the city walls, the early mornings, the late nights,
all of the praying, the fasting, the strategic planning,
the giving of time and money and energy and resources,
persevering through threats and opposition,
confronting conflict.
What is all this for?
Where is it all leading to?
That's what we see beginning in chapter eight.
In many ways, chapter eight, eight through 10
are the climax to this whole story.
We see at the beginning of chapter eight
that God works powerfully among his people,
that a revival breaks out.
God works in a powerful way to bring about a great movement
of spiritual renewal among the people.
And how this spiritual renewal happens
and what follows is the subject of chapters eight through 10.
And this morning, we're gonna see part one
of this movement of renewal as we focus on chapter eight.
We're gonna ask two questions.
Our two questions are what happens in this story
and what can we learn?
What happens in this story and what can we learn?
So first of all, let's look at what happens in this story.
Beginning of verse one tells us that very early one morning,
at the beginning of the seventh month of the year,
all of the people gather together
in the city near the water gates.
The water gate.
Remember that for later on in the sermon.
This assembly of people is just shy of about 50,000 people.
So imagine Nat's Park downtown.
Imagine National's Park filled to the brim.
That's about the size of this assembly.
And the people have gathered,
they've assembled for one purpose,
to hear the word of God read.
To hear the word of God read.
Now you have to appreciate the drama
and expectation of this moment.
This is something that had not happened
in the life of God's people for several generations.
The people gathered together in this moment
had not heard God's word read or taught publicly
in such an assembly for over 100 years.
You know, many of us have probably been to church many times.
Some of us may have grown up in the church.
And so you just have to appreciate
what would it have been like
to grow up in Babylon during the exile
and to never have heard the word of God read
or taught publicly.
Not a single sermon, not a single Bible study.
But now for the first time,
you're gathered with 50,000 of your friends and family
to hear the word of the Lord.
And so Ezra the priest and the scribe
climbs up on top of a large wooden platform
that they had built
so that people could see him and hear him
as he read God's word.
And he gets to the top
and he puts the big book of the law
on top of the podium
and he opens it
and he starts reading.
Verse three says that the people were eager.
They were attentive to read the book,
to read God's word.
Verse three,
and the ears of all the people
were attentive to the book of the law.
The people are waiting.
They're on the edge of their seat.
They're eager.
They're receptive.
They're open.
They're attentive to the word.
If you're here this morning
and you're unfamiliar with the Bible,
maybe particularly the Old Testament,
what Ezra was reading,
the book of the law,
would have been the first five books
of the Old Testament.
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus,
Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
These are also known
as the five books of Moses
or the Pentateuch.
The Pentateuch.
One way to think about it
if you're unfamiliar with the Bible
is that these books
were Israel's
Declaration of Independence,
Constitution,
and Gettysburg Address
all wrapped into one.
These five books
told the story
of who God was,
of who they were
as a people,
what their story was,
and how they were to live
in light of that.
Verses seven through eight
tell us that not only
was God's word
clearly read,
but it was clearly
explained.
It was clearly explained.
As Ezra read,
the Levites helped
the people to understand
what was being read.
How exactly did this happen?
What was the format of this?
What was the structure of this?
Well, we actually aren't told
specifically in this text.
Some scholars suggest
that perhaps Ezra
read a section
and then paused
and perhaps
across the whole assembly
as people are gathered
in small groups,
the Levites would go around
and sort of share
and summarize
and explain
what was just read.
And then Ezra would move on
to reading the next section.
We don't know
if this is exactly
the order of what happened,
but we know
that some version
of this
is what happened.
Ezra read
and the Levites
explained clearly
the meaning
of God's word.
And this went on
for four hours.
We're told it goes on
from sunrise
to midday
around noon.
Next time you think
that a Sunday morning sermon
might be
going a little long,
just remember
Nehemiah chapter 8.
Four hours.
People are standing.
And that at the end
of it all,
at the end of the four hours,
how did the people respond?
Well, we see in verse 6,
and Ezra blessed the Lord,
the great God.
And all the people answered,
Amen, Amen,
lifting up their hands.
And they bowed their heads
and worshiped the Lord
with their faces
to the ground.
And then in verse 9,
for all the people
wept
as they heard
the words of the law.
This is a powerful moment.
The Spirit of God
is moving.
The people worshiped
and they wept
in response
to God's word.
Why is that?
Why did they respond
in that way?
Well,
well, of course,
God's Spirit
was moving
among them powerfully.
But again,
imagine for a moment
that you've grown up
in exile in Babylon
and you've never heard
the word of God
read or taught publicly
in a way
that you can understand.
And then you hear Ezra
get up
and start reading
the book of Genesis
and how God
made heaven and earth
and all of his,
every man and woman
made and created
in his image
and how God
had made a promise
to Abraham
that his people,
your people,
would be a light
to the nations,
a blessing
to all the peoples
on earth.
And then Ezra
moves on to Exodus.
You hear the miraculous
story of God's
great power and salvation
to lead your ancestors
out of bondage
when they were in slavery
in Egypt
and how Moses
led them to Mount Sinai
where the Lord
appeared
in great power
and glory
and smoke
and fire
and entered
into a covenant
relationship
with his people
and gave them the law.
And then you keep,
Ezra keeps reading
in Leviticus
and Numbers
and Deuteronomy
and you read
how God
made it possible
for a sinful
people,
for a sinful
people
to continue
to live
in a covenant
relationship
with the Holy God
through atonement
and sacrifice
to follow
his commands
and to walk
in his way
so that they might
live out their vocation
of being a light
and a blessing
to all the nations
of the earth.
And over the course
of four hours
you hear the story
of your people
being read
of your people
to giveHope