I plan to continue with a couple more blogs on leadership in the New Testament, but right now I am leading a tour of the Bible lands and wanted to update you on that.

Yesterday, we visited Caesarea, Mount Carmel the ruins of ancient Megiddo and ancient Nazareth. On Mount Carmel we visited the presumed site of Elijah’s showdown with the prophets of Baal. In a driving rain we looked down on the Valley of Megiddo (Jezreel) and then went into a church to have a reading of 1 Kings 18. I don’t have my camera cord with me, so I won’t be able to post pictures with the blog. After Mount Carmel we drove down to the ruins of ancient Megiddo, also in the rain, which was unfortunate as my pictures are not very good.

In Revelation 16:16 it talks about gathering the kings of the earth to a place that is called in Hebrew "Har-Magedon" (a literal transliteration of the Greek). The Hebrew word "Har" means mountain. And "Magedon" is the Greek word often used to translate the Hebrew name "Megiddo." So the most straightforward translation of Armageddon is "Mountain of Megiddo." But the big problem is that there is no mountain in all the world that is called Megiddo. You have a city of Megiddo and you have a Valley of Megiddo, but neither qualifies as a Mountain of Megiddo. So in a symbolic book like Revelation (see Rev 1:1 in the Greek) you look in another direction to understand John’s purpose.

If you read the article on Armageddon in the Anchor Bible Dictionary you discover that the most likely meaning of Armageddon in Revelation is as a pointer to the Mount Carmel episode in 1 Kings 18. Elijah and the prophets of Baal competed to bring fire down from heaven to earth in order to prove which God was more powerful or more real. Similar themes are found in the book of Revelation (Rev 13:13-14), but there the evidence supports the counterfeit trinity of dragon, beast and false prophet. So the Battle of Armageddon is a spiritual battle over the allegiance of the human race. And to some degree, the small decisions we make every day are part of that battle.

Where the geography of the Bible Lands comes into play here is that Mount Carmel looms over the city of Megiddo, which lies at the edge of a major valley. From the ruins of Tel Megiddo you can see the peak of the Carmel range and the likely spot where Elijah met the prophets of Baal in spiritual battle. That is the point of connection between Megiddo and Mount Carmel. The showdown on Mount Carmel becomes a model in Revelation for the spiritual battle that we face every day at the end of earth’s history. Apocalyptic assures us that the little decisions of every day life are full of apocalyptic meaning.