THE LAST GREAT BATTLE Revelation 19:1-21 and Selected Scripture |
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INTRODUCTION: Why should we preach about this prophetic event. The Bible teaches that born again Christians should have no fear of these events because they will be raptured before the beginning of the Tribulation. However, I hope you see the urgency as the New Testament teaches that we should be ready for the Lord come today. Sadly, of great concern to all true Christians is that there are many people who are confident that if the rapture were to occur today they would be taken up to be with the lord. However, in reality, many will find they will remain on earth, with the only thing to look forward to being the Tribulation. Many who profess Christ as their Savior are not saved because they have believed false doctrines of churches and man. Many think their good works, church membership, baptism, and a host of other religious acts will please God. They have been misled. Only a true repentance and faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ saves and is God’s plan of salvation. To many Christ is not preeminent in their lives. Many are hearers of the word, but not doers as James 1:23 warns. A false Christ or Gospel cannot save. A. The purpose of studying the end times is not merely to be informed of what is to come. You can read that for yourselves. The purpose of prophetic preaching is to instill in our hearts a deep desire to see as many people as possible come into the kingdom and avoid the horror that is to come. The rapture of the believers in this the Church Age could happen at any time. Current events certainly should cause any informed believer to consider that the Lord will soon return. The future events of Bible prophecy will begin with the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Acts 1:10-11 “Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.” (Acts 1:11) B. Paul writing to Titus calls His coming the “Blessed Hope.” “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.” (Titus 2:13-14) Why should we preach on the “Blessed Hope” and the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus? Note verse 14. We should rejoice in the fact that God’s program is on course and nothing sinful and unbelieving men can do will hinder Him accomplishing His purposes. His purposes is to save many on this earth and give them the joys heaven in eternity. Paul said “But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” (1 Corinthians 2:9) C. The Second Coming is divided into two parts. The first part of the Lord’s Second Coming as 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18, explains is His coming for Church Age believers. That means Christians in this current age that began in Acts 2 and the Day of Pentecost when the Lord instituted the “local church” the ekklesia which means an assembly of born again believers. He is not coming or a church which is an assembly, but for all born again believers. His coming at this time is called the rapture because in verse 17 the Lord says true Christians will be, “shall be caught up together.” The phrase “shall be caught up” is one Greek word, “harpdzo” and means to pluck or catch away. 1 Corinthians 15:51-57 also explains this. It is also called the resurrection of believers, both dead and alive. After the rapture the Antichrist is revealed and the seven years of Tribulation begin when God judges the earth and also saved a great many Jews and Gentiles. During His judgment the Lord will pour our His judgment in three sets of seven seven judgments. Revelation 6-19 explains these judgments which are the seven Seal Judgment (Rev. 6:17-15:8) followed by the Trumpet Judgments (Rev. 8:1-16.:1 and then the Bowl Judgments (Rev. 16:1-18:21). II. At the end of the seven year Tribulation the Bible tells us of the coming Armageddon. (Rev. 16:16) A. In the middle of the seven year Tribulation Satan will be cast down to the earth. He possesses the Antichrist who begins to unlease his full power on the eath. There will be a great series of battles on the earth as the nation of the world gather and war in Israel on the Jezreel Valley. This event is called by many the Battle of Armageddon. This happens at the same time the Lord is pouring is wrath on the earth. In such devastation is it not revealing that the nations of earth will be fighting among themselves. The “kings of the earth and of the whole world” are to be gathered together through the activity of the trinity from hell to what is called “the battle of that great day of God Almighty” (Rev. 16:14). That trinity of hell is Satan, the Antichrist and the false prophet. This coming together of the nations of the earth is in a place called Armageddon (Rev. 16:16). There God deals in judgment of the nations because of their persecution of Israel (Joel 3:2), because of their sinfulness (Rev. 19:15), and because of their godlessness (Rev. 16:9). B. Armageddon is an on going campaign rather than a single battle. It has been held commonly that the battle of Armageddon is an isolated event transpiring just prior to the Second Coming of Christ to the earth. The extent of this great movement in which God deals with “the kings of the earth and of the whole world” (Rev. 16:14) will not be seen unless it is realized that the “battle of that great day of God Almighty” (Rev. 16: 14) is not an isolated battle, but rather a campaign that extends over the last half or three and a half years of the Tribulation period. The Greek word polemos, translated “battle” in Revelation 16:14, signifies a war or campaign, while Greek word ma-chee signifies a single battle, or single combat. The use of the word polemos (campaign) in Revelation 16:14 would signify that the events that culminate in the gathering at Armageddon at the Second Coming are viewed by God as one connected campaign. C. The location of the campaign will be at the hill of Megiddo. It is located west of the Jordan River in North Eastern central Palestine, some ten miles south of Nazareth and fifteen miles inland from the Mediterranean seacoast, was an extended plain on which many of Israel’s battles had been fought. The campaign will begin in the Jezreel Valley or Megiddo and will probably spread out over the whole of Israel. Joel speaks of the last battle being fought in the Valley of Jehoshaphat, which is close by Jerusalem, and Isaiah shows Christ coming with bloodstained garments “from Edom,” and Edom is south of Palestine. The Book of Revelation also says the blood will flow to the bits of the horse bridles for 1,600 furlongs, and it has been pointed out that 1,600 furlongs cover the entire as 220 ft. X 1600=60 miles and others as a Roman furlong of 660 ft. which would be 200 miles. The dimensions today are said to be from northwest to the southeast about 20 miles and northeast to southwest about 14 miles. We are not sure, but it will be exactly as the Lord states. But Jerusalem will no doubt be the center of interest during the battle of Armageddon, for God’s Word says: “I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle.” (Zech. 14:2) Verses 4f clearly shows this happens at the Second Coming. III. The Beginning Of Armageddon. A. According to Daniel 9: 26-27 the prince of the Revived Roman empire will make a covenant with Israel for a seven-year period.(v27) This is not only an attempt to settle the long-standing dispute between the nations as to Israel’s claim to Palestine, but is also a satanic imitation of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic covenant which gave Israel title deed to the land. This action is pictured by John (Rev. 6:2) as a rider going forth to conquer, to whom sovereignty is given by peaceful negotiations. This condition exists for three and one-half years, after which the covenant is broken by the nations and the period known as the Great Tribulation (Matt. 24: 21) begins. This part of the Tribulation is evidently caused by Satan, who has been cast out of heaven into the earth at the middle of the tribulation period (Rev. 12:9). He goes forth in great wrath (Rev. 12:12) to attack the remnant of Israel and the saints of God (Rev. 12:17). The Satanic activity that moves nations in those days is clearly depicted by John as unclean spirits like frogs coming out of the mouth of Satan (dragon) and the beast the Antichrist. (Rev. 16:12-16) Verse 16 “And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” (Revelation 16:16) Armageddon is a proper name “Har-Megedon.” “Har” means mountain. The is the only place the word is found in the Bible. Mt. Megiddo is not really a mountain, but a tell on which over several thousand years people have lived and left the rubble of their stay there. I clearly saw this when I visited Meggido in September 2002. What is visible is the excavation of many civilizations. B. The Events of the Campaign. (Ezekiel 38: 1— 39: 24.) A. Just before Christ appears from the clouds and returns to earth a number of things, will transpire on earth in rapid session. 1. The movement of the campaign begins when the King of the South (Egypt) moves against the Beast-False Prophet coalition, which takes place 'at the time of the end.'" (Dan. 11:40) 2.The King of the South gets in battle with the North King and the Northern Confederacy (Daniel 11:40). This will probably be Iran, Syria, Iraq, the Muslim nations, and Russia. The king is called Gog his nation is Magog. Jerusalem is destroyed as a result of this attack, (Zech. 12:2) and, in turn, the armies of the Northern Confederacy are destroyed. (Ezek. 39, Zech. 12:4) 3. The full armies of the Beast move into Israel (Dan. 11:41) and shall conquer all that territory (Dan. 11:41-42). Edom, Moab, and Ammon alone escape. . . ." 4. A report that causes alarm is brought to the Beast, who is the Antichrist. (Dan. 11:44, Rev. 16:12) 5. The Beast moves his headquarters into the land of Israel and assembles his armies there. (Dan. 11:45) 6. It is at this time that his destruction will come as war breaks out. (Dan. 11:45). 7. The Lord Jesus Returns and sents His angels to purge the earth of rebellious men. (Rev. 19:1-7) See Rev. 19:11-16) 8. The angel calls the birds of Israel to gather and eat the flesh of those who Christ is about to slay. (Rev. 19:17-18) 8. The Antichrist (beast) and false prophet are both cast into the eternal Lake of Fire. (Rev. 19:20 9. God deals with the rebellious lost still on earth. They are not cast into the Lake of Fire, but go to Hades to await the Final Judgment of Rev. 20:11-15) (Rev. 19:21) 10. Satan is bound in the bottomless pit for 1000 years. (Rev 20:2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7) B. Thus the Lord Jesus appears and destroys every force on earth that opposes Him and thus prepares to set up His Kingdom. III. The attack from the north and south. These are not Armageddon, but earlier as Ezekiel 38-39 describes. This begins at the middle of the Tribulation. A. The conflict during the Tribulation and of Armageddon begins with an invasion of Palestine by the King of the North and the King of the South (Dan. 11: 40). With this invasion, the events of the campaign, which will shake the whole world, begin. This initial movement is described in Ezekiel 38: 1- 39: 24. Daniel 9:27 states the Antichrist will make a treaty at the beginning of the 70th Week to protect Israel from her enemies at the beginning of the Tribulation or Seventieth Week. Both the kings of the south and north are said to attack the Antichrist. This attack will be upon Israel, the ally of the Antichrist and force him to come to her defense. These armies shall sweep down on Israel and overrun the country. The Antichrist and the armies of his European confederacy will enter the Middle East and counterattack these two armies. The king of the south in Daniel 11:2-35 has been always Egypt, and the king of the north was Syria and there is nothing in the passage to suggest it will be any other nations. The Antichrist wins victories over the northern nations led by Syria that attack Israel, but he does not defeat Edom, Moab and Ammon. These nations do not exist on earth today, but the use of their names identifies the areas they occupied during biblical times. The area is east and southeast of the Dead Sea and today is the land of the Arab countries of Jordan and Saudi Arabia. Some believe the Antichrist, after quailing most of the threat from the north, moves his armies south to engage Egypt and bypasses these nations. (Dan. 11:40-41) B. Russia and its allies attack Israel. It appears the armies of Russia and the eastern nations in a series of battles, attack Israel, which is defended by the Antichrist and his European confederacy. The place of these great battles will be the Plain of Jezreel at Megiddo, and this great slaughter is called Armageddon. (Rev. 16:16, 19:17-21) Revelation 14:20 says the blood of those slain would come up the horse’s bridles. At the beginning of the battle, the Antichrist’s western armies will be fighting the northern army and will defeat it. The eastern nations, then come through Iran and engage the Antichrist. This will be happening when the Lord Jesus returns. Conclusion: Why preach and teach about these coming events? Christians will not be involved in them and this is no threat to us. True believers will return with Christ. Note Paul writing to the Thessalonians of the rapture also mentions the second part of the Lord’s return. “To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.” (1 Thessalonians 3:13) A great concern of all true Christians is that there are many people who are confident that if the rapture were to occur that they would be taken up to be with the lord, but in reality, will find their feet firmly planted on earth, with the only thing to look forward to being the tribulation. (This message was gleaned in part from J. Dwight Pentecost’s book “Things go Come.”
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