Armageddon

Transcript

GR 434
1/31/1982
Armageddon
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We studied the conflict with Russia and her allies and Israel that takes place in the middle of the tribulation. Some of that is pictured in Daniel chapter 11. And in verse 40 with the King of the South and the King of the North coming against the antichrist, challenging him. And then the antichrist himself enters in to Palestine. In verse 41, "He’ll enter the beautiful land. Many countries will fall. These will be rescued out of his hand: Edom, Moab, and the foremost of the sons of Ammon." We noted that this region across the Jordan will become a place of refuge for Israel. They will hide in this region to be preserved through the judgments. "Then he’ll stretch out his hand against other countries, and the land of Egypt will not escape. He'll gain control over the hidden treasures of gold, silver, all the precious things of Egypt; Libyans, Ethiopians will follow at his heels." Verse 44: "But rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him, and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. And he will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him." Picture. We've touched a little bit on it this morning, we’ll recover that ground in a moment.

As we grind toward the end of the seven years, there are challenges now being launched to the antichrist rule. We have questions how could he rule? Even for three and a half years without a challenge? But we know Russia's power has been broken. Recorded in Ezekiel 38 and 39. That leaves the way we're arranged in the world today primarily the Orient. And it's not even so difficult to see how the armies of China and her allies would not be prepared to challenge him. We’ve been impressed somewhat with some of the weaknesses. They can feel the vast army numerically but have not been able to demonstrate the proficiency we might have expected from a country that size.

So, whatever the reasons, for the bulk of the seven year tribulation, we hear nothing of these vast hundreds of millions of people in the Orient—the East as they are depicted in the Scripture. But now they come on the scene at the end of this seven-year period. They are prepared to march and launch a challenge to the antichrist’s rule over the world. And with them the remnant of the Northern army. You’ll note in verse 44, "rumors from the East and from the North will disturb him." Now the remnants of those armies destroyed in Ezekiel 38 and 39 again join with these armies of the East to launch a challenge to the antichrist rule. He goes forth in verse 44 with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. "He will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas, the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him,” He is coming now to the final conflict. That final engagement.

Come over again to the Book of Revelation, where we were in our consideration this morning with the bowl judgments culminating. The judgments of the seven year tribulation. And in connection with the fifth angel, we saw the way prepared in verse 12 for the kings from the east, I take it that ties to what we read in Daniel 11, The way is now prepared for the east—for the kings of the East and as this vast army begins its move toward Palestine, that’s what troubles the antichrist. And he marshals his forces and goes forth in fury, preparing for this major conflict. Now we noted in chapter 9 that this is an army, in verse 16 of chapter 9, of 200 million. So you can get some idea of the vast numbers that will be represented at this conflict. If the kings of the East to marshal an army of 200 million, you add to that the remnants of the northern army and the allies, that the antichrist will attempt to match them as much as possible with an army of equal size that we've come to a place with the largest armies ever assembled being brought into Palestine for a final conflict. And it’s interesting verse 13, how they’re brought together,

Revelation 16:13; "I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs." Here you have the Satanic trinity as it’s often referred to. With the dragon who is Satan, the mouth of the beast or the antichrist, and the false prophet. Satan, or the dragon depicting God the Father, the beast being the false messiah, Satan's counterfeit Christ, and the false prophet carrying out a ministry similar to the Holy Spirit in directing worship in the world to the antichrist. Out of their mouths come three unclean spirits like frogs. It doesn't say three frogs come out of their mouths. It says three unclean spirits like frogs come out of their mouth, "For they are spirits of demons." No lack of understanding here. These are demonic beings, sent forth from these beings—this satanic trinity. "They are spirits of demons performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty." Now here, interesting, these demonic spirits are what, are being used to draw the armies of the world to this final conflict. Now it may seem strange—Satan has his master counterfeit on the throne of the world. Why would he want to disrupt things now by sending forth demonic beings to assemble armies at Palestine? Well, one of the reasons may be that
Satan, realizing that his time is short, we were told in chapter 12, has some awareness and understanding of the eminent return of Jesus Christ at this pointy He's really marshalling his forces for one grand last battle.

Now, right away your mind goes, "Does Satan really think he can do conflict with Christ?" But really don't you have to think that every day. Why does he go on with this foolishness? We'll see this at the end of the millennium when after being bound in the abyss for a thousand years, what’s the first thing he does when he’s set free? Go out to deceive the world and draw them into an attack against Jesus Christ, Now, we look and say, "Can he be that foolish?" But the answer is, "Yes, he "^s that sinful." So consumed by his sin, he's relentless in his opposition to Jesus Christ,

So here his demonic beings go out to gather this great force. And it's interesting the way it's put at the end of verse 14: "They gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty" Then this blessing is pronounced in verse 15. Then verse 16 for the flow of thought, "And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedonn." Ar-mageddon, as we have it. Arm—the mount; mageddo—the mount of mageddo. That great valley to the north of Palestine. Twenty miles long—fourteen miles wide. Many great battles fought there through the Old Testament. A major battle ground in Palestine. Some great men fought and died there. Saul, king of Israel, died in a conflict at this place.

So these armies of the world are gathered supernaturally, by demonic beings within the plan of God. So you see here how God even uses fallen, sinful beings for the realization of His purposes? The armies of the world being gathered by demonic spirits to the great conflict with God.

Look back in Revelation chapter 14. Now it's easy to lose the continuity of the Book of Revelations because of these chapters that are inserted. Remember we said chapters 10,11, 12, 13, 14, 15 don’t move us along in the flow of the judgments, but they relate what’s happening in the midst of these specific series of judgments we’ve talked about. Chapter 14, we have depicted the coming conflict at Armageddon. Look at verse 14, "I looked and behold, a white cloud, and sitting on the cloud was one like a son of man, having a golden crown on His head, and a sharp sickle in His hand," "Another angel came out of the temple, crying out with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, ’Put in your sickle and reap, because the hour to reap has come, because the harvest of the earth is ripe.' And He who sat on the cloud swung His sickle over the earth; and the earth was reaped." Now you see it from God’s perspective. The wickedness of mankind has now come to full bloom. It is fully ripe for harvesting. So the question that the righteous have raised through the tribulation and over the centuries, "Why does God delay?" Because He’s waiting until the crop is ripe so to speak, until the world is ripe for judgment. I'm not a farmer. I'm not even a lawn care man. I know little. So I go out and see something hanging on a tree, I say, "Let's pick it." Somebody who knows something says, "No it’s not ripe." "What do you mean it's not ripe? It's plenty big. I'm not any more hungry than that will satisfy." "It doesn't matter. It's not ripe." Well that's what God is saying about the earth. Why doesn't God intervene today? And we have these foolish challenges of men. "If there's a God, let Him intervene now, and bring judgments." Well, we don't tell God when the world is ripe. He tells us. And here is that awesome picture—the world is ripe so harvest it. And the harvest of course is the destruction of the wicked.

Verse 17, "Another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he had also a sharp sickle. And another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle saying, 'Put in your sharp sickle, gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.’ The angel swung his sickle to the earth, gathered the clusters from the vine of the earth, threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and the blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles." Now they're gathered to Armageddon, that central place in the north of Palestine. But that is only the focal point. This conflict spreads throughout the entire length of Palestine. You cannot bring this army of perhaps 500 million into Palestine and squeeze them into this one area. That is a focal point, but the entire vast region of Palestine is encompassed in conflict. And here you have this awesome description where the wine press is trodden outside the city and blood came out from the wine press up to the horse’s bridles for a distance of 200 miles. Now that's a lot of blood, no matter how you measure it. For the entire 200 miles, you have blood flowing. Now there's some question. Would this be blood that is deep enough to reach up to the horses bridle. Well, that could be possible I guess. Particularly in a valley or a river region and following the flow of the river. It could also be depicting that the corpses are piled so deep that the blood is continually splashed up to the horse’s bridles. And that's the picture. The grapes are the wicked and they are cast into this wine press and being just mashed up. Rather gruesome picture. But you've brought multitudes of millions. Hundreds of millions of people into
Palestine and now they’re being slaughtered and the blood is just freely flowing.

Isaiah uses this reference. This kind of picture. Back in the Book of Isaiah. In chapter 63. Picturing God pouring out His wrath on the nations in this great conflict. Verse 2 of Isaiah 63: "Why is your apparel red, and your garments like the one who treads in the wine press? I have trodden the wine trough alone, from the peoples there was no man with Me. I trod them also in My anger, trampled them in My wrath; their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, I stained all My raiment. For the day of vengeance was in My heart, My year of redemption has come," Now that picture of the trampling of the wicked and the splattering of the blood.

Turn to Zechariah chapter 14. Zechariah chapter 14 pictures something of this conflict and battle and the intervention of Jesus Christ. And we’ll pick it up in Zechariah 14 then we'll go to Revelation 19. Zechariah 14. You have some picture here. What is going to happen just to give you the preview before we look at the details, are these armies march into Palestine and the conflict is engaged, Again Israel suffers another tremendous devastation at the hands of these armies, And when it seems that there is no hope for salvation from total annihilation, Jesus Christ personally intervenes from heaven to provide deliverance. Chapter 14 of Zechariah; "Behold a day is coming for the Lord when the spoils taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle." Note here, God says, "I will gather them." In Revelation chapter 16 we saw the demonic beings gathering them; but God is using these spirits for the accomplishing of His purposes. It is His purpose they be gathered against Jerusalem to battle. Note, "the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished, half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city. Then the Lord will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south. And you will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountain will reach to Azel-j yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah" and so forth. Verse 6, "It will come about in that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. It will be a unique day which is known to the Lord, neither day nor night, but it will come about at evening there will be light.
It will come about in that day that living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea-; it will be in summer as well as winter. And the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day the Lord will be the only one, His name the only one." Verse 12: "Now this will be the plague which the Lord will strike all the people who have gone to war against Jerusalem; their flesh will rot while they stand on their feet, and their eyes will rot in their sockets, their tongue will rot in their mouth. It will come about in that day that a great panic from the Lord will fall on them; and they will seize one another’s hand, and the hand of one will be lifted against the hand of another, And Judah will also fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold, silver, garments in great abundance. So also like this plague, will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey, all the cattle that will be in those camps." A rather vivid description. Some have taken this description in verse 12 to depict the results of atomic warfare. And some of those more acquainted with the details of that say it's an apt description. I don't know whether that's the case or not: or it is a supernatural intervention of God directly again. And in the terror that's caused by seeing what is happening, you'll note they're in a great panic. Verse 13, "A great panic from the Lord will fall on them and they turn on one another. So much of the slaughter that is taking place now in this great conflict of Armageddon are the peoples of the world slaughtering themselves because this great vast army from the Orient has come. The North has come. The armies of the antichrist have assembled here. And now in this great panic, they’ve all turned on one another and you have this great slaughter going with the great destruction that's being wrought. And it is a rather picturesque and gruesome description given of the flesh rotting while they're standing and whether it's atomic warfare or supernatural intervention, the picture is clear on the devastation that is poured out on these peoples.
Come over to Revelation, We have to stop at Matthew. We'll pick that up and then we'll get to Revelation. (Pause) Matthew, chapter 24 (Long pause) Scripture makes clear that the second coming of Christ to earth will not be missed by anyone and you don't have to be concerned that maybe Christ came and you weren't aware of it. So you have these hoaxes that are perpetuated and hoisted upon people, "Oh the messiah has come. He's over here. Didn't you know that?" "Oh, the messiah has come. Didn't you know that." We have some of these men present today who are presenting themselves as the messiah. And Jesus answered that and we read it in our Scripture reading this morning. Verse 26 of Matthew 24: »"If therefore they say to you, 'Behold, He is in the wilderness, don't go forth, behold He is in the inner rooms,' do not believe them, For just as the lightning comes from the east and flashes even to the west, so shall the coming of the Son of Man be," In connection with this, there are corpses everywhere as well and the vultures gather accordingly, "But immediately after the tribulation of those days, the sun will be dark and the moon will not give it's light, and the stars will fall from the sky, the powers of the heavens will be shaken, and then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of the sky with power and great glory." So this direct intervention. All the armies of the world have merged for great conflict and now the sign of the appearing of the Son of God is seen by all and they turn to do conflict with the one who is the ultimate enemy. Over to Revelation 19. Revelation chapter 19. The first ten verses give the preparation for the second coining of Christ. The cry of victory—verse 1,
"Hallelujah! Salvation, glory and power belong to our God; because His judgments are true and righteous;" That constant reminder that these judgments that have been poured out in the tribulation are true and righteous judgments. It’s so important that we have God's perspective. The holy angels who serve in His presence see these judgments as true, righteous, holy, and fitting for a sinful world. He's avenged the blood of his bondservants. Verse 3, "Hallelujah!" They're crying hallelujah over the destruction of the great harlot, Babylon. It's been recorded for us in chapter 17 and chapter 18. Down to verse 7: "Let us rejoice and be glad, give glory to Him for the marriage of the Lamb has come, His bride has made herself ready. It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. He said to me, 'Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb' and he said to me 'These are true words of God,' I fell at his feet to worship him. He said to me, 'Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy." Angels do not accept worship. And John is rebuked for it.

So verses 7 to 9 important because that's you and me. That's us. So those are the only verses I've got marked in this chapter. I figure the one I'm really concerned about is me and here I am. I am part of the bride who has been made ready. Clothed in fine linen depicting the righteous acts. The Bema Seat of Christ has occurred, the rewards have been given. Now blessing to those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. We'll be talking about the millennium in coming studies. That is the marriage supper—the millennium. There's blessing on those who are invited. We'll see this when we look at the judgments in the next study.

Verse 11: "I saw heaven opened; behold, a white horse, and He who sat upon it is called Faithful and True; and in righteousness He judges and wages war. And His eyes are a flame of fire, and upon His head are many diadems; and He has a name written upon Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood; His name is called the Word of God. The armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses," I take it, that includes you and me. Because we were told in verse 8 that it’s the bride that is clothed in fine linen. Now in verse 14, the armies in heaven clothed in fine linen, which has been depicted as the righteous acts of the saints, were following Him on white horses, I’ve never been a great horseman. Last time I went riding, I almost got skinned to death and have never gone since which is fine.

Verse 15, (but I will go on this occasion) I just wanted to clarify that that I’m not going to get left behind on this one. Besides the glorified body is not subject to skinning. Verse 15: "From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may smite the nations." Of course, I don't have to come and do the battles for Christ. I come following Him in victory. And He speaks the Word and the nations of the earth suffer destruction. "From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so with it He may smite the nations; He will rule them with a rod of iron; He trends the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty," Awesome expression here of the fierce wrath of His anger. The tremendous wrath that is being displayed. Now there is nothing to measure the love of God; but by the same token there is no way to measure the wrath of God either. He is an infinite God capable of infinite love and capable of infinite wrath. Why it’s almost beyond words to describe the wrath that is being displayed. You have this picturesque expression again, "tredding the wine press of the fierce wrath of God," Because this picture was so clear to the peoples of this day. Where the grapes were thrown in and trodden and crushed and smashed and the juice flowed so freely. So the picture of the destruction.

"On His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." "I saw an angel standing in the sun; he cried out with a loud voice saying to all the birds which fly in. midheaven, 'Come, assemble for the great supper of God; in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses, of those who sit on them, the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, small and great.' And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army." So you see what's happened. With the sign of the coming of the Son of Man appearing in the heavens, the armies of the earth do not bow in submission and repentance, but they are consistent to the end. We saw them at the end of chapter 16 in the judgments of the great tribulation blaspheming God. Now what do we see? Jesus Christ Himself, returning from glory. The foolishness of it—and you have the armies of the world assembled to make war with Him. As if there was any hope at all that mere human armies could challenge the Son of God as He marches in victory from heaven. But we'll see that again at the end of the millennium when given the opportunity multitudes like the sand of the sea are going to marshal themselves to attack Jesus Christ at Jerusalem. So I can understand something of the repeated attempts of Satan because we see it even among mankind. Of course the destruction is complete. They’re slain by the Word of His mouth, There is no conflict. The destruction here is total and absolute as the armies of the world are thrown into chaos. They’re slain by their own swords and Jesus Christ comes in complete victory. You aid I are there. You say, "Oh, I wouldn't want to be there. I don't want to see this tremendous carnage and destruction." But we will. Because then we will have God's perspective on all these things. And we will see clearly how fitting it is that unregenerate rebellious sinners suffer destruction at the hands of a holy God. I think it will be a great privilege for us to march in triumph with Him. This is the time when you and I are unveiled before all creation as the sons of God. There it will be revealed that we are indeed the bride of Christ. Now, picture here all the birds of heaven invited by the angel standing in the sun to come to a great feast. And, you'll note, it's the kings, the mighty, everyone just become food for the birds of the air because they suffer destruction on this point. "Beasts" just to complete the picture. And we'll be picking this up somewhat with the judgments we look at leading into the millennium in our next study.

"The beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast, those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone." The beast and the false prophet are not killed, but they are taken alive and cast into hell. "The rest were killed with the sword which came out from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh," Complete destruction of all the wicked and will follow by Satan's being bound.

So just as the prophets prophesied thousands of years ago that the Son of God would rule and reign, that the wicked would be destroyed. So it’s just as he said, And now to bring to a conclusion that tremendous awesome seven year period before mankind succeeds in annihilating himself for the sake of the elect, those that God has chosen for Himself, Jesus Christ intervenes now, marching in victory to bring destruction upon the wicked and to set up a kingdom which is eternal, This will be followed by the millennium which is the marriage supper of the Lamb, A time when you and I will be the exalted guests, We are the bride of Christ. He is the one who will receive all honor and attention, but we of all peoples, of all ages, occupy the intimacy of the position of being the bride of Christ. And we’ll talk about this relationship in our next study.

Have to conclude with just another challenge to you. Never want to assume that everyone, just because they’re at Indian Hills, is truly a member of the bride of Christ, a follower of Jesus Christ, and I’d encourage you to consider tonight. Have you really come to believe in Him who is the Lord of Lords and King of Kings? Have you come to trust Him as the one who died to pay the penalty for your sins? Are you anticipating being with Him in glory, returning with Him in victory as one who has been redeemed by the blood of the Lamb? Now these events are awesome. I study them and every time I study them, every time I read about them, I say, "That’s hard to believe." But you know it's actually going to happen? Just as Jesus Christ came the first time, so He’ll come the second time. And the glory and the victory will all be His.

Let’s pray together...