The sermon 'Safely Home' by Jason Dohm explores the journey of the Israelites from Babylon to Jerusalem as depicted in Ezra 8:31-36. It highlights the faithfulness and preparation of the Israelites who, under the leadership of Ezra, committed their journey into God's hands, demonstrating trust through fasting and prayer. The sermon underscores the role of God's hand in ensuring their safe passage, emphasizing that the journey's success was due to divine intervention. Upon arrival, the Israelites offered sacrifices as expressions of gratitude and repentance, acknowledging God's mercy and their unworthiness. The sermon draws parallels between this historical journey and the Christian journey towards the New Jerusalem, urging believers to recognize God's sovereignty and faithfulness in their own lives, despite challenges. It concludes by encouraging a Christ-centered focus, recognizing that all mercies stem from Jesus' sacrificial work.

Okay, the sermon text for today is Ezra chapter 8 verses 31 through 36. Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the 12th day of the first month to go to Jerusalem and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road. So he came to Jerusalem and stayed there three days. Now on the fourth day, the silver and the gold and the articles were weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Merimoth, the son of Uriah the priest, and with him was Eleazar the son of Phineas. With them were the Levites, Jozebad the son of Jeshua and Noah-Diah the son of Benui.

With the number and weight of everything, all the weight was written down at that time. The children of those who had been carried away captive, who had come from the captivity, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel. 12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and 12 male goats as a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. And they delivered the king's orders to the king's seytraps and the governors in the region beyond the river.

So they gave support to the people The title of the sermon today is Safely Home, which is really a summary of what happens in the flow of the text. The Lord's people are brought safely home. This second wave that's returning from captivity out of Babylon, being brought to Jerusalem, to eliminate All suspense from the sermon, they get there safely. Last week, the text put before us all the resources that the Lord sent with his people out of captivity and back to Jerusalem. And It was all that the king and his counselors and his princes and all of Israel who had given a free will offering had pulled together and sent back with those who were returning.

With those who were returning. And in today's money, if you were to take the things that are mentioned in last week's text and go sell them at current prices, you'd have $162 million. So they weren't going back with pocket chains, they were going back with major resources. And this was the blessing of God to send them back to the promised land, to Jerusalem, to the place where God had caused his name to dwell, not empty-handed, but with immense resources. So Ezra takes these resources and he entrusts them into the hands of 24 men, 12 priests and 12 Levites.

At least that's the argument I made last week. I argued very persuasively for that. At least I believed it, whether or not you did. Ezra entrusts this 162 million dollars worth of gold and silver into the hands of these 24 men. And he looks them in the eye and he says, You are holy to the Lord and the articles are holy.

And the holiness comes from its connection to God. That's it. There's no other reason that these men were holy. There's no other reason that the articles were holy. But that because they were free will offerings to God, they were God's.

And that made them holy because God is holy, holy, holy. That was last week. This week, there's motion. There's finally motion. For two chapters they've been getting ready to go back, and now there's going.

No more getting ready to go, now there's going in our text. And Ezra says again in our text, The hand of our God was upon us and He delivered us. So again, the people, the motion, isn't the center point of the text, but God and what God is doing is the center point of the text. And Ezra sees this so clearly, so he says again, the hand of God was upon us. It was He who delivered us.

They were delivered and it was God who did the delivering. So you see what has happened here. Before the going, before the journey, Ezra commits the going, the journey into the hands of God. In fact, he leads the people in it. He leads them in fasting and praying.

To just put this into the hands of God whose hands it was in anyway, but he is recognizing, God this is in your hands so we want to plead with you for your mercy and for your kindness and for you to super intend all that happens on the journey. So he commits it, he leads the people in committing it into the hands of God beforehand, and then he praises God for the outcome afterwards. This is a model for us. This is the pattern, brothers and sisters. Committing the things that are before us into God's hand, maybe through fasting, definitely through prayer, before it ever happens, and then afterwards with the results that he gives us to praise him and recognize his hand in it.

That's what we have had and are having before us in these texts of scriptures. In today's text, God brings the second wave back from captivity safely to Jerusalem, and then we see what they do immediately after they have arrived in Jerusalem. As we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Father, I thank you for your faithfulness that is on display in this text. Full display that you are a faithful God who super intends, who supervises all the things that happen to your people.

You do it so faithfully. You never want a more faithful Father than we have in you. So we thank you for this. And we pray, O God, that you would come and use this text in our hearts to build our faith as we see you keeping your promises to your people, knowing that we are your people, those who have trusted in you, that our faith would be built up to know that you will keep every promise to us, that not one promise will fall to the ground. God, thank you for texts of Scripture that build our faith.

That have been given to us to build our faith. And so now we pray that you would come and do this work in our hearts. We are your people. Come, Make us a people who are full of faith, who trust you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

So I'm going to be dividing today's text, even though it's only six verses, I'm going to divide that into four sections. How pathetic is that? I couldn't be more economical than that. Six verses and four whole sections. That's what you're left with.

Enjoy it. Our first section, it's going to be a little different today in that I'll preach through a section and then I want to apply it as we go. So we'll be making application in each section. The first section is the first two verses, verses 31 and 32. So let's read that again together.

Ezra chapter 8 verses 31 and 32. Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road. So we came to Jerusalem and stayed there three days. This section is the gift of a successful journey.

Long journey, risky journey, perilous journey, dangerous journey, successful journey. And So Ezra is looking at that mixture of risk and success. And he says, the Lord's people have been given a gift. He says to God, you did that. A long journey, a dangerous journey, but you brought us safely home.

You gave us success. God, you did that. Now look back to chapter 7 verse 9. In chapter 7 verse 9 Ezra gives us the big picture of the time span in question. We sort of have a smaller picture in our text.

I want to go back to chapter 7 verse 9, read it and see the big picture. Ezra chapter 7 verse 9, On the first day of the first month, he, Ezra, began his journey from Babylon. And on the first day of the fifth month, he came to Jerusalem according to the good hand of his God upon him. So Ezra just can't stop saying that, according to the good hand of his God upon him. He just keeps recognizing and keeps recognizing and keeps recognizing that all the good things that are coming aren't by chance, but it is the hand of God.

So we see that again in chapter 7 verse 9. But we see the total time span, the first day of the first month to the first day of the fifth month. In other words, four months. Now this is not in contradiction to our text which says that they started on the twelfth day of the first month. They actually left their homes on the first day of the first month, and they began to assemble then.

So this is just different levels of detail. Both accounts are true. On the first day of the first month, they began to gather. They left their homes for Jerusalem. They began to gather.

In three days they noticed there's a problem. There are no Levites. They can't leave without Levites. So Ezra sends to Ito, this chief man at this place, Cassafia, to ask for Ito to send Levites. Then in some amount of time they come and join the rest.

And at some point Ezra proclaims a fast. He leads the people to fast and to pray. To seek God for the right way for themselves and for their little ones and for all their possessions. Then after fasting and praying he takes all this wealth as being sent with the people back to Jerusalem and he entrusts all this wealth to these 24 men, some priests, some Levites, and then on the 12th day, everything is ready, and they leave. So that's the timeline.

Now here's what's odd to me. There's something that seems sort of strange to me in the text or about the text. We've had almost two full chapters in the lead up in preparing to leave. So in two full chapters, they've not moved an inch. Now, we have the 900 mile journey.

And it gets two verses. So two chapters, they don't move an inch, it's just all about the preparations to go. There's a dangerous journey, A long journey, a 900 mile journey, and it gets two verses. The weigh-in gets the same amount. So that's in our text too.

The weigh-in of all the things they're bringing, the wealth that God is sending them out of Babylon with, gets the same amount as the 900-mile dangerous journey. For 110 days, that's 4 months, 120 days, minus the 11 or 12 days before they leave. So for 110 days, they're going to average 8 miles a day. There's going to be enemies. There's going to be the danger of ambush on the road.

Not a word, except just a summary statement of how it ended up. We don't even know if God kept them from enemies, kept them from ambush, or if He gave them victory. This is the text. He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road. Does that mean that God kept it from happening so they never even faced an enemy?

They never even faced an ambush? Or does it mean that They did meet enemies on the road, and they were ambushed, but God gave them victory. We don't know. You can read it either way. The text doesn't say.

I'm frustrated by that, but I just have to get over it. Because God told us exactly what He wanted to tell us. What mattered to God. So what He gives us in His Word is the faithfulness in getting ready. That's what mattered to God.

So that's what he gave us in his word. That a people were faithful in getting ready to go where he was sending them. And so, because Ezra led them in this, they sought the right way for them. And then they walked in it. They sought it from God, who is the only one who could give it to them.

And then they walked in it. They did that. They gathered, they waited for Levites, they sent for Levites, they committed the journey to God in fasting and in prayer. They were careful with the riches and wealth that God was sending them back with. They did things according to the ways of God.

That's what matters to God. So that's what we have in the text. Ezra was a man who prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord and to do it and to teach it. I'm just going to keep dragging us back to chapter 7 verse 10 which says that. He prepared his heart to seek the law of the Lord, to do the law of the Lord, to teach the law of the Lord and then having prepared his heart he acted accordingly and not only did he act accordingly but he led the Lord's people to do the same.

This is So beautiful. So the message that we get from the proportions, two chapters to faithful preparation, two verses to the 900 mile dangerous journey, is that safe passage was the easy part. Because that was God's part. That's what you should take away from the proportions. Two chapters to two verses.

It looks like a dangerous journey but the safe passage was the easy part because only God could give it and deny it. It was God's part And it's not worth spending a lot of space in scripture speaking of what is God's part because He is always able. And He always does what pleases Him. The big question is never if God can give whatever outcome. We shouldn't waste time thinking about whether God can give the outcome that He desires.

The big question always is, will we be faithful? Oh, God will do His part. God will do His will. The question for us, the question that deserves all the space, is will we be faithful? Will we be a man like Ezra who seeks God by seeking His law?

And then we do it, and then we teach it. We've prepared our hearts for this. Now let's apply this section. In 1 Corinthians chapter 10, Paul is teaching out of the Old Testament. He is pulling Old Testament histories forward and saying this is what happened to the Lord's people here in the Old Testament, and here in the Old Testament, and here in the Old Testament.

And here is what it means for you, Corinthian, New Testament, New Covenant believer. And he just keeps doing it. There's a series of it. This happened to the Lord's people, here's what it matters to you, Corinthian. And then this happened to the Lord's people.

And here's what it means for you New Testament believer. So that's the series of 1 Corinthians chapter 10. And then in 1 Corinthians chapter 10, same chapter, verse 11, we see this. Now all these things happened to them as examples and they were written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Paul explains why we have the Old Testament.

These things happened to them and God had certain accounts written down and pulled forward as a gift to his people so that we could be admonished by what happened to them. They were examples. So now God brings a congregation in Youngsville, North Carolina into Ezra to admonish us, to teach us, and encourage us, and sometimes rebuke us by the account of what God did in and through and to and for his people in an Old Testament account. That's what's happening. So in the Old Testament there's this account of a captive people.

Why were they captive? Because they wouldn't obey God. So God judged them, God disciplined them, God sent them into captivity. They were in bondage because of their sin. God didn't leave it there.

He miraculously delivered them, not because they were a people deserving deliverance, but because He's a good God. He's a God of mercy and compassion, and He always keeps His promises. He had already promised that He wouldn't just judge them, but that He would also restore them. He sent these people who had gone into captivity, but he was having mercy on them. He sent them back home.

He sent them to Jerusalem. He sent them to the place where he had caused his name to dwell. Where he wanted to be the place of his worship. And it's a long ways away, and there's a lot of hardship, and there's a lot of danger across those 900 miles, but he preserved those people every step of the way and he brought them safely home. So God wants us to see this Old Testament account and he wants to admonish us, that you, If you have trusted in the work of His Son, that is you.

You were in bondage because of sin. You were a captive because of your sin, but God didn't leave you there. Not because you merited something, you had earned something, but because He is a good God. He is a God of compassion. And He put your feet on a 900 mile road to Jerusalem.

There is a new Jerusalem coming out of heaven. And if you have trusted in Christ, you are on it. And it is His part to bring you there safely. And just as He kept his promise to the people in Ezra, he'll keep his promise to you. Ezra, the book of Ezra, the waves of captives returning in Ezra, are a picture of Romans 8 verse 30.

In Romans chapter 8 verse 30, Paul says this, Moreover, whom God predestined, These he also called. Whom he called, these he also justified. And whom he justified, these he also glorified. God is saying for the people who are His, why are they His? Because He predestined them.

He named them before He ever made the earth and He made them objects of his compassion before they ever breathed their first breath, or their dad did, or their granddad did, all the way back to Adam. He decided they would be the objects of his mercy, and if he was going to put his hand on a person there was going to be an unbreakable sequence that brought them to glorification, that brought them safely home to the New Jerusalem. Anyone predestined would be called. Anyone called would be justified. Anyone justified would be glorified.

An unbreakable sequence for his chosen people. It's a picture of Philippians chapter 1 verse 6. In Philippians chapter 1 verse 6, Paul writes, being confident of this very thing, that he who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ. God never begins good works in people that he doesn't bring to completion. Never, never, a thousand times never.

He begins the good work and then he brings it to completion. In spite of their sins, yes, in spite of their sins. In spite of all their weakness, yes, in spite of their weakness. The hand that matters is God's hand. In this section, in these two verses, We see two hands.

We see the hand of God upon a people. And then we see the hand of the enemy on the road. It says God delivered from the hand of the enemy on the road. There's only one hand that matters. It is the hand of God.

The other hands don't matter. Doesn't mean they don't exist. Doesn't mean that we don't have to deal with them. It does mean that they don't carry the day. They don't determine the outcome.

God's hand is the only hand that determines the outcome. The world and life, in the world and in life, there are so many hands. They're the hands of your family, they're the hands of your friends, they're the hands of your enemies, they're the hands of your neighbors, they're the hands of your government, they're the hands of your employer, all ultimately insignificant in the outcome. They have a role to play. They'll have their time where their effects are felt, but the outcome is determined by the hand of your God upon you.

No matter what, if you're the his, God promises good to you and he will keep his promises. That is the big picture. The little pictures are hard, sometimes, often. The little pictures can be full of trouble, and hardship, and heartache, and heartbreak. But don't lose sight of the big picture.

The big picture is the hand of God is the only hand that matters. You might have all sorts of other hands, discouraging hands, heartbreaking hands upon you right now. They don't matter ultimately. The hand of God matters. Maybe the little picture doesn't seem good right now.

Maybe there are problems with provision for you right now. Maybe there are problems with besetting sins, the sins that you just seem like you can never shake right now. And you've repented of them a thousand times and you still find yourself grappling in a fight for your life with that sin. Maybe the hand in failure of duty is upon you right now. You're not the father you should be.

You're not the husband that you should be. You're not the obedient and honoring child that you should be. I don't want to make us content with our failures in duty, and I don't want to make us content with our besetting sins, and I don't want to make us content with our failures in duty, and I don't want to make us content with our besetting sins. And I don't want to make us content with scant provision. But I do want to do this.

I do want to tell you that God is bigger than that. Your God is bigger than any of those things or all of them together. It is God's hand that matters and He has promised good to His people and He will give good to his people. So if you're in a heartbreaking circumstance now, and the little pictures aren't looking good, I'm just here to tell you what the testimony of scripture is, and that is God is weaving those things together, even the bad seeming small pictures, into a beautiful big picture. Where he receives all glory, and where you receive all good for all of eternity.

And you'll say these momentary afflictions are not worthy to be compared with the glory that awaits those who have trusted in him. This is what this section means. That God is good and he's able. Those are the questions, right? Is God willing and able?

Okay, so we've settled that he's able. He can do anything. So then is he willing? And the answer is a resounding thundering yes to his people. He's willing.

He loves you if he's put his hand upon you and purchased you with his blood. And he's bringing you, yes, on a dangerous journey. Yes, on a journey with many troubles. But in the end it will only be worth two verses. In the end it will only be worth two verses because it was always in his hand and there could have only ever been one outcome.

There could have only ever been one outcome. The next section, verses 33 and 34. Now on the fourth day, so they're in Jerusalem now, now on the fourth day the silver and the gold and the articles were weighed in the house of our God by the hand of Mirimoth the son of Uriah the priest and with him was Eliezer the son of Phineas. With them were the Levites, Jezebad the son of Jeshua, and Noadiah the son of Benuai. With the number and weight of everything, All the weight was written down at that time.

This is the accounting for the goods. So God has sent them out of Babylon, not empty handed, but full of riches and wealth, 162 million dollars in our current currency. And now it's time to give an account for the safe transport of that, the 900 miles. And to transfer it into the hands of those who are presiding over the temple. There are two verses I want to point back to.

So the first is chapter 7 verse 19. Just flip back a page to chapter 7 verse 19 where we read out of the letter of Artaxerxes the king. This is Artaxerxes letter, chapter 7, 19. Also, the articles that are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver in full before the God of Jerusalem. So the King has said he and his counselors and his princes and anyone in Israel who wants to give a free will offering are going to be sending articles for the temple and then he gives this command that all those things be delivered in full before God at his temple.

So this is a fulfillment of that. The second verse or verses I want to refer to or chapter 8 verses 28 and 29. This is from last week's text, Ezra chapter 8 verses 28 and 29. And I, Ezra, said to them, You are holy to the Lord, the articles are holy also, and the silver and the gold are a freewill offering to the Lord God of your fathers. Watch and keep them until you weigh them before the leaders of the priests and the Levites and the heads of the fathers houses of Israel in Jerusalem in the chambers of the house of the Lord.

So this is also what we have in today's text is a fulfillment of that. Artxerxes has said deliver in full these things and then as Ezra in last weeks text delivers these riches into the hands of the twelve priests and the twelve Levites, he says, you're holy, these articles are holy, and you watch them and you keep them until you deliver them into the hands of the priests and Levites at the temple. So this is the fulfillment of those things. This is the discharge of that duty. So the weighing in was to be before the priests and the Levites.

So in today's text we have two priests and two Levites who watch over or conduct this weighing and counting. In verse 30 it says that Ezra had entrusted this into the hands of the priests and Levites and now it's transferred from the hands of priests and Levites into the hands of priests and Levites. It's their duty, it's the role that God has given them to deal with these things. Now look at the language of verse 34. By the way, I'm not going to spend any time on the names here of the two priests and the two Levites, other than to say that Merimoth, the son of Uriah, who is named as a priest here, it's probably him who we'll see in Nehemiah chapter 3, who is leading the building of a portion of the wall.

So we're going to meet a Merimoth son of Uriah in Nehemiah 3. That happens chronologically about 13 years later. So it's very possible that this is the same man. So we may see Merimoth again. There's speculation about the other names, but it's just speculation.

So we'll use our time somewhere else. So look at the language of verse 34. With the number and weight of everything. The King James renders it this way. By number and weight of every one.

The NASB renders it this way. Everything was numbered and weighed. So whether you like the new King James or the King James or the New American Standard, you get the same thing. It is dripping with care and provision. Every article counted.

Every article weighed. Everything written down, dripping with care and provision. So let's apply this section. First, This is how the Lord's people handle the Lord's things. This is how the Lord's people handle the Lord's things.

With the greatest of care, with the greatest of precision. Why? Because they are holy things, that's why. Because they are His things, and the connection to Him makes them holy. So it deserves the greatest of care.

It deserves the greatest amount of precision. That's how we handle his things. Be careful before you say his things are just my type check. And there's no application broader than that. I think if we think about this for any time at all, we'll find that the application begins to become very broad of the things that are actually His things, and that we should consider holy, His.

So that's the first thing. This is how the Lord's people handle God's things with the greatest of care, the greatest of provision. Second, even within the holy people, So all of Israel can be called the holy nation. But even within this holy people, the Lord's people have always had proven people to entrust the resources to. Specific resources to.

So even within the holy people, there are holy people. In the set apart people, there are those who are proven, who are entrusted with holy things. So in the context of Ezra chapter 8, it's priests and Levites. The priests handle, the Levites transport. They're entrusted with the riches and the whole point of them is to be a proven people who can be entrusted with this.

So we're a new covenant, we're a new testament. What if we had to go on a 900 mile journey? We were going to start walking tomorrow, and we had 162 million dollars. What would we do? Well, the elders and the deacons would be meeting.

Because we are supposed to be proven. Okay, not special in that there's a higher bar, but that it's proven that we can get over the bar. Okay, so not a different standard, but a different burden of proof. Okay, this is so important. Not a different standard.

All the Lord's people are called to the same things, but a different burden of proof, because they're going to be entrusted. So if we were starting a 900 mile journey tomorrow, and we had to start walking tomorrow morning, and we had 162 million dollars to get safely there, I'd be meeting with our deacons. Right? They're supposed to be this. The Lord's people have always had this and they went by different names under the old covenant than they are by the new but we still have the same thing.

Here's the application to everyone. Be that person who's recognized, who has earned a reputation, who has rightly earned the reputation, as trustworthy, as a good steward of God's things. That's the broad application to everybody. Earn the name of a good steward of God's things. And define God's things very broadly.

Because the things that He gives us are His things for sure. So we should be found, observed, seen, caring with God's things so carefully, with such precision, counting every part, weighing every part, writing down everything, so that we earn the place of trustworthy, of one who can be entrusted. We are faithful with little things that God gives us and then it becomes apparent that we should be the ones entrusted with greater things and greater things and greater things. Be that person who is known as a good steward of God's things. Now verse 35, Ezra chapter 8 verse 35, the children of those who had been carried away captive, who had come from captivity, offered burnt offerings to the God of Israel.

12 bulls for all Israel, 96 rams, 77 lambs, and 12 male goats as a sin offering. All this was a burnt offering to the Lord. This is the offerings for all Israel. I have four observations about this verse. That's almost unbelievable.

One verse, four observations. You cannot catch a break, can you? Number one, who the offerers are in context. So that's the first observation from this book. Who are these people who are offering?

So the verse tells us the context, the beginning of verse 35. The children of those who had been carried away captive, who had come from the captivity. That's who is doing the offering. The children of captives who have been released from their captivity are the ones doing the offering. So this isn't just people who come and it's a nice day and so out of the goodness of their heart they decide to offer to God.

These are children born in captivity. Born to captives, they were captives and God in His mercy has sent them back, and now they are doing the offering. That is vitally important to understand what is happening here. These are a happy, thankful, rejoicing People who have been set free from captivity, generations of captivity, and here they come with the sweet smelling aroma because they've been made happy by God. Number two.

What they are offering and the significance. We have that here. What they're offering and the significance. What are they offering? Twelve bulls, ninety-six rams, seventy-seven lambs, twelve male goats.

And that's what it is in Ezra, wherever you see offerings. That's what it is. Bulls, rams, lambs, goats. Bulls, rams, lambs, goats. Bulls, rams, lambs, goats.

It happens three times, so I thought I would say all three. That's always those four kinds of animals when you see offerings in Ezra. It says this, here's the significance, or one part of the significance, for all Israel. All Israel isn't there. There are some still in captivity in Babylon.

There are many from tribes who were taken even hundreds of years before the Babylonians came by the Assyrians. And they're sprinkled and they're scattered. But the offering is for all Israel. This is a remnant that is coming and making the offering, but they have their brethren top of mind. They have not forgotten their brethren.

They come and they are rejoicing and they are conscious of their sins, But they bring not just an offering for themselves, but their brethren who are in other places and not in a position to offer their offering for all Israel. Job does this. If you go to Job chapter 1 and you look in verses 4 and 5, here's what you find. You find Job, he's already been declared to be the most righteous man of his generation. He's blameless.

He fears God and he shuns evil. This is the beginning of Job, the introduction of a man who fears God and shuns evil. He has these children who get together to feast. Sons and daughters get together and they feast. What does Job do?

Job offers burnt offerings for them because he wonders if they might not be secretly in rebellion to God. He doesn't know that they are, but he wonders if they might be. And he wants to intercede for them with God. So Job is an intercessor for his children. He says that he offered these burnt offerings according to the number of them all.

Job comes and offers burnt offerings according to the number of all his children. That's what these people are doing in Ezra. Those who have the heart of God are concerned for themselves in their own state, but they are not just concerned for themselves in their own state. They remember their brethren sprinkled across the world, sprinkled across so many other places for all Israel. So you have 12 bulls.

You can divide that by 12. So you have 96 rams. That's 8 times 12. You can divide that by 12. 77, I don't know what that's all about.

I don't know why it's not divisible by 12. But then you have 12 male goats for the sin offering for all Israel. Of the four animals offered, three are divisible by 12. That's not an accident. That means that they have the twelve tribes in mind.

Clearly, this is a mixture of thanksgiving and repentance. So you have to know that about these offerings. That's part of the significance. It's a mixture of thanksgiving and repentance. Here's what the Expositors Bible commentary says, I think it sums it up really well.

The animal sacrifices were made as a thanksgiving to God for his mercies. So why the sacrifice? Thanksgiving to God for his mercies and as a sin offering to acknowledge their unworthiness for such mercies. So you have the mixture of these two things. Offerings to say, thank you God for being merciful.

And a sin offering to say, God we know we don't deserve these mercies. We know we didn't get them because we earned them. Because we know we're a sinful people. So it's Thanksgiving mixed with repentance and an acknowledgement that they don't deserve the mercies that have been extended to them. Here is Christ in the passage.

Okay, Christ purchases the mercies that we enjoy but don't deserve through the shedding of His blood. Did you get that? Jesus Christ purchases and buys with His own blood the mercies that we enjoy but we don't deserve. Here's Jesus Christ in Ezra 8. The last significance of these offerings is that they had never done this in their lives.

What's happening here in our text in verse 35 is something that is foreign to the experience of these people. They read about it, they never participated in it. So not many days go by until they're at the temple doing this. There might have been some sacrifices in Babylon, but I doubt it. Maybe there was a Passover, but I doubt it.

They had never worshiped in the temple. Because they would not obey God and worship Him as He had prescribed, God says, fine, I'll take that back. I'll send you where you couldn't if you wanted to. Because you don't want to, I'll send you where you couldn't even if you did want to. Nothing gets under our skin more than not being able to.

Isn't that true? Even if before we never wanted to, when it's taken back, we're like, wait, now I want to. Nothing makes you want to more than having it removed. This is what God did. And generations, they can't.

They want to. At least the faithful want to. Then God brings them back. And He allows them to worship in the way that He had prescribed. So number one, who are the offerers?

They are captives who have been set free. Number two, what are they offering in this significance? They are offering these four kinds of animals. It's for all Israel. They have more in mind than themselves.

And it's a mixture of thanksgiving and repentance. And they're doing something that they had never done in their lives. Now, number three. Observation number three. This is the pattern.

This is the pattern. Okay, this is what the godly do. This is what the godly did in Ezra chapter 3 verses 1-3. The first wave comes back. There is no temple.

They build an altar on the site and say this is close enough. And they offer. This is what they do in chapter 6. It's taken 20 years because of opposition and then because of unfaithfulness and disobedience. It's taken 20 years to erect the temple and now they dedicate the temple and this is what they do.

They offer the exact same animals and they offer twelve goats as a sin offering just like here. When the Godly see that God's good hand has been upon them, they worship. And they want to bring a sweet smelling aroma before their God who has been kind and merciful to them. That was observation number three. This is the pattern of the godly.

Observation number four. This fulfills the instructions of the king. So King Artaxerxes had given them a letter, and it was a mandate to do certain things. So look back to chapter 7 verse 17. In Ezra chapter 7 verse 17 we read as part of our exerxes letter, Now therefore, be careful to buy with this money, bulls, rams, and lambs, with their grain offerings and their drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem.

Check. The king had charged them with doing this. They do that plus they add the sin offering. They do what the king has told them to do, but they are conscious of their sins. So they also bring a sin offering, 12 male goats for all Israel.

Now let's apply this section. Our worship, it's probably too limited, our worship and our lives must always remain connected to what we were. Your worship will be best when it remains connected to what you were. Why? So we can wallow in the remembrance of how desperately sinful we were in our thoughts and our words and our actions, know so that Jesus Christ can be lifted up as a mighty Redeemer.

That's why in your worship you are best served to remain connected to what you were. Because it's what you were. You were a captive, but now you're a former captive, not because of you, but because He is a Redeemer. It's not to wallow in our past sinfulness, but it's to exalt Christ as a mighty Redeemer. Next, all the tribes should remain in view for us.

And we try to do this, but we find ourselves getting tunnel vision. It's just me and just a little on the periphery. I can see my family and sort of blurry over here is my church and that's pretty much it. God wants the full panorama in view. All twelve tribes in view.

For us, that's just His people. Everywhere. Everywhere in the earth. It's funny that Jim would say what he did before prayer. Because it's in my notes to say the same thing.

So what Jim said, it'll save us time. Just insert it here into the sermon. The conference did the same thing for me. It removed those shields that were limiting my peripheral vision to see God's doing so many amazing things and so many other pockets. We're just one little pocket.

It's not about us, it's about what God is doing in the world. Hey, we may wish that some of the things that God has taught us and blessed us with would be more embraced by others. Well, you know what? There are things that God is teaching them and blessing them with that we need more of. Of course.

And just being at the conference with those other brethren just drove that point home again. All the tribes should remain in view. Finally, it is impossible to be too Christ-centered. It cannot be done. Too focused on Christ.

Throttle back, pull back. Not possible. He is the foundation of all our mercies. All the mercies that we enjoy come through the work of Jesus. That He lived, that He died, that He rose again.

Every mercy that we enjoy comes through Him. We cannot exalt him too highly. We cannot be too focused on Jesus Christ. Finally, verse 36. Ezra chapter 8 verse 36.

And they delivered the king's orders to the king's satraps and the governors in the region beyond the river. So they gave support to the people and the house of their God. This is the delivery of the King's orders. So we saw the letter in Ezra chapter 7. So Artaxerxes authorizes them to do certain things and then he sends instructions to his officials in the region beyond the river.

In chapter 7 verses 21 through 23, he gives instructions for his treasurers in this region beyond the river that Ezra and the Lord's people should be able to draw on the treasury for a hundred talents of silver and wheat and oil and salt without prescribed limit. So there are things that they can draw on from this regional treasury. That's authorized. In chapter 7 verses 21 through 23, in chapter 7 verse 24, the king says, no taxation on those who serve in the temple. So the priests and the Levites and the singers and the doorkeepers and the nethineb and anybody else who serves in the temple cannot be taxed.

In chapter 7 verses 25 and 26, Ezra is given authority to appoint judges and magistrates, and to teach and enforce the law of God in this massive region. So he's delivering the king's orders that is going to allow him to appoint these judges and magistrates and to begin teaching the law of God to the people in the region, particularly the Jews undoubtedly, and then to enforce the law of God as he teaches it. The text ends with this, so they gave support to the people and the house of God. So the king ordered it and they obeyed the king. Now let's apply.

Let's apply verse 36. We're living in a day when the kingdoms of this world oppose the kingdoms of our Christ. That doesn't make us special. That doesn't make us unusual. Most of the world's history and most of today's cultures and nations could be described that way.

The kingdoms of this world opposing the kingdom of our Christ. That's usually how it is and it's not outside the providence of God. It is within. It is according to the providence of God. God, because He's wiser than us, says He's going to glorify himself in this way.

But we come to this text with that being said, that's the backdrop. The kingdoms of this world usually oppose the kingdom of our Christ. That said, never ever ever doubt God's ability to reach into that and overthrow the rebellion and use the things that have opposed Christ to bless His people. Never doubt God's ability to do that. Brothers and sisters, where are the people who will pray in faith?

Where are the people who will read Ezra chapter 8 verse 36 and pray in faith? That God would use even his enemies to bless his people. Oh friends, let that be us. Let us be the people who read Ezra 8, 36 and pray in faith that God would raise up his enemies to bless his people. Because God can, because God receives glory when that happens.

Okay, conclusion. I really almost just skipped to the conclusion. Because all that in the text is good and helpful. But the conclusion is what matters. Here's the conclusion.

In Ephesians chapter 4 verse 8, Paul says that Jesus led captivity captive. And thereby made himself the victor for all time. Captivity, bondage, Jesus took it captive. He flipped it over so the captor became the captive. This is the work of Jesus in his life.

And now He has a train of captives. He has a chain gang dragging along behind him. Captive. Sin. Death.

The grave. Hell. Death. The grave. Hell.

Sin was the captor that held people in bondage. Jesus' life and death and resurrection flipped that over. Sin is the captive. And people are free. Death was the captor.

No one could escape it. Jesus and his life and his death and his resurrection flipped that upside down, and now death is the captive. Jesus has enslaved it. Bondage has been bound by Jesus. Slavery has been enslaved by Jesus.

The grave, the same. Hell, The same. Hell has been robbed of so many captives by the work of Jesus Christ. Even though we were born in Babylon, we were born into a rebel race. A race of people.

One race of people. There's only one raging against God. From our mother's wounds we were raging against God in our hearts. Before we had ever done one thing good or evil, what we would do was so determined by our corruptions. Even though we were born in Babylon, Jerusalem was home.

For the elect, for those that God has picked out to show his compassion to. You were born in Babylon, but Jerusalem was your home. Did you think it strange that I would title the sermon safely home? To people whose grandfathers may have been born in Babylon? These people who are coming back, they never thought Babylon was their home.

They lived there, They didn't have a choice, but they never thought Babylon was their home. Jerusalem was home. They're coming home. God was able to bring them home. God did bring them home.

If you are Christ's, you're citizens of a country, even though you've never really been there, The New Jerusalem will come out of heaven. It's like this, It's like Ezra 8, born in Babylon. Jerusalem is your home. You're a citizen there, though you've never been there. Even though it's a long journey, it's a dangerous journey, it will be filled with trouble and heartache at many points, it will only be worth two verses.

We are citizens of another country. We are going home. How can you know you will get there because you are strong enough? No. We would all say, if you've been in the Lord long enough, if you've seen enough cycles of the Christian life long enough, you'll say, I could never take myself to that finish line.

Come to this text and know God will take you safely there. Though it's 900 miles of rough, dangerous terrain, God will bring you there. And the journey will only be worth two verses. God, I thank you for the beauty of a gospel to be preached. The beauty of the work of Jesus Christ that overthrows the captivity, that takes it captive, sets the prisoner free, sets those free feet on a long road and on a dangerous road, but a road with only one endpoint, only one outcome, because you are over it.

Your good hand is upon your people. Thank you. In Jesus' name, Amen.