{"id":65500,"date":"2023-07-17T19:51:26","date_gmt":"2023-07-17T19:51:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=65500"},"modified":"2023-07-17T19:51:26","modified_gmt":"2023-07-17T19:51:26","slug":"re-discovering-cyrus-part-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/?p=65500","title":{"rendered":"Re discovering Cyrus (Part 2 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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  1. NO LYING POLITICAL PROMISES<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    King Cyrus did not make political promises that were never to be fulfilled. He followed up his Temple-Project promises with practical implementation, much unlike the popular politician today<\/a>. For example, he restored to the cause of that Temple Project such precious resources as the treasures of gold and silver that his other-godly predecessors had confiscated from that holy place (Ezra 1:7-11). Not only did he fulfil his personal promises of support to the Temple Project at Jerusalem, he personally made a proclamation encouraging other citizens to support that same Project that himself had publicly identified with. \u00a0If that is Cyrus, may he rule a thousand tenures.\u00a0 Hear him, speaking like a high priest, as Moses often did (Leviticus 22:18<\/a>, 21; 23:38<\/a>):<\/p>\n

    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, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, <\/em>(he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem.\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

    4 And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem<\/em> (Ezra 1:3-4).<\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n

      \n
    1. CYRUS BLESSED HIS PEOPLE\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

      Cyrus was not one who by sorceries or a mindless tongue cursed his land and its peoples. Cyrus was not reckless with his words against any section of his kingdom.\u00a0 He blessed his people in the name of the God of heaven. We hear him declare, \u201cWho is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up\u2026\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

      How many kings that claim the name of Cyrus bless their people? How many have not instead brought a woe upon their land? How many invoke the presence of God upon their land?\u00a0 Would they not rather conjure civil crises across the land just so as to perpetuate themselves on their stools? \u00a0How many encourage their people to \u201cgo up,\u201d<\/em> and would not rather pull them down in the name of a breach of concocted legalities?<\/p>\n

      Cyrus sought upon his people the good influence of God rather than stamp upon them the names of shame that cripple a people from going up.\u00a0 He invoked upon his people the blessing, not the curse, of the God of Heaven.\u00a0 If it be such a man that they clothe with the name of Cyrus, may he rule a thousand generations, and the people shall bless him, even though he be a Gentile.<\/p>\n

        \n
      1. CYRUS THE SUN\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

        It is said that the name Cyrus meant \u201cthe sun.\u201d If that be so, then the man truly lived his name, and blazed the light for everyone to see their way. He was light, not darkness, to his kingdom. He brought light to the economy as he championed infrastructural developments rather than demolitions.\u00a0 He brought light to his citizens as he sought their welfare rather than fan sectional flames to divide them.\u00a0 He brought sense into foreign policy by pursuing cordialities with healthy distant lands rather than alliances with haters of good.\u00a0 He brought the light of God as he introduced the God of heaven into his speech and into the social culture, rather than scheme out the Holy Name from circulation in schools and other platforms. Very well then did God in advance call him \u201cmy shepherd,\u201d<\/em> who would perform \u201call MY pleasure\u201d<\/em> (Isaiah 44:28).<\/p>\n

          \n
        1. MENTORED BY DANIEL<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

          Who was this Cyrus the Gentile? How did he become as we find him? The simplistic answer is that Cyrus was the product of Isaiah\u2019s and Jeremiah\u2019s prophecies, several years before the man had come on the scene (Isaiah 44:28; 45:1-7; Jeremiah 25:12;\u00a029:10). The comprehensive answer, however, will be found in historical and Biblical deductions.<\/p>\n

          We read in Daniel 6:28<\/a>, \u201cSo this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0 In other words, Daniel served also under Cyrus, and that king, like those before him, must also have benefitted much from the godly counsel and presence of Daniel the prophet of God. The further fact that Daniel \u201cprospered\u201d<\/em> in the reign of Cyrus suggests that there had been a cordial relationship between that prophet in the palace and the king on the throne. \u00a0Daniel was certainly not one of those hungry Gehazis that often \u2018prophetically\u2019 patrolled the corridors of kings and sang their praise for a crumb of bread.\u00a0 The kings respected him much more for his apparent disciplines (Daniel 6:5).<\/p>\n

          Some theologians are of the view that Daniel must have shown Cyrus his name in the prophetic books of the ancient Jewish prophet Isaiah, about a century and half before Cyrus had been born. \u00a0Besides, the mystical prowess of the elder statesman was not unknown in the palace where he had been serving from his youth as a Jewish exile. \u00a0Growing up in the same courts before he became king, Cyrus must have met Daniel in those memorable encounters. \u00a0That, I suppose, holds the key to what Cyrus became, plus the prophecies that had gone ahead of him, from Isaiah and Jeremiah.<\/p>\n

            \n
          1. MESSIAH OR ANTICHRIST?\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

            Not everyone by the name of Christ is Christ; not everyone by the name of Cyrus is Cyrus. As there are antichrists, so are there anti-Cyruses. \u00a0As there are fake prophets, so are there fake messiahs. \u00a0It takes no less discernment to tell the fake religious \u2018Christ\u2019 as to tell the fake political \u2018Cyrus.\u2019<\/p>\n

            Cyrus was messianic, and he walked with true prophets and teachers like Daniel and Ezra. \u00a0On the contrary, his counterfeits, like the apocalyptic Antichrist, surround themselves with false prophets, false priests, and blaspheming Beastly gangsters also clothed with cleaner names than they deserve (Revelation 13:4-5; 16:13<\/a>-14). \u00a0Discern them.\u00a0 If they should be too clever to be discerned, then judge them by the \u2018houses\u2019 that they have built, and to whom \u2013 or to which gods.<\/p>\n

            Cyrus was friend with the Jews, unlike the impostors to whom his cherished name is given, who strangely \u201cmake war with the saints\u201d<\/em> and, in many cases, \u201covercome them\u201d<\/em> by means of the strange powers questionably \u201cgiven\u201d <\/em>them \u201cover all kindreds, and tongues, and nations<\/em>\u201d <\/em>(Revelation 13:4-7).\u00a0 There is a fitting popular Nigerian advertorial that has become an adage: \u201cIf it\u2019s not Panadol, it\u2019s not the same as Panadol.\u201d<\/p>\n

              \n
            1. THE PRODUCT OF PROPHECIES AND SUSTAINED PRAYERS\u00a0 <\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

              King Cyrus\u2019s decree that the Jews should return to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem was in 538 BC. \u00a0One year before that, in 539 BC, \u201cIn the first year of Darius son of Xerxes\u201d<\/em> (Daniel 9:1), Daniel had begun to bombard the heavens with prayer and fasting for his people\u2019s release from their forced exile to Babylon (Daniel 10). That historic intercession for Israel was based on his realization, from reading the prophecies of Jeremiah (Daniel 9:2), that the Jews had already served their maximum sentence of seventy years in exile, and the time had come therefore for them to go back home.<\/p>\n

              One year after those powerful inter-galactic prayers in the palace premises; one year after such sustained prophetic interventions that did not go unnoticed by the wicked principalities over the territory, King Cyrus appears on the scene announcing an encounter with the God of heaven, and a commission from that God to rebuild and restore His temple at Jerusalem. That king had no choice. He was a product of continuous prayers as well as of the preceding prophecies of holy fathers \u2013 of Prophet Isaiah and Prophet Jeremiah.<\/p>\n

              Cyrus was cooked in prophecy and baked in prayers.\u00a0 Unlike him, those that some would give his hallowed name have never denied the shariah cauldrons and blood shrines of their incubation.\u00a0 In fact, they publicly boast about those.\u00a0 Unlike Cyrus, of them the heavens cry, \u201cFor they <\/em>have shed the blood of saints and prophets\u201d;<\/em> in them have been found by careful reporters \u201c<\/em>the blood of prophets, and of saints, and of all that were slain upon the earth.\u201d<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0 In accordance with the evil covenants that had installed them, they have been \u201cdrunken with the blood of the saints, and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus\u201d<\/em> (Revelation 16:6; 17:6; 18:24<\/a>).<\/p>\n

                \n
              1. A WILLING AND OBEDIENT VESSEL\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                The preceding prophecies were powerful, but that does not say it all for Cyrus. \u00a0That king cooperated with the prophecies of God upon his life.\u00a0 After all, not all that carried a prophecy fulfilled the prophecy (Colossians 4:17<\/a>; 2 Peter 1:9).\u00a0 There have been those who rebelled against the very prophecies that had installed them, for example, Judas, Gehazi, and King Saul. \u00a0In Cyrus, there was a willing heart that met a willing mentor. Daniel was a godly presence in the palace, a holy parliamentarian, a prophet\/public servant in the courts of the king, who provided an avenue for God to reach the man that prophecy had been preparing for the throne.<\/p>\n

                Cyrus must have encountered the \u2018ministry\u2019 and influence of Daniel first as a younger soldier helping his uncle King Darius in the courts. He must have been very familiar with the divine influence of Prophet Daniel, with the power of Daniel\u2019s prayers and that man\u2019s godly testimony. He was not unfamiliar with the court narratives of Daniel\u2019s political enemies and his miraculous deliverance from the lions\u2019 den (Daniel 6:20<\/a>-24), his interpretation of strange dreams for kings (Daniel 2; 4), the mysterious hand that had written a strange message on the palace banquet wall, thus abruptly terminating King Belshazzar\u2019s grandiose idolatrous state party, and how only Daniel had been able to interpret that strange message in a strange language written in a strange script (Daniel 5).<\/p>\n

                King Cyrus was a child of prophecy and prayers, as well as of some sort of discipleship by the prophet in the palace. Cyrus simply entered into what I would usually call a \u2018prayerlized\u2019 atmosphere, and he had no choice but to fall in pre-defined line.\u00a0 Can we speak similarly of those that they would force us to call by Cyrus\u2019s hallowed name?<\/p>\n

                  \n
                1. DID DANIEL MATTER?\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                  If Daniel were insignificant and his prayers ineffective in his space, the hosts of hell would not so frequently have stirred other politicians to conspire against him; neither would Satan have finally, in utter desperation, personally mobilized, through the demonic \u201cPrince of Persia,\u201d<\/em> to attempt to frustrate the potency of Daniel\u2019s presence and prayers in the palace (Daniel 10). Daniel played his part, and Hell knew him well and feared. He had been planted in the palace ahead of the good and bad kings that passed through that place. \u00a0About 61 years after the death of Daniel in 539 BC, that palace produced Esther in 478 BC.\u00a0 Daniel\u2019s prayers and Cyrus\u2019s labours had not been in vain.\u00a0 God knows where you are.<\/p>\n

                    \n
                  1. A CYRUS OR A BEAST?\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

                    If whom we have sketched thus far is Cyrus, may he rule his land a thousand tenures. When next they invoke the name of Cyrus upon some undeserving politician; when next they steal the identity of a holy man to clothe some chameleonic beast, you might wish to ask them the following question:\u00a0 Did any father-prophet ever predict the coming of this man, as Isaiah and Jeremiah did Cyrus\u2019s coming? \u00a0Did they predict him by name? In what scrolls? Who discipled him? Where? Is he the product of prayers? Since when? By whom? Does he hear God, or prides himself in other gods? \u00a0What is the meaning and mystery of his name? Will he bless his people?\u00a0 Or does he manipulate widespread social upheavals as a means to perpetuate himself? Does he build or destroy? \u00a0Is his God the One with a House in Jerusalem that is in Judah, or the god with a house in some abominable place?<\/p>\n

                    If he be truly a Cyrus, may he rule his land a thousand tenures even though he be a Gentile.\u00a0 If he be not a Cyrus, may the throne refuse him, and may the very land vomit him.\u00a0 If he is not Cyrus, he cannot be the same as Cyrus.\u00a0 When next some religious apologists should invoke the name of Cyrus upon some desperate ruler, be sure that they are not stealing the identity of a holy man to clothe another chameleonic antichrist.<\/p>\n

                    \u25aa\ufe0e The Preacher can be reached at\u00a0 <\/em><\/strong>info@thepreacher.info<\/a>\u00a0 , https:\/\/thepreacherdiary.com\/<\/a>\u00a0; https:\/\/facebook.com\/www.thepreacher.info\/<\/a>\u00a0; www.thepreacher.info<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

                    NO LYING POLITICAL PROMISES King Cyrus did not make political promises that were never to be fulfilled. He followed up his Temple-Project promises with practical implementation, much unlike the popular politician today. For example, he restored to the cause of that Temple Project such precious resources as the treasures of gold and silver that his […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":65456,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5772],"tags":[6040,4927,6042],"class_list":["post-65500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-faith","tag-cyrus","tag-politician","tag-rediscovering"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=65500"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/65500\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/65456"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=65500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=65500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/everyday.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=65500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}