Book Review: The Harbinger and The Harbinger II

“You’ve asked me if the future was sealed,” he said, “if there was any hope for America, any way out of judgment. It was the day I first led you here that we spoke of that very thing . . . of hope.” The Harbinger II: The Return

Harbinger (noun): something that foreshadows a future event: something that gives an anticipatory sign of what is to come.

In 2011, Rabbi Jonathan Cahn wrote The Harbinger, a novel that claims to reveal Biblical secrets from the book of Isaiah and shows clear parallels to events in America. According to the author, he put off writing his follow-up novel, The Harbinger II: The Return, for as long as he could…until the time was right. Evidently, that time has come.

The story of the first book opens with the main character, Nouriel Kaplan, meeting with a publisher named Ana to pitch a book idea.  Ana is skeptical at first, but as he begins to relate his experience with meeting a prophet who gives him a seal, the first of nine clues to a mystery that he must decipher, she’s drawn in. She tells her assistant to “Hold all calls,” and the adventure begins.

The book goes back and forth between Nouriel’s meeting with Ana, and his encounters with the prophet. Nouriel uncovers the meanings of the nine seals—which depict a breach, a terrorist, fallen bricks, a tower, a Gazit stone, a sycamore, an Erez tree, an utterance, and the prophecy—each one relating both to Old Testament events, and the nation of America. It soon becomes clear that he is tracking the fall of Israel, the birth of America, and ultimately,  the terrorist attacks on 9/11. With far too many parallels to explain away as random coincidences, there is no other explanation than to see this as a wake-up call to America—a nation that has turned its back on God.

Book 2 picks up a decade later. Nouriel, now a bestselling author—thanks to the book he wrote depicting the mystery of the nine seals—comes once again to Ana with more prophesies to share. This time, the revelations came to him through a combination of dreams and more visits from the prophet. As the story gets closer to current events that we are still living through, surprising links to the past are revealed. And important information about our future.

Even reading this as a work of fiction, the notion that God is so organized that He is able to create this amazing series of parallel events that bring sense to chaos is both comforting and fascinating. Every detail that I researched for accuracy while reading the books was confirmed by credible sources and photographic evidence, so I have no reason to believe that Cahn’s claim that “What is contained within the story is real” is anything but accurate.

I read these books because ever since the start of the pandemic, I’ve been seeing the numbers 911 all over the place. Sure, that’s not unusual. The date 9/11 is significant and is frequently referred to, and of course, 9-1-1 is our national SOS and it’s not surprising that it would show up in many different contexts. But it was popping out at me so much that I started praying about its deeper significance. 9/11/2001 has always felt like a warning from God, and my recent prayers have confirmed that for me.

So, when I saw an interview with Cahn a few weeks ago, I remembered that I’d always wanted to read The Harbinger. Now that there’s a sequel, I figured this would be a great time to read them both.

Putting these pieces together has given me tremendous comfort. Our God is mighty, good, and in control of everything. Nothing on this earth is random, and nothing happens that He doesn’t allow and intend for our good.

For me, the best part of having read these books is that I am now able to put the Covid19 pandemic into the perspective of God’s plan. It makes so much more sense to me why the events of the past year and a half have unfolded the way they have. It’s not random. It’s not to punish us. It’s a loving reminder from God that we need to turn to Him.

That might not be the way you see the world, but I encourage you to read these books with a mind that’s open to the possibility that God loves us enough to communicate with us using every means He can. Sometimes it takes times of tribulation for people to wake up and turn to Him.

You can find the two-book series on Amazon:

Have you read these books? I’d really love to hear what you think.