Ezra 9:1-15 -GOD HATES COMPROMISE. 11-2-19 Devotional

Ezra 9:1-15                                           Kevin E. Jesmer

Key Verse: 9:15                                   11-2-19

“O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.” (ESV)

Dear Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you for elevating our eyes from all the stories of death in this world and helping us to fix our eyes on Christ and placing all of our hope in the Kingdom of God. You fill us with your life and your hope and even though the waves of death and despair pound against our life boats, you are the solid rock on which we stand. Thank you for that gift. Please grant me one word of God to hold onto thorough thus passage. I thank you and I pray in Jesus’ name. Amen!

Part 1: God Opens Ezra’s Eyes To See The Condition of His People (1-4)

Verses 1-4, “After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites. 2 For they have taken some of their daughters to be wives for themselves and for their sons, so that the holy race has mixed itself with the peoples of the lands. And in this faithlessness the hand of the officials and chief men has been foremost.” 3 As soon as I heard this, I tore my garment and my cloak and pulled hair from my head and beard and sat appalled. 4 Then all who trembled at the words of the God of Israel, because of the faithlessness of the returned exiles, gathered around me while I sat appalled until the evening sacrifice.”

When Ezra and his entourage arrived in Jerusalem, Ezra could not believe what he had discovered. Look at verse 1, “After these things had been done, the officials approached me and said, “The people of Israel and the priests and the Levites have not separated themselves from the peoples of the lands with their abominations, from the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites, the Ammonites, the Moabites, the Egyptians, and the Amorites.”   Ezra was appalled to see that many of God’s people, including the leaders, had intermarried with the Canaanites. (v. 2)

Why mention about the marriages? I think it is not just about marriage. Marriage is a barometer about something else. It is an outer expression about an inner realty. The people who should have been standing up as God’s holy people failed to do so. They were not obeying the word of God. They ignored the importance of a Christian marriage. Their inner spiritual condition was not good. Their attitude towards the word of God was compromised. And Ezra saw this and was appealed by it.

Why is God so concerned about marriage among his people of faith? The Canaanite culture was corrupt. It involved sexual perversion, idol worship, etc. God had told his people not to compromise with the Canaanites and not to intermarry with them. God has plans for his people. He wants to shine forth Gospel through families of faith. He wants to reveal his love and the mechanics of the Gospel through families. The work of God, through a servant of God, can only progress as far as the quality of their marriage. If their marriage is not God honoring, then this will constantly hinder their ministry throughout their lives.

God cares about the happiness of his people. The quality of a marriage is so much better if both marriage partners are on the same page spiritually. They have the same goal to glorify God. The have the same mission…to proclaim his word. They have the same hope…eternal life in the Kingdom of God where they will be with their Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. While living in this world they will live with a common love for each other and for their neighbor. It is because they know the grace of God. They will also be able to forgive one another because both of them have been forgiven by Jesus. Their kids and grandkids and possibly their great grandkids, nieces and nephews will be blessed because of their common faith in the Lord. And this is just touching the tip of the iceberg concerning the blessings that come when two people marry with the same common faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. God truly cares and wants the best for all of his people.

When Ezra saw how marriage had degenerated from a holy institution into a human arrangement, he tore his clothes and sat down on the ground all day in self-abasement. Then he fell on his knees in prayer.

“How could the people of God have degenerated like this?”, must have been at the forefront of his mind. They must have let go of the word of God. If there were Bible teachers among them, God was not blessing their Bible teaching. The people were wandering away from the straight path in droves. The kids were not following the faith of the parents and grandparents. They were veering from the tried and true path of faith in the God of the Hebrews.

The spiritual identity of the people was threatened. It is a slippery slope when one or two generations compromise their faith. The people of God could be reduced to simply being a nationality, no different than the different nationalities around them. They would simply melt into the Babylonian melting pot. God could no longer work through them to reveal his glory to the nations. How tragic? The world would not have a kingdom of priests and a holy nation to turn to in order to find Jehovah. (The name of God in the Old Testament). They would not know their true Savior and the way of salvation. Yes, that is tragic.

I am impressed about how much Ezra cared about the spiritual condition of the people of God. He truly exhibited the very heart of God. It is obvious that many churches are falling down road of compromise. Do we care? Do we pray in all earnestness? I know I don’t. I repent and pray that I can reflect the heart of God in my prayers and reveal God’s concern for his church.

Part 2: Ezra’s Deep Prayer (5-15)

Verses 5-15, “5 And at the evening sacrifice I rose from my fasting, with my garment and my cloak torn, and fell upon my knees and spread out my hands to the Lord my God,” 6 saying: “O my God, I am ashamed and blush to lift my face to you, my God, for our iniquities have risen higher than our heads, and our guilt has mounted up to the heavens. 7 From the days of our fathers to this day we have been in great guilt. And for our iniquities we, our kings, and our priests have been given into the hand of the kings of the lands, to the sword, to captivity, to plundering, and to utter shame, as it is today. 8 But now for a brief moment favor has been shown by the Lord our God, to leave us a remnant and to give us a secure hold within his holy place, that our God may brighten our eyes and grant us a little reviving in our slavery. 9 For we are slaves. Yet our God has not forsaken us in our slavery, but has extended to us his steadfast love before the kings of Persia, to grant us some reviving to set up the house of our God, to repair its ruins, and to give us protection in Judea and Jerusalem. 10 “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? For we have forsaken your commandments, 11 which you commanded by your servants the prophets, saying, ‘The land that you are entering, to take possession of it, is a land impure with the impurity of the peoples of the lands, with their abominations that have filled it from end to end with their uncleanness. 12 Therefore do not give your daughters to their sons, neither take their daughters for your sons, and never seek their peace or prosperity, that you may be strong and eat the good of the land and leave it for an inheritance to your children forever.’ 13 And after all that has come upon us for our evil deeds and for our great guilt, seeing that you, our God, have punished us less than our iniquities deserved and have given us such a remnant as this, 14 shall we break your commandments again and intermarry with the peoples who practice these abominations? Would you not be angry with us until you consumed us, so that there should be no remnant, nor any to escape? 15 O Lord, the God of Israel, you are just, for we are left a remnant that has escaped, as it is today. Behold, we are before you in our guilt, for none can stand before you because of this.”

This is a model prayer. Let’s think about it. (1) Ezra shared the responsibility for the sins of his people in his confession. (2) He thanked God for his mercy in sparing a remnant to return and rebuild the temple. (3) He confessed their sins and guilt in disobeying God’s word and intermarrying with the people of the land. (4) He continued to reveal God’s grace and the nation’s sinful condition. (5) He brings it all before the Lord in prayer and leaves it there at the throne of grace.

I need to learn to pray like Ezra. My prayers are so two dimensional compared to his. I prayer for myself and my own needs. I might pray for the needs of a few people close to me. And I surely do not connect myself with the sins of my own people, the Canadians and the Americans. My most common prayer nowadays, is “Lord help me to carry on each day and help me to find joy and meaning in my work.” I definitely need to grow in the scope of my prayers, just like Ezra.

Prayer: “Lord, we are sinners who cannot stand before you. It is only through your grace that we can do so. Purge us from our idolatry and heal our unfaithfulness.”

One Word: Care about the spiritual condition of the people. See, teach the Bible and pray.