2 Chronicles 36:22-23

            {Prayer}

            Approaching a closed door, there is usually a little sense of hesitation. Do I try to open it? Do I knock? Will I be disturbing someone? Are they trying to hide something?

            Contrast the closed-door hesitation with that of an open door. Standing before an open door there may be a sense of possibility, a sense of freedom and hope.

            Just last week, we celebrated as a nation our Independence Day. Our Independence Day is a day that is all about freedom, open opportunity, and a new beginning.

            And while these are all great and wonderful things … this morning as we look at the reading from the very end of 2 Chronicles … we’re directed to a deeper kind of freedom. We’re directed to a spiritual freedom, a spiritual restoration. This freedom comes through an unexpected door that is opened by an unexpected person.

            Before we dig into our text this morning, lets start with a little context. What is going on in the world of the Israelites in 2 Chronicles.

            Well … in the chapters leading up to our text, the author of the book goes through the history of some of the kings. Some of the kings are good, others not so much. Right before our text, we’re told about the fall of Jerusalem to the Babylonians. The Babylonians took everything out of the temple as well as the priests. They proceeded to burn the temple to the ground. Per the prophet Jeremiah, the Israelites were exiled and told to get comfortable because they were going to be there a while. Seventy years to be exact.

            But toward the end of those seventy years, “the LORD moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia” (2 Chronicles 36:22b). Now here’s something to know about Cyrus … Cyrus is not a believer. He is not a runaway Israelite who rose to power and is coming back for his people. No, Cyrus is a non-believer. And yet … He is the one who the LORD chose to raise to power, come to Babylon, defeat the Babylonians, and who will open the door for the Israelites to return home.

            This lines up with everything Jeremiah and some of the other prophets said. Jeremiah wrote “This is what the LORD says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my gracious promise to bring to this place’” to Jerusalem (29:10).  The LORD through the prophet Isaiah calls Cyrus by name. “This is what the LORD says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of to subdue the nations before him and to strip kings of their armor, to open doors before him so that gates will not be shut” (45:1).

            The door to the way back home had been shut. Shut for 70 years. Yet in the midst of that time, God had not forgotten His people. As I’ve said before, God was working behind the scenes. He was putting everything in place for Cyrus to come and open the door so that Israelites could return home.

            Think of it like this … you’re in prison. The door to your cell is locked. There is nothing you can do to open this door and return to a life of freedom. But then, one day, the prison door creaks open. It does, not by your doing, but by the doing of someone else. The Israelites are exiled, they were in a kind of prison. There is no way out for them. That is until God opens the door. God opens the doors that no one else can. He does so through His appointed means, most often times through His Word and sometimes even through unexpected people. And He does this at just the right time. The time He chooses and through whomever He chooses.

            Cyrus, the King of the Persians says, “The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth …” (2 Chronicles 36:23a). Here’s the thing, while Cyrus knows that he is powerful, he realizes that there is still someone of greater authority above him. Even as a Gentile, even as a pagan, Cyrus recognizes that there is a God in heaven, the LORD of all things and that this God is the one who chose Him to bless God’s people.

            This choosing of Cyrus to bless God’s people is a preview of what local and global mission looks like. This previews how salvation is not locked up for one group of people, one ethnicity, or even for one nation. Salvation is meant to be for all people.

            The ultimate “open door” comes in the person of Jesus. Jesus says in John 10, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture” (10:9). You see, both the political and religious rulers of the day were forcing the people to believe that if you want a good life, if you want to make it to heaven … you need to do these certain things to satisfy us. It was all about what they did.

            But if it is all about what they did, all about what you and I do … then we’re going to find ourselves stuck. Go back to the prison cell. Because of our sin, we should eternally be locked up and left alone. If left up to us, there is no way we are getting. There is no chance for escape. That cell will be locked up tighter any cell in a maximum-security prison.

            But Jesus says there is another way, another door. And that is through Him. Not only does Jesus say He is the door, but He’ll say in response to Thomas’ question of not knowing the way, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (14:6).

            This is the message of John the Baptist we heard about in our gospel reading from Luke 3. Luke lists out all the different rulers who are in charge and who does the Word of God come to? John the Baptist, who is living in the wilderness where camel skin and eating locust. Out there, John is preaching about a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. He is going about the whole area around the Jordan. This would be Jewish and non-Jewish territory.

            Again, the door to God’s mission is not shut to who we think the message of God should go out to. John went to all nations. God’s kingdom is open to all people. God may work through people who we would never expect. Even though I went to church on and off in grade school and high school, even though I went a Lutheran college, dated a good Lutheran girl, never in my wildest dreams then would I have thought I would be one who God would use.

            Cyrus, another who never would have thought the LORD God Almighty would use, says, “Anyone of his people among you {anyone among the LORD’s people} … may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up” (2 Chronicles 36:23b). “Let him go up.” This isn’t a command. God is offering a gracious invitation. A gracious invitation to follow Him and go back home.

            Not everyone does it. Some of the Israelites had gotten comfortable living in exile and so they stayed behind. Some people today make that same decision. Just because the door is open doesn’t mean that people will walk through it.

            Jesus came to open the door of salvation to all people. But not everyone recognized that. The apostle Paul, when he was still Saul and still a Pharisee, he was out to capture and kill those who followed Jesus. But then on the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to him and moved within his heart to be God’s mouthpiece to the Gentiles, to the non-believers. Paul walked through the open doors provided to him to share good news of Jesus. Some of those doors involved suffering and pain. But yet, whether in pain, in need, or in a jail cell, Paul was content. He was content not because of his own inner strength, but because he knew Christ was his strength.

            The question for you and me this morning is this … Where is God opening a door in your life? Where is God providing you an opportunity to forgive, to serve, to witness, to trust? Taking that first step, walking through that open door with someone isn’t always easy. God never said a life with Him would be easy. But the challenge is … will you walk through it, trusting the One who opened it for you? Will you take that step forward, not by your own strength, but with the help of the One who walks besides you? Will you help someone else take that step?

            God opened a door for the Israelites through Cyrus. God opened the greater door through Jesus that leads to forgiveness, life, and salvation. Believe me, God is still opening doors. He’s opening doors for the Church, for the Gospel, and for you. Amen.

            The peace of God, that surpasses all human understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus our Lord, now and forever. Amen.