This battle is believed by most mainstream Bible scholars to be the battle of Armageddon of the book of Revelation. We have previously done two studies of Revelation on this blog and I hope to look at the book again when we reach that point as we move through the entire Bible. In Revelation we are told that a coalition of nations forms and that this coalition is operating in opposition to the Lord. These nations (not every single person in each nation but the majority of the citizens of these nations) do not want the Lord's kingdom to be set up on the earth but want to establish their own kingdom. Those who join the coalition would rather have anyone over them other than the Lord! Those who join the coalition have lived in rebellion against Him all their lives and they intend to keep on rebelling against Him; they want nothing to do with Him and they hate those who have put their trust in Him. Sadly, the book of Revelation indicates that in the end times there will be more persecution against the Jewish people than ever before and there will be more persecution against Christians (those who come to Christ during the great tribulation) than ever before. But the Lord will judge every ungodly act that is ever perpetrated against those who love Him.
Here in the book of Joel we find the Lord challenging this coalition of nations to a fight. He invites these leaders and their armies to come out against Him with everything they've got. "Proclaim this among the nations: Prepare for war! Rouse the warriors! Let all the fighting men draw near and attack. Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, 'I am strong!' Come quickly, all you nations from every side, and assemble there." (Joel 3:9-11a)
The battle is to take place at a location referred to in the book of Joel as "the Valley of Jehoshaphat". We talked earlier in the week about how there is no actual location in Israel that is known by this name but that the word "Jehoshaphat" means "the Lord is judge/the Lord has judged". So it would be accurate to call this location "the valley of the Lord's judgement/the valley where the Lord will judge". He already announced His intention in Joel 3 to judge the nations at this location---the nations that have persecuted His people. The literal location of the battle likely corresponds to the valley near Mount Megiddo; Mount Megiddo is also known as "Har Megiddo" which is rendered as "Armageddon" in Revelation 16:16.
We find the account of the battle of Armageddon in Revelation 19, when the Lord comes with the army of heaven to put down the final rebellion of mankind and the final rebellion of the devil himself. An angel calls out to the birds of prey, saying, "Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small." (Revelation 19:17-18)
Those who have come out to oppose the Lord are going to lose the fight and when they do, they will fall on the battlefield and these birds will swoop in to dine on their dead bodies. I know that sets a graphic scene in our minds but we have to keep in mind that in ancient times it was considered the ultimate humiliation and a judgment of God to have your body left unburied and to have it scavenged by animals. Those whose bodies fall on the field during the battle of Armageddon will be people who hate the Lord, who hate the people who love the Lord, who have persecuted the people who love the Lord, and who have given their allegiance to the Antichrist because, to quote something the Apostle John once said, there are people who "love darkness instead of light". (John 3:19) We may not understand why anyone loves darkness instead of light or why anyone prefers evil over godliness but in every era since the creation of the world there have been humans who have felt this way. This ungodly attitude will persist on up until the end times when the Lord puts down all rebellion in the final battle on earth.
In Joel 3 the Lord is calling His enemies to face Him in battle. This is a battle that He will win, decisively and for all time. The Apostle John foresaw the Lord's victory and described it in Revelation 19:19-21 by saying that the beast (the Antichrist) and the kings (the national leaders of the world who are part of the coalition that opposes the Lord) and their armies gathered together to wage war against the Lord and His army. The Lord defeats His enemies but apparently not with the weapons of this world but by words that come from His own mouth. John saw a vision of a sword coming out of the Lord's mouth and in the Scriptures a sword is used symbolically to represent the word of God. It is not at all hard to believe that the Lord could speak a word and strike the enemy army dead, for it was His word that spoke the entire universe and everything in it into existence. The Lord is so powerful that I believe it was quite easy for Him to speak the creation into existence and that striking a human army dead with only a word from His mouth is going to take far less effort. In the vision given to John he saw the very thing happening at the end of this final battle that an angel said would happen: "All the birds gorged themselves on their flesh." (Revelation 19:21b) The Lord then judges the Antichrist and the False Prophet of the great tribulation era and He judges Satan himself and throws all three of them into the lake of fire and puts an end to their ability to ever do anything to mankind again.
The enemies of the Lord and of His children are going to come to an inglorious end. By contrast, the children of the Lord are going to rejoice in His presence forever! "Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will dwell with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:3-4) Amen!
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