Tag Archive | prophecies

Journaling through the Bible Chronologically in 2025, Day 198

Jul17

Day 198 – Reading – Isaiah 18 – 22

Read today’s Scriptures.  Do you see connections?

Isaiah 18.

Cush (Ethiopia), a nation, tall and smooth, to a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide. (The Nile River and its tributaries extend south through Ethiopia.)  

At that time (Messiah’s Kingdom) tribute will be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and smooth, from a people feared near and far, a nation mighty and conquering, whose land the rivers divide …. to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD of hosts.”

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Isaiah 19.

Behold the LORD is riding on a swift cloud and comes to Egypt (to execute judgment); and the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence, and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.

“I will confound their counsel; and they will inquire of the idols and sorcerers, and the mediums and the necromancers; and I will give over the Egyptians into the hand of a hard master, and a fierce king (Assyria) will rule over them,” declares the LORD GOD of hosts. 

‘And the river will be dry and parched, and its canals will become foul, and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up, reeds and rushes will rot away…..

  • And the fishermen, who cast hooks and spread nets will mourn and lament…
  • The workers in combed flax and weavers of white cotton will be crushed and grieved….
  • And there will be nothing for Egypt to do.

Nevertheless, “in THAT Day” (Messiah’s Kingdom)….

  • “there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts…. 
  • And there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of Egypt…
  • And the LORD will make Himself known to the Egyptians…
  • And the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day and worship….
  • They will return to the LORD and He will listen… and heal them.

IN THAT DAY, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria (through Israel), and the Egyptians will worship (the LORD) with the Assyrians. 

IN THAT DAY, Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth whom the LORD has blessed.  “Blessed be EGYPT my people, and ASSYRIA the work of my hands, and ISRAEL, my inheritance.

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Isaiah 20.

But, BEFORE the Day of the LORD comes, Egypt and Ethiopia will be shamed and conquered by Assyria, and taken captive.

The LORD told Isaiah to strip off his clothes and sandals and walk about naked. WHAT??  Often the prophets of God did things to “symbolize” what they were also speaking.  This nakedness was to show the shame of Egypt and Ethiopia being conquered and taken away.

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Isaiah 21.

Then suddenly, we go past Babylon’s conquest of Jerusalem and captivity of the Jews, to a time IN PROPHECY, that Babylon itself will be conquered by the Medes 

Isaiah says, “A stern vision is told to me; the traitor betrays, and the destroyer destroys.  Go up, O Elam (Persia); lay siege, O Media; all the sighing she (Babylon) has caused I will bring to an end.

Then God reveals to Isaiah the wicked feast of Belshazzar (Daniel 5), “They prepare the table, they spread the rugs, they eat, they drink…” when amid the celebration the call to fight the attacking enemy invading the city came. (Remember the writing on the wall?)

“Fallen, fallen is Babylon…”

Isaiah finishes the chapter with Oracles against other smaller nations.

Isaiah 22.

And then… Isaiah circles back to Israel, and JERUSALEM.  He portrays a picture of destruction (without a sword, for Babylon starved the people of Jerusalem) and of capture. But all the while Jerusalem is celebrating with wild parties.  THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN IN SACKCLOTH, REPENTING!!

Judah is shown trying to withstand the enemy by their own methods (which will surely fail) instead of looking to God for help.

The LORD:  Weep and mourn, shave your heads and wear sackcloth (evidence of repentance).

The people of JUDAH:  Joy and gladness, killing oxen and slaughtering sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine, saying, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die.”
The LORD:  Surely this iniquity will NOT BE ATONED FOR YOU until you die.”

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From Egypt and Cush in the south, to Assyria, to Babylon’s fall, and the refusal to repent in Jerusalem, Isaiah proclaims the truth of God, hard as it may be (or as embarrassing as when he’s naked). 

God had asked for a servant to proclaim His message, even they wouldn’t listen,  Isaiah had said, “Send ME!”  Now God was using this faithful prophet to predict His purposes. 

(And Isaiah would one day pay for his faithfulness with martyrdom.

He would be sawed in half by a wooden saw under wicked King Manasseh.)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2024GOAL – Reading Through The Bible Chronologically, day 264

Sep20

    Day 264—We are in the NINETH month of Bible reading, with more of Israel’s history and ZECHARIAH’S prophecy.

    Day 264 – Zechariah 5 – 9  (3 visions, Israel’s enemies, the Messiah)

Zechariah 5. Zechariah’s sixth dream/vision is a huge Flying Scroll – 15×30 feet, the same size as the holy place in the temple. It’s written on both sides. The 2nd and 8th commandments are listed, so maybe the scroll was of all the 10 Commandments.

It symbolizes the Word of God that Israel and the entire world have disobeyed and the coming judgment.

The Woman in a Basket is the seventh vision.  The angel shows Zechariah the woman inside the basket, whom he calls “Wickedness,” and quickly covers the basket with the lead top.  Two women with stork-like wings pick up the basket and carry it off.  This pictures the wickedness that permeated Israel and Judah, finally being carried off to Shinar (ancient Babylon’s name and the place of the tower of Babel).  This is the final “great Babylon” of Revelation 17 – 18, which will be destroyed before the Messiah’s kingdom is set up.

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Zechariah 6.  The last dream/vision is of Four Chariots. The chariots represent God’s judgment on the nations that attack Israel. The two mountains are probably Mt. Zion and the Mt of Olives, where the Lord Jesus will return.  The color of the horses pulling the chariots is again similar to the 4 Apocalyptic horses in Revelation 6:1-8.  These chariots envision vengeance on the nations.  When the final judgment is done, God’s spirit of wrath rests.  See also Revelation 19 – 20.

The Crown and the Temple. Although this is not a vision, the crown on Joshua, the high priest, and the coming One (the Branch of David’s line) who will sit on a throne in the temple He will build again, picture the Lord Jesus who will both reign as King and serve as High Priest in the Messianic kingdom on earth.

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Zechariah 7. With the temple now half finished and no obstacles to hinder them, people from Bethel came to the priests in Jerusalem and asked if they should keep mourning the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the temple.  God, through Zechariah, scolds them.  Was your mourning for Me or for yourselves?  Obedience, not ritual, is what is essential. (This reminds me of Samuel’s “To obey is better than sacrifice” to the former King Saul.)  God is interested in HEART attitudes.

God then reminds them how He had called the people repeatedly to justice, kindness, and mercy, not oppressing widows, orphans, and the poor, and not devising evil in their hearts.  But they had refused to listen to Him…so HE refused to listen to them in their hour of distress and scattered them.

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Zechariah 8. God, through Zechariah, is still answering the Bethel delegation.  He loves His people so much. His wrath was caused by His jealousy of them. But now He has returned and will dwell in their midst again, in “the faithful city.”  This also speaks of the remnant of Israel in the coming Messianic Kingdom, where “Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age. And the city’s streets shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.”

“I will save my people from the east and west countries and bring them to dwell in Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.”

“And I will cause the remnant of this people to possess all these things (peace, fruitfulness, produce, dew from heaven). And as you have been a byword of cursing among the nations, O house of Judah and house of Israel, so will I save you, and you shall be a blessing.  Fear not, but let your hands be strong.”

Then, to the remnant, God repeats the requirement that He gave formerly of speaking truth and peace with each other, devising no evil or false oaths or other things He hates.

And FINALLY, He answers their question.  “The FASTS shall be to the house of Judah seasons of joy, and gladness, and cheerful feasts. Love truth and peace. “

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Zechariah 9. The first of two “oracles.”  Judgment of Israel’s Enemies, The first Coming, and rejection of the King of Zion. (Behold your king is coming to you; righteous and having salvation is he, humble and mounted on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.”  (See Matthew 21, John 12)

Verses 10-17 allude to their king’s SECOND Coming: “His rule shall be from sea to sea.”   “On that day, the LORD their God will save them, as the flock of His people; for like the jewels of a crown, they shall shine on His land. For how great is His goodness and how great His beauty.”