Betty Banaszak

The Return from Babylon to Jerusalem c 536-450 BC Betty Banaszak

The Return is a sequel to its predecessor The Divided Kingdom which covers Israel's history from the time of Solomon to the Babylonian Captivity and includes all the written prophets of that period. The Return picks up where Cyrus the Great and Darius the Mede conquer Babylon and bring in the new empire under the joint government of the Medes and the Persians. God continues to move mightily in high places, this time effecting the unprecedented liberation of all subjects to return peaceably to their homelands. The timetable is perfect: precisely seventy years later according to Jeremiah's prophecy in Jer. 29:10 "For thus saith the Lord, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you, and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place." This Return is called the Restoration Period where God releases the Jews to return and restore all that has been destroyed because of their iniquities. Against the backdrop of some of history's greatest rulers, the Jews are graced with overwhelming subsidies to support the rebuilding of their cherished city Jerusalem and its fallen Temple. Cyrus the Great, Darius the Great, Xerxes the Great and his son, Artaxerxes (Longimanus) the Great, all play key roles in the history of God's chosen people. The Return covers the writings of Ezra, Nehemiah, Daniel, the prophetic words of Haggai, Zechariah and Malachi, and the chilling account of Queen Esther who risks her life to staunch an empire-wide attempt to annihilate her people. The events of this Old Testament period foreshadow the Christian dispensation where the church is progressively released from her spiritual Babylonian captivity through the ministries of Luther, the Wesley brothers, the charismatic revivals of the 20th century with the restoration of spiritual gifts and ministries, and the current emphasis on Christ's second coming. The Restoration leaders and prophets focus on the celebration of Israel's third great feast, the Feast of Tabernacles. The moving of God's spirit today is centered on the fulfillment of this crowning moment where the sons of God who have matured in Christ will appear as the governors of the Millennial Reign of Christ, and bring in an age of peace and harmony in the earth. All this and more are covered in this scholarly, yet easy to read, volume of Biblical truth. The 2 volume 81/2" x 11" edition is in larger print and the illustrations are clearer. The single volume 6" x 9" Compact Edition is in smaller print and more portable. Both volumes 738 pages