The Book of the Prophet Isaiah

Chapter 18

"Aha, land with clamoring borders beyond the rivers of Cush; sending sorrows by the roaring sea in reed ships upon the water. 

Go swift angels to Gentiles spread out and obstinate, to a people revered afar, to a people stalwart, trampling the earth underfoot rivers have divided. 

You abiding in the world, lodging on the earth, be advised when He lifts the banner on the mountains, sounds the shophar, listen. 

Yahweh said,

'In this manner I will remain still in my dwelling place and regard the dazzling light from the illumination of the heat, the envelope of dew in the heat of harvest. For before the harvest when the bud is becoming perfect, the sour grape ripening in the blossom I shall cut off the worthless sprigs with pruning knives, cut them off killing the tendrils.  They shall be forsaken together to the birds of prey of the mountains, the beasts of the earth. The birds of prey, the beasts shall summer upon beasts, and all the beasts of the earth shall be exposed.'

Then, a gift shall be brought to Yahweh of Hosts of Gentiles spread out and obstinate, from a people revered afar, from a people stalwart, trampling the earth underfoot rivers have divided, to the place of the Authority of Yahweh of Hosts, Mount Tsijon."

It is interesting that the country of Syria is in the news today. The Assyrians figured heavily into the prophecy of Isaiah because of their activities related to the people in what is now Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Eritrea, and Egypt and Israel. Many commentaries draw out this. Prophecy refers to multiple events many times and people take a minimalist view that if a prophet is speaking for God about a certain country at a fixed time then it does not also refer to a future time. Certainly Damascus still exists and yet Isaiah 17 opens with a prophecy against Damascus that says she will exist no more for all time. Ezekiel related the destruction of Tyre to Babylon and the Greeks. Alexander the Great accomplished the final destruction of Tyre, although Nebuchadnezzar came against Tyre beforehand. Then again, Tyre is symbolic and an archetype so that we are able to understand a bit about Satan and how he fell. In the same way, careful reading of Isaiah 18 reveals much.

At this juncture, only a few things need to be pointed out concerning this prophecy. It is God who will make the prophecy come to be and he describes Himself watching from the shekinar glory of His Abundant Dwelling. Many times it is the Watchers who are referred to as watching and making decisions, such as Nebuchadnezzar being made to have the mind of a beast for 7 years. In this prophecy God watches and He sends angels to people, raises an ensign and gives warning to all of the world! What must happen is huge. In fact, it is something that has not happened yet. The people in this prophecy have free will. The fruit is ripe, exactly ripe. The fruition of how man deals with man, nation deals with nation, and the exact time of the harvest is when people are at a perfection, perfection of sin, perfection of all the people who will be saved at a certain point in time are saved, perfection of political alignment, all this and more. God sees the end from the beginning and knows what it is that he is watching for and says how he will act.

This prophecy by Isaiah refers to a multitude of people, the gathered people of God in Israel, the Gentiles, and those beyond Sudan.  The key country is the land beyond southern Sudan at the beginning and the prophecy ties in events by which it will be known when this area of the continent of Africa will come to Mount Zion.  The Gentiles includes most of the world.  Specifically we can see that an event takes place which will herald a momentous time after the nation of Israel has been established again.  Israel became a nation in 1948.  By this we know the season of the LORD.  Israel is gathered together as a nation in the spring.  The momentous event takes place at the exact time of harvest.  Go to the following page to read a bit more detail as to what scripture is tied in with this prophecy.  Click here.  In the country north of Israel the people there will think to invade and attack Israel.  They will come from places as close as Libya and Syria and as far away as northeastern Anatolia, Scythia and Europe.  It would seem that they are allied by something common.  Isaiah 17 describes the destruction of Damascus and it may be that part of the excuse to invade Israel may be due to the destruction of Damascus.  How is it that Sudan fits in with all of this?  The people in the north of Sudan are primarily Hamitic and Arabic Muslims in affinity, ancestry, and religion.  The are more allied with Egypt ideologically than they are with the people in southern Sudan.  The south of Sudan is being wiped out by genocide at the present day with the goal of the Sudanese government to exterminate all 8 million non-Muslims.  Egypt enjoys a peace pact with Israel at the moment, and is also allied with Sudan and Libya.  Some people thought that the Soviet Union and now think that the Russians will invade Israel.  It does not seem likely unless it is from the people in the region formerly populated with Armenians and in any case the invaders will not be only composed of these people.  Countries that were in the Soviet Union may get hooked into this fray.  The people referred to as Rus are not the Russians.  They are the descendents of the Etruscans and those who supplanted the Etruscans, the Romans.  The descendents of Gomer will be in on this, the Europeans.  The unifying factor is the religion, Islam, and the political alliances based on the common hatred for the nation of Israel.  Most likely the other unifying factor will be dependence on oil by Europe who are the descedents of Gomer and especially the confederation of European states in which the descendents of Rus, the Romans, will play a powerful role.  The prophecy refers to peoples that are understood as tied in with the city on seven hills as its power center and a revival of the Roman Empire in some way is suggested, only this rendition will be weak as described by Daniel, its feet composed of clay and iron.  The invasion from the north will have a green light from Rome to occur allying some of Europe and the countries of Syria, Egypt, Libya, and possibly some from the area about the Caspian.  Interestingly the Caspian Sea area is seen as being rich in oil and gas.

The banner, the ensign of the LORD will be lifted upon the mountain.  The trumpet will sound.  The world is to take notice and take this as a wake-up call to an event larger than the one taking place between peoples.  God will intervene and wipe out the invaders in such numbers that it will take many months to even bury the dead, covering nearly three seasons, seven months.  The earth will be shaken at this time.  Is this near the coming Day of the Lord, the Day He sets His foot on the Mount of Olives?  

Except for the translations of Chapter 18, these links do not work, but the pages will be loaded soon.