Transcription downloaded from https://yetanothersermon.host/_/ccbrighton/sermons/88158/god-and-egypt/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] Please will you turn to Isaiah chapter 18 and 19.! That's what we're going to look at this morning.

[0:13] ! It's common to speak of people as being people of all faiths and none.

[0:36] That expression is used. But I think in a way it's misleading because everybody has faith in something to some degree.

[0:47] You are sitting on a chair at the moment, apart from Katie, and in doing so you are exercising faith because you are leaning your weight on that chair in the expectation it will hold you up and that's faith.

[1:04] When you buy things you sometimes exchange little coloured pieces of paper or nowadays pieces of plastic and you allow people, when you've worked for them, to give you little pieces of coloured paper or plastic.

[1:19] They call it money and you trust them to do that. It's an act of faith. We have faith to save us in life and from life.

[1:33] We trust in something. Otherwise we would actually be constantly dissolving into panic and terror. Now, there's a song which says, we trust in thee, our shield and our defender.

[1:50] And I think we all trust in something, but what the thee is, what is it we're trusting in? All sorts of things we rely on as human beings, rightly or wrongly, some people rely on good luck.

[2:07] I think Prince Harry wished the singer yesterday, she said that she had sung as they were going in, or as Meghan was going into the church, and he'd wished her good luck.

[2:22] People sometimes rely on good luck. Other people rely on power. Some people are powerful people. If you're young, you might be relying on your youth.

[2:35] If you're good-looking, you might be relying on your good looks. If you're a hard worker, you might be relying on your hard work. If you're somebody who's well-off, you might be relying on your wealth.

[2:47] If you're somebody who's been gifted with a smart brain, you might be relying on your cleverness. If you're creative and talented, you might be relying on your talent. or you might be relying on politicians or education.

[3:00] There's all sorts of things we can rely on. And that's what we're thinking about this morning. What do we rely on? What did ancient Israel rely on?

[3:13] And the message to ancient Israel, as it is to us, is don't trust Egypt, trust the Lord. And we'll just spell that out a little bit.

[3:26] The chapters are as follows. Chapter 18 is a poem, which is what Arsema read to us. And depending on where it exactly starts, it starts off with a woe, either woe to the land of wearing wings, or if it started in verse 12, woe to the raging of many nations.

[3:49] And the land of Cush. And this is a poem about envoys being sent out to make arrangements and alliances. Chapter 19, which we'll also look at, has a poem.

[4:00] It begins with the Lord riding on a swift cloud and coming to Egypt. And it shows how rubbish Egypt is and its complete weakness against the Lord when he turns up.

[4:15] In chapter 19, verses 16 and onwards, there are five in that day. So Isaiah likes lists. And here's a list of things that will happen in that day.

[4:27] And then Isaiah 20 is a historical thing which says, look what happens if you trust in Egypt. So we've got two poems, a list, and a bit of history.

[4:41] And we'll just try and touch on all of those this morning. Because they're also making one point, which is, don't trust Egypt, trust in the Lord. So let's do the geography so that we know where Egypt is.

[4:55] Forgive me, people who've come regularly will have seen this many times before. But if you're new, you won't understand it unless you see the geography of it. So that's Jerusalem.

[5:06] This is the Mediterranean at Cyprus. That's Paphos, where Maria's dad came from. So that's Jerusalem, God's headquarters on earth in those times.

[5:19] That yellow circle is Egypt, the nation from which Israel was rescued when they were slaves. And at this time of history, in time of Isaiah, they're saying, we're strong and powerful.

[5:34] You can trust in us. You can trust in us against Assyria. So this big superpower, expanding, attacking. You need defending from them.

[5:48] And later comes Babylon, which actually just takes over the whole region. A future enemy who will take all people into exile. And then I've just put the Philistia.

[6:03] There's five cities on the coast around there. And they're playing a part in this because they are saying, we'll link up with Egypt and they'll protect us against Assyria attacking.

[6:18] And we'll find out what happened to them. They're mentioned in chapter 20, verse 1, when the king of Assyria came to Ashdod, one of those Philistine cities.

[6:34] And they'd been trusting in Egypt, but it didn't work out. This is Ashdod. That's a picture of Ashdod as it now is.

[6:45] It's the sort of place Christopher would go on a weekend away. It looks very nice, doesn't it? It's a tourist attraction. You can look it up. Ashdod. You've been there?

[6:57] Oh, you thought of going there. Right, okay. In those days, it was one of the five great Philistine cities. 300 years before Isaiah, it was the place of the temple of the god Dagon.

[7:13] This Philistine city had resisted capture by the Israelites. It was influenced by Egypt from the south and threatened by Assyria in the north.

[7:25] And for three years, Ashdod revolted against the Assyrians at the encouragement of Egypt. Egypt said, we'll look after you. You'll be safe with us. But Sargon of Assyria in 711 attacked Ashdod and destroyed it.

[7:42] The king of Ashdod, king Yamani, fled to Egypt. But the Egyptians were intimidated by Sargon's military might and handed Yamani over to the Assyrians.

[7:57] So much for a city which listened to Egypt, relied on Egypt, trusted in Egypt's support, and it all failed.

[8:11] Message, don't rely on Egypt. Put your faith in the Lord. That's the background and picture of it.

[8:24] Let's take a look. In chapter 18, verse 1, it says, Woe to the land of Waring Wings along the rivers of Cush, which sends envoys by sea in papyrus boats over the water.

[8:38] Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech. Meet one of the Egyptian messengers sent off in a papyrus boat, sent off to the different nations near and far.

[8:57] What sort of thing would the messenger say? He would say, I just wonder, what language would they have spoken in those days?

[9:09] Is there an Egyptian language? Arabic is a later thing, I think. Whatever language it was. I just thought, it's just come to me, what language was it?

[9:20] I don't know. But here they're coming and they're saying, We've come a long way in our papyrus boat, to you. And we say to you, Guys, you can absolutely rely on us.

[9:33] We're from Egypt. And they'll say, it's time to get organized. We need to work together on this. We've got going, you know, today we're in such and such a city and tomorrow, let me just look on my personal organizer.

[9:47] Yeah, we're going somewhere else and the day after that we'll be somewhere else. We're getting ourselves organized. We're getting our act together. We're ready for action. And they'll say, You can trust us.

[9:59] We've got powerful gods. We've got a wonderful set of gods. Some are like cats. Some are like weird animals. Dogs. We've got amazing gods.

[10:10] You can trust in them. We've got a strong economy. We live by the River Nile. And, you know, you wouldn't believe the industry that we have. We have a strong society.

[10:21] We've got pillars of society. We've got, we've got, we're very well organized. We've got a track record of expertise. Just look at our CV of all the wise decisions we've made.

[10:33] We're ahead of the game, guys. We're ahead of the game. And we can see you through life storms. To be honest, you're going to have problems. You're going to have military problems because the Assyrians are against you.

[10:47] You're going to have things that are going to keep you awake at night. And we're the guys. We can help you. We're Egypt. And that's sort of imagining what they would have said in those days.

[11:02] But you can imagine people saying that sort of thing these days, can't you? Put your trust in us. We'll see you through life storms. I think somewhere I've got a list of possible things.

[11:13] But you can be thinking of the things that nowadays come to us, as it were, present-day Egypt, saying, you trust in this, you'll be fine. We're ahead of the game. Look at our CV.

[11:24] We know what's happening. You know, we're investment bankers or we are pension fund managers or we're political pundits or whatever it is. And we actually know that none of them really can live up to the claims, the large claims that they make.

[11:45] But here we go. They say, we'll see you through life storms. And they'll say, oh, by the way, the Philistines, did they come and visit you a little while ago when King Ahaz died?

[11:57] At the funeral, did they say anything to you? Because they're, you know, they're sound guys. They're on board with us. Okay. Meet the Egyptian messenger. So let's go through the, hopefully fairly quickly, the poem, the first poem, which says, don't trust those Egyptian messengers.

[12:18] First poem. Here they are. They're going to near people. So the people tall and smooth-skinned are presumably nearby people.

[12:30] It's possibly Ethiopian people. And then go far away to these people. NIV says, aggressive people of strange speech whose land is divided by rivers.

[12:45] Has anybody got a different translation for that? Because I couldn't get, when I looked it up, I couldn't find out where the strange speech came from. Anybody got a different translation?

[12:56] No, I can't. I just can't have done enough homework on that. But it says in the NIV that they're aggressive people and people of strange speech. And it may be that he's not particularly thinking of a particular nation, but just any nation, really.

[13:13] You go here, what are they? They're aggressive and they speak differently and you go there. Oh, they're actually fairly aggressive and they speak differently. All over the place. Go near and far. And the Egyptian agenda is to get alliances.

[13:28] So the Egyptian agenda is not to intimidate, like Assyria. The Egyptian agenda is to get everybody on board together. And to find in that power and security.

[13:43] Hello. What have we got? The people terrible from their beginning onward and national government trading down who slant the rivers divide.

[13:57] So powerful and? Powerful and treading down. Powerful and treading down. Yeah, I think I couldn't work out how treading down became strange speech, but presumably, well, obviously the translators know a great deal about it, more about it than I do.

[14:16] Anyway, different nations. And I'll say this agenda is power and security through alliances. Let's see what happens next.

[14:29] So the next little bit of the poem is about a banner being raised and a trumpet sounding. And I'd invite you to think this is the human agenda.

[14:41] A banner is a signal of a place and a trumpet is a signal of a time. A time and a place. Look out for this time and place. We're going to be ready for it.

[14:52] So the Philistines, not the Philistines, the Egyptians, we're up for this. We've got it all planned. See it on YouTube. It's all going to happen. And I think here is a sort of a human crisis, human response sort of thing going on.

[15:08] And we can compare it with what the Lord does in the moment. I think here a success is seen in getting, being ahead of the game so that you can be in the right place at the right time.

[15:21] But if you compare it with what the Lord has in view, this is what verse 4 says. For the Lord says to me, I will remain quiet and I will look on from my dwelling place like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like clouds of dew in the heat of harvest.

[15:45] And God says, I'm not actually, well I think this is what it's saying. It's sort of as good a guess as any. But while the nations are saying we know the time, we know the place, we've got it all planned, the Lord says, well actually I'm in heaven and I'm not as rushed and panicked as you are.

[16:02] I'm just watching all this unfold like the heat on a hot day. And the heat actually produces results, but it does it rather slowly.

[16:14] So your plants grow and your tomatoes grow and your, and they just grow slowly. And a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest, so the dew sort of slowly and rather imperceptibly advances the process of the harvest.

[16:28] And I'm just watching these things, says the Lord, in a quiet sort of way, but in a quiet sort of way my plans are going forward. And the Lord suddenly intervenes before the harvest.

[16:46] When the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, he will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife, cut down and take away the spreading branches. So the nations had thought, right, we're planning all this, we've got the time and where we're going to get the harvest and we've planned for this.

[17:03] And God sort of just at the moment steps in and says, actually, no, you're not. You thought you've got it in your grasp and I'm going to take it away. And he removes the spreading branches and gives, I presume that the branches, or perhaps he's changed the picture, to the birds of prey and the wild animals.

[17:25] One of the commentators says that it has changed from being vegetable to being dead people. So the birds of prey feeding on the corpses after a battle.

[17:38] A little bit like when the Assyrian army approached Jerusalem but failed to take it and God overnight slew however many thousands of them, bang like that, and they're all left rotting.

[17:51] Maybe that's the sort of picture. I'm not too sure. But it does tell us that the Lord has his plans and his speed which are not necessarily the same as the Egyptians' plans and their timetable.

[18:07] The Lord does what he pleases whether you see him doing it or not. This is amazing, isn't it? He's sitting in heaven like the heat on a summer's day making his plans unfold and we're scurrying around on earth.

[18:25] And he says, I've got it all under control. Don't trust Egypt. Trust in the Lord. The poem ends with a reflection of or repetition of the people tall and smooth-skinned.

[18:42] You see it in verse 7. The people feared far and wide an aggressive nation of strange speech whose land is divided by rivers. These are the people that the Egyptians were keen to get on board with their alliances and the Lord says, or the prophecy says, actually, God has a plan for them.

[19:03] And he will bring gifts. Verse 7. It's a tribute gift. This is a gift of allegiance. And the Lord's plan for this aggressive nation is that they will come to worship the Lord and they will send him gifts.

[19:24] And you could almost imagine the Lord sending out his own messengers in some sort of way across the nations and with a different message to say, trust in the God of Israel.

[19:36] Trust in the Son of the God of Israel. And these people will come and bring their gifts. And I'd venture to say this is fulfilled as we sit here this morning.

[19:49] That I wouldn't wish to say that anybody here is from an aggressive nation, but we certainly have people with different languages. And in these days this is fulfilled that the Lord has sent his messengers across different nations and you have come with gifts to the Lord.

[20:12] You have brought your praises and your prayers and your thanksgiving to the Lord, the God of Israel. And this is God's plan over against all the plans of the Egyptians.

[20:26] And again, you see the centrality of Zion, the place of the name of the Lord Almighty. The place of the name.

[20:39] The name is God's character. It isn't just a sequence of letters, it's his character. The place where his name is, where his character dwells, where you go to find him.

[20:53] When Jesus was raised, let me just try, he has exalted him. he humbled himself to death, therefore God exalted him and did what?

[21:11] He gave him the name that is above every name. Jesus is the place of the name. He is now obviously, clearly, fully the place you go to meet God in his fullness.

[21:27] the risen Jesus has the name that is above every name. His name is also Jesus, but the name that is being referred to is the name of the Lord God Almighty.

[21:40] And gifts are brought to the Lord through that place, through Jesus. Who has the name that is above every name?

[21:52] Jesus of Nazareth, the Christ, the Son of God. it is through him. Isn't this amazing? It is through him that we meet the God of Israel.

[22:03] There's no other name given under heaven by which we must be saved. That's the name we go to. That's the place we go to. Getting yourself a ticket to any part of the world won't get you any nearer God than if you come now this moment to God through Jesus Christ.

[22:21] And I would venture to say this is fulfilled even as we sit here this morning. Let's look at the second poem. A second poem about Egypt exposing their flaws and the favor that will be shown to them.

[22:38] And it begins chapter 19 verse 1. See the Lord rides on a swift cloud and is coming to Egypt. The idols of Egypt tremble before him.

[22:49] The hearts of the Egyptians melt within them. You see the reversal of the confidence and the promises that the Egyptians made.

[23:01] They're actually worth nothing in this ultimate sense. So the Lord comes to Egypt on a swift cloud. There are a few places in the Bible where the Lord comes on a cloud.

[23:15] This isn't the first time and it won't be the last time. Psalm 18 says in my distress I cry to God for help. He parted the heavens and came down.

[23:28] Dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew. He soared on the wings of the wind. Wonderful description of God coming to the help of his people.

[23:40] He comes on the wings of the wind. He comes on the clouds of heaven. In this case in answer to the cry of his people. It would be great isn't it to have a God who when you cry for help is prepared to come on the wings of the wind to help his people.

[24:01] It's also said of the Lord Jesus in future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the mighty one and coming on the clouds of heaven.

[24:13] It's not the last time the Lord will ride on the clouds of heaven. This time he comes to Egypt in future he will come to the whole world. When he comes to Egypt they just see how flimsy and helpless they really are.

[24:30] And when the Lord comes again many of the false confidences of this world will be shown to be less than paper thin in the light of his coming.

[24:44] When he comes who or what will stand. I can tell you who will stand those who trusted in him now before his coming. Continuing on with this poem the idols of Egypt tremble before his face and the hearts of the Egyptians melt within them.

[25:07] So much then for the cat gods and the dog gods and the sphinx gods and the snake gods and all the other gods of Egypt because when the lord comes they're just rubbish compared with the lord and perhaps because they had so many of these gods there's a division there's an internal division in Egypt I will stir up Egyptian against Egyptian brother will fight against brother neighbor against neighbor city against city kingdom against kingdom the Egyptians will lose heart when I bring their plans to nothing they consult the idols and the spirits of the dead the mediums and the spiritists I think I've gone wrong there's internal division and the idols are just useless a fierce king will rule over them and then he comes talks about the economy of

[26:11] Egypt it was dependent upon the Nile the waters of the river will dry up the riverbed will be parched and dry the canals will stink the streams of Egypt will dwindle and dry up reeds and rushes will wither plants along the Nile at the mouth of the river every sown field along the Nile will become parched and will blow away and will be no!

[26:33] All the economy of Egypt the very lush fruitful economy depends on the river Nile and the Nile is not in the control of Pharaoh or anybody else the Nile is in the hands of the Lord and if the Lord should choose to prevent the rain or do something else to the river Nile which he can easily do the whole economy collapses the river Nile dries up the plant life dries up fishing big thing along the Nile that all stops and this whole fertile lush area which they were so proud of it just finishes agriculture stops or the industries that depended on that verse nine those working with combed flaps the weavers of fine linen the workers of cloth will be dejected and all the wage earners will be sick at heart we've learned a little bit haven't we about the fragility of an economic system in the crashes that we have seen when all the pundits said you know we're just going up and up and up and then suddenly it all goes down we shouldn't put we shouldn't put our trust in economic systems

[27:57] God can just touch them and he touches them and here it is with the Nile agricultural stops incidentally it's not a wrong thing to be a fisherman it's not a wrong thing to work with flax it's not a wrong thing to be a farmer but all of those things rely on the Lord that's the point isn't it that's the bit we forget so whatever we're doing our actual reliance is on the Lord rather than on the stability of the market or the fact that technology will always go forward those things are questionable the Lord is the one that we rely on and then the poem comes to the wisdom of Egypt the officials of Zion are nothing but fools!

[28:47] the wise! How can you say to Pharaoh I am one of the wise men a disciple of the ancient kings where are your wise men now let them show you and make known what the Lord Almighty has planned against Egypt wisdom is a good thing we're told to be wise people can be wise without being Christians but that wisdom cannot be ultimately relied on it could be relied on for a small part of life but life itself depends on the Lord and the wisdom of Egypt is no match for the Lord they claim deep ancient wisdom but actually they've got no real idea of the Lord's plans at all and Paul makes the same criticism in 1 Corinthians where he says where is the wise man of this world who really understands

[29:48] I mean he might understand a bit about economics he might understand a bit about politics he might understand a bit about geography but who really understands the wisdom of the Lord because if they had understood that they would not have crucified the Lord of glory if wisdom really understood God wisdom would see that Jesus Christ is the wisest most powerful supreme answer of God to all the conundrums of the world when Paul writes the Romans he says you get this phenomenon people who claim to be wise actually turn into fools and nowadays they will pay these people to come on the television here's a wise man what can you tell us about this and we're not surprised if what they actually say is foolish

[30:50] Christians are not to be taken in by the pundits who claim I am one of the wise men a disciple of ancient kings they don't understand the Lord's plans in the end they're fools and the vivid description they're like stupid drunkards the Lord has poured into them a spirit of dizziness they make Egypt stagger in all that she does as a drunkard staggers around in his vomit there is nothing Egypt can do head or tail palm branch or reed Egypt is exposed as powerless against the Lord who would rely on such a flimsy fraud so I ask again who are we basing our lives on who are we relying on who are we invited to rely on who do we ultimately trust in let's look at the list there's a list of five in that days verse 16 18 19!

[31:56] 23 24 there is another in that day which I think is slightly different but there are I think we take them as five of them now this is interesting because having said don't trust in Egypt God is saying I haven't written off Egypt it's not like Babylon I've got plans for Egypt strangely marvelously and in that day verse 19 verse 16 the Egyptians will be like women they will shudder with fear at the uplifted hand that the Lord Almighty raises against them and the land of Judah will bring terror to the Egyptians and everyone to whom Judah is mentioned will be terrified because of what the Lord Almighty is planning against them so in that day God has a day at the time of writing was in the future when rather than the Egyptians being a source of terror to God's people it would be the other way around

[32:57] God's people would be a terror to the Egyptians and I venture to say we see a little bit of that fulfilled today because there is such a thing as people being scared to come to church because they will feel uncomfortable ill at ease and frightened in fact some of us know people that have got to the door there and then thought no I can't go into that place because it's too frightening and I would say that that's a good first step to realize that the Lord is bigger than you are the Lord is holier than you are the Lord unless you're right with him is to be feared and I think that's a good first step that's what will happen in that day it's also said in that day verse 18 five cities in

[33:59] Egypt will speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord Almighty one of them will be called the city of destruction and the commentators disagree over what this means but let me make a guess in that day a city that used to be the city of destruction will be a city that belongs to the Lord I think it's metaphorical let's just spin that out let's imagine that's the city that you belong to that it was doomed to destruction and by grace by God's wonderful intervention where you were which was doomed to destruction start speaking the language of the Lord the language of prayer the language of praise the language of thanksgiving the language of testimony the city that was I put in the was destruction will belong to the Lord and even if that isn't the correct exegesis it's a true statement isn't it that's what

[35:05] God does in that day number three is verse 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 there will be it will be a sign and witness to the Lord the Lord because of their oppressors he will send them a savior and defender and he will rescue them and look at this here's Egypt we're told not to trust in them rightly so but God has plans and it used to be the case that when you left this is speaking in Old Testament language when you left the boundaries of Israel you left holy ground and you went into unholy ground and you could mark the border with a sign you are now crossing into unclean territory and the prophecy says actually there'll be another boundary marker which says actually you are now re-entering holy territory because you're going to

[36:12] Egypt it's unclean isn't it no now it's going to be a clean place there's going to be a marker on the boundary a sign to the Lord almighty in the do and he says that these Egyptians will have the same experience as Israel well what does he mean in verse 20 he says when they have problems the Egyptians will cry out and the Lord will rescue them you say well hold on now let's just think that's not right is it because only the

[37:15] Lord would only rescue Israel that's the promise made to Israel when she's in trouble read the book of Judges he cries out and God says yes I'll come and help you and this says Egyptians will have that experience as well they'll cry out and the Lord will come and help them and if God can do that for Egyptians he can do that for us he can do that even for Welsh people and Scottish people and Swiss people that they come to him and call out the have things to be grateful for and the

[38:23] Lord won't say wrong ethnicity can't be having you he will say Egyptian yeah come on you're you're part of my huge international family as well that's a great thing isn't it God will hear their prayers and they will know the Lord they make their vows to the Lord and keep them and it says oh I've got myself the Lord will strike Egypt with a plague he will strike them and heal them they will turn to the Lord and he will respond to their pleas and help them what's this about striking them and healing them it sounds a bit like the days of Exodus where God sent the plagues on Egypt but I think it's better to think of it in terms of sonship because the Bible says if we're children he makes it his business to discipline us he makes it his business to bring difficult things into our lives so that we turn to him and learn holiness and he goes on to say in the book of

[39:36] Hebrews if you never have difficult things in your life you ought to be worried because it's only illegitimate children who don't get disciplined!

[39:47] The Lord disciplines those whom he loves so it's worth putting filtering that in and you're thinking I've had such a difficult week God probably doesn't love me so put it the other way around and say because God loves me he has his hand on the pressures and problems that I faced so that makes me pray so that makes me seek him and I learn from that and I learn holiness no discipline at the time seems pleasant but brings forth a harvest of righteousness to those who have been trained by it and he says Egyptians will have that experience in that day number four there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria the Assyrians will go to Egypt the Egyptians to Assyria the Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together in that day Israel will be the third along with Egypt and Assyria a blessing on the earth even the worst of the Lord's enemies will become worshippers think of the nations that you most unlikely to be worshippers of the

[40:58] Lord think of that to the people in Assyria and they say number one is Assyria because they hate us and number two is Egypt because they are trying to get us on board and trying to lure us away from the Lord and God says both of those will become worshippers of me there will be a highway between Egypt and Assyria and Israel and those nations will be partakers together in the blessings of Israel and that's what Paul has in Ephesians which I think I remarked on the other time he said this is the thing is so astounding that the foreigners are members of the commonwealth of Israel but what Christ has done has broken down the barrier between Jew and Gentile and has made one new man and they all inherit the blessings that have been promised to Israel isn't that an amazing thing that we from whatever ethnicity we are we read these promises and we ought to feel not for us because very few of us are ethnically recipients of these promises but we read them and say that's me this book is my book

[42:23] I'm a Christian so through Christ all these stories about another nation far away and all the promises made to them they've made to me even the worst of the Lord's enemies will become worshippers and will be accepted alongside Israel I suppose you could say if the Lord could do that for the Egyptians and the Assyrians please understand he's not saying every single Egyptian and every single Assyrian it's speaking in broad language people of that sort people of that sort if God can do it for Egyptians and Assyrians he can do that for whoever it is that you and I are thinking will never become a Christian you've got people in your head who you think they'll never become Christians they're not the slightest bit interested they've got so many barriers they'll never become believers and you think actually I'm miscalculating that because if God can promise that Egyptians and Assyrians will belong to his people so can

[43:30] Uncle! Auntie B my neighbor da da da da da da yeah in that day number five Egypt and Assyria will be a blessing on the earth the Lord Almighty will bless them blessed be Egypt my people Assyria my handiwork Israel my inheritance you could you could you could almost imagine that when people first heard this list going come off it Isaiah what are you going on about that will never happen but that's what it says the idea of being a blessing on the earth is something Abrahamic isn't it I will bless you and make you a blessing through you Abraham all the nations on the earth will be blessed and for a fully paid up Jew they would say absolutely Abraham he's our man and then this blessedness is extended

[44:34] Swiss people will be a blessing Chinese people will be a blessing Assyrian people will be a blessing Brazilian people will be a blessing I think so yeah so let's lastly come to the bit of history and the bit of history simply says Isaiah has been saying I told you not to trust the Egyptians I told you not to rely on them you should have relied on the Lord and here's this little snippet news just in over to our reporter live in Ashdod and he says the Assyrian tanks are rolling through here as I speak the Philistines in Ashdod they were all signed up with a contract that the Egyptians would save them it was sort of like

[45:35] NATO or something like that and how disappointed they must be and Isaiah says I did tell you the sequence of events is a little bit difficult to unravel but Isaiah seems to have had this naked protest or perhaps nearly naked and he done this for three years verse three he had done it as a sign my servant Isaiah has gone stripped and barefoot for three years as a sign and portent against Egypt and Cush so apparently it's a rather embarrassing way of making a point isn't it glad I wasn't called to that ministry you're probably glad as well saying for three years if you trust in Egypt you'll end up like an exile you'll be taken off with everything removed from you in disgrace don't trust

[46:39] Egypt and simply says that's exactly what happened it all came true as predicted verse six in that day the people who live on this coast will say see what has happened to those we relied on those we fled to for help and deliverance from the king of Assyria how then can we escape it just adds historical proof to his message all the way through don't trust in Egypt trust in the Lord whoops that all came up rather suddenly well this is the message I suppose we have to think through what is the Egypt principle around us at this time and that I think I've been trying to think about it I've not much help I can offer on that but the point being it says here don't turn to

[47:45] Egypt because what God is actually planning is that Egypt will turn to you don't turn to the world around us to solve our problems because God's plan is that the world around us will turn to Christ and his people to solve their problems so Christians please solve your problems God's way don't learn the unbelieving world's way of solving problems all this has been about faith it's old testament but in Christ the principle is no different what is the Christian life it's a life of faith the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the son of God who loved me and gave himself for me if you cannot what does it say if you can't live by faith you can't live at all or if you can't stand in faith you won't be established it's the same for us brothers and sisters it's a very simple thing to say but it's absolutely vital we have to live trusting!

[49:04]  the Lord's promises! We mustn't be taken the persuasions of the world around us you can rely on this you can rely on this we rely on the Lord all those other things have to fall into place around him we're tempted to place our ultimate faith in limited agencies or created things or people but we mustn't rely on Egypt we must trust in the Lord and we're going to sing a song to finish it's number 7 6 9 to