The Battle of Armageddon

If you have your Bibles with you, open them please to Revelation sixteen, undoubtedly the most well known section in Revelation. The most well known concept in Revelation is found here in Revelation sixteen, people who know nothing about the Bible will talk to you about the Battle of Armageddon. They've never cracked a Bible open before in their lives, but they will talk to you about this battle. In a two thousand and four Time and See an endpoll, more than one third of Americans said that since the terrorist attacks of nine to eleven, they've been thinking more about how current events might be leading to the end of the world and this battle of Armageddon. While only thirty six percent of all Americans believe that the Bible is God's word and should be taken literally, fifty nine percent say that they believe that events predicted in the Book of Revelation will come to pass again. Relating specifically to this whole idea of the end of the world and the battle of Armageddon, almost one out of four Americans believe that nine to eleven was predicted in the Bible, and nearly one in five believes that he or she will live long enough to see the end of the world. Even more significant for this study, over one third of those Americans who support Israel report that they do so because they believe the Bible teaches that the Jews much possess their own country in the Holy Land before Jesus can return. So again, extremely familiar concept in scripture. I won't say familiar passage of scripture because most people don't even know where to go to talk about this concept, but an extremely familiar concept. Not only a familiar concept, but a concept that in many ways directs people's daily lives and decision making processes. When we talk about the Battle of Armageddon, there are books and charts and movies. As I've told you before, since we have embarked on this journey in Revelation, there's no shortage of people who are more than happy to give us charts to help us make our way through this book. Also, as we watch the world, we see and hear again and again the idea of moving toward the Battle of Armageddon. Who is this Antichrist? And is this the last battle? World War one was referred to as the War to end all wars. World War two widely understood that Hitler was the end times anti Christ In the First Gulf War, Iraq was the new Babylon and Saddam Hussein the new Nebuka Nezer, and we were marching into a war that would eventually culminate in the Battle of Armageddon. Is the rise of the European Union, And now we're being told that this is that ten nation federation that we're going to see at the end of the age. Craig Keener, author of that extremely helpful Biblical background commentary, has these helpful words. In the nineteenth century, most Protestants identified the Kings of the East either with the Turks or with the Lost Tribes of Israel. After the collapse of the Turkish Ottoman Empire, Japan became the new favorite of the prophecy movement. How many show vans, how many of you knew that there was a period when Japan was the favorite as far as identifying the Kings of the East as a surprise to many. After Japan's defeat and the ascent of Oh, I'm sorry, yeah. After Japan's defeat and the ascent of communist China, this quote yellow peril end quote has become the new backdrop for modern Western interpretations of the Kings of the East. On this view, the invasion from communist China and the rest of Asia will require the rest of the world's armies to mobilize and fight them. This perspective reflects a total lack of understanding of what the Euphrates River represented to the ancient hearers in the Mediterranean world. To be sure, the Parthians were no longer a kingdom, but a geographical equivalent would be closer to Iran and Iraq than to China. My point is that there is nothing in this text to indicate East or South Asia's role in general, or China's role in particular. This reading of Kings from the East is a wholesale guess based on the assumption that the current lineup of world powers is the final one, and it is uninformed by the most basic knowledge of how the expression was used in the ancient world. Don't understand how the expression was used in the ancient world, and so we look again and again to try to determine and define these powers. By the way, when from China then to Russia, remember Russia was the big power, and then back to China again because of the massive numbers of their army. After that when to Iraq because of the Iraq War, and now people are talking about Iran because the Iranians are saber rattling over in the Middle East. All of it is based on presuppositions that I believe have little to do with the exposition of the passage before us this morning. And yet the overwhelming majority of people in the Christian world not only hold to these views but condemn others who don't. I was alerted, I believe it was a couple of weeks ago to a conversation on the World Wide Web as to whether or not I am an anti Semite and whether or not all of my teaching is to be rejected because I do not hold to dispensational Zionism. This is huge, folks, This is a big deal for people. I mean, there's a lot of stuff that people are willing to bend on and give up on. But to not be a dispensational Zionist and to not believe that the current nation state of Israel is God's centerpiece as it relates to end time prophecy is for many people abridge too far, completely unacceptable and costs everything else into question. But is that what we find here in this text. Well, join me in Revelation chapter sixteen, beginning at verse twelve, and let's see. By the way, here's one thing that I find incredibly ironic. The false prophets who've been wrong again and again. The dispensational Zionists who look to the battle of Armageddon and look to which nations are going to be, you know, for the Battle of Armageddon. You can be a dispensational Zionist and be wrong a dozen times and continue to come back and continue to be listened to and continue to be supported. But to not be a dispensational Zionist is unforgivable. You can say this battle is the battle, and we're on our way and be wrong and people will come back to you. You can write a book eighty eight reasons Christ will Return in nineteen eighty eight, centered upon the idea of Israel coming into possession of the land again in nineteen forty eight is the timepiece that unlocks biblical prophecy, and still have a ministry after that as long as you're a dispensational Zionist. But to not be a dispensational Zionist is the unpardonable sin. You can be a liar and a false prophet. And that's okay, as long as you love Israel. And by love Israel that means be a dispensational Zionis, because nobody else loves Israel other than dispensational zionis. Do you see how foolish this is, how divisive it is. Beginning of verse twelve, the sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its waters were dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 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, 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. And then there's a parenthetical statement, 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. Verse sixteen. And they assembled them at the place that is in Hebrew called Armageddon. There it is, that's it. What does it mean. I'm glad you asked three things we have to look at. The first is the idea of this drying up of the water, the second is the concept of rallying the troops, and then finally there is the idea of this last battle. We'll interpret these things in the same way that we've interpreted the rest of the Book of Revelation from the idealist perspective, again not adopting the historicist perspective or the futurist perspective or the preterist perspective, but the idealist perspective, which says that these things are symbolic, that this is a book of symbols, and that they are symbols that are borrowing from Old Testament prophecy, and so we have to couch them in terms of our understanding of these Old Testament prophecies, that these are not prophecies that only have meaning for the last generation on earth. This is not a book that is meant to be meaningless to Christianity for all of time until one particular period in time. So you get the first five chapters that are meaning for all Christians and all places at all times, and then the rest of the book is only meaningful to the generation that is here when these last battles are aligned and occur. Don't believe that that's the way this book was intended to be understood. That the meaning here is pertinent for every Christian of every age, and that the things that we see here are revealed progressively. There is this progressive parallelism, and there is the same story told over and over again from different angles. We've seen this story told before from another angle. We talked about that on last week. This angle, however, is from the perspective of the finality of the judgment. And so because of that, let me just say right up front, I don't believe that we are literally talking about the drying up of the euphrates to free up armies to march in modern warfare. That makes no sense whatsoever. You do not need rivers to dry up. You have aircraft carriers, and you have planes. You can drop truce into the Valley of Megieddo, which by the way, is not mentioned here. Let me just say that up front, this is not a mention of the Valley of Mcgeddo. This is not literally a war that takes place in the Valley of Megiddo. There is no place called armageddon. There is no literal place called armageddon. So the literalists have a huge problem here, And there's an assumption that this is the value of megiddo. So we're not literally talking about a river being dried up so that hundreds of millions of men can march. It's not how wars are fought. That would not be how a war was fought in the Middle East. We're not literally talking about kings and kingdoms, and we're not literally talking about a place on this earth where this battle is going to occur. Well, then what are we talking about. Let's look at them first, the drying of the waters. The sixth Angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and this water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East. That last phrase is what gives it away. The water's dried up to prepare the way for the kings of the East. Again, if we're talking about a war, if we're talking about a battle literally a war against Israel, which is interesting that Israel was not mentioned here. But if we're literally talking about a war against Israel, we don't need rivers to dry up. We don't need the Euphrates to dry up so that Israel can be attacked. Israel has been attacked a number of times without the euphrates drying up. Amen, and I'm talking about modern Israel has had a number of wars without the euphrates being dried up. Israel is being attacked all the time, for example, from their northern borders through rocket attacks all the time without the Euphrates being dried up. You do not need the Euphrates to dry up for this to happen. But there is a rich redemptive history as it relates to God drying up the waters in judgment. For example, after the flood, what happens, God drives up the water and the arc rests on dry ground. After the Exodus, what happens. God dries up the Red Sea and his people walk through, and as Pharaoh and his army pursues, the waters fold in on them and they are destroyed by the same God who dried up the Red Sea. After the wilderness wandering, the Jordan is dried up and God's people enter in and possess the land of Promise because God dried up the rivers. And after the captivity in Babylon. God drives up the Euphrates and exposes Israel's captors to the judgment that he promised. Listen to this from Isaiah chapter forty four, verses twenty four to twenty eight. Thus says the Lord, your redeemer. Or actually this begins yeah, verse twenty four. Thus says the Lord, your Redeemer, who formed you from the wound. I am the Lord, Lord who made all things, who alone stretched out the heavens, who spread out the earth by myself. Who frustrates the signs of liars and makes fools of diviners, who turns wise men back and makes their knowledge foolish, who confirms the word of his servant and fulfills the council of his messengers. Who says, of Jerusalem, she shall be inhabited, and of the cities of Judah they shall be built, and I will raise up their ruins. Who says to the deep, be dry, and I will dry up your rivers. Who says to Cyrus, he is my shepherd, and he shall fulfill all my purpose, saying to Jerusalem, she shall be built, and of the Temple your foundation shall be laid. What happens he dries up the Euphrates. They have to come across the Euphrates and ancient warfare, this makes sense. You've got to do something with the Euphrates in order to be able to come in, and in order to be able to come in and defeat Israel's captors. That's precisely what God does. That's precisely what God allows. And so they do enter, and they do defeat Israel's captors, and Jerusalem is inhabited. Judah is inhabited, the Temple is rebuilt. There is a long, rich history of what is meant by this drying up of the river. Similarly, Jeremiah announces God's judgment will come upon Babylon when God brings a drought which dries up the waters. Therefore, riddle Barger argues, the removal of the barrier allows the agents of judgment to enter. This is about God bringing judgment, bringing final judgment, the removal of a barrier, the removal of the water. That's final judgment. There's also a clear eschatological goal. While we have all of these examples of God removing water and drying up water for the deliverance of his people and for the judgment of his enemies, I think the clearest one here based on what we saw on last week, with all of the references to Egypt and the Egyptian plagues, if we saw the picture again and again and again of the plagues in Egypt, and even here in the next part of the passage we see the idea of frogs, there is an inescapable reference to Egypt and what happens in Egypt. God dries up the water, brings his people across, and then judges his enemies. That's what we see here. This is a picture of the final judgment of the enemies of God. Folks, the valley of Megiddo's not big enough for that. Amen, There's no place on earth that's big enough for that. This is the final and ultimate judgment of the enemies of God. There is a reference not only to the kings of the East, but the kings of the whole world, everyone, all of the enemies of God. We see here the providence and the sovereignty of God. What's amazing is it, just like with Daniel, God doesn't have to make Nebeczer something that he's not in order for nebic Neza to come and take God's people into captivity. God doesn't have to make Cyrus something that he's not for Cyrus to come in and then overtake the nation that's there before him. God uses men, and we've talked about this before, but there are those who have problems with the idea, well, why would God use sinful men? Why would God use sinful nations? You know the answer to that question, he has no choice. Where's the sinless man that he's going to use. Where's the sinless nation that he's going to use. Unfortunately, for many people, because of the dispensational Zionism, that's what they believe of Israel. Everything Israel does is right because they are the people of God, and we must support them in everything that they do, because they are the people of God. And oh, by the way, if you don't support them in everything that they do, guess what that makes you one of these kings of the earth who's going to cross the Euphrates and be on the wrong side of the war of Armageddon. This is absolutely not what is intended by this passage, absolutely not what was understood by this passage, and it's absolutely not we're to take away from this passage. Here's the other problem with that is that this idea limits our ability to examine and measure ourselves. See here's what's interesting. I can be as much of an enemy of God as anyone else, having accepted this mark of the Beast, worshiping at the altar of the Beast, and this world system, and at the same time hold on to this idea that this world system that I worship and am a part of and accept fully has to accept Israel as a geopolitical entity, so that I'm not on the wrong side of the war that's to come. Do you follow if this is just geopolitical, if it's only about being on the side of Israel and geopolitical matters, I can be as much an enemy of God as the next man and still be on the side of Israel and geopolitical matters. They can do things that are ungodly, and by supporting those things that are ungodly, I'm an enemy of God. But because I have reduced this idea to just supporting a geopolitical nation, I've completely missed the point. The second idea is the idea of rallying the troops you're afraid to just dried up. And after that, John says 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 prophets false prophet rather three unclean spirits like frogs for their demonic spirits, performing signs, who gore broad to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. Well the way, is this something completely future? I say no, this is completely consistent with what we saw in chapters twelve through fifteen. And if you remember, chapters twelve through fifteen is a recapitulation of theentire history of redemption. And in the midst of that recapitulation of the entire history of redemption, this is what we saw the dragon back in verse twelve, verses three and four, and another sign appeared in heaven, and behold a great red dragon with seven heads and ten horns, and on his head seven diadems. His tail swept down a third of the stars of heaven and cast them to the earth. And the dragon stood before the woman who was about to give birth, so that when she bore her child, he might devour it. And so the dragon is placed here in redemptive history. Desiring to devour the child of the woman. This is a reference to his being an adversary to the people of God, his desire to destroy the people of God. Is that new in Revelation sixteen? Absolutely not. This has always been the case. There has been a war between the serpent and the seed since Genesis chapter three. This is not new. How about the beast in thirteen Uni verse five, And the beast was given a mouth uttering a haughty and blasphemous words, and it was allowed to exercise authority for forty two months. It it opened its mouth to utter blasphemies against God, blaspheming his name and his dwelling, that is, those who dwell in heaven. Also, it was allowed to make war on the saints and to conquer them. And authority was given it over every tribe and people, and language and nation, and all who dwell on earth will worship it. Everyone whose name has not been written before the foundation of the world in the Book of Life, or of the Lamb who was slain. If anyone has an ear, let him hear. It's chapter sixteen introducing something new. There, No, No, it's the same thing. How about the false prophet again? Then I saw another beast. I believe this last beast is a reference to what is here referred to as the false prophet rising out of the earth. The other one rose out of the water. It had two horns like a lamb. This is the false lamb, and it spoke like a dragon. It exercises all authority of the first beasts in its presence and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs. What are these demonic spirits doing here? In sixteen They're performing signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people. And by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it diseases those who dwell on earth, telling them to make an image of the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak, and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Also, it causes all both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or on the forehead, so that no one buy or sell unless he has the mark that is the name of the beast and the number of its name. How is that different than what we see here in chapter sixteen. It's not. We are seeing a recapitulation of the same idea, a recapitulation of the war of the Unholy Trinity against the Holy Trinity, a recapitulation of the idea of raging against the people of God, a recapitulation of the idea of desiring to destroy every vestige of the true worship of the True God. It's the same thing. And he's going abroad to the whole world doing this. He's done this before. But here at the end of chapter sixteen, here with the sixth seal, we see where it all ends. That's the distinction. This is true spiritual warfare. That's the great irony. If we're not careful, we look to this battle of Armageddon, and we're watching the newspaper and we're watching what happens in the Middle East and trying to figure out what's going on with Syria, what's going on with the Rack, what's going on with China, what's going on with Russia, what's going on with Saudi Arabia, what's going on with Egypt, what's going on with filling the blank? And while we're looking at it, this war is going on right under our noses. Defesian six twelve. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over the present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. That's our war, and that's this war. You didn't just see the Unholy Trinity. He saw their words. Isn't that interesting? He saw their words. It was the things that they were saying and the signs that they were doing that were turning people, saying Grinthian in three to six, For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but have divine power to destroy strongholds. Now listen to this. We destroy arguments, every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ. That's where this war is. Listen to what he says. Again, he saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast, out of the mouth of the false prophets, three unclean spirits like frogs, For they are demonic spirits. What are they doing performing signs? And they go abroad to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. You know, it's ironic. There are those individuals out there who are so committed to this dispensational Zionists view of revelation that they look at the United States and see us as part of the assembled people of God. When this great war takes place, why because Israel is our ally Never mind, then we out Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom and Gomorrah. That's not what matters. What matters is when those armies come across the Euphrates, we are going to send troops and stand with Israel, and therefore God will overlook us, out Sodom and gamoring Sodom and Gomorrah, because we fight on the right side of the battle of Armageddon. God help us. If that's the way we think. That's ridiculous, That is utter nonsense. This is not geopolitical. There's not a single geopolitical entity on Earth that's on the right side of this battle. Let me say that again, there's not a single geopolitical entity on Earth that's on the right side of this battle. Not the nation of Israel, which is as godless as any other nation in the world today, nor anyone who's an ally of the nation of Israel. Why because every last one of these nations has gladly accepted the mark of the Beast. Every last one of these nations worships at the altar of the Beast and of the false prophet, including Israel. Every last one of these nations is an enemy of all My God, every last one. Or do you see the same world that I see? This is not merely geopolitical. There are schemes against which we stand that influence these kings of the earth and rally them. If he's in six', eleven put on the whole armor Of, god that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the. Devil and it's right here that believers are. Worn notice that this is not a geopolitical, warning which would kind of make sense right, now wouldn't it all of a sudden if we're talking geopolitical, here and if basically we're talking about the geopolitical nation Of, israel modern Day, israel which is not a, theocracy which is Not jewish beyond. Ethnicity but if we're talking about this modern day nation Of, israel and if he Says i'm going to drive up The, euphrates the armies of the kings of The east are going to come across The, Euphrates they're going to come Against. Israel, interesting the text says they're coming to fight Against. God modern Dispensational zionists equate the two fighting Against israel is fighting Against. God from the mouth of the dragon and the beast and the false prophet are going to come these demonic spirits going out through all of the, world deceiving these kings of the. World it would seem like the warning would be something like, This, Behold i'm coming, quickly make sure you line up your army With. Israel that's not the. Warning, Behold i'm coming like a. Thief us there is the one who stays, awake keeping his garments on that he may not go about naked and be seen. Exposed when we look at garments and revelation again and again and, again do they have anything to do with geopolitical. Alliances, no it's about. Righteousness it's about. Holiness it's about not being associated with the idolatry of the beast and the dragon and the false. Prophet it's about not receiving their, mark which is to offer worship to them as opposed to The One True. God it is about enduring even though they wage war against the people Of. God not a geopolitical. Entity this is about how we. Think this is about our. Minds this is about our world and life. View you, KNOW i, remember AND i always used this illustration because it's the most poignant thing That i've ever seen when it comes to the way people think and what they. Value and it is nine to. Eleven to go back to where we started. EARLIER i, remember and everyone in this room who's old enough you remember where you were on nine to. ELEVEN i was preaching In, Monahan's. TEXAS i don't even know IF i can remember how to get there right, now way out In West. Texas AND i got a phone. Call folks trying to check. Out wife's trying to catch up With mom's trying to catch up. Me people just calling trying to catch up with. Me what's going? On where you, are how you? Doing what's you? KNOW i don't know what's. HAPPENING i pick up the phone And i'm told to turn on, television and here it. IS i don't Think i've ever watched more television THAN i did in those days surrounding that. Event AND i just sat there in awe and. Disbelief AND i sat there AND i, wept AND i remember pictures of people around the world and different countries around the world where people were also weeping and just a ghast at what was. Happening AND i remember them going to The Middle east where people were dancing in the streets and throwing sweets to, children huge. Celebration, now later on that day that. Stopped word trickled down he y'all need to cut this, out you. Know but the immediate, reaction the immediate response they got. THEIRS i wonder if there's a spiritual equivalent for you and for. ME i wonder if we're just reduced to these geopolitical, alliances and instead of being the people Of god who love What god loves and hate What god, hates we've reduced ourselves to geopolitical us versus them. Status because there's a real sense in which what we believe about this determines the way we view the. World this is not about having right political. ALLEGIANCES i went on the web AND i just did a couple of, searches and one of the searches THAT i did was stand With. Israel amazing the number of websites that you find the, flag The United states flag And israeli flag back to, back and all this sort of. Stuff here's a STATEMENT i found on one website For Christians united For. Israel The bible commands us to pray for the peace Of Jerusalem some one twenty two, six to speak out For zion's Sake isaiah sixty two to, one to be watchmen on the walls Of Jerusalem isaiah sixty two, six and to bless to bless The jewish People genesis twelve three and many Other bible verses have one overwriting. Message As, christians we have a biblical obligation to Defend israel and The jewish people in their time of. Need we have a biblical obligation based on these, texts to have a geopolitical commitment to the modern nation Of. Israel forget the fact That galatians tells me THAT i am The israel Of, god and THAT i Am abraham's offspring according To. Romans forget the fact that not All israel Is israel according To. Romans we just have to have a geopolitical commitment to everyone who claims to Be jewish or part Of. Israel, folks that's not biblical and it's. Dangerous, finally where's the? War where's the? War and they assembled them at the place that In hebrew is Called. Armageddon where is this? Place agreed almost universally that this is in The valley Of, megiddo which is ironic because what's referred to is actually not a valley but a. Mountain it's Hard, megiddo the mount Of. Megiddo so the irony of. Ironies, okay the literalists say that this is literally The valley Of, megiddo when literally he doesn't say valley Of megiddo Or, megiddo the mount Of. Megiddo so if you're a, literalist it's not a, valley it's a. Mountain so if you're a, literalist now we have to have hundreds of millions of men somewhere on a mountain In. Israel that can't. Happen it's not one big. Enough it can't. Happen you can't assemble hundreds of millions of men in The himalayas unless you go high enough for most of them to. Die so what are we talking about, Here, well if there's no place called, armageddon and if we're talking about the symbolic language of, revelation we have to look at the fact that there's a reliance here On Old testament, prophecy and specifically To zacharia. Fourteen zacharia fourteen makes a reference to The mount Of olives And. Jerusalem, well wait a, Minute armageddon sounds like the valley Of. Megiddo it doesn't sound like The mount Of, olives and it doesn't sound Like. Jerusalem so although there is no literal place Called, armageddon certainly it would make sense if you're trying to gather millions of men for, warfare that it would have to be in that, valley, Right not. Necessarily there's similar language In zachariah twelve, three where the prophet also speaks About, jerusalem Not mgiddo as the scene of the final. Conflict, Folks armageddon most likely refers to a very well known. Place listen to this From Kim Riddle Barker. Armageddon The mount Of gathering Or mount Of assembly is therefore much more likely a reference To Mount, zion the earthly counterpart to the Heavenly. Assembly In revelation, fourteen we read about That Jesus christ stands triumphantly On Mount zion with his. People if, true this means that the reference To armageddon is not a description of a literal military battle in which men in tanks and airplanes fight Against. God, instead we have an apocalyptic image of the kings of The earth being gathered together by The dragon to wage war Against Mount, zion which is symbolic of The church Of Jesus. Christ which one makes more, sense, folks hundreds of millions of men bringing tanks to fight Against, god or that The, dragon The, beast and the False prophet are assembling to fight against The, church which one's consistent with what we've seen In, revelation which one is consistent With Old testament prophecy read about The New, jerusalem and we've already seen Earlier jesus standing On. Mosaian was it, Literal, no it wasn't. Literal this is consistent with the rest of the. Book this is the same event depicted from yet another Camera angle And revelation. Again this Is Rttle barker And revelation nineteen nineteen to twenty, one When john sees the beast and the False prophet being thrown into the lake of. Fire it is also described In revelation twenty verses nine and, ten where those deceived By satan after he is released from The, abyss march across the breast the breadth of the, earth and surround the camp Of god's, people the city he. Loves but fire came down from heaven and devoured, them and the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of burning. Sulfur there the beasts of the False prophet had been. Thrown they will be tormented day and, night forever and. Ever he. Concludes, therefore it is certainly correct to think Of armageddon as a final and ultimate battle Between christ and his. Enemies but this battle has nothing to do with the plains Of, megiddo the nation Of, israel or the armies of the world fighting Against. Christ john is giving us an apocalyptic vision Of satan's final assault upon The, Church Mount zion Har, mageddon The mount Of assembly And, assault which is crushed By Jesus christ at his return to the earth in judgment sam. Storms to put it, simply armageddon is prophetic symbolism for the whole world in its collective defeat and judgment By christ at his second. Coming the energy of war of kings and nations doing battle on and all too familiar battlefield Called Movido megiddo is used as a metaphor of the, consummate cosmic and decisive defeat By christ of all his. Enemies why DO i prefer this reading a couple of REASONS i already. Explained number, one it's consistent with the nature of The book Of. Revelation, secondly it makes, sense and the other does. It this is not a reference to a literal. Place there is no literal place by this. Name it is a reference that sounds like a place where myriad battles had been fought and where ancient warfare took place all the time there in that part of the. World it sounds like the name of that. Place but it also In hebrew is a reference to aunt amount of assembly that we all seen in this same. Book that makes more sense because it's a mountain and not a. Valley you can't get hundreds of millions of men on a. Mountain, also this makes sense because this war that has been, fought that is being, fought and that will continue to be fought until it intensifies toward the last, day is a spiritual battle in which you AND i are, engaged must be, engaged and why we must stay. Alert, finally it doesn't leave me conflicted about aligning myself to a geopolitical entity that is sinful so THAT i can be On god's. Side the nation Of israel is. Sinful they have policies that are, sinful just like we are sinful and we have policies that are. Sinful, finally this view does not divide the people Of god over something as ridiculous as Dispensational. Zionism you have people measuring their level Of christianity by how much they love and stand with another geopolitical, entity one filled with people the overwhelming majority of which do not Practice. Judaism let me say that, again it's a geopolitical entity filled with people the overwhelming majority of which do not Practice. Judaism that's not What god has called us. To, finally this view causes me to examine myself based on those things That god always calls me to. Examine so instead of me examining whether or NOT i vote for the person who sounds most Pro, Israel i'm examining whether or Not i'm listening to the frog. Voices, Amen because you can listen to the frog voices and vote for the one who says they Love israel the, most Then i'm not examining my. Heart i'm not examining HOW i. Live i'm not examining my. Life i'm not examining my. Allegiances and the world is filled with people who Wear american flags with The israeli flag back to back and spiritually have accepted the mark of The, beast but they Love. Israel, folks there is a final battle. Approaching it is. Real it is more real than any battle that you've ever. WITNESSED i don't care if you're a veteran who has fought in, war you've never seen a battle as real as this one or as significant as this. One if you're a veteran who sits here before me under the sound of my, voice and you fought in, battle men with whom you, fought men perhaps who died in those, battles still had to deal with this, battle and this, one trust, me is far more. Significant and every one of us in this room is called upon to take sides in this, battle not cheopolitical. Sides but whose Voice are you listening to the one who is rallying you to trust in this world and the things of this world and to place your allegiances, there or are you listening to the voice that says rally on The mount Of. Assembly regardless of how had it gets, it there is a real sense in which what we are doing here is a microcosm of is very, battle because we have gathered on a mount Of assembly as the people Of god publicly proclaiming our allegiance To christ and not to the, world and there are people all around us who hold this against. Us, now for us As, americans that doesn't mean a whole. Lot but imagine for a, moment as we prayed for the people Of laos, today and as other people groups have been prayed for from this very, Pulpit imagine for a moment that you live in a place where it's not legal to do what we're doing right. Now imagine for a moment that you live in a place where it's not only illegal to do what we're doing. Now but you know personally of people who have lost their lives doing what we're doing. Now you know personally of churches where people had assembled and hordes Of muslims Or hindus or whatever stood around, outside locked the doors and set the place on fire until everyone inside was dead. Gone that happens today in this world in which we, live when people gather atmounts of assembly just like this. One now imagine that you're in that part of the. World we're gathering together with. Believers it's that significant and that, dangerous which is encouragement to. You someone standing before you saying that there's a geopolitical entity out there Called, israel and if your government that hates you will align with them on that day and not march in on the wrong side of the, battle that everything will be please or or is it the interpretation that says there is amount of gathering that will not. Fall and as we gather in this amount of, gathering there are people who despise us and may even kill us for doing what we do and for worshiping whom we. Worship and there are voices out, there satanic voices who are calling them against, us causing them to hate. Us but know, this though they hate us in the here and the, now there is a day, coming and there is a mount of gathering that will. Prevail there is a. Moment well they will gather believing that they can destroy The, church And christ will crack the sky and it will all be. Over we will be. Vindicated christ will. Reign we will worship, him new, heavens new, earth New, jerusalem a new amount of gathering where there will be no adversaries who press in against. Us that is What revelation sixteen is written. For that's why it's here in the, book not to cause you to stick your nose in a, newspaper but to cause you to lift your eyes to the, sky to lift your eyes to the hill from whence you're, Comes because your help comes from The lord who is the maker of heaven and. Earth oh, yeah he's going to dry out the. Euphrates the enemies Of god will rush. In they will come to harm legito the mount Of. Assembly they will fight against Our god like they have always fought against Our, god believing that it is within their power to destroy His. Church and in a, moment in a twinkling of an, Eye christ will say. Enough in the, meantime keep your garments, on keep them, clean and remember the one who gave you those garments and makes those garments clean is the one who fights for. Us let's, Pray, father as we bow before. You we bow as a humble, people recognizing that there is so much that we take for, granted even our ability to gather here as the saints Of god and worship. You there is a world of opposition out, there and for the most part we've been completely shielded from. It but there are brothers and sisters of ours, who on this very day are taking their lives in their hands by deciding to go to. Church there are bloodthirsty mobs literally right, now hunting down those who would dare gather at your mound Of. Assembly and yet here we are an ease and, comfort grat by your, grace that we would always be reminded that there is a spiritual reality beyond that which we, see and that greater is he who is in us than he who is in the, world and that regardless of the spiritual opposition that we, Face christ rules and, reigns and that we serve The god who is and who, was and who is to come that you will set all things, right and that by your grace your church will be. Redeemed for this we thank. You in, this we rejoice For christ's sake and in his. Name amena