Is the Israel-Iran Conflict “God’s War”?

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What’s going on between Israel and Iran has the Evangelical world in a flutter. Jack Hibbs is asking, “Could This Be Next?” Because of his prophetic views, he states, “This is not going to go away.” Built into his futurist belief system, there are certain prophetic inevitabilities. There must be a war with Israel, and millions of Jews must be slaughtered based on a faulty interpretation of Zechariah 13:7-9. Here are some examples.

Richard Booker writes:

What is this terrible tribulation that awaits the Jews? Moses said it would take place in the “latter days.” It is the last seven years of this age just prior to the coming of Messiah Jesus to earth. The Bible says this will be a time of suffering such as the world has never known.

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The Antichrist will march his troops into Israel and for a short period of time will occupy Jerusalem. Every nation will support his retaliation against Israel for their disturbing world peace. The Antichrist will kill two-thirds of all the Jews. This could mean that up to ten million Jews could be killed. The Antichrist will plunder the beloved city of Jerusalem, and one-half of the citizens will be forced into exile.[1]

In a December 2, 1984, sermon, the late Jerry Falwell said, “Millions of Jews will be slaughtered at this time, but a remnant will escape, and God will supernaturally hide them for Himself for the last three and a half years of the Tribulation, some feel in the rose-red city of Petra.”

Prophecy Wars: The Biblical Battle Over the End Times

There is a long history of skeptics turning to Bible prophecy to claim that Jesus was wrong about the timing of His coming at “the end of the age” (Matt. 24:3) and the signs associated with it. Noted atheist Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) is one of them and Bart Ehrman is a modern example. It’s obvious that neither Russell or Ehrman are aware of or are ignoring the mountain of scholarship that was available to them that showed that the prophecy given by Jesus was fulfilled in great detail just as He said it would be before the generation of His day passed away.

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Charles Ryrie wrote in his book The Best is Yet to Come that during this post-rapture period Israel will undergo “the worst bloodbath in Jew­­ish history.”[2] The book’s title doesn’t seem appropriate considering that during this time most of Jews living in Israel will die!

John Walvoord followed a similar line of argument: “Israel is destined to have a particular time of suffering which will eclipse anything that it has known in the past…. [T]he people of Israel … are placing themselves within the vortex of this future whirlwind which will destroy the majority of those living in the land of Palestine.”[3]

Arnold Fruchtenbaum states that during the Great Tribulation “Israel will suffer tremendous persecution (Matthew 24:15-28; Revelation 12:1-17). As a result of this persecution of the Jewish people, two-thirds are going to be killed.”[4]

Dr. Paige Patterson who served as the fifth president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary from 1992 to 2003 said the following to me in a radio debate we had.

The present state of Israel is not the final form. The present state of Israel will be lost, eventually, and Israel will be run out of the land again, only to return when they accept the Messiah as Savior.[5]

Non-Christians are beginning to take notice. The following is from Kim Iversen’s podcast title “Evangelicals Are CHEERING ON War With Iran: The Prophecy of Gog and Magog.”

Now you might have noticed but there are a lot of evangelicals who are foaming at the mouth for a war with Iran. They believe that we are approaching the end of times that Jesus is coming back. The second coming is near, and they’re thinking that this war is going to usher it in. I’m going to explain all of that to you, but this is sort of the insanity that we’re dealing with and why you’re seeing so many people online saying you know this is God’s war.

Here is my comment:

This is an old and discredited view. It’s too bad journalists don’t look for different, more theologically substantial opinions. For example, the prophecy from Ezekiel 38-39—Gog and Magog—was fulfilled during the time of the events described in the book of Esther: bows and arrows, chariots, horse soldiers, spears, clubs, unwalled cities, gold, silver, cattle and goods (see Ezra 1:4), and so much more. Here’s a short article on the topic that might bring some clarity and sanity: “Gog, Magog, Israel, and Iran.” You might also want to check out the book The Gog and Magog End-Time Alliance, which goes into more detail.

All the big prophetic guns are out telling the world that the ancient Ezekiel 38 and 39 is being fulfilled right before our eyes!

These prophetic speculators who claim to interpret the Bible literally have a real problem on their hands regarding Ezekiel 38-39 because the battle takes place with ancient weapons: bows and arrows, men on horseback, clubs, shields, chariots, and spears. In an older message that someone has posted, the late Chuck Missler said, “The passage does seem to anticipate the use of nuclear weapons.”

How do literalists get around interpreting these ancient weapons literally? They will say, “The people in Ezekiel’s day would never have conceived of modern-day warfare, so the Holy Spirit revealed the prophecy in terms they could understand.” This means that horses refer to “horsepower.” Bows and arrows are missiles and missile launchers. Chariots are tanks. This means that for more than 2600 years God’s people have been confused. That’s why Ezekiel 38-39 has been applied to every generation in some way. See Frank Gumerlock’s book The Day and the Hour.

The battle was an ancient one that was fulfilled in the events described in the book of Esther. All the elements are there—from “unwalled cities” (Ezek. 38:11 and Esther 9:19) to “gold, silver, cattle, and goods.” Ezekiel writes that the forces gathered to fight against Israel are after silver, gold, cattle, and goods (Ezek. 38:12-13). “Every survivor, at whatever place he may live, let the men of that place support him with silver and gold, with goods and cattle, together with a freewill offering for the house of God which is in Jerusalem” (Ezra 1:4; also 2:69; 5:14; 6:5; 7:15-16, 18, 22; Neh. 7:71-72), the same items mentioned by Ezekiel. Haman, that is, Hamon-Gog, wanted that plunder. I cover all of this in my book The Gog and Magog End-Time Alliance.

The Gog and Magog End-Time Alliance

Jet planes … missiles … and atomic weapons. You will search in vain in Ezekiel 38 and 39, and you will not find them. You will, however, find horses, bows and arrows, shields, clubs, and chariots. If the Gog and Magog prophecy was written for a time more than 2500 years in the future from Ezekiel’s day, why didn’t God describe the battle in terms that we could relate to and understand? Why confuse Ezekiel’s first readers and us?

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These prophecy writers are dangerous. A Middle East war will not bring Jesus back, either in a “rapture” or in another coming. Think what an assassin’s bullets did to start WWI that led to WWII. We would end up with WWIII with no rescue by Jesus. We might end up using bows and arrows.

[1] Richard Booker, Blow the Trumpet in Zion (Shippensburg, PA: Destiny Image Publishers, 1985), 112, 118.

[2] Charles C. Ryrie, The Best is Yet to Come (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1981), 86.

[3] John F. Walvoord, Israel in Prophecy (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1962), 107, 113. Emphasis added.

[4] Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, “The Little Apocalypse of Zechariah,” The End Times Controversy: The Second Coming Under Attack, eds. Tim LaHaye and Thomas Ice (Eugene, OR: Harvest House, 2003), 262.

[5] Stated on Dallas, Texas, radio program (KCBI) in a debate with me on May 15, 1991.

American Vision’s mission is to Restore America to its Biblical Foundation—from Genesis to Revelation. American Vision (AV) has been at the heart of worldview study since 1978, providing resources to exhort Christian families and individuals to live by a Biblically based worldview. Visit www.AmericanVision.org for more information, content and resources