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From Punishment to Destiny
The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy
From Punishment to Destiny
into their land which I gave to their fathers’” (Jeremiah 16:14-15). But why will these calamities come on the United States and Britain? God’s expectations of Israel
In fulfillment of His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, God established Israel as a nation for the purpose of bringing blessings to other nations (Deuteronomy 9:5; Genesis 12:3). From their earliest days God expected the Israelites to be an example to the other nations around them of the divine blessings that would be poured out on all who worship and obey Him (Deuteronomy 4:6; 14:2). If the Israelites would fulfill their part of their covenant agreement with God, God said He would make Israel the premier nation of the world (Deuteronomy 26:19; 28:1, 1213). But if the Israelites disobeyed they would suffer the consequences (Deuteronomy 28:1568). God told them other nations would take them captive (verses 25, 32-33, 36). Even their punishment was to be a lesson to other nations: “You shall become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword
“How awful that day will be! None will be like it. It will be a time of trouble for Jacob, but he will be saved out of it” (Jeremiah 30:7, NIV).
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Like the people of Britain, a large portion of the United States has in recent times come to ignore the teachings of the Bible.
Shaun Venish
hough the United States and Britain do not appear in the Bible’s prophecies of the end time under their present names, God hasn’t ignored these nations. He identifies them in prophecy according to their ancestry. Most people simply haven’t known where to look for them. Throughout the long history of the lost 10 tribes of Israel, God has always known who and where they were. Just as He promised to their ancient forefathers, He has given the modern descendants of Joseph— primarily Britain and the United States—the family birthright and many of the earth’s choicest blessings. These nations have received a singular opportunity to provide leadership in the world at large. But what does the Bible say about their future? The answer is sobering. Many Bible prophecies portray a repentant Israel at the return of Christ. Its descendants will turn to God and begin obeying His laws— but only after they have gone through crises worse in many ways than the catastrophes that befell the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. The descendants of Israel who repent and turn to God—described in prophecies as only a “remnant” of their previous population (Isaiah 11:11, 16; Jeremiah 23:3; Ezekiel 6:8)—will suffer enormously during the biblically prophesied time of “great tribulation” (Matthew 24:21). Only when they are humbled to the point of repenting of their sins will they be able to fulfill their God-ordained destiny of serving as a blessing to the nations. This wonderful future, however, will be preceded by the severest of trials. As Moses delivered the ancient Israel ites from Egyptian slavery, Jesus Christ is coming to deliver modern Britain and America and the other Israelite-descended nations from an end-of-the-age subjugation by a modern religious and political system called “Babylon the great” (Revelation 17), centered in Europe. This latter-day deliverance entails the fulfillment of some of the most astounding prophecies of the Bible: “‘Therefore behold, the days are coming,’ says the Lord, ‘that it shall no more be said, “The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,” but, “The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.” For I will bring them back
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among all nations where the Lord will drive you” (verse 37). The Israelites were supposed to be a model to other nations of the blessings of obedience and the penalties of disobedience to God’s instruction. Regardless of the choices they have made, both anciently and today, this is still the role God has given them. And He holds them responsible for the way they respond to that role. Nearly 3,500 years ago God told Israel: “Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.