Sermon Tone Analysis

Isaiah 19:18-25

Jews and Muslims Worshipping Christ the Lord

 

“In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts.

One of these will be called the City of Destruction.

“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 of hosts in the land of Egypt.

When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a saviour and defender, and deliver them.

And the Lord will make himself known to the Egyptians, and 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 of hosts has blessed, saying, ‘Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.’”[1]

These are dark days in the Middle East.

The President of Iran repeatedly calls for Israel’s destruction.

He is simultaneously engaged in a game of brinkmanship with spineless Western governments over his quest to develop nuclear weapons.

Iraq is degenerating into internecine warfare between competing Muslim sects.

Palestinians fight Palestinians, when they are not trying to kill Israelis and calling for the destruction of the United States.

The Middle East appears to be a boiling cauldron of bitterness and hatred as virtually every Muslim leader seeks to advance his own interests through attacking the continued existence of the Jewish state.

As events in the Middle East unfold, we are watching fulfilment of prophecy.

God, through Zechariah, prophesied the central role Jerusalem will play as we approach the last days, “I am about to make Jerusalem a cup that brings dizziness to all the surrounding nations; indeed, Judah will also be included when Jerusalem is besieged” [*Zechariah 12:2*].[2]

Though no individual can predict the precise timing for the fulfilment of prophetic events, God has spoken of certain events that serve as signposts pointing to the fulfilment of prophecy.

Jerusalem will be “a cup of staggering to the surrounding peoples;” Israel will be besieged [*Zechariah 12:2*].

Surrounded by hostile nations intent on their destruction, the nation of Israel will be increasingly isolated and the cry of those prepared to destroy that tiny nation will grow to a maddened roar.

There will be a multiplication of false Christ’s, a growing awareness of natural disasters, and growing unrest among the nations.

Throughout the world, multiple “small” wars will break out as the restless peoples flex their muscle [*Matthew 24:5-8*].

Though the great world bodies dedicated to peace will call for an end to these wars, they will be powerless and an increasingly wary world will yet more intently look for a strong man capable of putting an end to the wars.

In the midst of the darkness that seems to be spreading across our world, the child of God sees a glimmering hope that is not generally recognised.

We have been warned by the Master Himself, “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity because of the roaring of the sea and the waves, people fainting with fear and with foreboding of what is coming on the world.

For the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory.

Now when these things begin to take place, straighten up and raise your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” [*Luke 21:25-28*].

Perhaps we are not witnessing the end; perhaps it is only the beginning of the end.

Nevertheless, I am convinced that it is the time for the people of God to straighten up and to raise their heads.

The Apostle to the Gentiles warned, “You know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep.

For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed.

The night is far gone; the day is at hand” [*Romans** 13:11, 12a*].

We cannot say with certainty that the time of the end is at hand.

Nevertheless, we know on the authority of God’s Word and He is working in history so that it is His Story.

Though unremitting warfare between Muslims and Jews seems to be steadily intensifying and now threatens to engulf the entire world in unprecedented conflagration, the Word of God speaks of a day when peoples from each of those communities will turn to the True and Living God.

In that day, nations that we know as Muslim nations and the Jewish inhabitants of Israel will unite to worship the Lord Christ.

Though that day is not present, the transformation is assured by the Word of the Lord God.

Join me in looking forward to that day when Muslims and Jews will unite to worship Christ the Lord.

*The Millennial Kingdom of Our Lord* — The words Isaiah wrote are prophetic.

They relate to an event that is unimaginable to any individual who is the least bit aware of world events.

Since the words are prophetic, curiosity alone should suffice to impel us to discover when these events will take place.

Egypt is well known to each of us.

That nation continues with boundaries similar to what was known in Isaiah’s day.

Assyria, however, perhaps astonishes us.

The Assyrian Kingdom included what is today Jordan, Syria, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf States, and Iraq.

Geographically, the centre of the Kingdom was what we now know as Iraq.

Therefore, according to the prophecy that Isaiah recorded, there is a day when much of what today is Muslim lands will join with Israel in worship of the Lord of Hosts.

What, precisely, did Isaiah say about these lands?

In short, Isaiah says that three enemies—Egypt, Iraq and Israel—will be united in worshipping the Lord and sharing His blessing.

The day of which Isaiah prophesies is a day that will transform these fierce enemies of Israel.

The process of transformation and blessing for Egypt is traced from its beginning in fear [*Isaiah 19:16, 17*], leading to submission to the Lord [*Isaiah 19:18*], submission that will result in access into the Lord’s presence [*Isaiah 19:19-22*] and fellowship [*Isaiah 19:23*] and full acceptance as belonging to Him [*Isaiah 19:24, 25*].

The prophecy looks forward to a day that though future may be nearer than we imagine.

Jesus, in response to two questions the disciples asked.

Immediately before His Passion, as the Master left the Temple, His disciples pointed out the magnificent buildings Herod had built for the Jews.

Jesus astonished them, however, when He responded, “You see all these, do you not?  Truly, I say to you, there will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down” [*Matthew 24:2*].

Naturally, the disciples were intrigued by such a stunning prediction.

So, they asked when these things would take place, and then they voiced the unspoken corollary to what He had said, “What will be the sign of your coming and of the close of the age” [*Matthew 24:3*].

Two questions that actually voice one great thought.

The Coming of the Lord Jesus for His people is intimately tied with the close of the age.

In His answer, the Master warned His disciples of awesome judgements that are to be poured out on the earth.

He spoke of the Great Tribulation and the Antichrist that shall come.

Then, He warned, “Immediately after the tribulation of those days the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken.

Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

And he will send out his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” [*Matthew 24:29-31*].

The return of our Lord at the conclusion of the Great Tribulation will set in motion the judgement of the nations that will take place at that time [*Matthew 25:31-46*].

Those peoples who have served the Antichrist during the Great Tribulation will be judged by the Son of God, and as He judges of the nations of the earth, that judgement will usher in His Messianic reign.

John foresaw that day when he wrote, “I saw an angel coming down from heaven, holding in his hand the key to the bottomless pit and a great chain.

And he seized the dragon, that ancient serpent, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the pit, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he might not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were ended.

After that he must be released for a little while.

“Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed.

Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands.

They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

The rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended.

This is the first resurrection.

Blessed and holy is the one who shares in the first resurrection!

Over such the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ, and they will reign with him for a thousand years” [*Revelation 20:1-6*].

Throughout the years of the Reign of Christ on earth, the world will undergo a striking transformation.

The Lord Jesus will rule over the entire earth, judging the peoples with righteousness.

Unlike this day, the meek and the poor will be treated with respect and enjoy equity.

Isaiah describes that day when the wolf will dwell with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the young goat, the calf and the lion will be led together by a little child, and the cow and the bear will lie down together [*Isaiah 11:1-9*].

More particularly, our text speaks indirectly, though in full agreement with other Scriptures, that Israel will bless the Gentiles.

To Abraham, God delivered His Covenant.

On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram (later known as Abraham), saying, “To your offspring [Hebrew, zareh, seed, singular] I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates, the land of the Kenites, the Kenizzites, the Kadmonites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Rephaim, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Girgashites and the Jebusites” [*Genesis 15:18-21*].

This covenant is generally known as the Abrahamic Covenant.

God promised that through the descendants of Abraham, all the nations of the earth would be blessed.

During the Millennium, Jesus our Lord, the offspring of Abraham will bless all mankind as He rules with grace and mercy over all the earth.

In this day, Jesus, the offspring of Abraham, blesses all who receive the salvation He offers, as we believe in Him.

He gave His life as a sacrifice for sin so that we might be free from condemnation.

Therefore, our message to all who will receive life is to believe Him.

This is what Paul speaks of in the letter to the Galatian churches.

“Even with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified.

Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring.

It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.

This is what I mean: the law, which came 430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as to make the promise void.

For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but God gave it to Abraham by a promise” [*Galatians 3:15-18*].

The Abrahamic Covenant followed the earlier call Abraham had received when God commanded Him to leave Ur of the Chaldeans.

“Now the Lord said to Abram, ‘Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you.