Ezra 7:11

Ezra's family line is traced back to Aaron. He was therefore entitled to all the rights and privileges of the priesthood. He was also a skilled scribe, and so qualified to teach the people the statutes of the LORD. He became a priest by birth and consecration. But he became a scribe skilled in the Law of Moses that the LORD, the God of Israel, had given only by personal study of the Word. So inherited office, even among the Jews, could not supply the qualifications needed to carry it out. Those could only come from personal dealings with God in the Scriptures. Consecration entitled the priest by grace to minister before God. But he could only minister acceptably when he did everything in obedience to the Word, and he could not teach at all unless he himself knew the mind of God.

Often nothing is more damaging to souls than a shallow and narrow knowledge of the Word. God's children would avoid so many divisions and disputes if they looked at the Scriptures from their various sides. Take one truth away from the other truths tied to it, and leave those other truths out of account, and you usually show ignorance and self-will. It may even be the fruit of a proud self-satisfaction that wants to teach others and refuses to be taught by God. Almost all false doctrines start from a truth taken out of context. Misunderstood in that way, it becomes the very root of error.

Ezra now has power to act. But the great point, notice, is the purpose of his heart to do the will of God… In the book we are considering, king Artaxerxes pictures one who sets an open door before Ezra. Yes, but Ezra's heart was set on doing the will of God. God arranges all the outward circumstances, and opens the way, when our heart within is set on doing the right thing in the sight of the Lord. We never have any ground to complain about circumstances if only our heart is right with the Lord. The Lord can and will take care of everything else.

After this statement of the piety and zeal that marked Ezra, we get a full account of the letter Artaxerxes gave to Ezra. It amounts to a decree. Under its authority Ezra travelled to Jerusalem and acted once he got there. As you read these verses, you cannot help being struck by the wonderful work of God in the mind of a pagan king. It led the king to grant such powers, to order such help, and to acknowledge the claims and greatness of "the God of heaven". We also see the overruling wisdom of God controlling the mind of the king. So the king gave God's servant liberty — and even commanded him — to do what God intended.

The lesson lies on the surface. God is sovereign in the choice of His instruments. He does according to His will among the inhabitants of the earth as in the army of heaven, and none can stop His hand or say to Him, What are you doing? Our chapter shows it. "Artaxerxes, king of kings," and "Ezra the priest, a scribe of the law of God," are yoked together to carry out God's thoughts for His people and for His house in Jerusalem.