Part 5 of 6 – Israel's God-Given Destiny

Equipping God's Saints (Followers of Christ) through the Prophecies of the End Times …

In our last lesson, we learned that God sent this Prophet by the name of Jeremiah. His prophecy was that the King of Babylon was going to come. God was going to send him. He would invade the land at Israel and the children of Israel would be carried away into captivity for 70 years.

Well, it happened. Nebuchadnezzar invaded Israel around 606 BC. Daniel and the three Hebrew children who believed the Prophet Jeremiah went with the king of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar, because the message from Jeremiah was if when I send your judgement you will cooperate with it and if you will go without resistance into the land of Babylon, I will bless you even in your captivity.

You know, God can bless us where ever we are as long as we walk with God. If the entire nation is under judgment, that doesn't mean we have to be under judgment, but we can be blessed, even in our time of judgment.

So Daniel and the three Hebrew children go into Babylon, however, the king of Israel, the king of Judah at the time, was a man by the name of Zedekiah. He didn't believe the preaching of Jeremiah, so he decided to resist. Because of his resistance, the Bible says, if you resist, you are going to be destroyed. Because of his resistance, Nebuchadnezzar brought all of his sons before his face and killed all of them before his eyes. Then they put Zedekiah's eyes out and carried him away into Babylonian captivity.

While Zedekiah was in a jail cell, blind with his eyes poked out, Daniel and the three Hebrew children were climbing in the hierarchy of the Nation of Babylon. They ended up being high up in the rulership because they obeyed God and they did what He said. But don't forget, Israel was exiled for not hearing God's words.

The 70 years began in 606 BC at the first invasion. Zedekiah fought and Nebuchadnezzar had to come back. That's when the Temple was destroyed in 586 BC. By this time Daniel and the three Hebrew children were already down in Babylonian captivity and God was fulfilling His promise to them.

Daniel, down in Babylonian captivity, began to be known for his walk with Almighty God. It's prophesied in the Bible that this captivity would last for 70 years.

Just shortly before the expiring of the 70 years, the kingdom of Babylon was overthrown. As a matter of fact, the night it was overthrown, a king by the name of Belshazzar, who was the grandson of Nebuchadnezzar, threw a big feast and he did things he shouldn't have done. He took the golden and silver vessels which his grandfather, Nebuchadnezzar, had captured in Jerusalem and had never dared to use. He knew they were precious. He knew they were sacred. So he had never dared to use them.

But Belshazzar took them. Had his big, impious feast that night and God was so displeased with what he did that the forefinger of God began to write on the wall in the plaster. And Belshazzar was so frightened by this supernatural event that he began to look for someone to tell him what the handwriting meant.

Daniel was the only one that the people knew could hear from God. They brought Daniel in and Belshazzar said, “Can you tell me what this means?”

Daniel said, “Well, yes, I can King, but it's not good for you.”

Belshazzar said, Tell me anyway.”

Daniel said, “Well, what it says is thou art weighed in the balance and you're found wanting. And this night your kingdom will be divided between the Meads and the Persians.

Right at that time the army of the Meads and the Persians came in and conquered the Kingdom of Babylon. You remember that Babylon ruled the entire world during that day. So the Meads and the Persians pushed Babylon out as the ruler of the world and took its place.

It was during this time that a very special thing happened. Daniel, because of his spiritual reputation, went right from the Kingdom of Babylon right on into the leadership of the kingdoms of the Meads and the Persians. King Darius was over the Meads. Cyrus was king and Co-Ruler with Darius.

Darius was a confidant of Daniel. They were working together. It was at that time that someone came to Darius. These people wanted Daniel's job. They wanted to displace him but they said, “We'll never find anything wrong with Daniel. He's so faithful. He's so honest. His character is so high that we'll never find a way to displace him unless we find something wrong with his religion. He is so devout.”

They knew that Daniel prayed three times a day, so they decided they would flatter King Darius if they would create a law that no one could ask any petition of any other God or any other King except him for 30 days. They told him this would teach the people that you're in control. You're the new ruler here. Darius was so flattered, he said OK, and he stamped it with his seal; the seal of the Meads and the Persians, which is unchangeable.

These enemies of Daniel knew exactly what they were doing. Daniel knew this was happening. He couldn't stop it. The Bible says, “When Daniel knew that the decree was signed, he opened his window toward Jerusalem, just like Solomon had taught them to do, and prayed as he always did.”

Daniel knew he was signing his own death sentence, but his relationship with God was more important to him then life, itself. He would rather die than not have his daily prayer with Almighty God.

When the people that were after Daniel had heard him praying, they quickly went to King Darius and they said, “Oh, you know the man that you sat over the realm. This man by the name of Daniel, the Jew. He is down praying. He has violated your law.”

And the Bible says King Darius was very sorry because he had not thought about Daniel and his devotion. Consequently, Darius actually, personally went to Daniel and said, “Daniel, the Lord God that you serve continually, He is able to deliver you.”

They throw Daniel into the den of lions and that night Darius was so upset with what had transpired that he refused to eat anything before he went to bed. Normally, he had an orchestra in to play him to sleep, but that night King Darius said, “No music.” And he stayed up walking the floor, fasting, praying, “God, save Daniel.”

Daybreak, King Darius makes his way down to the lions den. He pulls the lid off of the lions den. He cries out, “Oh, Daniel, is the Lord God that you serve continually, able to deliver you?”

Now Daniel's down there and I imagine he went to sleep because God had sent His angels down to lock the lions jaws. He may have had his head on one lion for a pillow and he may have had his feet on another lion, propped up.

Daniel hears this commotion and again, King Darius calls out, “Oh, Daniel, is the Lord God that you serve continually able to deliver you?”

Daniel thinks, “Oh, how nice the king is worried about me. He really didn't want to do this to me.”

Daniel gets up and he calls back, “Oh King, live forever. He is able.”

Darius lets the rope down and pulls Daniel out of the den of lions and as they are walking back to the palace, Darius was so overwhelmed with the power of Daniel's God that he served continually, he said that, “From this day forward I'm making a decree that if anyone makes any petition of any other God other than your God, then he will be cast into the den of lions because your God is the true God that has the power to answer.”

Daniel walked with God and because he was faithful to God and didn't fail the test, one night in the lions den paid cash for the building of the second Temple. Reversed the captivity.

Remember that Cyrus was the other ruler in the kingdom of the Meads and Persians? It's interesting that God moved on the Prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 44:28 and prophesied about Cyrus before he was even born. There are very few prophecies in the Bible where a man is prophesied about by name, but this is one of them. Isaiah 44:28 says:

“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.”

Daniel knew this prophecy and since he was familiar with Darius, he undoubtedly also had access to Cyrus. He had occasion to say to Cyrus, “Do you know you're in the Bible?”

Cyrus said, “You're kidding me. I don't even believe in the God of Israel. I'm a heathen king. You're saying I'm in the Bible?”

Daniel showed him the scripture, Isaiah 44:28 and he said, “Isn't this amazing. This is saying that I'm going to build the Temple.”

Daniel told him to story that they were in exile for 70 years as the Prophet Jeremiah said.

Cyrus said, “Well, what year is it?”

Daniel said, “Well, this is about year, maybe, 68.”

Cyrus said, “Well, it's time for us to fulfill the prophecy then.”

Cyrus gave the commandment in 538 BC, in the 68^th year, that all who cared about the Temple and the House of God in Jerusalem should go back. The first wave of Jews went back in 536 BC. This was exactly 70 years after the exile had began when Daniel and the three Hebrew children were first carried down.

It was during this time a man named Zerubbabel was raised up by God to lead the effort to rebuild the Temple; to build Israel's second Temple. It was such a momentous task and they had so little to work with, I'm sure there were terrible times of discouragement for Zerubbabel and that's the reason the prophet Zechariah was sent to deliver a message straight from God to him. In Zechariah 4:6 it says:

“This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel saying, not by might, nor by power [Not by strength. It's not because you've got access to a lot of money.] But by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.”

This was the word of encouragement from the Lord.

They did work. First of all, the decree was made in 538 BC. The built for a while. They got the foundation laid. Then enemies came. They stopped the building for a little while and then it was started again. Finally, the building of the second Temple was completed in 516 BC.

It was a wonderful time for the people of Israel. The Second Temple Era had begun.

The second Temple wasn't very beautiful. It was nothing like Solomon's Temple. They simply did not have the resources in order to do it.

However, Herod the Great, who ruled over the Jewish people under Rome around 19 BC, wanted to earn the pleasure of the Jewish people, so he decided he would enlarge their Temple and make it much more beautiful, which he did. It was so beautiful that people said, in that era of time, “He that has never seen Herod's Temple has never seen a beautiful building in his life.”

We are watching all of this transpire. That was in 19 BC when the Temple was made much more beautiful. Harod the Great continued to rule. Then Finally, Jesus Christ was born.

Next we will move into the birth of Jesus Christ, the Messaiah.

Resources: The anointing of the Holy Spirit and God Almighty, who I am accountable to. I have prayed diligently and am led to follow and support the teachings of Pastor Irvin Baxter from Endtime Ministries and his teachings of Understanding the End Times. I encourage you to visit his website at endtime.com.