Mark Hitchcock - Showdown with Iran: Nuclear Iran and the Future of Israel, the Middle East, and the United States in Bible Prophecy

CONTENTS

2020 Mark Hitchcock

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ISBN 978-0-7852-3448-7 (eBook)

ISBN 978-0-7852-3447-0 (TP)

Epub Edition February 2020 9780785234487

Library of Congress Control Number: 2020931106

Printed in the United States of America

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To my daughter-in-law Ellen

Youre a wonderful blessing from God to Samuel, but also to me

and our entire family beyond anything we could ask or think.

I thank God every day for making you part of our

family and bringing your radiant joy into our lives.

N ot long ago I found myself driving down the interstate between Oklahoma City and Dallas in the worst rainstorm Ive ever experienced. Darkness and driving rain descended like a heavy blanket. Traffic slowed to a crawl as drivers strained to see the road or anything in front of them. Everything was covered in a sheet of rain. All I could see was the hood of my car. Automobiles and trucks, trying to avoid slamming into each other, were pulling over and stopping beneath underpasses because they couldnt see even a few feet beyond the headlights. Fortunately, I was among those able to find sanctuary to wait out the storm.

Have you ever been there? Traveling down the road, straining and longing to see beyond the headlights, to see whats ahead. If only you could know whats coming nextcould know or predict what lies just in front of you or just around the next bend in the road. Everywhere we look today our world appears more and more like a dark storm with a drenching downpour. The sky is black and threatening. In the dark, uncertain days of the storm in which we live, we all long to see beyond the headlights, to know, to have some sense of where things are headed to calm our troubled hearts.

Is there a reliable source to show us what lies ahead? To shine through the darkness?

A SURE WORD

The biblical prophets of old claimed to know the future, including the final series of apocalyptic events that will bring this age to its stunning climax. By consulting their predictions, you and I can know the future of people and nations, because world eventsincluding current eventsare part of a larger story scripted ahead of time.

We dont have to follow their predictions blindly. We can put their prophecies to the test because hundreds of them have already been literally fulfilled with 100 percent accuracy. The Bible, which was 28 percent prophecy at the time it was written, is the only book in existence with a long, extensive track record of accurately predicting the future. The best estimates are that the Bible contains about one thousand prophecies. Up to now, five hundred of those have been literally, precisely fulfilled. With that performance history we can be sure that the Bibles unfulfilled prophecies will come to pass just as surely and literally as those that have already been fulfilled.

For this reason, through the centuries, people from all walks of life and backgrounds have turned again and again to the Bibles ancient end-time prophecies to discover Gods plan for human history. By studying the ancient writings, we can know the pattern of events foretold by the prophets long ago and written in Scripture.

As we turn to the pages of Scripture today, we discover that as unsettling and alarming as current events are, they shouldnt surprise us in light of end-time prophecy. The escalating crisis we see today in Iran and the Middle East is a buildup to the events of the end times predicted in Scripture. Events in the Middle East are unfolding just as we should expect if we consult the biblical end-time template.

We cant be sure how long the buildup will last. It could be nearing its end or just beginning. But we do know that events in our world today, especially in the Middle East, strikingly foreshadow the prophecies laid out in the pages of Scripture. Current events are casting end-time shadows. The number of prophetic signposts is multiplying. The harmony of todays headlines and current events with Scripture suggests that end-time biblical prophecies could be fulfilled at any time.

Through Gods Word we can see beyond the headlights. But what can we see?

FROM HEADLIGHTS TO THE SPOTLIGHT

Scripture shines a prophetic spotlight squarely on the Middle East, especially on the nation of Israel, but also on those who oppose Israel at the end of days. The scriptural spotlight reveals a cast of characters and places imbedded in a storyline that is part of the script that moves the biblical story to its predicted climax.

Prominent in this story is Iran, which is arguably the worlds most dangerous, provocative nation. The Islamic Republic of Iran is the worlds number one sponsor of terror. Its tentacles reach throughout the Middle East.

Authors Charles Dyer and Mark Tobey have observed:

Since the founding of the Islamic Republic, Iran has displayed a consistent commitment to two major goals. The first is to support the expansion of militant Islam, especially Shiite Islam. Irans unflagging support for the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Shiite militias in Iran, and Bashar al-Assad in Syria all share this in common.

Irans second goal is the destruction of Israel, which they refer to as the Zionist entity and the Little Satan.... The world might not take its threats seriously, but Iran has made no secret of its ambitions. Irans leaders want to re-create the Persian Empire of old, but with an Islamic twist. They desire an arc of Shiite control stretching from Iran to the Mediterranean. They hope to become the dominant Muslim power in the Middle East... But to reach that goal they need to find a way to eliminate Israel.