The Road To Armageddon – Part 1

Hi, I'm Robert Jeffress, and I'm glad to serve as your Bible teacher every day on this great radio station. On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. The final world conflict.

How will it occur? Remember, all of the forces of the earth are centered here in Israel. It is the great battle of the Lord. That's what John saw in this place called Armageddon. And we get a good picture of that in the passage we're going to look at today. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. With all the chaos and the unrest in our world today, it certainly feels as if we're living in the end times.

But the trials we're facing right now are nothing compared to what will take place during the great tribulation. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress describes the judgments that the earth will endure before the final world conflict. Now here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. I've been teaching from the Bible about the last days for my entire adult life, but I've never taught about biblical prophecy during a global pandemic. Well, the teaching series that we're featuring right now includes a verse-by-verse study through the book of Revelation.

As God would have it, this relevant study was presented smack dab in the heart of the COVID pandemic, which certainly heightened our awareness that the end is near. You can keep this in mind as you continue to listen to this teaching series from the book of Revelation. Now, as a compliment to what you're hearing through this daily series, I'd like to send you a brand new book I've written for you.

It's called Mysteries of the End Times. The subtitle is Five Little Known Truths About God's Plan for the Future. I'd be happy to send you a copy when you send a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. As a bonus, I'll be sure to include my popular booklet called The Major Characters of the End Times. In the last couple of weeks, we've been pleased to send thousands to listeners all across the country.

And while supplies last, I'm pleased to send you one as well. Now, let's set everything aside and give our complete attention to the mysterious 16th chapter of Revelation. Without proper context, the seven bowls can be confusing, and I want to help you understand why this facet of John's Revelation speaks to us today. I titled today's study The Road to Armageddon. Last Sunday night, we didn't have our regular Sunday night activities, so I was home and decided to watch an old movie. By old, it was about 10 years old. And given what is happening in our country right now with the coronavirus, I thought it was an appropriate movie to watch. Perhaps you've seen it.

It's called Contagion. All Star Cast came out in 2011, and it was eerie how well it foreshadowed what is happening in our country. The plotline of the movie is a mysterious animal-born virus begins in China and spreads throughout the world at a pandemic rate, and the CDC races to discover a cure for this virus. Now, if you get freaked out easily, don't watch the movie.

I know some of you are going to do it just because I said that. But it was very realistic. But the part of the movie that caught my attention most was the depiction of the social unrest because of this unknown virus. People breaking into other people's homes and stealing food, customers at a pharmacy thinking there was a cure there overrun the pharmacy counter. Tremendous social unrest. And as I watched that, it reminded me of stories I used to hear my grandparents tell me when I was a little boy about what it was like in World War II when our country was facing an existential threat. The world was, the rise of Adolf Hitler. But in spite of that threat, the American people came together. They bonded together. They accepted rationing. They put the interest of others above themselves. I compared that to what I was seeing in the movie and what I'm seeing on television right now. People having fistfights at Costco over toilet paper. And it makes you wonder, do we have the same American resolve, strength of character that our forefathers had that got them through World War II?

I think there's a serious reason to question that. And then fast forward to the final seven years of Earth's history, the Great Tribulation. How is the world going to respond to epidemics even more severe than what we're seeing right now? And then imagine what that response is going to be like when all the Christians have been removed already.

How will people react? It's going to be an unprecedented time of anarchy and chaos in the world. And we get a good picture of that in the passage we're going to look at today. If you have your Bibles, I want you to turn to Revelation 16 as we continue our study in this last book of the Bible with a message titled, The Road to Armageddon. Literally today, we're going to see the road that leads to the final great world conflict, Armageddon. Now for the many of you who have just joined us today, we are in a study of the last book of the Bible, the Revelation, that describes the details that will lead up to the visible, literal return of Jesus Christ to set up his kingdom on the earth. In Revelation chapter six through 19, the author describes that final seven year period of time, the Great Tribulation, that will result in the battle of Armageddon and the return of Jesus Christ. And you remember that God pours out his judgment on the earth during these last seven years in a series of three judgments. The seal judgments, Revelation chapter six, the trumpet judgments, Revelation eight through nine, and then for several chapters, there's an interlude. And when we come to chapter 16, the final judgments, God's final judgments on the earth, we call those and John calls them the bowl judgments. I want you to notice, first of all, the order to pour out the bowl judgments in verse one of chapter 16.

Then I heard a loud voice from the temple in heaven saying to the seven angels, go and pour out on the earth the seven bowls of the wrath of God. There are people who say, oh, I don't believe in a God of wrath. This text here says that God is angry, the anger, the fierce anger of God is literally what it means. I don't believe in a God of wrath, I believe in a God of love. Well, if that's what you believe in, you believe in a God of your own imagination, not the God of the Bible. Make no mistake about it, God is love. He loves you and me so much, he sent his only begotten son, Jesus Christ, to pay the penalty of our sin. But God is also a God of justice.

He cannot allow sin to go unpunished, the Bible says. And this pouring out of his judgment is a display of God's justice, his holiness. Now, before we look at each of these seven bowls, that word literally means saucer, a pan, a shallow pan. Before we look at each of these seven, let me make three general observations about these final judgments.

First of all, the bowl judgments follow each other in rapid succession. Now, in your English text, it will say in chapter 16, and the first angel, and the second angel, and the third angel, and so forth. But the word angel is not in the original text. Instead, it's simply, that was inserted by a translator somewhere later on.

In the Greek text, it simply says the first, the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth. The idea is rapidity here of judgments, not like the trumpet judgments that spanned out over months of time. Secondly, the bowl judgments are similar to the trumpet judgments. As we go through these, you're gonna, to quote Yogi Berra, feel like you're in deja vu all over again. These sound familiar to us. It's because they are similar to the ones that were named in chapters eight and nine, the trumpet judgments, with one major difference.

And that's observation number three. The bowl judgments are unique in their severity. As we may remember, the trumpet judgments, many times it said, and a third of the earth was affected. A third of the rivers were destroyed. A third of the sea, marine life in the sea was destroyed. But these judgments are over the whole earth.

Now, having given that overview, let's look at the execution of those bowls as they're actually poured out. One thing you'll note over and over again, these judgments are against non-Christians on the earth, those who took the mark of the beast. They chose not to follow Christ.

They took the mark of the beast to be able to buy and sell food and to provide for their families. But these are specifically targeted, you'll find the text saying, to those who took the mark of the beast. These bowl judgments are specifically against unbelievers.

Now, let's look at them. The first bowl judgment was skin boils. Look at verse two. So the first angel went and poured out his bowl on the earth, and it became a loathsome and malignant sore on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. Many commentators note that that word boil is the Greek word helkos. It is a word, it's a Greek word that was used in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, to describe the boils that God placed on the Egyptians. It's the same word that is used to describe the boils that Job experienced.

Remember, when he went through that test of his faith and God allowed Satan permission to strike Job, Job had boils. This is kind of hard to take before lunch, but let me describe what those boils actually were. One writer says, the skin, the sores, ooze with pus. They turn darker in color.

They attract worms before becoming crusty and hard. Remember Job, he had those oozing wounds and they became hard and he was itching and he had to take probably a broken piece of pottery in order to scrape himself to get temporary relief. That's the kind of boils that will come in these last times.

Now, we don't know in what form they come. Perhaps it is some type of pandemic skin disease. Perhaps because of all of the warfare taking place, this is the result of chemical warfare.

But whatever the reason is, these are horrendous afflictions that people will endure. Secondly, the second bowl, the destruction of sea life. Now, again, remember the second trumpet judgment killed a third of the sea.

But notice in verse 3, the second angel poured out his bowl into the sea and it became blood. Like that of a dead man and every living thing in the sea died. Just imagine what it would do to our ecosystem to have every fish, every mammal, the coral reefs, everything destroyed. Just imagine having those billions of fish on the surface of the water, under the hot scorching sun, just the stench that would come up from the oceans. That's what John saw here when every living thing in the sea had died. The third bowl was the pollution of fresh water. This was on the sea, the second bowl, this is on fresh water. Remember again, the third trumpet judgment destroyed a third of the fresh water supplies, the rivers and streams, but this is much more severe.

Again, we find it in verses 4 to 7. Then the third angel poured out his bowl into the rivers and the springs of water and they became blood. Can you imagine what it would be like to have no fresh water available? What it would do to our world?

We're told that man can live 30 or 40 days without food, but you can only go a couple of days, three days without water. This is one reason we know at this point we are very close to the return of Jesus Christ because Jesus himself said, were the days of the tribulation not cut short, nobody would have survived. All of the fresh water supply is going to be destroyed. Verse 5, John says, and I heard the angel of the waters.

What in the world is that? Apparently, God has angels for everything. There's an angel in charge of the water supply in the world. He's the minister of water for the world.

He's over the river supplies and the seas of the world. This minister of water, the angel says, righteous are you, God, who are and who were, O Holy One, because you judged these things for they, that is the unbelievers, poured out the blood of saints and prophets and you, in turn, have given them blood to drink. They deserve it. They deserve it. That's what the angel is saying.

God, you're right to do that. They got what they deserved. They spilled the blood of your people.

They, in turn, are being forced to drink blood. You know, those of you who have been to law school may remember the phrase lex talionis. It's a Latin phrase. It means retribution, the law of retribution. There has to be punishment suitable to fit the crime. It's the principle in the Old Testament, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. And what the angel is saying is, God, you have given these people exactly what they deserve. God has an ability to do that.

The late Pastor Warren Wiersbe said it this way. Pharaoh tried to drown the Jewish boy babies, but it was his own army that eventually drowned in the Red Sea. Haman, in the Old Testament, planned to hang Mordecai on the gallows and to exterminate the Jews. But he himself was hanged on the gallows, and his family was exterminated. King Saul refused to obey God and slay the Amalekites.

So, in turn, he was slain by an Amalekite. That's the principle here. An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I imagine some of you are thinking, wait a minute, wait a minute, didn't Jesus say, you know, love your enemies, turn the other cheek. Why can't God just let it go, get over it? Why does God get to apply the law, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth, and I don't get to do that? Because God alone is holy, as we heard today. Only God is able to perfectly design a punishment that perfectly fits the crime.

You and I aren't able to do that. Only God can do that. And so the angel says, you are righteous to do that very thing. And then notice also what he says in verse 7. And I heard the altar saying, yes, O Lord God the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments.

What does he mean he heard the altar say? Remember the revelation talks about those under the altar in heaven, they are the tribulation saints. They are the ones whose blood was spilt by the worshippers of the antichrist.

And when they see these people being made to drink blood, being punished for what they had done to the martyrs, the martyrs cry out, I don't know how else to translate it, go God, you go God, give them what they deserve. They deserve that punishment. Now, again, we say, well, wait a minute, shouldn't they forgive those who had killed them instead of desiring God's punishment against them?

No, they're doing exactly what's right. You see, one of the most basic misconceptions people have about forgiveness is this. They think that when you forgive somebody, you just automatically give up your desire to see them treated justly. No, when you forgive somebody who has wronged you, forgiveness is giving up your right to vengeance. Vengeance is hurting somebody else for hurting me. When you forgive somebody, you give up your right to vengeance. But you don't give up your desire for justice. Justice is the punishment God or other people may require from those who wrong you.

If you're a parent, your child is murdered. Yes, you're to forgive that murderer. You give up your right to hurt them for hurting you, but you don't give up your right to justice. You want the law enforcement officials as God's instruments to execute justice on those who have wronged you and your children. When you forgive somebody, you say, God, I'm not gonna be the one to hurt them.

I'm gonna let you settle the score instead. You know, we have made forgiveness so hard for people because we're falsely telling them that if they forgive somebody, they'll give up their right for justice. No, you can't give up your desire for justice. You are made in the image of God. God is a God of justice, and he made us to want justice as well. And that's why these tribulation saints are rejoicing when God executes his judgment. Now, look at the fourth bowl, will you? The fourth trumpet judgment, you remember, decreased sunlight for eight hours a day. This bowl judgment is going to increase the intensity of the sun.

Look at verses eight and nine. The fourth angel poured out his bowl upon the sun, and it was given to it to scorch men with fire, and men were scorched with fierce heat. We don't know how this intensity occurred in the sun's rays upon the earth. Does God alter the tilt of the earth's axis? Does he alter the orbit around the sun? We don't know what happens. Could it be that he destroys the ozone that blocks out many UVA and UVB rays, and the people feel the full brunt of the sun's heat? He doesn't answer that question, but he does say people will be inflicted with terrible sores.

All kind of afflictions are going to occur during this time. They were scorched with fierce heat. Now, what do you think they would do after this, after having these boils, the oozing of pus, having these scorching rays of the sun, thirsting to death for water? Wouldn't you think that would be a good time to repent? Don't you think that would be a good time to say, God, whatever we've done, we ask for your mercy? No, they don't repent.

Instead, notice their response, they blasphemed the name of God, who has the power over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give God the glory. That is the heart of the unbeliever. He, instead of repenting, he strikes against God, but God is an immovable object. He doesn't change. He doesn't alter.

He doesn't bend. The only person who is injured in blasphemy is the unbeliever. As he strikes out against God, he so hardens his own conscience that he can no longer feel the conviction of God.

He is no longer capable of repentance. That's what's going to happen in this fourth bowl judgment. Now, notice the fifth bowl, worldwide darkness, verses 10 and 11. Again, the fifth trumpet judgment brought darkness over the whole earth.

This brings darkness over a very specific place. Then the fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom became darkened, and they gnawed their tongues because of pain. And they blasphemed, there it is again, the God of heaven, because of their pains and their sores, and they did not repent of their deeds. This is an unfortunate moment to hit the pause button on our teaching series about Final Conquest. There's much more we need to discuss about the seven bowls of Revelation 17 and how this imagery leads into the battle of Armageddon. Remember, you can listen to my entire teaching series without interruption by ordering the CDs and DVDs from this study on Revelation that we're calling Final Conquest. David will explain how to receive my comprehensive study in Revelation in just a moment. But first, I want you to be among the first to read my brand new book called Mysteries of the End Times. Yes, Revelation is a book filled with mysterious symbols and fantastic future events like the ones I describe today.

But it's really about much more than that. John's Revelation contains some of the most powerful promises of Scripture, not just details about the mysterious events that are yet to happen, but faith-building promises about the person of Jesus Christ. These days, when we're hearing so much bad news, mysteries of the end times represent the culmination of good news, because in the end, God is triumphant. You're invited to request your copy of Mysteries of the End Times when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. Whatever amount you choose to give, you'll be participating in advancing our mission to pierce the darkness with the light of God's Word. And I'll gladly tell you that God is using the generosity of men and women like you to make Pathway to Victory one of the fastest growing media ministries in our country. Keep up the good work, and thank you so much for your support. David.

Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You're invited to request your copy of the brand new book Mysteries of the End Times when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Just call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. Now, when you give $100 or more, we'd also like to send you the complete CD and DVD teaching sets for this month's series on the book of Revelation.

It's perfect for a small group Bible study or a Sunday school class. Plus, we'll also send you the bestselling book by Dr. Jeffress called Final Conquest. One more time, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. If you'd prefer to write, let me give you that address, P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222.

Again, that's P.O. Box 223609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins, inviting you back for Part 2 of the message titled, The Road to Armageddon. That's Thursday on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Imagine waking up to the sight of Alaska's majestic coastline or spotting wildlife from the deck of a luxurious cruise ship. Experience these unforgettable moments on the Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska with Dr. Robert Jeffress, June 15th through the 22nd, 2024. Leave the stress behind as you take in God's magnificent creation. Relax with us in Alaska and I guarantee you'll come home spiritually and physically refreshed. To take your spot on the 2024 Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska, go to ptv.org.