Let’s Talk About Joe Biden and Armageddon

I don’t know what Putin will do, but I do know a little something about Armageddon.

At a recent Democratic fundraiser, Joe Biden told his audience, "We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis…. I don't think there's any such thing as the ability to easily (use) a tactical nuclear weapon and not end up with Armageddon." 

I don’t put a lot of stock in what the president says or does, but in this case, I’m wondering whether or not he was telling the truth. The prospect of any nation deploying nuclear weapons runs shivers up and down my spine. My childhood experience with nuclear attack drills in school where we were instructed to hide under our desks and put our heads between our knees instilled a lifelong of fear nuclear attack.

The little school I grew up attending was only 30 miles or so (as the crow flies) from Barksdale Air Force Base in Bossier City, Louisiana. I don’t know what our Civil Defense people were thinking instructing us to put our heads between our knees. What did they think that would do for us in the event of a nuclear attack? Now that I’m older and know a little more about what a nuclear bomb can do, I figure that they were telling us to kiss our behinds goodbye. We would not have survived a nuclear attack.

There’s no doubt about it — the world is in a state of turmoil. With Putin threatening nuclear war and our own inept leadership trying to come up with a response, I really can’t tell you what the outcome will be.

Having said that, I want to shift lanes and talk about Biden’s use of the word “Armageddon.”

This word is found in the Bible in Revelation 16:16, and it’s a place rather than an event. It’s the place where the final battle between the angels of God and Satan’s demonic forces will take place. Some say it’s literal while others interpret it as metaphorical.

I don’t want to jump in the fray over which it is, but I want to point out that one way or another, almost everyone agrees that it represents some kind of final judgement of God on those who rebel against him by persecuting his children.  

Many people believe that it refers to the end of the world where a fierce and bloody battle will take place. I am going to go on record here and tell you firmly that I don’t have any inside information on how the end will come. I will tell you this, however: It will come to an end.

You ask, “What will come to an end?”

All of it. Every single atom and molecule in this vast universe will be swept up in a roaring fire and melted in a “fervent heat.”

“But the day of the Lord will come like a thief. The heavens will disappear with a roar; the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything done in it will be laid bare. Since everything will be destroyed in this way, what kind of people ought you to be? You ought to live holy and godly lives as you look forward to the day of God and speed its coming. That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in the heat.”

—2 Peter 3:10-12

I’m not much on scare tactics. But to anyone who’s a worshipper of Jesus and grateful for his death and resurrection, this isn’t scary at all. In fact, it’s a hopeful passage since, from the day we put our old self to death and embraced the God who saves, we have been growing in our knowledge that this universe doesn’t hold anything of real value.

Yes, the closer we draw to God, the more we feel our disappointment with the world. Death, the decay of our treasures, sinking stock markets, wars, violence and murder, abortion, moral decay — for those who love Christ, all of these things might leave us feeling defeated if not for God’s promise to send Jesus back to destroy everything temporary after he has rescued us. 

Rather than dread it, we “look forward to the day of God” and pray for its speedy coming. Think about it: We’re going to be “caught up in the air” with Jesus. Why would I care about what happens to the elements after that? At that point, the only thing we’ll say about the roaring global meltdown is, “Thank God I’m done with disappointment!”

I don’t know much about the politics or wisdom of Joe Biden’s statement, but I do know that people who understand that the end of all things is coming and bow down before God in response are wise and thoughtful people. Whether by a nuclear blast or cancer, we’re all going to die anyhow. Why not accept that fact and decide to live forever, beginning right now? That’s what I decided to do.

Image credit: Gerd Altmann | Pixabay