So who were the armies in Luke 21:20?
I like to respond to your question again. What armies? It is not physical armies from a country that will attack the physical city of Jersualem. Rather it is a
SPIRITUAL armies. They are
false prophets and christs with the spirit of the antichrist with the power of Satan. This is how Satan is revealed through them. They are commanded by God that they can only hurt those who have NOT YET SEALED (Saved) by God IN THE UNFAITHFUL NEW TESTAMENT CONGREGATION.
Consider wisely:
Rev 9:4-11
(4) And it was commanded them that they should
not hurt the grass of the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree; but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.
(5) And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that
they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man.
(6) And
in those days shall
men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.
(7) And the
shapes of the locusts were like unto horses prepared unto battle; and
on their heads were as it were crowns like gold, and
their faces were as the faces of men.
(8) And
they had hair as the hair of women, and
their teeth were as the teeth of lions.
(9) And
they had breastplates, as it were
breastplates of iron; and the
sound of their wings was as the
sound of chariots of many horses running to battle.
(10) And
they had tails like unto scorpions, and
there were stings in their tails: and
their power was to hurt men five months.
(11) And
they had a king over them, which
is the angel of the bottomless pit, whose
name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.
Please understand that God has defined the locusts with power like the scorpions as the
false prophets and christs with the spirit of Satan. God is using this army to hurt only those men who were not sealed in their foreheads (Read Revelation 7:1-4). That is why it won't happen until God FIRST seals all of His Elect through the testimony of Two Witnesses
before Satan can be loosened and attack Church. Remember that will be when the Lord gave up the "court without the temple" to be delivered to Satan and his armies, Revelation 11:1-2.
How long is five months? Again not literal. It is a spiritual period that lasts from the opening of the pit to the time when the Elect are told to flee to the mountain. Let me put these in order to help you get an idea:
1.) Great Tribulation (5 months, that are "WITHIN" the 1,260 of Two Witnesses' testimony - the beginning of sorrow)
2.) All Saints are killed (silenced) or the sacrifice and offering ceased when the Beast comes out (after 1,260 of testimony are finished)
3.) Saints come out from among them (1,290 when the abomination of desolation be set up - the judgment of church begins for "one hour"). THis is when Saints shall "see" the abomination of desolation to flee from unfaithful church.
4.) After the one hour of Judgment of the whore, the Lord returns, and the Saints, whoever alive and remains, shall meet with Him in the air at the Last Trump.