#1. It's symbolic. Locusts eat/destroy everything in their path just like the Northern army is described in Joel 2.
Exactly! Both Rev. 9 and Joel 2 reveal that this army not any army of flesh men (nor literal locusts).
- there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it
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when they fall upon the sword, they shall not be wounded
- The earth shall quake before them; the heavens shall tremble: the sun and the moon shall be dark, and the stars shall withdraw their shining
They are the same Locust Army as Rev. 9:
And I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten, the cankerworm, and the caterpiller, and the palmerworm, my great army which I sent among you.
These are the 4 stages of the Locust. IMHO, the 3rd-6th Trumpets.
We know real locusts have no King (Prov. 30:27), but the Locust Army does (Rev. 9:11). God calls this army His Army. They were cast out of heaven.
The appearance of them is as the appearance of horses; and as horsemen, so shall they run.
vs
And the shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and their faces were as the faces of men.
And there came out of the smoke locusts upon the earth: and unto them was given power, as the scorpions of the earth have power...And it was commanded them that they should not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads. And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
Scorpions attack by paralyzing the central nervous system so their victim can't resist. Their spine and brain are co-opted. They come to Jerusalem to deceive; to
spiritually kill with the Mark of the Beast in the forehead.
#2. Technically, I agree.
The point is, Russia has no interest in attacking Jerusalem. Never has, never will. As Ezekiel tells us, Gog attacks the House of Israel, not the House of Judah.
#3. No, the last 3 verses of Isaiah 17, not the first part.
Why separate it? The meaning of verses 12-14 is plain: don't forget God or you're going to pay, no matter who you are. Why is Damascus made "a runious heap"?
Because thou hast forgotten the God of thy salvation, and hast not been mindful of the rock of thy strength...the harvest shall be a heap in the day of grief and of desperate sorrow.
Maybe Syria will participate in an attck on Jerusalem and that will constitute their "forgetting God" and bring devastation on their cities, but that is entirely different than the army that comes to Jerusalem in Joel 2.
