to the book of Ezra, chapter three and verse two. Then stood up Jeshua, the son of Josedach, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burned offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. And our subject this evening, in broad terms, will be getting our priorities right. Here were the Jews returning from long captivity in the land of Babylon, returning now to the land of Judah and Jerusalem. Much of it was laid waste. The temple had been destroyed and burnt. There was a great task ahead of them, not simply in Jerusalem, but as we read in this chapter, they were settled in the cities, many of whom had ancestry in those places. They would need to rebuild, restore houses or build anew. So there was much to be done. But we see in this chapter that their chief priority was the Lord. and what an example they are to us. I do want to have a brief look at chapter two before we come to this chapter. These lists of names, 70 verses here in chapter two, the names most of which we know nothing about, these individuals. And we may ask the question of ourselves, Why are these names in Scripture at all? The Apostle Paul wrote to Timothy and said, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable. What profit can we gain from this register of returning captives from Babylon? Well, Matthew Henry, especially, is very suggestive on some of the verses in this chapter And so much of what I'm going to say, not all, but much, I gleaned from Matthew Henry. And let me suggest to you a number of reasons then why the Lord in his wisdom has seen fit to include this register not once, but twice in the scriptures. Chapter seven in Nehemiah is a rehearsal, a re-record, if you like, of this same register. There are some differences, I'll come to those, but why is this list of names here? Well firstly, it reminds us that God is interested in individuals, and that ought to warm our hearts. We may feel to be so small, so insignificant, children who live a few years, and then the place that has known us here upon earth will know us no more, and yet God is interested. The names of all his children are known to him. He knows the stars by name, how much more his children. Those who returned are recorded. They have a special place in the heart of God because they heeded the call that had gone forth through his anointed servant, Cyrus. And now they commit themselves to the return to Judah and to the great work, the task that they would put their hands to. They are known to God as these returning captives. The Lord knoweth them that are his. We read in 2 Timothy chapter two, and this chapter underlines that fact. Matthew Henry says, those that honor God He will thus honour the names of all those Israelites, indeed, that accept the offer of deliverance by Christ shall be found to their honour in a more sacred record than this, even in the Lamb's book of life. God has his books. And this chapter reminds us that God has his books. That begs the question, does God know our names? Does he know our heart, our desire? Are there works of love and gratitude in our life that God may note in his book? There's a challenge to us there. The second reason or benefit we can glean from this list of names is that they are described in verse one of chapter two as the children of the province. How that phrase must grate upon the Israelites and on the Jews. Even at the time of Christ, Judah was no more than a province. It used to be a mighty nation under David and Solomon, but it's reduced now to a province. Here in this phrase is a reminder that sin had brought Judah low. Here was the Church of God in the Old Testament, but they were now no more than a province. The Church of God today needs to remember what sinned us. Of course, the Lord is sovereign and there are days of great blessing and revival when there is an ingathering of multitudes and there is a day of small things, but often The Church, by its disobedience and by its corruption and worldliness, is rendered a province. It loses something of its dignity and its influence in this world. We have to pray to the Lord, Lord ever keep us from forfeiting great instrumentality and usefulness by falling into the sins of those old Jews of Jeremiah's day. Of course, because it was now no more than a province, they must look for a better country. And perhaps the Lord includes this description, not only of these ancient Jews, but it's a reminder that we all, by virtue of being in a world that is oppressive, we are like children of the province. We have no continuing city here. We seek one to come, and we look for a city whose builder and maker is God. a better country, that is, a heavenly country. And so, as these Jews could look forward, and perhaps because of their low state, they had to look forward and embrace the promises of the prophets. So do God's people today. Now, as I said, this chapter two is almost paralleled in Nehemiah chapter seven, but there are some discrepancies. And I imagine that the liberals would say, well, that's because the scribes didn't copy word for word the scriptures. And so you get some discrepancies. But that's not how we view scripture. We view scripture as being inspired by the Lord, preserved by the Lord. And Matthew Henry very helpfully suggests why there are these discrepancies. Names missing in Nehemiah chapter seven that are here in Ezra two, other names added that don't appear here. He says it's rather like the parable of the two sons that the Lord Jesus Christ told. And the first son said, when commanded by his father, go work in my vineyard, he said, I go, sir, and went not. And the second son said, I will not go. But afterward, he repented and went. And says Matthew Henry, And I see no reason to disagree with him. There are some of these names in Ezra chapter two. They changed their minds. They signed up. They were entered into the register of returning captives. But they got cold feet. They remained in the land of Babylon. Are we like that? Was there a time when the Lord so touched our hearts that we were resolved to go with the people of God? to become servants of Jesus Christ, to be those that would build his kingdom and his city upon earth. But when the time came, we drew back. We remain part of this world to this day. Will our name appear in God's book of those who faithfully heeded the gospel invitations and in repentance and faith, Serve the Lord, put our hand to the plough, or will our name in the ultimate day of reckoning be absent because we withdrew? Well, there are those who appear in Nehemiah, they're not here. Perhaps they had a late change of mind. And there's no time whilst we are still in this life with our breath when we can in a sense, change our mind and say, I've held out, determined to be part of this world for years, but now I yield. I do wish to be amongst the people of God, to stand in the flock of Christ. Well, may that be true of some of us here. At the end of chapter two, we read that there were so few Levites, Actually, it's verse 40 to 42 in chapter two. The Levites, the children of Jeshua and Cadmiel, and the children of Hodavah, they are 74. The singers, the children of Asaph, 128. The children of the porters, the children of Shalem, the children of Atah, and the children of Talmon, and so on, 139. Why so few? If you go back to 2 Chronicles 29, verse 34, we read this. But the priests were too few, so that they could not flay all the burnt offerings, prepare them. Wherefore their brethren, the Levites, did help them till the work was ended, and until the other priests had sanctified themselves. For the Levites were more upright in heart to sanctify or set themselves apart than the priests. So, previous to the captivity, the Levites were known for their uprightness and for their devotion to the temple and its work. But it seemed that those years of captivity had rendered many of their descendants cold and indifferent to the cause. They were not living up to their forebears. Isn't that perhaps a challenge to some of us here? We have forebears who were very earnest and very committed to the cause of Christ, parents perhaps, grandparents, but what of us? Have we caught the fire that once they had? Then we need to seek to the Lord and say, Lord, stir me up and grant to me that same burden for the work of the Lord that others in former generations have displayed. And lastly, before we move to chapter three, we read at the end of this chapter, verse 61, of a particular individual who had lost his tribal identity. So in verse 61, we read, the children of Koz, the children of Barzillai, which took a wife of the daughters of Basileio, the Gileadite, and was called after their name. Now, this may seem a very strange and incidental detail. Basileio, we read of in the time of David, he was a very wealthy man, and he used his wealth nobly to relieve David and those that were with him when they were exiled from Jerusalem during the time of Absalom's rebellion. And so he was a great man with a great reputation. And it would seem here that one who was of the descendants of the priests, he married into this noble clan. And from that moment on, he took the name of Basilei, his in-laws. But when it came now to the end of the captivity, he couldn't prove himself to be of the priestly dynasty. He'd made a choice, says Matthew Henry. He had chosen to be identified with a wealthy and noble family, but he had forfeited, or perhaps was slightly embarrassed and preferred to be known as one of the descendants of Basilei, rather than to own the fact that he belonged to the priestly class. Matthew Henry says, there are many that do that. They would rather be known as a gentleman's son or a gentleman's son-in-law than they would to be known as a child of God or a servant of Jesus Christ. It may be embarrassing. it may be not to their earthly advantage. And also while this family were in Babylon, there was no real asset or earthly advantage in being known as a priest or from a priestly clan. But now the time came and he wanted to prove himself a priest. Verse 62 tells us, these sought their register among those that were reckoned by genealogy, but they were not found. Therefore were they, as polluted, put from the priesthood. They couldn't continue. It was part of the laws of Israel that you needed to be able to prove your pedigree as a priest, and he couldn't. Where do our priorities lie? Would we rather be known in this world for our earthly reputations, for some material wealth, or for some other benefit? Or would we rather be known as belonging to those who are in the service of God and servants of Jesus Christ? That's where that colour and that banner above everything else. It ought not to be a cause for shame. but to hold our head up in this world and say, I am a servant of Jesus Christ. I remember to my shame at school, I didn't want to be known as coming from a Christian family. It would have caused awkwardness and embarrassment for me. But I look back, ashamed of that sin, because it's the greatest privilege here upon earth to serve the Saviour. And the Lord himself says through Paul, Those that, if we are ashamed of him, in this adulterous and sinful generation, then says the Lord, he will be ashamed of us. But let's move on to chapter three. This chapter records really the beginning of the restoration of the promised land. And what hits us at the beginning of this chapter is that they make worship their priority. They make the altar their starting point. They come into the land, they're settled in their cities, and within weeks, probably, by those that have calculated this narrative, the people gather themselves together at Jerusalem. And then, Joshua, the son of Josedek, one of the leaders, and his brethren, the priests, and Zerubbabel, they build the altar of the God of Israel. What an example this is to us, friends. Here were people returning from captivity. They came with limited material possessions and wealth. They couldn't carry it all. They had great tasks ahead just to settle themselves in the land again. But they focus upon this. We must build the altar. We must gather and worship. And friends, this is an example to us. We make the worship of God the starting point in our lives too. It must be the starting point in the Lord's work. They were going to build the temple. We see later on in this chapter that they begin to lay the foundations, verse 10. But what was so important is forget the temple to start with, we start with the altar. there must be that act of worship. There must be that gathering before the Lord and owning him and seeking his blessing and acknowledging our sin before him. We'll see what the altar means in a moment. Is that our mindset? Worship is paramount. You see, worship shapes us. It shapes our attitudes. It prepares us for trial. It stirs us to service. It helps us to keep all the blessings of this present life in perspective. But if worship becomes neglected, then it will have an influence upon all the other aspects and departments of our life too. In marriage, let's follow the example of this opening verse. Do we have that family altar? It's the most important part of those setting out in marriage. We must unite together at the throne of grace. There must be that daily act of family worship. Endeavour to engage in that way. Of course, there will be days when unexpected things happen, but as far as is possible, we must follow the example of these old Jews in personal life, daily. Matthew Henry says on this verse, begin with God. Do we begin the day with God? I read a book quite recently in which the author bore testimony to the fact that as a young Christian, so often he found that he didn't have time for daily devotions. And he concluded that he would have to work his way back from the time he needed to get up and then work back to the evening before. And so he thought, well, I've got to be about my, I think he was a student, I've got to be starting my student work at 7.30 in the morning or whenever. And so he thought, well, I need to be up at seven instead of 7.30, but I need so many hours sleep. particular constitution requires. And so he worked back and thought, I've got to be in bed by 11 or half past 10 or whenever it was. And so that was his routine. He went to bed such that he knew that he would be ready to get up in time for his daily devotions while we all sleep. And I'm sure that's a challenge to us all, myself included. But that's the example. the principle that is being set before us here. We prioritise the altar, we prioritise devotion and worship in our lives, and the Lord blessed these people mightily, as we shall see. In Psalm 141, verse 2, we read, let my prayer be set forth before thee as incense, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. We read here in verse three that they offered burnt offerings morning and evening. And that's an example to us too. Don't be content with a few moments in the morning. Evening worship was part of the custom of the people here. Indeed, it was the habit that God instilled through the Old Testament laws for his people. If we're moving jobs, or moving home is an example to us. But where is the altar going to be? Where will we worship? We shouldn't just swan off into the sunset and presume that the Lord will provide a suitable church that we can worship at. In his mercy, he often does. But we have to instill in our minds this principle, the altar is my priority. must be that which all the activities of life revolve around. Matthew Henry says, let worldly business be postponed to the business of religion and it will prosper the better. When we leave our studies and say, I must make time for the Lord, when we leave our business and say, I've got to make time, as Matthew Henry rightly says, it will prosper the better. I'm sure those who have followed this rule will find they never get worse marks in their exams. But we must move on. We see then in verse one, the unanimity and the zeal of the people. They gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. So soon after coming, It was almost as if they leave their trunks and their baggage in their home, not literally, but they say, well, we've got here now, we found our space, we're going to start building, but first we're going up to Jerusalem. They didn't let the many pressing things they had to give attention to, to prevent them. What a great statement it is, friends. if every local church member could gather in the way that these people did and the local church gathered together as one man. What a blessing it would be this evening if all the congregation that we see on the Lord's Day were here and we couldn't use this building. We'd have to be somewhere else. We gather as one man. This was the spirit of the people of these ancient Jews. They made it their business to be there. They didn't say, oh yes, but my house isn't finished. There's still tiles off the roof. There's still so many things to do in the kitchen garden, preparing for planting the seasonal vegetables. We can't really go up to Jerusalem at this time. Well, the weather's closing in this season. It's the Feast of Tabernacles, which we shall see in verse four. It's probably sort of September, October. when even in the land of Palestine, the weather begins to become more rainy. But they didn't say, well, we best wait until the nice warmer climes. They made it their business to go up to Jerusalem. I was speaking to a pastor only a few days ago, and he quoted Hebrews chapter 10, verse 25. And he said to me, the problem is that many people know Hebrews chapter 10 and verse 25, but they don't notice verse 26 and verse 27. I'll read it to you. Verse 25 says, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together as the manner of some is, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the day approaching. And this pastor said, of course people know that they should gather, and they know that verse. but they don't seem to notice the warning of the next verse. If we sin willfully, after that we have received the knowledge of the truth, there remaineth no more sacrifice for sins, but a certain fearful looking forward judgment. When the Lord has blessed us as richly as he has many of us here, then we ought to encourage one another, stand together, gathering with the people of God as one man, as these verses say, because to do so, to neglect this, is to bring God's judgment upon us, because he's so richly blessed us. But we must move on. Notice in verse two, the conformity of these returning Jews to the scriptures in their worship. They offered burnt offerings thereon as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. They didn't come back from Babylon and say, well, we've been away now 70 years. Our culture has changed. Our mindset is different. We can't go back to the old parameters that the Jews of Moses' day had. We've got to bring some of our modern culture with us. The language here is they returned to the teaching and the guidelines of the law of God and the law of Moses. What a lesson this is really to our day and the Christians of our day because so many keep saying, well, we've got to be up to date. We can't use the music idioms of former generations. We've got to use the music idioms of our culture. We've got to bring in the guitars and the drums and all that kind of thing. that if you go through Scripture all the way through, the people of God are taught, you worship as the Lord has taught in his word. And it will be very different to the idioms and the culture of the world, and we shouldn't be surprised at that because God's word calls us to be a part and to reflect that separateness that we have. There's a principle that our forebears used to refer to when it came to biblical worship, called the regulative principle. And what they said was, the scriptures tell us that in worship, we only do what God prescribes. Only if we can root what we do in scripture, do we do it. And the Lord Jesus really rehearsed that principle when he said to the woman at the well, in Samaria, he said, them that worship God must worship him in spirit and in truth, or according to truth. We have to have God's word as our guide, as our blueprint for all that we do in worship. Look at verse three. This is a very precious verse. We're only going to get to verse three or four, I think, this evening. They set the altar upon his bases. You can imagine the people here, they've come back to Jerusalem, the temple is completely obliterated, but they find where it was. And they find the old foundation, the base upon which the ancient altar used to be. They can't build the temple just yet, but they clear a space and they set their altar on the old base, the same place. They wanted to return to the old foundations, to show that the God that they worshipped was the God of their forebears, the God who had revealed himself in scripture. They wanted to return to the old foundations. And how vital that is for us, friends. Not that we want to be deliberately archaic in any way, but we want to find those places and those principles and doctrines and practices that are the foundations of many generations. We want to worship where the people of God have always worshipped, and they built this altar on the old basis. And they were not intimidated. We read, for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries. Imagine the scene again. They return from Babylon. There's only 40,000 of them or thereabouts. And when they come into the land of Judah, it's populated by pagans and by heathens that have been shipped into the area by the conquering nations of Assyria and Babylon over previous decades. And now they come into their own land as strangers. And many of these people would be hostile to the worship of their God. But they come into Jerusalem, they set up this altar upon the old base. It could be translated here, though the fear of the people was upon them. They felt a degree of trepidation. but at the same time they were going to be undeterred. They were going to establish and show their commitment. You could argue that actually they built this altar and put it on the base because of that fear. What's the best thing we can do when we feel the intimidation of the world and the threat of those who frown upon us and scorn us? We get to our God. We engage in worship, we call upon him, we identify with him, we show that we are devoted to him. But we must move on a little further. The altar, verse two and verse three. What was this altar for? Well, of course, it was the place of offering. It was the place of atonement. This is why the altar was so important to them, not just because it was an expression of their worship, but they knew that worship had to begin with sacrifice. They had to come before the Lord and seek forgiveness for their sin, acceptance through the shed blood of their substitute. They knew by faith that this altar illustrated for them the only way of acceptance. By the shedding of blood there is remission of sin. That's what Exodus had taught them. And so they build this altar which speaks of Christ and speaks of atonement. And this is to be central to our thoughts. It is to be central in family life. We come and we acknowledge daily our complete dependence upon Christ. We need him as our saviour. We need his shed blood. to be upon us individually and as families if we are to know the blessing of God and the favour of God. That's why when we pray, when we come to the end of our prayers, we say, in the name of Jesus Christ or for his sake. We cannot ask anything of the Lord except based upon the merits of his all-atoning sacrifice. And so every prayer that ends in a sense is a rehearsal of his sacrifice. We present our prayers at the altar of Christ. And so it's not just some little ditty that we add to the end of our prayers. I'm sure we all know that. We should make that expression in prayer with understanding and with feeling and with an acknowledgement before God that we seek his favor and his blessing upon our lives for Christ's sake, because of what he has done in shedding his blood as the one offering for sin. But we read here, and I'll close with this, we read here in verse three that they offered burnt offerings, morning and evening. There were many different offerings. If you read the book of Leviticus, there were sin offerings, there were heave offerings, but there were burnt offerings. And the burnt offering especially brought the worshippers' attention to the need for self-consecration before God. It was an expression of self-consecration on the part of Christ when he offered himself. But when we make our offering to the Lord, then it's an expression of self-consecration. These people, when they came back to Jerusalem, And they set up this altar. Not only did they acknowledge their need of the blood, but they were making an expression of consecration of their hearts and lives and all that they had to the service of their God. Are we prepared to do that? Does our life revolve around the mindset of consecration? I'm not my own. I'm bought with a price. I'm called out of this world. I no longer apart to seek the things of this world as my chief priority. I'm consecrated to God. I'm called to his service out of love and gratitude for all that he has done. Let's hear the language of the Apostle Paul, 2 Corinthians 5, verse 14. He says this, the love of Christ constraineth us Because we thus judge that if one died for all, then were all dead, and that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again. And thus we are called to have that same self-consecrating mindset that the apostle himself had. May the Lord bless. these remarks to us together this evening. Let's pray. Oh Lord, we thank Thee for the example of these old Jews on their return. We know that there was a degree of discouragement in their ranks when they saw something of the poverty of their situation in comparison to former generations. And yet how zealous they were. They came together as one man. do grant that the spirit that stirred them may be the same spirit that stirs us, that we may as one man be devoted to our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, consecrated to his service. We ask for his sake. Amen.