PROGRAM 122
AMERICA: GOD’S END-TIME VINEYARD?
AMERICA IN PROPHECY (PART 1)
A.
Land Beyond Ethiopia
1. We discussed the purpose of America and might it be drawing to a close.
2. Where is America in prophecy?
a. Here are some theories that have been presented in the past.
“Woe to the land shadowed with buzzing wings, which is beyond the rivers
of Ethiopia, Which sends ambassadors by sea, even in vessels of reed on the
waters, saying, „Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall and smooth of skin, to
a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation powerful and
treading down, whose land the rivers divide. . . .In that time a present will
be brought to the LORD of hosts from a people tall and smooth of skin, and
from a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation powerful and
treading down, whose land the rivers divide -to the place of the name of the
LORD of hosts, to Mount Zion." (Isaiah 18:1-2, 7)
3. Some contend that “the land beyond Ethiopia” is an allusion to America.
4. The nation Isaiah saw is "shadowing with wings" or literally, "a land with buzzing wings"
5. This nation sends “ambassadors by the sea” and has “swift messengers.”
6. Isaiah said it was a “nation scattered” and “peeled.”
a. The word “scattered” can mean “to stretch” or to be “tall.”
b. The word “peeled” means, according to BDB “smooth or bright.”
c. Strong’s defines it as “obstinate, independent.”
7. So this is a nation of tall, smooth-skinned, bright complexioned and independent people.
8. It is nation who, from the beginning of their civilization, have been a great power.
9. A literal translation of "meted out and trodden under foot" is "mighty and conquering".
a. Other translations read:
 "People dreaded near and far that conquers and treads down." [Berkeley]
 "A terror far and near; a sturdy race of conquerors" [Moffet]
 "Terrible from beginning and onwards, a nation mighty..." [Rotherham]
10. Using these references, some teachers believe this may refer to America.
a. While it is possible, I believe the evidence is inconclusive.
11. However, if this prophecy refers to a nation today, they should be aware that Isaiah opened
his prophecy with a warning.
a. This nation whose “land the rivers divide” can also be “whose land the rivers spoil.”
B.
America, Babylon the Great
“The word that the LORD spoke against Babylon and against the land of the
Chaldeans by Jeremiah the prophet. . . .Thus says the LORD: „Behold, I will
raise up against Babylon, against those who dwell in Leb Kamai, a
destroying wind.”(Jeremiah 50:1; 51:1)
1. Others believe that Jeremiah 50 & 51 are a reference to America.
a. When carefully examining text, obvious America is not the object of this prophecy.
2. For example, Jeremiah says, this prophecy against Babylon “and land of Chaldeans.”
a. Specific about who the prophecy is against.
3. He also mentions that Babylon has been a “golden cup in the Lord's hand.”
REFERENCE: Jeremiah 51:7
4. Also mentions that Babylon has suddenly “fallen.”
REFERENCE: Jeremiah 51:8
5. Revelation 17 & 18 uses the same phraseology when predicting the destruction of Babylon.
a. This woman on whose head is written “Mystery, Babylon the Great …” is a city.
“And the woman whom you saw is that great city which reigns over the
kings of the earth.” (Revelation 17:18)
6. A careful study of Revelation 17 reveals this city is not Rome.
a. The Beast “was (used to be), is not (not at present) but will ascend …”
REFERENCE: Revelation 17:8
7. The Beast used to be before John’s day and will rise again.
a. United States did not exist before John’s day so how could it rise again?
8. Beast and woman are in the desert.
REFERENCE: Revelation 17:3
9. Neither Rome nor New York (the US) is in the desert.
a. Babylon is however.
10. Mindset (we’ve covered this before) which permeates EVERY nation on earth.
a. Way of thinking that rules all the kings of the earth.
11. Therefore, all of God’s people are encouraged to “come out of her.”
a. In the future, Babylon is going to sink and never return again.
“And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, „When you arrive in Babylon and see it, and
read all these words, then you shall say, „O LORD, you have spoken against
this place to cut it off, so that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast,
but it shall be desolate forever.‟ Now it shall be, when you have finished
reading this book, that you shall tie a stone to it and throw it out into the
Euphrates. Then you shall say, „Thus Babylon shall sink and not rise from
the catastrophe that I will bring upon her.‟ ” (Jeremiah 51:61-64).
12. Specifically refers to the Babylon that was situated on the Euphrates River.
a. It is that same Euphrates River mentioned in Revelation 9 in reference to rise of Beast.
“And they had as king over them the angel of the bottomless pit, whose
name in Hebrew is Abaddon, but in Greek he has the name Apollyon.”
(Revelation 9:11)
13. Abaddon is the “king” or head over the other creatures and entities that emerge from abyss.
a. I suggest this includes the four angels bound at the “great river Euphrates.”
REFERENCE: Revelation 9:14
14. The abyss or bottomless pit is where the Beast arises.
REFERENCE: Revelation 17:8
15. That would place the abyss (from which the Beast arises) in the environs of Babylon.
a. Present day Iraq.
16. Based on these facts, Ido not feel that Jeremiah and John are referring to America.
17. That is not to say that America is exempt from being Babylonian in mindset and method.
a. Babylon is everywhere and in every nation.
PROGRAM 123
AMERICA: GOD’S END-TIME VINEYARD?
AMERICA IN PROPHECY (PART 2)
A.
Daniel’s Modern Beasts
1. Where is America in prophecy?
a. Isaiah 18
b. Jeremiah 50 – 51
“In the first year of Belshazzar king of Babylon, Daniel had a dream and
visions of his head while on his bed. Then he wrote down the dream, telling
the main facts. Daniel spoke, saying, „I saw in my vision by night, and
behold, the four winds of heaven were stirring up the Great Sea. And four
great beasts came up from the sea, each different from the other. The first
was like a lion, and had eagle's wings. I watched till its wings were plucked
off; and it was lifted up from the earth and made to stand on two feet like a
man, and a man's heart was given to it. And suddenly another beast, a
second, like a bear. It was raised up on one side, and had three ribs in its
mouth between its teeth. And they said thus to it: Arise, devour much flesh!
After this I looked, and there was another, like a leopard, which had on its
back four wings of a bird. The beast also had four heads, and dominion was
given to it. „After this I saw in the night visions, and behold, a fourth beast,
dreadful and terrible, exceedingly strong. It had huge iron teeth; it was
devouring, breaking in pieces, and trampling the residue with its feet. It
was different from all the beasts that were before it, and it had ten horns.”
(Daniel 7:1-7)
2. Traditional interpretation tells us that the four beasts mentioned in Daniel 7:1-7 are:
 Babylon
 Medo-Persia
 Greece
 Rome
3. At least two crucial points should be taken into account here.
a. First, consider the timing of Daniel's prophecy.
4. The clue is found in the first verse of this prophecy - the first year of Belshazzar's reign.
a. Belshazzar reigned for only fourteen years.
b. This means when Daniel received the prophecy, Babylon was on the decline.
5. Armed with this fact, we now take a closer look at how the angel interpreted the prophecy.
“Those great beasts, which are four, are four kings which arise out of the
earth.”(Daniel 7:17)
6. At the time of the vision, Babylon was existing world power.
a. The angel said that the four kings "shall arise" (future tense).
7. There is another interpretation of this vision; these are modern nations.
 Britain
 America
 Russia
 Germany
8. The terminology “shall arise” infers that these four kings are to be in the future.
9. Traditional interpretation places 3 of 4 kings in the future but appoints Babylon as the first.
a. Should Babylon be interpreted as the first king?
b. If not, who is the first king?
10. National seal of Great Britain, one of the mightiest empires of the modern world, is the Lion.
a. In recent history, it was said that the "sun never sets on the British Empire".
b. Britain colonized much of the world including present day Israel and North America.
11. Britain played an integral part in the establishing of Israel.
a. Starting at the Balfour Declaration and the liberation of Jerusalem in 1917.
12. On November 2, 1898, Theodor Herzl, father of modern Zionism, arrived in Jerusalem.
13. Was given audience with Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany, who was touring Palestine at the time.
a. Herzl petitioned the Kaiser for German support for a Jewish state in Palestine.
b. Herzl's request was rejected.
c. Date of this meeting on the Hebrew calendar was Cheshvan 17.
14. 19 years later to the day, on Nov 2, 1917 (Cheshvan 17), Balfour Declaration, was issued.
15. 37 days later, on eve of Hanukkah, Dec. 9, 1917, General Edmund Allenby, a devout
Christian and British commander, marched into Jerusalem.
a. For 400 years Turks had occupied Jerusalem.
16. During World War I they were allied with Germany, ruled by Kaiser Wilhelm.
17. As Allenby approached Jaffa Gate, he dismounted his horse and walked towards the city.
a. Commented did not want to repeat "triumphal entry" made by Kaiser 19 years before.
b. WWI began on Aug. 4, 1914, (9 Av) - destruction of both Jewish Temples!
18. If Great Britain is first beast revealed in Daniel's prophecy, what are we to make of the “two
eagles wings plucked from the lion”?
B.
Plucked From the Lion?
1. Obviously, eagles’ wings could refer to the United States, who came out of British Lion.
2. Inherited freedoms, justice system, and Christian values from England.
3. Yet in 1776, we were plucked from the Lion and began to stand on our own.
4. There is a story that says Haym Salomon, a Jewish financier of the Revolution, suggested the
eagle as America’s emblem based on this prophecy.
a. Franklin had wanted it to be the wild turkey.
5. If the Lion is Great Britain and the Eagles wings are America, then the bear refers to Russia.
a. The bear has been associated with Russia for some time.
b. The leopard might refer to the German Reichs (particularly the Third Reich).
c. It may be an allusion to a revitalized Europe at large.
6. No mistake about who the fourth beast is - represents the Anti-Christ.
7. This kingdom will arise in the last days and, thus, this is the time-frame for this prophecy.
8. It is possible that the “eagles wings”- the United States - has a role in end-time events.
9. Considering role Britain has played in Israel's history, we must have connection to Israel, too.
10. This brings us to the point we have been working up to – this connection to Israel.
a. How it centers upon a vineyard.
C.
The Vineyard
“Now let me sing to my well-beloved a song of my beloved regarding His
vineyard: My well-beloved has a vineyard on a very fruitful hill. He dug it up
and cleared out its stones, and planted it with the choicest vine. He built a
tower in its midst, and also made a winepress in it; so He expected it to
bring forth good grapes, but it brought forth wild grapes.And now, O
inhabitants of Jerusalem and men of Judah, judge, please, between me and
my vineyard. What more could have been done to my vineyard that I have
not done in it? Why then, when I expected it to bring forth good grapes, did
it bring forth wild grapes? And now, please let me tell you what I will do to
my vineyard: I will take away its hedge, and it shall be burned; and break
down its wall, and it shall be trampled down. I will lay it waste; it shall not
be pruned or dug, but there shall come up briers and thorns. I will also
command the clouds that they rain no rain on it. For the vineyard of the
LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are His pleasant
plant.” (Isaiah 5:1-7)