| -- End Ad Box ---> | | | | people from Philistia and Tyre. Assyria has joined |
| In the last days, the Bible tells us of a horrible series | | | | them, too, and is allied with the descendants of Lot. |
| of events that will take place in the lands of Israel | | | | Do to them as you did to the Midianites or as you did |
| and Syria. One of these events is the disappearance | | | | to Sisera and Jabin at the Kishon River. They were |
| of Damascus as one of the premiere cities in the | | | | destroyed at Endor, and their decaying corpses |
| world. The oldest continuously inhabited city on the | | | | fertilized the soil. Let their mighty nobles die as Oreb |
| planet, Damascus has witnessed at least 5,000 years | | | | and Zeeb did. Let all their princes die like Zebah and |
| of human history, and some historians believe the | | | | Zalmunna, for they said, Let us seize for our own |
| city actually dates back to the seventh millennium BC. | | | | use these pasturelands of God!’ O my God, |
| In fact, Paul was on the road to Damascus when | | | | blow them aw!ay like whirling dust, like chaff before |
| Christ first appeared to Him, an event that | | | | the wind! As a fire roars through a forest and as a |
| transformed not only his life, but the course of | | | | flame sets mountains ablaze, chase them with your |
| human history. | | | | fierce storms; terrify them with your tempests. |
| In the very near future, Damascus will once again | | | | Utterly disgrace them until they submit to your name, |
| play a major role in human events. The prophet | | | | O Lord. Let them be ashamed and terrified forever. |
| Isaiah provides us with God’s commentary on | | | | Make them failures in everything they do, until they |
| a future conflict between Damascus and Israel, and in | | | | learn that you alone are called the Lord, that you |
| so doing, he reveals certain prophecies which have | | | | alone are the Most High, supreme over all the |
| been partially fulfilled in the past. However, the | | | | earth. Psalm 83 (NLT) |
| ultimate fulfillment of Isaiah 17 remains in the future. | | | | So how do we know that Psalm 83 describes the |
| The current existence of Damascus, which will one | | | | same scene envisioned in Isaiah 17? Let’s |
| day cease to be a city, as well as the historical | | | | compare the two. Here’s how the intentions |
| absence of the coalition of nations prophesied to | | | | of Israel’s enemies are described: |
| attack Israel and be destroyed by God, is proof that | | | | Plunder & Destruction |
| Isaiah 17 prophesies events yet future. | | | | This is the just reward of those who plunder and |
| This is what God revealed to the prophet Isaiah: | | | | destroy the people of God. Isaiah 17:14 (NLT) |
| This message came to me concerning Damascus: | | | | Destruction |
| Look, Damascus will disappear! It will become a | | | | They devise crafty schemes against your people, |
| heap of ruins. The cities of Aroer will be deserted. | | | | laying plans against your precious ones. |
| Sheep will graze in the streets and lie down unafraid. | | | | Come,’ they say, let us wipe out Israel |
| There will be no one to chase them away. The | | | | as a nation. We will destroy the very memory of its |
| fortified cities of Israel will also be destroyed, and the | | | | existence.’ This was their unanimous |
| power of Damascus will end. The few left in Aram | | | | decision. Psalm 83:3-5 (NLT) |
| will share the fate of Israel’s departed | | | | Plunder |
| glory,’ says the Lord Almighty. Isaiah 17:1-3 | | | | for they said, Let us seize for our own use |
| (NLT) | | | | these pasturelands of God! Psalm 83:12 (NLT) |
| These opening verses paint a bleak picture. The city | | | | Here’s how the fate of Israel’s |
| of Damascus will become a heap of ruins, utterly | | | | enemies are described: |
| destroyed. Few, if any, buildings will be left standing. | | | | They will flee like chaff scattered by the wind or |
| The once great city will be devoid of human life and | | | | like dust whirling before a storm. Isaiah 17:13 |
| will become home to all manner of wildlife in the | | | | (NLT) |
| absence of humans to chase them away. | | | | O my God, blow them away like whirling dust, like |
| According to these verses, the cities of Aroer, which | | | | chaff before the wind! Psalm 83:13 (NLT) |
| are located on the northern bank of the Arnon River | | | | >From the description of their fate alone, it is |
| just east of the Dead Sea, will also be deserted. | | | | reasonable to conclude that the armies of Isaiah 17:12 |
| However, the passage doesn’t say they will | | | | are the same nations who sign a treaty against the |
| be destroyed in the same manner as Damascus, just | | | | Lord in Psalm 83:5-8. Below is a list of those nations |
| that they will be deserted. It may be that people | | | | and their modern geographical equivalents: |
| simply flee these cities out of fear. | | | | Edomites = Jordan / Parts of the West Bank |
| In addition, many of the fortified cities in northern | | | | Ishmaelites = The Arab people |
| Israel will also be destroyed. Those few who remain | | | | Moabites = Jordan / Parts of the West Bank |
| in Aram, 38 miles south southeast of Damascus, will | | | | Hagrites = Jordan / The Arab people |
| share the fate of these northern Israeli cities. | | | | Gebalites = Lebanon |
| In that day the glory of Israel will be very | | | | Ammonites = Jordan |
| dim, for poverty will stalk the land. Israel will be | | | | Amalekites = Southern Israel / Gaza |
| abandoned like the grain fields in the valley of | | | | Philistia = Gaza |
| Rephaim after the harvest. Only a few of its people | | | | Tyre = Lebanon |
| will be left, like the stray olives left on the tree after | | | | Assyria = Syria / Parts of Turkey and Iraq |
| the harvest. Only two or three remain in the highest | | | | The Descendants of Lot = Jordan |
| branches, four or five out on the tips of the limbs. | | | | By studying the geographical history of these ancient |
| Yes, Israel will be stripped bare of people,’ | | | | people and places, we can uncover which nations |
| says the Lord, the God of Israel. Isaiah 17:4-6 | | | | they currently compose. According to Psalm 83, in |
| (NLT) | | | | the aftermath of the destruction of northern Israel |
| The breadth and scope of destruction is clearly | | | | and Damascus, Israel will be invaded by armies from |
| illustrated as God describes the Israeli landscape as | | | | Jordan, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, and Gaza. All |
| stripped bare of people. Only a small fraction of | | | | of these locations are heavily populated by the |
| people either choose to stay in the land or else | | | | enemies of Israel today. |
| survive what is a massive holocaust, leaving only a | | | | An Expanding War? |
| few inhabitants who struggle in poverty. | | | | But are the nations cited in Psalm 83 the only nations |
| Then at last the people will think of their Creator | | | | involved in this attack? It’s quite possible that |
| and have respect for the Holy One of Israel. They | | | | additional conspirators are named in the Book of |
| will no longer ask their idols for help or worship what | | | | Ezekiel. Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83 might well foreshadow |
| their own hands have made. They will never again | | | | the war of Gog and Magog. |
| bow down to their Asherah poles or burn incense on | | | | In Ezekiel 38-39, an enormous coalition of nations, |
| the altars they built. Isaiah 17:7-8 (NLT) | | | | a vast and awesome horde — will roll |
| As a result of this event, the people of Israel will | | | | down on Israel like a storm and cover the land |
| once again turn to God Almighty. Currently, the | | | | like a cloud Ezekiel 38:9 (NLT). This prophesied |
| nation of Israel is predominantly secular in nature. | | | | future war in Ezekiel has many similarities to Isaiah |
| Other biblical passages infer that this will change as | | | | 17:12-14. Both prophets foresee a time when enemy |
| the prophesied rebuilding of the Temple in the last | | | | armies rush toward Israel while she awaits |
| days indicates a spiritual resurgence among the Jews | | | | unprepared. Both prophets foresee God’s |
| of Israel. Nevertheless, this passage clearly indicates | | | | instantaneous destruction of Israel’s enemies. |
| the people of Israel will turn away from all false idols | | | | And in both scenarios, the marching armies intend to |
| and gods. | | | | plunder and destroy the people of Israel: |
| Knowing that this will happen, we must ask: why | | | | Destruction |
| does it happen? The answer is found in the verses | | | | You will say, Israel is an unprotected land filled |
| that follow: | | | | with unwalled villages! I will march against her and |
| Their largest cities will be as deserted as | | | | destroy these people who live in such confidence! |
| overgrown thickets. They will become like the cities | | | | Ezekiel 38:11 (NLT) |
| the Amorites abandoned when the Israelites came | | | | Plunder |
| here so long ago. Why? Because you have turned | | | | But Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of |
| from the God who can save you — the Rock | | | | Tarshish will ask, Who are you to rob them of |
| who can hide you. You may plant the finest imported | | | | silver and gold? Who are you to drive away their |
| grapevines, and they may grow so well that they | | | | cattle and seize their goods and make them |
| blossom on the very morning you plant them, but | | | | poor?’ Ezekiel 38:13 (NLT) |
| you will never pick any grapes from them. Your only | | | | Plunder & Destruction |
| harvest will be a load of grief and incurable pain. | | | | This is the just reward of those who plunder and |
| Isaiah 17:9-11 (NLT) | | | | destroy the people of God. Isaiah 17:14 (NLT) |
| The devastation that overshadows Israel will come | | | | Could the events predicted in Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83 |
| about because Israel has turned from the God | | | | be a catalyst for the war of Gog and Magog |
| who can save them. All the hard work performed | | | | prophesied in Ezekiel 38-39? Although it is not a |
| prior to this event will be lost. Those who have been | | | | certainty, the possibility can not be completely ruled |
| distracted by the things of this world will be | | | | out. |
| disappointed, for they have forgotten God, and by | | | | Today’s Headlines |
| putting faith in the things of this world, they will | | | | Looking at today’s geopolitical landscape, |
| ultimately be disappointed. Their only harvest will be | | | | it’s not difficult to envision the scenario |
| a load of grief and incurable pain. This grief will | | | | outlined in Isaiah 17 and Psalm 83. Syria has been |
| be brought to a climax when, in the midst of their | | | | adamant in its demand that Israel surrender the Golan |
| suffering, the nation of Israel faces an imminent | | | | Heights, threatening war if Israel fails to comply. |
| invasion: | | | | Meanwhile, the summer 2006 war between Israel and |
| Look! The armies rush forward like waves | | | | Hezbollah has apparently convinced leaders in |
| thundering toward the shore. But though they roar | | | | Damascus that Syria can be victorious in a conflict |
| like breakers on a beach, God will silence them. They | | | | with Israel by simply overwhelming the tiny nation |
| will flee like chaff scattered by the wind or like dust | | | | with rocket attacks. From a greater perspective, it |
| whirling before a storm. In the evening Israel waits in | | | | has convinced the entire Islamic world that Israel |
| terror, but by dawn its enemies are dead. This is the | | | | isn’t the militarily invincible nation they once |
| just reward of those who plunder and destroy the | | | | thought. |
| people of God. Isaiah 17:12-14 (NLT) | | | | Syria’s rocket technology is far more |
| While Syria and Israel lie in ruin, the enemies of Israel | | | | advanced than that deployed by Hezbollah, and Syria |
| will view her suffering as an opportunity to invade, | | | | is known to possess chemical weapons, including the |
| their ultimate goal to destroy her forever. However, | | | | highly lethal VX and Sarin gases. If Syria miscalculates |
| God has a different plan in mind, and He will destroy | | | | and attacks Israel with these weapons, the Israeli |
| these invaders Himself. A more in depth illustration of | | | | response will be swift and devastating. Israel is armed |
| this attack is foreseen in Psalm 83: | | | | with nuclear weapons, and if its survival is put in |
| O God, don’t sit idly by, silent and inactive! | | | | question, it will not hesitate to use them. |
| Don’t you hear the tumult of your enemies? | | | | If this happens, a mortally wounded Israel will |
| Don’t you see what your arrogant enemies | | | | become an irresistible target for her enemies. The |
| are doing? They devise crafty schemes against your | | | | surrounding Muslim nations will see an opportunity to |
| people, laying plans against your precious ones. | | | | destroy her, while Russia will see an opportunity to |
| Come,’ they say, let us wipe out Israel | | | | seize the upper hand in the oil rich Middle East. |
| as a nation. We will destroy the very memory of its | | | | Today, the most virulent enemies of Israel reside in |
| existence.’ This was their unanimous decision. | | | | the very places named in Psalm 83 — Hamas |
| They signed a treaty as allies against you — | | | | in Gaza, the Palestinians in the West Bank and Jordan, |
| these Edomites and Ishmaelites, Moabites and | | | | Hezbollah in Lebanon, and the Syria leadership and its |
| Hagrites, Gebalites, Ammonites, and Amalekites, and | | | | Axis of Evil partners in the city of Damascus. |