Today’s passage: Ezra 6:13-22
Helpful thoughts:
- The temple is built and put into service.
- There have been many decrees given by the kings of Persia in this book, but the only one that really mattered in the end was the decree of God (Verse 14).
- If we read verse 21 carefully, we find that those who worshiped the Lord at Passover consisted of Jews who had returned from exile and other people who became worshipers of the Lord from amongst the peoples in the land.
- Israel was always to have welcomed the stranger and the alien (Leviticus 19:33-34).
- The Old covenant people were Israel…the New Covenant people are the Church. This principle is to be applied by the church!
- The Church must welcome in all those who would “join them and separate himself from the uncleanness of the peoples of the land to worship the Lord.”
Questions to consider:
- In the last couple of days, there have been direct applications concerning the Temple and God’s people and how that relates to the Church today. What dangerous positions could arise from confusing the commands for Israel to a modern national government (For us, the United States) when they would be better understood as being applicable to the Church?
- It would have been really hard to read through the Old Testament Law and get everyone on the same page as far as obedience and orderly worship after seventy years without Temple worship, so why were the people so joyful? If this would have been hard, why so much joy? What can we learn from that idea today?
- Who gave joy to the people of Israel (Verse 22)? Where does our joy still come from today (John 15:11)?