So we turn in the Word of God to 2 Chronicles 36 and from verse 22. Now it is important to note that in the Hebrew Old Testament canon, 2 Chronicles is the last book. And what comes next is therefore Matthew chapter 1 and the genealogy from Abraham to Christ. And you will note the reference to Babylon as a time marker in Matthew 1, 17. So the generations are from Abraham to David, from David onto Babylon, and then from Babylon to Christ. And what you have then in 2 Chronicles 36 verses 22 and 23 is a crucial conclusion. It prepares the way. for the Redeemer to come into the world. So in a sense I suppose the next sermon should be on Matthew 1 in order to complete the history of 2 Chronicles. But you can read the chapter for yourself. And the other thing we note is that 2 Chronicles does not close with a whimper. but with a great declaration that God rules, that God remains, and that God remembers. So it's a ringing endorsement, so to speak, of all that has been taught throughout 2 Chronicles. You just cannot glance at these verses move on to something else. So we look at these two verses under this heading, preparing for Christ, preparing for Christ. And I have sought to alliterate the three points this evening as best as I can. First of all, the word of God in verse 22. in the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, that the word of the Lord, spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah, might be accomplished. This whole phrase, the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah, has already occurred in verse 21, to fulfill the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah. So that tells you that this is a very, very important thing to note. The word of the Lord, spoken by Jeremiah, does matter. Here you are reminded afresh what we saw last time. The word of God governs life. and the Savior himself confirms that truth for you. Return to Matthew 26, and we'll read from verse 51. And behold, one of them which were with Jesus stretched out his hand, drew his sword, and struck a servant of the high priest, and smote off his ear. Then said Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into its place, for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels? In other words, do you think I need your little sword? Do you not realize I could call 12 angels or 12 legions of angels from heaven? An entire army from heaven. But then he adds this important statement. But, how then shall the scriptures be fulfilled? That thus it must be. So here he says to his own disciples, the word of God, the scriptures must be fulfilled. This is the plan. The word of God is being worked out. So put away your sword, he says. To do anything different is to go against scripture. So the Lord is confirming the word of God governs life. It shapes, dictates, rules. Here is Cyrus, a Persian, a Gentile, and yet he is under the word of God. And furthermore, the details and specifics of the word are clearly in view, not in any general sense, though the general sense is true, but the specifics of the word of God are true. And what that means for you and I is simply this, Though you cannot see how it all fits together, or indeed how it shall ever come to pass, it does happen. So when God said to these people, you know, I'm going to kick you out of this land. I'm going to bury you in Babylon. But I will regather you. I will bring you back. How is it all going to happen? The word of the Lord governs by its details. And here you see it being worked out. Think of Isaiah. Remember how Isaiah prophesied of Sarais even before he was ever born. So in Isaiah 44, 28, that saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure. And in 45, one, thus said the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and so on. 150 years before Cyrus was born, The word of the Lord had spoken. And the word of the Lord governs history. It governs life. So from the very outset then of our study this evening, it's the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah accomplished. God always keeps his word. Secondly, the worth of God. In verse 22, 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. The Lord stirred up Cyrus that. To the outsider, what Cyrus you know, did was either purely political, self-interest, pragmatism, benevolence, of no importance, perhaps. To the outside world, they all have different explanations for what Cyrus did. But why did he do it? Why did he do it at that point? What energized and motivated him to do it? And the answer is, politically incorrect it may be, the Lord did it. In our particular culture where politicians seem to boast of not doing God, it's very seldom you hear anyone making reference to God. And there's such a backlash against it when a politician attempts to relate anything to God. And sometimes as Christians, we can fall into that culture. We look for secular explanations of things. But as you read the scriptures, you are taught continually, we must always attribute the ultimate cause of all things to the Lord. The Greek historian Xenophon, who was a contemporary of Cyrus himself, has a fascinating description of Cyrus as a person. But what is astonishing to us and remarkable is that here, from the very lips of Cyrus, he refers to the Lord God of heaven. Though he himself was a worshipper of Marduk, the false god, but that is no obstacle to Jehovah, to taking a pagan. and bringing him to even acknowledge the Lord God of heaven. Josephus, the Jewish historian, called attention to all of this, regarding specifically the decree and the return of the Jews to their homeland. Then of course, as you know, Along came that remarkable find by archaeologists of the Cyrus Cylinder in 1879. And needless to say, ever since. All kinds of academics have all been in a hurry to tell us it doesn't say what it says. And it doesn't mean what it says. And they've spilled a lot of ink, written a lot of books just to refute this one particular point. But it's there in writing. whether it's light or not. And it says, he put it in writing. So here you have this lump of clay where the decree of Cyrus is actually written on it. What we have here then is a plain, simple statement that the Lord stirred the heart of Cyrus to make a declaration. And that declaration as we now know, has been on earth, and was written down in deed. So you have the word of God, you have the work of God, and then thirdly, no surprise, the worship of God. In verse 23, Thus saith Cyrus, king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the Lord God of heaven given me. He hath charged me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The Lord has God be with him, and let him go up. What is the single most important thing in life? For the people of God, The single most important thing in life for the people of God is the worship of God. A place and the people who travel to it for that singular purpose, to worship God. And that's why in Presbyterian history, the place is called the making house. a house where the church meets, and it meets for the worship of God. If you have a house that you live in, well, that's where you will invite, you know, the congregation to come for fellowship. On the Lord's day, the congregation is invited, leave your homes, travel to that one location, for the public worshipping of God. So Cyrus issued the decree, and then comes the challenge. Who is there? Who is there? In other words, who will go and rebuild the Lord's cause in the world? who is prepared to forsake all for the worship of God. So here's a pagan, a Gentile, who throws down a challenge to those who are the named people of God, and he says, will you go and build the cause of the Lord? Will you travel? and ensure that God is worshiped. Now you think of the journey from Babylon to Jerusalem. You know, you hear that many people moaning about, my father had to travel sometimes for worship. I do get it all in the context, but you know, when you put it into the broader context, you're all these people. They happily uproot themselves for the worship of God. We will go, say, Sabbath. It's a great challenge to us, isn't it? By putting the worship of God at its center and heart. Well, let's come to some points of application. First of all, it is no accident that Matthew emphasizes scripture being fulfilled. Because that's the last emphasis of Chronicles. The word of the Lord being fulfilled. So when you come to Matthew's gospel, there's a nice exercise for you. Just go through Matthew's gospel and see how often it refers to the scripture being fulfilled. But we'll do a few. Matthew 1, 22, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet. Now we could pause there for a moment as we will. What the prophet said is what the Lord said. So the prophet is merely the mouth for the words of the Lord being communicated. That's what it says there. But the word of the Lord is fulfilled. Matthew 2.5, thus it is written by the prophet. 2.15, that it might be fulfilled. 2.17, then was fulfilled. And in 2.23. that it might be fulfilled. So you see this great emphasis in Matthew's gospel, the word being fulfilled. So the reader of the scriptures, Matthew's day, reading through the last part of 2 Chronicles, coming into Matthew's gospel, the theme carries on. he can see the word of the Lord being fulfilled. So what was true then is true now, he would conclude. Nor is it any accident that as the decree of Cyrus was a catalyst, so the reader reading Luke's gospel, the decree of Caesar Augustus was a catalyst. All fits together, doesn't it? The word of the Lord being perfectly fulfilled, step by step. So you see, my friends, at any time when you lift up the word of God, you read these wonderful things that should excite us and thrill us. This is the Lord speaking. Secondly, all confirmed by Christ. If you take those three points that I just mentioned, the word and the work and the worship, when you come to the Lord Jesus Christ, you have the same emphasis. Consider the word. Well, the word, of course, was made flesh. He fulfilled the word in every detail. And so when you turn to Luke 24 and verse 25, then he said unto them, O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, ought not Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into his glory? And then in verse 44, And he said unto them, These are the words which I speak unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the Law of Moses, and in the Prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. There's the three great sections. of the Hebrew Old Testament canon. The law, the prophets, and the Psalms. Third section is the writings, but because the Psalms is the major part, so it's called the Psalms. What about the Savior's words to the disciples? Fulls and slew of heart to believe. You see, it is our witness and our folly. to be slow to believing the word. That was the fault of the disciples. Slow of heart to believe. Then secondly, what about the work? Well, again, you see it in Christ in John 6, verse 28. Verse 29, rather, this is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent. This is the work of God. In other words, the same God who worked in the day of Cyrus is the same God today. And what about worship? Well, in John 4 and in verse 23, but the hour cometh and nigh is, when the true worshipper shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father seeketh such to worship him." The Word, the Work, and the Worship. What a wonderful way to conclude the Book of Chronicles. We have considered all these Kings. Sometimes it may have appeared as repetitive, But what these last two verses tell you, the only way to get to this point was the Word of God being fulfilled. So here's the challenge. The end of this year, a new year perhaps we may see. Shall we trust the Word? Shall we delight in the works of the Lord? You see, we began our worship with this phrase, didn't we? Thanking God for his works. Why? What's special about the works of the Lord? The psalmist said to me, it proves the Lord is near. What's the one thing we doubt? The nearness of the Lord. Here in these two last verses, everything is summarized for you. May the Lord bless these words.