Clearly God has a plan for all nations, ours included, and especially those that affect the lives of His people, and every bit as much those who make up the Body of Christ, namely the Church. We should take hope in the fact that God has a plan, and it is a good plan, even if we can't see Him moving, or understand His actions. We can be confident that God is not affected in His ability to work, move or affect change, even in our modern day. I am encouraged that God's plan will come to fruition, regardless of who is chosen as President of the United States.
Here is the commentary of David Guzik, who does a much better job of providing insight into these verses, and their fulfillment, than I could ever present. Here is a link to the original text: http://classic.studylight.org/com/guz/view.cgi?book=isa&chapter=45&verse=1#Isa45_1
A. Looking to the God who chose Cyrus.
1. (1-3) God's calling and mission for Cyrus.
Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held; to subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings, to open before him the double doors, 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 cut the bars of iron. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that I, the LORD, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel."
a. Thus says the LORD to His anointed, to Cyrus: Isaiah carries on this remarkable prophecy from the previous chapter. In it, God announces - by name - the deliverer for His people from a coming captivity, and He does it 200 years before the man Cyrus is born. (I should note this is also 130 years before Israel goes into captivity in Babylon - Sam)
i. His anointed means that Cyrus had a particular anointing from God for his work. God poured out His Spirit on a pagan king, because God wanted to use that man to bless and deliver His people.
ii. "There is precedent for the divine anointing of a non-Israelite king, though in one passage only (1 Kings 19:15-16). Although the living God normally employed Israelites for such purposes, he is sovereign and may use whom he will." (Grogan)
iii. Thus says the LORD to His anointed means that this word was particularly directed to Cyrus. This was God's message to him, and Cyrus apparently listened. "These things Cyrus knew from reading the book of prophecy which Isaiah had left behind two hundred and ten years earlier." (Josephus, AntiquitiesXI, 5 [i.2], cited in Grogan)
b. Whose right hand I have held: Like many of us, Cyrus could look back on his life and career and see how the LORD held his hand the entire time. To subdue nations before him and loose the armor of kings: Cyrus had a remarkable military career.
i. "To his appointed and enabled one, to subdue many nations. Xenophon, in his first book . . . gives us a list of them. Cyrus subdued, saith he, the Syrians, Assyrians, Arabians, Cappodcians, Phrygians, the Lydians, Carians, Phoenicians, Babylonians, the Bactrians, Indians, Cilicians, Sacians, Paphloagonians, Maryandines, and many other nations. He also had a dominion over the Asiatics, Greeks, Cyprians, Egyptians . . . He vanquished, saith Herodotus, whatever country soever he invaded." (Trapp)
c. To open before him the double doors, so that the gates will not be shut . . . I will break in pieces the gates of bronze: The armies of the Medes and Persians, under Cyrus, conquered the city of Babylon in a remarkable raid described in Daniel 5. According to the ancient historian Herodotus, while King Belshazzar of Babylon held a reckless party, Cyrus conquered the city by diverting the flow of the Euphrates into a nearby swamp; thus lowering the level of the river so his troops could march through the water and under the river-gates. But they still would not have been able to enter, had not the bronze gates of the inner walls been left inexplicably unlocked.God opened the gates of the city of Babylon for Cyrus, and put it in writing 200 years before it happened!
i. "In October 539 BC, Cyrus advanced into lower Mesopotamia and, leaving Babylon till last, conquered and occupied the surrounding territory. Seeing which way the wind was blowing, Nabonidus of Babylon deserted his city, leaving it in the charge of his son Belshazzar . . . the taking of Babylon was as bloodless and effortless as Daniel 6 implies." (Motyer)
d. I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places: The night they conquered the city, Cyrus and his armies took all the staggering treasures of Babylon - and it was important the Cyrus know that the LORD had given it to him.
i. On the night Babylon fell, Cyrus probably had no great sense of the LORD's guidance or presence. He probably thought himself both brilliant and lucky. Often we succeed in something only by the blessing and pleasure of God, and never see the miraculous hand of God behind it all.
ii. God certainly gave Cyrus treasures. Clarke cites Pliny: "When Cyrus conquered Asia, he found thirty-four thousand pounds weight of gold, besides golden vessels and articles in gold."
e. That you may know that I, the LORD, who call you by your name, am the God of Israel: God announced all this 200 years before its fulfillment, so that Cyrus would know and glorify the LORD. But the LORD also did it so Cyrus would show kindness to the people of God, granting them permission to return to the Promised Land from the captivity imposed on them by the Babylonians.
i. The royal proclamations of Cyrus fulfilling this prophecy are found in Ezra 1:2 and 2 Chronicles 36:23.
2. (4-7) The purpose behind God's calling and mission for Cyrus.
For Jacob My servant's sake, and Israel My elect, I have even called you by your name; I have named you, though you have not known Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; there is no God besides Me. I will gird you, though you have not known Me, that they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me. I am the LORD, and there is no other; I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things.
a. For Jacob My servant's sake: Cyrus would like to think that God picked him because he was the smartest or most talented or strongest man available. Really, God's focus was on His people. It wasn't Cyrus that moved God to act, but the condition and cry of His people. It was for their sake.
i. "That all these victories were for the sake of little Israel is one of the ironies of God's control of history." (Grogan)
ii. "Cyrus is preferred in order that Israel might be released. Cyrus shall have a kingdom, but only in order that God's people may have their liberty. The Lord raises up one, and He puts down another. Behind all the drama of human events today there is a God who is planning for His church - through affliction and persecution, chastening and tribulation - to be perfected and prepared to inherit the Kingdom of God." (Redpath)
b. I have named you, though you have not known Me . . . I will gird you, though you have not known Me: Cyrus didn't even know the LORD, yet God could anoint him, guide him, bless him, and use him. How much more should God be able to do through those who have at least a mustard seed's worth of faith in Him!
i. Proverbs 21:2 says, The king's heart is in the hand of the LORD, like the rivers of water; He turns it wherever He wishes. God can work in and through others in very unexpected ways.
c. That they may know from the rising of the sun to its setting that there is none besides Me: This was wonderfully fulfilled in Ezra 1:1-3. That passage shows how when Cyrus made his proclamation allowing the people of God to return to the Promised Land, that he acknowledged to the whole world the greatness and uniqueness of the LORD God of Israel.
i. Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the LORD by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom, and also put it in writing, saying, "Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the LORD God of heaven has given me. And He has commanded me to build Him a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all His people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the LORD God of Israel (He is God), which is in Jerusalem."
d. I form the light and create darkness, I make peace and create calamity; I, the LORD, do all these things: Simply put, Isaiah knows, Cyrus would know and declare to the whole world, and we should know today, that God is in control. Since this prophecy was given long before God's people went into the captivity Isaiah now announces deliverance from, they could be comforted through the captivity by knowing God is in control.
i. Isaiah's point is that there are not two gods or forces in heaven, one good and one bad, as in a dualistic "yin and yang" sense. "Cyrus was a Persian, and Persian had a dualistic concept of God and th world. Their good god they called Ahura-mazda and the evil god Angra-mainya. The former had created the light, the second the darkness." (Bultema)
ii. But God has no opposite. Satan is not and has never been God's opposite. There is one God. He is not the author of evil; evil is never "original," but always a perversion of an existing good. Yet God is the allower of evil, and He uses it to accomplish His eternal purpose of bringing together all things in Jesus (Ephesians 3:8-11 and 1:9-10). If God could further His eternal purpose by allowing His Son to die a wicked, unjust death on a cross, then He knows how to use what He allows for His eternal purpose.
iii. "Undoubtedly the Lord is no representative of evil as such, but He does make use of evil so that it may bring forth good." (Calvin, cited in Butlema)
iv. When God does great, miraculous things, it is easy to believe that He is in control. When times are hard and the trials heavy, we need to believe it all the more.
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