March 8, 2020     Rev. Thomas M. Cox

RESTORATION, Ezra 1-2

A) BACKGROUND ON EZRA-NEHEMIAH

• Historical Context:

• OUTLINE: 1) Temple 2) Law  3) Wall  4) Covenant Community

B) NOTES ON THE PASSAGE

• The Cyrus Edict:

• Restoration: T__________, Vessels from the House of the Lord

• List of Returnees-

C) NEW TESTAMENT RESONANCE & APPLICATIONS

• The Sovereign K______ can use human kings to accomplish His purposes.

           See Proverbs 21:1, Romans 13:1ff

• The Jerusalem Temple is no longer needed as the central place of W______ because Jesus is the Final Temple. (The importance of P____ has been superseded by the important P_____.) 

            See John 2:19-22, Acts 17:24-25

• Freewill O________ings-- See 2 Corinthians 8:1-5, 9:5-7

Ezra 1:1-11, 2:68-70 (ESV)

In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:

2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has charged me to build Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is among you of all His people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”

5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.

2 68 Some of the heads of families, when they came to the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem, made freewill offerings for the house of God, to erect it on its site. 69 According to their ability they gave to the treasury of the work 61,000 darics of gold, 5,000 minas of silver, and 100 priests' garments. 70 Now the priests, the Levites, some of the people, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the temple servants lived in their towns, and all the rest of Israel in their towns.