the Third Week after Easter
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Daily Devotionals
Day by Day Devotional - Year 2 of 5
Ezra 1:1-11
Through Jeremiah, the LORD had decreed beforehand a limit of 70 years on the duration of the exile at Babylon. As a result, those men who, like Daniel, searched the Scriptures had had the opportunity of being aware of the imminent end of the captivity (Daniel 9:2). The 70 years are reckoned from the first year of Nebuchadnezzar, who was responsible for the carrying away of the people, until the first year of Cyrus, who brought it to an end (Jeremiah 25:1; Jeremiah 25:11). About two centuries earlier, the LORD had already identified this last king by his name (Isaiah 44:28; Isaiah 45:1). Without any doubt, Cyrus was aware of this prophecy for he is conscious of being the instrument chosen by God to restore the worship of Himself.
At the same time, the LORD "stirs up the spirit" of a certain number of exiled Jews, amongst whom were those who remembered Jerusalem with tears and placed it "above their chief joy" (see Psalms 137:1; Psalms 137:4-6). Christian friends, do we also feel that we are "in a strange land"? Do we long for the joys of the holy City? Has our spirit been "stirred up" to wait for the Lord Jesus? He is the great King, the centre of prophecy, to whom God will soon give all the kingdoms of the earth (v. 2) in order to re-establish His praise and glory.
