Connecting Points

Monday, October 04, 2010

Today’s Topic:  Someday!

Today’s Text:  Isaiah 19:19  In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border.

Someday. We use that term in a variety of ways. Someday I’m gonna get around to that. Someday it will turn around for me. Someday they will get what they have coming to them. Someday I’ll be able to retire. I’m sure there are literally hundreds of other applications of the word someday. But there is a someday coming that will be like no other day. It will be some day!

Attention is drawn to that someday over 100 times in the Old Testament. Generally it is referred to as that day. And what a day it will be!

The first third of the book of Isaiah closes with several chapters of oracles against certain countries and peoples of the world who have rejected God and followed the ways of the flesh. Chapter nineteen deals with the nation of Egypt. There are prophetic warnings about their sin and there is also prophetic attention drawn to the someday that is coming. There are six specific things God will do in that day:

• In that day the Egyptians will be like women. They will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the LORD Almighty raises against them. (Isaiah 19:16)  There is a day coming when all the sins of the nations will be judged and punished, and it will be a terrifying day.
• In that day five cities in Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD Almighty. (19:18) In that day the culture will be influenced by the people of God, rather than the culture attempting to eliminate the influence of God’s people.
• In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the LORD at its border. (19:19) Just think – when Jesus comes in that day, the nations of the world will be politically and socially centered on Jesus Christ. Anyone who enters at the border will have their attention drawn to the Lord, and anyone who lives there will be under the authority of the Lord.
• So the LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians, and in that day they will acknowledge the LORD. They will worship with sacrifices and grain offerings; they will make vows to the LORD and keep them. (19:21) In that day there will be far more than just political allegiance to the Lord. There will be worship. The people will not be captives in their own land forced to follow an unwelcome conqueror. They will be in love with the Lord who set them free from the tyranny of sin. They will worship Him.
• 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. (19:23) In that day there the Lord will bring reconciliation between enemies. Nations and people will be brought together in the love of God and will worship the One True Living God, Jesus Christ. They will cooperate politically and socially, and there will be an end to all war.
• In that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on the earth.   The LORD Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.” (19:24-25) There will no longer be any aggression towards God’s chosen people Israel. All of Israel’s enemies will surrender to the power and authority of Jesus Christ and He will unite them as one. He will call those who are not Jews His people. He will reveal how He has been working in and through His enemies to fulfill His handiwork. He will affirm Israel as the people of promise and bring all the nations into His inheritance.

Someday! Let that day come soon!

Pastor John