Does the United States Appear in Bible Prophecy?

[Hankelvis]

Does the United States Appear in Bible Prophecy?

Small nations like Egypt, Jordan and Libya are found in Bible prophecies of the time of the end. But what about the major English-speaking countries like the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia? Are they absent from Bible prophecy, or do we just not know where to look?

This may sound like crazy fiction to many people —and maybe to you too. But a considerable amount of Bible prophecy specifically talks about the United States and other major English-speaking Western nations at our time in history—a time the Bible calls “the time of the end.”

Most readers of the Bible believe it's the basis of spiritual truth. Many know that a large number of prophecies are found within it. But without the vital key to understanding where these nations are found in Scripture, Christians cannot perceive what's going to happen next in the world.

Nations small and great described in Bible prophecy

Several midsize and smaller nations, such as Egypt, Jordan and Libya, are identified clearly in the Bible. So does it makes sense that the greatest single nation of our time or the greatest community of nations would be left out?

Many events now in the past were laid out in advance in the Bible. God's prophets accurately foretold the rise and fall of great empires and nations, and sometimes specific kings one after another. Many prophecies, including those dealing with the United States and other major English-speaking nations today, were spoken and written down thousands of years before their fulfillment.

Prophecies make up a fourth to a third of the Bible. But why are the scriptures that identify the United States and give advance news of its future not widely taught or understood among Christians today?

A primary reason is that the key to understanding the most sweeping prophecies has gone largely ignored. It can be found in the first books of the Bible—especially the book of Genesis.

Key to the prophecies of the United States

In the book of Genesis we find that God made great promises to one man—Abram, whose name was changed to Abraham. We read about this first in Genesis 12:1-3

: “Now the Lord had said to Abram: 'Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed'” (emphasis added throughout).

Within God's statement to Abram are two promises. The first is that God would make from him “a great nation.” Now when God calls something great, it is great!

Most people are blind to the tremendous meaning of this promise today. If they have any opinion at all, most think modern Jews fulfill this prophecy. But they are wrong. Although significant, the Jewish people have constituted a relatively small nation in world history—with modern nation-states such as the United States, China, India, Russia, Germany, Britain and others far exceeding them in terms of national greatness.

And indeed, God's promises of national greatness to Abraham's descendants have been fulfilled among other great nations—nations related to the Jewish people, as we will see.

Most churches generally acknowledge the second part of God's promise to Abraham in Genesis 12—that “in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” This deals principally with the saving knowledge of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ, and God's gift of eternal life through Him.

However, God intended to shape all history through His promises to Abraham's descendants of building a great nation—one that would dominate the world in the time before Christ's second coming. Another would have significant influence over much of the rest of the world.

Promise of a great nation and multiple nations

Later God expanded His national promises to Abraham. He said, “I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered” (Genesis 13:16).

Then, when Abraham was 99 years old, God spoke again, making these national promises even bigger, more elaborate and everlasting: “I will make you exceedingly fruitful, and I will make nations of you, and kings shall come from you” (Genesis 17:6). So not just a single nation but multiple nations would descend from Abraham.

http://www.ucg.org/the-good-news/does-the-united-states-appear-in-b...