A Remnant’s Restitution

One Year Bible (Aug. 10)

Ezra 10:1-44

A Remnant’s Restitution

“Get up… Be Strong and Take Action.” Ezra 10:4

One of the enjoyable things about The One Year Bible is the little verses to color! I love them. How about you? Do you take the time to color, pray, and meditate on how they apply to you?

Did you read carefully the context of today’s verse?

Many Christians seem pretty comfortable just Livin’ in their “Amazing Grace” and resting on their “Blessed Assurance”.

(Trust me when I say that I LOVE both of those hymns.)

There is only one slight problem in our culture today… The words “sin” and “repentance” our OUT and the words “self” and “enlightenment” are IN...!

I love the Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) version by Chris Tomlin. The added bridge is what today’s passage is really all about, “My chains are gone, I’ve been set free. My God, my Savior has ransomed me…”

The very first verse today captures my attention as Ezra is praying, confessing, and weeping while lying face down on the ground in front of the Temple of God.

Is he crying because of his own sin? Doesn’t he know how much God has done for him?

Why is he so sad? What are the chains that are still on the exiles even though they have been set free from Babylon?

“He spent the night there (in front of the temple) without eating or drinking anything. He was still in mourning because of the unfaithfulness of the returned exiles.” ( Ezra 10:6)

Note, that he is FASTING and MOURNING over the people that he has been called to serve.

Listen to what he says, “WE have been unfaithful to OUR God, for WE have married these pagan women of the land. But in spite of this, there is HOPE for Israel. Let US now make a covenant with OUR God to divorce OUR pagan wives and to send them away with their children. WE will follow the advice given by you and by the others who respect the commands of OUR God”. (Ezra 10:2-3)

Ezra is fasting, mourning, and bearing the burden of the sin of his people. He says, “We” and “Our”. Look at how he first reacts when he hears that the people of God were intermarrying with the foreign people who worship idols.

Ezra tears his clothing pulls out hair from his head and beard, sits in horror, and then fasts. He is UTTERLY in SHOCK! (Ezra 9:3-5)

We live in a day and age where pretty much anything goes, Love and happiness are the guides, and prosperity for all is the compass. But, Ezra knows where this compass will lead them… right back to captivity where they came from.

Why is marrying foreign people who do not worship their same God a “big deal”?

“Many of the people of Israel, and even some of the priests and Levites, have not kept themselves separate from the other peoples living in the land. They have taken up the detestable practices of the Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Jebusites, Ammonites, Moabites, Egyptians, and Amorites. For the men of Israel have married women from these people and have taken them as wives for their sons. So, the holy race has become polluted by these mixed marriages. Worse yet, the leaders and officials have led the way in this outrage.”

(Ezra 9:1-2)

Why is Ezra in shock?

The people of the remnant just spent 70 years in captivity for their worship of idols and now they have come back to embrace the very same things that took them there.

Ezra had just spoken over them the words, “You and these treasures have been set apart as holy to the LORD.” (8:28)

They were to be “Set Apart” for God, but they were not SEPARATE from those doing DETESTABLE practices.

Here is what Ezra says to the people, “We have been given A BRIEF MOMENT OF GRACE, for the LORD our God has allowed a few of us to survive as a remnant.” (Ezra 9:8)

He then begins to intercede for the people, “And now, O our God, what can we say after all of this/ For once again we have abandoned your commands!” (Ezra 9:10) He acknowledges to God that none of them can stand in their guilt.

So, let’s look back at our theme verse today in context. What does it mean for the exiled to be strong and take action?

“So, now confess your sin to the Lord.. and do what he commands. Separate yourselves from the people of the land and from these pagan women.” (10:11)

A Remnant’s Restitution requires Repentance and Redirection. They need to make things RIGHT…

“Get up… Be Strong and Take Action.” (Ezra 10:4)