America’s Future

Last week we talked about America. We talked about America and where its roots were. Many people will say America can trace its roots back to 1492 when Columbus discovered America. But we went all the way back and traced America's roots back to the Abrahamic Covenant in Genesis 12 and verse 3. That Abrahamic Covenant, if you recall, is when God asked Abraham to leave his country to a place that he would say to go. He said, Get out of here and I will make you a great nation and I will bless you and in you all the nations of the earth will be blessed. That was an unconditional covenant that God made with Abraham, one that was going to be everlasting as he expanded on that covenant in Genesis 17, 15 and 17. Then as he let Abraham know what that covenant meant, it was going to extend not just during Old Testament times, not just during New Testament times, but really all the way through the kingdom of God. What Abraham did and the way that he responded to God and what the promises that God made to him were lasting. They were lasting and we can count on them and we learned through physical Israel many things, many things that should comfort us because God has made promises to us as well. And I'm not going to take the time to recount everything that we talked about last week, but where we progressed was, where is modern-day Israel today? And I challenged anyone as you look at the prophecies in the Bible, as you look at the prophecies, for instance, even in Genesis 48, verse 26, when it said that, you know, you, Joseph's sons, you'll become a company of nations and be great and the other one will be even greater than him. Where in history are there two nations? In the last days, as it said, it was in Genesis 49 that matched that description. Those prophecies weren't fulfilled during Abraham's life, the Old Testament times, Christ's life, the Apostle's life. They would be fulfilled in the last days or the prophecies of the Bible you can't count on. Well, we traced through all that and we left off with identifying, if you will, where the nations of Israel are today. And I close with saying, you know, the prophecies go right on through the kingdom of God.

Physical Israel is important in the plan of God. When he started that nation, he intended to see it through. He made promises and despite the shortcomings of the people, despite the spin-sins of the people, he still knows where Israel is. He still knows what his plan for them is. And they have a role now. They have a role in the kingdom of God. Otherwise, the Bible isn't true.

Today we're going to trace Israel, the future of Israel, because the prophecy is there. So many prophecies about physical Israel haven't been fulfilled yet. They will be fulfilled. Some before the return of Jesus Christ, some after the return of Jesus Christ. If they're not, then the Bible isn't true and we don't have to worry about any of it anymore. But we know, absolutely sure, they will happen. I'll warn you in advance, some of the things that we're going to read about today can be disturbing when you read on them, when you read about them.

But you know, they're in the Bible. And God says in Amos 3, verse 7, He doesn't do anything without warning first his people, what will be. He reveals the secrets that he has for his people. And today we're going to look into some of those things so that we can remind ourselves what lies ahead for physical Israel, the land you and I live in. Do you and I work in? Do you and I have basically lived in all of our lives? There are some things coming to this land, if God's word is true, that we should be prepared of, and what we talk about should inspire us. It may scare us a little bit. Some of the younger might think, that seems a little harrowing. But we shouldn't be afraid, we should be inspired. We should be inspired, and we should be ever more grateful to God for letting us know and knowing that he loves his physical people of Israel and spiritual Israel, you and I, as well. Let's go back, and let's begin today in Leviticus 26. Last week we were in Deuteronomy 28, where God made some promises, or told Israel, if you will. This is what would happen to you if you obey me, and this is what happens if you don't obey me. And God was pretty detailed in the things that he told Israel. But let's look at Leviticus 26, and in here there are some prophecies of things that will happen to Israel when they disobey that haven't happened yet. Leviticus 26, verse 1, will start off with the blessings or command from God about Israel. And I'll have you note a couple things here as God introduces this chapter. Leviticus 26, verse 1, it says, You shall not make idols for yourselves, neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves, nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land to bow down to it. For I am the Lord, your God. Now, we've talked about idolatry, and we know that idolatry is alive and well in the 21st century. We may not have temples to asterisk. We might not have temples to bale in our land today, but we have idols in this land. Some of us, unknowingly, maybe still look to those idols instead of God for some of the things that we might need. But God says, you shall have no idols before me. It's one of the things that God chided Israel for. And the second thing he says is, You shall keep my Sabbaths and reverence my sanctuary. I am the Lord. Now, of course, he intended that all of the Ten Commandments and the statues were to be kept. Notice he just isolated those two and said, No idolatry, keep the Sabbaths.

Keep the Sabbaths. Now, some say, really, all you need to do is not work on the Sabbath. That's all you need to do. No, that's not all you need to do. God created the Sabbath for a reason and expects us to keep it the way that he did. Ancient Israel didn't. Ancient Israel yielded to idolatry. Ancient Israel lost everything that God gave them as a result. Let's drop down to verses 3-13. He talks about the blessings that will inure to the people as they continue to obey him. And then beginning in verse 14, he details the things that will happen if they disobey. He talks about things a few times on seven times punishment, seven times punishment. And then he will say, And after all this, if you haven't heeded me. Let's drop down to verse 27. After all these things that he says are going to happen to Israel as a result of their decisions, their choices, and their behavior, he says, After all this, if you don't obey me but walk contrary to me, I will walk contrary to you in fury. And I, even I, will chastise you seven times for your sins. Now, seven times has a prophetic meaning. I know a few years ago I gave a sermon on seven times and that. And I'm not going to take the time to expound that too, but that may be another thing you want to add to your list to go back and study, along with some of the things Mr. Stevens mentioned in his sermonette. What that means and how that has to pertain to Israel today and the land that we live in. Even I will chastise you seven times for your sins. And here's some graphic things that God says. You shall eat the flesh of your sons. You shall eat the flesh of your daughters. I will destroy your high places. I will cut down your incense altars.

I will cast your carcasses on the lifeless forms of your idols. And my soul shall abhor you.

Man, those are hard words to hear, aren't they? That God, the people that He loved, that He would do those things to them because they turned from Him. Because they turned from Him. And in verse 31, He says, I will lay your city's waste. I will bring your sanctuaries to desolation, and I will not smell the fragrance of your sweet aromas. You know, we talked about Israel in ancient times. God gave them a land flowing with milk and honey. Under David and Solomon, they were the nation that every, the whole world looked to. People came from afar to see the wealth of Israel, to hear the wisdom of Solomon. But they turned from God. And they lost everything. In 722 or 723 B.C., Assyria came in and conquered them. But you know what? Assyria didn't do what it says in verse 31. Assyria carried the people away, but Assyria liked the land of Israel. Assyria planted people in that land of Israel. They took the Israelites out, but they didn't lay the city's waste. They didn't make everything a desolation. This is a prophecy that hasn't been fulfilled. If it's not fulfilled, then the Bible is not true. It's not a prophecy for the Old Testament times. It's not a prophecy for New Testament times. It is a, or maybe for New Testament times, but it is something that is going to happen. Otherwise, the Bible isn't true because God shows what is going to happen to physical Israel from the time He began that nation all the way through the millennium.

In the Old Testament, it focuses on physical Israel, the relationship of God with Israel. We learn many things about ourselves as we look at the relationship of physical Israel to God. The New Testament talks about spiritual Israel. It teaches us how to become the spiritual Christians that God wants us to be as He gives us His Holy Spirit. He never gave His Holy Spirit to all of Israel to select people back in the Old Testament times. But that was the focal point of the Old Testament, physical Israel. Israel itself, the land of Israel, remember they were split into two nations during the time of Rehoboam. Israel became the northern, the northern ten tribes became Israel, and then the southern tribes became Judah. And from that time forward, there's been two nations, Israel, who went into captivity, and the world says they're the lost ten tribes of Israel. And Judah, Judah who people know where Judah is today. But here God says, I will lay your city's waste, I will bring your sanctuaries to desolation. That hasn't happened. That hasn't happened. If we want to look at what the future of physical Israel is, we can find the answers in the Bible. We won't find them in the New Testaments per se, although physical Israel is quite clearly mentioned in the New Testament.

We'll find the prophecies about ancient Israel, physical Israel, as opposed to spiritual Israel that you and I are. We'll find those answers right up through the Kingdom of God in the Old Testament, where God was working with those people. Here we have one. He says, at a future time, you'll turn from me. And we know from Genesis 49, in the last days, it was going to be a very wealthy nation. They were going to be so populous, they would run over the walls.

We talked about Britain and how Britain's island over there spilled over into Australia, over into the United States, and to places around the world as God blessed that nation as it perfectly fulfills that prophecy.

And so in the end time, modern-day Israel, which does exist, this will happen to them, because they, like ancient Israel, would turn from God. In verse 32, he says, I'll bring the land to desolation, and your enemies who dwell in it will be astonished at it. Well, can you imagine, if in modern-day Israel today, us here in America, in Britain, in Australia, if our cities were laid waste overnight, what would the world think? Here they look at America. Where does the world look today?

There are many nations who hate America. They look to America. America is the head and not the tail. America is where the land looks, and if the world looks. And if everything was destroyed in America very quickly, you don't think the world would be astonished? Here's this nation that we didn't think could ever be upended. Here's this nation that we didn't think could ever be upended. Who promotes itself as we will never fail. That would be astonished, it says.

I will scatter you, and then he says, when this happens, I will scatter you among the nations, and draw out a sword after you. Your land will be desolate, and your cities waste.

Kind of a harrowing thing when you think about it, but that is not a fulfilled prophecy. That's something that lies in the future for the land, the people that God knows where Israel is today. So let's look today at a few of the Old Testament prophecies, and we find many of those in the books of the prophets. Let's go back to the book of Amos. Amos was a prophet, and he was alive at the time that ancient Israel was still there, and he sounded a warning message to ancient Israel. They didn't heed the call. But some of the things that Amos talked about didn't happen during the time of ancient Israel. Either God misjudged, changed his mind, or some of the prophecies in Amos are for a future time, and Israel in the last days. We'll turn to Amos 5, but in Amos 4, I'll draw attention to a few of the verses here in Amos 4, because God talks about some warning signs that he sends to his people, things that happen in the nation, that should get their attention. And the reason he does that is he wants them to turn back to him. Let's look, for instance, in chapter 4 and verse 6. He says, I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. Well, if your teeth are clean, it means you haven't eaten, right? I gave you cleanness of teeth in all your cities. So there's a famine in the land. If we doubt it, it says, and lack of bread in all your places.

There's a famine that hit the land. Crops failed. There wasn't enough food. Did God say, do that just to be mean to people, or did he do it for a reason? He says the reason he did it, yet you haven't returned to me, says the Eternal. He didn't heed the message. He didn't get the message. He didn't turn back to me. Verse 7, I withheld rain from you when there were still three months of the harvest.

I withheld the rain. In some cases there was no rain and there was a drought. In some places there was so much rain that the crops failed because people couldn't get the crops in and they couldn't grow. Or they couldn't get them out. Something happened. God sent a warning. I'm not pleased with you because if I'm pleased with you, if you're following me, blessings will come your way. But if you're not Israel following me, I will send these warning signs. Verse 8, finishing up the thought, begins in verse 7 about the drought. Yet you haven't returned to me, says the Eternal. Verse 9, I blasted you with blight and mildew. Your crops grew, but you know what? Locusts ate them. They got devoured. It wasn't by accident. It wasn't just a feat and a coincidence of nature. I did it. But you weren't paying attention.

Yet you haven't returned to me, says verse 9, I sent first hand among you a plague after the manner of Egypt. Your young men I killed with a sword along with your captive horses. Had these things happened, but you didn't listen, Israel. You haven't returned to me.

Well, we could likewise bury our heads in the sand. And as things happen in our country, we could just say, ah, that's just kind of the course of things. That's just what happens. And they happen over a period of time. You know, God warned Israel for a number of years. We know he warned Judah for 40 years before they were sent into captivity and they lost their land. God warns his people because he's patient with us and he wants everyone. He wants to bless everyone. It's us. It's us. It's his people. It's his people, physical Israel. It could be us, spiritual Israel, who revolt against him or rebel against him or simply ignore him, as people here did. And sometimes it goes right over their head. They just don't want to hear. Down in verse 12, he says, Therefore I will do this to you, O Israel. I will do this to you. Prepare to meet your God. Prepare to meet your God. You have ignored every warning. Everything I sent your way, it just went right over your head and you became worse and worse.

In chapter 5, then, he goes on to say, he says, Hear this word which I take up against you, a lamentation, O house of Israel. The virgin of Israel has fallen. She will rise no more. She lies forsaken on her land. There is no one to raise her up. For thus says the Lord God, The city that goes out by a thousand shall have a hundred left.

And that which goes out by a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.

Well, that's quite an attrition rate, isn't it? Ninety percent gone. Ninety percent attrition rate. Now, that would be newsworthy. If that happened, I would think that would make front-page news. It might displace some of the news we hear today. If ninety percent of a city was gone when they went out, you know, that didn't happen in ancient Israel. They lost their land. God displaced them. That didn't happen. That's a prophecy for a future time of physical Israel.

It'll happen because what God says surely does happen.

If it doesn't happen, we can throw the Bible right out the window.

But we know it will. We know it will. It's for a time yet to occur.

We drop down to verse 14.

You can read through Amos 5 and 6 on your own. It's quite an interesting few chapters.

God says this to His people. He would say it to ancient Israel. He would say it to physical Israel today. Seek good and not evil.

You know, some of the things the church preaches today is just not politically correct, is it? Just not politically correct. So we can find ourselves thinking, oh, you know what? That's kind of hard. We're just kind of out of step with the 21st century here. Seek good and not evil, that you may live. So the Lord God of hosts will be with you as you have spoken.

We can't find ourselves letting society dictate what's good and evil. We have to dictate, or God has to dictate, what's good and evil.

Ancient Israel didn't let that happen.

Current-day physical Israel is not seeking good.

They're seeking something quite the opposite. God says, seek good and not evil, that you may live. Verse 15, hate evil. Love good. Establish justice in the gate. It may be that the Lord God of hosts will be gracious, will be gracious to the remnant of Joseph. Those few that are left after physical Israel endures what they have brought upon themselves.

We read in 2 Kings 18, you can mark it in your notes, 2 Kings 18, verse 12, Israel lost its land. God took them off. They didn't lose 90% of the people. The Assyrians, a cruel, cruel empire, carried them off, and their lives were miserable. They carried them off to the Caucasus region and the far areas of where the Assyrian Empire was at that time.

And they were left there. They were left there. 2 Kings 18, 12 says the reason it happened, they didn't obey God. They did what God warned them not to do in Leviticus 26 and Deuteronomy 28. They knew he said what would happen. They did it anyway. And they got exactly what he said would happen to them.

Let's go back a couple books to Hosea. Hosea has a lot to say about Israel, too. Some of which has happened in ancient Israel, but some of which has not happened yet. So we know that it's for a future time. In Hosea 1, verse 6, God had Hosea marry a harlot. It was a picture of the relationship between God and Israel, as he called Israel oftentimes a harlot because they would go after other gods and after nations and weren't loyal to him. And with this wife, Hosea had a few children.

In verse 6 it says, His wife conceived again, she bore a daughter, and God said to him, Call her name, Lo Ruhama, for I will no longer have mercy on the house of Israel, but I will utterly take them away. Now, God didn't say that, just because he got mad one time. You know, we as parents sometimes might get really mad about something, and we might take, what's the worst punishment today? I understand the worst punishment for a kid today is to take their cell phone away, right? We might get mad and say, you don't have your cell phone for a week.

Wow, the end of the world, right? So God didn't do this. He warned the people. He gave them every opportunity to come back. But he said, I'm done. I'm done.

They're not coming back, and so therefore I will utterly take them away, and take them away he did in 722 BC. Took them out of their land, made them captives to the kingdom of Assyria. But he noticed in verse 7, he says, yet I will have mercy on the house of Judah.

I'll have mercy on the house of Judah. Judah didn't go into captivity for 130, 140 years later in 585 BC. And they weren't scattered for the rest of time like Israel was. They got defeated, and in 70 years God planned for them to come back to Jerusalem, rebuild the temple, and be settled, and the world would know where Judah was. They weren't going to be hidden like the 12 tribes of Israel. They would be visible. And so we see in the world today, we know where Judah is.

We have a land, a nation called Israel. It really should be called Judah because it's the Jews. They've been visible throughout history. They were visible at Christ's time. They were visible throughout all the time. They were persecuted people. They're visible today. People know where they are. They're not lost. The 10 tribes of Israel are lost to the world. They're not lost to God. They're not lost to His people. They weren't lost to Jesus Christ. They weren't lost to James when he wrote the book and addressed it to the 10 tribes of Israel scattered abroad.

God knows where those people are, that He made an everlasting covenant with. And we can know, too. He doesn't do anything without first warning His people what is going to come about. So He draws a distinction between the two nations.

Physical Israel, I'm going to utterly take them away. We read in Psalm 83 last week, there would be hidden. The world wouldn't want to hear about them anymore. Of course, the world never wants to hear about God's people. In Deuteronomy 7, He specifically called physical Israel a special treasure to Him, His holy people. No wonder the world would hate them. No wonder the world would want them taken away. No wonder physical Israel throughout the ages would be hated by other nations when God called them His special people.

But the house of Judah would go on and they would be visible. Let's go back to Ezekiel. Ezekiel has a lot to say about the future of Israel, physical Israel as well. And some quite telling chapters in chapters 5, 6, and 7 of Ezekiel, he lays out some detail for physical Israel. We won't look at chapter 5, you can do that later, but let's look at chapter 6 of Ezekiel. Now remember, Ezekiel was written after, a hundred-some years after Israel was taken captive. Ezekiel wasn't even alive when there was a nation of Israel. They had long been taken away. They had long been scattered among the countries.

He didn't know where they were. He was part of Judah, as Babylon was beginning to conquer Judah. He was part of the second group of people that were brought over to Babylon. And he wrote this history, but he specifically addresses it to Israel. Israel was already gone. Let's pick it up in verse 1, chapter 6 of Ezekiel. The Word of the Eternal came to me, saying, Ezekiel speaking, Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them.

If you didn't say prophesy against Judah, prophesy against Israel, those mountains. When you see mountains in the Bible, often it means nations. It means governments. And Israel around the world today has many governments, many nations. We can talk about America, we can talk about Britain, we can talk about Australia, we can talk about Canada, we can talk about many of the Israelite nations that emanated from Ephraim and Manasseh. Son of man, set your face toward the mountains of Israel, and prophesy against them. And say, O mountains of Israel, hear the word of the Lord God. Thus God says to the mountains, to the hills, to the ravines, to the valleys, indeed I, even I, will bring a sword against you, and I will destroy your high places.

That had already happened. There was no Israel when Ezekiel wrote this. It's a prophecy. There was no Israel. It's a prophecy for a foreign time. It hasn't happened yet. Your altars will be desolate. Your incense altars will be broken. And I will cast down your slain men before your idols. I will lay the corpses of the children of Israel before their idols, and I will scatter your bones all around your altars.

That hasn't happened. That didn't happen to ancient Israel. It will happen. It will happen. And today in this land, today in modern-day Israel, there are idols. Make no mistake, there are idols. We've talked about that. Then you know where the idols are, and what we rely on more than we rely on God. And then in verse 6, he repeats what we read in Leviticus 26, In all your dwelling places, the city shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and may desolate.

Your idols may be broken and may desease. Your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished. Didn't happen. Hasn't happened. Yet. Will happen. It's a prophecy of God. Kind of a daunting prophecy of God. All your cities will be laid waste. All your altars will be laid waste. All your idols will be laid waste. All your works will be abolished.

Now again, let's think about the modern-day world. The world looks to America. Right? They look to our stock market. They look to us as the leading financiers of the world. They look to us as the leading manufacturers, the leading healthcare. Everything comes from America, and indeed, in all the world, America has been a blessing to so many nations. They take it for granted. There's never been a nation that's given away as much as America has. When Britain was the greatest empire on earth, wherever they went, they made things better.

They made mistakes like men do. America's made mistakes like men do. But overall, the world has been a better place because of those two nations that back-to-back have defined the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries. Now imagine, imagine if tomorrow, everything in America was gone. New York was gone. Los Angeles was gone.

Chicago was gone. Orlando was gone. Decimated. All the works that we've done, everything was gone, all the manufacturing plants, all the banks, all the things that we have. What would happen to the world around us? There would be a void that no one can even imagine. The world would totally fall apart. I don't even think the world understands how reliant they are on America and the systems that we have. If we fall, the whole world falls with us. If you don't believe it, just watch what the stock market does. If ours falls a thousand points, watch what happens in Japan.

Watch what happens in China. Watch what happens around the world. And if there's nothing, if it's all gone, the world descends into chaos and a thing that we can't even imagine. The entire foundation is gone. For the world's economic system, finance system, everything. And in this vacuum that that would leave, in Revelation 13, the Bible says there will be a beast power that arises from the sea. And they'll have some economic answers. They'll have some military answers. They'll have some health care answers. And the world which is decimated with no idea where to go, what to look, what to do from here on out when that power arises, they will look to him.

And as it says in Revelation 13, they will worship the beast. And the little beast that rise, the big beast will be saying, worship him. And they'll see that as a savior because Israel's gone. The cities have been laid waste. The works have been abolished. Now, life can begin again. Well, God says, it's going to happen. Revelation 13 tells us that there will be a beast power that's going to fill the void left when this calamity occurs to a people that no longer follow God or that turn his back on him.

In Ezekiel 6, verse 8, God says, I'll leave a remnant. I'll leave a remnant. We read something about that, a remnant in Avis 5, verse 3. Yet I'll leave a remnant so that you have some who escape the sword among the nations when you're scattered through the countries because there will be a scattering again.

Then those of you who escape will remember me among the nations where they are carried captive, because I was crushed by their adulterous heart, which has departed from me, and by their eyes, which play the harlot after their idols. They will loathe themselves for the evils which they committed in all their abominations.

You know, America, Britain, God didn't open their mind to understand Sabbath days and Holy Days. They knew the God of the Bible. It was from Britain that we got the English Bible. It's from America that Christianity spreads. The world's definition of Christianity spreads.

Our Constitution was based on principles in the Bible. No one can deny it when you look at it and see what the Founding Fathers put into our laws that come straight from the Bible. They knew it. But we've turned from it. Today, the Bible is a dirty word. God's a thought we don't even want to have in our minds.

The Founding Fathers knew why this land was blessed, or who blessed this land. Today, people want to ignore it. But God says in that time when they're scattered, when they say everything that happens to them, you know what? They will loathe themselves. They'll get it. God will open their mind, and they realize we turned our back on God, the God who gave us the wealth, the God who gave us the status, the God who gave us the power. We turned our back on Him. How silly and how foolish we were to turn our back on Him. They'll loathe themselves when they find themselves in captivity, and it dawns on them, and God opens their minds to see we blew it. We blew it like no other nation in the history of the earth. Why does God let it happen? What does He want them to do? Verse 10. They will know that I am the Eternal. They must know that I am God. And He says, I have not said in vain that I would bring this calamity upon them. I'm not just trying to warn. I'm just not trying to scare. I haven't said it in vain. If I said it, it will happen. God says, I haven't said it in vain. Count on it. Thus says the Lord God, pound your fists, stamp your feet, and say, Alas, for all the evil abominations of the house of Israel, for they shall fall by the sword, by famine, and by pestilence. He who is far off shall die by the pestilence. He who is near shall fall by the sword. He who remains in his besiege shall die by the famine. Thus I will spend my fury upon them. Verse 13, Then you will know that I am the Eternal, when their slain are among their idols all around their altars, on every high hill, on all the mountaintops, under every green tree, and under every thick oak, wherever they offer sweet incense to all their gods.

So I will stretch out my hand against them, and make the land desolate, yes more desolate than the wilderness toward Dibla, in all their dwelling places. Then they'll know who God is. Then they'll know what they did. Then they'll get it.

Well Amos says some of the same things. Let's go back to the book of Amos. Amos 9. God often says things two and three times by the mouth of different prophets, so that the witness stands and the warning stands.

Chapter 9 of Amos. Again, there's prophecies that didn't happen. That haven't happened. Amos 9, verse 1, I saw the Lord, standing by the altar, and he said, Strike the doorposts, that the thresholds may shake. Break them on the heads of them all.

I will slay the last of them with the sword. He who flees from them shall not get away, and he who escapes from them shall not be delivered. And then in a poetic sort of way, he shows there's no running from God. There's no running from God. Though they dig into hell, from there my hand shall take them.

Though they climb up to heaven, from there I will bring them down. Though they hide themselves on top of Carmel, from there I will search and take them.

Though they hide from my sight at the bottom of the sea, from there I will command the serpent, and it shall bite them.

Though they go into captivity before their enemies, from there I will command the sword, and it shall slay them. I will set my eyes on them for harm and not for good.

Physical Israel couldn't run from God in 722 BC. They ignored him, didn't pay attention to him.

Physical Israel in the last days can't run from God. All their weaponry, all their wealth, everything isn't going to hide them from God because his word stands.

And he has a purpose for physical Israel separate than what he has for spiritual Israel.

Let's go back over to Ezekiel again, or back to Ezekiel, because chapter 7 is also quite an interesting chapter addressed to Israel.

Ezekiel 7. We're over the word of the eternal cane to Ezekiel, saying, You, Son of Man, thus says the Lord God to the land of Israel. An end. An end. The end has come upon the four corners of the land. Now the end has come upon you.

And I will send my anger against you. I will judge you according to your ways, and I will repay you for all your abominations.

You sowed this, and you will reap what you sow because God's word stands.

My eye will not spare you. I won't have pity. But I will repay your ways, and your abominations will be in your midst. Then you'll know that I am the eternal.

Thus says the Lord God. A disaster. A singular disaster. Something major that happens. That should wake you up.

In ancient Israel, the commentaries say, and Amos infers, there was a great earthquake that occurred in ancient Israel. A warning sign.

Here's God speaking. You remember the verses in Amos 3, verse 7, or Amos 3, where he says, A lion has roared. A lion has roared.

Listen, Israel. But they didn't pay attention to that earthquake. In the fall, the end didn't come for them the next day. It came some years later.

But for the end time, Israel, in the end times, it says a disaster, a singular disaster, will occur.

Behold, it's come. An end has come. The end has come. It has dawned for you. It's beginning.

The earthquake in ancient Israel signaled the end. God was on the final count for Israel. They had an opportunity to turn back. They didn't.

A singular disaster. It has dawned for you. It's begun for you. Behold, it has come. Doom has come to you. You who dwell in the land, the time has come.

A day of trouble is near. It's going to happen. And not of rejoicing in the mountains. Not a matter of rejoicing among the nations.

Now upon you, Israel, I will soon pour out my fury and spend my anger on you. I will judge you according to your ways, and I will repay you for all your abominations.

My eye won't spare. I won't have pity. I will repay you according to your ways, and your abominations will be in your midst. And you will know that I am the Lord who strikes.

Behold, the day. Behold, it has come. Doom has gone out. The rod has blossomed. Pride has budded. Violence has risen up into a rod of wickedness.

None of them shall remain. None of them altitude. None of them. Nor shall there be wailing for them. The time has come. The day draws near.

Let not the buyer rejoice, nor the seller mourn, for wrath is on their whole multitude. For the seller shall not return to what has been sold, though he may still be alive.

For the vision concerns the whole multitude, and it shall not turn back. No one will strengthen himself who lives in iniquity.

Now, that's an interesting set of verses there. The seller will not return to what has been sold. Don't let the buyer rejoice.

You read through the verses. You read through the commentaries. You read through the things. And it talks about a time that America hasn't seen.

You remember back in 2007 and 2008 when we had a stock market, a recession. And I remember hearing at the time when it went down by several thousand points, people were saying, oh, buy. It's the time to buy stock. Buy it.

And I thought, man, I'm not going to buy it. I mean, I don't know that this isn't the end. I don't know that God is ever going to resurrect America's economy again.

But they said, buy, buy, buy. And there were even some in the church who said, oh, no, America's not going to fail. America never fails. Buy. This is the time to buy.

And people did do that, and many profited. Many profited off of that.

What God is saying here is there's coming a time that people aren't going to profit when the economy falls. When the stock market slides, if there's a time, it's not going to rebound.

There will be no profit in buying. There will be no profit in that. The seller will not return to what has been sold even though he lives.

There will come a time when it is over, finally and completely.

In 2007 and 2008, we kind of saw that. Many, many bought. Many did well. There's coming a time where many won't do well when God says, the time is up.

Verse 14. They've blown the trumpet. They've made everyone ready. But no one goes to battle, for my wrath is on all their multitude.

The sword is outside. It's not in their land yet. The sword is outside, and the pestilence and famine are within. Whoever is in the field will die by the sword.

And whoever is in the city, famine and pestilence will devour him. Verse 17. Every hand will be feeble. Every knee will be as weak as water. They will be girded with sackcloth. Horror will cover them.

Shame will be on every face. Baldness on all their heads. They'll be so ashamed. They will be so alarmed.

They will be so sorry when the end comes.

Verse 19. They'll throw those silver into the streets. Their gold will be like refuse. Their silver and their gold will not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Eternal.

They won't satisfy their souls nor fill their stomachs, because it became their stumbling block of iniquity.

All these blessings God gave them. They began to worship them instead. They put their stock in those things instead of God.

They were blessings from God, but they began to worship those things and rely on those instead of looking to the God who provides everything and who we must rely on.

They look to military. They look to stock market. They look to wealth. They look to healthcare. They look to all those things.

God says in that day they'll realize we had misplaced all our trust. We forgot God, and physical Israel will pay the price.

Verse 23. Make a chain, God says, for the land is filled with crimes of blood. The city is full of violence.

Therefore, I will bring the worst of the Gentiles.

Back in ancient Israel, the worst of the Gentiles, the worst of the non-Israelite nations, were the Assyrians.

Take the time. Watch the documentary. Read the encyclopedia. Get on the internet. See what Assyria did. It will boggle your mind.

It makes what Isis did look like child's play. God brought the worst of the Gentiles on ancient Israel.

This isn't a prophecy for them. This is a prophecy for the last day Israel. I will bring the worst of the Gentiles on you.

Now, in this world, think about where the worst of the Gentiles are. What are the nations that you would not want to be captive to?

What are the nations you wouldn't want on your doorstep? God says, I will bring the worst of them, and they will possess their houses.

I will cause the pomp of the strong to cease, and their holy places will be defiled.

Destruction comes. They'll seek peace. They may say, oh, let's go talk. We've got to do diplomacy. We've got to talk about it. We've got to get together. We've got to do these things.

They'll seek peace, but there shall be none. Disaster will come upon disaster. One right after another. If it's not war, it's something else. If it's not weather, it's something else.

Disaster upon disaster, rumor upon rumor. Jesus Christ said, wars and rumors of wars. And they will seek a vision from a prophet.

Well, when 9-11 occurred, it was kind of an earmark moment in the history of America. What did people do?

The Sunday churches were full for a while, weren't they? When disaster strikes, people go back to their God, and for a while they will go to their Sunday services.

They'll go to their places of worship. And you remember hearing about that. The churches were full, but after a month or two or three, they were all empty again and back to their normal self.

God says, you know, when disaster happens, they're going to run. They're going to run and say, oh, we've got to go to church. We've got to do this. And whatever. Physical Israel.

They'll seek a vision. They'll go back to church. But God says, he won't be here. There's another verse that we'll read that talks about that.

He's not going to listen to them. The king will mourn. The prince will be clothed with desolation. And the hands of the common people will tremble.

God says, they're just going to be repaid for what they have done. I will do to them according to their way. And according to what they deserve, I will judge them.

They'll know. They'll know that I'm God, he says. They'll know.

But modern-day Israel will lose their land again. They'll be defeated again. Is that the end? Is that the end of Israel? Absolutely not.

Before we go to that section, let's go back to Hosea. Or forward to Hosea one more time. Hosea 5. And beginning in verse 3. God, through inspiration of Hosea, says, They want to just disdain it and call it out of date and that you're foolish if you pay attention to it. They don't direct their deeds to attorney of their God, for the spirit of harlotry is in their midst, and they don't know God.

Well, Hosea 4.6, one chapter back, says, My people, physical Israel, they're destroyed for lack of knowledge. They're destroyed for lack of knowledge. They don't even know me. Verse 5, The pride of Israel testifies to his fate. Therefore Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity. Ah, and there's Judah. Very visible Judah. Judah stumbles with them. With their flocks and herds, they will go seek the Lord. Now they'll go to church. They may go to their synagogues.

They may go to their Sunday churches. They'll go seek the Lord, but they won't find him. He has withdrawn himself from them. No longer accessible to physical Israel. They've dealt treacherously with him. For they have begotten pagan or strange children. Their children don't even know who God is. They don't know the first thing about the Bible. They go through life. They go through every day. God is not even a blip on the radar. They do all sorts of things that are apart from what God says. They don't even. Their children are so far from God. For they have begotten strange children. Now a new moon shall devour them and their heritage. In 30 days Israel and Judah fall.

In 30 days a new moon will devour them. That didn't happen. Israel fell in 722 BC. Judah fell in 585 BC. That's 140 years difference. But this time, quickly Judah and Israel, all the house of Israel, all 12 tribes, will fall. That can only happen in a time where you have nuclear weapons. That can only happen in a time when you have EMP capabilities. That can cripple a nation literally overnight. That can only happen at a time when it takes one missile to disrupt an entire world.

And to bring to nothing nations that have long been who the world has looked to. It'll happen in the last days. It'll happen as part of the history and prophecy of physical Israel. God says in Amos 9 verse 8, I'm not going to utterly destroy Jacob because they have a future beyond what they're going to go through before the return of Jesus Christ.

They've got a future beyond that. They've messed up. I'm going to punish them. They have really dealt treacherously with me, as it says. But there is a future for them yet. I haven't forgotten that covenant. And I will never forget that covenant because when God promises, it stands. Let's go back to Isaiah 49. Read through a rather remarkable prophecy. Read through a few verses here. Let's begin in verse 1. Remember the Bible is written to spiritual Israel? The Bible is written to physical Israel too. Listen, he says, listen, O coastlands, to me. Now stop for a moment and think, where are the nations that have the most coastlands?

The coastlands have always been one of the hallmarks of American defense, right? Look at England, surrounded by water. Look at Australia. Look at everything that's there. O coastlands, listen to me. And take heed, you peoples from afar. You're not in Jerusalem anymore. You're now scattered off to these other places. The Lord, says, has called me from the womb. From the inward parts of the matrix of my mother, He has made mention of my name, and He has made my mouth like a sharp sword.

In the shadow of His hand, He has hidden me and made me a polished shaft. In His quiver, He has hidden me. And God said, You are my servant, O Israel, physical Israel, in whom I will be glorified. Then I said, I've labored in vain. I've spent my strength for nothing and in vain. Yet surely my just reward is with God and my work with my God.

And the eternal says, Who formed me from the womb to be His servant, why? To bring Jacob back to Him, so that Israel is gathered to Him. For I will be glorious in the eyes of the Lord, and my God will be my strength. And in verse 6, He says, God says, It's too small a thing that you should be my servant, to raise up the tribes of Jacob. That's too small a thing for you to come, go what you're going to go through, sacrifice yourself just for Israel.

That's important. That's part of the plan. That's part of what has to happen. That's part of prophecy. That's part of what has to go on. But it's too little for you to do that and to restore the preserved ones of Israel. I will also give you as a light to the Gentiles. I'll give you as a light to the Gentiles that you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Physical Israel, Old Testament, all tribes, tongues, nations.

New Testament, you should be my salvation to the ends of the earth. Drop down to verse 8. Thus says the eternal, In an acceptable time I have heard you, In the day of salvation I have helped you, I will preserve you and give you as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages. You that you may say to the prisoners, go forth. To those who are in darkness, show yourselves.

Isaiah 61, the very words Jesus Christ recited in the temple that day in Luke 4. Verse 10, They shall neither hunger nor thirst, neither heat nor sun shall strike them. For he who has mercy on them will lead them, even by the springs of water he will guide them. It's a future time. When pain, suffering, hunger disappears. That's not today. That's not during the Great Tribulation. That's when Jesus Christ returns. Verse 12, Surely these will come from afar.

Look those from the north and west, and we've driven the map before of Jerusalem, and north and west of Jerusalem is the British Isles. Look those from the north and west, and those from the land of Sinom, which can mean east or it can mean the south. They come from afar, the people of Israel, back to where God promised Abraham he would give them the land.

Sing, O heavens, be joyful, O earth, and break out in singing, O mountains, for the Lord has comforted his people, and he will have mercy on his afflicted, who have gone through so much, leading up to that time. Jeremiah, Jeremiah 31, verse 7, Jeremiah speaks of this time, too. Jeremiah 31, verse 7, Sing with gladness for Jacob. That wasn't the song that you were hearing when Jeremiah was preaching to Judah. Israel was gone. Sing with gladness for Jacob, and shout among the chief of the nations, to the team, give praise, and say, Lord, save your people, the remnant of Israel, those who survived during that time.

Behold, I will bring them from the north country. I will gather them from the ends of the earth, among them the blind and the lame, the woman with child, the one who labors with child together. A great throng shall return there. They will come with weepings, and with supplications I will lead them. I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters that way in which they shall not stumble.

For I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn. Drop down to verse 31. Marked down in verse 10, where it talks about, declared in the isles afar off, and say, I should have read that. But let's go down to verse 31 of Jeremiah 31. Behold, the days are coming, says the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah, with both of them, both nations.

This didn't happen. It was an old covenant with those nations. I'll make a new covenant with them, not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt. My covenant, which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord, but this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days.

I will put my law in their minds. I will write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they will be my people. Didn't happen in ancient Israel. Hasn't happened in Judah. Has happened for spiritual Israel. God has placed His Spirit in the spiritual Israel who He calls today. But the physical nation of Israel and the physical nation of Judah never received God's Holy Spirit en masse.

They will. They will, after those days when God makes a new covenant with them. O, they'll oath themselves. O, they'll know who God is. O, they will serve the purpose for which God has called them, or God has set them apart as a nation. Revelation 7, it says, they are servants of God. It talks about physical Israel and what they will be doing, the servants of God serving Him in the temple.

There's a purpose for physical Israel. And there's a purpose for spiritual Israel, you and me. Distinct. Distinct from physical Israel, even though we live in Israel. Spiritual Israel has a purpose as well, as we talked about. Maybe talk again about that at another time. But you should know that. We talked about some of it during the days of Unleavened Bread and Pentecost. But let's go back.

As God brings back a people, He says, I'm taking away all pain. I'm taking away all their hunger. I'm taking away all the weeping. Revelation 21 and 22. That doesn't happen in this lifetime. It doesn't happen during the Great Tribulation. It happens after Jesus Christ returns. Physical Israel is still there through the Kingdom of God. Let's go back to Ezekiel 37. Or forward, I guess, to Ezekiel 37. This will be our last Scripture. Ezekiel 37, a very dynamic chapter. It's the one that begins with the dry bones. The bones come together, talking about the resurrection.

If you don't, you might want to take some time to read through that and get the context of the whole chapter here. If you don't, you'll probably be hearing about it on the last great day at the Feast of Tabernacles, wherever you are. Let's drop down to verse 16, because as God calls His people back, as He takes away the hunger and thirst, as He comforts those who have been afflicted, as they know God, as they loathe themselves, as they turn to Him, and they worship Him forever and ever, and He pours His Spirit out on them, there's one more thing that He does to correct what has been done to Israel over the course of the last 6,000 years.

Verse 16, Ezekiel 37, As for you, Son of Man, and remember Ezekiel, there was no Israel, land of Israel when he's writing this, as for you, Son of Man, take a stick for yourself and write on it for Judah and for the children of Israel, his companions. Then take another stick and write on it for Joseph, the stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.

Then join them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in your hand. And when the children of your people speak to you, saying, What do you mean by this? Say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Surely I will take the stick of Joseph, which is in the hand of Ephraim, and the tribes of Israel, his companions, and I will join them with it, with the stick of Judah, that other nation that's visible today, and I will make them one stick, and they will be one in my hand.

The sticks on which you write will be in your hand before their eyes, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God, Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and I will gather them from every side, and bring them into their own land, the land I promised Abraham I would give them, and I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains of Israel.

One king shall be over them. No more a split kingdom, no more two kings. One king shall be over them all. They shall no longer be two nations, nor shall they ever be divided into two kingdoms again. Complete restoration, complete oneness, as God brings back His physical people and makes them one again. The same type of one that He wants His spiritual Israel to be as well. Because God is not a divider, God is a uniter.

There's a lot, a lot we can learn about physical Israel. Many things that you can think about, God keeps His promises. None of this should be scary. This should all be encouraging. Because we have a God who delivers, we have a God who promises to see us through, we have a God who promises us eternity and...