Welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Sunday afternoon Bible study. Today is study #2 of Daniel, chapter 1, and we will read Daniel 1:1-2:

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it. And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

I will stop reading there. In our last study we saw that this was taking place in the “third year of the reign of Jehoiakim,” which was also the first year of King Nebuchadnezzar in the year 605BC. We are reading something that is very familiar to us by now, given the amount of study that has been put into the information concerning the end of the church age over the last decade or more; we have seen many verses like this. Yet, this is really a stunning statement that God makes. Let me read it again: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.” This is grievous, but what is even more grievous is what it says in verse 2: “And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god.” What is so terrible about this statement is that it was God that gave the vessels of the house of God into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. This is such a sorrowful thing and it was the reason God moved Jeremiah to write the Book of Lamentations to lament that the people of God (Judah) were so unfaithful in their dealings with God and His Word. They were so corrupt that God judged them by the hand of King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. It was God’s will that the people of Judah would be overcome and that Nebuchadnezzar would be victorious over them.

We are familiar with this kind of language and these figures because we have studied this for some time, but just imagine it. You are reading the Book of Daniel or the Book of Jeremiah and you are a Jew and you read that the God of your people did this. It is the same God that formed you, brought you out of the land of Egypt and showed such special care and concern for you. God had been with the people of Judah in a special relationship unlike any other nation of the world and He was now giving them into the hand of this evil king of Babylon. Not only did He give over King Jehoiakim, king of Judah, but God also gave them part of the vessels of the house of God. What a horrible thing it would have been for the Jews of that time to hear this and, yet, it was not incorrect. It was exactly what God moved Daniel and Jeremiah to write about. For instance, let us start by looking at Jeremiah, chapter 27 where we will read about King Nebuchadnezzar and Babylon. We will learn some Biblical history that we are familiar with, but it is good to be reminded and to go over these things. It says in Jeremiah 27:1-6:

In the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim the son of Josiah king of Judah came this word unto Jeremiah from JEHOVAH, saying, Thus saith JEHOVAH to me; Make thee bonds and yokes, and put them upon thy neck, And send them to the king of Edom, and to the king of Moab, and to the king of the Ammonites, and to the king of Tyrus, and to the king of Zidon, by the hand of the messengers which come to Jerusalem unto Zedekiah king of Judah; And command them to say unto their masters, Thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts, the God of Israel; Thus shall ye say unto your masters; I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by my great power and by my outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

It is a striking thing that God calls Nebuchadnezzar His servant and also notice the language God is using in giving these lands into his hand. Then it goes on to say in Jeremiah 27:7-10:

And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith JEHOVAH, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish.Here, God indicates His special use of King Nebuchadnezzar to accomplish the destruction of these lands.

It says in Jeremiah 25:8-11:

Therefore thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts; Because ye have not heard my words, Behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith JEHOVAH, and Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon, my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about, and will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and an hissing, and perpetual desolations. Moreover I will take from them the voice of mirth, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the sound of the millstones, and the light of the candle. And this whole land shall be a desolation, and an astonishment; and these nations shall serve the king of Babylon seventy years.

Here, again, God moved the prophet Jeremiah to openly proclaim this. These things were “not done in a corner,” but they were openly proclaimed to the people of Judah that Nebuchadnezzar would be given Judah and the surrounding nations and he would rule for seventy years. God gives that timeline of seventy years in which the king of Babylon would rule over them. Of course, that is an important distinction because Nebuchadnezzar did not rule for the entire seventy years, but his descendants did and the people of Judah were captive in Babylon for seventy years.

Then it says in Jeremiah 25:12-14:

And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith JEHOVAH, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans, and will make it perpetual desolations. And I will bring upon that land all my words which I have pronounced against it, even all that is written in this book, which Jeremiah hath prophesied against all the nations. For many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of them also: and I will recompense them according to their deeds, and according to the works of their own hands.

In this passage, from verse 8 through verse 14, we have God’s end time program. We will get into the spiritual meaning later, but the seventy years is a type and figure of the Great Tribulation. God says that the seventy years will be accomplished and the focus of the judgment of God will turn from Judah (which typifies the churches) to the king of Babylon (which represents Satan). Then God’s wrath would be upon the king of Babylon after the seventy years. So it is after the Great Tribulation is accomplished, which is Judgment Day and the time period in which we find ourselves. Let us read about this because we are going back to review things. We often make these statements out of familiarity, but it is important that we review them. It says in Matthew 24:20-21:

But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.

Then it tells us in Matthew 24:29:

Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

Here, we read of the Tribulation coming to a close and we read in Mark 13:24-25:

But in those days, after that tribulation, the sun shall be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, And the stars of heaven shall fall, and the powers that are in heaven shall be shaken.

When we read these passage carefully, we see there are two periods that identify as “those days.” There are those days of the Tribulation and there are those days after the Tribulation and God breaks up the final judgment of all the unsaved by beginning His judgment process on the house of God in the days of the Tribulation. He used Satan to accomplish the judgment on the house of God, the churches, and then after the Tribulation and after the churches were judged comes a period of time that are referred to as “those days, after that tribulation,” and it is the time that God focuses the judgment on Satan and his kingdom. It follows the pattern set in Jeremiah, chapter 25, which tells us that God will first give Judah into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar for seventy years and then it says in Jeremiah 25:12, “when seventy years are accomplished,” and this is when the Tribulation concludes. It is “immediately after the tribulation” or “in those days, after that tribulation,” which is when God transitions His judgment from the house of God to Satan’s kingdom, as typified by Babylon. Let us read Jeremiah 25:17-18:

Then took I the cup at JEHOVAH'S hand, and made all the nations to drink, unto whom JEHOVAH had sent me: To wit, Jerusalem, and the cities of Judah, and the kings thereof, and the princes thereof, to make them a desolation, an astonishment, an hissing, and a curse; as it is this day;

Then God transitions his judgment to the nations in Jeremiah 25:29:

For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith JEHOVAH of hosts.

So we see the pattern. We see the process. It starts with Jerusalem, the nation called by God’s name; it starts with the house of God, as it says in Ezekiel 9:6, “and begin at my sanctuary.” It originates where God first begins to pour out the cup of His wrath and then He took the same cup and gave it to Babylon and the king of Babylon and the inhabitants of the earth.

We got a little ahead of ourselves and started looking at the spiritual meaning of things, but I want to continue to look at the historical statements concerning Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians. Let us go to 2Kings, chapter 24 and we will read “Nebuchadnezzar” or you may read the name “Nebuchadrezzar.” Instead of an “n” it is an “r,” but it is a translation of the same Hebrew name. The name “Nebuchadnezzar” is found 60 times in the Old Testament and “Nebuchadrezzar” is found 31 times. It is really something that this king of Babylon had his name mentioned over 90 times in the Old Testament and that is not counting references to the king of Babylon where his name is not mentioned. The nation of Babylon and its king are key figures in the Bible, as God has written a great deal about the king of Babylon, especially Nebuchadnezzar. It says in 2Kings 24:1:

In his days Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up, and Jehoiakim became his servant three years: then he turned and rebelled against him.

Let us also go down to 2Kings 24:8:

Jehoiachin was eighteen years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem three months…

We mentioned this before, but in another place it says that Jehoiachin was eight years old and that is because his father made him co-regent in 608BC. Jehoiachin was eight at that time, but 10 years later in 598BC Jehoiakim was taken captive and Jehoiachin was then 18 years old and he reigned by himself for three months and then he was also taken captive in the same year of 598BC.

It goes on to say in 2Kings 24:8-12:

… And his mother's name was Nehushta, the daughter of Elnathan of Jerusalem. And he did that which was evil in the sight of JEHOVAH, according to all that his father had done. At that time the servants of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came up against Jerusalem, and the city was besieged. And Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came against the city, and his servants did besiege it. And Jehoiachin the king of Judah went out to the king of Babylon, he, and his mother, and his servants, and his princes, and his officers: and the king of Babylon took him in the eighth year of his reign.

That would be the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar’s reign. You would count “605” as year one and count down from there and you would see that “598” was the eighth year of Nebuchadnezzar.

Then it says in 2Kings 24:13-17:

And he carried out thence all the treasures of the house of JEHOVAH, and the treasures of the king's house, and cut in pieces all the vessels of gold which Solomon king of Israel had made in the temple of JEHOVAH, as JEHOVAH had said. And he carried away all Jerusalem, and all the princes, and all the mighty men of valour, even ten thousand captives, and all the craftsmen and smiths: none remained, save the poorest sort of the people of the land. And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king's mother, and the king's wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, even seven thousand, and craftsmen and smiths a thousand, all that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive to Babylon. And the king of Babylon made Mattaniah his father's brother king in his stead, and changed his name to Zedekiah.

In 2Kings, chapter 25 we read about the conclusion of the judgment of Jerusalem, as far as the physical takeover of it. It says in 2Kings 25:1-10:

And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, in the tenth day of the month, that Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came, he, and all his host, against Jerusalem, and pitched against it; and they built forts against it round about. And the city was besieged unto the eleventh year of king Zedekiah. And on the ninth day of the fourth month the famine prevailed in the city, and there was no bread for the people of the land. And the city was broken up, and all the men of war fled by night by the way of the gate between two walls, which is by the king's garden: (now the Chaldees were against the city round about:) and the king went the way toward the plain. And the army of the Chaldees pursued after the king, and overtook him in the plains of Jericho: and all his army were scattered from him. So they took the king, and brought him up to the king of Babylon to Riblah; and they gave judgment upon him. And they slew the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes, and put out the eyes of Zedekiah, and bound him with fetters of brass, and carried him to Babylon. And in the fifth month, on the seventh day of the month, which is the nineteenth year of king Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, came Nebuzaradan, captain of the guard, a servant of the king of Babylon, unto Jerusalem: And he burnt the house of JEHOVAH, and the king's house, and all the houses of Jerusalem, and every great man's house burnt he with fire. And all the army of the Chaldees, that were with the captain of the guard, brake down the walls of Jerusalem round about.

We can see this was a complete and total destruction. The city was given into the hand of the king of Babylon. They burnt the house of JEHOVAH, the temple. Solomon’s glorious and beautiful temple that God described in the Bible was burnt down by the Babylonians. It was not only the temple but the entire wall of Jerusalem and later on in the Book of Nehemiah God will cause Nehemiah to “rebuild” the wall. What does that picture? It was a picture of salvation. What would the tearing down of the wall picture? It would picture no more salvation; God had brought judgment against His people of Judah. When we read these historical accounts of Israel or Judah, they are types and figures. We know this. This is how God wrote the Bible and we can prove this when God speaks elsewhere of using the nation of Israel as a “parable.” God identified Israel as the “church in the wilderness” in Acts, chapter 7, as they are a type and figure of the New Testament churches.

Here, God has given them up. God is the one who did this and He is the one that turned His people over to the king of Babylon. It says in 1Chronicles 6:15:

And Jehozadak went into captivity, when JEHOVAH carried away Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar.

Notice it says “JEHOVAH carried away Judah and Jerusalem,” and even though it was Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians, it was done by the will of God. He wants everyone to know that this was the cup of His wrath. This was His furious anger being poured out upon the Old Testament nation of Judah, which were His outward representatives to the people of the world – they were the corporate body of that day that represented the kingdom of God. They were rebellious and unfaithful toward Him and, therefore, He judged them by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar His servant.

God brought this evil king against His people. Just think of the evil of slaying a man’s sons before his eyes and then putting out the man’s eyes. He was a ruthless and fierce king and there was nothing good about him. God commissioned him to bring destruction and in the bringing of the destruction, he was serving God and that is why God calls him His servant. It is also why he is such a good type and figure of Satan, as Satan is an evil king and ruler of the unsaved people of the world. He won dominion over them by right of conquest in the Garden of Eden. God joins together Satan and the king of Babylon in Isaiah 14:4:

That thou shalt take up this proverb against the king of Babylon…

What is a proverb? It is a parable, so God tells us He is going to speak a parable against the king of Babylon. As we continue reading, it suddenly says in Isaiah 14:11-15:

Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.

The king of Babylon is likened to Lucifer, son of the morning. We read of Lucifer’s desire to be like the most High and to exalt his throne above the stars of God and to sit upon the mount of the congregation, which matches very well with the language of 2Thessalonians 2:3-4:

Let no man deceive you by any means: for that day shall not come, except there come a falling away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition; Who opposeth and exalteth himself above all that is called God, or that is worshipped; so that he as God sitteth in the temple of God, shewing himself that he is God.

Here, the man of sin that is revealed is Satan. God revealed through His Word, the Bible, that Satan would take his seat in the temple of God. Satan has done that and the Scriptures have shown that Satan entered into the churches and congregations and ruled there during the duration of the Great Tribulation, as represented by the seventy years. The actual Great Tribulation period was 23 years from May 21, 1988 through May 21, 2011. Satan ruled. He was showing himself that he is God. The son of perdition is the same as “Lucifer, son of the morning.” So God joins together Satan with Nebuchadnezzar. King Nebuchadnezzar is a type and figure of Satan or Lucifer. Notice the language used in Revelation, chapter 20, where we learn that the Lord Jesus bound Satan and cast him into the bottomless pit for a thousand years. The thousand years represents the completeness of whatever is in view and, in this case, it represents the completion of the church age. Satan was bound at the cross in 33AD. Fifty days later was Pentecost and the beginning of the church age, so Satan was bound in the same year as the beginning of the church age. He was bound until the end of the church age on May 21, 1988. We read of his being loosed in Revelation 20:7:

And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

After being loosed, Satan gathers his great army together and goes forth to battle. This is similar to King Nebuchadnezzar who had great armies and went out to battle. One of the places he went was Jerusalem, as we read in Daniel 1:1:

In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah came Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon unto Jerusalem, and besieged it.

You may have noticed the word “besieged” is used a few times in 2Kings, chapters 4 and 25. The armies of Babylon were round about Jerusalem and when the army of Jerusalem tried to run, there was nowhere to run because the Babylonians had encircled Jerusalem. In Revelation, chapter 20, after Satan gathers his armies to battle as the sands of the sea, it says in Revelation 20:9:

And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

Satan and his forces compassed and besieged the camp of the saints about, the churches and congregations of the world. Satan was God’s instrument. Satan was acting on God’s behalf and it could be said that Satan was God’s servant to accomplish the destruction of the corporate church. And it was not just 99% of the churches that were destroyed, as some people want to think. They desperately want there to be a church for them to go to, so they would admit that the overwhelming majority of churches are not faithful, which is another way of saying that the majority of churches have come under the power of Satan. However, they think that there is a faithful church entity that remains and they want a “stone” that has not been toppled, even though Jesus said there would not be one stone left upon another. Yes, they would say the wall of Jerusalem is destroyed, but over here is a stone that is still upon another. No, there is not one stone left upon another. There is not even one church, whether it is Reformed, Presbyterian, Episcopalian, Lutheran or independent. There is not one faithful corporate church anywhere in the world. That is what the Bible teaches and that is the spiritual meaning of these accounts.

If you want to insist that God has not brought judgment upon all churches, then do not read the Book of Jeremiah. You cannot read the Book of Jeremiah without seeing that it is complete and 100% judgment upon Judah, the corporate church of that day. Or, you could read the Book of Jeremiah and conveniently forget that God spoke in parables and without a parable He did not speak. You could become like the corporate church and no longer seek for spiritual meaning in order to continue the charade and to justify continuing to attend a corporate church body. You can do that, too, but the truth is that God has laid out His end time judgment program in the Book of Jeremiah. His judgment began with His people Jerusalem and the nation called by His name; judgment began at the house of God and the temple is burnt. The temple that represents the corporate church has been burned with fire. The wall that represents the spiritual wall the churches had been building up has been broken down and all must go into captivity. But not all went into captivity, did they? Historically, was there not a remnant that was allowed to stay in their land? And is it not true that God’s people are called a remnant? Yes, that is true. A remnant was permitted to stay in the land, but who gave the permission for them to stay in the land? It was Nebuzaradan, the captain of Nebuchadnezzar’s host. It was the king of Babylon that granted permission for a few people of Judah to stay in their land. In other words, it was Satan that allowed that remnant to stay in the land. If you continue to read in the Book of Jeremiah, you will find that “remnant” was not a faithful remnant at all. After the governor appointed by the king of Babylon was slain, the entire remnant fled to Egypt in direct violation of the commandment of God through Jeremiah that they not go into Egypt. Then their “true colors” surfaced. They accused Jeremiah of speaking falsely. They would not listen. They insisted they would worship the queen of heaven and their wives would continue to burn cakes to her. You see, the remnant was not the true remnant of God’s elect, but they were a phony remnant that tried to give the appearance of God’s elect: “Oh, we are Reformed and we attend the few Reformed faithful churches and the church age is ongoing.” That is the remnant pictured in Jeremiah. They were not God’s people, but they desperately wanted to give the appearance of being the remnant of God. They know a lot of Biblical truth about the judgment of God upon the corporate church and they will allow for most of it and, yet, they say, “Not us! It does not apply to us.” Yet, God says it applies to 100% of them and anyone that remains in that land God likens to a basket of evil figs. The good figs were the ones that were carried away and came out of the land of Judah and went into captivity in Babylon. There is no escaping the fact that the church age is over. There is no returning to a corporate church. They have been destroyed. It would be like going back to Israel of old which was destroyed by God in the first century AD. Once God leaves a corporate body, like He left Israel long ago, He never returns. The Holy Spirit went out of the midst of the New Testament churches and He will never return.

Let us go back and read the next verse, in Daniel 1:2:

And the Lord gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with part of the vessels of the house of God: which he carried into the land of Shinar to the house of his god; and he brought the vessels into the treasure house of his god.

Shinar is another reference to Babylon. God indicates that He not only gave Jehoiakim into the hand of the king of Babylon, but He gave him part of the vessels of the house of God. The reason it says “part of the vessels” is because this is early in the reign of Nebuchadnezzar over Jerusalem. This is in 605BC and it would not be until later on in 587BC that the house of God was burned and the wall was torn down, and so forth. At that point the remainder of the vessels was also taken, but at this point there was a partial removal of the vessels of the house of God. It says in Jeremiah 27:19:

For thus saith JEHOVAH of hosts concerning the pillars, and concerning the sea, and concerning the bases, and concerning the residue of the vessels that remain in this city,

This verse refers to the vessels that Nebuchadnezzar did not take originally. This means he had already taken some and that is what Daniel referred to when he said, “part of the vessels of the house of God.” Concerning the remaining vessels, it goes on to say in Jeremiah 27:20-22:

Which Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon took not, when he carried away captive Jeconiah the son of Jehoiakim king of Judah from Jerusalem to Babylon, and all the nobles of Judah and Jerusalem; Yea, thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, concerning the vessels that remain in the house of JEHOVAH, and in the house of the king of Judah and of Jerusalem; They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be until the day that I visit them, saith JEHOVAH; then will I bring them up, and restore them to this place.

The vessels are types and figures of God’s elect. Actually, a vessel can represent “mankind” and it could be a saved man or an unsaved man, as we read in Romans 9:21-23:

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,

Here, the entire human race is in view. Some are vessels unto honour and some are unto dishonour. Some are vessels fitted to destruction and some are vessels of mercy. In other words, some are elect and some are not elect. Many of the vessels in the sanctuary or in the temple were vessels of “gold.” We will just look at one verse in Exodus 37:16:

And he made the vessels which were upon the table, his dishes, and his spoons, and his bowls, and his covers to cover withal, of pure gold.

That is why the Babylonians took the vessels. They were of gold or other precious metals and they were valuable, so, historically, you can see why the conquering army would take the vessels from the house of God. They were valuable, so they took the vessels. Nebuchadnezzar placed them in the house of his god and that shows that Nebuchadnezzar is the conqueror and victor over the churches. When God commanded His people to come out of the churches and to go out into the world, the world typifies Babylon or Satan’s domain. Therefore, it was like coming out of the kingdom of God and going into the place where Satan ruled and coming under the rule of the king of Babylon.

I am not sure why there is such an emphasis on “the house of his god,” but we do know that when the seventy years came to a close and King Cyrus of the Medes and Persians conquered Babylon, he was a great type and figure of the Lord Jesus Christ who would conquer Satan at the end of the Great Tribulation and the beginning of Judgment Day. Cyrus decreed the commandment in Ezra 1:7-8:

Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of JEHOVAH, 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.

Notice that these vessels are “numbered” and that reminds us of the elect that God has numbered and whom He chose before the foundation of the world. They were numbered unto Sheshbazzar, another name for Zerubbabel, a great type of the Lord Jesus, who was called the “prince of Judah.” Jesus is the Prince of Judah. He is the King of Israel.

Then it goes on to say in Ezra 1:8-10:

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.

That number totals “2,499,” which would break down to “3 x 7 x 7 x 17.” Then it goes on to say in Ezra 1:11:

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.

This is a different total number, so there were other items besides the 2,499 vessels. When Babylon fell the people of Judah were set free. They could return to their land and that pictures deliverance; it is a similar picture to the coming out of Egypt. Cyrus is the one that freed the captives, but he also freed the vessels and the vessels are given to Sheshbazzar, also a type of Christ, and they are returned to the house of God. It is a wonderful picture of deliverance and great salvation. All the Jews in Babylon were translated out of the kingdom of Babylon and into the kingdom of God, once again. This would relate to the completion of God’s salvation program at the end of the seventy years or the end of the Great Tribulation and the beginning of that period of time “after that tribulation.”