Well now, we finished last time with the Southern Kingdom. that was based around Jerusalem and Judah, had all the real descendants of David on the throne. But alas, they were not always showing that they were true descendants of David after the Spirit. They might have been after the flesh, but they weren't men who feared God. And there were some very, very good exceptions. The trend tended to be downhill, and so they went into exile. That was the promise. They were told of the warming. that do not count on Jerusalem being somehow never going to fall apart. So you've got the temple, so nothing can go wrong. Everything can go wrong if you disobey. So they went to Babylon. King Nebuchadnezzar, king of a huge empire, stretched as far as Egypt and went across towards India and other countries besides. And it was massive. What hope? You've been deported out there. You're now in a foreign country, and they're trying to impose on you their foreign customs. That's what Daniel and his friends found, wasn't it? And they stood. They stood against that. But there was a lot of discouragement. They felt, what future have we got here? We can understand that the more spiritual could, while we're here, we disobey God. Pure and simple. And God threatens, disobey me, then this will happen, then this will happen, then this will happen, and it did. So the more spiritual say we have no argument against that. We cannot but accept that we have earned what we deserve. But God had gave them promises, even for time of exile. In fact, he started giving them real, very solid promises, oh, a couple of hundred years nearly, before then, through the prophet Isaiah. intended for exactly this time, even giving the name of a king who was going to come from the next empire, the Persians, who God was going to raise up and was going to be important in bringing the people back from exile in Babylon. Because God had also said this, because he's always full of mercy, that 70 years, and this was Jeremiah told them this, 70 years that you'll be in exile and then God will restore you and God will bring you back. And Isaiah told them that, Jeremiah told them that, and they had prophets as well there in Babylon like Ezekiel. He was telling them that. Great future, great prospects. He was warning them, not at the moment. Jerusalem at the moment is under judgment. God's glory is not there. And other prophets too. Daniel, we mentioned him. He was praying for the fulfillment of God's word and God's promise that the exile would end, that it was not forever. Well, how could a mighty empire like Babylon ever fall? It looked so impregnable. It looked as if nothing could defeat it. Except that it did. Nebuchadnezzar died, and then he had other sons, as it were, who followed him, and there was some intrigue, and it was getting weaker and weaker. And then one night, It, mighty Babylon, the city that looked as if nothing could defeat it, was defeated. And a new empire had been coming up. I don't know where the Babylonian leaders had been, but they just weren't watching carefully enough. Because now there was a new empire, Persians and the Medes, in a bit of an alliance. And they now were the new empire in the making. And they conquer Babylon. And they take over the empire that was Babylon's empire. And a new king was installed, a man called Cyrus. And this name was there back in Isaiah chapter 45, nearly 200 years before the event, saying that God was going to raise him up. He was going to be an anointed man of God, even though he doesn't know God, but he is going to be used by God to bring back the Jewish people, as many as thought that this is what they ought to do and spiritual minded in that way, to go back to Jerusalem. This man who had a sort of respect for all gods in a way, and so had a respect for the God of Israel, the God of Jerusalem. And so he made a special decree and he said, Jewish people, can now go back as many as want to go back, and they can build their city, and they can build their temple again, and we're gonna give them money and resources to actually do it. Would you believe that? They're even gonna give you money to get on with the job. And so that's what happened. Under the leadership of different people, called Sheltiel and Zerubbabel, they went back to Jerusalem. all the promises that God had made. He took people that had so, so disobeyed, so, so offended him, but there were still promises there. There are always promises. Now we can be far from God. We can have disobeyed so dreadfully and wasted so much time. Not so much for young people, all of us when we get older, so much time. There's always a promise that God will receive us back if we repent, if we will hear him, if we will trust in him, and he can bring us into something so, so much better. And so the exiles returned, they were like men who dreamed. What has happened? We looked as if we were down and out without a chance of remedy or anything. God has brought us back, back to Jerusalem, a lot of work to do, there's a lot of repair needed, but we're back. Who would have thought it? Well, anything's possible, if you like, when God is on the case, and when you have a promise that you can hold on to. And they had, that he would bring them back, and he did, and that's his promise, isn't it? The best promise of all is in Jesus Christ, that he will pardon our sin, and that he will give us eternal life, and he'll take us one day to glory, so we'll have an answer to give on the great day of judgment, and we'll stand before a holy God, And if we're in Christ, if we found him, that's it. We found everything we need. And that's the greatest promise that there is. So God is always giving us promises. It's a book full of promises, isn't it? The Bible. And you believe those promises because every one of them is true. May God bless us. Well, our second hymn is number 170. Hark, the glad sound, the Saviour comes. 170.