Please turn to 2 Chronicles 36. I will start reading in verse 16 to the end of the chapter. We read in 2 Chronicles 36:16-23:
But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, until the wrath of JEHOVAH arose against his people, till there was no remedy. Therefore he brought upon them the king of the Chaldees, who slew their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, and had no compassion upon young man or maiden, old man, or him that stooped for age: he gave them all into his hand. And all the vessels of the house of God, great and small, and the treasures of the house of JEHOVAH, and the treasures of the king, and of his princes; all these he brought to Babylon. And they burnt the house of God, and brake down the wall of Jerusalem, and burnt all the palaces thereof with fire, and destroyed all the goodly vessels thereof. And them that had escaped from the sword carried he away to Babylon; where they were servants to him and his sons until the reign of the kingdom of Persia: To fulfil the word of JEHOVAH by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land had enjoyed her sabbaths: for as long as she lay desolate she kept sabbath, to fulfil threescore and ten years. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of JEHOVAH spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, JEHOVAH stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath JEHOVAH God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? JEHOVAH his God be with him, and let him go up.
I will stop reading there.
Lately, I have been spending a lot of time in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah, and 2 Chronicles 36 leads right into these books. Lord willing, I do hope to go further into the book of Ezra in the next few weeks, but 2 Chronicles 36 lays out the historical situation of the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah, the going into captivity of the people of God, the destruction of the temple and of the wall of Jerusalem, as well as many other things.
The Babylonians greatly destroyed the city of Jerusalem and the nation of Judah. We saw in 2 Chronicles 36:21 that this was a result of what God had said to His prophet Jeremiah, which was “to fulfil threescore and ten years” or 70 years in the destruction of Judah.
I thought that we could take a look at this because we have learned that the destruction of Jerusalem and Judah was actually a type and a figure of the destruction of the churches and congregations of our present day, especially this 70-year period because this is a type that God uses. It is a figure that He uses to describe our present Great Tribulation.
The church today, for the most part, does not recognize that God has used Judah and Israel and Jerusalem as types and figures of them. They do not normally recognize this. For the most part, they do not. This is because there is a big teaching that has really taken over many of the churches that says that you take the Bible literally. If God is speaking of Judah or Jerusalem, then this is what He is speaking of and it has nothing to do with the church or the congregations of today.
This is where doctrines like the doctrine that they call “preterism” comes from. They read Matthew 24 where God says, “Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains,” and many who are in the Reformed Church say that this is not addressed to us and we, therefore, have nothing to do with this. This is because they believe this to be referring to and speaking directly to the Jews of the first century. Then they try to relate this to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D., all the while ignoring that this was an answer to a question that Christ’s disciples asked, which was, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
This is how Matthew 24 begins. Throughout this chapter, Jesus is answering this question. It is then that He makes the statement, “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation…stand in the holy place…let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains.”
What they say then is, “This has nothing to do with us.” Of course, this is wrong. This is very incorrect because God uses Israel and Judah as spiritual pictures of the end-time church, especially of the church today.
Just think, how else could God do this since He completed the Bible in the first century A.D.? The church age went until 1988 in the 20th century, and so there were 1,900 years of history that the Bible could not specifically address to the churches because the Bible was already completed.
But still within the first century A.D. in the book of Revelation, which is the last book of the Bible, God takes time in Revelation 2 and 3 to point out what? He points out the sin of the churches to the point that He speaks of removing candlesticks, that one is “lukewarm,” etc. He was very angry with the churches that had just recently formed in the first century A.D. Before this century was over and the Bible canon was closed, God condemned the churches.
He could not go on and be specific throughout the hundreds of years that followed, which the church itself calls “the Dark Ages.” Why do they call them “the Dark Ages”? They do this because there were no real observable blessings from God on the churches that we read about in history.
Even after this when we get to the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th centuries, we find that the church was in such bad shape that it needed reformation. It needed individual believers to say, “No, you are not teaching correctly on many points, including salvation.”
Well, if the church needed reformation because the main church, which was the Catholic Church, was so unfaithful, what does this tell us about the churches? And if God had still been writing the Bible throughout the church age, would there not be condemnation after condemnation issued from God toward the unfaithful churches?
Yes, of course, God would have done this. This is what He did with Israel during much of their existence. Again and again and again, there were statements that God moved His prophets to declare condemning Israel and condemning Judah for their unfaithfulness. Yet what God did, since His plan was to complete the Bible nearly 2,000 years ago, was to use Israel as a good type and figure of the church.
This is why God speaks of Israel in 1 Corinthians 10. I will not read the whole passage, but if you start from verse 1 and you go through verse 11, it mentions many of Israel’s experiences in the wilderness during their sojourn. God says in 1 Corinthians 10:8-11:
Neither let us commit fornication, as some of them committed, and fell in one day three and twenty thousand. Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted, and were destroyed of serpents. Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer. Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.
This is pretty straightforward. God basically says, “Here is what Israel did. You had better watch out that you do not also do this.” Then He says that these things were written for our example “upon whom the ends of the world are come.”
We will not get into a big discussion of how the Bible is written and the need for anyone studying the Bible to uncover the deeper or spiritual meaning. We know that this is how God wrote the Bible and that Christ spoke in parables. We are certain that He did this in order to teach us to think.
For example, as we read, “Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains,” we are led to think, “What could Judaea represent?” He was answering the question, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” Since God finished with Israel in the first century once “the veil of the temple was rent in twain,” He could not be speaking of the Jews in Matthew 24. Therefore, He is speaking to His people who are typified by the Jews. We learned that what He was saying was that when the church age came to an end, it would be time to flee. This is exactly what He has revealed to His people. It is time to get out of the churches and congregations.
So in 2 Chronicles 36:21, we read about this 70-year period. Again, God says that it is “by the mouth of Jeremiah”:
…to fulfil threescore and ten years.
That is, this is how long the judgment will be upon Judah and Jerusalem. It would be 70 years, and this 70-year period represents the Great Tribulation of our day. This is another way that God can speak to what is going on today with the churches and the congregations, as judgment has begun at the house of God.
Seventy years is not the actual length of the Great Tribulation. Our Great Tribulation is for a period of twenty-three years. Next year will be the twenty-third and final year and then it will be over. This will happen on May 21 of 2011, which is the 8400th day of the Great Tribulation.
Well, this 70-year period began in 609 B.C. and went until 539 B.C. We know this in many different ways. 609 B.C. is the year that King Josiah died. King Josiah was the last good king of Judah. How old was he when he died? He was 39 years old. If we were to break down the number 39, it would break down to 3 x 13: 3 represents the purpose of God, 13 has to do with the end of the world. There are many Scriptures that will support this.
It is no coincidence that 1988 was the end of the church age. 1988 was the 13,000th year of history. It was the 13,000th year from creation. God began the judgment process on May 21, the day before Pentecost, in 1988, which was the 13,000th year.
It is like those who went around Jericho as Israel traveled around. They were to go around the city once a day for six days. On the seventh day, they were to go around the city seven times. We can see how God broke up the world. The flood came after 6,000 years. Then after 7,000 years from the flood comes the end of the world. But after 13 times around Jericho, the walls came tumbling down. The Bible speaks of walls of salvation in a couple of places in Isaiah. The walls of salvation were the walls that the churches were presumably building.
So these walls have to do with salvation. After 13 times around Jericho, the walls came tumbling down. This is because the church age was over and no one would be saved within the churches or congregations of the world ever again. From 1988, the 13,000th year of history, the wall that they built, we could say, collapsed; and yet it has not yet because it is going to be shown to be extremely faulty next year when all of those who are in the churches are left behind.
This is when God will reveal or cause to be discovered their foundation, which will be shown not to have been Christ. Since they did not build upon the Rock, what did they build upon? They built upon the sand. According to Matthew 7, the wise man builds his house “upon a rock”; the fool builds his house “upon the sand”; and God likens the children of Israel to “the sand of the sea.”
So they are trusting in their churches, their congregations, their pastors and theologians, which are like the sand. They are supposedly building their house of God. When people become saved, they are added to this structure.
This is the language that God actually uses. When He saves people, He is building up a house, but the Lord has “lively stones.” In Hebrews 3, Jesus is said to be “over his own house”; then the statement is made, “whose house are we.”
So the house that is the right house, the correct house, the good house of God is the one that is built upon the Rock, which is the Lord Jesus who is our foundation; and yet there is other construction going on constantly that is not being built on Christ but on the doctrines of the church, which will collapse when the storm comes next year. At that time, their foundation will be made evident. It was not Jesus. It was their confessions and their creeds and all of those things.
Well, this 70-year period began in 609 B.C., and there is another way that we can kind of lock in that 609 B.C. is the beginning of the 70th year. For one thing, let us go to Ezekiel 1:1-2:
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions of God. In the fifth day of the month, which was the fifth year of king Jehoiachin’s captivity,
The fifth year of King Jehoiachin’s captivity was in 593 B.C. He was taken captive in 598 B.C. So we know that this was in 593 B.C., but there is a reference to “the thirtieth year” in the very beginning of Ezekiel 1:1:
Now it came to pass in the thirtieth year…
What does this mean? It is the 30th year from what? The 30th year has to do with what? God does not tell us here, but He does tell us this year. Through Family Radio, the Lord opened up the understanding of the history and the genealogies of the kings so that we have very accurate dates for the kings of Israel and Judah. We know that it was 593 B.C. when Jehoiachin was taken captive.
If we go 30 years back from 593 B.C., what happened? Thirty years earlier would either be 622 or 623 B.C. [note: depending on whether you count the years inclusively or non-inclusively]. Actually, it was 622 B.C. It has to be because if we go to 2 Chronicles 34:1, we will read about Josiah. It says:
Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign…
Children, if you are eight or younger, just think of all of the responsibility that this young king took on at such an early age. You have a lot of responsibility today because God is informing you, as well as everyone else, that the end of the world is at hand. This is a heavy burden for anyone to bear, but you also have to deal with this.
This is not a question just for your parents or just for your older brothers or sisters. This is something that also relates to you personally because each individual, each one of us is responsible before God for our own sin. God does not put to death the child for the sins of the parent. He puts to death the child for the sins of the child, and we are all sinners. As soon as we be born, God says that we are born “speaking lies.” Therefore, it would be good for children to really face the responsibility of the coming day of judgment.
Anyway, 2 Chronicles 34:1 says:
Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years.
When we understand the chronology of the kings, Josiah began to reign in 640 B.C. He reigned for 31 years until 609 B.C. when he was slain in battle. This year then began the 70-year period of desolation, which is a type of our Great Tribulation.
It was not easy for the Jews to discern the beginning of this 70-year period. They knew that Jeremiah had written about it. We find this in Daniel 9:1-2:
In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans; In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number of the years, whereof the word of JEHOVAH came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.
So when Darius took the kingdom of Babylon in his first year, Daniel understood the 70-year reference that was in the book of Jeremiah. But why did he understand it then? What made him understand this? He understood because he realized, “This must be the 70th year.” But this would have been difficult because Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians came against Judah in 605 B.C.
We can realize that many of the Jews, the faithful men like Ezekiel or Daniel, would have probably been thinking, “Seventy years from 605 B.C. comes down to 535 B.C. Maybe this is the possible end of what Jeremiah is saying concerning the 70 years?” However, once the Persians took the kingdom and they found that the Persians were very kind to the Jews, they realized, “This has to be the end of the 70-year period,” and this was in 539 B.C.
In the first year of Darius, Daniel understood the full implication of those 70 years. He understood exactly the timeline: 609 B.C. to then, which was 539 B.C. “This is when Darius and the Persians have, in a really big way, set us free. They have set us free from this captivity.” So we can know that 609 B.C. was the year and this was also the year that King Josiah was slain in battle.
Look now at 2 Chronicles 34:8:
Now in the eighteenth year of his reign, when he had purged the land, and the house, he sent Shaphan the son of Azaliah, and Maaseiah the governor of the city, and Joah the son of Joahaz the recorder, to repair the house of JEHOVAH his God.
What happens in this 18th year as they are repairing the house of God? The 18th year of Josiah, by the way, would have been the year 622 B.C., which is the 30th year that Ezekiel is referencing. If you go back from 593 B.C. to 622 B.C., inclusively, this would have been the 30th year and it would have been the 18th year of the reign of Josiah.
In the repairing of the house of God, what did they find? What did they find within the house of God? They found the Law, which was at least the books of Moses and probably more. They found the Word of God. They found the Bible in 622 B.C. when Josiah was at the age of 26. Josiah was eight when he began to reign. It was his 18th year. By the way, 26 is 2 x 13. Again, the number 13 is involved with Josiah and it is in a year in which they found the Bible.
When did we find the Bible, or when did God open up the Scriptures to reveal much information from His Word, the Bible? This began in 1988, which was the 13,000th year of history.
So Josiah finds the Law of God when he was 26 years old, which is 2 x 13. He has 13 years remaining to reign. He will be 39 years of age when he dies.
God is really pointing to this date of 622 B.C. and He is associating this with the number 13 because this is the time that we do begin to understand the Word of God. This is when we began to understand many things, including the timeline of history and the end of the world, which will be May 21, 2011.
There is much else that could be presented about the number 13, but we do not really want to get into a discussion of this. However, 622 B.C. is the beginning of the 30-year period that leads down to 593 B.C. when Ezekiel is a captive. Why? Why is God directing us to this year?
Well, from 622 B.C. until 539 B.C. is how many years? It is 84 years inclusively. It is 84 years. 539 B.C. would be the 84th year and the end of the 70-year period. May 21 in 2011 is the end of the 23-year period of Great Tribulation and the 8400th day.
Now God is bringing us back to 622 B.C., which is a year that locks in with 1988 because this is when they found the Bible. He is saying to go from 622 B.C. to 539 B.C., which is 84 years inclusively, and 539 B.C. was the end of their Great Tribulation, just like May 21 of next year is the 8400th day and the end of the actual Great Tribulation; and so the 70-year period ended a terrible time for Israel, but it was a figure that God used to discuss our present Great Tribulation.
This confirms, again, the year 539 B.C., because this was 84 years inclusively from 622 B.C. when the Book of the Law was found; and so 539 B.C. is pointing to the end of the Great Tribulation and the beginning of Judgment Day. This is what the year 539 typifies.
Let us go to Jeremiah 25. We read in Jeremiah 25:9-13:
Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith JEHOVAH, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years. And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith JEHOVAH, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations.
Then God goes on to say that He gives the cup to Judah first and then to all of the nations of the world, which is really a reference to the cup of His wrath.
If you would read the whole chapter, God speaks of bringing out bodies from the graves and leaving them scattered where they are not gathered. Why? Because the 70th year ties in with the end of the Great Tribulation and Judgment Day. It is the time to judge the King of Babylon, who is a figure of Satan. It is the time to judge all of the nations that are in the world at this point, and this will happen next year.
There is another reference in Jeremiah 29:10:
For thus saith JEHOVAH, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.
This was what happened after the 70-year period. There was a return of the captives who came out of their captivity where they had been exiled to Babylon. Historically, they returned to the land of Judah and to Jerusalem.
What happens after our present Great Tribulation? All of God’s people return to the Promised Land; not Jerusalem, not Judah in the Middle East, but we go to Heaven. We go to Heaven. It is the day of the resurrection and the day of the rapture. After the Great Tribulation, God causes His people to return to this place.
This is something that we have to keep in mind. When we are speaking of Israel, it is not always the physical land. For instance, in Genesis 17:8, God is speaking to Abram, who became Abraham at this point, and He says:
And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God.
There is no way that this can be referring to Israel because this is “an everlasting possession.” The whole earth is going to burn shortly, and so it must be that Canaan represents Heaven. It represents the Promised Land, the new earth that God will give us; and so this is what the Lord has in mind with references of being returned to the land or returning His people to the land.
Let us go to Jeremiah 24:1-6:
JEHOVAH showed me, and, behold, two baskets of figs were set before the temple of JEHOVAH, after that Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon had carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah, and the princes of Judah, with the carpenters and smiths, from Jerusalem, and had brought them to Babylon. One basket had very good figs, even like the figs that are first ripe: and the other basket had very naughty figs, which could not be eaten, they were so bad. Then said JEHOVAH unto me, What seest thou, Jeremiah? And I said, Figs; the good figs, very good; and the evil, very evil, that cannot be eaten, they are so evil. Again the word of JEHOVAH came unto me, saying, Thus saith JEHOVAH, the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good. For I will set mine eyes upon them for good, and I will bring them again to this land: and I will build them, and not pull them down; and I will plant them, and not pluck them up.
So God is using the analogy of figs, good and bad, to typify the people of Judah. The good figs are those who go into captivity.
What does this relate to? As we have learned from the Bible, if we go into captivity, it means that we have come out of the church. We leave the churches and the congregations because Judah and Jerusalem typify the church and we cannot stay there since God is fighting against it and destroying it, and so He says, “Come out of her, my people.” When we come out, in a sense, God spiritually identifies His people as going into captivity. This is where we are. We are not in a fellowship hall. We are in captivity.
We are outside of the churches and the congregations. We are in the world. Who are we under? Who has been given authority in this world? Satan has been given this authority, which is just like the Jews who went to Babylon were under the authority of King Nebuchadnezzar who was a type of Satan.
So those are who the good figs represent. The naughty ones, the evil ones, cannot be eaten. They are just bad fruit. These are the ones who remain. They remain in Judah, in Jerusalem, and they pay the penalty for it; they pay the price. Yet God is speaking to the good figs. He will cause them to return to the land; no, not to Israel. Spiritually, this is speaking of Heaven. He will cause them to return to Heaven.
Notice that He says in Jeremiah 24:6:
…I will build them, and not pull them down…
It is unusual language when God speaks of building in Heaven. It is not on the earth. It is in Heaven where He speaks of building. We will look at this maybe another time.
For now, let us turn to Ezekiel 37. This is the dry bones chapter. God commands Ezekiel to prophesy to them and they stand on their feet, “an exceeding great army.” Then we read in Ezekiel 37:11-14:
Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel…
This is referring to “the whole house,” all of Israel, which is as it says in Romans, “And so all Israel shall be saved,” or “in this manner.” When the Gentiles come in, spiritually speaking, God likens all of His people to Israel, “the whole house of Israel.”
It continues:
…these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost: we are cut off for our parts Therefore prophesy and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord JEHOVAH; Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And ye shall know that I am JEHOVAH, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, And shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land…
May 21 of next year will be the day of resurrection when God opens the graves. He takes up His people out of the graves and into “the land,” into the Promised Land, which is what Israel always typified. This is very important for us to realize, because in 2 Chronicles 36 and in Ezra 1, Cyrus is making a proclamation after the 70 years. The 70-year period is done.
If this identifies with the Great Tribulation, which it does, then what happens after the actual 23-year period of Great Tribulation? God takes up His people. We know this. What is going on then in Ezra as Cyrus is making a proclamation for his people? Actually, it was not Cyrus’ people. This proclamation was for God’s people to go up to Jerusalem and build.
Let us take a look at Cyrus for a little bit. Who was this king? Turn to Isaiah 44. If you get the opportunity, read from verse 21; but we are running out of time, so I am going to start at verse 26. We read in Isaiah 44:26-28 where this is referring to the Lord:
That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof: That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.
This is Cyrus, the same King Cyrus who does free the Jews in 539 B.C. and who does command them to go to Jerusalem to build the temple, exactly as God prophesied.
How much earlier did God prophesy this? Isaiah was a prophet who prophesied during the reign of four kings of Judah. The first was Uzziah and the last was Hezekiah. Hezekiah died in 686 B.C.
So Isaiah had to at least finish this prophecy prior to 686 B.C. 539 B.C. is when Cyrus actually freed Israel, freed the Jews, which was 147 years after the latest date that Isaiah could have been prophesying. 147 years later, Cyrus actually fulfills the prophesy that God had given.
I would not be surprised that Cyrus was aware of this prophecy in Isaiah. This would be one way in which we could understand why Cyrus became so favorable to the Jews and was someone who was very much looking out for them, and Cyrus did a lot. He destroyed the Babylonians; he took their kingdom. He issued the proclamation, “Go ahead! You are free! All of you Jews are set free.” He even directed them, “Go to Jerusalem. Go to Judah and build the temple.” This was a lot for a heathen king, a king of the Medes and the Persians, to get involved in; and it just so happens to match perfectly with what God prophesied.
So in 539 B.C. when Cyrus took the kingdom, I do not think that he perhaps knew about what Isaiah was saying prior to this. God just worked it out so that it was exactly 70 years later, but whom did Cyrus meet in 539 B.C.? Whom did he encounter in Babylon? He met Daniel and there were other men of God: Shadrach, Meshach; and Abednego. Ezekiel could have been wandering around there also.
There were faithful men of God in Babylon whom Cyrus would have encountered. He certainly encountered Daniel even before throwing him into the den of lions, because Cyrus promoted Daniel above the presidents who were in Babylon. Daniel became the chief ruler. Cyrus would have had discussions with Daniel, and Daniel was familiar with Jeremiah’s prophecy of 70 years. He was very familiar. Daniel understood that when Cyrus took the kingdom in 539 B.C., it was the year that ended the 70-year period of captivity.
Would you not have gone to the king if you had been Daniel, if you had been a child of God in Babylon who had access to the king in some way? Would you not go to him and say, “By the way, king, have you ever heard of this? Have you ever read the book of Isaiah? Have you ever seen this prophecy?”
So here was a heathen king and he reads Isaiah, which says, “Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built,” and he says, “Wow! God is calling me His shepherd and saying that I will perform all His pleasure. I will even say to Jerusalem, ‘Thou shalt be built,’” and so on.
This is amazing. This is amazing and it could have worked out this way, or not. God is capable of even having someone ignorantly fulfill His Word. This is true. But there was so much availability between Daniel and King Cyrus, and Cyrus truly thought that Daniel was a good man. He did not even want to throw him into the den of lions, but he was deceived into doing this. Cyrus realized that Daniel was so good and faithful that he put him above everyone else.
Actually, God does not finish here, but let us go quickly back to the book of Daniel just to make sure that everyone understands this. In the book of Daniel, Cyrus is not mentioned as the one who conquered Babylon; but in Daniel 5:30-31, we read:
In that night was Belshazzar the king of the Chaldeans slain.
If you remember, he saw the writing on the wall and they called for Daniel to interpret, which was not a good interpretation for this king of Babylon because he was slain this night. It continues:
And Darius the Median took the kingdom, being about threescore and two years old.
He was 62 and he was called “Darius.” We are saying that Cyrus is the one who conquered Babylon, and yet here it says that it was Darius.
Look at the end of Daniel 6. Maybe you will remember this. I remember a study that Mr. Camping did that pointed this out. We read in Daniel 6:28:
So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
This sounds like it is talking about two kings. Maybe Cyrus came after Darius. No, the word “and” in the Hebrew can also be understood as “even.”
So this would read:
So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, [even] in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.
That is, they are one and the same. They are not two different men or two different kings. They are the same man. Some of the names that we read of in relation to the kings of the Medes and the Persians could be a title, like “Pharaoh” is a title or like “Caesar” is a title. One of their names could also be like this; and so according to 2 Chronicles 36 and according to the Ezra 1, we know that Cyrus, who is also known as Darius, is the one who set Israel free.
Going back to Isaiah 45, we will read a little bit more about Cyrus. It says in Isaiah 45:1:
Thus saith JEHOVAH to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings…
Then look at Isaiah 45:13 where it is still speaking about Cyrus:
I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let go my captives, not for price nor reward, saith JEHOVAH of hosts.
Jehovah is speaking to Cyrus, “to his anointed.” He is speaking to Cyrus, and the word “anointed” is translated “Messiah” twice in Daniel 9. He is speaking “to Messiah” or “to Cyrus.”
So it is very clear who Cyrus represents. He is the shepherd. He is the anointed one. God commands him to build Jerusalem, to build Judah, and all of this refers, spiritually, to Christ. As God sends forth the Gospel, the Kingdom of God is being built up.
If you remember the end of the book of Revelation, “new Jerusalem” comes down out of Heaven, which is the Jerusalem that was being constructed all throughout history with “lively stones” as God saved one here and He saved one there. When it is finished, it comes down out of Heaven as the pure and holy city of God that comprises His elect people who are called the Bride of Christ.
With these types and figures, it cannot get any clearer than this. This is actually clearer than David and it is also clearer than Joseph. When God says to a man, “You are my Messiah; you are the anointed one, my shepherd,” it is definitely and without question referring to Christ, and Christ is the One who is building His house, “whose house are we.”
Let us go to Ezra. After 2 Chronicles 36, the next book is Ezra. I will just read the first several verses. We read in Ezra 1:1:
Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of JEHOVAH by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, JEHOVAH stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying,
By the way, it is important that he put it in writing because the building that the Jews had undertaken was troubled “all the days of Cyrus.” We read this later in the book of Ezra. It was troubled; and then at a later point after the work had ceased, the Jews began to rebuild or to build again. They made search for the decree that Cyrus had made and they found it in the book of the rolls, and so it was put in writing.
It continues in Ezra 1:2-5:
Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, JEHOVAH God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of JEHOVAH God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of JEHOVAH which is in Jerusalem.
This was Cyrus’ proclamation after 70 years. Where are God’s people going to go after 23 years? We are going up. All of God’s people will rise.
We speak of a rapture and this is a theological word, but the Bible uses much simpler language. How does God refer to the rapture? He refers to it as being taken up or “caught up” in 1 Thessalonians 4. It is very simple. We just go up.
To show this, let us look at Revelation 11:12. This is referring to the two witnesses, which represent God’s people at this time:
And they heard a great voice from heaven saying unto them, Come up hither. And they ascended up to heaven in a cloud; and their enemies beheld them.
“Come up; come on up.”
Ezra the priest in Nehemiah was called to go up to Jerusalem. Before he goes up to Jerusalem and out of the captivity, a genealogy is given in Ezra 7. He is a priest in the line of Aaron and he is number 17. If you count the names in Ezra 7 from Aaron to Ezra, Ezra is number 17 and then he goes up to Jerusalem.
Just to make this plain or clear, Ezra 1 is referring to the rapture of next year on May 21, 2011. Cyrus is a type of Christ who is commanding his people to come up.
Do you remember what it says in Zechariah 14 about the Feast of Tabernacles? In Zechariah 14:16-17, we read:
And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, JEHOVAH of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem [the heavenly Jerusalem] to worship the King, JEHOVAH of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.
This is because the latter rain ends on May 21, 2011. You go up, which is wonderful. If you do not go up, there will be no more rain. There will be no more salvation, no more Gospel, because the Father has been patiently waiting “for the precious fruit of the earth…until he receive the early and latter rain.” There will be no additional rain after the latter rain.
Then we read in Zechariah 14:18-19:
And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith JEHOVAH will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles.
Remember that the Feast of Tabernacles ties in with the end of time. It is the last feast that must be kept and that must spiritually be fulfilled, and the fruit must be gathered first before this feast can be held. If you take a look at Deuteronomy 16, you will see that the Feast of Tabernacles is held “after that thou hast gathered in thy corn and thy wine.”
Some people have tried to say that we have to wait until the very last day of October 21, 2011 and that salvation will be available up to this point, up to the “great day of the feast.” But no; you cannot gather the fruit during the feast. God says in Deuteronomy 16 that the fruit must first be gathered, and then the feast is held.
There is no way that the Feast of Tabernacles is going to include people continuing to be saved up until that last day. No, the last day of the feast is the end of the world and the destruction of all things, and God’s people will have been gathered. They will have gone up in the rapture and resurrection and will be there to keep the feast.
But there is a question that immediately comes up. If Cyrus is Christ and he is commanding the Jews to return to Jerusalem and he mentions that they are to go up to Jerusalem, we can understand this, but why does he charge them to build a house if this is referring Heaven? Why is this so if all of the Jews are picturing going up, which means that there has been a rapture into Heaven?
We will look at this next time. You can check this out and you may be surprised. Look up the word “build” in your concordance. You may be surprised at what you discover.
Let us stop here.