Armageddon

Armageddon
By Chris Schang

The greatest war the world will ever see will be the war of Armageddon. When people hear of the word Armageddon, all kinds of frightful images arise in their minds because of popular movies that have glorified the war as a climax of military power. Armageddon is quite often paired with doom and gloom at the end of the world. While Armageddon is a terrible event where the military forces of the world line up to do battle in Israel. The Lord Jesus Christ when he appears at his Second Coming will actually make quick work of his enemies. The Antichrist will have amassed his forces in Israel to try to hold on to Jerusalem and the state of Israel. The Antichrist will at first be preoccupied by the invading forces of the “kings of the east” which is often referred to the land east of the Euphrates River. This of course could include the Chinese, Indian, and Asia peoples of the East.

The Battle of Armageddon occurs near the very end of the Tribulation period. It is immediately followed by the Second coming of Jesus Christ. The ultimate purpose of the Tribulation period is for the redemption and regeneration of the chosen people – the Jews. The Second coming can’t happen until the Jewish people have a change of heart and call out for the Messiah. This is of course Jesus Christ, who they did not recognize the first time around. But during the second time around the nation of Israel will call out to the Lord with one consent and then he will return in what we refer to as the Second Coming.

As the Tribulation period starts with the unsealing of the scroll, and the unleashing of the seals, trumpets and bowls. These judgments help set the stage for the regeneration and redemption of the Jewish people as they cry out for the “one that they pierced”. Only until Israel cries out for the Lord Jesus will he return. Much of the anti-semitism in the world can be attributed to the fact that Satan knows that his fate is determined by whether the Jews are able to be saved and restored. This is why Satan has tried over the thousands of years of mankind’s existence to try to annihilate the Jewish people. We all have seen the horrible events and pictures associated with the Holocaust. Satan is very serious about trying to interfere with the redemption of Israel and mankind.

During the second half of the Tribulation period, Satan will begin a program of intense persecution of the Jewish people. This will be Satan’s final attempt to once and for all destroy the Jewish people. It is noteworthy that Satan will successfully destroy nearly two-thirds of the Jewish population during the Great Tribulation period. This persecution of the Jews will lead right up to the Armageddon conflict. The ultimate goal of the Armageddon conflict is to once and for all destroy the remaining one-third of the Jewish population that is left in Israel.

While the one world government (OWG) and one world religion (OWR) are in force during the Tribulation period the Antichrist and False Prophet will try to control the world and unify the various nations and religions in the world. Eventually the Antichrist will demand that all the nations, tribes, and people worship him as God on Earth. The False Prophet will see to it that the people of the Earth worship the Antichrist and take the dreaded mark of the beast. This mark of the beast will somehow be related to the infamous number 666.

It is noteworthy that during the Tribulation period a remnant of Jews will flee to the area of Petra which is in modern day Jordan, just across the boarder from modern Israel. Here the Bible states that the Lord has prepared a place for the faithful Jews who have come to faith in Him. It will be sort of a “wilderness” experience for them as the Tribulation judgments and plagues hit the rest of the world. But despite the terrible judgments and things going on in the world, the Lord has always been faithful to keep a remnant of Jews alive for his special purposes.

In the battle of Armageddon it will be the ultimate battle of the forces of good and evil. The Bible makes it clear that the Lord defeats his enemies, the Jewish people come to know Jesus as their Messiah, and the 1,000 year Millennial Kingdom is setup shortly thereafter. The battle of Armageddon will be so massive that the Lord noted in the Bible that if he did not return when he did that no flesh would be saved on earth. God will simply not allow mankind to destroy himself.

The Bible tells us about the end times events so that we can have faith in the Lord that he will conquer evil in the end and that he will fulfill his promises to mankind to restore us to glory as it was prior to the fall of mankind. Christians today need not worry about the battle of Armageddon as the rapture of the church will whisk us away before the start of the seven year Tribulation period. This is the promise of the Lord that he would keep us from the hour of testing that will come upon the world. This is often referred to as the blessed hope. Despite the terrible images of Armageddon and the rise of the Antichrist, rest assured that with your faith in the Lord Jesus you have nothing to worry about.

God bless.