“ARMAGEDDON”

INTRODUCTION:

1. A new movie is scheduled to be released on July 1st of this year.

2. The title of this movie is “Armageddon”.

3. As the 1900s draw to a close, attention is being drawn to the year 2000.

4. There is a growing sense that time may end when we come to the end of the 1990s.

5. Filmmakers are taking advantage of this interest.

6. Authors are also making money. Here are some examples of current book titles:

A. “Last Days Handbook”, $13.

B. “Prophecy Watch”, sells for $9.99.

C. For just under $20 readers may order “2000 AD – Are You Ready?”

D. Also available is “Armageddon: Appointment with Destiny”.

E. Jack Van Impe: 2001: On the Edge of Eternity.

7. The books and movies are selling because of day-to-day news.

8. There are mudslides in places like California.

9. On a regular basis we see flooding, fires, tornadoes, even El Nino.

10. Government scientists have made an official declaration:

11. They have declared this year’s El Nino to be the century’s worst.

12. Beyond all the natural disasters, there are still signs of unrest and war.

I. WHEN WE PUT TOGETHER ALL THE THINGS JUST MENTIONED, IT IS NOT HARD TO

UNDERSTAND WHY MANY BELIEVE THAT THE END OF TIME IS NEAR.

A. Because there is such a religious frenzy about the year 2000,

B. and because so much error is being repeatedly taught,

C. our Sunday night studies for a while will deal with eschatology.

D. Eschatology means “a study of last things”.

E. It would include: death, the judgment, 2nd coming, and

F. anything that is somehow connected to the end of time.

G. Potential areas of study are:

(1) The mark of the beast;

(2) Matthew 24 where Jesus spoke of war, earthquakes and famines;

(3) The Lord’s second coming; the idea of a rapture;

(4) How and where Jesus will reign; Daniel’s 70 weeks; and other topics.

H. Tonight we deal with the word “Armageddon”.

I. When most people use this word they are describing a battle at the end of time.

(1) This battle will be between the good and the bad.

(2) Some believe that this will be a literal battle.

(3) God and the devil will literally do battle in a physical place.

(4) Others believe that Armageddon is symbolic.

(5) This is some sort of a general struggle between the good and the bad.

J. Before we get very far into this material, we need to understand this point:

K. Long before any of us lived, people were predicting Armageddon.

(1) In the 1860s the Civil War was being fought.

(2) Guess what people were predicting when our nation was divided:

(3) the Civil War was sure proof that the end had come.

(4) Those people were wrong.

(5) More than 100 years later things are largely as they were.

(6) Our country is still in existence.

L. Just before the start of World War I many newspapers had huge headlines:

M. “Battle of Armageddon” was plastered all over the front pages.

N. World War I did not end the world. Humanity continued.

O. Along came World War II. Same story:

P. Newspaper headlines read, “Battle of Armageddon”.

Q. The predictions for an Armageddon have been made for a long time.

R. With all the talk about Armageddon one would think that there were 100 references.

S. Armageddon is only mentioned once in the Bible. Revelation 16:16

(1) This fact is usually not mentioned.

(2) When it is pointed out, many will turn to other parts of scripture and try to find

supporting references for a battle at the end of the world.

(3) One of the groups which has done this is the Jehovah Witnesses.

(4) In the back of their Bible (NWT), there is a special section.

(5) This is called “Bible Topics for Discussion”.

(6) The first topic is Ancestor Worship.

(7) The second topic is Armageddon.

(8) This topic has six points listed for discussion:

(a) Nations gathered to Armageddon. (Revelation 16 is the support.)

(b) Revelation 16 is then abandoned.

(d) Then they offer verses on how to survive.

(e) The last three points show why Armageddon is a “just war” – Jehovah Witnesses’

opinion.

T. Let’s go to the book where Armageddon is used – the book of Revelation.

U. Our beginning place is Revelation 1.

V. The first few verses of this book were designed to give us a key to understand the rest of the book.

W. READ Revelation 1:1-3.

X. There are some very interesting things in these verses.

(1) 1b says: “things which must shortly come to pass”.

(2) Look at the word translated “shortly”.

(3) Thayer says that this word means:

(a) quickness, speed, quickly, shortly, speedily, soon.

(b) What this book describes was not going to happen in the year 2000.

(4) John begins his book by saying that what he wrote must “come to pass”.

(5) Let’s look at how he ended his book.

(6) READ Revelation 22:6

(7) Here we have the same word that is used in Revelation 1:1.

(8) At the beginning and again at the ending of this book John says

(9) this material will come to pass soon.

Y. Let’s turn back to Revelation 1 for just a second more and read 3b again. READ.

Z. Do we not see how this ties in with Revelation 1:1 and 22:6?

A. John’s book is not designed to be a map for the end of time.

B. His material was for those in the first century.

C. Nearly 2,000 years ago was the time for the events in the book of Revelation.

D. However, many in our day want to say, “The time is at hand now.”

E. This changes 100% what God Himself said.

(1) If the events were “at hand” in John’s day, for us they are history.

(2) This is what the inspired text says.

F. One of the “at hand events” was the battle of Armageddon. Armageddon is history, it

has already passed.

G. For this reason the Civil War did not end the world.

H. This is why WW I and WW II did not end the world.

I. If this seems odd to you, thoughtfully consider the following:

(1) Christians were being persecuted. Revelation 1:9 READ.

(2) These Christians were suffering. They wanted and needed relief.

(3) Revelation 6:9-10 READ.

(4) How long were these brethren to wait?

(5) Are we to believe that relief was 2,000 years away?

(6) Why even bother to write about help and relief if …

(a) These Christians would not see it;

(b) Their children would not see it;

(d) Their great grandchildren would not see it;

(e) Their great, great grandchildren would not see it,

(f) As well as some later generations?

(7) John says in Revelation 1:1-3 that things are to happen soon; quickly.

(8) He repeats the point in Revelation 6:11. READ.

II. BEARING WHAT GOD HIMSELF SAYS ABOUT THIS BOOK, LET’S LOOK AT THE ACTUAL

TEXT IN REVELATION 16. THIS IS THE ONE PLACE WHERE THE WORD “ARMAGEDDON”

IS FOUND.

A. Revelation 16:1 introduces this chapter.

B. A voice ordered that “7 bowls of wrath” be poured out on the earth.

C. These bowls of wrath remind us of the plagues that came upon Egypt.

D. I want to pay special attention to one of these bowls.

(1) Revelation 16:5-6 READ.

(2) The evil that God came against (had opposed) had “poured out blood”.

(3) This blood came from “saints and prophets”.

(4) This was true of Rome.

(5) Rome was brutal in her persecution of Christians.

(6) Verse 6 speaks of prophets who were killed.

(7) Prophets fit in where according to the New Testament?

(8) They were in with the first century Christians. Luke 11:49-51

(9) This is additional evidence that what we read in Revelation is for the people of John’s day.

E. Now to verses 12-16. READ.

F. Here we read about Armageddon.

G. The actual area described by the word “Armageddon” is small.

(1) It is about 20 miles long and 14 miles wide.

(2) When people talk about an actual physical war, and they make Armageddon a literal

place, they have a space problem.

(3) In a 20 mile by 14 mile area, millions and millions of soldiers would not fit.

(4) There is not enough room in this place for a war at the end of time.

H. There are some other problems with a literal battle.

(1) Armageddon is thought of by many as a war on the earth.

(2) What did Jesus say in John 18:36? QUOTE.

(3) A similar thought is expressed by Paul in 2 Corinthians 10:4. QUOTE.

I. In light of all that has been covered thus far, I propose this:

(1) First century Christians were under severe persecution.

(2) Rome was the chief opponent.

(3) Brethren wanted relief.

(4) God promised that it was on the way. Revelation 16:10 READ.

(5) God said that the “throne of the beast” (Rome) would be darkened.

(6) Rome would be overthrown/darkened.

J. This is described by the word “Armageddon”.

(1) The literal location of Armageddon was a place where many battles took place.

(2) No better word could have been used to describe war or being overthrown.

(3) Since Rome had made war with the church, God would make war with Rome.

(4) He did. Rome fell.

(5) Christians were delivered from Roman persecution.

K. Here are some of the things that Rome finally came to face.

(1) From 235-284 AD, 20 men ruled as emperor.

(2) That is a new ruler about every 2 ½ years.

(3) Civil war was continuous and intense.

(4) Wealth, resources, and the population were all devastated.

(5) Inflation and unemployment were serious problems.

(6) Educational institutions declined. Classic culture also was affected.

(7) Rome got to the point where she did not govern herself –

(8) something that had not happened for a thousand years.

L. Christians were already in the midst of persecution.

M. For them to get a book which said God is going to bring down the Roman Empire

N. would have only magnified their trouble way beyond what it was.

O. Hence, to communicate this truth, God used apocalyptic language.

P. We might refer to this as a code.

Q. Part of the code was the word “Armageddon”.

R. This was designed to say that Rome would be overthrown.

S. One objection to this view comes from Revelation 16.

T. Revelation 16:15 is in the same paragraph as the word Armageddon.

U. It sounds like the Lord’s second coming. READ v. 15

(1) While this is a possible explanation, it is not the only one.

(2) There are places where the Lord says He is coming but His coming is not the second coming.

(3) Jesus spoke about “coming against Jerusalem” and He did in 70 AD.

(4) However, this did not end the world.

V. Also, the word “thief” expresses another thought.

W. Listen to the idea that comes from Luke 12:39. READ.

X. Thieves come when they are not expected.

(1) This makes good sense with heaven and Rome.

(2) Heaven came upon Rome like a thief.

(3) Rome did not expect punishment for what she did to Christians.

(4) She felt safe and secure. She wasn’t.

CONCLUSION:

1. Armageddon will make money at the box office, bookstore and for preachers.

2. The Bible itself puts Armageddon into the past; history.

3. Rome was overthrown because of sin. This is the ultimate result of sin – destruction.