In the sermon 'Relentless Spiritual Opposition' by Jason Dohm, the focus is on Ezra chapter 4, particularly verses 6 through 16, highlighting the persistent opposition faced by the Jews returning from Babylonian captivity as they attempted to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. The sermon draws parallels between the historical account of the Jews under leaders like Zerubbabel and the spiritual journey of Christians today. It emphasizes that just as the Jews faced sustained resistance spanning the reigns of four Persian kings—Cyrus, Darius, Ahasuerus, and Artaxerxes—Christians can expect relentless spiritual opposition in their lives. This opposition is not merely personal but a clash between spiritual kingdoms. The sermon encourages believers to be prepared for such trials, understanding that they are part of the Christian walk, and to stand firm, trusting in God's faithfulness. It offers insights into the methods of opposition, such as misinformation and exploiting vulnerabilities, and urges Christians to respond with love and perseverance, drawing strength from the examples of biblical figures and the New Testament teachings.

Ezra chapter 4 we're going to pick up in the very first verse so we have the context. The section of scripture we're going to cover today is verse 6 through 16. But in order to get the entire context pick up with me Ezra chapter 4 verse 1. Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the descendants of the captivity were building the temple of the Lord God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel and the heads of the fathers' houses and said to them, let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do. We have sacrificed to him since the days of Esherhaddon, king of Assyria, who brought us here.

But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of the fathers' houses of Israel said to them, you may do nothing with us to build a house for our God, but we alone will build to the Lord God of Israel as King Cyrus the king of Persia has commanded us. Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building, and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose all the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius, king of Persia. Now verse 6. In the reign of Heshuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.

In the days of Artaxerxes also, Bishlom, Mithridath, Tabel, and the rest of their companions wrote to Artaxerxes, king of Persia, and the letter was written in Aramaic script and translated into the Aramaic language. Rahum, the commander, and Shemshai, the scribe, wrote a letter against Jerusalem to King Artaxerxes in this fashion. From Rahum, the commander, Shimshai, the scribe, and the rest of their companions, representatives of the Danites, the Afarsakites, the Tarpolites, the people of Persia and Erek and Babylon and Susun, the Dehivites, the Elamites, and the rest of the nations whom the great and noble Asnaper took captive and settled in the cities of Samaria and the remainder beyond the river and so forth. This is a copy of the letter that they sent him to King Artaxerxes from your servants the men of the region beyond the river and so forth. Let it be known to the King that the Jews who came up from you have come up to us at Jerusalem and they are building the rebellious and evil city and are finishing its walls and repairing the foundations.

Let it now be known to the King that if this city is built and the walls completed, they will not pay tax, tribute or custom, and the King's treasury will be diminished. Now because we receive support from the palace it was not proper for us to see the King's dishonor. Therefore we have sent and informed the King that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers, and you will find in the book of the records and know that this city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces, and that they have incited sedition within the city in former times for which cause this city was destroyed. We inform the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed the result will be that you will have no dominion beyond the river. Lord, lest we look at a text like this and think it's just historical, now there's meaning and relevance for us today and we desire to learn from you.

Pray for Jason now as he comes to teach us from this text today what we should do as far as our own walk with you. God teach us today. Thank you for the teaching of your wonderful word. Bless it now in Jesus' name. Amen.

The title of the sermon this morning is Relentless Spiritual Opposition. That's what Ezra puts before us in this text. Relentless spiritual opposition. The first three chapters have had a lot of sunshine. And it's just mostly happiness in studying it because God is stirring up the hearts of his people and moving them to faithfulness and they're being obedient.

So there's lots to love in the first three chapters. But with the start of chapter four, some storm clouds begin to gather and it's sort of in a way the end of the sunshine or at least all sunshine. As we relate this to ourselves, Ezra being an account of people who are coming out of captivity, they've been set free, and now they have to come back and build a life. And we've been saying week by week that we're like that in some ways. If You've been born again, you've been set free, and that's beautiful, but it doesn't end there.

You have to come back and build a life out of the ruins. And when you're coming back from captivity and you're rebuilding, it isn't always sunshine. If you enter the faith, if you enter a lifelong walk with Christ with that expectation, you're not going to get very far before you're disappointed. So it's better to know the truth that there are many struggles and tribulations and trials in the Christian life. They're not to be despised, they're for our good, but if you're oblivious to the fact that this is the nature of the Christian walk, then you can very easily become discouraged and disillusioned.

So texts like this are really helpful to us because it helps us to calibrate our expectations to the Word of God so that we're not surprised or overly put off and discouraged and stunted, stopped by the discouragements that might be on the horizon for us. This week Ezra moves from general to specific. Last week he said there's opposition. So he sort of opened up the category and set the table for a development of this theme. And this week he's moving from the general saying that there would be opposition to the specific, giving us exact specific examples of the opposition that he's actually talking about.

He's also summarizing an expansive period of time. In our text this week, Ezra is summarizing a big span of time so that we see how sustained the opposition is. Otherwise, you might begin chapter 4, see that there's a group of people who are ticked off, who are unhappy, and so the opposition, you would think, just springs from their unhappiness, their response to this one thing, and you'd think that's that. Ezra is making it clear in the text this week that that's not that. That it goes way beyond a group of people who are a little ticked off.

That it is going to be sustained for a long period of time, this opposition to the work of God. So we go to the text, let's go to the text in prayer. Oh God, I Thank you for your faithfulness to stir up the hearts of people, to call them to repentance, to bring them to repentance, and then I give them hearts that yearn to rebuild a life of worship. And that you are able to sustain them through every trial and difficulty, not just to sustain them but to grow them, to bring them to maturity. I thank you for the faithfulness across many decades of time that we see in our text today.

Oh God, I pray that you would cause us to look to you in faith as we encounter opposition to your work in this world, your work in our hearts, your work in our lives, that we would learn not to be too discouraged, but to look to you, to trust in you, to know that you've been faithful to so many generations before us, and that you'll be faithful to us. We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Let's begin by just looking at verse 6 in isolation. Ezra chapter 4 verse 6, in the reign of Ahasuerus, in the beginning of his reign, they wrote an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem. So the king now is in verse 6 is Ahasuerus.

He is the King of the Book of Esther. The time that's transpiring during the Book of Esther, King Ahasuerus. This is that Ahasuerus. And in Esther chapter 1 verse 1 we read that King Ahasuerus is the king over 127 different provinces. So the province that we're in in the book of Ezra, the province of Judea, is one of 127 different provinces that this king Ahasuerus is ruling over.

So he has an expansive kingdom and in many ways what's going on in Judea is a drop in the bucket to him. It's probably the least of his problems most of the time. Let's take a step back for a minute and see what Ezra is doing. So verse 6 is in the context of verse 4 and 5. It's not the beginning and the end of the Bible, there's something that comes before it.

So let me read verses 4 and 5 again. This is the conclusion of last week's text. Then the people of the land tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building and hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose. All the days of Cyrus, king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia.

So in verses 4 and 5 we see that there is a sustained opposition. It begins during the time of Cyrus, who made the proclamation that the people should come back from captivity and should restore the true worship of the true and living God, the God of Israel. That opposition was sustained up to and including part of the reign of Darius, king of Persia. There's actually two other kings in between that aren't named here. Cyrus had a son named Cambyses, who's not mentioned here, who had a seven year reign.

And then there was a king named Smyrtus who was really a usurper and he only reigned seven years. But Ezra gives us the bookends. Cyrus on one end and Darius on the other. That gives us a period of time. Now in verse 6 he introduces a third king, Ahasuerus, and then in the rest of our text it's going to be the time of Artaxerxes.

So there are four kings, Cyrus, Darius, Ahasuerus, Artaxerxes. And what Ezra is doing is giving us the big picture. We've been in the micro view, the small view, looking through the microscope at a very constrained period of time, a short period of time. Now Ezra is opening up the view so that you can see the reign of four great kings and so that you see the opposition extending from beginning to end of the reign of these four great kings. So again, it's not just in chapter four where we began, just a group gets offended and because they're offended they decide to oppose the Jews.

That's just the micro view, the small view, the view through the microscope. But the big view is it's the beginning of a very long period of time of opposition. And it's opposition not just to Jews who have caused an offense, but it's opposition to the work of God. You have to get that. This is not personal.

This is a clash of kingdoms. If you read verses 1-5, you might just think it's personal. They got offended because they were told no, but it really goes way beyond that. This has to do with a clash of kingdoms that causes a century's worth of relentless spiritual opposition. It's relentless, meaning that it's sustained a hundred years, actually more than a hundred years.

Is it fair to call that relentless? More than a hundred years of sustained opposition. That is relentless. It is spiritual, meaning it's not personal, it's not rational, It's not based on facts. Behind the things that are happening on the surface are spiritual roots.

It is a clash of kingdoms. And So Ezra here is recounting opposition through all three waves of the return. Remember we're just at the very beginning of our study of Ezra and Nehemiah. So far it's been Zerubbabel as the leader of this wave of returning from captivity. But he's not going to be the end of it.

He's the beginning of it. And then there will be another wave led by Ezra. And we'll be studying that. And then there will be a third wave led by Nehemiah. And we'll be studying that.

And The three waves encompass a century. Ezra is telling us, he's priming us, he's getting us ready for a hundred years of opposition. God is continuing to stir men up. In the first wave, He's stirring up men and women and children to come back and do this work of God. In the second wave he's stirring up more hearts of men and women and children to come back and reestablish worship.

In the third wave God is stirring up hearts of men, women, and children to come back and rebuild the walls and secure Jerusalem. But Ezra wants us to know that's one part of the equation. The other part of the equation is that Satan is countering. There's another kingdom involved in the histories here. And the work of God is not proceeding unimpeded.

There is an enemy who's throwing up obstacles at every opportunity, and Ezra is giving us visibility of that. Here's what I'd like you to do. I'd like you to write down these four kings. I'm going to tell you when they reigned and give you just a couple of data points and it will give you an overview of this span. So write down these four kings.

The first king was Cyrus. We're dealing with Cyrus in Ezra 1 and he began to be the king of Persia, the whole empire, in 539 BC before Christ, five centuries before Christ. 539 BC he began to be king of Persia. His reign lasted until 530, so about ten years Cyrus was king. Now at the time where we're leaving off to come into this week's text, it's probably around 536 BC.

That's given Cyrus the time to make his proclamation, the people time to gather themselves and come back from Babylon. Then in the seventh month they met to consecrate the altar and to begin offering sacrifices. Then they came back together to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles in the second month of the second year. So we're about 536 BC. The second king is Darius.

Again, there were two kings in between, so there's a little time gap here. Darius became king of Persia in 522, and his reign lasted to 486. So remember the numbers are getting smaller not bigger because we're coming to the time of Christ which is the time marker in history. So the numbers are getting smaller as we approach the time of Christ. So Darius, his reign began in 522 and ended in 486.

So it's about 37 years. And he was the son-in-law of Cyrus. So Cyrus had a son who was king and he was a bad king and he didn't last but seven years. And then Darius becomes king and he is Cyrus' son-in-law. Then the next king is Ahasuerus, which we meet in verse 6.

He's normally called by historians Xerxes. So the next king will be Ardeg Xerxes. This Ahasuerus is Xerxes and Xerxes is Ahasuerus. Historians would typically not call him a Hasuerus, they would call him Xerxes. That's his Greek name.

He began to reign in 486 and his reign lasted until 464, so about 23 years. He is the son of Darius. So there is a familial succession here, a father giving way to a son. So it was Cyrus, then the next king in our account is Darius, and then Darius' son Ahasuerus or Xerxes, and then there is Artaxerxes. His reign began in 464 and his reign lasted all the way to 423, almost 42 years.

He is the son of Ahasuerus or the son of Xerxes. So again, you see it has fallen into a family line. Cyrus and then his son-in-law, Darius, and then his son Ahasuerus, and then his son Artaxerxes. If you take when Cyrus became king first to the end of Artaxerxes reign. It's 117 years.

So that is the span, the time span that we're dealing with here in Ezra chapter 4. 117 years. Four major kings, Cyrus, Darius, Ahasuerus, and then Artaxerxes. Ezra wants us to know that there's opposition in each one of the reigns of these kings. No time period is exempt from opposition against the work of God.

It is a clash of kingdoms and both kingdoms are active. They are not earthly kingdoms, they are spiritual kingdoms. It is relentless spiritual opposition. So don't expect the opposition that we encounter in Ezra and then again in Nehemiah to be rational. Because it's not based on an analysis of facts.

It's based on kingdoms in conflict behind the facts. We're going to see that in the written accusation against the Jews. It does not make a lot of sense. We shouldn't expect it to make a lot of sense because it's a clash of spiritual kingdoms. What we're going to see in the rest of Ezra chapter 4 verses 6 through 24 is a literary term called repetitive resumption.

That's the literary term for the balance of Ezra chapter 4. That just means taking a detour. It's a fancy way to say taking a detour. So things have been progressing chronologically since the beginning of Ezra 1. We've been getting the sequence of events And now Ezra backs up and says, this is going to be characteristic of the next 117 years.

And gives us a brief summary of that. And then in the very last verse of chapter 4, he's going to bring us back where we left off in verse 5, which is to come back to the time of Darius and the time of Zerubbabel. So that's what's happening. You sort of get this parenthesis where Ezra digresses for a very specific reason. He wants, he's told us that the opposition is starting and now he wants us to see the opposition in its context, which is we're in for a lot more of the same over the next century.

So he takes a step back, he shows you the century, and then once you've gotten the point that this is going to be relentless spiritual opposition, then he brings us back to the time of Darius. So you see what is happening here. We're taking a detour and that's his purpose in taking us on the detour. Now, Verse 6. Verse 6 speaks of the reign of Ahasuerus or the reign of Xerxes.

There's a very important phrase here. If you don't give emphasis to this phrase, I think you missed the point of what Ezra is communicating. The phrase is, in the beginning of his reign. So new king and right at the start of his reign, this is what happens. So when we get past chapter 4 and we come to chapter 5, we'll be back remember at the time of Darius.

The detour will be over and we're sort of back in the present for the story that Ezra has been relating to us. And there will be a letter of opposition, somewhat like what we're reading here in chapter 4, to Darius. So when he brings us back to the present after the detour, there will be another letter and it will be to Darius. And then in chapter 6, there will be the reply from Darius. And Darius is actually going to be friendly to the Jews, and he's going to offer them protection for the advancing of rebuilding the temple.

He's going to support the Lord's people. That brings us to the next king, which is here in verse 6, Ahasuerus or Xerxes. So Darius is going to be friendly and support, but the minute there's a changing of the guard, the minute there is a new king at the very beginning of his reign, the opposition is going to be re-engaged. Do you see what's happening here? They're just waiting.

Every opportunity, that's the point of the text. At every opportunity to put a stumbling block in the way of the Lord's people, to oppose the Lord's work. They're not missing an opportunity. So as soon as the guard changes, as soon as one king stops reigning and his successor takes his place, the opposition is re-engaged and there is a written accusation. It's interesting that Ezra doesn't even mention the events of the book of Esther.

But that all happens within verse 6. So Ezra is going to keep moving. He's going to keep moving to the next king. But just consider what we know about the book of Esther in terms of relentless spiritual opposition. In the book of Esther, All the Jews across the whole Persian Empire come a whisker away from total annihilation.

But God raises up Esther and he makes her the wife of this king. This faithful woman becomes the wife of this king that we're seeing in verse 6. And the annihilation of the Jewish people across the Persian Empire, which would include Judea, is averted because God has raised her up and put her at that place at that time to rescue his people. Now what happened to the letter in verse 6? Verse 6 says there's a written accusation against the Jews at the beginning of the reign of Ahasuerus, what happened to the letter?

What was the result? The text doesn't say. But it's not Ezra's point. Ezra's point is not to give us every detail. His point is to allow us to see the relentlessness of this spiritual opposition.

And that the venom is flowing across the lines of kings. The venom doesn't stop when the people who are ticked off in verses 1-5 exit the scene. That's not the end of the story. There will be more opposition because God's enemy isn't dead. God's enemy ultimately isn't flesh and blood.

It is a kingdom of darkness that is led by the devil himself. And the devil himself is alive and well and still working in the world when kingdoms change hands. Now let's look at verses 7-16. I'm going to read it again just for the sake of repetition. Ezra chapter 4 verse 7, In the days of Artaxerxes also, Bishlam, Mithridath, Tabal, and the rest of their companions wrote to Artaxerxes king of Persia.

And the letter was written in Aramaic script and translated into the Aramaic language. Rahum the commander and Shemshai the scribe wrote a letter against Jerusalem to king art exerxes in this fashion from Rahum the commander, Shemshah the scribe, and the rest of their companions. And then there are names I'm not going to struggle through here. Then verse 11. This is a copy of the letter that they sent him to King Art Xerxes from your servants, the men of the region beyond the river and so forth.

Let it be known to the king that the Jews who came up from you have come to us at Jerusalem and are building the rebellious and evil city and are finishing its walls and repairing its foundations. Let it now be known to the king that if this city is built and the walls completed, they will not pay tax, tribute, or custom, and the king's treasury will be diminished. Now because we received support from the palace, It was not proper for us to see the king's dishonor. Therefore, we have sent and informed the king that search may be made in the book of the records of your fathers, and you will find in the book of the records, and know that This city is a rebellious city, harmful to kings and provinces, and that they have incited sedition within the city in former times for which cause this city was destroyed. We inform the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, the result will be that you will have no dominion beyond the river.

So this is the opposition during the reign of Artaxerxes. In verse 7, three men and the rest of their companions, that's the words used in the text, the rest of their companions, write a letter to the king. So it's a full conspiracy. There's a lot of people involved in it. There are three primary men, but they're joined by many others of their companions and they write a letter to the king.

And the verse says, verse seven says that it's written in the Aramaic script and translated into Aramaic language. So why the double mention of Aramaic here? Well, this is the language for official documents throughout the Babylonian and then the Persian Empire. So if you wanted to write a letter to the king, if you wanted it to be taken seriously, it would be in Aramaic. Here's my understanding of the double mention of it.

I'd like to use the Greek word, one of the Greek words for love, agape, as an example. So you've seen that and you've read that word, agape, A-G-A-P-E, and It means unconditional love. That's not Greek. That's anglicized Greek. If you showed a Greek person A-G-A-P-E, they wouldn't have any idea what you're talking about because they have their own alphabet.

So agape is the English or American person's way to have a sense of something that comes from a completely different language with a completely different alphabet. So I think that the double mention that here in the Aramaic script means in their alphabet, not the Hebrew alphabet, and translated into the Aramaic language. I think that's what's happening there. In verse 8, there are two men and the rest of their companions. The same phrase is used again.

So in verse 7, there was a letter that said it was three men and the rest of their companions. In verse eight, it's two men and the rest of their companions. My understanding is they're writing a different letter to the king. It doesn't have to be that. I suppose there's a way you could understand them being the same letter, but I think it's much more natural to understand that this is the same king but a different letter, both letters of opposition against what the Jews are doing.

We have repeated accusations against the Lord's people. They're keeping the pressure on. Of course, our exerxes, as we saw earlier, had a really long reign, something like a forty-two year reign. So these don't have to be written two years apart. In fact, they're probably years intervening them.

In this case, we have the contents of the letter. Now that's new. It was a letter from verse six. We don't have the contents of it, we don't even know what came of it. In verse 7, it appears to be a distinct letter, again we don't have the contents, we don't know what became of it.

But this third letter, at least I think it's the third letter, we do have the contents of it and we will find out what happened with it and we'll be studying the King's reply next week. So it's new that we have the contents of it. Who are these two men writing the letter? Well you have Rehum, the commander, but when you look at the word itself, this is not a military term, this is not a military commander, it really means lord, master. So you'd have a high ranking official who's the first name on the letter and then you have the scribe, Shemshai.

Now Scribe in the Persian Empire was a very distinct office. It was an exalted office and the scribes reported directly to the king. They were planted on the ground in each of the provinces and they were in charge of the correspondence between the province and the king. So the scribe didn't report to anybody in the province. The scribe reported directly to the king.

And It was to make sure that the king and the correspondence from the province to the king was getting the real deal. It was to make sure that the king had good information. Somebody that reported directly to the king was the one writing the correspondence. So that's what you have in this case. That's who these two men are.

Who are their companions? Verse 9, they're representatives of peoples who have been moved into the region, also brought in captivity into the region of Samaria, just like last week. Last week it was the Persian king Aseradon who had brought them in. We studied these people in verses 1-5. Now, a long time later, again this is when Artaxerxes is reigning, This is probably 70 or 80 years later than verses 1-5.

We have people brought to the region by the great and noble Osnaper. What a great name and title. There's a strong consensus among the commentators that this is Ashurbanipal, the name of the Persian king. Ashurbanipal was the Persian king who came right after Aseradon. So we just dealt with Aseradon and the people he brought into Samaria, captives that he brought into Samaria in the last text.

And now almost certainly we're dealing with Ashurbanipal being called the great and noble Osnaper in our text today. He had the same practice, bring captives from other areas and relocate them. What's the advantage of that to an empire? The advantage is the total disruption. It makes them an easy people to govern.

If I take the people of Youngsville captive and I move them to Tennessee, they're going to have their hands full just with building a life, just with getting stable. They won't have time to rebel. They won't have energy, they won't have resources to rebel. That's why the Assyrians did that. So they picked up the people from the ten northern tribes and they moved them out of there to other places in the empire.

And they were taking captives in other places as well and they moved them into Samaria. So We saw that last week and we see it again this week at the hands of another king. Now, about the letter. I have three observations about this letter. Accusations sent to King Artxerxes.

Observation number one, these men claim the advantage of being the first to speak. This is no small thing. These men claim the advantage of being the first to speak. It is a very, very powerful advantage that they've claimed. It's actually going to allow them to be successful for a period of time.

Listen to Proverbs 18 verse 17. The first one to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him. The first one to plead his cause seems right until his neighbor comes and examines him. You know this by experience, don't you? You've probably been on both ends of this at one time or another.

Someone comes and they say something to you, it just seems right, and you don't find out until way later that you didn't have the full story. And even so, even after you get the second half of the story, it can be really hard to shake the things and the impressions that you got in the first round of communication. The person who communicates first has a decided, powerful advantage. These men claim that by preemptively writing the king to accuse the Jews. We should be very careful about making judgments before we've heard both sides of the matter.

You can really harm yourself. You accept what is told to you because you don't have any reason at the time to do otherwise, but there may be a lot that you haven't been told yet. There might be a lot that you don't know yet. So We shouldn't be hasty to judge based on just hearing what very well might be only one side of the story. So, number one, these men claim the advantage of being the first to speak.

Number two, these men are masters of spin. What is spin? If you're active in the political realm, you know exactly what spin is. It is the art of isolating a fact or isolating a few facts and then suggesting that those facts that you've isolated support a conclusion that suits your purpose. You put it at just the right angle.

You take a fact, maybe out of context, and you put a certain angle on it in order to suit your purpose. That is spin. These men who write this letter, you can tell they have honed this skill. They're good and loyal, the writers of the letter. Read the letter.

They're like the best citizens ever. They are good and loyal citizens. And the Jews are evil and disloyal. You read the letter there couldn't be worse citizens you would not want these people in your kingdom you would feel an urgency to do something about these people. Verse 11, to King Artaxerxes from your servants, your humble servants, your obedient servants, your loyal servants, your very credible servants, you should be listening to us King.

If you had any idea how much we loved you, how loyal we are to you, we're just your servants. Verse 14, it was not proper for us to see the King's dishonor. King, When we wake up in the morning, we just think about your honor. We just care about your honor. We were wondering what we could do to keep you from being dishonored.

And here's something. So we're writing you a letter. Doesn't this remind you of the Jews before Pontius Pilate? Who did the Jews hate more than Caesar? Jesus.

That didn't mean they loved Caesar, but they sure acted like they did. In John 19, Pontius Pilate says, shall I crucify your king? Do you remember what they said? We have no king but Caesar. Can you imagine that coming out of the mouth of a Jew?

Like they're the most loyal, most thankful citizenry ever on the face of the earth. We have no king but Caesar. That was a lie. And so was the latter. Meanwhile, the Jews, according to this letter, are monstrous.

Verse 12, they are building the rebellious and evil city. What does that make them? Rebellious and evil. If you want to rebuild the rebellious and evil city, you must be rebellious and evil yourself. Actually, there's a fact at the heart of this.

There was a period of time where Jerusalem was a rebellious and evil city. When you go and read the last chapter of 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles Chapter 36, this is right as the three waves of people going into captivity are happening, they're rebellious. They keep rebelling against Nebuchadnezzar and he keeps having to come back. Finally, on the third time, he demolishes the city and wipes out the temple. So there is a fact, there is a truth at the root of this and in the letter they're actually going to point to that truth.

They tell the king, go look it up. If you don't believe us, go look in the records. You'll find that they have been harmful to kings and provinces. So there is an element of truth here. But they conclude from that because they're spinning, because they're isolating facts and then using those to draw conclusions that support their own interests.

They conclude from that that as soon as they're done, the minute they're done with the wall, they're going to stop paying you taxes and they're going to revolt. Just the second they're finished. We just know in our heart of hearts. We know this about these people, even though the rebellion that we're talking about and pointing to in the records was a hundred years ago. Never mind that, this is a rebellious and evil city, so that makes these rebellious and evil people.

And that means the minute they're done with this wall, they're going to be rebellious and evil. You can follow their logic. Number three, these men know how to exploit the vulnerabilities of those in power. They are doing that in this letter. These men know how to exploit, take advantage of the vulnerabilities of those in power.

They go right to the hot buttons and they push them. They push those hot buttons. The king has hot buttons, sensitivities, areas of vulnerability that they know he'll be thinking about. What keeps the king up at night? What worries and concerns the king?

It is taxes, it's the condition of the treasury. It is financial resources that are always running short in kingdoms that are at war. Does this sound like our own case now? We've been at war for a while and it has sapped the treasury. It's one of the things that has sapped the treasury even in our own country.

So taxes he'll be thinking about and rebellion he'll be thinking about. When you look at the historical record, you'll find that this century was full of provinces revolting, just full of it. These Persian kings were always having to go and put down rebellions, not just in Judea, not in Judea, but in many other places. Between the reigns of Cyrus the Great and Darius, Cyrus' son has to go and put down a revolt in Egypt. There were many revolts against the Persian kings in different provinces during this century.

So it is on the mind of the king, it's a vulnerability and these letter writers are exploiting that vulnerability. Listen to how they phrase this. This is masterful stuff in the letter. Masterful spin. Verse 13, let it now be known to the king that if this city is built and the walls completed they will not pay tax, tribute, or custom and the king's treasury will be diminished.

There it is right there in black and white. You let them finish this wall, so I mean they are stoking the urgency aren't they? You let them finish this wall, so they are stoking the urgency, aren't they? You let them finish this wall, you've seen the last penny from these people. Or verse 16, we inform the king that if this city is rebuilt and its walls are completed, the result will be that you will have no dominion beyond the river.

Now because we don't know the geography, we're not as stunned by verse 16 as we should be. But the region beyond the river, the river is not the Jordan. You'd just be dealing with Israel if the river was the Jordan. But the river referred to in region beyond the river is the Euphrates, which is way east, way east. And so the region beyond the river is a huge area, most of which has nothing to do with Judea.

And The claim here is, if you let this little people revolt, the whole region will be in revolt. The Jews do not control, they control this much, just a little sliver of the region beyond the river. But the claim is, you let them revolt, the whole region will go into revolt and you'll lose control over this region. They're playing to the pre-existing fears of the king. They know the king has these fears about the condition of the Treasury and about provinces that keep going into revolt and they push those hot buttons to get their way.

Okay, applications. I have three applications. This is very, very, very, very relevant to us today. This isn't just an interesting history lecture about things that happened twenty-five hundred years ago now. Okay, It's way beyond that.

It's very applicable to us today. Application, I have three of them. Number one, don't be surprised to find yourself the target of relentless spiritual opposition. Don't expect it to let up. Don't expect it to be rational.

Don't expect to be appreciated and loved in all quarters. Based on the Bible, those are unrealistic. Don't be surprised to find yourself the target of relentless spiritual opposition. Paul says it so clearly, so explicitly in 2 Timothy 3 verse 12. Listen to Paul.

2 Timothy 3 verse 12. Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution. You want to make any sort of a dent for the kingdom of heaven. If you want to be faithful to God in your generation in any degree, you will suffer persecution. Just listen to it again.

Yes, and all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus. Does that describe you in any way? Do you have any sort of a desire to live godly in Christ Jesus, you will suffer persecution. One of the precious promises of scripture. You will.

You will. The other promises of scripture say God will sustain you, even so. You'll grow out of it. You'll flourish in the middle of it. Because the Holy Spirit is adequate.

The Spirit that indwells us is greater than He that is in the world. Greater is He that is in us than He that is in the world. We don't have to be afraid that that is true, but it is true. It is true that if you want to be godly, if you want to be faithful, if you want to be used by God in your community, in your generation, then you're going to suffer persecution. Get used to it.

The Bible says that it is true. It is true. Number two, our battle is not against flesh and blood. It's not personal. It's a clash of kingdoms.

It's a kingdom of darkness that will forever, every moment be at war with the kingdom of light. Our battle is not against flesh and blood. If you don't understand that, You'll hate people. You'll hate your enemies. You're not supposed to hate your enemies.

You're supposed to love your enemies. Well, you better be able to see beyond them and see that they're slaves to sin. They're sons of the devil. You should pity them. You shouldn't hate them.

You should pray for them. You should love for them. You should do good to them. Listen to Paul in Ephesians 6 verse 12. I wonder how many times you've heard this verse.

Paul in Ephesians 6 verse 12, For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. The best and fullest understanding of any Old Testament text is seen through the lenses of the New Testament. So I'm trying my best to bring that to bear in the exposition of this Old Testament book. The best and fullest understanding of Ezra is not to be an Old Testament saint and read and study the book of Ezra, but it's to be a New Testament saint, a New Covenant saint, and to look back through the lenses of the New Testament because of progressive revelation. We have access to more revelation now that the canon is closed.

Now that there will be no more books added to the Bible. We've got the full revelation. We can look back and see it more fully, better than at any time prior to the coming of Jesus Christ and the establishment of the New Testament Church. What does that mean? That means when we look back at Ezra and we see men opposing the people of God, the work of God, we say, that's not really man.

It's not the flesh and blood that are the problem in Ezra chapter 4. It's a clash of kingdoms. It's the devil. It's the work of the devil. It's spiritual darkness that they're warring against.

Listen to Revelation chapter 12 verses 10 and 11. Revelation 12 verses 10 and 11. And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ has come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night has been cast down. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death." When we see letters of accusation, we know that ultimately it's not the people with pen and hand, it's the accuser of the brethren. That's the devil.

He said here in Revelation chapter 12 to accuse them before God day and night. He accuses the brethren before God day and night, and his sons and daughters accuse their people on the earth day and night too. We shouldn't think that it would be different than that. But we can overcome the accuser of the brethren by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony, and if we don't love our lives, if we're willing to lay down our lives. Now if you don't understand this, if you don't understand that our battle, our warfare, is not against flesh and blood, You'll be driven crazy in your attempts to fix it on the human plane.

It's a recipe for insanity. You'll go mad because you'll Look for the rational explanation for why you're not liked, why you're not appreciated, why your extended family just can't accept things that seem so clear and so true and self-evident to you. And you'll work hard and you'll bring them around on this one point only to find that there are ten more fronts open in the war. It is relentless spiritual opposition. You cannot expect an end to it.

And you can't look for the rational reason as if you just found the rational reason you could put an end to it. That's a recipe for insanity if you think of it that way. It's like if you've ever gone to the fair and played whack-a-mole, you know the game? You have the stick and your job is to whack the moles as they come up from the half-dozen different holes. As soon as you whack one on the head it just comes up over here and there's no end to it.

This is the situation that we find ourselves in. Relentless spiritual whack-a-mole. My pastor in college used to say it's like playing cards. You play one, but you're picking up from the deck too. There's not a day in this life where we're going to play the last one.

It's going to be relentless spiritual opposition. If you want to be faithful, if you don't care about being faithful, you can have everyone be your friend. But if you want to be faithful, you cannot have everyone be your friend. Lastly, number three, be a student of the methods employed by those who oppose the work of God. Be a student of their methods.

Be a student of the methods employed by those who oppose the work of God. Not just here in Ezra, but all across scripture. Study their methods. Why? Because you're going to see them, because the methods are the same.

The technologies are different maybe, but the methods look a lot like what you can find out there today. And it makes us wise. It makes us not surprised when we see the same methods of those who oppose the work of God. Here's one trying to pit the government against Christians as if Christians aren't the best citizens in the world. When you study Jeremiah 29 and you see that the people of God in captivity are supposed to pray for the peace and prosperity of their captors.

When you study Romans 13 and see how Christians are supposed to submit to the governing authorities. When you see 1 Timothy chapter 2 and see how we're supposed to be praying for our kings, Any government that has half a brain would want all their subjects to be Christians. Christians are not the enemies of the state. Christians are the best friends of the state. They make the best citizens.

And yet, how many times is the same stuff that we see in this letter in Ezra chapter 4 pop up. These are dangerous, you better watch out for these people. They are rebuilding the rebellious and evil city. We see it in our day as if Christians are bad citizens. No!

Well-taught Christians, well-studied Christians are the best citizens there are. You see the same methods circling around again a thousand years later. So you will see them paint themselves, the opponents, the work of God will paint themselves as pure as the wind driven snow, as the most faithful loyal subjects with no interest of their own, just out of the kindness of their own heart and they will paint you as the blackest demon that ever came out of hell. You'll see that with your own two eyes. It's spin.

You'll see the same things. Now, what's the significance of this? Because they did it to Jesus. This is the heart of the matter. It is a conflict of kingdoms.

And you should not expect to be treated better than your master. If your master was treated this way, then if you're faithful, you'll be treated this way. And it shouldn't surprise us. And actually there's a glory in it. Do you see that?

There's a glory in being treated like they treated Jesus. If they treated Jesus this way, far be it from us to be exempt from being treated this way. We should relish knowing Him in His sufferings. We should relish it. We should consider it a badge of honor.

I'm not talking about being beaten for our faults. We don't want to be beaten for our faults and our sins and our shortcomings and then act like martyrs. I'm not talking about that. But I am talking about there are times when you're faithful and you're just beaten because you're faithful to Jesus. And we should count that as a privilege.

Turning your Bibles to Hebrews 13 will end with Hebrews 13. The writer of Hebrews drives this point home. What a privilege it is to suffer with our Lord Jesus Christ. Be glad if they would treat our Jesus that way, to be treated that way ourselves. Hebrews 13, I'll begin reading in 10 and read through 16.

Hebrews 13, beginning in verse 10. We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. The bodies of those animals whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin are burned outside the camp. Burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also that he might sanctify the people with his own blood suffered outside the gate.

Therefore let us go forth to Him outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the One to come. Therefore, by Him, let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God. That is the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices, God is well pleased." The writer of Hebrews in Hebrews 13 makes the suffering and the ill treatment of Jesus Christ central and necessary to the gospel.

He says if Jesus was treated that way, if he had to suffer outside the gate as refuse then go to him outside the gate bear his reproach and wear it as a badge count it a privilege to suffer as he suffered This is the essence of taking up your cross and following him. Not that it's a burden, but that there is a glory in it. It is a privilege. It was an essential part of the gospel that he be treated as a criminal because he was bearing our sins. That's why he was treated that way he suffered and was actually innocent so that he could stand in the place of sinners who people who actually were guilty and their guilt could be transferred to him we should go to him outside the gate and bear His reproach because it is a glorious reproach.

It is a reproach that has bought us our freedom in Christ. Let's pray. God, I thank You for the view, the 100-year view of this relentless spiritual opposition. And I pray that you would steal us in our spirits. You would harden us, not making us hard-hearted, but making us ready to go outside the gate to you to bear your reproach.

Thank you that Jesus Christ was willing to bear our reproach, the reproach that we deserved and how great of an honor is it now to know Him in His sufferings. Thank you in Jesus' name, Amen.