Ezra 1:7

Ezra 1:7 says, Also Cyrus the king brought forth the vessels of the house of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had brought forth out of Jerusalem, and had put them in the house of his gods;  Not only did Cyrus authorize the rebuilding of the Temple, he returned all the vessels of the Temple that Nebuchadnezzar had seized and put in the temple of his gods.  Though these vessels of God had been held by a pagan king and probably used in the worship of pagan gods, they were still preserved. People may seize the things of God today and use them in the worship of other gods, but they can never permanently destroy them and one day they will be returned to God. For example, some people misuse God's word to promote ideas that are in opposition to their meaning, but we are told and thereby should know that God's word will never change in its meaning. Like these Temple vessels, it has been preserved for us for centuries. Sometimes, we just need to reclaim it in its meaning as revealed by God. 

Verse eight adds, 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. Cyrus returned these vessels to Sheshbazzar, after having the treasurer number them.  Matthew Henry points out that Sheshbazzar, which he says means joy in tribulation is the Babylonian name for Zerubbabel which means a stranger in Babylon.  I can say that we as Christians should have joy in tribulation that comes from those people who do not believe in God because of our relationship with God and that we will always be strangers in this world.  The next three verses simply list the items returned. 

Verse nine says, And this is the number of them: thirty chargers of gold, a thousand chargers of silver, nine and twenty knives, 

Verse ten adds, Thirty basons of gold, silver basons of a second sort four hundred and ten, and other vessels a thousand. 

Verse eleven concludes, 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 was quite an expensive amount of vessels that somewhere along the line could have been melted down just for their monetary value, but God had preserved them, and Cyrus willingly returned them.  God will always preserve what is His, and that especially means those who are His by accepting Jesus Christ as their personal Savior and Lord.