Christ In Ezra
Christ in Ezra
Bro Yeow Chin Kiong | 2 August 2026 | Ezra 7 : 6-10
" 6 this Ezra came up from Babylon; and he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which the Lord God of Israel had given. The king granted him all his request, according to the hand of the Lord his God upon him. 7 Some of the children of Israel, the priests, the Levites, the singers, the gatekeepers, and the Nethinim came up to Jerusalem in the seventh year of King Artaxerxes. 8 And Ezra came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, which was in the seventh year of the king. 9 On the first day of the first month he began his journey from Babylon, and on the first day of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of his God upon him. 10 For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of the Lord, and to do it, and to teach statutes and ordinances in Israel.."
The Foreshadows Were Always Pointing to Him
From the very beginning, the God of heaven had a plan. He is the One who tells the future from the past. He comes to us, equips us with the knowledge of what He has done, and reveals what He is doing still. And the person the world knows as Jesus Christ did not simply appear one day, die, and rise again as an unexpected event. The Bible tells us God prepared for the first coming — leaving clues, indications, shadows, and illustrations scattered through the Old Testament — so that when the Christ came, His people would recognise Him.
Today's lesson brings us to the book of Ezra — a book that at first glance seems to be simply about people returning from exile, rebuilding a temple, and re-establishing worship. But look carefully, and you will find the foreshadow of the coming Christ written on every page.
The Setting — A People in Exile, A God Who Would Not Let Them Go
Ezra takes the storyline directly from the end of 2 Chronicles. God had chosen a people — not the wise or the mighty of the earth, not Asians, not Europeans, not Caucasians, but a specific family beginning with Abraham. Why? Because through that line He was going to send His Son — fully God and fully man in one Person — and the human element of the Messiah had to come through a woman of that lineage.
But this chosen people fell repeatedly into the one sin God cannot tolerate: idolatry. "You shall have no other gods before Me" (Exodus 20:3) — the very first of the Ten Commandments, repeated in Deuteronomy 5. And yet Israel forgot. It always began with the leaders — kings like Jeroboam, "who taught Israel to sin," and in the southern kingdom, even Solomon, considered the wisest man in ancient literature. He built God's magnificent temple in Jerusalem — but for the love of his many foreign wives, he brought idols into the very land God had given. Institutionalised idolatry. And God's warning came true.
The Northern Kingdom fell to Assyria. Some 200 years later, the Southern Kingdom fell to Babylon. The Israelites went into exile for 70 years. The temple was destroyed. The precious artefacts were carted away to Babylon. To the surrounding nations it looked like Israel's God had failed. In truth, God had allowed His people to be defeated because they had worshipped idols — but even in the punishment, His grace was already at work.
When Babylon itself fell to the Medo-Persians (whose land is roughly modern-day Iran), a new administration — very unlike the Babylonians — allowed conquered peoples to return home and even supported them in rebuilding their places of worship. It was into this moment that Ezra steps in.
Ezra — The Priest Who Rebuilt Worship
Ezra was a priest and a scribe. He was a cupbearer — the trusted man who tested food and wine for the emperor to guard against poison, a position of enormous trust in the ancient world. But when the time came, God stirred his heart to lead his people home. Under Persian permission, God's people were allowed not just to return, but to rebuild the temple and re-establish true worship.
Look at Ezra's slow, faithful timeline:
520 BC — Temple rebuilding resumes (2nd year of Darius) — Ezra 5:2; Haggai 1:14
516 BC — Temple construction completed (6th year of Darius) — Ezra 6:15
458 BC — Ezra departs from Babylon to Jerusalem — Ezra 7:6–9
Then the men of Judah and Benjamin assemble at Jerusalem, and officials conduct a three-month investigation — Ezra 10:9,16–17
Between Ezra chapter 6 and chapter 7 there is a gap of about 60 years — and it was during this in-between period that the events of Esther took place. Look at the whole timeline of the exile and return — Jeremiah, Daniel, the deportations of Nebuchadnezzar, the fall of Jerusalem in 586 BC, Cyrus in 539, the temple begun in 536, the temple completed in 517, Ezra in 458, Nehemiah in 446. Every date, every emperor, every stone laid was under the hand of God.
Ezra's deep devotion to studying, obeying, and teaching God's law points to Jesus as the ultimate Living Word and the supreme Teacher of God's people. That is Ezra's first foreshadow.
But there is far more. Let us look at each of the four shadows of Christ that this quiet book of Ezra sets before us.
Shadow 1 — The King Who Was to Come
Israel wanted a king. God gave them one, then another, then another — but every one of them, even the best, fell short. Yet each king was the foreshadow of a Kingship that was morally upright and just. They pointed to a coming King who would rule perfectly, righteously, and forever — Jesus, the Son of David, the true and righteous King.
Shadow 2 — The High Priest Who Was to Come
The Old Testament priest had to first sacrifice for his own sins before he could sacrifice for the people. He himself was a sinner. But God's plan was to send a Priest who was without sin, and who Himself became the sacrifice — not for His own guilt, but for the guilt of everyone else.
"Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage… Therefore, in all things He had to be made like His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself has suffered, being tempted, He is able to aid those who are tempted." (Hebrews 2:14–18)
Every time the Israelites looked at their earthly priest, they were meant to see a shadow of the greater Priest to come. Jesus is that Priest. He is merciful. He is faithful. He knows what it is to suffer and be tempted — so He is able to aid you when you are tempted. He is the High Priest we have needed all along.
Shadow 3 — The Prophet Who Was to Come
The prophets were messengers of God, sent to remind His people of their duty and to teach them His will. Moses himself was a prophet — and Moses said a greater Prophet was coming after him. That greater Prophet is Jesus Christ. "Kings, priests, and prophets — all three offices were focused on Jesus Christ." This is how the Old Testament system connects to the New: the Old Testament pointed to the New Testament; the shadows pointed to the reality.
Shadow 4 — The Temple That Was to Come
This is the heart of the lesson from Ezra. The Rebuilding of the Temple: The reconstruction of God's house under Zerubbabel and Jeshua foreshadows Christ, who declared His own body to be the true temple and the ultimate meeting place between God and man.
Some people think a temple is just a place — a building. In the Bible, a temple is meant to remind you that God can be present with you, and that you are present with Him. That is what the temple was all about.
Now watch what Jesus did.
"Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers' money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, 'Take these things away! Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise.' Then His disciples remembered that it was written, 'Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.'" (John 2:13–17)
That house was the temple that Ezra's generation rebuilt. That is the same temple Herod later greatly expanded. And when the Jews demanded a sign for Jesus' authority to overturn the tables in it, Jesus made a cryptic, mysterious statement that they could not understand:
"'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.' Then the Jews said, 'It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?' But He was speaking of the temple of His body. Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said." (John 2:19–22)
Do you see it? The temple is the place where God is present. Jesus is God. And so Jesus can rightly say — 'My body is the temple.' One group heard Him and thought about bricks. Another group only understood after the resurrection. But this is the first great indication that Ezra's temple was always pointing to Jesus.
If there had been no Ezra — if there had been no record of the rebuilding of the temple — this prophetic insight would have been lost. That is why Ezra matters.
The Temple Becomes You
But there is more. Look at what Peter says about every one of us:
"Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ… Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious, and he who believes on Him will by no means be put to shame." (1 Peter 2:4–6)
The concept of a "spiritual house" in the time of the apostles could only refer to the temple that was standing at that time. And when Peter says the Christian is a built-up structure — a spiritual house — the picture has been transferred to something on a completely different level.
We saw the temple symbolise the body of Jesus — in whom deity dwelt. Now we see the temple symbolise the church — with Jesus as the cornerstone. Today, when you talk about the temple, you talk about yourself, too, as a Christian. You are the temple. The Spirit of God dwells in you.
And One Day — No Temple At All
Then comes the final vision, in Revelation:
"But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light… Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there)… But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life." (Revelation 21:22–27)
Why is there no temple in heaven? Because the temple is where the presence of God is — and in heaven, you are already in the open presence of God. There is no need for a building. There is no more sun or moon, because the Lamb Himself is the light.
Someone once said, "Don't think too much about heaven — until you have just had surgery." When your body is reeling from pain, then you long for a place where there is no more pain, no more night, no more sorrow. That place is real. That place is heaven. And Ezra's rebuilt temple was the shadow that always pointed toward it.
No More Altar, No More Sacrifice — Because Christ Has Fulfilled It All
In Ezra's day, they rebuilt the altar first, and then the temple around it. They gave thanks. They offered sacrifices. But look at what the writer of Hebrews teaches:
"We have an altar from which those who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat. For the bodies of those animals, whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest for sin, are burned outside the camp. Therefore Jesus also, that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, suffered outside the gate. Therefore let us go forth to Him, outside the camp, bearing His reproach. For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come. Therefore by Him let us continually offer the sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to His name. But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased." (Hebrews 13:10–16)
Golgotha, where the cross of our Lord was raised, was outside the city. Jesus Himself was the sacrifice, offered once for all. And so today, we do not need an altar — you will not find one in any church of Christ that follows the New Testament. We have nothing to offer as a physical sacrifice for sin, because Christ has already given the perfect sacrifice.
What then is our sacrifice? Doing good. Sharing with others. Praise to His name. When we collect every Sunday, it is not an offering to appease God — it is the means by which we do good and share. That is what pleases God today.
The Response — Come to Christ
Here is where every foreshadow of Ezra lands. If Jesus is the promised King, the perfect Priest, the greater Prophet, and the true Temple — then what should you do about it?
The gospel calls you to respond. The Bible does not leave you guessing. There are clear access steps to Christ:
Hear the Gospel (Romans 10:17)
Believe the Gospel (John 8:24)
Repent of your Sins (Acts 17:30)
Confess Faith in Christ (Romans 10:10)
Be Baptized (Acts 22:16)
Saved — in Christ (Galatians 3:27)
Without Christ, you are lost (Ephesians 2:12). But in baptism, you re-enact the very gospel itself — the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus — "buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead" (Colossians 2:12; see also Romans 6:3–6).
You have to die to your sins. You have to be born again. And then the change is not over — because a new life must produce new fruit. You must change how you live.
Do Not Wait
One week from now, we may or may not still be here. None of us knows. And so, if you are not yet a Christian, please do not delay. Come to Christ. Obey the gospel. Be added to His church. Live a life that shows the world what a true temple of God looks like — a heart in which God Himself dwells.
If Ezra had never written, this beautiful chain of foreshadows would have been lost. But God preserved every detail. He preserved the rebuilt temple so that Jesus could stand in it and say, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." He preserved the priesthood so that Hebrews could show us the greater High Priest. He preserved the prophets so we could recognise the greater Prophet. He preserved the kingship so we could bow to the true King.
Every shadow points to Christ. And Christ is calling to you.
"For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come." (Hebrews 13:14)
Seek Him. Follow Him. Live for Him. And one day — very soon — you will stand in the city where there is no temple, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its Temple, and you will be at home with Him forever.
