The Sword and the Captivity - Part 4

When the sword came upon Egypt by the hand of the king of Babylon, the cities in Egypt were laid waste (see Ezekiel 30, 31, & 32). The children of Israel and the children of Judah then lived in captivity for many years, but God promised that He would punish the king of Babylon, his city, and his land (Jeremiah 50 & 51) in vengeance for His temple. God also promised that He would also bring back all of Israel to His habitation and the ruins of His city would be rebuilt (Ezekiel 36, 37,39, & Isaiah 60). It is now time for those of us who know our God and understand who He is and how to love him with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength to rise up and be strong and help each other in the rebuilding of God's city and house, just like Nehemiah and Ezra did.

"The fact is, even if you remain silent now, someone else will help and rescue the Jews, but you and your relatives will die. And who knows, you may have gained your royal position for a time like this." (Est 4:14 GW)

Then Darius the king made a decree, and they searched in the house of the scrolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was found in Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a scroll. And in it was a record written thus: In the first year of Cyrus the king, Cyrus the king placed a decree concerning the house of God in Jerusalem: let the house be built, the place where they offered sacrifices and let the foundations of it be strongly laid. Its height shall be sixty cubits; its breadth sixty cubits; with three layers of rolling stones, and a layer of new timber. And let the expenses be given out of the king's house. And also let the gold and silver vessels of the house of God, that Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple in Jerusalem, and brought to Babylon, be given back and go to the temple in Jerusalem, to their place. And put them in the house of God. (Ezr 6:1-5 LITV)

This Ezra went up from Babylon. And he was a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses, which Jehovah the God of Israel had given. And the king granted him all he asked, according to the hand of Jehovah his God on him. And of the sons of Israel went up some of the priests, and the Levites, and the singers, and the gatekeepers, and the temple-slaves to Jerusalem in the seventh year of Artaxerxes the king. And he came to Jerusalem in the fifth month, in the seventh year of the king. For on the first of the first month, he laid the foundation in order to go up from Babylon, and on the first of the fifth month he came to Jerusalem, according to the good hand of God on him. For Ezra had prepared his heart to seek the Law of Jehovah, and to do it, and to teach statutes and judgments in Israel. And this is the copy of the letter which the king, Artaxerxes, gave to Ezra the priest, the scribe, a scribe of the words of the commands of Jehovah, and of His statutes to Israel: Artaxerxes, king of kings, to Ezra the priest, a scribe of the Law of the God of Heaven, perfect peace, and now: From me was made a decree that any one of the people of Israel, and their priests and Levites in my kingdom who volunteers to go up to Jerusalem, may go with you; since you have been sent by the king, and by his seven counselors to ask about Judah and Jerusalem, according to the Law of your God in your hand; and to carry the silver and gold which the king and his counselors have freely offered to the God of Israel, whose house is in Jerusalem: even all the silver and gold which you can find in all the province of Babylon, with the free offering of the people, and of the priests, freely offering for the house of their God in Jerusalem. Therefore of this you shall diligently buy with this silver: bulls, rams, lambs, with their food offerings, and their drink offerings, and offer them on the altar of the house of your God in Jerusalem. And whatever shall seem good to you and to your brothers to do with the rest of the silver and the gold, do that after the will of your God. Also the vessels which are given to you for the service of the house of your God, deliver before the God of Jerusalem. And the rest of the needs of the house of your God which falls to you to give, give it out of the king's treasure house. (Ezr 7:6-20 LITV)

Then I said to them, You see the evil that we are in, how Jerusalem is wasted, and its gates are burned with fire. Come and let us build up the wall of Jerusalem, so that we may no longer be a reproach. Then I told them of the hand of my God which was good on me, and also the king's words that he had spoken to me. And they said, Let us rise up and build. So they made their hands strong for good. (Neh 2:17-18 LITV)

We must consecrate a fast from doing our pleasures and our ways and return to the ways and heart of the King (review The Division of the Kingdom).

Call out with the throat! Do not spare. Lift up your voice like the ram's horn! And declare to My people their rebellion, and their sins to the house of Jacob. Yet they seek Me day by day, and desire knowledge of My ways. As a nation that has done right, and not forsaking the judgment of their God, they ask Me about judgments of righteousness; they desire to draw near to God. They say, Why have we fasted, and You did not see? We have afflicted our soul, and You did not acknowledge. Behold, on the day of your fast you find pleasure; and you drive all your laborers hard. Look! You fast for strife, and for debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. Do not fast as today, to sound your voice in the high place. Is this like the fast I will choose, a day for a man to afflict his soul? To bow his head down like a bulrush, and he spreads sackcloth and ashes? Will you call to this as a fast and a day of delight to Jehovah? Is this not the fast I have chosen: to open bands of wickedness, to undo thongs of the yoke, and to send out the oppressed ones free; even that you pull off every yoke? Is it not to break your bread to the hungry, that you should bring the wandering poor home? When will you see the naked and cover him, and you will not hide yourself from your flesh? Then your light shall break as the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of Jehovah shall gather you. Then you shall call, and Jehovah will answer; you shall cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If you put the yoke away from among you, the sending out of the finger, and the speaking of iniquity; and if you let out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then your light shall rise in the darkness, and your gloom shall be as the noonday. And Jehovah shall always guide you, and satisfy your soul in dry places, and make strong your bones. And you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. And those who come of you shall build the old ruins; you shall rear the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to live in. If you turn your foot away because of the sabbath, from doing what you please on My holy days, and call the sabbath a delight, to the holiness of Jehovah, glorified; and shall glorify Him, to the holiness of not doing your own ways, from finding your own pleasure or speaking your word; then you shall delight yourself in Jehovah. And I will cause you to ride on the heights of the earth, and make you eat with the inheritance of your father Jacob. For the mouth of Jehovah has spoken. (Isa 58:1-14 LITV)

Now do not stiffen your necks like your fathers. Give a hand to Jehovah and come to His holy place that He has sanctified forever; and serve Jehovah your God. And the fierceness of His anger will turn away from you. For when you return to Jehovah, your brothers and your sons will have mercies before their captors, even to return to this land. For Jehovah your God is gracious and merciful, and He will not turn His face away from you, if you turn back to Him. (2Ch 30:8-9 LITV)

With the rebirth of the nation of Israel, God has already started the process of bringing His people back to His land. The city of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D., but in our recent history, it has been re-established again. Jews, who are not Christians, are still waiting for a Messiah, or new King of Israel. They are in constant battle with the Palestinians and Muslims over the city. They are waiting to build a Jewish temple on the Temple Mound. Christians used to persecute the Jews, but in our recent history, they have been working together in their love for Israel and God. God has purposed to bring all of His children together to unite them as one nation and one Kingdom under the reign of one King of Israel, the son of David - Jesus!

And the Word of Jehovah was to me, saying, And you, son of man, take one stick to yourself and write on it, For Judah, and for his companions, the sons of Israel. And take another stick and write on it, For Joseph, the stick of Ephraim and all the house of Israel, his companions. And draw them one to one for yourself, into one stick. And they shall become one in your hand. And when the sons of your people shall speak to you, saying, Will you not declare to us what these mean to you? Say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the stick of Joseph which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions. And I will put them with him, with the stick of Judah, and I will make them one stick, and they shall be one in My hand. And the sticks shall be in your hand, the ones on which you write before their eyes. And say to them, So says the Lord Jehovah: Behold, I will take the sons of Israel from among the nations, there where they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and will bring them into their own land. And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel, and one King shall be for a king to all of them. And they shall not be two nations still. And they will not be split into two kingdoms any more. And they will not still be defiled with their idols, even with their filthy idols, nor with all of their transgressions. But I will save them out of all their dwelling places where they have sinned in them, and I will cleanse them. So they shall be for a people to Me and I will be for God to them. And My Servant, David, shall be King over them. And there shall be one Shepherd to all of them. And they shall walk in My judgments and keep My statutes, and do them. And they shall dwell on the land that I have given to my servant, to Jacob, there where your fathers dwelt in it. And they shall dwell on it, they and their sons, and the sons of their sons, forever. And My Servant David shall be a ruler to them forever. And I will cut a covenant of peace with them, an everlasting covenant it shall be with them, And I will place them and multiply them, and I will put My sanctuary in their midst forever. And My tabernacle shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. And when My sanctuary shall be in their midst forever, the nations shall know that I, Jehovah, sanctify Israel. (Eze 37:15-28 LITV)

The Book of the genealogy of Jesus Christ the Son of David, the son of Abraham:
(Mat 1:1 LITV)

For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. (Isa 9:6-7 KJV)