Return From Exile
Tonight (Wednesday, 2/01, 7:00 pm), gather with your Calvary Chapel family in the Holy Grounds Cafe’ or on our website (www.calvaryinv.com
), Facebook, and Youtube (Calvary Inverness) as we continue with our three-year journey through the Bible (Ezra 1-6).
The book of Second Chronicles ends with the Babylonians invading the city of Jerusalem, ransacking and destroying the first Temple, taking captive those not murdered, and making the land of Israel desolate for seventy years. It is one of the saddest chapters in the life of Israel and the entire Bible. Yet, God never allows what defeats His people to destroy them. So, the Holy Spirit moved upon Ezra the Scribe to finish Second Chronicles with a fulfilled prophecy.
Two hundred years earlier, God had named the liberator of the Jews who would free them from their Babylonian captivity and send them back to rebuild and restore the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. He gave the prophet Isaiah the name of the future liberator, the Persian King, Cyrus. Isaiah wrote, “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 48:28).
So, after seventy years in captivity, Cyrus, in the first year after defeating the Babylonians, made the decree to allow the Jews to return home. Furthermore, he authorized their ability to collect and gather finances and resources to aid them in rebuilding the Temple. So, a group of fifty thousand led by Zerubbabel, who had been made Governor of Judea, and the High Priest, Joshua, made their difficult and dangerous journey to their homeland.
Once they arrived in Jerusalem, they found it a desolate heap of ruins. Quickly the work of restoration began. Surrounded by enemies who sought to discourage, trouble, and frustrate them to quit, the Jews, encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, persevered through years of harassment and delays to finish the Temple. Proving once again that “If God is for you, who can be against you? (Romans 8:31).
Please pray that this three-year journey through the Word of God will be received by open hearts that long to grow in the Grace and Knowledge of Jesus. And He would do deep and abiding work in and through us for a world in desperate need of a Savior.
In His Strong Love,
Pastor
The book of Second Chronicles ends with the Babylonians invading the city of Jerusalem, ransacking and destroying the first Temple, taking captive those not murdered, and making the land of Israel desolate for seventy years. It is one of the saddest chapters in the life of Israel and the entire Bible. Yet, God never allows what defeats His people to destroy them. So, the Holy Spirit moved upon Ezra the Scribe to finish Second Chronicles with a fulfilled prophecy.
Two hundred years earlier, God had named the liberator of the Jews who would free them from their Babylonian captivity and send them back to rebuild and restore the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. He gave the prophet Isaiah the name of the future liberator, the Persian King, Cyrus. Isaiah wrote, “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 48:28).
So, after seventy years in captivity, Cyrus, in the first year after defeating the Babylonians, made the decree to allow the Jews to return home. Furthermore, he authorized their ability to collect and gather finances and resources to aid them in rebuilding the Temple. So, a group of fifty thousand led by Zerubbabel, who had been made Governor of Judea, and the High Priest, Joshua, made their difficult and dangerous journey to their homeland.
Once they arrived in Jerusalem, they found it a desolate heap of ruins. Quickly the work of restoration began. Surrounded by enemies who sought to discourage, trouble, and frustrate them to quit, the Jews, encouraged by the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, persevered through years of harassment and delays to finish the Temple. Proving once again that “If God is for you, who can be against you? (Romans 8:31).
Please pray that this three-year journey through the Word of God will be received by open hearts that long to grow in the Grace and Knowledge of Jesus. And He would do deep and abiding work in and through us for a world in desperate need of a Savior.
In His Strong Love,
Pastor
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