Blessings Friends!
I hope your curiosity got the better of you after my post, Mr. Wonderful!, and that you grabbed your Bibles and study aids, and dug into Isaiah 19. This is where The Spirit directed me when I was praying for insight into my dream about the perverse spirit. As I said before, I was amazed by what I found!
When I plunge into a study like this, or in Amos, it’s usually at the prompting of The Holy Spirit. I do use the Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance, Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, the commentaries of E.W. Bulllinger in The Companion Bible, Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary, as well as different versions of The Bible. But, ultimately, The Holy Spirit has the last word in what He is showing me. If I am not certain of a dream’s meaning, or the insights I glean from Scripture, I wait on The Lord.
I know concordances are not dictionaries, and my goal here is not to say, “This is the only meaning of this Scripture, and there is no other!” My mission is simply to share with you the insights The Holy Spirit gives me into the beautiful tapestry of God’s Word. My sole purpose, is to encourage my readers to press in to The Lord, and dig for the treasures He has hidden in His Word for you. To encourage, edify, and exhort you to pursue a deeper relationship with The Father, who loves you and wants to reveal Himself to you.
My directive from The Lord is to rekindle The Church’s love and passion for God, and warn of coming judgment. But, I do not stand over my brethren shaking a righteous fist. Rather, I bow my face to the ground to plead before God for the veil of self-delusion to be lifted, first from myself, and then from The Church, that we might repent and truly surrender to Him. That we might be healed and filled with His love and power. This is why I do what I do.
With that said, on to Isaiah 19, and the perverse spirit.
“The burden against Egypt.
“Behold, the Lord rides on a swift cloud,
And will come into Egypt;
The idols of Egypt will totter at His presence,
And the heart of Egypt will melt in its midst.” Isaiah 19:1 (NKJV)
The words in the first verse got my full attention. “The burden against Egypt.” If you’ve been following my study in Amos, you’ll remember that the name Amos has been translated, “burden.” We also know from that study that Egypt has been translated, “double straits” or “doubly besieged.”
The Church is currently besieged by two spirits, fear and pride. The Lord has shown me this over and over, but I didn’t put the two together until now. The name Egypt is the perfect symbolic name for today’s church!
Now, when The Holy Spirit comes into The Church it’s a wonderful thing. When Jesus shows up, it’s amazing! Yahweh-Jireh, our Provider; Yahweh-Rapha, our Healer; Yahweh-Shalom, our Peace, to these we cry, “Lord, come!”—but when Yahweh, The Existing One, comes, riding on a swift cloud (darkness) you can bet it won’t be good.
Dad has yelled, “Don’t make Me come down there!” And now His foot falls heavy on the stairs, and the house is going to shake. Indeed, not one thing we have put our trust in, except The Lord Himself, not one idol we have set up in the house of God will be left standing.
“‘I will set Egyptians against Egyptians;
Everyone will fight against his brother,
And everyone against his neighbor,
City against city, kingdom against kingdom.
“‘The spirit of Egypt will fail in its midst;
I will destroy their counsel,
And they will consult the idols and the charmers,
The mediums and the sorcerers.'” Isaiah 19:2, 3
It doesn’t take any effort to find professed Christians attacking one another, individually and collectively. There is no unity in today’s Church because it’s more important to them to be right than to be love.
The Lord says He will destroy, or swallow up, their counsel, or purpose. We are already seeing whole congregations, even denominations being led astray by false doctrine from deceiving spirits. When we trade the counsel of God for the counsel of man, we trade true north, for a false sense of security. When God swallows even that up, there is no direction. Not even false direction. Where there is no direction, there is no hope. Only desperation.
“‘And the Egyptians I will give
Into the hand of a cruel master,
And a fierce king will rule over them,’
Says the Lord, the Lord of hosts.” Isaiah 19:4
Many churches I’ve attended refuse to take a stand on abortion, gay marriage, and any legislation because it may affect their tax-exempt-status. How much longer until government takes over The Church completely? How much longer until the one-world government begins to dictate how and to whom we worship and pray?
As always, this study has taken me far beyond what I had imagined, so I’ll break here. While the message may seem grim, I can assure you it has a happy ending. And can have even a happier one. God doesn’t send warnings to His people so He can say, “I told you so.” He sends warnings because of His great love for us. The very fact that He desires us to turn back to Him before judgment is proof that it is possible!
Therefore, I urged you to pray for The Church! Pray for The Body of Christ! Paul gives us an excellent example of how to do that in Colossians 1:9-12.
“For this reason we also . . . do not cease to pray for you, and to ask that you may be filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding; that you may walk worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing Him, being fruitful in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”
Amen!
This is a power prayer, and we need to use it! Remember what James said:
“Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.” James 5:16
Until next time, faithful servants of Christ, pray, pray, pray!
God’s grace and peace be yours,
Rebecca
