End Times :: End Times Perspective :: The Campaign of Armageddon pt1

"Last Generation Forums" :: End Times :: End Times Perspective :: The Campaign of Armageddon pt1  Author Topic: The Campaign of Armageddon pt1 (Read 1 time) Michael James Stone Administrator Site-Administrator member isonline   Joined: May 2012 Gender: Male Posts: 1,389 The Campaign of Armageddon pt1 « Thread Started Today at 8:20am »    Dr. Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum The two climactic events of the Great Tribulation are the Campaign of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Jesus the Messiah. A considerable amount of data is given about this time period in the Scriptures. One of the greatest difficulties in the study of eschatology is placing these events in chronological sequence in order to see what exactly will happen in the Campaign of Armageddon. This chapter is an attempt to do just that. The basis of the Second Coming of Messiah is Israel's national regeneration. Until Israel as a nation is saved; until Israel as a nation looks to the One whom they have pierced; until Israel as a nation cries out for Him to return with the words: Blessed is He that comes in the name of the Lord; there will be no Second Coming (Lev. 26:40-42; Jer. 3:12-18; Hos. 5:15-6:3; Zech. 12:10; Mt. 23:37-39). While the Rapture of the Church has no preconditions and can happen at any moment of time, the Second Coming does have this one precondition. If we understand what the basis of the Second Coming of Messiah is, we can understand the theological foundations of anti-Semitism. Satan knows that once Jesus returns, his career is over. But he also knows there will be no Second Coming until the Jewish people ask the Messiah to return. Therefore, if Satan could ever succeed in destroying the Jews once and for all before they have a chance to plead for Jesus to return, there would be no Second Coming and his career would then be eternally safe. That is why throughout the centuries and throughout Jewish history Satan has had this perpetual war against the Jews seeking to try to destroy them at every opportunity. That explains Jewish persecutions of the centuries; that explains the Holocaust under Nazi Germany; and that explains the unique activities of Satan during the Tribulation. During the second half of the Tribulation, Satan will be confined to the earth (Rev. 12:7-12) and once Satan is confined to this earth he knows his time is short (Rev. 12:12), and, knowing his time is short, he persecutes the Jews (Rev. 12:17). He must try to destroy the Jews before they have a chance to plead for the Messiah to return. The persecutions of the Jews will begin in the middle of the Tribulation and will continue until we come to the beginning points of the Campaign of Armageddon, towards the end of the Tribulation. During the period of the persecutions of the Jewish people, approximately two thirds of the Jewish population of that day will be killed, but one third will be left in the closing days, weeks, or months of the Tribulation. The Campaign of Armageddon is specifically organized by Satan for the purpose of annihilating once and for all the one-third Remnant of the Jewish people still living. During the seven years of the Tribulation, there will be two distinct political systems; one for each half of the Tribulation. The political system of the first half of the Tribulation is that the entire world will be sub-divided into ten, distinct nations ruled by ten kings. If Daniel's words in chapter seven are taken literally, one cannot limit these ten nations merely to western Europe; they will have to cover the entire world. Perhaps the European Union may someday become one of these ten, but it could never, biblically speaking, become all ten. During the first half of the Tribulation, ten men will rule the political affairs of the world co-equally. But in the middle of the Tribulation, the Antichrist will declare war against these ten kings. In the course of this war, he will succeed in killing three of them, and the other seven will submit to his authority. At that point the Antichrist will institute the second political system of the second half of the Tribulation; that of him being the one-world political ruler. There will also be two distinct religious systems; one for each half of the Tribulation. The religious system of the first half of the Tribulation is what is described in Revelation 17 in terms of "ecclesiastical" Babylon. There will be a unification of all false denominations and all false religions into a one-world super-religious system. This one-world super-religious system will control the religious affairs of the world during the first half of the Tribulation. Those who do not submit to its religious authority will suffer persecution. But in the middle of the Tribulation and after the Antichrist takes over political control, he will himself destroy this one-world religious system. He will then take over the Jewish Temple; seat himself in the Holy of Holies of the Jewish Temple; and declare himself to be the one true god. Thus, the religious system of the second half of the Tribulation will be the worship of the Antichrist. Those who accept him as God must signify it by taking his mark of 666. From the middle of the Tribulation until the point of Armageddon during this period of tremendous Jewish persecution one man will serve as both the one-world political ruler and the one-world religious ruler. With this background and introduction, the Campaign of Armageddon can be divided into eight distinct stages and this, in turn, will facilitate the understanding of the sequence of events. THE FIRST STAGE: THE ASSEMBLING OF THE ALLIES OF THE ANTICHRIST The Campaign of Armageddon will begin with the sixth bowl judgment, recorded in Revelation 16:12-16: And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sunrising. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: for they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.) And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon. With the outpouring of the sixth bowl judgment, the Euphrates River will be dried up (v. 12). This drying-up process will be for the purpose of making it easier for the Antichrist to assemble his forces for the Armageddon Campaign. Although it has become common to identify the kings that come from the sunrising, or more commonly the kings of the east, with the Chinese and to combine them with the army of the 200 million of Revelation nine, neither consistency of exegesis nor the structure of the Book of Revelation will allow for this. Relative to the structure of Revelation, the "200 million" and the kings of the east belong to two different judgments which must be kept distinct and cannot be combined. The "200 million" are in a trumpet judgment, whereas the kings of the east are in a bowl judgment. Furthermore, the 200 million are demons and not men, Chinese or otherwise. Thus, the structure of the book militates against making these two judgments into one. In regard to consistency of interpretation, it also rules out the kings of the east as a reference to the Chinese. Everywhere else in the Scriptures, the east always refers to Mesopotamia (Assyria and Babylonia). Consistency demands that this, too, would be a reference to Mesopotamia and not to China (e.g., Mat. 2:1). The fact that the Antichrist's capital city of Babylon will sit on the banks of the Euphrates River further attests to the fact that the kings who come from the east will be Mesopotamian kings. Thus, consistency of interpretation also militates against matching this reference with China. Consistency of interpretation and not current events must be the basis of determining the meaning of any given text. The sixth bowl judgment will dry up the Euphrates River to make it easier for the Antichrist's Babylonian forces to maneuver. A decree will be issued from the capital city of Babylon ordering the allies of the Antichrist to gather their armies together (vv. 13-14). The gathering for this final campaign against the Jews is clearly the work of the counterfeit trinity. All three members of the counterfeit trinity are involved: the dragon, or Satan (the counterfeit father); the Beast, or the Antichrist (the counterfeit son); and the False Prophet (the counterfeit holy spirit). 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 on the part of the other kings to fall into line. These kings are the seven kings that have been under the authority of the Antichrist since the middle of the Tribulation. While the term, "Battle of Armageddon," has been commonly used, it is really a misnomer, for more than one battle will be taking place. For this reason, many prophetic teachers have stopped employing that term and are using the term, "Campaign of Armageddon," as in this chapter. But this, too, is a misnomer because there will be no fighting in Armageddon itself; all of the fighting will take place elsewhere. A more biblical name for this final conflict is found in the closing words of verse 14: the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. This is a more accurate description of the nature and extent of this final conflict. The train of thought is now interrupted by a parenthetical statement (v. 15) containing a message of comfort and hope to the believers living at this point in the Great Tribulation. They are encouraged to continue in the faith, for when they see the gathering of the armies together, then they can know that the Second Coming of Jesus the Messiah is just around the corner. The train of thought is picked up again in verse 16, which names the place where the allies of the Antichrist will be gathered: Har-Magedon. As the ASV text shows, the word is a combination of two Hebrew words which mean, "the Mountain of Megiddo." Megiddo was a strategic city located at the western end of the Valley of Jezreel, guarding the famous Megiddo Pass into Israel's largest valley. One can see the entire Valley of Jezreel from the mount upon which the city of Megiddo stood. So what is known as the Valley of Armageddon in Christian circles is actually the biblical Valley of Jezreel. The term Armageddon is never applied to the valley itself, but only to the mount at the western end. Here, in this large valley of Lower Galilee, the armies of the world will gather for the purpose of destroying all the Jews still living. It should be noted that the passage says nothing of a battle in this valley, for no fighting will take place here. The Valley of Jezreel, guarded by the Mountain of Megiddo, will merely serve as the gathering ground for the armies of the Antichrist. Armageddon will play the same role that England played in the closing stages of World War II. The allied forces gathered their armies together in England, but that is not where the final battle took place. The final conflict began on the beaches of Normandy, France, on D-Day. Armageddon will also serve as a gathering place, with the battle beginning elsewhere. This passage describing the gathering of the armies of the nations is more or less viewed from man's perspective. From man's standpoint, it is merely a military gathering called together by the Antichrist. But two other passages which also speak of this event show God's perspective. The first is in Joel 3:9-11: Proclaim ye this among the nations; prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah. God's viewpoint is one of mockery. The nations are mockingly encouraged to go ahead and turn their farming equipment into weapons of war. As for those who are weak, let them persuade themselves and pretend that they are strong. Because while Satan and the Antichrist have their purpose for gathering the armies, that destroying the Jews, God has His own very different purpose for permitting this gathering to take place. This taunting of the gathering of the nations is also portrayed in Psalm 2:1-6: Why do the nations rage, And the peoples meditate a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together,  Against Jehovah, and against his anointed, saying,  Let us break their bonds asunder,  And cast away their cords from us,  He that sitteth in the heavens will laugh:  The Lord will have then in derision.  Then will he speak unto them in his wrath,  And vex them in his sore displeasure:  Yet I have set my king Upon my holy hill of Zion.  The gathering of the nations is presented as a gathering against God the Father and His Anointed, that is, the Messiah Jesus. By seeking to destroy the Jews, Satan is also seeking to break the cords of God's control of the world. How foolish! Then God is portrayed as sitting in the heavens and laughing, because He will soon have these nations in confusion. It is God who will set His own king upon Zion, and Satan and the Antichrist will not be able to prevent it. Although the nations will assemble to carry out the program of the counterfeit trinity, they will actually accomplish the purpose of the Triune God. This gathering of the armies of the nations in the Valley of Jezreel will be the first stage of the Campaign of Armageddon.   Report to Mod - Link to Post - Back to Top   Logged

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