Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.
—Revelation 16:16
SPRING 1992, 747 charter jet, circling over Biggs Army Airfield, El Paso, Texas. I am reflecting on six-plus months of combat duty with the 43rd Air Defense Artillery Regiment in Saudi Arabia.
Coming home from months in a combat zone is always bittersweet. Bitter, because you are leaving part of yourself in the desert, and sweet, coming home to family and friends.
I am looking down over the airfield; there is a welcome home ceremony with a U.S. Army band, general officers, a crowd of well-wishers and families. I tear up. This is my second deployment in two years, the first being in the jungles of Honduras as the Joint Task Force–Bravo chaplain. I am war-weary and in need of rest and recuperation. I have put in literally thousands of road and air miles around Saudi Arabia, visiting, counseling, training and supporting our troops.
Let me tell you, there is nothing like coming home, although it takes time to readjust and reunite with family and friends and get used to a different routine.
I think it will be that way as we approach our time to be reunited with the Lord. We must not think of the place we are currently in as home; it is only temporary. Our future home is in heaven with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, as well as with the vast company of saints and angels who populate that glorious place. And eventually, after the Millennium and the Great White Throne Judgment (see Revelation 20:11–15), our home will be in the New Jerusalem on a restored planet earth.
We must never forget that life on earth is short at best; and given biblical prophecies, we must keep an eternal perspective. God is waiting to reward us for our faithful service during our time on earth.
The apostle Paul said it best when he was nearing the end of his journey. Paul knew he was to be executed soon in Rome. He probably wrote his second letter to Timothy during a second imprisonment in Rome following a fourth missionary journey not recorded in Acts. Expecting that death would come soon, Paul wrote this farewell letter to his son in the faith, who was at Ephesus, urging him to stand firm. Here are his immortal and inspirational words:
I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
2 Timothy 4:7–8
Notice that he refers to the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must recognize that the end times are ultimately about phasing out the dominion of the god of this world and ushering in our Lord Jesus as the King of kings and Lord of lords.
The Greatest Opportunity
In a recent Christmas sermon, Saddleback Church pastor Rick Warren—who was kind enough to offer to place a copy of The Military Guide to Armageddon in his Guinness World Records collection of books signed by the authors—told his congregation that in the newspaper business, the largest headline you can possibly use is called “Second Coming type font,” for the obvious reason that it would be used after the Second Coming of Christ.
“The most cataclysmic, or the most important, or the most profound experience in history,” he said, “will be the end of history when Jesus Christ comes back.”1
Warren, author of the bestselling book The Purpose Driven Life—which sold fifty million copies, prompting Time magazine in 2005 to name him one of “the 100 most influential people in the world”—said that the Bible has
far, far more [verses] about the Second Coming than the first coming. The Second Coming of Jesus is called the “blessed hope” . . . because when you really understand it, it gives you comfort, it gives you strength, it gives you confidence to face the future, it gives you hope. And then you know that no matter what’s going to happen, you’ve read the final chapter of the Book. And I have read the final chapter of the Book. We win. Okay. We win. And He’s coming back one day.
Now, the night before Jesus was crucified, before He went to the cross, He said this to His disciples, in John 14:2–3: “I’m going to heaven to prepare a place for you, and after I prepare a place for you, I will come back . . . to get you so that where I am, you will also be with Me.” That’s the greatest promise in Scripture. “If I go . . . I’m coming back.” Did He go? Yeah, He went after the resurrection. Is He coming back? Absolutely.2
Christ’s return is literally going to be the greatest event in history—the culmination of the grand biblical narrative that began in Genesis and concludes in Revelation. Believers must prepare for this pivotal event with eternity in mind. Why should people be ready? Because God wants His people to be involved in not just what He is doing on the earth, but in what He plans to do on the earth.
Rabbi Jonathan Bernis, president and CEO of Jewish Voice Ministries International and host of the globally syndicated television show “Jewish Voice with Jonathan Bernis,” says:
I think of the statement that the men of Issachar were wise because they “understood the times” (1 Chronicles 12:32). I love that verse. So I go beyond just that God wants us to prepare so we can escape whatever is ahead. He wants us to be involved. He wants you to be active. He wants you to be relevant voices. He wants you to be the ones who provide answers to people. He doesn’t want us to be unaware of His return. We don’t know the day, we don’t know the hour, but we’re implored to know the season.3
This is what Jesus told his disciples in Matthew 24:42–44:
“Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”
As the world watches end-of-the-age biblical prophecies unfold, believers should spend even more time sharing their faith with others and in prayer and intercession for a lost world. Bernis continues:
This is not about hiding away in a cave, waiting for Him to return. It’s about being proactive, involved, co-working, active. We have a purpose. This is the greatest opportunity in history for followers of Jesus to be involved in God’s eternal plan. There has never been a greater time to be alive, but we have to have “ears to hear and eyes to see” (Matthew 13:15).
I think we should be actively carrying out whatever destiny God has given us, whatever role He’s called us to play—in the marketplace, in funding ministries, in direct mission work, in evangelistic work or in aid work. And, of course, we need to be sharing our faith personally with the people around us—family, co-workers, neighbors. We have the only eternal answer and God cares about what happens to people for eternity.4
A New Heaven and a New Earth
We saw in chapter 4 that the forces of darkness want to merge the nations into a one-world government in preparation for the Antichrist’s rule. The plan is to end all wars and bring mankind into global unity. Almost every book I read at the U.S. Army War College spoke to the issue of a global government.
James Garrison, founder and president of State of the World Forum, says, “We are going to end up with world government. It’s inevitable. . . .There’s going to be conflict, coercion and consensus. That’s all part of what will be required as we give birth to the first global civilization.”5
It makes sense, after all, that if there were a one-world government, then the logical conclusion, according to globalists, is that there would be no more war. However, the opposite is true. Just as with socialism, Communism and dictatorships, the goal has always been to subject the masses to enslavement; and enslavement always leads to rebellion and war.
The truth is, no manmade government will work because of mankind’s innate selfishness and sin. Even democracy cannot work without morality, and morality does not work without Christ. As there are forces at work trying to bring the nations together, we must be hard at work in preparing for that eventuality.
God foresaw all this in advance. In fact, the first prophecy in the Bible, Genesis 3:15, predicted what is unfolding now, as God spoke to Lucifer:
“I will put enmity between you and the woman [Eve], and between your offspring and hers; he [Christ] will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
Bernis points out about this passage:
This is not a prophecy of the first coming of Christ; it’s a prophecy of the first coming and the Second Coming. God’s eternal plan for the redemption of mankind involves the full scope of redemption. The full scope of redemption involves the first coming and the return, so the Second Coming is critical to God fulfilling His plan for mankind to restore us to the time before the Fall of Adam. So it is essential, if we care about God’s plan being fulfilled, that we care about the return [of Christ]. The Bible refers to this in Acts 3:21 as the restoration of all things. If we want to see all things restored, then the Messiah has to come back.6
We have mentioned that, as we were finishing this book, the world was hit with a pandemic named coronavirus disease 2019, or COVID-19. It was unprecedented in terms of stopping the world in its tracks. The virus sickened more than six million people in a matter of months.7 It upended the economic stability of the world, causing the stock market to fluctuate wildly. In some places, the military, because of its expertise and leadership, stepped in to supplement civilian medical personnel and facilities.
The hope, as we write, is that we will go back to normalcy soon. But the truth is, we are going to be living out a new normal from now on in ways we cannot imagine. For many the future is uncertain. But for the believer, the best is yet to come.
The end times are not about the end of mankind; they are the beginning of a glorious new future without the Fall of man, without the mark of sin, without the deceit of Satan, and without death, disease and destruction.
This guide is all about getting ready for the journey. It is a resounding alarm to prepare for coming world events and the inevitable conflicts that will arise in the last days before the return of Christ. And it is about becoming an end-times warrior of God as we witness the rise of evil never before experienced on this planet.
In Revelation 21:1–7 (NKJV) the apostle John paints a vivid description of the reward awaiting those who eagerly await His return:
Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.”
We are ready for the battle ahead and to go home to a new heaven and new earth. How about you?