The recent attack by Iran on Israel has sparked a renewed curiosity about how this might fit with prophecy as recorded in our bibles. Can Iran’s current aggression along with her proxies be found in scripture? Let’s take a quick look.
The modern nation of Iran was referred to as Persia in the bible. As such Persia is spoken of connected with end-time prophetic wars directly in two places. One is her participation in the alliance that comes against Israel in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. This war, however, takes place at the end of the tribulation and is describing the final battle called Armageddon in Revelation. For a discussion about the timing of this event read this previous post: Ezekiel’s GOG-Magog War is Armageddon – Jim’s Eschatological Info (eschatontrails.com). So, that’s not what’s happening today. The other direct mention of Persia in end-times prophecy is in Daniel chapter 8 concerning a “ram-goat” war out of which eventually the antichrist emerges. The ram is identified as Medo-Persia, but the goat is revealed as Greece or in Hebrew Yavan. Yavan is western Turkey and the Aegean, so is definitely not Israel. So, that fact again rules out this prophecy.
A couple of other candidates often mentioned where Iran is implied but not directly mentioned are the Psalm 83 war, and the sixth trumpet war. In Psalm 83, Israels antagonists include some of Iran’s proxies, but not Iran itself. You can read about the Psalm 83 war here: Psalm 83 War – Jim’s Eschatological Info (eschatontrails.com). Again, not likely what’s currently happening now between Iran and Israel. The sixth trumpet war is a horrendous war that results in the death of one-third of mankind. It’s the one often referred to as WW3. Iran is seemingly involved here, as the war starts in the area of the Euphrates River of which Iran partially borders, though no individual countries are named. However, as it occurs at the sixth trumpet, this war will not likely happen until the middle of Daniels seventieth week or early in the second half. There is, however, a remote possibility that this current conflict could evolve into a much wider-even nuclear war that decimates 1/3 of the world’s population. Revelation is not necessarily chronological. So, while this sixth trumpet war seems to occur much later than now, it remains a remote possibility.
The most likely scenario is that this current conflict between Iran and Israel is part of what Jesus called “the beginning of birth pangs”, a period leading up to Daniel’s seventieth Week. Among these early contractions, He listed “wars and rumors of wars”. I believe that is where we are at currently with this Iran/Israel war. Certainly, more wars that involve Iran are coming soon, but this particular one is probably a non-specific war as related to prophecy other than being a part of Jesus’s descriptive of the beginning of birth pangs.
Keep watching, things are heating up, and our redemption is drawing near.
Maranatha, Jim