Treasures of Darkness

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The article explains the meaning of this phrase which I have selected to entitle my blog.

	Thus says the LORD to Cyrus His anointed, Whom I have taken by the right hand, To subdue nations before him And to loose the loins of kings; To open doors before him so that gates will not be shut:
	"I will go before you and make the rough places smooth; I will shatter the doors of bronze and cut through their iron bars.
	"I will give you the treasures of darkness And hidden wealth of secret places, So that you may know that it is I, The LORD, the God of Israel, who calls you by your name. Isaiah 45:1-3

This passage is the announcement to Cyrus by the Lord, that he has been called by God to do great things. This announcement states that Cyrus is to accomplish things on Lord’s behalf, to act as His anointed one, called to do God's work here on earth and that God would go before him and empower him to do things that, without His help, would otherwise be impossible. God promises things such to Cyrus as cutting through iron bars as though they were butter and smashing barricades made of bronze. God makes the impossible happen and the difficult easy. And the benefit to Cyrus, King of Persia was that God granted him “treasures of darkness and the wealth of secret places.” While these phrases are beautifully poetic and intriguing…the center column in my NASB Bible gives this alternative wording to the phrase, “Treasures of Darkness”… It calls it “hoarded treasure.” This immediately clears up some of the mystery--and the confusion--that the phrase elicits.

Evidently, in the acquisition of new nations, the overcomers between warring nations became the new owner of all of the hoarded, treasured riches of these conquered countries. . All of the collected tax money from their peoples became the conquerors as well. Now while some of the mystery is eliminated from this phrase, the beauty of the concept glistens with new meaning as we now can understand what God was saying to Cyrus in this prophecy. And because, as is usually the case in Old Testament prophecies: the fulfillment would take place then in their lifetime, later in the lives of God’s people, and sometimes also in the last days on earth as Israel begins to live out her true role in history and in the world’s eyes.

So what does this prophecy mean to us NOW as God’s people?

God is stating benefits here to us as individuals that we also can claim, because the New Testament states that we all have a calling before God. These callings are general and apply to all of God’s Children…they basically come with the package…and they are specific and apply to us on an individual basis. God has called you. He has called me. And these calling are to accomplish specific tasks and to live out and to use individual gifts that He’s given us for the benefit of His Kingdom.

So now, we should begin to overcome our disappointment that arose as the mystery was lifted once we understood these poetic phrases….because they mean something WONDERFUL to you and to me. They mean that God has promised us that one day, all of the riches of creation which Satan has stolen from God, will be returned. Not only returned to God, but returned to YOU and to ME. We will inherit positions of rulership and ownership in the New Earth. And if you’ve ever felt cheated because, as you look around, you see that frequently the most evil people have the greatest wealth… in this passage, God promises that one day this will not be the case. What once belonged to us as God’s children, will be returned to us…and more than that also. Paul says that the good things which await us will be pressed down, packed down, and running over…

And does this passage have any relevance to our lives now? I think it definitely does. I believe God is saying that He is bigger and stronger than any difficulty that we face; that He is holding us by the hand and faces these difficulties with us; and also that anything that is binding us, holding us back and keeping us from being effective in our lives,are things that can be overcome in His mighty power…This includes things like bad relationships; emotional and physical disabilities; habits that we cannot overcome;...anything that keeps us from being all that we should be in Christ will one day be removed under this promise.

Why will God do these things?? So that we are free to fulfill the calling which He has bestowed upon us as His children. God has a special thing that He wants you to do in your life…it is a job which only you can do and for which God has specially gifted and equipped you. But the enemy of your soul has a goal too. And that is to keep you from carrying out that which God wants you to do. And he will try to bind you …with habits and addictions, with mental and emotional “baggage” and bondage, with circumstantial difficulty and opposition, with sickness and physical weakness. And on and on it can go. But here, God promise that, no matter what Satan comes up with to throw at you, God is stronger and He will see to it that you are equipped and able to accomplish that which He’s given you to do…

AND HERE’S THE GOOD PART: for your trouble, you will receive the rewards and treasures which Satan was hoping to hoard for himself. Long ago, Satan was in a position of power in God’s Kingdom…and therefore, he was also in a position of intimacy with the Almighty God….and I believe that this position is wonderful and desirable for anyone who happens to experience it. Satan lost that position. He is now an enemy of God and he knows that there is no going back for him because Angels do not experience the benefits of redemption that God has provided for mankind. So Satan once treasured this, he lost it. And now he hates you and I because he knows that we have it and eventually will experience the full power and delight of what he once enjoyed.

This is the TREASURE OF DARKNESS. It is the treasure that the enemies of God once had, that will be given over to the beloved of God whom He has called to receive it.