The Climax of the Test of Godship

Jehovah now brings his legal argument to a powerful climax. He is  about to present his own answer to the severest test of Godship-the ability to foretell the future accurately.  One Bible scholar called the next five verses  of Isaiah chapter 44 a"poem of the transcendence of the God of Israel,"  the one and only Creator, the sole Revealer of the future and Israel's hope of deliverance. The passage rises in a dramatic crescendo to the announcement by name of the man  who would liberate the nation from Babylon. 

"This is what Jehovah has said,  Your Repurchaser and the Former of you from the belly: 'I, Jehovah, am doing everything, stretching out the heavens by myself, laying out the earth.  Who was with me?  I am frustrating the signs of the empty talkers, and I am the One that makes diviners act crazily; the one turning wise men backwards, and the One that turns even their knowledge into foolishness; the One making the word of his servant come true, and the One that carries out completely the counsel of his own messengers; the One saying of Jerusalem,  "She will be inhabited,"  and the cities of Judah, "They will be rebuilt and her devastated places I shall raise up";  the One saying to the watery deep, "Be evaporated; and all your rivers I shall dry up";  the One saying of Cyrus, "He is my shepherd, and all that I delight in he will completely carry out":  even in my saying of Jerusalem," She will be rebuilt," ad of the temple, "Your will have your foundation laid." ' "-Isaiah 44:24-28.

Yes, Jehovah has not only the ability to foretell future events but also the power to carry out his revealed purpose in its entirety. This declaration will serve as a source  of hope to Israel.  It is a guarantee that although the Babylonian armies will desolate the land, Jerusalem and her dependent cities will rise again and true worship  will be reestablished there. But how?

Uninspired diviners usually dare not to be too specific in their predictions for fear that time will prove them wrong.  By contrast, through Isaiah, Jehovah reveals the very name of the man he will use to free his people from captivity so that they can go home  and rebuild Jerusalem and the temple.  His name is Cyrus, and he is known as Cyrus the Great of Persia.  Jehovah also gives details of the strategy  that Cyrus will use to penetrate Babylon's massive and elaborate defense system.  Babylon will be protected  by high walls and by waterways that run through and around the city.  Cyrus will turn a main element  of that system-the Euphrates River-to his advantage. According to ancient historian Herodotus and Xenophon, at a location upstream from Babylon, Cyrus diverted the waters of the Euphrates until the level of the river dropped low enough for his soldiers to wade through. As far as its ability to protect Babylon is concerned, the might Euphrates evaporates.

What about the promise that Cyrus will release God's people and that he will see to it that Jerusalem and the temple will  be rebuilt? Cyrus himself, in an official proclamation   preserved in the Bible declares:  "This is what Cyrus the king of Persia  has said, 'All the kingdoms of the earth Jehovah the God of the heavens has given me, and he himself has commissioned me to build him a house in Jerusalem, which is in Judah.  Whoever there is among you of all his people, may his God prove to be with him.  So let him go up to Jerusalem, which is in Judah, and rebuild the house  of Jehovah the God of Israel-he is the true God-which was in Jerusalem.' " (Ezra 1:2, 3) Jehovah's word through Isaiah is fulfilled!

Next time: Isaiah, Cyrus, and Christians Today

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