“And
I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon,
and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false
prophet. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go
forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to
the battle of that great day of God Almighty” (Rev. 16:13-14).
“And I beheld, and,
lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of
the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven
eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth”
(Rev. 5:6).
You will understand
a great mystery when you see that in the book of Revelation we are shown two
sets of spirits which are sent forth into the same areas and seek to
control the same territory — the “seven spirits of God” and the “three
spirits of devils”! Right here lies the cause of the great
battle within! The seven spirits of God signify the fullness of the
spirit of the Lord raised up within God’s people. This seven-fold
spirit is raised up to subdue, reconcile, and redeem the whole man — spirit,
soul, and body. Thus we read that the seven spirits are “sent forth into
all the earth” — truly into all the earth that we are, as
well as into all the earth-realm where the Lord’s people
dwell!
But now there is
another spirit — three unclean spirits like frogs — and this
three-fold spirit is likewise sent forth “unto the kings of the earth and
of the whole world.” This three-fold unclean spirit seeks
to dominate and control the same territory of our lives where the seven-fold
holy spirit has come to live and reign. The message is clear
— WAR is about to break out in the “earth” of God! These spirits “go forth
unto the kings (inner dominions) of the earth (carnal Christians) and of the
whole world (of our beings), TO GATHER THEM TO THE BATTLE OF THAT GREAT DAY
OF GOD ALMIGHTY!” Can you not see the mystery? The seven-fold spirit (of
the perfection of God) comes into active conflict with the three-fold spirit
(complete power of the flesh, the world, and the devil) of man’s carnal,
natural life. This three-fold spirit may also be characterized as the lust
of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, for these spirits
go forth unto the “whole world,” and the apostle John informs us that “ALL
THAT IS IN THE WORLD IS the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes,
and the pride of life!
There are three things:
(1) The lust of the flesh
(2) The lust of the eyes
(3) The pride of life.
That’s all there is in the WHOLE WORLD!
Those three are what “THE WORLD” consists of!
Therefore, the “kings” of the “whole world” signify the ruling principles
and powers of fleshly desire that influence, dominate, and control the
natural and soulical religious life of man! We need to note that Armageddon
is a battle among kings. The spirits of devils go forth unto “the
kings” of the earth-realm and of the whole world — and that is the
end of those kings!
Can
we not see by this that the battle is between the flesh and the
spirit, for Paul tells us plainly that “The flesh wareth against
the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one
to the other…” (Gal. 5:17). Right there, my friend, you have your
battleground — ARMAGEDDON!
So,
you say — I would never be deceived by the doctrines of the three frogs
going forth to gather the kings of the earth. Don’t be too sure! If you
still have kings in YOUR earth, or flesh life, kings of pride, jealousy,
resentment, criticism, condemnation, judging, presumptuousness, desire for
recognition, authority or control, carnal reasonings, vain imaginations,
doubts, false doctrines, fears, anger, frustration, lusts, worldliness, or
any one of a hundred more, somewhere deep within you are hearing the
croaking of the three ugly frogs and there is that within you which leads to
turmoil and conflict. So many people are caught up in viewing Armageddon as
an external battle between nations that they completely overlook the
possibility of these kings actually existing in their very own flesh life.
There have been within all of us many usurping kings, possessed of the
bestial spirit of this world, who are very subtle, very powerful warriors,
and very acute disputants. Each of us is like a huge, elaborate palace just
full of these kings! Beloved! Examine yourself — do you not find this to
be true? What mighty, powerful, persuasive, unwearied rulerships and
dominions exercise their authorities within the courts of our bodies and
souls, what strange, strong, and subtle reasonings are there? Insomuch that
the old Adamic man carries all before him, and these lusts, these desires,
these emotions, these imaginations, these habits, these religious
inclinations, these selfish and self-serving tendencies, these ruling kings
of flesh bear away the day of it, and tread down all that stands in their
way; by their false logic, their cunning sophistry, and their powerful
affection they ride rough-shod over the voice of the spirit, over the word
of God, over the ways of righteousness, and right over the revealed will of
the Lord. And this you know is, and has been of old, and shall be, my
beloved, until Jesus Christ be revealed, until He be pleased, with His
almighty power to arise within the soul and command obedience, and that He
will now manifest Himself, and comes forth with regal, conquering power,
else our lusts and thoughts and emotions make such a noise, such a
blustering, such a clamoring in the soul until Christ cannot be heard. But
when the King of kings commands all the kings to gather on the field
of battle He marches forth to command them all, to put them all to silence,
answering, convicting, and banishing every fleshly lust and every soulical
sentiment, with every vestige of self-will, and then great Babylon falls,
the captivity of the spirit is ended, and then His kingdom comes in great
power and glory, and He reigns in soul and body, becoming the King of the
life! Great is the mystery!
With keen spiritual insight Ray Prinzing wrote: “How we desire that He REIGN
IN US until every fragment of that which would rise up against the truth is
subdued, until every desire in us is wholly purified, until every root that
would defile us has been burned out — yes, until He shall have thoroughly
dealt with all of our ‘internal enemies.’ It is not the man on the
street, the raging nations around us, but our own INTERNAL REALM that needs
to be fully subdued. The kings within us that war against His will.
Yes, until we are brought to that place where we can say with Jesus our
Lord, ‘the prince of this world cometh, and hath nothing in me’ (Jn.
14:30). Praise God! Then He shall be able to look upon us, and declare —
not just from a prophetic point of view, but from our experiential position
in Him, ‘He hath not beheld iniquity in this vessel.’
“We
read that, ‘There was long war between the house of Saul and the
house of David: but David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul
waxed weaker and weaker’ (II Sam. 3:1). David prefigures in type the
spiritual man of the new creation within; while all the kings, and the house
of Saul, stand in type for the carnal realm of the flesh. ‘The flesh
lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh: for these are
contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things ye would’
(Gal. 5:17). There has been a long war within us, but, praise
God, the Christ life waxes stronger and stronger, to overcome the carnal
nature and bring it to an end.
“Another
example of a long war — ‘Joshua made war a long time
with all those kings. There was not a city that made peace with the
children of Israel, save the Hivites the inhabitants of Gibeon: all other
they took in battle. For it was of the Lord to harden their hearts, that
they should come against Israel in battle, that he might destroy
them…’ (Josh. 11:18-20). Significant that as Joshua, and the
warriors of Israel, came up to a city, instead of that city seeking a
peaceful surrender, THE LORD WOULD HARDEN THEIR HEARTS, they would insist on
doing battle, and would be destroyed. I have experienced betimes that God
will harden ‘a king’ within us, our own self-will
crystallizes into a firm rebellion, that He might draw out that which is
within us, until He has purged us, and IS LORD OF ALL WITHIN. All of this
serves as a parable for our spiritual walk with God. It’s amazing the
‘nations’ and the ‘kings’ that have been resident in us, which He now draws
out into the battle, to conquer. For, WE BECOME OVERCOMERS IN CHRIST TO THE
DEGREE THAT WE ARE OVERCOME BY CHRIST. Thank God, ‘In the days of these
kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom, which shall never be
destroyed…it shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it
shall stand for ever’ (Dan. 2:44).
“There
are those who search the newspapers to see how the kings of earth are lining
up, and how ‘they think’ prophecy is being fulfilled. But there is an
internal working that transcends all of that, and it is this
war within us. The kings of self, the passions and lusts of the
flesh, the rudiments of the old Adamic nature — all of these must be
dealt with by His cross. Paul wrote of this internal warfare, ‘O
wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I
thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Rom. 7:24-25). And
HE, THE SON, ‘must reign, till He hath put all enemies under His feet’
(I Cor. 15:25). Yes, there will be a universal fulfillment of this!
The outreaches thereof stagger the imagination. But there is also an
individual inworking, as He now wages this long war in us,
riding within, ‘conquering and to conquer’ (Rev. 6:2). Praise God,
the victory is HIS, reigning supreme until He is Lord of all within us!” —
end quote.
Concerning these hidden, internal kings the Lord says in type and shadow: “Moreover
the Lord thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are
left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed. Thou shalt not be
frightened of them: for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and
terrible. And the Lord thy God will put out those nations before thee…the
Lord thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a
mighty destruction, until they be destroyed. And He shall deliver their
kings into thine hand, and thou shalt destroy their name from under
heaven: there shall no man be able to stand before thee, until thou have
destroyed them” (Deut. 7:20-24).
Have you ever been attacked by a hornet? If a fly buzzes around we may get
annoyed but we usually just swat at it to chase it away. But it only takes
one hornet to get us stirred up and running! Well, in the spiritual meaning
of the word, the Lord says He will send the hornet among us until all the
kings that are left in our lives, and have hidden themselves from us, run
right out into the open and are destroyed. It is my conviction that these
hornets portray the same great truth and serve the same divine purpose as
the “three unclean spirits like frogs” which go forth unto the kings of the
earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day
of God Almighty! Oh, yes, these hornets, these spirits, will stir these
kings out of their hiding places! These stirrings will cause fiery trials
in the lives of the Lord’s people, and great commotions of battle. Every
child of God will be touched in depths within their beings which before were
unknown to them. They will feel that they are being torn asunder and the
pain and anguish will be great. It is difficult to imagine how much pain
there will be when the hornets begin to stir the kings out of their hiding
places! “War is hell!” it has been said.
Why
is such a drastic dealing necessary? Because God is dealing with man’s
self-life, man’s fleshly nature and ways, man’s Babylonian religiosity, and
man’s utter deception and delusion. He is striking at the root of our
desires, our opinions, our pride, and our self-confidence and self-will.
Have your “kings” been stirred by hornets lately? If you have received the
call to sonship to God, then whatever is hidden within your being is going
to be stirred in this great and terrible day of the Lord! God will expose
the kings that rule in your land so that you can see them. When the hornet
stings they will rush out into the open, into plain manifestation! The
battle, my beloved, is for the identifying of these kings so that you can
see them, recognize them for what they are, and destroy them from your
life. At this battle of the great day of God Almighty the Lord has ordered
the slaying and destruction of all that would rise up against the truth and
against the righteousness of HIS KINGDOM WITHIN!
More than a hundred years ago Harry Emerson Fosdick penned these perceptive
and inspired words: “Prayer is a battlefield. When a man, hungering
and thirsting after righteousness, calls God into alliance, he does so
because he has a fight on his hands. He may have set his heart in dominant
desire on godliness, but that desire meets enemies that must be beaten. ‘No
man ever became a saint in his sleep.’ From without, the influences of the
world assail his best ambitions; from within, the perverse inclinations of
his own heart make war on his right resolutions. A fight is on in every
aspiring life. Sometimes like the captain of a ship in mid-sea with a
tempest raging and his own crew in rebellion, a man must at once steady his
course amid outward temptations, and hold a pointed pistol at the head of
his own mutinous desires. No one in earnest about godliness has ever
succeeded in describing the achievement of godliness except in terms of a
fight! ‘The flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against
the flesh,’ says Paul. ‘I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage.’
“In
this spiritual battle, as in every other, the decisive part of the
engagement is not public and ostentatious; it is in secret. Long before
the armies clash in the open field, there has been a conflict in the
general’s office, where pro met con, and the determinations were reached
that controlled each movement of the outward war. Even in law, ‘Cases are
won in chambers.’ So, in the achievement of divine nature and spiritual
character there is a hidden battlefield on which the decisive conflicts of
the kingdom of God are waged. Behind the Master’s public ministry, through
which He moved with such amazing steadfastness, not to be deflected by
bribes, nor halted by fear of man or devil, nor discouraged by weariness,
lay the battles in the wilderness where He fought out in fasting and prayer
the controlling principles of His life. Behind His patience in Pilate’s
Court, and His fidelity on Calvary, lay the battle in Gethsemane, where the
whole problem was fought through and the issue settled before the face of
God. All public consequences go back to secret conflicts. Napoleon sat for
hours in silent thought before he ordered the Russian Campaign. Washington,
praying at Valley Forge, was settling questions on which the independence of
his country hung. We are deceived by the garish stage-settings of big
scenes in history. The really great scenes are rarely evident. The
decisive battles of the world are hidden, and all the outward conflicts are
but the echo and Reverberation of that more real and inward war.
“George
Adam Smith suggested that no one had so frankly revealed the use of prayer
as a battlefield for the conquest of the soul as ‘Chinese’ Gordon. A
search of his letters to his sister reveals the truth of this. ‘I can say
for my part,’ writes Gordon, ‘that backbiting and envy were my delight, and
even now often lead me astray, but by dint of perseverance in prayer, God
has given me the mastery to a great degree. I did not wish to give it up, so
I besought Him to put that wish within me; He did so, and then I had
the promise of His fulfillment.’ Even more vividly does Gordon put his use
of prayer when he speaks of Agag — his figure for his own selfish
ambitions and pride: ‘My constant prayer is against Agag, who, of course, is
here, and as insinuating as ever — I had a terrible struggle this morning
with Agag — I had a terrible half-hour this morning, hewing Agag in pieces
before the Lord.’
“Who
can fail to see what Gordon meant? Some impurity was in him and he hauled
it before the face of God and slew it there; some selfish ambition, counter
to the will of God, he dragged up into the light and hewed in pieces before
the Lord. Day by day he returned to cast down unholy passions and selfish
aims and to confirm every true ambition of the spirit in the sight of God.
The very fountains of his life, the springs from which all action comes,
were cleansed. He obtained the victory!” — end quote.
ARMAGEDDON!
“For they are the spirits of devils, working
miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world,
to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. Behold,
I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his
garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them
together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon” (Rev.
16:14-16).
God’s people are still prone to think with carnal minds. When they
read in the prophecies of the Bible about the gathering of kings unto
battle, and the fighting of great wars, immediately their attention is
focused on world events rather than on the things of God.
This fallacy-ridden practice has given rise to what has been rightly termed
“newspaper eschatology” — studying current events in the arena of “this
present evil world” rather than searching the mind of the Spirit for the
wisdom and understanding God gives of the true thing He is doing in
the earth by His Spirit! The work of God is not currently outside of
us, not out there in the world of darkness with all of its plans and efforts
and shamefully fleshly activities and wicked schemes. The work of God is
within His people! “For it is God which worketh in you both to
will and to do of His good pleasure” (Phil. 2:13). Sons of God do not
derive their theology from the newspapers nor the television news casts.
What you read and hear there is not what God is doing! Nor is it
what God is talking about! That is not where God’s work is seen!
Nor is that what God is concerned with! The Holy Spirit of God has not come
within us to show us what the world system is up to — He has come to “take
the things of Christ and show them unto us!”
When the Holy Spirit gives us revelation it is not to bless us with juicy
tidbits of information about the intentions, activities and movements of the
government or military machine of the United States, Russia, Iraq, Iran,
Israel, the European Union, Al Queda, the Taliban, or any other of the
nations of earth or national and world leaders! Let us seek to abandon
all such side issues and seek diligently to concentrate on Christ and
spiritual things! Those who will possess the mind of Christ will find in
Him the source and substance of all reality and the culmination of all
purpose. We hear a great deal today about many wonderful things. As we
draw nearer to the manifestation of the sons of God, and the full light of
God’s new day sends its illuminating rays upon our waiting souls, there will
be an ever-increasing flood of light and revelation. This we must certainly
expect and accept, for every new day brings new things, and new
dispensations are sent to flood the world with greater light and greater
experience in God. But the “new things” are God’s things — not the
world’s things! The “things that must shortly come to pass” are
spiritual things, divine things, heavenly things, supernatural things —
not the things of the world, the flesh, and the devil! “As it is written,
Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man, the things that God hath prepared for them that love Him. But
God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God” (I Cor. 2:9-10).
The spirit within us is not searching out the intentions and movements of
Russia, China, Israel, or Europe — oh, no! His revelation to John the
beloved — and to you and me, my friend — concerns the DEEP THINGS OF GOD!
Isn’t it wonderful! ii
The book of
Revelation is a message from heaven about something that is taking place
which cannot be seen except in the spirit, and by revelation.
It is an apocalypse. It’s not what men call an apocalypse, as though
somehow the destruction of the world would make it a better place. As though
millions of people running in fear for their lives from giant scorpions and
swarming locusts out of the abyss, crouching in fear from one-hundred pound
hailstones falling out of the sky, drinking the blood of dead men from their
faucets, being burned to a crisp by the heat of the sun, one-third of the
human race being blown into eternity by atomic warfare — as though all this
and many more unspeakable horrors are somehow an appropriate climax to this
great story of the Bible. Such crude, perverted ideas are so very sad!
They are so disgustingly sadistic! It is remarkable, to say the least, that
literal events such as these, should be represented by supposedly
spiritual men as THE REVELATION OF JESUS CHRIST! Such distorted “logic”
reminds me of the little story I heard some years ago which went like this —
One bright day in the middle of the night two dead soldiers got up to
fight. Back to back they faced each other, drew their swords and shot one
another. If you don’t believe this story is true, ask the blind man — he
saw it too!
Get
beyond the outer, natural, carnal understanding, my beloved brethren, and
look into the spirit, into the heart of our heavenly Father, and see that
the revelation of Jesus Christ is not something you can see with the natural
eye or touch with physical hands, for it must be revealed in you. Paul
understood this when he wrote, “…it pleased God, who separated me from my
mother’s womb, and called me by His grace, to reveal His Son in me”
(Gal. 1:15-16). If you can understand that premise, that when John
saw these scenes he was in the spirit, you will perceive the mystery
of the Revelation, for John beheld all these things from a spiritual
perspective.
There
are words and phrases, signs and symbols in the Revelation that have held
and still hold a place in Christian thought out of all proportion to their
importance to the overall vision John saw on Patmos. For some reason they
stand out like snow-capped peaks in a mountain range. Barrels of midnight
oil have been burned by zealous students trying to unravel the riddle of
“666,” “Antichrist,” “Armageddon,” or the “Millennium.” Not because of the
over-riding importance of these things in the visions of the Revelation, but
because of their prominence in Christian thought and current literature they
merit special attention as we pass through the mysteries of this book. The
fact is, the term “Antichrist” is altogether foreign to the book of
Revelation — it never appears anywhere, not even once! And yet we
constantly hear from preachers things about a supposed “Antichrist” in the
book of Revelation! And “Armageddon” appears only one time in the whole
book, here in our present text. The term “Armageddon” awakens in many
minds a kind of superstitious dread of some awful crisis, they hardly know
what, but a dreadful day that will make all other crises in history pale
into insignificance.
This
line of thought is expressed so vividly in a letter I received from a dear
sister some years ago. She wrote: “I read the article you sent me. I must
say that I am dumbfounded, amazed, speechless, blown-away or any other word
that you can find that describes my utter shock. I’ve never heard anything
like it before in my life! I must say that I am a product of conventional
Christianity. All of my conceptions of end-time events leave me absolutely
frozen with fear. I saw David Wilkerson’s movie of his end-time revelation
when I was 10. I have been living with this kind of death threat hanging
over my head all these years. I become absolutely terrified when
contemplating the end. I envision an Orwellian Big Brother world laced with
famine, disease, crime, untold suffering, and people being martyred for
their Christian faith. My heart almost fails me for fear! But this is what
I have been taught. I only hope it is not true. If your article is any
indication then I believe that you probably have an entirely different
outlook on things. I have often questioned God and asked Him why did He
choose for me to live in this time when there is absolutely no hope. All is
bleakness. I have often asked would it not have been better for me to have
been a serf governed by a feudal overlord, been an Irish peasant during 1845
and 46 when the potatoes rotted in the field. Would I not have been better
off to have died in the Great Plague of London in 1665, been in Pompeii
when Vesuvius blew. Any of these fates seem preferable to me than living
through the end-time. I have wrung my hands in anguish asking God why. But
maybe there is hope. Your article seems to imply that there is. Maybe
everything I have heard is just man’s carnal mind attempting to interpret
the spiritual mind. I hope that is so! But if these things are to come to
pass as I have imagined them then I have asked the Lord to be merciful and
let me and my family die before they take place” — end quote.
Today,
more than ever before, shelves of all our Christian bookstores are loaded
with new books on eschatology, the second coming of the Lord, the rapture of
the church, the coming antichrist, the great tribulation, the battle of
Armageddon, and the millennial kingdom. The names of the authors of all
these works differ as do their theories on end-time events. I am neither a
news analyst, nor a prognosticator of world events. Recently I turned on
the television and began to watch what appeared to be a regular news
broadcast. The announcer was armed with statistics about the balance of
power in the Middle East, with very refined information about armies,
missiles, and nuclear weapons. I listened to him with some interest,
thinking I was listening to some kind of news analyst, until after about ten
minutes he said, “All of this agrees with prophecy,” and he commenced to try
to tie all of these pieces of news into the prophecies of the Bible. Well,
I don’t see that it was a Bible lesson at all — it was newspaper
exegesis!
I
have no time to waste anymore even listening to such things. My time would
be better spent watching “I Love Lucy” — at least I would derive some humor
and relaxation from it! I listened and read after such for many years. I
discovered their projections and predictions never come to pass. Their
game-plan changes with the years as technology advances and the world
power-blocks shift with the sands of history. It is all speculation, based
on a false premise, with faulty information, erroneous conclusions, and
outright lies. Such are ministers of delusion, deceiving God’s
people. God has given them a working of delusion to believe the lie. They
know not the purpose of God nor the outcome. They are taught by the
serpent, that man-instructing snake of Eden who traduces or translates the
scriptures for them, but gives them only dusty revelations and carnal
interpretations, for that is all the carnal mind can receive. And the
greater mark of their error is that there is NO LIFE IN THEM — as the letter
quoted above reveals, there is only fear and bondage.
Now
let us return to our subject of the battle at Armageddon. The book of
Revelation is the fighting book of the New Testament. In its brief
twenty-two chapters the words “to war” and “to make war” are used fifteen
times! The words are found in all the rest of the New Testament but
fourteen times. It reveals a great significance when we see that two
hundred and thirty-eight New Testament chapters use the words fourteen
times, while twenty-two chapters of the Revelation employ them fifteen
times. This certainly indicates a purpose deeper than the mere incidents of
literary expression. None of these words appear in the four Gospels or in
the Epistles of John. And yet the author of the Epistles of John also wrote
the book of Revelation! This certainly identifies the theme of the
Revelation as one of warfare! And once we know that “though we walk
in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: for the weapons of
our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the
pulling down of strongholds; casting down imaginations, and every high thing
that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into
captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ,” — once we
understand the nature of this warfare as spiritual warfare all
the carnal, traditional interpretations of the book of Revelation are
turned upside-down!
Other
basic words in the vocabulary of conflict also appear in it. The two New
Testament (Greek) words for “sword” appear in the Revelation. Luke is the
only other writer to employ both of them. Omitting duplications, the words
for “sword” appear twenty times in all the rest of the New Testament and
eleven times in the Revelation. Two words for “chariot” are used in the New
Testament and both appear in the Revelation. “Chief Captains,” who are
military leaders, are mentioned twice in the Revelation. The fighting
Parthians tied up the tails of their war horses in compact, pointed fashion
until they looked like serpents. In one of John’s visions he sees in type
just such a picture — two hundred million war horses with tails like
serpents charge across the stage of this drama. The shape of the locusts
was said to be “like horses prepared for war.” The sound of their wings was
like the sound of many horses and chariots rushing to war. But the greatest
warrior of all in the book of Revelation is none other than God’s Christ!
Surely no one thinks that HE makes war with tanks and guns and missiles and
bombs! “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, and chosen, and faithful” (Rev. 17:14). “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 doth judge and make
war” (Rev. 19:11).
What one
word most frequently describes a massive conflict ending in catastrophe?
ARMAGEDDON! Students of theology have for generations been gripped in
their imagination by the word “Armageddon.” Many these days talk about that
great “Battle of Armageddon” which is mentioned only one time
in the whole Bible! They suppose this to be the final “World War,” using
the customary instruments of warfare, which will some day pit God and all
His heavenly forces against Satan and all his evil hosts in a particular
spot in the land of Israel. Most of us have been taught to view it as the
war to end all wars. Some even view it as the end of the world!
But
is Armageddon really a superpower confrontation? Is it a war between the
United States and Russia, or between Russia, Europe, and Israel? Or some
other such scenario? Statesmen, scientists, and generals have long warned
of a “nuclear Armageddon” that could annihilate mankind from the face of the
earth. Many believed that World War I — and later World War II — would end
with Armageddon. Some today believe that Armageddon will be the last battle
between the democratic nations and the communist block. But did you know
that nowhere in the Bible — from Genesis to Revelation — is there any
mention of a “battle of Armageddon”? After all, it’s only
mentioned one time in the entire Bible! “And he gathered
them together into a place called… Armageddon.” We see here that
Armageddon is described as a place, not an event.
It is the place of gathering in preparation for battle.
But that is not the name of the battle! It is not the battle
“of” Armageddon, but “the battle OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY!”
Oh, yes! It is GOD’S BATTLE — THE BATTLE OF GOD’S GREAT DAY! And
that is how we can know that this is a SPIRITUAL BATTLE!
To
be consistent, if one takes the reference to Armageddon literally, then he
ought also to take the reference to the three slick, slimy frogs literally.
Both references appear in the same passage! Yet no one ever suggests that
there will be three creatures resembling frogs literally going about over
the earth, landing at airports, conferring with the heads of state of many
nations, seeking allies and recruits for this battle. In order to follow
the path of consistency as witnessed again and again throughout the book of
Revelation, we must look upon this reference to Armageddon as symbolic
imagery, as with the reference to frogs. These are not descriptions of
national and world events, but of the outworkings of the mighty spiritual
purposes of God!
The
word Armageddon, as pointed out, appears but once in scripture.
People often pick out other scripture passages and claim that they refer to
this “battle of Armageddon,” but that is unwarranted and without any
evidence or foundation whatever. Armageddon means merely “the mount of
Megiddo” — that is, the fortified hill of Megiddo. In olden times many a
battle was fought near the ancient city of Megiddo. When the people of
Israel heard that an enemy was approaching from the east, they tried to
reach Megiddo first. Whoever held the city held command of the mountain
pass of Megiddo and had a better opportunity to win the battle. The
University of Chicago many years ago excavated the mound of Megiddo. There
is evidence that the city antedated the time of Abraham. The word meged
from which part of the word Megiddo is derived means, among other
things, “a fruitful place” or “pleasant things” and the city of Armageddon
(the fortified Megiddo) was in this way associated with the fruits of
victory. Another aspect of its meaning is “rendezvous” from a root
indicating a “pressing in” or “assembling.” It was the place of the
assembling of armies, and thus the Spirit says of Armageddon, “And he
gathered them (the kings of the earth and of the whole world)
together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”
Thus, in Armageddon we see both the positive and negative aspects. It is a
gathering together unto slaughter on the one hand, and victory and glory on
the other hand. It is death and life. It is defeat and
triumph. It is the DAY OF THE LORD! It is the GREAT DAY OF GOD ALMIGHTY!
Not the day of the beast, not the day of the Antichrist, not the day of
Satan, not the day of the flesh, not the day of world, or of sin, darkness,
and death. But beloved, this is the long-awaited day when the LORD arises
upon His people and HIS GLORY IS SEEN. It is the day when the dragon in the
sea is slain, when the false prophet is cast into the lake of fire, when the
great city Babylon falls to rise no more, when deception, struggle, sorrow,
sighing, sin, darkness, and death all pass away and Christ becomes
all-in-all! Oh, yes!
Jesus has already passed His Armageddon! He passed it when in the garden,
in agony of soul, sweating great drops of blood, He said, “Father, if Thou
be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless not my will, but Thine be
done” (Lk. 22:42). He passed through His darkest hour of battle and arose
on the other side victorious over death, hell, and the grave!
“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, He also
Himself took part of the same; that through death He might destroy him
that had the power of death, that is, the devil” (Heb.
2:14). “And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made
a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it” (Col.
2:15). “That ye may know…the mighty power which He wrought in Christ, when
He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the
heavenly places, far above all principality and power and might, and
dominion, and every name that is named…and hath PUT ALL THINGS UNDER HIS
FEET” (Eph. 1:18-21).
Christ
met all the forces of sin and evil on His own personal battlefield of
Armageddon. And Christ is VICTOR! He REIGNS — NOW! He has already
overcome EVERY ENEMY! He has conquered them. They are all already under
His feet. They have no more power over Him! He is above them all. Jesus
doesn’t get sick, because He overcame all sickness. He can’t die anymore,
for He arose victor over death. He can’t sin, for He was tempted in all
points like as we are, yet without sin. Satan has no power over Him for
Jesus has already had His “bout” with Satan and now holds the
Universal Championship over him! He overcame the world. He
overcame the flesh. He overcame the devils. He met the kings of the earth
and of the whole world and conquered them all. He spoiled principalities
and powers and mights and dominions. Oh, yes, my friend, THAT IS
ARMAGEDDON! Jesus doesn’t have any more battles to fight, any more enemies
to subjugate, for the last enemy that anyone, anywhere, ever has to destroy
is death and He has already conquered His LAST ENEMY! An
Armageddon for Jesus? There won’t be any, for His is already past. He has
entered His kingdom, possessed His possessions, and now reigns over all in
the higher than all heavens. Hallelujah to the Lamb!
The
Armageddon in chapter sixteen of the Revelation is not for Jesus. It is for
all those whom Jesus invites to come and experientially share His
victory. It is for us and it is for all of God’s precious people.
It is first of all for that “firstfruit company” of overcomers who are
first to follow the Lamb all the way and stand with Him upon the holy
hill of Zion, redeemed from the earth, from earthiness, from the soulical
and religious, with no guile or deceitful doctrines in their mouths, the
glorious mind of the Father impressed upon their foreheads, singing that
song that only those can learn who stand with Christ under the open
heavens. These are the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb. These are
the first, after Jesus, to experientially appropriate the fullness of
HIS DIVINE LIFE, NATURE, AND VICTORY! There must be a people that
accomplishes this. The book of Revelation reveals the outworking of it.
This victory shall eventually be ministered to all the Lord’s
people and finally to all the peoples of the earth. But it involves a
battle. All the way. There is never any victory without a
battle! And in our text it is particularly the Lord’s people who have long
been held in the bondage of religious Babylon — unto whom the battle comes!
The
magnitude of the victory is determined by the magnitude of the battle. The
greatest battle shall give way to the greatest victory. Be not alarmed,
child of God, if the battles are becoming fiercer, hotter, for this is
the day of the Lord! The battle of the great day of God is upon
us! Armageddon is here! And this great day of the Lord is described first
of all as “a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick
darkness” (Joel 2:2). Ah, yes, Gethsemane! Travail. Sweat. Blood.
Tears. Prayers. Sorrow. Struggle. Death. But, thank God, the prophet
continues, “as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people
and a strong; there hath not been ever the like…and the Lord shall utter
His voice before His army: for His camp is very great: for He is
strong that executeth His word: for the day of the Lord is great and
very terrible; who can abide it?”
Armageddon is the most exciting battle in all the word of God! There must
come a time when the truth is revealed to us that Armageddon is not a
battle fought in the so-called Holy Land in the Middle East. Well, it’s a
lot closer than that! Rather it is a battle fought within that Holy Land
which we are. God’s people have been so duped with religious
junk food that they have missed the whole point. It’s when this stronghold
of our earth-life gets attacked by all the power of God to conquer God’s
people and make them what He has redeemed them to be! What a gathering it
is when we are gathered to our Armageddon! Hear now what the scripture says
about this gathering. “And He gathered them into…” not a place,
as we have it in the King James Bible, but “into the place
called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” There is the definite article
in the Greek which designates it as the place of Armageddon.
Furthermore, the word place is the Greek word topos from which we get
our English word topography. The Holy Spirit anointed John to write it
exactly that way because in the natural there is no such topographical place
called “Armageddon.” So what is the Lord saying here? He’s speaking a
spiritual language to cause us to understand that those unclean spirits like
frogs that God’s people have listened to through unclean doctrine have
lifted up a mountain, which is a man-made kingdom and God is making war
against every man-made mountain and stronghold and He’s going to abase it
and destroy it in what He spiritually calls Armageddon, the mount of
Megiddo. For that is the place where God in the Old Testament judged the
enemies of Israel when they walked in obedience to Him, and He in turn
judged Israel there for their transgression and idolatry. So God today is
raising up an army of sons of God to administer the word and dealings of
God, making war against the stronghold of the mountain or kingdom of the
flesh. It doesn’t exist geographically. But there is a huge mountain of
Babylon that God is erasing! Great is the mystery!
In
closing, let us remember and be instructed by the following facts. The
Bible nowhere identifies a specific place bearing the name Armageddon. The
name does not appear in any ancient geographical or historical writing. The
Armageddon of the Revelation has no location on the geographical map of the
world. The place of Armageddon is nowhere, and it is everywhere.
Furthermore, the term “Battle of Armageddon” is not used in
reference to the place; rather, it is called the “battle of
the great day of God Almighty.” So much more than simply a geographical
location is meant! Symbolically, as a PLACE of assemblage, Armageddon
represents an array of circumstances, a state of affairs; it
typifies a condition that exists within the life of every child of
God, which also will be extant throughout the whole church world as God
moves to bring the destruction of Babylon. That battlefield is in all the
people of God in the world, and it is also deep in the soul of each man.
Some of us today may be in the midst of our Armageddon. The field of battle
has been in progress throughout the ages, but in the purpose of God and by
the power of God it moves toward a final climax and culmination. John in
vision sees the consummation of the conflict and calls it Armageddon.
We
find that the kings of the earth are gathered together at this Armageddon,
but the battle is not said to be fought in the Middle East with horses,
tanks, soldiers, swords, guns, airplanes, missiles, or bombs. The battle
is against the authority, way, and will of God, and it is the BATTLE OF
GOD’S GREAT DAY! God doesn’t fight His battles with carnal weapons, God
only fights with the sword of the spirit which is the (living) word
of God! And the weapons of our warfare are not carnal either,
but are “MIGHTY THROUGH GOD!” For indeed, “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” (Eph. 6:12). Let us read this from the Amplified Bible: “For
we are not wrestling with flesh and blood — contending only with physical
opponents — but against the despotisms, against the powers, against the
master spirits who are the world rulers of this present darkness,
against the spirit forces of wickedness in the heavenly sphere.” The
Phillips translation says, “For our fight is not against any physical
enemy: it is against organizations and powers that are spiritual.”
In the light of the history of man for the past 6,000 years, with its
endless struggle and conflict against evil and wickedness, “The Great Day of
God Almighty” signifies the climax of that struggle in men’s lives, in which
the powers of sin, the satanic realm, and death are completely and
permanently broken. The thing that makes that day “great” is not the
battle! The battle simply ushers in the “great day.” When God finishes and
consummates all His redemptive and restorative work in His people, raising
up in the earth the man in the image and likeness of God —
WHAT A GREAT DAY THAT IS!
Armageddon is a spiritual battle, an on-going campaign between the forces of
the world, the flesh, and the devil, and the forces of Christ and His
kingdom rule within. It’s a battle between the old man and the new man,
between the idols of the soul and the living reality of Christ in the
spirit. The chief battleground is the mind. This is the battle in which
the light of the Spirit meets the darkness of the carnal mind. This is a
battle against the kings of carnality and flesh, a battle waged by the pure,
holy nature of the Lamb. This is the battle of the great day of God
Almighty! And only God’s “almightiness” can win this battle! There is a
tremendous struggle within our consciousness, within our experience, within
our state of being. Armageddon is both an individual and corporate
process. It affects the world within us as well as the outer world we walk
in. This is the battle of the power of the kingdom of God in the manifest
sons of God against the entrenched kings of the earth, the rulers of the
darkness of this present world, including the religious leaders. The glory
of Christ risen as the noonday sun upon the body of Christ is the atomic
weapon that destroys the adversaries!
Many who study this glorious Revelation are more interested in finding
possible references to modern implements of war — tanks, airplanes,
missiles, lasers, and nuclear weapons — than in discovering the deep
inworkings and mighty dealings of the Holy Spirit in the lives of those who
are becoming God’s Christ. According to John’s own witness, “The testimony
of Jesus is the spirit of this prophecy!” To ignore Jesus in
favor of a war in Israel or atomic blasts is a perversion of the spirit of
Truth. It is a prophecy to the church — God’s called out
elect! As a prophecy, it is to the Lord’s spiritual people, the
body of Christ, the ransomed of the Lord! There is not a chance
that the apostle John, standing in the blinding glory of Christ’s majestic
presence, would have thought it important to prophesy about Cobra
helicopters, space shuttles, computers, laser tattoos, or a war on the
plains of Megiddo. Nor would he have been interested in foretelling to the
saints of that day about the future of the United States of America, Russia,
China, the Moslem nations, or the European Community. Not that such things
are not important on some level, but the sons of God are concerned with
God’s SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT in relation to the nations, not the carnal warfare
of man’s invention! The Revelation is concerned with matters of far greater
importance and consequences than satisfying our curiosity about the future
of communism, the western nations, Islam, terrorism, or the Illuminati.
It was written to show us what the Father has done and shall do to save and
transform His people, to glorify Himself through His sons, and to deliver
and restore all creation unto Himself!
You
will not read the fulfillment of its prophecies on the pages of Time
magazine, Newsweek, or USA Today, but you will see them
manifest in the lives of men and women! The word of the Lord in its
spiritual meaning does not describe for us the carnal warfare between
nations. For what have wars between nations to do with the kingdom of God?
The kingdom of God does not come by the sword nor as a result of it, so of
what importance in the outworking of God’s kingdom on earth are the
conflicts between nations and empires? They have no meaning whatsoever!
The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but are mighty through
God! The battles beheld in spirit by the eagle-eyed seer of Patmos
signify spiritual combats, combats between light and darkness, between
spirit and flesh, between truth and error, between righteousness and
unrighteousness, between the precious mind of Christ and the vile carnal
mind, between life and death. A man must experience this combat within
himself to become a spiritual conqueror and gain the crown of life! A war
in the Middle East has absolutely nothing to do with this!
Our Lord, in the days of His flesh, carried on such spiritual warfare in an
infinitely greater way than others, overcoming the compounded powers of the
world, the flesh, the devil — and finally death itself! What a
warfare! What a victory! How the mighty battles of the Roman Empire pale
in contrast with this! The first and second World Wars accomplished
essentially nothing for humanity compared with what Jesus won! He has
opened up the way to victory and triumph over every enemy of sin, sorrow,
limitation, and death for all who are willing to follow Him into the power
of the kingdom of God! Our Lord is a spiritual conqueror! And the
book of Revelation is addressed to “him that overcometh!” That is a
military term! “Him that overcometh” does so at ARMAGEDDON! That should
settle in every heart what kind of warfare the book presents!
Brother Paul Mueller hit the nail squarely on the head when he wrote: “The
truth is, the Adamic nature is responsible for all the wars from the
beginning of time. What the world needs is not another literal war, but a
spiritual war that will end all wars! God knows this better than we do!
His omniscient wisdom is far superior to the ideas and opinions of the
religious theologians. He has set forth a plan by which the present
warfare, which we are now engaged in, shall destroy the man of sin and bind
Satan for the age. This is indeed a war that shall end all wars and
violence in the world for the duration of the kingdom of God on earth!”
Every nation has had war and destruction. The terrorist attacks on our
nation and on other nations in recent decades have been indeed horrible, yet
not even to be compared to the horrors visited upon Europe and Japan in the
Second World War. Great empires have risen and fallen throughout history,
and none of them heralded the end of time. Plagues, pestilence,
earthquakes, storms, and disasters of many kinds have killed millions of
people in hundreds of nations and devastated whole civilizations, but none
of them brought the end of the world. All of those things have been
happening out there in the external world since the beginning of time, but
let me tell you, none of them have anything whatever to do with the coming
of the kingdom of God! Only the nature of the Father formed in His elect,
only the full measure of the stature of Christ formed in God’s New Creation
Man, only the power of God upon His people, only the glory of God in His
manifested sons, will bring the battle into the world that will overthrow
sin, strife, error, sickness, sorrow, and death within mankind, delivering
creation from the bondage of corruption and signaling the hour of
transition into the greater glory of the kingdom of God upon the nations
of earth! Ah, ARMAGEDDON!
