Year 3, Day 29: Isaiah 45

Who’s The Messiah?

I love Isaiah 45.  I love it because I have an opportunity to be controversial.  Perhaps I should be thanking that another opportunity for confession and forgiveness is coming around on Sunday.

But, this opening line contains one of the more difficult passages for many Bible students to wrap their heads around – at least at first.  You see, here’s what the text actually says: “Thus says the Lord, to His Messiah, to Cyrus.”

There it is.  Right there in black and white.  We all know that the Hebrew word Messiah (literally mashiach) means “Anointed One.”  But what many of us don’t realize at first is how this title is used in conjunction with Cyrus.  For the record, remember that Cyrus was a Persian King.  Here God clearly calls a ruling official of the Gentiles His Messiah.

Okay, now that I’ve opened that can of worms, let me try to wrench it open just a little more before closing it.  You might also realize that the title Anti-Christ is the opposite of Messiah.  I mean this quite literally, since Christ and Messiah are the same word in different languages.  And we all know of the Anti-Christ who is to come.  But did you know that throughout the ages many people have been called the anti-Christ?  In fact, one of the first people to be called an anti-Christ was a man by the name of Antiochus Epiphanes IV.  He was a Greek ruler who sacked Jerusalem in 167 BC.  Notice that’s actually before Christ.  He took the temple of God and rededicated it to the worship of Zeus.  He also made it illegal to own a copy of the Hebrew scripture, what we call the Old Testament.  I think it is clear why people might call him the Anti-Christ.

Anyway, here is where I am going with all of this.  Sometimes we use the words Messiah and Anti-Christ in such a way as to presume that there can be only one.  From a divine perspective of salvation, that is absolutely true.  There is only one man through whom salvation comes: Jesus.  And the New Testament tells us that there is one great deceiver yet to come who will draw all mankind to himself: the Anti-Christ.  So from that perspective there is only one Messiah and one Anti-Christ.

However, we need to remember that the word Messiah simply means Anointed One.  It was a term used to distinguish David from Saul.  In fact, it was a term used by Jews to describe anyone who was called by God to free the people as well as usher in God’s judgment upon unbelievers.  From this perspective, while Cyrus may not be the divine and ultimate Messiah, Cyrus absolutely is one of God’s temporary Messiahs.  Cyrus certainly does step in, play the role God desires him to play, frees the Hebrew people from captivity, and brings judgment on those who would oppose God.

Our Personal Choice

So where can we take this thought today?  Well, there is one simple conclusion.  Every day each one of us has the choice.  We can either be a little messiah or we can be a little anti-Christ.  We can either encourage people to be free of their sin or we can work a little more towards their enslavement.  Every day we have that very opportunity.  What will it be today?

God Is At Work

As for the rest of this chapter, it is clearly a chapter giving glory to God.  Clearly God, who created the universe and did not call Israel to seek Him in vain, is in charge and worthy to be worshiped.  What is really neat about this chapter is that it truly does set the whole messiah conversation above in the right perspective.  It doesn’t matter who is doing the work of the Lord.  It doesn’t matter who is being referred to as one that is anointed by God to do His work.  The reality is that it is God’s work that is being done.  God deserve the praise.  God deserves the glory.  God is the one who saves.  We are just the tools in His hand.

Turn to Him and be saved.  Join with those who willingly bend the knee and confess allegiance with the tongue.  For only in Him are righteousness and strength.  Amen.  Amen.  Hallelujah!

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