One World, One People, One God

We're going to do something a little different today. Before we get to the sermon, we're going to take a few minutes to talk about art. And I'm actually going to show some pictures. This might seem kind of random, and this may be one of the only times in my life I do this kind of thing, but I think you'll get the point before too long.

Over the last couple of years, I've enjoyed learning about art, and in particular exploring the various movements, schools, styles and genres of Western art.

One of the broad categories of visual art realism. Realistic art is based on the things we see in the real world and tries to accurately reproduce those things for the viewer to see.

Here's an example of a realistic painting of a scene near Rotterdam, which I was drawn to because that's where my grandpa grew up

You can tell that the artist sought to represent in his painting what he saw in the real world as accurately as possible. You can see the clouds, the reflections in the water, the colours. It's a beautiful example of realist, representative art.

This painting was done in 1856. Around this time a new art movement was arising, known as impressionism. Impressionism was interested in depicting things that we'd see in real life, but was not interested in depicting those things with absolute realism.

Rather, though a creative, sketch-like use of brushwork, and a focus on the effects of light, impressionist artists sought to give the impression of a subject or scene. The kind of impression that might be left on your memory after seeing the real thing.

Here is a much more impressionist painting of almost the exact same scene, painted by the same artist, fifteen years later.

You can see many of the same elements—the clouds, the boat, the water, the church tower, a couple of people. But in this painting, the artist isn't interested in depicting those things with fine detail.

He's not trying to make his painting a highly-detailed representation of reality. He's using his painting to give an impression of the scene in a looser, sketch-like way. You can really see the difference when you see the two towers side by side.

You can tell they are the same church, but on the left we're seeing a highly-detailed realistic reproduction of the tower. On the right, we have the looser impression of the same tower. The windows and the clock disappear, beacuse the details aren't the important part. What matters is the general impression given to the viewer.

Throughout history, other artists haven't been interested in painting scenes from real life at all. One such example is this painting, referred to as "An Allegory of Man," painted by an anonymous artist in the late 16th century:

In the picture you can see arrows, labelled with various sins, being pointed at the man in the centre, with a skeleton off to his right.

And I think it's obvious to us that is not a painting about archery or the skeletal system. The arrows represent temptations to sin. The skeleton represents mortality and death. These elements are symbols that point beyond themselves to the actual stuff the painter wants you to be thinking about.

I was talking about these three types of paintings with my friend Harrison this week, and he summed it up this way: "In the realist painting, the artist gives you realistic details of the thing he wants you to see. In the impressionist painting, the artist gives you a realistic sense of the thing he wants you to see. In an allegorical painting, the artist gives you realistic details of one thing in order to help you see something else."

Now there are all kinds of other types of art, but I've highlighted these three because I think they give us some helpful ways to understand the writings of the prophets in the Bible.

Sometimes, prophets like Isaiah wrote like realist painters: direct, detailed description about what would certainly happen in the future. Thin of Isaiah's prophecy last week about the Egyptians being stripped naked and carried off as prisoners of war. That actually happened, exactly like he said and acted out.

Sometimes, prophets spoke about the future in a more impressionistic way. This type of prophecy is not less true, but it's just that the details aren't the important part. They don't want us to zoom in. They want us to step back, see the whole picture, and get the general impression of what's going on or what's going to happen.

Think of the phrase "in that day" that Isaiah uses so often. If we try and pin down exactly what exact calendar day he's talking about, we'll miss the point entirely. The whole point is that Isaiah is not pinpointing when "that day" will come. He's simply sketching out, in a fuzzy way, the big idea that these things are coming at some point in the future.

Other times, the Biblical prophets wrote using symbols. Sometimes extremely detailed, realistic symbols. But like the bows and arrows and skeletons in this painting, the symbols themselves aren't the main point. We're supposed to see "through" the symbols to the realities themselves.

Think of Isaiah speaking about God laying a "foundation stone" in Jerusalem (Isaiah 28:16). We could get confused if we think that's a prophecy about a literal building being constructed in Jerusalem. Rather, there's cues in the text, and then 1 Peter shows us clearly, that this "cornerstone" is a person—the Messiah, the Lord Jesus. The stone is a symbol and Jesus is the reality.

So when we come to the prophets, it can be helpful to remember these three types of art, and ask ourselves, what's going on in this particular passage? If we expect every prophecy to be like that first panel, full of sharp realism, we might get ourselves confused. We should ask, "is this realism, or a more fuzzy impressionism, or symbols?"

Sometimes the answer might not be obvious. At times, the prophets use more than one of these elements at the same time. Or they can move back and forth between these elements fairly freely. But at the very least we can say that knowing about these different categories can help us make sense of what God is saying to us in any given passage.

So, with our little introduction out of the way, let's remember where we were and where we left off last week. Israel, along with some other nations, was thinking of running to Egypt for help against Assyria. And the Lord says not to do that, because He is going to humble Egypt and bring about its collapse.

But that's not all He's going to do. Egypt would not just collapse under God's judgement. One day, Egypt would be cured under God's grace. Egypt would not just be humbled. They would be healed. They would not just be destroyed. They would be delivered.

A. In That Day

And we hear about this future salvation for Egypt and beyond in verses 16-24, which comes at us in the form of five "in that day" statements. There is a day coming, which Isaiah doesn't pinpoint, when these things nevertheless will be true.

1. Fear (16-17)

The first is fear. "In that day the Egyptians will be like women, and tremble with fear before the hand that the Lord of hosts shakes over them."

The brave Egyptians will be overcome with fear. And Isaiah describes this in a very non-politically-correct way by saying that they will become like women. In our day, after decades of being groomed by feminism and brave Disney princesses who can do it all by themselves without any bumbling men getting in their way, this sounds quite offensive to our ears.

This is a phrase that the Bible actually uses several times, though, and it points to what was common knowledge in the ancient world, and what modern science has confirmed again and again and again, that by and large, in general, women are more fearful then men. And if you doubt that, just google it, and read all of the studies. It is unquestionable that women have a significantly higher disposition towards fear and anxiety and phobias then men.

Now that's in general. There are individual men who are more fearful than individual women. But in general, the pattern is undeniable.

And this isn't a bad thing. God made men and women differently on purpose. A woman's greater inclination towards fear is a key part of her design as a life-giving nurturer. A man's greater inclination towards fearlessness is a big part of his design as a risk-taking initiator. Neither design is bad, and we need both to make the world go round.

Can you imagine if women weren't more fearful than men? We'd all be dead by now. Shem and Japheth would be holding their kids over the edge of the ark to let them see the view and their wives would be like, "Wow, honey, that's so thoughtful of you. You probably don't need to hold on quite so tightly." And we wouldn't have made it very far.

But similarly, it's not hard to see that if men were not less fearful than women, they wouldn't have done some of the really dangerous but important things we needed to do to subdue and rule over the earth. We wouldn't have glorious words like David saying to Solomon, "Be strong, and show yourself a man" (1 Kings 2:2). Wars that needed fighting and inventions that needed testing and new lands that needed exploring all depended on a certain amount of fearlessness and disregard for what might happen.

See, the differing levels of fear in men and women are neither good nor bad. They reflect the different kinds of jobs God built us for as we rule over the earth together. And interestingly, at least one major study suggests that women are more fearful compared with men when they live in cultures like ours that fight for so-called "equality." Which suggests to me that women have less to fear when they're allowed to be women and men are expected to act like men. All the more reason why we should appreciate one another and the differences that God deliberately built us with.

So the point here is that Isaiah is not being insulting by saying "the Egyptians will be like women." He's pointing to the facts to highlight an unusual increase in fear among the people of Egypt. Gone is the hard-hearted bravado of the Pharaoh Moses knew, whose hard heart refused to let the people go. Their brave soldiers will tremble with fear before the Lord and the purpose he has against Egypt.

And what's so important to see is that this is not just a random fear. It's not just a normal terror. Just like God hardened Pharaoh's heart before Moses in order to judge Egypt, so now he is softening Egypt's heart before his people in order to save them.

The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And this fear leads to allegiance to the Lord, which we see in verse 18.

2.Allegiance (18)

"In that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that speak the language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the Lord of hosts."

This is symbolic language that describes the beginning of a movement within Egypt of people turning to worship the one true God. In the way that prophecy works, like we've seen this morning, the point is not that there will be five literal cities on the map that speak Hebrew. Instead, this is symbolic language that describes a small but notable group of people within Egypt turning towards the Lord.

Some of the Egyptians pay attention, in other words. They know what the Lord is doing and give their allegiance to Him instead of their false idols.

3. Worship & Salvation (19-22)

And this picture of Egyptians turning to the Lord continues in verses 19-22, which further describe Egyptians worshipping the Lord and enjoying His salvation.

Verse 19: “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” (Isaiah 19:19–20).

Once again, this is symbolic language. The point isn't the altar. The point is what the altar symbolizes. What were altars used for? Worshipping the Lord. And that's the idea here. Egyptians are going to become a part of the people of God, worshipping and serving Him just like the people of Israel and Judah were supposed to.

And there seems to be a sense of this worship growing here. At first there was five cities. Now there's a pillar at the border and an altar at the middle. this encompasses the nation.

And verse 21 now talks about "the Egyptians" as a nation worshipping the Lord: “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” (Isaiah 19:21).

What a picture. Egyptians knowing God, worshipping Him at His altar in their own land. This must have seemed unbelievable to any resident of Jerusalem hearing Isaiah's words. Even more so is that as the Egyptians worship the Lord, they receive and enjoy His blessings of protection from their enemies. God saves them just the same way that He saves His people Israel.

Half-way through verse 20, we read "When they cry to the Lord because of oppressors, he will send them a savior and defender, and deliver them."

Isn't that incredible? Egypt was the oppressor. When Israel called for help, he came and saved and defended and delivered them from Egypt. But now Egypt themselves has fallen under an oppressor, and God is coming to rescue them!

And then verse 22: “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.”

This judgement on Egypt is not for their destruction but for their salvation, that they might turn and be saved. And many of them will.

4. Unity (23)

In verse 23, we get to our fourth "in that day" statement, where we read, “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” (Isaiah 19:23).

Once again, please remember how these prophetic symbols work. The point of Isaiah's words here is not road construction. It's unity—the unity in worship of the whole world joining together to worship the Lord.

In the ancient world at this time, Egypt and Assyria weren't just two countries. These were the two superpowers that were bookends on the known world. They were far apart geographically, and they were far apart in relationship. There were huge tensions between them.

And so the idea of a highway between the two of them, with Egyptians and Assyrians passing back and forth between their two nations that they might worship with one another—this is pointing to world-wide unity in the worship of God. No hostilities. No border checks. Global peace in the worship of God.

In other words, what's been described up until this point with Egypt is just one example of what God intends to do the world over. And what started with five cities, and grew to the whole nation, now encompasses the whole world.

5. Blessing (24-25)

And this global unity spills over into verses 24-25, which tell us that "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."

Israel, Egypt and Assyria, instead of being at war or in tension with one another, are described here as three nations in unity with one another, enjoying and being God's blessing together. This is huge!

Israel was God's chosen people, set apart to be a blessing to the nations of the earth. And for centuries their mission depended on being distinct and set apart from all other nations. And at the beginning of Isaiah's prophecy, Egypt began their journey of faith by being afraid of Judah.

But in that day—in that day of global unity—Israel in the middle will take her stand with the great powers on either side and together they will be a blessing to the world that the Lord has blessed.

And here is how the Lord will bless His people—verse 25: “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance” (Isaiah 19:25).

Again, this is huge, because these three titles—"my people," "work of my hands," and "my inheritance"—are all titles used for Israel, even just in Isaiah's prophecy. Israel was God's people. Remember what He said to Pharaoh? "Let my people go." Israel was His people, not Egypt. Egypt was excluded from God's covenant blessings.

But in that day, it all changes. "Blessed be Egypt my people." Egypt will be a part of the people of God. And Assyria—Assyria the great enemy—they will be the work of His hands, the ones He has made. And Israel, there among them, His inheritance.

In Isaiah's day, there would be no better way to express the idea of one world, one people, and one God than with this description of Egypt, Assyria and Israel together enjoying God's covenantal blessings together. And that's what Isaiah is doing here. He is using the concepts and geopolitics of his day to paint a picture of the future in which there will be one world, one people, and one God.

B. That Dawn of That Day

So, let's ask the important question. When will this day come? This day that Isaiah spoken about—when should we expect it?

I want to suggest that this day has already dawned on us. It dawned in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, who in his flesh tore down the dividing wall between Jews and Gentiles, making it possible for all who were saved by grace to be adopted as Abraham's children and welcomed into the one, global, universal church.

Ephesians 2 describes this in detail. Galatians 3 sums it up when it says, “for in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:26–28).

What Isaiah foretold is happening, in Christ. And this is the risen Christ who sent out his people to make disciples of all nations (Matt 28:18). History suggests that Christian missionaries took the gospel to the nation of Egypt early, where it took root and blossomed into a thriving Christian community that stood and endured through centuries of persecution. Today there are hundreds of thousands of gospel-believing Christians in Egypt—followers of Jesus who will populate the New Creation when there will finally and fully be one world, one people, under one God.

And that's when this prophecy will find it's full and final fulfillment. “After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, and crying out with a loud voice, ‘Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!”’” (Revelation 7:9–10).

Later on in Revelation, we read about the nations of the earth, made up of the redeemed from all time, walking in the light of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:24). And there will be full and final unity as God dwells with His people from every tribe, tongue, nation and language forever.

C. Truths for Today

So what we want to think about for a few minutes as we conclude here is what Isaiah's prophecy has to say to us today. And let's not forget that what this passage says to us is going to be grounded in what it had to say to Isaiah's audience.

The people in Isaiah's day were afraid of Assyria and allured by Egypt. And God's message, through this prophecy, is, don't let the fear of Assyria and the attraction of Egypt turn you aside from trusting the Lord. Because the Lord is going to fold the Assyrians and the Egyptians together into a covenant community who will walk in fellowship together. One world, one people, one God. Trust the God who is going to bring that about.

1. Embrace the Nations

And so surely one of the biggest lessons that comes from this passage, both for Isaiah's audience and for us today, is that we embrace the nations. Isaiah's readers were to look to the Assyrians and Egyptians not just as enemies or potential saviours, but as future brothers and sisters. Future covenant partners with whom they will share God's blessings.

And that is happening today as the nations are being welcomed in to the kingdom of Jesus. That means that we also need to look around us at the nations and see not just enemies or strangers but potential brothers and sisters. Potential fellow-citizens of the New Earth with whom we will live forever.

I've told you the story before about riding a packed Greyhound bus through California years ago when my and one other guy on the bus were the only two white guys. And we very naturally found each other in the crowd and sat together, and I felt a little safer to be honest. But I very quickly found out that this man hated the gospel and had very little in common with me, and I wondered how many of my real brothers and sisters were on that bus and I'd ignored them because they looked different than me.

And because of immigration, this is not just a question we need to ask ourselves when we travel some place else. Right here in Nipawin, every time we go out to run errands, we get to rub shoulders, sometimes very literally, with people from other nations. People who look different, who talk different, who eat different.

And what goes through our hearts when we encounter these people? Do we allow ourselves to think like typical citizens of western Canada? "You're different and this is my country?" Or do we think like citizens of heaven, and see potential brothers and sisters in Christ, people with whom we might be living forever with on the New Earth?

From everything I know about history and missions and global Christianity, I can say with a fair amount of certainty that the New Earth is going to be a very white place. Heaven is not going to be a place dominated by English-speakers. Heaven is going to be an extremely diverse place populated by Africans and Asians and middle-Easterners and indigenous peoples from all over and even Mennonites and we're going to live together and worship God together in perfect harmony.

Before we move on, let's just make a quick comment about the idea of harmony. Harmony is when you have two different notes that sound good together. You can tell that there are two notes there. And the difference is not bad—the difference is what makes the harmony so beautiful.

Isaiah prophesied that Egypt, Assyria, and Israel would walk together—which meant that they still existed as unique and distinguishable nations. In Revelation 7, John could tell that there were different tribes and languages around the thrones. They weren't all blurred together in one indistinguishable blob.

In fact, we can see in Isaiah 19 and Revelation 7 that heaven will be more glorious because of the ethnic differences present. While each culture has particular sins that need to be nailed to the cross, each culture also has unique ways of being and knowing and worshipping God that are beautiful. Our cultural and ethnic differences themselves are not bad.

I come from Dutch and French and Scottish stock, and I'm grateful for the cultural diversity and the rich legacy I am an heir to. Through my wife, my children have German and Mennonite and and Romanian heritage that we don't have to ignore just because we're Christians. And that goes for all of you with whatever ethnic heritage you enjoy. And the same goes for every person from every tribe and nation.

The gospel does not erase differences between peoples. It unites the different peoples around the throne of Jesus. Each culture has unique and good ways of relating and eating and worshipping the Lord. So you're allowed to enjoy and celebrate your culture, even as you learn to enjoy and celebrate other cultures, and together enjoy the beautiful tapestry that God is weaving us into, together, as we magnify Christ as one body.

2. Preach the gospel to the nations

Now, finally, let's remember what this is all about, and where it all terminates—in Christ. What we're talking about here is so different from the global peace, multicultural, racial-harmony message we get from our world. The world tells us that we're all basically good, so just get along already.

The gospel tells us that yes, we were created good, but we're so messed up that we can't and won't get along without Christ. The gospel is the only thing that can and will bring the nations together. It is only around the throne of Jesus that the peoples will worship.

And looking at Isaiah 19 in the big story of the Bible reminds us that today, we get to participate in the fulfillment of Isaiah's words, as as we bring the gospel to the peoples of our nation, and all nations. Because it's through the gospel that the peoples of the nations turn and are blessed in the Messiah, and begin to walk in unity, and receive citizenship in the New Creation where we will live together in peace forever.

Now that's a big idea. But what about bringing it really close to home. What if we accepted the challenge that this very week we would take a step towards the nations. For you, maybe your step is that when you go grocery shopping, you'll deliberately choose to go through the line where the cashier has a different skin colour than you.

Maybe your step is to stop and talk to your neighbour or that person living down the street who just moved here from another country. Get to know them, invite them over for a meal.

Maybe your step is to begin to pray for one of the unreached peoples of the earth, peoples where nobody knows about Jesus and has nobody to tell them.

Maybe your step is to begin to explore how you could be the answer to that prayer. To start to talk to someone about how God might use you to bring the gospel to a people group that has never heard so that they might become a part of God's people and might be represented around the throne one day.

Maybe your step this week is just to tell God that you're willing. Maybe you've been in that spot for years where you've said, "Lord, I'll believe in you, just don't send me to that country. Don't expect me to eat that food. Don't make me talk to those people."

And maybe this is the week where you repent and say, "Lord, you came from heaven to earth to invite this Gentile into the family of Abraham. I want to hear you being praised by every nation under heaven more than I want to feel comfortable. Use me, however you want, to bring about the day when all peoples praise you."

In a moment here we're going to hold the elements of the Lord's table in our hands. Isn't it good to remember that Jesus died for our sins, but not just our sins? As Revelation 5:9 says of Jesus, “you were slain, and by your blood you ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation’” (Revelation 5:9).

Jesus let his body be broken and shed his blood to purchase worshippers from all peoples. As we enjoy His grace together this morning, may this increase our passion for the Lamb to receive the reward for His suffering—which is a global church that rejoices to proclaim that He is lord of the nations.