Coming Apocalypse: Are You Really Prepared for Armageddon?
Our family is a prepping family. Having been through countless hurricanes over the past four decades, we are big proponents of being prepared—meaning, implementing proper, prior preparations. However, I would be horribly amiss if I didn’t share with you that all our physical preps—as beneficial as they can be—are dwarfed by the importance of being spiritually prepared for the coming apocalypse.
As Jesus put it, “What would it profit a man to gain the whole world but lose his soul…
Given the unprecedented times we find ourselves living in, this raises an important question: Are you really prepared for Armageddon?
Make no mistake about it, we have an appointment with the apocalypse. It’s barreling down the tracks at us… and gaining speed at an ever-increasing rate. The world finds itself in the center of the proverbial sights and this day of reckoning cannot be avoided.
As such, this is one of the most important questions we must each answer as preppers.
To answer it, we must have a realistic idea of what the coming apocalypse—meaning both Armageddon and the period of tribulation leading up to it—will actually look like. Only then can we determine if we are—or even can be—adequately prepared for it from a physical perspective. And that my friend, may in turn reveal to us just how important it is to be spiritually prepared for it.
So, in order to gain some prospective and hopefully help you answer that million-dollar question, I wanted to briefly explore what God has to say about the looming apocalypse… what the Bible tells us. Specifically, we are going to examine the Day of the Lord (a.k.a. Armageddon) and the seven-year tribulation period that precedes it.
Are You Really Prepared for:
- Armageddon—the Day of the Lord?
- The Tribulation—the Time of Jacob’s Trouble?
I hope you’ll take a few minutes out of your day to come along for the ride—it may just open your eyes a bit!
Day of the Lord—How Bad Does the Bible Say Armageddon will Be?
The first event I want to explore is Armageddon—the Second Coming of Jesus Christ. This return of Christ to establish His Millennial Kingdom is called the Day of the Lord in Scripture.
Now, there is a plethora of references to this day in the Bible—remember, one-third of Scripture is prophetic in nature. However, to really focus in, I only want to explore nine key passages that directly identify with the “Day of the Lord.”
I know it’s a lot to read and absorb, but it’s important for you to read God’s Word—not just my words!
After we read these, we’ll bring it all together!
So, how does the Bible describe this day of the Lord or Armageddon?
For the day of the Lord of hosts shall be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low: And upon all the cedars of Lebanon, that are high and lifted up, and upon all the oaks of Bashan, and upon all the high mountains, and upon all the hills that are lifted up, and upon every high tower, and upon every fenced wall, and upon all the ships of Tarshish, and upon all pleasant pictures. And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day.”
The noise of a multitude in the mountains, like as of a great people; a tumultuous noise of the kingdoms of nations gathered together: the Lord of hosts mustereth the host of the battle. They come from a far country, from the end of heaven, even the Lord, and the weapons of his indignation, to destroy the whole land. Howl ye; for the day of the Lord is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: And they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and he shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it. For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.”
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. 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. ‘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, with the blood of lambs and goats, with the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the Lord has a sacrifice in Bozrah, and a great slaughter in the land of Edom. The wild oxen shall come down with them, and the young bulls with the mighty bulls; Their land shall be soaked with blood, and their dust saturated with fatness.’ For it is the day of the Lord’s vengeance…”
For this is the day of the Lord God of hosts, a day of vengeance, that he may avenge him of his adversaries: and the sword shall devour, and it shall be satiate and made drunk with their blood: for the Lord God of hosts hath a sacrifice in the north country by the river Euphrates.”
Alas for the day! For the day of the Lord is at hand; It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.”
Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness, and not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion, and a bear met him! Or as though he went into the house, leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him! Is not the day of the Lord darkness, and not light? Is it not very dark, with no brightness in it?”
For the day of the Lord upon all the nations is near; As you have done, it shall be done to you; Your reprisal shall return upon your own head. For as you drank on My holy mountain, so shall all the nations drink continually; Yes, they shall drink, and swallow, and they shall be as though they had never been.
Be silent in the presence of the Lord God; For the day of the Lord is at hand, For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice; He has invited His guests. ‘And it shall be, in the day of the Lord’s sacrifice, that I will punish the princes and the king’s children, and all such as are clothed with foreign apparel. In the same day I will punish all those who leap over the threshold, who fill their masters’ houses with violence and deceit. And there shall be on that day,’ says the Lord, ‘The sound of a mournful cry from the Fish Gate, a wailing from the Second Quarter, and a loud crashing from the hills. Wail, you inhabitants of Maktesh! For all the merchant people are cut down; All those who handle money are cut off. And it shall come to pass at that time that I will search Jerusalem with lamps, and punish the men who are settled in complacency, who say in their heart, ‘The Lord will not do good, nor will He do evil.’ Therefore their goods shall become booty, and their houses a desolation; They shall build houses, but not inhabit them; They shall plant vineyards, but not drink their wine. The great day of the Lord is near; It is near and hastens quickly. The noise of the day of the Lord is bitter; There the mighty men shall cry out. That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of devastation and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, a day of trumpet and alarm against the fortified cities and against the high towers. I will bring distress upon men, and they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the Lord; Their blood shall be poured out like dust, and their flesh like refuse. Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the Lord’s wrath; But the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of His jealousy, for He will make speedy riddance of all those who dwell in the land.
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble; For the day of the Lord is coming, for it is at hand: A day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness, like the morning clouds spread over the mountains. A people come, great and strong, the like of whom has never been; Nor will there ever be any such after them, even for many successive generations. A fire devours before them, and behind them a flame burns; The land is like the Garden of Eden before them, and behind them a desolate wilderness; Surely nothing shall escape them. Their appearance is like the appearance of horses; And like swift steeds, so they run. With a noise like chariots over mountaintops they leap, like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble, like a strong people set in battle array. Before them the people writhe in pain; All faces are drained of color. They run like mighty men, they climb the wall like men of war; Everyone marches in formation, and they do not break ranks. They do not push one another; Everyone marches in his own column. Though they lunge between the weapons, they are not cut down. They run to and fro in the city, they run on the wall; They climb into the houses, they enter at the windows like a thief. The earth quakes before them, the heavens tremble; The sun and moon grow dark, and the stars diminish their brightness. The Lord gives voice before His army, for His camp is very great; For strong is the One who executes His word. For the day of the Lord is great and very terrible; Who can endure it?”
This is by no means an exhaustive list—it is merely a sampling of what God’s Word has to say about the subject. I encourage you to do your own more exhaustive study of Scripture regarding the day of the Lord.
However, this brief examination does paint a very clear picture of the Day of the Lord… of Armageddon.
As we saw in the last passage above, the Prophet Joel ends with a rhetorical question—one we would all be wise to reflect on: Who can endure it?
The answer is an unambiguous… none.
If you think you can physically prepare to survive Armageddon, you are sadly mistaken. You have been deceived by the father of lies—Satan.
What is the picture God paints through His Word?
We can summarize it by extracting some of the key words He uses to describe this coming day:
humbled, subjugate, tumultuous, chaos, battle, weapons, indignation, destruction, fear, sorrow, pain, cruel, wrath, anger, fierce, desolation, darkness, punishment, shaking, fury, armies, slaughter, slain, death, blood, sword, judgment, sacrifice, slaughter, vengeance, avenge, adversaries, woe, retribution, mourning, cries, wailing, bitter, trouble, distress, gloominess, distress, fire, trembling, battle
If we include the frequency of word usage, God provides us with a powerful and telling word picture of Armageddon, or the Day of the Lord:
However, as bad as this is, it is just one facet of the coming apocalypse—it’s swift and sudden conclusion. In a broader sense, the Day of the Lord refers to a seven-year apocalyptic period—referred to as the Tribulation period or time of Jacob’s Trouble—that proceeds the return of Christ at the Battle of Armageddon.
Let’s take a brief look at what this broader period has instore for mankind…
The Tribulation—How Bad Does the Bible Say the Apocalypse will Be?
Leading up to the Battle of Armageddon—the return of Jesus Christ to establish His earthly Kingdom—the world will go through a seven-year period known as the Tribulation. This period represents Daniel’s 70th Week and is also referred to as the time of Jacob’s Trouble (a.k.a. Israel’s trouble).
We’ve seen just how bad the Day of the Lord will be… but how bad does the Bible say the Tribulation will be?
God reveals quite a bit of detail regarding this period in the Book of Revelation. It represents a period of seven years during which God will (1) pour out His wrath and judgment on mankind and (2) finish the redemption of His chosen people (the Jews) and nation (Israel).
Here’s a brief summary of what you can expect during this period of great tribulation:
God’s Seal Judgments during the Tribulation Period
- Wars (Between Nations) and Civil Violence (Within Nations)
- Famine, Pestilence & Hyperinflation (25% of Mankind will be Killed)
- Persecution of Those Who Oppose the New World Order (viz., the Antichrist & False Prophet) and Refuse the Mark of the Beast
- A Great Earthquake
- Multiple Asteroid Strikes
- A Possible Nuclear Exchange
- Additional Earthquakes
God’s Trumpet Judgments during the Tribulation Period
- Hail and Fire Storms (A Third of Earth’s Trees and All Grass will be Destroyed)
- A Mountain-like Object will Plunge into the Sea (A Third of All See Creatures will be Killed and a Third of All Ships will be Destroyed)
- A Star will Fall from Heaven (It will Contaminate Springs and a Third of All Rivers)
- The Light of the Sun, Moon & Stars will be Greatly Reduced
- Stinging Locusts will be Released to Torment All Mankind
- Previously Bound Angels will be Released to Kill a Third of Mankind
- Additional Earthquakes & Hailstorms
God’s Bowl Judgments during the Tribulation Period
- Painful & Putrid Sores will Break Out on Those with the Mark of the Beast
- All Sea Creatures will be Killed
- All Springs & Rivers will become Contaminated
- A Scorching Heatwave will Burn Mankind around the Globe
- Total Darkness will Fall on Earth
- The Greatest Earthquake in the History of Mankind
- A Massive Hailstorm will Occur (With Hailstones Weighing 75 Pounds)
It has been estimated by many that between 70% and 90% of mankind will be killed during the seven years leading up to the return of Christ. (Remember, Scripture declares that 50% of the world will be killed in two of these judgments alone!)
Are you really prepared to survive?
The reality is that even those with millions of dollars to invest in preps and massive bunkers will struggle to survive these seven years.
And then, even if you do somehow manage to make it to the Day of the Lord (Armageddon), we’ve seen above the horror that awaits you on that dreadful day!
And, remember, if you endure to the end but took the mark of the beast to try and survive, you will be immediately killed and cast into hell by Christ when He arrives to establish His earthly kingdom.
Are You Really Prepared for the Coming Apocalypse?
We’ve just taken a brief look at what awaits mankind during the coming apocalypse—both during the Tribulation and at Armageddon. The picture God paints in His Word is crystal clear—no flesh will be spared.
While we argue that prepping for typical emergencies, such as natural disasters, is a wise, prudent, and godly thing to do (see our article 10 Reasons It’s Completely Biblical for a Christian to Be a Prepper)… attempting to prep for the soon coming apocalypse is a fool’s errand.
Let me say that again… Attempting to prep for the apocalypse is a fool’s errand!
No matter how much you try, you cannot physically prep to survive this period of God’s judgment and wrath on the world. You are deceiving yourself if you think otherwise—your pride will lead you to your destruction.
Now, if we ended the story there, we would leave you in the most hopeless and bleak of states.
Thankfully, that’s not the end of the story. Just as in the days of Noah, God has provided each of us with an escape option for His future period of judgment!
Conclusion—There Is Another Option!
Prior to the start of the Tribulation, Christ will return in the clouds to rapture (i.e., rescue, snatch away, catch up) His bride—the Church. It is NOT God’s plan for true believers to go through the Tribulation—it is the time of Jacob’s (Israel’s) trouble… not the Church’s trouble.
The Apostle Paul reveals this truth when he writes:
For this we say to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord will by no means precede those who are asleep. For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-18)
And…
Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed—in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)
Rather than trying to be physically prepared to endure the apocalypse, God is calling us to be spiritually prepared so that we can escape it! Rather than the physical ark in Noah’s day, we have a far greater Ark—our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
But… you must get onboard that great and perfect Ark before the doors are sealed shut and the Tribulation begins.
How do you do that?
Thankfully, it’s not rocket science! God made it so simple a child could grasp it. Paul reveals how we are saved: We believe the Gospel of Christ—that Christ died on the Cross to pay for all our sins (past, present, and future), was buried, and was resurrected on the third day.
Moreover, brethren, I declare to you the gospel which I preached to you, which also you received and in which you stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold fast that word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures…” (1 Corinthians 15:1-4)
Salvation comes but one way: through faith alone, in Christ alone, by grace alone:
And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins… But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.” (Ephesians 2:1, 4-9)
We are on the very threshold of the start of the Tribulation. To learn more about just how close we are, I highly encourage you to read our articles:
- Red Heifer a Harbinger of the End Times—Prepare for Apocalypse?
- I Come In My Own Name: Is Pope Francis the False Prophet?
- Daniel’s 70th Week & Fig Tree Generation—Is Our Time Running Out?
- Signs & Prophecies Emerging from Israel—Last Chance to Get Prepared?
- Signs in Sun, Moon & Stars—Horsemen of Apocalypse Ready to Ride?
- Jewish Anticipation Grows—Rabbi Asor Says Coming of Messiah at Hand?
- Abraham Accord Deception: Sudden Apocalyptic Consequences?
And if the Tribulation is close at hand, then it means we are VERY close to the rapture. The doors to the Ark are about to be sealed shut my friend. Please don’t wait for the “rains” to start before you consider heading for the Ark… it will be too late! Place your trust (faith) in Christ’s redeeming work on the Cross—the shedding of His precious blood as a propitiation for your sins.
He died that you might have eternal life with Him… but you must personally accept that in your heart.
It’s your life or His life. Sin provides no other option.
Either you pay your sin debt through eternity in hell… or you accept His free and loving gift of eternal life that was purchased for you by His sacrifice of His life in your place.
The question we posed at the beginning—Are you really prepared for the apocalypse?—is really better framed as:
Are you properly prepared for the coming apocalypse?
Physical prepping is appropriate for the typical crises we face in life. However, it is NOT the proper approach for the coming judgment and wrath of God. It will prove wholly inadequate to save either your body or your soul.
There is but one proper approach… to escape the coming apocalypse by being spiritually prepared!
I implore you to make your decision today—trust in Christ’s finished work on the Cross and obtain your salvation. Take your seat on the Ark with the rest of the saints and begin looking toward that blessed hope that is the rapture.
Finally, I would add that there is another question—the proverbial pink elephant in the room:
Why on earth would you want to go through that misery???
Why would anyone intentionally want to go through the apocalypse—the Tribulation and Day of the Lord—when we have the opportunity to opt out of it… to escape it?
That’s the good news of the gospel of Christ (salvation) and, as Paul reveals, the blessed hope of the rapture:
Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ” (Titus 2:13).
Do NOT trust in your physical preps to survive the coming apocalypse. As we have seen, it is a losing proposition. Rather, ensure you are spiritually prepared to escape it and rest in that blessed hope!
