The Book Of Isaiah. Day 201, Prophecies Of Things To Come

In Chapter 45 the Lord speaks about Himself in His role of sovereign creator. He has already spoken about how He created all things exactly how they had to be. Now He talks about things that are to come, things He has already planned. 

"This is what the Lord says---the Holy One of Israel, and its Maker: Concerning things to come, do you question Me about My children, or give Me orders about the work of My hands?" (Isaiah 45:11) God is the only God. He has existed since eternity past and no one taught or counseled Him about how to bring the universe into existence or how to create life on earth. He possesses all wisdom and knowledge and power. That would be a bad thing if we had a God who is unrighteous, but we have a God who is righteous, holy, and perfect.

"It is I who made the earth and created mankind on it. My own hands stretched out the heavens; I marshaled their starry hosts." (Isaiah 45:12) The Lord orchestrated all things to make the conditions exactly right to support life on earth. There are precisely the right amount of stars in the universe. There is the perfect amount of mass and gravity in the universe. Every single thing down to the smallest detail was done the way it had to be done. Because God could do all this, surely He can bring to pass the things He says next.

"I will raise up Cyrus in My righteousness: I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild My city and set My exiles free, but not for a price or reward, says the Lord Almighty." (Isaiah 45:13) Cyrus the Great will do what the Lord says he will do. Although he does not worship the God of Abraham, the Lord is going to raise him to a position of power and is going to make his pathway smooth so he can become a great conqueror---great enough to subdue Babylon and set the captives free. Not only will he set the captives free, but he will supply materials for the rebuilding project. He will acknowledge that the God of Abraham called him to do this; therefore, the Lord says he doesn't do these things for a price or reward. He does these things because the Lord told him to do them. We will study these events in more detail later in the Bible.

"This is what the Lord says: The products of Egypt and the merchandise of Cush, and those tall Sabeans---they will come over to you and will be yours; they will trudge behind you, coming over to you in chains. They will bow down before you and plead with you, saying, 'Surely God is with you, and there is no other; there is no other god.'" (Isaiah 45:14) Many scholars say that the chains spoken of here are not literal but that scores of people from the Gentile nations will want to identify themselves with the descendants of Abraham and with Abraham's God. They will want to be connected to the family of God. We have already seen some of the fulfillment of this prophecy, for there are people all over the world who have heard of and now believe in the God of Israel. Many more will come to believe in Him.

The Lord who created all things is true to His word. Some of the prophecies of the Bible still remain to be fulfilled but we can be certain they will come to pass.