THE GREATEST WAR EVER AND ITS BATTLE PLAN

THE GREATEST WAR EVER AND ITS BATTLE PLAN

        From the very beginning there has been a rebellion against God and the rule that He deserves since He is the creator not only of the world in which we live but also the creatures that live in it. He gave Adam the right to rule under His authority but Adam took the lead from his wife who was led by Satan to take that ruling lead from Christ. This was utter rebellion from the God Who of creation.

        The climax of this rebellion against the God of heaven will be reached when the armies of the nations, under the leadership of the great evil genius of the end-time, will march against Jerusalem and its chosen people. The prophet Zechariah, speaking of this military movement against Jerusalem, affirms that "all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it" (Zech. 12:2-3, ASV). And Daniel refers to their wicked leader when, among the final exploits of his terrible career, he is pictured as invading "the glorious land" and with great fury pitching his royal tent "between the sea and the glorious holy mountain" (Dan. 11:41-45, ASV). There is the battle plan of the war that is yet to happen. And yet they will perform it axactly as it has been put down on paper thousands of years before it actually happens.

        But the providential hand of God is in this arrogant march against the holy city of Jerusalem. For it is God's own determination thus to use the wrath of man to assemble the kingdoms of the world into the place of judgment where they shall be dealt with as they deserve (Zeph. 3:8). "I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle," says Jehovah (Zech. 14:2). In accents of great irony the divine call will go forth, "Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles; Prepare war, wake up the mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning-hooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye heathen . . . Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision" (Joel 3:9-11, 14).

        Rather strangely, according to Zechariah, the attack upon Jerusalem is initially successful: "the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city" (Zech. 14:2). In this apparent victory of the anti-God rebellion, the world comes to its darkest hour in the long night of Satanic power, and the dawn is about to break.

        Against all the devices of interpreters who seek to show that God is finished with the historic people of Israel and with their beloved city of Jerusalem, the prophetic ultimatum stands firm: "He that toucheth you toucheth the apple of his eye" (Zech. 2:8; cf. Zech. 4:4-7). In this city the Theocratic Kingdom of history was once centered, and it is reserved as the place where the Kingdom shall again be established. Therefore, those who are wise have never ceased to "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem" (Ps. 122:6). For all the hopes of a future Kingdom of God on earth are in a certain sense bound up with the future of this city.

        As an evidence of God's continued and loving interest in Jerusalem, it should be observed that the final assault against the city by the armies of the world, under the leadership of the blasphemous "little horn," will bring swift destruction upon these military forces. In fact, it is precisely this presumptuous assault that will bring the divine King down from heaven, and His first action on earth will be the defense of Jerusalem: "In that day shall the LORD defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem" (Zech. 12:8). What may seem to the attackers only a routine and rather minor military project will turn out to be a veritable Waterloo of catastrophe: "in that day," God warns, "will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it" (Zech. 12:3). "I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem" (Zech. 12:9).

        The crushing of the attacking forces will be supernaturally accomplished, and this power will be manifested in three ways. First, the human defenders left in the besieged city will be endowed with superhuman power. "In that day will I make the governors of Judah like an hearth of fire among the wood, and like a torch of fire in a sheaf; and they shall devour all the people round about. . . . he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of the LORD before them" (Zech. 12:6,8). Second, a heavenly reserve, in the person of Michael the archangel, will be sent into the action on behalf of the besieged Israelites. Through the centuries the chief ministry of this great angel has been to defend the interests of the chosen nation (Dan. 12:1). Third, there will be supernatural visitations of wrath which will fall directly on the attackers. Every horse will be smitten with "terror" and "blindness" while the riders will be seized with "madness" (Zech. 12:4, ASV). In this condition of mental confusion and derangement, the attackers will begin fighting each other (Zech. 14:13). And added to all these blows there will come a supernatural "plague" upon the armies, so that the eyes and tongues and flesh of men shall suddenly "consume away while they stand on their feet" (Zech. 14:12).

        The prophet Isaiah has given a vivid description of this terrible judgment of God upon a wicked and rebellious world: "For, behold, Jehovah will come with fire, and his chariots shall be like the whirlwind; to render his anger with fierceness, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For by fire will Jehovah execute judgment, and by his sword, upon all flesh; and the slain of Jehovah shall be many" (Isa. 66:15-16, ASV). So staggering will be the loss of life under the divine "indignation" that in the days of the coming Kingdom men will look back to this terrible occasion as "the day of the great slaughter" (Isa. 30:25).

        If such a judgment seems to run beyond the requirements of justice, it should not be forgotten that the devilish intent here is the same as that which always has motivated the great historic attacks on this chosen city of God: "And now many nations are assembled against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye see our desire upon Zion" (Mic. 4:11, ASV). Thus the eyes that look with eager desire for evil upon Jerusalem shall be made to feel the inflexible lex talionis of God (Exod. 21:23-25).