Okay, this evening we're beginning
the study in the book of Ezra. The book of Ezra, chapter 1.
I'm taking the title for the message from the words found
in verse 1. Now 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." The title of the message, The Word of the
Lord Fulfilled. The word of the Lord spoken by
the mouth of Jeremiah. God spake through Jeremiah. The word of the Lord fulfilled. Now the word of the Lord, His
spoken word, His decree, the word of the Lord is never spoken
in vain, never spoken in vain. He makes no idle threats nor
precious promises that He does not fulfill completely and fully
honored. He said, I've spoken it, I'll
bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I will do it. Isaiah 46. And then he said,
my word will accomplish my purpose, it will not return to me void. Remember from Isaiah 55 11. Remember in our study in 1 Kings,
the words or the prayer of Solomon found in 1 Kings chapter 8. at
the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem. And this is what
he prayed. Blessed be the Lord God that
hath given rest unto his people Israel according to all he promised
there hath not failed one word of all his good promise which
he promised by the hand of Moses his servant. Not one word of
the Lord will fail. And we can be doubly assured
that all the gospel promises that the Lord our God has made
in Christ Jesus, not one word of every gospel promise will
fail. Every word will be fulfilled. All the promises of God in Christ
are yes, and in him, and amen, and to the glory of God by the
Lord Jesus Christ. The gospel promises are called
exceeding great and precious promises, aren't they? Exceeding
great and precious promises, and by these promises we have
salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ. I like what it said of
Abraham. Of all that God had promised,
he is able to perform all that He has promised. Able to perform
all things for us. Able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by Him. He's able to keep us from falling
and to present us faultless. Our God is able. I love to think
about His ability, His power over all things. Now, in the
way of introduction, in the book of Ezra, we have the record of
God concerning the return of Judah and Benjamin after 70 years
of being in captivity there in Babylon. And we have the story
of God stirring the spirit of this pagan king, stirring the
people up to return to Jerusalem, and the rebuilding of the temple,
the rebuilding of the wall, and the return to worshiping the
true and living God around the altar of sacrifice. Look over
at chapter three, Ezra chapter three, verse two. After seven months was come,
verse one, then stood up, Yeshua, the son of Jozedek, and his brethren, the priest
and Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded
the altar of God, the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings
thereon, as it was written in the law of Moses, the man of
God." So they set up the altar. return to sacrificing unto the
Lord and all that is picturing the gospel of the Lord Jesus
Christ. In chapter 2 we learn that about
50,000 people of the tribe of Judah and Benjamin and the Levites
did return to Jerusalem. Now I remember from our study
in 1st and 2nd Kings, especially in 2nd Kings and 2nd Chronicles,
Jeremiah had warned Judah and Israel of their many, many sins
of idolatry. We studied that over and over
again. God would raise up a king and he would smash down the idols
and that king would die and they'd go right back into their idolatry. Jeremiah had warned them for
their many sins of idolatry, and that the Lord would punish
them by the destruction of Jerusalem, and the destruction of a city,
and the carrying away of many into captivity for seventy years."
Notice, just up the page, in 2 Chronicles 36-21, to fulfill the word of the Lord
by the mouth of Jeremiah until the land had enjoined her sabbath
for as long as she lay desolate to keep sabbath to fulfill three
score and ten years and then God stirred the heart of the
king of Persia Cyrus. Now who is Ezra? Ezra is the priest of God. He's
the writer of the book of Ezra by the power of God the Holy
Spirit Ezra name his name means Helper his name means helper
and he is a picture of He's the priest of God, and He is a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is our great High Priest. Remember, we're told in the book
of Hebrews to consider, holy brethren, consider the High Priest
of our profession, the Lord Jesus Christ. He is that priest that's
exalted to the right hand of God, and it's only because He
ever lived to intercede for us as the priest of God that he
said come boldly unto us that we may obtain mercy and find
grace to help in time of need." So Ezra is a picture and type
of the priesthood of the Lord Jesus Christ. He indeed is our
helper, is he not? He is our helper, our God, and
our Savior. We also see Cyrus, the king of
Persia, who conquered the Babylonians for the purpose of setting Judah
free, was mightily used of God to bless the people of the Lord. Cyrus, as I mentioned earlier,
was spoken of by Isaiah 200 years before he was born. Now I find
this quite amazing. He calls him by name and he tells
exactly what he's going to do and then he does it. I think
of the words of the Lord in Jeremiah 1, where he said, before, speaking
of Jeremiah, the prophet of God, before I formed thee in the belly,
I knew you and ordained you to be a prophet of the Lord. You
know, that is true of all the Lord's people. He has known his
people from all eternity. And Cyrus, like Ezra, is an eminent
type of the Lord Jesus Christ. Cyrus was a king, but the Lord
Jesus Christ is King of kings and Lord of lords. Cyrus, even
his name, speaks of Christ, for his name means, Cyrus, it means
light. It means sunlight. And we know
the Lord Jesus Christ is called, the Son of Righteousness shall
arise with healing in His wings. Cyrus' name also means Father. And we know the Lord Jesus Christ
is called God our Father, the everlasting God our Father. Now, one of the prominent lessons
in the book of Ezra, like all scriptures, is the sovereignty
of God, the total sovereignty of God, over all things and over
all the hearts of all man. God rules and reigns. Whatsoever the Lord is pleased
to do, that's what He does in heaven, earth, seas, and all
deep places. He even taught a pagan king named
Nebuchadnezzar, remember, when He turned him out into a field?
and the Lord revealed to him that God is God, and Nebuchadnezzar
confessed that all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing,
and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven and
among the inhabitants of this earth, and none can stay his
hand or say unto him, Lord God Almighty, what doest thou? Daniel
4, 34. Now one of the prominent words
found, and I think maybe this is the key word found in the
book of Ezra, is the word decree. As I read through this over and
over and over again, remember in the book of Hebrews, it's
the word better. That's the key word. In the book of Philippians, it's
the word rejoice. And here in the book of Ezra
is the word decreed or proclamation. It's used, this word decree is
found in these 10 chapters 14 times. Everything God does, He
does by His eternal, unchanging decree. Now the gospel of God
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ is the unchanging decree of God,
is it not? The gospel of God is the everlasting
gospel. He has decreed all things concerning
the gospel and has decreed that He will set a people free through
the Lord Jesus Christ by His Decree right? He said you shall
know the truth and the truth will set you free whom the son
set free He is indeed a free man Now let's take a look at
the first chapter and find some precious promises of the gospel
Revealed to us look at verse 1 again now in the first year
of Cyrus king of Persia that the word of the Lord by the mouth
of Jeremiah Jeremiah spoke this, but he spoke this as God spoke
through him. The mouth of Jeremiah might be
fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of
Persia, that he made a proclamation, or he made a decree, throughout
all his kingdom and he put it also in writing. Now this is
going to be key if you've read over in a few chapters when a
different king came along and the work there in Jerusalem was
stopped. They had to go back and make
a search for this decree to see if what they were saying was
so. So it's a good thing he wrote it down so it could not be changed. Now the word The Lord fulfilled
His promise spoken by Jeremiah. Now, hold your place there and
you can find Jeremiah 25. Turn there. Jeremiah 25. Jeremiah
25. verse 8, Jeremiah 25 verse 8,
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, because you have not
heard my words, behold, I will send and take all the families
of the north, saith the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar, the king
of Babylon, my servant, will bring them against this land,
and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations
round about, will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment,
and a hissing, and a perpetual desolation. Did he do it? Absolutely
he did. Whereover I will take from them
the voice of mirth, the voice of gladness, the voice of the
bridegroom, the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstone,
and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be
desolation and an astonishment, and these nations shall serve
the King of Babylon even seventy years." He spoke it and it came
to pass. Nothing the Lord speaks, He never
speaks in vain. Everything will come to pass.
Now, a couple of points here. God spoke through Jeremiah. You remember Hebrews 1.1, God
who in sundry times and divers manners spake in times past unto
the Father by the prophets. And then in 2 Peter chapter 1,
the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but
holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Spirit. God spoke through Jeremiah concerning
this desolation and the captivity of Jerusalem, but He also speaks
of their deliverance too. Now, notice the second thing,
the Lord stirred up Cyrus, king of Persia, to make a proclamation
to set the people free. Now, Cyrus didn't stir himself,
did he? I mean, he's just like any other
fallen sinner. greedy, wanting to conquer other
nations, conquer Babylon for his own glory, his own pride. But here we see the Lord enabled
him and stirred him up to conquer the Babylonians to set Judah
free. The Lord stirred up the spirit
The mind, the heart of this pagan king, as we read earlier in Isaiah
45, God anointed him. He called him, My Shepherd who
shall perform all My pleasure. He is My anointed. Cyrus made
a bold proclamation to set the people of Judah free and he put
it in writing. Now Cyrus here is a type and
picture of Christ our King. The Lord Jesus Christ by a proclamation
of God, the eternal decree, came to set us free by the Spirit
of the Lord that was upon him. Now, turn to Isaiah 61. See,
the Spirit of the Lord moved Cyrus, and the Spirit of the
Lord moved the Lord Jesus Christ to redeem us. Isaiah 61. The Spirit of the Lord God is
upon me, Because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings
unto the meek, He hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison
to them that are bound." Now remember, in Luke chapter 4,
in our study from Luke chapter 4, the Lord stood up in His hometown
synagogue of Nazareth, and referred to this scripture, and He said,
This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears, You see, it was
spoken and it came to pass. The Lord Jesus Christ by the
Spirit of God came to set us free. Now, think about this. There is no man that is beyond
the reach of Almighty God. There is no man, woman, person
beyond the reach of God's strong, mighty arm. No king, no president. No king or president of any nation
that is not under the complete control of the Lord. You remember what the wise man
said? Proverbs 21, the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord,
and he turns it like the rivers of water wherever he will. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord. Not only is that true when we
talk about kings and presidents being in the hand of the Lord,
Not only is that true, there is no sinner beyond the reach
of the Lord's mighty saving power, none. That ought to encourage
every one of us. I read this scripture earlier
today in Isaiah 59 verse 1 where it said, His hand is not shortened that
He cannot save. Now, I want you to turn and read
this with me. Turn to Isaiah 64. Isaiah 64. No man stirs up himself. You see, God stirred the heart
of Cyrus, and God must stir the heart of those sinners that He
has determined to bring unto Himself in saving mercy. Isaiah 64, look at verse 6. Isaiah 64, verse 6. We are all as an unclean thing.
And all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, we all do fade
as a leaf, our iniquities like the wind have taken us away.
Now look carefully at verse 7, next time someone argues to you
about man's will being free, Look what it says here, And there
is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself
to take hold of thee. Thou hast hid thy face from us,
and hast consumed us because of our iniquities. But now, O
Lord, thou art our Father, we are the clay, thou our potter,
and we are all the work of thy hand. You see, no man stirs himself
up. God must stir us or we will remain
right there in Babylonian captivity, right there in false religion. May the Lord be pleased to stir
us up to faith in Christ and repentance toward God and both
are His sovereign gifts. He gives faith to whom he will.
He gives repentance to whom he will. No man, we've heard this
statement in religious circles, we'll just muster up some faith.
My friend, that's impossible. You can't muster up some faith.
Faith is a sovereign gift of God. Faith comes by hearing and
hearing by the word of God. Now look at verse two, we'll
move right along here. Verse two, Ezra one, verse two. Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia,
The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth. Who did that? The Lord God of
heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he
charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem. Now you can see
in this how Cyrus is a picture and type of Christ. Cyrus was
the king of Persia. Now, I'm not going to give you
a lesson in geography, But Persia is way down in the Persian Gulf,
okay? We've heard a lot about the Persian
Gulf. Babylon's way up north toward Turkey. This Persian king,
all the way from down here in the south, was stirred up by
God and he went all the way up north and conquered that mighty
kingdom of Babylon. And he did it because God decreed
it and he did so for the good of his people, for the benefit
of Judah. And also we can read in Jeremiah 25 verse 12 and verse
13, God said that he would raise up Cyrus not only to set Judah
free, but to punish Babylon for what they did to Jerusalem. Now you can see here how Cyrus
is a good type of our Lord Jesus Christ. It says there in Isaiah
45 of Cyrus, he is my shepherd. We know Christ is our good shepherd,
isn't he? He's the great shepherd who laid
down his life, who shall perform all my pleasure. We read in scripture,
the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand, even saying
to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation
shall be laid." And we know the Lord Jesus Christ, He is the
foundation, isn't He? He is the foundation. The Lord
Jesus Christ has all power in heaven and earth. He says that
several times in Matthew 28. Upon his resurrection, upon his
ascension, he said, all power is given to me in heaven and
earth. And then he prayed in John 17, Father, I thank you,
you've given me power over all flesh, that I should give eternal
life to as many as thou had given me. And the Lord our God had
been charged to build a house, the house of the Lord, to redeem
those people by his blood. His church, His house, His family. Remember from Matthew 16, He
said, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against us. He had that charge from the Father
given to the Son to build a church unto the glory of the Lord. He
is both the foundation of the building, behold I lay in Zion,
a foundation A stone, a tridestone, a precious cornerstone, and he
is the secure hiding place. He is our refuge from the storm. Now look at verse three. Here's
a proclamation setting the people free. Who is there among you
of all his people? His God be with him. Now Cyrus
didn't know the Lord in a way of saving mercy. But I tell you,
the Lord used him in a mighty way. Who is there among you of
all his people? He doesn't say, my God, go with
you. But he said, his God be with him. Let him go up to Jerusalem,
which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of
Israel. He is the God. Cyrus knew that God was God,
didn't he? And he didn't know that by figuring
it out. He was known by revelation, which
is in Jerusalem. So he proclaimed liberty to the
captives. Cyrus prays for the people that
he sets free. He said, let them go up to Jerusalem
and may God be with you. God who is God. God who is in
Jerusalem. Now think about this. Think about
this for a minute. Most of those people who were
in Babylon at this time, they had been in captivity for 70
years. Most of those people were born
in captivity. You think those people who were
20, 30 years old, they are probably all dead. This is 70 years later.
If they were still living, they would be 90 or 100 years old.
Some of these men were, because they saw the foundation of the
first temple. The thing about this, most of
these people were born in bondage. They never knew anything of freedom,
only servitude. They were born in captivity.
They served as slaves. What a remarkable deliverance. They were freely given. What
a remarkable deliverance. They were freely given. These
people did not deserve deliverance, did they? These people did not
earn deliverance, did they? They were set free by the decree
of the king. Cyrus made a proclamation and
set them free. Sound familiar? Isn't that the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? We were born in servitude. We were born in bondage. Born in sin, shapen in iniquity. We did not and do not deserve
freedom. We do not deserve the liberty
we have in Christ. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Stand fast therefore in liberty wherewith Christ has set us free.
The Lord Jesus Christ has set us free by his sovereign decree. By his sovereign decree. Hold
your place there in Ezra and look at Ephesians chapter 2.
Ephesians chapter 2. And you, verse 1, hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and in sins? Where in time past ye
walked according to the course of this world, according to the
prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in
the children of disobedient, among whom also we all had a
conversation in times past, in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling
the desires of the flesh and of the mind, were by nature children
of wrath, even as others We didn't deserve mercy, did we? But God,
who is rich in mercy, wherewith He loved us for His great love,
wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sin, hath quickened
us up together and raised us up together and made us sit together
in the heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ, translated us out
of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God's dear Son. Now, look at verse 4, and look
at verse 6 together, and then verse 8, 9, 10, 11. Cyrus also supplied their need
to rebuild the temple. Look what he says there, "...whosoever
remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of
his place help with silver, and with gold, with goods, with beasts,
with freewill offering, for the house of God that is in Jerusalem."
Look at verse 6, "...and all they that were about them strengthened
their hands with vessels of silver, gold, and goods, and beasts,
and precious things, besides all that was willingly offered."
Look at verse 9, and this is the number of them, 30 charges
of gold, 1,000 charges of silver, 29 knives, 30 basins of gold,
silver, basins of the second sort, 410, other vessels, 1,000,
all the vessels of gold, of silver were 5,400. They took up a great sum of money
to give to these people to supply their need to rebuild the temple. The king and the people willingly
gave to those who were stirred to go up to Jerusalem. They took
up a, this is a Bible word, they took up a free will offering.
A free will offering, you see that in verse 4. Most of the
time when that word free will is used in scripture, it's usually
used in this sense of a free will offering. That is, they
gave willingly, freely. Now, this is not teaching that
sinners are saved by their free will. You can't get there from
that scripture. It's God's will that any sinner
is set free. It's not of him that willeth
nor of him that runneth, but of God that shall with mercy.
But what he's showing here, his people were made willing to give
to support the work of the Lord, and they did so freely. They
were made willing in the day of God's power. The Lord teaches
us, freely have you received, and freely have you received,
now you are to freely give. And He has blessed us freely,
hasn't He? Justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, take a look at verse 5.
Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah. Now, these
must be the old elders of Israel who were still living after 70
years They have to be 90 or 100 years old by now. Then rose up
the chief of the fathers of Judah, and Benjamin, and the priest,
and the Levites, with all them, now watch this, whose spirit
God had raised to go up to build the house of the Lord, which
is in Jerusalem. The same Lord our God who stirred
the spirit of Cyrus also stirred up some of those of Judah, Benjamin,
the priest, and the Levites, had not the Lord stirred them
and set them free by a decree, they would have stayed right
there in Babylon. They had no way, they had no ability to deliver
themselves, did they? No, they were held captive. They
could not be delivered by their own strength, by their own power,
by their own will. Somebody else had to set them
free. Now making a gospel application
again, had the Lord not stirred us up, raised us up from the
dead, we would remain dead and under the dominion of sin, had
He not quickened us by His grace. All those who were stirred, it
says there in verse 5, all them that were stirred up
and were raised up, They went back to Jerusalem to build the
temple of the Lord, to build the house of the Lord.
Now this stirring here, he stirred up a certain number. Look at
Ezra chapter 2. He stirred up His chosen, His
elect. And that's who God stirs up in
saving mercy. Ezra chapter 2, the whole congregation
together was 40 and 2,303 score. Beside their servants, their
maids, whom there were 7,337. I mean, he gets right down to
the Last number. And there were among
them 200 singing men and women. Now, if my math is right, 49,679. The Lord stirred up an exact
number and they returned to Jerusalem. You can read down through chapter
2. You can read all their names. He knows each one of them by
name. You see, the point being here,
the Lord has an exact number He has chosen of His elect. He knows them by name, and He
calls them by His grace. We read in Revelation 5 on Sunday,
They're redeemed of the Lord. They sing unto the Lord. Worthy
is the Lamb. Ten thousand times, ten thousands,
and thousands of thousands. That's the only way we can view
them. But God has an exact number as He does here. 49,679 souls.
Isn't that amazing? And He knows them all by name.
You can read down through chapter 2. He knows each one exactly. He's personally acquainted with
them. The Lord knows His sheep by name, brings them out, calls
them out of darkness into His marvelous light. You remember
from John chapter 10? He calls His own sheep by name
and leads them out. And when He put forth His own
sheep, He goes before them and the sheep follow Him And they
do so because they're stirred up by God. Zechariah was a prophet,
one of the prophets, Haggai, Zechariah, and Malachi, in those
days when they came back. And in Zechariah 4, 6, he said,
not by might, the Lord said, not by... power, but by my Spirit,
saith the Lord." It's not by your might, by your power, it's
by my Spirit, saith the Lord. You see, it's God that worketh
in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure. Now one other thought on verse
7 and then down to verse 11 in Ezra 1 verse 7, also Cyrus the
king brought forth vessels of the house of the Lord, which
Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put
them in the house of his God." Now, you remember reading that?
If you look just across the page, if you have the Cambridge version
that I have, in 2 Chronicles 36, verse 18. You see at the top of the page
there, all the vessels of the house of God, great and small,
and the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures
of the king and the princes, all these He brought. to Babylon,
they burnt the house of God, break down the wall of Jerusalem,
burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all
the goodly vessels. But there were many vessels in
the temple that they took back to Jerusalem and used them and
put them in the house of this pagan God. Remember, the temple was ransacked
and destroyed, And Nebuchadnezzar brought all that he could retrieve
back to Babylon to use in pagan worship. Now we see here 70 years
later, the Lord preserved those vessels. Cyrus the king, verse
7, brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord. Seventy
years! The Lord preserved them, the
Lord kept them by his careful providence to be used again in
the worship of the Lord. Isn't that amazing? Now here's a gospel thought.
Such care does God have on His living vessels of mercy, that
He afore prepared unto glory, that He watches over us all the
time we were in Babylon, in false religion, and in due time He
does bring us out. Such care does God give of His
living vessels of mercy that it says this in Scripture, Romans
9, "...what if God, willing to show His wrath, and to make His
power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of
wrath fitted to destruction..." There's the vessels of wrath.
"...that He might make known the riches of His glory on the
vessels of mercy which He afford prepared unto His glory." Isn't
that amazing? The foundation of God standeth
sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are His." The
Lord had His eyes on those vessels all the while, and intended in
due time to call them out, and to put them in the hand, look
what it says in verse 8, "...even though did Cyrus king of Persia
bring forth by the hand of Meredith, the treasure and numbered them
unto Shezbarzah, the prince of Judah. And what did he do with
them? Verse 11, all the vessels of gold, of silver were 5,400.
All these did Shezbarzah bring up with them of the captivity
that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem. All the vessels of the temple
were placed in a pagan temple, probably misused and abused. But the Lord in due time, our
Lord God, knows how to recover His own, and to keep them by
His power and His grace, and to deliver them. Now, one other
thought here. I've got a few minutes. Even
those vessels that the Lord preserved, in verse 8, They did bring them
forth, and they put them in the hand of Shebazah, the prince
of Judah, the prince of Judah. The same prince of Judah, that
was his Chaldean name, which means joy and tribulation. And being a picture of Christ,
for the great love wherewith He loved us, He's the author
and finisher of our faith, looking unto the Lord Jesus Christ, who
for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, despising
the shame that is set down at the right hand of the throne
of God. Even his Chaldean name means joy and tribulation. And the Lord Jesus Christ had
much joy in delivering his people. This same man, this Prince of
Judah, is also known as Zerubbabel. That's his Jewish name. And you
can read the genealogy in Matthew chapter 1 about the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this man, Zerubbabel, is
the son of David. And the Lord Jesus Christ, according
to his humanity, as such, came through Zerubbabel. Even his
name, Zerubbabel, means a stranger in Babylon. Now this man, Zerubbabel,
or Shezbarzah is the great-grandson of Jehoiachin. Remember how God
preserved Jehoiachin and brought him out of prison and preserved
him? And this is the great-grandson
of Jehoiachin. That's found in 2 Kings 25. And
again, the rebbeble here, or Shezbarzah, is the son of David. And again, the Lord preserved
the seed of David to bring the promised Messiah through his
loins. Isn't that amazing? Made of the
seed of David. But notice this, the vessels
and the treasures of the temple were given into his hand And
the elect of God were given to the Lord Jesus Christ in that
covenant of grace. And what did Shezbazah do with
those vessels? Verse 11. He brought them home. He took them home. He brought
them from Babylon to Jerusalem. And that's exactly what the Lord
Jesus Christ. He redeemed all of His elect
and He's going to take us home to glory. He said in John chapter
14, don't turn, let me just read it to you. Remember he said,
I go away, but I'll come again, and I'll receive you to myself. I go to prepare a place for you.
I will come again and receive you into myself, that where I
am, there you may be also. The Lord will bring us safely
home to glory. The Scripture teaches that. One
of the Scriptures that teach that is Hebrews chapter 2. And
again, I'll put my trust in Him. And again, behold, I and the
children which God hath given to me, they're all here. And then let me read this familiar
Scripture to you in closing. All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me, John 6, 37. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out. For I came down from heaven,
not to do My own will, but the will of Him that sent Me. And
this is the Father's will which has sent Me, that of all which
He has given Me, I lose nothing, but raise it up again at the
last day. And this is the will of Him that sent Me, that everyone
would see it, the Son, and believe it on Him, may have everlasting
life, and I'll raise Him up at the last day." There's no sheep
of Christ. will be eternally lost. Shezbarzah brought all the vessels
that were put in his hand out of the temple. He brought them
all to Jerusalem and enjoyed them. And that's what God's going
to do with us in Christ. He's going to take us home to
glory and enjoy us forever as we enjoy Him forever.