Good morning Beloved of God in Christ.
We give glory to God for the gift of another new day, we thank God for the privilege of life and for His unending mercy and grace upon us always. Praise God!
Isaiah Chapter 45 continued…
We noticed yesterday how Prophet Isaiah ended Chapter 44 with a brief mention of King Cyrus, about how God would use him to repatriate the Jews back to Jerusalem and helping them to rebuild the temple.
He continues with this prophecy in Chapter 45 which we will examine now.
Cyrus was a Persian King and his name came up in the Bible about 22 times.
Cyrus means “the rays of the sun”
Isaiah describes him in 44:28 as God’s Shepherd and the anointed one.
According to the Passion Translation commentary, Cyrus conquered Babylon on Oct 12, 539BC. At that time Nabonidus was the king of Babylon and his son was Belshazzar. Please read Daniel 5:25-31.
It’s believed that after Cyrus defeated and conquered Babylon, Daniel must have shown him the scrolls containing the prophecies of him being used by God to help the Jews return to their land.
He was moved and motivated by these prophecies written even more than 150 years before he became king of Persia, to execute God’s plan.
Isaiah 45:1-4
[1]Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
[2]I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
[3]And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD, which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
[4]For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
With the descriptions above, we will notice that he has a figurative function of Christ Jesus, because Christ was also called the Anointed One that came to set people free from their sins and bondage.
Acts 10:38
[38]How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him.
The Bible refers to both of them as Shepherd. In Hebrews 13:20 Jesus was referred to as Shepherd and same with Cyrus in Isaiah 44:28.
Both of them were meant to execute God’s agenda on earth (John 8:29).
According to Hebrews 10:12-13, God takes the right hands of both of them to subdue nations and execute God’s Salvation plan. The only difference was that Cyrus was for the Jews only, while Christ Jesus was for the whole world.
Let’s read Psalm 2 and Phil. 3:21 for more details.
Both of them have open doors before them, they were given the treasures of darkness and also hidden riches of secret places. Let’s read Revelation 3:7-9; Matt 27:45; Mark 1:35; Col 2:3 and Revelation 2:17.
We will continue tomorrow with more explanations by God’s grace. Praise God.
Let’s declare this together:
Because I am in Christ and Christ is in me, I possess what Christ possesses. I have open doors of opportunities before me. Eternal open door of redemption has been willed and given to me. I am rich and eternally saved. Amen.
Bible readings for today: Philippians Chapters 1, 2, 3 & 4 with Proverbs 29:15-27
I call you blessed now and always.
Tuesday May 26, 2020 (DDMI)