Lesson #37

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RETURN TO LIST OF LESSONS

ISAIAH 45 AND 46
Lesson #37
GOD’S ANNOINTED

• MEMORY VERSE: ISAIAH 45:22

• CHAPTER 44 ENDED WITH A PROPHECY ABOUT CYRUS, THE KING OF THE MEDO-PERSIAN EMPIRE, THAT TOOK OVER AFTER THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE FELL.

 

• THE HISTORICAL EVENTS:

 

• READ JER 25:11
  • JEREMIAH HAD WRITTEN THAT THE JEWS WOULD BE CAPTIVE IN BABYLONIA FOR 70 YEARS.
  • DANIEL WAS A YOUNG TEENAGER WHEN HE WAS TAKEN INTO THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY. WITH GOD’S FAVOR, HE WORKED HIS WAY UP INTO THE HIGH WORKINGS OF THE GOVERNMENT. HE HAD FAVOR WITH THE RULERS OF THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE FROM KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR TO KING BELSHAZZAR. THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE FELL (539 BC), BUT THE JEWS, INCLUDING DANIEL WERE STILL CAPTIVE. THE MEDO-PERSIAN KING, CYRUS, BEGAN TO RULE. DESPITE CHANGES IN KINGS AND GOVERNMENTS, DANIEL MANAGED TO MAINTAIN HIS HIGH POSITION. KINGS STILL LISTENED TO HIM. (DAN 1:21)
  • WITHIN TWO YEARS AFTER CYRUS BEGAN TO RULE, DANIEL SHOWED HIM THE PROPHECY IN JER 25:11. DANIEL PERSONALLY HAD BEEN IN THE CAPTIVITY 68 YEARS.
  • WHEN CYRUS SAW THE PROPHECY IN JER 25, HE SAID THE JEWS COULD RETURN HOME TO ISRAEL. THIS WAS FULFILLED IN ISA 44:28. THE YEAR WAS 538 BC WHEN CYRUS SIGNED THE EDICT TO LIBERATE THE JEWS.

• NOT ONLY DID CYRUS ALLOW THE JEWS TO RETURN HOME BUT HE SHEPHERDED THEM THERE.
  • READ EZRA 1:1-4 (2CHR 36:22-23)
  • EZRA 6:3-5

• THE FIRST GROUP OF JEWS RETURN ED TO JUDAH IN 537 BC, LED BY A MAN NAMED SHESBAZZAR. THERE WERE 42,360 JEWS PLUS 7,337 SERVANTS THAT RETURN ED TO JUDAH IN THE FIRST EXODUS.
  • THIS WAS BY NO MEANS A MAJORITY OF THE PEOPLE. WHEN ESTHER, A JEW, CAME TO BE THE QUEEN IN THE MEDO-PERSIAN EMPIRE, (THE BOOK OF ESTHER) THERE WERE STILL ABOUT 3 MILLION JEWS WHO HAD NOT RETURN ED TO THE PROMISE LAND.

• A SECOND GROUP RETURN ED 80 YEARS LATER IN 458 BC, LED BY EZRA.
• A THIRD GROUP RETURN ED 13 YEARS LATER IN 444 BC. LED BY NEHEMIAH.

• READ ISA 45:1-4 GOD’S MIRACLE: KING CYRUS
  • WHAT SPECIFICS DO YOU LEARN ABOUT CYRUS IN THIS CHAPTER?

• CYRUS WAS A HUMBLE MAN. HE MADE NO GREAT BOASTS ABOUT HIMSELF IN HISTORICAL RECORDS.
• CYRUS WAS A WISE KING. HE KNEW WHEN TO BE HARSH, AND WHEN TO HAVE MERCY. HE HAD MERCY ON THE JEWS AND LET THEM RETURN HOME FOR 2 REASONS:
  • =1= GOD HAD ANOINTED HIM FOR GOD’S PURPOSE AND TO FULFILL GOD’S PLAN. (1)
  • =2=. CYRUS HOPED TO GAIN FAVOR WITH THE JEWS, SO AS TO BE ABLE TO CONTROL THE MIDDLE EAST LAND BRIDGE THAT LED DOWN TO EGYPT.

• DID HIS PLAN WORK OUT FOR HIM. YES. THE JEWS EVEN CALLED HIM THE “PERSIAN MESSIAH”.
• CYRUS FUNDED THE COST OF REBUILDING THE TEMPLE OUT OF HIS OWN TREASURY. (3)
  • VERSE 3 TELLS US GOD WOULD GIVE CYRUS THE TREASURIES OF DARKNESS, THOSE OF OTHER PAGAN NATIONS, SPECIFICALLY THE BABYLONIAN TREASURY.
• CYRUS ALSO RETURN ED TO THE JEWS ALL THE GOLD AND SILVER VESSELS THAT WERE TAKEN FROM THE TEMPLE IN JERUSALEM 70 YEARS BEFORE BY KING NEBUCHADNEZZAR.
  • WHY WOULD HE DO THIS?

• REMEMBER THAT THE NIGHT CYRUS TOOK OVER THE BABYLONIAN EMPIRE WAS THE SAME NIGHT THE BABYLONIAN KING, BELSHAZZAR, HAD A DRUNKEN ORGY USING THE TEMPLE VESSELS. GOD JUDGED HIM FOR THAT, AND THERE APPEARED HANDWRITING ON THE WALL ABOUT THE END OF HIS REIGN. (DAN 5). SURELY CYRUS HAD HEARD THE STORY OF GOD’S MIRACLE IN DAN 5.

• WAS CYRUS A BELIEVER? ACCORDING TO VERSE 4 AND 5, NO, HE WAS NOT. HOWEVER ACCORDING TO EZRA 1:2, PERHAPS HE BECAME A BELIEVER LATER. WE WON’T KNOW THE ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION UNTIL WE GET TO HEAVEN.

• WHY DOES GOD CALL HIM “HIS ANOINTED” (1)?
  • HE IS A PREFIGURE OF JESUS CHRIST. IN WHAT WAYS?
    • JESUS WILL BRING FREEDOM TO THE JEWS FROM THE ANTI-CHRIST OF THE TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE CYRUS WHO BROUGHT FREEDOM TO THE JEWS FROM THOSE ASSYRIAN AND BABYLONIAN LEADERS WHO PREFIGURED THE ANTI-CHRIST.
    • JESUS WILL REBUILD THE TEMPLE AFTER THE TRIBULATION PERIOD JUST LIKE CYRUS SET THE STAGE FOR THE REBUILDING OF THE TEMPLE AFTER THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.

• READ ISA 45:5-13 GOD’S DECLARATION BEFORE CYRUS

• GOD DECLARES THROUGH ISAIAH TO CYRUS THAT JEHOVAH IS THE ONLY GOD.
  • GOD INDICATES THAT MAN CAN KNOW THERE IS A GOD BY THE FACT THAT THE SUN COMES UP EVERY MORNING. (CREATION TELLS US THERE IS A GOD. ROM 1:20)
  • EXPLAIN THE MEANING OF VERSE 7, SPECIFICALLY WHERE GOD SAYS HE CREATES EVIL.
    • THIS VERSE HAS A UNIQUE PURPOSE FOR BEING HERE. IT IS GOD’S ANSWER TO THE RELIGION OF ZOROASTRIANISM. CYRUS GREW UP UNDER THE RELIGION OF ZOROASTRIANISM, AS WELL AS A WHOLE NEW GENERATION OF JEWS BORN IN THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.
    • THEY BELIEVED IN ONE GOD, THE GOD OF LIGHT, WHO CREATED ONLY GOOD, AND THAT ALL MEN WILL EVENTUALLY BE SAVED. EVIL PEOPLE MUST FIRST BECOME PURIFIED IN HELL BEFORE THEY ARE SAVED.

• HELL CANNOT BRING FORTH RIGHTEOUSNESS, ONLY GOD CAN. (SEE VS. 8)
  • JAM 1:13 AND 1JOH 1:5 INDICATE THAT GOD DID NOT CREATE EVIL IN RESPECT TO CREATING SIN. THE HEBREW WORD FOR EVIL IN ISA 45:7 IS “RA” WHICH MEANS CALAMITIES, TRAGEDIES, OR NATURAL DISASTERS. THEREFORE, THE SENSE HERE IS THAT GOD CREATED NATURAL DISASTERS BECAUSE THEY ARE A CONSEQUENCE OF ADAM’S ORIGINAL SIN. SATAN, WHO ORIGINALLY WAS AN ANGEL THAT GOD CREATED, PROMPTED THAT ORIGINAL SIN WITHIN MAN.

• THE ONE TRUE GOD: JESUS CHRIST

• WHY FIGHT AGAINST THE ONE TRUE GOD WHO IS OUR CREATOR?
  • (9-10). IT IS FOOLISH BECAUSE HE IS IN CONTROL AND BY HIS SOVEREIGN WILL, HE WILL DO WHAT HE WANTS, EVEN RAISE UP A NON-BELIEVER LIKE CYRUS TO BLESS THE JEWS. (13)
  • HE IS THE LORD. (11)
  • HE IS THE HOLY ONE OF ISRAEL (11)
  • HE IS THE MAKER (11)

• READ ISA 45:14-25 ISRAEL’S FUTURE WILL INFLUENCE OTHER NATIONS
  • ISRAEL WILL BE SAVED AT THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND ENTER INTO THE MILLENNIUM A BLEST NATION. (14)
  • GOD CALLS HIS PEOPLE BACK TO HIM AS THEY RETURN FROM CAPTIVITY (20).
    • AFTER THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY.
    • AFTER THE TRIBULATION CAPTIVITY.
  • GOD CALLS ALL PEOPLE TO COME TO HIM (22).
  • EVERY ONE WILL WORSHIP JESUS CHRIST IN THE MILLENNIUM (23)

• APPLICATION:
  • WHAT DO YOU LEARN ABOUT THE POWER OF GOD FROM THIS CHAPTER?

• READ ISA 46:1-13 THE FINAL DEFEAT OF IDOLATRY
  • BABYLONIAN GODS:
    • BEL = ELSEWHERE IN THE OLD TESTAMENT, HE IS CALLED BAAL. HE IS ALSO BEELZEBUB WHICH IS ANOTHER NAME THAT JESUS USED FOR SATAN. (MAT 10:25)
    • NEBO = HIS NAME MEANS LITERALLY = “SPEAKER”, “PROPHET”, OR “MESSENGER”. HE IS THE SAME GOD THE ROMANS CALLED, MERCURY, WITH WINGS ON HIS HEELS AND HELMET.
    • THE IDOLS THE JEWS TOOK WITH THEM TO BABYLON ARE TOO HEAVY TO CARRY BACK TO ISRAEL.
      • INSTEAD GOD HAS BEEN CARRYING THE JEWS ALL THROUGH THEIR CAPTIVITY.
  • THE BABYLONIAN CAPTIVITY WAS TO PURGE THE JEWS OF THEIR IDOLATRY. IT ACCOMPLISHED THAT.

• APPLICATION:
  • THE TRUE GOD CARRIES THE BELIEVER FROM THE WOMB TO THE GRAVE. (3-4)
    • THE QUESTION GOD ASKED HIS PEOPLE WAS:
      • WHO IS DOING THE CARRYING?
        • ARE YOU CARRYING YOUR RELIGION, OR IS YOUR RELIGION CARRYING YOU?
    • THE SAME QUESTION IS PERTINENT TODAY.
      • WHO IS DOING THE CARRYING?

• IF GOD IS NOT CARRYING YOU, HE WANTS TO:
  • READ ISA 53:4
  • READ 1PET 5:7
  • DEU 33:27

HOMEWORK
ISAIAH 47 AND 48
This is a self-study. Please do not send homework answers to the teacher forcorrection.

• APPLICATION OF ISA 45 AND 46
  • OF WHAT ELEMENTS OF IDOLATRY MUST YOU RID YOURSELF TO LET GOD CARRY YOU?
    • MONEY
    • PRIDE
    • WORK
    • FAMILY
    • OTHER?
    • REPENT AND ASK GOD TO FORGIVE YOU, CARRYING YOUR SINS. MAKE A DETERMINATION TO PUT HIM FIRST IN YOUR LIFE.

• PREPARATION FOR ISA 47 AND 48
  • READ ISA 47:1-15
    • WHAT CHARACTERISTICS OF BABYLON DO YOU SEE IN THIS CHAPTER?

• READ GEN 10:9 AND GEN 11:1-9

• READ REV 17 AND 18

• READ ISA 48:1-22

• MEMORY VERSE: ISAIAH 48:16