Breaking Down the Gates

Isaiah 45:1-8 There have been several times over the course of my ministry when I have had to visit people in jail. It’s not a very happy feeling!  There are levels after levels of security that you have to pass through before you even get to the jail cells and each time you pass through one level a door slams shut behind you. 

The only consolation as you journey into the center of the jail is that you at least know—as a visitor--you are getting out.

But the inmates aren’t.  I can’t imagine what that must feel like to know that those doors are slamming shut behind you and you won’t being going back through them when visiting hours are over because you are a prisoner, receiving the punishment for your crime.

That’s the way it was for the Israelites as they were carried into exile and slavery at the hands of the Babylonians.  With every mile they traveled away from home their sense of hopelessness and helplessness increased until they went through the walls of Babylon and the nighty bronze gates shut behind them. 

How could they even hope for freedom when they were getting what their sins deserved?

This story may seem far removed from our lives, the situation foreign to us—but it’s not!  God tells us their story in the Old Testament, not so that we can wag our finger at those bad Jews, but so that we can learn to recognize our own sad story.

Each of us, by nature, are exiled from God, cut off from the promised land of heaven.  Our birthright is that of slaves.  The fetters of sin and death that imprison us are greater and more powerful than bars of iron or reinforced prison walls. 

How can we even begin to long for freedom and release when we know that this is simply what we deserve for the sin and rebellion in our lives?

But the Good News for us today is that we have in the LORD a Savior God who came to the aid of his ancient people and set them free by a the mighty hand of a deliverer he chose for that task and has come to our aid in Jesus Christ, setting us free from chains of sin, breaking down the gates of death and the devil’s dominion, so that we might journey to the promised land of heaven.  The Bible says:

Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed: “I will go before you and level the exalted places, I will break in pieces the doors of bronze and cut through the bars of iron, I will give you the treasures of darkness and the hoards in secret places,

            In ancient Babylon, there were two massive walls surrounding the city.  Hundreds of reinforced bronze gates provided the only way through those walls.  Sitting on top of the walls were hundreds of watchtowers.  Surrounding the whole city was a moat.

Can you just imagine how discouraging, how depressing it must have been for the Israelites to travel through those barricades and walls and to hear those gates slam shut behind them—to understand how desperate their situation really was—to know that they were helpless to gain their release—that there was no human hope for freedom?

So it is for all of us spiritually, by nature.  The Bible says that by nature we are dead in sins and trespasses.  The Bible says that the carnal mind is at war against God.  The Bible says that the devil has blinded us to the things of God. 

Bronze gates and mighty walls and guard towers are frightening, oppressive signs of imprisonment-- but so are eyes that will not see and ears that will not hear and minds that will not understand and hearts that will not believe. 

And yet the Lord our Savior God is greater than them all—greater than our earthly enemies and all their weapons—greater than our spiritual enemies--and he powerfully comes to set his people free—providing hope and help where before there was only despair and depression. 

For the Israelites, freedom would come at the hands of a Persian king names Cyrus that the Lord anointed for that very task—chosen to set God’s people free and bring them home.  Mighty walls and reinforced gates and bronze doors stood no chance against the Lord and his chosen servant.

How much more is it true that the Lord has acted for our salvation in his chosen, anointed servant Jesus Christ! 

As mighty as were the victories of Cyrus against his earthly enemies, the victory that Jesus gained for us was won against far greater foes!  By his death and resurrection Jesus defeated sin, death and the power of the devil and set us free from their tyranny.

A freedom that we could never hope to achieve on our own was won for us as God’s anointed servant died a terrible death on the cross and rose up victorious over the grave.

For Cyrus, the wealth of Babylon was the proof of his mighty deliverance.  For Jesus, it was the eternal souls bought and paid for with his own life’s blood that were the only treasure he desired. 

The Bible says that the Lord came to the aid of his ancient people and the people of the world so:  

that you may know that it is I, the Lord, the God of Israel, who call you by your name.  For the sake of my servant Jacob, and Israel my chosen, I call you by your name, I name you, though you do not know me.  I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God;

            Here is the great miracle behind the deliverance that God accomplished for his ancient people at Cyrus’ hand and for the world in the nail-scarred hands of Jesus—here is the great wonder of God’s salvation:  that despite our sins and failures and faithlessness, God claims us as his own.  For the sake of my people I do this, says the Lord.

God had every right in the world to turn his back on the people of Israel just as they had turned their backs on him.  He has every right to turn his back on us for the countless times we have abandoned his ways. 

But he came to the rescue of the Israelites and came to our rescue because we belong to him and he is not willing to let his people remain slaves when he created and redeemed us to be his children.  And so then…

            God has been has always been at work in this world both providentially and graciously for the sake of his people’s freedom.  History is not guided by technological advances or economic theories.  History is not shaped by great men and the rise and fall of empires.  Rather, history is God’s gracious salvation story from beginning to end that he tells in Jesus.

Our Savior God is the one who is wisely, graciously ordering the affairs of this world and the church for the sake of our salvation. 

What a comfort that must have been for the Israelites (as they heard the words of this prophecy many years before they took place) to know that even though they would go into exile, God had already chosen a deliverer for them to set them free.

What a comfort for us to know that when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law to redeem us and set us free. 

What a comfort to know that in the midst of a dark and dying world when it seems as if the tide of history is against the children of God, our Savior continues to make his saving ways known-- and accomplishes his saving will-- so that the entire world might come to know of a God who loves them and desires to set them free from sin and death.  The Bible says:   

I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.  I form light and create darkness, I make well-being and create calamity, I am the Lord, who does all these things. 

Several hundred years before the fall of Judah to Babylon, the mighty Assyrian Empire carried the northern tribes of Israel into slavery and exile and they were lost to history.  Anyone looking on must have thought that the same would happen to the southern tribes of Judah.

Carried into exile and slavery by the mighty Babylonian Empire, what chance of survival did desert tribes of herdsman stand against the mightiest empire of the day?

And when they crossed the moats and passed through the walls of Babylon, and looked up at the towering citadels, and heard the gates of brass shut behind them, anyone looking on must have thought:  that is the end of them—we will never hear from them again.

But what a testimony it was to the world when they left exile 70 years later because of God’s anointed deliverer.  And not only did Cyrus set them free, from his own wealth he paid to rebuild their city and temple. 

Could there be a clearer demonstration to the world that the Lord was the only true God who could always be counted on to come to the aid of his people?  Could there be a clearer sign of his power and goodness?  Just one!

Two thousand years ago a beaten, bloody man suffered on a cross.  He was rejected by his own people and betrayed by friends.  He died in darkness, abandoned by God.  There was no one to mark his death but criminals and mockers and executioners and a few women.  And yet…

Today two billion people confess him as Lord and Savior to say nothing of the billions of Christians who have come before us.  In our world today Christians bare their neck to the martyrs’ sword rather than deny him.  Every place in our world today people are fed and clothed and educated and healed in his holy name. 

Dear friends in Christ, we the church are the testimony in our day (just like the Israelites in their day) that we know and serve the one true saving God who always come to the aid of his people.  Our lives are the living testimony to the truth of words of our text:

“Shower, O heavens, from above, and let the clouds rain down righteousness; let the earth open, that salvation and righteousness may bear fruit; let the earth cause them both to sprout; I the Lord have created it.

            Deliverance and freedom from above—that is what the Lord gave his ancient people through has chosen servant --and that is what God has given us in Jesus Christ.  And God wants his salvation and righteousness to bear fruit in how we live our lives. 

We have been redeemed from the prison of sin and death for a purpose—that we would walk in newness of life and do those good works that God has appointed for us and keep in step by the Spirit.

We are no longer slaves.  We are the free people of God and our lives of faith and love are a testimony to the world around us to the goodness and power of the one who is greater and more powerful than sin and death.  Amen.