Our lesson on Ezra...

We had Bible lesson the other day and the topic was Ezra. I've never really paid much attention to Ezra. Perhaps it had never come to life for me. But it did this time.
Ezra was an Israelite of the captivity from Babylon. The temple had already been rebuilt 60 years previously and 80 years had passed since their slow return to Jerusalem.The reigns of  Nebuchanezzar, Cyrus, Darius, Ahasuerus, and now Artaxerxes had come to pass. We have now read about Jeremiah, Daniel, Ezekiel, Esther, and now Ezra. He was to go to Jerusalem to teach the people. Getting permission to go, he finally gets there and there is so much joy at seeing his people and his land. The punishment for sin had brought them into slavery and now they could begin anew. But then the princes come to Ezra with distressing news. The people had married foreign men and women.

Wasn't it the foreign women who deceived Solomon's heart and drew him away? This may not seem so distressing, I mean Israel was led captive and not many were left. Most left had gone to Egypt. But it was. They disobeyed God's command. Took in what seemed harmless with a twist of deceit to the heart. What harm would a goodly woman or man be though they be foreign?

The New Testament warns us about such things.  II Corinthians 6:11-18 tells us about such separation. A separation much more than mere physical.

"....Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers; for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? ....v.17..Wherefore, come out from among them, and be separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you,....."

At the evening sacrifice, Ezra fell on his knees raised his hands up to the Lord. They had sinned and Ezra thought all was well. That they were off to a good start. His heart could make no excuses but only plead for mercy. All he could do was beseech the Lord for the people in humility. 

This is the heart God is looking for. The godly sorrow that it takes to reach God's heart. Our churches are full of goodly piety. Some even preach against sin.But they have or are in the process of joining themselves to foreign wives and husbands- the world. They have accepted the world and what is seen as normal. Deceived themselves into thinking they could espouse a little of what is foreign to God and that God would overlook it. That a little compromise with the world isn't so bad. Bigger churches are pleasing to God, so they think, because living out the blessings of God with no Uriah spirit is showing how good God has been instead avoiding the very appearance of evil. All a form but no heart in the matter. Or a little heart with a little form but not a complete surrender.

Oh, how Ezra must have felt! He cried ,"We are before you in our sins. We cannot stand before you because of this."  


Let us remember Ezra and reach God's heart. God is not mocked even when we allow ourselves to accept sin, harmless as it seems. He sees within us and our affections. He knows whether we are following others or following God. These are sober thoughts but we are not playing games. Heaven is not make believe and hell is real separation from a loving God. "Depart from Me, for I never knew you..." are real words that I don't want to hear said to me or my loved ones. So Ezra must be taught and will be taught from here on out. Maybe we won't forget his cries and will avoid the sin of marrying the world.