The Battle of Armageddon

The speaker discusses the need for various instruments for a lesson and asks for prayer requests. They mention the results of a stress test and mention several unspoken requests. They then lead a prayer, asking for blessings and guidance. They mention technical difficulties and ask for any questions before discussing the battle of Armageddon. They explain the origins of the word and its significance in biblical prophecy. They talk about the outpouring of the seven bowls and the final battle of the tribulation period. They mention the conflicts in and around Jerusalem and the location of Armageddon. They discuss the gathering of the Antichrist and the kings of the earth against Christ and the church. Let me tell you, I'm going to need about 20 different instruments tonight. I've been trying for the last three hours to get the lesson up and to proclaim tonight. And I finally, I never could get it done, but I found a key. But then when the key happened, it did not give me all of my, what I needed to be able to do it. So, we are compromising. Prayer request. While I get all this stuff booted. Okay, Jason Harris. Remember him and his family. Any others? James Waddle. Alright. Any others? Tomorrow, we're going to get results tomorrow. Pray for Adriana. Kaye survived her stress test, but she hasn't heard anything on what's going on yet or not. The results from it. Get swamped in. Alright. Any others? Okay. Any others? Okay. Rick Hollins. Any others? Any others? A lot of unspoken requests. Of course, God knows each and every one of these. And let's go to him in a word of prayer. Father, we just thank you so much for your love. We thank you for all that you have done for us. We thank you for the opportunity to gather together and to be able to come and lift up these families and these loved ones in the prayers. And we just ask you to work in each and every one of these that you might receive the honor and the glory from it. And just that all praise will be given to you. And Father, we just ask you to be with the young people that are with us tonight as we go through our studies. Just help us to grow because of it and learn more about you. And Father, we just ask you as we lift up, as we're working on our BDS, that we already ask you to prepare hearts and be able to come, to be attentive. And Father, we just pray that there will be salvations and souls committed to you. And Father, we just give you all the praise and the honor for it. And just help us to be able to grow through our Bible school. And we just ask you for all these things. In your most precious name we pray. Amen. All right. Eli, for some reason I'm not connected, so you may have to change the slides for me. As we get started tonight, any questions or anything? I've been gone for a couple of weeks. But we've got all the way up to the point of the battle of Armageddon, which is what we'll be talking about tonight. And hopefully if we have time at the end of that, we will also discuss a little bit about the Gog and Magog. I've done some more research on that. And so kind of give some opinions and some scriptures based on when that happened or whatever. But any questions up until this point that you might want to have re-explained or whatever? All right. We're coming to the battle of Armageddon. Armageddon is actually a word that comes out of the Old Testament. It's Hebrew in nature and origin. Har means mountain or hill. And Magedon is a reference to the ruins of an ancient city. This actually overlooks the Valley of Eshdolon there in northern Israel. Through the ages, as you've looked at that area, Satan has longed and desired to eradicate Israel basically off of the face of the earth because he wants to prevent God's promises from being fulfilled. And of course, every time that he's tried to destroy God's promises, what's happened? He's lost. And we know the end of the battle of what's going to happen, that God is going to fulfill His promises through His chosen people, Israel. And so God is not finished with Israel. God has not replaced Israel. Israel is still Israel. And the church is the church. So God has still got to fulfill some things with Israel. And so there's going to be a coming back together. We know that a lot of this is going to be fulfilled during the millennial reign, which we'll talk about in a couple of weeks. When you look at the battle of Armageddon, it will be the very last attempt of Satan to destroy the promises of God. But as always, he's not going to succeed. 1 Corinthians 8, verse 56 says, Blessed be the Lord that hath given rest unto His people Israel according to all that He promised. There hath not failed one word of all His good promises, which He promised by the hand of Moses His servant. And so God can be trusted, has always been able to be trusted, and He will continue to be able to be trusted. If we look back at history, and we have the advantage of looking back on a lot of history, we see that God's record stands at 100% perfect in fulfilling all of the promises of the Old Testament. There's absolutely nothing that Satan can do to change the outcome of prophecies, no matter how hard he tries. You look at all of the things from the time that Jesus Christ was born, that Satan tried to destroy all the male children all the way up until when he finally had them crucified on the cross of Calvary, and Satan thought he had won. But what happened? Jesus Christ rose from the dead. And so all of the promises have been 100%. And so in Revelation 19, verse 17, John writes, I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he crieth 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. When you see the word Armageddon that we refer to as the Battle of Armageddon, it's actually only mentioned in Revelation 16, 16, where it says, and He gathered them together in a place called in the Hebrew poem, Armageddon. In verse 14 it said, 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 the great day of God Almighty. So the Battle of Armageddon starts in Revelation chapter 16, and it ends in chapter 19 with the great supper that is there. And so it's kind of good to kind of keep that in mind in Revelation, where it fits and how it fits. When you see the Battle of Armageddon, it actually starts with the outpouring of the seven vowels. If you remember, there's these multiples of seven that's in Revelation. You start out with the seven seals that are being opened. Out of the seventh seal then comes the seven trumpets. And then when the seventh trumpet is blown, then opens up the seven vowels, or what we call translated as the seven bowls. And so out of the seventh vowel, or the seventh bowl, then comes the Battle of Armageddon. It says in Revelation 16, 17, the seventh angel poured out his vowel into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, It is done. Immediately after that vowel opens up, it says in verse 18 of chapter 16 about the great earthquake, it says, And there were voices, and thunders, and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts. The cities of the nations fell, and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give her the cup of wine of the fierceness of his wrath. And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found. And so immediately when he pours out this second vowel, there is a great earthquake. Babylon is going to fall. And then you go to Revelation 17-19, and it talks about this fall of Babylon. It talks about what's going to happen, what's going to take place. In Revelation 20-10, it mentions that Armageddon is the final battle of the tribulation period. It is the final revolt before going into the millennial reign. Between the battle of Armageddon and the millennial reign, all we have event-wise is the second coming of Jesus Christ. And so when Jesus Christ comes back, then he is going to establish the millennial reign. And so Armageddon will begin and it will be in conjunction with and end with the coming of Jesus Christ. It involves a series of conflicts that happen in and around Jerusalem. When you go back to Daniel chapter 11 and Joel chapter 3, Zechariah chapter 14, these are the same chapters that we continue to mention over and over that are predominant and prevalent when it comes to biblical prophecy. But all of these talk about this conflict that is going to happen in and around Jerusalem. It's going to be the very final days of tribulation when the kings of the world are gathered together, as we read well ago in Revelation 16, 14, for that great day, the battle of the great day of God. The site of Armageddon, I think I've got a picture of it, there is actually 50 miles north of Jerusalem in what is today referred to as the Valley of Jezreel. It's also in biblical times known as the Plain of Esdralon. It's near the ruins of the ancient city Megiddo. The invading army is pictured moving toward Jerusalem from the north and the east. It's kind of interesting when you study Ezekiel because it talks about coming from the north and everything with Russia. The only way to get to that valley is through these mountains. A tank can't get there. Russia is the only nation today that still houses over 100,000 men cavalry. It goes by horseback. In order to get through that mountain region to get to this valley, there's little old trails and paths and you can only get there by horseback. You can't get there. So it's kind of neat that when you look at prophecy, you say, well, how in the world, you know, we talk about the Iron Dome and we've been watching it here lately how successful it is. They can't get missiles or nothing into Jerusalem or anything. Well, the only way that they're going to be able to get in is by horseback. And so that's kind of a neat deal that when you study and you look at the things of today. At Armageddon, the Antichrist and the kings of the earth and their combined armies will be gathered against Christ in the church in order to make war. And that's what it talks about in Revelation 19, 19. It uses the term gather. They're all going to be gathered together. This coming together in chapter 19. He says, I saw the beast, the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. It's the same exact word that's used in Revelation 16, 16 when he says he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. That's the only place that Armageddon is actually used in the entire word of God. And so when you look at this Armageddon, it tells us these two passages are talking about the same conflict. They're talking about the same exact place. The carnage is going to be so extensive. It includes all of these kings, these captains, these mighty men, the cavalry, their horses, small men, great men. According to chapter 19 and verse 18, it explains all of them, both small and great. And the prophets predict that God will step in and intervene in human history on behalf of his people. And he's going to totally destroy the Antichrist's army in Jerusalem. Zachariah, when you read Zachariah, he predicts the battle will end when the Messiah touches down on the Mount of Olives. Jesus Christ, in his second coming, he touches down. And Zachariah describes the mountain, the Mount of Olives, actually splitting in half. And Jesus Christ is going to enter into Jerusalem at the eastern gate. If you look at Jerusalem today, you kind of deal with the Muslims and everything, is that the Muslims have come into that eastern gate of Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives and they have put in a great big cemetery. And the reason is because the Jews cannot do what? They can't come in contact with an unclean or dead body because it makes them unclean, ceremony unclean. So they think that by sacking all of these dead bodies here, they are going to thwart Jesus Christ from coming in that's there. But God is going to split it open and march right on in to Jerusalem. And so what is the purpose of Armageddon? Why do we have this battle that's there? There's really three different aspects that you have to look at. First of all is the divine purpose. This is the purpose of God. The purpose of God is that he is fixing to prepare the earth for this thousand year reign of Jesus Christ. Armageddon will be the venue by which he will judge all of his enemies. It's the final judgment. It's the final thing and all of satanic and human opposition will now be focused on the nation of Israel. God's chosen people and God is going to bring them to that location and bring out all of their foolish schemes of rebellion and turn them against them. The psalmist actually records God's response of laughter at their puny attempts, the human attempts to overthrow God himself at Armageddon. If you look at Psalms chapter 2, it's actually a prophecy, a psalm, a hymn prophesying about this event. And it says, Why do the heathen rage and the people imagine a vain thing? And so all of these people are gathered together there to what? Destroy God's promises and God's fulfillment. It says in verse 2, The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his mointen saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their cords from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them and assort his pleasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy heel of Zion. And so it's picturing all of these people coming together to destroy Israel and what's God doing? It's a futile attempt. And so he laughs at this because they're crazy to think that they can overthrow God. And so that's his divine purpose, to finally judge them, to show them how foolish they really are and to establish his kingdom. Now, what is the human purpose of that? The human purpose, if you remember as we've studied through the seven years of the tribulation period, a lot of that is satanically inspired. We've looked at the antichrist. We've looked at the beast. We've looked at the false prophet. All of these are there and their purpose is to basically remove all of the Israelites from this world and to establish satanic control over the entire world. And so the humans, gathered under the satanic influence and power, what do they do? They march against Jerusalem. They come against the holy city and they appear that they're fixing to destroy all of God's people and all of these problems and they're going to rid the world of all of this. But what's happened? We've already seen that many of the Jews have already came to salvation. They've already recognized Jesus Christ as their Messiah. And so we follow this build up to Armageddon in Revelation 11 through 18. And it begins with the persecution of Israel at that midpoint of the tribulation. You remember what happened at the midpoint of the tribulation? The antichrist, his abomination of desolation, and what did he tell the Jews? Immediately when that happens, don't gather up your belongings or anything, but to flee, to get out of here, to go. And so all of this has happened and then it builds and it begins to culminate into this worldwide gathering of all of these armies in Israel. But we know that when Christ returns, and we know that he's going to return, that he will come with his church. He's not going to spare his church. He'll return to spare the human race. And he himself, it says in Matthew chapter 24 that we started this study with in verse 22, and except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved, but for the elect's sake, he's talking about Israel, the church is already gone, and so the elect's sake, those days shall be shortened. And so he will return in triumph. He's going to win the battle by the power of his spoken word. It refers in Revelation chapter 19 verse 21. The remnant was slain with the sword of him that set upon the horse. And then he says, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all of the fowls were filled with their flesh. You know, when you think about God speaking, you go all the way back into Genesis and you look at all of this creation and God spoke it into existence. And then on the cross of Calvary in three words, the greatest fulfillment of all of our salvation and our life was given when Jesus Christ cried, It is finished. And in the Greek that was one word. It's done. It's finished. Stopped. And then all of a sudden when Satan gathers his armies together again, Jesus Christ is going to touch down and he's going to speak. The power of his word. When he speaks, the battle was going to be over with. You know, it reminds me of the night that the disciples were on the boat and the storm was coming and they were scared. And you remember what happened when they finally got Jesus to teach them? What did Jesus do? He simply spoke. He said, Peace be still. And immediately the storm ceased. And so just picture this moment of Jesus Christ coming back, landing on the Mount of Olives. Jerusalem is going to be split and he is going to speak the words and the battle is over with. Not much of a fight, is it? And so man, the power in his church and him will be victorious once again. And when you go over to Revelation chapter 19, he wraps all of this up by the antichrist and the false prophet are going to be defeated. Both of them at that time are going to be cast into the lake of fire. When he talks about that punishment, it dramatizes and gives a picture of the seriousness of their offense. I mean, you're not just putting them into a prison. He is casting them into the lake of fire. This is serious what's going on. This is serious what is happening. And so it shows their finality over Christ's victory over them. And all of the rest of the rebel army is going to be wiped out. They will not be consigned to the lake of fire and they'll be held there until the end of the millennial reign at the judgment seat, the great white throne judgment. When they have the great white throne judgment, then they're going to be resurrected and brought back out of the lake of fire to be able to stand in judgment. And so when you look at the fact that the antichrist and the false prophet are cast alive into the lake of the fire and they are still there in Revelation 20.10, it indicates that it's a place of eternal conscious punishment. See, they don't come out to the great white throne judgment. They are there and it is finished. And when you go to Revelation 20.1-2, it tells us that Satan is bound in that bottomless pit for a thousand years. Now remember, the antichrist and the false prophet are the false trinity just like what God is. God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. The antichrist is a type or picture of Jesus Christ, the man, the human form. The false prophet is like the spirit. And so they're going to be cast into the lake of fire. But Satan himself is going to be held in that bottomless pit for a thousand years. Jesus alone will determine the final destiny of all of these unbelievers and all of the unholy trinity. Everyone will have an opportunity to stand before Him at the great throne of judgment. And God says He has given to Jesus Christ all judgment and authority. And so that's where when you read in Matthew in the Gospels, where He says in that day, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, that's happening at the great white throne of judgment, which we'll get to later on this season. And so, this summer hopefully, Scripture indicates that all the nations of the world will gather for war against Israel. And so this is really a fitting climax to the tribulation when all of a sudden the whole world is in rebellion against heaven. Except for this remnant of believers, those that have finally realized that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. They're hiding out, as we've said, one place that most likely is Petra, that area where they fled to. They're hiding out there, this remnant of those Jews that have come to Jesus Christ. And the Bible teaches that this war will involve not only the whole land of Israel, but all of the nations of the world. And so it mentions kings, and the kings have an S on it, which means that it's plural. There's going to be kings from the east who take a prominent role in this military build-up, preparation of the war of Armageddon. It talks about in Revelation 16, 12, when the sixth angel poured out his vial on the great river Euphrates, the water thereof was dried up, and the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. That's there. And so it mentions these eastern powers, these nations, and it simply describes them as coming from the east of the Euphrates. This could refer to, a lot of times when we think of the Middle East, we think of Russia. I mean, not Russia, we think of China, right? And that nation. But this could also refer to the Muslim nations that are just to the east. When you look at the hatred and all of that, and so the Bible never calls out China, but we know that there's this hatred between the Muslims and the Jews that are there. But when you consider the whole tribulation, it's about war between God and His opponents that are there. So quickly tonight, let's look at these. There's eight stages to the battle of Armageddon. And these eight stages serve a very distinct purpose in this overall challenge. Number one, and I'm giving you some Scripture references there, is the assembling of the allies of the Antichrist. We talked about Psalms chapter 2. We read that a while ago. Joel 3, 9-11. But in Revelation, it says where we just left off, the last verse that we read there in Revelation 16, 12, the vial upon the great river of the Euphrates, the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 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. And 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. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And he gathers them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. So step one on the pouring out of the sixth vial is the assembling of these allies coming together with the Antichrist. The Euphrates River is dried up, allowing these kings of the east to be able to come by. Job 3, 9-11 that I mentioned a while ago, says, Proclaim you this among the Gentiles. Prepare war. Wake up the mighty men. Let all the men of war draw near. Let them come up. Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves and come, all you heathen, and gather yourselves together round about thither, cause the mighty ones to come down, O Lord. So step one is this assembling of the allies of the Antichrist. Step two is the destruction of Babylon. In Revelation 17, 18, it shifts from the gathering of the armies to the destruction of Babylon. Why the destruction of Babylon? Babylon, first of all, represents the world and the satanic and the control of everything that is going on. Babylon is their capital. Where Jerusalem is the Jews' capital, the world is Babylon. And the Antichrist is away with his armies at Armageddon. His capital is going to be attacked and destroyed. The irony is that while the Antichrist is gathering his armies in northern Israel for the purpose of attacking God's city, Jerusalem, God attacks the Antichrist's city, Babylon. In the Old Testament, Babylon was the place of Israel's captivity as well as the originating site of idolatry. And so all of them connections that is there. It's also known as Shinar. In Genesis chapter 10, 11, Daniel 1, Zechariah 5, Babylon will be a worldwide economic and religious center of activity during the tribulation. It talks a lot about Babylon in Revelation 17 and chapter 18. Whether you interpret Babylon literally or you interpret it figuratively, the end result is judgment will be decisive and devastating. I personally take everything to be literal unless otherwise. And so I think there's going to be a literal Babylon that the Antichrist is going to set up and control and reign. Isaiah 13, 19 says, In Babylon the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You remember what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah? God destroyed it with fire, rained down fire from heaven. In Jeremiah 50, 40 it says, As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbor cities thereof, saith the Lord, so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell there. And so while Antichrist is getting ready to attack Israel, God completely destroys and wipes out Babylon. Once that attack is finished, then we come to Revelation 18, 21 and it says, And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the sea, saying, Thus with Balak shall the great city Babylon be thrown down and shall be found no more at all destroyed. And the voice of harpers and musicians and of pipers and trumpeteers shall be heard no more at all in thee, and no craftsman and whatsoever craft he be shall be found any more in thee, and the sound of millstones shall be heard no more at all in thee. The light of the candles shall shine no more at all in thee. The voice of the bridegroom and of the bride shall be heard no more at all in thee. For thy merchants were the great men of the earth, for by the sorceries were all nations deceived. And in her was found the blood of prophets and of saints and of all that were slain upon the earth. And so the Antichrist will be a world ruler, but his control will not be so absolute as to preclude rebellion or to squelch all opposition. Daniel 11, 41 says, He shall enter also into the glorious land, and many countries shall be overthrown. But these shall escape out of his hand, even Edom, Moab, and the chief of the children of Ammon. And if you remember, them are the names that was to that area of Petra that passed down in the Old Testament. Petra was referred to as the land of Edom and Moab. So he will try, but these things are basically impossible. And so the destruction of Babylon will come as a divine punishment of history. Then the third step will be the fall of Jerusalem. And so Babylon will fall and then Jerusalem will fall. And so the Antichrist will move south against Jerusalem when Babylon is destroyed. Zechariah 12, 1 says, The burden of the word of the Lord for Israel, sayeth the Lord, which stretcheth forth the heavens and layeth the foundation of the earth, formeth the spirit of man within. Behold, I will make Jerusalem a cup of trembling unto all the people round about, when they shall be in besiege both against Judah and against Jerusalem. And in that day will I make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all people. All that burden themselves with it shall be cut in pieces, though all the people of the earth be gathered together against it. Then over in Zechariah 14, 12, And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem. Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongues shall consume away in their mouth. Remember what we said? How is the battle going to end? Jesus Christ is going to speak. And these people are still standing. And while they're standing, their eyes, their flesh, everything is just being consumed with that. The Antichrist forces are going to sweep down to Jerusalem. And once again, the city will fall into Gentile control that was there. The fourth step is the armies of the Antichrist at Basra. Jeremiah 49, 13, the fourth stage. The campaign will shift into the desert and the mountains. Babylon is destroyed. Jerusalem is destroyed. So now they go to Basra. This Basra area is also the area of Petra, about 80 miles south of Jerusalem. At the very beginning of the second half of the tribulation, this is where many that we said flee to, this area of Basra. After Jerusalem is captured, the Antichrist will move south and attempt to destroy those that are gathered out there in that wilderness and in that desert. The areas associated with this part of the campaign is at Mount Seir, about 30 miles south of the lower end of the Dead Sea. Two sites are possibilities for the location of the fleeing Jews. Basra and Petra are these two sites. And so he mentions Basra here as being the second site. Isaiah 33, 13 talks about this. He says, Hear ye that are afar off. I have done, and ye that are near acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid. Fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell in the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell in the everlasting burnings? He that walketh righteously and speaketh uprightly, he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from holding of bribes, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutting his eyes from seeing evil. He shall dwell on high. His place of defense shall be the munitions of rocks. Bread shall be given him. His water shall be sure. And then you go over to Jeremiah 49, 13, and he says, For I have sworn by myself, saith the Lord, that Basra shall become a desolation, a reproach, a waste, and a curse, and all the cities thereof shall be perpetual waste. I have heard a rumor from the Lord, and an ambassador is sent unto the heathen, saying, Gather ye together, and come against her, and rise up to battle. And so as they are gathering out here in this wilderness of Mount Seir, the fourth phase will come to end, and the last few days of the campaign will begin. With number five, the national regeneration of Israel. And I've given you a bunch of Scripture references there. The campaign is going to culminate in the second coming of Jesus Christ. But before Christ returns, Israel will confess its national sin. Remember what hinges upon God's forgiveness. If my people, which are called by my name... And so you go back and you look at Leviticus 26, 40. Israel has to confess their sins. They're going to plead. Now finally, please, the Messiah return. Christ come back. Because why? Babylon has failed. Jerusalem has failed. Now where they have fled to for safety is being under attack and under siege. They're backed into a corner. There's absolutely nowhere else that they can go. So now, what do you do when you're backed into a corner? You confess your sins, and you cry for the Messiah. You cry for Jesus Christ. So they finally recognize the whole reason and the whole purpose of the tribulation period. The whole thing was to get their attention. And whether this will be done by a study of the Scriptures, or whether it's because of the preaching of the 144,000, or whether it's because of the two witnesses that we talked about and their testimonies, or maybe a combination of all three. Finally, the Jews that are alive are finally going to confess their sins and cry out for the Messiah. And issue a call of Hosea chapter 6, verse 1 through 3, which will begin the last three days before the second coming of Jesus Christ. And so then, when that happens, the next event that happens is the second coming of Jesus Christ. He's going to return to earth, and He's going to defeat all of the armies of the Antichrist at Bosra. And He's going to begin His final portions of the campaign. He will return to earth in the clouds in the same manner as He departed. Matthew chapter 24 and verse 30. Do you remember the three questions that was asking? And the answer to that third question, Matthew 24, 30, Then shall appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven, and then shall all the tribes of the earth mourn, and they shall see the Son of Man coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. The fact that Jesus Christ returns first to the mountain wilderness of Bosra is talked about in Isaiah, Micah, and Abacah. They're going to enter a battle with the Antichrist's forces that will miraculously defeat them. That is there in Revelation 19, 11. It says, And I saw heaven open, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he does judge and make war. His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns. And he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. And he treadeth the wide press of the fierceness of the wrath of Almighty God. And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. And so if you noticed as we were going through there, I had underlined the clothed in fine linen, white and clean. What we have been looking at this summer is only the events that are taking place on earth. I have not gone to anything that is in heaven. We have not talked about the rapture. We have not talked about the judgment seat of Christ. We have not talked about the marriage feast. That is going to be happening in heaven while tribulation is going on here on earth. This clothed in fine linen, white and clean is not referring to angels. Jesus Christ is not returning with his angels. He is returning with those saints that were raptured, that have already been through the judgment seat of Christ. They are now pure. They have now been made clean because why? All of their bad works and everything has been burned up in fire. And they are the ones, it is his saints, it is his church, that is coming back and returning with him. And so it is going to bring destruction to the enemies of Jesus Christ. Step seven, the battle of Basra to the valley of Jehoshaphat. Jesus, who is the Messiah, will fight alone on Israel's behalf. He will destroy the antichrist and those who come against the nation and persecuted it. In this phase, the antichrist will be slain by the true Christ. And so the evil unholy trinity, the antichrist will be destroyed by Jesus Christ of the holy trinity. Among the very first casualties will be the antichrist himself that was there. Habakkuk 3.13, Thou wentest forth for the salvation of thy people, even for salvation with thy anointed, thou woundest the head out of the house of the wicked by discovering the foundation unto the neck. And so it is a prophecy referring to that destruction of that antichrist. 2 Thessalonians 2.8, Then shall the wicked be revealed, and the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. And so beginning at Basra and moving back to Jerusalem, and then the Kidron Valley, which is the valley that is known as the Valley of Jehoshaphat, Jesus will engage and destroy antichrist forces. In the Valley of Jehoshaphat, if you go along the eastern walls of Jerusalem, the nations and armies are gathered against the Jews to destroy them, but now they find themselves being destroyed by Jesus Christ. And so then you come to step eight, which is the victory ascent on the Mount of Olives. Now that the antichrist has been destroyed, his forces are taken care of, the campaign will be over. Jesus Christ will stand at the Mount of Olives in a symbolic victory ascent. And he does so with a number of events, cataclysmic events, are going to happen and take place, and it's going to bring the tribulation period to an end. In Zechariah 14, 3, the Lord goes forth and fights against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle. 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 great valley, and half the mountain shall remove toward the north and half of it toward the south. Revelation 16 ties it up in the chronological order. Remember, we had the sixth angel that poured out the vial that started this battle. Then you have the seventh angel in verse 17 poured out his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, It is done. And there were voices and thunders and lightnings. There was a great earthquake such as was not since men upon the earth, so mighty an earthquake and so great, and the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities and the nations fell, and great Babylon came into remembrance before God to give her unto the cup of wine of the fierceness of the wrath. And so as a result of this earthquake, Jerusalem is going to be split into three areas. The Mount of Olives will split into two parts that will create a valley, and that valley is a means of escape from the earthquake for the Jewish inhabitants of that city. And so when will this happen? When will this take place? And the Old Testament prophets predicted that Messiah will come to deliver Israel when the nations repent and turn to the one, and Zechariah 12, 10 uses the phrase, the one whom they pierced. So the Messiah, Jesus Christ, is the only one that the Jews have pierced. How did they pierce Him? On the cross of Calvary, you remember the sword that went into His side? Not a bone of His body was broken, but He was pierced for our iniquities, what Isaiah says. And so in response to their prayers, Christ is going to return and deliver Israel from the antichrist. He's going to return bodily. He's going to return literally just as He departed and just as He ascended into heaven. That's what He told His disciples. And the angel, remember, reiterated that. Why stand you gazing? The same Jesus that left in Acts 1 is going to do what? In like fashion return. Where was He rising from? The Mount of Olives. This is where He's going to return that is there. He's going to consume everybody. And so the battle of Armageddon ends with Christ proclaiming victory over the antichrist, the false prophet, and the devil. And Revelation 19-20 says these both, all of them, were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone. So what happens after Armageddon? Armageddon will be the last great world war of the tribulation period. It's going to be the last world war. It's going to be in conjunction with the second coming of Jesus Christ. And so Armageddon, in a sense though, Armageddon is really a battle that never really takes place. At least not in accordance with His human intent. Because the human purpose, they're gathered together to do what? To destroy Israel. But God's going to end up wiping them out very quickly. And so He's going to bring about this conversion of Israels and these multitudes of Gentiles. But once again, the antichrist attempts to wipe them out. But yet they're going to be destroyed. And so that is the battle of Armageddon. Now where is the battle of Gog and Magog that we hear so much about? Gog and Magog appear in Ezekiel 38 and 39. Again in Revelation 20, verses 7 and 8. These two passages use the same name. And if you look at these, and I'm going to give you three different possibilities tonight, and you're going to have to study and choose. I'm still having chosen. Because when you look at Ezekiel 38 and 39, and you look at Revelation 20 and 78, there's a lot of similarities, but there's a whole lot of differences. And so the possibility in Ezekiel 38 and verse 11, it talks about, "...and thou shalt say, I will go up to a land of unwalled villages. I will go to them that are at rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls, and having neither bars nor gates." Now the battle of Armageddon, what did we say was happening at the battle of Armageddon? Are they in Jerusalem? No, they fled. They're out in the wilderness, right? But it says here, Ezekiel says, that it's going to be a land of unwalled villages. It says they're going to be completely at rest. They're going to be safe. They're going to feel safe. Do the Jews feel safe at Armageddon? No. They're being threatened. They're being highly chased. As a matter of fact, it's got so bad, and the pressure is so rough, they cry out to the Messiah. And so Gog is described as the land of Magog, which is the prince of Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal, according to Ezekiel 38, 2 through 3. So he gives us who this Gog is. It's from the land of Magog that is made up of the Rosh, Meshach, and Tubal. When you look at these, when Ezekiel's battle of Gog and Magog occurs, here's the theories. The first theory is that it's going to happen before the tribulation period. And this is kind of where I lend to be. That there's still going to be a time that Israel is going to feel at peace. They're going to let their guard down. They're going to let everything go. That's there. And we don't really know, but it talks about in Ezekiel 30, if you go back and you look at Ezekiel 39 verse 9 and 10, during this time of peace, they are actually taking the weapons and stuff and burning them. Because it's peace. They're making plowshares out of them. They don't need weapons anymore because there's so much safety. And then it talks about that it's going to take, at the time of this going on, while they're burning the enemy's weapons, there's going to be seven years and over seven months of burying the dead. Now at the end of the battle of Armageddon, what's going to happen? At the end of the battle of Armageddon, Jesus is going to speak, and it says their bodies are just going to go, start decomposing right there. Their eyes are going to come out of their socket. Their meat's going to come off, right? They're literally going to start dying there. And then what happens? They're sent to the lake of fire until the great white throne of judgment. So there's no need to have seven years and seven months of cleaning up dead bodies because it goes from the battle of Armageddon into the millennial reign. And so a lot of theologians and stuff believe that it's going to happen before the tribulation period. That there's going to be a time that Israel becomes at peace and they feel comfortable. And then this is when Russia and those around are going to come in and conquer them and catch them off guard. The other idea is that it's going to happen during the first half of the tribulation period. This hinges on the fact that this is the only time that we know of that Israel is going to actually be at peace. Why are they going to be at peace? Because the Antichrist signs a peace treaty. And so they're going to be at peace. They're going to feel comfortable until when? The abomination of desolation. Remember, He said that there's going to be those that are working. There's going to be those that are giving babies suck. And all of this is going to happen when that happens. And then He says, when it hits, flee. And so that's the time that they're going to be comfortable that is there. And so this period that is there, but according to Ezekiel, may God will not win. God will intervene to preserve Israel. And this is another one of the similarities because the battle of Gog and Magog, God intervenes with an earthquake. And so He says in Ezekiel 38 and 19, there shall be a great shaking in the land of Israel. In verse 21, it says, I will call for a sword against him throughout all my mountains, saith the Lord God. And every man's sword shall be against his brother. And then God says in verse 22, and I will plead against him with pestilence and with blood, and I will rain upon him and upon his bands and upon the many people that are with him an overflowing rain and great hell stones, fire and brimstone. And the result is that the nations will see God's greatness and holiness. Verse 23 of 38, Thus will I magnify myself and sanctify myself, and I will be known in the eyes of many nations, and they shall know that I am the Lord. And so you see the similarities that are mentioned there. What was the whole purpose of the battle of Armageddon? That God would be proven that He's Lord. But in the battle of Armageddon, who is He being proven to? It's the Jews that are the ones that finally confess, we need the Messiah, and recognize that it must be Him. So, that leaves us with the third result. Gog and Magog and the battle of Armageddon are actually the same battle. And I fight between that one and being pre-tribulation. I don't think it's going to be during the pre-tribulation. I throw that one completely out because it don't make sense. But when we look at Ezekiel 39, the battle of Gog and Magog ends with a great supper. The same thing that the battle of Armageddon does. It says in verse 39, verse 17, And thou son of man, thus saith the Lord God, speak unto every feathered fowl, to every beast of the field, assemble yourselves and come, gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice, and I do sacrifice for you, even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. You shall eat the flesh of the mighty and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, of goats, of bullocks, all of them fat ones of Bashan, and you shall eat fat till you be full and drink blood till you be drunken of my sacrifice, which I have sacrificed for you. Thus you shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, with men of war, saith the Lord God. Now, go over to Revelation 19, verse 17 and hear how the battle of Armageddon ends. 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 under the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of forces, and them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free in bond, both small and great. 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. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that brought miracles before him, which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. Right after this, in Revelation chapter 20, verse 7 and 8, it says, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan will be loosed out of his prison and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle, the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. That's happening after the millennial reign is when Gog and Magog is there. Now either that refers to a literal Gog and Magog, which leaves us the only time that this battle could take place is before the tribulation period, or it's the battle at the end of the millennial reign. The book of Revelation uses Ezekiel's prophecy about Magog to portray this final end attack on the nation of Israel. The result of this battle is that all are destroyed and Satan will find his final place in the lake of fire. The problem is that if he finds his place in the lake of fire, where? At the battle of Armageddon also. And so, there's a lot of similarities, but there's a lot of differences. And that's why, to me, it's hard to say. But here's the obvious differences. When it comes to the battle of Gog and Magog, it mentions specific countries. It talks about Russia, the bear to the north, and then it refers to the Islamic Confederacy. It refers to Iran, Turkey, Libya, and Sudan that come from the north in order for this battle. The battle of Armageddon says that it's all these nations come together. All of these kings and princesses that are led by the Antichrist. Remember, the Antichrist was a head of ten kings that controlled all of the world during that tribulation period. All of the world nations comes against him. The kings from the east and everything. So that's the first difference. The second difference is the location. In the battle of Gog and Magog, the mountains in the northern Israel are north of Israel. The battle of Armageddon is in the valley of Jezreel. And so, there's two different locations that are mentioned. Number three is the purpose of attack. The battle of Gog and Magog, they attack in order to take wealth. They want to steal the economy and the wealth of Israel. The battle of Armageddon, they gather together against them to do what? Obliterate them. To wipe them off of the map. Number four is the timing of the event. The battle of Gog is before. Nowhere is the Antichrist mentioned anywhere surrounding the battle of Gog and Magog. However, during the battle of Armageddon, at the end of the seven year great tribulation period when Jesus returns, who's the first person that He destroys? The Antichrist. Number five is God's weapon of destruction. Gog and Magog, He refers to fire and brimstone, hail, torrents of rain, pestilence, self-inflicted wounds. They turn on their selves. They kill their selves. Self-inflicted wounds. Armageddon, Jesus comes back and what? He speaks. And the armies are destroyed. Number six is an earthquake. Gog destroys things in Israel with an earthquake. That Armageddon is the greatest earthquake ever and it destroys all the cities of man and causes all of the islands to sink back into the sea. And so the difference there. Number seven is the immediate result. Gog and Magog, Israel uses the enemy army weapons for fuel for seven years. Israel cleans up the enemy army's dead bodies from the mountains for seven months. In Armageddon, the bodies and the blood of the armies of the world fill the entire Jezreel Valley. You remember the blood's going to run to the horse's bridle? No cleanup is mentioned. It says the birds are going to eat up the flesh and drink the blood. And then number eight is Israel's protection. In Gog and Magog, it seems that God will totally protect Israel before the armies even reach the heart of Israel. In Armageddon it's clear that many people will be killed. Women will be raped. People will be taken into exile. There's people fleeing. All of this is happening before Jesus Christ returns. And then you have the end result. Gog is the nations and Israel will know that Galway has done this and God is Israel's God. The battle of Armageddon, Jesus sets up His thousand year millennial reign based in Jerusalem and Israel repents and receives Jesus as their Messiah and God. So, there's a lot of similarities, but there's a lot of differences. And so, I'm not deep enough into all of that and that's a battle at the end. I have enough problems trying to live for Christ now than trying to figure out if one of the different are the same. But here's the deal. Either way, the battle of Gog and the battle of Armageddon, whether they're two distinct events or whether they're the same event, we need to be careful when we look at these and we say for sure one way or the other. Because that's where, as Christians, we lose a lot of value and credibility when we say emphatically that this happens here and this happens there. Because there are some differences and discrepancies. And so, like I said, when Hugh asked the question the other day, this is from my study and this is where I'm at. And so, you decide. It's kind of interesting, in prophecy though, if it happens before the end of the tribulation, if the battle of Gog and Magog is before the end of Christ in the tribulation period, that still has to take place before the rapture. Brother Morris, and this is what even made me question it even more, Brother Morris gave a good lesson with Psalms 83. And Psalms 83 ties in with the Gog of Magog. And he talks about the peace and the unwalled cities and all of this. Well, if you look at what's going on right now, if you believe the battle of Gog and Magog is going to happen prior to the tribulation period, and you look at what's happening now, then your interpretation is what? That Israel is fixing to finally destroy them. They're going to get upset and the rest of them are going to back away for a period of time. They're going to release the pressure off of Israel. And Israel is going to come to a time of safety. And they're going to think, you know what, we finally... And that's what Netanyahu is trying to do, isn't he? He's trying to make a statement out of what he's doing in the Gaza Strip and everything. He's destroying them, he's wiping them out. They're going to have nothing to live. And so he's showing them what? The power of God, the power of God's people. And so this event, if you believe it before the tribulation, then you can kind of see how the events fit into that. If it's not before the tribulation, then you still see the events doing the same thing. What are the events doing? Jesus said that there's going to be the oppression of Israel, and then the Antichrist is going to come in. And so that's just one of them things that I don't know. But I gave you the arguments and the destruction. When you figure it out, let me know, and I'll agree or disagree. Any questions or comments? I really thought that would be two different classes, but y'all made it through. They're a little over. Next week we will look at the second coming and the purpose of the millennial reign that's there. Then we'll look at the great white throne judgment.