ARMAGEDDON

(probably Hebrew: Hill of Megiddo), in the New Testament, place where the kings of the Earth under demonic leadership will wage war on the forces of God at the end of world history. Armageddon is mentioned in the Bible only once, in Revelations, or The Revelation to John (16:16). The Palestinian city of Megiddo was probably used as a symbol for such a battle because of its strategic importance in Palestinian history. Because it controlled a pass that cut through the Mount Carmel ridge from the coastal Plain of Sharon into Esdraelon, Megiddo commanded the road leading from Egypt and the coastal plain of Palestine into Galilee, Syria, and Mesopotamia. Megiddo was the scene of many battles, and Revelations seems to imply that the hill on which the city fortress stood, or the mountain heights behind it, had become a symbol of the final battlefield where God's heavenly armies will defeat the demon-led forces of evil. Other biblical references suggest Jerusalem as the site of this battle.