If you were spelunking in one of the myriad of caves in the Southwestern United States and entered a chamber not explored by man for millennia, and saw an inscription on one of the rock walls that read: New Yorkers, Virginians, Texans and Californian’s will one day unite as a nation - you would instantly know that this was a prophecy about the coming United States of America! So likewise, when we read in our Bibles about the future of peoples called Parthians, Persians, Elamites and Medes - we should be aware that these are references to modern day Iran!
The word ‘Persia’ is an exonym - a name other nations used to refer to the Irani people in past centuries. But after the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire (post World War I), the Irani people formally requested that world nations refer to them as the nation of Iran.
Interestingly, Iran and Israel share a sordid history of cooperation & conflict that goes back centuries before Christ - some of which is recorded in the pages of your Bible! You may be aware of what’s called the Babylonian captivity of ancient Israel, that took place in the 6th century B.C. The Prophet Ezra tells us why this happened: “But because our fathers provoked the God of heaven to wrath, HE gave them into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon, the Chaldean, who destroyed this temple and carried the people away to Babylon.” (EZRA 5:12)
But then God raised up a Persian (Iranian) king who conquered the Babylonian empire and blessed the people of Israel: “This is what the Lord says… Who says of Cyrus, he is MY shepherd and will accomplish all that I please; He will say of Jerusalem, ‘Let it be rebuilt,’ and of the temple, ‘Let its foundations be layed.” (ISAIAH 44:28) Isaiah wrote a century before Cyrus was born, showing the power of God Almighty to call a person by name - even before he was born!
The Cyrus Cylinder, which was discovered in 1879 among the ruins of ancient Babylon, records King Cyrus giving a general decree - allowing all captives to return to their Homelands: “I returned the images of the gods who had resided there (Babylon) to their places and let them dwell in eternal abodes. I gathered all their inhabitants and returned to them their dwellings.”
Your Bible records the specific decree concerning the Jewish people: “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia: All the kingdoms of the earth the Lord God of heaven has given me. And HE has commanded me to build HIM a house at Jerusalem which is in Judah. Who is among you of all HIS people? May his God be with him, and let him go up to Jerusalem which is in Judah, and build the house of the Lord God of Israel (HE is God), which is in Jerusalem.” (EZRA 1:2,3)
Ironically, a later king of Persia (Iran), is misguided into signing a decree to annihilate these same Jewish people blessed by Cyrus: “Then Haman said to King Xerxes, ‘There is a certain people dispersed among the peoples in all the provinces of your kingdom who keep themselves separate. Their customs are different from those of all other people and they do not obey the King’s laws; it is not in the king’s best interest to tolerate them. If it pleases the king, let a decree be issued to destroy them… the king said to Haman… do with the people as you please… Dispatches were sent by couriers to all the king’s provinces with the order to destroy, kill and annihilate the Jews… on a single day, the 13th day of the 12th month.” (ESTHER 3:8-13 NIV)
If you go on reading in the book of Esther - that date for the genocide of the people of Israel was chosen by the casting of lots - which becomes the name of the Jewish celebration (Purim - Pur = lots) - when God turns the tables on Haman who’s family line is annihilated - instead of the Jews!
Is it only a coincidence that 3 major attempts at genocide of the Jews has come at the hands of men whose names begin with the letter ‘H’? Haman, as we just read about. Herod, who committed infanticide against Israel when he commanded that all boys under 2 be killed in Bethlehem & its districts (in an attempt to snuff out Jesus - MATTHEW 2:16)). And Hitler who carried out the Holocaust in the mid 20th century, killing 6 million Jews!
Modern day Iran was lead in the 1979 revolution by Ayatollah Khomeini - pronounced Homani, a name which shares semitic roots with the name Haman. In a speech at a conference called ‘The World Without Zionism,’ former President Ahmadinejad said: “As the imam (Khomeini) said, ‘Israel must be wiped off the map.” So will the world see another attempt at genocide of the Israeli people by a regime whose founder had another ‘H’ sounding name? All should know that the master mind behind such existential rhetoric also has a name beginning with ‘H’ in the Hebrew language: HaSatan - whom Jesus called “a murderer from the beginning.” (JOHN 8:44)
Bible Prophecy shows that God is going to bring calamity on the Irani nation": The word of the Lord that came to Jeremiah the prophet against Elam (modern day Iran)… Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the foremost of their might (Whose might? Iran is the foremost of Shia might). Against Elam I will bring the 4 winds from the 4 quarters of heaven, and scatter them towards all these winds; there shall be no nations where the outcasts of Elam will not go. For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies and before those who seek their life. I will bring disaster upon them, MY fierce anger says the Lord. And I will send the sword after them until I have consumed them. I will set MY throne in Elam and will destroy from there the king…” (JEREMIAH 49:34-38)
The fact that God says HE will set HIS throne in Elam shows that this prophecy will culminate with the return of Christ and the angelic announcement that “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of HIS Christ, and HE shall reign forever and ever.” (REVELATION 11:15) Why will Iran be humbled in the near future by Almighty God? I’ll let God answer: “He who touches you (Israel) touches the apple of HIS eye. For surely I will shake MY hand against them, and they shall become spoil for their servants. Then you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me (Jesus).” (ZECHARIAH 2:8,9)
Iran is called ‘The Chief State sponsor of Terror,’ because they fund and funnel weaponry to Hezbollah in Lebanon, and Hamas in the Gaza strip, so that they can fight a proxy war against Israel! We’ve all seen the video of hundreds of rockets fired from Syria and Gaza into the land of Israel. God Almighty is going to bring such terror as they’ve caused back on the heads of the Iranian regime and when it happens, you’ll remember reading this blog.
But the story doesn’t end with the fulfillment of Jeremiah’s prophecy against modern day Iran. Watch our video on ‘Nuclear Iran’ on YOUTUBE under Original Christianity and you’ll learn about another nation which will take Iran under its wings in the latter days and invade Israel and the harlot city of Babylon before they are both defeated at the Battle of Armageddon!