The LORD of Hosts will BLESS them, saying, BLESSED be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, Israel My inheritance.
ISAIAH 19:24-25
Studying through this I see that the names of these countries are all people and their descendants. We know Israel is Jacob and Jacob's descendants. But how many of us knew that Egypt is Ham (a son of Noah) and Ham's descendants? Or that Assyria is Ashur, Shem's second son? Granted I have read through my Bible several times, but I had not realize this part before. And I love the study of naming.
When the 'that day' happened and will happen, the Truth of the Word of God would forever change some of the people who lived in these three countries. Why only some? Not everyone would believe in the God of Israel. But those who do are forever blessed.
- The Name of The Lord would be their refuge
- The Word of The Lord would be their strength
- The Truth of The Lord would be their blessing
All nations involved would in turn be able to bless the lands around them. When refuges from Israel would flee to Assyria and Egypt, they would bring the gospel with them.
Have you ever thought about how God removes idol worship from a person's heart? He doesn't just yank it out and leave a gaping hole. No, first the hearts have to be shown that the idols are useless. And how does He do that? God causes great disasters to happen and when people turn to their idols for help which never comes, they turn to God, who will be their help, their deliverer.
But God delivers us from so much more than disasters of the land: The Lord Is Deliverer (2 Samuel 22:2) YAHWEH-PALAT.
God delivers us from the punishment for sin which is death. He did this great deliverance through the obedience of His only begotten Son who died on the cross in our place: Jesus Christ the Messiah.
Isaiah 53 describes the awful ways in which God's only begotten Son was treated by us, the people He came to save. Isaiah 53:5 "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; And with His stripes we are healed."
His stripes could only be upon His back through His back being torn apart by a whip, a leather strap which had pieces of bone and lead intertwined in the leather braids. The whip was made of several straps of such combinations, not just one. Picture that and think on these things. Our Deliverer took a beating none of us would have survived and still was made to carry His cross through the city and up the hill to where He would be crucified and die. For us. Thank You, Jesus, for taking my place in death.
But God wasn't finished. Beyond the cross was the grave and Between the cross and the grave was death and hell. For our sins were upon Christ Jesus and with these sins on Him He must first need to enter hell and conquer that. Then He arose from death, conquering that. God rolled away the stone and Jesus walked out of the grave, conquering that, too. Woo-hoo! He is risen!!
Our Deliverer. God made a Way, a high Way, in which all who believe that Jesus Christ is God's only begotten Son who died on the cross and walked out of the grave may traverse. In that day.
In that day in which you believe, you, too, will walk in the Way.
