The World Tomorrow

Sure Prophecies

by Herbert W Armstrong

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About one third of all the Bible is devoted to prophecy. And about ninety percent of all prophecy relates to those events that are going to happen between now and this coming utopia that will happen within the next twenty-five or thirty years. And so the largest part of the events that are going to rock this world to its foundations, that are going to shake this world as it has never been shaken before. Things that will dwarf World War I, World War II, will dwarf them into insignificance, are going to happen.

And almost one third of your Bible is devoted to writing out the account of what is going to happen in advance. And yet very few people know it, because - well because, prophecy has been closed and sealed until now. And men and churches and organizations of men have not been able to understand it until this time of the end, but we have reached that time now. God's time has come, and now the great deep mysteries of God, that have formed about one third, this neglected third of your Bible, are revealed and opened up.

Now one of the very important books in this one third of the Bible is the book of Jeremiah, and so we started going through it, to see what is going to happen. Now Jeremiah just gives a part of the the prophecy, of course. There's Isaiah, there's a lot of it back in even Deuteronomy, and even some of the books of Moses. You find some of the prophecies in the Psalms. And you'll find it in all of the other prophecies of the Old Testament, Isaiah, and Ezekiel, and then the, so-called, minor prophets, all the way through the rest of the Old Testament. And you find it in the teachings and the prophecies of Jesus and in the writings of the apostle Paul, and especially in the book of Revelation. All through the Bible you'll find prophecies. But now to fill in, and to get some of the specific prophecies, and taking the time in this daily series, day after day, and night after night, to just go through some of these books a little more specifically.

Two Nations - Israel and Judah (PLAY FROM 02:18)

Now we're taking the book of Jeremiah, and it says here that:

"...the word of the [Eternal] came to Jeremiah, in the days of these last three kings of Judah..." (Jeremiah 1:2-3 paraphrased)

Just before, or during the time of the various seiges and invasions of King Nebuchadnezzar of Judah approximately six hundred years before Christ. In fact they began about 604 and carried on down to about 580 BC, from about 604 to 580 BC. And Jeremiah's commission didn't even end at that time, although the message that he wrote ended by that time. Now then, notice that:

"...the word of the [Eternal, he said] came unto me, saying, Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and ordained thee a prophet unto the nations." (Jeremiah 1:4-5)

Notice more than one nation. Now he was a sort of go-between, between the Chaldean Empire and the Kingdom of Judah. Nebuchadnezzar, and these three last kings of Judah. Or there was really another king in there too, that lasted about - what was it, about eleven days, wasn't it? Just a very, very short time. But, Jeremiah was a prophet to both Israel and Judah. And we don't need to read very far into the prophecy until we see that he is a prophet to the house of Israel, as well as to the house of Judah.

Now let me explain something again. Get this very clearly in mind. You need also our booklet 'The United States in Prophecy.’ You need to know where the United States is mentioned in prophecy, because, my friends, over a hundred years before Jeremiah wrote, the Kingdom of Israel had been driven into Assyrian bondage.

Now the twelve tribes of Israel had become divided into two different nations. One called the house of Israel, the other the house of Judah, or Kingdom of Israel and Kingdom of Judah. And the Kingdom of Israel composed ten tribes, and that is including two tribes for the one tribe of Joseph, who was divided into the two tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh. The other three tribes formed the Kingdom of Judah. So in a sense, there were thirteen tribes altogether, because Joseph was given his double portion, you know.

And so the Kingdom of Israel had the birthright promise. In other words, God had promised Abraham that his descendants would become the greatest nations on the face of the earth. Not just one nation, but Ephraim, who was given the birthright was to become a great commonwealth of nations. The greatest of the kind that the world had ever known. And then Manasseh finally just split off from Ephraim, they were to grow together until along into comparatively latter days, such as we're living in now. And then they were to divide, and Manasseh was to become the greatest most powerful single nation on the face of the earth. Now God promised that to Abraham, unconditionally, because as you read in the twenty-sixth chapter of Genesis:

"Because that Abraham [had] obeyed [God's] voice, ...kept [His] charge, [His] commandments, [His] statutes, and [His] laws." (Genesis 26:5)

That's how much God loves obedience to His laws. The only reason we're having war, why God allows war, because He allows man to break His commandments, that's all. And because God does not cram His religion down our throats. God has ruled that mankind must make his own decision. And mankind as a whole, has made the wrong decision.

But Abraham did walk with God. He obeyed God and God made him this promise unconditionally. That part of his descendants, those coming especially from Ephraim and Manasseh, who were his - well great, great, great grandsons down there, the sons of Joseph, as they turned out to be, were to become the greatest single nation and the greatest group, or commonwealth of nations, in the history of the world. They were to have the greatest prosperity and the greatest military power. Although they were not to be military nations, but if and when they were invaded, they were going to completely put any other invaders to flight, and all that sort of thing.

Now, God also promised a kingly line and a Messiah. That promise, called the scepter, went to Judah. And was descended down through the tribe of Judah. Now, David was of the line of Judah and God had promised David that his kingly line, his dynasty, would never cease. From that time on through all generations David would have one of his own flesh and blood descendants sitting on the throne. And Christ was to come of that line. And ultimately, Christ is to take over that throne and rule forever, so that David's dynasty remains solid forever and ever. You'll find all of the scriptures about all of that, and where you can turn to it, and read it in your own Bible, in this booklet: 'The United States in Prophecy.’ Be sure to get it.

Now, the house of Israel that had the birthright promise that comes by right of birth, having nothing whatsoever to do with grace, or with salvation, but just becoming great nations in this present evil world, that's all. That promise went into the house of Israel and the two tribes of Joseph, and they had been driven out about 721 BC into Assyrian captivity.

Now shortly after that, and actually considerably before Jeremiah's time, they had migrated north-west from the southern shores of the Caspian Sea, over around ancient Assyria. There they were lost sight of, but prophecy shows where they were to go. And they were to be found in these latter days in islands directly north-west of Jerusalem across Europe. And we find in the history of the British people, and how the first history that we find of them, was along in, oh sort of, central Europe or south-eastern Europe. From about the same point where we lost track of the ten lost tribes.

And so, my friends, that's where they are today. Now to understand that, you have to know where we are mentioned in Bible prophecy. And that the United States is today that great nation and the British Commonwealth are the great company of nations. And the others of the ten tribes are mostly the so-called democracies of north-western Europe.

Overturn, Overturn, Overturn (PLAY FROM 08:52)

Alright, now then notice Jeremiah was a prophet to the house of Israel as well as the house of Judah. And so God had ordained him a prophet unto the nations. Now then, God says here in verse ten:

"See, I have this day set thee [Jeremiah] over the nations and over the kingdoms [that's Israel and Judah], to root out, and to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down..." (Jeremiah 1:10)

Now what did he root out and throw down and tear down and destroy? Why, it was the throne, the throne of David that had been planted in Judah. And you'll find that God said it was to be overturned. Yes three times, again after the first overturn, it was to be overturned. Until Christ would come, and then never again overturned, when it will be replanted back in Jerusalem, Palestine.

That throne was in Jerusalem. The throne of the house of Israel was up in Samaria. Samaria was the capital of Israel, but the king and the kingly line was in Judah and the capital in Jerusalem. And so Jeremiah was used in pulling it down. Because Judah was called the green tree and now they had dried up, and became a dry tree, and Israel was the green tree. And that throne was to be pulled down and prophecy says it was to be planted in Israel, in plain language in the prophecies of your Bible.

And so wherever the house of Israel had gone, Jeremiah went there to plant, because he not only was to root out, to pull down, and to destroy, and to throw down that throne of David, and his dynasty, his descendants and Zedekiah was the last one to sit on that throne. But he was also to build and to plant the very thing that he had torn down, which was the throne.

He took one of the king's daughters. He went to Ulster in Northern Ireland and there that daughter, a young princess and a queen, married. That is she a became a queen and she married King Herremon, who was descended from Israel, and of the same line of Judah. Actually, he was descended from a twin brother of the line of Zedekiah. And there had been a breach between them. That breach was healed.

And that dynasty had been not extinct or anything, it was just overthrown, that's all, or overturned as the King James translation has it. And it was moved up into Ireland. It was overturned again and moved to Scotland later. Later it was overturned and moved to London, England, where it is at this very day. Once more it is to be overturned at the second coming of Christ and moved back to Jerusalem Palestine, never again to be overturned.

Now I suppose that sounds rather fantastic to some of you that have never heard it. Now I want to just say to you, my friends, if this is knowledge, as it is, that has been closed and sealed until now, as God says the prophecies would be. Do you know any organized large established and recognized church denomination that has ever changed its doctrines? No you don't. No church would dare accept something that it didn't have a hundred, two hundred, five hundred years ago, however long it's been in existence. They're afraid to change their doctrines. And so, my friends, you've just got to find this independently as child of God, if your mind is open to it. You'll have to quit relying on man. God says:

"Put not your trust in man, or in the princes of man..." (Psalm 146:3 paraphrased)

Have love and charity for men, but put your faith in God and in the word of God. Now if you looked to the word of God instead of looking to men, and what they say, and how they try to ridicule things they can't honestly answer, get this booklet: 'The United States in Prophecy.’ Check it and prove it, no-one has ever disproved it. Alright, now he was set over these nations, not only to tear down that throne in Judah, but to plant and to rebuild it in Israel.

God is Wakeful (PLAY FROM 12:46)

Now then let's proceed, I am going to go ahead a little while now with the Moffatt translation, beginning there with verse eleven. Now:

"[The] word from the Eternal came to me [says Jeremiah, God said to him]: 'Jeremiah, what do you see?' [now he was in a vision and Jeremiah] said, 'The shoot of a wake-tree.' [and] The Eternal said to me, 'You have seen right; for I am wakeful over my word, to carry it out.'" (Jeremiah 1:11-12 Moffatt)

I want you to notice, God Almighty has never changed; "Jesus Christ [is] the same yesterday, ...today, and for ever" (Hebrews 13:8). He has never changed and He says; "I am wakeful over my word, to carry it out'" (Jeremiah 1:12 Moffatt). Listen; every prophecy that God gave that was to have been fulfilled prior to this time, has been fulfilled right precisely on schedule.

Why, ancient Egypt was to be reduced from the greatest nation in the world to a small nation, never again to be ruled by a native prince. That happened. Ancient Babylon, the greatest empire on the earth, and the first world-ruling empire was to be destroyed and its capital city, Babylon, to become extinct, never again inhabited – that's happened.

Rome was foretold even before it rose, and its greatness and its power greater than that of the Chaldean, or the Persian Empire, or Greece, or any of those ancient nations. But it was to have a fall. It had it in 476. But it was to have seven resurrections. Six of them have come and the seventh is coming now. And it is going to be there to fight Jesus Christ at His second coming.

I tell you, my friends, these prophecies of God are sure. God has given you promises in the Bible. He's promised that even in all your troubles, if you come to Him and come to that throne of grace, where Christ is at the right hand of God, that you'll be delivered out of all of your troubles.

That He will supply all of your needs and He'll heal you if you are sick. I don't mean go to some professional healer, or someone that uses it as a means of drawing thousands of people in great vast evangelistic campaigns or something of that kind. Christ didn't do that sort of thing, but Jesus Christ does heal. No man can heal, but Christ still does. He is the same today as He was then, and He is; "...wakeful over [His] word, to carry it out." (Jeremiah 1:12 Moffatt)

You think He is gone to sleep? You think He is gone way off? I just want you to notice that. That He says; "...I am wakeful..." (Jeremiah 1:12 Moffatt) Now I'm in red ink right this moment while I talk to you, I'm marking that good and strong in my Bible. I want that to stand out, so I'll see it next time I look there. That He is; "...wakeful over [His] word, to carry it out." (Jeremiah 1:12 Moffatt) Oh, I've got this whole page marked all around it, and that was underscored, but not as bold as I wanted. So I'm making it bolder. Do you mark your Bible? Well unless you feel you shouldn't, and that's your own personal feeling in the matter I think, if you do mark it though, I'd mark that and make it stand out so you'll see it.

The Duality Key (PLAY FROM 15:49)

Now:

"The word of the Eternal came to me again, saying, 'What do you see?' [and] I said, 'A boiling cauldron, fanned from the north.' Then the Eternal said to me, 'From the north is bane being blown out on all the inhabitants of the land. For [God says] I am summoning all the empires of the north [all the empires of the north]; they shall come and erect their tribunals [and so on]...by them [God says] will I pass sentence on the wickedness of those who forsake me to offer sacrifice to other gods and [to] worship what their own hands have made." (Jeremiah 1:13-16 Moffatt)

Now my friends, there is a duality in that. There's another key to understanding prophecy that has been hidden through these years. Now you have to have these keys to unlock the doors of prophecy. But God's time has come for them to be unlocked. God is opening the idea of these keys, so we can understand them. One key is the identity of who Israel is, and who Judah is today. And the fact that they were two different people, two different nations altogether. Another key is the duality and that everything in God's plan, and His working out of His purpose is dual.

There was the first man Adam, a living soul made of the earth. There's the second Adam from heaven, Jesus Christ. There was the Old Covenant and the New. Everything is dual all the way through. First we are mortal and human, later we are to be divine and spirit. And now in prophecy, there is a sort of a former, which is a type. In many cases it is of a physical nature, where the anti-type is spiritual. But even in the physical prophecies that are of themselves physical events on the earth, there is a former, which is just a forerunner. Then there is the later one to come in our time now, of which that was only a type. And often the specific forerunner prophecy occurred way back there before Christ. And yet the anti-type is to occur in our time. That's one of the keys to understanding what's coming.

Now of course, if you want to argue that that's all wrong and you don't believe that, why you just believe your own way. I haven't any time to argue at all. But I'm telling you, my friends, I speak with the authority of Jesus Christ. And this is the truth for all who want the truth.

Now, this has a dual meaning. And while that happened on Judah, and Nebuchadnezzar was the king that "...fanned [this cauldron] from the north'" (Jeremiah 1:13 Moffatt). And it came down, and it attacked, and it invaded, and it conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and burned the palace, and the kings' houses, and the temple in Jerusalem. Nevertheless, it is a type of kingdom from the north. And remember the north is always north of Jerusalem. And from the north of Jerusalem, on the house of Israel today, is to come such a foreign enemy to have the same affect.

Now my friends, that's a prophecy. And if you can understand it, you can know what is going to happen. And if you can't understand it, you'll just have to wait and see it happen. And it will be too late then.

We have not lived right. We have not learned the true values. We have not learned the laws that God Almighty set in motion. We're breaking those laws and we are suffering the results. Now we have a lot of lessons to learn. And so before we learn those lessons, and we haven't learned them yet - we're still writing them - there's going to be more terrible things happening in this world. And every bit of it is written in the pages of your Bible. Woe to you that live through it. Because if you know, and if you are watching, and if you know what to watch for, and if you are praying without ceasing, and if you are close to God in obedience, and through faith in Jesus Christ, you can escape all of these things that are coming to pass. Otherwise, I want to tell you, it's going to be more hellish than anything that has ever happened on this earth. You better pray you won't have to live through it. Now continuing verse seventeen:

"As for you [He said], brace yourself up, stand up and tell them all that I command you..." (Jeremiah 1:17 Moffatt)

There has to be a modern Jeremiah today, to tell the people of the great anti-typical part of that prophecy, that is going happen today. Well I'm telling you, my friends, if you have an ear to hear – God help you to open those ears. And open your mind, and not to be bound by men, and men who have rejected the very gospel that God sent by Jesus Christ into this world. He says here to Jeremiah:

"...[never] be scared of them, lest I scare you at the sight of them...I fortify you this day like a town, a bronze wall, against the whole land, against the kings of Judah, the authorities, the priests and the laity; they shall attack you, but they shall not overcome you, for I am with you (the Eternal promises) to succour you." (Jeremiah 1:17-19 Moffatt)

Yes and I'm being attacked on these very things today for proclaiming them, my friends. But it is the truth. And I want to tell you that the very prophecy of Jesus, that you will find in Matthew 24:14 is being fulfilled in your ears this very second. So if you have ears to hear, you better open them and listen.

God's Message for Israel Today (PLAY FROM 21:11)

Now let's come down to the second chapter now, because I'm not going to take every word of it. I want you to get the meaning, and the message to us today. What's all this got to do with the United States of America? What's it got to do with you right there in your town, your city, or out in your farm, and your community where you live right now? Well listen, and it says here verse four, chapter two:

"Listen to the Eternal's word, O house of Jacob..." (Jeremiah 2:4 Moffatt)

Not house of Judah – house of Jacob! Now the house of Jacob, my friends, had been driven out into a captivity and completely out of Palestine over a hundred years before this was written. And yet Jeremiah is writing a message to the house of Jacob. How did this come? He's telling about a future invasion, and captivity to the house of Israel. That has never happened from that day until now. Now the captivity of Judah did happen in Jeremiah's time. That, as I say, was only a type, a forerunner, of what is going to happen to Great Britain and our own beloved America. So you had better open your ears.

"...O house of Jacob and all the families of the house of Israel [and in your Bible, my friends that never means the Jewish people, never! The Jewish people are the house of Judah; listen, here's God's message]: What did your fathers find wrong [with] me that they went far from me..." (Jeremiah 2:4-5 Moffatt)

Yes back in the days of Moses, and back in the days here of Elijah, and Elijah warned them, but they wouldn't heed. What happened, my friends?

"What did [our] fathers [way back there] find wrong [with God] that they went far from [Him], went after empty idols and became empty themselves?" (Jeremiah 2:5 Moffatt)

And most of your lives, of you people listening to me this minute are empty. And they could be so full, if you would only come to God's truth. If you would recognize God's holy laws that are in motion, and that are moving, and accept them, and live by them, obey them. And they'd make your life full, and abundant and happy. Listen:

"They never said, 'Where is the Eternal, who brought us up from Egypt's land..." (Jeremiah 2:6 Moffatt)

Back in that day. Well what are we saying now in our day, in the twentieth century? Come to verse seven:

"Yes [God says], I brought you to a garden-land to eat the fruit and good things of it..." (Jeremiah 2:7 Moffatt)

Now that was Palestine, but today He says to us, He brought us a garden-land over here in the United States of America. To eat the fruit and the good things of it, and that applies to us today. So listen:

"...but, when you entered, you befouled my land and [you] made my heritage abominable [my friends, that's what we've done here in the United States of America] - the priests never asked, 'Where is the Eternal?' those who handled the law cared nothing for me, the rulers rebelled against me..." (Jeremiah 2:7-8 Moffatt)

Why the preachers tell you today, my friends; "You shouldn't obey God – you're not saved by works." They tell you there is no works to it. All you have to do is just believe! just believe! But don't obey. Do what you please, follow the traditions of men. And Jesus Christ said; "...you worship him in vain, by following the traditions of men" (Mark 7:7 paraphrased). And "Making the [laws] of God of none affect [by] your traditions..." (Mark 7:13). God help us to wake up. Yes He said:

"...the priests never asked, 'Where is the Eternal?' those who handled the law [that's God's Word, the Bible, the gospel, only they try to do away with the law, they] cared nothing for me [said God], the rulers rebelled against me..." (Jeremiah 2:8 Moffatt)

They don't want to obey God, they want to go along with human customs, with pagan traditions, that God condemns. And tells you come out of them, or you are going to suffer the seven last plagues of God – God help you to wake up:

"...the prophets prophesied by Baal and sought useless idols." (Jeremiah 2:8)

Do you know where Christmas came from? Out of Baal worship, it is the birthday of Baal the sun god and not the birthday of Jesus Christ. When are we going to wake up and get out of these traditions of men. Alright write for our booklet 'About Christmas', if you want to know the history of it. If you're not afraid, my friends, of being shocked. And if you love truth, instead of error.

I'm going to have to stop right there. I wish I could go on, but now we are going to carry it on. He comes into prophecies now about the United States of America, and what's going to happen to us in the next five, ten, fifteen, twenty years. Do you want to know what you are going to live through and what's going happen, and your children are going to live through? I tell you these things are certain. Remember:

"...[God is] wakeful over [His] word, to carry it out.'" (Jeremiah 1:12 Moffatt)

I'm going to give you that word and it's going to be carried out. Alright now, I've told you about the booklet, 'The United States in Prophecy,’ and that's a key, and you can't understand your Bible, or a third of it, its prophecies without it. And I also mention the booklet once again 'About Christmas,' if you don't know the truth about that. Now then there is no charge at all.

Until tomorrow then, goodbye friends.