1. Cyrus, God’s Instrument
Isaiah 45
Cyrus, God’s Instrument

2. Their fortress gates will be opened, never to shut again.”
Isaiah 45:1-6
“This is what the LORD says to Cyrus, His anointed one, whose right hand He will empower. Before him, mighty kings will be paralyzed with fear.
Their fortress gates will be opened, never to shut again.”

3. “This is what the LORD says:
“I will go before you, Cyrus, and level the mountains.
I will smash down gates of bronze and cut through bars of iron.
And I will give you treasures hidden in the darkness—
secret riches.”

4. “I will do this so you may know that I am the LORD, the God of Israel,
the one who calls you by name.
And why have I called you for this work?
Why did I call you by name when you did not know Me?”

5. “It is for the sake of
Jacob My servant,
Israel My chosen one. ‎
I am the LORD;
there is no other God.
I have equipped you for battle, though you don’t even know Me, so all the world from east to west will know
there is no other God.”

6. “I am the LORD,
and there is no other.”

7. “The same power which caused a thing to exist is necessary to continue its existence.”
Noah Webster

8. “And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”
Colossians 1:17
“And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist.”

9. Isaiah 45:7
“I create the light and
make the darkness.
I send good times and bad times. I, the LORD, am the one who does these things.”

10. “Undoubtedly, evil as an act is not the direct working of God,
but the spontaneous work of a creature endowed with freedom.”
Delitzsch

11. Isaiah 45:8
“Open up, O heavens, and pour out your righteousness. Let the earth open wide so salvation and righteousness can sprout up together.
I, the LORD, created them.

12. Habakkuk 2:14
“For the earth will be filled With the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, As the waters cover the sea.”

13. “When God brings salvation to a life, He also rings righteousness
to that life.
They spring up together.”
David Guzik

14.  ‎Isaiah 45:9-13
“What sorrow awaits those who argue with their Creator. Does a clay pot argue with its maker? Does the clay dispute with the one who shapes it, saying, ‘Stop, you’re doing it wrong!’ Does the pot exclaim, ‘How clumsy can you be?’

15. “How terrible it would be if a newborn baby said to its father,
‘Why was I born?’ or if it said to its mother, ‘Why did you make me this way?’ This is what the LORD says— the Holy One of Israel and your Creator: “Do you question what I do for my children? Do you give me orders about the work of
My hands? ‎

16. I will guide his actions. He will restore My city and
“I am the one who made the earth and created people to live on it. With my hands I stretched out the heavens. All the stars are at my command. I will raise up Cyrus to fulfill my righteous purpose, and
I will guide his actions.
He will restore My city and
free My captive people—
without seeking a reward!”

17. “I, the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, have spoken!”

18. “Though it was Artaxerxes’ decree (Neh
“Though it was Artaxerxes’ decree (Neh. 2:8b) that actually accomplished the rebuilding of Jerusalem, it was Cyrus’s leadership that first laid the groundwork for this project by allowing the Jews to return
from Babylon.”
MacDonald

19. He created the heavens and earth and put everything in place.
Isaiah 45:18
“For the LORD is God, and
He created the heavens and earth and put everything in place.
He made the world to be lived in, not to be a place of empty chaos. “I am the LORD,” He says,
“and there is no other”

20. Isaiah 45:20-21
“Gather together and come, you fugitives from surrounding nations. What fools they are who carry around their wooden idols and pray to gods that cannot save! Consult together, argue your case. Get together and
decide what to say.

21. For there is no other God but Me, a righteous God and Savior.
“Who made these things known so long ago? What idol ever told you they would happen?
Was it not I, the LORD?
For there is no other God but Me,
a righteous God and Savior.
There is none but Me.”

22. All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other. ‎
Isaiah 45:22-25
“Look to Me, and be saved,
All you ends of the earth!
For I am God, and
there is no other. ‎
I have sworn by Myself;
The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness,
And shall not return, ‎

23. “That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath.
He shall say, ‘Surely in the LORD I have righteousness and strength.
To Him men shall come,
And all shall be ashamed who are incensed against Him. ‎
In the LORD all the descendants of Israel shall be justified, and
shall glory.’ ”

24. “It shows the focus of salvation:
we must look to God, and never to ourselves or to anything else of man. “Look unto ME, is His Word, which means looking away from the church because that will save nobody; away from the preacher because he can disappoint and disillusion you; away from all outward form and ceremony.

25. “You must look off from all this to the throne and there, in your heart, see the risen, reigning
Lord Jesus Christ.”
Redpath

26. Hebrews 4:12
“For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart”

27. Philippians 2:9-11
“Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”