Okay, this morning we want to
take a look at the remaining part of Revelation 16, basically
from verse 15 down through verse 21. Revelation 16, verse 15 down
through verse 21. I'm taking the title for the
message from what is said in verse 16. And He gathered them
together, into a place called, in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. Armageddon. Now, countless books
have been written on this subject. What is Armageddon? Countless
books have been written about this, and they leave more questions
than answers. It's not a battle of nations
against a Jewish state or the nation of Israel. It's not a
nuclear holocaust war among nations. It's rather the total and final
victory of the Lord Jesus Christ when he comes a second time in
great glory, great power, to destroy all of his enemies. To
destroy them with the fierceness of his holy wrath and to righteously
judge and condemn them forever and ever and ever. It's the final,
full, just and holy conquest of the Lord Jesus Christ over
all opposition, over Satan, over his allies, over what it says
there, it talks about the dragon and the beast and the false prophet. It's the Lord's final conquest
over all opposition to the gospel. The Lord Jesus Christ will have
the victory over all of His enemies. And we see the Lord will come
back to gather up His saints and to take them home to glory
forever and ever. Our Lord writes about that in
the 21st chapter. Turn over there. Our Lord said,
I will go away, and I will come again to receive you unto myself. In the Revelation 21, verse 1,
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and
the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And
I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God
out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And
I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle
of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall
be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their
God, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, there
shall be no more death, no more sorrow, Crying, neither shall
there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.
And then he said, he that sat upon the throne said, behold,
I make all things new. And he said unto me, write these
words are true and faithful. And he said to me, it's done.
There's that statement again, it is done. I'm Alpha, Omega,
the beginning, the end. I will give unto Him that is
at first the fountain, the water of life, freely. He that overcometh
shall inherit all things. I will be His God, and He shall
be my people." There's a glorious day coming when the Lord comes
back for us. That's why He says over here,
In Revelation 14 verse 13, Blessed are they, blessed are the dead
which die in the Lord. From henceforth, yea, sayeth
the Spirit, that they may rest from their labors and their works. They do follow them. The Lord is coming back to judge
His enemies, and the Lord is coming back to take us home to
glory forever. Now, in our study today, we see
the armies of Satan have rallied together, marshaled together,
to assault the throne of God, and they do so by attacking the
Lord's Church, the Church of the Living God. Remember when
Saul of Tarsus was on his road to Damascus, persecuting the
saints, and he met the risen, resurrected, glorified Lord Jesus
Christ. And you remember the Lord said
to him, why are you persecuting Me? You see, when you persecute
believers, you persecute the Lord because we are His body. We are His church. So the Lord
is coming back. to do final judgment and justice
against those who attack the Lord's church. As they attack
and wage war against God's elect, and in the midst of what the
enemy thinks is their victory, the Lord Jesus Christ will come
back with great power and great glory. Look at verse 14 and 15,
Revelation 16, For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles,
the deceptions of Satan which go forth unto the kings of the
earth, the earth dwellers, and of the whole world, to gather
them to battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold,
the Lord said, I come. I come to take my children home,
and I come to judge. I come as a thief suddenly and
quickly. Blessed is he that watches and
keepeth his garment, lest he walk naked, and that she see
his shank. We are to look for the Lord's
soon coming. Remember, we started in chapter
1, verse 7, when the Lord said, Behold, I come. Behold, He cometh.
We are to look for His second coming like a thief, not to rob
and to steal. He will come abruptly, suddenly,
without any announcement. He will come rapidly, suddenly,
like lightning flashes across the sky. Paul writes about it
in 1 Corinthians 15, he says, in a twinkling of a moment, a
twinkling of a moment, the Lord's coming back. The writer of the
Hebrew says, unto them that look for him shall he appear the second
time without sin unto salvation. The Lord is coming back. It will
be a blessed day of eternal glory for the believer, but it will
be an endless day of wrath and judgment against those who do
not believe the gospel. Our Lord said this in John 3,
He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life. He that
believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God
is poured out without any mixture. When this sixth angel pours out
the vial of God's fierce anger, It prepares the ground and lays
the foundation for the seventh angel to pour out his final judgment
as it says there in verse 17. And he gathered them together,
verse 16, into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Armageddon. Now there has been
much speculation about this battle of Armageddon. And for the most
part, what people write and what people say is nothing more than
religious nonsense. The word there means mountain
of God's assembly. We read in Psalm 2, remember
God said, I've set my king upon my holy hill Zion. The Lord Jesus Christ sits as
king on this mountain of Zion. Look back at Revelation 14 verse
1, And I looked, and lo, a Lamb stood on Mount Zion, and with
Him the hundred and forty-four thousand, having their Father's
name written in their head. The elect of God, all the elect
of God stand with the Lord Jesus Christ upon Mount Zion. Now, they're safe and secure
in Him because the Lord God Almighty rules and reigns over all things
and will have all enemies to bow at His footstool. Remember
Psalm 110, he says, Sit thou at my right hand till I make
thine enemies thy footstool. Now this thing of Armageddon
is not a battle of nations with nuclear war, although there have
been many wars that have been fought down through the centuries
And there'll be many more wars yet to come. The study of human
history is all about the study of our different wars, right?
Even in our recent history, World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam,
the Gulf Wars. This war's going on right now.
Wars and wars and wars. That's because men are sinful. Our Lord said this in Matthew
24, You shall hear of wars and rumors of wars, see that you
be not troubled, for all these things must come to pass, but
the end's not yet. There's a final day of judgment
coming. Now this thing of Armageddon
is not a battle of nations against Israel, as I've said. It's not
a battle of nations against the nation of Israel as the pre-millennials
say. They say when the Lord comes
back, he'll come back to save the nation of Israel and set
up his throne in Israel, talking about physical Israel. They say
that he will rebuild the temple, that he will offer animal blood
sacrifices again. My friend, that cannot happen.
The blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient and
complete. We do not need to bring any more
blood sacrifices. When He by Himself purged our
sin, He set down the right hand of God. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness. This battle here is the final
conquest of the Lord Jesus Christ over all demon-inspired opposition,
over all those who are anti-Christ, anti-gospel, over all those who
hate the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord will come again
against all those who gather together against Him, and we
will completely and eternally defeat them. and fully defeat
them. Now, let's see if we can find
that in the Scripture. Turn just across the page if
you have the Cambridge I'm using. In chapter 17, verse 14, These
shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them. For He is Lord of lords and King
of kings, and they that are with Him are called They're called
by the grace of God. They're chosen by His electing
love. And they are faithful. They're faithful unto the Lord
Jesus Christ. But He's going to win. Look over
at Revelation 19. 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 throne and against
His army. And the beast was taken with the false prophet that wrought
miracle before Him. With which he deceived them that
had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped
his image. These both were cast alive into
the lake. burning with fire and brimstone. Final, eternal judgment. When all seem to be at loss,
when the enemies of the Lord seem to be winning, in this moment
of great tribulation and anguish and oppression and persecution
against the gospel, the Lord Jesus Christ will come again. Armageddon will be ushered in
and final judgment will take place. It is pictured, and if
you notice there on verse 16, there's given a reference there
to the book of Judges chapter 5. It is pictured and typified
in the scripture there in Judges chapter 5. Verse 19, it is pictured and
foreshadowed through the word of the Lord in his many victories
over the enemies of God. When Deborah and Barak were given
a great victory over Jabin king of Canaan, They had 900 chariots
of iron. Israel had neither sword nor
spear. They gathered together in this
valley of Megiddo, it's called, and God fought from heaven against
them, and guess who won? God won. That is a type and picture
of what's going to happen in the last day. Another example
and picture and foreshadow of the final battle of Armageddon
When you remember when Syria surrounded Jerusalem, when Hezekiah
was king, and the army of Syria had 185,000 soldiers, and Israel
was helpless to fight against them, God dispatched from heaven
one angel. One angel from heaven came against
that 185,000 Syrians, and Israel didn't lift up one hand to defeat
them. God sent one angel and killed
185,000 Syrians. Now, we've seen that in our study
in 1 and 2 Kings. Israel was helpless, but God
won the victory for them. Armageddon is the place of God's
final victory through the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ
to bring in final wrath and judgment. Now, I'm going to read this to
you because I think it's helpful. Brother Don Fortner wrote a book
on the revelation back in 2002, 20 years ago. And he writes this,
Armageddon is not some future military conflict between earthly
nations. It is not a military invasion
of China and Russia against Israel. It's not a nuclear war. It is a spiritual conflict. It is represented in every battle
throughout history between Christ and Satan, the seed of the woman
and the seed of the serpent, between the kingdom of light
and the kingdom of darkness, between the church and the world,
truth and error, righteousness and evil, worshipers of God and
false religion. We've seen that battle going
on. It's a preemptive battle to the final battle. Whenever
the people of God are opposed and persecuted, the Lord reveals
His power and defeats the enemies. That's the type and picture of
Armageddon. It's a battle which began in
the Garden of Eden when sin was entered in. It's continued throughout
the ages and shall be consummated when the Lord comes back the
second time. Let's read about that over in
Revelation 19. Revelation 19 verse 11, Revelation
19 verse 11, And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse,
and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and
in righteousness he does judge, and he makes war. His eyes were
as a flame of fire, on his head were many crowns, and he had
a name written that no man knew but he himself. And he was clothed
with a vesture dipped in blood, and his name was called the Word
of God, capital W-O-R-D. And the armies which were in
heaven followed him upon white horses, his people, his elect,
clothed in fine linen, clean and white, that's the righteousness
of a saint, and out of his mouth grew the sharp sword with He
should smite the nation, he shall rule them with a rod of iron.
He treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of
God Almighty. And he had on his vesture a name,
on his thigh a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords. We know who's going to win. We
know who's going to win. The Lord Jesus Christ is going
to win for us, and we are winners in Him. Now, let's look at verse
17, 18, 19, 20, and 21. The seventh angel poured out
his vial. Again, this is the vial of God's
wrath, and he does so at the command of God. And this vial
is poured out into the air. That means that Wrath of God
goes everywhere. There's nowhere to hide from
the wrath of God. When this vial is poured out
into the air, the air is everywhere. And there came a great voice,
the voice of God Almighty, out of the temple of heaven from
the throne of God saying, it's done. Now, I like that. That
statement, it is done. It reminded me of a scripture
found in Psalm 33, where it says, For he spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast. The Lord bringeth the counsel
of the heathens, and not he maketh the devices of Their vices of
non-effect, the counsel of the Lord stands forever. He spake,
and it was done. He commands, and it stands fast. That's our Lord. We hear the
word of the Lord, Jesus Christ on Calvary, utter those precious
words when He accomplished our salvation. He said, it's done.
He said, it's finished. Now our Lord Jesus Christ utters
these same words in the final act of his holy wrath against
his enemies. He said, it's done. It is done. The final and complete exposure
of God's wrath, so long restrained, has come and judgment day has
finally arrived and the empire of evil is destroyed and it justly
goes down to final and complete ruin. We're going to see in the
next verse what says, Babylon is falling. Look at verse 18
and 19. And there were voices. There
were voices. What were they proclaiming? They
were proclaiming it's done. It's done. There were voices. You know these voices. Turn over
here to chapter 19. Look at verse 6. Revelation 19. I heard, as it
were, a voice of a great multitude. as a voice of many waters, as
a voice of the Almighty thundering, saying, where they say, Hallelujah,
the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth." These are the voices declaring
that God is God. The voices, look back, chapter
16, verse 18, and there were voices Voices declaring God is
God. Voices declaring it is done.
God spake and it was done. He commanded, it stands fast.
There were voices, there were thunderings. There were thunderings,
powerful words, lightnings, flashings. And there was a great earthquake,
such as was not since men were upon the earth, so mighty and
so great an earthquake, and the great city that was a refuge
for the rebel against God, Babylon, great Babylon, has fallen. The Lord sends great destruction
upon the wicked, such as never before and never has been since. While the wicked justly receive,
and experience the wrath of the Lamb, they find there is no place
to hide." Now, we've seen this before. Remember, turn back to
chapter 6. We've seen this before when the
sixth of those seven seals was opened. Revelation chapter 6,
look, verse 12. And this is describing the same
thing. This is describing the same final end. Revelation 6
verse 12, And I beheld, when he had opened the sixth seal,
and lo, there was a great earthquake, the sun became black as sackcloth
of hair, and the moon became blood, and the stars of heaven
fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely
figs when she is shaken of a mighty wind, and the heaven departed
as a scroll. when it's rolled together and
every mountain and island were moved out of their places. We're
reading about the same judgment described in a different way. And great men and rich men and
chief captains and mighty men and every bondman, every free
man, every free man hid themselves in dens and in the rocks of the
mountains and said to the mountains and the rocks, fall on us. Hide
us from the face of Him that sitteth on the throne, from the
wrath of the Lamb, for the great day of His wrath is come. Who
shall stand? Who shall stand? Only those in
Christ. So judgment is coming. upon those
not in the Lord Jesus Christ. The elect of God will be ransomed
and taken to glory. Turn back over here to 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4. Remember we read here some time
back, the elect of God will be taken and then judgment taken
to glory. and then judgment falls upon
the wicked. We'll read that here in 1 Thessalonians
chapter 4. The Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, with
the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first, and
we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with
them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. So shall we
ever be with the Lord, wherefore comfort, comfort, one another
with these words. Now, look right across the page,
2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 7. 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 7, To you
who are troubled, rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be
revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. in flaming fire,
taking vengeance on them that know not God, that obey not the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory
of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints,
and to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony
was among you, was believed in that day." So the Lord is coming
back to take his people back to heaven, Back to glory, and
the Lord will judge all those justly with His wrath. Now, chapter 16 verse 19, And
the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of
the nations fell. when the judgment of God comes.
And Great Babylon, Great Babylon is a picture of all false man-centered,
false religion, man-centered religion. And Great Babylon came
in remembrance before God. What did he remember? He remembered
their sin. Look over across the page at
Revelation 18 verse 5. For her sins have reached unto
heaven, and God hath remembered her Iniquities. And great Babylon came into remembrance,
came into remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup
of the wine of the fierceness of God's wrath. Babylon stands
as a symbol of all false ungodly religion, the religion of men,
and we know what's going to happen to Babylon. He says it repeatedly,
repeatedly. Turn back to chapter 14, verse
8. chapter 14, verse 8. And there
followed, verse 8, chapter 14, there followed another angel
saying, Babylon is fallen, is fallen, that great city, because
she made all nations to drink the wine of the wrath of her
fornication. Babylon is going to be judged. False religion is going to be
judged. Look at chapter 18, verse 2.
It says this repeatedly. Chapter 18, verse 2. And he cried mildly with a strong
voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen, and has
become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit,
and the cage of every unclean and hateful bird. In chapter
18 verse 21, he says this again. Verse 21, And the mighty angel
took up a stone like a great millstone and cast it into the
sea, saying, Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon
be thrown down and shall be found no more at all. Now, he says
this repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly. Those who come together,
Babylon is a symbol of opposition, religious opposition against
God's people, were divided into three parts. No longer could
they band together against God and against His Christ. This
unholy trinity, remember we talked about the unholy trinity, the
dragon, the beast, and the false prophet? That unholy trinity
is divided and destroyed. The great dragon, the red dragon,
the old serpent, the devil, and all his allies, the beast out
of the sea and the beast out of the earth, God remembers their
sins and they are judged righteously before God. Make sure you understand this.
God will and must punish all sin because God's holy. Make
sure you get this, the wrath of God must be poured out without
any mixture of mercy upon the sin of all people, either in
them personally or in our substitute representatively. God too holy
to look upon sin with favor. What I'm saying is this, God's
going to deal with our sin, either in us or in our substitute. All those not found in Christ
will be eternally, eternally condemned. What a motivation
to believe the gospel and find a refuge in Him. Look over back
at chapter 14. When it says there in verse 8,
Babylon is fallen. Verse 9 says, The third angel
followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the
beast, his image, and receive the mark in his forehead or in
his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation.
And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence
of the holy angels, in the presence of the Lamb, And the smoke of
their torment has scented up forever and ever, and they have
no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his
image, who received the mark of his name. The only place we
can find refuge and rest and righteousness and redemption
is in the Lord Jesus Christ. He's everything. Now listen to
this. It says there in chapter 18 verse
5, "...for sins have reached unto heaven, God hath remembered
their iniquities." Now get a hold of this. God does not remember
the sin of those for whom Christ died because Christ suffered
their wrath for their sin. That's the blessed good news
of the gospel. Our sin was punished and Christ
our substitute. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
made full and complete atonement for our sin. God said their sin
and their iniquity will I remember no more. Now that's good news,
is it not? God said their sin and their
iniquity will I remember no more because the Lord Jesus Christ
put away our sin by the sacrifice of Himself. There is no condemnation,
no judgment to those who are in Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ
has delivered us from the wrath to come. He's not appointed us
unto wrath, but He has appointed us unto salvation. As many as
were ordained to eternal life, they believed the gospel of the
grace of God. Now, back to chapter 16. That
great city was divided into three parts. God will have His way. And the cities of the nations
fell. No place to hide from God. Not
in a refuge of lies. Great Babylon came in remembrance
before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness
of His wrath. And there fell, verse 20, and
every island fled away, no place to hide, no refuge. The mountains were not found.
And there fell upon men great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight
of a talon. They estimate that to be about
a hundred pounds, but it really doesn't make much difference
whether it's seventy pounds or a hundred pounds. It's a symbol
of God's great wrath. And what he's saying here, there's
no place to hide from the wrath of God. Apart from the Lord Jesus
Christ, our God is a consuming fire. And there fell upon men
a great hail out of heaven, stone, every stone about the weight
of a talent. They didn't beg for mercy. They
blasphemed God. They spoke evil against God because
of the wrath of the hail, the plague of the hail, and the plague
of God's wrath was exceeding great. When the judgment of God falls,
we see the same outcome as we read before in Revelation 6. No refuge. No place to hide from
the wrath of God. These hailstones are symbolic
of the complete, final judgment of God upon the wicked. None
shall escape. This judgment comes out from
God, the God of heaven, the God on the throne. When men receive
the just wrath, it comes from the hand of Almighty God upon
them. Now, remember in the land of
Egypt, When Israel was in bondage for 400 years, and those 10 different
plagues that fell upon the land of Egypt and the Egyptians, one
of those plagues was the hail that fell from heaven. A great
hail fell from heaven, and judgment and the wrath of God fell upon
those Egyptians. But you know what else it says?
That in the land of Goshen, now who lived in the land of Goshen?
Israel, in the land of Goshen, there was no hell, no wrath,
no judgment. The land of Goshen, Goshen means
to draw near, to draw near in Christ. There's no judgment,
no condemnation to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ.
But notice here it says they blasphemed God. Because of the
hardness of their wicked heart, they do not beg for mercy, but
rather they speak evil against God. We've seen that before. Turn back one page. Remember
when the fourth angel poured out his vial? In verse 8, chapter
16, "...upon his son, and the power was given unto him to scorch
men with fire. And men were scorched with great
heat, and they blasphemed the name of God, which had power
over these plagues. And they repented not, they gave
him glory." And then the fifth angel poured out his vial upon
the seat of the beast, and his kingdom was full of darkness.
And they gnawed their tongue for pain, and blasphemed the
God of heaven because of their pain and their sore deeds, and
their sores, and they repented not of their deeds. Now, one would naturally think
that such wrath and judgment falling upon men, that they would
cry out for mercy unto God, to save us. but rather they blaspheme
God. They speak evil against God.
You see, it's only the goodness of God revealed in the gospel
of God that will break sinful, hard hearts and cause us to cry
out for mercy. We read in the book of Romans,
it's the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. It's
the goodness of God revealed in the gospel that truly breaks
hard hearts and causes us to cry out like the publican Lord,
have mercy upon me, the sinner. It's not the wrath of God alone.
that drives men to Christ, it's His goodness that draws them
unto Him. Repentance and faith, we know,
are both the sovereign gifts of God, given through the blood
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. That faith is obtained,
we've obtained like precious faith through the righteousness
of God our Savior. Unless God is pleased to bless
us in Christ, we too shall die in our sin with hatred in our
heart against God. Unless God pleased to save us
by His grace. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It has been since Adam fell,
and it has been since. What a blessing it is, then,
to believe the gospel. You're sitting here today believing
and trusting the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, you're blessed, my friend.
You're blessed. What a blessing to be made one
with Christ in that eternal covenant of grace. What a blessing, then,
to have the Lord Jesus Christ to put away your sin, to take
all the wrath of God, do your sin, and put sin away. What a blessing to be made a
new creature in Christ Jesus. Blessed are they who die in the
Lord Jesus Christ. No wonder the song of the redeemed
is this. The song of the Lamb. Do you
remember what that is? Turn back to Revelation chapter
5. And I'll let you go with this. Revelation chapter 5 verse 6.
I told you before, the book of Revelation is all about the Lamb,
the Lord Jesus Christ and His sacrificial character. Twenty-seven
times in the book of Revelation, it talks about the Lamb, the
Lamb, the Lamb. Revelation 5 verse 6, The four beasts in the midst
of the elders stood a lamb as it had been slain, having seven
horns, seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent
forth into all the earth. Now look at verse 9. And they
sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy. to open the book,
to open the seals thereof. They sung a new song, saying,
thou art worthy to open the book, to open the seals thereof, for
thou was slain, and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of
every kindred, tongue, people, and nation, and has made us kings
and priests under our God, and we shall reign on the earth with
him. And I beheld and heard the voice of many angels round about
the throne. And the beast and the elders
and the number of them was 10,000 times 10,000 and thousands and
thousands saying, Why? Worthy is the Lamb that
was slain to receive power, riches, wisdom, strength, honor, glory,
and blessing in every creature which is in heaven and on the
earth and under, such as are in the sea and all that are in
them. Heard I saying, blessing, honor,
glory, and power be in him that sitteth upon the throne and unto
the Lamb forever and ever. God said, when I see the blood,
the blood of the Lamb, I'll pass over you. I'll pass over you.