Beyond Today Television Program

Joseph’s Birthright: Ephraim and Manasseh in the Last Days - Part 4

Bible prophecies identify nations today that have been recipients of great promises.

Transcript

[Darris McNeely] We're going to examine key Bible prophecies that give keys to identify who in today's world hold these fulfilled promises, and we will also show what that means for the future.

[Narrator] Join our presenters from the United Church of God as we bring you help for today and hope for tomorrow directly from your Bible, here on "Beyond Today."

[Darris McNeely] "I am Joseph." These three words struck to the heart of 11 men standing uncomfortably before the world's most powerful prime minister. These men were mere tenders of sheep and cattle herdsman seeking to preserve their families at a time of famine. The room they were in was quiet, save for the sound of this emotional declaration from this man who at that moment held their lives in his hand.

With these three words they were seized with fear, exposed for what they were, men who had held a dark secret that was now exposed after many years of deception. They must have felt that their lives could be at an end. The last time they had seen this man, he was 17 years old, an impetuous and an outspoken youth. They had watched as he disappeared down the road to Egypt, his loud cries of protest fading in the distance. His brothers had sold him as a slave to a caravan of Midianite traders.

Unknown to these 11 was the incredible journey of their younger brother during the last 20 years. Joseph's story is one of the great stories of the Bible. It's as fresh today as it was more than three millennia ago. Transported to Egypt, the world's most powerful nation at the time, twice sold as a slave, Joseph passed through the home of a high-ranking Egyptian official to the dark depths of prison, even there becoming chief assistant to the prison warden. Miraculously though by the hand of God, he rose to second in command to the Pharaoh the one man who would be responsible to save Egypt from the disaster of famine.

Now it all came full circle. His brothers stood before him, not recognizing him, but needing his help to survive. In that cry, "I am Joseph," we have the essence of a remarkable story that stretches across history into our modern world. It's a multifaceted story and it's a very real story. The story foreshadows thousands of years in advance one of the most distinctive and prominent threads of world history and Bible prophecy. Joseph's story is one of betrayal, enslavement, and a providential rise to a position of power and wealth by which he saved many from death.

This great story is a type of the rise of two of the world's greatest nations, Great Britain and the United States of America. Joseph's fascinating tale holds a vital key to discovering the nations that have inherited the fullness of the physical promises made to Abraham and passed from his descendant Jacob to Joseph, and it holds the key to connect the prophecies of Israel at the end of the age before the second coming of Jesus Christ. In this program, we're going to examine key Bible prophecies that give keys to identify who in today's world hold these fulfilled promises. And we will also show what that means for the future.

So let's take a look at these prophecies. In Genesis 49, there's a prophecy given by Jacob to his 12 sons who were gathered around his bed as he lay dying. His words were, "Gather together that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days." "Gather together," he said, "and hear, you sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father." Jacob's words predict marvelous and wonderful things for Joseph's end time descendants. Jacob says to Joseph, "You're a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well. Your branches will run over the wall."

Now what does the idea of a fruitful bough mean? Well, it's a symbol. It's a symbol or a picture of a branch of a fruit tree, or a vine of fruit that's just loaded down and overwhelming. It indicates prosperity. It indicates abundant wealth. Jacob predicted Joseph's descendants would become fabulously wealthy. The phrase, "Blessings of the breast and of the womb" that he uses indicate the sizable population of Joseph's seed at the end of the age, in the last days. Jacob also forecast a time when Joseph's branches would run over the wall, as it says, implying a people that spread by colonization, by expansion, literally to all four corners of the Earth. When Jacob says that, "Joseph's bow remained in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob," what he's doing is showing Jacob's or Joseph's descendants as a people that would have great military power. Combining this to a separate prophecy in the 48th chapter of Genesis where Jacob put his name and blessing on the two sons of Joseph, each named Ephraim and Manasseh, we have the keys to unlock the identity of Joseph in the modern world.

In this critical key prophecy, Jacob prophesied Manasseh would become a great people but his younger brother Ephraim would also be greater and his descendants would become a multitude of nations. Very interesting prophecy there. Moses repeated these same words years later in his farewell address to the Israelites as they prepared to cross over the Jordan River into the Promised Land after their long journey. His words, Moses', added another key of understanding to this. Here's what he said. He said, "Let the blessing come on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers. His glory is like a firstborn bull, and his horns of the wild ox. Together with them, he shall push the peoples to the ends of the earth. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim and they are the thousands of Manasseh." It's a prophecy given in Deuteronomy 33.

Now, given that Joseph was physically separated from his brothers, can this separation also mean a physical separation of Joseph in the modern world? Taken together, these promises describe what prophecy calls an empire. A people grown large into a nation that dominates all other nations within its sphere. Today we call such nations described with these words in the Bible, we call them superpowers today. And in today's world of the last 350 years, there are only two nations that fit the descriptions that we are seeing here in the Book of Genesis. If what we have here in Genesis 49 is a description of Jacob's descendants and what he says are the last days, meaning today's world, then who among the modern nations would fit the description laid down in these promises of economic greatness and superpower status? Well, we should look for the modern day descendants of Joseph in a setting even where they are separated people, that is insulated from the descendants of other Israelite tribes by some kind of physical or geographic barrier. And indeed this has been the case with the descendants of Joseph during modern history.

If we look at today's world to determine a great multitude of nations acting as one and separated geographically, culturally, and even by language from others, and a single great nation separated from its brother nation, and both of these peoples acting together in a way that fits the description of a fruitful bough, a blessing and a benefit to the world's nations, where would we look? What nations in the modern world would fit all the parts of this identity? There's only two. The United States and Great Britain.

Throughout history, the English Channel has served as a buffer, a very profitable buffer, that separated those living in England from those people living on the northwest corner of the European continent. That separation by water has had very beneficial effects. The first relates to colonization. They had to move out, they had to get out from their land, and the adventuresome Ephraimites went to distant parts such as Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa. The other branch of this family of Joseph, the Manassite branch, traveled as well, ultimately building a nation that was insulated from not only their brother Ephraim, Great Britain, but other brothers by the Atlantic Ocean and by the Pacific Ocean. The colonization and settlement process in which these people participated was a dramatic fulfillment of Joseph's branches running over the wall. In fact, separation has allowed the British and American people to live in relative peaceful isolation and it has often done much to spare excessive grief and losses caused by war.

Throughout much of British history, the insulation that's afforded by the English Channel was a barrier that freed them from a lot of heavy military expenses, and that English Channel made England a very peaceful place in relative terms. As well, the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans insulated the United States of America and gave it an unprecedented opportunity in all of history to develop. From the birth of America in 1776, the founding fathers aspired to create a new and a noble nation. The advantage of geographic isolation on a new and largely unpopulated continent gave Americans the ability to create what has become the strongest, most powerful nation in today's world, indeed, in all of history.

America's birth was the separating of the promise and the blessing upon these two sons of Joseph, just as Jacob said would happen. Now this belief in a divine purpose for the English-speaking nations of the world has a very deep foundation among honest observers and historians, and I admit that it's not a popular idea today. Frankly, the idea that any nation is exceptional or has some purpose rooted in an eternal purpose designed by the God of the Bible, ideas like that have been banned from the precincts of government and education and religion for a very, very long time. And unfortunately, even Great Britain has lost its way among the nations, grown old and tired of such notions of duty, honor and a divine mission.

The recent death of Queen Elizabeth II should be seen as an end of a very long era when certain biblical values were respected and they did find and have a place in society. Residents of the United Kingdom today are largely atheistic or non-religious. And America, well, America unfortunately is experiencing some deadly attacks upon its own origins, its history, and the social compact that has held it together for more than 200 years. We've had years of bitter social and political wars that have exposed an inner cancer. Those of us who know a different past where such problems did not dominate, we're sobered when we look around at the present condition.

When we study history, when we study current events with the Bible in one hand and our eyes turned upward to God, we can understand what is happening in our world today, we can understand our times. Fortunately for anyone seeking truth, there are accounts, books, accounts by honest observers, to help us verify and understand what these scriptures tell us. Let me give you a quote from a British politician by the name of Daniel Hannan. He wrote a book called, "Inventing Freedom." Here's what he said in his book about the English-speaking peoples. He said, "It was once uncontroversial to see the spread of liberty as being bound up with the rise of Great Britain and America." What he calls the Anglosphere. "After the time of the Reformation, many English speakers saw the ascendancy of their civilization as providential. Theirs was a new Israel, they would write and say, a chosen nation appointed by God to carry freedom across the world. The opening lines of one of Britain's most famous songs, 'Rule Britannia' says, 'When Britain first at Heaven's command, Heaven's command arose from out the azure main.'" Hannan continues in his book. He says, "The same conviction motivated American settlers. The religious impulse, however, faded with the years but the belief in destiny did not." "British and American historians," he says, "pointed to a series of events that had brought their ancestors toward greatness, enabling the establishment of the common law, Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights, the US Constitution, even the Scientific Revolution and the abolition of slavery." That's from his book, "Inventing Freedom."

Here in this book is a former member of the European Parliament saying that, "Destiny is behind the rise of Great Britain." You know what that word destiny is? It's a code word for God. Now let's look at another interesting insight by an American social observer, Michael Medved, who wrote a book called, "The Miracle of America: Divine Providence and the Rise of the Republic." He puts forth in that book the idea that a higher power directed the United States to a unique and valuable role in the world. Here's what he writes. Quote, "The evidence for divine providence doesn't prove America's perfect, but it does strongly suggest that America is no accident. An isolated instance of fortunate coincidence may count as an anomaly, but a long chain of seemingly haphazard but consistently beneficial occurrences suggest something else entirely, a pattern, or more accurately, a design." He goes on. "America's founders believed with an unanimous and unwavering confidence in a larger scheme in which they played a part. They couldn't always make out the contours and the details of that master plan, but they never doubted its existence." "An honest examination," he says, "of the nation's origins and development doesn't demonstrate the power of randomness or chance nearly as much as it makes the case for purpose and intent."

So let's be plain about what's being said here. These two writers, one from Great Britain, one from America, are both saying that God had a hand in bringing America and Great Britain to the pinnacle of world power and economic wealth unknown by any other nation or groups of nations in history.

Here's what we're saying. Here's what I'm saying on this program and here on "Beyond Today." We're saying in this series of programs that God did this because He promised faithfully to the biblical prophet Abraham. We're laying the case from scripture that God's promise and covenant with Abraham and his descendants chart a physical and a spiritual story through the Bible and history, leading to spiritual salvation for all people and nations. Let me be clear, the vast reach of the United States and the British Commonwealth of nations in the modern world, it's a marker and we have a living historical witness before us of God's hand in history and His intent to reconcile the entire world ultimately to Him.

God chose a man named Abraham and his descendants, a family and a nation named Israel, to be the physical carrier of a promise and a covenant with physical and spiritual implications. A people carry the promise of physical national greatness and Jesus, born of parents descended from Abraham, gave His life to gather together all things in heaven and earth in Him. And the full gospel of God is this story, both the physical and the spiritual dimension, of how God will use the children of Abraham in His salvation story.

The cynic, skeptic, can throw this out as misguided religious heresy, "Torturously twisting scripture," as one historian put it, but we're still left with inadequate alternatives to explain obvious facts of geography and history for the unprecedented run of good fortune and goodwill and blessing that these nations have been to the world in the past 350 years. To believe in God's hand in the history of Great Britain and America is not to say either nation is without flaws and mistakes in their behavior or their treatment of other peoples. They're not. Nor is it to say that blessings are exclusive of other nation's good fortune. And we're not saying that every nation, every citizen has always participated equally in the blessings. To say the hand of God has been on both is not to claim perfection for either people. We should, however, listen for God's footsteps in history. When we factor in God, then we can have light, wisdom, and understanding.

A British author, Andrew Roberts, wrote a book called, "The History of the English-Speaking Peoples," and he chronicles the story from 1900 forward with a great deal of historical detail. He quotes one British economist at the beginning of his book who says that, "If one reflected on the most important events of the last millennium, the last 1,000 years, compared with the first thousand years, the ascent of the English-speaking peoples to the predominance in the world surely ranked highest." The single biggest event of the last thousand years, in Andrew Roberts' view, "The English-speaking peoples would remain, and are, the best hope, the last best hope for mankind with beliefs and institutions making them great that continue to inspire today." "Indeed," he says, "the beliefs, values and institutions of the English-speaking people are still, are presently, on the march." He records that many life-saving and life-enhancing advances in science, medicine, agriculture, economics, and law have nurtured the lands that are inhabited by the English-speaking nations. More Nobel prizes, beneficial patents, technological advancement have sprung from these nations than from any other group in history. Other nations can pursue their destiny free from tyranny and many people are alive today because of the vast blessings given to the English-speaking nations by the God of Abraham.

I opened this program with a plaintive cry from Joseph to his brothers, saying, "I am Joseph." His brothers didn't recognize their long-lost brother who had been divinely protected through adversity to rise to prominence in Egypt as prime minister to Pharaoh where he oversaw the economic and agricultural program that saved not only the Egyptians, but his own people and others. This is really more than a story of a boy in an amazing technicolor dream coat. It's a story acted out on the stage of history foretelling the same role to the descendants of Joseph in the modern age.

By every measurement in our time, the English-speaking nations have been a blessing like a bough going over the wall. I know that some want to rewrite America's story today through a different lens that highlights its sins and its mistakes. And as I said earlier, neither America nor Great Britain have perfect histories when it comes to the treatment of other people. No nation really does. But when the full story is understood and impartially told, the final story of these nations will tip the arc of history to the conclusion that they have done more to spread biblical values rooted in a long history of God's revelation to mankind. And this, in spite of deep physical and spiritual flaws, spiritual sin, for which God will demand a judgment. Just as they have spread much to be pleased with, they have also spread much that is sin and a stench in the nostrils of Almighty God. The moral and the spiritual condition today is not pleasing to God and will bring a time of trouble.

We lay this important story before you as part of the gospel message to awaken you to the pivotal moment in which we live. The nations are being shaken before the coming Day of the Lord and a time that is called Jacob's Trouble. We're seeing the leading edges of the coming time of judgment now, with efforts to turn the world order inside out and upside down. Here on "Beyond Today," and in our magazine "Beyond Today" as well, we continue to chronicle the world-changing events like sexual revolution. We've warned of the efforts to cancel God from the public arena. We have covered the recent COVID pandemic and put it into a biblical context. We show our readers how to cope through these trying times. You can view them all, these magazines, on our website and we explain the Bible's teaching in ways that you have never received from other churches and religions. And we show you how, in spite of the confusion of our modern world, you can walk with God and you can cope during these troubled times.

On this program today we have a focused study guide on the subject of Bible prophecy that we are offering free of charge. The title is, "You Can Understand Bible Prophecy." It goes into additional topics that connect to the theme that we are bringing in this series of programs about Israel, about Joseph, and about the message to Joseph and Israel in the time of the end. One of these chapters in this booklet deals with the promises and the covenants of scripture and how they fit. Another chapter talks about the international scope of Bible prophecy and shows God's plans for all of the nations, and how God will ultimately bring the good news of salvation to all mankind. That is what is wrapped up in the message of the gospel of God. This booklet, "You Can Understand Bible Prophecy," it's available free. Free copy is waiting for you. You can write to the address on your screen or you can call the phone number. It's a free publication and it will help you open up many other aspects of Bible prophecy.

This is the fourth in a series of five programs that I'm giving on this topic and I will finish this series in the one more program where we are going to look at the unfinished business that God has with Israel and all of the nations. You're going to want to watch that. Stay tuned for that.

[Narrator] Please call for the booklet offered on today's program, "You Can Understand Bible Prophecy." Prophecy is God's inspired revelation to mankind. It shouldn't be a mystery. God shows us who He is and how He has an amazing plan for all people. This free study aid will help you see the true magnitude of prophecy as it places the past, present, and future into clear perspective. You will see how God keeps his promises and covenants,and how those promises explain the news you see every day. Order now. Call toll-free 1-888-886-8632. Or write to the address shown on your screen. When you order this free study aid, we'll also send you a complimentary one-year subscription to "Beyond Today" magazine. "Beyond Today" magazine brings you understanding of today's world and hope for the future. Six times a year you'll read about current world events in light of Bible prophecy, as well as practical knowledge to improve your marriage and family, and godly principles to guide you toward a life that leads to peace. Call today to receive your free booklet, "You Can Understand Bible Prophecy," and your free one-year subscription to "Beyond Today" magazine. 1-888-886-8632. Or go online to beyondtoday.tv.

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Darris McNeely

Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.

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America and Britain's Global Reach Prophesied in the Bible

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The United States and Britain combined to defeat European tyranny in two world wars, then Iraqi tyranny twice in the last 12 years. Why has it fallen to them to police the world?

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher inadvertently predicted the outcome of the second Persian Gulf war 10 years before it was fought. Interviewed on an American breakfast television program, she observed: "The great lesson of the 20th century is that whenever the American and British peoples stand together, they always win."

Certainly in the first two wars of this new century in which both were involved, they also won. The victorious allies triumphed over the Islamic fundamentalist Taliban in Afghanistan and over the fascist regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Prior to the 20th century, the great 19th-century German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck predicted that the most important geopolitical fact of the coming 20th century was that Britain and America spoke the same language. This was to prove fateful for the German-speaking peoples, defeated in two world wars by the two major English-speaking nations and their allies.

Britain and America do not always speak the same language, of course. Sir Winston Churchill, whose father was British and mother American, quipped that British and Americans were "separated by a common language." There are many subtle differences between the two languages (as with English elsewhere around the world) that can lead to misunderstandings.

America and Britain do not always speak the same language in a figurative sense either. Their national interests sometimes fail to coincide. Geographical location has a lot to do with this—the British sometimes seeing things more from a European perspective. This has increasingly been the case since Britain joined the European Union (formerly the EEC) in 1973. Many Britons remain fully committed to the ideals of European unity, though many others are either anti-European or skeptical at best.

But Mrs. Thatcher's dictum remains true nonetheless. In both world wars and throughout the Cold War, the United States and Britain usually fought together—and won. Two notable defeats were Vietnam (which Britain stayed out of) and the 1956 Suez Crisis (where America's president did not support British action against Egypt after Egypt nationalized the British- and French-owned Suez Canal). These two failures only serve to underscore the truth of Mrs. Thatcher's observation.

She intuitively understood something that was revealed in your Bible thousands of years ago. It's a prophecy about the "latter days" and the global role the United States and the United Kingdom would play.

Joseph's historic role

In Genesis 49 we see the biblical patriarch Jacob, grandson of Abraham, calling his sons together that he might tell them what would happen to them "in the last days" (verse 1). Jacob, whose name God had changed to Israel, had 12 sons from whom the 12 tribes of Israel are descended.

The descendants of one of those sons, Judah, are known today as Jews. So are those who remained with the tribe of Judah at the ancient breakup of the nation. After the death of King Solomon, the Kingdom of Israel with its 12 tribes was divided into two separate kingdoms—the southern kingdom of Judah (comprising Judah, Benjamin and many of the Levites) and the northern kingdom of Israel, made up of the rest of the tribes (see 1 Kings 12; 2 Chronicles 10-11).

The northern kingdom of Israel was taken into captivity by the Assyrian Empire in the eighth century B.C., more than a century before the peoples of Judah met a similar fate at the hands of the Babylonians. While many of the Jews later returned from their exile, and those who didn't at least retained their national identity, the 10 northern tribes forgot their identity over time and have been lost to the world. They are now called the "lost 10 tribes of Israel" in world history.

While they were lost to the world, they were not lost to God. In Genesis 49 we note that God foretells the destiny of these tribes "in the last days" prior to Christ's return—in other words, in our time, now. God knows where the descendants of these ancient tribes are today, and He knew thousands of years ago the significant role they would play at this time.

In verse 22 we begin reading a description of the destiny of the descendants of Joseph, the foremost of the 12 tribes. "Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; his branches run over the wall." God was here using symbolism to point out that the physical descendants of Joseph were destined to be a fruitful people, a productive people who would spread and bring economic prosperity and development wherever they went.

In the previous chapter, chapter 48, we read more detail about Joseph's destiny. Jacob, the grandfather, here is giving his blessing to the two sons of Joseph, promising them future greatness. Although Jacob had 12 sons, Joseph was his favorite. Through Joseph, Jacob would pass on the great blessings God had originally promised his grandfather, Abraham. Of Joseph's two sons, Jacob says, "Bless the lads; let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth" (Genesis 48:16, emphasis added throughout).

We should take careful note of the wording here. "Let my name be named on them." What was Jacob's name? God changed his name from Jacob to Israel (Genesis 32:28). Israel (Jacob) is the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. The Jews are only a small fraction of those tribes. The modern Jewish nation in the Middle East calls itself Israel, but that is in some ways a misnomer. While the land of Israel is a biblical designation for this territory, the Jewish people who live there today are descendants of those who made up the ancient kingdom of Judah. The descendants of the northern kingdom of Israel, the 10 lost tribes, by and large live elsewhere.

A great nation and a multitude of nations

Jacob's new name, Israel, was to be carried by his favorite son and his two boys, Manasseh and Ephraim. Regarding these, Jacob upset his son Joseph by promising the greater part of the birthright promise, the inheritance passed down from Abraham through Isaac to Jacob and now to Joseph's two sons, to the youngest son, Ephraim. The custom of primogeniture, whereby the eldest boy receives the bulk of the birthright, was overridden here by divine prerogative.

Under God's inspiration, Jacob foretold that Ephraim was to become "a multitude of nations" while Manasseh was to "become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he . . ." (Genesis 48:19). "And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh" (verse 20).

The multitude of nations was to become great before the great single people. It would also be greater in size, wealth and duration. This prophecy clearly was never fulfilled in the Jewish people.

It was, however, fulfilled in the British Empire and the United States of America—two brother nations that are, in fact, the modern descendants of the tribe of Joseph (for more information and detailed historical proof, be sure to request or download our free booklet The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy).

The United States has been the dominant nation in the world since World War II, a period of almost 60 years. But before American preeminence, the British Empire was the dominant power for two centuries. In size and population the British Empire was greater than the United States. British territory at the fullest extent of the empire totaled 13.9 million square miles. America's today is 3.9 million, 10 million less. America's population is also smaller than was that of the British Empire.

Although the prophecy in Genesis 48 shows that the British Empire, "a multitude of nations," and the United States, the great single nation, were to be separate political entities, the following chapter does not mention Ephraim or Manasseh. Rather, the prophetic term used to describe both of these peoples "in the last days" is Joseph, their shared common ancestor.

Genesis 49:22 foretells that Joseph would be fruitful, bringing economic development wherever his descendants went. When we look at the British Empire a century ago, and at the United States as the American people moved westward, we see that this has been very much the case.

Verses 23 and 24 of Genesis 49 add a further prophecy of the role these two peoples would fulfill. "The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him and hated him. But his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob . . ."

Here we see a major military role for Joseph. The implication of these verses is that the descendants of Joseph would fight many conflicts against those who envied and hated them, but that God would give them victory. Interestingly, the term "archers" is used, suggesting attacks from afar. One of the great blessings the British and American peoples have enjoyed is a long period of peace at home. The wars they have fought generally have been overseas, sparing their own people from much of the suffering that comes from conflict.

Joseph's historic mission

When we look back at the wars the United States and Britain have fought, we find a common theme. These two nations have fulfilled a common purpose. At first it was the British Empire that that fulfilled this destiny, followed by the British Commonwealth—independent nations including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, together with the colonies ruled by Britain itself.

Since World War II the United States has supplanted Britain in this role, but Britain and oftentimes those same Commonwealth nations have supported the United States as junior partners in an alliance of common purpose. In the latest conflict, Australia was the third military force supporting the United States and Britain.

What has that purpose been?

To understand this, we have to go back to the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. During a tumultuous period in English history, the nation was able to break away from the Church of Rome, initially under King Henry VIII, but more completely under the rule of his daughter, the first Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603). This year marks the 400th anniversary of her death, the passing of one of the most significant monarchs in world history.

The Protestant Reformation drew its name from the fact that many were protesting against the corruption of the Roman church and the church's hierarchy. They broke the power of Rome, which for more than 1,000 years had dominated and held back the development of the continent of Europe. Not only did these reformers break Rome's authority, they also gave us the Bible, a banned book under the Roman church.

The enthusiasm with which the people greeted the publication of the King James Bible in 1611 lasted for centuries, right up until 1900, the first year in which more secular books were published in England than books of a religious nature.

This English translation of the Bible gave people ideas that led to fundamental changes in society, including its form of governance. Democratic institutions, already in place, were gradually strengthened as an educated and self-disciplined Christian people increasingly began to rule themselves. Wherever the British settled in the world, they took with them their Bibles and established parliaments. Thirteen of these parliaments (or Houses of Assembly, or House of Burgesses) later formed the United States of America.

Fighting for freedom

Meanwhile, continental Europe remained largely under the influence of the Church of Rome, with absolute monarchs claiming rule by "divine right." Encouraged by the Roman church, some of these monarchs attempted to bring England back under Rome's authority.

King Philip II of Spain, the most powerful monarch in the world at the time, launched the Spanish Armada against England in 1588—and lost. Many similar struggles would take place in the following centuries against the forces of despotism. At first these wars were mainly, or partly, over religion. Later, as Britain became a global power, they were mostly against tyrants and despots trying to expand their control over other nations and peoples.

Often the historic role of the British peoples was to fight for freedom against despotism. A cornerstone of British foreign policy for four centuries was to stay out of Europe and concentrate on its empire beyond the seas. The only times Britain would involve itself in European affairs was when one European country was becoming so powerful it threatened the balance of power on the continent. Through the centuries the British (and later the nations of the British Empire) thwarted, among others:

  • The forces of Louis XIV of France, who tried to extend his influence into the Iberian Peninsula during the War of the Spanish Succession.
  • His great-grandson Louis XV who tried to conquer the American colonies during the French and Indian Wars (1755-63).
  • Napoleon, who brought two decades of war to Europe in his attempt at continental subjugation, ending in 1815.
  • Russian Czar Nicholas I, who attempted to take over the crumbling Turkish Empire in the Crimean War (1854-56), a move that would have given Russia control over the Middle East.
  • Kaiser Wilhelm II, who tried to dominate Europe in World War I.
  • Adolf Hitler, whose goal was world supremacy in World War II.

Many of these major conflicts were against powers that saw themselves as a continuation of the ancient Roman imperial system.

Additionally, numerous smaller wars broke out around the world as the British often tried to keep apart warring tribes and ethnic groups in the interests of peace and trade.

Drained and battered after World War II, the second world war in 30 years, the British retreated from their global responsibilities, choosing instead to support the United States, which had effectively taken over Britain's role. The Cold War followed for nearly half a century, with the United States and Britain as allies. In the tumultuous years surrounding the Soviet Union's collapse, other despots clawed their way to power. Again, America and Britain were at the forefront in combating tyranny.

This is not to say they've been perfect. The two have certainly made their share of mistakes. They have committed serious errors of judgment at times in both their foreign and domestic affairs. Worse, the two peoples have moved significantly away from God's laws in recent decades. Yet God has still chosen to bless their military efforts, especially when they pull together and support each other. But will this continue indefinitely?

Will America and Britain continue to win?

The Bible warns these two nations, the nations on whom Israel placed his name, of the consequences of turning away from God. Our Creator is very patient. He does not always punish immediately when sin—defined in the Bible as the transgression of God's law—is committed. But there are always consequences for sin. And the peoples of the United States and Britain, once nations dedicated to the Bible—even though they often did not interpret and understand it correctly—have turned progressively further and further away from God's way.

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people," the Scriptures tell us (Proverbs 14:34). When the United States and Britain were perceived as a righteous, Christian people, other nations around the world generally held them in much greater respect.

Today the perception is very different as these two nations turn their backs on God and churn out endless sexual filth and gratuitous violence in the form of music, movies and television programs, which are then exported around the world. This has contributed greatly to the rise of Islamic anger, which now threatens the American and British peoples at home, seriously diminishing their sense of security.

Of course, many nations have long been deeply resentful of America's wealth and power and would like nothing more than to see the world's only superpower humbled if not defeated outright. Even a substantial number of Americans, unaware of their country's God-given blessings and role, would like to see the United States unilaterally surrender its supremacy and subordinate its national interests to others.

Facing the consequences

If the United States and Britain (and other English-speaking nations around the world) do not turn back to God, He warns that eventually "the Lord will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth" (Deuteronomy 28:25).

God alone will decide when that moment has arrived, the time when He removes His hand from these two nations whose alliance has been such a formidable force for as long as anyone alive today can remember.

Most people today neither understand or appreciate God's involvement in the history of the British and Americans peoples, the descendants of Joseph. But the Bible makes it clear. Joseph's great military strength, witnessed again in the latest Persian Gulf conflict as it was in the first, was directly attributable to God. As the patriarch Jacob long ago prophesied of Joseph's descendants "in the latter days," "the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob" (Genesis 49:24).

But what God gives He can also take away. And if the American and British people don't return to the God who has blessed them, He warns that He will withdraw His blessing and protection. GN

Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.

 

The Global Reach of America and Britain Prophesied in the Bible

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Lady Thatcher observed: "The great lesson of the 20th century is that whenever the American and British peoples stand together, they always win."

Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher inadvertently predicted the outcome of the second Gulf War 10 years before it was fought. Interviewed on an American morning television program, Lady Thatcher observed: "The great lesson of the 20th century is that whenever the American and British peoples stand together, they always win."

Certainly, the first two wars of the new century in which both have been involved were also won. The victorious allies triumphed over the radical Islamic Taliban in Afghanistan and over the fascist regime of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.

Prior to the 20th century, the great 19th-century German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck predicted that the most important geopolitical fact of the coming 20th century was that Britain and America spoke the same language. This was to prove fateful for the German-speaking peoples, defeated in two world wars by the two English-speaking allies.

Britain and America do not always speak the same language, of course. Sir Winston Churchill, whose father was British and mother American, remarked that "English is the common language that divides us." There are often subtle differences between the two language variations (as with English elsewhere around the world) that can lead to misunderstandings.

Figuratively, America and Britain do not always speak the same language either. Their national interests sometimes fail to coincide. Geographical location has a lot to do with this—sometimes the British more readily see the European perspective in matters than their American brothers do. This has been more the case since Britain joined the European Union (formerly the EEC) in 1973. There are many British people who remain fully committed to the ideals of European unity, though many others are either anti-European or skeptical, at best.

But Mrs. Thatcher's dictum remains true, nonetheless. In both world wars and throughout the Cold War, the United States and Britain usually fought together—and won. Two notable defeats were Vietnam (a conflict from which Britain refrained) and Suez (where America's president did not support British action against Egypt). These two failures only serve to underscore the truth of Mrs. Thatcher's observation.

Baroness Thatcher's insight parallels something that was revealed in your Bible thousands of years ago. It's a prophecy about the "latter days" and the military role that both the United States and United Kingdom would play.

Joseph's historic role

In Genesis 49 we see Jacob calling his sons together in order that he might tell them what would happen to them "in the last days" (verse 1). Jacob (Israel) had 12 sons from whom the 12 tribes of Israel are descended. The Jews are descendants of just one of those sons, Judah. Together with the descendants of Jacob's youngest son, Benjamin, these two tribes remained as the Kingdom of Judah, following the division of the 12-tribe kingdom after the death of King Solomon. The 10 other tribes formed a new kingdom, the Kingdom of Israel. This kingdom went into captivity more than a century before the peoples of Judah. Since then, they have been lost to the world; historians often refer to them as the lost 10 tribes of Israel.

Lost to the world, but not to God. In Genesis 49 we note that God foretells the destiny of these tribes "in the last days" prior to Christ's return. In other words, in our time, now. God knows where the descendants of these ancient tribes are today and knew thousands of years ago the significant role they would play at this time.

In verse 22, we begin reading a description of Joseph's destiny. "Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well; his branches run over the wall." The physical descendants of Joseph were destined to be a fruitful people, a productive people who would bring economic prosperity and development wherever they went.

In the previous chapter, chapter 48, we read more detail about Joseph's destiny.

Jacob here is giving his blessing to the two sons of Joseph, promising them future greatness. Although Jacob had 12 sons, Joseph was his favorite. Of Joseph's two sons, Jacob says, "Bless the lads; let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth" (Genesis 48:16).

We should take careful note of the wording here. "Let my name be named upon them." What was Jacob's name? His name was changed by God to "Israel" (Genesis 32:28). Israel (Jacob) is the father of the 12 tribes of Israel. The Jews are just one of those tribes, although most people today assume that the Jews constitute all of Israel. The modern Jewish nation in the Middle East calls itself Israel, but a more accurate name would be Judah. Jacob's new name, Israel, was to be carried by his favorite son and that son's two boys, Manasseh and Ephraim.

Jacob upset his son Joseph by promising the greater part of the birthright promise to Ephraim, the younger son. Israel's action overrode the custom of primogeniture, whereby the eldest boy receives the birthright. The inheritance passed down from Abraham through Isaac to Jacob and now to Joseph's two sons, the present-day peoples of the United States and Great Britain, as well as some nations that were formerly part of the British Commonwealth.

Under God's inspiration, Ephraim was to become "a multitude of nations," while Manasseh was to "become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he... And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh" (verses 19-20).

The multitude of nations was to become great before the great single people/nation. It would also be greater in size, in wealth and in duration.

This prophecy was never fulfilled in the Jewish people.

It was, rather, fulfilled in the British Empire and the United States of America, two brother nations that are the modern descendants of the tribe of Joseph (for more information on this, be sure to request our free booklet, The United States and Britain in Bible Prophecy).

The United States has been the dominant nation in the world since World War II, a period of almost 60 years. Before American preeminence, the British Empire was the dominant power for two centuries. In size and population, the British Empire was greater than the United States. British territory at the fullest extent of its empire was a total of 13.9 million square miles. America's today is 3.9 million, 10 million less. America's population is also smaller than was that of the British Empire.

Although the prophecy in Genesis 48 shows that the British Empire—"a multitude of nations"—and the United States were to be separate political entities, the following chapter does not mention Ephraim or Manasseh. Rather, the prophetic term used to describe both of these peoples "in the last days" is Joseph, their shared common ancestor.

Genesis 49:22 prophesies that Joseph would be fruitful, bringing economic development wherever his descendants went. When we look at the British Empire a century ago and at the United States as the American people moved westward, we see that this has been very much the case.

Verse 23 adds a further prophecy of the role these two peoples would fulfill. "The archers have bitterly grieved him, shot at him and hated him. But his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob" (verses 23-24).

Keep in mind the setting for this prophecy is "the last days." Here we see Joseph having a powerful military role to go along with its dominating economic power.

The implication of these verses is that the sons of Joseph would fight many conflicts, but that God would give them victory. Interestingly, the term "archers" is used, suggesting attacks from afar. One of the great blessings the British and American peoples have enjoyed is a long period of peace at home. For the most part, the wars they have fought have been overseas, sparing their own people from much of the suffering that comes from conflict.

Joseph's historic mission

When we look back at the wars of the United States and Britain, we find a common theme. These two nations have fulfilled a common purpose. At first, it was the British Empire—their Commonwealth of independent nations, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand and South Africa, together with the colonies that were ruled by Britain itself—which fulfilled this destiny. Since World War II the United States has supplanted Britain in this role, but Britain and oftentimes those same Commonwealth nations have supported the United States as partners in an alliance of common purpose. In the latest conflict, Australia was the third military force supporting the United States and Britain.

What has been that purpose?

To understand this, we have to go back to the time of the Protestant Reformation in the 16th century. During a tumultuous period in English history, the nation was able to break away from Rome, initially under King Henry VIII, but more completely under the rule of his daughter, the first Queen Elizabeth (1558-1603). This year marks the 400th anniversary of her death, the death of one of the most significant monarchs in world history.

Protestants got their name from the fact that they were protesting against the corruption of the Roman church and the church's hierarchy. They broke the power of Rome, which for over 1,000 years had dominated and held back the development of the continent of Europe. Not only did they break Rome's authority, they also gave us the Bible. A banned book under the Roman church, the Bible was given lip service by the Protestants, as being a higher authority than the church.

The enthusiasm with which the people greeted the publication of the King James Bible in 1611 lasted for centuries, right up until 1900, the first year in which more secular books were published in England than books of a religious nature. This English translation of the Bible gave people ideas that led to fundamental changes in society, including the form of governance. Democratic institutions, already in place, were gradually strengthened as an educated and self-disciplined Christian people began increasingly to rule themselves. Wherever the British went in settling the world, they took with them their Bibles and established parliaments. Thirteen of these parliaments, or Houses of Assembly (or House of Burgesses) later formed the United States of America.

Meanwhile, continental Europe remained largely under the influence of Rome, with absolute monarchs claiming rule by "divine right." Encouraged by Catholics in England, some of these monarchs attempted to bring the nation back under the authority of Rome. This was the reason King Philip II of Spain, the most powerful monarch in the world at the time, launched the Spanish Armada against England in 1588—and lost. Numerous other similar struggles were to take place in the following centuries against the forces of despotism. At first these wars were mainly, or partly, over religion. Later, as Britain became a global power, they were mostly against tyrants and despots trying to expand their control over other nations and peoples.

The historical role of the British peoples was to fight for freedom against despotism. A cornerstone of British foreign policy for four centuries was to stay out of Europe and rather concentrate on its empire beyond the seas. The only times Britain would involve itself in European affairs was when one European country was becoming so powerful it threatened the balance of power on the Continent.

Through the centuries, the British defeated, among others, the forces of Louis XIV of France, who tried to extend his influence into the Iberian Peninsula during the War of the Spanish Succession; his great-grandson, Louis XV, who tried to conquer the American colonies during the French and Indian Wars (1755-63); and Napoleon, who brought two decades of war to Europe in an attempt at continental subjugation, ending in 1815. They thwarted Russian Czar Nicholas I's attempt to take over the crumbling Turkish Empire in the Crimean War (1854-56), a move that would have given Russia control over the Middle East. And later, together with the nations of the British Empire, fought against Kaiser Wilhelm II in World War I and Hitler in World War II. Many of these major conflicts were against powers that saw themselves as a continuation of the ancient Roman imperial system.

Additionally, there were numerous smaller wars around the world, as the British often tried to keep warring tribes apart in the interests of peace and trade.

After World War II, exhausted, the British retreated from their global responsibilities, instead choosing to support the United States, which had effectively taken over Britain's role. The Cold War followed for over 40 years, with the United States and Britain as allies. In the aftermath of the fall of the Soviet Union, nations fell apart and new despotisms reared their ugly heads. Again, these two nations were at the forefront in defeating tyranny.

Mistakes have been made and errors of judgment committed. Although descended from the tribe of Joseph, the two peoples have moved significantly away from God's laws in recent decades, but God has still chosen to bless their military efforts. Will this continue?

Will America and Britain continue to win wars?

The Bible warns these two nations, the nations upon whom Israel placed his name, of the consequences of turning away from God. God is a very patient Father. He does not always punish immediately when sin is committed. But there are always consequences for sin that naturally follow the action without any divine intervention to bring them about. And the peoples of the United States and Britain, once nations dedicated to the Bible, even though they did not always interpret it correctly, have turned progressively further and further away from God, reveling in sin.

"Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a reproach to any people," Proverbs 14:34 tells us. When the United States and Britain were perceived as righteous, Christian peoples, they enjoyed great respect around the world. Today the perception is very different, as the two nations turn their backs on God and churn out endless filth and violence in the name of entertainment, which is then exported around the world. This greatly fuels the rhetoric of radical Muslim elements, whose terrorist actions now threaten the American and British peoples at home, removing their long-enjoyed sense of security.

This is a message for these nations, if they do not turn back to God: Eventually, "the LORD will cause you to be defeated before your enemies; you shall go out one way against them and flee seven ways before them; and you shall become troublesome to all the kingdoms of the earth" (Deuteronomy 28:25).

God alone will decide when that moment has arrived, the time when He removes His hand from these two nations, whose alliance has been such a formidable force for as long as anybody alive today can remember.

Most people today do not appreciate God's involvement in the history of the British and American peoples, the descendants of Joseph. But the Bible makes it clear. Joseph's great military strength, witnessed again in the latest Persian Gulf conflict, was directly attributable to God. "And the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob" (Genesis 49:24).

What God gives, He can also take away. —WNP

Darris McNeely works at the United Church of God home office in Cincinnati, Ohio. He and his wife, Debbie, have served in the ministry for more than 43 years. They have two sons, who are both married, and four grandchildren. Darris is the Associate Media Producer for the Church. He also is a resident faculty member at the Ambassador Bible Center teaching Acts, Fundamentals of Belief and World News and Prophecy. He enjoys hunting, travel and reading and spending time with his grandchildren.