Isaiah
29:3
3 And I will camp [chanah] against thee round about [duwr], and will lay siege [tsuwr]
against thee with a mount [mutstsab], and I
will raise [quwm] forts [m@tsuwrah] against thee. KJV-Interlinear
3 And I will encamp against you
all around, and will besiege you with towers and I will raise siegeworks
against you. ESV
This sets the stage for the most dramatic series of
events that will occur in all of human history.
In those final days of history, in the last half of the seven year Tribulation,
Jerusalem will be surrounded by the enemies of the entire world. The battlefield will run for hundreds of
miles, and the combatants will number in the tens of millions if not in greater
numbers. Bodies will pile up as high as
the horses bridle and Jerusalem will be at the very center of the worst
bombardment in all of human history.
And yet, miraculously, and although God is applying
severe discipline against Jerusalem’s occupants, the city will hold out against
huge armies that have all of the implements and resources of the most modern
warfare, of that future time.
They will not hold out by means of their own efforts,
but they will survive only because God protects them, even while applying harsh
punishment against them.
This is the verse of the prophecy of when Jerusalem is
surrounded.
We have already studied in Isaiah, that the main camp headquarters
of the enemy force will be just to the northeast of the city of Jerusalem. And we know that someone in the city will
either read the passage or they will remember it and that will give them an
edge for a counter assault against their enemies.
But that is not a part of our current passage.
Jerusalem will be surrounded and hammered because of
unbelief. And it will not be a pretty
nor a short lived battle, but will continue for some time.
And, the picture being presented here, is one of extreme
hopelessness and helplessness. The
entire world is against Jerusalem. Satan
is against Jerusalem. Gods has promised to rescue and deliver those occupants
of Jerusalem, who survive, and God guarantees that there will not only be
survivors, but many survivors. This does not negate the huge death toll that
will occur.
So, all of these things culminate around and in
Jerusalem, as Satan is trying his very best to prevent God from keeping His
promise of deliverance, by destroying the entire city and its occupants.
This sets the stage for the most dramatic series of
events that will occur in all of human history.
