The Left Behind Collection: All 12 Books (401 page)

“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.

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 fifty 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.

It was one thing to have flown over the Unity Army and seen it en masse. It was another to ride along on the outskirts of it, seemingly never to come to the end. Rayford had to be impressed by the sheer accomplishment of outfitting such a fighting force. Millions of uniforms, weapons, munitions, vehicles, and various and sundry pieces of equipment made the whole operation appear perfectly supplied for its task. In human terms, they could not lose. They could have overwhelmed any mortal enemy on the planet.

But they faced one Man, the Son of the living God. And they were defeated before they began.

The remnant on the ground that accompanied Jesus and the heavenly hosts began to sing praises as they ran. But they quickly quieted when Jesus responded.

“For the suffering of death, I was crowned with glory and honor, that I, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. I was the Deliverer who came out of Zion, and I turned away the ungodliness from Jacob. I was the seed of David, raised from the dead, the Mediator of the new covenant. I suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that I might bring you to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit.”

Amazingly, there was not even a battle transpiring at the moment, yet thousands of Unity Army soldiers were slain simply by the Lord’s words as He passed by. They were not fighting, not threatening, not advancing or even moving. But they had long since made their decision. They had pledged their loyalty to the god of this world, had willingly taken the mark of Antichrist and bowed the knee to him. For them there was no recourse.

Rayford thrilled to the powerful words of the Master and was horrified by the carnage that resulted from them. His heart was full, and yet he found it difficult to tear his eyes away from the bloodshed on the ground. Oh, what this portended for the army as a whole when the actual fighting ensued! How any of the surviving men and women could see their companions die such horrible deaths—simply from the words pronounced from the sky—and still be willing to stay in the fray was beyond Rayford.

“My enemies have become My footstool,” Jesus said. “Not with the blood of goats and calves, but with My own blood I entered the Most Holy Place once for all, having obtained eternal redemption. I am the Son of God who has come to give you an understanding, that you may know God who is true.

“I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread that I gave is My flesh, which I gave for the life of the world. I am the Word who became flesh and dwelt among you, and you beheld My glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. For in Me dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

“Rayford, take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your soul. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.”

Every time Jesus spoke his name, Rayford was touched anew. He glanced quickly at his friends and saw that the Lord had communicated to them in the same way. Mac buried his face in his hands, whispering, “Thank You, Jesus.” Abdullah looked as if he wished he could pull over and simply worship God.

Sebastian, who was running with Kenny’s hand in his, felt a tug. He bent to listen and Kenny said, “Jesus’s talkin’ to me!”

“I know!” Sebastian said. “Isn’t it wonderful?”