Q What place does America play in prophecy?
by Pastor Matt Ritchey, Managing Editor
Estimated Time to Read: 3 Minutes
ANSWER: We Americans are very proud of our country. We consider ourselves, like some from other countries do, citizens of the best country in the world. Unfortunately, many Americans carry that thinking into matters of the eternal future. While the question has to do with prophecy, let me at least say that the Body of Christ has no Jew or Gentile (British, Australian, Mexican, Filipino, African, or American). Your nationality is not going to get you a better spot in Heaven.
Is America Mentioned in Prophecy?
Now, on to the question. It may shock some to learn that there is little or no mention of America in prophecy. There is no direct mention of the United States. Despite American theologians wanting to put our powerful nation in the pages of prophecy somehow through replacement or symbolism, we are just not there. We are not mentioned in the twelve churches of Revelation (Ch. 2-3). We are not a nation mentioned with Israel’s future (Isa. 19:23-25).
Despite the (alleged) importance we play in the present, it seems as if America is of secondary importance in the things to come after the Rapture. Is America even still a nation in the future? Has the population of the country been wiped out? Have we fallen so far into godlessness after the Rapture (or before) that we are nonessential to God’s eternal plan? If the country IS still chugging along (remember, the Body of Christ is not here; prayerfully you have trusted in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ so that you will not take part of the fulfillment of Israel’s promises), America has to be thrown in with “the nations” (i.e., Rev. 10:11). America becomes just one of the many nations, not the preeminent role we assume we hold today.
So, What Part Does America play?
It may also work out to be that America is one of the “islands” mentioned in Scripture. If so, it may not bode well for America (Rev. 16:17-21). Then again, perhaps America is one of the “isles afar off” mentioned in Jeremiah 31:10 or “multitude of isles” in Psalm 97:1.
So, what part does America play in prophecy after the Rapture? Very little to none, depending on what God decides to do. Anyone who places America in a place of prominence in future prophetic events is not following the cardinal Scriptural rule to allow the verses to say what God intended them to say. Any Americans existing in the post-Rapture future will be judged according to how they treated the faithful remnant of Israel (Mt. 25:31-46).
Read another article from this edition of the BABQ:
