In Genesis 3:15, The Lord issued a veiled threat to satan that, by the ‘seed of a woman’ (not a man), his kingdom would be crushed. Devils were smart enough to know what ‘seed of a woman’ likely meant—via a miracle, a baby would be born without a sexual relationship between a man and a woman. That sobering threat may have sparked satan’s kingdom to begin a frantic, then sustained search across the Earth for any talk of such happening. The threat did not materialize during the 1st age of history. But before the global flood, satan’s kingdom sustained a mighty blow—the loss of a contingent of devils who had committed an extremely grievous infraction—transforming to human men, marrying women, and siring children whose DNA was distorted. As this corruption spread, The Lord finally declared ALL the Earth was corrupted. Thus, He determined to send a global flood to destroy all land dwellers, sparing only one family and a large sample of land animals cloistered in an ark. (Genesis 6)
Early in the 2nd age, as the human population rebounded and began to spread across the Earth, I imagine satan’s kingdom re-initiated its aggressive search for that promised ‘seed of a woman’. Several millennia later, Apostle Paul would inform us that satan’s kingdom includes powerful demons (‘principalities and powers’) assigned across Earth’s atmosphere. (Ephesians 3 & 6, Colossians 1 & 2) I imagine one of their tasks might have been to surveil humanity for any indications of …a miracle of a so-called ‘seed of a woman’. (For more on the likely structure of satan’s kingdom, see: Seat of Wickedness (Series))
A few generations into the 2nd age of history, The Lord personally fingered and materially and spiritually blessed one man—Abram. The Lord declared many incredible promises to him and to his seed across generations—including a massive swarth of land. I imagine this area might have been Eden, where The Lord’s threat to satan had been made. During an invasion of that land by 4 kings from eastern nations just beyond this ‘promised land’, Abram’s nephew fell among the hordes of people who had been captured to become slaves in Elam—the leading nation in that invasion. Current-day southern Iran was ancient Elam.
When Abram learned of this news, he armed 318 of his servants who had been born ‘in his house’, and they mounted a rescue mission against the armies of the 4, eastern nations. Abram and his servants split-up, attacked at night, and pursued, then utterly defeated these fleeing armies! Abram’s crew managed to retrieve ALL of the people and resources who/that had been captured. Upon his return home, Abram was met, and was blessed by Melchizedek, King of Salem, the priest of God Most High, Whom Melchizedek declared, had delivered the invaders into Abram’s hand. Confident in God’s blessing, Abram returned all the people, and nearly all of the booty to their prior owners across Canaan, lest they claim that booty, rather than God, would make him rich.
satan’s no dummy! I imagine his top demons witnessed how The Lord had TWICE richly blessed Abram, and the promises made to his seed for untold generations. Might this have been a sentinel moment in satan’s kingdom? As history unfolded and will continue to unfold, the world would/will witness:
A. Expanding fruits of animosity between Abram’s descendants through Jacob (whose name The Lord changed to Israel), and successive occupants of the lands of the 4 kings in this story, especially modern-day Iran, including:
--Haman, the Agagite, plotting genocide against Jews in the Persian Empire. (Book of Esther)
--Persian supporting Hellenistic empires resisting Jewish religious autonomy. (Maccabean period)
--Rise of Islamic theocracy, hostile to Israel (1979 Iranian Revolution)
--Weapons, funding, strategic planning for plots (Iran-Iraq-Syria-Lebanon-Gaza-Yemen alliances)
--Iran’s nuclear ambitions and rhetoric against Israel (on-going!)
B. Heaven-engineered historical ‘flips’ in this animosity script, including:
--King Cyrus, whom The Lord named before his birth, to liberate Judean captives from Babylon (Isaiah 45)
--Persian kings who funded and protected the rebuilding of Jerusalem and Judah (Ezra & Nehemiah)
--Haman who was hanged; Jews prevailed; Persian support of Jews was secured. (Book of Esther)
--Eastern (likely Persian) magi who traveled to honor The King of the Jews (Birth of Jesus)
--Elamites who were among the first to hear the Gospel (Pentecost, Acts 2)
C. Heaven-engineered Millennial Reign reconciliation between these groups, including:
--The Lord will regather post-apocalypse Jews from Elam (Isaiah 11)
--Iran reps will yearly join post-apocalypse nations for annual Feasts of Tabernacles (Zech. 14)
--Egypt, Assyria, and Israel (former enemies) will share covenant blessings. (Isaiah 19)
Conclusion
Ever since The Lord blessed Abram, and gave him success against a coalition invasion of ancient Canaan by 4 eastern armies, Abram’s descendants through Jacob’s line, have been on satan’s target list! Through this people, The Lord became the predicted seed of the woman, and partially fulfilled His Genesis 3:15 threat. Revelation 20:7-15 picture its total fulfillment. Until then, the yo-yoing between descendants of Jacob and ancient Elam and its allies, will continue with predictable patterns, interspersed with shocking reversals, until The Millennial Reign age—the fifth age of history. I imagine Iran and its long-embraced allies will join the final, predicted, global attack on Jerusalem (the 2nd War of Gog and Magog) during the ‘little while’ 6th age of history, setting the stage for our eternal, 7th age on the new Earth The Lord long-ago predicted.
