Deliverance and Return

GOLDEN TEXT: “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else.” —Isaiah 45:22

ISAIAH 45:1-4,13; EZRA 1:1-7

JAMES said, “Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.” (Acts 15:18) This is evidenced in the prophecy of Isaiah 45:1-4,13, where Cyrus is named as the one whom the Lord would raise up, name, and direct in granting deliverance to his people from their captivity in Babylon. In God’s overruling providences we have a remarkable example of the manner in which his hand is operative in the affairs of men, even though they may not be aware that a divine purpose is being accomplished through them.

Jeremiah prophesied that the captivity of the Israelites would last for seventy years. (Jer. 29:10) It was when this seventy years were finished that the Lord “stirred up the spirit of Cyrus, king of Persia” to issue a proclamation authorizing the return of the captive Israelites and granting them permission to rebuild the temple which had been destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar’s army. Arrangements were also made to return all the gold, silver and copper utensils and vessels which were taken out of the temple by Nebuchadnezzar. It was a history making day for Israel when Cyrus issued this sweeping decree.

In passing, it is interesting to note what Cyrus says concerning himself—“The Lord God of heaven hath given me all the kingdoms of the earth.” (Ezra 1:2) Daniel said essentially the same things to Nebuchadnezzar. (Dan. 2:38) Cyrus was now head of the empire, or “kingdom” which succeeded Babylon, and we see that the same divine grant of power had passed on to him. In Daniel’s prophecy he said there would be two more “kingdoms,” represented by the thighs of brass and the legs of iron, as seen by Babylon’s king. These were Greece, the power that overthrew the Medo-Persian Empire, and Rome, which succeeded Greece. In the days of Rome Paul wrote, “The powers that be are ordained [margin, ordered] of God.”—Rom. 13:1

The typical kingdom of God came to an end with the dethronement of Zedekiah. It was to be “no more” Ezekiel wrote, until He came whose right it was. (Ezek. 21:25-27) The divine grant of power to a certain succession of Gentile nations was, meanwhile, a sort of stop-gap provision to maintain a semblance of order throughout the earth until the time should come for the real kingdom of David, in the hands of Christ, to be established.

However, while their kingdom was destroyed, and they were to remain a vassal nation, God still had a purpose to be worked out through the Hebrews as a people; and, in order for this to be accomplished it was essential that they be restored to their own land, and become established there once more as a nation, even though subject to Gentile governmental authority. In the divine plan, the nation of Israel was to be given another and final opportunity of being the messianic nation. This opportunity was given by Jesus when he presented himself to them as their King and Messiah.

Many of the Jews enthusiastically responded to Cyrus’ decree, and the return of the captives got under way. But many hardships were encountered, both in their trek back to the Promised Land, and in their work of rebuilding the temple, and later the city and its walls. These experiences are related in the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah.

Our Golden Text is an interesting one. Because of its setting, it was doubtless chosen with the thought that the Israelites, in looking to the Lord, were delivered from their captivity in Babylon. In principle this, of course, would be true. But the text has a much wider meaning than that. The next verse reads, “I [the Lord] have sworn by myself, the word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.”—Isa. 45:23

The latter part of this text is quoted by the Apostle Paul and applied to Christ since his resurrection. It is unto him that every knee shall bow and every tongue confess, Paul explains. (Phil. 2:10,11) So when, in our Golden Text, all the ends of the earth are urged to look unto the Lord and be saved, the salvation referred to is the salvation from death provided through the death and resurrection of Jesus, made conditional upon bowing the knee to him.

It will be during the thousand years of Christ’s reign that every knee will bow to Christ. Those not doing so will be “destroyed from among the people.” (Acts 3:23) Christ, as the great antitypical Cyrus will, during the thousand years of his reign, grant liberty to all mankind from a captivity even worse than experienced by the Jews in Babylon, even from the captivity of death. Under Christ’s rulership the people will be delivered from the land of man’s greatest enemy, which is death, and given an opportunity to live in peace and happiness forever.

QUESTIONS

How was God’s foreknowledge manifested in connection with Cyrus, king of Persia?

How long, according to Jeremiah the prophet, was the captivity of the Hebrews in Babylon to last?

What significance, historically, is attached to Cyrus’ statement that the Lord had given him universal dominion?

What was the divine purpose in restoring the Israelites to their own land as a people?

What is the larger application of our Golden Text?

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