PROPHECY: Will Iran bring the Persian Empire back to life?

Posted by Dr. Timothy J. Sakach Ph. D. at 24 January, 2007, 7:47 pm

Could the Persian (now Iran) Empire rise again? According to Scriptural prophecies, it could be a shock to the entire geopolitical world when an empire that once ruled the world came back, as though risen from the dead!

You are looking at a map of the Persian Empire as it was in in 540 B.C.E. This was the time when the House of Judah was in exile in Babylon during the time of Daniel. Daniel was called to interpret writing that appeared on a wall while Belshazzar was having a royal party!

Belshazzar at the urging of his wife called Daniel before him and asked him to tell the meaning of the writing. Here is what Daniel told him:

“You, Belshazzar, son of Nebuchadnezzar, have not humbled yourself as your father did, and of which you are well aware. Instead, you have set yourself up against the Lord of Heaven. You had the goblets from His temple brought to you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines drank wine from them. You praised the gods of silver and gold, and of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or understand. But you did not honor the God [Elohim] who hold in His hand your life and all your ways. Therefore he sent the hand that wrote the inscription. This is the inscription that was written:

“MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPARSIN [lit. 'and Parsin']

“This is what the words mean:

“MENE [or mina - a unit of money]: God [Elahim] has numbered the days of your reign and brought it to an end.

“TEKEL [or shekel]: You have been weighed on the scales and found wanting.

“PARSIN [or Peres, half a mina]: Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians.”

“That very night Belshazzar, the king of the Babylonians, was slain, and Darius, the Mede, a general or leader in Cyrus’s army took over the kingdom.

From Daniel 5, New International Version.

During the night the armies with Darius the Mede breached the city and entered through the unsecured river gates and took over the kingdom and destroyed Babylon.

After that the Persian Empire grew until it ruled over nearly all of the middle east and part of Greece. In my first Greek class, the Greek textbook told about the battles and dominance of the Persian Empire at that time.

Is there writing on the wall now?

At that time the writing said “Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin” or “Mina, Mina, Shekel and Half a Mina” which translated could mean an amount of some basic unit. Rembrandt’s painting shows the words written vertically presenting a nonsense phrase to those without wisdom.

Interestingly, the Wikipedia on this phrase says this:

While the Book of Daniel gives the meaning of the words, their origins and original meaning are unclear. Some have contended that the words have no meaning in themselves. However, since the late nineteenth century, a number of scholars have held the theory that the words are weights of coinage: MENE, a mena, TEKEL, a spelling of shekel, PERES, half a mena. (A mena would be about 30 shekels.) Hence, in English it might read “a half dollar, a half dollar, a penny, and two bits”. The meaning that Daniel decrypts from these words is based upon etymology, each turning on a pun using the word as a passive verb.

The total of 50 + 50 + 1 + 25 equals 126 pennies! They could just as easily have written 500 + 500 + 10 + 250 or 1260 pennies, which anyone familiar with Scriptural prophecy would recognize that number as a period of days at the end of our age when the Persian (Iranian) Empire once again dominates the middle east region and threatens, this time, the whole world.

Here is the prophecy Gabriel the messenger gave to Daniel about our time:

“I am going to tell you what will happen later in the time of wrath, because the vision concerns the appointed time of the end. The two-horned ram that you saw represents the kings of Media and Persia. … In the latter part of their reign, when rebels have become completely wicked, a stern-faced king, a master of intrigue, will arise. He will become very strong, but not by his own power. He will cause astounding devastation and will succeed in whatever he does. He will destroy the mighty men and the holy people. He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior. When they feel secure, he will destroy many and take his stand against the Prince of princes. Yet he will be destroyed, but not by human power.” Daniel 8:19-25 NIV

See also:
"END TIME: Equinox September 22, 2008 15:40 UTC Enoch’s Third Quarter Begins"
"ARMAGEDDON: Will Iran Lead the Way to End Time Trouble?"
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9 Responses to “PROPHECY: Will Iran bring the Persian Empire back to life?”


richard September 1, 2008

I find it hard to believe that the Persian empire colud rise from Iran.I believe that empire was delt a death blow by the Macedonian empire.The only empire that I see rising is the Holy roman empire.Watch as the pope gains more power and respect.

Timothy Sakach, Ph.D. September 1, 2008

Richard,

Thanks for the comment. I will answer this in a new post. But before I get to that I recommend you study Daniel 8 and 11

On this see this post: ARMAGEDDON: Will Iran Lead the Way to End Time Trouble?

George November 8, 2008

Hey Richard, what you don’t know is that Persians got back on their feet several times. Yes , Alexander the Great defeated them, but then again Persian empire recomposed itself at Ashkanian (Parthians) time and also Sassanian time until they got defeated by Islam and Arabs. However, as a person who has lived with Iranians, I surprisingly realized that most Iranians don’t like Arabs or being called Arabs. They are waiting for the smallest opportunity to take back their ancient glory and the article that Dr. Sakach has written is shockingly right!

Timothy Sakach, Ph.D. November 8, 2008

George,
Thanks for the insight. That Iranians do not like to be called “Arabs” backs up what I have also found that the Medes and Persians (Iranians) consider themselves to have descended from Japheth, and not from Ham as did most of the Arabs. (Genesis 10).

Also the division of the land during the days of Peleg is recorded in the Book of Jubilees, chapters 8,9,10. Here we find that Canaan (son of Ham) violated the covenant of the division, which was sealed by an oath, and took control of lands given by lot to Shem. From this the Middle East conflict was started. Later the offspring of another son of Ham, Mizraim, who was the father of the Philistines (from the Casluhites), moved into the area taken by Canaan. The modern name for Philistines is “Palestinians” although they are still called “Philistines” by the Russians and Iranians.

Morteza January 10, 2009

I`m Iranian ….
WE ARE NOT ARAB
Iranian Hate arab … >:P
Thank You Dr. Timothy J. Sakach

Persian Babak February 25, 2009

I am Iranian and this is my glory
we dies for our country.
we love the peace as the koorosh bozorg ( Cyrus The Great ) defined .
Unfortunately after our revolution in 1979 up to now iranian people misleaded and if any body become on the opposit side they killed them.
we hope that iran an iranian change current situation and become free and live beside other nation in peace and resuscitate our noble culture .
Thanks .

rasuljacob March 19, 2009

SO who is the beast in Rev 13 ?

Timothy Sakach, Ph.D. March 22, 2009

The beast of Revelation 13 is the same beast of Daniel 2, only from the end of the age point of view. We are still living during the time of Roman rule. When that comes to an end, then the feet mixed with iron and clay and having 10 toes will rise up. Daniel also received visions concerning this time and the head of that kingdom is listed as being of the Medes and Persians or modern day Iran.

But before that happens the earth will be shaken once more by activities happening in our solar system. and the nations following the Roman rule will collapse (Revelation 8 and 9.) Then a new order will arise after that and will threaten all life on the earth. At that time the world will be living in the last days of Daniels visions. This last “beast” will bring an end of “Babylon” world rule as revealed in Daniel 2. This end will happen when Yahua comes and fights against them and crushes the 10 toes of iron and clay causing the entire “beast” to collapse.

Prince_of_Persia May 19, 2009

hi im from Aryan (iran) or Persia
Persians have a big onomastic arabs and hate arabs very numerous and know them privates that have any civilization ,
notional & fuss ( notional arabs without oil) , and say them ciccada eating
inverse the majority persian people (not related government)
havent problem with israel
Persians and arabs are muslim but are very different in religion
please read story of sindbad the zorastrian , babak khoramdin
and the killer of arabs khalifa ((omar)) that is a holy person for arabs is Pirooz a persian that get revenge of Persians, and ALI & FATIMA (groom and daughter of MUHAMMAD)
and Persians have a religion celebration in the day that killed victorious of Iran (omar)
wild arabs ((VAHABBI)) have and idea that who kill 5 shiaa (Persians,…) will go to paradise
but some arab country aret bad for example egypt, lebanon,….
and dear richard roman civilization is great and i like it
but havent a king too CYRUS THE GREAT with his power humanities policy and service
roman people didnt know GOD and have the goddess
but Persians and Jewish admire god
excuse me for my language
thank you
PRINCE_OF_PERSIA