Syria in Prophecy

(In view of recent developments in Syria, (The use of Chemical weapons), I am reprinting a Dec 2011 column on Syria in Prophecy)

 

 

The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap. The cities of Aroer are forsaken: they shall be for flocks, which shall lie down, and none shall make them afraid.(Isaiah 17:1-2)

At a breath-taking rate, world events are increasingly lining up with predictions of the prophets of the Bible, signifying that the Day of the Lord draws near. The biblical prophets are specific as to geo-political alignments and events which are to occur in the last days. The rapidly festering situation in Syria is an example of this phenomenom.

The Assad government of Syria is currently reacting to its own  version of the so-called ‘Arab spring’. The wave of populist reform demonstrations in the Arab world has already swept aside the governments of Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Libya and has stirred discontent in several other Arab nations.

Bashir Assad has shown a willingness to brutally suppress all internal  dissent, having slaughtered four thousand of his own people, and sent tens of thousands into hiding, to maintain his power. But he is feeling besieged, and is looking for insurance in the form of beefed up weapons and military.

Having recently been censured by the Arab league, and threatened by Turkey, and seeing what NATO did to fellow Arab despot Gaddafi, Assad is looking for help from Iran,Russia, and even North Korea in his quest to fend off his enemies.

Here is an article from the English edition of ADNKRONOS International, titled,“Syria:Iranian and N.Korean Rocket Experts hold Damascus Meetings”

Damascus, 1 Dec. (AKI) – Dozens of officials from North Korea and Iran have conducted meetings with representatives of the Syrian government in Damascus to help president Bashar al-Assad obtain weapons following the implementation of sanctions by members of the Arab League and other countries.

 The meetings have been taking place in recent days, and were attended by experts in the production of rockets, according to Kuwaiti daily al-Seyassah, citing unnamed intelligence sources.

 ”The Syrian regime is afraid of losing power so is asking help from these two allies to put in place whatever means are necessary, even if it causes many deaths,” an intelligence source told the newspaper. “The only way to stop further bloodshed is for foreign intervention”.

Furthermore this article from Israel’s Arutz Sheva called,“Russia sent Syria Super Advanced s-300 Missiles” indicates that Assad  is determined not to become the next Gaddafi, even if maintaining power involves World War.

Certainly Syria, Russia, North Korea, Europe, America, and of course Israel, are all preparing for something terrible.

The prophet Isaiah predicted that at the time of the end, a dreadful thing which has not ever happened in history is  to occur. Damascus will cease from being a city, no longer will it be a seat of Government, a heap of rubble is it’s future.

Jeremiah implies that shortly before her destruction, Damascus will be surprised that Jerusalem is not “deserted” as she expected,  this causes Damascus to lose heart herself.

Damascus has grown feeble; 
She turns to flee, 
And fear has seized her.
Anguish and sorrows have taken her like a woman in labor. 
Why is the city of praise not deserted, the city of My joy? 
Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, 
And all the men of war shall be cut off in that day,” says the LORD of hosts. 
“ I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, 
And it shall consume the palaces of Ben-Hadad.”( Jeremiah 49:24-27)

Whatever the provocation, the destruction of Damascus will reflect badly upon Israel in the court of world opinion. The world will turn on Israel, blaming her for what happens to Damascus. What little favor Israel had enjoyed up till then will shrivel up, it will resemble the last few olives left after the shaking of the olive tree by the reapers.

“ In that day it shall come to pass 
That the glory of Jacob will wane, 
And the fatness of his flesh grow lean. 
It shall be as when the harvester gathers the grain, 
And reaps the heads with his arm; 
It shall be as he who gathers heads of grain 
In the Valley of Rephaim. 
Yet gleaning grapes will be left in it, 
Like the shaking of an olive tree, 
Two or three olives at the top of the uppermost bough, 
Four or five in its most fruitful branches,” 
Says the LORD God of Israel.(Isaiah 17:4-6)

Damascus shall be obliterated in the context of a wider war, which will be destructive of other Arab cities as well, such as the area we call Gaza, which is a terrorist state designated as part of the U.N.imposed “two state solution”, but which God calls, “the nation not desired”…

Gather yourselves together, yes, gather together,
O undesirable nation, 
Before the decree is issued, 
Or the day passes like chaff, 
Before the LORD’s fierce anger comes upon you, 
Before the day of the LORD’s anger comes upon you! (Zechariah 2:1-2)

For Gaza shall be forsaken, 
And Ashkelon desolate; 
They shall drive out Ashdod at noonday, 
And Ekron shall be uprooted. 
Woe to the inhabitants of the seacoast, 
The nation of the Cherethites! 
The word of the LORD is against you, 
O Canaan, land of the Philistines: (Zephaniah 2:4-5)

The one positive aspect of these terrible times, is that even the hardest of men will begin to seek the living God,

In that day a man will look to his Maker,
And his eyes will have respect for the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 17:7)

Zechariah echoes Isaiah,

The burden of the word of the LORD in the land of Hadrach, and Damascus shall be the rest thereof: when the eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, shall be toward the LORD.(Zechariah 9:1)

The international outcry that will be raised against Israel will be unprecedented. The nations line up to register complaint in the U.N., newspaper headlines will scream, pundits will wax eloquent with moral indignation, religious leaders will pontificate against Israel, her former lovers will leave her, and it will be extremely unfashionable to stand with God’s chosen people in that day.

Woe to the multitude of many people 
Who make a noise like the roar of the seas, 
And to the rushing of nations 
That make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! 
13 The nations will rush like the rushing of many waters; …(Isaiah 17:11-12)

But the outcry will merely be the prelude to the outpouring of Divine wrath upon all nations . Tribulation such as never occurred upon the earth, the wind and the sea raging, and men’s hearts failing them for fear…

But God will rebuke them and they will flee far away, 
And be chased like the chaff of the mountains before the wind, 
Like a rolling thing before the whirlwind.(Isaiah 17: 13-14)

But it is as in the evening, which seems always darkest before dawn, such is the tribulation and time of Jacob’s trouble, as Isaiah says,

Then behold, at eventide, trouble! 
And before the morning, he is no more. 
This is the portion of those who plunder us, 
And the lot of those who rob us.(Isaiah 17:14)