History Explains Prophecy
I just got my Proclamation! (Thank-you!) and I was reading it (always), and I got to the first letter in the Mail Section and I could not help but write.
I thought it should be noted that your writer has misapplied the prophecy concerning the cities of Arorer (Isaiah 17:2) to Damascus (Isaiah 17:1). Both verses do not apply to both towns equally.
- These are two verses that discuss two different places, which are about 225 miles apart.
- The prophecies are: Damascus will be rubble. The Cities of Arorer will be given over to flocks… In almost every instance, a difficult Bible passage can be explained by just digging deeper, especially back into history. (The KJV is so helpful for this.)
So, a perfect example of “using history to explain” is Isaiah 17:1-2.
Here goes. What happened to Damascus a nutshell:
- Isaiah 17 has many correlations to the conquests of the powerful Tiglath-Pileser, King of the Neo-Assyrian Empire, and his expansion of the Assyrian Empire.
- Isaiah began prophesying during the reign of Uzziah (Azariah)—middle of the 8th century BC or about 740 BC.
- Shortly thereafter, in 745 BC, Tiglath-Pileser began waging a very bloody and widespread war that resulted in his conquering of the Chaldeans, Arabs, Arameans, Persians, and then all of the Upper Syrian Kings.
- In 735 BC, Tiglath-Pileser turned his attention towards the Levant and conquered all the way to the Egyptian border.
- In 734 BC, after a plea for help from Judah, (because the Syrians had formed an alliance with Israel and were threatening Judah), Tiglath-Pileser marched into Syria and annihilated the Syrian army. Afterwards, he laid siege to Damascus. Also, that same year, he marched to Gaza (Aroer) and occupied the area while he made his conquest of Arabia and conquered much of the area.
- In 732 BC, Damascus, still under siege, finally fell to Tiglath-Pileser’s army, after which the town lapsed into a dark period. Little is known about Damascus’ existence during its dark time except that Tiglath-Pileser rebuilt the town his way.
- Centuries later, during their conquests to become world empires, both the Greeks and the Romans conquered Damascus and rebuilt it to their liking. Both renamed it: Demetrias and Decapolis, respectively.
- Current archaeologists do not believe that the Damascus of today is sitting on the original site of the first (Biblical) Damascus. This is based on the finding of a ninth-century B.C. basalt orthostat depicting a cherub/sphinx in Phoenician style that had been built into a sub-structural wall of the Umayyad mosque of the original old town.
Bottom line: As Isaiah predicted, Damascus did become a trash heap. Probably several times, depending on how much gutting the Greeks and Romans did before their rebuilding.
I always look forward to reading Proclamation!…Thank you for your ministry and all your hard work. You do not have an easy job, and we are cheering you on.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: I think this kind of information is helpful and so interesting. At the same time, I see the existence of Damascus today, even though on a different site, to be remarkable. So many cities have disappeared—not to mention ancient peoples and nations as well. It’s amazing to me to see how God has preserved some national and local identities and not others.
Podcasts On Repeat
I’m really enjoying the podcasts on Galatians and Hebrews. I play them on repeat when I am sleeping, and a couple of nights ago I woke up and you were talking about OCD. I don’t remember which podcast or the context, but I noticed that myself and many of the Adventists I grew up with suffered terribly from OCD in regards to constant prayer and a constant sense of uncertainty, repeating actions over and over again to be “certain” because there was so much fear and uncertainty in the teachings of Ellen White. There was such a burden of perfection demanded from me since childhood, that I was constantly trying to save myself by pleasing God through my diligent efforts (as per EGW) hoping I was forgiven, hoping I had done enough.
One girl I went to Adventist grade school with married an Adventist pastor and moved to Hawaii for a period of time. Her parents are also lifelong Adventists; her mother told me that my classmate suffered terribly from OCD, and when people visited her home, she would clean the bathroom for three hours after they left. This constant worry of God as a punisher and self-salvation required by our efforts is largely responsible for this issue with OCD. When those thoughts come to me and I am tempted to repeat actions or obsess on uncertainty, I have to tell myself that God does not need for me to perform a certain action to punish me. I already deserve punishment, but HE took that punishment for me—so then I just say, “that is Ellen White thinking,” and I practice confronting those worries and putting them to rest.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: I understand so well that ongoing need to “preach the gospel to myself” that you are describing. Our Adventist worldview doesn’t clear out easily; yes, OCD defined my existence for many years. The Lord really works with us at deep levels, and He is faithful!
It’s astonishing as we discover the depth of how twisted Adventism is and how deeply it distorted our view of reality. God’s word reprograms us with reality. I am pretty overwhelmed at how alive and effective it is! The Holy Spirit knows how to apply it to our lives.
The Clear Word: A Best-Kept Secret
Thank you very much for your sincere Bible study podcasts. Christ warned us that false prophets would not deceive a few, but would deceive many, as it seems Ellen White has done. I was just wondering if you would consider an episode, or possibly a series of episodes, on The Clear Word. Most of my family is Adventist, and I used to be an ordained deacon, all without even knowing that book existed. Adventists are very stubborn (God forgive them), even when shown obvious falsehoods, but I think that book shows a lot of how Adventism has changed the word of God. God bless and thanks again for the podcasts.
—VIA EMAIL
Response: You make a very good suggestion. We will consider the idea of doing a series on The Clear Word. We will discuss it and pray about this idea.
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