April 17, 2025, Ezra 1:1-11
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:
2 “Thus says Cyrus king of
Persia: The Lord, the God
of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged
me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever is
among you of all his people, may his God be with him, and let him go up to
Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem. 4 And let
each survivor, in whatever place he sojourns, be assisted by the men of his
place with silver and gold, with goods and with beasts, besides freewill
offerings for the house of God that is in Jerusalem.”
5 Then rose up the heads of the
fathers' houses of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and the
Levites, everyone whose spirit God had stirred to go up to rebuild
the house of the Lord that
is in Jerusalem. 6 And all who were about
them aided them with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, with
beasts, and with costly wares, besides all that was freely offered. 7 Cyrus the
king also brought out the vessels of the house of the Lord that Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and
placed in the house of his gods. 8 Cyrus king of Persia brought
these out in the charge of Mithredath the treasurer, who counted them out
to Sheshbazzar the prince of Judah. 9 And this
was the number of them: 30 basins of gold, 1,000 basins of silver, 29
censers, 10 30 bowls of gold, 410 bowls
of silver, and 1,000 other vessels; 11 all the vessels of gold and
of silver were 5,400. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up, when the exiles were
brought up from Babylonia to Jerusalem.
This is an interesting section where those who aren’t “believers
in Israel’s God” see the way those who follow God reverence Him. That makes them revere in their God even if
they don’t follow their God. They won’t
commit that God is the only god, or even the most powerful God, at least in
public or on paper, but their actions show how they believe Israel’s God is
special and they want to help these people honor their own God.
When you encounter the world, do those you encounter see your
reverence for God? Do they have respect
for you and your God based on how you talk about God? Or do you go along with the world and use His
name in vain to “fit it” with the world?
His name is sacred and should only be used when referring to Him as the
God He is and in a respectful and holy way.
Show the world the love and respect you have for God and cause
them to ask questions as to why you are different from the rest of the world.
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