Prediction of Cyrus
March 14, 2021
Commentary
God said that we should serve our Creator. Idolaters do the opposite by serving or worshiping what they have made rather than the One who made them. Having pointed out the foolishness of idolatry, Isaiah reminds His people of their proper relationship to God (vv. 21-22). All of creation is to burst forth in singing and praise because of the Lord’s redemption (v. 23). He is the one who has called Israel to be His people from eternity past (v. 24). He frustrates the liars and makes the soothsayers mad by overturning their false predictions (v. 25). He will make the message of His prophets come true (vv. 26-27).
The fact that God predicted more than 150 years in advance that a man named Cyrus would release the Jews from exile is a great stumbling block to liberal theologians who refuse to acknowledge the reality of predictive prophecy (v. 28). He also predicted that the temple would be rebuilt about 200 years before it happened. At the same time it causes the believing scholars to accept this statement as the prediction of a future event, as an established fact that it is going to happen.
The God who created the world and is sovereign over history itself can predict the future. It actually leaves you with a choice of believing that God either spoke through His prophets, or He did not.
The purpose of their deliverance is from the Lord and not from Cyrus. In contrast to God, Cyrus is as nothing; for he is merely an instrument in the hand of God. He will not only allow the people of Judah to return to their homeland, but He will personally decree the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. In doing this he was serving God’s purposes as if he were God’s shepherd.
Application
I can always trust God’s word as absolute truth and with it I can measure all other teachings. If I am unsure about something, I just need to test it against God’s word.
Isaiah 44:21– 28 (NET)
21 Remember these things, O Jacob, O Israel, for you are my servant. I formed you to be my servant; O Israel, I will not forget you!
22 I remove the guilt of your rebellious deeds as if they were a cloud, the guilt of your sins as if they were a cloud. Come back to me, for I protect you.”
23 Shout for joy, O sky, for the Lord intervenes; shout out, you subterranean regions of the earth. O mountains, give a joyful shout; you too, O forest and all your trees! For the Lord protects Jacob; he reveals his splendor through Israel.
24 This is what the Lord, your Protector, says, the one who formed you in the womb: “I am the Lord, who made everything, who alone stretched out the sky, who fashioned the earth all by myself,
25 who frustrates the omens of the empty talkers and humiliates the omen readers, who overturns the counsel of the wise men and makes their advice seem foolish,
26 who fulfills the oracles of his prophetic servants and brings to pass the announcements of his messengers, who says about Jerusalem, ‘She will be inhabited,’ and about the towns of Judah, ‘They will be rebuilt, her ruins I will raise up,’
27 who says to the deep sea, ‘Be dry! I will dry up your sea currents,’
28 who commissions Cyrus, the one I appointed as shepherd to carry out all my wishes and to decree concerning Jerusalem, ‘She will be rebuilt,’ and concerning the temple, ‘It will be reconstructed.’
Illustration: Donald Trump Predicted Terrorist Attack
It’s interesting to note that in his book entitled, The America We Deserve, Donald Trump predicted a terrorist attack against America. In a chapter entitled, Freedom From Terrorism, he made the following statement: “The biggest threat to our security is ourselves because we’ve become arrogant, dangerously arrogant,” he wrote a year before the deadly attack. “Do we truly understand the threats we face?” (The America We Deserve, by Donald Trump).