Gathered Together to Make War

And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great.” Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against the rider on the horse and his army. (Revelation 19:17-19, NIV 1984).

My Musings – “Gathered together.” Not just coming together as allies against a common foe. But gathering together at a specific place. “They gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.” (Revelation 16:16, NIV 1984). Armageddon, the location of the final cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil.

The word Armageddon is a transliteration into Greek of an unknown Hebrew word. Perhaps the location was known once upon a time, but today there is no known place that is called Armageddon. One suggestion is that it refers to a Mount Magedon, though no mountain known by that name either. This had led some scholars to believe that there has been some corruption of the text. Others suggest that it means Mount Megiddo, possibly referring to Mount Carmel, which is only five miles northeast of the city of Megiddo.

The city of Megiddo was the site of many well-known ancient battles (Deborah and Barak versus the Canaanite king Sisera, Judges 5:19; Jehu versus Ahaziah, 2 Kings 9:27; Josiah versus Neco, 2 Kings 23:29). Thus, an area associated with this city (or with this name) may have seemed an appropriate site for the ultimate world conflict to occur.

It is also possible, however, that the term is meant figuratively (“mount of assembly” or “his fruitful mountain”), in which case an association with Megiddo would not necessarily be implied and the intended location of Armageddon (if, indeed, any literal place was meant) cannot be determined. Nevertheless, the two leading candidates considered by Bible scholars are noted below.

Megiddo – Megiddo is located about halfway between Mt. Carmel on the west and Mt. Gilboa on the east in the triangular Plain of Esdraelon. Jesus often viewed this plain as He looked across the valley from Nazareth on the north to Megiddo on the south. The size of the plain is about 15 miles by 15 miles by 20 miles.  The plain has access on the west to the Mediterranean Sea at the port of Haifa. It also has access to the Jordan Valley through the Valley of Jezreel on the east. The Pass of Megiddo gives access to the south via the Way of the Sea and across the Carmel range. To the north, the ancient route ran northeast from the plain to the Sea of Galilee and then into Syria and Mesopotamia.  Therefore, Armageddon is accessible from all the points of the compass and certainly capable of gathering multiple armies together.

Tophet – Another potential spot for the Battle of Armageddon that is identified by the prophet Jeremiah (Jeremiah 7:31–33, 19:6) is Tophet.  Tophet is likely the point where the valleys of Tyropoeon, Hinnom, and Kidron meet (south of Jerusalem). The Talmud locates the mouth of hell here. The Arabs call the lower end of Hinnom the Valley of Hell.  In Jesus’ day, the city’s garbage dump was located here. The fighting in 70 AD ended there. As many as 600,000 bodies of Jews were carried through the Dung Gate to be buried in Tophet.  Thus, Tophet may be a logical spot for the Battle of Armageddon to reach its climax in the second coming of Christ with His saints.

My Advice – On September 2, 1945, standing on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo harbor, General Douglas MacArthur accepted the unconditional surrender of Japan that ended World War II.  To commemorate the occasion, he uttered a profound warning. “We have had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological …. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.”

Nearly eighty years have come and gone. We have had multiple smaller wars since then. Thus far miraculously avoiding a conflict that escalates into World War III. Miraculously, because only the restraining hand of has held it back. Someday, that hand will be withdrawn, and He will send His Son to the war that will indeed end all wars. At least this side of the millennium. The spirit of some will be saved, but the birds of the air will “eat the flesh of kings, generals, and mighty men, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, small and great.”

You must “be of the spirit if [you] are to save [your soul}.” But if you have not already done so, you must act now. For one never knows when they “have had [their] last chance.” Don’t wait around for someone to “devise some greater and more equitable system.” There is “none greater [or] more equitable” (for us) than the cross.

Resources:

Boraas, R. S., & Powell, M. A. (2011). Armageddon. In M. A. Powell (Ed.), The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (Revised and Updated) (Third Edition., p. 50). New York: HarperCollins.

Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 164-165). Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.

Tan, P. L. (1996). Encyclopedia of 7700 Illustrations: Signs of the Times (p. 1198). Garland, TX: Bible Communications, Inc.