A Tale of Two Nations and A Tale of Two Kingdoms*

      The title of this message is loosely based upon the Book by Charles Dickens called "A Tale of Two Cities". There are only two nations in the world that declare "God rules". The first is Israel, and  the second, America, but both of those nations soon violated that covenant. Documents and quotes from our Founding Fathers and later presidents contain the strong belief and reliance upon God as a foundational tenet of this nation. One quote from John Adams is in a letter that he sent to the Massachusetts Militia in 1798: "Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious People. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other." (Click here to read the complete letter). President Lincoln in his Gettysburg Address given at one of the bloodiest battlefields of the Civil War, said in part: "It is rather for us to be dedicated here to the great task remaining before us - that from these honored dead we take increased devotion - that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that the government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." (Click here to read the complete speech). Less than two years later, the president was assassinated. America, have you given up on the Constitution meant for God-fearing people?

     Israel in its history gave up the rulership of God for the rulership of a king. Their governing prophet and judge, Samuel, was getting old, and his sons were corrupted by money. The elders of Israel came to Samuel at Ramah and said to him: "...now make us a king to judge us like all the nations." (1 Sam. 8:4-5). Samuel prayed to the LORD about this troubling request, and the LORD answered: "Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them." (v. 6-7). The LORD told Samuel to warn the people solemnly of the abuses and unfair partiality and favoritism that a king would commit against them, which Samuel did in detail (v. 11-17). The LORD warned the people that if they still insisted on the choice of a king, He would not hear their cries to Him when they were oppressed by their king (v. 18). "Nevertheless the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay, but we will have a king over us; that we also may be like all the nations; and that our king may judge us, and go out before us, and fight our battles." (v. 19-20). America, have we rejected God? While all forms of godlessness are welcomed and praised in our nation, we have removed God's Word, including the Ten Commandments, and His name from our schools and public places. God told Israel that He would not hear them when they cried to Him. Second Chron. 7:14 tells us that God is urging His people to turn back to Him, seek His face, repent of our wicked ways, and then He would hear our prayers and heal our land. Proverbs 14: 34 says: "Righteousness exalteth a nation: but sin is a reproach to any people." Why are we shocked to see the consequences of our sin destroying our nation?

     Psalm 22, written by David, is a prophetic picture of the future crucifixion of the Son of David, the Son of God, the Messiah, Jesus. This psalm was written 700 years before crucifixion was invented by the Assyrians. As the crucifixion is prophetically described, David begins to praise: "I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee. Ye that fear the LORD, praise him; all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him; and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel...All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee. For the kingdom is the LORD's: and he is the governor among the nations...A seed shall serve him...They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this." (Psalm 22). Will you not praise and fear the LORD, America?

     Psalm 22 states that the kingdom is the LORD's and that He governs the nations. Revelation 11:15 states that "...there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our LORD, and of His Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." Then there was worship and praise in heaven because the LORD has reigned (v. 16-17). However: "...the nations were angry and thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest give reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear thy name, small and great; and shouldest destroy them which destroy the earth. And the temple of God was opened in heaven..." (v. 18-19). The signs are many of the Lord's return, the judgment, and the establishment of His kingdom on earth. We do not bring this about, but the Lord Himself will do it. The nations are angry about this and don't want to hear it, but the Lord will bring His prophetic Word to pass in His time and season.

     War is hell, and the worst part of it is the killing of innocent people. The war currently ongoing in the Middle East is a fulfillment of the Word of the LORD to several of the prophets. The prophets warned of destruction coming to Gaza as God judges Israel's neighbors (see Amos 1:6-8, Zech. 9:5, Zeph. 2:4-7). Even Damascus in Syria, which many say is the oldest continually inhabited city in the world, will not escape the judgment and destruction of the LORD (Amos 1:3-5, Isa. 17:1-3). Do you believe God's Word? He will do it, not according to the way we think or believe, for His thoughts are not our thoughts and His ways are not our ways. Stop playing games, Church, and speaking things that are not His Word nor His will. Seek His face instead.

     The LORD prophesied: "Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all people round about, when they (the nations) shall be in the siege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it." (Zech. 12:2-3). Although all the nations of the world will come against Jerusalem and Judah, the LORD will defend and save them, and will destroy all of the nations that come against Jerusalem (v. 8-9). Not only that, but the LORD "...will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications: and they shall look upon me whom they have pierced, and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his only son, and shall be in bitterness for him, as one that is in bitterness for his firstborn." (v. 10). The LORD comes to save Jerusalem from the nations, yet His people, by the spirit of grace and supplications, will find themselves in deep mourning when they see that the One whom they pierced is the One who has come to save them from destruction. Why would they mourn? Isn't His arrival as the King of Kings a joyful event? Perhaps they will mourn in the realization that a son from among them was the Son of God who was crucified for them to save them, and yet they missed it the first time. The image on the Shroud of Turin also brings this realization to all of us when we look upon the sufferings of Christ to the death that is created upon the linen burial cloth by the power of His resurrection.

     The LORD also told His prophet, Zechariah: "Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee." (Zech. 14:1).  The LORD said that He "...will gather all nations against Jerusalem...Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof...and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with thee....And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem...And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one." (v. 2-5, 8-9). There is a fault line that runs right through this area, so it is not a surprising thought that an earthquake could split the land along this fault. This is all New Testament as well: the Lord comes with His saints.

     John Adams said that our Constitution was only suited to a godly nation. There are calls today for a changing and even an overturning of the Constitution as our nation turns away from God and godliness and turns towards wickedness. There may be two nations and two kingdoms, but only ones that will remain according to scripture will be a nation that is "under God" in truth, and the Kingdom that belongs only to God. We need to pray for our nation and for our leaders regardless of political parties, but most of all, we His people, who are called by His name, need to pray in repentance for our sins and turn back to God.

     *Based upon Dr. Kenneth E. Stevenson, Jr.'s 3/10/24 message to the church. If you would like to hear the complete message, you can find it on Dr. Stevenson's Facebook page. To contact or support this ministry, or to request prayer, you can write to PO Box 154221, Waco, TX, 76705. To find out more about the Shroud of Turin, and to receive a free e-book now available in several languages, go to http://www.theshroudofturin.org/freebook.