The Burden of Damascus
by Michael G. Mickey
(9-25-03)
Isaiah 17:1: The
burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and
it shall be a ruinous heap.
Damascus, Syria is one of the longest continually-inhabited
cities on the planet as of the writing of this article on 9-25-03, but that
could change any day now. As you can see from the Scripture above, Damascus
is going to be destroyed in the future.
I don't typically date articles I write concerning prophecy,
but I'm making an exception in this case. Why? Because I think the coming
destruction of Damascus, Syria is going to be one of the most dramatic evidences
of the truth of the Word of God the modern world has ever seen.
Because God has told us, through the words of the prophet
Isaiah, Damascus will be taken away from being a city, we know whatever
the future holds for the city is going to leave Damascus in such a state
it will no longer be called a city.
The prophet Isaiah further declares Damascus will be left
in a ruinous heap in the aftermath of the event. What could lead to such
devastation? Although God may choose to destroy Damascus supernaturally
as he did Sodom and Gomorrah, it seems more likely Damascus will be destroyed
as a result of military action taken against the city.
As I write this article, Damascus, Syria is home to many of
the world's most deadly terrorist organizations, all of which are bent on
destroying the nation of Israel.
The nation of Syria not only supports terrorism, but also
has a significant stockpile of chemical weapons in its arsenal. Syria is
also rumored to have an on-going bio-weapons program as well.
If you combine Syria's chemical and biological weapons capabilties
with the many missiles Syria has in its arsenal capable of striking Israel,
it's easy to see Syria is capable of launching a weapons of mass destruction
attack on the Jewish nation. As such, you can see how things could quickly
get out-of-hand.
Due to Israel's size, it wouldn't take many chemical weapons-loaded
missiles fired from Syria to inflict massive casualties on the Israeli people,
which could prompt Israel to respond very aggressively in the event a scenario
like that takes place in the future.
Israel, if attacked with weapons of mass destruction or threatened
to be attacked with them, would quickly find itself in a desperate situation,
perhaps forcing the tiny nation to do the unthinkable - launch a nuclear attack on
Damascus to save its people.
Is that the precise scenario that will lead to the fulfillment
of this prophecy? Although no one knows for sure, it currently seems to
be the most likely scenario for this event to take place.
The nations of Israel and Syria are bitter enemies and all
evidence seems to be pointing toward a conflict taking place between these
parties in the near future, the direct result of Damascus' refusal to stop
aiding and harboring terrorists and the organizations that support them.
The Bible isn't some far-fetched fairy tale dreamed up by
men. Because this is true, we can know beyond the shadow of a doubt this
prophecy will be fulfilled in the future to the letter!
As of 9-25-03, Damascus is still around, but the clock is
ticking.
*There are a number of respected biblical scholars who believe this
prophecy has already been fulfilled. If it has, and I'm not dogmatic in
saying it hasn't been, I believe this Scripture may have prophetic implications
in the future as well, given Damascus' notoriety in our time as a safe haven
for radical Islamic terrorism and the fact modern day Syria, arch enemy of Israel, is nowhere to be found in the list of nations which attack Israel in the prophesied Gog-Magog battle of Ezekiel 38 & 39 that is yet to come as of the writing of this commentary.
It is noteworthy that there are historical records of Damascus being destroyed as a kingdom by the Babylonians, but the destruction of the city of Damascus itself? I can't find it in history other than a reference to it being destroyed in 732 BC by Tiglath-Pileser III which is contradicted, of course, by the standing claim that Damascus remains, since around 2500 BC, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. Both, of course, can't be entirely accurate. Either Damascus ceased to be a city around 732 BC and became uninhabited only to be reborn in the future OR it was ravaged by the forces of Tiglath-Pileser III yet remained in existence in some manner, leaving the complete fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy as a yet future event.
