7/3/2011 6:41:22
AM
SPIRITUAL DIARY
My Worship Time
Focus: The release of the Captives
Bible Reading
& Meditation
Reference:
Ezra
1:1-4
Message of the verses: “1 Now in the first year of Cyrus
king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the LORD by the mouth of
Jeremiah, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so
that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in
writing, saying: 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 appointed me to build Him a house in Jerusalem, which is
in Judah. 3 ’Whoever there is among you of all His people, may his God be with
him! Let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah and rebuild the house of the
LORD, the God of Israel; He is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 ’Every survivor, at whatever place he may
live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods
and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in
Jerusalem.’”
Today’s
SD begins the wonderful book of Ezra, and it seems that I say that about all of
the books of the Bible that I have studied.
Ezra continues in the books of the Bible that are called historical
books which begin in Genesis and goes through the book of Ester, and then the
poetry section begins with the book of Job.
The
key theme in the book of Ezra according to Dr. Warren Wiersbe is “restoring the
spiritual heart of the nation,” and the key verse is Ezra 7:10.” “For
Ezra had set his heart to study the law of the LORD and to practice it, and to
teach His statutes and ordinances in Israel.” There are two main points in the outline of
this book and several sub-points under these main points. “The Nation is Restored,” and “The People are
Rededicated” are the two main points according to Dr. Wiersbe. “Be
Heroic” is the title of Wiersbe’s book on Haggai Zechariah, and Ezra, but
the rest of this book will have to remain until, God willing, I get to those
books.
Ezra
and Nehemiah along with Haggai and Zechariah were all written during this same
time period of the Jews returning to Israel.
The first thing that they were to do was rebuild the temple in order to
restore the Mosaic worship. While they
were in Babylon they built synagogues in order to worship the Lord and there
are still synagogues around the world to this day.
In
the book of Isaiah chapter 44:28 it says, “It
is I who says of Cyrus, ’He is My shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’
And he declares of Jerusalem, ’She will be built,’ And of the temple, ’Your
foundation will be laid.’” This was
long before Cyrus was ever born and long before the Persian Empire was a power
in the world, but God said that Cyrus would let the Jews return to their homeland
and this proves that God is faithful to His Word. Jesus said in Matthew 24:35 the following
concerning the Word of God, “Heaven and
earth will pass away, but My words will not pass away.”
This
first chapter in Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary is entitled “The Providence of God,”
and it covers the first three chapters of Ezra.
God’s providence is a very large topic and part of it can be seen in
this section of Ezra, for it surely was the providence of God to have Cyrus
allow the children of Israel to leave Babylon and to receive gifts from the
people of this empire along with the gifts of the Jews who decided not to
return to Israel in order that the temple could be rebuilt. Haggai 2:8 reads as follows, “The silver is Mine and the gold is Mine,’
declares the LORD of hosts.” God owns it
all and that can be seen from this passage and other similar passages.
God
is also in control of the nations and I want to look at just one section of
verses to confer that this statement is true although there are many more that
could be looked at. “28 "All this happened to Nebuchadnezzar
the king. 29 “Twelve months later he was walking on the roof of the royal
palace of Babylon. 30 “The king reflected and said, ’Is this not Babylon the
great, which I myself have
built as a royal
residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?’ 31
“While the word was in the king’s mouth, a voice came from heaven, saying,
’King Nebuchadnezzar, to you it is declared: sovereignty has been removed from
you, 32 and you will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling place will
be with the beasts of the field. You will be given grass to eat like cattle,
and seven periods of time will pass over you until you recognize that the Most High is ruler over the
realm of mankind and bestows it on whomever He wishes. 33
"Immediately the word concerning Nebuchadnezzar was fulfilled; and he was
driven away from mankind and began eating grass like cattle, and his body was
drenched with the dew of heaven until his hair had grown like eagles’ feathers
and his nails like birds’ claws.
“34 "But at the end of that period, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my
eyes toward 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, But He does according to His will in the host
of heaven And among the inhabitants of earth; And no one can ward off His hand
Or say to Him, ’What have You done?’
Spiritual meaning for my life today: This passage from the book of Daniel has
brought comfort to me especially during the last presidential election that was
in our country. Yes God is in control of
all things and causes them to work together for good to those of us who are
believers.
God
keeps His Word is another comfort to me especially concerning the hope that all
of His believers have and that is the upcoming rapture of the Church.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Continue to
learn contentment although it is surely hard at times.
7/3/2011 7:35:15
AM
No comments:
Post a Comment