Watchman Radio Hour

David Shaltier: Welcome to the Watchman Radio Hour. Coming to you from Portland, Oregon, here in the beautiful Northwest. This is David Shaltier, announcer.

The Watchman Radio Hour is a production of Watchman Radio Ministries International, an evangelistic ministry reaching out to the peoples of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. And now here's our speaker Alex Dodson to bring you this week's message from God's Word.

Alex Dodson: For our scripture reading today, let us turn once again to Isaiah 45. And we'll begin reading today in verse 11. Let us hear the Word of God.

This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel and its Maker, “Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons and concerning the work of My hands, and command ye Me. It is I Who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens. I marshaled their starry hosts. I will raise up Cyrus in My righteousness. I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild My city and set My exiles free, but not for a price or reward,” says the Lord Almighty.

Our Father in Heaven, we thank You for Your Word. We thank You for the Bible that You have given to us. We thank You that it is Your infallible Word, that we can put our full confidence in everything that it says.

And now, O Father in Heaven, as we come to study Your Word, we pray that You will send forth Your Holy Spirit in great power. And we ask these things in Christ's Name. Amen.

God rules over His creation and governs all things. He has a plan and is carrying it out. It makes no difference if we do not acknowledge His plan. God is God, and He is at work in this world. Despite the great sinfulness of man, God will not be stopped from carrying out His plan. God also rules over His Church through Christ. His Church will not be stopped even if man tries to stop it.

For it says in Matthew 16:18, “And I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter and upon this rock, I will build My Church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Christ has been working through His Church and continues to work through His Church as the Gospel goes forth into the world even unto this day.

Satan may try to stop the Gospel, but he will not succeed. Jesus Christ rules now from Heaven. He is with His Church and He will be victorious. Peter preached a sermon on the Day of Pentecost about the exalted Christ. In Acts 2:33, he said, “Exalted to the right hand of God, He has received from the Father the promised Holy Spirit and has poured out what you now see and hear.”

Jesus empowers His Church to carry the Gospel into all the world. The early Christians carried the Gospel to the Gentiles, and Jesus was with them and empowered them as they proclaimed that Gospel. In Acts 11:21, it says, “The Lord's hand was with them, and a great number of people believed and turned to the Lord.”

Paul acknowledged that Christ was working through him as he and the other apostles carried the Gospel to the Gentiles. In Romans 15 and verses 18 and 19, Paul says, “I will not venture to speak of anything except what Christ has accomplished through me. In leading the Gentiles to obey God by what I have said and done, by the power of signs and miracles, through the power of the Spirit. So from Jerusalem all the way around to Illyricum, I have fully proclaimed the Gospel of Christ.”

Ian Murray speaks of Christ's exaltation and continuing ministry through His Church when he wrote, "The advancement of Christ's kingdom stands directly related to the work of His exaltation, in which He now exercises His rule by the Holy Spirit. Thus, the conversion of 3,000 on the day of Pentecost, the great number who believed at Antioch, and the whole magnificent success of the Gospel in the apostolic era, are spoken of as things which Christ has wrought."

These successes of the Gospel were proof that Christ's reign had begun. How triumphant that reign is to be in the earth before the end was the subject of many Old Testament prophecies. According to Psalm 2, the enthronement of the Messiah would lead to His receiving the uttermost parts of the earth for His possession. Another Psalm, after speaking of the vicarious sufferings of Christ, speaks in this way of the glory which was to follow. “All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before Thee. For the Kingdom is the Lord's and He is the Governor among the nations.” In Psalm 22:27 and 28.

In the New Testament, the realization of the Old Testament hope has commenced. Christ is now going forth conquering and to conquer. And it is His coming by His Spirit among His enemies in converting power which explains all the revivals of Christian history. John Calvin, the great reformer, wrote, “Our doctrine must stand sublime above all the glory of the world, and invincible by all its power, because it is not ours, but that of the living God and His Anointed, Whom the Father has appointed King, that He may rule from sea to sea, and from the rivers even to the ends of the earth.”

“And so rule as to smite the whole earth in its strength of iron and brass, its splendor of gold and silver with the mere rod of His mouth, and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel, according to the magnificent predictions of the prophets respecting His kingdom.”

Of the triumph of the Kingdom of God over the nations of the world, Daniel writes in Daniel 2:34, “While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the statue on its feet of iron and clay and smashed them.” The great statue Daniel mentioned represented the Gentile nations. The rock represented Christ's kingdom. And it is Christ's kingdom that would be victorious over all the nations.

Speaking of the Branch that would come, or of Christ, Isaiah writes in Isaiah 11:4, “But with righteousness He will judge the needy. With justice He will give decisions for the poor of the earth, and He will strike the earth with a rod of His mouth. With the breath of His lips, He will slay the wicked.” Psalm 2:8 and 9 speaks of Christ possessing the nations. It says, “Ask of Me and I will make the nations Your inheritance. The ends of the earth Your possession. You will rule them with an iron scepter. You will dash them to pieces like pottery.”

God will carry out His plan. He will send forth His Gospel into the world and Christ shall possess the nations. This is His plan. Isaiah 45 tells us of God's great plan. He tells us of the great Persian king, Cyrus, who would come and be an instrument in carrying out His plan.

Isaiah, as God's spokesman, prophesied of things to come and assures us that God will carry out His plan. Again, our text is Isaiah 45, verses 11 through 13. “This is what the Lord says, the Holy One of Israel and its Maker, ‘Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons and concerning the work of My hands. Command ye Me.’”

God is the Maker of Israel. He is their Maker and Creator. Edward J. Young, in commenting on this verse, says, “The nation is reminded that the speaker is the Holy One in Israel and also Israel's Former or Creator. Hence they are in no position to complain about what He does. God does not wish to keep Israel in the dark respecting the things to come, but commands the nation to ask Him concerning these things, for He alone can give them the information about them.”

God had not forsaken His people, but He had a plan for them. And He would reveal the future of Israel. God would tell them about the future, about things to come. God knew what was going to happen in the future. He wanted His people to know and be assured that they were in His hand.

John Calvin, the great reformer, writes, “And when He opens His sacred mouth, He justly commands us to open our ears to Him and to hear attentively whatever He declares.” We need not fear the future, though trials may come. The Lord is faithful, Who will not suffer us to be tried beyond what we are able to bear, but with the temptation will also grant deliverance and will increase His grace in us. First Corinthians 10:13.

God continues to comfort His people by revealing the future to us through His Word. That's why it's so important that we study the Bible more and more and get God's perspective on things happening in this world. God is still in control no matter what happens. He has not forsaken His people, and He will carry out, He will carry us on into the future.

Now let us say in the see in the second place that He is the Creator. Verse 12 says, “It is I Who made the earth and created mankind upon it. My own hands stretched out the heavens. I marshaled their starry hosts.” God created the earth. We don't have to guess where the earth came from. We don't have to believe the evolution lie. Evolution is not true. We know the truth because God has given it to us already. God created the earth. He is the Creator. Evolution is not the Creator. Though some put evolution in God's place, they are wrong. They are worshipping a great idol and doing it in ignorance. Romans 1:18 through 20 says this: “The wrath of God is being revealed from Heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them.”

“For since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities—His eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” You see, men suppress the truth. God created the earth, not evolution.

Edward J. Young wrote, “Israel should give full trust to God's promises, for God has created all things and has the power to carry out anything that He has promised.” The personal pronoun in the at the beginning of each line of the verse calls attention to God Himself, the speaker. God is greater than all. He made the Heavens and the earth, and He watches over His people.

John Calvin wrote, “If a sparrow, as Christ tells us, does not fall to the ground without His permission, shall we, whom He values more than the sparrows, be exposed by Him at hazard to the rage and cruelty of enemies? Therefore, betake ourselves to this confidence even in the most desperate affairs, and must not give way to any temptations by which Satan attacks us in his various ways.”

And then God created man. God created man, not evolution. Man did not evolve over millions and millions of years and become what he now is by chance, that's a lie. God created man. He designed him and He made him. God is our Creator, not evolution. Man has a Maker and a Designer. Man is far more complex than an iPhone. We can look at an iPhone and know that someone made it. Anybody with any common sense would know that. And know that someone designed it, and yet evolutionists expect us to believe that man, who is far more complex than an iPhone, came about by chance. Nonsense.

God created man, and may He be praised for His wonderful creation. In Psalm 139, verses 13 and 14 says, “For You created my inmost being. You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Your works are wonderful, and I know that full well.”

John Gill writes, “And created man upon it, the last and chief of the creation, for the sake of whom the earth was made, and man was made to dwell upon it, manure and to cultivate it.” And that God is the Creator of all things and especially of man, then we must believe that He governs over all things and will watch over and save His people.

And then it says, “God created the Heavens.” “My own hands stretched out the Heavens. I marshaled their starry hosts,” He says. God made the Heavens. He made all the stars. They did not come about by chance. They were designed and made and stretched out before us by God's mighty hand. Psalm 19:1 through 4 says, “The Heavens declare the glory of God. The skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech, night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth and their words to the ends of the world.”

The Bible declares that God made the Heavens by His mighty power. Evolution teaches no such thing. It is a godless teaching that has no basis in true science. The sooner we discard this wicked and God-denying theory, the better off this world will be. Isaiah 40:22 says, “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the Heavens like a canopy and spreads them out like a tent to live in.”

Poole writes in his commentary, “All their host have I commanded. I have commanded them to be or made them by My command, or the word of My power.” God sits on the throne in Heaven. He has brought all this starry host to pass. He has brought them to pass, not evolution. To say that evolution brought the stars into being is to make evolution take the place of God, for the Bible clearly tells us that God made the stars.

Then let us see in the third place, the fulfillment of God's prophecy. Verse 13 says this, “I will raise up Cyrus in My righteousness. I will make all his ways straight. He will rebuild My city and set My exiles free, but not for a price or reward,” says the Lord Almighty. Cyrus would be raised up. This is implied by the context, though his name is not actually mentioned in this verse, but the context tells us that he's talking about Cyrus.

God's people would be delivered by him. He would not be paid to do this. God will enable him to do this. Clark writes, “I have raised him up. This evidently refers to Cyrus and to what he did for the Jews and informs us by whom he was excited to do it.” Psalm 5:8 says, “Lead me, O Lord, in Your righteousness because of My enemies. Make straight Your way before me.” God raised up Cyrus in righteousness and led him to carry out His plan, though he did not know it himself.

And then he would, Cyrus would rebuild the city. Edward J. Young writes, “When Cyrus gave permission to the Jews to return from Babylon, he was indirectly responsible for the rebuilding of Jerusalem. In accomplishing this purpose, Cyrus receives no reward or payment.” In Ezra 1 through 4, it says, “In the first year of Cyrus, king of Persia, in order to fulfill the word of the Lord spoken by Jeremiah, the Lord moved the heart of Cyrus, king of Persia, to make a proclamation throughout his realm and to put it into writing, and this is what he wrote. This is what Cyrus, king of Persia, says: The Lord, the God of Heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has appointed me to build a temple for Him at Jerusalem in Judah. Anyone of His people among you, may his God be with him, let him go up to the Jerusalem to Judah and to build the temple of the Lord, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem. And the people of any place where survivors may now be living are to provide him with silver and gold, with goods and livestock and with free will offerings for the temple of God in Jerusalem.”

In Ezra 6:3, it says, “In the first year of King Cyrus, the king issued a decree concerning the temple of God in Jerusalem. Let the temple be rebuilt as a place to present sacrifices, and let its foundation be laid. It is to be 90 feet high and 90 feet wide with three courses of large stones and one of timbers. The cost are to be paid by the Royal Treasury.”

And then he would set the exiles free. Cyrus would let the Jews go free and return to their homeland. Cyrus was not paid a ransom or anything, but he let the Israelites go back to their homeland, not for a price or award. This was the Lord's doing. And then he would prepare the way for the Messiah and victory of the Gospel. By bringing back God's people and helping them to rebuild the city and the temple, Cyrus was preparing the way for the coming of Christ in the future. It was to this rebuilt temple that Jesus would come.

Haggai gave a great prophecy concerning this rebuilt temple to under Cyrus. And Haggai 2, verse 1, it says, “On the 21st day of the 7th month, the word of the Lord came through the prophet Haggai. Speak to Zerubbabel, son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, to Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the remnant of the people. Ask them, ‘Who of you is left who saw this house in its former glory? How does it look to you now? Does it not seem to you like nothing?’”

“But now be strong, O Zerubbabel,” declares the Lord. “Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land,” declares the Lord, “and work, for I am with you,” declares the Lord Almighty. “This is what I covenanted with you when you came out of Egypt, and My Spirit remains among you. Do not fear. This is what the Lord Almighty says: In a little while I will once more shake the Heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desired of all nations will come. And I will fill this house with glory,” says the Lord Almighty. “The silver is mine and the gold is mine,” declares the Lord Almighty. “The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house,” says the Lord Almighty. “And in this place, I will grant peace,” declares the Lord Almighty.

Jesus came to this temple that Cyrus built and filled it with His glory. And from that place, the Gospel would go out into the whole world and bring peace to multitudes. In one sense, Cyrus was the type of the Messiah that would come. It was this Messiah that he was preparing for.

Ian Murray mentions George Newton, who lived during the 1600s. He was a Puritan. He was a senior colleague of Joseph Alleine at Taunton, England. Newton preached on John 17:26, which says, “I have declared unto them Thy name, and will declare it.” Newton sees much meaning in the words, “will declare.” He had declared the Father's Name to the apostles, but there would be a further declaring it in the future.

Newton wrote, “Let our hearts be full of hope in reference to this business. Since Christ has undertaken it, let us expect the execution of it. Our Savior's words are a promise to the Father, what He will do in aftertimes for His people. So if He, ‘I will declare Thy Name to them.’ And therefore, as it is our duty to believe the promise, so to expect the good things promised. To be continually in awaiting frame, looking and hearkening after the accomplishment of this excellent work of His. Spying if we can see the daybreak and the Father's Name shine forth to other nations who never had a glimpse of it by any Gospel revelation. Till in the end, from the rising of the sun unto the going down of the same, His Name will be great among the nations.”

“According to that prophecy relating to these latter times and ages of the world,” Malachi 1:11. “And then Newton goes on to say, ‘Let us strive with Christ in prayer that He would make good the word that He has spoken to the Father, before so many witnesses. Oh, my beloved, when you look out on many Gentile nations that yet are overwhelmed in ignorance and Egyptian darkness. That yet know nothing of the Father's Name, go to Jesus Christ and say, ‘Oh Lord, Thou has professed that Thou wilt declare the Father's Name to other persons and to other nations to the ends of the world.’”

“And then he goes on to write, ‘Let our hearts be full of joy, while we are looking forward to the accomplishment of this work. Oh, let it cheer our spirits unto all the sinking dumps and deep discouragements that are upon them in relation to the Church. To think in what blessed state and glorious posture she will be, when Christ shall have declared the Father's Name to all the nations under Heaven. And when the Jews shall be converted, and when the fullness of the Gentiles shall come in.’”

“Oh, my beloved, that will be a joyful time indeed. It is true, those times, my brethren, shall be very comfortable and full of gladness many ways. And this is not the least that people shall be brought into the knowledge of the Lord out of all quarters of the world. And that by heaps and multitudes. There was never such a time since the foundation of the world, nor shall be till that blessed season comes.”

“And therefore, let our souls rejoice in the foresight of it, though we may never live to see.” Cyrus, not knowing the full extent of his work, was preparing the way for the coming of Christ and the spreading of the Gospel to all the world. Now today that Gospel has come to you. Jesus Christ has come to His temple that Cyrus built. He has lived and died on the cross for our sins. Not only that, but He rose from the dead and ascended into Heaven, from where He now reigns and sends forth the Gospel into all the world.

But Jesus died for you to make you clean. You are in your sin and you need cleansing. Only Christ can do that. Only His blood can wash away your sins. Ephesians 1:7 says, “In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins in accordance with the riches of God's grace.” Come to Christ. He will not turn you away. Repent and believe the Gospel. Come to Christ.

You may pray this prayer with me right now. Dear Lord Jesus, forgive me for my sins. Cleanse me with Your blood. I receive You as my Lord and Savior. Amen. Oh, Father in Heaven, we thank You for the Gospel. We thank You that even now it's going into the world. We thank You, Lord Jesus, that You are continuing to send Your Gospel out. And although things look very dark at times, we know the light will yet come. And we know that Your Gospel will be victorious all over this world and all the nations. Oh, Father, please send forth Your Word in great power throughout this land. In Christ's Name we pray. Amen.

David Shaltier: Thanks for listening to the Watchman Radio Hour. We invite you to come again next week to hear another timely message from God's Word. We are Watchman Radio Ministries International, reaching out to the peoples of the world with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.