You know, but I like, here's how I, my philosophy on music, and I think all of it's good. I think sometimes we put so much stock on when something was written. And I like to just look at the lyrics. And if it was written yesterday or 100 years ago, if the lyrics are good and Christ-honoring and biblically based and theologically sound, I'm all in. I don't care when it was written.
And so I love some of the really old stuff and also some of the new stuff as well, as long as we put it through that filter. And so that was cool to sing a really old song. I have to admit, I leaned over to Pastor Bailey and I said, I remember parts of this song, not all of this song. But no, it's such a good song.
So if you have your Bible, Revelation chapter 16, real quick, before we jump in. I wanted to mention, so here in 2025, this is our last week in Revelation for this for midweek. And so next week, you say, what are we doing next week for midweek? And it's the 17th next Wednesday night. We are still having service in here.
But I told the staff recently, I said, one thing that's always interesting to me is around December, around that middle time, we always promote that the kids are doing a Christmas party, which is next week, and the student ministry is doing a Christmas party. Why don't the adults in our service ever do a Christmas party? And so we're going to have a little bit of a Christmas party in here next week. And so I want you to be here. And so we got some special music and different people's going to be singing.
We're going to be singing some congregationals. We're going to have several just scripture readings and different things like that throughout the service. And then at the end of the service, we're going to have Christmas cookies and hot chocolate, just something fun. For you guys.
So it is kind of a Christmas party for the adults. I'm not going to encourage you to wear your pajamas and things like that because nobody wants to see that. All right. And so, but it is going to be an adult Christmas party. And so it's going to be a lot of fun.
And so I'm looking forward to that next week. We just won't have our typical sermon and things like that. It'll be just a little bit different. And so I want you to be here next week. It'll be a lot of fun.
And so we're excited. Hey, if you didn't get an outline on your way in tonight, would you slip up your hand? And Pastor Bailey can get you one here this evening. We might have had everybody grab one. Anyone up in the balcony?
Everybody good to go? And wow, 100% participation tonight. I'm excited about that. You all get a gold star on your way out tonight. And well done.
Revelation chapter 16. And, you know, I always do this just to kind of remind us, get us refreshed. I'll show kind of the timeline that we created at the beginning of this. This is week number 20 of our series.
So we've been in the book of Revelation for 20 weeks now and just kind of slowly working through. The book. And you'll see the timeline up on the screen. And so I always have circled the church age. That's where we exist today.
So the next thing on the timetable that we see from scripture is the rapture of the church. And just so that you know this, there's nothing that needs to happen for the rapture to happen. And so it is literally the next thing. And at any moment, Christ could come back. Don't get that confused with the second coming of Christ because the rapture is when he comes in the clouds and we go to meet him up in the clouds.
That's when the dead in Christ are going to rise first. And then we which are alive and remain. That means that if he was to come back now, those of us who are still alive, we will be called up together to meet him up in the air. That's the rapture of the church. After the rapture begins the seven-year tribulation period.
That is the longest portion of the book of Revelation.
So that encompasses Revelation chapter 6 all the way through chapter number 18.
Okay, and then after the seven-year tribulation, so if you ever hear people refer to it, so the first three and a half years is obviously part of the tribulation, but the last three and a half years of the tribulation, many refer to that as the great tribulation. Tribulation. And some of that is going to be seen tonight, specifically with these seven vile judgments that we're going to look at here this evening. But after the tribulation period, Christ is going to come again. That is the second coming.
And we'll look a tad into that here tonight. I don't want to get too ahead of myself. But we'll look a little bit into that. He'll come again. He'll set up his 1,000-year reign on the earth.
And then after that 1,000-year reign, Satan will be cast into the lake of fire, new heaven and new earth, and everything will be restored back to him. And so a lot still to get through here in the book of Revelation. And we are still right in the meat of. The judgments that are happening on earth. And so we have seen God's judgment depicted in three specific ways.
And we're going to kind of conclude some of this here tonight. But the first one was seven seals that were broken. You guys remember that. And if you missed any of these weeks, you can always go back in our study and locate this through our website and listen in. Then the second way was seven trumpets.
That will be blown. And then the third way that judgment is depicted is by seven vials or bowls. that are poured out.
Now, tonight, as we get into chapter 16, we are moving into these seven vials, these seven bold judgments.
Now, when we kind of got into this, at the end of chapter 15. Uh this period of time is uh a terrible time. on Earth. It's the worst of the worst. And the worst part about it is, at the end of chapter number 15, as God was dispatching an angel from heaven who was going to deliver these, or these seven angels that were going to deliver these bold judgments on earth and really inflict and inflict harm onto the earth and all of humanity that is on the earth.
The saddest thing was at the end of chapter 15, we learned that as the angels are dispatched, that the gates of heaven, the door to heaven was closed. In other words, you got this period that as we end that seven-year tribulation, as you get to the end of it, that time has ran out on people's opportunity to repent. You know that throughout this, that even through the tribulation period up to this point, God, even though He was pouring out His judgment on earth, He was still sending witnesses and angels who were proclaiming the gospel amongst people on earth. And we would see these revivals that were happening even during a terrible time like the tribulation, people who were trusting in Christ. But as these seven vile judgments, the worst of the worst, are about to be poured out on the earth, finalizing God's wrath.
Forever. What you see is that this heavenly temple is It is shut. And so, just a couple of things before I give you a little bit of a breakdown of each. bold judgment. There's a couple of things.
You're welcome to write this down. I don't think I put this on your notes here tonight, but just a few introductory thoughts about these. First, you are going to see that there are some similarities between the seven vile judgments and the ten plagues of Egypt.
Now, it's not going to follow it directly, but you are going to see, and as we move through this, I will point them out to you some of the similarities that you will see. Back in Exodus, when Pharaoh refused to let his people go, God delivered his people through these ten plagues. And they were delivered from the nation of Egypt, from the captivity that they had been in for over 400 years.
Well here, as God inflicts very similar judgments on earth, you see that he is delivering mankind and he is completely removing mankind from sin altogether. The second thing about these is this: these judgments are worse. than any judgment ever inflicted on the earth. In fact, John himself writes this in verse number 18 of this chapter. He says the thing specifically about the earthquakes and stuff that's happening on the earth.
He references that nothing has ever happened. to this magnitude.
So, what we are going to see is going to be God's final judgment on earth. And then, also, before we get into it, you almost get this picture that some of the judgments are happening. These bold judgments are being poured out rather quickly. Because you see, even the first one that we're going to look at, you see almost that some of the pain from the first one is almost still being felt as we get into the fifth one. It's almost like these they're just constantly moving, and we are moving through this rapidly as we go forward.
So, tonight I'm going to break down each file judgment for you. It'll be on your notes, and so we can just kind of go through these somewhat rather quickly. But the first vial or the first bowl. Um uh what you see here is painful Sores For all who take the mark of the beast. And this is found in chapter 16, verses 1.
And two.
So let's look at it here tonight and read it together. And I heard a great voice. out of the temple saying to the seven angels. Go your ways. and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.
And the first went and poured out his vial upon the earth. And there fell a noisome. And grievous sore upon the men which had the mark of the beast. and upon them which worshipped His image.
Now This judgment is very similar to the sixth plague that God inflicted on Egypt. When he inflicted, you remember the boils that struck the Egyptian people? And so this is very similar to that, but this was a painful sore of some sort that would come on anyone who took. The mark of the beast. And you remember when we looked at the Antichrist, what he did was the Antichrist came onto the scene.
In the first half of the tribulation, he was basically using that time to get everybody to worship him. And so he was wanting peace. And his message was so convincing, it was so deceptive. And everybody, I mean, who wouldn't want peace, right? And so, everyone, as they're seeing all these terrible things happening, you had one guy just kind of elevating himself as this world power.
Demanding that we all come together and seek peace, but people fall into his deception and they begin to follow him. And what happens is he begins to lead this one-world political system, if you would. And he would lead because the world's going to be divided into these different empires and different things. And there's a lot of unknowns about what that's going to look like. There's a lot of prophecy about it.
And he is going to be that horn on the beast that comes out and kind of leads the rest of these empires. This one world order, if you would. And then the false prophet. Also, you remember him, and he'll be mentioned here as well. Not only is the Antichrist going to be like issuing this one-world order, this political governing system.
That you and remember, you had to take the mark of the beast, and in order to buy and sell, you had to have the mark. And so that's the order, but the false prophet is going to come onto the scene demanding that you worship the Antichrist, making a one-world religion of worship. to the Antichrist. And so these vile judgments come onto the scene, and this angel pours out the first judgment. And what it is, is these painful sores are going to come on all who take the mark.
Now, if you remember one thing, and I think that there's a correlation here, can't definitively say it, but in Revelation 14, we learned that after people took the mark, it said that one of the results of the mark. was that they would experience no rest.
Now, we know that there's a spiritual rest. But I also think here there could be a correlation knowing that these sores are going to come upon them in these vile judgments. They're going to be so painful that you cannot escape the pain. You cannot rest because it is constant. Pain.
in your body. The second vial that we learn about is in verse 3. And here's what the summary of that one is: The sea turns into blood. And every sea creature dies. It's in verse three.
Let's read that. It says, and the second angel. poured out as vial upon the sea. And it became as the blood. of a dead man And every living soul.
Died. In the sea. Um This is Very similar. to the second trumpet. That would be blown.
If you remember at the seven trumpets that we saw, on the second one, a third of the seas became blood, and a third of the ships became the blood. were destroyed and a third of the sea creatures were also were also killed.
Well here We see that all of the seas, speaking specifically of the saltwater seas, were completely turned to blood, and every living creature in the seas died. Can you imagine that for just a moment? I mean You know the All of humanity that exists during that day, now as we've moved through this. I don't know when the rapture is going to happen and when the tribulation begins. But because I don't know what the population's gonna be on the earth.
But if he was to come back today and and you know we're around seven, eight billion people on the planet, up to this point, through these seven years of tribulation, we've seen almost half of the population killed up to this point. The rest of the people that are living during these vile judgments. How can you not feel this? I mean, like, for many of them, this is their food supply. Dawn.
Can you just imagine the smell that you would constantly be faced with? By all of this, this death. Around us. But then, also, number three, the third vial, it kind of piggybacks off this one just a little bit. What you see in the third one is that rivers and streams.
Become blood. In other words, the fresh water becomes polluted as well. And you see that in the third vial. Look at verse 4 through 7. And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers and fountains of waters, and they became blood.
And I heard the angel of the waters say, Thou art righteous, O Lord, which art. and was and shalt be because thou hast judged Thus For they have shed thy blood the blood of saints. The prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink, for they are worthy. And I heard another out of the altar say, Even so, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. By the way, here's what I'll tell you: is that even the winds and the seas and all of creation cannot deny the power that is in God.
And you even see that, even in the midst of this terrible judgment. This one, the third one, is very similar to the first plague in Egypt, if you remember when the Nile River was turned to blood. And this just means that all of the fresh water is polluted.
So there's no water to drink.
So you can imagine the death that would come from this alone. And so all of the water is gone and not. Not drinkable anymore because of that. The fourth one. Moving through this rather quickly.
The fourth vial. It's found in verses 8 and 9. What you see here is that mankind. is burnt. by the heat of the sun.
If you're still with me, can you say amen? I know that sometimes when you study a passage like this, you're just like. Can we get to the hope of the passage? Can we get to the hope? Let me tell you this: if you know Christ, you have the hope of the world.
Okay, and he is the hope of the world. We're celebrating that this Christmas season, Emmanuel, God with us. And if you know Christ here tonight, you don't have to worry about any of this. All this should be is a sobering thought for you here tonight that should motivate every single one of you that do know Christ to leave here and to tell people about him. That's what this should do in our hearts tonight.
And so don't be discouraged, friends, about this. Be encouraged because for us, we'll be in the presence of Almighty God when all of this is being inflicted upon earth. But while we're still here, it should motivate and challenge and inspire us to go out and tell more people about. About Christ. But here in this fourth vial, you see that mankind is burnt by the heat of the sun.
Verses eight and nine, it says this, And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun, and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues. And they repented not to give him glory. Um Two times. In this chapter alone, in this verse, verse number nine and verse number 11, we are told that even in the midst of these terrible judgments, mankind refused to repent.
Three times in this chapter. In verses 9 and 11 as well, and verse 21. We see that mankind's response To these terrible judgments that are happening on the earth, affecting them. Not only do they refuse to repent. But they blaspheme God in the midst of it.
In other words, they blame God. They curse God. They're mad at God. for doing these things to them. And they forget that All God's ever wanted was to have a relationship with them, and all God's ever wanted was for them to repent and turn to him.
And out of the refusal of their heart to do so, they actually blaspheme and curse God as a result of these judgments. But here in this fourth vial, people are burnt by the By the sun. In Isaiah chapter number 30, the prophet Isaiah talks about a day where the sun can become hotter, and he mentions it being sevenfold. And I'm not saying or suggesting that that could be a direct reference to this. But my point is, is that when the sun gets hotter, as Isaiah suggests, it will scorch mankind.
And that's what you get here. And so the people that are left on the earth are being burnt. By mankind. In other words, there's not enough, strong enough sunscreen that would ever protect you from what is happening in this fourth. Biojudgment.
The fifth one. Verses 10 and 11, here's what we find in the fifth vial. Darkness Covers. The kingdom of the Antichrist. Darkness.
covers the kingdom. of the Antichrist. We see this in verses 10 and 11. And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast. That's the Antichrist.
And his kingdom was full of darkness. And they gnawed their tongues Her pain. and blasphemed the God of heaven Because of their pains and their sores, and repented not. of their of their deeds.
Now, this is similar to the ninth plague that we saw way back in the Exodus out of Egypt. And darkness had covered the land of Egypt. And now what you see here in this judgment is that darkness falls upon the Antichrist and his kingdom.
Now, there's a lot of debate and a lot of speculation about what exactly does that mean. Does that mean complete and total destruction to it? We're unsure, but truthfully, here's what I'll say. I think that this, when it says darkness comes, I think it is coming to the Antichrist system in general.
So I think darkness is going to overtake the political system that he has built. I think darkness is going to start to overtake the religious system that he was building in him being worshipped there in Jerusalem. And I think that darkness is going to start to overtake the economical system that he had built as well. But we don't know exactly what all of that means. But here's what I will tell you: is that in this judgment, the fifth vile judgment, what we find is that there are some things about this that are somewhat similar even to To hell.
You almost get a A preview. A little bit of it because hell is described in the Gospel of Matthew. as being a place of utter darkness or outer darkness. And in that place of outer darkness, there is weeping. and just gnashing of teeth.
And here in this judgment, what you're going to see on earth about the Antichrist system and the kingdom and his home and everything that had to do with him, there's going to be this darkness that is going to plague him and come over him and his system. And then there is also going to be gnawing. of their tongues in pain.
So you almost get this preview of of hell, if you would. The sixth vial Is found in verses 12. There's 16. The sixth vial, the description is this: the Euphrates River. is dried up.
And demons entice kings to rage war. with Israel. Verse 12 through 16. It says this, and the sixth angel poured out his vial. upon the great river Euphrates.
And the water thereof was dried up. That the way of the kings of the east, very important. might be prepared. We'll come back to that here in a moment. And I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, which was an unclean animal or whatever, and come out of the mouth of the dragon.
You know who that is, that's Satan. And out of the mouth of the beast. The Antichrist. and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 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 that great day of God Almighty. Verse 15, 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 gathered them together. into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
So Here, this sixth vile judgment, you have a couple of things happening here. And we're going to spend the majority of our time tonight on this one, okay? We are going to get to the seventh one here in a moment, but I want to talk a little bit about Armageddon and what that means here tonight. But in the sixth judgment, here, you find that the Euphrates River. was uh dried up.
And That's very significant. And the reason is, is because in verse number 12. When it says that the Euphrates River was dried up, it said that the way of the kings of the East might be prepared. The Euphrates River Was considered the boundary to the land that God had given Israel. And it was this boundary to the east that would protect Israel.
And God's chosen people and the land that He had promised them. It would protect them from any of their enemies to the east. And so when that river Here in this vile judgment is now completely dried up. It paves the way for all of the um All of the enemies from the east to now come and. and rage war against the nation of of Israel.
And there's speculation about who that could be. If you look kind of on a map about this, this could mean like places such as China, places such as Afghanistan, places such as that could be Iraq is over there. Places like that now will have direct access into Israel in order to create this war. That we are going to see at the end of the tribulation period. Called the Battle of Armageddon.
And that's why the significance of the river being dried up now paves the way that now all of these enemies have direct access into. into Israel. There's a couple of things about Armageddon that I want you to see. And we're going to look a little bit more at this in chapter 19 when Christ comes back at his second coming and he fights This battle But the scripture mentions it here in verse number 16.
So I want to talk just briefly about that because for any of you that love prophecy and you love learning about this, the Battle of Armageddon is a very important, significant battle. And so I want to kind of get into that, give you a little bit of an introductory thing on Armageddon.
So a few things about it, and then I have quite a few blanks for you to kind of follow along on your notes here in a moment, but I want to kind of get us to that point.
So what I'm about to tell you is not on your notes. And Verse 16, right here in Revelation 16, it's the only time the word Armageddon is mentioned in Scripture.
Something that I feel like the church talks about a lot, you know, in prophecy and things like that. It's actually the word is only mentioned here. The word, this Hebrew word Armageddon. Whatever really that's the Greek translation, it's from two Hebrew words. The first is the Hebrew word har H A R Which means hill.
And then the second Hebrew word is the word megedo. which means slaughter.
So the the word Armageddon literally means hill of slaughter. Hill of Slaughter And it's only mentioned right here. And the way that it is described here. And I want to tell you up front, or whatever, I have questions about this. And I hope it's okay that I tell you that, because I do not have all the answers about the Battle of Armageddon.
In fact, I told our pastoral staff today when I kind of got completely prepared for this and I felt like, okay, it's go time, I'm done. Here's what I literally told them: I think I'm more confused now than when I started, okay? And it's going to challenge us in some ways when we look at this because I was always under the impression that the battle of Armageddon was all about a specific place. And when you get into that It actually is a widespread area that this is going to take place. And I'm going to explain why, but there's a bunch of verses about this.
And I hope that this will give us a better understanding. And just remind you that leaving here, we can debate this all day, but it does not matter for us who know Christ, okay? But there are some things that we're hopefully going to learn. The way that I interpret what I just read in chapter 16 is that Armageddon. is the gathering place.
It's the gathering place here that is going to be used. to fight this final battle against Israel. And I want you to know the battle that we are going to see take place. is not just against Israel. Very little about it is about Israel.
It is about the one true God of Israel. That's what this battle is about. The battle's never been around just Israel. It's been about the worship of the one true God, that exclusive worship that our world, in its really just wicked heart and in our sinful fleshly life, we just refuse. And we see that even in the midst of judgment.
And so the battle that you're going to see here is this word or this battle against. against uh the God of of Israel. But the plains of Megiddo Or the valley of Megiddo is where you see that this battle, this gathering place is going to take place. It doesn't mean anything, but this is mentioned a couple of times in the Old Testament. The Battle of Megiddo, or not the Battle of Megiddo, the place, this plain of Megiddo, it was a place in the Old Testament of very significant battles that happened.
One of those was in Judges chapter 4 at this same area that what we're seeing here, this gathering place here at Armageddon, that Barak had a victory over the Canaanites in Judges 4. It was fought in this same place. Another battle that we saw in the Old Testament was Gideon. And his victory that you would remember very well, his victory over the Midianites happened in the same place as well. Not only were two of the greatest Historic defeats happened here, but also two of the greatest tragedies in the Old Testament happened here as well.
One of those was where Saul and his sons died. The other Was when King um I forgot his name. King Josiah. died here. And so not only was it you know, home to um two of the greatest battles.
And wins, it was also a place where two of the biggest tragedies of the Old Testament happened. The battle of Armageddon is mentioned here in Revelation chapter 16. We see also it's mentioned, not the name Armageddon mentioned, but when Christ comes back and fights it, you see the description in chapter 19 at his second coming. You also in the Old Testament have a lot of prophecies about this battle. You see it in the book of Ezekiel.
on several occasions, specifically three very famous chapters that are dedicated to this, okay? Ezekiel 14, Ezekiel 34 and 35. Those are your main passages about the Battle of Armageddon. You see it in the book of Daniel. You see it in the book of Joel.
And you see it in the book of Zachariah, I believe, chapter 14.
Okay, or chapter 12. And a few things just I want to show you about this because I hope that this will help us understand it a little bit. In Joel chapter number three. In verse number two. You see this battle mentioned, and this is why I don't want you to think that Armageddon, this valley of Megiddo is where it all takes place or whatever.
It actually extends beyond that. And Joel talks about it in Joel chapter 3. Here's what the prophet Joel says: He says, I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat.
Okay. This is also known as the Kedron Valley.
Okay. And will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage, Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and parted my land. The significance here is this: that the valley of Megiddo, this valley, the battle will actually make its way to this valley of Jehoshaphat. which is right outside of Jerusalem.
So I can't definitively say all of this, but the actual battle that we learn about and things is not actually going to happen in my interpretation. And this is just Josh's translation, so you can throw this out if you disagree. But here's what I'll tell you. What I see this as is that the valley of Megiddo that's referenced here in chapter 16, that's the gathering place, and they are going to make their way. These nations are going to gather, and they are going to make their way, and they are going to rage war on Israel.
And the majority of that battle will take place at the valley of Jehoshaphat, right outside of Jerusalem. And that's what I think is being shown here. In this, by the way, you know, Revelation chapter 14, if you remember, it kind of references some of the bloodshed of these battles. And it said that the bloodshed would be so deep that it would go up to the horse's bridle or whatever. And so, in other words, there's going to be this trail, if you would, of blood that is going to take place.
And I think that's a part of what we see here taking place around this valley of Jehoshaphat. In Zachariah chapter 14. In verses 1 through 9, and you can turn there because it's quite a bit. I'm going to read this for us tonight. It will be up on the screen, though, as well.
But in Zechariah 14, verses 1 through 9, it talks about Armageddon as well.
Okay. And here's what it says: The prophet Zachariah says, Behold, the day of the Lord cometh. and thy spoil shall be divided in the midst of thee. For I will gather all nations against Jerusalem. to battle.
Talking about the Battle of Armageddon, and the city shall be taken. And the houses rifled, and the woman ra women ravished, and half of the city shall go forth into captivity, and the residue of the people shall not be cut off from the city. Then shall the Lord go forth and fight. Revelation 19, when he comes back. We'll look at that when we get there.
Fight against those nations as when he fought in the day of battle, and his feet. Don't miss this. 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 very great valley. And half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south.
And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains, for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azul, yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah. And the Lord my God shall come, and all the saints. With thee. Verse 6. And it shall come to pass in that day that the light shall not be clear nor dark, but it shall be one day which shall be known for the Lord to the Lord, not day nor night, but it shall come to pass that at evening time it shall be light.
And it shall be in that day that living water shall go out from Jerusalem. Half of them toward the former sea. And half of them toward the hinder sea. In summer and in winter shall it be, and the Lord shall be king over all of the earth. In that day shall there be one Lord.
And his name won. Are you guys awake? That was an amen verse, if I've ever heard it, okay? Listen. The the reason I wanted to read that is because Armageddons, as if the Armageddon, what we read here, Megiddo, this valley, it's almost like that's the gathering place, but the battle that's going to take place is leading itself down into Jerusalem, which would support Joel and Zachariah in the valley of Jehoshaphat, the Kidron Valley there.
And that's where the battle is actually going to take place.
Now, just to confuse you just a little bit. In Ezekiel chapter 38 and 39. Um And this is where I, you know, probably am you know, the most confused about this whole thing. Is Ezekiel 38 and 39 reference A battle that is uh eerily similar to the Battle of Armageddon. And it is what we would refer to as the battle of Gog and Magog.
And we got these two things. And if you were to read in Zachariah 38 and 39. It sounds like it's referencing the battle of Of Armageddon, But it is this almost this separate. Battle. of Gog and and Magog.
And What what is that? Are they two separate things? The way that I was taught. Uh growing up Was that the Battle of Gog, and this is one of those nights as a pastor, you kind of wish like Pastor Fletcher wasn't here tonight, okay? I see him out there, and he's probably like, man, he could teach this so much better than I could.
Okay. But here's what I'll tell you is that when I was growing up, I just always was taught that these were two separate things. Battle of Gog and Magog and the Battle of Armageddon, two separate battles. And so when you get deep into this, you find that there. Very similar.
So, what does that mean? Because both of them say that nations will rise up against Israel. The only difference that I will point out between the two, specifically about the nations, is that Gog and Magog are all about the nations to the north. And the Battle of Armageddon. is all nations.
Okay. So are they completely separate battles that are going to take place? I'll just give you my thoughts and my interpretation tonight. And here's what I think. Can't definitively say all of this.
I think they're separate.
Okay, I think they're separate. But when it takes place, I have questions.
So, Gog and Magog, here's what I'll tell you: the main commentators out there, here's the three options of when the battle of Gog and Magog take place. All commentators fall in one of these three things, one of these three camps. The first one is: some believe it took place before the tribulation. A lot of good people that believe that. I do not believe that.
The second view about the, and we're talking the battle of Gog and Magog. The second view is that it takes place after the tribulation. Which is right around the same time. The Battle of Armageddon has taken place.
Okay. And then the third view. is that the battle takes place after the thousand year reign. of Christ. You say, how in the world can that be?
Well, we're going to get there and we're going to study a little bit more about that specifically. Of how can that be?
Well, you got to understand the thousand-year reign of Christ while He is reigning on earth. Satan will be completely bound.
Okay. And those who made it through the tribulation period. without losing their life. Which can't be many. They will be on earth.
And when Christ comes back and And I have questions about how this will look. When Christ comes back, he will rule and reign for 1,000 years. And these people who have been left behind, now we're going to come back with him at the second coming, and we're going to be reigning with him. And we will have our glorified bodies. But the way that I see this, and I might be way off on this, but the way that I see it is that those who made it through the tribulation period who don't have their glorified bodies yet, as they have children during that thousand-year reign.
There's going to be some children born, even though we are going to have Christ reigning supremely over the earth. Satan is bound so you don't have satanic influence in the world during the thousand-year reign. But at the end of the thousand-year reign, Satan's going to be loosed. And when he is loosed, he is going to rage. One Final.
Attempt. to overthrow the one true God of Israel, and to overthrow the Messiah. And unfortunately, he is going to... entice people to join him. Who could that be?
The only interpretation that I see is that it had to be some of the people that were born. Out of That you know, the people that were living at the end of the tribulation, as they had children in that thousand-year reign, they had the sin nature inside of them. They hadn't received their glorified bodies yet, and so it must have been them that he raged war.
Now, I don't know that for a fact, but all I'm saying is that. And there's some people that believe that the battle of Gog and Magog is after the thousand-year reign.
So the question is, where do we land on all of that?
Well, I want you to leave here and figure it out and tell me next week, okay? But here's what I'll tell you. Here's what I think. I think that it's not the first view before the tribulation. I personally think that it has to be the second view after the tribulation and before the thousand-year reign, or it could be referring to after the thousand-year reign.
If I had to put my stamp of approval on it, I would say that the battle of Gog and Magog is mixed in somewhere with the Battle of Armageddon. Because they're so similar. In this I think that they have to somehow be around some of the same time period. Just my two cents, just my thoughts on it. And um And you can have a different view, and that's okay.
And we can respect each other because here's what I'll tell you: if you know Christ, you don't have to worry about it. I know Christ, I don't have to worry about it, right? And all I know is that when Christ comes again, we'll be with him, we'll come again with him, and we will rule and reign. And because of that, we will have our glorified bodies at that point. And that we don't have to worry about the battle at all because we know the one who's going to win the battle, and we know him as being the king of kings.
And we just are going to sit there and watch our Lord and Savior do what he's done since the beginning of time, fight the battle for us, and win every time. And that's what we do know.
So, just a few thoughts about the Battle of Armageddon that I'll give you on your notes, all right? The first thing about it, these are just some descriptors so we can learn tonight. Uh demonic forces. will entice world leaders to gather their armies to attack Israel.
Now this is the Battle of Armageddon. And um And this is all nations. And if you interpret Ezekiel thirty-eight. As being the Battle of Armageddon. And some people think it's the separate Battle of Gog and Magog altogether.
And that's fair, and I get it, and I know that I have some confusion in that as well. But if you interpret that way, then it's hard not to see the battle of Armageddon happening by these nations from the east. But also one of the main nations coming against it would be this Magog area which is which is right. And you're going to see that being one of the major players there. Also, there's other nations to the north mentioned, like.
Like Persia. Which is Iran, you got Ethiopia, you got all these different Libya, which those are, I mean, Libya is 99% Muslim and that kind of thing. And so you have that. And so there's going to be these armies from the north that I think are going to drive a lot of the war. But then the Euphrates River being dried up, these nations from the east, which would be your Iraq, it would be your Afghanistan, and some of your Asian nations could now enter into the nation of Israel.
But what I'll tell you is this: that it says here in chapter 16, going back to our original text, it says that spirits of the devils will be the ones enticing this. Demonic forces are the ones who are going to drive this war. Against the nation of Israel and against the God of Israel. Second, what we see here. In Revelation 16, 13 and 14, Satan.
The Antichrist and the false prophet will lead the attack against Israel.
So they're all three going to be there. You see that with the dragon. The beast and the false prophet, they're going to be the leaders of the battle, raging war against Israel and the God of Israel. Number three, Jesus Christ. will return to the earth.
and stand on the Mount of Olives. That's what Zachariah 14 is.
So we're going to get to the second coming of Christ. I know it's kind of overlapping a little bit, but in chapter 19, when Christ comes back, he is going to come back at the peak of this war, and it says that he is going to come back, and he is going to stand on the Mount of Olives, and he is going to destroy the nations that have raged war against his people. And what's amazing to me Is that there's this passage in Zachariah chapter 14 that talks about when he comes to the Mount of Olives and what's gonna happen, or it's Zachariah chapter 12, when he comes to the Mount of Olives that The Jews are going to see him as the one who has always been fighting for them since the beginning of time because they are going to actually see the wounds in his hands. It's a direct prophecy for what we're going to see when Christ comes back and he stands on the Mount of Olives. And then, after this incredible battle where he is just going to defeat the armies and they're going to be under fire and all this stuff's going to happen, what's going to happen is that the Jews are finally going to look at him and they're going to notice that he's been the one fighting our battle all along.
He's been our suffering Savior. since the beginning of time. Number three, Jesus cried. Oh, nope, I already said that one. We'll return to earth on the Mount of Olives.
Number four, Jesus will defeat the forces. of evil for good. That's in chapter 19. We'll get there. I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on that.
And also in chapter 19, Jesus will cast the false prophet and the Antichrist into the lake of fire. That's kind of at the peak of this battle. When Israel looks and appears to have lost, Jesus is going to return on the Mount of Olives, destroy all these nations, and after he destroys them, he's going to cast the false prophet and the Antichrist into the lake of fire.
Now, he's not going to cast Satan into the lake of fire in that moment. Satan will be bound. For a thousand years. And after that thousand years, Satan is going to be loosed, have one final. war.
He's going to try to rage war against God. And then God's going to defeat him and eternally cast him into the lake of fire, but that is after the millennial reign. The last point about Armageddon. Armageddon happens at the end of the tribulation period. Ending with the with Satan being bound.
Paving the way for Jesus to reign. during his 1,000 year reign. And that's just a little bit about Armageddon, and we'll talk more about it as we get deeper into Revelation. The seventh vial, very quickly, just says this. It's found in verses 17 through 21 of chapter 16.
Severe earthquake. Splits Jerusalem. Giant hailstones fall from the earth. And I'll read it to you. It says this, verse 17.
And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, no doubt, God from his throne, saying, It is. Done. And there were voices and thunders and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were upon the earth. In other words, what's happening here? The earth has never seen.
So mighty an earthquake and so great. And the great city was divided into three parts. There's great debate on the great city on what that actually is. Many interpret that verse to be Babylon because contextually he's talking about Babylon next in that same verse. And then in chapter 18 and 9 or chapter 17 and 18, he's going to reference Babylon quite frequently.
And Babylon was kind of that system that the Antichrist had built. That's what Babylon's referencing. And so many people believe that the great city was divided. They think that's Babylon. I am under the impression that that is Jerusalem.
And the reason is because of the prophecy in the Old Testament in Zechariah that we read when this happened, there was a great split. There about amongst the mountains of Jerusalem, and water came forth. I kind of think that that's what that is. But and the cities, I'll finish reading verse 19. And the cities of the nation fell, and Great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.
And every island fled away, and the mountains were not found, and there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent. A talent was about a hundred pounds. Can you imagine that? Falling from the sky. And men Even then.
Blaspheme God. Because of the plague of the hell.
So the plague thereof was exceeding. Great.
So here in the seventh vile judgment, severe earthquakes. Giant hailstones, hundred pounds falling from the sky. Mountains being destroyed. Islands being destroyed. Earth.
is changing and being destroyed. Because of God's Wrath.
So What do we learn from this? Where do we go? Like, how do we take this? Here's what I'll tell you: Ezekiel chapter 33. Verse 11.
It'll be up on the screen. I want you to understand this, because when you look at God's judgment, you're just kind of like. This is hard to kind of... digest if you would Here's what Ezekiel 33 says. Say unto them.
As I live. Saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure. In the death of the wicked. But that the wicked turn from his way, And live. Turn ye.
Turn ye from your evil ways, for why will ye die, O house of Israel? I just want you to understand this. God does not enjoy this. But out of his perfect holiness. and righteousness.
and because he is perfectly holy and perfectly righteous. He's just. and all of humanity's sin. has to be dealt with. and all of humanity's rebellion, has to be dealt with.
and all of humanity's rejection. To him as the one true God. God of Israel. It has to be dealt with. But listen.
From the voice of God himself, Ezekiel 33, God steps onto this scene. And here's what he says. I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. All he's asking for mankind to do since the beginning of time. His turn to him.
Turn to him. Repent and turn ye to him. And so my challenge is to you tonight. I know you're here on Wednesday, so I assume all of you are walking with the Lord. But if you're in here tonight and you've slipped in, I don't care how long you've been to church.
I don't care if your family, you know, raised in church, so obviously you're a Christian. And things like but here's what I'll tell you. There is no, if you've never trusted in Jesus, there is no better time to repent than down. And the present. There is no better time to repent than right now, and here's why.
Because the return of the returning king. It's coming soon. And here's what he reminded, even in chapter 16, he's coming as a thief in the night, meaning it's like in secret. Nobody knows but him. Nobody knows but him.
And he's going to show up. when none of us were expecting it, none of us were looking. And here's what he tells us to do. Be watchful. We don't know when it is.
None of us can predict that. Only people that say that they can, they're a little bit crazy, okay?
So I'd stay away from those people. But here's what I'll tell you: none of us can predict it. He's going to come as a thief in the night. when no one's expecting it, but he tells us be watchful. Be look into the sky because at any moment He could go and we could be called up together to meet him.
Are you ready?
