(Daniel 11: 40-45; Zechariah 12:6-14; Revelation 9:16-17)
Before Israel was re-established as a nation in 1948, very few Bible commentators believed there was going to be a real battle in the last days, when Israel would be attacked by countries from the north. Nor did anyone believe that the armies of 200 million men recorded in Revelation 9:16 were possible. Most people thought that the restoration of Israel, described by Ezekiel, was only an allegory of the end-time Church. Today, however, you can take a tour of Israel and they will show you the valley of Armageddon. Armies of 200 million men are now a real possibility.
The prophecies of Zechariah 12 make it clear that the city of Jerusalem is the target of Satan’s attack. Verse 6 tells us that God will make “the governors of Judah like a firepan in the woodpile … for they shall devour all the surrounding peoples on the right hand and on the left, but Jerusalem shall be inhabited again in her own place.” The attack on Jerusalem comes after the repentance of “the inhabitants of Jerusalem.” Here, the house of David represents the end-time Church, but it is only one house of the “inhabitants of Jerusalem” who repent in Zechariah 12.
We can also see that the Battle of Armageddon is a real war in Daniel 11, which lists Egypt, Edom, Moab, Ammon, Libya, and Ethiopia as other countries in the battle. It is difficult to imagine symbolic meanings for all these countries.
Revelation 16:18 describes this battle as “a great earthquake.” The earthquakes prophesied in Revelation 8:5 and 11:13 were real wars, and we have no reason to doubt that the earthquake describing the Battle of Armageddon is a real war. The weapons of war are described. The riders on the horses have fire and brimstone proceeding from their mouths, the sky is split back as a scroll, and hailstones of a hundred pounds fall to the earth. The meanings of these cannot be explained as figurative by other Bible passages.