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16 And
there shall be an highway [macillah] for the remnant [sha'ar] of
his people, [`am] which ['aher] shall be left, [sha'ar]
from Assyria; ['Ashshuwr] like as it was to
Israel [Yisra'el] in the day [yowm] that he came up [`alah] out
of the land ['erets] of Egypt. [Mitsrayim] KJV-Interlinear
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. NASB
Assyria here, is not the specific country of Assyria as it was known in Isaiah's day, 'Ashshuwr,' was the second son of Shem who was the first son of Noah.
The empire at one time spanned from modern day Turkey to Iran, from the Caspian Sea down deep into Egypt. So it pretty much covered all of the Middle East and then a bit more, or all of the known world back in the early days of Mesopotamia.
We have already seen that the nations all around Israel will have been defeated and destroyed by Christ, verse 11.
We saw in yesterday's study that the geographical barriers such as the rivers and gulfs will be dried up or divided up into many smaller streams, allowing people to walk back to Israel without the need for special vehicles or boats or such.
And in this last verse of the chapter, the result is a vast highway, coming from all directions, allowing people to return to the Lord, and to return in as easy a way as possible given the nature of the world in that future day.
So we look a bit at how the world will look.
First there will have been a huge final war called Armageddon which will see the deaths of all evil people.
People who have but one purpose, which was to kill off all Jews and Christians and then finally all of humanity.
Second the world will be in a shambles. All mountains, all islands, entire continents will be reshaped and changed if not gone completely. So people will be walking back to Jerusalem and to the Lord by passing all of this death and destruction.
Also, we need or note one more item within this verse.
There will be similarities to the exodus when the Israelites came out of Egypt. God did so by means of miraculous achievements such as in the parting of the Red Sea. But too, God provided them with all that they needed, including food and water.
Also, this verse states that it will be like the remnant that came out of Egypt.
Back then, when the Israelites left Canaan and went into Egypt they numbered only about 75 people. When they left they numbered about two-million.
When the tribulation begins, depending on when that happens, we know that the population of the world will most likely be larger than it is today and today we number well over seven-billion. That total number will of course be reduced by however many Christians are removed at the Rapture.
Today the estimated Jewish world population is about thirteen million. In the future, in several more decades, that number could advance to well over a hundred million.
Historically in recent centuries the Jewish population has grown slowly with lots of setbacks due to one holocaust after another, but prior to the Exodus, the Israelite population rose dramatically. So, if that same attribute holds, then there could be a big jump in their population in coming decades. Time will tell, I suppose.
So, if the Rapture does not occur for several more decades, then the world population could easily be into the tens of billions of people. At the end of the Tribulation, that number will be significantly reduced by well over ninety-nine percent.
The end of the Tribulation will see phenomenal destruction and death for all people. And the primary target of the world will be the Jews.
Yet still and in spite of the great effort to destroy Jewish people, there will still be a remnant that will come out of the mountains, out of their hiding places, coming out of the woodwork so to speak, and they will come from all over the Middle East and beyond.
The number of delivered people could be in the thousands or even the tens of thousands. Perhaps even a couple of million as was in the exodus. In any case, survival of anyone will be nothing short of a miracle, but there will be a significant remnant of people coming from all over and they will begin moving toward Jerusalem when the way is clear and safe.
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