_Thus saith the Lord to His anointed_
CYRUS
The name of Cyrus is written Kuras in Babylonian cuneiform, Kurush in
Old Persian.
Ctesias stated on the authority of Parysatis, the wife of the Persian
king Ochus, that her younger son was named Cyrus from the sun, as the
Persians called the sun _Kupos... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will go before thee_
GOD GOING BEFORE
Man must go.
Each man is accomplishing a journey, going through a process. The only
question is, How? Man may go, either with God or without Him. Whether
we go with God or without Him, we shall find crooked places.
I. We should regard the text as A WARNIN... [ Continue Reading ]
_And I will give thee the treasures of darkness_
SPIRITUAL MINERALOGY
There is a whole library of sacred philosophy in the words of the
Psalmist on the relation subsisting between God and His creatures.
“That Thou givest them, they gather. Thou openest Thine hand, they
are filled with good.” Perha... [ Continue Reading ]
_For Jacob My servant’s sake_
GREAT MEN THE SERVANTS OF GOD
It appears from this prediction, taken in connection with its
wonderful accomplishment, that God justly claims a sovereign right to
make great men the instruments of executing His wise and benevolent
designs.
God claims a supreme right to... [ Continue Reading ]
_I girded thee, though thou hast not known Me_
CYRUS GIRDED BY GOD
The contrast to “loose the loins of kings” (Isaiah 45:1).
(_Prof. J. Skinner, D. D._)
THE GIRDINGS OF JEHOVAH
I. GOD’S PLAN, AS IT AFFECTS SOCIETY.
1. It is comprehensive, sweeping from age to age, threading
millenniums, buildi... [ Continue Reading ]
_I am the Lord, and there is none else_
THE BENEFICENT SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
The key-thought to all the intricacies of the whole of this passage is
that God is the absolute Author of all that exists and the infinite
Supreme Ruler of all events; and the implied, though not expressed
inference from thi... [ Continue Reading ]
_I form the light, and create darkness_
EVIL IN THE OLD TESTAMENT
There is no thought in the Old Testament of reducing all evil, moral
and physical, to a single principle.
Moral evil proceeds from the will of man, physical evil from the will
of God, who sends it as the punishment of sin. The expr... [ Continue Reading ]
_Drop down, ye heavens_
SALVATION COMES OF MAN’S RESPONSE TO GOD
To the eye of the seer the earth lies open to heaven as a wide
corn-land over which the clouds of heaven hang, the air breathes, and
the sun sheds sheets of light.
Those clouds are big with righteousness, the special term used
throug... [ Continue Reading ]
_Woe unto him that striveth with Ms Maker!--_
STRIVING WITH GOD
The strong word “strive,” and the emphatic reassertion of the
mission of Cyrus (Isaiah 45:13), as well as the connection with Isaiah
45:1, show that deliberate opposition to the Divine purpose, and not
mere faint-hearted unbelief (as... [ Continue Reading ]
_Thus saith the Lord. .. Ask Me_
PRAYER AND CRITICISM
“Ask Me, but do not criticise Me.
” “Command Me” must mean “leave to My care.” (_Prof. J.
Skinner, D. D._)
ENCOURAGEMENT TO PRAY FROM THE NAMES OF GOD
“The Lord”--that is, God in His everlasting redemptive purpose;
“the Holy One of Israel”--... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have made the earth_
NATURE AND SCRIPTURE
(with Isaiah 45:22):--The study of Nature reveals a Creator.
This is the order: God, creation, fishes, animals, men, women, the
human race, the culture of the soil, the building of cities, the
navigation of the sea, and, in course of ages, the formatio... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely God is in thee_
JEHOVAH HIMSELF PRESENT IN HIS CHURCH
I. THE DIGNITY OF THE CHURCH. One cannot wonder that Solomon should
have been overwhelmed with astonishment when Jehovah promised His
presence in the temple that had just been erected for His worship and
glory. But there is a nobler tem... [ Continue Reading ]
_Verily Thou art a God that hidest Thyself_
THE MYSTERY OF GOD’S WAYS
1.
Isaiah’s mind is impressed with the fact that if God is “the God
of Israel and the Saviour,” He does some things scarcely in apparent
consistency with that character. How many times did He abandon His
people Israel to their... [ Continue Reading ]
_But Israel shall be saved in the Lord_
A FORECAST OF THE MESSIANIC AGE
As is usual in the prophets, the perfect dispensation, or what is
called the Messianic age, is conceived as issuing immediately from the
historical crisis which is the subject of the prophecy--in this case,
the deliverance fro... [ Continue Reading ]
_For thus saith the Lord that created the heavens._
HOW GOD REVEALS HIMSELF
The main current of the section may be thus expressed--
I. GOD’S REVELATION OF HIMSELF IS OPEN AND TRUTHFUL. He has not
spoken in secret; and He has not bid men seek Him in vain.
II. GOD’S REVELATION OF HIMSELF IS IN REF... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have not spoken in secret_
“IN A DARK PLACE OF THE EARTH,”
“In a dark place of the earth,” is an expression used for the
purpose of pointing out the contrast between the prophecies of Jehovah
and the heathen cave, oracles and spirit-voices of the necromancers,
which seemed to rise up from the i... [ Continue Reading ]
_A Just God and a Saviour_
THE JUST GOD AND THE SAVIOUR
To human apprehension, light and darkness are not more opposed than
justice and mercy.
We cannot conceive how they possibly can meet together. But God’s
ways are not our ways; He is “a just God,” leaving not the
smallest possibility of escap... [ Continue Reading ]
_Look unto Me_
TURNING TO GOD
“Turn ye to Me and be saved.
” The first imperative exhorts, the second promises. Jehovah desires
two things--
1. All men’s turning to Him.
2. Their blessedness by so doing. (_P. Delitzch, D. D._)
LOOK
The word does not correspond exactly to the English “look,” b... [ Continue Reading ]
_Surely shall one say, In the Lord have I righteousness and strength_
OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS AND STRENGTH
It is important to us, in reading the Old Testament, and more
particularly its prophetical portions, to take with us as our guide
the well-known statement of the angel to the evangelist John: “The... [ Continue Reading ]
_In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified_
THE BELIEVER JUSTIFIED AND GLORYING IN THE REDEEMER
This passage is prophetic of the Messiah Isaiah 45:23 is quoted in
Romans 14:11, and applied to Christ.
I. Let us then attend to the assertion that “IN THE LORD SHALL THE
SEED OF ISRAEL BE... [ Continue Reading ]