To Rayford it appeared the operation was a suicide mission. As soon as Global Community forces came within range of the remnant of Israel, the soldiers seemed to launch every last projectile in their arsenal. He could not imagine a more earsplitting fusillade, and yet the bullets and missiles and rockets and mortars fell harmlessly, even in the midst of the mass of people. Millions and millions of rounds continued to pour from barrels of all sizes as the army slowly continued to advance.
Yet despite the din, the words of the Lord could be heard clear and plain.
“Come near, you nations, to hear; and heed, you people! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world and all things that come forth from it. For the indignation of the Lord is against all nations, and His fury against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to the slaughter.”
Rayford watched through the binocs as men and women soldiers and horses seemed to explode where they stood. It was as if the very words of the Lord had superheated their blood, causing it to burst through their veins and skin.
“Also their slain shall be thrown out; their stench shall rise from their corpses, and the mountains shall be melted with their blood. All the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled up like a scroll; all their host shall fall down as the leaf falls from the vine, and as fruit falling from a fig tree.”
Tens of thousands of foot soldiers dropped their weapons, grabbed their heads or their chests, fell to their knees, and writhed as they were invisibly sliced asunder. Their innards and entrails gushed to the desert floor, and as those around them turned to run, they too were slain, their blood pooling and rising in the unforgiving brightness of the glory of Christ.
“For My sword shall be bathed in heaven; indeed it shall come down on Edom, and on the people of My curse, for judgment.
“The sword of the Lord is filled with blood. It is made overflowing with fatness. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom.
“Their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust saturated with fatness.”
It was as if Antichrist’s army had become the sacrificial beasts for the Lord’s slaughter. Carpathia screamed, “Bring me a plane, a chopper, a jet—anything! Get me to the north! Now! Now!”
And Jesus said, “For today is the day of the Lord’s vengeance, the year of recompense for the cause of Zion.”
“Where’s Carpathia’s ride going to come from?” Rayford said.
“Ash Shawbak,” Abdullah said.
“That’s right, Smitty,” Mac said. “That your hometown?”
“Hardly. Amman; you know that.”
“’Course I do. Wasn’t Ash Shawbak where the dignitaries were, on their ’zecutive safari, sippin’ cordials and s’posed to be watching Nicolae bring home the victory?”
“That is the place,” Abdullah said. “I would love to see their faces now.”
“Lookie there,” Rayford said, nodding toward the sky to the southeast. A jet helicopter was screaming to the northwest, at the edge of the decimated army.
Rayford raised the binoculars again and studied the area. “There they are,” he said. “That big old Humvee is just sitting there alone. Looks like Carpathia’s not going to even risk getting out until he absolutely has to.”
“His army’s gone,” Mac said. “’Least this part of it. Not a shot bein’ fired from anywhere.”
It had grown deathly quiet. As Rayford watched, the chopper put down several yards from Carpathia’s position. Only he and Leon disgorged from the vehicle. Leon held the hem of his robe at his waist and ran as fast as was possible for him. Nicolae seemed to catch his great scabbard on the way out of the Humvee, and it hung him up for a second before he angrily freed himself. He dashed to the helicopter, overtaking Leon and elbowing him out of the way to be the first one on.
As soon as Leon was aboard, having been pulled in by assisting hands, the craft lifted off and headed north. Rayford panned left and right with the field glasses and saw no movement among the wreckage of the Unity Army. Bodies were strewn for miles and the desert floor was red with blood.
“Oh, look at this,” Rayford said, scrambling to open his door and leap out. Mac and Abdullah followed and the three climbed atop the Hummer, watching as Jesus descended from the sky. His horse gracefully touched the ground in the plains to the west of Bozrah, and as the entire Jewish remnant watched from the mountain, Jesus dismounted. The army of heaven remained perhaps a hundred feet above Him, following as He strode through the battlefield, the hem of His robe turning red in the blood of the enemy.
The saints above Him began a responsive recitation, asking questions in unison that He answered for all on earth to hear. “Who,” they began, “is this who comes from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this One who is glorious in His apparel, traveling in the greatness of His strength?”
And the Lord said, “It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.”
“Why is Your apparel red, and Your garments like one who treads in the winepress?”
“I have trodden the winepress alone, and from the peoples no one was with Me. For I have trodden them in My anger, and trampled them in My fury; their blood is sprinkled upon My garments, and I have stained all My robes.
“For the day of vengeance is in My heart, and the year of My redeemed has come.
“I looked, but there was no one to help, and I wondered that there was no one to uphold; therefore My own arm brought salvation for Me; and My own fury, it sustained Me.
“I have trodden down the peoples in My anger, made them drunk in My fury, and brought down their strength to the earth.”
And the vast thousands on horseback above Him in the heavens praised Him in unison:
“We will mention the lovingkindnesses of the Lord and the praises of the Lord, according to all that the Lord has bestowed on us, and the great goodness toward the house of Israel, which He has bestowed on them according to His mercies, according to the multitude of His lovingkindnesses.”
And Jesus said, “Surely they are My people, children who will not lie. And so I became their Savior.”
With that He turned toward the multitude watching from Bozrah. “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation is near. Then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains, let those who are in the midst of her depart, and let not those who are in the country enter her.
“For these are the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled. . . . Now look up and lift up your heads, because your redemption draws near.”
“What do you think is happening right now, Brother Enoch?”
Enoch wasn’t sure, but he had an idea. In Illinois, as he knew was true everywhere, regardless of the hour, the day was as bright as noon without so much as a shadow. The glory of the Lord was the light of the world. But Jesus was no longer visible in the sky.
“Will we see Him again? Or do we have to go there for that?”
“I believe we will see Him again,” Enoch said. “Even today. He is probably fighting one of the battles that precede the fall of Jerusalem and His delivering of the Jews there. But the prophecies say that when He delivers Jerusalem and ascends the Mount of Olives, every eye shall see Him. Obviously, that includes us.”
“But pretty soon, like after today, we’re going to have to get ourselves over there, right?”
“I sure want to,” Enoch said. “But it won’t be cheap.”
“Well, look at it this way: we got us a thousand years to raise the money.”
“I don’t want to wait that long.”
“Me either. How about a car wash?”
“Head west of the Dead Sea and south of Jerusalem,” Rayford told Abdullah. He settled into the backseat of the Hummer, letting Mac have the front. “Carpathia’s not happy, Mac. You been listening?”
“Yeah,” Mac said. “Guess he expected the northern two-thirds of his army to be ready. Sounds
like they’d rather cut and run.”
“He could lose a bunch of them and still have plenty. He’s trying to get them organized to annihilate the Jews at Jerusalem.”
“But Jesus won’t let them get that far, will He?”
“Actually, He will,” Rayford said. “At least a lot of them. But many soldiers are going to die between here and Mount Megiddo. If I read it right and Tsion and Chaim were correct, that’s next.”
As they traveled, they followed Jesus now riding horseback on the ground, His army above and behind Him, and the Jewish remnant running along en masse. Again, they covered more than seventy miles in an hour, and the whole way Jesus spoke to them as if to each individually.
“I am the King who comes in the name of the Lord,” He said. “I am the Mediator of the new covenant. I am the one who bore your sins in My own body on the tree, that you, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
“I am the Bread of God who came down from heaven and gives life to the world. Therefore keep the feast, not with old leaven, nor with the leaven of malice and wickedness, but with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth.
“I created all things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Me and for Me. I have come to do the will of God. I came into the world to save sinners, not to be served, but to serve, and to give My life a ransom for many.”
Rayford had been taught over the past seven years that the Word of God was quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. He had also learned that the Word would never return void. Now, as it was being burned into his heart and soul by his Redeemer, he felt filled to overflowing and ready to burst.
What a privilege to hear the Word from the Word! He and his friends rolled through the desolate land, hearing what everyone else in the world was hearing, and yet Rayford knew each was taking it as if for him or herself. He certainly was. And just about the time he forgot that truth, Jesus would refer to him by name.
“Rayford, for this cause I was born, and for this cause I came into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice. I can do nothing of Myself, but what I see the Father do; for whatever He does, I also do in like manner. I am the stone the builders rejected, yet I have become the chief cornerstone, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets.”
“Lord, I worship You,” Rayford whispered, hearing Mac also praying. Abdullah drove along with tears pouring down his face.
CHAPTER 13
Rayford had to smile. Here were the southern flanks of the remaining two-thirds of Antichrist’s Global Community Unity Army all right, but they looked little more organized and ready to fight than did the corpses left in Edom. Perhaps that’s why Carpathia was nowhere to be found, and from the transmissions they could hear, he was on his way farther north to the center of his fighting force in Megiddo.
Both Tsion Ben-Judah and Chaim Rosenzweig had been telling Rayford for years that of all the prophetic passages in Scripture, the final four battles between Jesus and the Armageddon armies were the most difficult to understand and put in sequence.
“Our best bet is to follow Jesus,” Rayford said.
“There’s a sermon if I ever heard one,” Mac said.
“These battles are going to take place where they’re going to take place, and the only thing I’m sure of is who wins.”
“Well,” Abdullah said, “I am sure of a little more than that.”
Rayford saw Mac shoot Abdullah a double take. “Ya don’t say, Smitty. Pray tell.”
“I have been studying.”
“Studyin’ what?”
“Geography mostly. On my own.”
“That can be dangerous.”
“I have found it most informative.”
“And I’d like to hear it, Abdullah,” Rayford said.
Mac shook his head and settled back. “Oh, boy. Here we go.”
“I had been most curious,” Abdullah said, “why all of history pointed to Armageddon for the end. I mean, what is Armageddon? It is a place with many names and actually covers a lot of ground.”
“You shoulda been a perfessor, Smitty,” Mac said.
“Hush, Mac. Teach on, Abdullah.”
“Well, you are both fliers, and you have many times seen the mountain ranges that run the length of Palestine.”
“Sure, off the Mediterranean coast.”
“You know the break where the mountains all of a sudden drop to altitudes of about three hundred feet or less?”
“Up there where the highlands split off from the northern hills of Galilee?”
“Exactly. That is the Jezreel Valley.”
“I always thought that was the Plain of Esdraelon,” Mac said, “or however you say it.”
“Very good, Mac,” Abdullah said. “Gold star for you. Jezreel is the Hebrew word for it. Esdraelon is the Greek.”
“Well, I’ll be. You have been studyin’.”
“There’s more. Some people call it the Plain of Megiddo, because of the city immediately to the west of it. And that’s where we get the word Armageddon.”
“Where?” Mac said. “You lost me, teach.”
“Armageddon comes from the Hebrew Har Megiddo, which means Mount Megiddo.”
“You have been doin’ your homework, boy.”
“Experts say Megiddo has been the site of more wars than any other single place in the world because it is so strategically located. Thirteen battles by the end of the first century alone. Some say Megiddo has been built twenty-five times and destroyed twenty-five times.”
“Isn’t Jesus’ hometown up there somewhere? Nazareth?”
“On the northern side of the valley,” Abdullah said. “Imagine how it will feel for Him to fight an entire army that close to home.”
Indicative of the uncertainty of the Unity Army forces, their Hummer was virtually ignored. The army seemed to have its eyes trained on Jesus, just like everyone else, warily watching Him with His saints behind Him. The way news traveled on battlefields, no doubt these troops were also aware of the slaughters in Edom.
Rayford advised Abdullah to steer clear of the army. Though he remained confident that they were invulnerable now, nothing would be gained by drawing fire.
“I’m probably gonna regret askin’ this, Smitty,” Mac said, “but what’d you learn about Megiddo and all that, besides the names? I mean, what is so strategic about it?”
Rayford was amused at how Abdullah warmed to the topic. Mac had to be even more surprised than Ray. It wasn’t often that Abdullah was in a position to teach his elders. But he seemed to have this down well.
“It is the perfect stage of history,” Abdullah said. “Mount Megiddo is really not much more than a hill. For centuries it was the place from which the strategic pass was guarded—the international highway that went from the east all the way down to Egypt.
“Over the last several months, the enemy armies have been amassing into one, as you know. The ones that came from the west, from the revived Roman Empire, landed at Haifa and went directly up to the Valley of Megiddo.
“The armies from the east came through the dried-up Euphrates and straight down to the same place. It is the perfect staging ground. The armies from the north swept past Mount Hermon and down into the land of Israel, ending up in the Jezreel Valley at Mount Megiddo.”
“Makes sense,” Mac said. “Boy, you missed your callin’.”
Chaim could not keep from grinning. Tsion Ben-Judah, first his protégé and eventually his mentor, once told him that prophecy was history written in advance. Here he was, in his seventies, living out that history.
No manna had fallen since Jesus appeared in the clouds. While Chaim knew that eventually he and all the other mortals would have to eat, he was certain no one felt any more twinge of hunger than he did. The Bread of Life was here.
It was as if fift
y years had melted away. Chaim knew he looked the same, but he did not feel fatigue, aches, or pains. He had no serious maladies that had to be healed, but if Rayford was made whole despite his wounds and the infirmary had been closed in an instant, it only made sense that Chaim himself had been delivered from the ravages of age.
He was impressed enough that he had been able to get out of Petra and on the way to Bozrah under his own steam. But when he had begun hurrying, then running, then virtually flying over the terrain, Chaim knew this was no longer of himself. He had neither grown weary nor suffered from joint pain. If he had not had his full attention on his Savior, he might have been tempted to try his favorite childhood game: soccer. Imagine, he thought, an old man cavorting with children.
As the remnant from Petra followed the Lord and His army north toward Jerusalem, Chaim felt himself swelling with appropriate pride and gratitude. Though there had been hundreds of thousands under his authority and care over the past three and a half years, many whom he had never even met let alone gotten to know, he felt a love and responsibility for each. God had been faithful, feeding them, providing water for them, protecting them.
Now, what was next? Would they be expected to go with Jesus to the battle at Armageddon, or would they be directed to Jerusalem? Word from the Holy City was that the Unity Army was merely toying with what was left of the resistance, and that whenever it wanted to and was ready, it could storm the Old City and complete the fall of Jerusalem.
That, Chaim knew, was prophesied and would happen, even with Jesus on the scene. But He would quickly avenge the loss and reverse it, and many more remnant Jews would come into the kingdom.
Most thrilling for Chaim was any time Jesus spoke. How He addressed the entire globe and yet made it so personal was a mystery. But somehow it satisfied that soul hunger Chaim felt for a personal audience with his Lord. Even knowing that everyone else was hearing the same thing, to Chaim it was as if Jesus were—every time—saying, “Chaim, come here. Let Me tell you something.” And, of course, Chaim heard Him in Hebrew.