Back To Isaiah

"Back to the Future" was a movie about a guy who "went back to the past" to affect the future–present for him. (Loose explanation.) More plausible is the story of a king in Isaiah looking  back to the past to see if it is going to affect him in the "future," which to him was now.

Isaiah 45 through 50 or so seems to be devoted to prophesies about Cyrus, about 150 years before he came on the scene. As you probably recall, he was the Persian king who released the Jews to return to their homeland after 70 years in captivity. (539 BC) We know that Daniel was prominent in the administration, so can let our sanctified speculation propose  that perhaps Dan was the vehicle of exposing Cyrus to the prophesies and perhaps encouraging him to fulfill them.

Let's play devil's advocate for a minute, or ten, and surmise as to why Cy would be impressed with some obscure Jewish writing and give it credence. Ironically, I was a camp counselor during college and encountered a brilliant, but skeptical high school student much like Cyrus. He was not a king, but was from New Joysey if that matters.

He was very open and aggressive with his youthful atheism. "Why should I listen to and worry about this old Book?" he challenged.

The other campers tried to explain that it was God's Word, but he dismissed that with the, he thought, erudite disclaimer that it was just an ancient text produced by ignorant and superstitious nomads and shepherds.

I "just happened" to be reading Isaiah in my devotions with my trusty "Thompson Chain Reference Bible," and, I believe, the Holy Spirit guided my thought to the prophesy of Cyrus. He was named as the ruler of a country and his acts predicted about 150 years ahead of time.

I asked Ken if prophesy would impress him. He mistakenly thought I meant future prophesy and responded that he knew all about that, and if it happened, he would believe. (That might be kind of tardy, theologically speaking, but that would be a discussion for another day.)

I countered with the question, "What if I could show you prophesy that has already been fulfilled?"

He actually had heard of the prophesies in Daniel, and though they were specific and detailed, was skeptical of them because they were somewhat veiled and distorted. The "stuff" about Jesus was probably written into the narrative later and they might or might not be valid.

I had neither the time nor inclination to do an exhaustive refutation of these ideas. He had been exposed to them and simply categorized the Bible as religious ideas and beliefs. In other words, "bunk."

"How about a king being named and his actions being definitively predicted?" I pressed. "And this is a historically verifiable person and activity. You have heard of Cyrus, the king of Persia, haven't you?"

(A little intellectual challenge there to keep him on his toes.) Of course he had and he even knew a little about the details of Cyrus' life and actions.

"Cyrus was named, and his actions predicted about 150 years ahead of time," I continued.

"How do you know that?" he challenged. Thank the Lord for the "Thompson Chain Reference Bible." It has a note estimating the approximate date of each section of Scripture. I showed him the date of Isaiah and when he prophesied. (Isaiah 742-700 BC) And then we compared it to Cyrus (580-529 BC) who released the Jews in 539 BC. ("Thompson" was our internet, back then.)

When Ken saw that he was flabbergasted. I went on to point out the more than 20 specific prophesies of Jesus in just Isaiah alone. (Not individually, of course, but a few.) My co-counselor and I had the privilege to leading this young man to faith in Christ. Prophesy convinced him.

Now back to Cyrus. Think he needed convincing? Well, God was ready if he did. Isaiah 7 is the actual account of Isaiah interacting with the King of Judah as Jerusalem is under attack by the northern kingdom, Israel, and Aram. Isaiah told King Ahaz that they would fail to capture Jerusalem and would themselves be conquered by Assyria. (Chapter 8) But then Assyria would attack and overthrow Jerusalem. Subsequently Assyria would fall to Babylon. This is from Isaiah 7 to 10. Interspersed within that were specific predictions of the Messiah. (Go ahead and read chapter 11 to get more Messiah.)

Daniel could have shown the details of these prophesies to Cyrus, along with the dates for proof. (I bet he used his "Thompson" for that too.) And we can surmise that, Cyrus, like our friend Ken, 2500 years later, was convinced. He cooperated with God and, himself, became a part of fulfilled history.

As we go "Back to Isaiah" we do not need a spiffy DeLorean time machine, but have a more reliable mode of transportation. Read the Bible. It is good for the soul. It is accurate and defensible. And, teaser coming, as we read on through Isaiah 46 and 47 we find more information for Cyrus. This is recent history for him. Join us next time.

Epilog: In the interest of full disclosure, I do not recall the young man's name. I used "Ken" as a convenience to avoid calling him "the young man" every time we needed an identifier. So if you attended Word of Life Camp in Schroon Lake, New York, the summer of 1968 and had two nuts named John and Jim as counselors, you are probably the guy. Give us a shout.