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Isaiah 45 - God Loves Those Who Don't Know Him Yet · Tabernacle Talk - A Bible Study Podcast with Pastor Bryon Self

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  Welcome to Tabernacle Talk. Tabernacle Talk is a Bible study
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  podcast brought from Tabernacle Baptist Church in Essex, MD.
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  I'm your host, Brian Self. We hope this podcast encourages
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  you to know Christ, grow in his word, and show his love to
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  others. Let's dive right in.
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  Hey, welcome back to Tabernacle Talk.
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  Today we are in Isaiah chapter 45, Isaiah 45, and we're just
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  going to start off quickly today.
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  And chapter 45 and verse #1 says this.
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  Yahweh says this to Cyrus, His anointed.
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  That is the one that has been selected for a particular
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  purpose. This would be a way that would
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  often be used to talk about the kings of Israel.
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  If you recall, the word for anointed in the Old Testament in
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  Hebrew is Mashiac, where in the New Testament we get the word
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  the Messiah, that Jesus is the ultimate anointed one, the
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  ultimate king who rules. And here Cyrus is being talked
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  about like he is one of the kings of Israel, one of those
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  ones that is over God's people, that God selected.
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  But here it's not for a Jewish individual.
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  It is for a Medo Persian king and this would be 1 After
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  Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon has passed off the scene after even
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  his son slash grandson have passed off the scene as we can
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  hear about in Daniel chapter 5. If I remember some of my dates
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  correctly or if I remember my Bible chapters correctly.
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  So Cyrus is this 1. He is the king of the Medo
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  Persian Empire. The the Babylonian Empire has
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  passed off the scene. The Assyrian Empire before that
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  has also passed off the scene now.
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  And so the Medo Persians are in charge of the Middle East and
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  God through a number of means, will have Cyrus be the one that
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  gives the edict for the children of Israel to return back to
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  their homeland. That they had been taken away
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  from the homeland by Syria in 722 BC, that northern Kingdom of
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  Israel and then the southern Kingdom of Judah was completely
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  taken away in 586 BC. And so as that happens, about
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  70, little over 70 years goes by Medo Persian Empire comes on the
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  scene, and now God is sending Israel back.
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  And He does this by means of this wicked Pagan king, that God
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  has a plan and a purpose even for this person who does not
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  know Yahweh. So he always says this to Cyrus
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  his anointed, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations
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  before him and disarm kings to open doors before him, and even
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  city gates will not be shut. So here God had made it so that
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  Cyrus would experience a lot of military might and success.
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  This was done by the hand of God, but it was done for a
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  specific purpose. It wasn't just so that Cyrus
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  could himself be great. It was for the more ultimate
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  purpose of bringing the ancestors of the Messiah back
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  into the land. Says in verse #2 God saying this
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  to Cyrus, I will go before you and level the uneven places.
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  I'll shatter the bronze doors and cut the iron bars in two.
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  I'll give you the treasures of darkness and riches from secret
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  places, so that you may know that I am Yahweh.
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  I am the God of Israel who calls you by your name.
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  I call you by your name for the sake of my servant Jacob and
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  Israel, my Chosen 1. I give a name to you, though you
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  do not know me, so that all may know.
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  From the rising of the sun to its setting.
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  That's from, you know, where where the sun starts in the day
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  to wherever it sets. It's saying basically all across
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  the world that everyone would know that there is no one but
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  me. I am Yahweh and there is no
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  other. I form light and create
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  darkness. I make success and create
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  disaster. I am Yahweh who does all these
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  things. That God is the one that brings
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  each portion of life across. And sometimes He brings things
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  in judgment, sometimes He brings things in blessings.
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  He brings the good times of prosperity, and he brings the
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  lean times in which we learn to call out to him.
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  So God brings all of it. And so Cyrus needed to know who
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  Yahweh was. And though God would use this
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  king to accomplish his will, God's ultimate desire was that
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  this king would know God personally, and he would know
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  that he needed to worship and obey this God.
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  Can I ask you, God knows you by name.
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  God has a purpose for your life. God all throughout your
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  existence is working His will in and through you.
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  His greatest desire is that you would know who God is, that you
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  would have a relationship with Him.
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  Do you know God personally? If you do, are you telling other
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  people about Him? Are you experiencing this
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  day-to-day walk with God? In which we often fall and fail,
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  we sin, but whenever we do that, we know that we have a safe home
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  to run to in the grace of Jesus Christ.
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  That because of the cost that He paid on the cross, we are able
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  to come over and over again to the mercy seat of God and find
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  grace to help in time of need. First, John 19A passage that we
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  went through maybe a year or a little over a year ago on
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  Tabernacle Talks says if we confess our sins, He is faithful
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  and righteous to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all
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  unrighteousness. And what a joy that that is.
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  God continues here in verse #8 He says heavens sprinkle from
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  above and let the skies shower righteousness.
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  Let the earth open up so that salvation will sprout and
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  righteousness will spring up with it.
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  I, Yahweh, have created it. So God wants there to be right
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  dealings with God and with man. He wants it to rain down from
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  the sky. That if you will, there is rain
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  showers of good treatment of man and God all across the world.
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  That like flowers popping up over and over again, people
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  would seek to do what is right and what is good in the sight of
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  God and in love and care for others.
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  There is however, a group of people that are against this,
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  that they do not want to follow God's command, instead they want
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  to follow their own way. And we read this in verse #9 woe
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  to the one who argues with his Maker.
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  One clay pot among many. Does clay say to the one forming
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  it, What are you making? Or does your work say he has no
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  hands? Woe to the one who says to his
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  father, what are you fathering? Or to His mother, What are you
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  giving birth to? This is what Yahweh, the Holy
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  One of Israel and its Maker says.
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  So we as the created cannot say to our Creator, why did you make
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  me like this? You know, God, why did you make
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  me so that I have brown hair instead of blonde hair?
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  God, why did you make it so that I was born in the family that I
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  was or that I am in the geographic location that I am?
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  I can't complain about what God does with His stuff.
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  He is the maker I am, if you will.
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  I'm the maid, the MADE. He is the maker.
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  He's the one who makes and I'm the thing that is made by Him so
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  I don't get to complain about what God has created. 1
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  encouragement and two encouragements to you in this
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  number One, that means that your life has purpose and value far
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  outside of anything that anyone else could say about you.
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  It really at the end of the day, does not matter what anyone
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  else's opinion is of your value, because God made you.
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  He made you in His image and He is the one that specifically
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  crafted and formed you and placed you into your lot in
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  life. And so our response ought to be
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  God. I am going to choose to know and
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  love you with whatever life you have given me, and I'm going to
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  choose to treat others rightly. That can be hard depending on
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  the lot that you've been given in life.
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  But I want you to know that that is the prerogative of God to
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  when he's making stuff, he can make it how he likes it.
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  It might not be what you want, but it is what is right and what
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  is good in his eyes. So may we not be complaining
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  clay pots saying to the Potter, Oh no, I really wanted to be a
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  cup and you made me a bowl. That'd be stupid for direct clay
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  pot to do that. But how often we do that to God?
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  So we have worth and value. That also means other people
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  have worth and value. So don't.
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  Don't waste your time denigrating other people and
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  insulting their intelligence. Don't waste your time insulting
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  other people's looks. Don't insult people based on
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  like where they're from, what their skin color is.
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  Don't insult them based on, you know, even what their home life
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  might have been like because God is the one that put all of those
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  things together for them. And so our question as
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  Christians needs to be, how do I love and care for this person?
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  And what can I learn from them, from who they are, what their
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  life experiences, how the Holy Spirit is working and moving in
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  them like that needs to be our mindset of every other person is
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  not just some obstacle that I need to overcome in my life.
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  Every other person is a beautiful creation of God.
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  And so I need to appreciate them, not denigrate them.
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  Let's let's do that. Let's have that be our mindset.
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  So God's saying, here you are the created things.
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  You need to follow what God has said in the way to live.
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  God says in the middle of verse 11, ask me what is to happen to
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  my sons and instruct me about the work of my hands.
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  I made the earth and created humans on it.
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  It was my hands that stretched out the heavens, and I commanded
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  everything in them. I've stirred him up in
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  righteousness and will level all roads for him.
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  He will rebuild my city and set my exiles free, not for a price
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  or a bride, says Yahweh of heaven's armies.
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  So God says I made Cyrus, and I made Cyrus for a purpose, and
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  this purpose was for him to send the Israelites back to the land
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  of promise and to rebuild there the city of Jerusalem.
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  And you can read about that at length in Ezra and Nehemiah.
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  And then there's a few of the minor prophets that also deal
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  with that time period. Verse #14 This is what you
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  always says. The products of Egypt and the
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  merchandise of Kush and the Sabians, men of stature will
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  come over to you and will be yours.
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  They will follow you. They will come over in chains
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  and bow down to you. They will confess to you.
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  God is indeed with you and there is no other.
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  There is no other God. Yes, you are a God who hides God
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  of Israel Savior. All of them are put to shame,
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  even humiliated. The makers of idols go in
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  humiliation together. Israel will be saved by Yahweh
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  with an everlasting salvation. You will not be put to shame or
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  humiliated for all eternity. Now here one more time again,
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  just because I want to make sure that we realize this, that we
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  have our categories correct here.
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  Here what's being said is not an ethnic group of people will all
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  be saved, and there will be no one within this ethnicity that
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  is apart from that choice of having to follow God now in the
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  New Testament, believing in Christ in order to experience
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  eternal salvation. Every single one, no matter
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  every single person, no matter your ethnicity, does have to
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  turn faith to Jesus Christ alone for salvation, calling on him as
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  your Lord, the Messiah, the chosen one, the King that's in
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  charge of you. And as we call on Jesus, we
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  experience salvation. And so that in the New Testament
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  is what the authors would call we're now the, if you will, the
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  true Israel of God, a people that's not just an ethnic
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  people, but we are those that have placed our faith and trust
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  in Christ. And so every single one in
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  Israel that would follow the Lord, that would put their faith
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  in Jesus, whether in the past or in the future, every single one
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  of those will never ever be put to shame or humiliated for all
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  eternity. They will have this everlasting
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  salvation. I just want to put that in
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  there, even knowing some different theological groups and
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  pastors and preachers that are around want to make it very
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  clear that the salvation of God is reserved not for a particular
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  ethnicity, but it is reserved for those that have placed their
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  faith in Christ. And those are the true people of
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  God. Verse #18 For this is what you
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  always says, the Creator of the heavens, the God who formed the
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  earth and made it, the one who established it, He did not
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  create it to be a wasteland, but formed it to be inhabited.
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  He says I am Yahweh and there is no other.
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  I've not spoken in secret somewhere in the land of
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  darkness. I did not say to the descendants
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  of Jacob seek me in a wasteland. I am Yahweh who speaks
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  righteously, who declares what is right.
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  So God says I'm here for the flourishing of human life.
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  I am not some God that you have to go out into the desert to
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  find. Now when people found themselves
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  out in the desert, desert of the wastelands, like Moses, like
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  Jesus in the wilderness, like even the Apostle Paul after he
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  left Damascus, in all of those instances, God can be with
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  people in the desert and what a joy that that is.
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  But God here is not opposed to human existence and communities
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  and that God went into Egypt and, you know, Pharaoh's house
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  and the land of Goshen and spoke to the people that were there,
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  or all the time that Israel was in the land of promise, that God
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  used the prophets and spoke to them.
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  And so God here says, my goal for humanity's existence is not
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  for the destruction of humanity, but for its flourishing even
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  within communities. And so here, it wouldn't shock
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  me if part of why this is tied together with Cyrus is for
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  people that would have opposition to say, well, what?
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  Why should we think that God has actually told Cyrus to have this
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  thing happen? Should we go back to the land of
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  promise because you know, Cyrus didn't go off to Mount Sinai and
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  receive commandments from God? Again, you got to think the
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  Exodus type language and the Exodus mindset that's here is
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  from the land of exile, formerly Egypt, now Babylon, Medo Persia,
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  into the land of promise. And so people could say, well,
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  why should we trust what Cyrus says when he says, all right,
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  Jews, Israelites, I need you to go back into this land, the land
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  of Canaan. Why should we do that?
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  And here God says, I made land not to be an abandoned
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  wasteland. I made it to be inhabited, and
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  so I can give an instruction to someone, even if it's not in
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  Mount Sinai or whatever. And I want the land that I named
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  for myself to have inhabitants. And so I believe that that's
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  where that particular line is being drawn to at this point.
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  Verse #20 At the end of the chapter here, come, gather
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  together and approach you, fugitives of the nations, those
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  who carry their wooden idols and pray to a God who cannot save,
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  have no knowledge. Speak up and present your case.
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  Yes, let them consult together. Who predicted it long ago?
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  Who announced it from ancient times?
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  Was it not I, Yahweh? There is no other God but me, a
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  righteous God and Savior. There is no one except me.
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  Turn to me and be saved all the ends of the earth, for I am God,
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  and there is no other I love there.
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  In verse #22 God makes it clear that His salvation is not just
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  for Israel and this one random Medo Persian king.
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  God's salvation is for everyone, for all peoples, for whoever
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  will turn in faith to him. This echoes the sentiment of
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  Romans 10/13. For whosoever shall call upon
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  the name of the Lord shall be saved.
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  Verse #23 By myself God says, I have sworn.
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  Truth has gone from my mouth. A word that will not be revoked.
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  Every me will bow to me. Every tongue will swear
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  allegiance. It will be said about me.
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  Righteousness and strength are found only in Yahweh.
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  All who are enraged against him will come to him and be put to
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  shame. All the descendants of Israel
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  will be justified and boast in Yahweh.
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  Even there in the end part of verse #23 this word that goes
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  out from the mouth of God, every knee will bow to me, every
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  tongue will swear. Allegiance is certainly on the
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  mind of the apostle Paul when he tells the church at Philippi in
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  Philippians 2 and verses 9 through 11.
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  He says for this reason God has highly exalted him Jesus, and
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  has given him the name that is above every name, so that at the
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  name of Jesus every knee will bow in heaven and on earth and
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  under the earth, and every tongue will confess that Jesus
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  Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
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  So here God says, every knee will bow to me.
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  And then Paul echoes this thought, saying, And Jesus, is
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  that me, that our triune Godfather, Son and Spirit, that
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  as every knee is bowed and every tongue confesses God's lordship,
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  the human recipient of this declaration of allegiance is
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  Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Son of man, and he is worthy
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  of all of our worship. Want to ask you today, one day
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  you are going to, with every other created thing, bow the
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  knee and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
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  Today in your life, in your workplace, in your family, with
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  your friends, with your church, will you confess that Jesus is
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  Lord? Will you allow him to call the
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  shots in your life? And will you bow to Him?
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  Bow in prayer, bow in worship, bow in sacrifice.
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  Because He is this good God, the God that loves humanity, the one
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  that is seeking not our destruction, but our benefit.
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  He is the one that fulfills His promises.
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  He is the one that gives everlasting salvation.
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  He's the one that cares about those that do not even yet know
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  Him. And yet He is providing for
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  their needs. He is guiding them step by step
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  so that they would come to know Him.
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  Will you tell someone about Him today?
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  I love just so many of the thoughts that come from Isaiah
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  45. And I think even of, you know,
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  my own background and what a joy it was to me when I realized
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  that because I've called on the name of the Lord to be saved, I
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  did it when I was like 9 years old because I asked Jesus to be
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  my Savior. I realize, even looking back at
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  Isaiah 45, that God loved Cyrus long before Cyrus ever knew God.
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  And God loved me long before I ever knew him.
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  And he pursued me. John would tell us in in one of
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  his epistles that we love God because he first loved us.
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  And so my friend, God loves you. He is pursuing you.
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  If you've never turned over the keys of your life to him, do
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  that today. It's the best decision you could
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  ever make. Thank you for tuning into this
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  episode. Like share, subscribe if you're
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  on Apple or Spotify podcasts, leave a review if you made it to
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  the end of the episode, comment the word chosen.
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  Comment the word chosen. Thank you for tuning in.
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  Looking forward to seeing you next episode.