The Lesson of Cyrus the Great for Today

Alright, with that, we can begin with this first message, which has to do with the governments of this world.

As we know, there are many types of governments that rule the world from extreme dictatorships to very liberal-type democratic governments. But there is a biblical principle that's very important to take into account, which is in Daniel 2, because this is what the Bible tells us about church governments.

Daniel 2 And my notes. Just let that for a minute.

Verse 21. It says, talking about God, it says, And he changes the times and the seasons. He removes kings and raises up kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding. So God is the ultimate ruler. He allows certain ones to rule, and he removes also. But he is the ultimate in charge. And so it's always good. These governments of the world didn't just evolve in human history. No, there's somebody above them. And God is the one that gives power and authority. Notice what it also says in chapter 4, verse 17. Again, Daniel talking to King Nebuchadnezzar. He says, This decision is by the decree of the watchers and the sentence by the word of the holy ones, in order that the living may know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men. gives it to whomever he will and sets over it the lowest of men. So God sets up different men and women now. But the thing is that God is ultimately in charge. And that's so important to remember. Now, does that mean that everybody that's in charge, God just personally picks every one? No. There's a certain allowance that God has. Let's go to Hosea chapter 8. Hosea chapter 8. This is one of the minor prophets. Starting in verse 4, he's directing himself to Israel. And he says, They set up kings, but not by me. They made princes, but I did not acknowledge them. From their silver and gold, they made idols for themselves, that they might be cut off. So sometimes God allows some to be picked that they weren't chosen. And many times, it's because the people deserve the leaders they get and will later pay the consequences of that. Still, God is ultimately the one who has the last word on things. He can allow things to happen up to a certain point before he intervenes. Notice what he says we should do. We should be respectful. It says in 1 Timothy chapter 2, those in charge. 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 1.

He says, Yes, we should pray that those that are in charge will rule and establish peace. One of the reasons is so the gospel can get out to the world. Because in the midst of the war, things break down. But we should ask for the guidance so they can keep their countries in peace. Verse 3, he says, So if the gospel is going out, people have more access to it. They can come to know the truth about what the Bible teaches and what God wants from all of us. So let me just summarize what we're going to do today. God sometimes carries out his purposes in a strange way, using men that are not part of his flock. They don't have spiritual understanding about things, but still God uses them. And also, in the end times, God is going to bring forth the ultimate solution, which is the return of Jesus Christ on this earth and be able to put down man's governments. And Christ is going to rule righteously for a thousand years upon this earth. Read that in Revelation 20 verse 4. I'm not going to read it right now.

But I'd like to use a biblical example of how God used a person that never had spiritual understanding. He was basically an unconverted Gentile, but that still God used them as an instrument to carry out his purposes.

This person was the one that was going to rescue the Jewish people from the captivity that they had been in Babylon for 70 years. So I'm going to go step by step and give you a little bit of the background of this person. He's a world ruler alongside of people like Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Napoleon, and others. Well, this particular ruler had a whole empire in the Middle East that he ruled over. And God said, I'm going to choose you ahead of time because I've got a purpose to free my people from Babylon. How many know who it is? Right. Cyrus the Great. So it's very interesting how much God talks about this person. And it is one of the proofs that the Bible is inspired. As you will see, he calls Cyrus by name around 80 years before Cyrus was born. God says, I can foretell the future. And this is the person I'm going to use.

So the background was that Israel had been disobeying God now for hundreds of years. They had gone into idolatry following foreign gods. And they became so wicked that finally God had to put a stop. He acted. And that's one thing is that God can put up with a lot, but he will act in the end. Don't doubt it. And so God had sent prophets to them, warning them that they were going to lose the land of Israel and were going to be taken captives. Nobody paid attention. They went their merry way doing the wrong things. Of course, the problem is that when God acts, he acts quickly and thoroughly. And so God had Israel where he says, look, you can repent. You can change your ways. And this is not going to come upon you. But there will be a moment when the exit doors are going to be closed. And when you want to flee, there's no flight available. You're going to have to face the consequences.

And so it was finally carried out. The Babylonians came and conquered Judah, took the Jews to Babylon. But God's plan of salvation was still being carried out. God is in control. And so he allowed this to happen. There was a purpose behind it. Let's go to Jeremiah chapter 25 and verse 11. Jeremiah 25 verse 11, where he talks. Here the prophet Jeremiah was during the time of the Babylonian invasion. And so he tells the people in Judah that they're about ready to get conquered. Notice in Jeremiah 25 verse 11. This is part of world history, by the way. You can if you take a college course in world history, some of this is just evidence that it has happened. Verse 11, it says, And this whole land, Jeremiah says, shall be a desolation and an astonishment. And these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. 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 I will bring on that land all my words, which I have pronounced against it, all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah has prophesied concerning all the nations.

For many nations and great kings shall be served by them also, and I will repay them according to their deeds and according to the works of their own hands.

If you visit the area of Iraq today, Babylon is just ruins. They just have museums there for you. But it was totally destroyed by this man that God has in the Bible, and he names them eighty years before he was actually born.

So we see that Jeremiah had told them, look, you're going to go into captivity, and God has established seventy years. That's from 605 to 535. Basically those seventy years, and the prophet Daniel, by the way, lived those seventy years in captivity and lived into the Persian Empire afterwards.

So, the man I'm talking about, Cyrus the Great, was the ruler of Persia who began the Persian Empire, which is mentioned in the Bible as the second great empire of those four, Babylon first, Persia. Because eventually it conquered the Medes as well. We call it the Medo-Persian Empire, but at the end it's Persian who took over. Then you have the Greek, and then finally the Roman. So, here it's fulfilling this part of history. This is one of the greatest prophecies in the Old Testament.

And it was through the prophet Isaiah who lived way before Jeremiah who prophesied about this. So, let's go to Isaiah 44. Give you a little history on this topic. Isaiah 44 verse 24. And by the way, all of this has implications for the end times, which we're going to cover as well. So, it's not just history. It's something that is going to be repeated in the future in a different way, but the principles are there.

Isaiah 44 verse 24. Basically, Isaiah preached around 750 BC, and he says in verse 24, It says, Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, and he who formed you from the womb, I am the Lord, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone. And sure enough, the heavens are being stretched. As I speak, the universe is still an expansion, just like a curtain, a big tent that is being spread out.

So, God is the one that does that, who spreads abroad the earth by myself, who frustrates the signs of the babblers. And then he says in verse 26, Who confirms the word of his servant, and performs the counsel of his messengers, who says to Jerusalem, You shall be inhabited. To the cities of Judah, you shall be built. So this is a prophecy. Jerusalem, of course, was not going to fall for decades into the future. And he says, And I will raise up her waste places.

Who says to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up your rivers. Who said of Cyrus, this is the first time in the Bible that the term Cyrus appears. I guess Cyrus is going to be born about 80 years later. He is my shepherd, and he shall perform all my pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, You shall be built. And to the temple, your foundation shall be laid.

So that's what happened after 70 years. Cyrus came, conquered Babylon, and then freed the Jewish captives so they could go back and build Jerusalem again. This was unheard of, by the way, in ancient history. No ruler had actually freed the captives, told them they can go back to their territories, possess them, and be able to establish their own religion again.

No ruler that has been recorded, Cyrus was the first one, just like it says here, that it would happen. Notice chapter 45 of Isaiah. It continues. Talking about this future Cyrus, he says, Thus says the Lord to his anointed, the person that he was going to choose to carry this out, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, and lose the armor of kings.

So that means that you're going to conquer these kings that are armored to open before him the double doors. That's dealing with Babylon. It had double doors. The gates. So that the gates will not be shut.

I will go before you and make the crooked places straight. So he's going to use him as a human instrument to straighten out how to govern people. Because before King Cyrus, the previous kings had always been tyrants and dictators, but Cyrus is the first one that was humane and tolerant. And that changed the whole atmosphere in that whole region. In fact, historians call it the Axial Age. Axial is a central pivoting point that changes history. And afterwards, you have a more humane and tolerant type of government through the influence of King Cyrus. He goes on to make the crooked places straight, talking about the systems of government.

I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut the bars of iron, talking again about Babylon. I will give you the treasures that are hidden darkness and hidden riches of secret place. Of course, all the riches of Babylon, now they were King Cyrus. He says that you may know that I, the Lord, who call you by your name.

So God is saying, I'm making this miracle right now. Before you're born, you are the chosen one. Am the God of Israel. For Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, my elect, I have even called you by your name. I have named you, though you have not known me. So he didn't come from Israel.

He really didn't know much about the Jewish religion. They had a different Persian religion at that time. It became eventually Zoroastrianism that's still there in that area. He says, I am the Lord, and there is no other. There is no God besides me. I will gird you, though you have not known me. God again repeats this. It's a person that God is using as an instrument. And so it just shows that principle in the Bible. He says that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides me.

God is doing all of this. And then in Isaiah 48, verses 14 and 15, he again deals with King Cyrus. Let's see, Isaiah 48, 14 and 15. He said, all of you assemble yourselves in here.

Who among them has declared these things? The Lord loves him. Talking about Cyrus. He shall do his pleasure on Babylon, and his arm shall be against the Chaldeans, which are the Babylonian people.

I even I have spoken. Yes, I have called him, talking about Cyrus. I have brought him, and his way will prosper. So before that time again, no ruler had freed these captives, gave back their lands and riches. And Cyrus ruled from approximately 559 BC to 530 BC.

Now we actually have Cyrus's decree twice recorded in the Bible. Let's go to Ezra, chapter 1. Ezra, of course, was the leader after the 70 years when there's a group of Jews that return to restore Israel and Judah back to its place. Ezra starts out with the decree from King Cyrus. So let's go to the book of Ezra, chapter 1. Of course, this decree is written in Hebrew at the time. So it was copied by Ezra. He was a scribe. He starts out. Now in the first year of Cyrus, King of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled.

We read that in Jeremiah 25, where it says that 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.

By the way, it's not only one decree that has been discovered by archaeology, but actually another copy of it was found in China. It went all the way because the Persian Empire had influence.

So we actually have archaeological evidence. It's called the Cyrus Cylinder, and it has this decree written in cuneiform Babylonian script. I had the chance one time when I visited the British Museum to see that Cyrus Cylinder. It's there in the museum. That's not a copy. That's actually what was discovered. So it shows that Cyrus freed the captives and allowed them to go back. So this is what Ezra says. Verse 2, Thus says Cyrus, King of Persia, all the kingdoms of the earth, the Lord God of heaven has given me.

So again, he never was a follower, but he recognized who gave him that power. And he has commanded me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who 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 build a house of the Lord, God of Israel. He is God. So he still recognized, just like Nebuchadnezzar, after that humiliation of seven years that he was out there losing his reason.

He came back and he had a decree about that, but didn't change overall. He says, And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the free will offerings for the house of God, which is in Jerusalem. So again, just to reiterate, this decree was found in Babylon, in the ruins of Babylon, in 1879. And this Cyrus cylinder was taken to the British Museum where it resides today.

Anybody ever seen that Cyrus? Yeah, Laura, a couple of people. So if you ever go to Great Britain and you go to the British Museum, ask to see the Cyrus cylinder. It's out there for observation. Now, it's interesting that the historian Josephus, in his book Antiguities of the Jews, he lived a little bit after the time of Jesus Christ.

He says the following about Ezra, what we read about that decree. He says that after Cyrus's conquest in Babylon, that the Jews showed Cyrus Isaiah's prophecy that had been done 80 years before. Well, even more, because he was born at that time, but that Cyrus was destined by God to do these things. And Josephus says, he read this and admired the divine power, talking about God, and an earnest desire seized upon him to fulfill what was written and to rebuild Jerusalem.

So back in the time of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago, Josephus writes, this is what the Jews know. These are part of the Jewish history, what happened.

So now let's go to our age. We live in a tumultuous time.

In a sense, it always reminds me of the beginning of that book by Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities.

It was the best of times, and it was the worst of times, because there are wonderful things in this modern age that we enjoy.

But also, there are some terrible things that are happening around the world, and how things are degenerating morally, which we're very concerned about. Sometimes God can raise people that don't acknowledge him, not necessarily churchgoers, but God can use different types of people and carry out events that God wants to be done to fulfill prophecy, just like he did with King Cyrus.

The military situation is worsening in the world.

You have Russia involved in a war with Ukraine.

By the way, Ukraine is not this little country. It's the size of Texas, and it possesses 20% of the topsoil in the world.

The topsoil there has an average depth of 5 feet. Here in the States, the Great Plains used to have that same thing. It's all worn down to just inches now, that we have a topsoil.

Ukraine has an enormous amount of fertile, arable land, and the Russians lust after that. They want that land.

We also have another war between Gaza, Israel, and now Lebanon with Hezbollah, a radical Iranian-backed Muslim group.

They're attacking Israel virtually daily.

You have Iran, who is behind a lot of these things.

Then you have China and Taiwan. We don't know when China is going to make the move to invade Taiwan.

So the fact is that nobody is truly protected in this world. Things can happen, and the exits are going to be closed.

There is no real defense against nuclear missiles. That's one of the things that have come out.

They have tried, and they have staged simulations of a nuclear missile coming.

How well can you down? Can you destroy it?

The military people in charge say it's like trying to shoot a bullet to hit a bullet coming at you. Very unlikely.

We live in a world that we cannot control. The madness of the nuclear proliferation.

Now Iran is at the point of having these nuclear missiles, which is so dangerous. So this is why God is ultimately going to have to take his people to a place of protection.

Because there is not going to be any safe place in the world. People are just going to have to hunker down, and it's going to affect them.

And again, what did Jesus Christ say in Matthew 24?

This is why it's so important to be close to God and doing the things that God requires of us.

Matthew 24 verse 15.

He said, talking about when the end times appear, therefore when you see the abomination of desolation spoken of by Daniel the prophet standing in the holy place, that's talking about Jerusalem.

We had a feast of tabernacles last year in that area of Israel, and we actually had members that were there in October 7 that had to go into bomb shelters and be protected.

Well, it says here that there's going to be a time when there's going to be an invasion of Israel, and the sacrifices are going to end.

We know the sacrifices have not began yet, but they're getting ready to do so.

They already have that red heifer that they can prepare and get the ashes so they can mix it with water and purify the altar for the sacrifices.

So we don't know eventually when that is going to be happening, but it says when it happens, he says verse 16, Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. If you're living close by, that invasion is going to happen.

You better leave that country while you can, and let him who is in the field not go back to get his clothes, because it's again, the exit doors are going to close.

You just get out of that country in that time. Don't even bother to get a suitcase, because it might not be long enough before it happens.

He says, but woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing babies in those days. Mothers with little babies. It's very hard to run a long distance.

He says, and pray that your flight, so there is this flight, this escape, may not be in winter, because in Israel the roads get very soggy, very rainy and cold. He says, or on the Sabbath, showing that in Israel during that time they're still observing the Sabbath day.

And if you go to Israel today, the Jewish people are observing the Sabbaths as well as the Christian groups.

It says, for then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until that time, nor ever shall be.

God will never allow such a period to be repeated. It's only going to happen in world history once. It hasn't happened yet. We don't know how long it's going to take. It could take decades. We don't have any special glass or crystal ball to tell you. Now, it looks like things are accelerating. But God says, He knows exactly when things will happen. We have to be spiritually ready.

And He goes on to say, unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved. Nobody would survive.

But for the elect's sake, those that God is working with and calling, those days will be shortened.

God's not going to allow the whole earth to get destroyed. God is going to protect His own, and Christ is going to intervene.

I know there's anxiety in people. How many minutes can you stand watching world news? It's pretty tough, isn't it, to just be watching what's going on everywhere.

Notice in Revelation chapter 14, this has to do with the flight of the church when that end time comes.

In Revelation chapter 14, God had just written out, just like He did when He planned to have Cyrus come.

He came at the precise time, and also the 70 years had to elapse first before Cyrus could intervene.

Herodotus, the Greek historian, has a whole section on how King Cyrus came and defeated the Babylonians.

In Revelation chapter 12 verse 7, here is what's going to happen in heaven.

Once God intervenes on this earth, it says verse 7, there's going to be a spiritual war because Satan does not want to give up his power on this earth.

And he will rise up with his angels to try to defeat God in the third heaven.

He's so delusional that he thinks he can still win.

Notice, in war broke out in heaven.

Michael and his angels fought with the dragon, and the dragon and his angels fought.

But they did not prevail, talking about Satan and his angels, nor was a place found for them in heaven any longer.

They're absolutely banned from ever going up to heaven again.

So the great dragon was cast out, that serpent of old, called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world.

People don't know his influence over governments and over man's systems.

He said he was cast to the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.

So again, they're made out of spirit.

So if they're thrown here on the earth, we're not going to know it physically.

But things are going to change dramatically on the earth.

Because he has his henchmen, he has his instruments to carry out his will.

Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now salvation and strength in the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ have come.

For the accuser of our brethren, who accuses them before our God day and night, See, he still has access to go and complain, talk about all the things that we do wrong.

He's been cast down, and they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb.

It's through Christ's sacrifice that we're forgiven of our sins, and by the word of their testimony, the word of God, and they did not love their lives to the death.

Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and you who dwell in them.

You don't want to be here when Satan is cast down on the earth.

He says, Angels are going to be happy they're up in heaven.

Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and the sea, for the devil has come down to you having great wrath, because he knows that he has a short time.

He has a short time to do his things here on the earth before Christ comes in, and boots them out.

So, continuing on here, in Revelation 14, well, let's just go to 13, just continue with the narrative. It says, Now when the dragon saw that he had been cast to the earth, so it sounds like they thought they were going to still prevail, and all of a sudden they're the losers.

They've lost their opportunity.

He persecuted the woman who gave birth to the male child, which is talking about Jesus Christ.

That's at the beginning of this chapter where it talks about that.

And so at this time, when Satan actually comes to the earth and is given authority for a short time, it says, But the woman, talking about the church, was given two wings of a great eagle, which means the ability to be taken to a place through the air, through flight.

That she might fly into the wilderness to her place, where she's nourished for a time and times and half a time from the presence of the serpent.

That's how long Satan is going to rule, three and a half years.

Remember how the Babylonians came?

They had 70 years over Babylon, over Jerusalem.

But their time finished because God has a plan, a timeline to carry out.

So then it says, So the serpent, Satan again, when he saw God's people fleeing, spewed water out of his mouth like a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away by the flood.

In Revelation, many times water has to do with many people.

So it looks like he sends troops after them. But, verse 16, the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had spewed out of his mouth.

So again, it could be water, or it could be troops, but whatever it is, they don't touch God's people.

They get swallowed up into the water.

The water gets swallowed up, or the people, the soldiers. The thing is, God's people are protected.

Verse 17, And the dragon was enraged with a woman, because he was not able to destroy her or do any more harm to her.

And he went to make war with the rest of her offspring.

So not everybody in the church is going to go to this place. Those that remain, Satan will go after them in that great tribulation period.

And here, the church is identified.

Who keep the commandments of God, those that keep the Ten Commandments, not nine.

If you look at the Fourth Commandment, it talks about keeping the Sabbath day, not Sunday. And that's something man established. That's a man-made statute. That's not God-made.

He says to keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.

Yes, they have Jesus as their Savior. They follow Him. And they keep God's laws as well. So we have to be faithful. Let's go to one last scripture in Luke, chapter 21, verse 36.

This sums up what we have read.

And when these things happen, we know we have been told.

Luke 21, Christ talks about that in time period. Verse 36, He says, Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy.

So it's not just anybody. You have to be doing your part, obeying God's commandments, having the testimony of Jesus Christ that, yes, He is following me as I have taught them.

He says, Worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass and to stand before the Son of Man.

Yep. Not be crouching in some cave, waiting for that end time period to end, but to be able to be in a place where you can stand and watch Jesus Christ come, and then you get to be part of God's kingdom.

So this is encouraging in the midst of what we're going through, and to remember the lesson that Cyrus the Great left us.