The Campaign of Armageddon

Most of the ideas for this section come from Dr Fruchtenbaum's book "The Footsteps of the Messiah." Many more verses are found in his book and a much more detailed explanation and argument. My notes do not do justice to his work. I would recommend his book for those wanting to go deeper into the subject

Sixth Bowl Judgment

Rev 16:12-16 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. 13 Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.

15 "Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed." // 16 Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. NIV [1]

• What is the sequence of events here?
  • River, Euphrates, is dried up. Why and where is it? To prepare the way for the kings of the east to mass their forces. Euphrates and Babylon are in modern day Iran
  • Evil spirits, who look like frogs (physically or in the spiritual realm), are sent to convince the other kings to attack Israel
  • A message of hope is sounded to the faithful
  • The armies gather at Armageddon (show on map). This is the gathering place, not the place of a final battle, nor is there one battle. It is more proper to call it the Campaign of Armageddon or the War of the great day of God
• Fruchtenbaum argues that as the armies of the Antichrist gather to destroy Israel, the first event is the destruction of Babylon. He argues that the prophecy against Babylon have never been fulfilled in the detail described and therefore refer to the future Babylon and not the Babylon of old. [I'm not convinced on the timing]
  • Jer 51:41-44 "How Sheshach // will be captured, // the boast of the whole earth seized! // What a horror Babylon will be // among the nations! // 42 The sea will rise over Babylon; // its roaring waves will cover her. // 43 Her towns will be desolate, // a dry and desert land, // a land where no one lives, // through which no man travels. // 44 I will punish Bel in Babylon // and make him spew out what he has swallowed. // The nations will no longer stream to him. // And the wall of Babylon will fall. NIV [1]
  • Rev 18:1-24 also deals with Babylon's final destruction
• The forces of the Antichrist next attack Jerusalem. They suffer extensive losses but succeed in taking the city
• Zech 12 This is the word of the Lord concerning Israel. The Lord, who stretches out the heavens, who lays the foundation of the earth, and who forms the spirit of man within him, declares: 2 "I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be besieged as well as Jerusalem. 3 On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. 4 On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness," declares the Lord. "I will keep a watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations. 5 Then the leaders of Judah will say in their hearts, 'The people of Jerusalem are strong, because the Lord Almighty is their God.' // 6 "On that day I will make the leaders of Judah like a firepot in a woodpile, like a flaming torch among sheaves. They will consume right and left all the surrounding peoples, but Jerusalem will remain intact in her place. // 7 "The Lord will save the dwellings of Judah first, so that the honor of the house of David and of Jerusalem's inhabitants may not be greater than that of Judah. 8 On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like God, like the Angel of the Lord going before them. 9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem. // 10 "And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and supplication. They will look on me, the one they have pierced, and they will mourn for him as one mourns for an only child, and grieve bitterly for him as one grieves for a firstborn son. 11 On that day the weeping in Jerusalem will be great, like the weeping of Hadad Rimmon in the plain of Megiddo. 12 The land will mourn, each clan by itself, with their wives by themselves: the clan of the house of David and their wives, the clan of the house of Nathan and their wives, 13 the clan of the house of Levi and their wives, the clan of Shimei and their wives, 14 and all the rest of the clans and their wives. NIV [1]
• In the next stage, the forces of the Antichrist head to Bozrah to destroy the remnant that is gathered there (we are now three days from Christ's return)
• Jer 49:13-14 I swear by myself," declares the Lord, "that Bozrah will become a ruin and an object of horror, of reproach and of cursing; and all its towns will be in ruins forever."  // 14 I have heard a message from the Lord: // An envoy was sent to the nations to say, // "Assemble yourselves to attack it! // Rise up for battle!" NIV [1]
• The fifth stage (using Fruchtenbaum's order of events) is the national regeneration of Israel
  • Rom 11:25-27 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in. 26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: // "The deliverer will come from Zion; // he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. // 27 And this is my covenant with them // when I take away their sins." NIV
  • Ps 79 O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. 2 They have given the dead bodies of your servants as food to the birds of the air, the flesh of your saints to the beasts of the earth. 3 They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. 4 We are objects of reproach to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us. 5 How long, O Lord? Will you be angry forever? How long will your jealousy burn like fire? 6 Pour out your wrath on the nations that do not acknowledge you, on the kingdoms that do not call on your name; 7 for they have devoured Jacob and destroyed his homeland. 8 Do not hold against us the sins of the fathers; may your mercy come quickly to meet us, for we are in desperate need. 9 Help us, O God our Savior, for the glory of your name; deliver us and forgive our sins for your name's sake. 10 Why should the nations say, "Where is their God?" Before our eyes, make known among the nations that you avenge the outpoured blood of your servants. 11 May the groans of the prisoners come before you; by the strength of your arm preserve those condemned to die. 12 Pay back into the laps of our neighbors seven times the reproach they have hurled at you, O Lord. 13 Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will praise you forever; from generation to generation we will recount your praise. NIV
  • Ps 80:16-19 Your vine is cut down, it is burned with fire; at your rebuke your people perish. 17 Let your hand rest on the man at your right hand, the son of man you have raised up for yourself. 18 Then we will not turn away from you; revive us, and we will call on your name. 19 Restore us, O Lord God Almighty; make your face shine upon us, that we may be saved. NIV
    • Who is the man at your right hand, the son of man? He is Jesus, the messiah
    • Zech 12:10 makes a similar argument
• The sixth stage is Jesus' return. Fruchtenbaum argues that Jesus returns first to Bozrah
• Isa 34:1-10 Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it,the world, and all that comes out of it! 2 The Lord is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. 3 Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will be soaked with their blood. 4 All the stars of the heavens will be dissolved and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree. 5 My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, the people I have totally destroyed. 6 The sword of the Lord is bathed in blood, it is covered with fat — the blood of lambs and goats, fat from the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah and a great slaughter in Edom. 7 And the wild oxen will fall with them, the bull calves and the great bulls. Their land will be drenched with blood, and the dust will be soaked with fat. 8 For the Lord has a day of vengeance, a year of retribution, to uphold Zion's cause. 9 Edom's streams will be turned into pitch, her dust into burning sulfur; her land will become blazing pitch! 10 It will not be quenched night and day; its smoke will rise forever. From generation to generation it will lie desolate; no one will ever pass through it again. NIV
• Isa 63:1-6 Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? "It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save." 2 Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? 3 "I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me.I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. 4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. 5 I looked, but there was no one to help, I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm worked salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me. 6 I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground." NIV
• Matt 24:30 "At that time the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and all the nations of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky, with power and great glory. NIV
• Acts 1:9-11 After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. // 10 They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them. 11 "Men of Galilee," they said, "why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven." NIV
  • Note that it doesn't say the same place but rather in the same way or manner
• In parallel, Rev 19 describes the Lord's return in more detail. There is a four-fold hallelujah
• The seventh stage is the battle from Bozrah to the valley of Jehoshaphat
• Joel 3:12-13 'Let the nations be roused; let them advance into the Valley of Jehoshaphat, for there I will sit to judge all the nations on every side. 13 Swing the sickle, for the harvest is ripe. Come, trample the grapes, for the winepress is full and the vats overflow — so great is their wickedness!' NIV
• The eight stage is the victory ascent up the Mount of Olives
  • Zech 14:3-4 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. NIV
  • It is at this point that the seventh bowl judgment is exercised

  Seventh Bowl Judgment

  Rev 16:17-21 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, "It is done!" 18 Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. 19 The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. 21 From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. NIV [1]

• The seventh trumpet is the end. A number of geographical changes occur as well as the falling of very heavy hail stones
• Also the fifth worldwide blackout occurs. Fruchtenbaum places it after the tribulation, but it could be argued prior as well
• Zech 14:3-4 Then the Lord will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. 4 On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving north and half moving south. NIV

APPLICATION: Everything in the bible that has been prophesied to take place has occurred with 100 percent fulfillment. There is a strong reason to believe that the remaining prophecies will come to fruition as well. The world wants to destroy God, to come up with rationalistic explanations for life. But they are just following Satan's plan, and their rationalistic explanations do not improve life or answer the big questions of life. We need to hold firm to truth, to not shrink back, and to offer to those around us a compelling reason for a change. If our friends and the people we meet in life don't see it within us, they may never see it

[1] The Holy Bible : New International Version. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1996, c1984.