Nathan Jones: In this week's episode of our Christ in Prophecy series titled Jesus in the Old Testament, we have moved into a trilogy of biblical books that deal with the Jewish exiles in Babylon returning to the Promised Land — Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther.
Tim Moore: After Assyria conquered Israel and Babylon decimated Judah, Babylon was in turn defeated by the Medes and Persians. Seventy years later, Cyrus was the king of the Persians. Ezra, a Jewish scribe and priest, recorded in the first verse of his book that "the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia." The great king made a decree, saying, "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."
Nathan Jones: Cyrus lived in the fifth century BC, so the book of Ezra can be dated around 440 BC. Ezra's recognition that the Lord had orchestrated all of the events that led to the sons of Israel returning to the Land is summarized in this key verse from Ezra 6:21-22 —
"Then the children of Israel who had returned from the captivity ate together with all who had separated themselves from the filth of the nations of the land in order to seek the Lord God of Israel. And they kept the Feast of Unleavened Bread seven days with joy; for the Lord made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel."
Tim Moore: The book of Ezra documents the challenges and victories realized by the Jews who returned from exile. More important than all of that, it documents that God keeps His promises.
To help us mine the wisdom of the book of Ezra, we were joined by our special guest teacher, Bob Russell. Bob served for decades as the lead pastor of one of the largest churches in Kentucky. Under his leadership, and with the clear guidance of the Holy Spirit, Southeast Christian Church grew.
Recognizing Pagan Instruments of God
Tim Moore: Ezra served as a scribe and priest of Israel. We learn that Cyrus was the king of Persia who came to an awareness of God's providence. The Holy Spirit motivated Cyrus to issue a decree that allowed the Jews to return to Israel for the purpose of rebuilding their temple.
Bob Russell: What we have here is an amazing story about how God can use even pagan kings to accomplish His will. The Jews had been taken captive by the Babylonians and settled there, even becoming a blessing to the Babylonian culture. Then Cyrus and the Persians conquered Babylon. Cyrus starts looking around and he cannot understand why the Jews have been so persecuted. He feels moved to release them to go back to Jerusalem, should they want to.
The Bible says that the king's heart is in the hand of the Lord (Proverbs 21:1). He directs its course like water to wherever He wants it to go. That's an example of how God can use pagan rulers to accomplish His will.
All the more reason why we ought to be praying for those in authority. We can look back on Israel's more recent history and see that God used President Truman to endorse Israel as they were becoming a nation in 1948. Even today, I think as hedonistic and pagan as Donald Trump has been, God used him to appoint some conservative judges and restrict abortion. So, as Christians, we ought to be really praying that God continues to use people in authority, even though these rulers may not align with our biblical values.
Falling Into a Pagan Culture
Tim Moore: What lessons can we learn about the influence of paganism in the Christian culture today in the light of what Revelation tells us we should be anticipating with the end times resurgence of Babylon?
Bob Russell: It is hard for me to determine whether everybody should have gone back to Jerusalem or not. Once the Jews settled in Babylon, God had instructed them through the prophets to settle in and be a blessing to that culture. Just like Joseph was a blessing to the household of Potiphar and then the household of Pharoah, God's people should be a blessing in the culture where they live. A number of Jewish people settled in Babylon and so maybe they were supposed to remain there to provide God's influence.
I think about Jesus calling Peter and John and the disciple to leave their nets and follow Him, and so they left their occupation and followed Jesus. Then the demon-possessed man who had been cleansed of his demons said, "I want to follow you." But, Jesus said: "No, you go back home and stay where you are and be an influence there. Tell of the great things God is doing for you." So, maybe some of those exiled people should have remained in Babylon.
But, they are not going to be of any influence if they are not distinctive. It is a dangerous thing to live in the culture and not be influenced by it because the culture can be dangerous.
We can become absorbed by the pagan philosophy of the culture. The Prince of Darkness is an able influencer, to young people especially, in this culture. Adults have the same problem. I think about how easily we become absorbed in the drinking culture, the drug culture, and things that were considered evil years just a few years ago that were not considered okay, even among people in the Church.
Nathan Jones: Bob, why do you feel this to be the case? Why is it so easy to get indoctrinated into the pagan culture so that our churches tend to slip from their doctrinally sound, biblically-based positions to usually doctrinally very watered down and almost meaningless worship?
Bob Russell: There's a phrase in Scripture that says, "They wanted to please men more than God." The approval of people is so important to many of us. I'm thinking of a list of three fears that people have: the fear of death, the fear of disapproval, and the fear of being criticized and rejected by the culture. When it comes to sin, at first we grow silent, then we begin to endorse it, and then we begin to participate in it ourselves. And yet, the Bible calls us to come out and be separate. I don't think that means odd or weird, but there has to be a strong stand taken.
We Christians are to be different. Christ-followers are meant to be distinctive, and that means that sometimes we have to stand against the culture.
Watch or read the complete discussion on Christ in Prophecy!
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