Ezra 1 (Part 2) Bible Study (The Proclamation of Cyrus) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh

If you have your bibles with me, meet me in the book of Ezra chapter one. Ezra chapter one. I trust that you were there last week, and if you weren't here in person, hopefully you listened to the recording. Us that in the opening verses of this book, we were not introduced to the one whom the book is named after. In fact, we learned last week that Ezra does not even appear in this study until chapter seven.

More surprising, perhaps, is that at the very outset of this text, we're not even met by an Israelite, nor a Judean. In fact, we are immediately introduced to a gentile. Cyrus, king of Persia. Cyrus, king of Persia is mentioned three times in the first two verses. And also, Cyrus is the first person to have his speech recorded in this book.

And we discovered in our introduction how significant this figure, Cyrus, is. Not just in this particular narrative, but in our understanding of the precision of God's prophetic word. Because Cyrus was predicted by Isaiah, by name, even the details of his career nearly two hundred years before his birth. It's one of the most significant passages in all of Scripture. But we're not finished with Cyrus just yet, because last week we looked at how the Lord Almighty prophesied about Cyrus.

And tonight, we're going to look at Cyrus' own proclamation in the name of the Lord, because he is now going to make an edict. We learn in verse one that Cyrus made a proclamation throughout the kingdom and even put it in writing. And clearly, Ezra has preserved the copy of that very letter for us to read. And so, we're going to complete this chapter tonight, but we're going to begin by looking at Ezra one verses two through four. Pause and meditate as we always do bit by bit part by part.

Let's read it now together, shall we? Ezra on beginning and verse two. Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. People, may his God be with him. And let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel.

He is the God who is in Jerusalem. And that each survivor in whatever place he sojourns be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Father, we ask with the sincerity and the purity of our hearts that we would know your power in this study, that you would gently and clearly guide us through every detail, every verse, every cross reference in a way that is memorable, in a way that is easily understood, in a way that, more importantly, will be obeyed. So, Lord, we come to you now in faith trusting that you will be here with us as you have been in every study. In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen. You know, there's an ongoing debate about Cyrus, and the debate surrounds whether or not he was an actual believer after he learned that he was explained before his existence. And I don't want to spend time engaging in that debate. Instead, what I want to do is see here how this man offers meaningful lessons for the believer. In verse two alone of his proclamation, I believe there are at least two things that we can learn about obedience.

Obedience to the Lord. And if you're a note taker, get your instrument of writing out immediately. Because here's what we understand from Cyrus in this letter right away. The first thing that stands out to me is that Cyrus shows us that right revelation of who God is, is essential to cultivating the right response to his will. How does he begin this edict?

Look again at verse two. The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. Where did he learn that from? Isaiah's prophecy. But it's clear that he didn't just understand the message, it made an impression on him.

This is more than just a simple acknowledgment of the unmatched authority and ability of God. This is Cyrus realizing that this sovereign being knew him personally. Remember, Isaiah 45 gives us Cyrus' name so long before he enters into the scene. Isaiah 45 tells us what Cyrus would accomplish. And so, Cyrus, in understanding this, realizes that this almighty God knows me.

He selected me, and he is the source for all my success. This is a man who understood that this God is worthy of my surrender. And that is a revelation that stirred Cyrus to prioritize the rebuilding of the house of God in Jerusalem and the liberation of the Jewish people. And in the same way, I want to make this argument. That you and I believing what God says and reveals about Himself is absolutely essential to formulating the very foundation of joyous and zealous obedience.

Faith in what God has said. I emphasize faith in what God has said, not just head knowledge. There are a lot of things that Cyrus did not know about the Lord. I I mean, he's a gentile. He's a pagan.

But what he did know about God, he wholeheartedly believed. And with childlike faith, that enabled him to make this bold step, this incredible decision on behalf of a people that he had no relation to. What was it? The Lord God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth. That was the light that he had received.

He responded to it with faith, and it led to this quality of obedience. Shallow awareness and weak faith in who God is will always result in shallow and weak obedience. Always. And again, it's not just the accumulation of knowledge, it's what you do with that knowledge. It's you understanding like Cyrus, this personally applies to me.

I believe that. And this is what it demands of me then. Now, we don't know exactly when Cyrus learned about his role in God's restorative plan, but I want to tell you that the quality of his obedience is refreshing. Refreshing, not just because, again, he's a gentile who's obeying the God of Israel, but because when he learned his role in God's plan, he prioritized it. Do you know how I know he prioritized it?

Go back to verse one. When did he decide to do this? In the first year. In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia. In other words, the moment he was promoted, and he he had the power and the authority to execute such a thing, he did it.

He did it. Can you imagine? Cyrus, a gentile, exemplifies and models to us that there should be no delay in our obedience, no hesitation. There should be an urgency, actually, the moment you learn what God asks of you. Now the question is how do we arrive to such a wonderful kind of compliance to the will of God?

Well, I go back to the main point. Knowing what God had said and really believing that it applies to you. Having faith that this is personal, this is for you. God is calling you out, not just the church at large, not just people, not just numbers, you by name. There's a second thing, however, that we learn about Cyrus' obedience, and it is this.

He obeyed God for God. He obeyed God for God. So in the previous point, we can say that we learned how Cyrus was able to obey. He was exposed to the truth, his faith connected with it, and it launched him into this place of righteousness. How he obeyed is clear.

Now we learn why. Why did he do this? Well, it's it's plain in verse two. The Lord has charged me. God told me to do it.

No further explanation. No hint of any other agenda. Just simple. God told me to do it and I'm going to obey him. And that realization is further confirmed when we rediscover Cyrus's original call by the writings of Isaiah.

So let me ask this question, and you can answer it if you know it. What chapter in Isaiah gives us the greatest detail about Cyrus? Anybody know? Anybody remember? Isaiah what?

Good. You might be quizzed on that at the end of Ezra. Isaiah 45. And I wanna now bring to you a verse from that chapter that we did not look at in Isaiah 45. Because what we read last week was only a fraction.

There's more about Cyrus. So let's turn there to Isaiah 45, and I'm gonna ask you to scroll down to verse 13. Notice what I said here about this man. It says here, I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level. He shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward, says the Lord of hosts.

Highlight that last part. Not for price or reward. In essence, what God is saying when He prophesied about Cyrus was that He would carry out this work entirely free from any self interest or personal gain. And I want to encourage us today by using this point about Cyrus to identify the Spirit's work in our lives. One of the signs that the Holy Spirit is truly moving in our hearts and leading us into his will is that we are motivated to serve him without selfish ambition.

And if you can honestly sit here and say that you are drawn towards a ministry, or that you want to grow, or you're maybe even asking the Lord for a gift, purely because you want to bless the Lord. Simply because you want to bring pleasure to Him. Solely because you want His name to be exalted, even if that means you disappear in the process, then that is a wonderful indication that it is God Himself who is stirring your spirit. Look at that language again in verse 13. I have stirred him up in righteousness.

And then in Ezra one, we learned that it was the Lord who stirred up the spirit of Cyrus. And so one of the ways you know that God is doing a work in you is that not just your obedience is obvious, but the motive of your obedience is clear. You can say with a clear conscience that I'm not doing this to satisfy something of myself. I'm doing this because I truly want to bless God. Now, let me stay on this point a little longer.

This is so crucial, this purity of heart. Not only should we ask for it, but we need to protect it, because that posture is absolutely necessary for further and greater opportunities in service to God. Let me give you a New Testament example. Have you ever wondered why Timothy was so special and useful to Paul? I believe I have a verse to prove why that was the case.

And I'm not gonna give it to you right away. You have to look at it for yourself in Philippians two. Look at Philippians two for a moment. And notice what Paul says about Timothy as he's preparing him to go to the Philippians. He says something about Timothy himself.

Philippians two nineteen down to verse 21. Paul says, I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you soon, so that I too may be cheered by news of you. For I have no one like him who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare, for they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ. So why did Paul recruit and use Timothy, at least in this context? It was because Paul had many conversations with Timothy.

Paul observed Timothy. Paul watched him. And over time, he was able to say, this young man is special. For one simple reason. He wants to do everything for Christ.

The thing that brings him the greatest desire and pleasure and satisfaction is Christ. Whatever he does or doesn't do, he keeps Christ in mind. And I wanna let you know, and there's a lot of young people here at our study, and I love to see that. You have so much life ahead of you, should the Lord preserve you. But if you want more doors to open for you, then understand that what he's looking for is exactly what he found in Timothy.

I scan your heart, and I find something there. That your heart beats for my son, Jesus. That your heart longs to truly bring a smile to Him. That anything that you endeavor to do, you prioritize His glory. That's who God looks for when He's ready to use somebody.

Keep that in mind to continually fight off those tempting thoughts, those things that want to take root in your soul, that you want to do this for notoriety, you want to do this so that you can feel more wanted, or loved, or appreciated. Delete all of that by the power of the Holy Spirit, and ask God for the same testimony that Timothy had. I want my interest to be wrapped up with Christ, and in Christ alone. Cyrus would obey God without a price tag, without any particular reward for his own benefit, simply because God, for God alone. Let's come back to Ezra now.

We looked at verse two. Let's finish this edict. In verse three, Cyrus makes an invitation. This isn't a command, by the way. He's making an open invitation to the exiles to return to their land.

But he addresses two categories of people among the Jews. And this is something significant for us to consider. Have you noticed what is emphasized in this edict? What's really the goal of it? What's he really getting at?

It's the rebuilding of God's house. The house of the Lord, the house of God appears in each verse of this edict. Verse two, verse three, and verse four shows up every single time. It does not mention the Jews returning to their homes. It doesn't say anything about them being restored to their businesses, or coming back to their cities, or their tribal allotments.

None of that. The thing that is prioritized, the dominating goal of this whole thing is to restore the house of worship. And that shouldn't surprise us. It makes total sense, actually. Why?

Because the very reason why the Jews are in exile is because of their hypocritical devotion. It's because of their idolatrous ways. Their neglect of true worship. So it's fitting then that the Jews' first priority in returning to their homeland is to then rebuild the dwelling place of God. To mend that again.

To restore their worship. And we're gonna get into the two categories of people in a moment here that he's addressing, but I want us to remember what we talked about in the concluding thoughts of our last study. That this point, again, is surfacing. That true restoration for the brokenness and the loss in our lives can only be realized in reconciliation with the Lord. This letter essentially says, look, before you reclaim anything, before you recover anything, what needs to be reestablished is the place where I called for you and I to meet the house of God.

We need to rebuild that before anything else can be touched or addressed. And in the same way, whatever may seem to be falling apart in our in our own lives cannot be truly mended, cannot be truly healed until you and I are truly restored to the Lord. That has to be priority number one. So many things can be solved in our marriages, in our relationship, in our ministries, in society, if we establish the vertical element of our relationship before we try to address anything horizontally. And that's what we see here.

That's the principle. Go back and rebuild your relationship with God before anything else. Don't even think about anything else, And everything else will fall into place. But this also teaches us that God's agenda, listen, God's work, God's house, is our first priority. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.

Seek first. Look, I've met many Christians over the years, and I've met many Christians who identify with the kingdom of God, but sadly, some cannot say with confidence that it's first. And from time to time, as we coast through life, we have to pause and ask ourselves this question. Does my life revolve around the kingdom of God, Or is it in a compartment competing with other things? Because for many people who pay lip service to the kingdom of God, I find that they compromise that priority.

Other ambitions and goals and desires and endeavors get in the way of what should be first. And so even in here in the Old Testament, we see in this very interesting and unique time of history that God is establishing that principle. Go back to your homeland, yes, but first, seek my house before you rebuild your own. That's actually the message of the prophet Haggai. You find it over and over again in different periods of redemptive history, and it's no different in the new covenant.

Seek first, first. So all my big plans and desires, where's God in that? Or is it your comfort, where you want to build a family, where you want to make money? Where's the Lord? This is what we see here.

He must be first. And we see here that there are at least two ways we can know that we prioritize his will with the two categories of people that Cyrus addresses. Going or in giving. Go or give. Look again at verse three, who he addresses.

Whoever is among you, of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem. That's the first invitation. But notice the second, in verse four. And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold. Cyrus understood that not every single Jew would want to go back to the land.

And we'll talk about that in a moment. For whatever reason, maybe difficulty, maybe unable to, and so he addresses that crowd. But notice what he does. He does not excuse them from participating in this exciting work. Even though part of this demographic would choose to say there was no excuse for inactivity.

And in the same way, if we as God's people cannot help in his work directly, we must be prepared to do so from a distance. And that includes giving of our silver and gold. That includes interceding, though we may not be on the grounds. That includes encouragement for those who are risking their time, their lives, their safety. There's a way of serving God directly and at a distance.

And we see that exemplified here. And so those who are serving God, which should be all of us, have to be able to say with confidence that I am either directly involved or I am doing so at a distance or mingling of both, a mixture of the two. But what is certain is that there is nothing in any part of Scripture that gives us permission to sit on our own hands. Cyrus, this man, what an incredible leader. He's so obviously led by the Spirit of God.

And ultimately, each of us should be able to say that I play a part, or I play many parts. And this decree is a reminder for that. So what part do you play? Do you pray? I genuinely pray, like, not just pray, I go to war.

Like, I have a list of names of people I know in my church, and I pray. Okay, you're serving at a distance. That's awesome. What do you do? What what what do you do in your hands to actually contribute to God's kingdom expanding and growing and strengthening?

Though the limitations here are clear, though the statuses of different Jews is obvious, though the decisions on a practical level may differ, one thing all these Jews share in common, according to Cyrus, is that they have to sign up for something. For something. And not everybody can go, and not everybody can give at the same capacity of others, but everybody's got to do something. That's the spirit speaking here through Cyrus. And amazingly, Cyrus leads by example.

Do you know how I know that? Peek a little bit at verse seven. Notice what Cyrus does. Ezra one seven. Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods.

So, more than Cyrus just making a proclamation, giving permission for the Jews to return, he reaches into his own treasury. He unlocks the door, and he gives of the treasures that Babylon took from Jerusalem. He didn't have to do that. But he understood that he could do more than just give this edict. That he can equip and that he can return and he can give back what really wasn't his to begin with.

And I I I'm even more blessed by this man Cyrus. You know why? Because it's one thing to applaud a man who speaks the truth and aligns himself to God's Word. It's more powerful when that person actually lives it and leads by example. Cyrus is a model for leaders.

It's one thing to stand up and say, alright, go back and do something for God's house and give. It's another thing to say it, and then to say, here's how I'm doing it. And if there's any aspiring leaders here, look at Cyrus. Shockingly, a gentile, yes, but still an example. Preach the truth, speak the truth, but live it, back it up.

You're gonna get more authority that way. You're gonna inspire more people that way. That's what I find in this man. We're gonna come to these verses in a moment. These groups are gonna respond positively to Cyrus's message.

And there's a comment in the following verses that demands our meditation. Look, let's look at verse five now. Then rose up the heads of the fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem. And all who are about them, aid them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. That seems pretty direct, but I have to admit that there is something in these verses that caused me to muse over and over and over again.

Here it is. Why do I need to know that the Spirit of God stirred the spirit of some of these Jews in order for them to return home. You would think that every Jew would jump on the opportunity the moment they received this letter in the mail. You would think that there wouldn't be a single exile who wouldn't eagerly want to uproot themselves and make their way back to what God had originally promised them. Why is it then, we see here that the Spirit of God enabled a group of them to go back?

And then it hit me. The experience of these exiles in Babylon does not compare with the experience of their ancestors when they were in Egypt. Let me remind you of that truth. Jeremiah gave instructions to these exiles as they would be here for seventy years. And it sheds light into why this is happening here in Ezra one.

Jeremiah 29 verse four. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I sent, who I've sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, build houses and live in them. Plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and have sons and daughters. Take wives for your sons and give your daughters in marriage that they may bear sons and daughters.

Multiply there and do not decrease. Interestingly, this is found in the same chapter that says that they would be in exile for seventy years. So the Lord didn't want these exiles to just remain with their luggages still intact and their bags still packed. He wanted them to settle. You're gonna be there for a while, so build homes, have families, start businesses, cultivate land.

So you have to understand that at this point in Ezra, many of these Jews are well established. Many of them have built relationship with their neighbors. Many of them had children. Some of these Jews were born in Babylon. That's all they'd ever known.

Anything about Jerusalem or Judah or the history of the people Israel was just told to them. And now all of a sudden, you have these Jews who are being told, yeah, you have your homes, you have your your businesses, you have your education, you have your relationships there in Babylon, but it's time to go home, to your real home. Imagine how challenging that would be. And think further. What's really waiting for them in Judah?

Their old homes? Their old temple, everything is in ruins. Everything is destroyed. Everything is in rubble. It's it's almost like a war torn place.

It is a war torn place. And beyond that, you have lurking enemies surrounding the region. We're gonna find that out in the coming chapters of Ezra. This is threatening. This is dangerous.

Take it a step further. What about the journey back? Months to return by foot. How taxing would that be for the families, namely the wives and the children, the elderly? And then you have wild animals and robbers to be fearful of.

So humanly speaking, there is nothing appealing about this invitation. This was something very demanding. This is something that demanded discussion and planning. This isn't just something that, oh, we get to go back. No.

No. No. No. No. And so you can just imagine these Jews discussing among themselves.

Is it really worth it? Is it worth just abandoning everything that we built over these years, these decades? The comfort that we have here, we're not slaves necessarily. And we have Cyrus now, he seems very favorable towards us. Is it worth it for something so dangerous, something so difficult?

There's so many thoughts that we can uncover from this one thought. But I wanna leave you with this main point. This shows us that only through the help of the Spirit of God can any of us really detach from the affairs of this world. You and I can't do it in our own strength. To be willing to walk away from possessions, prosperity, people that we work so hard for, that we deeply enjoy for what?

To to build the kingdom of God with so many risks involved, even today? Surely, such a transformative thing in our desires and our ambitions requires the help of the Holy Spirit. And that is why you and I continually have to rely on Him and seek Him to be able to do that. With every day, new temptations, things pulling at us, with every season of life, every chapter in life that would try to keep you earthbound, you and I can't do it without God's help. He must stir us.

He must fortify us. He must energize us. He must blind us to the things that try to take our gaze away from what truly matters. Now, it would be a mistake to look at a verse like this and place all that responsibility on God. Like, okay, I'm just gonna be the way I am unless God moves me.

It doesn't work that way. In fact, the scripture presents a paradox. And you find it throughout Paul's writing, by the way. Paul's epistles show us this this strange tension between it's me, but it's also God. I'm doing it, but it's really God doing it.

I'm conscious of it, but God gets all the glory. So one verse that comes to mind is what I quoted during the announcements last Sunday in Colossians one twenty nine. For this, I, I, I, I, Paul, I toil, struggling with all his energy, that he powerfully works within me. I'm toiling, but it's with his energy. I'm serving to the bone I'm serving, but with his power.

And, you find that over and over again. Let me give you another one, but I'm gonna ask you to turn there. It's in first Corinthians 15. Look at verse 10. First Corinthians 15 verse 10.

Paul, in giving his testimony of his apostleship, he does it in other places, but this one helps us understand this wonderful truth. First Corinthians 15 verse 10, but by the grace of God, I am what I am. Don't you love that? And his grace toward me was not in vain. I love that too.

What God had deposited in my life, I didn't waste it. His grace towards me was not in vain. I responded to that grace. I walked in that grace. I owned that grace.

It was not in vain. Then he goes on. On the contrary, I worked harder than any of them. Who's he speaking about? The other apostles.

I worked harder than any of them, though it was not I, but the grace of God that is with me. See how he goes back and forth? It's me, but it's God. It's God, but it's also me. And what Paul's not doing here is putting himself on the same level as God.

He's just trying his best to explain how this whole thing works. That God's work in our lives participates with our surrender. It's a response to our willingness. So if you were to approach Paul and say, Paul, do do you really serve the Lord with all your heart? Yes.

And he he even goes beyond that and says, I actually work harder than the other ones. Say, hey, Paul, that's a little bit presumptuous of you. Resume, if you look at my scheduling, if you look at my travel log, if you look at what I actually do, comparatively, I work harder than the other ones. Not being arrogant here. But at the same time, in the same breath, he can say, and that's all God's grace.

That's all the grace of God. So there isn't like there isn't like a fake piety or false humility here with Paul. But beneath all that he did do, he understood that there was this current at work. It was God who woke him up. It was God who strengthened him.

It was God who gave him the rest he needed. It was God who opened the doors and made him useful with those opportunities. It was God all the way through. But Paul had to make a choice every day. It's no different for you and I.

You're not a puppet in God's hand. You're not just strings that he pulls on without your involvement. You're a lifeless glove that has a choice to be worn by the hand of God and he's the one who animates you. That's what we find here, even with these Jews. God's spirit, yes, did stir them, but they responded to that surely.

And here's what we find in the remaining verses of our chapter. Let's come back to Ezra one. In verse seven, Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithradath, the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazar, the prince of Judah. And this was the number of them.

30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censors, 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels. All the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did, Shesh Bazar bring up when the exiles were brought out, or brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem. I'm not sure if you picked up on it, but there is a very strong motif of the exodus reflected in the closing of this chapter. There are a lot of differences between the Egyptian exodus and the return of the Jews from Babylon to the homeland.

But there is a very strong similarity here, and it is this. In both cases, the people of God went to the promised land with something in their hands. They did not go empty handed. And so, we know back in Exodus that God had given the people this instruction. Go and demand the silver and gold from your Egyptian neighbors.

And in Exodus, it also tells us that he gave favor to the Jews by moving the Egyptians to respond positively to that. Yes, here you go. Here's all our jewelry. In fact, it says that the Jews plundered the Egyptians. And what do we find here?

Look back at verse 11. The mention of silver and gold yet again. And the purpose is no different. Why did God want the Egyptians to give up their silver and their gold? I can tell you this for certain.

It wasn't so that the Jews can look nice in the wilderness. It was to build a temple. It was to construct the tabernacle. Where else did they get the materials for the articles? Where else would they be able to actually produce what was demanded of them in the construction of that house of worship.

So what God had in mind all along was, yes, you're gonna get that from the Egyptians for the goal of building me a house. And here you find what silver and gold brought up again. Is the purpose any different? No. For the priority of rebuilding my dwelling place.

And you even find this in Nehemiah. We're gonna come to that for a few months from now. Where Nehemiah, in the opening of his book, he seeks favor from the king, Artaxerxes, and he asks him for a letter to go to the manager of the king's forest for what? Give me permission to to require and to acquire timber so I can build these walls and these gates. I want to contribute to the things of God as well, and he's granted it.

So, what do we make of all of this? Well, many things. And here's one thing that will encourage us. Whatever God sets before us as a task, any ministry, any opportunity, He will always provide the means to accomplish it. Always.

He doesn't just determine the end of a matter, he also is in charge of the means. And so every time in redemptive history we see God calling the people to do something grand, seemingly impossible, like building him a house, coming out of exile, coming out of slavery, he always makes a way. And that rule, that promise is no different for us as the church of Jesus Christ who are called to build his house, his spiritual house. We have nothing to fear. He owns the cattle on a thousand hill.

If God is actually calling you to a specific ministry, and I've met many people. I've sat across many tables. I've had many cups of tea and coffee with people who are wondering, is God really calling me to this? Is God calling me to leave my education, my job, my city to go and serve him in this capacity? Well, here's one way you'll know he is.

He's gonna provide for you. He will. It may not be immediately, but he's gonna make a way. He won't hang you dry. And if God is not making a way for you, if he's not providing means for for your own well-being or for this work to be done, that's an indication perhaps that you're not called to it.

And maybe for the moment. It could be for a later time or not at all. That's what I find here. I'm sending you somewhere. I'm calling you to do something, and here are the resources.

Here's here's the partnership. Here are the doors that are gonna be opened. So be comforted by that truth. Lord, if you're gonna really make this happen for me, if you want me to, for example, leave my job and become a full time minister, I'll leave the workplace and do that, but I also have a wife. I have kids.

Are you gonna provide for me? And he will. If you're called to, he will. I want I don't want to limit God's ways to that, but that is a major principle. We find it here throughout the scriptures.

But there's even more to learn about these articles mentioned at the end of this chapter. It's also found in Jeremiah's writing. This is where we're gonna end. Go to Jeremiah 27. This is another prophecy that Jeremiah made.

And it goes to show again just how surgically precise God's prophetic word is. Jeremiah 27. Look at verse 21. Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that are left in the house of the Lord, in the house of the king of Judah, and in Jerusalem. They shall be carried to Babylon and remain there until the day when I visit them, declares the Lord.

Then I will bring them back and restore them to this place. So God did not just prophesy the return of his people. He prophesied the return of pots and vessels and seemingly insignificant items. But they're not insignificant to him. They're actually numbered, as you saw in Ezra one.

Why? Because they all are associated with his house of worship. They all contribute to his glory. And I wanna tell you something, believer, and hopefully this helps you read your Bible in a more meaningful and practical way. We have the lens of the new covenant.

So when I read something like this, I, yes, praise God for the historically accurate elements of his word. But I also see something else in terms of principle. I am the temple of God. You are the temple of God. That's true for us corporately and individually.

And God back in Jeremiah's words says, not only am I going to bring back my people, but I'm gonna bring back the very items that constitute my dwelling place. I'm not gonna leave one thing behind. Do you understand how miraculous this is? Do you understand that back in Daniel five, Nebuchadnezzar's descendants, the one who succeeded him, took these very vessels and blasphemed God through it by partying with these cups and these plates. They could have easily been destroyed.

They could have easily been lost, but God sovereignly preserved them throughout these years. He cares for every detail of his house. You're his house. I'm his dwelling place. There's not one part of my life that he is not mindful of.

There's not one part of my life internally, externally that he does not want to preserve for his glory, that he does not want to restore, that he does not want to redeem. It may be insignificant to your neighbor, to your spouse even, to your children, to other believers, but to God, it matters. Imagine that. He he actually numbered the bowls and the basins. Every hair on your head is cherished by God.

And every part of your sanctification is something that God deeply cares about. Believe that. Believe that. Every thought, everywhere your eyes are planted, every word you speak, every action you take, God wants it. He demands it.

He deserves it. Let's pray. Father, you never cease to amaze us how every piece of your word can speak to us. You never cease to blow us away with how the oracles of God throughout history, every part of this library speaks so loud and clear. And we ask, Lord, with the many truths that were discovered together tonight, we would not be forgetful of them.

We would be like Cyrus even and believe that they personally apply to each of us. We would not be worried about the person to our left or to our right if they heard this or we think that they needed to hear it. We think about ourselves. And we ask God that you would make us like this man, that we don't know his complete relationship with you. We know that in this moment he exemplifies what obedience looks like.

And we think even of Timothy, who had every part of him, every interest consecrated to the will of Christ. Oh, wash over us again tonight to that same end. Take every article, every part of who we are like these things in the temple that you rescued. Rescue it from us. Save us.

Leave not one thing behind. Bring it all to you, Lord. Highlight the things that we are keeping back. Highlight the things that are still in Babylon. Highlight the things that we're trying to hide.

Highlight the things that are still in the world. Lord, you're calling it all to yourself and we've come here to give it to you. So Lord, receive this act of worship this evening. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

If you wanna remain seated, you're free to do that as long as you're prayerful. I think one of the ways that we can make these studies more impactful is if we respond to what we hear. So you can stay seated if you wanna pray and spend a few minutes with the Lord. If you you wanna stand and sing, you can do that praise team. You're welcome to come even as I'm speaking.

But let's really respond to these truths because they're they're meant to to transform us and really bleed into our lives. Can we do that? Thank you.