The Book of Isaiah prophesies about the coming of the Messiah. Thus everything in this Scripture has been already fulfilled. I chose to begin the Phase Two of my translation with this Scripture because many people believe that some of the prophesies of this Book are to be fulfilled in modern times. This is not the case, as with all of the Scriptures, except for the Book of Revelation. And even Revelation has been almost all fulfilled.
From Genesis we learned that the Children of Israel came to Canaan from Mesopotamia, then they went to Egypt when there was a famine, they grew into a nation, and then they were liberated from Egypt and ended up spending forty years in the wilderness, during which time they were disciplined so their reliance would be solely on the Lord, and then they were given a homeland. These three regions in which they sojourned became the three corners of a highway that Isaiah writes about. It led from the land of Ashur to Egypt then to Israel. This highway was a prophesy about the coming of Jesus. Jesus also traveled this triangle of a highway. When he was a baby he was taken to Egypt. His ancestors were Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, who came from Mesopotamia. Then He came to Jerusalem to complete His mission.
But from the Book of Isaiah we can draw certain parallels to modern times. For example, I believe, every Christian nation and individual come to travel this triangle of a highway. We need to recognize that the Scriptures came from the language of Mesopotamia, the Ancient Aramaic or Ashurit. We pursue our sustenance in various lands, but when there is a famine we seek a land that is teeming with the staples of life. At the time of Jacob and his children it was Egypt. However, soon this reliance on human enterprise leads to slavery, as we sell ourselves for the sake of food and shelter. We must then return to the way of God and rely solely on Him for everything. Then finally we need to learn that we are sinners and require the redemption of the Messiah who gave His life on our behalf in Jerusalem two thousand years ago.
The American heritage follows this course as well. Our civilization really came from Mesopotamia, not Greece. Our Bible was written there. Our language and science came from there.
There was a shortage of laborers in America. Africans, as well as other people were brought to work here. They were enslaved like the Jews were in Africa during the age of the Pharaohs that followed Joseph's time.
People generally came to America because there was potential here. The first inhabitants of America were nomadic, like the world used to be before agriculture was invented in Mesopotamia. America became the land of plenty.
There was no famine in America when the Africans came. Then the African Americans adopted Christianity and became the cause for a reawakening in the faith of all Americans. Their years in slavery caused this country to experience the discipline that taught us tolerance between the races and reliance only on God.
In our own lifetime we have seen how the American people have liberated Mesopotamia from the oppression of a dictator, who was like the evil Pharaoh that enslaved the Jews. There is also the peace of Israel that is at stake here. Thus we are once again connecting the highway between Mesopotamia, Africa (Egypt) and Israel.
The lessons of the Scriptures and the worship of our God have led us out of the wilderness of two World Wars and countless battles for freedom. We are at the crossroads of civilization today; we need to cling to our Lord and God, the Messiah Eashoa, in order to survive.
I'll be posting my translation of the Book of Isaiah on an ongoing basis.
May 25, 2004