The Encourager
“God's Mysterious Ways”
God’s Mysterious Ways
by Jeff Curtis
According to the first chapter of Ezra, in about 538 BC, the Persian king Cyrus the Great issued the order that allowed the Jews to return to their own land after they had spent several years in Babylonian captivity. What can we learn about God and His dealings with man from the events of Ezra chapter 1?
God’s Power is Sovereign. Cyrus issued the proclamation that the Jews to return home, but God caused him to do so. This is made clear in the text: “The Lord stirred the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he sent a proclamation throughout all his kingdom” (1:1). Isaiah had predicted that God would use Cyrus to bring His people home, calling the ruler by name almost two hundred years before Cyrus began his rule (Isaiah 44:28-5:5).
God used Cyrus for His purposes. Did Cyrus know that he was being used by God? Probably not. Even though Cyrus used the personal name of God (“the Lord,” or “Yahweh”;1:2) when he said that the Lord had given him success, he was probably following the customs of his day by referring to the God of Israel as if He were the only God.
Today, Christians can take comfort in knowing that even when evil seems to reign on the earth, God rules over the rulers and allows them to rule only because it suits His purposes. In the end, God is sovereign, His cause will triumph.
God Keeps His Promises. The text says that Cyrus allowed the Jews to return “in order to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah” (1:1; Jer. 29:10). God had promised to bring His people back from captivity in seventy years, and He kept that promise.
This, of course, is a constant characteristic of God. “The promise of the Lord proves true” (2Sam. 22:31; 2Peter 3:9). God kept His promise to Abraham even though twenty-five years passed between the time He made the promise and the time that the promised son Isaac was born. God kept His promise to bring Israel into Canaan, in spite of Israel’s sins. In the same way, we can be sure that God will keep His promises now and in the future.
God accomplishes His purposes. In the case of Cyrus and the Jews, God’s purpose required that the Jews return to their own land. This emphasizes the connection between the land that God gave Israel and the promise to bring the Messiah into the world. When the Messiah came, the purpose was accomplished; therefore, from the New Testament times on, Israel has had no special God-given right to the “Holy Land.”
God works in the world through Providence. In Bible times, God sometimes worked in the world through miracles. Miracles were real. They were historical; they happened at certain times in definite places. However, even then God sometimes worked non-miraculously, or providentially.
God doesn’t work through miracles today (1Cor. 13:8-13), but He still works providentially. The best New Testament statement of that is found in Romans 8:28: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” With this assurance, Christians can believe that God works through people and events in this world to accomplish His purposes. He can work through sinful acts, malicious people, natural events, and apparently haphazard “chance” occurrences, as well as through the good deeds done by His people.
Conclusion. Ezra 1 teaches us several important truths about God: He has power over the kings of the world, He keeps His promises, He accomplishes His purposes, and He works through his providence. Knowing these truths, we can rest better at night, even when evil seems to be winning on every hand, even when the days are dismal. They know that behind the blackness of the hour stands the Almighty God, who will ultimately – as He did in Ezra’s day – triumph over the evil one, win the victory, and bring His people home.
