A sermon preached by Pastor Lewis Polzin on October 18, 2020 at St. Peter–Immanuel Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, WI, on Isaiah 45:1-7. You may play the audio of the sermon here.
A mostly unedited transcript of the sermon follows the jump:
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.
The text this morning is from the prophet Isaiah, the 45th chapter:
Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places, that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name. For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me. I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other. I form light and create darkness; I make well-being and create calamity; I am the Lord, who does all these things.
Thus far the text.
My dear friends in Christ,
I think when people read Isaiah's prophecy or heard it, either one, they really had no idea what Isaiah was talking about. They probably thought that he was drunk because from no time in the past and at least not into the present, there had never been a ruler named Cyrus.What in the world was Isaiah talking about? Some messiah? An anointed one? That’s what the word means. Anointed one is the English for the Hebrew Messiah, and Messiah is the Hebrew for the Greek Christ. And so, Cyrus, being named an anointed one means that God is calling him a messiah, one anointed for God’s own purposes.
Somewhere around the year 700 BC, before the Israelites are taken into exile in Babylon, they’re living their lives in Israel and Isaiah gives this prophecy. Fast forward to 587, and they see an army come bursting down the hills and into the city of Jerusalem, taking over the nation. They live in Babylon for a few decades, and all of the sudden, a new army comes bursting into Babylon, lead by a king named Cyrus. I would imagine the people would have immediately recalled Isaiah's word to them and they should have taken hope that indeed the words of Jeremiah were true, I know the plans I have for you, my beloved Israel, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future, and that hope and future is bound up in Cyrus.
You see, the Israelites were given a sign post towards the mercy of God, but they didn't see it. They didn't know it. They didn't understand it until finally it came to pass. There are very few prophecies in the scriptures like this and I believe, if I'm correct, this is the only one aside from those that involve the name of Jesus to involve the name of anybody. It is an interesting prophecy; it stood out.
And while this prophecy would have indeed provided some comfort to the faithful remnant of Israel, they were probably wondering, too, why, if God had foreseen a ruler named Cyrus who would rescue them, send them back to Israel from Babylon, why couldn't He have seen that they were going to be taken into exile? Why couldn't He have done something in order that they might be saved? But God did. God warned them. God urged them to repent. God called them into his holy temple to give him sacrifices and urged them to turn back to Him.
Even David in our introit today remarks about this. I turn my eyes to the hills, from where does my help come. It's not that he's looking at the hills for God to save him. He's looking at the hills where the altars and the exalted places of the false gods have been built up. David's looking up there and sees all these places, and he asks you, he asks his countrymen, is my help going to come from there? No, my help comes from the Lord. David knew. All the kings who were faithful knew the prophets, knew Isaiah, knew what was coming, and warned their people. But they rejected Him in every way. They took those things which are eternal, life, forgiveness, and salvation and dumped them out onto the ground like you would dump a chamber pot out the window.
They lost those things which are eternal for the sake of those things which are temporal. They lost those things which are eternal that they might have some comfort or peace in this life, that they may look like the other people around them, that they may worship like the other people around them. They left the things of God to go after idols, demons. How sad.
And yet God still loves his Israel. He does. His word still stands. And from Israel would come the true Messiah, the last Messiah. When we call Jesus Jesus Christ, Christ is not His last name. Christ is His title. Jesus the Christ might be more appropriate. Jesus the Christ, Jesus the anointed one, Jesus the Messiah.
He is the last one anointed by God to bring his people into that which God would have to give them, life, forgiveness, and salvation. And God used messiahs all through the scriptures up until Jesus to accomplish his will: David, Solomon, any of the faithful kings, even some political messiahs. Ultimately, it would culminate in the coming of Jesus the Christ, the Son of God and Son of Mary, he who would come into this world would take on human flesh, would live, die, be resurrected, and ascend for you. Jesus Christ is the true Messiah but Cyrus here is a small messiah, one who would save Israel, for it was through Cyrus's leadership, his kingship, that he allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem, where they wept over the city for it was destroyed, and Cyrus allowed them to rebuild the walls and rebuild the Temple and there they lived until the Romans came in.They lived there in their home, that ancestral place that God had given them.
Cyrus was indeed a messiah. Look at all that God says about him, whose right hand I grasped. I like that the idea, a father to his son holding hands, but also it is the idea that this Cyrus would be led by God, for what other reason do you have to hold a hand but to lead someone somewhere. To subdue nations before him. Cyrus was basically the king of the world for a long time. To loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed. Cyrus, being this king of kings, could go anywhere, he could do anything. There was nothing that was off-limits to him. God says, I will go before you. I will level the exalted places again. These are those altars and monuments built to the false gods. God will break them down. He will break in pieces the doors of bronze. He will cut through bars of iron. This is God basically saying in every way there is nothing that is going to be off limits to you. I will open even those most secure places, the secure places of the false gods I will break open.
I will give you the treasures of darkness and hoards in the secret places. This could even be said to be the treasure that was held in the temple, that treasure that was carried off into Babylon, and that treasure then that Cyrus himself inherited in its conquering. That you would know that it is I, the Lord, Yahweh, the God of Israel, who call you by your name hundreds of years before you, Cyrus, was even born. God said I will do this in you and I'm saying it now so that you know exactly your place. You better believe that when Cyrus had these Jews, these Israelites, among him, they told him this prophecy and you have to wonder if he was awed by it. For the sake of my servant Jacob and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name. I name you though you do not know me. I am Yahweh. There is no other besides me. There is no God. I equip you though you do not know me, that people may know from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none besides me. I am Yahweh. I am the Lord and there is no other. God himself is claiming authority over this king of kings to point to himself as the King of Kings.
We live in a turbulent time right now. We're in a political season, and I won't say this is the election that will make or break America, but it does seem to be close, doesn’t it? You know, I've heard for a couple of years now some really stupid theologians say that Trump is a type of Cyrus, a type of messiah who will save America. That's stupid. There is no type of Cyrus. There was Cyrus who did exactly what was necessary to bring about the line of the Messiah, to fulfill all the prophecies, that Jesus would be born in the city of Bethlehem. Cyrus is responsible for this. Trump isn’t. Trump may do some good things. He may do some bad things. But Trump is no messiah. There is no savior of America except for Jesus, and I want you to hear this as we go through this season. I will not encourage you to vote for one candidate or another, though I will say that you, as a Christian, cannot and should not support any candidate who stands for certain issues that are against God’s will, one who stands for things like abortion. To do so is most certainly sinful, for we know what God’s will in that is. I won’t tell you to vote for any particular candidate, but I will tell you this: no candidate is ever going to save America and all candidates are under the authority of God himself.
God has appointed authority here in this world and ultimately it is all stemming from God. Put not your trust in princes, but trust in the Lord your God. Fear not he who could destroy your body, fear God who could destroy your body and soul in hell. God will be in control. It does not matter which candidate is elected. It does not it. It does not change the fact that God is the one who is in control of this world. If he can control a man named Cyrus from 200 years in the past, then God certainly controls all authority here on earth.
When the Pharisees came to Jesus to test him about taxes, they had a bad understanding of Godly and worldly authority. When the Pharisees put Jesus to the test about taxes and asked if it is lawful for them to pay taxes to Caesar, they thought they trapped Jesus. Actually, the answer to that question is no, it is not lawful, not according to the law of God. The Jews were to pay towards taxes only to the theocracy of Israel. Now, of course, we know as Christians that law has been done away with, that was a civil law for Israel and that nation is now gone. That law doesn’t rule over us. As much as we all love taxes, you cannot use the law of Israel as an excuse not to pay your taxes in America. But Jesus is looking at these something else. He asked them to bring a coin and he sales them, Whose image is on here? They say Caesars and he says, Then pay to Caesar what is Caesar's and pay to God what is God’s.
Now you might think that means that Jesus is looking at this and saying there's the state and the church and never the two should meet. But that has nothing to do with what Jesus is saying at all. Rather, what he truly is saying, is all things belong to God and God has set up authority in this world to do for you the things that God would have them do for you, to protect you, to serve you, to make sure that you're okay ,and to do the holy works that we would expect any government to do in this land. That's what Jesus is saying.
Still if there be a coin that has Caesars face on it, then we should pay it to Caesar, and, by implication, if there were a coin that had the face of the temple upon it, then we should pay that to the temple. For us here in America, we’ve simplified it; we all use one currency. We don't have multiple currencies, although every so often you find one of those little Canadian coins in your change, which is really annoying because it just doesn't count in the soda machine, but still we give to God what's God's because all that we have is his. Jesus Christ created it all. And so through him, with whatever we have and whatever we do, we do it in his name. We do it trusting that he has us in his hands. We do it trusting that he will lead us to life and forgiveness and salvation. We do it because it’s what’s expected. So, yes pay your taxes and yes, you better be giving your offerings, not just because it’s necessary to keep the church running, but because God tells you do do it out of the generosity of your heart.
It may be that this is the most raucous political contest that we've had in years, I don't know. Last political season seemed to be pretty crazy, too. I'm guessing that if you've been around for a while, they all seem a little bit nutty here and there. But whatever happens, we trust that God is using his power and his authority for our good because if he can use Cyrus to bring Israel back into the land, that Jesus may be born there, die there, be resurrected there, all to forgive your sins, he certainly can use either candidate, any candidate, to bring about his will for this world.
Now, if you notice as I went through the Old Testament lesson, I left off the last verse and I did that on purpose that I might get to it now. God here sets up his authority. How do we know that he can do all these things? Because he creates light and he creates darkness. Don't be confused. Both light and darkness are under God's control. Both the good and holy things in this world and the devil are under God's thumb. He's the one who controls them. God says, I make well-being and I create calamity. Actually, if you look at the actual text here in the Hebrew, it's a little confusing, because the word here is evil not calamity. God makes well-being and makes evil. Well, how do we reconcile that with our God? All the things that God does are good, even if to us they may seem evil.
Think about it for a moment. How many of us have experienced loss in our lives? How many of us have experienced something that just doesn't seem right? At the end of our lives, we may look back at those moments, those losses and we may be able to see how God used it for our good, but you may not. Either way, know that whatever it was, God is using it to drive you further into the Arms of Jesus. Though it may seem evil in this life, it is for your good.
Most of you know, I think all of you know, my dad died in February. This has been a hard year for our family, and honestly, I am doing okay with it, but there are weeks and there are times when I look back on it and I just grieve. Many of us, most of us, have lost a parent or someone close to us. It hits you at a weird time that you don't expect. And it seems evil. That my dad, who was such a good man, a God-fearing man, a man who saved countless lives through his work, should be taken from this life by a small thing like a brain tumor that slowly erased his capability to walk, to write, to eat, and eventually even to breathe. What an evil thing that God sent.
But it is only evil to our eyes; it is not evil in the will of God for I can tell you that through all this we have had to rely more strongly on Jesus than we ever have before. It is only through the will and the mercy of God that we have been able to find peace in my father's death and look forward to the day when we shall see him again when Jesus comes in his glory. The evil things of this world are under God's thumb, too, but they are for your good.
God is the Lord. He is the one who does all these things. If Trump is elected, if Biden is elected, if Hitler takes over Germany, God has it in his hands to save his people. As evil as it seems to us, all of this is working for us because all of it is driving us ever closer to the day that the last day will come, the day when Jesus returns to this earth, the day when Jesus descends from the heavens and sets up his holy city on this earth remaking it as it was and bringing us up out of the grave and into life everlasting. All of this is driving us toward that day. May we then as Christians hope in God and fear Him for all of his power, and do not fear that which he has put over us in this life, for all of it is under his control even if it is not under ours. He knows his plans and it is a plan to bring to you life and salvation and forgiveness forever. He did it through his messiah, Cyrus, and now he has done it to you through His Messiah, the true Messiah, Jesus. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Now may the peace of God which passes all human understanding guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord! Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment