The ancient fortress of
Megiddo overlooks the Valley of Armageddon. It is a good starting point to survey
the nine prophetic wars of the end times.
The Only War They Know
Most people have heard of only one war of the end times, what is normally referred to as the Battle of Armageddon. But, the Bible speaks of nine end time wars. I want to talk to you about the final battles of the end times.
As you're going to find out, the Battle of Armageddon is really no battle at all.
Let's take a look for a moment at what those wars are that are prophesied to happen in the end times.
War of Gog & Magog — Ezekiel 38 and 39
The end time war that most people talk about is found in Ezekiel 38 and 39 — the War of Gog and Magog. There's a man who has written a lot recently about this. His name is Joel Rosenberg. He's a very fine writer and a great fiction writer. He is also a student of Bible prophecy and truly loves the subject.
The Only War They Know
Most people have heard of only one war of the end times, what is normally referred to as the Battle of Armageddon. But, the Bible speaks of nine end time wars. I want to talk to you about the final battles of the end times.
As you're going to find out, the Battle of Armageddon is really no battle at all.
Let's take a look for a moment at what those wars are that are prophesied to happen in the end times.
War of Gog & Magog — Ezekiel 38 and 39
The end time war that most people talk about is found in Ezekiel 38 and 39 — the War of Gog and Magog. There's a man who has written a lot recently about this. His name is Joel Rosenberg. He's a very fine writer and a great fiction writer. He is also a student of Bible prophecy and truly loves the subject.
Joel Rosenberg is the one who has really popularized the idea that the next major prophetic war will be Ezekiel 38 and 39. But, I think he's wrong about that, because Ezekiel 38 and 39 says that it will occur at a time when Israel is living in peace and without walls. In truth, Israel is not living in peace today. It's certainly is not living without walls. It has a wall that runs the entire length of the country. By the time it does all it zigzags, the wall runs 400 miles long. In some places it's more of a scientific wall, in the sense a technological wall, because if you cross it sets off all kinds of alarms. In other places it's a big tall wall. The wall's been necessary to stop terrorists from coming into Israel. It's been extremely effective in stopping them. And so, Israel is not living in peace right now.
Another thing that is interesting about the Ezekiel 38 and 39 War is it says that it's going to be an invasion led by Russia with certain specified allies. All the allies are specified, and all of them are Muslim states today. The thing that is most interesting is not one single nation that's mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and 39 has a common border with Israel. So, it begs the question, "Why is it that none of the states that have a common border with Israel are mentioned?"
1. The War of Extermination, Psalm 83
The person who has come up with an answer for that question in recent years is a man named Bill Salus. Bill wrote a book called Isralestine. In his book he states that the first war of the end times in Bible prophecy is the War of Psalm 83.
If you read that Psalm, and it's a short psalm, it talks about the fact that all the Arab states in the end times will get together and say, "Now is the time for us to annihilate the State of Israel." Some people call it the Psalm 83 War of Annihilation.
An interesting fact about Psalm 83 is that it names the nations that are going to come against Israel, and every nation it names is one that has a common boundary with Israel today. Those names are Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt and Syria. They are the ones that come against Israel to annihilate it, as Psalm 83 foretells. I think the Psalm 83 War is going to be the next great war in the Middle East.
Something interesting about Psalm 83 is that it doesn't tell who wins the war, but we know who wins it, because Zechariah 12 says in the end times one of the miracles that God is going to perform is that Israel will have one of the greatest military forces in the world. As you know, Israel is one of the smallest countries in the world, but it is always ranked in the top four in terms of military power. Many rank it number one in the effective use of its power.
I think that probably the first war of the end times in prophecy is going to be the Psalm 83 War. That's when the nations that have a common boundary with Israel will come against and try to destroy Israel. I also think that is most likely when Damascus will be destroyed, because two times in the Old Testament we are told that Damascus will cease to exist in the end times.
The Syrians have highly sophisticated missiles. They could put a missile right down the smokestack of any building in Tel Aviv if they wanted to, and they are only shooting them 125 miles, not thousands of miles. Probably the only way the Israelis would be able to defend themselves is to use one of their tactical nuclear weapons to blow up the city of Damascus. So, it could very well be that that very first war of the end times is the one in which Damascus will cease to exist, see Isaiah 17.
The Psalm 83 War is a war between Israel and all the inner circle of Muslim States that have a common boundary with Israel. I think that's going to be the first war.
2. The First War of Gog & Magog, Ezekiel
38 and 39
But the security provided by the
Psalm 83 war will not last long.
The Arab nations will turn to their natural ally, Russia, and cry out for help.
And the Russians will be very happy
to respond, for they have always dreamed of taking the oil fields of the Middle
East. They will, therefore, launch an invasion for the stated purpose of
helping the Muslims destroy Israel, but their unstated agenda will be to use
the Arab invitation as an excuse to expand their sovereignty over all the
Middle East. This ulterior motive is described in Ezekiel
38:12 where it says
the Russians will come "to capture spoil and to seize plunder."
The invading armies will be
supernaturally destroyed by God "on the mountains of Israel" (Ezekiel 39:4). The Lord
will accomplish this destruction through earthquakes, pestilence, hail storms,
fire, brimstone, and
battlefield confusion. (The Lord has always liked to defeat Israel’s
enemies with battlefield confusion. (Ezekiel
38:19-22). Even the Jewish people will recognize that the victory
belongs to the Lord, and many will open their hearts to the Lord (Ezekiel
38:23). In fact, this event could mark the occasion when the 144,000
Jews of Revelation
7:1-8 accept Yeshua as
their Messiah and are sealed by the Lord for special service throughout the
seven year period of the Tribulation.
The greatest mystery concerning this
war is its timing. Most have placed it at the beginning of the Tribulation.
Others delay its start to the middle of the Tribulation. Increasingly in recent
years, the tendency has been to place it before the beginning of the
Tribulation.
The
best discussion of timing that has yet been written can be found in Ron Rhodes'
book, Northern Storm Rising.
He concludes that it is most likely to occur 3 1/2 years prior to the
Tribulation. One of his
most important reasons for this conclusion is that Ezekiel 39:9 says the Jews will spend seven years
burning the weapons captured in the war, and the book of Revelation says they
will be run out of the land in the middle of the Tribulation (Revelation
12:13-17). Since the middle of the Tribulation will occur 3 1/2
years into that seven year period, that means the only way the Jews could spend
seven years burning the weapons is for the war to start at least 3 1/2 years
before the Tribulation begins. (Note: The "burning of weapons" could refer to captured nuclear fuel.)
Does this mean the wars of Psalm 83 and Ezekiel 38 and 39 must occur before the Rapture?
Not at all. The Rapture could occur anytime before, during, or after these
wars. Keep in mind that the Rapture is not what marks the beginning of the
Tribulation. The Tribulation will begin when the Antichrist confirmss a
security treaty with Israel (Daniel 9:27). There could
be a period of several years between the Rapture and the beginning of the
Tribulation.
3. The Conventional War of the
Tribulation, Rev 6
The book of Revelation states that a
major world war will break out soon after the Tribulation begins. This war is
described in Revelation 6.
Although the Antichrist will rise to
world power through cunning, deception, and intrigue (Daniel 8:23), he will
have to resort to military power to conquer the world. Asia, Africa, and South
America have spent too long casting off the shackles of European colonialism
for them to suddenly surrender their sovereignty peacefully to a new dictator —
regardless of how brilliant and charismatic he may be.
We are told in Revelation
13:7 that the Antichrist
will ultimately achieve "authority over every tribe and people and tongue and
nation." This
authority will be achieved through war. Revelation 6 records the outbreak of
this world war. It results
in the death of one-fourth of humanity, or 1.5 billion in today's terms (Revelation
6:8).
The War of Psalm 83 results in the destruction of the
inner ring of Muslim states around Israel. The War of Ezekiel 38 and 39 produces the defeat of the
immediate outer ring of Muslim states.
But the vast majority of all Muslims
live outside the Middle East, the largest Muslim nations being Indonesia (201
million), India (144 million), Pakistan (140 million), and Bangladesh (115
million). These nations are the ones who are most likely to produce the
strongest resistance to a Western, non-Muslim dictator, and they will be
destroyed either in this war or the one that follows it.
In other words, some Biblical
scholars believe God is going to use the Antichrist as His hammer of wrath to
destroy Islam.
But many other nations in the world
will also have to be subdued, and that leads us to the next war of the end
times.
4. The Nuclear War of the
Tribulation, Rev 8 and 9
At some point, the book of
Revelation indicates that the conventional war will morph into a nuclear
holocaust, resulting in
the deaths of another one-third of Mankind, or another 1.5 billion people
(Revelation
9:15). This
means that in the first two wars of the Tribulation, more than one half of
humanity will die.
A hint that the conventional war
will become a nuclear one is found in Revelation
8:7 where it states
that the escalation of the war will result in one-third of the earth being burned up. Another
hint is found in Revelation
16:2-11 where we are
told that "loathsome
and malignant" sores
will afflict people at the end of the Tribulation, something that would be a
natural consequence of radiation from the use of nuclear weapons.
It could very well be that this
nuclear holocaust could be what Jesus had in mind when He stated that in the
end times men will faint from fear and their hearts will fail over the
expectation of the things coming upon the world, "for the
powers of the heavens will be shaken" (Luke 21:26).
This war is portrayed in the book of
Revelation in chapters 8-9 as a series of "Trumpet Judgments."
5. The War in the Heavens —
Revelation 12
The next “End Times” war is totally
different in nature from all the rest. It is a supernatural one that will occur
in the heavens in the middle of the Tribulation. It is most likely prompted by
an attempt of Satan to once again take the throne of God.
Satan and his angels are opposed in
this war by Michael and his angels. Michael is an archangel who is pictured in
the Hebrew Scriptures as the commander-in-chief of the armies of God (Daniel 10:13, 21 and 12:1). Michael and his
angels prevail in this war, and Satan is cast down to earth. His access to
God's throne is cut off (Revelation
12:9-10).
When this happens, Satan realizes
that his time is short because he knows Bible prophecy (Revelation
12:12). In his rage, Satan decides to destroy the Jewish people, and
this decision leads to the next war.
6. The War Against the Jews and
the Saints, Rev 12
Satan hates the Jews with a passion
for several reasons:
1. They
are the Chosen People of God.
2. God
used them to provide the Scriptures to the world.
3. It
was through them that the Messiah came.
4. God
has promised that He will bring a great remnant of them to faith in His Son at
the end of the Tribulation.
There is going to be another
holocaust during the latter half of the Tribulation. When Satan is cast down to
earth, he will possess the Antichrist (Revelation
13:2) and inspire him to annihilate all the Jews. This is the reason
that Jesus referred to the last half of the Tribulation as "the great
tribulation" (Matthew
24:21) — not because this half will be worse than the first half,
but because the wrath of Satan will be focused on the Jews.
Some of the Jews of Israel will flee
to a place in the "wilderness" where they will be supernaturally
protected by God (Revelation
12:13-14). Many believe this hiding place will be the ancient city
of Petra, located inside a box canyon in modern Jordan. There is good reason
for this assumption because Daniel 11:41 says the Antichrist will be prevented
from conquering Jordan when it is part of an end time rebellion.
But Zechariah
13:8 indicates that two-thirds of the Jewish people
will be killed by the Antichrist during this time, and Revelation
12:17 says the Antichrist will also war
against the "offspring" of Israel — namely, those "who keep
the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus." I believe this is a reference to all
those who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior during the Tribulation, both
Jews and Gentiles.
It is no wonder that Revelation
7:9-14 pictures a
great multitude of martyrs in Heaven, so great that it cannot be counted. They
are identified as "the ones who are coming out of the great tribulation, and
they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation
7:14).
So the Antichrist will be very
successful in his war against the Jews and the Saints, but he will fail in his
ultimate goal of annihilating all the Jews. For we are told repeatedly
throughout the Scriptures that a great remnant of the Jews will live to the end of the Tribulation at
which time they will receive Yeshua as their Messiah. (See: Isaiah
10:20-23; Zechariah
12:10; Romans
9:27-28; and Romans
11:25-26.)
7. The Middle East Campaign of
the Antichrist — Daniel 11
Daniel
11:40-45 describes a
military campaign of the Antichrist in the Middle East that occurs at the end
of the Tribulation.
These verses and related verses in
Revelation could very well indicate that when the Antichrist becomes insanely obsessed with
destroying the Jews and the Saints, the nations of the world will see an
opportunity to rebel against him. The nations in the Middle East will be
led by the "king
of the North" (most
likely Syria) and the "king of the South" (Egypt). The Antichrist responds by
invading"the Beautiful Land" and subduing all the area except
Jordan.
But
just as he seems to be completely victorious, he hears "rumors from
the East and from the North" that
deeply disturb him. He retreats with his armies to the area "between the
seas" where"he will come to his end." The geographical description here of a
location between the Mediterranean Sea and the Sea of Galilee corresponds to
the Valley of Armageddon.
I believe the rumors that frighten
him are, in part, the news that "the kings from the East"(Revelation
16:12) who are bringing huge armies from Asia have arrived at the
Euphrates River and are ready to cross into Israel to challenge him. The rumors
from the North could relate to a reconstituted rebellious army from Russia.
8. The Battle of Armageddon, Joel 3, Zech 14, Rev 19
It appears that just as the armies
from the East and the North start arriving in the Valley of Armageddon to
challenge the Antichrist, Yeshua
breaks from the heavens, returns to the Mount of Olives, speaks a supernatural
word, and all the armies are instantly destroyed.
In other words, there really is no
such thing as the "Battle of Armageddon." The armies are assembled to
do battle, but the Lord annihilates all of them in a micro-second "with the
breath of His mouth" (2
Thessalonians 2:8).
Joel 3:16 says the Lord will "roar from
Zion" and "utter His
voice from Jerusalem." Isaiah 10:16 says the result will be "a wasting
disease." Zechariah
14:12 says it will be
a plague that will cause the flesh of the soldiers "to rot
while they stand on their feet." Their eyes will rot in their sockets
and their tongues will rot in their mouths. It will be like the explosion of a
neutron bomb.
9. The Second Battle of Gog &
Magog, Revelation 20
Mercifully and joyfully, the
"battle" of Armageddon will be followed by one thousand years of
peace as the reign of Jesus from Jerusalem results in the world being filled
with righteousness and justice (Isaiah
11:4-5,9).
Swords will be beat into plowshares and spears into pruning hooks, and "nation will
not lift up sword against nation..." (Isaiah 2:4). All the
money that is spent today on armaments will be spent on agricultural
implements. The world will be flooded with agricultural abundance (Amos 9:13). There will be
no homeless or hungry people. Every man will have his own vineyard and orchard (Micah 4:4).
Satan will be bound (Revelation
20:1-3). Sin and crime will be greatly reduced. But there will be
seething rebellion in the hearts of many, if not most, that are born during
that time.
This is hard for most people to
understand. Why would there be resentment in the hearts of people in the midst
of such a perfect reign of Jesus?
The initial population of the
Millennium will be all those, both Jew and Gentile, who live to the end of the
Tribulation and who have accepted Jesus as Lord and Savior. All others will be
consigned to death when the Lord returns. So, the Millennium will begin with
only believers. But they will begin to propagate, and since death will be
curtailed and life spans will be greatly extended (Isaiah 65:20), the
population of the world will grow exponentially.
Those born during this time will
still have the old sin nature. They will desire all the things of the flesh —
booze, drugs, gambling, and promiscuous sex. But they will see that any violation
of the Law of God results in swift and certain justice. Immediate arrest will
be followed by an immediate trial and an immediate judgment. There will be no
appeal, for all judges will be Saints in glorified bodies who will make perfect
decisions. So, the average person in the flesh will say, "I love you
Jesus!" but he or she will do so with clinched teeth.
The Bible states repeatedly that
Jesus will rule with "a rod of iron" (Psalm 2:9 and Revelation
2:26-27). And despite the fact that His reign will produce
righteousness, fairness, and perfect justice (Isaiah
11:4-5), most of those living in the flesh will deeply resent the
fact that they cannot freely pursue their worldly lusts.
It
is no wonder that when Satan is released at the end of the Lord's millennial
reign (Revelation
20:7), the majority of those in the flesh will unite in one last
rebellion against God that is pictured in Revelation 20:7-9. Led
once again by Gog & Magog, this war is often confused with the war of
Ezekiel 38 and 39. But the two
are very different. The Ezekiel war pictures Russia
coming against the nation of Israel with certain specified allies. In Revelation
20 Russia is portrayed as leading
all the nations of the world against Jesus Christ.
History is going to end as it began.
It started out with two people living in a perfect society, but deciding to
rebel against their Creator. It ends with all of humanity living in a perfect
society, and the majority making the same decision to rebel against God.
One of the many purposes of the
Millennium is for God to prove that Mankind's inherent sin defect can be
remedied only by the Holy Spirit through faith in Jesus as Lord and Savior.
The religion of Satan has always
been Humanism — the belief in Man. This philosophy teaches that Man is
inherently good and is capable of perfection through education and social
justice. Humanists therefore believe that if society can be perfected by
supplying each person with a guaranteed job and income, Mankind will be
transformed.
But the Bible teaches that Mankind
is fatally flawed with a sin nature that makes people naturally evil (Jeremiah
17:9). And the Bible teaches that the only solution to the problem
is the transformation of the Holy Spirit that begins when a person accepts
Jesus as Lord and Savior.
God will prove this beyond doubt
when He puts all of Mankind into a perfect society for one thousand years and
Mankind responds in rebellion.
The Abolition of War
The
Second War of Gog & Magog will be the final war of history. Following it, God will take the
Redeemed off the earth and place them in the New Jerusalem He is now preparing.
He will then consume the earth with fire to burn away the pollution of Satan's
last revolt. Out of that fiery inferno will come new heavens and a new earth —
this earth redeemed and perfected (2
Peter 3:10-13). He will then lower the Redeemed down to this earth
inside the New Jerusalem (Revelation
21:2-7), and He will come to earth to live in their presence
eternally (Revelation
22:1-4).
Eternal peace is coming. War is
going to be gone forever. This hope of Mankind will not be achieved by
diplomats. It will be a gift of God through Jesus Christ who died to redeem
Mankind and all the Cosmos.
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