Who are the Children of God?

Imagine this: Israel's two arch-enemies worshipping God alongside Israel!

Imagine this: The wholeness of God's people being illustrated by Israel and Israel's oppressors!

Imagine this: God using the same language to identify Egypt and Assyria that God uses to identify His chosen people Israel!

Check out this passage, and see the amazing long-term reconciling plan of God:

"On that day there will be five cities in the land of Egypt that will speak the
language of Canaan and swear allegiance to the LORD of hosts. One of these
will be called the City of the Sun."

Note: language of Canaan is a language that worships God.

"On that day there will be an altar to the LORD in the center of the land of
Egypt, and a pillar to the LORD at its border. It will be a sign and a
witness to the LORD of hosts in the land of Egypt; when they cry to the LORD
because of oppressors, he will send them a savior, and will defend and deliver
them. The LORD will make himself known to the Egyptians; and the Egyptians will
know the LORD on that day, and will worship with sacrifice and burnt offering,
and they will make vows to the LORD and perform them. The LORD will strike
Egypt, striking and healing; they will return to the LORD, and he will listen to
their supplications and heal them."

Note the similarities between this language and the language used when Moses was called to go to the Hebrew people imprisoned in Egypt.

"On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria, and the
Assyrian will come into Egypt, and the Egyptian into Assyria, and the Egyptians
will worship with the Assyrians."

Note: Here Assyria is introduced into the prophecy.

"On that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the
midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed saying, 'Blessed be Egypt
my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my heritage.'"

Wow! Can you just imagine that!!!

We talk about peace in the middle east and we read about the constant tension between these three "empires," yet here in Isaiah 19:18-25 we are told that someday God will see these three as being One - for the three of them together are God's people and the work of God's hands. They all belong to God and someday they will worship God! Amen!

According to the CIA world fact book:
https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/index.html

Today, about 1% of the Egyptian population is Christian, 9% is Coptic, and the other 90% is Muslim (mostly Sunni). 99.6% of the population is ethnically Egyptian.

Interestingly I found a website that claims that Assyrians today are Christians: http://www.nineveh.com/whoarewe.htm and http://www.nineveh.com/WhoAreTheAssyrians.html

And they are better known today as belonging to the following churches: Chaldean Unite, Syrian Orthodox Church, Syrian Catholic Church, Assyrian Church of the East. - What a testimony! Imagine how our discussion in high school Western Civilization might have gone if someone had brought up that the group who kicked the first three letters of their name became predominantly Christian?

And the population of Israel seems to be more religiously diverse than either of these two groups. Again, according to the CIA world fact book:

76.4% of the population is Jewish
16% is Muslim
3.9% is unspecified
1.7% is Arab Christian
1.6% is Druze (off-shoot of Islam)
.4% is other Christian

So, we have represented here three religious groups. Egypt as Muslim, Israel as Jewish, and Assyria as Christian.

I wonder what it will look like when they all worship the LORD together?!