“For 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 7:10 ESV)
The temple was finally finished. The Jews kept the Passover and celebrated God’s faithfulness with joy. After all they had been through as a people, the climax of the story had finally arrived. But, new life had just begun.
Indeed, God delivers his people from all sorts of troubles and bondage. However, the freedom that comes through his salvation is not a freedom from the cares of life, but rather a freedom to glorify God through obedience and a freedom to serve others. We have seen God’s deliverance in the first 6 chapters of Ezra. Now with Ezra himself on the scene, we will see that God’s freed people, in their own land, with the temple in the background, are to live life in light of God’s Word. And God uses Ezra to come to teach, “for 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 7:10)
Lest you think that this role was merely a formality to pay lip service to tradition, you must understand that in teaching the scriptures, Ezra would meet controversy. Derek Thomas previews the chapters that follow Ezra’s arrival: “Ezra is a reformer and Ezra is a preacher, and he’s going to meddle and meddle a great deal in the lives of the people in Jerusalem. He’s going to talk very particularly about marriage and about intermarriage, and it’s all going to get very painful.”
The Word of God rebukes, encourages, and exhorts. It cuts the heart. It is our necessary food and it is also vital for correction. Ezra was entrusted by God to teach it to the people. In fact, his teaching would stand as the authoritative law of the land. The king says, “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.” (Ezra 7:26)
Ezra had come to teach the law to God’s people. Through the law, the people would be called to obedience but they would also be reminded of their sin. It was necessary, just as it is now, to look to the law of God and see God’s standard of holiness. But as with all people, the Jews would sin. The law reveals this sin, but only goes so far. For those who hear the law preached and feel convicted under the weight of it, another one of God’s amazing acts was needed – one, ultimate act that perhaps that temple in the background might be pointing the people to time and again.
Bread Of Life Fellowship 