All
Christians know that the prophets foretold the future, and gave many prophecies
which are being fulfilled in our time; but it may be news to many that the Bible
even speaks of our own United States of America. Not under that name, 'of
course; but the Bible describes a certain land in such terms as definitely
identify it as the United States. However, part of this has been concealed from
all---but the deepest students of the Bible by the unfortunate mistranslation of
certain words in the commonly-used King James Version.
The
Prophet Isaiah, one, of the most deeply inspired prophets in the Bible,
foretells the future of a number of different nations. With one exception, these
kingdoms which were then important nations, were competing with one another for
mastery - over western Asia and the Mediterranean shores. In his thirteenth
chapter, Isaiah names Babylon, and foretells its coming destruction- -even
naming the Medes as the chief nation by whom Babylon would be overthrown
(although Isaiah wrote this 176 years before the fall of Babylon); he
also foretells that, after its destruction, the Arabs would never camp
overnight at the site of the mined city--which is still true, even today. In his
fourteenth chapter Isaiah concludes his prophecies against Babylon, and
names another people doomed to be broken as a punishment for their evil
ways--the Assyrians.
In
the fifteenth and sixteenth chapters, Isaiah prophesies the destruction
of another nation, that of Moab. In his seventeenth chapter, Isaiah
foretells the fall of Damascus. (Let us skip over the eighteenth chapter
for the moment; but we will come back to it.) In the nineteenth and
twentieth chapters, he foretells the destruction of another mighty
nation--the great empire of Egypt; and in the twenty-third chapter, he
foretells the doom of the powerful commercial seaport of Tyre.
All of
these nations were pagan enemies of God's people, and God's patience with their
wickedness was near its end; so these prophecies are all prophecies of
destruction. Isaiah lists these nations all by name--for they then had
names, and were the important nations of their day. But in the midst of this, in
the short eighteenth chapter, Isaiah speaks of another nation which he does not
name, but merely Ascribes it. Unfortunately the translators have sadly garbled
this short chapter until its meaning is lost. Correctly translated from the
Hebrew, its references to this un-named nation (found in verses one, two,
three, and seven) read thus: Ho! to the land of buzzing wings, which lies
beyond the rivers of Ethiopia; "That sends its ambassadors by sea, in
water-drinking vessels upon the waters. Go, you swift messengers, to a nation
tall and. smooth-shaven, to a people terrible from their beginning onward; a
nation measured out by lines under foot, whose land the rivers divide.
At that
time shall a present be brought to the Lord of Hosts: A people tall and
smooth-shaven, a nation measured out by lines under foot, whose land the rivers
quarter, to the place of the name of the Lord of Hosts, Mount Zion.'
Now,
let us examine this very unusual description, and see which nation it will fit.
It is not named--and as we shall see, this is for the very good reason that, at
the time when Isaiah wrote, it had no name, for it did not yet exist.
The
first strange thing we note is that it is "the land of buzzing wings." Nearly
all of you who listen to me can, at this moment, hear the drone of airplanes in
the sky. No other nation in the world has its skies so filled with "buzzing
wings," day and night, as our own United States.
Next,
where is it located? Isaiah says it is "beyond the rivers of Ethiopia." The
rivers of Ethiopia are the tributaries which unite into the great River Nile and
flow northward into the Mediterranean Sea due west of Jerusalem. Look straight
west from Jerusalem, where the Prophet wrote these words, and your line of
vision will cut across the mouths of the River Nile, across the north African
shore, through Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco--none of which can possibly
answer any part of the description of this nation. So we keep going on, due
west, across the Atlantic Ocean, and we arrive at the shores of the United
States on the coastline of Georgia and South Carolina.
Isaiah
says that this nation "sends its ambassadors by sea, in water-drinking vessels
upon the waters." The American ambassadors can go only to Mexico and Canada by
land; more than almost any other nation, we must send our ambassadors by
sea--until just the last few years, when we became able to send them on the
"buzzing-wings." By sea, they have gone, for most of our history, in
"waterdrinking vessels"--that is, steamships, which must "drink" great
quantities of water for their boilers.
It is a
nation "tall and smooth-shaven. " You have noticed how few foreigners are of our
height. In both World Wars, the United States Army was the tallest army on
record; and among them were few moustaches, practically no beards. Today, except
for the "beatniks," where can you find a beard among us?
It is a
"people terrible from their beginning onward"--and so we have been. We were born
by defeating the greatest power in Europe, the British Empire--not only once,
but twice; we whipped the North African pirate kings to whom even proud Britain
was paying tribute; we ended Spain's long dream of world-wide empire; we won two
World Wars which must have gone the other way if we had stayed out.
A
nation measured out by lines under foot," says Isaiah. The United States Metes
and Bounds Act, enacted by Congress about a century and a half ago, established
the world's first system of surveying the whole nation into sections and
townships, laid out by the compass--which, even today, most nations do not have
-- truly "a nation measured out by lines on the ground, under foot.
It is a
nation "whose land the rivers divide, or quarter." The Mississippi River cuts
our land in half, from north to south; the Ohio River and its tributaries divide
the eastern half in two; and the Columbia, the North Plate, and related streams,
cut the western half in two. Where else do you find the like?
Isaiah
says, "All you inhabitants of the world and you dwellers on the earth, when a
banner is raised on the mountains, look in fear; and attend when the bugle is
blown." Truly, we are "a nation terrible from their beginning onward"; and when
our battle-flags fly and the bugles call our armies to war, the whole world has
learned that it had better pay very respectful attention.
There
is no other nation in the world which will fit this entire description; but our
nation does. But there is still one more point: verse seven says: At that time.
shall a present be brought to the Lord of Hosts: a nation tall and
smooth-shaven, a people terrible from their beginning onward, a nation measured
out by lines under foot, whose land the rivers quarter, to the place of the name
of the Lord of Hosts, Mount Zion. " This is no pagan nation, like those of Asia
and Africa; it is no atheist nation, like those of the Communist empire; it is a
Christian nation, bringing its people, its strength, its hopes and ideals as a
present to our God.
It has
been proved to you that we are even today living in Bible times. But it is also
true that you are living in a Bible land, one favorably mentioned in the Bible.
The Bible is written about us, and written to us: IT IS OUR BOOK AND
WE ARE ITS PEOPLE.