Because
Evangelicals believe that Old Israel, Israel according to the flesh, rather than
the Orthodox Church, the New Israel, the crucified, resurrected, glorified, and
ascended Body of Christ, is the apple of God’s eye, they persist in dreaming up
strange doctrines about the Middle East (which affect foreign policy). One of the latest of these concerns Syria:
If anything
positive comes out of Syria’s civil war, it could be the new government formed
in the northeast part of the country. It's based on equal rights and religious
freedom.
This new government
runs from the Tigris to the Euphrates rivers.
"We have a
political system that was based on a social contract between all the groups –
Arabs, Kurds, Syriac Christians – and this social contract they articulated it
how they wanted to live together as diverse ethnicities and diverse
religions," Bassam Ishak, President of the Syrian Democratic Council,
told CBN News.
. . .
"Much of our
aspiration, actually, is in line with American Revolution. We don't want
a country where citizenship and rights are based on ethnic identities or
religious identity. We want all Syrians to be equal. We believe
they were all created by God equal and to be free," Ishak said.
They also find
inspiration in the Bible where the prophet Isaiah wrote of a holy highway from
Assyria – part of modern-day Syria – through Israel and Egypt.
Isaiah 19: 23-25
states:
In that day there
will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the
Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. In
that day Israel will be the third, along with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing on
the earth. The Lord Almighty will bless them, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my
people, Assyria my handiwork, and Israel my
inheritance."
"This is
actually our dream is that our – that the highway that the crescent will be the
Isaiah crescent, Lord willing, because it's a crescent of love, of peace and
prosperity and according to Isaiah when this Isaiah crescent is established.
It will be a blessing for the whole earth. So we are really
yearning for that Isaiah crescent," Ishak explained.
. . .
--Chris Mitchell, http://www1.cbn.com/cbnnews/israel/2019/february/new-democratic-government-in-northeast-syria-could-be-holy-highway-prophesied-about-in-scripture
This
is the false Judeo-centric reading of Isaiah 19:23-5. What is the true Christo-centric interpretation? A Coptic priest, Fr Tadros Malaty, comes
pretty close, we think. He writes,
g. As
the conflict between
Assyria and Egypt
was flaring at
that time; with
the other nations including
Israel, victims of
that conflict, the
coming of the
Lord of Glory
Jesus Christ, brought peace to
all, and let all - in Christ Jesus - feel that the earth belongs to the Lord
and His Christ, and is not a center of conflict; All partake together of
worship. In a magnificent portrayal of that peace, the prophet says, “In that
day, there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will come to
Egypt, and the Egyptians to Assyria, and the Egyptians will serve with the
Assyrians. In that day Israel will be one of three with Egypt and Assyria, even
a blessing in the midst of the land, whom the Lord of hosts shall bless,
saying, ‘Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and
Israel My inheritance.” (Is. 19: 23-25)
What does he mean by “In that day,” that came
about five times in the verses 18 to 25, other
than the “fulfillment
of time,” when
the Lord Christ
came to grant
us these blessings; came, to be “the Way,” in which
all nations gather together, to enjoy spiritual unity, and a flood of
blessings.
What does the gathering together of Egypt,
Assyria and Israel, to share the enjoyment of divine blessing
and eternal inheritance
mean? It is
a portrait of
the (catholic) Church
that embraces the enemies together, in a spirit of love and unity.
Israel, has been struggling between making
an alliance with
either Egypt or
Assyria, the two
major forces at
that time. But
the coming of the Lord Christ solved that problem. All became members in
one Church, enjoying the divine
work, to have
Egypt called God’s
people, Assyria His
handiwork, and Israel
His inheritance.
--p. 164 of PDF, p. 169 of
text, http://www.orthodoxebooks.org/sites/default/files/pdfs/Isaiah%20-%20Father%20Tadros%20Yacoub%20Malaty.pdf
False
teaching abounds today. Do your best to
guard against it.
--
Holy Ælfred the Great, King of England,
South Patron, pray for us sinners at the Souð,
unworthy though we are!
Anathema to the Union!
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