In 538 BC, Zerubbabel, the prince of Judah, and Yeshua, the priest, had returned from captivity in Babylon to the city of Jerusalem. They had gone with a contingent of Israelites with the purpose of rebuilding the temple with the express permission of Cyrus, the king of Persia. Fierce opposition had caused their efforts to falter. The work and progress of building the temple stalled for a decade and a half after the foundation was laid. And then, in response to the challenge and the encouragement of God's prophets, Haggai and Zechariah, the temple was at last completed about the year 515 BC, during the reign of Darius, king of Persia, as recorded in Ezra chapter six. Between chapters six and seven, there's a chronological gap of more than half a century. Darius died and his son Ahasuerus reigned in his place. During his reign the events recorded in the book of Esther took place and the people of Israel were preserved from annihilation in 474 BC. Now in chapter 7 of the book of Ezra, Artaxerxes, the son of Ahasuerus, and the grandson of Darius, reigns over the Persian Empire. The events recorded here took place in the sixth year of his reign, in 458 BC. This was 80 years after Zerubbabel and Yeshua had returned to Jerusalem and 57 years after the temple had been completed. All of these events recorded for us in Ezra and Esther were working according to the will of God. Whether or not those involved were consciously engaged in serving him, God's will was being accomplished. In this chapter we see that the will of God is not simply something that happens, though certainly the will of God happens. But it is also something in which each one of us should conscientiously participate. In other words, God's decree is always accomplished. God's will, ultimately, is always done. But there's another sense in which God tells us his will and we are obligated to submit to his will. This was something that the Jews of Ezra's day needed to understand and to apply. And it's for this reason that Ezra moved from Babylonia to Jerusalem. He went there to restore the knowledge of God's will and to revitalize the worship of the temple. In the 57 years that have passed since the temple was completed and Ezra comes to Jerusalem, The worship had lost its vigor and the people had settled down into a routine of life that largely forgot the God who had brought them back to their land and required of them the worship of their hearts and lives. And so as we consider this chapter briefly this evening, there are three things that I want you to notice from it. And the first is the revelation of God's will. If we are to know God's will and to obey God's will, how may we know God's will? Does God's will come to us in dreams in the night? Is God's will simply a sense within ourselves that something is right or something is wrong, something to be done or something to be avoided? How may we know God's will? Well, God hasn't left us to grope in the dark. that we may accidentally stumble across the will of God and find ourselves walking in his will. No, God has revealed his will to us. It is written in his word for Ezra and for the king in Persia. The will of God was revealed in the law. Ezra understood this. We're given this summary of Ezra's life in verse 10. 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 we understand was a Levite, he was of the family of Aaron so not only was he a Levite but he was also qualified to be a priest in Israel and so he is referred to as Ezra the priest The scribe, a man learned in matters of the commandments of the Lord and his statutes for Israel. This was the Levites task. This was what they were to do in Israel. They were to make known the word of God to the people of God all through the land. That was the case during the days of the kings. That was the case during the days of the judges. That had been the case since the law of God had been given to Israel and they had entered into the promised land and had distributed themselves in their inheritance all through that land. Among them were Levites, and the Levites were the teachers of the law. And Ezra, a descendant of Aaron, of the tribe of Levi, has taken seriously the word of God for him. The word of God to him is to take responsibility for teaching the people. But if he is to teach the statutes of God, the rules of God, the law of God, or to put it under an umbrella term if you like, God's will for them. If he is to teach the people God's will, then he himself must know God's will. And so Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the Lord. It's very interesting as you read this chapter because we have a copy of the letter that the king had given to Ezra authorizing him to go from Babylonia to Jerusalem, authorizing him to gather other Jews together with him to make that journey, authorizing him to take treasures from the treasury of the king for the temple of God in Jerusalem, authorizing him to to receive money and other goods in order to ensure the worship of the temple was able to go on from week to week and year to year. He had received all of this authority from the king and as you read that that letter that he's included in his narrative here it's amazing isn't it how much King Artaxerxes knows. as he gives these instructions to Ezra. With this money you shall with all diligence buy bulls, rams, lambs with their grain offerings and their drink offerings and you shall offer them on the altar of the house of your God that is in Jerusalem. Whatever seems good to you and your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and gold you may do according to the will of your God. Artaxerxes had been instructed already by Ezra in the will of God. After all it isn't just simply that Artaxerxes has decided oh it would be a good thing I think if I sent a priest, a Levite, a scribe, a man learned in the commandments of the Lord back to Jerusalem to help the people there. No, this evidently is not Artaxerxes idea, this is Ezra's idea. For we are told in verse 6, 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. So Ezra has been to this king and he's asked permission to go from Babylonia back to Jerusalem. And no doubt the king has asked, well, why Ezra? Why don't you like it here in Babylonia? Aren't you comfortable here in Babylonia? Can't you, can't you see your future here in Babylonia? and Ezra would have said to him well my responsibilities lie among my people to teach my people the law of God. Oh the law of your God is that different then from the law of our gods? Ezra would have instructed the king then so that the king has been educated in matters concerning the God of Israel and the requirements of the law. And so the king has authorized Ezra to return to Jerusalem that he too may teach the people there the will of God. So Ezra we know while he's in Babylonia has set his heart to study the law because it's in the law, it's in the word of God that Ezra will know the will of God. He's discovered for himself that God's will for him is that he should teach God's statutes and rules in Israel. And so he sets his heart to study the law even further, so that he might have a clear grasp of it and be able to answer their questions and direct them in the will of God. But even that isn't enough, it isn't just that Ezra has studied the will of God, and it isn't just that he is going out to teach the people of God, But he himself has set his heart to do the will of God. It's partly seen in his willingness to teach the people of Israel. But it will be seen further in his strict adherence to the commands of God concerning the way that he is to be worshipped. Of course, God's will isn't limited to the way that people are to approach him in worship. When we look at the law of God in the Old Testament, it isn't just about sacrifices of bulls and goats and lambs and grain offerings and drink offerings and all of the paraphernalia of the temple and where it's to be located and how it's to be used and who may rightly come into the holy place and into the holy of holies and minister before God on behalf of the people. It isn't just about that. It's about how parents are to take responsibility for their children. It's about husbands, how husbands are to relate to their wives. It's about how children are to obey their parents. It's about how neighbours are to get on with one another and what they're to do with one another's property. It's about how people are to live together in community in a way that honours and glorifies the God by whose name they were known. And so the will of God was not just for worship in the sense of when they gather together at the temple and offer sacrifices to God, it was about all of life. For all of life is worship because the idea of worship, the concept of worship is simply giving God what he is worthy of. giving God his worth and God is worthy of all of our lives, all of our service, all of our living, breathing moments are to be given to God to do God's will. God hasn't left us in the dark to to grope around that by accident we may find his will and do his will but he has revealed his will to us and that is true for all the world it's not just that he's revealed his law to Israel certainly there were laws that were specific to Israel for a time as they were the people through whom the Savior of the world was to come into this world and to fulfill his work and to live his life according to the will of God so that we might be redeemed from our sins and set on a path of righteousness that we too might live according to the will of God. God's Word comes to all people. We find it most clearly expressed in the New Testament Scriptures which speak about the Son of God who has come into the world and all that he taught his disciples, which his disciples then have communicated through the writings of the New Testament, so that in every age between the first coming of Christ, when he came to save sinners, and the second coming of Christ, when he will come to judge the living and the dead, we may know God's will. The revelation of God's will is found in God's word and we like Ezra ought to set our hearts to study it and to do it. For ultimately the purpose of our study is not to fill our heads with knowledge The purpose of our study is so that we might do the will of God, that we might honour him in our lives, that we might give him his worth day by day in our lives as he rules over us and reigns over us as our majestic King and sovereign Lord who showers us with good gifts every day of our lives who has given us everything that we need for life and for godliness until at last we are brought out of this world that is at war with him and into a new heavens and a new earth where righteousness dwells. The revelation of God's will is found in his word. Let us study it and let us do it. The second thing that I want you to observe is the relevance of God's will. I've already made reference to this, that God's word isn't just about our worship in the formal setting of a church service, for example, but it's about our everyday lives. The Bible speaks to us in the situations of our lives. in the priorities that we have, and the relationships that we live in. The Bible speaks to those, it is a relevant word. And because it is God's word, and because it is a relevant word, God's word must not be ignored. And it must not be disobeyed. Even Artaxerxes understood the importance of this. He wrote to Ezra in verses 25 and 26, You, Ezra, according to the wisdom of your God that is in your hand, appoint magistrates and judges who may judge all the people in the province beyond the river, all such as know the laws of your God, and those who do not know them you shall teach. Whoever will not obey the law of your God and the law of the King, let judgment be strictly executed on him, whether for death, or for banishment, or for confiscation of his goods, or for imprisonment. The will of God is not something to be ignored. It's not something to be disobeyed, it is something to take to heart, it is something to live by, and a failure to live by it will incur his wrath. Indeed, Artaxerxes understood this so clearly that he understood there were implications for himself with regard to the law. For he wrote in verse 23, 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. I'm not suggesting to you for a moment that Artaxerxes was a true worshipper of the God of Israel. No, Artaxerxes had a number of insurance policies with all of the gods of all of the provinces of his vast empire. This was just another one of those. Nevertheless, we see that he had this understanding that the God of Israel had power. the God of Israel had laws that must be obeyed and woe beside the one who ignored those laws or disobeyed those laws even if he was the king of Persia and so it is that the king of Persia is happy for Ezra the priest and scribe and and man who was familiar with the law of God should go to Jerusalem and ensure that the worship of the temple was conducted appropriately and the people of the province obeyed his laws because that meant that the God of Israel would look upon him, King Artaxerxes, with favour and not with displeasure and wrath. For him, this was all about securing his own throne from one of the plethora of gods that he recognized in the world. But of course, we understand that there is only one God. the God who created the heavens and the earth and who rules over it with sovereign power and will bring all things to judgement. Oh, that's not to deny that there aren't other claimants to deity. Of course there are. It's not to deny that men and women have bowed down and worshipped a myriad of different gods all around the globe. But it is to deny that any of those so-called gods are really gods at all. It's not to deny that amazing things, spectacular things, miraculous things, have taken place at different times and in different places in world history as the powers of darkness in their war against the God of creation have used the powers that they have as created beings to seek to disillusion and to deceive the people of the world. We get an example of the kind of power that could be wielded by Satan and the demons in the book of Job in the opening chapters there and we see how they could cause other nations to come against the people of God or how they could cause famines to strike. or storms that would destroy. Oh yes, there is power at work, but that isn't, they're not gods. However much power they may seem to have, there is only one God who is sovereign over all, to whom all must give an account. And Satan and his demons will one day face the judgment of that God, and his full displeasure and wrath And the people of the world who have followed him in his lies and treachery against God will find themselves under judgment with him. And so Artaxerxes, he understands that there's more to this world than people. There are powers at work in this world. There are gods. He doesn't understand that the God of Israel is the only one and true God. He sees him simply as one among many but he recognizes this, that God's will is relevant and God's will must not be ignored and it must not be disobeyed. insofar as he has a responsibility for his people. He will encourage them in their worship of this God as a kind of insurance policy for his own reign and his own kingdom. But we must take to heart the fact that God's will and word is relevant for us in our daily lives. and that we can either ignore it and disobey it and incur his wrath, or we can heed it and walk in its light and find in him mercy and help in our day of need. Ezra not only knew God's will, not only saw the relevance of God's will, but Ezra realized God's will. And that's the third thing that I want you to see in this chapter this evening, the realization of God's will, by which I mean God's will becomes a reality in Ezra's life. We have a repeated phrase, it will appear later on, in fact we'll focus on it when we look at chapter 8. But it repeats through Ezra and also into Nehemiah as well. The good hand of God was on him. The hand of the Lord. God was working for Ezra. As Ezra understood God's will, and as Ezra did God's will, God was with him. God's word was accompanied by God's power for those who obey. And so in verses 27 and 28, Ezra responds to the favor of the king by saying, blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers who put such a thing as this into the heart of the king to beautify the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem and who extended to me his steadfast love before the king and his counselors and before all the king's mighty officers, I took courage for the hand of the Lord my God was on me and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me. Ezra saw the hand of God upon him because he had set his heart to study God's will and to do God's will. and it was his desire to teach God's will to others that they too may know his will and live according to the will of God. And as he set about doing that, God's power was at work for him, in him, through him, around him. You know all of our best efforts will be marred by sin unless God sanctifies them by his Spirit, unless we come to him and acknowledge our need of him and give thanks to him when he helps us day by day in the big things, in the big decisions, in the big tragedies and joys of our lives when we see God's hand, but also in the little things. When we cry out to God for help in the little struggles of our lives, they don't really matter too much to anyone else but us. But they matter to God. And God hears our cries and he responds to us and he helps us, he gives us that little bit of wisdom that we need to deal with a tricky situation and we find our way through it. And do we give thanks to God? Do we acknowledge God? Do we praise him for his presence and his power at work in us? Ezra recognized. that as he sought to live in the light of God's word, that the power of God was what made it possible. The will of God revealed in his word should, it should govern the lives of all his people. There's an enduring relevance here for us today It's not just relevant in terms of the basic message of salvation from sin, that by coming to Jesus Christ and humbling ourselves before him and acknowledging our sin, we may be saved and forgiven and reconciled to God, but it's in the extended message of sanctification by the Spirit of God through obedience to his word in our daily lives. We must recognise the relevance of God's word day by day and live in its light day by day. And as we pursue God's will, we will prove God's power, that his good hand will be upon us to bless our efforts for his glory and our eternal good. So may the Lord help us to know his will that he's revealed to us in his word and live according to his will for our good and his glory. Let's pray. Our Father, we thank you that you have given us your word, that you have revealed to us your will. And it isn't something that is irrelevant to our lives in the 21st century, but it speaks directly into all of the varied relationships by which we live our lives day by day and all of the varied circumstances in which we find ourselves. The details of our lives may be different from the details of Ezra's life, but your word still speaks. Your word is still relevant and your word is still accompanied by your power towards those who walk in your ways. So help us, we pray. Help us to know your will. Help us to submit to your will and help us to prove the goodness of your will in our lives, we ask in Jesus' name. Amen.