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THE EARTHLY INHERITANCE SERIES of BIBLE SUBJECTS
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Various Bible study guides in subjects pertaining to
New Earth prophecy, as taught by Paul Phelps.
For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD,
they shall inherit the earth. Psalm 37:9
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AN EXPLANATION OF THE WORD ARMAGEDDON
The Greek
word Armageddon in Rev. 16:16 has a basis in Hebrew grammar
that is not often
explained and the prophetic
significance is affected. As a place
name
Megiddo is the
Jezreel valley
fortress in northern Israel, but the name has
no
final
‘n’
letter. Megiddon with a final ‘n’ is only found in the Zech. 12:11 text.
This spelling distinction is erased in many Bible versions but King James has
it:
In that day shall there be a great mourning in Jerusalem,
as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon.
Root ideas are
‘gather,’ ‘to cut’
(GADÀD) and
‘troops’
(GADÙD). Megiddo is
‘gathering
of troops’ and
final
‘n’
infers
‘place of...’
So Megiddon may
not be a
name but rather a generic term for a battlefield, ‘place of gathering of
troops.’
It is
not credible that Arm– is transliterated from ‘har’ (mountain). No
mountain
(har) is mentioned in Megiddo texts, and the valley beside Megiddo is always
called Jezreel. A likely explanation has been overlooked although the clue is
in the Zechariah text. Hadad and Rimmon are two gods of ancient Syria, which
were
not
known
in
Israel
at any time. The
mourning of
Hadad-Rimmon must be
in Syria. In Hebrew, Syria is Aram. It becomes Arm– if
joined in compound to
another word. So the Greek word Armageddon (Rev. 16:16) is a transliteration
of Aram
+
megiddon, and means ‘the
place in Syria of the gathering of troops.’
Zechariah 12:11
mentions a ‘valley’ or
‘plain’: this might be the north-eastern
Syrian plain facing the
Euphrates River. Prophetically this is where the Eastern
troops cross the Euphrates River (Rev. 16:12). This
interpretation removes the
Armageddon scenario from Israel and puts it in Syria. The
mourning of Hadad-
Rimmon (Zech. 12:11) could be the mourning for the dead after Armageddon.
This battle must be near the Euphrates for that is where the antichrist will try
to
stop the Eastern army from reaching Jerusalem or other nearby areas.
Armageddon
might
not
involve
Israel
for
Israel
is
nowhere
mentioned.
It
has
rather to
do
with
the
last-day
war
between
the
more westerly
antichrist
empire
and the
Eastern
kingdoms.
Regarding
antichrist
it
is
confirmed
in
Daniel
11:44,
But news from the east and the north shall trouble him; therefore
he shall go out with great fury to destroy and annihilate many.
But this war results in the
annihilation of the antichrist army (in Syria),
battling
the
Eastern forces (northeast of
Jerusalem, v 45). The armies then called by the
‘three frogs’ (evil spirits,
Rev. 16:13-14) are a last effort by
antichrist to stop the
Eastern forces at the Euphrates River.
Hence
the
Eastern
forces
are
not
coming
against Israel but against
antichrist armies
based
in
west
Asia.
That can be the
reason
God
opens
the
river
before them
because
they
are
serving
his
purpose.
God's act of opening the Euphrates River giving entry to these kings of the East
might
relate
to
Isaiah
11:11,15b-16;
41:2-3,8-9,25;
46:11;
51:10-11;
and
Joel
2:11.
No Bible text predicts that the kingdoms of the East will ever attack
Jerusalem.
Armageddon is not the final war but it is the war to destroy antichrist’s
main
army. The final war is Israel’s ‘Battle of Jerusalem,’ an aftermath war fought
by
Israelis against the forces occupying Jerusalem. Then is the time that
antichrist
is
finally
defeated.
In
this
scenario
there
is
no
need
to
assume
the
Eastern
army
attacks Jerusalem. The defeat of antichrist’s main army is their appointed
goal.