Single lesson
Isaiah 45: God Calls Cyrus
Isaiah 45:1–25
Isaiah 45:1–25 names Cyrus, yet the passage keeps turning our attention to Yahweh. It explains why Yahweh uses this ruler, asserts his unique rule, rebukes resistance to the Maker, and calls the world to salvation.
Before you teach
The passage begins with Yahweh addressing Cyrus and promising to act before him. It then explains that this serves Jacob and Israel and shows Yahweh’s uniqueness. From there, the prophecy teaches about Yahweh as Creator, exposes idols that cannot save, and summons all nations to look to him.
Explain the central teaching of Isaiah 45: God Calls Cyrus, using two details from the reading. Isaiah 45 teaches that Yahweh alone is God, Creator and Saviour, so the right response is to trust him rather than idols or human power.
Welcome: Isaiah 45: God Calls Cyrus
5 minIntroduce “God Calls Cyrus” and locate Isaiah 45:1–25. Isaiah 45 teaches that Yahweh alone is God, Creator and Saviour, so the right response is to trust him rather than idols or human power. Invite each learner to name a detail or question they will listen for.
Isaiah 45:1, Isaiah 45:13, Isaiah 45:25
Read and explain the passage
12 minYahweh calls Cyrus “his anointed” and says he will go before him, open gates, and give hidden riches. The stated purpose is not Cyrus’s greatness. Yahweh acts for Jacob and Israel, and so people may know that Yahweh, the God of Israel, is the one who calls and strengthens.
The warning against striving with the Maker uses the picture of clay questioning the potter. Yahweh then answers as Creator, saying he made the earth, humanity, and the heavens. He also says he raised up the one who will build his city and let his exiles go free without payment.
Nations are pictured confessing that God is with his people, yet verse 15 calls him “a God who has hidden yourself”. Idol-makers end in confusion, but Israel is saved by Yahweh. The passage closes with a public call: idols cannot save, but all the ends of the earth are invited to look to Yahweh and be saved.
Read the selected verses together, pausing at “God Calls Cyrus”. Use the source reading below and check the explanation against the words of the passage.
Isaiah 45:1, Isaiah 45:2, Isaiah 45:3, Isaiah 45:4, Isaiah 45:5, Isaiah 45:6, Isaiah 45:9, Isaiah 45:10, Isaiah 45:11, Isaiah 45:12, Isaiah 45:13, Isaiah 45:14, Isaiah 45:15, Isaiah 45:16, Isaiah 45:17, Isaiah 45:18, Isaiah 45:19, Isaiah 45:20, Isaiah 45:21, Isaiah 45:22, Isaiah 45:23, Isaiah 45:24, Isaiah 45:25
Discuss the details and their meaning
8 minUse the three questions below. Begin with “Why does Yahweh say he called and strengthened Cyrus?” and allow time to find the supporting verses. Isaiah 45 teaches that Yahweh alone is God, Creator and Saviour, so the right response is to trust him rather than idols or human power. Ask learners to explain which details support their answer and to identify a question they would like to explore further.
Isaiah 45:4, Isaiah 45:5, Isaiah 45:6, Isaiah 45:9, Isaiah 45:12, Isaiah 45:20, Isaiah 45:21, Isaiah 45:22
Make and respond: Vision and message evidence map
12 minWork on “Isaiah 45: God Calls Cyrus: Vision and message evidence map”. Follow the materials and steps below, using “God Calls Cyrus” as reading headings. Each learner should include at least two accurate details and their verse references. Share one observation from the finished sheet and explain how it connects with the central teaching.
Isaiah 45:1, Isaiah 45:13, Isaiah 45:25
Closing: return to God Calls Cyrus
3 minRevisit Isaiah 45:1–25. Invite a learner to summarise what the group has learned about God Calls Cyrus and another to support the summary with a verse. Give learners a moment to complete their response sheet. They can share a question or, if appropriate for the group, join the optional prayer.
Isaiah 45:1, Isaiah 45:13, Isaiah 45:25
Questions to explore
Why does Yahweh say he called and strengthened Cyrus?
Look for the two stated reasons: one concerns Jacob and Israel, and one concerns what people everywhere should know about Yahweh.
Isaiah 45:4, Isaiah 45:5, Isaiah 45:6
How do the clay and Maker images explain the warning in this passage?
Connect the picture of clay questioning the potter with Yahweh’s claim that he made the earth, humanity, and the heavens.
Isaiah 45:9, Isaiah 45:12
What contrast does the passage make between idols and Yahweh?
Compare the carved image that cannot save with Yahweh’s invitation to all the ends of the earth.
Isaiah 45:20, Isaiah 45:21, Isaiah 45:22
Make, think or respond
Isaiah 45: God Calls Cyrus: Vision and message evidence map
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pencils or pens
- a Bible or the source reading on this page
Try it together
- Fold a sheet into three panels or draw three columns. Label them “What the passage describes”, “What is explained in the text”, “What question remains”.
- Read Isaiah 45:1–25. Use “God Calls Cyrus” as your reading headings and add a short quotation or detail with its verse reference to each panel.
- Compare your notes with a partner. Check that every quotation is accurate and every conclusion has support in the passage.
- Circle an explanation the passage itself provides. Leave unexplained details as questions for further reading.
The finished sheet keeps the details of Isaiah 45: God Calls Cyrus connected to their Bible references and gives the group a way to explain what they noticed.
Adapt for your group
- For learners who need more support, prepare the reading headings “God Calls Cyrus” and let them match short quotations to the correct heading.
- For confident readers, compare two sections of Isaiah 45:1–25. Ask for a written explanation with two supporting references and one question that the text leaves open.
An optional closing prayer
“God, help us listen carefully as we read Isaiah 45:1–25. Help us understand what we have read, ask thoughtful questions and respond with care for others. Amen.”
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
Isaiah 45
1 Yahweh says to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have held to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their armor, to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
2 “I will go before you and make the rough places smooth. I will break the doors of bronze in pieces and cut apart the bars of iron.
3 I will give you the treasures of darkness and hidden riches of secret places, that you may know that it is I, Yahweh, who calls you by your name, even the God of Israel.
4 For Jacob my servant’s sake, and Israel my chosen, I have called you by your name. I have given you a title, though you have not known me.
5 I am Yahweh, and there is no one else. Besides me, there is no God. I will strengthen you, though you have not known me,
6 that they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is no one besides me. I am Yahweh, and there is no one else.
7 I form the light and create darkness. I make peace and create calamity. I am Yahweh, who does all these things.
8 Rain, you heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open, that it may produce salvation, and let it cause righteousness to spring up with it. I, Yahweh, have created it.
9 Woe to him who strives with his Maker— a clay pot among the clay pots of the earth! Shall the clay ask him who fashions it, ‘What are you making?’ or your work, ‘He has no hands’?
10 Woe to him who says to a father, ‘What have you become the father of?’ or to a mother, ‘What have you given birth to?’ ”
11 Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel and his Maker says: “You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands!
12 I have made the earth, and created man on it. I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens. I have commanded all their army.
13 I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will make all his ways straight. He shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward,” says Yahweh of Armies.
14 Yahweh says: “The labor of Egypt, and the merchandise of Ethiopia, and the Sabeans, men of stature, will come over to you, and they will be yours. They will go after you. They shall come over in chains. They will bow down to you. They will make supplication to you: ‘Surely God is in you; and there is no one else. There is no other god.
15 Most certainly you are a God who has hidden yourself, God of Israel, the Savior.’ ”
16 They will be disappointed, yes, confounded, all of them. Those who are makers of idols will go into confusion together.
17 Israel will be saved by Yahweh with an everlasting salvation. You will not be disappointed nor confounded to ages everlasting.
18 For Yahweh who created the heavens, the God who formed the earth and made it, who established it and didn’t create it a waste, who formed it to be inhabited says: “I am Yahweh. There is no other.
19 I have not spoken in secret, in a place of the land of darkness. I didn’t say to the offspring of Jacob, ‘Seek me in vain.’ I, Yahweh, speak righteousness. I declare things that are right.
20 “Assemble yourselves and come. Draw near together, you who have escaped from the nations. Those have no knowledge who carry the wood of their engraved image, and pray to a god that can’t save.
21 Declare and present it. Yes, let them take counsel together. Who has shown this from ancient time? Who has declared it of old? Haven’t I, Yahweh? There is no other God besides me, a just God and a Savior. There is no one besides me.
22 “Look to me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.
23 I have sworn by myself. The word has gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and will not be revoked, that to me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall take an oath.
24 They will say of me, ‘There is righteousness and strength only in Yahweh.’ ” Even to him will men come. All those who raged against him will be disappointed.
25 All the offspring of Israel will be justified in Yahweh, and will rejoice!
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.