Crystallization-Study of 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther
Message Five
Ezra, a Priestly Scribe, and the Need for Ezras—
Those Skilled in the Word of God
OPENING WORD OF THE PROPHESYING MEETING
Reading the verses in each day.
Reading the main points in the outlines.
Pray-reading the verses:
Ezra 7:6 This Ezra …was a scribe skilled in the law of Moses, which Jehovah the God of Israel had given; and the king granted him all his request according to the hand of Jehovah his God upon him.
Col. 3:6 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual song.
Word of Appetizer
Why is Ezra a priestly scribe?
Ezra was a priest and also a scribe; thus, he was not a letter scribe but a priestly scribe. A priest is one who is mingled with the Lord and saturated with the Lord; Ezra was this kind of person. Ezra was a man who trusted in God, who was one with God, who was skilled in the word of God, and who knew God’s heart, God’s desires, and God’s economy. As a priestly scribe, Ezra was one with the Lord by contacting Him continually. The priests and the Levites were gathered to Ezra the scribe in order to gain insight into the words of the law; in Nehemiah 8:13 insight refers to apprehending the intrinsic significance.
Spiritual Burden
Ezra reconstituted the people of Israel with heavenly truths; in the Lord’s recovery we need Ezras, priestly teachers, who contact God, who are saturated with God, who are one with God. who are filled with God, and who are skilled in the Word of God—the kind of person who is qualified to be a teacher in the recovery.
Concluding Word of the Prophesying Meeting
The Revelation of the Truth
Ezra was a priest and also a scribe; thus, he was not a letter scribe but a priestly scribe.
Ezra reconstituted the people of Israel by educating them with the heavenly truths so that Israel could become God’s testimony.
In the Lord’s recovery we need Ezras, priestly teachers who contact God, who are saturated with God, who are one with God, who are mingled with God, who are filled with God, and who are skillful in the Word of God; this is the kind of person who is qualified to be a teacher in the recovery.
The Experience of Life
As the word of God works within us, the Spirit of God, who is God Himself, through the word spontaneously dispenses God’s nature with God’s element into our being; in this way we are reconstituted.
The returned captives were reconstituted personally and corporately to become God’s testimony. They were transfused with the thought of God, with the considerations of God, and with all that God is; this made them God’s reproduction.
Practice and Application
When we speak something in the church meeting, our speaking should be the rolling away of the veil; this means that our teaching should present a revelation. Today’s Ezras should labor to constitute God’s people by educating them with the truth so that they may be God’s testimony, His corporate expression, on the earth.
PROPHESYING TOPICS—TWELVE TOPICS PER WEEK
Day 1
T1 Ezra was a priest, and he was also a scribe (Ezra 7:6; Neh. 8:13)
(Please illustrate how a prophet is different from a teacher.)
T2 Ezra was not a letter-scribe, but a priestly scribe (Neh. 8:13)
(Please illustrate a priest is one who is mingled with the Lord, saturated with the Lord, feeding upon the Lord, and breathing Him in all day long. )
Day 2
T1 God is able to reconstitute us through His word (Neh. 8:2-3, 6, 8)
(Please illustrate that in order to be reconstituted, we need to come back to God by coming back to His word.)
T2 In order for God’s people to be His testimony, they had to be reconstituted with the word of God (Col. 3:16)
(Why did those who had returned to Jerusalem from the captivity in Babylon need to be reconstituted? )
Day 3
T1 Zerubbabel’s capacity and Ezra was skilled in the law of God(Col. 3:16; 2 Tim. 3:16-17)
(Please illustratein why Zerubbabel and Ezra were prominent in the first return from captivity.)
T2 To teach the saints with the truths (1 Tim. 3:2; 5:17-18)
(Please illustrate today we need many Ezras to teach the people, to educate them, and to constitute them with the heavenly truths.)
Day 4
T1 The returned captives were reconstituted personally and corporately to become God’s testimony (Isa. 49:6; 1 Pet. 2:9)
(Please illustrate as a result of being reconstituted, Israel became a particular nation, a nation sanctified and separated unto God, expressing God.)
T2 The teaching of the Slave-Savior was the shining of a great light (Isa. 49:6; Acts 26:18)
(Please illustrate the second thing the Slave-Savior did in His service was to carry out such teaching to bring people out of satanic darkness into the divine light.)
Day 5
T1 Teaching equals revelation, which is the opening of the veil (Eph. 3:3, 9)
(Please illustrate when we speak something in the church meeting, our teaching should present a revelation.)
T2 When in our reading of the Scriptures we receive a revelation, the revelation will convict us. (2 Tim. 3:16; Acts 26:18)
(Please illustrate that teaching brings us conviction, and conviction produces correction; after we have been corrected, we will receive the proper instruction.)
Day 6
T1 Consider the text of the Recovery Version with the footnotes and the Life-study messages as a textbook (1 Tim. 2:2-4)
(Please illustrate with experiences that how we can have the accumulation of the truth in us.)
T2 Most Christians are totally ignorant of the revelation in the Bible regarding God’s economy and God’s mysteries (1 Tim. 2:2, 15)
(Please illustrate why we encourage all the saints to spend two hours a day to study the Bible with the help of the Life-study messages.)
