Pray the word with David Platt is a resource from radical.net.

Ezra chapter 1 verse 1 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, so that he made a proclamation

throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing. I love the opening of the book of Ezra. Did you hear that?

In the first year of Cyrus King of Persia. So Cyrus is not a follower of God, not a worshipper of God. But, so that the

word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled if there's anything we see from beginning to end

in scripture.

Well there's a lot of things we see from beginning to end in scripture, but one theme we see over

and over and over again is that what God says he does.

The word of the Lord will be fulfilled.

God keeps his promises. So in order that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled,

so what God has said will come to pass.

Then it says, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus King of Persia so that he made a proclamation

throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing and what goes on to unfold after

this is the story of God bringing his people back from exile and

resettling them in Jerusalem where the temple is built in the book of Nehemiah God had said he would do this when God's people were exiled as they turn to him he would restore them

So now he's doing it and he's doing it through the life of a

pagan king. God is stirring up his spirit. Now I don't know how all this works.

There's a mystery that we see in scripture how God's

sovereignty works with man's responsibility because Cyrus is not a puppet

here by any means we see all throughout scripture that man and woman are responsible

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