You Have a Place at Grace - 5/18/2025

Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped, to subdue nations before him and to loose the belts of kings, to open doors before him that gates may not be closed (Isaiah 44:1).

Isaiah 44:21-45:13 shows God’s promise to unfold events according to His good and gracious will. Despite the chaotic and unpredictable nature of the world, it still exists under the God Who knows when the sparrow falls and the number of hairs on your head. It’s the Lord Who turns the hearts of Kings to use them as instruments for His divine command. Cyrus was one more King in a line of those ruling powerful empires whose lifespans were framed by divine boundaries. He was a subduer of nations whose hand God held to loosen the belts of kings and open gates to territories powerless before God.

Against this backdrop we can read a passage like Matthew 1:18-25 and see again the LORD working through people, only this time it’s not a powerful earthly King but the virgin Mary. God doesn’t rely on the strength of the flesh and needs not temporal Kings to bring forth the One True King ruling on His throne even in the womb. It’s a reversal from what we see in the Old Testament. The God Who uses Kings like Cyrus now uses the lowly virgin in the delicate womb to carry the Christ Who will establish His everlasting Kingdom by blood.

The world still turns under God’s watch, which is a comforting truth alongside the Gospel teaching us that in this world of kings coming and going, nations rising and falling, chaos, pain, suffering, and death, God is good to keep His Word in sending His Son to fulfill His promise of saving sinners. The child in Mary’s womb would do it, showing again God’s faithfulness in keeping His Word to redeem the world which happens only by Jesus’ cross and blood. “It is finished” says Jesus, Who would go to the tomb only to rise on the third day in the glorious resurrection to which we say in all boldness and confidence “He is risen, He is risen indeed, Allelujiah.”

-By Rev. Ryan J. Ogrodowicz, “You Have a Place at Grace,” May 18, 2025

Rev. Ryan J. Ogrodowicz

Grace Lutheran Church - Brenham, Texas

The Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod