Old Testament Previews of the Battle of Armageddon
Zechariah

The post-exilic prophet Zechariah had much to say about the close of the age in which we
live. God himself will fight against those who will gather against Jerusalem (Zechariah 12).
“I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that sends all the surrounding peoples reeling. Judah will be
besieged as well as Jerusalem. ” – Zechariah 12:2
The expression, on that day, used frequently by prophets, is a clue that the passage is
referring to the Day of the Lord (i.e. the Great Tribulation).
On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an
immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves. 4 On that day I
will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,” declares the LORD. “I will keep a
watchful eye over the house of Judah, but I will blind all the horses of the nations…
9 On that day I will set out to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem.‖ – Zechariah 12:3-9
Near the end of the coming Tribulation Period, Jerusalem is to come under military siege
and be overrun by foreign armies one more time. Zechariah announces that this will happen just
prior to Messiah’s final return to the city,
A day of the LORD is coming when your plunder will be divided among you.
2
I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it; the city will be captured, the houses
ransacked, and the women raped. Half of the city will go into exile, but the rest of the people will
not be taken from the city.
3 Then the LORD will go out and fight against those nations, as he fights in the day of battle. 4
On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives
will be split in two from east to west, forming a great valley, with half of the mountain moving
north and half moving south. 5 You will flee by my mountain valley, for it will extend to Azel.
You will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the
LORD my God will come and all the holy ones with him. – Zechariah 14:1-5

Daniel
The Book of Daniel is known as “The Apocalypse of The Old Testament.” The visions of this
book establish the framework of the entire history of evil world empires, from the time of
Nebuchadnezzar (and even before), until the final despotic rule of end-times ruler. In the ninth
chapter there is a brief allusion to the Battle of Armageddon where he will be defeated. This one
verse speaks of three and one half years: from the “middle” of the “seven,” until the end of that
time.
He will confirm a covenant with many for one ‘seven.’ In the middle of the ‘seven’ he will put an
end to sacrifice and offering. And on a wing of the temple he will set up an abomination that
causes desolation, until the end that is decreed is poured out on him. – Daniel 9:27
The eleventh chapter of Daniel foretells some of the activity of the last evil king’s
military campaigns, leading up to his bold establishment of himself as ruler, and the
“abomination of desolation” at the mid-point of the Tribulation. The first twenty verses of this
chapter describe the rise of Alexander’s Greece (verse 3) at the end of the Medo-Persian era, then
the emergence of the Roman Empire as a “King of the North.” At verse 21 the scene shifts from
the ancient Roman Empire to the future appearance of a contemptible person who will seize the
kingdom by intrigue (conspiracy).
At the height of his power he will decide to break his covenant with Israel. At that time
he will abolish the daily sacrifice (in the newly rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem), and the False
Prophet will set up the “abomination of desolation,” which Revelation 13:14-15 reveals will be
an image of the First Beast that is to be worshiped.
Most conservative commentators find the events of Daniel 11 were partially fulfilled by
Antiochus Epiphanes as a type of the final world ruler.
“At the appointed time he will invade the South again, but this time the outcome will be different
from what it was before. 30 Ships of the western coastlands will oppose him, and he will lose
heart. Then he will turn back and vent his fury against the holy covenant. He will return and show
favor to those who forsake the holy covenant.
31 “His armed forces will rise up to desecrate the temple fortress and will abolish the daily
sacrifice. Then they will set up the abomination that causes desolation.‖ – Daniel 11:28-31
A great gap or “parenthesis” is found in Daniel Chapter 11. The first part of this chapter
is a long history of ancient rulers, the Selucids and the Ptolemies, who struggled back and forth
for many years between one another–with Israel in the middle. At verse 28 there is a sudden
break in the text, and Scripture leaps over centuries of intervening history down to “the time of
the end.” Then the final war will begin by an Egyptian king invading Israel from the South and
being met by the opposing forces of the last king of the North.
“At the time of the end the king of the South will engage him in battle, and the king of the North
will storm out against him with chariots and cavalry and a great fleet of ships. He will invade
many countries and sweep through them like a flood. 41 He will also invade the Beautiful Land.
Many countries will fall, but Edom, Moab and the leaders of Ammon will be delivered from his
hand. 42 He will extend his power over many countries; Egypt will not escape. 43 He will gain
control of the treasures of gold and silver and all the riches of Egypt, with the Libyans and
Nubians in submission. 44 But reports from the east and the north will alarm him, and he will set
out in a great rage to destroy and annihilate many. 45 He will pitch his royal tents between the seas
at the beautiful holy mountain. Yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.‖ – Daniel
11:40-45

Joel
The prophet Joel also describes this final invasion,
Blow the trumpet in Zion;
sound the alarm on my holy hill.
Let all who live in the land tremble,
for the day of the LORD is coming.
It is close at hand2
a day of darkness and gloom,
a day of clouds and blackness.
Like dawn spreading across the mountains
a large and mighty army comes,
such as never was of old
nor ever will be in ages to come.
3 Before them fire devours,
behind them a flame blazes.
Before them the land is like the garden of Eden,
behind them, a desert waste—
nothing escapes them. – Joel 2:1-3
Joel wrote of the approaching invasion of Israel by Nebuchadnezzar in his own day, and
also about the final invasion of foreign armies that would come just prior to Messiah’s
appearance in power and glory. The clue to the end-time application is the phrase “the Day of the
LORD,” which occurs again at the end of the following section (Joel 2:4-11).
God in mercy has previously saved the godly remnant in Israel at the mid-tribulation
point and taken them safely to refuge in Petra for the last half of The Tribulation Period. Still,
Yahweh calls to the remaining Jews in Israel to turn to him, even at the late hour in which they
are now living.
Joel’s words apply well to both the approaching captivity in Babylon–which was on the
near horizon in Joel’s day- but are even more relevant to the situation during the closing days of
this age. God pleads with his people to come back to him, even at the midnight hour (Joel 2:12-
17).
“Even now,” declares the LORD,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13 Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the LORD your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity. – Joel 2:12-13
Joel also foresees the final conversion of Israel at the very last minute–just preceding the
final return of Messiah. In mercy and grace God will at that time turn one third of the nation back
to himself. In fact the prayers of this remnant are necessary for Messiah’s return to his own land
for the final time. This eleventh-hour conversion of great numbers of Jews to Messiah could well
amount to more than one million new believers coming into the kingdom just as the Messiah is
returning to the land for the final time(Joel 2:18-32).
“And afterward,
I will pour out my Spirit on all people.
Your sons and daughters will prophesy,
your old men will dream dreams,
your young men will see visions.
29 Even on my servants, both men and women,
I will pour out my Spirit in those days.
30 I will show wonders in the heavens
and on the earth,
blood and fire and billows of smoke.
31 The sun will be turned to darkness
and the moon to blood
before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD.
32 And everyone who calls
on the name of the LORD will be saved;
for on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem
there will be deliverance,
as the LORD has said,
among the survivors
whom the LORD calls.‖ – Joel 2:28-32
Joel’s apocalyptic warning is but one of many in the Old Testament that has a double
fulfillment. Joel warned against the devastating invasions of Nebuchadnezzar that lay just ahead
in his own day. But the Spirit of God also had in mind a greater and more complete fulfillment of
this passage at the end of the age in which we now live.