Revelation Lesson 16. The Treaty and Armageddon 1

Transcription

1 Revelation Lesson 16 The Treaty and Armageddon 1 First, I thought I would answer a question that sometimes comes up when I teach Revelation. It concerns a popular teaching that the Beast will sign a treaty with the state of Israel during the Tribulation. I don t subscribe to that interpretation of End Times prophecy. As far as I can see it is based on an interpretation of a single passage from Daniel. This is the passage: Daniel 9:26-27 After the sixty-two sevens, the Anointed One will be cut off and will have nothing (this refers to the time of the crucifixion of Christ). The people (the Romans) of the ruler who will come (the Beast of Revelation) will destroy the city and the sanctuary (this refers to 70 AD when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple). The end will come like a flood: (speaking of the Tribulation, the last seven years of the age of Israel) War will continue until the end, (of the seven years) and desolations have been decreed (those desolations revealed in Revelation). He (the Beast) will confirm ( strengthen or make rigorous) a covenant (or treaty) with many for one seven. In the middle of the seven he will put an end to sacrifice and offering. [a] The key point in the interpretation: Who are the many? with whom the treaty will be made? Some have interpreted this as speaking of a treaty between Israel and the country of the beast. However, I don t see any reason to assume that interpretation. The Hebrew word translated many here is ר ב ים 1 / 10

2 {rab-im}. This word is used in Daniel 23 times and can mean much, many, or great. It is used without reference to whether the many are Jewish or Gentile or something else. It never is used to refer to just the Jews and sometimes is used to refer to Gentile nations. I admit that it is not impossible that the many refers to Israel, but it is a conjecture that goes against my understanding of what is happening in Israel during the Tribulation. During the first half of the Tribulation, the word of the two prophets, Moses and Elijah will have supreme sway in Jerusalem. I personally believe that it makes more sense to think that the many refers to the rest of the world, and the covenant or treaty refers to the agreement with the Beast by the rest of the world to recognize his supreme authority and worship him. This is the meaning of the number 666 on every man s hand and forehead (Revelation 13:16-18). One of the objects of the treaty with the rest of the world will be to suppress the Word going forth out of Jerusalem. This will finally happen when the two witnesses are killed. A Diversion from Revelation Armageddon Part 1 In the last lesson we saw the first six of the bowl judgments. This prepares us for the seventh bowl judgment. Part of that judgment is concerned with what is popularly known as the Battle of Armageddon. That word only appears in the Bible in Revelation 16:16, with which we finished the last lesson: Revelation 16: 16 Then they [b] gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. [c] As I mentioned, the military campaigns that make up the movements before and during this last war are covered in great detail in many Old Testament passages, but in the Book of Revelation, the war is covered in about two verses in Chapter 19. Since, so much contemporary talk about the end times concerns that last battle, I thought I would divert from the account of Revelation to sample a few of the Old Testament passages which concern it. This will just be a quick overview of the passages. I do not pretend to know exactly how all these passages will reconcile with what will actually happen, but they will. Just as the prophecies of the First Advent were somewhat unclear until after they happened, so the prophecies of the Second Advent will be somewhat unclear until they have been fulfilled. There are certain themes that run through all of the descriptions. These passages also offer information concerning other parts of the 2 / 10

3 Tribulation. You will see that one of the themes is the terrible slaughter, which will make all of the other battles in world history seem tame. Isaiah 34:1-5 Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. [d] He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. [e] Their slain will be thrown out, their dead bodies will send up a stench; the mountains will be soaked with their blood. [f] All the stars of the heavens [g] will be dissolved [h] and the sky rolled up like a scroll; all the starry host will fall like withered leaves from the vine, like shriveled figs from the fig tree. [i] My sword has drunk its fill in the heavens; see, it descends in judgment on Edom, [j] the people I have totally destroyed. [k] Isaiah 63:1 Who is this coming from Edom, from Bozrah, [l] with his garments stained crimson? Who is this, robed in splendor, striding forward in the greatness of his strength? It is I, speaking in righteousness, mighty to save. Why are your garments red, like those of one treading the winepress? I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. For the day of vengeance [m] was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. I looked, but there was no one to help, [n] I was appalled that no one gave support; so my own arm worked salvation for me, and my own wrath sustained me. [o] 3 / 10

4 I trampled the nations in my anger; in my wrath I made them drunk and poured their blood on the ground. Jeremiah 25:29b-33 You will not go unpunished, for I am calling down a sword upon all who live on the earth, declares the LORD Almighty. Now prophesy all these words against them and say to them: The LORD will roar from on high; he will thunder from his holy dwelling and roar mightily against his land. He will shout like those who tread the grapes, shout against all who live on the earth. The tumult will resound to the ends of the earth, for the LORD will bring charges against the nations; he will bring judgment on all mankind and put the wicked to the sword, [p] declares the LORD. This is what the LORD Almighty says: Look! Disaster is spreading from nation to nation; a mighty storm is rising from the ends of the earth. At that time those slain by the LORD will be everywhere--from one end of the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried, but will be like refuse lying on the ground. Isaiah 66:13-16 As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem. When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass; the hand of the LORD will be made known to his servants, but his fury will be shown to his foes. See, the LORD is coming with fire, and his chariots [q] are like a whirlwind; he will bring down his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire. For with fire and with his sword the LORD will execute judgment upon all men, and many will be those slain by the LORD. Ezekiel 32:3-10 This is what the Sovereign LORD says: With a great throng [r] of people [ s] I will cast my net over you (the Beast and his forces), and they will haul you up in my net. I will throw you on the land and hurl you on the open field. I will let all the birds of the air settle on you and all the beasts of the earth gorge themselves on 4 / 10

5 you. I will spread your flesh on the mountains and fill the valleys with your remains. I will drench the land with your flowing blood all the way to the mountains, and the ravines will be filled with your flesh. When [t] I snuff you out, I will cover the heavens and darken their stars; I will cover the sun with a cloud, and the moon will not give its light. All the shining lights in the heavens I will darken over you; I will bring darkness over your land, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will trouble the hearts of many peoples when I bring about your destruction among the nations, among lands you have not known. I will cause many peoples to be appalled at you, and their kings will shudder with horror because of you when I brandish my sword before them. On the day of your downfall each of them will tremble every moment for his life. Ezekiel 38:1 The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, set your face against Gog, [u] of the land of Magog, the chief prince of Meshech [v] and Tubal; [w] prophesy against him and say: This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around, put hooks in your jaws and bring you out with your whole army--your horses, your horsemen fully armed, and a great horde with large and small shields, all of them brandishing their swords. Persia, [x] Cush [y] and Put [z] will be with them, all with shields and helmets, also Gomer [aa] with all its troops, and Beth Togarmah from the far north with all its troops--the many nations with you. Get ready; be prepared, you and all the hordes gathered about you, and take command of them. After many days you will be called to arms. In future years you will invade a land that has recovered from war, whose people were gathered from many nations to the mountains of Israel, which had long been desolate. They had been brought out from the nations, and now all of them live in safety. [bb] You and all your troops and the many nations with you will go up, advancing like a storm; you will be like a cloud covering the land. This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. You will say, I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people--all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the 5 / 10

6 resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land (earth). Sheba and Dedan and the merchants of Tarshish and all her villages will say to you, Have you come to plunder? Have you gathered your hordes to loot, to carry off silver and gold, to take away livestock and goods and to seize much plunder? Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, O Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy through you before their eyes. This is what the Sovereign LORD says: Are you not the one I spoke of in former days by my servants the prophets of Israel? At that time they prophesied for years that I would bring you against them. This is what will happen in that day: When Gog attacks the land of Israel, my hot anger will be aroused, declares the Sovereign LORD. In my zeal and fiery wrath I declare that at that time there shall be a great earthquake in the land of Israel. The fish of the sea, the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, every creature that moves along the ground, and all the people on the face of the earth will tremble at my presence. The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall will fall to the ground. [cc] I will summon a sword against Gog on all my mountains, declares the Sovereign LORD. Every man s sword will be against his brother. [dd] I will execute judgment upon him with plague and bloodshed; I will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and on his troops and on the many nations with him. And so I will show my greatness and my holiness, and I will make myself known in the sight of many nations. Then they will know that I am the LORD. Ezekiel 39:1-21 Son of man, prophesy against Gog and say: This is what the Sovereign LORD says: I am against you, O Gog, chief prince of Meshech and Tubal. I will turn you around and drag you along. I will bring you [ee] from the far north and send you against the mountains of Israel. Then I will strike your bow from your left hand and make your arrows drop from your right hand. [ff] On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to the wild animals. You will fall in the open field, for I have spoken, declares the Sovereign LORD. I will send fire on Magog and on those who live in safety in the coastlands, and they will know that I am the LORD. I will make known my holy name among my people Israel. I will no longer let my holy name be profaned, and the nations will know that I the LORD am the Holy One in Israel. It is coming! It will surely take place, declares the Sovereign LORD. This is the day I have spoken of. Then those who live in the towns of Israel will go out and use 6 / 10

7 the weapons for fuel and burn them up--the small and large shields, the bows and arrows, the war clubs and spears. For seven years they will use them for fuel. They will not need to gather wood from the fields or cut it from the forests, because they will use the weapons for fuel. And they will plunder those who plundered them and loot those who looted them, declares the Sovereign LORD. On that day I will give Gog a burial place in Israel, in the valley of those who travel east toward the Sea. [gg] It will block the way of travelers, because Gog and all his hordes will be buried there. So it will be called the Valley of Hamon Gog (the multitudes of Gog). For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. All the people of the land will bury them, and the day I am glorified will be a memorable day for them, declares the Sovereign LORD. Men will be regularly employed to cleanse the land. Some will go throughout the land and, in addition to them, others will bury those that remain on the ground. At the end of the seven months they will begin their search. As they go through the land and one of them sees a human bone, he will set up a marker beside it until the gravediggers have buried it in the Valley of Hamon Gog (the multitudes of Gog). (Also a town called Hamonah (the multitudes) will be there.) And so they will cleanse the land. Son of man, this is what the Sovereign LORD says: Call out to every kind of bird and all the wild animals: Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrifice I am preparing for you, the great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood. You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth as if they were rams and lambs, goats and bulls--all of them fattened animals from Bashan. At the sacrifice I am preparing for you, you will eat fat till you are glutted and drink blood till you are drunk. At my table you will eat your fill of horses and riders, mighty men and soldiers of every kind, declares the Sovereign LORD. l display my glory among the nations, and all the nations will see the punishment I inflict and the hand I lay upon them. 7 / 10

8 [a] It is at this time that the two witnesses, Moses and Elijah are killed. It is quite probable, that the what is described here is related to the death of those two men. [b] The dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. [c] Literally, the mount of Megiddo which overlooks the Jezreel Valley which runs west to east from the cities of Haifa and Acre on the Mediterranean to the Jordan River. It lies north of the highlands and mountains of Ephraim (presently Palestine). [d] This speaks of all nations, not the Assyrians. The armies of all nations will be gathered in the Millennium. [e] Ezekiel 39:12 For seven months the house of Israel will be burying them in order to cleanse the land. [f] Revelation 14:19-20 The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw them into the great winepress of God s wrath. They were trampled in the winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high as the horses bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia. [g] Stars are commonly used to denote angels, here - fallen angels. [h] A more common translation of the Hebrew word here (88/ - maqaq) is decay or rot. [i] Revelation 6:13 and the stars in the sky fell to earth, as late figs drop from a fig tree when shaken by a strong wind. 8 / 10

9 [j] Here again the Lord is speaking of Israel s great adversary Edom, but really is speaking of Satan and his world system. This seems the only conclusion since in subsequent verses this Edom is pictured very much like Hell, yet in Obadiah 1:19-21 the physical land of Edom is pictured as occupied and governed from Mt. Zion in the Millennium. [k] The nation of Edom was not destroyed by the Assyrians, the Babylonians, or the Greeks. The Nabateans displaced the people into southern Judea (which was then called Idumea) in about the 4 th century BC. They survived as a people to provide the dynasty of the Herod s the last rulers of a Jewish homeland. Therefore, it must be understood that this scroll, written in the 8 th Century BC, is speaking of something as past that has not yet happened, even in our time. That is how God s prophecies are often written. He sees the future as if it were the past. In fact what this is talking about is not Edom at all, but the total destruction of the world system and all its works. [l] Bozrah is the principal city of Edom in the highlands south of Moab, and strongly fortified, surrounded on three sides by deep canyons. [m] See Isaiah 61:2. [n] That is, none of the nations (verse 2). [o] Compare with Isaiah 59:16. While this verse speaks of the second coming of the Lord in wrath, Isaiah 59:16 speaks of the first coming of the Lord in righteousness. [p] At the end of the Tribulation, judgment will come on all mankind. Those who are in Christ will be delivered. All those who are not and have the mark of the Beast, will be destroyed. This is the judgment of the sheep and the goats spoken of in Matthew 25:31-34, 41 When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the King will say to those on his right, Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. --- Then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.. [q] Psalms 68:17 The chariots of God are tens of thousands and thousands of thousands. Some have interpreted this to mean tens of billions. This agrees with the numbers of angels described in Revelation 5:11 and Daniel 7:10. [r] The great throng are all those who the LORD allows to participate on His side in the final battle. [s] The Hebrew word here (l[' {am}) can mean people, compatriots, or kinsmen. All who are in Christ, are His kinsmen. Perhaps that is the sense here. [t] The Tribulation. [u] The meaning of the name is uncertain. Gog was also the name of a Babylonian diety / demon. Gog was also the name of one of the descendants of Japheth mentioned in Genesis 10:2 and 1 Chronicles 1:5. He was a non-semite. Some say Meshech is in the territory if Russia, and that therefore this refers to the peoples of Russia. Revelation 20:8 seems to define Gog and Magog more broadly, as referring to the whole unbelieving earth. Because this Gog is called a prince, it may be that he is a prince in the same way as are the princes of Persia and Greece in Daniel 10:20. Those princes seemed to have been fallen angels who were charged with influencing the courts of Persia and Greece. Thus we might see this prince whose name is Gog, as a fallen angel with overall responsibility from Satan to influence the governments of the Devil s world. This matches with what we are told in Revelation 16:14 that spirits of demons go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. [v] One of the few interpretations given of Meshech is drawn out. This matches with what happens to the army of Gog. [w] One of the few interpretations given of Tubal is brought out. This matches with what happens to the army of Gog and the meaning of Meshech.. [x] Present day Iran. [y] Present day Sudan and Ethiopia. [z] Present day Libya. [aa] Gomer was another son of Japheth. Togarmah was a son of Gomer. 9 / 10

10 [bb] This indicates that at the time of the Tribulation, before the return of the Messiah, Israel was to have reoccupied the land. This was fulfilled in 1948 after a little over 1800 years. [cc] This seems to speak of the great earthquake of Zechariah 14:4-5 when the Mt. of Olives will be split in two. [dd] This describes what had happened in the Valley of Jehoshaphat when the invaders turned against each other (2 Chronicles 20:1-28). It will happen again in the last battle: Joel 3:2 I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of Jehoshaphat. See also Haggai 2:22 [ee] Notice that though spirits inspired by Satan gather the armies against Israel (Revelation 16:13-14), it is the LORD s eternal plan that they are unwittingly fulfilling. [ff] This seems to be a picture of the campaign at the end of the Tribulation when the armies attacking Israel will spread along a north-south axis, with the concentration on the left hand being at the Valley of Jehoshaphat (west of Jerusalem) and the right hand being at the Valley of Armageddon (Jezreel Valley). [gg] This is clearly the valley of Decision (Valley of Jehoshaphat) which lies eastward between Jerusalem and the Dead Sea. See Joel 3: Also known as the Valley of Berachah (1 Chronicles 20: / 10