“Turned and Re-Turned”

Scripture: Ezra 1:1-11

Today, we begin a new series, one that is based on a book of the Bible that I have only preached one other time. For the next 4 weeks, we will consider the effort and opposition that the Jews faced in the rebuilding of the temple after the exile ended, and we will compare this to the difficulties that we have in building up the Church of Jesus Christ. But first, a little background.
When the Southern Kingdom of Judah was taken into exile by Babylon, they would be absent from their home for over 70 years. A lot would happen during that time, both back in Judah and in Babylon, with very little of it being good.

Read Jeremiah 29:10-14

It seems that God had a plan for the people, and the prophet was reminding them of this. The Lord had carried them out of Judah, and he would carry them back home when the people had sufficient time to reflect on their sinful ways, and sufficient time to mend their relationship with their Lord.
Eventually, Babylon would be defeated by the Persians, and the Persian king Cyrus, when he came to power, would allow the first contingent of Hebrews to return to their home, for the express purpose of rebuilding the temple.

Read Ezra 1:1-4

Ezra, though, would not be leading this contingent – Zerubbabel would. As a matter of fact, I’m not even sure that Ezra was even born at this time, as he wouldn’t lead the second group home until some 60 years later. But God’s declaration could not be denied, and the first 50,000 exiles would soon begin their journey back to the Promised Land.

But let’s think about this for a minute. First, it may seem odd at first glance that only 50,000 would be returning. But we have to remember that the majority of the people were left in Judah. Only the select, the upper class, the educated would be taken into exile – they are the ones who would be able to serve the Babylonians the best. Jeremiah tells us that Nebuchadnezzar would only take about 4,600 people into captivity (other books would have different numbers, but each of the totals were still only a small portion of the entire population), and these would be done in stages (Jeremiah 52:24-30). It would seem that God’s command to marry and increase in number and to work for peace and prosperity for their new home was heard and carried out (Jeremiah 29:4-9). And even more interesting, there were many who would choose to remain in their new home where they had prospered, and which, for the vast majority, was the only home they had ever known. The Jews who were taken into captivity would have done much better than those who had remained behind.

The point here is that the time that we spend in exile is not necessarily a bad thing. We hear this from men in prison all the time – that the Lord brought them inside the walls to get their attention! We can make the most of it, and it can produce the best results from anything we have ever experienced.
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Second, King Cyrus was not a Jew, and yet he freely proclaims in verse 2 “The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.” He acknowledges that it is God Himself who has given him all of these victories and has brought such great power to him. If we didn’t know any better, we might think that these words were spoken by King David – but never a Persian King! But isn’t God able to use any one and anything to accomplish his purposes?

He gave words to a donkey to challenge Balaam in his actions with the rulers of Moab. (Numbers 22:21-33)
He used the priests of Baal to prove that he, and he alone is all powerful. (1 Kings 18:20-40)
He used a young virgin to be the means of introducing his Son into the world. (Luke 1:26-38)
He used the Samaritans and Gentiles, and women at that, to proclaim his grace and mercy to the Gentile world. (Mark 5:1-20; John 4:1-42; Mark 7:24-30, etc.)
He even turned the hearts of some Pharisees, notably Nicodemus (John 3:1-21; John 7:45-52; John 19:38-42) and Saul (Acts 9:1-19), away from their legalistic ways and into the ways of truth and Light.
Why shouldn’t the Lord use the Persian Cyrus? After all, didn’t God use the Babylonians to teach an important lesson to his people!

The same God who stepped back from both his people Israel and Judah would also step up and inspire a foreign, pagan ruler to send the people back home to rebuild his temple.
The same God who would have an intimate relationship with the children of Israel would also call non Jews to proclaim his might and glory. And not just in that time - hundreds of years before Jesus’ birth - but throughout the centuries since then.
The same God who can never tolerate sin, is also the one who forgives and redeems and restores the sinner.

Point number 2 – never try to put God in your own self defined box, because he will never – he can never - stay there.

Read Ezra 1:5-11

Nebuchadnezzar had stripped the temple, had looted the city, took the best and brightest of Jerusalem into captivity, and destroyed the temple and the city (2 Kings 25:1-22). The temple had been a source of pride for the people, and now all of its splendor was gone. They had seen the temple, a glorious place, as the residence of their God, and now he had no place to live. (Ezekiel 10:18-19). Almighty God had left them to fend for themselves, or at least that’s what they thought.

The children of Israel had always struggled in their relationship with the Almighty. Time and time again they would turn away from God, and after a time of correction, they would turn back, but only for a brief period. God would send his servants to the people with messages of both grace and warning, and, at best, they would be ignored. He would allow them the latitude to live life in their own way, hoping that they would discover the folly of this approach, but they never did. And one day, he would even send his very own Son with a message of grace and forgiveness, and while some would listen, most would not. (Matthew 21:33-46)

But the greatest surprise of all is that those who, throughout the centuries, have listened the closest to God’s word are those who are outside the mainstream of Jewish faith. The lame and maimed, the lost and sinful, the poorest, the rejected, and the foreigner. And while none of these would have been allowed into the inner courts of the temple, the Lord would offer them the same gifts of salvation that Israel had rejected. (Matthew 22:1-14)

But what has the Church done with this wonderful gift? Some have taken Jesus’ words to “go and make disciples of all nations” (Matthew 28:18-20) very seriously, while others have virtually ignored the commandment. And the question has to be asked today, what have we done with our gift of redemption and salvation? How active have we been in living out the Great Commission of Matthew 28? Are we too comfortable and satisfied in our faith? And if so, have we become complacent in our faith? And as it was in the case of Israel, have we also turned away?

But more importantly, have we turned back – have we re-turned control of our lives to Christ? And if so, are we prepared to rebuild his Church? There has been a steady decline in faith for far too long, and a revival is long overdue. I want to ask you to do something, and please notice that I’m not offering this as a suggestion! I want each of us to pray every day this week that God will send the names of 3-4 close friends or neighbors or relatives who are either unchurched, or unsaved, or who have fallen away from the church in recent years. And then in the weeks to follow, I want each of us to pray every day that a revival will come into their hearts, and that the Lord will give you the words to say, and the attitudes to exhibit, and the faith to share, and that the Holy Spirit will turn their lives back toward “Home”.

Only a percentage of the exiles would eventually return to Jerusalem to begin the rebuilding of the temple, but by the grace of God, many would. The promise is ours, that we, too, can begin to rebuild – in John 14:12-14, Jesus says “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.” Do you believe that? Will you claim that promise for the benefit of your friends and to the glory of the Father?

Israel had begun a very long journey, and it all had to begin with 1 step, and then followed up with another, and another, and by many more. God had a plan for their lives, but they had to want to re-turn, and they had to step out in faith, and so must we. Won’t you take this step in faith today?