Read: Isaiah 19:1-21:17; Galatians 2:1-16; Psalm 59:1-17; Proverbs 23:13-14
In Chapter 19, God gives a prophecy for Egypt. He warned them of internal strife that would divide them and cause them to be paralyzed by fear. God was going to hand them over to Nebuchadnezzar of Persia. He was also going to send natural disasters against their land. The Nile would fail to rise to the height it needed to which would result in famine. The fishing industry would fail as a result. The rich would have no money to spend so all the other industries that Egypt was famous for would fail. In their hopelessness they would turn to the Lord and raise a monument to the Lord and cry out for deliverance. Assyria and Egypt would align together in worship to the Lord.
Chapter 20 is the fulfillment of that prophecy and Chapter 21 describes the fierce battle between the Babylonians and the Persians to take the land. Isaiah is a watchman on the tower giving us a birds-eye view of the battle. There were Jewish exiles in Babylon and Persia and in the end, there would be few left. In verse 10, it talks about the threshing of God’s people but a remnant would live to carry out God’s plan.
It doesn’t take long in reading Paul’s journeys to see the difficulty he faced in bringing in the new covenant of grace. Every time God does a major shift, there is opposition and misunderstanding. I feel that we are in one of those shifts right now as God is moving the church out to the world, to get involved in the dealings of the earth. We cannot sit in our churches and think this is our safe place. We have to get out in the world and bring God’s kingdom down to earth so that what goes on in the earth looks like what is going on in heaven. This takes a major shift in our thinking. We are not living to escape but living to make a change here on earth.
Lord, may we get involved in your kingdom here on earth. Teach us to live the kingdom.
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