Operation Eternal Freedom

“In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance” (Isaiah 19:24,25).

As we remember the tragic event of the Holocaust in the life of our people, we also remember that out of this horror of history came the establishment of the nation of Israel. The irony of the Jewish Holocaust leading to a Jewish State is prophetically paralleled in Scripture. The time of “Jacob’s Trouble/Great Tribulation” (see Jeremiah 30:7/Matthew 24:15-23) is predicted to be twice the horror of the Holocaust of the 1940’s. Though one third of my people were murdered by the Nazis, Zechariah 13:8 says that two thirds of my people will be killed by the Anti-Christ (‘Anti-Messiah’)! Amazingly, just as the Holocaust ushered in the Jewish State, Scriptures declare that the Tribulation period will usher in the Second Coming of the Jewish Messiah (Zech. 12-14).

The joy of the establishment of the Jewish State is a mere foreshadowing of the joy to come when Messiah returns to planet earth to establish His millennial kingdom. This will bring a freedom unknown in any democratic nation. Even though the US and Israel both enjoy democratic liberty, this is a liberty corrupted by the sinful system of the world. When Messiah returns, His kingdom will be glorious, uncorrupted by sin. Then the world, and even Iraq, will know the truth of John 8:36, “If therefore the Son shall make you free, you shall be free indeed.”

True “Iraqi Freedom”

Originally the name for Iraq was Assyria (between 2371-1116 BC)…Presently Iraq is anything but friendly toward Israel but when Yeshua, Israel’s Messiah returns, true freedom will be enjoyed by Iraqis and Israelis together! We read in Isaiah 19, “In that day…the land of Egypt will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them. Thus, the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day…The LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so, they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them. In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians. In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, ‘Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance’” (Isaiah 19:19-25).

We see in this prophecy from Isaiah that Assyria will come into Egypt, not to fight but to worship! And whom will they worship? It will not be Allah, as they might do today, but in the future, Egypt will have a true spiritual revival and come to faith in the LORD God of Israel, their “Savior and Champion.” As in Isaiah the LORD declares, “I, even I, am the LORD and there is no Savior besides Me” (Isaiah 43:11).

The Scripture further declares that the Savior is Messiah Yeshua. “For today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior who is Messiah the Lord” (Luke 2:11); “He is the one whom God exalted to His right hand as a Prince and a Savior to Israel, to grant repentance to Israel and for forgiveness of sins” (Acts 5:31). The Great News is that not only is He a Savior to Israel, but indeed to all who will believe, for…”We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world” (1 John 4:14, also John 4:42; 1 Timothy 4:10).

From Grief to Glory

1. True Unity is found in True Worship of the Lord

“…the Egyptians shall worship with the Assyrians” (v. 23). Though enemies normally hate one another, many times they may find something to agree upon. In the New Covenant, Herod and Pilate found common ground: they both despised Yeshua without cause. “And Herod with his soldiers, after treating him with contempt and mocking Him, dressed Him in a gorgeous robe and sent Him back to Pilate, Now Herod and Pilate became friends with one another that very day; for before they had been enemies with each other” (Luke 23:11,12). As with the King of the Jews, so also with the Jews. Though Muslim/Arab leaders have historically fought among themselves, there has always been one thing they agree upon: an irrational hatred for the Jews and Israel.

Saddam Hussein was no exception. Iraq under Saddam did all it could to destroy the Jewish people, both by scud missile attacks during Gulf War 1, financial aid to Hamas and Palestinian terrorists, and financial rewards to families of suicide bombers who murdered Jews in Israel. Saddam’s treatment of his fellow Arabs and Iraqis was so despicable that no fellow Muslim leader could possibly like him. He had only one endearing quality to the Muslim world: “At least he hates the Jews,” they would say. When all political hope is gone for Islamic acceptance, an Arab leader can always play the ”Death to Israel card,” and rally some support. Presently the Arab world – as well as Europe and most of the West – is hostile toward Israel, and during the Tribulation the entire world will be united in this anti-Semitic hatred, as it is prophesied that “all nations will come against Jerusalem” (Zech. 14:2).

With nowhere left to turn, this will bring my people to look unto Messiah (12:10) and He will return to defend Israel and defeat this worldwide ‘Axis of Evil’ (14:3,4). Thus, when Yeshua returns there will be true spiritual unity of all people through recognition and worship of the Jewish Messiah, who is the Savior and Champion of the world.

2. Fellowship in Messiah Overcomes Differences

The root cause of war is not politics, economics, race or religion, but sin: “From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members? Ye lust and have not: ye kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not” (Jacob/James 4:1,2). The real problem is between man and his Maker. Sin separates us from God (Isaiah 59:1,2), and the result of this spiritual estrangement from God is seen in man’s hostility with those around him. Once sin is dealt with in Messiah, we have peace with God (Rom. 5:1), which results in peace between people.

We need a Miracle!

Yeshua is our peace. In Him the hostility between Jew and Gentile, Israeli and Arab, is removed (see Eph. 2:14-16). The ultimate answer for peace in the Middle East is not finding ‘a partner for peace’, but for all to trust in the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6). True Arab unity is dependent upon unity with Israel, which of course means – we need a miracle! Arabs and Jews both need ‘new hearts’, and this miracle of a new heart is provided through faith in Messiah’s atoning death and resurrection. Yeshua is the miracle the world needs.

3. A Right Relationship with God = Eternal Freedom

When Messiah returns, the King of the Jews will bring worldwide peace, especially to this ‘Axis of Blessing’: Israel, Egypt and Iraq! “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance” (v. 25). Notice how often the word “My” is repeated. If you are His, you are blessed. If you do not belong to Yeshua, there is no blessing available: all the blessings of Heaven are only found in Him (Eph. 1:3)! Tyrants just like Satan, want to keep people in bondage… Eternal freedom from the bondage of sin only comes through Messiah, and will be fully realized when He returns…In that day all nations will go through Israel and up to Jerusalem “…to the house of the God of Jacob…And He shall judge among the nations…and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore” (Isaiah 2:2-4). So, out of genuine concern for all people, let us pray for the peace of Jerusalem.