Short answer:
Armageddon is the place in Israel where the very last and greatest battle of all time will be fought. The word is also used to refer to the battle itself. Unlike what many people mistakenly believe, Armageddon is not World War III. Armageddon will take place after the nuclear war and the ensuing great tribulation.
After the nuclear
war, the great tribulation, and Armageddon, two-thirds of the world’s
population will have perished. One-third will remain for the final ordeal. Thankfully,
a blessed few shall have been divinely protected throughout the global afflictions.
Detailed explanation:
Armageddon
is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew term har Megiddo ("hill of Megiddo"). “Scholars
disagree on the exact location of this place, but the most likely area is the
valley between Mount Carmel and the city of Jezreel. This valley (known as the
Valley of Jezreel and sometimes referred to as the Plain of Esdraelon) was the
crossroads of two ancient trade routes and, thus, was a strategic military site,”
explains Nelson's Illustrated Bible
Dictionary.
Called
the great battlefield, Megiddo was famous for two great Israelite victories –
Barak over the Canaanites (Judges 4:15) and Gideon over the Midianites (Judges ch.
7); as well as two great disasters – the deaths of Saul (1 Samuel 31:8) and
Josiah (2 Kings 23:29-30; 2 Chronicles 35:22), noted Unger's Bible Dictionary.
Frog-like demons. “And I saw three unclean spirits
like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the
beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of
devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the
whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty…
And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon”
(Revelation
16:13-14, 16).
Evil
spirits from the dragon (Satan), the “beast” (end-time empire), and the false
prophet (counterfeit religion) will induce world leaders to invade Israel. In
Biblical prophecy an organized body (such as a kingdom or a church) and its
head are usually referred to as the same entity. For example, in Revelation
17:10a – “And there are seven kings…”
also means there are seven kingdoms; similarly, “beast” signifies either an empire or its ruler.
Kings of the south and north.
At
the threshold of the climax of humankind’s history, revitalized world powers
and other militarized nations recovering from the devastation of the nuclear
war and the great tribulation will again be mustering armies to take offensive
actions against their enemies.
“And at the time of
the end shall the king of the south push at him (the “vile person,” Daniel 11:21): and the king of the north shall come
against him like a whirlwind, with chariots, and with horsemen, and with many ships; and he shall enter into
the countries, and shall overflow and pass over” (Daniel 11:40). The “vile person” (from northern Iraq, domain
of ancient Assyria; hence a modern-day Assyrian) will be attacked by the “king of the south” and the “king of the north”. Who are these two “kings”?
Originally,
these “kings” or kingdoms were two Greek generals who took possession of the
biggest chunks of the Grecian empire after the untimely death of Alexander the
Great in 323 B.C. Ptolemy became king of Egypt and territories in the south,
while Seleucus became king of Syria and other landholdings in the north, including
Israel. The two lines of kings they started were respectively called the
Ptolemaic dynasty and Seleucid dynasty. After their dynasties declined, the “titles”
passed on to succeeding world powers (illustrated below):
Kings
of the south and north*
|
King of the South
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King of the North
|
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Ptolemaic Dynasty (305-30 BC)
|
Seleucid Dynasty (312-64 BC)
|
|
|
Roman Empire (27 BC-476 AD)
|
|
Arab Islamic Empire (632-1258)
|
Byzantine Empire (395-1453)
|
|
|
Holy Roman Empire (962-1806)
|
|
Ottoman Empire (1300-1922)
|
Spanish Empire (1400s-1800s)
|
|
|
Napoleonic France (1799-1815)
|
|
|
British Empire (1500s-1900s)
|
|
Egypt (1922-1979)
|
Nazi Germany (1933-1945)
|
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Iran ((1960s- )
|
United States (1776- )
|
*NOTE: Periods in
power of several empires either have gaps or overlap
Vile person attacked.
To
paraphrase Daniel 11:40, the “king of the
south” (Iran) will attack the “vile
person” (Iraq). The “king of the
north” (the United States) will come in with a much stronger force.
Neighboring countries will be involved. “He
shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be
overthrown: but these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, and Moab, and
the chief of the children of Ammon” (Daniel 11:41).
Middle East turmoil.
The “glorious land” is Israel; but the war
will spare Jordan, an Arab state friendly to the US. (Edom is now in southern Jordan; Moab
was also in Jordan, east of the Dead Sea; Ammon,
located northeast of Moab, is Amman, the capital of Jordan today.)
Next,
“He shall stretch forth his hand also
upon the countries: and the land of Egypt shall not escape. But he shall have
power over the treasures of gold and of silver, and over all the precious
things of Egypt: and the Libyans and the Ethiopians shall be at his steps” (Daniel
11:42-43). The mentioned nations, still bearing the same names today – Egypt,
Libya, and Ethiopia – will all be taken over.
“But tidings out of the east and out of the
north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to
destroy, and utterly to make away many” (Daniel 11:44). Intelligence reports will reach the vile person about two other forces – one
from the east and another from the north, advancing in his direction. He will
set out to meet the aggressors.
Armies from the
north. “Now the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ‘Son of
man, set your face against Gog, of the land of Magog, the prince of Rosh,
Meshech, and Tubal, and prophesy against him, and say, 'Thus says the Lord GOD:
‘Behold, I am against you, O Gog, the prince of Rosh, Meshech, and Tubal. I
will turn you around, put hooks into your jaws, and lead you out, with all your
army, horses, and horsemen, all splendidly clothed, a great company with
bucklers and shields, all of them handling swords. Persia, Ethiopia, and Libya
are with them, all of them with shield and helmet; Gomer and all its troops;
the house of Togarmah from the far north and all its troops -- many people are
with you’” (Ezekiel
38:1-6, NKJV). “Gog“ will assemble a great invasion force with many
of his long-time, as well as former, allies.
“Gog and Magog”. Who are these? Richard
Chaimberlin, editor of Petah Tikvah
(“Door of Hope”), in “Gog & Magog: End-Time Battles Over Israel” (July-Sept
2016, p. 3), explains: “Ezekiel 38:6 tells us that Gog and Magog are from ‘the
remote parts of the north… If you draw a line directly north from Jerusalem,
that… line will eventually go right through Moscow. Therefore, it seems
apparent that Russia will one day enter into a conspiracy with other nations to
attack Israel.”
We
get an additional clue from Fausset's
Bible Dictionary: In the Caucasus Mountains in southern Russia, “Ghogh and
Moghef are names still applied to its heights.”
“Rosh”. Some Bible scholars aver that Rosh is none other than Russia. “Rosh is
the tribe N. of the Taurus range and near Rha or Volga which gives them their
name; the earliest trace of the Russ nation” (Gog, Fausset's Bible Dictionary).
Also,
“Gesenius regarded it as indicating the Russians, who are mentioned in
Byzantine writers of the 10th century under the name of Rhos. He adds that they
are also noticed by Ibn Fosslan (same period), under the name of Rus, as a
people dwelling on the river Rha (Volga)” (Rosh, International Standard Bible Encyclopaedia).
“Meschech
and Tubal”. “Moscow and Tobolsk may derive their names from Mesech and
Tubal. Magog was Gog's original kingdom; he acquired also Mesech and Tubal,
becoming their ‘chief prince’,” notes Fausset's
Bible Dictionary. Moscow is now the capital of Russia; while Tobolsk was
the first city and is today the largest city in Siberia.
“Persia,
Ethiopia, Put”.
“Persia is identifiable today as Iran… The ancient queen of Sheba ruled over
areas on both sides of the Red Sea, including much of modern-day Yemen as well as Ethiopia. Put is usually described
as ‘Libya’,” Chaimberlin clarifies.
“Gomer”. Identified by some Bible
commentaries, these are the “people
descended from Gomer, son of Japheth. Apparently they lived to the far north,
beyond the Black Sea (Ezek 38:6). They were probably the Cimmerians of
classical history” (Nelson's Illustrated
Bible Dictionary). “The Cimmerians warred in northwestern Asia from 670 to
570 B.C. Originally dwelling in what is now southern Russia, the Ukraine (the
Crimea betrays their name, the Cimmerian Bosphorus); then being dispossessed by
the Scythians, they fled across the Caucasus into Armenia and Asia Minor,”
explains Fausset's Bible Dictionary, with
more details. Hence, Gomer alludes to
the modern-day nations of the Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan.
“Togarmah”. This name is said to refer to
the “son of Gomer… The descendants of Togarmah (Beth Togarmah, NIV) are
mentioned among the merchants who trafficked with Tyre in ‘horses and war
horses and mules’ (Ezek 27:14)… The name may be preserved in the E. Cappadocian
city of Til-garimmu, listed in the Assyrian records” (Togarmah, The New Unger's Bible Dictionary). Cappadocia was an ancient kingdom of eastern
Asia Minor (modern Turkey). And, more specifically, “The Imperial Dictionary
makes Togarmah to mean the Turkomans who have always joined the Turks…”
(Togarmah, Fausset's Bible Dictionary).
Togarmah,
therefore, means Turkey and other Turkic peoples in countries around the Aral
Sea in Central Asia, such as Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, including adjacent
Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan, and parts of Iran and Afghanistan.
Russian allies? The Ukraine, Armenia, Georgia,
Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Kyrgyzstan were former
Soviet republics of the USSR led by Russia; while Iran, Ethiopia, Libya, and Afghanistan
have or used to have close relations with Russia.
Advance on Israel.
“After many days
thou shalt be visited: in the latter years thou shalt come into the land that
is brought back from the sword, and is gathered out of many people, against the
mountains of Israel, which have been always waste: but it is brought forth out
of the nations, and they shall dwell safely all of them. Thou shalt ascend and
come like a storm, thou shalt be like a cloud to cover the land, thou, and all
thy bands, and many people with thee” (Ezekiel
38:8-9).
The
passage leaves little doubt that the object of the Russian-led invasion is
Israel – which has been “brought back
from the sword, and is gathered out of many people.” Chaimberlin notes that
“We have seen much of this prophecy already fulfilled. Jews have returned to
Israel from over 100 nations. And Israel was basically a wasteland until the
return of her people. Israel won her place in the land with the sword (warfare)
because of all the nations (primarily Arabs) who sought to prevent the rebirth
of the Jewish nation.”
A land of plenty. “Thus saith the Lord GOD; It shall also come to pass, that at the same
time shall things come into thy mind, and thou shalt think an evil thought: And
thou shalt say, I will go up to the land of unwalled villages; I will go to
them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls,
and having neither bars nor gates, To take a spoil, and to take a prey; to turn
thine hand upon the desolate places that are now inhabited, and upon the people
that are gathered out of the nations, which have gotten cattle and goods, that
dwell in the midst of the land” (Ezekiel 38:10-12). Foremost among Gog’s
objectives will be to take control of Israel’s abundant natural resources.
Minerals. Messianic faith leader Roger
Walkwitz quoted reports that there is great wealth locked up in the Dead Sea,
with its many minerals, such as sodium chloride, calcium chloride, and
potassium chloride, as well as bromine… extracted from the water for use in
making table salt, fertilizers, and drugs.
“Gas. Israel’s recent discovery of mega
gas fields titled Tamar and Leviathan are located off the Israeli coast from
Haifa. These massive discoveries will soon transform Israel… will adequately
look after Israel’s domestic needs and… to supply foreign markets. A number of
countries are pursuing involvement in these finds. Among them are Russia,
China, Europe and South Korea. Putin was in Israel… pursuing a contractual
relationship… on its gas development projects…
“Oil. Geologists have recently completed
a large mapping of most of southern Israel and preliminary findings indicate
there are vast amounts of oil trapped in rock layers under about 15% of the
State of Israel… The World Energy Council and Israel Energy Initiatives have
completed a detailed study… They estimate that Israel’s shale reserves could
contain as much as 250 billion barrels of potentially recoverable oil. This
would be putting Israel on a par with Saudi Arabia in terms of its oil
reserves!” (Petah Tikvah, July-Sept
2014, p. 49).
Western nations intervene?
It
looks like Gog and his allies will be confronted by allied Western nations and
friends. “Sheba, and Dedan, and the
merchants of Tarshish, with all the young lions thereof, shall say unto thee,
Art thou come to take a spoil? hast thou gathered thy company to take a prey?
to carry away silver and gold, to take away cattle and goods, to take a great
spoil?” (Ezekiel 38:13).
“Sheba”. From what we have read about
Ethiopia, “Sheba” could mean
countries on both sides of the Red Sea, such as Ethiopia, Somalia, Djibouti,
and Yemen.
“Dedan”. The New Unger’s Bible Dictionary states: “Dedan, son of Raamah,
settled on the shores of the Persian Gulf, and his descendants became caravan
merchants between that coast and Palestine.” Thus, “Dedan” could be the Persian Gulf states of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait,
Qatar, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, and Oman, which have good relations with the
West.
“Tarshish”. Nelson’s Illustrated Bible Dictionary says “Tarshish” is a “territory in the western portion of the
Mediterranean Sea with which the Phoenicians traded.”
Fausset's Bible
Dictionary adds
that “Tarshish was famed for various metals exported to Tyre; most of them were
drawn from Spain and Portugal, tin possibly from Cornwall or from Lusitania or
Portugal.” Spain, Portugal, and England (Cornwall) all established colonies in
the New World (the Americas), from where they brought back much merchandise to
Europe (the Old World). They must be the “merchants
of Tarshish.”
“Young lions”. The lion has been a symbol of
England since the medieval period; so the “young
lions” probably refer to former British colonies that have become
independent and powerful nations on their own – such as the USA, Canada,
Australia, New Zealand.
From all points of the compass … to
Armageddon.
“And the sixth angel poured
out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried
up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared” (Revelation
16:12). Will these “kings of
the east” be from China,
Indochina, the Indian subcontinent, the Koreas, Japan, and other countries in
East Asia?
The “kings
of the east” and the other forces from the south (Iran and allies),
West (US and allies), and north (Russia and allies) will all converge at
Armageddon, the battlefield of Megiddo, in Israel. (All the while, Armageddon will coincide with a series of mind-blowing
geophysical phenomena marking the Day of the LORD
– “Immediately after the
tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and
the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be
shaken” – Matthew 24:29).
Vile person’s stronghold – Jerusalem.
The
vile person will deploy his forces on a strategically favorable higher ground
in Israel. “And he shall plant the
tabernacles of his palace between the seas in the glorious holy mountain…” (Daniel
11:45a).
The
5th century theologian and Church father “Theodoret takes it for a
place near Jerusalem; Jerome says it was near Nicopolis, which was formerly called
Emmaus, where the mountainous parts of Judea began to rise, and that it lay
between the Dead Sea on the east, and the Mediterranean on the west, where he
supposes that Antichrist will pitch his tent… The most obvious application of
this phrase, it cannot be doubted, would be Jerusalem, as being the ‘holy
mountain,’ or ‘the mountain of holiness’” (Daniel 11:45, Barnes' Notes).
200
million destroying angels come.
“And the sixth angel sounded, and
I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, Saying
to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound
in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were
prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third
part of men. And the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred
thousand thousand: and I heard the number of them” (Revelation
9:13-16). Two hundred million destroying angels arrive to take part in Armageddon.
Christ’s Second Coming.
“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white
horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness
he doth judge and make war” (Revelation
19:11).
“And then shall they
see the Son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory” (Mark 13:26). "His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many
crowns; and he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself. And he was
clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God”
(Revelation 19:12-13).
The elect gathered. The first resurrection – “And he
shall send his angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they shall gather
together his elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matthew
24:31). Who are the elect? The prophet Isaiah gives us the answer – Israel is
God’s elect. “For Jacob my servant's
sake, and Israel mine elect…” (Isaiah
45:4a).
The 144,000. “And
I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred
forty and four thousand, having his Father's name written in their foreheads… (Revelation 14:1). “…an hundred and forty and four thousand of
all the tribes of the children of Israel” (Revelation 7:4b). “These are they which follow the Lamb
whithersoever he goeth” (Revelation 14:4b). “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses,
clothed in fine linen, white and clean” (Revelation 19:14).
Note:
Not all of the 144,000 elect will literally be Israelites. Gentiles will be
part of the elite group too (Colossians 3:11-12; Romans 11:17; Ephesians 2:12, 19,
etc.).
Sword of His mouth. “And out of his
mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he
shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the
fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his
thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS” (Revelation 19:15-16).
A
puzzler – a sharp sword going out of the Savior’s mouth? Hebrews 4:12 (cf. Ephesians 6:17) makes it clear for
us: “For the word of God is quick, and
powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of
the thoughts and intents of the heart.” The “sword” is the word of God!
Armageddon – the battle is joined.
“And I saw the
beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make
war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army” (Revelation 19:19). The armies of
mere mortals will probably be emboldened by the locust-demons that came from the
bottomless pit sometime during the great tribulation (Revelation 9:1-11).
Jerusalem ravaged. The holy city will be a battle
zone.“For I will gather all nations
against Jerusalem to battle; and the city shall be taken, and the houses
rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into
captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city” (Zechariah
14:2).
The Savior engages
in battle. “Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against
those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And his feet shall stand
in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east…” (Zechariah
14:3-4a).
The kings of the earth:“These shall make
war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for he is Lord of lords,
and King of kings: and they that are with him are called, and chosen, and
faithful” (Revelation
17:14; cf. Matthew 22:14).
Invaders kill each other. In a
bizarre turn of events, the invaders will start killing one another. “And
it shall come to pass in that day, that a great tumult from the LORD shall be
among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and
his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour” (Zechariah 14:13)
Ezekiel foresaw the same thing and more: “And I will call for a sword against him
throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord GOD: every man's sword shall be
against his brother. And I will plead against him with pestilence and with
blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people
that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and
brimstone” (Ezekiel 38:21-22).
The voice of God. As a finishing blow on the
invaders:“And the LORD shall cause
his glorious voice to be heard, and shall shew the lighting down of his arm,
with the indignation of his anger, and with the flame of a devouring fire, with
scattering, and tempest, and hailstones. For through the voice of the LORD
shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod” (Isaiah
30:30-31).
“And this shall be
the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought
against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their
feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall
consume away in their mouth” (Zechariah
14:12). “That sounds identical to the damage inflicted by a neutron bomb, which
explodes the protein cells in the body. It destroys people, not buildings!”
comments Petah Tikvah editor Richard Chaimberlin.
Assyrian invader crushed. The Assyrian leader (vile person)
will meet his end. “I will break the Assyrian in my land, and upon my mountains tread
him under foot: then shall his yoke depart from off them, and his burden depart
from off their shoulders” (Isaiah 14:25).
“Then shall the
Assyrian fall with the sword, not of a mighty man; and the sword, not of a mean
man, shall devour him: but he shall flee from the sword, and his young men
shall be discomfited” (Isaiah
31:8). The vile person “…shall come to
his end, and none shall help him” (Daniel 11:45b).
Gog falls.
The invaders from the north will be decimated. “Behold, I am against thee, O Gog, the chief prince of Meshech and
Tubal: And I will turn thee back, and leave but the sixth part of thee… And I
will smite thy bow out of thy left hand, and will cause thine arrows to fall
out of thy right hand. Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and
all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the
ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured” (Ezekiel
39:1b-2a, 3-4).
Fowl feast on flesh. “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud
voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather
yourselves together unto the supper of the great God; That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and
of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both
small and great…
“And the remnant
were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded
out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh” (Revelation 19:17-18, 21).
Earth’s kingdoms to the Lord and Christ.
“And the seventh angel
sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this
world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall
reign for ever and ever. Amen!” (Revelation 11:15).
“Beast” and “false
prophet” into the lake of fire.
“And the beast was taken, and with him
the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them
that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image.
These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (Revelation
19:20).
The
“beast” refers to the end-time empire
(“beast with seven heads” – Revelation 13:1), not to its ruler. No human being
will be cast into the lake of fire until after the Last Judgment, when “the books were opened: and another book was
opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books… and they were judged every man according to
their works” (Revelation 20:11-15).
The
“false prophet” is probably not the “second beast” (“beast with two horns
like a lamb” – Revelation 13:11) as some end-time prophecy watchers teach. Is
it Islam? Its founder, Muhammad, is called “the last prophet of God” by his
followers. Or is it the Vatican (the Papacy)? Its seat is on Rome’s Vatican
Hill (root-word vates, which means
“prophet” – Collins Latin-English,
English-Latin Dictionary).
Satan and demons into
the bottomless pit.
Satan will be imprisoned for the next 1,000 years. “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the
bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon,
that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand
years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal
upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years
should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season” (Revelation
20:1-3).
Satan’s
minions will join their master in prison. “And it shall come to pass in that
day, that the LORD shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and
the kings of the earth upon the earth. And they shall be gathered together, as
prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and
after many days shall they be visited” (Isaiah 24:21-22). The phrase “the high ones on high” refers to the
angels who joined Satan; “after many days”
means after 1,000 years.
Postscript: two-thirds of mankind
gone.
After Armageddon, two-thirds or sixty-six percent
(66%) of the world population will have perished, based on a veiled prophecy by
Ezekiel: “And thou, son of man, take thee
a sharp knife, take thee a barber's razor, and cause it to pass upon thine head
and upon thy beard: then take thee balances to weight, and divide the hair. Thou
shalt burn with fire a third part in the midst of the city, when the days of
the siege are fulfilled: and thou shalt take a third part, and smite about it
with a knife: and a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw
out a sword after them…
“A third part of thee shall die with the pestilence, and with famine
shall they be consumed in the midst of thee: and a third part shall fall by the
sword round about thee and I will scatter a third part into all the winds, and
I will draw out a sword after them” (Ezekiel 5:1-2, 12). The prophecy will be fulfilled in
three stages, as follows:
First 33% : nuclear
war-great tribulation. The
first third of mankind will fall in the nuclear war (World War III) and the
ensuing great tribulation. “Thou shalt burn with fire a third part in
the midst of the city, when the days of the siege are fulfilled” (Ezekiel 5:2a); “A third part of thee shall
die with the pestilence, and with famine shall they be consumed in the midst of
thee” (Ezekiel 5:12a).
Second 33%:
Armageddon. The second third will perish during Armageddon, “and thou shalt take a third part, and smite
about it with a knife” (Ezekiel 5:2b); “and a third part
shall fall by the sword round about thee…” (Ezekiel 5:12b). Another prophet, Zechariah, foresaw the tally after
Armageddon: “And it shall come to pass,
that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut off and
die; but the third shall be left therein” (Zechariah 13:8).
Last 33%: scattered
in the wind. The surviving
last third of humanity will go through the next ordeal that will follow shortly:
“and
a third part thou shalt scatter in the wind; and I will draw out a sword after
them” (Ezekiel 5:2c); “and I will scatter a third part into all
the winds, and I will draw out a sword after them” (Ezekiel 5:12c).
Divinely protected few. Thankfully,
a blessed few will be divinely protected throughout the deadly afflictions that
will take the lives of almost all the people in the world. “Thou shalt also take thereof a few in number, and bind them in thy
skirts” (Ezekiel 5:3). They will be secreted away in God’s hiding places.
The final ordeal – fire. However,
not all of them will be spared from the ultimate manifestation of God’s wrath.
Some will go through fire. “Then take of
them again, and cast them into the midst of the fire, and burn them in the
fire; for thereof shall a fire come forth into all the house of Israel” (Ezekiel
5:4).
May the LORD deliver us from evil. Amen!
Excerpted from the booklets End
Time and Spiritual Warfare, and
the books Angels & Men and End Time Decoded by M.M. Tauson. Printed
copies available at Amazon.com – For free pdf copies of our e-booklets, click
the Booklets and Google Drive tabs on the menu bar.
Bible quotations are from the King James Version (KJV) unless
otherwise indicated.
