The World Tomorrow

Russia - Part 1

by Herbert W Armstrong

(PLAY FROM START)

My friends, while we are looking for good news tomorrow, we're in a very troubled world now. And we've been going into prophecy, what is prophesied. Now, what's prophesied to happen to Russia? Where does Russia fit into biblical prophecy? I've been telling you, my friends, that there is no prophecy showing that Russia is going to attack us now. Later, Russia will. But in the meantime, something else is going to happen, and I'm going to show you what's going to happen to Russia.

Now, in the meantime I've also been showing you in many, many programs for some weeks now, what is going to happen to the United States. We're going to wind up the very top of all the nations, but we have a lesson to learn first. We're going to be punished, very severely punished because God loves our people. We are the chosen people - I didn't say favorite - but we are the chosen people and we have not accomplished the real mission, we have not done the work that God had chosen us to perform. And we're going to be punished, we have lessons to learn. We don't know the way to real peace and happiness and real joy and we're never going to have it permanently until we learn the way and we're going to have to be punished to learn it.

I tell you my friends, this world has certainly forgotten God. And we have no conception of the kind of blessings that the Eternal Creator - yes, the Creator of all forces and powers and of all laws - of what He can do, and of what He does do, and will do, and actually does do, to the one or the ones who will really yield to obey Him and to follow His ways. To think His thoughts, to do His ways instead of the ways of mankind, and the ways of human nature, the ways that seem right to a man, and the ways that have been built up in this world.

If you try it, you'll find out by experience - I know that by experience. And we should all know it because we all share these blessings. But what are we doing with them? We are certainly not really glorifying God. We say that we glorify God, yes as God says in some of the prophecies about us. Our land is filled with churches, and we make mention of God in our prayers, but not in real truth and not from our hearts and not in real obedience. We've departed from Him and His ways. We're doing the ways of the pagans. And we call a lot of it Christian - falsely.

Now, God is going to punish because the ways we've been going, as I've been showing you recently, have brought nothing but heartaches and headaches and fears and worries and empty lives and suffering, untold suffering to our people. Until our land is filled, as I've said, with hospitals and insane asylums and with prisons and jails and everything of the kind. And there is so little happiness over the world today and especially so little in our land and the things that we're doing, my friends, are not satisfying.

Now, I know we get busy in the whirl of this world's entertainment. And we kid ourselves, we're getting along alright but there comes a time when most of us wake up and realize, our lives are empty. We're not happy. And the things that we're doing, and even the religion that most of us have is not satisfying if we're honest enough to look down deep into our own hearts, clear down deep. We wake up and realize it isn't the real thing. But there is the real thing available. Well, God is going to bring us to our senses because the way we've been going, I've been showing you, our people can be wiped out in one night. In one night - without warning. The weapons are now available, as it has been officially proclaimed to wipe out, to destroy an entire continent in one night, without warning. And we're living in such a world.

Daughter of Babylon (Play from 4:27)

Now what does lie ahead? What is going to happen? Now, we've been in the forty-seventh chapter of Isaiah and I want to read a little more, once again. In the preceding program we went in this again and I want you to get all of the setting. Open your own Bible, see this in the forty-seventh chapter of Isaiah first, before we come to the other prophesies about Russia. Now first this prophecy is about the daughter of Babylon. And I've shown you that this is not the ancient Babylon of six hundred years before Christ but the daughter of that Babylon, and it is a prophecy for our time - for our day now. It is the modern twentieth century daughter of the ancient Babylon. This is spoken of in the female gender. That Babylon was spoken of in the male gender. Now let's see why. Here it is again just to refresh your memory, although I went into it in the preceding program. Let's catch it real quickly once again, Isaiah 47:1;

"Come down, and sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon..." (Isaiah 47:1)

God is speaking it prophetically, predicting the future, telling what is bound to happen. God makes and unmakes nations. God is the one who determines the outcome of wars, believe it or not. Armies do not bring victory to a king, you read that in the thirty-third Psalm. That is in the Word of God.

The trouble is today, my friends, we don't believe that God means what He says. Very few today, look on the Holy Bible as a book that is absolute authority. But, I am going to show you just what absolute authority is. These things you're going to see happening. Now, incidentally, I'm going into prophecies that are going to happen and I know incidentally, that most people today take it quite lightly. We've sort of gotten away from really believing that there is any real authority in this. That this could be written in this book, even though it is the book that outsells every other book. Even though it is the book we call the Holy Bible, people look on this book with a certain amount of awe, I think, and also with a sort of superstition. But they don't really believe it when you get down to it.

Well, as a matter of fact, the greatest proof that there is a God, the greatest proof that the Bible carries absolute authority, is this booklet that, I've been telling you about so much I think every program lately, 'The United States in Prophecy.' Where are we, the United States mentioned in Bible prophecy? Now, I've been showing you what is going to happen to the United States and that we are the descendents of ancient Israel. You'll have to get this booklet 'The United States in Prophecy.' Read that, see it in your own Bible, prove it, my friends, because it is proved - it stands proved. You can see the proof if you want it. It's the most amazing, the most astounding proof of the fulfillment of the Bible that I have ever seen, and of the veracity of God Almighty and the fact that God speaks in the Bible - that He brings to pass what He says! Now, these things are just as certain, that are going to happen yet in the future.

"Come down, sit in the dust, O virgin daughter of Babylon [come down from your high perch, sit in the dust], sit on the ground: there is no throne, O daughter of the Chaldeans [for] thou shalt no more be called tender and delicate." (Isaiah 47:1)

This is a woman, but it's the woman that I was reading to you about in the seventeenth chapter of the book of Revelation. A fallen woman that was sitting on many peoples, many nations, speaking many different languages, that had formed an alliance with the kings of the nations of the earth. That was ruling over kingdoms, a lady of kingdoms. A great city that had a kingdom over the kingdoms of the earth;

"...BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH." (Revelation 17:5)

That is the modern Babylon, spoken of in the feminine gender. Now then;

"Sit thou silent [verse 5], ...get thee into [the] darkness, O daughter of the Chaldeans [Not the ancient Chaldeans, not the Babylon of six hundred years before Christ but the Babylon of twentieth century AD, right now]: for thou shalt no more be called, The lady of kingdoms [God says]. I was wroth with my people, I have polluted mine inheritance, and given them into thine hand. And thou didst show them no mercy; upon the ancient [that's Israel, that's our people] hast thou very heavily laid thy yoke." (Isaiah 47:5-6)

That's a yoke that will be broken, by the second coming of Christ. And we will be released from the bondage that they shall impose.

"And thou saidst, I shall be a lady for ever: so...thou didst not lay these things to thy heart, neither didst remember the latter end of it. Therefore, hear now this, thou that are given to pleasures [God is speaking to this lady, this modern Babylon], that dwellest carelessly, and sayest in thine heart [I], I am [that's one of the names of God. In other words, this lady claims to be God and have the authority of God], and none else beside me; I shall not sit as a widow, neither shall I know the loss of children:" (Isaiah 47:7-8)

Now, to be a widow, she would have to be divorced, my friends, from these nations, and the nations that she is committing fornication and living with illicitly, would have to be destroyed. And she says that these nations will not be destroyed, she'll go on ruling them forever. Now, what does God say? Verse 9, Isaiah 47, open your own Bible and see it with your own eyes;

"But these two things shall come to thee in a moment, in one day, the loss of children, and widowhood: they shall come upon thee in their perfection for the multitude of thy sorceries, and for the great abundance of thine enchantments." (Isaiah 47:9)

This is going into the secret mysteries and everything of ancient Babylon, still being carried on today.

"For [verse 10] thou has trusted in thy wickedness..." (Isaiah 47:10)

Now, sin is the transgression of God's law. A lot of people today don't believe that. They think sin is the transgression of what people pronounce as wrong and the consciouses of people. But, you know ancient Israel did the thing that was evil in the sight of the Eternal. But it was always right in the sight of the people. They did what they reasoned out was alright, but it was evil in the sight of God, and that's the way they're doing today. Now;

"...thou has trusted in thy wickedness [doing what is right according to man, but what God says is wickedness because it breaks His law]: thou hast said, None seeth me. Thy wisdom and thy knowledge, it hath perverted thee; and thou hast said in thine heart, I am [in other words, 'I am God'], and none else besides me." (Isaiah 47:10)

You see, God says He is and there is no God besides Him, and here this women is saying, that this women occupies the place of God and that there is no one else, that this women is on the pinnacle. That there is no other that could be called God, or the representative of God. Therefore, verse eleven;

"Therefore shall evil come upon thee [now notice what God says, He's dooming this modern Babylon. Therefore shall evil come upon thee]; thou shalt not know from whence it riseth: and mischief shall fall upon thee. Thou shalt not be able to put it off: and desolation shall come upon thee suddenly, which thou shalt not know." (Isaiah 47:11)

Roman Empire Revived (Play from 11:51)

Now, I want to show you a little more specifically how that is coming on this Babylon. I've shown you that Babylon; you go back into this modern Babylon is a whole system, it is a women, a fallen women, a great women ruling over many nations and kingdoms but my friends, there is a Beast that is pictured there that the women rides. And as I have said, every theologian of every denomination that even claims to be Christian, so far as I know, claims that that Beast is the ancient Roman Empire. Now, ancient Rome is the successor of the ancient Babylon of six hundred years before Christ. Because, that ancient Babylon was succeeded by the Persian Empire, and that, in turn, was conquered by Alexander the Great, and his kingdom was divided into the four different empires, it was the Greco-Macedonian Empire. And then it came into its four divisions. But, they, in turn, one by one were swallowed up by Rome. And the Roman Empire then ruled the world. Yes, the Roman Empire that persecuted the Christians, as Christianity was getting started.

Now then, that Roman Empire is to be revived, it is coming out of what is called the bottomless pit. It is going to be resurrected and it is going to last just a short time. And it'll be with ten dictators in the territory of the ancient Roman Empire, Europe and around the Mediterranean. There isn't any definite territory because the Roman Empire continued for many centuries, and at one stage, it occupied one geographical location, and at another stage another geographical location. There isn't any definite set geographical outline that it must occupy but it will be the Old Roman Empire essentially. It will be Fascist, you can be sure of that. And, it is now rising and it's going on underground, and we seem too stupid somehow to see it. We don't realize what's going on in the world. God says that it's going to come up. But this, my friends, is the final resurrection of this whole system of Gentile empires and Gentile governments.

Now, God dealt with King Nebuchadnezzar, the king of that original Babylon at it's very beginning, at the time that they took Judah, the Jewish people captive, 600 years before Christ. God gave them an opportunity to know that He is God, to know that He is the ruler of heaven and earth. Well, the ancient Nebuchadnezzar acknowledged it alright, but he wouldn't obey God. He wouldn't surrender to God. He wouldn't let God rule, he said 'No, I'm going to rule my own kingdom.' So God deposed him. Then his son became even more arrogant. And finally, God gave the kingdom over to the Persians, the Medes and the Persians. And the Persian Empire ruled, but the Persians wouldn't obey God either, they wouldn't recognize Him. The Gentiles have never done that, and so they in turn were swallowed up. And as I say, they were conquered and then the divisions of their empire were swallowed up by Rome and of course the Roman Empire came to its original end in 476, but there was a resurrection in 554 AD, and it continued to 1814, that is the different divisions of it and straggling remnants of it and once more it is to be resurrected!

As a matter of fact, my friends, Mussolini made a pitiful little restoration of it and that was during the period that is called in the eighth verse of Revelation, the seventeenth chapter, at the time when the Empire of Rome; ...was and is not and yet [it] is." (Revelation 17:8)

That's the way it was in Mussolini's time, well, it was so insignificant that virtually it just wasn't there - and yet it was. And yet he proclaimed officially that the name of his government was 'The Roman Empire' after he had taken Ethiopia. He had Eritrea, he had Italian Somalialand and some other nations there, and Africa and North Africa and he had enough nations to claim that it was an empire and that he had 'The Roman Empire' once again. The strutting, bragging Mussolini claimed that. Well, it is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy, because that was the stage when the Roman Empire was and was not, and yet it was. That is it had been and was not at that time and yet it was.

But it's going to rise out of the so-called symbolic bottomless pit once again and when it does it'll be a dictatorship, that is a combination of ten dictatorships in the same old territory over there. This is not Russia. This is a Fascist system not a Communist system and it's only going to last a little time and they are going to fight Christ at His second coming so they will not come on the stage of world action until just before the second coming of Christ. A very, very few years, a very, very short time.

Where Does Russia Fit In? (Play from 16:38)

Now then, this is speaking of that Babylon, and you're going to see in just a moment, the connection between this and Russia. Where does Russia fit in? Now, we come to the fiftieth chapter of Jeremiah and beginning with the first verse. I want to go on through the fiftieth and fiftieth-first. I wish I could cover it and get back in the thirteenth chapter of Isaiah yet in this program but there just isn't time. These are very long chapters and I want to go through every bit of it. I want you to you to get out your Bible, I want you to see things, my friends, right here that you have never seen before. Open your Bible, see this. Let's take the time to go through this and I want you get every bit of it. This is going to happen, you're going to see it happen. This, my friends, is the outcome, this is where world conditions today, and all this struggle between the United States and Russia, this is where we're heading. Listen, it's in your Bible. Now this is very, very important. Let's get it, Jeremiah 50:1;

"The Eternal's message for the prophet Jeremiah about Babylon [now this part of it is about Babylon, but you'll see there's a connection with Russia. Alright listen], in the land of the Chaldeans [it's the land of the ancient Chaldeans]: Tell the nations and proclaim it [and], let the news go free. that Babylon is captured, her idols are disgraced [now here is a prophecy that begins with the fact this modern Babylon is to be captured. This is the modern Babylon. It's not speaking of that ancient Babylon, it's something that is yet to happen. It's coming to pass in our time], her idols are disgraced, her blocks of gods are in dismay...A foe from the north has attacked her to lay waste [her] land, till not a man dwells there, till man and beast are gone." (Jeremiah 50:1-3 Moffatt)

There is the prophecy. Now listen, the Bible is concerned with Israel. The Bible mentions only those nations that come into direct contact with Israel. The Bible takes very little notice, for instance, of the oriental nations, of India, of China and Japan. The nations that have perhaps, altogether with all those nations over there, more than half of all of the population of the earth and yet, there's very little mention of them in the Bible. Because the Bible is the book of Israel. The Covenants of God, all the promises pertain to Israel and not to Gentiles. And the Bible is concerned with Jerusalem and with Palestine geographically. And it is concerned only with those nations that come into direct contact or have direct wars with or something of that sort with Israel. And since Israel is in the west, the Bible is concerned with the western nations. Did you ever wonder why it is concerned altogether with western nations? That's the reason.

Now it's concerned geographically with Palestine. And so, when its says a foe from the north is attacking her, not him, but her. Not the him the ancient Babylon, not the Babylon of 600 years before Christ, but the Babylon of our day now that is rising up. This thing that is soon to come! This thing that is going to dumbfound the people of the world! I want to tell you, my friends, the politicians of the great nations that are actually helping to build this thing and don't realize that they're only building a Frankenstein that is going to turn on us. They're going to stand aghast when this thing happens! Your Bible says so, it's in the prophecies of Revelation 17:8. The nations will wonder, all whose names are not written in the book of life from the foundation of the world when they behold this thing. It's coming - it's real - you're going to see it. You don't believe it now, I know most of you don't. Well, you just stick it back in the corner of your memory somewhere and when it happens then I think you will believe it. You don't have to believe it now. But it's going to be mighty important and you'd better remember it. And you will believe it when it happens.

Now, a foe from the north means, from the north - not of this nation - but from the north of Palestine. Remember that the Bible is always speaking from the point of view of Palestine, and from the point of view of Israel. Now Israel is, except for the Jewish people that have gone back over there now - and they are Judah - Israel is not in Palestine now except for that. But, this is speaking geographically and it means the north of Palestine. Now, what nation is north of Palestine today? The Communists. This then, my friends, is introducing Russia right here!

The Foe From The North (Play from 20:59)

Now, a lot of you are going to say, well now, wait a minute, Mr. Armstrong, what about Ezekiel 38 and Ezekiel 39, doesn't Ezekiel 38 speak about Russia? Oh, yes, of course it does. But my friends, I'll come to that a little later. That is not anything that is to happen at this time. You need to go through the entire book of Ezekiel, and in the book of Ezekiel you'll see there is a story flow. There is a time order, a time sequence of events. And very few people seem to know when that event of Ezekiel 38 mentioning Russia is going to happen. It will not occur until these events are all over - it's coming later. Now, I'll go into that in due time. Naturally, I know all about Ezekiel thirty eight, and have known all about it as a matter of fact, ever since God brought me to Him, and brought me to surrender to Him and every since I was converted and began to study the Bible. That's one of the first things I knew about. But I had to find out that I was in error and assuming the common assumption that most people do and most so-called Bible students and those that seemed to think they are authorities about the Bible, although very few of them really are when you get down to it. Because it's a book that - well like Bruce Barton said, 'Almost nobody seems to understand it.' Now, if you want understanding it, listen, pay careful attention.

This foe is from the north, and it is speaking here of Communist Russia. Here's where Communism is introduced. They are the foe from the north and they're going to be the foe of this Babylon. Now listen. When this thing rises up, my friends, in Europe and around the Mediterranean, what is Russia going to think of a thing like this? Let me tell you, that there are about 375 million people in the orbit, or in the location of these ten kingdoms that are going to rise up according to Bible prophecy in Europe. Three hundred and seventy five million, well that's a lot more than Russia has. They will be able to raise an army larger than Russia can raise. And as a military power, they will be so mighty and so big, that at first they're going to overshadow Russia. These events are happening right now before your very eyes! These prophecies are in the latter days, you are in the time of the fulfillment, the mighty fulfillment of these biblical prophecies. The most tremendous thing that has ever happened in the history of this world and you are living through it and most of you totally ignore it.

Listen, this foe from the north then is Communist Russia and her allies. And they're going to finally raise an army bigger than this revived Roman Empire is going to have. Now, here you are;

"A foe from the north has attacked her [that's this resurrected Roman Empire], to lay [her land waste], till not a man dwells there, until man and beast are gone." (Jeremiah 50:3 Moffatt)

That's speaking of this territory of the Roman Empire in Europe, my friends. And there is the destiny, and that is going to happen! Let me tell you that's as certain as the rising and the setting of the sun. And you are going to see it in this very century. It's going to happen in your lifetime. I'm not sticking my neck out. I'm not taking any chance, my friends. This is the very Word of God, this carries authority And when that's written, it's in your Bible. I'm reading the Moffatt translation just now. I have Authorized and the Modern Revised right here in front of me but it's a little plainer right here in the Moffatt translation and so I prefer to read it - it's in your Bible, I don't care which translation you have. The same message is there. But it's a little plainer English here and I think you'll understand it better. I'm reading it from this translation. Now, listen;

"...then, says the Eternal, at that hour [now that's the hour when this modern Fascist system in Europe is to be destroyed, and the whole land laid desolate, of southern Europe and over in there, then, at that hour] the Israelites return, they and the men of Judah, wending their way weeping in search of the Eternal their God," (Jeremiah 50:4 Moffatt)

That's the time of the second coming of Christ. And so, my friends, at the time of the second coming of Christ, Communist Russia will have invaded this land that has attacked us and the reason is, because God is going to let this Babylon punish us to bring us to our senses. We have got some lessons to learn before we can come into a permanent enjoyment of being the head nation of the world, the greatest prosperity than any people have ever had, the greatest amount of luxuries and everything. We have it now but we are abusing it, my friends, and we've not using these things as we should and we've got some lessons to learn and God is going to punish. He's going to use this modern female Babylon, to punish us, and then He's going to use the Communist nations, in turn, to punish and annihilate them. Now listen, the Israelites will return and we'll go in search of God;

"asking the way to Zion [which is the Church of salvation, that it signifies], their faces turned to it, calling each other to join the Eternal in a lasting compact, never to be forgotten." (Jeremiah 50:5 Moffatt)

That is the New Covenant we took about two programs here recently to go through that in Jeremiah 31, if you'll remember, and in the eighth chapter of Hebrews in your New Testament. Alright, now, verse six, God says;

"My people [that's our people, my friends, not just the Jewish people, it includes them but it means us too primarily, my people, God says, that's America and Britain], have been lost sheep...their shepherds led them astray..." (Jeremiah 50:6 Moffatt)

Well, my friends, that's God's language, and shepherds simply means preachers. You know, the whole world is deceived. We've been born and raised up in this world of deception. Many of us have come sincerely to accept and believe these things. But we need to get our eyes opened. This is what God says and really in plain language this is about preachers.

" My people [God's says], have been lost sheep, their shepherds led them astray [God help, that no minister listening to me will ever be guilty of that]....and turned them loose on the bare hills... Those who caught them...devoured them; "Tis no sin," said their foes, [for] they have offended the Eternal One, their true Fold and their father's Hope. Fly now [God says, to our people] from Babylon..."(Jeremiah 50:6-8 Moffatt)

And that Babylon really stands for our modern practices and customs and civilizations, my friends. It is the way, we're practicing the ways, the customs and we're accepting the beliefs of the ancient Babylon. Oh, I see the motioning here, the time is up. Alright, let's continue that on the next program and we're just getting into it and what is going to happen. A whole lot more about Russia comes in just in the next verse.