RECEIVING THE HIDDEN TREASURES OF DARKNESS

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It is clear from Scripture that King Cyrus had to do three key things in order to receive the hidden treasures of darkness, etc., which God promised him through Isaiah’s prophecy:

1. Believe the Word of God
2. Set Israel free
3. Restore Israel’s lost glory

It was surely shocking to Israel to hear Isaiah prophesy God’s blessings for an unknown gentile king, Cyrus, calling him God’s anointed (45:1) and one to whom God will give the hidden treasures of darkness and the riches from secret places (45:3). When the prophecy was fulfilled about a century and half later, when Cyrus became king, the chroniclers preferred to refer rather to Jeremiah’s prophecy of the same event, apparently because that left out the prosperity of Cyrus (see 2Chron. 36:20-23)

What prompted Cyrus to set Israel free and pay for the rebuilding of the temple is apparently his encounter with Isaiah’s prophecy either through reading about the history and prophecies of the people of Israel or a through a Divine revelation. He understood that God was being generous to him because of Israel’s need to be free when the divinely mandated seventy years of Israel’s exile was completed. This was God’s own way of restoring Israel without them striking a single blow, and the grace fell into his lap.

As to what exactly the hidden treasures of darkness are, apart from the details given in the prophecy, your guess is as good as mine. What is important to us however is to realize how similar Cyrus’s story is to ours as gentiles who, by Israel’s standards, had no portion in Divine provision and blessings, let alone be called the Lord’s anointed!

1. Our salvation and wellbeing are both prophesied and proclaimed through Jesus Christ, and when we believe and act on God’s word, we obtain that ‘treasure’ hidden before the foundations of the earth. There are some who when they read this passage in Isaiah begin to the wrong places for the treasure, believing someone or an evil spirit of darkness is “sitting” on their so-called destiny. They begin to engage in all kinds of ‘spiritual warfare’, targeting humans, witches and spirits, in order to recover their so called possessions. Those are clearly wrong, because the ‘hidden treasures’ God promises us is a free gift from Him, which requires first and foremost our faith in Him as a faithful and generous God who alone is able to give what He promises. We have to believe His Word, just as Cyrus believed Him.

2. Cyrus had to set Israel free, just as we are under eternal instruction to set our debtors, those who offend us, free. It is clear that if Cyrus preferred to keep Israel as slaves (unforgiving) he would forfeit the treasures. In the same way, to the extent that we fail to forgive anyone we also give up the right to any mercy, grace or (as some call it) favor from God (see Mt. 6:12, 14-15). 

3. Cyrus did not only have to forgive Israel. He also had to ACTIVELY seek their welfare by paying for the full restoration of their dignity as a nation. At the time of Cyrus, the walls of Jerusalem had probably been restored by Nehemiah, but the Temple was still in shambles. He offered his resources to rebuild it. This is also the third key thing we have to do to receive God’s ‘treasures’: we are to ACTIVELY seek the welfare of others, bringing them to their full dignity in the image of God, so long as it lies in our power to do so. We are called and set apart (anointed see 1Joh. 2:20) to seek the salvation of others. As we brood over, plan and prepare for the wellbeing of others, God also fulfils His word concerning us, securing our own welfare in this life and even beyond.

So, it is clear that if anyone is holding down your progress, or sitting on your treasures, it CAN ONLY BE YOU. God has said great things concerning you and unlocking them lies in your determination to BELIEVE and act on His word and in dealing MERCIFULLY and GENEROUSLY with others. God has eternally linked our salvation and wellbeing to the salvation and wellbeing of others, and we must never lose sight of that TRUTH: Those who do not seek the salvation of others will themselves not be saved.

PRAYER: Lord, when I pray (and maybe sclap my hands), anybody on whose freedom and happiness I am sitting, I get up from, release him or her and I am ready to restore four times whatever I robbed him or her of, in the name of Jesus, amen!

Now, clap for Jesus.


#WIFJ

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