Passage Reading: Isaiah 45-48
This passage today, like so many, reminds us that God’s work consists not only of the original creation, but that by His providence He still orders events in accordance with His purpose. What an encouragement to know that God didn’t take His hands off the wheel after He was finished! He didn’t rest the seventh day and then determine to rest until the day of judgment, He is a God that is active in the ordering of events throughout the history of the world, bringing things to the intended conclusion that He has foreordained.
We see this so beautifully in today’s text as Isaiah predicts the coming of Cyrus the King of Persia (45:1). Cyrus was the king who would ultimately conquer Babylon in 539 B.C. after they had taken Judah captive. [1] He was also the one who would send the exiles back to Jerusalem to begin the process of reconstruction (see Ezra 1:1-11). In today’s passage, he’s described as God’s anointed one (45:1) even though Isaiah’s prophecy takes place over 100 years before Cyrus takes over Babylon! God makes it so clear again and again in Isaiah that He is the God who knows the entirety of history before any of it happens.
“I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose’”
Isaiah 46:9b-10, ESV
He predicts the fall of Babylon and coming evil (see Isaiah 47, esp. verse 11). He promises that He will fulfill His purpose against them (48:14). Before any of this took place. God had His plans and purposes for all these nations in fulfillment of His loving discipline upon His people, Israel. Judah went into captivity for their sins, being captured by Babylon. In this, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon is many times considered God’s servant! Then, when the time came, God brought Cyrus along (His anointed one!) just as He promised. He did this to deliver His people from the Babylonians and to send them back to the promised land that they lost due to their sins.
What should encourage us in this passage today is that God’s sovereign purpose will stand. We might look at the world stage and wonder what is going on, we might wonder what God is doing, and we might not understand. But we don’t have to! We can trust and we can rest assured that God hasn’t taken His hands off the wheel. He hadn’t from creation until 539 B.C. and He hasn’t now. His purpose will stand. It’s not for the clay pot to complain to its maker or for the baby to complain to their parents about things beyond their control. Likewise, we can trust that our Maker and Father is working things out as He pleases and that at the right time, He’ll bring everything to its final culmination, just as He has planned.
[1] Jason M. Silverman, “Cyrus II,” The Lexham Bible Dictionary (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2016).
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