ARMAGEDDON REVISITED (REVELATION 16:16)

Several years back I wrote a post titled “Armageddon (Revelation 16:16)” in which I began with the following statement:

“The concepts of Armageddon and the Battle of Armageddon have entered into the consciousness of the general public, even among those who have never read the Bible...The word itself only appears in one verse, Revelation 16:16. And Mounce calls it 'one of the more cryptic and difficult problems of Revelation', which is certainly saying a lot. Metzger calls this a 'mystic place-name' and demonstrates the problem Bible scholars have had with the word itself for over 1,000 years by the fact that the name is actually spelled thirteen different ways in the manuscripts. And the common spelling I have used in the title above only appears in some rather late Byzantine documents...One of the alternative spellings of the word in question is Har-Mageddon, possibly meaning Mountain of Megiddo. On the one hand, Sheriffs says, 'The fact that the tell of Megiddo was about 70 feet high in John's day, and was in the vicinity of Carmel Range, justifies the use of Heb. har, used loosely in the Old Testament hill and hill country.' However, Mounce and others are not convinced. He states flatly that 'there is no Mt. Megiddo. None of the solutions offered is especially persuasive.'”

This is a controversy which seems never to die. For example, recent archaeological excavations in that general area have been reported in the Winter 2025 issue of BAR magazine which reveal some interesting new information to add to the debate.

For one thing, Mounce, quoted above, may be unduly harsh in saying that no mountain existed at Megiddo since a 70-foot high elevation at the time of Revelation's writing hardly could be considered a mountain. But we have to put that height in perspective against the flat plain surrounding it. Let me offer two possible parallels I personally observed during my life.

When I was looking for a job after graduation, I was given an interview trip by one firm in central Michigan. It was hard to imagine a flatter landscape than the one the city was occupying. But my host showed me the literal “high spot” in town, a small elevation in one area where my host said the richest and most prominent families in town had built their houses “so that they could look down on the rest of the city.” It was nicknamed “Mt. X” (I won't reveal the actual name of the town since that would immediately identify the name of the company, the only industry located there).

Well, I did get a job, but it certainly wasn't in X City. And on one of my business trips with that firm, I had one occasion to visit some of its operations in West Texas. In terms of flat land, it had Michigan beat by a mile. My hosts there were driving me around the countryside when they told me they were about to take me to the highest elevation for over 100 miles in any direction. It turned out to be a simple overpass in the road, but we stopped in the middle of it to “admire” the scenery.

With those two examples in mind, I am in wholehearted agreement with Sheriffs that a 70-foot mound surrounded by plains could certainly qualify as a mountain in that geographical setting.

Getting back to the recent article in BAR, the authors report their findings after excavating an ancient site named Legio located quite near the remains of Megiddo. They uncovered a 40-acre Roman Legionary Base quartering as many as 5,000 soldiers posted there after the abortive First Jewish Revolt of 66-73 AD.

The feelings of these authors is that it was the existence of this post during the writing of the Book of Revelation which influenced the imagery of the coming Battle of Armageddon. The authors conclude that “the practical military realities of the region – including the presence of the Sixth Legion at Legio and the Tenth Legion in Jerusalem – mirror the narrative progression of Revelation. The battle at Armageddon can be interpreted as the necessary first step in overcoming imperial forces en route to the restoration of Jerusalem, aligning with the text's climax, in the descent of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2). In this way, Revelation reimagines historical conflicts within a Christian framework, offering hope for divine vindication in the face of Roman oppression.”

Whether or not one agrees with the above statement, there are some other interesting archaeological tidbits uncovered just outside the site of this Roman army instillation in what appears to have been a Christian prayer hall. On its floor are three mosaic inscriptions “one explicitly referencing Jesus Christ and indicating that Christian worship was held there perhaps 75 years before Emperor Constantine embraced that faith. The most notable of these...reads: 'The God-loving Akeptous has offered the table to God Jesus Christ as a memorial.' This unique inscription refers to Jesus Christ as God, and is one of the earliest inscriptions of its kind in the Holy Land or anywhere else. A second inscription, dedicated by a Roman centurion, further highlights the intersection of imperial authority and early Christian practice. The third inscription records the names of four women, emphasizing their importance to the local Christian community.”

These inscriptions help to confirm details concerning the make-up of the Christian church in the early days recorded in both Acts and Paul's letters in regard to the actual presence of Roman soldiers in some congregations as well as the prominent involvement of women.