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Promise made through Cyrus

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[Ezra 1:2-3]

"This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: "'The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you--may his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem.

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There was a great difficulty in Judah, whom God had set up in a special way.

The Judah was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

The people of Judah were subjected to this great punishment because they forsaken God,

worshiped idols, and engaged in evil deeds.

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The people of Judah ignored God's warnings by the prophet Jeremiah.

In the end, the priests, elders, and many others of Judah who had ignored

God's warning were taken captive and taken to Babylon. This time was 606 BC.

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God spoke through the prophet Jeremiah about the restoration of the fallen Judah.

The prophet Jeremiah wrote the word of God to the people living in Babylon.

The contents of the letter are as follows.

“This is what the LORD says:

"When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill

my gracious promise to bring you back to this place.”(Jr 29:10)

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After 70 years, Jeremiah's letter that they could return to Judah was a great strength

for the Jews captured in Babylon. The people of Judah who listened to the word

of God promised to live in the land without losing hope.

They lived in Babylon with many idols so as not to lose their image as God's people.

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But not everyone believed in God's promise.

Those who have no faith have begun to forget God's promise as time goes by.

Babylon in their eyes was never going to fall.

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The Babylon, which never seemed to fall, was destroyed

by the Allied forces of Media and Persia.

And the first king of the conquering kingdom became Darius.

During the reign of King Darius, Daniel, a man of faith,

was raised by the protection of God in the lion's den.

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Following Darius, a new king came in. The king's name is Cyrus.

As Cyrus became king, the name of the country was changed to Persia.

Cyrus is the first king of the Persian kingdom.

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Cyrus was king in 536 BC.

This year was exactly 70 years since the year 606 BC when the nation of Judah was destroyed. It was the very same year in which God made Jeremiah return to Judah

in 70 years of being a captive.

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God impressed King Cyrus to fulfill his promise through Jeremiah.

King Cyrus made an official announcement and delegation to the whole country as follows.

【Now these are the people of the province who came up from the captivity of the exiles,

whom Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon had taken captive to Babylon (they returned to

Jerusalem and Judah, each to his own town, in company with Zerubbabel, Jeshua,

Nehemiah, Seraiah, Reelaiah, Mordecai, Bilshan, Mispar, Bigvai, Rehum and Baanah): The list of the men of the people of Israel:】(Ezra 2:1~2)

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All the people of Judah who returned to their hometown were all ready to return

to their hearts. Those who can not go together have carefully put silverware and

all kinds of things, cattle and precious gifts to use in building the temple.

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King Cyrus, who allowed him to return to Judah, told Mithredath, the financial officer,

to bring out the vessels originally in the temple.

These vessels were taken from Jerusalem by King Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed Judah.

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The vessels from the temple of Jerusalem were in the presence of the gods of Babylon.

Mithredathh delivered these vessels to Sheshbazzar, the governor of Judah.

The vessels handed over by Sheshbazzar were a total of 5,400 gold vessels,

silver vessels, swords, gold bowls, and silver bowls.

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Zerubbabel was the one who led them when he returned to Cyrus the first time.

And, according to Zerubbabel's lead, nearly 50,000 people returned to Judah.

Most of them were captive in captivity at the time of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon.

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Those who came back to Judah built an altar to God and offered sacrifices.

And they worked hard to rebuild the temple of God.

There were many difficulties and obstacles, but in the end they completed the temple of God.

This temple is called the Zerubbabel Temple.

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Through Jeremiah, God kept the promise that the Jews would return after 70 years.

God's promise is that nothing can be done.

The faith of those who believe in the promises of God as they were written

in Jeremiah's letter, and who have not lost faith in the land but have preserved the tradition

of the Word and returned to Judah again, are good examples for us to learn.

We must also strive to keep faith in this land and to live like the people of Judah

who have kept faith in Babylon, believing in the promise

that Jesus will come again to this earth.

(This is the sample conclusion provided by CTM. Please feel free to change the conclusion to best suit the listeners of your sermon.)