Egypt-Assyria-Israel
Clarence E. Lunden
Table of Contents
Egypt, Assyria, and Israel
Many extraordinary events have taken place during the history of this world, but none have been so full and rich in temporal and spiritual blessings for the nations as those which lie in store for Egypt, Assyria, and Israel. Their unfoldings must wait for the coming of the Son of man.
Ere He comes in blessing to these nations, the world shall feel its sorrows which are the result of departure from God and the treatment afforded Israel’s people during the past 2500 years or more.
Alas! our beloved peoples of the West shall be the first to feel the bitter fruits of apostasy from God as well as their attributing a cruel, unrelenting, shameful image to God’s favored earthly people of Israel.
“Who taught you tender Bible tales
of honey lands of milk and wine?
of happy, peaceful Palestine?
of Jordan’s holy harvest vales?
Who gave the patient Christ, I say,
Who gave your Christian creed?
Yea, yea, who gave your very God to you?
Your Jew! Your Jew! God’s chosen Jew!”
A prophetic view of the future blessing of Israel and the nations is given in the Word of God. This blessing will come, not because of any worthiness on their part, for what does their history disclose? nothing but idolatry and bloodshed in excess. This favor will come only because of the kindness of God’s heart for Jesus’ sake. However, God will reward those who have shown favor to His people in the past.
When those who seek after knowledge concerning ancient things find their written source depleted, they must either rely upon questionable evidence taken from the graveyards of the past or take their information from the Word of God. Many are reluctant to acknowledge that the inspired Word of God is the only truth as to ancient history, neither will they accept what God by the Holy Spirit has penned concerning future events. In fact, most of the history of the world was prophesied before it became a reality.
“Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do” (Gen. 18:17)?
“Surely the Lord GOD will do nothing, but he revealeth his secret unto his servants the prophets” (Amos 3:7).
All we need to know of the past or future regarding the earth has already been penned by the Spirit of God, and if diligent we shall discover it in His Word.
To have any understanding of events, past, present, or future, or as to God’s ways down through the ages, we must first be in tune with God Himself. Naturally, we are estranged from Him and must return through the sacrifice He has provided. Faith in Christ and His work on the cross, making redemption through His shed blood in death, is the only way back.
It is difficult for the natural mind to conceive that enemies apparently implacable shall soon be transformed into peaceful neighbors. Who but God Himself could implement such a change as shall surely come to pass? Had we not God’s Word for it, we would never believe that ancient enemies such as Egypt and Assyria would be reconciled.
We learn from Scripture that Assyria has been Israel’s arch enemy for centuries, as was even prophesied in Deut. 28:47-50. Today Egypt has no love for Israel and very little for Assyria.
This trio of nations could not coalesce under present standards and national ambitions. There must and shall be a fundamental change with each and all when Jehovah returns to take up the cause of His people so scattered and peeled.
We rejoice to know that many in Israel and the nations shall turn to the Lord in the coming day of His power. To see entire nations, now at enmity with one another, saved and worshipping Jehovah, shall be a coming wonder indeed for this sin-troubled earth. To have those who were once enemies rejoicing together in the one God, while the entire creation is released from its thralldom, shall be glory indeed.
The coming blessing of these favored nations will take place after God has dealt with all of Israel’s enemies and has established peace on the earth.
Egypt
The history of Egypt dates back farther than that of any other nation of Africa. The original migration south from the cold Armenian plateaus to the warm Egyptian plains must have been rapid for the children of Ham. But, alas! along with colonization came the worship of demons. Egypt is a heathen land. Unless God is the Object, to better one’s circumstances carries with it the moral sting of the scorpion and venom of the asp.
Though Egypt was among the early nations, she did not rise to the height of some of the others; her pride brought her low.
Egypt said, “My river (Nile) is mine own, and I have made it for myself.”
“But I will put hooks in thy jaws... and I will leave thee thrown into the wilderness... and all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the LORD, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel... And I will bring again the captivity of Egypt, and will cause them to return... into the land of their habitation; and they shall be there a base kingdom” (Ezek. 29:3-14).
This history tells us why Egypt has never risen to the dignity of the position of a world power.
Assyria
The Assyrian power which was mighty in its day was never a monarchy in the sense of having been appointed of God, nor shall its revival take that character in the last days.
The characteristics of this power which overran most of the ancient earth, from Cappadocia, Cilicia, Armenia, as well as Media and Persia on the north and east, down to Palestine, Egypt, and Arabia on the west and south, were plunder, depredation, ravaging, and treasure-seeking, with the purpose of making a name of glory in the earth. This is typical of man unrestrained, wholly following his passions, without the fear of God.
During the 2600 years, more or less, that this military giant has lain in the grave, there have been tremendous changes in national borders, colonization, and civilization. Still, the original Semitic people within the boundaries ascribed to Asshur at the height of his glory remain much the same as when Persia and Media first subdued them.
Great kings have come and gone.
“Behold, the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance: behold, he taketh up the isles (Gentiles) as a very little thing. And Lebanon is not sufficient to burn, nor the beasts thereof sufficient for a burnt offering. All nations before him are as nothing; and they are counted to him less than nothing, and vanity” (Isa. 40:15-17).
Within the boundaries described were found Susiana, Chaldea, Babylonia, Media, Armenia, Assyria proper, Mesopotamia, parts of Cappadocia and Cilicia, Syria, Phenicia, Palestine, and Idumea. Cyprus and parts of Egypt were for a short time under the dependency of Assyrian kings. The ancient Assyrian was used as a rod over Israel and other nations and shall be so used again.
After the overthrow of the Assyrian state, the name “Assyria” continued to be applied to those countries which had formerly been under its domination, such as Babylonia and Persia. In Ezra 6:22 Darius is also called King of Assyria.
This is all very significant inasmuch as all of the countries which will remain after the western nations are destroyed shall be gathered as in a net under the last Assyrian, of which the first was a type.
Israel
The Old Testament sets before us Israel under the blessing and government of God. Through Israel’s history, which in its latter part was indeed sad, we learn the principles of God’s ways in purpose, government, and mercy.
“When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel” (Deut. 32:8).
“You only have I known of all the families of the earth: therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities” (Amos 3:2).
“For the LORD will have mercy on Jacob, and will yet choose Israel, and set them in their own land” (Isa. 14:1).
God chose Abraham from the midst of idolatry, from the family of Shem, who carries a special blessing, to represent Him on the earth. Abraham was promised a land bordered by Lebanon on the north, the River of Egypt on the south, the Euphrates on the east, and the Mediterranean Sea on the west. This promise will soon be fulfilled to the letter; no one can alter it. He was promised that he would be blessed and that his name would be great; also he was told that God would make of him a great nation, and those who blessed him would be blessed, and those who cursed him would be cursed.
Abraham, though living in the dignity of his position before God, waited as a pilgrim in the Land which God had given him until God’s time for him to take possession. Nothing would do for a resting-place for Abraham which had not been cleansed by judgment. Abraham has long since passed into that condition which shall lead to a heavenly portion; his seed, Christ, will take possession of the Land in God’s time. This in no way infers that Christ was a part of any creation. He is the Creator, but He was born Man of a virgin to fulfill the place called for in God’s counsels. All other men had failed. He is spoken of as Abraham’s seed.
Years passed by. Israel, of Abraham’s seed, rose to power and was in possession of the Land which God had promised. Israel had not only been the chosen people by promise but had been entrusted with government and placed at the center of a galaxy of nations such as are found in Psa. 83, including Egypt, Persia, Media, revolving about what in God’s sight was the center of the earth.
But all in man’s hand failed: priest, prophet, king—each had his day. Israel through disobedience became ruined and wretched until carried away captive under ASSYRIA and BABYLON. The Assyrian yoke still remains to this day. If Israel had remained true to God, they never would have been subdued by Babylon or Assyria, but because they turned to idols, they were set aside, and all of their power and glory was transferred to the Gentiles.
Israel was guilty of many things, including the grossest form of idolatry and corruption, even to the slaying of their own Messiah; still, while under national, judicial blindness, they will be carried by Jehovah in delivering power from the clutches of the greatest enemy that has ever threatened them, directly into the grandest blessings that have ever been known upon the earth, the enemy gone forever.
“Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name:
“If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the LORD, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me forever.
“Thus saith the LORD; If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, I will also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith the LORD” (Jer. 31:35-37).
Babylon and Assyria
“And they said, Go to, let us build us a city and a tower, whose top may reach unto heaven; and let us make us a name, lest we be scattered abroad upon the face of the whole earth.
And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men builded.
And the LORD said, Behold, the people is one, and they have all one language; and this they begin to do: and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do.
Therefore is the name of it called Babel; because the LORD did there confound the language of all the earth” (Gen. 11:4,5,6,9).
Before Israel became a nation, even before Abraham was called, the dispersion of nations took place as God confused the tongues of men who sought power and glory by building the tower of Babel. At that time, though God in government had so acted, Asshur of the family of Shem went out of Babylon to build Nineveh. Babylon is seen, at this early stage, the “city” in the center of the earth, representing apostate POWER; likewise Nineveh, a sister “city” in the center of the earth under Asshur, depicting the GLORY of man.
These two are a type of those which, in the last days, will form the two great confederacies, Western (Babylon) and Eastern (Assyrian), to fight against God and His anointed King. They set forth the world in all of its systems of government, idolatry, pleasure, inventions, as well as every evil thing imagined by unregenerate man under the deceit of Satan.
“Nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do” (Gen. 11:6).
The principle of Babylon includes centralization of world power and worship, which the ancient “city” Babylon symbolizes. Thus Satan, working through men as agents, will try to frustrate God’s plan, set forth in Psalm 2, to have Christ as Man in the position of POWER, WORSHIP, and GLORY. Israel will be used to carry the power and glory for Christ on earth.
God had never judged Babylon, that great apostate world system, at its commencement, although He did confuse the tongues at Babel. God has not forgotten that it was through this system that His people were taken captive and oppressed. When iniquity ripens, God will judge. Israel shall again be under the power of Babylon, subject to the Romans, during the seven years of tribulation.
In chapter 2 of his prophecy the prophet Daniel, speaking of the future, relates how the Roman power shall be formed, also its end. He speaks of four great monarchies in succession, first, Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, who was set up by God as carrying the authority of government for the earth. Only Babylon was given this authority. Israel had forfeited that place of dignity because she had turned to the worship of idols.
The second, Medo-Persian, usurping the throne of Babylon, was inferior to the first power. Then Greece took the power and finally the Romans, who have never been succeeded by another monarchy.
The Roman Empire shall rise again for a short time, then fall when the Son of man shall take the kingdom. His kingdom shall be everlasting.
As for the first three, their lives shall be prolonged, showing that God, in patience, will grant them another testimony, namely, the gospel of the kingdom. When the present world system falls, those unrepentant among them shall all fall together, but not as individual powers.
The four monarchies were seen by Nebuchadnezzar in his dream as a great image which represents Babylon. By interpretation, Daniel showed how the image set forth the character and course of these kingdoms, indicating the entire period of the times of the Gentiles. The times of the Gentiles will end, and the judgment of the entire image will occur when Jehovah takes His throne to reign.
This shall be the time of deliverance for Israel and the founding of Zion. At this time the yoke shall be removed from Israel forever. Then Israel shall be the representative of power in the earth, the place that they lost when they turned to the worship of idols. At the same time they will carry the glory of the earth. All that is seen under the character of Babylon and Nineveh will then disappear.
Forces in Opposition to the Kingdom of Israel
We have reviewed histories and characteristics of the three nations which are destined for special blessings in a future day, also underlying principles that shall determine the end of great powers who shall be involved in the judgments and restoration of Israel and the nations. In order to understand the forces at work to oppose these blessings, we must trace what the Word of God teaches in as orderly and brief a manner as possible.
After the true church of God, which has been formed during these two thousand years, more or less, shall be raptured to heaven from earth, an event which could happen at any moment, seven years of trial shall sweep over the earth.
The “prince that shall come,” who will rise out from among the Roman people, will make a covenant with Israel at the beginning of the seven years of trial. The covenant will not only protect Israel but will provide sea and land bases for the prince of the Roman people.
No empire has succeeded the Roman which will rise again in its last form as an empire after the first three and one-half years of trial are past. The individual powers (or horns) which shall eventually make up the empire may extend their borders previous to the formation of the empire. When the empire is complete, it will have much of the original territory along the Rhine and Danube Rivers to the Euphrates, the Persian Gulf, and over to the Mediterranean Sea as well as part of the north coast of Africa. At the time of the uniting of the empire in its last form, the ten horns (powers) will be crowned as kings.
At the end time there shall arise three powers, all enemies of Israel: the Roman Empire, which will be known as Babylon at the time of its end, the Assyrian, seeking power and glory in the last days, and Egypt, known as the King of the South. These powers will vie for Israel’s land.
The Roman Empire under the little horn, who will hold Israel’s land in captivity, shall head the WESTERN CONFEDERACY. The eastern nations under the Assyrian will form the EASTERN CONFEDERACY against Israel.
Egypt, being an independent power, shall ad alone against Israel.
Before the day of the Lord comes, the gospel of the kingdom will be preached to all nations of the prophetic earth. Edom who has manifested such hatred to Israel shall hear and answer in scorn, “He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? Watchman, what of the night? The watchman said, The morning cometh, and also the night: if ye will inquire, inquire ye: return, come” (Isa. 21:11,12).
Near the end of the seven years of tribulation, the Western Confederacy shall begin to weaken and lose control of its extended empire. This shall relieve the Arab nations who have been under the control of the West for some time. These nations, west of the Euphrates, from Syria to Arabia, shall then form their own confederacy under Edom. Linked with them shall be Persia, Media, and Assyria proper; it will also include Russia and the peoples of Turkish origin probably from the Adriatic Sea eastward.
The King of the North shall act earlier than the rest of these nations though he be confederate.
The Consumption
Though a secondary power, Egypt shall seek to take Israel’s land by force, precipitating the consumption.
Seeing the western nations in a dilemma, the Egyptian army shall move into the land of Israel from the south, living off the land as they desolate it.
As Egypt pushes from the south, the King of the North (the Assyrian) shall attack from the north. Having been appointed by God as His rod against Israel, the King of the North shall move through the Land as a scourge. Three nations shall escape his whirlwind attack as he drives on into Egypt. God shall reserve these enemies of Israel, Edom, Moab, and Ammon, for Israel to punish or expel from their Land. The Philistines shall also be disinherited. Before Egypt is healed she shall be smitten by the King of the North.
As these old rivals meet for the last time on the battlefield, Egypt shall be taken captive and greatly humbled by the King of Assyria. Although Egypt will cry to the Lord because of the oppressor, and He shall send them a saviour, a great one, still they shall be for a time under the rule of a cruel lord. The people shall feel hard times, unemployment will paralyze the nation; there will be no fish, their mainstay, because the Nile River will be dried up. The population will be like women, with fear taking hold upon them.
“And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel” (Isa. 8:8).
No doubt the Northern incursion will have started some time before the Lord comes out of heaven to judge the Great Western Confederacy. This is quite evident because Balaam’s prophecy shall be fulfilled before the West falls. The prophet Balaam prophesies, “Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive. And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this! And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim (Cyprus), and shall afflict Asshur, and... Eber” (Num. 24:22-24).
In order to maintain control over Israel the West must resort to sea power. The drying up of the Euphrates River is a figure of speech indicating the withdrawal of the western forces into their own immediate land because of the waning of their power in the East. Here we find Balaam’s prophecy helpful.
Today two great powers, one in the West and one in the East, have navies that are practically matched. It takes little understanding to see that the ships of Chittim belong to the West, otherwise why should they attack the people of Asshur and Eber who are enemies of the West? The occasion of this attack would have to be at the time that the King of the North sweeps through Palestine. Soon after, there will be no ships of Chittim. There was no reason for an attack upon these enemies before. The ships of Chittim belong to the little horn. Who is the little horn of Daniel 7? His number is 666.
These judgments will be known as “the consumption” or “the harvest” in which one shall be taken for judgment while another shall be left in the Land for blessing. This shall affect all nations.
“Alas, who shall live when God doeth this” (Num. 24:23)!
“Earth, what a sorrow lies before thee,
None like it in the shadowy past;
The sharpest throe that ever tore thee,
E’en though the briefest and the last!
“I see the fair moon veil her luster
I see the sackcloth of the sun;
The shrouding of each starry cluster,
The three-fold woe of earth begun.
“I see the shadows of its sunset
And wrapt in these the wenger’s form;
I see the Armageddon onset
But I shall be above the storm.
“There comes the moaning and the sighing,
There comes the hot tear’s heavy fall,
The thousand agonies of dying
But I shall be beyond them all.”
HB.
The “rod” of Jehovah, or consumption, shall level the prosperity and civilization of the prophetic earth, actually emptying the land of Israel of men, so that it shall be said, “I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” This consumption shall eventually extend to all nations of the prophetic earth, including western Europe and all so-called Christian lands.
“Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease” (Isa. 21:2).
Members of the Eastern Confederacy will probably be the executers of this awful carnage. The confederacy spoken of will be the Assyrian and his allies.
There will be a difference between the desolator moving through the Land into Egypt and the two attacks made upon Jerusalem. The first attack upon Jerusalem will not be made by the King of the North (Turkey); he will be occupied with expelling Egypt from the Land. This attack shall prove to be successful for the enemy. In savage fury the armies of Media and Persia shall scourge the beloved city, treading it into the mire. All the synagogues in the Land shall be destroyed, and the blood shall flow freely like water round about Jerusalem.
The “overflowing scourge” will take captive the scornful rulers who have made a covenant with hell (the beast of Rome). It shall be Jehovah’s “strange work... strange act.”
“A short work will the Lord make upon the earth” (Rom. 9:28).
Under this attack the rulers will flee.
“Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock” (Zech. 11:17).
“But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep” (John 10:12).
The king, who is better known as “the antichrist” or “false prophet,” is soon taken by the Lord when He comes out of heaven in judgment to crush His enemies and to set up His kingdom. He will destroy the Western Confederacy.
How severe and great will be the judgments at the end of the age! It will be the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion; all issues that might interfere with the blessings of the kingdom under Jehovah shall be settled.
“I will search Jerusalem with candles” (Zeph. 1:12).
Isaiah shows that everything done in unbelief up until the judgments shall produce desperate sorrow for Israel at the time of the inheritance.
How precious faith is! How it protects the soul in the day of peril!
Jehovah, having judged the Western Confederacy, having seen His beloved people. Israel under oppression, and having heard their cry, shall go forth to fight for them. The Northern army shall be removed and driven from the Land.
“Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps” (Psa. 85:9-13).
It will be at this time when “They shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land” (Isa. 13:14).
The Coming of Christ
“But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it” (Psa. 94:15).
The Lord’s feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives. He will show Himself to the little remnant of Judah and Benjamin, as had been promised in Acts 1:10 and 11.
Until that moment, Israel will have been without a king except the usurper, antichrist.
“For the children of Israel shall abide many days without a king, and without a prince, and without a sacrifice, and without an image, and without an ephod, and without teraphim: Afterward shall the children of Israel return, and seek the LORD their God, and David their king; and shall fear the LORD and his goodness in the latter days” (Hos. 3:4,5).
As the angels clear the Land from the River Euphrates to the River of Egypt (not the Nile), the remnant of Judah shall return first. “Then the remnant of his brethren (the ten tribes) shall return unto the children of Israel.”
What a deliverance! A nation shall be born “in one day.”
“Then was our mouth filled with laughter, and our tongue with singing” (Psa. 126:2).
"The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose. (Narcissus) It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice even with joy and singing: the glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the LORD, and the excellency of our God.
Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb sing: for in the wilderness shall waters break out, and streams in the desert. And the parched ground shall become a pool, and the thirsty land springs of water: in the habitation of dragons, where each lay, shall be grass with reeds and rushes.
And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away” (Isa. 35).
Judah shall then become a terror to Egypt.
The kingdom having been set up, Israel shall build and plant, dwelling safely without bars or gates.
The end of the age comes when the harvest, or consumption, will be past. Then a new age commences with Israel as a nation, and the eyes of all shall be toward their Maker.
“And I will encamp about mine house because of the army (King of the North), because of him that passeth by, and because of him that returneth” (Zech. 9:8).
But Asshur shall have designs more copious than simply to be a “rod.” He purposes to take the entire earth under his hand. In order to do this he must have Jerusalem, the prize of all, and the center of the earth. Satan is behind this scheme. In this daring venture, although he gathers the peoples of the nations as fish in a net, Asshur shall be broken, that is, God shall intervene when Jerusalem is attacked for the second time.
The Great Eastern Confederacy
The great Assyrian is typified by Nebuchadnezzar, the head of the great image seen by him in his dream spoken of in Daniel 2. Nebuchadnezzar gathered the whole earth in overwhelming power. Also in Daniel, chapter 4, Nebuchadnezzar lost his reason and was driven from among men until seven times passed over him and, having learned to know God by the judgment that he executed, he acknowledged that the most High ruleth in the kingdom of men and giveth it to whomsoever He will. Thus all of the nations shall learn to bow the knee to the Son of man whose title will be the most High when He takes His kingdom in that day. This will complete the times of the Gentiles (the seven times). The dream of Daniel 4 will prophetically be fulfilled at the great winepress. At that time all peoples will have bowed or been destroyed.
“For when thy judgments are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness” (Isa. 26:9).
Previously, in the consumption, every power in the prophetic earth had been humbled. The Lord was terrible to the kings of the earth, as the Son of man rode on a swift cloud. The remaining nations, for the most part, shall rally under a powerful leader, Gog, prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal.
“Thus saith the Lord GOD: Art thou he of whom I have spoken in old time by my servants the prophets of Israel, which prophesied in those days many years that I would bring thee against them” (Ezek. 38:17)?
The Siege
During this last attack upon Jerusalem, all of the earth, even including the apostates of Israel, shall be arrayed together against the Lord and His people.
We gather from the prophet Ezekiel that the last great battle for Jerusalem shall not be simply Gog and his cohorts from the North coming down to attack Israel, a nation brought back, all twelve tribes, dwelling peacefully as depicted by the prophet Balaam, “How goodly are thy tents, O Jacob, and thy tabernacles, O Israel! As the valleys are they spread forth, as gardens by the river’s side, as the trees of lign aloes which the LORD hath planted, and as cedar trees beside the waters” (Num. 24:5,6), but it shall be the greatest confederacy ever gathered together upon the face of the earth, joined for the purpose of cutting off Israel from being a nation. This attack could not be until the end, as all twelve tribes will not be back until shortly before the 1335 days of Daniel 12, which shall be the time of the closing of the indignation upon Israel, the removing of their yoke and the founding of Zion.
Thus the Assyrian, “Gog,” seeing the Western Confederacy destroyed and the leaders taken, shall attack Jerusalem. His itinerary is found in Isaiah 10. It will be communism (atheism) assembled in absolute power for a brief moment to fight against Jehovah Himself, for they did not know that “the Lord was there.”
Seemingly having no opposition, yet because of recent mysterious events in which the Western Confederacy has come to such a sudden end, Gog will take no chances, so he will gather the nations from the north quarters as well as the confederacy already under his grasp with Ethiopia and Libya, descending as a “cloud to cover the land.”
The last or second attack upon Jerusalem shall begin with a siege. Though the Land will be surrounded, the threshing-floor will be at Edom. Edom will be responsible for the invasion, although at the last the great treacherous Gog shall deceive Edom and take the lead. This will be the hand stretched out upon all nations, the day of the Lord upon all of the heathen. Ham, Shem, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, all will be found in this conflict. Even after the Western Confederacy, composed mostly of Japheth, shall be destroyed, all three will still be seen confederate with Edom. The Chaldean, Ethiopian, and Medo-Persian of the families of Japheth, Ham, and Shem will be with the kingdoms from the east in the prophetic picture; the northern or Russian part is clearly Japheth. All three were involved in the great image of Daniel 2, but the gold will fall last. Although Gog will be the leader, his land was never involved as a part of the image, while others of the confederacy were. Gog, the last and greatest form which the Assyrian takes, will lead in the final attack upon Jerusalem. This is after the Lord has taken possession of Jerusalem and has set up His kingdom.
All nations of the prophetic earth with many from the far north, including the apostates of Israel, shall be confederate with Gog in the time of the end, gathered as sheaves to the floor, or as Matthew tells us, “wheresoever the carcass is (apostates of Israel), there will the eagles be gathered together.” The colossal apostate world system, built by Satan in all of its varied changing forms, developed since Genesis 10:11, is seen by the prophet Daniel as coming to an apex of POWER and GLORY in the last days. He also interprets for us the handwriting on the wall, and Belshazzar typifies its sudden fall.
The Winepress
There have been tremendous judgments in connection with God’s government upon the earth but nothing to equal the Day of the Lord when this present world system shall be crushed in the winepress, every grape.
This shall be a day when only Jehovah can deliver.
“See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand to heaven, and say, I live forever.
If I whet my glittering sword, and mine hand take hold on judgment;
I will render vengeance to mine enemies, and will reward them that hate me” (Deut. 32:39-41).
Gog will have gathered all the earth while Zion will stand alone. Because of the enormity of operations there will be men and equipment as well as weapons of war from Megiddo to Edom. The King of Assyria, for one brief moment king of kings, will have gathered all of the earth, and “there was none that moved the wing, or opened the mouth, or peeped.”
This will be the time of Psalm 91: “He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty... He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust... A thousand shall fall at thy side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh thee.”
All human calculations bid for an overwhelming victory by the Assyrian; such is blind flesh.
“Therefore wait ye upon me, saith the LORD, until the day that I rise up to the prey: for my determination is to gather the nations, that I may assemble the kingdoms, to pour upon them mine indignation, even all my fierce anger: for all the earth shall be devoured with the fire of my jealousy” (Zeph. 3:8)
What could cause this jealousy? The whole earth will be worshipping idols except those who have been saved! The communistic forces under Gog will be atheistic.
The enemy will shake his hand against the mount of the daughter of Zion. What can such a small remnant do in the face of the King of Assyria?
But their answer was foretold in Isaiah, “The virgin, the daughter of Zion, hath despised thee, and laughed thee to scorn; the daughter of Jerusalem hath shaken her head at thee. Whom hast thou reproached and blasphemed? and against whom hast thou exalted thy voice, and lifted up thine eyes on high? even against the Holy One of Israel. By thy servants hast thou reproached the Lord, and hast said, By the multitude of my chariots am I come up to the height of the mountains, to the sides of Lebanon; and I will cut down the tall cedars thereof, and the choice fir trees thereof: and I will enter into the height of his border, and the forest of his Carmel” (Isa. 37:22-24).
Therefore saith the Lord concerning the King of Assyria, he shall not come into the city, nor shoot an arrow there.
The prophet Micah says, “And this man shall be the peace, when the Assyrian shall come into our land” (Mic. 5:5).
The prophet Isaiah says, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the LORD shall lift up a standard against him” (Isa. 59:19).
Again in Ezekiel we read, “And it shall come to pass at the same time when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord GOD, that my fury shall come up in my face” (Ezek. 38:18).
Isaiah says again, “Behold, the Lord, the LORD of hosts, shall lop the bough with terror” (Isa. 10:33).
“For it is the day of the LORD’S vengeance, and the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion” (Isa. 34:8).
The prophet Joel tells us that “The LORD also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem; and the heavens and the earth shall shake: but the LORD will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel” (Joel 3:16).
The ensuing battle, which shall be appalling in its terror and destruction of life, will subdue the entire world to Christ and Israel. The proud Assyrian, Gog, the leader of the Eastern Confederacy of the last days, shall find his grave rather than his palace on the mountains of Israel. The threshing-floor will be Edom at the last, though Zion shall be the target of Esau and the King of Assyria. This last battle shall begin at Jerusalem and shall extend to Edom nearly two hundred miles through the land of Israel. At the close of this great conflict it shall be said, “Who is this that cometh from Edom” (Isa. 63:1)?
“God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah” (Hab. 3:3).
Each of these indicates that the battle which shall make all wars cease will be over.
“His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise” (Hab. 3:3).
Peace and the Kingdom
Following the judgment of the great confederacies of the earth, first Babylon, then the Assyrian, all falling together with the image which included many of the peoples of these two great confederacies, the Son of man will take His place as King sitting between the cherubim. He shall come as Melchisedec King and Priest to rule with a rod of iron and dispense blessing as priest far and wide to His willing subjects. God loves to bless and will do so beyond all expectation.
The day of the kingdom is for reward. All of His servants—the church, Israel, the nations, and all who are subject—will be rewarded in the measure in which the heart has been right during the time of serving here. The church, the martyrs, and the Old Testament saints shall have their blessing in the heavens. They shall rule with Christ over the earth. Israel shall be the head and not the tail when the Son of David reigns.
“Behold, a king shall reign in righteousness, and princes shall rule in judgment” (Isa. 32:1).
“And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance forever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places” (Isa. 32:17,18).
The prophet Isaiah shows how the power will be transferred from the antichrist-king to the house of David and to One upon whom will hang all of the GLORY of His Father’s house.
“And thou, profane wicked prince of Israel, whose day is come, when iniquity shall have an end, Thus saith the LORD GOD; Remove the diadem, and take off the crown: this shall not be the same: exalt him that is low, and abase him that is high. I will overturn, overturn, overturn, it: and it shall be no more, until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him” (Ezek. 21:25-27).
“And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will call my servant Eliakim the son of Hilkiah: And I will clothe him with thy robe, and strengthen him with thy girdle, and I will commit thy government into his hand: and he shall be a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to the house of Judah.
And the key of the house of David will I lay upon his shoulder; so he shall open, and none shall shut; and he shall shut, and none shall open.
And I will fasten him as a nail in a sure place; and he shall be for a glorious throne to his father’s house.
And they shall hang upon him all the glory of his father’s house, the offspring and the issue, all vessels of small quantity, from the vessels of cups, even to all the vessels of flagons.
In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall the nail that is fastened in the sure place be removed, and be cut down, and fall; and the burden that was upon it shall be cut off: for the LORD hath spoken it” (Isa. 22:20-25).
The glory will be restored to the house of Jacob.
BABYLON and NINEVEH stood forth as two world principles that vied for the place which belonged to Israel, POWER and GLORY.
The world system of Babylon in all of its varied aspects shall be destroyed, never to rise again. Egypt and Assyria will become tributary to Israel, who once were their captives. Edom shall be dispossessed, and the Philistines shall suffer the same fate as Edom because of the same hatred towards Israel which was never judged. All nations will be removed from the Land.
The Millennium
Israel shall become the Lioness of Jehovah (Ariel), exacting righteousness in the earth and dispensing blessing that “waits not for man.”
No oppressor shall be allowed to trouble Israel again.
When Israel finally becomes the center of blessing for the earth, then Jehovah shall take delight in His people.
Egypt and Assyria shall have a special place among the nations in the kingdom, though they will still be tributary to Israel.
When Abraham came to Canaan, Egypt was a thriving nation able to succor him in the day of famine.
The twelve sons of Jacob were preserved by Egypt in the days of famine, thus maintaining the testimony of which God had made Jacob and his sons depositaries. God has not forgotten what has been done for Him or His people, and everything shall be rewarded.
Except for the rigors imposed upon Israel by the Pharaohs, Israel at times received much help from Egypt. Was not the Christ child sheltered in Egypt from the Roman king?
“Out of Egypt have I called my son” (Matt. 2:15).
After the just retributions, the pleasing results will be seen as Egypt will cry to the Lord, and He will deliver and bless that nation. Then she will worship the true God as Israel, in the last days. How rich is the mercy of God which restores prodigals, whether individual or national.
The reality of conversion shall be evidenced by the pillar set up to the Lord at the border between Egypt and Israel. An altar shall also be set up to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt. Some of the cities shall speak the language of Canaan, and the Lord shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the Lord. Egypt will share a place with Assyria and Israel under Jehovah.
What a day, when in peace the inhabitants of the nations will sit each under his own vine and under his own fig tree, enjoying the blessings which Jehovah will shower upon him, for “There shall be showers of blessing” (Ezek. 34:26) in that day.
Asshur had been used of God as a “rod” to chasten Israel. Persia, under Cyrus, who ruled the same peoples after Assyria was subdued, showed great favor to Israel in causing the remnant of Judah and Benjamin to return to their Land to build again the temple and walls of Jerusalem.
The land of Assyria proper shall in the end find rich blessing from God through Israel. The three nations, Egypt, Assyria, and Israel shall mingle their gladness under the favor of Jehovah their Redeemer.
“In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians shall serve with the Assyrians.
In that day shall Israel be the third with Egypt and with Assyria, even a blessing in the midst of the land: Whom the LORD of Hosts shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance” (Isa. 19:23-25).
All wars having ceased, the world subdued to Jehovah and Israel, the full work performed in Mount Zion, the power of Babylon completely removed, enmity gone, brethren dwelling together in unity, the whole world at peace, the King shall be seen in His beauty as He shall appear with His heavenly saints to display them as His to an amazed world.
“The nations shall see and be confounded at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf; They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the LORD our God, and shall fear because of thee. Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? He retaineth not his anger forever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old” (Mic. 7:16-20).
In reviewing the history, ancient and prophetic, of these three nations we learn the wisdom and goodness of God, as well as His wrath toward His enemies.
Having arrived nearly at the end of the age, we discover this master plan, intricate, time-consuming, sublime. In it the Son of God as Man will be honored as the mighty Deliverer of both His heavenly and earthly people. This deliverance could only come through the shedding of His precious blood in death.
What long-enduring patience is seen on the part of God toward the children of Esau, His everlasting love toward Israel, favor toward Assyria because of their help to Israel in restoring Jerusalem, reward to Egypt for many kind acts.
How the majesty of God shines forth as He closes the age in judgment. No evil is overlooked, no bruised reed or smoking flax is slighted.
Righteousness will be established with a rod; is could not be otherwise. Mercy, in which God delights, will flow like a river. Has His mercy enclosed you so as to give your heart peace? Today all who avail themselves of His mercy by receiving Jesus Christ as Saviour will have a heavenly portion; all who refuse will go down to the pit.
“Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2).
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life” (John. 5:24).