God has a plan for Iran
How are we to understand the trouble in Iran?
At Pentecost, the first believers included Persians, Parthians, and Medes. Since then, followers of Jesus have existed in the region now known as Iran.
When the Islamic revolution overthrew the Shah in 1979, Iran had a population of thirty-nine million people, most of whom were Shia Muslims. On the eve of the revolution, there were only 500 Christians of Shia Muslim background in Iran. No one expected that the revolution would lead to a surge in conversions from Islam to Christ. But God had a plan.
Who would have predicted that God’s plan for Iran was to hand the country over to Islamists? Yet, he is shaping human history to fulfill his purposes. He turns what people intend for evil into good.
After the revolution, the Islamist strategy was to stop Christianity from spreading from Armenian and Syrian communities into the Farsi-speaking majority. They banned the Farsi Bible, outlawed Christian gatherings in Farsi, and forbade Muslims from attending. Muslims who followed Jesus were threatened with imprisonment and death; some, like Haik Hovsepian, paid the ultimate price.
Yet, as Duane Miller argues, the government’s use of coercion weakened its legitimacy, exposing the truth of God’s power in Christ. The regime’s credibility was further diminished by its failures. Because the government claimed to rule according to God’s laws, not man’s, when the regime failed militarily, politically, and economically, Islam was discredited.
Advances in technology prevented the regime from stopping the flow of information from Christian sources. When millions of Iranians fled the regime and settled abroad, many found Christ and shared their newfound faith with friends and family back home.
The Ayatollahs seized power and eliminated all rivals. They maintained control through the strength of the state, supported by the Revolutionary Guards and the police. Despite their monopoly on power, they could not stop the growth of this “powerless” community. Islam had power, but it had lost its legitimacy (Miller).
The message of a crucified Carpenter, who is the victorious and eternal King of Kings (a Persian title), is resonating with Iranians weary of the oppressive control of a discredited religion.
God is Creator and Lord of history, and the future belongs to him!
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