“Egypt My People, Assyria the Work of My Hands” …?

Have you ever considered the following passage?  Isaiah 19:19-24 says:

“In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the Lord at its border.  It will be a sign and a witness to the Lord of Hosts in the land of Egypt.  When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, He will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them.  And the Lord will make Himself known to the Egyptians, and the Egyptians will know the Lord in that day and worship with sacrifice and offering, and they will make vows to the Lord and perform them.   And the Lord will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the Lord, and He will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them.”

“In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.

“In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the Lord of Hosts has blessed, saying, ‘Blessed by Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.'”

 

The ESV Study Bible notes:  

19:18 Isaiah envisions a Godward movement spreading from five cities in Egypt to that of the entire nation to the entire world…A culture of idolatry will swear allegiance to the Lord.

19:23  The Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians  A remarkable change in two of Israel’s worst enemies:  they two will worship the one true God.  The whole world–represented by Egypt and Assyria, at either end of Israel’s historical landscape–unites in worship.”

What does traditional theology make of this passage?  Ray Ortlaund Jr., who covered the notes for Isaiah in this study Bible released by Crossway, paints an extremely broad picture of redemption here.  As well, in the “Overview of the Bible” they state,

“God’s Plan for History  The Bible makes it clear that God has a unified plan for all of history.  His ultimate purpose, ‘a plan for the fullness of time,’ is ‘to unite all things in Him [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth’ (Eph 1:10), ‘to the praise of His glory’ (Eph 1:12).”    (ESV Study Bible pg 23)

 

I am thankful that many present theologians are being more and more faithful with the text and letting it speak as in this case of Isaiah 19 by Ray Ortlund Jr.