Homiletic Review Ezra 1:3 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… I. CYRUS PRESENTED THESE EXILED JEWS WITH THE CHANCE OF A FREE CHOICE. Cyrus did not compel. These Jews might, or they might not, go to Jerusalem. It was for each one of them to choose. So Christ, in His call to the true life and heaven, puts before men the chance of an utterly free choice. "Ye will not come unto Me that ye might have life." II. This choice which Cyrus presented to these exiled Jews was a CHOICE OF EXCLUSIONS. If they chose to go to Palestine they must yield what things would keep them in Babylon. They might carry with them many things (vers. 7-11). But their houses and lands, every detaining thing, must be surrendered. So this choice which Christ presents to men is necessarily a choice of exclusions. Christianity is not narrowness. Read the charter of a Christian liberty in 1 Corinthians 3:21-23. But Christ comes to save a man from sin. What Babylonish and preventing sins you cleave to must be yielded. III. IT WAS A CHOICE TOWARD NOBLENESS which Cyrus gave these exiled Jews. Surely it was better, nobler to go to Jerusalem and rebuild God's temple than to dwell in exiled ease in Babylon. IV. This choice which Cyrus opened for these exiled Jews was a choice NECESSITATING FAITH. Between Babylon and Palestine stretched vast wide sandy plains. But for the heartening of the Jews choosing the nobler destiny there was the Divine promise. So for the Christian, the man who accepts Christ's call to the nobler life, there are Divine promises, V. THIS NECESSITY OF CHOICE. For every one of us, in high spiritual way, this choice confronts Babylon or Jerusalem. (Homiletic Review.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. |
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