The Treaty with Iran and the Future of Israel, Part 2
Jeff Carter
We began last month to dig into a few of the news headlines concerning the nuclear deal that the United States led the way in brokering with the nation of Iran. We can clearly see that Iran pulls no punches in describing its loathing for the west—America in particular; and how it is bent on the destruction of Israel. The headlines continue to roll in.
Just last week (Aug 20th) another telling headline said, “Iranian official says, ‘we reject the existence of any Israeli on earth.’” I don’t think it could be stated more clearly than that. So the question we asked last time, and one that desperately needs to be answered is, why is President Obama so intent on setting up this terrorist nation as a respectable member of the world community?
In the midst of the Obama administration attempting to coerce the rest of the P5 + 1 nations, as well as the congress, to accept this deal, several disturbing revelations have come to light:
- In an article from “Israel Today” on June 7th, Getting a Bad Iran Deal at Any Price, Noah Beck details how, “U.S. presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) said on Thursday that the State Department was illegally delaying the publication of a report on human rights violations in Iran, and called on the agency to be fined…the report was scheduled to have been published by Feb. 25, but U.S. sources say it has been bottled to avoid adversely affecting the talks with Iran on its nuclear program, which have until June 30 to reach a deal.”
- In that same article, Beck reminds readers how, “In pursuit of this bad deal, Obama has not only covered for Iranian violations and ignored Iran’s continued ballistic missile developments; it has actually offered the Iranian regime nuclear technology.”
- According to reports attributed to a Kuwaiti newspaper, President Obama threatened to shoot down Israeli planes in 2014 if they were sent to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities.
These stories point us to a disturbing trend. The question is…why? Why is this president so intent on following this path? In a very revealing Feb 2 essay in Mosaic magazine, Michael Doran set off a political firestorm by clearly and cogently tracing the origins of Obama’s “Secret Iran Strategy.” The contents of this essay are far too broad to detail here, and I would very highly recommend reading that article and the follow up articles Mosaic has published. But the gist of what he exposes is that this desire to legitimize Iran is not a recent reaction to unfolding middle-east events. Rather, it is part of a long-term strategy that Obama has held since the beginnings of his presidency.
Doran quotes a senior White House official as saying that in the first year of Obama’s first term, there were more meetings on Iran than there were on Iraq, Afghanistan, and China. He said, “It was the thing we spent the most time on and talked about the least in public.” Doran argues that Obama saw himself as a transformational leader who had been elected to reverse the legacy of President Bush. He very much saw America as having too much power and it was his job to correct that problem.
Much discussion has been had about the Iranian-born senior advisor Obama has had by his side throughout his administration and the influence she has had on policy decisions. Whatever the source of these political commitments, it is clear that there is a long-game at play here that has resulted in this tragic and destabilizing agreement with Iran.
A related question that Bible students are closely following is how do these recent political events concerning Iran relate with end-times prophecy? Well, there is a danger with holding the newspaper in one hand and the Bible in the other. We can often see the handwriting on the wall a little too easily if we are looking too closely for it. Though, on the other hand, Jesus chided the Pharisees that they were able to discern the signs in the sky but unable to discern the signs of the times. So we do have warrant to keep a watchful eye.
There is one significant biblical prophecy that relates, in a pretty dramatic way, to this recent emergence of Iran on the world scene. In Ezekiel 38-39 there is a battle described which involves Russia and Iran and several other nations forming a coalition and attacking Israel. What has been interesting to watch is how Iran and Russia have been entering into treaties recently.
Sergei Shoigu, in remarks recently carried by Russian news agencies, said Moscow wants to develop a “long-term and multifaceted” military relationship with Iran. In early August this year, a headline appeared which read, “Iranian, Russian warships hold joint war games.” The article then describes how “Iranian destroyer and missile ships join visiting Russian warships for drills in Iranian waters, highlighting key military partnership.”
Back in January we highlighted the fact that Iran and Russia signed a military cooperation deal that sent shivers through the spines of Bible students who are tuned into this very interesting relationship forming between these two powers. This emerging relationship prompted noted apologist and author Don Stewart to quip, “It’s like we are seeing foreshocks of a powerful earthquake that is ready to happen. The prophetic events are like dominoes closely stacked together. When the first domino falls, the others will fall in short order.”
In this “Magog invasion” Russia (Magog) and Iran (Persia) and several other partners will conspire to invade Israel “to capture spoil and seize plunder” (Ezek 38:12). This is among the most well-known prophecies in the Bible. These nations will be drawn into the battle by God and then just as they approach the “mountains of Israel” God will rain fire and brimstone down upon them. And along with a great earthquake and pestilence God will destroy these invaders. One of the most intriguing aspects of this battle is that it is quite possible that nuclear weapons are involved. Because an entire chapter (39) is devoted to the cleanup after the battle, and because of the very detailed description of that cleanup, as well as the ability of Israel to use the leftover weapons as fuel for their nation for 7 years following the battle, many commentators believe that indeed nuclear weapons are involved—at least localized “tactical” weapons. But this all hinges on Russia and Iran being in a military partnership—which is something we see materializing before our eyes.
In Isaiah 39 when King Hezekiah was told by the prophet Isaiah what a mistake he had made by showing off to the emissaries from Babylon, and displaying for them all the treasure in the temple—Hezekiah had an interesting reaction. He basically said the coming judgment was a good thing (39:8) because there would at least be peace in his days. What a reaction! He was fine with judgment coming after he was gone. This seems very reminiscent of what is happening today with this deal with Iran. The idea seems to be–Let’s try to push off the ramifications of this deal and let the next administration deal with the consequences.
One very urgent ramification of all this is that we definitely need to pray for our President and the current administration. Let’s pray that God would give them wisdom in how to proceed; that they would not forget the promise that God will bless those who bless Israel; and that His will would be done!
-Jeff