Trump, Cyrus and US!

The U. S. Presidential Elections is just a few days away! Certain Bible Teachers have compared one of the candidates, Donald Trump, to a king the Bible talks about: Cyrus. Is Donald Trump a God-sent, present-day Cyrus? We don’t know. Only time will tell. Let’s keep aside vain speculation! Here are some practical lessons for today’s believers from this little-known Bible character the world is presently talking about – Cyrus. These lessons are wrapped around an acronym after his very name: C-Y-R-U-S:

C- The lesson about CORRECTNESS when it comes to Bible Prophecy. Let us not forget that Prophet Isaiah lived in the period before the time North Israel was conquered by Assyria (722 BC) and the time the Southern Israel (Judah) was exiled to Babylon (586 BC). But he predicted that a certain Cyrus would help Judean exiles to get back to Judah’s capital Jerusalem – a stunning two hundred years BEFORE Cyrus was even born, even before Judah went to Babylon for a 70-year exile (Isa. 44:28; 45:1). Wow! What a testimony this is for the amazing prophetic accuracy of the Bible! We could include incredible information like this in our coffee-table conversations with non-believers and thereby sow seeds of the Gospel in their lives.

Y -The lesson about YAHWEH’S uniqueness. King Cyrus, as we learn from the archaeologists-discovered “Cyrus Cylinder” (in 1879) worshipped many gods. Stuart Briscoe writes, “Although Cyrus worshipped Persian gods (being a Persian king) when he entered Babylon, he began to worship the local gods there, especially Marduk…Moreover Cyrus sought to re-establish religions devastated by Babylon (whose empire he took over in 539 BC).” You can see the pluralist in Cyrus here. One possible way we can attempt to bring-up the uniqueness of Jesus is to say to our pluralistic pals, this: “In all other faiths, the blood flows from man to God. But ONLY in the Christian faith, the blood flows from God to man. God-in-flesh, Christ Jesus, voluntarily shed his blood for us to save us from a living hell and a literal hell.”

R-The lesson about REDEMPTION. Spirit of the Reformation Study Bible notes that God calls the pagan king Cyrus as the shepherd for his people (Isa 44:28), His anointed one (45:1), the one whom He raised up (45:13), a bird of prey from the east to do His purpose (46:11) and His chosen ally against Babylon (48:11). Yes, Yahweh used Cyrus to release the Judean captives in Babylon, after conquering it. But the fact that God used him to serve His purposes did not save Cyrus or ensure that he would go to heaven. It may be said that for Cyrus, Yahweh was “the God of Heaven” (Ezra 1:2) but not “the God of Salvation”! If God is using us – in the ministry of ushering, worship-leading, preaching, leading, etc., – let us praise God! But the things we do – including acts of ministry – cannot save us! What saves us is this: repentance from sin and the placing of our personal trust in Christ (Rom. 2:5; 10:9)!

U-The lesson about UNIFICATION. While it was wrong for Cyrus to worship as many gods as possible, it was not wrong for him to seek the unification and the harmonious living together of the different types of people he ruled, by advocating a doctrine of peace. This doctrine of Cyrus reminds me of the biblical admonition: “If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone” (Rom. 12:18). Let us work together with fellow believers from different backgrounds in our local church to actively build God’s Kingdom – especially when it comes to key God-given tasks like evangelism and missions!

S-The Lesson about SHARING. King Cyrus shared with the returning exiles the precious plunder when King Nebuchadnezzar had taken from the temple of the Lord in Jerusalem (Ezra 1:7). He also issued a decree that the certain expenses of rebuilding the Jerusalem temple be paid from the king’s treasury (Ezra 6:4). Let’s not forget this act of giving for the Lord’s work was coming from a pagan king! What a lesson this is for believers! Our righteousness must exceed that of the Pharisees (or shall we say pagans?), Jesus told us (Matt. 5:20). We must give to the Lord and His Work cheerfully (2 Cor. 9:7). We must give what costs us (2 Sam. 24:24).

Regardless of the Donald Trump connection, we have much to learn from Cyrus, as we just saw, don’t we?