Our text today is taken from Ezra 1, verses 1-4. 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, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? 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 the God which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. This Lord's Day we embark upon a new series of sermons through the Book of Ezra. In the Book of Ezra, we will see the sovereign God of the nations at work in the decrees of Gentile kings who become nursing fathers to the people of God in promoting, supporting, and establishing the Church of the Lord in the Old Testament, and who at other times have become hindrances to the growth of God's kingdom. On the one hand, a blessing, but at other times in Ezra, a hindrance. Moreover, we will not only see the triumphal deliverance of God's people from Babylonian captivity, but we'll also see the hardships and the trials and struggles that God's people faced in promoting reformation once they had returned to the land of promise. As is so often the case, Christ's salvation and deliverance from sin and from error and from bondage in this life does not bring an end to struggle, to heartache, and hardship in promoting and maintaining past victories. In fact, the real work is in our daily growing in the grace and knowledge of Christ and in putting off the old man and in putting on the new man. At such time we cry out with the Apostle Paul, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? And that same Apostle of God's grace declares in the very next verse, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. For it is through the death and resurrection of Christ that our victory is absolutely assured. Not a maybe, not a possibly, but is absolutely assured. For Paul writes in Romans 8 37, Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. I love history. I love to study history. For in it we see the hand of our glorious God at work in every detail of his sovereign plan as he graciously saves his people and justly punishes his enemies. I especially love to study biblical redemptive history. Because it, being inspired by the Lord Himself, so often foreshadows God's redemptive purposes that are yet in the future, and point to prophetic events that are yet to come in the distant future. And such events in redemptive history we will also seek to make clear through our study of the book of Ezra. Let us begin our adventure today through the Book of Ezra as we behold the handiwork of the Lord in history. Our main points this Lord's Day are the following. Number one, some preliminary considerations about the Book of Ezra. And number two, the royal decree of a Gentile king in Ezra 1, 1-4. So first of all, some preliminary considerations. First, who was Ezra? Well, Ezra was a priest whose genealogy may be traced directly back to Aaron, as we see in Ezra 7, verses 1-5. And he was mightily used by the Lord to promote reformation among the Israelites that returned from Babylonian captivity to the land of promise. His name means help, which is what this godly minister of the Lord was to God's people who stood in need of help, in need of the help of sound doctrine, in need of the help of faithful leadership in promoting reformation among them. Ezra is also designated as a ready scribe, that is a skilled scribe in the Law of Moses according to Ezra 7.6. As a priest, Ezra was a leader in the worship of God. And as a scribe, he was a leader in interpreting and applying the law of God to the many circumstances that related to the lives of God's people. Thus, his familiarity with God's word would make him especially valuable in taking the people back to what God had revealed for their own lives in His covenant. I want to just pause for a moment and say that this scribal aspect of the ministry in interpreting and applying the Word of God is absolutely essential to all who would be faithful ministers of Jesus Christ. For we read concerning this very qualification in the life of a minister in Titus chapter 1 verse 9 holding fast the faithful word as he hath been taught, that he may be able by sound doctrine both to exhort and to convince the gainsayers. And I would submit by further application that you who are husbands and fathers, and you who are single mothers, you should likewise Seek to become, within your own families, increasingly skilled in applying God's Word to the world in which your families live every day. There ought not to be, dear ones, some dualistic approach which views the Bible as what is used on the Lord's Day, and textbooks and newspapers are mere common sense. that is only appropriate for the other six days of the week. Dear ones, heavenly wisdom, which comes from the Spirit-inspired scriptures, is that by which we are to live our lives all of the time, and not just some of the time. In fact, it is necessary that you grow in your understanding of God's word and in your ability to apply it in order that you may be able to judge what comes from this pulpit or any other pulpit as to its faithfulness or lack thereof. How will you know whether you're being taught the truth if you are not schooled yourselves in the truth? In Acts 17 verse 11, we read concerning the Bereans. They were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so. The apostles even brought to them the word of God, but the Bereans Being the students that they were of God's word, went to the scriptures to compare what the apostles were saying to what had already been revealed, and for that they are commended. Without such a growing knowledge of scripture, you will be yielding simply a blind faith to what is preached to you or what is taught to you. Remember, dear ones, a blind faith is a Popish faith, and yet our faith cannot rest, our faith cannot rest in any man. Our faith cannot even rest in the Apostles themselves, for they themselves steered us far clear of even that type of a position. In 2nd Corinthians chapter 1, Verse 24 we read, the Apostle Paul speaking, not for that we have dominion over your faith, but are helpers of your joy, for by faith you stand. That is, by faith in Christ and in His promises you stand. The second question, who is the author of the book of Ezra? Well, perhaps it comes as no surprise that Ezra, the priest and the scribe, was the vessel the Lord used to pen this inspired book. Both early Jewish and Christian writings ascribe authorship of this book to Ezra. A significant portion of the book of Ezra is written even in the first person, Ezra speaking using pronouns like I, and me, and we, and us. Especially note Ezra 7.25 through Ezra chapter 9. Actually, in the Hebrew text of the Old Testament, the books of Ezra and Nehemiah appear as one book. The book of Ezra and Nehemiah. That tells you that that in the Jewish canon they saw those two books very closely tied together and they are. It would also appear that the chronicler who recorded by inspiration of the Holy Spirit the book of 1st and 2nd Chronicles leaves off in 2nd Chronicles 36 verses 22 through 23 the last two last verses of 2nd Chronicles He leaves off there and the book of Ezra picks up exactly at that very place where the Chronicler left off. In fact, the same two verses are quoted, the last two verses of 2 Chronicles 36 verses 22 through 23 are quoted exactly the same in Ezra chapter 1 verses 1-2 telling us once again that Ezra was likely also the chronicler who gathered together all the historical accounts by inspiration of the Holy Spirit and has given to us the books of 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles. A third question What are the historical circumstances that surround the Book of Ezra? Well, there are a number of them that I want to just very briefly mention. The northern kingdom of Israel had been led into captivity by the Assyrians due to the gross violation of God's covenant with them at Mount Sinai. in 722 BC. The southern kingdom of Judah had been led into captivity by the Babylonians in three successive stages due to their gross violation of God's covenant with them as well at Mount Sinai. In 606 BC, the first stage, The first stage of being led into captivity in that particular list of captives was Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. The second stage of Judah being left into Babylonian captivity was in 597 BC. Among those who were part of that list of captives was Ezekiel. And in 586, we find the third stage, which was the final stage, the destruction of the Temple and of Jerusalem. Another historical circumstance surrounding the Book of Ezra. The very night that Belshazzar, king of Babylon, was desecrating the vessels used in the Temple of God, and taken aspoil by Nebuchadnezzar from the temple. And the very night that the fearful handwriting, remember the handwriting on the wall, that occurred and caused Belshazzar to be so weak-kneed and to shake so violently, that happened the very night those two Those two incidents happened the very night the Medes and the Persians crafted a way to divert the Euphrates River from its flow through Babylon. And with water only five deep, the armies of Medo-Persia entered the great city of Babylon by stealth, without any significant battle, so as to conquer the drunken city of Babylon. Babylon fell to the Medo-Persian might in October of 539 B.C. And it was, continuing with that little line of history, it was sometime late in 538 BC, within the first year that Babylon was conquered by Cyrus, that Cyrus issued the great decree that we find here in Ezra, chapter 1, verses 1 through 4. And about a year later, approximately 50,000 Jews in Babylon began their journey out of Babylon and into the land promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to their descendants in fulfillment of Jeremiah's prophecy that we find in Jeremiah 29.10. This prophecy is alluded to in Ezra 1.1. It mentions that God stirred up Cyrus' heart so as to fulfill this prophecy. Jeremiah 29 verse 10 says, For thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you and perform my good word towards you in causing you to return to this place. That is the land of Palestine. I submit to you that it's easy to quickly pass through a brief history lesson like this with little thought given to all that came to pass in accordance with God's merciful promise to His people in Jeremiah 29, verses 10 through 14, which I read verse 10, but let me just read for you through verse 14 as well. Let me read again, verse 10 says, For thus saith the Lord, that after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon, I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you, and ye shall seek me. and find me when ye shall seek and search for me with all your heart. And I will be found of you, saith the Lord, and I will turn away your captivity. And I will gather you from all the nations and from all the places whither I have driven you, saith the Lord. And I will bring you again into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive. Why did the Lord Raise up kings and kingdoms and put down kings and kingdoms. Why did our gracious God move great armies and nations to accomplish his will? Only the Christian can answer that question because he has the answer in God's word. He did so in order to demonstrate his love to his people who were covenanted to him in rescuing them from servile bondage and sending them forth to establish a reformation of biblical religion in the land promised to them. in order to demonstrate his faithfulness to keep his own word of promise to his people even when they were in the very clutches of their enemies. My dear brothers and sisters, God's unchangeable character of everlasting love for his children and of unbending faithfulness to his own promises is that to which we must turn in those times in which we or our loved ones suffer under the chastening hand of the Lord. The Lord cannot forget you, dear Christian. You're written upon the palm of his hand. The Lord will sooner forget his only begotten son as to forget you for whom the Son of God suffered the wrath of God. The Lord can do you no wrong, dear child of God, in all that he brings into your life. Your gracious Father will sooner deny himself as to leave one promise to you, unfulfilled, who trust alone in Christ for your righteousness, for your forgiveness, for your sanctification and everlasting life. Beloved, Christ Jesus prays for you without ceasing that your faith in him would not fail. Jesus will sooner fall from his throne at God's right hand as to fail to keep you constant in constant prayer before your Heavenly Father that your faith never be destroyed, no matter what you or your loved ones may face. One writer has put it beautifully this way, If I could hear Christ praying for me in the next room, I would not fear a million enemies. Yet distance makes no difference. He is praying for me. Dear ones, such a history lesson from God's holy word is never ever dry and boring, but is ever refreshing because it reveals the love of God for His people and the faithfulness of God to His promises. We move now to our second main point, the royal decree of a Gentile king. And let me read for you once again, Ezra 1, 1-4. 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, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth. And he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? 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 the God which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth Let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, besides the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. This royal decree was made by Cyrus, king of Persia. Cyrus II, or Cyrus the Great, unified the Persian people with the Medes under one throne and extended the Medo-Persian empire to include more territory in the world than any empire had accomplished up to that time. The empire which he established continued for two centuries until it fell to the Greek empire under Alexander the Great in 331 BC. On October the 12th, 539 BC, Babylon the Great fell to the Persians. As we said, while Belshazzar was engaged in a riotous and drunken banquet, blaspheming the Most High God within what he thought were impenetrable, impregnable walls. But no walls of man, no fortress of man, no army of man can withstand the power of God. The Lord certainly could have brought down the mighty walls of Babylon like that of Jericho had he chosen to do so. But in this instance, the Lord chose to dry up the Euphrates River so that the Persian army could overwhelm Babylon. That was not a miraculous drying up, but a diverting of the Euphrates River in order for the troops to be able to go through that conduit into Babylon. And they were able to enter, as I said earlier, into Babylon without hardly a struggle. And in so doing, Cyrus restored a believing and repentant Israel back to her land. I would invite you to look with me, well let me just We'll look at another passage in just a moment, but let me just refer you to, just including your notes, if you're taking notes, to look up later, where we find actual references to this drying up of the river, which was accomplished by Cyrus in Isaiah 44, verses 26 through 28, and in Jeremiah chapter 50, verses 35-38. And an interesting New Testament reference to that drying up is found in Revelation 16-12 in the pouring out of the sixth vial where it speaks of the drying up of the Euphrates River. I would submit to you, again without getting into much detail because I have preached a previous sermon on that passage, but simply to point out that I think that we, in interpreting the drying up of the river in Revelation 16-12, we need to look back to the drying up of the Euphrates in what is stated in the passages I just gave in Isaiah 44, 26 through 28, and in Jeremiah 50, verses 35 and 38. And there we see that it was a drying up, though I believe that in Revelation we can certainly view it in a figurative sense to look back to what actually happened in the Old Testament, but nevertheless it was a drying up so as to bring defeat to God's enemies and to bring deliverance to God's people. And I think if we take those two truths that we see from the historical drawing up the Euphrates River and apply it to what we see in that sixth vial, we will likewise understand that God is speaking and drawing up the Euphrates. bringing judgment upon, I would submit to you, Islam, the religion of Islam, bringing us something that substantially, substantially reduces the influence and the power that Islam now holds in the world, and which brings about, again, the deliverance of God's people to return to their promised land, Israel. I won't go into further detail. As I said, I'll encourage you to look back to that previous sermon. But let me ask, why did the Lord choose other means in bringing down Babylon than the most conspicuous means He could have chosen? Namely, by bringing down the walls of Babylon. Well, I submit he does so in order that we might not put our trust and confidence in the means that God uses. As if God must always work by some supernatural miraculous means. As if God cannot work equally well through ordinary means to accomplish his purposes. that God does not have to heal miraculously. That if God heals by use of medical means and supplements and exercise, that he ought to be praised the same way as if he were to be, as if he were to heal us miraculously. For all healing proceeds from God. We trust not in the means that God chooses to use. We trust in God and leave the means to Him. And I'm reminded in Mark 8.23 of what may seem to be almost a humorous story about the Lord healing a blind man. And He spits in the guy's eyes and tells him to open his eyes. And he says, what do you see? And the man says, I see men as trees walking. And he prays for him again, and his eyes are opened. Again, one would say, why in the world? That's such an unusual way in order to heal. Why would God choose that means? Well, again, I would submit to you, God is showing us that we are not to trust in any particular means for God to accomplish His purposes. God does have ordinary means that He would use, but we're not to limit God in any way to any particular means. And so likewise, God used the diverting of the river Euphrates in the conquering of that wicked city of Babylon and in the deliverance of his people. Cyrus states in the decree that we find in Ezra 1-2 that the Lord God, and I'm quoting, the Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he hath charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Now how did this charge from Jehovah come to Cyrus? by vision, by dream, by a voice from heaven? Certainly any of these forms of revelation were possible. However, I would submit that the charge to Cyrus was most likely communicated to him by the revelation of scripture. which mentions, Scripture mentions in its prophecies in Isaiah, mentions Cyrus' name specifically. And that God perhaps even used Daniel, who you recall that same night had interpreted the handwriting on the wall to Belshazzar, that He even used Daniel to open for Cyrus, the book of Isaiah, to reveal to him that his name was recorded in scripture 150 years before this event actually occurred. The Jewish historian Josephus, who had access, no doubt, to historical records that have long been lost, records the following. When Cyrus read what was prophesied by name in scriptures 150 years before this time, and admired the divine power, an earnest desire and ambition seized upon him to fulfill what was so written. What prophecies would Cyrus have likely read about himself and perhaps Daniel as third in command in Babylon according to Daniel 5.29 possibly explain to him? I think that we can infer from Ezra 1.1 that Jeremiah's prophecy in Jeremiah 29.10 was likely revealed to Cyrus which specifically measured the time of Babylonian captivity as being 70 years, which time had nearly come to an end when Cyrus conquered Babylon. But also consider Isaiah 44 and the specificity of this prophecy. Isaiah 44 beginning with verse 24. Thus saith the Lord, thy Redeemer, and He that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by itself, that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad, that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish, that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers. That saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof. That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers. That saith of Cyrus, that saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built, and to the temple thy foundation shall be laid. Thus saith the Lord to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings to open before him the two-leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut." There the Lord, dear ones, as I said, specifically identifies by name Israel's deliverer. and restored to their land. Neither the Spirit of the Lord nor the Prophet of the Lord in Babylon would have surely left Cyrus without knowledge of what was revealed about him in Scripture." Especially as Cyrus specifically states in Ezra chapter 1 that it was Jehovah that charged him to build him a house. And that is what is specifically stated would be the case in Isaiah 44-28. Though Cyrus knew not the one true living God, according to Isaiah 45 verses 4-5, God knew Cyrus by name. and had determined in his most holy and wise plan how Cyrus, a Gentile king, would fulfill his, that is, God's plan in judging the wicked Babylonians and in delivering his people out of Babylonian bondage. Dear ones, what a most comforting truth it is to know that though kings, presidents, and prime ministers Although parliaments and congresses and assemblies may roar in rage against Christ and His followers by way of wicked laws and suppressing the truth of Jesus Christ, our Lord Jesus Christ is King of Kings and Lord of Lords, and it is He who uses and disposes all magistrates to accomplish His most loving, wise, and holy purposes concerning His people. There is no act, there is no decree by any magistrate, dear ones, that can touch you, or that can touch me, apart from the decree of Christ, who is the Prince of the Kings of the Earth, according to Revelation 1.5. Now that doesn't mean, dear ones, that we shouldn't pray for fellow Christians just because God God's decree is certain to occur doesn't mean we shouldn't pray for fellow Christians who suffer for the gospel and who suffer for righteousness sake throughout the world nor does it mean we shouldn't pray for God's protection against persecution for the truth of Christ in our own country or give expression to our dissent when laws are passed that may have the effect of persecuting Christians who stand for the cause of Christ, as is true of the National Defense Authorization Act that was recently passed by Congress and signed by the President December 31, 2011, which opens the door by way of its broad language to arresting and indefinitely incarcerating without judicial warrant or due process of law, Americans who are suspected by the President to be enemies of the state. Dear ones, our comfort in such times as these must always be in the knowledge and in the assurance that Not a hair on the head of one of us can perish apart from the infinite love and wisdom of our Savior. The Decree of Cyrus demonstrates how God raised up Cyrus to be a nursing father to the Church in the Old Testament, and how God used Cyrus to promote a covenanted reformation in Ezra 1 verses 2-4. You see, Cyrus saw it as his duty before Jehovah God to rebuild God's house and to reestablish the true worship of the Lord in Jerusalem by way of his civil authority and by way of his financial support and help, even from his own treasury. Certainly, as we read in Ezra 1-4, he commanded that people of their own substance and by way of free will offerings support the work of establishing God's temple in Judah, but he also supported it by way of his own treasury as well. If God commanded that Cyrus, a Gentile ruler, establish, support, and promote a pure covenanted reformation of biblical religion in a covenanted land? How is it that so many today argue that gentile rulers and nations at the present time cannot use their authority to establish, support, and promote a pure covenanted reformation of biblical religion in covenanted lands like Scotland? Ireland, England, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States. Dear ones, it is now, it is, there was no less the duty of civil magistrates today to be nursing fathers to the Church of Jesus Christ in the New Testament, whether the faithful church is in a Gentile nation or whether that faithful church is in Israel itself. Then it was for Cyrus to be a nursing father to the church in the Old Testament. For dear ones, this is the command of God to the civil rulers in Gentile nations even today in Psalm 2. The Lord does not make this optional. It is an imperative, a command. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings. Be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. They are Gentile magistrates and their official capacity are commanded to kiss the sun, to worship the sun, to establish therefore the religion of the sun, biblical Christianity within their nations lest they perish in the way. Likewise, even Gentile kings are prophesied to bring their gifts unto Christ to the support of his church in Psalm 72 verses 10 and 11 where we read in a psalm that was written for Solomon and concerning Solomon but looks even beyond Solomon to the greater Solomon the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river, and to the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him, and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the Isles shall bring presents. The kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him. All nations shall serve him. And dear ones, Gentile rulers shall be nursing fathers. to his people in promoting the one true religion, Isaiah uses this precise language of nursing fathers in regard to Gentile rulers who promote and support in their official capacity the growth and the support of the one true religion in Isaiah 60 verses 16 and 18. It is true, dear ones, that the Civil Magistrate cannot assume the place of Christ in ruling over Christchurch. But it is not true that the Civil Magistrate is not to establish biblical Christianity and to aid and support it as the only national religion within the nation. For the Civil Magistrate, in his official capacity, has been ordained by God to be the minister of God to the Church for good, according to Romans 13.4. I would also have you note, dear ones, just again an application here. The Decree of Cyrus, I submit to you, was a kind of year of jubilee to God's people. who were set free from Babylonian captivity so as to practice and promote the one true religion by way of God's appointed worship and officers in his church. Just as the year of Jubilee was, you'll recall, an appointed season every 50 years that set free those who were in indentured bondage in Israel so as to return them to their land and so as to return them to their families. So the Lord accomplished, I submit to you, a similar year of jubilee, a similar kind of liberty from bondage for his people out of Babylon. When the Lord preached in the synagogue during his earthly ministry, There in his hometown of Nazareth, he read from Isaiah 61, verses 1-2, the following words, and said they were fulfilled in his ministry. In a ministry of salvation and deliverance from the bondage of sin and Satan. These are the words we find in Luke 4 verses 18-19 which the Lord Jesus read. The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, and to set at liberty them that are bruised Notice, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord, that is the year of Jubilee. Dear ones, Jesus declared that the deliverance from bondage, to which the year of Jubilee pointed, and I submit to you, to which the deliverance from bondage in Babylon pointed as well, was a spiritual deliverance by Christ from bondage to sin, bondage to error, and bondage to the tyranny of Satan who seeks to enslave the Church of Christ by that mystical Babylon, the Roman Church mentioned in Revelation 17, and by that man of sin, that papal antichrist who is mentioned in 2 Thessalonians 2 who usurps the place of Christ by taking up A royal seat in the temple or church of Christ that belongs to Christ alone. Just as there was announced a jubilee of deliverance in Ezra 1 through 4 for the Old Testament church to leave Babylon. that great city of bondage, that great city of idolatry, that great city of desecration by Belshazzar who drank from the vessels God appointed for holy use in God's house in Daniel 5. So the Lord Jesus proclaimed a better jubilee of deliverance from mystical Babylon, that great city of ecclesiastical and spiritual bondage. that great city of idolatry and of desecration by the papal antichrist who takes the holy vessels of God's worship like the Lord's Supper and pours abominations into that cup, teaching the blasphemous doctrine that Christ continues to be offered over and over and over again each time the Mass is celebrated for the sins of his people. completely in violation of God's Word and especially of Hebrews chapter 9 verse 28 which does not speak of any ongoing sacrifice of Christ. So Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many And unto them that look for him shall he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. One time he suffered and offered his life for sin. And the papacy in the Roman Church keeps the people coming back and back and back. keeps this re-sacrificing of Christ in order to hold on to the people so that they do not rest secured in the one sacrifice of Jesus Christ as their only hope of eternal salvation. Dear ones, this mystical Babylon has held in bondage according to Romans 18.13, the souls of men. And the Lord proclaims the year of Jubilee through the sound and faithful preaching of the gospel of salvation by faith alone in Christ alone. And by way of that year of Jubilee is proclaimed a liberty, a liberty from all popish tyranny and doctrine and worship and government and discipline when the Lord declares in Revelation 18.4, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. current type of application that I think is very important to leave with you. Heroines, this mystical Babylon and its son of perdition have not ceased to enslave the souls of men. Over a billion souls are members of the Roman Catholic Church worldwide. And it may be significant in relation to Rome exercising the power that she once exercised in Europe that just recently the Pope appointed 22 new Cardinals, 16 of whom are from Europe, and 7 of those 16 from Italy, almost assuring his successor to come from Italy, a development that some see as a decided turn from the wishy-washy ecumenism in Rome since Vatican II. to the historical firm hand of Rome that controlled Europe and the Holy Roman Empire, and which defeated the Muslim Moors in Spain under Charlemagne. Dear ones, with the widespread spread of Islam throughout Europe presently, Many Europeans are beginning to look back to a strong Western culture that defeated the Moors and controlled Europe for centuries under the papacy of Rome and under the Holy Roman Empire, whose throne for many years was seated in what is now Germany. And another article I read recently spoke of the Germanization of Europe, and fears in some circles of the formation of a Fourth Reich. These are indeed interesting developments, and I am not saying that they will immediately immediately lead to fulfillment of prophecy. But I believe there are very interesting developments in light of prophetic events that speak of the whore of Babylon riding upon the civil beast, which civil beast is composed of the ten tribes that formed what we know now is Europe. Those ten kingdoms that we now know which are Europe. and they will be joined together to war against the Lamb and those who faithfully follow Christ according to Revelation 13 and Revelation 17. Dear ones, my point is simply this. Rome, ecclesiastical and papal, is not dead. It enslaves so much of the world and this whore is said to be the mother of harlots. That is, she has daughter churches. that have drunk of her abominations in denying the free grace of God, in enslaving people under a covenant of works, in leading people to worship God by idols and by acts and by holy days not appointed in his word, and in tyrannizing the consciences of people to submit to the decrees of ecclesiastical and papal Rome by their own inscriptural authority and by mere human tradition. Beloved, as we consider all these things, the price of being faithful to Christ has cost many their own families, has cost many their jobs, has cost many their possessions, and has even cost many their lives. And so it may likewise cost us the same. And the love of many, dear ones, has sadly grown cold in regard to the doctrine and worship of Christ as found in His Holy Word and summarized in faithful confessions of faith like the Westminster Confession of Faith and in faithful covenants like the Solemn Legion Covenant. The dear ones, Jesus asked, what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and to lose his own soul? The path of faithfulness to Christ has been blazed before us by the blood of faithful covenanters and martyrs who are willing to forsake this world and everything in it in order to follow Christ out of Babylon and into the land of promise, who are not willing to go back into that bondage, into that servitude, but held their liberty in Christ to be so precious that they were willing to die for it. May the Lord grant us the grace to follow in the biblical footsteps of our covenanted forefathers, whatever it may cost us. Beloved, we will have no regrets, I promise you, for choosing to be faithful to Christ over choosing to be comfortable in this world. As we breathe our last breath and as we are ushered into the very presence of the Lord, no regrets at all. Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee and praise Thee that Thou has given to us, Lord, this inspired history and Lord, Thou has even shown to us how it points to prophetic events in the future. Lord God, give us Thy grace and wisdom to make the connections that we can to be able to therefore prepare ourselves for dark days ahead. That we not, Lord, lose sight of these truths and cling to, Lord, the truths which Thou has revealed to us in Thy Word. And that, Lord, we teach them to our children. And that, Lord, our children, we pray, would teach them to their children and for a thousand generations. Hear our prayer, O Lord, for we are not able to accomplish these things. For it is not by our might or by our strength, but it is by thy power, saith the Lord of hosts, that all such things will be accomplished, even in the day of small things. We ask these things in Jesus' name. Amen. Still Waters Revival Books is now located at PuritanDownloads.com. 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