Revelation 16:12-16

The Great Day of God the Almighty

A sermon by Pastor Joe Haynes

Preached on February 23, 2020 at Beacon Church. Updated June, 2021.

She knew she was dying. And she was scared. She wasn’t ready. One of her neighbours, who is here this morning, bumped into her and invited her to our new home group Bible study. And so she came. So we studied the Bible and applied what we learned. And this dear, dying lady found out that the one thing God requires of her is her absolute trust. In her fear of dying, for this independent, self-made woman, it was hard to learn to put her destiny completely in the hands of Jesus. But she did. She started seeing places all over the New Testament calling for people to believe, have faith in Christ. And one afternoon in Gordon and Noreen’s living room, she got angry. She got angry that in all the churches she had attended her whole life, no pastor had told her that we can only be saved by a faith in Jesus that gives up on how good we can be and relies only on His ability to save. Once she saw clearly what the Bible says, she was angry none of her pastors had taught her about that. They had never helped her get ready to die. But finally, thank God, she was ready.

This passage in Revelation 16:12-16, is about the pouring out of the sixth bowl of the wrath of God. And it teaches us that God is getting ready, we need to get ready, and most people are not ready to face God. The 6 seals, the 6 trumpets, the first 5 bowls so far, all happened in order. And the way they were fulfilled has brought us step by step up to modern times—from the end of the first century when John wrote this. (The fifth bowl happened when the Pope’s lands and kingdom around Rome were taken away, his royalty snuffed out and extinguished. Like the plague of darkness in ancient Egypt, when Egyptians stayed indoors, the Roman Popes retreated inside the Vatican for 59 years in protest.[i] Until 1929.) During that same period of time, the sixth bowl happened.

God is getting ready

“The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east,” (Rev. 16:12 ESV). First, God’s wrath is poured out on a river, then the river dries up, and when that happens, verse 12 tells us, God is preparing for something.

God’s wrath is poured out on a river. Was God angry with a river? No of course not. Look: what is in these bowls? “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, ‘Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God,’" (Rev. 16:1 ESV).  John’s readers would not have forgotten that at the beginning of the book, Jesus interpreted “stars” as “messengers” and “lampstands” as individual churches—likewise God does not keep His wrath in containers and bowls, nor does this predict a literal angel will dump divine anger on a river in the Middle East. Here, the river stands for something—and the symbol is a clue to the identity of a an obstacle. It was preventing a lot of God’s chosen people from coming to Him. And God does not take that sitting down. He was angry. Jesus got angry about that sort of thing: If someone got between Jesus and one of the little children seeking Him, He said “it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were cast into the sea!” (Lk 17:2) Well that’s what this river had done. That’s why the sixth angel poured out God’s wrath on a river.

But God’s not angry with the literal Euphrates River. Notice that verse 12 says it dries up to prepare the way. Why would the river have to dry up? So people could cross it, right? Again, this was not the case with the literal Euphrates, so it confirms it is a symbol for something. The Euphrates is the largest River in the whole Turkey, Syria, Iraq region, and though it never used to run dry, it never kept people from where they wanted to God. When the armies of ancient Persia headed west to conquer the city of Sardis, they built a bridge. They had the technology. They even built pontoon bridges to cross the sea channel near ancient Troy in the war against the Greeks![ii] They did not need to wait for the Euphrates to dry up even in ancient times. But in modern times, Turkey and Syria built dams along the Euphrates that choke off the water supply down-river in Iraq. There are places where sadly it is easy to cross on foot.[iii] God does not need to supernaturally dry up this mighty river to prepare for whoever is coming. So again, God’s not angry with the literal river Euphrates. So in verse 12, what does the Euphrates stand for?

The prophets of Israel used rivers as a symbol in their prophecies. Can you tell me where is the Nile River? See? Most of you identify it with Egypt! That’s why Jeremiah used the Nile River as a symbol for the Egyptian Empire (Jer 46:7-8); Isaiah used the flooding Euphrates River as a symbol for the rise and spread of the Assyrian Empire (Isa 8:7-8); so Revelation used the same Euphrates River, in the sixth trumpet in chapter 9, about a much later time, as a symbol for the rise of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, the largest most powerful Muslim Empire in history. For centuries, the Euphrates has been identified with that Turkish empire. In chapter 9, the sign of the Euphrates River pointed to the rise of the Ottoman Empire, and in chapter 16:12, when God shows John, in this vision, the sixth angel pouring a bowl full of wrath on the River Euphrates to dry it up-- it predicted that the power of the mighty Ottoman Empire would start evaporating, wither, dry up. And it happened that way. Because God was angry that the mightiest Muslim empire in history was keeping so many people from coming to Jesus. Not just by spreading Islam but even by murdering Christians. They are guilty of two genocides: 300,000 Assyrians; 1.5 million Armenians—many of them Christians.[iv]

The river dried up. In the middle of the 19th century, people began describing the Ottoman Empire as “the sick man of Europe.”[v] The empire was diseased, decaying, drying up from the inside. It had ruled for more than 500 years. It conquered the eastern third of the Roman Empire in 1453.[vi] It held the city of Jerusalem in its grasp for 400 years until the British liberated Jerusalem on December 11, 1917, at the end of WWI.[vii] By that time, however, the Ottoman Empire was already weak. It had been decaying and declining internally for a long time. Just like verse 12 says, God's wrath, poured out on the Ottoman Empire did not end it suddenly. It "dried up. Until only a shadow remained: the country, Turkey. But as long as that empire had the power it stood in the way of another group of people whom God planned to save.

Back to verse 12, it says God did all this “to prepare the way…” I want to focus on those words. The original readers John was writing this book of Revelation for spoke the language it was written in and the words in verse 12, “prepare the road of the kings…” would strike their ears as more physical, real-life—it’s a road, not an abstract idea. In fact this is almost exactly how they people used to refer to the ancient government highway.[viii] They called it “the road of the king.” This is what Moses called the main highway through Edom. He wrote to the King of Edom and asked permission to pass through his lands promising, "We will go along the King's Highway,” (Num. 20:17 ESV). (Heb. lit.) “…the way of the King we will travel…”

When we interpret this, we need to take into account how the original audience would understand this. One of the original 7 churches addressed in Revelation 3 is the church in the city of Sardis. And one of the most famous things about Sardis was that after it was conquered by the Persian Empire, the king ordered that a 2700km road be built, a highway, connecting the capital in modern Iran with Sardis. That road was called "The Royal Road"  or "The Road of the King," named for the King of Persia.[ix] That famous road ran from Iran up the Tigris River through modern Iraq, through north-east Syria, into Turkey and all the way across to Sardis, near modern Izmir across the Aegean Sea from Athens.[x] But in verse 12 it’s not the “road of the king” but “of the kings.” Because after Persia, other empires and other kings, like those of Greece and Rome and Parthia, controlled this road. This road of the Persian King changed the course of history, influencing the rise and fall of many future kings and empires. By the time John wrote Revelation that road had been owned by many kingdoms—the road of the kings. So back in verse 12, God’s wrath dried up the Ottoman Empire to prepare “the road of the kings.” But what for?

I’m going to read a prophecy from Isaiah, and I want you to notice who is going to travel the metaphorical “highway from Assyria”.[xi] [xii]

There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a branch from his roots shall bear fruit.  2 And the Spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.  3 And his delight shall be in the fear of the LORD. He shall not judge by what his eyes see, or decide disputes by what his ears hear,  4 but with righteousness he shall judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth; and he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.  5 Righteousness shall be the belt of his waist, and faithfulness the belt of his loins.  6 The wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the young goat, and the calf and the lion and the fattened calf together; and a little child shall lead them.  7 The cow and the bear shall graze; their young shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.  8 The nursing child shall play over the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder's den.  9 They shall not hurt or destroy in all my holy mountain; for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.  10 In that day the root of Jesse, who shall stand as a signal for the peoples-- of him shall the nations inquire, and his resting place shall be glorious.  11 In that day the Lord will extend his hand yet a second time to recover the remnant that remains of his people, from Assyria, from Egypt, from Pathros, from Cush, from Elam, from Shinar, from Hamath, and from the coastlands of the sea.  12 He will raise a signal for the nations and will assemble the banished of Israel, and gather the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth.  13 The jealousy of Ephraim shall depart, and those who harass Judah shall be cut off; Ephraim shall not be jealous of Judah, and Judah shall not harass Ephraim.  14 But they shall swoop down on the shoulder of the Philistines in the west, and together they shall plunder the people of the east. They shall put out their hand against Edom and Moab, and the Ammonites shall obey them.  15 And the LORD will utterly destroy the tongue of the Sea of Egypt, and will wave his hand over the River with his scorching breath, and strike it into seven channels, and he will lead people across in sandals.  16 And there will be a highway from Assyria for the remnant that remains of his people, as there was for Israel when they came up from the land of Egypt. (Isa. 11:1-16 ESV; emphasis added)

In verse 12, this description of preparing the “road” from the east, across the Euphrates, is a straight-up reference to God bringing the remnant of Israel back from Assyria. But, like in Isaiah 11, the exiles in Assyria were just one of the places from where God returned His people. The prophecy, then, in Rev 16:12 represents the wider regathering of Israel under the reference of the “highway from Assyria;” the “Royal Road from the East.” This is one of the great themes of Bible prophecy, of many of the prophets of Israel. Moses prophesied, “If your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there the LORD your God will gather you, and from there he will take you. And the LORD your God will bring you into the land that your fathers possessed, that you may possess it. And he will make you more prosperous and numerous than your fathers.”  (Deu 30:4-5 ESV). Jeremiah declares, “Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.” (Jer 23:3 ESV) Ezekiel announces, “Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, I will take the people of Israel from the nations among which they have gone, and will gather them from all around, and bring them to their own land.” (Eze 37:21 ESV) Isaiah predicts, “In that day from the river Euphrates to the Brook of Egypt the LORD will thresh out the grain, and you will be gleaned one by one, O people of Israel.” (Isa 27:12 ESV) These passages are the tip of the iceberg. But does the Lord keep His promises?

Since the collapse and drying up of the Ottoman Empire, more than 3.5 million of the remnant of Israel have returned to the land of their ancestors.

• From 1882 to WWI, about 75,000 Jews returned to Israel, mainly from Russia and Yemen.

• In the four years between 1919 and 1923 another 40,000 returned from Eastern Europe after WWI

• In the next 5 years another 82,000 migrated from Europe

• In the 10 years that followed, 250,000 Jews returned

• From then to the end of WWII, at least 110,000 returned from Europe

• In 3 1/2 years from '48 to '53, 688,000 returned from post-Holocaust Europe and Muslim countries, almost 250,000 in 1949 alone.

• In those years, more than 200,000 came from lands east of the Euphrates River (246,460 from "Asia" subtracting 34,699 from Turkey)

• From '48 to the end of the '70s about 900,000 returned from Muslim nations

• Since 1991 about 1,000,000 Jews returned to Israel from the former USSR.

• After the 2014 Russian invasion of Ukraine, immigration to Israel spiked, more than 11,000 returned from former USSR countries just in 2014.

• In 2014, about 6,000 Jews returned from France. The increase of hatred toward Jews and the decline of the economy are causing that number to rise to an est. 10,000 in 2015, and experts expect that in the next 10 years that number up to 250,000 Jews will leave France for Israel. [xiii]

Today, nearly half of all the Jews in the world already live in Israel and moved their AFTER the drying up of the symbolic Euphrates River.[xiv] God dried up the Muslim, Ottoman Empire, then God brought His lost people home, and soon God will save them. The regathering of Israel is as sure as the second coming of Christ. Those prophecies also predict Israel repenting and receiving the Messiah; Paul predicts a nation-wide conversion to faith in Jesus (Rom 11:23, 25-27). And Zechariah predicted, about that end-time,

And I will pour out on the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem a spirit of grace and pleas for mercy, so that, when they look on me, on him whom they have pierced, they shall mourn for him, as one mourns for an only child, and weep bitterly over him, as one weeps over a firstborn. (Zech. 12:10 ESV)

And if the past hundred years have witnessed the regathering come to pass while the world watches, you can be sure salvation is coming to Israel soon, and you can be sure Jesus Himself is also coming soon. Because He promised.

We need to be ready

Another thing God’s Word predicted is that the nations of the world will try to stop what God is doing.

Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?  2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,  3 "Let us burst their bonds apart and cast away their cords from us."  4 He who sits in the heavens laughs; the Lord holds them in derision.  5 Then he will speak to them in his wrath, and terrify them in his fury, saying,  6 "As for me, I have set my King on Zion, my holy hill."  (Ps. 2:1-6 ESV)

The spiritual forces of evil continue to do what they’ve always done: keep the world from discovering the truth about God.

13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs.  14 For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. (Rev. 16:13-14 ESV)

You can see that these are different deceiving spirits—from the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast, and the second beast—the false prophet.

Now what did John see? Visually, expelled from the mouths of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet, John saw what appeared to be three frogs. One of those mouths belongs to what he calls “the false prophet” which has not been named before in Revelation. But its association with the Dragon and the Beast, and its description as “a false prophet” leads most commentators to identify this as the second beast in Revelation 13, that made people worship the first beast. So here, we have three entities, who previously represented the Pagan Roman government, the Papal Roman government, and the Roman Catholic bishops and clergy. The one thing that connects them all is the City of Rome. Here though, let’s focus on what John saw: he saw 3 frogs plop out of their mouths.

Of the fourteen times frogs are mentioned in the Bible, 11 of them are in Exodus 8. And the other two OT mentions of frogs are about Exodus 8. It’s about the second Exodus plague on Egypt: a plague of frogs. A plague of frogs is what God said HE was going to smite Egypt with. And that might not sound so bad to you, but it was the damage they caused that got Pharaoh’s attention. Psalm 78:45 describes the impact of the frogs using a Hebrew word for “corruption”—the land of Egypt was corrupted and spoiled by the frogs. Spurgeon said, “These creatures swarmed everywhere, and when they died the heaps of bodies made the land stink so foully that a pestilence was imminent.”[xv] So that’s what John saw in verse 13.

What does it mean? The imagery from the second Egyptian plague obviously predicts some kind of corruption and rot and ruin. But of what kind? Well, John interprets the meaning of the symbol of the frogs for us: in verse 13 he says, they are “three unclean spirits”; in verse 14 he says it another way, “they are demonic spirits”. So the corruption these frogs will cause is a spiritual corruption. Lots of commentaries and preachers see a sort of unholy Trinity depicted in the way the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet send out evil spirits into the world. This is a picture of an unholy imitation but I think it is God’s judgment on Rome, not a deliberate action of the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet.

The language in verse 13 is repetitive isn’t it? John saw these evil spirits, “coming out of the mouth… coming out of the mouth… coming out of the mouth”. Normally frogs don’t plop out of people’s mouths. Usually words do. And I think this points us to see this as alluding to something not unclean but clean, something not unholy but holy, in Isaiah 59:21. In a passage that in context is connected with the regathering of the Jews to Israel, and the promise that God is till going to do a wonderful, spiritual work among the Jews, Isaiah 59:21 says,

"And as for me, this is my covenant with them," says the LORD: "My Spirit that is upon you, and my words that I have put in your mouth, shall not depart out of your mouth, or out of the mouth of your offspring, or out of the mouth of your children's offspring," says the LORD, "from this time forth and forevermore."" (Isa 59:21 ESV)

And that’s really interesting (not to mention glorious!). It describes the spiritual transformation of Israel in terms of generations. “You, your offspring, and your children’s offspring.” This explains why and how the Dragon, the Beast, and the False Prophet are all in the same scene together here. Because the Dragon shouldn’t be around anymore—not since the Beast took its place in Revelation 13:1-2. But here, like the offspring of Israel in Isaiah 59:21, it is describing these as three generations.

In the analogy, the Dragon’s offspring is the Beast and the Beast’s offspring is the False Prophet. Or in other words, Pagan Rome gave birth to Papal Rome and Papal Rome gave birth to Rome under the Roman Catholic clergy—which is how we see it today. The Pope is no longer a real king but just a bishop. We’ll see that thought developed more in chapter 17. But for now, notice the contrast between Rev 16:13-14 and Isaiah 59:21.

Instead of having God’s Holy Spirit in them, the spirit that is influencing Rome is proven to be evil by the fact that demons plop out of their mouths. The three generations suggest this is not just a current phenomenon but one that has been happening since the days of the Pagan Roman Empire and continues right through to the time of the post-1870 Roman Catholic Church in Rome as it is today. And whereas the promise of the Holy Spirit meant that God’s Word would NOT depart from the mouths of three generations of Jewish believers, the unpleasant picture of frogs “coming out” of the mouths in verse 13 suggests that the opposite has happened in Rome. God’s Word departed from their mouths. Which is why what comes forth is pictured as a corrupting influence like the frogs were in Egypt.

The teaching and preaching that comes out of Rome’s mouth fills the land with spiritual corruption and spiritual stink, from generation to generation. Like the Egyptian Magicians who imitated the miracles God did, this teaching from generations of preachers and teachers in Rome does not intend to fill the land with corruption. But because God’s Word departed from their mouths, corruption was all their words could produce.

The cumulative effect of all the preaching the Church of Rome has produced ever since the 4th century, is summarized in a picture worth a thousand words: a plague of frogs that corrupts Europe and makes turns their governments into God’s enemies—the corruption makes them hostile to God. It “assembles them for battled on the great day of God the Almighty” (14). Consider the in-between time in which we are now living, think back over how Rome gave the people of Europe preaching with no Gospel; Christianity with no Christ, and how it has produced what today is a completely secular European society, increasingly hostile to God, and, not surprisingly, increasingly hostile to the State of Israel. This is the in-between time. Verse 14 and 16 predict how this will end. But in the meantime, there is a call to repent and be saved.

“(‘Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!’),” (Rev. 16:15 ESV). Jesus is coming soon and promises if we remain vigilant in faith, it will be worth it. When Jesus says, “I am coming” and then compares it to “a thief” He means His coming will be sudden and widely unexpected. You will recognize some of these words, in the Lord’s letter to the church in Sardis, where He said, “Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent. If you will not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come against you.” (Rev 3:3 ESV)

And it will now sound familiar that Jesus warned the church in Laodicea,

…You say, I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see. Those whom I love, I reprove and discipline, so be zealous and repent.  (Rev 3:17-19 ESV)

Because in verse 15 Jesus combines both of those messages for all of us, everyone who thinks he or she is already a Christian, and for every one of you whose resolve is weakening, who is becoming weary, who is growing discouraged in your loyalty and love for God. Wake up. Repent. Believe. Be ready.

Most people won’t be ready to face God

“And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon,” (Rev. 16:16 ESV). At the end of Revelation 15 there was a prophecy that pictured the coming Day of the Lord as if God threw the nations like grapes into a great winepress to be trampled, the winepress of the wrath of God—and Rev 14:20 says, “And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood flowed from the winepress, as high as a horse's bridle, for 1,600 stadia,” (Rev. 14:20 ESV). It just so happens that 1600 stadia is about the length of the State of Israel. Here in verse 16, we read that this battle will take place in Israel, at the place in Hebrew called, “Har Megiddon,”—the Mountain of Megiddo.

Never in history, or in the Bible, has there ever been a place called the Mountain of Megiddo. But I assure you, this is talking about a real place.

Most English translations of verse 16 say “they assembled them” but in Greek it’s singular, “He assembled them” or “it assembled them.” Either referring generally to the corruption represented by the frogs in verse 13-14, or to the sixth angel in verse 12, or to God who, after all, is the one ultimately behind these events (since the sixth bowl judgment in verses 12-16 is the sixth bowl of the wrath of God in verse 1). So either “the corruption” assembled them, or God did, or God used the corruption to assemble them, but either way, He assembled them—"kings of the whole world” (which does not mean “the planet” but is a word that usually means the land and its inhabitants, like an empire or citizens of a country).[xvi] And the place He assembles them to is cloaked here in a bit of a riddle: John says it is “the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.”

Let’s notice a few things about these clues John gives us in verse 16. First, John tells us to solve this puzzle using the Hebrew language: “And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon,” (Rev. 16:16 ESV). Not English, and not even Greek. Hebrew.

Second, he uses a Hebrew word here, spelling it in Greek letters, “Armageddon.” In Hebrew it would be Har Megidon. And in Hebrew that would mean, “the Mountain of Megido.”

Third, there is no such place as the Mountain of Megido and John would definitely know that. Megido in the Bible is a valley not a mountain. It’s also called Jezreel Valley today. And if you look on Google Maps, you’ll see it’s the flat-land roughly bordered by the Jordan River, the modern city of Megido, Mt. Carmel, and the city of Nazareth. There is no “Mount Megido,” no “place called… Armageddon,” and there never was in the Bible—again, John would have known this and that makes this a deliberate clue. Scholars have come up with a lot of possible explanations for this apparent blunder on John’s part, and a few of those theories are plausible. But none of them have ever been convincing enough to settle the debate conclusively. I would like to humbly suggest the solution isn’t going to be found in trying to connect Megido with a mountain like Mt. Carmel or the ancient site of the city of Megido which was buried and is now a hill, or with what some preachers call “the mountain range of Megiddo” which is really nothing more than a forest of rolling hills in the Megido National Forest today.

Fourth, when John says this is called Har Megidon, in Hebrew, he added the “n” to the end of Megido, making it Megidon (which is why we have the word, “Armageddon” from this and not “Armageddo”). And that clue takes us to the only place in the whole Bible that the place called Megido is spelled with an “n”: Zechariah 12:11.

So I’m saying that John here knows his geography, that Megido is in a valley and not a mountain; that he deliberately gave the very unusual spelling of Megidon with an “n”; and that he intends his readers to look closely at the name of this place in light of the Hebrew Scriptures, so that we would turn and look at one specific verse in the Old Testament, Zechariah 12:11. Because although John is describing a literal assembling of rulers of nations for a literal battle at a literal place, the point he wants to make about this depends on his readers understanding Zechariah 12:11. And it has a lot to do with why the warning in verse 15 is taken from letters to two churches that urgently needed to repent.

Let’s read it. Zechariah 12:11 goes like this: "On that day the mourning in Jerusalem will be as great as the mourning for Hadad-rimmon in the plain of Megiddon," (Zec 12:11 ESV). In the Hebrew Bible, this is the only place where Megido is spelled with the n-ending: Megidon. Although you can see that verse is talking about Jerusalem, Zechariah predicts the mourning in Jerusalem will be “like” the mourning in a place called “the plain/valley of Megiddon.” The words are, “like the mourning for Hadad-Rimon in the valley of Megiddon.” Jerusalem’s sorrow will be like that. Now, Hadad-Rimon in Hebrew as in English begins with the initials “H” and “R” (ה [He] and ר [Resh] in Hebrew), which gives us an acronym for “har.” An acronym is where the first letters of words are taken to spell a name or sometimes a word. Somewhat similar to this was the way Christian in the early Church took the letters in the Greek word for “fish” as an acrostic for “Jesus Christ God’s Son Saviour.”[xvii] But here, in Hebrew, H+R spells har, which is the word for “mountain” (In Hebrew it’s just H+R without the “a” because there are no vowels in biblical Hebrew, just consonants). John has made an acronym for “mountain” (Hebrew = hr) from the name of a false-god, “Hadad-Rimmon,” in Zechariah 12:11.[xviii] [xix] The part of the verse we’re looking at is these words here:

So John takes the “H” from Hadad and the “R” from Rimmon and makes “HR” = “mountain” in Hebrew. Then he takes the word “mountain” and puts it in place of the word “valley,” which is pretty clever, and makes it into the word for “mountain of Megidon,” i.e., Armageddon. Now why would he do that?

Well Hadad-Rimmon is the full name of the Syrian storm-god mentioned in 2 Kings 5:18. Archaeologists have unearthed a sanctuary to the god Hadad-Rimon near the ancient site of Megido.[xx] Wailing and mourning were part of the rituals used in worshiping these gods and there’s an example of that in 1 Kings 18:28 when pagan priests were trying to make their god answer their prayers.[xxi] All of this means that in Zech 12:11, Zechariah is predicting that there will one day be, in the city of Jerusalem, people wailing in grief similarly to the way they did when they betrayed God and worshiped Hadad-Rimon near Megido. The prophecy in Zechariah predicts that there is a day coming when people in Jerusalem (Zech 12:10) will mourn for how they have betrayed God, similarly to how they mourned long ago in their worship of Hadad-Rimon.[xxii] Dr. Mark Boda explains, that Zechariah is,

…Pointing to the irony of the peoples’ mourning over a deity (Baal) who has not helped them and in the process injuring the deity (Yahweh) who has done so much for them. As in the past they had mourned their pagan gods, thus “piercing” Yahweh, so now they would mourn penitently their mistreatment of God.[xxiii]

This is about the residents of Jerusalem, some day in the future, repenting with great sorrow for how they have so shamefully mistreated God in the past. So if you live in Jerusalem and you are reading this, verse 15 is also calling you to repent and trust in Jesus—Yeshua ha Mashiach.

I think it’s important, since John took such pains to make sure we interpret verse 16 in light of the future repentance of the people of Jerusalem prophesied in Zech 12:11, to notice the context of that future repentance. The chapter predicts that as the Day of the Lord approaches, the Jewish nation will be surrounded by enemy nations on all sides; that it will defend itself and that it will defend the city of Jerusalem in particular (Zech 12:2, 6); that God will rescue the other towns and cities of the Jewish nation before He rescues Jerusalem (Zech 12:7), but that when God rescues Jerusalem, they will see that a descendant of King David is “like God, like the angle of the LORD, going before them,” (Zech 12:8), and God will begin a process of destroying the nations assembling against Jerusalem (12:9). And then, God will pour out His Holy Spirit on the people of Jerusalem so that they experience His grace and so that they pray for grace, and they will realize that in all their religious efforts, they had been, as it were, stabbing God through the heart, scorning Him, betraying Him, and at the same time as they discover God’s grace, they will be filled with remorse and sorrow for how they have treated Him for so long. That’s the mourning that will fill Jerusalem, described in Zech 12:11.

And I think John is saying that’s what will be happening in Jerusalem when God brings enemy nations and assembles them for battle against Jerusalem on the Day of God the Almighty. So you can understand why John didn’t want to even pronounce the name of a false god like Hadad-Rimon; why he made an acronym out of the name, and with a play on words used Armageddon as a way to point us to this prophecy of Jerusalem’s future repentance and faith in the Son of David, Jesus the Messiah, on the day when He rescues the city of Jerusalem.

If you lived in a city that was mentioned in Bible prophecy, would you be more likely to take promises and warnings in this book seriously? Would you repent and put your hope in Jesus? “Blessed is the one who stays awake,” as Jesus said, because He is coming when you don’t expect Him. Are you ready?