Turning of the King's Heart-Part 2
Living as Exiles for our Faithful God • Sermon • Submitted
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We return now to Ezra 1 for part 2 of my sermon entitled, The Turning of the King’s Heart. If you were not with us last week, we spent our time studying the prophecy of Isaiah 45 that revealed that God would appoint Cyrus as his “messiah” or deliverer of the Jews so that they could return to Jerusalem and build the temple and restore the worship of YHWH. The theme of last week’s message was the sovereignty of God in all things. I defined for us TWO THEOLOGICALLY HEAVY truths from Isaiah 45. They are:
1. God’s Sovereignty is his Holy and Good Reign
2. God’s Decreed Will is his Holy and Good Purposes
Today we will look at the third aspect connected God’s Sovereignty over all things and his decreed will. In my time today, we will look at Ezra 1 and understand that ….God’s Providence is his Holy and Good Execution for the purpose of God’s Glory
What is God’s providence? God executing his holy decrees (Eph. 1:11) in this created world through creation, preservation, governance and concurrence.
Let’s spend a few moments on these 4 aspects of Providence
Creation:
It was God’s holy will and a divine act of his sovereignty to create all that was made. He did so for the distinct display of his glory. John Calvin calls God’s creation the “theatre of God’s glory.” We understand that God created everything good which means that it was created with perfection, according to His design and plan, and in God’s good pleasure.
Some theologians distinctly separate creation from God’s providence but I will include it into providence for the sole reason that creation was the first divine act according to God’s perfect and holy will. If providence is every external act of God’s holy will dispensed from himself, then in my understanding creation would be the first of those acts.
Psalm 104:1–9 (ESV)
1 Bless the Lord, O my soul! O Lord my God, you are very great! You are clothed with splendor and majesty, 2 covering yourself with light as with a garment, stretching out the heavens like a tent. 3 He lays the beams of his chambers on the waters; he makes the clouds his chariot; he rides on the wings of the wind; 4 he makes his messengers winds, his ministers a flaming fire. 5 He set the earth on its foundations, so that it should never be moved. 6 You covered it with the deep as with a garment; the waters stood above the mountains. 7 At your rebuke they fled; at the sound of your thunder they took to flight. 8 The mountains rose, the valleys sank down to the place that you appointed for them. 9 You set a boundary that they may not pass, so that they might not again cover the earth.
Mankind was the apex of God’s creation not because man brought something good to the table, but that God put something good in man, his image. His image is represented in mankind alone and is absent in the rest of creation. This image of God in man was sadly marred by the fall of man into sin. As humanity is called to reflect God’s image in this world, instead sin leads man to denounce God’s name and instead elevate himself above God. Where mankind is to understand its value and worth that is found in God alone, instead sin has caused man to find value and worth in things of this world and not things in heaven. Jesus has come to restore the image of God in man by creating him anew and discovering this great significance again through Christ. It was by providence that God sent his Son into the world so that all of his purposes might be fulfilled in Jesus.
Along with the creation of all things, God does not remove himself from the continual sustaining power of that creation but instead he is the One upholding all that he has made.
Governance: sustains and controls all things under his creation according to his will and for his glory
God in his omnipotence is involved in directing every specific detail of creation from mankind to microorganism. God is concerned with and active in your genetic makeup and your germ count. This may seem inconceivable to the human mind, but God is not limited in his sovereignty nor is he lackadaisical in his providence. He is constantly at work as the God who never sleeps nor slumbers caring for all that he made and directing the affairs of every moment of his time.
This means that is God is responsible for as the primary cause of all things. Scripture affirms that God is active in directing weather (ps 145), plants and animals (Jonah 1, ps 104), humanity …2
Proverbs 16:9 (ESV)
9 The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps.
Look at a larger passage with me again in Ps 104
Psalm 104:10–29 (ESV)
10 You make springs gush forth in the valleys; they flow between the hills; 11 they give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. 12 Beside them the birds of the heavens dwell; they sing among the branches. 13 From your lofty abode you water the mountains; the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work. 14 You cause the grass to grow for the livestock and plants for man to cultivate, that he may bring forth food from the earth 15 and wine to gladden the heart of man, oil to make his face shine and bread to strengthen man’s heart. 16 The trees of the Lord are watered abundantly, the cedars of Lebanon that he planted. 17 In them the birds build their nests; the stork has her home in the fir trees. 18 The high mountains are for the wild goats; the rocks are a refuge for the rock badgers. 19 He made the moon to mark the seasons; the sun knows its time for setting. 20 You make darkness, and it is night, when all the beasts of the forest creep about. 21 The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God. 22 When the sun rises, they steal away and lie down in their dens. 23 Man goes out to his work and to his labor until the evening. 24 O Lord, how manifold are your works! In wisdom have you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. 25 Here is the sea, great and wide, which teems with creatures innumerable, living things both small and great. 26 There go the ships, and Leviathan, which you formed to play in it. 27 These all look to you, to give them their food in due season. 28 When you give it to them, they gather it up; when you open your hand, they are filled with good things. 29 When you hide your face, they are dismayed; when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
Joel Beeke writes in his book Reformed Systematic Theology,
“Whenever a wild donkey drinks water, a bird perches on a tree branch, cattle graze upon the grass, or men eat bread, God is present and active as the Giver of these good things.”
Jesus stated this truth in his teaching of the Beatitudes in Matthew 6, when he was teaching about anxiousness. He reminds his listeners that life is more than what physical things that we have or are given. This is the concentration of our worry in this life is about the temporary things contained within it. In addition, Jesus adds that the flowers of the field do not work hard for nor make their own covering for God provides it for them, and their garments are more splendid than King Solomon. Therefore, likewise worry should turned away from because in God’s providence, he cares for that which He creates.
WE MUST BE CAREFUL not to be so scientifically minded that we denounce Providence for scientific reason. Some deists would acknowledge that God created the properties and laws of science, setting them in motion for the world to operate according to those laws. But in acknowledging God’s creation of natural laws like gravity, they are denying his daily operation through those laws to carry out his will. Theologian William Shedd from the 1800’s writes,
Preservation is more than merely imparting to matter certain properties and placing it under certain invariable laws. This is the deistical view of providence. God is not immediately present nor does he operate directly, but only at a distance. This amounts to communicating self-subsistence to the creature. God so constitutes the creation that it can continue to exist and move by means of its own inherent properties and laws
Instead of this deistic view of God, we acknowledge He is working all things according to the purpose or counsel of his will (Eph 1:11).
As I explained last week, God’s decree is God’s will or purpose in this world and therefore God’s providence is carrying out all events so that his purpose and will is fulfilled. This is seen in earthquakes and egocentric kings. Along with nature, God directs the affairs of men to bring about his purposes. Those are often good and evil affairs but God works in and through them for His glory.
A few examples outside of our story in Ezra:
God used the evil of Jospeh’s brothers to bring salvation to all of Egypt God used the wisdom and faith of a Jewish slave girl to heal a gentle general named Namaan from leprosy God sent animals to bring food to Elijah in the wilderness in order that he might survive. God used pagan sailors and a large fish in Jonah’s life in order to save him, preserve him for three days, and direct him back to Ninevah to preach an important message of repentance and judgment.
We will look specifically in a moment at our story and specifically see how God’s providence was at work in Ezra chapter 1.
Concurrence
Finally, and briefly, I promised to answer they question last week, how exactly mankind plays a part in God’s providence. Do our actions matter? Are the effective in God’s ordained will? Let me introduce, if you do not know this term, what theological minds have termed Concurrence, which comes from a latin term which means to “run with” or “run alongside.” The idea is that both God and man play a part in activity ordained by God. It is best to understand God as the primary cause of all things with human beings being secondary causes of those actions. If humans are primary causes of anything outside of God, then God ceases to be sovereign. If humans have opportunity to be secondary causes, then our actions and choices do not matter. Instead, both can be true!
Ephesians 2:8–10 (ESV)
8 For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
Philippians 2:12–13 (ESV)
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.
Louis Berkhof writes,
“each deed is in its entirety both a deed of God and a deed of the creature. It is a deed of God in so far as there is nothing that is independent of the divine will, and in so far as it is determined from moment to moment by the will of God. And it is a deed of man in so far as God realizes it through the self-activity of the creature”
While God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibly for their actions is a mysterious theological concept to grasp, it does not mean that we should deny either truth. The truth is we cannot fully understand such a mystery and yet both concepts are found in God’s word without trying to explain the other away.
This of course means, that while God brings about his purposes through man’s sinful acts for which he is responsible for, this does not assign God as the creator and author of that sin. What evil exists in the heart of man, is the source of the evil committed, no matter how God works through that evil act for his glory!
T: Now that we have just a general overview of providence, let’s look briefly at these doctrinal truths found in Ezra 1.
Proofs of Providence in Ezra 1
God Stirred the heart of Cyrus to accomplish God’s purposes (v 1)
Ezra 1:1 (ESV)
1 In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing:
As we learned last week, God chose Cyrus before He was ever born to serve as a vessel of God’s wrath against Babylon, just as he chose Babylon to be a vessel of God’s wrath against Judah and Assyria against Israel. God worked through his sovereign providence to raise Cyrus up to the status of King over the Persian empire. As verse 1 reads “in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia,” we are to understand that NOT as his first year on the throne which was 559 BC, but his first year reigning after the defeat of Babylon. Cyrus and the Persians defeated the great Babylon in 539 BC and therefore the context of Ezra 1 is 538 BC.
As we will see, God works in his providence so that all kings of the earth bow down to the decreed will of God Almighty. We read that the spirit of Cyrus was “stirred” by the Lord to send the Jews back to Jerusalem to rebuild. This means that God was the primary cause of Cyrus’ desire to allow the Jews to return to Jerusalem.
Proverbs 21:1 (ESV)1 The king’s heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.
Similarly, it was also the desire of Cyrus to send the Jews back because of the political and spiritual advantage that Cyrus assumed by this benevolent move. Archeology has revealed the heart of Cyrus. Writings and decrees from Cyrus have revealed that Cyrus sought fit to return captors from many different nations throughout his reign as king in order to appease the multiplicity of gods that Cyrus thought might exist. In other words, Cyrus was hedging his bets in order to be blessed in this polytheistic thinking. If there are multiple gods, let me be benevolent to their people so they might bless me as I rule.
One commentator quotes a archeological sources saying,
A rather long inscription from Babylon, the Cyrus Cylinder, also says: “Marduk, the great lord, a protector of his people, beheld with pleasure his good deeds and his upright heart and therefore ordered him to march against his city Babylon”
Cyrus is acknowledging Marduk, the god of Babylon, as the another source of determined purpose for him, just like YHWH in Israel. This not only explains the lack of true faith that Cyrus had in the God of Israel alone, but also that Cyrus in his own heart had political and spiritual motives in allowing the Judean remnant to return.
God stirs the mouths of the prophets- …..”The word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled”
Jeremiah the prophet ministered during the Babylonian Captivity and during his ministry, he prophesied the war between Babylon and Persia. He prophesied that after 70 years, Israel would return to their land, which is exactly what occurred. If we look at the domination of Babylon as a great empire ruling over Judah, then that 70 years from 605 BC- 539 BC would seem accurate, as the Lord said it would happen.
Jeremiah 29:10–11 (ESV)
10 “For thus says the Lord: When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will visit you, and I will fulfill to you my promise and bring you back to this place. 11 For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
Again, it is God providence to stir the heart of Cyrus to send Judah home and it was also the providence of God to stir the mouth of Jeremiah to speak the words of God so accurately.
God reveals the reality of His providential purposes (v 2)
Ezra 1:2 (ESV)2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah.
In verse 2, it appears that Cyrus acknowledged that the God of Israel was the one responsible for his victories and conquests as king. Now we have seen this was not a genuine faith but more a mere lip service to as many gods as possible. And yet, what Cyrus was saying as political jargon about YHWH was actually true, regardless of Cyrus’ realization of that truth. YHWH had given Cyrus his power and his fame and therefore his power was granted to him by the ONE TRUE GOD.
Nebuchadnezzar had to learn this lesson about the God of Israel as well, but in a different way. Nebuchadnezzar was arrogant and took the credit for all that he had accomplished in his conquests and domination empire. God humbled the Babylonian king by transforming him to an animal like creature. Only after he was restored by God’s power, did the King of Babylon, like king Cyrus acknowledge the truth about God.
Daniel 4:34–35 (ESV)
34 At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted my eyes to heaven, and my reason returned to me, and I blessed the Most High, and praised and honored him who lives forever, for his dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom endures from generation to generation; 35 all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?”
It is remarkable that God stirs up the hearts of kings that they speak such glorious truths about our God, even if they do not truly believe them. Neither of these kings followed the God of Israel and yet here they were tossing truth bombs like the prophets God raised to speak for him.
This just reminds me just how feeble my attempts are at sharing God’s word each week. I take the opportunity seriously and I will preach and teach God’s word until my last dying breath. I want to accurately divide the word of truth in order to honor the Lord. These verses challenge me to not think very highly of my preaching because God can raise up a greater fool to declare his truths as well. God does not need my preaching. If he wants, he can raise up pagan kings to declare clear and right truths about him. But he does use me and he uses you, in our weaknesses to first believe these truths about him, to be changed by them, and to declare it to others. It is our worship of his great name.
2. God stirred others to GIVE towards the rebuild and to GO home to Jerusalem v 4-6
Ezra 1:4 (ESV)4 And let each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
Ezra 1:6 (ESV)6 And all who were about them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered.
Verses 4-6 also show us that not only did God stir up the heart of the king to send the Jews back, but he stirred up the hearts of others to give financial aid in this restoration journey. In verse 4, the word “survivor” is intended to mean that other Jews aided in the efforts of their countrymen who were returning to give freely to financially support the effort to return to Jerusalem. In verse 6, the phrase “all who were about them aided them” could mean even the Persians gave freely to the cause. If this is true, then there is a greater connection back to the Egyptian Exodus with Moses. There we saw the providence of God provide great wealth from the Egyptians as Israel escaped capvitity. The parallel was made in Isaiah as Cyrus was called the shepherd of God just as Moses was the Shepherd of God.
Either way we interpret it, whether the monetary gifts came from Jews or non-jews, the providence of God is shown in supplying all the needs of Judah for their return. Once again the faithfulness of God is revealed as He provides all that His people need to accomplish His purposes for them. In the moments of life that financials burdens are great, we can know that God is working in very mysterious ways to provide all that we need. Yes we should be hard workers who labor faithfully as God calls us to do. But we also must mix that hard work with great faith, knowing that God provides for his people. He gives us what we need so that we can focus on completing the tasks that He has set before us.
Ezra 1:5 (ESV)5 Then rose up the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild the house of the Lord that is in Jerusalem.
Once again in verse 5, we see the phrase, “stirred up” but this time it is the remnant who will return. The heads of the father’s houses of Judah and Benjamin as well as the priests and Levites were the ones who returned to Jerusalem. It is implied from this verse that not everyone returned to Jersualem. Many Jews were settled in their lifestyle in Babylon and remained there. Only a remnant from the tribes of Benjamin and Judah returned to rebuild.
It needs to be pointed out that God uses the small things to do unexplainable great things in his kingdom. Judah was the smaller tribe. Only 2 tribes of the 12 tribes of Israel were part of Judah. Also, not all of the smaller tribes of Judah and Benjamin actually went back to rebuild. Only a remnant returned to accomplish the task and yet in the great plan of God, only a remnant was needed for in that small returning group, there was but one royal line of King David that would return, rebuild, resettle and restore spiritual life to all who would believe in the messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, born in Bethlehem 500 years later.
God does not need big things to accomplish his purposes. He uses the small, weak, uneducated, and unexpected things of the this world to do the impossible work that He has sovereignly decreed to bring himself glory.
Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:27–31 (ESV)
27 But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; 28 God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, 29 so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. 30 And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, 31 so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
3. God stirred the hearts of Cyrus to return the spoils of war v 7-11
Ezra 1:7–11 (ESV)7 Cyrus the king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29 censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.
Finally, God took the greedy heart of a king and he turned it to a benevolent heart. Kings treasured the spoils of war and here, in a clear act of God’s power, we see Cyrus giving back large amounts of his spoils of war. For Cyrus, they were just precious metals. But for the Jews, these were vessels designated for the house of the Lord. They were taken and desecrated by the Babylonians and instead of keeping them for himself, he returned this large sum back to the Jews. Who does this?
Only a king whose spirit was stirred by the Lord would do such a thing, and with that we draw this final application from our text. As we are living as Exiles, we come to find comfort in the providence of God. Acts 17:26 states that God has providentially determined the “allotted periods and boundaries of our dwelling places.” If you were born in Nazi Germany in the 1930’s during the Third Reich, or the Holy Roman Empire, or communist China, these words should bring the same measure of comfort that they do for us in this day and age. God has decreed in your life that you be born in these circumstances, whatever difficulty and joy may exist in them. No matter who may rule or reign on the throne, in the parliament, or in the Oval Office, God’s providential hand is at work, stirring their hearts to do his will. We have no reason to fear but instead we must “entrust ourselves to a faithful Creator while doing good” (1 Peter 4:19).