Armageddon Vs. A Mahdi, Three Messiahs And Jesus – OpEd

Key Takeaways:

• Climate data shows intensifying extremes—record ocean heat waves lasting longer, rising sea levels, higher wildfire risks in Europe linked to human-caused warming, and continued drought and heat forecasts—underscoring the need for faster transitions away from fossil fuels.
• The author, a Reform Rabbi, frames these challenges within Abrahamic traditions as possible “birth pangs” of a Messianic Age, arguing that voluntary moral and behavioral change is preferable to upheaval.
• Lasting hope is placed in interfaith cooperation among Jews, Christians, and Muslims to promote peace, environmental responsibility, and shared progress rather than fear-driven end-times predictions.

Saudi Arabia is expected to experience above-average temperatures across most of the Kingdom through October, with rainfall intensifying from September and potentially reaching heavy to very heavy levels in some areas later in the season, the National Center for Meteorology said. 

And UN scientists warn that strong El Nino will add fuel to ‘a planet already on fire’. So climate change’s fingerprints are all over extreme fire weather that sparked this week’s devastating  wildfires in Spain and France, and has spiked Southern Europe’s burning the past eight years, two new studies conclude. Human-caused climate change made the very hot and dry conditions responsible for Spain’s record-sized inferno 20 times more likely to happen, and it doubled the chances of extreme fire conditions for the flames in France. And half of England is in drought after a record dry spell and high temperatures the British Environment Agency said.

Heat waves aren’t just getting worse on land, the majority of the world’s oceans are experiencing record-breaking temperatures too. These marine heat waves are getting longer, more intense and reaching farther than ever before. Sea levels are rising faster than at any time in 4,000 years, with China’s major coastal cities at particular risk. The rapid increase is driven by warming oceans and melting ice, while human activities like groundwater pumping make it worse.

Also a group of scientists, whose research was recently published in Science, used satellite data to determine why these severe heat waves are happening. They found that 96% of the world’s ocean surfaces experienced heat wave conditions, compared with a historical (1982–2022) average of 73.7%.  They also found that the average duration of heat waves had gone up to 120 days, quadrupling the historical average.

I am a Reform Rabbi who believes our planet and our species will survive and thrive through the coming climate change catastrophes, but the longer humans delay transforming our way of life away from carbon based fuels like gas, oil and coal; the more it will cost us.

The majority of Christians, Jews, and Muslims do not believe that all of humanity is moving closer and closer to a catastrophic Judgement Day. The minority who do think that Judgement Day is coming soon share the usual negative, fear-filled views of most end-times thinkers: Christians, Jews and especially Muslims, who do believe that: “The hour (of Judgement) is near” (Qur’an 54:1); and ˹The time of˺ people’s judgment has drawn near, yet they heedlessly turn away.” (Qur’an 21:1) 

According to a 2012 poll by the Pew Research Center, at least half  of Muslims in nine Muslim-majority countries believe that the coming of the Mahdi is “imminent,” and could happen in their lifetime. Sadly these end-times thinkers always see pre-ordained threats of a cataclysmic world wide doom; and not just the warning of the consequences if we humans do not repent and change our behavior. 

This is clearly a warning for all serious Christians, Jews and Muslims. A World Meteorological Organization forecast for the next several years also predicts a 90% chance that the world will set yet another record for the hottest year by the end of  2025; that the Atlantic will continue to brew more potentially dangerous hurricanes; meteorologists say large parts of land in the Northern Hemisphere will be 1.4 degrees warmer than recent decades, and the U.S. Southwest’s drought will continue.

It is true that human society has changed more rapidly, violently, and fundamentally in the last century of the second millennium than ever before in history. Doctors saved the lives of millions. Dictators sacrificed the lives of millions. Populations exploded and birthrates declined.  Technology produced both worldwide prosperity and pollution at the same time.  

Knowing all this, should we look upon the first century of the third millennium with optimistic hope or with fatalistic trepidation? Are the world and our society heading towards a wonder-filled new age, or toward a doomsday; or are both occurring concurrently because breakdown is always a prelude to breakthrough?  

Many who believe in the Biblical vision of a Messianic Age use the insights of the Prophets of Israel to provide guidance in understanding the social, economic, scientific, and cultural upheavals sweeping society. Usually, it is the dramatic dangers of the pre-Messianic tribulation that are emphasized. I will focus on the positive signs developing throughout the world that accord with the Messianic vision of the Biblical Prophets.

In most non-Abrahamic religious traditions, redemption is defined only in terms of individual enlightenment or personal salvation. However, the Abrahamic Prophets said that redemption is a transformation of human society that would occur through the catalyst of the transformation of the Abrahamic religious community. This transformation, which will take place in this world at some future time, is called the Messianic Age.  

The transition to the Messianic Age is called the birth pangs of the Messiah. The birth of a redeemed Messianic world may be the result of easy or difficult labor. If everyone would simply live according to the moral teachings of his or her religious tradition, we would ourselves bring about the Messianic Age. But, if we will not do it voluntarily, it will come through social and political upheavals, worldwide conflicts, and generation gaps. The Messiah refers to an agent of God who helps bring about this transformation.  

The Jewish tradition teaches that this agent of God (and there will be three or four such agents) will be a human being, with great spiritual leadership qualities similar to Prophets Moses or Mohammed. For Jews, the Messianic hope helped them to survive many years of oppression and evil. 

For Christian and Muslims the Messianic hope will be the second coming of Jesus and the Muslim Mahdi, leading up to God’s Qiyamah Judgement Day vindication for righteous believers; and the establishment of God’s peaceful kingdom on Earth… 

The arrival of the Messianic Age is what’s really important, not the specific personality of the agents who bring it about since they are simply the instruments of God, who ultimately is the real Redeemer. The Messianic Age is usually seen as the solution to all of humanity’s basic problems. This may be true in the long run but the vast changes the transition to the Messianic Age entails will provide challenges to society for many generations to come. 

The majority of Christians, Jews, and Muslims do not believe that all of humanity is moving closer and closer to a catastrophic Judgement Day. The minority who do think that Judgement Day is coming share the usual negative, fear-filled views of most end-times thinkers: Christians, Jews and especially Muslims, who do believe that: “The hour (of Judgement) is near” (Qur’an 54:1); and ˹The time of˺ people’s judgment has drawn near, yet they heedlessly turn away.” (Qur’an 21:1) 

Sadly these end-times thinkers always see pre-ordained threats of cataclysmic world wide doom; and not just as Armageddon being a warning of the consequences if we humans do not repent and change our behavior. The term “apocalypse” comes from the Greek word “apokalypsis,” meaning “revelation.” Although often associated today with end of the world thinking, apocalypses in ancient Jewish thought were a source of encouragement in times of hardship or persecution. 

Armageddon comes from the name in the Hebrew Bible for the hill of Megiddo, which is about 80 miles north of Jerusalem, and is today only an archaeological site. The word Armageddon does not appear in the Hebrew Bible and  appears only once in the Greek New Testament, in Revelation 16:16. Armageddon is a Greek transliteration of the Hebrew har məgiddô (הר מגידו). Har in Hebrew means “a mountain or hill”. Armageddon is usually seen as the final battle or battles between good and evil which lasts for only a short time; compared to the Messianic Peace that follows Armageddon that lasts until large carnivores eat only Plant based meat.

Armageddon is a powerful challenge that can be overcome if most people will stop fighting each other and co-operate to reduce climate change. But if we do not act there is an Islamic oral tradition (Hadith) that states: The Hour will not commence  until no one goes (travels) to perform Hajj. (Hakim 4:453 and Abi Ya’li 2:277); because the annual hajj pilgrimage to Mecca in the summer will become harder and harder.

Also in our own generation we have seen the dramatic fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy:  “I will bring your offspring from the (Middle) East and gather you from the (European) West. To the North (Russia) I will say ‘give them up’ and to the South (Ethiopia) ‘do not hold them’.  Bring my sons from far away, my daughters from the end of the earth.” (43:5-6)  

Isn’t it amazing how people adjust to living in a radically new world and forget the past? Indeed, the Prophet Isaiah himself proclaimed God’s message, “Behold, I create a new Heaven and a New Earth, and former things shall not be remembered.” (65:17)

Where does the Mahdi, Prophet Jesus and the last Messiah fit in with all of this?  They will still have lots to do when they arrive. Now that a large part of the Jewish people have returned to the Land of  Israel, and resurrected a Jewish State, one might think that rebuilding a temple on the site where Solomon originally built one almost 3,000 years ago, would be relatively simple.  

And it would, except for the fact that a Muslim Shrine called The Dome of the Rock presently occupies the Jerusalem Temple of Prophet Solomon site. Often erroneously called the Mosque of Omar, it is not a mosque and it was not built by Omar.  It was built in 691 by Abd-Al-Malik and it is regarded by Muslims as the third holiest site in the world.  Any attempt to replace the Dome of the Rock would provoke a Muslim Holy War of cataclysmic proportions.  

There is vacant land on the Temple Mount, and a small 3D digital broadcast Jewish house of worship like Solomon’s Temple could be rebuilt as a virtual replica like those made by the Factum Foundation, a Madrid-based nonprofit that creates high-resolution digital replicas of the world’s cultural heritage; could be built near the Dome of the Rock provided the Muslims would cooperate.  

Most observers agree that anyone who could arrange such Jewish-Muslim cooperation would really be the Messianic Ruler of Peace (Isaiah 9:5)  Christian support for such a cooperative venture would also be very important, and anyone who can bring Jews, Christians, and Muslims together in mutual respect and cooperation would surely fulfill the greatest of all Messianic predictions: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning knives; nation shall not take up sword against nation, they shall never again teach war.” (Isaiah 2:4)  

Indeed, such Jewish/Christian/Muslim cooperation would not be possible without great spiritual leadership in all three communities. Thus, each community could consider its leadership to be the Messiah and this would fulfill the culminating verses of Isaiah’s Messianic prophecy as enlarged upon by Micah (4:3-5), 

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning knives. Nation shall not take up against nation, they shall never again teach war, but every man shall sit under his grapevine or fig tree with no one to disturb him, for it is the Lord of Hosts who spoke. Though all peoples walk each in the name of its God, we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.”  

Then, “On that day there will be a highway from Egypt to Assyria. The Assyrians will go to Egypt and the Egyptians to Assyria. The Egyptians and Assyrians will worship together. On that day Israel will join a three-party alliance with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing upon the heart. The LORD of Hosts will bless them saying, “Blessed be Egypt My people, Assyria My handiwork, and Israel My inheritance.”…(Isaiah 19:23-5) 

I know that both Prophet Jesus and Prophet Muhammad warned their own communities about trying to calculate a specific end-time date for Messianic events. In  the New Testament when prophet Jesus was asked in private by his disciples, “What will be the sign for your coming (back) and the end of the (present) age?” (Matthew 24:3) Prophet Jesus warned his disciples about all kinds of upheavals and false Messiahs that will come; and then concludes by saying, “But about that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, not even the son: only the Father.” (24:36) 

 A similar statement was made by Prophet Muhammad when he was asked, “Tell me about the Hour”. He replied: “The one questioned about it knows no better than the questioner.” (Muslim book 1:1&4)

Yet we should never give up the positive Messianic hope that if each of the three Abrahamic religious communities truly follows the best of its own religious teachings; God has assured us that the Messiah will arrive, and one way or another, God’s Judgement Day will arrive and God’s Peaceful Kingdom of worldwide peace and prosperity will be established.