Revelation chapter 16 reveals that there is coming a time when God's judgment, God's wrath, will be poured out in the world in a unique and unprecedented manner. As we looked at the first five bold judgments about a month ago now, we discovered that God is going to bring a kind of hell on earth during these final days of God's wrath, the day of the Lord, right before the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Let me remind you of the first five bowls here at the beginning of Revelation 16. The first bowl, the malignant sores, the incurable evil sores upon people. Then the second bowl, the oceans turn to blood. The third bowl, the drinking water in the rivers and the springs are also turned to blood. Then the fourth bowl is the scorching heat from the sun. that is unbearable. And then finally the fifth bowl is the palpable darkness that covers the worldwide kingdom of the beast known as the Antichrist. And so notice the last two especially, the scorching heat and the palpable darkness That's exactly how hell is described in the Bible, especially in the teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ. And these others, the thirst that comes about from the drinking water and then the sores that are there, just add to that experience of a hell on earth for a short period of time here in this climactic judgment of God known as the seven plagues, the final wrath of God. The seven plagues were introduced in chapter 15, then we studied the first five there in the first half of chapter 16, and that will bring us then today, of course, to the sixth bull. But before we get to the sixth bull, I also wanted to remind you how the bulls parallel the plagues in Egypt. The judgment that God poured out on Egypt at the beginning of the Bible is made worldwide a global plague upon the earth with the boils, similar to the sores, and then the blood as the Nile was turned to blood, paralleled in the rivers and the fountains and the sea all being turned to blood. The heat from the sun is not one of the plagues in Exodus. That's unique to this time period. But then the painful darkness there is also paralleled in the ninth plague in Exodus. You got the first plague, the sixth, and the ninth, all here in part of the first five bulls in Revelation. And then that leads us to where we will be studying this morning, the sixth bull. known as Armageddon. So we're going to be looking in chapter 16 starting in verse 12. Let's go ahead and read the passage together. Revelation chapter 16 verses 12 through 16. The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle, on the great day of God the Almighty. Behold, I'm coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed. And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. This word Armageddon, it's a word that has come over into everyone's language, whether you're a Christian, whether you're secular, whether you are Muslim, wherever you are, whatever your religion, everybody knows this word from Revelation chapter 16, verse 16. And this is the only place in the Bible that we find this specific word. of Armageddon. And so that's going to be the focus of our study. You see everything in the passage builds up to that key term. Now as Armageddon has come into our language, I looked it up in the dictionary and I found that the definition in Merriam-Webster's dictionary is actually pretty good. And that's amazing that this word has come over into our language and we haven't messed it up completely. But here you see the first definition is, Armageddon is the site or time of a final and conclusive battle between the forces of good and evil. And as far as that goes, that's a pretty good definition and that's what we see here in Revelation 16. Now, even though this is in the right ballpark, it's not exactly a home run. And even though this gets us in the neighborhood of what Armageddon is, we're gonna find that as we go through verses 12 through 16 more carefully this morning, that we're going to have a much better understanding of what Armageddon actually means in its own context here in Revelation 16. There's a lot of confusion even among Bible-believing Christians about Armageddon. What does it mean? What is its significance? And so I hope to be able to clear that up for us this morning and then through us help other Christians as well to better understand this as it is a very important passage in God's prophetic scripture. Let's have a word of prayer before we dig into that subject. Father, we present ourselves before you today as we present ourselves before you every day. We are those that you have purchased with your own blood to belong to you, so that we are no longer our own, but we glorify you with our lives. And so, this beginning of a new week, a Sunday morning, we gather in the name of Jesus Christ to be built up in our faith. We gather to listen to your holy word. We pray that you would lead us all into an understanding of Armageddon and what is the significance of this place. When will this occur? How will it happen? Who is involved? What does it mean and why is it important to us? Lord, give us ears to hear, give us hearts to understand, and give me a voice to be able to speak and explain what your word has revealed for us, your children. Amen. All right, so as we look into our passage this morning, here is our outline. We look at what is Armageddon. We're gonna look at how Armageddon comes about, who are the people who are involved with Armageddon, where Armageddon is, and why this is significant. Just getting your basic what, Armageddon, how, who, where, why. I would throw on when also, but we've already covered so much of when in our study. You kind of, if you've been following with me, you know where we are in the timeline, when this is going to happen. So let's start off by looking at the how. Hal starts there in the beginning of this passage with the drying up of the Euphrates River. Let's read it again. Chapter 16, verse 12. The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Stop there. The great river Euphrates. Five times in the Bible, the river Euphrates is referred to as the great river. It is 1,800 miles long. Half of that 1,800 miles is navigable. You can put a boat on it because it is a wide river and it is a deep river. Here is a picture from space of the Euphrates. You see up here, starting in Turkey, cutting all the way through the Middle East down to Iraq. And then over here, the Tigris is eventually going to join up with it somewhere off the map over here. So that gives you a good perspective on why this is the Great River. And the Great River actually formed the boundary from the Western world and the Eastern world. The Euphrates River was the boundary between the Roman Empire, which would end along here, and then on the other side, you'd have the Parthians and others that were not a part of the Western world. And the Euphrates River is also the separation between the land of promise, Israel, and all of the civilizations to the east of Israel. And so it's an important, significant boundary in the Middle East, in the ancient world, and here it is what is going to be removed in order to take the boundary away so that the kings from the east can come to Armageddon, as it says. Here's another picture of the Euphrates. You see how deep and wide the Euphrates is. The Euphrates and the Tigris rivers form Mesopotamia, the land between the rivers. Meso, between, Potamia, the rivers. The rivers are the Tigris and the Euphrates. The land between, Mesopotamia, is the cradle of civilization, as it's often been called. Babylon, Assyria, the Sumerians, all of those cultures that existed between these two rivers. And you see here the Euphrates on the left, and then on your right, the Tigris. The Tigris is smaller. The Euphrates is 50% longer than the Tigris, and the Euphrates is three times deeper than the Tigris. So when it comes to a boundary, the Euphrates is a much harder river to cross than the Tigris. Now, as we look and think about this river, remember that back in verse 4, turn back to verse 4, this river had previously been turned into blood in the third bowl. Remember that the rivers, the springs of water, this would be a global judgment that the third angel is pouring out, they became blood. And so this river, you can imagine it being turned into blood, But then, shortly after, as these judgments, the bowl judgments, seem to come quickly one after another, this Red River then is dried up so that armies are able to cross this boundary, this border between the east and the west, between Israel and all of the kingdoms to the east of Israel. Notice that's what it says there at the end of verse 12. Its water was dried up. Why? to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Now, what does that phrase, the kings from the east, mean? It seems like every generation of Christians who understand this as a literal prophecy, us being among those, we have a dispensational premillennial reading of the book of Revelation, we think this is a book of prophecy of events that are actually going to occur yet in the future. that every generation of those who read the Bible that way look and see what is the greatest power to the East and we imagine that's who this passage is talking about. And previous generations it might have been the Arabs or the Ottomans and then it moved to present times and people think of China. that China has this huge army and they're going to cross across the Euphrates and they're going to come and be there for the Battle of Armageddon. And sometimes us futurists who believe that this is a future prophecy get made fun of because we're always changing our idea of which is the current power that's going to be the fulfillment of this prophecy. But I'm not as mad about previous generations and their guesses about what this prophecy might reference because in this very passage itself, are we not exhorted to be ready, to be alert, to be looking for the coming of Jesus Christ and to be expecting these prophecies to come to pass? Look at verse 15. Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed." So when people make guesses about the current power that is going to fulfill this prophecy, well, I think that's not a terrible thing, and eventually it is going to be fulfilled, and if it is China, then it'll be China. But Notice a more careful reading of the passage does not refer to one nation in particular coming across the Euphrates for the Battle of Armageddon, but it refers to plural. The kings from the east are going to come for this battle. And not only the kings from the east, but notice also in verse 14 that when the signs are performed and go abroad to the kings, they go to the kings of the whole world. So it's not just the kings of the east, but it's the kings of the west, the kings of the north, the kings of the south. All of the world is gathering together, and the Euphrates is dried up so that the kings from the east can come. Now, let's take a closer look at that phrase, kings from the east. What does that mean? Now, literally, the phrase is, from the rising of the sun, the kings from the rising of the sun. And when we as modern people hear the kings from the rising of the sun, we might think of Japan, the land of the rising sun. Now, that's not how you interpret scripture. You don't go back and take what a word has come to mean and read that back into what was written. The meaning of the text is the meaning that the author intended at the time that it was written. And the land of the rising sun, Japan was not called that until probably the 7th century, 700 years or 600 years. after the book of Revelation was written. In fact, in scriptural language, when you're talking about the land of the rising sun, you're not talking necessarily about Japan, but back in Isaiah, here you have a king from the north, a king who is coming also from the east, the rising of the sun, so this king who is from the northeast, He's going to call upon God's name and will trample on rulers. And from our study in Isaiah that we did about a decade ago, we know that this is a reference to Cyrus. And Cyrus was a Persian. And so the Persians lived on the other side of the Euphrates, and Cyrus would come across from the north and from the east. And so the land of the rising of the sun, from a Jewish perspective, and the Bible is written from a Jewish perspective, refers to any king who comes from the east, particularly beyond the Euphrates. And so this is not a reference just to China, it's not a reference just to Japan, but a careful study of the passage reveals that it's a reference to perhaps all of those nations. As many of them as are still viable at the end of this seven years of great tribulation, at the end of all the wars, at the end of all the famines, at the end of all the natural disasters, whatever nations, whatever kings are still left at that time, They are the ones who are going to come for this summons to Armageddon. They are the ones who are going to cross the dried up river of blood that was the river Euphrates. That is, I think, a careful understanding of what is going to happen and exactly who the kings of the east are. Also, before we move on from our first point, the drying up of the Euphrates for making way for the kings from the east to come to Israel, Voti Bacchum, whom I highly respect as a preacher and a brother and a man of God, he does not understand the book of Revelation the way that I do, and he makes a case against the futurist literal interpretation of this prophecy by saying this is not how troops are transported in the modern day. You don't have to march troops across rivers anymore. We have modern technology, and so we shouldn't expect there to be a literal fulfillment of a drying up of a river so that an army can come across the Euphrates because it's no longer necessary. We've got troop transports that are airborne, and you don't need this drying up of the river to gather armies together. Well, my response to my brother is that even though we, as Americans, have wonderful troop transports, being oceans across most of the battles that we're going to, most of the world doesn't have all of the troop transports that we do, and we also have to be careful that we don't assume that the conditions at the end of the Tribulation are the same as the conditions now. There's a lot going on during the seven years. There's going to be a lot of destruction. There's going to be a lot of unrest, a lot of the world being turned upside down. So how many of these troop transports will still be available at that time? And I'd also say this. that troop transports are great for a small force, but when you are trying to move your entire army, even the United States does not have enough airplanes to move an entire army, but you'd still have to do it the more traditional way, as we see in this picture. or by foot. Many of these armies might actually be coming on foot or even on horseback. We don't know exactly what the conditions are going to be like at the end of the Great Tribulation, but we do know that the great river Euphrates will be dried up to make a way for all of the kings across the river in the Middle East, in the Far East, whatever this reference includes, God knows, is going to come for the gathering at Armageddon, okay? So that's how, that's the drying up of the Euphrates. Secondly, who? Who is involved with this gathering of the nations? We see it is demons and kings. Look at verse 13. And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, like frogs. For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God, the Almighty. So, who is involved here? These three unclean spirits. The unclean spirits come out of the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the false prophet. Remember, the dragon was introduced previously in Revelation chapter 12, and then the beast is introduced in the beginning of chapter 13, and then chapter 13 also refers to a second beast. And the second beast is here for the first time called the false prophet. The second beast, it's a little confusing to say the beast and then the second beast, so John changes his name from the second beast to the false prophet. And the false prophet was described in Revelation 13. And the false prophet was involved with performing signs. He was there to perform signs that he would call down fire, which I believe is lightning, in the presence of men from the sky in order to demonstrate this supernatural divine power so that all the world will worship the beast. He is the one who gathers the world and forces them, both through deception, through signs, and through military power, to worship, to bow down and worship the beast as if he was God. So these spirits, we've seen them at work. We know that the false prophet and the beast are demonically empowered. And so they are the ones, the dragon behind them, these three are the ones who gather through the spirits, through the demons, all the kings of the whole world. to assemble them for battle on the great day of God. Now they are referred to, these unclean spirits, are like frogs. Why frogs? The text doesn't say. It could very well be a callback to Exodus, the second plague had to do with frogs. and we see that the exodus and the plagues are in view here in this part of the book of Revelation. So perhaps the imagery of the plagues is still being drawn upon here. Also, frogs were unclean animals in the Old Testament, and they're slimy, they're cold-blooded. People don't tend to like them. And so they just are a good picture for these slimy, demonic spirits that are going out for this particular purpose. That Satan seems to have a purpose, but God has a purpose. behind what Satan is doing. Notice that they are used by God. This is part of God's judgment. The sixth angel is pouring out his bowl. So God is at work through the instrumentality of the drying of the river, through the physical instrument of gathering the nations, making their way open. But then also Satan and the beast and the false prophet are being used by God as well. That God is able to use Satan and the beast and the false prophet to accomplish his purposes, and that they are actually a tool in bringing about God's judgment. This is very similar to what we had in our scripture reading, 1 Kings chapter 22, that God was able to use false prophets in order to deceive kings, in order to bring them into a battle that would lead to their destruction. That's what God is doing again here. Now, When God is able to use the dragon, when God is able to use the beast, when God is able to use the false prophet, the most evil beings in the universe, in order to bring about his purposes in judgment, and that God can not only use them, but he can tell them ahead of time what he's going to do, that's power. That's power. Satan's power is nothing compared to the power of the Almighty that God has written down in Scripture exactly what he's going to do and his enemies are going to do it. There's nothing and no one that can change it. That is amazing control. That is amazing sovereignty, the power of God displayed in this prophecy. Now, What is Satan's purpose? God's purpose is to gather them together for the great day of God, the battle on the great day of God the Almighty. But what is Satan's purpose? What does he think he's getting out of this? Why is he gathering the kings of the earth to Armageddon? Well, we see his purpose in chapter 19, verse 19. Turn over, get a little preview here of chapter 19. After two chapters of judgment oracles on Babylon, in Revelation chapters 17 and 18, then we finally get back to this final battle, the day of the Lord, in Revelation 19. And notice verse 19, Revelation 19, 19. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth with their armies gathered to make war against him who was sitting on the horse and against his army. So Satan's purpose, the kings of the earth's purpose, is finally to make war against the King of kings and the Lord of lords, our Savior, Christ Jesus, on that day of the great battle, the final battle. So we'll read more about this when we get to Revelation 19, but come back to chapter 16 for now. This takes us to where this is going to take place. Where it's going to be is Armageddon. There's our key word. And we see that in verse 16. They assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. Let's talk about Armageddon. In the Bible, there is only one reference to Armageddon. Armageddon literally means the hill or the mountain of Megiddo. Megiddo is referenced 10 times in the Old Testament, and there you see it on the map. This is a map, here's the Mediterranean, Jerusalem up here, so it's inverted from the way we normally look at it, because I like it as a topographical map. And topographical really helps us here. So the Sea of Galilee and Nazareth here are in northern Israel, and then Jerusalem down here in the middle. And Megiddo is right next to this giant valley known as the Jezreel Valley, and some people refer to it as the Valley of Armageddon. This valley has been the location of a number of important battles throughout history. One historian counted and came up with over 200 battles that have taken place in this valley. Valleys are good places for battles to take place. You can spread out your army. You can get everybody into that one location. This battlefield and the fortress that is there, the city of Megiddo, is about 60 miles north of Jerusalem. And there are roads that you can take around and through to get to Jerusalem from Megiddo. And it's about 11 miles, you see here, crossed from Megiddo to Nazareth. So it is a gigantic valley, and it's a key location. The place that is called in Hebrew Armageddon, this is the only place in the Bible that's called Armageddon, it is called the Valley of Megiddo twice in the Old Testament, not referring specifically to the fortress, but referring to the valley twice in the Old Testament, and 10 times just a reference to the city or the fortress of Megiddo. Having no explicit reference to the valley of Megiddo, notice that in our text the valley of Megiddo is not mentioned, but instead the mountain of Megiddo is mentioned. We want to be careful. It's very easy for us just to assume he's talking about the valley, but he doesn't say anything about the valley. He says he's talking about the hill or the mountain of Megiddo. And what is the hill or the mountain of Megiddo? Well, one of the main objections to a literal fulfillment of this prophecy from people like Vodie Bauckham and others who do not read this as futurist prophecy is that there is no Mount Megiddo. There's never been a Mount Megiddo. You do have Mount Carmel here. Mount Carmel is a very important mountain, but that's far away from Megiddo, and it's never been called Mount Megiddo. Then you have a range of mountains that get smaller, and you've got some small hills here behind Megiddo that perhaps you could refer to one of those as Mount Megiddo. But nowhere does the Bible refer to any of these smaller hills as a mountain of Megiddo. And so people say, this is clearly not talking about a literal place because the Bible never talks about a mountain of Megiddo. Instead, there was the valley and there was the city. And so, therefore, the ESV study Bible, which is a good study Bible in general, is not very good, in my opinion, on this passage. because it says that this is symbolic geography. It's not a literal place it's talking about. This is symbolic, and it represents the global combat zone between the Antichrist and the church. I don't think that's how we should read Armageddon here in Revelation 16, and it's not how we should read the Book of Revelation. The Book of Revelation, as we come to the end, it's the battle of all the nations against Israel, against Jerusalem. The political nature of Satan's opposition to God's kingdom is still centered on Zion. It's still centered on Jerusalem, that God still intends for his king, the king of the Jews, to sit on David's throne in Jerusalem and rule over all nations. And therefore, the great battle at the end has to take place in Israel, and it is to destroy God's people Israel, and this is not about the church when we come to Revelation chapter 16 and the bowl judgments, and particularly the sixth bowl. Now, as R.J. Rushduni says, there are no mountains of Megiddo, only the plains of Megiddo, and so many people believe that this destroys any view of a literal reference to a place, but I think that is overstating the case. In the time that this book was written, when John wrote Revelation, there was no longer a city of Megiddo. Megiddo had been abandoned as a fortress or a city for almost 400 years, actually over 400 years. And so during John's time, the ancient city of Megiddo was now a hill. because it had been built upon and built upon for millennia, and each one of those layers of the city had built up, so that at the time that the book of Revelation is written, the hill of Megiddo would have been about 70 feet tall. And I think it's very likely, we don't have specific textual evidence from the first century, but I think it's very likely that first century Jews would have referred to that hill of Megiddo as Armageddon, the mountain or the hill of Megiddo. If that's not the case, if he's not referring to the hill that was built up on the ancient city, he could be referring to one of these small mountains that are part of the Mount Carmel range behind Megiddo. But I think it's more likely that he's referring to the city itself, the mound that the city had built up over the centuries. And I have good reason for this. There's just another picture of the Jezreel Valley here. Then you see Nazareth to the north. So we've turned it around. Megiddo here on the south. And you see some of the important trade routes that come through here. So if you were gathering from the north, if you're gathering people from the west, if you're gathering people from the east, if you're bringing all the kings of the world together to go into Israel and to destroy Jerusalem, then this would be where you would gather them to because this is where all those roads from the east and the north and the West all come into the Holy Land. So the geography here is not symbolic. It is very suitable to a literal invasion of armies that the scripture is talking about, and it has been that type of thing throughout its history. There's no reason not to take the literal meaning here. Here's a view of the valley from one of the mountains, and you can see the Jezreel Valley here before harvest, and see how they use it for farming today, and how it's very big and broad, and you could fit a lot of people in that valley. Here's another view of the Jezreel Valley after the harvest, and you can see what it looks like in the fall and winter, or whenever their seasons are. Their harvest seasons are different than ours. But here, here's a quote that I want you to see, and this is not from a Christian source. I'm getting this from Wikipedia. It's not a dispensationalist article. Instead, it just says, the Mount of Megiddo in northern Israel is not actually a mountain, but a tell, a mound or a hill created by many generations of people living and rebuilding on the same spot. on which ancient forts were built to guard the Via Maris, an ancient trade route linking Egypt with the northern empires of Syria, Anatolia, and Mesopotamia. It's Greek name, Armageddon. So, what's Armageddon? I think most likely it is this tel, it is this mountain, this hill, this mound that is still there today in Israel. And I have a picture of it for you, I'll show you in a minute. But notice the important geographical significance of this site and why John points it out for us. Today, Wikipedia, not a prophetic website, not a Christian website, this is not Hal Lindsay saying this. Today, Megiddo Junction is on the main road connecting the center of Israel with Lower Galilee and the north. The northern entrance to the Wadi area, an important mountain pass connecting the Jezreel Valley within Israel's coastal plain. So, if you were going to gather all the armies of the world to go and attack Jerusalem, this would be a great staging ground. This would be a great place for the kings to meet up. And that's exactly what the text says. The text does not say that the battle takes place here. Ah, see? That's just reading into it. And we have to be careful about our reading. What does it say? What does it not say? It doesn't say the battle takes place here. It says this is where the kings of the earth are gathered for the battle. Let me show you the picture of the top of the hill. So here's the hill of Megiddo, Tel Megiddo. And if you were gonna take all the kings of the earth and they're gonna meet together, they could put their tents right here. And you're not gonna fit all the armies of the world on Armageddon. It's not a big site, it's a small site. But it doesn't say all the armies are on Armageddon. It doesn't say all the armies are even in the valley of Megiddo. It says this is where the kings gather. This is where the kings gather. You can picture tents, temporary setting put up so that all the kings of the earth are here, and this is where God gathers them for the final battle, as it's called, the battle on the great day of God, the Almighty. Let's talk a little bit about that. of the great day of God the Almighty. This is a reference to the day of the Lord. So the day of the Lord is something we've talked a lot about as we've studied prophecy, starting with the Old Testament, talking then to the New Testament. The day of the Lord, the time when God will intervene in history to vindicate his chosen people, destroy his enemies, and establish his kingdom. The Day of the Lord is a huge theme in the Bible, Old Testament and New Testament. Here you have a very significant reference to the Day of the Lord at the end of verse 14. The demonic spirits, they go abroad to the kings of the whole world to assemble them for battle. on the great day of God the Almighty. So notice it's not called the day of the Lord here, but throughout scripture it's the same reference through many different words and there's a lot of variety in how this day is talked about. And here we have probably the most solemn, the most impressive out of any of the titles for this day. Now in the Old Testament, it's referenced in many different ways. One of the most powerful is in Joel, where it talks about the great and awesome day of the Lord. The great and awesome day of the Lord. Here, the same day is called the great day of God, the Almighty. And that's just powerful language to refer to God's day, the day of the Lord, when he does these three things. He vindicates Israel. He destroys the enemies who have gathered against his nation. And he establishes his kingdom with his King, Jesus Christ, for a thousand years. So that's the Day of the Lord. That's what this passage is talking about. And next week we'll talk more about the Day of the Lord and how the final battle of Armageddon is going to take place. That it's not actually going to take place in the Valley of Megiddo, as many people have surmised from this reference, but that when you go back and study and put the passages in Joel and other parts of the Bible together, you find out that this is a battle that takes place throughout Israel and especially at Jerusalem. and the Valley of Jehoshaphat. But we'll get into more of that next week. Also next week, we'll look at the why. And so I'm saving some of what we had prepared for this morning for next week. And we'll get to our final point in our outline here with the why. And that's the key verse there in verse 15. Behold, I am coming like a thief. Why is it important that we know about Armageddon? Why is it important that we understand the prophetic scripture that God has given to us? Well, verse 15 is a reiteration of that key spiritual exhortation to be spiritually alert and to be ready. And we'll really dig into that next time as well.