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[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Hiroshima and the Beginning of the Atomic Age

August 6, 2020, marked the 75th anniversary of one of the most dramatic events in human history: The dropping of the atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima. That tragedy signified not only the coming end of a terrible and destructive war, but also a new phase in the fulfillment of Bible prophecies.

Join us now on Tomorrow’s World as we look at Hiroshima, 75 years later.

Astonishing Destructive Power to Destroy Mankind

Greetings, and welcome to another edition of Tomorrow’s World. I’m glad you’re here.

Today we are going back to the bombing of Hiroshima, three-quarters of a century ago. We’re going to examine the implications of that event in Bible prophecy--and we’re going to look at how developments since Hiroshima contribute to the picture.

We will pause occasionally to give you the opportunity to request today’s free DVD, “Escape the Great Tribulation.” Be sure to note the contact information on your screen so you can get your free copy.

The years since World War II continue to fly by, and few remember its details. But the details are important. If you were there in September of 1939, you’d see Germany’s invasion of Poland. And you’d see Poland resisting, with soldiers on horseback--commanding multiple cavalries in their nation’s defense. Fast forward to the FINAL military actions of the war, and you would see the mushroom clouds of atomic explosions over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.

In only SIX YEARS, mankind progressed from warring on horseback, as it had done for millennia, to unleashing the power of the atom in a single, horrific weapon, capable of desolating entire cities in an instant. It’s hard to think of a more astonishing example of humanity’s capacity to grow in wreaking death, havoc, and destruction on itself.

Hiroshima represented a terrible turning point.

Of course, as long as man has explored science, he has used his discoveries to invent new ways to kill his fellow man--and the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima was a weapon unlike any other that man had ever unleashed. Code-named “Little Boy” by its creators, the atomic bomb took advantage of Einstein’s discovery of the equivalence of matter and energy. That is, matter can be converted into energy and energy can be converted into matter. In the case of Little Boy, the bomb contained 64 kilograms of uranium-235--a radioactive element the bomb mechanism could use to create a chain reaction, causing some of the atoms to split into smaller atoms in a matter of milliseconds. The splitting of these atoms converted some of the matter into energy, releasing the same destructive power as 16,000 TONS of TNT.

Surprisingly, the amount of converted matter needed to produce such a blast was equivalent to less than a single paperclip.

But what a blast it was. Almost all city structures within a mile radius of ground zero were completely destroyed--many by the initial blast, and others by the resulting firestorm that covered more than four square miles.

For various reasons, the numbers are hard to fix. But estimates of the number killed instantly in Hiroshima lie in the neighborhood of 70 to 80,000 people, with tens of thousands more dying in the weeks to come from radiation, burns, and injuries.

After the Hiroshima bombing, President Harry Truman addressed the American people, explaining, concerning the Japanese, “If they do not now accept our terms, they may expect a rain of ruin from the air, the like of which has never been seen on this earth”

When no surrender came, another bomb was dropped on the Japanese city of Nagasaki three days later, and another 40 to 80,000 deaths were added to the toll. Five days afterward, the Japanese surrendered unconditionally.

Mankind had tapped into some of the most primal forces of nature and unleashed them in the most destructive of ways.

The two attacks themselves do not figure into prophecy beyond how the events of World War II reconfigured world powers. However, the events of Hiroshima and Nagasaki do have prophetic significance that should not be overlooked.

In Matthew 24, Jesus Christ tells of a time still ahead of us, but not TOO far ahead of us, in which civilization takes a dark turn. After warning Christians to pray for God’s help in the time to come, He says,

“For then there will be great tribulation, such as has not been since the beginning of the world until this time, no, nor ever shall be. And unless those days were shortened, no flesh would be saved; but for the elect's sake those days will be shortened.” [vv. 21–22]

Note that. Jesus said that there would come a time unique in all of human history, involving “great tribulation.” How bad would things get? Again, He says in verse 22 that “…unless those days were shortened, NO FLESH WOULD BE SAVED….”

Until August 6, 1945, it might have been hard for the public to imagine conflict, warfare, and weapons so devastating that they would have the potential to wipe out ALL LIVING THINGS, such that “NO FLESH WOULD BE SAVED.” But after the bombing of Hiroshima, that verse--and that prophecy--began to take on new possibilities.

Human self-annihilation suddenly seemed not so hard to imagine.

But the story does not stop there. Now that the powers of the atom were unleashed, they would not be caged again. Soon, the largest and deadliest weapons ever wielded in warfare would become relative child’s play.

Nuclear Proliferation and the Race to Annihilation

In creating atomic weapons, man had learned to direct some of the most fundamental forces of nature toward destroying his fellow man.

But even then, mankind was not satisfied with the level of destruction it had attained. The 75 years that have followed the destruction of those cities saw an escalation of destructive power that boggles the mind--and makes prophetic fulfillment that much easier to believe.

Not content to allow the United States sole possession of the most devastating weapon in existence, four years after Hiroshima the Soviet Union tested its own atomic weapon, named “First Lightning”--though called “Joe-1” by the U.S., after Joseph Stalin. Soon afterward the race was on, as the United States and the Soviet Union superpowers sought to create increasingly powerful weapons over the course of the Cold War to ensure that their enemy did not get the upper hand.

While atomic weapons generated their destructive power through fission, splitting atoms into smaller atoms, even greater power was available through FUSION--combining two atoms into one. This is the very process that powers the sun above our heads! A fusion-based nuclear weapon--called a thermonuclear bomb, or “hydrogen bomb”--carried the capacity to be far more powerful than its simpler progenitors. And both the U.S. and the Soviet Union raced to develop the most plentiful stockpile of the most powerful bombs.

Consider the scale of these evolving weapons.

The atomic bomb the U.S. dropped on Hiroshima in 1945 had the power of about 16 kilotons of TNT, generating a mushroom cloud that extended a little more than 11 miles upward. In 1952, the U.S. tested Ivy Mike--its first fusion-based thermonuclear, hydrogen bomb. Ivy Mike yielded an explosion of around 10 MEGAtons of TNT. That would be 10 Million tons of TNT. It was followed in 1954 by a test of Castle Bravo, which yielded an explosion equal to 15 megatons of TNT. That’s almost 1,000 TIMES STRONGER than the weapon dropped on Hiroshima! The Castle Bravo mushroom cloud reached about 25 miles, or 40 kilometers into the air.

Not to be outdone, in October 1961, the Soviet Union tested a thermonuclear weapon they dubbed Ivan, or Vanya, though in the West it has been referred to simply as Tsar Bomba. The source of the largest man-made explosion in human history, Tsar Bomba yielded an explosive force of 50 megatons of TNT! That’s more than 3,000 times stronger than the bomb that obliterated Hiroshima! In fact, the DESIGN of Tsar Bomba was intended for a 100-megaton blast, and it was only detonated at half of its power.

The mushroom cloud formed by Tsar Bomba reached more than 40 MILES into the atmosphere--a testimony to the forces man was learning to unleash.

At their peaks, the United States commanded an arsenal of about 31,255 nuclear warheads, and the Soviet Union, about 45,000.

And each side was prepared to use them. Gerald Weston, Executive Producer of Tomorrow’s World, wrote a fascinating article for the March-April 2020 Tomorrow’s World magazine in which he detailed just how close the Cold War came to an all-out nuclear exchange of nightmare proportions. In that article, he provides details about the United States’ Single Integrated Operational Plan, or SIOP, in which, responding to a nuclear attack from the Soviets, the U. S. would fire EVERY weapon at its disposal, in an effort to destroy the Soviet Union, China, and certain other Communist nations in one, single strike. His article can be read online at TomorrowsWorld.org, and it is a thrilling read.

But our journey from Hiroshima hardly stops there. See, the laws of physics don’t just work in two competing nations. They work everywhere. And once how to unleash the atom’s destructive power was clear, MANY nations wanted in on the game.

In July 2019, the Arms Control Association reported on the estimated nuclear arsenal of nine nations:

• (The) United States: 6,185 (warheads)
• (The) United Kingdom: 200
• France: 300
• Israel: 90
• Pakistan: 160
• India: 140
• Russia: 6,490
• China: 290
• (and) North Korea: 30

(“Nuclear weapons: Who Has What At A Glance,” Arms Control Association, ArmsControl.org/factsheets, July, 2019).

This list does not include nations such as Iran and others who have either expressed interest in nuclear weapons programs or who are suspected of having such programs.

These weapons, so horrific in their ability to destroy human life, are now in the hands of multiple governments with multiple motives. The more nations possess them, the higher the risk that they WILL be used--whether purposefully or accidentally.

AND the higher the risk that OTHER factions will get their hands on them. Some of these nations are suspected of dealing with terrorist organizations, who only need material and opportunity to develop their own weapons.

With the ability of rogue agents to create a nuclear device and set it off in a major metropolitan area--or even a so-called “dirty bomb” that does not destroy buildings, but spreads deadly radiation--the odds of a future nuclear event seem only to increase.

One would think that the ability to devastate entire cities in a single attack, let alone the ability to launch hundreds, or even thousands of such attacks at once, would satisfy humanity’s desire to be capable of causing damage, but it does not. And prophecy offers some insight into what sorts of attacks we may see in the future. We will look at that in our next segment.

War and Devastation on a Prophetic Scale

In our last segment we talked about the massive proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world and the raw destructive power they represent. And someone reading Bible prophecy would have to admit that the devastation wrought by nuclear weapons such as those dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki correspond well to biblical descriptions of prophesied destruction.

Consider God’s warning to various nations today, such as Great Britain, the United States, and other British-descended nations, recorded in Ezekiel 6 and verse 6:

“In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, and the high places shall be desolate, so that your altars may be laid waste and made desolate, your idols may be broken and made to cease, your incense altars may be cut down, and your works may be abolished.”

He says similarly in chapter 12 and verse 20,

“Then the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall become desolate; and you shall know that I am the LORD.”

It is noteworthy that nuclear strikes have the capacity to not only lay waste to entire cities, but also to render areas uninhabitable for a time due to radioactivity. And Revelation chapter 9 speaks of an exchange between two armies involving fire, smoke, and brimstone that will contribute to the killing of one-third of mankind. [vv. 17–18] One cannot help but note similarities between elements of these descriptions and an exchange of nuclear weaponry.

Still, why limit our consideration to nuclear weaponry? Far from being SATISFIED with “nuking” each other back to the stone age, mankind has continued to invent ever more terrible ways to kill during the 75 years since Hiroshima. When it comes to the desire to destroy his fellow man, man’s imagination knows virtually no limits.

Consider CHEMICAL weapons. The use of chemicals in warfare has a long history, but as man advances scientifically and technologically, so does his ability to create and disseminate these terrible weapons. Nerve agents can kill or permanently damage by attacking individuals’ nervous systems in horrific and painful ways. Other chemicals have the ability to blind, maim, burn the lungs, or horribly disfigure the body.

Consider BIOLOGICAL weapons, as well.The bacteria responsible for anthrax--capable of causing terrible blisters, fever, and pain--has been used in conflicts before, including terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001 that killed five people. Now, with the ability to manipulate organisms at the level of DNA, biological weapons look poised to be a formidable source of death and suffering.

And compare these, too, to prophecies of the days ahead of us. In Revelation 9, Jesus inspires John to write of weapons that will torment men, but not necessarily kill them:

“And they were not given authority to kill them, but to torment them for five months. Their torment was like the torment of a scorpion when it strikes a man. In those days men will seek death and will not find it; they will desire to die, and death will flee from them.” [vv. 5–6]

And the fourth of the famous Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, described in Revelation 6, symbolizes disease and pestilence, which contribute to the death of one-fourth of mankind during events that include the Great Tribulation. [Revelation 6:8]

Could chemical or biological weaponry play a role in these future plagues and sufferings? Only time will tell.

What we DO know is serious enough. Let’s return to Jesus’ statement about the Great Tribulation in Matthew 24. There, He says, “For then there will be great tribulation, SUCH AS HAS NOT BEEN SINCE THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD UNTIL THIS TIME, NO, NOR EVER SHALL BE.” [v. 21]

We MUST pay attention to this! Jesus Christ, the Savior, the Son of God, is GUARANTEEING TO US that there is a time of suffering coming that is so deadly and destructive there has NEVER BEEN A TIME LIKE IT, nor will there EVER BE ONE AGAIN!

Do we understand what that means? That means worse than the Holocaust of World War II. Worse than Hiroshima. Worse than Nagasaki. Worse than the Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge. Worse than the purges, mass murders, and forced starvation under Joseph Stalin. Man will inflict on himself suffering, pain, and warfare that will dwarf these other circumstances.

Yes, it is easy to imagine that we have become more civilized in the 75 years since Hiroshima. But truth be told, we are no more civilized now than we were then. And mankind is poised to do to the entire world what it once did to two Japanese cities in 1945.

But, if this is, indeed, prophesied to happen, is there anything we can DO about it? Am I, are you, just fated to have to endure these things? Or can we save our lives--our children’s lives? Can we escape from what’s coming?

YES WE CAN! And we will discuss HOW in the last, brief segment of our program.

Mankind’s Savior Saves us from OURSELVES

We began our discussion today with the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, just over 75 years ago now. Civilization still debates whether the bombing of those two cities was justified or not. Yet there is NO debate that our capacity to cause death and destruction has only grown over those 75 years, to the point that Hiroshima and Nagasaki look small and tame by comparison to the suffering we can cause now.

And prophecy guarantees us that a time is coming when the suffering mankind inflicts upon itself--through warfare, violence, destruction, pestilence, and disease--will be the worst it has ever been in the entirety of human history--a time when, unless God intervenes, Jesus says NO FLESH shall be saved alive.

What can we do as such events rush toward us, full tilt, with the winds of prophecy at their backs?

Thankfully, Jesus didn’t simply foretell the future. He also taught us what to do about it.

In Luke 21, Jesus tells us to watch the times in which we live--and to watch ourselves--and to act:

“Watch therefore, and pray always that you may be counted worthy to escape all these things that will come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.” [v. 36]

He describes those who fall short of being worthy in many passages, such as Luke 6:46, asking us,

“Why do you call Me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do the things which I say?”

And His apostle John elaborates, telling us in 1 John 2:4 that

“He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.”

The answer isn’t a bomb shelter or moving away from civilization, physically prepping for “doomsday.” The way to prepare for the times ahead, and be counted worthy by God to escape these things, is simply to repent. To watch the times we are in, watch ourselves, and commit our lives to obeying God and His commandments under Jesus Christ. And to whatever extent you want to do those things, we here at Tomorrow’s World are ready to help.

That includes sending you today’s free DVD, “Escape the Great Tribulation,” so don’t forget to order your copy!

And don’t forget to join us again next week. Gerald Weston, Richard Ames, Rod McNair, and I will be right here, ready to share with you the Good News of God’s coming Kingdom, the teachings of Jesus Christ, and the vital prophecies of Tomorrow’s World. See you here next time.

[The text below represents an edited transcript of this Tomorrow’s World program.]

Bible Prophecies Being Fulfilled

The Biblical prophet Jeremiah has an amazing message for our world, especially the English-speaking world. Why is it that so few know about this man when 52 chapters in the Bible cover some forty years of his life? What do you personally know about him? Do you know to whom his prophecies were directed? Do you know the time of their fulfillment? And do you know Jeremiah’s warnings for us today?

Stay with me here at Tomorrow’s World, because I’ll be explaining one of the most amazing prophecies ever given through a human being. It’s a shocking and fascinating story that explains much of what we see in today’s world. This is news that you need to hear. So, stay with me as I’ll be back in a moment!

Jeremiah the Prophet

Welcome to Tomorrow’s World, where today I’m going to give you fascinating information from the Bible that I’m sure most of you have never heard. And it’s important information that is affecting your life right now.

If you were to ask many young people today who Jeremiah was, they would likely think of a silly song and reply “a bullfrog.” But the prophet Jeremiah was no bullfrog, and he didn’t proclaim a silly song. His message came from God, and we will see those predictions being fulfilled right before our very eyes.

God called Jeremiah while he was young, probably in his teen years. He describes himself as “a youth,” and he prophesied about 40 years.

In Jeremiah chapter 1 and verse 5, we read of how important this man was to God.

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jeremiah 1:5).

Then comes God’s commission to Jeremiah. This is something, my friends, that people read right over and never think twice. For that matter, they probably never stop to consider, even once, what these words mean:

“Behold, I have put My words in your mouth. See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:9–10).

Jeremiah wasn’t a man spewing personal opinion. He had a commission from God. And it would be God’s words in his mouth. But,

What does it mean to be set over nations and Kingdoms?

What does it mean to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down?

What was meant by, to build and to plant?

The first point is understandable. While Jeremiah’s messages were clearly for the Jews and the city of Jerusalem for the time in which he lived, his messages go far beyond that. He prophesied against Egypt and Babylon, Moab, Damascus, and more. We read these prophecies in chapters 46 through 51, and the timing of some of them was for a long time into the future, as seen from these statements:

“But it shall come to pass in the latter days…” (Jeremiah 49:39)

“‘Yet I will bring back the captives of Moab in the latter days,’ says the LORD…” (Jeremiah 48:47).

Perhaps the most famous passage that applied to the future is that of the promised New Covenant. Paul speaks of this is Hebrews 8, but he quotes directly from Jeremiah 31. I’ll only read a portion of this for the sake of time:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…. I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts… I will forgive their iniquity, and their sin I will remember no more” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33, 34).

Clearly, Jeremiah’s prophecies were for far more than his nation or for his time, but what does it mean in the commission that he would, “root out and pull down, destroy and throw down, build and plant?”

The Children of Israel Still Exist!

We are looking today at Jeremiah’s amazing commission. So far, we’ve seen that he was a prophet for more than his own people and for more than his time. Let’s review God’s commission to Jeremiah as given in the first chapter of the book by his name and in verse 10:

“See, I have this day set you over the nations and over the Kingdoms, to root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down, to build and to plant” (Jeremiah 1:10).

Jeremiah was to prophesy the destruction of his own nation, how it was going to be pulled down, destroyed, and thrown down. This also applied to other nations, but what was meant by,

“…to build and to plant”?

It’s impossible to understand this without knowing something that few people are ever taught in their churches today. Only those who read the Bible, and in this case, what is called the Old Testament, can understand. Yes, it’s impossible to really understand Biblical prophecy, and the full message of the Bible, without this knowledge. And yet it’s right there in front of us, and as John Ogywn titles the Preface to his booklet on The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy,

The Lost Master Key – Found!

So let’s go back to Jeremiah’s prophecy regarding the New Covenant and look at the obvious. This time I’ll read from the Apostle Paul in the book of Hebrews, chapter 8:

“…Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…” (Hebrew 8:8).

What is the obvious in this passage of scripture? Simply put: We are reading here of two separate nations—the house of Israel and the house of Judah. Now why is this important? The beginning book of the Bible known as Genesis clearly shows that God was working through one man and his family and gave great and wonderful promises to that family. Here is the beginning of those promises as given to Abram, if he left his country and his father’s house:

“I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and I will curse him who curses you; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Genesis 12:2–3).

Perhaps this chart will clarify what I am describing. Abram’s name was later changed to Abraham, and he had two sons of significance: Ishmael and Isaac. The descendants of these two sons have been at war in the Middle East for centuries. According to the Bible, the promises to Abraham were expanded and made more specific through Isaac and his descendants.

Abraham’s son Isaac had two sons: Jacob and Esau. Their descendants are also part of the problem in the Middle East. And Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, had twelve sons. The firstborn was Reuben. Judah and Joseph were two other sons among the twelve. Judah is the father of the Jews. God’s spiritual and physical blessings were divided between Judah and Joseph. Note this clear and amazing statement in 1 Chronicles 5 and verses 1 and 2:

“Now the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel—he was indeed the firstborn, but because he defiled his father’s bed, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph, the son of Israel, so that the genealogy is not listed according to the birthright; yet Judah prevailed over his brothers, and from him came a ruler, although the birthright was Joseph’s…” (1 Chronicles 5:1–2).

Why is this important? Most church going people have no idea that the terms Israelite and Jew are not synonymous. People think the terms are entirely the same, but as we are seeing, one promise went to the Jews while another promise went to an entirely different tribe of Israel. Also, again, church goers are often ignorant of the fact that the promises to Israel are only partially fulfilled in Christ. Now that is the most important promise, of course, but not the only one.

Most professing Christians are aware of the spiritual promise of grace through Jesus Christ, but after a short break, we’ll look at some of the physical promises made to the children of Israel, and knowing what they are, brings our modern world to life.

A Scepter of Promise

As we’ve seen, Judah was given the promise of a ruler that we understand to be that of the Messiah, Jesus the Christ. But it was more than a single king. It was a dynasty of kings that would continue throughout time. In the 49^th chapter of Genesis, we see Israel predicting what would become of his sons at the end of the age. Notice the time setting in verse 1:

“And Jacob [Israel] called his sons and said, ‘Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days’” (Genesis 49:1).

As part of Judah’s blessing we read the following in verse 10:

“The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and to Him shall be the obedience of the people” (Genesis 49:10).

The marginal reference says that a scepter is, quote: “a symbol of kingship.” Shiloh is a reference to the Messiah. Great emphasis in the Bible is put on the dynasty of David, but many casual readers and scholars believe that his dynasty ended when the house of Judah fell and went into Babylonish captivity. And here is where the prophet Jeremiah comes in, but first let’s notice this dynastic promise made to David in 2 Samuel 7:

“When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever” (2 Samuel 7:12–13).

Now some people think that this promise was conditional on obedience of the kings to follow, but this is not the case. Neither was this promise of establishing his throne forever referring to the Messiah. Yes, the Messiah, Jesus Christ is the ultimate fulfillment, but the promise as stated here refers to physical kings ruling from generation to generation. How can we be so sure of this? Well, notice these strong words that follow in verses 14–16:

“…If he commits iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men and with the blows of the sons of men. But My mercy shall not depart from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I removed from before you. And your house and your kingdom shall be established forever before you. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Samuel 7:14–16).

Did Christ commit iniquity or sin? Not hardly, or He could not be our Savior! So this was talking about David’s dynasty, that it would be established forever. This promise is also recorded in the 89^th Psalm.

“Once I have sworn by My holiness; I will not lie to David: His seed shall endure forever, and his throne as the sun before Me; it shall be established forever like the moon, even like the faithful witness in the sky” (Psalm 89:35–37).

Do you see that, my friends? God swore by His holiness; He would not lie to David. As sure as the sun and the moon, His seed would have an everlasting throne. So why do people think it ceased to exist from around 586 B.C. until the coming of Christ some 600 years later? And did Jesus come as a king sitting on the throne of David at that time?

Now we come back to Jeremiah’s amazing commission. After about 40 years of warning the Jews that destruction was on the way unless they repented, the end finally came. In the 9^th year of king Zedekiah, Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar besieged the city of Jerusalem and, two-and-a-half years later, breached the walls. Seeing the inevitable, King Zedekiah and the men of war attempted to escape by night, but were captured. What happened next we read in Jeremiah 39:6–7:

“Then the king of Babylon killed the sons of Zedekiah before his eyes in Riblah; the king of Babylon also killed all the nobles of Judah. Moreover he put out Zedekiah’s eyes, and bound him with bronze fetters to carry him off to Babylon” (Jeremiah 39:6–7).

Thus ended David’s dynasty…or so people think. But now we come to one of the most amazing truths of scripture that is almost universally overlooked. If you can stop the sun or moon from coming up, then the covenant God made with David can be broken—so say the scriptures! But before we get to the most interesting part of this story, let me give you another part that anyone who reads his Bible should know.

After the twelve tribes of Israel came out of Egypt, they wandered in the wilderness for 40 years before entering the promised land. They were ruled as a theocracy, until the people demanded a king like all the nations around them and a man by the name of Saul was chosen. But Saul disobeyed God, and when he died, David became king. David’s son Solomon followed him, but in his later years Solomon turned away from obedience to God and God fulfilled what we read earlier would happen if David’s son disobeyed. Ten of the twelve tribes of Israel rebelled against Solomon’s son, King Rehoboam. Thus the nation was divided into two—the house of Judah and the ten-tribe house of Israel. They never again were united. What people call Israel today is made up of Jews, along with the tribe of Benjamin and some from the tribe of Levi.

In the course of time, the house of Israel went into captivity to the Assyrians. One hundred years later the house of Judah (the Jews) went into Babylonian captivity. And that brings us to how Jeremiah’s strange commission was fulfilled, just as God said it would be.

But before giving you the details of this absolutely fascinating story, I want to remind you again of today’s offer: The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy. It’s given absolutely free of charge as others have already paid for it. Even the shipping and handling is without cost to you, so you have nothing to lose and everything to gain.

The Throne of Judah: Moved, But NOT Lost!

I left you with the explanation that the Israelite nation was divided in two. The ten tribes that broke off from king David’s grandson formed a new nation known as the house of Israel. They went into captivity around 720 B.C. and never returned to the land now called Israel. The Jews and Benjamites, along with some from the tribe of Levi, were known as the nation or the house of Judah, and went into captivity to Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon. Now we pick up the story from Jeremiah.

About a year and a half before the fall of Jerusalem in 586 B.C., Jeremiah gave a prophecy from prison. He spoke of a time when both houses would return.

“And I will cause the captives of Judah and the captives of Israel to return, and will rebuild those places as at the first” (Jeremiah 33:7).

The entire 33^rd chapter is filled with good news.

“‘Behold, the days are coming,’ says the LORD, ‘that I will perform that good thing which I have promised to the house of Israel and to the house of Judah’” (Jeremiah 33:14).

And then he gave a remarkable prophecy. If a prophet of God was ever wrong, Jeremiah must have been, for notice what he predicted less than a year from what appeared to be the end of David’s dynasty.

“For thus says the LORD: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel’…. ‘Thus says the LORD: ‘If you can break My covenant with the day and My covenant with the night, so that there will not be day and night in their season, then My covenant may also be broken with David My servant, so that he shall not have a son to reign on his throne, and with the Levites, the priests, My ministers’” (Jeremiah 33:17, 19–21).

And if that were not clear enough, he went on to say:

“If My covenant is not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth, then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob” (Jeremiah 33:25–26).

Again, these bold predictions were made a year or less before David’s dynasty, in the minds of most scholars, ceased to exist. Never again did the Jews have a Jewish king ruling over them, except for Christ who was born to be king and will return to take over David’s throne in the future, for as we are told in Zechariah 14:9:

“And the LORD shall be King over all the earth…” (Zechariah 14:9)

The context is clear. It is talking about a time yet to come. Don’t believe me just because I say this. Read the whole of Zechariah 14 for yourself.

Were God’s predictions through Jeremiah wrong? Or are we missing something? As we have seen, Zedekiah was taken into captivity and all his sons, heirs to the throne, were killed. But, notice this little known detail! Those who were not taken captive to Babylon were taken to Egypt. You can read of this in Jeremiah chapters 41 through 43. We are told specifically that among those who were taken to Egypt, were:

“…the king’s daughters…and Jeremiah the prophet and [Jeremiah’s scribe] Baruch…” (Jeremiah 43:6).

Now let’s go back to God’s predictions through Jeremiah. Notice carefully where He says David’s throne would be—no longer over the house of Judah (the Jews), but over the house of Israel! That is the northern ten-tribed nation!

“For thus says the LORD: ‘David shall never lack a man to sit on the throne of the house of Israel’…. ‘If My covenant is not with day and night…then I will cast away the descendants of Jacob and David My servant, so that I will not take any of his descendants to be rulers over the descendants of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob’” (Jeremiah 33:17, 25–26).

Remember that Jeremiah’s commission was:

To root out and to pull down, to destroy and to throw down

And also,

To build and to plant

David’s throne was pulled down and planted in another nation and the evidence is with us today. Sadly, I’m out of time, but the story of how God, through Jeremiah the prophet, fulfilled His prediction is found in our publication, The United States and Great Britain in Prophecy. Truly truth is stranger than fiction.

Be sure to come back next week at this same time when Richard Ames, Wallace Smith, Rod McNair, and I will continue to share with you the teachings of Jesus Christ, the good news of the coming Kingdom of God, and the exciting end-time prophecies and their meaning. See you then.