THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON — Part 2

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: REVELATION 14:14-20; 16:13-16; 19:11-21




INTRODUCTION:


  1. We have here in Revelation 19 (and 14:14-20 and 16:13-16) the great Battle of Armageddon.
  2. They said WWI was the “war to end all wars.”  But then came WWII!  And since then we have had the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and the first Gulf War, and war in Kosovo, and Afghanistan and Iraq, etc.
  3. Our Lord said in Matthew 24:6, “And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.”
  4. Luke 21:9 says, “But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by.”
  5. We will be hearing of more and more wars and rumours of wars, and “commotions,” leading up to the great Battle of Armageddon.
  6. The Battle of Armageddon truly will be the “war to end all wars.”
  7.  
  8. At this great battle – which will really be a series of battles – the Lord Jesus Christ will intervene in a marvelous and glorious way (Rev. 19:11-13), interdicting in human history. 
  9. The eighteenth chapter of the book of Revelation concludes with God’s judgment upon religious and commercial Babylon.
  10. Then chapter 19 begins with all the saints and angels in heaven rejoicing over the destruction of this great whore (cf. 19:2).
  11. Then follows the marriage supper of the Lamb (19:7-9).
  12. And immediately after the marriage supper of the Lamb, John sees “heaven open” (19:11), and our Lord appearing in glory with His angelic hosts and with His saints. 
  13. Then we see that the Lord Jesus Christ will intervene in this awful war to end all wars that God calls “the Battle of Armageddon” (16:16).
  14. The world is being deceived into thinking that man has evolved, and that man will bring in this great utopia here on earth.  This is the great delusion of the evolutionists and the socialists and the cults and the new-agers.
  15. But the Bible does not teach that things will get better and better.
  16. The Bible says, “But evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse, deceiving, and being deceived” (II Timothy 3:13).
  17. Second Timothy 3:1 says, “This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come.”  Strong’s Concordance defines “perilous” as “hard to take; hard to bear; troublesome, dangerous, harsh, fierce, savage.”
  18. This same Greek word translated “perilous” in II Timothy 3:1 is translated “fierce” in Matthew 8:28, where it refers to the demoniacs of Gadara as having devils that were “exceeding fierce.”
  19. No, this world is not heading towards a peaceful utopia, but what the Bible calls “the Great Tribulation.”
  20. Revelation 9:6 says, “And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.”
  21. There will be a kingdom of God here on earth some day, and I preached about it a couple of weeks ago.  But this world will not quietly and peacefully merge into the kingdom of God!
  22. Our Lord’s disciples asked Him, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matt. 24:3).
  23. “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you.  For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many.  And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet.  For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places” (Matt. 24:4-7).
  24. This will all culminate at the Battle of Armageddon.  Both the OT and the NT teach that this age will conclude with a vast and mighty conflict.  It will end in war and in blood and in desolation (cf. Isaiah 63:1-4; Zech. 12:1-3; 14:1-4; II Thess. 1:7-12). 
  25. This scene described so vividly for us here in the nineteenth chapter of the book of Revelation should be studied along side these other Scriptures, for the Battle of Armageddon has been prophesied throughout the entire Bible. 
  26. Three thousand, five hundred years ago, Moses said, “When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice.”
  27. The tribulation has been foretold all through the Word of God.
  28.  
  29. The theme of the book of Revelation is the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ (cf. Rev. 1:7; 3:11; 19:11-16).
  30. The Lord is coming back to judge this wicked, sin-loving world.

  1. IT IS AN INEVITABLE JUDGMENT – “And I saw…” (19:11)
  2. IT IS A RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT – “in righteousness he doth judge and make war” (19:11) 
  3. IT IS A WORLDWIDE JUDGMENT – “He should smite the nations” (19:15)

 

I. IT IS AN INEVITABLE JUDGMENT – “And I saw…” (19:11)

  1. A while ago, there was a TV documentary (I did not watch it) called “Avoiding Armageddon.”
  2. When the Lord returns, sinners will have no excuse (cf. II Peter 3:3-11).
  3. More recently, a new documentary has come out called, “Waiting for Armageddon.”
  4. I read an article about “Avoiding Armageddon,” and apparently General Colin Powell and former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton were interviewed for it.
  5. The problem is these men are not saved.  They are spiritually blind.
  6. They may be quite knowledgeable about politics, and terrorism, and weapons of mass destruction, and so on, but they apparently know very little about the Bible.
  7. Out of curiosity, I googled the words, “How to avoid Armageddon” and was surprised to find there were over 3 million articles.  After reading a few I realized none of these people have taken the time to read the Bible.
  8. For example, one article was entitled, “How to Survive Armageddon,” and said “things you’ll need are a short wave radio, rifle and ammunition, three months supplies, three month’s food and water, gold and silver, horse tent, and a wind generator.”
  9. The writer recommends moving far away from nuclear power plants; building a shelter, preferably a walled fortress that can withstand a siege; and organizing an adequately prepared militia.
  10. Of course, none of this will do any good when God pours down His hot wrath upon this wicked, sin-loving world (Rev. 6:12-17).
  11. Revelation 16:21 says, “And there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent: and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail; for the plague thereof was exceeding great.”
  12. A talent is about 100 pounds!  Building shelters and fortresses will not do any good when God begins to judge this world during the tribulation.
  13. There will be no way to escape the judgment of God.  It is unavoidable, inescapable, and inevitable!
  14. Revelation 19:15 says, “and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God.”
  15. The winepress represents the judgment of God (cf. Rev. 14:14-20).
  16. “Blood came out of the winepress, even unto the horse bridles, by the space of a thousand and six hundred furlongs” (14:20).  A furlong is about an eighth of a mile – that’s almost two hundred miles of blood up to the bridles of the horses! 
  17. This is unimaginable.  We are still not over the shock of WWII and Hitler’s crematoriums and gas chambers.  We still have not recovered from the shock of the WTC attack.
  18. And the worse is yet to come.
  19. But the world has never imagined anything comparable to the coming tribulation and the Battle of Armageddon.
  20. Our Lord said in Matthew 24:21, “For then shall be great tribulation, such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be.”
  21. Before moving on, let me emphasize that no one knows when the Lord will return.   Our Lord said, “Watch therefore, for ye know neither the day nor the hour wherein the Son of man cometh” (Matt. 25:13).
  22. Harold Camping, the head of “Family Radio,” is now claiming that Christ will return on May 21, 2011. This is the second time that Camping has set a date for the second coming of Christ. In the past, he predicted that Christ would return on September 6, 1994.   Harold Camping is a false prophet.
  23. On the Mount of Olives, our Lord’s disciples asked Him, “What shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world?” (Matthew 24:3).
  24. Our Lord replied, “And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you” (24:4), and went on to say, “And many false prophets shall rise, and shall deceive many” (24:11).

 

II. IT IS A RIGHTEOUS JUDGMENT – “in righteousness he doth judge and make war” (19:11) 

  1. All of the nations (including the USA) have turned their backs on God.  The United Nations is an ungodly organization which has repeatedly demonstrated its contempt for our country’s sovereignty.
  2. The UN is a cage of unclean birds, spies, terrorists, communists, and perverts.
  3. The WCC & the NCC are cages of dirty apostate birds, but the dirtiest birdcage is in Vatican City (Rev. 18:2; cf. 17:1ff).
  4. And the Lord will surely judge Babylon – literal Babylon (Iraq), religious Babylon, ecumenical Babylon, political Babylon, commercial Babylon, and militaritistic Babylon (Rev. 18:1-8).
  5. Revelation 16:13, 14, 16 says, “And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty… And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”
  6. God will draw all these demon-inspired men to the Battle of Armageddon. 
  7. Zechariah 12:3 says, “And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people: all that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it.”
  8. The heathen are raging, but Psalm 2:4 says, “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the LORD shall have them in derision.”
  9. The Lord is coming soon, and the Bible says, “His eyes were as a flame of fire” (Rev. 19:12).
  10. Revelation 19:13 says, “And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood: and his name is called The Word of God.”

 

III. IT IS A WORLDWIDE JUDGMENT – “He should smite the nations” (19:15)

  1. “And out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations…” (19:15).
  2. All of the armies of the world will be gathered at the Battle of Armageddon (Rev. 19:19).
  3. Daniel 11 describes the different armies converging on Israel for the great Battle of Armageddon.
  4. The most prominent person there will be the “beast” (19:19), also known as the antichrist.
  5. Both the beast and the false prophet will be “cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone” (19:20).
  6. All of the great kings and captains will be killed and eaten by buzzards (19:17; cf. Ezek. 39:17-21).
  7. Ezekiel 38 & 39 describes Russia and her allies (Persia – Iran; Ethiopia, and Libya) attacking Israel from the north.
  8. The king of the north will come down from Russia, and he will be destroyed.  Ezekiel 38:22 says, “And I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him, and upon his bands, and upon the many people that are with him, an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone.”
  9. The king of the west will be there too. He will be the leader of the confederated European states, and the USA will probably be a part of that confederacy.  From studying the prophecies of Daniel, it looks like the antichrist will be the head of this revived Roman Empire.
  10. In Daniel 7:8 and 8:9 he is referred to as “the little horn.”
  11. The kings of the east (Asia) will also come to the Battle of Armageddon. 
  12. This great army from the east will cross the Euphrates River as it marches on to Armageddon.  Revelation 9:16 says, “The number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand (two hundred million): and I heard the number of them.”
  13. The Bible also refers to the king of the south coming.  That would be Egypt and other countries of Africa.  They too will converge on the plain of Megiddo.
  14.  
  15. It will be a war to exterminate Israel (cf. Psalm 83:1-8).
  16. And it will be a war one nation against another (cf. Dan. 11:40-45).
  17. And it will be a war against God (Rev. 19:19).

 

CONCLUSION:


  1. We are getting very close to the fulfillment of these prophecies.
  2. Second Thessalonians 2:11 says, “And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie.”
  3. Today multitudes are deluded.  They accept evolution, so-called “global warming,” homosexuality, etc.
  4. Soon the multitudes will be deceived into believing the antichrist is the saviour of the world.
  5. I will conclude with a quote from WA Criswell, who served as the pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas for over 50 years.
  6. “You just put this down as an axiom in human history: When a people, when a nation, turns aside from the truth, and when they turn aside from God, and when they turn aside from obedience to the mandates of God, you just put this as an axiom in history: they turn to the most unimaginable untruths that mind could think of…They turn into damnation and into oppression and into hell and into all things evil and sordid and bad and terrible.  There’s no exception to that in human history.”
  7. “And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.  If any man have an ear, let him hear” (Rev. 13:8, 9).


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