“Remember this, fix it in mind,
take it to heart, you rebels.
Remember the former things, those of long ago;
I am God, and there is no other;
I am God, and there is none like me.
I make known the end from the beginning,
from ancient times, what is still to come.
I say: My purpose will stand,
and I will do all that I please.
From the east I summon a bird of prey;
from a far-off land, a man to fulfill my purpose.
What I have said, that will I bring about;
what I have planned, that will I do.
Listen to me, you stubborn-hearted,
you who are far from righteousness.
I am bringing my righteousness near,
it is not far away;
and my salvation will not be delayed.
I will grant salvation to Zion,
my splendor to Israel. (Isaiah 46:8-13)

How long a minute is depends on which side of the bathroom door you’re on. God’s sense of quick bears no resemblance to ours. So we need to have the mind of Christ.

The Persians—modern day Iran—is to the east of Israel. The “bird of prey” from the east, “a man to fulfill my purpose” is none other than Cyrus the Great. In Isaiah 45:1 God referred to Cyrus as his “anointed”—the Hebrew word “messiah.” Their captivity in Babylon would end and God would use Cyrus as the instrument to destroy the Babylonian empire and to set his people free. Isaiah’s prophesy came about a hundred years before it would come to pass, and yet God said that his “righteousness is near” and “my salvation will not be delayed.”

When Isaiah prophesied, the Babylonians hadn’t even yet conquered or attacked Jerusalem. The seventy years of captivity were yet far in the future. Before they even needed salvation from the Babylonians, God was already letting them know that he would save them. From a human standpoint, a hundred years doesn’t seem to be very soon. We become annoyed just waiting a couple of seconds for a web page to come up or two minutes for our food to heat in a microwave. God’s perspective is not nearly as rushed as ours.

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