Isaiah 44:24-28 “Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, And He who formed you from the womb: "I am the Lord, who makes all things, Who stretches out the heavens all alone, Who spreads abroad the earth by Myself; (25) Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, And drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, And makes their knowledge foolishness; (26) Who confirms the word of His servant, And performs the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, 'You shall be inhabited,' To the cities of Judah, 'You shall be built,' And I will raise up her waste places; (27) Who says to the deep, 'Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers'; (28) Who says of Cyrus, 'He is My shepherd, And he shall perform all My pleasure, Saying to Jerusalem, "You shall be built," And to the temple, "Your foundation shall be laid."”
Isaiah 45:1-7 “Thus says the Lord to His anointed, To Cyrus, whose right hand I have held-- To subdue nations before him And loose the armour 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.'
The next account that we see in scripture, where God clearly reveals to us that He decides when all men are to be born into the earth and where they are to be born, is in the prophecy of Isaiah. In this prophecy quoted above, God tells us about a future king of Persia, what he will do and even what his name will be, i.e. Cyrus. I want you to notice that not only is Cyrus a Gentile, but God also clearly tells us that Cyrus did not know God, i.e. Cyrus initially was not a Gentile believer (although eventually he did become one). And yet God calls Cyrus His anointed and His shepherd. The reason that God does that is because God predestined Cyrus to do God’s biding, even though Cyrus did not even know who God was. In the prophecy given by Isaiah, God tells Cyrus that he will give the command for the city of Jerusalem and the temple to be rebuilt. Even though at the time of Isaiah’s prophecy, neither Jerusalem nor the temple had been destroyed yet, for the prophecy was given by Isaiah, in roughly the year 700 BC.
Michael E.B. Maher
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