PROPHESIES OF MYSTERIOUS PETRA
 

Petra, a prosperous Edomite city around the time of the birth of Christ, and later the Nabatean capital, is only a few miles from Israel’s border. As one of the ancient wonders of the world, its buildings were hewn out of solid rose-red rock and the city was practically impregnable. The one narrow canyon-like entrance to Petra, which was also called Bozrah (meaning “sheepfold”), could easily be protected by a small force of soldiers.
God said that He would lay the cities of Edom waste. The city of Bozrah/Petra, in the southern desert of modern-day Jordan, is one of these broken-down cities.
“For I have sworn by myself, saith the LORD, that Bozrah shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse; and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual wastes. I have heard a rumour from the LORD, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to the battle” (Jeremiah 49:13-14).
In this lonely habitation for eagles, hawks, lizards, and serpents, Petra’s magnificent structures - a 4 000-seat theatre, altars, temples, and monuments - are decaying and crumbling. But some Bible scholars believe the remnant of Israel will be cared for in this mysterious city for 1 260 days during the Great Tribulation.
“And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days. And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” (Revelation 12:6,14).
What causes their flight? The Bible talks of the “abomination of desolation” by the Antichrist, when he sets up an idol to himself in Israel’s rebuilt Temple. This will cause the “woman” (Israel’s remnant) to flee to a desolate place. “When ye therefore shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy place, (whoso readeth, let him understand:) Then let them which be in Judaea flee into the mountains: Let him which is on the housetop not come down to take any thing out of his house: Neither let him which is in the field return back to take his clothes. And woe unto them that are with child, and to them that give suck in those days! But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither on the sabbath day: For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be” (Matthew 24:15-21).
“And he shall confirm the covenant with many for one week: and in the midst of the week he shall cause the sacrifice and the oblation to cease, and for the over-spreading of abominations he shall make it desolate, even until the consummation, and that determined shall be poured upon the desolate” (Daniel 9:27).
Could mysterious Petra, laid waste by God, be saved for His purposes in the End Times?
www.thekingiscoming.com

Petra was first established sometime around the 6th century BC, by the Nabataean Arabs, a nomadic tribe who settled in the area and laid the foundations of a commercial empire that extended into Syria. Despite successive attempts by the Seleucid king Antigonus, the Roman emperor Pompey, and Herod the Great to bring Petra under the control of their respective empires, Petra remained largely in Nabataean hands until around 100 AD, when the Romans took over. It was still inhabited during the Byzantine period, when the former Roman empire moved its focus east to Constantinople, but declined in importance thereafter. The Crusaders constructed a fort there in the 12th century, but soon withdrew, leaving Petra to the local people until the early 19th century, when it was visited by the Swiss explorer Johann Ludwig Burckhardt.
http://www.raingod.com/angus/Gallery/Photos/ MiddleEast/Jordan/Petra/index.html

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