Lesson 83-86 – 1 st and 2 nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah

Lesson 83-86 – 1st and 2nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah Return from Exile

What are 1st and 2nd Chronicles? • Let’s go through the song… • After today, we are at the end of the Old Testament (chronologically)

Israel in Exile • This is their lowest point since slavery in Egypt. • They have lost their lands, their leaders, their God. • Jeremiah 25:11-12, 29:10 • After 70 years, they will be given another chance • The Lord will always remember His people, but it will always be in His own time.

How does the Lord do it? • Through any of His children who are open to His guidance. • The other day… • How would it feel to find your name in a book 200 years old? What would you do? • Isaiah 44:28, 45:1 • Cyrus was the king of Persia, who had just overtaken Israel from the Babylonians. • Ezra 1:1-4 – What was his response?

The Jews have to start over • Why can we call them Jews now? • The 10 tribes are lost • Just the tribe of Judah, Benjamin, and most Levites remain • The first group of the Kingdom of Judah return • They must now build back up two things • The temple of the Lord • Their own spiritual lives

Step 1 • Ezra 3:1-4,6 • What is their first step? • Sacrifice. Which represents what again? • They needed to accept God again and the Atoning sacrifice of Christ that would come. • At this point, Isaiah had already prophesied of Christ, so they should know more deeply what that will mean.

Step 2 • Ezra 4:1-4 • The Samaritans pretend like they want to help, but instead “weakened the hands of the people of Judah” • Nehemiah 6 • At this point the temple was built, but Nehemiah wanted to build back the walls of Jerusalem • Sanballat was the governor of Samaria, tried to lure Nehemiah into a “meeting” and then stop him from completing the walls. • Even threatened to tell the King the Jews wanted to revolt • There was opposition to the building of the temple and the righteousness of the people. They had to overcome both to continue on the path to righteousness

Step 3 • Now that the temple is done, after they had rebuilt their lives, what did the Jews need to do? • Endure to the end • How? • Ezra 5:1-2 • Ezra 8:21-23 • Nehemiah 1:9-11 • Nehemiah 8:1-3 • Nehemiah 10:29-31

Nehemiah 8–10 “For a number of years I found relaxation in carving and painting songbirds, at times spending a full year on a single carving. . . . Once, I had a newly finished carving on the back seat of a car driven by Elder A. Theodore Tuttle. He hit the brakes suddenly and the carving was thrown to the floor and damaged. “Elder Tuttle felt terrible, supposing he had ruined a year’s work. When I waved aside his apologies, he said, ‘You sure don’t seem to be upset about it.’ President Boyd K. Packer God Heals the Hopelessly Broken

Nehemiah 8–10 “To reassure him, I said, ‘Don’t worry. I made it; I can fix it.’ Actually it had been broken and fixed many times while I was working on it. “Later, Brother Tuttle likened that experience to people with lives broken or badly damaged—supposedly ruined with no hope of repair—who do not know that there is a Maker, a Creator, who can fix any of his creations no matter how hopelessly broken they seem to be” (Boyd K. Packer, “The Play and the Plan” [address delivered at a CES fireside for young adults, May 7, 1995], 7). President Boyd K. Packer God Heals the Hopelessly Broken

“Hopelessly Broken” • Sometimes you might feel this way, you may feel captive to your situation, whether brought upon by yourself or by others. • Sometimes the Lord will let us be torn down so that we can rebuild the right way. • Recognizing the Atonement of Christ • Overcoming opposition • Enduring to the end

Notebook Ideas • When have you felt that you needed the help of the Lord the most? What did you do to find it? • How can we avoid needing to rebuild in the first place? Are the steps the Jews took to rebuild the temple only for when things are broken?

Lesson 83-86 – 1 st and 2 nd Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah