Ethiopia, Egypt and Iraq (Part C)

When he talks about they will make a sacrifice, that's the language. What else was he supposed to say in that day? He couldn't say to them, Messiah is going to come and there will be no more sacrifices.

That will be it. And how would he even begin to articulate that? We have to get the Old Testament together and look at the history of the Gospels and we get it. But imagine not having the Gospels.

How could you communicate these things? That's why some of the language in the Old Testament is limited to their understanding of worship at the Tabernacle of Moses. Now here's Pastor Rick in Isaiah chapter 20 with this edition of Cross Reference Radio. Again, likely in the Great Tribulation period when these things really come into play. Because again, whenever you think about the survivors of the Great Tribulation, remember what Jesus said, such as the world is never known.

The global catastrophes will just be off the chart. Verse 11, surely the princes of Zoan are fools. Pharaoh's wise counselors give foolish counsel. How do you say to Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?

Where are they? Verse 12, where are your wise men? Let them tell you now and let them know that Yahweh of hosts has purposed against Egypt. So again, that element in Jerusalem that's looking to these wise men and so impressed with Egypt, the prophet comes along and he's the naysayer in the party. He's, you know, the party pooper. He comes in and says, well, those guys aren't going to help you.

It's going to be a failure. Verse 13, the princes of Zoan have become fools. The princes of Noth are deceived. They have also deluded Egypt, those who are the mainstay of its tribes.

And again, here's a prophet that spoke so well about Yahweh and morality, that first chapter of Isaiah. What could they say against him that made any sense? There's nothing you could say, well, Isaiah, you know, his fingernails grow too long, you know.

There's nothing really they could say against him. Verse 14, Yahweh has mingled a perverse spirit in their heart, in their midst, and they have caused Egypt to err in all her work as a drunken man staggers in his vomit. Verse 15, neither will there be any work for Egypt, which the head or the tail, palm branch or bulrush may do. Well, what he says, the Lord has mingled a perverse spirit in her midst.

Scripture language, that's it. God frequently has said to have caused that which he permits. If he permits, you find you want to be, you know, you want to be stubborn like a mule?

I'm going to let you be that. And then when the consequences call out, he calls them in advance. Well, God did that. No, he did not. He let it happen. And he controlled it. If anything, if you say, well, he did let, you know, he turned them over to their own passions and lusts. Yeah, he controls.

But the initiation is with the individual, not with God. God did not say to Judas, you know, I see your cute little boy, you know, in the family, but I'm going to make you a betrayer of the Son of God. Lord gave Judas every chance.

He put him on his staff. He gave him every chance in front of everybody. And look what Judas did with it. And the Lord knew he was going to do it, but he didn't make Judas do it. But he controlled it.

He controlled all of it. And Judas was baptizing people and doing miracles. So, when you see, you know, the news, you know, they salivate over when a pastor gets in trouble. Soul news happens, grow up.

Not that it's good, not at all condoning it, but just be sensible. Well, Isaiah, he knows how to paint a word picture very successfully. And he says, it will get ugly. You're going to be like a bunch of drunk men in that language, you know, slipping and sliding in your own vomit. I mean, this is bad stuff, Isaiah.

What are you thinking about? He says, well, I'm creative today. And God did. He destroyed everything that the Egyptians trusted. When he talks about the head, the tail, the palm, he used this language in chapter 9, and he's saying your political unity, your economy, your religion, your wisdom, it's all going to fall apart when the Assyrians show up. Verse 16, in that day, Egypt will be like a woman and will be afraid and fear because of the waving of the hand of Yahweh of hosts, which he waves over it. Now, of course, you picture an ancient city, and all the men are out to war, and yet another group of men come into that town, and there's no defense.

Of course, they're going to be vulnerable and panic-stricken. But for Isaiah to word it this way to present Egypt, they would have been quite insulted at that comparison. Well, he's not pulling punches. Again, in that day, verse 16, the first of six of them, he uses 44 of them in his writings, more than anybody else in the Bible, because he sees into the future.

Well, that's not worded right. He doesn't see into the future. God shows him the future. We have to make sure that we understand anything this prophet saw was because God gave it to him.

And he didn't put, you know, line-up chicken bones in a certain direction on a certain day and then guess about if a person was a large or a medium. All right, you say, stop making fun of other religions. No, they do it to me. A childish response. Look, you know, if it's true and it's not meant maliciously, you have a choice. If you're on that bad team, if you're a Mormon, change teams. Confess with the Lord Jesus and realize that the guy with the glasses who saw into the—all right, Joseph Smith, you know, he got these good glasses, and he puts them on, and it's reruns of Abbott and Costello in 3D. A lot of archaeologists have searched for the things he's said and not even close.

In the Bible, they're running out of space to put the things they find in the scripture. They, you know, mocking, well, there's no record of any Pontius Pilate. Then he finds a stone, Pontius Pilate, governor.

He's like, okay, well, all right, how about this guy? Who? Edgar McGillicuddy. Well, he's not in the Bible.

Yeah, but you haven't found his name anywhere. Anyway, verse 19. In the land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt. Everyone who makes mention of it will be afraid of himself because of the counsel of Yahweh of hosts, which he has determined against it.

Now, this has already happened. Mark Gabriel's book, I like it. I like, you know, you don't need to read 20 books on this topic. He does an excellent job, and he opens up with, when he was a child in Egypt, how much fear and hatred they had of Israel and how much the fear of they were going to be attacked any day. And it was never the case. When Israel attacked Egypt, it was in response and retaliation. It was never initiated by Israel. And my point is, the prophet is saying the land of Judah will be a terror to Egypt. Well, that has been fulfilled, and probably other times in history too, but this is one that's very recent. So if you want to look for, there are quite a few books out there on Islam and the mentality of it that don't get enough air time. Philistine is another one. I don't know if we still have that one.

It gives you just a solid education on what you're dealing with without having to read volumes over and over. Anyway, vast numbers of Muslims will come to Christianity, will be saved in the great tribulation period. Verse 18. In that day, five cities in the land of Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear by Yahweh of hosts, one will be called the city of destruction.

So this is end times. The time is going to come where there are going to be converts in Egypt, in these five cities that he's singling out. One of them he calls the city of destruction. Now he's probably taking a jab at the city of the sun. They worshiped the sun, the Egyptians, it was one of their main gods.

And he's coming along and saying, well, I'm going to change. And they were notorious, these Jewish historians were notorious. Jezebel was probably not her real name. They changed it to be an insult. Antiochus of Epith, they just did it with a lot of them.

Anyhow, coming back to this, fear turns them to repentance and repentance to deliverance because this submission to God brings his compassion. And he is poetically saying, you're going to speak the language of Canaan. Well, what's the language of Canaan? It's the Jewish language.

It's the Hebrew language. He's being, again, poetic. He's mixing up his writing so he's not boring his audience with repetitive language.

And that's why writers do it. Some of you know about Shelby Fort. He's dead now. If you have ever watched Ken Burns' series on the Civil War, which I recommend everybody watch, I wouldn't even have to tell you, single him out. But he's the one guy getting interviewed that you just want more of. And he was a writer, just a voracious reader. And so he talks about his writing and developing his writing and what he does, what he did.

He lived to be like, I don't know, 90 almost. Anyway, he's a Mississippi boy. I wouldn't say that if I was preaching to you in Brooklyn.

I wouldn't say he's a guy from Mississippi. Okay, let's finish this. So the five cities will speak the language of Canaan, which is just going to happen in the end times, which says they will swear the language of Canaan and swear by the Lord of hosts. They will give their allegiance to make their confession of faith. A city of destruction I've commented on. Jeremiah comments on these things in the 43rd chapter when he says, I will kindle a fire in the houses of the gods of Egypt, and he shall burn them and carry them away captive.

Well, that's what happened. The Assyrians and other peoples, the Greeks, Chaldeans, other armies have come and taken away their gods. So, verse 19, in that day there will be an altar to Yahweh in the midst of the land of Egypt and a pillar to Yahweh and its border. And so there will be monuments. This will not be an active altar where blood sacrifices will be taking place. Christ has, of course, fulfilled these things, but there will be monuments to Christ.

We have them now. When you wear a cross around your neck, it's a monument to what Christ has done, the cross of Christ. I do think the tomb should get more. I think there should be a lot more jewelry that has the open tomb.

I don't know why. That is not over the centuries registered more with Christians. But coming back to verse 20, and it will be for a sign and for a witness to Yahweh of hosts in the land of Egypt.

Well, they will cry to Yahweh because of the oppressors, and He will send them, a Savior, a Mighty One, and He will deliver them. Well, you're not talking about a man, a human being. You're talking about Jesus Christ.

Now, here's a sign. You say, well, that would be crazy to tell an Egyptian, a Muslim Egyptian today. Well, it was crazy to tell a sun-worshipping Egyptian in Isaiah's day. Just say, you people are going to forsake these mediums and sun gods and all this other stuff, and you're going to worship our God, a Jewish God.

That would have been insane. But He's calling it like it is, and we now know it's going to happen. Incidentally, speaking about these non-functioning altars, well, that's what Jacob offered. When surely God is in this place and He took a stone and He anointed it with oil, it was not a place of blood sacrifice.

I'm going to remember this. That was his approach. When Joshua comes along, he puts monuments all over. They almost go to war over a monument with his own people. Anyway, verse 21, then Yahweh will be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know Yahweh in that day, and there's another one, and make sacrifice and offerings. Yes, they will make a vow to Yahweh and perform it. So they're going to be devout believers, and when he talks about they will make a sacrifice, that's the language. What else was he supposed to say in that day? He couldn't say to them, Messiah is going to come and there will be no more sacrifices.

That will be it. And how would he even begin to articulate that? We have to get the Old Testament together and look at the history of the Gospels and we get it. But imagine not having the Gospels.

How could you communicate these things? And so that's why some of the language in the Old Testament is limited to their understanding of worship at the tabernacle of Moses, which was Solomon's, eventually, temple. Verse 22, and Yahweh will strike Egypt, he will strike and heal it. They will turn to Yahweh and he will be entreated by them and heal them. So, whatever scourge of falsity Egypt is under, it will go away. Mercy, again, thrives in that environment of repentance and it will be found in the heart of the Egyptian people. As I said at the beginning, I do not think this is limited to Egypt. I think what we see, the prophecies to Egypt, will spill over to other peoples. And we know that, well, I would go that way because we're going to see him, we've already applied it to Ethiopia and he's going to do it to the Assyrians. Verse 23, in that day, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria and Assyria will come into Egypt and the Egyptian into Assyria.

And the Egyptians will serve with the Assyrians. And so there you have the Egyptians and the Iraqis just worshipping together when he talks about the mighty savior, the son of God, savior of the world. First John chapter 4 verse 14, and we have seen and testify that the father has sent the son as savior of the world. John got a little irritated with his gnostic audience saying Christ is a phantom. He says, listen, we've seen him, we've touched him. I used to lie my head on his bosom. How many times did you read that in his gospel?

The one who lied. He's telling you he was real. He wasn't some mystical being.

The incarnation was every bit God as in human form. So here he talks about the Assyrians and the Egyptians who are presently enemies. You remember we started off saying the Assyrians are coming, the Ethiopians are panicking, they're reaching out to Egypt, they're reaching out to the people up the Nile, the tribes, and they're reaching out to Judah and forming this confederacy. And then Isaiah comes back and says, listen, the day is going to come when you're not going to be trying to fight the Assyrians. You're going to be worshipping with them. There's going to be a highway coming from Assyria right into Egypt. And you're going to go back and forth with worship.

Who would not want that? Verse 24, in that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the land. Verse 25, whom Yahweh of hosts shall bless, saying blessed is Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance. And so these three are put together and seen worshipping. Israel is destined to be a blessing to the world.

Here it is right now. Zechariah 12, behold, I will make Israel a cup of drunkenness to all the surrounding peoples when they lay siege against Judah and Jerusalem. And it shall happen in that day that I will make Jerusalem a very heavy stone for all peoples, all who would heave it away and will surely be cut to pieces, though all the nations of the earth are gathered against it. And so there Isaiah is saying, the world's going to want to be rid of Israel, but they're going to be drunk over her. And just leave this little piece of land alone.

It's not even the biggest jersey. And just, why don't you just leave it? No, they can't, because Satan's driving them. The hatred Satan has for the promises of God and the people of God. Well, he says the world just wants to throw them away, but they can't get rid of it. The nations of the earth will be gathered against it, Ergo Armageddon, that final battle. And Isaiah 2 tells us at the end, well, what happens? Well, everything we've been talking about, this road, this highway back and forth, they're worshiping together, they shall beat their, well, and he shall judge between the nations and rebuke many people. They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up against nations, neither shall they learn war anymore. So it all comes together. If these three, Israel, Egypt, and Iraq, can be united, then so can the world, and the kingdom age, and not before. Well, Deuteronomy 32 29, oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end. Well, that's the whole message.

Okay, chapter 20 is very quick, six verses, I can stretch it out to 40. In the year that Tartan came to Ashdod, when Sargon, the king of Assyria, sent him, and he fought against Ashdod and took it. This was the only known mention of Sargon, this king of Assyria, until archaeologists later found some more stuff.

Woo, thank you for that. Anyway, you should understand, archaeologists get it wrong a lot, and mainly because of their biases. They got Jericho so wrong, I don't remember there was a female archaeologist so touted in that community, not because he was a female, and she was so wrong about Jericho, it's embarrassing. Anyway, here we have the Egyptian, Assyrian, Philistine, and Ethiopian all summed up.

The Tartan there is a type of necktie that had a plaid, no it didn't. It's a commander of the Assyrian army under their king Sennacherib. We'll get to that in chapter 37. So Isaiah, he mentioned Sargon, that was their king. This is sort of a footnote to the prophecies already spoken of these two. Verse 2 now, at the same time Yahweh spoke by Isaiah the son of Amoz saying, go and remove the sackcloth from your body and take your sandals off your feet, and he did so walking naked and barefoot.

Okay, this, why? So he's making the prophet a walking prophecy. Every time you see him, there he is, doesn't have any shoes on, no service for you. Is he truly naked?

Or is he stripped down? Well most of the good commentators say he was naked. I don't agree with that.

And they could be right, but so could I. And the reason why, you know, there's little kids around. I mean that's reason enough. Leviticus 18 goes into length about uncovering the nudity of others. Now granted, that is mainly in a sexual way that that's presented, but the idea of nudity still is addressed in that. And today if a pastor did this, so I think he was to dress as a prisoner of war.

That is the goal. And he is saying that Egypt will be conquered and taken away as prisoners of war. Stop trusting them and to drive this home to the Judean element in Jerusalem that kept trying to get the government to go with Egypt, these were his instructions. Verse 3, then Yahweh said, Just as my servant Isaiah has walked naked and barefoot three years for a sign and a wonder against Egypt and Ethiopia.

Now that was that alliance between the two. Ezekiel does a similar thing. God tells him to go, you know, fix food with dung and it's not human. You know, it drives on his point.

What would you call it? It's hyperbole, it's emphatic. It drives the point that you don't forget it drives it home. Anyway, my servant, there are many Christians that love to claim they are servants of Jesus Christ until you treat them like one.

And I have to watch myself too. You're treating me like a servant. Oh, that's right. So anyway, he walked naked and barefoot here in verse 3. He is a POW depicting a POW being carried into captivity. He probably stripped down to a loincloth and no shoes.

That would be my guess. If I'm wrong, fine. We're going to get too much information next verse 4. So, it seems like his disciples are writing this because the personal pronouns changed. Anyway, so shall the king of Assyria lead away the Egyptians as prisoners and the Ethiopians as captives, young and old, naked and barefoot with their buttocks uncovered to the shame of Egypt. Now, if I were 14 years old, I'd be giggling at that.

But at my age, I'm like, I don't want to hear all that. But his audience got the point and that's why it is there. It's not a mistake. God knows how to reach them. Anyway, verse 5, then they shall be afraid and ashamed of Ethiopia, Ethiopia, their expectation and Egypt, their glory. So, he says, yeah, there you go.

Now, you'll stop reaching to those people when you see these things happening. Verse 6, and the inhabitant of this territory will say in that day, surely such is our expectation wherever we flee for help to be delivered from the king of Assyria and how shall we escape? So, he leaves them with that question because they know the answer.

They have put a misplaced reliance on people, not God. And that's why he leaves it there because then he's going to now talk about Babylon. So, let's do Isaiah 21 now. Are you kidding? No, we're done. Let's pray. It's kind of exciting when you see it, you know, through his eyes, what he's dealing with and the people of those days. And then you see this devout Jew saying, God's not forgotten the Gentiles. He's going to do right. Let's pray. Our Father, thank you for the scripture. You have recorded these things for our edification and may you find us putting them to work in these things. We ask you in Jesus' name.

Amen. Thanks for tuning in to Cross Reference Radio today. Cross Reference Radio is a ministry of Pastor Rick Gaston of Calvary Chapel Mechanicsville in Virginia. If you'd like to learn more about this ministry, we invite you to visit our website, crossreferenceradio.com.

You'll find a number of teachings from Pastor Rick available there. We also encourage you to subscribe to our podcast. When you subscribe, you'll be notified of new editions of Cross Reference Radio. Just search for Cross Reference Radio on your favorite podcast app. You can also follow the links at crossreferenceradio.com. We're glad we were able to spend time with you today. Tune in next time to continue learning from the book of Isaiah with Pastor Rick, right here on Cross Reference Radio.