Ezra (Program #4) – The Need for Ezras—Those Skilled in the Word of God

Ezra and Nehemiah are the recovery books of the Bible. That’s because they talk about the recovery of Israel, God’s people, in the Old Testament back to Jerusalem from captivity in Babylon. Today we are going to see the crucial need in this recovery for Ezra and many that would follow his pattern today.

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Ezra (Program #3) – The Return of the Captivity under the Priestly Leadership of Ezra

Deep within every Christian, there is a desire to be free from any kind of captivity of the enemy, Satan. If you agree with that, then you would want to stay with us right here for the next half hour as we discuss the return of the captivity under the priestly leadership of Ezra.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah in the Old Testament, we call these books the recovery books because according to the history that is presented in the Old Testament before Ezra at end of the books of Chronicles, God’s people Israel had been carried away from the land of Israel into the land of Babylon – so they were there in their captivity. And then a certain time God came in to bring a remnant, a small number not all of them but a small number back to the land of Israel, the good land that He had given to their forefathers. So these we call the recovery and these books we call the recovery books.

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Zechariah (Program #3) – The Visions of Consolation and Promise (2)

Zechariah chapter 2 is one of the mysterious chapters in the Bible and to be sure the book of Zechariah is considered quite mysterious by many, if not most believers. A man with a measuring line appears in verse 1 and this man is measuring Jerusalem. Then, Jehovah declares that He will be the glory within Jerusalem and the fire round about her protecting the city and His people and its inhabitants. All of this is against the backdrop of the previous seventy years of history where Jehovah seemingly was silent and inactive. What has caused the Lord to rise up and take such an active and vigorous stand on behalf of His people?  The answer is clear – His people has returned from captivity in Babylon and they are re-inhabiting Jerusalem and Jehovah is re-inhabiting His house, the temple.

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Haggai (Program #1) – The Building of the House of Jehovah in Relation to Israel’s Welfare and Messiah’s Coming

Some of the most penetrating words in all of Scriptures are found in the Old Testament Prophet, Haggai. They are penetrating because they have immediate relevant to every believer. And they touch us in some of the most carefully guarded places in our hearts.

“Is it time for you yourself to dwell in your paneled-up houses?” he writes, “while this house,” God’s House “lies waste?..Consider your ways, you sown much but you bring in little, you eat but there is no satisfaction.”

Haggai was a prophet raised up by the Lord to accompany His people on their return to Judah and Jerusalem following the 70 long years of captivity in Babylon. And when they returned they faced the temple, God’s house in ruin and in desperate need of rebuilding. But they like so many of us today have become completely preoccupied and engrossed with their own needs and situations. And the result as imply by Haggai probing questions is that, in spit of all of their effort and dedication without God’s hand of blessing in their lives, they and we would never be satisfied regardless of how much material wealth or possession we acquired. These are questions that must be asked again and again among God’s people.

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Daniel (Program #7) – The Victory of the Young Descendants of God’s Degraded Elect (5)

“The handwriting is on the wall.” Well nearly all of us have heard this phrase, but did you know that it comes from Daniel chapter 5?

The writing on the wall from a mysterious hand is the story here.  The main character today that Daniel encounters is this man, this king named Belshazzar.  Belshazzar is a descendant of Nebuchadnezzar.  To get the context of the handwriting on the wall we begin with the verses in chapter 5:1-4.  This was quite a  humiliation quite an insult to the God of heaven; to take the very items that have been used for the worship of the one True God and use them now for the worship and praise of these idols.  This really provides a setting for another victory of the young overcomers that the Lord has sovereignly arranged to be in the house of Belshazzar the king in Babylon.

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Daniel (Program #3) – The Victory of the Young Descendants of of God’s Degraded Elect (2)

Four young captives were victorious in Babylon, Daniel and his three friends overcame the devilish blinding that keeps people from seeing God’s vision of human government throughout history.  We are going to see some of that victory and the vision today on this life-study of Daniel.

Today we want to discuss the dream which Nebuchadnezzar who is the king of Babylon had.  In the dream he saw a human image which was interpreted by Daniel.  Let’s look at the verses in this story from chapter 2 beginning from verse 32.  The king Nebuchadnezzar has had this dream and Daniel one of these four victorious young ones who has been taken captive from Israel is about to interpret the dream for the king…

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Daniel (Program #2) – The Victory of the Young Descendants of of God’s Degraded Elect Over Satan’s Further Device (1)

The book of Daniel in the Old Testament opens with the account of the Lord giving the children of Israel into captivity verse 1& 2. “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim the king of Judah Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it.  And the Lord gave Jehoiakim the king of Judah into his hand with some of the vessels of the house of God; and he brought them into the land of Shinar to the house of his god, and he brought the vessels into the treasury of his god.” This account of the captivity of the children of Israel in Babylon is really the focus and topic seemingly of the book of Daniel.

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Jeremiah (Program #24) – Separation of the Church, God’s New Testament Elect from the World in All its Aspects

The Bible, especially the Old Testament is often studies merely in the way of history, looking at names, dates and places.  And though there are some values in this manner of study, for us as believers the greater need is to see the Bible open up as a book of life.  For this, it is seeing the spiritual significance of events that yields the greatest benefit.  And It is in this light that our study of Jeremiah has brought us to consider the final chapters where God’s wrath even His vengeance is poured out on one nation on earth that has been the most offensive to Him and rendered the most damage upon His chose people.  God’s judgment upon Babylon and its significance for God’s people today is our topic.

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Jeremiah (Program #23) – A Supplement to the History of Captivity

After so many chapters in Jeremiah dealing with God’s judgment upon the sins of His people Israel, the prophet turns his attention to the judgment upon worldly nations and governments.  The height of this judgment is centered on the one nation throughout history that has been the greatest evil and the greatest offense to God, Babylon.  In chapter 51, Jeremiah uttered these prophetic words about what will befall this evil city. “And Jeremiah wrote in a book all the evil that would come on Babylon, even all these words that are written concerning Babylon. And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When you come to Babylon, see that you read all these words; And say, O Jehovah, You have spoken concerning this place, to cut it off, so that nothing should dwell in it, neither man nor animal, for it will be an eternal desolation.”  But as severe as this judgment sounds, it was not the final judgment against this mighty city and what it represents.  For at the end of the New Testament, the judgment of Babylon is once again a key factor in the events related to the end of this age.  What is this city Babylon?  What does it represent and why does it occupy such a prominent position in the history of mankind and all that stands and opposes God?  We will consider the judgment of Babylon on today’s program.

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Nehemiah (Program #2) – An Introductory Word and the Rebuilding of the Wall of the City of Jerusalem under Nehemiah

Ezra and Nehemiah are unique Old Testament books that give us the story of the Lord’s recovery. These two recovery books of the Bible gives detail about the recovery of God’s people back to Jerusalem from their seventy year captivity in Babylon. Stay with us as we apply the principles from this Old Testament picture to our situation in the Lord’s recovery today.

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