THE PERSIAN KING WHOM GOD ANOINTED
Nearly 200 years before he was even born, Isaiah prophesied the coming of an anointed king named Cyrus who would overthrow and rule the kingdoms of the land. This prophecy was fulfilled when the Persian King, Cyrus the Great, conquered the many kingdoms of the Middle East and beyond, including the Babylonians, who had defeated Judah and taken its people captive. These Judean exiles had lived in Babylon for 70 years, when Cyrus not only overthrew Babylon, but also later decreed that the exiles could return to Jerusalem and rebuild their Temple (Ezra 1:1-4).
The details of the Cyrus prophecy in Isaiah are amazing. God revealed both the fall of Jerusalem and its future restoration to Isaiah. This prophecy not only encouraged the prophet Daniel and the Jews who were exiled in Babylon, it continues to encourage believers today. For we understand that the fulfilled prophecies in God’s Word show that the unfulfilled ones will also be fulfilled, perhaps in our lifetime.
One other note, don’t you find it interesting that God would anoint a Persian king to rescue Israel? I wonder what God has in store for the modern peoples of Persia now dwelling in the country called, Iran?