Prophecy of Isaiah – Isa 44:21-28 Cyrus in my Shepherd and Will say to the Temple, Your Foundations Shall be Laid

Print Friendly, PDF & Email

Isa 44:21-28 Cyrus Is My Shepherd and Will Say To The Temple, Your Foundations Shall Be Laid

[Study aired August 11, 2019]

Isa 44:21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.
Isa 44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Isa 44:23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
Isa 44:24 Thus saith the LORD, thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;
Isa 44:25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;
Isa 44:26 That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:
Isa 44:27 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:
Isa 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

In this study we will see how the Lord uses a Gentile king as a “shepherd” to care for His people while He delivers them from their Babylonian captivity and has this Gentile King to help His people to begin to build His Temple. This is not the first time the Lord has used a pagan king to work His will.  The fact is that Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian king who carried the Lord’s people away into captivity is also called by the Lord, “Nebuchadnezzar, My servant”, when the Lord uses Nebuchadnezzar to carry His spiritually adulterous people into Babylonian captivity for their apostasy.

In other words, our own flesh is the Lord’s servant to make us to err (Isa 63:17), just as Nebuchadnezzar symbolizes our old man, “the beast” who rules over all men (Rev 13:16-18):

Jer 27:6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.
Jer 27:7 And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son’s son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him.
Jer 27:8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD , with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

Babylonian captivity is not optional. She rules over all the kings of all the world… “all nations shall serve” Babylon (Jer 27:7). Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and of abominations of the earth, also rules over all kings and all kingdoms:

Rev 17:1 And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters:
Rev 17:2 With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

Rev 17:15 And he saith unto me, The waters which thou sawest, where the whore sitteth, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.

Hosea tells us the same thing:

Hos 11:5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian [Babylon] shall be his king, because they refused to return.

When the Jews which Nebuchadnezzar had left in the land refused to obey the Lord’s commandment to submit themselves to the king of Babylon, they instead fled into Egypt. When they rebelled and did so then the Lord simply gave Egypt as a gift to the king of Babylon. The Lord sent Nebuchadnezzar “[His] servant” down into Egypt to destroy them right there in Egypt.

Jer 42:7 And it came to pass after ten days, that the word of the LORD came unto Jeremiah.

Jer 42:11 Be not afraid of the king of Babylon, of whom ye are afraid; be not afraid of him, saith the LORD : for I am with you to save you, and to deliver you from his hand.
Jer 42:12 And I will shew mercies unto you, that he may have mercy upon you, and cause you to return to your own land.
Jer 42:13 But if ye say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,
Jer 42:14 Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:
Jer 42:15 And now therefore hear the word of the LORD, ye remnant of Judah; Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; If ye wholly set your faces to enter into Egypt, and go to sojourn there;
Jer 42:16 Then it shall come to pass, that the sword, which ye feared, shall overtake you there in the land of Egypt, and the famine, whereof ye were afraid, shall follow close after you there in Egypt; and there ye shall die.

When “[we] say, We will not… obey the voice of the Lord [then the very things we] feared shall overtake [us]…” When our own will becomes our God and we do what we want rather than trusting the Lord to protect us, at that point all of our protection has been removed, and we are a sitting duck for the adversary. When we trust in the Lord in spite of all the outward circumstances which make us want to lean to our own strength, then the Lord promises to keep and to save us:

Pro 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6 In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Pro 3:7 Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD , and depart from evil.
Pro 3:8 It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.

The whole world was against the Lord and His Christ, but He, and they in Him, were given to remain faithful to the end, and because of that gift for those who remain faithful to the end will be given a part in the marriage supper of the Lamb.

Rev 19:9 And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God.

Exactly what that “bless[ing]” is, and what the phrase “marriage supper” means is explained for us in the very next chapter:

Rev 20:6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

The “marriage supper of the Lamb” is the first resurrection. The point being made in every Old Testament story of how the Lord delivers His people is that because “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”, and because Babylon must be destroyed before the Lord’s kingdom can be establish, it is therefore in the destruction of Babylon we are told, “You shall go… to Babylon: there shall you be delivered”.

Mic 4:10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

There really is an order in which the Lord is working His plan in the lives of every one of His elect “in this present time” (Rom 8:18). So it is counter-productive for us to get weary in well doing and just give up and return to Egypt. Our lives will follow the Lord’s order of events which He has laid out, and the idols of our hearts will not subvert that order. It is in Babylon that we will be delivered, and it is there the Lord will redeem us from the hand of our enemies:

Hos 11:5 He shall not return into the land of Egypt, but the Assyrian [Babylon] shall be his king, because they refused to return.

Mic 4:10 Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, O daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the LORD shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.

Those who depend on the Lord for their deliverance do so with no regard whatsoever for their physical lives. Whether it was Isaiah, Jeremiah, the three Hebrew children, or Daniel, or any other Old Testament type of those who are faithful to Christ, they one and all demonstrated that their fidelity and fear was toward the Lord and not toward men.

Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego expressed this mindset eloquently with these words before a furious king Nebuchadnezzar when he demanded they worship his golden image:

Dan 3:13 Then Nebuchadnezzar in his rage and fury commanded to bring Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego. Then they brought these men before the king.
Dan 3:14 Nebuchadnezzar spake and said unto them, Is it true, O Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, do not ye serve my gods, nor worship the golden image which I have set up?
Dan 3:15  Now if ye be ready that at what time ye hear the sound of the cornet, flute, harp, sackbut, psaltery, and dulcimer, and all kinds of musick, ye fall down and worship the image which I have made; well: but if ye worship not, ye shall be cast the same hour into the midst of a burning fiery furnace; and who is that God that shall deliver you out of my hands?
Dan 3:16 Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego, answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we are not careful to answer thee in this matter.
Dan 3:17 If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of thine hand, O king.
Dan 3:18 But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.

These men are types of us if we remain faithful to the Lord to the end. As with us, this part of the “cloud of witnesses” of the Old Testament knew there was to be a resurrection, and they were given the desire of “a better resurrection”, even if they are ordained to come up in the great white throne judgment

Heb 11:32 And what shall I more say? for the time would fail me to tell of Gedeon, and of Barak, and of Samson, and of Jephthae; of David also, and Samuel, and of the prophets:
Heb 11:33 Who through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
Heb 11:34 Quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight the armies of the aliens.
Heb 11:35 Women received their dead raised to life again: and others were tortured, not accepting deliverance; that they might obtain a better resurrection:
Heb 11:36 And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment:
Heb 11:37 They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented;
Heb 11:38 (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
Heb 11:39 And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise:
Heb 11:40 God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.

The “better thing” was not provided for those who were the symbols of the true men of faith. The true men of faith are those who place the words of Christ above all the words of all the ministers of all the religions of Babylon.

It is very little understood, but the fact is that both Hebrews and 1st Peter teach us that this “better thing for us” is “not unto them… but unto us” as Peter so clearly tells us:

1Pe 1:9 Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.
1Pe 1:10 Of which salvation the prophets have inquired and searched diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto you:
1Pe 1:11 Searching what, or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow.
1Pe 1:12 Unto whom it was revealed, that not unto themselves, but unto us they did minister the things, which are now reported unto you by them that have preached the gospel unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven; which things the angels desire to look into.

“The angels desire to look into… the glory that should follow… the sufferings of Christ”.

This is how our last study ended:

Isa 44:19 And none considereth in his heart, neither is there knowledge nor understanding to say, I have burned part of it in the fire; yea, also I have baked bread upon the coals thereof; I have roasted flesh, and eaten it: and shall I make the residue thereof an abomination? shall I fall down to the stock of a tree?
Isa 44:20 He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

Everything that will burn up is the same as “ashes”. When all of our doctrines are false lies, then all of our spiritual nourishment is “ashes”. The Lord would have us to ask ourselves if we would be so foolish as to craft our own doctrines, and He poses the question for us:  “Is there not a lie in my right hand”.

But He tells us “a deceived heart has turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul”, and He also tells us:

Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

Then He tells us:

Isa 44:21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

He tells us “remember these, O Jacob and Israel” because we just naturally forget that our thoughts are not His thoughts, and that is exactly what we have all done, and yet, in spite of our sins against Him, He still informs us of what He is doing with us. [We] are [His] servant [simply because that is what He] has formed [us] to be. We may indeed forget Him but “[We] will not be forgotten of [Him]”.

Paul says the same thing in these verses:

2Ti 2:12 If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us:
2Ti 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.
2Ti 2:14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers.

Look at the harmony of Isaiah with Paul. Through Isaiah the Lord tells us:

Isa 44:21 Remember these, O Jacob and Israel; for thou art my servant: I have formed thee; thou art my servant: O Israel, thou shalt not be forgotten of me.

Through the apostle Paul the message is the same:

2Ti 2:14 Of these things put them in remembrance, charging them before the Lord that they strive not about words to no profit, but to the subverting of the hearers…

2Ti 2:13 If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself.

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

This being true, we will indeed deny the Lord just as Peter did. Peter typifies all of the Lord’s elect in that he denied the Lord, and the Lord denied Peter’s fearful, unfaithful, old man, but Peter himself was not forgotten by the Lord, and the Lord abode faithful. He could not deny Himself, He could not deny His entire body, which is what Peter’s denial typifies. Peter typifies all of us:

Luk 22:54 Then took they him, and led him, and brought him into the high priest’s house. And Peter followed afar off.
Luk 22:55 And when they had kindled a fire in the midst of the hall, and were set down together, Peter sat down among them.
Luk 22:56 But a certain maid beheld him as he sat by the fire, and earnestly looked upon him, and said, This man was also with him.
Luk 22:57 And he denied him, saying, Woman, I know him not.
Luk 22:58 And after a little while another saw him, and said, Thou art also of them. And Peter said, Man, I am not.
Luk 22:59 And about the space of one hour after another confidently affirmed, saying, Of a truth this fellow also was with him: for he is a Galilæan.
Luk 22:60 And Peter said, Man, I know not what thou sayest. And immediately, while he yet spake, the cock crew.
Luk 22:61 And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice.
Luk 22:62 And Peter went out, and wept bitterly.

The bitter tears of repentance are the fire which will try every man’s works:

1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.
1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.

Works which are burned up have an application to us in this present time as well as those whose works are destined to burned up in the lake of fire. But “in this present time”, Christ will not forget His elect, and we will be made to know that our salvation is completely His work in spite of us, and we will be made to know that we accomplish nothing of ourselves:

Isa 44:22 I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and, as a cloud, thy sins: return unto me; for I have redeemed thee.
Isa 44:23 Sing, O ye heavens; for the LORD hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth: break forth into singing, ye mountains, O forest, and every tree therein: for the LORD hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.

Where is our righteousnesses in those verses?

Isa 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Where are any of our “idols of [our] hearts”? It is the Lord who redeems us, and we will “hold [our] peace”:

Exo 14:11 And they said unto Moses, Because there were no graves in Egypt, hast thou taken us away to die in the wilderness? wherefore hast thou dealt thus with us, to carry us forth out of Egypt?
Exo 14:12 Is not this the word that we did tell thee in Egypt, saying, Let us alone, that we may serve the Egyptians? For it had been better for us to serve the Egyptians, than that we should die in the wilderness.
Exo 14:13 And Moses said unto the people, Fear ye not, stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which he will shew to you today: for the Egyptians whom ye have seen today, ye shall see them again no more forever.
Exo 14:14 The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.

The Lord does all of our fighting for us, and the least we can do is to shut up and watch Him work His work. But even the ability to do that must be given to us.

Isa 44:24 Thus saith the LORD , thy redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the LORD that maketh all things; that stretcheth forth the heavens alone; that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself;

That is right. The very thoughts in our ‘heavens’ as well as our words and works on this earth “are of the Lord”:

Pro 16:1 The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the LORD.

The Lord “knows our thoughts” because He gives them to us. The preparations of our heart takes place in our thoughts, and those thoughts, good and evil, are a work of the Lord.

So, it behooves us to know that these next words also apply to the Lord’s elect as well as all the rest of mankind:

Isa 44:25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

The Lord delights in making our old man, and mankind as a whole, to be manifested for the ignorant fools we are by nature:

Psa 53:1 To the chief Musician upon Mahalath, Maschil, A Psalm of David. The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

Pro 1:25 But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
Pro 1:26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

These words here in Isaiah 44:25 are just filling in some of the details of what we are made to know by these words which were written several generations prior to Isaiah:

Pro 16:3 Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.
Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

The liars and diviners of verse 25 are the so-called wise men whose supposed wisdom is revealed by the Lord for the foolishness it really is.

These words are addressed to us first and foremost. It is the Lord who makes our old man ‘wicked’ for our own “day of evil”, and there is no way to short circuit the way in which He is working inside each of us. When He makes us to err from His ways, we will err from His ways:

Isa 63:17 O LORD, why hast thou made us to err from thy ways, and hardened our heart from thy fear? Return for thy servants’ sake, the tribes of thine inheritance.

Isaiah 63:17 confirms:

Isa 28:9 Whom shall he teach knowledge? and whom shall he make to understand doctrine? them that are weaned from the milk, and drawn from the breasts.
Isa 28:10 For precept must be upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little:
Isa 28:11 For with stammering lips and another tongue will he speak to this people.
Isa 28:12 To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear.
Isa 28:13 But the word of the LORD was unto them precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little, and there a little; that they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken.

“That they might go, and fall backward, and be broken, and snared, and taken” is also confirmed by:

Eze 14:9 And if the prophet be deceived when he hath spoken a thing, I the LORD have deceived that prophet, and I will stretch out my hand upon him, and will destroy him from the midst of my people Israel.
Eze 14:10 And they shall bear the punishment of their iniquity: the punishment of the prophet shall be even as the punishment of him that seeketh unto him;

This next verse explains why we must first be deceived and be made to err from the Lord’s ways and fall backward and be snared:

Eze 14:11 That the house of Israel may go no more astray from me, neither be polluted any more with all their transgressions; but that they may be my people, and I may be their God, saith the Lord GOD.

If we don’t even “think above that which is written” (1Co 4:6), the Lord’s word will always confirm itself, as the Lord assures us:

Isa 44:26 That confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built, and I will raise up the decayed places thereof:

The Lord “confirms the word of His servant, and [He] performs the counsel of His messengers” simply because:

Joh 5:30 I can of mine own self do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is just; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of the Father which hath sent me.

“His messengers” do the same because we are very careful never to think above that which is written:

1Co 4:6  Now these things, brothers, I applied to myself and Apollos for your sakes, so that in us ye might learn not to think above that which is written, so that ye may not be puffed up, one over the one against the other.   (ACV)

We are as Christ is in this world (1Jo 4:17). Therefore, like Him we can never “think above that which is written”. We are very careful to speak only His “words [and His] counsel”. If we never “think above that which is written”, then like Christ we will “of [our] own selves do nothing” and we will never “seek… [our] own will”. It is our own will and our own idolatrous words to which “the deep” and “[our] rivers” refer in our next verse:

Isa 44:27 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

The Hebrew word translated ‘deep’ in this verse is:

H6683
צוּלָה
tsûlâh
tsoo-law’

From an unused root meaning to sink; an abyss (of the sea): – deep.
Total KJV occurrences: 1

‘Tsulah’ is one of those few words which is a root word but is not used anywhere else in scripture. But considering the negative context this word, it has very much in common with the ‘deep’ found in these two verses in Proverbs:

Pro 22:14 The mouth of strange women is a deep pit: he that is abhorred of the LORD shall fall therein.

Pro 23:27 For a whore is a deep ditch; and a strange woman is a narrow pit.

“Strange women [and] a whore” are both types of false religions with false doctrines. So when the Lord tells us:

Isa 44:27 [He] saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

Right after telling us:

Isa 44:25 That frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish;

It is obvious that the Lord is telling us that any false doctrines within us, and even the religions of this world, will in His timing be subdued by those who are serving Him and His purpose.

Just as our old man is used by the Lord as the man of sin who sits in the temple of God saying he is God, and is even now being judged, so the Lord uses the wicked of this world to work as His servants to rule over the nations of this world and to do and to work His purpose in the kingdoms of this world:

Dan 4:17  This matter is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the holy ones: to the intent that the living may know that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

In Job 1 and 2, Satan is called “Thy hand”, meaning the Lord’s hand:

Job 1:6 Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the LORD , and Satan came also among them.
Job 1:7 And the LORD said unto Satan, Whence comest thou? Then Satan answered the LORD , and said, From going to and fro in the earth, and from walking up and down in it.
Job 1:8 And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?
Job 1:9 Then Satan answered the LORD , and said, Doth Job fear God for nought?
Job 1:10 Hast not thou made an hedge about him, and about his house, and about all that he hath on every side? thou hast blessed the work of his hands, and his substance is increased in the land.
Job 1:11 But put forth thine hand now, and touch all that he hath, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 1:12 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, all that he hath is in thy power; only upon himself put not forth thine hand. So Satan went forth from the presence of the LORD.

In the second chapter this whole process is repeated, and the Lord sends Satan to afflict Job with boils “from the sole of his foot unto his crown”:

Job 2:4 And Satan answered the LORD , and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.
Job 2:5 But put forth thine hand now, and touch his bone and his flesh, and he will curse thee to thy face.
Job 2:6 And the LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life.
Job 2:7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

The Lord simply uses the Devil, and those who are “of [their] father the Devil”, to work out His plans for us and for all of mankind.

The Lord plainly tells us that “even the wicked” men are the work of His hand:

Pro 16:4 The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.

He tells us that “the wicked [are His] sword”:

Psa 17:13 Arise, O LORD, disappoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword:

He calls wicked King Nebuchadnezzar “My servant”:

Jer 27:6 And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him.

And here He calls another pagan king “[His] shepherd [who] shall perform all [His] pleasure”:

Isa 44:28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

So Nebuchadnezzar was used to punish the Lord’s people for their sins, and when that was accomplished, He used another wicked man to punish Nebuchadnezzar and rebuild His temple. All these wicked men are one wicked man, the man of sin, whom the Lord uses both to destroy our old man, and in that destructive process He uses our corruptible flesh to begin the process of rebuilding and producing in us, our new man, a rebuilt temple, “another vessel”, conformed to the image of Christ.

Rom 8:29 For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son, that he might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Rom 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

But it all begins much earlier in our lives than we tend to think. The fact is, God knows each of us before we are ever born:

Jer 1:5 Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.

Rom 9:11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)
Rom 9:12 It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.
Rom 9:13 As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

2Ti 1:9 Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began,

Tit 1:2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

What an all powerful, loving, heavenly Father we serve! Nothing is left to chance; not the hairs of our head, not the sparrows that fall (Luk 12:4-7).

Our God is love, and He has devised means that even His banished be not forever expelled from Him:

2Sa 14:14 For we must needs die, and are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again; neither doth God respect any person: yet doth he devise means, that his banished be not expelled from him.

That “means… He has devised… that His banished be not expelled from Him” is you and me, and the mercy we will show to all who are cast into the lake of fire if indeed we are His “very elect”:

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

In our next study, we will continue to see how the Lord works with our corruptible flesh to bring us to His mind. We will see how He, and He alone, can “create evil” and bring good out of evil and light out of darkness. We will see how He forms “the mind of Christ” and conforms us to the image of Christ, via our own flesh, our own Cyrus:

Here are the verses for our next study:

Isa 45:1 Thus saith the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates; and the gates shall not be shut;
Isa 45:2 I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight: I will break in pieces the gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron:
Isa 45:3 And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that I, the LORD , which call thee by thy name, am the God of Israel.
Isa 45:4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.
Isa 45:5 I am the LORD , and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:
Isa 45:6 That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD , and there is none else.
Isa 45:7 I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

Other related posts