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`The LORD will dry up the gulf of the Egyptian sea; with a scorching wind He will sweep His hand over the
Euphrates River. He will break it up into seven streams so that men can cross over in sandals. There will be a
highway for the remnant of His people that is left from Assyria, as there was for Israel when they came up from
Egypt' (N.I.V.).
This action on the Euphrates will make access to Jerusalem and the Temple much easier from the east. Moreover in
drying up the gulf of the Nile, the Suez Canal will be blotted out. Isaiah 19:4-9 also predicts the drying up of the
river Nile. There are also other significant verses in Isaiah 33:20-23:
`Look upon Zion, the city of our festivals; your eyes will see Jerusalem, a peaceful abode, a tent that will not be
moved; its stakes will never be pulled up, nor any of its ropes broken ... It (Jerusalem) will be like a place of
broad rivers and streams. No galley with oars will ride them, no mighty ship will sail them ... ' (N.I.V.).
Needless to say at no time in recorded history has the river Nile dried up, the Euphrates split into seven smaller
streams nor has Jerusalem been a `place of broad rivers and streams'. These prophecies look to the end time of the
Lord's return and the setting up of the earthly kingdom. It is meaningless to say that no `galley with oars' or `gallant
ship' will pass a city if it is miles from the sea, and without a navigable river.
Zechariah 14:4, 5 tells us that as a result of the great earthquake splitting the Mount of Olives a very great valley
reaches to Azal. Rollins, in his Ancient History marks two names close together near the site of Ashkelon, namely
Afcalon-Azol. Jeremiah 47:6,7 seems to refer to this. Azal is apparently a new place yet to have this name on the
Mediterranean coast. When we remember that the Mediterranean Sea is 1300 feet above the level of the Dead Sea,
we can well imagine what would happen if a `very great valley' extended from Azal on the coast as far as the Jordan
Valley in the east. The rapid rise of water at the Dead Sea would cause the Jordan to find its old river bed and flow
down to the Gulf of Akabah. This would probably turn Jerusalem into a port; certainly into a place of `broad rivers
and streams' of Isaiah 33:21. Is this God's answer to the problem of the Suez Canal'?
The gulf of Suez will be destroyed and the land slightly raised, and where the delta of the Nile and the Suez
Canal now exist, men shall walk dry shod. This means that shipping must pass through Jerusalem making this city
even more important. Not only will the Jerusalem of the future be the spiritual centre of the earth, it will be the
commercial centre too. The reader may consult the accompanying map (drawn by Charles H. Welch) on page 64
which visualises these vastly important happenings.
It is significant too that Ezekiel 5:5 says:
`Thus saith the Lord GOD; This is Jerusalem: I have set it in the midst of the nations and countries that are round
about her'.
Ezekiel 38:12 speaks of a power coming against Israel `against the people that are gathered out of the nations
(Israel) that dwell in the middle of the earth' (American Standard Version). The margin for `middle' reads `Hebrew,
navel'. Just as the navel is the centre of the body, so the Lord has placed Jerusalem in the `navel' or centre of the
earth, so that geographically, politically and spiritually it will finally be the most important city of the world.
Zechariah ends his prophecy by stressing the spiritual pre-eminence of Jerusalem. It will be obligatory for every
nation to be represented at the feast of Tabernacles held each year at this city:
`And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even
go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of Tabernacles. And it
shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the
LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain ...' (Zech. 14:16-18).
and here is another example of the divine discipline that will exist during the millennium whereby God will keep
control over the earth.
Before we pass on to another aspect of the kingdom it may be as well to comment on the frequently quoted but
little understood verse, Habakkuk 2:14:
`For the earth shall be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea'.