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The Battle of Armageddon
Part I
"And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and
the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might
be prepared. And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the
mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the
mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working
miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole
world, to gather them to the battle of that great Day of God 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 he gathered them
together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." Revelation 16:12-16
Armageddon – Typical Battles
Armageddon is a Hebrew
word signifying the Hill of Megiddo, or the Mount of Destruction. Megiddo occupied a very marked position
on the southern edge of the Plain of Esdraelon, and commanded an important
pass into the hill country. This locality was the great battleground of Palestine, on which were fought many of
the famous battles of Old Testament history.
There Gideon and his
little band alarmed and discomfited the Midianites,
who destroyed one another in their flight. (Judges 7:19-23) There King Saul
was defeated by the Philistines. (1 Sam. 31:1-6) There King Josiah was
slain by Pharaoh-Necho in one of the most
disastrous conflicts in the history of Israel. (2 Chron.
35:22-25) There also King Ahab and his wife Jezebel lived, in the city of Jezreel, where Jezebel afterwards met a
horrible death. 2 Kings 9:30-37
These battles were in a
sense typical. The defeat of the Midianites
released the people of Israel from bondage to Midian. Thus Gideon and his band typified our Lord and
the Church, who are to release mankind from their bondage to sin and death.
The death of King Saul and the overthrow of his kingdom by the Philistines
opened the way for the reign of David, who typified Messiah. King Ahab
typified the civil government, symbolically called the "Dragon"
in the Revelation. Queen Jezebel symbolically foreshadowed the great
harlot, Babylon, and as such she is mentioned
by name. "Thou sufferest that woman Jezebel,
which calleth herself a prophetess, to teach and
seduce My servants." Rev. 2:20
Symbolic Language
In the Scriptures the
Lord has evidently seen fit to associate the name of this famous
battlefield, Armageddon, with the great controversy between Truth and
Error, right and wrong, God and Mammon, with which the Gospel Age will
close and the Messianic Age be ushered in. He has purposely used highly
symbolic language in the last book of the Bible, evidently with a view to
hiding certain important truths until the due time for their revealment. But even in the due time, "None of the
wicked shall understand; but the wise shall understand." (Dan. 12:10)
None who are out of heart harmony with God shall know; but only the wise
among His people-the wise virgin class of the Master’s
parable. Matt. 25:1-13
When we consider our
text, therefore, we are not to expect any gathering of the people literally
to the Hill of Megiddo. Rather we are to look for that which is symbolized
by that mountain. Many things are being called "The Battle of
Armageddon"; this phrase is being used in many ways and from many
standpoints. But Christians realize that this word Armageddon specially
belongs to the Bible, where it is used in a spiritual sense. If, therefore,
the present is an opportune time in which to consider the Battle of
Armageddon from a political standpoint, it surely is the proper time to
consider the term from its true religious point of view.
We all know that the
book of Revelation is full of symbols. God seems to have placed this book
last in the Bible with the intent of covering up great and important
truths. That it contains valuable truths is the opinion of all Bible
students. Yet so skillfully has God covered those truths that His people in
times past have not been able fully and clearly to discern them. Bible
students believe that this has been the Divine intention, not only because
these truths were not due to be understood, but because God intends to keep
certain features of His Truth from the world. Mankind
have always misunderstood the Divine Plan; for God in His wisdom
wishes to have them misunderstand. The truths recorded in the Revelation
are not for the world, nor for nominal Christians, but for the Church-the
Body of Christ, the saintly ones "the Church of the First-borns which
are written in Heaven." To these the knowledge will become "meat
in due season." "The wise shall understand."
Armageddon – Great Tribulation
The Scriptures abound
with allusions to Armageddon. Our Lord Jesus calls it "great
tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time,
no, nor ever shall be." (Matt. 24:21) The Prophet Daniel describes it
as "a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation,
even to that same time." (Dan. 12:1) Closely in connection with this
statement Daniel declares that God’s
Representative, "Michael, shall stand up, the great Prince which standeth for the children of" Israel. The word "Michael"
signifies "He who is like God"-the Godlike One. He will stand up
for the salvation of God’s people, for the rectification
of error and wrong, for the establishment of right and truth, to bring to
the world of mankind the great Kingdom of God, which has been preached from
the days of Abraham.
Time for the Establishment
of Messiah’s Kingdom
The Revelation of St.
John, being a book of symbols, will not be understood by the world. God
Himself has said that only at a certain time may even the Church expect to
understand. When the Prophet Daniel inquired concerning the meaning of his
vision, the angel replied, "Go thy way, Daniel; for the words are
closed up and sealed till the Time of the End" – not the end of the world, but
the end of the Age – the end of
this Dispensation. "The earth abideth
forever." Eccl. 1:4
St. Peter tells us that
this Age is to end in a great conflagration-symbolical of the Time of
Trouble, in which present institutions will be swallowed up. (2 Pet.
3:8-13) Elsewhere in the Scriptures, this terrible Time of Trouble is
symbolically represented as a storm, as a whirlwind, as a fire, to consume
everything. After the present order shall have passed away in the great
Time of Trouble, God Himself will establish His Kingdom-the one for which
we pray, "Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, even as it is
done in Heaven."
If, then, there is
anything to indicate that we are living in the end of the Gospel Age,
anything to indicate that the Virgins are trimming their lamps, we may rest
assured that the time for the Wise Virgins to enter into glory is close at
hand. What a blessed message is this for "all who love His
appearing!"
In the same prophecy
which tells that the Time of the End is the time for the wise toward God to
understand, we are told that this time will be especially marked by two
particular features: first, "Many shall run to and fro"; second,
"Knowledge shall be increased." (Dan. 12:4) Today we see this
prophecy fulfilled. All over the world people are running to and fro as
never before. Railroads, steamboats, automobiles, electric cars-surface,
subway and elevated-etc., carry mankind everywhere. General increase of
knowledge characterizes our wonderful day. Every child ten years old is
able to read. All over the world are books, newspapers, Bibles in every
home-opportunity for knowledge such as never has been known since man was
on earth.
The remarkable fulfilment of this prophecy marks our day as the time
of The End, in which the present Dispensation is to be concluded and the
New Dispensation is to be ushered in-the time when God’s
people will be able to understand the situation and to get ready for their
change.
Principles, not Individuals,
under Discussion
All Christian people
credit the book of Revelation to our Lord, as St. John does. (Rev. 1:1) Therefore we
are not responsible for the symbolism used in that book. There are so many
ways in which one might be misunderstood, even by good Christian people,
that we naturally feel a delicacy about expressing our views. As we proceed
to set forth our understanding of the symbols of the Revelation, we wish to
state most emphatically that we are saying nothing whatever against godly
Christians anywhere, at any time, whether in any church or out of any
church.
We have nothing to say
respecting people. We discuss PRINCIPLES, DOCTRINES, ALWAYS; individuals,
NEVER! God has not commissioned us to discuss people; it is ours to discuss His Word.
As we present our
interpretations of the symbols of Revelation, we realize that the Word of
God conveys a very terrible arraignment of some of the great systems of our
day-some that we have long reverenced and esteemed, that we have thought
contained many who are godly in word and in deed. Let us, therefore,
clearly distinguish between individuals
and systems. We say
nothing against the godly
individual, but in the interpretation of the Word of God what we
have to say is merely in respect to these systems. Indeed we believe that the saintly people of
God are left out of these symbols, probably because the saints of God, as
compared with the hundreds of millions of humanity, are merely a small
company, as Jesus said: "Fear not, Little Flock."
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