Back To The Book (Ezra)

by J.L. Ferguson, Barrhead | Category: Great Spiritual Revivals | Nov 1981

"As thou knowest not what is the way of the wind... even so thou knowest not the work of God who doeth all" (Eccles. 11:5). The way of the wind, or (RV margin) the spirit: the Hebrew word ruach is translated either wind or spirit, even when speaking of the Spirit of God. Similarly in John 3:8 the same word pneuma is used both for the wind and the Spirit. "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit".

When God has brought reviving among His people, it has always been the fruit of the Spirit's work. He has come silently, and suddenly, in power and great glory to God; and when He has gone few ever discerned from whence He had come, far less whither He had gone.

The Spirit is sovereign in the choice of those who will be in the path of the wind of revival as it begins to blow. We have considered in previous issues some of the choices in the days when the quickening wind swept through Judah and Benjamin. It would take a long and separate essay to consider the men and women in every era whose manner of life has been influenced by the initial movements of the Spirit in His quickening power.

Ezra - the Man

Suffice it for this present article to examine briefly the spiritual dedication of one particular man whom the Spirit used in this way, if perchance something of his Spirit-used qualities may become powerful in us.

It will be more profitable in our short study to consider the positive side of Ezra's devotional life, rather than become involved in the historical problems of where to place him in relation to Nehemiah, and the sequence of events in post-captivity Judah and Jerusalem generally.

The exercised remnant of around some 50,000 souls returned to Judah from Babylon as narrated in Ezra 1. Their subsequent experiences were dealt with in our two previous issues. From Ezra 7 we learn that the man Ezra himself returned with some 1,500 others. His return was actually a commission from Artaxerxes, the king in Babylon, to make enquiries as to the state of the people in Judah, and to carry a gift of great value for the service of the house of God in Jerusalem.

The Spirit directs us to several points which give early indication that

here was a man in the line of His purpose - a man in the path of the wind. He was a priest, a direct descendant of Aaron, through Phinehas who held the covenant of the priesthood. In practice he was a scribe of skill, whose main aim in life was "to seek the law of the ~ and to do it, and to teach in Israel statutes and judgements". Here surely was a man with his priorities right in life - a searcher after the counsels of God so that he might first himself do them and then be thus in a position to teach others to pursue them. He was also a man of known integrity, whom a heathen monarch could trust implicitly.

Journey to Jerusalem

By the riverside Ezra surveyed the exercised group willing to journey with him. His discerning eye was quick to detect the absence of the sons of Levi. So he sent back word to men of influence that ministers were needed for the house of God. In due course they arrived and "according to the good hand of our God upon us" (a choice recurring phrase in the Ezra story) several excellent men were among them.

They were now ready for the long journey, and the mark of the Spirit on the man again revealed itself. There were dangers in the way. They carried great treasure. But such was his confidence in God that he could not think to ask a guard of the king. Here was a man who knew his God and trusted Him.

At the river Ahava he called for a fast, for a time of humbling of he art, for a season of waiting on God. Here was a man of prayer. Then, to twelve of the priests and ten of their trusted brethren, he measured out by recorded weight the precious wealth and vessels for the house of God in Jerusalem, with the memorable words, "Watch ye, and keep them, until ye weigh them at Jerusalem". Here was a man who could trust men of a like spirit.

Mixed Marriages

Reaching Jerusalem, his very presence there "furthered the people and the house of God". But he found the condition of the people completely at variance with the law of God He loved. "Is it not", said Moses in his day, "... that Thou goest with us, so that we be separated, land Thy people, from all the people that are upon the face of the earth?" (Exod. 33:16). But the earlier spiritual quickening of the remnant had fast died away. It had happened so often before, "0 Judah. . . your goodness is as a morning cloud, and as the dew that goeth early away" (Hos. 6:4). The people had mingled and married with the many surrounding nations, embracing their evil practices which were an abomination to the Lord. All evidence of separation in the holy nation seemed to have gone. The story is told in Ezra 9.

This man of the Spirit assessed the situation. It roused in him deep righteous anger and sorrow; and he sat down in almost unbelieving astonishment at "the trespass of them of the captivity". The godly in Jerusalem, who feared the name of the Lord and trembled at His word, came along, heartened him, and sat down alongside him. They sat till the hour of the evening sacrifice. Then the man of God rose with his garments rent, fell upon his knees, cast himself before and upon the Lord, and spreading out his hands revealed the kind of man he was in the confession which he made.

Turning Point

This proved to be the turning point; the appalling spiritual declension was again stayed. Here was a true son of Phinehas (Num. 25). The mourner from the river Ahava led the people into national mourning. His proclamation throughout all Judah and Jerusalem brought the people to the city within three specified days. And there in the broad place before the house of God this great spiritual leader called on the nation to put away the wives which, altogether contrary to the law of God for His own people, they had taken from the surrounding nations. Then the great rain fell, very real at the time but also remarkable in its symbolism. The Spirit's revival of the nation was now under way.

Some twelve years passed between the foregoing incident in Ezra 10 and Nehemiah chapters 1-8. They are silent years in the divine record, faithful Ezra doubtless keeping priestly watch over the people of God. One further consolidation was necessary, the wall had to be rebuilt. Once again God had a man of prayer in readiness, and from Babylon He brought up Nehemiah to be governor in Jerusalem, a worthy team-mate for Ezra. His courageous zeal for "the welfare of the children of Israel" provided all the stimulus of leadership needed by the people. In response to his great rallying call, "Remember the Lord", the people gave without reserve their labour and their money and the wall was rebuilt in fifty-two days.

The Book

Nothing could now hinder the coming of the great day. The people, freshly renewed in their separation, gathered as one man before the Water Gate, as though anticipating the cleansing power of the Word. They called on Ezra to "bring the book of the law of Moses". Bring the Book! Back to the Book! The Spirit of God was in control. The man He had been training and using was now to be instrumental in the quickening of the nation.

It was the first day of the seventh month. A pulpit was erected for Ezra. There in the early morning he took his stand, radiant in revival, flanked by

godly men. The whole congregation stood to attention, men and women who could hear with understanding. He opened the Book and everyone stood up. He blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people said, Amen, Amen, lifting their hands, bowing their heads to the ground in worship. Then till midday they read aloud the words of the Book and everyone listened attentively. They read, not just any way, not just a jumble of words, but reverently. They read distinctly, interpreting the Hebrew words where necessary to a people many of whom had been born in Babylon and to whom the Book had in any event ceased to be familiar.

Revival

The revival was showing itself in a weeping, broken-down people. You read of it in Nehemiah 8. Then Ezra the priest, Nehemiah the governor, and the Levites who taught the people, wiped away gently the nation's repentant tears. "And all the people went their way, to eat, and to drink, and to send portions, and to make great mirth, because they had understood the words that were declared unto them".

So back of that spiritual revival was Ezra, ~e man of the Spirit, the man of the Book, the man of example, the man of trust, of prayer, of loyalty, of tears, of command. Well did the Holy Spirit say through Paul, albeit in another context, "think on these things".

J.L. Ferguson, Barrhead | Nov 1981
Great Spiritual Revivals