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Deliverance from Assyria--Part 3

In the Old Testament there were various "oppressor" nations that God used to discipline Israel and Judah for their persistent lawlessness. By the time we come into the New Testament and move into the Pentecostal Age, those old nations are seen largely as types and shadows of oppression that is more symbolic. And so Rev. 11:8 says,

"And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which mystically is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified."

This is about the death of "the two witnesses," which is said to occur in the street of Sodom, Egypt, and Jerusalem--the city where Jesus was crucified. Even the use of the term, the great city, seems to add Babylon to the list (Rev. 17:18). Sodom itself no longer exists as a city, nor does Babylon, and certainly Jesus was crucified near just one of those cities.

It is plain that this is not to be taken literally as a reference to the physical cities on earth. John says that this "great city" is MYSTICALLY called by these other names. So the Bible clearly treats these as types of something that is more "mystical."

When we ask ourselves about the Old Testament usage of the terms Assyria and Babylon, especially as it relates to prophecy, we can see that the Bible is not necessarily referring to the old Empires known by those names in history. In prophecy these become more symbolic of the rod in God's hand through whom He is judging the earth. God can use any nation or oppressive system of government that He pleases and call it Assyria or Babylon.

He can even call it "Egypt." And so, in the prophecy of Assyria, Isaiah 10:26 says,

"And the Lord of hosts will arouse a scourge against him like the slaughter of Midian at the rock of Oreb; and His staff will be over the sea, and He will lift it up the way He did in Egypt."

In other words, the pattern of deliverance from Assyria would be drawn from the stories of God's deliverance of Israel from Midian and from Egypt. We need not search for historical precedents about the fall of Assyria itself to see how it will fall in the latter days. One must overlay the types and shadows from the story of Moses and from the story of Gideon.

In my weblog dated November 24, I looked at the story of Gideon in his battle against the Midianites and their allies. We may now see that story in the light of Isaiah's prophecy of deliverance from "Assyria," because both passages overlay upon each other when the time comes for the prophecies to be fulfilled.

We are fast approaching the day of fulfillment, shortly after Jerusalem is permanently destroyed (Jer. 19:10, 11). Once God casts out the bondwoman (Jerusalem) with her son (Gal. 4:30), the church will repent, for men will realize that their view of prophecy was incorrect. They will mourn for their "mother" Hagar, but she will be dead, as it were. All of their Zionist hopes and dreams will come crashing to the ground, and we who have placed our hope in Sarah, the New Jerusalem, will have to give them comfort and show them the truth.

Gideon slew the leaders of Midian at the rock of Oreb. Hence, the reference in Isaiah 10:26 above. We read this in Judges 7:25,

"And they captured the two leaders of Midian, Oreb and Zeeb, and they killed Oreb at the rock of Oreb, and they killed Zeeb at the wine press of Zeeb, while they pursued Midian; and they brought the heads of Oreb and Zeeb to Gideon from across the Jordan."

Oreb means "raven." Zeeb means "wolf."

Gideon had another name for each of them, as we read in Judges 8:5 and 6,

⁵ And he said to the men of Succoth, "Please give loaves of bread to the people who are following me, for they are weary, and I am pursuing Zebah and Zalmunna, the kings of Midian." ⁶ And the leaders of Succoth said, "Are the hands of Zebah and Zalmunna already in your hands, that we should give bread to your army?"

Zeeb is probably Zebah, because of the similarity of the name. Oreb is probably Zalmunna.

Zebah means "sacrifice." Zalmunna means "shade, defense, or covering has been denied."

Now recall that in the battle of Midian, God caused the three enemy armies to fight against each other in fear and confusion (Judges 7:22). This is a major tactic that God used, and I believe that this is also the primary tactic that He is using today. There is a tremendous amount of infighting and confusion in the ranks of the New World Order today. Most of the infighting so far is happening behind the scenes and is not reported in the mainstream media, but the dead bodies of bankers and financial experts are mounting.

We see this divine tactic again prophesied in the names of Zebah and Zalmunna. Zebah means "sacrifice," but it is not the wolf (Zeeb) that is being sacrificed. It is instead the raven (Oreb), his fellow prince, who is being sacrificed as an unclean offering.

On the other hand, Oreb-Zalmunna is the wolf whose covering is being denied to him. He is the wolf in sheep's clothing who is being exposed for who he is at the winepress of Zeeb, the wolf.

Zephaniah 3:3 tells us that the judges of Assyria are "wolves at evening; they leave nothing for the morning." This is the link between the prince of Midian and the judges of Assyria. It is applicable today. Our Assyrian judicial system is a big part of the problem, along with the entire unbiblical prison system. (See my book, God's Law on Restitution.) This, of course, includes the legislature, which creates the man-made laws that the judges are expected to enforce.

There is also another level of meaning in the idea of the wolf sacrificing the raven. When Jesus sent out his disciples on their missionary journey, He instructed them in Matt. 10:16,

"Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves; therefore be shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves."

He was not talking about non-Jewish people, because earlier in verse 5 He had told them, "Do NOT go in the way of the Gentiles, and do NOT enter any city of the Samaritans." Hence, the "wolves" that they were to encounter were Jewish wolves, probably opposition from the "lawyers" (Luke 7:30) who had "rejected God's purpose for themselves." So the lawyers, whose traditions had nullified the law of God, were the "wolves" (Zeeb) of the day. They are the wolves in sheep's clothing (Matt. 7:15).

The other Midianite prince is Oreb the raven. The root word is Arab. I appears that the wolves in sheep's clothing are sacrificing the Arabs in this prophetic picture. This sounds a lot like modern Zionism, both Jewish and Christian varieties.

As I wrote earlier in my weblog about the battle of Gideon, the three invading armies each represent different religious systems. Midian = Old Covenant Christianity; Amalek-Edom = Old Covenant Judaism; The Children of the East = Old Covenant Islam.

Because of the nature of the Old Covenant itself, which uses a physical sword to evangelize or defend itself from evangelization, these religious systems have a history of fighting in an Old Covenant manner. So it is prophetically appropriate that these three armies turn upon each other and begin to kill each other. That has been their history to the present day, at least until the Jewish Zionists succeeded in turning Old Covenant Christians into Zionists to assist them.

So when Assyria's divine commission expires, God will bring all of these forms of Old Covenant religion to an end, as He establishes His Kingdom on the New Covenant through Sarah, the New Jerusalem.