Nuclear Iran: To Be or Not To Be?
Iran continues to resist and/or ignore all attempts by the UN and the international community to warn that nation to back off its nuclear development program. The threat implicit in that bombastic government’s attempts to join the world’s nuclear club have been the fodder of supposition, conjecture, and postulation for years, now. It seems that predictions of Iran having a nuclear weapon about to be a reality has been predicted for a near time-frame every week I can remember for the past 24 months or so.
It is almost as if Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is getting a thrill of some perverse sort out of tweaking the world--and particularly the U.S. and Israel--with his sly threats. Of course, his threats have been of the straightforward sort, too. He has threatened to wipe Israel from the map many times in public speaking forums. He has threatened to shut down oil shipments through the Straits of Hormuz. But, as of late, he has taken to playing slyly worded games of threatening, like a junior high school prankster forewarning of hijinks being planned for his classmates.
For example, he and his bully-pal of Venezuela have been noticed off in a corner whispering to each other and grinning knowingly while casting mischievous glances at the rest of us.
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran, on a visit to Venezuela, shared jokes about his country's nuclear project with one of his closest foreign allies, President Chavez. "One of the targets that Yankee imperialism has in its sights is Iran, which is why we are showing our solidarity," said Mr. Chavez during a joint press conference with the Iranian president in Caracas. Scorning western fears of Iran's nuclear ambitions, Mr. Chavez added: "That hill will open up and a big atomic bomb will come out." Mr. Ahmadinejad responded by praising his host as the "champion in the war on imperialism." (David Blair, Peter Simpson, "Russia 'worried' over Iran's Nuclear Ambitions," Telegraph, 1/20/10. My thanks to Jonathan Stettin.)
So, the question comes to mind: With this nation, at the heart of what was ancient Persia, playing mind games for so long, but having not yet achieved--apparently--the actual objective of producing an atomic weapon, exactly what is Iran’s future with regard to becoming a nuclear military power?
Certainly, by all rationale one can muster, it appears that it is just a matter of time--perhaps days--until the announcement will be made and as Venezuela’s dictator says, “That hill will open up and a big atomic bomb will come out.”
Like so much else in this stage-setting era for end-times Bible prophecy to unfold, God’s staying hand can be sensed slowing, preventing Iran’s progress in producing that “big bomb.” We continue to wonder over why, for example, the world’s economic structure hasn’t completely imploded. The situation is unsustainable, untenable, to put it mildly. Yet there continues to be an air of normalcy--although the term "normalcy" certainly can be defined differently from, say, a decade ago.
Of course, when thinking on Iran, we who consider Bible prophecy as the guiding light for things to come believe we must put all of what is happening within the context of the Gog-Magog prophecy of Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. This is because Persia is one of the chief allies mentioned to come down with the Gog-Magog force to “take great spoil” from the land of Israel. What the Iran of the prophetic day that attack takes place will look like is the question. Will Iran be a nation with nukes or not?
It seems safe to say that whether Iran is or isn’t a nuclear-weapons bearer at the time of that future attack, any such weapon doesn’t seem scheduled to be used against Israel.
Whether through God’s staying hand, or whether by the attack plan’s designer, Gog, Israel will apparently not suffer catastrophic damage in the Gog-Magog attack. There will be carnage from the damage the Lord will do to the attackers, that’s for sure. But, Israel will apparently be preserved throughout the assault. Will nuclear weapons be used at the time? The prophetic Word says “fire” will fall on “the coastlands.” This indicates the possibility of nuclear weaponry. But the term “coastlands” doesn’t indicate an interior nation--like Israel, even though Israel does have some coastal area along the Mediterranean.
So, Ahmadinejad’s consistent threat to wipe Israel off the map with a nuclear strike just isn’t going to happen. Neither is Iran or any other nation on the planet going to wipe Israel off the map by any means whatsoever. Israel is destined to be the head of nations as Christ rules and reigns over all of God’s creation, and King David rules in his supernatural body over God’s chosen nation atop Mt. Zion in the City of David.
How all of this nuclear weapons program stuff plays out will be most interesting to watch over the course of the days, weeks, and months just ahead.
Terry