Good morning and welcome to our
study of the book of Ezra. Sometimes I have to remind myself
as I'm going through here that we're not in a race and we can't
take our time and I guess that's what we're going to be doing
today as we look at this first section of the eighth chapter
of the book of Ezra. Last week we looked at verse
one a little bit and noticed that there was about 50 to 55
years between the first group that went to Jerusalem under
the recommendation of Cyrus king of Persia. And now we have these
that left Babylon during the reign of Artaxerxes. And we asked
the question I saw there in the scriptures, the question of why
did it take so long for these to go? And, uh, We have to just
mention for such a time as this, the gospel is like that to us. It comes at the appropriate time. It comes at the time decreed
by God. It comes to us as God sees fit
at the right time. We're put in the right place
at the right time to hear the gospel. And we may have heard
it. I realized that in all the years
that I was religious, I had never heard the gospel of the Lord
Jesus Christ as it is preached by those who know it. So that
passage of scripture in the book of Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse
8, there's a passage of scripture that has been brought to my attention.
Ezekiel chapter 16 and verse 8 we notice here in this passage
of scripture the Lord Jesus Is pictured as the one that comes
to us in our polluted condition God comes to us in our polluted
condition and here it says now when I pass by thee and looked
upon thee Behold thy time was the time of love And so we could
say with regard to Ezra and to this group that came out the
second time from Babylon, the second group that left as they
headed towards Jerusalem, it was their time of love. Just
as God does that for everyone that is ever brought to him,
it is their time of love. He demonstrates his love. He
sends his quickening power. I spread my skirt over thee and
covered thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God. Thou became us
mine so that verse of scripture just helps us so much with that
Ezra chapter 8 in verse 1 as it's long time Since the first
group in Ezra chapter going back to the book of Ezra chapter 8
We read there in the verses 2 through 14 Ezra chapter 8 and I read some genealogy, and I have
difficulty with the names that are mentioned here in this Ezra
chapter 8. I admire those folks who can
read the names of these folks in the Old Testament. Some of
them are just a little bit difficult to pronounce. But in verses 2
through 14, we have a genealogy of those who went up with Ezra
from Babylon. The list of leaders, the families,
traveling back to Jerusalem with Ezra are brought out here and
the numbers of these folks are mentioned here in this passage
of scripture. And in these 13 verses, I counted 41 names. And of those 41 names, almost
all of them have the very name of God or Jehovah or an attribute
of God incorporated in their names. And I would just like
to quickly go down through here, that's what I thought I would
be doing. But there was one name that struck me, and we're going
to spend a little more time on that one name, and that is Ithamar,
because it brings up the subject of the Coast of Palms. As we
travel through here, verses two, verse two it says, Phinehas,
his name means mouth of brass, and if we ever had a description
of the law, that is, it is just judgment. There is no peace in
the law. There is no rest in the law.
There is no deliverance in the law. It is always speaking forth
judgment, and we find nothing else there. In religion, when
I was a very, legalistic and all that stuff. I didn't produce
any happiness and I didn't produce it in anybody else. It was always,
you were finding the incompleteness. and the undone-ness and all that
stuff. It just doesn't make sense with
that passage of scripture over there where it says, comfort
ye, comfort ye my people. They just don't fit together.
So the gospel, grace, mercy, that's a comfort. But judgment,
the law, never comforted anyone. There's always a striving there,
and it always brings Phariseeism, always produces, I thank God
I'm not like other folks. So there's always that judgmentalism,
but the law truly is a judge. It is a voice or a mouth of brass. And then Gershon in that verse
two mentions means foreigner. Truly, we are by nature foreigners
to God we we don't speak the same language We have no interest
in him We have no love for him our our very thoughts and minds
are enmity against him so we are a foreigner and We are strangers
To the covenant of promise so this man's name brings that out
and then if them are coast of palms Now, I found that very
interesting, and I was just about ready to produce this or to speak
this message on tape for sermon audio, and I ran across that
name, and I said, there's something here. We've got to look at this
a little bit more. So, I would like to read a few verses of
scripture that have to do with the palm, as the palm tree, as
it's brought out here, this man's name, Ithamar, means coast of
palms, and the palm tree, is mentioned a number of times in
the Old Testament and also in the New Testament. And the palm
tree grows straight towards the heavens. It's a very straight
growing tree most of the time. Most of the while you see one
that is kind of curving out, but it goes towards heaven. And we also find, and I was interested
to read, that these date palms are very fruitful. Up to 300
pounds of dates per tree are produced. And the chief source
of life of the tree is the top. You don't have branches up and
down the trunk of a palm tree. You have them at the top. And
it certainly speaks of our source of mercy and our source of grace. Jesus Christ is the head of the
church. They it flourishes the palm tree
flourishes even in old age And we're going to look at a few
verses that have to deal with this the Lord Jesus when describing
the loveliness of his church Compares her stature in the song
of Solomon Would you read there with me song of Solomon chapter
7 as we think about this man's name in the palm tree and how
it applies to the church and how it applies to our blessing
in Christ and how we are spoken of a of having palm fronds, palm
in our hands. Here in the book of the Song
of Solomon, Song of Solomon chapter 7, the Lord describes his bride,
he describes the church, In this manner, in Song of Solomon chapter
7 and verse 7, it says, This thy stature is like a palm tree. He's talking about his bride.
He's talking about the church. He's talking about the saints.
He's talking about the sheep of his pasture. He's talking
about those that he would die for. He's talking about those
who were in the covenant of grace. He's talking about his people,
and he says, your stature is like a palm tree. Well, there's
significance to this, that it is growing towards, I press towards
the mark of the high calling in Christ Jesus. I'm pressing
towards the mark. I'm pressing towards Christ.
I'm pressing towards glory. I'm pressing to sit down at the
feet of the Lord Jesus Christ, and I realize I realize in my
stature that the most valuable part of the palm is the head. The most valuable part of the
church is the head of the church, the Lord Jesus Christ. We are
the body. He is the head of the church. He is the crown of the church. He is the producer of fruit in
us, and he is the producer of the palm fronds that grow in
the top of the tree. So thy stature is like a palm
tree. How beautiful that is. I've been
down to San Diego and I've been down to Florida and places where
palm trees, there in North Carolina, palm trees, and they're such
a stately tree. They're so easily identified
by their stateliness, by their stature. And that's what we read
here as the Lord describes the church. The branches have been
celebrated as a token of triumph and victory. We are reminded
of this over in the book of John chapter 12. John chapter 12,
as we look at the man's name brought out in scripture on purpose,
his name is Ithamar. He's the third one mentioned
in this list, in this genealogical list that is going to go back
to Jerusalem, and we find that his name means coast to palms.
And that is truly a statement about the church. These people
that represent or are a picture of the church, they're like palm
trees. And this man's name brings this
out. Here in the book of John chapter
12, John chapter 12, and there in verse 13, we read about the
Lord's, and a lot of commentaries call it his triumphal entry into
Jerusalem. They took branches, John chapter
12 and verse 13, took branches of the palm trees and went forth
to meet him. As we, as we think about this,
the branches have been celebrated as the token of triumph and victory. As it brings out here, they took
these palms, these palm trees, branches of palm trees and went
forth to meet him and cried, Hosanna. Blessed is the King
of Israel that cometh in the name of the Lord." So they're
doing what they normally wouldn't have done, but the gracious Lord
overrode their intentions and their thoughts, because I'm convinced
that a whole bunch of these folks were very quickly or very soon
going to be crying in the streets, crucify him, crucify him. But
what the Lord had intended these folks are going to carry out
and they break these palm trees the palm fronds off Some of them
are mentioned over in the Old Testament when they built their
those Places that they went to During the Feast of Booths, there we go. They build them out of some of
these palm fronds. So it's an indication, it's a
celebration, it's a token of triumph and victory. And over
in the book of Revelation, Revelation chapter 7, would you read there
with me? Revelation chapter 7, we find these as the Lord describes
the church around Him in the Finality after this I beheld
low a great multitude which no man could number and of all nations,
and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne,
and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in
their hands. What are they saying? And cried
with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon
the throne, and unto the Lamb. This as they symbolize here these
branches celebrating triumph celebrating victory The glory
that is demonstrated here whether it's a picture or whether it's
in reality that doesn't matter the the thing that we see here
is all the church is going to be glorifying the Lord and it's
typified by them having these palms in their hands palms of
victory and Palms of triumph. This is the lamb. This is the
Lamb of God This is the lion of the tribe of Judah This is
the one that is victorious over all sin and every enemy of the
church and he did it for the glory of God and for the glory
of the church and the righteous are spoken of they shall flourish
like a palm tree and Going back to the Old Testament in the book
of the Psalms, we have this wonderful verse of scripture, this passage
of scripture mentioned here in Psalm 92. In Psalm 92 and there
in verse 12. Psalm 92 and verse 12. Mine eyes also shall see my desire
of mine enemies, that's verse 11, and my ears shall hear and
my desire of the wicked that rise up against me. The righteous
shall flourish like the palm tree. He shall grow like a cedar
in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the
house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. How
beautiful the language is here of what the church shall be doing. The righteous shall flourish
like a palm tree, straight towards heaven, the head of the Lord
Jesus Christ, producing the fruit of God. Here, this palm tree
is represented as it speaks about the righteous. And those that
be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts
of our God. They shall still bring forth
fruit in old age. They shall be fat and flourishing. The Lord does not withdraw himself
as we get older and older towards the day that he calls us home.
In fact, he gets closer to us, it seems, and the saints of God
don't weather up and leave, they may see themselves and may even
say, I don't see any use, why I shouldn't be called home. I've
heard of great people that love the Lord saying that, praying
that, Lord take me home. But until the moment he takes
us home, we have a privilege of being here and bringing forth
fruit and old age, honoring God. not finding fault with the situation
that we're in, not finding fault with God, but just thankful for
His grace to us, and thankful for His blessings to us, and
His mercy to us, and even as we go old and not able to do
all the things that we think we should do. And then it says in verse 15,
to show that the Lord is upright, He is my rock. and there is no
unrighteousness in him." What a statement these palm trees
make. Settled in the great God Almighty,
the Lord Jesus Christ, settled upon the rock, settled upon his
righteousness alone, there is no unrighteousness in him. And
so this Ithamar takes us back into the scriptures. I'm sure
as many of the other folks did, as we go through this list of
names, this genealogical names, every one of them have something
to say in their name. God does not waste time in the
scriptures with names. So as Ithamar coasted palms,
what a blessing it is to see how that reflects the church,
how it reflects the head, the Lord Jesus, how it reflects the
fruit that the church produces because of the fruit the Lord
gives us. And then even in old age, we
can honor him where our stature is compared to the church's stature
is compared to a palm tree. Well, as we go back to the book
of Ezra chapter 8, we find the next one in line is named Daniel,
and that means God is my judge. And we're thankful that God is
our judge. We find, who hath laid anything to the charge of
God's elect, it is God that justifieth. So, it's a wonderful thing to
have the judge, and our lawyer is his son. David means beloved,
and that truly speaks highly of the church, their beloved. Hathfush means assembled, and
that's another thing that we will see here as we follow this
list through in verse 15 that Ezra does a great deed for the
people of God there. He assembles them, and he assembles
the church. In fact, the church is called
an assembly, and it's a place where we meet at the feet of
the Lord Jesus. Shekiniah, dweller with Jehovah. It's wonderful to dwell with
the God of heaven. Apharos means to flee. Zechariah,
Jehovah remembers. Pahathimoab, pit in Moab. Boy, that speaks highly of where
we are brought from, doesn't it? That is a pit, and it is
in Moab. It's like Lodibar. It's a place of no bread. There's
no grazing. There's no grass there. And truly,
without Christ, that's where we are. We move on, it says,
Elon Honai, unto Jehovah are my eyes, constantly looking to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Zechariah, Jehovah has risen. And we thank the Lord every day
for that. Every time we pray, we're thanking God for the resurrection
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. Jehaziel, be held of God. It's wonderful to be in the vision
of the Lord, to be in his sight pattern. Aidan, delicate. Abed, servant. Truly that speaks
highly of our position, doesn't it? It tells us not to get too
heady or high-minded, but to realize where we came from. I
remember again, I think I've mentioned this in the past here
on Sermon Audio, but I just want to do it again. The man who brought
me the gospel, when I called him and let him know that the
Lord had saved me by His free and sovereign grace, and I delighted
in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone. He is my righteousness
and by his blood and righteousness He's taking care of all my problem
the sin problem and the pride problem and the right self-righteousness
problem but we have here that To be a servant he said never
forget where he came from never forget you're in a pew like everybody
else Ilyum eternity Jehoshiah, Jehovah has saved. The next one is afflicted of
the Lord. Shephothiah, Jehovah has judged. And we're thankful that the Lord
judged his son at the cross and not to pour out his judgment
upon his people. Zebediah, endowment of Jehovah. Mikael who is like God? Joab Jehovah is father Obadiah
servant of Jehovah Jehoel God lives Shalom us peaceful Joseph
it just fire Jehovah adds Bibia my captivities Zechariah
Jehovah remembers And Bibia again, my captivities. Eizel, God. God is mighty. Jehonun, Jehovah
has graced. Akhotun, the small. Adonaiakim, my Lord arose. Elieph, God is deliverance. JL, God sweeps away. Wouldn't it be wonderful to think
that He sweeps away our sin and puts it as far as the east is
from the west. Shemaniah, heard by Jehovah. Oh, to thank God that we can
approach Him and come before Him in prayer and that He is
pleased to hear us. Big Vaya, in my bodies. Latahanai, helpful and Zabad
given. So we have the list of folks
here that are the leaders of the families that are going to
go to Jerusalem. They're going to leave in the
second wave. They're going to be going back to Jerusalem where
their families were from so long ago. And now they're preparing
to go back. And we come down to Ezra chapter
8 and there in verse 15. And all I can do is ask you to
forgive me for the way I pronounce these names. I should, when I
do this, have someone on the internet read them for me. But
we're just going to do the best we can. But in chapter 8 and
verse 15, We come to another wonderful section of this chapter
as we think about Ezra preparing to take the people over to Jerusalem. And I gathered them together
to the river. I gathered them together to the
river that runneth to Ahava, and there abode we in tents three
days. And I viewed the people and the
priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi." Well, there's
so much in this verse of scripture, and we'll not be able to cover
it all today. But I must say that I was attracted
by an action word found in this verse of what Ezra did for all
these dear folks. Now, I want to say this, this
trip was not a race. When these folks headed back
to Jerusalem was not a race back to Jerusalem. There were no stopwatches
were going to be used in this. They're going to go together.
This was not you are on your own from here to Jerusalem. Hope
you all make it. Ezra didn't say that. And this
is This is not, you are on your own, neither is this, you're
not doing the best you can, and we hope you can make it. We're
not in this trip alone. God and this family, we are called
upon in the book of Galatians chapter six and verse two, to
bear ye one another's burdens. Now, I am reminded as I prepare
here and look at this passage of scripture that Ezra had a
list of names. And he had the number traveling
together. So he gathered them together
at Ahava, and there they all abode. They all abode before
they started this four-month journey that was ahead of them. Ezra did something in this verse
of scripture, in this passage of scripture, that we find that
is a picture of our Lord and Savior. The Hebrew word translated
gathered them together in this verse is found in a number of
other places in the Bible in the Old Testament because it
was a Hebrew word. This word means to gather, to assemble. It comes to us from a word that
meant to take, to grasp with the hand, to give instructions to the servants
to harvest all the grain, gather all the food by hand, grasp it
and bring it all to one place. So this word really comes to
us from a word that meant to pick the grapes or to grasp the
grapes. And if we think about that, it
is what we do to our children when it looks like they're in
danger or we just want to demonstrate our love. We may grasp them by
the hand or we may grasp them by the wrist. It's not that we're
intending to hurt them, we're intending to demonstrate we want
to gather them to us. We want to bring them to us.
And so this is the word that is used here. This word is used
in Genesis chapter 41 and verse 48. Would you look there with
me? Genesis chapter 41 and verse 48. This passage of scripture
shares with us one of the things that Joseph was doing as he was
in command of Egypt Genesis chapter 41 and
verse 48 as this wonderful picture this Joseph Taken down to Egypt
sold into slavery taken down to Egypt and watched over and
protected by his God Here it tells us that in his great promotion
before Pharaoh he was made second in command And he gathered up
all the food of the seven years. He gathered the food. Joseph gathered up all the food.
Now, that doesn't mean he was out there doing it and picking
every piece of grain up. But his hand, he gave instructions
to the servants to harvest all the grain, gather all the food
by hand, grasp it, and to bring it to one place. So just think
about Ezra as he has all these folks, probably 6,000 to 7,000
folks. He knew them intimately. They
were part of the family. They were all Israelites. He
knew them. He had a list of their names.
And these are the folks that are going to travel from beginning
to end, not in competition, but together, not trying to race
each other, but together. They're going to bear one another's
burdens. They're going to be carrying their things across
this desert. So this word to gather, he gathered
them together. He brought them to one place.
Out of Babylon, he brought them to one place. In the book of
1 Samuel, would you turn with me to 1 Samuel chapter 22? This is an interesting passage
of scripture that uses this too, the same principle of gathering. 1 Samuel 22 verses one and two. David therefore departed thence
verse Samuel chapter 22 verses 1 or 2 David therefore departed
thence and escaped to the cave of Adullam and when his brethren
and all his father's house heard it they went down thither to
him and every one that was in distress and every one that was
in debt and And every one that was discontented, what did they
do? They are gathered themselves
unto him. And he became a captain. Now
it's interesting that these folks would come to David They had
these issues, everyone that had, everyone that had, and everyone
that had, had issues, and they came to David. And it is just
as if David was gathering them, and from their point of view,
they were gathering themselves. How glorious it is when we find
out that as we move to the Lord Jesus Christ, He is gathering
us to Him. We're just following the instructions,
we're following the line, we're following the signs, we're following
the word as we gather ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ in this
life and then in the life to come to be gathered to the feet
of the Lord Jesus. So everyone that was in distress,
and that could certainly be said about the folks that were leaving
Babylon, They like so many, you know, they're leaving behind
their families, they're leaving behind friends, they're leaving
behind, and life will never be the same. I have to say this
about salvation, about God saving His people. Life will never be
the same. You cannot go back to where you
were. Now you may go back and visit
family, and you may go back and visit friends, but you just cannot
go back to the religious paraphernalia that you were involved with and
be a believer of the Lord Jesus Christ. You cannot get involved
in a church that believes in works. You can't believe in a
church that is a salvation is all up to man. You can't get
involved in a church that says God has done everything he can
do, now it's up to you. You just can't do it. If you
know the grace of God, you just cannot do that. So these folks
are going to leave Babylon, and they're going to go up to Jerusalem.
It means Babylon is down, whether it's down or not, it's still
down. Up is Jerusalem. And everyone that was in distress,
these folks were in distress in the days of David. People
are in distress today. And the greatest privilege that
God grants to us is to find that we're in distress spiritually,
that what we have is not satisfactory. I've had several people say,
as they're lingering in religion, there's got to be more than this.
This is just worthless. Well, everyone that was in distress,
everyone that was in debt, my goodness, bankrupt. Everyone
that was in debt, bankrupt. And everyone that was discontented
gathered themselves to him and he became a captain over them.
David did. And there were with him about
400 men. David Gathered these folks to
him now. We find he didn't get a lot He
got those who were distressed and those who were in debt and
those who were discontented with the way things are but things
changed for them once they came to David and things changed for
God's people when he draws us to him and we come to him and
Well, we're gathered to him. He gathers us. This word is used
in 1 Kings chapter 22, verses 6 through 8. There was a king
of Israel gathered the prophets, about 400 men, all false prophets,
and told the king what he wanted to hear, but did not tell the
truth. He gathered these. Now, we're
going to find out that people want to gather their kind of
folks. Birds of a feather flock together.
This king gathered false prophets. This king gathered false preachers. He didn't want to hear the truth.
Now, in the whole mess of things that was going on there, it was
brought up, isn't there somebody here that is a prophet of the
Lord? And you know, they didn't like
him because he did not prophesy like the 400. They gathered themselves
together around someone they agreed with. these 400, and that
happens. People are going to gather themselves
around people that they agree with. And what a blessing it
is for God's people who agree with God to gather around God. And I say, excuse me, before
I get there, in Psalm 106, would you turn with me to Psalm 106?
as we think about the prayer of the church with regard to
this. In Psalm 106, and there in verse
47, Psalm 106 and verse 47, save us. Now this
is a prayer of the church. Save us, O Lord, our God, and
gather us. from among the heathen, to give
thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
from everlasting to everlasting. And let all the people say Amen.
Praise ye the Lord. So gather us from among the heathen. Oh Lord, we pray that you'll
gather us out. Take us by the hand, grab us
by the wrist, take us out of this from among the heathen.
How blessed it is that the church is given the opportunity to pray
this way, and how blessed it is that like Ezra, and the second
Ezra the Lord. Ezra gathered his people together
in one place and the Lord gathers his people together in one place
at his feet in Isaiah chapter 11. Moving through the Old Testament,
in the book of Isaiah chapter 11, we have the record of these
words given to us by the prophet, and he shall set up an ensign.
He shall set up a flag. It's a noticeable flag. It's
a flag that is blood red because of his shed blood, and it's white
because of his pure righteousness, an ensign. For the nations and
shall assemble the outcasts of Israel this one. He the Lord
shall Set up a marker set up a flag here is where the gospel
is being preached Here is where the truth is being declared.
This is it now there may not be a single flag in the air physically,
but there is a flag spiritually that marks out where the people
of God assemble themselves together, and it is noted by what is declared
and what is believed. He shall set up an ensign for
the nations, and shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather
together the depressed of Judah from the four corners of the
earth." Now, isn't it interesting that Ezra set up an ensign of
sins? We're going to go to this place,
and those who are going gather there. He gathered the people
to that one single place. He didn't say half of you go
over there and half of you go over here, or a tenth of you,
we don't have enough food so you'll have to go with a group
over here. He gathered the whole host together. How valuable,
how important that is that we read about the Lord gathering
his people. His grace is sufficient for the
whole group. There's plenty of food for the
whole group. There's plenty of righteousness,
plenty of forgiveness, plenty of grace, plenty of mercy for
everybody. We don't have to be dispersed
into the four corners of the earth so that there will be enough
to go around. but at the very place there is
a fellowship and there is a marriage supper of the Lamb that is so
glorious that everyone gets to enjoy the rich blessings of the
manna of heaven, the Lord Jesus Christ. So the ensign has gone
up, the declaration has gone out. Here, gather here. Here
is where you will hear something. Here is where you will have a
blessing. Here is where you will be comforted. Over there under
the law, it is just no comfort. It is not comfortable at all
to be told all the things that you're doing wrong. But we have
the privilege of hearing all the things that Christ did right. And He obeyed in all things. And He as a servant, did what
he did for his people. In the book of Jeremiah, Jeremiah
chapter 23, again, we have this message of the Lord through his
prophet, through his preacher. Here's where you gather. Here's
where you gather. This is where you'll be fed.
The book of Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 3, Jeremiah chapter
23 and verse 3, there's enough to go around. There'll be more
than enough to go around. There'll be baskets full collected
afterwards. There's sufficiency. I don't
have to worry about having a famine here. There's sufficiency. The
grace of God is sufficient for all His people. Jeremiah chapter
23 and verse 3, I will gather the remnant of my flock out of
all countries whether I have driven them, and will bring them
again to their foals, and they shall be fruitful and increase."
I'll bring them to safety. I'll bring them to the fold.
I'll bring them to an assembly point. Here, we can look around,
and as we meet one another, we have the feeling we've always
known you. You're part of the family. All
of those that came out of Babylon, those 6,000 or 7,000 folks, the
names of them put together, the peoples, the numbers of them
put together, they were all family. They were being drawn out of
Babylon and gathered together. at this specific place of gathering
in preparation for the trip that lies ahead, for the life that
lies ahead. So how glorious the Lord is to
do that to us and for us. And in the same book of Jeremiah,
we read here in chapter 32, Jeremiah chapter 32, and in verse, Jeremiah
chapter 32 and verse 37, we read these words. It says, behold,
I will gather them out of all countries My goodness, we hear
good news from down there in Papua New Guinea where God has
raised up a host of folks out of those peoples of New Guinea
and other places where God is having an in-gathering. And we
delight, we delight if we hear about one here in our country,
one in our community, one in our presence that God calls from
darkness to his marvelous light. I'll gather them out of countries
where I have driven them in my anger and in my fury and in great
wrath and I will bring them again into the place and I will cause
them to dwell safely. I'll cause them to dwell safely."
That was Ezra's goal, to have them to dwell in safety and to
dwell safely, to travel safely as they go from Babylon up to
Jerusalem, as they travel through this life. to gather together,
to be acquainted with one another, and to fellowship with one another,
and then to travel together and feast together. And Lord, as
God gives the grace to minister unto one another's needs and
to care for one another, Micah chapter 2 the book of Micah one
of those small books with this just full and running over in
the book of Micah chapter 2 and verse 12 We read these words
Micah chapter 2 and verse 12. I will surely assemble Jacob
I will surely assemble Oh Jacob all of thee I will surely gather
the remnant of Israel. I will put them together as the
sheep of Basra, as the flock in the midst of their fold. They
shall make great noise by reason of the multitude of men. What
a delight it is to get together and to relish in the grace of
God. I will assemble, O Jacob, all of thee. I'll gather all
of thee. As they were assembling there
by the riverside in preparation for the trip, all of these all
these folks, all these six or seven thousand folks assembled
themselves together as Ezra assembled them. It is as if the shepherd
went out and grasped those by the wrist and brought them over
here where there was safety, where the king had commanded
them, go to Jerusalem, go over there to Mount Zion, call out
for the blessings of Zion. And so they did, they assembled
there. We have this whole host of folks,
campfires and tents or whatever they're in, you know, they're
just getting along because they're family and they are headed for
the same place and they've all had the same problem. They've
been living in Babylon. They want to leave. By the grace
of God, they will. In the book of Zechariah, I will
bring them again, also out of the land of Egypt, and gather
them out of Assyria, and I'll bring them to the land of Gilead. Zechariah 10.10, I'll bring them
again out of the land of Egypt, gather them out of Assyria. Terrible
places these places are. It may be green and flourishing,
but from the spiritual standpoint, there is no bread there. Gather us out of all of the religious
paraphernalia that the world has to offer and bring us to
a place where we can worship God in spirit and in truth. We
don't need a picture of Him. We have it in the Word of God.
We have Him in the Word of God. In the New Testament, a word
that means called out assembly or gathered together assembly,
we have translated so often in the scriptures as the word church. That's truly what this word means,
is a gathering of saints together, a gathering of peoples together
that love the Lord. In the book of Acts, The book
of Acts chapter 20 and verse 28. Acts chapter 20 and verse
28. We have these words recorded.
It says, take heed therefore unto yourselves as we find these
last instructions given by the Apostle Paul. Take heed therefore
unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers to feed the flock, feed the church of
God which he hath purchased with his own blood For I know that this that after
me, my departing, shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not
sparing the flock. Feed the church of God. This
is the assembly. We have a place of assembly.
We have a place where the trumpet has called, and we meet together. The church of the living God
meets together at the feet of the Lord Jesus Christ. We look
forward to that day when we'll be there in a different fashion
than we are now. But we are privileged to meet
at the feet of Jesus. And we are here at this very
place to hear of the food that is fed to the Church of the Living
God. It is used in a sense of all the sheep of the Lord, this
word church, both in heaven and on earth, and it means like we
are an assembly that meets here in the dowels or by zoom at this
present time. But we look forward to the assembly,
to be gathered together, to gather together in one name, the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ and to worship him. in the gospel
of the Lord, to hear the gospel, to hear the good news, to go
home feeling comforted by the Spirit of God. This, in the book
of Ephesians chapter 1, and gave to be the head over all things
to the church. This is the Lord Jesus. Turn
with me to the book of Ephesians chapter 1. Ephesians chapter
1. It's a glorious thing when God
assembles us as he did with Ezra over there in Ezra chapter 8
verse 15 as he assembled the folks in preparation for the
travel. Here we have in the book of Ephesians
chapter 1 and there in verse 22 it says, and have put all
things under his feet and gave him to be the head over all things
to the assembly, to the church, to those who are gathered together.
He is the head, just like the top of that palm tree. Without it, there's nothing.
It's just a trunk. But with it, there's life. The church may manifest the wisdom
of God. Turn with me to the book of Ephesians
chapter 3, by the assembly, as we assemble together, as we assemble
together, as we're drawn to a place, we assemble together and hear
the glorious truths of the gospel. We read here, to the intent that
now unto the principalities and powers in the heavenly places
might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God."
You know, I look at that, I know what I was taught in religion,
what that verse means. But so much more is there than
that. Here we have, by the church,
the wisdom of God and salvation is made known by the church.
And how is that? By His grace. By His infinite
mercy. The church demonstrates the manifold
wisdom of God in His salvation, that there would be not one particle
of human effort put in it, but it would all be done by the Lord,
so that the church might cry out as Jonah did, salvation is
of the Lord. by the church is made known the
manifold wisdom of God, that God's wisdom is exhibited when
he gathers his folks together and they delight in one thing,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and his word is a preeminent and the
most glorious thing to talk about as it applies to the Lord Jesus
Christ. Unto him be glory in the church
by Christ Jesus. Unto him be glory in the assembly,
the gathering together. throughout all ages, world without
end. And we find that the head of
the assembly, the head of the gathering, now some people would
say, no doubt that Ezra's our leader over there. He's gathering
us together, he's preparing us, he's getting things ready, we're
gonna be traveling here soon. Well, the church, they look to
the head, this assembly, this gathering, and Ezra was part
of it. He's typical and pictorial of
the Lord Jesus Christ and him assembling his folks, but he's
also part of the assembly, the great assembly, the assembly
of saints, the gathering in. He had been gathered in and other
folks there had been gathered in, brought in. That's why he
said he's a ready scribe. He knew the word, he knew the
gospel. So we rejoice in him in this example As he gathered
these folks together, he took them by the wrist, in other words.
He gathered them like he was picking grapes, gently laying
hold of them. He gathered them together in
preparation. He knew them. He had a list of
names, as our Savior does. He had a number of them, as our
Savior does. And He is in preparation for
what's going to take place. He gathered them together. This wonderful comment that is
left to us, and I gathered them together to the river that runneth
to Ahava, and there abode we in tents three days." I gathered
them together, six or seven thousand folks together. We didn't split
up. We didn't talk about how quick
we have to make it across the desert. It's not a race. We hope
you do well. I hope you get there, but we're
not going to worry about you. Well, no, no, that's not what
we find. Ezra gathered them together.
They're at a place of Ahava, and there abode in tents three
days. Now he noticed something. He
noticed that there were no Levites. as it tells us in verse 15. We'll
spend some time on that, Lord willing, next time we get together.
We'll just think about them preparing to travel, but before they could
be prepared to travel, they had to be gathered together. There
is no travel without being gathered together. The Lord does not give
us traveling rights until He gathers us in, and He gathers
in those who are in debt, those who have troubles out of the
infirm out of all nations, but he gathers them together at the
feet of the Lord Jesus. When we get to the New Testament,
we find a word, that word is church, and it means an assembly,
a gathering together, a calling out of folks, and they're meeting
at the feet of the Lord Jesus spiritually, but physically we
meet together and hear about meeting at the feet of the Lord
Jesus spiritually. That's the gospel. The good news,
we're gathered together unto Christ. He is the head. We're
the body. We're gathered to him. We cannot
be gathered to anywhere else because there's not any life
anywhere else. So, as they gathered, they bore
each other's burdens. And as Ezra had a list, so does
our Savior. And as Ezra had a number of those
traveling, so does our Savior. And he gathered them, so he gathered
them together, and they abode there. Thank God for the time
that we have been privileged to gather together to gather
together at the feet of the Lord Jesus to gather together together
from time to time in a building or a Baptismal service or wherever
we are so that we could rejoice in the gospel of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ Well, may God bless you and until we meet
again May God bless you. Amen