Ezra 1 makes it clear that the Lord is in control of history. He stirs up the heart of Cyrus king of Persia (Ezra 1:1). He stirs up the heart of his people (Ezra 1:5). The Lord is sovereign. That is the reason why Israel came back to Jerusalem after they were sent into exile. God promised to bring them back, and because he is sovereign, he worked in history to bring them back.

God’s control over history is seen in his active involvement in history. God is interested in the world that he has made. He is interested in the people that he has made and he works in history to make sure that events unfold in a way that he wants them to unfold. He stirs up the heart of Cyrus; he stirs up the heart of his people.

Even enemies of God, those who deny his existence, are nevertheless under God’s control. Cyrus did not believe in the Lord, yet was still used by God as an instrument to accomplish God’s plans.

God had to intervene in the lives of his people if they were to go back to Israel.

Remember, the people of Judah have been in exile for around seventy years. Seventy years is long. According to the Bible, seventy years is the normal lifetime of a person. After seventy years of living in one place, you are no longer considered to be an immigrant. You have built your own house, planted your garden. Your children have been born and they have grown up in the city. You now speak Aramaic rather than Hebrew and your memory of life in Jerusalem is only second hand. You learned about Jerusalem from your grandmother and grandfather. What’s more, everything you hear and read about Jerusalem is that it is poor and desolate place.

The only reason people would leave the comforts of Babylon and return to Jerusalem is if God worked in their hearts to cause them to get up and go. If it was not for God’s intervention in the lives of the people from Judah, Benjamin and the Levites, they would not have gone back to Jerusalem. They would not have rebuilt the temple.