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Continuing our discussion from part one, once the Jews had served their seventy years of captivity in Babylon, the Lord then raised up yet another powerful, pagan ruler who served as His instrument to liberate the Jews from Babylon. This he did so that the Jews could return to the land of Israel, and begin repairing Jerusalem and rebuilding the temple compound. This pagan ruler was Koresh -- a.k.a. the Persian king Cyrus the Great -- who was in fact prophesied in the Scriptures, as we can determine by the following group of verses:

"Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself; That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof: That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut; I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron: And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me."


"Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD spoken by the mouth of Jeremiah might be accomplished, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, All the kingdoms of the earth hath the LORD God of heaven given me; and he hath charged me to build him an house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? The LORD his God be with him, and let him go up."


"Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and put it also in writing, saying, Thus saith Cyrus king of Persia, The LORD God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth; and he hath charged me to build him an house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Who is there among you of all his people? his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel, (he is the God,) which is in Jerusalem. And whosoever remaineth in any place where he sojourneth, let the men of his place help him with silver, and with gold, and with goods, and with beasts, beside the freewill offering for the house of God that is in Jerusalem. Then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests, and the Levites, with all them whose spirit God had raised, to go up to build the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem. And all they that were about them strengthened their hands with vessels of silver, with gold, with goods, and with beasts, and with precious things, beside all that was willingly offered. Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the LORD, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods; Even those did Cyrus king of Persia bring forth by the hand of Mithredath the treasurer, and numbered them unto Sheshbazzar, the prince of Judah. And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. All the vessels of gold and of silver were five thousand and four hundred. All these did Sheshbazzar bring up with them of the captivity that were brought up from Babylon unto Jerusalem."


"But in the first year of Cyrus the king of Babylon the same king Cyrus made a decree to build this house of God. And the vessels also of gold and silver of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took out of the temple that was in Jerusalem, and brought them into the temple of Babylon, those did Cyrus the king take out of the temple of Babylon, and they were delivered unto one, whose name was Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor; And said unto him, Take these vessels, go, carry them into the temple that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be builded in his place. Then came the same Sheshbazzar, and laid the foundation of the house of God which is in Jerusalem: and since that time even until now hath it been in building, and yet it is not finished. Now therefore, if it seem good to the king, let there be search made in the king's treasure house, which is there at Babylon, whether it be so, that a decree was made of Cyrus the king to build this house of God at Jerusalem, and let the king send his pleasure to us concerning this matter. Then Darius the king made a decree, and search was made in the house of the rolls, where the treasures were laid up in Babylon. And there was found at Achmetha, in the palace that is in the province of the Medes, a roll, and therein was a record thus written: In the first year of Cyrus the king the same Cyrus the king made a decree concerning the house of God at Jerusalem, Let the house be builded, the place where they offered sacrifices, and let the foundations thereof be strongly laid; the height thereof threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof threescore cubits; With three rows of great stones, and a row of new timber: and let the expenses be given out of the king's house: And also let the golden and silver vessels of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar took forth out of the temple which is at Jerusalem, and brought unto Babylon, be restored, and brought again unto the temple which is at Jerusalem, every one to his place, and place them in the house of God."


"And the elders of the Jews builded, and they prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo. And they builded, and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the commandment of Cyrus, and Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. And this house was finished on the third day of the month Adar, which was in the sixth year of the reign of Darius the king."


"And Daniel continued even unto the first year of king Cyrus."


"So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius, and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian."


So as you can plainly see, even though Cyrus the Great was a pagan king, nevertheless, he served as one of God's vessels of mercy upon the Jews. As a final example of an evil, pagan leader who served as another one of God's vessels of wrath, consider the fact that Roman general, Titus, who was the son of Emperor Vespasian, and who was also responsible for the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple compound in 70 AD during the seven-year First Jewish-Roman War -- exactly as Jesus had forewarned would happen -- was prophesied in the Book of Daniel, as we clearly see by the following verses:

"And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined. And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the overspreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate."


So as you can hopefully see, whether for good or for evil, God Himself does in fact raise up national leaders so that His divine purposes will be accomplished through them. It is my belief that this applies to leaders today as well, just as it did thousands of years ago. To reject this idea is to deny the truth of the Scriptures and secular history itself. As I said, we may not like some of the leaders that the Lord raises up, but as God said to the Patriarch Job, who are we to question His judgments and decisions. Consider this verse:

"Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?"


In his Epistle to the brethren at Rome, the Apostle Paul likewise mentions God's vessels of mercy and His vessels of wrath. As I just explained to you, the Apostle also advises his readers to not question why God has made an individual a certain way, or selected them for some particular task. Consider the following set of verses:

"For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?"


So regarding 47th US President Donald J. Trump, and those of you who are foolishly speaking against him, and erroneously claiming that he is the Antichrist, I advise restraint and a degree of caution. Do you honestly want to be found guilty of speaking against someone whom the Lord has raised up?

To be clear, as I have mentioned before, there are obviously certain things regarding Trump's personality and political positions which I personally do not like either. In fact, I have been very candid about this. Mr. Trump is a very proud, vain, egotistical, narcissistic, worldly man. I question his true motives, and I even question the sincerity of his faith in Jesus Christ.

Let's face it. We all know what politicians are like. They will say whatever needs to be said, and put on a great act in order to win your vote. Sadly, it seems that Christians are some of the most naive, gullible people around. So, no, I don't fully trust Trump either. Neither am I comfortable with the fact that he has surrounded himself with so many Dominionists and people associated with Big Business.

Whether Trump will prove to be a vessel of wrath or else a vessel of mercy during his second term remains to be seen. However, if God has raised up Trump for this time, despite his personal flaws, to serve some specific purpose in His overall design and plans for the United States, who are you or I to question it? So my advice is that we should simply trust the Lord for the future, not worry about it, and just wait and see what happens. Shall we?

Regarding everything else I stated in this article concerning Bible prophecy -- such as Jesus Christ's return, the Rapture, the rise of the Antichrist, etc. -- I again encourage you to consider reading the other articles and series I mentioned in this article. You will find them listed below.

With these thoughts, I will bring this article to a close. It is my hope that you've found it informative and enlightening, and I pray that it has been a blessing in your life as well. If you have an account with Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr or with any other social network, I would really appreciate if you'd take the time to click or tap on the corresponding link that is found on this page. Thanks so much, and may God bless you abundantly!

For additional information and further study, you may want to refer to the list of reading resources below which were either mentioned in this article, or which contain topics which are related to this article. All of these articles are likewise located on the Bill's Bible Basics web server. To read these articles, simply click or tap on any link you see below.

Abomination of Desolation: Explained!
Beware of Dominionism!
Civil Disobedience and Christian Persecution
Facebook False Prophets and Misguided Teachers
Fight Against Futurism!
He That Shall Endure Unto the End
Humility in Our Understanding of God's Word
In the Ages to Come
Jesus Christ's Return: Have We Been Deceived?
Modern Deception: Shall a Nation Be Born at Once?
Modern Deceptions: Return to Israel, the Fig Tree and This Generation
Please Stop Misinterpreting the Scriptures
Prophetic Comparisons: Moshiach, Mahdi and Messiah
The Day of the Lord: What It Really Means
The Great Tribulation and the Rapture
The Last Seven Years Chart
The Triumphant Touchdown of Jesus Christ
The Two Sackcloth Witnesses of Revelation 11
The Woman in the Wilderness and the 144,000
To Vote, or Not to Vote
Tradition or Truth? Old Wine or New Wine?
Understanding the Bible in Context
When Was Satan Cast Out of Heaven?
Who Hindered the Antichrist?
Who is Babylon the Great?
Who is Moshiach ben David?
Who is Who?: Defining Important Prophecy Terms

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