SCRIPTURE: EZRA Chapter 1

After a 70-year nationwide time-out, God planned a new path for His people. He began to stir hearts to bring about change, opening the miraculous opportunity for Israel to return home. Just a year after the Persian Empire conquered Babylon, King Cyrus II permitted the Israelites to return to Judah to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple.

What a moment! What hope! What joy!

And yet, as we’ll see through this sermon series, the rebuild was not easy. They faced battles, false accusations, constant external threats, and waning motivation. What’s more, Israel also fell prey to patterns of the past. Sin continued to cling. Threats from the outside and sin from within pointed to the need for something more—something greater—someONE greater.

This week, we begin with Ezra 1:1–1 ...