By Greg Laurie

The story is told of the great composer, Johann Sebastian Bach. He was known to enjoy his sleep, but his kids had a surefire way of waking up their dad.

One of them would go to the family harpsichord and play a composition (I guess that’s what you do when you’re the child of a composer). They would play the composition almost all the way through, but when they got to the end, they would not play the last note. Every time they did that, their composer father would throw off his covers, get out of bed, walk over, sit down at the keyboard, and hit the final chord.

He couldn’t stand leaving the piece unfinished. It drove him crazy.

You might say that in the book of Revelation, God is playing the final chord. But something is missing from these end times prophecies. Let me restate that: someone is missing…

The United States of America.

America’s Not Found in End Times Events

At this moment in time, America is still the greatest superpower on the planet. That, of course, could change in time. Perhaps even rapidly. Right now, however, we are still the reigning superpower. But as we look at the end times events in the pages of Scripture, you really don’t find America there.

You see Israel clearly. You find Iran there. Libya shows up. You can make a pretty good case for identifying Russia, and even China. . . But I can’t find any passage that clearly identifies the United States of America.

So, where are we? How could a nation of our stature, size and significance not be mentioned in the prophetic scheme?

Let me offer a few ideas.

Possibility #1: America Is Destroyed by a Nuclear Attack

Number one (and I don’t like this idea): The United States may not be mentioned because our country is decimated by a nuclear attack.

The world has many, many nuclear weapons. Russia has them. China has them. India and Pakistan possess them. Even a rogue nation like North Korea has them—and the missiles to deliver them. Iran is on the very verge of having  a nuclear arsenal—and we have seen with their funding of terrorist groups, like Hamas and Hezbollah, what their intentions are.

A recent estimate puts the number of nuclear weapons in the world at 13,000—although no one can be certain about that number. But, clearly, there is enough atomic firepower to blow our planet up multiple times.

Is it possible one or more of these weapons will be launched against the United States? I hope not. Indeed, I pray not. But if that happened, it could explain our absence from the last-days scenario.

Possibility #2: America Declines as a World Power

Here is another possibility, which may be far more likely: Because of foolish leaders, foolish decisions, and a nation that turns its back on God, America might rapidly decline as a world power. This may have already begun.

The history of our world is all about the rise and fall of nations and empires. All nations—even the mightiest—have a beginning, middle, and end. The power of ancient Babylon lasted only about 86 years. The powerful Persian Empire did better; they went on for 208 years. The glory of Greece was eclipsed after 268 years. Mighty Rome ruled for nine centuries.

And the United States? Well, we’re moving on in years, and we could be getting closer to the end than we may imagine. In Isaiah 40:15, the prophet declares, “All the nations of the world are but a drop in the bucket” (NLT).

So we might just decline as a world power. It’s even possible we could be one of the nations that unites behind the Antichrist. I certainly hope not, but I can’t rule it out as a possibility.

Possibility #3: America Has a Great Spiritual Awakening

Here’s a third option, and I have to say this is my favorite choice. America may not be mentioned in Scripture because a great spiritual awakening happens, a massive revival that spreads across our country like a prairie fire.

So then, if millions of men, women, and children turned to Jesus Christ for salvation, what would happen at the rapture? Millions of Americans would be caught up to Heaven in the twinkling of an eye, and the USA would not be the same country.

Think about it. Imagine people in the military, in the economy, in commerce, and in the media being suddenly removed. That would certainly cause our country to collapse.

America’s Two Choices: Revival or Judgment

Is there really any hope for our nation’s future? Will our streets ever be safe again? Will we see good prevail over evil again? Is it going to end up that way? What will happen?

The truth is, America basically has two options before her: revival or judgment.

We need to choose revival.

Someone may say, “I don’t even know what you mean when you say ‘revival.’” What it means is to choose God. It means that we say, “Lord, we need a spiritual awakening in our nation, and we need it now. And let that revival begin with me.”

Judgment is coming to the earth. We know that. That’s what we see in the book of Revelation. It’s not a matter of if, it’s only a question of when.

But my hope is that before this righteous judgment of God falls, that we will have at least one, maybe two—perhaps three—spiritual awakenings. We’ve had four great revivals in American history. The last was called the Jesus Movement, the Jesus Revolution.

We made a film about that; you can view on Netflix. And you can find more ways to watch, as well as learn more about the film, here.

It’s been over half a century since that awakening.

Don’t you think it’s time for another one?

The above article was originally published at Greg’s Blog and published with permission at Think Eternity.

READ: GREG LAURIE on War in Israel: A Fulfillment of Bible Prophecy?

Greg Laurie is the senior pastor of Harvest Christian Fellowship with campuses in California and Hawaii. He began his pastoral ministry at the age of 19 by leading a Bible study of 30 people…

…In 2020 and in partnership with Kingdom Story Company, Laurie premiered his first-ever cinematic crusade, A Rush of Hope, viewed by over 2 million people in its opening weekend…

…In February 2023, Kingdom Story Company and Lionsgate released Jesus Revolution, which is the story of Greg and Cathe’s life and the Jesus Movement of the 1960s and ’70s. It stars Kelsey Grammer and Jonathan Roumie and is based on Greg’s book of the same title…

Read Laurie’s complete bio on the Harvest website here: About Greg Laurie (harvest.org)