Right now in our quiet time (we use the Word of Life Quiet Time), we are studying Ezra, and then we will move into Haggai. Sunday and Monday's passages were kind of setting the stage for what's going on. Let me give some more information about it. King David was promised that his seed would always be on the throne. King Solomon came along (David's son) and he was the wisest and richest man ever. He also was very sinful, as he had many wives and allowed those wives to bring in their gods. In Ecclesiastes, he tells us he tried everything, and it is all worthless, except to love and serve God. Well, King Solomon died (1 Kings 11), and his son, Rehoboam became king. Well, this other guy, Jeroboam, decided he wanted to be king instead. What Rehoboam didn't know was that Jeroboam had already been told by Ahijah the prophet that he would rule over 10 of the 12 tribes of Israel. Well, the people came together and Rehoboam made a bad choice. He didn't listen to wise council from his father's friends, instead listened to stupid council from his friends and told the people he was more of a man than his father and he would tax them even more. This didn't go over so well, so the kingdom was split into two new kingdoms. Israel was the the northern 10 tribes, and Judah was the southern 2 tribes. To be fair, originally Judah was the only tribe that followed Rehoboam, but gradually the tribe of Benjamin also followed.
Now, the kingdom of Israel (the north) had many very very very wicked kings. They led the people into worship of all sorts of false gods and idols, and the committed all sorts of evil acts of "worship". They were taken into captivity in 722 B.C. by Assyria. Because they had a few more righteous and Godly kings, Judah was kept around by God for a little while longer. They were taken in to captivity in 586 B.C. by Babylon.
So now almost all of the Israelites have been taken into captivity and the rest were left to die. Never in history when a nation been taken in to captivity and moved out of their native land, has that nation ever come back. Here in Ezra we see that this exact thing is happening. What is also amazing is that people from all 12 tribes eventually make their way back to Israel! That is unheard of! In fact, it's a God thing. That is the only explanation. Oh, and by the way, this exact thing happened to Israel again, and was only solved in 1948 when the nation of Israel was again created.
So as we read the book of Ezra be amazed at how God works to bring the nation of His chosen people back together. The reason they were taken into captivity was their disobedience. As a nation, they failed to obey all that God had commanded them. Looking at our lives, when we fail to do all that God commands us, we too can be taken into captivity. I don't mean that Canada is going to swoop down and take us off or anything. I mean that we can be taken into captivity by sin. Paul says in Galatians 5, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." In Romans 6, Paul says, "What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?....For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin.......Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Therefore, do not let sin reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in its lusts."
These verses detail how we can be captured by sin just as Israel and Judah were captured by Assyria and Judah. The key is learning to obey God and not allowing sin to reign in your life. That is hard work. It is very difficult. It is much easier to sin, but the long term consequences of sin can be bad. While the long term consequences to obeying God are much better.
When faced with temptation, I like to say this: "I love Jesus way too much to do/say/think this."
Don't be captive to sin.
