The War of Armageddon

FACT OR FICTION

Rick Rapanos.

Armageddon is a word that we hear a lot about these days from various types of millennialist, or doomsday preacher’s, as I would call them. It is a subject that is controversial, and it seems that each teacher and preacher has his own interpretation. But as we know, anyone’s OWN interpretation is not Scriptural. Peter the Apostle makes it pretty clear that mankind does not have the authority to make his own private interpretation of the Holy Scriptures: 2 Peter 1:20-21, "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of ones own private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man, but by holy men of God who spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit." {See also 1 Corinthians 4: 6, NAB} {NAS}.

Only when we truly desire to have the Holy Spirit work through us and put aside all bias, all pre-conceived notions, all agenda’s, can we understand what we read and study, rightly dividing the word of truth as Timothy say's in his Epistle: 2Timothy 2:15 "Study to show thyself approved unto God, a workman that needs not be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. The problem is that when a person changes Scripture to mean something that it is not, then they are guilty of blasphemy, whether they like it or not, because you are calling the Holy Spirit a liar, because He is the author of the God breathed Word, as it say's in 2Timothy 3:16 " All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for training which is in righteousness." Also John 16:13.Another problem is that when the Holy Spirit is not guiding us in all truth, then how can we reproof, correct and train? We are like the blind leading the blind, and sadly, that's the way it is in many churches today.

From this, I will make it clear, and intend to show that present teaching on this subject is erroneous, and outdated. Erroneous, because the event is Scripturally outdated, because the event HAS already been fulfilled, almost two thousand years ago. In fact it was fulfilled in A.D.70 with the total destruction of the city of Jerusalem by the Roman armies.

The city of Jerusalem as we know it today, is NOT the focal point of Bible prophecy. This belief that it is the focal point has originated and been nurtured by various types of millennialist, but the Bible does not recognise this teaching. God DID say thousands of years ago through the prophet Ezekiel, in Ezekiel 5:5 " Thus saith the Lord God; This is Jerusalem, I have set her in the midst of the nations and countries that are round about her." But we see here in chapter 5 that Israel had rebelled against what God wanted them to be. God wanted them as a light to the nations, as it say's in Isaiah 49:6"And He said, it is a small thing that thou shouldest be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel. I will also give thee for a light to the gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth." But they refused and rejected their messiah and the Kingdom was taken from them, as we see in Matthew 21:43 "Therefore I say unto you, the Kingdom shall be taken from you, and given to a people brining forth the fruits thereof." And in John 1:11 say's " He came to His own and His own did not receive Him."

The Old Testament dealt with Jerusalem, e, g., in relationship to Assyria, Babylon, and other contemporary nations during those times. Where the point mentioned or obvious, we have language in the New Testament, which shows the first century as the "Last days", the "end of the age", "that day", the "end of the world". All meaning the last days of the Hebrew economy, the end of their Covenant. (Hebrews 8:13, Joel 2:1-2, Joel 2:28-32,Acts 2:16, Zechariah 14:1, Luke 21:20,22,32,34.Matthew 24:3).

Although Israel became a state in 1948, it is NOT related to Bible prophecy either, Why? Because the Temple was not rebuilt. Any "restoration" HAS to include the Temple being rebuilt. This of course did not happen. Many millennialist have tried to calculate the "end of the world" based on the date of 1948, but of course all have failed and in the process have made themselves look like fools and proven themselves to be false prophets. The Temple will NEVER be rebuilt, Why? For four reasons:

1) The most important one is that God said so. Read in Isaiah 25:2 "For thou hast made a city a heap; a fortified city into a ruin. A palace of strangers is a city no more. It shall never be rebuilt. "Many commentators have struggled with this verse to try and mean a city other than Jerusalem, but the context is clear, and I prefer to believe God rather than man.

2) It would be blasphemy for a Christian to believe and want God to rebuild the temple and re- establish the sacrificial system.

3) It was Christ who orchastrated the armies of Rome to come up against Jerusalem to accomplish His purpose in destroying the temple, and Jerusalem. Why would Christ allow what He Himself said in Revelation 21:5 "I make all things new"? Only to have the OLD come back again? It makes no sense.

4) It negates all that Christ came to accomplish in regards to redemption and salvation.

The futurist teaching is that Jesus the Messiah will return in the future, to earth to re-build the temple in Jerusalem, and reign there after gathering all the Jews from all over the earth and restoring them to their original land, then He will judge the world, and bring them together in the valley of ARMAGEDDON for the great war, where the blood shed will be so great that blood will rise in the valley up to a horses bridle! But as I have already noted, the temple will NEVER be re-built (Isaiah 25:1-2). Who are we to believe? God? Or the so-called "experts" on Biblical prophecy?

You hear of these so-called "experts", talk about the, "times of the Gentiles", where they make a 180 degree turn from the truth. The times of the Gentiles included the great so called, "Battle” of Armageddon". Men from ALL nations were included in the armies of Rome, as they were part of the Roman Empire. They fought in this battle of Armageddon in the first century, and has no basis in our future. It was fulfilled, just as the Old Testament prophets described.

In order for this great battle of Armageddon to take place in our future, it would be necessary to misapply Old Testament texts to find any passage that point to the twenty-first century in fulfilment. Have we given up keeping in mind WHEN the prophets spoke of Israel? For example, prophets like Ezekiel and Daniel spoke to Israel during times surrounding and involving the Babylonian captivity. Can we honestly select verses from this kind of setting and place them in our future? Can people be so ignorant as to believe the Scofields, Darby's and

Walvoords, who hyper-literalize the prophets and their teaching? Would not this be Blasphemy? REMEMBER that it was the Holy Spirit that gave the prophets words to speak.

THE ARMAGEDDON ( HAR-MAGEDON ) WARS

"Har" means, "Mountain" and "Magedon" refers to "Magiddo", a valley. Since the establishment of nations in the east, and Far East, when one nation rose up against another nation, the valley of Megiddo in the plane of Hadadrimmon, had been designated as the site where the Kings met with their armies to settle a dispute. It was chosen for it's strategic location. Battles were almost never fought in their own homeland among the woman and children. This place called Megiddo was well known before, and after the birth of Christ. (See 2 Chronicles 35:22-25, Judges 5:1-19, 2 Kings 23:29). In Revelation John uses this place to convey the imagery of intense suffering that will befall Israel (Zechariah 12:10-14) the description of the battle of ARMAGEDDON is the siege of Jerusalem fought in 70AD.

Now to give you some evidence for this Biblical event, which will show from Revelation and the Old Testament whom this war was intended for, and when. In Deuteronomy 28:1-14 God informs Israel of great blessings if they DILIGENTLY OBEY EVERY COMMAND. If they do not, then in Deuteronomy 28:15-47 God informs them that they will be cursed. Well, they did continue in sin and would not repent. They said NO to God, so God sent the King of Assyria to invade the ten northern tribes and carry them away in captivity, where they never returned, only Judah and Simeon remained. Simeon merged with Judah. So what God and the prophets are relating when the word Hadadrimmon, which is called in the English, ARMAGEDDON is used it is to denote the destruction of Israel, when all power would be taken from them (Genesis 49:10) and their Kingdom given to another nation which would bear fruit (Matthew 21:43).

Now, The chapter and verse in question is Revelation 16:16 "And they gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Har-Magedon." Isn't it interesting that John uses so many words, phrases, metaphors, similes, that a Jewish Christian would understand.

John was writing in Greek, but in the back of his mind he was thinking in Hebrew.

Who are the they that gathered them together? If your answer is the angels, then you are correct. Now look at the scriptures and ask yourself who it was that were to be gathered up? It is the angels throughout this chapter that is pouring out the bowls of wrath; it is the angels who will gather "THEM UP". The corrupt Jewish leaders, the scribes, Pharisees, Sadducees, and high priests. It was God who sent the angels to pour out the bowls of wrath upon Israel, and gather the Jews together for the war of Revelation 16:14, which was the war between Rome and Israel. The whole chapter of Revelation 16, and each verse is one context. To separate verse 16 from the rest of the chapter as the futurist does is just a scare tactic and is sin. The understanding of this verse is simple when you do not take it out of context.

Now we need to look at the Old Testament book of Zechariah chapter 12:1-14, for Zechariah informs us as to the same event. This whole chapter is also dedicated to one event and each verse is contained in one context, so no one verse can be lifted from the chapter as a special proof to accommodate man's opinion. This to is sin. Verse one states: The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel...... This word burden means "decree" or "message". This decree or message is given to Israel not to the Gentiles. You will find that the whole section from verses 1-14, it is talking about Jerusalem. It is Israel who will meet Rome in the Great War. Jerusalem will mourn as earlier people did in the valley of Megiddo.

It is important to notice verse 9 of chapter 12, and to understand what it means: And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. The futurist uses this as proof to say that ALL nations of the world will form an army of 200 million soldiers to come up against Jerusalem. Well, they are only partially correct. The Roman Empire did consist of ALL nations. In Daniel 2:31-43 King Nebuchadnezzar had a dream of a great statue. The first part being gold and representing the King. The second part was the Median Empire. The third part was of bronze, which represented the Grecian Empire. The fourth part of iron and clay was Rome. After Alexander the Great had conquered the known world he died, and his empire was divided between his four generals. Soon after this Rome began an invasion of the Grecian Empire, Israel being the last to come under Roman rule. When Rome conquered a nation and brought it under it's rule, the men from those nations were called into military service by Rome, so when Rome had conquered the known world, Rome had in fact men from ALL nations in it's army. When God said He would destroy all nations that came against Israel, He by no means meant a destruction such as was during the flood of Noah, where all living things would be destroyed. God was talking in terms of judgement, simply because they led His people to sin. So the judgement came in the first century and was actualised in the third century with the fall of the Roman Empire, the traditional time being 476AD when the last Roman Emperor, Augustulus Romulus was overthrown by the German barbarian General Odacer.

So, the world was judged, Israel, Jerusalem destroyed in A.D.70 during the 11th horn of Daniel 7:15-28. The11th horn was Vespasian the Emperor of Rome.

The futurist will also use Revelation 6:12-17 to try and prove their point of a future catastrophic event called ARMAGEDDON. But when they try to take scripture out of it's intended meaning, it is easy to refute their position. Revelation 6:12-17 is parallel language used in the Old Testament to indicate the fall and judgement of a nation by Jehovah. We see this in Isaiah 13:1,10,13. Isaiah 41:15,16, and Hosea 21:25,26. John's language in Revelation is also parallel to Jesus' language in Matthew 24:29, Mark13: 24, 25, and Luke 21:25, 26, concerning the destruction and judgement of Jerusalem. When you parallel this with Hebrews 12:26-29 and Peters sermon on Pentecost in Acts 2:14-39, you can easily see that Revelation 6:12-17 refers to the destruction of Jerusalem.

Notice the original Greek of Revelation 6:17 “Because came the day great of the wrath of them, and who can stand?” The word came is past, or present tense. The next word will prove came to be seen as past tense. It is the word them. Who are the them? The them are who Jesus referred to in Matthew 15:24, The lost sheep of the house of Israel. Now we see that Matthew 15:24 is talking about the Jewish nation, and also in Matthew 13:1-58. In Matthew 13:37-52 Jesus is speaking of the end of the age (the Jewish dispensation) and at the end of the age would come the terrible day of the Lord (Joel 2:11,31). Parallel Matthew chapter 13:1-52 with Malachi chapter 4 and Zephaniah chapter 1.

In this article we must also discuss the "binding of Satan." because the prevalent viewpoint today is that Satan is alive and well on planet earth. In Revelation 20:2 Satan is bound, but after a short time was loosed in order to stir up the nations. This parallels 1 Peter 5:8 where it says..... “Your adversary the devil as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour.”

After stirring up the nations we see in Revelation 20:10 that Satan “was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone.” This is a PAST TENSE EVENT. We can no longer get off the hook so to speak for our sins by saying, "the devil made me do it."

So, when was Satan bound? In the first century, during the judgement of Israel. When was the thousand years ended and Satan released? The term, thousand years is not to be taken as a literal thousand years, just as the key, and chain are not to be taken literally. Thousand years means: "Fullness of time". This was completed when the sentence of judgement was handed down against Judah in Revelation 20:4. 2 Peter 3:8 is parallel with 2Peter 3:9-18, and Revelation 20:1-15, and corresponds with the same time frame of Matthew 24:1-34 and Luke 21:20-32. This is also parallel to 1John 2:17-18 which reads: And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof, but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever. Little children, it is the last hour; and as ye have heard that antichrist shall come, even now are there many antichrists, whereby we know it is the last hour. In 1John 2:28 he speaks of the Lord's coming. In

1 Thessalonians 1:4-10 Paul informs us clearly that the Lord was coming in judgement, and would give relief in their lifetime, not for a people 2000 years into the future.

The war of ARMAGEDDON begins February 10, 67A.D. Satan is thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation 20:10. The Book of life was opened in Revelation 20:12. All first century events.

There have been way to many false predictions and false prophets to count in the last 40 years or so, but one of the biggest is Jack Van Impe. A man who has memorized over 15,000 Bible verses, but sadly does not understand what he has read. He continues to use scare tactics to promote his "Armageddon is coming soon " theology. In a 1993 video titled, "AD2000-The End"? He was insinuating Y2K would be the event that ushers in the tribulation. In an article in the January-February 1993 issue of the magazine, "Perhaps Today" he included a detailed chronology to show that the Lord would probably return in September 1999. In the January -February issue of "Perhaps Today," he claimed that the year 2001, will see the start of the great tribulation." Notice Van Impe uses words like, "could be", "probably" etc. Words like this help to get him off the hook if his prophecies don't come to pass. If they were to happen, then he could say, "see I told you so."

Another false prophet who makes millions by using scare tactics is Benny Hinn. On his program," This is your day" dated May 24,2000 he said," You know what days these are? The days of Elijah. We are in the days of Elijah! Fire is falling down from heaven." In November 7th 2000 on TBN'S fall Praise- A -Thon he said this: "Stop what you are doing and hear this! The Lord said to me last Saturday, I heard His voice in the church, and He said,' Tell them, time is running out,' and His voice coming in waves into my heart, 'Time is running ' and then there was a second voice, now hear me...'Tell the people, I am passing by many,' hear this- 'I am passing by many and if I pass by it will be as though I never knew them.' My friend were all being tested right now on whether we are gonna stick with this or walk away from it. Tonight is decision night. It is not only decision night for America, for the next four years, this is decision night for eternity. What you do for God tonight, you do it with your soul, and you do it for your life. This is not, my friend, just another Tel-A-Thon, this -this may very well be the last one. Time is so short people, I am telling you, never have I sensed it-I am telling you I am speaking to you prophetically."

These are just two out of literally hundreds of false teachers and false prophets operating in the US and Canada today. All making money off gullible Christians because they have no idea what the truth is. They get their Bible learning from TV preachers and spend millions on their books and tapes. Mega churches like Joel Osteen's church in Texas, and many others are also teaching false doctrine, and the false future battle of Armageddon.

We need to ask God for great discernment in understanding His word. We need to be well grounded in the word of God. For if all Christians WERE totally grounded in the word of God, this article would not be necessary.