by John H. Ogwyn
On a bright, balmy
afternoon nearly 200 years ago, on December 20, 1803, the flag of the United
States of America was first raised in the Place
d’Armes (now Jackson Square) in New Orleans, as the U.S. officially
took possession of the Louisiana Purchase.
In just a few years at the start of the 19th
century, the U.S. and British Commonwealth nations rose to unprecedented
prominence on the world scene. Why did the English-speaking peoples rise to
such unprecedented power and greatness?
Jefferson at
the Helm
In 1776, there
had been no United States of America. That summer, Thomas Jefferson penned the
Declaration of Independence, which first declared the existence of a sovereign
American nation. A bloody war and successive years of struggle were to follow,
and a new nation was created. In March 1801, when Jefferson took the oath of
office as the third President of the fledgling U.S., much had changed in just
25 years. Thirteen British colonies hugging the Atlantic seacoast had quickly
become a westward-looking nation expanding toward the Mississippi River.
In 1801, the total population of the U.S. was still under six million, most of
whom lived less than 100 miles from the Atlantic coast. But several new
states—Vermont, Kentucky and Tennessee—had been added to the original 13, and
increasing numbers of settlers were pouring into the future states of Ohio,
Indiana and Illinois. Many farmers were finding that it only made sense to ship
their produce down the Ohio River to the Mississippi, then south to the port of
New Orleans. A lack of roads made it impractical for farmers to haul their cash
crops east to the Atlantic seaboard.
The French had
founded New Orleans in 1718, then ceded it to the Spanish in 1763 as part of
the Treaty of Paris, which ended the Seven Years War (also called the
"French and Indian War" in America). Because of its position at the
mouth of the Mississippi, New Orleans was of major economic importance to the
western settlers in the young U.S. As more settlers moved westward, this port
could only grow in importance.
So the Jefferson administration was understandably concerned when it learned
that France’s new ruler, Napoleon, was pressuring Spain to return the Louisiana
Territory to French control. It was one thing for a weak Spanish government to
control the port of New Orleans, but it was quite another for it to be
controlled by an ambitious and powerful ruler such as Napoleon. The Mississippi
River was the economic lifeline for America’s western settlers, and whoever
controlled New Orleans controlled commerce on the Mississippi.
Knowing that the very future of his country was at stake, President Jefferson
dispatched to France two diplomats—Robert Livingston and later James Monroe—to
negotiate the purchase of New Orleans. At first, Napoleon’s government showed
no interest. Napoleon had dreams of reestablishing a vast French colonial
empire in the "New World." But the Creator of the universe had other
plans.
Napoleon’s dreams of an American empire were crushed when 50,000 French troops,
under the command of his brother-in-law General Charles LeClerc, died while
trying to subdue a rebellion against French colonial rule on the Caribbean
island of Santo Domingo. This calamity, and the growing prospect of war against
the British, prompted Napoleon to offer the American envoys not just the
purchase of New Orleans, but rather the entire Louisiana Territory.
For $15 million—less than a nickel an acre—the U.S. received what turned out to
be a vast inland empire of 830,000 square miles, including some of the richest
farmland on the face of the earth! Included were all or part of what would
become 13 states: Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Missouri, Kansas, Iowa,
Nebraska, Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, South Dakota, North Dakota and Minnesota.
"‘Today,’ said Livingston, after he had attached his signature, ‘the
United States take their place among the powers of the first rank’"
(William O. Scroggs, The Story
of Louisiana, p. 161).
At the time of the purchase, the boundaries were so poorly defined that neither
France nor the U.S. knew exactly what was being sold. President Jefferson was
eager to learn all about the new territory—the Indian nations living there, its
plant and animal life, its rivers and the prospect of a route across the
northern part of the new territory that could take Americans all the way to the
Pacific Ocean. An official expedition into the new territory was outfitted and
dispatched, led by U.S. Army officers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark.
Leaving from St. Louis, Missouri in the summer of 1804, they returned a couple
of years later with maps and data that made clear that America had gained far
more than had previously been realized.
This vast expanse of territory ensured the continuing expansion of widespread
land ownership among the American people. Laying a foundation for a wide-based
American prosperity, millions of future settlers were able to own their own
land, rather than live as tenants on the estate of some great landlord. Under
President James Madison, Jefferson’s successor, the U.S. government undertook
the ambitious project of surveying this vast tract of land. The survey began in
a swamp near the present-day town of Brinkley, Arkansas, where a stake was
driven in the ground and teams began to chart an east-west line that became the
baseline for all property descriptions within the territory of the Louisiana
Purchase. This line continued west along what is now Baseline Road in Little
Rock, and ultimately extended across the entire state of Oklahoma.
"The National Historic Landmark, deep in the swamp of the Louisiana
Purchase State Park in Brinkley, marks the initial survey point. From this
point, surveyors began their work of chains and compasses. Every legal
description of the land contained in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 depended on
these measurements taken from this point" (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, May 4, 2003).
Fulfillment
of an Ancient Promise
The Louisiana
Purchase territory includes some of the most valuable agricultural land on the
planet. It encompasses the very heartland of the North American continent.
Control of this valuable territory set the stage for what Americans in the
coming decades began to call "Manifest Destiny."
Was this rapid
expansion just a matter of time and chance, or was it really the nation’s
pre-ordained destiny? If it was a matter of destiny, then why? Why were the
English-speaking peoples destined to control the American heartland, rather
than the nations that had tried and failed before?
To understand the answer to that question, we must look to the far distant
past. The Creator of the universe told a man named Abram, living on the lower
Euphrates River in a city called Ur of the Chaldees, to leave his family and
homeland to go to a land that he would afterward be given. At age 75, Abram
left Mesopotamia behind, and began his journey to the land of Canaan.
Initially, God
simply told Abram that he would become "a great nation" and that all
the families of the earth would be blessed through him (Genesis 12:2–3).
Twenty-four years later, when Abram was 99 years old, God appeared to him and
entered into a solemn covenant. God changed Abram’s name to Abraham, and
expanded His promise to include Abraham’s becoming the "father of many
nations" (Genesis 17:4).
Many years later, the Almighty appeared to Abraham’s grandson Jacob, and
further expanded the promise by declaring that Jacob’s descendants would spread
abroad in every direction from the promised land in the Middle East (Genesis 28:13–14). Still
later, after another encounter with God, Jacob’s name was changed to Israel (Genesis 32:28), and his
descendants were thenceforth known as Israelites.
Genesis 48 describes a ceremony that took place near the end of Israel’s long
life. Very few have ever understood the real significance of what occurred that
day in ancient Egypt. Israel’s sons had sold their younger brother Joseph into
slavery many years earlier. Joseph, however, had prospered, rising to become
second-in-command to Pharaoh in Egypt. The family was reunited during a time of
famine, when Israel and his family had come to Egypt to live in the Nile delta
region (the "Land of Goshen"). Learning that his elderly father was
ill, Joseph came to visit, bringing his sons Ephraim and Manasseh.
Sitting up in bed to receive his son and grandsons, elderly Israel called
Ephraim and Manasseh near to bless them. Knowing that his father was nearly
blind, Joseph had purposely placed the boys so that his father’s right hand
would be on the older son, Manasseh, and his left hand would be on the younger,
Ephraim. When the time came, Israel crossed his arms, laying his right hand on
Ephraim and his left hand on Manasseh. Initially, Joseph was disturbed, for he
thought his father had become confused. Israel corrected him, explaining that
he was doing this on purpose.
In this ceremony, Israel placed his name on the young men, declaring that
Ephraim’s descendants were to grow into a great company of nations while
Manasseh’s were to become a single great nation.
One reason that so few have understood the significance of Israel’s declaration
is that most people erroneously assume that all Israelites are Jews. Yet
Judah—the Jews’ ancestor—was just one
of the 12 sons of Jacob (Israel). After the death of King Solomon, more than
seven centuries after Jacob’s declaration, Israel’s descendants split into two
kingdoms—northern and southern. The citizens of the northern kingdom, with its
capital at Samaria, were known as Israelites, and were taken into Assyrian
captivity after Samaria fell in 721bc.
The southern kingdom of Judah, however—with its citizens known as
Jews—continued on for a century after Israel’s fall, before falling to
Babylonian invaders. From the time of Solomon onward, the histories of Israel
and Judah have been quite distinct. While the promise of the kingly dynasty,
and ultimately of the Messiah, came through the line of Judah, the birthright promises went
to the descendants of Joseph (1
Chronicles 5:2).
With this bit of background in mind, we can understand the events that
immediately preceded Jacob’s death. After blessing Ephraim and Manasseh, he
called all of his sons together and told them what would befall their
descendants in the last days
(Genesis 49:1).
Jacob described Joseph’s descendants as a colonizing people, and likened them
to a fruitful vine whose branches would grow and spread out. They, as a result
of God’s blessing,would be militarily strong and have great blessings of
agricultural and mineral wealth (Genesis
49:22–26). This birthright blessing, which Israel conveyed to
the descendants of Joseph, had been described as the "fatness of the
earth" (Genesis 27:28)
and included a future inheritance of lands that would produce an abundance of
corn and wine.
Why was the timing of this future inheritance delayed for so long? A recurring
theme of Scripture is that God has a time plan and does things right on
schedule. Jesus told His disciples that the Father retains control of the times
and seasons of human history (Acts
1:7). The Apostle Paul declared that God had determined in
advance both the times and bounds of habitation for the nations (Acts 17:26). This
prophetic time framework shows God’s sovereignty in history. Just as God
declared that "seven times" would pass over Babylon, so that men
would know that the Most High rules in the kingdom of men and gives it to
whomsoever He will (Daniel
4:16–17), so also does history prove that seven prophetic
"times" elapsed in the fulfillment of the end-time promises that
Jacob made to his sons.
What is a prophetic "time"? Revelation 12 and 13 use the expressions
"1,260 days" and "time, times, and half a time" and
"42 months" interchangeably. Forty-two months of 30 days each are
equal to 1,260 days—or three-and-a-half years. Clearly, then, 2,520 days—1,260
doubled—are the equivalent of "seven times." Numbers 14:34 and Ezekiel4:6 establish the
principle that a day is equal to a year in fulfillment of Bible prophecy.
History shows us that Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon took Jerusalem and brought
Judah under his control in 604bc. This was in the third year of King Jehoiakim
and the time at which Daniel and a number of other young men of prominent
families were taken away captive to Babylon.
Interestingly, it was exactly
2,520 years later—seven prophetic "times"—that the stage was set for
an end-time Jewish nation in its ancient homeland. It was in November 1917 that
the British government issued the famous Balfour Declaration, announcing that
it would "look with favour" upon a Jewish homeland in Palestine. A
few weeks later, British forces under Viscount Allenby entered Jerusalem and
freed it from the Turks.
When looking at the history of the northern kingdom (the House of Israel), we
find a similar phenomenon. From the time of Israel’s being taken into Assyrian
captivity in 721bc, the passing of 2,520 years brings us to the year 1800. This
was the time when the British and American nations began their rapid rise to
world dominance, which would endure for the entire 19th and 20th centuries.
A Warning
About Forgetfulness
Clearly, the
U.S. and the British Commonwealth nations have received the fulfillment of the
ancient promises that the Creator God made to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God has
given them prosperity that no other peoples on earth have known. Just as
Britain mushroomed into the greatest empire in the history of the world,
beginning at the start of the 19th century, so the U.S. quickly rose to become
the greatest single nation in history. A great nation and a great company of
nations possessing the choicest places of the earth—this description is the
fulfillment of what elderly Jacob promised to Joseph’s sons in the end time.
This describes the English-speaking peoples as it does no others in the entire
history of the world.
Acquiring the vast Louisiana Purchase territory was only the beginning of
expansion for the U.S. Spreading across the North American continent to the
Pacific coast within a generation, the American nation was destined—along with
Canada and Australia—to become the breadbasket of the world.
However, with great blessings come great responsibilities. Just before Israel
first entered into the Promised Land, Moses gave a solemn warning. After
describing the "bounty" of the land into which God was leading Israel
(a description that is certainly appropriate today for the lands held by the
English-speaking peoples), Moses warned the people not to forget the sourceof that bounty (Deuteronomy
8:7-14). He cautioned that the most dangerous time is not the time of
hardship, but rather the time of abundance. In times of adversity and trial, it
is easy to be conscious of our need for God’s help and blessing. It is in the
time when we have "bread without scarceness" that people tend to have
an illusion of self-sufficiency and self-reliance.
Though the U.S.
and Canada both have holidays set aside as Thanksgiving Day, the real meaning
underlying them has become lost. In the U.S., this day is increasingly called
"turkey day" and has become little more than a day of football,
overeating, and the start of the "Christmas shopping season." How
many are truly thankful to
the Creator of the universe, recognizing that the wealth that they enjoy is the
result of God’s faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham? Rather, as their
wealth has multiplied, the U.S. and British Commonwealth nations have increasingly
forgotten God and His laws.
When the English-speaking nations rose to prominence in the 19th century, the
Bible was the most widely read book in the English-speaking world. The Ten Commandments were
acknowledged as the underpinning of national laws. Today, that is no longer the
case. As courts and legislatures seek to legalize the perversions for which God
anciently expelled the nations of the Canaanites, we should not forget that God
will not be mocked.
Moses made it plain that if the Israelites forgot God, and refused to obey Him,
they would "surely perish" from the land that God gave (Deuteronomy
8:19–20). While the Louisiana Purchase might rightly be described as the
"greatest land deal ever," we must never forget that it was not
nearly so much the result of American ingenuity as it was the result of the
Creator fulfilling His promises. As the U.S. and British Commonwealth nations
increasingly turn their collective backs on the One who gave them His choicest
bounty, we should realize that the same One who gives national wealth can also
take it away.
Those who refuse to remember their Creator in this time of abundance will
ultimately be forced to seek Him in the midst of the greatest time of trial and
adversity in mankind’s history. Scripture calls this "the time of Jacob’s
trouble" (Jeremiah 30:7).
What about you? Do you really
recognize that His laws are the source of the righteous conduct that truly
exalts a nation? (Proverbs 14:34) Only those who recognize His role, and obey
His laws, will have His protection in the trying times that will conclude this
age and set the stage for the coming of the Messiah!
{
First published in 2003, it is edited
for space considerations and is re-published here by permission of Tomorrow's
World magazine. A long read
but well worth it. It lends new meaning to George W. Bush's remark, "I'm
the president of the greatest nation on the face of the earth" - Ed.}
