Change The World: Study The Bible

What do the people of God need? The people of God need to be liberated from bondage, gathered for a march on the land, led through the wilderness to the land of promise, and reestablished. They need an army, walls, a military, and a great leader—a king from the line of David—and they need to subject the nations to the reign of Yahweh.

So if you were a priest in the unclean realm wanting to see God’s people liberated from Babylonian captivity and established as the reigning power in the world, how would you pursue that agenda? Would you do what Ezra did? Would you set your heart to study the Torah, do it, and teach its statutes? Does that strike you as the most effective way to accomplish what God has called you to do?

Ezra evidently thought that what he needed most was to know the Bible, do the Bible, and teach the Bible. Ezra evidently believed that was the best way to pursue God’s agenda. Ezra evidently thought the best way to pursue the kingdom was to set his heart to know, do, and teach the Torah.

Many of you have come to Louisville to go to seminary.5 You face a situation similar to Ezra’s. You are in an increasingly hostile culture, and you want to minister the truth of God. You want to see God’s kingdom come. I call you this morning to follow the example set for you by Ezra: set your heart to study the Bible, do the Bible, and teach the Bible.

You may find all sorts of things offered to you as more relevant ways to pursue the growth of the church. These programs and strategies may even be offered to you from people teaching at the seminary, in classes taught at the seminary. Set your heart to study the Bible, do the Bible, and teach the Bible. God has revealed Himself in His Word. We know God through the Bible. No method, program, or initiative—not even a Great Commission Resurgence—can be more effective than the power of the living and active Word of God. Listen to Psalm 119:118: “You reject all who stray from Your statutes, for their deceit is a lie.”

Set your heart to learn the Scriptures. Do not settle for anything else. Do not get distracted from the Scriptures with nifty tricks or culturally savvy insights. People need Jesus. Jesus is revealed in the Bible. The 64Spirit uses the Bible to open eyes to see Christ. God the Father has been pleased to give us a book, words inked on pages, written by humans inspired by the Spirit. Do not get so lost in books written by the uninspired that you cannot find your way to the Bible.

Note also the progression here: study, do, teach. If the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to cause you to see Jesus, you will not be able to continue in unrepentant disobedience. Paul commended the Ephesian elders to God and to the word of His grace, and he explained that the word was able to build them up and give them their inheritance among the saints (Acts 20:32). The Word will have its way in you. You will find Psalm 119:104 at work in your own heart and life: “I gain understanding from Your precepts; therefore I hate every false way.” If you study the Bible, and if you know God, you will obey. If you study and know God and obey, then you will teach because then you will have experiential knowledge of the things you are imparting to others.

Ezra 7:11-26

This section relates the decree that Artaxerxes gave to Ezra. There are actually two decrees here. The first is in verse 13, giving permission to any who wish to go to Jerusalem with Ezra. The second is in verse 21, commanding treasurers to provide whatever Ezra needs. These decrees given by Artaxerxes inform what we saw in 6:14: “They finished their building by decree of the God of Israel and by decree of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia” (ESV). These decrees issued by Artaxerxes make the account of Ezra’s return to Jerusalem in chapters 7-10 parallel to the first return narrated in chapters 1-6. Both returns are initiated and accomplished by the decrees of foreign kings, and 6:14 tells us that the decrees of the kings accomplish what God had decreed.

Ezra 7:11-26 shows us the two decrees Artaxerxes issued by reproducing “the text of the letter King Artaxerxes gave to Ezra the priest and scribe, an expert in matters of the Lord’s commands and statutes for Israel” (v. 11). In verse 12 we see the salutation of the letter, and then the first decree is in verses 13-20, the second in verses 21-24, with Ezra then charged to appoint judges and enforce the law of God and the law of the king in verses 25-26.

This passage is dense with references to the Torah:

Ezra 7:13 relates the king’s decree that anyone who wishes may go with Ezra. Verse 14 relates that Ezra is sent on a reconnaissance mission by the king: “Because from before the king and his seven counselors you are sent to inquire concerning Judah and Jerusalem according to the law of your God, which is in your hand” (my trans.). So the first thing that the king charges Ezra to do is to measure the state of the return from exile by the yardstick of the Bible. Consider the parallel expressions (my trans.):

Both these statements are on the lips of the pagan king, but they have been incorporated in the book of Ezra by the book’s author, presumably Ezra himself. These two statements are significant because they indicate that when Ezra has the Torah in his hand he has God’s wisdom in his hand. Many modern scholars find it difficult to see the relationship between Old Testament Law and Old Testament Wisdom literature, but Ezra has no such problem. The statement is in the decree of the pagan king, but Ezra’s own sentiments about the law being God’s wisdom have probably influenced the way the king thinks about the issue. Moreover, Ezra has chosen to include these statements in his book. For Ezra, God’s law is God’s wisdom, and Ezra learned this from Moses, who wrote in Deuteronomy 4:6 that Israel’s wisdom would be seen in their keeping of Torah.

66The second thing the king charges Ezra to do is in verses 15-20. Ezra is to deliver what the king and his counselors have freely offered (v. 15), apparently with as much silver and gold (perhaps from non-Jews) and as many freewill offerings (probably from Jews) as he can get donated (v. 16). The funds are to be used for sacrifices on the altar at the temple in Jerusalem (v. 17), and Ezra can use leftover money at his discretion according to the will of God (v. 18). Artaxerxes is evidently restoring more of the temple vessels (v. 19, cf. 1:7-11), and he authorizes Ezra to do whatever is necessary for the temple with funds from the king’s treasury (v. 20).

The second decree provides for the last part of the first, which we just saw in verse 20. This decree calls on the treasurers in the province Beyond the River to give Ezra whatever he needs for the worship of God. We see again the king’s motivation at the end of verse 23: “so that [God’s] wrath will not fall on the realm of the king and his sons.” In addition to the authorization, the king states in verse 24 that the priests, Levites, singers, doorkeepers, temple servants, and other temple personnel are exempt from taxation.

The king further charges Ezra to appoint judges who know the Torah and teach those who do not know it. This is given teeth: Ezra is authorized to punish those who do not obey Torah and the law of the king. So Ezra is being sent back to the land of promise out of the land of captivity, and it is as though he has prayed Psalm 119:134 and been answered: “Redeem me from human oppression, and I will keep Your precepts.”

Before we look at Ezra’s response to all this, let’s take stock of what we have seen to this point. As an Israelite priest in the capital city of the unclean realm, needing liberation and seeking God’s kingdom, Ezra sets his heart to study, do, and teach the Torah of Yahweh. God’s hand is on Ezra, and Ezra makes requests that the king grants. What the king relates in his letter is probably what Ezra requested:

This is astonishing! Who would think that Bible study could accomplish so much? Do you want to change the world? Study, do, and teach the Bible.

Ezra 7:27-28

Look at how Ezra responds to all God has done:

Ezra didn’t strategize to accomplish his goals through espionage, cunning, armed revolt, or peaceful protest. Ezra set his heart to study, do, and teach Torah. God gave him the wisdom that comes from the Word, and Ezra made requests that the king granted. Ezra knows who has done the work, and he blesses Yahweh because of all that Yahweh accomplished.

Look at the clear statement of how Yahweh accomplished the work: God put it into the heart of Artaxerxes to beautify the temple in Jerusalem. Look at God’s power: “A king’s heart is like streams of water in the Lord’s hand: He directs it wherever He chooses” (Prov 21:1). 68Artaxerxes does not convert to the worship of Yahweh, but Yahweh puts it into his heart to accomplish His purpose (cf. Rev 17:17).

God put this into the king’s heart, and Ezra knows that God’s mercy has prospered all he has done. Ezra explains as he blesses Yahweh that God has extended His steadfast love to him. Ezra studied the Bible, prayed, and God showed him mercy.

The last half of verse 28 tells us what Ezra did next: “I took courage, for the hand of the Lord my God was on me, and I gathered leading men from Israel to go up with me” (ESV). This is the third time that we have seen the hand of Yahweh on Ezra (7:6, 9, 28). The Old Testament often refers to Yahweh’s “hand” as a way of describing His power. Yahweh’s power is at work through this man Ezra, who set his heart to study, do, and teach Torah in Israel. It is as though the prayer of Psalm 119:17 is being answered in Ezra’s life: “May Your hand be ready to help me, for I have chosen Your precepts.”

Would you like to be someone who changes the world? Know God.

How do you know God? Study the Bible. Psalm 119:10 says, “I have sought You with all my heart; don’t let me wander from Your commands.” Note the connection here between seeking the Lord and not deviating from His commands. Psalm 119:135 says, “Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes” (ESV; cf. Num 6:24-26). Again we see a connection between the understanding of the Bible and the enjoyment of 69the shining face of God.

If you begin to feel this, if you begin to experience God as you understand the Bible, the prayer of Psalm 119:64 will resonate with you: “Lord, the earth is filled with Your faithful love; teach me Your statutes.” You will agree with the sentiment in Psalm 119:72: “Instruction from Your lips is better for me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” You will say with the psalmist, “How sweet Your word is to my taste—sweeter than honey in my mouth” (Ps 119:103). And you will feel about the Bible what is expressed in Psalm 119:162: “I rejoice over Your promise like one who finds vast treasure.”

You will know the truth of these statements because you will know God through His revelation of Himself in His Word.