Context for Isaiah 44:24-45:25
God promises to restore Jerusalem through Cyrus, the eventual king of the mighty Persian Empire, restoring His people and preparing them for the greater restoral of the Messiah who was to come.
God’s promises are sometimes difficult to understand and discern. We read prophecies like the ones found in books like Isaiah and Revelation and struggle with what they might mean. Yet, within those inscrutable texts we find direct and striking proclamations about what God will do for His people.
The promise to restore Jerusalem under Cyrus the Great is one of those promises. God told the people of Jerusalem that, though they were destined to be conquered, overrun, exiled and their city destroyed, there was hope for them because God already ordained their redemption from that exile and destruction.
This promise is a parallel to God’s promise to save us from our sins and to bring us into Heaven by His grace through faith, and since God kept His promise to restore Jerusalem under Cyrus, then how much more will He keep His promise to bring us to Him? This is the hope that prophecy gives us, that we may know that God has promised us and keeps His promises.
DLH
