September 9
Ezra 2:1-4:5; 1 Chronicles 3:19-24
God's fingerprint on the Bible is prophecy. No other book of religion contains fulfilled prophecy, other than the Bible. So, we read of Cyrus from the prophet Isaiah over 150 years before he was born and over 180 years before these events unfolded in Isaiah 45:4, "For Jacob My servant’s sake, And Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me." Then in 44:28, " Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, “You shall be built,” And to the temple, “Your foundation shall be laid.” We come to the fulfillment so many years later as told in Ezra 1:1-3, “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem."
Sadly, "experts", "professors" beginning in the mid 1800's AD, initiated the Deutero-Isaiah theory. Understand those who deem themselves very intelligent have difficulty humbling themselves before Almighty God, prophecy, and God's supernatural nature. So, the arguments begin, that the Bible was written by a bunch of men, not by the finger of God. Sceptics, writing 2500 years after Isaiah, state that the prophet only wrote the beginning of Isaiah, the first 39 chapters, while others, under his surname wrote the remaining 27 chapters much later. But the Dead Sea Scrolls, found in 1947, written sometime beginning 200BC, revealed the book of Isaiah in its entirety. Even before the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Septuagint, written just around 300BC, written by Hebrew scholars for the Greeks, revealed the book of Isaiah in it's entirety. Probably, most importantly, Jesus, Himself, quotes and alludes to Isaiah, both the first 39 chapters and the last 27 chapters as authentic and verifiable.
None of this should surprise us, as Paul so vividly portrayed the plight of those consumed with their own sense of self-intelligence. We read in 1 Corinthians 1:18-19, " For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent" Paul goes on in 1:25-29, "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence." Pride blinds. Humility opens our eyes. Beware of "experts", as they often can't see God, or refuse to see God, and lead others to do the same, since sadly they have chosen to lift themselves up in place of God.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: