Belgium is called “the cockpit of Europe” because it has been the site of more European battles than any other country—such as the battles of Oudernarde, Ramillies, Fontenoy, Fleurus, Jemmapes, Ligny, Waterloo, etc. The plain of Megiddo was also the scene of many decisive battles in Israel’s history. Here Gideon defeated Midian (Judg. 6:33). Here Saul died on Mount Gilboa (1 Sam. 31:1). Here Josiah was slain against Pharoah-Necho (2 Kg. 23:29, 30). Here also, battles have occurred between Egyptians and Assyrians, between Babylonians and Greeks, between Seleucids and Ptolemies, between Romans and Arabs, between Crusaders and Turks. Napoleon called this area “the world’s greatest natural battlefield” because of the ideal terrain for the world’s armies to maneuver. ¹ It’s coming folks, the Battle of Armageddon. How to escape it. That’s what we are talking about on this week’s Light on Life.

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Accept the Challenge

Each week’s podcast contains a call to action. The Word of God will not produce in your life unless you put into operation.
This weeks call is:

Jesus is coming again. That’s a Bible fact. It’s as real a fact as Jesus first coming was. But just like Jesus first coming, there were many who didn’t believe it. The same is true of His Second Coming. Where are you in these truths?

Join the Conversation

Each week’s podcast also contains a question designed to encourage testimony. Testimony is vital to a believers life. We overcome by it (Rev. 12:11).
This week’s question is:

Question: The Great Tribulation is no cake walk. It ends with the horrific Battle of Armageddon.  How does that thought motivate your heart to live solely for God? Please leave your comments in the comments section below.

Episode Resources

You can find more information on the subject of the End Times by clicking on the links above.

1. #S4-043: Prophetic End-Times: What You Need to Know [Podcast]
2. #S4-045: Why You Should Believe in the Rapture [Podcast]
3. Blog: The Second Coming of Jesus: What You Need to Know
4. #S4-051: What is the Answer to the Question, What is The Sign of Jesus Coming? [Podcast]
5. #S4-050: Why Did the Disciples Ask Jesus about the End of the World? [Podcast]
6. #S4-049: What the Bible Says about the End of the World [Podcast]
7. #S4-050: Why Did the Disciples Ask Jesus about the End of the World? [Podcast]
8. #S4-051: What is the Answer to the Question, What is The Sign of Jesus Coming? [Podcast]
9. #S4-052: Why Jesus Referred to the End of the World As Corpses and Vultures [Podcast]
10. #S5-001: Escaping the Carnage of the Great Tribulation [Podcast]
11. #S5-003: Who Makes It Out of the Tribulation? [Podcast]

About Emery

Emery committed his life to the Lord Jesus Christ over 40 years ago and has served as both a full-time pastor and an itinerant minister. Both he and his wife Sharon of 37 years emphasize personal growth and development through the Word of God. The ministry of the Holy Spirit is both the focus and the hallmark of their mission. Read more about them here.

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If you enjoyed the podcast, please rate it on Stitcher Radio and leave a review. If you have a suggestion for a Bible topic you would like to see taught, or if you have a question, please e-mail me at emery@emeryhorvath.com

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Podcast Notes  

Armageddon

• The Bible describes in detail this battle called Armageddon.
• And, it describes it in two sections of Old Testament scripture: The book of Joel chapters two and three and the book of Zechariah chapters ten through fourteen.
• Let’s take up Joel’s account first.

Joel 2:1 (ESV) — 1 Blow a trumpet in Zion; sound an alarm on my holy mountain! Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble, for the day of the LORD is coming; it is near,

• Years ago, the Church made a song out of this verse.
• They applied the delivering message of this verse it to their own lives.
• But this verse is about Armageddon not about the Church age.
• It’s about a huge invading army.
• An army horde that swarms like fire ants and are as thick in number as killer African bees.
• This locust-like army comes up against Israel: when seen, the alarm is sounded.

Joel 2:2–9 (ESV) 2 a day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and thick darkness! Like blackness there is spread upon the mountains a great and powerful people; their like has never been before, nor will be again after them through the years of all generations. 3 Fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns. The land is like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them a desolate wilderness, and nothing escapes them. 4 Their appearance is like the appearance of horses, and like war horses they run. 5 As with the rumbling of chariots, they leap on the tops of the mountains, like the crackling of a flame of fire devouring the stubble, like a powerful army drawn up for battle. 6 Before them peoples are in anguish; all faces grow pale. 7 Like warriors they charge; like soldiers they scale the wall. They march each on his way; they do not swerve from their paths. 8 They do not jostle one another; each marches in his path; they burst through the weapons and are not halted. 9 They leap upon the city, they run upon the walls, they climb up into the houses, they enter through the windows like a thief.

• This army attacks Jerusalem.
• They leap upon the city.
• And, enter through the windows like a thief.
• This sounds like more of ‘let His blood be on us and our children’.
• This sounds like Titus attacking again in 70 AD.
• If you remember this season’s pod-cast number 50, we talked about the destruction of Jerusalem.

Luke 21:24 (ESV) — 24 They will fall by the edge of the sword and be led captive among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled underfoot by the Gentiles, until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled.

• The fall of Jerusalem starts the ‘times of the Gentiles’.
• The attack of Jerusalem at Armageddon ends it.
• Now on to Joel chapter three.

Joel 3:1–2a (ESV) — 1 “For behold, in those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and Jerusalem, 2 I will gather all the nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat…

• The valley of Jehoshaphat is the Valley of Armageddon.
• Joel continues.

Joel 3:2b (ESV) — And I will enter into judgment with them there, on behalf of my people and my heritage Israel, because they have scattered them among the nations and have divided up my land

• Drop down now to verse nine.
• You should read the whole chapter on your own.
• For time’s sake, I’m not going to read the whole chapter.

Joel 3:9 (ESV) — 9 Proclaim this among the nations: Consecrate for war; stir up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near; let them come up. 10 Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears; let the weak say, “I am a warrior.” 11 Hasten and come, all you surrounding nations, and gather yourselves there. Bring down your warriors, O LORD. 12 Let the nations stir themselves up and come up to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; for there I will sit to judge all the surrounding nations. 13 Put in the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Go in, tread, for the winepress is full. The vats overflow, for their evil is great. 14 Multitudes, multitudes, in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision. 15 The sun and the moon are darkened, and the stars withdraw their shining. 16 The LORD roars from Zion, and utters his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth quake…

• Now let’s read some from Zechariah twelve.

Zechariah 12 (ESV) — 1 The oracle of the word of the LORD concerning Israel: Thus declares the LORD, who stretched out the heavens and founded the earth and formed the spirit of man within him: 2 “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… 4 On that day, declares the LORD, I will strike every horse with panic, and its rider with madness. But for the sake of the house of Judah I will keep my eyes open, when I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness… 6 “On that day I will make the clans of Judah like a blazing pot in the midst of wood, like a flaming torch among sheaves. And they shall devour to the right and to the left all the surrounding peoples, while Jerusalem shall again be inhabited in its place, in Jerusalem… 8 On that day the LORD will protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them on that day shall be like David, and the house of David shall be like God, like the angel of the LORD, going before them. 9 And on that day I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem… 11 On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddo.

• Now, let’s jump forward to chapter fourteen of Zechariah.

Zechariah 14:1–2 (ESV) — 1 Behold, a day is coming for the LORD, when the spoil taken from you will be divided in your midst. 2 For 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.

• At the battle of Jerusalem, half of the city is captured by the collective armies which have come to the battle of Armageddon.

Zechariah 14:3 (ESV) — 3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations as when he fights on a day of battle.

• After all of this, the Lord now appears with His army.
• Zechariah 14:4–20 and Revelation 19:11–12 are parallel passages describing the same thing.
• Let’s start with Zechariah.

Zechariah 14:4–20 (ESV) — 4 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. 5 And you shall flee to the valley of my mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach to Azal. And you shall flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD my God will come, and all the holy ones with him. 6 On that day there shall be no light, cold, or frost. 7 And there shall be a unique day, which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but at evening time there shall be light. 8 On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea. It shall continue in summer as in winter. 9 And the LORD will be king over all the earth. On that day the LORD will be one and his name one. 10 The whole land shall be turned into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem. But Jerusalem shall remain aloft on its site from the Gate of Benjamin to the place of the former gate, to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s winepresses. 11 And it shall be inhabited, for there shall never again be a decree of utter destruction. Jerusalem shall dwell in security. 12 And this shall be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem: their flesh will rot while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in their mouths. 13 And on that day a great panic from the LORD shall fall on them, so that each will seize the hand of another, and the hand of the one will be raised against the hand of the other. 14 Even Judah will fight at Jerusalem. And the wealth of all the surrounding nations shall be collected, gold, silver, and garments in great abundance. 15 And a plague like this plague shall fall on the horses, the mules, the camels, the donkeys, and whatever beasts may be in those camps. 16 Then everyone who survives of all the nations that have come against Jerusalem shall go up year after year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the Feast of Booths. 17 And if any of the families of the earth do not go up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, there will be no rain on them. 18 And if the family of Egypt does not go up and present themselves, then on them there shall be no rain; there shall be the plague with which the LORD afflicts the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. 19 This shall be the punishment to Egypt and the punishment to all the nations that do not go up to keep the Feast of Booths. 20 And on that day there shall be inscribed on the bells of the horses, “Holy to the LORD.” And the pots in the house of the LORD shall be as the bowls before the altar.

• Did you hear that?
• Did you hear what ends the battle of Armageddon?
• It’s a plague so severe that will strike all the peoples that wage war against Jerusalem until their flesh rots while they are still standing on their feet, their eyes rot in their sockets, and their tongues rot in their mouths.
• That’s that Indian Jones scene with the chalice, you know they got it from the Bible.
• Here’s how Revelation describes it.

Revelation 19:11–21 (ESV) — 11 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. 12 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. 13 He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is The Word of God. 14 And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. 15 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. 16 On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. 17 Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and with a loud voice he called to all the birds that fly directly overhead, “Come, gather for the great supper of God, 18 to eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all men, both free and slave, both small and great.” 19 And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. 20 And the beast was captured, and with it the false prophet who in its presence had done the signs by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped its image. These two were thrown alive into the lake of fire that burns with sulfur. 21 And the rest were slain by the sword that came from the mouth of him who was sitting on the horse, and all the birds were gorged with their flesh.

• Now, can you understand the metaphor Jesus used in Matthew 24:28, “Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather?

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