Prophecy Update 2012 “The Burden of Egypt” Isaiah 19-20 Introduction - Read Isaiah 19:1-5  Isaiah, as most of you know, is one of the greatest prophets in Israel’s history he had much to say to the nation of Israel and he had much to say to the nations around Israel o And one of the biggest players on the world scene in Isaiah’s day was the nation of Egypt  The great nation of Egypt – which of course had had the nation of Israel in bondage for 400 years in the days before Moses o But since those days Egypt had been more or less friendly toward the nation of Israel The major problem, nation wise in Isaiah’s day was #1 – Assyria, which is modern day Iran/Iraq, funny how things don’t change and #2 - the nation of Babylon which is modern Iraq  Assyria would come down to Northern Israel and completely take them over o And Babylon a few years out from this prophecy would come and decimate southern Israel, including the city of Jerusalem where Isaiah lived But Isaiah 19 is not directed at Assyria or Babylon or Persia, there is plenty of prophecy concerning those nations in the book of Isaiah and others  in fact the most prominent prophecy being fulfilled in our day is something we have talked about so many times over the past 5 years and that is how the middle east is shaping up geopolitically just like Ezekiel 38-39 says it will Ezekiel 38-39 speaks of a time after Israel is back in the land and a nation again, which happen on May 14th, 1948, when a coalition of nations will invade the nation of Israel  Persia, which is modern day Iran o Libya, Sudan, Turkey o All connected with the nation of Russia will invade the nation of Israel some day in the future  And if this is new to you, both Pastor Rob and Myself have done study after study – I did a prophecy update in June of 2011, it is still on our website and you can listen for free But basically the news is full everyday of the threat of Iran and Ahmadinejad, and the nation that is linked to them financially is Russia  Take that with stirrings in Libya, Sudan and Turkey – you take that with the nations who will not be involved in the invasion, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and the West and Ezekiel 38-39 is set to happen Maybe brought on by a preemptive strike by Israel to crush the nuclear plan of Iran or maybe even more likely – the huge natural gas and mostly likely under that, oil found just off the coast of Israel – the Leviathan and Tamar reserves as Israel has named them natural gas reserves will transform Israel’s economy over the next two years

 And which nation looks to suffer the most from this good future of Israel – Russia, who is currently the world’s number one natural gas exporter o Turkey is up in arms over the find, saying it belongs to them – so stay tuned – maybe Israel strikes Iran and that gives these nations all the excuse they need to invade – stay tuned and stay ready But we have gone over and over that one  so if that is new, plenty of studies out there o but with all the news on the events in Egypt over the past year and a half o with all the news about the Arab spring, which has turned into the Arab winter according to Newsweek magazine – not so much hope anymore, but war and fighting  I wanted to turn our attention from Iran, Russia and Israel, which it should be on, to see what the Bible says about Egypt Because here in Isaiah 19, Isaiah sees a future for Egypt than includes much turmoil  brother fighting against brother o a cruel leader taking over o and – listen, listen, this is so important what I am about to say, listen, listen – this brother fighting against brother and a cruel leader over them – sets the stage for the judgment mentioned at the end of chapter 19 And I mention this because some would say, oh pastor Jason Isaiah 19 is taking about Assyria coming to invade them and that has already taken place  this brother against brother, this cruel leader taking over, this has already happened, it is not a prophecy about what we see right now o and my answer to that challenge is – No – because Isaiah says, that all of that will lead to what we read in verses 19-25 – let’s look at those I have a minor in History, I am pretty sure that these things haven’t happen yet in Egypt – I am not aware of an altar to the Jewish God, a highway going from Egypt to Iraq, where there is peaceful (is the indication of the text) travel and I certainly would not consider, Egypt, Iraq, and Iran all worshipping brothers of the Lord Jesus Christ – all be God’s people If these things have happened in Egypt past, then you can inform me after the service that I am wrong and I will immediately recommend you for some counseling  Dave Hummel’s calendar opens up after the first of the year, we would love to hook you up with him o Oh, sorry, Dave is shaking his head no, he doesn’t have time for you either o Because you’re crazy!!! These things have not happened yet  and that teaches me two very important things o number one – there is coming a time when Egypt, Iran, and Iraq are going to all worship the same God you and I do o and I say that because there is a tendency, even in my heart, and I think it comes from zeal for the Lord, to see the Islamic people as enemies  And certainly there is great hatred on their part toward us at the current moment

But Christian brothers and sisters, let us not forget the future, where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord  We see that here in Isaiah 19 – the God of the Bible will be in the future worshipped in Egypt, in Iran, in Iraq – so let that curb any prejudice you may have in your hearts This passage teaches me that these people groups will one day worship the Lord  but it also teaches me that this prophecy in Isaiah chapter 19 is yet future o and that future will begin, Isaiah tells us, a future that ends with judgment for Egypt, but eventually healing and restoration for Egypt and worship of the Lord in Egypt But all of this will begin, when we start to see brother fighting against brother and a cruel leader rising over the Egyptian people  and that brings up to what we are seeing today January 25, 2011 - “The day of revolt” – protest begin against then President of Egypt Hosni Mubarak January 30th 2011 – Egyptian Air force F-16 flew over Tahrir Square in a show of force February 11th 2011 – President Mubarak resigns, and Egyptian Armed forces take control of the nation November 30th 2011 – Early elections begin ending in a landslide victory for the Muslim Brotherhoods’ Freedom and Justice party, a hard lined Islamic party – Egypt had been ruled by a mostly secular government up to this point March 31st 2012 – Breaking an earlier pledge not to submit a presidential candidate, the Muslim Brotherhood announce a candidate June 24th 2012 – Muslim Brotherhood candidate Mohamed Morsi is declared winner of Egypt’s presidential elections, five days later he takes the oath of office and promises to uphold the people’s rights and power November 22nd 2012 – Morsi issued a constitutional amendment placing himself above judicial oversight November 29th, 2012 – The Muslim Brotherhood against strong protests presents a new constitution giving the Islamic group sweeping powers – protest erupt December 5th, 2012 – 50 opponents and protestors of Morsi were rounded up and beaten drawing more protest and unrest between followers of the Islamic Brotherhood and more secular Egyptians As we sit here this morning, truly Egypt is fighting brother against brother

 and what appears to be a cruel leader is rising up over them o the leader of this Muslim Brotherhood – Mohamed Morsi Now to understand why this is happening in Egypt we need to understand something about The Muslim Brotherhood  people seem to think that Islam is a monolithic religion, that everyone who is Muslim believes the exact same way and is on the same page o that however is not even close to being true There is a great divide in Islam  and you won’t understand what is happening in Egypt or what is happening in Iran unless you kind of come to grips with this divide in Islam The Divide comes about when Mohammed, which by the way have you notice that every news source for the last two years now calls him, the Prophet Muhammad, with a capital P – that is a change, he is no longer referred to as simply Muhammad, but the Prophet Muhammad  now why they do this is a study in and of itself but it is concerning from he is not my prophet - in fact he is non prophet organization as far as I am concerned But this man Muhammad in 622 AD set up the first theocratic Islamic state there in Medina or what we call Saudi Arabia today  He set it up and ruled over this Islamic center of power until his death in 632 AD – all Islam was under his control And at that time something happened in Islam that relates to the news today and the prophecy of Isaiah 19  There was a split over who should succeed Muhammad as the leader of Islam There were those who followed Abu Bakr  who was Muhammad’s father in law and a counselor to Muhammad and ruled this new city state and empire based out of Medina o but there were those who said, no, way – it should not be Abu Bakr, the new leader should be Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Muhammad’s son in law and cousin should lead Islam This division began right then, one around Abu Bakr, and one around Ali  everything went peaceable, until 656 AD, Ali supporters killed the fourth leader of Islam that followed in the line of Abu Bakr o when that took place, then the followers of Abu Bakr successor, killed Ali’s son Hussein and now you have a problem o now we have people dying in Islam, fighting over which is the legitimate branch of Islam – brother fighting against brother Two groups began to form in Islam – the followers of Abu Bakr and his successors – that branch of Islam is known as the Sunni  and the branch that were follows of Ali, this branch became known as Shia You will hear those terms in the News – Sunni and Shiites Sunni – followers of Abu Bakr Shiites - followers of Ali  And friend please understand this – The division between these two are not like Baptist and Lutherans and Calvary Chapelites Many people think Shia, Sunni, what’s the big deal  It is a big deal to them – its not like Baptist, and Methodist – I believe the gifts are for today, oh you heretic

o It is more like Catholic and Protestants in Northern Ireland – its war, blood is spilled This division plays out in the News today  some of you remember the Iraq, Iran war in the late 70’s and early 80’s o 1 million plus Islamic men and women killed in the conflict o why – Sunni and Shiites  Iraq is mostly Shia, but its leader at the time Saddam Hussein was Sunni, Iran is mostly Shia o And war was the result The Shiites are mostly in the north – Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon  But 80% of the Islamic world is Sunni – Saudi Arabia, Egypt o And the Sunni, 80% of the Islamic population, are afraid of the Shiites o Why are they afraid  Well we need to understand the only difference between Shia and Sunni are not how they began o But how they believe today the end of the world, and paradise to follow is going to occur o This is so important for you to understand And there are many differences between the two but the main focus in the world today as how the two groups believe the end of the world will take place  According to Shia, one of the two major divisions of Islam - The 11th Imam died and was buried in 874 AD, his young son, the 12th Imam disappears at the funeral according to their tradition o but they teach, he, this 12th Imam is going to re-appear – the last legitimate descendant of Ali is coming again, the 12th Imam will be revealed in the last days, he will make the world right Now, the Shiites believe this – if you read the transcripts - every speech that Ahmadinejad gives starts every speech with “let my words and my actions hasten the coming of the 12th Imam”  Now why this is so disturbing is they believe the 12th Imam will return when they, the Shiites set the world on fire because of Jihad o They believe they will hasten the return of the 12th Imam if the world goes up in flames – if they can cause a world war Now you contrast that with the fact we as Christians believe the kingdom of God is hastened as the preaching of the gospel comes about  you can see the demonic counterfeit Islam, and in particular, Shia Islam really is o They believe the kingdom is hastened by the burning of the world  This is something the Western mind cannot fathom – really our problem – some of you even hear that and think that can’t be true – o It is foreign to our Western mind - the United States and Russia survived nuclear war in the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s and 80’s because we can’t fathom this The United States and Russia survived because we had this little thing called MAD, code for - Mutually Assured Destruction  and it worked because we don’t want to set the world on fire o we had MAD, but what we don’t understand is that Shia Muslims have

another word – GLAD o They are glad to set the world on fire becomes it brings in their Messiah figure and brings on Paradise  The Western mind can’t comprehend this – but do you know who understands this totally o The Sunni Muslim – you might think – oh they don’t really believe that – A Sunni Muslim would say – yes they do The Sunni Muslim would say, yes they do, they are crazy –the Sunni’s see the Shia view of the end of the world as a complete misreading of the Quran  they believe the 12th Imam thing is fancy and heresy, and dangerous because of how the Shia believe the 12th Imam is coming back, by setting the world on fire o the Sunnis believe in the coming of the Mahdi  the Shia also call the 12th Imam the Mahdi, for simplification for us infidels here today –we will call the coming world leader to the Shia, the 12th Imam, and the coming world leader to the Sunni, the Mahdi Shia – believe the 12th Imam is coming back Sunni – believe the Mahdi is coming  They believe the Mahdi is coming but not as the world is set on fire but once the Shia Muslim are disciplined and their thinking corrected o That comes about, now listen up – that comes about by establishing a world center of Islamic power again – to control those Shia Muslims And if I haven’t lost you yet, that brings us to the present situation  the Sunni are afraid of the Shia and you understand why o Iran, which follows the Shia tradition is close to getting a nuclear weapon o I repeat, the people who believe their Messiah will be helped back by setting the world on fire are close to getting a nuke – everybody clear  The Saudi Arabians, the Jordanians, the Egyptians are clear on this and are saying we have to stop these guys The Saudis who are Sunnis are saying – Iran is not going to be stopped in getting a nuclear weapon  It’s going to happen, they say through Hezbollah – which is the militant arm of Shia Islam o And the Sunnis believe they must be stopped by brining about a central Muslim governing power again o Enter – The Muslim Brotherhood The Muslim Brotherhood, which is Sunni is wanting to bring the central Islamic power back to Egypt again – Shifts in Islamic Central Power  they had total power from 1258Ad – 1517AD –Headquarters of Islam was in Egypt, controlled the world including the Shiites o that power was taken by Turkey and the Ottoman Empire from 1517-1917 – and again the entire Muslim world was controlled, including the dangerous Shia  then WWI came, Ottoman Turks sided with the Germans, lost the War and the world as we know it was drawn up in 1924 – all the new countries o Islam was no longer controlled by one power And more dangerous than that, we started our march to be able to set the whole world on fire with our technologies of War

 In 1928 – Hassan al-Banna, a Sunni Muslim saw all the carnality from Western Influence that was permeating through Islam and he started a group known as The Muslim Brotherhood with the express purpose to unite the Muslim world under one authority again and to return that power, the headquarters to Egypt, the most populous Muslim country in the world To do this they started a militant arm known as Hamas, to unite people in hatred of Israel  The Brotherhood assassinated Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1981, who was friendly toward the West and signed a peace treaty with Israel o The Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed by Hosni Mubarak his successor who kept Egypt controlled from 1981 until last year when he was ousted by once again The Muslim Brotherhood who as we started this study, took over the Arab spring, won the general elections and promoted now President Mohamed Morsi and are on their way to bring about what they think is the precursor to Paradise, returning the central power of Islam to Egypt o Causing brother to war against brother o And what most likely looks like a cruel leader to be over the people o And may be the entry point of what we read in Isaiah 19 – which will culminate in judgment for Egypt, restoration by the Lord and they will end up worshipping the same God you and I do  But it all starts this way, the way it looks right now in the nation of Egypt – so what do we do???? Well – chapter 20…  put away your tray tables, return your seats to a full and upright position – look at chapter 20 and we will land this plane – read the chapter o one of the reasons people feel like Isaiah 19 has already happened is because Assyria did invade Egypt and oppress them o and I totally agree with that Sometimes the bible has something called near and far fulfillment  that is when the prophet would say something would happen, an event would happen in History that was really a precursor for a greater event later in history o Assyria invading Egypt was precursor, a foreshadowing if you will of what I believe will soon take place in Egypt o Again why do I believe Isaiah 19 has not already been fulfilled  Because there is not an alter in Egypt to worship God o There is not a highway where you peaceably travel to Iran and Iraq o Egypt and Iran and Iraq are not all brothers in Christ as they one day will be So the Assyrian invasion was precursor, a foreshadowing of an event yet to occur, an event I believe we see the rumbling of today  so what do we do??? o well Isaiah, before the precursor event was told by God, you have got to put yourself out there Isaiah, you have got to risk reputation so the people of the world, so that Egypt will get the message about what is coming their way  Isaiah was told to walk around naked for 3 years

o Hum, what to say about that? I hear quite often, I wish I could be a prophet of God, why doesn’t He call me to be a prophet - I don’t know if you really know what you are saying with such things  Because the prophets were willing to put reputation aside and live for the Lord, be bold for Him o We get nervous having a conversation with a friend about the Lord – they went much further  That is why when someone tells me I wish I was a prophet, I wish I was someone like Daniel or Ezekiel or Isaiah - I say - well – they did some pretty amazing things - They were used greatly - But they were willing to be set apart Isaiah was willing to be used in ways many of us would not even dare to be obedient  Isaiah is told in chapter 20, proclaim graphically what was going to happen to Egypt if they did not repent - Walking around naked and barefoot as a symbol of what will happen to them Isaiah is told to be bold and graphically illustrate what was coming  Now scholars are divided and some try to make it easier to understand o Saying he wasn’t completely naked – he was just in his underwear o Some say – no he was naked but it was only for certain seasons, a day or two a month for 3 years Honestly though that doesn’t make it any better  I mean if Pastor Jamie, our High School Pastor came to me and said he believed the Lord had told him to walk around in his underpants, but don’t worry it’s just on Wednesdays o Pastor Rob and I would tell him the Lord told us something too – your fired, get out of here But I think the text is clear  Isaiah went around naked, buttocks uncovered o Not for a few days to prove a point but for 3 years Now what is the lesson for us in all of this???  Well we are starting a new ministry here at Calvary Chapel o No – no we are not!!!! o That is not, I repeat, not the lesson of this text for us  I do not believe God wants us to go around naked But I do believe for you and me – God wants us to share the naked truth to people  To share them the reality o We don’t understand what is happening in the middle East, but the Word of God says  It may be a little embarrassing - it was for Isaiah o but now is not the time to sit back and relax - people are talking about the Middle East so jump in and let them know the hope for the region and for them personally is not the state department but it is Jesus o the hope for peace in the middle east is not going to come from Washington or London or Cairo

 But the hope is Jesus o The Bible talks about the conflict in the middle East long before it happened o And the Bible tells us the answer for the Middle East and for your life!!! This message will not win you any popularity contests, and it is so easy to justify being quiet  We say – well I can’t talk to my friend about hell – what will they think of me if I say that We can’t share that with them, we will be embarrassed, and misunderstood  Oh I just picture Isaiah saying – oh little babies, you are going to be misunderstood o You are going to be embarrassed o Did you read what I did in chapter 20  Oh we say we I want to be like Isaiah, but we really don’t mean it o Don’t you think Isaiah was embarrassed Don’t you think it wasn’t polite company for Isaiah to walk around naked – remember he was a member of the court – he was a royal  But he did it because God was calling Precious church I believe the Word of the Lord for today - We are not called to bare our bodies  But we are called to bare our souls o That all this confusion in the middle East, was number one talked about in the scripture o Take them to Ezekiel 38-39 o Take them to Isaiah 19  And then let them know the answer is Jesus o People are open right now, as things progressively get worse which I think is a certainty in 2013, they will be open even more o To say – hey – let me bare my soul to you  Let me put reputation on the line right now and tell you, this stuff is all in the Word o And answer, as the answer always is, right Wednesday night class – the answer is always Jesus! o He is the answer for the Middle East o He is the answer for your hurting heart as well  The naked truth is you need Jesus – plain and simply, so commit your heart to Him today and make 2013 the best year ever!! “The burden against Damascus. “Behold, Damascus will cease from being a city, and it will be a ruinous heap.” – Isaiah 17:1