Prophecy Speculators and the Iran Conflict (Part One)

Gary introduces a two-part discussion about all the recent speculation and finding biblical “proof” that the current Iran invasion is fulfilling Bible prophecy.

Tim LaHaye writes that the image of the sun, moon, and eleven stars of Genesis 37:9 and the “woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet,” and having “on her head a crown of twelve stars” (Rev. 12:1) “is a reference to the nation of Israel.” Even a dispensationalist like LaHaye understands that the stellar imagery is symbolic:

These objects are light-conveying objects: The moon is a reflector, the sun, a source of light. They are symbolic of Israel as God’s light-bearer to humankind. This Israel was in Old Testament days, for God intended her to propagate His message from the Holy Land to the entire world. Unfaithful in the dissemination of this message, the nation of Israel fell under the judgment of God.

Here is something on which Tim LaHaye and I can agree. When used in these types of passages, the sun, moon, and stars “are symbolic of Israel.” If they are symbolic of Israel in Genesis 37:9 and Revelation 12:1, then why doesn’t the same hold true for Matthew 24:29? When Israel is faithful, the sun is shining, the moon is giving off its reflective light, and the stars are positioned high and bright in the heavens. “In Ecclesiastes 12:1, 2, we find that the expression ‘while the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened’ is used to symbolize good times.

Consequently, the reverse—an expression about the sun, moon, and stars being darkened—would symbolize ‘evil days,’ days of trouble.” This type of symbolic language is not at all unusual. Since Jesus’ prophecy in Matthew 24 deals with Israel’s judgment, the sun and moon are dark and the stars fall. Like other prophecy writers, the image is symbolic of Israel’s impending judgment. The Old Testament—the Scriptures the disciples had at hand to interpret Jesus’ words—is filled with symbols of the darkening of sun and moon and the falling of stars. In each case, the images clearly indicate the fall of nations. Let’s first look at a passage concerning the destruction of Babylon by the Medes and Persians, which is a past event. Notice how Isaiah opens chapter 13:

“The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw”:
Behold, the day of the Lord is coming,
Cruel, with fury and burning anger,
To make the land a desolation;
And He will exterminate its sinners from it.

For the stars of heaven and their constellations
Will not flash forth their light;
The sun will be dark when it rises,
And the moon will not shed its light (Isa. 13:9-10).

Isaiah describes this event as the “day of the Lord,” a local event that took place long ago in what is now fulfilled prophecy: “To make the land a desolation.” During the course of the judgment nothing physically happens to the sun, moon, and stars.

Wars and Rumors of Wars

A first-century interpretation of the Olivet Discourse was once common in commentaries and narrative-style books that describe the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70. There is also a history of skeptics who turn to Bible prophecy and claim Jesus was wrong about the timing of His coming at “the end of the age” and the signs associated with it. A mountain of scholarship shows that the prophecy given by Jesus was fulfilled in exacting detail when He said it would: before the generation of those to whom He was speaking passed away.

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Gary introduces a two-part discussion about all the recent speculation and finding biblical “proof” that the current Iran invasion is fulfilling Bible prophecy. Gary gives an overview about how Jesus viewed the end times, the events He said to watch for, and who would be involved.

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