Presence of Absence

05/29/25 • 49 min

In Isaiah, Cyrus the Great emerges as a unique figure chosen by the God of Israel to fulfill a specific historical task: the rebuilding of the Jerusalem temple and the liberation of the Judahites from exile in Babylon in direct fulfillment of the prophecy spoken by Jeremiah.

Cyrus’s rise to power is depicted not as a product of his strength but as the result of God stirring his spirit and granting him authority over all nations.

God bestows upon Cyrus exceptional titles: “my shepherd,” a nomadic-pastoral, Bedouin-styled function typical of prophetic literature, signifying his role in guiding the people of Israel back to God’s land, and “my anointed,” indicating a special divine commissioning that parallels, though does not equal, the messianic expectations normally associated with Israelite kings.

Through Cyrus’s conquests, especially the subjugation of Babylon, the Lord demonstrates his universal sovereignty, demonstrating to all nations that he alone is the Unipolar Hegemon that directs the course of history and holds ultimate authority over the kingdoms of the earth.

While Cyrus plays a pivotal role as a pawn on God’s political chessboard, Isaiah carefully distinguishes him from the Slave of the Lord.

The Slave—often wrongly identified with Israel itself—points to a future messianic figure who carries a broader, more enduring mission: to establish justice, bring light to the nations, and embody God’s ultimate purpose. Unlike Cyrus, whose mission is temporal and political, the Slave’s work is a universal call to the path of the Lord, extending beyond the restoration of Jerusalem to the transformation of the human race.

Thus, Isaiah presents Cyrus as a divinely appointed instrument for a limited, though critical, historical role. At the same time, the Slave of the Lord stands as the ultimate fulfillment of God’s plan of victory and liberation for his people and the entire world.

Then, in Luke, the Slave landed on the beaches of the Gerasenes.

Everything I do, I do for the Slave.

This week, I discuss Luke 8:29.

Show Notes

παραγγέλλω (parangellō)

order, summon, command, send a message

שׁ-מ-ע (shin-mem-ayin) / س-م-ع (sīn-mīm-ʿayn)
- hear, submit!
  - 1 Samuel 15:4 - Saul, Israel’s first king, asserts his leadership by gathering a vast army (200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah) to fulfill a divine command: to destroy the Amalekites utterly. Centralized, royal power at its peak.
  - 1 Samuel 23:8 - Saul, now insecure in his power, redirects his military might to pursue David at Keilah, driven by jealousy and fear of losing his throne.
  - 1 Kings 15:22 - King Asa commands all of Judah to dismantle Baasha’s fortifications at Ramah and repurpose them to fortify Geba and Mizpah. Asa’s leadership is pragmatic and defensive, focused on security rather than prophetic utterances.
  - Jeremiah 26:14 (LXX) - Jeremiah stands alone before religious and political leaders, “I am in your hands; do with me as seems good and right to you.” Luke’s lexical itinerary at Decapolis follows the biblical storyline, shifting from the king’s authority to the prophet’s vulnerability.
  - Jeremiah 27:29 (LXX) - Jeremiah warns Judah that resisting Babylon will only bring destruction; the people must submit to Babylon’s yoke as God’s instrument of judgment.
  - Jeremiah 28:27 (LXX) - The theme of the yoke—submission to Babylon’s dominion—continues. This reinforces the prophet’s earlier warning that Judah’s fate is sealed unless they accept God’s judgment.
ע-ב-ר (ʿayin-bet-resh) / ع-ب-ر (ʿayn-bāʼ-rāʼ)
- pull along, pass through, pass by, go your way; consistent with nomadic pastoral or shepherd life
  - 2 Chronicles 36:22 - This verse marks the beginning of the return from exile. It records that in the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord moved his heart to make a proclamation allowing the exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. This aligns with the prophecy of Jeremiah being fulfilled — God’s promise to bring his people back from captivity after seventy years.
  - Ezra 1:1 - This verse parallels 2 Chronicles 36:22. It highlights that in the first year of King Cyrus of Persia’s reign, God stirred his spirit to make a decree throughout his kingdom allowing the Judeans to return and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, again, fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah.
- In Arabic, this root carries various functions, including “to cross,” “to pass over,” “to interpret,” or “to take a lesson.”
- - عُبُور (ʿubūr) crossing
  - مَعْبَر (maʿbar) crossing place
  - تَعْبِير (taʿbīr) expres...

Cyrus’s rise to power is depicted not as a product of his strength but as the result of God stirring his spirit and granting him authority over all nations.

While Cyrus plays a pivotal role as a pawn on God’s political chessboard, Isaiah carefully distinguishes him from the Slave of the Lord.

Then, in Luke, the Slave landed on the beaches of the Gerasenes.

Everything I do, I do for the Slave.

This week, I discuss Luke 8:29.

Show Notes

παραγγέλλω (parangellō)

order, summon, command, send a message

שׁ-מ-ע (shin-mem-ayin) / س-م-ع (sīn-mīm-ʿayn)
- hear, submit!
  - 1 Samuel 15:4 - Saul, Israel’s first king, asserts his leadership by gathering a vast army (200,000 foot soldiers and 10,000 men of Judah) to fulfill a divine command: to destroy the Amalekites utterly. Centralized, royal power at its peak.
  - 1 Samuel 23:8 - Saul, now insecure in his power, redirects his military might to pursue David at Keilah, driven by jealousy and fear of losing his throne.
  - 1 Kings 15:22 - King Asa commands all of Judah to dismantle Baasha’s fortifications at Ramah and repurpose them to fortify Geba and Mizpah. Asa’s leadership is pragmatic and defensive, focused on security rather than prophetic utterances.
  - Jeremiah 26:14 (LXX) - Jeremiah stands alone before religious and political leaders, “I am in your hands; do with me as seems good and right to you.” Luke’s lexical itinerary at Decapolis follows the biblical storyline, shifting from the king’s authority to the prophet’s vulnerability.
  - Jeremiah 27:29 (LXX) - Jeremiah warns Judah that resisting Babylon will only bring destruction; the people must submit to Babylon’s yoke as God’s instrument of judgment.
  - Jeremiah 28:27 (LXX) - The theme of the yoke—submission to Babylon’s dominion—continues. This reinforces the prophet’s earlier warning that Judah’s fate is sealed unless they accept God’s judgment.
ע-ב-ר (ʿayin-bet-resh) / ع-ب-ر (ʿayn-bāʼ-rāʼ)
- pull along, pass through, pass by, go your way; consistent with nomadic pastoral or shepherd life
  - 2 Chronicles 36:22 - This verse marks the beginning of the return from exile. It records that in the first year of King Cyrus of Persia, the Lord moved his heart to make a proclamation allowing the exiles to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the Temple. This aligns with the prophecy of Jeremiah being fulfilled — God’s promise to bring his people back from captivity after seventy years.
  - Ezra 1:1 - This verse parallels 2 Chronicles 36:22. It highlights that in the first year of King Cyrus of Persia’s reign, God stirred his spirit to make a decree throughout his kingdom allowing the Judeans to return and rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, again, fulfilling the prophecy of Jeremiah.
- In Arabic, this root carries various functions, including “to cross,” “to pass over,” “to interpret,” or “to take a lesson.”
- - عُبُور (ʿubūr) crossing
  - مَعْبَر (maʿbar) crossing place
  - تَعْبِير (taʿbīr) expres...

Previous Episode

Join the Rebellion

People choose personal relationships and personal fulfillment over duty. Most often, they place the latter ahead of the former, which is why you see all these ridiculous posts on social media about “toxic relationships.”

It’s a big joke.

I live among people who do not inhabit the same reality as I do.

It used to frustrate me, but now I smile and move on, knowing that most people are not willing to make hard choices. They—and those who enable them—form Caesar’s political base.

The blind leading the blind.

Scripture has taught me, the hard way, that I have no right to judge.

Neither do others, yet we all persist in doing so.

All of you should watch the Star Wars series Andor in full—it’s just two seasons—and then watch Rogue One, and you’ll understand what the writers of the New Testament were doing in the shadows of “empire.”

Unlike the arrogant cowards sitting on the Rebel Council at Yavin IV, the biblical writers weren’t building anything new to replace Rome or Jerusalem. They had no secret plans for a “new” Republic. The gospel was not a hero’s journey or a strategy for institution-building under the protection of a solipsistic Jedi order, nor was it fighting for “freedom.” It was, however, about hope, against all hope.

Rehear Galatians.

The New Testament ends where it begins—with the sword of instruction wandering the earth in God’s broad encampment, moving from place to place with an urgent message of permanent, perpetual rebellion:

“Caesar is not the king!”

Long before Paul, Jeremiah, too, had joined the Rebellion. He understood the price. Jeremiah was not James Dean. You cannot be a rebel unless you have a cause. Unless, of course, you, like most Americans I know, want to remain a teenager for the rest of your life.

Adults, however, have to make a choice:

“Cursed be the day when I was born; Let the day not be blessed when my mother bore me! Cursed be the man who brought the news to my father, saying, ‘A baby boy has been born to you,’ and made him very happy.”
(Jeremiah 20:14-15)

This much I know:

“Everything I do, I do for the Rebellion.”

This week, I discuss Luke 8:28.

Show Notes

ἀνακράζω (anakrazō) / ק-ר-א (qof–resh–aleph ) / ق-ر-أ (qāf–rāʾ–hamza )

Cry out. Read aloud.

“When the three units blew the trumpets and broke the pitchers, they held the torches in their left hands and the trumpets in their right hands for blowing, and shouted, ‘A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!’” (Judges 7:20)

Gideon’s story is part of the cyclical narrative structure that characterizes the Book of Judges. In this recurring pattern, Israel turns away from God and does evil, prompting God to give them into the hands of their enemies. In their suffering, the people cry out to God, who then raises up a deliverer—a judge—to rescue them. This deliverance brings a period of temporary peace until the cycle begins again. In the case of Gideon, Israel is oppressed by the Midianites. God chooses Gideon to lead a small and unlikely force, emphasizing that the victory is not the result of human strength but a demonstration of the Lord’s power and faithfulness.

“Then he cried out in my hearing with a loud voice, saying, ‘Come forward, you executioners of the city, each with his weapon of destruction in his hand!’” (Ezekiel 9:1 )

In Ezekiel 8–11, the prophet is shown a vision of the abominations taking place in the Jerusalem temple, including idolatry, injustice, and ritual defilement. As a result of this widespread corruption, the glory of God departs from the temple. In chapter 9, the vision shifts from exposing sin to executing judgment. God summons six angelic executioners, each carrying a weapon and a seventh figure dressed in linen holding a writing kit. This scribe is instructed to mark the foreheads of those who mourn over the city’s sins, while the others are commanded to kill the rest without mercy, beginning at the defiled sanctuary.

“So the angel who was speaking with me said to me, “Proclaim, saying, ‘This is what the Lord of armies says: ‘I am exceedingly jealous for Jerusalem and Zion.’” (Zechariah 1:14 )

προσπίπτω (prospiptō ) / נ-פ-ל (nun-fe-lamed ) / ن-ف-ل (nun-fa-lam )

Fall upon, at, against; become known.

“Then Esau ran to meet him and embraced him, and fell (יִּפֹּ֥ל yiffōlʹ) on his neck and kissed him, and they wept.” (Genesis 33:4)

“And Esther spake yet again before the king, and fell (תִּפֹּ֖ל tiffōl) down at his feet, and besought him with tears to put away the mischief of Haman the Agagite, and his device that he had devised against the Jews.” (Esther 8:3)

Esau suffered the consequences of tribal betrayal and familial treachery; Esther and her people faced annihilation ...