45:1 This is what the LORD says to his chosen one,
to Cyrus, whose right hand I hold
in order to subdue nations before him,
and disarm kings,
to open doors before him,
so gates remain unclosed:

His chosen one – lit. ‘His anointed’  What a surprise for God to use this title of Cyrus, the ruler of the Persian empire. He was not an Israelite, nor a king in the line of David. Nor was he ‘The Messiah’ in the later sense of the term. But the application of this title to him tells us a lot about messiahship – what it meant at the time and what it came to mean when applied to ‘the one who was to come’.

1. God chose Cyrus and raised him up for his appointed task, Isa 41:2ff, 25.
2. Cyrus’ accomplishments were therefore God’s accomplishments. He was God’s agent, Isa 44:28; 45:1-5.
3. Cyrus’ task was the deliverance of Israel from her enemies, Isa 44:28; 45:13
4. Indeed, all of Cyrus’ world-wide dominion was for the benefit of the people of God, Isa 41:2-4; 45:1-4
5. His work on Israel’s behalf would ultimately serve the purpose of extending God’s deliverance to the ends of the earth, Isa 45:21-25.

(See Wright, Knowing Jesus Through the Old Testament, 144)

Motyer points out that:

‘there is much in this passage that Isaiah’s people could have accepted without comment: that when a conqueror arises, ‘the authorities that exist’ have been ‘established by God’ (1; Rom. 13:1); that the conquering power they exercise is by divine gift (2–3), that somehow the Lord’s own people are always at the centre of his concern (4), and that the Lord is working out a worldwide plan (6).’  However, to call Cyrus the Lord’s anointed was quite unexpected.  This was a title used of Israel’s king: of Saul (1 Sam. 12:3, 5; 24:6, 10; 26:9, 11, 23; 2 Sam. 1:14, 16) and of David (1 Sam. 16:6; Ps. 18:50; 132:10), and of the expected ‘David’ of the future (Psa 2:2).  To call this pagan king by the same title would cause consternation among God’s people, and show then (and us) that we works on an altogether different scale than we can think or imagine (cf. Isa 55:8).’

On the predictive element in this prophecy, Oswalt says:

‘Isaiah has repeatedly insisted that God alone can tell the future and that the attempt to do so by the devotees of the gods only make them look like “fools” (Isa 44:25).  His ability to name the deliverer far in advance is the climactic demonstration of this fact.  If we deny the obvious predictive claim that Isaiah of Jerusalem is making and instead posit some unknown person simply declaring after the fact that Cyrus was God’s man, we have made this unknown prophet deny the very thing he claims.  God has, then, not named the deliver in advance and the prophet knows it.  That is not great theology; it is misrepresentation of the facts.’

45:2 “I will go before you
and level mountains.
Bronze doors I will shatter
and iron bars I will hack through.
45:3 I will give you hidden treasures,
riches stashed away in secret places,
so you may recognize that I am the LORD,
the one who calls you by name, the God of Israel.
45:4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
Israel, my chosen one,
I call you by name
and give you a title of respect, even though you do not recognize me.
45:5 I am the LORD, I have no peer,
there is no God but me.
I arm you for battle, even though you do not recognize me.
45:6 I do this so people will recognize from east to west
that there is no God but me;
I am the LORD, I have no peer.

45:7 I am the one who forms light
and creates darkness;
the one who brings about peace
and creates calamity.
I am the LORD, who accomplishes all these things.

“I create disaster” (AV “I create evil”) –

Jonah David Conner (All That’s Wrong with the Bible) sees here a rank absudity:

‘The Hebrew word “create” here is the same as in Genesis 1:1, and “evil” is identical to that used in Genesis 3:5,22. Many translators unsurprisingly have chosen “calamity” over “evil” in an attempt to minimize the absurdity, but there is absolutely no linguistic reason to do this. “I, Yahweh, create evil” is a perfectly accurate translation and is exactly how the Septuagint reads as well.’

Conner continues:

‘Even if it possibly could mean merely “calamity,” that still presents a problem since Yahweh himself would be admitting responsibility for at least part of the bad that happens in the world.’

With regard to the first part of his objection, Motyer puts the record straight:

‘Can the Lord ‘create evil’? Out of about 640 occurrences of the word ra‘, which range in meaning from a ‘nasty’ taste to full moral evil, there are about 275 cases where it refers to trouble or calamity. Each case must be judged by its context.’

With regard to the second part of Conner’s objection, I begin by noting that Marcion used this text in his attempt to prove that the God of the Old Testament is altogether a different being from the God of the new Testament.  But even the OT declares on many occasions that God is morally perfect, and not the author of evil (Deut 32:4; Psa 5:4).  No: in context, this text (like Lam 3:38) refers to physical, not moral, evil.  It is misfortune, calamity, adversity (much of which comes from the hands of men, although ultimately it is permitted by God) along with natural disaster.  It is typical of Hebrew thinking to ignore secondary casues and to trace all things back to the (often inscrutible) will of God.

The Christian faith on the one hand demonstrates that God has, in Christ, overcome the greatest evil, which is death itself.  But why does God allow evil in the first place?  It is a byproduct of our God’s given freedom and our propensity to sin.  The effects of sin ripple out not only on the entire human race, but to the whole natural world as well.  It is not as if God doesn’t know or care about evil, still less that he is the author or sponsor of it.  But when we try to reconcile God’s nature with the continued presence of evil, we quickly find ourselves in the realms of mystery.

45:8 O sky, rain down from above!
Let the clouds send down showers of deliverance!
Let the earth absorb it so salvation may grow,
and deliverance may sprout up along with it.
I, the LORD, create it.

The Lord Gives a Warning, 9-13

45:9 One who argues with his creator is in grave danger,
one who is like a mere shard among the other shards on the ground!
The clay should not say to the potter,
“What in the world are you doing?
Your work lacks skill!”
45:10 Danger awaits one who says to his father,
“What in the world are you fathering?”
and to his mother,
“What in the world are you bringing forth?”
45:11 This is what the LORD says,
the Holy One of Israel, the one who formed him,
concerning things to come:
“How dare you question me about my children!
How dare you tell me what to do with the work of my own hands!
45:12 I made the earth,
I created the people who live on it.
It was me—my hands stretched out the sky,
I give orders to all the heavenly lights.
45:13 It is me—I stir him up and commission him;
I will make all his ways level.
He will rebuild my city;
he will send my exiled people home,
but not for a price or a bribe,”
says the LORD who commands armies.

The Lord is the Nations’ Only Hope, 14-25

45:14 This is what the LORD says:
“The profit of Egypt and the revenue of Ethiopia,
along with the Sabeans, those tall men,
will be brought to you and become yours.
They will walk behind you, coming along in chains.
They will bow down to you
and pray to you:
‘Truly God is with you; he has no peer;
there is no other God!’ ”
45:15 Yes, you are a God who keeps hidden,
O God of Israel, deliverer!
45:16 They will all be ashamed and embarrassed;
those who fashion idols will all be humiliated.
45:17 Israel will be delivered once and for all by the LORD;
you will never again be ashamed or humiliated.
45:18 For this is what the LORD says,
the one who created the sky—
he is the true God,
the one who formed the earth and made it;
he established it,
he did not create it without order,
he formed it to be inhabited—
“I am the LORD, I have no peer.
45:19 I have not spoken in secret,
in some hidden place.
I did not tell Jacob’s descendants,
‘Seek me in vain!’
I am the LORD,
the one who speaks honestly,
who makes reliable announcements.
45:20 Gather together and come!
Approach together, you refugees from the nations!
Those who carry wooden idols know nothing,
those who pray to a god that cannot deliver.

‘Scripture views idols as impotent. They are powerless to save (Isa 45:20). When Israel called upon idols there was no response. Israel was even told, with the voice of irony, to call upon idols for help (Deut 32:28; Judges 10:14; Jer 11:12) but the gods could not even save their own people (2 Chron 25:15). Idols are nothing (Jer 51:17-18) and lifeless (Psalm 106:28).’ (EDBT)

45:21 Tell me! Present the evidence!
Let them consult with one another!
Who predicted this in the past?
Who announced it beforehand?
Was it not I, the LORD?
I have no peer, there is no God but me,
a God who vindicates and delivers;
there is none but me.
45:22 Turn to me so you can be delivered,
all you who live in the earth’s remote regions!
For I am God, and I have no peer.

‘Charles Haddon Spurgeon, in the minds of some of us, was the greatest preacher since the apostle Paul. When he was 22 years of age, he preached sermons that some of us hope we may preach before we die. We won’t, but we can dream. Until his death, he preached to five thousand people–morning and evening–in London in the days before you had great big crowds, before transportation was like what we know today.

When Spurgeon was 15 years of age, he had not come to a personal commitment to Jesus Christ. On a blustery, snowy Sunday morning, he decided to go to church. He couldn’t get to his planned destination because the weather was so bad. So he turned into a side street, and went into a Methodist church. The preacher didn’t even get there. Only fifteen people had come to the church. A layman decided worship ought to take place, so he got up to preach. He used Isaiah 45:22, “Look unto me and be saved, all you ends of the earth.” In ten minutes he had exhausted all that he could think to say.

Then he noticed a boy in the back, under the balcony. He said, “Young man, you look like you’re in trouble. Look unto Jesus and be saved.” That’s exactly what happened that morning. Charles Haddon Spurgeon gave his life to Christ. That troubled young man became the mightiest preacher of the last century. He was led to faith in Christ by a man nobody knows–an obscure layman.’ (Gordon Johnson)

45:23 I solemnly make this oath—
what I say is true and reliable:
‘Surely every knee will bow to me,
every tongue will solemnly affirm;
45:24 they will say about me,
“Yes, the LORD is a powerful deliverer.” ’ ”
All who are angry at him will cower before him.
45:25 All the descendants of Israel will be vindicated by the LORD
and will boast in him.

“Before me every knee shall bow” – ‘When God manifests himself with such glorious power is a work of this nature, he appears especially determined to put honour upon his Son, and to fulfil his oath that he has sworn to him, that he would make every knee bow, and every tongue confess to him. God hath had it very much on his heart, from all eternity, to glorify his dear and only-begotten Son; and there are some special seasons that he appoints to that end, wherein he comes forth with omnipotent power to fulfil his promise and oath to him. Now these are times of remarkable pouring out of his Spirit, to advance his kingdom; such is a day of his power, wherein his people shall be made willing, and he shall rule in the midst of his enemies; these especially are the times wherein God declares his firm decree, that his Son shall reign on his holy hill of Zion.’ (Edwards, Works, I, 380)