As tensions continue to swirl in the Middle East, a surprising spiritual movement may be quietly unfolding behind the borders of Iran. Best-selling author and Middle East expert Joel Rosenberg believes a powerful biblical prophecy is taking shape that could place Iran at the center of a global Christian awakening.
“Iran is going to be the epicenter of evangelical Christianity in the last days of history,” Rosenberg said in a recent episode of The Rosenberg Report. He pointed to Jeremiah 49:34-39, which speaks of a nation called Elam, an ancient name for a region in modern-day Iran, and said it describes not only judgment on Iran’s leadership but also spiritual restoration.
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Rosenberg explained, “God says, ‘I’m going to set my throne in Elam’… meaning the center of Christianity, the center of God’s love and passion to save people… that’s going to be centered, epicentered in Iran.”
As reported in the exclusive video, Rosenberg believes the prophecy began its fulfillment in 1979, when millions of Iranians fled the country following the rise of Ayatollah Khomeini. “They fled out of Iran to all ends of the earth. There wasn’t a country to which Iranian people did not flee to get away,” he said. This, he contends, mirrors the scattering foretold in verse 36: “I will scatter them to the four winds.”
But it’s not just dispersion and judgment that Jeremiah foretells. The final verse of the passage offers hope: “In the last days, I will restore the fortunes of Elam.” Rosenberg interprets this as a promise of revival.
“More Muslims have come to faith in Jesus Christ in Iran than all Muslims who’ve ever come to faith in Jesus in the last 14 centuries combined,” Rosenberg said. “Iran is basically going to become a Christian country, not a backslidden, corrupt Christian country, but the most dynamic, exciting, spiritual, Spirit-led country on the planet.”
Rosenberg acknowledged the current reality of persecution in Iran but believes that God will transform even that suffering into spiritual fire. “That revolutionary fervor that Iranians are famous for… the Holy Spirit is going to flip it… into taking the gospel to the ends of the earth.”
In the face of hardship, the gospel continues to flourish. God’s work is not confined by regimes or repression, it advances boldly in the very places meant to silence it.
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As Iran emerges as an unlikely ground for revival, believers around the world are urged to support their brothers and sisters in prayer. Let us intercede for strength, courage and unwavering faith among the Iranian church, that in the midst of persecution, the light of Jesus would burn ever brighter.
James Lasher is staff writer for Charisma Media.
