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Sep 9, 2013

The Destruction of Damascus

Bible prophecy enthusiasts have rarely been as engaged with current events in the Middle East as they are now. In a book of my father’s, there is a yellowed clipping that discusses John Walvoord’s views of the Yom Kippur War…40 years ago. Prophecy watchers know that another watershed moment may be at hand:

Isaiah 17.

For the record, I believe this passage, detailing the sudden destruction of Damascus, is yet future. Whether that means 10 minutes from now or 10 years I don’t know.

The eastern Mediterranean has become choked with warships. That’s an ominous sign. Russia, China, Iran, and other international players are keeping a close watch on the civil war in Syria. It’s obvious the whole situation could erupt at least in a new Mideast war.

And, also for the record, I firmly believe the American president is using the Syrian crisis for his own political purposes. If he was concerned about bloodshed—as he alleged after 1,000 men, women, and children were gassed recently—he would have intervened two years ago. He has asked Congress for approval to launch an as-yet undefined military strike on Bashar Assad’s regime, even though we know the “rebels” opposing the regime are made up in part of jihadists.

It is possible Assad would draw Israel into the conflict by sending missiles into Israel, but what could he hope to achieve by such an attack? It would invite disaster, the very kind outlined in Isaiah 17.

A staggering 28 European countries are monitoring the situation, awaiting a UN inspections report to determine whether Assad actually used chemical weapons against his own people. Frankly, I think the whole thing shapes up closer to Zechariah than the relatively isolated incident outlined in Isaiah 17. I still think it is unlikely that the current situation in Syria will result in a significant war. I think too many speculate that it will. We’ve been down this road before.

Having said that, there is no question—for anyone who reads the prophetic scriptures as future history—we are progressing closer to a cataclysmic showdown over…Israel. I think it is prudent to say that we fully expect these things to happen, but we should refrain from forcing these unfolding events into a specific prophetic framework.

I don’t think many will listen to me!

A particularly dismaying reality is that Obama’s advisors are people who, according to a paper by Jay Shapiro (writing for the Ariel Center for Policy Research), “have been consistently inaccurate” in their assessments of the region. Among the groups and individuals who have consistently been wrong in their advise: The Washington Institute for Near East Policy; Brookings Institution; Council on Foreign Relations; Middle East Institution; Martin Indyk; Dennis Ross, Rahm Emanual, and Dan Kurtzer.

For 20 years, groups and individuals from this worldview have consistently been wrong about dealing with the real causes of strife in the Middle East. One can remember in the ‘90s, the mishandling of Hafez Assad and Syria. Their approach is not so different from the mind-boggling failure of Jimmy Carter’s view: we can simply dialogue with our enemies and convince them of our position.

This is precisely the same view our current administration is taking (although I believe the president is purposely “mishandling” the situation. When we look at reality, we see him for the past 2.5 years enabling jihadists to take over governments in the Middle East). Career diplomats are consistently wrong about the Middle East, and they will be wrong again in the current crisis.

It is those who have a biblical worldview who understand in general what is coming. We don’t know the exact time-frame, but we do know human efforts to fix the Middle East won’t work.

jim@prophecymatters.com

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Zechariah 12:3,9:
And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people; And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem.
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