Go with me, if you would, back
to Ezra chapter 10. This will be, the Lord willing,
the last message from our study in Ezra. And this has been an
amazing study to me. It really has. I have just so
enjoyed this. I believe that this has been
of the Lord for us in this particular moment
in time. I believe it's been a very timely
study and I believe it's been very profitable to us. I'm thankful
for what the Lord revealed to us in this book. We thank the
Lord for opening up the book and it's just been precious. We have seen God's goodness to
his people. We've seen God's deliverance
of his people, his provisions for his people. the rebuilding,
the raising up of his people. Kindness after kindness after
kindness. But sadly, amazingly and sadly,
after all of that goodness that God showed to his people, we
saw the last time we were here in chapter nine, that his people
turned right around and sinned against him. And doesn't that
sound like us? That hits close to home, doesn't
it? After goodness upon goodness upon goodness, they just turn
right around and sinned against him. God told them not to marry
in with the enemy nations, the Gentile nations. They were Israel. And God told them, do not marry
in with the Gentile nations, but they did it anyway. And when
Ezra heard about it, he couldn't believe his ears. He just couldn't
believe it. Chapter nine. If you look at
chapter nine, verse one, it says, now, when these things were done,
the princes came to me saying the people of Israel and the
priest and the Levites have not separated themselves from the
people of the lands. The people of Israel, the priest,
the Levites, they haven't done it. doing according to their
abominations, even the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites,
the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians,
and the Amorites. For they've taken of their daughters
for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy seed have
mingled themselves with the people of those lands. Yea, the hand
of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass. And when I heard this thing,
I rent my garment and my mantle and plucked off the hair of my
head and of my beard and sat down astonished. Verse five, he said, at the evening
sacrifice, I rose up from my heaviness and having rent my
garment and my mantle, I fell upon my knees and spread out
my hands unto the Lord my God and said, oh my God, I'm ashamed
and blushed to lift up my face to thee my God, for our iniquities
are increased over our head and our trespass is grown up unto
the heavens. And he went on down through that
chapter crying, I acknowledge all of our transgressions to
you. All of them. And in verse 14,
he said, should we again break that commandments and join in
affinity with the people of these abominations? Wouldest not thou
be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should
be no remnant nor escaping? O Lord God of Israel, thou art
righteous, for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day. Behold,
we are before thee in our trespass, for we cannot stand before thee
because of this. We're in your hands. That's what
he said. We are at your mercy. We're just
totally at your mercy. Whatever we do with us, you're
righteous in doing it. All right, chapter 10 says in
verse one, Now when Ezra had prayed and when he had confessed,
weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there
assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of
men and women and children. For the people wept very sore. And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel,
one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed
against our God and have taken strange wives of the people of
the land. Yet now there is hope in Israel
concerning this thing. Now therefore, let us make a
covenant with our God to put away all the wives and such as
are born of them according to the counsel of my Lord and of
those that tremble at the commandment of our God and let it be done
according to the law." They said, this is the only hope we have
of God not killing us for this thing. Let's make a law that
every heathen woman that was taken for a wife and
all that were born to her, They must be put away. They must be
completely put away. That will be a covenant with
God, they said, and let it be done according to the law. Verse
four says, arise for this matter belongeth unto thee. We also
will be with thee, be of good courage and do it. Then arose
Ezra and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel to
swear that they should do according to this word, and they swear. Then Ezra rose up from before
the house of God and went into the chamber of Johanan, the son
of Eliashib. And when he came thither, he
did eat no bread nor drink water, for he mourned because of the
transgression of them that had been carried away. And they made
proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children
of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto
Jerusalem, and that whosoever would not come within three days
according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his
substance should be forfeited. And himself separated from the
congregation of those that had been carried away. They said,
send this word out, make sure everybody hears this. All the
men of Israel must appear in Jerusalem within three days.
And whoever does not appear is going to be cast out along with
all the heathens. Verse nine. Then all the men
of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem
within three days. It was the ninth month on the
20th day of the month. And all the people sat in the
street of the house of God trembling because of this matter. And for
the great rain, all the commentators said that God sent a great rain
as a token of his great displeasure against them. He did not flood
them to the point of death as in the days of Noah. But Matthew
Henry said, as they wept in the open street, the heavens wept
too, signifying that God was angry with them for their sin.
So the middle of verse nine says, all the people sat in the street
of the house of God trembling because of this matter and for
the great rain. And Ezra the priest stood up
and said unto them, you have transgressed and have taken strange
wives to increase the trespass of Israel. Now therefore make
confession unto the Lord God of your fathers and do his pleasure
and separate yourselves from the people of the land and from
the strange wives. Then all the congregation answered
and said with a loud voice, as thou hast said, so must we do. but the people are many, and
it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without,
neither is this a work of one day or two, for we are many that
have transgressed in this thing. Let now our rulers of all the
congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange
wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders
of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath
of our God for this matter be turned from us. Only Jonathan,
the son of Asael, and Jeaziah, the son of Tikva, were employed
about this matter, and Meshulam and Shabbatai the Levite helped
them. And the children of the captivity
did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain
chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all
of them by their names, were separated and sat down in the
first day of the tenth month to examine the matter. And they
made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives
by the first day of the first month. And among the sons of
the priest, there were found that had taken strange wives,
namely of the sons of Yeshua, the son of Josedach and his brethren,
Maasaiah and Eleazar and Jerob and Gedaliah. So these appointed
judges, they appointed these judges in these times for the
men to come to have their unions dissolved. and to send their
families away. And it says in verse 19, they
gave their hands that they would put away their wives. And being
guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.
And then it goes on down, you can see in the remaining verses,
it lists all of the family names that had done this. Verse 44
says, all these had taken strange wives, and some of them had wives
by whom they had children. Period. The end. What a shocking ending to a glorious
story. Isn't that shocking? That is such a sad ending, isn't
it? Or is it? Spiritually, what does that represent? Where is the gospel in that?
What does that represent? And where is the gospel in that?
If we will see those two things, we will see that that's the most
glorious ending that could have ever been written. Spiritually, what does that represent? Turn with me to Isaiah 54. Isaiah
54, verse five says, For thy maker is thine husband,
the Lord of hosts is his name, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One
of Israel, the God of the whole earth shall he be called. For
the Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken, and grieved
in spirit, and a wife of youth when thou wast refused, saith
thy God. That's beautiful, isn't it? The Lord said, I have called
you the forsaken one, the refused one. Look with me at Malachi
chapter one. That's the last book in the Old
Testament. Malachi chapter one. Verse two says, I have loved you, saith the Lord. Yet you say, wherein hast thou
loved us? Was not Esau Jacob's brother,
saith the Lord? Esau was the rightful heir. He was the one that everything
was owed to. He said, yet I love Jacob. Esau was his brother, but I love
Jacob. I set my love on the one who was owed nothing. and deserved
nothing. Look with me at Ephesians 2. And see if you can really enter
into these verses. See if you can enter into them
like you've never entered in before and in light of Ezra 10.
All right, Ephesians 2 verse 11 says, wherefore remember,
that you being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise
having no hope and without God in the world. Those strange wives
represent us. They are us, that's who we are. In the Old Testament, God said
to a man named Hosea, he said, Hosea, there is a wretched,
wicked woman downtown. named Gomer. She's a woman of
the night. She's a woman of the street,
woman of the gutter. He said, I want you to go marry
her. I want you to go marry her. His
exact wording, God's exact wording was go take unto thee a wife
of whoredoms and children of whoredoms. Why did God tell him
to do that? because it spiritually represents
who Christ chose to take for his bride. A strange woman, an
unworthy woman, one to whom the law would say, cast her out. Just look at her. She doesn't
belong here. She does not belong here. She
has no right to be here. That's us. That's us. That's what God's holy commandment
must say to us. They said it must be this way.
And that's what the law says to us. Cast them all out. All
of them. Them and everything they have
produced. The children of those strange
wives, they represent the works. that all of God's people produce
from their own being. God's holy law says, cast it
all out. The only way I'm gonna be satisfied
is if you take that woman and everything she has produced and
cast it out. But this is what Christ said.
He said, I love her. I love her. and I'm not going
to cast her out. The law said, cast her out. He said, I'm not going to cast
her out. My father gave her to me. He betrothed her to me. And if my father gave her to
me and has drawn her to me, I will in no wise cast her out. According to His holiness, though,
and according to His righteousness, the law had to be satisfied. That's what He said, but the
law had to be satisfied. So what did Christ do? All right,
hold your place right here. Hold your place in Ephesians
2 and turn with me to Hebrews 7. Hebrews 7 verse 26 says, He became
us. Verse 25 says, wherefore he is
able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God
by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them,
for such an high priest, Christ, became us, who is holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.
The law said to Christ, you must cast your wife out. She's a heathen, rebellious enemy
of God, and she must be put away. So Christ made himself to be
his bride. He made himself to be her heathenness. He made himself to be her rebellion
and her enmity. He made himself to be sin, her
sin. Everything she was. And then
he stood before the great and holy judge at the great appointed
time. And he said, put her away. Go ahead, put her away. And the
almighty judge in his almighty sovereignty, according to his
holy law, did just that. Christ became his wife, and then
he put her away. All right, now look back at Ephesians
2. Ask the Lord to let you enter into this like you've never entered
into it before. This is what that accomplished
for his wife. Verse 13, but now in Christ Jesus,
you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of
Christ, for he is our peace who hath made both one and the other. and hath broken down the middle
wall of partition between us, having abolished in his flesh
the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances, for
to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace, and
that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross,
having slain the enmity thereby, and came and preached peace to
you which were afar off and to them that were nigh, for through
him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father. Now watch
verse 19. Now therefore, you are no more
strangers. You're not strange anymore. You are no more strangers and
foreigners. but fellow citizens with the
saints and of the household of God. Because Christ made himself
to be his bride and satisfied the law against her, this is
now her standing in him." You're going to love this. Turn to Psalm
87. Because He did this for her,
this is now her standing. Psalm 87 verse 1 says, His foundation
is in the holy mountains. The Lord loveth the gates of
Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob. Glorious things are
spoken of thee, O city of God. I will make mention of Rahab
and Babylon to them that know me. Behold Philistia and Tyre
with Ethiopia." He said, I'm going to make mention and this
is what I'm going to make mention of. This man was born there. He's going to say, you see that
man right there? He was born here. He's from here. He's no stranger here. Verse
five says, and of Zion, it shall be said, this and that man was
born in her and the highest himself shall establish her. They belong
here. This is their place. Verse six says, the Lord shall
count when he writeth up the people that this man was born
there. As well, the singers, as the
players on instruments shall be there. All my springs are
in they. No more strangers, but fellow
citizens, all given a new name to prove it. All of them given
a new name, and I'm gonna just, for the sake of time, I'm gonna
tell you, you've seen it before. Jeremiah 22, 23, it says, his
name shall be called. Judah's gonna be saved. Jerusalem's
gonna be saved. This is the name that he shall
be called, the Lord our righteousness. And then in Jeremiah 33, it says,
Jerusalem's gonna be saved. A righteous branch is coming.
And this is the name that she shall be called, the Lord our
righteousness. Her name is His name. Her name is His name. You know, we can enter into this We have
wives and children and family. And I was thinking about the couples
in this congregation. We got babies who have just been
in the nursery, are in the nursery, or will soon be in the nursery. And you know, a husband and a
wife come together in marriage. And you know what his name is? Lane, Henson, Weishi. You know what her name is? Lane,
Henson, Weishi. There's a little girl in the
nursery right now. You know what her name is? Lane, same name. That name is just as much her
name as it is his name as it is your name. It's not soon to
be her name. That's her name. That's who she
is. In Him. Of Him. By Him. The same name. And I'm gonna tell you what the
two of you have to say about her. This is what y'all say about
her. In her, in your home and in your family. You both say,
she belongs here. She was born here. She was born
right here. She's no stranger. She's one
with us, born of us. Are you ever going to cast her
out? In no wise. That's what is said about the
children of the father, the wife of the bride. All because Christ
was forsaken for her. This is now her eternal standing
in him. She belongs here. She was born here. Her name is
my name. Now let's close with this. Go
with me to Revelation 21. Revelation 21 verse 1 says, And
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their
God. And God shall wipe away all tears
from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former
things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne
said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write,
for these words are true and faithful. Verse nine says, And
there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven
vials, full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me,
saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the
Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city,
the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having
the glory of God. That's too holy to read. And
her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper
stone, clear as crystal. That's what chapter four says
Christ looks like, a jasper stone. She looks just like him. And
chapter 19 says in verse six, I heard, as it were, the voice
of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and
as the voice of mighty thundering, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord
God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice and
give honor to him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his
wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she
should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. And he said unto me,
Right, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage
supper of the Lamb. And he said unto me, These are
the true sayings of God. You can count on it. This is
the true eternal place of the bride. all because of Christ
the Lamb, her husband. It's a rags to riches story. It really is. It is a rags, we
get a little small glimpse of these rags down here. We're wearing
rags. It's rags. Soon it's riches. We have them now. We're about
to see them. Well, I've enjoyed this book.
I kind of want to start it over and do it again. But thank God
for his word. All right, let's all stand together.