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In Christ, Mark
In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
This is what the Lord says—your
Redeemer, who formed you in the womb:
“I say to Cyrus, You are the one
who will rule for Me; you will do what I want you to do.”
Isaiah
44:24a, 28a (GNT)
This ends this
reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the last of a five part
devotional series covering proclamations from the Lord regarding who He is, we
come to the final important thing the Lord wants us to know about Him:
He calls us and uses us to
accomplish His purposes.
Look at the scripture for today as
we finish up Isaiah, Chapter 44:
This is what the Lord says—your Redeemer, who formed you in the womb: “I
say to Cyrus, You are the one who will rule for Me; you will do what I want you
to do.” Isaiah 44:24a, 28a (GNT)
The Israelites were going to be
invaded by the Babylonians. Judah and Jerusalem were going to be plundered and
then destroyed. God’s people would be hauled off to a foreign land and exiled
for seventy years.
This was their consequence for
disobeying and disrespecting the Lord through their insistent worship of false
gods and idols.
But something would have to happen
to mark the end of that exile and the subsequent fulfillment of the Lord to
restore His people to their homeland, giving them the opportunity to start
afresh and rebuild, figuratively and spiritually.
That something came in the form of
King Cyrus of Persia and his mighty empire.
Note here how the Lord ordains
matters to happen to fulfill His will and in the case of the people of Israel,
the Lord chose Cyrus and the Persians to attack and defeat the Babylonians, an
event that changed the leadership and soon thereafter would change the
Israelite situation. Look at these scriptures in support of the words from
Isaiah:
In the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, in order to
fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of
Cyrus king of Persia to make a proclamation throughout his realm and also to
put it in writing:
“This is what Cyrus king of Persia says: ‘The Lord, the God of heaven,
has given me all the kingdoms of the earth and He has appointed me to build a
temple for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of His people among you may go up,
and may the Lord their God be with them.’” 2 Chronicles 36:22-23
Did you catch the two special phrases
Cyrus used regarding his proclamation?
“The Lord, the God of heaven, has
given me” and “He has appointed me.”
Cyrus wasn’t taking credit for the
decision he was making. Rather, He was giving full credit where credit was due,
to the Lord God Almighty who had given him the opportunity to rule the kingdom
that was formerly the Babylonians and who had appointed him to ensure that the
Lord’s temple would be rebuilt in Jerusalem. The Lord moved the heart of Cyrus and
told him what to do. In return, Cyrus carried out the Lord’s proposition fully
in obedience. All this was to fulfill the prophecy spoken by Jeremiah and if
you are interested in reading exactly how the people were sent by Cyrus and how
they put Jerusalem back together, read the Books of Ezra and Nehemiah. They are
great reads in regard to how the people of Israel returned from their exile and
sought immediately to get back to basics in their worship and obedience to the
Lord and His holy word.
So what are we to glean from the
word of God today?
I think the message for us is sent
loud and clear from the Lord.
First, we need to know the Lord is
in control. He is the Maker and Master of us all. We are subordinate to Him in
every way. Thus, we have an obligation to fully submit to what He desires and to
do what He wants us to do. That leads me to the second important point here:
We are to surrender ourselves to
the Lord so His will can be done in our lives. This can be done best by
following the exhortation of the Apostle Paul at the beginning of Romans,
Chapter 12, an exhortation that spells out the expected relationship between
the Lord and all of mankind:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to
offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your
true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be
transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and
approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2
The only proper response for us
before the Lord is to give Him our all just as He has given us His. We are to
submit ourselves to Him sacrificially, holy and pleasing to Him, and fully ready
to receive His good, perfect, and pleasing will. We are then to spring into
action and carry out what the Lord bids for us to do. When we do this, then we
become instruments of the Lord, extensions of His kingdom work here on earth.
We can’t do that if we choose to conform ourselves to the patterns of the
world. We only succeed in doing what the Lord wants us to do by allowing ourselves
to be transformed by the leading and guiding of His Holy Spirit and Holy Word.
Over the past five devotions, we
have seen the Lord as the Maker of all things, the fount of perfect truth, the
One who builds and edifies on His firm foundations, the Miracle Worker who can
do all things, and finally, the Lord who calls us to accomplish His purposes.
Tomorrow, as we turn to Isaiah 45,
we will find that the Lord has a lot more to tell us as I begin an 18 part
devotional series simply titled, “This Is What The Lord Says.” I pray it will
bless and instruct you richly.
Amen.
In
Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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