How Does the USA Fit into the Development of End-Time Events?

It is possible to trace in general outline the future of our country. Though no direct reference is found in the prophetic Scriptures to the U.S.A., various features relating to the future of America can be discerned.

1. Preservation until the rapture.

Several factors seem to indicate that our country will survive until the rapture. God’s providential design for America has been, first of all, to be a missionary nation. Until the rapture the United States is the main sending country for missionaries. After the rapture the 144,000 will be God’s world-wide witnesses. Then too we are uniquely a protector of Israel (Gen. 12:3). Until the rapture God protects and uses our nation to help Israel. After the rapture, Antichrist will be the protector of Israel.

2. Pandemonium after the rapture.

With millions of American Christians gone, our country will become a third-rate nation with its institutions collapsing and its societal structures in total shambles.

3. Persecution of Israel.

America’s pro-Israel stand will change dramatically after the rapture. All nations will persecute the Jews (Matt. 24:9), resulting in the return of every last Jew to Israel (Ezek. 37; 39:28).

4. Participation in the Roman Empire.

After the rapture the center of Western power will be Rome. The U.S.A. may well become a territorial extension of the revived Roman Empire, seeing that America’s cultural, linguistic and political roots lie in Europe.

5. Perplexity at Gog and Magog.

The world’s nations, including the U.S.A., will stand by in utter amazement when the hordes of Gog and Magog attack Israel (Ezek. 38:13; 39:21) around the midpoint of the tribulation.

6. The Preaching of the 144,000 and an Angel.

Through the 144,000 witnesses and the ministry of an angel, people in every nation and tribe on earth will hear the gospel during the Tribulation period. Americans thus will have a final opportunity to be saved (Rev. 7:9; 14:6).

7. The Punishments of the Tribulation.

Vast numbers of the world’s people perish in the judgments of the Tribulation period. Through two judgments alone, half the world’s population and, presumably, half of America’s population perishes. As a result of the pale horse “the fourth of the part of the earth dies (Rev. 6:8). Through the judgment of the sixth trumpet ”the third part of men” are slain (Rev. 9:15). By the end of the tribulation the population of the world and that of the United States are devastated, for the gruesome prediction is that “the inhabitants of the world are burned, and few men left” (Is. 24:6).

8. Participation in Armageddon.

All the world’s armies will be gathered at Armageddon to fight against Antichrist’s forces and finally against the descending Savior and the saints. American armies will be represented and they, like all the other armies, in their insane invasion of Israel, will be suddenly and dramatically destroyed by Christ (Rev. 16:16; Rev. 19:19; Zech. 12:3; 14:1-2).

9. Pilgrimage to Jerusalem.

Saved Americans who survive the Tribulation period will join other nations on a yearly pilgrimage to Jerusalem to worship the Savior and to present gifts to Him (Is. 60:6-9; Zech. 14:16-17).

10. Prosperity in the Kingdom.

Spiritual and physical well-being will characterize the world’s nations, including the United States. God’s Spirit will be poured out on all flesh (Joel 2:28, 32). All the desert areas of the earth will be healed, including America’s deserts and “Bad Lands” (Is. 35:6). God’s peace, like a mighty river, will flow from Jerusalem to all the nations, including the United States (Is. 66:12).

11. Prominence in the New Jerusalem.

Americans will most likely be among the nations on the new earth to seek out the Lord in the capital of the universe, responding to His rule and reveling in His glory.

And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it (Rev. 21:24).

© Manfred E Kober