Okay, now this evening we're
going back to the Gospel of Ezra, and we're going to be looking
at Ezra chapter 8. And as my usual manner, I'm going
to give you the title of the message. I'm taking the title
for the message from the phrase that is found several times in
chapter 7 and in chapter 8. And one of the phrases of those
two chapters that I'll give the title to the message too is,
the hand of our God was upon us. Look at verse 31, then we
departed from the river of Hava on the twelfth day of the first
month to go unto Jerusalem and the hand of our God was upon
us and He delivered us. The hand of our God was upon
us and He delivered us. Now remember that phrase is used
several times. Look back at chapter 7, chapter
7 verse 6. Ezra went up from Babylon. He was a ready scribe in the
law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given, and
the king granted him all his requests according to the hand
of the Lord his God was upon him. And then in chapter 7, we
read earlier, verse 28, God hath extended mercy unto
me before the king, and his counsel before all the kings of the mighty
princes, and I was strengthened as the hand of the Lord my God
was upon me." Now we're talking about the hand of God. The hand
of Almighty God. And then in chapter 8, verse
18, "...and by the good hand of our God upon us, they brought
us some men," says their man, but men of understanding, the
good hand of God. The Lord is good. His hand is powerful, almighty,
and His hand is good. And then one other, beside verse
31 that we just read, down in verse 21, He said, I was ashamed
to require the king a band of soldiers and horsemen or cavalry
to help against the enemy. That is, he did not want to ask
for protection on this journey back because we had spoken unto
the king, that is, Artaxerxes, saying, the hand of our God is
upon all them for good that seek him. But the hand of the Lord,
his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him. The hand of our God was upon
these people." Now think about that blessed thought for just
a moment. The hand of Almighty God has
always been upon His covenant people. Kind, tender hands of almighty
impotence has always been upon the people of God. What a blessed
place to be. That is where the elect of God
have always been in the heart of God, in the hand of God, on
the shoulder of God. You remember the Lord said in
John 10, 27, none can pluck them out of my hand. My Father which
giveth them is greater than all, and no man can pluck them out
of my Father's hand. I and my Father, we are one. Now why can't any pluck God's
elect out of his hand? Why? Because there's none mightier
than God. Because none can stay his hand
or say unto him, Lord God Almighty, what doest thou? That's what
God taught Nebuchadnezzar, remember? Daniel four, verse 35. In Psalm
31, verse 15, we read this. David said, my times are in thy
hand. Deliver me from the hand of the
enemy my time is in his hand someone wrote a song years ago
Entitled my times are in thy hand and then he said my god. I want them there I want to be
in the hand of Almighty God in Psalm 95 verse 7 We read this
for he is our God We are the people of his pasture and the
sheep of his hand Psalm 95, seven, were the sheep of his hand. The
Lord is the good shepherd of the sheep. He's the great shepherd
of the sheep. He's the cheap shepherd of the
sheep. Where in his hand, oh, he's a
good shepherd. He laid down his life for the
sheep. The good shepherd did. Now, by
way of further introduction, in Ezra chapter eight, we find
Ezra and about 1500 men, Women and children, not counting,
coming together by the riverside, preparing to leave Babylon and
to go toward Jerusalem. Verse 15, I gathered them together
to the river that runneth to Hava. There they are, bivouacked,
preparing to cross the river, preparing to go through the wilderness,
preparing to cross over Jordan, preparing to go into the land
of Canaan. It reminded me of many pioneers in this country
as they traveled in the early 1800s, including my forefathers,
camped there on the banks of the Missouri River. There was
a place there in Missouri. along the Missouri River, that's
in now-day Iowa, called Council Bluff, Iowa. And that was a gathering
place, like a hive. They gathered together and they
would bivouac there. Sometimes they would camp all
winter there, waiting to go west when the weather was suitable
for travel. They went from there in Iowa,
across the Missouri River, to follow either the Oregon Trail
or the Mormon Trail. Those trails are still marked
out today. You can actually follow those
trails. They're marked out, and some
places you can even see the wagon wheel ruts, still there. It was a well-traveled trailer,
trail rather. Now, we see these people here,
bivouacked or camped there by the riverside, getting ready
to leave Babylon, never going to get out of Babylon. Babylon
in the scripture is held forth as a type and picture of false
pagan religion That's why I read revelation 17 Babylon the great
mother of harlots When God is pleased to gather us to himself
in saving mercy. He does so affectionately notice
in chapter 7 verse 28 He says there, "...and I was
strengthened as the hand of the Lord God was upon me, and I gathered
together out of Israel these chief men." God gathers together
His people, and He does so affectionately, affectionately. And then it says
again in verse 15 of chapter 8, "...I gathered them together."
And that's what God does by His grace. He calls us out of darkness
into His marvelous light, out of idolatry and false religion
into the glorious kingdom of His grace. Paul calls it a translation. We've been translated out of
the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son
that we should show forth the praises of Him who called us
out of darkness into His marvelous, marvelous light. He calls us
to turn to God from our Babylon, from our idols to serve the living
and true God. Now Isaiah writes about that. He says, the ransomed of the
Lord, those who are bought with a price, shall return and come
to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their head. They shall
obtain joy and gladness and sorrow, and Zion shall flee away. And that's talking about God's
delivering His ransom. Deliver them from going down
to the pit. God said, I found a ransom. Now
again, our aim in our study through 1 and 2 Samuel, through 1 and
2 Kings, and through the book of Ezra, our aim again is to
preach the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ from wherever we
turn in the Word of God. We're always looking for Christ
and the gospel. We know that Ezra here was a
priest of God. We talked about that last week.
And being the priest of God, a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ,
our great high priest. Now Ezra was of the family of
Aaron, remember? We trace his genealogy back to
Aaron and The Lord Jesus Christ is a priest like Aaron, but more
like Melchizedek, a priest forever, forever, according to God's eternal
purpose. But I also want to consider As
we look at these books, they're called the historical books,
Ezra, Nehemiah, 1st, 2nd Samuel, 1st, 2nd King. I want to not
only consider the historical facts of the story of Ezra and
how he and the people of Judah came to Jerusalem by the purpose
of God, by the will of God, by the promise of God, by the power
of God, that most of these people that came back in this second
wave were born in Babylon. Now some of those that came back
originally with those who came then in that time with Zerubbabel,
Zerubbabel the king being a type and picture of Christ. Some of
them had been in Jerusalem and were carried off into captivity.
But now this is almost 60 years later. Most of those who came
back in this second wave had never been to Jerusalem. They
were born in Babylon. They were raised in Babylon. They were subjected and forced
to bow unto Baal. That's us by nature. By nature,
we're born in false religion and Babylon, and we naturally
gravitate to that because of our sinful, depraved nature. This is our story. We're born
in sin, just like they were born in Babylon. We're born in sin,
shaping in iniquity. And it's only because of the
sovereign purpose of God that any of these people were delivered.
I mean, they would have stayed right there in Babylon. Right? Had not God purposed to deliver
them. He could have justly left them
to perish in their sin, but that was not His purpose, was it?
He purposed, He said, 70 years you're going to stay and then
you're coming out of there. And that was according to his
time, according to his purpose. The same is true for us today.
The Lord could have left us dead in our sin, in false religion. He could have left us in our
Babylon and done so justly. Justly. Dead in trespasses and
in sin. But thanks be to God, He didn't. He delivered us. He delivered
us. Why did He deliver you? Not your
brother. I've got eight brothers, none
of them believe the gospel. Why did the Lord deliver me?
Because it pleased Him to do so. It's by His purpose and His
grace that He has delivered us, and that purpose and grace was
given us in Christ before we were ever born, before the foundation
of the world. Who makes you to differ from
another? What do you have that you did not receive? You see,
it's all of His grace, is it not? He gave us faith to believe the
gospel, but we'd still be loving darkness and hating light. Now I've got five different divisions
in this chapter here, divided into five different parts. The
first division being verse 15 down through verse 20, when Ezra
assembled the company of 1,500 or so, not counting the little
ones, women and children, and viewed the people, he found that
there was immediate problem. Did you notice that in verse
15? They abode in the tents three days, and I viewed the people."
Now, you know, three days to looking over all these 1,500
people, and these men, not counting women and children, and the priest,
and found that there was none of the sons of Levi there. Now this was an immediate problem. No sons of Levi there to minister
unto the people while they traveled 600 miles. It took them four
months, and I did the math on that, 120 days, that would be five miles
a day, that's 600 miles. Now, just imagine here, we've
over here camped on the banks of the Big Sandy, and we're gonna
cross the Big Sandy, and we're gonna go all the way to St. Louis, Missouri for 120 days,
five miles a day. That's quite a journey, is it
not? Now, they were traveling across the wilderness. Ezra,
to eliminate the problem of not having any priests there, he
sent these men that we read of in verse 16, Eleazar, Shimei,
and others, Elnathan, they sent these men to a town and to a
man by the name of Adu, Adu, verse 17, Adu was a chief Levite,
he was an instructor of ministers and they gathered out 38 Levites
and 220 Nethamins to assist them in their journey toward Jerusalem
and to assist in the worship of God. As we read down to verse
17, 18, 19, and verse 20 of Ezra chapter 8. And of these 220 Nethemans,
of all them, they were expressed by name. Now their names are
not given, but God says here, I know your name. The foundation
of God standeth sure, having a seal of the Lord, knoweth them
that are His." Now I like this phrase, it's found in verse 18.
So they send these men to Adu, the chief place, or the chief
Levite here in Caspia, looking for ministers of the temple. And it says, verse 18, and by
the good luck of God, We were just lucky. We were just lucky. Just the old good old lady luck.
Misfortune. Those are three ladies I never
like to mention. Misfortune, lady luck, or mother
nature. By the good hand of our God was
upon us and supplied our need. Men of understanding that might
minister unto God in this matter of worship. By the good hand
of our Lord, the need was supplied. Now, I love that. I love to think
about that. The good hand of the Lord, when
he opens his hand, He satisfies the desire of every living thing.
That's what the scriptures teach. My God shall supply all your
need according to his riches in glory. One old writer said
this, if ministers are lacking and vacancies supplied, let God
have all the glory or give God all the glory. His good hand
be acknowledged as the making of ministers of the gospel, it
is of the Lord. Now, think about that. It is
a precious gift of God to give a man to minister to a people
of God. Paul said, I was made a minister
according to the gift of his grace. by the effectual working
of His power. I should preach the unsearchable
riches of Christ." And that's what men who were called and
put in the ministry preached. They preached Christ. They lift
up Christ. And the Lord is still meeting
the need of His churches today. Aren't you glad? Today the Lord
is still raising up ministers of the gospel and sending them
to preach the gospel of Christ and Him crucified. And it's by
the good hand of the Lord. I think of two recently. You know, when we first started
going to Kingsport in 2006, it's been more than ten years that
that ministry has been carried on down there. I went down there and supplied
that pulpit for six years and we prayed and we prayed, Lord
send a pastor, Lord raise up a pastor. And the Lord sent a
pastor there, Gabe Stoniker. And Brother Gabe has been there
now almost five years. It's amazing. That was by the
good hand of the Lord. And I think recently, about the
Lord supplying the need for the pulpit there in Fayetteville,
North Carolina, Bethel Baptist Church, and the Lord raised up
John Chapman. We're going to miss Brother John,
but I talked with him on the phone today and asked him how
things were going. He said, they're just going great, just going
great. He's in the process of selling
his house and in the process of moving down there. And he
said, things just couldn't be any better. And I'm so thankful.
How'd that happen? Well, we just got lucky. No,
sir. I don't even like to use that
word. I don't even like to use that word. It's by the good hand
of God's sovereign providence, he brought that to pass. Isn't
it so obvious? It is so obvious, isn't it? The
good hand of God's sovereign providence. Now here's the second
point. found in verse 21, 22, and 23. Before Ezra begins his journey,
he seeks the face and favor of the Lord in prayer and fasting. It reminds me of what Moses said
in Exodus 33. He said, if thy presence go not
with me, carry us not up hence. Look what he said, verse 21.
Then I proclaim to fast there, at the river of Hava, that we
might afflict ourselves before our God to seek Him a right way
for us, and for our little ones, for all our substance. For I
was ashamed to require the king a band of soldiers, a band of
soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in a way,
because we had said, we had spoken to our king, to our deserters,
saying, the hand of our God is upon us, upon all them that for
good that seek him. Now, Ezra prayed for direction
of which way that he might go to evade the enemies in the land. But he didn't have the cloud
by day like Moses had. Remember that cloud? And the
pillar by fire, the pillar of fire by night like Moses had
in the wilderness. But he still had this. He had
the mighty, mighty hand of God. The hand of our God is upon us. At the hand of God upon us, nothing
is going to happen to us outside His will and His purpose. Now, this phrase here, to seek
Him a right way for us. Now, what would you do with that? How would you make a gospel application
to that? Proverbs 14, 12 said, there is
a way that seems right unto men, but the end of that way is death. What is the way that appears
to men? Well, it's the way of works, the way of doing, but
the end of that way is death. We know in the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ is not only the right way, He is the way. He is the way. There is salvation
in no other. He said, I am the way, I am the
truth, I am the life. No man come to the father but
by and through me. Mark it down, no one. He's the
door into the sheepfold. Verse 22. I was ashamed to require the
king, a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the
enemy in a way, because we had said, the hand of our God is
upon us. Ezra was ashamed to ask for an army, an accompanying
army from Babylon or from Persia. He didn't want to ask King Artaxerxes
for an accompanying army because Ezra trusted God and he said,
God will protect us. The good hand of God is for us. To those that seek Him, the good
hand of God is upon those that seek Him. You remember Romans
8, 28, and we know, we know, and we know all things work together
for good to them who love God, to them who are be called according
to His purpose. If God be for us, who can be
against us? He said, I'll never leave you,
I'll never forsake you. Lord, He said, I'm with you always,
even to the end of the earth. The hand of our God is upon all
them for good that seek Him, but, underscore that B-U-T, but,
His wrath. Now I don't want to be under
His wrath. I don't want anything to do with His wrath. His wrath
is against all them that forsake Him. The Scripture says, He that
believeth on the Son hath life. He that believeth not the Son,
what? The wrath of God abides on them. His wrath and His power. His
power. And the power of His wrath is
upon them that forsake God and say, as the psalmist said, those
ungodly who said, there's no God for me. Those who forsake
God, He'll deal with them in justice. You see, our God apart
from Christ, our mediator, our surety, our God apart from Christ
is a consuming fire. There is no salvation apart from
the Lord Jesus Christ. So, Ezra 8 verse 23, so we fasted. We besought our God. What were
they doing here? They're praying unto the Lord,
weren't they? They were seeking the Lord. They
were asking the Lord. Seek and you shall find, ask
and it shall be given, knock. Remember, the door of mercy will
be open. So we fasted and we sought our God for this and he
was intrigued of us. He heard our cry and he answered
our prayer. So much so that it says over
here in verse 32, and we came to Jerusalem. For as we know, no one hurt,
no one lost, no danger from the enemy, and we came to Jerusalem. So we fasted and we prayed unto
our God. He was entreated of us, was our
intercessor, was our mediator. One old preacher said this, never
did any seek God in earnest and seek Him in vain. Do they? Never! Never! Did any seek God
in earnest, and seek Him in vain?" Remember that wide open promise
the Lord gives in Luke 11. We had that Sunday morning. Everyone
that asketh, receiveth. And he that seeketh, findeth.
To him that knocketh, it shall be opened. I'm going to knock. I'm going to seek. I'm going
to call upon the Lord. Never did any seek God in earnest
and seek Him in vain. Ezra and his company had their
heart cry heard and answered." How do we know that? How do we
know it was answered? They came to Jerusalem. God brought
them to Jerusalem. All that the Father giveth to
me shall come to me, and those that come to me I will in no
wise cast out." Can't we make that application there? Now here's
the third thing. The particular care that Ezra
gave to the treasure of the Lord's house. The particular care, verse
24 all the way down to verse 30. the particular care that
Ezra gave to this treasure for the Lord's house." Now I'll just
point out a couple of things here quickly, verse 24, "...then
I separated twelve of the chief priests and Shebaiah and ten
of their brethren with them." The treasure of the silver and
of the gold and the fine copper brass were carefully given to
twelve of the chief priests or the chief men. And Ezra down
in verse 28 tells us why they were given this treasure. So
he says in verse 28 and 29, Watch ye, keep them, and weigh
them before the chief priest in Jerusalem." They were given
this treasure of the silver and the gold and the copper and the
brass to keep it safe, to keep it, watch it, weigh it. Now,
I thought about this. The Lord gave 12 apostles and
the treasure of the gospel He gave to those 12 apostles. He
calls it the keys of the spiritual kingdom and he sent them forth
to preach it. That is to watch it and to keep
it. And we commit the preaching of
the gospel to faithful, proven men. The Lord says to Peter,
You're a rock. I've made you a rock. And upon
this rock of Christ Jesus, I will build my church and the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. Now this treasure, the preachers
of the gospel of all of God's people, we have the treasure
of the gospel in earthen vessels, don't we? earth and vessels,
that he might receive all the honor and glory." He says in
verse 28, he says unto them, you are holy unto the Lord, the
vessels are holy also, and the silver and the gold are free
will offering unto the Lord God of your fathers. You are holy to the Lord. Now
none are holy in themselves, But what he's saying here, these
men were set apart for holy purposes unto God and made holy only in
Christ. None are holy in themselves,
but every believer is holy in Christ. He is our righteousness. He is our sanctification. We don't go about to make ourselves
holy, do we? To make ourselves righteous,
do we? We don't establish a righteousness by our doing, but we are holy
in the Lord. Verse 28, I said unto them, you
are holy unto the Lord. Now God says that of all His
people, you're holy unto the Lord. And these vessels, they're
holy also. They're set apart for God's purpose. And that's what He has done for
His gospel ministers. He sets them apart for His holy
purpose. The fourth thing I wanna point
out in verse 31, 32. Verse 31. Then we departed from the river
of Ahabba on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem,
and the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from
the hand of the enemy, and of such that lie in wait by the
way. And we came to Jerusalem and abode there three days. He
delivered us from the hand of the enemy. None perished on the
journey to Jerusalem." And the Lord had delivered us, hadn't
He? From sin, He put away our sin. From Satan, He's crushed
His dominion from the law. He delivered us, redeemed us
from the curse of the law. And He's even delivered us from
death. He that believeth on the Son
shall never die. Do you believe this? Absolutely. None perished. And we know this
because Christ is our deliverer. None can perish for whom the
Lord Jesus Christ died. He is called our Deliverer. He is the Captain of our salvation
who is bringing many sons home to glory, right? Christ is the
just one who suffered for the unjust that he might bring us
unto God. He delivered us from the wrath
to come. God not appointed us to wrath,
but to obtain salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's
the last thing I want us to see. In the Gospel of Ezra, chapter
8, verse 33, down through verse 34, when they get there on the
fourth day, they take all the treasure, and they give it to
those in charge in the temple, and then they do this. By the
number and by weight, every one and all the weight was written
at that time. They discharged their responsibility,
they turned everything back over to those who were in charge,
Verse 35, also the children of those that had been carried away,
which were come out of captivity, offered burnt offerings unto
the Lord, unto the God of Israel, twelve bullocks for all Israel,
ninety and six rams, seventy and seven lambs, seventy-seven
lambs, twelve he goats for sin offering, all this was a burnt
offering, remember, The blood on the altar is unto the Lord. The blood atonement of Christ
is not offered unto man. Notice, all this was a burnt
offering unto the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. Now, the blood sacrifice is offered
unto the Lord, these 12 bullocks, 12 goats, for a burnt offering
and a sin offering. And we know that Christ is our
sin offering, Christ is our atonement for sin, He is our burnt offering,
the wrath of God, He consumed the wrath of God on our behalf,
bearing our sin in His own body on the tree. Those 96 rams ate
for each of the 12 tribes, Notice, it's the blood atonement of Christ
that secures mercy and everlasting salvation for us, that brings
in everlasting righteousness for us. And notice, again, it's
a particular atonement. It's a definite atonement and
particular redemption. It wasn't a blood offering for
all the Amalekites, the Hittites, the Jebusites, and all the other
people. It was for Israel. for the twelve tribes of Israel.
And the Lord Jesus Christ died for His covenant people. Like in Ezra 6, 17, it was a
particular redemption, and it's taught all through the Word,
call His name the Lord Jesus Christ, for He shall save His
people from their sin. Now, these 77 lambs, why an odd
number? You can't divide 12 into that
evenly, can you? But 7 is a number in Scripture
that's given for perfection, right? And here, it's a double
7. A double perfection. What does
that tell us about? The Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And that's what that's a picture
of. That's why it's a double 7 there. A double seven. A number of perfection. Behold
the Lamb of God that takes away our sin. Christ is our complete
and perfect sacrifice for sin that justifies us forever. For
by one offering He has perfected forever them that are sanctified. In Revelation 5.5 it said, talking
about the Lamb, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Lamb that
had been newly slain had Seven horns, seven eyes. There's that
double seven. It's Christ. You see, nothing
in the Word of God is insignificant. Now, I read everybody that I
know to read about, John Gill, Robert Hawker, Matthew Henry,
Matthew Poole, Philip Godridge, all these different men trying
to figure out this. Why 77? Not one of them. saw that that was the perfection
of Christ, the Lamb of God, not one. Now, I'm not saying I'm
smart or anything. They just missed it. I'm sure
that others have seen that. That Christ is our perfect sacrifice. Much more than being now justified
by His blood, we shall be saved from wrath through Him. Now, in closing, verse 36. When they offered all the burnt
offerings, the sin offering, and worshiped the Lord, approached
the Lord, He said, When I see the blood, I'll pass over you.
And they delivered the king's commissions, remember his decree,
unto the king's lieutenants, and to Artaxerxes, the king of
Persia's lieutenants, and to the governors on this side of
the river. And they furthered the people in the house of God. Ezra delivered the decree to
those civil authorities in charge. It did two things. They furthered
the people of God, that is, removed any obstacle for them to worship
God in the temple around the blood sacrifice. Remember, the
king even provided money for those animal sacrifices. And then the house of God. Remember,
many tried to stop the work on the temple of God, remember?
And the Lord said, no, it's not going to happen. because the
Lord said, My house will be finished. The house was finished on the
third day of the month Adar, which is the sixth year in the
reign of Darius. Now, here's my last thought. Even so, in the gospel of the
Lord Jesus Christ, the King's word, which is His decree, will
not return unto Him void, but it will accomplish His purpose.
Now, Artaxerxes made the decree, wrote it down, put it in a letter,
gave it to Ezra. He took it to Jerusalem and delivered
it. And what did he do? Helped the
people of God. And it furthered the house of
God, the building up of the kingdom of God. The Lord says, so shall
my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth. It shall not return
unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall
prosper in a thing whereunto I stand it. You see, His Word
was effectual, wasn't it? That's the Gospel. That's Christ. His Word always accomplishes
His purpose. It can't return to Him void.
I thought of the Scripture over in Psalm 119, Through thy precepts
I get understanding, therefore I hate every false way. If you
don't hate every false way, it's because you don't have any understanding.
If you can tolerate the religion of Babylon, and I know we have
to tolerate to some extent, but I'm not going to participate
in it. Come out of Babylon. Get out of there. Get out of
Dodge by sundown. Get out. Get out of Babylon. To thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate every false way. I hate that which is contrary
to the gospel of Christ. I mean, I hate it with a passion.
I hate it. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet,
a light unto my path. You see, we feed upon the word
of the Lord. Christ is our bread.