We left off last time with a quote from Josephus, Antiquities, Book 10, Chapter 1.4-5, where he says, “Now concerning this Sennacherib, Herodotus also says, in the second book of his histories, how ‘this king came against the Egyptian king, who was the priest of Vulcan; and that as he was besieging Pelusium (Lachish), he broke up the siege on the following occasion. The Egyptian priest prayed to god (Egyptian gods), and God heard his prayer, and sent a judgment upon the Arabian king.'” But in this Herodotus was mistaken when he called this king not the king of the Assyrians, but of the Arabians; for he saith, that a “multitude of mice gnawed to pieces in one night both the bows and the rest of the armor of the Assyrians; and that it was on that account that the king, when he had no bows left, drew his army from Pelusium (Lachish).”
And Herodotus does indeed give us this history; nay, and Berosus, who wrote of the affairs of Chaldea, makes mention of this king Sennacherib, and that he ruled over the Assyrians, and that he made an expedition against all Asia and Egypt; and says thus: “Now when Sennacherib was returning from his Egyptian war to Jerusalem, he found his army under Rabshakeh his general in danger (by a plague), for God had sent a pestilential distemper upon his army; and on the very first night of the siege, a hundred fourscore and five thousand, with their captains and generals were destroyed. So the king was in great dread, and in a terrible agony at this calamity; and being in great fear for his whole army, fled with the rest of his forces to his own kingdom, and to his city Ninevah; and when he had abode there a little while, he was treacherously assaulted, and died by the hands of his elder sons, Adrammelech and Seraser, and was slain in his own temple, which was called Araske. Now these sons of his were driven away, on account of the murder of their father, by the citizens, and went into Armenia, while Assarachoddas (Esarhaddon-2 Kings 19.37; Isa 37.38; Ezra 4.2) took the kingdom of Sennacherib. And this proved to be the conclusion of this Assyrian expedition against the people of Jerusalem.” Now, why didn’t Tirhakah exploit his military advantage against Sennacherib when the bows and armor were eaten by mice and Sennacherib withdrew his forces? They were ready to fight the next morning when this happened. He knew something had to be wrong for the Assyrians to leave. But instead, Tirhakah and the Egyptians turned around and went back to Egypt. Here is why.
The Lord could not allow Egypt to come to the aid of Judah and Hezekiah. The Lord was going to defeat Assyria himself, and there would be no doubt it was the Lord. So, when Assyria and Egypt had squared off against each other, night fell. The battle would commence in the morning. That night the Lord sent mice into the Assyrian camp and they ate the bow strings and whatever was edible on their armor, making it impossible to fight in the morning. Assyria withdrew, and so did Tirhakah and Egypt. The Lord was going to destroy the Assyrians himself. It will be the same with the False Messiah.
Europe and the False Messiah will not be allowed to come to the aid of Israel against the Russians (pictured by the Assyrians) according to their military treaty in Dan 9.27. The Lord does not want Israel to think that the False Messiah and his army had anything to do with the destruction of Gog and Magog/Russia, just like he didn’t want Judah and Hezekiah to think Tirhakah had anything to do with the destruction of the Assyrians. The destruction of 185,000 troops in one night by a plague is a type of what the Lord will do to Gog and Magog/Russia.
Isa 42.1-4 has a tremendous prophecy about the Messiah. It says, “Look, my servant whom I uphold; my chosen one in whom my soul delights. I have put my Spirit upon him; he will bring bring forth justice to the nations (non-Jews). He (the chosen one) will not cry out or raise his voice (in striving and contention) to make his voice heard in the street, a bruised reed, he will not break (you can lean on him and he won’t break), and a dimly burning wick, he will not extinguish (the life of the Messiah cannot go out). He will faithfully bring forth justice and he will not be disheartened or crushed, until he has established justice in the earth and the coastlands will wait expectantly for his law (Torah).”
Now, compare this with what was said about Tirhakah, a type of the False Messiah, in Isa 36.6. The verse says, “Look, you rely on the staff of this crushed reed, on Egypt, on which if a man leans, it will go into his hand and pierce it. So is Pharaoh king of Egypt to all who rely on him.” Ezekiel 29.6-7 says “Then all the inhabitants of Egypt shall know that I am the Lord, because they have been a staff of reed to the house of Israel. When they took hold of you with the hand, you broke and tore all their shoulders; when they leaned on you you broke and made all their backs quiver.”
So, what you have is Egypt is a type of Europe in prophecy, and Isa 19.1-25 is a major chapter on the False Messiah. We see the False Messiah alluded to as a “cruel master” and a “fierce king” (19.4). He will rule over Europe, and Europe will be deluded. There will be a civil war and Europe will be devastated by war with Russia (Isa 20). Major leaders will lead the people astray. “In that day” the Europeans will tremble with fear. “The land of Judah will become a terror” because the Europeans will hear about what was done to the land by the Russians, just like anciently the Egyptians were in terror after hearing about what the Assyrians did to Judah. It goes on to say that five cities in the land will be speaking the language of Canaan (many Jews will live there speaking Hebrew). One of those cities will be called the “City of Destruction.” This calls to mind the death camps of the Holocaust.
Egypt of the past is a picture of Europe in the future. Egypt was called the iron furnace in Deut 4.20 where it says, I brought you out of the iron furnace, from Egypt.” 1 Kings 8.51 says, “You have brought forth from Egypt, from the midst of the iron furnace.” And Jer 11.4 says, “I brought them out of the land of Egypt, from the iron furnace.” During the first three and a half years of the Birth-pains, many Jews will put their faith in the armies of Europe and the False Messiah to keep away and defeat the army of Gog and Magog/Russia. Jews will not believe that the Israeli army alone, though very good, will be able to hold off and defeat Gog/Russia. Many of the Jews in Israel will flee to Europe. They will be running right into the hands of the False Messiah who will persecute them shortly. They will cry out to the Lord, just like they did in Egypt, because of their oppressors. This will include the non-Jews, just like in Egypt with the mixed multitude, and God will deliver them. In that day, when Messiah comes, God will make himself known to Egypt and they will go to Jerusalem to worship the Lord, with sacrifices and offerings (Zech 14).
Many Europeans will follow the False Messiah and will perish. If they make it through the Birth-pains, they will be gathered to Jerusalem, judged and cast into Tophet (Matt 13.24-30, 25.31-46; Joel 3.9-17; Isa 66.23-24). But, many Europeans will become believers and see through the deception of the False Messiah, be judged and welcomed into the Kingdom.
Isa 20.1-6 refers to “Cush” and Mesopotamia is also called Cush, not just Ethiopia. Nimrod’s father was Cush (Gen 10.8) and the beginning of Nimrod’s kingdom was Babel (later Babylon), in the land of Shinar (Gen 10.10). In prophecy, Babylon is a picture of the United States. We will get back to Isa 20, but let’s get some background information from Rev 17.1-5 first. This passage talks about a woman sitting on the back of a scarlet beast, and we know that the beast is the False Messiah. The woman has “Babylon the Great” written on her head. We know that Christianity is full of idolatry. Every one of us still has idolatry in our life at some measure, so we are not pointing fingers here. However, this passage is not talking about Christianity, or the Catholic Church. It is speaking about a nation, and that nation is the United States. When the United States is destroyed, it will still have armies in Europe, and we have armies all over the world. This will also include the Marines, Air Force and Navy assets, like amphibious warfare vessels, bombers, jet fighters, carriers, destroyers and submarines. There will be businessmen scattered all over Europe and the world, and there will be tourists everywhere.
When the United States is destroyed, what will the Marines, Navy, Air Force, businessmen and tourists outside the United States in Europe and the world going to do? The logical thing is the United States is in Nato and a chief member. These forces and American citizens will come under the False Messiah when he sets up a defense against Russia as a result of his meeting, when he is given full authority (Rev 17.12-13). He will use these military assets and personnel, and as a result, she (the USA) will be “sitting on the scarlet beast.”
In Part 10, with this information in mind, we will pick up again in Isa 20.3
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