What Christians Believe Is Developing: Armageddon: And What Jews Have Expressed

 Nadene Goldfoot                                                  

Israeli soldiers operating in a location given as the Gaza Strip, in an image released on November 14. Israeli Army/via REUTERS.  Perhaps they will stumble onto the tunnels.  

Armageddon, in Hebrew seen as Har Megiddo or Mt. Megiddo,  is the site of ultimate battle between the forces of good and evil according to Christian tradition in their New Testament as read in Revelations 16:16. 

 The players in the Armageddon description  according to J. Daniel are: The Beast (Anti-Christ) , King of the South, and King of the North.  However, in Revelations , you have God, Satan, and a False Prophet.  This seems to be related to their 3some concept of God as the father, Jesus Christ as the son, and the Holy Spirit. 

Megiddo is mentioned twelve times in the Old Testament, ten times in reference to the ancient city of Megiddo, and twice with reference to "the plain of Megiddo", most probably simply meaning "the plain next to the city". 

Israel is colored 'yellow."  Israel's Coastal Plain is "red."

So something could happen of importance to a city next to a plain.  The Israel's Central Coastal Plain also known as Judean Coastal Plain, is running from northern Tel Aviv's Yarkon River to the northern tip of the Gaza Strip marked by Nahal Shikma, and the Central Coastal Plain contains cities such as Bat Yam, Rishon LeZion, Ashdod and Ashkelon, as well as agricultural communities.

 None of these Old Testament passages describes the city of Megiddo as being associated with any particular prophetic beliefs. The one New Testament reference to the city of Armageddon found in Revelation 16:16 makes no specific mention of any armies being predicted to one day gather in this city, either, but instead seems to predict only that "they (will gather) the kings together to ... Armageddon".

Megiddo was an ancient fortified town in Israel in the Valley of Jezreel populated from the 4th millennium BCE to 500 BCE controlling the pass connecting Egypt with Mesopotamia.  It was the scene of many battles such as Deborah's victory over the Canaanites, Joshua's defeat by the Egyptians and tangling with Tiglath-Pileser, the  Roman War, and the Crusades.  

 The text does however seem to imply, based on the text from the earlier passage of Revelation 16:14, that the purpose of this gathering of kings in the "place called Armageddon" is "for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty".  the word is derived from the Hebrew moed (מועד), meaning "assembly". Thus, "Armageddon" would mean "Mountain of Assembly", which Jordan says is "a reference to the assembly at Mount Sinai, and to its replacement, Mount Zion".

A man,  James Dwight Pentacost, who died in 2014, wrote in his book, and   "Pentecost then outlines the biblical time period for this campaign to occur and with further arguments concludes that it must take place with the 70th week of Daniel. The invasion of Israel by the Northern Confederacy "will bring the Beast and his armies to the defense of Israel as her protector". He then uses Daniel to further clarify his thinking.Pentecost was ordained in 1941 at Cambridge Springs, Pennsylvania, into the Presbyterian Church, serving as a pastor there from 1941 to 1946, and then at Saint John's Presbyterian Church in Devon, Pennsylvania, from 1946 to 1951. He was the senior pastor at Grace Bible Church in Dallas, Texas, from 1958 to 1976. Fellow DTS seminarian Charles R. Swindoll served under Pentecost at Grace Church from 1961 to 1965, including a two-year position as assistant pastor.

Pentecost wrote nearly twenty books, mostly for the general Christian audience. He spoke to audiences worldwide. A Festschrift, Essays in Honor of J. Dwight Pentecost, was published by Moody Press in 1986.

Again, events are listed by Pentecost in his book:

1. "The movement of the campaign begins when the King of the South moves against the Beast–False Prophet coalition, which takes place 'at the time of the end'."
2. The King of the South gets in battle with the North King and the Northern Confederacy. Jerusalem is destroyed as a result of this attack, and, in turn, the armies of the Northern Confederacy are destroyed.
3. "The full armies of the Beast move into Israel and shall conquer all that territory. Edom, Moab, and Ammon alone escape."
4. "... a report that causes alarm is brought to the Beast"
5. "The Beast moves his headquarters into the land of Israel and assembles his armies there."
6. "It is there that his destruction will come."
   

   From the Oslo Accords (Sept. 1993) until September 2000 - nearly 300 Israelis were killed in attacks.

   During the Al-Aqsa Intifada (Sept. 2000 - Dec. 2005), another 1,100 Israelis were killed.

   Since September 2000, Palestinian terrorist attacks have claimed at least 1,456 Israeli lives. Hundreds more have been wounded.

   Since the Oslo Accords were signed, at least 1,372 Israeli civilians have been murdered (revised to exclude soldiers and police). These figures do not yet include the still undetermined total (estimated at more than 1,000) of Israelis killed in the October 7, 2023, massacre perpetrated by Hamas.

   This list includes 21 Israelis killed abroad in terror attacks directed specifically against Israeli targets and three American diplomatic personnel killed in Gaza. It does not include IDF soldiers or other non-civilians nor all the injured IDF.

As for "Daniel" in the Tanakh (Old Testament), Chaps. 7-12 are apocalyptic with visions relating to ancient times, but the reference seems to be to the  4 persecuting kingdoms of Babylonia, Media, Persia (today's Iran) and Greece.  They allude to historical events down to the period of Antiochus Epiphanes of Syria (not mentioned explicitly) whose wicked rule is to be succeeded by the kingdom of heaven.  This seems to take place at the beginning of the Maccabean revolt c165 BCE.   The Book of Daniel was written in Aramaic in chaps 2:4-7:28 which exercised a profound influence on following mysticism.  

Jewish eschatology is the area of Jewish theology concerned with events that will happen in the end of days and related concepts. This includes the ingathering of the exiled diaspora, the coming of the Jewish Messiah, the afterlife, and the resurrection of the dead. In Judaism, the end times are usually called the "end of days" (aḥarit ha-yamim, אחרית הימים), a phrase that appears several times in the Tanakh.The roots of Jewish eschatology are to be found in the pre-exile prophets, including Isaiah and Jeremiah, and the exilic prophets Ezekiel and Deutero-Isaiah. The main tenets of Jewish eschatology are the following, in no particular order, elaborated in the Book of Isaiah, the Book of Jeremiah and the Book of Ezekiel.

According to Ezekiel chapter 38, the "war of Gog and Magog" is a climactic war that will happen at the end of the Jewish exile. According to biblical commentator and rabbi David Kimhi, this war will take place in Jerusalem.men, burning whole families alive, and taking hundreds of innocent civilians  are still holding over 100 men, women, and children in captivity. October 7, Hamas terrorists waged the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust — slaughtering babies, raping women, burning whole families alive, and taking hundreds of innocent civilians hostage. Since October 7, more than 1,200 Israelis have been killed Terrorists are still holding over 100 men, women, and children in captivity.

Resource:

The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._Dwight_Pentecost

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israeli_coastal_plain#:~:text=The%20Israel's%20Central%20Coastal%20Plain,as%20well%20as%20agricultural%20communities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_eschatology