Scripture: Isaiah 43 v 1 - 4: "But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.
2 When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.
3 For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour: I gave Egypt for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee.
4 Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou hast been honourable, and I have loved thee: therefore will I give men for thee, and people for thy life."
Isaiah 19 v 21 - 22: "And the LORD shall be known to Egypt, and the Egyptians shall know the LORD in that day, and shall do sacrifice and oblation; yea, they shall vow a vow unto the LORD, and perform it.
22 And the LORD shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the LORD, and he shall be intreated of them, and shall heal them."
We and all Israel remember the Passover and Exodus from Egypt after the Hebrews were enslaved by various Pharoah's for 400 years and forced to build the pyramids. God sent ten terrible plagues upon Egypt to force Pharoah to "Let My people go!"
This weekend I was drawn to an item by the headline:
Egypt warns Hamas....Israel will topple you and we won't lift a finger!
"Israeli media reports that Egyptian officials were enraged last Thursday when news reached them of the rocket attack over the Tel Aviv area from the Gaza Strip at the very moment they were acting as mediators to the conflict between Hamas and Israel.
“If Israel decides to start a wide-scale operation in Gaza, [Egypt] won’t stop the Israeli attacks. Even if Israel ends your rule in Gaza by assassinating every single one of you and reconquer[ing] Gaza, Egypt and its allies won’t lift a finger to stop the Israeli response,” said a senior Egyptian negotiator at the meeting, according to daily newspaper Israel Hayom.
“You’re endangering our lives,” the official added. “Gazans’ blood is on your hands.’
The senior Egyptian official told Israel Hayom what he had said at the meeting and that his delegation had been blindsided by news of the rocket attack, which arrived just as the Egyptian team was relaying potential terms of a ceasefire agreement from Israel to Hamas leaders."
Apparently the Hamas agents negotiating with the Egyptians feigned surprise at the sudden attack but no one was fooled by them. They have been warned that they will have no support from Egypt nor its allies. It seems that Hamas, the terrorist organisation that rules the Palestinians, has truly disgraced itself and found its Egyptian friends unwilling to be tarnished by them.
Is this the time of healing for Egypt that the Lord prophesied through Isaiah? The Lord who smote them with terrible plagues to free His people to return to the Promised Land, is now ready to forgive and heal? Many Arab countries, who are mainly Islamic, have begun to change their attitude towards Israel.
However, this does not include Iran, the backers of Hamas and Hezbollah terrorist organisations whose main objective is to wipe Israel off the planet. This is because the Ayatollah Khomeini decreed it and although he is long dead, his words are sacred and a prophecy they must fulfil.
Iran is busy building ten army bases in Syria, and also building tunnels under Syria's border with Israel to continue to strike and try to destroy Israel. Syria is pretty much destroyed itself by the ISIS and civil war. Every time Israel tries to defend itself against Iranian attacks there is an outcry from the United Nations condemning Israel and not Iran, so we must believe that the UN now stands for United Nations Against Israel.
So today we are grateful that Egypt has turned its back on Hamas, and presumably will not bless Iran in its war against Israel either. The serious worry is that this build up of an arsenal in Syria aimed at Israel will ignite a much greater war involving the USA and Russia and spread to becoming another world war.
So the importance of the declaration from Egypt that it will not lift a finger to help Hamas if Israel attacks Gaza, and even destroys Hamas, and even takes back all the land that was given to the Palestinians must have shocked the Hamas negotiators to their core. What happens next in their continuous assault on Israel will be an indicator of whether they care about Egypt's rebuke or not.
Our God has made great promises to Israel on how He will protect them from their enemies. He gave them the Promised Land that actually extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euphrates River!
Deuteronomy 11 v 22 - 25: "For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
23 Then will the LORD drive out all these nations from before you, and ye shall possess greater nations and mightier than yourselves.
24 Every place whereon the soles of your feet shall tread shall be yours: from the wilderness and Lebanon, from the river, the river Euphrates, even unto the uttermost sea shall your coast be.
25 There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you."
This is the area of the Promised Land, and none of it belongs to the Palestinians! Everything they receive is given to them by Israel, food, fuel, medicine, aid, and warnings of when attacks are coming against Hamas so that they can take shelter.
The Lord God has also promised that all who bless and help Israel will be blessed by Him in return, and all who curse and reject Israel will suffer the same from Him. Egypt are about to be blessed by God and many nations who reject Israel are going to feel the opposite. He made this Universe, and this Earth and all its people but He gives us choices and also consequences.
Our God is the Righteous Judge over all the Earth and if we look at His judgment of the ten plagues that reduced Egypt to rubble and caused the Exodus, remember He first sent Moses, who would have died if his mother had not floated him down the Nile in a reed basket found by Pharoah's daughter. So Moses grew up as a Egyptian and was known as a brother to the new Pharoah God sent him to negotiate with.
God did not smite Egypt without first having Moses and Aaron put His case before Pharoah. So it was Pharoah's choice to reject God and His envoys, right up until it cost him his son. We do not know if Egypt today is remembering this historic event and is being very wary of falling foul of Israel and the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but they are making the right choice.
Matthew 25 v 31 - 41: "When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations: and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats:
33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:"
Prayer: Heavenly Father, thank You that Egypt is rejecting terror against Israel and publicly rebuking the Hamas terrorists. We who love Israel rejoice in every good thing that protects or strengthens Your chosen people. We pray for all nations to stand against evil attacks upon her and we pray for the eternal peace of Jerusalem. In Jesus' name. Amen.
