
As many of you know I work with prisoners. Every Monday I go in and teach a class and spend about 2-3 hours with 10 guys who have been locked up for a number of years. This is my second class too. So I’ve had around 20 students altogether. And some of these guys have been in there for quite a while. One fellow is serving a 40 years sentence. He’s about halfway through; he’s been in for about 20 years. Another guy has been in for about 17 years.
Now, imagine how life has changed on the outside in that amount of time. Imagine having little to no contact with the world since the early 90’s or late 80’s. Can you imagine what it would be like if one of these guys got out today? Imagine what it would be like trying to acclimate to society and get up to speed. When they went in, there were no cell phones. There wasn’t an internet. Computers were kind of a cutting edge thing back then. Now, pretty much all of our lives revolve around computers.
For some guys who get out, it is like a whole new world. But beyond the changes in technology, these guys have whole lives that they have to re-acclimate into. Their families have changed. Their neighborhoods have changed. Their own lives have changed. And now they have to try and get a job and, really, they have to find themselves all over again. They need to find their identity all over again.
That’s something of what we find with the book of Ezra. The book of Ezra is about a bunch of exiled inmates who have just been released from their prison sentence. These guys have been in prison for 70 years and now they are heading home.
And this book starts out with the most important lesson that they needed to hear. This chapter reminds them that their identity is in the Lord. God reminds them that these guys are the Lord’s people whom he has covenanted with and promised to save.
That is the message of this first chapter of Ezra (and really all of the book). The story of Ezra is a good for us today too for the very same reason. It is the story of God's grace. It is the story of God’s promise to save sinners and grant them eternal life.
In sum, Ezra is the story book of Christ and his redemption. And in this opening chapter, Ezra affirms the saving grace of God for our redemption repeatedly. As a matter of fact, the redeeming grace of God is set before us in at least four ways.
God wants to assure these exiled sinners of his grace (and he wants to affirm his saving love to us too). And it all begins in the very first verse. At the very outset of this book the Lord sets before us His promise of redemption and grace.
I. Redemptive promise [1]
Look at verse 1. It says, “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, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing.”
This passage begins by pointing us back. It points us back to the fact that the Israelites didn’t just come up out of Babylon by some random happen chance. This historic event occurred as the result of God’s promise.
70 years before Jeremiah had predicted that all of this was going to take place. As a matter of fact, he predicted it twice. The prophet Jeremiah declared in two different places that the Babylonian captivity would last 70 years.
In Jeremiah 25 he says that he is going to punish the Babylonians for their iniquities and make it an everlasting waste. And he says that he’s going to do it in 70 years.
And in Jeremiah 29 he repeats this prophetic word. You may all know the famous passage “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and give you a future and a hope.” People like to quote that as a life verse. But that verse isn’t talking about you. It is talking about the returning exiles. Because in verse 10, the verse right before it, Jeremiah says, “When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my promise to bring you back to this land.”
You may also know that the prophet Isaiah declared the very name of the king who would bring the people back. Isaiah prophesied that it would be Cyrus who initiated the return of the exiles, which is amazing being that Isaiah prophesied 150 years before Cyrus was even born.
Now, as we come back to the book of Ezra we see that, right out of the gates, we are pointed to the fact that God had promised that all this would occur. Ezra wanted to remind us that all of this did not happen by chance. It came about not by the whims of some pagan ruler, but by the very promise of God.
Now we can take this two ways. We can see it as a confirmation of the veracity of God’s word. There is a one to one correlation of what God says and world history. This is just a confirmation that God’s word is absolutely true and that it can be trusted. And that is something that is good for us to remember. God’s word should serve as the basis for our lives because in it God speaks and what he says comes to pass.
But there’s more to it than that. This is a reminder that God is a merciful and gracious God. He had told them that he would not cast them off forever. He had promised them that there would come a day when he would restore them and bring them back.
So the first word of the book of Ezra is a confirmation that God is a God of grace and mercy. He’s a God that treats us not as our sins deserve. Rather he’s willing to forgive us and bless us with his pardoning grace.
But the grace of God is not only seen in the promise of redemption, it is also seen in the power of redemption.
II. Redemptive power [1b-5]
When you look at verses 1-5 you see a powerful king making a mighty declaration. It is amazing that one man could uproot so many people and make thousands of people ramble around just with a single declaration.
But more than his power, you see the power of God. Cyrus acknowledges that the God of heaven had given him all the kingdoms of the earth. Now, I don’t want to stretch this to say that Cyrus was a believer. He’s probably making a politically correct speech. Nevertheless, he does acknowledge the sovereignty of God over him.
But there is something more grand to note here. Ask yourself, “What is it that moved Cyrus, this pagan king, to make such a declaration?” If you look to the text, you’ll see the answer. In verse 1 it says that God had stirred him up. It was the sovereign hand of God that was the catylyst for all this. It wasn’t so much Cyrus’ political prowess as it was the gracious working of the King of kings.
This word is actually used twice in our passage. Down in verse 5 it says that the leaders of Judah and Benjamin were also stirred up to make this trip.
Now you have to understand that these people would not have made the trip, had God not initiated it and put the fire in their bones to return. It had been 70 years. That’s a long time. People had settled their families and planted roots. They had jobs and homes. Who would want to just jump up and leave all that?
Add to this the fact of their age. Let’s say you were 10 years old when you went into captivity. You are now 80 years old. And the trip was approximately 1000 miles in length. You didn’t just jump on Air Persia and fly into Tel Aviv either. You had to grab your walker and hike it. Can you imagine walking to Florida when you are 80 years old? And remember, there are no hotels and no restaurants. You’ll have to pitch your tent and cook up your own meals.
I’m 40 years old, and when it is 9 pm I just want to sit in my chair. And certainly, nothing like this appeals to me.
This trip came about solely because of God’s sovereign power over the affairs of history and, most of all, sovereign over the human heart.
Literally, this word stirred up means “to arouse out of a deep slumber.” And that is why this is such a good reminder of the sovereignty of God in our salvation. We are just like Cyrus and those Jews. We are dead in our trespasses and sins and there is no inclination in us to worship and serve the Lord without his having coming and quickening our hearts. God in his grace rouses us out of our deadness of sin and makes us to sit in the heavenlies. And that is a testimony to His supreme grace! It is to the power of his redeeming kindness that we owe all for our salvation.
God’s grace to sinners is confirmed in his promise and his power. But we also have it confirmed in a picture.
III. Redemptive picture [4, 6, 11b, ]
When you read this passage you can’t help but be reminded of another time when God saved his people and brought them up out of a land of bondage. There is a sense in which Ezra reminds us of the time when God redeemed Israel out from the land of Egypt and out from under the hand of Pharoah. You will remember that God raised up Moses and he brought them up out of Egypt and he led them to the Promised Land.
When you read this passage in Ezra, you can’t help but here echos of that. Not only do you have people rising up to leave a foreign nation, but they are given all kinds of goods and services when they go. In verse 4 Cyrus declares that the men of each place are to assist them with gold and silver, goods and beasts, and freewill offerings. Then in verse 6 we read that that’s exactly what they did. They gave them gold and silver and all kinds of costly wares.
This is exactly what happened when the Israelites came up out of Egypt. The Egyptians gave the Hebrews whatever they wanted. They just wanted them to leave. So they ended up taking all kinds of plunder as they left.
As Ezra writes, he hearkens back to that time—that historic event; the monumental redemptive act in the life of Jews. He writes in such a way as to make this a picture of what had happened there. And he essentially says that this massive movement of people out of Babylon amounts to is a second Exodus. He basically says, “You remember how God saved our forefathers in the faith? Well, he’s done it again.”
Yesterday Elizabeth and I attended a wedding. It was a delightful time of seeing this young couple take their vows and enter into covenant with one another. But as we participated in all the festivities, we couldn’t help but remember our own wedding. We were taken back to our own vows and thought about how the day unfolded. It was like the whole thing was a repeat of our own wedding day.
That’s essentially what this is. It was a hearkening back. And it was for the purpose of reminding us of the kind of God we serve. It is to remind us that God does not give up on sinners. God is faithful to his people. He is a gracious God who is fulfilling his purpose in us.
And it is a reminder that God is a God of second chances. Have you blown it? Did you sin against the Lord or turn away from him again? Here is a good reminder that the Lord still extends his love to you. He is willing to forgive you and allow you a second chance, a third chance, and a fourth chance. God’s mercy is repeated and this is a great picture of how he is willing to pardon us time and again.
We not only see God’s redemptive promise, and power. We not only see a picture of his redemption, but we also see his redemptive purpose.
IV. Redemptive purpose [7-11a]
It is interesting that almost half of the passage deals with what might be something completely insignificant. Around a third of this passage is a complete snore because it deals with the basins, the censors, and the other vessels that Nebuchadnezzar carried off from the temple. The passage is pretty tedious as it recounts the logbook of how many of each. There were 30 basins of gold, 1000 basins of silver, 29 censors. Then there were so many bowls of gold and so many bowls of silver and so on and so forth. You kind of wonder, what gives? Why does Ezra give us the inventory of all these items?
I believe it is to emphasize a point. They are going back for one reason: to be a people of worship. All of these vessels were for the temple. And the reason they were going back to the land was so that they could reinstitute the worship of God.
Imagine that caravan. Imagine these vessels all packed together. You travel around a thousand miles with these things clinking together. And it is not like it is packed in a Uhaul truck in the back of the convoy. It is in carts and in backpacks. Almost everyone is helping to carry something. Every step that you take you hear the reverberation of the pots and pans and utensils. Each clank, bang and jingle was a reminder that God had a specific purpose for these people. He was bringing them up that they may declare the praises of God and exalt his name.
It is kind of a repetition of the books of Leviticus and Numbers. Those books recount the initial time when God instructed the people to create these vessels. And the message at that time was that God had saved them out of Egypt that they may become a nation of worshippers.
God’s purpose has not changed for his people today. The grace God gives today is for the same purpose. The reason he saves you is that you may be here today, gathered in corporate worship.
But there is one other thing you should see in this passage. When you read this passage you not only should think about the promise God gave, or the power God exerts. You should not just think about the picture that he paints or the purpose he has. When you read the 1st chapter of Ezra you should remember the overarching plan God has made and is working out.
V. Redemptive plan [Gen. 3]
This chapter takes you all the way back to Genesis 3:15 and God’s original declaration to crush the head of the serpent. When you read Ezra 1 we have to keep it in the context of God’s promises to Abraham and to David. It’s all about the messiah who was to be born.
God had promised that a deliverer would be raised up and this deliverer would come out of Israel. So God had to get them back to the land. If there was no return from exile, then the Messiah would never be born. If the Israelites had never came back from Babylon, then Christ would not have come.
So, above all things, this narrative is a segue to the birth of Christ. It is part of God’s overarching plan to secure our redemption and give us the full guarantee of life in the promised land.
Now, imagine how life has changed on the outside in that amount of time. Imagine having little to no contact with the world since the early 90’s or late 80’s. Can you imagine what it would be like if one of these guys got out today? Imagine what it would be like trying to acclimate to society and get up to speed. When they went in, there were no cell phones. There wasn’t an internet. Computers were kind of a cutting edge thing back then. Now, pretty much all of our lives revolve around computers.
For some guys who get out, it is like a whole new world. But beyond the changes in technology, these guys have whole lives that they have to re-acclimate into. Their families have changed. Their neighborhoods have changed. Their own lives have changed. And now they have to try and get a job and, really, they have to find themselves all over again. They need to find their identity all over again.
That’s something of what we find with the book of Ezra. The book of Ezra is about a bunch of exiled inmates who have just been released from their prison sentence. These guys have been in prison for 70 years and now they are heading home.
And this book starts out with the most important lesson that they needed to hear. This chapter reminds them that their identity is in the Lord. God reminds them that these guys are the Lord’s people whom he has covenanted with and promised to save.
That is the message of this first chapter of Ezra (and really all of the book). The story of Ezra is a good for us today too for the very same reason. It is the story of God's grace. It is the story of God’s promise to save sinners and grant them eternal life.
In sum, Ezra is the story book of Christ and his redemption. And in this opening chapter, Ezra affirms the saving grace of God for our redemption repeatedly. As a matter of fact, the redeeming grace of God is set before us in at least four ways.
God wants to assure these exiled sinners of his grace (and he wants to affirm his saving love to us too). And it all begins in the very first verse. At the very outset of this book the Lord sets before us His promise of redemption and grace.
I. Redemptive promise [1]
Look at verse 1. It says, “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, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing.”
This passage begins by pointing us back. It points us back to the fact that the Israelites didn’t just come up out of Babylon by some random happen chance. This historic event occurred as the result of God’s promise.
70 years before Jeremiah had predicted that all of this was going to take place. As a matter of fact, he predicted it twice. The prophet Jeremiah declared in two different places that the Babylonian captivity would last 70 years.
In Jeremiah 25 he says that he is going to punish the Babylonians for their iniquities and make it an everlasting waste. And he says that he’s going to do it in 70 years.
And in Jeremiah 29 he repeats this prophetic word. You may all know the famous passage “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and give you a future and a hope.” People like to quote that as a life verse. But that verse isn’t talking about you. It is talking about the returning exiles. Because in verse 10, the verse right before it, Jeremiah says, “When 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and fulfill my promise to bring you back to this land.”
You may also know that the prophet Isaiah declared the very name of the king who would bring the people back. Isaiah prophesied that it would be Cyrus who initiated the return of the exiles, which is amazing being that Isaiah prophesied 150 years before Cyrus was even born.
Now, as we come back to the book of Ezra we see that, right out of the gates, we are pointed to the fact that God had promised that all this would occur. Ezra wanted to remind us that all of this did not happen by chance. It came about not by the whims of some pagan ruler, but by the very promise of God.
Now we can take this two ways. We can see it as a confirmation of the veracity of God’s word. There is a one to one correlation of what God says and world history. This is just a confirmation that God’s word is absolutely true and that it can be trusted. And that is something that is good for us to remember. God’s word should serve as the basis for our lives because in it God speaks and what he says comes to pass.
But there’s more to it than that. This is a reminder that God is a merciful and gracious God. He had told them that he would not cast them off forever. He had promised them that there would come a day when he would restore them and bring them back.
So the first word of the book of Ezra is a confirmation that God is a God of grace and mercy. He’s a God that treats us not as our sins deserve. Rather he’s willing to forgive us and bless us with his pardoning grace.
But the grace of God is not only seen in the promise of redemption, it is also seen in the power of redemption.
II. Redemptive power [1b-5]
When you look at verses 1-5 you see a powerful king making a mighty declaration. It is amazing that one man could uproot so many people and make thousands of people ramble around just with a single declaration.
But more than his power, you see the power of God. Cyrus acknowledges that the God of heaven had given him all the kingdoms of the earth. Now, I don’t want to stretch this to say that Cyrus was a believer. He’s probably making a politically correct speech. Nevertheless, he does acknowledge the sovereignty of God over him.
But there is something more grand to note here. Ask yourself, “What is it that moved Cyrus, this pagan king, to make such a declaration?” If you look to the text, you’ll see the answer. In verse 1 it says that God had stirred him up. It was the sovereign hand of God that was the catylyst for all this. It wasn’t so much Cyrus’ political prowess as it was the gracious working of the King of kings.
This word is actually used twice in our passage. Down in verse 5 it says that the leaders of Judah and Benjamin were also stirred up to make this trip.
Now you have to understand that these people would not have made the trip, had God not initiated it and put the fire in their bones to return. It had been 70 years. That’s a long time. People had settled their families and planted roots. They had jobs and homes. Who would want to just jump up and leave all that?
Add to this the fact of their age. Let’s say you were 10 years old when you went into captivity. You are now 80 years old. And the trip was approximately 1000 miles in length. You didn’t just jump on Air Persia and fly into Tel Aviv either. You had to grab your walker and hike it. Can you imagine walking to Florida when you are 80 years old? And remember, there are no hotels and no restaurants. You’ll have to pitch your tent and cook up your own meals.
I’m 40 years old, and when it is 9 pm I just want to sit in my chair. And certainly, nothing like this appeals to me.
This trip came about solely because of God’s sovereign power over the affairs of history and, most of all, sovereign over the human heart.
Literally, this word stirred up means “to arouse out of a deep slumber.” And that is why this is such a good reminder of the sovereignty of God in our salvation. We are just like Cyrus and those Jews. We are dead in our trespasses and sins and there is no inclination in us to worship and serve the Lord without his having coming and quickening our hearts. God in his grace rouses us out of our deadness of sin and makes us to sit in the heavenlies. And that is a testimony to His supreme grace! It is to the power of his redeeming kindness that we owe all for our salvation.
God’s grace to sinners is confirmed in his promise and his power. But we also have it confirmed in a picture.
III. Redemptive picture [4, 6, 11b, ]
When you read this passage you can’t help but be reminded of another time when God saved his people and brought them up out of a land of bondage. There is a sense in which Ezra reminds us of the time when God redeemed Israel out from the land of Egypt and out from under the hand of Pharoah. You will remember that God raised up Moses and he brought them up out of Egypt and he led them to the Promised Land.
When you read this passage in Ezra, you can’t help but here echos of that. Not only do you have people rising up to leave a foreign nation, but they are given all kinds of goods and services when they go. In verse 4 Cyrus declares that the men of each place are to assist them with gold and silver, goods and beasts, and freewill offerings. Then in verse 6 we read that that’s exactly what they did. They gave them gold and silver and all kinds of costly wares.
This is exactly what happened when the Israelites came up out of Egypt. The Egyptians gave the Hebrews whatever they wanted. They just wanted them to leave. So they ended up taking all kinds of plunder as they left.
As Ezra writes, he hearkens back to that time—that historic event; the monumental redemptive act in the life of Jews. He writes in such a way as to make this a picture of what had happened there. And he essentially says that this massive movement of people out of Babylon amounts to is a second Exodus. He basically says, “You remember how God saved our forefathers in the faith? Well, he’s done it again.”
Yesterday Elizabeth and I attended a wedding. It was a delightful time of seeing this young couple take their vows and enter into covenant with one another. But as we participated in all the festivities, we couldn’t help but remember our own wedding. We were taken back to our own vows and thought about how the day unfolded. It was like the whole thing was a repeat of our own wedding day.
That’s essentially what this is. It was a hearkening back. And it was for the purpose of reminding us of the kind of God we serve. It is to remind us that God does not give up on sinners. God is faithful to his people. He is a gracious God who is fulfilling his purpose in us.
And it is a reminder that God is a God of second chances. Have you blown it? Did you sin against the Lord or turn away from him again? Here is a good reminder that the Lord still extends his love to you. He is willing to forgive you and allow you a second chance, a third chance, and a fourth chance. God’s mercy is repeated and this is a great picture of how he is willing to pardon us time and again.
We not only see God’s redemptive promise, and power. We not only see a picture of his redemption, but we also see his redemptive purpose.
IV. Redemptive purpose [7-11a]
It is interesting that almost half of the passage deals with what might be something completely insignificant. Around a third of this passage is a complete snore because it deals with the basins, the censors, and the other vessels that Nebuchadnezzar carried off from the temple. The passage is pretty tedious as it recounts the logbook of how many of each. There were 30 basins of gold, 1000 basins of silver, 29 censors. Then there were so many bowls of gold and so many bowls of silver and so on and so forth. You kind of wonder, what gives? Why does Ezra give us the inventory of all these items?
I believe it is to emphasize a point. They are going back for one reason: to be a people of worship. All of these vessels were for the temple. And the reason they were going back to the land was so that they could reinstitute the worship of God.
Imagine that caravan. Imagine these vessels all packed together. You travel around a thousand miles with these things clinking together. And it is not like it is packed in a Uhaul truck in the back of the convoy. It is in carts and in backpacks. Almost everyone is helping to carry something. Every step that you take you hear the reverberation of the pots and pans and utensils. Each clank, bang and jingle was a reminder that God had a specific purpose for these people. He was bringing them up that they may declare the praises of God and exalt his name.
It is kind of a repetition of the books of Leviticus and Numbers. Those books recount the initial time when God instructed the people to create these vessels. And the message at that time was that God had saved them out of Egypt that they may become a nation of worshippers.
God’s purpose has not changed for his people today. The grace God gives today is for the same purpose. The reason he saves you is that you may be here today, gathered in corporate worship.
But there is one other thing you should see in this passage. When you read this passage you not only should think about the promise God gave, or the power God exerts. You should not just think about the picture that he paints or the purpose he has. When you read the 1st chapter of Ezra you should remember the overarching plan God has made and is working out.
V. Redemptive plan [Gen. 3]
This chapter takes you all the way back to Genesis 3:15 and God’s original declaration to crush the head of the serpent. When you read Ezra 1 we have to keep it in the context of God’s promises to Abraham and to David. It’s all about the messiah who was to be born.
God had promised that a deliverer would be raised up and this deliverer would come out of Israel. So God had to get them back to the land. If there was no return from exile, then the Messiah would never be born. If the Israelites had never came back from Babylon, then Christ would not have come.
So, above all things, this narrative is a segue to the birth of Christ. It is part of God’s overarching plan to secure our redemption and give us the full guarantee of life in the promised land.