Ezra 10

Ezra 10:1

REVIVAL UNDER EZRAAfter this great prayer meeting, there began a movement of revival. And revival always leads to reformation. When there is true revival, you don’t need a fingerprint expert to find the results. An intense conviction of sin came over God’s people at this particular time, and it was certainly something that was needed.

Ezra 10:2

The man Shechaniah apparently became the mouthpiece for this group of people who recognized their sin and wanted to confess. He came to Ezra and said, “We have trespassed against our God.” That is a very candid acknowledgment. He continued, “We have taken strange wives of the people of the land.” That, my friend, is nailing it down and dealing with specifics. What they had done was absolutely contrary to the Law of Moses. They had not consulted in this grave matter “that which was written.” In other words, they had departed from the Word of God. Now he casts himself upon the mercy of God and says, “Yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.”

Ezra 10:3

There were those who now joined in confession who likewise trembled at the commandment of God. That is, they not only read it and studied it; they let the Word of God have its way in their hearts. When the transgression was called to their attention, they confessed it. They did not attempt to rationalize, excuse, or cover over their sin. They came right out and confessed it. They did this according to the Word of God.

Ezra 10:4

Breaking the Law of God was a very serious thing. They went before Him with great travail of soul. What everyone went through is rather heart-rending, but the Word of God had been transgressed and the people had to repent. Friend, that is where revival must begin. First, we must walk in the light of God’s Word. When we come to the Word of God, it brings conviction to our hearts. We see that we are coming short of the glory of God. We realize that we are openly transgressing that which God has written. When we go to Him in confession and there is real repentance, the result will be that God’s children will be revived. Today we are busy preaching repentance to a lost world. I am not sure that God is asking the lost world to repent. He is saying to the world, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved …” (Act_16:31). When you come to Christ as Savior, something else happens. It happened in Thessalonica. In 1Th_1:9 Paul says “For they themselves shew of us what manner of entering in we had unto you, and how ye turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God.” “Turning to God” took priority over “turning from idols.” Repentance does not precede faith. Faith goes before and repentance followsit follows as surely as the night follows day. If it doesn’t follow, the faith is not genuineit isn’t saving faith. Repentance is the thing that is so lacking in the church today.

Have you ever noticed that in the Bible God asks the church to repent? In the seven letters to the seven churches of Asia Minor recorded in the Book of Revelation God asks all but two of them to repent. God was talking to believers, not to unsaved people. Personally, I do not agree with these people who are constantly asking the mayor, or governor, or the president to declare a day of prayer. They say, “Let’s have a national day of prayer. We need prayer.” Oh, my friend, what are you talking about? I cannot believe that Ezra sent out word to the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Canaanites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites that they were invited to a great day of prayer. Let’s face itAmerica is a pagan nation. Believers are a minority.

This is a day when every minority is being heard except the Bible-believers. I think one could organize a rally of a host of people in our nation for a day of prayer. But what good would it do? God is saying to the lost, “Come to Me and be saved through Jesus Christ.” He is saying to His church, “Repent. Come back to Me. Come out of your coldness and indifference.” The thing that we need today is revival, and a revival will not come without repentance among believers.

In Ezra’s day God’s people were no longer indifferent, you see; but in our day there is indifference in the church. Lyman Abbot made this statement years ago, “When I was a boy, I heard my father say that if by some miracle God would change every cold, indifferent Christian into ten blatant infidels, the church might well celebrate a day of thanksgiving and praise.” The trouble with the church today is that it is filled with cold, indifferent church membersperhaps many of them are not even saved. If revival comes, friend, you are going to see this indifferent crowd either come over on the Lord’s side or else they will make it very clear that they belong to the devil. Ezra went to God in genuine repentance and others are following suit.

Ezra 10:7

They were making a real line of separation. They are under the Mosaic Law. In the church today I don’t believe you could force the issue as they are doing here. They are removing all of the chaff that they possibly can from the good wheat. It would take about “three days” to come from any section in that land, and this proclamation was directed to all those who had come out of the Babylonian captivity, who had returned to rebuild the city, the walls, and the temple. They were to come together for a time of spiritual refreshing, but repentance must precede it. Those who would not come because they felt that things were not being done the way they wanted them done, or had some other objection, were to be cast out of the congregation. The church needs housecleaning today. I don’t mean taking from the church roll the names of the members who can’t be located either. What the average church needs to do is get rid of some of the members they can locatethose who need to repent but will not repent. Bitterness today is like quinine in a barrel of water. It doesn’t take much to make the water bitter. I remember when I was a boy my mother would always tell me when I cut up a chicken, “Be careful and don’t break the gall bladder. You’ll ruin the whole chicken if you do.” She was right. You could spoil the entire fowl if you broke the gall bladder. God wants to get rid of that gall bladder of bitterness in His church. For instance, Heb_12:15 says, “Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.” Just a few complainers and critics in the church can absolutely stifle any spiritual movement. Oh, how many lives have been wrecked by bitterness!

Ezra 10:9

In other words, don’t just be a hearer of the Word of God but be a doer of the Word also. We are hearing a great deal today about the need for action in the church, but what the church rally needs is to get cleaned up. There needs to be confession. Even a lack of love needs to be confessed. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (Joh_13:35).

Ezra 10:12

What Ezra asked these people to do was a bitter pill to swallow. I am confident that there was a great wrenching of the heart and a great agony of the soul as these people separated themselves from their loved ones. It is interesting that while they were gathered together quite a rainstorm came up.

Ezra 10:13

A rainstorm came up and everybody wanted to scatter. Now Ezra had a whole lot of sense. He said, “We don’t want to stand out here in all of this rain, especially because of the women and children. Instead of doing this in a slipshod manner, what we want to do is come back another day and do this thing right.”

Ezra 10:14

Ezra wanted things to be done in an orderly way, and this is what they did.

Ezra 10:19

The offering mentioned speaks of the fact that the people are united as one. They are united in this tremendous effort to set things right with God. Following this verse is a list of those who agreed to put away their foreign wives. They entered into a solemn agreement and pledged to do it.

Ezra 10:44

This verse tells a sad story, does it not? The sins of the fathers will be visited on the children. We see here just how thoroughly this separation was to be carried out. Ezra was God’s man for the hour. For this generation, at least, he helped preserve the testimony of the Jews for the fulfillment of God’s plan.