Episode 65 - Time's Up! The Battle of Armageddon - Deciphering Revelation Part 9

We are already on part 9 of our 12-part series on the Book of Revelation; and things are about to get taken to a whole new level! God is about to say, “Enough is enough!” In this episode, we look at chapters 15 & 16 which include the seven bowl judgements or plagues and the most famous passage in the entire Bible - the Battle of Armageddon. Only 36% of Americans believe the Bible is real, yet 59% of Americans believe the events in the book of Revelation will come to pass. And at the top of that list of beliefs in events that will come to pass is the battle of Armageddon. So what is this final, famous, sometime infamous battle set off by the 6th bowl judgment? Tune in and find out!

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Transcript

Episode 65 – Times Up! - The Battle of Armageddon 

Welcome Everyone! We are already on part 9 of our 12-part series on the Book of Revelation; and things are about to get taken to a whole new level! God is about to say, “Enough is enough!”
If you listened to the last episode, you know that we left off at the end of chapter 14. It was close to the end of the tribulation period. Jesus is getting ready to come back to earth. Right before the last judgments are released on the earth, Jesus takes the church (that is, the believers) who are left on earth up to heaven to join Him.
If you remember, when we talked about the seal and trumpet judgements, we left off before the 7th one of each. And just as a reminder, these seal and trumpet judgements are not 2 different sets of judgements, they are the same judgements given from a different perspective. The first 6 judgements of both are happening now to some extent and have been happening since Jesus’ Ascension. The 7th seal and trumpet, though, has not happened yet. They represent God’s final wrath on the wicked right before Jesus’ Second Coming. And it is before these 7th judgements are unleashed, that any believers who are left on earth are taken up to heaven to escape the horrific things that are about to occur.
In this episode, we will look at chapters 15 & 16, which contain the 7 bowl judgements. All of the bowl judgements occur after the church has been taken off the earth. The bowl judgements represent the beginning of God’s final wrath. The time when He says, “Enough is enough. I am no longer going to allow evil and wickedness to continue. But before we get to the bowl judgements, we get another, “behind the curtain,” glimpse into heaven. Its very possible Jesus was showing John the wonderful, beautiful picture of God’s people safe, secure, and joyful in heaven, before He shows Him the fate of all left on the earth.
I’ll start by reading Revelation 15:1, “Then I saw another sign in heaven, great and amazing, seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last, for with them the wrath of God is finished.” So we are starting with a big picture view, Chris.
Right. John is giving a summary of what he’s about to zoom in on later in this chapter and in chapter 16. The seven angels with the seven plagues, which are the seven bowl judgements, have finished their job. He is going to show us what their task and the bowls contain in a minute. Also, note that John starts by saying, “I saw another sign,” meaning that what he’s about to describe is symbolism. Doesn’t mean some of it might not happen as he describes, but for the most part, he is giving us pictures to help us understand things our finite minds cannot fully grasp.
And we will get to the those bowl judgements, or plagues, shortly, but as we said, first, Jesus gives John a beautiful picture of what believers are doing in heaven while all hell is breaking loose on earth. Chris, why don’t you read Revelation 15:2 – 4?
Revelation 15:2 – 4 says, “And I saw what appeared to be a sea of glass mingled with fire—and also those who had conquered the beast and its image and the number of its name, standing beside the sea of glass with harps of God in their hands. 3 And they sing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying,
“Great and amazing are your deeds,
    O Lord God the Almighty!
Just and true are your ways,
    O King of the nation!]
4 Who will not fear, O Lord,
    and glorify your name?
For you alone are holy.
    All nations will come
    and worship you,
for your righteous acts have been revealed.”
With all the references back to the Old Testament, you might think this must be a quote of Psalm 89 written by Moses, or perhaps Moses’ Song from Deuteronomy 32. Well it is, and it isn’t. Those two Old Testament narratives definitely have some of the same wording as this song, but this song is a fulfillment of the song and Psalm written by Moses. Moses’ narratives looked forward to the day when all nations would bow down and worship God. When the perfect justice of God would be accomplished, and when God’s holiness would be revered by all. For example, Deuteronomy 32:43 says, “Rejoice with him, O heavens, bow down to him, all gods, for he avenges the blood of his children and takes vengeance on his adversaries. He repays those who hate him and cleanses his people’s land.” Moses is prophesying that this scene will occur someday, and here it is in Revelation being fulfilled.
And one more note on these believers John gets a glimpse of. They are standing beside a sea of glass mingled with fire. If you remember, the throne of God is described as a sea of glass. The “fire” is likely a reference to the Holy Spirit who has sealed all those who are there. That is why they have conquered the beast and didn’t take its name or mark on them. Let’s finish up chapter 15. Rev. 15:5 – 8 says, “ After this I looked, and the sanctuary of the tent of witness in heaven was opened, 6 and out of the sanctuary came the seven angels with the seven plagues, clothed in pure, bright linen, with golden sashes around their chests. 7 And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls full of the wrath of God who lives forever and ever, 8 and the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.” So here we see the angels receiving the bowl judgements to pour out on the earth, which is now full of the wicked. But don’t miss a very significant things that happens in verse 8.
That’s right. Verse 8 says, “And the sanctuary was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.” At first read, we might be tempted to think this is just God protecting believers, His church, from what the angels are about to unleash, but that’s not the case.
No. The church is already safe in heaven. This verse is a picture of Jesus removing His intercession from mankind. Remember, for those who are saved, Jesus is the intercessor between us and God. Now that He has all those who are His with Him, He no longer has to intercede for them. But this also means that He won’t be interceding for anyone left on earth. In other words, times up for those still on earth. There is no chance for anyone left on earth to repent and be saved anymore.
And that can be hard to hear that God is not giving anyone a chance anymore, but we have to remember a few things. First, as we have gone through this book – and as you read through the entire Bible – you see over and over God giving people a chance to repent and turn to Him. And over and over, we see the wicked refusing to do that. Now this is mysterious and complex. Because on the one hand, God chooses those He will save, and everyone He choses does turn to Him. So those who keep refusing are doing so because they are dead in their sin and have not had their hearts regenerated. They are a slave to their sin and to Satan. And there is something in our humanness that screams, “That’s not fair!”
And it’s not fair. It’s not fair that God would choose anyone to save! We are all deserving of all of the judgement we have seen so far in Revelation, and what we are about to see. And as Paul says in Romans 1:20, “For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse.” Apart from Christ, we are all evil and morally bankrupt. God chose some, His elect, to be reconciled to Him and saved. Not because of who we are, but because of who He is. So our response when we read about the judgements in Revelation should be two-fold. First, we should fall to our knees in gratitude that God has chosen to save us and seal us for all eternity and the only reason we don’t have to face what is written in this book, is not because we don’t deserve it, but because Jesus has already endured it for us. 
And since Jesus has paid the price for us, our second response should be, that it breaks your hearts for those in our lives who are not saved. It should drive us to pray for those who do not know Jesus, and it should compel us to preach the Gospel as often as we can to as many as we can.
Amen to that! Okay let’s start reading chapter 16 and looking at what is in these seven bowls. Keep in mind as we read and go through this, that God’s ultimate goal is to establish a new creation – a new heaven on earth. So, what we see in these bowl judgements is God deconstructing creation before He recreates it. And if that doesn’t make you see the absolute sovereignty of God, nothing will! Revelation 16:1 – 11 says, “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple telling the seven angels, “Go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God.”
2 So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and harmful and painful sores came upon the people who bore the mark of the beast and worshiped its image. The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea, and it became like the blood of a corpse, and every living thing died that was in the sea.
4 The third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water, and they became blood. 5 And I heard the angel in charge of the waters[a] say,
“Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was,
    for you brought these judgments.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
    and you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!”
7 And I heard the altar saying,
“Yes, Lord God the Almighty,
    true and just are your judgments!”
8 The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and it was allowed to scorch people with fire. 9 They were scorched by the fierce heat, and they cursed[b] the name of God who had power over these plagues. They did not repent and give him glory.
10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.
There is a ton to unpack here. And it may seem confusing that we read all those verses at one time, but we need to start with the full picture. Because there is definitely a full picture here. First, if you remember, the first 6 seal and trumpet judgements were poured out on a portion of the earth, or a portion of mankind. While the bowl judgements are related to the seal and trumpet judgments, one huge difference is that the bowls, are poured out on the entire earth. They are complete judgement, not partial. And these 5 judgements are on the earth, not on people – although as we will see people are certainly impacted. But, as we said, God is deconstructing the earth. He is reversing the creation from Genesis 1. And through both, He is emphasizing His sovereignty over everything in creation. He created the earth in Gen. 1 in an orderly fashion, and He is decreating the earth in an orderly fashion. This flies in the face of evolutionists who say the earth was created out of accidental chaos and will be destroyed in the same manner. 
Through the progression and intensity of the first 5 bowls, God is daring the “scientists” to try and fix what is happening. But, of course, there will be nothing they can do. So we have this first bowl that causes sores upon people. But the judgement was poured out on the earth, not people. Credible Scholars rightly see that God has polluted the earth’s food supply. And this polluted food supply is causing people to break out in sores. How do we know this? Well the judgement is on the earth, and it progresses and intensifies with each bowl. So the food supply – like meat, vegetables, and fruit, has been polluted. What is the logical thing that the people will do? They will turn to the ocean for food.
And what does God do in the 2nd bowl? He pollutes the ocean so that all of sea life dies. Now what? Well, perhaps the people will say to themselves, at least we have fresh water to drinks. Not for long! In the 3rd bowl, God pollutes the rivers and springs of water. So now those on earth have no food or water. And notice that the angel in charge of the waters is cheering. Verses 5 & 6 say, “And I heard the angel in charge of the waters say,
“Just are you, O Holy One, who is and who was,
    for you brought these judgments.
6 For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets,
    and you have given them blood to drink.
It is what they deserve!”
If God’s people will cheer when the wicked are ultimately judged, how much more will the angels, who have been with God and have seen all the of cosmic battles going on, cheer?!
Makes sense! So what do the people who have no food and water do? They probably try to find solace in the fact that they still have the sun as an energy source and for warmth. When the 4th bowl is poured out on the earth, the heat of the sun is turned up and it scorches people. And what do the people do? Verse 9 says, “they cursed the name of God who had the power over these plagues and did not repent and give him glory.” We may all be shaking our heads about now, but guess what? This isn’t the first time we have seen something like this. We said way back in episode 1 that Revelation is a fulfillment of Exodus and God delivering His people out of Egypt and punishing that nation who enslaved them. You can’t read chapter 16 of Revelation and not see the similarities between the bowl judgments and the plagues God imposed on Egypt. And after 10 plagues – even one where the first born of every family and livestock was killed, Egypt still didn’t repent. I don’t think anyone can read both of these accounts and not be completely certain of just how evil man is without the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit applied to their hearts.
I agree. And the last bowl that we read was the 5th bowl. So the people have nothing now – no food, no water, and they are covered in sores and burns. What do they do? They run to their governments, political leaders, and scientists for help. You can just imagine them saying, “Fix this!” But God takes care of any possibility of that by plunging the earth into darkness. So now they have not only lost their food and water, have sores and burns covering their bodies, but they’ve lost the most crucial thing, and that is hope. Their governments, their leaders, the beasts they have pledged absolute devotion and loyalty to, can do nothing to help them. That is why they are gnawing their tongues in anguish. And still, and STILL, they continue to curse God and not repent.
We said earlier that this passage today, and throughout the book, should illicit a two-fold response from us – drop to our knees in gratitude before God, and pray for and preach the Gospel to unbelievers. But I think there’s a 3rd response believers should have, especially when reading what we just did. We say it all the time, God is sovereign over everything – but these verses really hit home just how sovereign. We are utterly and completely dependent on God for everything! Food, water, our health, our surroundings, warmth and light from the sun, the very breath in our lungs. We just celebrated Thanksgiving, and, as always, people made declarations of what they are thankful for. And, of course, Christians should always be first and foremost thankful for the salvation they have received in Jesus, but there is so much more! Did you eat today? Did you have a cup of coffee or glass of water? Were you able to see by the sun’s light? Did you breath today? These are things we need to thank God for. 
And it’s easy to read through these judgements and think God is “mean,” but right now, He is giving all those same blessings – food, water, air, etc – to the wicked as well as His people. He is holding back His full wrath, giving people a chance to repent of their sin and evil. So not only is He completely merciful and gracious and good and loving to His people always; but for a time, NOW, He is all those things for those who aren’t His people. Those who curse His name, those who want Him out of their life and out of the world. Those who get joy and pleasure out of perverting His Word and Truth. Those who think it’s funny to publicly denounce and flip off God, daring Him to do something about it. And still, for now, He holds His judgement back. That is the God we serve. That is who He is.
He is Amazing! His goodness never fails to bring me to tears. Chris, what we have read in Revelation so far, especially in this chapter, is a bleak and depressing picture of what is to come for unbelievers. But, believe it or not, it gets worse. Revelation 16:12 – 16 says, “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14 For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. 15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.”
We will unpack Armageddon in a minute. But, again, we see the partial judgments of the seals and trumpets, now being complete judgements in the bowls. Both the seals and trumpets had judgements of war on parts of the earth. Even Jesus talked about this in Matthew 24:6 when He said, “And you will hear of wars and rumors of wars.” So wars have been a part of the tribulation since Jesus’ ascension, they are part of the tribulation now, and will continue to be a part of it. But here in the 6th bowl, we see the preparation for the ultimate war – the final war – Armageddon. 
So let’s unpack Armageddon – which is very well known – although usually mistakenly known. There have been countless books, movies, and other media on it. Dr. Voddie Baucham quotes an interesting statistic – only 36% of Americans believe the Bible is real, yet 59% of Americans believe the events in the book of Revelation will come to pass. And at the top of that list of beliefs in events that will come to pass is the battle of Armageddon. 
So what is this final, famous, sometime infamous battle set off by the 6th bowl judgment? Remember we said that Idealists (and we are modern Idealists / eccletics) believe that the book of Revelation depicts the cosmic struggle between good and evil – or more specifically, Satan and the church. The battle of Armageddon is the final battle. Throughout history, many people and events have been described as Armageddon. Hitler, the Papal Dynasty, and Japan are just a few identities that people throughout history have assigned to the Antichrist, or kings from the east, who fight in the battle on, “the great day of God the Almighty.” The battle itself was thought to be manifesting in events like WWI, WWII, and 9/11. 
But John’s original audience would have had no idea who Hitler was or what 9/11 was! This is why we have rejected assigning a specific event in history to events in Revelation. This passage also presents a problem to the futurists or dispensationalists who think the Book of Rev. is a literal account of what’s to come. Armageddon is the final battle – the final judgement. However, there is not a actually a place on earth called Armageddon, nor was there ever. Some will pass it off saying what John meant is a place called the Valley of Megiddo located in Israel near the Palestine region. And they get this because “Armageddon” means, “Har Megiddo,” in Greek. But there’s a big problem with this – well, two, actually. One, nowhere else is this valley mentioned, and two, what is about to occur – the final judgment of all the evil of the world, could never happen on a literal piece of land. Nowhere in the entire world is there land big enough for all the evil doers of the world to assemble.
I think this will become more clear as we dig in. Let’s start with the drying up of the Euphrates River so Kings from the east can walk upon it. Will God literally dry up the Euphrates river or is this symbolic? Well, it could be either. He certainly has literally done it before. Most of you probably know that when God led His people out of Egypt, He dried up the Red Sea. We said that Revelation is an ultimate fulfillment of the book of Exodus. But God has dried up other bodies of water, too. He dried up the water on the land after He flooded the earth, so Noah and his family could prosper and repopulate the earth. He dried up the Jordon River so Joshua and the Israelites could cross it and take the Promised Land. And He has even dried up the Euphrates River before to expose Babylon to the Medo-Persian Empire, so they could be conquered as punishment for the Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians overtaking the Southern Nation of Judah and holding them captive for 70 years. So I think we have to say while God can certainly dry up any river anytime He wants, this drying up the Euphrates may also be a symbol harkening back to His punishing Babylon, who is often used in Scripture as a symbol of evil.
Right, in a nutshell, God’s literal drying up of the Euphrates at that time was the fulfillment of prophecy in Isaiah and Jeremiah where God said although He raised up Babylon to conquer His people as punishment for their sin, He would bring ultimate judgement on Babylon for their sin of actually doing it. And through Babylon’s punishment, God’s people would be restored to the Promised Land and would rebuild their Temple. This is all kind of complex, but Babylon represents God using evil to accomplish His purpose, but ultimately, He passes judgement and pours His wrath on that evil – because well, they’re evil! Then He restores and redeems His people. So it is very possible, that this picture is a symbol of God ultimately punishing evil and restoring and redeeming His people – bringing to completion the victory that Jesus won on the cross and at His resurrection.
One last thing to notice here – showing that Revelation is the ultimate fulfillment of Exodus, notice the unclean spirits coming out of the mouth of Satan, the beast, and the second beast (the false prophet) are likened to frogs. Remember frogs from one of the plagues God imposed on the Egyptians?
Let’s finish up chapter 16 with the 7th bowl. Revelation 16:17 – 21 says, “  The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, from the throne, saying, “It is done!” 18 And there were flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a great earthquake such as there had never been since man was on the earth, so great was that earthquake. 19 The great city was split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell, and God remembered Babylon the great, to make her drain the cup of the wine of the fury of his wrath. 20 And every island fled away, and no mountains were to be found. 21 And great hailstones, about one hundred pounds each, fell from heaven on people; and they cursed God for the plague of the hail, because the plague was so severe.
These verses reinforce that Babylon is being used as the symbol for all evil, and that Armageddon is not a literal place. The final battle of God’s final judgment is on all the evil of the earth. Seems pretty silly to even call it a battle. The announcement, “It is done,” occurs before there is even any fighting! This is a completely one-sided battle with God doing all the fighting. This is a chilling passage, but it is also extremely comforting. God doesn’t have to “fight” against evil. He is completely sovereign over it, and can snuff it out whenever He chooses to. When Armageddon – the final battle and judgment on evil happens, there won’t be any struggle. God will assemble all the evil doers and simply say, “It is done.”
And that will be the end of evil! One last thing I have to mention. God says, “It is done.” Is this what Jesus meant when He said, “It is finished,” on the cross? Yes! Jesus was pronouncing that He had completed the work of taking the wrath of God for His people and reconciling them to God. He was also proclaiming His victory of sin, Satan, and death – which He decidedly won, but has not yet brought to completion. Well here at Armageddon, it will be brought to completion! 
And what is more encouraging than that?! That’s where we need to end for today. Thanks for listening! Don’t forget to follow us on social media to keep up with all things Proverbs 9:10 Ministries, and to get updates on our new, soon to be released book, “The Bible in Six.” An overview of all 66 books of the Bible. We are really excited for it! Have a blessed day everyone!