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The Prophesied Arab Confederacy Grows - The Role of Iran

One of the most wonderful things about prophecy is that it’s how the Lord tells His servants where they reside on the time-table of His eternal plan. The omnipotent God has revealed that certain events would come to pass, and as the Lord’s servants, it is our great privilege, indeed our duty, to examine the political heavens to discern at what point we reside. Brothers, Sisters, and friends, the present time is an unspeakably exciting time to do this! A review of the past has shown that there have often been significant individual years in history, and it appears that 2024 may well be one of those years.

Nearly every Prophecy Letter is centered upon the subject of the final Arab-Israeli war, and this one will be no different. I have wondered whether some tire of reading on the subject, and I’ve considered whether the few prophecy articles I’ve been able to disperse lately could be better focused on a different subject. Yet when I consider the direct import and relevance of this subject, I consistently find it to be the most pressing and important issue for us believers to keep up with. The movements of Russia are important to watch. The utterances of the Pope – that great False Prophet – and his impact on the nations requires our attention. Yet as far as urgency and immediate import goes, neither of these carry the weight as does the subject of Israel’s war with the Arab “heathen round about”.

The reason for this is simple. Those who are familiar with the Prophecy Letter know the reason, but as there are some new readers, I will briefly explain: the Scriptures show that the Arab nations which presently surround Israel and occupy the lot promised to Abraham’s seed are dealt with by the Lord first. The Russian confederacy and the Babylonian Harlot system will be terminated in time, but only after Christ has established himself as King of Israel. This concept of chronology is enough for us to be looking for this first battle before the others (of course), yet the main reason we focus so heavily on this subject is because of how we – the saints – are talked about at this future time. 

Prophecy shows that Israel will be saved from the Arab confederacy of Psalm 83 by the direct intervention of Christ and his immortalized saints (Zechariah 14:5, Obadiah 21, Habakkuk 3:13, Psalm 83:9-18, and others). The Zechariah 14 reference states that when Israel flees from the enemy, “the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” As the saints are those who have presently entered into covenant through baptism (1 Corinthians 1:2 – omit italics), this necessitates that we be gathered, judged, and immortalized before Christ goes forth to save Israel. Therefore, if we see the Arab nations beginning to take their prophesied roles against Israel, we must logically and soberly conclude that our in-gathering to Christ will take place at any moment. It is for this reason that we will continually and unapologetically report on this most exciting topic!

The Arab Federacy Continues to Form

So the question is, What is the situation with the Arab nations now? To our joy, they are joining together just as prophecy foretold!

It has long been wondered what might spark this conflict, but it appears that the Hamas war could be it. The conflict which originally started between just Israel and Hamas is escalating instead of de-escalating, and more nations are now becoming involved. And they are not just any nations of the world; they are ones which are specifically called out in the prophecy! As shown on the map, the nations outlined in Psalm 83 are those of Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and in my studied opinion, the Bedouins in the Negev (southern Israel). It’s important to note that these enemies are not only described in the Word by the lands they inhabited, but also collectively by a more succinct title: the “heathen/nations round about” (Zechariah 12:2, 14:14, Ezekiel 28:26). The aptness of this title is clear from the map, for these nations literally surround Israel. This title was also the one applied to these nations in ancient times (Leviticus 25:44, Numbers 32:33, Deuteronomy 6:14, 12:10, 13:7, and others). This war will therefore take place on nearly every one of Israel’s fronts. And so, if the Hamas war is indeed the beginning of the greater war to come, the rest of the listed nations must become involved.

In light of these things, the following headlines are incredibly exciting! Syria and Lebanon are becoming more and more involved:

And most importantly:

“Israel has warned they are in a war on seven fronts as attacks recorded in a handful of neighbouring countries in the last 48 hours spark fears of the conflict escalating to the wider region. In an address to the Israeli government on Tuesday, Yoav Gallant, the country’s defence minister and one of only three members of its war cabinet, said they were coming under attack from Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, the West Bank, Iraq, Yemen and Iran. ‘We are in a multifront war and coming under attack from seven theatres,’ he said, before listing them all. Without specifying, he added that they were taking action on six of the fronts.”

The conclusion is easy to draw: we may be witnessing the beginning of the Psalm 83 war! The only two nations which have yet to get involved in any way are Saudi Arabia and Jordan, but if our understanding of the Word is correct and the events we’re seeing are indeed the beginning of this prophesied war, these nations will get involved at some point or another. In fact, the Jewish Press just reported:

It says,

“Hakol Hayehudi on Sunday revealed a new document issued by the Home Front Command detailing the dangers facing the State of Israel on the eastern border and raises the concern that all of Hezbollah’s activity in the north is only intended to distract from the real attack that will come from the east.

“Using only known sources, the document details the deployment of Iran’s forces in Syria and raises the concern that the Jordanian army is also preparing to attack from the east.”

The article goes on to mention that Jordan has been conducting military maneuvers near a location which would be the ideal spot for an invasion. If these reports are true, then it is only a matter of time before Jordan - the latter-day Edom, Ammon, and Moab - joins the conflict! So far, World Israel News and Israel365 News have substantiated these claims. If Jordan gets involved, then all that remains is Saudi Arabia.

How exciting is this! Things which believers have been talking about for many years are beginning to transpire! Those who knew Bro. Harold Lafferty (the creator of the Prophecy Letter) can only imagine his response were he able to see these things coming to pass!

While we must remember that no man knows the day nor the hour of Christ’s return, an honest evaluation of the present state of the Middle East lines up perfectly with what we expect from the Word. As fallible mortals, we must always temper our speech and admit the possibility that this conflict could die down and become simply another move of the chess piece in God’s plan, but to say this at this point would ignore all present facts. All that we can honestly and truthfully say is things are presently building precisely as prophecy says, and we must acknowledge this fact and the relevance to us. The message is clear: we could be gathered at any moment!

The Critical and Interesting Role of Iran

Now, there is something more that adds to the beauty of God’s revelation of these events. Central to the current conflict with Israel is Iran, a nation who is only mentioned in latter-day prophecy as coming down with the Russian Gog. Many honest studies have led me to the conclusion that this conflict takes place after the Psalm 83 war. In fact, I have found the Word to show that the Psalm 83 war sets up and largely causes the Ezekiel 38 war. This has been written on many times as well, and given how the Word speaks of Iran (Persia) as only coming directly against Israel at the same time Russia does, we conclude that their direct role with the Psalm 83 war will be minimal or at least not significant enough for Scripture to call it out. Yet Iran’s role in this current conflict cannot be ignored. In fact, Iran is the one who has been forming the Psalm 83 confederacy. As reported by The Jerusalem Post,

“Iran’s goal has been to “unify” the fronts or “arenas” against Israel. This means bringing together militias and proxies in numerous places; Gaza, the West Bank, Yemen, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, and other places. Iran has already been able to key most of these arenas into the conflict against Israel.”

Iran is the mastermind who is organizing the Psalm 83 nations into their confederacy. But as the Scriptures make no mention of Iran as being part of this confederacy, my thinking has been that they may be temporarily incapacitated, leaving them unable to fight as directly as they wish. They would rely solely upon their proxies to attack Israel. As to what might cause this incapacitation, there are multiple possibilities. My thinking is that it would involve taking out their nuclear program.

It's a subject we haven’t heard about as much in recent weeks, but it’s now one of the main concerns for Israel and is making headlines again. Iran has revamped their nuclear program:

I believe Israel would be the most motivated to strike Iran, yet news appeared the other day stating that the United States might be forced to carry out an attack. The article was removed shortly after its publishing, so it could be that the information wasn’t well-founded. Yet it’s worth noting that tensions between the US and Iran are heating up. In a bold move, Iran has stationed a warship in the Red Sea precisely as a US Aircraft Carrier left the Middle East (The Jerusalem Post). With growing concern about Iran’s nuclear ambitions, perhaps the US will see no other option than to attack Iran? In my opinion, it seems unlikely at this present time, but we will see.

While it’s interesting and exciting to consider how exactly the angelic host will work amongst the nations, you and I do not need to be able to discern exactly how Iran will be sidelined for this first conflict. The clear testimony of the Word alone is more than enough to reach a solid conclusion. Many times in the past have Bible students known with certainty that particular events would take place, all the while not knowing how and what events would lead up to it. For example, Brother John Thomas and many others recognized from prophecy that the nation of Israel would be reborn and the Jews would be regathered to their ancient homeland. As to the details of how the Lord would accomplish this, they were uncertain, and many of their projections missed the mark. They did not foresee the Zionist movement, the events of WWI, and those of WW2 and the Holocaust; all of which contributed to the rebirth of the nation. Yet it was not necessary for them to know these particulars in order to confidently say, “The nation of Israel must be reborn.” The clear testimony of the Word was more than enough.

It's in this light that we must view all unfulfilled prophecy, and at this particular time, how I suggest we view Persia’s absence from the Psalm 83 war. We know that Iran will not be destroyed before that war, for they show up at a later time with Russia. Therefore, I believe we must conclude that something will occur which will force them to utilize only their proxy states to attack Israel. For the past many months, I have been expecting to wake up one morning and see the following headline in my email: “BREAKING NEWS: EXPLOSIONS AT IRANIAN NUCLEAR SITES – IRAN BLAMES ISRAEL”.

Interestingly, just as this article was being finished, the following breaking news was reported:

There were not at Iran’s nuclear sites, but at the remembrance ceremony of the Iranian mastermind of terror who was taken out by Israel on January 3, 2020. We would expect Israel to be behind this, yet so far, it is the Islamic State that has claimed responsibility (WSJ). In spite of this, Iran is still blaming Israel (World Israel News).The days ahead will reveal more information as to who actually did it, but this act seems to send a message to Iran: you can be reached if we want to reach you! It further seems to validate that Israel could attack Iran’s nuclear sites if they pleased. Yet again, we must state: the only certain thing I believe we must conclude from the Word is that Iran will be largely left out of the Psalm 83 war. We wait to see how and why.

Perhaps this incapacitation will be one of the motivating factors for Russia to descend to Israel as described in Ezekiel 38-39. We must remember that the only motive given to us in Scripture for Russia’s invasion is “To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that dwell in the midst of the land” (Ezekiel 38:12). For Russia, there is no mention of hatred for Israel or religious antagonism. It is simply spoil that motivates her to war.

Yet this does not mean that spoil will be the motivation for Gog’s allies. We can say with absolute certainty that Persia’s involvement will include religious hatred for Israel. And if Iran has recently received a black eye from Israel or another Western power, do we not imagine they will prod their Russian protector to help avenge them?

In summary, we can gladly say that we are seeing the development of all of the major conflicts to come once our Lord reappears on the world scene. As the Psalm 83 nations gradually become more and more involved together, I believe we must soberly and joyfully conclude that our Lord’s return is indeed nigh! Very soon, we expect to hear the cry, “Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him” (Matthew 25:6). In the time remaining, our role as those who are “set apart” for the Lord is to ensure that we are accounted among the five wise virgins of the parable who had enough oil for their lamps, and were therefore blessed to partake in that great, eternal marriage we all so dearly long for!

Think of how wonderful it will be when we no longer have to wonder, “How much more must the world fill the cup of its iniquity? Is it not already spilling over?” How soothing it will be to not have to watch the news so carefully to look for signs of his coming, for he himself will be in our very midst. It is such a wondrous thought that it is difficult to comprehend at times, yet it is the certain hope which the covenanted of the Lord enjoy. May we never take it for granted, but instead devote ourselves completely and whole-heartedly to the Lord’s purpose with us and the earth. If we do, the Lord has promised, “I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it” (Isaiah 58:14).

 

In the One Hope of Israel,

Tanner Hawkins

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