Trust the Word of God and trust the Power of God - Ezra 1
Category: Sermons and Seminars
Monday, 30 August 2004 by Peter Adam
Sermon preached on 17th February 2004, to open the College year and also to begin a sermon series on Ezra and Nehemiah.
Bible reading: Ezra 1.
What I want you to learn from Ezra chapter 1 is a very simple message, a very straightforward message. It is this, when God’s people are in a mess, trust the Word of God, and trust the power of God. When God’s people are in a mess, trust the Word of God, and trust the power of God.
I have the great good fortune to be a natural pessimist so I can start every sermon with a gloomy note!
And its true isn’t it, good things are happening around Melbourne and around Victoria and around Australia and around the world, but you would still have to say overall God’s people are in a bit of a pickle if not a total mess at present.
A very old friend of the college came to see me yesterday and he said “Why isn’t Ridley producing people who are effective in working class and welfare class ministry?” it is a great question isn’t it. He said Ridley graduates do well in the Eastern suburbs and in the politer areas of the centre of Melbourne but he said “where is the great work that Ridley graduates are doing among young people in working class and welfare class suburbs of Melbourne?” You would have to say that area of our life is not in good shape, you would have to say wouldn’t you that public profile of Christian believers and of the churches in the West is not very good. There is lots of hypocrisy, lots of scandal. You would have to say of the church in the West, that it is marked by heresy, apathy, legalism and hypocrisy. I’m afraid it is also true in many parts of the church in the 2/3rds world as well.
You could think of the failure of the church, the mess the people of God are in, as the failure of the church, that’s right we have lost our birth right, we have lost our sense of purpose, we have become inward looking, we have failed to bring God’s love to the world.
But if the church has failed, if there is a failure of the church, there is also the triumph of the world. That is secularism as a way of life seems to have triumphed in the West and if people do turn to religion, it seems to be uniformly to wrong religions. But if the church has failed and the world has triumphed in corrupting or destroying or marginalising the church, then we have to see in all of this, not only the failure of the church and the triumph of the world but the judgement of God. If you look of the letters to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3 you will see that the closure of a church marks the judgement of God.
Now you may not feel the mess very deeply, but I keep on meeting people who do feel the mess very deeply. I keep on meeting ministers who are profoundly discouraged by the gap between what they profess and their congregations profess and the reality of the life of the congregation. That’s a mess. And I keep on meeting lay people who say “I am frustrated out of my brain with my local church, it is not going anywhere, I am thinking of leaving if I can find a better church”, I say “best of luck, here is a list, you can start here and do your best.” People do feel that some how the church isn’t functioning as well as it should, or to put the case more dramatically in my language, the people of God are in a mess. Which is why I find the book of Ezra such a great book, because in chapter 1, we find the people of God in a mess. They are of course as you will remember in exile in Babylon; they have been taken to Babylon and they are in exile well away from their land, the temple has been destroyed and they are under the judgement of God. It is not put very vividly or emotionally, but it does come out in the first few words of Ezra.
In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia. What has happened to the Kings of Israel and Kings of Judah? Why are we being dated by a pagan King? Has false religion won the day? Well it looks like it. Cyrus as you might know was the King of Elam, and then conquered Persia, and then Assyria, and finally conquered Babylon in 539 BC, and although he is described here as the King Cyrus of Persia, and this is the first year of his reign in Babylon. He was one of the great heroes of the ancient world. But the naming of King Cyrus warns us that there is no King in Jerusalem. God’s great promise that a descendant of David would sit his throne in Jerusalem has collapsed. The people of God have failed, that the world has triumphed, and the judgement of God is seen clearly in the midst of the people of God. There is no King, God’s rule has been, as it might appear suspended, or has failed.
But not only is there no king in Jerusalem, but the temple has been destroyed. Notice how often the edict of Cyrus includes the reference to the house of God at Jerusalem in Judah end of verse 2; end of verse 3, to rebuild the house of the Lord; end of verse 4, for the house of God in Jerusalem, and in verse 5 the people got ready to go up and rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. Not only was there no descendant of David reigning in Jerusalem in the place which God had chosen, but there was no temple, no house of God. What had been lost when the temple was destroyed? The promise of God in the words of the covenant, the presence of God on the mercy seat, the forgiveness of God in the offering of sacrifices, and fellowship with God through the participation in those sacrifices. Jerusalem was the place which God had said that he would ‘make his name to live there’.
It was of that dwelling place that God had said, ‘make me a sanctuary that I may live among my people.’ But where is Jerusalem? Where is the temple? Destroyed. Where are the priests? In Babylon where are the vessels? In Babylon. Where are the people of God? In exile in Babylon. This is the people of God at rock bottom in the Old Testament isn’t it! The failure of the Church that triumph of the world and the judgement of God. Just turn back to the last chapter of 2 Chronicles and you will see explained very clearly why it happened. 2 Chronicles 36, 15, The Lord, the God of our ancestors said persistently to them by his messengers, because he had compassion on his people and on his dwelling place. But what happened? They kept mocking the messengers of God, despising His Words, scoffing at his prophets until the wrath of the Lord against his people became so great that there was no remedy. Don’t just think of the people of God and exile because of the failure of a political system or of a triumph of the King of Babylon. No it was because the wrath of the Lord was so great that there was no remedy for it. The people ignored the Word of God through prophets, and so they met the wrath of God.
When God’s people are in a mess what should they do? I love those words of the Sri Lankan theologian D.T Niles that ‘Hope lies amidst the ruins of our expectations’. What should we do when God’s people are in a mess? What should we do when they are saying in the words in Ezekiel 37, Our bones are dried up, our hope is lost and we are cut off. Well the answer is trust the Word of God, Ezra 1:1 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia in order that the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the Lord set up the spirit of King Cyrus of Persia so that he sent a herald throughout his kingdom and also a written edict declaring his policy of repatriation. So why do people return? Answer, it is that the Word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. It is because God’s words never fail. It is because God’s words never fall to the ground. It is because all the promises of God are fulfilled by a faithful God.
Let’s look at Jeremiah chapter 51 and you will find there the prophecy of Jeremiah which is probably referred to in Ezra 1:1. Jeremiah has of course prophesied the exile and here he is prophesying the return from the exile. Thus says the Lord “I am going to stir up a destructive wind against Babylon, I’ll send winnowers to Babylon and they shall winnow her, they shall empty her land and they come against her every side on the day of trouble.” Look at verse 5; Israel and Judah have not been forsaken by their God, the Lord of hosts though their land is full of guilt before the Holy One of Israel. And here is the warning to flee from Babylon, verse 6, Flee from the midst of Babylon, save your lives each of you do not perish because of her guilt for this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance he is repaying her what is due. Babylon was a golden cup in the Lords hand, that is God was using Babylon making all the earth drunken. The nations drank of her wine, so the nations went mad. But now with the rise of Cyrus, whom God has raised up, Babylon has fallen, has shattered, wait for her, bring balm for her wound, perhaps she may be healed. Or verse 11, the Lord has stood up the spirit of the Kings of the Medes, because his purposes for using Babylon is to destroy it. For that is the vengeance of the Lord. Vengeance for his temple. Raise the standard against the walls of Babylon.
So though the people had not obeyed the Word of God through the prophets it is the word of a prophet, which will bring them salvation. It is the fulfilment of God’s word through Jeremiah, which will lead to Cyrus’ decision to return the people from exile in Babylon to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple. You might think back to Isaiah 45 verse 1, thus says the Lord to his anointed Cyrus, or Deuteronomy chapter 30, from your exile to the ends of the world, there I will gather you and bring you back. So why are the people returning? The plain answer is the Word of God. It is by trusting the Word of God that they will again find their land, rebuild their temple and find their identity again in the place of Gods choosing.
But those of you who know the book of Jeremiah might also know that knowing the true Word of God was quite difficult in Jeremiah’s day. If you read through Jeremiah 23 you will find the majority of prophets were lying prophets. The majority of people who pretended to speak for God, weren’t speaking for God, they hadn’t listened to God, not like Jeremiah. So when God’s people are in a mess. It is very important to trust the true Word of God and not a deceptive word of God, not a false word of God, not a word of a lying prophet.
When Gods people are in a mess, trust the Word of God and trust the power of God. Notice what God does to Cyrus in Ezra 1:1 The Lord stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus in Persia so that he sent a herald throughout the kingdom and also the written edict declaring his plan to return the people. Well look at verse 5, The heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin and all the priests and Levites, everyone who’s spirit God had stirred. You see, what happens is that God’s plan, God’s stirring of Cyrus led to Cyrus’ policy of repatriating all the peoples captured by the Babylonians. It is an extraordinary powerful example of God using an unbeliever to achieve his purpose. You should never think to yourself I am not good enough for God to use. Because God can even use Cyrus for his good purposes. Here is a wonderful quotation from Cyrus: ‘Let all the gods who I have brought to their cities pray daily to Bel and Nabu for lengths of days’. Cyrus’ plan is to back as many horses as possible; he wouldn’t do very well in Melbourne Cup. But what he wants to do is to send everybody back to their place so that they will have their own temple and their own gods in the right place to pray to his gods. With all those gods on side he thinks he must win the day. That is the trouble with being a polytheist believing in many gods. You have to get them all onside, we only have to worry about one God! If you are a polytheist you have to actually get every god on side and that is exactly what Cyrus is doing. Well what happens, the power of God achieves the Word of God or you might put it this way, the Word of God works. What God promises he fulfils. So the Lord stirred up the spirit of King Cyrus, that is he stirred up that unbeliever and he also stirred up his own people. That was a miracle too. To go up and rebuilt the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. Everyone whose spirit God had stirred, verse 5.
One extraordinary thing of reading through Ezra and Nehemiah is that the return from Babylon is described rather like the exodus from Egypt, it is a new exodus. The return from exile in Babylon is a new exodus. You might remember the miracles of the first exodus from Egypt, miracles like, the killing of the first born and the river turning to blood and the separating of the seas so the people go through, and then the coming back of the seas so all the Egyptians are killed. But the miracles of the return from exile are rather different. They are not kind of big nature miracles if you like, they are more internal miracles when God changes Cyrus’ mind and when God changes the mind of the people of God to make them return. What an interesting contrast. Here are powerful miracles being worked by God to achieve his purpose, miracles within people to change their will, to make them do something they would not otherwise had done. That is how the power of God works in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah.
When God’s people are in a mess, trust the Word of God and trust the power of God to achieve his Word.
When I was just a young Christian I was given a book by John Stott called Christ the Controversialist. Which had a profound effect on me as a young believer and a person thinking about ministry. What John Stott does in the book is to give a number of accounts of the debate that Jesus has with the Pharisees and Sadducees and people of his day and he points out the message the controversy that Jesus had with them. Do you remember the account of Jesus debate with the Sadducees? He not only tells them they are wrong, he tells them why they are wrong, You are wrong because you know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God. Don’t know the Scriptures or the power of God! Interesting isn’t it. Because way back in Ezra’s day, people have to trust the Word of God and the power of God.
Now I watch Christians today specialising in one or the other. Either the Word of God, get that right, go to Old Testament, do New Testament, get the Word of God right. But often people who are very good in the Word of God don’t seem to have much trust the power of God to achieve his Word. Isn’t that ironic! When actually what the Word of God does is tell you about the power of God as plainly as it can. Then there are others who don’t know much about the Word of God and trust the power of God. Well God has mercy on all of us, despite our ignorance of his Word and of his power. God is a gracious God. Not that there is a kind of theology test at the end, you know, if we haven’t got it all right then God doesn’t use us. What we need you see friends, is both a certainty about the true Word of God and also believe that the God who has spoken these words will then use his power.
And that is why it is so important and so exciting to be involved in front line Christian ministry while your studying, because in a class room you see the Word of God you don’t often see the power God. You may pray for it to get through an exam you know that might be the power of God but it is rather more exciting to see the power of God in someone’s conversion isn’t it? That is always such an encouragement. Or seeing a sinner turn away from sin and begin to serve God again and dramatic sign of God’s power, or seeing somebody healed or a great answer to prayer which you have been praying for years, and finally God answers their prayer. You see what we have in Ezra chapter 1 is the Word of God through the mouth of Jeremiah and of the power of God. The Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, the Lord stirred up the spirit of the people, the heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred up got up and ready to go and rebuild the house of the Lord in Jerusalem. And we need to have that certainty about the Word of God the truth of God the trustworthiness of God the faithfulness of God and the power of God to achieve what his Word has promised. The power of God achieves the Word of God or me might put it, the Word of God works. Not only is it true and authoritative and trustworthy but it works. The word of God will be achieved: the power of God will achieve the word of God.
Some people in churches and some people in ministry are temperamentally unable to face the problems of their church or of their ministry. They are whistling in the dark, unable to think of the fact that their church has entirely lost contact with their local community. They won’t face that reality, they think we have a nice little club we like meeting together and they ignore the thousands outside the walls who never come through the door. They don’t face the problem, that is not only the problem of the world, but also a problem of the church, but they have been so introverted, so inward looking, so selfish, so self-centred that they have not brought the gospel of Jesus Christ to anybody in their community.
But as you may know and as I know very well, facing the problem can lead you to despair. You might want to change a church but getting a church to change is a very different exercise. You might have a great youth group, but making your youth group outward looking is a very difficult exercise indeed. So here it is from Ezra chapter 1, when God’s people are in a mess what can we do? Where can we turn? What should we think? What should we pray? When God’s people are in a mess trust the Word of God, here it is, trust the Word of God and trust the power of God because the God who has promised will certainly fulfil all his promises in the Lord Jesus Christ.
I remember my last day of school very vividly, for two reasons. One was the headmaster said to me you’ll be back next year because you will fail. That was pretty encouraging words to say to me and I thank him for it. I just scraped through and I wasn’t back the next year, thank goodness, for I was quite sick of the school and they were sick of me too. The other thing I remember about my last day of school is the visiting old boy, gave a speech. What he hoped for was that we would have successful lives and that everything would go really well for us for most of our lives, we would be prosperous, remember the school in our will. But unfortunately life isn’t like that, is it? And if a school does a good job it will prepare you for times of adversity as well as prosperity. Well I am trying to do that through Ezra. What I want you to know is that when God’s people are in a mess, when your life is in a mess, when your ministry is in a mess, when your youth group has collapsed, when the women’s group is corrupt, when the men’s group is irrelevant, when the church leadership has got lost, trust the Word of God and trust the power of God.
O gracious God, our heavenly Father, we will trust your Word; we will trust your power, in Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.
