An end time prophecy about Egypt and the rest of the world from Isaiah

Most people are familiar with at least some of the content of the end time prophecies in the books of Daniel, Revelation, and some of the gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). 

Yet Isaiah also had a very specific prophecy about Egypt:

1 An oracle concerning Egypt.

See, the Lord is riding on a swift cloud
    and comes to Egypt;
the idols of Egypt will tremble at his presence,
    and the heart of the Egyptians will melt within them.
2 I will stir up Egyptians against Egyptians,
    and they will fight, one against the other,
    neighbour against neighbour,
    city against city, kingdom against kingdom;
3 the spirit of the Egyptians within them will be emptied out,
    and I will confound their plans;
they will consult the idols and the spirits of the dead
    and the ghosts and the familiar spirits;
4 I will deliver the Egyptians
    into the hand of a hard master;
a fierce king will rule over them,
    says the Sovereign, the Lord of hosts.

5 The waters of the Nile will be dried up,
    and the river will be parched and dry;
6 its canals will become foul,
    and the branches of Egypt’s Nile will diminish and dry up;
    reeds and rushes will rot away.
7 There will be bare places by the Nile,
    on the brink of the Nile;
and all that is sown by the Nile will dry up,
    be driven away, and be no more.
8 Those who fish will mourn;
    all who cast hooks in the Nile will lament,
    and those who spread nets on the water will languish.

 Isaiah 19: 1-8

As we can see, the passage above appears to talk about end times, or approaching end times. At that time, the Nile will be dried up. This prophecy is very specific and is something we can keep an eye on ourselves - for example, using news media. The process is likely to have happened gradually over some time ("will diminish and dry up"), so we should understand this will not be sudden.

Isaiah had another specific end time prophecy as well, this one for the whole world:

Now the Lord is about to lay waste the earth and make it desolate,
    and he will twist its surface and scatter its inhabitants.
2 And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest;
    as with the slave, so with his master;
    as with the maid, so with her mistress;
as with the buyer, so with the seller;
    as with the lender, so with the borrower;
    as with the creditor, so with the debtor.
3 The earth shall be utterly laid waste and utterly despoiled;
    for the Lord has spoken this word.

4 The earth dries up and withers,
    the world languishes and withers;
    the heavens languish together with the earth.
5 The earth lies polluted
    under its inhabitants;
for they have transgressed laws,
    violated the statutes,
    broken the everlasting covenant.
6 Therefore a curse devours the earth,
    and its inhabitants suffer for their guilt;
therefore the inhabitants of the earth dwindled,
    and few people are left.
7 The wine dries up,
    the vine languishes,
    all the merry-hearted sigh.

Isaiah 24: 1-7

This passage clearly references pollution and a dwindling population - something which in pre-industrial times must have seemed incomprehensible. Yet today in the 21st century, with the spectre of increasing levels of pollution, a warming planet, poorer crop yields, and an aging population, Isaiah's prophecy seems all too present.

As bleak as this prophecy seems, we need to always remember that Earth is simply a temporary waystation for us. Our eternal home that God intended for us is Heaven. Although our sin separates us from God (and therefore from Heaven), He provided a path for us to get there. The path is not from anything we can do on our own to earn a place there - we have all fallen short. The path provided is through Jesus. If we accept the free gift of His death as the price paid for our sins, then we can go to Heaven to be with God. 

So the dire predicament of the Earth (which is not to be minimized) is still a temporary situation. 

What is permanent is Heaven. It is not some airy-fairy thing, it's more solid and real than Earth. This is our true home and this is what should be our goal. Things will get bad on Earth, according to Isaiah which we read here. The same is prophesied in other parts of the Bible: Daniel, Revelation, and some of the Gospels. This should not be ignored. Yet our focus should be on Heaven, which is permanent and more solid and real than Earth.

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