When I first heard about the turmoil in Egypt, my mind recalled the yet to be fulfilled prophetic words of the prophet Daniel. Speaking of the one we call the Anti-Christ at the end of the current age, Daniel says;
“Then he will stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. But he will gain control over the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians will follow at his heels.”
Yes, Libya, too, is mentioned by Daniel. No, I am not predicting the end of the world and the return of our glorious Savior. I hope it is soon…very soon, but it may yet be a long way off. We can’t know.
But thinking about Daniel 11 comforted me because these events have been written already. History is in God’s hands. Egypt’s fate, and America’s fate, too, are in God’s hands. Daniel prophesied the future of his people in Daniel 11. The first half of this prophetic word (11:2-35), covering several centuries of Jewish affairs from Alexander to the Maccabean period, is given in precise detail, especially regarding the struggle over the Holy Land between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids. These prophecies came true exactly as had been foretold. So when Daniel 11 shifts to the events at the end of the age (11:36-43), we have every reason to be confident in their exact fulfillment as well.
Egypt. Libya. They yet have their roles to play. So does the land we call America, though it is not mentioned. It may be that we are not important in what is to come. I think we are just starting to realize we may not be the world super-power forever. The seeds for our potential decline have already been sown. Crushing debt, and an almost amazing lack of will to deal with it staggers the mind. It is as though we are in a kind of stupor over our national situation.
We believe we will thrive because we are the “good guys,” but how does God see our civilization? Increasing perversion, lewdness, tens of millions of aborted children, normalizing homosexual behavior even to the destruction of the meaning of God’s first institution — marriage. It may be that arrogance in sinning has been the very basis of our madness in spending. Long ago God kept the leaders of Egypt from acting with wisdom or decisiveness as a judgment on a wicked nation.
The princes of Zoan have acted foolishly, The princes of Memphis are deluded; Those who are the cornerstone of her tribes have led Egypt astray. The Lord has mixed within her a spirit of distortion; they have led Egypt astray in all that it does, as a drunken man staggers in his vomit. There will be no work for Egypt which its head or tail, its palm branch or bulrush, may do. In that day the Egyptians will become like women, and they will tremble and be in dread because of the waving of the hand of the Lord of hosts, which He is going to wave over them. Is. 19:13-16
Is this our fate? I don’t know. I do know this: the destiny of nations is written. Our task is not to fear, but to pray, and to shine the light of Christ every day to everyone we meet. Our witness is our task. The Gospel is our purpose for living. That is our investment for eternity. We have no guarantees about national prosperity, but if we invest wisely in that which lasts, we will have done our part and will receive the great reward.
Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matt 6:19-21
Yours in Christ
Originally printed in The AFBC Pony Express. Vol. IV, No. 3, March 2011.