Ezra 1:1   In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia , in order to fulfill the word of the LORD spoken by Jeremiah, the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it in writing

  

       

In terms of sovereign acts of God, this must be one of my favourites. Israel have been in captivity in Babylon for about sixty years. It will be seventy between destruction of the temple and completion of rebuilding it, because God had given seventy years to be prophesied by Jeremiah. The Jews have all but given up the thought of ever being the distinguishable people of God again. Then Cyrus becomes king. We are given no indication that he was a godly king but somehow God moved on him and he made a declaration that the Jews could go back to Jerusalem .

 

I described this as a sovereign act of God because we are told He moved the heart of Cyrus to do this. Yet, I suspect, sometimes the sovereign acts of God come very quietly and almost without notice. How did God do this with Cyrus? I don't know for we aren't told but somehow He spoke to Cyrus and Cyrus heard and responded. Did he put it into Cyrus's mind to read the old Hebrew prophecies and did he come across his name in the prophecies of Isaiah? Maybe.

 

The truth is, I believe, that the Lord moves and brings changes to the world more by whispering into the minds of men than perhaps by any other means. How easy to whisper into the mind, “Why don't you….” as you see the general inclination of their heat change. Wonderful!