Following Jesus is worth what it costs!

 

READ Ezra 6-10

Much of OT history parallels the personal history of each Christian and the history of the church and redemption. The story recorded in Ezra is a pattern of revival. No doubt God’s people held captive in Babylon had prayed for a change in their situation of bondage to a pagan enemy, yet there is no record of that. In fact, the story begins with a change of heart in the pagan king. He was moved by God to allow the Jews to go home.

Some of them went home, but their work did not progress. Adversaries convinced another king to stop them, but then the Jews convinced another king to look for the first decree. This king, Darius, found it and reissued it in even stronger terms. Not only would God’s people be encouraged to rebuild their place of worship, the cost would be paid and all their needs would be supplied, including a vast number of animals for their sacrifices. His decree ended with these words:

“Also I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house, and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill. May the God who has caused his name to dwell there overthrow any king or people who shall put out a hand to alter this, or to destroy this house of God that is in Jerusalem. I Darius make a decree; let it be done with all diligence.” (Ezra 6:11–12)

Another group went home and the work was finished in a few short years. The people celebrated the Passover, clearly an event that points to the saving work of Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Then Ezra was sent to teach them the Word of God. It is said of him:

This Ezra went up from Babylonia. He was a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the Lord, the God of Israel, had given, and the king granted him all that he asked, for the hand of the Lord his God was on him . . . . For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of the Lord, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel . . . . (Ezra 7:6–10)

Then Artaxerxes the king, made a decree to all the treasurers in the province beyond the river that specified all needs that would be supplied, whatever Ezra required. This king said, “Whatever is decreed by the God of heaven, let it be done in full for the house of the God of heaven, lest his wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons.” (Ezra 7:21–23)

When the next group left on their journey home, they fasted and prayed for protection. Anyone who has experienced a time of captivity to sin and has been touched by God in a renewal of their decision to obey Him knows the danger at that time. Our spiritual enemy does not want this to happen and the threats are real.

After their return, Ezra realized how deeply the people had disobeyed God and united themselves in marriage to foreign wives. These relationships typified a commitment to living in a way that had been strictly forbidden by God, not marriage per se, but union with a culture and belief system that was against God. This intermarriage must not be allowed.

All this is a pattern of revival. It can happen in stages but always with a renewed attitude toward sin; it must be abandoned. Rebuilding their lives was costly, yet the people had already experienced the fruit of freedom as they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy, for the Lord had made them joyful and had turned the heart of the king of Assyria to them, so that he aided them in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel. (Ezra 6:22)

Their choice and the results remind me of Moses who “choose rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. He considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward.” (Hebrews 11:25–26) and of “Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” (Hebrews 12:2)

So many think that following Christ robs them of ‘fun’ and while there are times of great difficulty and struggle, nothing can match the joy and peace that passes understanding that comes to those who are in the center of God’s will. This is where I want to be, today and always.