‘This is what the Lord GOD says: “Behold, I am against you, Pharaoh king of Egypt, the great monster that lies in the midst of his canals, that has said, ‘My Nile is mine, and I myself have made it.’ (Ezekiel 29:3)

God announces judgements on two Israel nations and their neighboring countries/cities in the book of the prophets. But we must understand the prophecies are not about a nation in a certain geographical location although they appear so related to the Israel’s history in the OT. They are all enemies of God. Egypt was mentioned many times in the OT. It is a symbol of prosperity and worldly wisdom. But it is the very opposite of God’s kingdom. After the fall of Jerusalem, we read that the Israelites head to Egypt against God’s words spoken by the prophet Jeremiah (Read Jeremiah 42-44). God announced their demise in Egypt, but they still went. God freed the Israelites from the hands of the devil and made them into a great nation. But they loved to be slaves again. Christians are doing the exact same things as the Israelites did.

There are two important theological questions that I’d like to address. One is: Are saints freed from sin or the devil? The other is: Did God create the devil?

My answer to the first question is that sin and the devil are the same thing because sin and the devil is what God is not.

My answer to the second question is: Yes, God created the devil for a purpose just as God created those nations that serve idols such as Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, etc in the OT era. I know that many theologians are against this idea. They think that God is pure and righteous that He cannot have anything to do with the devil. But with that hypothesis, they make the devil exist by itself. This means that the devil is equal to God in power. God says that He is “I am Who I am (Exodus 3:14)”. The theologians make the devil be also “I am”. Their idea is evil. Many cults came out of this idea. God can create anything without compromising His righteousness. The more important questions is why God created the devil. And I’ve already explained that the devil is a necessary tool to train God’s people to make them into the everlasting kingdom of God. How God controls the devil is written in Job chapter 41. God does not compete with the devil. God was pleased to create the devil and made him everything that He is not. The devil is evil, opposite to who God is. As I go through other books of the Bible, I will answer to these questions in detail.

The books of the prophets in the OT talked about the immediate or near future at that time when they were written. And they are also telling about the end. As we read about the end of Egypt, we also understand the end of the great leviathan that appears in the Book of Revelation.

“Son of man, lament for the hordes of Egypt and bring it down, her and the daughters of the mighty nations, to the netherworld, with those who go down to the pit; ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and make your bed with the uncircumcised.’ ‘Whom do you surpass in beauty? Go down and make your bed with the uncircumcised.’ (Ezekiel 32:18-19)

And the great dragon was thrown down, the serpent of old who is called the devil and Satan, who deceives the whole world; he was thrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him. (Revelation 12:9)

Concerning the two witnesses that appear in Revelation 11, the Bible says this:

When they have finished their testimony, the beast that comes up out of the abyss will make war with them, and overcome them and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie on the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also their Lord was crucified. (Rev 11:7-8)

Our Lord was crucified in Jerusalem. But God sees that He was crucified in the city called Sodom and Egypt. Jerusalem became Sodom and Egypt. This tells us about the end of the false Christians who reject Truth. Only the elect people of God will be saved.

If the LORD of armies had not left us a few survivors, we would be like Sodom, we would be like Gomorrah. (Isaiah 1:9)

And if those days had not been cut short, no life would have been saved; but for the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. (Matthew 24:22)