Home

Isaiah 45 Commentary

Cyrus, God’s Instrument

The word of God can change your life. Read it daily…FOR HELP CLICKHERE

KEY THOUGHT: Thus says the Lord to His anointed,
To Cyrus… [Isaiah 45:1 NKJV]

Kindly read your Bible before going through the commentary!

Isaiah 45 NKJV
Cyrus, God’s Instrument

45 “Thus says the Lord to His anointed,
To Cyrus, whose right hand I have [a]held—
To subdue nations before him
And loose the armor of kings,
To open before him the double doors,
So that the gates will not be shut:
‘I will go before you
And[b] make the [c]crooked places straight;
I will break in pieces the gates of bronze
And cut the bars of iron.
I will give you the treasures of darkness
And hidden riches of secret places,
That you may know that I, the Lord,
Who call you by your name,
Am the God of Israel.
For Jacob My servant’s sake,
And Israel My elect,
I have even called you by your name;
I have named you, though you have not known Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other;
There is no God besides Me.
I will gird you, though you have not known Me,
That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting
That there is none besides Me.
I am the Lord, and there is no other;
I form the light and create darkness,
I make peace and create calamity;
I, the Lord, do all these things.

“Rain down, you heavens, from above,
And let the skies pour down righteousness;
Let the earth open, let them bring forth salvation,
And let righteousness spring up together.
I, the Lord, have created it.

“Woe to him who strives with his Maker!
Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth!
Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’
Or shall your handiwork say, ‘He has no hands’?
10 Woe to him who says to his father, ‘What are you begetting?’
Or to the woman, ‘What have you brought forth?’ ”

11 Thus says the Lord,
The Holy One of Israel, and his Maker:
“Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons;
And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me.
12 I have made the earth,
And created man on it.
I—My hands—stretched out the heavens,
And all their host I have commanded.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness,
And I will [d]direct all his ways;
He shall build My city
And let My exiles go free,
Not for price nor reward,”
Says the Lord of hosts.

The Lord, the Only Savior

14 Thus says the Lord:

“The labor of Egypt and merchandise of Cush
And of the Sabeans, men of stature,
Shall come over to you, and they shall be yours;
They shall walk behind you,
They shall come over in chains;
And they shall bow down to you.
They will make supplication to you, saying, ‘Surely God is in you,
And there is no other;
There is no other God.’ ”

15 Truly You are God, who hide Yourself,
O God of Israel, the Savior!
16 They shall be ashamed
And also disgraced, all of them;
They shall go in confusion together,
Who are makers of idols.
17 But Israel shall be saved by the Lord
With an everlasting salvation;
You shall not be ashamed or disgraced
Forever and ever.

18 For thus says the Lord,
Who created the heavens,
Who is God,
Who formed the earth and made it,
Who has established it,
Who did not create it [e]in vain,
Who formed it to be inhabited:
“I am the Lord, and there is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret,
In a dark place of the earth;
I did not say to the seed of Jacob,
‘Seek Me [f]in vain’;
I, the Lord, speak righteousness,
I declare things that are right.

20 “Assemble yourselves and come;
Draw near together,
You who have escaped from the nations.
They have no knowledge,
Who carry the wood of their carved image,
And pray to a god that cannot save.
21 Tell and bring forth your case;
Yes, let them take counsel together.
Who has declared this from ancient time?
Who has told it from that time?
Have not I, the Lord?
And there is no other God besides Me,
A just God and a Savior;
There is none besides Me.

22 “Look to Me, and be saved,
All you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.
23 I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness,
And shall not return,
That to Me every knee shall bow,
Every tongue shall take an oath.
24 He shall say,
[g]‘Surely in the Lord I have righteousness and strength.
To Him men shall come,
And all shall be ashamed
Who are incensed against Him.
25 In the Lord all the descendants of Israel
Shall be justified, and shall glory.’ ”


Footnotes

a. Isaiah 45:1 strengthened or sustained
b. Isaiah 45:2 Tg. I will trample down the walls; Vg. I will humble the great ones of the earth
c. Isaiah 45:2 DSS, LXX mountains
d. Isaiah 45:13 Or make all his ways straight
e. Isaiah 45:18 Or empty, a waste
f. Isaiah 45:19 Or in a waste place
g. Isaiah 45:24 Or Only in the LORD are all righteousness and strength

New King James Version (NKJV)

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Isaiah 45 Commentary

Who predicted long ago what would happen? The prophet is asking the same question that we have met several times in the opening chapters of the second partition of Isaiah. He is not looking for an answer, but rather, a faith response from Israel and the nations.

Was it not I, the LORD, the God who saves his people? Again, the prophet is not presenting a logical solution to an impossible puzzle. Who has looked at this fact and conceived it in his spirit?

The word ‘prediction’ may carry the thought of try-and-error in today’s language. The scripture says more. The Creator God planned it; the Creator God has executed it.

The Sovereign LORD determined the course of events and informed Isaiah about them – the same voice of the physical Isaiah who interacted with King Hezekiah more than a century before these events.

Won’t the nations listen and heed? There is more for them to wait for – a time will come when every knee will bow down and every tongue confess the name of the LORD. In the New Testament, the LORD God has a name. Philippians 2:10. Jesus.

We would guess the scripture is talking about the Son’s government, Immanuel, the Branch, or lately, the Servant. Dare not trivialize the Son’s government!

The saint won’t be foolish forever! He is right about the importance of salvation!

In the meantime, let the saint look at the events and appreciate the hand of the LORD. In seemingly less spiritual events, the LORD’s hand is still in control. The characters or actors may not even be aware, but the LORD is pulling the strings. Cyrus is simply a tool in the hand of the LORD.

Let the saint respond with a ‘yes LORD’. Let Your will be done. Let not clay speak back to the Potter. God forbid! The Creator God remains sovereign and tightly in control of life’s outcomes. The scripture invites the nations to investigate these facts!


Loving Scripture….

Leave a comment

25 thoughts on “Home

  1. It has been exciting learning how God can make things happen to his choosen one, God workout something wonderful and fulfils the promises he made to the father of Joseph.

    God’s words remains true so are his promises and indeed it has been God working out the salvation of man Kind by Grace through Faith alone.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. Profound. My life needs a new introduction to God. Not that I have been right, but because God desires to help me… I see an amazing Grace here. Having broken the first commandment, still God looks for me and helps me to build up with him… And live for him. A littles knowledge of the Lord will ignite my passion and desire to serve him. This morning I pledge to seek, live and serve the Lord Jesus Christ and His purposes everyday of my life.
    Beautiful lesson

    Like

  3. The Lord reintroduces himself and shows Israel, He is all they need. Some boast in horses and others in chariots but we’ll boast in the Lord. He is able and the only one worthy of our trust. Lord teach me how to always look up to you at all times and not focus on my strength or capabilities. This is my prayer

    Like

  4. This far too common today. Just do something that seems like true worship yet it’s intent and actual practice is not even close to the set standard by the Lord. I personally feel challenged of some things we do in our personal lives, the focus of many churches and ministries today. We’ll need to realize the Lord must be worship as he has personally guided. Provides a good start of my reflection today

    Like

  5. In those days when there was no King everyone did as they pleased. This is a good reminder to us that we are on own when the King of Kings isn’t leading our lives we’ll be doing what is not right and the results will show clearly how life without Christ looks like. We thank God that even when it looks like he’s not there, he’s behind the scenes working. I have learnt to trust in the Lord always.

    Like

  6. Iam seeing this being stressed… There was no King in Israel… So lawlessness is the order of the day. This shows how heartless and wicked man can be with out the right King in his life. He can do anything. May the Lord help us to allow Christ in our lives that every aspect of our lives is changed and we yield ourselves to him alone.

    Like

  7. I’m sure as the two daughters in-law stayed in Naomi’s home they learned about the God of Israel and appreciated His works among his people. Ruth’s determination and what she says moves my heart. She’s convinced she must go with Naomi and wants to spend her life with her, this relationship was strong especially between a mother inlaw and a daughter in-law. Yet Ruth stays and how she puts it shows the depth of her heart, I’ll go with with you, your people will be my people, your God will be my God…

    Like

  8. Howdy I am so excited I found your blog, I really found you by
    accident, while I was searching on Yahoo for something else, Anyways I am here now and would just like to say thank you for a fantastic post and a all round enjoyable
    blog (I also love the theme/design), I don’t have time to browse it all at the
    minute but I have bookmarked it and also included your RSS feeds, so
    when I have time I will be back to read more, Please do keep up
    the excellent b.

    Like

  9. My brother recommended I might like this web site. He was
    totally right. This post truly made my day. You can not imagine simply how
    much time I had spent for this information! Thanks!

    Like

  10. Hello There. I found your blog using msn. This is a really well written article.
    I’ll be sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful info.

    Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly comeback.

    Like

Leave a comment