Treasures of Darkness part 1

"I will go before you, and make the crooked
places straight – I will break in pieces the
gates of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of
iron –
and I will give you the treasures of
darkness , and hidden riches of secret places,
that you may know that I, the Lord, who calls
you by name, am the God of Israel." Isaiah
45:2,3
To whom were these words spoken? To Cyrus.
And who was Cyrus? King of Persia. But how
did Cyrus come to be introduced into the Word
of God; and how did it happen that the Lord
gave such promises to a heathen monarch?
Cyrus, though a heathen prince, was an
instrument chosen of God to do an appointed
work, which was to overthrow the great
Chaldean empire, take the city of Babylon, and
restore the children of Israel to their own land;
and therefore one hundred and seventy years
before he executed the office thus assigned to
him he was expressly pointed out and
personally addressed by name in the record of
inspired prophecy. What a proof is this of the
inspiration of God's Word, and that all events
are under His appointment and control!
Not only, however, was he thus called by name,
but the very work which he had to do was
expressly declared long before the necessity
arose for its being accomplished.

The work for
which he was raised up and divinely appointed,
was to rescue from captivity the two tribes of
Judah and Benjamin, which, as a punishment
for their sins, were to be carried into captivity
to Babylon, where they were to continue for a
definite period, the space, namely, of seventy
years. To rescue them, then, from this
Babylonish captivity, when the seventy years
were expired, and to enable them to return, was
the work that Cyrus, in the appointment of God,
had to perform. This was a very great work for
him to execute, a work so great that he could
not have performed it unless he had been
specially aided by God. For he had to take a
city whose walls were fifty cubits thick and two
hundred feet high, surrounded by a wide ditch
full of water, and defended with one hundred
gates of brass. The city was also well manned
and well provisioned, and altogether so strong
and powerful as to defy every mode of attack
then known.

 If the Lord, therefore, in the words
of the text, had not "gone before him;" if He
had not "broken to pieces the gates of brass,
and cut in sunder the bars of iron," Cyrus could
never have taken that mighty city, but must
have been utterly defeated in the attempt.
This, then, is the literal meaning of the text. But
does it not admit of a more extensive
application? The promise, it is true, was given
to Cyrus, and we know was literally fulfilled; but
are the words applicable only to Cyrus? Have
we no fortress to take, no city of salvation to
win? Do we not need the Lord to go before us,
and make our crooked places straight? Have
we no gates of brass, no bars of iron, which
shut out approach and access, and which we
need the Lord to break in pieces and cut in
sunder for us? Does the road to heaven lie
across a smooth, grassy meadow, over which
we may quietly walk in the cool of a summer
evening and leisurely amuse ourselves with
gathering the flowers and listening to the
warbling of the birds?


No child of God ever found the way to heaven a
flowery path. It is the wide gate and broad way
which leads to perdition. It is the strait gate
and narrow way, the uphill road, full of
difficulties, trials, temptations, and enemies,
which leads to heaven, and issues in eternal
life. If, then, we are Zion's pilgrims, heavenward
and homeward bound, we shall find the need of
such promises, in their spiritual fulfillment, as
God here gave to Cyrus. This idea may give us
a clue to the spiritual meaning of our text. I
shall, therefore, with God's blessing, this
evening, endeavor to take this experimental
view of it, and interpret it as applicable to God's
family, omitting further reference to Cyrus,
except as it may help to elucidate the spiritual
meaning. Considering it, then, in this light, I
think we may observe in it three special
features:
I. What I may perhaps call God's preliminary
work in "going before His people, making for
them crooked places straight, breaking in
pieces gates of brass, and cutting in sunder
bars of iron."
II. The gifts which the Lord bestows upon them,
when He has broken to pieces the gates of
brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron, here
called "treasures of darkness and hidden riches
of secret places."
III. The blessed effects produced by what the
Lord thus does and thus gives--a spiritual and
experimental knowledge, that "He who has
called them by their name is the God of Israel."