Megiddo

Armageddon & the End Times

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Location

 

1. Tel Megiddo is located about 15 miles (26 Km.) east of the Mediterranean Ocean and about 25 miles (40 Km.) southwest of the Sea of Galilee.

 

2. Megiddo lay at the juncture of several key routes (the main route is called the Via Maris) which linked Africa to Asia and Europe. For this reason, any country that rose to world power had to control Megiddo due to its strategic location.

 

3. More battles have been fought in this location than any other place in the entire world.

 

4. The name, Armageddon is derived from “Har-Megiddo” which is translated, “Armageddon.” Har means hill, and Megeddon is the place. When these words are joined together it is Armageddon.

 

5. Today, this place is called Megiddo in English. It’s located in the most fertile valley in Israel called, The Jezreel Valley.”

 

6. It is a "Tel," which is made up of layer upon layer of different civilizations that make up an artificial hill.

 

7. Tel Megiddo is made up of 25–26 layers of civilizations.

 

8. Today, you can see a busy highway right beside Tel Megiddo that uses the same ancient travel route that has been used for 6,000 years.

 

9. One of the Pharaohs, Thutmose the III, said conquering Megiddo was like conquering a thousand cities.

 

Historical Background

 

1. 4000 BC: Early Settlements.

 

2. 2000 BC: Massive city walls were built.

 

3. 1800 BC: A Canaanite gate was constructed on the north side.

 

4. 1500 BC: The gate and walls were rebuilt.

 

5. 1468 BC: The city rebelled against the Egyptians with other Canaanite cities and was conquered by Thutmose III after a great battle and a 7-month siege.

 

6. 960 BC: New gate and walls were built by the Israelites under Solomon's command.

 

7. 945 BC: Pharaoh Shishak conquers the city (1 Kings 14:25). A fragment of a tablet with Pharaoh Shishak's name was found here.

 

8. 850 BC: King Ahab fortified Megiddo and dug a water tunnel to access water within the city walls.

 

9. 732 BC: The city was captured by the Assyrian King Tiglath-Pileser III. Megiddo became the capital of the Assyrian province of the Galilee.

 

10. 650 BC:  Battle between the Egyptian Army and the Kingdom of Judah (King Josiah died in this battle).

 

11. 609 BC: The Egyptians replaced the Assyrians.

 

12. 300 BC: The city was abandoned, and the Tel was left in ruins.

 

13. 1918 AD: Battles between the British and the Turks in WW1. Britain gains control over Israel.

 

14. 1948 AD: Britain granted independence to Israel.

 

15. 1949 AD: Kibbutz Megiddo was established on the south side of Tel Megiddo.

 

Places of Interest (Please See Maps Above)

 

1. Canaanite Gate with 4 Towers

2. Canaanite Palace

3. Israelite Gate with 6 Towers

4. Northern Horse Stables

5. Northern Palace

6. Large cut through the tel was carried out between 1903 and 1905 by Gottlieb Schumacher for the German Society for Oriental Research.

7. Canaanite Temple and Altar: Place of animal sacrifice, and possibly children, to false gods.

8. Burial Chamber

9. Public Structure

10. Four-room House

11. Grain Silo

12. Southern Palace

13. Southern Horse Stables

14. Assyrian City

15. Water tunnel dug by King Ahab to protect the water source from enemies.

16. View of the Jezreel Valley (Valley of Armageddon).

 

Tel Megiddo In the Bible

 

1. King Solomon fortified Megiddo and used it for a fort of protection. He had 450 chariots stationed here.

1 Kings 9:15: Now this is the account of the forced labor which King Solomon levied to build the house of the Lord, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

 

2. A monumental battle will be fought here and in Jerusalem at the end of the Great Tribulation Period.

Revelation 16:1-21: Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.” 2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. 3 The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea. 4 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say, “Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was, for you brought these judgments. 6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. It is what they deserve!” 7 And I heard the altar saying, “Yes, Lord God the Almighty, true and just are your judgments!” 8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory. 10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. 12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14 For they 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 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. 17 The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. 21 And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.

 

3. Harvest of the earth in God’s winepress of wrath in Jerusalem.

Revelation 14:14-20: Then I looked, and behold, a white cloud, and seated on the cloud one like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head, and a sharp sickle in his hand. 15 And another angel came out of the temple, calling with a loud voice to him who sat on the cloud, “Put in your sickle, and reap, for the hour to reap has come, for the harvest of the earth is fully ripe.” 16 So he who sat on the cloud swung his sickle across the earth, and the earth was reaped. 17 Then another angel came out of the temple in heaven, and he too had a sharp sickle. 18 And another angel came out from the altar, the angel who has authority over the fire, and he called with a loud voice to the one who had the sharp sickle, “Put in your sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, for its grapes are ripe.” 19 So the angel swung his sickle across the earth and gathered the grape harvest of the earth and threw it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. 20 And the winepress was trodden outside the city [Jerusalem], and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia [180 miles, 300 km.].

 

Matthew 25:31-34: When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. 32 Before him will be gathered all the nations, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. 33 And he will place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.​ 

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Matthew 25:46: And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

 

Faith Lesson from Megiddo

 

1. Part of the last battle of Armageddon will be fought in Megiddo and the other part in Jerusalem. The war seems to happen simultaneously.

 

2. This battle will take place at the end of the Great Tribulation Period.

 

3. Scripture says that unless these days were shortened no life would survive.

 

4. The Tribulation Period will be a time when God pours out His wrath on a world who has rejected Him after all He has done for them. 

 

5. Where will I be at this battle? Will I be fighting with Christ or against Him?

 

6. Water was the main source of life for every city in ancient days. These cities could be conquered when their enemies cut off their water supply.

 

7. God’s Word is our water source of life. Our enemy, Satan, can defeat us by cutting off our intake of God’s Word. When he can do this, he can conquer us. To stand against Satan and his attacks, am I daily drinking abundantly from the water source of God’s Word?