Is America the Unnamed Nation in Isaiah 18?
Bible Study Shorts
This morning I began reading in Jeremiah 17:
14 Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed;
Saved me, and I will be saved. (NIV)
I needed to hear this reminder that healing and salvation are already accomplished; the hard part is waiting for them to reach us. But He gives us more grace. (James 4:6)
For some reason, I then turned to Isaiah 18 and looked at my scribbles and Post-it notes there. This is a short and somewhat anticlimactic chapter following chapter 17’s destruction of Damascus overnight (a prophecy that has yet to be fulfilled!). I have found that many translation choices can give altogether the wrong impression, so I often look up the Hebrew word (using the interlinear tools at
https://www.blueletterbible.org/
and browsing the Gesenius entries of the Strong’s number for particular Hebrew words).
Chapter 18 mentions the rivers of Cush; that is, the Nile and its tributaries, and a nation of foreigners who live far beyond it:
1 Woe to the land shadowing with wings [sheltering in the dark], which is beyond the rivers of Ethiopia:
2 That sendeth ambassadors by the sea, even in vessels of bulrushes upon the waters [or, in vessels on the sea of bulrushes, i.e., the Red Sea], saying, Go, ye swift messengers, to a nation scattered and peeled [scoured], to a people terrible [mighty] from their beginning hitherto; a nation meted out and trodden down, whose land the rivers [floods] have spoiled! (KJV)
I started off thinking this could be about China, since they are very involved in African development now. But as I dug in, I wondered what China’s diminishment could mean to Israel. China doesn’t stand between Israel and her enemies; why would Israel send ambassadors to China? So could this mean the USA? And if so, why send ambassadors to the US through the Red Sea and not through the Mediterranean? Is the Mediterranean filled with Russian Navy? Why not fly? Did a solar flare take out the satellite navigation system after the Rapture removed critical personnel in charge of relocating and shielding these satellites (i.e. Space Force)? Let’s dig in a little.
The Nile begins in Ethiopia, travels through Sudan and Egypt, and pours into the Mediterranean. There is a strip of African countries between the Nile and the Red Sea, lining the water route that leads to the Suez Canal, one of the major shipping/trade corridors in the world. These countries are Egypt, Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, and Somalia.
Besides Egypt and Sudan, the only country I know anything about is Somalia, which is only associated in my mind with pirates. But as well as having the longest coast and the most refugees of any country in Africa, it turns out to also have a nice anti-terrorism income stream in the billions, which never seems to rid war-torn Somalia of its terrorism. Chalk that up to a nifty money laundering agreement between the CIA and the Somalia central bank, no doubt.
And what is more important, whoever controls Somalia controls the Gulf of Aden, which is the approach to the Red Sea and Suez Canal. Which means whoever controls Somalia controls 50% of the world’s trade. I’m sure there are American “connections” all along the coast from Somalia to Egypt, connections that used to be deep state, but are now being flipped by US naval operations jointly with other nations. I wonder if these good men are all Christians? Seems likely.
Up at the north end of this waterway is Egypt’s Suez Canal. Egypt comes in for its share of the warnings in Isaiah 19 and Ezekiel 30:4, prophecies of attack and slavery and plague and the Nile drying up (possibly because the new Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam upstream will likely be controlled by the Chinese or some other country during the Tribulation).
Next there’s the coastline of Sudan (Cush), who will take part in the Ezekiel 38 attack on Israel. Sudan is currently of two minds towards Israel, and we have already been told which side will prevail (see below).
Then there’s Eritrea. Situated south and east of Sudan, Eritrea controls much of the northwestern shore of the Red Sea (or the Sea of Reeds). Since 2013, China has brought its “One Belt, One Road” diplomacy to Africa, benefiting Eritrea such that Eritrea stands with China against the current anti-Russian sentiments in the UN. That argues a very close relationship with China, but I think this also could point to a close relationship with the US diplomats now covertly righting the wrongs of our past traitorous Presidents. Note: Many of these Americans are believers in Christ, and will no doubt be Raptured, leaving a dearth of American diplomats within Israel’s reach.
Thirdly, there’s tiny Djibouti, which lies at the mouth of the Red Sea where the Gulf of Aden meets it; this is a desirable position of command over the Suez shipping route. It just so happens that China established a permanent military naval base in Djibouti in 2017. That was certainly a significant year, and China would never have done so without the permission, indeed, the cooperation, of the US military.
Could Isaiah 18 refer to China? They are certainly in the right place at the right time, doing the right things to qualify. But so is the US. And for many decades the CIA has been up to their nasty tricks meddling in the affairs of all these countries, leaving a US footprint that patriots are now filling. Let’s look further.
Chapter 18 goes on to make an oblique reference to the final peace agreement in the Middle East. I’ve dug into the Strong’s references to find alternate definitions that make more sense in context; these are in the brackets, while my comments are in parentheses.
3 (Isaiah speaking) All you people of the world, you who live on the earth, when a banner is raised on the mountains, (the Abraham Accords completed?) you will see it, and when a trumpet sounds, you will hear it. (The Rapture?)
4 (Isaiah speaking) This is what the Lord says to me: “I [God] will remain quiet and will look on from My dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
5 (Isaiah speaking) For, before the harvest, when the blossom is gone and the flower becomes a ripening grape, He [God] will cut off the shoots with pruning knives, and cut down and take away the spreading branches.
(Again with the “before the harvest” reference! Compare with Isaiah 32:10.)
Compare the stubs of branches reference with Ezekiel 31:12. These two references to branch-less trees may point to an earthquake-caused tsunami, such as the one spoken of in Ezekiel 38:19, which breaks off branches and leaves, with only trunks remaining behind; stubs of trees also symbolize the stubs of humanity left behind after Jesus’ harvest.
The great earthquakes described in Revelation, and also described by Ben Davidson of Suspicious Observers regarding the solar micronova, will generate huge continent-devastating waves in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Mediterranean. Only inland Eurasia, Africa and the Middle East will be spared major damage from such mega tsumanis. Coincidentally, these are the nations that gather against unprotected Israel.
6 They [the stubs of trees] will all be left to the mountain birds of prey and to the wild animals; the birds will feed on them all summer, the wild animals [cattle] all winter.
7 At that time [After that time and forevermore] gifts will be brought to the Lord Almighty from a people scattered and smooth [scoured], from a people feared far and wide, an aggressive nation of strange speech [or a nation of Gentiles and mixed languages who have been measured and humbled], whose land is divided by rivers [destroyed by floodwaters, like tsunamis]—[in the future] the gifts (from this country) will be brought to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Lord Almighty. (NIV)
I don’t think Isaiah 18 refers to China, or to events in North Africa. Instead, I think America does appear in the Bible, unnamed. In my own head, I can read Isaiah chapter 18 this way (remember, the structure of Biblical narrative is to summarize first, then go into the backstory, and then on to the conclusion):
v. 1-2 SUMMARY Beware, earth, of the humbling of the great nation beyond the Nile river and Red Sea. Messages will have to be sent by ship to it (because the internet will not be working).
v. 3-5 BACKSTORY The whole world will see the Abraham Accords completed (Israel’s last peace deal being with the Palestinians). Later, as the harvest time approaches, the whole world will hear the trumpet that calls up the dead and living in Christ to the clouds (taking the branches away), a different kind of harvest that robs Israel of its strongest allies; and God will sit on His throne and let the weakening of America happen.
Note: The Rapture will change the balance of power in the world; there will be a vacuum of leadership left by the disappearance of the believers in America’s (restored) government and diminution of the armed, voting, believing population. The sudden climactic and geologic changes that occur will sever communications and cause great chaos and disorder, with the power of might ruling over right among survivors.
v.6-7 CONCLUSION The American harvests will be destroyed, with little left for even the birds and wild animals to live on through the following winter. In the future (in the Millennial Kingdom), the survivors of this humbled and scoured Gentile nation of many languages, whose land was ravaged by tsunami floodwaters, will bring their gifts and offerings to Mount Zion, the place of the Name of the Almighty (the Fourth Temple).
So I conclude that America WILL survive as a nation of deserts, islands and marshlands in the Millennial Kingdom, but the seven years of the Tribulation will reduce the survivors to perhaps a quarter or less of the population. Mark takers will be condemned to destruction at the Judgment, but the pressure to accept the mark in order to access water, food, and shelter will be great. Many will come to faith after the Rapture and will choose death by beheading rather than renounce Jesus, secure in the knowledge that they will be raised at the Second Coming.
I hate to think of what compromises, what crimes, what exploitation, what suffering, what starving times are ahead for the people of this great nation—at least, for those who have not yet accepted Jesus’ “get out of Wrath free” card. If you want to take your chances on your own strength to survive the Wrath, make sure you’re living on the eastern side of a very tall mountain or deep underground. But I do not love this world any more, and I can’t wait for the Bridegroom.
###