Sunday, May 27, 2012

Megiddo—A Fitting Symbol

I had recently read this on this site..'According to the New Testament, Megiddo will be the site of the final apocalyptic battle between good and evil.' Quotes from this site.(http://news.yahoo.com/israeli-archaeologists-rare-ancient-jewelry-172650054.html)


Just because Megiddo is mentioned in the Bible both in the Old and New Testament, it doesn't mean it will be 'IN' Megiddo. I love how I learned this. Sure Megiddo was a trading place and it was connected to a lot of fierce and decisive wars that took place in Middle East, but in the Bible Megiddo is just a Symbol. Remember the symbolic terms for the Israelites sacrificing sheep? 

Quote from Watchtower Site:

'Does the reference to the “Mountain of Megiddo” mean that Armageddon will be fought at a certain mountain in the Middle East? No. For one thing, no such mountain really exists—at the site of ancient Megiddo, there is only a mound rising about 70 feet [20 m] above the adjacent valley plain. In addition, the area around Megiddo could not begin to hold all “the kings of the earth and their armies.” (Revelation 19:19) However, Megiddo was the site of some of the fiercest and most decisive battles in Middle Eastern history. Thus, the name Armageddon stands as a symbol of a decisive conflict, with only one clear victor.' 

'Armageddon cannot be just a conflict among earthly nations, since Revelation 16:14 states that “the kings of the entire inhabited earth” form a united front at “the war of the great day of God the Almighty.” In his inspired prophecy, Jeremiah stated that “those slain by Jehovah” will be scattered “from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth.” (Jeremiah 25:33) Thus, Armageddon is not a human war confined to a particular location in the Middle East. It is Jehovah’s war, and it is global.'

Last but least...

Revelation 16:16 states 'And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Ma·ged´on.'

'Note, however, that at Revelation 16:16, Armageddon is called a “place.” In the Bible, “place” may signify a condition or a situation—in this case, that the entire world will be united in its opposition to Jehovah. (Revelation 12:6, 14) At Armageddon all earthly nations ally themselves against “the armies that were in heaven” under the military command of the “King of kings and Lord of lords,” Jesus Christ.—Revelation 19:14, 16.'

'What about the claim that Armageddon will be a holocaust involving weapons of mass destruction or a collision with a celestial body? Would a loving God allow such a horrific end to humankind and their home, the earth? No. He expressly states that he did not create the earth “simply for nothing” but “formed it even to be inhabited.” (Isaiah 45:18;Psalm 96:10) At Armageddon, Jehovah will not ruin our globe in a cataclysmic conflagration. Rather, he will “bring to ruin those ruining the earth.”—Revelation 11:18.'


Quote: The word “Armageddon” means “Mountain of Megiddo.”  (Just because Armageddon means 'Moutain of Megiddo' it doesn't mean the war will take place in the site, since geographically there are no mountains in Megiddo. 

My first intesive study. Though it was hard to understand at some point. Megiddo is just symbolic. It is a fitting symbol of God’s complete victory over all opposing forces.

Armageddon will not be a human war. It will be God's War. 'No human ruler will be victor. It will be the Kingdom of God that will prove triumphant over all of them, vindicating Jehovah God, the Almighty, as Universal Sovereign.'

'Since Armageddon is “the war of the great day of God the Almighty,” there is nothing that humans can do to postpone it. Jehovah has set an “appointed time” for that war to start. “It will not be late.”—Habakkuk 2:3.'

What Habakkuk 2:3 fully says is ' For [the] vision is yet for the appointed time, and it keeps panting on to the end, and it will not tell a lie. Even if it should delay, keep in expectation of it; for it will without fail come true. It will not be late.'

1 Thessalonians 5:2 says ' For YOU yourselves know quite well that Jehovah’s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night' and it is repeated in 2 Peter 3:10 says 'Yet Jehovah’s day will come as a thief, in which the heavens will pass away with a hissing noise, but the elements being intensely hot will be dissolved, and earth and the works in it will be discovered', also in Revealation 3:3 says 'Therefore, continue mindful of how you have received and how you heard, and go on keeping [it], and repent. Certainly unless you wake up, I shall come as a thief, and you will not know at all at what hour I shall come upon you.'  

That why Matthew 24:42 asks us to 'Keep on the watch, therefore, because YOU do not know on what dayYOUR Lord is coming.' And it continues with Mathew 24:43-44 as Jesus explains “But know one thing, that if the householder had known in what watch the thief was coming, he would have kept awake and not allowed his house to be broken into. On this account YOU too prove yourselves ready, because at an hour that YOU do not think to be it, the Son of man is coming.'