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THREE BIBLICALLY-REVEALED WAYS THAT GOD MAY WORK WITH PEOPLE
The careful Bible student may perceive at least three separate ways in which God uses and works with people:
1. God calls and selects for special divine and spiritual missions: Moses, Joshua, the Judges, the Prophets and the Apostles are in this category, which is a very small and select category. God demands absolute obedience from such people!
2. God calls and raises up certain world leaders at certain times in order to keep things on course in fulfilling His grand purposes for this world. These people are not called upon to specifically obey God (as in the first and third groups), yet there is no doubt that such people, including Cyrus of Persia, are given special protection at special times. We should not be too dismissive of this group, since God, let us not forget, is even prepared to call them 'His anointed.' Yet we should not expect any sort of moral perfection from a group which will include the good and the bad. He will use some leaders to punish, others to restore and possibly others for other purposes.
3. God, in a different manner again, calls Christians in our day to a specific mission to uphold the news that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world and to look to Jesus alone in trust and faith - that is our specific mission and purpose. Somewhat mistakenly, even if entirely sincerely, some Christians believe that their mission is to get the world converted; they are sincere, but very wrong; that goes well beyond what we have been asked to do during this age of the Church (Matthew 24:14; Acts 2:38-39; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Our calling to a life of faithfulness is somewhat like the first group but we occupy a lower position.
Robin A. Brace, 2007.
So here Cyrus is even referred to as the Lord's 'anointed' - yet it appears that God did not call Cyrus to a specific life of obedience and faithfulness, as He did with Moses or Isaiah. This reveals a different way in which God is also capable of working with various world leaders to fulfil His purposes upon this earth. Of course, as we now know, God used Cyrus to help destroy the old Babylonian empire and to bring about the freeing of large sections of Judah, Levi and Benjamin from their Babylonian captivity. See Isaiah 45:13.
Cyrus himself was well aware of his particular anointing:
'"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, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem."' (Ezra 1:2-3).
So this starts to show us that God may well work more widely with leaders in this world than a few might have thought. He is even prepared to refer to those world leaders whom He may raise up in order to fulfil His purposes as 'shepherds' (Isaiah 44:28), and 'His anointed' (Isaiah 45:1). In a not dissimilar manner, and a few years earlier, the Lord even refers to king Nebuchadnezzar as 'My servant' (Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6; 43:10). Of course, this refers to the specific period when the Lord used Nebuchadnezzar to punish His Own backsliding people.
'"I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon," says the LORD, "and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin."' (Jeremiah 25:9).
So God reserves the right to raise up certain world leaders at certain times in order to keep things on course in fulfilling His grand plan and purposes for this world. These people are not called upon to specifically obey God (as in the first and third groups of our inset article), and they may have little knowledge of God, yet there is no doubt that such people, including Cyrus of Persia, are given special protection at important times and, undoubtedly, even some angelic guidance. Furthermore, we should not be too dismissive of this group, since God, let us not forget, is even prepared to call them 'His anointed'! There could be many in this group and we can only speculate who might be included.
The careful Bible student may perceive at least three separate ways in which God uses and works with people:
1. God calls and selects for special divine and spiritual missions: Moses, Joshua, the Judges, the Prophets and the Apostles are in this category, which is a very small and select category. God demands absolute obedience from such people!
2. God calls and raises up certain world leaders at certain times in order to keep things on course in fulfilling His grand purposes for this world. These people are not called upon to specifically obey God (as in the first and third groups), yet there is no doubt that such people, including Cyrus of Persia, are given special protection at special times. We should not be too dismissive of this group, since God, let us not forget, is even prepared to call them 'His anointed.' Yet we should not expect any sort of moral perfection from a group which will include the good and the bad. He will use some leaders to punish, others to restore and possibly others for other purposes.
3. God, in a different manner again, calls Christians in our day to a specific mission to uphold the news that Jesus Christ is the Saviour of the world and to look to Jesus alone in trust and faith - that is our specific mission and purpose. Somewhat mistakenly, even if entirely sincerely, some Christians believe that their mission is to get the world converted; they are sincere, but very wrong; that goes well beyond what we have been asked to do during this age of the Church (Matthew 24:14; Acts 2:38-39; 2 Corinthians 5:17-21). Our calling to a life of faithfulness is somewhat like the first group but we occupy a lower position.
Robin A. Brace, 2007.
So here Cyrus is even referred to as the Lord's 'anointed' - yet it appears that God did not call Cyrus to a specific life of obedience and faithfulness, as He did with Moses or Isaiah. This reveals a different way in which God is also capable of working with various world leaders to fulfil His purposes upon this earth. Of course, as we now know, God used Cyrus to help destroy the old Babylonian empire and to bring about the freeing of large sections of Judah, Levi and Benjamin from their Babylonian captivity. See Isaiah 45:13.
Cyrus himself was well aware of his particular anointing:
'"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, and let him go up to Jerusalem in Judah and build the temple of the LORD, the God of Israel, the God who is in Jerusalem."' (Ezra 1:2-3).
So this starts to show us that God may well work more widely with leaders in this world than a few might have thought. He is even prepared to refer to those world leaders whom He may raise up in order to fulfil His purposes as 'shepherds' (Isaiah 44:28), and 'His anointed' (Isaiah 45:1). In a not dissimilar manner, and a few years earlier, the Lord even refers to king Nebuchadnezzar as 'My servant' (Jeremiah 25:9; 27:6; 43:10). Of course, this refers to the specific period when the Lord used Nebuchadnezzar to punish His Own backsliding people.
'"I will summon all the peoples of the north and my servant Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon," says the LORD, "and I will bring them against this land and its inhabitants and against all the surrounding nations. I will completely destroy them and make them an object of horror and scorn, and an everlasting ruin."' (Jeremiah 25:9).
So God reserves the right to raise up certain world leaders at certain times in order to keep things on course in fulfilling His grand plan and purposes for this world. These people are not called upon to specifically obey God (as in the first and third groups of our inset article), and they may have little knowledge of God, yet there is no doubt that such people, including Cyrus of Persia, are given special protection at important times and, undoubtedly, even some angelic guidance. Furthermore, we should not be too dismissive of this group, since God, let us not forget, is even prepared to call them 'His anointed'! There could be many in this group and we can only speculate who might be included.
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