“The
Sovereign Use of a Pagan King”
[Isaiah
45:1-8]
October
4, 2020 YouTube
At the end of last week’s reading, we saw God say that
Cyrus will be the shepherd God uses to free Israel and Judah, send them back to
the land, and see them rebuilt Jerusalem and the Temple. We said that who this prophecy is about would
likely confuse the people of Isaiah’s day, because it would not be fulfilled by
Cyrus for about one hundred and seventy years.
Before we get into today’s text, I want to note that
there have been two main responses to this in the field of theology: one is to say that Isaiah, the prophet of
that time period, could not have possibly known who Cyrus was, so this text was
added in after the exile to make it look like there had been a prophecy that
named Cyrus – this is what I was taught in seminary. To embrace this view is to say that the Bible
is full of lies and errors. The second response is to say that the Sovereign
and Almighty God knows everything from all of history, so while Isaiah and the
people of the day did not know who Cyrus was, the God of History certainly did
and ordained him to do exactly what God told Isaiah he would do and that is
exactly what happened. I put it to you
that this second view is the biblical one.
God continues to speak about Cyrus in this morning’s text,
and we see:
First, God is sovereign over the life of Cyrus.
“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: ‘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, 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.’”
This
is what YHWH says to His anointed – and we remember that kings and priests were
anointed – they were marked out for God’s use.
The word “anointed” can also be translated as “Christ.” Cyrus is the Christ of God for this situation.
God
knew him before he was conceived, and God chose him for this task and took him
by his right hand. That is, the
authority and power that Cyrus would have is given to him by God for God to use
for God’s ends – for His purpose. God is
Sovereign over Cyrus, as He is over all of His creation. You and I and every person and every thing in
all of creation were created to glorify God by obeying Him – by doing His Will.
What
God will do with Cyrus – through the power God gives him – God will cause him
to overthrow nations, to take down kings, and to open up kingdoms and ways that
have been closed to him but will then be wide open to him and stay wide open
for him. By the power and guidance that
God gives Cyrus, he will become a great conqueror for the Medo-Persian empire.
And
that’s not just Cyrus – every leader is put in place by God and empowered by God
– for our good or our discipline – and God uses leaders to achieve His purposes
in the rise and in the fall of kingdoms.
So, we are to pray for our leaders, that they will do good and not evil
– that they will seek to protect the people under their watch and not use them
for their own gain. And it will not
always be easy to tell how God is using each leader, but we are to pray for
them – even that they would come to believe that Jesus is God the Savior.
God
tells Cyrus that God will level the roads before him (not literally) but God
will make it easier for him to conquer. By various means God will shatter bronze
and iron (again not literally) but God will keep the nations from being able to
stop him from conquering.
And
God will give to Cyrus all the treasures of the kingdoms that he conquers. And the reason that God is doing all these
things for Cyrus is so Cyrus will acknowledge and understand that YHWH, the God
of Israel, is the God Who is doing all these things through him and for him.
God
would raise up a man who would have been a fairly insignificant governor in the
history of the Roman Empire except for his ordering the crucifixion of one of
the Jewish rabbis. And Jesus told Pilate
that God had raised him up for this purpose:
“So
Pilate said to him, ‘You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have
authority to release you and authority to crucify you?’ Jesus answered him, ‘You
would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.
Therefore he who delivered me over to you has the greater sin’” (John 19:10-11,
ESV).
God
is sovereign in the life of Cyrus.
Second,
God has purposes for all He does.
“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. I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides
me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, 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.”
God
has a purpose for Cyrus.
God
chose Cyrus to be His servant in the freeing of Israel and Judah so Cyrus would
understand that God chose him, God gave him the authority and power to be the conqueror
he became, and the God of Israel and Judah claims to be the One True God.
The
historian, Josephus, who wrote his histories around 71 A.D., noted that Cyrus
read the book of Isaiah, so he knew about the prophecies concerning himself (https://rsc.byu.edu/isaiah-prophets/scientific-analysis-isaiah-authorship).
God
showed Himself to Cyrus in this way so Cyrus would have no excuse in his
response to the question of Who God is.
However,
as God says twice, Cyrus did not know Him.
Despite knowing the prophecies about himself and seeing them come true –
despite being told that He is the God of Israel and Judah Who does all these
thing for him and uses him for God’s sake, there is no evidence that Cyrus ever
came to saving belief in the God of Israel and Judah.
God
has a purpose for Israel and Judah.
God’s
purpose for Israel and Judah is to show that God is ever faithful in His
promises – God does not send His people away forever, but always disciplines
them and brings them back as they repent.
God’s people are His forever, and He will not lose one of His elect.
Jesus
said of all those who believe: “I give them eternal life, and they will never
perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given
them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the
Father’s hand. I and the Father are one” (John 10:28-30, ESV).
The
ultimate promise of God that God would not fail to keep as part of His purpose
for Israel and Judah is that Jesus, the Savior, would be born in Bethlehem of
Judah, so all those who believe will be saved.
“But
you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are too little to be among the clans of Judah, from
you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel, whose coming
forth is from of old, from ancient days” (Micah 5:2, ESV).
God
has a purpose for Israel and Judah.
And
God has a purpose for the world.
God’s
purpose for the world is that the world would come to believe that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of the Living God, the Only Savior. Of course, when we say that the world comes
to believe, we don’t mean that every person comes to believe – we know that not
every person does come to believe savingly in Jesus.
Rather,
we are told that there will be people from every type of people who come to
believe savingly in Jesus:
“And
they sang a new song, saying, ‘Worthy are you to take the scroll and to open
its seals, for you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from
every tribe and language and people and nation, and you have made them a
kingdom and priests to our God, and they shall reign on the earth’” (Revelation
5:9-10, ESV).
The
Church will not fail to be revealed until the end of the age when she is
brought into the Kingdom and married to Jesus – perfectly united with Him.
Paul
explains:
“’Therefore
a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two
shall become one flesh.’ This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it
refers to Christ and the church” (Ephesians 5:31-32, ESV).
God
has purposes for all He does.
Third,
God is Sovereign over history.
“I
form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the
LORD, who does all these things.”
As
we hear these words, we are reminded of Job’s rebuke to his wife, ‘But he said
to her, “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive
good from God, and shall we not receive evil?’ In all this Job did not sin with
his lips” (Job 2:10, ESV).
And
these texts give us pause: “I understand God forming light and well-being and
good, but God is the creator of darkness and calamity and evil? Doesn’t that make God evil? Doesn’t that make God a sinner?”
No,
God never sins. God never does evil.
What
we are being told here is that God is Absolutely Sovereign. Everything that exists was called into being
by God. Nothing exists that God did not
call into being. Nothing would exist had
God not called it into being. However,
humans are responsible for their actions.
Demons
and humans choose to sin and do evil.
Evil occurs in nature due to human sin.
But God does not force anyone to sin or do evil. God allows sin and evil because we choose
it. That does not mean that we can force
God to do something. It means that God chooses
to allow us to sin and do evil. God will
not always allow this – in the Kingdom, God will not allow any sin or evil.
How
exactly does this all come to pass?
The
best we can say is what Paul says, “Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and
knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his
ways! ‘For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?’
‘Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?’ For from him and
through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen” (Romans
11:33-36, ESV).
Even
so, this should comfort us – that no matter what we go through – good or bad –
no matter what leader is in power – good or evil – no matter whatever comes to
pass – God is Absolutely Sovereignly in control. Everything is happening according to God’s
plan. Nothing is out of control. God has not “lost it.” God is bringing all things together to His
Glory and the good of those who love Him.
So, as pain and chaos whirl about us, we can even say then, “God is in
control and knows what is happening. He
is Sovereign over it, and I trust Him.
Though I cannot trust another person or that I will make it through the
next moment. I trust in God my Savior.”
“‘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.’”
On behalf of Cyrus, Israel and Judah, and the world, God
reigns down righteousness – He causes all those who believe to be credited with
the righteousness of the Savior, Jesus.
The Sovereign Power that brought all things into existence now gifts
salvation, righteousness, and the fruit of salvation to His people.
The return from the Babylonian Captivity is a
foreshadowing – a type – of the future redemption of God’s people through the
work of Jesus. Just as God delivered and
freed His people from captivity in Babylon, God would free His people from captivity
to sin and the devil and deliver us eternally through His Son.
God is Sovereign over history.
Our response should be one of trust and fathomless
amazement: God uses a pagan emperor to
deliver His people from captivity. God
used a pagan people to crucify His Son that He would rise from the dead and
deliver His people from sin and the devil.
God is Sovereign over the life of Cyrus.
God has purposes for all He does.
God is Sovereign over history.
So, we can trust God for everything in every moment. There may be days when that is difficult, but
God is Sovereign, and we are not. God
knows what is best, and we don’t. As
difficult as it may be some times, we ought to submit to what God has said and
trust Him that all His promises are true, and we will be received into the
eternal Kingdom of our God and Savior, because He is Sovereign.
Let us pray:
Almighty God, there are times when it seems everything is
in the world and in our lives are out of control. Thank You for showing us that every person,
nation, action, and event occur in accordance with Your Sovereign Plan. Help us to know You better through Your Word
and take comfort in Your Sovereignty and as our loving Father. And as You have commanded, we pray for our
President and First Lady that You would deliver them from Covid and draw them
to You in the salvation merited by Jesus. For it is in Jesus’ Name we pray,
Amen.
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