Isaiah 19:1-5, 8, 10, 13-14, 18-25

Isaiah 19:1-5, 8, 10, 13-14, 18-25 NIV

A prophecy against Egypt:

See, the Lord rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him, and the hearts of the Egyptians melt with fear.

“I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian— brother will fight against brother, neighbor against neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom. The Egyptians will lose heart, and I will bring their plans to nothing; they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead, the mediums and the spiritists. I will hand the Egyptians over to the power of a cruel master, and a fierce king will rule over them,” declares the Lord, the Lord Almighty.

The waters of the river will dry up, and the riverbed will be parched and dry. The fishermen will groan and lament, all who cast hooks into the Nile; those who throw nets on the water will pine away. The workers in cloth will be dejected, and all the wage earners will be sick at heart.

The officials of Zoan have become fools, the leaders of Memphis are deceived; the cornerstones of her peoples have led Egypt astray. The Lord has poured into them a spirit of dizziness; they make Egypt stagger in all that she does, as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit.

In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty. One of them will be called the City of the Sun. In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border. It will be a sign and witness to the Lord Almighty in the land of Egypt. When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them.

So the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the Lord. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the Lord and keep them. The Lord will strike Egypt with a plague; he will strike them and heal them. They will turn to the Lord, and he will respond to their pleas and heal them.

In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

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The prophecy concerning Egypt I in Isaiah 19 is remarkable. Few places in the Bible reveal God's compassion for other countries beyond Israel. This chapter shows how God cares about nations that are at war with one another.

The prophet predicts that Egypt will be subdued by Assyria. Of course the prophet uses powerful imagery to communicate this message. The Egyptians, who've suffered Yahweh's wrath before during the exodus, tremble with fear at the coming of the Lord. The coming of the Lord is in the form of the armies of Assyria. There will be civil strife because of their fear and anxiety. They will look for answers in their idols and spiritual mediums, but to no avail. They will fall to the power of a cruel king of Assyria.

In addition to civil conflict within Egypt, the prophets sees crop failure and drought as the Nile River dries up. Fish disappear and plants die. Cloth makers have no supplies to spin. And the leading officials continue to consult mediums and magicians, taking Egypt headlong into disaster. For their idolatry and other sins, God is reproaching Egypt.

The good news is that the prophet foresees Egypt turning to faith in the God of Israel. There will be an altar built to honor Yahweh in Egypt and a shrine on their borders with Israel. Both Egypt and Assyria will worship with Israel under one God.

What a beautiful vision! There's a open road coming between enemies. No more war and no more hostility. When they submit to the authority of Yahweh, the Lord of heaven and earth, they become brothers in a global family.

There are synagogues and churches in Egypt and Iraq today where these ancient empires once ruled. Mosques cover the Middle East honoring the God of Abraham. Yet peace does not exist between Jews and Arabs everywhere. The hostility is not fundamentally the cause of religion. It's about grudge, pride and tribalism. These passions are fueled with religious ideas on all sides, but these ideas are very narrow and selected only to support an already hostile posture toward one another.

God holds no such hostility. He uses war for God own purposes, to turn hearts toward Him, to establish Himself as the indisputable sovereign among nations. God's vision is for all nations to come together in peace and humility before Him. One day this vision will find its ultimate expression. All the people of earth will lay down their arms and attack disease, ignorance and poverty instead of each other. Crime will fade away and righteousness will prevail.

I look forward to the day when Washington and Baghdad, London and Tehran, Paris and Islamabad, Jerusalem and Damascus all build an open road under their mutual adherence to the love of God. Then blessings will come like those promised to Egypt and Assyria so long ago.

Isaiah 19:24-25 NIV

In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”

May all our nations become a blessing to the world and to the name of God.