Isai. xlv. 8. Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness : let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together ; I the Lord have created it.
IT is generally thought, that doctrines relating to God's sovereignty, and to the divine decrees, are chiefly, if not exclusively, dwelt upon by the Apostle Paul. But, if any one read the Old Testament, he will find these doctrines advanced in almost every page. The chapter before us will furnish us with an instance quite in point. God had determined to deliver his people from their Babylonish captivity above two hundred years before they were carried
captive, or Babylon itself, as an empire, had any prominent existence in the world: he also named the person by whom it should be effected, almost three hundred years before he was born, and yet there had never been a king- of that name ; and even specified the means by which he should effect the conquest of Babylon, which was so fortified as to be, humanly speaking, impregnable a : he declared, also, that that person, contrary to all reasonable expectation, should liberate them without fee or reward, and give orders for the rebuilding of their city and temple b. Who does not see, in all this, Jehovah acting as a Sove- reign, according to his own will and pleasure, and directing every thing for his own glory ? The Per- sians, over whom this Cyrns was to reign, had an idea that there were two separate and independent powers, represented under the emblems of light and darkness, who were the authors, the one of all good, and the other of all evil. To these they would be ready to ascribe their failure or success. But God told them, beforehand ; " I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I, the Lord, do all these things:" and, consequently, they must give all the glory of their success to him. Then he issues his command to the heavens and the earth to concur with him in this great event, and to produce amongst his people those blissful scenes which he had destined them to enjoy.
In this view, the words before us are, not a prayer, but a prophetic annunciation of an event which should assuredly, in due season, be accomplished. And, in our further explanation of them, I will mark, I. The import of this prophecy —
Its primary reference is to the restoration of the Jews to their own land —
[This is the subject treated of: and to this the words undoubtedly, in the first instance, refer. Certainly, by the decree of Cyrus, the Jewish people would be delivered from most cruel bondage : and, by their re-establishment in their
a ver. 1 — 4. b ver. 13.