The Battle of Armagedon

Revelation 19:17-21

In our Bible study last week, we learned about the glorious appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ, which will take place at the end of the seven-year tribulation.

Titus 2:13 tells us that we are to be looking forward to that with great anticipation...

Titus 2:13 KJV

13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;

And although the verse could be applied to the idea of the rapture, and his coming in the sky to take us to be with Him, I believe the correct interpretation of his appearing is the actual Second Coming that we talked about last week.

So, This event is not to be confused with the rapture of the church, which takes place at the end of this church age.

When Jesus comes the second time, He will not be a baby in a manger, but He will be the righteous judge, the righteous warrior, and the righteous king.

In this passage we see the Lord as a mighty warrior.

He is coming to do battle with the armies of Satan in the Battle of Armageddon.

The place of this battle was introduced to us back in chapter 16.

We would be wise to remember the significance of the Holy Land in prophecy.

Revelation 16:15–16 KJV

15 Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. 16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

This is the Valley of Megiddo

This battle will be the fulfillment of the prophecy found in Daniel 2:35

Daniel 2:35 KJV

35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

Matthew 24:29 tells us this battle will take place immediately after the tribulation of “those days.”

Matthew 24:29 KJV

29 Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be darkened, and the moon shall not give her light, and the stars shall fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens shall be shaken:

The forces of the Antichrist, according to chapter 16, will gather across the dried upriver Euphrates.

They will, in fact, come from all directions.

They will follow the word of the Antichrist and the false prophet.

Then in the Valley of Megiddo, the final war between the forces of good and evil will take place.

While the Antichrist will desire to kill believers and their coming Lord, he will be stopped.

Zechariah 14:2–3 KJV

2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, And the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, As when he fought in the day of battle.

On this day, the forces of evil are banished for good.

This is the great day of Jehovah, the final battle of human history. (Heaven against Hell)

I. The Doom of Satan’s Forces

17 And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God;

18 That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great.

A. The Armies of the World Will Gather

All throughout history many armies have gathered at this battlefield: Egyptians, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Crusaders, and even Napoleons armies.

In Israel’s History two great victories were won here: 1. Barak’s victory over the Canaanites in Judges 4:15, and 2. Gideon’s victory over the Midianites in Judges 7.

But Armageddon was also the site of two great tragedies: 1. the death of Saul and his sons in 1 Samuel 31:8, and 2. the death of King Josiah in 2 Kings 23:29-30.

But at this time in the future a real battle will be gathered with all the world’s armies.

Napoleon is famous for saying there is no greater battlefield to gather the world in battle than this location.

Here the forces of the world will gather.

They will come from the North and the South

Here we see a map to show where they come from.

Ezekiel 38-39 speak of this battle as well in very similar language, however Ezekiel begins to name specific countries.

We are seeing a build up of these same countries on the verge of war with Israel today.

If you look at these ancient nations,and compare them to their modern locations you begin to see some recognizable names:

Gog and Magog is Russia -

Persia is Iran we know that they are very involved with training Hamas, and Hezbollah in the North which is firing into Israel now.

Gomer and Togarmah - is Turkey

And in the south Libya, Ethiopia and possibly parts of Sudan and Central Africa.

Many of these countries today are already hostile toward Israel.

By the way many of these nations are hostile against Christians as well look how similar these maps look...

The gathering of these forces will culminate with a gathering of forces to fight for three main purposes, to take the land, to destroy the lineage and to oppose the Lord.

This is not a new war, it has been going on for thousands of years already.

It will end on that day, and Ezekiel tells us that the Holy Spirit will be poured out on Israel and there will be a great revival in Israel - we learned about that when we studied Romans.

Zechariah speaks about this as well.

Zechariah 14:1–4 KJV

1 Behold, the day of the Lord cometh, And thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. 2 For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem to battle; And the city shall be taken, and the houses rifled, and the women ravished; And half of the city shall go forth into captivity, And the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. 3 Then shall the Lord go forth, and fight against those nations, As when he fought in the day of battle. 4 And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, Which is before Jerusalem on the east, And the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, And there shall be a very great valley; And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, And half of it toward the south.

Jesus is coming again! AMEN!

Then we are told that...

B. The Fowls of the Heavens Will Gather

An angel standing in the Sun summons all the fowl of the air.

Ezekiel 39:4 KJV

4 Thou shalt fall upon the mountains of Israel, thou, and all thy bands, and the people that is with thee: I will give thee unto the ravenous birds of every sort, and to the beasts of the field to be devoured.

God will gather all the fowls of the air to take care of the dead.

When we travelled to Gettysburg a few years ago we heard that the worst part for the people that lived in Gettysburg was what was left after the battle, the corpses of over 7,058 soldiers and about 3,000 horses needed to be burried.

The civilians had to help the Union soldiers that were left with the carnage.

The population of the whole town was only about 2,400 people.

Here the birds and beasts of the field will feast on these that die here.

There is no doubt that Satan knows what will happen in that day, and yet he will still gather all these men to their doom.

And will convince them that they will win.

So we see secondly,

II. The Determination of Satan’s Forces

19 And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army.

A. They Unite Against Christ

I can’t imagine what the Antichrist will say to these men to rally up such support and fight in these men.

To go up against the obvious supernatural King of Kings who appears to them at the battle.

Perhaps the Antichrist will say, “Gentleman, the things that unite us are more important than the things that divide us. We must fight for our common survival. The last time He came, we crucified Him, this time let us cast Him away forever.”

What ever he might say, it is enough to spur on these forces to go to battle.

The armies are mobilized.

But they are led on my the dragon, the beast and the false prophet.

Revelation 16:13–14 KJV

13 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. 14 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.

Many of the wars we have fought have been fought by international forces fighting side by side.

But this will be the whole world coming to battle against Christ…and what will be the Lord’s response?

B. The Lord Will Laugh

The prophetic Psalm 2, gives us a picture of the Lord and all of heaven’s response:

Psalm 2:1–4 KJV

1 Why do the heathen rage, And the people imagine a vain thing? 2 The kings of the earth set themselves, And the rulers take counsel together, Against the Lord, and against his anointed, saying, 3 Let us break their bands asunder, And cast away their cords from us. 4 He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: The Lord shall have them in derision.

I don’t believe that this is a laugh of enjoyment or humor, it is a incredulous laugh at the idea that they can stand against the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

III. The Destruction of the Antichrist and Followers

20 And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

Imagine the equipment that has gathered in the valley of Megiddo, and the fleets that have gathered in the Persian Gulf and the Mediterranean Sea.

Much has been destroyed during the Tribulation, but what is left, no doubt is brought here to battle.

We see first of all that:

A. The Antichrist Is Taken First

20 And the beast was taken,

This is the little horn of Daniel 7 and the man of sin of II Thessalonians.

2 Thessalonians 2:8 KJV

8 And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:

B. The False Prophet Is Taken Also

and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.

This second beast that has come from the earth and exercising the authority of the first beast.

This man who has turned so many men, women and children away from the truth of the gospel to follow and worship the Beast.

He will be gathered with the Antichrist and they will be cast alive into the lake of fire.

The Antichrist and the false prophet are cast bodily into the lake of fire.

They are still there 1000 years later.

Revelation 20:10 KJV

10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Let us never take lightly the tragedy of hell.

Then the Bible says that...

C. The Armies of the Antichrist Are Destroyed

21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

The battle is over in a moment.

The men of this earth do not stand a chance before the mighty Warrior Judge.

Conclusion

Once again, we see the mighty weapon of the Lord is the sword of the Spirit (verse 21).

21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth: and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.

The Lord will simply speak the word of death.

His word has always been the way of victory.

His Word speaks life and death, depending on which way you follow.

The folly of man will lead them to their own death.

And yet we see that man will endeavor for peace without Jesus until the very end.

But only those who have put their faith in Jesus will have peace in the end!