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Articles 2021-2023
God was coming in judgment upon the nation of Egypt.
The oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and is about to come to Egypt; the idols of Egypt will tremble at His presence (Hebrew, PANIM – His face), and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
When the Scripture refers to the Lord coming on clouds, it is not always making reference to the second coming of Christ. Here we see that God was coming on a cloud to bring judgment and that it would be His presence, His face that would shake Egyptian society to its core. When a nation is living in great sin, politics will not provide the foundational answer to its corroding existence.
Today in our own nation, what is needed is more than simply a political platform with an eloquent leader. We need God’s presence. And even more, we need His face turned toward us. You can be in the same room with someone and totally misread what is in their heart – until they turn around and you see their facial expression. Our Lord coming face–first toward us would indicate His desire to both express clearly what is on His heart for us and then to draw us to respond and come into a face–to–face relationship with Him.
He would strike Egypt in her unity (Isaiah 19:2 - 4)
So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; and they will each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor, city against city and kingdom against kingdom.
When we consider our own nation, we see that God has ridden in on a cloud bringing judgment. The incredible divisions in our society are obvious to everyone. And many cannot see how to fix the problem. But if our divisions have indeed come from the hand of God’s judgment, then the only solution would be that we humble ourselves and ask Him to have mercy.
Egypt’s loss of unity would then be coupled with military defeat.
”Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master, and a mighty king will rule over them,” declares the Lord GOD of hosts.
Egypt went on to experience military defeat first at the hands of the Assyrians (Isaiah 20), then at the hands of Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians (Ezekiel 29 - 30). Again, in our own nation, we who once were seen as almost militarily invincible experienced humiliation in Vietnam, then in Iraq, and more recently in our withdrawal from Afghanistan.
He would strike Egypt in her economy (Isaiah 19:5 - 10)
Egypt’s economy depended on her ability to fish her seas and rivers, to farm her fertile agricultural lands by the Nile river, and to fashion garments in her clothing industry.
The waters from the sea will dry up, and the river will be parched and dry.
And all the sown fields by the Nile will become dry, be driven away, and be no more. And the fishermen will lament, and all those who cast a line into the Nile will mourn,
Moreover, the manufacturers of linen made from combed flax and the weavers of white cloth will be utterly dejected.
And God struck Egypt in her economy. Similarly, America’s was once seen as a wonder of the world. But today, though many may think that our economy is still quite strong, the truth is that it is built on an amazing amount of debt. There is so much of it that few expect it to ever be repaid. So, we accommodate ourselves to simply paying the interest. If we can just keep making interest payments then maybe we can keep muddling along for many years to come. But if rates go up, so then will our cost of servicing our national debt. Hmm.
He would give Egypt foolish leadership (Isaiah 19:11 - 15)
The princes of Zoan are mere fools; the advice of Pharaoh’s wisest advisers has become stupid.
I won’t comment on some of the decisions being made from our White House in these days. Suffice it to say that our response must be to humble ourselves before the Lord and ask Him that in the midst of His judgments, He would remember mercy for our nation.
The result of these three judgments would be that Egypt would become a society plagued by fear.
In that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in dread because of the waving of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which He is going to wave over them.
But the judgments listed above were not God’s final word for Egypt. Is it not amazing that though the Amalekites, Hittites, Amorites, along with many other tribes and nations of the Old Testament have disappeared from view, that Egypt is still right there on the map where it has always been? The reason? The call of God rests upon that nation.
The land of Judah will become a terror to Egypt; everyone to whom it is mentioned will be in dread of it, because of the purpose of the LORD of hosts which He is purposing against them.
Since the days of the Exodus, the entrenched spiritual powers operating behind the scenes and influencing Egyptian society have never been threatened by Judah. But they will be. God’s word has put them on notice. There is coming a day when the Jewish nation will wholly turn back to her God.
In that day five cities in the land of Egypt will be speaking the language of Canaan and swearing allegiance to the LORD of hosts; one will be called the City of Destruction.
Matthew Henry in his commentary on the above verse makes the following observation. That for every five cities that shall embrace religion there shall be one (a sixth part of the cities of Egypt) that shall reject it, and that shall be called a city of destruction, because it refuses the methods of salvation. In other words, five sixths of Egypt’s cities will turn to the Lord. They will speak the language of Canaan – the language by which God revealed Himself among His people, i.e., the language that His prophets spoke, the language of sacred scripture. Egypt would become conversant in the language of Heaven’s revelation. Isaiah’s prophetic word was that massive change would be coming to the Middle East.
In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near its border.
In other words, true public worship will ascend to our God in Egypt from both the center of the nation and from her border areas.
It will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them.
Spiritual oppression in the Middle East is exceedingly powerful – both from the spiritual forces over that region as well as from the people who then enforce population lifestyles to harmonize with those powers. At some point, the cry of the oppressed people will move Heaven, and God will send deliverance. And to be clear, there is only one Savior for mankind – the Lord Jesus Christ. And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved (Acts 4:12). The way that God makes His salvation known among men is by revealing His Savior and Champion for mankind through the preaching of the gospel and through the outpouring of His Holy Spirit.
Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it. The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them.
Egypt will return to the Lord? When did they know Him? The answer is that from the beginning, all of mankind has come from the creative hand of God. Every person alive can trace his roots back to Adam in the Garden of Eden. And because of his sin, all of humanity was born in a fallen spiritual condition and has turned from the living God. In fact, we can say to anybody we meet that if they look back far enough, they will see that their roots are in God. “And it is time to return, to come home.”
In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”
The fulfillment of the above verses seems impossible. Such a large portion of the Middle East becoming a blessing in the midst of the earth? So much of that part of the world is known today for great turmoil and the export of violent religious ideology. But a day is coming when massive numbers of people there will be known as God’s people, the work of His hands, and His inheritance.
Concerning the powers of darkness in the heavens, let us continue to pray the words of the psalmist David –
Let God arise, let His enemies be scattered, and let those who hate Him flee before Him.
Donald Rumble – June 2022
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