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No.1.
My Witnesses
(42: 18 - 45: 15).
Cyrus, the shadow of the Great Restorer
(44: 28 - 45: 14).
pp. 6 - 11
(Fundamentals34)
ISAIAH.
#27. Isaiah 42: 12 - 45: 15.
Restoration Promised, Conditioned, Foreshadowed.
Restoration Promised (42: 18 - 43: 9).
My Witness (=) Restoration Promised, Condition, Foreshadowed.
Cyrus, the shadow of the Great Restorer (=) Restoration Foreshadowed.
One further witness is to be brought forward before this great section closes; the
prophecy concerning Cyrus. Cyrus is presented in a twofold aspect:
(1)
As the Persian king, who was moved to make the proclamation that led to the
rebuilding of Jerusalem and who encompassed the overthrow of the city of
Babylon, as predicted.
(2)
As foreshadowing the Messiah, Who shall accomplish in fulness, what Cyrus
accomplished only in measure. This we may see in the very titles given to
this great king. He is called "My Shepherd' (Isa. 44: 28); and "His
anointed" (Isa. 45: 1). There is moreover a parallel between the words used
of Cyrus and those of the Messiah, as for example:
"Whose right hand I have holden" (Isa. 45: 1).
"I the Lord . . . . . will hold Thine hand" (Isa. 42: 6).
"I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight" (Isa. 45: 2).
"The crooked shall be made straight" (Isa. 40: 4).
Cyrus is called `the anointed' in the same way that the Medes are called `My
sanctified ones' in Isa. 13: 3. Personal holiness is not predicated of the Medes, nor was
Cyrus the `Messiah', but they were set apart for the work that God had determined they
should do. The Scriptures speak of Cyrus by name 22 times, and the books wherein these
references occur, are II Chronicles; Ezra; Isaiah and Daniel. External testimony to
the person and work of Cyrus is threefold. We have the testimony of Josephus; the
cuneiform inscriptions; and the writings of Herodotus, Xenophon and Ctesias. The
testimony of Josephus is valuable. Here is a short extract from the eleventh book of
Antiquities:
"In the first year of the reign of Cyrus, which was the seventieth from the day that our
people were removed out of their own land into Babylon . . . . . stirred up the mind of
Cyrus, and made him write throughout all Asia . . . . . This was known to Cyrus by his
reading of the book which Isaiah left behind him of his properties . . . . . This was foretold
by Isaiah 140 years before the temple was demolished" (Antiquities Bk. 11, Ch. 1).