Iran in Bible Prophecy

Editor's Note: This is a multi-part series of Bible Prophecy studies dealing with the subject of Iran in Bible Prophecy. Below is a breakdown of how this series is being organized. This particular article is the Prologue and introduction to the rest of the series.

The question of Iran's role in Bible Prophecy has to be on the minds of Bible Prophecy watchers around the world, but not so much apparently with the average Christian as today's churches are practically ignoring Bible Prophecy.

For those that do have a desire to understand Bible Prophecy and study the issues and watch current events, Iran's role in Prophecy is fuzzy and uncertain.

In this article we will attempt to clarify from the prophetic portions of scripture the role for which Iran will play a part in prophetic fulfillments. This will be published in segments or parts as they are completed and eventually this series can be transformed into a single article. We will try to complete this as quickly as we can in as few a segments as possible. At the conclusion we will collect all the segments into one single, posted article on the website..

Prologue

Part 1 - The Definition of Gog

Part 2 -  The Magog Confederation

Part 3 -  The Status of Israel

Part 4 -  The Status of Babylon-America

Part 5 -  The Magog Attack

Part 6 -  Divine Intervention

Part 7 -  The Aftermath, Conclusions on Interpretation

PROLOGUE:

Iran and Ezekiel's Magog Prophecy

The current situation in the Middle East strongly suggests that an outbreak of war between Iran and Israel is imminent. Should such an outbreak of war become a prophetic fulfillment of Ezekiel's prophecy concerning a nation that is code-named "Magog" and its invasion of Israel. Is Iran the Magog nation? IF so, then what is Iran's role in the Babylon-America prophecies?

This article starts with a basic premise and then asks the following questions and the possible answers.


Assumptive Premise: If Iran is Magog:  4 Questions To Ask:

#1. Q. How does an Israeli Attack Affect Ezekiel's Prophecy?

#2. Could it fulfill it?

#3. Q. How does an USA Attack Affect Ezekiel's Prophecy?

#4. Could it fulfill it?


A. It Depends on 3 Questions To Aks About the Attack

#1. What Type of Attack? Conventional or Nuclear?

#2. Extent of the Attack Results and Aftermath

#3. Did the Attack Remove Iran's Military Capabilities?

The bottom line is that IF Iran is Magog, then there can be no devastating pre-emptive attack against Iran prior to Iran invading Israel from the north unless that means Hezbollah is considered to be part of Iran itself and not merely a confederate ally.

However, if Hezbollah is considered to be a part of Magog itself, then perhaps we could still have the Magog prophecy fulfillment will examine that a bit later in this article.



If the attack were conventional:

#1. An Israeli Attack

An Israeli conventional attack would involve conventional bombs albeit advanced and probably some form of bunker-buster bomb type for use on underground facilities at Fordow. It would be limited as Israeli capabilities for such a long-range strike are indeed limited. Key above-ground nuclear installations would be destroyed, but not all of Iran's missile capabilities would be destroyed. Iran's naval capabilities would likely remain unscathed.

It would likely produce a major retaliation by Iran. Ballistic missiles would likely rain down on Tel Aviv, Haifa and Israel's Dimona nuclear power plant. Despite a good missile defense, some missiles would get through and create very significant damage.

Iran would most likely take action to shut off the Strait of Hormuz and begin shooting missiles at oil tankers. Small patrol craft would also attack shipping lanes in the Gulf. Missiles would be launched at Iran's neighbors in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the UAE and elsewhere in an attempt to destroy oil installations along with air and naval bases. Iranian commandoes and terror squads would also attempt to carry out attacks on oil installations. Missiles would also be fired at U.S. military installations in the region as well as US Navy warships and those of allied nations.

Russia and China would stand aside and observe the carnage. Neither nation would intervene.

The U.S. would likely respond to Iranian attacks by destroying Iran's infrastructure in air and missile volleys. Iran would soon find itself air and missile bases destroyed. Its naval facilities would be destroyed. Iran's electrical grid and communications networks would be destroyed. Leadership homes would be destroyed along with government buildings and military command centers. Highways and rail lines would also be destroyed. It would be total war from the air. On the sea, small Iranian patrol craft would pose pesky problems and possibly damage and or destroy key US Navy warships, even possibly and aircraft carrier.

Hezbollah would with no doubt launch missile attacks at Israel but Israeli forces would soon obliterate Hezbollah's missile capabilities with intense air attacks combined with ground forces unmercifully invading Lebanon's Bekaa Valley to take possession of launch locations and facilities located inside the mountains and hills. Syria's Army would be of little or no consequence as it is already decimated by its own civil war. Turkey would likely stand aside or join Israel in taking out Syria's ground forces.

Conclusion: Iran would be decimated and no longer a viable military threat to anyone for at least one or more generations. Thus, Iran would no longer be able to carry out the Ezekiel prophecies of the Magog invasion of Israel. However, the war might set the stage for such an event in 20 to 30 years.

Of course, that assumes Iran IS indeed Magog, however that would seem highly unlikely given the current time frame for Biblical Prophecy and the generation that witnessed Israel's rebirth back in 1948. Remember that generation will not 'die out' until "all these things" ( Tribulation, etc) are fulfilled. That generation would be gone in less than 30 years as their ages would be at or more than 100 years old, circa birth year of 1927 or earlier.

Iran's destruction would pave the way for the rise of Turkey as a regional power and the leader of the Islamic world. This would set the stage for a later Turkish invasion of Israel as the Magog nation.

#2. A United States Conventional Attack

A pre-emptive, conventional, comprehensive strike by the United States would produce similar results
but with less of an Iranian response. Israel would be free to have all of her military assets focused solely upon Hezbollah and Syria. In either case, we expect Hamas would avoid confrontation and observe in fear of its own destruction.


If the attack on Iran were unconventional with an EMP bomb burst the results would be the same no matter who struck.

Iran would be instantly paralyzed and incapable of responding with conventional military assets. It's electrical grid would be totally destroyed and take a generation to rebuild. Comunications networks would also be destroyed. Iran's missiles would likely be unshielded from an EMP blast and thus rendered inoperable. Warships and motor boats also would be inoperable as also planes and helicopters. Tanks wouldn't function nor would any automotive vehicles be they trucks or cars.

Iran's leadership would be unable to communicate with its military or police forces. The military would be unable to communicate and give orders. In fact, it might be hours before the Iranian leaders even
knew they'd been attacked if only a single, solitary EMP blast occured at high altitude.

Conclusion: The results for Iran would be similar to that of a conventional attack only without major loss of life. Of course, this all assumes that the terrorist cells in America and world wide are not activated. If activated, we might see major terror acts in America, triggering martial law and the suspension of the Constitution and the elections in November - IF such an action were taken before the elections.

Overall Assessment: Such scenarios fail to meet the prophetic description of Ezekiel for a Magog war, primarily because Ezekiel speaks of an invasion of Israel from the North. In conclusion, such a war and outcome would mean that Iran was NOT the Magog of Ezekiel's prophecy, but at the same time it would set the stage for a future Magog nation to fulfill the prophecy. Such a nation would be either Turkey or Russia. We tend to think it would be Turkey as Turkey more closely fits the description by Ezekiel, plus we already see Turkey ready to clash with Israel over Israel's claims to the Leviathon natural gas and oil fields in the Mediterranean Sea.

In regards to the Babylon-America prophecies, a destroyed Iran would mean that it would be very difficult for Iran (being the Medes of Jeremiah 51) to also fulfill that prophecy unless there remained enough infantry power to tackle US bases in the region when Babylon-America is destroyed by an angelic force sent from the throne of God. See Isaiah 13:1-5 and verse 19 and in Jeremiah 50:28.

IF Iran is Magog - What Must Take Place?  

First and foremost we must understand that the Magog prophecies speak of a nation named as Magog which launches a sneak-attack against Israel with an invasion from the north. The invasion includes confederated forces from a confederation of nations we assume. However, we should not necessarily "assume" such a point as the invading group may consist of troops from Magog combined with possible individual volunteers from a variety of nations listed.

The one key element that must take place is an invasion by Magog forces into Israel from the north.

The question we ask though is whether that invasion force must be comprised mostly from troops of Magog or can they be proxy forces? The answer is - "we don't know." Ezekiel does not elaborate nore distinguish between the two, yet we cannot readily assume Ezekiel is speaking of troops from governments of the list of confederated nations allied with Magog.

At the moment, the forces of Hezbollah act like and respond as if they are Iranian troops and yet they are not Iranian, just merely taking orders from Iran. What we do know is that Hezbollah is composed of not only Lebanese but also of small, indivual groups from such diverse nations as Libya and other African nations. We know of no Turkish participants in the Hezbollah forces, althought that is not to say there couldn't be now or in the future.

The only way Iran is Magog is if Iran launches an invasion of Israel without warning. This means there can be no pre-emptive strikes on Iran by either Israel or the USA or both combined. Iran's involvement with Babylon's destruction is also an apparent surprise event. There is no indication that Babylon starts a war with Iran (aka "The Medes").










-