Next stop: Israel

In our path of study of the prophecies, as already seen in various previous articles, we will have come across something that we would not have believed possible.

The understanding of Babylon the Great, as well as that concerning Armageddon, the Jerusalem above or the Heavenly Jerusalem, have indeed constituted great changes in the official understanding of Jehovah's Witnesses.

We can not ignore the chain effects that these "changes of vision" have produced and continue to produce on many other more or less important doctrines.

The author of this blog would like above all to clarify that all the theses presented so far have never been considered inspired or infallible and therefore each reader is invited to make their own evaluations (and maybe to contribute) by comparing and meditating on the Scriptures without any injury.

At the same time, however, the author is equally convinced that the articles showed respect for the Bible and used it as a guide and supreme authority.

Every affirmation, whenever it was possible, was accompanied or confirmed by one or more Scriptures and therefore, although certain arguments went against the official teaching, it was decided to do so in good conscience.

The possible firm conviction of the author as well as certain categorical expressions used are exclusively due to this: the support of the Scriptures - John 17:17; 2 Timothy 3:16, 17; 2 Corinthians 10: 4, 5

The article that will be developed now, will also consist of a significant change of vision and we will see how, changing the conditions, real or possible scenarios become real that, until the day before yesterday, we would have considered really far-fetched - Job 42 :2; Mark 10:27

The wisest thing that each of us can do is to evaluate that every thesis presented is really in harmony with the Scripture, and nothing else, without closing up in shell or reshaping the power of God to what we think possible - Mark 12:24 ; Job 38: 4

What do we know, with certainty, of the battle of Armageddon?

What do we know about the Armageddon war?

Speaking of the war of the great day of the Almighty God, what do we know for sure? - 1 Thessalonians 5:21

Well, we know that it is not total destruction due to a human war, a solar flare, a meteorite or other Hollywood nonsense - Isaiah 45:18; Psalm 78:69; Ecclesiastes 1: 4

We know it is the crucial war in which God takes revenge on his enemies and on the enemies of His people - Psalm 2: 3-6; Sofonia 1:18; Zechariah 2: 8

We also know that it is the occasion when Jehovah is magnified and makes himself known to the nations - Ezekiel 36:22, 23

It is the war that will free His people from oppression and slavery and will finally begin the Millennial Kingdom - Exodus 15: 11-13; Revelation 7:10

These are reliable informations.

For the rest, when it will happen, what means it will use, which scenario will present itself just before the outbreak of this war, etc., only assumptions are made.

One of these assumptions, which seems to have a strict logic, is that the place in Hebrew is called Har-Maghedon, is not a literal place but a situation.

In practice it would be the situation in which all the enemies of God find themselves fighting against His People, wherever they are.

This conclusion seems absolutely logical because how could a war of such proportions, which should encompass all of humanity and therefore billions of people, take place in such a small geographical area?

It is absurd to even think about it.

However, before closing our faculties of perception on any contrary subject we try to consider the following - James 1:19

First of all we have seen that the war between the king of the north and the king of the south, which is a prophecy to come, could greatly reduce the number of people present on earth including their armies - compare Revelation 6: 3, 7, 8

It's a raw topic we would not like to talk about but the prophecies seem clear.

This topic has been dealt with in various previous articles, including the one entitled "Who is the horn that became very great?".

Furthermore, as we saw in the article titled "Which nations disappear in Armageddon?" We know that the war of Armageddon will not destroy all nations and people on the planet.

This war will indeed destroy the satanic system which includes the savage beast, the kings of the earth and their armies - 1 John 3: 8

Seen from this point of view, perhaps the fact that this war can be fought in a specific and relatively restricted place becomes a possibility?

Furthermore it is necessary to make a couple of clarifications.

Har-Magedon, which means "Mountain of Megiddo", is not a specific reference to that "tell" that you see in Volume 1 of the book "Insight" (page 953 in the edition in Italian).

What you see in photography is what remains of ancient Megiddo, a small hill built on 26 layers of ruins of ancient cities.

That is "Megiddo" but where's the mountain?

Since there is no mountain called "Mount of Megiddo" we try to make assumptions without prematurely concluding that the whole argument is symbolic.

Megiddo is located at the entrance of the pass through the chain of Mount Carmel, which overlooks the valley of Esdraelon from the south-west.

So the Mount of Megiddo might be Mount Carmel (compare 1 Kings 18:19, 20, Jeremiah 46:18, Amos 1: 2; 9: 3; Naum 1: 3, 4) and could include all the hilly countryside that surrounds the valley of Megiddo, one hundred kilometers north of Jerusalem, including the valley of Esdraelon.

Space is noticeable, but before assuming any calculation, we try to ask ourselves according to what logic or why the kings of the earth should / could be there.

To a superficial judgment it would seem a stupid thing.

The kings of the earth and their armies will not be able to fight against Christ and his elect (though they will try to - compare Revelation 19:19, 20) and so it is evident that they will take it upon His people.

Why, then, to concentrate in one area of the earth (whatever it is) to try to destroy the people of God if it is found in all the inhabited earth?

The answer could be found in an article already discussed in this blog.

In the article entitled "The appointed times of the nations" http://bewareofprophecy.blogspot.it/2017/12/the-appointed-times-of-nations.html we have seen that the earth chosen by God for His people is still the Promised Land and the gathering of Israel will be literal.

The article in part said, "When nations have run out of time, including both the trampling of Jerusalem and the persecution, Armageddon will begin to destroy this beast and all the compact peoples in the fight against the Lamb.

At that moment Jerusalem will have been freed and the people of God, after the necessary period spent in the "inner rooms", will be able to go to that country which is still part of the promise and where in a short time it will begin to flow milk and honey - Isaiah 26: 20 "

What have we seen so far?

We have seen that Babylon the Great is modern apostate Israel but this has to do with the people who occupy it, certainly not with the geographical area which, in itself, can not have merit or guilt - Zechariah 5: 6-8

So, once Israel is liberated from Babylon the Great, Jehovah will bring His people back to that land that bears His name and will be inhabited from generation to generation - Joel 3:20

The crucial question is therefore: will this rallying and consequent exodus to the Promised Land begin after Armageddon or its approach?

Some scriptures suggest that this happens just before the final battle.

How can we say it?

We have seen that during the last war between the king of the north and the king of the south, some nations are able to escape - see Daniel 11:41

The writing mentions Edom, Moab and Ammon and, coincidentally, these are the same nations in which a part of the people of Israel found shelter in the past - compare Psalm 60: 8, 9; Isaiah 16: 4; Jeremiah 40:11

The logical conclusion is that the people of God who survived the war, since they will have to live again Israel now liberated by the Great Whore, are in the vicinity of the Promised Land at least some time before the final battle.

This situation would also be similar to what happened in the past but on a much larger scale.

If the meeting takes place before Armageddon, then it becomes logical and plausible that the "kings of the earth" will gather in the place that in Hebrew is called Har-Maghedon.

This is done to prevent the achievement of the Promised Land (and kill them all at once - compares Psalm 2: 1-6) or simply to kill them once they reach.

This hypothesis makes reasonable not only the literal gathering of kings and armies but also the specific place of the gathering.

Let's try, for a moment, to read Revelation as if it were the first time and as if they had not taught us anything.

The writing says “And I saw three unclean inspired expressions* that looked like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon+ and out of the mouth of the wild beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14  They are, in fact, expressions inspired by demons and they perform signs,+ and they go out to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war+ of the great day of God the Almighty ( ... ) And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Armageddon" – Revelation 16:13, 14, 16

Without doing any disquisition on what terms and what it means, the first image that would come to mind are the kings who are gathered together somewhere, is not it?

In fact, the writing says that these frogs "gathered them", which makes one think that these kings are heading towards a specific place.

After all we have never done any disquisitions on the idea that these frogs actually go to the kings of the earth; we have never hypothesized that their "going to" the kings of the earth was symbolic because it is evident that, if these kings live in different and distant nations, these frogs have to go or go towards them.

But we have re-discussed that the kings go somewhere.

So frogs go literally (they must reach these kings) while kings go in a symbolic sense. That is, they do not go anywhere.

The question that would be spontaneous to those who did not know anything about the issues at stake would be ... "Why do the kings of the earth, at the approach of the war, go to the place called Har-Maghedon (whatever place it is)?"

In a war scenario, the answer would become simple: because the object of contention is in that area or near that area.

Any nation that would place its army on the borders of another nation would send a strong and clear message.

He is preparing for the war.

In this case, however, the question does not concern the conquest of the territory of Israel but the extermination of the people who intend to live there - Psalm 2: 1-4

Finally we must distinguish the kings of the earth from their armies.

The writing of Revelation says that only the kings of the earth are gathered at Har-Maghedon.

How many will be the kings of the earth, following their ministers, their officials in various capacities, their bodyguards, etc?

A few thousand?

A few tens of thousands?

Is the entire hilly area of Carmel and the valley of Esdraelon it’s sufficient to accommodate a few tens of thousands of people?

Obviously yes, even only the Carmel.

Where will the armies be and for which aircraft will they be extended?

We do not have a precise answer but we can make some reasoning based on what we know from the scriptures.

The simple distinction, which perhaps few have noticed, between the kings of the earth and their armies, should make every hypothesis fall "of the impossibility of the event" because if the Bible does not specify the area of armies extension they could really be hundreds of millions and even billions of people.

The final battle would take place "around the Mount of Megiddo" for an indefinite area (why could not they cover all of Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Egypt, Syria and Iraq for example?) God's people would still be surrounded, the writing would not it would fail and Jehovah would rise above the nations.

So, regardless of all the reasoning we have just made, if the Bible does not specify the extent of the armies deployed against the people of God, all the discourse on the secure symbolic nature of writing lapses or at least is not as reasonable as it initially seemed.

We will try however to "build" the extension of this army only on the basis of what we know and keeping as close as possible so that all the talk will acquire heaviness and it is really the Bible to speak - Romans 3: 4

Regarding the last dominant king described in Daniel chapters 11 and 12 we know that he will place his tents "between the great sea and the holy Mount of the Adornment" - Daniel 11:45

After this event "he will have to come to his end, and there will not be a rescuer for him" and then it is understood that "pitching the tents" is the last action he performs before his final destruction.

We have also seen that the destruction of Babylon the Great (or the nation of Israel) is the prelude to Armageddon and not to the great tribulation.

As a result, the army of the last ruling king should already be present on the territory of Israel before the final battle * (see footnote).

He simply has to wait for all the others to come (it is to be noted, in fact, that the writing which calls for the gathering of the kings of the earth at Har-Maghedon makes no mention of the wild beast. He is not mentioned because he is among the kings or simply because it is already there?).

However, for the moment we do not know whether this immense army will stand as a shield to prevent Israel from entering or whether it will wait for "the people gathered from all the earth" to actually enter the country and then surround it - see for example Joel 3: 9- 12; Nehemiah 6:16; Psalm 44:13; 59: 5, 6; 76:11, 12; 97: 1-3; Jeremiah 1: 14-16; 6:25; 25: 9; Lamentations 1:17

For the moment we can imagine both situations since concepts do not change.

So, to obstruct any access to the coming people, the armies will have to cover Israel at least for its entire length.

Does this seem reasonable to you?

So we have to hypothesize an extension that goes from the Great Sea (the Mediterranean) to the Mount of the Adornment west of Israel and an extension at least similar to the east side of Israel (in terms of width).

So a length at least equal to that of Israel if not more.

What area are we talking about?

We can only make an estimate but a territory equal to twice the current Israel should cover an area of 45 / 50,000 square kilometers.

With this in mind, let us now assume how powerful this army could be.

A site makes a list of the ten most numerous armies (updated to 2015).

This is the list with the respective numbers.

CHINA (number of staff: 2.285.000).

UNITED STATES (1.458.000).

INDIA (1.325.000)

NORTH KOREA (1.106.000)

RUSSIA (1.027.000)

TURKEY (666,500)

SOUTH KOREA (639,000).

PAKISTAN (617,000)

IRAN (523,000).

EGYPT (468,000)

The total number of staff would be just over ten million people.

We also consider that, as we saw at the beginning, the war between the kings of the north and the king of the south by then will have greatly reduced the numbers and at least a part of the nations listed above may not exist anymore.

For the benefit of the numbers, however, it must be said that in case of conflict the "effective" would not be the only ones to go to war.

The numbers could be greatly underestimated (it is doubtful, in fact, that the official numbers correspond to the real ones).

Finally we must consider that this is the last move of Satan before being thrown into the abyss for a thousand years so he would have every interest in making the armies as numerous as possible.

So we multiply by five these numbers and assume that the final attack includes 50 million armed soldiers to the teeth.

The area we estimated could contain fifty million people?

Yes and fairly well if we consider that these people are not there to live or stay but simply as soldiers waiting to launch a furious attack.

Every soldier would have a living space of about one square meter.

Do you remember the photographs in which Hitler had his huge troops?

In those large gatherings there were probably three or four people every square meter.

In Hitler's huge gatherings there were probably 3 or 4 people per square meter

It is evident that we are making assumptions and the estimates, both of the army and of the militarized area, could vary a lot, but the point we want to illustrate is simply one.

Despite the ideas that we made about the war of Har-Magedon, and how they are rooted in us, we can not exclude that the final battle takes place in this geographical area and that it will prove to be the biggest fight in the history of humanity.

Indeed, the scriptures mentioned in support of the argument suggest that this is not simply a possibility.

Any new understanding, however, can make other scriptures harmonious or create forcing.

Forcing should be an indicator that "something is wrong".

What happens with the other scriptures, understanding that the place of the final battle will be a specific and relatively restricted place?

Meanwhile, as we have mentioned, this situation would be very similar to several biblical episodes we know - see for example Exodus 14: 10-14; 2 Kings 18: 19-25

Jehovah would be exalted in the midst of the nations precisely because, not being really all destroyed, the distant peoples and nations would speak of this event with terror and for centuries - compare Joshua 2: 9-11; Deuteronomy 2:25; Psalm 112: 10

Isaiah 63: 1-6 describes Jehovah coming from Edom who, as we have seen, is one of the places where God's people find refuge, and from there he begins to "tread peoples into His wrath."

Psalm 2: 2 describes all the peoples and national groups united "as one man" and this gives the idea that the rulers of the earth, and therefore their armies, are effectively gathered somewhere as one army, a single mass and compact.

Finally (but not "finally" because you will find many other similarities if you want to look for them) suddenly becomes clear why the king of the north is troubled because of news from the east and the north - see Daniel 11:44

So far what have we been told?

In other words ... we have been told that we do not know.

In the book "Pay attention to the prophecies of Daniel" on page 283 (Italian edition) we speak of Gog of Magog (among other things in the understanding that it is Satan the Devil) and paragraph 26 concludes with the words "But what at the end they will contain the news from the east and from the north only God will establish it and time will tell it ".

Instead, understanding the scenario that will be created shortly before the final battle we can guess why this king is so upset.

He sees the people of God, who evidently believed he had eliminated, gathered and on their way to the Promised Land!

Depict the scene.

It is easy to imagine that he understands that there is God, the True God and not the farce built by the false prophet behind all this.

Despite his immense power and his fury, he has not succeeded in eliminating the people of God who are now reaching the Promised Land in fulfillment of Bible prophecy.

It is not surprising that this causes great anger in him and comes out "with great fury to annihilate and to vote many to destruction", or the people of God gathered there - Daniel 11:43

And this explains why he "will pitch the tents of his palace between [the] great sea and the holy mount of the Adornment".

Let's take a moment to imagine the scene and see us there, intent on reaching the promised land as the Israelites were in the time of Moses.

Perhaps we may find ourselves imprisoned between the Great Sea and the army or we may be a few kilometers from the border and see "men of extraordinary stature" - Numbers 13:33

Perhaps some of us, seeing such a colossal army, might doubt Jehovah's power or his will to protect us - Isaiah 43:10, 11

Try to imagine how many situations described in the Bible would become the mirror of those last moments of the system of things.

It is not difficult to see the harmony of the Word of God and to understand what will happen if we free ourselves from our conditioning and do not associate the word "impossible" with God.

Is not it a wonderful prospect?

One day, towards the end of the terrifying events that will occur on earth, someone will call us to lead us to the Promised Land, but the journey will be reserved only for those who will understand the prophecy and act accordingly.

Next stop: Israel.

Take the ticket.

Make reservations now.

The forecasts say that the area will be quite crowded.

Footnote.

The article entitled "1290 and 1335 days" shows a difference of 45 days between trampling on God's people and achieving his "happiness" - see Daniel 12:12

These 45 days could include the time of the gathering of the people of God and the consequent exodus that will lead them to cross the boundaries of the Promised Land.

It is necessary to specify that even if the lowering of the waters of the Euphrates has to do with the destruction of these peoples and not simply with the loss of the defenses, this could refer to the peoples that surround Israel and not with Israel - compare Joel 3 : 4

This could mean that the payment of the sixth cup of the angel is not yet the actual destruction of Babylon the Great and therefore the people of Israel might still be alive and active when God's people approach it to "repopulate".

As strange as this may seem, this seems to be in harmony with Revelation 16:19 which says that God would have remembered Babylon "to give it the cup of wine of the fury of his wrath" and by reading the context this happens during or near of the judgment of armageddon - compare Revelation 16:13

Other Bibles translate in a similar way and therefore it would seem evident that when nations gather in Armageddon, God still has to pour his wrath upon Babylon the Great.

If this understanding is correct, when the king of the north "will come out with great fury to annihilate and vote many to destruction" it is possible that in his blinding fury he will strike first the nation that had always been their lover - compare Revelation 18 : 10, 15, 18 (see also Zechariah 14:13, 14)

And obviously this will happen by God's will - Revelation 17:17

This possibility makes very probable the situation in which the people of God are effectively blocked between Israel (still populated) and all the armies of the world.