Cyrus the Anointed King (Isaiah 45:1-8)
Rev. Myung-Sin Choi
“1 Thus says the Lord to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have 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: 2 I will go before you And make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze And cut the bars of iron. 3 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. 4 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. 5 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, 6 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; 7 I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things. 8 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.”
Introduction
Due to your prayers, I was able to return back safely from the Mexico Missions trip. We didn’t minister in just one area but we ministered in three different regions. We went to two different churches and visited there, and we proclaimed the gospel. In one church, there were 40 pastors who gathered there and we were able to passionately share the gospel. And, also all of the pastors listened very attentively, they said that they were waiting for 4 years to listen to us share the gospel. Today’s Biblical Scripture is about Cyrus and it speaks precisely about him. Before he was born, Isaiah prophesied about Cyrus.
1. Cyrus, a Chosen One
1) Cyrus, called to be a king
Verse 1 - God was speaking to the Gentiles who were worshiping idols and God was saying that He was going to anoint Cyrus as a king. The fact that Cyrus was going to be anointed, this means that he will be used by God. Those who are anointed, before ages and time, it meant that they were appointed and chosen by God. We have spoken numerous times about Cyrus and now, Cyrus was born and he was fulfilling his prophecy as a king. When Cyrus was born, during that time, there were 33 countries and nations afflicted with Babylon. Among those nations, there were nations called Media and Persia. Persia was a small nation back then and paid tribute to a bigger and powerful nation, Media. There was a king in Medes, Astyages, and he had a daughter named Mandane. One night, Astygaes had a dream where his daughter, Mandane urinated so much that her urine flooded the city and all of Asia. After he had this dream, King Astygaes called his sorcerer to interpret this dream in three days. The sorcerer returned and interpreted the dream before the king, and they interpreted that the princess will bear a son and this son will conquer all of Asia. When the king heard this, he became worried. The king realized that this princess will marry a man that is a non-Medes, and will grow another nation, not his country, and become more powerful. So King Astygaes decides to take his daughter to another nation, Persia, and to have her marry a low-level commoner. Since the princess married a low-level commoner, the king thought that he had no need to worry. The king told his daughter to notify him if she ever became pregnant. But the king had another dream and it was the same dream so he bought another sorcerer to interpret this dream. The king commanded his servant to kill his daughter’s child if it is a son but don’t kill the child if it is a girl. When the daughter had a child and it was a son but the servant had to kill this child. When the servant tried to kill the child, the servant felt that this child was going to grow up into a brilliant child and he felt that he was going get punished by God if he killed this child. This servant was contemplating what to do but he heard that another person in the village that their child, their son, had died. There was a dead infant there so he told the villager to give the dead infant to him and the servant was going to give this princess’ son to him. After they switched infants, the servant warned the villager that if this ever gets exposed then this villager will absolutely die. After they made the arrangements, the servant relayed to the princess that her “son” had died and gave her deceased infant to her. The king heard the news that the princess’ son had died. 10 years passed and after 10 years, the princess’ son was growing up but he kept playing games where he was in war and he was always the captain of his army. He made his own rules to his war games and he would play this game every single day. But one day, when he was playing the war games, one of his friends was a son of a minister in the palace and the child lost in the game so the son hit 10 times since it was part of the rule game. When the minister saw his son limping, the son told his father that he got hurt when he was playing. When the minister saw that his son had bruises all over his legs and the minister demanded who the person hurt him was. The son told his father all about the child that hit and hurt his son, and demanded him to bring his friend over. But that night, was the night where the King of Persia was holding a party where the King of Persia was going to meet the King of Medes. They were speaking casually about how his son got hurt over a war game that he was playing with his friend. But the king of Medes had a strange feeling and demanded that the King of Persia bring the son’s friend over to him. The moment the King of Persia saw Cyrus, everyone was so surprised because they looked so identical and everyone could tell that Cyrus was the grandson of the King of Persia. The King of Persia asked Cyrus how old he was and 10 years old, the King of Persia heard that his grandson died but this was all strange. He demanded Cyrus to bring parents before him and demanded his parents to tell him the truth, and if they don’t tell him the truth then they will die. So the parents told the King of Persia the truth. When the King of Persia heard all of this, he realized that this all happened because it was allowed by the heavens. Then, he sent Cyrus back to his biological parents who were living in Persia. He was already all grown so the King of Persia allowed the boy to continue to live and decided not to kill him. The problem was the prophecy that his dream showed and the servant who lied to him. The King of Persia realized that he couldn’t forgive his servant and called his servant forward. And the King of Persia presented a big plate of meat and told him to eat all of the meat presented before him. The king didn’t eat but only asked the minister, his servant, to eat. Then, after the minister finished eating, the King of Persia told the minister that he knew that the minister lied to him and told the minister that the meat that he was eating was his own son. The King of Persia was so mad that he killed the minister’s son and cooked him, and presented him to the minister and allowed the minister to eat him. The minister after he heard this, he packed up all of his things and left and went to Persia where the princess was. The Princess was exiled and the minister spoke to the princess and Cyrus. The minister said to the princess that he will raise his son, Cyrus. Since Cyrus was raised under the minister, he became very intelligent and wise. The minister wanted to raise Cyrus to become the most powerful and wise king so the minister exposed Cyrus to every subject and topic. The minister did all of this so that he could avenge his son’s death. The minister raised Cyrus for 10 years and when Cyrus was 20 years old, Cyrus attacked Persia and conquered Persia. In BC 559, he became the king of Persia. He decided to go and conquer other nations. In BC 550, Cyrus attacked and conquered Medes, the nation of his grandfather. The minister was able to fulfill his revenge through Cyrus, the grandson of the King of Medes. Cyrus couldn’t kill his own grandfather so he sent his grandfather in the countryside.
2) Conquest of Babylon
Verse 2 - After 10 years, Cyrus continued his conquest and attacked Babylon. Medes and Persia became unified, and they attacked and conquered Babylon.
Daniel 5:29-31 “Then Belshazzar gave the command, and they clothed Daniel with purple and put a chain of gold around his neck, and made a proclamation concerning him that he should be the third ruler in the kingdom. 30 That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. 31 And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.” And Daniel 9:1-2 “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— 2 in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” - Darius was the maternal uncle of Cyrus. Cyrus raised Darius, his mother’s brother, as king of Chaldea. Daniel 5:29 - God gave King Belshazzar a dream, and everyone found about the dream and its prophecy. And, everyone knew about how smart Daniel was.
2. Cyrus is Anointed
1) King Cyrus' proclamation
Daniel 6:28 “So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.” - Cyrus started believing in God because of Daniel.
Verse 3 - On that night, God told him that he was going to give him treasures. What is that treasure that God was speaking about?
It was written in Ezra 1:1-3 “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, 2 Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. 3 Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem.” - God moved the heart of Cyrus and allowed Cyrus who worshiped idols to praise God. God allowed the Spirit of God to come upon Cyrus and moved his heart, and allowed Cyrus to be the one to free the Israelites to return back to their homeland to build a temple of God. Why did God use Cyrus?
The reason is seen in verse 4 - The reason why God raised up Cyrus and broke down Babylon was for His people and to save His people, Israel. Even though Cyrus knew nothing about God, God made it where Cyrus could hear about Him and moved the heart of Cyrus.
2) The reason for Cyrus' reign
Verses 5-7 - Who did all of this work of conquest? It was not Cyrus but God allowed all of this to happen. God said that He will strengthen Cyrus and will become his conqueror. God was proclaiming to Cyrus that He is the one who gave Cyrus power. Even before Cyrus was born, all of this prophesied 200 years before. All of the events that led to the downfall of Babylon and rise of Persia all happened through God and for the sake of His plans. God raised up Darius to become king of Chaldea and Persia, and continued his conquest throughout the world. Everyone came before Darius and when people came before him, they bought idols before him. You know the famous event where Daniel refused to worship idols and he was sent to the lions’ den. But at that time, Darius prayed before God and asked God to protect Daniel. Through Daniel, he moved the hearts of the people in the palace as well as King Darius, and allowed them to stop worshiping idols. This was an infamous moment that was able to move history. After the incident of the lions’ den, years later, King Darius dies and after he dies, Cyrus becomes king. But God used Cyrus very well and Daniel served Cyrus as well. Cyrus ruled until he was 40 years old and he died. If you look in the Bible, for 20 years, they couldn’t build the temple even though Israel was brought back to their homeland. But another king named Darius provided all of the supplies and materials so that they could start the construction for the temple. When you see how God used Daniel, God allowed Daniel to receive the blessing to serve under four kings - Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, and Cyrus. From a young age, he was taken as a captive and a slave but God used up Daniel so that he could be used preciously to serve 4 kings. Daniel made the resolution to serve only God and due to Daniel’s devotion, God blessed Daniel tremendously as a result.
God said directly in verse 7 - God said that He was the One who did all things, brought happiness and sadness, and commanded to look up to God alone.
3. Praises to God
1) Praises to God of grace
Verse 8 - God said that He was going to rain down His righteousness and bring forth salvation. God rained up righteousness so that He could carry on His work of salvation. God was able to fulfill His work of salvation through Jesus Christ. This was the praise of God.
2) Praises to God the Creator
Through Jesus Christ, there will be a new salvation. God was the One who will determine everything and God is the one who will do everything.
Conclusion
1 John 2:20 “But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things.” - Cyrus was the king who was anointed by God. Cyrus was anointed by God and possessed the title of a king. This means that we who have been chosen by God to receive salvation, we also have been anointed by God. We have been anointed by God through Jesus Christ to conquer the world with the gospel and to share the gospel. May we receive answers in the name of Jesus Christ.
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