The Antichrist's Tribulation Nemesis
THE KING
of
the south
The clearly supernatural occurrence of the sudden downfall of the U.S.-backed Mubarak dictatorship in Egypt caught every government, world pundit and teacher of bible prophecy by complete surprise. Even Israeli Intelligence was caught off guard. When asked at a briefing of the Knesset just two days before the popular uprising if there could be a similar revolt as the one which had just taken place in Tunisia which had toppled a 23 year dictatorship, a high ranking Israeli general said, no, he did not think it was a possibility. If Israeli Intelligence did not know it was possible we can be sure no one else on the planet did either.
Diplomats across the globe and the world’s media, from Wikileaks and CNN to Hilary Clinton and the Islamic Brotherhood stand today, not even a week into this internet revolt which was masterminded apparently by the ubiquitous and eerie HAL, with egg all over their all-seeing monitor screens and dripping from their all-knowing IPad apps. Already the world’s media and officials from Mubarak’s backers, the United States or Israel, are trying to wipe the cholesterol out of their eyes. President Obama and Prime Minister Netanyahu will try to reassure sundry governments and allies that they are on the side of freedom and that they saw it, or something like it, coming. Permit me to repeat one of the oldest jokes in the book: the yoke’s on them. Their stories won’t fly; every editor, commentator, diplomat and government official East, West, or in temples of Tibet, down to the smallest cub reporter and janitor in the Halls of Montezuma know better. As a prophetic observer and teacher I strongly suggest that no one believe the barrage of propaganda that will be forthcoming from Mubarak’s palace, the White House, the Knesset, the EU, FoxNews or the local high school. The United States and Israel have enjoyed the security of Israel’s large southern border which their hired thug, Mubarak has provided for a curious brand of ‘freedom’. What, freedom to oppress your own people?
As for those of us, few as we may be, who are truly (and I emphasize, truly) watching and following the signs of the end, we have no reason to be embarrassed or feel the slightest need to apologize for not seeing this coming. We can never know how prophecy will be fulfilled until it actually is fulfilled. That even goes for how this current revolt will end in the immediate. Are the changes that are certain to take place ones which will directly place Egypt in its ultimate end times position among the nations, or will the changes amount to just one step toward bringing Egypt into that prominent place as the main adversary of Antichrist power during the entire seven year Tribulation period?
Therein lays the reason why the events of the Egyptian revolt are so compelling. We are transfixed by prophetic history in the making. The wise will watch with eagle-eyes as the drama of Biblical prophecy and the positioning of Egypt gradually unfolds. After all, Jesus said, watch therefore and pray. Remember, we are told what will happen, but not necessarily when and how it will happen. To perceive fulfillment of prophecy correctly we must be locked in; the prophecy watch is a day-by-day vigil. The astounding overnight simultaneous happenings in Cairo, Alexandria, Suez and other more remote locations in Egypt stand as testaments to this truth about the manner in which the hand of Providence and His omnipotent wisdom administers the fulfilling of His prophetic warnings and promises. We have known that Egypt must be maneuvered by the hand of Providence into its end-times position, we just did not know how this was possible – but now we see more than we did before this supernatural upheaval began.
Less than a week into the whole affair it had become apparent that Mubarak must go and that the thirty-two year alliance of the U.S./Israeli with the Egyptian government should be dramatically changed or dissolved altogether. But how to accomplish Mubarak’s departure has become a bit dicey since he refuses to go quietly. Typical of all these despots who are under pressure all over Africa these days, Mubarak is using all sorts of subterfuge to try to stay in power. Statements from Hilary Clinton show the U.S. is back-peddling on their original and unequivocal demand for Mubarak to step down immediately. This is probably from urges and pleas from the Israeli Foreign Ministry. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has publically annunciated Israel’s official concern that if a Muslim fundamentalist or Islamic/Arab regime gains control of the Egyptian government it might dissolve the peace treaty, opening the Jews southern flank once again to military attack which might have devastating consequences for the already unstable peace in the Middle East that could spill over uncontrollably into the entire world. The puppeteer government of the U.S. is jockeying to try to keep Mubarak’s government in place even if it means jettisoning Mubarak himself and installing his vice president as interim head of a reformed government.
The situation changes every hour. One day Mubarak sends armed thugs into the streets to beat, maim, terrorize and kill protestors in Tehrir Square and the next he is saying he has to go to Germany to get a pimple (or something) removed from his nose and will leave his gentle and kind accomplice - er - vice president behind to run the show. The ‘colonial’ diplomacy of the U.S. is geared to persuade the protesters to accept Mubarak’s promises as genuine and trust in U.S. guarantees that it wants free democratic elections and reforms as much as the people who have put their future on the line in taking to the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. Meaningful social, political and economic reforms for the common Egyptian people will only be realized when new freedoms and social change is actively in place under a new government and economic equality is guaranteed by law. It doesn’t seem likely that the Egyptian people are dumb enough to buy much of the bilk Mubarak is selling after the victory it has won in so short a period of time, but with American help they may still get duped, only time will tell though we should get an answer to that question relatively soon.
In the first few days of the protests the one thing going for U.S. diplomacy was that the people had not yet endured too many sacrifices directly connected with the uprising, only the poverty and socio/political tyranny of Mubarak’s ‘Gestapo’. Once the protesters began experiencing violent reprisal and deaths the stakes went up and U.S. diplomacy became more tenuous. Genuine sacrifices were made in the streets of Cairo and the Egyptian people are not likely to let those martyr’s deaths go for naught. The ultimate insult of bloodshed builds unforgiveable grudges and anger that block all trust in smooth promises which can sometimes get rebels to fall for the sound of caring words of cagey diplomats and university trained weasels, but not likely in this case. The U.S. also knows that genuine sacrifices and hardships have been endured by the rank and file people of Egypt for years on end without hope in sight, until one fateful day in 01-11 sparked a hope and its light is not likely to be snuffed out whether Mubarak stays or goes. Once kindled freedom’s hope is hard to extinguish, but The United States is hoping it can talk the fired up youth of Egypt down off the tank, though it is unlikely that such people, brought to ropes end, with the smell of victory in their nostrils at Tehrir Square, that this will end in anything but a change in government that is not nearly as friendly to the Jews and one that is bent on getting out of the back pocket of the Raiser of Taxes (as Daniel terms it) who is the once supreme and now last standing SuperPower, the United States. The U.S. being the last in line of the two thousand year succession of the Roman Empire before the actual Antichrist takes the scepter.
Day eight into the popular uprising, the situation changes from hour to hour and it will not be certain for a while what exactly will be the end of this phase of Egyptian ‘prophistory’ . We can be sure, however, that it is heading toward the ultimate fulfillment of Egypt’s role in God’s Plan of the Ages, which my book has titled: The Redemption Play. It is not the job of the true prophetic teacher to prognosticate or offer titillating predictions or to know the specifics of how the immediate political situation will shake out, but it is certain that an event of this prophistorical magnitude is an orchestrated maneuver of God, in this case, to bring Egypt into its preordained place in the World political scheme of power politics of the last days. Ultimately these maneuverings in such incredible events tell the prophetically wise that the Bride of Christ is being prepped to meet the Bridegroom soon at Rapture time.
The following is a discussion of Egypt’s end-times role among the nations and her part in the fulfillment of prophecy. The report (now updated after the events of 01-11) was written 20 years ago and is a chapter in The Redemption Play which addresses Egypt’s immensely important role in latter day events. The lightning fast developments in Egypt are certain to be working toward placing Egypt in her destined position as head of the “King of the South”, the leader of the nations which oppose the Antichrist right up to the time just prior to the very end at Armageddon.
Egypt AS
King of
the South
Every United States citizen will be amazed when they discover the important and prominent role Egypt has to play in the days leading up to and throughout the Tribulation. From our arrogant perch as antichrist power, yet upstart on the stage of world power politics, gazing across the ancient sea of nations, we see Egypt as nothing more than an empty and powerless, even arcane pile of pyramids and crusty mummies with nothing of interest beyond a curiosity of mysteries and quaint fabled lore of pointy headed kings, eccentric people who worship cats and monkeys and crocodiles, whose neatest thing are men with hound heads graphically represented in a twelve year-old boy’s adventure story called “the Scorpion King”. Americans could not be more silly themselves, for we are the ones emotionally enslaved to fables we have told ourselves about being the saviors of the world, the bestowers of happiness, and the keepers of peace on earth good will toward men. But it is Egypt which has long been a major player in God’s Plan of the Ages, from before the time of the fathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and today her significance in prophetic history is being revived.
Sometimes Egypt has been used by God for good purposes, sometimes for a harsher judgment. Only God’s Word can clue us in to her preordained purpose and destiny in the great drama of redemption called: end-times. It is primarily through the understanding which may be acquired in those two giants of end-times prophecy, the books of Daniel and Revelation (along with smatterings of prophecies woven throughout the other Hebrew prophets) that the student of Bible prophecy can zero in on Egypt’s amazing and prominent position in prophistory. It takes painstaking study and prayer, fighting like a man wrestling his way out of a straight jacket, for the American to shed the prejudices of national pride so he may discover Egypt’s place visa-vie the Antichrist in the end-times. Egypt has long been destined to be one of three main players in the events surrounding the fateful judgment of all the nations of the earth in the last hours before the Second Coming of Christ. Egypt will be the main opponent of the Antichrist in those days. We who have a familiarity with the Bible and God’s Plan of the Ages should not be dismayed that the three characters taking center stage for the political military events of the end would be: the Antichrist Kingdom (and the Ten Kings foundation upon which his power is secured: see Daniel and Revelation), Israel and Egypt. Jesus said, when you see the fig tree budding (Israel) and all the trees (ancient powers) then his return would be extremely close. With the events of 01-11 the buds on the revived tree of Egypt have not only blossomed they are flowering. We now wait only to see if it will take some further earth-shaking events to get her into perfect position for the end.
Egypt’s position in the world and her destiny as foe of Antichrist cannot be understood without a thorough knowledge of end-times prophecy concerning the biblical character identified in Daniel as the King of the South (see: Daniel chapter 11). The Kings of the East (China and Japan probably, and possibly India and Pakistan) are not deeply involved in the day to day intrigues, or the three-fold seven tiered judgments of the Tribulation, or events which lead up to them, unless the East nations somehow are incorporated into the conglomeration of governments and nations which will comprise the makeup of the Biblical Ten Kings. The so-called King of the South, however, as it has throughout this age, will play a major, major role. This can only be Egypt and whatsoever subsidiary nations that may go with her, like Ethiopia and Libya, or North and South Sudan, for example (See Dan. 11:40-45).
With the demise of the Ottoman Empire after World War I the King of the South's power was temporarily suspended. During the 1920s the power of the King of the South dissolved from a comprehensive and unified force into little separate states under European "protection" and domination. While the Ottoman breakup caused the throne of the South to be vacated for a time, the destruction of Turkish power did serve as a catalyst to revive all of the ancient Middle East nations. Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Iraq (Babylon), Jordan (Edom, Moab and Ammon), Iran (Persia) and the lesser states of the Emirates, Oman and Yemen were all resuscitated from centuries of hibernation. The prophecy of Daniel 11 will be fulfilled, for prophetic reasons the King of the South must rise again; its dissolution was long, but nonetheless temporary. Fulfillment of the end-times prophecies of Daniel 11 dictate that a leader of these ancient Middle East powers will emerge. The Southern Kingdom, as a powerful force, must rear up to meet and challenge the Antichrist (North) which will be in league with the leaders of Israel who will betray the ancient covenant God has with them by letting the Antichrist set himself up in the newly built Jewish temple as god of this world. The challenge from the south, though likely comprised of a conglomerate of some of the revived African and Middle East nations, will certainly be spearheaded by Egypt, and likely personally lead by some charismatic leader of its own. Look to see if the events of 01-11, either swiftly or eventually, pave the way for a leader to take the reins of the Egyptian government free from the control of the United States or any other Western power. Daniel 11 names Egypt by name as the foil to the King of the North. It is implied that Egypt is the unchallenged head of the league of nations which challenges Antichrist throughout the Tribulation right up until the time that the battle of Armageddon takes place.
Egypt Is ‘King of the South’
Many reasons point to why Egypt is the most likely candidate to fill the shoes of Daniel 11's end-times King of the South. Egypt is the second mountain alluded to in the prophecy in Revelation which depicts the seven empires of the world. It is the oldest and most fabled, and therefore, the senior Southern leader. It can be argued that the 20th century revival of the South started in Egypt. For two centuries the Kingdom of Egypt has been undergoing a renewal so it can meet its end-times destiny. In God's heart Egypt holds a special place, being called by him in Isaiah, "Egypt, my people". Egypt has always had a special and peculiar relationship with the children of Israel. The fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob all went to Egypt in time of need, and many Israelites will again head in that direction at the end, seeking asylum from the vicious persecution of the Antichrist.
Napoleon's campaign in Egypt served to revive Egypt's entombed spirit. The discovery of the Rosetta Stone by the French Army enabled modern linguists to interpret Egyptian hieroglyphics which led to the unlocking of her ancient wisdom and her history. In the century and a half that followed, the King of the North (played by The British Empire), unwittingly prepared the Egyptian nation for its end-time role by educating the people and turning it briskly into a twentieth century nation. Its government was revamped and by the end of World War II Egypt was ready to make a power play in the modern Middle East. Under the leadership of Gamal Abdal Nassar, Egypt again envisioned the glory of its Pharaohs, which once ruled the world and ably challenged the King of the North for supremacy among the nations.
Spiritually, Egypt had been revived, but in spite of Nassar's bold leadership and bravado, it languished as a second rate military power; that is, until 1979. As a sign of the end, Egypt began its rise to first rate military status not by war, but by peace. Anwar Sadat's peace with Israel instantly increased Egypt's military might. The primary cost for the Israeli-Egyptian peace accord, negotiated by U.S. President Jimmy Carter was billions of dollars of United States military aid for Egypt. Through the Camp David Accords the crafty Sadat had done what wars in 1967 and 1973 had been unable to accomplish; he had transformed his nation into a world power. Egyptian power was greatly advanced with the dismissal of Iraq as the leading Middle East power after its disastrous defeat in the Persian Gulf War. Her rising military might will be used against the Antichrist Kingdom when the final rivalry emerges during the "70th Week of Daniel". The problem now looms for Egypt: How will it keep its might and even increase it if military aid from the U.S. is diminished or stopped altogether. Even if Antichrist interests continue to support her building her military might that does not mean she will not turn it on her benefactor without notice. All diplomatic agreements are like rules; they are made to be broken.
“And he shall stir up his power and his courage against the king of the south with a great army; and the king of the south shall be stirred up to battle with a very great and mighty army; but he shall not stand: for they shall forecast devices against him.
Yea, they that feed of the portion of his meat shall destroy him, and his army shall overflow: many shall fall down slain.
And both these kings' hearts shall be to do mischief, and they shall speak lies at one table; but it shall not prosper: for yet the end shall be at the time appointed.” (Dan. 11.25-27)
Of one thing we may be certain: the King of the South and the King of the North will permit each other the courtesy to engage in the art of diplomacy with one another: i.e. to lie to each other. With the power of another northern power (probably a loose Russian lead alliance of rouge states) out of the way owing to the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38‑39, the only power standing between the Antichrist and his plans for ruling the world from his throne in Jerusalem will be the King of the South.
Three confrontations are scheduled to take place between the North and the South during the final seven year tribulation period, only the final one will be a decisive victory in favor of the Antichrist, but he and his global empire will not be able to exploit it because he will have internal troubles erupt within his own empire that will demand all the forces he can muster leading to the final confrontation with God and Christ at Armageddon. (I must make mention here that Armageddon is not the conflict that the world and even most Christians assume that it is rumored to be. It is the world, East and West, coming together to make war against God and the Lamb of God, and not the nations fighting one another for control of the earth. (See ThePhiladelphiaFaith.org for chapter on Armageddon in The Redemption Play, plus other Armageddon articles on the website.)
After jockeying back and forth, after one sound defeat of the South, some peace negotiations and some threats, the Antichrist will finally defeat the King of the South, but his victory celebration will be cut short by the call to Armageddon. Certainly some of the other Arab nations, maybe including Syria, will be involved in these confrontations and wars. Ezekiel 38 alludes to Sheba and Dedan being complicate in the sneak attack purely for profit, this is the ancient name for the land of the Arabs (Saudi Arabia and such), but just as Gog is led by Russia, the South will be led by Egypt. Just as the Roman Empire has gone full circle, so the Southern Kingdom must return to its roots, Pharaoh's Egypt.
We may not be able to tell who will join the alliance, but it is certain that the South will be at great odds with the Antichrist throughout the 70th week of Daniel (the Tribulation). It is too early to tell how the revolt against the Mubarak regime will affect the relationship between Antichrist (North) and Egypt. It is impossible to see how this will enhance the military power of Egypt let alone its leadership strength. It may be it will not give her power over the Arab League, an alliance which she was largely responsible for creating. She is, after all, not truly Arab, she is Egyptian through and through, an Hamitic people and the ancient ruler of Africa were her roots go deep into the banks of the greatest river in the world, the Nile. The Arabs are primarily the offspring of Ishmael and they own a separate destiny. In this way their roots and destiny precede Islam and the Arab born Muslim faith. Part of the revival of the Egyptian tree is the revival of the Egyptian people apart from Islam. We watch to see how far the Islamic brotherhood can make in roads, but we will not be surprised if the revival of Egypt means the revival of the Egyptian which was oppressed and has been repressed by the Antichrist (with some interims by the Arab Muslims) ever since Nebuchadnezzar’s Antichrist Babylon defeated Pharaoh Necho at Carchemish two and a half millennia ago.
Both the North and the South's hearts "shall be to do mischief" during the seven year tribulation period: the Antichrist will seduce Israel and the Egyptians will hate him for his villainy. It is not exactly clear what Egypt and The South’s motives are, other than just to resist being placed under his domination. It could be religious, economic, or just plain old hatred. As we witness the events of 01-11 it is with a sense of awareness that the common Egyptian is angered at the villainy and hypocrisy of the Antichrist power that is personified in the United States which, to the modern Egyptian, may be representative of the long history of oppression of colonial and repressive dictatorial tyrants their ancestors have had to suffer under. It is ironic, considering the hallowed history of their pharaohs and their relationship with the Jews in particular, that one of their poets claimed in the early moments of the uprising that the people no longer would stand for “being slaves, but wanted freedom”. Whether this is the moment that something will be done to shake off this repression only time will tell. But one thing is certain the Egyptian cauldron has boiled over and reached a seething point and the heat now will not be turned down until it gains its place in prophecy, even it takes more dramatic events and some more time. A popular term being exploited by talking heads is: the genii cannot be put back in the bottle, and no matter how one chooses to put it, this seems most certainly true.
After all is said and done, it will be the age old battle: North vs. South, each vying for control of Israel. Surely the South will be lusting for the worship and power that the Antichrist will ultimately enjoy for a short time when he defeats the South, but God may have another more "righteous" purpose for the South's posture against the Antichrist. As usual the flash point for this final North‑South clash will be over Israel and, in particular, the Antichrist's confirmation of the Holy Covenant with her. The Antichrist will seem to champion Israel's cause. He will "confirm the Holy Covenant with many" which probably means he will be instrumental in building, or at least setting up the worship in the Temple and reestablishing Jewish Religion and Law as a functioning, approved institution. The day is coming that he will use the temple and its restoration of Jewish religion as a platform for setting his own religion of which he will be the central god. He will "destroy many by peace" and "confirm the Holy Covenant". Not only will the Antichrist seem to champion the revival of Orthodox Judaism as it was practiced by the Pharisees in Jesus' time, this ‘evil one’ will be Judaism's peacemaker and eventually sit as its deity replacing Yahweh. He will also replace Christ for he will claim to be the Messiah that Israel has long waited for. He will come as the King, ready to establish God's Kingdom on earth; he will be Israel's deliverer; he will be the one the mob chased to crown king but instead found Jesus who turned them away in disappointment telling them that they did not understand the kingdom of God, nor was it yet time for him to take his throne. But once they have found this man it will not take long before many in Israel learn that the Antichrist is just that: an Anti‑Christ. After three and a half years of the Covenant with Israel, faithful Jews will flee in terror from this madman who pollutes the Promised Land, and as before, the Jew in trouble will probably turn to Egypt.
“Lo, thou trustest in the staff of this broken reed, on Egypt; whereon if a man lean, it will go into his hand, and pierce it: so is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all that trust in him.” (Isa. 36.6)
The Jews have always turned to Egypt in time of trouble. The fathers did it. Abraham went to Egypt twice during famines. Isaac had to return to Egypt during a famine, and Jacob and the twelve patriarchs ended up in Egypt for the same reason. Jacob even died there. When Sennacherib the Assyrian stormed Israel they allied themselves with Necho and when Nebuchadnezzar besieged and destroyed Jerusalem much of the Jewish population went to Egypt to hide. But a prophecy of Moses quoted in Deuteronomy indicates that many Jews would return to Egypt under duress in the last days only to be enslaved once again under their heavy hand.
“And the LORD shall scatter thee among all people, from the one end of the earth even unto the other; and there thou shalt serve other gods, which neither thou nor thy fathers have known, even wood and stone.
And among these nations shalt thou find no ease, neither shall the sole of thy foot have rest: but the LORD shall give thee there a trembling heart, and failing of eyes, and sorrow of mind:
And thy life shall hang in doubt before thee; and thou shalt fear day and night, and shalt have none assurance of thy life:
In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! for the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear, and for the sight of thine eyes which thou shalt see.
And the LORD shall bring thee into Egypt again with ships, by the way whereof I spake unto thee, Thou shalt see it no more again: and there ye shall be sold unto your enemies for bondmen and bondwomen, and no man shall buy you.” (Deuteronomy 28:64-68)
So they will probably turn to the land of the Pharaohs again for refuge, not to be received as friends however, but as refugees of the final persecution, this time of the last Antichrist, only to be sold as slaves, though no one will want to buy them or touch them so fearful will be the whole world of retribution from the self-proclaimed god of the world who is killing anyone that will not worship him and his image. Jesus, remember, told those Jews who are not willing to take the ‘mark of the Beast’ that as soon as they saw the Antichrist enthrone himself in the Temple as God, to run for their lives. He said, don’t even take time to pack a suitcase or grab a tooth brush, just run. They will have no place to turn but Egypt, which has always been their chosen place of sanctuary from tribulation. With all the troubles prophesied by Moses and endured over the centuries by the wandering Jews, this moment at the end may be the low point of Hebraic history. The Israeli government will have allowed the Antichrist to enthrone himself as God in their Temple and the loyal few, who show allegiance to God will be incarcerated as slaves in Egypt. During the Roman occupation, not even the Emperor himself was allowed to enter the Temple, even though the Jewish religious hierarchy was in cahoots with the reigning Antichrist Empire to crucify the Lord. But now, in the last moments of the Antichrist Age the Israeli’s will go the one step further and cast off Jehovah entirely and for peace and safety, they suppose, will worship and serve the Antichrist as their God. It will behoove them to forsake all Jewish brethren who do not join them in their betrayal of God, chasing them away into Egypt.
We must keep in mind that Egypt does has a place in God's future millennial kingdom, as does Syria, and most other nations of the world, but this prophecy of Moses also presupposes that the Egyptian people will not be taking the Jewish refugees in to help them, or out of compassion for their desperate plight. They will be placed in detention camps most likely to ride out the rest of the tribulation in a strange sort of sequestered safety. Wouldn’t it be ironic if God saves the remnant of His people by making them slaves and hiding them away from the wrath of the Antichrist in a prison? Or perhaps they will pass into eternal salvation donning a martyr’s crown just as so many Christian’s have gloriously entered paradise over the last two thousand years of this time of the Gentiles. God may save them by making them slaves. They are useless in that no one wants them but God. How marvelous are His ways, past knowing. As the rest of the world perishes in rebellion at Armageddon the lowly faithful remnant of His chosen people could ride out the storm of total judgment on the world in protective custody because they were of no use at all to the world. But to God, the only one who counts, they are His precious children; the ones who turned to Him, rejecting all lies as personified in the despicable Antichrist and his satanically controlled kingdom.
As for Egypt they shall remain a thorn in Antichrist’s side, but they will still need to be ‘chastised’ by the Lord. They are not yet righteous in the eyes of God. Through the trials of the Age of Antichrist rule (600 B.C. – present) Egypt has been severely chastened and has suffered slavery and oppression under the yoke of a succession of oppressors: Greek, Roman, Islamic, Ottoman and Saracen and European Colonial dominance. For all of their brilliant heritage and legendary sage wisdom, they turn on one another and are foolish in handling of the business of life. All of this no doubt was fulfilled in the last 2,500 years of their history just as the prophet Isaiah had foretold.
“The burden of Egypt. Behold, the LORD rideth upon a swift cloud, and shall come into Egypt: and the idols of Egypt shall be moved at his presence, and the heart of Egypt shall melt in the midst of it.
And I will set the Egyptians against the Egyptians: and they shall fight every one against his brother, and every one against his neighbour; city against city, and kingdom against kingdom.” (vs. 1-2)
Not long after Isaiah prophesied of a civil war in Egypt it happened. In 670 B.C.E. the Assyrians under General Sennacherib advanced upon the kingdom and destroyed Egypt’s government in the ensuing years chaos reigned over the once proud order of the Pharaohs. It took seventeen years for chaos and civil war to end. finally the legendary leader Psammetichus united the throne and restored order under his supreme lordship. The famous king built the great capital, expanded upon by Ramesses II at Piramesse as a symbol of power and order. The Egyptians have rebuilt the city on its ancient site just north of modern Cairo, as a shrine dedicated to Egyptian national pride. But who cannot but think of the streets of Cairo that have witnessed Egyptian shedding the blood of his brother Egyptian in 2011 as a re-fulfillment of the civil war and chaos that disrupted Egypt in the 7th century B.C.E.
“And the spirit of Egypt shall fail in the midst thereof; and I will destroy the counsel thereof: and they shall seek to the idols, and to the charmers, and to them that have familiar spirits, and to the wizards.
And the Egyptians will I give over into the hand of a cruel lord; and a fierce king shall rule over them, saith the Lord, the LORD of hosts. (vs 3-4)
Noted for the wisdom of their sages the Egyptians fell into superstitions void of the sage counsel of the ancient wisdom of the Pharaohs. Ultimately they fell into the hands of foreign and despotic rule. A few of the names under which they were repressed were Sargon (Assyria), Cambyses (Chaldee), Darius Ochus (Persia), Nebuchadnezzar (Neo-Babylon), and Caesar (Rome). In general they were under the whip of successive Antichrist empires: Chaldean, Persian, Greek, Roman, Saracen, Turkish, and British.
In modern times, after WWII, when Egypt finally managed to break away from foreign domination they deposed their monarch King Faruk but fell into the hands of a cruel lord of their own breeding, Gamal Abdal Nassar, who linked them to an alliance with the imperialistic Communist Soviet Union and once again returned the Egyptian people to subjection under the heavy yoke of a foreign power, re-fulfilling the prophecy of Isaiah that they would be swallowed up in ‘slavery’ to foreign rule.
And the waters shall fail from the sea, and the river shall be wasted and dried up.
And they shall turn the rivers far away; and the brooks of defence shall be emptied and dried up: the reeds and flags shall wither.
The paper reeds by the brooks, by the mouth of the brooks, and every thing sown by the brooks, shall wither, be driven away, and be no more.
The fishers also shall mourn, and all they that cast angle into the brooks shall lament, and they that spread nets upon the waters shall languish.
Moreover they that work in fine flax, and they that weave networks, shall be confounded.
And they shall be broken in the purposes thereof, all that make sluices and ponds for fish.
Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellers of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings?
Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the LORD of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt.
The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof.
The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.
Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.” (vs. 5-15)
Since Isaiah’s prophecy in the 8th century B.C.E. it is undeniable that fulfillment of the above scripture has come to pass, even if over the lengthy course of the Antichrist Age. The wealth of Egypt was robbed by outlandish and cruel masters. Her riches from commerce and industry were siphoned off by the powers that occupied their land and oppressed them without pity. World renown for cotton and linens, they were pilfered with compensation. She made no profit from her innovation and industry because she was effectively a colony of successive kingdoms who were greedy for her produce and manufactured goods. A once proud and immensely rich kingdom, with colonies of her own reaching into the heart of Africa and with caravans docking at every wealthy oasis of the Middle East as far as India and Cathay; the proud land of the Pharaohs was more often than not, reduced to being the mule carrying the food basket for imperialist armies, farmers for hungry cities around the Mediterranean and scrub women in the house of Sultans, Caliphs and Antichrist royalty. In the 8th Century B.C.E. this prophecy must have seemed unlikely, even absurdly impossible. That the greatest and most storied kingdom on earth would be cheapened and reduced to a carnival show was unimaginable. But in the days of Imperial Rome she had become a limp and helpless vassal state, good for nothing but supplying grain and slave labor. Entire Egypt from Lower to Upper Egypt was literally the personal plantation of the Caesars of Antichrist Rome. Augustus Caesar made all of Egypt his own personal property. He owned the entire province of Egypt for which he used its vast food produce to solidify his power and popularity with the masses by using it as a granary to daily feed and entertain, in an ancient welfare system, the rabble of the city of Rome with its ‘bread and circuses’, out of his own pocket. It was a system that flowed like the Nile itself, casting its dirt and mud upon the Egyptian people yearly without fail, imperialist and colonial governments traipsing and marauding over the fertile Nile Valley, shipping the resources of the enslaved people to a foreign land.
Now it has come full circle and seems to have a curious re-fulfillment, or last fulfillment in these days before the return of Christ. The world has seen the British, followed by the Soviet Union, and now the United States successfully prop up fierce lords who have oppressed and stolen from the Egyptian people. Nassar’s famed Aswan Dam was more of a boondoggle than a boon for the poor Egyptian people, diverting the world’s greatest river and drying up much of the natural silt and along with it the wealth of Egyptian agriculture and Egypt’s lifeblood of watery tongues and tributary rivers. Much of their national income now comes from tourism showing off its ancient glories, but even those revenues are being siphoned off by the current ‘fierce king’, Hosni Mubarak, puppet of the Antichrist, who reportedly has 70 billion dollars tucked away in off-shore or Swiss bank accounts, while the Egyptian family man stands idle, hands in pocket, without work. Fulfilling the prophecy that “The LORD hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit. Neither shall there be any work for Egypt, which the head or tail, branch or rush, may do.” At the time of the 2011 uprising if someone had a job it was hardly lucrative and barely provided enough to buy bread and pay the rent and light bill, the mean yearly income of a young Egyptian being a meager 1,800 per annum. Just as the Jews are to come full circle back to Egypt returning as slaves, the above passage is now being fulfilled again in Egypt’s modern history. In this last stage of Egyptian history before the end, during the closing days of the Antichrist Age, the modern Egyptian state has undergone this repeat chastisement and judgment of God, almost point for point, judgment for judgment.
IN THAT DAY …
Isaiah’s prophecy moves into a deeper, ‘second’ phase of fulfillment when it begins to use the phrase ‘in that day’. The ‘In that day’ phrase is used five times, each time to introduce a significant end-times prophetic detail concerning the Jews and their uniquely special relationship with Egypt. God has used Egypt to chasten His people Israel, but in that day He will use the Jews to chasten, help and save Egypt. Because of the two disastrous wars in the second half of the last century, Egypt has been humbled as never before. Both times it was under the hand of tiny Israel and by the hand of their God, Jehovah. In that day, Egypt has been “like unto women: and it shall be afraid and fear because of the shaking of the hand of the LORD of hosts, which he shaketh over it. And the land of Judah shall be a terror unto Egypt, every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.” (16&17)
As part of this it may be that Israel’s return as slaves into Egypt during the second half of the Tribulation will be to establish them in something like a group of small cities that will extend into the time of the millennial reign of Christ. The fulfillment of their being a terror to Egypt, however, can be said to have already taken place in these last days when the Israeli armed forces completely destroyed the entire Egyptian army and air force not once but twice. In 1967 Egypt and their allies’ sneak attack was quashed in no less than six days. The war was over and Egypt had been soundly defeated sending shock waves of shame and fear throughout the Egyptian populace. Even if Israel was not yet a full terror to Egypt, she was soon to be. In 1973 another surprise attack from Syria, Jordan and Egypt resulted in yet another annihilation of their forces, even more devastating than the Six Day War. For days the fate of all Egypt lay in the hands of their enemy Israel. The Egyptian air force and all of its Russian migs had been destroyed on the runway without ever getting off the ground. The entire Egyptian army, infantry and armored divisions, were cut off in the Sinai Desert left to the mercy of the guns and high power missiles of the Israeli fighter pilots swooping unimpeded like hawks over a defenseless chicken coop. Thousands of defenseless Egyptian warriors waved white flags on the sweltering sands below, each one alone, standing erect like a miniature tombstone on the open sands below, with no place to hide. They had two choices, sue for peace or be annihilated. Egypt capitulated and made a full surrendered to the Israeli forces. The Egyptian people could not even keep up a good face. The land of Judah was a terror to them and they had been shamed and humbled before the whole earth. High ranking Egyptian military leaders to the man and woman on the street admitted that it was a supernatural victory, ‘every one that maketh mention thereof shall be afraid in himself, because of the counsel of the LORD of hosts, which he hath determined against it.’
In that day shall five cities in the land of Egypt speak the language of Canaan, and swear to the LORD of hosts; one shall be called, The city of destruction. (Vs. 18)
The original fulfillment of this notable prophecy could be traced to Jewish immigrant settlements like Migdol, Taphanes, Noph (Memphis), Pathros (Jeremiah 41:2), and, of course the celebrated metropolis of Alexandria; where the Jewish community numbered as much as a million during the golden days when the Septuagint and canon of Hebrew Scripture was formally put together under Philadephius Ptolemy around 287 B.C.E. These cities can be identified even today as speaking the language of [the former land of] Canaan, which can be reasonably assumed as meaning Hellenistic Greek. This was the first stage or first fulfillment but the fulfillment in that day is yet to appear and we can only project a possible fulfillment. It may be that the refugee Jews fleeing the Antichrist in the middle of the Tribulation will be given five camps or settlements and from there, for the rest of the Tribulation they will extol the virtues and salvation of the Lord as Antichrist terror descends upon Egypt and ultimately spreads to Sudan, Ethiopia and Libya as the end draws near. For it is warned in Daniel 11 that the Antichrist will finally overrun all of Egypt and stand at the steps of Libya and Ethiopia ready to devour the furthest reaches of Egyptian influence, only to be frustrated when he is called away for the final battle at Armageddon.
In that day shall there be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar at the border thereof to the LORD.
And it shall be for a sign and for a witness unto the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt: for they shall cry unto the LORD because of the oppressors, and he shall send them a saviour, and a great one, and he shall deliver them.
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. (vs. 19-21)
Egypt will have continued in their stubborn pride and not conceded their ways to the Lord even though they had been given the Gospel of Jesus Christ earlier than any other nation on earth (carried on by the Coptic Christians throughout the age). We may recall from Acts that It was the supernatural preaching of the apostle who stopped the Ethiopian in his chariot on the way home just after the death and resurrection of Christ who received the evangelist’s words about the Lordship of Jesus as Savior of all mankind and was baptized before returning to his homeland. The above three verses were quickly fulfilled after the Lord’s resurrection. Egypt is without excuse in having rejected the Gospel as a nation and they must repent, give homage to the Lord before their resistance to God and pride as a nation can be rectified and fully forgiven.
This means that their ultimate repentance will take place at Christ’s Second Coming when they will finally bow to Him in humble adoration. This will not transpire until judgment has been dealt out in full force through seven demoralizing years of war and death and by the ravages of the three separate and successive seven-fold judgments of fiery tribulation as foretold by the Book of Revelation. These will hit hard at Egypt and the rest of the world at the end and Israel will learn once and for all that Egypt cannot be and never has been their savior. Egypt will find its place among God’s kingdom after following its own crooked path and the Egyptian people will be more than saved they will be called, God’s people, just as the end of Isaiah’s prophecy announced more than two and a half millennia ago.
“And the Lord shall smite Egypt: he shall smite and heal it: and they shall return even to the Lord, and he shall be entreated of them, and shall heal them.
In that day shall there be a highway out of Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrian shall come into Egypt, and the Egyptian in 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:
Who the Lord shall bless, saying, Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel mine inheritance.”
(Isa. 19.22-25)
And the king of the Jews, even Jesus, will be the blessing in the midst of the land.
Modern Syria Will Likely Be Allied With Egypt
It is interesting to note that Syria, ancient rival of Israel and Egypt will be ultimately counted as ‘the work of God’s hands’. They, having Semitic roots like the Hebrew, will be special in God’s economy of things during the one thousand years of Christ’s rule called the Millennium. Once the Tribulation begins Syria will probably be found in league with Egypt aligned against the Antichrist nations and the so-called confederation of the ten kings. Daniel 11 speaks of the end of the Tribulation when the Antichrist will have finally over run Egypt, but just as his victory is finally at hand news out of the ‘north’ will cause him to have to return to Israel and face the new threat. This threat out of the north could be from Russia (Rosh) or someone else but the fact that Syria is destined to have a special place in God’s kingdom during the Millennium is certain. It is very likely that Syria will remain aligned with Egypt as they have been many times during the Antichrist Age, as when they were under the Muslims and the Ottomans and in the modern post-colonial era of the second half of the 20th century.
Iraq Judged as Babylon
Babylon, known today as Iraq (probably including Kuwait too), is another matter. Babylon is a tool of God, but by no means is it a friend. Iraq's amazing judgment came into full world view in 1991 when Jeremiah's prophecy of chapters 50 and 51 were dramatically fulfilled in the Persian Gulf War. The coalition of nations formed under the United Nations mandate and lead by the Raiser of Taxes in the spirit of the Roman Empire was a spectacular miracle dramatically acted out on the world stage as a sign that God's end time program is in full swing.
“For, lo, I will raise and cause to come up against Babylon an assembly of great nations from the north country: and they shall set themselves in array against her; from thence shall she be taken: their arrows shall be as of a mighty expert man; none shall return in vain.
And Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord.” (Jer. 50.9-10)
The confederate nations of the U.N. led by the power of the North, decimated Iraq's military might with little or no loss to the ascending armies. The prophecy declares the plagues that occurred in post war Iraq; it declared the civil war and civil strife; it declares the breakdown of its agriculture; it asks the question, "How is the hammer of the whole earth cut asunder and broken? How is Babylon become a desolation among the nations?" It answers by saying,
“I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord.
The Lord hath opened his armory, and hath brought forth the weapons of his indignation: for this is the work of the Lord God of hosts in the land of the Chaldeans....
...and I will kindle a fire in his cities and it shall devour all round about him.” (Jer. 50.24-25,32)
There appears to be more of Jeremiah 50 and 51 that must be executed against Babylon the nation; someday it will be a desolate place, uninhabitable because of the violence done to Israel and because of its hatred of God's people. Its judgment is the vengeance and judgment of the Lord as declared in Jeremiah. Iraq, as the nation Babylon and one of the Antichrist parts, was soundly defeated according to the prophecy. And as a part of the Antichrist Kingdom of old may not be destined at all to be part of the Arab, or Southern Kingdom of the end. As a revived Babylon, Iraq, was destroyed by the alliance from the north. Saddam Hussein billed himself as the spiritual reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar. He had rebuilt the power and might of the nation with Babylon's former glories in mind. He had turned its military into the fourth biggest fighting machine in the world behind only the U.S., Russia and China. And its defeat was according to things prophesied eons ago. Only God's hand could have made Babylon's defeat so complete, so quick, so devastating.
Whether Babylon survives as a nation, to be further judged during the 70th Week of Daniel, or at Armageddon, only time will tell, but it may be that Iraq is relegated to a non‑player's role for good.
Jordan
Jordan is another character uniquely waiting in line to suffer God's vengeance. Though it looked as if Jordan was to be a casualty of the Persian Gulf War, they were not meant to be. Jordan in prophecy, is the territory of Moab, Edom and Ammon, and for them, a separate and complete judgment is reserved, much like the judgment reserved for Babylon. One entire Book of the Bible, Obadiah, is devoted to the judgment of Edom. In Daniel 11, at the end of the Antichrist's final siege of the King of the South, and just before Armageddon, it says,
“He shall enter in to the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab and the chief of the children of Ammon.
He shall stretch forth his hand also upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape.” (Dan. 11.41‑42)
All these alliances and isolations are being worked at the present time, as this is being written. The events that will trigger the beginning of the 70th Week of Daniel, known as the time of Jacob's Trouble or the Tribulation, can happen at any time.
The first principle of prophecy’s implementation is that God is its sole keeper and retains everything in His exclusive control, subject to His minute timing, not just to the day and hour but with precision down to an exact tic on the second hand of the Greenwich clock. Satan can only try to confuse God’s plan in the world mind and the individual perception of man, but he can never undo or change destiny because it is written in heaven by the hand of God Himself. The Devil can only sew doubt and confusion, though he still holds on to his obstinate belief that he can somehow subvert God’s purposes which lay at the heart of His plan for the creature called Man. God has predestined by prophecy that the world will eventually be under the iron control of a vicious autocrat, the ultimate Antichrist, who will enthusiastically seek to purge the whole earth of anyone who does not bow to his every word and literally worship him as its god. God will allow this ultimate blaspheme only under the constraints of His exact timing and subject to His preordained stipulations.
Satan is a desperate general. He is assaulting the Plan of the Ages with all his most carefully crafted lies, in any way to subvert God’s Will, to obscure it behind a veil of benevolent sounding phrases with words like freedom, liberty and justice for all. He has the brilliant minds of this world reassuring us that Man is good and that Man can save the planet and its people from starvation, overpopulation, evil government, war and revolution, injustice, plague, even natural disaster, and death itself. He works hard to make himself invisible, staying out of the limelight, content to be the power behind the throne. He tries to make God’s plan appear foolish by fooling the world into believing lies that merely feed their own fanciful ideas and fantastic hopes that Man is capable of anything and, if cooperation reigns world-wide, that Man can and will save himself. He has been working diligent in modern times to kill any faith in God and mock anyone who believes that god even exists. By these attacks he hopes to stave off the inevitable or at least disrupt or upset its timing. He is trying to implement his own plan to build an Antichrist world, a universal Nimrodic order with himself sitting atop the tower, so that he can install the ultimate Antichrist without the world and its people realizing what is truly going on. He is, of course, a master tactician himself. He is engaged and fully committed to using all his weapons of stealth and deception which are the father of all lies stock-in-trade. For now, until the Antichrist’s unveiling in the middle of the Tribulation, Satan wants to keep people in the dark; the world must not know or perceive what is really going on. He never wants us to be able to pinpoint his position. He prefers that we do not even know he is stalking us with all his forces. This is a difficult task for the Devil and his hoards because the world has been educated about the Antichrist, even though it is riddled with fable and nonsense. This too, has been a strategy well employed by Satan who has thrown so much disinformation and confusion into knowledge of the Antichrist, from making it foolish to making it preposterous, that it has served his purpose to cover his true intentions. Satan is content for now to be the power behind the throne and to keep the real identity of Antichrist Spirit shrouded in humanism and benevolence heaping up words and promises of brotherhood, equality, liberty, dignity of man and freedom for all, like a politician running for office.
God allows this deception to be perpetrated because the world does not want to hear the truth and wishes to be lied to, as long as it gives them license to continue in the pursuit of selfish lusts and desires. Installing the Antichrist on the throne of the world as its god, and keeping his dark face hidden behind a soft, supple mask of phony munificence is no easy task, even for the original conductor of the music of a sweet sounding lie. Such subtlety requires supernatural craft and trickery kneaded into an argument as only evil spirits can do, with ruse, sham, pretext, fraud and slick words that magically cast soft obscuring shadows effectively over the minds of the faithless dupes of this lost and deceived world. Propaganda in the media and sciences are just two of the methods employed on a large scale by Satan who deftly uses it to dumb down the spiritual knowledge and awareness of all Mankind. By these forms of propaganda Satan jerks the world around making it naïve to the truth, turning them into sophisticated idiots, able handlers of even the most bald-faced of lies. This assault on all spiritual truth and even the knowledge of Man concerning the very existence of God is one of the reasons for prophecy and why God so often chooses to have it fulfilled in a supernatural and utterly shocking way so that it catches even the very elect by surprise. It sheds light on Satan’s grand ruse and shines light on Hell’s flooding propaganda as it overflows from its open sewer. When prophecy is being ‘processed in the field’ (I mean, in a state of action as it is being fulfilled) as it is with the ancient kingdom of Egypt and the revolt that erupted without notice like a dormant volcano that suddenly spews fire and ash a mile high, it tells us God is still master, that Hell’s propaganda is just that, a brainwashing brimstone with deadly sparks and clouds of ash and burning lava-lies that suffocate faith and kill the knowledge of truth in the spirit. Conversely, it tells the faithful that God’s master plan of redemption is on target, still on schedule according to His plan which was well formulated to the finest detail, even before He spoke the world’s first atom into existence. He knows the end from the beginning, the beginning to the end, and everything between, and there is nothing that the alliance of Satan and unbelieving Man can do to prevent its flawless, perfect fulfillment.
But this is not to say that Satan, the father of all lies, isn’t up to the task of deceiving the world. The world will follow him and his Antichrist into perdition. They will be fully deceived, thinking that Satan and Antichrist will be able to save them from God’s vengeance for all the evil that they have proclaimed and propagated. This Antichrist power to deceive is just one of the reasons why Jesus commands all those serious minded end-times believers to keep their eyes peeled on prophecy and to “Take heed to themselves and see that you be not deceived.” Satan goes around not only as a lion seeking to devour whomsoever he can; just as often he comes as an angel of light, or with a clever story from the minds of seducing spirits. The end-times is more than just a battle of wits between God and Satan, this is a no holds barred steel-cage fight to the finish and Satan is pulling out all stops. In these last precious moments before the Rapture of the Bride, Satan wishes to drag her down and debase her with confusion and dashed hope and faith. Satan hates the Bride of Christ perhaps as much as he hates God and His Son, Jesus Christ, because the Bride and Christ are one. Satan rightly discerns them as one and the same and he hates both with a passion. Therefore we should watch and pray and take heed that we be not deceived, for God has told us His plan from beginning to end. The Bride will patiently wait for each rising instance of His plan’s unfolding. Only then, when it is unfolded can we confirm in our heart that this is prophecy being fulfilled. We can know what will happen, but we cannot know how it will happen until it bursts forth into the light.
The shocking occurrences in Egypt in January/February 2011 are a perfect example of how prophecy unfolds and that the knowledge of the ways and means of the details of its unfolding is in the exclusive possession of God the Father in heaven. So then, we must be patient and always exercise that other great command of faith concerning the Rapture which is directed at the end-times saint, in particular The Bride, we must hope and anticipate, believe and walk in holiness, and we must – WAIT!
Prophistory is a term signifying that: ‘all meaningful history is fulfilled Biblical prophecy and conversely all prophecy yet to be fulfilled is just a matter of history waiting to happen. History and Biblical prophecy are one and the same thing. It is only a matter of where we are situated on the time line of God’s Plan of the Ages that determines whether something is called history past or prophecy yet to come.