While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly. —Ezra 10:1, in our reading plan for today. Steven J. Cole comments: Ezra was prostrating himself and praying “before … More Repenting and Confessing
Steven J. Cole comments on Ezra 9, in our reading plan for today Because we are so desensitized toward sin, we fail to have the proper response toward it, whether it is our own sin, or sin in others. We minimize it, justify it, or ignore it and go on our way unaffected by it. … More What is the godly reaction to sin?
August 7 Ezra 9 (ESV) Ezra Prays About Intermarriage 9:1 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, … More August 7 Ezra 9
Ezra was ashamed to ask King Artaxerxes for an escort because he previously had told him, The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him. (Ezra 8:22) He was trusting in God’s sovereign goodness. Romans 8:28 encourages us to … More Trusting God and His Goodness
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Phillip Graham Ryken writes in Thermelios about our passage in Ezra 7 today: Ezra was a great man—one of the all-time heroes of the faith. He had the will to lead; he had a heart for holiness; he had a mind for biblical truth. If we want to follow his example, we should ask what … More “The hand of the Lord his God was on him”
August 5 Ezra 7 (ESV) Ezra Sent to Teach the People 7:1 Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia, Ezra the son of Seraiah, son of Azariah, son of Hilkiah, 2 son of Shallum, son of Zadok, son of Ahitub, 3 son of Amariah, son of Azariah, son of Meraioth, 4 son of Zerahiah, son … More August 5 Ezra 7
Ray Stedman, in a 1965 sermon, “Ezra:The Way Back” comments on the events of Ezra 6, in our reading plan today: The minute the people began to turn back to God, he also turned the hearts of the kings, Darius and Artaxerxes, and they issued the decree that started the temple work again. Finally the … More Celebrating fellowship with God
August 4 Ezra 6 (ESV) The Decree of Darius 6:1 Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in Babylonia, in the house of the archives where the documents were stored.2 And in Ecbatana, the capital that is in the province of Media, a scroll was found on which this was written: “A record. 3 In … More August 4 Ezra 6
Ray Stedman helps us as we read Ezra 4-5 today: (from a sermon “Ezra: The Way Back”) The third factor in this return under Zerubbabel is the opposition that immediately develops, as we read in chapters 4 through 6. A force is at work in every human heart, as in world affairs, that immediately rises … More Beware so-called friends
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