Isaiah 45:1-13

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: 2 “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, 3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. 4 For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. 5 I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, 6 that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. 7 I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things. 8 “Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it. 9 “Woe to him who strives with him who formed him, a pot among earthen pots! Does the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?’ or ‘Your work has no handles’? 10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What are you begetting?’ or to a woman, ‘With what are you in labor?’ ” 11 Thus says the Lord, the Holy One of Israel, and the one who formed him: “Ask me of things to come; will you command me concerning my children and the work of my hands? 12 I made the earth and created man on it; it was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded all their host. 13 I have stirred him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways level; he shall build my city and set my exiles free, not for price or reward,” says the Lord of hosts.

Sermon Text:

This morning we will begin to look at this 45th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah, and I hope by the grace of God to look at the remainder of the chapter next week.

This week, we’ll look at verses 1-13. I invite you to follow along as I read them for us.

[Read Isaiah 45:1-13]

In this great, unexpected passage, I invite you to consider the central theme:

Vv. 5-6: I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.

I have told you often in our consideration of this great gospel book of Isaiah that the two great themes of the book are these”

The holiness of God

And the sovereignty of God.

We see them both together in his great vision of Yahweh in the temple, chapter 6.

In verse 3 of that chapter, we see the testimony of the great seraphim of God crying out to each other and to all who would hear:

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!

And like all the other attributes of God, they cannot be separated from each other.

Just like God is completely merciful and completely just – He is both at the same time perfectly.

You may remember that His holiness means He is separate from His creation, sitting above it, unaffected and unchanged by the creatures He has made.

And His sovereignty is that He orders everything in the universe to a level it is impossible for us to even imagine.

But when we in our limited understanding and limited ability begin to consider that great sovereignty of God, it brings us to some uncomfortable questions and even less-comfortable answers.

For example, the great storms we had last night: were they the work of God?

To those in our family who came safely through with little or no damage, we might be the first to proclaim God’s sovereign protection through those storms:

And we would be correct.

But to those who experienced loss, even great loss of life or property, can we, dare we, suggest that God’s providence, His will, was that those who suffered withering losses in the storms do so?

There are many who would rather think of or believe in a god who is much more like the god of the Deists – one who just wound the world up and doesn’t control it from moment to moment.

How many Christians would rather believe that God was, if only for a moment, out of control of His creation, rather than confess His providence sometimes causes us pain or inconvenience?

Do you choke or stumble over the painful sovereignty of God?

What does God say about it? It’s in our passage today:

V. 7: I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.

And as uncomfortable as that thought is, we have a much more disturbing thought in our passage today:

Can God use unbelievers, pagans, His enemies, for His purposes?

I hope to ask three questions related to this today, and look with you at the reply of Scripture:

Can God use the ungodly?

Does God owe anything to those He uses?

How must we live in the light of His sovereignty?

Can God use the ungodly?

I hope that, if for no other reason, after reading our text twice through this morning, you will see the answer is a resounding “yes”.

And it is a bigger “yes” than many are willing to give.

Because we might cheat a little in our answer, and say “Well, God CAN use the ungodly, if He decides to.”

But we might be slower to admit that God, at all times and in all circumstances, uses the ungodly to the same extent He uses the godly.

For His purposes; for His glory.

V. 6 - that people may know… that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.

God can and does use the ungodly for His purposes, as we see in the first verse of this chapter:

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus…

Cyrus, a man who will not be born for another 160 years or so, is the man God is calling His “anointed”.

If that doesn’t bother you so much, let me explain that the word “anointed one” is the word “messiah”.

Cyrus, a messiah?

The pagan, idolatrous king of a Gentile nation that will wage brutal wars on his neighbors – HE is a messiah?

An anointed one?

Priests in the temple are anointed;

Kings since Saul are anointed.

But this foreigner, this enemy of God, is anointed?

This Gentile – HE will be the one who frees God’s people?

It’s not a misprint, and it’s not a translation error.

God is doing that very thing.

Because God’s purposes don’t depend on US.

God is sovereign, and He can choose anyone He wants for any purpose under heaven.

He has, many times through history, used patently evil men to accomplish His great purposes in the world.

Particularly on behalf of His people.

That is possibly the only place Cyrus resembles the other anointed ones in time.

But you may recall, many of the anointed kings of Judah were scoundrels in their own right.

Many of the anointed priests in the temple proved themselves corrupt and faithless toward God.

A pagan idolater could not really do worse.

Because God, we are told here, will use Cyrus to free His people and deliver them from exile in Babylon.

There are a lot of scholars who want to tell us this part of Isaiah was written AFTER Cyrus declared the Jews could go home.

They want to believe that because it’s much easier to predict yesterday’s news than tomorrow’s.

But even the Josephus, writing for the Romans, tells us that Cyrus was told his name was in the prophecies of Isaiah, and he credits this chapter for CAUSING him to send the Jews back to rebuild the temple and city.

But that is the point, isn’t it?

God is doing what no idol, no false god could ever do:

He was calling history out by name before it happened.

He was naming the one He had anointed for this purpose, the one He had raised up for this very purpose.

It’s not even a hard thing for God to do this – He holds all of time in the palm of His hand.

So naming a king 200 years later who would accomplish His good work toward His people – that is a small matter for God.

For us, it would be like finding in the Declaration of Independence a line that declares that Donald Trump will be elected twice to the presidency.

But a pagan, a Gentile…really?

Why didn’t God raise up a prince from among the Jews?

Why didn’t God send another judge like Gideon or Samson to overthrow Babylon?

At the very least, why did He not cause Cyrus to convert and become a Jew himself?

There is every indication he remained a follower of Bel all his life, even as he published the edict recorded in Ezra.

And that brings us to the second question.

Does God owe anything to those He uses?

Is it possible God can use someone and NOT save them?

Of course – the two are not related at all.

Remember, God is sovereign over everyone – saints and sinners alike.

He may make use of His creation in any way He sees fit.

And He doesn’t owe us a single thing EVER.

Paul wrestled with this question, which must have weighed heavily on the believers in Rome, in the ninth chapter of his letter to them.

What do we find there? I won’t read the chapter, but let me list some things he points out:

V. 6 – Not everyone who is descended from Israel (Jacob) belong to Israel.

And the Israel of God is not exclusive to those descendants. (vv. 24-26)

V.7 – only SOME of the descendants of Abraham are called to be children of Abraham.

Vv.10-13 – before they were born or had done anything good or bad, God declares “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

15 – God declares to Moses “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy.”

17 – God tells Pharaoh that God had raised him up to demonstrate His power against him.

What do we understand from all these examples?

So then it depends not on human will or exertion, but on God, who has mercy. – Romans 9:16

But isn’t it unfair for God to use someone and not save them?

Let’s ask the Scripture:

Paul, in Romans 9:20-23, quotes our passage in Isaiah today, but with a better light, a more thorough explanation:

But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” 21 Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? 22 What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, 23 in order to make known the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he has prepared beforehand for glory

The Maker has every right over the things He has made, even creatures like us.

We may think we are wise, that we have dignity, that we are deserving before God,

But in truth, all we deserve apart from Jesus Christ is God’s WRATH.

And even in Christ, we still DESERVE God’s wrath, but we receive His mercy.

Because He is THE Messiah, who takes away our sins, freeing us from them, and placing onto our shoulders the garment of His righteousness.

To entertain the question in our heart, or to think God is unfair to save some and not others, ASSUMES that anyone deserves to be saved.

It assumes that what one person gets, everyone else is entitled to as well.

It is, in short, the sin of covetousness.

He forms the light and the darkness – and He gives to each one the measure HE chooses.

We can look at the parables of the talents – they were not evenly distributed, but they were equally judged.

Even in the church, there are some who are better at some things, who are gifted or called to some things, and others who are called to other ministries.

God is not unfair in doing this:

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” - Ephesians 4:4-8

We might feel more deserving than another, but when we do, let me assure you that is simply the sin of covetousness wearing a mask of holiness.

In the final analysis, it is not even the IMPACT of our use of gifts that will determine our reward.

It is easy for us to look at the greatness of a man’s name and think he will certainly have a greater measure of honor before God.

But God judges the heart.

We must never grow prideful when we have a great effect,

And we should never be discouraged to have a comparatively small effect.

We aren’t commanded to do great things for God;

We are called to be faithful to our Great God in all things.

Many will stand before our Lord on that Day and declare their great works FOR God:

We cast out demons, healed the sick, raised the dead, or saw many convert and follow Christ.

But they will hear “Depart from me, workers of lawlessness – I never knew you.”

Even Paul, when considering his great ministry, warned the Corinthians:

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified. - 1 Corinthians 9:27

That brings us to the third question I asked: How must we live in the light of His sovereignty?

It is tempting, and lazy and evil, to throw our hands up and declare that if God wants to do it, He can do it in spite of us.

It is true He can, and will if necessary, but it is a wicked attitude that doesn’t speak well of the heart of the person who says it.

In explaining the third petition in the Model Prayer – Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven – two Baptist catechisms (Keach’s and Hercules Collins’) give these very similar answers:

“Your will alone is good. Help us one and all to carry out the work we are called to, as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven” – Collins

In the third petition, which is, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,” we pray that God by His grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to His will in all things, as the angels do in heaven. - Keach

The fact that God is sovereign should give us joy and comfort:

Fear Not – no matter what, God is in control.

We must also be assured that in everything we experience, easy or painful, God commands us to glorify Him in the midst of it.

We will be challenged and upheld, frightened and soothed, and everything God brings us we must face with faith in Him.

What good is strength that is unproven? Speed that has never raced?

It also means that we are in no position to question God about His choices in what He has given us.

Why have you made me thus? – never an appropriate question.

There is no such thing as a person put into the wrong type of body or any of that nonsense we hear today.

There may be the mutilations or perversions that sin brings to us, but those are things God has brought for us to overcome.

Do you have ungodly desires?

Look to God’s grace, loving Him with all your heart, mind, and strength.

Strive against those lusts with everything you have so you may be found to glorify God.

To sum up this question, we continually strive to be found in obedience to Christ, killing the sin that so easily opposes us, so we may run the race set before us.

Knowing Jesus Christ is the author – the beginning – or our faith, and the perfecter – the completer, the goal – of our faith.

Target Date: Sunday, 16 March 2025

Word Study/ Translation Notes:

1 – anointed - mâshı̂yach, maw-shee’-akh; from 4886; anointed; usually a consecrated person (as a king, priest, or saint); spec. the Messiah:— anointed, Messiah.

God could have many He anointed for a purpose, ordained. Cyrus was not THE Messiah, but A Messiah.

Cyrus would be a TYPE of messiah, who releases God’s people from their captivity.

Thoughts on the Passage:

1 – God’s use and even His anointing of a person doesn’t depend on the man’s righteousness, but only on God’s sovereign call.

How many today are confused by Cyrus’s God-ordained title – Messiah? Some have tried to make him saved after the times of Ezra-Nehemiah, but all indications are that he died an idolater.

Cyrus:

According to Josephus, Cyrus was made aware of Isiah’s prophecy here and determined to return the Jews to their land, as recorded in Ezra-Nehemiah.

This prophecy was more than 200 years before his edict.

1 – Much of this prophecy, as God has been telling us all along, is that when Cyrus does accomplish all this, GOD will have declared it beforehand.

No idol called the name of Cyrus of Persia, especially in the time of Assyrian and Babylonian domination.

Only God, the true God, can declare those things which will come to pass without error.

4 – In His call to Cyrus, God calls him out not for his salvation, but “for the sake of My servant Jacob”.

The purposes of God do not have to be for the eternal salvation of the ones used by Him.

5 – “I equip you, though you don’t know Me.” - God’s sovereignty extend over those who don’t acknowledge Him.

7 – I make well-being and create calamity – never shy away from declaring the infinite sovereignty of God.

He does all things, and they are all good because they flow from His perfect will.

But not all things are comfortable or easy for us.

They do all accomplish His eternal purposes.

8 – What a tremendous verse from the mouth of God:

The good things He does bring righteousness and salvation to the earth.

All God’s works, even calamities, are acts of His mercy.

He could have cursed the earth and turned His back at any point, yet He chose and called and redeemed His people from the curse.

The definition of a place under the infinite curse of God: hell!

9 – Woe – God’s will is unopposable. His will is what is accomplished on earth.

Why then do we pray in the model Prayer, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven”?

It is, as Collins’ catechism says, a prayer that we will be aligned and used in the exercise of His will in a willing manner.

“Your will alone is good. Help us one and all to carry out the work we are called to, as willingly and faithfully as the angels in heaven” – Collins

In the third petition, which is, “Thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven,” we pray that God by His grace, would make us able and willing to know, obey, and submit to His will in all things, as the angels do in heaven. - Keach

9-10 - But is it “fair” for God to use people but not save them?

God is unflinchingly sovereign. He made the pots, and some are for vulgar use. For the creature to question His will is to assert that the creature has rights the Creator has not given him.

What natural rights do we have that do not flow from the One who made us?

He gives unevenly, some with more intelligence, some more wealth, some better health, some healthier living conditions, some more poverty and want.

In all these things, we are commanded to glorify God.

10 – How many people say this not only to their parents, but to God Himself – “Why have you made me thus?” Why have you put me into this body, or allowed me this mind, or allow me to walk in these sinful passions?

How many, who have been enslaved in sin, proclaim God to blame for their sinful plight?

13 Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. 14 But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. 15 Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. – James 1:13-15

There is one body and one Spirit—just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call— 5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism, 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. 7 But grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore it says, “When he ascended on high he led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” - Ephesians 4:4-8

What is the Good News of this passage – Where is Jesus Christ? (if you can’t answer this question, are you finished?)

Teachings:

God’s sovereign plan has no reliance on the goodness of the person, only in God’s sovereign choice.

God’s calling of Cyrus also echoes the use of God of a foreign people to chastise His people.

What do we learn about God/ Jesus/ Holy Spirit?

Applications:

For the Christian:

For the Backslidden:

For the Unconverted:

Primary Preaching Point:

God uses everything for His glory.

God uses His enemies for His purposes.

This doesn’t mean they are saved.

God is not obliged to save everyone He uses.

If the fact Cyrus was used by God earned him salvation, there is no need for grace – it is all of works.

The fact God uses sinful people does not give us the right to be sinful.

It doesn’t excuse our unfaithfulness that God can still use us – that is His gracious choice.

1 Corinthians 9:27

Building Points:

Can God use the ungodly?

Does God owe anything to those He uses?

How must we live in the light of His sovereignty?

[on even numbered page]

MORNING PRAYER:

Adoration:

Almighty God and everlasting King.

Confession:

Forgive us our pride, and the loathsome lengths to which we will go to support our fleshly vanity.

Thanksgiving:

In You we find our only hope, both in this life and in eternity joined with Christ Jesus.

Petition:

We beg that You subdue the power of our sins by Your Holy Spirit.

Intercession: (also beyond our local)

We pray that Your peace would reign anew on the earth: