Stages of Armageddon, The Prelude.
Daniel 11:40
We finished up with
Revelation 19:15 with the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. NASB
“From His mouth comes a sharp sword [broadsword], so that with it He may strike
down the nations…” and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the
wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.” There is going to be a
war between the nations of the earth versus the Lord Jesus Christ. The result is
then stated. “…and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine
press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty.” He will bring them into
submission (the phrase comes directly from Psalm 2), and the last phrase
talking about Him treading the wine press, which invokes the image of someone
walking and crushing the grapes with their feet, is an image of bloodshed and
one that is first introduced in Revelation chapter fourteen: V.19 NASB
“So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered {the clusters from}
the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of
God.” So the winepress pictures the judgment of God and the trampling the
grapes in the winepress pictures the carrying out of that judgment. [20] “And the
wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine
press, up to the horses’ bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles.” Two
hundred miles is approximately the distance from Dan to Beersheba, and so what this is saying is that this bloody,
violent judgment that will come in this war between the Lord Jesus Christ and
the nations of the earth is going to cover the land of Israel.
That is referred to by
another popular term, the Battle of Armageddon, but is more correctly
understood by a phrase that is used in Revelation 16:14 as the battle or
campaign—polemos/polemoj, a word that doesn’t refer specifically to one
individual battle but t6o a series of battles or military campaign: the
campaign of the of the great day of God Almighty. This is the focal point of
the day of the Lord when God brings judgment into time, brings judgment upon
the nations, judgment upon sin and evil in time. There is the judgment of sin
at the cross; this is the judgment in time on the nations, the human race, and
it brings about a cleansing of the planet through the three successive
judgment—the seal, trumpet and bowl judgments—that prepare for the
establishment of the millennial kingdom.
This is describes in
several passages in the Old Testament. Some of these passages are somewhat
general and don’t deal with the specifics of the Armageddon campaign. One is
Joel 3:9-11. This is the Lord calling the nations to battle, the same thing we
see in Revelation 14. NASB “Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare
a war; rouse the mighty men! Let all the soldiers draw near, let them come up!
Beat your plowshares into swords And your pruning hooks into spears…” Notice
the reversal there of the well known passage in Isaiah chapter two that during
the Millennial kingdom they would beat swords into ploughshares, etc. because
of the peace that is established by the reign of the Messiah. This is the
opposite, a call for man to come out with all of their weapons of war against
God. “… Let the weak say, ‘I am a mighty man.’ Hasten and come, all you
surrounding nations, And gather yourselves there. Bring down, O LORD, Your
mighty ones.”
Then in Psalm two. Psalm
21:1 NASB “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising
a vain thing? [2] The kings of the earth [a phrase seen again and again in the
details of Revelation 14-19] take their stand And the rulers take counsel
together Against the LORD and against His Anointed [Messiah], saying, ‘Let us
tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!’” Then the scene shifts
in verse 4ff to God’s response to their attempts to break out from under the
control of God. “He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them.
Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying,
But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” So these
first five verses of Psalm two refer to that battle as God laughs in derision
at these puny human leaders who think that they can somehow rule the planet on
their own and cast aside the sovereign authority of God. This comes to be
called the battle of Armageddon because Revelation 16 describes it as such, but
more specifically it is the campaign of the great day of God the Almighty.
The eight stages of
Armageddon. There is the gathering of the armies of the Antichrist at the
Valley of Megiddo, followed by the destruction of Babylon, the fall of
Jerusalem, the Antichrist attacks the remnant of believing Jews in Bozrah,
Israel’s regeneration as a nation, Jesus returns—not to the Mount of Olives
(that comes later)—to rescue the remnant in Petra, and then leads them on a
campaign back to Jerusalem, defeating the armies of the Antichrist along the
way, going to the Mount of Olives which then splits in two allowing the remnant
that is trapped in Jerusalem to escape. Then He destroys the Antichrist, his
armies, and the false prophet. He casts the false prophet and the Antichrist
into the lake of fire and Satan into the abyss where he is chained for 1000
years.
Daniel chapter eleven is
primarily a historical passage, i.e. the vast majority of the events in the
chapter have been fulfilled historically. They refer to the historic battles
and jockeying for power and control over the Middle East between the descendants of two of Alexander’s generals. The Seleucid
empire took over the area of Syria and Turkey, and initially did not have control over the area of Jerusalem. The southern king is the descendant of Ptolemy and
his empire and that is referred to as the king of the south. They jockeyed for
power back and forth as to who was going to control the area in the Middle East, and so we see a historic description. All of the events from 11:1
through verse 35 can all be identified historically, so that is not prophetic.
But once we get to verse 36 there are things said that are not true
historically of Antiochus Epiphanes specifically.
Daniel 11:36 NASB “Then
the king will do as he pleases, and he will exalt and magnify himself above
every god and will speak monstrous things against the God of gods; and he will
prosper until the indignation is finished, for that which is decreed will be
done.” Antiochus did not exalt himself above every god, he exalted Zeus and set
up an idol to Zeus in the temple, but he did not exalt himself above Zeus. He
was exalting the worship of Zeus and was hostile to the God of the Jews. So
there is a shift that takes place in verse 36, and down to the end of chapter
twelve deals more with future things that have yet to have been fulfilled.
Daniel 11:40 NASB “At
the end time the king of the South will collide with him, and the king of the
North will storm against him with chariots, with horsemen and with many ships;
and he will enter countries, overflow {them} and pass through.” If we are in
the end times starting in v. 36 what does he mean here by “the time of the
end”? Is this a general reference to the end of the age for Israel, Daniel’s seventieth week, or is this referring to
the actual end of the seventieth week period? [41] “He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many {countries} will fall; but these will be
rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon.” We have to
identify who the “him” refers to and when the time of the end is.
As pointed out, the events
from v. 36 on have never been fulfilled. What we see is a description that most
dispensationalists view as the time of the abomination of Desolation when the
Antichrist identifies himself as God and is to be worshipped as God and sets up
his idol in the temple. Notice the similarity with 2 Thessalonians 2:4,
describing the Antichrist. NASB “who opposes and exalts himself
above every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in
the temple of God, displaying himself as being God.” The first part of that is
taken almost directly out of Daniel and the second part adds new information,
that he sits as God in the temple of God. This event takes place at the mid point of the
Tribulation. This is similar to what is stated about him in Revelation 13:6 NASB
“And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and
His tabernacle, {that is,} those who dwell in heaven,” and verse 15 related to
the second beast, the false prophet, “And it was given to him to give breath to
the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast would even speak and
cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed.” So these
four verses all relate to the same kind of situation where the Antichrist makes
himself to be God, elevates himself above all other gods, and is to be
worshipped as God. That is clearly a benchmark of time, that this is the
Abomination of Desolation.
Daniel 11:39 NASB “He will take action against the
strongest of fortresses with {the help of} a foreign god; he will give great
honor to those who acknowledge {him} and will cause them to rule over the many
[Israel], and will parcel out land [Israel] for a price.” So he is going to start parceling out
the land of Israel
to his cronies and allies as rewards. So when we come to verse 40, near the end
of the second half of the Tribulation, it is obviously before the eight stages
of the campaign of Armageddon. This is a prelude; it sets up what will happen
in those eight stages.
Who is the king of the north?
It is not Russia. Why? In Daniel 11:5 NASB “Then the king
of the South will grow strong, along with {one} of his princes who will gain
ascendancy over him and obtain dominion; his domain {will be} a great dominion
{indeed.} [6] After some years they will form an alliance, and the daughter of
the king of the South will come to the king of the North to carry out a
peaceful arrangement…” Who is the king of the south in that passage? Egypt. Who is the king of the north? Syria. Historically, in those first 35 verses in Daniel 11
the king of the south is the Egyptian Seleucid empire; the king of the north is
the Ptolemaic empire that was primarily Syria, Turkey, maybe even going to towards Russia, but this is the area of the king of the north. As we
read through the text and comes down to vv. 36-39, and into verse 40 where it
says the king of the south shall come we can’t all of a sudden make the king of
the south refer to something other than what it has already been referring to.
Neither can we make the king of the north refer to something other than it has
already been referring to. Basic hermeneutics! You can’t switch meanings in
mid-sentence, unless you identify them—that hasn’t happened here. It is thought
that the king of the south and the king of the north represent coalitions and
that these coalitions are clearly larger than what they were when there were
these battles between the Ptolemies and the Seleucids in the third century BC, but they
still basically represent those general areas. The king of the north is who
attacks in the Gog and Magog invasion of Ezekiel 38 and 39. The phrase “king of
the north” is not there in those chapters. They are invaded from the far north,
but the invasion of whoever that military power is in the far north is
different from the king of the north.
Daniel 11:40 identifies that
there is going to be this battle between the kings of the south who will attack
the Antichrist and the king of the north will come against him like a
whirlwind. He has set himself up to be worshipped in Jerusalem, so he has an outpost there. But remember his main
kingdom is out of Europe, the revived Roman empire. So it has elements of the old Roman empire plus some new elements, that is what we learn from
Daniel chapter two with the ten toes that are made of iron and clay. The iron
represents elements from the old Roman
empire and the clay new
elements. It is clear that the ten toes are an outgrowth of the Old Roman
empire. That is his initial power base: the ten nations or ten kings come out
of that area. Then there will be the king of the north and the king of the
south and another group referred to as the kings of the east.
It seems that what happens is
this: the Antichrist has consolidated his power after he is miraculously
brought back from the dead. He is indwelt by Satan, empowered by the dragon
(Revelation 13), and the Antichrist and the false prophet are performing all of
these signs and wonders. Economically they come to control the whole world, it
is a world-wide dominion. He manages to utilize his power base from western
Europe, it is believed, to intimidate and control the Middle East, and it is also believed that he utilizes economic Babylon as his power base to further his control over the
earth.
Up until the 1970s Beirut was sort of the Wall Street of the Middle East, the banking center. Once Lebanon began to fall apart in the 70s the Middle East no longer has a real central banking. There have been recent attempts
to establish some sort of economic centre in both Syria and Dubai as an attempt to try to really install an economic
base somewhere in the east. There have even been suggestions of using Babylon, which will probably happen—an economic center in the
Middle East. This won’t be the Antichrist’s center, it will be
the economic center that he has made an alliance with in order to expand his
power over the whole earth. But this begins to fragment when we get into the
second half of the Tribulation. In that last quarter of the Tribulation his
empire begins to fragment; he can’t hold it together. The first sign of this is
when the king of the north begins to break loose and attack his outpost in Israel and the king of the south does as well.
Daniel 11:40 NASB “…and he will enter countries,
overflow {them} and pass through.” He is going to come in from the west and
will overrun their armies to establish himself in the Middle East. This is what is going to bring all the military might of the
Antichrist’s kingdom into the Middle
East. His staging area is
going to be the Valley of Esdraelon/Valley of Jezreel which is the valley which
extends just below the hill of Megiddo. [41] “He will also enter the Beautiful Land, and many {countries} will fall; but these will be
rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab and the foremost of the sons of Ammon.” The three
listed are Ammon, Edom and Moab. Those are all part of the modern kingdom of Jordan.
Moab and Edom are particularly noteworthy because they are the area
right around Bozrah where we know that the remnant of Israel will flee and where there will be a major battle
between the Messiah and the forces of the Antichrist later on. But initially he
is not able to control that area, so this gives the Israelites a place of
refuge, a place to flee to as he is persecuting them. [42] “Then he will
stretch out his hand against {other} countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. [43] But he will gain control over
the hidden treasures of gold and silver and over all the precious things of Egypt; and Libyans and Ethiopians {will follow} at his
heels.” That last phrase is another one that is particularly challenging to
interpret. Some say that this is an idiom, that “shall follow at his heels”
means they are attacking him. Another view is that this is an idiom meaning
that they will follow after him. In other words, they are aligning themselves
with him. A third view is the view that he only goes that far in his southern
probe.
That third view has some real
potential because if the Ezekiel 38, 39 invasion has already taken place Libya and Ethiopia/Sudan have already been wiped out. No
matter where we put that battle—before the Tribulation, the early part,
mid-Tribulation or the initial stages of Armageddon they have already been
wiped out. So it probably fits best if this is just showing the extent of his
thrust into the south. The reason he turns around and goes back is because of
verse 44 NASB “But rumors from the East and from the North will
disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate
many.” East and north always have to be understand from the perspective of Jerusalem, so east would be back towards Babylon and north would be towards possibly Russia. [45] “He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion
between the seas [Mediterranean] and the beautiful Holy Mountain [Temple
mount]; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.” This just
summarizes what happens as he goes back into the land but the details are left
out.
What about this news from
the north and the east that troubles him? Going back to Revelation 16 where we
are looking at the 6th bowl judgment, verse 12: NASB “The
sixth {angel} poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the
kings from the east.” This obviously is designed to enable the kings of the
east to move west into the area of Israel and Armageddon. Are they coming as allies or foes?
[13] “And I saw {coming} out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of
the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like
frogs; [14] for they are spirits of demons, performing signs,
which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the
war of the great day of God, the Almighty.” Remember, we made the distinction
between the kings of the earth and the ten horns/kings that are the specific
power base of the Antichrist. [15] (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed
is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk
about naked and men will not see his shame.”)
[16] And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is
called Har-Magedon.”
So we have the gathering
of the armies of the Antichrist, but not just his. Are the kings of the east
coming against the Antichrist? Daniel 11 seems to suggest this. He is worried;
he hears this rumor from the north and from the east. It also seems to make
sense that these kings from the east have been somehow responsible for the
destruction of Babylon. Babylon
is located due east of Megiddo on the Euphrates River.
The first stage is the
gathering of the armies of the Antichrist and the second stage has to do with
the destruction of Babylon. What is interesting in the destruction of Babylon? In Zechariah 5:5-11 there is the vision of the woman
with the ephah. [5] NASB “Then the angel who was speaking with me
went out and said to me, ‘Lift up now your eyes and see what this is going
forth.’ [6] I said, ‘What is it?’ And he said, ‘This is the ephah going forth.’
Again he said, ‘This is their appearance in all the land [7] (and
behold, a lead cover was lifted up); and this is a woman sitting inside the
ephah.’ [8] Then he said, “This is Wickedness!” And he threw her down into the
middle of the ephah and cast the lead weight on its opening. [9] Then
I lifted up my eyes and looked, and there two women were coming out with the
wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they
lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. [10] I said
to the angel who was speaking with me, ‘Where are they taking the ephah?’ [11]
Then he said to me, ‘To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on
her own pedestal.’” The land of Shinar is the area of Babylon. This woman is going to be set down there and the
lead indicates the value. It is not silver or gold, it is a false economic
measure. This woman and the basket indicates this false economic base that is
going to come out of Babylon at this economic center. So Zechariah chapter five
stresses that this is the area of Babylon that will be the center of the world economy in the
future.
Secondly, Revelation 17:16. NASB “And the ten horns which you saw,
and the beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her desolate and naked,
and will eat her flesh and will burn her up with fire.” Babylon has now become an onerous master of the Antichrist’s
power base. The ten horns (the ten kings) will hate the harlot. The Antichrist
at this point does not like Babylon.
So who destroys Babylon? It seems from this passage that it is the
Antichrist’s kingdom. The other group that is mentioned in relation to this is
in Revelation 18:9 NASB “And the kings of the earth, who committed
{acts of} immorality and lived sensuously with her, will weep and lament over
her when they see the smoke of her burning.” So she is destroyed by burning. It
seems from 17:16 it is the ten horns. But they are different from the
kings of the earth: the ten horns hate her; the kings of the earth mourn over
her. This is where the plot thickens a little bit.
Isaiah 13 begins by
dealing with this in terms of the day of the Lord. Isaiah 13:6 NASB
“Wail, for the day of the LORD is near! It will come as destruction from the
Almighty.” In chapter fourteen we see the fall of the king of Babylon who is then taunted as Lucifer who is the power base
behind all of that when we get into that chapter. Isaiah 13:1 NASB
“The oracle concerning Babylon which Isaiah the son of Amoz saw. [2]
Lift up a standard on the bare hill, Raise your voice to them, Wave the hand
that they may enter the doors of the nobles. [3] I have commanded
My consecrated ones, I have even called My mighty warriors, My proudly exulting
ones, To {execute} My anger. [4] A sound of tumult on the mountains, Like that
of many people! A sound of the uproar of kingdoms, Of nations gathered
together! The LORD of hosts is mustering the army for battle. [5] They
are coming from a far country, From the farthest horizons, The LORD and His
instruments of indignation, To destroy the whole land [in context, Babylon].” They are Gentiles that are coming against Babylon, but they are identified in v, 3 as “sanctified
ones.” The word “sanctified” means those who are set apart for the service of
God. Arnold Fruchtenbaum takes the position that “sanctified ones” means that
they must be believers. His conclusion is that this is an army of Gentile
believers that attacks and destroys Babylon. A problem with that is that it is doubtful that
there are enough believers at this time in the Tribulation to be able to mount
a major military assault against Babylon and destroy it. But there is a basis as when the Lord
referred to Cyrus as His anointed one. Cyrus was an unbeliever and there is no
indication that he every was a believer, but he was chosen by God and appointed
to a particular role to release the Jews to go back to the land. Same thing
here. God is calling them a group that is set apart by Him in His plan to
accomplish the task of destroying Babylon.
This seems to fit with a
statement in Jeremiah 50:9, 10 NASB “For behold, I am going to
arouse and bring up against Babylon A horde of great nations from the land of
the north, And they will draw up {their} battle lines against her; From there
she will be taken captive. Their arrows will be like an expert warrior Who does
not return empty-handed. Chaldea will become
plunder; All who plunder her will have enough,” declares the LORD.
If we go to Ezekiel 38:3 NASB
“…‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “Behold, I am against you, O Gog, prince of Rosh,
Meshech and Tubal. [4] I will turn you about and put hooks into your jaws, and
I will bring you out, and all your army, horses and horsemen, all of them
splendidly attired, a great company {with} buckler and shield, all of them
wielding swords.” Then verse 6 mentions, “Gomer with all its troops;
Beth-togarmah {from} the remote parts of the north with all its troops—many
peoples with you.” We know from tracing back these ancient words through the
table of nations in Genesis 10 that the areas where these people groups settled
would be in eastern Europe and Germany. That area is called the far north in Ezekiel chapter
38, so if that is the far north it is coming out of eastern Europe. That could
very easily part of the Antichrist’s power base that is attacking Babylon because when we read in Jeremiah 50 that they are
being threatened from the north, that is not the north of Babylon, it is north from Israel. If Ezekiel 38 uses that same north orientation that
would fit and would back up what is said in Isaiah 13 that it is a Gentile
power base, part of the ten-horn nation confederacy that destroys the
harlot/Babylon, but it is distinct from the other kings. This leads us to
understanding that there is this gathering of troops in the area of the Valley
of Esdraelon which is the staging area for the battle that is about to take
place.
Illustrations