THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON
(Paul Scoggins 12-29-06)

Revelation 16:16 In the Hebrew language it is Har-ma-geddon. In Hebrew the word har means mountain, hence the mountain of Ma-gedon or Megiddo. Megiddo was a city in Northern Palestine on the Plains of Esdraelon with some hills around it. It was strategically located on the north south road between Egypt and Mesopotamia, commanding the direct route from one to the other by way of Galilee and Syria.

Megiddo, was the scene of many memorable battles in the history of Israel. It is estimated that more battles have taken place there than any other place of comparable size. Among them was Deborah and Barak who with their army won a victory over the Canaanites. (Judges 5) It is located nearby to Gilboa, where Saul and his three sons died. At Armageddon Israel achieved some of her greatest victories and suffered some serious defeats. It has been called , “the classic battleground” of history.

• What did the apostle John and the first readers of the book of Revelation understand the “battle of Armageddon” to be? Did they believe it to be a physical battle located at or near Megiddo fought with real weapons of war between Jesus Christ and Satan, with the forces of each at the end of time as so many believe today? Some say it will be so terrible the blood will rise up to the horses reins.
• The battle of Armageddon can be known by going back to the 1st century AD to the time when the book of Revelation was written and looking at it in the way those Christians saw it.
• In the 1st century two empires went forth to capture the hearts and minds of men and women-the empire of Rome and the church of our Lord as depicted in the book of Revelation.
• It was a conflict between God and the devil-Jesus Christ and the Roman Caesars-the church and the Roman Empire-monotheism and polytheism-between morality and immorality-all that was right and everything that was wrong.
• John knew that the battles fought in and around Megiddo were conflicts arising from moral and spiritual ideologies as also those found in the book of Revelation. The HS used details of the former battles to describe the current battle. John saw the battle of Armageddon as one between right and wrong, symbolic of a world wide battlefield-an age long war. However it certainly included the battle waged by God and Satan in the 1st century. It was not fought with real weapons but with moral-spiritual-intellectual weapons used by the minds and hearts of men and women. Ephesians 6:10-18)
• Not a single battle but different encounters between right and wrong, and it still goes on both day and night! It has been going on since Adam and Eve!
• Adam and Eve lost the battle-Joseph won in the house of Potiphar-Saul lost-David with Bathsheba lost-Jesus won in his temptation. Rev 17:14  Jesus won the spiritual battle of Armageddon in the 1st century AD! Rome was brought to it`s knees! The government was changed resulting in Col 1:23 every person heard the gospel!