Sermon Transcript

Turn your Bible to…the Table of Contents. I’m serious! The reason I’m asking you to open there is because you’re never going to be able to find the book I’m about to tell you to open up to. . .so open your Bible to the Table of Contents. Two purposes for that: first of all, I need you to find the page number for the book of Ezra. Find that page number, and as you’re doing that, I want you to notice the book that comes after the book of Ezra in your Table of Contents.

First of all, what book comes after Ezra? Nehemiah. Did you know…a little Bible trivia here…did you know that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one book by one single author? Later, they were divided to help us kind of navigate our Bibles, but it tells the story of three leaders—and I’ll give you the names of those leaders here in just a minute.

On the count of three, I want you to tell me what page your book of Ezra starts on. Three, two, one! Exactly! Page 588 – if you have my Bible! And, we’re going to dive into this, but are you up for a little history this morning? Can I give you a little history lesson—to just kind of understand where we are in the Bible and what’s the significance of this?

As you know, if you’ve been around here for the summer, we have been tracing a promise through the Old Testament. The promise was originally given to Abraham back in Genesis chapter 12. It’s a four-fold promise: that God would bless him, that God would make him a great nation, that God would give him a promised land and that through his descendants, all the nations of the earth would be blessed. And we’ve been tracing the hills and the valleys; the roller coaster ride that is this promise in the Old Testament. So now we’ve arrived at sermon number nine in what is a 10-part sermon series, so y’all have to come back for the conclusion next week. And we are now into the closing pages of the Old Testament.

Now, if you’re paying attention, you say, “Wait a minute! I’ve got a lot of books after Ezra in my Old Testament.” Well, that’s because our Bibles—our English Bibles today—are not put in sequential order; they’re not in chronological order; they’re grouped by category. And so you have History books in one place in our Old Testament, you have the Prophets in one place, you have books of Poetry in the other place. It’s not chronologically laid out. But the story that we’re about to read are the last historical stories of the Old Testament. With this story, the Old Testament closes, okay? So we’re about to read, really, what is the end of the Old Testament, even though it kind of falls—in our Bibles—in the middle. So, the book of Ezra.

Now, in the book of Ezra there were these three leaders. Now, you have to remember part of the history here. A few weeks ago we studied kind of the pinnacle of this promise, when God gave to Solomon the designs to build the temple. The temple was the dwelling place of God on earth, with man, and that was kind of the pinnacle of this whole promise. The people are in the Promised Land, they are being blessed; God’s glory fills the temple, so much so that the people couldn’t even minister—they were so saturated with the presence of God. And so that’s kind of the pinnacle.

And then, right after that whole story, we open our Bibles, and it turns out that Solomon loved many women – which is never a good plan! And it all starts to tank, and we start spiraling out of control and the kings get worse and worse. Last week we looked at how God raised up a prophet, Elijah, to remind the king of the promise. And there was kind of this little mini-revival there, but then it just kind of just continued to spiral out of control until this epic thing happened. We know that the kingdom was divided, north and south. Now, so, because that’s so significant, I don’t want you to forget it.

Imagine this morning—okay, just imagine—if somebody divided Harvest Bible Chapel. Gasp! Everybody say, “Gasp! Uh! Who would do such a thing!?” This would be a terrible thing! Now, we’re all about church planting; we are not about church splitting, okay? We’re not going to let that happen. But, just so that you can understand the significance of what happened, I’m going to divide Harvest Bible Chapel here right now. We’re going to put an imaginary line right down the middle. I realize I’m actually going to divide husband and wife—I just, I saw that right there—which is a horrible thing! But we’re going to do that.

I want the northern kingdom over here, I want the northern kingdom to stand up. Northern kingdom stand up. Now, if you remember—if you’ve been following along—you guys have a king. Who was the first king of the northern kingdom? Anybody know, anybody know? Jeroboam, that’s right! You were all taking notes on that day. Jeroboam. And then there were successive kings, and it just got worse and worse and worse.

So, guess what happened to the northern kingdom? (You guys are going to love this, the southern kingdom!) Guess what happened to the northern kingdom? You were conquered; you were annihilated! You see, what happened was the Assyrians invaded the ten northern tribes. The northern kingdom was conquered in the year 722 B.C. 722 years before Jesus showed up, the Assyrians conquered the northern kingdom and wiped them out. You’re all wiped out! Sit down!

Alright! Now, the southern kingdom. The southern kingdom, stand up! Southern kingdom, you comprise two tribes: Judah and Benjamin. But Benjamin was so small they didn’t even mention it. They called you Judah! And Jerusalem was on your side. You guys had the advantage, okay? And so, you guys lasted a little longer, but it still didn’t go well for you. You rebelled, and you got into idol worship, too, and so God sent His judgment, and you guys were wiped out, too, by the Babylonians, also known as the Chaldeans. And you guys were wiped out in the year 586 B.C. 586 years before Christ, you guys are conquered. However, not all of you die. Good news or bad news? Not all of you die. A few of you are captured and taken back to Babylon, okay?

So, I need everybody here, but like ten people, sit down. It’s like, “Am I a part of the twelve?” Yeah! So, here, here are the entrepreneurs in the group. Alright?  Like, “I’m not dead! I’m gonna survive this thing!” That’s right! You guys are gonna survive a nuclear holocaust! You guys can sit down. That was awesome! Alright, so those guys were taken into exile.

You remember the book of Daniel? If you know your Old Testament, Daniel—who had famous guys that were taken into exile—what were their names? You had Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego and Daniel. So these guys are taken back into Babylon and they are tempted to be absorbed—or assimilated—into Babylonian culture and worshipping Babylonian gods. But the reason why Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego are famous is because they refused to be assimilated! “You’re not going to eat us; you’re not going to absorb us! We’re going to stand true to our God; we’re not going to eat the king’s meat!” Remember that whole story? So there are these few that are led captive, which is good news! That means the promise is still alive! Just when you thought the promise was dead, God preserves a few—a remnant—living in Babylon.

Now, let me show you how bad it was. Alright, have you got your Bible open to Ezra? I want you to flip back one page. Flip back one page. Now you are in the book of 2 Chronicles. You are in chapter 36, and I want to show you how bad it was when the Lord sent His judgment. Look in verse 15 (2 Chronicles 36:15[-16]): “The Lord, the God of their fathers, sent persistently to them by [the] messengers [that’s the prophets], because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But they kept mocking the messengers of God, despising his words and scoffing at his prophets, until the wrath of the Lord rose against his people, until there was no remedy.” [ESV] This is as bad as it gets! The people of God under the wrath of God—and no remedy! Both kingdoms were conquered, the remnant went back to Babylon in captivity. Now they’re back slaves. Is there any hope?

Skip down to verse 19. It says, “They burned the house of God and [they] broke down the wall of Jerusalem and burned all [of] its palaces with fire and destroyed all [of] its precious vessels. He took into exile in Babylon those who had escaped from the sword, and they became servants to him and to his sons until [key moment!]…[until] the establishment of the kingdom of Persia. . .”

Alright, so here’s what happened! Do you remember how you guys were conquered by the Assyrians? Bad day for you. Remember how you guys were conquered by the Babylonians? Bad day for you! But then, the Babylonians had a bad day. Because the Persians invaded Babylon and conquered Babylon! Now you have all of these exile Israelite Jews living—not under the control of Babylon, but living—under the control of a new kingdom, Persia. And Persia had a king. Turn the page, and that’s how the book of Ezra opens.

Verse 1: “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia…” Who was the king of Persia? Cyrus! Ben Hurt told me this week that, in his family, they call him “Cyrus the virus.” Now, he was actually used of God. We’re going to find that out. “In the first year of [King 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…” Everybody underline the words “stirred up!” That’s your only hope this morning, if God stirs up your spirit. I can’t do it, you can’t do it. It’s by the mercy of God that He would stir up any of us, but He stirs up the king. Cyrus,“…king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: [v. 3] ‘Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem…’” Sound familiar? God tells him to rebuild that which had been burned!

Verse 3: “Whoever is among you of all his people, may his God be with him…let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild…” Underline the word “rebuild”. “…Rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem.” Great day for the exiles! They are set free to return to their homeland and rebuild that which has been destroyed! The promise is alive! God has stirred up the heart of a pagan king and charged him to do what he otherwise would not do! Now there’s three returns that you and I need to make, based upon what we’re studying today.

Here’s the first…Oh, first of all—before I get into that—more introduction. Zerubbabel! Now, is there anybody here pregnant, looking for a baby name? Here’s a great Bible baby name! And, he’ll be the last in line all through school, but Zerubbabel’s a great name, okay? Now, I told you that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah originally were one book. It tells a three-fold story of three leaders that led the people to return and rebuild. So, here’s what was rebuilt. First of all, Zerubbabel returns—one of these exiles—he returns to Jerusalem, and the first thing he does is he rebuilds the temple. That’s kind of chapters 1 through 6 in the book of Ezra.

Then, the next story is about Ezra himself. After the temple’s rebuilt, fast-forward fifty years, and Ezra returns and he rebuilds the people. He starts teaching them the Bible; he starts exposing them to God’s will and God’s ways, and there’s kind of a mini-revival that takes place under Ezra’s ministry.

The third leader is actually the most famous of all. Apparently, he needed his own book—and so, they divided the books—and we call him Nehemiah. Nehemiah returns to rebuild the wall. And so, you have this three-fold reconstruction that happens as a part of God stirring up the king – returning the people and rebuilding that which has been broken down.

So, for you and I here this morning—thousands of years removed from that—what does the Lord want us to learn? Well, the first thing is this:

 

1. When you are set free, return to your home. [Ezra 1:1-3]

 

When you are set free, return to your home.

Now listen, our hope is not in a political leader. Do you understand how crazy people get during election cycles? And we’re always looking to the next leader, and we have prayer meetings, and we pray that God would just raise up a leader that’s better than the last leader—that would be favorable for, towards God’s ways—and treat the people of God nicer than the previous leader. And then we get all disappointed when that leader turns out not to be any better than the previous one? You know that cycle we go through every four years? Listen, do you understand, our hope is in God! God is not limited or advantaged in any way by who’s in political office!

If you are under any kind of oppressive leader (I know that for teenagers, you all just thought of your mom and dad!) or if you are under some political leader—or maybe your boss doesn’t treat you kindly—do you understand the hope that is in this story? God used a pagan king to get His people back to where they belonged. And I don’t know what your parents are like.

When I was a teenager, I thought my parents were crazy! And the reason I did is, I got saved and they didn’t. And all like, “Well, I got the Holy Spirit of God living on the inside of me; why do I need to listen to Mom and Dad?” And so I kind of had this little spiritual rebellion going on toward Mom and Dad. Later on, God stirred the heart of Mom and Dad and they got saved, and I’m like, “Well, now I got a problem, because I don’t have that excuse anymore!” Right?

It’s like…listen! Understand that God works through authority whether they affirm or deny the Lordship of Jesus Christ. We know that because of what it says in Proverbs chapter 21, verse 1 (this verse got me through high school!): “The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; [and] he turns it wherever he will.”

I spent the last couple of days repairing my broken sprinkler system in my yard. I had a hose that was busted, and I had to get in there and dig it up and everything. . .but when you get it all working right and you turn it on, there’s just this, there’s this wonderful sense of sovereignty! You step back and you watch these sprinklers just move where they’re supposed to go, and then they get to the boundary and they move back to where they’re supposed to go.

Or, maybe you’ve got a garden and you string a hose, and you’re like, “I gotta water this flower over here…and that one’s watered”—and now you just walk right over here. . .Does it take you a lot of effort, just to move the hose to where it needs to go? Do you understand the verse? The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord! And He can turn it wherever He wants it to go. If God wants something watered over here, He can do that. If God wants something to change over here, He can do that. And that’s what God did for the people of Israel. . .He stirred the heart of King Cyrus to move the people wherever He wanted them to go.

Now, can you imagine what it was like living as an exile in Babylon? Now, let’s just think about this for a minute. I’m sure every morning those guys woke up and thought, “These people are not my people! That food is not my food! These people are not even speaking the language that I speak! And the values here are not the values of my home. And the gods here are not the God that I worship!” And they had to battle every day as an exile.

Do you ever feel like an exile? Do you ever feel like this world is not home? Listen, if you do feel comfortable in this world, it’s probably an evidence that you’re actually not a Christian! Because if you don’t feel, if you think, “These people are just like me!”—and, “The values of the world are my values,” then you need better values; you need a new homeland. Because, I don’t know about you, but I get homesick! Anybody get homesick around here? Because we are exiles!

And the greatest temptation you and I will face is to be absorbed and assimilated into a world to which we do not belong! I am on a mission to keep Christianity weird. I do not want to be assimilated or normalized. If people start thinking we’re normal, then we have not accomplished our mission. We have distinct values, we have distinct worship—and we shouldn’t care if the whole world thinks we’re weird!

We are exiles in this world. That’s exactly what it says in the New Testament about the church. 1 Peter 2:11 says this: “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles [you’re an exile!] [so] abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul.” Every day that war is trying to break down your defenses and to get you to act like them. Don’t do it! You’re an exile! And the longing of your heart is to get where you belong. . .to make it home!

How many of you have someone that got to go home to Heaven before you did? And it makes Heaven just a little bit sweeter, thinking, “One of these days there’s going to be this reunion, there’s going to be this family that’s going to get back together.” Now, Heaven should be sweet just because Jesus is there, but some of us have people that we love, and got to go home before we did.

I got a call on Friday, as many of you know, from Bob Hogarth and found out that his beloved wife, Donna—one of the most beloved women in our church—got to go “home” on Friday. I don’t know if you know, but Bob and Donna were that ones that God stirred their hearts, way back in 2007, 2008, that the north side of town needed a Bible-preaching, Christ-exalting church. And so, they gathered about thirteen people in their basement, and God used them to start this! Look around! I mean, the legacy that Bob and Donna left is an amazing thing. And for those of us that have lost a loved one – we know, they’re having a great day today! And yet, our hearts are homesick, and that’s what exiles deal with. We’re longing to go home because we know, “This is not where we belong!” God has created a better place for us.

Now, by the way, some of you have a homesickness that is self-imposed. Do you know what I mean by that? The reason why it’s not going great for you is because you have run away from home. You know what it’s like to be close to the Lord and experience His intimacy, and to even have a community. Maybe you grew up in a Christian family—and you know what it was like to sense the presence of God—and yet, today, you have run very far from home. And your friends and your family have prayed. Come home! Come back to where you belong! You don’t have to live captured in a land and be a slave to the passions of your flesh. You can win that war! Just come home! God has done everything necessary to set you free. Christ’s death on that cross has opened the door. The King has said, “You can go home!”

You know what? I don’t think all of the Jews in Babylon left Babylon. Some of them said, “We like it here. It’s more comfortable; we’re popular. That’s hard work, going over there to Jerusalem, rebuild all that stuff.” But the ones who had a heart for God went home. When God sets you free, go home! Here’s the second thing:

 

2. When you feel like a remnant, return to your hope. [Ezra 9:1-9]

 

Now we’re just kind of going to surf through Ezra here. I want you to skip over to verse, to chapter 9. And chapter 9 begins to tell us the story of how Ezra was rebuilding the people, and part of that process was painful for Ezra because the people didn’t fully embrace the commands of the Lord. And so it breaks Ezra’s heart.

Look at verse 1: “After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, ‘The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations…’” And so, again, the people weren’t living distinct lives. They were being absorbed by the people around them, so much so that, do you know what happened? The girls in the Israelite youth group started marrying the guys in the Canaanite youth group.

That’s what verse 2 is about: “For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race [underline that word: “holy race”]…[the holy race] has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and [the] chief men has been foremost.” Do you see where it says “holy race?” It’s a good time to just kind of think about race in our culture, to understand that this story is not about interracial marriage. God doesn’t forbid interracial marriage. God forbids inter-faith marriage. The problem was not that they were mixing races, it’s that they were mixing worship. And God says that’s the problem!

And so, in our culture, we need to understand that we who believe in Jesus are a holy race—no matter what your skin color, your language or your ethnicity or your geographical background is from. It’s not about the color of your skin. It’s about the condition of your heart. Does your heart long for holiness? And if it does, we together are a holy race.

And, understanding—if you have racial bias, racial hatred…if you think that somehow your race is superior to somebody else or your race is entitled, because somebody else was, was mean to a race in the past, listen! Understand this: we only have one race. All of us are descendants from Adam and Eve. And in God’s creativity and God’s diversity, He has stamped onto the heart of every person—even believer of unbeliever—dignity, value, significance and worth. The image of God is stamped into the human soul, no matter how far that human soul has run from God.

And we, as the collective body of Christ, are a holy race–not with geopolitical boundaries, but with spiritual boundaries. Those of us who have the deposit of righteousness and holiness deposited in us connect very easily with people who have that same deposit. And yet, we need to understand, that we need to be the leading edge to help people understand; it’s about the heart, it’s about the holiness—not about the externals. And so, we are a holy race and we have to be careful to protect and guard our hearts from idolatrous worship.

Skip down to verse 4. Ezra’s praying. Ezra’s giving a commentary. Something great happened in verse 4: “Then all who trembled at the words of…God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice[s].” So, again, there was a remnant of people who trembled at the Word of God. Do you understand, that’s the only appropriate response to the Word of God—is to tremble? Not to contemplate, not to study, but to tremble.

Skip down to verse 6; he begins to pray. “O my God, I am ashamed and [I] blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens.” Ezra was ashamed at the sinfulness of his people.

This past week, a group of us went over to Chicago for the Vertical Church conference there in Elgin, Illinois, at the original Harvest Bible Chapel, and we were staying at the Comfort Suites there. And it was an early morning, and I wanted to get up; I was trying to get ready for this message. And I got to this, and it’s like I wasn’t quite awake, and so I left my room (I was on the second floor), I walked down to café area—the coffee bar down there—and to my great disappointment, the coffee cups were this big. And I’m like, “That’s not gonna to be sufficient for what I’m feeling this morning!”

And so, I decided, well, instead of just keep coming back and forth, I will just fix two cups of coffee. And so I fixed them just right, with the French Vanilla creamer and a packet of Splenda in there, and got them all, put the cups on there – and so I just decided to walk up the stairs rather than wait for the elevator. And as I’m walking up the stairs…sure enough, I tripped! But I had my coffee, and I’m like, “I’m not losing my coffee!”

I was thinking this on the way down, “Save the coffee, save the coffee, save the coffee!” And my elbows hit, and I saved one. And I baptized the wall in front of me with the other! And my first thought was, “I’m gonna have to go back and get another cup.” My second thought was, “Is there anybody watching me?” Because that was really embarrassing! I felt ashamed. Listen, is your most embarrassing moment something like that? Or is your most embarrassing a moment when your heart has strayed from the commands of God? You’ve wandered into sin, and it has broken your heart with the unfinished business still left to do in your soul.

Ezra was ashamed. Because even though the temple had been rebuilt, even though the people had returned to the land, their hearts were still far from God. He goes on in his prayer in verse 8, “But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant [underline “remnant”] to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving…” Just “a little,” just a seed, a “mercy drop” of reviving. Just a small window of opportunity through which we can access the promise of God.

He goes on in verse 9: “For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some (not all, some) reviving…” For three purposes: “…to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem.” God always has a remnant. Do you know what a remnant is? A remnant is a minority, and if you are a Christian, you will understand, our strength will never be in our numbers. Jesus said, “The gate is narrow.” Why is the gate narrow? Because there’s not a lot of people that need to get through. We will always be a minority, and yet God has given us a remnant.

I know school is starting soon. No “amens” this morning? School is starting; it may have already started for you. Do you understand that as you walk back into that school, you’re going to be a minority? You’re going to be the remnant. But God loves to use remnants to prove, “The promise is not dead!” And so, be a part of the remnant. Stand alone! Don’t be absorbed! Lead distinctly Christian lives. Keep Christianity “weird” wherever you are! And when you would live like a remnant—when you feel like a remnant—return to your hope!

Here’s the last thing:          

 

3. When you are disappointed, return to the promise. [Ezra 3:10-13]

 

Now, I want you to flip back. I know, I’m just, we’re just surfing a little bit here. Go back to chapter 3. You see a little episode here. Now we’re back in the era of Zerubbabel. What did Zerubbabel rebuild? He rebuilt the temple. And that story—you’re going to love this if you’re an engineer or a construction worker.

Look at verse 10, Ezra 3:10: “And when the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, the priests in their vestments came forward [think of Micah in a camouflage shirt and a hat on backwards] with [their] trumpets [and their electric guitars], and…Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord, according to the directions of David king of Israel. And they sang responsively, praising and giving thanks to the Lord [and he gives us the lyrics of the song], ‘For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever toward Israel.’”

That was the same song they had sung seventy years earlier in the temple before it was burned, before it was destroyed. Now they’re singing it again. Hope is alive! We have every reason to believe the promise is going to be fulfilled. Verse 12, “But many of the priests and Levites and [the] heads of fathers’ houses…” Notice! “…old men who had seen the first house, wept with a loud voice when they saw the foundation of this house being laid, though many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not distinguish the sound of the joyful shout from the sound of the people’s weeping, for the people shouted with a great shout, and the sound was heard far away.”

Do you understand what was happening? There was a generation of old men who had been twenty-somethings when they were taken captive. Now these old men are remembering what it was like when they were in their twenties and they went to worship in the first temple. And they looked at the second temple, and they were so disappointed. It was so underwhelming! Why? Because they knew something was missing. Do you know what was missing? The glory was missing!

Do you remember when the first temple was dedicated? We studied this. Solomon dedicated it, and what happened? The glory of the Lord, the presence—the manifest presence of God so saturated the temple that the priests couldn’t even minister! All they could do was just fall on their faces in worship. The presence of God was so thick in that place! The glory was so glorious. And now the old men remembered what it was like to be young men in the presence of the glory. And they knew it was gone.

Now, the young men, they see this and they think this is awesome! They’re going through the motions, they’re singing the songs! But the old men knew the glory was gone. Listen, if you have ever seen the glory, you will never be content to live without it. And if you’ve ever seen the glory, you know when it’s gone. May it never be that we come into this building and be content to go through the motions, to sing our songs, to pray our prayers—give our offerings—and walk out of here without experiencing the manifest presence of God. The old men were disappointed.

And this whole story ends so strangely. Now, remember, we are reading the last stories of the Old Testament. The book starts out with so much hope: the people return, Zerubbabel rebuilds the temple. But what do we find? After Zerubbabel rebuilds the temple, the glory’s still missing! It’s so strange. Later on we read that unqualified priests were actually going through the motions. They never should have been in there in the first place.

Remember the second leader, Ezra, who rebuilt the people? Well, after he rebuilds the people by teaching them the Word, their hearts are still hard and they still stray from God! So much so, that there’s one of the strangest stories in the Old Testament about how Ezra. Realizing that they had intermarried one another (they never should have been married to these people with foreign gods), do you know what he tells them to do? He tells them to get a divorce. Divorce! That’s his solution! So what is he doing? He’s trying to impose external boundaries to try to force the hearts of people to worship God.

Now, scholars go back and forth as to why would he do that? “We thought divorce was bad, and here he’s telling them to divorce.” The key to understanding it is this – what is the last book in your Old Testament? Malachi. I have to teach that someday, because apparently you didn’t know that! So, Malachi’s the prophet. Do you remember Malachi the prophet? The prophet meets with God, then the prophet goes and meets with the people and tells the people what God told him. So Malachi has met with God, in Malachi chapter 2. So Malachi is a contemporary with Ezra. The history book of Ezra and the prophecy book of Malachi happened at the same time in history.

So Malachi is actually speaking to the conditions in, that are being described in Ezra. And do you know what Malachi says? He says, “God hates divorce!” And he tells them why God is not listening to their prayers and receiving their sacrifices. Do you know what he says? He says, “The reason He’s not listening is because you have forsaken—and been unfaithful to—the wives of your youth, even though she is your companion by covenant. What was the One God seeking? Godly offspring. And He’s given you a helper so that you can become one in spirit.” So, Malachi actually condemns what Ezra implemented. It’s so strange! Ezra rebuilds the people, but he’s so frustrated with the people he tries to force external religion on them to somehow get their hearts right. It’s weird.

And then, who’s the other guy? Nehemiah. Do you know how that goes? Nehemiah rebuilds the wall (he gets a whole book!) and, we kind of celebrate Nehemiah as this great leader and great champion. Did you read the last chapter? Do you know what happens in the last chapter? So this is the concluding chapter of the Old Testament, chronologically. Do you know what it says? Nehemiah is so mad that people are setting up a marketplace on his wall he rebuilt, he starts chasing the people (it literally says that), cussing at them, beating them up and pulling their hair out! Old Testament ends! And with that, God goes silent for four-hundred years. It’s so disappointing! So what do we have at the end of the Old Testament? We’re still waiting for the promise.

After Zerubbabel rebuilds the temple, the glory’s still missing; after Ezra rebuilds the people, their hearts are still hard; and after Nehemiah rebuilds the wall, a king still isn’t on the throne. So what do we need? We need to see some glory, we need something that can change the hearts of men, and we need a Messianic King that people would follow because of His glory. So you’ll have to come back next week to church, to find out where we’re going to find all that!

Bow your heads. Can I ask you…have you strayed away from home? Have you run away? Do you want to come back home? Why don’t you tell Him that right now? Are you disappointed? It’s like, “Man, this world just doesn’t leave a lot of hope! Everything I’ve tried just seems like to leave me longing for more!” It’s because you were made for another home. Why don’t you confess your sin to Him? Would you ask Him to stir up—maybe even just a little reviving this morning—to pull you back to the place you belong.

Lord, today, thank You that You have a remnant of people whose hearts are bent toward You. Thank you for the favor that, even as we look around to a full church building, we know that we’re still a remnant. And God, would preserve the deposit of faith that You put within each one of us? I pray that we would leave out of here committed to live distinct lives, refusing to be absorbed by this world. And God, put within us a hope for a King—a better King—more glory, and hearts that are bent toward You. I pray in Jesus Name, Amen.

SLW