God Remembers Series

God Remembers

Jeffery Anselmi / General

Reclaim- The Book of Ezra / Return from Exile; Promises of God / Ezra 1:1–11

God remembers his promises despite our past and our sin.

INTRODUCTION

• Have you ever been in a difficult position that it seemed like you would never get out of?

• To make matters worse, the reason you are in the position was because of something you did.

• You have been in the situation for so long that the likelihood of something changing grows dimmer by the year.

• We are going to dive into the book of Ezra.

• Big Idea of the Series: This five-week series addresses what God did for the Jewish people throughout the events recorded in the book of Ezra.

• Through failure, forgetting what is essential, and sin, we may become exiles attempting to return to God.

• However, just as in the book of Ezra, God reclaimed His people according to his promises. Therefore, he can also reclaim and redeem your life for His purpose in this world.

• The nation of Israel was a story of sinning against God, failure to carry out their mission from God, and forgetting from whom their blessings flowed.

• The nation was quick to turn its backs on God, and the results were devastating for the nation and its people.

• Let me share a brief history to give context to the message.

• Judah both fell and returned in stages. Looking back, we see that the Babylonians made three deportations of the Jews, the last coinciding with the destruction of Jerusalem.

• In 605 b.c. Following his defeat of Assyria and Egypt at the Battle of Carchemish, Nebuchadnezzar made Judah a vassal state and took a few captives (including Daniel) back to Babylon.

• In 598 b.c. he returned and reasserted his control, taking Jehoiachin and other nobles to Babylon.

• Finally, in 586 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar crushed the rebellion of Zedekiah, destroyed Jerusalem, and took the survivors to Babylon. (AMG Concise Bible Survey)

• From 586 to 539 B.C., the Jews lived as exiles on the land of Babylon.

• However, an event happened that would change things, an event that, on the surface, might not have looked like a salvation moment for the nation.

• In 539, the Medes and Persians overthrew the once-powerful Babylon.

• It seems like the nation will go from one master to another; the cycle seems endless.

• You ever been in an endless cycle in life?

• For those who have opened a Bible, did you read God’s promises with a high level of skepticism?

• You may surmise that you are not worthy of God’s promises, like the promise of the forgiveness of your sins and eternal life when you are baptized into Jesus!

• How about the promise of peace and rest? Those seem like admirable goals that will never happen in your tumultuous life.

• Through the Old Testament book of Ezra, we will learn some things about God’s promises!

• The BIG IDEA for this message is:: God remembers His promises despite our past and our sin.

Ezra 1:1 (CSB)

1 In the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken through Jeremiah, the LORD roused the spirit of King Cyrus to issue a proclamation throughout his entire kingdom and to put it in writing:

SERMON

I. God always remembers His promises.

• Have you ever made a promise, only to forget that promise?

• Or has someone made you a promise, and they forgot the promise?

• Or better yet, have you been waiting years for a promise to be fulfilled?

• The nation of Israel had been waiting for God to deliver on a promise that was made almost 70 years ago.

• This promise is linked back to the Prophet Jeremiah almost 70 years before this event.

• Before the exile of the Jews to Babylonia, he had announced that they would return to Judah from Babylonia after 70 years (see Jer 29:10; 2 Chr 36:21).

• The Prophet Jeremiah speaks of the Hebrew people returning home (Jeremiah 25:11–12).

• Isaiah references Cyrus being used by God to allow the Jews to return from exile (Isaiah 45:1).

Jeremiah 25:8–12 (CSB)

8 “Therefore, this is what the LORD of Armies says: ‘Because you have not obeyed my words,

9 I am going to send for all the families of the north’—this is the LORD’s declaration—‘and send for my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, and I will bring them against this land, against its residents, and against all these surrounding nations, and I will completely destroy them and make them an example of horror and scorn, and ruins forever.

10 I will eliminate the sound of joy and gladness from them—the voice of the groom and the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the lamp.