Isaiah chapter 19, verse 1 begins,
the burden of Egypt. The burden of Egypt. Now, before
I get into this, and I'm going to just go through it verse by
verse rather than reading the whole chapter to you. Before
we get into this, I want to make a comment. The prophets were written, not
for the Lord's people to try to determine when the world's
going to end. The prophets were given to bear
witness of Christ, bear witness of the Lord of glory. Before
the Lord ascended to the Father, they were come together, they
asked Him, they said, Lord, wilt Thou at this time restore again
the kingdom to Israel? And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
it's not for you to know the times or the seasons which the
Father hath put in his own power. But, he said, you shall receive
power after that the Holy Ghost has come upon you and you shall
be witnesses unto me. Both in Jerusalem and in all
Judea and in Samaria and under the uttermost part of the earth.
Now it's not for the Lord's saints to know the times or seasons.
It's for you to bear witness of Christ, the Son of God, our
King and our Savior. What is this burden of Egypt?
What's this prophecy about? I told you to place there a minute.
Look over to Ezekiel 29. To your right, go through Isaiah,
Jeremiah, Ezekiel. In Ezekiel 29, look at verse
6. and all the inhabitants of Egypt
shall know that I am the Lord. Because they, Egypt, have been
a staff of a reed to the house of Israel. They've been just
a flimsy staff to my people. When they took hold of thee by
the hand, thou didst break and rend all their shoulder. And
when they leaned upon thee, thou breakest and madest all their
loins to be at a stand. Therefore thus saith the Lord
God, Behold, I will bring a sword upon thee and cut off man and
beast out of thee, and the land of Egypt shall be desolate and
waste, and they shall know that I am the Lord. Listen to verse
16. It shall be no more the confidence
of the house of Israel, Egypt that is, which bringeth their
iniquity to remembrance, when they shall look after them, but
they shall know that I am the Lord God. Look down at verse
21. In that day will I cause the
horn of the house of Israel to bud forth, and I will give thee
the opening of the mouth in the midst of them, and they shall
know that I am the Lord. Chapter 30, verse 8. And they
shall know that I am the Lord when I have set a fire in Egypt,
when all her helpers shall be destroyed. And that day shall
messengers go forth from me in ships to make the careless Ethiopians
afraid, and great pain shall come upon them as in the day
of Egypt, for lo it cometh." Verse 19. Thus will I execute
judgments in Egypt, and they shall know that I am the Lord.
Now that's why this prophecy is given, that we might know. that He's the Lord. He's the
Lord. If you give your attention, I
give my attention to that which our King has emphatically told
us is none of our business. Then we not only won't see the
Lord, but we'll disobey Christ Jesus the Lord Himself. Well, our text begins, The Burden
of Egypt. Behold, the Lord rideth upon
a swift cloud, and the Lord shall come into Egypt." Folks will busy themselves and
they'll compare these happenings with modern day happenings. And
they'll look to see if they can identify these nations with some
modern day nations. These current events with modern
day current events. And the Lord declares, No, not
really. He commands who it is that we
are to behold in this. He says, Behold the Lord. Behold the Lord writheth upon
a swift cloud, and the Lord shall come into Egypt. I hope you leave
here this morning not speculating about times and seasons, but
knowing that the one whom we must face in the blink of an
eye is the Lord. It's the Lord. I hope you'll
leave here knowing that you haven't been turned by the Spirit of
God from Egypt to the Lord. And know Him. And believe on
Him. And cast all your care on Him. Well, the Lord says here, the idols of Egypt shall be moved
in his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst
of it." Now who's Egypt here in this text? Egypt in Isaiah
19 stands here as a representation of every sinner, unregenerate
sinner, who makes up that one nation that opposes God. who looks to the strength of
their own hands, and who would cause his people to seek refuge
anywhere but in Christ alone. The Lord said, I'll destroy them
for the sake of my own glory and for the salvation of my people.
The key comes down in verse 17. Look down there with me. It says,
in the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt. Everyone
that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself because
of the counsel of the Lord of hosts which he hath determined
against it. You see, the Lord redeemed his
people many years before this out of the bondage of Egypt,
out of the house of bondage, out of Egypt. Well, All these
many years later, in a time of great distress, when the threatening
of the Assyrians became great, Judah looked to Egypt for help. Over in Isaiah 30 verse 1, it
says, Woe to the rebellious children, saith the Lord, that take counsel,
but not of me, that cover with a covering, but not of my spirit.
that they may add sin to sin. They walk to go down into Egypt,
and they haven't asked it by mouth. They try to strengthen
themselves in the strength of Pharaoh, he said, to trust in
the shadow of Egypt. And therefore shall the strength
of Pharaoh be your shame, and the trust in the shadow of Egypt
your confusion." Now, he says here, The Lord rideth upon a
swift cloud, verse 1, and shall come into Egypt, and the idols
of Egypt shall be moved at His presence, and the heart of Egypt
shall melt in the midst of it. Now this is, you know, sometimes
you start out a message and I'll say something like, what I want
you to see this morning is, and I'll give you a statement like
I did when I said, I hope you leave here this morning not confused
about times and seasons, but knowing who the Lord God of glory
is. That's called a proposition,
a proposal. That's my theme. Well, here's
the Lord's theme in all this. This is what you're going to
see that He's going to do. In this passage, there's a general
description given right here in this text of what the Lord's
been doing for the salvation of His people since this world
began, since time began. We're going to see here there's
going to be civil wars break out in Egypt. We're going to
see that their counselors are going to come to nothing. We're
going to see that their economy is going to fail. We're going
to see that every purpose that the people attempted to recover
themselves is going to be brought to nothing. And the Lord is going
to turn them over to the hand of a fierce ruler. You know,
when something like that happens, there's a lot of minute day-to-day
details that go into effect amongst a whole nation and amongst whole
factions of people and amongst personal, you know, very personal
day-to-day happenings of a person. A lot of details go into play
to make something that the Lord just said come into action and
to come about and to come to fruition. But the Lord cuts out
all the middlemen in this one statement and says, I'm the one
that's going to do it. I'm the one that's going to do
it. There's going to be some means used, but I'm the one that does
it. That's the first point. He's the Lord, powerful over
all. He's the Lord, powerful over
all. That's who He is. He said, when
I get done, they're going to know I'm the Lord. He's the Lord,
powerful over all. Here's the second thing. He's
the Lord who destroys every false refuge in which His children
vainly trust. Now the Lord goes to great detail
here concerning each of these calamities that's going to come
upon Egypt. But notice that in everything He mentions here,
the Lord did it. And the Lord did it to remove
the false hopes of His people and break the chains of those
that made them to think that they could trust in Egypt. He's
going to break it all away. Watch. Concerning civil wars,
in verse 2, I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians, and they
shall fight everyone against his brother and everyone against
his neighbor, city against city and kingdom against kingdom.
And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof. Who
did it? He said, I will set Egyptian
against Egyptian. Why would the Lord do this? Why
would the Lord do all that? When the children sought peace
within Egypt to get away from the turmoil and the travail and
the threat of their enemies from outside of Egypt, the Lord made
civil war to break out in Egypt. The Lord told His disciples,
peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you, not
as the world giveth give I unto you. There is a different peace
that God gives than what this world gives. Now, no peace is
going to be found in Egypt. Now look, concerning the civil
and the religious leaders, look at verse 3. And the spirit of
Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof, and I will destroy the
council thereof. And they shall seek to the idols,
and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and
to the wizards. Look down at verse 11. Surely
the princes of Zoan are fools. The counsel of the wise counselors
of Pharaoh has become brutish. How say ye unto Pharaoh, I am
the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Pharaoh, have
you heard? Don't you know who my great,
great, great, great grandfather was? Oh, he was one of the wise
counselors at Council of Pharaoh way back there. I'm one of his
children. So let me give you some counsel
on what you ought to do. Where are they? Where are thy
wise men? Let them tell thee now. Let them
know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. The princes
of Zoan are become fools. The princes of Naph are deceived.
They have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of
the tribes thereof. Who did this? Look at verse 14. The Lord hath mingled a perverse
spirit in the midst thereof. The Lord did it. And they've
caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man
staggereth in his vomit. Every time I turn on Fox News
or CNN, you know what I see? I see a bunch of drunken men
staggering in their own vomit. whether it's in this country
or a foreign nation, the counselors have become nothing. When I turn
on the religious channel, you know what I see? A bunch of drunken men staggering
in their own vomit. A host of people seeking the
wizards, seeking the charmers, looking to idols, looking to
counselors, looking, looking, looking and finding no peace
whatsoever. The Lord said, I mingled a perverse spirit in their midst. We're in the midst of Egypt.
Whether you're standing in the U.S. of A., or whether you're
standing in Egypt, or whether you're standing in Israel, or
whether you're standing in Russia, or whether you're standing on
any one of the continents, you're standing in Egypt. We're in Egypt. Why did the Lord do this? Look
over at 1 Corinthians chapter 1. Apostle Paul quotes this. Apostle
Paul quotes from this very thing and he tells us exactly why the
Lord brought the wisdom of this world to absolutely nothing.
1 Corinthians 1.20. Where is the wise? Where is the
scribe? Where did Paul get this language? It's what the Lord just said.
Where's your wise men? Let them talk. Let them tell
something that they know. Paul says, where is the wise?
Where is the scribe? Where's the disputer of this
world? Hath not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? For
after that, in the wisdom of God, the world by wisdom knew
not God. God's not going to allow this
world to come to know Him by their own wisdom. You know why? We'd glory in it. We would pat
ourselves on the back and say, who needs God? Look how wise
I am. But he brought the princes and the counselors and the wisest
of the wise to nothing. Why? Because it pleased God by
the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe. He's
not going to let his people be saved by those counselors, by
those princes in Egypt. Look down at verse 27. He chose
the foolish things of the world to confound the wise, the weak
things of the world to confound the things which are mighty,
base things of the world, things which are despised hath God chosen,
things which are not. Are you a thing that is not? I stand before you as a thing
that is not. to bring to nothing the things
that are. That's what God shall, that no
flesh should glory in His presence. Of God, of God, of God are ye
in Christ Jesus. Who of God, of God is made unto
us wisdom and righteousness and sanctification and redemption.
As it is written, he that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord. That's
why the Lord brought these princes and these counselors to nothing
in Egypt. Now back in our text, Concerning the king who would
take over their nation This is going to result in their
commerce and economy everything completely being brought to nothing
look at verse 4 and The Egyptians will I give over who did it? Who did it? And the Egyptians
will I give over into the hand of a cruel Lord and a fierce
king shall rule over them saith the Lord the Lord of hosts Who's
speaking here? There's a little letter, Lord,
and then the capital Lord. This is the three in one. Jehovah, the Lord of hosts, the
Lord Jesus Christ, God our Savior. That's who's talking. And the
water shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted
and dried up, and they shall turn the rivers far away. In this day and time, the rivers
mean everything. The waters mean everything. You
turn the river, dam up the river and turn it away so that it doesn't
flow into the land, and the people got no water. The crops are going
to fail. They got nothing. They got nothing
to drink. They got nothing. And he says, this king, they're
going to turn the rivers far away. And the brooks of defense
that you used to keep folks, that they got to cross them before
they get to you, they're going to be dry. So the kings will
just walk right on in. And the reeds and the flags shall
wither. The paper reeds by the brooks,
by the mouth of the brooks, and everything sown by the brooks.
All of your crops shall wither, be driven away and be no more.
And the fishers also shall mourn. And all they that cast angle
into the brooks, they'll lament. Hard to catch a fish in a dry
creek. And they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
Moreover, they that work in fine flax, they that weave networks,
shall be confounded. They shall be broken in the purposes
thereof. All that make sluices and ponds
for fish, they might try to start raising farm-raised fish, making
their sluices and their ponds to raise their fish in because
they got no river flowing anymore, he said, I'm going to bring all
that purpose to nothing to. As ingenious as it sounds to
them, and as wise as they think they are to come up with this
plan to save themselves, he said, I'm going to bring that to nothing
to. Why did he do that? You remember when the children
of Israel came out of Egypt? They hadn't been out of Egypt
very long at all. And they began to lust. Oh, they began to lust. Just that lust, that sinful lust
of the flesh. You know what they wanted? We
remember the fish that we ate in Egypt so freely. And the cucumbers,
and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic. They just wanted their belly
filled. They just wanted to eat. As we'd say in the south, they
want to eat high on the hog. And they said, our soul is dried
away. There's nothing at all out here
for us to eat but this manna. That's all there is, is this
manna. The Lord said, that manna typified me. That manna was a
picture of the bread from heaven. And He said, they desire to turn
away from the bread from heaven and to go back and just eat leeks
and garlic and onions and fish. So freely, they said. How soon
we forget. Was it free that they got to
eat that stuff? Pharaoh made their life bitter
with hard bondage. He kept them in chains. He made
them make brick out of just dirt and water and straw and made
their lives hard and bitter. There was nothing free about
what they had. And they come out here into the
wilderness and God freely bestows upon them manna from heaven. And they said, we won't go back
there. Now in this time, this generation in Judah, they lusted
to be filled by Egypt too. They went to Egypt just like
their fathers wanted to go back to Egypt. But God said, I'm drying
up all the rivers. I'm making the fish, doing away
with the fish, with the fine linen. I'm taking everything
away. All of it in Egypt. And then concerning all their
strivings and their purposes, which would come to nothing,
look at verse 15. Neither shall there be any work for each of
them, which the head or tail, branch or rush may do." The head
or tail is the leaders and the branch and rush are the prophets.
You can find that back in, I think it's chapter 6 or 7, somewhere
along in there. We looked at it before. It means
from the wisest of the wise and the civil rulers and the wisest
of the wise and the religious rulers. It's not a thing in the
world anybody is going to be able to do. Nothing. In that
day shall Egypt be like unto women, and it shall be afraid
and fear, because of the shaking of the hand of the Lord of hosts,
which he shaketh over it." The Lord did this because of the
counsel of the Lord of hosts, which He determined against Judah
and against Egypt. Now, God has a remnant in the
midst of this Egypt. He has somebody in the midst
of this Egypt, and they've got to be brought to fear because
of these false hopes in which they've put their trust. They've
got to be brought to see that these false hopes are no hope
at all. Everything that comes to pass
in this world, brethren, right now, in this August 23rd, 2009,
everything that's coming to pass is coming to pass under the direct
control of the Lord of hosts. If you look and you think there's
an evil spirit here in the midst of this, it ain't here by accident. It's not out of his control.
He said of Egypt, I mingled a perverse spirit among them. I took everything
away from them. I did it, and he did it that
he might break their chains from off his people, that his people
might behold that there's no reason to put any confidence
in this Egypt whatsoever. None. all your striving for peace,
all your desire for peace has really broke out into nothing
but just civil wars. Warrings and striving. The more
you try to make peace, the more I try to make peace by the strength
of my hand, the worse it is. The worse it is. Have you felt peace seeking this
idol god of your imagination? I know you got one. If you don't
know God, if you don't know the true and living God, you still
got one. You formed one up here in that old noggin and you got
him figured out and know exactly how high he can jump and what
he can do and what he can't do because you holding the strings
on him. You got one up here. I know that. You got one. Has he given you
any peace? Any peace? Whatsoever? Have you established peace in
business? and your riches and your wealth.
Satisfied? If you're satisfied, you should
quit tomorrow. Not satisfied? Ain't quite there
yet. Ain't that right? Have any of your purposes that
you've strived, any ideas you've come up with, those Those brainstorms
that you've had, those epiphanies that you've had, have any of
them yet brought you any lasting peace? Have you been able to deliver
yourself from that fierce king who accuses your conscience of
sin daily? How thankful we should be that
when we put our trust in Egypt, the covenant Lord God of heaven
and earth brings to nothing all vain refuge. Well, let's look at the third
thing. This is the Lord who after He stripped His people of all
this vain confidence, then He reveals His grace. Look at verse
18. It starts, In that day. In that
day. You know how many times we've
seen this in the book of Isaiah? That phrase, In that day. We've
seen it over and over and over. It's right here in the rest of
this chapter four or five times. In that day. Let me give you
some idea of what in that day means. Look back at chapter 4.
Isaiah 4 verse 2. In that day shall the branch
of the Lord be beautiful and glorious and the fruit of the
earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped
of Israel. When the Lord It shall come to
pass, he that is left in Zion and he that remaineth in Jerusalem
shall be called holy. Everyone that's written among
the living in Jerusalem. When the Lord shall have washed
away the filth of the daughters of Zion and shall have purged
the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof by the spirit of
judgment, by the spirit of burning. Look at Isaiah 11, verse 10. I'm sorry. Isaiah 11. Yeah, verse
10. And in that day there shall be
a root of Jesse. Remember who we saw that? That's
Christ. which shall stand for an ensign
of the people, and to it, to him, this root of Jesse, shall
the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious, and it shall
come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again
the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which
shall be left from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros,
and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath,
and from the islands of the sea." Go over to Isaiah 12. Look down
there at verse 1. And in that day thou shalt say,
O Lord, I will praise Thee. Thou wast angry with me, Thine
angers turned away, and Thou comfortest me. Behold, God's
my salvation. I'll trust and not be afraid,
for the Lord Jehovah is my strength. Not Egypt. He's my song. Not Egypt. He's become my salvation. Not Egypt. Therefore with joy
shall you draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that
day, in that day, you shall praise the Lord, call upon His name,
declare His doings among the people. Not Egypt's. Not yours. His doings. You'll make mention
that His name is exalted. Everywhere it's used, it points
to the day that Christ is exalted before His people. Every time. Exalted at the cross at Calvary. Exalted in the heart in the day
of divine visitation. Exalted in our lives continually
as the inner man's renewed day by day. Exalted in that day,
in that day, in that day. And in that day when He returns,
He'll be exalted before His people. That's the day. When's the day
of the Lord? It's His day. It's today. It was yesterday.
It's tomorrow. It's that day. He says, in that day, verse 18,
Isaiah 19, 18, in that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt
speak the language of Canaan and swear to the Lord of hosts,
and one shall be called the city of destruction. That number five
signifies some, a definite number. In that day there shall be some
in the land of Egypt which shall speak the language of Canaan
and swear to the Lord of hosts. You mean in all this land of
Egypt there's going to be some that's going to speak the language
of Canaan? Oh, yeah. There are going to
be some that speak the language of Canaan. You know what that
word Canaan means? It comes from a root word which
means to be humbled, to be subdued, to be brought down, to be brought
into subjection. It's the language of a broken
sinner. That's what this language is. In that day of grace, the Lord
makes each of His elect, no matter what language they may speak,
He makes them to speak one language, the same language, the language
of Canaan. He said in Zephaniah, then will
I turn to the people of pure language, that they may all call
upon the name of the Lord to serve Him with one consent. Until
the Lord does that, we are all speaking a different language.
You know, I thought of this. When the Lord confounded the
language at the Tower of Babel and the city of Babel. It's not
necessarily. They were all speaking one language,
one language contrary to God, one language against God when
they left there. They may all be speaking in different
languages. But the reason they couldn't
work together, the reason that they were confounded is because
the language of this world is I, I, I, me, me, me. And if I'm saying me and you're
saying me and you're saying I and I'm saying I, we can't get along. We're not going to work together
to do anything. If I'm insisting on having my way and you're insisting
on having your way, ain't neither one of us going to have our way.
It's going to be War. Brethren fighting brethren. Folks fighting one another. But
when He gives this language, and we both have one mind and
one consent to speak of His works, and of His glory, and of His
grace, and of His mercy, and of what He's done, now we can
work together. Now we, now we, oh when we both
talking about His free mercy to us and the forgiveness that
He's shown us so undeservingly that He's bestowed upon us so
freely making us children of the thrice holy God. Oh, now
we can talk about forgiveness. We know something about what
that is. Now we can talk about what it is for Him to come and
the power of His grace and to create us anew and turn us from
Egypt to Him. And now we can talk about repentance
and faith. We've got one language to talk
now. When He causes us to behold that Christ Jesus the Lord has
put away our sins and that we're forever perfected in Him and
that we're seated with Him right now in Heaven, now we've got
something we can talk about. We've got one language now. We
can talk. We can get something done now.
That's a pure language. It's a self-abasing language
and a Christ-exalting language. And he says, and they'll swear
by me. They'll profess allegiance to the Lord and they'll trust
Him alone, he said. When I went down there to Mexico
a few years or so back, I got up to talk, to preach. And Brother
Cody Groover is there. They've just been there for years
and done a wonderful work there. All these places are just little
pueblos out in the wilderness. You drive to the back side of
nowhere and then go another 10 miles or 15 miles to get to it.
I mean, it's nothing. And we'd be there and Brother
Cody would, I would say a phrase and Brother Cody, he would translate
it. And I'd say a phrase and Brother
Cody would translate it. We're not speaking the same language.
We got different dialect all together. But I'd just sit there
and start praying. The Lord Jesus Christ chose a
people before the foundation of the world. Cody would translate
it. He put them in Christ and the
Lord that does not change has everlastingly loved His people.
Cody would translate it. Christ Jesus came and He put
away the sin of His people by the sacrifice of Himself. Cody
would translate it. The obedience of Christ is our
obedience. The holiness of Christ is our
holiness. The perfection with which God
accepts Christ is our perfection. Cody would translate it. And
they'd just smile. Their faces would just light
up. And they'd nod. You know why? We're speaking
the same language. We're speaking one language.
It's the language of Canaan. That's what God said He'd do.
I'll give them the language of Canaan. They'll speak the language
of Canaan. Well, this is the sovereign electing
grace of God at work here. And you know, Lord, I don't know
here where it says, it says in verse 18, it says, some of the
cities in the land of Egypt shall speak the language of Canaan
and swear to the Lord of hosts, one another shall be called the
city of destruction. There's a double meaning there.
It also means the city of the Son. And some say it's because
of some idolatry that went on there, and some say it may have
an allusion to the fact that the Son of Righteousness has
arisen Christ our Lord, that people will see the Lord. I don't
know. I kind of think it means that
what the Lord said where when He comes, there will be two in
the field and one will be taken and the other one will be left.
There will be some that will speak the pure language of Canaan
and others will be the city of destruction. There will be some
that will be called out and others left. This whole host that He
mingled His perverted spirit amongst, He did it. They were
people. What did I read to you in Isaiah
43? He said, Fear not, Jacob. Fear not, Israel. I've loved
thee. I've redeemed thee. You're mine.
When you pass through the waters, they won't overflow you. When
you pass through the fire, it won't burn you. Thus saith the
Lord God, the Holy One of Israel, I gave Egypt for you. I gave
Ethiopia for you. I gave Seba for you. I've given
men for your life. I'll call your seed from the
north and I'll call your seed from the south and I'll bring
them from far because I've created them for my glory. I've made
them to glorify and honor me. Election. Election doesn't shut
the door to heaven. Election opens the door to heaven.
Election makes it so that some of these maggots that we are
can enter into God's presence. If it weren't for that, none
of us would. It causes a believer to be thankful. Paul said, we're bound to give
thanks, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God hath from
the beginning chosen you He's chosen you, put you in Christ,
chosen you, brought you under the seal of the Gospel, poured
out the Holy Spirit upon you, sanctified you by the Holy Spirit
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it doesn't deter
the believer from wanting to send forth the Gospel into the
world, from wanting to go forth and preach the Gospel. You know
why Isaiah went forth and preached this Gospel? Because the Lord
said, I've got a people in Egypt, I'm going to bring my people
out of Egypt. Tell them. Tell them. You know what the motive was
that the Lord gave to Paul to go into Corinth to preach? I
have much people in this city. That's election. That's what
made Paul say, I'm going to stay right here to preach. The Lord's
got a people. That's why I'm getting up tomorrow. The Lord's
got a people. He's going to call them out.
I'm going to end here. I can't get through all of it,
but I will pick up the rest of this next time. But look down
with me at one place. I want to show you the very last thing here. Verse 20. It shall be for a sign
and for a witness unto the Lord of hosts in the land of Egypt. You know what that's saying?
What I'm doing, I'm doing to glorify My name. They're going
to know I'm the Lord. It's going to be for a witness
unto Me, of My grace and My mercy to save whom I will. And look
now at the very end, verse 23, And in that day there shall be
a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, And the Assyrians shall come
into Egypt, and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians
shall serve with the Assyrians. And that day shall Israel be
the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the
midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless, saying,
Blessed be Egypt, my people, and Assyria, the work of my hands,
and Israel, mine inheritance." He's going to give peace. where
peace, the only place peace can be had. They went down there
to Egypt thinking they could have peace there. He said, I'm
going to break all that playground up down there, and I'm going
to bring them out by the sound of the gospel, and I'm going
to give them peace. That's all I can give. We'll
pick up there next time and look at it.