Sermon Tone Analysis
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My friends, I greet you this morning in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Our lesson for today comes to us from the forty-fifth chapter of the book of Isaiah.
Why? Now I’m not talking about the twenty-fifth letter of our alphabet.
But I’m talking about the interrogative.
I’m talking about the question “why.”
For as long as there have been people around the question “why” has been asked.
It drives the discovery and pursuit of science.
Why does an apple fall to the ground when I drop it?
Why is the universe so big?
The question “why” drives the pursuit of philosophy.
Why are we here?
Why does anything matter?
And I am willing to bet that there are “why” questions in your life.
Why are there earthquakes in Kashmir that kill tens of thousands of people?
Why are there mudslides in Central America?
Why did two hurricanes hit the gulf coast region almost back to back?
Why does grandma have Alzheimer’s?
Why does my friend have cancer?
Why does my friend have seizers?
And the list goes on and on.
We look at the suffering in our world, and in our own lives and one question always seems to find its way onto our lips; Why?
A group of God’s people found themselves asking their own “why” question.
Why are we here in Babylon instead of in our homes in Jerusalem?
It is important to know that these people, for whom our text was written had some pretty big why questions.
They were not supposed to be in Babylon.
They were supposed to be in Jerusalem.
That was home.
But now they are far, far away.
Jerusalem is in the same place today that it was back then.
Babylon is in modern day Iraq.
So they were pretty far away from home.
Being in Babylon was troubling for them not simply because they had been ripped out of their homes and forced to relocate.
Being in Babylon was troublesome because that meant that the God of Israel was not as powerful as the gods of Babylon.
Or so they thought.
You see it was a common held belief that gods were limited in their power to the borders of their countries.
So, for example, the gods of Egypt would not do you much good in any country other than Egypt.
They didn’t have passports, so they didn’t travel.
It was also thought that when two countries would battle that while their armies were fighting on earth, their gods were battling in heaven.
Which ever army won had the stronger god.
Can you begin to see why these events were so troubling for these people?
The Lord their God, was the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt.
With the ten plagues he judged the gods of Egypt, and they fell short.
This same God lead them into the Promised Land and was with his people throughout all their battles.
He made a covenant with David, with King David, promising that his throne would be everlasting.
With this kind of deal you can’t lose.
There was no god that could hold a match to the Lord.
Yet here they are sitting on the banks of the rivers of Babylon, and the question on their lips is, “why”.
Is it that God was not powerful enough to stop the Babylonians?
Is it that the Lord did not love them enough to save them?
Why were they in Babylon?
Why did God allow this to happen?
The theological answer for why they were there is because they sinned.
They forsook the Lord and went after other gods.
They forgot that whole covenant thing where the Lord said to them, I will be your God and you will be my people.
They ignored the warnings of God’s prophets as they called the people to repentance.
And so that is why they are there.
But the question still remains, why did God allow this to happen?
That is not so easy to answer.
And it is in this context that our text comes to us.
For those people on the banks who concluded that the Lord was not powerful enough to save them he gives this response.
Here is Cyrus, my anointed one.
My Messiah.
Now there is something you should not about Cyrus.
He is neither a member of the house of Israel nor of the house of Judah.
He is a Persian King.
He is a not a believer in the Lord.
He worships other gods.
And yet the Lord says about this man “I have held him by his right hand so that he could conquer the nations ahead of him, strip kings of their power, and open doors ahead of him so that the gates would not be shut.”
In other words there is no one and nothing that is going to stop Cyrus.
The Lord says, “I will go ahead of you Cyrus, and smooth out the rough places.
I will break down the bronze doors and cut through the iron bars.
I will give you treasures from dark places and hidden stockpiles.
Then you will know that I, the Lord God of Israel, have called you by name.”
The success of Cyrus is not because Cyrus is such a wonderful ruler and warrior.
His success is not attributed to the gods he worshiped.
Rather his success is given to him by the Lord.
Remember that whole the gods are limited to their own countries idea?
Well once again the Lord shows that to be false.
And he does this by using a pagan king to accomplish his will.
How does the power of the other gods compare to that of the Lord?
Listen to the words of our God, “I am the Lord, and there is no other.
There is no other God besides me.
I will strengthen you (Cyrus) although you don’t know me, so that from the east to the west people will know that there is no other.
I am the Lord, and there is no other.
I make light and create darkness.
I make blessings and create disasters.
I, the Lord, do all these things.”
How does the power of other gods compare to that of the Lord?
There is no comparison.
There are no other gods.
Nothing that happens in this world happens because God was powerless to prevent it.
So as these people ask the question why, the response they get from God is know.
Not N-O, but K-N-O-W.
Know that he is the Lord.
That there is none who is more powerful than he is.
Know that he is indeed capable of saving them, and that indeed he will, through Cyrus.
He invites them to know that there is no other that can challenge the Lord.
And in fact Cyrus and the Persians defeated the Babylonians and those reluctant residents of Babylon are allowed to return to their homes.
Phew.
We made it through the introduction.
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