built great houses, vineyards. I accumulated gold, the treasure of all the provinces, all the kingdoms.’ (Ecclesiastes 2:4-8). Again, in worldly terms, he's the most successful of men, isn't he? He has all the wealth anyone could ever want, all the fame anyone could ever want. People came from far countries just to hear him talk, just to hear and learn of his wisdom. But he said, ‘All of that is vanity. Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ (Ecclesiastes 1:2). That's why the conclusion of Ecclesiastes should strike us so forcefully: "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man." (Ecclesiastes 12:12). That's serving the Lord. That's privilege. That's not vanity. Everything else is. But to fear the Lord and keep His commandments, that is a meaningful life. That is a life of eternal reward.
It's difficult for us to see that. In fact, sometimes when we read that, we think, “Well, is that it? Is that all? Fear the Lord, keep His commandments?” It seems so narrow. It seems so restrictive. Is that all I'm supposed to do? That's because we don't realise the privilege of serving the Lord. To fear the Lord and keep His commandments is not something narrow and restrictive. It is something that engages us to our full capacity. We are serving the Lord. We're doing His will. We're doing what He wants us to do. We are doing what our Creator made us to do. That's what the people in Ezra's time, or rather in Zerubbabel's time, recognised. That's what we need to recognise today: the great privilege that it is for all of us, for each one of us, to serve the Lord, to build the church, to be active.
And again, we serve the Lord not just by preaching, but in so many ways. Those who do the PA, those who usher, those who help to clean up, those who come to the prayer meeting to pray, that's serving the Lord. That's building the church. The church is built by prayer. Prayer is a great and mighty thing that we are called to do. But it's again so easy for us to see the church as not really important, not really my business. After all, I'm not on the staff of the church. Let other people do all these things. I have better things to do, more important things to do. But we need to see the privilege of serving the Lord and building the church. It's not just something that we do on the weekends when we can find the time. We are called to give ourselves to this work.
There's so many ways that we can build the church, build up one another, edify one another, encourage and comfort those who are in need, visit those who are in affliction, those who are sick, win souls for the kingdom. This is all part of the great privilege that we have as God's servants, to be ambassadors for the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it is no more the call to go to Jerusalem, now it's the call to go from Jerusalem. In Ezra chapter 1, it is "Who will go to Jerusalem to build the house of the Lord?" In Acts chapter 1, it is "You go from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria to the uttermost parts of the earth and bear witness to me there." Now we are going out from Jerusalem, but it's the same basic calling, the same service to the same God. And we need to see what a privilege it is. Otherwise, we will not serve, just like those who would not go because they didn't see it as a privilege.
Then another aspect of this privilege is brought out here also in the later part of chapter 1, perhaps a little bit more subtly in the description of the return of the temple vessels. We see this from verse 7 onwards in Ezra chapter 1. This is significant. Again, this is not just a mere historical detail. For the event, the return of the temple vessels is recorded very specifically. We're told how many there were and so on, because this is significant. The emphasis here is on the fact that these were the very same vessels that were taken by Nebuchadnezzar. As we see here in verse 7, “the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;” This took place at the time of the Exile when the Babylonians overran Jerusalem and the temple was destroyed, and all these treasures were taken out of the temple and brought back to Babylon and kept in the houses, the temples of the Babylonian gods. And this was done by Nebuchadnezzar as a symbol of their conquest. To the Babylonians, taking the vessels and putting them in their temples meant that they had defeated Israel, they had defeated the God of Israel. Their gods were more powerful.
Remember, this is what the Philistines did in 1 Samuel chapters 4 and 5 when the Philistines defeated Israel because Israel was apostate, because the priests, the sons of Eli, were wicked men. Because they brought the Ark of God into the battle in a superstitious way, thinking that it would guarantee victory. God allowed them to be defeated by the Philistines, and the Ark was captured. And what did the Philistines do? They brought it into the Temple of Dagon, their god, to show, 'Our god is more powerful than your God. We have got the victory over you. We have conquered and defeated you.'
But on that occasion, again, in 1 Samuel chapter 5, we read how God was able to glorify himself. The ark was there, and the next day when the Philistines came, they found the statue of Dagon fallen over, broken. And then as they tried to move the ark from place to place, they were struck with plagues, weren't they, Emerods? And they were desperately trying to get rid of the ark. Finally, they sent it back, sent it back to Israel.
God was able to glorify himself. Now, that was to the shame of Israel. They were meant to glorify God when the ark was taken. Remember how Eli's daughter-in-law said, 'The glory of God is departed, the glory of God is departed from Israel'? That is to say, Israel has lost that privilege, despised and rejected that privilege. It's not that God is no longer glorious. God is able to glorify himself. He doesn't need Israel to do it. That's why it's a privilege. Even without Israel, God can display his power and his glory, as he did with the ark. He can display his sovereignty over all these false gods of the nations. He is God. Dagon is not God. He can display that. So also here when the vessels are taken, God is able to glorify himself.
Remember in Daniel chapter 5 when Belshazzar took out those vessels to make fun? Remember how God spoke in judgment? Belshazzar lost his kingdom that very night. God is able to glorify himself. These are the same vessels here now in this account in Ezra chapter 1. It is Cyrus who is now releasing the vessels. Verse 8: 'Cyrus, king of Persia, brought forth those vessels, numbered them to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah.' Cyrus is, of course, serving his own purpose. He's making a deliberate show of giving these vessels back and entrusting them to the prince of Judah with this detailed numbering and inventory. This is a deliberate statement of how magnanimous he is. 'I'm allowing you Jews to return to the land. I'm giving you back the temple vessels so that you can go and worship your God once more. I am doing this, Cyrus the Great.' It's meant to glorify Cyrus. But God is glorifying himself through this because he is the one ultimately sovereign over Cyrus. Verse 1: 'the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom.' God is doing this.
And again, this is a shame for Israel. God is using others to glorify Himself. And that's a lesson that they need to learn. God doesn't need them. God can accomplish his purpose without them. God is not dependent on anyone. God is not dependent on Israel. They depend on him. We depend on him. God can glorify himself without us.
These vessels are significant because they're used in the temple. They're used in the ceremonies which all point forward to Christ. We read this in Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 5, speaking of the priests ‘Who serve unto the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith he, that thou make all things according to the pattern shewed to thee in the mount.' The vessels were part of that pattern, a divine pattern pointing to the truth, pointing to the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. All the furnishings of the tabernacle and the temple, Hebrews chapter 9 goes through all these things, speaking of how they point to ‘Christ being come an high priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle’, of which this tabernacle and temple was a shadow. So, the indication of the return of the temple vessels was an indication that this worship is continuing, that the witness of God's redemptive plan is continuing. But in the description, we see that this is a witness that continues because of the grace of God. God graciously allowed Israel to go back to the land, to have the vessels once more, to rebuild the temple, and to continue their witness.
III. A Privilege to Serve Because of God’s Grace
It was the grace of God. It's not because God needed them. It's not because God was dependent on them. It is because God graciously, as it were, gave them another chance. They could resume the worship of God. They could resume their role as witnesses, pointing to God's redemptive plan. And that's a lesson that we need to learn also. God doesn't need us. God can do his work without us. God can glorify himself without us. God can save his elect without us. So again, it is our privilege to be used by God in all these ways. He's gracious to use us. There's nothing good in us. We're not the cream of the crop. We're not the best of the best. God has graciously chosen us. And if we will not do it, then others will have that privilege. God can use even unbelievers to do his work. We must recognise what a gracious privilege it is.
Remember in Revelation chapter 2, the church in Ephesus is rebuked. Revelation 2:1, 'Unto the angel of the church of Ephesus write; These things saith he that holdeth the seven stars in his right hand, who walketh in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks; I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars: And hast borne, and hast patience, and for my name's sake hast laboured, and hast not fainted.' The church in Ephesus was doing a great deal for the Lord.
And yet, the Lord says in verse 4, 'I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love. Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works'. They've left their first love. They're doing all these things without real zeal, without real enthusiasm, without love for the Lord. They no longer see it as a wonderful privilege to serve the Lord whom they love. They have begun, as it were, to go through the motions. Yes, works and labour and patience, fighting for the truth, but they've lost their first love. That can happen to us. And the Lord calls them to repent.
It's a sin against the law to serve Him without that joy, without that zeal, without that enthusiasm, without love. To lose our love for the Lord is something we need to repent of. It's not a small thing. And what does the Lord say here again? Revelation 2:5, 'or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place'. The Lord can do that. He doesn't need us. He doesn't need us. Another candlestick He can use if we will not serve Him. If we will not count it a privilege to serve Him, then He can remove our candlestick and use others. And surely we don't want that. We need to recognise the privilege of serving the Lord.
God will continue His work in history through His people, His servants. He will accomplish His plan. What we see here, the return under Zerubabel and later Ezra, is again parallel to what we are called to do today. It continues the same service, the same God, the same unfolding plan. In those days, the Lord had not yet come. Now, he has already accomplished the atonement. We are called to proclaim that message, to preach the gospel.
Just as Israel was called to serve as God's witnesses pointing forward to the Messiah, we are sent forth to be His witnesses pointing back to the atonement, pointing forward to His coming kingdom and glory. What we learn from the book of Ezra will be very relevant and helpful for us, but it begins with recognising the privilege of serving the Lord. Everything else really means nothing. Just as we read in Revelation, the church can be very active serving and doing a lot of things, but if that first love is gone, if that privilege is not recognised, if that joy and that zeal and that enthusiasm are not there, then the Lord calls us to repent. We have to return and do the first works, the works that come out of that heart.
It's just as the Apostle Paul said in Romans chapter 12. If you'll turn there with me in closing. This must be a description of us. Romans 12:11, 'Not slothful in business; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord’. That must be us, fervent in spirit. The word fervent has the idea of something boiling, speaks of our zeal and fervency and enthusiasm. It's not like those kettles where you press the button and then once it starts boiling, it turns off. This is fervency that continues, it's always boiling.
Just like the coffee machine, whenever you need coffee, you press the button, the water is hot, it's ready. You don't have to wait hours and hours for it to warm up. So also for us, we should have that fervency in serving the Lord. When He calls, we are ready. There is a promptness to our service because we see it as a privilege. We are asking already, 'Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do? Lord, here am I, send me.' We are ready to go whenever He calls because it's a privilege.
He doesn't have to wait for us. 'Lord, let me settle this first, let me go and handle all these things first, when I've got nothing on my plate, then You can call me, then I'll do what You want me to do.' No, there must be that fervency, that enthusiasm. Again, this is something that is to our shame when we look at the world and see how enthusiastic the people of the world are. Think of a sports match, big finals, everyone's enthusiastic, aren't they? They're looking forward to it, they prepare, they get all their chilli and their popcorn and whatever all ready for the big game, they buy the tickets, they queue up for hours, there's great enthusiasm about those things.
But who is enthusiastic about serving the Lord? Who will rush to serve the Lord? Who will be first in line? Who will say, 'Lord, send me, send me, I want to go, I'm ready'? That enthusiasm isn't there because we don't see it as a privilege. We don't see what a gracious thing it is that the Lord should condescend to use us. We don't see it as a high calling. There isn't that enthusiasm, we've lost sight of these things. Why isn't the enthusiasm there? Again, fervent in spirit, because we are serving the Lord.
And after all, that's where the privilege comes from. Not from the perks that we get, not from how comfortable or convenient our lives are. Privilege comes from Whom we serve. It's because we are serving the Lord, His purpose, His gracious calling. That's why it's a privilege because he is the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords. He has called me. Why me? That should be our attitude, shouldn't it? And that will help us to serve the Lord with this fervency.
And we remember that when we serve the Lord, there is an eternal reward. That's a life that is not lived in vain. That's a life of meaning and purpose. That's a life that will end in glory. That's a life of which we will not be ashamed on that day when the Lord returns, serving the Lord. And because of Whom we serve, again, that's where the reward comes. It's not what we do, but Whom we serve. The Lord said, even a cup of cold water given in the name of a disciple, that person will not lose his rewards.
It is Whom we serve that matters. And really, that's where we need to begin: the privilege of service. Because whatever we do, we are serving the Lord, the Lord of hosts. He has called us. So let us rise up and build His house and do His work with joy, with fervency, with enthusiasm, with zeal, because we are serving the Lord. What better Master could we ever hope for? We don't deserve it, he has graciously called. Let us answer His call. Let's close with a word of prayer.
Our Father in heaven, we thank You again for this precious and important lesson. We pray You would work in our hearts, in each one of us, remind us of your gracious salvation, remind us of the great privilege we have to serve the King of Kings, we who are unworthy, we who were rebels against Your rule, we who wanted nothing more than to be rid of You. Yet you have condescended to work in us, to open our eyes, to redeem us by the blood of Your only begotten son. And now You have called us to serve You, to fulfill and accomplish Your great and glorious purpose. We pray You would help us to see these things rightly, with eyes of faith, as we are instructed by Your Word. And we pray once again that You would pour out Your blessing upon us throughout this camp, that as we learn from Your Word, from the book of Ezra, so we will meditate on these lessons and apply them.
We pray You would help us not to forget these things, but renew us, renew our love for You, that first love that we had when we were first saved, when we realised what sinners we were, what a great Saviour the Lord Jesus is. Renew that zeal and that enthusiasm, that fervency, that we may do the first works and serve You with joy. We commit all this into Your hands. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen.
THE BOOK OF EZRAMessage 1: Privilege and Promptness in ServiceMessage 1: Privilege and Promptness in ServiceEzra 1:1-11Message 2: Precept and Praise in ServiceMessage 2: Precept and Praise in ServiceEzra 2:1-3:13Message 3: Perseverance and Protection in ServiceMessage 3: Perseverance and Protection in ServiceEzra 4:1-5:5Message 4: Prudence and Providence in ServiceMessage 4: Prudence and Providence in ServiceEzra 5:6-6:22Message 5: Preparation and Perspective in ServiceMessage 5: Preparation and Perspective in ServiceEzra 7:1-28Message 6: Purpose and Prayer in ServiceMessage 6: Purpose and Prayer in ServiceEzra 8:1-36Message 7: Piety and Penitence in ServiceMessage 7: Piety and Penitence in ServiceEzra 9:1-10:44
