The Tribulation Part 13: the Battle of Armageddon

[....]

The Tribulation Part 13: the Battle of Armageddon​

In part 12 of our study, we saw the demise of Babylon. Now, as we continue in part 13, we see the last great war on Planet Earth.

21 judgments upon the planet; the world lies shattered, a former shell of what it once was.

Were Revelation to end here, it would be the most depressing of stories. The planet is left in utter ruins, while the wicked remnants of humanity shake their fists at God.

But Scripture describes in heaven:

"After these things I heard something like a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, “Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; BECAUSE HIS JUDGMENTS ARE TRUE AND RIGHTEOUS; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and HE HAS AVENGED THE BLOOD OF HIS BOND-SERVANTS ON HER.” And a second time they said, “Hallelujah! HER SMOKE RISES UP FOREVER AND EVER.” And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, “Amen. Hallelujah!” And a voice came from the throne, saying, Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great. Then I heard something like the voice of a great multitude and like the sound of many waters and like the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns” (Revelation 19:1-6, NASB)

The people in heaven celebrate the destruction of Babylon; the world system and city that enslaved, oppressed and destroyed the planet has been utterly annihilated! They praise the Lord and give Him the glory and credit for this victory. And as everyone is celebrating, the twenty-four elders, along with the four living creatures, all fell to their knees to worship the Lord God, in recognition of His tremendous victory! It is a scene of rejoicing, as the Creator has smashed evil and taken Babylon from her precarious heights, all the way down to the pit of ruin.

Then, the announcement of the wedding of the Lamb and the Bride:

“Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and 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.” (Revelation 19:7-8 NASB)

I believe what we are seeing is a previous moment in time, due to the language that John uses here. The “linen” (the righteousness of the saints”) does not belong to the saints, but is imparted to them from the Lord. And the language of Scripture says that “it had been given to her”; that says that she had to be given her wedding clothes.

On another note: using the traditional Jewish Wedding Model (which Jesus referenced several times in Scripture), the Wedding feast lasts seven days, which is the same amount of time the Tribulation lasts. Since the Bride and Groom would spend that seven days in the chamber and then emerge from there at the end of it at the feast, there would not be time after the Tribulation for the wedding feast.

So…who are the guests? Since a Bride and Groom aren’t invited to their own wedding (they’re the ones holding it!!), then that leaves the hosts in heaven, the Old Testament saints and martyred Tribulation saints.

As John returns to using present-tense language, we read that the angel has yet more to say to John:

“Then 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.” Then I fell at his feet to worship him. But 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.” (Revelation 19:9-10, NASB)

The angel reminds John that, like John, he too is but a servant and that worship belongs to God alone. And his remark about Jesus brings up a crucial point:

The entire point of prophecy is Jesus!

Jesus is the one that prophecy points to, and Jesus is the one whom the prophets foretold the coming of. His birth, life, ministry, death and resurrection were all foretold. It is fitting in the last book of the Bible that the entire summation of the work of the prophets be brought to bear in one name: JESUS CHRIST. And now, the same One who told all those who believe that He would come again and take us with Him, has one more task before He can set up His kingdom:

Reclaim Planet Earth.

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many diadems; and He has a name written on Him which no one knows except Himself. He is clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, were following Him on white horses. From His mouth comes a sharp sword, so that with it He may strike down the nations, and He will rule them with a rod of iron; and He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God, the Almighty. And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19: 11-16, NASB)

The Lord Jesus returns to the Planet Earth, but this time, He’s not alone. The armies of heaven are with Him, also clothed in white, clean linen, signifying their purity. I believe that at that point, the armies of heaven will be all those who inhabit heaven, including the Church. Church Age Believers and the holy angels will all ride together in one massive army.

At the head of this army is The Lord Himself. No longer the “meek and mild servant”, Jesus Christ arrives as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. The description of Him is formidable indeed:

-“His eyes are a flame of fire”: This denotes that nothing will escape His view and that whatever lies that are hidden will be exposed. He will see into the heart and instantly know what lies there, good and bad, without any obstruction or obfuscation.

- “On His head are many diadems”: Unlike the stephanos crowns that recognize victory, these crowns show that Jesus Christ has all authority everywhere, over all things. This also means that He has the absolute authority to carry out judgment and the sentence thereof against the armies amassed in opposition to the Lord in the Valley of Megiddo.

-“He has a name written on Him that no one knows except Himself”: Names held great importance in ancient times; they could denote important aspects of a person, their position, authority, or even convey a message. In Jesus’ case, having a name no one else knew but Himself says that He has qualities that are indescribable.

-"From His mouth comes a sharp sword,so that with it He may strike down the nations":Jesus' spoken word is so powerful, that a single word can utterly destroy anything or anyone. That is no surprise for the Creator of the Universe; it is by His word that all things were made in the first place! (Genesis chapter 1 and 2, John chapter 1).

-"And He will rule them with a rod of iron": When Jesus takes control and begins His reign in the millennium, His word will be final. He won't tolerate people arguing with Him, threats of any kind, or disobedience of any stripe. For that to happen, He must first remove all those whose hearts contain only rebellion.

"-And He treads the wine press of the fierce wrath of God": Jesus is carrying out the will of the Father, and the time has come for man's rebellious reign on the planet to end. Aside from the remnant of Israel, and those scant few who aided her and stuck by the Lord during the Tribulation despite the cost, the rest are in God's line of fire.

"-And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, “KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.”: This marking on His thigh clearly identifies who Jesus is, and seals once and for all His position for all to see. No one can claim by any stretch of the imagination that "they didn't know who He was". Interestingly enough, "on His thigh" is normally the place where a sword and sheath would be on a warrior in battle.

“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and 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 on the horse and against His army.” (Revelation 19:17-19, NASB)

In the next passage, an angel standing in the sun (I suspect that the sunlight acts as a spotlight on him) announces to the birds that “a supper” would be laid out for them. In this case, the angel is telling them that the army that is in the valley will be served up to them as a meal. Not only does this serve to call out to the few animals still left, but it is a chilling warning to the world’s armies:

“If you don’t run NOW, you are LITERALLY GOING TO BE BIRD FOOD!”

So…what are the Beast and the other kings of the Earth’s reply to this? They join forces to oppose Jesus Christ.

(Brilliant move, guys. Real smart.)

“And 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 and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone” (Revelation 19: 20, NASB, emphasis mine)

With the armies of the world gather against Him, the Lord chooses now to show how powerful He truly is. Without so much as a gunshot, the armies gathered watch in awestruck horror as Jesus Christ grabs the Beast and the False Prophet, and throws them in the Lake of Fire!! They get no trial, no appearance at the great White Throne, nothing. The Lord’s sentence is swift and final; the Beast and the False Prophet are thrown straight into Hell alive.

In removing and instantly punishing the unholy leaders of this horrific world system, He asserts His rightful claim over the rebellious planet, and illustrates in unmistakable terms the amount of rebellion He will tolerate:

NONE.

As for the rest of the battle… it’s not much of a battle at all:

“And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.” (Revelation 19:21, NASB)

The Lord Jesus now turns His attention to those whose boots served to crush underfoot all those who would not yield to their brutal regime. The “sword” that “comes from His mouth” is a reference to his title “The Word of God. The actual battle in which the Lord defeats the armies of the world is actually told in greater detail in the Book of Zechariah:

“Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and 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. You will flee by the valley of My mountains, for the valley of the mountains will reach to Azel; yes, you will flee just as you fled before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. Then the LORD, my God, will come, and all the holy ones with Him! In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night, but it will come about that at evening time there will be light. And in that day 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 in winter.

And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be the only one, and His name the only one. the land will be changed into a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem; but Jerusalem will rise and remain on its site from Benjamin’s Gate as far as the place of the First Gate to the Corner Gate, and from the Tower of Hananel to the king’s wine presses. People will live in it, and there will no longer be a curse, for Jerusalem will dwell in security.” (Zechariah 14:1-11, NASB, emphasis mine)

As clearly read in the chapter, this is indeed another description of The Battle of Armageddon. It is here where we read that Jesus’ feet will cause the Mount of Olives to split, and that a valley will form between the two halves. It reveals certain other details as well that Revelation does not mention (I mention them here for clarification only).

One detail in particular is how those who oppose the Lord will die:

“Now this will be the plague with which the LORD will strike all the peoples 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, and 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. Judah also will fight at Jerusalem; and the wealth of all the surrounding nations will be gathered, gold and silver and garments in great abundance. So also like this plague will be the plague on the horse, the mule, the camel, the donkey and all the cattle that will be in those camps.” (Zechariah 14:12-15, NASB, emphasis mine)

As the Lord fights at Armageddon, His spoken words will cause the armies of the world to literally fall apart where they stand. Confusion and fear will take hold amongst them, and they will fight one another as they desperately attempt to either fight an invincible foe, or flee for their very lives. It is a very appropriate judgment; they thought and did only evil and loved death, so the Lord made their bodies reflect their hearts.

The end of the battle is a grisly one, with the birds of the air doing as the angel told them to. Jerusalem is saved, and so are the remnant, but the valley is a literal winepress of blood. The armies of the world now lie dead here, very few people are left alive, and a dead planet is even more so now with the majority of mankind laying here in this valley…

…but this is not the end.

In part 14, we’ll see the Lord create from this hellish, dead world an incredibly beautiful kingdom that will rival anything ever seen in the previous ages. Justice, beauty, peace, joy, love and harmony return, and it all has a name:

The Millennial Reign of Jesus Christ.

I bid you peace.

YBIC,

-Sojo414