Assyrian Christians Between Empires: 
A Biblical Reflection on the Crisis in Iran

By Joel Badal, PhD, 2026

On February 28, 2026, military strikes against Iran marked another serious escalation in the Middle East. Governments debate strategy. Analysts discuss deterrence. Political voices argue legality and authority. A person at church asked for my thoughts, and I shared some reflections. But then I thought about it some more after church and pulled some of my history books on the Assyrian plight, once again reminded of God’s faithfulness.  For Assyrian Christians, and for families like mine whose roots trace to Iran and Iraq, this is not simply international news. It is personal.

A Personal Story.

Recently, my dad gave us a booklet about his father, Yonan, and some stories of my grandmother Nanajan. Their family and relatives are experiencing upheaval and flight into safety from accusers in the land. It’s a wonderful booklet of stories, memories from the past of difficulty, trials, and burdens that could take anyone into despair. The Assyrians and Armenians experienced devastating persecution and genocide during World War I, particularly under Ottoman forces, with violence spilling into northwestern Persia and displacing entire Christian communities.  

When headlines speak of renewed instability in Iran and Iraq, I think of them. The Assyrian Christian story is the story of a people fighting to survive between empires, preserving worship, language, and gospel witness while kingdoms collide.

The family left out of fear and soon lost their lives as loved ones died along the road due to starvation and disease. Others were killed in villages as the Ottoman Turks invaded Iran. Faith was carried across borders under pressure. During World War I, Assyrian and Armenian Christians in the Ottoman borderlands and northwestern Persia (modern-day Iran) suffered catastrophic violence.  

Between 1914 and the early 1920s, mass killings, forced marches, and village destruction devastated ancient Christian communities, events Assyrians remember as Sayfo (“the Sword”). Entire regions were emptied of believers, and survivors fled as refugees into Persia and beyond. These atrocities permanently altered the Christian presence in the region and remain a defining trauma in Assyrian and Armenian memory.

To understand this moment faithfully, we must see it through the lens of historical-biblical theology: God’s sovereignty over nations, the recurring pattern of exile, the preservation of a remnant, and the future hope promised in Isaiah 19.

Nations Rage While God Directs History.

Scripture is clear-eyed about political turmoil.

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?” (Psalm 2:1)

Wars arise from fallen ambition (James 4:1–2). Yet no ruler operates outside the divine sovereignty of our Lord.

• God removes kings and sets up kings (Daniel 2:21).

• He determines national boundaries (Acts 17:26).

• Christ reigns as King of kings (Revelation 19:16).

Assyrian Christians have repeatedly found themselves between rival powers. Roman and Persian, Ottoman and Russian, nationalist and extremist, and now again amid regional confrontation. Kingdoms clash. But God governs history.

The Assyrian Church of the East: An Ancient Witness Under Pressure.

Long before modern borders were drawn, the Assyrian Church of the East flourished in Mesopotamia and Persia. From the early centuries:

• Theological centers in Edessa and Nisibis trained clergy and scholars.
• Missionaries traveled eastward along trade routes.
• Christian communities were established as far as India and China.

This was a missionary church rooted in apostolic faith. Yet from its earliest generations, it lived under suspicion and periodic persecution. Under Persian rule, Christians were often viewed as politically suspect. Later centuries brought the Ottoman massacres, forced displacement, and twentieth-century nationalist repression. Still, the Assyrian Christians survived.

Christoph Baumer documents how Assyrian Christianity endured repeated waves of imperial instability while maintaining theological and liturgical continuity (1).  John B. Joseph, likewise, traces the complex relationship between Assyrian Christians and surrounding Muslim societies, especially during the modern missionary era (2). Assyrian Christians have fought for survival not through political dominance but through covenant faithfulness to their Lord.

Exile Is Not New.

The Assyrian Christian experience mirrors the biblical narrative of exile in the Old Testament, as God’s chosen people, Israel, spanning the Jordan territory, seek the Promised Land and face the Lord's judgment for their disobedience and captivity. The Assyrians are a diaspora people without a homeland. We are displaced people scattered across the globe, yet still longing for a place to call home. 

• Abraham leaving Ur (Genesis 12)
• Israel was carried into Babylon (2 Kings 25)
• Daniel serving under Persian authority (Daniel 6)
• The early church was scattered yet multiplying (Acts 8)

Exile wounds deeply. Memories are present for those who are displaced. But it never nullifies God’s promises. My family’s escape from Iran-Iraq belongs to this pattern. The personal memoir describes hardship, fear, and loss, and echoes the language of exile. Land was left behind. Security was forfeited. Faith endured. Jeremiah instructed the exiles to build and plant (Jeremiah 29:7). Assyrian Christians have done precisely that over the centuries. Survival becomes obedience.

Isaiah 19: A Future Hope for Assyria.

One of the most remarkable passages in Scripture concerning the Middle East is Isaiah 19. The chapter begins with judgment upon Egypt and internal national upheaval. But it does not end there. 

It moves forward to restoration: 

“In that day there will be an altar to the Lord in the midst of the land of Egypt…” (Isaiah 19:19). 

Then comes this astonishing declaration: 

“Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance” (Isaiah 19:25).

Notice what the prophecy anticipates:

• Egypt is turning to the Lord.
• Assyria is identified as “the work of my hands.”
• A highway connecting Egypt and Assyria.
• United worship centered on the Lord.

This vision has never been fully realized in recorded history. It points forward to a future day when these historic lands, so often defined by conflict, will experience open acknowledgment of the Lord’s reign. Isaiah 19 does not describe a mere metaphor. It names real nations, real geography, and a future transformation under divine rule.

For Assyrian Christians, this is profoundly significant. Assyria is not only remembered as an empire of conquest. In God’s redemptive plan, Assyria is named with covenant language.

The present instability does not cancel that future promise.

Gospel Labor That Strengthened the Church.

Throughout modern history, gospel workers invested deeply among Assyrian Christians during seasons of upheaval. God raised up faithful witnesses to reach nominal Christians in the Middle East. These servants of the Lord reminded the Assyrians of their ancient past and the sovereign Lord who raises up and puts down. 

In the nineteenth century, Presbyterian missionary William Ambrose Shedd served in Urmia (modern-day Iran). The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago is named after the family.  He promoted biblical literacy, strengthened theological education, and ultimately died in 1918 while assisting Assyrian refugees during wartime chaos. His life and ministry are documented in Mary Shedd’s biography The Measure of a Man, and his theological reflections appear in Islam and the Oriental Churches (3).  

John B. Joseph records how American Presbyterian missions shaped ecclesial reform and education among Assyrian Christians during politically unstable decades. He carefully examined how Assyrians (often called “Nestorians” in earlier Western literature) understood their identity:

• As heirs of the ancient Church of the East
• As a distinct ethnic people within the Ottoman and Persian empires
• As a Christian minority navigating Muslim-majority societies

He argued that the Western missionary presence unintentionally highlighted the plight and national consciousness of Assyrians globally. Missionary schools, printing presses, and theological engagement helped foster literacy and historical awareness, which in turn strengthened emerging Assyrian nationalism in the 19th and early 20th centuries (2).  

In the twentieth century, Methodist evangelist E. Stanley Jones traveled widely across the Middle East. Though best known for his ministry in India, he emphasized presenting Christ as a living Lord, rather than merely as inherited tradition, encouraging renewal within ancient Christian communities navigating modern pressures. His kingdom-centered theology is articulated in The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person (4).  

Biographical treatments by Robert Riddell and Steve Harper trace Jones’ global evangelistic influence and his engagement across the broader Near Eastern context (5).  Later, discipleship movements such as The Navigators strengthened engagement with Scripture and personal evangelism throughout the region. 

Empires shifted, but the gospel continues to advance even in tyranny. 

The Present Moment.

Today, Assyrian Christians in Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon face renewed uncertainty. History shows that when powerful nations confront one another, minority communities often suffer disproportionately.

But from a biblical theology perspective, God continues to reign:

• God preserves a remnant (Isaiah 10:20–22; Romans 11:5).
• We receive an unshakable kingdom (Hebrews 12:28).
• Christ will visibly reign over the nations (Psalm 2; Revelation 19).

My grandparents’ faith survived exile. That survival was providential. And Isaiah 19 assures us that the story of Assyria is not finished.

Assyrian Christians have lived between empires for centuries, from Roman to Persian, from Ottoman to Russian, from nationalist regimes to extremist movements. And now again, regional and global powers collide. Political leaders rise and fall. Strongmen are challenged. History turns once more.

Many in the West have known relative stability. But the Assyrian story has long been marked by exile, displacement, and survival. Yet Scripture points forward to a coming day when the Lord’s reign will be openly acknowledged across the lands of Egypt, Assyria, and Israel. Nations rage. Borders shift. Empires rise and fall.

But there is a day coming when former enemies will worship together. Until then, Assyrian Christians fight to survive between empires, clinging to Christ, preserving worship, and passing faith to the next generation. The present crisis is real, but it is not the final chapter.

References

1. Christoph Baumer, The Church of the East: An Illustrated History of Assyrian Christianity (London: I.B. Tauris, 2006).

2. John B. Joseph, The Nestorians and Their Muslim Neighbors: A Study of Western Influence on Their Relations (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1961).

3. Mary Shedd, The Measure of a Man: The Life of William Ambrose Shedd (New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1922); William Ambrose Shedd, Islam and the Oriental Churches: Their Historical Relations (Philadelphia: Presbyterian Board of Publication, 1904).

4. E. Stanley Jones, The Unshakable Kingdom and the Unchanging Person (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1972).

5. Robert Riddell, E. Stanley Jones: The Indomitable Evangelist (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1977); Steve Harper, The Fire of Love: The Life of E. Stanley Jones (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003).