Ezra 1:7-11

Was not Cyrus a type, in this instance, of the gentile church, concerning whom it was said that they should bring of their abundance to beautify the place of God's sanctuary. Isaiah 60:3. And it is remarkable, as if the Lord meant from the earliest days of the church to point out his holy will and pleasure, in making the Jew and Gentile church at length one in Jesus, that in the first wilderness church after the people departed out of Egypt, the church was supplied from the spoils of the Egyptians, Exodus 12:35. But I wish the reader to make another observation which those verses suggest, namely, amidst all the impiety and profaneness of the kings of Babylon, in desecrating the holy vessels of the temple, how did the Lord watch over both the people and the temple treasures. Yes! the Lord's eye was upon them, and according to his own precious word, their memorial was always before him: In my wroth I smote thee, saith the Lord; but in my favor have I had mercy upon thee. Isaiah 40:10. How sweet a lesson this to the long and painful exercises of his afflicted ones now. He knows all they feel; hears every groan, and is speaking to them in the same gracious words; I the Lord do keep it. I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day. Isaiah 27:2.