Armageddon
This is one of those topics that more people have heard about than understand. If you ask the average person on the street what this is, they’ll probably either not know or say that it’s the end of the world-ish.
If you ask a theologian, there’s no telling what you’ll hear back. No, really.
Well, if you are not sure what Armageddon is, keep reading, ‘cause you’re about to find out.
If you’ve already read the first six pamphlets in this series, then you probably have a good idea of what Armageddon is. But because it’s such a huge turning point, I thought I’d devote an entire leaflet to it.
The Setting
Every battle or war has a Theater of Operations. The place where this battle takes place is Israel—all of Israel.
By the time the troops have fully assembled on the mountains, hills, valleys, and plains of Israel for this epic showdown, Jerusalem has already been sacked (3½ years earlier) and probably lies in rubble. All of its in-habitants are either relo-cated or dead. If relocated, either into slavery (yes, that still exists) or protective exile in the wilderness, under God’s watchful care.
The battle is named for the place where antichrist will pitch his tents (so to speak) in the valley of Megiddo (this page’s background image).
It’s a real place; not just a notion or a concept. The combatants are going to be antichrist and his entire coalition army on one side, and Jesus, His angel armies, His newly glorified saints, and probably a few surviving mortals on the other side.
We know that at least a 200 million-man army will march from the East to Israel for this conflict. They will cross over the Euphrates River on their way there.
Then the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great Euphrates River, and it dried up so that the kings from the east could march their armies toward the west without hindrance. And I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs leap from the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. They are demonic spirits who work miracles and go out to all the rulers of the world to gather them for battle against the Lord on that great judgment day of God the Almighty.
(Revelation 16:12-14, NLT)
So demons will inspire world leaders to go to Armageddon. But God does some coaxing as well. He says to Gog, the antichrist,
I will turn you around and drive you toward the mountains of Israel, bringing you from the distant north.
(Ezekiel 39:2, NLT)
So it’s easy to say that both sides are ready for a fight.
Obviously, Gog has no chance of survival whatsoever, much less victory. He will be killed in that place. And then the Lord will do something interesting.
He takes the antichrist and his false prophet and He throws them both alive and kicking into the Lake of Burning Sulfur, which has been prepared for Satan and his demons.
I say “alive” because that’s what John says in Revelation 19:20. But we also know that Jesus kills them all when He shows up at Megiddo. So what’s the solution?
John tells us about the resurrection of people for judgment. When they go to stand before the Judge (Jesus), they will first be resurrected before they arrive for their hearing (see Revelation 20:5). I think we can safely assume the same thing for the antichrist and his partner.
Inevitability
It must weigh on the enemy’s mind to know that this conflict is inevitable. No matter how evil he is toward us, he cannot escape his fate. He WILL make a final stand in Israel. He WILL be thrown into the abyss (oh, sorry, the enemy here is Satan, not antichrist). He will be in his prison for a thousand years, with his brethren in evil, those fallen angels.
The demons cannot escape their angelic brothers of the light. They are pursued and captured and jailed. Their time of paying for their rebellion is about to begin.
“Gog and Magog”
There is a misunderstanding going around that the battle of Armageddon transpires during the Millennium.
This is not just wrong; it’s nonsensical. Not to pick on its proponents, because I know how confusing all of this can be, but it cannot be in that time. No, it has to take place as presented in this timeline because of many factors. I’ll just name a few.
1) Antichrist is a human being. He cannot be in two epochs separated by a thousand years in a state of mortal humanity. There is no indication that God will cause him to live that long.
To the contrary, God says that He will kill antichrist at the battle of Armageddon, which He shows to be just before His Earthly Reign begins.
2) Too many factors hold the events of Ezekiel 38 and 39 where they are in the timeline to try to unwind it all just for this one mention in Revelation.
3) The mention of “Gog and Magog” in the telling of the Millennium (Rev. 20:8) is nothing more than harkening back to that last stand of mankind and demons before Jesus took charge. It is letting the reader know that the rebellion of the millennial period will be of the same nature, scope, and theater as the famous last stand of antichrist, as told by Ezekiel. That’s all.
This Armageddon battle is the end of Ezekiel’s War. It’s the end of mankind screwing things up on Earth. It’s the end of Demons in our heads, and viruses in our blood. It’s the end of violence and blood-shed. No more war (except for that last rebellion at the end of the Millennium). It’s the end of the apocalypse.
The Perfect Ending
Armageddon will be of appropriately large scope for its significance. It is a satisfying and appropriate climax to the previous six-thousand years on planet Earth. It is global and realm-crossing in its impact and it will be a battle remembered for all time. Nothing more significant could occur at this time than the immediate reversal of all the harm and evil injustice done in this world.
It is impossible to overstate the impact of a good God’s rule, versus that of an evil dictator. And if anyone knows how to write a good storyline, it’s the Creator of Life; Abba, Jesus Christ, and Their Holy Spirit.
Armageddon isn’t all darkness and woe; it’s victory over darkness and woe’s last stand. They will be utterly removed from earth, with noplace to go but down.
Join me in viewing Armageddon as the positive and hopeful event that it will be (unless you are on the enemy’s side—in that case it will be darkness and woe).
It’s Everywhere
I’ve been writing about the battlefield where the armies against God meet their end, but there are other people in the world who are fighting back against Jesus’ takeover. It’s all to no avail, of course, but realize that the entire world is bracing against the Lord’s advance.
“The place will be littered with corpses, and you will know that I alone am the Lord.” ~ Adonai
(Ezekiel 6:7, NLT)
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