Ezra 2:64-67 The whole assembly together was forty-two thousand three hundred and sixty, besides their male and female servants, of whom there were seven thousand three hundred and thirty-seven; and they had two hundred men and women singers. Their horses were seven hundred and thirty-six, their mules two hundred and forty-five, their camels four hundred and thirty-five, and their donkeys six thousand seven hundred and twenty.

    Most of us can remember a time in our childhood when our parents told us of some coming event that seemed to us a long way off. The coming thing captured our attention and it became all we could think of. If the time between the ‘promise’ and the event was long, it was difficult to wait. There were days when it seemed it would never happen. And then it did! The excitement of being promised a good thing was so far eclipsed by the thing itself, it hardly compared!

    The people in today’s passage lived in a remarkable time. They were seeing the fulfill-ment of a promise made hundreds of years earlier. Their people had been in exile for 70 years but were now returning home! I’m sure it was hard to wait. But they should have known the day would come. They could have almost set their clocks by it, because God had said it would happen, and God always keeps His word. 

    Their grandparents had seen a different side of God’s word being kept as they were dragged away from their homeland in chains. God had been warning through His prophets that the result of their idolatry would be exile. But they had not believed and certainly had not obeyed. Since God always keeps His word, He allowed Babylon to conquer them and they were carried off. I feel sure that no consideration was giving to them packing an overnight bag when they were taken. No chance to grab a few precious belongings they cared about. Yet look at them now!

    They are returning with visible signs of prosperity. If you read chapter 1 you’ll see that they were given gold and silver to take with them as well as servants, horses, donkeys, mules, camels, they even had musicians! 

    God would have been justified in turning His back on them as they had done to Him. He would have been justified in washing His hands of them and finding another group of people to deal with. But He was merciful. God always keeps His word. He said they would be there 70 years, and now they were returning far more prosperous than when they arrived!

    We have all sinned. God would have been justified in turning His back on us. But He came to live a perfect life and die on cross that we would be forgiven of our sin and delivered to new life in Christ! We had sins and disobedience and He offered us eternal life! Not only that, but He said He would come again and take us to be with Him. It hasn’t happened yet, but don’t worry, God always keeps His word!

Blessings,

Pastor Russ