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Armageddon:
The End of the World?
by Jerold Aust
What does the Bible really say about Armageddon? It tells us that the last great battle of man’s age will take place in the Middle East. The armies will gather at a place Scripture calls Armageddon. So, not surprisingly, Armageddon has come to portray our worst nightmare: the end of the world.
Some Bible scholars claim that Armageddon is predicted to terminate society as we know it. More-detailed speculations speak of it as a battle of cataclysmic proportions, possibly a nuclear war that will annihilate mankind. Even Ronald Reagan, the former U.S. president, spoke of Armageddon in such terms. That Armageddon is named in the Bible (Revelation 16:16) and that it serves as the prelude to “the battle of that great day of God Almighty” (verse 14) deserves our concern and attention.
The meaning of Armageddon
The word Armageddon can be traced to Megiddo, a significant fortified town in Palestine in ancient times. Most scholars think Armageddon comes from harmegiddon, meaning “hill of Megiddo.” The area has quite a history. Excavations of Megiddo have revealed 20 layers of occupation dating from the fourth millennium B.C. to about 450 B.C. The site is about 18 miles south-southeast of the Port of Haifa in northern Israel and about 55 miles north of Jerusalem.
Megiddo’s strategic location gave it greater importance than its size would suggest: a mere 13 acres within the city’s ancient walls during the time of Solomon. Megiddo overlooked the narrow entrance to Israel’s northern mountains from the Plain of Megiddo–also known as the Valley of Esdraelon, or Jezreel–a level expanse some 20 miles long and 14 miles wide.
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