WHO IS THERE … OF ALL HIS PEOPLE? … LET HIM GO UP … AND BUILD THE HOUSE OF THE LORD GOD

Cyrus was a noble, shrewd and enlightened ruler. Archaeology has demonstrated that his generous decrees concerning the Jews were by no means unique; they formed part of Cyrus’s general policy of granting permission to his subject peoples to return to their native lands and to rebuild their own sanctuaries there, and, indeed, of agreeing to defray much of the expense. In all probability, the precise wording of the decree in our reading (for example, ‘God of heaven’ and ‘Jehovah God of Israel’) owes much to the drafting hand of Daniel the prophet, who not only ‘continued’ to the first year of Cyrus’ reign over Babylon, Dan. 1. 21, but who ‘prospered’ in the reign of Cyrus, Dan. 6. 28.

The Lord had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah of a seventy-year captivity, Jer. 25. 8-12, and the seventy years of the exile were now up. And so, partly in response to the carefully targeted prayer of Daniel, Dan. 9. 1-19 (note especially ‘cause thy face to shine upon thy sanctuary’, v. 17), the ‘God of heaven’ stood behind Cyrus’s enlightened policy - ‘stirring up the spirit’ of His ‘shepherd’ and ‘anointed’, Isa. 44. 28; 45. 1,13, to achieve His purpose and to fulfil His word. Here, then, is another instance where ‘The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord …he turneth it whithersoever he will’, Prov. 21. 1. Sadly, in the event, only about 50,000 of God’s people responded to Cyrus’s invita­tion and took the opportunity to ‘go up … and build’, 2. 64-65. Seemingly, the majority were too comfortable and secure in Bab­ylon to take the step of faith and return to a land which they knew to be both desolate and occupied by others. Today also the call goes out for those willing to build God’s house. Whereas the Lord Jesus has undertaken to build His church, ‘the church, which is His body’, it falls to His people to build the local church. And, as Paul made clear to the Corinthi­ans, it is all-important where we build, upon the foundation laid by the preaching of Jesus Christ crucified,with what we build, that which is of value in the Lord’s eyes, how we build, and why we build, 1 Cor. 3. 10-17; 4. 3-5.