Akin Daniel L. - Exalting Jesus in Ezra and Nehemiah

Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary:

Ezra

Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary: Exalting Jesus in Ezra and Nehemiah

Copyright 2014 by James M. Hamilton

B&H Publishing Group

All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-0-8054-9674-1

Dewey Decimal Classification: 220.7

Subject Heading: BIBLE. O.T. EZRACOMMENTARIES \ BIBLE. O.T. NEHEMIAHCOMMENTARIES \ JESUS CHRIST

Unless otherwise stated all Scripture citations are from the Holman Christian Standard Bible Copyright 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.

Scripture quotations marked ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture citations marked NKJV are from The New King James Version, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982, Thomas Nelson, Inc., Publishers.

Printed in the United States of America

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Series Dedication

Dedicated to Adrian Rogers and John Piper. They have taught us to love the gospel of Jesus Christ, to preach the Bible as the inerrant Word of God, to pastor the church for which our Savior died, and to have a passion to see all nations gladly worship the Lamb.

David Platt, Tony Merida, and Danny Akin

March 2013

For

Clint and Dayna

and their quiverfull,

with gratitude for your

love, encouragement,

prayers, and support

across the

years

James Hamilton

February 2013

Series Introduction

A ugustine said, Where Scripture speaks, God speaks. The editors of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series believe that where God speaks, the pastor must speak. God speaks through His written Word. We must speak from that Word. We believe the Bible is God breathed, authoritative, inerrant, sufficient, understandable, necessary, and timeless. We also affirm that the Bible is a Christ-centered book; that is, it contains a unified story of redemptive history of which Jesus is the hero. Because of this Christ-centered trajectory that runs from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22, we believe the Bible has a corresponding global-missions thrust. From beginning to end, we see Gods mission as one of making worshipers of Christ from every tribe and tongue worked out through this redemptive drama in Scripture. To that end we must preach the Word.

In addition to these distinct convictions, the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series has some distinguishing characteristics. First, this series seeks to display exegetical accuracy. What the Bible says is what we want to say. While not every volume in the series will be a verse-by-verse commentary, we nevertheless desire to handle the text carefully and explain it rightly. Those who teach and preach bear the heavy responsibility of saying what God has said in His Word and declaring what God has done in Christ. We desire to handle Gods Word faithfully, knowing that we must give an account for how we have fulfilled this holy calling (Jas 3:1).

Second, the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series has pastors in view. While we hope others will read this series, such as parents, teachers, small-group leaders, and student ministers, we desire to provide a commentary busy pastors will use for weekly preparation of biblically faithful and gospel-saturated sermons. This series is not academic in nature. Our aim is to present a readable and pastoral style of commentaries. We believe this aim will serve the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Third, we want the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series to be known for the inclusion of helpful illustrations and theologically driven applications. Many commentaries offer no help in illustrations, and few offer any kind of help in application. Often those that do offer illustrative material and application unfortunately give little serious attention to the text. While giving ourselves primarily to explanation, we also hope to serve readers by providing inspiring and illuminating illustrations coupled with timely and timeless application.

Finally, as the name suggests, the editors seek to exalt Jesus from every book of the Bible. In saying this, we are not commending wild allegory or fanciful typology. We certainly believe we must be constrained to the meaning intended by the divine Author Himself, the Holy Spirit of God. However, we also believe the Bible has a messianic focus, and our hope is that the individual authors will exalt Christ from particular texts. Luke 24:25-27, 44-47; and John 5:39, 46 inform both our hermeneutics and our homiletics. Not every author will do this the same way or have the same degree of Christ-centered emphasis. That is fine with us. We believe faithful exposition that is Christ centered is not monolithic. We do believe, however, that we must read the whole Bible as Christian Scripture. Therefore, our aim is both to honor the historical particularity of each biblical passage and to highlight its intrinsic connection to the Redeemer.

The editors are indebted to the contributors of each volume. The reader will detect a unique style from each writer, and we celebrate these unique gifts and traits. While distinctive in approach, the authors share a common characteristic in that they are pastoral theologians. They love the church, and they regularly preach and teach Gods Word to Gods people. Further, many of these contributors are younger voices. We think these new, fresh voices can serve the church well, especially among a rising generation that has the task of proclaiming the Word of Christ and the Christ of the Word to the lost world.

We hope and pray this series will serve the body of Christ well in these ways until our Savior returns in glory. If it does, we will have succeeded in our assignment.

David Platt

Daniel L. Akin

Tony Merida

Series Editors

February 2013

Preface

P aul said that all Scripture is God-breathed and profitable (2 Tim 3:16). He didnt insert a nuanced footnote. He didnt walk it back and tell Timothy that some parts of the Bible are, of course, more profitable than others.

Do you think God means to instruct us from a list of names? Can we learn anything from dusty stories about building projects? Is there anything relevant for us in the accounts of the Israelites putting away their foreign wives?

The questions come down to this: Do you believe that God inspired the books of Ezra and Nehemiah?

Heres one way to discern the answer to that question: Would you preach these books? Im not talking about preaching them because the church is embarking on a building project. Im talking about preaching them straight through, start to finish, in the regular course of the ministry of the Word.

My guess is that if youre reading this preface, you believe God really did inspire both Ezra and Nehemiah, and you are open to the possibility of preaching these books. I hope this book will help whether youre going to preach, lead a Bible Study, or study through Ezra and Nehemiah in your personal examination of the Scriptures.

Another set of questions confronts those who believe that Ezra and Nehemiah are included in what Paul said about how whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction, so that we may have hope through endurance and through the encouragement from the Scriptures (Rom 15:4). How do the returns from exile and the rebuilding projects fit in the big story of the Bible? Was God at work in the rebuilding of the temple? Did He indwell that temple? Yes, He did! Were Ezra and Nehemiah laying the foundation for legalistic or pharisaic developments? No, they were not!

By faith Ezra and Nehemiah were used of God to advance Gods kingdom by provoking, preserving, and adding to the hope for a glorious eschatological restoration when the Messiah would reign. Can that be demonstrated from Ezra and Nehemiah? I hope youll read this book and consider my effort to show the kinds of connections that validate that assertion.