Isaiah 19 gives us a glimpse into a united Middle East where Jews, Arabs, Persians, and more worship the God of Israel together
Isaiah 19 ministry network in the present day. Graphic via Derech Avraham
On October 7, 2023, the world changed. Hamas invaded Israel and did violence to the Zionist idea that Jews would be safe in their ancient homeland from deadly strains of antisemitism. The invasion and Israel’s military response to 1,200 murdered and 250 kidnapped then uncovered the antisemitism that had been lying mostly hidden in the nations.
The antisemitic incidents shot up in the U.S. and around the world before the death toll in Gaza had grown into the tens of thousands.
Because we are the Church’s Ministry among Jewish people, some of the uninitiated assume we have picked Israel’s side politically and perhaps think that we ignore Palestinian suffering. If you are familiar with the work of the
Mercy Fund, then you know we actively minister to all the peoples of the Holy Land – Jews, Christians, Muslims, Roma, Israelis, Palestinians, Ethiopians, Arabs, Arameans, and whoever else needs it.
Yes, CMJ’s history is intertwined with the restoration of Israel as a self-ruling nation-state. I personally believe that the return of Jews to ancient Judea and Samaria since the 1880s is prophecy being fulfilled before our eyes, the regathering of exiled Israel from the four corners of the earth (e.g.
Psalm 147:2;
Isa 11:12,
43:5,
54:7;
Jer 29:14). About half of the world’s Jews now live in Israel. That was theologically and politically inconceivable to most 100 years ago.
However, since CMJ’s earliest days in the Holy Land, we’ve learned that when you minister to the Jewish people, other peoples also experience and accept the love of Jesus.
In the midst of the Israel-Hamas War, some may ask where we stand, what side we’re on. Officially, “CMJ recognizes the great complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian dispute but believes that the power of God is infinitely greater than this complexity and that we should pray for his sovereign purposes to prevail.” Also, “CMJ affirms that God is a God of compassion. We should show that compassion to all innocent sufferers, whether Israeli or Palestinian.” These excerpts from a
statement written 20 years ago in the midst of the Second Intifada apply now as much as then.
Where is God?
Where is God in all this death and destruction? That is the question we always have when we suffer. Even Jesus, in his distress from the cross, cries, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me!” (Ps 22:1) The same cry was heard coming from the gas chambers of the Holocaust.
God is not surprised by our wars and our malice toward each other. He was not surprised by Adam and Eve’s treason in the garden. He was not surprised by the idolatry of the nations. He is not surprised by the long-standing Middle East conflict. In fact, he has already spoken of its solution through the prophet Isaiah.
How God broadened my heart
The next week, a new friend I made at a congregation invited me to a teaching at a 24/7 house of prayer. The passage was Isaiah 19:23-25:
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and Assyria will come into Egypt, and Egypt into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
25 whom the Lord of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance.”
Map of the Neo-Assyrian Empire. Graphic by Nigyou via Wikimedia Commons (cc)
Egypt and Assyria are recurring antagonists in the Hebrew Scriptures. Yet in this passage, they are partnered in worship with Israel, “a blessing in the midst of the earth”! When people hear “Middle East,” many will think of conflict rather than blessing. Yet the God of Israel blesses not only Israel but also Israel’s long-standing enemies.
God has not forgotten Israel and the Jewish people. His promises to them are still in play (Rom 11). But neither has God forgotten Egypt and all those nations in the territory of what was ancient Assyria – the Palestinian Territories, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Turkey, Iran, and even Saudi Arabia.
It was an Isaiah 19 gathering that God used to introduce me to the work of CMJ, firmly couching my call to the Jewish people within his vision for a Middle East united under the banner of the Messiah. CMJ does not minister to the Jewish people to the exclusion of other peoples. The gospel is for the Jew first then for the Gentile (Rom 1:16).
In the years since I first heard about the Isaiah 19 Highway, I have seen Jewish and Arab disciples of Jesus from warring nations embrace in brotherhood and worship God together. I have heard unforgettable testimonies of how Jesus has appeared to Muslims in Mecca, how a former sniper for the PLO now worships with Israeli Messianic Jews, how a new Jordanian believer read the Scriptures and then wanted to bless Israelis. I’ve seen Israelis cross into Iraq with offerings from Jerusalem for the churches in Kurdistan. All of this was in the context of serving with CMJ.
When Abraham heeded God’s call from Ur of the Chaldees to the land of Canaan, Abraham traveled through many of these lands. God promised him that his seed would be a blessing to all the nations of the earth (Gen 12:1-13, 17:1-8). That Seed is Yeshua the Messiah, the Seed of the Woman (Gen 3:15), the Son of David (2 Sam 7), the Son of God (Ps 2), the Son of Man (Dan 7:13-15).
“If you choose, you lose. In conflicts like this, if you choose a side you will lose the person you rejected. It is never God’s heart to reject any of his children.”
I recently received an update from
Derech Avraham, the Isaiah 19 network CMJ is connected to. In it, a Jordanian Christian wrote about the Israel-Hamas War, “If you choose, you lose. In conflicts like this, if you choose a side you will lose the person you rejected. It is never God’s heart to reject any of his children. As believers, we should stand for those on both sides because that is truly God’s heart for his children. We should represent the heart of the Father to be reconciled with one another and with him and be in oneness as a body of Christ. This is the Kingdom of God, truly learning to love your enemies and bring the Jews and Gentiles together as one.”
The warring descendants of Abraham will unite. God has spoken it already. They will be a blessing rather than a burden to the nations of the world. It will happen when they all call on the name of the Lord and are saved.
14 How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching?
15 And how are they to preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the good news!” (Rom 10:14-15)
Let us go, proclaim, witness, and make disciples of the nations, in the name of Abba, Yeshua, and the Ruach haKodesh.
To contribute to CMJ’s work on the Isaiah 19 Highway and in the U.S., consider giving to the following CMJ ministries through our
donate page:
- CMJ USA General Fund
- Israel War Relief
- The Mercy Fund
- Derech Avraham (Isaiah 19 network)
- Christ Church Jerusalem
- Christ Church Jaffa
