Reading: Ezra 1 - 12
My Verse: "And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree . . . Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done diligently and honorably for the house of the God of heaven, lest His wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons"(7:21-23).
Here we have another king of a foreign country doing what You, LORD God inspired him to do! This king said he did not want to experience the bad consequences of disobedience!
First he, King Artaxerxes recognized You as the "God of heaven."
Second he knew that following your bidding was to "be done diligently and honorably."
Third he realized that to not obey You, LORD God would have dire consequences not just for himself but for his sons, "lest His wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons."
Like Cyrus the Great, King Artaxerxes was a great man, wealthy and powerful. It is a most wonderful thing to see such men recognize You as LORD of the heavens! It is refreshing and encouraging.
I have no idea if he had a personal relationship with You, LORD God. You don't tell us that. All You show us is how he did obey You. Some ten plus years later Artaxerxes sends Nehemiah, his cupbearer and friend, to Jerusalem to continue the rebuilding of the city. This says something of the man and Your interceding for the Jewish people living in exile.
You foreordained that they, the Israelites, would be brought back to their homeland - their exile was to be for a limited time. "All the days that it lay desolate . . . to fulfill seventy years" (2 Chronicles 36:21). The second time the Jewish people were dispersed was for even longer, some 2500 years. The miraculously on May 14, 1948 Israel was declared a sovereign nation by the United Nations!
Isaiah predicted this event in Isaiah 66:8 he said. "Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?"
Pretty exciting stuff, LORD God! Reading this and seeing how all the prophecies were fulfilled just as You had stated in Your Word is so encouraging to me as a believer. I can know and trust and believe that Your Word is truth. All that you said would happen will indeed happen. I can be confident of that and like King Artaxerxes live my life with that confidence that You are the "God of heaven". I can be confident that Your wrath will be the consequence of disobedience to those that refuse to acknowledge You as LORD and supreme King over all that is and will ever be!
Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
My Verse: "And I, Artaxerxes the king, make a decree . . . Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it be done diligently and honorably for the house of the God of heaven, lest His wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons"(7:21-23).
Here we have another king of a foreign country doing what You, LORD God inspired him to do! This king said he did not want to experience the bad consequences of disobedience!
First he, King Artaxerxes recognized You as the "God of heaven."
Second he knew that following your bidding was to "be done diligently and honorably."
Third he realized that to not obey You, LORD God would have dire consequences not just for himself but for his sons, "lest His wrath be against the realm of the king and his sons."
Like Cyrus the Great, King Artaxerxes was a great man, wealthy and powerful. It is a most wonderful thing to see such men recognize You as LORD of the heavens! It is refreshing and encouraging.
I have no idea if he had a personal relationship with You, LORD God. You don't tell us that. All You show us is how he did obey You. Some ten plus years later Artaxerxes sends Nehemiah, his cupbearer and friend, to Jerusalem to continue the rebuilding of the city. This says something of the man and Your interceding for the Jewish people living in exile.
You foreordained that they, the Israelites, would be brought back to their homeland - their exile was to be for a limited time. "All the days that it lay desolate . . . to fulfill seventy years" (2 Chronicles 36:21). The second time the Jewish people were dispersed was for even longer, some 2500 years. The miraculously on May 14, 1948 Israel was declared a sovereign nation by the United Nations!
Isaiah predicted this event in Isaiah 66:8 he said. "Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment?"
Pretty exciting stuff, LORD God! Reading this and seeing how all the prophecies were fulfilled just as You had stated in Your Word is so encouraging to me as a believer. I can know and trust and believe that Your Word is truth. All that you said would happen will indeed happen. I can be confident of that and like King Artaxerxes live my life with that confidence that You are the "God of heaven". I can be confident that Your wrath will be the consequence of disobedience to those that refuse to acknowledge You as LORD and supreme King over all that is and will ever be!
Ditat Deus - God Enriches!
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