Summary
Ezra and the Return from Exile
The book of Ezra opens with one of the most striking demonstrations of God's sovereign hand in all of Scripture: the fulfillment of a prophecy spoken two centuries earlier. Through Isaiah, the Lord had named Cyrus by name—calling him "my shepherd"—long before Persia even existed as a kingdom (Isaiah 44:24-28; Isaiah 45:1-7). When Isaiah first spoke these words, Jerusalem was prosperous, Solomon's temple stood in glory, and the very notion of a Babylonian captivity would have sounded absurd. Yet the Lord, who "frustrates the omens of liars" and "confirms the word of His servant," had already declared what He would do.
Ezra 1:5-11 records the historical fulfillment. After seventy years of exile, the Lord stirred the spirit of Cyrus to issue a decree releasing the Jews to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem. The heads of the families of Judah and Benjamin, along with the priests and Levites—"everyone whose spirit God had stirred"—prepared to go up. Their neighbors aided them with silver, gold, goods, and animals. Cyrus himself brought out the sacred vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away and placed in the temples of his own gods, and these were counted out item by item to Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah: gold basins, silver basins, knives, bowls, and other vessels totaling 5,400 pieces of gold and silver.
This same return is echoed in 2 Chronicles 36:22-23, framed explicitly as the fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah. The pagan king of Persia speaks like a herald of Israel's God: "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." God is in charge of all of history—even of heathen nations—and uses them to carry out His will. As R.C. Sproul observed, if there were one maverick molecule in the universe, God would not be God.
The deeper purpose of Ezra's return reaches far beyond the rebuilding of stone walls and a sanctuary. The whole reason God kept His hand upon this people, preserving a remnant through exile and restoring them to their land, was that from them would come the Messiah. Galatians 4:4-5 names the goal: "When the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law." Ezra's return is a vital chapter in the long story of redemption that runs from the promise to Abraham to the cross of Christ.
The closing word of Isaiah 48:17-20 anticipates the joy of this return: "Go out from Babylon… declare this with a shout of joy, proclaim it, send it forth to the end of the earth; say, 'The Lord has redeemed his servant Jacob.'" If the people of Ezra's day had reason to announce their deliverance to the ends of the earth, how much more do those redeemed by the blood of Christ have reason to proclaim with joy what God has done. For more on the prophetic background to Ezra's restoration, see Isaiah 2 11 24 final.
Video citations
- Isaiah 2 11 24 final — Holy and gracious God, we come before you, Throne today, lambs of your own redeeming and sheep of your own fold, and in the confidence set as ours through the blood of Jesus Christ. We thank you for…