Acts 23:11-24:21
So let’s hear God’s word together.
Ezra chapter eight, beginning at verse one. These are the heads
of their father’s houses. And this is the genealogy of
those who went up with me from Babylonia in the reign of Artaxerxes,
the king. of the sons of Phinehas, Gershom,
of the sons of Ithmar, Daniel, of the sons of David, Hathush,
of the sons of Shechaniah, who was of the sons of Parash, Zechariah,
with whom were registered 150 men, of the sons of Pahath-Moab,
Elieh-Hoani, the son of Zariah, and with him 200 men, of the
sons of Zatu, Shechaniah, the son of Jehaziel, with him 300
men, of the sons of Aden, Ebed, the son of Jonathan, and with
him, 50 men of the sons of Elam, Jeshiah, the son of Athaliah,
and with him, 70 men of the sons of Shephetiah, Zebediah, and
the son of Michael, and with him, 80 men. Of the sons of Joab,
Obadiah, the son of Jehiel, and with him 218 men. Of the sons
of Bani, Shlomoth, the son of Josephiah, and with him 160 men. Of the sons of Bebi, Zechariah,
the son of Bebi, and with him 28 men. Of the sons of Asgad,
Johanan, the son of Hakaten, and with him 110 men. Of the
sons of Adenicum, those who came later, their names being Eliphelet,
Jehoel, and Shemaiah, with them 60 men, and of the sons of Bigvi,
Uthi, and Zechar, and with them 70 men. I gathered them to the
river that runs to Ahava, and there we camped three days. As
I reviewed the people and the priest, I found there none of
the sons of Levi. Then I sent for Eleazar, Ariel,
Shemaiah, Elnathan, Jerob, Elnathan, Nathan, Zechariah and Meshulam,
leading men, and for Joirib and Elnathan, who were men of insight.
And it sent them to Iddo, the leading man at the place, Qasifiyah,
telling them what to say to Iddo, to his brothers and the temple
servants. at the place Cassaphia named, namely to send us ministers
for the house of our God. And by the good hand of God on
us, they brought us a man of discretion of the sons of Molly,
the sons of Levi, son of Israel, namely Sherabiah and with his
sons and kinsmen 18. And with Hashebiah and with him,
Jeshiah of the sons of Merari, with his kinsmen and their sons,
20, besides 220 of the temple servants, whom David and his
officials had set apart to attend the Levites. These were all mentioned
by name. Then I proclaimed a fast there
at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God
to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children and
all our goods. For I was ashamed to ask the
king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against
the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, the hand of
our God is for good on all who seek him. And the power of his
wrath is against all who forsake him. So we fasted and we implored
our God for this. And he listened to our entreaty.
Then I set apart 12 of the leading priest, Sherabiah, Hashabiah,
and 10 of their kinsmen with them. And I weighed out to them
the silver and the gold and the vessels and the offering for
the house of our God that the king and his counselors and his
lords and all Israel there present had offered. I weighed out into
their hand 650 talents of silver and silver vessels worth 200
talents and 100 talents of gold. 20 bowls of gold worth a thousand
derricks and two vessels of fine bright bronze as precious as
gold. And I said to them, you are holy
to the Lord and the vessels are holy and the silver and the gold
are a free will offering to the Lord, the God of your fathers.
guard them and keep them until you weigh them before the chief
priest and the Levites and the heads of the father’s houses
in Israel at Jerusalem, within the chambers of the house of
the Lord. So the priest and the Levites took over the weight
of the silver and the gold and the vessels to bring them to
Jerusalem, to the house of our God. Then we departed from the
river Hava on the 12th day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us
and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes
by the way. We came to Jerusalem and there
we remain three days. On the fourth day within the
house of our God, the silver and the gold and the vessels
were weighed. into the hands of Merimoth, the
priest, the son of Uriah. And with him was Eleazar, the
son of Phinehas, and with them were the Levites, Josbad, the
son of Jeshua, and Noediah, the son of Benueh. The whole was
counted and weighed, and the weight of everything was recorded.
At that time, those who had come from captivity, the returned
exiles, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel. 12 bulls
for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and as a sin offering, 12 male
goats. All this was a burnt offering
to the Lord. 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. Amen. The word of the living God for
us. Some of you know what the term
anthropomorphism means. It’s attributing human attributes
to God. Right? We do this with our cats.
We do this with our dogs. You know, what’s our dog thinking?
What’s our cat thinking? And the answer is nothing. They’re
not rational beings. They’re just cute animals that
we think have personality and they’re imitating us. But when
we read of an anthropomorphism in the Bible, attributing human
attributes to God, we remember very quickly, I hope, I pray,
our shorter catechism. Or maybe our children’s catechism,
God is a spirit and does not have a body like men. God is
a spirit. He’s infinite. He’s eternal.
He’s unchangeable in his being wisdom, power, holy goodness,
justice, goodness, and truth. But we remember the essential
truth. God does not have a body like men. God is a spirit. We
attribute human things to him. So for example, our Wednesday
night study, we’re thinking of God rescuing and redeeming Israel
from Egypt with his mighty hand and his outstretched arm. Well,
God is a spirit. He doesn’t have those things.
Our passage tonight several times has the refrain, by the good
hand of God, this is an anthropomorphism, it’s attributing to God a human
quality. And it’s, in a sense, God condescending
through his revelation, through his word, telling us something
that we can understand. We know what it means to be rescued.
Maybe as a child by a parent, they grab us from out of the
roadway. They hold our hands tightly.
And that picture is communicated to us in our passage tonight
where the good hand of God provides for his people. Well, it’s God’s
power. It’s his mighty acts of redemption
and judgment that stir our hearts, that remind us that God is at
work behind all the things that are taking place in this world,
behind all the movements in the machinations
of men, the unseen hand of God’s providence is at work. And I
want us to think tonight, as we look through this passage
about this big theme, the good hand of God leads his people
all the way home. The good hand of God leads his
people all the way home. And for these folks, it was to
Jerusalem. For us, it is to the new Jerusalem
that God leads us. In the first 14 verses, those
painful names that I pronounced to you, we have a bit of a family
reunion, and it’s the reunion of the family of God. And I’m
sure as you saw the list of names, you sighed and you groaned. But
then you thought to yourself, because you’ve learned better
through our study of Genesis and the the generations, the
tables of nations and all the rest. And then of course there
was the early chapter of Ezra where we read about all kinds
of people getting up from Babylon to go to Jerusalem. You understand
that these names are important. You understand that behind each
name is a real person in real human history who felt the call
of God to leave Babylon and to return to Jerusalem in this second
wave of the exodus of God’s people from Babylon back to Jerusalem. And I don’t know if you caught
it, but at the center of the list of names would be the offspring
of David. And that offspring of David would
ultimately be named in the midst of those genealogies in the gospels,
where it gives us Adam to David and David to the deportation
or wherever it goes, the deportation to this list and then to Jesus
Christ. And so remember in these genealogies,
they’re always leading us somewhere. It’s not just ancestry.com putting
up a banner announcement. No, this is leading us to see
the coming of Messiah, the coming of Jesus Christ. And in this
list, you’ll find priest. In this list, you will find nobles
or kings after David. And you will also find lay people. There’s somebody for all of us
in the list. It’s not just a list of names.
These, these names represent generations. And you think of,
uh, the proverb that says, train up a child and the way they should
go when they’re old, um, they will not depart from it. That’s
the hope of parents in the covenant nurture of children that when
they get old, they’ll still walk in those ways. And you think
about how long back it was to Abraham. And you stretch forward,
you know, Abraham and Noah, and then you get to Moses and then
you get to David and Solomon. And then you fast forward four
or five hundred years to this little band of people. And there
is in every generation a group of people who have been raised
up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord. And when the call
comes to serve the living God, and in this case, to leave the
comforts of Babylon and go back to the discomforts of little
bitty Jerusalem, there are people who’ve been trained up in the
ways of the Lord, and the word of God has not departed from
them. The word of God has not failed. These are the generations
of those who’ve been told by their parents all that God is,
and all that God has done. And so there’s not just names
here. There’s not just generations
represented, but they’re also heads of households. Something
like 1,500 men are represented in this list. And these heads
of household represent the streams of Hebrew society. Yes, they
had been exiled to Babylon. Oh, it’s what? 458. So it’s been
150 years since the first deportation. But somehow God’s providence
in some way, maybe the parents faithfulness. Here’s a couple
generations in and there’s people who remember Jerusalem. There’s
people who remember God and Yahweh. There’s people who remember the
cult practice of Israel. And so we have every tribe, all
12 tribes represented here. remnant of the whole people of
God. Remember, I don’t know, 50,000
or so have been back in Jerusalem. This number will total something
like 5,000 people. And they’re about to embark on
a journey of faith. They’re about to embark. on a
journey of faith where they will be reunited with the people who’ve
already been there, who’ve had children and offspring, and the
land, the little bitty land that it is now, Judah and Jerusalem,
will prosper. But wouldn’t you know it when
you’re getting ready for a big journey like this? We’ve just
read about the family reunion here. Now we wanna When I think
about the search for the Levites, you’re packing up for a trip.
Did you get your phone charger? Did you get your watch charger?
Did you get your shaving charger? Did you get your CPAP charger?
Did you get your computer charger? See, I just went to the beach
and went to Synod the week before. Did you get your toothbrush charger?
Everything we have has a charger, doesn’t it? They’re a little bit more worried
about important things here, and it’s, well, Ezra’s reviewed
the troops. He’s got them all lined up at
the river. There’s an encampment of 5,000 people. You know, this
took a little while. And he’s doing an inspection.
You know, they’re kicking the tires. They’re checking the air
pressure. They’re making sure the batteries
have good charge and all the things you do before you go on
a trip. They’ve taken out the trash one last time. They’ve
told everybody to quit using the bathroom. We’re going to
flush the toilets, and then we’re going to make sure they quit
running before we leave. All the trip mode stuff, well, there’s
no Levites. That’s a pretty important thing
here, isn’t it? No Levites, that means no one to do the sacrificing. That means no one to carry the
Ark of the Covenant. That means no one to do all the
things God said to do very specifically. And so as these people are gathered
with their households, they’ve gathered in their clans, they’ve
gathered with all the treasures, there’s men, there’s women, there’s
little ones, there’s children, there’s teenagers, there’s everybody
all mixed in and they’re tying things down, kicking the tires,
but no Levites. Perhaps the most menial task
back at Jerusalem, perhaps the most thankless task back at Jerusalem,
was a cult people, right? They had these cult practices.
We’ve got to sacrifice these things. We’ve got to cut these
animals. We’ve got to cut their parts
and do this and burn that and all the rest. If we’re going
to go back, all 5,000 of us, and there are no Levites, well,
we can’t do our religion. We can’t do our thing. And so
that’s the issue. So they come up with a delegation.
Let’s get nine leaders. Let’s put a few learned ones
in the delegation, and let’s send them to Casafilla. Let’s
send them to the place where, we don’t know exactly, but there
in Babylon, they had probably set up a little temple, a little
place of worship, a little place of sacrifice and learning. And
so they go and they bump into Sherabiah. They go and they bump
in to just the right people and they decide they want to go.
There’s hope. The caravan is not stuck down by the river.
The battery in this operation, restore Jerusalem is no longer
dead. The tires are no longer flat. And you see the refrain, don’t
you? The good hand of God was with
us. You know, the people standing
there by the banks all packed up, no place to go. I mean, how
many days did it take to go and recruit some Levites? It may
have taken a while. They’re probably wondering, what
did we sign up for? Who’s the brains behind this operation?
But it’s essential, isn’t it? That the right people get on
the caravan and go back to Israel, go back to the promised land
to do this mighty work. And so there’s an important search
for the Levites. You know, you get 10 minutes
down the road on a trip. I forgot my toothbrush. What
does everybody in the car say? Do without it. They got stores
there. I mean, I can hear this, right?
Just been on a couple trips. If you forgot it, we’re not going
back, right? We always call it trip mode in
my house growing up. There’s no turning back. I remember
several years ago leaving my phone. and I did without it for
two weeks, it was the best time of my life. But we would usually
turn back for those things. So there’s the gathering of these
families, the family reunion, there’s the search for the Levites
and God gives them these essential workers. The third thing in this
passage is fasting and prayer. So when they come back with the
Levites, all the people there are assembled and can’t you imagine
the, let’s go, we’re ready, we’ve been waiting, they’re honking
the horn, they’re revving the engine. And the real preparation
begins. There’s 5,000 people in this
valley alongside the river. There’s a caravan, all the contents
and all the riches, all the wealth that is being sent back with
them. And you can just say, look, the sun is up, let’s get going.
The sun is up, let’s get cooking. And they say, no, we’re gonna
stop. And we’re gonna fast and we’re gonna pray. And we’re going
to seek the Lord’s face. We’re going to seek his blessing
on our travels. We’re going to seek his blessing
on our journey. We’re going to seek his face
that our success, spiritual and physical is met by the hand of
the Lord. And the passage seems to say
that they got from Babylon to Jerusalem, those 500 or so miles,
they got there straight way. They got there quickly. They
got there free of affliction, free of flat tires. It even says
they didn’t run into any robbers. No marauders, no caravan thieves. They didn’t even ask the king
for a delegation of soldiers. We’ll speak in a moment of how
much silver and how much gold there was. But Ezra trusted in
the good hand of Almighty God. No security detail, just faith. No trust in chariots and horses,
but just trust in the name of the Lord, our God. And you can
imagine the pins and the needles. Oh, my goodness. No sleep, the
thoughts, the dread. But they got there, they made
it. And if they had had the hymn, they might have sung Tis So Sweet
to trust in Jesus. And you see in verse 23, the
outcome of their trip. just before in 22, the hand of
our God is for good on all who seek him and the power of his
wrath is against all who forsake him. We fasted, we implored our
God for this. And he listened to our entreaty. He gave them the way on their
trip. Well, the next little section
of this passage speaks of the stewardship of God’s people.
And you find it in verses 24 to 30. I don’t know if you did the math
in your head on the silver and the gold, but there are 7,500
pounds of silver. There’s 49,000 pounds of gold
in today’s value, $160 million. That’s nothing to sniff at, is
it? And so you’ve got all these valuable
people, priests, royalty, laymen. You’ve got people in the line
of David, people in the line of the Levites. You’ve got people
in the line of Messiah. But you’ve also got all this
heavy stewardship that has been entrusted to them, that is to
be protected by them. and is to be delivered to Almighty
God at His temple at Jerusalem. And the gold, the silver, the
wealth that will be taken there was quite a stewardship. But
in addition to the stewardship, it was the people, it was their
gifts, it was their abilities, it was their willingness. And
you know, sometimes we sniff at church work. Well, I only
do a little thing. I only do a small thing. But
you put it all together and it begins to add up. And we heard
a prayer tonight about the things that are done that most of us
don’t see get done, but we come in here and it’s clean. Or we came in today and the communion
was on the table. We came in today and the air
conditioning worked, or maybe that was a curse to you. We came
in here today and whatever else we didn’t have to deal with,
God provided for us. And so we should never sniff
at our church work. It is a noble work. It is a work
that God is pleased with. And so this stewardship is going
to adorn the temple there that’s at Jerusalem that’s being rebuilt.
But remember, don’t forget the prophecy of Haggai. Remember
Haggai said, you know, why do y’all live in paneled houses?
My house lies in ruins. And so Haggai encouraged them,
they built the temple. As it goes along through his
prophecy, he tells them, you think this temple’s little. You
think it’s something small in your eyes. Well, dear people
of God, he says, you haven’t seen anything yet. And so we
still, though there’s $160 million in today’s dollars, at least,
of gold and silver going to adorn the temple, There is a temple
not made with human hands that we’ll see in the heavenlies,
and it is adorned with far more beauty and far more riches. And so, lest we worship our own
building, lest we worship our own church accomplishments in
this life, They only are pointing, they are only stops or way stations
onto the greater heavenly city. Well, the last thing this passage
has for us in 31 to 36 is a mission accomplished. They seem to reach
their destination in record time. The wind seems to be at their
backs. And we don’t get the details of the trip, though I imagine
it must have been a pretty hairy and scary event. 500 miles through the dust, 500
miles through dangers and toils and snares. We don’t get all
of that. We’re just told they pulled up stakes and departed.
And we’re told they got to Jerusalem and they camped out for about
three days and then they delivered all the silver and all the gold
and all the vessels and that everything was in order. All
the people did all the right things and obeyed the voice of
God. His hand was upon them and he
then received all their sacrifices, all those goats and all those
lambs and all those bulls. They gave thanks to God for his
answered prayers. They fasted, they prayed, they
sought atonement for their sin, and it was granted them through
these sacrifices. And so there’s a much great relief.
You know how it can be when you are serving the Lord. There’s
a tired and there’s a good tired. And the good tired is when the
work you have done is maybe showing you some fruit. You’ve seen people
love the Lord more. You’ve seen people come to faith
in Jesus. You’ve seen maybe your children respond to the gospel.
You’ve seen Over time and over patience, you’ve seen people
change. And the question may be on your
mind, as I’m sure it was on some of these travelers, can this
God be trusted? And I think over and over in
the passage, you see the good hand of God carrying his people
on mission to all, all that needed to be accomplished. What promises
God makes, those promises God fulfills in Jesus Christ. And we thank the Lord that we
don’t, We don’t have to fear, we don’t
have to live wondering, biting our nails, does God love us?
Does God want to care for us? Over and over in the scriptures,
we see his promises. are both made and kept. And as God is leading his Israelites
out of Babylon from their punishment to Jerusalem, remember, he’s
also leading us out of this Babylon in which we live, and he’s leading
us to the new Jerusalem. And sometimes we have our tent
stakes driven so deeply into the ground. Maybe we’re reluctant
Levites. We don’t want to leave the comforts
of Babylon. Maybe we’re reluctant royalty,
reluctant priest, whatever the case may be, we don’t want to
leave. But where God is leading us is so much more worth it than
trying to live for things that are not eternal in this life.
I think of Moses in Hebrews chapter 11, by faith Moses did not consider
the riches of life in the palace of Egypt. but he rather wanted
to identify with his people. And so he followed Israel into
the wilderness and he followed his people through the desert
towards the promised land. And God promises that his pilgrimage,
his way will not come up empty or vain to any of us. Let’s do
pray together. Our God, we thank you for this
little glimpse of your people living by faith and living a
comfortable life and making a hard journey back to the promised
land. But every step of the way you were with them, every step
of the way you guided them. Lord, I’m sure some of them doubted.
I’m sure some of them had fears. And that’s right where we are. We don’t like to walk blindly
into the days ahead. So help us to see their faith
and may their faith be contagious in us as we long for heaven,
the new Jerusalem and look to Jesus. as the way there. Hear us and help us. We pray
in his name. Amen.