20140622 ezra

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

The Fear of the Lord
•The fear of the Lord
describes the relationship
with God in which we
obey God because we
have great love and great
respect for Him.
•We obey Him because we
love Him.
•We obey Him because we
know His great power.
2

5
The Book of Ezra
•The Book of Ezra
describes the ﬁrst 80
years of the returned
exiles in Jerusalem.
•They had been defeated
and exiled because of
their disobedience to
God. - They did not fear
Him.

6
The Decree of King Cyrus
539 BC
•The Jews were given
permission to return to
their land.
Unprecedented decision.
•Josephus: “History of the
Jews” recorded the
reason for the decree.
•Daniel had shown Cyrus
the prophecy of Isaiah
concerning him which
was made 200 years
before Cyrus was born. The Cyrus Cylinder with cuneiform writing

7
Isaiah 44:24-28
•“Thus says the Lord, your
Redeemer, Who formed
you from the womb: . . .
Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is
My shepherd, and he
shall fulﬁl all My purpose’;
saying of Jerusalem, ‘She
shall be built,’ and of the
temple, ‘Your foundation
shall be laid.’ ”
(Isaiah 44:24–28, ESV)
The Cyrus Cylinder with cuneiform writing

8
Ezra 1-2
•Records the decree of King
Cyrus.
•Lists the names of the
principal families who
decided to return.
•The exiles were led by
Zerubbabel a descendant
of King David and Jeshua
the High Priest.
•They brought offerings from
the Jews who preferred to
stay in Babylon.

9
Ezra 4 - Opposition
• “The enemies of Judah” were the
Samaritans.
• The Samaritans were pagans who
copied the worship of the Jews.
• They saw God as simply a local
“god” of the land who required
sacriﬁces. They did not know or
have the Law of Moses.
• They wanted to share in the
rebuilding of the Temple. The
Jewish leaders refused because
they knew nothing of the Law and
the true God of heaven and earth.

Ezra 4:4 - 5:1
Intimidation
•The Samaritans wrote letters
and hired lawyers to lobby
the King to stop the Jews
from building the Temple.
•As a result of the campaign
very little work was done on
the building for 14 years.
•The returned exiles became
preoccupied with building
their own houses and making
money.
10
Cyrus the Great

Ezra 5: The Call of God
•“Now the prophets, Haggai and
Zechariah the son of Iddo,
prophesied to the Jews who were
in Judah and Jerusalem, in the
Name of the God of Israel Who
was over them. Then Zerubbabel
the son of Shealtiel and Jeshua
the son of Jozadak arose and
began to rebuild the house of God
that is in Jerusalem, and the
prophets of God were with them,
supporting them.” (Ezra 5:1–2,
ESV)
11

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

• Before Jesus had sent the Holy Spirit,
the Temple was God’s appointed way
of keeping Himself at the centre of
His people’s life.
• The Temple was the focus of the
Lord’s presence among His people.
• Neglect of the Temple was symbolic
of their neglect of God.
• By failing to rebuild the Temple the
people were saying, “It doesn’t
matter if God is among us or not.”
13

•The problems the people faced:
•Lack of personal fulﬁlment.
• Poor harvests.
•Never having enough money or
savings.
•A wood panelled house in those
days was a great luxury. People had
built themselves luxurious homes but
had done nothing about the Temple.
14

Haggai 1:12 “Fear of the Lord”
•“Then Zerubbabel the son of
Shealtiel, and Joshua the son of
Jehozadak, the high priest, with all
the remnant of the people, obeyed
the voice of the Lord their God,
and the words of Haggai the
prophet, as the Lord their God had
sent him. And the people feared
the Lord.” (Haggai 1:12, ESV)
•The people obeyed because they
feared God more than the threats
of the Samaritans.
15

Ezra 6 The Temple is completed
• Haggai prophesied in 520BC in the
second year of King Darius.
• The Samaritans lobbied the new king
to stop the Jews.
• Darius ordered a full investigation.
• Darius renewed the decree of Cyrus
and commanded the Samaritan
governor to supply the building
materials.
• The Temple was completed in 5 years.
16

Ezra
•Where was Ezra?
•Ezra arrived in Jerusalem in
458 BC, 37 years after the new
Temple was built.
•Ezra was part of a second wave
of returning exiles that also
included Nehemiah the new
governor.
17

Ezra and The fear of
the Lord
•The people began with good
Intentions but the fear of
man stopped them obeying
The Lord.
•When the Lord was not the
centre of their lives they were not able to achieve what they
should have been able to achieve.
•The Prophet Haggai challenged them to rebalance their lives.
•Make sure God is and remains at the centre of your life. Doing
His will is more important than what other people think of you.
18

20140622 ezra

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