Copyright © 2005-2007 Collin Park
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.Notes for reading of September 15
Here is an interesting prophecy from the prophet Isaiah, about Egypt. Remember Egypt? The country that enslaved the Israelites for 400 years? Check this out:
In that day there will be an alter to the Lord in the heart of Egypt, and a monument to the Lord at its border. ... When they cry out to the Lord because of their oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and he will rescue them. 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.
Isaiah 19.19-21
That's very cool. I don't think that's happened yet, has it? That means it's something we can look forward to.
Here is something I wonder, though. Will this happen "literally" - I mean will there be a physical altar at which literal grain offerings will be made? Or, since the temple is now gone (and, as Hebrews tells us, Jesus's one sacrifice has obsoleted the old sacrificial system), will this be fulfilled in a sort of New Testament sense, with men and women turning to God as revealed in the person of Jesus Christ?
That's a hard one; at least it seems hard to me.
But what if many Egyptians were to follow Jesus (or "Issa" as more Egyptians probably know him as)? Would that be a fulfillment of this prophecy? I propose the answer is "yes," and that this can happen as followers of Christ in Egypt love one another and reach out to their neighbors in love and service. I don't think I can be any more specific than that, but wouldn't that be cool if that's the way this got fulfilled?
Anyway, I don't know how to interpret this prophecy without saying it applies to the literal land of Egypt, although as you see I could imagine sacrifices and altar being replaced by whatever "equivalents" we have in the church age.
In Egypt or out of it, should we, as followers of Jesus Christ, love one another, reach out to our neighbors in love and service, and work for justice and mercy? I guess so!
posted 9/14 8:50pm Japan... for 9/15
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