America and Israel: Spiritually Connected
Part 2 – Twin Nations of Prophetic Destiny
Last week we began a new study entitled America and Israel: Spiritually Connected. And we specifically looked at the question Is America found anywhere in Bible Prophecy? This is a question that spiritually hungry Christians in our country ask, because they have an unquenchable thirst for knowledge and a curiosity for the mysteries of God. It’s understandable that Americans would wonder if our nation appears within the pages of our Holy text, after all America was founded as a Christian nation. Americans believe in end-time prophecy more than any other Gentile nation, and Americans read their Bibles more than the people of any nation on earth.
Can America be found anywhere in the 66 books, 1, 189 chapters, and 783, 137 words of the Holy Bible? For centuries scholars, ministers and students of prophecy have searched, researched, and at times stretched the meanings of prophetic passages in order to pull a nugget from the text and identify America as a nation mentioned in prophecy.
But as we discussed last week, America’s prophetic destiny can not be found in a single verse or a single chapter of the Bible, unlike other nations of the world. Our prophetic destiny can be found in the symbolism and patterns of an ancient nation. Our country’s spiritual prophetic pattern is hidden within the pattern of ancient Israel.
In this study we will explore and examine these patterns, and correlate these amazing pictures with America. You will see that God may not have placed America in the direct textual reading of the Bible, but He has carefully hidden America within the historical context of Israel.
As you will discover, the patterns, cycles, and symbolism of ancient Israel parallel the developing movements and history within the United States. This is important because as the patterns progressively develop into the future, it means that the same Divine chastisements that fell on Israel may very well also be the destiny of America.
Now as I said last week, you will find a list of the sources I’ve consulted for this series in your inserts. In today’s teaching I have borrowed heavily and quoted from the book “Unusual Prophecies Being Fulfilled.” This series has some very deep teachings, so I’m also going to provide you with copies of the teachings each week after the service for your own study. If you were not with us last week, you will also find a copy of last week’s teaching on the vestibule table.
Most scholars recognize that God uses types and shadows to hide His mysteries. The purpose of this is to hide these mysterious from those who have only worldly wisdom, and reveal them to those who will search for the truth using spiritual wisdom. Examples of these would be the Tabernacle of Moses, which was patterned after the heavenly Temple. The Passover lamb in Exodus is a perfect picture of Christ as the Lamb of God who would suffer at the Jewish Passover season. The burning of the red heifer in Numbers 19 correlates with the crucifixion of Christ.
So, you see, in order to discover hidden truth, Biblical patterns and cycles often need to be studied and examined carefully. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes 1:9, “that which has been is what will be, that which is done is what will be done”. The future is hidden in the past, and our exploring the patterns of the past will unlock the events of the future.
With this concept in mind, I believe the prophetic birth, assignment, destiny and even possible demise of America can be found by examining the historical patterns of ancient Israel. To see how America is linked with Israel, we begin with a prediction God gave to Moses.
I. A New Nation
God revealed to Moses that His chosen nation, Israel, would eventually turn from their faith. He knew from the very beginning that His children would not always walk in the way He desired. So, Moses was warned that Israel would be brought into captivity for their sins and that God would raise up another nation to carry on the spiritual assignment of Israel.
Deuteronomy 32:21, “They [Israel] have provoked Me to jealousy by what is not God; they have moved Me to anger by their foolish idols. But I will provoke them to jealousy by those who are not a nation; I will move them to anger by a foolish nation.”
The sin of the nation of Israel was always the same – spiritual unbelief. God warned His people through several of the prophets what would happen to them if they continued in their unbelief. Last week we looked specifically at the prophet Isaiah and then at the words of Christ himself which compared the nation of Israel to a vineyard, specifically God’s vineyard. Isaiah prophesied that the vineyard [or Israel] would be destroyed because it only brought for wild grapes instead of good grapes.
Jesus went a step further using the same parable in Matthew 21. He said that the vineyard would be taken from Israel because of their spiritual unbelief and given to another nation, which would bear fruit. As we said before this new nation is often considered to be the Church. And this would be true, because the church is a spiritual nation, a spiritual kingdom with a spiritual emphasis made up of all called-out believers from every race and ethnic origin who have received Christ as their Savior and Lord.
There is, however, another definition of the word nation as used in these two passages. I looked up this word “nation” in the Hebrew and it is the word ghoy, which refers to a gentile (or non-Jewish) nation usually defined politically, ethnically, and territorially. This word “nation” can also refer to a physical, political entity.
Now, there is a relatively “new” nation on earth, formed by gentiles whose founding documents are based on the Jewish Scriptures and whose Divine assignment has been to preach the message of the Kingdom since its inception. That nation has been, and still is, the United States of America.
While the many theories that place America in a prophetic Biblical role may have some elements of validity, I believe the more appropriate one is the theory that God raised up America to be a vineyard nation. A nation which received Israel’s spiritual privileges because of their unbelief. This was the main topic of last week’s teaching. This week we are going to try to understand this concept better by revealing the incredible link found between ancient Israel and modern America.
II. Twin Nations of Prophetic Destiny
Scholars admit it is difficult to uncover prophetic references to America in the Scriptures. What is unusual, however, is how the patterns of ancient Israel and America correlate. Since the Almighty uses patterns to reveal His mysteries in Scripture, perhaps we can discover the prophetic destiny of America through what can be referred to as America-Israel patters.
A. America-Israel Patterns
If we correlate Israel’s early history and the early history of America, we can see numerous parallels that are, in my opinion, beyond mere coincidence. We are going to be looking at a lot of examples to illustrate this idea, some this week and probably more next week. Let’s examine some of these America-Israel patterns.
First, both Israel and America came out of other nations. Israel came out of 400 years of Egyptian bondage to reclaim their Promised Land. America came out of England to form a new nation called the United States of America.
Israel, under divine inspiration, journeyed out of bondage by faith, trusting God to lead them. America’s founders (Columbus, Pilgrims, etc.) under divine inspiration, journeyed by faith, trusting that God would lead them and bless their efforts.
A sea of water separated both peoples from their promised lands, and both nations had to cross that water to reach them. Israel crossed the Red Sea, leaving Egypt behind them, and our forefathers crossed the Atlantic Ocean, leaving their old countries behind them.
Both Israel and America possessed the land from the natives who lived among them. The Israelites found it necessary to remove the primitive and heathen tribes from the Promised Land in order to possess it and build their communities. The early founders of America came to this continent and often removed Native American tribes in order to possess the land and build their towns and communities.
Both nations have the inspired words of God as their foundational principles guiding law and government. The primary national document initiating the moral and spiritual laws of ancient Israel is the Torah, the first five books of Moses written in the wilderness. America’s three main documents, The Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution are all based upon the Torah, the Prophets, and the four Gospels.
Both nations had the number 13 linked to their early histories. Including the tribe of Levi, Israel had a total of 13 tribes, which entered the Promised Land in the time of Joshua. These 13 tribes, called the children of Israel, made up the nation of Israel. America was founded with 13 colonies, which were the original 13 states of the Union.
In its early beginning, Israel did not have a king or a capital. Judges 21:25 tells us that, “Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” Many years after Joshua, Israel asked for a king and Saul was chosen as the first king of the nation of Israel. America existed as 13 colonies for many years, and a national leader, a president, was not selected until after the formation of the United States.
During the reign of Israel’s second king (David), the stronghold of Jebus was seized and called the city of David. It was later named Jerusalem, and from that time forward, was the undisputed capital of Israel. It belonged to no tribe and was an independent city even though it was the capital of the entire nation. After America signed the founding documents, a president, George Washington, was selected, and a new capital was named after him, Washington. Washington D.C. belongs to no state in the union; yet it is the capital of the United States.
Both Israel and America were at one time in their history divided geographically between the north and the south. The tribes of Israel were eventually divided between the northern and the southern kingdoms. In America, the nation experienced a major division between the north and the south at the time of the Civil War.
Both nations have faced war with the nation of Babylon. Today our troops are battling in Iraq - the very site of the ancient empire of Babylon that fought with ancient Israel.
May 14 is also a significant date for both countries. The Jews were scattered throughout the world for about 19 centuries. Finally, on May 1, 1948, the British mandate ended at midnight, and Israel was reborn as a nation. May 14, 1607 America’s first colony was formed.
These amazing patterns indicate that God has marked America as a chosen nation, just as He did ancient Israel for His chosen people. There is no other nation on earth whose early history parallels Israel – only the United States.
Now you may be thinking, this is all kind of interesting, but can’t it be mere coincidence? Aren’t you making a mountain out of a molehill? Well, if these were the only correlations between our two countries, I might agree with you. But these few that we’ve mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg. We’re going to look at one more today and a whole bunch more next week.
B. The Tabernacle and America
One of the most interesting features in the spiritual linking of Israel and America is found in the patterns of the Tabernacle furniture. God instructed Moses to build furniture for the Tabernacle in the wilderness, which would be used in the worship and sacrifices of the Tabernacle. There were seven major pieces of furniture listed by Moses. They were the Brass Altar (Ex. 27:6), the Brass Lavar (Ex. 30:18), the Gold Menorah (Ex. 25:31), the Table of Shewbread (Ex. 25:30), the Altar of Incense (Ex. 30:1), the Veil of Separation (Ex. 26:33), and the Ark of the Covenant (Ex. 25:10).
(Diagram 1) The Tabernacle was a large rectangular tent, measuring approximately 208 ft long by 104 ft wide. The only entrance was through the main curtain that hung on the east side. Once a person entered the sacred compound, he discovered three distinctive areas: the Outer Court, the Inner Court and the Holy of Holies.
Each piece of furniture that we named was placed in a special position within one of these three areas and also had a particular feature or substance that distinguished it from the other pieces. Moving from east to west, let’s look at the position of the sacred furniture. The first item of furniture was the brass altar, sometimes called the brazen altar. This was where the animal sacrifices were offered. Three fires continually burned upon this altar. Two were used as backup in case the main fire went out.
The second piece of furniture was the brass lavar. This was a large round bowl made of brass that, in Solomon’s day, held over 30,000 gallons of water. The priest washed himself and the sacrifices here before entering the inner court.
One entered the Inner Court through a curtain, and found three more pieces of furniture. To the south or left was a candelabra with seven branches, called a menorah. Olive oil was placed in the shafts of the menorah and it was used to light the inner court. Directly across from the menorah to the north was the table of shewbread. On this table were placed twelve pieces of bread prepared for the priest from grains harvested from the land.
Continuing westward was the golden altar of incense. The golden altar was situated just before the large veil in the Temple that separated the inner court from the Holy of Holies. Hot coals of fire and special incense made by the priests were placed on this altar. The coals and the incense represented the prayers of the saints going up before God to heaven.
Traveling westward in a straight line, past the golden altar, the priest had to pass through a giant veil. This veil divided the inner court and the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was the most important room in the Tabernacle and later the Temple, and it contained the most important piece of furniture, the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was a wooden box covered inside and out with pure gold.
So here comes the interesting part – how the Tabernacle and its furniture give us a picture of America. If you place a map of the contiguous 48 states on a table and put a box around it, it would be roughly, a large rectangle, the same shape as the Tabernacle. While the Tabernacle had three division, the outer court, the inner court, and the Holy of Holies, America also is divided into roughly three sections - the East, the Midwest, and the West.
Beginning in the east and moving westward, if you placed the sacred furniture of the Tabernacle on this map of America in the same places they would be if they were inside the Tabernacle your going to find that the substance or feature associated with each piece of furniture fits perfectly into the area on the map of the United States where it falls.
You can see what I mean by looking at Diagram 2. The diagram of the Tabernacle and its furnishings are superimposed over a map of the continental 48 states.
C. Mapping the Tabernacle (Diagram 2)
So, let’s map this tabernacle and see just how these two diagrams correlate. The only entrance to the tabernacle was on the east. When the colonists came across the Atlantic, they landed on America’s eastern coast and began building. So, in a similar way, the historic entrance to America is our Eastern Coast.
1. The Brass Altar
The brass altar with its three fires burning is the first piece of furniture you come to walking into the Tabernacle from the east. Entering the United States from the East Coast the brass altar would lie on the states of Tennessee, Virginia, and Kentucky. This area of America experienced dynamic revivals before and after the Civil War that impacted the nation. Great revivals burned in Kentucky throughout the 1800s. The fires that fell in this area correlate to the fire on the brass altar in the tabernacle.
2. The Brass Lavar
If we continue in a straight line, the next piece of furniture you come to is the brass lavar filled with water. If you placed this on the map of the United States it would fit right over the Mississippi River, easily recognized as the main waterway in America. The Mississippi River is used to move huge barges loaded with millions of tons of coal, steel, food and other vital products in America. The water in the lavar correlates with the main watercourse in America.
3. The Menorah
Next, comes the Menorah, which sat on the south end of the inner court. On the American map this would be positioned in the regions of Texas and Oklahoma. The Menorah was replenished each day with oil to keep the lamps burning in the Tabernacle and Temple. Both Texas and Oklahoma are known as the OIL STATES of America. Much of the wealth from both of these states comes from drilling for oil and natural gas. Therefore, the oil of the Menorah correlates with the main product of these two states.
4. The Table of Shewbread
Looking north the pattern continues with the table of shewbread. The bread on this table came from the wheat grown in Israel. In the Tabernacle this table was in a direct line north of the Menorah. On the American map this table of bread would be positioned in the states of Kansas, Nebraska, and the Dakotas. These farming states are the center of America’s breadbasket.
5. The Golden Altar of Incense
Traveling from east to west in a direct line in the Tabernacle the next holy fixture would be the golden altar of incense. On the map of America, the golden altar of the Tabernacle would be placed in the region of Colorado. The main substances on the golden altar were hot coals of fire and the incense. The incense used in Moses’ time was red and contained eleven different types of spices. Some of the incense from the ancient Temple was discovered in Qumran, Israel along with the Dead Sea scrolls. The incense had a deep red color and contained ten of the eleven spices of the Temple incense. The state of Colorado was named after the Colorado River. Spanish explorers named the river Colorado because it means “reddish colored.” Hot coals had to be used on the altar to burn the incense, and Colorado was known for its coal deposits.
6. The Veil
If the information appears to be merely coincidental thus far, then consider the following. A giant veil divided the Inner court from the Holy of Holies. On the map, this veil would need to be placed west of Denver running north and south to be in approximately the same place it would be in relation to the other pieces of furniture on our map. In America there is a great land split running north to south in this area called the continental divide. This is a perfect picture of the large veil in the tabernacle which divided these two important but separate areas.
7. The Ark of the Covenant
After passing through the veil, the final chamber was the Holy of Holies. It housed the Ark of the Covenant. The Ark was a wooden box, covered inside and out with pure gold. The lid was called the Mercy Seat and two gold cherubim sat on the lid looking down at the seat of mercy.
On the map of the United States, the Ark of the Covenant would be placed in the state of California. The main substance of the Ark was gold, and the state of California was formed by the famous gold rush. Also at the turn of the 20th century a revival called the Azusa Street revival, began in Los Angeles and spread throughout the world. The revival featured the preaching of repentance and revealed God’s mercy to the nation.
So, are these picture parallels a strange coincidence? Or, do they reveal in picture form how God designed the United States to correlate to His revelation of the Tabernacle? If so, why would God be interested in a place such as America?
The answer may lie in the spiritual foundation of our nation. The Tabernacle and the Temple were both designed as places of redemption for the nation of Israel. They provided a meeting place between the Almighty and His people. I believe America was founded to proclaim the redemptive plan of God to the nations of the world.
America has become a spiritual dwelling place for the Christian faith, just as Israel was a dwelling place for the covenant people. America has become a safe haven for the Jewish people in times of global disasters and holocausts.
This unique link connecting America to ancient Israel continues with more than just symbolism and patterns. Next week we will also see many correlations connecting this spiritual chain with the founding and early development of America.
Works Consulted:
“The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible”, KJV 1991, ed. Spiros Zodhiates, Th.D., AMG Publishers, Chattanooga, TN.
“Plucking the Eagle’s Wings” by Perry Stone, book, 2001, Voice of Evangelism, Inc., Pressworks, Cleveland, TN.
“Dispensational Truth” by Clarence Larkin, book, 1918, Larkin Estate, Philadelphia, PA.
“Unusual Prophecies Being Fulfilled: Discerning the Future Destiny of America” by Perry Stone, book, 2006, Voice of Evangelism, Inc., Pathway Press, Cleveland, TN.
