STRANGE BEDFELLOWS
Isaiah 19:25 The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my inheritance.”
There was a saying in the 17th century that difficult circumstances will bring together very different people. This will certainly be the cast in the last days before Jesus returns and then after his return. Here we see prophecy that affirms that it is indeed Jesus Christ that has returned to earth to reign and rule for 1,000 years. God will take three enemies and they will be aligned together to battle the Lord, but then they will turn to the Lord and he will bless them.
Isaiah 24 describes how the Lord will lay waste to the earth and devastate it; he will ruin its face and scatter it inhabitants. It will be completely laid to waste because its people have disobeyed the laws of the Lord and broken the everlasting covenant. The Lord will burn up the earth’s inhabitants and very few will be left. The floodgates of the heavens are opened, and the foundations of the earth shake. The earth reels like a drunkard, it sways like a hut in the wind because of its rebellion and it falls - never to rise again. In that day the Lord will punish the powers in the heavens above and the kings on the earth below. They will be herded together like prisoners bound in a dungeon; they will be shut up in prison and be punished after many days. The moon will be abashed, the sun ashamed; for the Lord Almighty will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, and before its elders, gloriously. Then he will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nation; he will swallow up death forever. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth.
Before Jesus returns to earth the Lord will bring its inhabitants down to their knees. The earth will experience great sorrow like it has never been through before. When we look to the Book of Revelation, we see ⅓ of people killed along with life in the sea and other life on land. This great destruction will unite the peoples of the earth for sheer survival instinct. But when at the end as Jesus returns, he will remove the shroud as Isaiah calls it,and everyone will understand that he is the one that has conquered the earth and is indeed Jesus Christ the Son of God and they will understand his salvation. All the world will know and understand what Christianity already does, and that Jesus is Lord of lords and King of kings the only means of reconciliation with God and eternal life.
At this time bitter enemies will be united under allegiance with Jesus. Egypt, Israel and Iraq will all unite to glorify Jesus. I am sure that many others will as well. We even see verse 14 say that from the west they acclaim the Lord’s majesty, so possibly this could be the United States as we now stand with Israel and are a major Christian country. During this time a highway will be built from Egypt to Iraq. While the destruction of the earth caused by the Lord united the people of the earth, so will the 1,000 year rule of Jesus. Ronald Reagan once told the United Nations that all the fighting over small matters would stop if there was a common threat like an alien invasion. I think that we see this in not only the return of Jesus, but after 1,000 rule the nations of the world will unite once again to kill Jesus just as it says in Revelation 20:7-9. The people of earth can be very strange bedfellows indeed. For thousands of years we have fought and and killed each other over land, gold, religious beliefs and the list can go on and on. We will unite to follow Jesus as he brings us peace, and then we unite against him, because we want to go back to the old ways of killing each other before he came. This is all pretty strange isn’t it? In fact it really sounds so strange that a book editor would say it will never sell because it doesn’t make since. The thing is it will happen just as God has said it will.
So why am I telling this? Because God has already told it though Isaiah, and God wants to warn those who have a heart to be right with him. Just possibly someday someone going through the time of the Last Day or Tribulation and this might help them to trust in Jesus or keep them from rebelling from him. And who knows maybe it is for you, so you will know and be prepared to look for Jesus return and warn others too.
Prayer: Lord Jesus we look forward to your return to reign and rule on earth. You have given us many signs to look for that will affirm that it is indeed you. Please help us that we might not fall asleep as some will and not be ready. We love you Lord Jesus and ask this in your holy name.
