Sermon Tone Analysis

Last week: I introduced you to the second act of this historical account of the returning Jewish exiles from captivity in Babylon.

Ezra was the focus of our study as the leader that God chose to lead this second wave of people back to the Promised land.

We looked at Ezra’s priestly lineage (good or bad), his responsibilities (as scribe), his character, and lastly, his success.

As in all our studies of people in the Bible, we can learn much from these faithful or unfaithful men and women, but our goal is to make much of Christ.

We always need to learn about the condition of man in sin and the hope that we have in Christ.

Christ is the best model for leadership as he sacrificed himself for sinners and paid for a sin debt that was not his own.

Ezra has much to teach us but Christ has more of himself that we should learn from as the Son of God.

Today: Now we look to the next set of verses that take us to the end of the chapter 7 and our in-depth analysis will towards the Persian King Artaxerxes.

Just as we spent time focusing on Cyrus, now we look at the second most important Persian King that is mentioned in Scripture.

Artaxerxes I is our focus of study and he is the son of Xerxes I and he took the throne in Persia in 465 and ruled until 424 BC.

He was known for overcoming a great attack from the partnered Egyptians/Greeks and after that victory, there was a season of peace in the ruled Persian kingdom.

With that peace, came politics of the kingdom done the way the King wanted.

The background behind the kingdom decree for the Jews to return home is the idea of polytheism.

We read in Ezra 7:23

The Persians were polytheists which means they believed in the existence of multiple gods.

Polytheism is the major religious viewpoint of the enemies of God in the Biblical narrative.

The Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans, and the Persians were all polytheists.

Israel stood alone in its monotheism believing that God was the one true God.

It was because of their belief in numerous gods ruling equally, that they must deny the existence of all gods or they must humble themselves under the power of them all.

What we see in Artaxerxes’ decision to let the Jews return to their homeland is that it was motivated by the fear of not only the gods of Persia but also the gods of Israel.

What I want us to consider here this afternoon is that this approach may seem pious, taking a “better than nothing” approach to the worship of God, but it is not true worship if it is not exclusive worship of YHWH.

As the uncreated, almighty, eternal sovereign of the universe, he share his worship and glory with no other.

Artaxerxes did not want to offend YHWH so he went to great lengths to offer his sacrifice to YHWH which was freedom of the Jews to return, but in God’s great ledger, ARTAXERXES was not living by faith in YHWH alone.

What this passage teaches us today is the all earthly kings reign under the sovereign rule of God.

Even though they may carry out his purposes as he sees fit, they will face his wrath for their lack of full devotion to him.

In turn, I want you to consider the awesome and unlimited reign of God over all things.

Let me invite you to evaluate your own life and ask yourself, am I like Artaxerxes, giving God a small portion of my life or does he have my full devotion.

Am i guilty of offering to the God of the Bible and the gods of other lands as well?

1.

The King Grants Liberty 11-14

Ezra 7:11-13 “11 This is a copy of the letter that King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel: 12 “Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, the scribe of the Law of the God of heaven.

Peace.

And now 13 I make a decree that anyone of the people of Israel or their priests or Levites in my kingdom, who freely offers to go to Jerusalem, may go with you.”

We once again witness awesome power of YHWH on display as he works through the evil of Artaxerxes’ polytheistic mind to carry out his purposes of sending Ezra and more Jews home.

This letter is the official decree by the King to allow Ezra and “anyone of the people of Israel …may go with you.”

Verse 14 gives a deeper explanation for freedom given to Ezra and these Jews.

Ezra is sent back by this Persian king to make sure that the newly built community of people in Jerusalem are abiding by the law of God set forth in the Pentateuch.

In other words, Persian King wants Ezra to make sure people are obeying the law that God established in his word.

Only the sovereign God of the Bible can make such unnatural things occur and its because of such power that we are in awe of him and we worship His power and might.

When our world screams loudly that we must live in fear day by day because of our foreign enemies, a pesky virus, an unstable economy, the church responds back,

jeremiah 10:6-7 “6 There is none like you, O Lord; you are great, and your name is great in might.

7 Who would not fear you, O King of the nations?

For this is your due; for among all the wise ones of the nations and in all their kingdoms there is none like you.”

Jeremiah 10:10 “10 But the Lord is the true God; he is the living God and the everlasting King.

At his wrath the earth quakes, and the nations cannot endure his indignation.”

Let us then be clear to give YHWH the praise for the freedom that He offered the Jews through his servant Artaxerxes.

We must not praise the Persian king, for his motives were driven from fear but the Jews feared YHWH and trusted him to provide and he did.

The true king granting freedom is YHWH!

We have freedoms in America that are given by God that can just as easily be taken away as they are given.

The Bible never teaches religious freedom is a promise from God.

Instead, he tells that His presence will be with us even if our earthly freedoms are taken away.

For the Jews under Babylon, their freedoms were taken away and then restored again in Ezra’s account.

I think of Job’s response to His wife upon losing all their earthly possessions and loved ones, when he said,

What is the Christian’s true freedom?

Our true freedom is not freedom to worship, freedom to own a home, or freedom to bear arms.

I appreciate those earthly freedoms but they are temporary and meaningless in the scope of eternity.

Those earthly freedoms can be stripped away and we will still have Christ.

We can will worship him and we will face punishment joyfully for doing so.

But a prison cell and even death can ultimately remove earthly freedoms but not heavenly ones.

Jesus came into the world to give us hope of something better that what the constitution gives us.

Jesus the eternal Son of God came into the world to bless us with peace with our Heavenly Father and freedom from the bondage of sin and death.

The heavenly life promised to us must be our ultimate goal as we live in a dark time.

The Jews longed for a return to teh promised land and an earthly King granted that freedom to go home.

Our heavenly King brought redemption so that we could have an eternal home with Him and we will enjoy it.

2. The King Provides Resources 15-24

Secondly, as we noticed from our account of Cyrus sending back the first wave of exiles, so God moved in the heart of Artaxerxes to provide Ezra all the financial resources to make the journey back to Jerusalem and for Ezra to return by making sacrifices on behalf of the king.

Ezra 7:15

Ezra 7:15 (ESV)

15 and also to carry the silver and gold that the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose dwelling is in Jerusalem,

Here again you see the King’s fear manifest into good as he provides all the financial resources needed for Ezra to purchase the necessary bulls, rams and lambs to take with him to offer sacrifices to God in the newly built temple.

This again is Artaxerxes seeking to curry favor with God and yet God uses it to provide his people a safe and well funded travel home and the supplies to offer sacrifice when they arrive.

Notice where they will collect these monies:

v. 15 the king’s treasury

v.16 with treasury from Babylon

v. 16 freewill offering of Jews

v. 21 monies from the Samaritans

Ezra 7:21-22

One commentator calculates these amounts as follows:

“a hundred talents of silver are just more than 33/4 tons;

a hundred kors of wheat are approximately 650 bushels;

a hundred baths of wine and oil are 607 gallons each.”

Charles Fensham.

The Books of Ezra and Nehemiah: The New International Commentary on the Old Testament (p.

106).

Kindle Edition.

In other words it is a cumulative effort of monies going back for the people of God to use for the success of the temple work.

The opposition to the Jews were commanded to give money to them.

The pagan king was willing to give money to them.

The spoils of war with Babylon also aided their financial needs.

There was money coming to the Jews from every direction and therefore we once again are reminded that nothing is impossible with God.

1 Chron 29:10-16

All that we have in this world belongs to the supreme sovereign rule and power of our king.

The God of the Bible is a gracious God and he blesses all people with grace through life, through relationships, through earthly possessions.

He is a good and gracious God to give to all people these gifts they do not deserve.

But the world exploits those gifts and they use the benevolence of God as a means to rebel further against his name.

They don’t honor Him as the benevolent God he is.

But God’s people recognize where these gifts come from.

From that acknowledgment comes worship for His good grace.

In the same way, as the church worships God for all that He blesses it with, there is also the command to not fear.

in moments of life when finances are tight and large financial surprises occur, we are reminded that God’s power is displayed in this story of Ezra so we can see that His resources are unlimited to provide for His people.

Therefore, instead of fear, let us see God’s grace manifested to us and let us have faith in Him to give us according to our needs.

3. The King Appoints Governments 25-26