WHAT WAITS ON THE OTHERSIDE OF THE DOOR?

A NEW YEAR’S MESSAGE FROM STEVEN

1:4When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. 5I said, "I beseech You, O LORD God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, 6let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father's house have sinned. 7"We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. 8"Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, 'If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; 9but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the most remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.' 10"They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. 11"O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man " Now I was the cupbearer to the king.

2:1And it came about in the month Nisan, in the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes, that wine was before him, and I took up the wine and gave it to the king. Now I had not been sad in his presence.

(Nehemiah 1:4-2:1-New American Standard Bible)

A couple of weeks ago I was preaching through the above passage from Nehemiah 1:4-2:1. I discussed how that Nehemiah was deeply concerned after hearing how that the Jewish population in Jerusalem was being mistreated and how the walls of Jerusalem were torn down offering them no defense. He was so profoundly moved by what was going on that he had decided to spend the next several months praying and fasting over the situation (1:1, 4; 2:1). The painfulness over the circumstances which surrounded his people was so great that he confessed both his and their sins before God (1:6). Nehemiah considered the sinfulness of his people to be a community thing not just a personal issue. The above prayer is just one of many prayers Nehemiah would pray. But I believe this prayer is special because of one thing…I believe this prayer was prayed as he walked the halls of the Susa palace. Why do I believe this? Because he mentions at the end of 1:11 that he was the “…cupbearer to the king.” I believe that there was a literal door standing in between the transition at the end of 1:11 and the beginning of 2:1. As Nehemiah ends his prayer he stands at the door which is the entry way into the king’s court. He is on his way to delivering the tested wine to the king and will be provoked into delivering the will of God before the king. But remember there is a door which is waiting to be opened. That door is what stands between him fulfilling the will of God and him backing down from doing what he is being called to do.

I believe that we are standing at such a door this next year. As always we face it with a certain amount of optimism, pessimism, and anxiety. Regardless we stand at the door and we will be forced to walk through it. Either we walk through it with the attitude of Nehemiah and pray for God’s mercy while seeking to do His will in a hostile world; or we walk through it desiring to do what is right but doing what we always seem to do…nothing. This year is crucial in so many ways. This year we will receive a new President. I will make more comments on this as we near the inauguration. We will also face further and greater violence against the nation of Israel. Israel has been our truest ally in the fight against terrorism. We need to remember this as this fight continues. We face the ever increasing possibilities of homosexual marriages becoming the norm. We face on growing resistance of Christian ethics and morality being upheld in political circles. In fact over the last twelve years we have come to understand that we are more of a play toy for the Republicans and Democrats than an actual moving force. We also face the problem of churches growing smaller and less influential in their communities than before. One more thing we face this year is the political force of the younger evangelicals who are forsaking the call of the right to life for the call of the right to live however we want ( www.recoveringevangelical.com ). Again I will address this issue later and will be in contact with this group throughout the year hoping to set an open dialogue with them.

For us at Ferguson Road Baptist Church, Dallas (FRBC) it means that we are going to have to work all the harder to bring people to church, evangelize the community and follow up on prospects which God brings our way. This year we are going to develop our own Sunday School curriculum, strengthen our children’s and youth ministry as well as continuing to work with our “Young At Heart” group. At FRBC we have a plan which will have the DBA (Dallas Baptist Association) working through us on a project and a possible apartment ministry to start up. And if that is not enough the plans are in the works right now to start POD casting our services where people who are looking for a church home can see what our services are like and hear our pastor as he expounds on the Word of God. And I would like to see our staff get together and do a POD cast at least once every couple of weeks were we take e-mails and calls from people answering questions on various biblical topics.

For Mary and I continuing to work on our marital relationship is preeminence. It is our desire to start a family this year, but as always this is something which rests in the hands for God. For her, it is important that she continue to do well with her carrier while being a witness for Jesus Christ. For me there are several different fronts which I have to battle. First, I must continue to move forward with school. If I continue on I am looking at graduating sometime in 2010, so school is crucial, especially dealing with Greek this next semester. Also, ministry is extremely critical. The two of us want to see FRBC grow and become a lighthouse for those trapped in the darkness of sin in that community. But we want to become more sensitive about the community we live in, the two communities are not the same. I want to preach a little more around the state or around the nation maybe once a month somewhere else. A revival meeting here and some pulpit supply there, just getting out while seeing other churches and how they function in different situations help me to understand dynamics at FRBC. As always I want do a job at my work which is worthy of my being called a Christian. The goal though is to do all that we do for the glory of God.

So, as we enter this new what sets at the other side of the door for you? What has God pointed out to you that He wants you to do? As we enter this year we walk into a new field regard God’s will. Either we will enter the courts of the world, hang our heads low and continue doing what we have always done. Or we will stand up straight, walk in, and when asked what it is we are doing, answer in an affirmative, strong, yet humble fashion, “We are here to do the will of God.”

As one theologian wrote, “It is the cross of Christ we are to declare and the resurrection of Christ we are to explicitly. Always leading others to the kingdom of God in the way we walk, the way we live, and what we say.”

May 2009 be the year we say, “All to the glory of God!”

It’s Beginning To Look Like What?

1:18 Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be with child by the Holy Spirit. 19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man and not wanting to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20 But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21 "She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." 22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet: 23 "BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL," which translated means, "GOD WITH US." 24 And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25 but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he called His name Jesus.

2:1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him." 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him. 4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They said to him, "In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: 6 `AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.' " 7 Then Herod secretly called the magi and determined from them the exact time the star appeared. 8 And he sent them to Bethlehem and said, "Go and search carefully for the Child; and when you have found Him, report to me, so that I too may come and worship Him."

9 After hearing the king, they went their way; and the star, which they had seen in the east, went on before them until it came and stood over the place where the Child was. 10 When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy. 11 After coming into the house they saw the Child with Mary His mother; and they fell to the ground and worshiped Him. Then, opening their treasures, they presented to Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 12 And having been warned by God in a dream not to return to Herod, the magi left for their own country by another way.

13 Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, "Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and remain there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to destroy Him." 14 So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. 15 He remained there until the death of Herod. This was to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "OUT OF EGYPT I CALLED MY SON."

16 Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. 17 Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: 18 "A VOICE WAS HEARD IN RAMAH, WEEPING AND GREAT MOURNING, RACHEL WEEPING FOR HER CHILDREN; AND SHE REFUSED TO BE COMFORTED, BECAUSE THEY WERE NO MORE." –Matthew 1:18-2:18

Every Christmas since I became a Christian there has been one controversy or another. In fact I didn’t even know that many of these controversies regarding Christmas even existed before I became a Christian. But in Ephesians 2 the apostle Paul makes it clear that before we come to know Jesus Christ as our Savior we are dead in our trespasses and sins. As usual this year is not any different then that of the last twenty-five years. This year’s war has been with the state of Washington and its governor. But the reality is that this hostility started much earlier. In recent history this struggle started thirty years ago when the educational intuitions made the decisions to stop having “Esther Break” and started having “Spring Break” a week or two before Esther. This was a subversive way of denying deity through the observation of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. But the battle still goes back further than that. During the late nineteenth century Christians found themselves struggling against a new enemy call “Commercialism.” This was the illegitimate child of the free enterprise system set up by our forefathers. Even then the battle of Christmas goes back further. I could spend pages talking about the different battles Christians’ have fought dealing with Christmas but the truth is that Christmas has never been held as something wonderful by the world. The world loves the idea of a small innocent baby in a cute manager setting. They love the idea of getting gifts full of play things and singing happy songs. They love the sounds and glittering lights and the parties, please don’t forget the parties. The world has done everything from attempting to highjack it to totally doing away with it, but history notes that these actions have occurred from the very start.

In Matthew 1:18-2:18 we read that the original Christmas story is received with less than a glorious thought. At first in Matthew 1:18-25 when Joseph, the future husband to Mary, heard the news of Mary’s pregnancy he was less than enthusiastic. In fact 1:19 brings out that he even thought about having a private divorce and moving on with his life. It wasn’t until he is given a revelation by an angel of the Lord in 1:20-25 that he changed his mind and accepted what was happening as the divine will of God.

On the other hand the news was received with the same lukewarm attitude by King Herod in Matthew 2. When it is revealed to him by the magi what was going on, his handling of the situation was much different. According to chapter 2 verses 4-6 he first verified the information from the religious leaders regarding what Scripture had to say about the matter. Then in 2:7-9 he subversively tells the magi to find the Child so that he can worship Him, even though his plan was to kill the Child. Do not get this story wrong when he sent them out to find the child many scholars believe that Herod had spies in Bethlehem waiting for the magi to arrive in order to kill the Christ child. This is the reason many believe that 2:9b-12 possibly happened at a much later time and some place other than Bethlehem. It is believed and agreed by most commentaries, both old and new, that 2:9b-12 happened around the second year of Jesus’ life possibly in Nazareth. Many of the reasons for this are because of the fact that the star always showed in the east. Nazareth is to the east of Jerusalem while Bethlehem is to the southwest of Jerusalem. Also, the use of the Greek word for “Child” in 2:9b can mean infant to five years of age. Verse 16 in chapter 2 also notes that Herod’s orders included children two years old and under. Regardless of the where and when the magi encounter the Christ child, they leave the country through an alternate route. Because of this Herod becomes indignant (2:16) The word used for “anger” means fits of passion. He was enraged over what had occurred. In line with his history of killing and assassinations he sent a small army, possibly from the fortress Herodion which was only about five miles from Bethlehem. This fortress overlooked Bethlehem and would have taken no time to get to Bethlehem in order to carry out the horrible orders of King Herod. Orders to kill, “…all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi.” (2:16) On that night the blood ran like water through the streets of Bethlehem. To the glory of God and by His divine protection Joseph moved his family from wherever they were to Egypt until the danger had passed (2:13-15, 19-23).

So as we can see this war against Christmas has always been going on. It is nothing new. It wasn’t filled with parties, flashing lights, lots of toys, tree trimming, declarations, happy songs, and cool romantic nights by a warm fire place. This conflict has always been going on and it will not end until the Lord Jesus Christ returns. Until then the sinful soul of humanity will constantly and consistently deny the virgin birth. If people do not deny the virgin birth, then they cannot deny the vicarious death on the cross. If they do not deny his death on the cross as a substitutionary act then they have to come into agreement with their guilt before God as a result of their own sinful nature. If they do not deny his virgin birth and substitutionary death on the cross they cannot deny His resurrection. If they cannot deny His resurrection they must conclude that God became a man and met humanity in its inhumanity face to face. Now humanity is caught in a dilemma, they must repent and believe or some day face judgment before the very One they deny. The truth is deny it or accept it the Child in the filthy manager who was being hunted by sinful mankind will one day be the Judge Who will condemn all who deny Him as Savior.

Where are you? What stand are you taking? How do you feel about who Jesus Christ is and what He has done for all of humanity? The answer to these questions could very easily affect your eternity.

Have a Merry Christmas,

Steven

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.