God's Promises to Israel

Brethren, if you've paid attention to the news at all, you've heard of what's commonly been called the Occupy Wall Street Movement. And of course, it's spread to occupying Baltimore and Oakland and it seems like all over the place. And news reports of it are just justified in saying that they're not always clear in what they want. Some of them say one thing, some of them say another, but one part of their message has been fairly consistent.

They continue to say that 1% of people have way too much wealth and power. And it's just not fair. That's what they say. Now, that's not new to us. Similar complaints have been made by other nations around the world for years. They look at the United States and some of the nations of Western Europe and they see that about 3% of the world's population accounts for close to 50% of our energy consumption. And has a fairly close proportion of the world's wealth. And they say it's just not fair. People in other parts of the world can look at us and they say, those people aren't intrinsically better. There's nothing about them. Why should they have so much? Well, let me read a famous quote by Abraham Lincoln. He said of Americans, this was about 150 years ago. He said, we have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We've grown in numbers, wealth and power, as no other nation has ever grown. I suspect most of you believe that. And even if you're not scholars of history, you kind of have a feeling that's the way it is.

But I'll add that as a history professor in another life, I've seen that it's not only true, but it's really true. It goes above and beyond. The difference between what our peoples now enjoy and what's been common through most of history, and what is common now in the rest of the world, is astounding. And no, it certainly is not fair. But I could pose some questions in regard to that.

Did the people in the Western world perpetrate some great evil that they suddenly became wealthy? Did they go ravage it from everyone else?

Is life fair? If it's not fair that we have this. I could ask the question, is God fair? Is he fair? Or is he always fair?

Today I want to talk about how God bestowed on the descendants of one family the tremendous blessings of which I've been speaking. And those who know and understand about that family will find that that truth makes it much more easy to understand both history and prophecy as revealed in the Bible. And we'll see as we go through this that at times God certainly is not fair.

But I think we have good reason to be glad that he's not.

Now, many of you probably already know the direction I'm going with this, and if not, then it'll show it's been too long since we've covered this. But I do want to mention that looking at some of the underpinnings of the basics of understanding prophecy for the end time are important. And it's one of those things that I often say, well, I'll cover this later. Or I don't have time to go into that now, and we'll pick it up another time.

So I decided this will be the other time. I do want to go through and plod through the Scriptures to see why the United States is the way it is and where we figure into the whole of prophecy at the end time. But first, let's look at some of what happened here. One of my favorite historians, and it goes to show I'm one of those type peoples. Most people don't have a favorite historian, I guess.

William McNeil wrote in his first great work a world history titled The Rise of the West. That title gives away somewhat of his view. Now, William McNeil's style is to look at broad trends in history. And that must be so if he's covering world history. It reminds me of a joke. Well, not a joke, actually. I thought a funny story. But when I was in graduate school, I took a class in world civilization. And I've had students come to me and say, oh, your exams are so hard, you ask such big questions. I like to tell them, my final exam for that class, it had only three questions. But the first question was, briefly outline the history of human civilization.

Okay, and then why are there any other questions? What am I saying? In a coverage like that, you have to cover things in broad terms. And that's what William McNeil does. Something has to go on for decades or hundreds of years to warrant a mention in his book. Usually it has to affect millions of people. And in that broad sweep of history, you see empires rise and empires fall.

And wars are fought, and sometimes one group is victorious, sometimes another. But through all this, he pointed out there was a unique development that's occurred in recent centuries. Really mostly in just the last couple. The peoples of a relatively small part of the world, in a short amount of time, increased dramatically in their wealth and power and influence. Now, I'm speaking of Western Europe, of course, and the countries that were spun off from there.

So let me quote from his book, one of his books, his book, Rise of the West, on page 566. He says, So the sudden change was like an explosion in history. Let me read from another historian. Eric Jones wrote a book that he titled, The European Miracle, published in 1981. Let me read from that. And in regard to his title, The European Miracle, he says, Historians like to talk about revolutions. Scholars have proposed a wide variety of theories to explain why this great divergence happened.

And it includes governmental intervention, geography, and customary traditions. And that's the way historians work. We gather, we look at trends, and we gather all these facts to try to interpret why certain things happened, why other things didn't. And we propose all kinds of theories that we try to, we try to prove and then argue with each other. And I say that because if you've ever been in a graduate seminar, you can have 15 people around a room arguing about the same thing, and they agree on the facts, but they're arguing like crazy about what they mean or how things got that way.

It's probably not just history, it's a lot of things, because I see a lot of you smiling. It's like a family reunion, right? Well, what I wanted to get to, though, is we know why it happened. We know. And we'll discuss that later. I want to get into the facts that will be the main part of the sermon, but let's review a little bit of what happened.

I've given a broad overview, but let's look at a little bit more. If we go back to the Middle Ages, and what is now North America, or in North America, what is now the United States and Canada, was mostly a wilderness. The area we sit now is covered with forest, relatively sparsely inhabited by a few various American Indian tribes. They lived off the land, they fought each other, but they didn't develop permanent cities, they didn't dig the resources out of the ground more than you could get digging the depth with a stick.

And no meaningful change happened over hundreds and hundreds of years. Across the ocean, in the British Isles. The British Isles held a few small countries. Now it's considered just two political units, but you had Cornwall and Wales and England and Scotland and Ireland. And they were relatively poor, with a small population stagnant, with little influence on the rest of the world. About the only way they had much impact was every now and then one of their kings would invade northern France, which they were fighting for years and years. But when European nations discovered, or I prefer to say they took notice of the New World, because there's a lot of evidence showing that people in the Old World, some people in the Old World, knew about the New World for many centuries before Christopher Columbus.

But around the 1500s, European nations started taking note. And that began a slow but steady rise to power and influence of the British nations. In 1585, a small British navy defeated the Spanish Armada, up to that time the greatest naval power that had ever existed. In 1607, it began colonizing North America, a small settlement near the Chesapeake Bay at first, where most of the people starved, but they didn't give up. I'll skip ahead in some of that history, but I'll mention that stretching from 1713 until the end of 1815, Britain fought a series of wars against France, and sometimes France allied with Spain.

And each one of those wars had separate names, usually named after a monarch. Well, at least from the United States. They would call it like the Treaty of the League of Augsburg or something. And we'd call it Queen Anne's War, because we're simpler here in America. It's like, wow, that queen was on the throne. Anyways.

Some of my students find it funny when I make those comments, but... Anyways, this series of wars over that near century is often called the Second Hundred Years War. Victories during those wars and several important battles brought Britain control of Quebec, India, the Rock of Gibraltar, the island of Manorca, Nova Scotia, almost all of the Caribbean islands.

This brought them control of many vital sea passages, key points that nations had to control to be able to have free access in and out of commercial centers. Additionally, British exploration and colonization had brought control of what is now Australia, New Zealand, Canada, parts of southern Africa and Egypt. It's been famously said that Great Britain attained the largest, wealthiest, most powerful empire the world has ever known, virtually in a period of absent-mindedness. No premeditated plan, no method, no system, just one thing fell after another, and they sort of woke up and said, Oh, we've got an empire that stretches around the world. And we can tend to forget how big and how mighty it was. In our generation, all of my life, the British Empire has been in decline, and now Britain's considered a second-rate power. But let's look at where it was before World War II. Before World War II, the British Empire ruled 14 million square miles of territory and nearly 500 million people. Let's make a comparison. We look at the Roman Empire as being one of the greatest, mightiest empires ever. The Roman Empire, at its peak, ruled about 2.5 million square miles, compared to 14 for the British, and 120 million people, compared to almost 500 million for the British Empire.

The only significant loss to Britain during the time of its ascent was in the latter 1700s, when some of its colonies in North America split off, fought a war of independence, and formed a new nation. And the history of the United States itself, during that preceding... or, not preceding, succeeding century, is one of astounding growth. By the beginning of 1800, the United States of America was a series of small states, sparsely inhabited, barely getting by on the East Coast. I say, this looks like East Coast to me, this is East Coast to you.

But in the course of 100 years, quickly spread west, gaining control of huge amounts of territory, population doubling, doubling, quadrupling. And soon, by the end of the... yeah. Early in the following century, the 1900s, the United States became the most powerful nation in the world. Now, it's important for me to note, at least I like to always make sure people are aware of this, one of the reasons the United States was able to grow and develop so quickly and so peacefully during that time was that we were shielded by the British Navy for all of the 1800s.

What was known as the Pax Britannica around the world. Britain's Navy was so large and powerful, their standard policy was that it would be more powerful than any other two navies put together. And they maintained that for most of those years.

Meaning the United States was left at peace to grow and develop. One of the reasons I want to mention that is because it's worth noting as large and powerful and wealthy as the United States is, at its peak, the British Empire was even more so. Now, we could debate the events and the means by which all that wealth was accumulated. You know, lots of books are on the shelves discussing this and that. And we could... we would have to admit, in some cases, our nations haven't always used that power and influence, you know, for the best.

Sometimes it's been misused. But we could also make a very strong case that the English-speaking peoples have provided tremendous benefits to others all around the world. And that might come across as braggadocio, but it's true. You know, the British Empire raised the standard of living all around the world. You could even say that by them, all the other nations were blessed. All the while, while this has been going on, people in other parts of the world say, it's not fair.

It's just not fair that we have so much. Statistical studies show that the richest 10% of the world's population controls 85% of the wealth. And it wouldn't be a surprise if you plot a map showing where most of the wealthy people in the world live, it would highlight North America, Britain, and Australia, and Western Europe. So it's not hard to see why people keep saying, it's not fair.

Well, I'd say, no, it's not fair. But it's not, or should not be, surprising. It didn't come as a surprise or unexpectedly. As people who live by the tenets of the Bible and believe that God inspired its writing, we could ask the question, shouldn't the dramatic power and influence of such nations of the United States and Britain be mentioned in Bible prophecy?

There should be something about us in there, especially if we're near the end of the age, which it certainly seems that we are the way things are going. Well, let's think. The Bible shows that God promised to shower amazing blessings on the descendants of one particular family and to increase its population dramatically, to provide incomparable wealth. But we'll see that the Bible also shows a prophecy that the blessings that were promised would be delayed, and not only delayed indefinitely, but for a very specific amount of time.

And then, when they were reinstated, would cause a dramatic shift in the balance of power in the world. So to those who understand Bible history and Bible prophecy, this miracle of Europe, as some call it, or the dramatic rise of the West, isn't a surprise at all.

So to understand it all, I need to take a drink of water. And then we need to go back to the beginning. You're already ahead of me, probably. Let's go to Genesis 12. As I said earlier, I think this won't be a big surprise to many of you, but I wanted to set the stage. Look at what we see around us. William McNeil said, The emergence of the power and influence and wealth of Britain and the United States, or of the West, was like an explosion. Keep that analogy in mind. I want to come back to it later on. But we'll see where this started. Genesis 12, beginning in verse 1.

Now, that's pretty impressive, and that's only the start. Abram was there... I wouldn't say minding his own business. We've got reason to believe he knew somewhat about God and was trying to please him, but God says, Get up and leave your nation, and I'll give you these blessings. I'm going to make you a great nation. And any all nations of the world will be blessed. Most Bible scholars see that this is a two-fold blessing. One, a physical blessing, that he'd have many children that would become a nation. And then also a spiritual blessing. They look to knowing, as we do, that later on Jesus Christ would be descended physically from Abraham and that he would be the Messiah who would pay for our sins. They say that's how all the other nations in the world would be blessed. I don't disagree with that, but I might add that the other nations of the world could be blessed physically as well. But those two promises are often described as race and grace, which makes it easy to remember because they rhyme. Race meaning you'll become a great nation. Grace meaning you'll be the progenitor of the eventual Messiah. Let's go ahead and see how these promises would grow. In Genesis 13, and we start in verse 14. The Eternal said to Abram, after Lot had separated from him, Lift up your eyes now and look from the place where you are, northward, northward, southward, eastward, and westward. I think I've actually got that right. I pride myself on knowing which directions are. But look to all these directions. For all the land that you see I will give you and your descendants forever, and I'll make your descendants as the dust of the earth, so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants could be numbered. Arise and walk in the land through its length and width, for I'll give it to you. Now, some scholars have looked and said, well, God just promised to give him that land there in the Middle East, what we commonly call Palestine. And later on, when the children of Israel came in, that fulfilled the prophecy. But I don't know. Even as great as the children of Israel became after they came out of Egypt, were they as the dust of the land, or the dust of the earth? There's an awful lot of dust particles out there. I don't know how well they could be counted. And of course, east, west, north, and south. Let's go ahead to chapter 17. Chapter 17, and we'll read verse 18. We looked at this last week from a different context.

And Abraham said to God, O that Ishmael might live before you. And God said, No, Sarah, your wife shall bear you a son, and you'll call his name Isaac. And I'll establish my covenant with him for an everlasting covenant. And with his descendants after him. As for Ishmael, I've heard you, I've blessed him. I'll make him fruitful and multiply him exceedingly, and he'll beget twelve princes, and I'll make him a great nation. But my covenant I'll establish with Isaac, whom Sarah shall bear to you at this set time next year. So we'll see, God first spoke to Abraham, and he said, Your descendants are going to have these things. And we know God first made those promises when Abraham didn't even have children. But then God says, I'm going to pass the promises on, but not to all of your descendants. Ishmael will do okay, but the covenant I'm making is going to go with you and then through Isaac. And we'll see that it'd be passed on again.

Oh, I wanted to read for...

Hmm, I'm not sure if I skipped something.

Yeah, let's read in Genesis 17, verse 7. I think I did skip something, but we'll come back. Genesis 17, verse 7, God's speaking to Abraham about these promises. And he says, I will establish my covenant between me and you and your descendants after you and their generations, for an everlasting covenant to be God to you and your descendants. I'll also give you and your descendants after you the land in which you are a stranger, all the land of Canaan as an everlasting possession, and I'll be their God. Two things I want to point out there. One is, as I was saying, God promised to pass this covenant on. Now, because God is eternal, he can make an agreement with a person, but God will still be around, and eventually that person will grow old and die, but God says, I'm going to make an ongoing covenant, so when you're gone, it will continue to apply to your children. And of course, as we saw in this case, not to just necessarily all of the children, but to Isaac, and then through his descendants. But God also here says, we were saying in verse 7, I'll establish my covenant with you and give this... and then in beginning in verse 8, it says, also, I'll give you and your descendants after you this land. I think you can make a case of saying, God has made these great promises, that's one thing, and then also, I'll give you this land here where you are. So you could start seeing a separation of the promises of what's to come. Now, we've seen their path through Isaac. Let's go ahead to Genesis chapter 22 and see a further development. The reason I'm going through these one at a time is to show the gradual growth and increase of what God promises. Genesis 22 and verse 16. Now, this is after God had tested Abraham. And we see from the Scripture, it's very clear, God told him, now that you've got this son that you love, go sacrifice him to me. And we know we can make a good comparison, that by analogy, Isaac was symbolizing Jesus Christ, when the Father was willing to sacrifice his only son. He asked Abraham to sacrifice his only son. But, of course, Jesus had a real reason to die to pay for our sins. God stopped Abraham before he could actually kill Isaac. But when he saw that he was willing to do it, he says this in verse 16. And he said, by myself I have sworn, says the Eternal, because you've done this thing and have not withheld your son, your only son, because you've done this, Abraham, blessing I will bless you. And multiplying I'll multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven, as the sand which is on the seashore, and your descendants shall possess the gates of their enemies. In your seed all nations of the earth will be blessed because you've obeyed my voice. Now, one of the things we see here at the beginning, God said, by myself I swear. Later on, the Apostle Paul would say, well, the reason he did that is there was nothing greater to swear by.

Now, God discourages us from taking oaths because we don't have the power to always follow through, but God can. God says, I'm going to swear, and I'm going to swear by myself. So it's doubly binding. We can interpret this as God making the promises to Abraham unconditional. They're going to be fulfilled. It doesn't matter if Abraham never did anything good or right again after that. God committed himself to fulfill those promises. The other thing I'll mention, shows up here that didn't earlier, is the promise to give his descendants the gates of their enemies. Now, the gates of their enemies, we could say, well, what does that mean? He's going to take the gates off the hinges and move them over to Abraham's house, store them in the backyard in the shed? Probably not. And it doesn't just mean I'm going to give you the keys. We would interpret that since we're talking on a national basis, as he was going to give the descendants of Abraham control to the access points. How do you get in and out of nations? Well, the main route of travel is by sea. So, by sea travel, and even by land, there are certain places that if you control, you control people's ability to come in and out. Famously, the area around Europe is abounded on the south by the Mediterranean Sea, and it's a nice big oval with only a small entrance and exit on one side. One nation has had control of the entrance and exit of both sides for the last 150 years or so.

You could say they have the gates around the Pacific Ocean, or around the Western Hemisphere. You've got the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean, and the way to get through is either around South America or through now the Panama Canal. Two gates. Well, the United States has controlled one of those gates, the Panama Canal. The other control, the other end, has been controlled by the island, the country that controls the Falkland Islands, where they can have a military base, and Britain controls that. So, controlling the gates of their enemies, we can see a very vivid geopolitical explanation for that. But let's move on and see how God would continue passing these promises on. Let's go to Genesis chapter 26. We've already seen the promises go to Isaac. Genesis 26, God will follow up on that, speaking to Isaac himself.

In Genesis 26, verse 1, There was a famine in the land besides the first famine that was in the days of Abraham, and Isaac went to Abimelech, the king of the Philistines in Gaurar. But then the eternal appeared to him and said, Don't go down to Egypt, live in the land which I'll tell you. Dwell on this land, and I will be with you and will bless you. For to you and your descendants, I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father. So I said, you could say, I'm going to give you these lands, and I'm going to fulfill the oath to Abraham. I'll make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven, and I'll give to your descendants all these lands, and in your seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed, because Abraham will obeyed my voice, my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws. So Abraham did this, so God passes the blessing and the promise on through Isaac. Now we're going to see they'll be passed on again if we go to Genesis chapter 28. Pass on another generation.

Genesis 28. Here the promises will go to Jacob, beginning in verse 1. Isaac called Jacob and blessed him and charged him and said to him, You shall not take a wife from the daughters of Canaan, arise and go to Padan Aram, to the house of Bethuel, your mother's father. And take yourself a wife from there of the daughters of Laban, your mother's brother. And here he starts making a specific blessing.

May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, that you may be an assembly of peoples. That means like a gathering of nations. And give you the blessings of Abraham, to you and your descendants with you, that you may inherit the land in which you are a stranger, which God gave to Abraham. Now we know Isaac had two sons, two twin sons. Why would the blessings go to one and not the other? Well, God decided it would be that way. Let's see further in verse 13. Because this was Isaac speaking, now God Himself will speak to Jacob.

All families of the earth shall be blessed. There's where I say it's seeming to become impossible to think that these blessings and these promises could be fulfilled simply by a small nation inhabiting the area of Palestine. The blessings keep getting greater and greater. And for them to spread east, west, north and south is going to require more than control of this small strip of area. And I would say I hope that these promises are starting to sound a little familiar, a little like what I was describing earlier, of the great riches controlled by the nations of Western Europe and North America. Now let's go on. Well, I've got a note here. Remember, it's still not fair, is it? Not a matter of fairness. It's a matter of God said, I choose you. I'm going to give you these blessings. As a matter of fact, I'm not going to turn there, but Romans chapter 9 verses 10 through 15 comments on that. The Apostle Paul was writing, and he noted where God chose Jacob while Jacob and Esau were still in the womb. Neither one of them had done anything good or bad, for one of them deserved blessing and the other not to deserve blessing. And Paul says, well, is God unjust? And he says, no. He's not unjust. God says, I'll have mercy on whom I'll have mercy. God is in a position to grant blessings to whom He will. And he would pass them on. Let's go to Genesis chapter 48 to see them passed on again.

Genesis 48, and we'll begin in verse 1.

This is something very significant. We don't want to let slip. And I'll remind you again while you're turning there, one of the reasons we want to review this, many of us have heard it before, but maybe not for a while. Maybe we haven't read it recently. But as we preach the gospel more and more, this is a part of what we preach and how we interpret prophecy. We need to know that we've got this in our heads and that we believe something, not just because we saw it in a booklet or we heard it on the Beyond Today program, but we've seen it in our own Bibles. Genesis 48, verse 1.

And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they're mine. Ephraim and Manasseh are mine. Now, as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. Your offspring, whom you beget after you, shall be yours, but they'll be called by the name of their brothers and their inheritance.

Now, at this point, Jacob couldn't go down to the local courthouse and file papers, but what he was doing, we see, is adopting those two kids as his own. He was putting them on the list of his children rather than his grandchildren. And not only just on the list, but he says, as Reuben and Simeon, the firstborn and the secondborn. So where the firstborn often gets a special blessing or inheritance, instead of Reuben getting that, and the other place in the Scripture shows that Reuben had some moral problems that disqualified him, Jacob adopts two of his grandsons and puts them there. Let's move ahead to chapter, or verse 15. We'll read this. Now, here he's actually putting, puts his hands on the grandchildren and is blessing them. And he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, blessed the lads, let my name be named on them. Again, you could say an adoption. They're becoming mine. Let my name be named on them. And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. Now, we could say not only is he adopting them, but if we look in prophecy, him saying my name be named on them, later on, and we see many prophecies referring to Israel, the house of Israel, or the sons of Jacob in the last days, we say my name be named on them. So when we read a prophecy in Jeremiah or somewhere else, and it talks about Israel, and we know it's in the latter days, or Jacob, that can apply specifically to Ephraim and Manasseh. Now, we'll notice something here. When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, the secondborn, it displeased him. So he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head, to put it on Manasseh's head. Joseph said to his father, not so my father, this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head. But his father refused. He said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he'll be great. But truly, his younger brother shall be greater than he. And his descendants shall become a multitude of nations. So he blessed them that day, saying, by you Israel will bless, saying, may God make you as Ephraim and Manasseh. And he said Ephraim before Manasseh. I'll mention this. There are some scholars that will say, yeah, all that talk of a multitude of nations, well, we believe God fulfills his promises. But that only refers to the fact that there were 12 tribes of Israel. And so all 12 of them together were a multitude. And, you know, they say the promises don't go beyond when Israel was there in the Middle East. This is an important answer to that, because here he says that Ephraim would become a multitude of nations. So that doesn't fit. If one half of the 12 tribes is going to become a multitude of nations, then that prophecy couldn't have been fulfilled just by there being 12 tribes. No, there's something much greater. They would inherit the land, you know, in the Middle East. They'd have the promised land. But God's promises went way beyond that. Now, matter of fact, we'll see that...well, I'll make the comment. God did promise these blessings. He made them unconditional. But they could be withheld or delayed for a time. And we're going to see that they were delayed right away, because if we move ahead a few pages to the book of Exodus, we'll see that God didn't fulfill all these things immediately. He let some time go by and some problems. Exodus 1 and verse 7.

But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied, grew exceedingly mighty. The land was filled with them. Now there arose a new king over Egypt who did not know Joseph. And he said to the people, look, the people of the children of Israel, more and mightier than we.

Come, let's deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply. And it happened that in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us. And so go up out of the land. Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens.

And they built for Pharaoh's supply cities and so on. So Israel multiplied quite a bit, but not so great that they couldn't be made into slaves. The Egyptians were still more powerful. And the Israelites might have been saying, hey, what happened to all these great promises? You know, we've been hearing this from granddad and great-granddad about how we're going to have all these great riches and all this.

And now we're slaves. So God didn't fulfill the promises immediately, but he didn't forget either. Cross the page in chapter 2 and verse 23. Chapter 2, 23. Now it happened in the process of time that the king of Egypt died, and then the children of Israel groaned because of the bondage, and they cried out. Their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning. God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. So God said, I haven't forgotten. I remember. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God acknowledged them. I like the way that's put.

He acknowledged them. Oh, yeah, those are mine. I haven't forgotten them. I'm going to take care of them. And he would do so. As a matter of fact, I'll skip ahead. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 9. Because even as God was granting blessings to the children of Israel, he wanted to let them know why that was happening. He wanted to let them know, I'm not doing this.

It's not fair. Now God doesn't say it's not fair, but he does say, you're not getting these things because you deserve them. You're getting them for other reasons. Deuteronomy 9 and verse 4. This is much later in the story after God has brought the children of Israel out of Egypt. He's conquered Egypt, has them wander for quite a while, which we'll talk about in a few moments. And then he's about to bring them across the river to defeat the Canaanites, but he reminds them of something important.

Deuteronomy 9 and verse 4, he says, Don't think in your heart after the Lord your God has cast them out before you, saying, Because of my righteousness the Eternal has brought me in to possess the land. But it's because of the wickedness of these nations that the Eternal is driving them out from before you. It's not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart that you go in to possess this land, but because of the wickedness of these nations that the Eternal your God drives them out from before you.

And that he may fulfill the word which the Eternal swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So God's saying, don't you think I'm doing this to you because you deserve it? This isn't your just desserts. Those people are bad and they deserve to be punished. And I made a promise to your forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I promised it to them so you're getting the blessings now.

But that's an important thing. Remember, God made the promise to Abraham unconditionally. And he said, by myself I swear I'm going to give you these blessings. But we've already seen there can be a delay. He didn't give them to Abraham right then. He didn't give them to Isaac. Matter of fact, Hebrews 11 talks about how they wandered around waiting for something better. He let the children of Israel go into Egypt and be enslaved.

And I want to point out, if we'll skip back towards Numbers 13, we're going to see a point where God delayed even longer than he might have originally intended to teach them a lesson, to make a point.

Sorry, I feel bad I'm drinking water in front of all of you. I don't know about you guys. It feels a little warm to me. Sorry, but I don't have a thermostat. There's not one up here, is there? If somebody wants to hit it, they could turn it down a little. It'd be okay with me.

But let's look at an instance where God did delay these promises. Numbers 13. This is a famous story, but it's worth looking at. As they're approaching, God gives instructions. The eternal spoke to Moses, saying, Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the children of Israel.

From each tribe of their fathers, you shall send a man, every one of them a leader among them. Now, the old King James and the new King James call them spies. I still would like to use the term, scout. They're like rangers. Go out and get information. Find out what the land is like. So they do. And let's skip ahead to verse 21. So they send these twelve men out. So they went up and they spied out the land from the wilderness of Zinn as far as Rehob near the entrance of Hymnath.

And they went through all these places that I'm not going to read. And they came to the valley of Eshkal, where they cut down a branch with one cluster of grapes. And they carried it between two of them on a pole. Which I love. If you have the old Bible studies, it shows them carrying this cluster of grapes.

The grapes are like melons or whatever. This is a great land. And in verse 25, they return from spying out the land after forty days. And they came back and reported. Now, it's interesting. There are some people who would read the Bible and say, Boy, the promised land was a long ways from Egypt. And they didn't know what they're doing. It took them forty years to get there. Now, that wasn't the problem. These guys went there, walked all around, and came back in forty days. But we'll see the reason they spent forty years. Verse 26, Look at this big old grape.

And we were like grasshoppers in our own sight. And so were we in their sight. So they're saying, We can't do this. Our God's not big enough. Look how big those guys are. You know, it's going to eat us up. We can't do it. And most of the people bought into that. Most of the people said, Oh, you're right. We better not try to do that. And so God said, Fine. That's the way you want it. I'm going to delay the promises. I was about to bring you in and begin fulfilling the promises. But now we'll see what happens in the next chapter, 14, in verse 30.

And remember, I said you could separate the promise. God always said, The And. I'm going to make you a great people, multiply you, and you're going to have this land. Well, He started multiplying them, and there's more of that to come. But here He said, No, you're not going to go in.

He says, But your little ones, whom you said would be victims, I'll bring in. And they all know the land which you have despised. But as for you and your carcasses, But as for you, your carcasses shall fall in the wilderness. God can be very graphic at times. And your sons shall be shepherds in this wilderness forty years, And bear the brunt of your infidelity, Until your carcasses are consumed in the wilderness. According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, For each day you shall bear your guilt one year, namely forty years. I wanted to take my time and read that slowly because that establishes a principle That we see more than once in biblical prophecy. We call it the day-for-a-year principle. When God wants to extrapolate something, He'll sometimes say, Okay, this happens so many days, it's going to bring that many years as a response. So this day-for-a-year formula. I'm not going to turn there, but if you want to make note, if you're taking notes, In Ezekiel 4 and verses 4-6, there's a similar principle, the day-for-a-year. There God is having Ezekiel act something out, and He says, This happened for so many, I think it was 390 years, so Ezekiel lay on your side for 390 days, And he got to play war while he was doing it, and stuff like that. So the day-for-a-year principle comes back more than once. So let's come back to the nation of Israel. If God once delayed giving them the promises of national blessings because of disobedience, Which we see He did, He said, I was going to give you this, now it's going to be delayed 40 years because of those 40 days. It makes sense that He might do so again if they disobeyed Him. And I want to go to a chapter, a prophecy, many believe, where it shows exactly that. We're going to go to one of the places where God specifically promises What good things they'll have if they obey, and what bad things they'll have if they disobey. There's two places where God discusses with the children of Israel those things. One is in Deuteronomy 28, where we usually go. The other is in Leviticus chapter 26. So we're going to go to Leviticus 26, And we'll see. God holds out options. And He says, you have the choice. Now, of course, they didn't have God's Holy Spirit, so I think God's saying, Yeah, I figure He probably knew what choice they would make lacking His Spirit, but He did give them the choice. And He also told them what the results would be from their choice. Now, let's start with the positive. Leviticus 26, beginning in verse 3.

That's if you walk in my statutes and keep my commandments and perform them, Then I'll give you rain in its season. The land shall yield its produce. The trees of the field shall yield their fruit. Your threshing shall last till the time of vintage, And the vintage will last till the time of sowing. You'll eat your bread to the full and dwell on your land safely. I'll give peace in the land, and you'll lie down, and none will make you afraid. I'll rid the land of evil beasts, and the sword will not go through your land. You'll chase your enemies, and they'll fall by the sword before you. So these are great things if you'll only obey. But then there's the other hand. If you go to verse 14. But if you do not obey me, it's funny, I've got but and and and real big letters in my notes, But if you do not obey me and do not observe these commandments, And if you despise my statutes, or your soul abhors my judgments, So that you do not perform all my commandments, But break my covenant, I'll also do this to you. I'll appoint terror over you, wasting diseases and fever, Which shall consume your eyes and cause sorrow of heart, And you'll sow your seed in vain, for your enemies will eat it. I'll set my face against you, and you'll be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when none pursues you. Now I'm going to stop there. That's a lot of things. And then I wonder if God took his breath, like I'm doing here in verse 18. He says, And after all this, if you do not obey me, Then I'll punish you seven times more for your sins. I wanted to focus on this because we don't see this in Deuteronomy, And there is some dispute over how to interpret this. What does it mean, seven times more? The Hebrew word here for seven times is Shabbat. And I'm not spelled with those squiggly Hebrew letters, But in English it's S-H-I-B-A-H. It can be translated a couple of different ways. One would mean seven times greater in intensity. I gave you all these punishments, now it's going to be seven times harder. Bam! I'm going to get you. Which I'm sure he didn't say, bam! I'm going to get you, but you get the point. Or the other interpretation, it could mean seven times longer. Now, it's interesting, I looked into this because some of you have been in the church a long time. No, we've taught a specific way. It just says seven. It could be seven hours more, seven days, seven weeks. But it does make sense that it could be seven years. That's a round number that God uses. And God works in that way. If you want to make a reference, Revelation 12, verse 14, refers to time times in half a time. Three and a half years. We see times referring to years several times. And in Revelation 12, 6, that period is translated as 1,260 days. That is three and a half years of 360 days each. And if you're like me, you don't want to write all those numbers down. But I'm wanting to do a shortcut. There is a lot of different prophecies we could look at and calculations to show that when God gives a prophecy of a certain number of years, it's inherent that it's based on a 360-day year, not 365 with a leap year every fourth year.

And God doesn't worry about intercalary months when He's given a prophecy because it's a long term. So what I'm getting at is if you'll take it on faith from me, that the Bible does show that when He says so many years, it's 360-day years. Well, if seven times more means seven years more, that would be 2,520 days.

So if Israel is to be punished seven times more for disobedience, the seven years would be 2,520 days. If the day-for-a-year principle applies, then Israel would suffer not getting their blessings for 2,520 years of punishment. You with me so far on that? Good. If I had a blackboard... If I had a blackboard, I'd write stuff that you couldn't read because my writing is worse on a blackboard than on paper. But it didn't make me feel better. Now, let's keep in mind, the northern kingdom of Israel, they divided into two kingdoms. The northern kingdom had the name of Israel and had the tribes of Ephraim and Asa, who had the name Israel named on them. They fell to the Assyrian Empire. They'd antagonized God, broke His covenant, not obeyed Him for so long and finally said, enough. And about the year 721 A.D., that kingdom was taken captive and moved out. Okay, we calculate the time. We believe it's about 721. Some people say exactly 721. I'm happy to say about. If we count forward that time, 720 years before Christ, up to the year zero, then keep going, we come almost exactly to the year 1800. So, 2520 years from the time Israel went into captivity brings us about to the year of 1800. And if you remember our discussion of history earlier, it would be difficult, I think, if you take these Bible prophecies seriously, to think that it's only a coincidence that right around 1800, suddenly the United States and Britain exploded on the scene of having all these great blessings and becoming the wealthiest, most powerful countries in the world. Let's look again at some of the blessings promised them. Let's go to Deuteronomy chapter 33. Deuteronomy 33, and we'll begin in verse 13. Here, shortly before the end of Moses' life, he called in the leaders of the tribes of Israel and pronounced blessings and prophecies on all the twelve different tribes, and the one for Joseph is rather long. And, of course, remember Joseph encompasses Ephraim and Manasseh. And of Joseph, he said, Now that's interesting. Usually when we refer to bull and symbolic meaning, we mean something else that comes out of a bull. But here, when he's saying his glory is like a first-born bull and his horn is like an ox, in Bible symbolism, often the horns are a symbol of military power. We're talking about the nations here, not the person of Joseph. So it says his glory, his power, would be like an ox. He'd have this great military power. And it says, He's going to push people all around the earth with this military power. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.

I wanted to bring this out because even in David's day, when the Kingdom of Israel was at its greatest in military power during David and Solomon's rule, they could influence the nations right around them. They couldn't push around nations all around the world. But in the last 200 years, we can come up with about three nations that could project military power all around the world. Great Britain could do it throughout the 1800s and early 1900s.

And after World War II, the United States has had the power to project military power.

I've used power twice, but the ability to project military power anywhere in the world. We can push nations to the ends of the earth.

Matter of fact, right now, we're the only ones. I've seen that on CBS Evening News. They've pointed that out.

I said maybe three. It would probably be remiss if I didn't mention after World War II, the USSR also had the power to project military might anywhere. But that was fairly short-lived, and I don't think the USSR was descended from Israel. That's just my guess. Let's go to Genesis 49. Genesis 49 and verse 22.

Read the other prophecy. This is when Jacob was near the end of his life, and he pronounced prophecies of what would happen to the descendants of his twelve sons. Genesis 49 and verse 22. He addresses all of them individually by name. He says, Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well. His branches run over the wall. The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him, and hated him, but his bow remained in strength. Once again, we're talking about military power. Joseph's bow remained in strength. He kept that power even though others were grieving him, fighting against him. And the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. From there is the shepherd of the stone of Israel, by the God of your Father who will help you, and by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lie beneath, blessings of the breasts in the womb, the blessings of your Father have excelled the blessings of my ancestors. Up to the upmost bounds of the everlasting hills, they'll be on the head of Joseph. Now, the upmost bounds, that could spread a long way, and it doesn't set a specific distance, but as I said, we could say it goes far beyond just the Middle East. And another hint of that is, of course, at the beginning of this prophecy where it says, Joseph was represented by a fruitful bough, like a vine with its branches running over the wall. It's like Jacob was saying, your descendants will be uncontainable. They can't keep them in just one country. They'll spread out. They'll go over the wall, which we could interpret to mean establishing colonies, which the British people did. They established colonies here in North America. They established colonies in Australia, New Zealand, and parts of India, South America... not South America, the Caribbean Islands in South America. South Africa was what I was trying to say. So much so that at its height, the British Empire... There was the saying, the sun never sets on the British Empire. It was spread around the world so much that part of it would always be lit by the sun, even when the sun sets early, like here, or like this time of year. At its height, ancient Israel was very blessed, but it's hard to say these prophecies could have applied to them. And remember, all nations were to be blessed by them. I do think that was fulfilled spiritually by Jesus Christ. But the blessings that have come on the modern descendants of Ephraim and Asa, which I believe are Great Britain and the United States, we've shared those, and by them all the world has been blessed. The British, as they've colonized and they've brought different culture and ways of doing things around the world, they've improved the living standards of people everywhere they've gone. Let me stop and take a breath. I want to make the point, though. Many Bible scholars dispute the meaning of Leviticus 26, verse 18. They would say, no, that doesn't mean seven times, as in seven years and 2,500 and some days. A lot of them would say, you know, they for your principle, you know. Some would say there's no principle at all, let alone that it would apply here. So you should be aware that there are those who would dispute it. But those scholars don't have any answer for why the Bible doesn't mention the U.S. and Britain in end-time prophecy, though they're two of the greatest nations ever. Or why those nations have controlled the gates of their enemy. Those scholars don't have an explanation for why Israel is featured in all these prophecies if the nation of Israel ceased to exist, you know, after 721 A.D. Let's notice some scriptures regarding that. Let's see. Remember, I just said Israel was punished and went into captivity. Let's look at it in 2 Kings, because I want to make a point that will lead into 2 Kings, chapter 17.

2 Kings, chapter 17, we'll begin in verse 6.

And it goes on to describe a lot of their terrible sins. Let's skip to verse 18.

Now, the Kingdom of Judah would be conquered a hundred and some years later by the Babylonian Empire. Now, so that's an entirely different people. The people known as the Jews are the ones from that kingdom. Of course, we have the term Jew for Kingdom of Judah. But the prophecies that regard Israel, and there are many prophecies in the Bible, talk about Israel or Jacob, or in some cases Isaac, they don't apply to the Jews. Not specifically. Bible prophecies will say Judah if they mean them. But when they apply to, when it says Israel or the House of Isaac or the House of Jacob, it's talking specifically about Ephraim and Manasseh, because Jacob had his name, Israel, named on them. Thus, the modern-day Jews don't equal Israel and prophecy. That's probably not news to most of you, but I wanted to make that point.

And when later some descendants of Judah were able to come back to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple, those weren't Israelites. Well, that wasn't the House of Israel. And you've probably heard the saying, all Jews were Israelites, but not all Israelites were Jews. Just like, you know, all Ohioans are Americans, but not all Americans are Ohioans. And apologies to those of you from Kentucky. But you know what I mean there.

Now, what happened to the Israelites? Let's go to the book of Amos to see some specific prophecies about the House of Israel after they were led into captivity. Amos is in those minor prophets. You go from what, Daniel, Hosea... I'm not to Daniel yet. Daniel, Hosea, I think Malachi... not Malachi, he's at the end. Oh, Daniel, Hosea, Amos... Joel is who I left out. Good thing there's nobody here named Joel.

Or, as I said this morning, you could use those handy tabs at the side of your Bible, and you're already there ahead of me. Amos 9, let's look in verse 8.

So God is saying, these people, they're going to cease to be a kingdom, but I'm going to keep track of those people. And they're going to be sifted through the nations. Those people that are Israelites, they're going to pass through the nations. They won't know who they are necessarily. We know they lost track because they stopped keeping the Sabbath, which was the identifying sign. But God says, I know who they are, and He would bring them to a certain point. Let's look also in verse 14 of this verse. There's an important thing. He says, I will bring back the captives of my people Israel, and they'll build the way cities and inhabit them. Now, this is a prophecy for end times, and this does not apply to the people of Judah who came back to rebuild Jerusalem, as I said earlier. So if the children of Israel would be sifted and not lost, and eventually God would bring them back to rebuild the way cities. This is a prophecy for the end time. Where will He bring them back from? He doesn't say it here, but there are a couple places where we can get an idea if we go to the book of Isaiah. Isaiah, chapter 49. Isaiah 49, and we'll read verses 8 and 10.

This is a prophecy of redemption, of God restoring the children of Israel. And beginning in verse 8, He says, And give you, and give you, as a covenant to the people, to restore the earth, to cause them to inherit the desolate heritages, that you may say to the prisoners, Go north, to those who are in darkness, show yourselves, and they'll feed along the roads, and their pasture shall be on the desolate heights. So they're going to be restored and come back. Let's look in verse 12. Surely these shall come from afar. Look, those from the north and the west, and these from the land of Sinom.

Now, ancient Hebrew doesn't have a word for northwest, so it can say north and west and mean northwest. If you're looking at compass... Well, never mind. I need the blackboard, you two. But think northwest with the Bible being centered in Jerusalem. Let's look at another important prophecy in Isaiah 24. Isaiah 24 in verse 14.

Once again, this is a prophecy regarding punishment and then redemption.

It says, They shall lift up their voice, they shall sing, for the majesty of the Eternal, they'll cry aloud from the sea. From the sea? Why is he throwing that in there? Therefore glorify the Eternal in the dawning light, the name of the Lord God of Israel in the coastlands of the sea. Now, I looked... Anybody here using the Old King James still? This morning I asked, and nobody was. Only a few. When I took my Old King James, where I have coastlands in my new, the Old says islands. And I think that's an accurate translation. Because if you would look at a map and you start with Jerusalem, and you draw a line to the northwest until you come to a major island group, you come to the British Isles. And if God is going to bring his people back from there in the end time after the destruction, when he's ready to redeem them, then that makes sense. That's where his people would have been. Of course, not all of them. Some of them, if they've spread...if they've colonized, and some of them are in Australia and New Zealand and places like that. But we can draw that identifying mark of where God would have led them to. Let's look at one more proof, and by biblical prophecy, that the U.S. and Britain are descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh. We'll go to the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah chapter 33, because God made a promise to a specific family, actually two specific families, but in this prophecy I want to look at just one of them for right now. One that, once again, if we believe that God, who inspired the Bible, has power and will bring his prophecies to pass, we have to look for where they would be fulfilled. He says he'll do something. We should be able to look for the results of it. Especially if he says, I'm going to do something that's going to last forever. So let's look at Jeremiah 32 and verse 17.

Actually, I didn't want to read that far. Well, I wanted to go to verse 25.

Then I will cast away my descendants of Jacob and David my servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, for I will cause their captives to return and will have mercy on them. So that's pretty specific. Somebody descended from David is going to be on a throne ruling over descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Not necessarily all of the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but David's family would maintain that rulership position. And he says, God says, as long as there's day and night, it's going to happen. Now, some people would look to the end of the book of Jeremiah and say, well, wait a minute. That covenant got broken only a few years later, because we can read where, after Nebuchadnezzar conquered the city of Jerusalem and the king Zedekiah tried to flee, they brought Zedekiah and all of his sons and killed his sons in front of him, every single one of them, and then put out Zedekiah's eyes. And no other king, or no other descendant of David ever ruled as a king over Jerusalem or any parts of Judah. Didn't happen. So was God's word invalid? Did he break it?

Well, the answer to this, and I know this isn't news to many of you, but let's go to the book at the beginning of Jeremiah to look at one more thing. Well, actually, well, we'll go, since I already told you to go there, and then I'll back up. I missed a scripture, but this is part of Jeremiah's commission. Jeremiah 1 and verse 9. I know there's a lot of scriptures today, but I wanted to put these all together in one time and place for you, so thanks for bearing with me. Then the Eternal put forth his hand and touched my mouth, and the Eternal said to me, Behold, I have put my words in your mouth. See, I of this day set you over the nations and over kingdoms, to root out and pull down, to destroy and throw down, to build and to plant. So Jeremiah's got a two-fold commission. One involves overthrowing, but also rooting up, plucking something up, and then maybe building and planting it.

You might say, build and plant what? Where? And the answer could come if we go back towards the back. In Jeremiah 43, there is something intriguing. I noted all of Zedekiah's sons were killed, but that doesn't mean all of his descendants were. In Jeremiah 43 and verse 4. Actually, let's begin in verse 5. This is after the cities destroyed, most of the people of Judah taken captive. A few of the poorest people were left there. They said as vine dressers.

But even they rebelled against God and said, let's go down to Egypt. And here in verse 5 it says, But Johann and the son of Korea, and all the captains of the forces, Took all the remnant of Judah who had returned to dwell in the land of Judah, From all the nations where they had been driven.

Men, women, children, the king's daughters, And every person who never can Ezra the captain of the guard had left with Gedaliah, The son of Ahichom, the son of Shaphan, And Jeremiah the prophet, and Baruch the son of Neriah. Baruch was Jeremiah's scribe. So it's interesting. We might wonder, why did Jeremiah go out of his way to record the fact that the king's daughters were there? Well, we know Jeremiah's commission was to root up and pull up. Perhaps, partly to...we could make a reference, maybe it's pulling and rooting up the dynasty, King David's lineage, and then to build and plant, transplant it somewhere else. Now, here I'm going to combine biblical prophecy with ancient legend.

There is an ancient legend in Ireland that says, Thousands of years ago, an old man came to the islands, And he brought with him a scribe and a young princess. And she met and ended up marrying into the royal family that was ruling over Ireland at the time, And thus became one of the progenitors of the royal family from then on. I was thinking there's a vocabulary word for that. Now, there's also a legend and speculation that says even that royal family were already Israelites.

And that may be so, it may not be so. In the midst of legend, it's difficult to say. But, if this is true, in any event, we can trace through history. We know that the royal families of Scotland and Ireland intermingled. And they were continuous, and they were all descended from each other. And then in 1603, after Queen Elizabeth died, The great Queen Elizabeth, who was on the throne for fifty-some years and fought against the Spanish Armada, She died and was succeeded by her, I want to say, great nephew.

King James VI of Scotland would become James I of England. And all the monarchs from that time on, even when they went to one of his nieces, Basically, when the House of Hanover came over and took the throne with George I, They were still descended from King James, who was descended from the kings of Scotland and the kings of Ireland. So, if Jeremiah did transplant the dynasty of David to Ireland, We can be confident that that dynasty still reigns today, And that God did fulfill his promise to keep a descendant of David always on the throne ruling over the people of Israel.

That is, if the prophecies are true, that God sifted Israel among the nations and never lost them, And that they'll still exist in the end time, and that they'll be in islands to the northwest of Jerusalem, And that even if the birthright promises to Joseph were withheld for 2,520 years, They would eventually be fulfilled, probably making those people the most powerful and richest in the world, Starting sometime around the year 1800.

So, does it seem yet, as I start piling these things up, where we might see a clue that the descendants of Ephraim and Manasseh are the United States and Britain? Now, of course, there's a mixed multitude in there, but I think we can make a pretty good case. That means that the end time biblical prophecies about Israel apply to the United States and Britain, Which is good to know, and somewhat scary to know, Since not all those prophecies are real good, or real pleasant to read about.

The time of Jacob's trouble is not something we look forward to. But we'll go into those prophecies another day. I know this sermon is already rather long. I do want to point out one thing about this method of trying to make that proof, though, Because I've been following the method that Mr. Armstrong used in his old booklet, Or, not booklet, book, the United States and Britain, and I realize later this isn't the oldest one, Because it used to be the United States and Britain's common, British Commonwealth in prophecy.

They shortened it to Britain in prophecy this time. Now, he used what some people call the artillery shell approach. And I don't think Mr. Armstrong ever called it that, but the artillery shell approach says, If you see a cannon go off, boom, the cannon, and then over there, boom, a shell explode, boom here, shell there, Somewhere in between that shell probably went arcing through, and although I couldn't see it because it was moving too fast, I'm pretty sure the same shell that fired out of this cannon is the one that exploded over there, even if I didn't see it. That's sort of the way we prove this. We see all these prophecies, and then we see that there's a prophecy of a delay, and then we see this explosion.

Remember, I read from William McNeil where he said, The emergence of Western Europe was like an explosion in history. To me, those fit pretty well. I'll mention—I dropped it—our current booklet that the United—UCG puts out follows what some call the historical method, where instead of just saying, Here, the cannon goes off, and then the explosion, they look very carefully so we can actually try to see the shell as it progresses.

In the chapters of this book, it shows after Israel went into captivity, we look to see where they were. And we look at many historical and archaeological records to look for evidence of how they moved upwards into the Eurasian steppe and then migrating westward.

And that works, too. There's strengths and weaknesses for both methods of making that proof. I kind of like the artillery approach myself, partly because I'm a military historian and I like artillery. But also, I've got to admit, I put more trust in Bible prophecy than I do in historical records. And I say that as a PhD in American history, I like historical records, I like to see things in writing, but when I see things that are very scarce, I start saying, Wow, boy, that's not a very good record by my standards, because the records of 600 years AD are pretty sparse.

But this record, it's sure. I trust in it inherently. I trust my life in it. But like I said, it's good to be acquainted with both. And, well, I'll let you read the booklet we put out. It's readily available. But taking that as all that's true, you have to remember, the promises to Abraham and Jacob bring us back to our original question. Is it fair? Is it fair that we get all this? And they're all just answered, and in short, no, it's not.

And I'll say that God is not always fair. Life is not fair. And that is if you define fair as people getting what they earn and what they deserve. Let's go to the book of Job real quickly. I want to wrap this up. Job 35. I want to talk a little bit now. As we go to the book of Job, this is one of my favorite books because of all the wisdom that's in it. And if you go back to the beginning, you'll see, of course, Job was tremendously blessed.

He enjoyed so much more than he deserved. That wasn't fair. But then God took away the blessings and let Satan persecute him, and Job suffered terribly. So that wasn't fair. And Job's friends come to comfort him, and instead of comforting him, really, they get into a long argument that's very poetic in the book about whether or not Job deserved these things that happened. And his friends keep saying, you must have sinned terribly to get all these curses.

Job said, no, I haven't sinned. I've only done good things. I should be blessed. And finally, when none of them can convince each other, another fellow who's there named Elihu speaks up. And so that's where we get it in verse 35. Elihu is speaking. And he says, do you think this is right? Do you say... He's speaking to Job, my righteousness is more than God's.

For you say, what advantage will it be to you? What profit shall I have more than if I'd sinned? So I'll answer you and your companions with you. And he says, look to the heavens. Go out, look up there at those clouds. And he said, they're higher than you. And it's simple. Look up there, those clouds are higher than you. If you sin, what are you doing against God? And if you do good... You know, if you're multi... Let me read this. If you sin, what do you accomplish against Him?

Or if your transgressions are multiplied, what do you do to Him? If you're righteous, what do you give Him? Or what does He receive from your hand? He says, your wickedness affects a man like yourself. And your righteousness, the Son of Man. We can hurt each other and do stuff and worry about fear. But when we're dealing with God, nothing we can do deserves anything special from Him or can help Him. That applies to nations and to individuals. I'll just make a reference here because I don't want to take the time.

But in Jeremiah chapter 18, there's the analogy of the potter with the clay. We'll come to that in our Bible study soon enough. But God sends Jeremiah to watch a potter working with clay, and he starts making a pot, and he decides he doesn't like it, so he flops it down.

I saw this... I think it was actually near Gatlinburg, soon I saw a potter working. And he was making something, and they could just touch it the right way and it collapses, and they make it over again. And God says, the potter can make a vessel for whatever he wants.

Make it pretty, make it ugly. It doesn't matter. It's his to make. And God says, I can do that with the nations. I can make one nation to honor and give them blessings. I can make one nation to be poor and not have blessings, and it's my choice to make. I'm speaking as though I were God. Not Frank Dunkel's choice, but God's choice. If we want to look at what we deserve, let's go to the book of Romans, chapter 6.

Let's look at what's actually fair. That's where I started on this before I got, I wouldn't say, sidetracked talking about Israel, but I wanted to look and say, the blessings on Israel aren't fair, but they are very nice. Romans 6 and verse 23, one of our favorite, not favorite memory scriptures, but one we tend to remember.

For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life and Jesus Christ. So what you earn, what you deserve is death. And I say you because if we flip forward a few pages to Romans 3, verse 23, Romans 3, verse 23 says, all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. That brings us down to what's fair. We all deserve to die and stay dead. That's what would be owed to us. That would be fair. But God is not fair. Isn't that great? He doesn't give us what we deserve. He gives us so much better. He gives us good things. I'll make reference to John 3, chapter 16. Of course, that's another famous memory scripture, and I'll point that out because I got to watch some football last Sunday while I was home watching Connor. And I got to see somebody holding up the sign in the end zone when they're kicking the field goal. It says John 3, 16. They don't have the text, but the text says, of course, for God so loved the world, He gave His only begotten Son. Now my mind just went blank. Joanne's reading it for me. Of course, so that we could have eternal life. It's not fair that Jesus Christ would die. He didn't deserve it. He didn't sin. And it's not fair that we get to live instead. But I'm so glad. I don't want what would be fair, and I'm sure none of you do either. And I keep hitting the point over and over again, but I just wanted to underline it. We should also apply this lesson to ourselves as individuals as much as donations. We all start off having earned the death penalty, but God offers us life through the sacrifice of His Son. God goes on to give different blessings beyond that to people. He gives different opportunities as He sees fit. The ultimate blessing is offered the same to us. Of course, I went through that in a sermon recently. But the intermediate blessings can vary. And that applies, of course, to our position in life and in the Church. We all enjoy different blessings. And I've said many times, and it's worth saying, because we have such an older membership. I suspect in the world tomorrow when Christ returns, there are probably a number of what we might call little old ladies now in the Church who will be my bosses and have a higher position. Not necessarily fair where we are at now, but God will rearrange things later.

We don't have the option of asking for our fair rights because we don't have any, and how good that is for us. God knows what we need, and He's not giving us what we deserve. He gives us so much better. And that brings us back to where we started. We as residents of the United States enjoy so much. We enjoy better than we deserve, because God bestowed on our peoples in this era the blessings that He promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob thousands of years ago. It's not fair, but it's part of God's plan. Now, we could go on to discuss the possible meanings of all the prophecies, and I'll have to get to that sometime in a sermon that will be less than an hour and a half long. But the results when those prophecies are fulfilled won't seem fair to Americans, but it'll be part of God's plan also. It's important for us to know who we are. When we look at the Bible, where does it reflect our peoples and our nations? It's important for us to be able to explain that to people, but it's also good for us to keep in mind what we deserve as individuals and as a nation, and to be glad that God is so much better than fair.