Articles
As it is written - Ezra 3
As it is written - Ezra 3
After 70 years in captivity because of their rebellion and disobedience unto the LORD, the people now are allowed to return and serve the LORD in the promised land. What would they do? How would they worship? It is indeed instructive to see.
3:2 – They built the altar “as it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God.”
3:4 – They celebrated the Feast of Booths, “as it is written…”
3:4 – “and offered the fixed number of burnt offerings daily, according to the ordinance, as each day required;”
3:10 – the priests gathered with the cymbals, “to praise the LORD according to the directions of King David of Israel”.
A quick search of the phrase “as it is written”, reveals that it appears over 40 times in our Bibles. Such is simply the foundation and basis of obedience and faith. We trust God that He knows what He wants and what is best. We do NOT always know WHY God instructs us to do certain things in certain ways, but we do not NEED to know WHY to know THAT such is what the LORD has said through the written Word.
The written word is the Word of the LORD! Whether revealed thru Moses some 1000 years earlier, or David 400 years earlier, it was STILL the Word of the LORD. Through such medium God was able to instruct not only a current generation, but generations to come.
The Psalmist writes of God’s lament concerning His people: “10 "I, the Lord, am your God, Who brought you up from the land of Egypt; Open your mouth wide and I will fill it. 11 "But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey Me. 12 "So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, To walk in their own devices. 13 "Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways!” (Psalms 81:10-13)
Such is still God’s will for His people. A new covenant has been given. The people of God now includes more than physical Israel. Disciples now come from ALL NATIONS, and yet the foundation of faith is to “them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)
Why do you do what you do? Are you listening to the LORD? Are you walking in His ways?
Hugh DeLong
