Posted on 03/17/2016 8:52:48 PM PDT by 11th_VA
Ever since Donald Trump began to surge as a candidate last year, Christians have been pointing to the book of Isaiah and comparing Trump with the ancient Persian King Cyrus. Some have even claimed that God has revealed to them that He will use Trump for the good of America just as He used Cyrus for the good of the Jewish people, even though Cyrus was a "pagan" king.
Could this be true?
Let's first look at the biblical and ancient Near Eastern evidence.
Cyrus (whose name was pronounced "ko-resh" in Hebrew) became king of Persia in 559 B.C. and conquered Babylon in 539 B.C. He is mentioned in a majestic passage in Isaiah where the Lord says of Cyrus, "'He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My desire'; and he declares to Jerusalem, 'You shall be built,' and to the temple, 'Your foundation shall be laid'" (Is. 44:28).
In other words, Cyrus would be the one who would cause Jerusalem to be rebuilt after it had been destroyed decades earlier by the Babylonians.
But there's more that Isaiah says about Cyrus as the prophecy continues into chapter 45: "Thus says the Lord to Cyrus, His anointed, whose right hand I have held—to subdue nations before him and to loosen the loins of kings, to open doors before him so that the gates will not be shut: I will go before you and make the crooked places straight; I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and shatter the bars of iron. And I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places so that you may know that I, the Lord, who calls you by your name, am the God of Israel. For Jacob My servant's sake and Israel My chosen one, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me'" (Is. 45:1-4).
Notice the beginning and the end of this passage. First, Cyrus, a non-Israelite king, is called God's anointed, a term elsewhere only used for Israelite leaders. Second, Cyrus, although called by the God of Israel, doesn't actually know the God of Israel. Instead, like the vast majority of people in the ancient world, he worshipped different deities in the form of idols.
In fulfillment of this prophecy, the Scriptures record how Cyrus made this decree to the Jewish people living in Babylon, where they had been taken in exile: "The LORD [meaning Yahweh] God of heaven has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and He has commanded me to build for Him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all His people, may the LORD [Yahweh] his God be with him. Let him go up" (2 Chr. 36:23).
So a pagan king encouraged the Jewish people to return to their homeland and rebuild their temple, also helping to finance the endeavor.
But Cyrus did not only do this for the people of Israel.
This became a standard Persian policy, allowing exiles to return to their homelands and rebuild their temples as subjects of the Persian empire.
We know this from the famous Cyrus Cylinder that was discovered in 1879. There, we read that Marduk, the chief god of the Babylonian pantheon and called "the king of the gods" in the text, "took the hand of Cyrus ... and called him by his name, proclaiming him aloud for the kingship over all of everything."
We also read in the text that Cyrus restored the various idol temples in his empire, which gives further confirmation to the biblical account.
So, here, it is Marduk who is given credit for the reign of Cyrus. In the Bible, it is Yahweh, the God of Israel and the only true God, who takes the credit. Obviously, Cyrus did not know Him, just as Isaiah said.
Could Donald Trump, then, be a modern-day Cyrus? Could it be that Trump, like Cyrus, clearly does not know the Lord in a real and personal way but could still be used by God to accomplish His purposes?
As the saying goes, let God be God, meaning, it's up to Him to do what He wants to do. Only He can answer this question for sure.
Or, from a more secular perspective, only time will tell.
What's clear, though, is that God did not raise up an idol-worshipping king to rule the nation of Israel. That would have been a curse rather than a blessing.
In contrast, Christians are talking about God raising up Trump to lead America, which would be very different than Cyrus being used to help the exiles return to Jerusalem and rebuild it.
That doesn't mean, of course, that Trump could not be a Cyrus-type of figure. It simply means that the parallel breaks down when applied.
But there's another possibility to consider.
There was another ancient king named Nebuchadnezzar, the Babylonian leader who, decades before Cyrus became king, led his armies to destroy Jerusalem, burn down the temple and send the Jewish people into exile in 586 B.C.
He too was an idol worshipper, yet shockingly, Yahweh called him "My servant," stating plainly, "I will send and take all the families of the north, says the Lord, and Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant, and will bring them against this land [meaning Judah] and its inhabitants, and against all these surrounding nations; I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, a hissing, and perpetual desolations" (Jer. 25:9; see also 27:6; 43:10).
So Cyrus was anointed by God to restore the Jewish people from captivity and to rebuild Jerusalem after Nebuchadnezzar, as a vessel of divine judgment, was called by God to send the Jewish people into exile and to destroy Jerusalem.
Two pagan kings, one raised up to bring judgment and the other raised up to bring restoration.
Is Donald Trump a Cyrus or a Nebuchadnezzar, if either?
Let God be God, and only time will tell.
But while we wait and watch and vote and act, let's not forget to pray: God, have mercy on America!
The one thing of which we are sure is that this is a very critical season in the history of our nation.
All through the Bible the majority were never on the ‘right’ side... and that same pattern still fits today.
Make America Cryus the Great Again
I’ll put you down as undecided ... :)
>YHWH is judging the United States of America<
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And we were found wanting and the punishment came in the form of Hussein O. Our next punishment will be in the form of Clinton, because we haven’t recognized God’s wrath while we continue to turn away from Him.
King Neb repented... Obama is more like that Pharaoh that God hardened his heart... and refused to 'let My people go out of bondage' and ended up swimming with the fishes in the RED sea!
Oh, please. Cruz is the top of the mountain fruit loop... Cruz's and his army attempted to enact Gideon in South Carolina... Culled themselves out 300 preacher types to bring home the victory. Guess what? Cruz's army of 300 forgot what they needed to 'win'?.... trumpets...
A pop-culture celebrity riding a wrecking ball? I can see it.
Bingo, I was thinking the same.
Christ said to ‘see’ the kingdom of Heaven one must be born from ‘above’... meaning take this flesh journey... Those fallen angels refused to take this flesh journey and they have along with the devil been judged to death. Trump obviously has taken this flesh journey.
That’s just so wrong.
Wow! Never realized Trump had such nice legs.
I see the Trump phenomenon as being more like that of King Saul. God had given Israel the form of government that He wished them to have (judges) but they kept envying their heathen neighbors who had “glamorous” kings and they wanted one too. So who did they demand? Why the most physically attractive and materialistic individual...taller and better looking than anyone else (and eventually the most greedy too), instead of a Godly individual. And the results speak for themself.
Lance Wallnau. i believe started this months ago. he was one of the ministers that trump invited to pray for him right after he started his candidacy.
I'm sorry but this is really, really funny, ironic and at the same time sad. If this article had Cruz's name in place of Trumps, the Trump supporters would be going bat sh$t crazy with insults and derision. That anyone could read this without laughing out loud is beyond me.
This is why I say that Donald Trump is a type of Samson:>>> and he slew philistines with the jaw bone of an ass.
The Judeans in Babylon were there because of God’s judgment against them for the abominations they practiced, especially child sacrifice. The judgment against the nations for that is invasion and conquest. The Jews in Babylon were the remnant believers. Daniel was there.
Cyrus is a good example for dominionists because he is a conquering king who is used by God to free the Israelite remnant and send them home with supplies to worship the One True God. If anyone thinks that America deserves this now, they are being delusional.
There has been no revival as in the time of Josiah and God’s wrath has not been unleashed. The world is united in practicing pre-born genocide, and the shedding of innocent blood flows through the streets of “civilizations”/s all over the globe.
This article seems like a false teaching of blessing when in fact the nations should be warned of the coming fall.
Maybe a modern day Billy Ray Cyrus.
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