"THE SIGNPOST PERSPECTIVE: SYRIA IN 2014" BY MARK DAVIDSON.

The Signpost Perspective: Syria in 2014

BY MARK DAVIDSON on OCTOBER 1, 2014 • ( 3 )

The Four Signposts as written about in Daniel Revisited tell us of the main role for each of several nations in the Middle East prior to the Tribulation. Some of these nations are currently in existence politically, and others will come in to existence at the end of the Third Signpost.

Despite the many news stories that come out of any Middle East nation these days, which seem to be a cacophony of different directions for that nation to take, there is a single thread to be followed, a single path that the nation is on, in relation to the Signposts which God in His sovereign will is making to happen. Sometimes we can get caught up in every reported event, but what we must do is keep the Signposts from Daniel 7 and 8 in mind so we can filter out what is noise and watch the things that are more significant. The Signposts are the signs God has given us to watch to tell us of the advancing of Christ’s Return.

The Third Signpost tells us that a Sunni Confederacy of four nations will counterattack Iran after Iran has invaded the Middle East, which is the Second Signpost. As it says in Daniel 8 the goat will attack the ram in a great embittered rage. Turkey, and Turkey’s leader, will head this Confederacy. Turkey would only work closely with other Sunni Muslim nations, not a Shia Muslim-led nation. A case in point is that Turkey rejects the Assad regime in Syria simply because the Assad regime is Shia Muslim. Turkey will accept Syria as an ally if Syria is Sunni-led.

Syria’s place among the seven heads of all four beasts in Daniel 7 is due to it being the modern inheritor of Assyria (see Daniel Revisited, chapter 5). If Syria is indeed the modern inheritor and is one of the seven heads, then it is to be one of the four nations making up the Sunni Confederacy that will oppose Shia Iran.

It has been over a year now since my last post about Syria. Much has happened, it seems, but Syria is on the same path now as it has been for the last three years. So essentially nothing has changed.

Back in 2011 there were the Sunni rebels, battling the Assad regime. Now IS has arisen and there is now a three-way battle for Syria. Now there are two Sunni camps that could replace Assad in Syria. However, what has not changed since that last post I wrote on Syria is that at some point, the Assad regime must fall and be replaced politically by a Sunni government. It might be right before the invasion by Iran, i.e. Second Signpost, but nevertheless if Syria is one of the four nations of the future Confederacy, than Assad must fall.

Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad speaks during an interview in September 2014

Will it be the Syrian rebels or IS that takes over Syria politically? I don’t know. Right now, news reports seem to show that Assad is more secure than at any time since 2011. Turkey will ally readily with a Sunni-rebel-led government. Turkey will not work with IS today, but who knows in the face of an Iranian invasion?

Despite what we may hear – that the U.S. is bombing IS positions, or that Turkey might fight IS, or that the U.S. may supply arms to the Syrian rebels – the most likely outcome in Syria that is the closest fulfillment of Daniel 7 and 8, is that Assad must fall, sooner or later.

And since Syria would be one of the seven heads in Daniel 7, just like Iraq and Iran are, Syria must for now remain as a distinct political entity until it becomes part of the future Sunni confederacy. Although it is easier to imagine a Rebel-led Syria joining the Confederacy, one thing the twists and turns of Middle East events has taught us is do not be surprised if the Syria that joins is IS-led. Either path is plausible for the Third Signpost, but an Assad-led Syria is not.