Second Coming Procession
Session 7: The Final Battle
I.
Introduction to the Final Battle:
A. Names for the Battle of Armageddon:
There will be one final battle where Jesus steps out of Jerusalem to bring
an end to the armies of the nations that have gathered to destroy
Jerusalem (Is. 31:4-5; Re. 16:16, 17:14, 19:11-18). The scriptures refer to
the last battle by many various names and descriptions (Ps. 68:21; Is.
30:32, 31:4-5; Je. 6:23; Jo. 3:2, 12, 14; Hb. 3:12-13; Zph. 3:8; Zch. 12:3-4,
8-9, 14:3), the one we are most familiar with however is Armageddon. In
this session we will look at the related events that unfold in connection to
the final battle.
1. The battle on the great day of God Almighty (Re. 16:14).
2. The day of the Lord’s wrath (Zph. 2:2).
3. The day of battle (Ps. 140:7).
B. Promised Outcome of the Battle:
There will be many interesting things unfold on the day of the Antichrist’
last stand, many powerful things will be in his favor on that day. In many
ways everything in the end times is building up to this battle and the
outcome will decide who rules the Earth. Satan had previously offered
rule of the nations to Jesus if He would but worship Him, Jesus firmly
declined with full intent to come and take it from Satan at the proper
time. Now Jesus and Satan fight for this right and winner takes all. We
know without question that Jesus and His saints will win the victory that
day.
“Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the
kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said,
“if you will bow down and worship me (Mt. 4:8-9).”
C. A Shield to Those in the City:
The day of the last battle is a fulfillment of Jesus’ promise to come and
shield Jerusalem at her lowest point; specifically when she would be
facing certain death and impossible odds.
“On that day the Lord will shield those who live in Jerusalem, so that the
feeblest among them will be like David, and the house of David will be like
God, like the angel of the Lord going before them. On that day I will set out
to destroy all the nations that attack Jerusalem (Zch. 12:8-9).”
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II.
Jesus Marching Out on the Day of Battle:
This is a highly anticipated day from Heaven’s perspective; it is the long
awaited day of Jesus, the Day of the Lord. This is the hour when Jesus hinges
on a moment of victory in order to receive all that has been promised to Him
from ages past.
A. The Captain of the Armies of Heaven:
When Israel first entered the promised land of Israel under Joshua’s
leadership, Jesus appeared to him as the Captain of the armies of heaven
or the Lord of hosts. This passage gives us a prophetic picture of Jesus
leading Israel into the promise land of the Millennial Kingdom. The
leadership of End-Time Israel will be in a position similar to Joshua as he
bowed down to Jesus as the Captain.
“When Joshua was by Jericho...behold, a Man stood opposite him with His
sword drawn in His hand. Joshua...said..."Are You for us or for our
adversaries?" He said, "No, but as Commander of the army of the LORD I
have now come." Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped (Js. 5:1314).”
B. Jesus Marches Out on His White Horse:
This Captain of the Armies of Heaven is the one marching out of
Jerusalem. He will come out riding on a white horse after He has
completed His march through the land of Egypt and Edom killing the
Gentile armies that opposed Him along the way (Is. 63:1-6; Hb. 3:3-18; Re.
19:17-21).
“Behold, a white horse. He who sat on him…judges and makes war...and the
armies in (from) heaven...followed Him on white horses. Out of His mouth
goes a sharp sword, that with it He should strike the nations...He has...a
name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS (Re. 19:11-16).”
C. Beautiful in Battle:
This is quite a majestic sight. It is at this point that the Church will
overflow with the revelation of Jesus as the one who is fairer than all
others. This specific revelation comes in context to the Armageddon
campaign and Jesus slaying the nations (Ps. 45:2-6, 110:5-6; He. 1:8).
“You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips;
Therefore God has blessed You forever. Gird Your sword upon Your thigh, O
Mighty One, With Your glory and Your majesty. And in Your majesty ride
prosperously because of truth, humility, and righteousness; And Your right
hand shall teach You awesome things. Your arrows are sharp in the heart of
the King’s enemies; The peoples fall under You. Your throne, O God, is
forever and ever; A scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your kingdom
(Ps. 45:2-6 NKJV).”
D. Consuming the Antichrist:
Jesus’ Second Coming to Jerusalem will be on a white horse as Captain of
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the armies of Heaven. He is said to destroy the Antichrist forces with the
brightness of his coming (we will cover this more later in this session).
“The lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the
breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming (2Th.
2:8).”
III.
The Seventh Bowl is Poured Out:
The last Bowl accompanies the armies of the Lord into battle. It is poured
out in context to Jesus marching out of Jerusalem to win the Battle of
Jerusalem to end the Armageddon campaign (Re. 19:11-21).
“The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came
a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” Then there came flashes of
lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake
like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was
the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations
collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with
the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains
could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a
hundred pounds, fell on people. And they cursed God on account of the plague of
hail, because the plague was so terrible (Re. 16:17-21).”
A. Most Severe Earthquake in History:
This earthquake will be unparalleled; it will include shaking the Earth and
the atmosphere. The most violent shaking we have on record was a 9.5
that occurred in Chile in 1960. This quake will likely not be able to be
measured on any scales we have available, but we should be picturing it
as the Lord grabbing the world like a snow globe and giving it the most
violent shaking imaginable. The fact that the atmosphere is included in
the shaking is an unbelievable detail. This is a tipoff that we are talking
about the fulfillment of a prophetic sign.
B. Long Prophesied Shaking:
God promised long ago to bring this shaking in the last days in a way that
could only be compared to the shaking of the creation account.
“At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, "Once
more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens. The words "once
more" indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created
things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain (He. 12:26-27).”
C. The Cities of the Nations Collapse:
The effect of this quake is impossible to fathom; thinking about the
magnitude of this statement “the cities of the nations collapsed,” we are
talking about unparalleled destruction. After all the previous judgments
that have been released God ends it with a single event set to level the
earth. The cities of the globe disappear in a moment; they level before the
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coming King.
D. Jerusalem Splits in Three:
Jerusalem does not escape this shaking, but the impact that the
earthquake has here in this city is very different from that which happens
to the rest of the Earth. God yet again sets Jerusalem apart from the cities
of the nations.
1. Will be unoccupied:
After Jesus splits the Mount of Olives all the people in the city will
have fled out the back door so to speak so the city will be presumably
uninhabited at the time of the great earthquake.
2. Strategic evacuation:
As a result of Jesus’ evacuation of Jerusalem it is possible that was
strategic to make it the only remaining city on Earth that doesn’t have
people in it when the great earthquake causes the cities of the Earth to
collapse in on themselves and so kill 10’s of millions of people in
inhabited cities across the world.
3. Separating the Dome of the Rock:
Perhaps this threefold splitting of the city has something to do with
separating the Temple from the Dome of the Rock (the Mosque in
Jerusalem) if it is still in place at this time.
E. The Islands All Disappear:
The islands will disappear beneath the bloody tides of the sea. There are
no longer any islands in the oceans of the Earth, indicated by the word
“every.” We do not know the extent of what may be defined by the word
“island,” but it could presumably include Taiwan, Cuba, Sri Lanka, and the
nation of Cyprus, etc. As if it wasn’t enough that all the cities within those
nations were decimated by the previous plagues now the nations
themselves just disappear.
F. The Mountains Topple:
The same is said about the mountains; they will topple to the Earth just
like the cities. This is the most radical, dramatic transition that has ever
happened to the physical planet in so short a period of time; it will
completely change the face of the Earth.
G. Huge Hail Stones:
The largest hailstone recorded in American history is about the size of a
soccer ball and weighs less than 2 lbs. What in the world does a hundred
pound hailstone look like? That’s more than 50 times heavier than the
largest hailstone on record. We are talking about hail balls as big around
as big rig truck tires, or larger. These 100 lbs. stones won’t just fall from
the sky this plague of hail thrusts stones at men. They seem to have an
onboard guidance system where they are directed at hitting people.
IV.
The Chaos Plague is Released:
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There is a peculiar multifaceted plague that the Lord promises to unleash in
context to the final battle. The individual components of this judgment are
not new the Lord has released them in the past at different times. There is no
official term for this judgment but by putting all the dynamics together I
think it can be fittingly called a chaos plague (Jg. 7:22; 1Sa. 14:15-20; 2Ch.
20:23; Ps. 53:5; Is. 9:19, 10:26a, 13:8, 31:9, 34:11; Ez. 7:7, 38:21; Hg. 2:22;
Zch. 12:4, 14:13-14).
A. Striking Horses with Panic:
Multiple passages testify that it will not only be Jesus’ army that is on
horseback that day. The armies of the Antichrist will also come riding
atop of horses; and as part of the chaos plague that God will release that
day He will strike every horse with panic causing them to flail about
frantically and completely disrupt the riders agenda.
“On that day I will strike every horse with panic and its rider with madness,”
declares the Lord. “I will keep a watchful eye over Judah, but I will blind all
the horses of the nations (Zch. 12:4).”
B. Turning on One Another:
He will not end there however, the chaos will then also strike all those
gathered, they will go mad in an instant. They will suddenly become
confused and enraged at one another and they will begin to slay
eachother in battle.
“I will overturn royal thrones and shatter the power of the foreign
kingdoms. I will overthrow chariots and their drivers; horses and their
riders will fall, each by the sword of his brother (Hg. 2:22).”
C. Flesh Melting Plague:
Probably related to the brightness of His coming the armies of the
Antichrist will be struck with some sort of rapid flesh deterioration. The
Lord will cause the flesh of all those present to melt or rot nearly in an
instant. It says that their eyes will rot in their sockets while they are still
fighting, still standing even.
“This is the plague with which the Lord will strike all the nations that
fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will rot while they are still standing on
their feet, their eyes will rot in their sockets, and their tongues will rot in
their mouths. On that day people will be stricken by the Lord with great
panic. They will seize each other by the hand and attack one another…A
similar plague will strike the horses and mules, the camels and donkeys, and
all the animals in those camps (Zch. 12-15).”
D. Connecting Armageddon to the Chaos Plague:
Many passages help us to understand that this chaos plague will unfold
during the final battle, but Ezekiel 38 includes a number of day of battle
dynamics that other passages do not. It talks about the chaos elements
coinciding with the hailstones and the great earthquake.
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“The mountains will be overturned, the cliffs will crumble and every wall
will fall to the ground. I will summon a sword against Gog on all my
mountains, declares the Sovereign Lord. Every man’s sword will be against
his brother. I will execute judgment on him with plague and bloodshed; I
will pour down torrents of rain, hailstones and burning sulfur on him and
on his troops and on the many nations with him (Ez. 38:20-22).”
V.
Resurrected Saints:
We want to spend the time to understand our role in the final battle and how
things will play out in light of have received resurrected bodies.
A. Enlistment:
Jesus and His Church will be one in mind and purpose as they set out
together to make war against the Antichrist.
“The Lord will extend your mighty scepter from Zion, saying, “Rule in the
midst of your enemies!” Your troops will be willing on your day of battle.
Arrayed in holy splendor, your young men will come to you (Ps. 110:2-3)”
B. Imperishable Beings:
While both armies gathered will operate with a measure of supernatural
power the saints have a distinct advantage in that we will be
indestructible.
“We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed— in a flash, in the
twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet…the dead will be raised
imperishable, and we will be changed. For the perishable must clothe itself
with the imperishable, and the mortal with immortality…then the saying
that is written will come true: “Death has been swallowed up (1Co. 15:5154)”
C. The Battle Against Natural Humans:
Needless to say that when these two armies meet there will be no contest
between sides. The fatality rate of the Antichrist’s forces will equal 100%
and the death toll of those of the Lord’s saints will be zero. This will go
down as the most monumental victory.
VI.
The World United Against Jerusalem:
This battle will be supernatural for a number of other reasons as well. It will
be the most supernatural assembling of peoples in human history in a
handful of ways, from how they gather to who it is that assembles. Below are
a few of the supernatural dynamics that will play into the gathering.
A. Nations Subject to Antichrist:
Initially there will be a 10-nation confederation that will submit itself to
the Antichrist but over the course of the Armageddon campaign (an
aggressive 3 ½ year military and societal conquest) the kings of the Earth
will all give their allegiance to him one way or another.
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“He gave me this explanation: ‘The…beast…will appear on earth. It will be
different from all the other kingdoms and will devour the whole earth,
trampling it down and crushing it (Da. 7:23).”
B. The Armies of Every Nation is Present:
This battle will then see the attendance all the armies of every nation
come to the battle standard (Is. 34:2, 63:3, 6, Jo. 3:2, 12; Zph. 3:8; Zch.
12:3, 13:7, 14:2; Re. 19:19).
“I will gather all the nations to Jerusalem to fight against it (Zch. 14:2)”
C. All the Kings are Present:
Not only the armies but all of the kings of all the nations will be present at
the battle too (Re. 16:14, 19:19).
“They are demonic spirits that perform signs, and they go out to the kings of
the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God
Almighty (Re. 16:14).”
D. Gathered Together:
The armies of the nations will be gathered for the final battle in the plain
that lies below Mount Megiddo (Zch. 12:11; Re. 16:16). There are many
unprecedented side points about this gathering that make it unique; I
have listed some of these below.
1. Infinitely vast army:
When all of the nations bring their armies together for this final battle
we are talking about the largest natural army ever to assemble in
human history. Tens of millions or maybe even hundreds of millions
will be in attendance as 200+ nations assemble their armies.
2. Same place:
These armies will all congregate in a fairly small geographic valley
outside the city of Jerusalem. The area described is approximately 80
miles long by 25 miles wide resting to the west and north of Jerusalem
and just east of the Mediterranean Sea. This is not a very large staging
area and currently this makes up for about half of Israel’s inhabited
territory. It is remarkable that with so many troops they would
choose to all assemble in the same small area to the west of the city
instead of choosing to surround Jerusalem and attack from multiple
angles.
3. Same time:
All of the armies of the nations are called to assemble at the same time
frame (Is. 34:2-3, 63:3, 6; Jo. 3:2, 12; Zch. 12:3; Re. 19:19). This will
result in the most unprecedented mobilization effort in human history
with transportation being a real issue. They will all have to fly, drive,
boat or walk to the assembly site in a very short period of time,
probably with something like a week to 10 days of lead time (Re.
16:12-14).
4. Same team:
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Perhaps as unusual as all the other components added together is the
simple fact that these armies are all gathered together on the same
team (Zch. 12:2; Re. 19:19). No amassing of troops has ever come into
battle at once all on the same side, never has even a fraction of this
many armies ever amassed for any purpose.
E. The Lord and Satan Co-Gather the Nations:
It is the work of both God and Satan employed in order to gather the
nations for this final battle (Ps. 2:5-9, 9:5, 10:16, 79:6, 110:6, 149:7; Is.
5:15, 26, 8:9, 29:6-8, 30:28, 34:2; Je. 30:11; Ez. 30:3, 32:9; Jo. 3:2; Mi.
4:11-13; Hb. 3:12; Zph. 3:8; Zch. 12:9, 14:2; Re. 16:14, 19:19). While they
are working together to gather the nations theirs motives couldn’t
possibly be more different.
VII.
Satan Gathers the Nations to Battle:
In this section we will look specifically at the motives behind why Satan is
gathering the nations as distinct from the Lord’s divine purposes. The main
theme behind his reasoning is to flex his mussels and amass the largest
number of troops possible for his war.
A. So Many Gathered Against So Few:
Now that we understand the dynamics of just how many are gathered for
this battle we want to try and understand why such a huge army would
come to attack a small nearly defenseless city (Zch. 12:3; 14:2; Re. 16:14,
16). There will at this time only be a relatively small Israeli army within
the walls of Jerusalem and not probably only some tens of thousands in
total population. They will not feel threatened by this small, and poorly
armed Israeli army. Israel’s army will not be allowed to build up their
military while in a peace covenant with the Antichrist (Da. 9:27; Is. 28:1518) and then the years that follow will be filled with intense fighting
which will greatly reduce Israel’s standing forces (not to mention the
death toll from the judgments found in Revelation).
B. Gathered Against the Lord:
The rulers of the Earth are in fact gathering together all their strength in
order to fight against the Lord and His resurrected army (Ps. 2:1-3; Da.
8:25; Zch. 14:3; Ac. 4:26; Re. 6:15-17, 16:14, 17:14, 19:19). The
Antichrist’s armies will believe that they can prevail against Jesus and His
army because they will be so deceived by the supernatural works of the
Antichrist and False Prophet.
“the beast…and…the false prophet…performed the signs on its behalf. With
these signs he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast
and worshiped its image (Re. 19:20).”
C. Threatened by a False Messiah:
The kings of the Earth will identify Jesus as a supernatural enemy, but
they will not see him rightly. They will think of the power of the
Antichrist as being stronger and their military might as superior. They
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will all have seen the supernatural sign of the Son of Man appearing in the
sky, but they will not interpret this sign rightly, they will see Jesus as a
false messiah. They will mourn when they see Him not out of repentance
but because they will see Him coming to disrupt their lives.
“Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the
peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the
clouds of heaven, with power and great glory (Mt. 24:30).”
D. Reports of an Amassing Army:
Doubtlessly they will feel threatened by the appearance of this Jewish
King coming in glory. They will be hearing reports of His supernatural
power that He is marching up to Israel with a powerful army from the
land of Edom after seeing great victories in Egypt and elsewhere.
E. They Gather to Make War Against Jesus:
They gather to make war with Jesus (Re. 17:14, 19:19; Ps. 2:2) who they
believe is a false Messiah or angel of light (2Co. 11:14). The kings of the
nations will unify their efforts in order to fight against a common enemy.
They will see Jesus as a threat that needs to be eliminated and one whom
they are certain that they can defeat with such a large army.
VIII.
The Lord Gathers the Nations for Slaughter:
The Father has long known what the hearts of men will do in the hour of the
coming of His King. He has been preparing His Son for this day to come and
establish Himself and dash the nations for their rebellion.
“The One enthroned in heaven laughs; the Lord scoffs at them. He rebukes them
in his anger and terrifies them in his wrath, saying, “I have installed my king
on Zion, my holy mountain….You are my son; today I have become your
father…You will break them with a rod of iron; you will dash them to pieces like
pottery (Ps. 2:4-9).”
A. To Pour Out His Wrath on Them:
God’s wrath reaching fullness and being poured out on those who stand
against His purposes is a major end time theme that perhaps finds no
greater expression than this day of battle.
“I have destroyed nations...I have decided to assemble the nations, to gather
the kingdoms and to pour out my wrath on them— all my fierce anger. The
whole world will be consumed by the fire of my jealous anger (Zph. 3:6-8).”
B. To Bring Them to Trial:
They are not being punished arbitrarily, God refers to this gathering of
the nations to Jerusalem in legal terms. He states that He is assembling
them to bring them to trial for their misdeeds.
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“In those days and at that time, when I restore the fortunes of Judah and
Jerusalem, I will gather all nations and bring them down to the Valley of
Jehoshaphat. There I will put them on trial for what they did to my
inheritance (Jo. 3:1-2).”
C. To Judge the Wicked:
This day will be a divine judgment exacted from the courts of Heaven (Ex.
32:33-35; Nu. 14:18; Ps. 141:5-6, 149:6-9, 110:5-6, Is. 24:21-22; Mt.
10:26; 2Th. 1:8-9). His judgments are the perfect expression of His
justice, every action calculated and wise.
“Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are
your ways, King of the nations (Re. 15:3).”
D. To Avenge the Mistreatment of His People:
Much of the issue of justice is in direct relation and response to the way
that the wicked treated the people of God (Dt. 32:40-43; Ps. 58:10, 79:10,
91:8, 149:7; Is. 34:8, 35:4, 59:17, 61:2, 63:4, 66:6; Je. 46:10, 50:15, 28,
51:6, 11; Ez. 25:13-14; Mi. 5:15; Na. 1:2; Zph. 3:19; Ro. 12:19; Re. 6:1011). He is pictured as avenging His people.
E. To Totally Destroy Them:
Wickedness will have no place in the New Kingdom that His Son will
establish. In order for this to be the case He says that He will totally
destroy them, all the wicked will perish.
“Come near, you nations, and listen; pay attention, you peoples! Let the
earth hear, and all that is in it, the world, and all that comes out of it! The
Lord is angry with all nations; his wrath is on all their armies. He will
totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. Their slain will be
thrown out, their dead bodies will stink; the mountains will be soaked with
their blood (Is. 34:1-3).”
F. To Establish Jesus as the Rightful Ruler:
As we saw in the Psalm 2 passage the Father is placing His Son on the
thrown of the kings of the Earth (Ps. 72, 45:1-8, 118:22-29; Ps. 37:11; Mt.
19:28, 20:21-23, 25:23; Lk. 19:17-19, 22:29-30; Ac. 3:21; Ro. 8:17; 1Co.
6:2-3; 2Ti. 2:12; Re. 2:26-27, 3:21, 5:10, 20:4-6, 22:5). Jesus is being
established as the justice the world longs for and as the one who has been
given the rightful place to rule.
IX.
Battle Results:
There is a surprising amount of information not only about the battle itself
abut also about what occurs in the aftermath and as a result of the events of
that day. Each of these details further informs us about the wrath of God, the
punishment of the wicked and the severity of sin.
A. The Birds will Feast:
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There are many passages that make it clear that the birds will come to
feast on the dead in the wake of Armageddon (Is. 18:6, 31:5 34:6 w/11;
Ez. 29:5, 32:4, 39:4, 17-20; Je. 19:7, 46:10; Re. 19:17-18, 21).
“And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the
birds flying in midair, “Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so
that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty, of horses and
their riders, and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great and small (Re.
19:17-18).”
“On the mountains of Israel you will fall, you and all your troops and the
nations with you. I will give you as food to all kinds of carrion birds and to
the wild animals (Ez. 39:4).”
B. The Dead Left Exposed:
Bodies will be left out in the open everywhere (Is. 34:3, 66:24; Je. 8:3,
25:33; Ez. 39:12-16; Na. 3:3; Re. 14:20).
“At that time those slain by the Lord will be everywhere—from one end of
the earth to the other. They will not be mourned or gathered up or buried,
but will be like dung lying on the ground (Je. 25:33).”
“Many casualties, piles of dead, bodies without number, people stumbling
over the corpses (Na. 3:3).”
C. A Great Stench Rises:
The resulting death toll will be unthinkable and we are told that there will
be a great stench that will pollute the air from the bodies as they decay
(Is. 34:3; Ez. 39:12-16; Jo. 2:20).
“The Lord is angry with all nations; his wrath is on all their armies. He will
totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter. Their slain will be
thrown out, their dead bodies will stink (Is. 34:2-3).”
D. Valley of Blood:
The result of Jesus’ war against the Antichrist and his armies is a river of
blood that will extend 180 miles related to the valley of Megiddo.
Revelation 14 gives us the details by picturing the wicked as grapes the
Lord will tread in the winepress of His wrath.
“The angel swung his sickle on the earth, gathered its grapes and threw
them into the great winepress of God’s wrath. They were trampled in the
winepress outside the city, and blood flowed out of the press, rising as high
as the horses’ bridles for a distance of 1,600 stadia (Re. 14:19-20).”
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