Woe to the land of whirring wings (of many locusts), along the rivers of Cush, which sends couriers by sea, in papyrus vessels on the waters. Go, swift messengers, to a people tall and smooth-skinned, to a people widely feared, to a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.
All you people of the world and dwellers of the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, you will see it; when a ram’s horn sounds, you will hear it. For this is what the LORD has told me: “I will quietly look on from My dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
For before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He will cut off the shoots with a pruning knife and remove and discard the branches. They will all be left to the mountain birds of prey, and to the beasts of the land. The birds will feed on them in summer, and all the wild animals in winter. At that time gifts will be brought to the LORD of Hosts—from a people tall and smooth-skinned, from a people widely feared, from a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers—to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the LORD of Hosts.”
2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.” Once more, God is demonstrating that it is not His will that any should perish but that all should come to eternal life. Here Isaiah is prophesying over the Ethiopians. The description fits Ethiopia and its people – “a people tall and smooth – skinned, a people widely feared, a powerful nation of strange speech, whose land is divided by rivers.”
Isaiah is predicting that the Ethiopians will worship the God of Israel, and this prophecy has come to pass. The Coptic Church in Ethiopia is one of the oldest established churches in the world. Shortly after Jesus’ death and resurrection and after the Day of Pentecost, God ordered the disciple Philip to go to the road leading down through the desert to Gaza. There miracles occurred. The story is told in Acts 8:26-40.
“Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, “Get up and go south to the desert road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza.” So he started out, and on his way he met an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official in charge of the entire treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians. He had gone to Jerusalem to worship, and on his return was sitting in his chariot, reading Isaiah the prophet.
The Spirit said to Philip, “Go over to that chariot and stay by it.” So Philip ran up and heard the man reading Isaiah the prophet. “Do you understand what you are reading?” Philip asked. “How can I,” he said, “unless someone guides me?” And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. The eunuch was reading this passage of Scripture: “He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so He did not open His mouth. In His humiliation He was deprived of justice. Who can recount His descendants? For His life was removed from the earth.”
“Tell me,”said the eunuch, “who is the prophet talking about, himself or someone else?” Then Philip began with this very Scripture and told him the good news about Jesus. As they traveled along the road and came to some water, the eunuch said, “Look, here is water! What is there to prevent me from being baptized?” And he gave orders to stop the chariot. Then both Philip and the eunuch went down into the water, and Philip baptized him.
When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip appeared at Azotus and traveled through that region, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he came to Caesarea.”
This story explains how the Gospel first came to Ethiopia. The Ethiopian to whom Philip explained the Gospel was a very important person with lots of influence. Once back in Ethiopia, there’s no doubt that this man shared his new – found faith with everyone whose lives he touched. That man’s witness resulted in the establishment of the Coptic Church.
APPLICATION: “Red, brown, black, or white – nothing but reflected light! The Lord is color – blind, color – blind.” I’ve borrowed these lines from “The Smothers Brothers Show,” an American television program that ran in the early 1960’s. The program used humorous songs to comment on many of the serious political issues of the day.
God did not choose Israel to be His people at the exclusion of everyone else; He chose Israel to demonstrate what He could do with any nation that would honor Him and put Him first. Nicodemus was a Jewish religious leader who came to Jesus by night because he didn’t want to get in trouble with his colleagues. But this man truly hungered to learn about God. Jesus told Nicodemus that “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosever would believe in him would not die, but would have eternal life.” What Jesus was really saying was, “Nicodemus, you are an observant Jew, and my Heavenly Father loves the Jews, but my Heavenly Father also wants all the people of the world to know His love.”
Revelation 5:9-10 tells us that at the end of time, Jesus will be worshiped using the following words “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. You have made them into a kingdom, priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”
In that day, skin color, race, nationality, church denominations – none of that will matter. The only test for those people will be this question: Who do you say Jesus is? Do you believe that Jesus is the Son of God, that He lived as a man and died a cruel death for the sins of the world? Is Jesus Lord of your life? How will you answer?
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help everyone who reads these words to confess their sins to You and to make You Lord of their lives. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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