The Final Countdown Has Began Series
“Holy Ground Zero” 2 of 4
Based Upon Jonathan Cahn’s book The Harbinger.
February 19, 2012 FBC Chester, IL Dr. Mike Fogerson, Speaker
A In the entire history of the world only two nations have began by being dedicated to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: Israel & The United States of America.
1 The initial point of dedication for Israel was when Moses told the nation of Israel before they entered into the Promised Land (Deut. 30. 15-20).
15 "See, I have set before you today life and prosperity, and death and adversity; 16 in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments and His statutes and His judgments, that you may live and multiply, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to possess it. 17 But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but are drawn away and worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you shall surely perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and possess it. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding fast to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them." Deut 30:15-20 (NASB)
a Later, King Solomon @ the dedication of the Temple prayed & consecrated the Temple to the Lord (2 Chron. 6.12-15; 7.13,14; 17-20)
aa The dedication was lead by the national leader (King) and other leaders and the people.
bb They were gathered at the Temple Mount (Capital of Israel)
12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon at night and said to him, "I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. 13 If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, 14 and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. 2 Chron 7:12-14 (NASB)
b There has never been a people who have held the Word of God in such esteem, authority than Ancient Israel.
aa His Word was a matter of life & death; prosperity & adversity; feast & famine.
bb If they ignored His Word (or Word’s of Warning via the prophets) the results were always catastrophic.
c With the dedication came a hedge of protection that God placed around Israel that kept them safe from other kingdoms, empires, powers, principalities.
2 No other nation had been called into being for the will of God or dedicated to His purpose from its conception.
a No other nation had been given a covenant, but the covenant had a condition.
aa Covenant is a pact, treaty, alliance, or agreement. (IL. Contract, Marriage) between two parties of equal or unequal authority.
bb If Israel followed the ways of God they would be blessed among nations.
cc If Israel fell away, turned against His way/Word they’d have their blessing removed and replaced by calamity.
b Once the hedge God had placed over Israel was removed . . . everything changed.
B The descent of Israel (Northern Kingdom) wasn’t overnight but gradual.
1 The falling away began with “small” things.
a The people still used the name of God but it began to have less and less meaning behind it. (IL. Pledge of Allegiance, Money “In God We Trust”)
aa Then they started merging Him with the gods of other nations (Baal, Molech, etc.)
bb They began turning from God–subtly at first, then outright, then brazenly by driving Him out of their national life and bringing in idols to fill the void.
b They had transformed themselves into the enemies of the God they had once worshiped even to the point where it was forbidden to mention God’s name in their public square.
2 They cut themselves off from the faith that their nation had been established and became strangers to God.
a They rejected their covenant, abandoned their standards, & exchanged the values they had always lived by for those they had never known.
b Traded holiness for profanity; spirituality for sensuality; righteousness for self-interest.
c What they once thought was right & good they now saw as outdated, intolerant, & immoral. (Everything was now upside in Israel.)
aa Israel had no idea was coming. Business as usual when calamity struck.
bb As long as they had remained under His protection/hedge no kingdom, empire, no power on earth could touch them . . . once it was removed, everything changed.
3 In 732 B.C., after warning after warning from the prophets, God momentarily lifted the hedge that had shielded/protected Israel allowing the Assyrians to attack Israel.
a Because the nation refused to repent, return it would fall into total destruction about 10 years later.
b Eventually the city of Jerusalem/Kingdom of Judah would fall and the Temple would be destroyed in the 5th century B.C.
c When judgement comes to such a nation that was once committed/consecrated to His purpose, the judgement will return to the ground of its consecration.
4 America & Ancient Israel are connected by the Temple Dedication in Jerusalem and the first inauguration of the first American President.
a The Temple dedication was an inauguration and the inauguration was a dedication.
aa Each was an opening day, day of completion.
bb Completion of a structure (Jerusalem), The Structure of a Nation (America)
cc Each involved the gathering of a nation together @ the nations capital.
b Both were presided over by the King/President . . . the nations leader.
C History tells us that America’s first day as fully formed nation was not in 1776, but actually April 30, 1789, when the first time the nation and its government was lead by a president.
1 In President Washington’s first presidential address, he said:
“No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency.”
a Just as Solomon had offered up prayers to the Almighty on Israel’s future in the past, so did Washington at his inauguration.
aa “It would be peculiarly improper to omit in this first official act my fervent supplications to that Almighty Being who rules over the universe, who presides in the councils of nations, and whose providential aids can supply every human defect, that His benediction may consecrate to the liberties and happiness of the people of the United States a Government instituted by themselves for these essential purposes.”
bb It wasn’t just Washington giving a nod in prayer but April 30, 1789 was a designated as a day of prayer and dedication for the whole nation.
b This is proclamation that went forth:
“On the morning of the day on which our illustrious President will be invested with his office, the bells will ring at nine o’clock, when the people may go up to the house of God in a solemn manner. An early hour is prudently fixed for this peculiar act of devotion and is designed wholly for prayer.”
aa At 9 AM on April 30, 1789, the sounds of bells filled our nations capital for 30 minutes calling the people to the House of God to commit the new government, with its important train of consequences, to the holy protection and blessing of the Most High.
bb For the President & new government, their prayer gathering would take place later that day at a place especially chosen for that purpose.
c After Washington finished his first address, he lead the Senate and the House of Representatives on foot in a process through the streets of the capital from Federal Hall to a little stone church (The first official act of the newly formed government took place inside the walls of church).
aa I can imagine the people lining the streets, looking out windows, filling up rooftops all to see the nations first steps.
aa Through the church’s doors entered the whole of the America’s first government to bow together in prayer to consecrate the new nation’s future into the hands of God.
bb It was here the U.S. was committed to the Almighty; this is America’s ground of consecration.
2 These great events in our nations birth took place in the capital city at that time, New York City. (Washington never set foot in Washington D.C., but he set foot in New York)
a The church he took the government to pray at was Trinity Church, today St. Paul’s Cathedral, to commit/consecrate America to God.
b America was committed to God at the corner of what would become Ground Zero.
aa George Washington, John Adams, America’s Founding Fathers had gathered at Ground Zero on April 30, 1789 to pray on the day that America’s foundation was laid as the consecrating act of that foundation.
bb On Ground Zero was where they came to commit our nation’s future to God’s holy protection.
cc It would was here 212 years later that holy protection would be withdrawn.
c The ground that would eventually be Ground Zero for 9/11 had originally been a field owned by the church, the same church our nation was consecrated to God at.
aa The land of Ground Zero is the spiritual birth place of America!
bb On September 12, 2001, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle addressed the world as a representative and leader of America saying:
“Mr. President, it is with pain, sorrow, anger, and resolve that I stand before this Senate, a symbol for 212 years. . .” 2001-212= 1789
cc Not only was America’s ground of consecration at Ground Zero; America’s ground of consecration is Ground Zero.
3 It wasn’t until Sept. 14 that anyone was able to inspect what was left of St. Paul’s.
a Miraculously, where workers expected to see a pile of rubble, they instead found a completely intact chapel.
aa Not a window had been broken (one was cracked). Not an inch of the walls or the roof had been compromised. The building’s structure was as sound as it had ever been.
bb The energy released in the destruction of 9/11 was comparable to a small nuclear bomb being detonated (Impact of the planes, jet fuel, fire burning in the towers, collapse)
b 2 Billion pounds of steel came crashing to the ground (registered on the Richter Scale)
aa Everything inside and below the WTC buildings was smashed beyond recognition.
bb Every window facing the Trade Center was blown out. Every nearby building suffered damage, some beyond repair . . .except the Chapel.
c It was almost as if all the power and fury of the disaster surrounding the church had somehow been directed at that one tree.
aa While much larger, newer buildings suffered massive structural damage, tiny St. Paul’s Chapel was barely touched, leaving it available to provide desperately needed support to those working tirelessly to clear the Trade Center rubble.
bb One tree, sacrificed to save the church!!!
d When judgement comes to such a nation that was once committed/consecrated to His purpose, the judgement will return to the ground of its consecration.
4 New York wasn’t the only target hit on 9/11; Washington D.C. was also hit: The center of our nations leadership.
a As I share the last two alarms I must warn you that they are not as “visable” as the bricks, gazit stone, sycamore, cedar . . . these are more general but are just as important as the 7 preceding alarms.
I The eighth alert: The Utterance (Isaiah 9.8-9)
A Jacob, Ephraim, Samaria are all important in the scope the prophecy
1 Jacob, Ephraim (Were national figures/leaders in Israel); Samaria was the capital of the Northern Kingdom of Israel.)
a National leaders speaking the vow of Isaiah from the nations capitol.
aa Who can speak for a nation? Her leaders.
bb Where is the nations seat of government, where her leaders led from? The Capitol of the nation.
b The vow is proclaimed with authority by the leaders on behalf of the entire nation.
aa This is what we will do, course we’ve set . . . from the capital.
bb After the calamity of Assyrian attack, the nations leaders respond with public proclamations of defiance.
2 National pride swells as the leaders vow to come back bigger, stronger, taller, etc.
a The words form a vow & the vow gives voice to a spirit and seals the nations course.
b IL. JFK said, “We will put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.”
B On September 11, 2004 the candidate for vice-president on the democratic ticket (a Senator & at the time one of our nations most prominent leaders) spoke at a congressional caucus in Washington D.C. on three year anniversary of the events of 9/11.
1 “Good morning. Today, on this day of remembrance and mourning, we have the Lord’s word to get us through: The bricks have fallen But we will build with dressed stones. The sycamores have been cut down But we will put cedars in their place.”
a Over 30,000 verses in the bible and this is the one he chooses?
b In fact, the whole speech revolved around the ancient prophecy: the cornerstone of that speech.
c The leader’s intention was to deliver an inspiring and encouraging speech but w/o realizing that he was pronouncing judgement on America.
2 Every piece of the puzzle falls into place, in the exact place, but no one intends it to happen!
a No human hand could direct what has happened
b The utterance, although not as visible as other alarms, is just as loud (if not louder) than any of the alarms/warnings.
II Alarm Nine: The Prophecy
A The utterance was vow (what is/present tense) and the last alarm is a prophecy (what would be/future tense).
1 Isaiah 9.10 exists in two realms; The voice of nation proclaiming a vow in defiance of God & the voice of God speaking of the future through the voice of a prophet (Isaiah) so “all the people know.” (Is. 9.9).
a The ninth alarm is a manifestation of Isaiah 9.10 in the form of a prophecy.
b This word had to be spoken right after the calamity, by a national leader, at the nations capital city.
aa Right after being like on September 12, 2001.
bb The morning after the attack (the two representative bodies of the American Congress) the United States Senate & House of Representatives convened to issue a joint resolution responding to 9/11 from the Senate floor.
2 The Senate Majority Leader (Sen. Tom Daschle) speaking on behalf of a nation said,
a Mr. President, I sent a resolution to the desk (Then a legislative clerk read a a document that contained nothing unexpected)
aa Condemning the attacks, giving condolences, call for unity, a war against terrorism and punishment for those responsible & their accomplices.
bb Then Senate majority leader began his address,
“I know that there is only the smallest measure of inspiration that can be taken from this devastation, but there is a passage in the Bible from Isaiah that I think speaks to all of us at times like this . . . The bricks have fallen down, But we will rebuild with dressed stone; The fig trees have been felled, But we will replace them with cedars.”
b Sen. Daschle was identifying America as a nation under judgement (unwittingly, blindly, but he was playing is part in the prophetic mystery.)
aa These words were now officially recorded in the Annals of Congress as a matter of national record.
bb
3 Daschle wasn’t a prophet, but you don’t have to be a prophet to bring forth a prophecy.
a 49 But one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said to them, "You know nothing at all, 50 nor do you take into account that it is expedient for you that one man die for the people, and that the whole nation not perish." 51 Now he did not say this on his own initiative, but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the nation, John 11:49-51 (NASB)
aa This was the beginning of the plot that would with crucifixion of Messiah, but it was also a prophecy. (Caiaphas wasn’t a prophet. He was ungodly, yet he prophesied.)
bb He prophesied from the office he held (High Priest), chief representative of the nation.
b Sen. Daschle was prophesying by virtue of his office. (Senate majority leaders was the highest representative of America’s highest representative body.)
aa inspiration means (God breathed by the Spirit)
bb He was wanting to inspire America but he was actually saying the following words do not come from me!
4 When you write a letter you address it, identify the one it is being sent. (Same in Bible)
a Is. 9.8-9 (The Lord has sent forth a word to Jacob . . . Israel . . . Ephraim . . . Samaria . . . all the people.)
b The same message is about to be given to a different people & nation; America. Readdressed.
aa Daschle readdresses, “There is a passage in the Bible, from Isaiah that I think speaks to all of us at times like this.”
bb Two realms: Meant to give comfort to a hurting nation (BTW, there are countless passages of comfort, but this isn’t one of them.)
cc What he didn’t mean to say was this: “There’s a message from Scripture now given and speaking to America. Warning sent to a nation that once knew God and have now wandered away.”
c Daschle says, “The bricks have fallen down, but we will rebuild with dressed stone; the fig trees have been felled, but we will replace them with cedars. That is what we will do. We will rebuild and we will recover.”
aa In other words, we will do exactly as ancient Israel had done in its days of judgment.
bb After that it all came true! (Bricks, stone, sycamore, cedar, tower, etc.)
5 According to biblical requirements, before truth can be established or a judgement passed in a court of law, the matter must be confirmed by two witnesses (Deut. 19.15).
a Daschle is the first witness (9/12/01)and Edwards was the second (9/11/04) . . . both would speak the same words. Bearing witness of the joining together of America to ancient Israel and of 9/11 and Isaiah 9.10.
b The third was on February 24, 2009, a newly elected President addresses a joint session of congress to confront the economic crisis, he says:
“While our economy may be weakened and our confidence shaken, though we are living through difficult and uncertain times, tonight I want every American to know this ,Mr. Obama said. “We will rebuild, we will recover, and the United States of America will emerge stronger than before.”
aa The New York Times headline is “Obama Vows, “We Will Rebuild” “Recover”
(http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/25/us/politics/25obama.html)
bb The third witness has spoken as the Isaiah 9.10 effect continues to warn of God’s Judgement on this nation and ties our destiney/future into the destruction/past of ancient Israel.
cc What next? We’ll see this in the last sermon in this series on March 4.
Conclusion:
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Respectfully,
Mike Fogerson
