God Controls the Rise and the Fall of Nations (Isaiah 60:10-14)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
“10 Foreigners will rebuild your walls, and their kings will serve you. Though in anger I struck you, in favor I will show you compassion. 11 Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, so that people may bring you the wealth of the nations— their kings led in triumphal procession. 12 For the nation or kingdom that will not serve you will perish; it will be utterly ruined. 13 “The glory of Lebanon will come to you, the juniper, the fir and the cypress together, to adorn my sanctuary; and I will glorify the place for my feet. 14 The children of your oppressors will come bowing before you; all who despise you will bow down at your feet and will call you the City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.”
Introduction
Some people before babies are born, they have conception dreams called “Taemong.” When people are pregnant, they would dream if they will have a boy or a girl. Their dream will reveal if they will have a boy or a girl. One of the famous dreams was the dream of King Cyrus. The dream started off when the king of the Median kingdom, King Astyages, had a dream of his daughter where she urinated, and her urine filled the entire country. This was a very strange dream so King Astyages asked his counselors what this dream meant. One of the counselors said that his daughter will have a son and that son will dominate this entire nation and all of Asia. When the king heard this, he thought this would pose a problem since he was a conqueror of this entire nation so he took his daughter and married her off to a commoner. The king thought that this was the end of it all but he ended up having another dream. When a counselor heard of the king’s dream, the counselor told the king that his daughter was pregnant. The king sent one of his servants to go see whether his daughter had a son or a daughter. If his daughter has a daughter, let her live but if it is a son, kill the son. The daughter had a child and that child ended up being a daughter. But when the servant went to see what the child was, the servant saw how precious the baby was and it looked so beautiful to him. He also thought that if he killed this child, he thought that he would be punished by God so he lied to the king that the child died naturally at birth. The servant ended up switching with another baby that was deceased in that same village and presented the deceased baby before the king. That child of that princess ended up becoming King Cyrus. As you know King Cyrus ended up conquering many nations and the First Nation that he conquered was the nation of his grandfather. What do you think when you hear this story? We as humans, whether we die or live, this is not determined by us but by God completely. In this world, it may seem like coincidences occur but there are no coincidences. How were you born? It may seem like we were born into this world by mere coincidence but it was not a coincidence. It was completely and perfectly planned by God. Think about why God made and created you. Then, you will receive great answers.
1. God Controls History
1) He controls the superpower nations
Verse 10 - This message may seem so simple and nothing but it recorded the destruction of three nations in this passage. It prophecies how nations will be destroyed. Meditate on this. In order to punish the land of Israel, God used Babylon to put judgment on the Israelites. Until Babylon was destroyed, during that time period, many events occurred. When Babylon was in power, God used Babylon to punish and place judgment on Israel. During that time, Babylon destroyed Assyria and Assyria destroyed Northern Israel. That nation that destroyed Israel, Assyria was completely destroyed in an instant by Babylon. Also, King Nebuchadnezzar, destroyed the nation of Egypt. King Nebuchadnezzar was conquering many nations back then. These kings were conquering and destroying Assyria and Egypt, these powerful nations all at once. This was when God’s word was being fulfilled. As Israel was being destroyed, they took all of the intellects and enslaved them. This was the time when Daniel’s three friends were taken as slaves. God used all of this to make Israel come back to their senses and return back to God. But they failed to do so and they were utterly destroyed by Babylon three times. This was the same meaning of the flood during Noah’s time.
Jeremiah 29:10 “This is what the Lord says: “When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.” - This was what God said. They were enslaved multiple times but you can still see God’s love for the Israelites. Why was it 70 years?
2 Chronicles 36:21 “The land enjoyed its sabbath rests; all the time of its desolation it rested, until the seventy years were completed in fulfillment of the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah.” - King David restored the land of Israel but no one kept Sabbath after King David. They failed to keep Sabbath because of their corruption and sin. God needed 70 years to restore the land of Israel. After 70 years had passed, God finally put His mercy on Israel. Through King Cyrus, God allowed Israel to be destroyed. After 70 years of slavery, Israel was freed. Because of God’s prophecy of 70 years, they had to be enslaved for 70 years. God gave His commandment for them to rebuild His temple. What can we feel from this? The entire focus of world history was towards the nation and people of Israel. This means that world history was moving towards the people of God, the Israelites, at that time. Do you have God’s covenant? Are you holding onto it? If you are, then the entire world and people will move for you. What is absolute is that God loves you very much and thinks of you as very precious. Then, what is the life of one who holds onto God’s covenant?
2) He controls the lives of individuals
Verse 11 - When the land of Israel was restored, the temple gates of the temple were opened so many people could come. Many people had come to the temple. When God’s temple was being rebuilt, God prepared everything for it. You can see many people coming with gold and offerings. The kings in procession meant that kings will return back to God. This is the work of the Holy Spirit. Historically, this did take place. After King Cyrus conquered Babylon, he placed his uncle as the king of Babylon. That king was King Darius. You have heard of this king in the Bible. As you know this king was very wise. King Cyrus conquered Babylon very easily. We can see the reasoning behind this. The reason why was because the last king of Babylon held a feast and there was a writing that appeared on the wall during the feast. This means, “This will be the last day of your rule, and your nation and you will be destroyed.” When King Darius saw this writing, he realized that this was the writing of God. So at that time, King Darius raised Daniel as his prime minister. God picked Daniel as his prime minister because he knew that Daniel was a person of God. When other people heard about this, they tried to bring down Daniel when they heard that Daniel was worshiping and praying to God. After Daniel and the lion’s den event happened, King Darius ended up believing in the God of Daniel. The people who conspired against Daniel were thrown into the lion’s den and were killed.
King Darius made this confession in Daniel 6:26 “I issue a decree that in every part of my kingdom people must fear and reverence the God of Daniel. ‘For he is the living God and he endures forever; his kingdom will not be destroyed, his dominion will never end.’ ” - God worked through the Spirit of God to allow Daniel to be placed as the prime minister and allowed a king to bow down before God. We can see that through this decree of King Darius, it allowed all nations to hear about and worship God. This allowed Daniel to become an evangelist. This is very important. As people of God, we can see how we need to hold onto God’s covenant. Daniel resolved to die for God’s covenant. If Daniel gave up then none of this would’ve happened. But when Daniel made this resolution, his entire nation and the king of the nation were saved. We can see that our resolution towards God makes the greatest difference. The fruits of Daniel’s resolution continue to influence us to this day. To the point where a king will come and bow down before God.
2. God Loves the Church
1) He condemns the enemy
Verse 12 - The word, “For” is very important. This means that those who don’t obey God’s word, they will perish. We can see it through King Belshazzar. King Belshazzar was very arrogant. He took and used the gold of God’s temple. That day, King Belshazzar was punished by God. After the Daniel’s lion den event and his resolution, King Darius died two years later. King Cyrus became king of Babylon after that. Most of the historians have agreed that one of the wisest kings was King Cyrus. This was when Daniel was one of his counselors. King Cyrus knew that Daniel was a person of God and he heard about the lion’s den event. At that time, the Spirit of God worked through King Cyrus. King Cyrus was moved by Daniel.
Ezra 1:1, 7 “In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to put it in writing: 7 Moreover, King Cyrus brought out the articles belonging to the temple of the Lord, which Nebuchadnezzar had carried away from Jerusalem and had placed in the temple of his god.” - King Cyrus realized that King Belshazzar failed because he was arrogant. King Cyrus was so moved by Daniel, he decided to release all of the captives of Israel.
Ezra 1:7 - All of the belongings of Jerusalem that King Nebuchadnezzar took, he returned it all back to Israel and to God. That totaled up to 5,000 artifacts and gold. King Cyrus told the Israelites to return back to their nation and rebuild God’s temple. This was all because King Cyrus was moved by the Spirit of God. Where is God’s focus? Why did God move the heart of Cyrus? God needed His temple so that He can bless and guide His people. Then, what must we do? Where should our focus be? We should direct our entire focus towards the church and worship. The reason why God created us was to give glory to God. Refocus your direction.
2) He blesses true worship
Verses 13-14 - When King Solomon rebuilt the temple, he used high quality wood, juniper. When they rebuilt the temple of God, there was no ark of the covenant within that temple. The temple of God is where you can meet and be with God but there was no ark of God’s covenant within that temple. But God said that He was still glorified. How was He glorified without the ark of the covenant? A spiritual worship will take place. Wherever God resides, there is His glory. This means that within the church, that is where God is and where God will be glorified. When we come to church, we are giving glory to God.
Matthew 18:20 “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” - Where the people of God gather, God is with them. In other words, in the place of worship, God is with us. The blessing of the heavenly throne is there with us. When we give worship, we are in a place where we can receive the greatest blessings and answers.
Verse 14 - All of the oppressors and people who oppressed the Israelites, all of them and their generations will receive the answer of salvation. Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. The door of the church will be opened. Whoever you are, if you come to the gate of the church, the door will be opened to you.
3. The Spiritual Temple Must Established
1) The temple of healing
Acts 3:6 “Then Peter said, ‘Silver or gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.’ ” - This was the incident of healing that took place through Peter. No one could make that crippled man walk but Peter was able to. What is the temple of God? It is a place of healing.
2) The temple of remnants
Matthew 18:5 “And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.” - Within our church, who is the most precious? The remnants. This is where God’s focus is. Without our remnants, there is no future. May this be a church where God will work through the remnants.
3) The temple of the TCK
Matthew 18:10 “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” - The God of Heaven, where is His focus? The remnants. Remnants who have no hope and having difficulty, God wants them to return back to God. God wants these remnants to come back to Him.
Conclusion
Ephesians 2:2 “In whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.” - Through healing, remnants, and third culture kids (TCK), we are building God’s church. Until this church is completed, all things will come to an end. Be victorious in the name of God.
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