The Battle of Armageddon - Part 1

What you doing tonight how close are we to the battle of Armageddon centuries bigger fluctuates so close. Only one thing leads to heaven final pump with Turning Point. Dr. Jeremiah reveals what stands between life as we know it is cataclysmic is a journey through the book of Daniel is missing the battle of Armageddon and today we look at one of the most important events, that is talked about in Scripture. The ultimate culmination of the war between good and evil. The battle of Armageddon. And what's going to happen. Who are the players what's going take place. What is the action unfold all about today and tomorrow as we study together from the 11th chapter of the book of Daniel, well today.

I am excited to introduce this discussion on the battle of Armageddon. So with our Bibles open to Daniel 11. Let's begin. Back in the days of Jeremiah the prophet.

They were singing the same song that we sing today. Jeremiah says in the sixth chapter of his book that people were concerned as much about pieces we are today, for they cried. Peace. Peace.

There was no peace.

Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in first Thessalonians chapter 5 in verse three he refers obviously to the same attitude when he writes while they are saying peace and safety, then destruction will come upon them suddenly like birth pangs upon a woman with child, and they shall not escape. An interesting thing to look back over the history of our land and of our nation and actually the nations of the world and realize that there's never been a subject that has been more prominent than the subject of peace, and at the same time there's never been a quality that is been more elusive than peace back in our country we have reached a war since its inception about every 25 years, beginning with the war of Independence in 1776 war of 1812 the Mexican war of 1845 the Civil War of 1861 to 65. The Spanish-American war, the World War I, World War II, the Korean conflict, the Vietnam War, you name it.

You look back over our land. It's been a land of conflict and strife, scarcely a generation is passed in which the so-called Christian nation is not sent young men to war records will prove if you study them carefully that the history of the world is written in the blood of millions who have died on the battlefield, millions more following. The world is a world war is not a stranger to us and is not one of the circuit does not know something about it even in our own family. People that have been a part of our extended families who served in the military want to tell you with all we know about war and all that we understand about it because of our militaristic approach to peace in the world.

There's not anything that we can say that would compare to the war that is coming someday. The war that will end all wars is referred to in the Scripture, and by prophecy students and Bible Christians everywhere as the battle of Armageddon. No matter how one reads history or ponders the future thinking that all understand that this world is on a collision course and that collision course is a collision course with disaster. We should not be surprised as we open our Bibles to discover that the Bible has a great deal to say about subject of the final war. The Bible says that the disaster which will draw the curtains of modern civilization is definitely a war predicted, call the war of Armageddon. Another basic revelation concerning the end of the world battle is given to us in the 16th chapter of the book of Revelation. So Holding Your Pl. in Daniel 11. I want you to find your place in the book of Revelation might be well for you to just keep your thumb and revelation because will come back again in a few moments to another passage. Revelation chapter 16 verses 13 through 16 gift to us the information concerning this antiwar Revelation 1613 to 16 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 demons, working miracles that go forth into 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 of the Blessed is he that watches and keep his garments less steep walk naked and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon as we consider the events that surround this great battle. I want to give you an advance sort of the outline that were going to follow so you can stay with us. We are going to look at the battle of Armageddon. Along these lines.

First of all, were going to discuss briefly the preparation for Armageddon going to look at the place of Armageddon and the purpose of Armageddon and the participants in Armageddon and finally the program of Armageddon. Let's look first of all, at the preparation for the battle of Armageddon.

The Bible teaches that after the church's rapture out of this world.

The tribulation period will immediately be inaugurated here on this earth. The stage is set for the great conflict.

First of all by the satanic persecution and opposition to the nation of Israel. When the church's rapture out of here in the Holy Spirit is removed in the sense that he is the restraining influence on evil in this world and he is removed because he goes out of old, in the form of the Christian people whom he indwells, then all hell is going to break out on this earth but added to that is the fact that Revelation chapter 12 in verse 13 tells us that when Satan is cast out of heaven and onto the earth at the middle of the tribulation. He will begin immediately to persecute the woman who brought forth a male child, which is a reference I believe to his persecution of the nation of Israel was responsible for the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. The purpose of Satan and his persecution of the Jews, beginning at the middle of the tribulation.

Is to destroy the opportunity that Jesus Christ would have the rule and reign with the Jews as his co-writers. Satan's purpose is to do away with the Jewish people before the kingdom can be set up and so cooperating with Satan and his efforts to destroy the Jewish nation is the beast was the head of the reestablished Roman Empire and the false prophet, the head of that great religious system. This unholy Trinity is mentioned here in the 16th chapter and verse 13 by saw three unclean spirits like frogs come up out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. The beast, the false prophet and the Dragon. The unholy Trinity. Just as God has a Trinity. Satan has a Trinity that unholy Trinity is going to be let loose on this earth during the period we know as the tribulation and together they are going to vent their wrath upon the nation of Israel and prepare the way for the coming conflict if we go back in our thinking to the preparation of this event, even to the context of the book of Daniel we can remember that what we have been learning is that the book of Daniel teaches us that God is not yet through punishing the people of Israel for their disobedience. You remember when Daniel prayed his prayer in the 10th chapter he saw the captivity that was his in Babylon, coming to a conclusion and he assumed that because the 70 years were accomplished that the nation of Israel was going to be immediately restored to her place of glory, and he prayed and asked God to give them wisdom concerning the captivity.

And God sent his angel to him with the message that were reading and studying in Daniel 1011 that angel said to Daniel, the judgment upon the Jewish people is not yet accomplished, and then he unfolded the message that the Persians would be involved in trampling over the land of Palestine, followed by Alexander the great in his Grecian Empire followed after that by Antiochus the great and then Antiochus epiphanies the great world and the Persian world and then ultimately the Egyptians and the Syrians in the north and south end of the land would be trampling all over the land of Palestine, literally fulfilling the prophecy that says that the land of Israel would be trodden down by the Gentiles which is continue to happen even to the present day God says that after the Persian period integration. In the Egyptian and Syrian conflict that ultimately in the end time there's going to be another influence that comes upon that land from the Roman dominion just as we are followed through very carefully in the book of Daniel in this Roman dominion is that which takes place in the preparation of the battle of Armageddon, the preparation of Armageddon is already in process and the only thing that remains to keep the final countdown from taking place is the rapture of the church.

If the church of Jesus Christ would be rapture out of the world tonight immediately. The clock would begin to ticket Armageddon is a program event and so we can honestly say that we maybe just a little bit more than seven years away from this great Holocaust. Just about about the place Armageddon. Revelation chapter 16 in verse 14 is the only verse in the Bible that refers to that place as the central place of battle. Now, the term Armageddon is a reference to the mountain of Megiddo, a geographical location in northern Palestine is an extended claim that reaches from the Mediterranean Sea to the northern part of the land of Palestine, Napoleon Bonaparte said that it was the world's greatest natural battlefield. He said that here as perhaps in no other location in the entire world.

There is a natural arena where all of the armies of the world might someday gather together in conflict. I'm sure that Napoleon did not understand the prophetic truth of his statement. Now it's interesting and it's very important that we understand as we unfold this battle. This campaign that the battle of Armageddon is not localized to the plane of Megiddo. As you study Bible prophecy, you discover that the battle of Armageddon breaks out in different places throughout the land of Palestine. For instance, in Joel chapter 3 in verse two we are told of this battle being fought in the valley of Jehoshaphat, which is an extended area east of Jerusalem in Isaiah 34 and chapter 63 we see that the Lord is coming from even more into meal which is south of Jerusalem. When he returns from judgment in Zechariah speaks of Jerusalem as the center of conflict in the Armageddon war. And so, though we use the term Armageddon and localize the battle to the plane of Megiddo. Scripture teaches that literally the battle of Armageddon is going to fill the whole land of Palestine with conflict and with bloodshed factors. A very interesting passage of Scripture that teaches us that in the 14th chapter of the book of Revelation just turn back a couple of pages in your Bible. If you're still in Revelation and notice Revelation chapter 14 and verse 20 and the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress, even under the horse bridles by the space of 1600 furlongs in the Scripture teaches us that the bloodshed during that terrible awful battle is going to be something we cannot imagine bloodshed that will actually produce the flow of blood to the height of horses bridle and the Scripture says that it will flow out a space of 1006 hundred furlongs if you translate that back into the terminology of today 1600 furlongs is exactly 200 miles are almost exactly 200 miles and if you go to the land of Palestine and you started the northern end of the land and you trace down to the southern tip of the land.

You'll discover that Palestine is almost 200 miles in length. In essence what the book of Revelation teaches us is that the battle of Armageddon is going to fill up the whole land of Palestine. It is not just a singular battle that will start in the moment and be over, we ought to literally refer to this event as the campaign of Armageddon or the war of Armageddon report will involve many different battles and skirmishes in the end time. That brings us thoroughly to the purpose of Armageddon.

One cannot read about this awful event and even to describe what I've already described about blood being at the level of the horses bridles and there's a more descriptive terms will get into later. One cannot read that without being filled with questions. What kind of God would allow a bloodbath to take place in his world. Why is it that such a terrible world war will take place. What is the possible reason God could have for allowing this world to come to a conclusion.

As we know it now with the Holocaust of the Armageddon campaign, what we've already discussed the fact that this is the time of indignation upon the people of Israel. The people that rejected their Messiah.

And, given time and time again the chance to return failed to heed the judgment of God. We've already discussed the Daniels heart was broken because those who returned to Jerusalem because of the decree to rebuild the Temple were only back a short time before they fell back into the same kind of sin that it caused them to be exiled in the first place the Jews are stubborn and rebellious people as it relates to their God and God promised Daniel that he was not finished judging them yet, and the time of their indignation was yet in the future we call the tribulation the time of Jacob's trouble. It's the time of the punishment of the Jewish people for their rebellion.

But along with that there are three other reasons for the great Armageddon campaign that you ought to be aware of. We won't look at these passages, but I'll remind you of them and even read them for you so that you can hear them. Another reason for the campaign of Armageddon is in order that the nations might be judged for their persecution of Israel. The 12th chapter of the book of Genesis, where we have the great Abraham a covenant God has promised the Jewish people that those who persecute them would be persecuted and those who bless them would be blessed and as you trace that out now to the end of time you see that God is faithful to his promise those nations that have persecuted the Jews are finally gathered together in the campaign of Armageddon and God's wrath is let loose upon Joel chapter 3 in verse two says I will also gather all nations and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and I will plead with them or deal with them.

There for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations and imparted my land God says I'm going to get all the nations who have persecuted and scattered and avenged my people going to bring them to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and in that bowling that place. I'm going to deal with those nations and I'm going to punish them for the way they treated my people Israel.

You say seems rather strange that God is judging them. Many turns around and punishes others who deal rudely with them only reminder to us. The judgment belongs to the Lord and nobody else. And he is going to deal harshly with those who do not treat his people fairly also going to be an opportunity for God to judge all the nations for their sinfulness.

I know about you but when I look out at this world and I see the evil that runs rampant not only in our culture, but in the cultures of the other nations of the world.

I see some of the things that are accepted now by our public. I wonder how long God can go on before he rains down judgment upon this world you say pastor it's always been this way no one has. It's worse than it's ever been. I don't think there's ever been a time in the history of our country when immorality was so rampant as it is today, even with the moral revolution that we been able to bring to pass by all of the efforts of concerned Christians and even non-Christians or conservatives, we have never seen moral degradation like we have in our land today. In this passage of Scripture and this whole truth is a reminder to us men and women that though God may delay his judgment. He will not forget it. And one of these days, God will and had enough and we will cost over that line from which there can be no repentance in the Bible says God will judge this world.

Revelation 1915 puts it this way, and out of his mouth goeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations, and he shall rule them with a rod of iron. Any tread of the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of the Almighty God. Listen to that last phrase he treaded the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of the Almighty God. God is storing up judgment against the data come though the nations in our nation may not believe that God is one day going to judge them. The Scripture is clear. One of these days God would've had enough in his judgment will be meted out against wicked nations and their godlessness. Revelation 16 nine says. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over these plagues and they repented not to give him glory.

You know how wicked the nations will be when God's judgment comes.

Even with the awfulness of the judgment that is associated with Armageddon. The Scripture says that the wicked men who are punished by God and scorched by the heat of his wrath. Continue to curse God to his face and not repent, even in the midst of the judgment, though it is true that God is long-suffering of the is not willing that any should perish, there will come a day when his cup of wrath will be full and it will boil over upon those who rejected his name and persecuted his people. The campaign of Armageddon is sort of a visual aid of the wrath of God at work upon those of rejected him. That brings us to the participants in the battle of Armageddon.

Who's going to participate. Well, there are six major powers that are going to be involved in that final campaign and I'm not going to belabor this except to give you the players and the cast you need to know that first of all, there will be a 10 kingdom Federation under the leadership of the beast or the Antichrist. We studied that already. In the book of Daniel how the Antichrist is going to be raised up out of the revived Roman Empire and he will be a vital force that will bring together all of the European powers the former Roman Empire revived now in the final days and he will bring together that coalition of governments and he will be the catalyst to bring them all together and they will be one of the major powers in this closing campaign periodically on ask where is the United States and all of this I need to take just a moment. Dr. J. Dwight Pentecost is given to us an idea about where America is in all of this and I just like to share with you his thoughts, which are not inspired.

There simply his opinion, and it's something to think about in his book entitled will ma'am survive. Dr. Pentecost writes these words, he said, not what is our origin politically, socially, economically and linguistically, we have come from nations that originally belonged to the Roman Empire are customs and laws have all come from that European background from nations that have emerged out of the Roman Empire. Daniel speaks of those nations, as the 10 horns of the 10 tolls that will be brought together under the power and the authority of the beast. Even though we are not one of the 10 by virtue of the fact that we did not emerge directly out of the old Roman Empire. We may be one of the 10 by virtue of our heritage.

The United States may well cast her lot with Europe and coming to this Confederation of nations and be a part of that Western Confederacy that will be drawn into this conflict and will be judged by the Lord. At his second advent. It is interesting to note that this Confederation of the former Roman Empire nations includes almost all of the nominal Christian nation. Dr. Pentecost believes that perhaps the United States will be included in all of that we can't prove that, but that's just one man's thought. The bottom line is you can't find American prophecy, and since you can't find it directly reference there your best to leave it alone because it's awful dangerous to go beyond what the Scripture says that we are allowed divine conjecture on occasion well know that I would take divine conjunction too far, but that's a good thought. Just what we will come back and pick it up there tomorrow as we continue our discussion of the book of Daniel were almost finished with this study, we just have a few more days. Daniel will be finished.

Wonderful day.

Friends will see right here tomorrow for more information on Dr. David Jeremiah series the handwriting a little, please visit our website where we offer two free ways to help you stay connected monthly magazine Turning Points and a daily email devotion to Jeremiah.room/writing that Jeremiah.full/writing company mystifies his book the last out in Israeli inside of time to pray for zero. You can also purchase the Jeremiah study bottle in the English standard version and the new international version as well as the standard large print in the new King James, your choice of attractive Jeremiah.old/writing. I'm very hopeful he can join us tomorrow as we continue the handwriting on the Turning Point. Jeremiah friend.

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