Ezra's Conviction for God's People

 

Lessons for Today: Ezra’s Conviction for his people

The essential question for the Christian believer is “Do I ever feel a sense of conviction for the things of God?” We can get too caught up in theological differences and esoteric reading of scripture. Certainly debate is important when dividing doctrine from heresy, truth from fable. But if scripture loses its ability to convict our hearts then it can’t work effectively bringing us into line with His will.

When we let the goodness of God lead us to repentance, we avoid much of the destruction that comes through disobedience.

The Decree

Ezra 9 and 10 focuses on the repentance for the collective, in this case exiled Hebrews.

Ezra was given a mandate from King Artaxerxes to return to Jerusalem with volunteers and begin executing the laws of God. Chapter 7 contains some language that puts Ezra squarely in charge of managing worship in and outside the temple. But more than that, he is to faithfully execute the law of Moses and follow the language of the letter.

“And you Ezra, according to your God-given wisdom, set magistrates and judges who may judge all the people who are in the region beyond the River, all such as know the laws of you God and teach those who do not know them. Whoever will not observe the law of your God and the law of the king, let judgement be executed speedily on him, whether it be death, or banishment, or confiscations of goods, or imprisonment.” (verse 25-26)

Too Much Work

If you’ve ever started a job that turned out to me more than you bargained for you’ll sympathize with Ezra.

I had a two week job in high school counting inventory for a truck parts dealer. The only semi-fun part of the job was that I got to work with my friend Chris. We both were asked by the principal of our high school to work over Christmas break. His son was a salesman and needed help with their yearly inventory. The fact that they had a couple of high school kids count their parts told us both they didn’t care about perfect accuracy. 

Counting inventory is like toilet cleaning, best done by anyone else.

We were too young to work a regular job and needed the money. Every day we came home coughing up dirt and dust. The parts sat in old boxes with layers of dust that had built up over decades. Much of counting meant crawling into tight spaces on low shelving to read part numbers and lifting heavy engine components. We started early too; 6 am for a kid on Christmas break is brutal. We both agreed the job was more than we bargained for.

Tough Decisions

Ezra didn’t realize the extent to which the people had transgressed. For Ezra the job demanded dealing with the pagan intermarriages. Many of the Jews that had returned from the captivity had already transgressed the laws of Moses by intermarrying. You can see the problem here. The deed has already been done. What is Ezra to do now? That’s the thing about transgressions. God will get us back on the path but there is a price to pay and now it involved a spouse. In some cases it involved children as well.

We have a much better deal today. Everyone who accepts Christ is a new creature, even pagans raised in wickedness. But Ezra’s first real difficult decision is to send away the wives and children and turn the people back to God through covenant. To understand his deep shame for their sin we have to remember why the children of Israel were taken captive in the first place. It started the same way. Bringing in foreign gods and worshipping at alters that sacrificed babies, in a lot of cases. The Canaanites were particularly egregious with this.

Avoiding Calamity

God had warned them through so many prophets to turn from their evil ways, destroy the alters and stop marrying foreigners. They didn’t listen. The Babylonians under Nebuchadnezzar destroyed the temple and took the court hostage. It was during this exile that leaders emerged who understood the importance of obedience to God and His law.

I can’t help thinking of how close this story tracks with us today. The United States at least is headed the way of Judah under King Zedekiah who led the last revolt before the temple was utterly destroyed. Babylonian captivity happened over the course of 3 separate invasions.  It doesn’t have to end with our nation’s destruction by a foreign power or a depression that ruins our global influence.

We don’t need to go through imprisonment and pray for mercy from the occupying force to rebuild our cities. God always provided favor with kings like Cyrus and Artaxerxes to make a way to rebuild. Today is different. Jesus gave us a mandate in the gospels to preach the good news. He equipped us with power and authority to cast out demons and heal the sick. The commission exists to bring the kingdom of God to earth and let the hearts of the people be turned to Him. (Luke 9:1-2).

Conclusion

Corruption and sexual perversion dominate in much of our centers of authority, yes the Church too. It causes a weakening in the structures like termites in an old Victorian mansion. If not caught and killed, the house collapses of its own weight.  Like Ezra, we need to let the conviction lead us back to redemption before we end up enslaved. If not for our individual sakes, then for the sake of the lost and broken. Because of Ezra's conviction, the people repented and avoided a second wave of imprisonment and death. It can be for us as well.