Category: Ezra

Read Ezra 10:18-44 Any parent or adult who has supervised children knows that the time that is most fearful is when they go suddenly, terribly, quiet. Usually that means they are up to no good. Generally, they are hoping and thinking that they will get away with it. Inevitably, they are wrong. Whether discovered straight…

That repentance brought the same from many of God’s People who observed him, and were convicted by the Holy Spirit to do the same. It also brought a sense of perspective, as it was Shecaniah who encouraged Ezra that all was not lost. Sometimes, leaders need reminding of God’s mercy too.

We need to understand the point of the laws, and what they meant for the Jewish people and for us today in the light of Christ. That is true of Ezra’s objection to intermarriage. This was not based on racism, but religious purity. And importantly, Ezra’s response reminds us that whatever the corporate sin of…

Ezra’s example is one we can follow as well as we walk through our own seasons of change. As believers, we know that for all those in Christ God works all things together for our good, just as Ezra could proclaim “the hand of our God is for good on all who seek him”. Same…

Ezra was returning to Jerusalem to bring about further reform of the worship and rule of God’s People there. He went as a man appointed by his earthly king, on the command of his Heavenly King. He did not travel alone, but with thousands of other returnees.

This list also gives us a cultural check. In our culture, youth is idolised. Everyone wants to look young. Sometimes it feels like everything is catered to children, including the way some churches focus their strategy for evangelism. But the Bible looks at it the reverse. Perhaps we have missed something.

Ezra was a man who was placed in the blessed position. Ezra wanted to return to Jerusalem to reform worship and life there. Thankfully, he had the Persian king’s bidding and backing in his task. Yet this backing, whatever the human reasoning behind it, was ultimately based on God’s hand. Ezra truly was doing the…

Nearly sixty years pass between the end of chapter 6 and the beginning of chapter 7. At the end of chapter 6, a group of exiles had returned. They had rebuilt the altar, endured twenty years of oppression and resistance, rebuilt the temple, resumed worship, and celebrated God’s goodness to them. All must now be…

Today we do not have a physical temple at a central location, but God’s temple is his church. Wherever his church meets to worship God and give thanks for our salvation in and through Jesus Christ, God is present. Every Sunday, through deeds of salvation in the lives of people and through acts of sanctification…