What will the future be like for Egypt? Part Four

Here is the last post about the future the Lord God has for the nation of Egypt as stated in Isaiah 19:1-25.
The previous posts were about verses 1-15 that dealt primarily with judgment.  This post will deal with the blessing that one day the entire Egyptian nation will know and worship only the Lord God of the Bible.  Isaiah 19:16-25 reveals this future blessing with the key phrase “In that Day.”

“In that Day” is found at the beginning of verses 16, 18, 19, 23, and verse 24.  The rule of thumb when reading the Old Testament is when you see that phrase, the Lord God is referring to a time that is future to our day.  Usually, the phrase is associated with the Tribulation, the Second Coming of Christ, and the Millennium. 

In the Book of Isaiah, the phrase “in that Day” is used about 43 times, sometimes with the other key prophetic phrases like “the Day of the Lord” as in Isaiah 2:10-21, or in conjunction with the names and ministry of Christ as in Isaiah 4:1-6.  Clearly, upon examining the phrase “in that Day” as used by the prophet Isaiah, the phrase is speaking to future events.

Here in our passage the phrase “in that Day” neatly breaks up the prose section of blessing for the nation of Egypt:

• Verses 16-17 refer to the Egyptians becoming fearful because they understand that the Lord is judging them.
• Verses 18 speaks about five cities giving their allegiance to the Lord, speaking the language of God’s people.  Edward J. Young says that the language will be “the language in which the God of the Israelites is worshipped.” (Young, The Book of Isaiah, A Commentary by Edward J. Young, Vol. 2, p.35.)  Egypt will one day be a Christian nation!
•  Verses 19-21 speaks about an altar to the Lord being in Egypt and the Egyptians calling out the Lord to rescue them from oppressors.  The Bible says that the Lord will send a Savior to deliver them.  I think this is probably a reference to Christ. In the end, the Egyptians will be healed by the Lord and have an intimate personal understanding of Him, being exclusive worshippers of the True and Living God, the God of the Bible.
• Verse 23 refers to the enemies of Israel being worshippers of the Lord.
• Verse 24-25 refers to Egypt being a blessing to the earth and being God’s people.

Truly the future of the nation of Egypt is glorious!  But before the glory must come the judgment of its sins, idolatry and thousands of years of not worshipping the Lord God of Israel.  Unfortunately, many Egyptians have already and will die in their sins unless each have personally make a profession of allegiance to the Lord God of Israel, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

What about you?  Have you sworn allegiance to Jesus?  Or, are you still in your sins?  Unless you come to know the Lord Jesus Christ, you to will face certain judgment for your sins and will not enter the Kingdom of Heaven (John 14:6).
Pastor Steve
Psalm 119:89