of Ezra this morning. Ezra chapter
1. I can only imagine a little bit
about the excitement that was taking place in Babylon after
Cyrus had come out with the opportunity for those who belonged to the
tribe of Benjamin and Judah to go home. Now he was not giving
this He was not giving these words
of his own good will. He was moved upon by God because
God had already shared to the prophet Jeremiah that they would
spend 70 years there. And when the 70 years were finished,
it's time to be released. So he moved upon Cyrus, king
of the Persians. to make this edict that freedom
at last was borne by the people of God and it's permissible for
them to go home. In fact, he's making it every
way possible, easier for them to go home. As we begin reading
here in verse 7, we find that there have been some things that
Nebuchadnezzar took from Jerusalem, particularly His army took from
the temple at Jerusalem before it was destroyed. There were
many vessels that were in that temple that were brought out
of Judah, out of Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon. Here in the
seventh verse of the first chapter, also Cyrus the king brought forth
the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had
brought forth out of Jerusalem. and had put them in the house
of his gods. Even those did Cyrus, king of
Persia, bring forth by the hand of Metheradath, the treasurer,
and numbered them unto Sheshabazar, the prince of Judah. And this
is the number of them, 30 chargers of gold, 1,000 chargers of silver,
29 knives, 30 basins of gold, silver basins
of a second sort, 410, and other vessels, 1,000. All the vessels
of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Shasbazar bring
up from them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon
unto Jerusalem. Ezra chapter 1 verses 7 through
11. Seventy plus years prior to this
event we can read twice in the scriptures of what Nebuchadnezzar
did to the temple there in Jerusalem when he came up against Judah
and Benjamin and eventually took them into captivity. I only want
to read one of them and that is in the book of 2 Kings. Would
you back up just a couple of books here into the book of 2
Kings chapter 24. 2 Kings 24, and beginning with
verse 11, we read these words. 2 Kings 24, verse 11, And Nebuchadnezzar
king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did
besiege it. And Jechoakim king of Judah went
out to the king of Babylon, he and his mother, and his servants,
and his princes, and his officers, and the king of Babylon took
him in the eighth year of his reign. And he carried out thence
all the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures
of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of
gold which Solomon, king of Israel, had made in the temple of the
Lord, as the king said. And he carried all Jerusalem,
and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valor, even
10,000 captives, and all the craftsmen, and smiths. None remained
save the poor sort of the people of the land and he carried away
Jehoiakim to Babylon and the king's mother and so forth. He
came in, he overthrew, he took away and he emptied out the temple
at Jerusalem of all of the things that were there, these vessels.
The prophet Jeremiah had been given the message by God that
that's exactly what was going to happen. Nebuchadnezzar fulfilled
the words of Jeremiah. I'd like, there's a couple of
passages there, but would you turn with me to Jeremiah chapter
27, and I want to just read one of them. Jeremiah chapter 27.
The prophet Jeremiah prophesies about the events of Nebuchadnezzar
before they take place. He's also the one that shares
with us that Benjamin and Judah would only be in, or is that
too light a word? They would be in. Babylonian
captivity for 70 years instead of saying only were. They were
there for 70 years. To most of those folks it was
a very unbearable thing. A few of them got employment
with Babylon. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
and Daniel are four of them that we know about. But here in the
book of Jeremiah chapter 27, We have the prophet who was given
a message of God and recorded regarding the vessels and other
items that were in the temple and what would happen to them.
Jeremiah 27 and verse 21. Yea, thus saith the Lord of hosts,
the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the
house of the Lord and in the house of the King of Judah and
Jerusalem, they shall be carried to Babylon. And there shall they
be until the day which I visit them, saith the Lord. Then will
I bring them up and restore them to this place. So the prophet
Jeremiah was given the words, everything's gonna be taken.
Now, during the time of Cyrus, everything is going to go back.
Daniel mentioned this, and we find others wrote about it, and
we have so much said about this very idea in the scriptures concerning
these vessels, these things that were caught there. Now, I don't
understand very much about what I read there. I hope you understand
more than I understand about what I read there about these
certain vessels. It doesn't tell us much about
them. It doesn't tell us much how they were used. It doesn't
tell us much about what was done with them. And yet they were
in the temple there at Jerusalem. So they did have some thing to
do with the worship that went there. Let's put it that way.
In the book of Exodus, we read here with regard to what Moses,
was supposed to do. Let's go back and read that in
the book of Exodus chapter 25 about these vessels. Where did
the design come from for these vessels? Who gave Moses the instruction
concerning these vessels? They may seem unimportant. They
may seem that we don't understand all about them and what they
were done or what they were used for. But we do find out that
the design of every one of these vessels was not Moses' design. The design of every one of these
vessels, every knife, every bowl, every charger, everything as
it shares with us in Exodus chapter 25 beginning with verse 8. Exodus
chapter 25 and verse 8, the scriptures share with us there. And let them make me a sanctuary
that I may dwell among them according to all that I show thee after
the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments
thereof. So God was the architect of every
spoon, of every knife, of every charger, of every bowl, everything
that was in there, God gave Moses the instructions. So we may not
see the benefit, we may not see the understanding about them,
but this we can take knowledge of. Everything that was in that
tabernacle and everything that was in that temple, later built,
was there by divine design. and it didn't depend upon us
to understand the design, we are responsible for saying it
was designed by the architect. Almighty God. Then it shares
with us according, verse nine, to all that I show thee after
the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all the instruments
thereof, even so shall ye make it. So there was no line for
error. There was a straight and there
was a narrow way when it came to what these items were to look
like, what metals they were to be made out of, and we find generally
speaking there was gold and silver and bronze in the building of
the tabernacle and it was also used in the building of the temple.
These things all had something to say about the covenant of
grace, because they all reflected in all of their measurements,
in all of their structure, in all of their composition, in
all of their design, just like everything about the tabernacle
and everything about the temple spoke of the Lord Jesus Christ. When these priests picked up
these bowls, They were, in essence, picking up a wonderful picture
of the sovereign king, the Lord Jesus Christ. We do not understand
all that there is to know about the Lord, and we will have eternity
to learn more and more about Him, but there is nothing unimportant
about the Lord Jesus Christ. As we heard read over there in
the book of Hebrews this morning, as Brother Craig read that verse
of scripture, he says, I showed you in the mount. He took him
up on Mount Sinai, he visited with the God face to face, and
in that conversation, and in that time together, Moses was
given, and we do not read that he brought down a bunch of paper
with him. We do not read that he came down with the design
so he could pass them out. God put them there in his mind,
in his heart, and he was able to put it out in the hearts and
minds of those guys that could build these things, and whether
they understood what everything meant or not, the designs were
given by God, and they reflected very carefully characteristics
and attributes of salvation and the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. All these vessels of gold and
of silver and so forth were 5,400. It was no small thing to bring
them from Jerusalem to Babylon and it was not going to be any
small thing to carry them back. But the important thing is that
Cyrus was impressed upon by Almighty God to fulfill the words of the
prophet Jeremiah and have them sent back. We do not know what
exactly all these items spoke of, but we know this, they spoke
something about the Lord Jesus Christ. I have a book in my study
called The Attributes of God, written by Arthur W. Pink. Anybody
here who would need a copy to read, I have it. There he went
through 17 attributes of God. Wonderful accounts with verses
put there, so that as you go through, you can see the glory
of God in each one of these attributes. 17. You know what? He missed about 30,000. He covered, let's just say, put
it in this, as we think about the tabernacle and the temple.
He covered the mercy seat, because he talked about God's sovereignty.
He covered other attributes, great attributes of God, the
table of showbread, the candlestick, the altars. He covered those
great and notable things about the Lord but we also find out
that he missed a bunch of minor things and we still are in the
business by the grace of God discovering those great truths
about our Savior. I learned more about God this
morning, more about my Savior, the Lord Jesus, in that Bible
study, and I can just put it up there again. I got some more
about Him. There was a spoon that I never
knew about. that reflected the glory of the
Lord Jesus Christ. There was a knife, a basin, I'd
never seen before. Oh, it's wonderful to go down
through the major characteristics and attributes of the Lord, of
God, as this man of God did at one time, long time ago, and
other people have done the same thing, wrote great books about
these things. But what a glory it is. as the
Holy Spirit reveals the truth of Jesus Christ to us, to be
able to once again see those details about Him that cause
us to fall down and worship Him, the true and the living God.
There is never a day that He does not have something to display
about Himself that we can mark up and say, I got to see another
bowl. I got to see another vessel about
the Lord. I got to see some more glory
about him. I saw him in his gold as he's
the majesty on high. I saw him in his silver as he's
the substitute. And I saw him in his brass as
he is the judge. He judged my sin in Christ and
I am now able to go to him in freedom. Just as these saints
are going to get to go back. It would all be summed up as a queen of Sheba summed up
the wisdom of Solomon one day. You remember that account? The
queen of Sheba, she had heard of the wisdom of Solomon. And that wasn't enough. She got
in her Lincoln Continental and drove up to Jerusalem. Would
you turn with me to 2 Chronicles for just a moment? As we think
about this, all of those great and wonderful and extra large
characteristics and attributes of the Lord, they are so delightful
for every believer to bow down and see them. Oh, his perseverance,
his eternality, his sovereignty, his saviorship, every one of
those great truths. But we also get to find out he
knows the number of the hair of our head. I got to see another
basin, another bowl, one more characteristic that is not brought
up in some of these great books about God. In the book of 2nd
Chronicles, 2nd Chronicles chapter nine, 2nd Chronicles chapter
nine, we have a queen. She's called the queen of the
south in the New Testament. She comes up to Jerusalem. She's
heard word about Solomon and his wisdom. 2nd Chronicles chapter
nine, beginning with verse one. And when the queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon, She came to prove Solomon with hard questions
at Jerusalem. With a very great company, and
camels that bear spices, and gold in abundance, and precious
stones. And when she was come to Solomon,
she communed with him of all that was in her heart. And Solomon
told her all her questions. What a wonderful picture we have
of Solomon, of Jesus Christ. There was nothing hid from Solomon
which he told her not. Come, see a man that told me
all things ever I did. Woman at the well. And when the
Queen of Sheba has seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house that
he built, and the meat of his table, and the sitting of his
servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel,
and his cupbearers also, and their apparel. You know, a cupbearer
was to check the food before the king ate it. There's a whole
bunch of people under Solomon's reign who are just glad to have
that job. They're willing to taste the food because it's Solomon. And their apparel in his assent
by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more
spirit in her. That means she just couldn't
comprehend all she saw. It's kind of like God's people
today, finding out, I just can't comprehend all 5,400 vessels
that were in the temple that Nebuchadnezzar brought out. I
know they're there. I know the count of them, but
I don't understand all what they mean. She just has her mind I
can't comprehend all the glory of Solomon and the church cannot
comprehend all the glory of their Savior. Beyond comprehension,
I'm just stopped in my tracks. I hear this among people, oh
God's an awesome God. If they ever knew that, He would
be. It's not a flippant statement
that we're to use. It's a reverential statement.
He is beyond explanation. All right, it goes on here. 2
Chronicles 9, and it says there, verse 5, and she said to the
king, it was a true report which I heard in my own land of thine
acts and of thy wisdom. How be it? I believe not their
words. Reminds me of a passage of scripture
over in the book of Corinthians when the Apostle Paul talks about
all those folks who got to see the Lord Jesus after his resurrection. And finally he said, last of
all, he was seen of me. Last of all, he was seen of me. I didn't believe it. I'd heard
the word. How many folks that are believers
had that to say about the gospel? I just didn't believe it. People
kept bringing it to me, but I didn't believe it. I kept hearing about
it, but I didn't believe it until I came. And mine eyes have seen it, and
behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me. As great as they said it, they
couldn't express it like it is when I get to see it. One half
of your wisdom I was not told. For thou excellest the fame that
I heard. You got more pans and bowls and
knives and spoons than I could ever think possible. I knew and I heard you were great,
you were put there by Almighty God, but all of this finery that's
around you, and the servants that you have, how they desire
to wait upon you, and even the cupbears are working overtime
so they can get in there and just be with you, taste your
wine and your chicken before you eat it. They're so glad to
do that. You know, we find out that among
God's people, they don't even mind doing some menial tasks
for the Lord. And it goes on to say here, happy are thy men, happy are
these thy servants which stand continually before thee and hear
thy wisdom. Blessed be the Lord thy God,
which delighteth in thee to set thee on his throne. to be king
for the Lord thy God, because thy God loved Israel, to establish
them forever, therefore made he the king over them to do judgment
and justice. What an explanation this queen
of the south declares about Solomon, and what an explanation everyone
that is ever born again will say about their savior, the Lord
Jesus. A long time ago, there was a
group of folks that came and they were stopped by some disciples. They were Greeks. And they were
stopped by the disciples and their comment was, we would see
Jesus. Well, finally they got a hearing.
Why did they want to see Jesus and why do we want to see Jesus
here in the Old Testament? Because the Lord Jesus shares
with us that beginning at Moses and the prophets, he expounded
to them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself.
That word expounded means to unfold the meaning of what is
said. That's one of the ministries
of the Holy Spirit on our behalf is to unfold the meaning of scripture
for us so that we might see the glories of this one whose name
is Jesus. We would see Jesus and may he
unfold before us every time we read the scriptures the meaning
of it with regard to the Lord Jesus. We know this all is about
these items that were in the temple. They meant nothing to
the Babylonians. Have you noticed that? They took
them out, but where did they put them? In the temple of their
false god. Well, we have other times that
people have taken things from Israel. Remember that time they
took the mercy seat? They took the ark? And boy, they
said, we got it, and we're going to be blessed. And before you
know it... Folks are sick. They got diseases
they never heard about before. They put this in the temple of
their God and the next day their God is falling over on his face
and they raise him back up. And the next day come in and
he falls over and he's got his arms broken off. He can do nothing. He can't hear. He can't see.
He can't feel. He can't go. And so what are
we going to do now? What are we going to do now?
And they put that ark on a cart with a cow that has a calf that's
sucking her and you know how cows and calves are, I've got
in between a mama cow and her calf and wished I hadn't. They
know what to use their head for. But this cow, a milk cow with
a calf, went off lowing, carrying the ark back to Israel. A lot of folks want to have a
lucky rabbit's foot, and I think that that's what Nebuchadnezzar
was thinking about when he took all this stuff out. Now it was
humiliating to Benjamin and Judah to strip the temple, it was a
mark that God's word is absolutely true when he said, you're going
into captivity and this place is gonna fall. And when they
came in and they took all of those articles out and carried
them in the open so that those people could see it, they understood
that God had spoken and God had spoken the truth. It's carried
over there to Babylon and put into the temple of their God,
and for 70 years, it gathers dust, except for the last night
of Belteshazzar, who brings it out to drink from and to frolic
over, when he sees, and the Bible says, his knees knocked together,
when he saw on the wall the writing of God. You've been weighed in
the balance and found wanting, and that night, well, we're so
glad that 70 years later, after they were taken, they're being
sent home. They're small items. Many of
them, they've been in Babylon for 70 years, and it's much like
the prophet. As they're carried off, into
Babylonian captivity. Let's just think about what happened
during that 70 years for just a moment. In the book of Amos,
would you turn with me to the book of Amos? I think of this
as the word of God was fulfilled with Benjamin and Judah and they
were carried off There was not one good thing about them why
they shouldn't be carried off. And on the flip side, there was
not one good thing about them that they should ever be let
free. The only thing that was on their
side was the grace of God, nothing else. They hadn't reformed when
they got into Babylonian captivity. They all said, we're sorry we
got caught. But there was no reformation.
They were the same in the heart as they were when they arrived.
They're going to carry back the same exact problems when they
get to go back. And here for these 70 years,
while this is going on, It tells us in the book of Amos, small
book filled with the good message of God. God is so faithful and
he says one of the worst things that can take place anywhere is a famine. A famine of the word. Can you
just think in your mind as all of those instruments that were
used down there at the temple were carried out and not seen
for 70 years? How much preaching went on during
that time? How many sacrifices were fulfilled
that God had required and requested? None. We have an idle time. Now it's not idle for the Holy
Spirit. But it is an idle time for the temple. And here in the
book of Amos chapter 8 and verse 11, behold, the days come, saith
the Lord God, that I will send a famine in the land. You know, I think this passage
of scripture is fulfilled in every generation. Everywhere throughout the world.
There'll come a time when they'll send a famine. But he says, not
a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water. It won't be a famine
that people are starving to death or don't have water to drink,
but a worse famine, and that is but of the hearing of the
words of the Lord. Seventy years there was a lacking
among Judah. The declarations of the need
for a lamb for a substitute was not seen, but it was all in God's
purpose. For we read in the word of the
book of Galatians, in Saul's life he was in a famine. And yet he was able to see when
it pleased God. 70 years of being stored in the
temple of the gods of the Babylonians and the Persians. 70 years being set aside. 70
years not being used. 70 years people didn't get to
see this. 70 years they didn't get to observe
the sacrifices that God had imposed upon Israel. for 70 years, they're
in darkness. And then one day, the day sparks
open as they're carried out into the sunshine, and once again,
the glories of the kingdom of God are seen by the children
of Israel. One more time, God is pleased
to show them the benefits of the Lord Jesus Christ. We may
not be able to understand what each of those vessels meant and
what God prescribed in the building of them. but every one of them
had a reflection of the Lord Jesus Christ, and we are thankful
when God pulls those things out of storage, out of darkness,
and allows His people to see His glory in the face of Jesus
Christ. What a glorious day it was when
the Apostle Paul was able to say, and he wasn't an apostle
and he wasn't Paul at the time, but he was able to look back
and say, where did please God who separated me from my mother's
womb to reveal Christ in me? He once again, somebody got to
see the glories of all those vessels. It's been absolutely amazing
to me how many of the glorious passages of scripture were put
into Babylonian captivity in the temple of a false god by
the pastors I had while I was growing up. Every scripture that said anything
about God's choice or God saving without human help or God the
true sanctification of his people were put in storage. hidden, kept, put away. But by God's grace, when the
70 years are finished, when it is the appointed time, when it
please God, He pulls all of those things out of storage and with
people who don't believe Him trying to keep them from people's
minds, God lets us see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Get to see, not understand everything,
we'll never, but get to see the wonders of the Lord. Every scripture
has something to say about the Lord Jesus Christ. Chapters went
unused. I don't know about where you
grew up, but where I grew up, there were entire chapters and
much of many books that were never even read. And we were not encouraged to
read them because that would just confuse us. Religions are based upon only
the priests are able to interpret the scriptures for the folks. and that's where I was. But according
to God's grace, God's mercy, he revealed to me the truth of
the gospel. Now, all of those great vessels,
the mercy seat, the table of showbread, the candlestick, the
lavers, Altars that were there, the temple,
the tent, the coverings, the boards, everything have something
to say about the Lord Jesus and we have the blessing of going
and discovering them to know the truth of the gospel. that
it is not man-made, but it's God-sent, that God was in charge
of it all along. He's the one that gave the message
to Moses on how to build them. He was the one that said they're
going to be carried off into captivity, and he's the one that
said they're going to be released from captivity, and my people
will get to see them again. I've often thought if I could
ever visit with most of those guys, most of them are dead now. What parts of the Bible do you
wish was not there? Because we read about a king
over in the Old Testament, the book of Jeremiah. A scroll was
brought out and they started to read it to him. It's the only
time in the Bible where a pin knife is mentioned. And they'd
read it to him, and you know what he did? He'd walk over there
to the reader and take his knife and cut off two or three or four
leaves and throw it in the fire. And then he'd have more red.
And then he'd cut that off and throw it away. That still goes
on. But we are thankful for the sovereignty
of God that can take the most unheard of people in the most
unheard of place so that they can see the glory of God brought
out of a false temple and put out in the sunshine and for the
entire trek home back to Jerusalem. We say, oh, look at the gold
in that. Look at that silver. Isn't that
the most handsome knife you've ever seen in your life? because
it reflects the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Salvation is of the Lord. Don't lose heart. Salvation is
of God. Don't lose heart. When it pleases
God, He'll do what He intends to do. And those folks said,
Amen.