Based on Isaiah 9:10, “The bricks have fallen, but we will build with hewn stones: the sycamores are cut down, but we will plant cedars in their place,” the northern 10 Tribes of Israel refused to repent after they were struck by the Assyrians—which was a warning from the Lord. Instead of listening to the alarm, of turning back, and humbling themselves in repentance, they boasted of their resolve, that they would rebuild stronger and better than before.
They ignored the warning and rejected the call to return. They defied it. Sadly, their defiance led to the nation’s total destruction years later. The ancient prophecy forms the key to the nine harbingers of judgment, which are given to a nation in danger of judgment—all of which have reappeared on American soil—marking America as the nation in danger of judgment.
[ol]
[li]The First Harbinger: The Breach. In 732 B.C., the hedge of protection was removed, and Israel’s enemies invaded the land and wreaked havoc. The calamity traumatized the nation, but it took place on a limited scale, as with 9/11. The warning was the removal of the hedge. On September 11, 2001, America’s hedge of protection was removed—the breach of America’s security—and was a sign that God had lifted His protective hand.[/li][li]The Second Harbinger: The Terrorist. It was the dark shadow of Assyrian terror that loomed over the kingdom of Israel, the danger against which the prophets had warned. And when, years later, Israel’s final judgment came, the Assyrians would again be the means through which it would happen. So, too, the attack on America is carried out by terrorists. The Assyrians were a Semitic people, children of the Middle East. So too were the terrorists of 9/11.[/li][li]The Third Harbinger: The Fallen Bricks. The most visible signs of the attack on ancient Israel were that of the fallen buildings and the ruin heaps of fallen bricks. The third harbinger is the sign of the fallen bricks of the fallen buildings. On September 11, 2001, Americans were confronted with the same sign: fallen bricks of the fallen buildings of the wreckage of Ground Zero. America was not turning back to God. It was a short-lived spiritual revival that never came.[/li][li]The Fourth Harbinger: The Tower. Israel defiantly began rebuilding on the devastated ground, vowing to rebuild higher and stronger. So, too, in the wake of 9/11, American leaders vowed to rebuild at Ground Zero higher and stronger—the Freedom Tower begins to rise at Ground Zero. Those involved act unwittingly.[/li][li]The Fifth Harbinger: The Gazit Stone. We will rebuild with quarried stone. The Israelites carved out quarried stone from mountain rock and brought it back to the ground of destruction, where clay bricks once stood. Three years after 9/11, a stone was quarried out of the mountain rock of New York. This massive stone was brought back to Ground Zero. In ancient Israel, this stone became a misplaced embodiment of the nation’s confidence in its own power. So too the massive stone at Ground Zero became the symbolic cornerstone of the rebuilding. Public ceremonies accompanied the stone placement. Plans to rebuild Ground Zero would be frustrated for years. Eventually, they would remove the stone from Ground Zero altogether.[/li][li]The Sixth Harbinger: The Sycamore. The Sycamores have been cut down. The attack on ancient Israel resulted in the striking down of the sycamore tree, a biblical sign of national judgment. The fallen sycamore is a sign of uprooting, a warning; and in ignoring the warning, it becomes a prophecy of judgment. On 9/11, as the North Tower fell, it sent debris and wreckage which struck and uprooted an object—a sycamore tree growing at Ground Zero. The tree was made into a symbol and named “The Sycamore of Ground Zero.” When it fell in ancient Israel, it prophesied the nation’s downfall and the end of its kingdom. What happens to America depends on whether or not the warning is heeded.[/li][li]The Seventh Harbinger: The Erez Tree. But we will plant cedars in their place. In their defiance of God, the Israelites replace the fallen sycamore with a cedar tree. The cedar, being stronger than the sycamore, becomes a symbol of the nation’s arrogant hope that it will emerge from the crisis stronger than before. The English name for this tree is “Cedar,” but the Hebrew word is “Erez.” Erez stands not only for cedar but for a conifer tree of the panacea family. In November of 2003, a tree was lowered at the corner of Ground Zero into the soil where the fallen sycamore once stood. The tree was a conifer, a panacea tree, the biblical Erez. A ceremony was held around the tree and it, too, became a symbol—entitled The Tree of Hope. There is always hope. A nation’s true hope is found only in returning to God.[/li][li]The Eight Harbinger: The Utterance. The Eighth Harbinger was the public speaking of the ancient vow of defiance. For this harbinger to manifest, the vow would have to be spoken in the nation’s capital by a national leader, as it had been in ancient Israel. By September 11, 2004, every object mentioned in the prophecy of Isaiah 9:10 had been manifested. The public utterance of the prophecy had to take place publicly, which happened on September 11, 2004 when Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards, giving a speech in the capital city, quoted this exact scripture word for word in Washington, DC. Without realizing it, he was joining the two nations together and, without realizing it, pronouncing judgment on America. The ancient and the modern were bound together.[/li][li]The Ninth Harbinger: The Prophecy. The Ninth Harbinger is the proclaiming of the ancient vow as prophecy, as a matter of public record, and spoken before the words come true. On September 12, 2001, the day after 9/11, America issued its official response to the attack. The one in charge of issuing the response was Tom Daschle, Senate Majority Leader. As he closed his speech he made a declaration—he proclaimed the ancient vow of defiance, word for word, to the world. By doing so, he prophesied the nation’s future course, all of which came to pass.[/li][/ol]
The Second Shaking. The mystery of the Harbinger continues and lies behind everything, including the Global War on Terror, the Collapse of the American economy, the crash of Wall Street, the Great Recession, and more.
Amazingly, events have happened with an unseen hand, and people have acted unwittingly in the unfolding of this prophecy. The Prophet character says that “The Almighty has His own purposes.” God, in His mercy, always reaches out in mercy. At Ground Zero, the ground of devastation became the ground of restoration.
Incredibly, it was at the site of Ground Zero in the miracle church, St Paul’s Chapel, that this nation was dedicated to God by first president George Washington and other leaders at his inauguration in 1789. The nation’s first government was formed in New York City before DC was formed. God is calling the nation back to Himself. “The heart of God wills for salvation,” the Prophet says. “Greater than his judgments is His compassion and mercy.”