Isaiah 44:24-28
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“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;” Isaiah 44:24
The Lord is the Redeemer, and in the days of the Old Testament, that redemption referred to being restored to a specific status in this world. That redemption came with obedience to the word of God and included such things as restitution of territory, reunited with the family of God, and earthly prosperity. In the context of the verses of this post, it refers to being freed from captivity to the Babylonian Empire, being able to restore Jerusalem, and being able to restore the temple. Nebuchadnezzar carried the Israelites into captivity, destroyed the temple, and brought ruin to Jerusalem.
Verse 28 of this post verifies what is said in the above paragraph, “Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he will perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, “You will be built,” and to the temple, “Your foundation will be laid.”’ Isaiah 44:28 The Lord God would use Cyrus to redeem Israel with earthly freedom and restoration of Jerusalem and the temple.
Today, we know that Christ Jesus is the Redeemer who redeems us to God by the atonement of sin that was made upon the Cross. His Redemption goes beyond this present heaven and earth. He Redeems us from death to give eternal life. That Redemption includes the gift of the Holy Spirit on this earth to restore our body as the temple of God, the temple of the Holy Spirit. He Redeems our earthly body to an eternal body, and Redeems this earthly sin-plagued land into an eternal land in the New Jerusalem, “In Him you also trusted, after you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation; in whom also, having believed, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, to the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:13-14 We are the purchased possession, purchased by the blood Christ shed on the Cross. Our redemption is our eternal body after we are resurrected from the grave.
God has created each one of us from the womb, and He is the One that has created heaven and earth. He needed no one else to help Him create. In other words, He is all powerful, all knowing, and everywhere at the same time. The Spirit of the Lord is saying that in the context of being able to raise up Cyrus to perform whatever He uses him to perform. The Lord is able to choose any worldly leader to fulfill His purpose on this earth.
When the Spirit of the Lord says that He alone is the Creator, we have to realize that the Holy Trinity is one. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit were all One in the work of creation. In the following verse, “Us” and “Our” refers to the Trinity, “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness’;” Genesis 1:26 The following is spoken about our Lord Jesus, “He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made.” John 1:2-3
“Who frustrates the signs of the babblers, and drives diviners mad; Who turns wise men backward, and makes their knowledge foolishness;” Isaiah 44:25
The Israelites and the Babylonians were full of babblers and diviners who spoke about signs given to them by false gods, but they didn’t have a clue what God intended to do.
How did the Lord frustrate the signs of the babblers and drive the diviners mad? Because He gave a very specific sign from His Divine word about when the Israelites would be freed from their captivity to the Babylonians. Before Cyrus was even born…before he was formed in the womb, years before he conquered Babylon, God called him by name, as quoted, “Thus says the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held— I, the Lord, who call you by your name, Am the God of Israel.” Isaiah 45:1, 3 As previously stated, this is verse 28 of this post, “Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he will perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, “You will be built,” and to the temple, “Your foundation will be laid.”’ Years before it happened, the Lord called Cyrus by name! Click for pos ton Isaiah 45:1-7 about Cyrus.
Without a doubt, the babblers and diviners were frustrated and driven mad by such an accurate, precise, and personal fulfillment of the word of God. The so-called wisemen of the Israelites and Babylonians were turned backwards and their knowledge was nothing more than foolishness.
Today, the global government and its global culture intend to create an earthly Garden of Eden, but the Lord has given a very precise and detailed word to make their knowledge foolishness. Global warming! Global warming is the Fourth Plague of Revelations 16:8-9 and is making foolish the knowledge of the wise of this world. Global warming is frustrating them and driving them mad as the effects seen through climate change is beyond their ability to control. Those of this world must repent and begin to glorify God. Jesus says to them, “When it is evening you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red’; and in the morning, ‘It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.’ Hypocrites! You know how to discern the face of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times.” Matthew 16:2-3
Click here for a list of specific prophecies fulfilled since the 1940s and scroll towards the middle of the page.
“For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. For it is written: “I will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.” 1 Corinthians 1:18-19
“Who confirms the word of His servant, and performs the counsel of His messengers; Who says to Jerusalem, ‘You will be inhabited,’ to the cities of Judah, ‘You will be built,’ and I will raise up her waste places;” Isaiah 44:26
Click here for a post from Isaiah 41:25-29 on how the Lord used Cyrus to repopulate Jerusalem, to rebuild the ruins of Jerusalem, and to rebuild the temple in Jerusalem.
Today, every born-again believer is the servant of the Lord with a massage to the world, “Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight.’” Matthew 3:3 Jesus is returning, and He will confirm the message of His servants at His appearing, and is conforming the promise of His return today! Global warming is in the world, confirming that he means what He says and will do it, global warming is the Fourth Plague of Revelations 16:8-9
The Lord confirms the word of His servant, and in this case His servant was Isaiah who prophesied about Cyrus, a worldly conqueror and Persian Gentile, whom the Lord would use to free the Israelites from Babylonian captivity. The Lord performs the counsel of all of His messengers, from Genesis to Revelations. Many Israelites may have given up hope of ever seeing Jerusalem again to be able to rebuild the city and rebuild the temple. But it happened! That is described in the next verse.
After Jerusalem and the temple were rebuilt under Cyrus, that temple was completely tore down in 70AD under the command of the Roman Emperor Titus. That was about 37 years after the death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ Jesus. At that time, the Jewish people fled Jerusalem, and the city was never again the possession of the Jewish culture. Not until 1948! For 1878 years, Jerusalem was not inhabited as a Jewish homeland, it was a wasteland referring to the Jewish culture.
In 1948, Israel was acknowledged as the State of Israel. In that year, Jewish people came from all around the world and inhabited Israel, and Jerusalem was once again their capital, their place of government. Israel has definitely been built and the waste places raised up. The prophecy of their gathering to Jerusalem in 1948 is seen in Ezekiel 22:19-21. At the same time, the Jewish people were gathered to Israel in 1948 as the place where the Lord unleashes the wrath of His judgment on them for the rejection of Jesus, the Christ and Son of God, “Therefore thus says the Lord God: ‘Because you have all become dross, therefore behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. As men gather silver, bronze, iron, lead, and tin into the midst of a furnace, to blow fire on it, to melt it; so I will gather you in My anger and in My fury, and I will leave you there and melt you. Yes, I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of My wrath, and you shall be melted in its midst.” Ezekiel 22:19-21
“Who says to the deep, ‘Be dry! And I will dry up your rivers’;” Isaiah 44:27
We know the deep of the Red Sea was dried up as described in Exodus 14:21-28 and the Jordan River was dried up as described in Joshua 3:14-17. Our Lord performed those miracles so that the Israelites could cross over on dry ground into the land promised to them.
In the context of the verses of this post, we see that the Lord raises up worldly leaders to carry out His purpose on this earth. In Revelations 16:12,16 of the Sixth Plague, the description is given of the angel of the Lord drying up the waters of the river Euphrates to raise up the nations of the earth to the Battle of Armageddon, “Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, so that the way of the kings from the east might be prepared…gathered them together to the place called in Hebrew, Armageddon.”
Soon after the Battle of Armageddon, our Lord Jesus returns and we cross over into the eternal promised land of the New Jerusalem.
“Who says of Cyrus, ‘He is My shepherd, and he will perform all My pleasure, saying to Jerusalem, “You will be built,”
and to the temple, “Your foundation will be laid.”’ Isaiah 44:28
Who is Cyrus? Cyrus was first spoken about as described in the post on Isaiah 41:1-7. That is where the Lord is describing how He has power over the rulers of the nations to do with as He pleases. Cyrus was the ruler who conquered the Babylonian Empire, released the Israelites from their captivity and supported the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the temple. Nebuchadnezzar, one of the first kings over the Babylonian Empire, destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.
Cyrus being raised up by the Lord is described in the posts on Isaiah 41:1-7, and also Isaiah 41:11-16, and also Isaiah 41:25-29, and also Isaiah 43:14-15, and also Isaiah 45:1-7.
Click for a post from Isaiah 41:25-29 about how Cyrus was raised up as an instrument in the hand of the Lord to liberate the captive Israelites. “I have raised up one from the north, and he will come; From the rising of the sun he will call on My name; And he will come against princes as though mortar, as the potter treads clay.” Isaiah 41:25
The Lord even called Cyrus by name, before he was even born, as quoted directly below from the passage of 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 armor of kings, to open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut: ‘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. 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. 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. 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, 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; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the Lord, do all these things.’” Isaiah 45:1-7
“From the east I summon a bird of prey; from a distant land, a man to fulfill my purpose. What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned, that will I do.” – Isaiah 46:11 “I, even I, have spoken; yes, I have called him. I will bring him, and he will succeed in his mission.” – Isaiah 48:15
On behalf of the Israelites, and for His glory, God raised up Cyrus to do as mentioned directly below;
Released the Israelites from captivity:
“I will raise up Cyrus in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild My city and set My exiles free, but not for payment or reward, says the LORD of Hosts” Isaiah 45:13
Supported the rebuilding of the temple in Jerusalem:
“In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem: ‘Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to offer sacrifices and let its foundations be laid.’” – Ezra 6:3
Returned articles to the temple in Jerusalem:
“Also, the gold and silver articles of the house of God, which Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple that was in Jerusalem and carried into the temple of Babylon—those King Cyrus took from the temple of Babylon, and they were given to one named Sheshbazzar, whom he had made governor. And he said to him, ‘Take these articles; go, carry them to the temple site that is in Jerusalem, and let the house of God be rebuilt on its former site.’ Ezra 5:14-15
From Ezra chapters 1:1 through 10:14 is all about the rebuilding of the temple, including the involvement of Cyrus in helping to make it happen. “Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying…” Ezra 1:1
From Ezra 1:2–4 and also recorded in 2 Chronicles 36:23, “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem. And whoever is left in any place where he dwells, let the men of his place help him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock, besides the freewill offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem.“
Darius the Meade and Cyrus of Persia are believed to have been co-rulers over the conquered Babylonian Empire, and their entire empire went beyond the borders of Babylon. “So this Daniel prospered in the reign of Darius and in the reign of Cyrus the Persian.” Daniel 6:28 Darius was the ruler over Babylon first, then Cyrus was ruler after him. As we know from Daniel chapter 6, Darius is the one who had Daniel thrown into the den of lions, as described in the posts shown directly below,
“…Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus.” Daniel 1:21
We are familiar with the “writing on the wall” which comes from Daniel chapter 5. Click for the posts on Daniel 5: 1-6 and Daniel 5:7-31. The “writing on the wall” referred to the coming collapse of the Babylonian Empire, which was first received by Darius the Meade, “That very night Belshazzar, king of the Chaldeans, was slain. And Darius the Mede received the kingdom, being about sixty-two years old.” Daniel 9:30 The Chaldeans were one in the same with Babylon, Isaiah 47:1. [Like a state is one in the same with the nation it belongs to.] At the same time, Cyrus was with Darius, apparently as the military strategist of the conquering duo [both about the same age], and whom the Lord called by name. Cyrus became the ruler over Babylon after Darius. “Your kingdom has been divided, and given to the Medes and Persians.” Daniel 5:28 Darius was the Meade and the Cyrus the Persian, as Babylon was given to the Medes and Persians.
Daniel had been in captivity to Babylon for 70 years, so he was in the age of his 80’s when Cyrus ruled over Babylon. In the very first year of the rule of Darius/Cyrus, Daniel began to search the scriptures to verify that Cyrus would be the one to release the Israelites from captivity. He found the passage in Jeremiah that the captivity would last for seventy years! “In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans— in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years specified by the word of the Lord through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.” Daniel 9:1-2 “This is what the Lord says: ‘When seventy years are completed for Babylon, I will come to you and fulfill my good promise to bring you back to this place.’” – Jeremiah 29:10
Daniel was released from captivity to the Babylonians in the first year of the reign of Cyrus, “Thus Daniel continued until the first year of King Cyrus.” Daniel 1:21 In the third year of the reign of Cyrus, after he had already been released from captivity, Daniel had another vision, “In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel…” Daniel 10:1 Click for a post on Daniel 10.
“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’
“I am coming soon.
Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1
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