A Promise

I've been reading through Isaiah, and this morning I came across this passage:

"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. 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, saying, 'Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.'"
~~ Isaiah 19:23-25

It sent shivers down my spine and I laughed out loud for the sheer joy of it.

I tried to imagine what it would be like to hear that prophecy in the time it was given. Assyria had been invading and oppressing Israel for years and years. Egypt kept them as slaves for centuries and Israel remembered it like it was yesterday. So I'd imagine some people would have gotten pretty angry when they heard this. Egypt and Assyria worshiping together, maybe. But both of those nations together with Israel?

Then I tried to imagine some countries and groups that might stand in for Egypt and Assyria today in modern minds. Maybe Iraq, or North Korea, or China, or even France. Maybe Democrats or Republicans, Presbyterians or Catholics...let's face it, we don't need people to enslave us or torment us before we decide to cut them out of the reach of God's grace. If we were in charge of who got into heaven, there would be a lot more empty rooms in the Father's house.

But most of us are Egypt, about as far as it gets from the originally chosen people.

We are Assyria, taking whatever we can get and depending thoroughly on our own power.

And we are Israel, possessing great gifts upon which we routinely turn our backs.

"Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance."

God's worst enemies will become your brothers and sisters in Christ. It's a promise so sure it may as well have already happened, and in fact it has...I was once one of those very enemies.

Anybody can befriend someone who is just like them (Luke 6:32-34). But when antagonists turn allies, that's a matter for laughter in the Isaac sense: the "impossible" promise made true, and to God alone the glory.

May God's highway connect ever more and more of His people. Especially the ones we can't stand just now.