Ezra is a direct descendant of Aaron, the brother of Moses,
the first high priest. Ezra, however, was
both priest and scribe, one who was dedicated not to the service of the temple
but to the Word of God. He had set
himself this one thing, to know and teach the law to God’s people. In the exile, there was no temple, there was
only the Word of God and the promises of God to forgive the people who
confessed and repented, even without sacrifice, which was impossible outside
the temple. They couldn’t do the
religious things so they had to know the Word and be even more diligent about
keeping it. Isn’t it amazing that
Artaxerxes was willing to provide, out of the king’s treasury, for the needs of
the worship of the people in Jerusalem?
His program was to allow and encourage the worship of the gods of the
people in the belief that this generosity would inspire peaceful coexistence
under his earthly rule. I wonder how
much of the Law the king knew when he gave Ezra permission to enforce God’s
law? If the king knew the law, he had
great wisdom and insight that it would produce good citizens.
Herod the tetrarch is distinguished from his father, Herod
the Great. This Herod had married his
brother’s wife, Herodias, in spite of the fact that the law prohibited such
marriages. The family was Jewish, so the
law did apply. John had been imprisoned
because Herodias wanted it for his condemnation of the marriage. Herod apparently knew in his heart that John
was right but didn’t know what to do about him.
He, like the king in the story of Esther, was a foolish man and promised
on oath to do whatever his wife’s daughter asked of him because of his pleasure
in her dancing. Bound by his oath, he
not only consented but ordered the beheading of John. In this we see a picture of a man who will go
with the flow, not make bold decisions, who will allow then the crucifixion of
Jesus because it is the path of least resistance.
These 144,000 are essentially the saints who have kept
themselves pure, a priestly group who are with Jesus. They have been set apart like John the
Baptist. We then see three angels flying
over the earth, the first proclaiming “an eternal Gospel,” fear God, give Him
glory and worship Him. This angel bases
the fear of God in the coming judgment.
The second angel proclaims the fall of Babylon for her sexual immorality
that the nations have learned from her. The
final angel proclaims judgment against those who have worshiped the beast and
its image and have taken not the mark of the Lamb on the forehead or hand but
the mark of the beast. The blessing is pronounced for those who die in the
Lord, those who persevere in their faith, no matter the cost in this life. Truth must be committed to at all costs.
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