Fear to Faith, Faith to Favor

The main point of my sermon today is this: Although we never deserve God’s favor, God does reward our faithfulness. So stay faithful, and wait on the Lord.

This point comes from the final episode of the story we started in Ezra 3–5. I will review where we have been in Ezra–Nehemiah, complete the story as faithfulness turns to favor—fear to faith, faith to favor—follow Ezra 6:14 on a brief excursion into biblical chronology so we re-establish our faith in everything God’s Word says (faithful in little, faithful in much), and close by appreciating the unmerited favor symbolized and celebrated in the Passover before we turn to the Lord’s Table.

Where We Have Been

Ezra–Nehemiah is part of God’s repeating pattern where God redeems his people and his people rebel against him. On the whole, the story told in these books will teach us that God’s Kingdom needed a New Covenant. We’ll watch God give his people everything they need: godly leaders, political support, monetary and material support, everything. But they still turn from God over and over. Their problem is not external. They aren’t lacking in resources or education. What they need is new hearts. And since they don’t have them, their chapter ends in tragedy. It leaves the reader desperate for the Messiah to come and set his people free from sin and death.

As we preach through the story of Ezra–Nehemiah, we are learning to live in that story, recognizing what has changed for us who live on this side of the cross. Although their covenant could not bear the weight of lasting spiritual reformation (it was never intended to), the New Covenant made in Jesus’ blood can! Now is the age in which the Spirit has been poured out into the world and God’s new city is being built. As we watch Israel build and fight amidst fierce opposition, we will build and fight with enemies close at hand. As God was on their side, he is on our side. But since he has circumcised our hearts, we no longer need to go back to our sinful, fleshly ways. We can remain holy and faithful to our God. Jesus has led us out of slavery in Egypt, where sin was our master, and has brought us across the Red Sea. He has led us out of the wilderness of God’s wrath. Our chapter of God’s story is Joshua’s taking of the land and Nehemiah’s building and fighting. But the great difference is that now Jesus has died, risen again, and ascended to his throne on high! He has thrown down every ruler and authority and is making all things new. This time our building and fighting doesn’t have to end in tragedy, because in God’s great faithfulness, he will hold us fast!

So far in our series, we’ve preached through Ezra 1–5. In chapters 1–2, we saw God send his people back to the land with the mission to rebuild the temple and the city. Their mission is about restoring the right worship of God by rebuilding the whole society that supports that worship. That’s why they didn’t just send back a few priests to start sacrifices. They sent back a population because they planned to remake a civilization.

Toward this grand mission, God assigns them all different roles. Some are priests, and some are farmers. Some are blacksmiths, and some are shepherds. Reformation is not the work of a few elite believers. It is the work of the masses who reverence and serve God in all of life, who embrace their calling so fully they believe they are in full-time ministry wherever God has placed them. Since the mission God has sent us on encompasses all of life, there are no part-timers. All our work is sacred unto God.

The call of gospel ministry, which we are all a part of, is to capture and cultivate every area of life so that all of creation joins in the chorus of praise. Like Israel, our mission encompasses all of life. Each of us is given a unique calling: lawyer, business owner, home-maker, teacher, salesman, delivery driver, financial analyst, toddler, student—all of us have been called by God to serve at our station. And he has given us a common prayer to guide us: on earth as it is in heaven. Lord, may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Wherever we are, that’s what we are praying and seeking and serving God for.

By his grace, we will work like leaven through a loaf here in Stillwater so that God’s glory will cover this chunk of earth like the waters cover the seas. That’s what I mean when I say we are about building the City of God. We are about being and building a culture here that glorifies God all the way down to how we eat and drink and dress and all the way up to the children we enculturate, the businesses we manage, and the policies we advocate for. This is “Big God” theology pressed into all of our little lives. It’s the Christian Hedonists’ heart applied to every moment.

Ezra 3–5 gave us our first lesson in what building that city will be like. It warns us to seek first the kingdom of God, lest the fear of man or worldly desire choke our faith. And it encourages us to confess our sin and repent when we fear man rather than God.

You’ll remember that the returnees start off well. Although they are afraid of the people of the land, they put their trust in God and gather to build the altar. Their first priority is worship. As ours should be.

But Israel’s faith turned to fear. When the pressure really turns up politically, they cave in. They compromise on God. They can’t stay separate from the world and holy to God because at heart they are still part of the world; they are still in the flesh.

This compromise comes in chapter 4 when they stop building the temple for fear of their political opponents. The lawfare of their enemies succeeds. They are convinced that their own safety and comfort are more important than rebuilding God’s Kingdom. The ruined temple lying in their midst like a dead body is an apt picture of their spiritual condition.

God was so gracious that he sent prophets to strengthen the people in chapter 5. Their fear turns back to faith again. They repent of fearing man rather than God. They start building again out of faith. But no sooner do they begin than their enemies put the political pressure back on. Look with me at the text.

Faith to Favor

In Ezra 5:3–6, Tattenai and his friends get involved and write to Darius. They ask the king to search the royal archive (5:17) to see if Cyrus really decreed the temple should be rebuilt. The king’s letter from chapter 4 said that he doesn’t want the city rebuilt until he says so, but he doesn’t say anything about the temple.

Much to the dismay of God’s enemies, Darius writes back to inform them that not only did he find Cyrus’s decree, but that decree provides the dimensions and funds the building of the temple! So King Darius commands Tattenai to leave the Jews alone (6:7). You can tell that he knows Tattenai would like to deal severely with God’s people. He also commands Tattenai to give them anything they need from the tribute that he collects (6:8–9).

To appreciate how big of a deal this is, you need to remember how precarious Israel’s situation was in the land. They are an ethnic and religious minority who traveled across the world with only what they could carry. They are trying to rebuild their capital city, restart an economy, produce the tools they need to rebuild the temple, and clean up the rubble, all while surrounded by enemies who have been threatening from the moment they arrived.

And right when they start obeying God again, the very worst thing that could happen happens. The leader of their enemies takes an interest in their project. A powerful, well-connected, established political leader against a ragtag band of returnees who just arrived? This isn’t going to be good. Their lives and their families’ lives were at stake. Maybe it felt unfair to them. “God! We just started obeying! Why didn’t you save us from this?” But they don’t complain and grumble. When they started building again they knew that faithfulness would put a target on their back. Instead, they just keep on faithfully obeying in what they can control and trusting God with what they cannot. This is faith: loyal reliance. While they wait for a letter back from the king, though they know he might command every stone they place to be torn down, they work heartily with the time God gives them. And God rewards their faithful labor.

When the king’s letter comes, it’s everything they could have hoped for and more. Look at it with me. It literally says in 6:7, “Let the work of the house of God alone.” In a great twist of irony, Tattenai will be making deliveries to the house of God that he wanted to hinder, providing supplies for sacrifice. And just when you think it can’t get any better, it does! Look at verses 11–12. Darius knows that someone like Tattenai would love to tamper with his command so that he can persecute the Jews. But Darius writes, “Also, I make a decree that if anyone alters this edict, a beam shall be pulled out of his house and he shall be impaled on it, and his house shall be made a dunghill.”

In other words, “If you mess with the work of the house of God, I’ll kill you on a beam from your own house and bury you in the rubble.” Then in verse 12 he even calls on God to curse anyone who would attack his house.

This letter provides the Jews with the security they needed to finish the house. And so they don’t waste any time. Just four years after they had begun working again, the temple was finished. In 6:16 they dedicate the temple. In verse 17 they make the first sacrifices. In verse 18 they set the Levites in place over the worship. It’s a monumental moment. The central task is complete. God’s people can worship God on his holy hill again. This is the lynchpin for rebuilding the city and society. As many have said, there’s no culture without a cultus (worship). And now their culture has what it needs to flourish.

Let’s step back for a moment to reflect on the movement of this story. This is a story of redemption. It’s God’s favorite kind of story. Fear, to faith, to favor. He takes sinful fearful people, strengthens them with simple faith, and pours out his favor on those he has made faithful. He turns their greatest fear into great blessing. He makes their terror their deliverance.

God has done this many times before. Like Jacob, whose greatest fear was losing his son Benjamin. But when he sent him with his brothers back to Egypt, not only was Benjamin saved, but the whole family was saved and Jacob received back his son Joseph. Like Abraham, called to sacrifice his own son Isaac. And his willingness to do so prompted God’s blessing. Like the story of Esther, when the plot of Haman turns out for the deliverance and prosperity of the Jews. Like Jesus himself, who hung cursed on a tree and lay cold in a tomb before he turned the grave into a gate to everlasting glory.

God has a knack for turning desperate circumstances into delightful surprises when we just stay faithful. Faithful in what we can control, and trusting God with what we can’t. I think of Cowper’s famous hymn:

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;
The clouds ye so much dread
Are big with mercy, and shall break
With blessings on your head.

This is why we can take hope in the moments of blackest despair. God loves turning mourning into dancing. “When I am afraid, I put my hope in you.” Your God has very literally promised to wipe away every tear. In the deepest pain and darkest trials, this is what you need to know: Jesus loves you.

This morning, you might feel like you’re stuck between Ezra 5 and Ezra 6. You’ve been trying to be faithful. You’ve tried to stick to the straight and narrow even though the clouds gathered and your fears came rolling upon you. Your children won’t honor you, you’re still single and want to be married, family and business relationships just get more and more strained, your future hopes seem dashed—hear this: your hope is in God. He turned a sepulcher into your salvation. While you wait for the clouds to break into blessings, you can trust him, cling to him, wait on him. Jesus loves you.

Cast your burdens onto Jesus. Trust that he cares for you. Be faithful with what he’s given you to do. And trust him for everything you can’t control. Then wait for him to finish your story. God does not like tragedies. He writes stories of redemption. “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.”

Faithful in Little

Now, we need to step back for a moment to study a problem that this text raises for us. Look for a moment at 6:14. It says that Cyrus, Artaxerxes, and Darius helped to build the temple. You probably skipped right over this because we’ve trained ourselves to think that details like this don’t matter. But they do. Who was the one who stopped the rebuilding of the temple in chapter 4? It was Artaxerxes. It says in verses 23–24 that after that letter the temple stopped being built until the second year of Darius. But now in chapter 6, it says that Artaxerxes was part of helping construct the temple. What’s going on?

I’m going to take you down a rabbit hole of biblical chronology for a few minutes. But before I do, I want to tell you why we’re going down there. This is the point: we should trust God’s Word.

God’s Word gives us the standard for trustworthiness: “If you are faithful in little you will be faithful in much.” We can’t just write off little things in the Bible as unimportant and say that we trust it where it’s important. It’s because the Bible is trustworthy in the little things, in the names and dates and places, that we can trust it in the big things, like the resurrection and our future hope. That’s the main point of going down this rabbit hole. As we do, it will explain some of the issues we’ve already seen and more that will keep popping up in Ezra–Nehemiah.

Printed in your worship guide is scholars’ best guess at the names and dates of the first five Persian kings. Everyone agrees that this story happens in this time period. The settled view of most interpreters is that the kings mentioned in Scripture are mentioned by the same name as the ancient historian Ptolemy mentions them. So Cyrus is Cyrus, Darius is Darius I, and Artaxerxes is Artaxerxes I Longimanus. But you might already see that there’s a problem. Artaxerxes, the king for Ezra 4, comes chronologically after Darius, who is mentioned in chapter 5.

The way most interpreters deal with this is to say that Ezra 4 is actually chronologically before Ezra 5, but it’s placed there because it fits thematically. Now, I don’t want to sound like that’s a ridiculous idea, because folks who are a lot smarter than me believe it. It could very well be that I’m wrong here. But frankly, that sounds like special pleading. There’s nothing in chapter 4 to suggest that it’s out of order. In fact, verses 23–24 seem to demand that it is chronologically before chapter 5.

That leads me to the conclusion that the Bible isn’t using the same name for the kings as Ptolemy. Now that’s not a problem. In fact, Ezra–Nehemiah was written way before any historian ever put together a list of the kings’ names and dates. They knew a lot better who the kings were and what they were called. More importantly, they would know if the kings went by just one name or not.

For us, it’s custom to call each king by just one name. But that’s not necessarily the case for all cultures. In fact, we know that these names were throne names. They were used by more than one king. After they are Anglicized, they just sound like personal names. But in their original language they have clear meanings:

• Darius — doer of good
• Xerxes — hero among kings
• Artaxerxes — king of justice

Now, following a few others (Doug Wilson, James Jordan, Philip Mauro, Martin Anstey), I think that these kings used more than one throne name at a time. And this is what explains how Artaxerxes could be mentioned as helping to build the temple in Ezra 6:14. I think that Artaxerxes and Darius are the same king. I think you could translate Ezra 6:14 something like this: “by decree of Cyrus and Darius, that is, Artaxerxes…”

Now, if that is the case, the timeline of the story just got a lot shorter. The story ends in the 32nd year of Artaxerxes. If that is Artaxerxes Longimanus, the story takes about 100 years from Cyrus’s decree to the end. But if that’s the 32nd year of King Darius, who was also called Artaxerxes, there are only about 50 years.

That difference allows us to test this theory that perhaps the whole story happens in a shorter amount of time under just King Darius.

The first way we could try to prove this theory wrong is by showing that the years of the kings’ reign contradict one another. If it says the 15th year of Artaxerxes and then after that it says the 3rd year of Darius, you’d know that they are different kings. But that never happens. In fact, the dates line up to make it look like it’s the same king. Notice in 6:15 the temple is finished in the 6th year of Darius. Then, in 7:7, it’s the seventh year of Artaxerxes. It lines right up. So we can’t prove my theory wrong that way.

Another way we could prove it wrong is by using the lists of names provided in these books. If the story was short, say 50 years, we should find plenty of people who came with Zerubbabel at the beginning still alive with Nehemiah when they make a covenant. But if that was more like 100 years later, there shouldn’t really be anyone still alive who came with Zerubbabel.

Fortunately, Nehemiah records both of these lists for us. You can find a list of the leaders who came with Zerubbabel in 7:7 (feel free to ransack this for baby names). Chapter 12 gives a list of priests and Levites in the days of Zerubbabel as well. Then in chapter 10 Nehemiah lists those who sign the covenant with him.

If there was around 100 years between Zerubbabel and the dedication of the wall, no one should be on both lists. Right? (Unlike in the American Social Security system, people don’t usually live deep into their hundreds.)

But lots of people are listed as being alive with Zerubbabel and Nehemiah. I provided a table in your worship guide so that you can see it for yourself.

In my eyes, these names are pretty good evidence that this story did not take 100 years. And therefore the end of the story was not under Artaxerxes Longimanus. Instead, it took place under Darius (who was also called Artaxerxes). In fact, I think that the Bible itself pushes us toward this conclusion.

Do you remember that Daniel (chapter 9) received word that after the 70 years of exile were done for God’s people, God had decreed 70 weeks of years? Those 70 weeks were split into 7 weeks, and then 62 weeks. There would be seven weeks of years before Jerusalem was rebuilt, and then 62 weeks before the anointed one would be cut off. Well, 7 weeks of years is 49 years, which fits this shorter timeline perfectly. 49 years takes you from Cyrus’s decree right to the end of the reign of Darius.

So, until proven otherwise, I’m going to interpret and tell the story that way, with a shorter chronology than most interpreters. I think that Artaxerxes and Darius are throne names for the same individual, and the story of Ezra–Nehemiah takes place in about 50 years because of the evidence in the lists of names and the internal consistencies about the names of kings (like Artaxerxes helping with the temple). It’s not a new view. John Gill took this view in the 18th century, and when he did he was going along with others.

But there are two reasons that I think I might be wrong. The first reason I might be wrong is that it seems like Ezra–Nehemiah introduces these kings as different people sometimes. It’s not 100% clear, but it seems like it. For instance, in chapter 7 it says, “Now after this, in the reign of Artaxerxes king of Persia…” Normally, I’d say that sounds like a transition to a new king. So this might be evidence that I’m wrong. But since that would make other problems I can’t explain, right now I think that Ezra and Nehemiah are purposefully using these throne names because of what they mean. Darius does good to them. Then they switch to Artaxerxes, who will do justice for Ezra. But like I said, I might be wrong.

Another reason I might be wrong is this. If Daniel’s weeks are literal years, then we should be able to check our math by subtracting the year Cyrus made his decree, 536, from the 70 weeks of years (490) and get the year the anointed was cut off (AD 30). But instead, we’ve got an extra 70 or 80 years. In other words, the whole BC dating system is about 70 years too long if I’m right. Some biblical chronologers are convinced that there are extra years among the Persian kings, whom we’ve counted as more than one king when they were really using many throne names. But this is outside my area of expertise, and a big yellow flag saying it might be wrong. Martin Anstey and his popularizer Philip Mauro are the guys to check if you want to learn more about this.

So, where does this leave us? It should bring us back to the point we started with. We need to trust the Bible. For centuries scholars have claimed the Bible was inaccurate in this or that date or location. And over and over it has been vindicated. God has proven that his Word is accurate, even in the little things. So we need to build our lives and interpretations on what Scripture says. We should feel no pressure to bend Scripture to fit what archaeology or historians are saying right now. They will say something different twenty years from now. Instead, we can trust that the Bible is sufficient to interpret its own story. And as we study an issue like the chronology of Ezra, we must do so without compromising our trust in God’s Word. Don’t say, “I guess it got this little thing wrong. That’s okay.” You can trust the Bible in the big things because it’s right in the little things.

Passover Favor

Now we get to come back to Ezra 6:19 to consider God’s favor in the Passover. There’s a big shift that’s invisible to us in our Bibles at 6:19. Starting in 4:7, the beginning of the letters and the compromise of God’s people, the story was written in Aramaic (the language of the land). I think that Ezra shifted to Aramaic because this story of fear to faith to favor was open for the world to look into. It didn’t make the Jews look mighty or spiritually mature. But it does make God look like a faithful and mighty God.

We know from Daniel that Persia has an evil spiritual power ruling over it, the “Prince of Persia,” whom Gabriel battles in Daniel 10. But this story, open for all the world to read, demonstrates that God is the one who is really in charge of the kingdom of Persia. He turns their kings (who were called sons of the gods) to do whatever he will. When he wants to, Yahweh turns the hearts of the sons of wicked gods for the benefit of his son Israel.

So this story of God’s incredible power and redeeming love is on full display for the nations, written in their common tongue. Then in 6:19 the story switches back to Hebrew as they celebrate their most identity-forming feast: Passover.

Passover is fitting for them to celebrate after God’s incredible loving favor in giving them the support they need to complete the temple. God turned their fear of political retribution into their salvation. Now they are celebrating Passover, when God turned the story of Joseph, a young man sold into slavery by his own brothers, into salvation for his family. And then he turned their 400 years of unjust slavery into the fulfillment of his ancient promise to Abraham to make his seed a great nation. This feast is about how God redeems awful circumstances and turns them to blessing.

And the whole feast revolves around the symbol of the Passover lamb: substitutionary atonement, merciful favor, unmerited kindness. The innocence of another is provided to save the guilty who have faith to hide in God’s command. The faith that God rewards is not proud. It is counting on grace because it knows that it falls short. So in 6:20, they slaughter the Passover lamb.

Verse 21 makes clear what was always true in Israel. Anyone who worshiped Yahweh was welcome to join in the feast. Far from being isolationist, God’s people invite outsiders into their most sacred religious and cultural feast so long as they worship Yahweh. The only requirement to come and celebrate the salvation of God is humble faith.

See in the story from fear to faith to favor, and in the symbol of this feast, how these two truths hold gloriously together:

1. God rewards the faithful.
2. The reward is never deserved.

God’s people have compromised on him, but he graciously brings them back to faith through the prophets. Obviously they don’t deserve God’s favor. They just walked away from him. But when they turn back to him and obey his commands, God rewards their simple faith by enabling their building.

God did the same with the Passover. Israel grumbled against God and Moses as God saved them from their Egyptian masters, defeating their gods. But still, God provided them with the Passover lamb to cover their household from the angel of death. And those who believed God applied the blood of the lamb to their doorpost to be saved by simple faith.

God’s favor is never deserved. These stories make that crystal clear. We can never think, “I have been faithful, God. Where’s my reward? Serve it up!”

That kind of thinking is at the heart of that pernicious error: the prosperity gospel. It confuses God’s gracious rewards with a kind of divine paycheck.

Prosperity-gospel teachers preach a strict cause-and-effect relationship between good works (especially “sowing” money in their ministry) and receiving in-kind rewards from God (like “reaping” money after giving). Really, it’s gross manipulation.

A more subtle kind of prosperity gospel preaches that when you come to Jesus you’ll get everything you want. Which is true if Jesus changes your heart. But this kind of prosperity gospel really just aims to fill church pews. It insinuates that if you come to church your marriage will improve, your kids will be obedient, and your work will take off. It really views church as a kind of spiritual therapy that will help you get what you want.

Both the more blatant and the more subtle forms of prosperity thinking compromise loyalty to God. They treat him like a vending machine. They are really just karma dressed up in thinly Christian clothing, benefiting some teachers and those close to them.

God does favor the faithful. But the faithful aren’t trying to manipulate God.

This manipulating attitude is tragic. It’s tragic because it’s missing out. Like those who followed Jesus just for a free lunch. They walked in the footsteps of the bread of life, too excited by the bread he could multiply to receive life for their souls. Tragic.

If you sometimes think, “Why did that bad thing happen, God? Why am I not happy? I’m reading my Bible and praying every day. I’m giving to the church. Why won’t you give me what I want?” you’re thinking right in line with the prosperity gospel, trying to manipulate God with your good works into giving you what you want. If that’s where you are this morning, I can tell you two things for sure:

1. Whatever you’re trying to convince God to give you has become an idol for you. It is eclipsing God in your life, and you need to put it back in its proper place (whether that means removing it entirely or just reordering your desires).
2. Simple faith is the cure. If you’re trying to manipulate or trick God into giving you what you want, you’ve forgotten the first lesson about God. He’s a good father. Jesus loves you. You need to let go of whatever it is you want so badly, and hold on to the great truth that your God is good and he loves you. Trust him to give or not to give.

Unmerited Favor

So from this sermon I want you to take away this: God rewards his faithful ones. But there is no manipulating God. He rewards simple faith. In fact, he loves to pour out incredible blessings on his faithful people. He frequently turns their terrors and trials into the key ingredient for their salvation. He turns fears to favor through faith.

If you’re stuck in trial, waiting in the storm for the clouds to break to mercy, trust God. Hold fast to your first lesson: Jesus loves you.

And as you hold fast to your first lesson, don’t forget where it comes from: Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so. Trust God’s Word in the big things and the little things. It is trustworthy (regardless of what you think about the chronology of Ezra–Nehemiah).

As we come now to the Passover Feast made new, where our Passover Lamb gave himself for us to turn our sin to forgiveness and our separation to adoption, we come as those simply soaked in the favor of God. So let’s keep the feast with joy, like Israel did. God has washed away our sins, given us each other, filled us with love for one another, and provided a place to worship. At this table, all things are being made new through simple faith.

Let us pray.