Isaiah 44:24-45:13. Today we begin the third mini message. Tomorrow we will finish this mini message with the typical song of praise to God. Today’s reading is amazing. Remember that this book was written around 701 BC. Isaiah was probably killed during the reign of Manasseh (686-642 BC). Remember also that at the time of the writing of the book that Sennacherib had invaded the region and had destroyed over 40 cities and many villages in Judah.
In verses 24-26a (the first part of verse 26) God declares his power. Then in verse 26b he tells the people of Judah just what his plans for Jerusalem and Judah are. Jerusalem will have people in it and Judah will be rebuilt. At least the first part of verse 27 looks to me like it’s talking about the crossing of the Red Sea by Moses (Exodus 13:18-14:31) a little reminder of God’s power. The second reference in that verses could be to the time he did a similar miracle when the Israelites entered the promised land for the first time, crossing the Jordan River on dry ground. God also did a similar miracle for Elijah (2 King 2:8) and Elisha (2 Kings 2:14). Since the language in today’s reading is in the future (Elijah and Elisha both lived in the 800’s BC) it would not surprise me if God had more of this miracle in store. The point for the original readers and for us is that God is capable, he is not just boasting about being powerful but has and will back up what he says with action. That is good to know considering the next part of the reading.
In Isaiah 44:28-45:6 God names a specific person who will bring about restoration to Jerusalem in the future. Remember in 701 BC God dealt with the Assyrian invasion by destroying 185,00 in Sennacherib’s troops leading to a withdrawal from Jerusalem with out one arrow being shot (Isaiah 37:33). So the prediction in verse 28 would be incredible to the readers. What does God mean Jerusalem will be built and the foundation of the temple laid? That verse indicates that this guy Cyrus would order the work done. But what work? There was nothing wrong with Jerusalem not the Temple at that time. And who in the world was Cyrus?
History gives us the answer to these questions (as do other parts of the Old Testament). In 612 BC (about 50 year after Isaiah’s death) Assyria was conquered by the Neo-Babylonian empire (“Neo” means new). In 605 BC the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar marched toward the Mediterranean and encountered the forces of Egypt in the town of Carchemish (North of Israel inland from where the coastline turns east-west). Egypt was soundly defeated and Babylon became the new power in the region. For several years Judah was a subject kingdom (vassal state) of Babylon. As part of his control of the area Nebuchadnezzar would take some of the best and brightest citizens captive back to his capital in Babylon. It was probably at this time that Daniel (The book of Daniel) was taken to Babylon. After a couple of troubling incidents with the people of Judah Nebuchadnezzar finally took most of the people captive back to Babylon in 586 BC. Some of the inhabitants of Jerusalem fled to Egypt including the prophet Jeremiah who was taken there against his will and against God’s advise. Unlike the Israelites from the northern kingdom who were mixed with other peoples in the Assyrian kingdom years earlier, the Jews who were taken captive to Babylon were kept separate. In 539 BC the Babylonian empire was overthrown by the Persians (Iranians) lead by Cyrus the Great (559-530 BC). In 538 BC Cyrus issued a decree that the Jews should return to their land and that Jerusalem and the temple should be rebuilt. The prophecy is so specific and the fulfillment so clear in history that many scholars insist that this part of Isaiah was written after 539 BC, more than 100 years after Isaiah execution. The only reason is that they reject predictive prophecy, they do not believe in anything supernatural. But that is exactly the point of God in theses verses. God is powerful, God saw the future destruction of Jerusalem, and God was going to pick a random guy in the future to have Jerusalem rebuilt. All of this because God had a plan and God had made promises and God gets done what God says he will do.
The rest of the verses tie the idea of God’s power together with his choice of Cyrus. It is amazing that this future king of a great empire would pay to have some hicks from the sticks of Judah returned to their land and pay to have their temple rebuilt but that is just what happened as God predicted 150 years in advance. Amazing.
God I notice a woe (“look out!”) to those who argue with you in verse 9 to those who question what you are doing in verse 10. You have give strong evidence of who you are, the powerful ruler of all that is. Lord be ruler of my life. Help me trust and not question. Give me a clear understanding of what you want me to do today. Help me trust in your loving plan. Help me obey. If what you say seems incredible help me remember the proof you have already given and trust you to do what you say.