WEBVTT 00:00:01.120 --> 00:00:07.200 Well, this year my family and I were away from our house for a month. 00:00:07.759 --> 00:00:17.519 We uh went to Los Angeles, we went to Israel, we went back to Los Angeles for a while, the kids were away for a month, Dee Jer and I were away from the month, we were gone. 00:00:17.839 --> 00:00:20.160 And it was enjoyable to be gone. 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:21.600 This is the month of May we were gone. 00:00:21.679 --> 00:00:26.800 It was enjoyable for a while, but then the kids started asking, particularly about the cat. 00:00:26.879 --> 00:00:28.239 That's what they cared about. 00:00:28.480 --> 00:00:30.000 They wanted to know how the cat was doing. 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:34.479 Butterscotch is our cat, and they wanted to know if Butterscotch was well. 00:00:34.640 --> 00:00:37.920 And so I texted, I think it was Keenan who was playing tonight. 00:00:38.000 --> 00:00:39.600 I texted Keenan, how's the cat? 00:00:39.679 --> 00:00:40.719 And he said, fine. 00:00:40.799 --> 00:00:42.960 And but then I got a little suspicious, you know. 00:00:43.119 --> 00:00:44.560 What if the cat wasn't really finding? 00:00:44.799 --> 00:00:46.799 It's just easier for Keenan to text back, fine. 00:00:46.960 --> 00:00:49.679 In fact, I'd want to be lied to at that moment, honestly. 00:00:49.840 --> 00:00:51.679 Uh, just let me enjoy the rest of my vacation. 00:00:51.759 --> 00:00:53.840 I can deal with the cat debacle later. 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:54.799 Whisk my attitude. 00:00:54.880 --> 00:01:02.880 The girls did not share that attitude, so we demanded picture evidence of Butterscotch's health and well-being, which Keenan graciously provided. 00:01:03.119 --> 00:01:10.560 And uh, so Butterscotch was alive and well, but then a few days later, they're curious about the cat again, and I'm I'm I'm not texting Keenan again. 00:01:10.879 --> 00:01:14.079 Okay, so you're just gonna have to have faith the cat's gonna be okay. 00:01:14.159 --> 00:01:17.200 But then I start having questions, not about the cat, I mean, come on. 00:01:17.359 --> 00:01:20.640 But I start having questions like what if a tree fell in our yard? 00:01:20.799 --> 00:01:22.560 Where there's our yard floods sometimes. 00:01:22.640 --> 00:01:24.799 What if our fire pit washed away again? 00:01:24.959 --> 00:01:28.159 I mean, uh there's a a meth dealer is next door to us. 00:01:28.319 --> 00:01:30.319 What if they have taken have they taken over the block? 00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:32.079 Have they annexed part of our property? 00:01:32.239 --> 00:01:34.480 It's within the realm of possibility. 00:01:35.040 --> 00:01:38.640 So I'm having concerns about what's going on in our neighborhood, too. 00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:41.599 A month just seemed like a long time to be away. 00:01:42.079 --> 00:01:48.079 When we get back and we turn the corner and drive back down the Red Wing Drive, down the cul-de-sac to our house. 00:01:48.239 --> 00:01:50.000 Yes, it's still standing. 00:01:50.560 --> 00:01:52.879 There's not smoke coming up, it's still there. 00:01:53.040 --> 00:01:57.599 No fire trucks, the meth dealer house still standing, unfortunately, still there. 00:01:58.000 --> 00:01:59.439 Cat waiting at the window for us. 00:01:59.519 --> 00:02:01.120 It was a glorious scene. 00:02:01.760 --> 00:02:03.760 Everything was was well. 00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:06.159 We start the Book of Ezra tonight. 00:02:06.319 --> 00:02:10.800 The Israelites have been away from their land for 70 years. 00:02:11.919 --> 00:02:15.199 Last week, when we were in Psalm 137, we talked about this. 00:02:15.280 --> 00:02:18.319 What would that look like to be exiled for that long? 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:26.159 The Jewish people that grew up in Babylon, they, I'm sure, learned to speak Hebrew to varying degrees of success. 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:29.599 It's not the language that would be spoken in business or at work. 00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:31.439 Even parents would have the choice. 00:02:31.680 --> 00:02:38.000 Do we give our children a Hebrew name or a Persian name, a Babylonian name? 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.400 What do we name our kids? 00:02:40.639 --> 00:02:42.159 What schools do we send them to? 00:02:42.319 --> 00:02:43.280 What food do they eat? 00:02:43.439 --> 00:02:48.560 Those are all the basic questions that they would be wrestling with as they are in exile. 00:02:49.360 --> 00:02:51.360 As they return back from the land. 00:02:51.439 --> 00:02:54.479 It's a lot more profound questions than is the house still standing? 00:02:54.639 --> 00:02:55.759 Is the cat still alive? 00:02:55.919 --> 00:02:58.000 Those aren't the kind of questions they're asking. 00:02:58.240 --> 00:03:00.319 They're asking, what is this place even like? 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:02.319 Remember, they knew the temple was destroyed. 00:03:02.400 --> 00:03:03.599 That happened before. 00:03:03.759 --> 00:03:06.080 They knew there was just a pile of rubble left there. 00:03:06.159 --> 00:03:08.400 But people had indeed been living there. 00:03:10.080 --> 00:03:13.520 They had been barred by their Lord from reinhabiting Jerusalem. 00:03:13.599 --> 00:03:14.400 The Israelites had. 00:03:14.479 --> 00:03:17.439 They'd been taken into exile as punishment for their own sin. 00:03:18.159 --> 00:03:20.800 But 70 years later, they get to return. 00:03:21.120 --> 00:03:24.479 70 years later, it's children that are coming back that had never seen it before. 00:03:24.560 --> 00:03:28.479 It's grandparents that are coming back that hadn't seen it since they were little children. 00:03:29.360 --> 00:03:33.039 The last time we saw Israel was at the end of 2 Kings. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:35.840 It was May two years ago here. 00:03:36.080 --> 00:03:38.319 The finals were just around the corner. 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:42.479 It was a different kind of world than it is now. 00:03:42.639 --> 00:03:44.960 The nationals were not the world champions. 00:03:46.960 --> 00:03:50.639 President Trump was on his first Secretary of Homeland Security, not his fifth. 00:03:50.960 --> 00:03:52.400 It was a long time ago. 00:03:53.360 --> 00:03:54.719 It was a different world. 00:03:54.879 --> 00:03:57.039 But now that's just been two years. 00:03:57.759 --> 00:04:01.680 Now you jump forward today, you see how that's changed in our world. 00:04:01.759 --> 00:04:04.319 I want you to just factor in 70 years. 00:04:04.719 --> 00:04:10.479 Last time we saw Israel, as I mentioned, it was two years ago at the end of 2 Kings, but for them, it was 598 BC. 00:04:10.960 --> 00:04:12.639 And they were kicked out of their land. 00:04:12.879 --> 00:04:15.039 And God had indeed been patient with them. 00:04:15.280 --> 00:04:18.079 God didn't kick them out willy-nilly, so to speak. 00:04:18.160 --> 00:04:19.920 God had warned them and warned them and warned them. 00:04:20.000 --> 00:04:25.439 And I want you to zoom out a little bit to get a full sense of the patience God had shown these people. 00:04:26.079 --> 00:04:31.920 God created the world in Genesis 1 and 2, good and holy and perfect. 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:37.600 People sinned in Genesis 3, and God showed Adam and Eve patience. 00:04:37.759 --> 00:04:39.920 He showed them grace in their sin. 00:04:40.480 --> 00:04:45.360 In fact, God responded to the first sin of mankind by killing an animal and covering them. 00:04:45.519 --> 00:04:49.120 Adam and Eve became ashamed because of their nakedness, and God covered them. 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:53.759 Of course, that's a representative of how God is going to interact with sinners from this point forward. 00:04:53.920 --> 00:04:59.040 When people sin, they can have forgiveness and they can be covered by God through the death of someone else. 00:04:59.279 --> 00:05:02.720 Through the death of someone innocent, it can produce a covering. 00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:10.560 And so God covers them, covers their sin through atonement, sends them out of the garden, gives them a blessing, and of course, a curse. 00:05:10.720 --> 00:05:14.160 They will have to work, that's a blessing, work will be hard, that's the curse. 00:05:14.480 --> 00:05:20.720 They'll have family, they will have children, that's the blessing, it'll be difficult, that'll be the curse, and they're sent off into the world. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:30.480 And of course, they catapult themselves into war and idol worship, rebellion against God, murder right away in the first few chapters of Genesis. 00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:32.959 And God again responds with patience. 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:38.800 He sends a prophet to them, Noah, who will preach to them for over a hundred years, 120 years. 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:42.319 Noah cries out to them, and nobody repents. 00:05:42.480 --> 00:05:52.319 And so again, God demonstrates his patience by delaying judgment, delaying judgment, then pouring out judgment, but sparing a remnant, and then telling them, repopulate the earth. 00:05:52.480 --> 00:05:53.040 Go again. 00:05:53.279 --> 00:05:54.879 Round two, go. 00:05:56.399 --> 00:06:01.199 And of course, Noah's sins and his drunkenness, his children's sin and their depravity. 00:06:01.360 --> 00:06:06.319 And God even covers that sin and scatters them around the world. 00:06:06.399 --> 00:06:11.040 The nations bind together with their common language and try to rebel against God's command. 00:06:11.199 --> 00:06:13.360 God tells them to scatter and cover the earth. 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:16.720 Instead, they build up, and God again shows them grace. 00:06:16.800 --> 00:06:22.800 He doesn't obliterate them, he doesn't flood the earth the second time, he doesn't burn down the tower and destroy them all. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:28.079 No, he scatters their language, confuses their language, and sends them around the world. 00:06:28.319 --> 00:06:31.360 Makes them do what he had commanded them to do the first time. 00:06:32.959 --> 00:06:35.040 Chapter 12 of Genesis. 00:06:35.279 --> 00:06:38.399 He calls Abraham and says, You're going to have your own nation. 00:06:38.560 --> 00:06:41.120 I will make a nation out of you, and they will be my people. 00:06:41.199 --> 00:06:42.399 This is God's plan. 00:06:42.480 --> 00:06:43.439 And they will develop. 00:06:43.759 --> 00:06:47.040 Forget the idol worshippers of the world, the nations that have forgotten me already. 00:06:47.120 --> 00:06:50.000 I'm going to create a new people, and they will be my people. 00:06:50.240 --> 00:06:52.800 And so Abraham becomes the patriarch. 00:06:52.959 --> 00:06:54.399 Israel will come from him. 00:06:55.199 --> 00:06:59.839 And if you're familiar with the rest of Genesis, it's the story of Israel's sin, the patriarch's sin. 00:07:00.000 --> 00:07:02.160 Each one of them sins in pretty ridiculous ways. 00:07:02.319 --> 00:07:04.959 And God shows each of them grace, grace, grace. 00:07:05.040 --> 00:07:06.639 They end up in Egypt in slavery. 00:07:06.800 --> 00:07:08.879 God shows them grace and brings them out of Egypt. 00:07:09.040 --> 00:07:10.399 They rebel in the wilderness. 00:07:10.560 --> 00:07:16.160 God destroys them in the wilderness, but leaves a remnant that repopulates, and he leads them into the promised land. 00:07:16.240 --> 00:07:29.040 So even by the time Israel steps their first sandalprint into the promised land, the first time they cross the Jordan River and march around Jericho, think of all the grace they have already received by this point. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:32.639 They should have been destroyed untold number of times. 00:07:32.800 --> 00:07:40.959 God could have wiped out the patriarchs at any moment and started over with someone different and a different kind of people, but it's just been one example of patience after another. 00:07:46.480 --> 00:07:48.240 And God gives them forgiveness. 00:07:48.399 --> 00:07:49.600 They ignore the law. 00:07:49.759 --> 00:07:50.560 They lose the law. 00:07:50.720 --> 00:07:51.519 They hide the law. 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:52.399 They bury the law. 00:07:52.480 --> 00:07:54.879 They rip up the law, one of their kings does. 00:07:55.040 --> 00:07:57.839 They do every conceivable thing to get rid of God's law. 00:07:58.000 --> 00:07:59.040 And so what does God do? 00:07:59.199 --> 00:08:02.480 He sends them prophet after prophet to remind them of the law. 00:08:02.639 --> 00:08:06.639 You see that law you just ripped up and threw away, lit on fire and put in the trash? 00:08:06.800 --> 00:08:11.680 The prophet shows up and rings the doorbell and says, Hey, I'm here to tell you, take that out of the trash and listen to it. 00:08:12.639 --> 00:08:13.680 Time and time again. 00:08:13.839 --> 00:08:15.680 And so what did they do with the prophets? 00:08:15.920 --> 00:08:17.360 Well, they killed them all, of course. 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:18.879 That's what they did with them. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:21.199 And God still sent them more. 00:08:22.319 --> 00:08:24.639 He even gave them godly kings. 00:08:24.879 --> 00:08:27.120 In fact, their very first king. 00:08:27.839 --> 00:08:29.120 God should have been their king. 00:08:29.199 --> 00:08:32.799 They didn't need a human king, but they wanted one to be like the other nations. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:39.440 And so God gave them a king that was a wicked king, but not a horrible king by comparison when you see what's coming. 00:08:40.799 --> 00:08:42.559 Then he gives them David. 00:08:42.960 --> 00:08:45.120 And of course, you know what the Israelites do to David. 00:08:45.200 --> 00:08:46.320 They throw him out of Jerusalem. 00:08:46.399 --> 00:08:49.279 They rebel against David and exile David. 00:08:49.440 --> 00:08:52.320 Give him the long march of shame outside of Jerusalem. 00:08:52.399 --> 00:08:53.279 They don't want him as king. 00:08:53.440 --> 00:08:55.600 Make Absalom king instead. 00:08:56.159 --> 00:09:01.360 I mean, that is how the Israelites operate, and God continually shows them patience. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:09.840 Civil war breaks out, and God consolidates his prophets and his godly kings into two of the twelve tribes. 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:16.720 But he still sends prophets to the northern tribe, prophet after prophet, and they're murdered up there as well. 00:09:17.840 --> 00:09:22.799 Despite all that God showed them, the Israelites rejected God repeatedly. 00:09:22.879 --> 00:09:25.519 They rejected God from being king and replaced him with Saul. 00:09:25.679 --> 00:09:28.960 They rejected the Levites as priests and replaced him with Baal worshippers. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:34.000 They rejected the temple of God and replaced it with the Asheroth poles that they could put on any high hill. 00:09:34.159 --> 00:09:36.240 They rejected Yahweh, replaced him with idols. 00:09:36.320 --> 00:09:37.120 They rejected prayer. 00:09:37.279 --> 00:09:41.519 By Jeremiah's day, Jeremiah says, You have rejected prayer for confidence in Egypt. 00:09:41.759 --> 00:09:45.919 You'd rather have Egyptian horses on your side than the God who led you out of Egypt. 00:09:46.080 --> 00:09:48.240 I mean, it is just irony after irony. 00:09:51.759 --> 00:09:54.960 When God sent them prophets, they refused to repent. 00:09:55.039 --> 00:09:56.879 They dug in in sin. 00:09:58.159 --> 00:10:00.080 They killed the prophets, God sent more. 00:10:00.320 --> 00:10:03.679 Eventually, God exiles ten of the twelve tribes. 00:10:03.919 --> 00:10:04.799 Eventually. 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:07.200 Leaving two behind. 00:10:07.600 --> 00:10:11.519 The ten tribes that are taken to exile, that's like a warning shot to Jerusalem. 00:10:11.919 --> 00:10:15.519 The whole time Jerusalem is going into sin, Judah is going into sin. 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:16.960 Do you remember their mantra? 00:10:17.039 --> 00:10:23.440 They're saying that God won't punish them because after all, they're the ones who've received the promises. 00:10:23.840 --> 00:10:25.039 God wouldn't punish us. 00:10:26.159 --> 00:10:27.200 We're Israelites. 00:10:27.279 --> 00:10:28.480 We're from the tribe of Judah. 00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:29.840 Jerusalem's our capital. 00:10:29.919 --> 00:10:30.799 He wouldn't punish us. 00:10:30.960 --> 00:10:32.320 We have the temple. 00:10:32.960 --> 00:10:39.519 So they loved that God would protect them from the Assyrians and then the Syrians and then the Babylonians and the Egyptians. 00:10:39.600 --> 00:10:43.840 They loved that God would protect them from those enemies, but they didn't love God. 00:10:44.799 --> 00:10:49.039 They trusted that they were protected, but they hated their protector. 00:10:49.600 --> 00:10:51.679 That is Israel in a nutshell. 00:10:52.399 --> 00:10:55.200 And so God finally brings this crashing down. 00:10:55.679 --> 00:11:02.639 After showing them 400 years of patience, he finally allows them to be exiled. 00:11:03.120 --> 00:11:07.039 And by the way, I think we often treat God the same way as the Israelites do. 00:11:07.120 --> 00:11:12.960 It's so easy to roll our eyes at them and say, how many prophets did you have to kill before you learn that God was really trying to get your attention? 00:11:13.120 --> 00:11:14.159 But we're often the same way. 00:11:14.320 --> 00:11:16.720 We think, oh, God wouldn't judge me for my sin. 00:11:16.879 --> 00:11:20.559 God wouldn't care about me for my sin because after all, I'm a good person. 00:11:21.039 --> 00:11:23.679 You know, I go to church, I've got a Bible, you know. 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:28.159 So God is not that concerned about my sin because he knows that I'm a good person. 00:11:28.240 --> 00:11:31.919 So and we use that in our minds as an excuse to keep sinning. 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:34.240 That is Israelite logic. 00:11:34.480 --> 00:11:37.120 God wouldn't judge me, I'm an Israelite. 00:11:38.159 --> 00:11:42.000 But God finally does judge them and throws them into captivity. 00:11:42.240 --> 00:11:44.639 And for 70 years they're gone. 00:11:44.879 --> 00:11:48.720 70 years between the end of 2 Kings and the start of the book of Ezra. 00:11:49.440 --> 00:11:55.120 So tonight I want to go through Ezra 1, Ezra 1, and show you what it's like when they return to the Promised Land. 00:11:55.360 --> 00:11:57.919 When they return back to Israel. 00:12:03.440 --> 00:12:06.240 First, that God plans the future. 00:12:06.720 --> 00:12:10.879 The first lesson from the end of the exile here is that God plans the future. 00:12:11.039 --> 00:12:14.159 And you see this beginning in Ezra 1, verse 1. 00:12:14.240 --> 00:12:17.519 In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia. 00:12:18.000 --> 00:12:23.360 And this first year would be 538 is when this happens. 00:12:23.679 --> 00:12:25.600 Cyrus becomes king of Persia. 00:12:27.519 --> 00:12:28.799 Cyrus becomes king. 00:12:29.120 --> 00:12:34.960 He wants to show grace and benevolence to the Israelites. 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:37.279 Cyrus is a very interesting person. 00:12:37.360 --> 00:12:39.519 We talked about him before in our study of the book of Daniel. 00:12:39.600 --> 00:12:41.120 He was an Iranian ruler. 00:12:41.360 --> 00:12:45.120 His father was, remember that this his empire is called the Medean Persian Empire. 00:12:45.279 --> 00:12:47.600 His father was Persian, his mother was Mede. 00:12:48.080 --> 00:12:56.559 In our to use our modern analogy, both would be Iranian, they would speak farsi today, but back then it wasn't really an ethnic distinction as much as it was a language distinction. 00:12:56.639 --> 00:12:59.759 The difference between the Medes and the Persians was more of a linguistic one. 00:13:00.000 --> 00:13:12.000 And Cyrus had his dad on one side, his mother on the other, and that since he united the tribes when the Medes finally rebelled against the Persians, he consolidated authority and he became the sole emperor of the Med and Persian Empire. 00:13:12.080 --> 00:13:13.759 And he was a brilliant person. 00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:19.120 He first, when he became emperor, he didn't go against Babylon, which was the big empire on the block, so to speak. 00:13:19.279 --> 00:13:23.679 He went east out to India, which the Medes and Persians already had somewhat control over. 00:13:24.000 --> 00:13:28.480 He reestablished control out there, and people, his subjects actually loved him. 00:13:28.559 --> 00:13:36.000 Even the far-flung places of his empire, like India, they respected him because he had kind of a toleration approach to them. 00:13:36.159 --> 00:13:39.679 He let them worship their own gods, have their own even currency. 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:43.440 He heads back and attacks Babylon. 00:13:43.759 --> 00:13:45.360 We studied this in the book of Daniel. 00:13:45.440 --> 00:13:47.759 He conquers Babylon in an unexpected way. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:49.840 They put siege in the Babylonians. 00:13:49.919 --> 00:13:53.120 The Babylonians were arrogant and thought they could not be conquered. 00:13:53.440 --> 00:13:58.480 Cyrus conquered them by diverting the Euphrates River, which fed into Babylon. 00:13:58.559 --> 00:13:59.840 They didn't think that could be done. 00:13:59.919 --> 00:14:00.559 It happened. 00:14:00.720 --> 00:14:06.080 All of his soldiers stream into Babylon in the middle of the night and conquer the Babylonian Empire. 00:14:06.559 --> 00:14:09.039 That was October 12th, 539 BC. 00:14:09.120 --> 00:14:12.080 I mean, it's a well-attested event in world history. 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:16.399 It was two weeks later when Ezra 1-1 takes place, October 29th. 00:14:16.480 --> 00:14:21.120 We know the date because the script of this, you can see a model of it in the Bible Museum. 00:14:21.200 --> 00:14:26.639 The original is in the British Museum in London, but there's a replica of it in the Bible museum. 00:14:26.720 --> 00:14:27.919 It's pretty cool to look at. 00:14:28.080 --> 00:14:30.080 But this is the word that happens. 00:14:30.240 --> 00:14:36.080 It's recorded on a little script that's around a I don't know what the word is, like a scroll kind of thing. 00:14:36.240 --> 00:14:39.279 The word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. 00:14:39.360 --> 00:14:46.960 Yahweh stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, the king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and he put it in writing. 00:14:47.200 --> 00:14:58.000 Thus says Cyrus, king of Persia, Yahweh, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he's charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 00:14:58.320 --> 00:15:06.399 Now understand, this is a remarkable prophecy because this declaration by the emperor ends the exile. 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:11.200 They were brought against their will 70 years earlier out of Jerusalem. 00:15:11.360 --> 00:15:12.960 They were brought screaming and kicking. 00:15:13.039 --> 00:15:18.399 Their king was brought out literally with a hook in his nose and led on a leash out of Jerusalem. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:19.840 That's how Judah fell. 00:15:20.000 --> 00:15:27.279 You fast forward 70 years, and now their new emperor gives a proclamation that you can all go home. 00:15:27.840 --> 00:15:31.120 The exile is over, you can return. 00:15:32.480 --> 00:15:34.879 This shows you that God has been in control. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:38.720 It happens to the dates that God said, 70 years. 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:44.159 But first you just need to marvel at why Ezra begins his book with the first year of Cyrus. 00:15:44.240 --> 00:15:51.519 He's named, and that's because Isaiah 44, verse 28, written 200 years earlier, names Cyrus. 00:15:51.840 --> 00:15:53.279 Isaiah 44, 28. 00:15:53.360 --> 00:15:54.240 Who says of Cyrus? 00:15:54.320 --> 00:15:58.159 Yahweh, speaking of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, he will fulfill all my purpose. 00:15:58.320 --> 00:16:03.279 He says, Of Jerusalem, she shall be built, and of the temple your foundation should be laid. 00:16:03.600 --> 00:16:10.960 So Yahweh declares Cyrus will be emperor, and he will give this declaration 200 years earlier. 00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:14.559 Before the Medo-Persian Empire was a thing. 00:16:14.960 --> 00:16:18.799 God says, You will have a ruler named Cyrus who will declare this. 00:16:19.840 --> 00:16:22.559 I mean, I can't even think of an American equivalent to that. 00:16:22.720 --> 00:16:27.440 Jonathan Edwards in the 1700s, saying one day you will have a president named Barack Obama. 00:16:27.919 --> 00:16:28.240 Okay. 00:16:28.799 --> 00:16:36.960 That would be, you're starting to get to the kind of thing, like an unusual name called out by Jonathan Edwards 200 years earlier. 00:16:37.440 --> 00:16:42.879 You're starting to get to what Isaiah prophesies about Cyrus 200 years earlier. 00:16:44.080 --> 00:16:46.000 It's a remarkable prophecy. 00:16:46.240 --> 00:16:47.679 And it comes to pass here. 00:16:51.679 --> 00:16:53.440 That's Isaiah 44, 28. 00:16:53.600 --> 00:17:00.240 But you'll notice, Ezra 1, verse 1 says, according so that the word of Yahweh by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled. 00:17:00.399 --> 00:17:01.600 Why doesn't he say Isaiah? 00:17:01.679 --> 00:17:06.960 Because the Jeremiah one is a, you would think in your mind, that's a secondary in like an awesomeness. 00:17:07.119 --> 00:17:10.720 Naming the dude 200 years before he was born is tough to beat. 00:17:11.279 --> 00:17:23.359 But if you're a Jew, what is more immediate to you is not just that God names the person, but that God is going to rescue you. 00:17:23.920 --> 00:17:25.599 That's what's important to you. 00:17:25.839 --> 00:17:28.240 Regardless, the point is that God plans the future. 00:17:28.400 --> 00:17:30.319 He knew how long Israel would be in exile. 00:17:30.480 --> 00:17:32.000 He knew the person who would end it. 00:17:32.240 --> 00:17:34.240 He has been in control of this the whole time. 00:17:34.480 --> 00:17:40.240 Do you think the Israelites thought God was in control when they watched their king get let out of the capital with a hook in his nose? 00:17:40.480 --> 00:17:44.240 Do you think they thought God was in control when they watched the temple burn to the ground? 00:17:44.480 --> 00:17:47.359 When they watched all the vessels get looted from the temple? 00:17:47.519 --> 00:17:54.240 Do you think they thought God was in control when they prayed to God for rescue from them and God didn't seem to answer and they lost? 00:17:54.720 --> 00:18:00.480 But now in the mirror they see that God was in fact sovereign the whole time because he had already told them what would happen. 00:18:00.640 --> 00:18:03.119 So the first lesson God plans the future. 00:18:03.279 --> 00:18:06.559 So by the way, when you're going through a trial, have the same confidence in your life. 00:18:06.799 --> 00:18:10.880 Have the same confidence that no matter what you're going through, it's not unseen to the Lord. 00:18:11.200 --> 00:18:12.240 The Lord knows. 00:18:18.079 --> 00:18:20.880 Nothing you're going through is unseen by him. 00:18:21.839 --> 00:18:23.599 He knew it before you were born. 00:18:23.920 --> 00:18:24.799 He plans the future. 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:26.480 The second lesson from the exile. 00:18:26.640 --> 00:18:28.400 That God protects his people. 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:30.079 That God protects his people. 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:31.839 Now I mentioned that to the Jew. 00:18:31.920 --> 00:18:36.720 The Jeremiah prophecy is even more amazing than the Isaiah prophecy. 00:18:36.880 --> 00:18:39.839 The Jeremiah prophecy is from Jeremiah. 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:40.400 There's two of them. 00:18:40.559 --> 00:18:42.960 Jeremiah 25, verses 11 and 12. 00:18:43.039 --> 00:18:43.920 And I'm going to flip there. 00:18:44.000 --> 00:18:46.319 If you want to make your way there, you can also. 00:18:46.480 --> 00:18:50.079 Jeremiah is after Isaiah, before Ezekiel. 00:18:50.240 --> 00:18:53.759 Just write a few books, jump past Psalms, jump past Isaiah. 00:18:53.920 --> 00:18:56.640 Jeremiah 25, verse 11. 00:18:58.640 --> 00:19:02.880 This whole land will become a ruin and a waste, God says. 00:19:03.039 --> 00:19:04.160 Speaking of Judah. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:08.880 These nations shall serve the king of Babylon for 70 years. 00:19:09.119 --> 00:19:15.680 Early up in Jeremiah 25, verse 9, he said, I'm going to let ye follow the Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who is my servant. 00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:18.400 I will bring them against this land. 00:19:18.559 --> 00:19:21.759 So God is telling the Israelites, you will be destroyed. 00:19:21.920 --> 00:19:23.200 In fact, look at the end of verse 9. 00:19:23.279 --> 00:19:29.039 You'll be devoted to destruction, you will be a horror, there will be a hissing and an everlasting desolation. 00:19:29.519 --> 00:19:31.599 So God says, you're going to go down. 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:34.000 But verse 11 is the prophecy. 00:19:34.559 --> 00:19:38.160 You will serve the king of Babylon for 70 years, and verse 12. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:48.319 After 70 years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, declares Yahweh, making their land an everlasting waste. 00:19:48.400 --> 00:19:50.319 And of course, that is what happened. 00:19:50.640 --> 00:19:56.799 Remember the Babylonian king was defeated by Cyrus in a humiliating fashion? 00:19:58.000 --> 00:19:59.039 As punishment. 00:19:59.200 --> 00:20:00.640 That was prophesied by Daniel. 00:20:00.799 --> 00:20:01.599 Daniel warned him. 00:20:01.759 --> 00:20:04.160 God had handwriting on the wall that it was going to happen. 00:20:04.319 --> 00:20:07.200 They ignored God just like the Israelites did, and God destroyed them. 00:20:07.359 --> 00:20:09.759 But notice the key phrase in here if you're an Israelite. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.079 For 70 years you'll be in Babylon. 00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:13.440 Seventy years. 00:20:13.759 --> 00:20:16.400 There's an end date to the prophecy. 00:20:16.960 --> 00:20:19.519 Flip over to Jeremiah 29, verse 10. 00:20:19.759 --> 00:20:21.200 You see something similar there. 00:20:21.440 --> 00:20:24.240 Jeremiah chapter 29, verse 10. 00:20:24.400 --> 00:20:33.200 Thus says Yahweh, when 70 years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you and I will fulfill to you my promise to bring you back to this place. 00:20:33.359 --> 00:20:35.519 That promise that he said earlier in Jeremiah. 00:20:35.680 --> 00:20:36.799 It will be 70 years. 00:20:36.880 --> 00:20:40.079 So God repeats it a second time in the book of Jeremiah. 00:20:40.400 --> 00:20:44.559 I know the plans I have for you, is Jeremiah 29, 11, declares Yahweh. 00:20:44.720 --> 00:20:46.559 Plans for welfare and not for evil. 00:20:46.720 --> 00:20:48.960 Plans to give you hope in a future. 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:52.720 This is one of the first Bible verses I memorized when I got saved. 00:20:52.880 --> 00:20:54.720 I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord. 00:20:54.880 --> 00:20:57.839 Plans to prosper you and not to harm you, to give you hope in the future. 00:20:58.000 --> 00:20:59.359 You probably memorize that verse too. 00:20:59.440 --> 00:21:03.119 It's on bumper stickers, it's on FCA t-shirts, it's everywhere. 00:21:03.440 --> 00:21:06.640 Tim Tebow probably writes it on his face if it would fit. 00:21:07.920 --> 00:21:10.240 I mean, it's that kind of verse. 00:21:10.720 --> 00:21:15.759 But when you get the context of this, do you understand the greatness of this verse? 00:21:16.960 --> 00:21:20.480 That they are experienced horrific judgment from God. 00:21:20.720 --> 00:21:23.200 The worst case scenario has happened to them. 00:21:23.759 --> 00:21:27.359 And God says it will only last 70 years. 00:21:28.240 --> 00:21:37.039 That's why I chuckle when I see that verse on you know athletes' faces or on the back of cars, because that verse says that you're going to go through intense suffering for 70 years. 00:21:37.279 --> 00:21:40.160 It's not quite the pregame speech you're looking for as a coach, right? 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:43.359 We're gonna lose this game and every game for 70 years. 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:49.119 But when you're you know 70 plus years old, then you'll win one, because that's what God says in Jeremiah 29. 00:21:50.400 --> 00:21:55.759 I mean, it seems almost mocking, but if you're an Israelite, it's not mocking. 00:21:56.000 --> 00:22:02.400 If you're an Israelite, you can turn that hourglass over or that 70 year glass over on Your table, start the countdown. 00:22:02.480 --> 00:22:03.680 That's a long advent. 00:22:04.319 --> 00:22:09.440 You know, kids can't wait 25 days of December eating chocolate every day to get to Christmas. 00:22:09.519 --> 00:22:11.680 Imagine a 70-year countdown. 00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:13.279 70 years. 00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:15.920 That's the greatness of this prophecy. 00:22:16.079 --> 00:22:19.839 That's why, if you go back to Ezra chapter 1, that's what Ezra focuses on. 00:22:20.000 --> 00:22:23.920 Not that God named the person who would end the prophecy, although that is cool. 00:22:24.160 --> 00:22:28.160 Ezra focuses on the basic fact that God has kept his word. 00:22:28.319 --> 00:22:31.680 Seventy years later, he's remembering Israel. 00:22:31.920 --> 00:22:35.200 Seventy years later, he's going to call them back out of exile. 00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:42.799 If you're an Israelite wandering in a foreign land, this is the kind of promise you can hang your hat on. 00:22:43.839 --> 00:22:50.160 Verse 2, you're going to go back, he says, I will build, you'll build a house in Jerusalem, which is the temple. 00:22:50.400 --> 00:22:59.920 Verse 3, whoever's among you all of his people, may his God be with him, and let him go to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of Yahweh, the God of Israel. 00:23:00.079 --> 00:23:01.599 He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 00:23:01.759 --> 00:23:03.279 This is Cyrus' declaration. 00:23:03.519 --> 00:23:09.279 Now, Cyrus here gives his declaration to lots of other people that were captive by the Babylonians. 00:23:09.839 --> 00:23:12.400 But this one, he even uses the covenant name of God. 00:23:12.480 --> 00:23:14.240 It is Yahweh who will let you go home. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:16.559 Cyrus had a relationship with Daniel. 00:23:16.720 --> 00:23:22.640 Daniel was encouraging Cyrus to do this, but Cyrus did this after he'd been in charge of Babylon for two weeks. 00:23:23.680 --> 00:23:25.599 I mean, that's impressive. 00:23:26.079 --> 00:23:31.200 Two weeks of being around Daniel and he's issuing this kind of edict, naming Yahweh. 00:23:31.359 --> 00:23:34.079 How encouraging would this be for the Israelites? 00:23:34.160 --> 00:23:38.000 Notice that even in the way it's worded in verse 3, it's not about the temple like verse 2 is. 00:23:38.160 --> 00:23:39.599 It's personal in verse 3. 00:23:39.759 --> 00:23:42.559 Whoever is among you, this is to the people. 00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:47.920 The people that feel discouraged, the people that feel abandoned by God, the people that feel like God has forgotten them. 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:49.279 Ezra has a word for you. 00:23:49.440 --> 00:23:51.119 God has not forgotten you. 00:23:51.599 --> 00:23:54.079 God knows you, God remembers you. 00:23:54.960 --> 00:23:58.559 If you're going through suffering, know that God knows how long it will last. 00:23:59.839 --> 00:24:05.119 Romans tells us that God uses every difficulty, every trial for our good and for his glory. 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:09.279 And if you're, if God's glory is your greatest good, you see how that's redundant. 00:24:09.759 --> 00:24:13.279 This is that kind of promise in Ezra 1, verse 3. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:17.200 You may be suffering, but God protects his people. 00:24:27.039 --> 00:24:29.200 And so our kind of enemies would be different, of course. 00:24:29.359 --> 00:24:42.720 We prayed for the persecuted church tonight, so it's very easy to see how this applies to some Christians in the world that although they're being persecuted, although they're suffering under the thumb of their government, they should have confidence that God has an end date for their suffering in mind. 00:24:42.880 --> 00:24:50.640 That God is using all their suffering for good and for his glory, and that God will bring good out of every piece of suffering a Christian goes through. 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:54.240 In our own culture, it's probably more personal than corporate. 00:24:54.319 --> 00:25:02.640 It's not that the church is going through suffering, but you and your life might be going through suffering through trials, health trials, family trials, those kind of things. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:05.359 And we have the confidence that God protects his people. 00:25:05.519 --> 00:25:09.519 No temptation will overcome you except that which is common to all people. 00:25:09.599 --> 00:25:13.279 And with every temptation, God gives a way to escape, a way of escape. 00:25:13.920 --> 00:25:15.200