Named Before Birth: Cyrus Fulfills Isaiah’s Prophecy 150 Years Later
Cyrus Fulfills Isaiah’s Prophecy: One Old Testament prophecy that stands out—all of them do, but this one, particularly does—as a powerful demonstration of the Bible’s divine inspiration is Isaiah’s foretelling of Jerusalem’s restoration by a pagan king named Cyrus. Amidst the utter devastation wreaked upon the holy city, the prophets Jeremiah and Isaiah dared to proclaim Jerusalem would be rebuilt (Jeremiah 31:38-40). But Isaiah went even further—he precisely named the foreign monarch, Cyrus of Persia, as the one who would issue the decree allowing the exiled Jews to return and reconstruct their beloved capital (Isaiah 44:28).
Cyrus Fulfills Isaiah’s Prophecy: Consider the audacity of this prophecy: Isaiah, ministering over a century before Cyrus was born, declared by name this future pagan ruler would be the instrument of God’s restoration plan for Jerusalem. At the time, the name “Cyrus” meant nothing to the Jewish people, as the Persian Empire had not yet risen to prominence. Yet, just as foretold, after the Babylonian captivity ended in 539 BC, Cyrus conquered Babylon and issued the very edict permitting the Jews to journey back to Jerusalem and rebuild their temple (Ezra 1:1-4).
This prophecy’s fulfilment defies any rational, naturalistic explanation. How could Isaiah have possibly known the name and pivotal role of an obscure figure who would not be born for over a century? The only plausible answer is that Isaiah spoke as he was inspired by the one true God, the sovereign Lord who declares “the end from the beginning” (Isaiah 46:10) and works out His eternal purposes through human agents—even pagan kings.
This remarkable prophecy stands as a towering testimony to the divine authorship of Scripture. Its fulfilment should inspire awe and compel an honest reckoning with the reality the Bible is no mere human book, but the very word of the omniscient God who has stamped His fingerprints across its pages through predictions like this one that transcend the limits of human knowledge.
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