T H E K I N G ’S B U S I N E S S And It shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king: of Babylon, and that nation, salth the Lord for their Iniquity.” (Jer. 25 i l l , 12 ) and now He is fulfilling His promise. God had na,med Cyrus a hundred years before his birth, as He had named Josiah three hundred years before his birth (1 Ki. 13:2) “Behold, a child shall be born unto the house of David, Josiah by name; and upon thee shall he offer the priests of the hig:h places that burn incense' upon thee, and men’s bones shall be burnt upon thee.” . God moved upon the spirit of -Cyrus. Perhaps this was brought about by .Dan iel calling the king’s attention to the prophecy of Jeremiah (Dan. 6:28) “So this Daniel prospered in the reigm of Darius, and in the reig:n of Cyrus the Persian.” , God put it into the heart of Cyrus to help His people. God uses human means. He does not have to, but it is His plan, and we find it verified all through the Bible and through the his tory of the church and of nations. God is a living God. He hears prayer. He responds to the call of His people. We need to believe this and to look to Him, to rely upon Him to supply our needs, and to further His work through us,(Ps. 34:15) “The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, an3 his ears are open unto their crys’’ Cyrus recognizes and acknowledges God as his Ruler, and as having put him in power, and tells it to the ends of the earth, as did Darius (Dan. 6:26) “I make a decree, that in every domin ion of my king;dom men tremble and fear before the God of Daniel;” God had named Cyrus as His shep herd (Isa. 44:28) “That saith of Cyrus, He is my shep herd, and shall perform all my pleasure.” This is the only instance in which this term is applied to a Gentile. Is rael were His sheep, Cyrus His shep herd, and that because God’s appointed shepherds had been false to their trust. Cyrus believed God’s Word concern ing him. What a comment is this when today, with the testimony of two thousand years to verify God’s Word, that Word is derided and denied by pro-
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Outline: (1) God’s Prophecy and the King’s Proclamation, vs. 1, 2. , (2) The Plea oi the Persian King to the People of God, vs. 3, 4. (3) The Princes and .. People in Hearty Response, vs. 5-11. Introduction: The lessons for this week and the week following involve the whole of the Book of Ezra, which is divided into two parts,— Chs. 1-6, The First Return of the Jews, and Chs. 7- LESSON - 10, The Second Re- EXPOSITION turn. T.- C. Horton As the historical facts are so numerous and the time allotted for a lesson so short, we would suggest to teachers that they read carefully the six chap ters; be able to give a brief description of the captivity and the condition of the people, and God’s promise of a return. Picture the image of Daniel and call attention to Dan. 2:32 and Dan. 7:5 as representing the reign of Cyrus, the breast and arms of silver, as seen by men; and the beast, as seen by God. The teacher should read also tlie prophecies as recorded in Jer. 24:6; 27:22; 29:10-14; Isa. 44:26-28; 45:1-6. (1) GOD’S PROPHECY AND THE KING’ S PROCLAMATION, vs. 1, 2 . God’s Word is true. The Bible is in spired. This lesson will afford an op portunity to prove this fact to the schol ars, and that fact, fastened upon their minds, is of far greater importance than any of the details of the lesson. Everywhere, in church and school, the Bible is being belittled, and the word of so-called scientists believed. Here is the illustration to use with emphasis: Seventy years before God had said, “This whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king: of Babylon seventy years.
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