Sermon from February 8, 2009
Should we look for the United States in biblical prophecy? It depends on what you mean by prophecy. If you think it means “history written in advance,” then you will look in vain. America, The United States, the land of the free and the home of the brave – you will not find those noble names in the sacred writings.

On the other hand, if prophecy means insight into the human situation in which the people of God find themselves in their generation, then we should look for the United States in prophecy. The prophets of Israel and the Church saw with startling clarity the divine meaning of their moment in time. Reading them patiently over long periods of time and in the company of other patient readers is the best preparation for discerning the divine meaning of our moment in time. That’s how we’ll find the United States is in biblical prophecy.

Prophecy As Prediction
I know what you are thinking. Prophecy means prediction. The prophets of Israel and the Church predicted the future, didn’t they? Talk to me about prediction. Okay. Here’s a rule of thumb for prophetic prediction. The more specific the prediction, the sooner it has to happen. Let me illustrate.

A prophet in the Bible named Agabus came down from Judea . . . took Paul’s belt, tied his own hands and feet with it and said, “The Holy Spirit says, ‘In this way the Jews of Jerusalem will bind the owner of this belt and will hand him over to the Gentiles.’” Luke told this story in Acts 21:10-12. He went on to say: When we heard this, we and the people there pleaded with Paul not to go up to Jerusalem.

They took Agabus seriously. The Church recognized him as a prophet. He predicted in public that Paul would become a prisoner if he went to Jerusalem. Within a year Paul was in prison in Jerusalem and two years later was on his way to imprisonment in Rome. It was a specific prediction, and it happened within a short period of time.

Here’s another example from a famous Old Testament prophet: Isaiah 7:14. Isaiah uttered this prophecy to Ahaz, the King of Judah. “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. He’ll give you a prediction. The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

That’s the verse Matthew 1:23 quoted and applied to the Virgin Mary. Matthew went on to say: All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet Isaiah. That makes Isaiah 7:14 sound like a long-term, specific prediction with a vengeance. But go back to Isaiah 7:15-16. “He – the little boy called Immanuel – will eat curds and honey when he knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right. But before the boy knows enough to reject the wrong and choose the right, the land of the two kings you, King Ahaz, dread will be laid waste.”

Once again, it was a specific prediction, and it happened within a short period of time. But what about Matthew 1? Isaiah predicted an event that happened within a few years; but Isaiah’s words had another meaning that he could not guess. Why? Here’s why. True prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit – 2 Peter 1:21.

Isaiah meant one thing by what he said. God meant two things by what Isaiah said. Isaiah may have wondered if there was more to what he said than met the eye, but he would have been guessing. (See 1 Peter 1:12.) Things were different when Matthew wrote his gospel 800 years later.

We need a break. Let’s get some relief by going from the sublime to the suspect. In your questions to Pastor Mark and me you asked the following: Did Kay Arthur predict that “a famine is coming to our nation?” “Did Harold Camping of Family Radio fame set 2011 as the date for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ?”

I did not say we were going from the sublime to the ridiculous. We will apply the rule of thumb for biblical prophecy to Kay Arthur and Harold Camping: The more specific the prediction, the sooner it has to happen. We owe it to them to let their words be their judge. If Kay Arthur predicted famine in America, and it doesn’t happen soon, she should lose credibility. Harold Camping predicted the Second Coming in 2011. We may hope he’s right. If it doesn’t happen, he should lose credibility.

Prophecy and Obedience
That brings me to the most uncomfortable characteristic of biblical prophecy. Does anyone have smelling salts? We may need to revive a few people after I say this. Biblical prophecy is never given to satisfy our curiosity about the future. It is always, always a call for obedience to God right now.

The prophecy about Paul’s becoming a prisoner in Jerusalem may have generated curiosity, but the immediate response was a plea for Paul not to go to Jerusalem. Paul went anyway, not because he didn’t believe Agabus but because he saw prison as a necessary part of his calling to be an apostle.

Isaiah’s prophecy that the threat of war against King Ahaz would disappear before little Immanuel knew the difference between right and wrong may have generated curiosity; but it required the King immediately to stop being a coward, pull himself together, trust God, and show the people of God that he was their leader.

I surf through the religious channels on cable TV. I don’t do it to find fault. I want to hear what good preachers are saying. Among them I hear John Hagee and Dave Jeremiah (a Dallas Seminary classmate of mine), and Hal Lindsey. They are faithful pastors and teachers.

They often speak on prophetic themes. If I have one question for them, it would be this: How are we supposed to obey God as a result of hearing what you say about end-time events? They run a risk as preachers, and we run the same risk as listeners: prophecy becomes entertainment. It titillates. It can even scare you to death – just like a good horror movie.

If it doesn’t call us to obedient action right now, it becomes a form of escapism. That is bad for our immortal souls, bad for the Church, and bad for the world. Biblical prophecy is always, always a call for obedience to God right now.

Once again, catch your breath and permit me a review of biblical prophecy. First: it means insight into the human situation in which the people of God find themselves in their generation. Second: a rule of thumb for prophetic prediction is that the more specific the prediction, the sooner it has to happen. But it may also have a future fulfillment. Third: biblical prophecy is always, always a call for obedience to God right now.

The Harlot
Now, we are ready to return to the only extended prophecy in the New Testament, the book of Revelation. A brief review of that book. The message of Revelation is this: evil will be overcome, no matter how awful it gets, and it will get awful. The nations will be converted to Jesus Christ. Central to both will be the Church’s self-sacrificing witness to Jesus Christ, who will come again into human history to judge the living and the dead and to rule the nations.

I promise you: I have not forgotten the question you asked us to answer. Should we look for the United States in biblical prophecy? The answer takes us to one of the most potent symbols of evil in the Bible or anywhere else. Revelation 17:1-2 introduces that symbol into its prophecy of things to come. One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”

John helps us to interpret this symbol. He said that the great prostitute . . . sits on many waters. Look at verse 15: Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages.” You can never accuse John of thinking too small. His vision was universal. Verse nine helps us be even more specific about this symbol. This calls for a mind of wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. Let’s play a game. Finish the sentence: “The city built on seven hills is . . . ? Rome, of course! And just in case anyone wasn’t listening John wrote verse 18: The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.

John called Rome, the center of a massive empire, a prostitute. Consorting with a prostitute will wreck your domestic bliss. Ask Governor Spitzer of New York about that. But this prostitute was a city with an imperial reach. The image suggests that the kings of the earth betrayed their own people to have a piece of the action that Rome offered. We don’t have time today to talk about it, but that image offered a powerful geopolitical critique of Roman military and economic might. Our politicians do well to pay attention.

Now, remember: prophecy may also have a future fulfillment. That comes into play here. Does this symbolic shoe fit any American foot? Ouch! But you wanted to know if we should look for the United States in biblical prophecy. Does any American city deserve this label? Top candidates for the dishonor are: New York, Washington and Los Angeles: the Harlot on the Hudson, the Potomoc Prostitute, the California Call Girl. As we shall see, something more powerful includes and surpasses all three.

John did not include a warning label on his prophecy. So, I need to tell you that once this potent symbol of evil gets inside your heart, you will never see the world the same again. That’s what John wanted. That’s what the Church needs if she is to overcome the incessant ideology of the world around us.

You should consider one more feature of John’s symbol before you give it a home in your heart. Verse six cuts to the chase. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. Why would Rome pay attention to, much less flex its muscle against, this powerless minority meeting in living rooms around the empire?

It wasn’t powerless. What Simeon said of the infant Jesus in the temple fits the Church quite well. “The Church is destined to cause the falling and rising of many . . . and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed” – Luke 1:34-35. The Church embodies Christ’s presence in the world. It’s no wonder that the principalities and powers should turn their hostile attention to the Church. Jesus said, “If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also” – John 15:20.

The Pastoral Center of Gravity
And now we come to the heart of the matter. We begin with a disconnect. I read recently of extremists who offered $250 to anyone who would kill a Christian pastor in Orissa, India. I took that very personally, even though I am in no danger. That’s my brother pastor, one of the ordained company of those going back in an unbroken chain to Christ and the apostles. Why him and not me?

The Apostle Paul said to the suffering church of Philippi: It has been granted to you – granted! as if it were some great honor – on behalf of Christ not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for him – Philippians 1:29.  Here’s the danger to us. We don’t know we’re in danger, because no one threatens us with prison or beatings or burnings.

We don’t recognize the threat. We forget that the great prostitute is no street-corner hooker. She is gorgeous. She travels in elite circles. She whispers seductively in the ear of the Church: “Stolen water is sweet; food eaten in secret is delicious.”

Hear the word of the Lord: “My people, who are called by my name, be faithful and true to me in a world where you are free to do anything they can get away with?” That is the divine meaning of our moment in time. That’s the temptation the Church must overcome.

It’s nothing like a knock on the door by the secret police in the middle of the night. It is far removed from the burning of churches by religious fanatics. It is far more like drifting on gentle currents down an unknown river to an unimaginable danger. “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one – the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.” (C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters, XII, 65)

The love song of liberty keeps us adrift. Always from up ahead many voices bewitch us with this song: “Go ahead! Do anything you want so long as you don’t interfere with the liberty of others to do anything they want. How can it be wrong, when it feels so right?” Each new indulgence seems right, because, as we like to say, no one gets hurt; although people do get hurt. People always get hurt. Law and medicine will just have to take care of any unintended consequences and sustain our illusions. So it goes until their deeds do not permit them to return to their God.

Who is this parading her charms on the back of the beast that makes war against the Lamb and His followers? Why, it is Lady Liberty herself, the latest cunning incarnation of the ancient malice that caused war in heaven and in this world becomes drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.

I knew her from past acquaintance. She was always lovely. She is still lovely, but changed. She seems painted, more forced in her social graces. She speaks softly, but she has at times a hardness about her that borders on cruelty.

Nevertheless, her beauty acts upon our age like a psychedelic drug, causing the clever to speak lies and visionaries to see things that can never be there. They stagger like a drunk on a sidewalk, but they don’t want help; they are free. They sing like a drunk on a sidewalk. They make us laugh. We are all free.

The holy and wise look and weep and wait for our sins to be be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord. Hear what the Spirit says to the Church!