This week in The Gospel Project®
for Kids, our journey takes us to Babylon. God’s people had been living
in Babylon for 70 years and some had even died in Babylon. Some of
their children and grandchildren were born in Babylon and grew up there.
But Babylon was not their home.
Before the people of
Judah were exiled, God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah. These
are the words of the Lord: “When 70 years for Babylon are complete, I
will attend to you and will confirm My promise concerning you to restore
you to this place” (Jer. 29:10). The time had come for God’s people to
go back home. Cyrus, the king of the Persian empire, overthrew Babylon.
Cyrus took over the kingdom, including the lands of Israel and Judah. In
the following year, the Lord did something miraculous in Cyrus’s heart.
He prompted Cyrus to issue a decree: All the Jewish exiles are free to
return to their ancestral homes.
The exile was over!
God’s people were free to return to their own land. The first group of
Judean exiles returned home under the leadership of Zerubbabel (zuh RUHB
uh buhl). Zerubbabel was the grandson of King Jehoiachin, who had been
taken to Babylon by King Nebuchadnezzar. Ezra 2:64-65 says nearly 50,000
people traveled back to Judah. When they got to Jerusalem, they began
working to rebuild the temple that the Chaldeans (Babylonians) had
destroyed.
Zerubbabel led God's
people back to the temple to rebuild it. The temple was the place where
God met with His people on earth. Jesus came to earth to rescue God’s
people. One day Jesus will return to restore a greater home for all of
God's people, and we will spend eternity with Him.
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