Isaiah 44:24–45:25

Isaiah 44:24–28

- The concept of “I am the Lord; there is no other” shows that God made all things (including us), that God is the only being that was at the beginning of the world.

2 Chronicles 36:22–23

Ezra 1:1–7; 5:13

Isaiah 41:2–3

- Cyrus was the King of Persia who received word from the Lord to build the House of the Lord in Jerusalem, just as God had promised: “He is my shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; he will say of Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundations be laid.’”

Isaiah 45:1–13

- Anoint means to be chosen by God. God therefore chose Cyrus to subdue all other nations. God will therefore pave the road before Cyrus, to ensure that he succeeds in his mission.

- God promised Cyrus that He would strengthen Cyrus and help him conquer all difficulties that lay ahead even though Cyrus at the time did not know God yet.

2 Chronicles 36:22–23

Ezra 1:2–4

- When Cyrus fulfilled God’s prophecy by building God’s temple, Cyrus came to know God and acknowledged God, “‘The LORD, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and he has appointed me to build a temple for him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of his people among you—may the LORD his God be with him, and let him go up.’”

Daniel 5:30–31; 6:1–28; 10:1

- Cyrus was led to do God’s will because the Persian empire was overtaken by the ungodly Babylonian ruler, Nebuchadnezzar. Cyrus was thus chosen to overcome Nebuchadnezzar to rebuild Jerusalem.

Isaiah 45:1–13

Romans 9:19–21

- God is the maker of all. Everything that happens, it is all part of His plan. As His children, we often do not have the ability to understand why He does certain things. Therefore, to those who resist God’s Word and wisdom, to those who question God, God responds, “But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use?”

- When we do not understand why God does certain things, we must always remember that it is near impossible for us to fully comprehend God’s will and His plans for the future. When we question God’s decisions, we are just like the rebellious teenagers who always doubt their parents’ wisdom. It is hard for teenagers comprehend their parents’ wisdom because they haven’t acquired the ability to see what the parents see. They are too young and inexperienced to know the consequences of their actions. And when they don’t heed the warnings of their parents, they often end up falling. Similarly, we are God’s children. God sees all and wants to protect us from harm and thus gives us warnings. If we ever want to question God’s will, we must first consider whether we are mature enough to understand what’s going on or we should understand that God’s warnings should be seriously pondered. In general, we should never question God’s will because we simply do not have the ability to do so. Our view is not as broad, and our abilities are very limited. There is no way we can every do things better than God, and we therefore have no ground to judge how God does things.

However, there are a few examples of God’s people questioning Him. The example that comes to my mind is Abraham (Genesis 18:16-33). He never questioned God when God asked him to sacrifice his son because he knew God’s plan was greater than himself. However, he questioned God’s decision to kill all the people of Sodom, because he believes there must be righteous people living in that condemned city, and those people should be saved. He thus pleaded God to spare their lives, and because Abraham made a good argument, God was willing to listen. As opposed to saying Abraham questioned God’s decision, we ought to think of it as Abraham pleading God to spare as many righteous people as possible.

What we should take away from Abraham’s experience is that unless we have a rational reason to question God’s decision, we should first heed God’s instructions because God loves us, and everything that God does, He does for our good.

Isaiah 45:14–25

- The invitation to be saved is also extended to all those who turns to God. As is the theme throughout Isaiah, God is the one and only who was there at the beginning of time and will be there at the end of time. There is no use putting faith in idols made by man, for those objects have no life in them and certainly have no ability to breathe life into us. We are God’s children, and if we choose to return to God, God will welcome us home with open arms.

- Acts 11 is a good passage that documents Peter’s determination to save the Gentiles. Peter received Word from God to welcome anyone who is willing to turn to God. It does not matter whether they are Jews. As long as people accept God and choose to follow God and believe in Jesus Christ, all these people will be saved, as it has been noted: “So then, God has granted even the Gentiles repentance unto life.”

Philippians 2:9–11

Isaiah 45:23–25

- Isaiah’s prophecy would be fulfilled in the sense that one day, all knees would bow to Jesus Christ, and all tongues would confess that Jesus is our Lord and give glory to God, our Father. All people will come to acknowledge that God alone is righteous, and those who faithfully remain at God’s side will be saved.