Though a secondary power, Egypt shall seek to take Israel’s land by force, precipitating the consumption.
Seeing the western nations in a dilemma, the Egyptian army shall move into the land of Israel from the south, living off the land as they desolate it.
As Egypt pushes from the south, the King of the North (the Assyrian) shall attack from the north. Having been appointed by God as His rod against Israel, the King of the North shall move through the Land as a scourge. Three nations shall escape his whirlwind attack as he drives on into Egypt. God shall reserve these enemies of Israel, Edom, Moab, and Ammon, for Israel to punish or expel from their Land. The Philistines shall also be disinherited. Before Egypt is healed she shall be smitten by the King of the North.
As these old rivals meet for the last time on the battlefield, Egypt shall be taken captive and greatly humbled by the King of Assyria. Although Egypt will cry to the Lord because of the oppressor, and He shall send them a saviour, a great one, still they shall be for a time under the rule of a cruel lord. The people shall feel hard times, unemployment will paralyze the nation; there will be no fish, their mainstay, because the Nile River will be dried up. The population will be like women, with fear taking hold upon them.
“And the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel” (Isa. 8:8).
No doubt the Northern incursion will have started some time before the Lord comes out of heaven to judge the Great Western Confederacy. This is quite evident because Balaam’s prophecy shall be fulfilled before the West falls. The prophet Balaam prophesies, “Nevertheless the Kenite shall be wasted, until Asshur shall carry thee away captive. And he took up his parable, and said, Alas, who shall live when God doeth this! And ships shall come from the coast of Chittim (Cyprus), and shall afflict Asshur, and... Eber” (Num. 24:22-24).
In order to maintain control over Israel the West must resort to sea power. The drying up of the Euphrates River is a figure of speech indicating the withdrawal of the western forces into their own immediate land because of the waning of their power in the East. Here we find Balaam’s prophecy helpful.
Today two great powers, one in the West and one in the East, have navies that are practically matched. It takes little understanding to see that the ships of Chittim belong to the West, otherwise why should they attack the people of Asshur and Eber who are enemies of the West? The occasion of this attack would have to be at the time that the King of the North sweeps through Palestine. Soon after, there will be no ships of Chittim. There was no reason for an attack upon these enemies before. The ships of Chittim belong to the little horn. Who is the little horn of Daniel 7? His number is 666.
These judgments will be known as “the consumption” or “the harvest” in which one shall be taken for judgment while another shall be left in the Land for blessing. This shall affect all nations.
“Alas, who shall live when God doeth this” (Num. 24:23)!
“Earth, what a sorrow lies before thee,
None like it in the shadowy past;
The sharpest throe that ever tore thee,
E’en though the briefest and the last!
“I see the fair moon veil her luster
I see the sackcloth of the sun;
The shrouding of each starry cluster,
The three-fold woe of earth begun.
“I see the shadows of its sunset
And wrapt in these the wenger’s form;
I see the Armageddon onset
But I shall be above the storm.
“There comes the moaning and the sighing,
There comes the hot tear’s heavy fall,
The thousand agonies of dying
But I shall be beyond them all.”
HB.
The “rod” of Jehovah, or consumption, shall level the prosperity and civilization of the prophetic earth, actually emptying the land of Israel of men, so that it shall be said, “I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir.” This consumption shall eventually extend to all nations of the prophetic earth, including western Europe and all so-called Christian lands.
“Go up, O Elam: besiege, O Media; all the sighing thereof have I made to cease” (Isa. 21:2).
Members of the Eastern Confederacy will probably be the executers of this awful carnage. The confederacy spoken of will be the Assyrian and his allies.
There will be a difference between the desolator moving through the Land into Egypt and the two attacks made upon Jerusalem. The first attack upon Jerusalem will not be made by the King of the North (Turkey); he will be occupied with expelling Egypt from the Land. This attack shall prove to be successful for the enemy. In savage fury the armies of Media and Persia shall scourge the beloved city, treading it into the mire. All the synagogues in the Land shall be destroyed, and the blood shall flow freely like water round about Jerusalem.
The “overflowing scourge” will take captive the scornful rulers who have made a covenant with hell (the beast of Rome). It shall be Jehovah’s “strange work... strange act.”
“A short work will the Lord make upon the earth” (Rom. 9:28).
Under this attack the rulers will flee.
“Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock” (Zech. 11:17).
“But he that is an hireling, and not the shepherd, whose own the sheep are not, seeth the wolf coming, and leaveth the sheep, and fleeth: and the wolf catcheth them, and scattereth the sheep” (John 10:12).
The king, who is better known as “the antichrist” or “false prophet,” is soon taken by the Lord when He comes out of heaven in judgment to crush His enemies and to set up His kingdom. He will destroy the Western Confederacy.
How severe and great will be the judgments at the end of the age! It will be the year of recompenses for the controversy of Zion; all issues that might interfere with the blessings of the kingdom under Jehovah shall be settled.
“I will search Jerusalem with candles” (Zeph. 1:12).
Isaiah shows that everything done in unbelief up until the judgments shall produce desperate sorrow for Israel at the time of the inheritance.
How precious faith is! How it protects the soul in the day of peril!
Jehovah, having judged the Western Confederacy, having seen His beloved people. Israel under oppression, and having heard their cry, shall go forth to fight for them. The Northern army shall be removed and driven from the Land.
“Surely his salvation is nigh them that fear him; that glory may dwell in our land. Mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth shall spring out of the earth; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Yea, the LORD shall give that which is good; and our land shall yield her increase. Righteousness shall go before him; and shall set us in the way of his steps” (Psa. 85:9-13).
It will be at this time when “They shall every man turn to his own people, and flee every one into his own land” (Isa. 13:14).