What Is Armageddon? (3)

We have seen that armies from all over the world will gather at Armageddon in the "time of the end" to fight Christ at His coming. Armageddon is a place. The battle is the event. And, there is an important spiritual lesson that connects events that took place in ancient Megiddo to what is happening today . It has immediate importance to your life. What is it? Stay with me - I'm going to explain about that in a moment.

But right now, let's look at a couple of scriptures to set the stage.

Let's look at Zechariah chapter 14, where it tells us: "Behold, the day of the Lord is coming, and your spoil will be divided in your midst. For I will gather all the nations to battle against Jerusalem... Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as He fights in the day of battle" (Zechariah:14:1-3

).

The prophet Joel adds some detail to this. It says: "I will also gather all nations, and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat; and I will enter into judgment with them there on account of My people, My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations; they have also divided up My land" (Joel:3:2).

Jerusalem is where the battle of the great day of God Almighty is fought. Specifically, the focal point of battle will be in the steep valley that is today called, Kidron located between the Old City of Jerusalem and the Mount of Olives. Christ will descend with a spirit army and tread the winepress of His wrath. Revelation 19 says this: "And the winepress was trodden without the city, and [the] blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs" (Revelation:14:20). As human armies fight God the carnage will be so great that the blood will run several feet deep. It will be a terrible battle - one that will end in the peace of the Kingdom of God.

Megiddo and the Jezreel Valley provide an ideal staging point for this battle. We can imagine forces flowing in through the port of Haifa, a few miles to the northwest. Transport planes, and helicopters, troop carriers and tanks will ferry men and materiel into the region. Jet fighters and missiles will no doubt be engaged in a battle that suddenly turns its attention to a force coming from an unexpected location - the heavens above Jerusalem. In their folly and deception, they will fight Christ, never recognizing Him as the Messiah.

Today, this is difficult, very difficult to imagine. We read these scriptures and we ask, "How could political leaders be deceived to fight Jesus Christ, the Son of God?"

The answer may lie in one verse we skipped over in Revelation 16. Let's go back and read it. Notice that verse 15 is a thought injected by Jesus Christ, who is the author of the book of Revelation. It says this: "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame" (Revelation:16:15). Here is Christ saying to those with ears to hear - there is a way to avoid being part of this great end-time deception.

What is Christ saying to us? What is in this message that we must understand? What is the spiritual lesson that Armageddon represents? It's this: That unless you obey Jesus Christ and His teachings every day, you too may be fooled into resisting Him on that day along with everybody else. See, the Bible says that the deception will be so subtle and so powerful that even somebody looking for it will be deceived. How? Look again at what Jesus says: "Behold, I am coming as a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame" (Revelation:16:15).

What are the "garments" mentioned? They are keeping God's commandments, knowing right from wrong, discerning between good and evil. Garments are worshipping God instead of the devil, who is the god of this age. Garments are the "righteous acts" of God's people (Revelation:19:8). In the final confrontation between God and Satan, God wins! And Christ is summoning us to a life where we stand with Him - today - against the powers of darkness. That is what it means to keep one's garments.

To be cont'd. 

God bless you.