Day 142 - Ezra 1-4 (An Amazing Prophecy Fulfilled)
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"Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May 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 God), which is in Jerusalem." (Ezra 1:2-3)
Nearly 150 years before Cyrus was born, the prophet Isaiah foretold of his birth and the works that God had predetermined for him to accomplish, namely, to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple of the Lord after the seventy years of captivity appointed for the Jews in Babylon:
"Who says of Cyrus, "He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid (Isaiah 44:28)."'
'"Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held--to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut: "I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel. For Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name;
I have named you, though you have not known Me."' (Isaiah 45:1-4)
Historical documents discovered in Babylon showed accounts of how Cyrus was able to conquer Babylon without resistance. He stopped the flow of water on the river Euphrates that flowed through the center of the great city which allowed his army to go through its bronze gates which were unshut just as Isaiah prophesied it would 150 years before it happened.
Either through the witness of Daniel who served as chief among the officials both of the Babylonians as well as the Persians or through Cyrus' own reading of the book of Isaiah where he learned about the prophecy about him, Cyrus apparently believed in the God of Israel as the One true God as we read from our text above in Ezra.
The life of Cyrus and how God called him by name before he was even born proves that the Bible is indeed the Word of God and that everything written in it will be fulfilled. Among those things that the Bible says will still be fulfilled in the future is the rapture of the Church - the snatching away of all living followers of Christ. Those who do nor belong to Christ will find themselves left behind on earth to face the Great Tribulation - a seven year period of God's terrible physical judgment on earth.
Are you still a doubter of the Bible? If the prophecy about Cyrus and its fulfillment does not convince you that the Bible is the Word of God, then I don't know what will. If you do believe that the Bible is God's Word in its entirety and that Jesus Christ is the only way to heaven, you are blessed.
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