Isaiah's End Times Timeline - Event #3

Event #3: Time of Rebellion and Captivity –

"Ah, stubborn children," declares the LORD, "who carry out a plan, but not mine, and who make an alliance, but not of my Spirit, that they may add sin to sin; who set out to go down to Egypt, without asking for my direction, to take refuge in the protection of Pharaoh and to seek shelter in the shadow of Egypt! Therefore shall the protection of Pharaoh turn to your shame, and the shelter in the shadow of Egypt to your humiliation. For though his officials are at Zoan and his envoys reach Hanes, everyone comes to shame through a people that cannot profit them, that brings neither help nor profit, but shame and disgrace." An oracle on the beasts of the Negeb. Through a land of trouble and anguish, from where come the lioness and the lion, the adder and the flying fiery serpent, they carry their riches on the backs of donkeys, and their treasures on the humps of camels, to a people that cannot profit them. Egypt's help is worthless and empty; therefore I have called her "Rahab who sits still." And now, go, write it before them on a tablet and inscribe it in a book, that it may be for the time to come as a witness forever. For they are a rebellious people, lying children, children unwilling to hear the instruction of the LORD; who say to the seers, "Do not see," and to the prophets, "Do not prophesy to us what is right; speak to us smooth things, prophesy illusions, leave the way, turn aside from the path, let us hear no more about the Holy One of Israel." Therefore thus says the Holy One of Israel, "Because you despise this word and trust in oppression and perverseness and rely on them, therefore this iniquity shall be to you like a breach in a high wall, bulging out, and about to collapse, whose breaking comes suddenly, in an instant; and its breaking is like that of a potter's vessel that is smashed so ruthlessly that among its fragments not a shard is found with which to take fire from the hearth, or to dip up water out of the cistern." For thus said the Lord GOD, the Holy One of Israel, "In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and in trust shall be your strength." But you were unwilling, and you said, "No! We will flee upon horses"; therefore you shall flee away; and, "We will ride upon swift steeds"; therefore your pursuers shall be swift. A thousand shall flee at the threat of one; at the threat of five you shall flee, till you are left like a flagstaff on the top of a mountain, like a signal on a hill. Therefore the LORD waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the LORD is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him. (Isa 30:1-18 ESV)

In BLT Level 4 - Lesson 19: The Sword and the Captivity, I explain that instead of trusting in King Jesus to give us what we need and to deliver us, a part of the faithful Church has gone back into the old ways of her flesh, back into Egypt to become a daughter of Egypt. Those who are rebelling have left "spiritual Jerusalem" and are now citizens of "spiritual Egypt".

And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. (Rev 11:8 KJV)

In my blog entry - "The Church in Ephesus", I explain how cities in the Bible have spiritual counterparts. Citizens of spiritual Egypt are rebelling against God's plan for their lives and they don't want to hear the Word of the Lord. Instead, they get their counsel from worldly sources and they reject the Truth. They are also liars who are trying to hide the sin in their lives. They believe that they are safe in the lifestyle that they now live in spiritual Egypt. If they go to Church, they only want to hear good things, not things that would convict them. They only want to hear sermons on peace and prosperity, not the judgment of God. They run away when they are convicted and when times get hard for them. Christians who do not follow the leading of the Holy Spirit in their lives will go back to spiritual Egypt for help - back to the bondage that Jesus delivered them from, but that is a very dangerous place to be.

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, and lean on horses, and trust on chariotry, because it is great; and in horsemen because they are very strong! But they do not look to the Holy One of Israel, nor seek Jehovah. And He also is wise, and brings evil, and will not turn aside His Words, but will rise against the house of evildoers, and against the help of those who work iniquity. And Egypt is a man, and not God. And their horses are flesh, and not spirit. And Jehovah stretches out His hand, and both he who helps shall fall, and he who is helped shall fall; and they shall all cease together. (Isa 31:1-3 LITV)

They will fall because they despise the Word of the Lord. They will be broken suddenly and pursued by the enemy. The king of Babylon will take them as his prisoners and with the sword, he will take over spiritual Egypt. The same punishment and captivity that came upon earthly Jerusalem in the past is coming upon those of the Church (spiritual Jerusalem) who have joined themselves with the spiritual daughter of Egypt. The only way of is escape is if they return by the leading of the Holy Spirit on God's Highway to the Heavenly Jerusalem in Zion. "In returning and rest they will be saved", but if they remain in their city of chosen bondage, they will meet a worse fate.

Now there were false prophets among the people, just as there also will be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduce destructive heresies and even deny the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many people will follow their immoral ways, and because of them the way of truth will be maligned. In their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. The ancient verdict against them is still in force, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but threw them into the lowest hell and committed them to chains of deepest darkness to be kept for judgment; and if he did not spare the ancient world but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others when he brought the flood on the world of ungodly people; and if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah and destroyed them by burning them to ashes, making them an example to ungodly people of what is going to happen to them; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man who was greatly distressed by the immoral conduct of lawless people- for as long as that righteous man lived among them, day after day he was being tortured in his righteous soul by what he saw and heard in their lawless actions- then the Lord knows how to rescue godly people from their trials and to hold unrighteous people for punishment on the day of judgment, especially those who satisfy their flesh by indulging in its passions and who despise authority. Being bold and arrogant, they are not afraid to slander glorious beings. Yet even angels, although they are greater in strength and power, do not bring a slanderous accusation against them from the Lord. These people, like irrational animals, are mere creatures of instinct that are born to be caught and killed. They insult what they don't understand, and like animals they, too, will be destroyed, suffering wrong as punishment for their wrongdoing. They take pleasure in wild parties in broad daylight. They are stains and blemishes, reveling in their deceitful pleasures while they eat with you. With eyes full of adultery, they cannot get enough of sin. They seduce unsteady souls and have had their hearts expertly trained in greed. They are doomed to a curse. They have left the straight path and wandered off to follow the path of Balaam, the son of Bosor, who loved the reward he got for doing wrong. But he was rebuked for his offense. A donkey that normally cannot talk spoke with a human voice and restrained the prophet's insanity. These men are dried-up springs, mere clouds driven by a storm. Gloomy darkness is reserved for them. By talking high-sounding nonsense and using sinful cravings of the flesh, they entice people who have just escaped from those who live in error. Promising them freedom, they themselves are slaves to depravity, for a person is a slave to whatever conquers him. For if, after escaping the world's corruptions through a full knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled and conquered by them, then their last condition is worse than their former one. It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to know it and turn their backs on the holy commandment that was committed to them. The proverb is true that describes what has happened to them: "A dog returns to its vomit," and "A pig that is washed goes back to wallow in the mud." (2Pe 2:1-22 ISV)