Joel M Bradshaw

1In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing…–Ezra 1

This is what the LORD says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place” (Jeremiah 29:10).

1. The nation of Judah was in exile.
2. The Persian empire was the dominant political power at the time.
3. They had conquered Babylon.
4. Babylon was finished, and so Jeremiah’s prophecy was on the table.
5. God fulfilled His word.
6. And He did so by using the dominant secular power of the day.
7. God works through peoples and nations. His sovereign will is always accomplished, no matter how difficult life seems.–JMB