What Really Happens at Armageddon — Revelation 16 & 19

Hello, and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, good to have everybody back, and those of you in the studio, you can be turning where we left off, Revelation chapter 16, and we're going to pick up at verse 13. Again, for those of you joining us on television, we always like to welcome you. We like to realize that you're part and parcel of our class. We're just informal, and we like to announce again that book number three is now ready. You call us on our 800 number or drop us a note, and we'll be happy to get them to you. Also tape, videotape number 12 will be ready by the middle of next week. That'll be from this time, about the 1st of August, somewhere in there, a little sooner. But anyway, it will soon be ready after this afternoon's taping, and that will finalize that 12-hour tape, I guess. It's hard for me to keep track of them all. But anyway, we're always glad to hear from you. And I had a mental block at the beginning of the last program. The gentleman that called and criticized, he said, number one, your program is too short, and number two, it's only once a week. So we like that kind of criticism. But anyway, if we can be of any help, feel free to call us. Our 800 number comes into our home. You won't get a secretary. You won't get an office. You'll just be getting us either my wife or I. All right, now if you'll come back then to Revelation chapter 16 and verse 13. You remember now we have just culminated the last six terrible judgments that are going to be coming upon the earth, and I'm going to stop before we hit number seven for a reason, and you'll see it after we get to it. But for now, verse 13, after the sixth vial had been poured out, and that is the drying up the River Euphrates, so all these millions of Orientals can come into the Middle East from the Far East. Then he says, "...I saw three unclean spirits, like frogs, come out of the mouth of the dragon." Now remember this is all symbolism. It merely means that Satan now who is indwelling the Antichrist is going to literally make contact, probably by phone or however, with all the national leaders that are still in place around the planet, and he's going to call for their armies to come to the Middle East and get rid of the real problem of mankind. Hitler called it the final solution. In other words, get rid of the Jew. And so I look at this final gathering of the nations at Armageddon as Satan's attempt to once and for all annihilate the Jewish people. But of course, it's going to really end up Satan in his final war against the Christ. But here we have the Antichrist now then, indwelt by Satan, who symbolized by these frogs coming out of his mouth. They are just simply communications. And now verse 14, "...for they are the spirits of demons, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty." Now, you remember when Bush was putting together the nations at Desert Storm, the papers were pretty full of the fact that he would just pick up the phone and call the national leader of various nations and call them by their first name, and by virtue of the telephone calls was literally getting these people convinced that they should all put their marbles in one basket, so to speak, and have a concerted, unified effort against old Saddam Hussein. Well, that was, as I said when it was happening, that was just a little tiny preview of what we got right here. Now, the Antichrist is going to do much the same thing. He's going to probably pick up the phone, and he's going to have his emissaries going to various capitals of the world, hey, bring your armed forces, let's get rid of the big problem that's plaguing us, and that's the Jew. And so these demonic creatures, working miracles, will convince the kings and the leaders of the nations of the world to send their armies to the Middle East. Now, of course, the sovereign God is behind it. Verse 15, Behold, I come as a thief, blessed is he that watcheth, keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. In other words, the Lord is reminding us that it's time for His appearance at His Second Coming. But before that, now verse 16, He gathered them together. Now, this is the power of a sovereign God, working through, of course, the mindset of the Antichrist, who puts out the call to the nations of the world, come to the Middle East. But it's really the sovereign God, and He gathers them together in a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon, from which, of course, the word comes is Megiddo. And if you go to Israel, as we did last spring, that's one of the tourist attractions now, are the ancient digs or the archaeological digs of the ancient city of Megiddo. And when you stand on the hill of Megiddo, amongst all the ruins of that ancient city and Solomon's horse stalls and so forth, you look off to the northeast, and there is, you remember it, Monty and Helen, that beautiful flat valley. Now, of course, the Middle East is small, and I've drawn a makeshift map, and that's all it is. It's not according to scale. But here along the eastern end of the Mediterranean, of course, is the nation of Israel, Galilee, the Jordan River and its attendant valley, the Dead Sea, and then, of course, just 14 miles up on the mountains from Dead Sea is Jerusalem, and down off to the southeast of the old Dead Sea is the ancient area of Moab, and I'm pointing that out because it'll come up when we get back to Isaiah. But the places that I've shaded are pretty much low-lying, flat-level areas. In other words, the Jordan Valley is flat, not very wide, but the length of the valley, there's level ground on both sides of the river. Then up in here between Mount Carmel and the ancient city of Megiddo, or what is now called the Tell of Megiddo, is this beautiful valley of Megiddo, or it's also called the Valley of Ezdralon. And then, of course, along the Mediterranean are the Plains of Sharon, as they're called, and naturally it too is flat. So even though the nation of Israel is predominantly mountainous, you have these valley areas naturally between the various mountain ranges. Now the reason I'm pointing this out is that when God brings the armies of the world to Israel, naturally they're going to put their encampments on those valley floors. And this area of the Valley of Ezdralon has been a battlefield throughout the millennia. Hundreds and hundreds of battles have been fought in this particular valley, and that's why Scripture, of course, alludes to it. So He's going to bring the nations of the world to the Middle East. And now I know that this is almost beyond human comprehension. There is absolutely not a bit of military smarts connected to it, but you have to remember now we're dealing with a sovereign God, and He is going to cause those generals to pack their troops into these valleys beyond description. They're going to be in there like sardines in a can, not because it's militarily smart, remember, but because a sovereign God is forcing the issue. Now, He brings them into the Valley of Megiddo. Come back with me now, then, to Revelation chapter 14, and we have a tremendous symbolic picture of all this. And again, I was going to say beautiful. It's not beautiful. It's going to be awful. It's going to be beyond our human comprehension. Revelation 14, verse 14, "...and I looked, and behold, a white cloud. And upon the cloud one sat, like unto the Son of Man, having on his head a golden crown, and in his hand a sharp sickle." Now, I have to feel that this is an allusion to Christ. He is the one that is about to reap this harvest. Now come in the next verse. "...and another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in thy sickle." Now, those of you who have any agrarian knowledge at all, the sickle always refers to what? A harvest. They used to use the sickle, of course, to harvest the grain. And so the sickle here is a symbolic word for harvesting. So he says, "...thrust in thy sickle, and reap. For the time is come for thee to reap." Now remember, the communication is between the angel and Christ. And the angel is saying to Christ, thrust in thy sickle, reap. And so he does. Verse 16, "...he that sat on the cloud, thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped." Now you remember what we just saw back in chapter 16, how the call goes to all the nations of the world to bring your armies and your air forces to the Middle East? All right, that's the reaping that the sovereign God is bringing about. Now verse 18, "...another angel came out from the altar, who had power over fire, and he cried with a loud cry to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, thrust in thy sharp sickle, and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth. For her..." What's the next word? "...grapes are fully ripe." Now the word fully in the Greek means overripe. In other words, it's really past harvest time. Now here is the symbolism again. The grapes were gathered, and what did they do with them? They put them into the vat where they could be crushed, and the juice taken out of them, and then of course it could be fermented or whatever they did for their wine. So here we have the symbolic picture now of putting the grapes into the grape vat. In fact, if you go to the Middle East, well, you can still see places where they used to do just exactly this, where they had these great stones hewed out. But they didn't have hydraulic presses in those days, so how do you suppose they squeezed the juice out of the grapes? Well, they walked on them. They'd put two or three people in a vat, and they would walk, and they'd walk, and they'd walk in that vat until all the juice had run out, you see, and they'd catch it. Now that's the illusion here, that this is exactly what God is doing with the peoples of the world. Now come back to Isaiah 63, and you'll get the beautiful analogy. And again, I do this so that you can see that all of Scripture fits together. Now in Isaiah chapter 63, and we'll just begin with verse 1. Isaiah 63, verse 1, "...who is this," the prophet writes, "...that cometh from Edom?" Now I said Moab. I should have put Edom is down there as well, down to the southeast of the Dead Sea. "...who is this that cometh from Edom, with dyed garments from Bozrah, this that is glorious in his apparel, traveling in the greatness of his strength? I that speak in righteousness, mighty to save." Well, who do you suppose we're referring to? Well, it's Christ now. This is a picture of His returning and bringing forth judgment upon these gathered armies. Now verse 2, "...wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth where? In the wine vat." You see that? Now don't lose that analogy. The grape harvest was put into the wine vat, and it was tramped by individuals. Naturally the grape juice would spurt, and it'd get all over them. All right, now the prophet is seeing Christ also covered with this red apparel, and he says in so many words, "...why are you this way?" Now look at the answer in the next verse, verse 3. And again the Christ, "...I have trodden the winepress alone." Now we always got to stop and reflect. Remember back in Revelation chapter 5, God the Father had a scroll, remember? And no one was worthy to open that scroll except one, and that was the Son of God. And He came and took the scroll. You remember all that? All right, now here it comes to its fruition, see? "...I alone," no one else was worthy, and no one else is worthy of bringing on this particular judgment. "...I have trodden the winepress alone, and of the people there was none with Me, for I will tread them in My anger," you see all this now? "...and trample them in My fury, their blood." See, He's not speaking of His here, it's their blood, His victims. "...their blood shall be sprinkled upon My garments, and I will stain all My raiment," as He more or less tramples His victims in the wine vat. Verse 4, "...for the day of vengeance is in My heart." Oh, this isn't a God of grace now, this is a God of wrath. "...and the year of My redeemed is come." Now, let's hold all that together, and let's go back again to Revelation. Now let's go to chapter 19, Revelation chapter 19, beginning of verse 11. Revelation 19, verse 11, "...and I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse. And he that sat upon him was called," now watch, they're capitalized, "...faithful and true," it's the Christ, "...in righteousness he doth judge and make," what? War, because after all, what kind of people has He got in the wine vat? Military. It's the armies of the world that have come to the Middle East, supposedly to annihilate the nation of Israel. Don't forget those 200 million coming from the East. There are going to be millions packed into that little geographical area, not only of Israel, but since He's going to start down here at Edom, which is also east of the Dead Sea, and evidently as He pours out His wrath upon these congregated armies, He's going to come from the southeast of Jerusalem with that destruction and then wind up. And I think it'll just include every valley of the nation of Israel where these troops are just packed in, like I said a moment ago, like sardines in a can. Contrary to all good military strategy, but it's the sovereign God who has reaped the earth. He's placed them in what the Scripture calls His wine vat, but it's in righteousness. Now verse 12, "...his eyes were as," He doesn't say they were flames, but they were like flames of fire, "...and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself." And here it is now, this complete accord with Isaiah, "...and he was clothed with a vesture dipped in blood." Now it's not referring to His here, it's referring to His victims. And He has a vesture dipped in blood, and His name is called the Word of God. And now verse 14, "...and the armies which were in heaven," now that'll be the saints. This is His second coming. And so the saints who have been with Him now for seven years as we know time, they've been raptured out ahead of time. Now they're coming back with Him at His second coming. "...and the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean." And we made reference to that a few weeks ago. You also find that back in chapter, well it's the same chapter, 19 verse 8, where the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. Now then verse 15, "...and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword." Now I guess I have to stop there a minute. What's the sharp sword? The Word of God. Remember Hebrews chapter 4 verse 12 says, "...for the word of God is sharper than any," what, "...two-edged sword." Okay, here's again the connection, "...and so out of his mouth goes the Word of God, a sword, that with it he should smite the nations." Now of course the analogy is that He's walking on them, but He won't be naturally. It's just merely an allegory, I guess, or a symbolism again. But how will He destroy them? With the spoken Word, just with the spoken Word. All right, "...that He should smite the nations, and He shall rule them. After He has finished His destruction, the curse is lifted, and the kingdom comes in." Then what's He going to do? He's going to rule them, see? "...and He will rule the nations with a rod of iron." Now that doesn't mean a cruel rule, it's going to be a benevolent one. But the rod of iron depicts His what? Absolute rule. There'll be no funny business in His rule and reign, but it's going to be absolutely just, it's going to be fair, it's going to be benevolent. Well, the Beatitudes. What are the Beatitudes? They're the constitution of His government. See, that's when the Beatitudes will come into their full definition. Blessed are the meek, and blessed are the poor. See, that doesn't fit in the church age. Man, you talk to a poor person today, and I don't think he ever feels blessed, do you? The Lord may provide and get them through, but they're not happy as such. But in the kingdom, there'll be no unhappiness. So the Beatitudes, remember, are always affiliated with the kingdom rule. All right, and then here comes the last half, verse 15, that same analogy again with chapter 14 in Isaiah 63, and what is it? And He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. Now what's His winepress? The valleys of Israel, wherein all these millions of troops will be packed, and He's going to destroy them with one fell sweep. Hard for us to understand, but now let's read on. Verse 16, And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. All right, now if you'll remember, I purposely stopped just before we came to the seventh bold judgment. Good, I've got just enough time to finish this. The last bold judgment, which of course is back in chapter 16. I left off after the sixth judgment purposely, because I wanted to leave the seventh one. Got me? Revelation 16, now we'll start at verse 17. And the seventh angel, now remember we covered six of them. We were bringing you right up close to the end of the tribulation, but I left off at this seventh one, and here it comes. He poured out his bowl into the air, and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven from the throne saying, what? It is done. This is the finale. And there were voices and thunders and lightnings, and there was a great earthquake such as was not since men upon the earth so mighty an earthquake and so great. And again, I don't feel that this is an isolated one. I think the whole planet is going to come under these convulsions, although it is having its epitome of all of this is going to be in Jerusalem and the area of Israel. But the city, verse 19, Jerusalem, was divided into three parts. The cities of the nations fell, and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath. All right, now I have to stop again. The Babylon in Revelation is not the ancient city because the Old Testament says it will never be rebuilt. It will always be a habitation of nothing but wild animals and birds of prey. But the Babylon of Revelation is the whole worldwide system as we see it coming together today, the whole one world concept where Tokyo and Berlin and London and Rome and New York and everything are just like one little tightly knit group. And so I like to, when I picture these end time events that when Babylon falls, it won't be just one city. It'll be all the cities of the world will in one hour fall into nothingness by the spoken word of God. Now remember that the Babylon here is all the world. I wish I had a little more time. I just read an interesting article in our daily paper that some junior high student had just won a great essay contest. And what do you suppose the title of her essay was? The Great New One World. See, that's what people love to hear tonight. Oh, they love to hear about the great one world that's coming. And it is. It's getting smaller and smaller. But you see, it's going to suddenly evaporate. All right, we've got to move on quickly. "...every island fed away, and the mountains were not found. And there fell upon men a great..." What? "...hail out of heaven, every hailstone the weight of a talent." Now most of your Bibles tell you what that is, you know? A hundred pounds. Now we talk about golf ball sized hail and softball, but these are a hundred pound chunks of ice. And they blaspheme God because of the plague was so exceeding great. Now flip back real quickly with me to Revelation 14, where we finish that analogy of the grape vat. Can you hold all this together? Just like the vineyard keepers put all their grapes into the vats and had somebody trample them, so God has brought all the armies of the world to the Middle East. How is He going to trample them? With this final plague of the hailstones. Now picture all these millions of troops out here in nothing more than maybe tents to protect them from the elements. What's that going to do with a hundred pound hailstone? Nothing. And so they'll be literally just squashed even as the grapes in the vat. Now verse 20 has been a verse hard to swallow for people I know over the years, but I'm going to make it real easy to swallow. And the winepress was trodden without the city. Indeed, these valleys are all to the north of Jerusalem. And blood came out of the winepress. In other words, out of these valleys, even to the horse's bridles, depending on the size of your horse, a river of water, and blood three to four feet deep. And how long is it going to go? By the space of 1,600 furlongs. All you have to do is multiply. I think there's 500 and some feet to a furlong. That's 180 miles. That is the distance from here down to the Red Sea. As that melting hail, which has crushed these millions of men, and it begins to melt in that Middle Eastern heat, now do you see how fast you're going to have a literal river of blood flowing as deep as the horse's bridles? It's not hard to believe. In fact, I've always reminded my classes back in World War II, when we invaded one of the islands in the Mississippi, the blood of our marines went out as far as five miles into the Pacific. Blood red. 552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.