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Bible reading: 2
Chronicles 36:22,23
22 Now
in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order that the
words which the Lord had said by the mouth of Jeremiah might
come true, the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia, was moved by the
Lord, and he made a public statement and had it given out
through all his kingdom and put in writing, saying, 23 Cyrus,
king of Persia, has said, All the kingdoms of the earth have
been given to me by the Lord, the God of heaven; and he has made
me responsible for building a house for him in Jerusalem, which
is in Judah. Whoever there is among you of all his people, may
the Lord his God be with him and let him go up.
God had promised
the restoring of the captives, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem, at
the end of seventy years; and that time to favor Zion, that set
time, came at last.
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Though God's
church be cast down, it is not cast off;
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though his
people be corrected, they are not abandoned;
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though thrown
into the furnace, they are not lost there, nor left there any
longer than till the dross be separated.
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Though God
contend long, he will not contend always.
Before we close
the books of the Chronicles, which contain a faithful register of
events, think what desolation sin introduced into the world, and
even into the church of God these days.
Let us tremble at what is here recorded, while in the character of
some few gracious souls, we discover that the Lord left not
himself without witness.
And when we have looked at this faithful portrait of man by
nature, let us contrast with it that same nature, when recovered
by Almighty grace, through the justifying and soul-adorning
righteousness of Christ our Savior.
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