In ancient days there was a most prominent city known as Tyre which took pride in its established presence as an invincible fortress. No one had been able to conquer and subdue this bastion due to the truth that there were actually two parts to the place known as the city of Tyre. One portion was found on the Mediterranean coastline which was located approximately sixty miles to the northwest of Jerusalem, while the second part of this city was actually located about half a mile out from the coastline and was in fact an island unto itself. In the event of threat arising from the land the populace of Tyer would take ships out to the island and remain there until the threat no longer posed a danger unto them. Then it was a simple matter to return home and begin commerce anew for the people of Tyre. Despite this seemingly impregnable situation, the prophet Ezekiel predicted that this city would be totally and permanently destroyed. It is written.
“And it came to pass in the eleventh year, in the first day of the month, that the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,
[2] Son of man, because that Tyrus hath said against Jerusalem, Aha, she is broken that was the gates of the people: she is turned unto me: I shall be replenished, now she is laid waste:
[3] Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I am against thee, O Tyrus, and will cause many nations to come up against thee, as the sea causeth his waves to come up.
[4] And they shall destroy the walls of Tyrus, and break down her towers: I will also scrape her dust from her, and make her like the top of a rock.
[5] It shall be a place for the spreading of nets in the midst of the sea: for I have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD: and it shall become a spoil to the nations.
[6] And her daughters which are in the field shall be slain by the sword; and they shall know that I am the LORD.
[7] For thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold, I will bring upon Tyrus Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, a king of kings, from the north, with horses, and with chariots, and with horsemen, and companies, and much people.
[8] He shall slay with the sword thy daughters in the field: and he shall make a fort against thee, and cast a mount against thee, and lift up the buckler against thee.
[9] And he shall set engines of war against thy walls, and with his axes he shall break down thy towers.
[10] By reason of the abundance of his horses their dust shall cover thee: thy walls shall shake at the noise of the horsemen, and of the wheels, and of the chariots, when he shall enter into thy gates, as men enter into a city wherein is made a breach.
[11] With the hoofs of his horses shall he tread down all thy streets: he shall slay thy people by the sword, and thy strong garrisons shall go down to the ground.
[12] And they shall make a spoil of thy riches, and make a prey of thy merchandise: and they shall break down thy walls, and destroy thy pleasant houses: and they shall lay thy stones and thy timber and thy dust in the midst of the water.
[13] And I will cause the noise of thy songs to cease; and the sound of thy harps shall be no more heard.
[14] And I will make thee like the top of a rock: thou shalt be a place to spread nets upon; thou shalt be built no more: for I the LORD have spoken it, saith the Lord GOD.
[15] Thus saith the Lord GOD to Tyrus; Shall not the isles shake at the sound of thy fall, when the wounded cry, when the slaughter is made in the midst of thee?
[16] Then all the princes of the sea shall come down from their thrones, and lay away their robes, and put off their broidered garments: they shall clothe themselves with trembling; they shall sit upon the ground, and shall tremble at every moment, and be astonished at thee.
[17] And they shall take up a lamentation for thee, and say to thee, How art thou destroyed, that wast inhabited of seafaring men, the renowned city, which wast strong in the sea, she and her inhabitants, which cause their terror to be on all that haunt it!
[18] Now shall the isles tremble in the day of thy fall; yea, the isles that are in the sea shall be troubled at thy departure.
[19] For thus saith the Lord GOD; When I shall make thee a desolate city, like the cities that are not inhabited; when I shall bring up the deep upon thee, and great waters shall cover thee;
[20] When I shall bring thee down with them that descend into the pit, with the people of old time, and shall set thee in the low parts of the earth, in places desolate of old, with them that go down to the pit, that thou be not inhabited; and I shall set glory in the land of the living;
[21] I will make thee a terror, and thou shalt be no more: though thou be sought for, yet shalt thou never be found again, saith the Lord GOD. “
(Ezekiel chapter 26)
Take note that there are several detailed parts to this prophecy. Among these we find the following items.
- Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon would come upon the city and destroy it.
- Tyre was to be scraped clean and flat like the top of a rock.
- There would be other nations involved in the total destruction of Tyre.
- Tyre would be used as a place for fishermen to spread their nets.
- The very stones and timbers of Tyre would be laid in the sea.
- The city of Tyre would never again be rebuilt when this was totally fulfilled.
Did these things actually come to pass? Emphatically yes, they did! Ezekiel wrote these words approximately in the year of 590 B.C. Four years later, in the year of 586 B.C. the armies of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon laid siege to the coastal city and after thirteen years conquered it and laid waste to it. So, it came to be that the coastal city of Tyre, referred to by the title Tyrus in Ezekiel’s writing, ceased to be a viable city in the year of 573 B.C. Nebuchadnezzar could not, however, conquer the island city.
For the next two centuries or more that portion of Tyre would continue to exist in the secure protection of the surrounding sea. However, God had decreed the total destruction of the city. Even though it was not brought about by the armies of Babylon the prophecy of Ezekiel had said that it would happen and that there would be other nations involved in the doing of it. In the year of 332 B.C. the doom of this once great center of commerce in the ancient world was sealed when Alexander The Great appeared upon the scene. History records that the people of Tyre in their arrogance infuriated the great Greek leader and as a result he was intent upon destroying them entirely.
Alexander laid siege to the island city by using the rubble of the coastal city to build a causeway from the land unto the island. Literally he scraped the ground flat in order to acquire every scrap of material which he could garner and threw it into the sea thereby building a land bridge which can be seen on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea even unto this day. The destruction of the island city was total as it suffered the wrath of Alexander The Great. That city, neither the land nor island portions of it, has never been rebuilt and unto this day fishermen dry and repair their nets where the mighty Tyre once stood just as had been predicted by Ezekiel the Prophet of God.
Another bastion city of the ancient world, of which you may have heard, was also addressed in the prophetic writings found in the Scriptures. That city is Jericho. After the city fell to the armies of Israel Joshua foretold that it would be rebuilt by one man. When that man began to rebuild Jericho his oldest son would die and when he finished the rebuilding he would lose his youngest to death. It is written.
“And Joshua adjured them at that time, saying, Cursed be the man before the LORD, that riseth up and buildeth this city Jericho: he shall lay the foundation thereof in his firstborn, and in his youngest son shall he set up the gates of it.
[27] So the LORD was with Joshua; and his fame was noised throughout all the country.”
(Joshua 6:26-27)
These words were spoken by Joshua approximately in the year of 1450 B.C. The city of Jericho would not be rebuilt until the year of 930 B.C. We are told that there was a man who started to lay the foundations of that city in that year named Hiel, who was from Bethel. When he began construction of the foundations, his oldest son who was named Abiram died. Upon the completion of the gates of this city his youngest son, known as Segub, died. It is written.
“In his days did Hiel the Bethelite build Jericho: he laid the foundation thereof in Abiram his firstborn, and set up the gates thereof in his youngest son Segub, according to the word of the LORD, which he spake by Joshua the son of Nun.”
(I Kings 16:34)
To this point only prophecies concerning cities from the Old Testament period have been examined. Lest one think that only such dwellings of antiquity are so addressed I invite you to turn your attention unto a city which is still very much among the great metropolises of the world today. That city is Jerusalem. The Scriptures have much to say concerning this city, but perhaps no prediction about it is more widely known than that which Jesus, The Christ, gave unto his followers when they remarked how beautiful the temple which stood in its midst was to behold. It is written.
“And Jesus went out, and departed from the temple: and his disciples came to him for to shew him the buildings of the temple.
[2] And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.
[3] And as he sat upon the mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?”
(Matthew 24:1-3)
“And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it,
[42] Saying, If thou hadst known, even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace! but now they are hid from thine eyes.
[43] For the days shall come upon thee, that thine enemies shall cast a trench about thee, and compass thee round, and keep thee in on every side,
[44] And shall lay thee even with the ground, and thy children within thee; and they shall not leave in thee one stone upon another; because thou knewest not the time of thy visitation.”
(Luke 19:41-44)
“And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
[21] Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
[22] For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.
[23] But woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck, in those days! for there shall be great distress in the land, and wrath upon this people.
[24] And they shall fall by the edge of the sword, and shall be led away captive into all nations: and Jerusalem shall be trodden down of the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled.”
(Luke 21:20-24)
In the year of 70 A. D., forty years after this prophecy was given, the Roman General Titus compassed the city of Jerusalem with an army of 80,000 men. History tells us that he began his siege of the city of Jerusalem, due to a major revolt which had arisen five years prior, in February of that year. The conditions of life inside Jerusalem became horrific and brought about such atrocities as women killing and eating their own children. It is recorded that grown men fought to the death for the possession and ability to eat the dung of the birds due to intense starvation among the people. In September of that year Titus broke down the walls of the city and began his slaughter in earnest. Over five hundred thousand inhabitants of the city of Jerusalem were murdered by the legions of Titus.
It is said that someone started a rumor that the stones of the temple within the city were cemented together with gold and that the legions, in their lust and greed toppled every single stone in an effort to find it. When none was discovered the rage of Rome was heightened so that the very ground under the place where the magnificent temple had stood was plowed up in an effort to prevent it from ever again being put to useful purposes by the Jews. To this day Jerusalem still is not under the total control of the Jewish people. The temple mount, where the magnificent edifice that was eradicated by the Roman Legions commanded by Titus once stood, is currently occupied by the Dome of The Rock and the al Aqsa Mosque. The Jews do not have control of their own temple site. Clearly the times of the Gentiles which Christ spoke of has not yet come to an end in Jerusalem.
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