QUESTION: What is the battle of Armageddon?

ANSWER: Armageddon is mentioned in Revelation 16:16. As most things in The Revelation, the term is symbolic and has no reference to a literal, physical war to occur between the forces of Christ and the forces of Satan. Such an idea is totally false, having its roots in the foolishness of Premillenialism.

Armageddon has reference to Megiddo, a large valley in which many historic battles were fought by the Israelites. Because of these many battles, the word “Armageddon” came to be used very much as we use the word “ Waterloo” today. When using the word “waterloo,” we often have reference to some defeat, either in our lives or that of others. In similar fashion, “Armageddon” came to represent various types of “struggles.” In Revelation 16:16, it has direct reference to the spiritual struggle between Christians of that day and the evil with which they were confronted. Though indirectly, it also has reference, similarly, to Christians today!