Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Isaiah 19:4

Copyright Ó 2014 J. Neely
Isaiah 19:4ues

4 And ['eth] the Egyptians [Mitsrayim] will I give over [caker] into the hand [yad] of a cruel [qasheh] lord ['adown]; and a fierce [`az] king [melek] shall rule [mashal] over them, saith [na'um] the Lord ['adown], the LORD [Yahovah] of hosts [tsaba'].  KJV-Interlinear

4 "Moreover, I will deliver the Egyptians into the hand of a cruel master, And a mighty king will rule over them," declares the Lord God of hosts.  NASB

The cruel ruler or lord, ‘adown,’ describes this ruler in the plural, referring to his dynamic appeal and majestic presentation.  This is not Christ, but the anti-christ, who is described elsewhere as dynamic, popular, and very cruel, to say the least.

Remember that this prophecy is describing Egypt in the final days of history, where Egypt is in a state of civil war, where there are many sides or factions, none of which have any control over any of the others, but there will come along a ruler who is described here in the plural, not because he is many people but because he is dynamic and appealing and has many attributes.

But too, he is also ruthless and cruel.

The phrase, ‘fierce king,’ describes one who takes control by violent force or by conquest.

And as we have already seen in our Revelation study, the anti-christ will not only sweep through Europe and the western nations, but he will also extend his authority over Egypt and the rest of the world, placing his own rulers in charge of the nations of the world.  Satan of course, is the real brains and driving force behind all of this, to subdue the entire world so that he can eliminate Christians, but especially the Jews, from off the face of the planet.

Not being very successful, Satan will initiate the final great war, Armageddon, in order to wipe out all of humanity, just to make sure there is no one for Christ to deliver at the Second Advent.  This evil plan too, will fail.

But as for Egypt, they will be in an all-out civil war, destabilizing the entire region, and the anti-christ will sweep in and overwhelm all of the factions and whip them into line, violently.  This will lay the groundwork for the invasion of Israel late in the Tribulation, but prior to that and even perhaps prior to the Rapture, Egypt may well be very unstable, or perhaps the Rapture by removing Christians and removing the restraint on sin, will contribute to their instability, paving the way for the anti-christ to move into the region early in the Tribulation, shortly after or simultaneously with the takeover of the western nations.

Of course we speculate on these details, but it does exercise the imagination some.

The only things we do know for sure is that Egypt, in a state of chaos, will be taken over by a dynamic but cruel ruler in those final days of history.  And there is but one dynamic ruler in all the world at that time, who is the anti-christ.

Being Christians, we won’t see those events as the Rapture will remove all Christians from the world, in the final event of our dispensation, leaving us and all Christians, from our dispensation, out of the Tribulation.


But this also gives us a principle of truth, in that when you ignore God, Christ, doctrine and your spiritual life, then you leave yourself open to a chaotic life, and to being fooled and deceived by dynamic leaders as well as being taken over or led astray or taken advantage of, by cruel leaders, who don’t really care about you.