Let's open our Bibles again to
Isaiah chapter 45. The title of the message is Christ
Our Cyrus. Christ Our Cyrus. Now, in the
past weeks we've talked about King Cyrus several times here
in our study of Isaiah. He also came up in Ezra and Nehemiah
as we looked at those on Sunday mornings. And you know the story
well at this point. The Lord had told Israel that
after the death of King Hezekiah, they're going to be carried off
captive into Babylon. But at the same time, the Lord
gave his people a message of comfort. He told them he's going
to deliver them. He's going to deliver them by
a king named Cyrus. Now the Lord told them that.
He called this deliverer by name 200 years before he was born.
And I always am blessed in thinking about that and reading about
that to see how God is always accomplishing His eternal purpose. Whatever it is that God has purpose
to do, that's exactly what He's doing today and every day. You
know, we react to things that are happening in the world, don't
we? God's not reacting. He's not saying, oh, you know,
they did this, so I got to do this to counterbalance it. No,
God's working His purpose. Everything that happens, happens
because God determined that it would happen just that way, at
just that time in what we call history, and He determined it
before the world was ever created. God sending Cyrus and calling
him by name and saying this man is going to deliver Israel 200
years before he was born, that's a blessing. But there's a greater
blessing, and that's the blessing that I want us to see this evening.
You know, before God ever created the world, a whole lot longer,
200 years ago, God purposed. He purposed to create man, and
he purposed for Adam to fall. He purposed for Adam, as a representative
man, to plunge his whole race into sin. And at the same time,
God also purposed the Savior of sinners. He purposed that
before the world was created too, and that Savior is the Lord
Jesus Christ, our Cyrus. Christ, our Cyrus, has come and
he has done for spiritual Israel what King Cyrus did for national
Israel. So I want to look here at a few
ways how Cyrus is a type of Christ. The first one begins back in
chapter 44, verse 28. Christ is the good shepherd. God says of Cyrus, verse 28,
that saith of Cyrus, he is my shepherd. Now Cyrus is a heathen
king. But God's going to use him. God's
going to send him from Persia, and he's going to send him to
be the shepherd of Israel. Now that's an honor. God's men
who are shepherds. This is an honor. And you know,
shepherds are not lazy men who are sitting under a shade tree
playing a flute or something. Shepherds are hardworking men. And Cyrus is God's shepherd.
He had a big job. He's going to go set Israel free
from Babylon, the most powerful country on earth. Cyrus is the
shepherd, he's gonna provide for Israel, he's gonna protect
them, and he's gonna send them home safely. For the Lord Jesus
Christ is the good shepherd of the sheep. He does just what
Cyrus did for national Israel. Christ comes and he leads his
people, he leads his sheep out of bondage to sin, he leads them
out of bondage to the law into freedom. Christ sets His people
free from sin by being made sinful and putting their sin away with
His blood. Christ makes His people free from the law or free from
the curse of the law by being made a curse for them. Look at
John chapter 10. Christ sets His people free from
sin, being made sin for them. He sets His people free from
the curse of the law, being made a curse for them. And He sets
His people free from death by dying for them as their substitute.
That's the good shepherd, the great shepherd. John 10 verse
10, look what he says. The thief cometh not before to
steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have
life and they might have it more abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd giveth his
life for the sheep. That's how the sheep are set
free from dying. The good shepherd gave his life. He died for his sheep. He sets
his people free. Christ our shepherd provides
for his sheep. His very name is Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness. I've got the wrong name down,
Jehovah Jireh, the Lord will provide. There's a reason I got
that because you know what he provides? Righteousness. He provides
righteousness for his sheep by being their righteousness. He
provides cleansing from their sin by washing them in his blood.
He gives them plenty to eat and feeds them in the green grass
of his word. He provides for his sheep and
he protects his sheep. Cyrus put his protection over
Israel. He sent them back. Nobody better
touch them. Cyrus has his protection over
them. Christ our shepherd protects his sheep, fiercely protects
his sheep. He protects his sheep just as
fiercely as David protected Jesse's sheep. Remember the lion and
the bear came out to get Jesse's sheep? David fiercely protected
his father's sheep. That's how Christ our shepherd
fiercely protects his sheep. What do we have to fear? And
I'll tell you, Dale prayed it in his prayer. One great blessing
our shepherd protects us from. ourselves. He protects us from
ourselves. What a shepherd, what a protector.
Now Cyrus came and he sent Israel back home. Christ our shepherd
comes and he brings his people home. He doesn't just send them,
he brings them. He carries them on his shoulder.
He comforts them in the journey by carrying them in his bosom.
Oh, what a shepherd. Christ is the good shepherd.
Second, Christ, our Cyrus, has performed all of God's pleasure. He has pleased the Father. Verse
28, chapter 46 of Isaiah. 44, excuse me, 44. The saith of Cyrus, he is my
shepherd and shall perform all my pleasure. And you know Cyrus
did just that. He did just exactly what God
willed for him to do. It pleased God to bring his people
out of bondage and bring them back to Jerusalem. And he used
Cyrus to do his pleasure. Cyrus did just what pleased God.
Well, Christ our Cyrus has pleased his father in all things. He
did exactly what the father sent him to do. He came and he saved
his people from their sins. Christ pleased his father by
keeping the law, obeying it and magnifying God's law. He pleased
his father in all things so well that the father spoke from heaven,
said, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. Oh, he's well pleased with his
son, fully pleased with his son. And the good news to you and
me is the father's well pleased with everyone who's in his son,
just as pleased as he is with his son, because when the father
sees his people, you know who he sees? He sees his son. And he's well pleased. He's well
pleased for Christ's sake. And thirdly, Cyrus sent the people
back to build up Jerusalem. Christ our Cyrus has built God's
church. Look at the end of verse 28.
Thou shalt be, or even saying to Jerusalem, thou shalt be built
into the temple. Thy foundation shall be laid.
Now Cyrus sent Israel back. He told them, you can go back
and rebuild the temple. He gave them money and supplies
and things, sent them back to rebuild the city and the walls.
But Christ himself, our Cyrus, he built salvation for his people. He built the whole building.
His people didn't do a thing. Christ is not just the architect.
He's the builder of his church. And even more than the architect
and the builder, Christ is the foundation itself. Christ is
the salvation of His people. Salvation is just like righteousness.
It's not a thing. It's a person. Christ is our
salvation. And He is the foundation of God's
church. He's the foundation of our faith.
He's the foundation of everything that we're built upon. Christ
is the chief cornerstone. And the whole building, the whole
weight of the building rests upon Him. Look at Matthew chapter
16. The whole of God's church is
built upon, stands upon, is stayed up by one man, Jesus Christ. Matthew 16, verse 13. When Jesus came into the coast
of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, Whom do
men say that I, the Son of Man am? And they say, some say that
thou art John the Baptist, some Elias and others, Jeremiah, or
one of the prophets. And he saith unto them, but who
do you say that I am? Now that's the issue. Who do
you say that I am? And Simon Peter answered and
said, thou art the Christ, the son of the living God. And Jesus
answered and said unto him, blessed art thou Simon Barjona, for flesh
and blood has not revealed that unto thee. but my father which
is in heaven, he revealed it to you. And I say also unto thee
that thou art Peter. And upon this rock, I will build
my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Now, you know, he's not talking about Peter. He's not building
his church upon Peter. Oh, Peter, bless his heart. He's
going to fail so many times between now and the end of his life.
If the church was built upon Peter, it'd be a disaster, wouldn't
it? He's talking about their building the church upon the
rock Christ Jesus upon Peter's confession of faith in Christ
the rock. Christ is the foundation. Other
foundation can no man lay than that which is laid through the
Lord Jesus Christ. It's faith in him. That's our
foundation. Look over in first Peter chapter
two. Messiah sent the Jews back to rebuild the temple. And they
did. They went back and they built
the temple. They used stone and brick and mortar to build that
temple. Christ builds His church. And the church is not a building
like we're sitting in this evening. The church is a spiritual house. The church is people. Spiritual
people who've been born again. Christ makes His people to be
living stones. He gives them new life and a
new birth and He puts them in their place. build the walls
and build the structure of his church. 1 Peter 2 verse 5. Ye
also as lively stones, living stones, are built up a spiritual
house in holy priesthood to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable
to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained
in the scripture, behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone,
elect, precious, and he that believeth on him shall not be
confounded. He that is built upon this chief
cornerstone, the Lord Jesus Christ, shall never be confounded. What a church Christ has built. Now you want some good news?
This great house, this spiritual house, this perfect house that
Christ has built, is a house that's wide open to sinners. Look in verse one. the end of
verse one in our text, Isaiah 45. He says to open before him
the two leaf gates and the gates shall not be shut. Now when Cyrus
came to Babylon, that city was very well defended. I read, I
forget how many cubits high, 200 cubits high, however high
that is, high walls. And those walls were so thick
that Six teams of horses pulling six chariots could go side by
side along the top of that wall all the way around the city.
It was a thick wall. How in this world is Cyrus going to get in
there and conquer this place? When he got there, you know what
happened? The people said, here's our friend. And they just opened
the gate to him. And he walked in. And when he
walked out, he owned the whole thing. They just opened the gates
for him. God opened those gates for him. He's God's anointed. God sent him to take that city
and just open the gates for him. And he just walked in. Well,
that's what Christ has done to the gates of New Jerusalem. That's
what he's done to the gates of his church, his body. We saw
this last week, those clouds that are pictures of our sin
that just blotted out the sun so that we can't see thick, dark,
threatening clouds. Christ our Redeemer said, I blotted
out your sins, thick clouds. I blotted them out, removed them,
they're gone. There's nothing hindering a sinner
from coming to Christ. And he said, now you return to
me. There's nothing in the way. That's what he's done with these
gates. You come to Christ. There's nothing in the way. He
opened the gates. It's not locked. He opened the
gates to the blood of his sacrifice. Now, are you in bondage? Are
you in bondage to Babylon? Babylon is in Scripture, it's
a picture of man's religion, it's a picture of man's will.
Are you in bondage? Do you long to go free, but you
can't? You're behind those thick walls,
you're behind those shut gates, you can't get out? Then look
to Christ. Look to Christ, He came to set
His people free. And I'm telling you, He'll do
it. Nothing can stop Christ, our
Cyrus, from setting his people free. We just read the gates
of hell shall not prevail against it. Hell itself cannot keep God's
people in. Look at in the middle of verse
two here. He says, I will break in pieces
the gates of brass and cut and sunder the bars of iron. The
gates of hell should not prevail against The church is not in
a defensive mode. We say the gates of hell should
not prevail against it. It's not like hell is attacking
us and we're on the defensive, you know, huddled all up trying
to keep hell from getting us. No, the church is on the offensive.
We're on the offense. And the gates of hell cannot
prevail against us because Christ our Cyrus has opened the door.
He's already defeated every enemy. He built God's church and he's
opened the gates wide. for every sinner who needs saving
to come to Him. Here's the fourth thing. Christ,
our Cyrus, is the anointed of God. Isaiah 45, verse one, thus
saith the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus. Now of all people on
the earth, God chose this heathen king, Cyrus, and he just chose
to use him to accomplish his purpose because he would. Cyrus
wasn't any better than anybody else. He's a heathen. But God
chose to use him. And that's why he says here,
Cyrus is my anointed. God chose to use Cyrus. And when God chose him, when
God called him, Cyrus couldn't be stopped. I mean, he just conquered
the whole world. He couldn't be stopped. Well,
the father appointed his son to be the savior of his people.
He anointed Him, He appointed Him to be the shepherd and deliverer
of His people. The Father anointed His Son to
be Messiah because nobody better could be found. Even the Father
who sees all couldn't find anybody better than His Son. He's the
perfect choice to be the Messiah, to be the shepherd and deliverer
of His people. And He sent His Son to this earth
on a mission. to save His people from their
sins. He sent His Son to make His people righteous in Him.
And you want me to tell you what? He got the job done. He did what
the Father sent Him to do. Nobody could stop Him because
the Father anointed Him for the job. Fifth, Christ our Cyrus
was strengthened by God. And He's strengthened by God
because He is God. He says in verse one, thus saith
the Lord is anointed to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden
to subdue nations before him. When Cyrus read this, he went
off conquering. He knew I'm going to be victorious
everywhere I go. God's with me. God's holding
me by the right hand. God was strengthening him and
guiding him to just the right place at just the right time
to accomplish God's will. was Christ our Cyrus. Walked
this earth as a man. That's what the father was doing.
He was holding him by his right hand. They were always together
because they're one. The father and the son are one.
They're always together because the son is God. It's not like
he's God. He's not an inferior God. Jesus
of Nazareth is God. God Almighty in human flesh.
And since he's God, There's no chance of him failing. Whatever
it is he goes to do, he's going to accomplish it. And he will
subdue all of his people. He's going to subdue them and
they're going to all come and surrender to King Christ. Well,
here's the sixth way. Cyrus is a type of Christ. Christ
our Savior makes kings to fear. Middle of verse one there, he
says, and I will lose the loins of kings. Now this was literally
fulfilled in Daniel chapter five. Remember the story, Belshazzar
one night said, let's have us a party. We're going to have
a big party. And he told them, go get those vessels, the golden
vessels that we took from those Jews that were in their temple,
they used in their worship of their God. Bring them in here.
We're going to drink wine out of them. We're going to have
us a big party. And they were having a big party. And suddenly
they looked, and over against the wall, a man's hand appeared,
writing on the wall. And he wrote, thou art weighed
in the balance, and found one. Kingdom is given to the Medes
and the Persians. And Daniel said, Belshazzar's
loins were loosened. His knees started knocking. He
was scared to death. And the kingdom was given to
the Medes and the Persians. Who was king of Persia? Cyrus. Cyrus took it all. Will you think
how many kings shook in fear at the thought of the Lord Jesus?
Herod heard of the birth of the Lord Jesus, and he was scared
to death of that baby. He told his soldiers, you go
kill every baby boy. I mean, he was scared to death
of him, and Herod could not touch that baby boy. He was afraid
to death of him, but he couldn't touch him, could he? The angel
told Joseph and Mary, you take him down to Egypt. And when his
hour finally came, You know, the Lord Jesus was never the
one afraid of anything, was he? Everybody was afraid of him.
They came out with this huge mob with torches and stakes and
all these weapons to take this one man there, scared to death
of him. He wasn't scared, he just went out and said, what
are you looking for, boys? He wasn't scared. He went to Pilate. Pilate is used to being large
and in charge everywhere he goes. And he was frustrated to no end. He was not in charge of the situation.
He said, don't you even answer me? Don't you not have power
over you to kill you or let you go? I don't have any power over
you except to forgive you of my father. Pilate was scared
to death of this man, Jesus of Nazareth. He tried everything
he could do to have nothing to do with his death. He feared
for him. Kings feared before the king
of kings because they're just puppets in his hand. But you
know what else? Christ our Cyrus makes kings
to fear in his grace. There are some kings he made
fear in his grace. David and Solomon feared in his
grace. Cyrus and Nebuchadnezzar, they
were kings. They learned who the Lord is. Christ rules. The point of this
is Christ is the absolute monarch and he always rules in grace
for his people. Seventh, Christ our Cyrus makes
things plain. Verse two, chapter 45, I will
go before thee and make the crooked places straight. When God sent
Cyrus to conquer the world, it was just as easy as it could
be because God was with him. God had sent him. And we who
preach, we work. We work in the study. We work
in prayer. We do the labor of the ministry. But you know, we have absolutely
no power to make our preaching effectual. I have no power at
all to give anybody here spiritual life. I can't give a new heart. I can't make anyone come to Christ.
But we can preach. Dale, we keep laying down that
straight stick, can't we? We can keep preaching Christ.
And when God calls His people through the preaching of the
gospel, it's so easy, it's so plain, you can't stop them from
coming. They're just like Zacchaeus,
that old crooked publican. He was made straight, wasn't
he? He was made straight because
he was born again, he came to Christ. And when we see Christ,
when Christ is revealed just like Peter, the Father has revealed
that to you. Oh, you read the scriptures and
they're so plain. Now I see, we say. Now I see the law. When I read the law, now I see. Now I see. The law is not telling
me how to live. The law is not telling me what
to do in order to be righteous. The law is telling me I can't
keep it. Christ is the end of the law
for righteousness. Look to Christ. Just look to
Him. Now I see, all these what we
call children's Bible stories, they're not just stories with
cute morals and teaching our children, you know, the right
way to live. These are pictures of Christ.
These are given to us to point us to the person and work of
our Lord Jesus Christ. Now I see, we see Christ, we
say, oh, I see what all those ceremonies are. I understand. We don't have to keep the Passover
and the Sabbath day and the Day of Atonement and all these ceremonies
because Christ is our Passover, because Christ is our Sabbath,
because Christ is our High Priest, because Christ is the Ark. Now
I see. It's all been made straight when
I see him. And then eighth, Christ the victor
gets all the spoils of his victory. Look at verse three. And I will
give thee the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places."
Now, when Cyrus conquered Babylon, he took everything they had.
He took all of their riches, all those treasures that they
had hidden somewhere, you know, down in the catacombs or something,
the treasuries and their treasuries that they had stolen from Israel
and whatever other nations they'd conquered, all those hidden treasures.
Cyrus took them all. They all belonged to him. And
that included all the gold and all the silver that was taken
from the temple in Jerusalem. All that gold and silver Belshazzar
was using his party, Cyrus got it all. But you know what? Cyrus kept them. Cyrus didn't
just immediately in one great big lump just give it all to
Israel. No, he kept it in his treasury.
He took possession of it because he's the conqueror. When Christ
died for his people, He purchased them. He bought them. The Father
gave those people to him. Look in Malachi chapter three,
the last book in the Old Testament. You know what he calls his people?
You know what Christ calls his people? Seven times in scripture,
he calls his people his peculiar treasure or his peculiar people. Malachi three, verse 17. And they shall be mine, saith
the Lord of hosts, in that day when I make up my jewels. And
that jewels is my special treasure. When I make up my jewels and
I'll spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him. This people that belongs to Christ,
he died for them, he purchased them. He calls that people his
treasure. And you know, we would be so
much more blessed. We'd be so much more content
in this world if we could see by God's grace, Christ is our
treasure. He's our treasure. Now Christ
bought his people. He's got it all. He bought it
all. Just like Cyrus, he took all
those treasures from the temple and all the other treasures that
Babylon had, and he took it. And you know when it came time
to rebuild the temple, Cyrus and those other kings, you know
what they did? They started giving those treasures back to Israel
so that they could rebuild the temple and so that they could
stock it all inside, you know, when it was finished. Christ
our Cyrus is the mighty conqueror. Everything, everything belongs
to him. It belongs to him because he's
the creator of it. He made it, it belongs to him.
It all belongs to Him because He bought it with His sacrifice.
And every spiritual blessing is in Him. It belongs to Him. It's in Him. It is His. And you
know what? All those blessings without reservation
are ours right now in Christ. Oh, the unsearchable riches of
Christ. They're all yours right now,
if you believe. Those spiritual blessings are
not slowly being doled out. You're not slowly being made
more justified. You're not slowly being made
more sanctified. They're all yours right now,
complete in Him. But you know, every material
blessing belongs to Christ too. Well, why don't we have all that
now? I got two reasons. I'm sure there are many, but
I know two. Number one is this. We'd waste it. Now wouldn't we? If we had it all, we'd waste
it on ourselves. We wouldn't be giving with it.
We'd be selfish with it. We'd waste it. And second, we
don't have it all right now. All these material blessings
because we'd get rich and increased with goods and you know what
we'd think? I don't need God no more. So God doesn't wisely,
doesn't give it to us all at once. Christ our Cyrus wisely
gives us those things as we need it, for our good and for the
good of the whole church. Now last, let me give you this,
the two reasons why God has done all this through his son. Number
one is this, so that his people will know him. Look at the end
of verse three. That thou mayest know that I,
the Lord, which called thee by thy name, am the God of Israel. God told everybody what He was
going to do before He did it. So that when He did it, when
He sent Cyrus to conquer Babylon and set Israel free, everybody
would know God did this. Cyrus didn't do it. It just wasn't
dumb luck. God did this. This is the will
of God and God always brings His will to pass. God saves sinners
through the sacrifice of Christ so that we'll know this, Christ. That's why He did it. So we'll
know Christ. To know Christ is life. We must learn this. Christ is
our salvation. He accomplished it all by Himself. We don't contribute anything
to it. Christ did it all. Just exactly like He promised
He would. So we know this is God. And God saves his people by giving
them faith, by giving them faith in Christ. Our salvation is not
by works of righteousness, which we've done, but by faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ, by grace. He saves us this way and he sends
us his gospel so we're constantly reminded how helpless we are
and how totally dependent we are upon Christ our Cyrus. And
God did all this on purpose. He called Cyrus by name and he
calls each one of his people one by one by name. Calls them to him so that we
know salvations of the Lord. He revealed himself to me. The
second reason why God does all this, accomplishes all this through
his son, it's for the good of his people that he loves. Verse
four, for Jacob, my servant's sake, and Israel, mine elect,
I have called thee by thy name. I have surnamed thee, though
thou hast not known me. Now God loves his people. He
loves them in Christ. He chose those people. He put
them in his son. We didn't choose God. Now you
just be honest. You didn't choose God. God chose
you and he chose you in great love. What love that God would
choose a sinful people to send his son to die for him. God chose
Cyrus. He made Cyrus his servant, didn't
he? And that's what God does for
all of his people. He chooses his people, he calls them, he
gives them life, and he makes us the servants of God. Now,
none of us are gonna do anything nearly as famous as what Cyrus
did. But you know what? Serve where
God puts you. Just wherever it is God puts
you. Whatever it is God has given to your hand to do today, do
it. Just serve right where you're
at. Don't worry about the whole rest of the world. Just serve
right where you're at. I promise you it'll serve God's
purpose. I guarantee it. What higher honor
can be given to any son of Adam than to be the servant of God?
Now you just serve where God puts you. And I told you this
Sunday how much I love and appreciate you. You all do that. You look
for ways to serve God by serving one another, right where you're
at, right here. And you know, we don't know God
by nature. We don't know him, do we? But God knows his people. He knows them by name. And a
good shepherd calls them by name. He calls them to him. And he
gives them, says here, I've surnamed thee. Now we looked at that word
surname a week or two ago, it means an additional name. It
means a flattering name. He's called us by the name of his son, the most
precious name that has ever been heard. He calls his people by
the name of his son. This is the name wherewith she
should be called. Jehovah Sid Kennedy, the Lord
our righteousness. Now that's a savior who acted
in love. That's a savior who accomplished
his mission. That's a savior that we can rest
in and we can worship him. Let's bow in prayer. Our father, how we thank you
for our Lord Jesus Christ. Human language is not sufficient
to praise you or thank you as you ought to be praised and as
you ought to be thanked. But Father, we pray that you'd
accept our praise and our thanksgiving in the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Oh, how we thank you. Thank you for sending your son
to redeem your people, to wash us from our sin in his blood.
to make us righteous in Him, to make us complete in Him, to
accept us in Him, and to call us out through the preaching
of His gospel. Father, we're thankful. And I pray that You'd
bless Your Word as it's been preached this evening, that You'd
bless it for Your glory. Use it to bring glory to the
name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Use it to bless and comfort and
instruct and edify the hearts of Your people. Use it to reveal
Your Son to your people, we pray. It's in his matchless name, for
his sake and for his glory, we pray.