Economic upsets ahead? The implications of an Israeli attack on Iran

Submitted by Michael S (United States), May 17, 2015 at 04:38

Hi, Tovey. You said,

"What specifically will trigger the 'final clash' remains to be seen"

While pious Jews are counting the Omer, you're apparently counting the days to Armageddon.

Of course, I've been doing something of the same. For the sake of the casual reader, let me start out by saying that I don't believe an Israeli attack on Iranian nuclear weapons production facilities will in any way precipitate the "final clash" you mention. What's more, I believe the Bible backs me up: Iran is not described as leading any attack on Israel. In Ezekiel 38-39, the culprit is "Gog, in the Land of Magog, Chief Prince of Meshech and Tubal". That translates, in Ezekiel's time, to the Kingdom of Lydia, or modern Turkey. In the "final clash", mentioned in Zechariah 14 and Revelation, the attacker is "the Beast", which represents the great power of its day throughout history. In our time, that "beast" is the US, which controls about a fourth of the world's power directly and has sway over more than half the world's power. Our chief rivals, the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (Russia, China and a few others), together control less than a fourth of the world and have no history since the time of Kublai Khan of having pulled together. Neither Turkey nor the US, obviously, are Iran; so an attack on Iran by Israel or anyone else is something of a side issue to the "final clash".

One place where Iran has been grabbing headlines lately, is the situation in and around Yemen. Yemen is the location of the ancient kingdom of Sheba; and Saudi Arabia is the location of ancient Dedan. In Ezekiel 38-39, those two appear:

Ezekiel 38:
[3] And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD; Behold I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and Tubal:
[4] And I will turn thee back, and put hooks into thy jaws, and I will bring thee forth...
[8] After many days thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them...
[13] Sheba, and Dedan, and the merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee, Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey? to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great spoil?

Yemen and Saudi Arabia, therefore, will be bystanders when Turkey, Iran, Sudan and Libya attack Israel (with Turkey leading). The "merchants of Tarshish" are the Western powers, since "Tarshish" was an ancient country just west of Gibralter. They also (including the US) will merely be bystanders in this "initial" (as opposed to "final") clash. With our slow-moving President, who tends to balk in times of crisis, this is exactly what we would expect the US to do if the Turkish attack happens while Obama's still in office.

On that ground, we might expect the Iranian problem to have been taken care of in less than two years. It will then be at least seven years from that time until the "final clash"; and the leader in power at the time of the final clash will have been in power for at least 3½ years. He or she could therefore conceivably be elected as early as 2016 (That's an interesting proposition, isn't it?); alternatively, it could happen later, with, let's say, Hillary's, successor.

If any of this pans out, I expect some real economic shakings to happen between now and then. Pension plans, long-term care provision, repaying college loans, congressional budget battles, sequestration, your kids coming back to live with you -- maybe in the homeless camp you're staying in... These are the sort of things that occupy my mind.

I need to go to bed. Church tomorrow. Shalom shalom :-)

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