“O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.” (Ezr 9:15 AV)
Ezra and the people knew exactly where they were with God. By moving Cyrus, king of the Medes and Persians to allow the people of Judea to return, God showed them great grace. The people of Israel had gone after the idols of the pagan nations around them and actually were more wicked than they. The people of God were conquered and carried away captive, first by Assyria, then by Babylon. Seventy years after the carrying away to Babylon, God gave them the privilege of returning. Ezra led a group that would return to repair and rebuild the temple. While there in Judea, the Jews began to intermarry with the heathen that had taken up residence nearby. This greatly displeased the LORD. The Messiah was to be perfectly Jewish. If Judah began to intermarry, the pure Jewish seed would be compromised. Therefore, the people greatly repented and resolved the issue. What we want to see is the motive above. It was the fact God had delivered them from Babylon. Their motive, at least as expressed in the verse above, was realizing they had enjoyed the grace of God but used His mercy to make a mistake.
Many years ago, my wife and I did WeightWatchers. We ate better and lost weight because of it. One of the things that we cut out of our diet was fast food. We went a good three months without any of it. I still remember the day and the place where we broke that fast. I can remember where I sat in the restaurant. I can distinctly remember the taste of the food. It was awful. There was so much fat. I can remember because it struck me as odd that I would be repelled by something I grew up on and lusted after. I can also remember remarking to my wife, “I can’t believe we used to eat this stuff all the time.” This fast from fast food was a good thing. We cut out a lot of high-calorie, high-fatty foods. Donuts were another thing. I have a love/hate relationship with donuts. I know if I eat three of them, I don’t have to eat the rest of the day. All that lard just sits in the pit of my stomach. But I don’t eat them often because the fat content is just too high. They are not appealing. God gave us deliverance. What about now? Old habits are hard to break. We do not fast from fast food nearly as much. Why? Because we forgot that we were delivered. God brought us out and we went right back in.
The thing is, as a child of God, we are permanently escaped. From the day you accepted Christ unto all of eternity, you are free. I am free. There is no more Babylon. There is no more enemy. There is no more flesh. We have to learn to live that way. The liberty from sin that the blood of Christ gives should not be used as a license to sin. Besides, that only makes us miserable, anyway. Israel realized they had made a big error. God has set them free and now they were headed back down the same road that got them there in the first place. They were free from their captors with only hope laid before them. The temple was going back up. The walls around the holy city were being restored. Life was good again. God was good again. It is time to learn to live in the liberty God has given by walking in obedience and faith.
P.S. How are you doing encouraging others to follow this blog? Don't forget, there is a $20 gift card out there for the person who can bring the most in! Just have your friend mention you in a comment. Winner will be announced at the end of the month.
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