Ezra and Nehemiah: Part 1
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| In loving memory of my father Robert Louis (Bob) Padgett July 28, 1931-May 22, 2023 |
Greetings in the precious Name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, we ask that everything that we say and do might be for the glory of God and that Your chosen people might be edified and built up in the knowledge of You and Your will. Amen.
Last week I received a request to share what I have received from the Book of Nehemiah. However, we cannot talk about the Book of Nehemiah unless we also talk about the Book of Ezra. But first, a related, personal experience.
On Sunday, June 13, 1976, the Lord woke me up very early in the morning, about 3 a.m., and told me to get out of bed, go down to our living room, and read the "Restoration" books of Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai, and Zechariah. However, in reality every book in the Bible is a "restoration" book. At one point I read the verse in Ezra 6:14, which says,
And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia.
Perhaps that verse means very little to most folks. But when I read that verse it was like a sledgehammer hit me! I have always called that the most powerful word I have ever heard from the Lord. There was no audible voice, no emotion, and no other person around. The word that I heard was, "If you (me) want to see the body of Christ prosper, then you function in the place I have called you." At that point in time I had been a "functioning elder" in a New Testament house church for almost seven years. Hindsight, it was the "best" church I have ever seen, before or since. I had "done" almost everything you can think of, including an evangelistic outreach to our neighbors. If every believer I knew at that point in time had all lined up and each one had told me that I was not functioning, I never would have believed it. But when the Lord spoke that to my spirit, I knew it was the truth. Further, I never sensed any guilt or condemnation. Almost immediately I heard another word from the Lord, which was, "I have given you the power to function in the place I have called you." Ever since that moment I have been fully aware of the specific function whereunto the Lord has called me. Although I knew that was a rhema word to me personally, that word easily applies to every believer. If you want to see the body of Christ prosper, then you function in the place the Lord has called you. But even that word can be, and is, easily misunderstood. "Being" or "becoming," not "doing," is the number one priority for believers. Christ in you, not good works, is the hope of glory.
Now, for an amazing truth which the Holy Spirit quickened to me on September 28, 2017. Every believer is familiar with the general events recorded in the Book of Esther. Without going through those events in detail, the end result of that Book is Esther 9:17,
"On the thirteenth day of the month Adar, and on the fourteenth day of the same rested they, and made it a day of feasting and gladness."
Three different verses in Esther tell us that the Jewish month of Adar is the sixth month of the Jewish civil year. Our sixth month is June. It was the 13th day of the civil month Adar, our June, that the Lord spoke that sledgehammer word to me! What an amazing God we serve! The Lord could have quickened that word from Ezra 6:14 to me any day and time. Note also from Esther 9:17 that on the 13th and 14th day of Adar the people rested. On June 26, 2021, the Lord quickened to me that after receiving that sledgehammer word on June 13, 1976, I was called to rest from all of my works, enter into His rest, and now only do the works ordained for me to walk in from the foundation of the world. That is what the Lord desires for each one of His chosen people ... that we would all rest from our works ... the works of man ... enter into His rest and only do the works of God.
The Holy Spirit has made much more real to me the significance of those restoration books in the past 45 years. An exposition of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah could easily fill up a book. However, we must point out that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah together give a panoramic view of the whole history of God's chosen people over all of time. The Book of Joel gives precisely that same panoramic view. Indeed, the whole Bible does the same thing.
We only want to share a few thoughts from the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah, particularly as they relate to the final fulfillment of The Feast of Blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. All of Scripture is written for our example and admonition. Both the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are at the very core of the restoration that occurred about 2500 years ago. As such, they are prophetic of the final restoration that the Lord is about in our day, a restoration that is sorely needful because the same conditions exist in the church world today as those that preceded the exile of God's people in those days. Although many Christians have prayed for revival, we will see no more revivals on earth. The major reason is because too many folks want a revival so we can continue doing what we have done in the past. Instead of another revival, the next item on the Lord's time-table is restoration ... a restoration back to what was in the mind of God before the foundation of the world.
Ezra, whose name means "my helper," was a priest and a scribe. He was indeed a helper or a servant of God. He could trace his lineage back to Zadok and then back to Aaron, the first high priest. As a priest, he was one of the sons of Zadok spoken of in Ezekiel 44. In other words, he was chosen by God and qualified as an overcomer. As a ready scribe, Ezra was commissioned to study the will of God as revealed by His Word, for two purposes. First, that he might hide the Word of God in his own heart; and second, that he might teach his fellow exiles the revelation that he received from the Living Word. In this way he and his fellow Levites
The Holy Spirit has made much more real to me the significance of those restoration books in the past 45 years. An exposition of the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah could easily fill up a book. However, we must point out that the books of Ezra and Nehemiah together give a panoramic view of the whole history of God's chosen people over all of time. The Book of Joel gives precisely that same panoramic view. Indeed, the whole Bible does the same thing.
We only want to share a few thoughts from the Book of Ezra and the Book of Nehemiah, particularly as they relate to the final fulfillment of The Feast of Blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles. All of Scripture is written for our example and admonition. Both the books of Ezra and Nehemiah are at the very core of the restoration that occurred about 2500 years ago. As such, they are prophetic of the final restoration that the Lord is about in our day, a restoration that is sorely needful because the same conditions exist in the church world today as those that preceded the exile of God's people in those days. Although many Christians have prayed for revival, we will see no more revivals on earth. The major reason is because too many folks want a revival so we can continue doing what we have done in the past. Instead of another revival, the next item on the Lord's time-table is restoration ... a restoration back to what was in the mind of God before the foundation of the world.
Ezra, whose name means "my helper," was a priest and a scribe. He was indeed a helper or a servant of God. He could trace his lineage back to Zadok and then back to Aaron, the first high priest. As a priest, he was one of the sons of Zadok spoken of in Ezekiel 44. In other words, he was chosen by God and qualified as an overcomer. As a ready scribe, Ezra was commissioned to study the will of God as revealed by His Word, for two purposes. First, that he might hide the Word of God in his own heart; and second, that he might teach his fellow exiles the revelation that he received from the Living Word. In this way he and his fellow Levites
"... caused the people to understand the law: and the people stood in their place. So they read in the book in the law of God distinctly, and gave the sense, and caused them to understand the reading." (Nehemiah 8:7-8).
Note, from Verse 7 that the people stood in their place. In other words, they functioned in the place, in the gifts and ministries to which they had been called. I have seen a number of good men of God try to function in a place where they were never called. It never works and never will work. Note also in Verse 8 that Ezra caused the people to understand the Word of God. However, that did not mean that all of the people walked in the living Word, because that is a decision, a choice, that each one of us must make. Also, note the similarity to Ezekiel 44:23, which speaks of the sons of Zadok.
"And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and profane, and cause them to discern between the unclean and the clean."
That verse has not yet been fulfilled in our day, but it will be fulfilled in the near future.
In the early days after Pentecost, the New Testament counterpart of Ezra was Paul. From Ephesians 3:8-9,
In the early days after Pentecost, the New Testament counterpart of Ezra was Paul. From Ephesians 3:8-9,
"Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ; And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:"
Paul said he was less than the least of all saints. That reflects the same true humility that was worked within Ezra and Nehemiah and which must be worked into each one of us believers. Paul's commission was also two-fold. First, to preach the gospel of the kingdom of God; and second, to make all men see or to cause all men to see the fellowship of the mystery. Of course, we all know that Paul wrote half of the New Testament books.
In every generation, God has His Ezras and Nehemiahs. Unfortunately, they are seldom recognized, particularly in this 21st century, because our spiritual senses have been dulled with apathy and lethargy. Indeed we live in the time of the church at Laodicea, as recorded in Revelation, Chapter 3.
Ezra was a man of deep humility and self-denial. He was a man of great learning with a fervent zeal for God's will to be done. He was deeply grieved over the sins of the people. He was also a great intercessor; he knew how to pray. He identified himself both with God and with men.
Nehemiah, whose name means "Jehovah has comforted," was a political governor, not a priest. As the king's cupbearer, he held a high place of honor in the palace of Shushan and had confidential access to the Persian king. He tasted everything that the natural king tasted. In the spiritual realm, Nehemiah was a cupbearer of the King of kings and Lord of lords. All Christians are called to be a bearer of the same cup of which Jesus partook. Jesus said, "the cup which my Father has given me, shall I not drink it?" When the mother of James and John in Matthew 20 asked for her sons to sit beside Jesus in His kingdom, Jesus answered,
"Are ye able to drink of the cup that I shall drink of, and to be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with? They say unto him, We are able. And He saith unto them, Ye shall drink indeed of my cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with: but to sit on my right hand, and on my left, is not mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of my Father."
Nehemiah tasted and overcame all of the temptations, ridicule, false accusations, fear, guile, and corruption of friends and associates that Jesus overcame. He became governor of Jerusalem when he returned from exile. Whereas Ezra was a student and teacher, Nehemiah was a soldier and a statesman. He was courageous and God-fearing, with an unswerving loyalty to God. He sets forth the strength that comes from humble dependence upon God. Despite all of the hostile opposition directed against him, he overcame all his enemies and obstacles. Nehemiah, like Ezra, was a man of intercession who knew how to pray.
Whereas Ezra was an overcomer in the religious or spiritual realm, Nehemiah was an overcomer in the political realm. But we must remember that there is a great gulf, a great divide, a great difference between the political realm of the world and the political realm of the Spirit of God. We must avoid and totally ignore the political realm of the world, but we must totally embrace the political world of the Lord. Abraham was never interested and never got involved in any way in the first big war between four good kings and five bad kings because both sides were worldly. For years we have witnessed a war in words and deeds between republicans and democrats, but we dare not get involved in any way in their war ... not in deed and not in thought or mind. Did Abraham discern things that we Christians do not discern?
Jesus was and is and forever will be the Great Overcomer in both the religious and political realm. Every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord (Romans 14:11). The government shall be on His shoulder. Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end (Isaiah 9:6-7).
Our God is one God. Unity, or being in one accord, is a hallmark truth for all Christians. The devil has his kingdom of darkness. The devil's kingdom also has both a religious and a political component because the devil always tries to copy whatever the Lord is doing. As such, the devil has been busily dividing us Christians into many different groups through his lies and deception.
The Vulgate is a late 4th-century Latin translation of the Bible. It was to become the Catholic Church's officially promulgated Latin version of the Bible during the 16th century. The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah were originally one book. That has great significance for us today.
Among other distortions, the Vulgate separated the one book of Ezra/Nehemiah into two books, called 1 Esdras and 2 Esdras. That is a subtle work of the enemy through ignorant and deceived men. The devil's strategy of "divide and conquer" was at work once more. Unfortunately, we Protestants have forgotten why we protested way back in the 16" century through Martin Luther. In reality, almost half of what is contained in the book of Nehemiah is really about Ezra. That says to me that spiritual reality is more significant than political reality. God is a Spirit. The principles of the Word of God never change, whether we read about them in what we call the Old Testament or in the New Testament.
Now let us consider Ezra. Very few people would have been allowed access to the royal archives of the Persian Empire, but Ezra was the exception. That accounts for the myriad of administrative documents found recorded in the two books, especially in the book of Ezra. Likewise, Ezra was allowed access to the spiritual archives of the Lord. It is useful to sketch the major events that took place prior to the ministry of Ezra and Nehemiah. The prophet Jeremiah, around 620 B.C., had prophesied a 70-year Babylonian captivity. To summarize Jeremiah 25, Verses 3-11, Jeremiah prophesied a word of repentance to Judah and Jerusalem for 20 years but never made one convert. No one believed him. The Lord told Jeremiah what to prophesy to the people but He also warned Jeremiah that no one would receive his word. Jeremiah warned God's chosen people not to go after other gods to serve or to worship them because that would provoke the Lord to anger, but the people did not hearken to the Lord. Therefore, the Lord said that He would bring Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, the Lord's servant, and would utterly destroy them, and make them perpetual desolations. What an amazing word. The Lord at that time had very few servants among His chosen people, so He used Nebuchadnezzar, a heathen, as His servant. Then the Lord said that whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and those nations would serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
True to the word of the Lord, Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon and servant of God, did take Jerusalem, and Judah was exiled to Babylon because she disobeyed God's word regarding covenant-keeping, the Sabbath years, and idolatry. The first deportation (605 B.C.) included Daniel, and the second included Ezekiel. A third deportation took place in 586 B.C., when the Babylonians destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.
Then the Persians, under Cyrus their king, captured the Babylonians (538 B.C.). Isaiah 45:1 speaks of Cyrus as the Lord's shepherd and His anointed. Cyrus instituted a new policy of appeasing the gods of his subject people. The first return by a remnant of Jews from Babylon was led by Sheshbazzar in 537 B.C. (Ezra 1:11). Sheshbazzar is the Persian name for Zerubbabel, whom Cyrus made governor of Judah. "Zerubbabel" means "begotten in Babylon."
When the seventh month was come (the month of the Feast of Blowing of Trumpets, the Day of Atonement, and the Feast of Tabernacles), some of the priests rebuilt the altar in Jerusalem (Ezra 3) and they kept the Feast of Tabernacles, but the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.
In the second year of their return to Judah and Jerusalem, the remnant started to rebuild the temple. The first thing they did was to lay the foundation. The first event in the life of a believer, after the altar is laid in his heart (born from above) is to have the proper foundation laid in his life. Sadly, the proper foundation has never been laid in the hearts of some believers.
As soon as the foundation was laid, adversaries of Judah came to try to add mixture to the work of the Lord and thus dilute and pollute it. The adversaries came to the leaders of the remnant and said,
"Let us build with you: for we seek your God, as ye do; and we do sacrifice unto him since the days of Esar-haddon king of Assyria, which brought us up hither" (Ezra 4:2).
Sounds good on the surface to the natural mind. Man has always tried to build the Lord's church. No one is a threat to the enemy until they are born from above and a foundation is being laid. At that point the enemy always tries to turn the proper foundation into a mixture, an impure beginning through any and every means possible. Hindsight, one of the major reasons why the New Testament house church in Northern Virginia, back in the late 1960's to the early 1980's, disintegrated was because a sufficient foundation was never laid. That allowed a mixture to enter, including a democratic spirt, such that every man did that which was right in his own eyes. It was the grace and love of God that sovereignly shut it down, although we saw the handwriting on the wall for a number of years.
When Zerubbabel and the other leaders refused the "help" of the adversaries, the enemy went to plan "B," which was to write a letter, full of lies and half-truths concerning the Jews, to Artaxerxes. Unfortunately, that was successful such that work on the temple ceased for 10 years until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia. In 520 B.C., Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the remnant in Judah and Jerusalem. The Jews were more to blame for their inactivity than their opponents, but Haggai and Zechariah succeeded in arousing them from their lethargy. Work on the temple was renewed during the second year of Darius the king. When the enemy again tried to stop the work, a letter was sent to Darius for him to decide the issue. Darius, after a search, replied, "Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place." Further, Darius decreed that anyone who tried to stop the building of the temple should be hanged from timbers pulled down from his own house.
Then we arrive at Ezra 6:14-15, where we began.
When Zerubbabel and the other leaders refused the "help" of the adversaries, the enemy went to plan "B," which was to write a letter, full of lies and half-truths concerning the Jews, to Artaxerxes. Unfortunately, that was successful such that work on the temple ceased for 10 years until the second year of the reign of Darius, king of Persia. In 520 B.C., Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, prophesied to the remnant in Judah and Jerusalem. The Jews were more to blame for their inactivity than their opponents, but Haggai and Zechariah succeeded in arousing them from their lethargy. Work on the temple was renewed during the second year of Darius the king. When the enemy again tried to stop the work, a letter was sent to Darius for him to decide the issue. Darius, after a search, replied, "Let the work of this house of God alone; let the governor of the Jews and the elders of the Jews build this house of God in his place." Further, Darius decreed that anyone who tried to stop the building of the temple should be hanged from timbers pulled down from his own house.
Then we arrive at Ezra 6:14-15, where we began.
"And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo ... And this house [often called Zerubbabel's Temple], was finished on the third day of the month Adar [our June], which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king [516 B.C.]".
There followed a gap of some 58 years between the events of Ezra, Chapters 6 and 7. The only recorded event during that interval is the opposition to the rebuilding of Jerusalem in the reign of Ahasuerus. Events in the Book of Esther also took place during that "gap."
Ezra was a "ready scribe in the law of Moses" (Ezra 7:6). "Ready" means "diligent." It is interesting to note that "there went up [with Ezra] some of the children of Israel" (Ezra 7:7). We must remember that Shalmaneser besieged and conquered the northern kingdom of Israel (or Samaria) in 722 B.C., and led away 27,000 inhabitants as captives into Assyria. So after 264 years of captivity in Assyria, then Babylon, and then Persia, some of the Samaria descendants went back with Ezra to Jerusalem. That indicates the grace and mercy of God, Who wants all of His people to be included in the church which Jesus is building.
For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the law of the LORD, and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgments. Ezra 7:10
If there is any word for the people of God today (or any day) it is "Prepare ye the way of the Lord in our heart."
Ezra, Chapter 8 speaks of all of the preparations necessary for the journey to Jerusalem and of the actual journey itself. The journey took four months. Although the actual distance between Babylon and Jerusalem is about 500 miles, the people had to cover almost 900 miles, going northwest along the Euphrates River and then south. It was not an easy journey! Moreover, they could expect to encounter the enemy, but they fasted and prayed and asked for the Lord's protection.
"And the hand of our God was upon us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way" (Ezra 8:31).
Jesus said,
"And all things, whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive" (Matthew 21:22).
This is NOT an example of "name-it-and-claim-it." This does not mean that if I ask for one million dollars every year that I will receive it. Rather, whatever the Holy Spirit prompts us to pray for, we will receive; in other words, whatever is in the will of God.
The last two Chapters in the Book of Ezra (Chapters 9 and 10) are critical to our understanding of that which the Lord is waiting for us to "do" today. All of Ezra, Chapter 9, tells of his intercession on behalf of himself and all of the Jews. Let us read Ezra, Chapter 9, starting at Verse 1.
The last two Chapters in the Book of Ezra (Chapters 9 and 10) are critical to our understanding of that which the Lord is waiting for us to "do" today. All of Ezra, Chapter 9, tells of his intercession on behalf of himself and all of the Jews. Let us read Ezra, Chapter 9, starting at Verse 1.
1 Now when these things were done, the princes came to me, saying, The people of Israel, and the priests, and the Levites, have not separated themselves from the people of the lands, doing according to their abominations, even of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.2 For they have taken of their daughters for themselves, and for their sons: so that the holy seed have mingled themselves with the people of those lands: yea, the hand of the princes and rulers hath been chief in this trespass.
Note that the major offenders were the leaders themselves. It is ever thus. It is the same today.
3 And when I heard this thing, I rent my garment and my mantle, and plucked off the hair of my head and of my beard, and sat down astonied [stunned, devastated].4 Then were assembled unto me every one that trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the transgression of those that had been carried away; and I sat astonied until the evening sacrifice.
What was the major transgression of the Jews? From Verses 1 and 2, they had committed abominations by incorporating the ways of the world into their lives. That resulted in an unholy mixture. It is the same today. How many believers today tremble at the words of the God of spiritual Israel? Only the Lord knows, but I suspect not too many. Fortunately, a slowly increasing few are becoming aware of the similar "problems" in the visible church today.
I strongly urge every believer to read all of Ezra, Chapter 9, carefully. Note what Ezra "did" about the problem. He rent his garment and his mantle; he plucked the hair off his head and beard; he sat down devastated; he fell upon his knees and spread his hands unto the Lord; he included himself as a transgressor although he had never transgressed; in other words, he identified with the body of Christ because he was part of that body; he confessed and repented before God; he even acknowledged that our righteous God has punished us less that our iniquities deserve. That is called intercession. Few today (or any day) have that level of intercession worked within them.
What an amazing work the Lord had done within the heart and spirit of Ezra! But Ezra, Chapter 10, reveals perhaps an even greater work of God. After Ezra conveyed the truth of God for that time, and all of time, it produced immediate results in the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel! ALL Israel!
"ALL the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do" (Ezra 10:12).
They put away their strange wives. The "strange wives" of today for spiritual Israel are materialism, humanism, secularism, intellectualism, sensationalism, and all of the "isms" of the world.
What man do you know today who can speak with the same authority that Ezra did and produce immediate results for the glory of God? I know of none and I doubt that you do. But the day will come, and sooner than we think, when some number of Ezras and Nehemiahs will be manifested on this earth. They are even now hidden away in the wilderness, largely unknown to men. Elijah is not alone! The Lord has 7,000 more that we do not know about. The Lord has decreed it and no man, beast, or demon can stop it. Be glorified, O Lord! Amen.
What man do you know today who can speak with the same authority that Ezra did and produce immediate results for the glory of God? I know of none and I doubt that you do. But the day will come, and sooner than we think, when some number of Ezras and Nehemiahs will be manifested on this earth. They are even now hidden away in the wilderness, largely unknown to men. Elijah is not alone! The Lord has 7,000 more that we do not know about. The Lord has decreed it and no man, beast, or demon can stop it. Be glorified, O Lord! Amen.
