Damascus, Syria in Bible Prophecy

The following article was written by Craig C. White from the High Time To Awake website.

Turkey will destroy Damascus and then invade Israel (Isaiah 17:1).

The U.S. is bombing Syria but Turkey will destroy Damascus!

“President Trump stressed the need to intensify cooperation with Turkey with respect to shared strategic challenges in Syria.”

Jeremiah 49:23-27 describes an invasion into northwestern Syria near the Turkish border. Jeremiah says that after the Syrian towns of Hamah and Arpad hear reports of a coming invasion then the residents of Damascus will flee and Damascus will be destroyed. Today the Syrian town of Apad is called Tell Rifaat.

Jeremiah 49:23 Concerning Damascus. Hamath is confounded, and Arpad: for they have heard evil tidings: they are fainthearted; there is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet.

The destruction of Damascus begins at Hamah and Tell Rifaat. The Turkish Army is amassed near Hamah and Tell Rifaat right now (April 2018)!

The city of Damascus, Syria may soon be destroyed as Isaiah 17:1 and Jeremiah 49:24-27 predicts. The destruction of Damascus is the next event to look for on the prophetic calendar. The Turkish led invasion into Syria, the destruction of Damascus, and the following Turkish led invasion into Israel put us on the brink of the Tribulation, and even closer to the Resurrection and Rapture.

Damascus is the capital of Syria and is its second largest city with about 2.6 million people in the metropolitan area. Today Syria is in the midst of a battle for its sovereignty. There is a movement to oust Syrian President Bashar Assad. While most Syrians support the more westernized Assad, Al-Qaeda factions supported by Turkey and the Muslim Brotherhood are fighting for control over the nation. Today foreign jihadists are fighting the Syrian Army near the city of Damascus. The Syrian war is basically a war between Shia and Sunni Muslim factions.

Much of the outskirts of Damascus have already suffered major damage but the downtown neighborhood of Old Damascus remains intact. According to Jeremiah the Old Damascus neighborhood must be destroyed. Old Damascus is where the capital of Syria sits. According to Isaiah 17:1 Damascus will be taken away from being a city. Today, fighting in Damascus is on the rise.

World governments are scrambling. Turkey, the UN, EU, and US leadership want Syrian President Assad gone. The CIA has been smuggling weapons to Al-Qaeda  in Syria as well as providing flour and funding. Russia and Iran want Assad to stay. The US is pushing for Middle Eastern led military action. That probably means that the US is willing to support a Turkish led conquest of Syria. The US, UN, Britain, France, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, and other world powers are pushing for an escalation of force to oust the Syrian President. In July 2015 NATO gave its approval for the Turkish Army to enter Syria.

Turkey is directly supporting Al-Qaeda rebel groups in Syria. Up until now Turkey had hoped that the rebels would eventually overtake the Syrian Army. The key to victory is to capture of the seat of power in Damascus. However rebel fighters say that they do not have the military might to take Damascus. In July 2015 Turkey deployed 54,000 troops and heavy artillery along the Syrian border. NATO has deployed several Patriot missile batteries as well. The missiles are manned by 400 US soldiers. It looks like foreign military force will be brought to bear eventually.

In Isaiah 17 the city of Damascus is prophesied to be destroyed. Damascus was conquered once already when Assyria invaded Syria and northern Israel in 734 BC. Some Bible teachers say that the destruction of Damascus has already happened and that it is not a future event. However, the Prophet Jeremiah also predicted that Damascus would be destroyed. Jeremiah gave his prophecy one hundred years after Assyria conquered Damascus so the destruction of Damascus is definitely a yet future event. I think that Turkey will destroy Damascus in much the same way that Assyria conquered Damascus in 734 BC. Bible prophecy often represents two similar events usually separated by time. Conditions are ripe for a present day destruction of Damascus.

Isa 17:1 The burden of Damascus. Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap.

Jeremiah chapter 49 below suggests that Damascus (metro population 2.6 million) will turn to flee. Today many Syrians have already fled the fighting; seeking refuge in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and other regional countries. There are currently almost 4,000,000 Syrian refugees in surrounding countries. Over nine million Syrians have left their homes. Many Syrians have also taken refuge in Damascus. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have also fled from Damascus as the fighting drew nearer. Attention: High Alert! Bible prophecy is unfolding concerning Damascus.

Jer 49:24-27 Damascus is waxed feeble, and turneth herself to flee, and fear hath seized on her: anguish and sorrows have taken her, as a woman in travail. 25 How is the city of praise not left, the city of my joy! 26 Therefore her young men shall fall in her streets, and all the men of war shall be cut off in that day, saith the LORD of hosts. 27 And I will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus, and it shall consume the palaces of Benhadad.

Note: In the verse above, Benhadad is the title of several Syrian kings who ruled in Damascus (1 Kings 15:18).

In Jeremiah 49:27 it says that God “will kindle a fire in the wall of Damascus”. To “kindle a fire” means that God will send an army to invade Damascus. Turkish troops are lined up along the Syrian border. Tensions are heating up between the Syrian and Turkish Army. I think that God may be sending the Turkish Army against Damascus.

April 2018 update: The Turkish Army has been allowed to enter northwestern Syria unhindered. I estimate that there are more than 100,000 Turkish Army troops along with Turkish supported Free Syrian Army and Al-Qaeda troops in northwestern Syria today.

The Prophet Amos also condemns Damascus. This prophecy was fulfilled when Tiglath-pileser the Assyrian king conquered Damascus in 734 BC and carried the Syrian (Aramean) captives away to Kir, a mountainous region in western Jordan. However, like many Bible prophecies this may also refer to a future event. Today the region of Kir in Jordan is called Kerak. There are about one half million Syrian refugees in Kerak today. This is further evidence that the destruction of Damascus as described in the Bible is imminent. It is also evidence that the God of Israel is the one true God and that we all had better heed his word and we had also better humble ourselves before him while there is still time! In verse 5 the plain of Aven is a valley in the northeast part of Lebanon near the Syrian border. Today it is called the Bekaa valley. It has been suggested that Saddam Hussein hid WMD’s here before the US invasion of Iraq.

Amos 1:3-5 Thus saith the LORD; For three transgressions of Damascus, and for four, I will not turn away the punishment thereof; because they have threshed Gilead with threshing instruments of iron: 4 But I will send a fire into the house of Hazael, which shall devour the palaces of Benhadad. 5 I will break also the bar of Damascus, and cut off the inhabitant from the plain of Aven, and him that holdeth the sceptre from the house of Eden: and the people of Syria shall go into captivity unto Kir, saith the LORD.

Talk of a military conflict between Israel and Syria along with their ally Iran is also on the rise. In Ezekiel chapter 38 a Turkish led invasion into Israel is described. Turkey is joined by Iran, Ethiopia (The original Hebrew word Cush more accurately describes Sudan), and Libya. It may be that shortly after the destruction of Damascus a Middle East invasion into Israel will occur. Every nation that is mentioned in Ezekiel chapter 38 is fighting in Syria today.

In Ezekiel 38:4 below God is talking to the leader of Turkey.

Eze 38:4-5 And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth, and all thine army, horses and horsemen, all of them clothed with all sorts of armour, even a great company with bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords: 5 Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya with them; all of them with shield and helmet:

I am convinced that Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is the modern day fulfillment of Magog the primary ruler of the land of Turkey described in Ezekiel chapter 38. So I expect the battle of Gog and Magog to happen soon! Turkey may destroy Damascus. Turkey may also then lead a Middle Eastern invasion into Israel. It is High Time to Awake and watch!