Those silly Futurists have taught us that the battle to end all wars is supposed to be in the Valley of Jezreel. But, is that what the Bible really says?

12   The sixth angel poured his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east.  13 And I saw, issuing from the mouth of the dragon and from the mouth of the beast and from the mouth of the false prophet, three foul spirits like frogs;  14 for they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty.  15 (“Lo, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he who is awake, keeping his garments that he may not go naked and be seen exposed!”)  16 And they assembled them at the place which is called in Hebrew Armageddon.  Rev. 16:12-16  

If this is your first time actually reading the prophecy, I’m sure it looks pretty weird, and a lot more obscure than you were led to believe.

The three frog spirits assemble the kings of the earth at the place in the Hebrew called Armageddon. The first problem with this phrase is that there is no place in the Hebrew called Armageddon. All scholars agree that this is a truncation of the Hebrew Har-Megedo. Har means a mountain or large hill, and most think that it refers to Tel Meggiddo an archaeological site in modern Israel. Tels are the ruins of ancient towns on top of small hills. 

Megiddo overlooked the Jezreel valley, where all these futurist commentators will tell you the last battle is to occur. In history, Megiddo was of strategic importance before the Age of Sail. To travel from Asia, Africa, and Europe by land, all had to pass Megiddo. Napoleon said the valley was a great place for a battle. Yes, for cannons and fixed bayonets. There is no cover from rockets, drones, or planes. Further, there is no mention of a battle in the Text. It just says the kings are assembled there. Since when do kings fight battles? The last one that comes to mind was Henry V. Nothing is here about armies, nothing here about fighting. This is a warning that when we see this happening, we need to keep our garments on. Meaning that we need to be spiritually ready to go.

We historicists teach that the River Euphrates represented the Ottoman Empire, a.k.a The Porte. This Empire fell apart during WW1, at which time most of the Ottoman Empire was put under French or British mandates. In the 1950’s and 1960’s, these nations of the Middle East and North Africa, one by one, gained their independence. 

Now for some speculation, always a dangerous thing to do. Historicists are never good at speculation; it is always best to wait for the new papers or even the history books before deciding what a prophecy meant. But as the information we have available today, and of course, this could change. What are we to be looking for?  Har means mountain, so someplace high and lifted up. Megiddo means to cut. In Hebrew cut can mean to use a knife to make an incision, but it can also mean a division. Solomon kept a cut of troops (i.e., a division). It was also a place of Baal worship, where the worshipers would ritually cut themselves. So Armageddon implies either idolatrous worship or military movements.

And they cried aloud, and cut themselves after their custom with swords and lances, until the blood gushed out upon them. 1Kings 18:28

Two possibilities present themselves here. We are looking for someplace where nations assemble, where they can influence military or idolatrous religious movements. Our suggestion is the UN and the Hague. Their religion is humanism, and they send ineffective peacekeepers all over the world. The League of Nations (1920-1946), followed by the United Nations (inception April 25 – June 26th, 1945), representing the kings of the whole earth, fits this description. As a group, these kings have promoted Secular Humanism and are in control of the movement of peacekeeping troops throughout the world.

But time will tell. Something else could just as easily pop up on the stage of history as a gathering place for kings.

Just grab your clothes.