‘The God who brings His people home’ (Ezra 1:1-11)

The story of the book of Ezra concerns the return of God’s people to Jerusalem after their peirod of exile in Babylon. In Ezra 1:11, we find a very clear picture of the sovereign rule of God who brough King Cyrus of Persia to power and ‘stirred’ him to allow His people to return back to their home land. The chapter also reminds us that God did all this to fulfuill His promises made through the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah years before. God’s people are still on a journey home. The book of Revelation (ch. 18) tells of the fall of Babylon and then the emergence of the new Jersualem (ch. 21), where God’s people will be with Him and enjoy Him forever.