Weeping for America
I saw two seemingly innocent stories over the weekend that reminded me of how fat, lazy, and blessed we Americans are. I was going to use those stories as examples of a degrading society, but instead I am going to talk a little bit about where the United States might be found in Scripture, and what the future holds. I stress “might be” because a case could be made that this does not indeed refer to the USA. We will cover all sides in a series on America in Prophecy in the coming weeks.
This topic always creates a great deal of controversy and grief, albeit much less now than it did even a decade ago. Let’s begin by looking at a few verses from three passages of Scripture that describe what could be the USA to an incredible degree: Isaiah 18, Jeremiah 50-51, and Revelation 18. There is little doubt that America is a child of Babylon in that we are rapidly embracing wickedness, but are we the “daughter of Babylon” spoken of in God’s word?
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but it will give a reasonable overview of what appears to be the United States in Scripture:
- A land shadowed with wings (Isaiah 18:1): The national emblem of the United States is a bald eagle with his wings extended out, shadowing all that is beneath him.
- Beyond the rivers of Ethiopia (Isaiah 18:1): In the Bible, Israel is always viewed as being the center of the earth (when drawn on a flat map). Further, the Hebrew word for river is nahar, which can also mean sea. Given the geographic location and size of Ethiopia when Isaiah was written, most scholars agree that this eliminates all non New World nations.
- Which sends ambassadors by sea, even in vessels of reed on the waters (Isaiah 18:2): Our nation was discovered and founded by men on boats, and today we boast of the world’s largest navy. America also became wealthy by trading, via the ships of the sea.
- A nation tall and smooth of skin (Isaiah 18:2, 7): Here I must admit that I am not strong enough in Hebrew to understand how the translators came up with the English version of the second half of this phrase. The two Hebrew words used here are mashak and mowrat. Mashak means, “tall, long, and drawn out.” America is humongous, stretching from north to south as well as from east to west. Mowrat actually means, “independent.” We exist because the founders longed for their independence from tyranny, even announcing their intentions through the Decleration of Independence.
- A people terrible from their beginning onward (Isaiah 18:2, 7): This pictures the nation getting worse and worse in the eyes of the Lord as it ages. America certainly fits this description. America was settled for the glory of Christ while the earliest Americans relished the freedom to worship the Almighty, or whomever they chose to honor. Both the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence are based on the Bible, even stating that we all have rights given by God Himself. Now, the Bible has been removed the classrooms while abortions in the name of convenience are the norm. Many of the nation’s elite ridicule all who call Jesus Christ Lord. An all out assault has been waged on God by this country, even to the point of rewriting textbooks used in our schools and colleges (see Jeremiah 50:11). We are definitely decaying as a people.
- Whose land the rivers divide (Isaiah 18:2, 7): More than any other nation, America is carved up by her rivers–tens of thousands of them, some tiny, and some huge. Also, the USA is divided into 50 states, many of those borders being drawn by rivers.
- Your mother shall be deeply ashamed; she who bore you shall be ashamed (Jeremiah 50:12): Great Britain is the mother who who gave birth to America. In this verse, the two Hebrew words translated as “ashamed” are actually two different words. The first ashamed, buwsh, means much the same as the English word. The second ashamed, chapher, literally means “to be confounded and brought into confusion.” A quick glance of any UK paper shows this verse to be very accurate.
- The least of the nations (Jeremiah 50:12): The “least” of this verse literally means the “last” or “latter” in a line. In other words, the youngest. America is far and away the youngest of the nations. While there have been nations to change borders or names since America’s founding, there have been no national powers birthed since the settling of this land.
- The hammer of the whole earth (Jeremiah 50:23) & God’s weapon to break nations (Jeremiah 51:20): The United States has long been called the “hammer of foreign policy,” and has been used by God to bring down many evil regimes (Axis Powers, Soviet Russia, among others.)
- The mixed peoples who are in her midst (Jeremiah 50:37): America has long been called the world’s melting pot. We have people from all races and nationalities living within our borders. The current deluge of illegal immigrants could also apply here. No other nation fits this description as strong as the United States.
- Who dwell on many waters (Jeremiah 51:13): In addition to the aforementioned rivers, the United States is flanked by the world’s two largest oceans, nestled to a huge gulf, and is home to the Great Lakes.
- Abundant in treasures (Jeremiah 51:13): Even today, America is the richest nation on earth–and it isn’t even close.
- She glorified herself and lived luxuriously (Revelation 18:7): What other country has lived the life of pleasure and leisure that the USA has? We have the biggest houses, the fanciest cars, and the coolest boats. Each year, millions and millions of people attend sporting events, and many millions more watch them from home, on an HD TV that gets 300 channels. Even the poorest among us have cell phones, computers, and microwave ovens.
(Note: Studying the Babylons of prophecy can be confusing, especially in Jeremiah where the different ones are often mentioned in the same chapters. For now, to avoid confusion about Revelation 18, I should point out that there are three distinct Babylons of Scripture. We have the great city Babylon (Genesis 11), spiritual Babylon (Revelation 17), and political Babylon, an end-time nation of Revelation 18.)
God has blessed our freedom and our founding. He has made this land the most fruitful and profitable nation in the history of the earth. But with this great blessing comes a great responsibility (Luke 12:48), one that we have neglected. America has spat in the face of the Lord, and because of all of our blessing, our judgment will be severe.
The nation described above will meet a devastating end. We will discuss that in a later post.
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