Ezra 6

Ezra 6:1

CYRUS’ DECREE CONFIRMEDA great deal has been made concerning the position and the condition of God’s people. These two things are quite different, by the way. Positionally, the Jews were in the place God wanted them to bein the land. The decree for them to return to the land was made by Cyrus, who acknowledged that he was doing it at the command of God. So these people are in the position God wanted them to be in. However, their condition is not so good. They are discouraged. They would like to walk away from the whole business. So God raised up prophets to encourage them. It seems that God’s people today tend to get their position and condition mixed up. If you are in Christ today, you are safe. Your position is good. But how is your condition? Are you a discouraged saint? Are you anchored in Christ with a sure salvation, but you want to give up and quit? Do you want to walk away from it all? If that is how you feel, my friend, although your position is good, your condition is bad. That was the state of the Jews in the Book of Ezra. Now the very interesting thing is that God is with His people, and His will is going to be done. We find now that a discovery was made. This is a case of the enemy getting his foot in his mouth. He should have kept quiet. Notice what happened. They went down in a basement somewhere and dug up old archives which were covered with dust

Ezra 6:2

Also

Ezra 6:5

It was all recorded there. All of this is unearthed by King Darius. He never would have known about this decree if the enemy had not mentioned it. This was a real blunder on the part of the enemies of the Jews. Now this is the message that King Darius returns to Tatnai:

Ezra 6:6

Tatnai was a governor with an important job, and he thought he could stop the building of the temple in Jerusalem. But when the decree of Cyrus was located, the present King Darius realizes that it was a law of the Medes and Persians, and it could not be altered or changed. So he makes a further decree.

Ezra 6:8

He says, “Now, look, not only are you to stop hindering the work, you are to help it along. You are to keep the taxes that you gather over there on that side of the riverinstead of sending them over here to Persiayou are to give the money to these folk for the rebuilding of the temple.” God does make the wrath of man to praise Him!

Ezra 6:9

What a decree this was! Also, he decrees a severe penalty upon anyone who would hinder the work.

Ezra 6:11

At this point you would find it thrilling to read the Books of Haggai and Zechariah. They are marvelous. We designate them as minor prophets, but they are batting in the major leagues!

Ezra 6:14

The temple is rebuilt under the inspiration of Haggai and Zechariah.

Ezra 6:15

TEMPLE FINISHED AND DEDICATEDNotice that it says, “the children of Israel …and the rest of the children of the captivity.” Who is meant? Of course it means what it says: the children of Israelnot only the children of Judah and Benjamin. These folk are of the ten tribes of Israel, which some people today call the ten lost tribes. My friend, they didn’t get lost. They are here with their brethren keeping “the dedication of this house of God with joy.”

Ezra 6:17

For whom was the sin offering? The language here is even more explicit. it was for “all Israel.” Did only people from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin return to the land? No! There were people from all twelve tribes. There were “twelve he goats,” according to the number of the tribes of Israel. Now don’t tell me that ten tribes got lost and ended up in Great Britain, and a few of them came to America on the Mayflower. That simply is not true. The record here is quite clear that none of the tribes were lost. If any of them are lost, they are all lost because they were all together after the Captivity. This will be confirmed again later on.

Ezra 6:19

PASSOVER KEPTJust five weeks after the dedication of the temple the Passover was held. The Passover spoke of the death of Christ, our Passover who was offered for us. When they gathered around the Passover, they were gathering around the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to the Word of God.