Megiddo

It is a peaceful place now. The fields spread far and wide below the fortress on the hill of Megiddo, where King Ahab of old had his stables. Har-Megiddo, the people of the plain call it; it is where the final battle between good and evil will be fought, say some ancient texts.

We are coming to those times, say those who believe in such things. But even they must concede, in the power of those texts which are the Word of God, that it is during a time most unexpected that calamity will come upon them.

"For yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief in the night. For when they shall say, 'Peace and safety,' then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren, are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a thief." So says the first letter to the church at Thessalonike. Yes, there shall be wars and rumours of wars; yes, each age will think that they are worse than the age before.

But listen: man has never had an age of innocence since guile first entered the mind. And at the same time, this world is not as fully evil as one might imagine. We live amidst hope, and the promise of grace. We have yet a time, although we do not know how long it might be. For those who do not believe in apocalypse and the fall of night, there is still time, and perhaps even more than we can hope for. For those who believe, be encouraged. The time is not yet at hand; if it were, the whole world would think that 'peace and safety' were on the horizon. But it isn't. And that's the interesting thing about Megiddo – it looks terribly peaceful there; and it will look awfully peaceful too in the world, just before destruction falls.