Now before we begin, let us turn to God in quick prayer.

“Our Father in heaven, what we know not, teach us. What we have not, give us. And what we are not, make us, for this we ask in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

Okay as you can see, we are starting a series on this book in the New Testament by the name titled “Ezra” (Mistakenly mentioned “New Testament”, supposedly “Old Testament”). So I’m sure you have heard sermons and preaching’s on Old Testament books. You have heard preaching’s on the book of Genesis. Recently we heard a couple of times on the book of Malachi. We are going through a series on the book of Psalms, but not sure if you have heard messages on the book of Ezra.

So in our subsequent sessions together, I’ll try my best to take us through this particular book in the Old Testament- book of Ezra. And we want to see how God worked among His people as recorded for us in this particular book. But first, for us to understand the setting and the historical time and place of what we are looking at, we need to transport ourselves back to ancient Israel alright. Transport yourselves back to ancient Israel with me for a while and think about the time when Israel was a nation.

Israel is still a nation, but think back to that time when it was in the time of the Old Testament where Israel was in its peak alright. You know the Israel consisted of twelve tribes, and the glory days of Israel was during the time of King Solomon. Now King Solomon built a wonderful temple, it’s called the “Solomon’s Temple”, and this temple was eventually destroyed by the Babylonians sometime later.

And immediately after the reign of King Solomon, the nation of Israel was divided into two alright. Israel was a whole, consisted of twelve tribes, divided into two after the reign of King Solomon. You have the Northern Kingdom which retained the name “Israel”, and that consisted of ten tribes. And you have the Southern Kingdom. They were called “Judah”, and they had two tribes which is Judah and Benjamin. So you had the Northern Kingdom and the Southern Kingdom.

Now the Northern Kingdom which is called Israel was disobedient to God. They engaged in a lot of pagan worship, idol worship, and disobeyed God again and again despite the fact that multiple prophets were sent to the Northern Kingdom to warn them of God’s judgment if they continued in disobedience. But they didn’t listen. They fell again and again into idolatry and pagan worship. So to help you to see the state of what the people in those days were in (their lifestyle), now turn with me to the book of Second Kings. Second Kings is before the Chronicles and it’s also before Ezra. So Second Kings chapter 17. Turn with me to Second Kings chapter 17. I’ll start reading from verse 13.

2 Kings 17:13- “Yet the LORD testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, naming every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.” Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the LORD their God. And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the LORD had charged them that they should not do like them.

So they left all the commandments of the LORD their God, made for themselves a moulded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the LORD, to provoke Him to anger. Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone.”.

Now, so you can see here in this passage that for the sins of the nation of Israel, in a sense the Northern Kingdom, escalated. There was an escalation. They were disobedient. They worshipped idols, and then they started to be worse. And they created moulded image, wooden image, served Baal. And their lifestyle was such a way that “they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying”.

And then you look at verse 18. There came a point when God said enough is enough. He has tolerated long enough with Israel and in the year 722 B.C. (now B.C. means before Christ). At year 722 B.C., the world power at the point of time (the Syrians) swept into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and took the ten tribes into captivity. And after that, they were no more. You never really hear of the ten tribes of the Northern Kingdom Israel ever again. Now I just wanna pause and draw your attention to verse 18, where it says: “the LORD was very angry with Israel”.

Now can that be said of you at this point of time? Will the passage above verse 18 fit your current lifestyle today? Are you still living in sin and rebellion to the extent that one day God will have to say enough is enough to you? God says enough is enough to Israel. He was very angry with them, removed them from His sight. So if this passage speaks to you, I urge you to repent. I urge you to come to Christ because Paul said that in Romans do not despise the longsuffering and forbearance of God, knowing that it’s supposed to lead you to repentance. So, if this is speaking to you, take note.

And so you would have thought that the Northern Kingdom is now gone. The Southern Kingdom, Judah, should have learned their lesson. They see what had happened to their sister in the North. And they probably need to repent because they were also living in disobedience. But you see in verse 19 of the same chapter, Second Kings chapter 17: “Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the LORD their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made.”.

Verse 20: “And the LORD rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them in the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight.”. You see, Judah did not learn the lesson of their sister Israel, but continued in disobedience. And God here also had to say enough is enough to Judah alright. And then in the year 605 B.C., about 120/130 years after the Northern Kingdom was taking the captivity, King Nebuchadnezzar from Babylon came into Judah.

He was the world power at that point of time, destroyed the temple that Solomon built, took the Jews captivity. Here’s the key: Just as the Lord has spoken. Just as the Lord has spoken. Now I want you to turn with me to Jeremiah chapter 25. Jeremiah 25:9, here is Jeremiah speaking the Word of God before Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians rose to power.

So Jeremiah 25:9 says: “Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north,’ says the LORD, ‘and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land (which is Judah), against its inhabitants, and against these nations all around, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations.”. So here you see that Jeremiah has spoken that Nebuchadnezzar will come and Nebuchadnezzar will be a judgment of God upon the Jews, upon Judah.

But God is a faithful God. He has made promises to Abraham of the forefathers and said that He will not totally destroy the descendants of Abraham. So he asked the question: How long will they be in captivity? Look at verse 12 of the same chapter. Jeremiah 25:12- “‘Then it will come to pass, when seventy years are completed, that I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation, the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity,’ says the LORD; ‘and I will make it a perpetual desolation.”.

So you see in this one chapter itself, Jeremiah is saying that here is who will come and take the Jews captivity, and here is how long they will be in captivity for. All this came to pass. All this happened. And so if you want to give a title for today’s sermon, it would be that “God’s Word Will Come To Pass”, and God’s Word will come to pass. We’ll see more clearly of this as we move along. But the current state of the Jews (the people of Judah) was that they were in captivity.

The technical term is they are “in a state of exile” alright- they are in the state of exile. That means if a world power comes and takes you and brings you back to his country, you will be in a state of exile. So the Jews were in a state of exile at this point of time, and here’s where we want to start to look at Ezra chapter 1. Ezra chapter 1. So you turn back with me to Ezra chapter 1. As you’re turning back, it’s important to note that when the Jews were captured by Babylonians starting in 605 B.C., they were captured in three waves alright. King Nebuchadnezzar came and he took the Jews captivity, took them into exile in three waves.

Daniel and his friends were in the first wave. And there was a second wave. And there was a third wave okay. Now seventy years have passed. It’s about to come to an end, we’ll see in Ezra chapter 1. The people are allowed to return. The people are allowed to return, and they are also returning in three waves. So three waves of captivity into Babylon; three waves of return from Babylon okay. Now the first wave of captivity is what we’re looking at here, and it’s led by this man by the name called Zerubbabel. And the main aim of the return of the Jews in the first wave is to come back and rebuild the temple of the Lord.

Remember Solomon’s Temple was destroyed, the people were taken captivity, they mourned because now the Temple of the Lord is destroyed. Seventy years had passed, they are now coming back to rebuild the Temple of the Lord. But the second temple is also called “Zerubbabel’s Temple” because it was led by this man by the name of Zerubbabel. So that was the first wave of return. Now the second wave of return is, it happened sometime in Ezra chapter 6/chapter 7, and Ezra was the one who led the second wave of return back to Jerusalem. And the whole reason for this wave of return under the leadership of Ezra is to re-establish the Law.

Now the temple is built, people settled down, it’s time to re-establish the Law alright. And then the third wave is led by Nehemiah. Nehemiah led the third wave of the Jews, come back to Jerusalem to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And so three waves- rebuilding the temple, re-establishing the Law, and rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. So that’s how we want to look at this particular book of Ezra. And as you probably know, the book of Ezra and the book of Nehemiah was considered as one book in the olden days alright.

So we know in the Muratorian fragment that there were twenty-two books discovered. It was the same number of books that we have in our thirty-seven books in the Old Testament, but it’s just at a point of time First Kings, Second Kings was one book; First Chronicles, Second Chronicles one book; Ezra, Nehemiah considered one book alright. So we can look at it as one book, but in our Bibles today it is two books. So we’ll look at Ezra separately, and then God willing maybe Nehemiah.

Now here’s where we want to start looking at Ezra chapter 1. So just two points this morning as a matter of background. You have that background, but two points I want to draw to your attention this morning. Point number one: now God’s Word will come to pass prophetically. God’s Word will come to pass prophetically, those are on the board. I think at this point you would have already seen at least how past prophecies were accurately fulfilled through the prophetic ministry of some of the prophets that we have seen. Jeremiah, seen. We will see a couple more other prophets prophesying and how it comes to pass accurately.

And as we look at Ezra chapter 1, let me again show you from verse 1 that God’s Word will come to pass and has come to pass prophetically. Now in verse 1, he says: “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken 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, saying”. Now we pause there for a while.

Now if you read just verse 1 quickly; if you attempt to read it as a historical fact and missed a lot of important contents in this particular verse itself. It says: “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia”. And what is going to be mentioned here is something that has already been spoken by Jeremiah the prophet. So I won’t turn you to Jeremiah. But essentially what Jeremiah is saying the in chapter 29 and verse 10 and verse 12 is God will preserve a remnant of His people, that He will not totally obliterate or destroy Judah. But He will preserve a remnant, and that they will one day return to Jerusalem.

But I want to turn you to Isaiah instead. Turn with me to Isaiah chapter 44. Isaiah is after the book of Proverbs. So Isaiah chapter 44. Now Isaiah chapter 44, let me read one verse in this chapter (verse 24), and then I’ll read another verse. Now “thus says the LORD, your Redeemer”, verse 24, “And He who formed you from the womb: “I am the LORD, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself””. So this is the word of the Lord.

Look at verse 28: “Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he shall perform all My pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”’”. Isaiah is a prophet that came hundreds of years before the birth of Cyrus. And so here is Isaiah speaking the Word of God, calling Cyrus by name, saying that this person will say to Jerusalem: “You shall be built,” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.”. So I hope you see here that whatever God has spoken will come to pass.

In fact, here is really a clear reason of why we can trust the Bible. Why we can place our faith in the Bible? Because all these words were spoken hundreds of years way before it even took place. Would you like to guess the name of our prime minister maybe hundreds of years from now? From a human’s perspective, it is virtually impossible alright. So we see so clearly how what was prophesied. How Israel will fall, who will come and take Israel captivity? How Judah will fall, who will come and take Judah captivity? For how long? Who is this person? Which empire? It’s all prophesied clearly. 

And Cyrus is the king of the Persian Empire, as you see back in Ezra chapter 1. It is the first year of his reign. The Persian Empire came or the Middle-Persian Empire came after the Babylonian Empire. The Babylonian Empire was overthrown by the Persian Empire. And so even the empires were prophesied and it was actually fulfilled. So here you see again that what was spoken was fulfilled to its dot. And at this point, do you know that God has also spoken prophetically in His Word? Now He has mentioned in Hebrews 9:27 that “it is appointed unto men to die once”. It’s a prophecy. 

Do you believe in that? You say of course I believe. We see that all around. You say okay, it’s appointed unto men to die once, and then judgment. There will be a judgment after death. Do you believe that? Do you believe what God had said in the New Testament? Or how about this. That we will all stand one day before the judgment seat of Christ in 2 Corinthians 5:10, and we have to give an account of what we have done in our body, whether good or bad. Do you believe this prophecy? 

Or that God has a book in Revelation 20:15. It’s a book, and that you’ll open it on the Day of Judgment. If your name is not found in that book on that very last day, you will be thrown into the lake of fire where the fire does not quench and the worms do not die. It’s a prophecy. Do you believe that? If you say I don’t believe all this, then how do you explain what happened to Israel, what happened to Judah, and what happened in the Old Testament or in history? This is history, remember. But you say if you believe, what would your response be?

Now besides the prophetic accuracy of the events that we have just seen in terms of kingdoms and kings and nations, the Bible also prophesied about the coming of a person, now whose name is Jesus. Now we’re all aware of that, but consider this. Consider how accurate the prophecy in the Old Testament was fulfilled in the Lord Jesus Christ. So just hear this. It was prophesied in the Old Testament that Jesus would be born of the seed of Abraham, Jesse, and David, that He will be born of a virgin.

He will be called Emmanuel. He’ll be born in Bethlehem, great persons would come to adore Him. There will be the killing of children in Bethlehem, and He will be called out of Egypt. He’ll be preceded by a forerunner. He’ll be anointed by the Holy Spirit. He’ll be a prophet like Moses, a priest after the order of Melchizedek. And He will be entering into His public ministry in Galilee. And He’ll be entering publicly into Jerusalem and come into the temple, prophesied that He would live in poverty and meekness, in tenderness and compassion.

And He would be without deceit. He’ll be full of zeal. He prophesied that He will be preaching with parables, working miracles, bearing reproach. And He’ll be rejected by His own Jewish brethren. The Jews and the Gentiles would combine together against Him, and He would be betrayed by a friend. He will be forsaken by His disciples. He will be sold for thirty pieces of silver and that the price will be given for a potter’s field. He would die with intense suffering yet be silent under that suffering.

The Old Testament prophesied that He will be struck on the cheek, His visage will be marked. He’ll be spit upon and scourge. His hands and His feet would be nailed to a cross. He will be forsaken by God and cry out: “My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?”. He’ll be mocked. Gall and vinegar would be offered to Him. His garments would be parted. Lots would be cast for His clothing. He would be numbered among the transgressors. He would intercede for His murderers. He would die, but not a bone of His body would be broken.

He would be pierced long before crucifixion was even invented. He’ll be buried with the rich. His flesh would not see corruption. He would be raised from the dead. He will be sent to the right hand of God the Father. Now all these were recorded hundreds of years before the coming of this person, Jesus. And His birth, His life, His death, His resurrection all came to pass in accurate detail. But still, there are many people out there who say this is probably just a coincidence. It just so happened.  It’s a stroke of luck.

Now an American preacher put it like this if you say it’s a stroke of luck. He says: Imagine filling the state of Texas with silver coins (the state of Texas is big in America, you can put two Malaysia’s inside). So imagine you fill the state of Texas with silver coins up to your knee, so knee-deep. Fill the state of Texas with silver coins knee-deep. You take one coin, you put a mark on it, and you randomly throw into the sea of coins. And then you put Hong Chun on a helicopter, fly around the state of Texas, and you tell the pilot: Lower me down here.

So the pilot lowers him down, he rolls up his sleeves, he picks up one coin. Now the probability of Hong Chun picking up this coin that is marked is higher than the probability of all the prophecy in the Old Testament coming to pass accurately in its detail as it did in one historical person in the Lord Jesus Christ. So this is how people who say there is a coincidence should think about what has happened and what came to pass.

Now Jeremiah prophesied was fulfilled in Cyrus. All the prophets prophesied- Micah, Isaiah, David. They prophesied about Jesus and it was accurately fulfilled in the person of our Lord. And God had said that one day Christ will come again. Jesus will come again, this time as a Judge. Are you ready for that? Because those that are His will rejoice on that day that He comes as they remember His faithfulness, as they remember what He has said in His Word. But those who are outside His kingdom will wish that they have never been born. Psalm said: “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry, and His wrath is kindled against you.”.

Now before we move on to the second point, I just want to point something out very quick. We can see that the Word of the Lord or God’s Word will come to pass prophetically. That you can see from verse 1 all the way to verse 4. But as was read to you just now in verse 2 to verse 4, I’m not sure what went through your mind as you heard the reading of these three verses in verse 2 and verse 4.

Let’s just read through again real quick: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all His people? May his God be with him, now let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. And whoever remains in any place where he sojourns, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.”. 

Now if you read these three verses, what comes straight to your mind? You say: Hey, here is a godly person, a person who knows God, a person who knows God’s will, who is able to tell the people that here’s what you need to do and the right thing to do and a person who worships God. But I say to you Cyrus is a pagan. He’s a pagan. And you ask me: How do you know? You turn with me to Ezra chapter 6, the same book.

Ezra 6:9, now let me read from verse 8. So Ezra 6:8, this is a letter of the decree of Cyrus. Here is Cyrus again. Cyrus says this: “Moreover I issue a decree as to what you shall do for the elders of these Jews, for the building of this house of God: Let the cost be paid at the king’s expense from taxes on the region beyond the River; this is to be given immediately to these men, so that they are not hindered.

And whatever they need—young bulls, rams, and lambs for the burnt offerings of the God of heaven, wheat, salt, wine, and oil, according to the request of the priests who are in Jerusalem—let it be given them day by day without fail (verse 10) that they may offer sacrifices of sweet aroma to the God of heaven, and pray for the life of the king and his sons.”. So the last sentence there is the real intention of why Cyrus issued what he issue in Ezra 1:2-4. Now, these three verses is also known as the proclamation of Cyrus. The Cyrus’ proclamation, the Cyrus’ decree.

He decreed that the Jews could return to Jerusalem, but there is an intention behind why he said this. What is his intention? Now his intention is this: the Persian Empire, Cyrus who is the king of the Persian Empire, has learned from the Babylonians and Assyrians in order to maintain peace in the nation, in the country in your empire, you have to allow the people to practice their religious freedom. And so in the nineteenth century, archaeologists, as they did their archaeological studies and they dig up things from the sand, they found what is called the Cyrus cylinder.

Now in the Cyrus cylinder is written these words, verse 2 to verse 4. But not just these words. It’s also written the proclamation of Cyrus to the rest of the people tribes, allowing them to also go back to their country to worship their gods. But only one condition is that you would pray for the king and his sons as we’ve seen in Ezra chapter 6. So what is the real intention of Cyrus? Cyrus worships a pagan god. He worships a god by the name of Molech, and this pagan god has a son by the name of Nebo.

So that is his real god. But here he is saying the right things, doing the right things, allowing the people to go back to Jerusalem, which is the right thing. But he is a pagan. So how many of us are like Cyrus today? We may say the right things, we do the right things. We come to church, we listen to preaching, we attend Bible study and prayer meetings, and evangelistic efforts and outreach. But deep inside, are we a Cyrus? Do we serve a Molech within our hearts? So if you are Christian today, will you be diligent to check your hearts and examine your lives to see if you are really sincerely worshiping Yahweh the true God, or if there is an intention behind the outward things that we do?

Now if you’re not a Christian yet, will you continue to allow Molech to rule in your life? Will you continue to neglect so great a salvation? Only Christ can save us from our sins and turn us from being Cyrus to being a Christian. So that’s the first point: God’s Word will come to pass prophetically. Now the subsequent verses (verse 5 to verse 11) will be the second point: God’s Word will come to pass providentially. God’s Word will come to pass providentially.

Now as you saw, God has orchestrated things in such a way that Cyrus has issued the decree. But God doesn’t just leave Cyrus to issue the decree and then kind of step out of it and let the people work and do whatever they want to do. But God is still at work among His people to ensure that His Word and His plan come to pass. Now we see the providence of God in two parties here, it’s quite clear throughout this passage.

You see the providence of God in the people of Babylon. Now the people of Babylon, look at verse 5: “And the heads of the fathers’ houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the Levites, with all whose spirits God had moved, arose to go up and build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem.”. So here are the Jews being stirred up by God, go back to Jerusalem. Verse 6: “And all those who were around them encouraged them with articles of silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with precious things, besides all that was willingly offered.”.

So here is the providence of God through the people around the Jews to allow the Jews to go back. They were there to encourage the Jews. They supported the Jews. They gave them things so that they can start on their journey. Now that is the first party that we see that worked in the lives of the Jews as part of the providence of God. Now the second party of course is King Cyrus himself. Now King Cyrus issued the decree. King Cyrus also told the people. Actually he told the people to take care of the Jews and whatever they need, give it to them and let them return.

But you see here also that King Cyrus in verse 7 “brought out the articles of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from Jerusalem and put in the temple of his gods, and Cyrus king of Persia brought them out by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and counted them out to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. And this is the number of them”. So the articles that were in Solomon’s Temple at the point of time were taken by the Babylonians when they came and took the Jews captivity. But it has been preserved.

And so now Cyrus is bringing all these out and say: Hey, take this back to Jerusalem and worship your God there. So the providence of God works in such a way that it works through means. It works through the people around us cause we have learned of this in our study on vocation that different people work in our lives to fulfil God’s purposes alright. We all go through what we do, but ultimately at the end of the day, we’re fulfilling God’s purposes.

Of course, we’ve seen this again and again also in the Scripture. And God used Joseph’s brother, used Potiphar, used Pharaoh, used the slave owners to bring about provision of food for the Israelites during famine, to the providence of God acted in such a way that Israel, at the end through Joseph, was able to be alleviated from famine. Although it was hard throughout this whole process, but the greatest act of God’s kindness to us is really when He providentially provided a way of salvation for us in the Lord Jesus Christ by having different parties coming together at one point of time to put Jesus to the cross alright.

You had the Jews, the Pharisees who hated Jesus. You had Pilate who was a coward, who just wanted to please the people. You had the Romans who were just doing their job, killing somebody. But all these worked together. God orchestrated things together in such a way that we see His providence that ultimately put Christ to the cross so that the greatest thing of kindness is possible in Him providing a way of salvation for us through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, so you see, God is a providential God. Now He can provide for the Jews who returned to Jerusalem. He’s provided a way of salvation in Christ.

Can He not also provide for you if you are His child in whatever circumstances that you may be, whether in your school, job, in your family, in your country? If you are a child of God today, you can safely rest in the sovereignty and the providence of God and He will guide you and He will watch over you because if He can clothe the lily, He can feed the sparrows, how much more valuable are you to Him alright?

Now will you continue to despair if things seemingly don’t go well for you, or you try to take matters into your hands? Or will you say like the hymn writer says: “Are we weak and heavy-laden, cumbered with a load of care? Precious Saviour, still our refuge— Take it to the Lord in prayer.”. So although at certain points in our life, things might happen that we do not understand. We might say that things at that point of time is bad, it’s evil. But ultimately, remember that “all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose” because God is a providential God. He is able to provide for His people.

Now, so you see that God’s Word will come to pass prophetically. You’ve seen in this passage that God’s Word will come to pass providentially. Now, this morning the question is: Are you convinced? Are you convicted of this truth? If you are, the follow-up question is: How much do you know God’s Word? Do you read His Word? Do you study His Word, or do you open the Bible only on Sundays? Do you read His Word daily? Now His Word is important as we have heard this morning in order for us to appropriate and to apply. So we need to appreciate the Word of God.

Is this book precious to you like the psalmist says in Psalms chapter 1 that he meditates in its Law day and night? Or Psalm 19 that the Word of God is to him sweeter than honey and the honeycomb? If you are His child, you can rest in His Word that it will come to pass prophetically and providential. But if today you are still not convinced that God’s Word will come to pass prophetically and providentially, I want to say that it will come to pass regardless whether or not you believe it. So repent and put your trust in the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will see that there will be a lot of blessings that come from knowing His Word, knowing Him. Let us pray.

“Our Father in heaven, we come indeed this morning thanking You again for Your Word. We see again that You are a God who is sovereign, who is in control of all things. You have orchestrated all things even in this particular incident in history of redemption where you have enabled the Jews to return to Judah to worship You. So we pray that You’ll also work in our lives. Work among us to carry out Your own will for Your own glory. We pray that You’ll help us to continue to grow in Your Word, trust in Your Word, and live out Your Word. For all these, we ask and pray in Jesus’ name, Amen.”

This transcript has been lightly edited for readability.