(Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Armageddon”, originally shared on October 11, 2023. It was the 280th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)
The attack on Israel by Hamas has sent many
to their Bibles asking if Armageddon is upon us. Today, we’re going to take a
look at why, and what the future may hold.
I stood on the mound that is the little city
of Megiddo in Israel when I was in college. The mound is built on the ruins of
other little cities lost over the centuries. I looked out over the land called
the plain of Armageddon (from Greek har magedon to Latin Armagedon, from Hebrew
Har Megiddo).
Megiddo stands guard at the site of the
final battle, where the forces allied with Satan come to wage war with the
forces allied with God, in a war that ends with the victory of God in the
second coming of Jesus Christ, in the final judgement.
We see it in the Bible’s final book, in Revelation
16:12-16,
12 The
sixth angel poured his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was
dried up in order to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13 And I
saw three foul spirits like frogs coming from the mouth of the dragon, from the
mouth of the beast, and from the mouth of the false prophet. 14 These 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 (“See, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake and
is clothed, not going about
naked and exposed to shame.”) 16 And
they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Harmagedon.
(NOTE: The quote
in verse 15 is based on the words of Jesus.)
There will be a battle, but there is no
question of who will win that battle. Ever.
That Satan is able to gather an army of the
unrepentant shows us that the devil is a liar. His future is known. And it’s
not good. And he knows it.
But the battle will come. Armageddon.
There are signs that the Bible says will
come before this final showdown.
And the entire book of Revelation may
describe it. But its intense descriptions of the end of history as we know it
are highly symbolic coded, and abstract.
Some say that they are descriptions of
Christians living under persecution in the centuries of the early Christian
movement.
Some say that they are a specific kind of
literature that describes the life of God’s people under persecution at any
time in history and their future.
Some say that they are a genre of
literature, and that this genre has certain rules of form, like a novel, or an
essay, or a sonnet, and other genres. It’s called apocalyptic literature and
it’s found in the book of Daniel in the Hebrew Scriptures, in the teachings of
Jesus and of Paul, and is represented in pretty much the entire book of
Revelation, the last book of the Bible.
Jesus says, in Matthew 24:3-8,
3
When he was sitting on the Mount of Olives, the disciples came to him
privately, saying, “Tell us, when will this be, and what will be the sign of
your coming and of the end of the age?” 4 Jesus answered them, “Beware that no
one leads you astray. 5 For many will come in my name, saying, ‘I am the
Messiah!’ and they will lead many astray. 6 And you will hear of wars and
rumors of wars; see that you are not alarmed; for this must take place, but the
end is not yet. 7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against
kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places: 8 all
this is but the beginning of the birth pangs.
Israel was attacked by Hamas, the terrorist organization
governing the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, last Saturday in a surprise
attack at dawn on one of the holiest days of the year, on Simchat Torah (the
Joy of the Torah), on the Jewish Sabbath. Festering anger boiled over, they
say, but Hamas is a militant organization whose long-stated goal, written in
its constitution, is to drive every Israeli man, woman, and child into the sea.
Arab states could easily have made the
quality of life for the Palestinian people better years ago and many times
over. Instead, they have armed them to destroy Israel over a shared goal. They
have kept the residents of the Gaza Strip suffering for the public relations
value.
Leaders of Hamas (and their terrorist
sibling organization Hezbollah) have thanked Iran for supplying and training
them. It has been thought that the purpose of this raid was to end the current
talks toward normalization between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
Civilians were killed indiscriminately in
their homes and out of their homes. The largest block of murders, over 260, took
place against mostly young people gathered for a music festival dedicated to
peace. Civilians were tortured. They were tortured with celebrations. They were
killed. Bodies of the captured were dragged and beaten in the streets, with
celebrations.
Elderly women with dementia, whole families
including children and infants, as well as soldiers were reportedly taken
captive.
This is the 21st century. As one
formerly left of center commentator who lives in Israel put it, Israel has
killed civilians, the Palestinians have killed civilians, but when it has
happened that Israeli soldiers have killed civilians, they are charged with a
crime and punished. Israel does not kill civilians on purpose and then
celebrate it. They do not hold demonstrations, like the pro-Palestinians in New
York, chanting “700! 700!”, the number of Israelis killed at that time. This is
not the frustrations of the oppressed. I would call it barbarism, but that
would be unkind to barbarians. It is the Palestinians who should be rooting out
those responsible for these crimes against humanity.
There have been large organizations, and
there was a growing movement, calling for Palestinian rights among the people
of Israel. This invasion has put the movement for Palestinians rights back 20
years.
The world wants to know how this could have
happened with the sophisticated intelligence apparatus built by Israel and
supported by other nations, including the United States.
But the coming of Jesus in the Last Judgment
will also catch almost everyone off guard.
Jesus said, in Matthew
24:43-44,
43 But understand this: if
the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was
coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken
into. 44 Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of
Man is coming at an unexpected hour.
This incursion will likely result in a long
war. Many have said it will likely last months, after which there will have
been trillions spent, thousands killed, and no clear outcome for the long-term
improvement of national relationships in the Middle East.
Will other Palestinians join in the war?
Will Hezbollah? Will other Arab states join. Iran is already in up to its
elbows. What about Saudi Arabia, a long-time competitor with Iran? Will allies
of the Arab states join? Will Russia? China? Will allies of Israel join? The
United States? The United States is sending naval and air support, a strike
force, to warn other nations about jumping in. What about NATO? The UN?
Will it be Armageddon?
People have been assigning world events of
their day to the signs of the end for almost 2000 years. Every one of them has
been wrong. But some day, one of them will be right.
Some say it has already happened. It
happened when the Roman Empire put Jerusalem under siege, starved and killed
its occupants, and then leveled it in 70 A.D.
But most point to a future event, as we
confess in our creeds, when Christ will come again to judge the living and the
dead.
Will a gathering of the nations be the
beginning of the end, the final battle, or will it be just another in a long
series of acts of violence between sinful humans and sinful nations since the
creation of human beings and of nations?
Maybe. And maybe not.
Cultures, even civilization itself, can be
destroyed in many ways other than by armies.
Jesus said, in Matthew 24:9-14,
9 “Then they will hand
you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all
nations because of my name. 10 Then many will fall away, and they will betray
one another and hate one another. 11 And many false prophets will arise and
lead many astray. 12 And because of the increase of lawlessness, the love of
many will grow cold. 13 But the one who endures to the end will be saved. 14
And this good news of the kingdom will be proclaimed throughout the world, as a
testimony to all the nations; and then the end will come.
“Then many will fall away,” Jesus said, “and
they will betray one another and hate one another. And many false prophets will
arise and lead many astray. And because of the increase of lawlessness, the
love of many will grow cold.”
Are we not seeing all of that today in the
Western World? Are they not signs that are at least as concerning for the
possible nearness of the end of history and the new Heaven and the new Earth as
the possible gathering of the nations for a war in Israel?
Do we have the integrity to not fall away
and the interest to call those who have to return? Do we have the tools to know
a prophet from a false prophet? Can we stand within and outside of our culture
to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and life in his name?
Jesus asked, in Luke 18:6-8,
6 And the Lord said,
“Listen to what the unjust judge says. 7 And will not God grant justice to his
chosen ones who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long in helping them? 8
I tell you, he will quickly grant justice to them. And yet, when the Son of Man
comes, will he find faith on earth?”
Will He? Will the Church reach out? Will we
live the life that God has called, equipped, and sent us to live? How will we
know the difference between a prophet (someone who speaks from God to God’s
people) and a false prophet? Are we living from the relationship with God that
is given to all to turn away from their old lives and toward life in God?
Or are we, like our culture, amusing
ourselves to death?
In Neil Postman’s 1985 book of that name, Amusing
Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in the Age of Show Business, he wrote,
comparing the work of George Orwell (1984) and Aldous Huxley (Brave
New World),
“What Orwell
feared were those who would ban books. What Huxley feared was that there would
be no reason to ban a book, for there would be no one who wanted to read one.
Orwell feared
those who would deprive us of information. Huxley feared those who would give
us so much that we would be reduced to passivity and egoism.
Orwell feared
that the truth would be concealed from us. Huxley feared the truth would be
drowned in a sea of irrelevance.
Orwell feared
we would become a captive culture. Huxley feared we would become a trivial
culture, preoccupied with some equivalent of the feelies, the orgy porgy, and
the centrifugal bumblepuppy.
As Huxley
remarked in Brave New World Revisited, the civil libertarians and rationalists
who are ever on the alert to oppose tyranny ‘failed to take into account man's
almost infinite appetite for distractions.’ In 1984, Orwell added, people are
controlled by inflicting pain. In Brave New World, they are controlled by
inflicting pleasure.
In short,
Orwell feared that what we fear will ruin us. Huxley feared that what we desire
will ruin us.
This book is
about the possibility that Huxley, not Orwell, was right.”
I saw something on the news the other day
about a report given by LinkedIn CEO Ryan Roslansky. He said that Artificial
Intelligence would make program-oriented college degrees useless. What will be
needed in the future will be people with people skills.
I don’t think that this comes as a surprise
to many.
When our son was looking at colleges, I
looked at the literature and the websites of the schools he was applying to.
I’ve looked at the sites of the schools to which students I knew were applying
to, and for which they had asked me to write recommendation letters as well.
I don’t recall any of those colleges and
universities recruiting prospective students with the promise of a good
education. Every one of them touted the possibility of them getting a good job.
In fact some schools, in my opinion, have long ago given up on providing an
education, in favor of indoctrination.
A liberal arts education used to mean that
students would be exposed to a wide variety of ideas, including ones that made
them uncomfortable, to encourage critical thinking and life-long learning. Now,
many campuses have zero tolerance for any but one way of thinking.
And, many of us have no patience for
learning, only the confirmation of our own bias.
Jesus taught his disciples for three years
before he gave his life and then took it back again.
The Early Christian Church required three
years of instruction before a person fully become a Christian and receive Holy
Communion. Sometimes, they would also then, and only then, be baptized.
Confirmation classes for teenagers are
common today among those who practice infant baptism, to give people an
opportunity to “confirm” the faith that was the responsibility of their parents
and baptismal sponsors. To say “yes” to what God had already given them. They
also lasted years. Now many churches offer a few classes, and/or service
projects, and that’s it.
Are we ready for what we know is coming
sooner or later? Are we prepared for Armageddon?
We are. We are prepared by the faith that is
God’s gift. We are prepared by the new Creation we are in Jesus Christ. And we
are prepared by the Holy Spirit who calls, gathers, enlightens, and makes us
holy. The best way to be prepared for the end is to live in the eternity that
has already begun for us in our Baptism as a gift from God, as the new Creation
God has made us to be.
Jesus said that, when we are called to
testify to our faith before the rulers and authorities, and even before our
religious leaders, in Luke 12:11b-12,
do not worry about
how you will defend yourselves or what you will say, 12 for the Holy Spirit
will teach you at that time what you should say.”
It’s been said that the words “Fear not” or
“Be not afraid” or words to that effect appear 365 times in the Bible. One for
every day of the year.
We don’t wany anyone to suffer, and we pray
for everyone now and in the future.
But we do not fear the end times. We long
for the day when there will be a new Heaven and a new Earth.
We don’t know what the future holds, but we
do know Who holds the future.
The first Christian prayer is found at the
end of Revelation, at the end of the Bible in Revelation
22:20,
20 The one who
testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.”
Amen. Come, Lord
Jesus!
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