Isaiah Lesson 28

Egypt’s History, Self-Reliance, and God’s Sovereign Purposes

Thanks for wanting to thank you. So I want to say welcome again this morning, this afternoon. We're continuing in Isaiah. So Pastor Jeff got us through verse chapters 17 and 18 last week, and we're going to continue on, and we're in that oracle section.

This week it's Egypt. This week it's Egypt. So I want to ask a couple of questions up front. Give me your understanding, information, pieces of tidbit about Egypt. Okay, and Jeff covered that last week.

Yes, absolutely. Give me more. I'm sorry? Land of Cush. Excellent. Keep going. Pyramids. Ah, what were the pyramids? Yeah, great burial vaults. Pyramids and sphinxes and all that other kind of stuff. Some of the obvious things are I'm sorry?

The Nile. The Nile River is very important, and that's actually going to show up in here today. The Nile is really the resource of all resources, you know. So we have the 10 plagues, and you mentioned Moses, which takes us back to the fact that it was God's sovereign plan that the people of Abraham's tribe, if you would, facing the potential for famine, God ordained that Joseph would be sold by his brothers and would be taken down to Egypt.

And then God ordained that he would have a run-in with Pharaoh's wife, go into prison. God ordained that he would have the wisdom to speak out and then become second in all power in the nation because of what he did to preserve life through the years of plenty to prepare for the years of famine, which brings his brothers down and eventually his father down.

And they have a life of prosperity until the next Pharaoh, at which time they've multiplied to such numbers that that king feels endangered by them. And so now they're put into slavery for a long time.

How many? 400 years. Very good. Fast forwards us to the time of Moses, who by the way had already had a problem because although he was raised in the court of Pharaoh by Pharaoh's daughter, who felt an allegiance to his people, saw one of the Egyptians abusing, and he killed that Egyptian.

And so he ends up running into the wilderness and he ends up running into a burning bush. A lot of stuff missed in the middle there, but okay, so that's Egypt. And eventually, let my people go, and Pharaoh finally lets them go.

We do have the blood over the lintels, the initial Passover, and the people leave. The Red Sea swallows up the chariots. I had a really cool moment when I was in the Navy. We transited from the Mediterranean Sea to the Io.

And to do that, you go through the Suez Canal, which I don't know if that ship's been cleared out of the... it has. Okay, man, that was a mess. But going through the Suez Canal, there's a lake in the middle of it, and then you go through the second half, you end up in the Red Sea.

And as it was in the evening watch as we were transiting, and I basically announced to the watch that was up there, guys, I can't tell you exactly where, but somewhere around here, we just went over Pharaoh's chariots.

I'm not aware of that. I'm not aware of that. But I do know scripturally, you know, God delivered his people. It's interesting that the Egypt is still a nation. It is one of the oldest nations on earth, that having gone through... they were attacked, and they were defeated by, you know, by the Assyrians.

Lots of things happened to them, but they're still kicking around. They're still kicking around. And so we get into chapters 19 and 20, and it's another proclamation. This one doesn't call itself an oracle, although my title on chapter 19 says an oracle, unless... I looked at different variations of it, and verse one doesn't say an oracle like it says in others, but... I'm sorry?

Prophecies. And that's a very good word for this one, yeah. Yours says oracle? My title, my paragraph title, does say oracle. But what's interesting about this one is that it not only takes us into God's reality check on who they are, and and the fact that they depend on all this kind of stuff, and it's not going to stand up, and how everything they relied on is actually becoming foolishness.

But when we start in verse 16, there's a millennial transformation that occurs. And so as we get into the last half of chapter 19, we start to see how Egypt, along with the rest of the world at that time, is going to bow the knee to God.

And so this oracle, although it has troubles up front, it has this transition later on. Rick, before we get started there, I want you to get for me Genesis 12, 1 -3. We may end up referring to it again.

So put that into context. This is God speaking to Abram, and God is telling him, he's giving him the promises that are coming to him. This is long before Egypt ever existed, but it's given to Abram. And what have you got there?

Now the Lord.

Said to Abram, that's the important line, that's the one great thing for this message today.

In you, all the families on the earth will be blessed. This is a very, an important, all-inclusive proclamation that God has, that his view, although nation of Israel is his chosen people, his special people, their role is not to be exclusive, exclusively receiving God's love and mercy.

That is, it was intent from the beginning that through him, all nations will be blessed. I want to put out just a little bit of insight on that phrase. There are versions of the Bible, the RSV specifically is one version, that if that's the one you're reading, it will read, and in you, all nations will bless themselves.

The NIV, the ESV, the King James, the NASB, all the variations and scriptures that evangelical Christians use say, in you, all nations will be blessed. The rub is that in the Hebrew, that word, in that tense, it's called the nightfall, can be either or.

It works either as reflexive or as passive. So it can be, in you, all nations will bless themselves. That's reflective. You have to go to the context to see which one is right. And it appears that in you, all nations will be blessed in the context is more appropriate.

It gives the credit to where credit is due. This is God's initiative, God's sovereignty. So we're going to open up chapter 19, and then potentially 20, if we have the time, as we take a second look at how Egypt plays into the greater history and how it impacts the nation of Israel.

Father, as we come to your word this morning, we do know that you are the sovereign God. This chapter opens, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud. He is the one who ordained history from before time and will bring it to its conclusion.

As we look at the nation of Egypt, we can see the folly of man's self-reliance. We can see the dangers of that. But then we also are going to see the expansive mercy that God has, even as it's going to be demonstrated through the nation of Egypt.

Open our hearts to see these words, not just to hear the words, but to have our hearts drawn to you, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. If you read for me, try to read nice and loud. We've only got this one thing.

For those of you on Zoom, you can follow along. If we have comments and questions, I'll try to repeat them so that everybody can be on board. We're going to start out with the first four verses. John Detoli, you've got a big, booming voice.

19, 1 to 4?

Correct.

Okay. Oracle concerning Egypt. Behold, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud, and the idols of Egypt will melt within them. And I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians, and they will fight each against another, and each against his neighbor, city against city, kingdom against kingdom.

And the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out. And I will confound their counsel, and they will inquire of the idols, and the sorcerers, and the medians, and the necromancers. And I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master, and a fierce king will rule over them, declares the Lord God of hosts.

What we've got here is, first of all, we've got this picture that the Lord comes riding on a swift cloud. He is the Lord of lords. He's the king of kings. He is sovereign. And who he is, is not going to be withheld or opposed by any forces of man.

The Lord is coming. And so now we see the picture of what's about to happen. Now, Egypt would be one of the powerhouse kingdoms. So we're in that phase right now where we just had the March Madness, and the people who come up with who's going to sit in there, or who's going to play in the football bowls.

You usually have what they call the power five, the power five, the ACC, the SEC. Anyway, Egypt would have been one of the powerhouse. That's who they were. They were strong. They had the counselors, the wise counselors.

But the foundation for their strength was not reliance on God. The foundation of their strength was, to a large extent, fear and trying to appease the gods, who they perceived had the power and the strength.

But it says the Lord is going to come, and he's coming in judgment to start out on a swift cloud. Starting in the second half of verse one, what's going to happen to the idols in Egypt? They're going to tremble.

The heart of the Egyptians, what's going to happen to that? It's going to melt. With this actually tearing down of the foundations, there was in Egypt at that time, and I thought I had it in my notes here, there was a specific god, and I thought I wrote it down, but I don't see it here.

It was the god of the Nile. It was also a god of fertility. I'm sorry? Not Dagon. It's another. It begins with an S, and I did write it down, but I don't see it in my notes here. There was a temple down a ways in the Nile River, and that's where this god was presumed to reside.

In Egypt, there were a couple of them that were famously portrayed. One of them had a hawk as a head. This one is the body of a mighty warrior and the head of a crocodile, and so the crocodile was considered almost to the extent that cows are in India.

They were to be honored and revered and almost sacred to the extent that if you were in this city where this temple was and you got killed by a crocodile, it was considered a sign of the god's blessing, and you actually become a deity in and of yourself, and so there was honor and respect.

The god of the Nile River was also the god of fertility because so much of what occurs of benefit to the nation of Israel relied on the Nile. In flood stages, the river would overflow its banks, and it would deposit soil and would allow them to have agriculture and to be able to grow the flax and to do everything that they want to do.

The Nile River was significant to them, as were their other gods, and as god comes in riding swift on a cloud, the idols tremble. I find it kind of cool to think about that. Neva, you mentioned, which god did you mention?

Dagan. Was he the one that fell on his nose and broke his nose? Yeah. These idols are absolutely nothing more than fabricated, inanimate objects with no power whatsoever, but they are totally at the disposal of god to do with this one idol who fell and broke his nose.

It says that the idols trembled, and as a result, the hearts of the Egyptians melted. Their protection and their expectation of prosperity was so wrapped into these idols that once these idols are exposed for what they are, the people become afraid.

And then what does it say that neighbor is going to do to neighbor? Kill each other. Yeah. They're going to fight each other. It says Egyptians are going to fight against Egyptians, house against house, city against city.

The stability that would have been in the nation through these gods is totally thrown upside down because no longer can you trust these gods. And so everybody's pointing at each other, perhaps blaming each other, and there's just massive, massive conflict in the land.

And again, I find it interesting how all god had to do was to put a problem in the idols and then let the people fall apart, which they do. Explain how you think it is, Rich, because I'm agreeing with you.

How are you seeing it today? Absolutely. And then when you see a shooting, one side's pointing to the other, and the other side's pointing to the first one, and it is. Absolutely, Rick, you're right. And in the midst of all of that, that makes truth coming from the church, all that, much more important because everything else is based on self-perception.

It's based on relative truth. There's no foundation to it. You're absolutely right, Rick. It says that the spirit of the Egyptians is taken away. And what he's going to do now, because in the midst of all of this, the people would perhaps turn to their counselors and their wise men, who, by the way, don't have any answers.

I'm going to confound their counsel. And so they're going to be turning to idols and sorcerers and medium and necromancer. What's a necromancer, Rick? Yeah, yeah, it's worship of the dead, and it's finding somehow this unusual power that comes from the afterlife.

If you had all these things that they relied on, it's all going to be gone. I see just fear now. There's no one they can turn to that has an answer to them. What was that word that was written on the wall for Belteshazzar, mene mene tiki?

It's Pastor Jeff. Hi, Jeff.

Making sure you showed up. Jeff? I think he's going to correct us.

But he hung up before he could give an answer. In honesty, I couldn't find the key to open the closet. I had left them a message. But then I left them a message, said we found it. Anyway, so here's the deal.

Egypt believed that they were strong. Egypt believed that they had all the wisdom. Egypt believed that they had all these gods that could watch over them, and all they had to do was appease these gods.

But what's going to happen to them? I'm going to eventually, in verse four, I'm going to give over the Egyptians to the hand of a hard master. For all their self-proclaimed power and everything else, Sovereign God is going to reign over them.

It's interesting, if you go into Exodus chapter one, we're at the point now where the nation of Israel is under the authority. As you come out of Genesis, you have Joseph, and you have him establishing, and then as we move to Exodus, we're in the time of being under slavery.

And they are described as being very harsh and very cruel task masters. That's who Egypt was. And so God is saying, what goes around comes around. You are going to be under a fierce king who will rule over you, says the Lord God of hosts.

All this power is exposed as nothing more than emptiness. So that takes us now to verses five to ten. With Egypt, oh there it is, Egypt had relied on Sobek, and he is the God of the Nile River and of fertility.

And he lived in a town, as I said, where his temple was. And because the Nile River provided so much for them, God's going to do one thing. He's going to just dry up the river. Well, not in this case.

That happens in the Exodus. In this case, he's going to dry it up. And if he takes away the water, everything else goes away. Neva, if you would read for us five through ten. The picture here is God just dries up the river.

Now we know, I think it's Lake Victoria. I think that's the headwaters for the Nile River, somewhere deep in Africa. And as the river proceeds down, tributaries feeding into it once a year, it's got flood time.

I've been to the Nile River near its exit into the Mediterranean Sea. It's immense. It's immense. To think that this river is going to just become parched and dry. And it's an amazing hand of God, first of all, to do that.

He basically dries up all the sources and the river becomes dry. With the river becoming dry, we have all of these things like a stench because of perhaps the tepid pools. We have the reeds and the rushes are rotting away.

Everything becomes bare and everything that's planted through the provisions of the Nile just dies, just dies. And then starting in verse eight, we start to look at then the impact on the people of Israel, the fishermen.

They mourn and lament. The ones who would cast a hook into the Nile, there's nothing to be caught. Spreading the nets to bring in the fish by that method, it's worthless. The people who harvest the flax, who make the cloth, they have nothing left to work with.

The weavers of white cotton are left unemployed, if you would. The people who are the pillars of the land, those who are the strength of the land, nothing is left. They're going to be crushed. All who work for pay will be grieved.

The laborers of the men, what I have, are going to be left without means. They will be left without substance. They'll be left with nothing to work with. And as a result, the people are left in despair.

And this is God's judgment on the nation of Israel. Now, one of the questions you can ask yourself is, when is this going to happen? What's your thoughts? Sure, I would agree with that. Pretty much this entire section of chapter 19 is a yet-to-come prophecy.

It's a yet-to-come prophecy. And it's interesting because the nation of Israel still exists, you know, today. So there is a yet-to-come prophecy that the nation will have. If the nation of Israel believed themselves to be strong and resourceful, if the nation of Israel believed themselves to be blessed because of the Nile River with all kinds of opportunities for the workers, for their sustenance and everything else, Egypt also thought of themselves to be a center of wisdom, and they were.

In the world at that time, Egypt would have been considered and known for her wisdom, the things that they wrote, the counsel that they could provide. Egypt was a source and was a center of that kind of wisdom.

But what's going to happen now in verses 11 to 15 is their wisdom is going to be exposed as empty. It's going to be exposed as not having a foundation that means anything. So, Bob, I'm going to ask you to read 11 to 15, please.

I've got to stop you right there. I love the turn of the word there. You know, it does remind you, though, of Joseph as he was in the prison, and all the wise men were going to be killed because they couldn't give answers.

And there is one, there's this Joseph, and he prays. Or Daniel, the same thing. The wise men couldn't give answers, and because they couldn't give answers, the king says, off with their heads, but by turning to God, and I love the turn of the word, the wisest counselors of Pharaoh gave stupid counsel.

Continue on, Bob. It's an amazing picture of the perceived, one of the perceived strengths of Israel was their wisdom, was their wise counselors. And it's pretty graphic and pretty poignant how God declares it because he's going to put it all to the test.

And it gets down to says, well, okay, you say you're a wise man, you say you're the son of a king. Okay, well, tell me what's going to go on. And they can't. It says that they can't even answer when the question is, tell me what the Lord of hosts has purposed against Egypt, and they can't do it.

There's only one that could, and that would be God. And if there was a prophet of God, perhaps, but then it says that the princes of Zoam become fools. The princes of Memphis are deluded. Those who are the cornerstones of the tribes are made to stagger.

And then the picture, like a drunk, who's even wallowing in his own vomit. There's nothing to be seen there. Not only does it come from demons, but it says in verse 14, if I read 14 again for me, Bob, please.

Did you see what God does? Now, from a perspective, these wise men must have had a ability to proclaim insight, or they wouldn't have been able to continue doing what they're doing. And maybe they had the ability, the intellect to see signs of the time and to be able to discuss it.

But in verse 14, and the way mine is written here in the ESV, it says the Lord has mingled within her spirit a confusion. So even they probably had the ability over time to see things, to discern things.

Not anymore. Not anymore because God puts within them a spirit of confusion. This wisdom of Egypt is exposed and it's driven to be nothing more than utter folly. The Lord has mingled within her a spirit of confusion.

Now, God is awesome. I could just leave that statement right there. But the rest of this chapter does an amazing.

About-face. We're going to see how God is. If you didn't hear what John had to say, he's reflecting.

On the amazing strength of God just to take a country down at its own will. And you bring up the concept of America, which I think is such a challenge to the church today because there is so much deception out there.

And to be honest, it is on both sides. To be honest, it is both sides spinning the story to fit their needs the best. I think that at this point in time, the individuals that are in political power are doing their very best to fear, to generate fear and to generate dissension.

How about Americans fighting against Americans? It's what we've got, Egyptians fighting against Egyptians. And what we see, there's a certain individual that has over the last year been the quote-unquote expert in all things COVID.

And I did not use a name. And it becomes difficult to believe because it seems like the answer changes depending on the wind. But right now, Egypt is in this proclamation. And we are talking now heading into the end times in this whole section.

Their wisdom is going to be just cut down. There's no foundation to their wisdom. But as we get in to chat to the end of the chapter, we're going to go through a sequence of Egypt being attacked and then Egypt finding the opportunity and responding to the opportunity to respond to God and how God will actually bless them.

So give me, Rick, if you would give me 16 to 25, please.

In that day, the Egyptians will be like women and swear allegiance to the Lord. One of these will be, 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 at its border.

It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord's host. When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender and deliver them. And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians.

The Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering. And they will make vows to the Lord and perform them. And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing. And they will return to the Lord and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.

In that day, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. And Assyria will come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria. And the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day, Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord imposed and blessed, saying, blessed be Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, my inheritance.

This is very, very interesting because we've just.

Gone through two, three sections where we looked at the various aspects of the Egyptian self-sufficiency and God just chews it apart, just knocks it down, turns it into absolutely meaningless blow in the wind fluff.

And this concludes with the phrase, blessed be Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands, and Israel, my inheritance. What is going on? It is a grand reconciliation. So let's take a look at this piece by piece.

But I want to concentrate on the main theme here. And in the meantime, Rick, you've still got Genesis 12, 1 to 3. I told you we'll come back to it. Zechariah 14, Bob, I'm going to ask if you would get that ready.

Isaiah 2, Carol, if you would get that ready. And Gene, if you can get Revelation 15, if you can have those ready, I would appreciate that. It starts out in this section with a description of a military assault and the defeat of Egypt.

So up until now, we have God cutting down all the foundational pillars that they have relied on. And then it says in that day, the Egyptians will be like women. I don't want to offend anybody here. All right, more politically correct.

Okay. But it's the idea of not ability, weak. They're going to be like, they're going to tremble because Judah is going to overtake them. So God is at his hand. There is going to be a confrontation between Egypt and Israel, and Israel is going to prevail.

Well, we know that happens when we get into the end times. In that day, what this says, there's going to be five cities. This is just a picture of the overall expanse of Egypt. That's all that means. It doesn't say that there are five, like in Revelation, there are seven churches.

This is just a picture of Israel in its totality. And it says that at that time, there's going to be a swearing of allegiance to the Lord. This is an about face from where we've just been. The thought there that they will speak the language of Canaan is referenced to the fact that as they are worshiping God, they will accept and include the practices of how the Jewish people would worship the Hebrew language.

That's their acceptance and participation in it. But they will find within themselves a heart to proclaim allegiance. And the use of this phrase, one of them is the city of destruction, is to be this amazing contrast, what was powerful and bad and wicked and everything else.

Even the city of destruction, even that attitude that they had, is going to be part of this swearing allegiance to the Lord. And it says in that day, some things are going to happen. There'll be an altar to the Lord.

The people, instead of worshiping this false god of Sobek and all their other false gods, they will be worshiping the Lord of hosts. There'll be an altar. And at the border, there will be a pillar. And this pillar is set up so that those who come to the land will see it as a sign and as a witness that Egypt understands and adores and worships the Lord of hosts.

This is an amazing, amazing transformation. And then it says, when the people are attacked, instead of relying on all of their other things, they're going to turn to the Lord of God who is going to deliver them.

He makes himself known to them. And it says the people will worship, sacrifice, and make vows. So this Lord who has struck them, if I read 22, this Lord who is going to strike them, but he's going to heal them.

They will return to the Lord and he will listen to their pleas of mercy. How can this possibly be? We get into reality.

Genesis 12, 1 -3. Rick, if you've got that. All the families of the earth shall be blessed. This.

Includes Egypt. All the families of the earth shall be blessed. It's not limited to Israel or Judah. It's God's design. It's going to start with Israel and they are going to be a nation of priests. They are going to be a light.

We are told in the New Testament that we are the salt. We are the light. We are told to let our good works shine before men so that they may see that our good works and praise our father who is in heaven.

It's God's plan to use God's people and to use Israel. But it was his plan from before time that through them all nations would be blessed. Psalm 72 is going to say that all the kings of the earth will bow down to God.

Psalm 82 says it is you, O Lord God, who possesses all the nations. There are no nations that are outside of God's sovereign control out of his will. He actually owns all the nations and Psalm 86 says that all the nations whom you have made will come and bow the knee and confess to God.

So we come here into Isaiah and we're reading of Egypt who is a nasty nation and Assyria who we've been reading about who is a nasty nation and we read in here that it's going to come to the time where it'll be blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria the work of my hands and Israel my inheritance.

Zachariah you've got Zachariah 14. There is going to be a time where the Antichrist is going to summon all the forces of the world in battle against Israel but then God is going to step up and we read how he comes down riding on a white horse and how he is going to put an end to that battle and it says in Zachariah those of the nations who survive will be brought into a relationship with God and it says all the nations that are left from opposing Jerusalem will come.

That includes Egypt and it includes Assyria. Isaiah 2. Carol. There is a time where this happens this is the millennial kingdom time. Now this this passage here talks about at that point in time those when Egypt is under attack they will turn to the Lord and the Lord will protect them.

We need to understand the millennial reign for what it is. Those who come into the millennial reign are going to be Christ who has returned onto the Mount of Olives. I love that picture by the way in Acts 1 he leaves and in verse I think it's 11 or 12 the angel says why are you guys looking into heaven the same Jesus who you saw ascended the clouds he will come in the same way and he does come in the same way in physical form onto the Mount of Olives splits it in two and we have this great valley and he's there to defend in the final battle.

The people who make it into the millennial kingdom are the Lord are those saints who survive through the tribulation. They get to be part of the millennial kingdom and those saints who were martyred will be resurrected and populate the earth during the thousand years.

They're the ones that get to go into the millennial kingdom. That's how the kingdom is initially populated but it's a thousand years and those people are going to have offspring and those offspring are going to need to decide do I follow God or do I not follow God and there will be those who don't and so there will be there will be jealousy and there will be the wickedness of all the flesh so there will be conflict during the millennial kingdom but we have one ruler one righteous king who rules in righteousness who will protect his people.

That's the picture and that's how this comports with with this passage here. Revelations 15 Gene you've got that it's a it's an amazing promise that there's a time when all nations are going to come and worship before the Lord God.

It's weird right now and it's scary right now but we have this hope we have this hope and and and there's another encouragement too we were talking about it last night in our small group almost a parallel passage in Zachariah that having this hope should also come with it a sense of urgency for for those who you know who don't know the answer so that they're they're able to make it through all of this instead of going in and taking the mark of the beast or worse so we're going to stop here I see time and we will do 20 and then move it in 20 is a is a fun one because it's a warning it's a warning against making alliance with Egypt we've just studied why not and it's a warning don't make alliances with people to whom you shouldn't.

We'll we'll pick that up next week and so let's close in a prayer father thank you for your truth and your word and for your sovereign mercy we think of a nation like Egypt who has wickedness and uh and an empty empty uh assurance of themselves you are the sovereign God who will take over them but yet you are a sovereign God holding true to your promises that you will call all nations to yourself at your time we thank you for this in Jesus name amen.