Who is obligated to obey God’s commands? These days many people assert that they can determine the truth for themselves, believing that whatever they think is right must in fact be good. But nothing could be further from the truth. Instead, God has always insisted that He alone has the sovereign power to determine right from wrong, and thus to render judgment on all nations, whatever their creed may be.

We see that so clearly in these chapters of Isaiah’s prophecy, don’t we? Yes, God reminds His own people of how they broke their promises to Him, turning their backs on Him and refusing to obey Him time and time again (Isaiah 17:10-11). But he also condemns the Babylonians in chapter 13, the Assyrians and Philistines in chapter 14, the Moabites in chapters 15 and 16, the Ethiopians in chapter 18 and the Egyptians in chapter 19. No matter what gods those other nations claimed to worship, it is the One True God Who pronounced judgment on them.

But at the same time, God has always desired people from all nations to come to Him, to worship Him alone. Geography should be sufficient to prove this point – for why else would God command His people to plop themselves down in the spot where three continents come together? It was literally at the crossroads of the world where God put His Temple and wanted His people to set an example of godly life and worship.

But in Isaiah 19 we see God’s welcome of all nations made explicit. For while verse 22 makes it clear that God will indeed strike the Egyptians, He also promises to heal them. Indeed, He promises to provide a Savior and a Deliverer for them (verse 22) so that they would turn to Him and worship Him alone (verse 21).

And this offer of salvation was extended to the Assyrians as well, the people who brutally conquered the northern kingdom of Israel and carried them off into exile. God promised that the Assyrians along with the Egyptians would come together to worship God (verse 23), and that they would join hands with the people of Israel to be “a blessing in the midst of the earth” (verse 24).

So, if God could welcome the Egyptians who enslaved His people in the days of Moses, and the Assyrians, who carried them into exile in the days of Isaiah, could there be anyone beyond the scope of His salvation today? Could there be any group of people that does not need to hear the good news of Jesus Christ?

Isaiah 19:19-25 (NASB)

19 In that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the midst of the land of Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD near its border.
20 And it will become a sign and a witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; for they will cry to the LORD because of oppressors, and He will send them a Savior and a Champion, and He will deliver them.
21 Thus the LORD will make Himself known to Egypt, and the Egyptians will know the LORD in that day. They will even worship with sacrifice and offering, and will make a vow to the LORD and perform it.
22 And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking but healing; so they will return to the LORD, and He will respond to them and will heal them.
23 In that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the Assyrians will come into Egypt and the Egyptians into Assyria, and the Egyptians will worship with the Assyrians.
24 In that day Israel will be the third party with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth,
25 whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, “Blessed is Egypt My people, and Assyria the work of My hands, and Israel My inheritance.”