Biggest and most powerful empires and yet as we approach the end-time there is no mention of them? The Bible mentions many Gentile empires that have come and gone! Now that we are in the time of the end you would think that there would be a mention of countries of such significant power, influence and reach?
Well there is!
The Promise to Abraham
To answer this question let’s start with some of the promises made to Abraham
Genesis 22:16 and said: “By Myself I have sworn, says the LORD, because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son—
Genesis 22:17 blessing I will bless you, and multiplying I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heaven and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your descendants shall possess the gate of their enemies.
Genesis 22:18 In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have obeyed My voice.”
Abraham was willing to sacrifice his only son. God made an unconditional covenant with Abraham
These promises cannot be broken — God will do what He has committed to.
Abraham’s descendants would possess these access ways to their enemies.
These promises were passed on to Isaac and to Jacob. (How else would it be fulfilled in Abraham?)
The Birthright Trail
Isaac
Genesis 26:3 Dwell in this land, and I will be with you and bless you; for to you and your descendants I give all these lands, and I will perform the oath which I swore to Abraham your father.
Genesis 26:4 And I will make your descendants multiply as the stars of heaven; I will give to your descendants all these lands; and in your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed;
Genesis 26:5 because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws.”
Jacob
Genesis 27:26 Then his father Isaac said to him, “Come near now and kiss me, my son.”
Genesis 27:27 And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said: “Surely, the smell of my son Is like the smell of a field Which the LORD has blessed.
Genesis 27:28 Therefore may God give you Of the dew of heaven, Of the fatness of the earth, And plenty of grain and wine.
Genesis 27:29 Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, And let your mother’s sons bow down to you. Cursed be everyone who curses you, And blessed be those who bless you!”
Physical blessings
To Spread Worldwide
Genesis 28:13 And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: “I am the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.
Genesis 28:14 Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.
Genesis 28:15 Behold, I am with you and will keep you wherever you go [God would be involved in this process WHEREVER they were], and will bring you back to this land;[at the 2nd coming of Christ; has not happened since they went into captivity] for I will not leave you until I have done what I have spoken to you.”
Promised to Jacob Again
Notice two things here:
Genesis 35:10 And God said to him, “Your name is Jacob; your name shall not be called Jacob anymore, but Israel shall be your name.” So He called his name Israel.
Genesis 35:11 Also God said to him: “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall proceed from you, and kings shall come from your body.
These are more unconditional physical [not spiritual] blessings. As we search for Israel after this time we must see all these prophecies of wealth and power being fulfilled.
This a prophecy of what Israel is to “look” like in the future
SIDE NOTE: This promise cannot be to the Jews (they never were a company of nations; at best they were a part of the nation of Israel)
Jews are one of the 12 tribes of Israel
This promise cannot be to the church (one church; the church is one)
This promise was a physical one and ALSO it was without condition
From father to son without earning it
BUT they could disqualify themselves (as Esau did when he rejected and disrespected his)
Let’s continue to follow the birthright trail
Normally, as we said this goes from father to eldest son, except in the case of disqualification
Next it should go from Jacob or Israel to Rueben
Reuben Loses the Birthright
Legally, according to the law or custom of primogeniture the birthright should go to Rueben
Notice what he did:
Genesis 35:22 And it happened, when Israel dwelt in that land, that Reuben went and lay with Bilhah his father’s concubine; and Israel heard about it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve:
Because of this he was disqualified
1 Chronicles 5:1 Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel—he was indeed the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that the genealogy is not listed according to the birthright;
1 Chronicles 5:2 yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph’s—
Joseph
11th born to Israel but the first of Rachel (the one that Jacob wanted to marry in the first place)
The other point of note here is that we have a splitting in the path of the different promises
Judah’s scepter as it is called involving the spiritual and kingly promises
But the national promises or birthright goes to Joseph and his seed NOT to the Jews (Judah)
Joseph’s Sons – (Who?)
Genesis 48:1 Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, “Indeed your father is sick”; and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Genesis 48:2 And Jacob was told, “Look, your son Joseph is coming to you”; and Israel strengthened himself and sat up on the bed.
Genesis 48:3 Then Jacob said to Joseph: “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,
Genesis 48:4 and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’
Genesis 48:5 And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine [Israel’s]; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
Genesis 48:6 Your offspring whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.
God’s hand in this
Genesis 48:10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
Genesis 48:12 So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth.
Genesis 48:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him.
Remember that Jacob could not see, nor did he know them that well at this point.
Genesis 48:14 Then Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
The name of Israel was to follow them and their descendants
Genesis 48:16 The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, Bless the lads; Let my name [Israel] be named upon them [both of them], And the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac [the promises as well]; And let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
Here is a key to prophecy: In the future, when it speaks of Israel it is speaking of the people of Ephraim and Manasseh. The Jews are not Israel. Israel are the people of Ephraim and Manasseh
Genesis 48:17 Now when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
Genesis 48:18 And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
Genesis 48:19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”
Genesis 48:20 So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!’ ” And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
It is important to note that the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh never fulfilled this in the ancient times of Bible.
Now continuing in chapter 49, Jacob continues to prophesy:
Genesis 49:1 And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:
Genesis 49:8 “Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father’s children shall bow down before you.
Genesis 49:9 Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He bows down, he lies down as a lion; And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
Genesis 49:10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor a lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh [Messiah] comes; And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
Genesis 49:22 “Joseph (Ephraim and Manasseh) is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a well; His branches run over the wall. [they were to be a colonizing people]
Genesis 49:25 By the God of your father who will help you, And by the Almighty who will bless you With blessings of heaven above, Blessings of the deep that lies beneath, Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
Genesis 49:26 The blessings of your father Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors, Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.
Birthright blessings are reiterated
Skipping ahead: Slavery in Egypt, wandering in the wilderness, and now entering the Promised Land.
Kings of Israel
The First King Was God
They reject God
1 Samuel 8:6 But the thing displeased Samuel when they said, “Give us a king to judge us.” So Samuel prayed to the LORD.
1Samuel 8:7 And the LORD said to Samuel, “Heed the voice of the people in all that they say to you; for they have not rejected you, but they have rejected Me, that I should not reign over them.
Saul was the first king, but he rejected God and God removed his lineage after Ishbosheth.
God Sets up the Throne of David Forever
1 Chronicles 29:23 Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him.
2 Samuel 23:1 Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David the son of Jesse; Thus says the man raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel:
2 Samuel 23:5 “Although my house is not so with God, Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire; Will He not make it increase?
2 Samuel 7:4 But it happened that night that the word of the LORD came to Nathan, saying,
2 Samuel 7:5 “Go and tell My servant David, ‘Thus says the LORD: “Would you build a house for Me to dwell in?
2 Samuel 7:12 “When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom.
2 Samuel 7:13 He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.
2 Samuel 7:14 I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men.
2 Samuel 7:15 But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you.
2 Samuel 7:16 And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever.” ‘ ”
David’s throne was set up and established with Solomon and it was established FOREVER in Solomon. If Solomon were to be disobedient (and he was) God would chastise but not cutoff or EVER break this covenant—god would never remove the throne
So now we come to the rub – what happens now that both kingdoms have gone into captivity?
Just as Israel went into captivity for cause; Judah did as well
When the tribes of Israel split into two kingdoms (Israel to the north and Judah to the south), Israel went into apostasy and was taken into captivity by the Assyrians c. 721-718BC. Then approximately 130 years later Judah followed suit.
Zedekiah, the last king of Judah
Jeremiah 39:1 In the ninth year of Zedekiah king of Judah, in the tenth month, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and all his army came against Jerusalem, and besieged it.
Jeremiah 39:2 In the eleventh year of Zedekiah, in the fourth month, on the ninth day of the month, the city was penetrated.
Jeremiah 39:3 Then all the princes of the king of Babylon came in and sat in the Middle Gate: Nergal-Sharezer, Samgar-Nebo, Sarsechim, Rabsaris, Nergal-Sarezer, Rabmag, with the rest of the princes of the king of Babylon.
Jeremiah 39:4 So it was, when Zedekiah the king of Judah and all the men of war saw them, that they fled and went out of the city by night, by way of the king’s garden, by the gate between the two walls. And he went out by way of the plain.
eremiah 39:5 But the Chaldean army pursued them and overtook Zedekiah in the plains of Jericho. And when they had captured him, they brought him up to Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, to Riblah in the land of Hamath, where he pronounced judgment on him.
Jeremiah 39:6 Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah; the king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah.
Jeremiah 39:7 Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon.
Jeremiah 52:11 He also put out the eyes of Zedekiah; and the king of Babylon bound him in bronze fetters, took him to Babylon, and put him in prison till the day of his death.
Zedekiah, all of his sons, and all possible heirs died…
If this covenant and promise was to be everlasting then …where is that throne today?
Who are the US and UK in Prophecy Part 2