Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
In the past few years ‘legal sports betting’ has become big business in America. In addition to the money to be made, people find great excitement in trying to predict the future. Some people will go to extremes to try and ‘foresee’ with accuracy what will happen in the future, but only God is not bound by time. Once again, the prophet Isaiah has some very exciting news about this. Will you join me again in Isaiah 44?
God continued to make His case to His people Israel who were floundering under the wicked leadership of king Manasseh. Idolatry had become rampant in Jerusalem, but even more disturbing was the abundance of sorcerers and mediums claiming they could talk with the dead or communicate with spirits who could foretell the future. Because those very same types of people are prevalent in every city in our world, perhaps God’s response through Isaiah has lessons for us today!
God’s strong message is found in Isaiah 44 beginning in verse 24: “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, who foils the signs of false prophets and makes fools of diviners, who overthrows the learning of the wise and turns it into nonsense…” (Is.44:24,25) Once again we see God declaring with clarity His unique Identity; His unique Supremacy; His unique Accomplishments in Creation. Also, do you see God declaring that HE blocks the efforts of those involved in the occult and other dark schemes to move into His unique arena of stepping outside the boundaries of TIME.
But God also wanted to be sure both His people and the world understand that HE speaks to and through His prophets, His servants and God has the supreme power to accomplish that which He leads them to predict and proclaim. Pause. Do you understand and believe that to be true? Let’s continue with the next words God spoke to Isaiah: “I am the LORD…who carries out the words of His servants and fulfills 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’…” (Is. 44:26)
Now wait a moment, we say. While the wicked leadership of king Manasseh lasted 55 years and it was a terrible time, Jerusalem continued on for more than a century as still fully functional and inhabited by Jews, so what is God saying through Isaiah here about Jerusalem being inhabited and towns being rebuilt?
God is predicting the future! About 100 years after Isaiah wrote this message, Jerusalem was invaded and destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonian army. And while they did so, they also captured and destroyed many, many towns and villages all around Judah. So here in this message through Isaiah God was looking forward 100 years to destruction and then beyond that another 50 years to the miracle of Jews returning, rebuilding and restoring demolished Jerusalem!! Of course, no one in the days of Isaiah could envision what God was predicting, but God could see it so clearly, He even specified the name of the man who would bring about this miracle!
Look closely with me at Isaiah 44:28 “I am the LORD…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.” I wonder if Isaiah paused here, set down his stylus, and took a walk outside to clear his mind. Maybe he even walked up into the great Temple, imagining what God meant by saying “he will say of Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt,’ and of the Temple, ‘Let its foundations be laid.”
I’m certain this message frightened Isaiah, perhaps even causing him to wonder to whom he could possibly give this message without being killed for predicting the destruction of BOTH Jerusalem and the Temple of God!? But even more, who is this person Cyrus? There was no one alive by that name in Isaiah’s day, at least no one that Isaiah or anyone in Jerusalem had ever heard of!
Now watch this very carefully my friends, for we have come to one of the most powerful, amazing parts of the Bible. Isaiah the prophet was writing exactly what the Holy Spirit was guiding him to write, even though it made no sense to him at all. Even though it predicted both the destruction and the rebuilding of both Jerusalem and the Temple of God! Can you imagine what that must have been like for the prophet?
Tomorrow, we’ll see God twice more mentioned Cyrus by name in Isaiah’s next chapter. For today we need to understand something very important about the majesty and timelessness of God. Not only did God accurately predict His forthcoming judgment 100 years later with Nebuchadnezzar’s destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple in 586bc as recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:15-21 & 2 Kings 25:1-21, amazingly God accurately predicted the miracle which followed.
God predicted that a Persian emperor named Cyrus would come to power and conquer the Babylonian kingdom! Beyond amazing is what Cyrus did in his first year as emperor. Are you ready for this? Cyrus issued a decree that any and all Jewish captives, anywhere in the vast Persian empire, including Babylon, were free to return home to Israel for the purpose of rebuilding Jerusalem AND the Temple of God!
We’ll look more closely at that remarkable miracle in a few weeks, and you’ll find it recorded in Ezra 1. Now for Isaiah the prophet who had watched God protect Jerusalem from the Assyrians and raised king Hezekiah up from his death bed and give him 15 more years of life, this message in Isaiah 44 must simply have taken Isaiah’s breath away!
I want us to pause here, and I urge you to read it again, Isaiah 44:24-28, slowly, and grasp the power and significance of what God was saying in this monumental set of declarations and predictions. Then ponder these questions as you worship with the song, I’ve included…
1. What of YOUR future does God NOT see or understand?
2. What is beyond possible with God? Is there anything HE cannot do?
3. How deeply do you trust God with your future that only HE can see?
Now let’s worship Him and ask God to speak into your life just as Isaiah received God’s clear words!
Today’s Scripture: Is. 44:24-28.
Choose below to read or listen.
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Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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