This year, we are asking how we can be a blessing to the people around us, and over the next 8 weeks, we will see what we can learn from God’s people returning from exile
We cannot understand who God is forming us to become unless we honestly remember where we have come from.
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
George Santayana
The Bible is not just a set of ideas:
| PHILOSOPHICAL SYSTEMS | BIBLICAL FAITH |
|---|---|
| Often begins with ideas and questions | Begins with God acting in history |
| Seeks wisdom through reflection and argument | Receives revelation through event, testimony and interpretation |
| Asks what is true, good and meaningful | Announces what God has done and calls us to respond |
| May stand independently of particular historical events | Stands or falls with events such as the Exodus and resurrection |
We believe that one historical event changed everything
But Christ has indeed been raised from the dead, the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.
1 Corinthians 15:20
How major sacred texts compare
The Bible is distinctive because it is not simply a collection of timeless sayings. It tells the story of God acting through real people, places, kingdoms, failures and new beginnings.
| Sacred text | Final form / publication | Period of composition | Authorship | Relationship to history |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bible (Jewish and Christian) | c. 1st century AD Christian canon recognised over time | More than 1,000 years Old and New Testaments | Many authors and editors: prophets, rulers, poets, historians, apostles and other witnesses. | Extended historical narrative. It follows peoples, kingdoms, exile, return, Jesus and the early church across many settings. |
| Qur’an (Islam) | 7th century AD Standard text under Caliph ʿUthmān | AD 610–632 About 23 years | Understood by Muslims as revelation from God, recited through Muhammad; collected by the early Muslim community. | Refers to earlier peoples and events, but is arranged chiefly as proclamation, instruction and warning rather than continuous history. |
| Bhagavad Gita (Hindu traditions) | c. 2nd century BC–2nd century AD | Date debated Formed within the Mahabharata | Traditionally attributed to Vyāsa; scholarly accounts commonly describe a text shaped through transmission and editing. | A theological and philosophical dialogue set on a battlefield within a sacred epic, rather than a documentary history. |
| Guru Granth Sahib (Sikhism) | 1604; final form 1708 | 12th–17th centuries Hymns gathered over generations | Sikh Gurus together with Hindu and Muslim devotional poets; compiled by Guru Arjan and completed in its received form under Guru Gobind Singh. | A collection of worship, poetry and teaching grounded in historical communities, but not structured as a historical narrative. |
| Book of Mormon (Latter-day Saint movement) | Published 1830 | Dictated 1828–1829 According to the surviving modern record | Joseph Smith said he translated an ancient record compiled by prophetic authors; non-LDS scholarship attributes the English text to Smith and his environment. | Presents itself as an ancient history of peoples in the Americas, although those claims are not accepted by mainstream archaeology or historical scholarship. |
Understanding the History of the bible helps make sense of the story it tells
- 2 Kings ends with Jerusalem’s destruction and the people being taken into exile.
- 2 Chronicles retells Israel’s history and ends with Cyrus permitting the people to return.
- Ezra 1–6 describes the first return and the rebuilding of the temple.
- Haggai and Zechariah speak God’s word during the rebuilding.
- Esther tells what happened to Jewish people who remained within the Persian Empire.
- Ezra 7–10 describes Ezra’s later return and his ministry of teaching and reform.
- Nehemiah describes the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls and community.
- Malachi confronts the spiritual apathy that remained after the return.
The books of the Bible fit together…
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 also to put it in writing:
2 Chronicles 36:22-23
“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
“‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up, and may the LORD their God be with them.’”
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 also to put it in writing:
Ezra 1:1-4
“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says:
“‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them. And in any locality where survivors may now be living, the people are to provide them with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, and with freewill offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.’”
Archaeology lluminates the world of the biblical account
Created after Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 BC, this clay cylinder records his restoration of temples, return of sacred objects and resettlement of displaced peoples. It does not mention Judah directly, but it demonstrates the kind of Persian imperial policy reflected in Cyrus’s decree in Ezra.
The Al-Yahudu tablets — ordinary Judean life in Babylon
These sixth- and fifth-century BC cuneiform documents record Judean families living in settlements around Babylon after the exile. They describe land, work, debts, taxes, contracts and family relationships—and preserve names associated with the worship of Yahweh.
We need to understand our past in order to move into the future.
Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.
Deuteronomy 8:1-2
“Stand at the crossroads and look;
Jeremiah 6:16
ask for the ancient paths,
ask where the good way is, and walk in it,
and you will find rest for your souls.
But you said, ‘We will not walk in it.’
God’s people had to face the truth about their past
The LORD, the God of their ancestors, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. But they mocked God’s messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.
2 Chronicles 36:15-16
Grace means God entrusts failures with another beginning.
Any of his people among you may go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem, and may their God be with them.
Ezra 1:3
Then the family heads of Judah and Benjamin, and the priests and Levites—everyone whose heart God had moved—prepared to go up and build the house of the LORD in Jerusalem.
Ezra 1:5
Returning to God did not remove the hostile context
Then the peoples around them set out to discourage the people of Judah and make them afraid to go on building. They bribed officials to work against them and frustrate their plans during the entire reign of Cyrus king of Persia and down to the reign of Darius king of Persia.
Ezra 4:4-5
Remembering history can produce both celebration and grief
But many of the older priests and Levites and family heads, who had seen the former temple, wept aloud when they saw the foundation of this temple being laid, while many others shouted for joy.
Ezra 3:12-13
No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping, because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away.
Our histories shape us, but they do not have to imprison us
Remember the days of old;
Deuteronomy 32:7
consider the generations long past.
Ask your father and he will tell you,
your elders, and they will explain to you.
“Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness
Isaiah 51:1-3
and who seek the LORD:
Look to the rock from which you were cut
and to the quarry from which you were hewn;
look to Abraham, your father,
and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man,
and I blessed him and made him many.
The LORD will surely comfort Zion
and will look with compassion on all her ruins;
he will make her deserts like Eden,
her wastelands like the garden of the LORD.
Joy and gladness will be found in her,
thanksgiving and the sound of singing.
The gospel is an announcement of historical events
Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:1-8
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
Christianity stands or falls on what happened in history
And if Christ has not been raised, our preaching is useless and so is your faith. More than that, we are then found to be false witnesses about God, for we have testified about God that he raised Christ from the dead. But he did not raise him if in fact the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, then Christ has not been raised either. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile; you are still in your sins
1 Corinthians 15:14-17
Because the resurrection happened, we can be faithful
Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.
1 Corinthians 15:58
We are shaped by the stories we remember. But above every other story stands the gospel: Christ died, Christ was buried, Christ was raised, and Christ appeared. Our past matters—but God’s action in history gives our past a new future.
Small Group Questions
- What parts of your personal or family history have most shaped who you are today?
- Why was it important for the returning exiles to remember both Israel’s failures and God’s faithfulness?
- Read Ezra 3:10–13. Why can remembering the past produce both celebration and grief? Have you experienced that?
- What is the difference between being shaped by your history and being imprisoned by it?
- Read 1 Corinthians 15:1–8 and 15:58. How does the historical reality of Jesus’ death and resurrection give us hope and help us live faithfully now?