TODAY'S TECHNOLOGY IN BIBLE PROPHECY
Lesson 3: Isaiah's third event to look for in the days preceding
Christ's Return--the complete drying up of the Nile
river--is compared to 1991 satellite studies that show
how changing North African wind patterns are
inexorably drying up the Nile in our time.
I Isa. 11:15 describes the third signpost event that will
precede the prophesied Second Coming of Christ.
15 And the LORD shall utterly destroy the tongue of the
Egyptian sea; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his
hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven
streams, and make men go over dryshod (Isa. 11:15).
A What does "the tongue of the Egyptian sea" refer to here?
1 The Egyptians called the Nile el-Bahr, the sea,
because before the blocking of the river by the Aswan
High Dam its waters at the time of overflow resembled
a sea.
2 The "Egyptian sea" therefore identifies the tongue to
be the fertile delta land that was formed by the
annual flooding of the Nile.
B Since the tongue of the Egyptian sea refers to the 8,500
square-mile Nile Delta, the prophecy predicts the
complete destruction of Egypt's vital delta farmland in
the years leading up to Christ's Return.
C Why would it be logical to expect to find some evidence
of Delta farmland damage in progress today?
- Since the first two of Isaiah's three signpost events
to look for in the days leading up to Christ's Return
have already come to pass, it is reasonable to expect
the third event to be in progress.
D Since the completion of the Aswan High Dam in 1964,
Egypt's Delta has, in fact, suffered a series of
ecological reverses.
1 The Mediterranean's powerful west-to-east currents
were eating away several yards of delta coastline each
year by 1971.
2 Without the replenishment of silt left by the annual
flood, the Delta's fragile sand barriers that have
kept the sea back through the ages by serving as
dykes, are being lost to the sea.
3 By 1978 salt water pushing inland from the sea was
already destroying some of Egypt's fertile delta land.
a The presence of the Aswan Dam has lowered the water
level downstream, allowing salt water to back farther
up into the river.
b The Nile's discharge into the Mediterranean, cut by
90% by 1978, does not provide enough water pressure
to stop sea water intrusion on the land.
4 By 1985 the sea had moved two miles inland along one
stretch of delta coastline, sweeping a resort village
in its path out to sea.
5 A study of sediment cores drilled along the delta
coast (National Geographic, Feb. 1992, Science News,
August 7, 1993), revealed that the northeast delta is
sinking at the rate of one foot per 40 years, and has
been for the last 7,500 years.
6 At the same time the Mediterranean Sea is rising at the
rate of one inch per twenty-five years.
7 In the past sediment carried by Nile floods replaced
coastal soil that had sunk (called subsidence--caused
by Earth's crust sagging under the massive load of
sediment laid at the mouth of the Nile).
8 Now, with the High Dam blocking the silt that once
replenished the delta, scientists predict that Egypt's
Mediterranean coastline could move as much as 30 miles
inland in some places in the next 100 years.
E The second half of this prophetic statement names the
wind blowing over the Nile, which God formed in "His
hand," as the instrument that will completely dry up the
river before Christ returns.
F Here again, since the first two of Isaiah's three
signpost events to look for in the days leading up to
Christ's Return have already come to pass, it is highly
probable that changing wind patterns over the Nile may
already be reducing the amount of water feeding the
river. The following facts support this premise.
1 Lake Nasser's wind-blown evaporation decreases the
amount of water available to the lower Nile Valley
by 15 billion cubic meters per year.
2 In 1983-84 a terrible drought gripped Ethiopia and
other countries south of the Nile as a result of a
few years when winds failed to bring rain clouds to
"the seven streams" that feed the Nile in the east
central African highlands.
a The Hebrews often used the number seven to represent
a large indefinite number.
b As used in this text the number "seven" designates
all the streams that feed the Nile.
3 By February of 1985 the water level of Lake Nasser
had dropped almost 100 feet below capacity.
4 In 1987 better rains fell outside Ethiopia's catchment
area that feeds the Blue Nile, which supplies 85% of
Egypt's Nile water.
5 By the summer of 1988, Nile levels fell to the lowest
point in more than a century.
- Just seven feet lower for the Nile and Aswan generators
would have been stilled.
6 United States satellite studies released in 1991, of
data gathered over the past decade, shed further light
on the north African droughts of the 80's.
a Two bands of hot dry air compass the globe. One
band extends from the equator, hundreds of miles
north, the other extends from the equator, hundreds
of miles south.
b Computer calculations revealed that the Earth's
orbit around the sun changes from circular to
elliptical and back to circular over a 100,000 year
cycle.
c The same calculations showed that the earth's axis
moves from its 23 and 1/2 degree tilt toward a
perpendicular 0 degree position and then back to 23
and 1/2 degrees over a 40,000 year cycle.
d The effects of the current positions of these two
predictable cycles have caused North African wind
patterns to shift hundreds of miles further south
over the last ten years and computer models predict
they will continue to move farther south for some
years to come.
e One early casualty, Lake Chad [10,000 sq. mi.] (once
as big as Lake Erie), lost two-thirds of its volume
from 1971 to 1991 and 75% of its volume from 1981 to
1991, as a direct consequence of North Africa's dry
equatorial winds shifting farther south.
f (Dr. Andrew Hill, Wheaton College, Wheaton IL,
reported in 1991 that the prolonged Mid-East
drought had dropped the water level of the Sea of
Galilee some 20 to 25 feet since his previous visit
to Israel in 1986.)
g Analysts predict that drought conditions will
intensify as the dry equatorial winds inexorably
move southward and bypass the east central African
highlands, "seven streams," watershed that has been
the Nile's source of water in the past.
h They warned, in 1991, that 29 million Africans would
die of starvation as the drought intensifies in the
coming years, and considered it highly improbable
that any large-scale international relief effort
would be able to avert massive loss of life when the
famine arrives.
i By the summer of 1992, due to poor early rains, tens of
thousands had already died from famine in Somalia.
j Clearly, once the dry equatorial winds displace the
rain clouds that normally blow over the Nile's
source in the east central African highlands, the
world's longest river will dry up to the extent
that men will cross it "dryshod," that is, without
getting their shoes wet.
k NOTE: A later lesson will establish that the major-
ity of the people living on the planet today will
live to see the Nile river dry up in their time.
G In summary, Isaiah's prophecy teaches that severe damage
to Egypt's delta farmland and the drying up of the Nile
by God's "mighty wind," will complete the last of three
signpost events to look for preceding Christ's Return--
the destruction of Egypt's entire agricultural system.
II Isa. 11:16 declares that God will make it possible for the
Jews to return to their ancient homeland, just as He did
when they came up out of Egypt in ancient times.
16 And there will be a highway from Assyria For the remnant
of His people who will be left, Just as there was for Israel
In the day that they came up out of the land of Egypt
(Isa. 11:16, NASB).
A Why does the closing statement: "there will be a highway
from Assyria for the remnant of His people who will be
left," repeat some of the same language used to describe
the first sign to look for in the prophecies fulfillment:
"In that day the LORD will extend his hand yet a second
time to recover the remnant which is left of his people,
from Assyria, from Egypt . . ."? (Isa. 11:12, RSV).
- It signals that once the three consecutive events just
described have come to pass, then Christ will return
and set up His kingdom of peace on the earth.
B What is the significance of the concluding thought: "Just
as there was for Israel in the day that they came up out
of the land of Egypt?"
1 The conclusion drives home the point that God's
extended hand will provide a way for the scattered
Jews to return to the land of their forefathers.
a For when the Hebrew slaves fled from Egypt they were
trapped between the waters of the Red Sea before
them and Pharaoh's pursuing army behind them.
b There was no highway across the Red Sea.
c It was the hand of God that parted the waters and
formed a dry path across (Exodus 14).
2 So also, has it been God's hand which has removed all
obstructions as He did at the Red Sea, making a way
for the scattered Jews to return and rebuild their
twentieth century nation.
III Isa. 12 is a song of praise for God's restoration of the
Jewish nation and for Christ who will then be ruling the
world from Jerusalem.
1 And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee:
though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away,
and thou comfortedst me (Isa. 12:1).
A What is the general sense of the expression "and in that
day" mean here?
- The day referred to in the previous chapter, the time
when Christ will set up His earthly kingdom.
B The chapter continues to praise God, "my strength, my
song, and my salvation."
C The chapter ends with a shout for joy that Christ has
returned to reign from Jerusalem.
6 Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is
the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee (Isa. 12:6).
- What is the main significance of chapter 12?
- It confirms that the three signpost events described
in the previous chapter will precede Christ's Return.
IV In summary,
A Isa. 11:1-10 introduces Jesus Christ as the one who will
set up an earthly kingdom of peace in the latter days.
B Isa. 11:11-15 identifies three signpost events to
look for in the days leading up to Christ's Return.
C Isa. 11:16 through Isa. 12:1-6 ends the prophecy with a
description of God's hand in restoring the Jewish nation
and the celebration that will take place the day Christ
begins His earthly reign in Jerusalem.