Damascus’ Cup of Wrath
Reports of atrocities coming out of Syria are reminders of the ongoing rage of man against man. We live in a world headed for a time in which God must deal in judgment with planet earth. We get an inkling of what faces the cities of this world with the declaration found in the book of God’s most terrible judgment. “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath” (Revelation 16:19).
The great commercial center at the time of that judgment will suffer as perhaps no city or people have ever suffered, when God’s cup of wrath is full, and He gives it to Babylon to drink. Jesus Himself said it would be the most terrible time in human history–and that’s saying something! This earth has been witness to regimes that have dealt so fiercely with their peoples that we sometimes wonder how the Creator of all things could have allowed such treatment.
The Lord has acted at times to judge the murderous governments throughout history, of course. The Third Reich is an example. Hitler’s Reich was to last a thousand years, but lasted barely twelve, and is today looked upon as among the most heinous–certainly considered the most horrendous of the modern era. Yet there are elements among us that view the Nazi regime as a good idea, particularly because of the way that government treated the Jews.
Syria’s present tyrant-ruler is one such admirer of the Nazi attitude toward God’s chosen people. Like all Muslim states of the radical sort–and it’s difficult to find one that isn’t radical—the brutal Syrian dictatorship of Bashar Al-Assad, successor to his father, Hafez Al-Assad, hates Jews with satanic passion and has Israel in its crosshairs for annihilation. For this reason it can be said with certainty that, barring repentance, the Syrian leader and his ilk are in for some very rough times indeed. God’s Word says about the people of earth and their treatment of Abraham’s progeny: “And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed" (Genesis 12:3).
But, it is not the Jews alone that the Syrian dictator comes against with luciferian anger. He slaughters anyone who would defy his self-anointed right to rule with an iron fist of oppression. He is doing so with abandon these days, even in the face of pressure–although milquetoast pressure—by the international community.
The world of opposition to what’s going on in Damascus and surrounding area is of the spineless sort because of threats from Russia and China. Putin and the Chinese leadership have made it clear that any military action to put Assad out of power will be met with Russian and Chinese force. It is much like in the cold-war days when the Soviets and the Maoists held the nuclear threat over the heads of the world’s diplomatic community.
As the death tolls rise with Assad’s military murdering people in plain view, yet blaming the opposition rebel forces of perpetrating the killings, the international community sends the likes of former U.N. head, Kofi Annan, to plead with the Syrian dictator to stop the genocide.
During his meetings, Annan renewed an appeal to the Assad regime to end the violence against its people. Annan said he expressed the international community's concerns about the government attacks, including last week's slaughter in Houla.
"We are at a tipping point," Annan said. "The Syrian people do not want the future to be one of bloodshed and division. Yet the killings continue and the abuses are still with us today."
Eleven nations, including the United States, said they are expelling Syrian envoys in a coordinated action over the killings. Besides the United States, Japan, the Netherlands, Australia, Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Bulgaria and Canada announced that they are expelling some Syrian diplomats. ("13
Bound Bodies Found in Eastern Syria," UPI.com, 5/30/12)
There seems no chance of a Jonah-Nineveh sort of repentance by Assad and his ruling henchmen. We can say with certainty, then, that God’s judgment is on its way to Syria. But, it’s not just the fact that God will judge anyone who hates Abraham’s seed, or that judgment will come because of the obvious sins of the regime in murdering the Syrian people. We can know with certainty God’s judgment is coming because of the prophecy, with which most Bible prophecy students are familiar.
“Behold, Damascus is taken away from being a city, and it shall be a ruinous heap” (Isaiah 17:1). Damascus’ cup of wrath is about to be poured by the mighty hand of God. But, lest the rest of the world think this city that harbors most every Islamist terrorist organization that is blood-vowed to destroy Israel is alone in the prophetic promise to drink of that cup of wrath, consider again the following forewarning to all cities of earth: “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath” (Revelation 16:19).
--Terry