Now we continue on on our series on this book of Ezra. But before we look at our text this morning, let us turn to God in prayer.

“Our Father in heaven, indeed we are once again so thankful that we as Your people can even at this special times be found gathered together in this place to worship You. We pray that You’ll indeed grant enlightenment this moment as we look once again at Your Word, a Word that is inerrant and infallible, that may You grant us humility of minds and of hearts such that we may be able to understand. Not just understand, but to also apply Your Word in our lives. For all these things we ask and pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Now I’m sure most of you have heard, if not seen, the movie King Kong before alright. The movie King Kong. I know that there are many versions of this movie, which is I think how Hollywood is attempting to make their money nowadays is to turn movies into series. But in this one particular release of this movie King Kong, the movie was three hours long. It was three hours. And for the first one hour plus, almost one and a half hours, you see the man and the woman acting, and talking, and doing their things.

But the one thing that you don’t see is King Kong. There was no sign of King Kong. And I do remember sitting in front of the movie asking myself: When is this King Kong going to come out? It’s about almost more than half of this movie already alright. So likewise. Likewise as we come to look at our chapter this morning in Ezra chapter 7. Ezra chapter 7, well you know that six chapters have passed. There are only ten chapters in this book. Six chapters have passed, and in fact more. Almost half of this book has passed already. But we have not even seen so-called the main character of this book yet, not seen the author appearing yet.

But all hope is not lost because finally today as we come and look at this chapter in our book that we are studying, we see Ezra stepping onto the stage as it were. And we do see that the appearance of this man to which this particular book is named after alright- Ezra. Now you see, the book of Ezra has got ten chapters as I’ve mentioned. And in fact, it is neatly divided into two portions. You have the first portion which is chapter one to chapter six. And then the next portion is chapter seven to chapter ten. And so it’s very neatly divided.

And if you have been following this series so far, you would recall that the first chapter speaks about the return of the first wave of the exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem alright with the aim of rebuilding the temple of the Lord that was destroyed when King Nebuchadnezzar came and took the Jews exile. And seventy years have passed since that captivity. And the first wave returned and rebuilt the temple of Jerusalem. Now we saw from chapter one to chapter six many things that happened right?

You saw as they returned, they were faced with opposition from the enemies. They also in chapter four, chapter five, sunk into complacency because it seems very hard to build the temple of the Lord, and such that the prophet Haggai and Zechariah had to come and to call them out of their complacency right. But finally. Finally, in Ezra chapter 6, we see the temple was completed. So if you just turn with me one chapter to Ezra chapter 6, and just let me read you two or three verses.

We see in Ezra 6:13, let me read that for you, where he says: “Then Tattenai, governor of the region beyond the River, Shethar-Boznai, and their companions diligently did according to what King Darius had sent. So the elders of the Jews built, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.”. Verse 15: “Now the temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of King Darius.”.

Now so you see, the rebuilding work was completed in Ezra chapter 6. And as we turn now to look at Ezra chapter 7, we start a new section alright. Zerubbabel. You remember Zerubbabel who we see in Ezra chapter 1. He led the first wave of exiles back to Jerusalem, and his work is done. Now we see the second wave of return of the exiles from Babylon to Jerusalem, this time under the leadership of this man by the name of Ezra alright. And so for today, as we look at this man Ezra, we want to look at the author of this book.

And we look at him this morning simply in just three points. Just three points. We want to see Ezra’s ancestry, we want to see Ezra’s attainment, and we want to see Ezra’s acknowledgement. Ezra’s ancestry, Ezra’s attainment, and Ezra’s acknowledgement. Okay, we look first at Ezra’s ancestry. As was read just now to you, you saw from verse 1 all the way until verse 5 a list of many difficult names telling us about Ezra’s ancestry, or rather Ezra’s genealogy as it were.

You know the Bible is full of genealogies. So we see one here that pertains to this man, Ezra. You see that Ezra was the son of Seraiah. He was the son of Azariah of Hilkiah, Shallum, and so on and so forth. All the way up until verse 5, you see he was the son of Aaron the chief priest. So we see that this man Ezra, he was by descent or rather by ancestry. In fact, a true priest. He was a true priest. He was in fact from the lineage of the high priest himself alright. And so think about it. I want you to pause with me and consider that this is a really important point. 

But why? Because here is Ezra who was to be the man who would come and lead the second wave of exiles back to Jerusalem. And not just lead them back to Jerusalem. He was the man who was supposed to come and re-establish the law for the exiles alright. He was supposed to be the man to come and re-establish the law for them because now the temple is built. Now he’s coming back to re-establish the law. And who better to teach the law than someone coming from the true lineage of the high priest himself?

In those times, in the olden days, the priests were considered people that were closest to God (if we can put it that way) because the priests were people who did what? They were people who performed the sacrifices on behalf of the rest of the people. They were supposed to be the ones who were most well-versed with the laws right- the civil laws, the ceremonial law. So they are the people who are in a sense most well-versed with all these laws. And here is Ezra who came from the lineage of the priest. He was a true priest.

So you can almost imagine the scene as Ezra leads this second wave of exiles back to Jerusalem. He comes back to Jerusalem and he starts teaching the people. And someone will come up to him and say: Who are you? What are your credentials? Who gives you the authority to teach us? And Ezra would in a sense just show his birth certificate. I come from the true lineage of the priest. And then that would be sufficient. That would be enough. That would sort of validate his teaching and his presence there.

But not just that, not just that. Look with me at verse 6, verse 6 of chapter 7. Now “this Ezra”, he says, “came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given”. Now see, Ezra’s ancestry was such that he not just came from the true or the legitimate line of the chief priest. Some commentators also say that in many sense Ezra was in fact a second Moses. Ezra was a second Moses.

You see, it was Moses who led the people out from Egypt (which was a pagan land) to Israel, the Promised Land. And here is Ezra leading the second wave of people out from a pagan land in Babylon to Jerusalem. Alright so in many ways Ezra was a second Moses. And just as Moses gave the law to the Israelites on Mount Sinai, so also Ezra came back to re-establish the law for the exiles. So you can see the similarities there. So here we see this man Ezra as an embodiment of not just the high priest but also the leader of the Israelites, Aaron and Moses.

I mean, to me this is a mind-blowing fact because this is a man who embodies two great men who lived at the same time, who were used mightily by God, who were recorded in the Scriptures for us. That was very instrumental in the deliverance of the people of God alright. And so we see that really was Ezra’s ancestry. And that was his lineage. Now as we come to consider this, the more crucial question is: What is your ancestry? Now the crucial question this morning is: We’ve seen what is Ezra’s ancestry, but what is your ancestry?

We saw his genealogy, we saw his descent. We saw who he came from, and what that meant for him. We saw his background, but what is your ancestry? You know that there is a website on the internet called “ancestry.com”, which allows you to simply key in your name. Key in some family details, some background, and the website will churn for you a link to your ancestors, your genealogies, even some DNA for a fee. Of course, you need to pay. So that is ancestry.com. But that is not the ancestry that I’m referring to here. We’re not talking about physical ancestry.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a Hakka descent, or a Hokkien descent, or Teochew descent, or Cantonese descent, or whether you are Chinese, or Indian, or Muslim, or African, or American, physical ancestry does not matter because what we are concerned about here is: What is your spiritual ancestry? What is your spiritual ancestry? Now turn with me to the book of John in the New Testament. John chapter 8. As you turn to John chapter 8, the context here is the fact that Jesus was actually locked in a verbal discourse. He was in a verbal argument as it were with the religious leaders of the day, who were the Pharisees. And these Pharisees were trying to kill Him. And so they were multiple backs and forth with the Pharisees and with Jesus as to what the true identity of Jesus was.

See, these people were trying to catch Jesus. They’re trying to trap Him. Was Jesus just a man claiming to be God, or is He really the Son of God? Look at verse 37 of John chapter 8. Here’s Jesus saying. He’s saying to them that “I know that you are Abraham’s descendants, but you seek to kill Me, because My word has no place in you.”. Now so you see, the people were actually trying to catch Jesus with the aim of killing Him. I’ll just drop down a few more verses to verse 42.

Verse 42: “Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I proceeded forth and came from God; nor have I come of Myself, but He sent Me. Why do you not understand My speech? Because you are not able to listen to My word. You are of your father the devil, and the desires of your father you want to do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaks a lie, he speaks from his own resources, for he is a liar and the father of it.”.

And look at verse 47: “Whoever is of God hears the words of God. The reason why you do not hear them is that you are not of God.”. Now listen carefully, I think Jesus is saying here that there are only two ancestries. Jesus said here that there are only two ancestries. Either you come from God and God is your father, or you come from the devil and Satan is your father. Again and again, the Bible makes just these two distinctions. These two separations. You recall for example in the book of Ephesians.

Ephesians chapter 2, and the first part of Ephesians chapter 2. It says that we were once people who conducted ourselves in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of our mind, and were by nature what? Children of wrath. We were by nature children of wrath, children of sin. So that was once my ancestry. That was once your ancestry if today you are a Christian. We were children of wrath. We were children of sin. But the good news is “but God”.

“But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Him in Christ (by grace you have been saved).” God raised us up together, made us sit with Him together in the heavenly places. And so from being the children of wrath, we have now become the children of God, heirs of God, and joined heirs with Christ. Just look with me at one more passage in First John chapter 3. In First John chapter 3, beginning in verse 7.

1 John 3:7- “Little children”, the Apostle John says, “let no one deceive you. He who practices righteousness is righteous, just as He is righteous. He who sins is of the devil, for the devil has sinned from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. Whoever has been born of God does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God.”. Verse 10: “In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother.”.

I think the Scriptures are very clear there are only two types of genealogies. There are only two types of ancestries. By default, all of us are children of Satan. We come into this world bearing the original sin that came from the first man Adam when he fell. And since then, the human race has been conceived in sin. We were born in sin, and we continue to live in sin. And the Bible is also very clear that one day the devil and his angels will be thrown into the lake of fire, where there is torment forever. They will be tormented day and night.

But the more crucial thing is when you breathe your last breath. If the devil is still your spiritual father, if your ancestry still belongs to Satan, the Bible tells us that you will join the devil in the lake of fire, where there is gnashing of teeth, and where the fire doesn’t quench, and the worm doesn’t die. So that is a terrible, terrible place to go. So I plead with you, while there is today, while there is hope, while there is still time, there is a way to turn from being a child of the devil or child of wrath to becoming a child of God. There is only one way, and that way is through the cross. That way is through the Lord Jesus Christ, through repentance and faith in Him.

Today we don’t have to go to hell although we deserve it. Today we don’t have to suffer eternal damnation although we do deserve that. We don’t have to continue being a child of Satan. We have this one way that enables us to change in terms of our legal status from being a child of the devil to a child of God. So that is the first point that we want to look at, Ezra’s ancestry. Now secondly, we look also at Ezra’s attainment. Ezra’s attainment alright.

If you like, there is perhaps a more concise word to describe this second point. Perhaps you can say it’s Ezra’s obsession alright- Ezra’s obsession. Here I’ve used the word ‘attainment’ or ‘obsession’ to indicate the one thing in life that obsessed this man, Ezra. There was one thing in life that possessed him as it were. There was one thing in life that he wanted to attain, he wanted to get. Here’s this one thing that was his sole focus or that gripped him very much in life. There was one thing in life that was his life goal if you can put it that way.

So let me ask you: What is the one thing in life that obsesses you? More than anything else in this world, what is the one thing in life, if you had a life goal to attain, that would be your goal? You see, our society and our culture is a culture that loves to set life goals. Especially when it comes to the new year. People like to set a new year resolutions. And so I recently did a just a quick search on some of the more popular life goals on the internet that people love to set, especially as I said during the new year, and here are some that I found are top in the internet. Hear some of these life goals.

For example, find what you love doing. Here’s a life goal that people really like to set. Start taking care of yourself. Dare to dream big is another one. Or how about this, sometimes life is about risking everything for a dream that no one can see but you. Well, this seems to be very, it’s a very powerful life goal. Life goals that are very common in the people around us. But let me tell you, not one of these is Ezra’s life goal. Not one of what I’ve just read to you is Ezra’s life goal. In fact, a lot of what you see outside in this world, they are not Ezra’s life goal.

But Ezra, like most people, if not all people, had a life goal. He had a life goal, but his life goal was not to be rich. Now his life goal was not to grow his bank account, not to be successful in his career, not to aim to be the number one in his class, not to dare to dream big, or not to find what he loves doing. Or although all this in and off themselves are not wrong, but that was not his life goal. Now his life goal was this: Ezra’s life goal, if you turn back with me to Ezra chapter 7, is this. Verse 10: “For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.”.

Now, this was Ezra’s life goal. His life goal was simple. Study the Law, do the Law, teach the Law. Study the Law, do the Law, and teach the Law. But it says again in verse 10 that “Ezra had prepared his heart”. I think in some of your translations, for example in the ESV and the NASB, it says “Ezra has set his heart”. He has set his heart to do these things. He had a goal in his life, and he set his heart to achieve that goal. And that was what gripped him. That was what possessed him. That was what he wanted to attain in life.

So the question is: How many of us here have got Ezra 7:10 as our life goal? How many people would say that my life goal this morning is to study the Bible, to practice the Bible, and to teach the Bible? Now you see, despite living in a pagan nation with pagan cultures, Ezra came from Babylon remember. And most likely he would have been born in Babylon as well. Ezra knew what he had to do. He knew he had certain privileges. He was born in the lineage of the high priest. He was a skilled scribe. He had some gifts that God had given to him.

And so he set his heart with these things that he had to be a man of the book. He set his heart to be a man who could live the book, and he set his heart to be a man who could teach the book. I think some of us here, in fact, most of us would have privileges as well. You were born into a Christian family. You are here today able to hear the Word of God. So what are you doing with those privileges? Is there a life goal? Is there something that you are looking to attain, or something that is gripping you? Now turn with me also to the book of Nehemiah, just one book after the book of Ezra in the Old Testament.

Nehemiah chapter 8. Nehemiah chapter 8. Let me read for you the first three verses of this chapter. Verse 1: “Now all the people gathered together as one man in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring the Book of the Law of Moses, which the LORD had commanded Israel. So Ezra the priest brought the Law before the congregation of men and women and all who could hear with understanding on the first day of the seventh month.”. Verse 3: “Then he read from it in the open square that was in front of the Water Gate from morning until midday, before the men and women and those who could understand; and the ears of all the people were attentive to the Book of the Law.”.

Now here are the Jews. They are gathered as one man in front of this place called the Water Gate. And that they were well aware that if there was one man who would be the most suitable man, know the Law, and teach them the Law, it was Ezra. It was Ezra. And so they cried out with one voice to Ezra the priest and Ezra the scribe in verse 1 and said: “Bring the book”. “Bring the book of the Law of Moses”. Ezra was the person most suitable during those days. Ezra, at that time, was the person most suitable, in the sense most worthy to open up the Scriptures, to read to them the Scriptures, and to teach them the Scriptures.

Why was that so? We ask the question. Was it because he was a famous man? Was it because he was a very eloquent man? We know that Ezra was very gifted. Was it because he was very fluent in reading? Good voice? Now I submit to you that the reason why there is Nehemiah 8:1 is because there was previously Ezra 7:10. Ezra has already set his heart to study the Law, to do the Law, and preach it. And I think that is what’s so desperately needed in our culture today. We need men and women who have a strong desire to know the Word, strong desire to do the Word, and teach the Word.

So this morning we ask ourselves: Do you know the Word? Do you know the Word? How much do you know the Word? Have you, like Ezra, studied the Law; studied the Word, and sought the Law of God? How often do you read the Bible? Perhaps just Sundays when we gather as a church, where the Bible is opened (or your tab or your phone is opened). Just once a week. Maybe not even once a week because some of us perhaps don’t come once a week to church. Do you know what the Bible says with things that is so closely related to us?

For example, things that pertain to our money. Or how we use our time. Or how about church or the Law? But there are many things in the Word that speaks directly to us. Of course, we don’t deny that there are also difficult areas in the Bible such as things like covenant theology, eschatology, deep doctrines of the Trinity, so on so forth. But there are deep and difficult areas. But how many people are today in our day and age who know fundamental things, basic things? Like what is the gospel? Would you be confident enough to articulate the gospel to a friend; to a neighbour? To a relative?

How about, what is church? How many people today have a clear understanding of ecclesiology, the church? Who is God? Who is Jesus? These are things that, if you are a Christian are supposed to be things that you know very well. Turn with me to the book of Hebrews. Look at Hebrews chapter 6. Hebrews chapter 6. Here, the author of this book (book of Hebrews) is writing to his audience and telling them certain things in verse 1 and verse 2.

The author is saying to his audience: “Therefore, leaving the discussion of the elementary principles of Christ, let us go on to perfection, not laying again the foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of the doctrine of baptisms, of laying on of hands, of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgement. And this we will do if God permits.”. Now here in verse 1, the author to this book is saying, let us leave aside the discussion of the elementary principles. My translation, it says ‘elementary’. But the Greek word that is used here is the same word that is used in John 1:1- “In the beginning”.

So let us leave aside the discussion of the beginning principles of Christ. These are things that are beginning that we cannot keep discussing because by now we should have grown. You need to desire not continuously to be fed with milk. Alright so let’s leave aside the elementary principles. And we ask: What are some of these elementary principles? So the author here lists six things for us, whether it is foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, whether it is the doctrine of baptisms, of the laying on of hands, of the resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgement.

Now here are the things that the author is saying is beginning. It’s elementary. How many of us here, when we look at these six things would be confident and comfortable to say that I have a sufficient knowledge of what is mentioned here as elementary principles? So the point here is I think a lot of people are biblically illiterate. They do not know the Word. As Ezra has set his heart, as we saw in Ezra 7, who studied the Law and to know the Law. Now listen to a couple of quotes from some theologians today and in the past.

Here is what Sinclair Ferguson, the Scottish theologian said. Sinclair Ferguson said: “The conviction that Christian doctrine matters for Christian living is one of the most important growth points of the Christian life.” The conviction that Christian doctrine matters, for Christian living is one of the most important growth points of the Christian life. Now doctrine matters. We hear people saying that doctrine divides, love unites. We just have to have love, and we’re all very happy and peaceful. But no! Doctrine matters.

Listen to Jonathan Edwards, he was an American theologian who wrote his seventy resolutions. He said in resolution number 28. Resolution 28, and I hope you see a similarity between what I’m going to read to you versus what you see in Ezra 7:10. Jonathan Edwards says: “resolved”. He starts by saying “resolve to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently so that I may grow thereby.”. And here is a man with a resolution.

Ezra had a resolution. Here is Jonathan Edwards with a resolution. He is resolving to study the Scriptures so steadily, constantly, and frequently. Why? So that I may grow thereby. Are you growing in your Christian life, in your Christian walk? Because we know in order to grow physically, we need to eat physical food. So likewise, in order to grow spiritually, we need spiritual food. And what is spiritual food? It is the Bible, the Word of God. So again, do you spend time studying the Bible, reading the Word of God?

Is there an eagerness in your heart such that whenever there is an opportunity to study the Word, to learn the Word, you would avail yourself, make all attempts to be there. Whether it’s Bible study, it is a worship service, it is a small group, you will try your best to be present and looking forward to studies like these. Here, just one more quote from the prince of preachers, Charles Spurgeon. Spurgeon says: “If you wish to know God, you must know His Word. If you wish to perceive His power, you must see how He works by His Word. If you wish to know His purpose before it comes to pass, you can only discover it in His Word.”.

So Spurgeon says that if you want to know God, you want to know God’s will for your life. You want to know His power, Spurgeon says: “Read the Word, study the Word”. But of course, we do not only need scholars of the Word. We don’t only need Master of Divinity or Ph.D. scholars that come out from seminaries. And Ezra thankfully didn’t stop there either. Again you look back at Ezra chapter 7. Ezra didn’t stop there either. He set his heart to study the Law and to do the Law. He was a doer, not just an accumulator of Bible knowledge. And then I think it’s absolutely critical, more critical than knowing the Word.

Turn with me to also a familiar passage in the book of James, James chapter 1. In James chapter 1, let me read again these three verses, which you would have heard before in verse 22. James says: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.”.

Here James is saying, don’t just be a hearer. Don’t just stop at being a knowledgeable Bible scholar. Don’t just accumulate Bible data. It is all the more important to be a doer of the Word because James is saying that if you are only a hearer, you are like someone who looks at the mirror. And he sees maybe a dirt on his face, or he sees his hair not combed. He sees the mirror. He sees that on his face. And then he turns and immediately forgets that there is a dirt on his face, and his hair is not combed, and he goes out to meet his friends.

So James is saying what good then is the mirror to this man? What is the benefit of the mirror right? If you don’t do, now the mirror becomes useless. Now the Bible also tells us that the mirror here represents the Word. It is the Law alright. So when someone reads the Word, he understands it. He knows what he’s talking about, but he doesn’t do. James is saying that that is deceiving yourself right? But be doers of the Word and not hearers only because you’re going to deceive yourself. You think you’re okay, but in actual fact, you still have the dirt on your face and the hair that is not combed.

And so when someone reads the Word, and it says to honour your father and your mother, he reads it, he studies it, he understands it. He turns around, immediately disrespects his parents. What good is the Law or the Word then to this person? Or a person reads in the Bible that says to abstain from sexual immorality. Now he reads, he studies, he understands it. And then he turns around and indulges in sexual immorality, pornography. Then what good then is the Word to this person? Here is what James is saying.

Now it is important, yes, to know the Bible well. It is important, but it’s not important to just know the Bible well. Not enough to know about Christology, and pneumatology, and ecclesiology, eschatology. All the systematic theologies, but the heart is unchanged. Know enough to be able to memorize large portions of Scriptures, to be able to quote them. But to then turn and live immoral life in the dark. Or know church history very well, or able to memorize old hymns. It is not enough to do just that. And again James is saying that don’t do just that. Do not deceive yourself because merely knowing without hearing is foolishness or deception.

And so Ezra didn’t stop with just setting his heart to study the Law, full stop. But he also did the Law. And I think that is very important. He set his heart to practice the Word, and that was what obsessed him. That was what he wanted to attain. Alright so Ezra studied the Law, he did the Law, and he also taught the Law. Now we know that Ezra came back with a mission. Now, what was the mission? The mission was to re-establish the law for the people in Jerusalem. He studied the Law well, the people could see the Law lived out in his life, and he was now prepared to teach the Law.

So likewise as Christians, we should also be ready when the opportunity comes to teach the Word. Now you say, Oh I don’t have the gift of teaching. I cannot teach, only the pastor can teach. Only the men can teach. Only the elders can teach. But in a sense, that is true in a formal church setting. The man should take the lead in preaching and teaching based upon biblical mandate of course. But at least the opportunity to teach does not always need to be confined in a formal setting like the church, like Bible study, or Sunday preaching, or expository seminars, or KVBC, right? You can share the gospel with your neighbour. Can you not?

How about inviting a friend to church? Giving out a tract? Perhaps teaching your own children? I think there is definitely mandate for that, for us as Christians. So we all have to as Christians look out for opportunities to teach and to guide people to the truth so that we should not let them easily slip away, people that come into our midst that we come into contact with. If you have already known the Law, if you have lived out the Law, be also prepared when the opportunity arises to teach the Law, to share the gospel, to share the truth. And that was Ezra’s attainment in life. So Ezra’s goal was to study the Law, do the Law, and to teach the Law.

Now let’s look at our last point this morning. You’ve seen Ezra’s ancestry, we’ve seen Ezra’s attainment, we now look at Ezra’s acknowledgement. If you turn back with me to Ezra chapter 7. And as we look at this whole chapter as was read to you just now, now as a whole. As you look at this chapter, we basically see the goodness of God. The goodness of God in not just grooming, preparing this man Ezra for the work that God has for him. But in also enabling him to return to Jerusalem safely in order to do that work, together with his group or the second wave of exiles.

Now, look at verse 6, which was actually read a little bit to you just now. But verse 6, he says: “this Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the LORD God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him.”. Now here is Ezra, given the opportunity to be a skilled scribe and to be providentially birthed into the line of the priest so that he can eventually do his work.

Verse 9: “On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him.”. Now here is Ezra, able to gather the people to return to Jerusalem, and they returned safely despite many dangers along the way. And we know it’s a long journey to go back from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Verse 27, Ezra says: “Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem, and has extended mercy to me before the king and his counsellors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. So I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me; and I gathered chief men of Israel to go up with me.”.

Now here is Ezra saying that we are able to return, Ezra’s gained favour with the king (King Artaxerxes), which is the letter that is in this chapter from verse 12 to verse 26. It’s really the letter that King Artaxerxes has written and given to Ezra such that when you go to the lands, when you pass through different places, just gonna show this letter, and I as the king am committed to protect you. I’m telling the people that it’s beyond the river to not charge you any taxes, to help you with your return back to Jerusalem. And very similar to what we saw in Ezra chapter 1 when the first group returned to Zerubbabel.

You remember King Cyrus also issued a decree saying that if you are returning, the people must help you to return, give you silver and gold. It’s probably about the same thing here. And so here we saw that in verse 27 to verse 28 as well. Now but as I read those verses to you, those three sections of those verses, I hope you were able to detect one common theme in them. One common theme and that theme is this. It was Ezra’s response to the things that happened to him. It was his response, or rather Ezra’s acknowledgement towards the things that happened to him right in verse 6, we saw Ezra saying it was “according to the hand of the LORD his God upon him”.

Verse 9: “according to the good hand of his God upon him”. And verse 28: “So I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me”. Now Ezra didn’t say that oh I was able to return back safely, the whole group following me. We were able to be gathered, now we’ve travelled well, I was able to teach the Law all because I am smart, I’m so skilled. And on top of that, the king likes me. And therefore this is a smooth journey. I mean he didn’t say things like that.

What he acknowledged, in fact, he also acknowledged the same thing in Ezra chapter 8 was that the good hand of the Lord his God was upon him. He saw God’s good hand behind everything that happened. And I believe this is also very important. How many of us as Christians see the things happening to us, things happening to our family, our children, to our church, to the world as coming from the good hand of the Lord our God? It doesn’t matter if these are good things or bad things from a human’s perspective.

Romans 8:28 says that “all things work together for good to those who love God”. And so, if you are a Christian this morning, that is your acknowledgement. You can acknowledge what Ezra has acknowledged that the good hand of the Lord my God was upon me. I think that is a great and comforting truth. But the problem is all too often we as Christians, we are very slow in recognizing God’s hand upon us. We still think that a lot of things happen to us, it’s because we did this and we did that, or we didn’t do this or we didn’t do that.

Sometimes we think: Oh, I got this scholarship because I studied hard. Okay, but do you acknowledge the good hand of the Lord your God upon you? Or if I would have done this, this would be the result, I’ll be more successful in my business, in my career, and so on and so forth. But not so much with this man, Ezra. Again and again, his response to what happened in his life is an acknowledgement. A recognition of God’s good hand upon his life. Now the Bible tells us that if you are a Christian, you can say the same thing, and that is a wonderful thing.

But however, if you are not a Christian this morning, you cannot acknowledge what Ezra has acknowledged in Ezra chapter 7 and Ezra chapter 8. You cannot acknowledge God’s good hand upon your life. Why not? Because the Bible says that God’s wrath hangs above your head this very moment. God is angry with sin and He is angry with sinners. Now good things may happen to non-Christians. Good things may happen to non-Christians as a result of God’s common grace.

They may pass exams, they may get a good job, find a good wife, raise beautiful children, but all those are a result of God’s common grace. But not all things do not work together for good to those who do not love God, because the ultimate good for a person is to be made right with God. And the only way to be made right with God is through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

So as we come to a close this morning, we take a look at Ezra this man and ask again: What is your ancestry this morning? Is your ancestry still being traced back to Satan, or is your ancestry being traced back as a child of God? What is your attainment in life? Is it to study the Word, to do the Word, and to teach and preach the Word? And finally, are you able to acknowledge God’s good hand in your life, every area of your life, or does God’s wrath still hangs above your head? So as we assess, as you assess yourself this morning, how much are you like this man, Ezra? Let us pray.

“Our Father in heaven, we are so thankful once again that we can come look at this good and godly man that You have preserved in Your Word for us. We thank You for the life that this man Ezra has lived. We thank You for the life that so many godly biblical characters, even down through history, have lived and that we are able to make examples of.

We pray for each and every one of us that we, as we live upon this short time on earth, may continue to have a goal in mind. That goal is not to focus upon the things of this earth but to rather seek first Your kingdom, to focus on things that last forever. Pray that You will continue to sanctify us. Continue to draw us closer to You. Draw us closer to You through Your Word, for we ask and pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.