“In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.”
~ Isaiah 19:23
Hi James and Ellen,
Would you like to be where guys, gals and kids are being led by God – as God the Spirit, to be Christ-follower guys, gals and kids? Your grandmaa and grandpaa are now going to a Christ-follower fellowship of guys, gals and kids where about two years ago there was an average of somewhere around 500 guys, gals and kids in the weekend services at Mountain Springs Christ-follower fellowship. There is now an average of over 2,500 guys, gals and kids in Mountain Springs Christ-follower fellowship’s four weekend church services. Steve Holt is the lead pastor of Mountain Springs Christ-follower fellowship of guys, gals and kids. Steve and his wife – Liz, met together about twelve years ago with several other couples with the idea of starting a Christ-follower fellowship. Steve and Liz had been for about ten years missionaries in Japan. Your grandmaa and grandpaa especially like the preaching/teaching style that Steve Holt uses – which is to preach or teach weekend after weekend in an expository way – which is preaching or teaching through books in the Bible chapter by chapter – verse by verse. Your grandpaa likes to know what the historical overview or backdrop is of the time period of what he is hearing being preached or taught and where he is reading and studying in the Bible. Your grandpaa likes to know what the context is of each chapter of each book that makes up the canon of the Bible. Your grandpaa is finding out that there are a lot of things that are written in different chapters in different books in the Bible that are difficult – if not impossible, to put into a context. Isaiah 19 is one of the chapters that your grandpaa has not been able to put into a context. Your grandpaa has not been able to determine for sure if what God – as God the Spirit, breathed on Isaiah to scribe has already taken place or is still to take place. Your grandpaa does not know for sure what God – as God the Spirit, breathed on Isaiah to scribe in his Isaiah Book as an oracle against the guys and gals who were or will be living in Egypt has already led or that it is going to lead to a period of revival in an area that stretches to Egypt through the land of Israel and into the land area that was conquered by an Assyrian people group army. This time of revival – a revival being a time when guys, gals and kids commit their lives into the hands of God – as God the Father, was or will be a very blessed time of worshipping and serving God together.
The oracle – that is filled with catastrophic events, that God – as God the Spirit, had His prophet spokesman Isaiah record as a dire warning to the guys and gals who were living in Egypt ends with verse 23 saying “In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together.” The catalyst for bringing together or who would bring together the Egyptian and Assyrian nations’ armies may have been or may be the captured or dispersed Israelite people group guys and gals. When the Assyrian nation’s army captured land area where the Israelite people groups guys, gals and kids were living – the land that God gave to His specially chosen guys and gals to always to have to live in as their very own land if . . . some of the Israelite people group guys and gals may have fled to Egypt to make their homes there to escape being slaves of the people groups of guys and gals who made up the Assyrian nation. The Assyrian nation’s army – led by King Esarhaddon, conquered Egypt in 671 B.C. The Assyrian nation’s army in 722 B.C. had swept through the land area of Israel. Your grandpaa does not know why God – as God the Father, had meted or will mete out an avenging punishment against the guys, gals and kids who were living in Egypt before leading them to enjoy a peace that no guy, gal or kid could ever have without first knowing God – as God the Father, as being the one and only Supreme, Sovereign Being. The dilemma that your grandpaa has is that he cannot envision Assyrian and Egyptian guys and gals ever worshipping God together.
Egypt when it was or will be destroyed was not or should not be a real surprise to the Egyptian guys and gals because their idol gods were or will be visibly trembling because of something that these inanimate wood, rock, clay and metal things could or will see what the Egyptian guys and gals themselves could not or will not be able to see. God – as God the Father, arrived or will arrive in Egypt on a swift cloud. The guys, gals and kids who are or will be living in Egypt knew or will know when God – as God the Father, arrived or will arrive – because there was or will be a sense of His presence everywhere – which caused or will cause their hearts to melt from fear. It did not or will not help the Egyptian guys and gals to go to their idol gods, to the spirits of dead Egyptians, to mediums and/or to spiritists for help during this horrific time that God – as God the Father, leveled or will level on them because of what it was that they had done against Him. God – as God the Father, had or will have Egyptian bros fighting their bros, neighbors fighting their neighbors and cities fighting their cities. An Egyptian Pharaoh over 700 years earlier had pushed the patience button of God – as God the Father, when He kept saying no to letting the Israelite people groups guys, gals and kids leave his country. Whatever it was that took place in Egypt, God – as God the Father, dried up the Nile River or He will cause the Nile River to dry up one day. A people group of guys and gals turning to God – like the Egyptian guys and gals did or will do, or like the guys, gals and kids who are participating in the Christ-follower fellowship that your grandmaa and grandpaa going to at this time, can only happen because of the sovereign grace of God – as God the Father, Who alone gifts eternal life to guys, gals and kids who believe in Him.
Isaiah 19 (700)