Ezra 6:14
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.
The elders of the Jews built and prospered through the prophesying of Haggai the prophet and Zechariah the son of Iddo, and they built and finished the house according to the commandment of the God of Israel and according to the commandment of Cyrus and Darius and Artaxerxes king of Persia. That finishing was the literal fulfillment of the promise that the hands of Zerubbabel which laid the foundation of the house would also finish it. The house was finished on the third day of Adar, the twelfth month, in the sixth year of Darius the king.
The commands of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes were stages of one decree to restore and build Jerusalem: Cyrus began or originated it, Darius carried it forward and reaffirmed it with a second decree following the proclamation of Cyrus, and Artaxerxes completed it with a third and final decree. The completion under Artaxerxes took effect in the autumn of 457 B.C., which provides the starting point for the seventy-weeks prophecy leading to the Messiah. That same date in 457 B.C. marks the beginning of the 2,300-year period, and the specifications of the prophecy were fulfilled reckoned from that starting point. The verse, together with Artaxerxes' later decree, evidences the command to restore and rebuild Jerusalem that starts Daniel's seventy-week prophecy, for Artaxerxes is named among the kings in the verse and later issued that restoration decree in 457 B.C., during whose reign Ezra and Nehemiah returned and worked among the people, Jerusalem's walls were completed, and temple services were reorganized.
The verse shows that rulers outside God's people issued commands that advanced God's work, meaning the Lord still moves upon the hearts of kings and rulers in behalf of His people and has placed His goods in the hands of unbelievers to be used for the work needed for a fallen world. So long as believers are in this world, the Spirit of God is striving with the world, the door of mercy is not closed, and the restraining hand is not withdrawn, they are to receive as well as impart favors, giving the light of truth while receiving what God moves men in the world to do for His cause, and gifts and avenues opened through unbelieving agents who have no sympathy with the work and no faith in Christ are not to be refused on that account, nor are favors that God moves men to give to be cut off. God's workers are not to build a wall of separation by their own ideas, bind up means that God would set free, come into conflict with authorities and powers, or take a course that brings on the time of trouble before the time, but are to bide their time and work with wisdom to gain help for the advancement of the cause.