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“Woe to those who quarrel with their Maker,
    those who are nothing but potsherds
    among the potsherds on the ground.
Does the clay say to the potter,
    ‘What are you making?’
Does your work say,
    ‘The potter has no hands’?
¹⁰ Woe to the one who says to a father,
    ‘What have you begotten?’
or to a mother,
    ‘What have you brought to birth?’

¹¹ “This is what the Lord says—
    the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker:
Concerning things to come,
    do you question me about my children,
    or give me orders about the work of my hands?
¹² It is I who made the earth
    and created mankind on it.
My own hands stretched out the heavens;
    I marshalled their starry hosts.
¹³ I will raise up Cyrus in my righteousness:
    I will make all his ways straight.
He will rebuild my city
    and set my exiles free,
but not for a price or reward,
    says the Lord Almighty.”

There is a time and place when we might want to reverently ask questions of God. We don’t understand what He is doing, and we recognise He doesn’t have to give us any further insight, and may well choose not to. But we ask, in a spirit of submission and humility, recognising that ‘God is God, and I am not.’ We freely acknowledge His sovereignty and his absolute right to do as He pleases.

That is one thing.

But to quarrel with Him is quite another.

‘They cannot see past the fact that Cyrus is a pagan, and because God’s chosen way of working does not fit their own notions of what is proper they cannot rejoice in it. They are trapped in small-mindedness, like the Pharisees of later times…We are reminded of the elder brother in Jesus’ famous parable (he ‘became angry and refused to go in)…Theological impertinence is the blight of religion in ever age, and God is rightly angered by it. But he is not deterred by it. He stoutly defends his sovereign freedom as Creator to use anyone he pleases, and the rightness of his choice of Cyrus (11-13). But how sad that he has to press on with his good plans for his people in the face of their complaints instead of to the joyful strains of their praise!’ Barry Webb: ‘Isaiah’, pp.184,185.

Verses 11-13 read in ‘The Message:

Thus God, The Holy of Israel, Israel’s Maker, says:
    “Do you question who or what I’m making?
    Are you telling me what I can or cannot do?
I made earth,
    and I created man and woman to live on it.
I handcrafted the skies
    and direct all the constellations in their turnings.
And now I’ve got Cyrus on the move.
    I’ve rolled out the red carpet before him.
He will build my city.
    He will bring home my exiles.
I didn’t hire him to do this. I told him.
    I, God-of-the-Angel-Armies.”

“You heavens above, rain down my righteousness;
    let the clouds shower it down.
Let the earth open wide,
    let salvation spring up,
let righteousness flourish with it;
    I, the Lord, have created it.

I see in these words a picture of ‘revival’.

Notice how genuine revival cannot be humanly manufactured. It comes by God’s decree. When God says ‘let’ a thing happen, then it does. God speaks a move of God into existence, as with creation at the beginning.

‘Saved’ people are enabled to live right (righteously). Salvation is not a plant that grows up alone in God’s garden; righteousness grows with it.

Our great need is for God’s righteousness. When we put our faith in Jesus He gifts it to us. We are given a right standing (relationship) with Himself, and out of this we are enabled to live right.

To put this into context: we have seen that Cyrus was a ‘temporary’ Messiah, preparing the way for the real Messiah, who was still to come. He (Jesus) will bring in this era of righteousness, forming a community of saved people who live right in the world.

“This is what the Lord says to his anointed,
    to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
    and to strip kings of their armour,
to open doors before him
    so that gates will not be shut:
² I will go before you
    and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.
³ I will give you hidden treasures,
    riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
⁴ For the sake of Jacob my servant,
    of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
    and bestow on you a title of honor,
    though you do not acknowledge me.
⁵ I am the Lord, and there is no other;
    apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
    though you have not acknowledged me,
⁶ so that from the rising of the sun
    to the place of its setting
people may know there is none besides me.
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
⁷ I form the light and create darkness,
    I bring prosperity and create disaster;
    I, the Lord, do all these things.

Before moving on, I thought it would be appropriate to quote Barry Webb, with reference to Cyrus:

‘The captives from Judah must have been particularly startled by the title his (God’s) anointed (1). In Hebrew it is massiah (messiah), a title normally reserved for Saul, Israel’s first king, and for the kings of the line of David who followed him. It refers to the human king who is the LORD’s chosen representative, the one who stands at the very centre of his purposes for his people and for the world…Cyrus was only a temporary ‘messiah’, used by God for a very specific task at a time when the house of David was in total disarray. It is the Servant whom we met at the beginning of chapter 42 who stands at the centre of God’s longer-term plans for his people, not Cyrus, and Isaiah will eventually relate the ministry of this Servant to the ‘faithful love promised to David’ (55:3)…In short, God was going to use Cyrus to put his people back in Jerusalem, so that from there, the place he had chosen to be the centre of his kingdom on earth, the truth about him might become known everywhere. In the longer plan of God, of course, it was to Jerusalem that Israel’s true Messiah, the Son of David, eventually came to fulfil his mission, and it was from there that the gospel went out to the whole world.’ (‘Isaiah’, pp183,184).

For the sake of Jacob my servant,
    of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
    and bestow on you a title of honour,
    though you do not acknowledge me.
⁵ I am the Lord, and there is no other;
    apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
    though you have not acknowledged me,
⁶ so that from the rising of the sun
    to the place of its setting
people may know there is none besides me.
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
⁷ I form the light and create darkness,
    I bring prosperity and create disaster;
    I, the Lord, do all these things.

God has the right to use anyone He chooses. Cyrus did not know the Lord, but he was known by Him, and called to a particular purpose. God knew where he was and put His Hand on him, and moved him into position on the world’s chess-board.

Proverbs 21:1 says:

”The king’s heart is like a stream of water directed by the Lord;
    he guides it wherever he pleases” (New Living Translation).

We know that in the U.K. we will go to the polls before the year is out. It’s the same for the U.S.A also. We may (or, I appreciate, may not!) feel rather distressed when we consider the options. But I can almost guarantee you that if you saw Cyrus’ name on the ballot sheet you would not be happy. We need to remember that the Lord raises up rulers and He puts them down. He is the sovereign Lord of history (7). We may have little, or no understanding of how God is going to use some seemingly ungodly person. Obviously, He sees the much bigger picture.

What we can say for certain is that we are meant to pray for our political leaders, and recognise that they can be converted:

”The first thing I want you to do is pray. Pray every way you know how, for everyone you know. Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation. This is the way our Saviour God wants us to live.

 He wants not only us but everyone saved, you know, everyone to get to know the truth we’ve learned: that there’s one God and only one, and one Priest-Mediator between God and us—Jesus, who offered himself in exchange for everyone held captive by sin, to set them all free. Eventually the news is going to get out. This and this only has been my appointed work: getting this news to those who have never heard of God, and explaining how it works by simple faith and plain truth.” (1 Tim.2:1-7: ‘The Message’).

“This is what the Lord says to his anointed,
    to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
    and to strip kings of their armour,
to open doors before him
    so that gates will not be shut:
² I will go before you
    and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.
³ I will give you hidden treasures,
    riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.

Apparently, as conqueror of Croesus and Babylon, Cyrus was to acquire incalculable wealth.

I often think about Hudson Taylor’s famous dictum: “Depend on it. God’s work done in God’s way will never lack God’s supply.”

I discovered that he went on to say:

”He is too wise a God to frustrate His purposes for lack of funds, and He can just as easily supply them ahead of time as afterwards, and He much prefers doing so.” Hudson Taylor.

Verse 3a points to God’s provision. I am not wanting to suggest that you can have all your selfish, materialistic desires satisfied. But, if God calls you to be somewhere, and to do a particular thing, He will provide for you to be able to do His will. Depend on it! God knows where all the hidden wealth is, and He can get it to you just when you need it. You may find yourself surprised – shocked even – at His bounty.

Chuck Smith said it well: ‘Where God guides, God provides.’

“This is what the Lord says to his anointed,
    to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
    and to strip kings of their armour,
to open doors before him
    so that gates will not be shut:…

This thought is picked up and echoed in Revelation 3:7:

“To the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open.

Paul writes, in Colossians 4:2-4:

Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful. And pray for us, too, that God may open a door for our message, so that we may proclaim the mystery of Christ, for which I am in chains. Pray that I may proclaim it clearly, as I should. 

I regularly pray for Jilly and myself that in our lives, and in the places where God takes us:

• we may shine for Jesus, and because of Him;
• we may smell of Jesus – carrying the fragrance, the aroma of Christ;
• and that we will speak about Jesus, as He gives us opportunities. To this end I pray for ‘open doors’ – as Paul did in writing to the church at Colossae

“This is what the Lord says to his anointed,
    to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of
to subdue nations before him
    and to strip kings of their armour,
to open doors before him
    so that gates will not be shut:
² I will go before you
    and will level the mountains;
I will break down gates of bronze
    and cut through bars of iron.
³ I will give you hidden treasures,
    riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
    the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
⁴ For the sake of Jacob my servant,
    of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
    and bestow on you a title of honour,
    though you do not acknowledge me.
⁵ I am the Lord, and there is no other;
    apart from me there is no God.
I will strengthen you,
    though you have not acknowledged me,
⁶ so that from the rising of the sun
    to the place of its setting
people may know there is none besides me.
    I am the Lord, and there is no other.
⁷ I form the light and create darkness,
    I bring prosperity and create disaster;
    I, the Lord, do all these things.

It’s not about what your right hand can do, but who is holding it! (see verse 1).

”I will strengthen you…” (5b).

Cyrus, this great, mighty, fearsome ruler, is, to my mind, pictured almost like a child with a parent. The youngster, learning to ride a bike, is proud of his/her achievement, but they may not be aware of mum/dad just behind them, holding the bike steady.

Certain things are going to happen ”before” Cyrus (v.1b – note the repetition); but the repeated emphasis in the passage is on ”I, I…I will…I am…” (and I’ve tried to highlight this above). By far, the greater truth is on how God will use this man and work through him.

There are important lessons for us here too. Effective ministry is not so much me doing for God, as God doing through me. If that was true for a Cyrus who did not know God, it is certainly the case for we who do know Him.

 ”Therefore I glory in Christ Jesus in my service to God. ¹⁸ I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me in leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done— ¹⁹ by the power of signs and wonders, through the power of the Spirit of God. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the gospel of Christ.” (Rom.15:17-19). Here is Paul, fully involved in preaching the gospel, but recognising that the real ‘accomplishments’ of his ministry are the Lord’s.

We are nothing without the anointing!

who carries out the words of his servants
    and fulfils the predictions of his messengers,

who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be inhabited,”
    of the towns of Judah, “They shall be rebuilt,”
    and of their ruins, “I will restore them,”
²⁷ who says to the watery deep, “Be dry,
    and I will dry up your streams,”
²⁸ who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd
    and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt,’
    and of the temple, ‘Let its foundations be laid.’”

The introduction of Cyrus at this point in the narrative is quite abrupt and shocking.

Why?

After all, we have been introduced to him before (41:2). So in one sense it isn’t a surprise. But, on the other hand, we have just heard the most scathing attack on idolatry, and now we discover that God is going to carry out His decree, through a pagan, idolatrous king. But the fact that God uses someone does not mean He agrees with every detail of their lifestyle. He is free to use those we don’t necessarily approve of, and we should not draw wrong conclusions from their being chosen as His instruments.

‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
    neither are your ways my ways,’
declares the Lord.
⁹ ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth,
    so are my ways higher than your ways
    and my thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:8,9.

Cyrus was going to conquer Babylon and allow the Jews to return to their land (44:28;45:1). He founded the Persian Empire, which defeated Babylon in 539 B.C (Dan.5:30). The next year he would issue his famous decree, allowing the Jews to return to their land and rebuild their temple (Ezra 1:1-6).

Many liberal scholars cannot accept that Isaiah, inspired by God, was actually able to name Cyrus 150 years before He existed. But then you have to ask, ‘What kind of God do they believe in?’ The God of the Bible is the eternal God, to whom all time is present and who knows all things. If we accept His reality why would we stumble over such prophetic utterances.

A few pages further on, we come to the magnificent 53rd chapter. It was written around 700 years before the time of Jesus, yet its depiction of His crucifixion is so graphic, Isaiah might well have been an eyewitness at the foot of the Cross.

Isn’t God’s Word simply marvellous?!!

‘This is what the Lord says –
    your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:

I am the Lord,
    the Maker of all things,
    who stretches out the heavens,
    who spreads out the earth by myself,
²⁵ who foils the signs of false prophets
    and makes fools of diviners,
who overthrows the learning of the wise
    and turns it into nonsense,
²⁶ who carries out the words of his servants
    and fulfils the predictions of his messengers,

who says of Jerusalem, “It shall be inhabited,”
    of the towns of Judah, “They shall be rebuilt,”
    and of their ruins, “I will restore them,”
²⁷ who says to the watery deep, “Be dry,
    and I will dry up your streams,”
²⁸ who says of Cyrus, “He is my shepherd
    and will accomplish all that I please;
he will say of Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt,’
    and of the temple, ‘Let its foundations be laid.’”

There is a clear emphasis in these verses on God’s powerful Word.

Verse 26a is about GOD’S ACCURATE WORD. We are face to face with fulfilled prophecy again.

John Piper writes, in ‘A Peculiar Glory’: ‘His predictions are certain, not mainly because he foresees without error, but because he executes without fail’ p.233.

Biblical prophecy is accurate not only because God sees history in advance, but He oversees history. He is Sovereign over it. ‘History is His Story.’

Verses 26b-28b show us GOD’S CREATIVE WORD. My mind travels back to Genesis 1 where God said (decreed it) and it happened. ‘Just one WORD from the King changes everything!’

God spoke through His prophets concerning the repopulation of Jerusalem, and at the right time He brought it about. We might say He spoke it into existence (just as He did with the universe itself).