Sovereignty

July 28

Ezra 1-2

Psalm 85:8-13

Proverbs 19:7

I Corinthians 7:1-16

Sovereignty

“In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing.  This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:  ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah.  Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them.”  Ezra 1:1-3 

We cannot miss the significance of this passage.  Cyrus was the king of Persia from 559-530 BC.  Persia is modern-day Iran.  He was a pagan king used by God to help His people.  He was the leader of the empire that conquered the Babylonians.  Four kings ruled over the Jews during their captivity:  Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius and Cyrus.  The first three kings forced the Jews to assimilate into their culture and customs and did not let them practice their faith and religious practices. Cyrus, however, allowed the various cultural and religious groups under his control to maintain their own identities and return to their homeland if they chose.  There is no obvious reason that he would have done this other than what the Bible tells us,  “The Lord moved the heart of Cyrus.”  An even more remarkable truth about Cyrus is that God prophesied through the prophet Isaiah over 100 years before he was even born that a man named Cyrus would order the rebuilding of the temple.  (Isaiah 44:24-28) 

God is sovereign.  He is in control and He is above all earthly powers and authorities.  The kings, presidents, leaders and rulers of this world have tremendous power but God can use them in any way He chooses at any time.  Knowingly or unknowingly they have no choice but to submit to His leading.  This is a tremendous source of comfort in our world today.  Watching the news can produce tremendous anxiety and fear.  Iran is on the verge, or already has, nuclear weapons that they are vowing to use against Israel and the United States.  Russia has been at war with Ukraine for several years now and tensions seem to be rising.  China is threatening to invade Taiwan.  North Korea is led by an unstable ruler with nuclear weapons at his disposal.  There are riots in the streets all over the world.  Not to mention the earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters that seem to be increasing in frequency and intensity.  There is no explanation as to why a nuclear weapon has not been used by any of these rogue nations other than that the sovereign God of the universe is holding them back.  He is in control.  Even when it doesn’t feel like it we can be assured that nothing happens without Him either allowing it or ordaining it.  He has a plan and the pieces are falling into place.  Just as God fulfilled Isaiah’s prophecy that Cyrus would order the temple to be rebuilt, we can be confident that all of the unfulfilled prophecies in the Bible will one day come to pass just as predicted.  In His foreknowledge, God graciously gives us glimpses into the future to prepare and warn us.  We should listen.