Isaiah 45.1-8
Cyrus, God’s Instrument
45 Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped,
to subdue nations before him
and to loose the belts of kings,
to open doors before him
that gates may not be closed:
2 “I will go before you
and level the exalted places,
I will break in pieces the doors of bronze
and cut through the bars of iron,
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the LORD,
the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name,
I name you, though you do not know me.
5 I am the LORD, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun
and from the west, that there is none besides me;
I am the LORD, and there is no other.
7 I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the LORD, who does all these things.
8 “Shower, O heavens, from above,
and let the clouds rain down righteousness;
let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit;
let the earth cause them both to sprout;
I the LORD have created it.
Ok, so we're skipping ahead a bit because chapters 41-46 contain a great deal of disconnected prophecy; all of it is good and predictive of the future, but there doesn't seem to be a deliberate flow to these chapters. However, there are some repeated thoughts in those chapters, and this passage captures one of them.
At this time, Isaiah is in the kingly courts of the southern Kingdom of Judah. The northern Kingdom of Israel has been wiped out by the Assyrians, and now Isaiah is prophesying about the Babylonians, who will become a world power. Many of the prophecies concern the Babylonians overtaking the kingdom of Judah and carrying the people of God into exile.
But here we have a specific name: Cyrus. Cyrus will become the king of the Persians, and the Persians will eventually overthrow the Babylonians, and God will use Cyrus to free the captive Jews in Babylon and return them to Jerusalem.
In this passage, God is once again declaring His might and majesty. God is awesome and wonderful, and there is none like Him. I love verse eight because it shows the heart of the Lord for all people, revealing the nature and character of the Lord: the Lord is not neutral in our world; rather, the Lord cares about His creation and desires that righteousness and salvation (deliverance from evil) flourish for all people.
The really interesting thing is that God gives Cyrus all this power, title, and honor; however, Cyrus does not know God. Cyrus doesn’t worship or call on God’s name, but the Lord will work through Cyrus to deliver His people. Even though the people persist in their sin, even though they will be carried off into exile in Babylon, God still loves His chosen people, and God uses the Persians to restore His people to the land.
Here’s the point that we need to grasp today: God is going to accomplish His purposes and desires for people to know Him. I’m struck by the fact that God is working and moving all the time, accomplishing His purposes even when we feel that everything is a confusing mess. What an amazing thing it is to understand that God invites us to join Him and participate with Him in revealing His love, mercy, and grace to all.
Several years ago, my friend Sean and I were in London for a conference. Our hotel was a couple of miles from where the conference was held, and we had to use the Underground (their subway) to get to and from it.
Some of the Underground stations are older, and as such, they don’t have escalators throughout the system to help people travel to or from the underground trains. In some cases, to get to the train, you have to do it the old-fashioned way, take the stairs.
The week we were there, everything was very crowded, as children were out of school and loads of people were taking the opportunity to visit the museums for free.
One day, as Sean and I were getting off the train and heading back to ground level, we encountered a young woman who was trying to navigate crowds and stairs with a 7-month-old baby in her stroller.
We encountered this young woman at the bottom of a large flight of stairs, and there was no way she could make her way up the stairs while managing the stroller and baby in the middle of that crowd. So Sean and I helped. We picked up the stroller, baby and all, and carried it to the top. The look of relief on the woman’s face was all that I needed to know that the Lord had used us to glorify Him at that moment. What a joy to serve our Lord in even such a simple way.
Right now, things feel overwhelming for us. There is politicking, economic uncertainty, wars, and wickedness that seem to go unchecked.
But know that the Lord is working and moving even in the midst of this confusion and mess, desiring that all know Him and His salvation. God chose to work through one who didn’t even know His name to deliver His people. How much more can we imagine that the Lord desires to work through us to make His love, mercy, and grace known in the world?
Look for your opportunities, listen to the Lord's leading, and as you feel the Lord leading you, jump right in! What a delight it is to serve the Lord and follow Him, to bless others, and, in the process, to glorify His name even in the simplest of ways.
God bless you, and know that you are constantly prayed for!
Scott