SCRIPTURE: Ezra 9

It's been 80 years since Cyrus the King of Persia decreed that Jerusalem should be rebuilt. But the rebuilders were opposed by the local inhabitants. King Darius I searched the records and found Cyrus' decree and redecreed that Jerusalem be rebuilt. In Chapter 7, Darius' grandson sends Ezra to Jerusalem. Now finally Ezra arrives and Ezra pulls out his beard in shock. He was commissioned by King Artaxerxes of Persia to enforce God’s Law in Judah. What Ezra discovers, however, is an alarming intermingling with surrounding nations through marriages across religious divides—an act that threatens the very existence of this fragile remnant in Jerusalem. Ezra 9 is a difficult chapter to grasp, but its true challenge lies in its timeless call to faithful holiness. While our context today differs fr ...