What is commonly known as “Armageddon” or the “Battle of Armageddon” is actually better understood as a series of military campaigns in the land of Israel that have their beginnings in the Tribulation period and reach their climax in the short time space that follows the Tribulation, that time being called Armageddon.
In the Tribulation, Israel is invaded by Russia and its armies (Ezekiel 38 and Ezekiel 39), and at a similar time is invaded by Rome and its armies (Daniel 11: 40 – 45; Revelation 16: 12 – 14; Revelation 17: 12 – 14, 16 – 17). However, at the end of the Tribulation, when Israel is overrun by Russia and its armies and is also overrun by the armies of the Antichrist (the Man of Sin/the Beast), Christ will return to the earth with His armies of glorified saints to set up His kingdom (Daniel 2: 44; Revelation 19: 11 – 16), and in doing so will execute judgment upon the nations and their armies that have invaded Israel.
The bloodshed of Armageddon spans an area of approximately two hundred square miles according to Revelation 14: 19 – 20: And the angel thrust in his sickle into the earth, and gathered the vine of the earth, and cast it into the great winepress of the wrath of God. And the winepress was trodden without the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs. Armageddon is therefore not a specific battle in the Valley of Megiddo (Revelation 16: 16), but is a time when the military campaign of Russia and the military campaign of the Antichrist will be brought to a sudden end by the military campaign of Christ and His armies moving through the land of Israel in an awesome and combinative display of supernatural power (Isaiah 29: 1 – 8; Isaiah 63: 1 – 6; Ezekiel 38: 18 – 23; Ezekiel 39: 3 – 6; Haggai 2: 22; Zechariah 14: 1 – 5, 12 – 13; Revelation 16: 17 – 21).
