INTRODUCTION

What mystery and confusion surround this word, “Armageddon.”  It strikes fear in the hearts of religious and non-religious people.  Men and women wake up in the middle of the night to some strange noise and wonder if the Battle of Armageddon is starting.  Most denominations have built doctrinal structures around the word.  But what did the Battle of Armageddon mean to the first century readers of the book of Revelation?  What did it mean to John?  What it meant to them at that time will be its true meaning.

      Notice some excerpts from Hal Lindsey’s book, The Late Great Planet Earth. 
 

The Beginning of the End

      “At the time of the end the king of the south shall attack him (Israeli leader)” (Daniel 11:40a).

      We have identified the characters of this passage.  The Arab-African confederacy headed by Egypt (King of the South) launches an invasion of Israel.  This fatal mistake spells their doom and begins the Armageddon campaign.  “...but the king of the north shall rush upon him (the Israeli leader) like a whirlwind, with chariots (mechanized army) and horsemen (cavalry), and with many ships”  (Daniel 11:40b).

      Russia and her allies use this occasion to launch an invasion of the Middle East, which Russia has longed to do since the Napoleonic wars.  Ezekiel 38 describes the development of this great Russian force, and its plan to attack Israel.

      The Russians will make a great tactical blunder by invading Israel.  They will construe the defenseless posture of Israel, who will be trusting in the Antichrist’s protection, as an opportunity to finally conquer the great land bridge of the Middle East.  They will be motivated by the great material wealth of the restored nation of Israel.  Their purpose is thus revealed by Ezekiel “… to seize spoil and carry off plunder….”

      Ten years of uninterrupted industry there will make Palestine the richest concentration of treasure this world has so far witnessed….

      The prophetic indication is that Israel will become one of the most prosperous nations on earth during the reign of the Antichrist.…

The Classic Double-cross

      When the Russians invade the Middle East with amphibious and mechanized land forces, they will make a “blitzkrieg” type of offensive through the area.  As Daniel saw it centuries ago:  “… and he (Russians) shall come into countries (of the Middle-East) and shall overflow and pass through.  He will come into the glorious land (Israel).  And tens of thousands shall fall” (Daniel 11:40b, 41a).

      As previously quoted the Russians will make both an amphibious and land invasion of Israel.  The current build-up of Russian ships in the Mediterranean serves as another significant sign of the possible nearness of Armageddon.  They now have more ships in the Mediterranean than the United States, according to several recent news releases.  The amphibious landings will facilitate a rapid encirclement of the middle section of “the land bridge.”

      The might of the Red Army is predicted.  It will sweep over the Arab countries as well as Israel in a rapid assault over to Egypt to secure the entire land bridge.  It is at this point that Russia double-crosses the United Arab Republic leader, Egypt.  After sweeping over tens of thousands of people Daniel says of the Red Army: “He shall stretch out his hand against the countries (i.e. Arab countries of the Middle East), and the land of  Egypt shall not escape.  He (Russian leader) shall become ruler of the treasures of gold and of silver, and all the precious things of Egypt; and the Libyans (African Arabs) and the Ethiopians (African blacks) shall follow in his train” (Daniel 11:42, 43). 

     The Russian force will establish command headquarters on Mount Moriah or the Temple area of Jerusalem.

The Russian Waterloo

      Ezekiel sounded the fatal collapse of the Red Army centuries ago, when inspired by the Spirit of the living God he said:  “But on that day, when Gog shall come against the land of Israel, says the Lord God, my wrath will be roused.  For in my jealousy and in my blazing wrath I declare, On that day there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel; the fish of the sea, and the birds of the air, and the beasts of the field, and all creeping things that creep on the ground, and all the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall quake at my presence and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the cliffs shall fall, and every wall shall tremble to the ground.  I will summon every kind of terror against Gog, says the Lord God; every man’s sword will be against his brother.  With pestilence and bloodshed I will enter into judgment with him; and I will rain upon him and his hordes and the many peoples that are with him torrential rains and hailstones, fire and brimstone:  (Ezekiel 38:18-22).

     The description of torrents of fire and brimstone raining down upon the Red Army, coupled with an unprecedented shaking of the land of Israel could well be describing the use of tactical nuclear weapons against them by the Romans.  It explicitly says that this force would fall “in the open field,” so apparently this position enables the use of nuclear weapons. 
 
What About the United States? 

      The United States may be aligned with the Western forces headed by the ten-nation Revived Roman Empire of Europe.  It is clear that the U.S. cannot be the leader of the West in the future.  It is quite possible that Ezekiel was referring to the U.S. in part when he said: “I will send fire—upon those who dwell securely in the coastlands…”  

The Greatest Battle of All Time

      With the United Arab and African armies neutralized by the Russian invasion, and the consequent complete annihilation of the Russian forces and their homeland, we have only two great spheres of power left to fight the final climactic battle of Armageddon:  The combined  forces  of the Western civilization united under the leadership of the Roman Dictator and the vast hordes of the Orient probably united under the Red Chinese war machine.

 The Mobilization

      The Chinese, as previously discussed, will be the most logical leader of this great army.  They will use the chaos caused by this conflict in the Middle East to march against the Roman Dictator in a challenge for world control.  

      As this incredible Oriental army of 200 million soldiers marches to  the eastern banks of the Euphrates, the Roman Dictator will begin to prepare his armies to meet them for the showdown in the Middle East.  The apostle John predicts the supernatural power that the Antichrist and the False Prophet will use to gather all  remaining nations together to confront the Oriental armies: “And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon [Satan] and out of the mouth of the beast [Roman Dictator] and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings  of the whole world, to gather them together for war of the great day of God, the Almighty.  And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called  Armageddon” (Revelation 16:13, 14, 16 NASB). 

World-wide Destruction

      The conflict will not be limited to the Middle East.  The apostle John warns that when these two great forces meet in battle the greatest shock wave ever to hit the earth will occur.  Whether by natural force of an earthquake or by some super weapon isn’t clear.  John says that all the cities of the nations will be destroyed (Revelation 16:19).

      Imagine, cities like London, Paris, Tokyo, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago—obliterated!  John says that the Eastern force alone will wipe out a third of the earth’s population (Revelation 9:15-18).

The Greatest Moment

      As the Battle of Armageddon reaches its awful climax and it appears that all life will be destroyed on earth—in this very moment Jesus Christ will return and save man from self-extinction.

 
This kind of wild speculation has heavily denominational thinking on “end things,” including Armageddon.   Hal Lindsey wrote this book well before the collapse of the powerful Soviet Union.  At that time Russia was a great world power, which made this all more convincing to many denominational people.

DISCUSSION

I.   ARMAGEDDON – A BATTLE.

      We find this word Armageddon in Revelation 16:14-16:  “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.  Behold, I come as a thief.  Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.  And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” 

      To understand the word Armageddon we must understand the content of chapter 16, which means we must understand something about the book of Revelation.  The word revelation (Greek, Apokalupsis) means to uncover or to unveil.  This book uncovers or unveils the things facing the church in the first century through symbols, signs, imagery.  Apocalyptic literature arises out of difficult times, dangerous times, threatening times.  The purpose was to bring comfort, assurance and courage to those receiving the message.  At the same time things are unveiled, things are also concealed from the enemies of God.  Our early brethren understood these symbols since they understood the Old Testament scripture.  Many of them were Jewish, and they still had spiritual gifts.  Some other apocalyptic books are Daniel, Ezekiel, and Zechariah.

      The book of Revelation describes a battle between Christ (and His allies)  and Satan (and his allies)--between good and evil.  It shows that Christ and His kingdom would be victorious over the chaotic world conditions of the first century and will be victorious over similar conditions in every age until the end of time.  One will notice the reward to those who “overcome” from the letters to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. 

      This battle between all the allies of Satan, and Christ and His allies, sums up the whole message of the book of Revelation and is in turn summarized in 17:14. “These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them:  for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings:  and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and faithful.”  It is a book of the victory of righteousness over evil.  These two forces meet in combat time after time.  It may appear that wickedness will win, but the righteous cause emerges victorious.

      From Revelation 1:1, we find those things recorded were things which “must” shortly come to pass.  “Must” is an imperative.  There is moral necessity for the “must” to happen.  It was to happen shortly, not 1000, 2000, or 5000 years into the future:  “… for the time is at hand” (Revelation 1:3).  In Matthew 4:17, when Jesus said, “Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand,” He was talking of a time span of about three years.   John then says that it was “signified.”  That is, it was written using symbols and numbers to express spiritual ideas.  Keep in mind that at the time John wrote this book, whether in the 60s or 90s A.D., the church was suffering great persecution.

II.   WHAT IS THE BACKGROUND OF ARMAGEDDON?

      This word Armageddon is only found in Revelation 16:16.  John  designates this word as being Hebrew, but it nowhere appears in the Hebrew Old Testament.  It is generally agreed that har means mountain or mountains and that magedon refers to Megiddo, a place where many notable battles have been fought.  Megiddo was a “hill” town (see Joshua 17:11).  Here the armies of Israel defeated Sisera and his army (Judges 5:19).  It was also the scene of a battle between Josiah and Pharaoh Nechoh (2 Kings 23:29; 2 Chronicles 35:22).  Megiddo was a strategic city in the protection of Israel and Judah since it guarded the northern boundary.

      J. L. Hurlbut says, “More battles have been fought on this plain than any other in the world” (A Bible Atlas p.15).   Of course, we do not believe John is writing about a literal battle in a literal place.  Nor do we believe that the three unclean spirits which came out of the mouth of the dragon were literally frogs.

      To use a place to emphasize a spiritual matter is done often in scripture.  For example, the idea of Gehenna comes from the valley of Hinnom, which is on the south side of Jerusalem and was famous for the pagan rites, especially the sacrificing of children that was done there.  In the New Testament, the word Gehenna came to mean the place of eternal punishmen (Matthew 10:28).  In Mark 9:48, it is described as a place where the “fire is not quenched.”  Thus it is a place used as a dump where the debris burned continually, and the place where human sacrifices had been made became a symbol for eternal punishment.  On the day of judgment the lost will not be cast into the literal Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem for that place merely symbolizes eternal punishment.
 

III.   REVELATION 16.

      This chapter records the pouring out of seven vials of wrath on the earth.  That is, wrath was poured out on the people on the earth who had received the mark of the beast and who had worshipped his image.  These vials will not affect God’s people but they will affect the wicked.

      The number seven is used over and over in this book to represent perfection.  In chapters 6-8, we have the record of the opening of seven seals.  They represent Christ’s going forth to conquer with the gospel.  Where Christ goes the forces of Satan are following not far behind, so we see bloodshed, famine, death, etc. 

      Following the opening of the seven seals, we read of seven trumpets sounding and then the pouring out of seven vials of wrath.  Notice how similar the trumpets are to the vials.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Similarities Between Seven Trumpets (Revelation 8-11) and Seven Vials (Revelation 16),
 
                     Seven Trumpets                                             Seven Vials

1.  Cast upon the earth.                                     1.  Poured out upon the earth.
2.  Cast into the sea.                                           2.  Upon the sea.
3.  Fell upon rivers and fountains of water.    3.  Rivers and fountains of water.
4.  Sun, moon, stars smitten so that they       4.  Upon the sun.
     were darkened.                          
5.  Star fell from heaven with key to                5.  Seat of beast, his kingdom 
     bottomless pit, locusts caused            was full of darkness.
     darkening of the sun.
6.  River Euphrates.     6.  River Euphrates.
7.  Lightening, voices, thundering,                 7.  Upon the air, great voice, 
     earthquake, great hail.                                    thunder, lightning, great  
            earthquake.

      It is easy to see the similarities between these two groups of seven.  The difference is that the seven trumpets were warnings of partial judgment with the purpose being to bring men to repentance.  Trumpets sound a warning.  In the first four trumpets we find that a third part of the earth, sea, rivers, fountains of water, sun, moon, and stars were affected.  The locusts of trumpet five could not kill, only torment the wicked.   Under the sixth trumpet the four angels who had been bound in the Euphrates River were loosed to slay the third part of men.   Then, from Revelation 9:20, we see that those not killed by the plagues (trumpets) did not repent.  When the seventh trumpet sounds we find judgment against the wicked: “...thy wrath is come, and the time of the dead, that they should be judged, and that thou shouldest owe reward unto thy servants the prophets, and to the saints…. ”(Revelation 11:18).

      It appears beginning with Revelation 12 we find the events from chapters 6-11 being covered again.  It is rather like reading the headlines of your newspaper and then turning and reading the details that support the headlines. 

      In  Revelation 16, we have fire, frogs, blood, sore, and such like, which remind us of the plagues against Egypt when Israel was delivered from slavery.  Israel cried out for deliverance from the cruel bondage.  In the book of Revelation at the opening of the fifth seal (Revelation 6:9-11), the souls of Christians who had been slain for the word of God cried out with a loud voice and asked, “How long, O Lord, holy and true until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?”
 
      Thus the pouring out of the seven vials represents the victory of Christ and His followers over the allies of Satan.  It seems from Revelation 6:10, that this victory was over those who dwelt on the earth while they were still alive on the earth.  Thus chapter 16 describes their vindication.   Actually, the battle is not fought in chapter 16.  Here we have the preparation for it.  The battle is actually fought in Chapter 19.

      Let us look more closely as the sixth angel pours his vial out in Chapter sixteen:

      Verse 12:  When this sixth bowl was poured out, it was on the Euphrates River.  Its water dried up so that their kings (enemies of God) could come from the East.  The Euphrates River was a natural border between the East and West.  Here it symbolizes a barrier to invasion.  But it is dried up.  It is no longer a barrier.    All restraining power holding back judgment against the wicked has been removed.

      Verse 13:  Out of the mouth of the beast and false prophet come three unclean spirits,  like  frogs.  Remember that in Revelation 12:15, the serpent spewed out of his mouth water as a river that he might carry away the woman (the people of God).  That which proceeded from his mouth were lies, false teaching, malicious reports, enticing words, seduction, and wickedness.  But remember the earth (its people) swallowed up this outpouring.  Since the unclean spirits came out of the mouth of the dragon, mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, I believe that this is symbolic of false teaching.

      Verse 14:  These demons worked fraudulent miracles, perhaps like the magicians in Egypt, convincing the unbelievers by their delusions and then gathering the kings of the earth for the great battle against God.

      Verse 15:   Another voice broke in and said, “I come as a thief.  Blessed is the person who is watchful and undefiled at the coming of the Lord.”   This must be Christ.   This has reference to the fact that Jesus will come without warning, as a thief comes (Luke 12:39).

      Verse 16:   Here John uses this place of great battles to symbolically describe a great spiritual battle between the forces of Satan and the forces of Christ.  This battle was fought and won by our Lord in the first century over pagan Rome and its allies through whom Satan worked.

    While Revelation 16 sounds like the final judgment of God against the enemies of Christ, and perhaps that is one meaning, the final judgment does not occur until Revelation chapter 20.  We conclude John uses symbolic language to describe a spiritual battle between the army of Christ and the army of Satan.  Satan’s allies were the Roman Empire and its seductive, pagan, emperor- worshipping power.  In many ways, in every generation we each fight our own battle of Armageddon!

      In Revelation 18, God’s judgment against the great harlot is described.  In chapter 19, the destruction of the sea beast (pagan, anti-Christian Rome) and the land beast (false prophet, false religion, Emperor worship) is recorded.  Only Satan is left and he will be dealt with:  “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Revelation 20:10).     Immediately following this we have the judgment day and the opening of the books.  Then we read of the beautiful new heaven and new earth where God shall wipe away all tears (Revelation 21:4).

CONCLUSION

      The visions of Revelation 16 are used to show the ultimate victory of righteousness over the forces of evil.  It assured our early brethren of the certainty of the victory of Christ and His followers over the Roman Empire, the sea beast, land beast, and Babylon (spiritual seduction).

      Thus this battle of Armageddon is a great, decisive spiritual battle which would determine the future of each army.  It pictures the defeat of Rome (a beast-like government) and all her allies.  It means Christianity would not be destroyed.  Christ and His followers would actually be victorious over the great Roman Empire with its ungodly government.  This victory is described in Revelation 19:20,21. 

      Not only do we learn in Revelation 1 that these things must shortly come to pass, it is stated again in Revelation 22:6.  These were not things that were to happen far off into the future, but shortly.
     
      The lesson for us today is that Christ will triumph over the forces of evil in every age.  It may not always appear that way.  It did not appear that way in the first century, but as we learn from Revelation 4, God is on His throne.  He reigns!  

      It means that each of us, as individuals, is fighting the Battle of Armageddon daily.  Satan is our adversary.  He is described as a roaring lion walking about seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8).

      Thanks be to God that through Christ, we shall gain the victory!!! 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

ENDNOTES

1 Lindsey, Hal and C. C. Carlson, The Late Great Planet Earth, New York, Zondervan,  Bantam  Books,  1976 ,  pp.  142-152.  

        Ernest R. Burnette
                                                                              Duluth church of Christ
                                                                                  5422  Sugar Ridge Drive
                                                                             Sugar Hill, GA 30518