Armageddon  2026?
Part One
 
According to Biblical prophecy, just before the Second Advent (the Return of Christ) takes place, Jerusalem will be surrounded by an armed anti-Semitic alliance of nations, motivated and organized by the Antichrist, bent on the extermination of Israel, and any of her allies.
The Bible refers to this event as the Battle of Armageddon.
It will take place just before the Second Advent, and immediately before the start of the 1,000-year period of global peace.
The Battle of Armageddon, that will take place BEFORE the 1,000-year period of global peace,  is not to be confused with the satanic led Gog and Magog Revolt that takes place AFTER the end of the millennial period (1).
During the 1,000- year period, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who returns to Earth with His Church at the Second Advent, establishes His headquarters and rules the world from Jerusalem (2).
During this 1,000-year period, Satan is confined to the Abyss of Hades (3), the most secure compartment of Hades. This is NOT to be confused with the Lake of Fire, where after the Gog and Magog revolt, he will spend all of Eternity future (4).
At the conclusion of the 1,000-year period, Satan is released from the  Abyss, and is allowed to organize one last attempt to overthrow the Kingdom of God , here on Earth.
But just as in the case of Armageddon, this coalition surrounding Jerusalem at the time of the Gog and Magog revolt, will also be destroyed by divine intervention (5) .
It is critically important to understand the difference between when and what will take place at the Battle of Armageddon, and when and what will take place at the end of the  Gog and Magog revolt, 1,000 years later.
The coalition organized by the Antichrist for the Battle of Armageddon will be destroyed, but not by Israel’s armed forces, or any of its political allies, but by divine power directed by  the Lord Jesus when He appears at the Second Advent.
Prior to this, the Antichrist will have risen to a position of political and religious leadership, calling  for worldwide loyalty and worship, with dissidents (and anyone assisting or supporting them) being put to death.  
During the short-lived, but powerful reign of the Antichrist, the entire world will go through what Scripture defines as being the worst period in all of human history.
In fact, this  period of history  will be so horrific that if it were not cut short (by the Second Advent taking place), no human life on the planet would even survive (6).
During the Tribulation period that follows the 1Thess. 4: 16,17  Rapture, and precedes the Second Advent, the inhabitants of the world will experience intense and continuous suffering from two fronts.
The wicked will be suffering under the wrath of God, continuing to  reject His call for repentance, and Tribulation believers (people of God) will suffer under the persecution of the Antichrist.
Tribulation believers are not to be confused with Church Age believers.
As in the case of Old Testament believers, Tribulation believers will have a home in Heaven, but are NOT a part of the group of born-again believers we now know as the Church. All of the Church Age believers, who were on the Earth at the time of the Rapture, will have been taken away and reunited with the already-departed generations of Church Age believers in Heaven.
Tribulation believers consist of those who will be born again during the Tribulation period (7).
A certain percentage of God’s people have been martyred in all of the different dispensations in various parts of the world, but the promoting of the Gospel Message and or publicly identifying oneself with the God of the Bible, during the Tribulation period, will be punishable by physical death under the global  policy and reign of the Antichrist.  Such persons and groups will be considered enemies of the State.
With the exception of the Rev. 7: 4 144,000 bond-servants, 12,000 from each one of the 12 tribes of Israel, there will be no “safe” place on the planet for “dissidents” of the Antichrist’s  government, or for those who aid them.
 If one is to understand End Time prophecy, there is the need to distinguish the difference between the timing, location, and divine objectives of the Rapture that precedes the Great Tribulation, and the timing, location, and divine objectives associated with the Second Advent that takes place seven (some teach 3 1/2 ) years after the Rapture.
The Rapture takes place BEFORE the “worst period of human history.”  The Rapture takes place in the air above the Earth, and will not be seen by anyone of those who are left behind. 
However, the ones left behind will experience the chaos that the sudden disappearance of all born again believers on a global level.
The primary  purpose of the Rapture is for the removal of the Church, consisting of all born-again believers who are alive on the Earth, taking them to Heaven to be reunited with all the Church Age believers already in Heaven.
Perhaps the most shocked group of all, would be the ones left behind, sitting in the pews of a “worship” service, should that prove to be the moment that the Rapture takes place.
Seven (some teach 3 ½)  years later, years later, the Second Advent takes place ON the Earth with the return of Christ with His entire  (Raptured) Church to, among other things, set up His 1,000-year Kingdom here on Earth, headquartered in Jerusalem, Israel. 
Unlike the unseen (by those left behind) Rapture, the Second Advent will be seen by the inhabitants on the Earth at that time.
The 2026 conflict taking place in the Middle East is not the war that ushers in the Second Advent. 
We know this because there are a few more things, such as the re-building of the Temple in Jerusalem, the rise and reign of the Antichrist, and many of the horrific events that MUST take place during the Tribulation period, and or be in place, when that Battle of Armageddon is actually in view.
It will, however, be under the same scenario presently brewing in the Middle East when the Second Advent (return of the Lord Jesus Christ) finally does take place.
In the meantime, this does NOT mean that there couldn’t be a World War 3, or for that matter a World War 4, resulting in world-wide mass destruction at home and abroad. 
Any event that could trigger another world war is not to be taken lightly.
There has been many times, when due to the current events of that time, the inhabitants of this world have erroneously concluded that the end of the world was imminent.
At the same time, totally dismissing this inevitable event will lead many to be unprepared and taken by surprise.
“Know this first of all, that in the last days (before the Rapture takes place) mockers will come with their mocking, following after their own lusts (strong plans and desires), and saying, “Where is (the fulfillment of) the promise of His coming (for His Church-1Thess. 4: 16.17)?  For ever since the fathers (our ancestors) fell asleep (lived and died), all things continue just as they were since the beginning of creation  (2Pet. 3: 4 NASB2020 parentheses mine).”
This mindset is the result of either ignorance or rejection of what God has said, has done, and is going to do with and for the human race.
The fact is, the “end of the world” for any one of us who are presently alive, as far as OUR individual participation in it goes, could be today!  This world  was here before we were born, and it is going to be here, when we die, or are Raptured away!
On the global level, remember there was a time when the wrath of God reduced the world’s population to 8 individuals, that being Noah, his wife, his three sons, and their wives(8).  life went on for these eight survivors of the flood. They re-populated the Earth, and the plan of God for the human race moved forward, without skipping a beat.  Nothing ever has, or ever will, delay or speed up the plan that God has decreed for human race.  No individual or global catastrophe  has ever taken God by surprise, or that He does not already have the solution.
God assured us that the world would not be destroyed again by a global flood (9), but teaches us, there is a coming time when this planet will be melted away (10)  and be replaced (11).
For the edified disciple, it is comforting to know that Church Age believers will be raptured away will not be here on Earth when much of the horrific events documented in End Time prophecies take place.
As for all of the  alternative “end of the world “ scenarios that Man has come up  with,  keep in mind that even if the Rapture took place TODAY, planet Earth would still have another 1,007 (some teach 1,003 ½ ) years of history to go through  before the global meltdown takes place.
End of Part One
(1)                Rev. 20: 8 (2) Rev. 20: 6  (3) Rev. 20:1 (4) Rev. 20: 10   (5) Rev. 20:9 (6) Matt. 24: 22  (7) Rev. 7: 9, 14 (8) Gen. 7: 7 (9) Gen. 9: 11 (10) 2Pet. 3: 10  (11) Rev. 21: 1