"Ezra"
Overview
Ezra and the Hunger for God's Word
Think of how easily we break the laws we know—even after a speeding ticket, we tend to climb back into the car and press the limit again. That stubborn pattern is a small picture of the much larger story behind Ezra. Judah had broken covenant with the Lord again and again, and the consequences came: Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Solomon's temple, and the people were carried into Babylonian exile. Even there, they continued to violate God's law. But God refused to break His oath. He stirred up Cyrus of Persia to send a remnant home, where, under Zerubbabel, Ezra, and later Nehemiah, the temple and the walls of Jerusalem were rebuilt. Into this fragile, returning community came Ezra the priest and scribe, who, as Ezra 7:10 tells us, "had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel."
The scene in Nehemiah 8 is striking. On an appointed day, the people gathered as one assembly—men, women, and all who could understand—and asked Ezra to bring out the Book of the Law. He read from early morning until midday, and the people listened attentively for six hours. When the book was opened, they stood in reverence; they answered "Amen, amen," lifting their hands; they bowed their faces to the ground; and the Levites moved among them to interpret so they would understand. This is more than ancient history—it is a portrait of the gathered church. We assemble on holy days set aside for the Lord, not as a burden but as a gift. We need a community of faith to pray with us, to teach us Scripture, to hold us accountable in love, and to encourage us when we drift. Standing for the reading of God's Word is not empty ceremony; it is honoring the almighty, sovereign God who has spoken.
The law, however, exposes us. We don't naturally say "Amen" when we hear it, because it cuts—it shows us we cannot stand under its weight. Psalm 1 calls blessed the one whose delight is in the law of the Lord, yet by nature we are exiles, born as enemies of God and unable to keep His commands. But God does not leave us with the law alone. He keeps His covenant. In Jesus Christ, God Himself took on flesh, was born under the law, lived perfectly under its weight, and bore on the cross the wrath and exile that should have been ours. As Hebrews 8 teaches, He is the mediator of a better covenant, enacted on better promises—because if the first covenant had been faultless, no second would have been needed.
So when we gather and hear the Word read, the law still humbles us, but the gospel lifts us up. We are no longer in exile from God; in Christ we are at one with Him. That freedom isn't a license to sin—it doesn't mean climbing back into the car to speed away. It means we walk this road of life unburdened by condemnation, joining Ezra's congregation across the centuries in lifting our hands and saying, "Amen, amen," to the faithful God who has redeemed His people.
Transcript
Okay, we've got an honest question for you and I expect you to give an honest answer. 1s
We can't see you. 8s
We know you're at home watching this. 9s
We're shipping with us. 11s
So I'm going to ask you, have you ever sped while driving? 13s
If you have, raise your hand. 18s
Yes, I'm raising my hand. 21s
I have sped. 23s
Have you ever been pulled over for speeding and received a ticket? 24s
Is it for violating the law? 29s
I don't like raising my hand for that one, but I have received a ticket. 34s
Okay, one more question. 39s
After receiving a ticket for speeding, which is against the law of our land, which one of 41s
you, or how many of you have then gotten back in your car and sped since then? 50s
I think that a lot of us, most of us, who are drivers, have had an experience of chatting 61s
with our local police officers about speeding. 71s
And many of us have received tickets for speeding. 76s
And yet, we continue to push the limits and to violate the law that we have the ordinance 80s
that we have in our towns and cities. 91s
And let's face it. 96s
We really don't like a lot of the laws that we have to deal with, especially if they interfere 97s
with how we want to live our lives. 105s
It's not fun and it's not convenient to follow the law when it's going against something 108s
that I want to do. 116s
Well, we have to deal with the consequences of breaking the law. 120s
Some of us get speeding tickets, some of us have to pay fines. 125s
We have to deal with the consequences of breaking the law. 131s
The character, the person that we're meeting today in our sermon in our scripture is Ezra. 135s
We're going to get to him in just a minute, but we need a little bit of a backdrop to what's 143s
going on and why we have Ezra as our supporting cast this week. 148s
So Ezra was in a time where the Jewish people, the Israel, had been split into two kingdoms. 154s
We had the Northern Kingdom which was Israel and the Southern Kingdom which was Judah. 162s
And this is going to focus on the people of Judah. 170s
And the people were violating over and over and over again, the covenant that they had made with God 173s
that God had made with them. 181s
They were not being a faithful people to Yahweh. 183s
They were not being a covenant people to Yahweh. 186s
And so they had to deal with the consequences of breaking the law of God. 190s
And so Nebuchadnezzar came and burned down the temple of Solomon and the Jews had gone 199s
into exile. 209s
They were in Babylonian captivity. 210s
They were in exile. 213s
They were separated from the Holy Land, from the Holy City. 214s
A lot of time passed and even though they were separated and they were dealing with the consequences 221s
of being unfaithful and violating God's law, they continued even in exile to violate that law. 228s
But God was not going to violate his oath and his covenant to the people. 240s
And so he used the Persian Emperor or the Persian King Cyrus who was a deist he believed in many 247s
gods. 255s
And he thought that this Yahweh of the Jews was one of the good gods. 257s
And so God inspired him and moved him to speak to the Jews and to send them back to the 263s
good god could be worshiped. 275s
A lot of time passed of the rebuilding of the temple and it was rebuilt under the 279s
direction of zero babble and then under Ezra. 286s
And then Nehemiah was the one to oversee the rebuilding of the walls of the city of Jerusalem 291s
so that it would be safe. 298s
So all of this takes place over a long period of time and all the while, even though 301s
they're trying to maintain and worship God and get some of that theology and doctrine 311s
back into the Jewish people, into the tribe of Judah, there are still a lot of violations 318s
happening. 326s
And so Ezra was a scribe and a priest and he was described in the seventh chapter of Ezra. 328s
It says that Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach 337s
the statutes and ordinances in Israel. 345s
So Ezra began studying the law. 350s
He set his life to studying the law, to practicing the law, to be faithful to God's 354s
law and then to teach, to teach God's law to his covenant people. 362s
So we have this time of exile, we have the time of returning which there were not 373s
a lot of Jews who did return. 378s
So the fact that they were able to rebuild the temple and build and fortify the wall around 381s
the city with a few amount of people or with not a lot of Jews, that was very impressive, 387s
but God made it possible because it was time for that temple to be built. 394s
So the temple is built and the first thing they do, they bring Ezra, the scribe, the priest 401s
and he opens the word of the Lord. 410s
And this is where we pick up right before chapter 8. 415s
When the seventh month came, the people of Israel being settled in their towns, all the 418s
people gathered together into the square before the water gate. 424s
They told the scribe Ezra to bring the book of the law of Moses which the Lord had given 428s
to Israel. 434s
Accordingly, the priest Ezra brought the law before the assembly, both men and women 436s
and all who could hear with understanding. 441s
This was on the first day of the seventh month. 446s
So there was an appointed time where they gathered together. 450s
This is a beautiful foreshadowing of the community of faith that God still calls together, 455s
that we are gathering though online currently. 464s
We are gathering as one people to hear God's word, to have it given to us all who can hear 468s
and understand our gathered as a community in one spirit and one faith to hear what God 477s
has to say to us. 485s
There is a purpose for a community of faith. 489s
We have a community of faith as a gift from God to have people to pray with us, to have 493s
people to pray for us, to have people that we can share God's word with and grow in faith 500s
and learn and interpret scripture together and to draw closer to the Lord. 507s
As we have that community with one another in the same faith, we also see that there is a great 514s
purpose in having this community of faith that we can look to one another, encouraging one another 524s
And as those exiles had violated the law so much and in our gospel reading, we hear about 534s
how the church is to respond to one who is sinning or one who is violated the law. 541s
We need that community of faith to encourage us and to hold us accountable according to God's 549s
word. 557s
And this is what Ezra was bringing forth. 558s
The other thing we'll notice is that this is on an appointed day. 562s
A lot of times I get the question about, well, why do we have to worship on a special day? 567s
We should just worship on any day. 572s
But if you think about the word holiday and it's a special day, it's a holy day, it's 575s
a day that's supposed to be set aside to worship the Lord. 583s
In the third commandment we talk about worshiping the Lord and having and keeping the Sabbath 588s
and the whole point of that is to have a day where we are learning the word of the Lord, 595s
learning what God has to say to us and not be grudging it, not unhappy, but joyfully and 603s
expectantly learning and hearing what God has to say to us in His word. 612s
So Ezra, the scribe brings this book before the people and he is going to open it up. 620s
The temple had been rebuilt. 628s
They wanted God's word read to them. 630s
So we continue in verse 3. 633s
He read from it facing the square before the water gate from early morning until midday. 638s
That's six hours. 644s
Can you imagine having God's word read to you for six hours? 646s
Let's be honest, some of us would say, oh, that's a long time. 652s
That's a lot of Bible reading going on there, right? 658s
But the people needed to hear God's word and so they were gathered as a community. 662s
And if you have ever had a day in fasting, a day in prayer, a day where you devote 668s
your time to the reading of God's word, when you are in the midst of the living word of God, 674s
and hearing His word read or reading it for yourself, the time goes by so quickly. 682s
There are so many times where you'll begin reading the book reading the Bible and then all of a 690s
sudden you look up and you realize that you've been reading for an hour or 30 minutes or even 697s
10 minutes, which is sometimes surprising because time seems to slip away. 703s
So for six hours, Ezra was reading the book in the presence or the law in the presence of the men 708s
and the women and those who could understand and the ears of all the people were attentive to the 716s
book of the law. All ears were listening, all men, all women and anyone who could understand were paying attention. 723s
They needed to hear God's law. They wanted to hear God's law. And that's exactly what they heard 737s
as Ezra read to them. The scribe Ezra stood on a wooden platform that had been made for the purpose 745s
and beside him stood Matitha, Shima, Anaya, Yuraya, Hylkaya and Messiah on his right hand, 753s
and Padaya, Michelle, Mikalyah, Hashim, Hashbadana, Zechariah and Mesulam on his left hand. 762s
And Ezra opened the book in the sight of all people for he was standing above all the people. 770s
This does not mean that he was better than the people or above. It is literally he was above them. 776s
He stood on a platform where he could preach to them, read to them. And so he was standing above 784s
all the people when he opened it, all the people stood up. I've heard complaints from people who 791s
have not grown up in a ceremonial Christian church. I've heard complaints of, well, I don't 800s
understand why you sit and stand and sit and stand. What's the point? You're getting an 809s
exercise, but I don't understand the point. And here we see that the people who have gathered. 814s
They are attentive to the word. They want to hear God's word. They're willing to stand for six 821s
hours to hear God's word read to them. And they stand out of reverence and out of respect for the 827s
Lord for Yahweh once his word is opened up before them. They know that it is the living word of God, 837s
that they need to hear what is in it, but that is the almighty and powerful Yahweh who gave them 848s
this word. And they stand out of reverence. Just as we stand, when we read God's word, when we read 855s
the gospel, we rise in reverence of hearing God's promise and God's word to us. We're not exercising 862s
the people of Judah. They were not exercising. They were showing reverence for the Lord. We know that 873s
Jesus and God are, he's often referred to as our friend. And we want to think of God as our pal, 881s
as our buddy. But God is almighty. God is all sovereign. God is all knowing. And there should be 889s
some respect that we show to the Lord. Indeed, he does care for us. And we will get to how much he 897s
killed Rhin. But he is all powerful. He deserves our respect. He deserves reverence from us. 911s
And so the people of Judah, they stood. They stood when his book was opened. And as we're 923s
open the book in the sight of all the people for he was standing above the people. And when he 931s
opened it, all the people stood up. Then Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God. And all the people 935s
answered a men, a men lifting up their hands. Then they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord 943s
with their faces to the ground. Also, Joshua, Bonnie, Sherebaya, Jaman, Akub, Shabathai, Hodaya, 951s
Masaya, Khalita, Azaria, Josephad, Hannon, Palaya, the Levites. Those were the priests helped the people 961s
to understand the law, while the people remained in their places. So they read from the book 972s
from the law of God with interpretation. They gave the sense so that the people understood the reading. 978s
So these people are in a community of faith gathered together standing in reverence, 987s
attentive to the word of God that was being spoken to them. The living word of God being delivered 994s
to the people. They respond as a people, a men, a men, they worship and praise the Lord. 1003s
And the priests go to the people who are gathered there to interpret God's word for them. 1012s
Does this sound familiar? Does Ezra the priest describe the one who set his heart to study the 1024s
law of the Lord and do it and to teach the statutes and ordinances in Israel? Does that sound familiar 1034s
in our modern day? It should, for we gather as a people, we worship and we praise the Lord 1045s
saying a men for the deliverance of his beautiful pure and true word. We don't like to hear the 1055s
law. It's burdensome. It's weary some. It weighs us down, but it's not the law that weighs us down. 1068s
It's the matter of us not being able to live up to the law or to stand under the law. It's our very 1081s
own sinful nature which weighs us down. The fact that we want to get in our car and speed after we 1092s
have just received a ticket, we have just experienced the consequence and yet we want to engage and 1103s
violate the law again. In our sin, we are separated from God. We are like the Israelites who are in 1110s
because we violate the law, the very word of God. When we hear it, do we say, a men? I heard that 1127s
law. That's awesome. I'm a sinner. No, we don't. It cuts us. It hurts us, but we should. We should 1139s
hear the law and say a men in Psalms. The first Psalm that we have, Psalm 1, it talks about 1147s
happy are those. This is verse 1. Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked or take the path 1156s
that sinners tread or sit in the seat of scoffers, but their delight is in the law of the Lord. On 1162s
not stand up to the demands of the law. We need to know that we put ourselves in exile when we 1183s
break and violate God's own law. But as we know that we've read and talked about so often, 1196s
are very nature that we are born into, has exiled us from God. Because we are born into a sinful 1205s
nature. We are born into the nature of being enemies of God into the nature of being children of wrath. 1215s
But God does not leave us with his law alone. He uses that law to put our sin before us. 1226s
And He uses that law to say, you can't live up to this. You can't be perfect. 1236s
But then He brings to us in His word that promise of His covenant that He is always faithful, 1245s
that He will restore and bring salvation to His people. He does that by coming to this earth, 1256s
Himself. Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity, God Himself came to take flesh upon Himself, 1266s
to be born into and under the law of God so that He could stand under the weight of the law, 1277s
that He could live under the burden of the law and yet live perfectly under that law. 1289s
And yet He took the wrath, the punishment, the separation, the exile from God. 1300s
He took that upon Himself when He hung on the cross. The exile that we are born into, 1311s
that we should, by all means, remain in that separation from God Himself. 1322s
That is what Jesus took on for Himself so that though we are born into the nature, 1331s
of the exile, we don't remain exiled. We don't remain separated from God. 1341s
Jesus bore that upon the cross for us so that we can be brought together into that faithful covenant, 1351s
a new covenant. Let us turn to Hebrews. That's Galatians. Let's turn to Hebrews. 1360s
Well, we're going to turn to Hebrews. I had it marked there. It is Hebrews chapter 8, 1372s
where it talks about the mediator of a better covenant. This is Jesus Christ. 1380s
Jesus obtained a more excellent ministry to a degree that He is the mediator of a better covenant, 1387s
which has been enacted through better promises. If the first covenant that God made with His people 1395s
had been faultless, there would have been no need to look for a second one. If there had been 1402s
no way to die under that first covenant, we would have no need of this new covenant, 1412s
but no one in humanity can live under that law, can live up to the demands of the law. So, 1421s
Jesus Christ came making a new covenant an atonement, an atoneness with God for us through His blood. 1429s
We should live in the freedom which God has bore for us, which He has won for us. The freedom 1441s
that we have in the victory that Christ has claimed on the death of the cross and the resurrection 1451s
that He had out of the tomb, which is the promise that the sacrifice for sin, Jesus, 1457s
Himself, the exile that He experienced was the exile for all of us. We don't have to live 1466s
in exile from God. We live at one with the Lord. This is where we gather into the community of faith. 1476s
And we proclaim this and we hear it. And we can't, but help, but shout, amen, amen, and worship 1488s
the Lord for the Lord has remained covenant, or remained faithful to His covenant. He has remained 1497s
faithful to His promise, to redeem His people. And we have been counted amongst His people. 1504s
We can't not praise the Lord. We have been given such grace through the blood of Jesus Christ. 1515s
We have been given such grace through God's law which shows us our sin and guides us in how to walk 1526s
with the Lord, but we have been given even greater grace with God's gospel showing us 1535s
that we are not saved by ourselves. We are not saved by our deeds or our righteousness. We are saved 1545s
by God alone. This does not mean to get in your car and speed away. It just means that we can live 1553s
freely on the roads in this life because we live through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 1561s