Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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People, and I believe they can be a prophet to us because scripture says whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning.
So in the 44th chapter of Isaiah and the 24th verse.
Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord.
That made all things, that stretches forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself, that frustrated the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad. That turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish. That confirmeth the word of His servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers. That sail to Jerusalem thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah ye shall be built.
I will raise up the decayed places thereof that saith to the deep Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers, that saith of Cyrus. He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid.
Thus saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have Holden to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him. The two leave gates, and the gates shall not be shut. I will go before thee and make the crooked places straight. I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in Thunder the bars of iron.
And I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret.
That thou mayest know that I, the Lord which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me.
I girded thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know from.
The rising of the sun, and from the West. That there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else.
Well, as I said, I'd like to look at a few scriptures when we see God's ways and dealings with the nation of Israel. And perhaps they can be a help and an encouragement to us. Because as we look at these scriptures, we'll see that God knew everything beforehand, could name a man before he was born and tell what he was going to do.
And then too, how he not only was working behind the scenes in all this, but then too, when Israel were finally carried into captivity, he set a limit on the time that they would be in captivity. Then he prepared the heart of his servant Daniel in that captivity, and he prepared the heart of Cyrus later on, although he wasn't born at this time to fulfill exactly what God had said he would do.
Brethren, when we think of these things, it ought to fill our hearts with Thanksgiving and praise when we know that we belong to Him.
It's often been said that the heart craves understanding and love, and how marvelous it is that there is One who knows all about us. And as it tells us in the 4th chapter of Daniel, he doeth according to his will among the in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say, What doest thou?
Are any of us upset and troubled by things that are going on? Well, isn't it marvelous that God gives us a view into the background here before this man Cyrus was ever born, gives him his name, and tells what he's going to do in very minute detail? Willis ought to encourage our hearts, and it ought to strengthen us in that blessed comfort that our times are truly in his hand. And I say again, that's what the heart craves.
Is understanding to feel that there's someone who really understands? Or if there's someone who does understand, do they have power to help us? Well, the one who understands us perfectly, who wants your body and mind before it was ever born, because it tells us in the 139th Psalm thou didst behold my substance, yet being unperfect. And in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned when as.
There was none of them. That's the God with whom we have to do. He knows all about your body. He knows about your emotions. He knows the situation in which you're found, and He cares. And oh, how blessed to know that He has displayed His love. He has told it out in all its wonderful fullness by giving His Son, and in spite of all our unfaithfulness and shortcomings.
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That love never changes. He's behind.
All the scenes and brethren, this ought to encourage us because we know that men of the world are full of uncertainty. They say what's going to happen? Does anybody care? But there is one who knows what's going to happen. There's one who tells us in his word about the future and speaks with assurance long, long before all the prophecies that had to do with the Lord Jesus, humiliation and what he would do when he.
Here upon earth were all fulfilled to the very letter and to the very day. Well, I say again, I'm mentioning these things because not just to trace the history of Israel, but perhaps in some way it might speak to our own hearts. And I hope it'll speak to mine so that we will have peace as we repeat those words and know that they're not only true of the psalmist David, but they're also true of us.
As in the Psalm, I think it's the 33rd Psalm. I'm not just sure. Or 29th perhaps. I'm not exactly sure of the Psalm, but when that is mentioned in the Psalm, it says my times are in my hand. It's made singular in the Scripture. The hymn writer has made it plural so that we could sing it together. But each one of us can take it for ourselves, and we can rejoice in the knowledge.
That it is for us. And be able to say, my times are in thy hand.
Learnt these words, very wonderful. Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and he that hath formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that made all things. First of all, speaks to them and says the Lord thy Redeemer. And I hope everyone in this company tonight can say, as we have in First Peter chapter 1, we're not redeemed with corruptible things as silver and gold.
But with the precious.
Blood of Christ, how marvelous it is to be among the redeemed, to be among those who in the coming day will join in that song that's recorded in the 5th chapter of Revelation. Thou art worthy, for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation.
Well, here we find the prophet addressing himself or the Lord addressing himself to Israel through the prophet and telling them these things. And I might say it was a point in Israel's history where things were at quite a low.
If you read in the 1St chapter of Isaiah, it isn't a very complimentary picture of the condition of the nation. It says the whole head is sick and the whole heart is faint. He said the ox knoweth his owner and the *** his master's crib. But my people doth not know. My people doth not consider. So it wasn't at a bright time in Israel's history. It was at a sad time in Israel's history. Yet he was.
Their Redeemer and so.
Well, perhaps we we looked in might indeed get discouraged, but all that unchanging love, that love that is never ending and that redeemed us at so great a cost. And then he says, I formed thee from the womb. I am the Lord that maketh all things. He not only made you and I, but He made everything in this world. As we look around, we look up and we see the stars. We look around and see the vast creation.
Just to think that the one who is my Redeemer is the one who made all things and who upholds all things by the word of his power, well, these things might well fill our hearts with peace and joy. To know that He has such feelings toward us. He had those feelings toward Israel. And now in Christianity, we're in a nearer place than Israel will ever occupy, because as believers.
Now we're members of His body, we're part of this church, that church that will be presented another day without spot or wrinkle or any such thing. What a place we have been brought into. And it says that stretching forth the heavens alone that spreadeth abroad the earth. By myself. Yes, He's in control. He's made everything. He upholds all things He.
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Then he says He frustrates the tokens of liars and maketh diviners mad. Isn't it true that man often forecasts and says what will happen, but he can never speak with certainty because God can change things just so easily. Tells us that when he sends the snow, it says He saith to the snow, be thou on the earth. Likewise to the small rain and the great rain of his strength He sealeth up the hand of every man.
That all men may know his work. Men have all their plans made and then God just dumps some snow down those tiny snowflakes and the whole city has to change their plans for a day. How wonderful it is to know the rain has a father. And as I often drive along and it starts to snow, I think isn't that a wonderful thing to know? It was my father that told the snow to come down and that he is in charge of everything and that He's caring for me.
And He's caring for you, and He wants us to be in the good of this. Whatever plans and purposes man may make, whatever the fortune teller may say or what he may think, God is the one who's in control. He makes the miners mad and it says turneth wise men backward and maketh their knowledge foolish. This is the one that is speaking here to the encouragement and blessing of His people, Israel.
And then it says.
That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers. That saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited.
Now we might say at the time this prophecy was given, Israel was inhabited. Israel was still in their land, and Jerusalem was inhabited. Why does it speak in this way? Well, God was foretelling that there would be a time when His people, because of their sin, as it's recorded in the prophet Jeremiah, would be carried into captivity. But God looks over all that lapse of years over 2.
100 years I believe, and tells us that he is going to cause Jerusalem to be inhabited before they were ever carried into captivity, before Cyrus was ever born. Doesn't this give you an eye piece in our souls to know how well God knows the future and how he can speak of things that are not as though they were in.
And so tells us.
That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers. That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd.
You read on in the 45th chapter. It says in the.
A fourth verse For Jacob my servants sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me. Well. Of course he didn't know him, because he wasn't even born at this time. It wasn't until a long, long time later that there was a child born into a certain family, and they named the child Cyrus, but they didn't know.
When they were doing it, that they were fulfilling what God had said almost 200 years before. Oh, how marvelous to see these ways of God and to lay hold of them in our souls by faith.
And it says here that he would be my shepherd and perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid, As I say in the city. He was standing at that time. The temple was standing at that time, and it wasn't until sometime after that it was destroyed. But with the Lord's help, maybe we'll be able to notice.
Sometime how that Cyrus was the.
One who later commanded them a city to be rebuilt. And this is all recorded in the book of Ezra and in Nehemiah. But to God everything is the eternal present known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world. And so he names this man and tells what he would do. He says that he he calls him his anointed. He said, I hold in his right hand, and I will loose the loins of.
And open before him the two leave gates. So we know that God allowed this man to prosper and rise up to a position of great authority. And he might have thought it was by the strength of his own army. He might have thought that it was all by his own wisdom. But God had already decreed that this would take place. And the Lord was the one who opened everything up, who opened the two leave gates, who enabled him to get.
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Into the position of power for as it tells us.
The most High rules in the kingdoms of man, and appoints over it whomsoever he will.
So it tells us in the third verse. And I will give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the Lord which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. Yes, this man Cyrus was to learn that God had a special interest in that special people. They were His, and even to this very day, as we know.
About all the trouble in the Middle East. God.
God has his eye upon that place and we know that He has foretold what is going to happen there and in a coming day. Not Washington DC, not Moscow, not Sunbreed city in this world, but I mean great city of the nations who seem to be great today. But it will be Jerusalem, the city of the great king and the most High rules in Jacob until the ends of.
The earth. And he says in this fourth verse, for Jacob, my servant's sake.
It touches my heart when I read this because I think all of us who have been acquainted with the history of Jacob would hardly speak of him as his servant. We would say, well, that man was really a great deceiver and schemer that tried to work out everything for himself, but God was behind it all. And when Jacob started out on his path of self will, the Lord stood on the top of the ladder and talked to Jacob down there.
And told him while he was there lying on a pillow of stones, that he was going to be with him and not forsake him and bring him back. So how wonderful that God calls himself the God of Jacob and Israel mine elect. We find that after Jacob had done his planning and scheming for 20 years than the Lord had to do with Jacob, and Jacob wrestled all night.
And in the morning?
The sun rose, and he called the place Peniel, which means the face of God, and there the sun rose upon him again. And the Lord changed his name, and he said, your name is not going to be called Jacob, which means, I believe the supplanter, but your name is going to be called Israel, a Prince with God.
These ways of God with His people surely touch our hearts.
And then it goes on to say in this fifth verse, I am the Lord, and there is none else. There is no God beside me. I girded thee, though thou hast not known me, that thou mayest know from the rising of the sun and from the West, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, there is none else. That is, these things don't only have to do with the nation of Israel.
They are true in United States. They are true in Canada.
Canada now that is God is still upon the throne, and faith looks up and sees the Lord Jesus, as we have in Hebrews chapter 2 it says.
That that God has taken that one, the Lord Jesus, and crowned now we see not yet all things put under him, but we see Jesus, who has made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honor that he.
By the grace of God should taste death for every man or everything. So faith looks up and sees the Lord Jesus there, crowned with glory and honor. Well, as I say, this prophecy in the 45th of Isaiah was long before this man was born, long before he accomplished the things that God said he would do. And he tells him that he knew about him before.
He gave his name and told what he would do during his lifetime.
Now if you'll turn over with me to Jeremiah chapter 40.
25 I guess is.
25 Jeremiah chapter 25 and the eighth verse.
Therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, because ye 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, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing and perpetual desolation.
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Wherever I will take from them the voice of mirth and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation and an astonishment. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon 70 years. It shall come to pass when 70 years.
Are accomplished that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation.
Saith the Lord for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make them perpetual desolations. And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all it is written in this book which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all nations. For many nations and great king shall serve themselves of them also, and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to.
The works of their own hands.
Well here we see now Israel had gone on in their path of self will and.
Setting aside the rights of God and not listening to His prophets. And then God tells him that the time had come now that He was going to allow Nebuchadnezzar to come up against the nation of Israel, against Judah, particularly the 2 tribes, and carry them away into captivity. Well, we know very well that this took place.
It's nice to see in the 1St chapter of Daniel the Daniel accepted.
Their circumstances from the Lord. First chapter of Daniel says the Lord gave Judah into the hands of the king of Nebuchadnezzar. And in our part, when we know that God rules in the Kingdom of man and that he's behind the scenes, then we can see that whatever happens that the Lord is over at all. And that gave peace to the heart of Daniel in the captivity.
I think it's very lovely.
To see in that first chapter the spirit that he has. First of all, he recognizes that the Lord had allowed them to be carried away captive into the land of Babylon. Secondly, it says the Lord gave Daniel favor and tender love with the Prince of the eunuch. The very attitude that the Prince of the eunuchs had toward him, he accepted that the Lord had allowed that.
You may say, well, my employer has a very bad attitude toward me.
Well, we can take everything from the Lord.
In one of the psalms, I think it's the 106 Psalm, it tells us in that Psalm in the first part of it that God wouldn't allow anyone to do harm to Abraham. It says that he said touch not mine anointed and do my prophets no harm. There were only a few in that land, but he wouldn't allow anybody to do harm to them. But later on in the same Psalm, it says.
Speaking of their time of sojourn in Egypt.
He turned their hearts to hate His people, to deal subtly with His servants.
The very God who in that Psalm is telling that He wouldn't allow anybody to do harm to Abraham and Isaac and how he cared for them in that land, is the very God who when they were in Egypt and turned and worshiped their idols and got down very low, that God allowed the attitude of the people to turn against them just as before He had kept the attitude in another way.
Well, no doubt Daniel had learned some.
Some of these things, because we'll see when we read in Daniel that he was a person who read the Scriptures and he no doubt realized that these things were all in the hands of God. And so I say again, if there is somebody who has such an attitude toward you, isn't there a peace in being able to say, well, the Lord has allowed it and He has a purpose in it? You might say, well, whatever could be the good purpose that He would allow that.
To be shown toward his people that they people would hate his people and put them under *******. Well, I would just suggest this. God didn't want them to stay in Egypt. And if it had been too comfortable, they would have just wanted to stay there. And brethren, don't you think sometimes the Lord stirs up the nest too? He doesn't want us to be too comfortable in this world. He says this is not your rest, it is polluted.
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And if there's some unpleasant situation that has come into your life, if you take it from the Lord, maybe He'll use it to draw your heart and mine heavenward so that we'll realize what He wants us to know, that this is not our rest. He's not going to make it a bed of roses for us. He is telling us that He's gone away. This world is a place of tribulation.
Unto you it is given on the behalf of Christ, not only to suffer to believe in Him, but.
Also to suffer for His sake. So we find in that first chapter of Daniel, he accepted the situation that he was carried down into Babylon as from the Lord. He accepted the attitude of Melzar toward him, the chief of the eunuchs. He had brought him into favor and tender love. And there is something else too. Maybe this speaks to the boys and girls.
When Daniel did very well in his studies in the College of Babylon.
And came out on top, he and his three friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, they didn't pat themselves on the back and say we're just smarter than these other Chaldeans. We're after all, we're Jewish extraction and we we're really a superior people. Now it says the Lord gave Daniel knowledge and skill and understanding. Oh, how wonderful it is, brethren, when we take everything from him.
Can help you in your school lessons, it can help you or He can allow otherwise because He may want you in an altogether different place than what you first thought. It's blessed when we see His hand in these things. And then the second point I wanted to notice in this 25th chapter of Jeremiah was that when God did in his governmental ways, allow the nation of Israel to be carried into captivity, He set a limit.
On the length of time, he didn't just make it an indefinite period, it was a set time so that it couldn't go any further. Just like he says to the sea here shall I proud waves be stayed? He doesn't allow the sea to go any further than his plan. And if there is a hurricane or something, where?
It's allowed to come up on the land. God has allowed that because He's the one who sets the bounds.
Of the of the waters. And he's the one who's in control. And so God told Jeremiah that they were going to be carried into captivity. And perhaps when they got down there, they might have said, we'll probably never get free from this captivity. These people are much stronger than we are. We're unarmed. How can we ever expect to get out of this captivity?
Well, God said I've set a limit. It's only going to be so.
Long and you have already named the man that's going to set you free. And I've told what he's going to do, and he's not going to do it for price or reward. You're not going to have to pay him even to do it. He's just going to do it because he's my servant and I'm your Redeemer. Oh, how lovely it is to trace these things in the ways of God and to see that this is only set before us. As an example. This is what God is doing all the time.
When?
When we find that Herod arrested James and Peter, God allowed him to take away the life of James, but he wouldn't allow him to do anything to Peter. He he let Peter go free. James work was finished, but Peter's wasn't. And Herod could never never go any farther than God allowed. And he answered the prayers of the Saints and said Peter free to do a work that God still had for him.
To do now let's turn over to Daniel and we'll see God working now in the heart of Daniel in the 9th chapter of Daniel.
If you notice, then God told all these things beforehand.
Then when he announced the captivity was going to come, he set a limit on the length of time. But now we see him working in the heart of his servant Daniel, and bringing him into that right state of soul so that he could bring about that blessing that he wanted.
Because God not only does things outwardly in the world, but He also works in the heart of man, and He works in the heart of His own. And I think it's very lovely to see what we have in this 9th chapter of Daniel.
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Says here.
The first verse in the first year of Darius the son of Ahaz of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet that he would accomplish 70 years in the desolations of Jerusalem. And I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplications and fasting, and sackcloth and ashes, and I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the.
And mercy to them that love Him, and to them that keep his commandments. We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from Thy precepts and from Thy judgments. Either have we hearkened unto Thy servants, the prophets, which spake in Thy name, to our kings, our Princess, our fathers, and to all the people of the Lamb.
O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of faces.
As at this day, to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and unto all Israel that are near and that are far off, through all the countries whither thou hast driven them because of their trespass, that they have transgressed against thee.
O Lord, to us belong with confusion of face to our kings, to our Princess, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.
Him in the 13th verse, as it is written in the law of Moses. All this evil has come upon us, yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn from our iniquities, and understand thy truth.
And the 16th verse Oh Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain, because for our sins and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about us. Now therefore, O Lord, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant and his supplications, and cause thy face.
To shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate for the Lord's sake.
Well, here we find God now working in the heart of Daniel.
He might have easily said, well, God is set, has said that he is going to bring us back after 70 years and he's going to bring us back. So I can just rest upon that. But there's more than this. We find that Daniel is in a suited state of soul and he takes the humble place before the Lord. That's always the place of blessing.
We find that when the Sinner is willing to take his place.
As guilty before God, then God's heart is full of blessing. He delights to receive the repentant Sinner and to bless him. Bless him according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. And brethren, I believe it's true about us. The Lord wants to bless us, but it's often our own state of soul that's the hindrance. Where there's so much self will about us, there's so much of pride in our natural hearts.
That often when the Lord wants to bless us, the hindrance is within. But we see here God working in the heart of Daniel, and it seems to me that Daniel was perhaps the one who was the least guilty. It is quite remarkable that in the book of Daniel we don't find, as far as I know, any recorded failure in the life of Daniel of all the people to take this humble place and to acknowledge these.
Things you would say, well, he was one who was really an example of godliness, but you know when he got into the presence of the Lord.
Why, he was immediately conscious of his all nothingness, not only the failure of God's people around him, but he associates himself with them and he says we have sinned. We know that Job was a perfect and upright man, one that feared God and God.
Evil. But he thought he was better than others and he looked down upon others. Those friends that came, he even looked down upon them and said he wouldn't put their fathers with the dogs of his flock. And he looked around and thought that he was such a person. He said my heart will not reproach me as long as I live. I was eyes to the blind, I was feet to the lame. I did all kinds of good things. And he didn't realize how much self righteousness there was in his heart.
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And God had to bring him to the point where he discovered what he really was in the presence of God. You know, you might say, but didn't God say about him that he was a perfect and an upright man? Well, I would say this. If God has preserved any of us from many outward sins, it is not because our hearts are any better.
I've often used the illustration that if I had two rotten eggs sitting here on this.
On this table and I dropped one of them on the ground here. You might say, oh, that's a horrible smell. I just hate the smell of rotten eggs. But the other one is no better.
The other one is no better.
And they only have to drop it on the floor, and you'd find out that it's just as bad. And you know, sometimes we have to get into the presence of God to discover that we are no better than others as to our hearts. And man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. And he says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, if I had that other egg.
Broughton and I held it up to you and said, tell me, is that egg rotten or not? You couldn't tell by looking at the shell, could you? But you'd soon find out if I dropped it on the floor. And it only takes the circumstances to bring out what's in our hearts. I I thank God that I was brought up in a Christian home. I thank God that he kept me from a lot of outward sins, but he had to let me see that underneath the shell my heart was no better than anybody else.
And I think it's very beautiful to see.
With Daniel here, that when he got into the presence of God, he not only read the Word, which was a very good thing about him, and discovered God's promises of goodness to his people. And you know, I like to read the Word and read about God's promises to His people and the glory that awaits us. I often think of that beautiful verse that says that when the Lord Jesus comes, he'll come to be glorified in his Saints.
To be admired in all them that believe there will not be a St. in that group that comes when the Lord Jesus comes out of heaven. That won't be just perfect with and like Christ. And it's nice to look forward to that and to think of our standing in Christ and where God has placed us.
And so faith can look on to that time. And so Daniel here knew that God's promises toward his people were promises of blessing. And he counted, in spite of all the breakdown and failure of the people of God, he counted upon God's faithfulness. And brethren, could I even say it as to a testimony gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus? If we're always looking at the people, we might easily get despair into despair because we are ourselves.
Fail, and others fail too, and we see the breakdown, the ruin that has come. But oh, how good it is to, as it says about about Balaam. When he looked on the people, he wanted to curse them, but God turned it into a blessing. And he had to say from the top of the rocks I behold him. He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, nor perverseness in Israel, to see God's people as he sees them. And then too to.
Know that as regards the testimony, why has there been a testimony preserved for the glory of God? It's surely in weakness. But why has it been preserved? Because we're better Christians. Now when God preserved a testimony in Jerusalem, he said that he would preserve a light in Jerusalem for his servant David's sake. For his servant David's sake, not because the 2 tribes were better, but.
For his servant David's sake, you know this gives you peace, brethren, about God's faithfulness, how he views his people as to our standing, and then even the testimony to know that it's God's faithfulness that preserves the testimony. Well, I think we see something very beautiful here in the case of Daniel and how he identifies himself with the people of God.
Confesses the sins as his own and counts upon God.
To come in not because they deserved it, but to come in in His grace for the blessing of His people. What is grace? It's the unmerited favor of God, and every blessing that you and I know or will know for all eternity is sovereign grace. It isn't deserved, even since we're saved.
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By God still deals with us in grace.
Because if there's any desire in your heart to please the Lord Jesus who put it there, you didn't put it there yourself. Neither did I, but he put it there and he's going to have all the glory. And even when the rewards are given out at the judgment seat of Christ, those who receive them who are just going to cast their crowns at his feet and say, thou art worthy. Well, I think if there was anybody that had a sense of grace in his soul.
It was Daniel. And so I just want to mention this again. You see back in Isaiah that God before long before their captivity, he said.
I'm going to rebuild Jerusalem. I have the person picked out who's going to open the doors and let the people go back. And he's not going to do it for price or for reward. He's not going to ask for any pay. He's just going to do it because he's my servant, he's my anointed. And then when the people sunk lower still, why then he said they're going to have to go and the captivity. But I'm going to set a limit on the length of time.
It's only going to be.
For a certain prescribed length of time. And we know that that cell, we are here in a world of sorrow. But isn't it good to know it's only for a certain length of time? We don't know the time the Lord does, and we're waiting for His coming at any moment. But the Lord knows the time that He's going to come and give that shout, and faith counts upon him. So Daniel found out, or at least.
Jeremiah announced the 70 years. Then 70 years later, Daniel is reading his Bible and he discovers this wonderful verse that told that the captivity was to last 70 years. And so he got down on his knees and said, Lord, but we're not deserving of it at all. We haven't behaved ourselves like we should down here in Babylon. How can we ever claim a blessing like this?
And he humbles himself, and then God comes in. Now if you turn over to Ezra.
Well, the book of Ezra.
Five books before the Psalms. The first chapter. 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, that he made a proclamation throughout all the Kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia.
The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth.
And he hath charged me a bill of him in the House of Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? His God Be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the House of the Lord God of Israel. He is the God which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he saw adjourneth, let the man of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts.
The free will offering for the House of God, which is, that is in Jerusalem. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah, and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised to go up to build the House of the Lord, which is at Jerusalem. And all that were about him strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things.
Beside all it was willingly offered.
Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the House of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the House of his gods. Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithridath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Shesh Bazar the Prince of Judah.
And this is the number of them 30 charges of gold, 1000 chargers of silver, 9 and 20 knives, 30 basins of gold, silver basins of a second sort, 410 and other vessels.
1000 All the vessels of gold and of silver, or 5400 These did Cheshire bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem.
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Now we find that God does just exactly what he had said before this man was born. He told what he was going to do. He named him and said that he was going to do just this. And now we find he's doing it.
The he didn't know, I'm sure, that he was fulfilling the word of the prophet because man doesn't always know that he's fulfilling the word of God. It's a verse that says we can do nothing against the truth but for the truth and whatever men do without realizing it, they're only fulfilling what God has said they would do. Even when they scoff at the Lord's coming, they're fulfilling the word that says that's just what they.
In the last days, if they throw aside restraint today, that's only what God said they would do in the last days. And so man without realizing it, fulfill the word of God. And I doubt very much if if Cyrus really knew that he was fulfilling the word of God, but he did know that that the God of the people of Israel.
Perhaps because of the faithful testimony of Daniel.
Who had been so bright a testimony there in the court of in the court of Nebuchadnezzar and Belshazzar and later Darius. He probably realized that there was a reality to the God of Israel because he had spoken so loudly at different times. But now he he does this. And as it says, I didn't read all in that 45th chapter of Isaiah, but if you read on there, you'd see that he did it without price or reward.
He didn't ask anything. Instead of this, he told the people that they could send back any of the silver or the gold that they wished. And he even went and took the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar had carried and brought down into Babylon, those that Belshazzar had used to praise the gods of gold and silver and brass and iron and wood. Now he comes out with these and says, and you can take these vessels back too. What a what a God we have.
How wonderful to see His hand working behind the scenes in control of everything. Brethren, I say again, I'm only Speaking of these things and perhaps for myself as well As for you. It's so easy for us to get overcome by the cares of this life. Remember how the Lord Jesus said that we could be ensnared by the cares of this life and the deceitfulness of riches and the lust of other things entering in.
And how often those things do come in. But as I read things like this, and perhaps they speak to you too, it shows us that we can rest in peace in the circumstances of our lives and know that the hand of God is in the circumstances, whether it's in our home life, whether it's in the nation, whether it's in our personal lives.
Our times are in thy hand.
Oh, how blessed then to see all this word doubt.
And after he had made the proclamation, now we see something further to God works in the hearts of the people.
He was not only working in the heart of Cyrus, He's not only working in the heart of Daniel down there in Babylon. Because as far as we know, Daniel was a very old man. And I don't believe that Daniel did come back himself, but we see him working in the hearts of all these others and stirring their hearts up to come back to Jerusalem to rebuild it. So we see God working in the hearts of unconverted man. We see him working also in.
The hearts of his own. Isn't it nice what it says here in this fifth verse? Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah, and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, and all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the House of the Lord, which is in Jerusalem. Yes, the Lord stirred up their hearts and made them willing, and they go back.
And in the chapter that follows, we see that God takes account of the very.
Number of these people. He's a God of great detail. He mentions the number of these different families that came up, and I've been sort of struck by the fact it says in the 65th verse of the 2nd chapter, beside their servants and their maids, of whom there were 7330 and seven, there were among them 200 singing men and singing women.
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Their horses were 7.
Hundreds, 30 and six there are mules, 240 and five they're camels, 430 and five, their *****. 6720. Isn't it nice to see that God records all those things? As I read those things, I think, isn't it marvelous to think that he's even interested in our conveyances, whether we have a car or not, whether we're able to get a boat or not. Mentions all the different means that they had of getting around.
That they could make this journey. Well, he cares about it. The Lord Jesus is head over all things to the church, which is His body. And in the 28th chapter of Matthew, when the Lord met with his own in that appointed place, and they came and saw him, it says when they saw him, they worshiped him. But some doubted. And isn't it often true that we gather, we gather by grace around the Lord?
Jesus, and we can't help but worship Him when we see Him, and faith sees, as it were, the marks in his hands and feet inside, seizing those emblems, that which represents to us his death for us. But even in such a grand occasion as that, perhaps there can be doubts come into our mind, all kinds of doubts about various things.
And I like the way it's recorded there in the 28th of Matthew in that.
Happy meeting there around the Lord and the appointed place, it says.
When they doubted, it says, And Jesus came and said unto them, That's perhaps rather strange phraseology because the Lord was there in the midst, and there were just eleven of them. What would it mean that Jesus came and said unto them, Well, I like to think of it like this, that He knew just who those people were because He knows the thoughts that are going through our minds. As you sit in this audience, I don't know the thoughts about the Lord knows all the thoughts that are going through your mind and mine.
And He came to each one of those people that had doubts. This is what He said to them. All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. That's the answer to every doubt. I don't believe it to be possible for you or for me to lay the heart. A few of these things that we've looked at tonight and not realize that the One who is our Redeemer, the One who's head of the body, the Church, has all power in heaven and in earth. Brethren, that's the answer to every.
The reason we have doubts is because we question his power to handle the problems. They're insurmountable to us. They're more than we can handle, but they're not insurmountable to him. He has. He's in control of everything. He knew the problem was going to come long before it came. He ordered the instrument that brought the problem, and he also orders the way of relief from it.
That says.
You will not suffer us to be tempted above that we are able, but will with the temptation make a way to escape, that we may be able to bear it. And then when the time came for Him to bring them back, how lovely it is to see here how He takes account of those whose hearts stirred them up, counts in detail all that which they brought up to contribute to the House of the Lord, and even talked about the animals that carried them. Does He care about all the details of?
From mine, whether we have enough to carry on, whether we have proper transportation. Oh, how wonderful to have such a God as we have. We sing sometimes, why should I ever careful be since such a God is mine? He watches or me night and day, and tells me thou art mine.