Title: The Lord knows your name and calls you his in Christ!
Text: Isaiah 45:1-7
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45 Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,
whose right hand I have grasped,
Anointed
1. consecrated or made sacred; dedicated to God, often in a ceremony that includes dabbing or sprinkling with holy oil: In the Bible, the anointed High Priest was chosen from among the descendants of Aaron.
2. chosen by or as if by divine authority; chosen for a sacred, high, or special vocation or purpose:
David was anointed by Samuel to be King.
Mary was anointed by God to bear his Son.
Jesus anointed his disciples by calling them to “Follow me!” and they left their nets and followed him.
Saul was anointed by God to be his instrument to the Gentiles.
You were anointed by God to be his child by the working of the Holy Spirit and Baptism.
All of these were a special anointing and calling by God, to those chosen for his purpose.
And Cyrus too, - a Persian King - was called by God for this purpose:
Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus,
We as Lutherans understand that God works in the church and in the world. We call it the two kingdoms, the Kingdom of Grace and the Kingdom of the world. He works through word and sacrament in church and through those who rule, lead, or govern in the world. We as Christians live in both.
In the Old Testament reading for today in Isaiah 45:1-7 God calls the Persian King Cyrus – his anointed saying,
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:
The Lord says –
2 “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,
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness
and the hoards in secret places,
that you may know that it is I, the Lord,
the God of Israel, who call you by your name.
God calls Cyrus for his purpose and we read in Ezra 1:
1 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:
2 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. 3 Whoever 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 rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—he is the God who is in Jerusalem.”
God used Cyrus to rebuild Jerusalem and to free the captives in Babylon.
Just as God Cyrus he also called Pharaoh to serve his needs in the Exodus from Egypt telling Moses in Exodus 7:
2 You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3 But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt, 4 Pharaoh will not listen to you. Then I will lay my hand on Egypt and bring my hosts, my people the children of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment. 5 The Egyptians shall know that I am the Lord, when I stretch out my hand against Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them.” Exodus 7:2-5
God works in the church through his means of grace, and in the world through those he wills, both good and bad, for his ultimate purpose. We might remember Jesus’ response to Pontus Pilate in John 19:10-11
10 So Pilate said to him, “You will not speak to me? Do you not know that I have authority to release you and authority to crucify you?” 11 Jesus answered him, “You would have no authority over me at all unless it had been given you from above.”
The authority God has he gives in both the left and right Kingdoms for his good purpose.
He anoints Judges and those who govern though at times it seems in opposition to good order, and then we see only through hindsight how God’s purpose has been revealed. As in the story of Joseph:
20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.
Gen. 50:12
We see in the hand of God’s ministers how the work of God continues through the church as he retains and forgives sins, proclaims his word, and unites bread and wine to be his body and blood given and shed for you for the forgiveness of sins.
We see God work as he anoints you to be salt and light in the world shining the light of the gospel in a dark world, and by his anointing work through the Holy Spirit, faith is bestowed and eternal life received.
When I visit at homes, care facilities and hospitals, I anoint those whom God has call to be his - with an anointing balm. This balm is simply a visible reminder of what has and continues to do in the lives of his children.
Those who are suffering - I anoint in the sign of the Holy Cross upon their forehead - as a reminder that God has marked them in Baptism as his beloved child and this is a reminder to them and to us of God’s presence with us, never leave us nor forsake us.
4 For the sake of my servant Jacob,
and Israel my chosen,
I call you by your name,
It is for God’s purpose.
I name you, though you do not know me.
All, even those who do not know or believe in the one true God can be used by him for his purpose.
5 I am the Lord, and there is no other,
besides me there is no God;
I equip you, though you do not know me,
So, if God can use those who do not know him, how much more those who do!
God has anointed you in the waters of Holy Baptism to be his, and he has equipped you with the Holy Spirit so that the gospel of peace that you proclaim goes forth from your mouth and will not come back void. It will do God’s purpose to change the hearts and minds of those opposed to the gospel, pointing to his Jesus the Christ – the anointed one of God who takes away the sins of the world!
6 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.
7 I form light and create darkness;
I make well-being and create calamity;
I am the Lord, who does all these things.
Whether, Cyrus or Caesar, church or state, male or female, slave of free God works by his Spirit to make the way of salvation known! Jesus Christ the way the truth and the life is the one who came to bind up the broken hearted and to redeem those bound in sin with the peace of God that passes all understanding.
In the name of the Father, and of the Son + and of the Holy Spirit!
Amen
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