Watch how this 44th chapter ends, with God as the Speaker! “(The Lord) that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof: 27 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers: 28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.”
A Promise to a City!
Jerusalem, specifically called “the City of God” in Psalm 46:4. An in Psalm 48:1 as well: “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in THE CITY OF OUR GOD, in the mountain of his holiness.”
Actually here are three promises in a row, God to His City! With even more to follow!
“Thou shalt be inhabited.” (More than once in her history the city has been “empty,” but not for eternity!)
“Ye shall be built.” (She has been attacked and sacked and left desolate again and again! But such chaos was never her perpetual state.)
Number three gets more Personal: “I (the Lord himself) will raise up the decayed places thereof.”
(I’m thinking of Nehemiah 4:10 … “And Judah said, The strength of the bearers of burdens is decayed, and there is much rubbish; so that we are not able to build the wall.” Decay, here specifically after the returnees of Babylon come back home.
Then next … God dries some kind of floodwaters! Verse 27 of today’s Text: “That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers.”
The “depths” of the Red Sea, way back at the Exodus?
The “depths” of the flooding Jordan River, when they crossed into the land of Canaan forty years later?
The “depths” of the Euphrates River, whose flow was diverted by the Persians in order to conquer Babylon? (An event not yet transpired/actualized when Isaiah first wrote these words!)
Or proverbially, “All of the above?”
God controlling the rivers, again! (“The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” Proverbs 21:1)
Wow!
But our Passage continues … “That saith of CYRUS, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.” You’ve just read a literary “miracle,” Isaiah 44:28.
God has now called a man’s name, a Persian King (Cyrus) over a hundred years (actually closer to a hundred and sixty years) before he was even born!
And God terms this man, “My shepherd,” a title often given to Kings in the Old Testament.
Cyrus is the King, according to world history, who set the Jews free from (Babylonian) captivity and allowed them to return home to Jerusalem … after Nebuchadnezzar had persecuted them so egregiously.
Yes, the Persians did divert the flow of the Euphrates River in order to attack the (impenetrable) City of Babylon! While the Babylonians were having a wild party, a drunken orgy! (Read Daniel chapter 5 for more information.)
Wow!
And this Cyrus (see Ezra and Nehemiah for Biblical validation) did “perform God’s pleasure” (setting the Jews free) … then helping rebuild the City and the Temple so dear to God’s Heart!
Amazing! I feel like we are standing on “holy ground” this morning! Something in me is “worshipping” my dear Lord!
God’s Word, truly a Miracle Book.
— Dr. Mike Bagwell
Those who will not give the Bible proper “credit” for accurately predicting Cyrus’ reign here (in advance of the fact) … try hard to post-date Isaiah and say he that was writing history instead of prophecy! They claim a protegee of Isaiah (called a “second Isaiah” or even a “third Isaiah”) wrote about this King … long after the events transpired!
They are wrong!
Jesus acknowledged only one Isaiah! And that fact alone is good enough for me. See Matthew 15:7 for one of several examples.
The Bible yet stands!
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