Isaiah 45:11-12 -‘This is what the Lord says — the Holy One of Israel and your Creator: “Do you question what I do for my children? Do you give me orders about the work of my hands? I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command.”’
Back Story: “Cyrus II of Persia (c. 600 – 530 BC), commonly known as Cyrus the Great was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Western Asia and much of Central Asia. From the Mediterranean Sea and Hellespont in the west to the Indus River in the east, Cyrus the Great created the largest empire the world had yet seen. His reign lasted 30 years.
Cyrus the Great respected the customs and religions of the lands he conquered. What is sometimes referred to as the Edict of Restoration (actually two edicts) described in the Bible as being made by Cyrus the Great left a lasting legacy on the Jewish religion. According to Isaiah 45:1 of the Hebrew Bible, God anointed Cyrus for this task, even referring to him as messiah (lit. "His anointed one") and he is the only non-Jewish figure in the Bible to be called so.”
Commentary: Cyrus, King of Persia, was a great friend to Israel in that God anointed him for a specific purpose: to allow God’s city, Jerusalem to be rebuilt and to have the Israeli exiles to be set free without expecting payment. Frankly, it would appear that a non-Jewish king had done more for God’s people than many of the kings of Israel or Judah had done thru the years.
Isaiah 45:1-13 is very clear that God is the supreme ruler of light and darkness, in very good and bad times. Our lives as believers have been and always will be sprinkled with both types of experiences. We are to praise God during the good and bad times just the same. We mustn’t resent the bad times for without bad times we will not learn new lessons and grow spiritually. These happen to be universal truths. They were true back in Isaiah’s day and they are true now. Once a person becomes a Christian they mustn’t assume life will suddenly become a cakewalk. That is foolish thinking, for nowhere in scripture does it say or even imply that believers in God will have no opposition. Live for God and watch his hand move on your behalf.
Next time we will look at the rest of chapter 45, which speaks of the future conversion of the Gentiles. Until then, walk with the King and be a blessing. rlkeller
Resources: The Life Application Study Bible; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrus_the_Great
No comments:
Post a Comment