Awaken (Ezra 1:1-11)

INTRODUCTION

According to Daniel 1:1, some Jews were deported to Babylon in 605 B.C., when Nebuchadnezzar laid seige on Jerusalem. In 597 others were exiled, among them the prophet Ezekiel. Jerusalem was finally destroyed in 587 B.C., and many more of the Jews were carried to Babylon.

Exile in Babylon was a hard time for the Jews to maintain their faith. Both Jeremiah and Ezekiel explained that these calamities came upon them as punishment for disobedience and because they had not returned to God. Their messages called the people to repentance and warned them of God’s severe judgment by death and exile. But they also prophesied a message of hope, the promise of a return to their own land. God used these prophecies to keep Israel’s faith alive during these years.

The Persian Empire replaced Babylon as the greatest power in the ancient Near East. All the events of Ezra-Nehemiah took place during the time of the Persian Empire.

Although many Jews in Babylon (and Persia) were comfortably settled and had little desire to return to Judah, others prayed for and desired to return. They longed to worship God together and offer sacrifices in their own temple according to their own law and traditions. So the first chapters of Ezra tell the story of a second exodus, one of the most important events in Jewish history and thus in the history of God’s redemptive plan.

[Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther (I. Prophecy Fulfilled: First Return from Exile (1:1–2:70)]

What struck me when I began studying this passage is a phrase that occurs in verse 1 and then again in verse 5: “the Lord roused the spirit of King Cyrus” (1); and “everyone whose spirit God had roused” (5). The English Standard Version of the Bible reads, “the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus” and “everyone whose spirit God had stirred up. The New International Version reads that God “moved the heart” of Cyrus and the people.

Roused, stirred up, moved. Those words caught my attention in two ways. First, the meaning: The biblical word that the writer used means “to awaken.”

Awaken.

I thought of the times recently when I have been awakened from sleep: the next-door neighbors’ dog, barking at 2 am; the loud crash inside our house at 4 am, when a wall decor fell; a phone call at midnight. I was in a deep sleep until the noise of the dog, the crash, the phone roused me from my sleep.

I truly believe that my next stream of thought came from the Holy Spirit. He roused my memory to Ephesians 5:6-14

Ephesians 5:6–14 (CSB)

Let no one deceive you with empty arguments, for God’s wrath is coming on the disobedient because of these things. Therefore, do not become their partners. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light—for the fruit of the light consists of all goodness, righteousness, and truth—testing what is pleasing to the Lord. Don’t participate in the fruitless works of darkness, but instead expose them. For it is shameful even to mention what is done by them in secret. Everything exposed by the light is made visible, for what makes everything visible is light. Therefore it is said:

Get up, sleeper, and rise up from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.

Get up. Rise up. There it is again; a word in Greek corresponding to the Hebrew word in Ezra 1:1, 5, meaning, “to awaken.”

I then recognized that God was speaking to me. Someone needs to wake up. Someone is asleep, not literally, but metaphorically, spiritually.

The second way my attention was captured was who God roused, woke up, in Ezra: first a pagan king and then the people of Judah and Benjamin who returned from exile.

A pagan king: King Cyrus of Persia, to be exact. Following the chronology of the story, God roused the spirit of Cyrus before He roused the spirits of the Jews. God was up to something, wasn’t He. He was preparing to do something new among His people. But first, He needed to wake them up. Surprisingly, He woke up a pagan king first in order to set the stage for something new. Then he woke up His people so they could see the opportunity to experience this new thing that God was doing; in their context, to “rebuild the Lord’s house in Jerusalem.”

Wake up. Something new is coming. It’s time to rebuild what is broken and decaying.

OK, God. I see a connection here. Back in October, we looked at Isaiah 43:18–19 and believed that God is giving us a promise: Something new is coming to Calvary Baptist Church. Here’s what Isaiah wrote: “Do not remember the past events; pay no attention to things of old. Look, I am about to do something new; even now it is coming. Do you not see it? Indeed, I will make a way in the wilderness, rivers in the desert.”

There’s a connection, by the way, between Ezra 1 and Isaiah 43. Ezra 1 is part of God’s fulfillment of Isaiah 43. And there is a connection between Ezra 1 and the fulfillment of God’s promise to us. God wants to do something new in and through us. However, just as Judah and Benjamin needed a wake-up call before they could see the opportunity and join God in rebuilding the temple, maybe we also need to wake up.

Wake up. Get up. Rise up. So that the light of Christ can shine through us.

We need to experience an awakening. We need God to interrupt our spiritual sleep. We need a wake up call so that when the new comes we will see it, seize it, and act upon it.

Why do I say that we need a wakeup call?

Because only 1/3 of our membership attends worship on Sunday.

Because more than 1/3 of our members do not give financially to God’s ministry here.

Because 3/4 of our city are unchurched.

Those are a few reasons.

This is the perfect time to wake up. It’s the first Sunday of a new year. What does God have in store for 2025? We can’t answer that question today, not yet. But we can get ready for it. We can ask God to rouse our spirits, stir us up, move our hearts, wake us up.

It’s time for us to plead with God for a spiritual awakening in our lives, in our church, in our community, in our schools, in our nation.

The Main Points

God has my attention. I am wide awake. As I studied and listened to God’s voice, here’s what I heard Him say.

Awaken to God’s sovereign hand (1-2).

At the heart of this passage is the realization that God can use anyone to fulfill His purposes. King Cyrus, despite being a pagan ruler, is moved by God to release the Israelites and support the rebuilding of the temple. This reminds us that God is at work in ways we might not always understand or expect. His plans may involve surprising alliances and unexpected channels, yet they are always for the good of His people and His glory.

Pay careful attention to God’s movement in verses 1-2. He is a promise keeper. Seventy years prior to this moment in history, God spoke to Israel through Jeremiah. Jeremiah 25:12 promised that, “When the seventy years are completed, I will punish the king of Babylon and that nation’—this is the Lord’s declaration—‘the land of the Chaldeans, for their iniquity, and I will make it a ruin forever.” And in Jeremiah 29:10–12, the promise is repeated: “For this is what the Lord says: “When seventy years for Babylon are complete, I will attend to you and will confirm my promise concerning you to restore you to this place. For I know the plans I have for you”—this is the Lord’s declaration—“plans for your well-being, not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. You will call to me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.”

God is a promise-keeper. Aren’t you glad? Every single prophecy regarding Israel, the Messiah, God’s plan of redemption have bee fulfilled. Over and over in Matthew’s Gospel, for example, we read: “these things were done, or this was said, to fulfill what was written.” And we see an example of it here in Ezra. God awakened a king’s spirit “in order to fulfill the word of the Lord.”

God is the sovereign ruler over all creation. Cyrus was the king of Persia, but God is king of kings, and whatever God sets out to do, He does. God said as much to Isaiah in Isaiah 46:9–10 “Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and no one is like me. I declare the end from the beginning, and from long ago what is not yet done, saying: my plan will take place, and I will do all my will.”

God always fulfills His plan, even if it means using unexpected people, like a pagan king.

In God’s sovereignty, He has positioned each of us here in this church to accomplish His will and His plan.

2. Awaken to God’s call to rebuild (3-4).

Katrina 2005 — Lovelady 1966

Illustrate the importance of the task at hand - rebuilding the temple as a center of worship, symbolizing spiritual renewal.

For the Israelites, Cyrus’s decree was more than a political act; it was a divine intervention and invitation to participate in God’s redemptive plan. As they prepared to return and rebuild, they were called to a task of restoration and renewal. This same call resonates with us today. We are often called to rebuild what has been broken or forgotten—whether it’s our personal faith, our relationships, or our communities. God invites us into His work, equipping us with what we need to succeed.

Richard J. Foster develops a threefold typology of spiritual disciplines. There are inward disciplines (meditation, prayer, fasting, and study), outward disciplines (simplicity, solitude, submission, and service), and corporate disciplines (confession, worship, guidance, and celebration).

Encourage reflection on our own lives: How are we called to "rebuild" and what spiritual renewals are necessary for us today?

3. Awaken to God’s call to generosity (5-6).

In response to this call, the Israelites gathered resources and support from the broader community. They understood the importance of communal effort in achieving God’s mission. Their generosity and shared commitment reflect the attitude we should have when God calls us to a new endeavor. Together, we can accomplish great things for His kingdom.

Note how the people responded with generosity, contributing resources for the rebuilding effort.

Discuss the importance of community and cooperation in fulfilling God’s plans.

Sacrificial giving

4. Awaken to God’s call to worship (7-11).

Explain the significance of the returned vessels, which represented the restoration of worship and divine order.

Draw parallels to the restoration of what is sacred in our own lives and what it means for personal and communal faith restoration.

All of life is worship!

Deuteronomy 6:4–9: Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. These words that I am giving you today are to be in your heart. Repeat them to your children. Talk about them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Bind them as a sign on your hand and let them be a symbolC on your forehead. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your city gates.

Romans 12:1–2 “Therefore, brothers and sisters, in view of the mercies of God, I urge you to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God; this is your true worship. Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God.”

CONCLUSION

Reiterate the themes of God’s sovereignty, faithfulness, and the importance of heeding His call.

Encourage the congregation to trust in God’s plans and to be active participants in His work, just as the Israelites responded to the call to rebuild the temple.

In Ephesians, Paul was sending a “wake-up call” to believers who were being deceived by darkness. In much the same way as Jeremiah and Ezekiel warned Israel, Paul warned the believers in the church in Ephesus of God’s wrath upon the disobedient. He exhorted them to no longer walk in darkness but to walk as “children of light.” Live a life that pleases the Lord: a life of goodness, righteousness, and truth. Wake up. Experience the light of Christ shining on you.

Conclude with a prayer asking for guidance and strength to act on God’s calling in our lives.