Chapter 11
The “Gate of His Enemies” — A
Fulfillment of Biblical Prophecies
The promise to Abraham included one unique and unusual provision which
some have understood to apply to control of important and strategic passageways
around the world. This idea is drawn from Genesis 22:17, which promises, “and
thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies.” This promise is repeated to
Rebekah, mother of Isaac, in Genesis 24:60.
It is a fact of history that the British and Americans have controlled
the majority of both land and sea gates which have been critical to the
economic and military dominance enjoyed by Britain and America in the 19th and 20th
centuries.
Three vital sea gates
The acquisition of the three of the most important sea gates occurred
in the context of God’s holy day seasons. The first example took place as a
result of the War of the Spanish Succession (1701-1714). This conflict began
as the result of a decision made in a Spring holy day setting. Over the last
three decades of his reign, Spanish King Charles II (1661-1700) had “been a
walking medical exhibit of half a dozen fatal diseases” (Joseph R. Strayer, et.
al., Mainstream of Civilization, p. 451).
Since Charles II had no children the absence of a royal heir led to a
controversy over succession to the Spanish throne. For a time, it appeared that
the matter could be peaceably resolved. However, when Charles designated
Philippe d’Anjou, the grandson of French King Louis XIV, as his lawful
successor, he destabilized the European balance of power. That decision
occurred on October 2, 1700 — the fifth Day of Unleavened Bread. Charles’
decision confirmed the worst fears of fellow-European statesmen concerning
French intentions. At Versailles, the Spanish Ambassador, kneeling before the
new king — now Philip V of Spain — was heard to murmur, “Il n’y pas de
Pyrenees” — there are no more Pyrenees. He implied that the king’s ascension amounted
to the union of France and Spain.
By 1701, the Grand Alliance constructed by English King William III
was at war with France. William hoped to restore a favorable balance of power.
In the end, the French bid to dominate the Continent failed. In fact, England
emerged from the conflict with the largest European navy and her status as a
world power confirmed.
As a result of the war, England acquired Newfoundland, Nova Scotia,
the Hudson Bay territory, Minorca, and most importantly, Gibraltar which controlled
entry and exit to the Mediterranean Sea. These terms of settlement — the Peace
of Utrecht among others, were reached on April 11, 1713.
England gains Suez
Over a century and a half later, the British gained direct control of
another critical sea gate at the other end of the Mediterranean. Since 1875,
Britain had owned controlling interest in the Suez Canal. A short time
later, Britain became more directly involved in Egyptian affairs along with the
French, as part of the so-called “Anglo-French Condominium” (1876-1882).
Financial mismanagement on the part of the Egyptian government led to
the establishment of a joint Anglo-French commission and “Dual Paramountcy” to
restore Egyptian economic stability. But Egyptian political problems persisted.
The continuing difficulties of the Egyptian government led Ishmail, the Khedive
of Egypt on May 28, 1882, to recall Colonel Ahmed Arabi Pasha and other
nationalists. This turn of event set the stage for the British occupation of
Egypt from 1882 until 1956. Soon thereafter, Arabi eventually led a nationalist
rebellion.
Strongly influenced by the popular anti-colonialism in France during
the early- 1880s, the French government refused to get involved. On the other
side of the English Channel, Arabi’s actions prompted a different response. The
British dispatched an expeditionary army of 40,560 men to quell the rebellion.
Commanding officer General Garnet Wolseley’s bout with illness delayed
any actual military engagements. When action came, it was overwhelmingly successful
for the British. On September 13, 1882, Wolseley defeated Egyptian rebels under
Arabi at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir about 50 miles northeast of Cairo. On the
following day Wolseley”s triumphant army marched into Cairo.
Under the rulership of the “Veiled Protectorate,” Britain stood
supreme in Egypt — in sole control over
Egyptian affairs while the French found themselves on the outside looking in.
The British remained there for nearly three-quarters of a century.
America acquires the Panama Canal
The third great sea gate acquired by Joseph’s seed was the Panama
Canal. Like Thomas Jefferson’s purchase of the Louisiana territory or Benjamin
Disraeli’s acquisition of Suez Canal stock, American President Theodore
Roosevelt’s actions to secure Panama were taken with bold decisiveness but
questionable legality. About his presumption, Theodore Roosevelt remarked, “I
took the Isthmus, started the Canal, and then left Congress — not to debate the
Canal, but to debate me” (The American Past, p. 323).
Certainly Teddy Roosevelt was one of America’s most decisive leaders.
Moreover, the circumstances of his rise to the presidency were rather unique.
The assassination of President William McKinley brought Roosevelt into that
office on September 14, 1901. Notwithstanding Roosevelt’s various human faults
and foibles, his administration was distinguished by justice. His “Square Deal”
and “reputation as an honest and competent reformer” bears witness to this
aspect of the fairness of his administrative style. Roosevelt played a critical
role in the fulfilling of the Abrahamic promise relevant to Israel’s possession
of important sea gates (Genesis 22:17, 26:40). He was the central actor in the
American construction and acquisition of the Panama Canal.
On September 22, 1902, French engineer Philippe Jean Bunau-Varilla
from Panama arrived in New York City to set in motion events which would lead
to U.S. to accomplish what the Compagnie Universelle du Canal Interocianique
and renowned engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps had failed to do between 1881-1889.
On October 10 Bunau-Varilla met with President Roosevelt and predicted
a revolution against the ruling Columbian government by those living on the
Isthmus. Roosevelt was reported to have remarked in private: “I took Panama
because Bunau-Varilla brought it to me on a silver platter” (David McCullough, Path
Between the Seas, p. 384). Again, we see a historical example of Reuben’s
passing of the Birthright to Joseph (1 Chronicles 5:1-2).
Working in cooperation with Panama’s Dr. Manuel Amador, Bunau-Varilla
moved to receive the canal project under different auspices. On October 13,
Bunau-Varilla held a meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in which the Panama
Republic was born. Thereafter events moved quickly making possible
American success in the canal zone region. (See David McCullough, Path
Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal, 1870- 1914, pp.
342-343, 347-350, 356, 384. 392-393, 401.)
Sidebar: Benjamin Disraeli: Maestro of Empire
What is in a name? God often names things what they are. When the
light-bringing cherub Lucifer rebelled against the authority of God (Isaiah
14:12-16; Ezekiel 28:14-19). He renamed him “adversary” or Satan. Adam’s name
literally meant “red earth,” the substance from which the first man was formed
and shaped (Genesis 2:7).
Abram received a name — Abraham (Genesis 17:5) — which connoted his
very fatherhood — “father of a multitude” (Genesis 17:4-6). Solomon, whose name
derives from the Hebrew root word for “peace,” presided over one of the most
pacific periods in all Israelite history (1 Kings 4:24).
Is it so strange that God might still provide us similar signposts
along the way through human history (cf. Hebrews 13:8)? One possible example of
this is found in the story of growth and development of the British Empire. One
of the most remarkable figures in English political history was Benjamin
Disraeli (1804-1881). This son of a Jewish family which had converted to
Christianity rose to the pinnacle of British political life and served twice as
Prime Minister (1868, 1874- 1880). He is sometimes described as the “Maestro of
Empire,” the British statesman who gave the late-19th century British Empire a
new emotional force. Historian Walter P. Hall and R. G. Albion observe,
“Disraeli, it has been said, was the first modern statesman to pursue a frankly
imperialistic policy” (History of the British Empire, pp. 705-706).
During Disraeli’s second administration, England underwent a revival of
interest in empire and territorial expansion. Acting boldly and with remarkable
independence, Disraeli paid nearly four million pounds — money borrowed from
the Bank of Rothschild with “the British government” as security — for the
purchase of 44% of the shares of stock controlling the recently constructed
Suez Canal. It was the engineering masterpiece of Frenchman Ferdinand de
Lesseps.
German Iron Chancellor Otto von Bismarck aptly described this
passageway as the spinal cord of the British Empire. Indeed the construction of
the Suez Canal had dramatically altered the balance of power in the Middle
East. It necessitated British presence, or, better still, direct control of the
region. The canal became Britain’s “lifeline” to India.
The next and perhaps most grandiose expression of Disraeli’s imperial
policies was in connection with the linchpin of Empire, India itself. On
May 1, 1876 Disraeli saw that the Royal Titles Bill made Queen Victoria
“Empress of India.” In January of the following year in Delhi, India, with
great fanfare and ceremony the Viceroy of India pronounced Victoria Empress as
a grand celebration in her honor. Later that same year, Disraeli annexed the
mineral-rich Transvaal in South Africa. Three years later, at the Congress of
Berlin, he acquired the strategic outpost of Cyprus in the Mediterranean Sea.
It is a remarkable coincidence that one of the chief architects of the
British Empire literally bears the name of “Israel.” Or is it? Given what we
know about the identity of Jacob’s modern-day descendants and the timing of the
issuance of the physical, material, national promises to Abraham, the name
Disraeli reads more like a providential signpost.
Anglo-American dominance to continue?
And so, the 19th and 20th centuries have seen the domination of world
history by the Anglo-American peoples. As we rapidly move toward the 21st
century, will this pattern continue? British world dominance is already a thing
of the past.
The two great world wars of the 20th century took a terrible toll on
Britain and her people. These conflicts robbed her of much of her manpower.
They drained her economically. By the end of World War II, the British found
themselves with neither the resources nor the will to preserve their empire.
From the realization of Indian independence (1947), the dissolution of
Britain’s imperial edifice occurred with dizzying speed. British superiority
has given place to American dominance during the final half of the 20th
century.
If American military, economic, and technical power remains supreme,
the moral decay of the United States does not bode well for the future. The
biblically based values on which the founding fathers and American people built
the U.S.A. have given place to the same kind of selfish, self-serving
materialistic orientation which led to the collapse of the Roman Empire of
antiquity. Without a change in direction and emphasis, will the outcome for
America be any different?
It is both interesting and important that Bible prophecy depicts God’s
people Israel in dire straits — even captivity (e.g., Deuteronomy 4:27-28;
Jeremiah 29:14; Amos 9:14) — at the
time of Jesus Christ’s return. Israel will be punished for her departure from
the ways, truths, and laws of God — a theme that we shall explore in the final
chapter of this booklet. Happily, prophecy also reveals that God will not
abandon Israel forever. There is coming a great exodus and restoration, which
will form a bridge into the new Millennial age, established by Christ at His
Second Coming.
A future exodus and final restoration?
Is there unfinished business in Bible prophecy? There is good news and
bad news. Numerous Bible prophecies portray a repentant Israel, turning at last
to God and obedient to His laws. Herbert W. Armstrong frequently reminded us,
that punishment was effected with a positive end — a “glorious purpose” — in
mind:
“God is going to keep multiplying chastening — correction — on our
peoples until they do turn from their evil ways — until they turn to the ways
that cause peace, happiness, prosperity, all the good things! ... The
prophecies record also the RESULT of that intensified punishment. The result
will be a corrected people. The result will be an eyeopening realization of
what we have done to ourselves. The supreme punishment will teach us, at last,
our lesson! The punishment will break our spirit of rebellion” (United
States and Britain in Prophecy, pp. 167-168, 170).
Not only will this generation of Israelites repent; they will receive
deliverance at the Hand of the returned Jesus Christ.
The time is just before the resurrection of the just, at Christ’s
coming. As Moses delivered the ancient Israelites from Egyptian slavery, so
Jesus Christ is coming to deliver modern Britain and America from the
now-impending Babylonish slavery (See Deuteronomy 18:15; Acts 7:37; Jeremiah
23:5-8) (Ibid., p. 177).
This deliverance entails the fulfillment of some of the most exciting
and encouraging prophecies in the entire Bible. These predictions foretell a
second exodus of unparalleled magnitude — one which will literally dwarf the
experience of Moses and the Israelites: “Therefore behold, the days are coming,
says the Lord, that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up
the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The Lord lives who brought
up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands
where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land, which I
gave to their fathers” (Jeremiah 16:14-15).
Further prophetic testimony
Isaiah writes about the same unprecedented re-gathering of Israel: “It
shall come to pass in that day that the Lord shall set His hand again the
second time to recover the remnant of His people who are left ... He will set
up a banner for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and
gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth”
(Isaiah 11:11-12).
Moses forecast this event as well. “And the Lord will scatter you
among the peoples, and you will be left few in number among the nations where
the Lord will drive you. And there you will serve gods, the work of men’s
hands, wood and stone, which neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. But from
there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him
with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress [compare
Matthew 24:21-22], and all these things come on you in the latter days, when
you turn to the Lord your God and obey His voice” (Deuteronomy 4:27-30; 28:68).
The prophet Amos wrote of a time when God promised to “bring back the
captives of My people Israel; they shall build the waste cities and inhabit
them; they shall plant vineyards and drink wine from them; they shall also make
gardens and eat fruit from them” (Amos 9:14).
Those prophecies about an end time restoration of Israel give us much
to anticipate. Inspired by these passages, Herbert Armstrong wrote:
“The house of Israel is yet to return, at Christ’s coming, to their
original homeland — yet to plant grapes in Samaria, their original country... .
At the future exodus, at Christ’s coming, they are to return to the Holy Land
out of the land of the NORTH! [Hosea 11:8, 10]... This prophecy is for
consideration in the ‘latter days’ (Jeremiah 30:24; 31:1), and is addressed to
‘Israel’ (verses 2, 4, 9), to ‘Ephraim’ (verses 6, 9), and ‘Samaria’ (verse
5).”
Here is added another hinge — “the coasts of the earth” (verse 8) —
evidencing that they are dominant at sea and indicating they have spread abroad
widely by colonization.
Referring to the house of ISRAEL, not Judah (Isaiah 49:3, 6), God
says: “Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these from the NORTH and
from the WEST; and these from the land of Sinim” (Isaiah 49:12) (Ibid., p. 95.
Compare Psalm 107:3-7; Isaiah 48:20-21).
The restoration of Israel
These predictions tell about a bringing of the descendants of
physical, national Israel together to Palestine from all four corners of the
earth at the return of Christ. “And it shall come to pass in that day that the
Lord will thresh, from the channel of the River to the Brook of Egypt; and you
will be gathered one by one, O you children of Israel. So it shall be in that
day: The great trumpet will be blown [compare Leviticus 25:8-10]; they will
come, who are about to perish in the land of Assyria, and they who are outcasts
in the land of Egypt, and shall worship the Lord in the holy mount at
Jerusalem” (Isaiah 27:12-13). The prophecies of Ezekiel point to a dramatic
reunion of “lost Israel” with brother Judah. “As for you, son of man, take a
stick for yourself and write on it: ‘For Judah and for the children of Israel,
his companions.’ Then take another stick and write on it, ‘For Joseph, the
stick of Ephraim, and for all the house of Israel, his companions.’ Then join
them one to another for yourself into one stick, and they will become one in
your hand... . “And I will make them one nation in the land, on the mountains
of Israel; and one king shall be king over them all... [and] David My servant
shall be king over them ..” (Ezekiel 37:16-17, 22,).
“For the first time in some three thousand years, for the first time
since the days of Solomon, the house of Israel (the 10 Tribes) will be reunited
with the house of Judah. They will become one 12-tribed nation!” (United
States and Britain in Prophecy, p. 184).
Twelve tribes to be reunited
The fact that the restoration prophecies have physical as well as
spiritual fulfillment demands that Israel have a post-captivity existence. In fact,
the notion of a restoration and reunion of the 12 tribes is as old as the
Assyrian captivity itself:
“The belief in the restoration of the 12 Tribe Kingdom of Israel
survived every storm which subsequently broke over its remnants... Even in the
course of the Exile itself the prophets started to proclaim the return of the
people and the restoration of the destroyed 12 Tribe Kingdom. It crystallized
as a central conviction in late Jewish eschatology and apocalyptic
literature... The author of the Letter of Aristeas presupposes this restoration
in his story of the seventy two scholars, six from each of the 12 tribes, who
produced the Septuagint” (A. S. Geyser, “Some Salient New Testament Passages,”
pp. 305-306).
The expectation of a reunion of the tribes was alive and well in the
days of Jesus and the 1st century Church. “In parables and debates he [Jesus]
taught them [the 12] its nature and the signs of its coming, and to pray for it
daily. The ‘12’ (eleven) asked him after the resurrection, ‘Are you now going
to establish the Kingdom for Israel?’(Acts 1:6)” (ibid., p. 310).
From that time to this, the restoration of Israel has been a periodic
focus of theological interest among the Christian clergy and the religiously
sensitive laity. American historian Barbara Tuchman describes how around
mid-century well-meaning men like Lord Shaftesbury actually nurtured the
formation of government policy designed to promote “an Anglican Israel [by
which he meant the Jews] restored by Protestant England, at one stroke confounding
popery, fulfilling prophecy, redeeming mankind” (Bible and Sword, pp.
175-207, excerpt).
In a spirit which is admirable, Shaftesbury and many others have
aspired to do their part. But what exactly should that be? And as we now
reflect on the prophecies about Israel’s punishment, repentance, and
restoration, what is our responsibility? Is this message about Israel’s modern
identity a part of the Gospel of the Kingdom of God? And if it is, how should
this understanding affect and influence our personal behavior? We will examine
these questions in the final chapter.