 |  |
The witness of Cyrus
(44: 28 - 45: 14).
A1 |
44: 28-. "My Shepherd." Type of Messiah.
B1
| 44: -28. Jerusalem. "Thou shalt be built."
A2 |
45: 1-. "His anointed." Type of Messiah.
B2
| 45: -1-3-. Babylon. Overthrown.
C | 45: -3-6. | a | The God of Israel.
b | There is none else.
D | 45: 7-12. | I create (7) (moral).
| I create (8) (spiritual).
| I create (12) (physical).
A3 | 45: 13-. "Raised in righteousness." Type of Messiah.
B3 | 45: -13. Jerusalem. "He shall build My city."
C | 45: 14. | a | God is in thee.
b | There is none else.
God is Creator in each realm, moral, spiritual and physical:
"I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all
these things" (Isa. 45: 7).
"Righteousness . . . . . Salvation . . . . . I the Lord have created it" (Isa. 45: 8).
"I have made the earth, and created man upon it" (Isa. 45: 12).
With this glorious, all embracive fact in view the Lord addressed Israel saying:
"Thus saith the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and His Maker, Ask Me of things to
come concerning My sons, and concerning the work of My hands command ye Me"
(Isaiah 45: 11).
What did Vashti know of the purpose of God when she refused the command of the
king? What did Mordecai know of the part that Easter would play, either in the
deliverance of Israel at that time, or subsequently through the ministry of her unborn
child Cyrus? What did Haman know of the purposes of the God of Israel? Yet whether
the instruments intended evil or good, the Holy One of Israel accomplished His purposes.
He surnamed Cyrus even though Cyrus knew Him not, He girded him, He held his hand.
He overthrew Babylon itself, all to accomplish the word that He had spoken. If all this
and more was not too much for the Lord to plan and achieve in bringing about the
temporary restoration of Israel after the seventy years captivity, what may He not plan
and accomplish, for the fulfillment of all those wondrous promises of complete and
glorious restoration that shall be associated with the advent of a greater than Cyrus, and
the overthrow of a Babylon greater than that lost by Belshazzar?