The Appointed Place in Prophecy

When King David was at the height of his kingdom, God gave him a promise that few really understand today. Even fewer preach on it, making it one of the great unknown promises to David. It came as the result of David's desire to build a "house" for God. The prophet Nathan told him that this temple was to be built by his son, Solomon, rather than by David.

Yet because David wanted to honor God in this way, God gave David some promises in return. The first is that God would build a "house(hold)" for David himself. God made a covenant that established David as the direct ancestor of the coming Messiah-King.  Secondly, God promised something for the entire house of Israel. It is found in 1 Chron. 17:9, 10,

" (9) And I WILL APPOINT a place for My people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in their own place and be moved no more; neither shall the wicked waste them any more as formerly, (10) even from the day that I commanded judges to be over My people Israel. And I will subdue all your enemies. Moreover, I tell you that the Lord will build a house for you."

At the time of this promise, David was ruling over the house of Israel in the old land of Canaan. God had planted them there in the days of Joshua. Three centuries later, God would judge them for rebellion by moving them to Babylon for 70 years. Yet this "appointed place" is a place where they would "be moved no more."

The Babylonians destroyed the city and the temple, and yet this "appointed place" would be a place where the wicked would not "waste them any more as formerly."

The most astounding statement is when says "I WILL appoint a place for My people Israel." It is as if He had not yet done so by bringing Israel into the land of Canaan. The obvious conclusion that must be drawn is that this "appointed place" IS NOT CANAAN. It must be some other place.

When we learn of the judgments of God and understand the judgment time cycles--particularly the 2,520 year cycle known as "seven times"--we can see how God began to end Israel's time of judgment in 1776 A.D. Most people have thought that the Jews were Israel, and so they have mistakenly concluded that Israel's judgment ended in 1948 with the establishment of the Israeli state. That is simply not true.

The first parts of the house of Israel began to be deported to Assyria in 745 B.C. The deportations ended when the capital city of Samaria was captured in 721 B.C. Israel's "seven times" of judgment ended 2,520 years later from those dates: 1776 and 1800 A.D.

What happened on those dates? History shows that America as an independent nation dates its beginning in 1776, and its capital city was built in 1800. In fact, America's founding is firmly linked to the house of Israel by this 2,520-year time cycle. Israel had 13 tribes; America had 13 original colonies. The judgment upon Israel ended with the establishment of America in the New World.

Is this, perhaps, the "appointed place" that God had for Israel? Certainly, if the children of Israel were to be as the sands of the sea, as prophesied in Scripture, it would not be too long before they would outgrow the old land of Canaan, which is a very tiny strip of land. In fact, that land is not even big enough to house every ex-Jew in the world today, to say nothing of all the ex-Israelites of the dispersion.

[An "ex-Jew" is one who claims to be a Jew but is not really a Jew (Judean) in the sight of God, having rejected the Messiah-King and forfeited his citizenship in the tribe. See Rev. 2:9 and 3:9. I explained this in my previous series.]

The Israeli state was not founded on a 2,520-year cycle from anything that is known. The year 1948, however, is 6 x 414 years from the fall of Babylon in 537 B.C. That state is thus linked prophetically to Babylon, not to Israel. And the Israeli state was founded on Cursed Time (414-year cycles), the factor which I explained fully in my book, Secrets of Time. There is something entirely different about the Israeli state, which has escaped the attention of most prophecy preachers.

For those of you who are new to this idea, I suggest that you read my book, The Struggle for the Birthright, which is posted online under "online books." (We are currently out of stock on the book itself.)

There are ex-Israelites of the dispersion all around the world, of course. America is not the only "appointed place" for them. However, the 2,520-year time cycle was fulfilled uniquely in America's Declaration of Independence signed in 1776.

Having said this, let me say quickly that the promise to David about the "appointed place" is not totally fulfilled in America. While it is true that we have enjoyed divine protection for a long time, according to the prophecy, God has now removed His hand of protection upon us. It is for the same reason that He did so with the ancient house of Israel. We have rebelled against God and His laws.

The Declaration of Independence established God has the only Giver of Rights. The Supreme Court subsequently ruled that this meant that government can only give privileges, and that governments are established to protect God-given rights. But in the past century, our government usurped the right to give rights, and they eradicated the distinction between rights and privileges.

This was, of course, the great Babylonian captivity of America, which began in 1914 when President Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act. This was 2,520 years after the original Babylon had become an empire in 606 B.C. The spirit of Babylon lives today, and it is called Mystery (Secret, Hidden) Babylon, because it came secretively without men's awareness.

I have already shown some of the reasons for God bringing in the modern Babylonians to put us into bondage to their economic, political, social, judicial, and religious systems. The fact is, America was imperfect from the beginning, because it was necessary to make compromises about slavery in order for all the colonies to sign the Declaration of Independence. Americans were not all Christians, and many of the Christians themselves still had Old Covenant ideas, especially in their way of treating the Indians as if they were Canaanites in the days of Joshua.

It was inevitable, then, that God would bring judgment upon America at some point in time. This did happen in 1860, then again in 1914, and then again in 1933 when the original American Constitution was suspended. We lost our independence and became legal citizens of Babylon.

1 Chron. 17:9 says that "neither shall the wicked waste them any more as formerly." It is partly because of this promise that in 1914 God put a wooden yoke upon us, rather than the iron yoke. The wooden yoke meant that we would be allowed to serve out our divine sentence (the captivity) without being destroyed or displaced to a foreign land. God blinded us to what was happening, and He made Babylon a "secret" or "mystery" in order to ensure that patriotic Americans would not fight it. If they had fought it on any large scale, God would have had to impose an iron yoke upon us, even as He did with Judah in the days of Jeremiah.

This captivity itself proves that America is not the final fulfillment of 1 Chron. 17:9, 10. Until 1948 America never lost a war. After 1948 we never won a major war. Yet God said, "And I will subdue all your enemies." That will be fulfilled in a greater way. The true "appointed place" reserved for the overcomers is the glorified body which will be given at the fulfillment of the feast of Tabernacles. Canaan was a type. America was a carnal fulfillment. "The redemption of our body" is the full promise to David.