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Hello reader. Here I will talk about visiting Armageddon before finally going up to the Capital City of the Kingdom of the King of Kings, Jerusalem…

Following one of the most special weeks of my life, I left the Galilee and headed south, full of anticipation, to the Eternal City, Jerusalem. I turned the radio off in the car and, with the windows a little down, listened to the breeze as I drove through the ancient landscapes of the Beautiful Land.

After driving for about 35 miles south_west from Tiberias, I arrived at my first stop on the way: Armageddon, or, in Hebrew, Har Megiddo, meaning ' Mount Megiddo'. As is well_known amongst believers in Yeshua and even non_believers, this is the site that is spoken about by Scripture in relation to the final battle of this age where Yeshua will return with heaven's armies to defeat satan and his allies and usher in the Kingdom of ADONAI on earth.

At this point in time, I do not know whether Har Megiddo will be the sole theatre of war or whether it will be one of many locations in a much wider conflict. However, whichever is correct, I do conclude from Scripture that Har Megiddo will be the focal point of the War of the Great Day of ADONAI_Tzva'ot. Revelation 16:13_16 in the Complete Jewish Bible (CJB) states:

And I saw three unclean spirits that looked like frogs; they came from the mouth of the dragon, from the mouth of the beast and from the mouth of the false prophet. They are miracle_working demonic spirits which go out to the kings of the whole inhabited world to assemble them for the War of the Great Day of ADONAI_Tzva'ot ["the LORD of (heaven's) armies" or "the LORD of Hosts"]. ("Look! I am coming like a thief! How blessed are those who stay alert and keep their clothes clean, so that they won't be walking naked and be publicly put to shame!"). And they gathered the kings to the place which in Hebrew is called Har Megiddo.

The CJB Glossary describes Har Megiddo:

"…an ancient town with more than twenty archaeological layers covering the period from nearly 6000 years ago until the fourth century B.C.E. It was chosen again and again as the site for a city because of its strategic location guarding a pass on the Via Maris (the "Way of the Sea") joining Egypt and Assyria and overlooking the Valley of Yizre'el (Jezreel, Esdraelon)…"

Unfortunately, Tel Megiddo National Park was closed on the day that I went there due to it being the afternoon before the beginning of Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). However, I did take a few pictures from the outside:

My main concern was to see the whole of the Jezreel Valley since, being the immediate area overlooked by Har Megiddo, I believe that it is likely to be where the War of the Great Day of ADONAI_Tzva'ot is actually fought. In 1799, Napoleon (a forerunner of the anti_Messiah) stood at Megiddo before his attempt to conquer the East and rebuild the Roman Empire. As he viewed the enormous valley in front of him, he declared:

"All the armies of the world could manoeuvre their forces on this vast plain… There is no place in the whole world more suited for war than this… [It is] the most natural battleground of the whole earth."

The best vantage point from which to see a panorama of the Jezreel Valley is the roof of the Carmelite Monastery of St. Elijah. I surveyed the landscape with a heavy heart, reflecting on the fact that, one day in this magnificent setting, men will physically try to fight the very One who created them and everything around them:

The Monastery itself is situated on the south_eastern spur of Mount Carmel and was built to commemorate Elijah's confrontation with the 450 false prophets of Ba'al (1 Kings 18:17_40), which is traditionally thought to have occurred here:

Before leaving the Monastery, I meditated for a while on the significance of these words of Elijah and prayed about their implications in my own life. I invite you to do the same:

"How long are you going to jump back and forth between two positions? If ADONAI is God, follow him; but if it's Ba'al, follow him!" (1 Kings 18:21, (CJB))

This challenge is even more serious when we consider that all false gods or idols (like Ba'al in this case) are just masks used by satan himself, who is "the deceiver of the whole world" and "the inventor of the lie" (Revelation 12:9; John 8:44, CJB). We who profess to follow ADONAI today must take heed to ourselves as there is no neutral ground between the Kingdom of Light and the kingdom of darkness. As Yeshua says in Matthew 12:30, CJB:

"Those who are not with me are against me…"

As time was getting on, I jumped in my hire car and got onto Highway 6 heading south to Jerusalem, 95 miles away. I did not want to get there after sunset on Shabbat of all days! I thought about so many things on the way, I could not begin to tell you. Suffice to say, my overriding feeling was one of thankfulness to ADONAI for having brought me to this day.

I turned eastwards after about 70 miles at the Ben Shemen Interchange onto Highway 1 and started the climb up to the City of Peace. "Going up" to Jerusalem is not merely poetic language; it is a geographical fact. Eventually, I saw the city boundary sign up ahead and my heart skipped a beat. It is really hard to articulate exactly how I felt as I approached the sign so I will not attempt to do so. You will just have to take the journey for yourself. When I passed the sign, I knew that I had finally entered the City of ADONAI for real. It is, quite simply, a moment that I will never, ever forget.

Stay tuned for my next post in which I complete my report of my experiences in Yerushaláyim…

Shalom in the name of Yeshua,

Ben