The Campaign of Armageddon Begins
Phase 1 : The Antichrist’s Allies Assemble for War
Phase 2 : Commercial Babylon Is Destroyed
Phase 3 : Jerusalem Falls and Is Ravaged
Phase 4 : The Antichrist Moves South Against the Remnant
Phase 5 : Israel Endangered and Regenerated
Phase 6 : Jesus Christ Returns in Glory
Phase 7 : The Final Battle Erupts
Phase 8 : Christ Victoriously Ascends to the Mount of Olives
Scripture reveals that human suffering will steadily escalate during the seven-year tribulation period. First are the seal judgments, involving bloodshed, famine, death, economic upheaval, a great earthquake, and cosmic disturbances (Revelation 6). Then come the trumpet judgments, involving hail and fire mixed with blood, the sea turning to blood, water turning bitter, further cosmic disturbances, affliction by demonic scorpions, and the death of a third of humankind (Revelation 8:6–9:21). Then come the bowl judgments, involving horribly painful sores on human beings, more bodies of water turning to blood, the death of all sea creatures, people being scorched by the sun, total darkness engulfing the land, a devastating earthquake, and much more (Revelation 16).
Worse comes to worst, however, when these already traumatized human beings are engaged in a catastrophic war campaign called Armageddon (see Daniel 11:40-45; Joel 3:9-17; Zechariah 14:1-3; Revelation 16:14-16). This takes place at the very end of the tribulation period. Millions of people will perish in the worst escalation of conflict ever to hit the earth.
The word Armageddon literally means “Mount of Megiddo” and refers to a location about 60 miles north of Jerusalem. This is the location of Barak’s battle with the Canaanites (Judges 4) and Gideon’s battle with the Midianites (Judges 7). This will be the site for the final horrific battles of humankind just prior to the second coming.
Napoleon is reported to have once commented that this site is perhaps the greatest battlefield he had ever witnessed. Of course, the battles Napoleon fought will dim in comparison to Armageddon. So horrible will Armageddon be that no one would survive if it were not for Christ coming again (Matthew 24:22).
Armageddon will involve an extended, escalating conflict, and it will be catastrophic. In view of all that occurs at Armageddon, it would be wrong to refer to it as a battle, as if it were a single event. We will see that the campaign of Armageddon actually involves eight phases.
The allied armies of the antichrist will gather for the final destruction of the Jews. Demonic spirits “go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty…And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon” (Revelation 16:14,16).
The assembling of these armies actually takes place at the unleashing of the sixth bowl judgment. The Euphrates River will be dried up, thereby making it easier for the armies of the east to assemble. The Euphrates River—the longest river of Western Asia (almost 1800 miles)—begins in modern-day Turkey, heads toward the Mediterranean Sea, then turns south, flows more than 1000 miles, converges with the Tigris River, and then flows into the Persian Gulf. Many ancient cities, including Ur and Babylon, are located at various points along the river.
Who are the kings of the east? Bible scholars have varying opinions. In fact, a survey of 100 prophecy books reveals more than 50 different interpretations as to who they are. Some suggest that it may refer to the seven kings of Daniel 7 who have submitted to the authority of the antichrist. However, prophecy scholar John F. Walvoord suggests another interpretation.
The simplest and best explanation, however, is that this refers to kings or rulers from the Orient or East who will participate in the final world war. In the light of the context of this passage indicating the near approach of the second coming of Christ and the contemporary world situation in which the Orient today contains a large portion of the world’s population with tremendous military potential, any interpretation other than a literal one does not make sense.1
This is what makes the Euphrates River significant. This river is the primary water boundary between the Holy Land and Asia to the east. Theologian Charles Ryrie comments, “The armies of the nations of the Orient will be aided in their march toward Armageddon by the supernatural drying up of the Euphrates River.” The drying up of this river is predicted in Isaiah 11:15.
The goal of the coalition will be to once and for all destroy the Jewish people. Each member of the satanic trinity will be involved—Satan, the antichrist, and the false prophet. Demons will also be involved in summoning the kings of the earth.
The summons will be reinforced by demonic activity to make sure that the nations will indeed cooperate in assembling their armies together. These demonic messengers will be empowered to perform signs in order to assure compliance and defeat any reluctance to fall into line on the part of the other kings.2
Revelation 17–18 reveals that the antichrist will rebuild and revive Babylon in the end times. It will be a worldwide economic and religious center. When the late Saddam Hussein was in power, he spent more than a billion dollars in oil money to rebuild the city, essentially as a monument to himself.
Earlier in the book, I noted that the antichrist will set up headquarters in Jerusalem halfway through the tribulation period, when he will claim to be God and set up an image of himself in the Jewish temple.
At some point in the latter half of the tribulation period—we are not told precisely when—the antichrist will shift his headquarters to Babylon, which will become a global commercial center. Babylon at this time will likely be in control of the oil fields (and the money these fields generate) in the Middle East. This Babylonian commercial center will be destroyed during phase 2 of Armageddon.
What an irony we have here. While phase 1 of Armageddon is underway, with the antichrist preparing his armies to attack Israel, God will cause a military force to attack the antichrist’s headquarters of Babylon.
Several key passages describe the utter destruction of Babylon in association with Armageddon.
Because of the wrath of the LORD she shall not be inhabited but shall be an utter desolation; everyone who passes by Babylon shall be appalled, and hiss because of all her wounds. Set yourselves in array against Babylon all around, all you who bend the bow; shoot at her, spare no arrows, for she has sinned against the LORD…
How Babylon has become a horror among the nations! I set a snare for you and you were taken, O Babylon, and you did not know it; you were found and caught, because you opposed the LORD. The LORD has opened his armory and brought out the weapons of his wrath…
As when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and their neighboring cities, declares the LORD, so no man shall dwell there, and no son of man shall sojourn in her (Jeremiah 50:13-14,23-25,40).
Isaiah 13:19 informs us that Babylon “will be like Sodom and Gomorrah when God overthrew them.” The book of Revelation is graphic in its description of commercial Babylon’s destruction.
Then a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and threw it into the sea, saying, “So will Babylon the great city be thrown down with violence, and will be found no more; and the sound of harpists and musicians, of flute players and trumpeters, will be heard in you no more, and a craftsman of any craft will be found in you no more, and the sound of the mill will be heard in you no more, and the light of a lamp will shine in you no more, and the voice of bridegroom and bride will be heard in you no more, for your merchants were the great ones of the earth, and all nations were deceived by your sorcery. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints, and of all who have been slain on earth” (Revelation 18:21).
Who will attack Babylon and the antichrist? A military coalition from the north.
For behold, I am stirring up and bringing against Babylon a gathering of great nations, from the north country. And they shall array themselves against her…
Behold, a people comes from the north; a mighty nation and many kings are stirring from the farthest parts of the earth. They lay hold of bow and spear; they are cruel and have no mercy. The sound of them is like the roaring of the sea; they ride on horses, arrayed as a man for battle against you, O daughter of Babylon! (Jeremiah 50:9,41-42).
Just as God used the Babylonians in Old Testament times as His rod of judgment against Israel, so now God uses a northern coalition as His whipping rod against Babylon. Just as Babylon showed no mercy in its oppression of Israel, so God now shows no mercy to Babylon.
When Babylon is destroyed at the end of the tribulation period, the antichrist will not be present in the city. He will be told of its destruction by messengers (see Jeremiah 50:43; 51:31-32). He becomes all the more enraged.
Phase 2 of Armageddon involved the destruction of the antichrist’s capital of Babylon. However, even the destruction of his capital is not enough to distract him away from his goal of destroying the Jewish people. So instead of launching a counterattack against the northern military coalition that wiped out Babylon, the antichrist and his forces instead move south to attack Jerusalem. This constitutes phase 3 of Armageddon. We read about it in Zechariah 12:1-3.
Thus declares the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: “Behold, I am about to make Jerusalem a cup of staggering to all the surrounding peoples. The siege of Jerusalem will also be against Judah. On that day I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples. All who lift it will surely hurt themselves. And all the nations of the earth will gather against it.”
Zechariah 14:2 adds this: “I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city shall be taken and the houses plundered and the women raped. Half of the city shall go out into exile, but the rest of the people shall not be cut off from the city.”
Notice that all the nations of the world gather against Jerusalem. Sadly, many prophecy scholars believe this includes the United States. Elsewhere in this book I noted the strong possibility that following the rapture of the church, the United States will likely become an ally of the revived Roman Empire—the United States of Europe.
In any event, with heavy losses on both sides, Jerusalem will fall and be ravaged in the face of this overwhelming attack force. The antichrist’s armies gain initial victory. However, as we will see, Israel will soon attain ultimate victory through the direct intervention of its Messiah.
Not all of the Jews are in Jerusalem when the antichrist and his forces attack. Recall that in the middle of the tribulation period, the antichrist will break his covenant with Israel and exalt himself as deity, even putting an image of himself in the Jewish temple. Christ, in His Olivet Discourse, warns the Jews to flee for their lives as quickly as possible (Matthew 24:15-31). Many of the Jews apparently flee to the deserts and mountains (verse 16), perhaps in the area of Bozrah or Petra, about 80 miles south of Jerusalem. This escape from Jerusalem in described in Revelation 12.
The woman [a metaphor referring to Israel] fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days…The woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time (verses 6,14).
The antichrist now targets this remnant of Jews. They sense impending doom as the forces of the antichrist gather in the rugged wilderness, poised to attack and annihilate them. From an earthly perspective, they are helpless and defenseless. This sets the stage for phase 5 of Armageddon.
The remnant of Israel is endangered and acutely aware that the forces of the antichrist have gathered to destroy them. However, the Jews’ spiritual blindness is removed, and they call out to their Messiah, Jesus Christ, and experience national regeneration.
As a backdrop to understanding the significance of this, recall the words of the apostle Paul (himself a Jew who turned to the Messiah) in Romans 11:25: “I want you to understand this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.” Paul also tells us, “Israel who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness did not succeed in reaching that law. Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the stumbling stone,” which is Jesus Christ (Romans 9:31-32).
Put another way, Israel sought a relationship with God by means of a righteousness earned by keeping the law. Instead of seeking a faith-relationship with God through Christ, they instead sought to earn a relationship with God by doing everything that the law prescribed (see Galatians 2:16; 3:2,5,10).
Failure was unavoidable, for to attain righteousness by observing the law, the Jews would have had to keep it perfectly (James 2:10), which no man is capable of doing. To make matters worse, they refused to admit their inability to perfectly keep the law and turn by faith to God for His forgiveness. They rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah, refusing to turn to Him in faith, because He did not fit their preconceived ideas about the Messiah (see, for example, Matthew 12:14,24). They “stumbled” over Him.
As a result, a partial judicial blindness or hardness of heart came upon Israel. Israel thus lost her favored position before God, and the gospel was then preached to the Gentiles so the Jews would become jealous and be saved (Romans 11:11). Israel’s hardening and casting off is thus only temporary.
Now fast-forward to the campaign of Armageddon. The armies of the antichrist are gathered in the desert wilderness, poised to attack the Jewish remnant. At this desperate point, the Jews finally repent and turn to their divine Messiah.
Hosea 6:1-3 indicates that the Jewish leaders will call for the people of the nation to repent, and their collective repentance will take two days.
Come, let us return to the LORD; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the LORD; his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, as the spring rains that water the earth.
Whereas Jewish leaders once led the Jewish people to reject Jesus as their Messiah, now they urge repentance and instruct all to turn to Christ. This the remnant will do, and they will be saved.
This is in keeping with Joel 2:28-29, which informs us that there will be a spiritual awakening of the Jewish remnant. It would seem that Armageddon will be the historical context in which Israel finally becomes converted (Zechariah 12:2–13:1). In terms of chronology, the Israelites will confess their national sin (Leviticus 26:40-42; Jeremiah 3:11-18; Hosea 5:15) and then be saved, thereby fulfilling Paul’s prophecy in Romans 11:25-27. In dire threat at Armageddon, Israel will plead for their newly found Messiah to return and deliver them (Zechariah 12:10; Matthew 23:37-39; see also Isaiah 53:1-9), and their deliverance will surely come (see Romans 10:13-14). Israel’s leaders will have finally realized the reason why the tribulation has fallen on them—perhaps because the Holy Spirit will enlighten their understanding of Scripture, or because of the testimony of the 144,000 Jewish evangelists, or because of the testimony of the two prophetic witnesses.
It is sad to recognize that according to Zechariah 13:7-9, some two-thirds of the Jewish people will lose their lives during the tribulation period. However, one-third—the remnant—will survive, turn to the Lord, and be saved (see Isaiah 64:1-12).
Later, in the millennial kingdom, Israel will experience a full possession of the promised land and the reestablishment of the Davidic throne. It will be a time of physical and spiritual blessing, the basis of which is the new covenant (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
The prayers of the Jewish remnant are answered! The divine Messiah returns personally to rescue His people from danger. The very same Jesus who ascended into heaven comes again at the second coming (Acts 1:9-11).
The second coming will involve a visible, physical, bodily return of the glorified Jesus. Apokalupsis is a key New Testament Greek word used to describe the second coming of Christ. It carries the basic meaning of “revelation,” “visible disclosure,” “unveiling,” and “removing the cover” from something that is hidden. The word is used of Christ’s second coming in 1 Peter 4:13: “Rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed.”
Epiphaneia is another Greek word used of Christ’s second coming in the New Testament. It means “to appear” or “to shine forth.” In Titus 2:13 Paul speaks of “waiting for our blessed hope, the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.” In 1 Timothy 6:14 Paul urges Timothy to “keep the commandment unstained and free from reproach until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”
The second coming will be a universal experience in the sense that every eye will witness the event. “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him” (Revelation 1:7). Jesus referred to this as well. “Then will appear in heaven the sign of the Son of Man, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” (Matthew 24:30).
Moreover, in verse 29, Jesus explains that His return will be accompanied by magnificent signs in the heavens. Christ will come as the King of kings and Lord of lords with many crowns on His head—crowns that represent absolute sovereignty. His eyes will be like blazing fire (Revelation 19:11-16).
Old Testament prophetic Scripture reveals that Jesus returns first to the mountain wilderness of Bozrah, where the Jewish remnant is endangered (Isaiah 34:1-7; 63:1-6; Habakkuk 3:3; Micah 2:12-13). They will not be endangered for long!
At Jesus’ second coming, He will confront the antichrist and his forces and slay them with the word of His mouth. The description of the second coming in the book of Revelation makes it clear that the enemies of Christ suffer instant defeat.
Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse! The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems, and he has a name written that no one knows but himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords (Revelation 19:11-16).
And so instant deliverance comes to the Jewish remnant. The antichrist and his forces are poised for attack against the remnant in the wilderness. The remnant has no chance of survival. The Jewish leaders urge the remnant to repent and turn to Jesus the Messiah. That is when the second coming of Christ occurs.
Christ defeats all who stand against Israel. The antichrist will be slain. Habakkuk 3:13 prophesies of Christ’s victory over the antichrist: “You went out for the salvation of your people, for the salvation of your anointed. You crushed the head of the house of the wicked, laying him bare from thigh to neck.” Likewise, in 2 Thessalonians 2:8 we read of the antichrist, “whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming.”
The antichrist will be impotent and powerless in the face of the true Christ. All the forces of the antichrist will also be destroyed from Bozrah all the way back to Jerusalem (Joel 3:12-13; Zechariah 14:12-15; Revelation 14:19-20). What a wondrous day that will be.
In the final phase of the campaign of Armageddon, Jesus Christ victoriously ascends to the Mount of Olives. We read about this in Zechariah 14:3-4.
Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle. On that day his feet shall stand on the Mount of Olives that lies before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall be split in two from east to west by a very wide valley, so that one half of the Mount shall move northward, and the other half southward.
Then the seventh bowl judgment will be unleashed.
The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe (Revelation 16:17-21).
Clearly, when Christ ascends to the Mount of Olives, some cataclysmic events will bring an end to the tribulation period.
• An earthquake of globally staggering proportions (compare with Revelation 8:5 and 11:19). The whole earth will feel its effects. Mountains will be leveled. Islands will vanish. The topography of the earth will be drastically changed.
• Jerusalem will be split into three areas.
• The Mount of Olives will split into two parts, creating a valley.
• There will be a horrific hail storm, and the sun and moon will be darkened (see Joel 3:14-16; Matthew 24:29).
As these terrible events subside, the tribulation period finally comes to a close. But judgments nevertheless remain on the horizon—the judgment of the nations (Matthew 25:31-46) and the judgment of Israel (Ezekiel 20). Both of these judgments precede Christ’s millennial kingdom.