God's plans for His people

We human beings love to plan things, don't we? At least, some of us do! (Grin)
I guess there are many who like to kinda take things as they come, but I belong to the group that takes satisfaction in priorities, lists, post-it notes, and organized plans!

God has plans, too.
We're going to see this in our study of Ezra . . . first, we'll be reminded of the fact that He has a chosen people.
Did you have a chance to read chapter 2?
Let's roll!
The Jewish people had several times in their history erected monuments to remind them of God's faithfulness. To nudge them to recall His providential care. To visibly remind them of His miraculous works on their behalf.
Samuel had raised a monument to call attention to the Lord's intervention and the people's defeat of their bitter enemy, the Philistines. He called it the "stone of remembrance" or "Ebeneezer." Joshua had instructed the people to gather twelve large stones, one for each tribe, and stack them into a monument, following the miraculous event of carrying the Ark across while the waters of the sea were parted.
I somehow feel like this chapter in Ezra is another monument: God had allowed the captivity of His people, and now He was leading them back to the land -- just as He had promised.

10 For thus says the Lord: After seventy years are completed at Babylon, I will visit you and perform My good word toward you, and cause you to return to this place. 11 For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope. 12 Then you will call upon Me and go and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. 13 And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back from your captivity; I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you to the place from which I cause you to be carried away captive. (Jeremiah 29:10-14)

During the siege of Jerusalem, God had spoken to Jeremiah and instructed him to redeem his family ancestral property in Anathoth. He was to redeem, or buy back, reclaim his property as a witness that houses, fields, an agricultural land would be bought and claimed again (Chapter 32 in Jeremiah).
Now, in Ezra's list, there are 128 men from the village of Anathoth who are returning to the land of their heritage. This is like a banner with letters big and bold -- it reminds us that the return to the land happened because God stirred the heart of a pagan ruler (Cyrus) and caused him to fulfill His Word. Truly this was a reminder to them and to us, that God is faithful, and has plans for His people!

God had chosen Israel (all of those descended from Abraham) to be His people. Moses told the Israelites:

“For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth." (Deuteronomy 7:6)

Moses goes on in that chapter to tell them that it's not because of anything special in THEM, but rather because of God's promises to their forefathers!

 “Therefore know that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy for a thousand generations with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 and He repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them." (Deuteronomy 10:9-10a)

Wow, wouldn't that make you feel awe-struck? Kinda makes us wonder why they slipped and fell so far, so many times..... but then we are human and we slip and fall, too.

Anyway, these verses are the foundation or background to why we see the list of names in the second chapter of Ezra's book. Heritage and geneaology were super important to the Jewish people - because being a Jew was essential to being part of the covenant nation. The temple servants and the sons of Solomon's servants that are mentioned probably were not native Jewish people, but even if they were "foreigners," if they accepted the covenant of circumcision, they would be included in the nation of Israel. You can check out Exodus 12:48 to make sure I'm on the beam, here. (Grin)
The 652 who could not prove their ancestry were singled out and it seems that they were given essentially the same standing as circumcised foreigners. They lacked legitimate grounds for claiming any tribal lands.

By the time we turn over to the New Testament, instead of just feeling special, the Jews had taken their ancestry too far.  They were terribly prideful with regard to the Gentiles, and they even subscribed to the false teaching that a birth pedigree was all they needed to have a right standing with God! John the Baptist rebuked them:

Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones.  (Luke 3:8)

Just as Jesus told Nicodemus, the important birth is not to whom you are born physically, but being born again spiritually through repentance, and through faith in our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  (You can look that up in John chapter three.)
Paul makes the same point a couple of times in his letters:

For the promise that he would be the heir of the world was not to Abraham or to his seed through the law, but through the righteousness of faith. 14 For if those who are of the law are heirs, faith is made void and the promise made of no effect, 15 because the law brings about wrath; for where there is no law there is no transgression.16 Therefore it is of faith that it might be according to grace, so that the promise might be sure to all the seed, not only to those who are of the law, but also to those who are of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all ... (Romans 4:13-16)

But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel; 7 nor are they all children because they are Abraham’s descendants, but: “through Isaac your descendants will be named.” 8 That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are children of God, but the children of the promise are regarded as descendants.  (Romans 9:6-8)

If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:29)

The evidence, then, that we are God's chosen people is not our physical birth - instead, it's the evidence of the new birth through faith in Jesus. That's why Peter emphasized in our last study:

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; 6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; 7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind,forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, make every effort to confirm your calling and election. For if you do these things, you will never stumble, 11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. (II Peter 1:5-11)

We can see now that the list in Ezra is like a monument, a reminder.  It was an example to remind us of the registry that that really matters . . . we're talking about the Lamb's book of Life!

 And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done....And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:12, 15)

Let's make certain that our names are written there!