Major Prophets Isaiah

God Of Plans And Promises

Discover Jesus as: Immanuel Isaiah 45-46 Read on Bible Gateway (HCSB)

Day 594 of 730
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INTRO

What should prophecy be? We don’t always know if a prophecy is single, double, or triple-layered. Distinguishing whether a prophecy describes current times, near future times, or far future times can also be tricky. Today’s passage refers to Cyrus, the king of Persia, who was chosen to be God’s anointed. Cyrus became the defender of Israel who was guided by God’s plan and God’s purpose.

TEACHING

Isaiah 45:1-4: Cyrus was proclaimed as the Lord’s anointed well before he became prominent. This resembles the Lord’s proclamation over Jeremiah: “I chose you before I formed you in the womb; I set you apart before you were born. I appointed you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

God has a plan. Even if people are not yet in place, God can bring them about. To be anointed is to be set apart for God’s purpose. Cyrus would be God’s instrument to “subdue nations…disarm kings” (v. 1) and reform nations. Cyrus would lead Persia, the nation that would overthrow Babylon. God used a non-Jewish person to make His will known in a way that benefited Israel.

Isaiah 45:5-8: God spoke directly to Cyrus. God promised to strengthen Cyrus even though Cyrus did not know Him (v. 5). God also declared that he makes success and creates disaster (v. 7). While the Bible does teach that God is love, God also executes judgment and sometimes causes difficulty. For instance, God instructed an angel to kill 185,000 Assyrian soldiers who were encamped around Jerusalem (2 Kings 19:35).

Isaiah 45:9-10: God pronounces woe to a king who wasn’t born yet about arguing “with his Maker” (v. 9). God uses the examples of a clay pot questioning its craftsman and a child questioning its parents. In both instances, there was an authority that was in charge of the plan.

Isaiah 45:11-13: God had a plan that He would accomplish, even if Cyrus became obstinate along the way. God declared Cyrus would “rebuild My city and set My exiles free” (v. 13). God put all of these desires into Cyrus’s heart.

Isaiah 45:14-17: Beginning in verse 15, Cyrus was depicted as a type of Christ and Isaiah’s prophecy became two-fold in its outlook. Eventually Israel “will be saved by the Lord with an everlasting salvation” (v. 17). The word everlasting means having no beginning and having no end.

Isaiah 45:18-25: Idols were denounced as completely false because of the Lord’s declaration of future events through His prophets (vv. 20-21). Now God foretells of a future in which all people would “bow to Me, every tongue will swear allegiance” (v. 23).

Note that this verse resembles Romans 14:11: “For it is written: As I live, says the Lord, every knee will bow to Me, and every tongue will give praise to God.” Even in the New Testament, Isaiah’s prophecy reminded Paul of some “yet still to come” future in which all people will know and worship God.

Isaiah 46: In contrast to other gods, the Lord would show Himself able to rescue His people from captivity (vv. 1-4). The Lord is incomparable to other deities (vv. 5-8). God declares His knowledge of “the end from the beginning” (v. 10), that would culminate in Israel returning to Jerusalem as a sign of the Lord’s salvation and power (v. 13).

CLOSING

God would accomplish all of His purposes through Cyrus, a king who had yet to be born. Since God knows the end from the beginning and told us beforehand how He would use a yet-to-be-born king to accomplish His purposes, shouldn’t we trust Him to accomplish His purposes in and through us and His church?

Questions

  1. What did the Lord foretell about Cyrus in Isaiah 45:1-13? Why will God do so much for Cyrus? Did the things foretold come to pass? (Ezra 1:1-8)
  2. Where do you see a type of Christ in Isaiah 45?
  3. Why do you think the Lord, through Isaiah, repeated in some form, “There is no other God but Me” seven times in Isaiah 45 (Isaiah 45::5, 6, 14, 18, 21 [x2], 22? Is the fact that He said it seven times significant?
  4. In what ways did the Lord describe Himself as being the source of all that exists in Isaiah 45? Why do you think He did this?
  5. Read Isaiah 45:9. In what ways are we (either corporately or individually) guilty of this? (Isaiah 64:8; Romans 9:20-21)
  6. In Isaiah 46:10, what did God mean when He said He declares the end from the beginning? How does this support His repeated statement that He is God and there is no other? (Isaiah 46:9-11)
  7. What did the Holy Spirit highlight to you in Isaiah 45—46 through the reading or the teaching?

Next: the Daily Word →

Daily Word

Laura Martin Isaiah 45:18

“For this is what the LORD says—God is the Creator of the heavens. He formed the earth and made it. He established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited—‘I am Yahweh, and there is no other.’”

The Lord proclaimed through His prophet Isaiah, “I formed the earth and made it. I established it, to be inhabited and not empty.” God made the earth. God established the earth. God formed you. He knows everything about the earth and about you. He is Yahweh. There is no other god like this God. And this God who created everything called you by name.

Do you hear the questions? How was the world created? How did man and woman come into existence? If you believe in the Word of God, then believe and know this truth: God created the earth, and God created you. There is no other god like Yahweh. His plan will take place, and He will accomplish His will. You are in His plans. He has plans just for you because He calls you by name. Think about the people in your life who call you by name: your family, your friends, coworkers, and neighbors. These people truly know you. God says He calls you by name. Yes, the creator of the world says He has called you. He has appointed you for this time, for this season. He says, “I have made you, I will carry you, I will bear and save you.” You are important to the creator of this world.

“For this is what the Lord says—God is the Creator of the heavens. He formed the earth and made it. He established it; He did not create it to be empty, but formed it to be inhabited—‘I am Yahweh, and there is no other.’”

—Isaiah 45:18

FURTHER SCRIPTURE

  • Genesis 1:1, 26–28 — “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.’ So God created man in His own image; He created him in the image of God; He created them male and female. God blessed them, and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, and every creature that crawls on the earth.’”
  • Isaiah 45:4 — “I call you by your name, because of Jacob My servant and Israel My chosen one. I give a name to you, though you do not know Me.”
  • Isaiah 46:4 — “I will be the same until your old age, and I will bear you up when you turn gray. I have made you, and I will carry you; I will bear and save you.”