“Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Behold, I will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might. And upon Elam will I bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.”
Jeremiah 49:35-36
Who/what in the world, you might ask, is Elam? And how could it potentially be the “trigger” that begins the War of Gog and Magog? I have written extensively on this yet unfulfilled war (The War of Gog and Magog, Why would Russia, Turkey and Iran Invade Israel TODAY?, Will Russia, Iran and Turkey SOON invade Israel?) destined to occur in the Last Days. Upon doing some recent research, the more I read about Elam the more I believe Elam could very well be what ignites the invasion of Israel by a group of nations determined to erase Israel and the Jews from the face of the planet. This war, highlighted in Ezekiel 38 & 39, is also known as the War of Gog and Magog.
So, who is Elam? If you recall, when God’s patience with this sinful planet had reached its peak, He found Noah righteous enough to be spared from His Wrath and instructed him to build an ark; to gather together both males and females of all birds and animals; and, to take his wife, sons and their wives in order to escape God’s coming Wrath, aka the Flood. After God destroyed the people of this world in the Flood, the ark came to rest on dry ground and Noah and his family departed from the ark. They were then told to basically re-populate the world.
The three sons, Ham, Shem, and Japeth’s sons would eventually have very different destinies in different parts of the world. Ham would be the father of Canaan (Arabs surrounding Israel) who would receive a special curse for being God’s enemy. Japeth’s sons would become the largest part of the Gentiles and Shem, believed to be the father of both Arabs and Jews, would receive God’s special blessing. One of Shem’s sons was named Elam and he eventually settled in the area of northwest Iran and southeast Iraq. The map above shows the region which he occupied just to the east of the Persian Gulf. This is important!
We know from Ezekiel 38 & 39 the names of the countries which will attempt to invade Israel in the Last Days. Please remember, this is NOT the War of Armageddon in which Jesus will destroy the entire armies of the whole world. No, this is the war that God Himself will destroy 5/6ths of the invaders of 6 countries. While those countries are named specifically, Elam is not listed even though it is currently in today’s Iran. Why? In Biblical times Elam was their own nation but were eventually conquered by the Persians (today’s Iranians) of the Mede-Persian Empire. Since the Book of Ezekiel, which tell us of the War of Gog and Magog was written in 586 BC, it was written shortly AFTER Jeremiah wrote the Book of Jeremiah in 629-585 BC. When the Book of Jeremiah was written, Elam was still their own country.
If you keep up with the news, President Obama and a fair number of European countries a few years ago collectively signed the JCPOA, a joint agreement limiting Iran’s nuclear program for 10 years. The Iranians agreed they would not enrich uranium past a certain level. They would not develop intercontinental ballistic missiles. When it became known Iran had continued with their plans to develop a nuclear weapon system and the missiles to deliver them, President Trump a few years later cancelled U.S. participation in the agreement and placed huge sanctions on the country of Iran. But guess what? The Biden administration has attempted to rebirth the JCPOA! We now know Trump was right and the Iranians have continued to enrich uranium and their recent show of missile strength proves they now have the capability to deliver a nuclear weapon. Some say they are only a few days from that capability, to destroy Israel.
Now go back to the map above. Do you see a town in the Elam section of Iran called Bushehr. That is where Iran’s largest nuclear enrichment site sits today! I sincerely doubt it is coincidental that Jeremiah says God “will break the bow of Elam, the chief of their might” without meaning the “bow” which delivers arrows (missiles) and which would also allude to the same place of strength, or the “chief of their might” for the Iranian regime. From the Book of Jeremiah, we next learn God will “…bring the four winds from the four quarters of heaven, and will scatter them toward all those winds; and there shall be no nation whither the outcasts of Elam shall not come.” After God destroys Elam (western Iran), He will scatter their people throughout the world, and they will ultimately go out to all nations.
Here I need to give you a couple potential scenarios. Israel has often and boldly said they cannot allow Iran to become a nuclear weapons power because of their repeated vows to eliminate the Jews. History has shown where Israel pre-emptively has attacked their imminent enemies. This happened to Egypt starting the 6 Day War of 1967. It happened to Iraq when Israel bombed a nuclear facility being built by the Russians. It has happened many times in Syria, Iran, the Gaza strip, etc. when Israel feels an attack will be coming soon. So, the destruction of Iran’s largest nuclear enrichment site with laser guided missiles would end Iran’s nuclear efforts BUT it would also cause severe radiation in the area very similar to what happened to Russia’s nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. And, of course, it could also infuriate the Iranians and their allies (Russia, Turkey, etc.) and be enough to cause them to invade Israel.
Another plausible feasibility is that Iran sits on what is one of the strongest earthquake faults in the world and has experienced major calamity before when an earthquake strikes. An earthquake could easily decimate their nuclear facility and with the wind blowing the radiation around, it would cause the people of Elam to escape to countries all around the world. It could also be blamed on Israel enabling the ayatollahs to finally convince their remaining people and their allies it is time to destroy Israel.
“For I will cause Elam to be dismayed before their enemies, and before them that seek their life: and I will bring evil upon them, even my fierce anger, saith the Lord; and I will send the sword after them, till I have consumed them. And I will set my throne in Elam, and will destroy FROM THENCE (then on) THE KING AND THE PRINCES (capitals mine), saith the Lord.”
Jeremiah 49:37
Obviously, God has a Plan and, in His anger, He will send the “sword after them”. Could this be the next step to God destroying the invading armies against Israel? He will destroy their kings and princes! When He does that, they will not have the leadership to return to being the Iran we know today. It sure makes sense to me so watching the coming events of Jeremiah 49, which as of yet have never been prophetically fulfilled, is another prophecy for the days we are living in, especially with the recent attacks on Israel by Hamas and Hezbollah. God has said He does not do anything without telling His prophets first. He wants us to know specifically what the signs of the Last Days are so we can know we are living in those days.
Just as importantly, by knowing the sign of the times that were foretold to us in the Bible, it is up to each and every one of us to let others know what is coming. We need to tell them of all the various things God has written in the Bible so they too will be saved by accepting Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and also be saved from having to go through the absolutely horrible 7-year Tribulation period. If they are not told, they may not be saved! We can all do this exactly as we have been told to do and that is to “…therefore comfort one another with these words.”Personally, I am comforted knowing what God has told us beforehand will happen. Again, if you know God has ordained what is coming and you are saved, you have nothing to worry about.
May God Bless you as we witness current events getting even closer and closer to meeting up with Jesus in the clouds.