Prophetic Glimpses - Egypt
(Isaiah 19)

Sermon Outline from the Morning Service - 16 January 2000

• God tells Israel what He is going to do to Egypt so Israel would know not to seek there for help, to remind Israel that God could easily cause the "help" of any nation to fail, and to cause Israel to look where they ought to -- the Almighty God of their history & their future.

• Israel is a type of the world--look at the history of God's people in Egypt:

• Abraham encountered a famine and took off to Egypt

• Israel in the wilderness wanted to go back to the leeks & onions.

• Joseph took Jesus & Mary to Egypt, so that it could be said, "out of Egypt I have called My Son" (Mt. 2:15).
  in Rev. 11:8 (a corrupt) Jerusalem is called "Sodom" and "Egypt."
  in Heb. 3:7-19, to go back in unbelief is to go back to Egypt

I. Judgement to Egypt (1-15)

A. Against their gods (1, 3). As at the Exodus, God would demonstrate His superiority over their gods.

B. In their society (2). God would bring a spirit of disharmony among the people to the point that they would go to war against each other. C. By foreign domination (4). D. Their economy would "dry up" (5-10). E. Planning and purposes frustrated (11-15).

1. Notice the emphasis on God's wrecking the purposes of Egypt to accomplish His own purposes (vv. 3, 10, 12). Is. 44:25.

2. God mingles a perverse spirit in their midst. Satan is fulfilling his desires But you will remember that there is a Restrainer (2 Thess 2).

II. Grace to Egypt (16-25)

A. Continuing to the end times (16-17).

B. Close contact with Israel (18).

C. Conversion to God (21-22)

1. They shall know God, offer sacrifices, make vows and fulfill them.....more than Israel was doing at that time!

2. The means of Egypt's change was the Lord's chastisement -- He would smite them, but He would also heal them -- same as Israel.

D. Blessing of being linked (1/3) with Israel. But it would be known that Israel was central, the key to that blessing. III. A Testimony to Egypt and the World (19-20)
The "altar" of is not for sacrifice -- it is for a witness. See Josh. 22:10, 26-27

A. The Great Pyramid of Cheops at Gizeh (the place in Egypt)

1. Considered by the Greeks to be the greatest of the 7 wonders of the ancient world

2. It stood for 2500-3000 years before, in 820 AD, treasure hunters forcibly opened a way. But, unlike other pyramids, this was not a crypt. Inside were no writings and symbols of Egyptian religion.

3. Its explanation is found in "The Book of the Dead"

B. A Testimony to God

1. Physical

a. 6,000,000 tons of material; granite that was brought from Syene, 500 miles away.
b. has hardly settled despite severe earthquakes (Cairo in 1300 AD)

2. Architectural

a. Strabo -- "It seemed like a building let down from heaven without the aid of human hands."
b. 144,000 limestone tiles that used to cover the outside, so fitted that the joints can hardly be detected
c. the granite core -- modern mechanical engineers with modern equipment could not build the pyramid today, replicating its accuracy in preparing and placing each piece.

3. Mathematical In the Pyramid

"Mathematics is the basis for truth that is expressed by the medium of granite architecture. In the Bible, history is the basis for truth and language is the medium of expression."  - Riffert, p. 186-187.

a. the basis of measurement is a circle with a circumference of 36524.24 inches. The base of the pyramid is also 365.24 cubits squared.
b. the "pyramid inch" is embossed on a granite beam in the King's Chamber and also explained in the Book of the Dead -- it is 1/500,000,000 of the polar diameter almost exactly the size of the English/American inch -- within a width of 2-3 human hairs!
c. the ascending and descending passages are at the angle of 26ø18'10". From an imaginary line due east of the pyramid, that same angle would pass through Bethlehem.

4. Astronomical & Geophysical

a. Not only are the figures for the length of the solar year found in many measurements throughout the pyramid, the measurements for the sidereal and anomalistic years are also found in it!
b. Sept. 22, 2144 BC was Zero Hour for the pyramid's time system, when the polar star Draconis' light shown directly down the descending passage and the Pleiades star group were directly overhead. A scored line in the passage floor indicates this. c. some of the measurements that surveyors found pre-figured in the pyramid are: earth's distance from the sun, mean ocean and land levels, weight of the earth. The pyramid faces true north and lies at the centre of land mass on the earth..

5. Prophetical

a. "The literary traditions of ancient Egypt all agree that the Pyramid enshrines a divine revelation concerning events past, present and future; and that is statement of prophecy is given in the terms and symbolism of geometry and astronomy." The Book of the Dead indicates that one inch equals one solar year.
b. dates along the bottom of the chart that are indicated: creation at 4000 BC; flood at 2344 BC; exodus at 1486 BC; birth 4BC and death of Christ 30 AD; reformation 1518 AD.
c. the dates given for King's Chamber: seem amazingly to fit with WWI, but are meaningless after that; the unit of measurement changes from 1" = 1 year to 1" = 30 day month
d. some of the names given in the Egyptian Book of the for various places are: the pyramid = Revelation Measures & Lights & Glory; the Grand Gallery = Passion of the Messiah & Crossing the Pure Waters of Life; Queen's Chamber = Jew's Chamber & Chamber of 2nd Birth; below the Grand Gallery, the ascending passage is called Hall of Truth in Darkness, whereas the GG is also called Hall of Truth in Light; the Pit is also called Chamber of Upsidedownness and Chamber of Terror or Chaos

C. Built when, by whom, why....?

1. When? -- possibly 2625 BC: the date of the Floor ledge opening is 2625 BC; Egyptian & archeological records show Cheops reigned then; Coptic & Jewish traditions say it was built 300 years before the flood.

2. By whom? -- possibly by Enoch: the Book of the Dead calls the pyramid the Pillar of Enoch; Enoch lived at that time....and lived 365 years! the Egyptians awaited the return of Enoch 1461 years later.

3. Why? -- Enoch (or Seth) may have been the human overseer of the work, but the architect is surely God.

a. In this pyramid He proves His deity "in a manner altogether becoming the majesty of His Infinite         Intelligence and likewise complimentary to the noble intelligence of man."
b. Seeing as it would be largely not understood by any age other than ours, it appears to be meant for our age -- one last message
c. One ancient writing says that the pyramid was "designed to show the positions of the stars and their circles, together with the history and chronicles of time past, of that which is to come, and of every future event." This specifically shows God's complete knowledge of not only our physical world, but also of human history. God is sovereign!
d. "In that day shall there be an altar...." In that scientific day, its significance would be known.

Today it is not largely known or recognized as being from God. But it shall be!