On Saturday, as tens of millions of Egyptians commemorated the anniversary of the first Egyptian Revolution, multiple bombings, carried out by Islamist extremists, tore through the city of Cairo. First, it is essential that we remember our bothers and sisters in Egypt. But we should note that since the second revolution that took place on June 30 last year, (three weeks after I left Cairo), the fulfillment of Isaiah 19:2 has continued to unfold before the world:
“So I will incite Egyptians against Egyptians; and they will each fight against his brother and each against his neighbor”
Needless to say, I believe that one of the most important eschatological passages in the Old Testament is now in the early phases of fulfillment. There are both terrible and glorious aspects of this prophecy to consider. In the season ahead, I will be discussing Isaiah 19, the beginning of its fulfillment, and the profound implications of this passage in great detail.
25 Responses
This post is bittersweet…prayers for our beloved brothers and sisters in the LORD in Cairo and greater Egypt as they continue to suffer under the hands of Islamists, my heart breaks for them and their sufferings. it is a foreshadow of the persecuted church in the years to come.
Yet, the prophetic Word of God must be fulfilled for the LORD to return in His proper time and God’s plan and purpose. So the teaching of God’s Word for fulfillment must be heard so that we know His season of return.
Blessings!
Hello Joel, I am very thankful to the Lord for what you’re doing. You spoke at my church and I truly see the overwhelming significance in prayer for the 10:40 window(I think that’s what you referred to it as). I pray and hope the Lord helps me to start some kind of prayer group for this particular need of our world. Also, I am sincerely appreciative of your adopting spirit the scripture speaks of. Truly, I thank Jesus for what he confirmed and reminded me of through you. Thank you. I pray the peace of God that surpasses all understanding abounds & multiples in all areas of your life, In Jesus name.
The Muslim Brotherhood does not like being bounced from power.
It reminds me of the wailing of some that Spain, which was Muslim, saw its Muslim status change, thanks to military conquest by Ferdinand & Isabella (If I recall my Spanish history correctly).
The Arab Spring was a false peace, like the one to come to Jerusalem. This latter is the peace the Pope promised to desire as he released doves –which were attacked by unclean birds. I cannot believe this was just a coincidence; it is just too fantastic. Think about the carrion eaters of Ezekiel 38 and Revelation. The raven is a land carrion eater and the seagull a sea carrion eater. They are both unclean birds and such birds are portrayed in the Bible as symbolic of evil. God will send those carrion eaters to the battlefields where evil is destroyed, and I believe He sent a response here about the “peace message” from an unfavored messenger.
Praying and fasting for the believers in Egypt. Thanks for the update.
I am in the process of reading the Bible cover to cover with my kids and just finished Ezekiel and a question came to mind (Off-topic from this post) Do you think the rebuilt temple in Jerusalem that the Antichrist will enter will be Ezekiel’s temple? It talks about sacrifices conducted there by the priests and then the Lord’s Glory entering from the east, and ends with the pronouncement “The Lord Lives There” Just wondering if there were thoughts floating around out there about these passages.
Thanks so much for your ministry!
Ezekiel’s Temple as described in chapters 40-47 is built by the Messiah. The 3rd Temple will be destroyed, I believe.
The reason I thought it might be the final temple built by the Jews is that Ezekiel seems to describe animal sacrifices which will take place there. Does that belong in the Millennium? Wasn’t sure what to think…
Perhaps it is describing both the third temple and the Millennial temple – constructed by the Jewish nation after the peace deal with the Antichrist, then desecrated by him, and finally rebulit by the Messiah
I guess we shall see 🙂
Ezekiel’s Temple is far larger than the present Temple Mount. During the Millennium, there will indeed be animal sacrifices. Not for atonement. But there will be sacrifices.
Bonjour Joel,
Actually, there seems to be sacrifices for atonement during the Millennium. The Prince mentioned in Ezekiel 44.3 is seen preparing for himself and for all the people of the land a bullock for a sin offering in Ezekiel 45:22-25.
This makes us wonder who this Prince is?
Blessings from France,
FX
FX,
Many would assume the prince is Christ, but obviously not. He also has children. Admittedly a mystery to me.
Blessings
Joel, have you read “The War Against the Terrormasters” by Michael Ledeen?
When you take a look at Israel’s nearest neighbours, geographically; they are described by Michael as breeding grounds for terrorism, and by you as where the Anti-Christ will come from.
Needless to say, I find this interesting.
One might even say its simple common sense. But that would be too simple…
Hi Joel,
It’s a mystery to me too!
But the good news is that we will find out one day!! 🙂
Blessings from France,
FX
More from Turkey:
http://www.social-europe.eu/2013/09/erdogan-is-not-turkeys-only-problem/
Joel,
Oh, so do you believe that Ezekial’s temple is a literal temple that will be built in the millenium?
Also, why do you think thank when Jesus spoke about “the kingdom” he meant a political one for 1000 years (and then forever?)
Dave
Dave,
Yes on Ezekiel’s Temple. There really is no other way to take it. There is far too much literal details to disregard as having some deeper spiritual meaning.
I would not say “political” but simply a literal theocratic kingdom. The notion of a spiritual invisible kingdom is a Platonic construct and not found in the Scriptures, though it dominates the view of the Church throughout much of Church history.
Blessings
Joel,
Ok, thanks for clarifying this. I disagree 100 percent. I assume you think then that the river is literal as well, and the trees.
Re the kingdom, the notion of a spiritual invisible kingdom is a Jesus construct. He said that you will not be able to say here it is or there it is, because the kingdom is “within you”.
You and many of your followers have completely misunderstood what the kingdom of God actually is. It is a shame because bringing in God’s kingdom is our mission, and I am not talking about a theocracy in the millenium. Jesus told his disciples to preaxh the kingdom and demonstrate it through healings, signs and wonders. The fullness of that kingdom which is heaven coming to earth will be accomplished at the second coming, but our mission is to announce and demonstrate that now so that it can become the greatest mountain of the world.
There is not a single sciprture in the new testament that describes the kingdom as a political theocracy on earth.
But never mind. Blessings anyway.
Dave
Dave,
First, the verse you have quoted is a classically bad interpretation found exclusively in the King James Version. No other translation says anything that infers the Kingdom of God is an invisible miniature kingdom inside of your chest. This is a fundamentally Platonic construct. Let’s look at the actual passage to better understand how it is so commonly misunderstood.
Jesus sermon here was not to correct common (and correct) Jewish expectation (formed of course by their thorough familiarity with the Old Testament), rather it was to correct the common expectation of the day, which was of a militaristic insurrectionist movement which would usher in the Kingdom of God promised through the prophets. Mind you, fresh in their memory was the Maccabean revolt, which successfully saw the overthrow of the Greek oppression. Far too many Jews were expecting yet another militaristic insurrectionist uprising. No, if someone says, “Hey, they are gathering out in the desert (for the purpose of forming a militaristic uprising) or in the inner rooms (the same) do not go after them,” Jesus warned. “No,” Jesus warned his disciples, “Instead, when the Kingdom of God comes, it will not come through the effort of man, nor military might, nor will it be something you wonder about. Instead, it will be right in your midst.” Or to use a modern expression, it will be “in your face”. In other words, there will be no mistaking it. This is why he says it will be like lightning. There is no mistaking this, you can see it from very far away.
Okay, I hope that after reconsidering the passage, you will agree with my point here. The KJV has misled many through the erroneous translation of this verse.
Onto your next points. While we do not have the actual Kingdom of God within us, we do have the Holy Spirit which is the power of the age to come, given in order that we might be his witnesses concerning the coming Kingdom. To some degree our disagreement is semantics, but it is actually more than this. It is about using accurate Biblical language and holding to a correct Biblically formed worldview (which includes both the Old and the New Testament).
So yes, we are called to proclaim the Gospel of the Kingdom (the good news concerning the coming Kingdom) with both our words and deeds. Yes, we pray for the sick. Yes, we do acts of justice. All these things are ways of pointing to the nature of the coming kingdom. But until he comes, we will not, nor can we ever conquer this world. We must maintain the pilgrim identity spoken of in Hebrews 11 and elsewhere. Only Jesus will conquer the world and establish his very real kingdom. We cannot through our own effort, militaristic or religious, bring the actual Kingdom of God here. Only he can do this.
Wrong. Bearing witness to, proclaiming the good news of the coming kingdom is our mission. We are to be his witnesses, not his stormtroopers. Far too much of the Charismatic movement today speaks of conquering the seven mountains of influence or conquering this world, or as you say, “bringing in his kingdom.” We are indeed to be salt and light, a positive influence, and his witnesses, as we bear witness to the coming Kingdom, in this irretrievably and inherently wicked system, but we should never use the language of “conquering” as it has no basis in the NT mandate or mission of the Church.
Now, while you may disregard the entirety of Ezekiel 40-47, I am able to fully explain it, while you have zero explanation for the multitude of passages such as this that describe a literal earthly physical kingdom on the earth. Which is why you ignored this very large segment of Scripture. One could say the same of Isaiah 60-66 and many other passages throughout the OT. As for your claim that there is not a single passage in the NT that describes an actual Kingdom of God on the earth, I’ll just toss a couple out briefly:
Kingdom of Heaven by the way, is simply an expression referring to the Messianic Kingdom here on the earth, not a disembodied spiritual reality.
Now, a few comments. While the actual Kingdom of God, the Messianic Kingdom that the NT repeatedly speaks of and looks forward to, wherein the promises of Abraham will be fulfilled, is not yet here, we do now have the Holy Spirit, which is the power of the age to come. This empowers us to be his witnesses concerning the coming kingdom. Now, in all fairness, there are certainly many NT references that speak of those who have been born again as being in the “Kingdom of God” in the present tense, but there are many others that speak of the Kingdom of God as entirely yet future. How to reconcile this? When it speaks of the Kingdom as now, it is not literal. Until he returns an the resurrection occurs, we cannot inherit the Kingdom. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom. So such passages that speak of the kingdom in the present tense, it is speaking of future certainly as if it is present tense reality. The idea is that he will establish his kingdom, but in the mean time, we are the citizens and ambassadors of that future kingdom.
I hope this has helped.
Blessings
Dave,
Though you consistently make rather rude or agitated comments here, I have until now made efforts to patiently respond to you kindly. But your persistence in being both rude and combative has reached its limit. If you wish to try again, you may, though I will only post it if I feel it contributes to the discussion and edifies others. Perhaps you might redress the very common, but wrong understanding of the passage, which I explained concerning “the kingdom of God is within you.”
Dave,
In looking back at your previous posts, I now see that you are the same Deane Jennings that I’ve banned from posting here for your consistent anti-Semitic rhetoric. It all makes complete sense now. Not only are you consistently rude, condescending, and combative, you are also a fundamentally dishonest and deceitful person.
The comments section here is not a free-for-all for anyone to express their views. If a comment or individual is not a source of edification, it will not be posted.
Joel, congratulations for your excelent work.
In fact, everythings points to a muslim antichrist.
But also, there seems to be a movement the so-called illuminati to establish the world new order and a world leader. And they, illuminati and muslims, don’t seem speaking the same language. Could we to say the kingdom of satan are divided?
Sorry the ignorance of my question.
Blessings!
Hi Bruno,
I seek to understand what the Scriptures speak of. They point to the surrounding nations around Israel gathering against her in the last days. I see no NWO in the Scriptures. Simply stated, I seek to emphasize what the Scriptures emphasize. As for the Illuminati, I do not believe such an organization exists. Of course there are various world bankers and powerful elitists who seek to implement their agenda for their own personal gain. But to say that there is a shadow organization of satanic occultists that control the entire world is simply not something I believe.
I hope this has helped.
Blessings,
Joel
Sure, thank you so much for your explanation!
http://danieltrainingnetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/John-H-Kingdom-Conversations-Seminar.pdf
http://danieltrainingnetwork.org/debated-passages-kingdom-conversations/