“Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, ‘All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me; and He hath charged me to build Him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.'” 2 Chronicles 36:23
One of the great reasons for which there is Biblical prophecy, or the declaring by the Scriptures of an event far into the future, and seeing the realisation of it, is so that fallen and sinful man will see that only God could do this, bring it about, thus declaring that He IS God, there being no other. Such was the most extraordinary case of Cyrus the Great, King of Persia. In the book of Isaiah, and also in the book of Ezra, we find mentioned by name, Cyrus, king of Persia. The prophecy given to Isaiah was made over 150 years before Cyrus. The dominant world power at the time of his writing was the Assyrian Empire. From just a logical and hopeless standpoint, is there a proclamation concerning a king, whose name is clearly revealed, but you have a specific mention of the sovereign hand of God, bringing certain things to pass. One of those things was the rebuilding of the temple which had not yet even been destroyed. Isaiah writes of the exile of the people of Israel which was to come, and the raising up of Cyrus, who will at the end of the exile, come to know something of the power and authority of God, for he would write: “All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given unto me…” (2 Chronicles 36:23) We might ask ourselves the question at this point, when such a desastrous situation existed concerning Israel, with the people of God later in exile, and so many others scattered to the four winds, with little of no hope of being restored to Jerusalem, much less, seeing the temple being built again, how could this ever come to pass? The answer is very simple, and yet, almost impossible to grasp: God. Scripture tells us that God took the initiative, according to the declared prophecy of Jeremiah concerning the length of the exile, to, “…stir up the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia.” (v.22) What does this mean?
We find in the book of Haggai a similar account where “…the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, …the spirit of Joshua, …and the spirit of all the remnant of the people; and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.” (1:14) God sovereignly not only moved upon the prophets of old, communicating to them His sovereign will, which He alone could accomplish, but He would, at the right time, move upon Cyrus, and the those in Jerusalem who had returned from the exile, to not only be motivated to build the temple again, but to receive strength and will to do so, in a miraculous and magnificent way. Why did God do this in this manner? Again, God has provided mankind with enormous proofs of His presence, power, and purpose. He has unveiled that He alone is the God of eternity, and that no man can do or accomplish His will, unless HE is in it, by the Spirit. This was the great truth revealed to Zechariah, and communicated to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, at the time of the decree of Cyrus. Though God had declared not only that Israel would be carried into exile, there to remain for seventy years, He had also declared also that at the end of that exile, there would be many who would return to Jerusalem, rebuild the city, and specifically, the temple. God would do this by working in Cyrus, and the people, to will and do of His good pleasure. God would move to “stir up” the people, move the people, give the people a vision for that which would occur if they would trust Him wholly according to His word.
The call of God to believers today, is to receive strength, and, “Stir up the gift of God.”
Dear Father, Move us mightily today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.