The point that I am making and that I think has significance here, is that God raises up his servants from the most surprising places. The commitments of Ezra are ideal, they are irreproachable. Ezra 7:10: He set his heart to study the law of the Lord and to practice it and to teach His statutes and ordinances. When did he do that and where did he do that? [He did it] back in Babylon. God is raising up a leader for his people back in Babylon. Not amongst the remnant who had already returned. Not amongst those who were born to that remnant and were already in that land of promise, who were already worshiping God in the temple. No, he raises up a leader back in Babylon in a surprising place—not amongst the remnants, not amongst the families of those who were the most committed, the most devoted to this vision for the re-establishment for the kingdom of God. No, it is back in Babylon amongst the compromisers, amongst the comfortable. He then raises up this servant to lead the people of God in the next facet of the work.

I would argue that this is the pattern that repeats itself over and over in Scripture and church history. For example, Moses. Where is Moses when God sets his hand upon Moses? First of all, he is in Pharaoh's household. From out of Pharaoh's own household. Even more remarkable, how is Moses rescued? Moses is rescued by a daughter of a tyrannical Pharaoh who is putting the male sons of Israel to death. And so God raises up a tenderhearted princess out of the household of this barbaric Pharaoh. Out of his own household comes a tenderhearted princess who sees a baby, and her heart goes out to that baby. So she rescues it and rears him in the household of Pharaoh himself. In this way God raises up a deliverer first of all, from the midst of Pharaoh's own household...And then after Moses acts prematurely, he spends forty years tending his father-in-law's flock in utter obscurity in a far-off place. From there once again, God reaches out to raise up that deliverer. This is a surprising thing. Not from amongst the people themselves, not from amongst their community life, but he goes outside to get this individual. Having taught him sufficiently, humbling him, requiring him to tend another man's sheep for forty years, and being in that kind of humiliating situation, before he was ready to then give leadership to God's flock and lead his people.

Another example is Jesus. Where was Jesus from? Nazareth. Do you remember the response of the disciples in John 1:1–51: can any good thing come out of Nazareth?... Nazareth, this town of cows, this suborder town? This is the response of the scribes of the day. There is no one that is to come out Nazareth and yet, it is in Nazareth that Jesus is reared. It is from Nazareth that he begins his ministry.

How about the apostle Paul? From where does God raise him up? From amongst the Pharisees. In other words, the most influential individual in the life of the early church, the most important early leader, preacher, shaper, and moulder of the doctrine and practice of the church, is the apostle Paul, hands down. And yet, he was not part of the inner circle; he was not one of the twelve. He is a Johnny-come-lately, as it were. Somebody who was schooled by Gamaliel, who had the highest level of education. God put his hand upon a Pharisee and saves him and raises him up, as Paul's own self-testimony will be as—the one untimely born—the most unexpected person from the most unexpected source. This is a thing that God always seems to be doing. What about the twelve fishermen? Ordinary people, common people…

God can raise up his servants from anywhere. He can take any background, anyone anywhere at any time in any place, and raise them up effectively and then use them and make him his servant. If they, like Ezra, are devoted to the Word of God, if they are students of the Word of God and study his Word, and if they are champions of his Word, then they are in a position where they can be used. Whatever their origins, their source, their background, their family situation, God is able to use the most unusual people who have the most extraordinary backgrounds and the most unexpected circumstances, and make them to be great servants and champions of his kingdom.¹

Terry L. Johnson