For the sake of Jacob my servant,
of Israel my chosen,
I summon you by name
and bestow on you a title of honor,
though you do not acknowledge me. (Isaiah 45:4)

One of the most confounding chapters in all the Bible for critics (including those who have slithered into the church) is found in Isaiah 45. Actually, the story begins in chapter 44.

The Lord announces that He has called-out a ruler…who is to come. This ruler will aid God’s people, the Jews, who have been in captivity for years, having been conquered by the Babylonians.

Cyrus is a man that history to that time does not know. He is not known because he has not yet been born! In fact, the prophecies concerning this coming king of the Medo-Persian empire are given 150 years before he arrives on the scene.

The Lord is preparing His people for the end of their captivity. In history, 150 years future from this prophecy, Cyrus issues a decree, allowing conquered inhabitants to return to their national homes and rebuild.

The Jews were included in this release.

Today, in the British Museum, the famous “Cyrus Cylinder” resides; it is a barrel-shaped clay tablet with the decree recorded. A copy exists in the Old City of Jerusalem.

In a bid to attack the veracity of the Bible and thus undermine the faith of many, scores of scholars for more than 100 years have claimed that the prophecies concerning Cyrus were in fact added later, by another, “anonymous” Isaiah. This is their way of trying to get rid of predictive prophecy.

Put another way, it is their pitiful attempt to eliminate the supernatural from Scripture, a task man has not been granted.

Honest scholars will accept the correct placement of the prophecies in Isaiah 44 and 45.

In Isaiah 46, the Lord declares that He alone knows the end from the beginning. He has told us in general ways what is to come.

It is then up to us whether we accept Him for Who He is, or not.