The Election After Halloween

It was the election after Halloween,

When all through the nation,

Not a soul was concerned,

With the candidates’ convictions.

All they wanted to know was,

Is the economy going to be okay?

After all I need my beer on payday.

No concerns for national defense,

No concerns for character or ethics,

No concerns for anything that matters,

Only that we have someone who make us fatter.

Never mind that much of the economic mess was our fault,

Never mind that we played hard with some else’s money.

Never mind any of that, because we thought it was funny.

We never saved, we never planned,

Never sought permission from God’s great hand.

So now it comes to this night,

We don’t really care about what is right.

One promises this,

While the other promises that.

In the end all we want is to be lazy and fat.

The reality is we don’t care about our kids.

If we did then we would teach them to be moral not misfits.

We don’t really care about character,

If we did we might ask tougher questions.

We don’t really care about truth,

If we did then we might get to the root of associations.

We don’t really care about the future,

If we did then we would plan, live and be concerned with our moral situation.

No, it’s the election after Halloween,

And the scariest thing is not Dracula, Frankenstein’s monster, or even Jason.

No, not Freddie (unless it’s Mac), not the Wolf-man, not Bigfoot or even Loch Ness.

No the scariest thing is the attitude of the American people which got us into this mess.

We drive toward the ugliest monster, Socialism and no one cares.

Why? Because we want extra money to have a good time and buy our beer.

Freedom means nothing, unless it has something to do with sex.

Courage means nothing, unless we speak out against the Constitutional text.

Purpose means nothing, unless it’s to get another dime from the government.

Being right means nothing, unless it’s to win an argument.

So as we look at this election after Halloween let’s remember these famous words,

Forget abortion, forget laws destroying the family, forget morals, character, and ethics.

Forget self control, forget standing for what is right, forget the Constitution or Declaration of Independence for which men have died.

Forget our history, in fact muddy it up.

Forget Hitler, forget Musilini, forget Stalin.

Forget the real monsters who killed Jews and Christians for the sake of Marxism.

Forget all of those things, but above all forget God, church and family.

Forget them all! Because in doing may cause us to see the candidates’ philosophical schisms.

So, on this election after Halloween,

All we want is money from the government,

A handout for self satisfying arrangement.

No, no one should care.

All we want is extra money so we can go to the pub, club or bar have a good time,

And buy our beer.

Is John McCain The Best Choice

Last Thursday night after the Vice Presidential debate, a news commentator on Fox News finally said what I have been waiting for someone to point out, John McCain was the Presidential candidate for the Republican Party by default. Why? He was the last man standing among the candidates. Last fall when I heard that former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee was in the running as a Presidential candidate I was excited about the prospect of a real Arkansasian being in the White House. Of course I did not have to wait with baited breath to see who I was going to support. As time rolled on during the spring the rumors began to surface that John McCain was out and that Giuliani was in and Romney was in trouble. I hedged my political thoughts to the former Arkansas governor thinking in this atmosphere surely he could and would win. I thought that McCain was past his time, Romney was too dry, Thompson came to the party but didn’t participate and Giuliani was too liberal. The problem was that the Christian leadership under whose banner I work did not come to Governor Huckabee’s assistance until extremely late in the campaign, toward the very end. Giuliani made a bad decision to place all of his efforts in Florida, Huckabee badly crippled Romney in Iowa and New Hampshire, while John McCain stole the show from Romney in Michigan. When the dust cleared two men were left standing, one with the full Republican Party support and the other with his down home humor and class. When John McCain finally reached the full 1100 points needed, Huckabee bowed out leaving McCain as the clear winner.

When this happened I began to hear the rumblings of people like Jim Dobson of Focus on the Family and others criticizing the Republican choice. As I listened to the leadership of the Christian faithful I began to become very displeased with the leadership. First of all, I like them, felt very disappointed. The whole scenario reminded me of the 1990’s when Robert Dole (Republican) went up against a very youthful and charismatic Presidential incumbent Bill Clinton. It was the Republican Parties way of acknowledging that Bob Dole’s time had come and would soon pass. It almost felt like they were saying, “Okay we know this is your last chance. Go ahead and make the one last push for the White House with our blessing.” The problem was that Bob Dole had to rely on Elizabeth Dole (his wife) to energize the mainstream right (yes I did put those two thoughts together). Here I feel the same way. An older, well seasoned veteran who had made a couple of strong attempts to be in the running, who is now having to rely on his Vice Presidential running mate to energize the mainstream right. However, my disgruntlement with those who serve in Christian leadership was the fact that they bemoaned John McCain receiving the nomination but waited until the last minute of the last hour on the last day of the last big caucuses and primaries to back Huckabee. Wow! My thought at the time was that they had nothing to complain about, Huckabee should have been a shoe-in and they chose to wait.

Now we are caught with a party which has a young, energetic, charismatic personality up against an older, seasoned veteran who lacks the excitement and appeal he had seven years ago. While I have always admired McCain from a distance I have also had my issues with him. So now to the question; Was John McCain the best choice? Now for the answer. In this atmosphere, probably not. Having said that between the two is he the better choice? Yes! He has the experience, the knowledge, the personal winsomeness, and the record to prove it. The one thing to say about McCain that cannot be said for Obama is the fact that he will shot straight with the American people. Over and over, person after person has come out of the woodworks stating the same thing, that John McCain is who you see. Obama has a problem with honesty, from what I am hearing McCain, while not perfect, has less of one.

OBAMA-ABORTION-“ABOVE MY PAY GRADE”

Recently during our economic crisis John McCain made a bold move and suspended his campaign until the calamity was addressed by lawmakers. In doing so he basically drug Barack Obama to Washington to deal with the emergency. It was an unprecedented move which received criticism from the Obama camp. In fact John McCain wanted to cancel the debate on Friday, September 26^th, until legislation was produced which protected tax payers and stayed the foreseen catastrophe which waited ahead. Again Obama and his camp fired back stating that the President of the United States had to deal with several different things at once. (www.nytimes.com/2008/09/26/us/politics/26obama.html)

The problem I have with this is the whole way in which Obama constantly weasels out of one question after another never giving any firm answers but constantly criticizing those who do make firm decisions. Obama himself is guilty of the very action in which he condemns others for, making more that one decision at a time. Senator Obama plays things safe and he is also very prideful and arrogant about the way he conducts himself. He is rich and he disparages the free enterprise system that put him where he is. When he is wrong he can’t find it within himself to say that he made a mistake or that he has missed the mark.

A case in point is the statement he made at Saddleback Church on live television when Pastor Rick Warren directly asked him when the life of a baby begins. He waffled, he skated the issue. He said it depended on whether the discussion was a theological or scientific one. Then he stated that getting others to understanding the abortion issue was, “above my pay grade”. O’ really? I thought the President was supposed to be able to handle more than one thing at once. Allow me to debunk his logic for a moment. First, science and theology are quickly coming to the same conclusion. In the last twenty five years technology has allowed us to peer into the womb of a pregnant mother almost from the moment she realizes she is pregnant and see the development of the baby. We have discovered that many evolutionary stages which doctors and scientist believed took place, in fact, take place in a very different manner than originally thought. (www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/10/10/2055986.htm) The fetus, which means unborn child, is in fact human. They deserve the rights we all have, they are living.

Second, this issue is not above the pay grade of the President of the United States. If Barak Obama becomes President he will have to address this issue. The American people will demand it, the courts will continue to debate it and Congress will have to deal with it. When we look at the situation we have put to death over forty million people through abortion (www.nrlc.org/ABORTION/facts/abortionstats.htm) which does not include the number of women (50,000 a year) who lose their lives due to abortion (www.pregnantpause.org/safe/deaths.htm) (www.nytimes.com/2005/11/23/national/23pill.html).

The reason Mr. Obama does not want to address this issue is because it tells us who he really is, where he will stand on other major issues. In fact to some degree he has weight in on the issue and did it before the Rick Warren “interview” by stating that he would not want to punish his daughters with an unwanted pregnancy (www.topix.com/news/abortion/2008/04/barack-obama-would-back-daughters-abortion-dont-punish-them-with-a-baby). And I thought he wanted people to keep his family out of the campaign and he brings his daughters into the most debated issue in the last 100 years?! Again, it shows his double standard.

Since this ministry is not a non-profit entity I can and will give my opinion. Senator Barak Obama has trouble making decisions, has an arrogance which the book of Proverbs warns us against, and skates the issues. This shows us several things about him one of which concerns me the most. He can be very disingenuous. He doesn’t deal with people straight. It bothers me when after the debate (which John McCain may have debacle) people agreed more with John McCain but were made their decision based on the style of Obama verses the substance of McCain. Are we in the third grade? Did someone take me back to 1982 again where I am getting ready to graduate from high school? Are we on the school yard playground or are we talking about the future, independence, and freedom of America? Come on America wake up!!!! If Obama becomes President we as a nation will be in trouble. Once again the abortion issue shows a candidate’s true inclination.

Steven

Next time: Is John McCain the best choice?

I Haven't Gone Anywhere

I hope and pray that you will forgive me, but I've been very busy this semester learning New Testament Greek. I haven't forgotten about any of this, so keep looking because in the next day or two I will have somethings posted. Just so that you will know the next three or four postings maybe political in nature, I have some real comments to make about both candidates which are good and bad. If you have any questions please feel free and leave a comment or e-mail me at BeDevotedMinistry@att.net.

Lord Bless,

Steven

THE GOOD HAND OF GOD AT WORK THROUGH PAGAN STORYLINES-A SECOND EXODUS

DEVOTIONAL 7

EZRA 1:5-2:70

5 Then the heads of fathers' households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. 6 All those about them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle and with valuables, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering. 7 Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods; 8 and Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. 9 Now this was their number: 30 gold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, 29 duplicates; 10 30 gold bowls, 410 silver bowls of a second kind and 1,000 other articles. 11 All the articles of gold and silver numbered 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up with the exiles who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Several years ago I meet a man who made a real impression on my life. His name was Dr. E. Harold Henderson. He was possibly one of the best theologians and preachers I had ever heard. His ability to communicate the Scripture and relate it to everyday life was uncanny. Once when talking to him he told me make sure and watch everything around you. Because in doing so you will always find an illustration for you next sermon. Over the years I have attempted to take that advice and have always found it true.

God does the very same thing here in this passage. He uses the mythology of the Babylonian/Persian people to illustrate what I call the second Exodus. When you carefully read Ezra 1:5-2:70 you get the same feel as you do when you read Exodus chapters 1-19, except on a smaller scale. Think about it! In the book of Exodus you have a king (Pharaoh) who has his heart hardened by God and then later hardens his own heart regarding the will of God. In Ezra you have God opening up the heart of a pagan king to do His will. In Exodus you have the people exiting the land of Egypt with the riches of the Egyptians. Egypt was defeated and not one sword was raised to bring them to this demise, it was a total work of God. Here we have somewhat the same thing going on.

In verse 7 it notes that, “…King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods;” When the Babylonians raided and destroyed Jerusalem along with the Temple, they brought all the treasures of the Judean kingdom with them. One of the most valuable treasures that the pagan nations loved to have was the treasures from the temple of the nation they had defeated. Babylon was no different. When they brought them back to their capital the temple artifacts would go into the temple of the god the king worshipped. This was their way of saying that the gods of Babylon, in particular the god the king worshipped, was stronger and greater than the gods of the defeated nation. When Nebuchadnezzar does this he was stating that his god was greater and mightier than Yahwah. In Galatians 6:7 Paul notes, “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap.” It is as true here as anywhere else, God was not to be mocked. Rather than doing what He did to Egypt, here God places another nation with another king over Babylon and simply changes the heart of the king regarding His people and Him being worshiped.

In doing so He uses the mythology of the people to illustrate the defeat of Babylon in light of Greatness. The two people who are mentioned in verse 8 are Mithredath and Sheshbazzar. Both men are officials in Babylon in one capacity or another. Many scholars believe that Sheshbazzar is Zerubabbel’s Persian name since it notes that he is, “…the prince of Judah”. This is very specific. Sheshbazzar is never seen in action after this point. However we do see Zerubabbel later and in chapter 5:16 Sheshbazzar is identified as the one who was the governor when the Temple foundation was laid yet chapter 3:8 says that Zerubbabel was the governor when it happened. Is this a contradiction? Not if Sheshbazzar is Zerubbabel’s official Persian name. The name Mithredath means “one dedicated to the god Mithrus” who was the pagan Sun god for the Babylonians. Sheshbazzar is a name honoring the Babylonian pagan god who in mythology defeats the Sun god. In a way God uses this storyline and His people to show how He has defeated the gods of the Babylonians.

To show this is true God claims back two things that belong to Him. First, through the degree of Cyrus He claims His people back to Himself for His service…the rebuilding of the Temple. Second, through Sheshbazzar He reclaims the Temple utensils. In both situations they belong to Him and by receiving them back He now claims victory over the gods of Assyria/Babylon/Persia.

So what are some things we can take with us from this passage? First, God can use anything in any culture in order to relay His message. While I believe we have to be very careful with this thought, it should not frighten us when He does. C.S. Lewis was a genius at doing this in many of his writings especially in the Chronicles of Narnia. Two hundred years ago God used a new form of technology which we consider unusual if it is not in a church building today. At the time that technology caused all kinds of problems and arguments. That technology is called the piano. Today the argument rises against Contemporary Christian music. Second, God will take what belongs to Him. Paul wrote in 1^st Corinthians 3:21-23, “21 So then let no one boast in men. For all things belong to you, 22 whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or things present or things to come; all things belong to you, 23 and you belong to Christ; and Christ belongs to God.” Here the apostle is making an argument as to why the local body of Christ should not be divided over personality issues. Why? Because, we belong to Christ and Christ belongs to God. There is no schisms regarding the person and work of God. In the same way we should view each other as belonging to God through Christ and rejoice in that fact. WE BELONG TO GOD. The apostle Paul also states in Romans 8:9, “However, you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Him.” So how do we belong to God? How do we get the Spirit of Christ? That is very important because just as He gather His people Israel out of Babylon so one day He will gather His people before the world ends. Again Paul writes in 1^st Thessalonians 4:16, “For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.” My question is do you belong to Him? If not just simply repent, or turn from your sin and turn to Jesus Christ placing your total trust in Him as Savior based on His work on the cross and in His bodily resurrection. Romans 10:9-13 says, “9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, ‘WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED.’ 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for ‘WHOEVER WILL CALL ON THE NAME OF THE LORD WILL BE SAVED.’”

As always your comments are welcomed.

God Bless You,

Steven

Next time Ezra 1:5-11, SEEING THE GOOD HAND OF GOD AT WORK THROUGH WHAT’S MISSING

Unless otherwise noted all verses quoted are from the New American Standard Version.

THE GOOD HAND OF GOD WORKING THROUGH OPEN HEARTS

DEVOTIONAL 6

EZRA 1:5-2:70

5 Then the heads of fathers' households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. 6 All those about them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle and with valuables, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering. 7 Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods; 8 and Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. 9 Now this was their number: 30 gold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, 29 duplicates; 10 30 gold bowls, 410 silver bowls of a second kind and 1,000 other articles. 11 All the articles of gold and silver numbered 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up with the exiles who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

When I was younger I would crawl under the hood of the car with my dad in order to help him. Sometimes my help was a hindrance, other times it wasn’t really helping at all (I just pretended I was helping) and at other times it was genuine. As I grew older the help became more and more genuine. At one point I cut myself pretty bad. I began to bleed verily profusely even though my life was not in danger. I want to stop the bleeding immediately, but my dad understood the situation better than I did. I was covered from head to toe in grease and oil. The one thing that didn’t need to happen was for me to attempt to stop the bleeding and not allow my bodies natural defenses to fight off any infection. I learned something that day some wounds need to bleed before we tend to them.

God works much of the same way. He may allow something to come along which makes no since at all, something which may hurt severely at first, but if it is allowed to bleed great things may be on the way. In verse 5 of this passage it mentions that “…God had stirred…” the Jewish leaders “…to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.” Here again as before God has stirred something up regarding His people and His work. As mentioned in one of the earlier devotionals the term “stirred” has little to do with what we in the twenty-first century think. It has something to do with cutting and laying open. In other words He cut their hearts and opened them up before His will. Verse 1 notes that he did this with Cyrus the king of Persia and now He does it with His people. The interesting thing to see here is that God can and does use pagans to perform His will but He uses His people to perform a specific task. In this case we see it is for the rebuilding of the Temple.

We also see in verse 6 that He opened up the hearts of the communities surrounding the Jews who were preparing to leave. In this we see God’s provision for His people. While they were ordered to give according to verse 4, the text reads with the idea that they did this out of their own volition. First, it states that they did this to encourage, build up, or help out in the effort. Second, the way they gave is seen in the fact that they gave in abundance. The giving was in terms of food, animals (for food and sacrifices), equipment and money. This giving was not just for the sake of the rebuilding itself but for the journey as well. Third, it states that it was a “freewill offering.” While the orders may have gone out to give and support, how, what resources and how much was never mentioned. In other words the decree was sent out that stated, “You will give and support. However, what you give, how you give and how you support it, is up to you.” The community as a whole came out to do and give what they could.

Today we see similar actions occurring. God is in the process of cutting the hearts of his people and opening them up to do His will. While He may use pagans to perform His will generally and on a global scale, He uses His people specifically to carry out the Gospel message. We cannot get past the point of what this book is all about, the re-establishment of a community which calls on God for salvation, hope and help. We need to be that kind of community. We do not need to be like the old story where a man was asked about his prayer life. His response was that he had a very good prayer life because he prayed for himself, his wife, and his two children. He calmly stated, “I pray for us four and no more.” Folks we need to seek God not only to cut and open our hearts to do His will, but we need to be praying for the lost. We need to pray that God will cut and open their hearts to His only way of salvation through the blood soaked cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and His resurrection. If we want to see things turn around it will not happen through laws and legislation. It will only happen with us being faithful to Him in preaching His gospel and us praying for those around us.

Next time Ezra 1:5-11, SEEING THE GOOD HAND OF GOD AT WORK THROUGH PAGAN STORYLINES-A SECOND EXODUS

Unless otherwise noted all verses quoted are from the New American Standard Version.

THE GOOD HAND OF GOD WORKING THROUGH RELIGIOUS AUTHORITY WHO ANSWER THE CALL-Part 2

Devotional 5

(EZRA 1:5-2:70)

5 Then the heads of fathers' households of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites arose, even everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up and rebuild the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. 6 All those about them encouraged them with articles of silver, with gold, with goods, with cattle and with valuables, aside from all that was given as a freewill offering. 7 Also King Cyrus brought out the articles of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and put in the house of his gods; 8 and Cyrus, king of Persia, had them brought out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and he counted them out to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. 9 Now this was their number: 30 gold dishes, 1,000 silver dishes, 29 duplicates; 10 30 gold bowls, 410 silver bowls of a second kind and 1,000 other articles. 11 All the articles of gold and silver numbered 5,400. Sheshbazzar brought them all up with the exiles who went up from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Have you ever heard the old saying, “Too many chiefs and not enough Indians” or “Too many chefs in the kitchen but not enough cooks”? These old American colloquial’s normally mean that too many people view themselves as the boss and not enough people see themselves as workers. However sometimes there can be a benefit to having more than one person involved in working through an issue. This leads to another colloquial, “Two brains are better than one.”

One time an issue came up at a church I was attending. A recommendation had been made which I did not feel comfortable about, but stayed prayerful and silent regarding the proposal. Mary and I prayed about it while discussing the ramifications of the suggestion. Weeks went by while the offer continued to be made and pitched to us as a good thing. Finally, I said something about the one issue which bothered me. While it was not ignored it was moved to the side. Two more weeks past, I did my research, consulted God through His word, received conformation and went to the individual who had made the suggestion. . I opened the scriptures up and gently explained my discomfort as well as what I found in my research about the desired action. When I did he looked at me and tears appeared in his eyes. He said, “This confirms what I was thinking, we should not move forward with this idea.” In this situation calling on God and His authority helped protect His glory in that church.

I am constantly hearing about how we do not need religious authority in our churches today. That the individual is the one who should be able to discern what God’s will is in a situation. I hear how pastors and staff should not interfere when a family is at the boiling point of divorce or if a spouse has gone in the direction of moral failure or if people aren’t coming to church. This is both ridiculous and biblically unsound. God wants there to be some form of authority and organization when it comes to worshiping Him in every area of our lives, including church. This is brought out very clearly in this passage were it is noted that “…the priests and the Levites arose…” meaning they joined this small band of people answering the call of God to rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem. Chapter 2:36-39 give the names of the heads of the fathers households regarding the priests and 2:40-63 give the names of the heads of the Levites.

Both parties are extremely important during and after the rebuilding of the Temple. According to scripture the priest were considered the guardian of the holy place (Numbers 18:5); where to preside over the various sacrifices (Numbers 28-29); sprinkle the blood from the sacrifice on the alter (Leviticus 3:2); pour the drink offerings (Exodus 37:16); consult the Urim and Thummim regarding the will of God in a situation (Numbers 27:21); be consulted regarding possible leprosy (Leviticus 12:30-46; Deuteronomy 24:8); judge the people (Deuteronomy 17:8-9); and teach the law to the people (Leviticus 10:11). While this is a long list of things they were to do, it is by no means an exhaustive list. For a far greater understanding of the role of the priests it would be best for you to read the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy. According to 1^st Chronicles 24 King David set 24 families over the priesthood. By the time the writer of Ezra records the heads of the households of priests in 2:26-39 there are only four families mentioned. This shows us two things: First, how disastrous the Babylonian campaign was against Judah in regards to the loss of life and; second, the people were more concerned with the daily wealth of this world and were unwilling to leave what they were doing for the sake of the call of God.

The next group listed was the Levites. Their list was quiet larger from the priest. The reason is because the priestly line came from the Levites according to Leviticus 2:40-42. The Levites were a special tribe from the very beginning: First, they were custodians of the sanctuary of God in both the Tabernacle and Temple (Numbers 1:15; 18:22-24); second they were appointed to be in charge of the worship services (Numbers 8:19; 18:2-6); third, they were did not possess any land because God was to be their inheritance, to own land or have huge sums of money would disqualify them from service (Numbers 18:20; 26:62; Deuteronomy 10:9; 18:1-2); last they were elders over six cities known as “cities of refuge” where they made judgment over criminal cases (Joshua 21). While this list is not a comprehensive one it does show the extent of involvement the Levites had within the other tribes of Israel.

There are several things to notice about the Levities themselves which are mentioned in the chapter 2:40-58 passage. Notice several things about them which would co-inside with the list above. Singers are mentioned in verse 41. Here we see that they were to lead the people in worship. Gatekeepers are referred to in verse 42. We can see here the guardianship of the temple grounds. Gatekeepers were very important for three reasons: first, they literally guarded the gates to make sure that only those who were allowed to get into particular areas of the Temple got in; second, they helped direct people who needed assistance; third, they kept order. If there were any questionable activities occurring on the Temple grounds they would investigate and move the activity outside the Temple or even arrest those involved. Verse 43 lists “temple servants” and in verse 58 it mentions “the sons of Solomon’s servants” among the Levites. The term “temple servants” means devoted or dedicated ones. Many scholars believe that both of these groups were Gentiles who over the years, mainly during the years of King Solomon, gave themselves to the worship of Yahweh. They also believe that this group had a lot to do with administrative affairs, took care of the mundane task of everyday work in the Temple, handled all of the secular affairs of the Temple upkeep, and watched over the treasury of the Temple.

So how does this all apply? Paul wrote in 1^st Corinthians 12:14, “For the body is not one member, but many.” In verse 25 he states that there is to “be no division in the body” yet in verse 27 he declares, “Now you are Christ’s body, and individually members of it.” The point which Paul is making and Ezra is illustrating is that there are many people which are gifted in different areas. This is not to be done for individual glory, but for corporate worship in glorifying God. There are similarities between what was going on in the days of Ezra and how things should be today in our churches. First, the priests were the key teachers. This translates to us today that there are some among us who are gifted in teaching. Those of us who teach are to be involved in discipleship and helping other mature in Christ to the point that they willingly share the gospel with those who they come in contact. There were the Levites who had in their ranks gatekeepers. These bastion guards of old are nothing more than what we call ushers and greeters today. The primary goal is to guard the glory of God within the churches by keeping order, help direct people where they need to go, and greet people as they enter the time of worship. There were singers. Today we have song leaders, musicians and choirs. They had the devoted ones or “temple servants,” we have people who have the gift of administration. The application is all over the board, the key is involvement. Many people in the churches feel that they have nothing to contribute, but according to Scripture that just simply is not true. The only person who does not have anything to contribute is the person who does not know Jesus Christ as their Savior. Those who have not come to the cross of Christ and believed in His resurrection have nothing to contribute. They must first repent of their sin and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ alone for salvation. Other than that, if you are in Christ and Christ is in you then the Holy Spirit has gifted you for the glory of God and the work of the kingdom through His local church.

Let me know your thoughts.

God Bless,

Steven

Next time Ezra 1:5-11, SEEING THE GOOD HAND OF GOD AT WORK THROUGH OPEN HEARTS

Unless otherwise noted all verses quoted are from the New American Standard Version