Isaiah, Chapters 18-20

Good morning. We will be looking at this passage as the focal point passage of actually three chapters. And so that may be almost hard to fathom, but three chapters. And our usual pattern here is to summarize those chapters in general and then zero in on the focal point passage. So we'll do that here. We'll scan the news in Isaiah 18 through 20.

Now, I have to tell you that this is a set of chapters that is the good, the bad, and the ugly, okay? So the pattern here is you have the good, the Lord Jesus, the bad, Egypt, and the ugly, Assyria. So that's the pattern we'll be seeing in this set of chapters. The first chapter, chapter 18, is a summary about the nation then called Cush.

We know it today as Ethiopia. It was more of an empire in those days, actually quite powerful. And Ethiopia was the name, even by New Testament times, that had taken over. We see an account of Philip, who, going through the book of Isaiah, explains to the Ethiopian eunuch, who was a ruler, the gospel. And the Ethiopian eunuch becomes a believer that day. As Cush, it was a powerful, and it was a nation that was just south of the Egyptian empire.

Now, Isaiah chapter 20 is about the Egyptian empire. And right at the last part, which is the focal point portion of the chapter we're looking at here, verses 18 through 25, it brings in Assyria. And we'll see why Assyria becomes a pivotal part of that discussion. The final part there is about the empires of both Egypt and Kush.

Now, let's take a look at the big picture. In the big picture, you have this tiny nation of Jews situated between the Mediterranean and the Dead Sea, and you have Egypt and Assyria, the major empires on each side, acting as a vice on this little tiny nation of Israel. Kush is added in for good measure there at the beginning of the passage. Now, let's first take a look at the timeline.

One of the things as we look at this chapter, we have to see that Egypt was a civilization long before the Jews settled down into the land of Canaan, where they began to establish their civilization. So the Egyptians had been around for centuries by the time the Jews had established their civilization. So these Egyptians, you know how the Egyptians are, you got to learn to walk like this, you know, in order to do that right. So these Egyptians, they started off before 3000 BC. Some of these larger pyramids that you see pictures of begun many centuries before the Jews were even held as captives among the Egyptians.

Now, throughout Egypt's history, there are lots of changes. We won't go into the details, but let's look at the big picture things that count. There were lots of changes. But there are some common facts there that will be valuable for us to take a look at. One of those is Egypt had a system of power which placed the Pharaoh not only as ruler but also a deity. And the religion of Egypt had 700 gods. Imagine trying to keep track of that. 700 gods. One's eternity was determined according to the Egyptian religion. by how well you dealt with each of those 700 gods, and you have to do it right.

The way the Egyptians looked at things, they saw eternity as spent in whatever earthly accommodations you make here. So if you make it really good and are able to spend eternity on a really good place you've made here, then that's great. If you didn't make a good place or there is no provision for you to spend eternity here, that's bad.

That was the way they looked upon things. The Pharaoh was the one who was given the best accommodations. Everyone else kind of down in the pecking order. Unlike our own concern in biblical faith where we want other people to know the gospel, we care about how another person spends eternity. Among the Egyptians, they didn't give a hoot how you spent eternity. They want you to help them have a nice eternity.

See that? Big difference. Now, so here are some of the examples of some of the Egyptians earlier construction. Some of it's rather picturesque and interesting. Some of it stood around for quite a bit of time. The slaves, who are typically great in number, were put to work on a lot of these public works kinds of projects. They also had regular citizens working on these as well, depending on the project. and they worked particularly to improve the eternity of the immortal Pharaoh and all the Pharaoh's assistants. The Jews, for 430 years until the time of the Exodus, just before 1400 BC, were made into brick-making slaves. Imagine making bricks, I would say by hand, except it was more by foot, Making bricks by foot for 430 years.

That's what they did. You ask a Jew, what do you do? I make bricks. That's what they did. Century after century for those 430 years. This particular drawing here is from Egypt and it was just before the time that the Jews exited. that this drawing was made, and it shows people who were Nubians, that is of darker skin people, and then Asiatics, or the more light-skinned people, both working as slaves about that time. They made many, many bricks. This is typical in one example. The pharaoh would have a mark made in each brick that was the pharaoh's mark. and imagine the Jews, they're making these bricks, having to stomp the straw into each brick and then stamp each one with Pharaoh's personal mark. That's what they did for 430 years.

This is a brick making mold from the time actually just before the Jews began making bricks, but it would be an example of what the Jews used many, many times. So here's the Egyptian sequence here. And they were established long before the Jews, a powerful empire, well established by the time the Jews came into their small country.

Now it turned to the Assyrians, the other group that's brought up substantially in this passage. The Assyrians are located or were located in what is now Iraq. As a matter of fact, Matt Kirby was stationed in Mosul until recently. And Mosul is the modern name for what was Nineveh, the capital of Assyria. This is, in a red outline, the city walls of what was Assyria, and you see around there some even housing and things of that sort. Right here is Nebi Yunus. That is the tomb of Jonah. Now, is it actually the tomb of Jonah? We don't know. They won't let us excavate it.

Interestingly, they hold it in great and high esteem. Here's an example of the city walls. You see them in red outline here. This is what city walls look like up front. So here's the city walled about with this heavy stone wall. The Syrians were profoundly cruel. They were proud of their cruelty. Here it shows some Elamites, this is people from the city nation of Elam, being tied down and skinned alive. They were horribly cruel.

They didn't let it stop there. They added salt. This is why Jonah did not want to go and warn the people of Nineveh that the Lord might forgive them. So you can see why Jonah would say, oh no, even though he was supposed to. Here would be another example.

The Assyrians would force people to grind the bones of their ancestors. In the religion of the time, if you ground the bones of your ancestors, then the ancestors couldn't be resurrected. So it was a cruel thing to do. So here were the cruel Assyrians, aside the cruel and very self-centered Egyptians.

The Jews had a temptation. The temptation being between these two large powers, Do they trust the Lord, or do they trust Egypt, or do they trust Assyria to try to defend one against the other? Isaiah's own time, the Jews were tempted to rely on Assyria to protect them against other enemies. We see that example in 2 Kings, and the instance of that historically was in Isaiah chapter 7 when we studied that. They also looked to their old slave master Egypt, imagine going back to the people who were your slave masters for four centuries plus, to protect them from the threat of Assyria. So they ended up during Isaiah's lifetime looking to both Egypt and Assyria at different times for protection.

What happened in the end though is this, Egypt and Assyria would end up receiving consequences for their evil. They would end up receiving consequences for their awful actions. The Assyrians for their horrible cruelty, not just to the Jews, but to everyone.

The Egyptians would get theirs for their self-centered religion that said, I want my eternity to be good, no matter how awful yours is. I don't care about yours. I want mine to be nice. The character of getting theirs is actually what Isaiah spends much of these chapters describing.

God used pressure from both Egypt and Assyria to cause the Jews to turn to him, but that wasn't all. The Lord then did, and still will, put pressure on Egypt and Assyria to cause the people of those nations to turn to him. Interesting, the Lord uses these pagan, godless people to teach the Jews to turn to the Lord, and then he brings pressure on these pagan, godless people to have them turn to the Lord as well. Why? Because the Lord loves them all. That's why.

Let's look at the passage here. This is Isaiah 19, 18-25. Here's the focal point passage that we're looking at here. And as we scan the news, keep in mind that we've said this passage is about the good, the bad, and the ugly. And this is particularly the good part that we're looking at here. We'll be dividing this particular passage into three parts for our convenience and the ability to put notes and use a little larger font. Before we do that, and you don't have this on your handout, so you might want to make note of it on that first page where you have this whole section.

In that day is mentioned five times in this passage. We've noted before that the phrase in that day is a passage that Isaiah and other prophets, but especially Isaiah, used to indicate this is a future event. Now, how far future? How do you figure out how far future it is? You look at what it says. What does it fit into? What does it describe? You use the context to determine when, but in that day tells you its future. It might be a near future event, maybe even Isaiah's own time, or it may be far future, perhaps even future yet to take place. So, look at the first part of that, the first third of the passage here.

And the phrase after, in that day that comes up is, 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. So the language of Canaan, of course, is Hebrew. That's the language that they spoke. And interestingly, what language do they speak in Israel now? Hebrew. Very interesting. It will be a time yet to come, when instead of the people of Egypt and the people of Iraq saying death to Israel, they will say bless the God of Israel, and they will speak Hebrew amazingly.

Now, have you ever known somebody who's had a past? Ever known somebody who's had a past? You know, maybe you've had a past, I don't know. Egypt and Assyria had a past. This past was when we mentioned Egypt had about 700 gods, The pharaoh was a deity. This fellow walking around on two legs, human being, he was a deity too, according to their teaching.

Turning to the Holy One of Israel was an absolutely shocking concept. Imagine, here's Isaiah, knowing full well that these Egyptians are rank pagans, knowing full well these Egyptians have 700 gods, and they don't know that the Jews are worshipping. They don't know the one that Isaiah is speaking for, and yet he would have the audacity to say, Egypt will worship the Lord. Now that is phenomenal. He turns around. Assyria had a pantheon of gods as well as Asher as the chief deity. That's why they are the Assyrians. for the idea that Assyria would turn to God, the Holy One of Israel, is a very shocking idea. Absolutely unbelievable. This is a remarkable concept. I would even say it's inconceivable. Okay? Alright.

Now, verse 19, 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. What we think of when we think of Egypt is these pyramids. We think of the Sphinx and things of that sort. We're continuing to discover, even as the days go by, new things in Egypt. But we tend to think about the pagan things that are monuments of their history. That's what comes to mind when we think of Egypt.

What this says, there will be an altar to the Lord, the God of Israel. That is amazing. And a pillar to the Lord near its border. It will become a sign and a witness to the Lord of hosts in the lands of Egypt. Now, these are things that have taken place with Abraham and Jacob, but Egypt will do them. That is astounding. Here's an instance here.

Abraham built an altar to the Lord to express his thanks and worship to the Lord. This was immediately after the Lord made his covenant with Abraham. He built an altar, chapter 12, and again in chapter 13, immediately after the Lord made the covenant with Abraham. Jacob did similarly with a stone pillar. The stone pillar was a mark by Jacob, the father of the sons of Israel, the father of the tribes of Israel, in making a stone pillar. So here's an altar and a pillar. that would be made where?

In Egypt. The Egyptians would do it. That's phenomenal. Egypt, says Isaiah, will not worship this pagan pantheon. They would lose it. Even into New Testament times, there were temples of the Egyptian gods and goddesses even spread into Europe, even spread into the East, and of course, remaining in Egypt itself. And yet here it says that will all be gone. These will be in their land and from among their own people. Now, that's remarkable. Let's look at this next part.

For they will cry to the Lord because of the oppressors. Interesting, when you look at that set of words there, that's precisely what the Jews did during the time of the judges. God delivered them as they cried to the Lord. Here's an example. Judges chapter 3, verses 9 and again in verse 15. When the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, Verse 15, but when the sons of Israel cried to the Lord, what did the Lord do? The Lord responded and brought about a deliverer. A day will come when the Egyptians will turn to the Lord like this.

That's amazing. Here's Judges 6, 7 and 9. This is in the time of Gideon. And now it came about when the sons of Israel did what? Cried to the Lord. Same phrase. On account of Midian. The Lord sent a prophet to the sons of Israel. And notice what did He say?

I who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, now it will be Egypt, Isaiah says, who will be crying to the Lord. The ones who had previously enslaved Israel will be the ones crying to the Lord. A day will come when the Egyptians will turn to the Lord like this. Here's in Judges 10, the sons of Israel cry out to the Lord again. And the Lord says, You cried out to Me, and I delivered you from their hands. The Lord responds to the cry of Israel. That same pattern will be true of Egypt. A day will come when the Egyptians will turn to the Lord like this. Let's look at the last part of that. And He will send them a Savior and a Champion that will deliver them. This is God's solution. This is God's prescription, if you will. Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, will be raining on the earth. That's his fix. So as we scan the news, what's God's solution? This is the good part. Jesus Christ.

After Egypt's been ugly, and Assyria's been ugly, and their situation has gotten even uglier, the Lord Himself will be the Redeemer. Next set of verses, verse 21. Thus the Lord will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day. This is phenomenal stuff.

Notice that it's God who takes the initiative. Was it because the Egyptians went and chased after the Lord? No. It is because the Lord himself takes the initiative to reveal things. That's one of the things in Daniel chapter 2. Daniel stood before Nebuchadnezzar and he says, God is the one who reveals things. God is the one who takes initiative. In Ephesians chapter 3, Paul says the same thing. God is the one who reveals. God is the one who takes the initiative to reveal the truth and lay it out.

That the Egyptians will know the Lord is in sharp contrast with what the Pharaoh said to Moses and Aaron when they first presented him to the idea, you need to let our people go so that we can go out and worship. And what is Pharaoh's response? I do not know the Lord. Proclamation of their deity. Part of their pantheon. And what does he say? I do not know the Lord. What does Isaiah say the Egyptians will do? Know the Lord. They will know Him. Amazing. Huge contrast.

They will even worship with sacrifice and offering. Will make a vow to the Lord and perform it. Notice they won't just give lip service. They won't just talk about it. This won't be just yak. It'll be reality. They'll live it out. It'll be genuine. It'll be from the heart. They'll carry it out in real life. It won't be just on the surface. It'll be deep down. There will be a decided and absolute change of heart.

The Lord will strike Egypt, striking but healing. So they will return to the Lord. He will respond to them and will heal them. Who did the striking? The Lord. Who will do the healing? We get into a situation where we say, ìLord, that hurts!î He says, ìI know.î But he hurts like a surgeon.

He operates precisely. No need for liability insurance here. He does precise surgery for a healing purpose. And thatís the way he dealt with Egypt, and heís not done. Heís not done. And that's how he will deal with us as well. An important message when we're in the midst of great pain and agony.

Next passage there, In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. By the way, that highway has to go through Israel. When you look at the land and look at what's available there, it basically has to go through Israel. They'll be passing through Israel to have interchange between them. Free and open communication and transport between those countries for being eons-long enemies and passing through Israel each way. Why will they pass through Israel? It's God's intent and as we'll continue to see through Isaiah, the Gentile nations come to the Lord through Israel. harmony that was impossible before.

It was even inconceivable. Okay? All right. Even today we have a situation, this green area is the area that's mapped out as being substantially of Muslim influence, not entirely, but substantially of Muslim influence. The darker green area is particularly the Shiite, the minority group. That's the group that is the majority in Iran. And it's the majority in the southern part of Iraq, which is part of the internal strife in Iraq right now.

There's nothing about Islam that is compatible with the idea of turning to the Lord and leaving their religion. It will mean a wipe out of Islam for this to take place. That's why it's all the more inconceivable. Verse 25, Whom the Lord of hosts is blessed, saying, Blessed is Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands. Now this is phenomenal stuff. And Israel my inheritance. Let's take a closer look at that section. Here we have blessed is Egypt my people. Interestingly, Israel was also called my people. The very first part of Isaiah.

Isaiah 1.3. Pharaoh was told to let Israel go. And how did they say it to Pharaoh?

Let my people go. Let my people go. Now Israel will be called my people. How about that? My people. He loves them. Israel was also called the work of my hands. An amazing, things since that had been used before, and will be used further on as we'll study in Isaiah, for Israel itself. For Israel alone is reserved my inheritance. Of those three, only Israel gets called my inheritance.

It indicates the Lord's great love for these people. Imagine, here are these people that worship other gods. Here are these people who held the Israelites in bondage. And He says, My people. Here are these people who are profoundly cruel to the Jews, who strip skin and put salt on the open wound. Those people, he says, they're the work of my hands. The Lord loves these people. He says, I'll do whatever it takes, and I will do what it takes, and I know what it takes.

God made believing Gentiles and Jews into one new people, the Church. The Gentiles, an ethnic distinction, includes Egypt, includes Assyria. Israel, also an ethnic distinction. The Church, not an ethnic distinction. Galatians 3.28, neither Jew nor Gentile. Isaiah tells about the Gentiles here, Egypt, Assyria, and about the Jews, the ethnic distinctions. He does not tell about the church. So, you might be thinking, Bernice is all great, but I don't live in Israel, I don't live in Egypt, I don't live in Assyria, what does this have to do to me? Being part of the church, I'm going to be out before this happens. This is going to happen when the Lord comes back.

What's it got to do with me? How does this apply to my life? How does this apply here and now in Denver? This is all wonderful, but what do we do with these words? How will it have an impact on your life and mine? Well, let's think about this. First of all, we can recognize what the problems mean. The Lord has used, and will use, and will continue to use difficulties, struggles, pains, pressures to bring Israel, to bring Egypt, to bring Assyria to Himself. The Lord will bring those kinds of things on us. Pains, pressures. You experienced those? Stresses?

It doesn't mean that he's thinking, oh my heavens, I forgot about Vern. It doesn't mean the Lord's thinking, oh man, I'd really like to help, but I just can't right now. The Lord is not wringing His hands frustrated that He just is helpless in this situation. That's not why we're going through the stresses and struggles that we're going through. Not at all.

God intends a positive spiritual purpose We need what's happening in our lives. How about that? We need what's happening in our lives. We also need what isn't happening in our lives. Both of those are by the Lord's design. We need what's happening in our lives. We need what's not happening in our lives. We need what's happening in our lives. We need what's happening in our lives. We need what's not happening in our lives. We need what's happening in our lives.

It isn't God's job to just make everything easy for us. Wouldn't you say that if that's God's job... Let's look at things from that standpoint. If God's job is to make everything easy for us, He's doing a really lousy job, right? If that's God's job, He's not doing very well. Give Him a grade. Depending on where you live and what time it is in your life, you might give them a different grade, but it's not going to be an A, if that's God's job.

What's going on here? Romans 8, 28 and 29, For we know that God causes all things to work together for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose. How many things? All. Not most. Not a significant percentage. Not most things down to a couple of decimal points or a couple of standard deviations. All things to work together for good. There are no accidents regardless of what the police form said or the insurance company says. There are no accidents in your life.

You will be conformed to the image of a son if you're a believer here today. Here's 1 Peter 1, 6 and 7, the typo there should be 6 and 7. In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a while, if necessary, you will be distressed by various trials, so that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold, which is perishable even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. The Lord has a purpose for those circumstances that you're in. Going through a lot of stress lately? It's not by accident. Going through a lot of difficulty? Going through a lot of struggle? The Lord's not sitting up there snickering, saying, boy, isn't this fun? That's not His end goal. He's not some sort of a cosmic sadist, and he isn't up there wringing his hands wondering what he's going to do next. It's on purpose.

2 Corinthians 4, 16-18 says that whatever happens, it's worth it. How about that? Whatever happens, it's worth it. Therefore, we do not lose heart, though our outer man is decaying. Amen to that? Okay. Yet our inner man is being renewed day by day, for momentary light affliction We don't look for the things that are seen, but the things that are not seen.

For the things that are seen are temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal. Here's how Paul sees it. The things that we're going through now are light momentary affliction. But the things that outweigh it are the eternal weight of glory. See? No comparison whatsoever. The things that are seen are temporal. The things that are not seen are eternal.

You look at the scale, notice you stop measuring the scales all the way to the floor. The eternal weight of glory outweighs anything that we're going through, and Paul is not writing this as a neophyte. He is writing this as a guy that had been through all kinds of things.

Left to be dead after a stoning? Oh, that's a light momentary affliction. Little problem. Got whipped several times? No biggie. Light momentary affliction. Whatever we're going through now, it's worth it. Because what's up ahead, what the Lord is going to make out of that and do beyond it, is far beyond the little thing that we're going through now. That's heavy. Okay.

We can pass on the world's options. The world's going to give us options. The world's going to say, Oh, but you could do this. The world's going to say, Ah, you have this alternative. The sin nature is going to say, boy, have I got a deal for you. But we can pass on that.

That's the alternative to what the Lord has, and that's through the hassle, through the pain, through the problem, living with reliance on the Lord through the midst of that. That's His alternative. Living with reliance on the Lord right through the middle of it. The worlds and the sin nature's options aren't really options at all. In fact, they're spiritual insanity. Only turning to the Lord and reliance on Him and His life are of any value for eternity.

We were identified with Christ. If you're a believer here this morning, this is true of you. We are identified with Christ, crucified with Him, buried with Him, Scripture says, raised with Him, ascended with Him, and seated with Him. In that very first thing, we died to the world and all the world's alternatives, all the things the world says, oh yeah, this is the way to handle that problem. We died to the sin nature and the whole so-called life that comes from trying to live things out on our own strength. We died to the law. The law is the solution. Outside rules, whatever the system is, are not the answer. Not only are those ineffective in the first place, we died to them, we have no relationship to them. Think about this.

When we're with the Lord for eternity, what's going to matter then? What's going to matter then? What about what happens now is going to matter then? When we come back with the Lord in resurrected bodies like His, could be as close as seven years from now by the way, What's going to matter then? When we're with the Lord in the new heavens and the new earth, there's no more of this. The new windows are great, but even those will be gone. Everything we see and walk on here will be gone. What's going to matter? What's going to make a difference? What's going to matter then that we see and do now?

It's our reliance on Him. It's our trust in Him. It's His life. That's what's going to matter. Now, we're going to turn a corner here because we'll soon have a baptism. I need to take a minute to explain what that is. When we baptize someone, here's what's taking place. We are giving a public illustration and a living illustration of what the Lord has already done in the heart and life of those who believe.

And that's this. The person who has put their trust in Jesus Christ for salvation have been, one, identified with Christ in His death, burial, resurrection, ascension, and seeding. So the baptism is a symbol of that identification. Secondly, the baptism is, and this is 1 Corinthians 12, 13, a placing into the body of Christ. It pictures those two things.

So, we're not doing something that saves. We are representing something of those who are already saved. So, keep that in mind. We'll carry on the baptism a little bit later. Let's take a moment to pray. Lord, as we look at this passage here, we thank you that as we go through the things that we go through in life, some of them are difficulties that are short, some are long, some are lifelong. Some of them are minor irritations that accumulate, others are rather intense and hard to bear.

And yet in it all, you have no accidents. All things work together for good. You have purpose in it all. How wonderful to know that. How reassuring. You have not forgotten us. You're not powerless. But you have eternal purpose in it all. It all has value because you love us so much. You love us infinitely beyond measure. Thank you in Jesus' name. Amen.