The last
post ended with the visible return of the Lord Jesus as King of kings and Lord
of lords. The next thing John sees is an
angel that looks like he is standing in the sun. He is inviting all the birds of prey to come
to a great supper prepared for them by God.
Revelation 19:17–18 “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 unto
the supper of the great God; That ye 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 and bond, both small and great.”
Note that this statement is made before the battle
is ever fought—in fact, it is a declaration of victory before the fact.
“Supper” indicates “the chief meal (usually in the evening); feast.” God
is the one hosting/serving the meal. This meal will include the flesh of
kings, captains, mighty men, horses, soldiers, free men and slaves, small and
large. The angel standing in the sun sounds like it could be indicating a
morning announcement to an evening meal.
These verses seem to go hand in hand with the
following verses from Ezekiel. (See journal on Ezekiel 39.)
Ezekiel
39:17-20 And, thou son of man, thus saith the Lord GOD; Speak unto every
feathered fowl, and to every beast of the field, Assemble yourselves, and come;
gather yourselves on every side to my sacrifice that I do sacrifice for you,
even a great sacrifice upon the mountains of Israel, that ye may eat flesh, and
drink blood. Ye shall eat the flesh of the mighty, and drink the blood of the
princes of the earth, of rams, of lambs, and of goats, of bullocks, all of them
fatlings of Bashan. And ye shall eat fat till ye be full, and drink blood
till ye be drunken, of my sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. Thus
ye shall be filled at my table with horses and chariots, with mighty men, and
with all men of war, saith the Lord GOD.
Yes, these verses in Ezekiel are in the latter
part of the two chapters that detail the attack against Israel by the armies of
Gog. Personally, I believe this attack
will probably precede the seven-year tribulation period. However, I believe that verse 17 marks a jump
in time to the final battle of the Armageddon campaign—similar to Isaiah
61:1-2, the passage that Jesus read from in the synagogue in Nazareth. He stopped reading at a comma that has represented almost 2000
years at this point in time. Revelation 19:17-18 seems to be a mirror
passage to this one in Ezekiel—though not as detailed. As you can see,
the next verse in Ezekiel (v21) declares that this sacrifice is followed by God
“setting His glory among the heathen.”
Ezekiel 39:21–22 “And I will set my
glory among the heathen, and all the heathen shall see my judgment that I have
executed, and my hand that I have laid upon them. So the house of Israel shall
know that I am the LORD their
God from that day and forward.”
Verse 22
adds that the house of Israel will know without a shadow of a doubt that the
LORD is their God from that day forward.
I believe that is a reference to the new heart that God gives them when
Jesus returns to establish His kingdom.
Ezekiel 36:26–28 “A new heart also
will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I
will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye
shall keep my judgments, and do them.
And ye shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; and ye shall be my
people, and I will be your God.”
I
believe this is the truth that Paul was referencing in his letter to the
Romans.
Romans 11:26–27 “And so all Israel
shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer,
and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.”
The next
thing John sees is the beast and the kings of the earth with all their armies
gathered together to make war against Jesus and His armies.
Revelation 19:19–21 “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
worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a 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.”
Where have they gathered for battle? In the
Valley of Armageddon.
Revelation
16:16 “And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue
Armageddon.”
I think it is significant to note that John makes no
record of actual conflict. The first recorded act of this conflict is the
capture of the beast and the false prophet immediately followed by their being
thrown alive into the “lake of fire burning with brimstone.” You would
think that this would mean their total destruction, but Revelation 20:10
indicates that they will continue in a state of tormented existence for
eternity. Daniel supports the fact of the beast being cast into fire.
Daniel 7:11 “I
beheld then because of the voice of the great words which the horn spake: I
beheld even till the beast was slain, and his body destroyed, and given to the
burning flame.”
It stood out to me that the torment of hell will not
be to the physical body; that will be destroyed. It will be the torment
of the soul and spirit, the pure essence of our being.
The really sad part is that this pair had been able to
deceive so many into receiving the mark of the beast and worshipping him.
As did all who have lived before them, they had the choice of believing the
truth or the deception; and they chose the deception—just like Eve did.
What does it take to defeat these great armies of the
antichrist? Simply for the Lord Jesus
to speak the word. It’s important to
note that the victory is His alone; not one in His armies had to lift a
finger. They just accompanied Him to witness His victory.
John also makes the point that it is the false prophet
that is primarily responsible for deceiving those that had taken the mark of
the beast and worshipped his image with the miracles he was able to
perform. I think that this is a truth that many in the church today tend
to ignore. The prevalent school of thought today is that “seeing is believing.”
Satan and his forces are well aware of that weakness as a point of attack to
deceive people and move forward their agenda. Scripture is everywhere
clear that our fight is against spiritual forces that can perform miracles and
lying wonders.
Deuteronomy 13:1–3
“If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a
sign or a wonder, And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake
unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and
let us serve them; Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or
that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye
love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.”
Ephesians
6:12 “For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places.”
2
Thessalonians 2:7–10 “For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only he
who now letteth will let, until he be taken out of the way. And then
shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of
his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming: Even him, whose
coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying
wonders, And with all deceivableness of unrighteousness in them that perish;
because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved.”
2 Corinthians
11:13–15 “For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming
themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is
transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his
ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end
shall be according to their works.”
Note that Paul was very clear in telling the
Thessalonians that the mystery of iniquity was already at work in their
day. I believe that these works will continue to manifest themselves more
openly as the time for the end approaches.
No one knows the day or hour of the return of Jesus,
but we are certainly expected to understand the time of its approach.
Hebrews
10:24–25 “And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good
works: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of
some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
Personally, I think Satan has an even greater
understanding than we do.
(to be continued…)
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