Jehovah's Pronouncement Against Babylon

"This is what Jehovah has said to his anointed  one, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have taken hold of, to subdue before him nations, so that I may ungird  even the hips of kings; to open before him the two-leaved doors, sot hat even the gates will not be shut:  "Before you I myself shall go,  and the sweet swells of land I shall straighten out.  The copper doors I shall break down in pieces, and the iron bars I shall cut down. And I will give you the treasures in the darkness and the hidden treasures in the concealment places.' " -Isaiah 45:1-3a.

Jehovah, through Isaiah, speaks to Cyrus as if he were alive, although in Isaiah's day Cyrus has not yet been born.  (Romans 4;17) Since Jehovah appoints Cyrus in advance to accomplish a specific task, Cyrus can be said to be God's  "anointed one."  With God leading him, he will subdue nations, rendering kings weak and incapable  of resistance.  Then, when Cyrus attacks Babylon, Jehovah will see to it that the doors of the city are left open, making them as useless as gates that have been shattered.  He will go before Cyrus, smoothing out all obstacles.  In the end, Cyrus, smoothing out all obstacles.  In the end, Cyrus' troops will conquer the city and take possession of its "hidden treasures," its wealthy stored in dark vaults.  This is what Isaiah foretells.  Do his words come true? 

In the year 539 B.C.E/-some 200 years after Isaiah records this prophecy -Cyrus does indeed arrive at the walls of Babylon to attack the city.  (Jeremiah 51:11,12)  The Babylonians, however, are not concerned .  They feel that their city is unconquerable.  Its towering walls loom over deep moats filled with water from the Euphrates River, which forms  part of the city's defense system.  For over a hundred years, no enemy has been able to take Babylon by storm!  In fact, Babylon's ruler  in residence is Belshazzar, feels so secure that he feasts with member of his court. (Daniel  5:1) That night-the night of October 5/6-Cyrus completes a brilliant military maneuver. 
Upstream from Babylon, Cyrus'  engineers have cut through the bank of the Euphrates River, diverting its waters so that  they no longer flow southward toward the city. Before long the water level of the river in and around Babylon falls so low that Cyrus' troops are able to slosh along the riverbed toward the heart of the city.  (Isaiah 44:27; Jeremiah 50:38)  Amazingly, just as Isaiah foretold, the gates along the river are open.  Cyrus' forces swarm  into Babylon, take the palace, and put King Belshazzar to death.  (Daniel 5:30)  In one night  the conquest is all over.  Babylon has fallen, and the prophecy is fulfilled to the letter. 

The precise fulfillment of this prophecy strengthens the faith of Christians today.  It gives them strong reason to believe that Bible  prophecies are not yet fulfilled are also completely reliable.  (2 Peter 1:20, 21)  Jehovah's worshipers know that the event foreshadowed by the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C.E.-the fall of "Babylon the Great"-already occurred back in 1919.  Still, they look forward to the destruction of that modern-day religious organization as well as the promised removal of the political system under Satan's control, the abyssing of Satan, and the coming of new heavens and a new earth.  (Revelation 18:2, 21; 19:19-21; 20:1-3, 12, 13; 21:1-4)  They know that Jehovah's prophecies  are, not empty promises, but descriptions of definite, future events.  The confidence of true Christians is strengthened when they remember  the fulfillment of all the details of Isaiah's prophecy regarding the fall of Babylon.  They know that Jehovah always fulfills his word. 

Next time: Why Jehovah Will Favor Cyrus

From the Book Isaiah's Prophecy Light for all Mankind, Volume II,  2001