So we're starting a new Bible study through the book of Ezra and I want to kind of go
through some different portions of the Bible just to get Ezra kind of placed in her mind
as we kind of go through this chapter two.
But let's read verses one through three again.
The Bible says, Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord
by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king
of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing,
saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the
kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which
is in Judah.
Who is there among you of all his people?
His God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the
house of the Lord God of Israel.
He is the God which is in Jerusalem.
Now the book of Ezra, especially starting out here, is a very, you know, positive book.
It's good news.
The children of Israel have been in captivity and Babylon, they've been heavily persecuted,
they're slaves in many cases, they're servants, but with the starting of Ezra chapter one
we see Cyrus, the king of Persia, who's basically in charge of the whole world, he has made
this proclamation that, hey, you guys can go back to the promised land, you can rebuild
Jerusalem, you can rebuild the temple of God, and so it's actually a very joyous time, it's
a time of rebuilding, and there's a lot of things about this that, you know, the Bible
prophesied about in the, before the book of Ezra, as far as its timeline, okay?
So go if you would to 2 Chronicles, let's go to 2 Chronicles chapter 36.
I want to kind of paint the picture of where we are in the Bible.
Now Ezra is one of the last books when it is in consideration of the history.
When you look at the Old Testament, it's kind of broken up into a few different sections.
The first five books are known as the Pentateuch or the Torah or the Law, just the books of
Moses, and they're pretty much just historical in nature.
But then you basically have what's considered the historical category, which is everything
from that all the way up to the book of Esther, right before Job.
You have Joshua, Judges, Ruth, 1 and 2 Samuel, and you go all the way up to the book of Esther.
Ezra is one of the last books there of the history of the Old Testament, and it's only
a few hundred years before the time of Christ, maybe, you know, some people will look at
a historical fact and say that Cyrus made this proclamation in maybe 576 BC.
So maybe 576 years before the time of Christ is kind of the timeline of where Ezra is at.
But throughout the children of Israel's history, this day of them returning to the land was
constantly prophesied about and spoken about.
So let's look at a couple of places.
Second Chronicles chapter 3, I guess you don't have to turn there.
I was thinking you have to turn.
You don't have to turn.
Just look up on the page, right?
Look at verse 21.
It says,
So the book of 2 Chronicles, it just kind of ends abruptly.
It just kind of gives you a whole bunch of history, just like real quick.
It's just like, hey, they go into the Babylonian captivity, Jerusalem's destroyed, then we
have, you know, the kingdom of Babylon's destroyed, then Cyrus is going to make a proclamation.
He just kind of like fast forwards like several, you know, decades of timeline.
But he says in verse 21 of 2 Chronicles that Jeremiah had prophesied that the land of Jerusalem
would be at rest for 70 years.
Now that was because the children of Israel, they did not observe this Sabbath year as
they were supposed to.
Every seventh year was supposed to be a Sabbath year, meaning that they would not go out until
the land.
It was supposed to just be at rest.
They were supposed to gather enough food in the sixth year to last them.
That year, the sixth, the seventh, and the eighth, they were just going to last them
for a long period of time, but they never did it for 490 years.
So ergo, the land had to be at rest for 70 years.
It was prophesied by Jeremiah.
God is going to make Jerusalem be desolate for 70 years.
Now in verse 22, it says,
Now that sounds pretty familiar to what we just read in the book of Ezra.
That's why it makes a lot of sense that you go right from 2 Chronicles right into Ezra.
There's some bibles where they confuse the Old Testament structure.
It's called like these Jews or whatever.
They'll come and they'll try to give you the true organization of the Old Testament.
They won't put 2 Chronicles and Ezra right next to each other.
They'll put 2 Chronicles as like the last book, or they'll just kind of throw books
all around.
They start with Job or something like that.
It's all confusing and weird, but there's a reason why our Bible is laid out the way
that it is.
And you just kind of flow, hey, right after the books of Moses, we go into Joshua.
That makes pretty good sense since Moses just ordained Joshua, right?
And you just keep following that timeline.
After you have Joshua, you have what?
The book of Judges.
And then after Judges, you have 1 and 2 Samuel.
Then you have 1 and 2 Kings.
What's 1 and 2 Kings?
Well, basically, it's following the timeline with the northern kingdom, the kingdom Israel.
Then you have 1 and 2 Chronicles, which starts kind of back over.
It overlaps on some of that timeline.
But now the focus is not on the kingdom of Israel, the northern kingdom.
It's focused on the kingdom of Judah.
So you kind of get two different perspectives of all those same events.
And then it carries you a little bit further all the way to this point with Cyrus.
That makes a lot of sense.
How about we go to the book of Ezra, which is going to go along with the proclamations
of Cyrus.
Then you have the book of Nehemiah, which is kind of an overlapping book with Ezra and
talking about the returning of the land and rebuilding the temple.
Then you have the book of Esther, which is just a little bit further.
And then you go into a different section.
You go into Job, which Job is just a completely different section of the Bible.
Now you get into poetry.
And you kind of have that divide where you have Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes,
Song of Solomon.
Then you get into the minor or the major and minor prophets.
The major prophets start back over on that timeline that we had and give you lots of
detail about what was happening in those events, Isaiah and then Jeremiah, Lamentations, Ezekiel,
Daniel.
Daniel, that timeline is going to overlap with the book of Ezra to some degree.
And then the minor prophets do the same thing.
They go back again and overlap and then they always push forward.
But the interesting thing about those overlaps is every time the Bible will overlap, it'll
keep pushing the story a little bit further out.
Even with the Gospels, you kind of have the same thing, right?
Matthew, you kind of go through it.
Then you go through it again with Mark.
Then you go through it again with Luke.
Then you go through it again with John.
But as you notice as you go through, you get more details as you go through.
And like when you get to the book of John, it's the most detailed as far as those last
moments of Christ on this earth.
You know, it goes a lot more detail about the Passion of Christ and the Last Supper
and his prayers.
It's like just whole chapters devoted to the prayers that he was making in those last moments
of his life.
So it makes sense how the Bible kind of unravels things for us.
It kind of gives you a quicker timeline.
And then it'll come back and it'll fill in a lot more details.
And then it'll push the story a little bit further.
Then it'll come back and push in even more details.
So that's kind of how the Bible works.
And the book of Ezra is just kind of going with that historical perspective.
But when we think of the timeline, it's already been prophesied many times before that this
would happen.
Now, keep your finger here in Ezra chapter one, but go to Jeremiah chapter twenty five,
Jeremiah chapter twenty five, because they keep we keep seeing this reference of how
Jeremiah prophesied about these seven years.
Let's look that up.
Let's actually look it up when the Bible actually said this and see what the Bible had to say
about those seven years in Jeremiah twenty five.
Look at verse number eleven.
The Bible says, And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment, and these
nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.
And it shall come to pass when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king
of Babylon and that nation, saith the Lord, for their iniquity and the land of the Chaldeans,
and will make it perpetual desolations.
So Jeremiah is prophesying before the book of Ezra, before the destruction of Jerusalem,
before Nebuchadnezzar comes and, you know, wipes them all out.
He's saying, hey, the land is going to be rest seventy years.
Now that's important when you're studying your Bible.
Why?
Because Jeremiah is way after Ezra, isn't it?
You have to realize when you're going to the book of Jeremiah, you've gone back in time.
You're still before the book of Ezra.
And this is important because a lot of people will misinterpret the Bible.
They'll see a lot of proclamations in the major and minor prophets about the Jews returning
to the land, and they'll attribute that to 1948.
They'll say, you know, hey, Israel, return to the land.
The Bible prophesied about that.
Well, they don't even realize that the prophecy that Jeremiah made here about these things
happening hasn't happened yet.
And a lot of these prophecies that are being mentioned of them returning to the land, they
haven't even left the land yet for the first time.
It's talking about when they're going to return in the book of Ezra.
It's a great and joyous thing.
Look at verse number 17.
Now, it says in verse number 17, then took I of the cup at the Lord's hand and made all
the nations to drink unto whom the Lord had sent me.
So Jeremiah, he's prophesying, he's saying, hey, Jerusalem is going to be destroyed in
for 70 years, but at the same time, he was prophesying how the whole world was going
to be destroyed at that time and under tribute to Nebuchadnezzar.
He says in verse 18, to wit, Jerusalem and the cities of Jerusalem are going to be destroyed
and Jerusalem and the cities of Judah and the kings thereof and the princes thereof
to make them a desolation and astonishment and hissing and a curse as it is this day.
So he's saying, these are all the people that God sent me to.
Well, Jerusalem and Judah, that makes sense.
Let's keep reading.
Verse 19, Pharaoh king of Egypt and his servants and his princes and all his people and all
the mingled people and all the kings of the land of Uz and all the kings of the land of
the Philistines and Ashkelon and Azah and Ekron and the remnant of Ashdod, Edom and
Moab and the children of Ammon and all the kings of Tyrus and all the kings of Zite and
all the kings of the Isles, which are beyond the sea, Dedan and Timah and Buz and all that
are in the utmost corners and all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mingled
people that dwell in the desert and all the kings of Zemri and all the kings of Elam and
all the kings of the Medes and all the kings of the north, far and near, one with another
and all the kingdoms of the world, which are upon the face of the earth.
And the king of Shishak shall drink after them.
So I mean, who is he prophesying to?
Everybody.
Everyone.
I guess Atlantis, the lost city in the sea, would be the only one except.
Well, that doesn't exist, all right?
Verse 27, Therefore thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel,
Drink ye and be drunken and spew and fall and rise no more because of the sword which
I shall send among you.
It says, And it shall be if they refuse to take the cup at thine hand to drink.
Then shalt thou say unto them, Thus saith the Lord of hosts, Ye shall certainly drink,
for lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name.
And should ye be utterly unpunished, ye shall not be unpunished, for I will call for a sword
upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the Lord of hosts.
Now this is great doctrine here because we see that the Lord, it's not like he only cares
about Jerusalem.
He doesn't only punish those of Jerusalem.
Now he only gave the law to the children of Israel.
But notice, without the law, he still punishes all the inhabitants of the entire earth.
Some people would say, oh, what about those people that never heard of Jesus, are they
going to go to hell?
Yes, all of them.
Every single person.
You either believe in Jesus Christ or you're damned, period.
He's the God of the whole earth.
He's not a respecter of persons.
That's why it's important for us to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every
creature because he's the God of the whole earth, the whole world.
And Jeremiah went out and he preached about how everybody was going to be destroyed by
Nebuchadnezzar.
Now why is that important?
Because I believe the book of Ezra, when we look at the timing of these events, are also
prophetic and the timeline and chronology of future events.
But it's not 1948 of Israel returning the land.
That's not really true.
It might be prophecy, but it's a different prophecy.
It's the prophecy of the synagogue of Satan in Revelation chapter number 2.
That's the real prophecy in 1948.
But if you look at the general timeline, what happens?
Well, you have the children of Israel, then you have the Nebuchadnezzar coming, and he's
going to take over the entire world and everybody's going to be under control of Nebuchadnezzar.
Let me help you out with that picture is.
The Antichrist.
The Antichrist is going to come and he's going to put every single person under his control.
He's going to be the one world government.
He's going to be the one world undisputed leader.
Everybody's going to be subject unto him, just like at this time with Nebuchadnezzar.
That's why when we read in the book of Daniel, he's such a strong archetype for the coming
Antichrist.
He's one of the kingdoms that's going to picture a kingdom like unto the Antichrist.
Now what happens?
Well, Nebuchadnezzar gets wiped out.
Nebuchadnezzar gets punished and destroyed.
Then what happens?
Then Cyrus comes in, makes his proclamation, and they return to the land and they rebuild.
What is that?
That's a picture of the return of Christ and the millennial reign of Christ.
That's the pictures that we have from Jeremiah and we see through Ezra and we see these big
picture items.
So when we read Ezra chapter number one with the proclamations of Cyrus, it has a prophetic
fulfilling of not only then, but also in future when Christ is going to return and we're going
to literally rule and reign with Christ in Jerusalem.
So I want to keep that in mind.
Go to Revelation chapter 13, Revelation chapter 13.
Let's see some of these parallels of the Antichrist with Nebuchadnezzar because Nebuchadnezzar
is going to rule not just over Jerusalem, he's going to rule the whole world.
Revelation chapter number 13, let's look at verse number seven.
Revelation chapter 13 verse seven.
And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, this is talking about the Antichrist,
and to overcome them and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations.
And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in the book
of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
I've had some people tell me, well the Antichrist, he's not going to be a worldwide leader.
I don't know how you can read.
I mean it makes it clear he has power over everybody, first of all.
And then second of all, everybody that's unsaved, everybody that's not written in the Lamb's
book of life is going to worship this guy.
How can you, well there's a nation of other people, it would have to be a nation of only
saved people that could somehow not be under his authority then.
Because everybody that's not saved, whose names are not written in the book of the Lamb
of Life, look there's reprobates everywhere, okay?
They're all going to accept the Antichrist.
It's not like, well North Korea isn't going to be under the Antichrist.
Look there's reprobates there.
The Philippines, there's reprobates there.
There's reprobates there.
Canada, everywhere.
You couldn't say, look there's going to be people in every country and all of them that
are unsaved, they're going to accept the Antichrist wholeheartedly and he's going
to have power over everyone.
Now look at chapter number 20, go to chapter 28.
So we think about it, at some point everybody comes under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar and
at some point everybody becomes under the rule of who?
The Antichrist.
Then what happens to Babylon though?
Babylon's end up getting, is destroyed.
It's destroyed by the Medo-Persian Empire, okay?
What happens in Revelation 17 and 18?
Babylon's destroyed.
It's the exact same picture.
Then we go to Revelation chapter 20 and we look at verse number 4.
It says, and I saw thrones and they sat upon them and judgment was given unto them and
I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word
of God and which had not worshiped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his
mark upon their foreheads or in their hands and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand
years.
So notice the general timeline, we have everybody coming under the rule of Nebuchadnezzar.
Nebuchadnezzar is destroyed, they return to the land.
What happens in the future?
Everybody comes under the power of the Antichrist, Antichrist is destroyed.
Then what happens?
Well, we were ruling and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
So it's kind of a, it kind of gives you a foreshadowing, it's kind of a dark picture
of what's going to happen, the kind of the timeline of events that we're going to see
in the future.
And it'll even refer, God will refer to Cyrus as his servant.
And it kind of sounds like, you know, he's obviously, he's a weak, you know, picture
of Jesus Christ because he then king or whatever, but there is some parallels of what he does
in the proclamations that he makes.
Now let's go to Isaiah chapter 44, Isaiah chapter 44.
And again, this is a Bible study, so we're going through and we're just looking through
different parts of the Bible, understanding them a little bit better.
I think when you get the timeline of the Bible really solid in your mind, it just helps.
Reading it just really helps understanding where things are at and how to place certain
events.
Now, Isaiah, again, the Bible is chronological.
It just has overlapping periods.
So it's Isaiah, Jeremiah is Isaiah before or after Jeremiah it's before.
So Isaiah has even prophesied before Jeremiah of the returning of the land.
Now as Isaiah before, after the book of Ezra, it's before the book of Ezra.
All of these things were before the time of Ezra.
So Isaiah chapter 44, look at verse 26.
It says, that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers,
that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built,
and I will raise up the decayed places thereof, that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will
dry up thy rivers, that saith of Cyrus, He is even my shepherd, and shalt perform all
my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation
shall be laid.
So in Isaiah chapter 44, he's going to talk about the destruction of Israel.
He's going to talk about how they're doomed, how God's going to judge them.
But then all of a sudden, in the latter portion of this chapter, he starts bringing up how
it's going to be built again.
Well, it's interesting because at that time Jerusalem's not destroyed.
Just think if I said, hey, this church is going to be built.
I mean, there's going to be chairs in here, there's going to be a pulpit, people are going
to show up, the word's going to be preached, you're like, Sunday?
I mean, it looks like it's already good.
Because he's prophesying of the future.
He's saying, hey, in the future, you're all going to be wiped out and destroyed and massacred.
But you know what, then there's going to come a day when you're going to be built, whenever
you're going to return to the land.
And notice when that's going to happen.
He says, that saith of Cyrus.
So even Isaiah had prophesied of Cyrus.
And think about how significant the Bible is.
Think about the Bible.
It's saying, hey, in so many years from now, in hundreds of years from now, this church
is going to be destroyed.
And it's going to be destroyed for perfectly 70 years.
Then after 70 years, there's going to be a guy named Cyrus who's going to tell everybody
to come back and rebuild this church.
And then you just wait.
Hundreds of years, hundreds of years, hundreds of years, and it just exactly happens.
That's the whole Bible.
The whole Bible is just filled with all kinds of future prophesying of things that would
come to pass, and they came to pass exactly as God had said them.
That's how we know it's God's word.
That's one of the proofs of how you can test if something's God's word if it comes to pass.
And God oftentimes proclaims things that are going to happen several hundred years before
they ever happen.
So don't let things discourage you like, well, when is Christ really coming back?
Look, it was prophesied it's going to happen.
All the things that are written in the Bible will come to pass at some point.
You say, when?
I don't know.
But we know that it's going to be after the tribulation that he comes, all right?
Check out that film.
But even at times, I mean, think about it.
There were several generations that came and went, and they never saw that come to pass
anything.
They never got to see the destruction of Jerusalem.
They never got to see the return to Jerusalem.
It was future generations that would see those things come to pass.
And you know what?
I don't know if Christ will return in my generation, in my time.
I think it could be very likely.
I mean, it looks like the world's trying its hardest to get there.
But you know, it could be my children's generation.
And so it'd be important for me to instill the faith that I have in my children and to
prepare them and to help them to succeed and to build a good church for them for when those
times come and for when those things happen.
Let's go, if you would, to chapter 45, look at verse 1.
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden to subdue nations
before him, and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two-leaved gates,
and the gates shall not be shut.
I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight.
I will break in pieces the gates of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron.
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that thou
mayest know that I, the Lord, which call thee by thy name, and the God of Israel.
So the Lord's even giving further instruction to Cyrus in the future of, hey, I'm going
to give you all the riches of the world.
I'm going to put you in control of everything.
Even the dark, I mean, you're going to have it all, buddy.
But guess what?
When I give you all that power and all that wealth, you need to build me this city.
You need to make the proclamation and have my people come back and build my temple.
I'm the Lord.
I'm the one that gave you these riches, and my proof to you that I even did this is the
fact that you're going to have all this wealth, have all these riches, have all these goods.
So God blessed Cyrus on purpose so that he could take over and then help God's people
return to the land.
Look if you would at verse number 13.
Look at verse number 13.
He says, I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways.
He shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith
the Lord of hosts.
Now, it's interesting, again, in verse number one, he called Cyrus his anointed.
That kind of gives, you know, you think like Jesus Christ or something like that, but anointed
just simply means chosen, just the one that he's selected, the one that he is appointed
to do this.
And it, I believe, does give some level of significance to the fact that Jesus Christ
is God's anointed.
He's picking Cyrus as a picture of someone that would rebuild the temple and rule and
reign, these type of imagery that we have.
But Cyrus, you know, obviously is a weak picture of Christ.
You know, David's a really strong picture of Christ, Cyrus is a really weak picture,
but they even still have some overlapping.
And in verse number 13, he says that Cyrus is not going to be motivated to rebuild the
temple for financial gain.
He's not doing it because someone's forcing him.
He's not doing it to make any kind of money.
He's doing it because it's the commandment of God.
That's the reason why he's doing it.
So go back to Ezra, go back to Ezra, chapter number one.
So we read that Cyrus is making these proclamations, he's telling them to build, and we're going
to see the proof of the fact that he's not doing this for price, but rather he's doing
the opposite.
Not only is he not doing it for money, he's giving lots of money.
He's paying for it.
He's funding the project.
Look at verse number four.
And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help
him with silver and with gold and with goods and with beasts beside the freewill offering
for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.
Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites
with all them whose spirit God had raised to go up to build the house of the Lord which
is in Jerusalem.
And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold,
with goods and with beasts and with precious things beside all that was willingly offered.
Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord which Nebuchadnezzar
had brought forth out of Jerusalem and had put them in the house of his gods.
Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer
and numbered them unto Sheshbezar the prince of Judah.
And this is the number of them, thirty charges of gold, a thousand charges of silver, nine
and twenty knives, thirty basins of gold, silver basins of a second sort, four hundred
and ten, and other vessels a thousand.
All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred.
All these did Sheshbezar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from
Babylon unto Jerusalem.
So notice we have what the proclamation of Cyrus.
It's been prophesied by Isaiah, it's been prophesied of Jeremiah.
We knew that it was coming.
Then once it comes he's also fulfilling not just the fact that he's going to make the
proclamation he's not going to do it for price or for reward he's in fact funding it.
He's telling hey anybody that's got money or goods give it to these guys.
Not only is he doing that hey let me all the treasures that I have that I took from
you guys I'm going to restore back unto you.
I'm going to give it back unto you and I'm going to help you guys build the house of
the Lord.
So chapter one you know it really focuses on this commandment to build the house and
it focuses on King Cyrus's desire to fulfill God's word and to build his house.
Now I want to go to a few more places then I kind of want to get into a practical application
of this but go to Daniel chapter one because he said he wants to return the vessels that
were taken with Nebuchadnezzar.
Now in Daniel chapter number one the Bible tells us that there was a lot of vessels that
had been taken.
Look at Daniel chapter number one look at verse number two and the Lord gave Jehoiakim
King of Judah into his hand with part of the vessels of the house of God which he carried
into the land of Shinar to the house of his God and he brought the vessels into the treasure
house of his God.
So the Bible says that the treasures of Jerusalem were taken with Nebuchadnezzar and they stayed
with them until after you know his defeat and after his defeat Cyrus wants to return
those treasures back with the children of Israel.
So look at verse number twenty one because we're going to see an overlapping here of
timeline.
It says in verse twenty one and Daniel continued even under the first year of King Cyrus.
So Daniel is at the same timeline of King Cyrus.
Now here's the thing it's not the beginning of Daniel is not OK.
Daniel lives to be a very old man.
Daniel starts at pretty much the beginning of the destruction of Jerusalem a little bit
beforehand OK before the destruction of Jerusalem and he outlives Nebuchadnezzar all the way
to Darius the mead then he goes beyond Darius the mead unto Cyrus the Persian even.
So this is like the very end of Daniel's life when the book of Ezra is written at that time.
Now go to chapter number six chapter number six we'll see it say kind of the same thing
there look at verse twenty eight.
So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
So we have Nebuchadnezzar then we had his son reigning at some point if you study Jeremiah
there's like another guy that's mentioned about reigning in Babylon at some point and
then we also have Darius the mead he's the one that comes in and takes over the kingdom
very quickly he destroys the son of Nebuchadnezzar and then we have after Darius we have Cyrus
the Persian and the Bible saying that Daniel was still alive in those times go to chapter
nine chapter nine look at verse number one and the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus
of the seed of the Medes which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans in the first
year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years where of the word
of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years and the desolations
of Jerusalem so Daniel he read about those seventy years in the book of Jeremiah he knew
that it was going to happen he knew that it was going to be accomplished and he found
out he kind of realized this pretty close to when it was going to happen look at chapter
ten chapter ten verse number one it says in Daniel chapter ten verse number one in the
third year of Cyrus king of Persia a thing was revealed unto Daniel whose name was called
belt of Shazzar and the thing was true but the time appointed was long and he understood
the thing and had understanding of the vision now it's interesting because Cyrus is pretty
much the fulfillment of a lot of prophecy I mean he fulfills a ton of prophecy Isaiah
and Jeremiah and even Daniel news all this is going to happen and then at the time that
Cyrus fulfills all this great prophecy Daniel gets a whole bunch of new prophecy about more
future things and you know Daniel is a great book of prophecy and it parallels with Revelation
really well but a lot of the other books like Isaiah and Jeremiah they're mostly focused
on a lot of the stuff that was fulfilled then filled with Cyrus filled with Babylon there's
still other things in Isaiah and Jeremiah that are prophesying of the great future you
know of Revelation or even past Revelation but a lot of their prophecies are already
fulfilled with Cyrus and other things but the book of Daniel a lot of these things are
going to happen even further in the future and then even in our future okay but it's
important to try and place all these things as accurately as you can now go back to Jeremiah
I want to go to last one more place in Jeremiah as we're kind of just relating all these verses
in these scriptures because it's I think it's beneficial to kind of see the timeline see
how some of these books intertwine and even Ezekiel he's at the time of Daniel they're
they could have known each other potentially so a lot of these books overlap they have
different you know times where they're all together but Jeremiah chapter 29 look at verse
number one the Bible says now these are the words of the letter that Jeremiah the prophet
sent from Jerusalem unto the residue of the elders which were carried away captives and
to the priests and to the prophets and to all the people whom Nebuchadnezzar had carried
away captive from Jerusalem to Babylon now this is interesting okay so we let's follow
the timeline right Jeremiah he sends a letter to all the captives that are in Babylon this
is before the destruction of Jerusalem now who is there currently Daniel Daniel is already
there because Daniel was taken away and the first time that Nebuchadnezzar had come and
taken away those with Jehoiakim so Daniel is going to get this letter from Jeremiah
what is the information Jeremiah has it's about the seventy years of desolation then
Daniel realizes this at the time of Darius then shortly after we see that Daniel even
continues into Cyrus and then Cyrus fulfills that word spoken by Jeremiah so all these
things in the Bible they're interconnected we can see how they're working in unison to
fulfill the word of the Lord and how they even knew these things how do you think Cyrus
knew that Jeremiah had spoken that oh okay I have a guy named Daniel who has the book
of Jeremiah in his hand it was written to him and given to him by Jeremiah why didn't
he bring up Isaiah because Isaiah had prophesied didn't we read about Isaiah we see the significance
of all the things in the Bible and even Jeremiah sending his proclamation to Daniel at that
time the importance and relevance it had look at verse number four thus say the Lord of
hosts the God of Israel unto all that are carried away captives whom I have caused to
be carried away from Jerusalem and Babylon build ye houses and dwell in them and plant
gardens and eat the fruit of them take ye wives and begat sons and daughters and take
wives for your sons and give your daughters and husbands that they may bear sons and daughters
that ye may be increased there and not diminished and seek the peace of the city whither I have
caused you to be carried away captives and pray unto the Lord for it for in the peace
thereof shall ye have peace for thus saith the Lord of hosts the God of Israel let not
your prophets and your diviners that be in the midst of you deceive you neither hearken
to your dreams which he caused to be dreamed for they prophesied falsely unto you in my
name I have not sent them saith the Lord for thus saith the Lord that after 70 years be
accomplished at Babylon I will visit you and perform my good word towards you and causing
you to return to this place for I know the thoughts that I think towards you saith the
Lord thoughts of peace and not of evil to give you an expected end and notice it says
an expected end meaning you know when you're going to return and guess what we know when
we're gonna return to land when Christ comes at the return of Jesus Christ will rule and
reign with him in the millennium but think about the power here we have Jeremiah writing
a letter to Daniel Daniel understands by the writings of Jeremiah hey they're gonna
be here for 70 years and that's a pretty good important piece of literature because if China
just came here tomorrow and just gathered us up and took us back to China it'd be nice
to know how long you're gonna be there should we really set up to shop here or are we gonna
be here just for a few months you don't really know he's saying hey your guys are gonna be
there for 70 years so you better just settle in you better just get ready but guess what
at the end of 70 years exactly you're gonna return that's pretty cool to just know hey
70 years is exactly when this is going to happen look at verse number or go to chapter
33 chapter 33 and let's look at verse number seven the Bible says and I will cause the
captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return and will build them as at the first
and I will cleanse them from all their iniquity whereby they have sinned against me and I
will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and where they have transgressed
against me and it shall be to me a name of joy a praise and an honor before all the nations
of the earth which shall hear all the good that I do unto them and they shall fear and
tremble for all the goodness and for all the prosperity that I procure unto it thus saith
the Lord again there shall be heard in this place which he say shall be desolate without
man without beast even in the cities of Judah and in the streets of Jerusalem that are desolate
without man without habit without beast the voice of joy and the voice of gladness the
voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride the voice of them that shall say praise
the Lord of hosts for the Lord is good for his mercy endureth forever and of them that
shall bring the sacrifice of praise in the house of the Lord for I will cause to return
the captivity of the land as at the first saith the Lord now this is important because
when is this going to happen it happened at Ezra chapter number one that's when they were
returning to the land but some people will take like this passage out and say oh see
they return to the land it was prophesied in Jeremiah it was prophesied in the Bible
and they return and bless God we got to bless them that bless God and you know bless Israel
and bless us and you know curse them that curse thee it's all lies they're just ripping
stuff out of context ripping stuff out of you know what the Bible says and if you actually
know what Jeremiah is about you know where it's placed in the Bible you're like you're
insane why is it that most people when they hear that they don't think you're insane they
have no idea when Jeremiah is and in fact they would have no idea where Ezra is they
have no idea where any of the Old Testament is so they just believe all kinds of weird
false doctrine look we need to know the Old Testament just as well as the New Testament
all scripture of God all scripture is is is inspiration is inspired by God okay it's profitable
for doctrine for approved for correction for instruction and righteousness that the man
of God may be perfect throughly furnished unto all good works so we need all of scripture
we need to know everything because then we can be carried away with false doctrines when
people are lying to us about the Old Testament that's one application we could take but I
want to take a further application go back to Daniel okay now let's compare a couple
people in our Bible we have Cyrus who is a heathen he's you know I don't he's probably
saved just when we read the context it seems like he probably was saved I don't know I
can't be real definitive there but there's another guy that's definitely not saved and
his name is Belshazzar now Belshazzar is the son of Nebuchadnezzar now Belshazzar
is in complete control of the world Belshazzar has all the same riches Belshazzar has the
gold of the Lord but what does he do with God's treasures what does he do with the wealth
that God has given unto him Daniel chapter five look at verse number three look at verse
number three then they brought the golden vessels that were taken out of the temple
of the house of God which was at Jerusalem and the king and his princes his wives and
his concubines drank in them they drank wine and praised the gods of gold and of silver
of brass of iron of wood and of stone and the same hour came forth fingers of a man's
hand and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's
palace and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote then the king's countenance was
changed and his thoughts troubled him so that the joints of his loins were loosed and his
knees smoked one against another this guy is scared so much his knees are literally
clapping he's like I mean he's just sitting there terrified of this hand that's just riding
on the wall I mean he's just nervous like why did I drink in the Lord's cup now this
guy is different than Cyrus he's blaspheming the things of God he's not using the things
of God in a righteous way he's using them irreverently what is Cyrus going to do he's
going to treat them with respect he's going to return them back to the house of the Lord
so we see the attitude difference Cyrus wants to build the house of the Lord they see Belchus
our wants to desecrate the house of the Lord he wants to defile the things of God look
if you would at chapter 4 verse number 30 Nebuchadnezzar the same thing God put Nebuchadnezzar
in charge of the whole world he had all these same riches he's had all this wealth but what
was the thought process of Nebuchadnezzar who gave him this wealth well look at verse
number 30 the king spake and said is not this great Babylon that I have built for the
house of the kingdom by the might of my power and for the honor of my majesty now here's
the thing Nebuchadnezzar has the exact same wealth as Cyrus because Cyrus just comes and
takes over okay it's the same situation but Nebuchadnezzar attitude is I got me all this
wealth I got me all this power what did Cyrus say God gave me all this and I need to go
build his house I need to take care of his goods this is an attitude that Christians
can even get go to Deuteronomy chapter number 8 Deuteronomy chapter number 8 Cyrus was concerned
with building the house of God but who was Nebuchadnezzar concerned with himself a prideful
arrogant you know unsaved man at that point I believe for sure but Deuteronomy chapter
number 8 look at verse 10 when thou hast eaten an artful then thou shalt bless the Lord thy
God for the good land which he hath given thee beware that thou forget not the Lord
thy God and not keeping his commandments and his judgments and statutes which I command
you this day lest when thou hast eaten an artful and has built goodly houses and dwelt
therein and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied
and all that thou hast is multiplied then thine heart be lifted up and thou forget the
Lord thy God which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt from the house of bondage
so we see the Bible's giving a warning he's saying hey when you guys go into the promised
land you're about to go in you're about to inherit you know great riches the land of
milk and honey I mean you're gonna inherit all of these cities you don't even have to
fight the Lord's gonna fight for you you just march around Jericho and blow the trumpet
and it's all yours I mean it's just knock down they're just going in and inheriting
great vineyards and great lands and great cattle and great riches and gold and silver
he's saying once you kind of get in there and get settled and build your nice little
house and you're real comfortable beware that you don't forget God and stop keeping
his commandments and reject the Lord no you need to keep keeping his commandments and
the Bible warns that people oftentimes when they go through prosperous times when everything's
going really good they have a tendency to stop thinking about the Lord to stop serving
God to stop wanting to give him the credit for the fact that he's the one that even gave
you all the things that you have God gave us everything God gives us breath God gives
us life God allows us to do anything and everything he gave us the Bible it even says in this
chapter very specifically go to chapter or verse 17 go to verse 17 and they'll say in
thine heart my power and the might of mine hand have gotten me this wealth but thou shalt
remember the Lord thy God for it is he that giveth the power to get wealth that he may
establish his covenant which he swear unto thy fathers as it is this day and it shall
be if thou do at all forget the Lord thy God and walk after other gods and serve them and
worship them I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish as the nations
which the Lord destroyed before your face so shall ye perish because you would not be
obedient and the voice of the Lord your God God warns that people often think well it's
just because I'm so skillful and I'm so smart and I'm so handsome and I'm so athletic and
I'm so wonderful that's why I'm so great you know this is like all athletes okay every
athlete they just I'm just so strong and I'm just the best basketball player and the best
football player and the best look God's the one that gave you that and God can take that
away like this Nebuchadnezzar but we see Cyrus he wasn't like that Cyrus realized where his
wealth came from Cyrus realized that God had given him everything and what was Cyrus concerned
with building the house of God go view the Ecclesiastes go to Ecclesiastes chapter number
five Ecclesiastes chapter number five in the middle of your Bible right after Proverbs
Ecclesiastes chapter number five look at verse number 18 the Bible says the old that which I
have seen it is good and comely for one to eat and to drink and enjoy the good of all his labor
that he taketh unto the Sun all the days of his life which God giveth him for it is his portion
every man also to whom God has given riches and wealth and have given him power to eat thereof
and to take his portion and to rejoice in his labor this is the gift of God so the Bible says
there's nothing wrong with enjoying the fruits of your labor it's a gift it's a gift that when
you work hard and you make money you get to enjoy the fruit of your labor you get to enjoy the food
that you work so hard for you get to enjoy the things that you built the things that you did
that's a gift that God gives us but notice it's still a gift and it's still a gift from him he's
the one that gave you the power to do those things he's the one that gives you the gift of being able
to eat and to drink and enjoy all these things don't ever get so high-minded that you think well
I just know that I can take care of myself you know even even myself included I teach you know
and I preach that it's important to have skill it's important to be a skilled labor it's important
to be very marketable to the workforce but I don't care how much skill you have I don't care how
smart you are I don't care how good-looking you are God can make it to where you could never get
a job God can make it where no one will stretch their hand out to you where you can't get any
any kind of work he could even take the ability that you have to work away from you cripple you
make you workers comp and the workers comp didn't show up you're just at home bedridden you can't
work now you have no power to get food now you have no power to pay the bills look we ever know
we should never get so high-minded about our position and who got us there look at chapter
9 of Ecclesiastes chapter 9 of Ecclesiastes look at verse 10 whatsoever thy hand findeth to do do
it with thy might for there is no work nor device nor knowledge nor wisdom in the grave whither
thou goest so the Bible says whatever work you have to do do it as hard as you possibly can we
should never be apathetic we have to realize where did that power come from look at verse
11 I return us on a son that the race is not to the swift nor the battle of the strong neither
yet bread of the wise nor yet riches to men of understanding nor yet favor to men of skill but
time and chance happeneth to them all the Bible is saying hey I don't care how good-looking you
are Nebuchadnezzar I don't care how smart and how skilled and how wonderful you are hey God can
just take all that away in a second how about job job was skilled and smart and wise and doing
everything that was right it was all taken from him in an instant now job didn't have that taken
away from him because he was lifted up with pride but we just see that the Lord can give and the
Lord can take away at his discretion and that's why we ought to always whether we're in poverty
or in riches we ought to be giving reverence to God and even more so if you say hey pastor Shelley
things are me are going great I mean my job's going great I mean my house is going great I
just I just paid off all my debt I mean everything's just going wonderful it just seems
like it's just raining cash you need to worry about getting your mind on things of God and on
the Lord and beware lest you forget the one that gave you all of that you need to be focused on
building God's house with those riches that he gave you go to 1st Corinthians chapter number 3
1st Corinthians chapter 3 Bible says in Proverbs 3 they're supposed to honor the Lord with the
first fruits of all thine increase Cyrus said hey you know what all this good I have I'm gonna make
sure to give it to God too because when you don't give to God God will take away that which even
seem it to have we need to honor the Lord with our goods so one way we can apply this financially we
ought to tie the Lord we ought to give back the money that he commands us if he's the one that
gives us the power to even get wealth how much more than we should give back and return the 10%
that he gave us but even further than that we can go to another analogy since Cyrus was building the
temple of the Lord now in the New Testament we're not supposed to go to modern-day Israel and build
that temple as much as many Christians wanted they'd be like the modern-day Cyrus and they want
to get to that temple foundation fund you know we're gonna rebuild the temple that is not the
temple that we're supposed to be building today there is a temple though 1st Corinthians chapter
3 look at verse 9 for we are laborers together with God your God's husbandry year God's building
according to the grace of God which is given unto me as a wise master builder I have laid the
foundation and another buildeth thereon but let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon you
are the temple of God is what the Bible says look at verse 16 no you not that you're the temple of
God and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you so as Cyrus was donating all this money and goods to
a physical temple today we are supposed to do the same but to the temples of God that are people we
don't build a physical city we don't build a physical temple we build the Church of God we
build the people of God that's what you should be focused on today you should say hey all the
good stuff that God's given unto me what I should do with that is build people I need to build the
people of God I need to build the temples of God today and invest into people not the physical
building look I'm not saying hey let's get all our money together so we can have a nicer building
no I'd rather just invest that into the people help you go so anymore help you preach the gospel
better help you preach a sermon better help you do the things of God better have more people come
and preach unto you great things of God to help build you to help edify you to help encourage you
that's the goal that we have in the New Testament that's how you can be like Cyrus Cyrus said hey
all these things God's bestowed unto me you know I need to do with them I need to make sure that
I'm building the temple of God I need to be focused on the building of God we today in the
New Testament you focused on the building of the temple of God go to Ephesians chapter 4 Ephesians
chapter 4 I'll read for you and Ephesians chapter number 2 verse number 19 the Bible says now
therefore you're no more strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the Saints and of the
household of God and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and the prophets Jesus Christ
himself being the chief cornerstone and him all the building fitly framed together growth unto
and holy temple in the Lord and whom you also build together for an habitation of God of the
Spirit you are a habitation of God you are the temple of God and you ought not ever look at any
church service as unimportant it's an opportunity for you to build the temple of God and to build
other people and to build the temple invest in the temple return the treasures of the Lord unto the
temple that's why we don't want to forsake the assembling of ourselves together as the man or
some is that's why we don't want to forsake you know honoring the Lord with our firstfruits okay
we don't want the temple of God to be forsaken and it's not the building there's a lot of churches
today where it's a huge building it's a glorious building and there's very few people there that's
not our goal our goal is not to build a huge building it's to build a huge group of people
that love the Lord that are going out and serving the Lord and honoring praise unto him that's how
we rebuild the temple today and unfortunately the temple feels like it was desecrated the last
generation it was like the last seven years has been pretty desolate so it's time for us to come
back and restore the temple of God and to rebuild the temple of God and to make it flourish and have
many people returning back to the Lord look at Ephesians chapter 4 verse 11 verse 11 the Bible
reads and he gave some apostles and some prophets and some evangelists and some pastors and teachers
notice this for the perfecting of the Saints for the work of the ministry for the edifying of the
body of Christ now what is edify mean it means to build up we are to build the people of God that's
why he has pastors and teachers and fans you say hey if I want to be a pastor what's my goal to
build people invest in people help encourage people help people be the better version of
themselves to serve God to the best of their ability and look if you ask me hey what's the
job of a pastor I've always said this and I always will it's to help other people serve Christ better
whatever that is whatever that looks like whether that's coming to my church or going to another
church whether that's you know going so wanting here or there or whatever job okay whatever it
is that's the best way for you to serve God I suppose to help you do that and that's the
goal is to edify other people and to help other people look you think it was beneficial to Cyrus
to just give all these riches and wealth to Jerusalem no but he's doing that because he
knows it's important to build the house of God go to the Titus chapter 2 Titus chapter 2 this last
place I'm gonna return Titus chapter 2 I'm gonna give you some more practical application when you
go soul-winning what should be the goal of soul-winning when you have a silent partner
there well I'm gonna get every door because I'm better than him or should you think you know what
maybe I need to encourage my my partner to get the next door and and motivate him to do better
at his soul-winning and to help him preach the gospel better and to show him how to preach the
gospel and to encourage him that should be the goal now look sometimes I mean people when they're
first going out obviously you're probably gonna take all the doors hey if you speak Spanish and
they don't you should take the Spanish person okay I'm not trying to say do bad at soul-winning but
what I am saying is that your goal should be to help your partner get better not all about you
well I just want to get all the doors have you seen me give the gospel I'm so skilled you sound
like Nebuchadnezzar you might start eating grass pretty soon you need to think you know what it's
more important for him to be a better soul-winner it's more important we encourage him and to build
up him and to edify him and that all things may be done into edification and not to destruction
that's the goal there's a practical application when you come to church building other people up
here's another one I thought of in Titus chapter number two look at verse number three the aged
women likewise that they be in behavior has become of holiness not false accusers not given
too much wine teachers of good things that they may teach the young women to be sober to love
their husbands to love their children to be discreet chase keepers at home good obedient to
their own husbands that the Word of God be not blaspheme the Bible says one of the goals of the
older women is to teach the younger women why to edify them to build them up when you come to church
and you're faithful to church you're encouraging other people to be faithful to church when you're
zealous for the things of God you're encouraging other people to be zealous for the things of God
when you love your husband you're helping to encourage the other women to love their husband
and to love their children when you're sober what is sober it's you're serious you know they don't
come to you and you're just like I like you know purses and lipstick and gloss what is Ezra I don't
even know is that in the Bible that's not helping build the Church of God what's helping the Church
of God is by actually being sober taking your job and your life serious knowing the things of God
look I don't want my wife to know the Bible worse than me I want to know better she's teaching my
children every day I want her to get all the doctrine right so my children have the doctrine
right I want all the other women in this church to know the doctrine and be able to say hey I know
where Jeremiah is I know where Ezra is I know what all the things are teaching the younger women to
take these things seriously why that should be our goal our goal should be to build others up to
encourage other people a steaming other better than yourself some people they only come to church
for themselves for me what am I getting but look a lot of coming to church and see hey how can I
help this person how can I help grow these people and if you're going to a church where you're not
getting fed at all and it's bad then go to a good church but once you find a church that hey this is
a good church is a place I can get plugged into help the other people succeed bear one another's
burdens build and edify one another up don't always look about well I'm just trying to catch
the infiltrators look don't worry about the infiltrators they'll get exposed stop worrying
about infiltrators and start worrying about the people that are here and edify and build them up
and encourage them and you know what if you wash a couple people Judas's feats along the way just
say great Jesus did too look I don't want to get so hardened in my heart that I won't help anybody
because of fear of washing Judas's feet Christ did he even knew he's Judas too think about that
he knew the guy was a devil he still washed his feet look why some Judas's feet because you know
along the way you're gonna wash Peter's feet too and he washed John's feet and James feet and
Andrew's feet and they're back man that was so cool when I was going to this church and I was
helping this guy and he was just a young pup now he's the Apostle Peter what an amazing experience
you know what did God we raise up some Timothy's and some Titus's and in some other Peters of this
next generation and you'd be like you know what I was there when you were just a little kid and you
were quoting the Bible memory chapter to me and I got you an ice cream but we should work on edifying
and building one another up what was Cyrus concerned with himself nope he was concerned
with the house Lord and we need to have the mind of Cyrus today we need to think how can I build
up the Church of God what am I doing through the week to build the Church of God am I building
people up with soul winning am I building people up in the preaching am I am I trying to bring
people into church and encourage the things of God or am I just thinking about how great I am
and how wonderful I am I go to steadfast Baptist Church I'm like I'm amazing you know I know all
the doctrine I've seen after the tribulation ten times isn't that so amazing look it was a gift all
things we have our gift all the knowledge you have is gift knowledge puffeth up but charity edify
it we ought to be a church of charity today and we ought to build one another up let's close in
prayer thank you father so much for this great chapter I pray that we can get the right mindset
today that we could give you all the honor and glory and praise for all the wealth and the power
that you've given unto us to enjoy the things of this world I pray that we would not get high
minded and I pray