Is This Armageddon? by C. M. S.

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Sep 17, 1914

Is This Armageddon?

By C. M. S.

What Is the Battle of Armageddon and Where Will It Be Fought?

“It came to pass, when Joram saw Jehu, that he said, Is it peace, Jehu?” But Joram found that it was not peace, and he sank down in his chariot with the arrow of Jehu in his heart. See 2 Kings 9: 22-24.

Good-intentioned men and women have formed peace societies and have sought to convince the world that the day of war was past; but myriads of earth’s inhabitants are sinking down today, as did peace-seeking Joram, where the missiles of Jehu have smitten them. Some twenty million men with slaughter weapons in their hands, trampling out lives and homes, or mobilized and waiting to enter the fray, are the mocking answer of the god of war to the assurances of the peace societies and the international Peace Palace at The Hague.

Though war is hated by humanity for the very hatred and murder-lust it has planted in the hearts of men, the divine Word declares in unequivocal language that this world will come to its end in a universal appeal to the reasonless arbitrament of war. The anomalous feature of the situation lies in the fact that the protestations of peace and the assurances of peace are to be heard at the very time when this world is ready to be plunged into this cataclysm of universal war. Says the inspired apostle: “When they are saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction cometh upon them, . . . and they shall in no wise escape.” 1 Thess. 5: 3. It is the acme of deception that earth’s inhabitants should be lulled to sleep with the song of peace and safety when standing upon the very brink of the “battle of that great day” which ushers in the destruction of the world.

The press of the world has been talking about Armageddon; statesmen have referred to it just before or during this clash of the nations. A dim notion seems to prevail to the effect that Armageddon is a great war involving the troops of many nations; that it will prove to be the last war, because the horror of its results will shock the world into some arrangement, some union or confederacy of the nations, some parliament of the world, which will make war between the nations as improbable as it now is between the various States of the United States.

They who build on such a foundation build on sand; a structure reared on such a hope is a house of cards. Inspiration clearly reveals that the battle of Armageddon closes the history of this present world and precedes immediately the second coming of our Redeemer and the destruction of the wicked.

From the following scripture we learn what Armageddon is:—

“And the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sunrising. 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, as it were frogs: for they are spirits of demons, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. . . . And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon.” Rev. 16: 12-16, American Revised Version.

Har-Mageddon, or Armageddon, or Mt. Megiddo, or the city of Megiddo, is a real place; and there do the forces of the nations gather, under the inspiration of the “spirits of demons,” to fight a literal battle for the possession of a literal city some fifty miles

from that place. They gather at Armageddon; the battle will take place around Jerusalem.

The location of the battle is made certain by another scripture which reads:—

“Proclaim ye this among the nations; Prepare war; stir up the mighty men; let all the men of war draw near, let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Haste ye, and come, all ye nations round about, and gather yourselves together: thither cause thy mighty ones to come down, O Jehovah. Let the nations bestir themselves, and come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat; for there will I sit to judge all the nations round about. Put ye in the sickle; for the harvest is ripe: come, tread ye; for the wine press is full, the vats overflow: for their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! for the day of Jehovah is near in the valley of decision.” Joel 3: 9-14.

The meaning of Jehoshaphat is “Jehovah does justice.” Therefore it is the “valley of decision,” or the valley of Jehovah’s judgment; and there does he “sit to judge all the nations.” Furthermore, all the nations, or representatives of all the nations, will be there to receive sentence. But where is it? It is “a narrow glen which runs from north to south, between the mounts Olivet and Moriah, and through which flows the Kidron.”—Bible Dictionary, article “Jehoshaphat.”

It does not follow that the armies of all the nations are crowded into that glen. Jehovah says: “There will I sit to judge all the nations round about.” Their rendezvous was at Armageddon, at the foot of Mt. Carmel, in the plain of Esdraelon, or valley of Jezreel. Here were fought many battles in ancient times. Here Gideon’s little band overcame the Midianites. Here Saul conquered the Philistines; and here Josiah was defeated by the Egyptians under Pharaoh Necho. This gathering place is easily accessible to forces coming down from the north and to forces marching in from the landing place on the seashore; and from that rendezvous these armed representatives of the nations march upon Jerusalem. The following scripture serves further to identify the place of this last mighty war and to indicate the outcome of the battle:—

“For, lo, I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name; and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished; for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith Jehovah of hosts. . . . Jehovah will roar from on high, and utter his voice from his holy habitation; he will mightily roar against his fold; he will give a shout, as they that tread the grapes, against all the inhabitants of the earth. A noise shall come even to the end of the earth; for Jehovah hath a controversy with the nations; he will enter into judgment with all flesh: as for the wicked, he will give them to the sword, saith Jehovah. Thus saith Jehovah of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great tempest shall be raised up from the uttermost parts of the earth. And the slain of Jehovah shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth: they shall not be lamented, neither gathered, nor buried.” Jer. 25: 29-33.

At the valley of Jehoshaphat, Jehovah will at that time “sit in judgment.” He says, “I begin to work evil at the city which is called by my name.” The nations will have come up to that place (Jerusalem) to engage in what will be the last battle of this world. Jehovah there pronounces his judgments upon all who have refused the offers of his grace; and at that place the work of executing that judgment begins, extending thence to every portion of the earth.

It is at such a time that these words of Scripture apply:—

“The kings of the earth, and the princes, and the chief captains, and the rich, and the strong, and every bondman and freeman, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains; and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of their wrath is come, and who is able to stand?” Rev. 6: 15-17.

That time is the time of the coming of Jesus Christ. But following his coming there can be no wars of nation against nation, as this scripture which tells of his coming clearly indicates:—

“To you that are afflicted rest with us, at the revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with the angels of his power in flaming fire, rendering vengeance to them that know not God, and to them that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus; who shall suffer punishment, even eternal destruction from the face of the Lord and from the glory of his might, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints.” 2 Thess. 1: 7-10.

There will be no one left then to carry on war, for all who are not “caught up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air,” will be slain at the coming of Christ, and will remain in their graves for a thousand years. See 1 Thess. 4: 16, 17; Rev. 20: 4-6.

Is This Armageddon?

The war now being fought in Europe is not Armageddon, but it is entirely possible that it may lead into that battle. If that power designated in the Bible as “the king of the north” throws its forces into this war, loses control of its capital, and re-establishes its government in Palestine (“between the sea and the glorious holy mountain,” Dan. 11:45) where “he shall come to his end, and none shall help him,” then this is the first stage of the Armageddon battle. But that is yet to be determined. The outcome of this war we cannot forecast. Its relation to Armageddon depends upon the aligning and shifting of the nations themselves. Will those shiftings and alignings so dry up that power designated as the Euphrates that the way will be prepared for the forces of heathenism and Mohammedanism to come up to the common battle ground of the world? Time will tell. But if this war does not do it, another must follow soon that will. Then, with the forces of heathendom, Christendom, and Mohammedanism battling in Palestine for the great center of the religious world, we shall have Armageddon, the judgments of God, and the coming of the world’s Redeemer. The stage is set for the closing tragedy of the world. If the actors are not yet ready, it cannot be that they will keep us waiting long.

C. M. S.