What a pagan king can teach you about the Messiah.

WARNING: 

Reading this blog post without a Bible in hand may prove bad for your health. Don't do it.

Isaiah 45.1: "This is what the Lord says to his annointed [messiah], to Cyrus, whose right hand I take hold of..."

Anointing people for certain tasks was common to the Israelite of the Old Testament. To anoint someone with oil was symbolic of setting them apart for a special role with appropriate authorization. Priests were anointed with a very special sacred oil. Kings were anointed at their accession (or beforehand in some cases, like the wee lad David). Prophets were also regarded as anointed ones. The basic idea was that the anointed person was set aside and equipped by God and for God, so that what he did was in God's name, with the help of God's Spirit, under God's protection and with God's authority. 

Now reread Isaiah 41-45.

Are you surprised to see that God himself uses this term to describe the pagan king Cyrus, the newly rising hotshot of the Persian empire? 

Why does this matter? What's so sweet about this that it would require such a boring blog post? Let me break it down for you in a 5-finger discount.

1) It was God who chose Cyrus and raised him up for the appointed task (41.2ff, 25). Because of this,

2) Cyrus's accomplishments were really God's, for it was God who was acting through him as his agent (44.28; 45.1-5).

3) Cyrus's specific task was the redemption and restoration of Israel from the hands of their tormentors (44.28; 45.13) so that...

4) All Cyrus's worldwide victories and dominion actually were for the purpose of delivering and establishing the people of God (41.2-4; 45.1-4). 

5) Beyond his own context, this pagan king's work would ultimately be a step on the way to the extension of God's salvation to the ends of the earth (45.21-25).

Sound familiar?

God's Messiah, the Anointed One, would be God's agent to deliver and restore Israel, not a pagan king like Cyrus, but a true Israelite, the true son of David, Jesus Christ.