Isaiah 45:1, commentary and pictures

More than a century before his birth, Cyrus is spoken to directly by name and called God's anointed. To hold his right hand is to uphold and empower him to subdue nations before him, to humble kings by loosing their loins, and to enter Babylon through two-leaved gates left open and not shut.

The opening of the gates was fulfilled literally, when the Persian army entered the heart of Babylon by the channel of the river whose waters had been turned aside and through inner gates left open and unprotected in careless security. It was a sudden overthrow of the oppressors by surprise, with Cyrus appointed to take the city in that manner. God appointed him to prepare the way for freeing the Jewish captives after seventy years of captivity and to perform God's pleasure in rebuilding Jerusalem and the temple. The prophecy of the manner of Babylon's capture and fall is therefore inseparably linked with that promise, and the coming of his army to the walls of Babylon was the sign that deliverance from captivity was near.

At the exact appointed time for rebuilding the temple, God moved Cyrus to discern this prophecy concerning himself as made familiar to him through Daniel. Daniel's deliverance from the den of lions and his far-seeing ability as a statesman had created a favorable impression that led Cyrus to respect him and honor his judgment. When Cyrus read the message addressed to him his heart was profoundly moved and he determined to fulfill his divinely appointed mission. He let the Judean captives go free, releasing them and providing what they needed to restore the temple of Jehovah in Jerusalem.

The fulfillment gave the Jews abundant evidence and should have been an unmistakable sign to them that God shapes the affairs of nations in their behalf. It reveals the greatness of His love and compassion. It illustrates the principle that God can appoint a ruler of a world empire and use rulers to carry out His purpose and set His captives free. Just so, Caesar Augustus became the agent through whose decree Jesus' mother was brought to Bethlehem, so that Jesus, the Son of David, would be born in David's city.

The verse belongs to Isaiah 41-45, where God very fully reveals His purpose for His people, and to a chapter holding God's covenanted promises of what He has done and will do for encouragement to those who follow on to know the Lord. The chapters teach trust in His infinite wisdom rather than turning away to look to finite man for wisdom. They teach that heaven is home and citizenship is above and lives must not be devoted to a world soon to be destroyed. They call for missionary work and missionary spirit so His name can be glorified even into the highways and hedges. They should be prayerfully studied and read and appreciated now, holding the loftiest themes of thought in pure and excellent language with elevating and ennobling principles that show the Word of God in living characters and point to the city sought whose Builder and Maker is God, better for study in schools than romance or fables and requiring stretched faculties of mind to comprehend.