Do not be grieved. The joy of the Lord is your strength. Welcome back to Hackberry House, a podcast devoted to the Word of God and the persecuted church in North Korea. My name is Bob. This is podcast number 539. It is August 5, 2016. Well, today we finish Old Testament history as we go through with the Bible with questions and answers. Here are the final three books, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther. These are the final three that are in chronological order in the Bible. Starting with Job, we go back to the beginning of history, but we'll talk about that another time. Ezra. Ezra 3.3 is where I begin today. Why were the new arrivals so terrified? What am I talking about? Well, God's 70-year period is over. The people are coming back, 70-year period of judgment on Israel is over, and the Israelites coming back from Persia by the order of the emperor, the plan of God was to allow them to come back after 70 years, and that's what's happened, but now they're coming back And some of them are already there, and some of them are just now coming. And these new ones that we're talking about in Ezra 3.3 are terrified about something. Well, this was their land, you know, Israel. But the people who had inhabited it for so long, who were not Israelites, might not share that opinion that it was their land. They didn't know what kind of a welcome they were going to get. They came in as strangers. And they, you'll notice, hurried to the altar of God seeking assurances from heaven that all would be well. They came back very timid and humble and ready to serve the Lord. Of course, that changed also. By the time Jesus got here, it was in pretty bad shape again. That's how people are. That's not the Jewish condition. That's the human condition. We tend to be very wonderful with the Lord at first and then other things come up come on us. I'm on number two now Ezra 7.1 the only other question I found of this nature in the book of Ezra you may find many more but I found one in Ezra 7.1 and following you've got Artaxerxes here and then you go to back to chapter 1 and In the end of 2 Chronicles you hear about Cyrus, another Persian king. Why are these Persian kings so eager to grant permission and bounty to the children of Israel and their God? What makes them like Israel so much? Now there are some political possibilities to answer the question. They may have wanted power in the regions around Persia and so they were going to plant their influence somehow by being good to the Israelites and putting certain people there and so on. They may have released not only Jews but other conquered peoples too, we don't know. Seems like they were being nice to a lot of folks in those days. There are religious possibilities. Zoroastrianism was not your run-of-the-mill evil religion. It was, in any case, anything that's not of Christ is evil, but it was a softer, gentler thing to rule by as opposed to some of the other rules of the Canaanites, for example. But that religion may have influenced Persian rulers to the point where they felt an obligation to be kind to other people groups. Maybe that's a little bit of a stretch. I think the overriding reason that the Persian rulers were favorable to Israel is the sovereignty of God. God was angry with that final generation of Israel, to the point of exasperation, and he had to get rid of them, out of his sight, out of his presence, as it were, since he focuses so much on that land over there, and suddenly they weren't there, because God said, that's it. He was angry with them, but he wasn't finished with them. this people that he had seen from the foundation of the world that he had called out via Abraham he wasn't just going to drop them and the whole idea of Israel and the whole idea of a kingdom on earth that's coming still Don't let the Jehovah Witnesses and the other cult groups steal our message of a coming Kingdom. I know the Kingdom is here now in Jesus and in the Spirit and via the Church and so on. I know there's a Kingdom now, but that's not the message of Scripture ultimately. There is a Kingdom yet to be also and we are only in the process now of calling out people from the world into this Kingdom. so that God will have a people to inhabit the kingdom when he comes back. From them, by the way, the Jewish people would have to come the scriptures, and that wasn't finished yet. All the scriptures. The New Testament scriptures too. He wasn't going to end the Jewish thing back then. From Israel would come the Messiah. That hadn't happened yet. From the remnant of Israel must come the kingdom that shall have no end. 144,000 are still out there. Ruled over by the king of the same description, Jesus Christ. The kingdom that shall have no end. The Messiah that shall have no end. Verse 27 puts this idea into the mouth of Ezra himself. The answer is kind of in the text today. Verse 27, chapter 7, Blessed be the Lord, the God of our fathers, who has put such a thing as this in the king's heart. It was God. That's the answer. Why is Artaxerxes so favorable to Israel? God. Why was Cyrus so favorable to Israel? God. God put it in his heart. God is the ruler of all things. Let's go to the book of Nehemiah. In Nehemiah chapter 4 verse 5, you see Nehemiah asking God never to forgive these people. Is it proper to ask God never to forgive someone or something? He's asking this about those who are trying to stop him from blessing Jerusalem and putting a wall around it and making it a place of safety again. Was Nehemiah out of order? Then you'd have to ask about David, too. Was David out of order to ask God never to forgive someone or something? We've seen it before. We'll see it again in the Psalms. We are assuming that the men who have thus set themselves against the purposes of God are hardened in their ways and are not going to repent. In Jesus, of course, we discover that mercy and forgiveness of God, it's there. We see He's always willing to cast our sins into the sea of His forgiveness, His forgetfulness, whether it be Old Testament, New Testament, God is the same, He never changes. When there's a repentant spirit, there's always a forgiving God. And that's not the issue here. This is hard, impenitent man at his worst, standing before the Creator and judge of all, and attempting to halt his progress. That's not good. That's not a good thing. It's not going to work for you. Yeah, he was within his bounds for sure to ask God not to forgive that because they weren't going to repent, he knew. Nehemiah chapter 8, verses 9 to 12. Two opposite responses of the people to the Word of God. You want to go there with me? Chapter 8, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job, Psalms. Are you there? Can you find it? I'm having a little trouble here. My bookmark's not in place. Nehemiah, Chapter 8. I'm just teasing you. I know my Bible. Verses 9 to 12. Nehemiah, it says, and Ezra also. said to the people, this day is holy to the Lord your God. Do not mourn and weep. They were all crying because they were hearing the word of God and they were repentant and they were convicted when they heard the words of the law. He said, the joy of the Lord is your strength. Don't be grieving. And so they, verse 12, went away to eat, drink, and to send portions and to celebrate a great festival because they understood the words. First they cried because they understood the words. Now they're Now they're happy because they understand the whole story that Nehemiah gives to them. "'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear,' remember the song, "'and grace my fears relieved.'" Such is a regular theme of scripture. God speaks his law, and men weep out of fear and frustration, and well they should. If you've never wept for your sins, can you say you're saved? They've not only broken the law, but they know of no way to keep the law. They're doomed, in other words. But when God says, all is well, rejoice, I've forgiven you, then there's nothing to do but thankfully obey the change of course. Weeping for joy is a wonderful experience when one knows that the judge is happy with him. Nehemiah 12, 36, what does it mean when it talks about the musical instruments of David? Instruments laying around that he wanted to pass down to generations. No, I don't think it was actual physical instruments, but the ones that he had recommended by name in the Psalms and during his reign. He was a man of praise and worship. Before he died, he had put in order an entire musical program, including singers, instruments, choirs, times, places. It was an incredible thing. that David did with music. Now the returned exiles are going to attempt to do what David had laid out for them, since Israel had never had such musical treats before or after the great king. Let's go to the book of Esther now, the last of the historical books. The one book in the Bible that doesn't mention the name of God, but oh, God is all over this book and His providence. Esther 1.12. Queen Vashti refused to come when the king commanded her to come. This is what started the whole process of getting Esther to be where she needed to be. You see how God works in all the events of man. Persian law forbade a wife to be indecently exposed before other men. Hey, the king was drunk. All the men in the room that he wanted Vashti to come to, they were all drunk. To her, we're assuming here, it was a humiliating shame to be thus exposed. She didn't want to break Persian law, and she just probably had some personal pride about this, too. And so she, and now the king with her, was caught between two laws. Absolute obedience to one's husband, that was a Persian law, too. Boy, I wish we could have that one back. Especially if that husband's the king, come on. So what do you do? Do you obey your husband and keep that law? Just go and do what he says? Or do you keep yourself pure and chaste before men? I wish we had more of that in America too. I don't think American women are being taught by their mothers how to dress. Oops, what did I say? That's how I feel. I know there's many, many exceptions to that, but as a general rule, all you have to do is, if you dare, look at the TV and go to a movie or just see what's going on on the billboards or whatever, and just walk down the street and you'll see that women don't know how to dress properly before God and man. Ladies, teach your women, your children, your young ladies, your babies, how to dress properly. Teach them how to dress. properly, let them understand what men are about, especially a man that doesn't know the Lord. Help them to understand why they must cover their bodies. Esther 3.15, why the confusion? The Jewish people have just been condemned to death in Persia. And the people are confused. They couldn't understand why the king was talking genocide here. And the Jews themselves, of course, were bewildered, but also many of the citizens who knew these God-fearing and peaceable citizens, confused. What was going on in the palace? Perhaps some even remember the history of the Jews in Persia and in Babylonia before them. It was their great founder, Cyrus, who had set these people free. and even commanded them to go back to Israel and start over. Some of them didn't go, but they were still a favored people. There was no animosity against Israel now, surely. So they pondered. So they were confused. What is going on? And then in Esther 5, verses 4 and 8, two separate banquets Esther asked. Remember this? She first got the favor of the king, and the king said, what do you want? She says, I want to have a banquet. So they have a banquet, and Haman is invited. And then they come to the banquet. What do you want? I want another banquet. OK, we'll have another banquet. What's going on here? Isn't she tempting fate by stretching the king's patience a little bit? What, you just want another banquet? He didn't say that. He seemed to be OK with it all. Esther wanted to know that very thing, the heart of the king. her husband, would he show favor to her at these meals? Or to her enemy? What is the relationship between the king and Haman? She wants to see how they deal with each other. Would he keep asking what the real petition was or assume it was just a meal? Would he get tired about constantly coming to meals? Would he be impressed that she had invited his most trusted man, Haman, to both meals? She's got to move very cautiously here. She's got not to rush into judgment against such a revered man as Haman, if he really is that revered. She'd be questioning the king's judgment, questioning the king's choice of friends. And so, in the wisdom of God that's put into Esther, she's very patient, very careful, very wise. Wonderful story. Esther 9.24, finally. What does it mean that Haman had cast lots, or pur, as it's called, from which we get the word purim, which is still celebrated. He cast pur, pure against the Jews. What's that mean? Well, the plan was already in Haman's heart. He's going to destroy the Jews. But he wasn't settled on the exact day to do it, that's all. So he was casting lots, just trying to figure out what's the best day here. And he arrived by what he would call luck. just the casting of the lots, or dice we would say, something like that, at a particular month and day. If it's supposed to be January, let it be 7th, you know, it's that kind of a thing, casting lots. But God providentially intervened and made that day another feast day eventually, a celebration for the Jews from that day. until this day. It's still celebrated even now. God has been watching over Israel and always will. He loves this people. And there is a remnant of Israel that will be saved. That's it for Old Testament history. Next time we do question and answers, we'll be in the book of Job. Oh my, it's history too, but more than history, as we'll talk about then. Well, Saturday is tomorrow. We don't have a podcast on Saturday. Sunday, we've got Crossing Borders, talking about North Korea. Some more updates from what's going on there. Monday, we're going to continue with Fanny Crosby's story. And Tuesday, we will go to a book called The Kingdom of the Cults and start talking about the Jehovah Witnesses. Start talking about the scriptures, really. that deal with their doctrine, not talking about them so much. We want to talk about that because these folks are everywhere and they're very deceitful. Their doctrine is they can hurt. They're trained well, and if you're not trained well, you will be deceived. Be very careful when they come to your door, if they do. Today we started in Nehemiah 8.10. Do not be grieved, he said. The joy of the Lord is your strength.