8. Learning to become a New Ezra

8. Learning to Become a New Ezra.

Ezra is an oft unsung hero whose story needs to be resurrected in our difficult era. He was an adventuresome priest, a prayerful scholar of the Word, and an innovative teacher of Scripture who led the Israelite settlers into spiritual renewal after being captive in Babylon for seventy years. His courage and faith were a shining light at a pivotal time in history for God’s chosen people, and perhaps our time is one which could use a band of New Ezras in our midst. In the spirit of our hero Ezra, maybe we who seek to follow Jesus could:

(1.) Take the Risks of an Adventurer.  “After these things, during the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra came up from Babylon. He was a teacher well versed in the Torah, which the Lord, the God of Israel, had given. The king had granted Ezra everything he asked, for the hand of the Lord was on him… Ezra arrived in Jerusalem; he had begun his journey from Babylon and he arrived in Jerusalem four months later.” (Ezra 7:1-9). The king granted authority to someone he evidently trusted fully, Ezra, to return to Jerusalem and help rebuild the Jewish homeland. Surprisingly, the king specifically told Ezra to teach the people about the instructions of the Lord in the Torah, and reestablish the worshipful purposes of the rebuilt Temple. The King even provided loads of gold and silver to help replenish the Temple’s worship materials. So Ezra leads this second group of exiles back to Jerusalem around 458 BC, 60 years after the first group of exiles were granted permission by the Babylonian king, Cyrus. Ezra led a caravan of about 2,000 Israelites, mostly priests and singers and Levites to help in the Temple activities, as well as other willing exiles anxious to return home. This difficult journey took about four months to complete, walking over 900 miles. But Ezra was doubly motivated to obey the Lord’s directions… He desperately wanted to explain the Word of God to the people, probably around 50,000 of them in Jerusalem, so they wouldn’t have to suffer another devastating punishment from the Lord for breaking the Covenant and losing their faith in their Deliverer. Ezra was serious about God’s chosen people becoming faithful to God’s divine Covenant and recovering their nation’s reason for being. Ezra was a pioneer who had a heart for his people, God’s chosen people, and so he wouldn’t let anything keep him from serving God by serving them.

(2.) Fix our Hearts to Explore the Word. “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Torah…” (Ezra 7:10). The Hebrew words in this passage declare that Ezra devoted himself to carefully investigate Scripture; he dedicated himself to pursue a deeper understanding of it; he decided purposely within himself to intensely explore it; he firmly determined to inquire its meaning; he tenaciously examined it; he remained mentally prepared to do deep dives into Scripture; he literally directed his face toward the Word of God. As a wise old saint once said, “Ignorance of Scripture is ignorance of Christ.” The New Ezra has a hearty appetite for Scripture and is hungry for the fresh bread of God’s Word. The New Ezra embraces the activity of sitting at the feet of the Holy Spirit as s/he opens the pages of Scripture to hear from Him.

(3.) Consider Scripture to be a Treasure House of Truth. “Therefore, every scribe trained and instructed for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings treasure out of his storehouse, things new and old.” (Matthew 13:52). The well-trained scribe knows how to bring out the old, traditional Word as well as the new fresh application, shedding new light on the old truths. By “old,” one doesn’t mean outdated, past its usage date, worn out, past its prime, thus irrelevant. The old in the poorly named Old Testament is taken more to mean old as in aged wine at its most flavorful, old as in original and foundational, old as in a valuable and usable antique, or old as an eternal, ageless truth completely worthy of our trust. So an effective scribe for the Kingdom is equally adept at focusing on the words of the old Moses in the same breath as the teachings of Jesus, the New Moses. A worthy scribe, according to Jesus, brings out the Scripture that is familiar to those who know the Hebrew Bible, as well as the wisdom that is perhaps unfamiliar in the words of Christ. The wise scribe knows how to present the treasures of Scripture, whether new or old. The effective scribe knows that the new word in Jesus completes and fulfills the old word of OT Scripture. The ancient truths have already been established upon what has been revealed by the Lord Yahweh. The new truths are being founded upon the words of the Son of God. The New Ezra scribe in the Kingdom recognizes this and will combine these old and new truths to develop a deeper understanding of God. The wise scribe is focused on the full revelation of God, whether from Moses and the prophets or from our Prophet Jesus. The New Ezra realizes that Scripture both old and new is its own best commentary.

(4.) Determine to Be a Doer of the Word. “For Ezra had set his heart to study the Torah in order to practice it…” (Ezra 7:10). Ezra was trained in the biblical meaning of what it means to “know” something. The Jewish way of knowing was obviously much more than a mental activity like memorizing or comprehending. To know something was much more than learning information and facts. Studying the truth went far beyond learning biblical facts which turns into trivial pursuits. To know implied an intimate knowledge, a deep personal union, a personal experience with the truth. In the Hebrew mind, they didn’t really “know” something until the truth was put into practice, until it became a part of their life, something that changed them in the way they lived. To know is to understand the truth and welcome it deeply into one’s whole being, allowing that truth to travel from the mind to the heart and then demonstrated in the hands and feet. To know Scripture is to live it out, to experience participation with that truth, to obey what that truth demands. Ezra truly knew the Word and understood it because he was able to put it into practice. May the New Ezra follow his example.

(5.) Grow in Explaining the Word to Others. “For Ezra set his heart to study the Torah, to practice it, and to teach its instructions to Israel.” (Ezra 7:10). Ezra appeared to be quite the instructional innovator when it came to revealing and then explaining the Word of the Lord. He built a huge wooden platform that went high in the air so he could be in full view of the people during the reading. He invited all the Israelites to the public reading, the men, the women, and the children. He knew that the recently exiled Israelites would only know Persian Aramaic, so he assigned other biblical scholars to interpret Ezra’s Hebrew Scriptures into Aramaic as Ezra was reading the Hebrew, in order to help all the gathered Israelites have access to the content of the Torah. Ezra also asked these interpreters to repeat God’s Word in a way that children could understand it. So Ezra was an entrepreneur of learning, a teacher who was desperately earnest about the listeners taking the words of Torah into their lives in a meaningful way. Ezra, too, realized the importance of worship as the door into the learning experience, so he provided an example for the listeners at the very start before he even started reading… In full view of all the people, Ezra humbly knelt in prayer and praised God. That set the tone for what was to come, and that example plowed the ground so that each person’s heart would be open and receptive to the seeds of truth about to be cast into the fertile ground. Finally, Ezra encouraged the Israelites to immediately put the Word into action by having them celebrate the Feast of Shelters. The opportunity to experience the truth cemented the Word into their personal experience so that Scripture would then be understood at the deeper level. Ezra was indeed a master teacher. It’s important for the New Ezra to be creative, adaptable, to perceptively read the room, to do whatever it takes to help the listeners understand the words of God.

(6.) Participate in the Priesthood of All Believers. Ezra was a trained priest while in Babylonian captivity, with lineage that went back to Aaron himself. The New Ezra is also a priest in the Christian sense, “You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God.” (1 Peter 2:9-10).  By virtue of following Christ, believers are grafted onto the Tree of Faith and have become a part of God’s chosen people. Christians didn’t replace the Jews, we simply, out of God’s mercy, were able to join the party and become children of Abraham. In the Hebrew tradition, then, found in Exodus 19:6 and Isaiah 61:6, Christians have become priests in the eyes of God. We have become priests, because Jesus has become our High Priest. Each believer is called to be a priestly assistant as we devote ourselves to the High Priest. How can a New Ezra flesh out his/her place in the ‘priesthood of believers?’

• By Being an Intercessor. If there is one word that would summarize the role of the priest, it would be intercessor. Help meet the spiritual needs of others by bringing God to them, representing the presence of God, by demonstrating God’s character to others so they know what God looks like and what kind of character God has. Help maintain God’s connection to people through Scripture, wise counsel and holy living. And then through more direct intercession, bring others to God. Let the spiritual incense burn so that the smoke and fragrance go straight to heaven in your prayers for the people you know, or don’t know. Our effectiveness in the priesthood is heavily dependent on our disciplined prayer life.
• By Offering Ourselves Daily as a Living Sacrifice. Read God’s mind by studying the Bible; minister to “one another” in God’s name; offer up sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving; live a life of self-denial as we pick up your cross daily. “Offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – which is your spiritual worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” (Romans 12:1-2). The priests back in Moses’ system offered up lots of sacrifices that involved animals, grain, etc., but the priests following Jesus simply offer up themselves.
• By Participating In the Worship of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. An often overlooked and underappreciated responsibility of the priest is to lead the way into confession and worship through singing praises, and playing instruments, and dancing in joy to the praise of God. Priests were also known to sing a “weapon song” as they led the troops into battle. Consider the method of fighting by king Jehoshaphat, placing a long line of singing priests on the front lines of what looked like an impossible battle with a completely overpowering enemy. “Jehoshaphat appointed priestly singers who were to praise Yahweh and go out ahead of the army in sacred vestments, singing, ‘Praise Yahweh, for his faithful mercy endures forever!’ The moment they began their shouts of praise, Yahweh sprang ambushes on all who were invading Judah, and that was the end of them.”  (2 Chronicles 18:18and 20:15-17, 22, NJB). The New Ezra will lead the way into our spiritual battles through song and worship.

(7.) Dwell Inside God’s Mercy. “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, and His mercy (‘hesed’) endures forever.” Hesed is the Hebrew word for mercy, and is often translated as lovingkindness, indicating a steadfast love, covenant faithfulness, unfailing loyalty, love-in-action. Hesed has so many dimensions that it is much easier to describe than define. Hesed may be the most important word in the Hebrew Bible, because it is considered a summary word for all of God’s character traits, the driving force behind all He does. There is no one translation of hesed that is perfect or says it all. Descriptions of mercy include: Eager love-in-action; steadfast kindness; loyal compassion; faithful favor; generous grace; the ardent desire to do good to someone; a completely undeserved lovingkindness; an affectionate love that goes beyond what is expected, above and beyond, free of charge, no strings attached; the generous love reserved for someone in an intimate relationship, and if there is no prior relationship, the strong desire to treat someone as if that relationship existed. Apart from David himself, there is probably no other Biblical character who was so intimately convinced of hesed, of God’s mercy. Ezra composed the books of 1 and 2 Chronicles, Ezra and Nehemiah, and all his books contain what became the national motto of Israel that was first declared in Scripture by Ezra in 1 Chronicles 16:34, “Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy (hesed) endures forever!” Ezra was the first Biblical author to coin that vital phrase in Jewish history, who did the impossible by putting God’s character in a nutshell, and he seemed to be referring directly to God’s momentous self-revelation in Exodus 34:6-7. But that was just the first time that Ezra focused on hesed, on God’s mercy and covenant lovingkindness. Other nods to hesed by Ezra include: 1 Chronicles 16:41; 1 Chronicles 17:13; 2 Chronicles 6:14; 2 Chronicles 5:13; 2 Chronicles 7:3; 2 Chroniclers 7:6; 2 Chronicles 20:21; Nehemiah 1:5; Nehemiah 9:17; Nehemiah 9:32; and Nehemiah 13:22. Ezra was all hesed, all the time. The New Ezra is equally convinced that “the whole earth is full of God’s mercy.” (Ps. 33:5).