Almost one month after Iran’s major ballistic missile attack on Israel, on Friday, the Jewish State delivered a major blow to Iran.
United with Israel reported:
According to the Israel Defense Forces, dozens of aircrafts, including refuelers and spy planes, conducted “waves” of attacks over the course of a few hours across several regions of Iran, located some 1,600 kilometers from Israel. The targets included missile and drone manufacturing facilities and launch sites, as well as air-defense batteries.
The state-run SANA news outlet reported simultaneous Israeli strikes against military targets across central and southern Syria, amid Tehran’s decades-long effort to entrench itself in that country.
The IDF named the operation “Days of Repentance.”
Everyone anticipated Israel’s response; the speculation surrounded what it would be. Some were suggesting that it would be an attack on Iran’s oil facilities and their missile warehouses. Others pointed to what Israel has been waiting to do four years: take out Iran’s nuclear capabilities.
Israel, under immense pressure from the US Administration not to touch Iran’s oil or nuclear facilities, instead chose to fully take out Iran’s air defense systems as well as missile and drone manufacturing. It will take years for Iran to restore its capability to where it stood before Israel’s operation was carried out.
Should Iran respond by sending more ballistic missiles into Israel, that would place Israel in a perfect situation to then take out the terrorist regime’s nuclear programโespecially if the US election results in a Trump victory next week. You can bet that a Trump Administration will have unwavering support for Israel to get the job done; the president’s last term testifies to that.
As Christians, we must also recognize that even if Israel had taken out Iran’s nuclear facilities, ballistic missiles, and Tehran’s present-day leadership, Bible prophecy tells us that Iran will still live to attack Israel another day.
This future attack described in Scripture, however, won’t be carried out through Iran’s proxies but an even stronger alliance with Russia and Turkey. That’s what we read in Ezekiel chapters 38 and 39. And it won’t be Israel that defends herself, nor will the US come to her rescue, but the God of Israel that protects His people.
When we read Ezekiel chapter 38, we’re introduced to a key figure called “Gog,” who is the prince of “Rosh.” Many Bible scholars have identified “Rosh” as being Russia, not because of the similarity in their names, but because of ancient Rosh’s geographical location in present-day Russia. This powerful individual leads a coalition against Israel consisting of Rosh (Russia), Persia (Iran), Ethiopia (Sudan), Libya, and “Gomer” and “Togarmah” (West and East Turkey).
Ezekiel 38:8 states that this alliance will come against the Jewish State from the north “in the latter years” on the mountains of Israel. Verse nine states they will “ascend, coming like a storm, covering the land like a cloud.” The coalition will “make an evil plan” to come against “a land of unwalled villages”โIsrael at that time, as verse 11 explains, will “dwell safely.” Verse twelve details that they’re coming to take Israel’s riches, “to take plunder and to take booty.”
This is the situation of this yet future war, but more startling than the monumentous nature of this future attack is its conclusion. Israel’s not coming to her own defense; neither is any other country coming to shield her. It is the God of Israel who decidedly intervenes!
Ezekiel 38:18-23 says, “And it will come to pass at the same time, when Gog comes against the land of Israel,” says the Lord God, ‘that My fury will show in My face. For in My jealousy and in the fire of My wrath I have spoken: ‘Surely in that day there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel, so that the fish of the sea, the birds of the heavens, the beasts of the field, all creeping things that creep on the earth, and all men who are on the face of the earth shall shake at My presence. The mountains shall be thrown down, the steep places shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground.’ I will call for a sword against Gog throughout all My mountains,’ says the Lord God. ‘Every man’s sword will be against his brother. And I will bring him to judgment with pestilence and bloodshed; I will rain down on him, on his troops, and on the many peoples who are with him, flooding rain, great hailstones, fire, and brimstone. Thus I will magnify Myself and sanctify Myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations. Then they shall know that I am the Lord.'”
There you have it. God supernaturally will intervene, and God, true to His Word, will defend His chosen people.
Why haven’t the nations learned this by now? Very simply, because Satan rules in their hearts to carry out his evil demonic desires to eliminate the Jewish State. Yet we know that Satan will fail because of God’s covenant promise to Israel that He made with Abraham some 4,000 years ago. In Genesis 12:3, God says, “I will bless those who bless you [the Jewish people], And I will curse him who curses you; And in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.”
Because of that, the psalmist writes this in Psalm 25:2, “As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the Lord surrounds His people from this time forth and forever.”
