The Stirring of the Heart
There is nothing more exciting for a true believer than
to look back in the scriptures and see how prophecy
was fulfilled. It gives credence to God and His witness.
One of the most exciting fulfillments of prophecy recorded
in
the Old Testament is that of the Jews leaving Babylon and
returning to rebuild Jerusalem. This was to fulfill the
words of Jeremiah the prophet:
When the seventy years are completed for Babylon,
I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to
bring you back to this place. (Jeremiah 29:10)
What a wonderful time to live in! The Babylonian captivity
was about to end and Abraham’s offspring were about
to go to their homeland and rebuild the temple. This is
what they had longed for, hoped for, and waited for.
You would think that the response to the call by King
Cyrus to “go up to Jerusalem in Judah and rebuild
the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is
in Jerusalem” would have been overwhelming. However,
it wasn’t at all. Although they were in a foreign
land, with foreign customs and gods, many did not want to
leave. According to the ancient historian Josephus they
had become quite prosperous in Babylon and most of them
did not like the idea of leaving and beginning all over
again — in fact they loathed it.
Although some did return, the majority did not. They had
grown comfortable in Babylon, in spite of the many commandments
from their God not to mix with other cultures. They had
become successful in business, owned property, accumulated
possessions, some amassing great wealth. Why, when they
were beginning to do so well in society, did God want them
to up and leave? Did He really mean to leave everything?
Even family members, if they were unwilling to come? All
they had to return to was a desolate wasteland full of wild
animals and rubble. Surely He did not expect them to abandon
all they had gained for that!? How would people view their
God if they were so irrational as to suddenly leave their
jobs, possessions, friends, and family to return to Jerusalem?
What kind of witness would that be?
Thes
e
questions must have reverberated in many of the minds that
heard the call. Therefore, many Jews decided to stay in
Babylon. This was no time to leave. Perhaps they would be
able to make Babylon into a better place. Perhaps they could
influence their society politically and financially and
change things for the better.
Oddly enough, upon reading this intriguing story in the
Bible, we find that God actually did want them to leave.
It is what God had predestined for them to do. No one today
would actually argue that it was not God’s will that
the Jews in Babylon leave everything and return to rebuild
Jerusalem.
So, how is this ancient story in the Bible relevant today?
Part of the answer lies in the response of those who did
leave Babylon. In Ezra 1:5 it says, “...everyone whose
heart was stirred by God.” These were the ones who
responded to the call. Something was awakened in their hearts
by the prophet to return to Jerusalem after seventy years.
This was a once-in-a-lifetime chance to hear and obey. It
is what many had lived their lives in anticipation of. They
did not want to settle for a comfortable life in Babylon.
They knew God wanted more than that. These people set their
face like flint to return and rebuild. It was like another
exodus.
The stirring of the heart to go rebuild can be compared
to the stirring of the heart to hear Christ’s message
and follow Him — setting one’s face like flint
to rebuild the Kingdom and not look back. Looking at the
gospel of Christ, it is not difficult to see the parallel
between His call to leave everything to follow Him and what
God called the Jews in Babylon to do. Many of the Jews in
Babylon thought it was unreasonable to expect them to leave
everything behind, even unwilling family members, and many
people today think the same way about Christ’s call
to forsake everything, including unwilling family members,
to follow Him.
It is very similar in America today to how it was in Babylon:
people are quite comfortable in their living conditions,
careers, schools, and social circles. They’ve accumulated
property and possessions. Many are doing “quite well”
in the world today. But what if the call came from God to
abandon all that, follow Christ, and build His kingdom?
Would their hearts be stirred to obey? Or would they rather
stay and live out their days in Babylon?
To build up His kingdom and to build up the world are
two entirely different things. In fact, Christ said, “My
kingdom is not of this world.” In fact, the world
is an entirely different kingdom and is ruled by a different
king.
Then the devil, taking Him up on a high mountain,
showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of
time. And the devil said to Him, “All this authority
I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered
to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.” (Luke
4:5-6)
We know that we are of God, and that the whole
world lies in the power of the evil one. (1 John 5:19)
We also know that anyone who is of the truth hears His
voice and follows Him. Anyone who is unable to hear His
voice is still under the sway of the ruler of this world.
If someone wants to follow Him and build up the Kingdom
of God, then he must change kingdoms and allegiances. He
must leave Babylon (the world) in order to build up Jerusalem
(His kingdom). 
For He rescued us from the domain of darkness,
and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son.
(Colossians 1:13)
I have given them Your word; and the world
has hated them because they are not of the world, just
as I am not of the world. I do not pray that You should
take them out of the world, but that You should keep them
from the evil one. They are not of the world, just as
I am not of the world. (John 17:15-16)
If the world hates you, you know that it hated
Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the
world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the
world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the
world hates you. (John 15:18-19)
The gospel of Jesus Christ called men to leave everything
behind and follow Him. They could not stay where they were
and build — they had to get up and come after Him.
They could have no other allegiances. The response by those
first disciples when they heard His message validates this:
And He said to them, “Follow Me, and
I will make you fishers of men.” Immediately they
left their nets and followed Him. Going on from there
He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and
John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father,
mending their nets; and He called them. Immediately they
left the boat and their father, and followed Him. (Matthew
4:19-22)
Peter began to say to Him, “Behold, we
have left everything and followed You.” Jesus said,
“Truly I say to you, there is no one who has left
house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children
or farms, for My sake and for the gospel’s sake,
but that he will receive a hundred times as much now in
the present age, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers
and children and farms, along with persecutions; and in
the age to come, eternal life.” (Mark 10:28-30)
The first disciples did not think it was unreasonable
for Him to expect them to leave everything, even family,
and follow Him. In addition, Christ did not think it unusual
that they did this, nor did He say it was unnecessary when
Peter exclaimed that they had left everything to follow
Him. This was the normal response to His gospel.
These first disciples had to face the same hardships that
those who left Babylon did; they had to leave behind those
who weren’t stirred in their heart. They had to
leave behind parents, children, husbands and wives, brothers
and sisters — whoever was not stirred to go and build
what God was building.
Even Abraham, the first one God called, had to leave behind
his family, his country, and his father’s house and
go to the land God would show him. He left one place
and went to another place. He was called out by the same
voice:
And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!”
And let him who hears say, “Come!” And let
him who thirsts come. Whoever desires, let him take the
water of life freely. (Revelation 22:17)
The word come denotes motion from one place to another.
The very same essential requirement that Abraham had when
he was called by God is present in all the Gospels —
movement from one place to another. The first step in obeying
the gospel is to leave one place in order to go to another
place — a new place and environment. When a person
is born again he receives a brand new heart and is immersed
into the brand new culture of the Body of Christ —
he does not remain in the culture of the world.
Abraham had to leave his land, turn his back on his
previous life, and obey what God was calling him to do.
He had to do this before God could show him all the other
things he would do through him. Abraham did not shrink
back even though he was commanded to leave his life in this
world behind him, turning his back on his family and friends
and the world he had known. He said his farewells, kissed
his loved ones good-bye forever, and placed his life in
the hands and care of the One who spoke to him saying, “Leave
your life, your family and friends, your job and security.
Trust me and I will take care of you.” Those who
are Abraham’s seed will have Abraham’s faith
and will do what Abraham did.
Ezra 1:2-4
John 18:36
John 18:37
Matthew 10:34-35,37; 12:46-47
Luke 14:26
Genesis 12:1
John 6:44
Genesis 12:1-2
Hebrews 11:8
Matthew 6:31-33
Galatians 3:7,29; John 8:39; Romans 4:12
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