The book of Ezra is about the return of some of God’s people from exile in Babylon, with the purpose of rebuilding the temple in Jerusalem. They return, first, under the leadership of Zerubbabel. It is like a second exodus, but this time only with a remnant of the people. There are just under fifty thousand out of an estimated two million Israelites who were in Babylon. This journey could only be taken by the committed as it would involve leaving the comforts of Babylon for a nine-hundred-mile trek and for the hardship of rebuilding a temple and a city. 

Restoration of Worship

When the people get back to Jerusalem, the first thing they begin to restore is the worship. They build an altar, they make sacrifices, and the singers and the musicians are appointed. Worship is primary. It has to be the first thing that is put in place in any work of spiritual rebuilding and restoration. The worship had to be carried out according to the Law and the instructions given to King David. In other words, it had to be worship as God desired it. The equivalent for us who are now under the new covenant, is worship that is in spirit and in truth (see John 4:23). 

Foundations

The next thing the rebuilders did was to get the foundations in place. If we are going to build something lasting for God, it has to have the right foundations. The city of God is a city with foundations, and Jesus Christ is the foundation stone (see Hebrews 11:10; 1 Corinthians 3:11-14). As the foundations were being laid, there was both joy and weeping at the same time (see Ezra 3:10-13). The weeping was because of the glory of the former temple. When involved in a programme of restoration, there will often be both that strange mixture of real joy at what God is doing, but also a sense of loss and longing as we yearn to recover some of the things that we once had and have been lost.

Apostles and Prophets

The rebuilding of the temple was led by Zerubbabel (a descendant of David and therefore in the line of Christ) and Jeshua. Some have seen in them a foreshadowing of the apostolic ministry of the New Testament. They were concerned with foundations and they were builders. Apostles are wise master builders (see 1 Corinthians 3:10). From what these OT leaders did, we see the importance of administering the work of God well. We also see that the leaders did not just tell others what to do. They were part of the workforce.

They also had to deal with opposition. God’s people will always face opposition when they want to do God’s work. In fact, the opposition stopped the building for a time. There was a fourteen-year gap when there was no building until a new foreign king arose called Darius. God used a man from the world to restart his work. Those among his people who encouraged them to start building again were the prophets Haggai and Zechariah. We see here the importance of the prophets working alongside the apostolic leaders to help them with the building of the temple (see Ephesians 2:20).

Teachers

The second part of the book from chapter seven onwards is about a second return from Babylon to Jerusalem under the leadership of Ezra. Only two thousand made the trip this time and Ezra was particularly concerned in gathering leading men. He was a priest and was therefore a teacher. He represents for us the important role of the teacher, along with apostles and prophets, in building the church (1 Corinthians 12:28; Acts 13:1; Ephesians 4:11). The New Testament tells us that there is a functional order of first apostles, second prophets and then teachers when it comes to building the church (1 Corinthians 12:28).  As a teacher, we note that Ezra was devoted not only to studying the word of God but to obeying it before he taught it to others (Ezra 7:10). It was not enough for him to study and teach it. He had to obey it himself. Ezra was concerned with building the people, just as the temple had been built, and therefore he addressed spiritual and ethical issues in the people.  As he does this, Ezra is not a dry and dusty academic lecturer but he is full of passion and a zeal for God. He is spontaneous and free in his teaching . As well as teaching, Ezra intercedes for the people of God and he ensures that the people follow through in radical obedience. It is not enough for him just to teach the principles of God’s word. He wants to ensure that the people radically obey God’s word, and so he addresses the very important issue of inter-marriage. Of course, for us Christians, under the new covenant, we are not to see this in literal terms as if inter-racial marriage is wrong. It is used as a metaphor to the church keeping herself pure for her bride, Jesus, and not being seduced by friendship with the world.

In the book of Ezra, then, among other things, it is possible to learn some lessons about the restoration and rebuilding of God’s house, the church. We especially see the importance of worship, of foundations, of the foundational ministries of apostles and prophets, and of the role of teachers.