Year 9, Day 29: Isaiah 45

Theological Commentary: Click Here

Chapter 45 begins with a look at the Lord’s anointed.  There is something interesting about the Lord’s anointed, though.  The name given is Cyrus.  Cyrus is a Persian king.  The Lord’s anointed – His messiah, quite literally translated – is a Persian king.

It’s important to remember that much like the word “antichrist,” the word for anointed and messiah are used generically and specifically.  Anyone who does the will of the Lord is anointed.  Anyone who allows the Spirit of the Lord to be within Him is His anointed.  That doesn’t make a person the Anointed or the Messiah.  God’s Anointed, God’s Messiah, is the one who will save humanity once and for all.  That would be Jesus.  Don’t confuse the issue here.  There are many people whom God anoints; there is one Anointed.

A powerful subtheme comes through this point about Cyrus.  Cyrus is anointed by God and he is a Persian king.  Once more God demonstrates that he is the God of all people.  He is the God of the Gentiles as well as the God of the Hebrew people.  God will call and use a Persian king.  He will continue to call and use Gentiles after Christ’s work on the cross as well.

God continues this theme in the second half of the chapter.  He speaks to the nations and reminds them that He has always been there speaking truth.  He wants them to realize that He has been with them, too.

This is an important point to consider.  God acknowledges that they have truth in their communities.  Their wise people have found some wisdom.  The problem isn’t that they are ignorant of the truth, the problem is that they are attributing the truth to the wrong thing.  They think their wisdom is coming from other human beings or false idols of their own making.  They are missing the source of all truth.

I love the fact that Isaiah informs us that other cultures do have truth within them.  So often, it is all-to-easy to think of truth as something “we have” and therefore “others don’t.”  That simply isn’t the perspective of God here.  The nations have access to truth just like the Hebrew people do.  The issue isn’t that they don’t know truth, the issue is that they’ve missed the genuine source of the truth.

I have that same problem from time to time.  I occasionally think I’m wise when I should be giving the glory to God.  I occasionally think other people are wise when I should be giving the glory to God.  I occasionally judge other people foolish instead of looking for where they might have access to truth.  I have much to learn from Isaiah’s perspective.

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