The Bible is an amazingly prophetic book. Its divinely inspired authors prophesied the details and timing of the first coming of the Messiah. They named the names of important rulers centuries before their birth. And they predicted the worldwide scattering and regathering of the Jewish people. But the vast majority of major world events, including major world events in the Middle East, are not prophesied in the Bible.
That’s because the Bible is not primarily a book of predictions, like a glorified version of Nostradamus. Instead, the Bible has been given to us to teach us who God is, to teach us who we are and to teach us how to come into right relationship with Him.
That is the heart and soul of the Scriptures. And that is why we make a mistake when we try to find a biblical reference for every cataclysmic event that takes place on the planet.
Yet time and again, we make that same mistake, most recently trying to connect Israel’s Twelve Day War with Iran to the ancient biblical prophecies of Gog-Magog in Ezekiel 38-39. In hindsight, we can see that there is no connection at the present time, even though the biblical text referenced Persia (= Iran).
But even without hindsight, as I pointed out in a June 16 video, Israel’s conflict with Iran was clearly not what Ezekiel spoke of, if no other reason than this: Israel in the Gog-Magog prophecy is described as “a land of unwalled villages … a peaceful and unsuspecting people – all of them living without walls and without gates and bars” (Ezekiel 38:11).
Under no possible circumstances could Israel today be described like this. To the contrary, the people of Israel today are anything but “peaceful and unsuspecting people.” They live with 24/7 vigilance, knowing that at any moment, they could hear the wailing of sirens warning them of incoming missile fire, as they scurry to the nearest bomb shelter. And hardly a week goes by without news of a local terror attack being carried out or thwarted.
Personally, I do believe that Ezekiel 38-39 refers to a future war and is not meant to be taken allegorically or symbolically.
I also believe that the modern State of Israel is part of the ongoing fulfillment of prophecy. (See our 5-minute animated video, “Is God a Zionist?”)
And I believe that Jesus will return to Jerusalem, which is why the Scriptures speak of a final conflict that will involve that very city (see Zechariah 14).
But, to repeat, we make a big mistake when we try to connect every major world event, including those involving Israel, to specific biblical prophecies.
That’s why, as momentous as the Six Day War of 1967 was, it was not specifically predicted in the Bible. The same can be said of the Yom Kippur War of 1973, the bloody Intifadas that have taken place, and the horrific massacre of Oct. 7, 2023.
None of them was specifically predicted in advance by the inspired authors of the Bible.
More broadly, neither World War I nor World War II was specifically predicted in the Bible, as momentous as they were. Still, there were Bible teachers who identified Mussolini with the antichrist and Hitler with the false prophet (or beast) of the book of Revelation.
This is certainly understandable, but it is not fruitful, nor is it accurate.
When I came to faith in late 1971, there was tremendous excitement about the return of Jesus. Surely He is coming back any minute!
We were told that all the prophecies were lining up, especially with Jerusalem back in Jewish hands, and that we were clearly experiencing the predicted end-time apostasy as reflected in the rebellious days of the counterculture revolution. The end was near!
I was 16 back then. I am 70 today, and our youngest grandchild is 18.
The end was not as near as we thought.
At the same time, those were momentous, pivotal years in American and world history. And it is highly significant from a biblical point of view that Jerusalem is again in Jewish hands.
We can also see that, worldwide, since the 1960s, there has been a massive increase in the worldwide outpouring of the Spirit – something that is prophesied in Scripture – as well as a great increase in the global harvest of souls. (Interestingly, but just for the record, there has actually been a decrease in the number of atheists during this same time period.)
Like many other believers, my dream is to see Jesus return in my lifetime, however likely or unlikely that may be. And every single day, I look to the Scriptures for wisdom and guidance and direction and inspiration. The Bible truly is the living, breathing, eternal Word of God!
But let us not try to turn the Bible into a sensationalistic collection of fascinating prophecies. To do so is to diminish the power and purpose of the Scriptures.