Ezra 9:10

The Bible says in Ezra 9:10-15, “And now, O our God, what shall we say after this? for we have forsaken thy commandments,[11] Which thou hast commanded by thy servants the prophets, saying, The land, unto which ye go to possess it, is an unclean land with the filthiness of the people of the lands, with their abominations, which have filled it from one end to another with their uncleanness.[12] Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons, nor seek their peace or their wealth for ever: that ye may be strong, and eat the good of the land, and leave it for an inheritance to your children for ever.[13] And after all that is come upon us for our evil deeds, and for our great trespass, seeing that thou our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve, and hast given us such deliverance as this;[14] Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us, so that there should be no remnant nor escaping?[15] O LORD God of Israel, thou art righteous: for we remain yet escaped, as it is this day: behold, we are before thee in our trespasses: for we cannot stand before thee because of this.” Ezra knows that the nation of Israel has sinned against God. Ezra said in verse ten, “we have forsaken thy commandments.” Our country has also forsaken the commandments of God, so we are in a very bad place too. One of the problems, according to verse eleven, is that unbelievers were all around them and the unbelievers were defiling everything. A very important command is found in verse twelve, “Now therefore give not your daughters unto their sons, neither take their daughters unto your sons.” It can be a terrible thing when believers marry unbelievers. It goes against an important principle of scripture. One of the practical benefits of sending your children to a good conservative Christian college is the fact that they will be around two or three thousand members of the opposite sex most of whom are Christians. If the Lord so guides, that would be a good place to meet one’s future mate.

Ezra made an important statement in verse thirteen. He said, “our God hast punished us less than our iniquities deserve.” That is always true. God is so merciful to everyone. If you really understand your sins, and how guilty you are compared to the holiness of God, then you understand exactly what Ezra said. If God struck me down with a lightning bolt this very moment and sent me to hell forever, I would deserve that. But He did not. I am still here and still writing, and so that proves that God is being merciful to me every single moment. Of course, once you know Jesus as Savior and know what the Bible says about justification by faith, you know that all your sins are gone and that you are on your way to heaven. Because of Jesus, the wrath of God will never be brought against you. But it will be brought against unbelievers one day, so make sure that you are saved through faith in Christ.

In verse fourteen Ezra expresses the concern that they will not learn from the past, but continue to make the same mistakes. Ezra knows that no one can presume upon God’s mercy. Ezra said, “Should we again break thy commandments, and join in affinity with the people of these abominations? wouldest not thou be angry with us till thou hadst consumed us.” Beware. The Judge is at the door. He is holy. That should frighten you. Never think that you can sin and get away with it. Ezra knew that would be a dangerous thing to do.

The Bible says in Ezra 10:1-9, “Now when Ezra had prayed, and when he had confessed, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, there assembled unto him out of Israel a very great congregation of men and women and children: for the people wept very sore.[2] And Shechaniah the son of Jehiel, one of the sons of Elam, answered and said unto Ezra, We have trespassed against our God, and have taken strange wives of the people of the land: yet now there is hope in Israel concerning this thing.[3] Now therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all the wives, and such as are born of them, according to the counsel of my lord, and of those that tremble at the commandment of our God; and let it be done according to the law.[4] Arise; for this matter belongeth unto thee: we also will be with thee: be of good courage, and do it.[5] Then arose Ezra, and made the chief priests, the Levites, and all Israel, to swear that they should do according to this word. And they sware.[6] Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God, and went into the chamber of Johanan the son of Eliashib: and when he came thither, he did eat no bread, nor drink water: for he mourned because of the transgression of them that had been carried away.[7] And they made proclamation throughout Judah and Jerusalem unto all the children of the captivity, that they should gather themselves together unto Jerusalem;[8] And that whosoever would not come within three days, according to the counsel of the princes and the elders, all his substance should be forfeited, and himself separated from the congregation of those that had been carried away.[9] Then all the men of Judah and Benjamin gathered themselves together unto Jerusalem within three days. It was the ninth month, on the twentieth day of the month; and all the people sat in the street of the house of God, trembling because of this matter, and for the great rain.” In verse one it says that Ezra prayed, confessed, and wept. We should confess often because we are great sinners. If you are a true believer, there are two ways to stay in constant fellowship with the Savior. One way is to never do what is wrong. No one can do that. If anyone says that they no longer sin, they are lying. Even though our goal is to do what is right, and we try to do what is right, we still fail every day and we therefore ask for daily cleansing from sin, so that we can stay in fellowship with Christ. As it says in First John chapter 1, “The blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanses us from all sin.” Ezra not only prayed and confessed, but he also wept. He was truly burdened by his sins and by the sins of the people of his nation. Other people followed his example, “the people wept very sore.”

They had a sin problem, and they wanted to do something about it. Do not just pray and confess. Also, do something to fix the problem. The problem was that they had chosen wives and husbands who were not believers. The solution was divorce. Wow, who would have thought this? The Bible actually presenting divorce as a solution to tremendous problems. The New Testament does the same thing. It says in First Corinthians 7:12-15, “ But to the rest speak I, not the Lord: If any brother hath a wife that believeth not, and she be pleased to dwell with him, let him not put her away.[13] And the woman which hath an husband that believeth not, and if he be pleased to dwell with her, let her not leave him.[14] For the unbelieving husband is sanctified by the wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified by the husband: else were your children unclean; but now are they holy.[15] But if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A brother or a sister is not under bondage in such cases: but God hath called us to peace.” The New Testament standard for a marriage between a believer and an unbeliever is this: make the marriage work if you can. But if you are married to an unbeliever and they want to divorce you, let them divorce you. God wants you to have peace in your home. “God hath called us to peace.” If you have been divorced, do not feel guilty about it. There are two ways that a marriage ends: death and divorce. Once it is over, it is over. Get on with your life without guilt. God forgives. He understands. He knows. The best way not to marry the wrong person is to pray a lot before you are married to seek God’s leading, and only seek to marry a person who loves Jesus. It is not enough that they say they are a believer. They must demonstrate through actions and attitude that they love the Lord Jesus.

The Bible says in Ezra 10:10-22, “And Ezra the priest stood up, and said unto them, Ye have transgressed, and have taken strange wives, to increase the trespass of Israel.[11] Now therefore make confession unto the LORD God of your fathers, and do his pleasure: and separate yourselves from the people of the land, and from the strange wives.[12] Then all the congregation answered and said with a loud voice, As thou hast said, so must we do.[13] But the people are many, and it is a time of much rain, and we are not able to stand without, neither is this a work of one day or two: for we are many that have transgressed in this thing.[14] Let now our rulers of all the congregation stand, and let all them which have taken strange wives in our cities come at appointed times, and with them the elders of every city, and the judges thereof, until the fierce wrath of our God for this matter be turned from us.[15] Only Jonathan the son of Asahel and Jahaziah the son of Tikvah were employed about this matter: and Meshullam and Shabbethai the Levite helped them.[16] And the children of the captivity did so. And Ezra the priest, with certain chief of the fathers, after the house of their fathers, and all of them by their names, were separated, and sat down in the first day of the tenth month to examine the matter.[17] And they made an end with all the men that had taken strange wives by the first day of the first month.[18] And among the sons of the priests there were found that had taken strange wives: namely, of the sons of Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren; Maaseiah, and Eliezer, and Jarib, and Gedaliah.[19] And they gave their hands that they would put away their wives; and being guilty, they offered a ram of the flock for their trespass.[20] And of the sons of Immer; Hanani, and Zebadiah.[21] And of the sons of Harim; Maaseiah, and Elijah, and Shemaiah, and Jehiel, and Uzziah.[22] And of the sons of Pashur; Elioenai, Maaseiah, Ishmael, Nethaneel, Jozabad, and Elasah.” The list of names continues to the end of the book of Ezra. This passage ends with a long list of people who got divorced because the man of God told them to get divorced. How many preachers will preach this passage? The man of God stands up and tells the people to divorce their spouses. Here is how we can look at adults who have made a mess of their lives. You cannot fix stupid. If you want to help someone who has a messed-up life, help them before they mess up their lives. That might work. In other words, help young people to do things God’s way early on before they make the terrible decisions that send them down the wrong path in life. Thank God that Jesus forgives sin and allows people to start over, but the practical reality is that once a life has become a total train wreck, it can take a very long time to fix all the damage and get that train back on the right track. Make good Biblical decisions, young people. Do not be derailed by your own selfish desires.

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