Persia

Persepolis-Ancient Ceremonial Capital
of Persian Empire, located in Iran

This entry is a companion piece to the previous entry entitled, "Yeruwshalaim".
We know from prophecy in scripture, from both the Old and New Testaments, that nations will be brought to a place of battle. Ezekiel describes the LORD "putting a hook in the jaws" of these nations, and compelling them into this huge world-involved war of attack on Israel. The LORD prophesies of these nations that "thoughts will arise in your mind, and you will make an evil plan...to take plunder and to take booty" (Ezek. 38:4,10-12). The purpose of the LORD in this moving of the nations to join together and attack Israel in the latter days is "so that the nations may know Me, when I am hallowed in you, O Gog (name of the spiritual stronghold prince over Russia, which is called Magog, Tubal, Rosh: see Ezek. 38:1-3), before their eyes." (v. 16).
The Book of Revelation prophesies that demons or spirits of devils will tempt these nations to gather together(meaning like fish gathered up in a net) to make war in a place in Israel called Armageddon, a Hebrew word meaning "place of crowds, penetrate, cut into, attack, gather in troops or crowds of people, to press, crowd upon, invade with troops". (Rev. 16:14-16).
The LORD will gather these nations not because He hates them, but rather to do warfare against the spiritual principalities that rule over them, according to Ezekiel. We can say that these spiritual powers think they are manipulating the nations to enter into this foolish attack, but meanwhile, God is manipulating these spiritual powers to fall into His trap. For once they touch His covenant people, and His covenant land, He can execute judgment promises according to His covenant Word (Ezek. 38:18). Because of this everlasting covenant, Israel becomes irresistible bait for the trap that has been set for these overreaching spiritual powers. It is in their own interests that the spiritual powers are determined to prove to man and all creation that the everlasting covenant of peace declared by God (Ezek. 37:26) and sealed in the blood of Christ (Heb. 13:20) is a lie. In fact, there are four miraculous prophetic promises made in Ezekiel 37, and they all revolve around the nation of Israel, including the rulership of Messiah, referred to by Ezekiel as David, king and shepherd, forever (v. 24-25). To the spiritual prince over this area, the possibility of destroying Israel to prevent these prophetic promises from being fulfilled would be a temptation impossible to resist. However, God will prove it to be truth to His glory. He will hallow Himself right in the midst of their plan, and the whole world will see it. The prophetic promise made to Israel through the prophet Ezekiel regarding the everlasting covenant of peace would benefit all of us.
One of the nations specifically mentioned in Ezekiel as coming together with others against Israel is Persia (Ezek. 38:5). It is interesting that Persia is modern day Iran/Iraq, which has been creating very troubling headlines. Remember though, God is dealing with great spiritual powers over the nations. We will see that Persia has a great and interesting history with God, and His people.
The word Persia means "pure", "splendid". Let's look at some of the history of Persia in scripture.
As the time drew near for the children of Israel to be returned to their land from the Babylonian captivity, as prophesied by Jeremiah (Jer. 29:10), The LORD sent the Persian army, brilliant engineers of their time, to overthrow the king of seemingly impregnable Babylon. This Babylonian king was that night, defiling the sacred vessels of the Temple of Jerusalem, which had been taken as spoil seventy years before, by using them for drunken revelry (Dan. 5:22-23). According to the historian Herodotus, the Persian army diverted the mighty Euphrates river that ran through the city, and entered under the massive wall around Babylon through the now nearly empty river bed.
The very first year that Cyrus, the Persian ruled from Babylon, "the LORD stirred up the spirit of Cyrus". As a result, he issued a decree to return the exiles back to Judah, and financed the rebuilding of both Jerusalem and the Temple of God. He also ordered his people to "send free will offerings for the house of God which is in Jerusalem" (Ezra 1:1-4/2 Chron. 36:22-23). God had prophesied hundreds of years before through Isaiah, that He would know Cyrus the Branch, awesomely prophesying him by name, and that Cyrus would serve Him (Isa. 44:28, 45:1-7). Cyrus also had all of the gold and silver vessels of the Temple that had been taken as spoil and brought to Babylon, 5,400 items, returned to the prince and captives of Judah before they left (Ezra 1:7-11). These vessels were worth a fortune for their silver and gold value alone, but Cyrus of Persia obeyed the LORD and freely gave them back. Not many kings of history give away the silver and gold in their possession.
Later in time, Artaxerxes, another king of Persia who ruled from Shushan (in present Iran), allowed a most trusted Jewish man in his service as his cupbearer, named Nehemiah, to leave the king's service and go to Jerusalem to facilitate the rebuilding of that city and the Temple, and even appointed him as governor of Judah having the king's authority there (Neh. 2:1, 4-8 and Neh. 5:14).
Even later in history, Ahasuerus, thought to be Xerxes I, also ruled from Shushan (Iran). His empire covered territory from India to Ethiopia (which is also mentioned as one of the nations in the Ezekiel prophecy (Ezek. 38:5). As with all of the Persian kings, he was an absolute monarch. He could get rid of one wife and queen who failed to obey him to appear before his drunken friends, and order up a new queen. However, as he began dealing with the Jewish people in his city, he began to bow his very exalted head. God entrusted His beautiful young Jewish maiden, Esther, into this king's care as his new queen. A king's court was the most dangerous place for a king. Many plots and power grabs originate among those closest to the king among his court. They watch for the smallest sign of weakness in the monarch, so it was important that the king seem powerful, irreversible, unchallengeable and strong at all times, sometimes brutally strong. In front of his treacherous court, however, this Persian king lowered his scepter, the symbol of his judgment authority as king, and allowed Esther to approach him without being summoned first, which was a breach of royal protocol on her part punishable by death (Esther 4:11, 5:2). This absolute Persian king allowed a Jewish man, Mordecai, who had foiled an assassination attempt against the king, to be clothed in the king's royal robes, a royal crown placed on his head, and to be set upon the king's personal horse (Esther 6:3-10). This absolute monarch of Persia even rescinded one of his own decrees, an act which would be unthinkable for such a monarch, when Esther revealed the plot against the Jews, and her own identity as a Jew (Esther 8:6-17). By being willing to be seen as less than absolute, this Persian king saved thousands of Jewish lives across his whole empire, and the enemies of the Jews were destroyed. Many in the empire even became Jews themselves because of the fear of the miraculous favor given to the Jews by this king. It is true that Esther was the interceding vessel, but the ruling power of death or deliverance for the Jews was decided by the king of Persia. One of the great qualities of Esther as the intercessor for God's covenant people was that she was able to discern and reveal to true evil or enemy. It wasn't the nation of Persia, or its king, her husband, but the behind-the scenes lying manipulator, Haman (meaning "magnificent"), who was not a Persian, but an Agagite (descendants of Esau; meaning "I will overtop") (Esther 7:5-6).
The LORD said of Israel, "Blessed are those who bless you", a promise first made to Abram/Abraham in Gen. 12:1-3. The promise was again made concerning Jacob or Israel in Num. 24:5-9.  Persia has played an important role in ancient history in the deliverance or restoration of the Jews and Jerusalem. It is a nation that has been a remarkable blessing to Israel and the Jews in the past, because God has compelled them by His Spirit to do so. I think it is important to keep this in mind even though the headlines may provoke other thoughts and feelings towards peoples and nations. Like the intercessor Esther, we need to discern who the enemy really is, and how God will move against them. Our prayers need to keep in mind God's ultimate plan in all of this. Dark spiritual strongholds rule over nations, including Iran (Dan. 10:13, 20-21), and that nation now finances terrorist organizations' attacks against Israel. The prophesied battle mentioned in Ezekiel and Revelation is for the pulling down of those strongholds, so that the nations of the earth will see God's victory, and hallow God's name, and know that His Everlasting Covenant of Peace is true for them, for all, and it will be established.

Our Father will hallow Himself in the sight of the nations.