After weeks of tense negotiations, on Saturday the United States and Israel launched a major military attack on Iran. Iran responded with barrages of missiles aimed at Israel, as well as US and other western military bases in the region. Israel has mounted a parallel offensive against Iran’s proxy army, Hezbollah, in Lebanon. Iran is targeting civilian energy infrastructure in neighbouring states, as well as western military assets. The escalating war is threatening to engulf the Middle East.
As of Wednesday, over a thousand Iranians have been killed, including the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khameini, and the regime has been severely damaged, but there is no sign that its power or resolve is weakening. Questions are being asked about the long term strategy of the allies: how do they expect the war to end, and what do they expect will happen afterwards?
War is horrible, and all right-minded people lament the suffering and bloodshed that go with it. Christians have the encouragement that God will not let us spiral into mutual destruction. He is overruling world events (Daniel 4:17), and the end in view is the return of Jesus Christ to establish God’s Kingdom (Isaiah 2:1-4). Wars such as this cause them to pray all the more earnestly, ‘Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven’ (Matthew 6:10).
Various prophecies in the Bible provide pointers to events that will happen around the time of Christ’s return. No one knows (except God) how the Iran war will develop, but here are a couple of thoughts, based on the prophecy of Ezekiel 38.
This chapter describes part of the final conflict that surrounds Christ’s second coming, which is elsewhere called Armageddon (Revelation 16:16). Ezekiel describes the invasion of the land of Israel by a multinational force, headed by a character from the far north who is called Gog – widely believed to be Russia. Verse 8 locates the prophecy in our time, when the nation of Israel has been re-established: ‘After many days you will be mustered. In the latter years you will go against the land that is restored from war, the land whose people were gathered from many peoples upon the mountains of Israel, which had been a continual waste. Its people were brought out from the peoples and now dwell securely, all of them.’
Israel is described as dwelling securely: ‘the quiet people who dwell securely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having no bars or gate’ (v. 11). That is not the situation now – Israel is a beleaguered nation, dwelling in the midst of sworn enemies, heavily reliant on their Iron Dome and David’s Sling anti-missile systems.
Could it be that this present war leads to the disintegration of the power of Israel’s enemies, enabling Israel to dwell safely?
The second thought is this: verses 5 and 6 list the nations that are confederate with Gog when the invasion happens. Persia – Iran – is top of the list. It may well be, as many hope, that this war sees the end of the present regime in Iran. But it seems as though the country will maintain its present anti-western, anti-Israel orientation.
When Jesus was asked when he would return, he said, “Concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only” (Matthew 24:36). Bible prophecy shows us things that are going to happen. It enables us to recognise pointers in current events, it shows us that they are not random but under God’s control. It shows us that here, in 2026, we are on the cusp of Christ’s return. He could be here at any time.
And the really important question for you and me is, will we be ready for him when he comes?
Chris Parkin
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