(NB Headings are not part of original, but are added for clarity)
The World Tomorrow
The Second Exodus - Part 1
by Herbert W Armstrong
(PLAY FROM START)
Well greetings friends. This is Herbert W Armstrong with the Good News of the World Tomorrow.
And my friends we can know the world tomorrow. For, although no man can predict the future, no mortal, no human power knows what’s going to happen, as a matter of fact we don’t even know what a day is going to bring forth. No fortune teller can tell us, no astrologer, no crystal ball gazer - you can’t really get any knowledge of the future from anything like that. The future is a blank, the future is a dead end, it’s black, we don’t know anything about it.
But God Almighty knows, because God knows how humanity is going to work out, even though He allows us to make decisions. He knows human nature and many things God has decreed that He Himself is going to bring about and He has the power to do it. And when God says what’s going to happen He makes it stick and it happens.
And so God has revealed what’s going to happen and my friends one third approximately of your Bible is devoted to telling what is going to happen. Now of course part of that is telling what was going to happen after it was written, maybe 1900 years ago or maybe up to close around 3,000 years ago or so, and maybe some of that has already happened. But at least ninety percent of all of the prophecies in your Bible apply either directly and solely or, in the duality sense, indirectly to what is happening right now in the world and is going to happen in the next 5, 10, 15, 25, or 30 years or less, and more probably less than more.
And so now here we are going into these prophecies of the future, up in the fifty-first chapter of Jeremiah now. And I’m going to begin where we left off in the preceding program.
Ancient Babylon Resurrected (PLAY FROM 02:18)
We’ve been seeing a prophecy now about this Babylon that is to be resurrected, it’s coming up. That is, it’s called Babylon in the Bible - that’s the symbolic name - and it is called that because it is the outgrowth so far as the system is concerned, and it is also the outgrowth in every way so far as the descendants by race and nationality are concerned. It is the outgrowth politically; it is the outgrowth religiously; it is the outgrowth from a point of view of economics and of every system that goes into the makeup of the fabric of civilization and society today. It is the outgrowth of the ancient Babylon or Chaldean empire that was actually the world’s first real empire that ruled the whole world, that ruled over the nations, and the other and all of the Western nations of the world.
And it’s to be resurrected again, once again, one more resurrection by a dictatorship of ten kingdoms in the territory or ten dictatorships within the territory of the old ancient Roman Empire. Now the old ancient Roman Empire continued a long time from about 31 BC, when it became a real empire although it had existed prior to that considerably, or a long, long time but it became the real empire I think officially - the usual date given is 31 BC until it’s fall in 476 - but then it had a number of revivals beginning with 554, and as a matter of fact the very last one up to the one that the people of the world today seem to fail to realize was in 1804, when it came to its end at the time of Napoleon and Waterloo. Then Mussolini even made a little pitiful partial revival that is spoken of and actually foretold in Revelation 17 as the time when that empire, "it was, and yet it was not, and yet it was."
A pitiful little partial revival under Mussolini. Well he called it the Roman Empire, that was its official name after he had taken Ethiopia and he had Eritrea, Italian Somaliland, and Libya and some of those other nations in Africa in addition to Italy, and he called it an empire.
Now we’re looking into the future, not too far future either, just the next few years; it’s going to happen in our life time. This isn’t the next thing to happen; I’ve been giving you that but this is going to happen after this great tribulation, this is during the time known as the Day of the Lord and the time of God’s plagues. This is the time right prior, immediately prior to the second coming of Christ, and this is the time that climaxes in and runs into the very second coming of Christ.
Now we’re going to see what this has to do with Communist Russia - the USSR, with the Kremlin - that we’re having a lot of headaches about right now. Now God had said here, which most people seem to misunderstand and think it applies to the United States, but it is not, actually it is speaking of this Babylon: "You have been my battle-axe; by you I shattered nations, by you I have ruined realms, by you I shattered horse and rider, chariots and charioteers," (Jeremiah 51: 20-21 Moffatt) .
We went through that on the preceding program. God has used evil nations, evil Gentile nations to punish His own people, and even to punish other nations. For instance, ancient Tyre, because ancient Tyre had invaded and sought to ruin Judah in order to take the spoil and make herself more rich. Well, it wasn’t just Tyre alone, it was Phoenicia the whole nation of Phoenicia of which Tyre was the main big commercial city. God pronounced a decree on the ancient city of Tyre, and exactly what was to happen to it and what He said was He was going to bring a number of nations against it but first of all He was going to bring Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon against it to destroy it.
Later other nations were to come like waves of the sea, one after another. And so later we find in history what Alexander the Great did to it and he did specifically, exactly, precisely, what God had foretold a long time before. And then God said that Tyre would cease to exist, and there’d be no city there. There is a city, it really it’s a, S-U-R, Sur but they often call it Tyre but it isn’t the same old Tyre.
And what God says is going to happen, will. Now God used this ancient Babylon there to destroy Tyre, and God did use this ancient Babylon as His battle-axe and He has used this Babylon as it continued symbolically as it is described in the Bible continuing right down through Alexander’s reign when it was really a Macedonian Empire or Grecian Empire, and then on into the Roman Empire. Well, and even before Alexander, the Persian Empire - the Medes and the Persians. But it’s the same system and God calls it by the name of its founder and its beginner: Babylon, and it’s called Babylon all the way through. And it’ll be called Babylon, that is, it is in prophecy called Babylon, this thing that is yet to come - that we’re going to see resurrected.
Russia to Destroy This Babylon (PLAY FROM 07:48)
Now, God is going to use Russia to destroy this Babylon; we’ve been seeing that, we’ve been going through a lot of the prophecies about it.
Now let’s see, let’s get back here right to the place where we were winding up in the preceding program, in verse twenty-five, I think that’s the last verse we had, let me just read that one verse over again:
"I strike at you, says the Eternal, you volcano, ruining the world! I will lay hands on you and level you, and leave you all extinct; (Jeremiah 51: 25 Moffatt).
Now the ancient city Babylon has been extinct. Of course Babylon was a city that ruled as an empire over a number of other peoples; it ruled over the Medes and the Persians and the Assyrians and a number of other people - in fact the whole world at that time. Actually it ruled pretty much over Egypt at that time, and it ruled over the world. And the city Babylon was destroyed and has not existed.
But now Babylon becomes this whole dictatorship that is coming up, a combined dictatorship of ten dictators, probably all in Europe - not necessarily - some of them might be in North Africa but it’ll be in the bounds of the old Roman Empire.
When I started to say a moment ago that the old Roman Empire existed a good many years, actually from 31 BC to 1800 AD and the bounds of the empire shifted a number of times. Sometimes the empire would occupy certain territories and at other times different territories, so there’s no exact geographical boundary line that must be the identical boundary line of this Babylon that is yet to be resurrected, that I’ve been telling you about ever since I’ve been on the air now.
Well now, God says: "I will lay hands on you and level you, and leave {1} you all extinct;" (Jeremiah 51: 25 Moffatt) . That’s going to happen to that whole territory of this thing that you’re going to see coming up and you’re - unless something happens, unless you’re a very elderly person or something that happens that is accidental - you are going to live to see this. "...men [says God] men will never get from you any stones for building; you shall be a desolation for all time." (Jeremiah 51:25, last part, Moffatt) .
Now take the ancient Babylon: men are not now and have not, from that time on ever gotten the stones for building fine buildings, fine marbles, great marble pillars, statues, things like that. They have not gotten them from the old ancient Babylon, although they did get them prior to this time but God said they will not and they never have. Where do the fine stones come from now, the finest stones in the world? For the finest marble, the finest architecture, the finest statues, images, idols they used to be called, we just don’t call them idols anymore but that’s what God calls them in the Bible. See, the Bible’s a little old fashioned so most of us don’t believe in it, do we? It’s just a little old fashioned - we think we’re pretty newfangled. Well, the finest marbles and stones come from Italy that are used in the world’s finest buildings, monuments and statues today, not from ancient Babylon. That’s a fact. So what God has said has remained true. Now continuing verse twenty-seven:
"Raise your standard [God says of ancient Babylon, raise your... or this modern daughter of Babylon really...] raise your standard on the earth, blow the trumpet among the nations, open the campaign against her, summon the realms - Armenia, Mannai, Ashkenaz; muster your troops against her, cavalry swarming like locusts. Open the campaign against her with Media’s king, his satraps and his regents, and all his domain." (Jeremiah 51:27, Moffatt) .
Media's King (PLAY FROM 11:27)
Now, who’s He talking about? Media’s king - his satraps, his regents and all his domain. Who is that? It’s a number of nations. Well I’ve been showing you my friends that Media in prophecy refers today, where it’s mentioned, to USSR, the Soviet Communist Russia. Now we read back here in verse eleven: "Polish your arrows, scour your armor — the Eternal is stirring {2} up Media’s king, planning to ruin Babylon. This is the Eternal’s vengeance..." (Jeremiah 51:11, Moffatt).
Now remember that we were reading back here in the fiftieth and the fifty first chapters, first, that Babylon is captured, her idols are disgraced, and a foe from the North is to attack her and lay her land waste (Jeremiah 50:2-3 Moffatt translation). Now North of Jerusalem is, remember it’s always speaking geographically from the point of view of Jerusalem and north of Jerusalem is the Russian people or the USSR. Now verse nine; "...For here I am rousing against Babylon a horde of nations from the North, to battle with her mightily until they master her, shooting like expert archers, who never go empty handed;" (Jeremiah 50:9 Moffatt)
Now they were not any horde of nations that came against the ancient Babylon 600 years before Christ, but this is talking of the time now. It’s the time when, in verse four, of the fiftieth chapter: "...then at that hour [the very 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). It’s the very time at that hour, verse twenty ...that no guilt in Israel shall be discovered nor any sin detected within Judah; (Jeremiah 50:20 Moffatt paraphrased). In Israel or Judah, it’s the time when Israel and Judah go back once again to Palestine in the Exodus that has long been prophesied, under Jesus Christ. The Exodus that’ll be so great, so much greater than the Exodus out of Egypt under Moses that they’ll never remember that one.
Have I read that to you recently? Let me see, isn’t that in the twenty-third chapter, here it is in verse seven, Jeremiah 23, listen, let me give this to you once again.
"Therefore, behold, the days come, saith the Eternal[Lord] that they shall no more say, The Eternal [Lord] liveth, which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;” (Jeremiah 23:7 KJV).
You know when you read in Bible history, you find all the way through that God was reminding the Israelites of how He brought them out of Israel, out of the land of slavery, and captivity, I mean out of the land of Egypt, out of slavery, and out of captivity. Now Egypt spiritually and symbolically, that is, in the Bible, typifies sin, and its Pharaohs typified the Devil. And their soldiers and their army, the demons that beset us and trouble us, and all that sort of thing. There’s a great lot of symbol about it and giving us a picture that is for our instruction and admonition today and these days of grace because the things that happened to them way back there in Old Testament time were examples for us. Always there, it was physical but it’s an example of the spiritual application in these days of grace in the New Testament now.
And so always they were reminded of coming out of Egypt, and their coming out of Egypt my friends is the type for the Christian in the days of grace, of how Christ brings us out of the bondage of sin. Egypt was the type of sin.
God Gave His People The Passover (PLAY FROM 14:55)
And so God gave His people the Passover and Jesus kept the Passover, and Jesus instructed His own disciples about the Passover - perpetuating it - and the Passover was ordained to be observed forever and the true Christians kept the Passover. And finally they found that the pagans were observing Easter in honor of their goddess 'Easter,' an ancient goddess, believe it or not. Yes, that’s what Easter is, and that’s what Easter means. Don’t get offended now, just go to the library and look up the word Easter in the Encyclopedia Britannica or the Catholic Encyclopedia or any encyclopedia. And, well, you don’t need to even do that, you don’t need to go to the library and look it up, you surely have a dictionary haven’t you in your own home? Look up the word Easter in your dictionary - I think that’ll tell you - at least if it’s a very large dictionary it will; I don’t know if it’s just one of these little ones that a stenographer uses to help her to spell words correctly, it may not give much of a definition but if you’ve got a dictionary of any size it’ll give you the definition of Easter - it’ll tell you it’s the name of an ancient pagan goddess. That’s where it came from.
And so there was a lot of bloodshed over whether to observe Easter, the pagan festival, or the Passover. And finally the pagans won out and so we observe Easter today and seem to think it’s Christian.
Now if you don’t understand that, if you would like the history of it write in for our very shocking and eye-opening booklet on 'Easter.' It’ll give you the whole history of it, and every bit of it is very carefully documented. You can check up on it, you can go to the libraries, any place and check up on it because that’s just what we’ve done to give you the information - save you the time of doing it. But you should prove all things, you’re commanded to. Go ahead and prove it and this’ll show you where to get it and you’ll see that it’s true, if you want the history of Easter. There’s no charge. The title of that booklet is 'Easter,'. It’s a very shocking thing, you ought to read it.
While you’re at it why don’t you ask for the booklet about 'Christmas,' too and see where that came from. And you know if you’ll just pardon a little slang expression that I think will convey meaning to you, it’ll knock you off the Christmas tree, literally I mean. You know, it’s astounding! It’ll show you what the Bible says about the Christmas tree and where to find it in your Bible. The Bible mentions a Christmas tree alright and you’re going be shocked and surprised when you see what the Bible says about the Christmas tree. Why don’t you write and get those booklets, there isn’t any charge, I’ll be happy to send you one.
This ministry of ours my friends is a ministry of love. There’s no charge, there isn’t going to be any request for money either. This program is financed and paid for by a number of co-workers whose hearts are in it and they’ve all, they, every co-worker I think, is one who has merely heard this program, and come to see by listening, and by checking and by proving that it is the Word of God. That it is the truth; that it does proclaim the true way of salvation; that it does proclaim the truth of the prophecies of the Bible; that it does proclaim the truth of the whole Word of God. The whole gospel - the whole gospel - every bit of it, not leaving any of it out, just as it is in the Bible. The Bible made plain, that’s exactly what it is; made so plain that you can’t help understand it.
Now some people don’t like to understand it. Oh I hope you’re not like that, but some people do get offended because they don’t want to understand the Bible You know the Bible is profitable for what? To correct and reprove us and instruct us in righteousness (II Timothy 3:16) and a lot of people don’t like that. A lot of people want their own way, and you know, when they don’t get their own way, they, if anyone is telling them the truth of God’s Word they assume and accuse the other person of arguing say, "I don’t want to argue about it, I just want my own way." Now I don’t want to argue with them. Well, they’re the ones doing the arguing. They always twist it right around and accuse others of what they’re guilty of themselves, they’re so blinded. Well, that’s the carnal mind.
Now, here; "Therefore, behold, the days come saith the [Eternal], that they shall no more say, The [Eternal] liveth, which brought [up] the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt; But, the [Eternal] liveth, which brought up and which led the seed of the house of Israel out of the north country ….." (Jeremiah 23:7-8 KJV).
Now there you are. And I want you to notice - I just now noticed something I never saw here before, just now as I was reading that to you. Just shows you my friends, I don’t care how long you’ve read the Bible, I’ve probably read that over the air 15 or 20 times, and I have written it many times and I know I’ve used it in articles and I’ve used it in preaching in, in sermons, in various places, in halls, in tents, in auditoriums, in various places. How many times have I gone over that very passage?
The Children of Israel Brought Out of Egypt (PLAY FROM 20:04)
Now here’s something I never noticed before; you know, the Bible’s like that, I don’t care how many times you’ve read it, you can read it over and you’ll still find new things you never saw before. Now I’m not beyond finding new things, and if I’m not I don’t think you are because I doubt if any of you have read the Bible much more than I have, and I don’t think you understand it any better either, frankly. I think maybe God would’ve called you to speak to the whole world if you did and I just doubt if you do.
Well, look, I learned something right here, I just noticed something - it’s significant. Now, Moses was a type of Christ and God used Moses as the mediator in leading the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. But did you notice here, it says;
"The [Eternal] liveth which brought up the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt;" (Jeremiah 23:7 last part, KJV).
It doesn’t say the House of Israel. "The children of Israel" - because all twelve tribes were in that. Now at that time they had not yet been made a nation. But after they were made a nation they divided into two nations, and one was called the House of Israel and the other was called the House of Judah.
Now I want you to notice here it’s speaking of the House of Israel. Then they were only the children of Israel: the Bible could not properly have said; "The [Eternal] liveth that brought up the House of Israel out of the land of Egypt" (Jeremiah 26:7 KJV, paraphrased), because they were not the House of Israel in Egypt - they were the children of Israel but they became the House of Israel later.
"But, the [Eternal] liveth, which brought up [now this is yet to happen - which brought up ...] and which led the seed of the House of Israel [and it’s the children of the House of Israel. The children, the descendants of that ancient House of Israel] out of the north country, and from all the countries whither I [that’s God speaking] whither I had driven them; and they shall dwell in their own land. [Jeremiah 23:8, KJV].
The Exodus to come my friends under Christ, at the time of the second coming of Christ, when He’s going to break the yoke that will be on our neck at that time and we are Israel.
There again let me remind you once again, if you haven’t written, now all the times I’ve been mentioning it lately, this booklet; 'The United States in Prophecy,' which is the very kindergarten ABC; it is the foundation; the basic knowledge; the key that opens up Bible prophecy without which you cannot understand Bible prophecy. Read this booklet 'The United States in Prophecy.' If you don’t understand what I am talking about, that’ll straighten it out for you, it’s the most important thing for you to do in your life right now, is to get that straightened out.
My friends, I don’t care who you are, I don’t care whether you’re a preacher, I don’t care whether you have a title of DD, I don’t care what you’ve got, or how many theological seminaries you’ve gone through, if you don’t have the knowledge of where the United States is mentioned in prophecy, the knowledge that you get in this booklet, I’ll say to you; that you are ignorant of Bible prophecy.
Now I hope that stings you to the quick like it did me the first time that a minister from down in the state of Florida wrote me a letter telling me I was ignorant. Oh I tell you that hurt, that uh, I don’t like to be called ignorant, and that was a slap in the face, but I didn’t get angry at that minister. "No," I said, "Well, I’m going to see whether I’m ignorant or not. Now if I’m not maybe I’ll write him and tell him and see if I can make him back up on his statement" but if I’m ignorant I didn’t want to be ignorant any longer.
So I went to the public library and began to research into books and I was surprised how many books I found there on this very question. Identifying Israel and showing you the connection between Israel and us, because we my friends are the House of Israel and the Jewish people are the House of Judah and the children of Israel were divided into the two nations and the Jewish people come only from one of those nations, the House of Judah and 'Jew' is a nickname of Judah.
Now, this is all going to happen at the time when God brings Israel to his homestead, "...and at that hour, God says, no guilt in Israel shall be discovered, nor any sin detected within Judah" (Jeremiah 50:20 Moffatt), because that’s the time when God is going to set His hand again the second time to recover the remnant of His people as you read in Isaiah 11 (Isaiah 11:11), and as you read in Romans 11 (Romans 11:26), that it means that Israel, all Israel shall be saved because God will send out of Zion the Deliverer - Christ - at His second coming that will turn away ungodliness from Israel, all Israel! And that includes Israel and Judah both, all Israel, because they’re all Israelites. But nationally speaking one is the House of Israel and the other is the House of Judah, but all Israel can include both nations, and does in the Bible - and there’ll be no guilt.
Israel Released (PLAY FROM 24:57)
Now then we read here also in the fiftieth chapter and verse thirty-four that at this time "...theirs is a strong champion [that is, Israel’s is a strong champion, Christ is going to release Israel at that time that will be in the clutch of this Babylon], he will take their part, and daunt the Babylonians, that the world may live at peace" (Jeremiah 50:34 Moffatt). That’s never happened yet, that’s going to happen at the second coming of Christ, so you get the time.
Now then, as we go on here, you have the time, and it’s this modern Media, not the ancient Media that is coming, and He is going to stir up here Media, "...his satraps, his regents and all their domains;" getting back into Jeremiah 51 now and verse twenty-nine, and listen; At the time of these wars, and before Christ comes to set all the world at peace, here’s what we find, verse twenty-nine:
"All the world is trembling" (Jeremiah 50:29 Moffatt). Why that’s what Jesus said, the time would come just prior to His second coming, "Men’s hearts failing them for fear and for looking after the things that are coming on the earth:" (Luke 21:26 KJV)
You’re going to live into that time mighty quick my friends; it’s coming in our time and our generation. And you read in Luke 21 where that happens, and immediately after that they’re going to see the Son of Man Jesus Christ coming in clouds with power and great glory (Luke 21:27), as King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 17:14). Oh God speed that day, because He’s going to bring us peace.
But in the meantime just before that all the world is going to be trembling, men’s hearts failing them for fear (Luke 21:26), and we’re coming into the most catastrophic events that this world has ever known and you’re going to live into it and if you don’t have God’s protection, you have no security and I want to tell you your life is in very great danger.
But God promises you security if you’ll turn to Him and you’ll be protected and no plague will come near your dwelling and no harm will come to you. Well I only have a minute, let’s get the rest of this.
"Media’s king and his satraps...all the world trembling, for the Eternal’s purpose against Babylon holds — to lay the land empty and desolate. Babylon’s soldiers cease to fight, they stay inside their forts; their strength is gone from them, they are weak as women." (Jeremiah 51:28-29 Moffatt)
You’re going to see that happen, that’s going to come very soon, when Russia rolls over Europe, and it’s going to happen. But that’ll be after something else has happened to us and we aren’t going to be there fighting against them at all. Notice verse thirty-one:
"Couriers meet, messengers meet, running to tell the king of Babylon his city is stormed on every side, its houses all ablaze, the gates burst open; the ferries have been seized, the bastions burned, the troops are scared. For this is the sentence of the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Babylon to be trampled like a threshing-floor, then trampled like the grain upon the floor!" (Jeremiah 51:31-33 Moffatt)
Well that’s coming, that’s all I have time for. Now listen, if you are ready to really repent of your disobedience to God, to His spiritual law, if you’re now ready to surrender your will to God and you want to become one of His children, if you are now ready to accept Jesus Christ as your personal Savior in real living faith, and a life of obedience then by all means you should write immediately right now before you do another thing, for our special booklet on 'Water Baptism.' Because the next step that God commands you to take is baptism.
But here again the many are all mixed up, confused, deceived. Now this booklet on 'Water Baptism.' will make it all clear. You can check with your own Bible, and it’ll become clear. Now to delay getting this booklet might mean your eternity - it’s the most important thing in your life right now - and listen, you’d better also ask for the booklet on 'Faith for Salvation,' that’s another booklet,'Faith for Salvation'. Now just for your own peace of mind I advise you to send in and get this booklet and read it and then read your own Bible. This book will open your eyes, this little booklet, what kind of faith, there’s no charge for it, now I hope you’ve already gotten paper and an envelope. If not, get it right now and a pen, And then request the booklet on 'Water Baptism ,' and the booklet on 'Faith for Salvation.'
So until next time, this is Herbert W Armstrong, saying, "Goodbye friends."