Hebrew Highlights 147 Armageddon

Shalom. This is Yuval Shomron, coming to you from the studios of the High Adventure Global Broadcasting Network in Jerusalem.

The Battle of Armageddon is outlined in various verses in Ezekiel 38-39, and Revelations 16. The name comes from the Hebrew Har-Megidon, or Megiddo. This is actually a hill overlooking the Plain of Megiddo, or the Jezreel Valley.

When I say outlined, I mean just that. Although your imagination can run wild reading about the famous last battle, there are very few facts in the description. Even the major players, Gog and Magog, have been the center of centuries of debate. The truth is, nobody knows for sure who they might be.

“Now hang on”, you might say, “I read a book that explained the whole battle in great detail.” I’m sure you did. Many books have been written, and some of them may get close to the truth of the events which will take place after the great tribulation.

However, I would like to point something out. Never in history has any Biblical prophecy been fully understood BEFORE it happened. Let me say that again. NEVER in history has any Biblical prophecy been fully understood BEFORE it happened.

If anyone listening can think of one, I’ll be happy to eat my words.

I personally think it is a real shame that people write books, make movies, and get wealthy by playing on our emotions, using little understood clues sprinkled throughout the scriptures.

If you insist on reading a book, you may as well enjoy C.S. Lewis’s “The Last Battle.” At least Lewis admits that it is allegorical fiction, based on Biblical prophecy.

There is no doubt that the political center of the Great Battle will be Jerusalem, yet the physical brunt of the fighting will take place in the valley of Jezreel, or Armageddon. It is a natural area for staging battles, with large openings to the North, East, and West. Many battles took place there in the Bible.

On the Northern side of the valley, rises Nazareth. As a young boy growing up, Yeshua would have had a good few of this wide plain. I wonder if he cried as he pondered the blood flowing there as described by the prophets.

On the West end, the valley is overlooked by the Carmel Mountain ridge, and in particular, the site where Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal, another famous battle between good and evil.

So, what am I saying? Should we just ignore the prophecies about the last battle? Absolutely not. We should know them, and we should study them, and even discuss possible scenarios. Then, when the prophecy IS fulfilled, we will recognize it. What we SHOULD NOT do is claim to have all the answers right now.

Next time you run out to buy the latest book on the end times, remember, first of all, MAT 24:4, “And Jesus answered and said to them, "See to it that no one misleads you,” which started His answer to questions about the end times. His ending is even stronger, MAT 24:36 "But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father alone.”

Shalom Shalom from Jerusalem