In 458 BC, Ezra led a relatively small contingent of Jews from Babylonia back to Jerusalem. There were fewer than 2,000 who accompanied him, a stark contrast compared with the 50,000 who had returned 80 years earlier with Zerubbabel. Ezra's mission was to revive the flagging worship of God in the temple in Jerusalem that had been rebuilt by Zerubbabel and those who had accompanied him back to that great city. And so it's significant that among those who returned with Ezra were priests and Levites and other temple servants. Soon after arriving at the sacred city, they had offered sacrifices to God. In part, they were an offering of gratitude to God for his protective care during their journey. And in part, they were sacrifices of atonement for sin, which is a constant need. And no doubt, as Ezra journeyed to Jerusalem, he anticipated that the task before him, the work of reviving temple worship, would require patience and dedication and zeal. He would need to educate the people and stir them up to worship God and to be obedient to the law of God. and little did he realize just how bad the situation was. The beginning of chapter 9 actually is about 5 months after what took place in chapter 8 with the journey back to Jerusalem completed and the offerings made. It may be that the opening words after these things had been done may refer to the final verse of chapter 8. They also delivered the king's commissions to the king's satraps and to the governors of the province beyond the river, and they aided the people and the house of God. So they would have had a responsibility to take messages from the King of Persia to all of the governors of the various parts of the province beyond the river. That would have taken some time. So it may be that at the conclusion of that, that an assessment had been made of the situation in Jerusalem and Judea. The Jewish officials approach Ezra with kind of a summary of the current state of spiritual life. And the narrative that we have in chapter 9 highlights three aspects of Ezra's response. And the first is that of grief. There was little to give joy to Ezra as he heard the report of the officials who approached him. Their confession is, the people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations. They have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness, the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost." And immediately, Ezra tears his garments and bows his head. and pulls out the hair of his head and his beard. He is appalled at this report. We're not given any explanation for how it was that Ezra had been there for five months and had not realized something of the situation. But whatever the case may be, this report cuts him right to the heart. The sin that has been identified is the marriage of the Jews, including priests and Levites, to idolatrous people. It's interesting, and perhaps you picked up on it, the names of the people that they married into. Canaanites, and Hittites, and Perissites, and Jebusites, and Ammonites. You know, these are the people who originally inhabited the land. Some of these peoples don't exist anymore at the time that Ezra is writing. Others of them would have been relatively small groups within and around the territory that had belonged to Israel. the remnant that ought to have been annihilated as the judgment of God when Joshua entered the promised land with the Israelites but who had not been annihilated in disobedience to God and they had been a thorn in Israel's side all through the generations and here their names are enumerated once again. And the reason for this is perhaps because Ezra understands that there's something significant taking place as Jews return from Babylonia to Jerusalem. You will notice that he used interesting language earlier on, language that we don't normally use to describe the Jews in their captivity in Babylon. he speaks about the little reviving in our slavery at the end of verse 8 and then at the beginning of verse 9 for we are slaves and that really is the language of Exodus that is the language of of the people of Israel under the power of the the Egyptians, it is the language from which God had saved them and redeemed them when he brought them out of slavery in Egypt in order to serve him in the promised land and here Ezra depicts the Jews as being enslaved once again and once again an exodus has taken place as these Jews have come out of Babylonia and come back to Jerusalem firstly under Zerubbabel to rebuild the temple to serve and worship God and they were entering back into a land that had been populated by idolatrous people. Whether strictly speaking they are Hittites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Jebusites and so on doesn't really matter. What matters is what is happening in Ezra's day is what had happened in Moses and Joshua's day. when God had brought his people back with clear warnings to populate a land and serve and worship him purely in it. Not to mingle with the peoples, not to intermarry, but to keep themselves separate from those peoples upon whom the judgment of God had come. And now here is the report that is brought to Ezra and the peoples and the priests and the Levites are intermarrying. They haven't separated themselves. They are doing the very thing that the Israelites had done when they came to the promised land previously. They are rebelling against God. They are disobeying his clear commands. and Ezra is appalled at this situation how can this be that the people should be repeating those sins once again and so he spends the day fasting Tearing his garments and pulling out his hair as a display of his grief over the sins of God's people. And of course that leads into prayer. But before we consider Ezra's prayer, let us take note that the sins of God's people should always provoke deep sorrow in his people. I will mention it again, but Ezra is not guilty of this sin. Ezra has come from Babylonia to revive the worship of God in the temple and to teach the people God's ways. And when he hears of this sin he is absolutely appalled at what is taking place in the land. He's not a participant in the sins and yet he grieves deeply over those sins. He doesn't go running around among the people saying, how could you do such a thing? In a holier than thou attitude, but he humbles himself before God. And as we will see, he identifies with the people in their rebellion against God, in their disobedience to God, in their shame. The sins of God's people shouldn't stir in us an attitude of self-praise, but of deep grief and sorrow. That those who claim the name of Christ should be walking in sin, apparently unaware of the name that they are portraying. That Jesus Christ, who died on the cross to save them from their sins, should be so lightly esteemed that they would continue to live in their sins. And not to be any different from the world around, but to conform to its norms. Not to stand out as different but chameleon-like to fit in and blend with society. Such is often the case, and yet too often God's people do not grieve that God's people should provoke such disobedience in their lives. But Ezra goes on, he doesn't leave it there, prostrate in his mourning, but he rises at the time of the sacrifice and then fell upon his knees in prayer. spreading his hands out to the Lord God for mercy. So having seen his grief, we secondly observe his recognition of God's justice and mercy. It's a historic review, we've done a little of that already but in verses 7 and following he speaks about the former days, the days of our fathers and even up to the present day he speaks of the guilt of the Israelites and the Jews, the iniquities of their kings and of their priests which had led to their captivity in Babylon. He acknowledges that that captivity was the justice of God. It was, as it were, God's chastening rod on the back of his people. For these very sins that are now being committed, their ancestors had been taken away into captivity. For these very sins, The kingdom had been downgraded from its glory days to a people enslaved as it were. From the days of David, the conqueror, and Solomon, the glorious, very rapidly there was decline and declension among the Israelites. that God in his patience bore with for generation after generation sending the prophets to the people warning them to turn from their sins but remained unheeded until at last God's promises of captivity were fulfilled and they were taken away from the land of promise This was God's justice, Ezra said. This, he says, is right. It was proper. It was fitting. It was their shame. And it was due to them for their rebellion against God. But not only does Ezra recognize God's justice in the captivity, but he also sees God's mercy in this present situation, that here, now, there is this remnant in Jerusalem and in Judea. Here they are, they've rebuilt the temple, they're offering sacrifices of worship to God once again. This is God's mercy, this is God's steadfast love, this is God's faithfulness to his promises. Our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia to grant us some reviving, to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem, to give us this opportunity for a second Exodus. to establish us once again in the land of promise. Though so undeserved, God has reached out his hand to us and brought us back once again. What mercy this is to an undeserving people. And here now at this temple that has been rebuilt with these offerings and sacrifices that they are able to bring, they have this opportunity to reconnect with God as it were, to re-establish communication with God. to enter once again into fellowship with God, the God whom they had provoked to anger, provoked to justice, so that they were sent away into captivity. He certainly did not treat them as their sins deserved, but was long-suffering towards them and has given them then this opportunity to come back to him. and Ezra's deep desire and the reason for his great grief is that while they have come back to him physically in body, they've returned from Babylonia to Jerusalem, their hearts are still far from him. They haven't come back to God in the deepest core of their being. They haven't learned the lesson that the chastisement of God upon them hasn't taught them the significance of their sins. God has been working in their lives and Ezra sees that. He has eyes to see, to perceive, to trace God's hand at work. In the low times, in the dark days, in the days of affliction, he sees God's hand and he acknowledges that this was the justice of God, this was right, this was proper, this was fitting that God should treat his people in this way. and he's able to trace God's hand in this mercy of bringing this remnant, this small portion of Jews out of Babylonia back to Jerusalem to re-establish the worship of God at the temple. God is working in the lives of his people and he does so in every generation. And we, like Ezra, need to be able to recognise God's hand, to trace God's hand in good and in evil. To recognise that in our dark days, in our difficult days, in our days of tragedy and of suffering and of hardship, God is at work. He is teaching us. He is pointing out to us various aspects of our lives, various aspects of our dependence upon Him, perhaps various aspects of our sin and rebellion against Him. But in it all, He is seeking to direct us to let go of ourselves and not rely on our own strength and not to put our confidence in those around us. but to cry out to him that we might find mercy in knowing him and following him. And in the days of light and ease and peace and blessing We ought to see the hand of God that provides for us the freedom to live for him, to worship him, to serve him, to acknowledge him. Through the valleys of the shadow, God is with us and in the green pastures and beside the still waters, God is with us, that we may be with him, that we may reconnect with him and know him in every situation and under every circumstance. But then, Ezra not only recognizes God's justice and his mercy, But he must acknowledge the people's guilt and their need for even more mercy from God. As he begins his prayer, kneeling before God, he says, Oh my God, I am ashamed and blushed to lift my face to you, my God. For our iniquities have risen higher than our heads and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. Our iniquities and our guilt, Ezra says. You know over and over again we see this principle in the scriptures. where one who prays to God, seeking in his own life to honour God and submit to God and walk in obedience to God, identifies with the people of God so closely that he takes their sins and their guilt as though it was his sin and his guilt, but of course As Ezra confesses this iniquity and this guilt, as it's been described by the officials, it isn't his. But one thing he knows, as everyone who has encountered God knows, As everyone who has come face to face with God knows, he in his own heart is defiled. He himself is a sinner. His sins may be different from their sins, his attitudes may be different from their attitudes, but ultimately he can trace within himself the root of bitterness. against God, of rebellion against God, of disobedience towards God. And so he is very ready and willing to identify with the people and to say our iniquities have risen, our guilt has mounted up. He knows that the sins of the people are the sins of the fathers. That nature with which we are born, how corrupt it is, and how regularly we see generation after generation of people committing sin and rebellion against God. the same sins, the same rebellion, over and over and over again, because our hearts are deceitful and desperately wicked and turn away from the God who has made us and to whom we owe our very existence, who supplies all of our needs day by day and watches over us and protects us. We live so much of our lives without a thought to God or of what he desires from us. And what is the inevitable outcome of such rebellion, of such sin, of such disobedience? He asks the question, should we break your commandments again? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us? If your rod of chastisement has come upon our fathers in order to correct us and bring us to our senses and restore us to fellowship with you and yet we continue in the same sins Isn't it likely that you will consume us so that there should be no remnant? That this last mercy that we have received from you should be withdrawn from us and there be no escape for us ever again? Here is the reality. There are people who are rebelling against God by going their own way rather than walking with Him, face. It's the reality of judgment and of eternal separation from His goodness and on His long-suffering mercy, His grace. O Lord, God of Israel, You are just. Ezra knows it. We are left a remnant that has escaped as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt. For none can stand before you because of this. There is nothing to excuse. There is nothing to legitimize sin. Oh well, I had a bad example. Yes, they had bad examples. They had generations of bad examples. But Ezra doesn't say to God, you know, really you need to deal kindly with us because of the bad examples. Oh, there may be bad examples, but there is also the good law. It is a good law that God has given to guide us in the way that we should live, to show us how we are to serve him in purity and truth. And yet we don't. We excuse ourselves But there is no excuse. We legitimize our sins, but they're not legitimate. And like Ezra, we must fall before God in shame. He grieved over the sins of God's people. He recognized God's justice and mercy. He acknowledged their guilt. and their need. Ezra understood. He understood sin. He understood God. He understood the danger that they were in. And he knew that God was a God of mercy. He knew that they were where they were because God was a God of mercy. And in all of this, Ezra stood before God alongside the people. But he doesn't so much as plead, God, have mercy on me, a sinner. He simply confesses sin. and stops there. He effectively says, this is how we stand before you today. Guilty. Guilty. What will God do? Will God show mercy? Well, God has answered in sending his own Son, Jesus Christ, into this world. You stand in your guilt and God has provided atonement for your guilt. He has sent his own son to be the saviour of sinners, to take the guilt that belongs to us, our sins, our iniquities, our rebellion, our excuses. And he carried them. And he bore the wrath of God. We could not stand before him. And Jesus stood and was tried and was judged and was found guilty in our place and bore the wrath of God and died there upon that cross and was buried in that grave for the sins of his people. This is God's answer. to the guilty, to send his own son to bear the guilt. And if we come to Christ and if we claim him as our saviour, if we take from God's hand the mercy of sins forgiven and peace with him, How may we dare live any longer in our sins? But every day of our lives we must come to God and depend upon Christ, look to him for mercy, and in Christ As we cling to him in our wretchedness, there is mercy, and there is grace, and there alone. Let's pray. Almighty God, how good and kind you are to a world that is fallen and corrupt and defiled. How patient, how long-suffering, how ready to extend a hand of help to those who continue in their wicked ways. How full of love. How full of mercy you are to a people so undeserving. And it is on this basis and on this basis alone that we can come to you. For you have given us your son. so that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. You have given us hope that as we walk with Jesus day by day, our sins may no longer have any claim over us. for in him there is no longer any condemnation. So help us, we pray, to walk closely with Jesus, to live in the light of his commands, that we may obey them and be like him, helped by your Spirit to overcome our weakness, our frailty, our old nature against which we still battle. Have mercy on us this day and help us, we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.