Revelation chapter 19. This morning,
we're going to look at the Battle of Armageddon. You may remember
a few chapters ago, back in chapter 16, we saw the preparations for
the Battle of Armageddon. Remember, the Lord opened up
the way for all of his enemies to gather together in one place.
He dried up all the rivers, so nothing stopped all of his enemies
from gathering together in one place to come against him and
to come against his people. And they thought this would be
the place of their victory. They had the superior numbers.
They thought this is going to be the place of their victory.
But really it was the place where they were all utterly defeated
and put away forever. It was that place that the Lord
put an end to any rebellion against him and any persecution of his
people. Here in chapter 19, that was
the preparation for the battle. Here in chapter 19, we see the
actual battle. And I want to be, uh, I'll just
be very clear with you. My goal and what I believe the
scripture teaches here in this passage is, is not intended to
scare anybody half to death, to scare everybody about the
end of the world. I believe if, uh, if we see it, the spirit
will enable us to see it in the right light. It'll be a great
blessing and comfort to the hearts of God's people. So there are
several things I want us to see about this battle. First, I want
us to see the certainty of the outcome of the battle of Armageddon.
Verse 17 of Revelation 19. 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
into the supper of the great God, that you may eat the flesh
of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and
the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh
of all men, both free in bond both small and great. Now before
the battle even begins, God sends this angel to tell all the birds,
come here and gather together in this place. Because in just
a little bit, all of God's enemies are going to be killed. And you're
going to have a lot of carcasses to pick at and to eat. That was
before anybody even came to the battlefield. The first people
called to the battlefield were the birds. They're going to eat
the carcasses of all of God's enemies. That is how sure the
victory of our God is. I went to Williamsburg High School
for the mighty Pirate football team. In 1982, I was a junior,
we played Portsmouth West for the SOC championship. And before
the game that week, I went down to the t-shirt shop and I had
my orange and black shirt made up, said Williamsburg Pirates
1982 SOC champions. I had that t-shirt made, and
Dad said, now what are you going to do if they lose? I said, we're
not going to lose. And I wore that shirt on the day of the
game. And I strutted over up and down that west side in front
of their stage. So that wasn't smart, was it?
But I did that. I mean, I did. I strutted up
and down to show my shirt in front of them. And we won. I don't know what would have
happened if we didn't, but I didn't know if we'd win or not. But
you know, our Lord does. The outcome of this battle is
already determined. And unlike me being a smart aleck,
when the Lord calls these birds to come eat the carcasses of
his enemies before they even come to the battlefield, he's
not bragging. I mean, he's not taunting anybody. Really, he's not saying this
to have anything to do with his enemies. He's not saying this
to scare his enemies away. He's not doing this to frighten
them. He says this for the comfort of his people. He says this so
we'll know our God will win. The salvation that we have in
him is secure. It can never be lost because
no one can defeat our God. See, he says this for the comfort
of his people, not to scare anybody to death. And you don't have
to worry about any enemy. I don't care who they are, big
or small, you know, it doesn't matter. No one, no enemy of Christ
is exempt from this defeat. Every man, woman, boy and girl
who ever lives is either going to submit to the righteousness
of Christ or they're going to be damned. Whether they're bond
or free, whether they're small or great, it doesn't matter.
There's only one distinction that will matter in that day.
Just one. It's not your race. It's not your skin color. It's
not how much money you have. There's just one distinction in that
day that will matter. Do you believe Christ or no?
That's the only distinction. Those who believe Christ, this
description of the battle of Armageddon is written for our
comfort. Our God will win. All right, here's the second
thing. This defeat, this eternal death,
the damnation of God's enemies is not just sure, but it will
also be for them shameful. Now, I bet everybody in this
room remembers being young and you did something wrong. You
had a bad attitude, did something wrong. Your mother told you,
you ought to be ashamed of yourself. Everybody, let's have everybody.
Well, people who rebel against our Lord ought to be ashamed
of themselves. Just ought to be ashamed of themselves. Think
about it. The Lord is good. Why wouldn't we submit to him?
He's good. Everything the Lord commands
is good for us. Everything the Lord commands
is holy, isn't it? Then it's shameful for us to
do anything else. because anything other than obeying
God is something that's unholy. We ought to be ashamed of ourselves. Now, the Lord's King, he's God,
and he tells us, surrender. But his terms of surrender are
so easy. Then if we don't surrender to him, it's just shameful. We
ought to be ashamed of ourselves. And their punishment will bring
great shame to them too. You all throughout scripture
having the carcass eaten by birds is given to us as a, it's kind
of like a shameful death if your corpse is eaten by the birds.
Remember when young David went out to meet Goliath and Goliath
laughed at him. He said, I'm going to kill you
right here. I'm going to throw your carcass out there and the
birds are going to eat it. That was Goliath telling David, you're
going to have a shameful death. And instead what happened is
David killed Goliath, cut his head off and left his corpse
there and the birds ate his corpse. It was Goliath that suffered
the shameful death. Then in 2 Samuel 21, seven of Saul's grandsons
were hanged. Rizvah was the mother of two
of those boys that were young men that were hanged. And she
stayed out with those bodies that were hanged and she beat
away all the birds and the bees from those corpses because she
wasn't going to allow that shame to come upon her sons or her
nephews. That is given to us as a picture
of the shameful death. Well, that is the death of every
enemy of God. They will suffer a shameful death. They will suffer shamefully for
eternity. And it's only right because they
refused to believe on Christ. How many times, I should have
looked this up, but how many times Scripture tells us, whosoever
believe it on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ will not be
saved. They won't be ashamed because
they got nothing to be ashamed of. Christ made them not guilty.
But everyone who refuses to believe on Christ will be ashamed because
they'll be found in their guilt. Their guilt will be laid open
for everybody to see. But there's no guilt for any
God to let. God's people don't have to worry
about the shameful death. There's no guilt left to them
because Christ took their guilt away from them and bore it away
forever. There is therefore now no condemnation. There's no condemnation, there's
no guilt, there's no shame to them which are in Christ Jesus.
Because there's nothing there to condemn them for. Christ already
suffered their condemnation for them. And everyone who believes
in Christ will never be found guilty, never be ashamed. But
everyone outside of him will suffer this shameful death. All
right, here's the third thing about the battle of Armageddon.
I think this will be a I've never thought about this way before
until I studied this this week. But the battle of Armageddon,
it's not going to be a long drawn out affair. You know, men have
wars and they they just drag on and on and on and on and on,
don't they? Not this battle. Verse 19. 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 wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them
that had received the mark of the beast and them that worshiped
his image. These both were cast alive into
the lake of fire, burning with brimstone and the remnant were
slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword
proceeded out of his mouth and all the fowls were filled with
their flesh. Now you notice here, all the
enemies of our God are gathered together into one place. They've
got all their armies, all their weapons, all these people. And
in just two sentences, they're all taken and cast into hell.
The battle's over that quick. Just like that, that will be
the end of every enemy of our God. And just like that, that
will be the end of every trouble, every persecution for God's people. Look back at 1 Corinthians chapter
15. That enemy is going to be gone in just the blink of an
eye. Just the twinkling of an eye,
they'll be gone. 1 Corinthians 15 verse 41. There is one glory of the sun
and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars.
For one star differeth from another star, and glory. So also is the
resurrection of the dead. It's sown in corruption. It's
raised in incorruption. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised
in glory. It's sown in weakness and it's
raised in power. It's sown a natural body. It's
raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body and there
is a spiritual body. Now, when Christ returns to those
who died in Christ, those who died in faith in him, they're
going to be raised from the dead in glorified bodies, a spiritual
body. And you just think how wonderful
that will be to be raised in a perfect body, a spiritual body. And they will spend eternity
with the Lord in those glorified bodies. But now the same thing
is going to be true for those who are still here on this earth
who believe Christ. They're not going to be resurrected,
but they're going to be changed. Verse 49. As we have borne the
image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly.
For this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit
the kingdom of God, neither does corruption inherit incorruption.
Behold, I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we
shall be changed and will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling
of an eye, at the last trump, for the trumpet shall sound and
the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be changed. For
this corruptible must put on incorruption and this mortal
must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall
put on incorruption, and this mortal shall put on immortality,
then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, death
is swallowed up in victory. Now when the Lord returns, his
people who believe him, who are still on earth at that time,
in the twinkling of an eye, they're going to be changed into incorruption,
into perfect, glorified, sinless flesh, in less than a blink of
an eye. Not even the blink of an eye,
just the twinkling of an eye. Death is going to be suddenly
swallowed up in victory. But that's not all that's going
on in that twinkling of an eye. In the exact same twinkling of
an eye, the battle of Armageddon will be over. Just the twinkling
of an eye, God's enemies are going to be damned. That's a
very short battle, isn't it? Just the twinkling of an eye.
Now look over at 2 Thessalonians chapter 2. All it will take For
Christ the King, this mighty man of war that we looked at
last week, all that it's going to take for him to win the war
is to simply appear. The heavens will be open and
he will appear and the battle's going to be over. His mere presence
melts away every enemy. All it will take for him, for
Christ the King to do, is just speak. And his enemies will be
destroyed. John told us about the sword
that was proceeded out of his mouth. That's his word. All he
will do is speak, just appear, just speak. And every enemy's
defeated. This is a very short battle.
Second Thessalonians 2 verse 8. And then shall that wicked
be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
mouth and shall destroy them with the brightness of his coming.
Just his coming, just the brightness of his coming. will defeat every
enemy just like the rising of the sun puts away the dark night,
just his mere appearance. Even him who's coming is after
the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders
and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness and them that
perish because they receive not the love of the truth that they
might be saved. See, all it's going to take to
defeat those enemies is the brightness of his coming. He just shows
up and the battle's over. All he does is appear as he is. His enemies are going to be defeated,
and his people are going to be glorified, just as his appearance. All right, it's a very short
battle, and the fourth thing I want us to see about this battle
is this. This damnation of God's enemies, it's going to be a complete,
utter defeat, a shameful death, but it will be just. It'll be
just because everything God does is just. Verse 20 here in our
text, Revelation 19, gives us three types of people when Christ
appears who are taken alive and cast into the lake of fire. The
first one is the beast. Now hold your place there, look
at Revelation 13. You remember this beast represents
false religion. Revelation 13, verse 11. And
I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth, and he had
two horns like a lamb, but he spake as a dragon. That's false
religion. It tries to appear as Christ
the Lamb, but its message is the voice of a dragon. It tries
to look the part, but it can't be the part. Its voice, its message
is the voice of the dragon. Any message, any message, I don't
care how good it sounds to the flesh, any message that is not
Christ alone is satanic. That's how serious this matter
is. And this beast of false religion has held power over the whole
world. And you understand why it's easy
for him to do it. Because his message appeals to the flesh.
I don't care where they are, what language they speak, what
culture they're in. This message of the flesh appeals to all flesh. He's had power. False religion
has power over the whole world, has a grip on the hearts of people
over the whole world. It's in people in every nation
and they all worship the beast. and the beast, whatever name
you want to call it, is anything other than Christ alone. So they
should be destroyed, shouldn't they? Because they're worshiping
something other than Christ. They ought to be destroyed. That's
God's justice. But here's a second way that
their damnation is justice. Spreading this influence of false
religion over the whole world, it leads to corrupt people. It leads to corrupt governments
who seek to promote the flesh. They don't seek to promote the
Lord. They don't seek to promote the good of men. That's what
we were talking about yesterday. People in our government today,
they're not seeking to promote the good of Americans. They're
not seeking to promote the good of the people they represent.
They're seeking to promote their own selves. That's just wicked
flesh. It's just when God destroys that,
isn't it? It's just. All right, second, John saw false
prophets taken and cast into hell. Now, that certainly is
just. John says these false prophets
went out to deceive people. This is their goal, to deceive
people. And people who believe that message
perished. They received the mark of the
beast. All that mark of the beast is, is it's a mental agreement
with this message of Satan. It's a mental agreement following
out this message of the flesh. They say, well this, now the
flesh can do something. We can do something to please
God. We can do something to help out this matter of our salvation.
And all they're saying is, God's a liar. What does this word say
about our flesh? That it's dead. It's stinking.
It's rotten. There's nothing good it can do.
So following after, giving your agreement to this message of
the flesh is just saying, God's a liar. This flesh is not dead.
There's something we can do. Well, how did the false prophet
deceive people? John said he wrought miracles. I don't know much about this
miracle working business. I suppose some of those miracles,
they might be real miracles. I don't know. If they are, they're
performed by another spirit. I do know that. It's not the
Holy Spirit because believers don't need that. I'll show you
that in just a minute. But most of these false prophets, so-called
miracles, they're just fake. And this is not something that's
new. This goes all the way back to
the Greek and Roman times. I saw a special on this one time.
They got this great, big, huge statue of an idol. And they got
this temple built to this idol. And people would come. And this
idol, made out of marble, would do miracles. It would do miraculous
things. Well, you know how that happened?
Underneath that, they had this room built. And there was gears
and stuff. powered by steam or by weight
or something that would cause that idol to do, it would cause
smoke or cause stuff to happen, you know. And it was all deception. It was just what's going on underneath
here, underneath the floor that you can't see. But people saw
that happen. Boy, they did what the priest
of that idol told them to do. The Mayan priest did this. I
went to a set of ruins and they were large ruins down there,
and just walking up, you know, everywhere you go down there,
Cody, I have to tell you, that's what this is, that's what this is.
Well, I saw this building that Mayans had built. He didn't have
to tell me what that is. I know what that is. That's an
observatory. You ever seen that, Dan? He didn't have to tell us
what that is. It's an observatory, just like we build today. And
those Mayan priests learned how to read the stars. They'd go
up there and look, and they'd read the stars, and they'd know when the
seasons were getting ready to change. So they'd have this big ceremony
for all the people commanding the seasons to change and they
did. Well, the people thought the Mayan priest worked a miracle
and they do whatever he said. Just deceivableness. And the
same thing is going on today. You see these false prophets
on TV. They deceive people to get them
under their influence. I know some, there's that nut
to go, you know, blows people over and, you know, and people
have admitted later, it's all fake. But they get in front of
the camera and they pretend like miracles. They're holding this
letter. Well, so-and-so wrote me this letter and said they
were healed. You don't see them. You never
hear from them. You don't know. But somebody wrote me this letter
and said that they came into a lot of money. And they came
into a lot of money because they sowed seed money, which means
they sent a bunch of money to me. And so you send a bunch of
money to me, you'll get rich too. It's just deceiving people. It's deceiving people. They pretend
to have a special power with God in prayer. You send me a
letter, and I'll take this and pray over it. Whatever you desire,
God will give you, because I've got this special power in prayer. And people are deceived. They're
so desperate. I mean, this is so wicked. Did
that break your heart that people follow after this? It's so wicked. And what's worse yet is they
follow him straight into hell. Well, that false prophet ought
to be God's just when he does that. These men and now today,
women, they've lied on God. They've said God loves everybody. Now, you know, that's not true.
But why is that so wicked to say God loves everybody? It's
because they give false hope to people. Since God loves everybody,
he's not going to damn you. It doesn't matter what you do.
God loves everybody. He's not going to damn you. That's
a lie. And people that believe it follow
that false prophet straight into hell. It's just when God destroys
them. They lie on God. They say God's
not holy. Now, I know they don't get up and say, here's the first
point of my message. God's not holy. I know they don't say that.
They don't say it openly, but that is the theme of their message.
They say Christ died for everybody. Christ died to try to save every
son of Adam and make it possible for you to be saved if you'll
just decide to accept him. But if you don't, you're going
to go to hell. God's going to send you to hell. Now, Christ
died for you, but God's going to send you to hell if you don't
accept Him as your personal Savior. Well, my friend, that's not holy.
That's not just. If Christ died for your sin,
this is what the Word of God says, you're going to be glorified
because the death of Christ means something. There's power in His
blood. It's His blood that cleanses us from all sin. If you're cleansed
from all sin, God will be unjust and send you to hell. But they're
saying God's not just. God's not holding them. They
ought to be destroyed. They say God's not all-powerful. He's done His best. He's done
everything He can do. But you're going to go to hell
if you don't do your part. Now you tell me why I'd bow to that
God. I'll just do my part without Him. It's just for God to send
those people to hell who lie on Him like that. God is all-powerful. This is our assurance. This battle,
the outcome of it, sure. The salvation of God's people
is sure, that's our power. And they lead poor men and women
away from Christ into hell. It's just just that God would
destroy them. All right, here's the third group taken alive and
cast into hell. It's people who believe the false
prophet. It's people who followed after this beast. And, you know,
it's just for God to send them to hell, too, because they weren't
simply deceived. They weren't only deceived. They
willfully followed after this. They willfully refused to believe
on Christ. We read this just a minute ago.
Look back there. Second Thessalonians two. Did you notice that when
we read it? It's not just that they were
deceived. They willingly followed after them. They willingly would
not believe Christ. Verse nine, even him who's coming
is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and
lying wonders. and with all deceivableness of
unrighteousness in them that perished because they received
not the love of the truth that they might be saved. They willingly
did not receive it. They heard of it, but they wouldn't
accept it. They willingly followed after
that deceiving message and they would not receive the love of
the truth. So verse 11, this is just for this cause. God should send them strong delusion
that they should believe a lie. that they all might be damned
who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness. Now that's, that's the battle
of Armageddon. The outcome is sure. It's going to be a short
battle. It's going to produce a shameful
death. And it's just when God sends these people to hell. I
told you my goal in this, and I'm confident this is the meaning
of scripture. This is frightening. but it's
not meant to try to frighten men and women into running to
Christ, no. Now this is talking about real
people. This is talking about a real
eternity for these people, but this is not written to frighten
people. This is written for the comfort
of God's people. There is salvation in our Lord
Jesus Christ. And salvation in that day is
the exact same as salvation in this day. What is our hope? of being spared this horrible
defeat at the battle of Armageddon. Our only hope is Christ. He's
our only hope. And we have a good hope of salvation
in Him. We have a good hope of salvation
provided by our God. In 2 Thessalonians 2, Paul gives
us a good outline of it. First, we have a good hope, a
sure hope in God's electing love. 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 13. But
we're bound to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved
of the Lord, because God has from the beginning chosen you
to salvation. The father, before time began,
chose a people to be saved. He gave those people to his son
to be saved. Brethren, those people shall
be saved. Whoever it is that God chose,
they shall be saved. because God's the Almighty. His
will is always done. We have a good hope in the electing
love of the Father. Second, we have a good hope of
salvation, a sure hope, in the work of the Spirit. Paul says,
God from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the Spirit. Now what is sanctification of
the Spirit? It's the new birth. For the Spirit causes a new holy
man to be born from the incorruptible seed of the Word of God. It would
be unjust for God to condemn that man. He's been made fit
for heaven. He's holy. He's righteous. He's
been born in the image of Christ. It would be unjust for God to
condemn that man, so He won't. That's a good hope through the
work of the Spirit, the new birth that He gives. Third, we have
a good hope, a sure hope of salvation in Christ Himself, through God-given
faith in Christ. Paul says, through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. God's elect are not going to
be deceived. God's given them faith. God's given them faith
in Christ. They're not going to look away
from him. They believe him. So they're not going to believe
anything contrary to him. Now hold your place there. Let
me show you that. We're going to come back to this in second Thessalonians
just a minute. Just mark your place. in Matthew chapter 24. Verse 23. Then if any man shall
say unto you, lo, here is Christ, or there, believe it not. For there shall arise false Christ
and false prophets, and they shall show great signs and wonders.
in so much that if it were possible, they should deceive the very
elect. But they won't be able to deceive
to be able to deceive God's elect because they have faith in Christ
and they just simply cannot believe the message of Christ plus something
else. They're not going to trust anyone
or anything other than Christ because their faith is God given
faith. And God's elect, these false
prophets, they're gonna work these miracles, amazing signs
and wonders, but God's elect won't be deceived. And you know
why they won't be deceived? They're not looking for miracles.
They're just not looking for miracles. Where's our faith founded? It's not on a warm, fuzzy feeling.
It's not on seeing somebody do miracles, so I must believe what
he's, no. Our faith is founded upon the
word of God. 1 Corinthians chapter 14. Our faith is founded upon
the word of God. So these fleshly miracles don't
have any influence on it. First Corinthians 14 verse 21. In the law, it's written with
men of other tongues and other lips, why speak unto this people? And yet for all that they will,
all that will they not hear me saith the Lord. Wherefore, tongues
are for a sign. Not to them that believe, but
to them that believe not. But prophesying serveth not for
them that believe not, but for them which believe. Believers
aren't looking for miracles and signs and wonders, are they?
All they're listening for in the prophesying and the preaching,
all they're listening for is the Lord Jesus Christ. He's what
blesses their soul. He's what gives them strength.
He's what comforts them. He's what saves them. All they
need is to hear Christ. They don't need miracles and
signs and wonders and impressive preacher. They just need the
plain, simple gospel of Christ. That's all they need. Now, back
to 2 Thessalonians 2, verse 15, because all that's true, therefore
brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you have
been taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now, our Lord
Jesus Christ himself and God, even our father, which has loved
us, and has given us everlasting consolation and a good hope through
grace. Comfort your hearts. Establish you in every good word
and word. See, believers have absolutely
no reason to fear the battle of Armageddon. But every reason
to look forward to it, because in that twinkling of an eye,
when this battle is over and God's enemies are damned, his
people are going to be glorified. That's the battle of Armageddon.
All right. May the Lord bless you.