The Force of God's Determination - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my heart and mind in Ezra 5:13-15,

"In the first year of Cyrus king of Babylon, King Cyrus issued a decree to rebuild this house of God. He even removed from the temple of Babylon the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple in Jerusalem and brought to the temple in Babylon. Then King Cyrus gave them to a man named Sheshbazzar, whom he had appointed governor, and he told him, 'Take these articles and go and deposit them in the temple in Jerusalem. And rebuild the house of God on its site.'"

This was the response of the Jews who had returned from captivity and were now working on the completion of the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem. It was their response to the governor of Trans-Euphrates, Tattenai, when he came calling to see what the Jews were doing and who authorized it. Tattenai included this response to his letter to the current king of Persia, Darius.

At the end of seventy years in Babylonian captivity, the Persian king Cyrus (by this time Babylonia had fallen to Persia) allowed the surviving Jews to return to Jerusalem and to rebuild the temple.

It cannot be overlooked that God intended to use Israel to bring his Son, Jesus Christ, into the world, and part of those plans included a temple in place in Jerusalem. Israel required some serious course correction for these purposes as they constantly rebelled against God - and so he subjected them to a seventy year captivity in Babylon.

At God's prescribed time-table, when Israel had become useful again to his purposes, he prompted Cyrus to allow the Jews to return to their homeland.

I note that when God's agenda is afoot, he is able and capable of using whatever he determines useful to himself to carry out his intentions. I am reminded of the proverb, "In the Lord's hand the king's heart is a stream of water that he channels toward all who please him." Proverbs 21:1. Now that Israel had responded to the discipline of God while in captivity, it was no challenge to God to effect the heart of King Cyrus.

When the Lord determined to bring the captives back to Jerusalem, nothing could stop it. Although attempts were made to stop the returning Jews from rebuilding of the temple, the Lord determined it would happen."There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against the Lord." Proverbs 21:30.

A good message for us today!

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!

If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.