Several weeks back, a person commented on one of my videos about how there are prophecies in the Bible that have never been fulfilled.

He then argued that since these prophecies have not come to pass, we can’t trust the Bible when it comes to prophecies about future events.

One of the prophecies that he cited involved the city of Damascus, which the prophet Isaiah said would be destroyed.

In fact, Isaiah said that Damascus would ‘cease to be a city’:

 An oracle concerning Damascus.

Behold, Damascus will cease to be a city
    and will become a heap of ruins.
² The cities of Aroer are deserted;
    they will be for flocks,
    which will lie down, and none will make them afraid.
³ The fortress will disappear from Ephraim,
    and the kingdom from Damascus;
and the remnant of Syria will be
    like the glory of the children of Israel,
declares the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 17:1-3 NASV)

But Damascus still exists. In fact, according to Wikipedia, “Damascus is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world.”

Today, as the capital of Syria, Damascus has a population of 2.5 million people and is very much a thriving city.

So obviously, Isaiah’s prediction of Damascus’s destruction hasn’t come to pass, but that doesn’t mean it won’t, which is how I responded to this man’s comment.

Isaiah was a seer. This means he was seeing visions of events that would take place at a future time. But here is the kicker, Isaiah did not specifically know the exact time, it would take place, only that it would.

As we study events taking place in Israel and the Middle East today, we see the devastating potential for this Damascus prophecy to be fulfilled.

Israel has nuclear weapons. So does Iran or if it doesn’t soon will have.

Many also believe Russia will play a major role in end-time events. Jeremiah prophesied, “Behold, there is a people coming from the northland and a great nation will be stirred up from the remote parts of the earth.”

Many suspect that this country from the remote far north is none other than Russia, which of course also has nuclear weapons and hates Israel.

So while Damascus still stands today, could it be one of the casualties of a great nuclear war that will take place in the Middle East?

In an article for Charisma News, Ronald Mallett, a former Air Guard/Air Force vet and journalist, believes that the stage is being set for just such an event.

He specifically cited that unfulfilled prophecy about Damascus, but adds this tidbit six verses later, when Isaiah hints that Israel would be the one responsible for Damascus’ destruction (verse 9).

Hard to believe?

Well, Mallett wonders if recent events, including Israel’s air strike on Damascus on Jan. 20, 2024, suggest the stage is being set for this prophecy to be fulfilled. According to AP News, Israel’s bombing resulted in the deaths of at least five Iranian advisors in the city.

“The bombing incident signals a jump-start to a prophesied chain of events leading up to Armageddon. Israel is facing fanatical Islamic military attacks on four fronts: Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Gaza,” Mallett writes.

He wonders if it is possible that, “Israel could one day be forced to consider the nuclear option as a viable defense?”

“This is not a wild idea,” Mallett continues. “Just this last week, I heard Perry Stone and one other of the many TV evangelists I follow state that only 1/3 of the biblical prophecies remain unfulfilled. This sounds reasonable, and I’m not a scholar of biblical proportions, but I believe the following nearly 3,000-year-old promise by Isaiah is among the very last of the old-guard, patriarchic prophecies.”

Does the Bible predict nuclear war in the end times? I believe it does and explain why in this podcast: