When is armageddon going to happen

Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, Zechariah, John, Joseph Smith, and others have all talked about the battle and the events associated with it. Here you will find Isaiah saying the Lord will pour out war upon all the world; Jeremiah saying the same thing and speaking of these terrible things; Daniel saying so; Ezekiel saying so. We find Joel, Zephaniah, Zechariah, all proclaiming that in this last day, the day when the sun shall be darkened and the moon turned to blood and the stars fall from heaven, that the nations of the earth would gather against Jerusalem.

All of them speak of it; and when that time comes, the Lord is going to come out of His hiding place. Let us now examine what the prophetic record reveals, leaving out all unsubstantiated speculation and discussion. The information in the scriptures was given by the prophets. The prophets speak for themselves; this summary is provided only to guide your study of the prophetic sources, not to become the subject of your study itself.

In the southern part of Galilee in present-day Israel, about sixty miles north of Jerusalem, is a broad and fertile plain. It runs from the Bay of Haifa on the northern coast in a southeast direction to the River Jordan. Fifteen miles wide at its greatest breadth, the valley of Esdraelon its Greek name is still used today is flanked on the north by the Nazareth ridge and on the south by Mount Carmel, Mount Gilboa, and the hills of Samaria.

One of the most important highways of antiquity passed through the valley. Because of the strategic importance of the pass, a fortified city lay at the entrance into the valley.

From the earliest days, the valley of Armageddon, or the Plain of Esdraelon, has been the site of great battles. And one would be hard put to find a more appropriate name for the last great battle of the world before the Savior comes. Some erroneously conclude that the final battle of the war will be fought there, but, as Elder Bruce R. McConkie pointed out, the final struggles will center around Jerusalem, though they may extend to Megiddo.

In its north-central Palestinian location, Megiddo overlooks the great Plain of Esdraelon, an area of some 20 by 14 miles in which many great battles took place anciently.

President Joseph Fielding Smith indicated that this great war would be one of the last events before Christ comes in His glory:. Obviously, this is an event of great importance to the world, and the Lord has given a wealth of detail so that those who will listen can be prepared and comforted as the greatest war in the history of the world begins to unfold.

According to the prophets, some important events must take place before the battle actually begins:. The house of Israel will be gathered from among the heathen the Gentiles and returned to their own land see Ezekiel ; The land of Israel will be rebuilt and reinhabited by the covenant people see Ezekiel —12, 33— The land will become highly productive and fruitful, even like the Garden of Eden see Ezekiel , 29—30, 34— There will be one nation in the land of Israel again see Ezekiel Jerusalem will be reestablished as the capital city of the Israelites see Zechariah —17 ; ; ; 3 Nephi Judah will become powerful in politics and warfare see Isaiah —17 ; Zechariah , 5—6.

A great combination of organizations serving Satan will arise in the last days. Elder George Q. Morris of the Quorum of the Twelve stated that some of the totalitarian regimes of the 20th century were part of this coalition:. Ezekiel and Jeremiah indicated areas that will be involved and named Israel as the target of the war:.

Ezekiel named Gog of the land of Magog, the prince of Meshech and Tubal, as the leader of the forces that would come against Israel see Ezekiel —3. Gog is a symbolic name for the leader or leaders of this great evil power that will arise in the last days. These designations refer to general areas of the ancient world, so a list of modern nations fighting in Armageddon cannot be compiled from these sources.

Elder Bruce R. The prophets agreed that all nations should be joined in this alliance in one way or another see Jeremiah ; Joel ; Zechariah ; Revelation The strategic objective of this great and evil alliance is clearly the nation of Israel see Ezekiel , 15—16 ; Joel ; —2 ; Zechariah Several of the prophets vividly described in figurative language the power and massiveness of this army.

How did it become associated with the final catastrophe that will end humanity? This turns out to be a difficult question to answer, because it requires us to peer into the mind of a man we only know of as "John.

Early Judaism had no tradition of the world ending in a day of divine judgment. No such notion appears in First Temple -period material in the Hebrew Bible. But the idea does suddenly appear in prophetic books penned after the late 6th century B. For example:. Since this belief is uncommon in ancient religions, it could hardly be a coincidence that Jews began to believe in a final reckoning just when the Persians entered their lives and became their overlords during the exile in Babylon.

The Persian religion, Zoroastrianism, holds that the world will end with a final showdown between good and evil. Jews must have learned it from them. When Christianity branched off from Judaism 2, years ago, it took this belief. The concept appears throughout the Christian Bible, and in fact the Book of Revelations is wholly devoted to it.

Revelations consists of a prophetic description of how the world will end. Its writer identifies himself as John, but other than his name, nothing is known of him, and the traditional identification of him with John the Apostle is likely not true.

Yet whoever this John was, he played a decisive role in molding the Christian conception of the eschatological end of days. John, who wrote Revelations in Greek, also bestowed upon the English language two words for the end of the worlds: apocalypse and Armageddon.

The origin of the first is clear, but the latter is puzzling. The doomsday beliefs of some ancient religions can still be felt in modern secular society, as was the case with the conclusion of the Mayan calendar cycle that predicted the end of the world in More recently, some doomsday forecasters have focused on the year Citing the conclusion of a lengthy cycle in the ancient Mayan calendar, certain theorists anticipate the end of life as we know it on December 21, These theorists believe that on December 21, , the Earth will experience unprecedented, cataclysmic disasters ranging from massive earthquakes and tsunamis to nuclear reactor meltdowns.

In order to prepare for these events, some proponents of the prophecy have already begun stocking up on survival supplies. Some Christians interpret the Book of Revelation as a roadmap that lays out exactly how the world will end. They contend that Judgment Day will take place on Armageddon and Jesus will save the true believers, while non-believers left behind will face enormous suffering.

In Islam , the end of the world is referred to as the Hour and involves Jesus returning to Damascus to slay an anti-Christ who has put the planet in peril. With the anti-Christ out of the picture, a period of perfect harmony will ensue. Jesus will later die a natural death, which will usher in a time of destruction that leads directly to the Hour. In Judaism , there is no term for Armageddon, but there are references in the Hebrew bible to events that could be compared with Armageddon, including the Day of the Lord in which God causes death and destruction to people who deserve to be punished and the War of Gog and Magog in which Israel and its god fight their enemies, rather than an anti-Christ.

In Hinduism , there is the story of the god Vishnu coming back in the last cycle of time as a figure called Kulki, who rides a white horse, carries a sword that looks like a comet and destroys the forces of evil. In some Buddhist prophecies, the equivalent of Armageddon is Shambhala, in which good triumphs over evil; however, the planet is restored rather than destroyed so people can pursue enlightenment.

And until that day arrives— if it arrives—people will no doubt continue to speculate endlessly about when it will all be over. But if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! Subscribe for fascinating stories connecting the past to the present. Freedom of religion is protected by the First Amendment of the U.