THE MAIN IDEA
God is always on the move to draw us to Christ.

GOD IS MOVING IN THE WORLD
The ancient Israelites always tried to earn the inheritance of God in their own way instead of God’s way. As a consequence of their rebellion, the Northern Kingdom fell to Assyria in 702BC, and the Southern Kingdom fell in 605 BC to Babylon. Jerusalem and the temple itself were burned down and looted in 587 BC. But Jeremiah prophesied that after seventy years, Babylon itself would be destroyed and that the exiled Jews would be allowed to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. And after seventy years, that is exactly what happened through King Cyrus of Persia. No matter how chaotic the world was all around Israel because of their own sin, God was continually on the move in the world to fulfill His great plan of salvation for the world in Christ Jesus. And this is even more true for us today. Because Jesus came, was crucified for our sins, and resurrected to eternal life. All of this came from prophecies, and so these prophecies were fulfilled. God is continually moving in this world to fulfill His word, and His word says that He is continually at work in this world for the good of His people (Romans 8:28). God is moving the world for our good.

GOD IS MOVING IN OUR HEARTS
Cyrus had made similar decrees for other people groups too. And the reason Cyrus did this was to maintain peace in his kingdom by inspiring the loyalty of his subjects. The whole point of this language of God moving people’s hearts is to say that God is the one who is in control. God is sovereign. And God can directly make anyone do anything. But more often, Scripture shows us God putting the right people in the right place at the right time to influence the course of history to fulfill His purpose. And in that context, God invites His people to participate with Him in His work of salvation for the world in Jesus Christ. And so God desires that we freely surrender to His will, knowing that doing so is the best thing for us and the best thing for the world. Then, the fact that God used Cyrus means is that God can and will use anyone to fulfill His purpose. And if we accept His invitation to participate in His plan, God will most certainly use us. The difference between those who stayed in Babylon and those who returned to Jerusalem is that those who stayed were seeking the blessing of the kingdom of Babylon. The people who returned were seeking the blessing of the kingdom of God. But God promises that when Christ is moving our hearts, God will give us everything that we need and much, much more besides (Matthew 6:33).

GOD IS MOVING IN HIS CHURCH
God’s purpose in moving the hearts of people to return to Jerusalem was to rebuild the house of the Lord. There is nothing special or supernatural or spiritual about the temple building itself. Rebuilding the temple signified the restoration and rebuilding of the worshiping community itself. God cares about His house because we are His house. Any of us as individuals is not the house of the Lord. All of us together as a worship community are the house of the Lord. Furthermore, the house of the Lord prevails over many generations, shining the eternal light of Jesus Christ in every generation until He returns. What this means is that the future of the church never belongs to us, but always to the next generation. And so each generation needs to lay a solid foundation of being a God-fearing, God-honoring, God-worshiping, God-loving community for the next generation. And the solid foundation we must lay down is love—love for Christ and love for this community.

Discussion: If the future of the church always belongs to the next generation, what things can we do better to make our church a more inviting place for the next generation?