Victorious at the Battle of Armegeddon

Hello Church Family:  Does the thought of Armageddon strike fear in your hearts and minds?  Well, it really is not supposed to to do that.  But thanks to the world and Hollywood they have made Armegedon something that has nothing to do with Jesus’ clear teaching.  There have been over 350 feature-length apocalyptic films produced since 1955.  And then added to the endless movies we have environmentalists that say that global warming will bring an end to the world (in about 20 years).  Astronomers say a huge meteorite will bring our demise.  Some believe that the computers and robots that we have been producing to make our lives easier will turn on us and rise up to destroy humanity.  Many believe that aliens from another planet will come and harvest humans for consumption and at the same time destroy our planet with a death star tractor-beam.  And then you have the popular zombie-apocalypse bringing an end to all things as we know it.  The list of apocalyptic theories are endless and actually very big business for all involved in making them.  But what does the Bible say?

The Bible clearly says, God will bring all things to His purposed end.  God declares that He is in control of how the story of redemption ends.  To communicate this truth Jesus paints another metaphorical picture for John and us through the final sixth and seventh bowl of wrath to be poured out on earth (Revelation 16:12-18).  This picture is one of a great battle that will end all battles.  We have come to know this battle as the Battle of Harmegeddon (i.e. Armegeddon) in Revelation 16:12-18.
 
We are actually given a detailed glimpse of how God will end all things through the zoomed in explanation of Armageddon in Revelation 17-18.  We are told that the the degodded, anti-Christ, socio-economic-religious world system will do battle with itself, destroying itself.  The Dragon, the Beast and the False Prophet will do what they do best, they will deceive and destroy the entire world system that they are empowering.  Yes, the evil world system will implode on itself.  We can already see this happening as our secular nation has taken away Biblical truth and authority.  There is nothing to keep us centered.  Moral relativism runs rampant and sin abounds.  We start to call good evil and evil good.  Satan will take this deception to its ultimate end bringing complete destruction of the world system.  We are told that all of this work is actually “God putting it into their hearts to carry out His purpose.”   God’s purposes will prevail and His followers will be victorious in this battle!

Jesus communicates to us clearly how to endure this spiritual battle called Armegeddon.  He says, “stay awake, keeping on your garments so that you may not be naked and exposed.”  Well there it is, that is it!  That is how you are victorious in the Battle of Armegeddon.  We are called to be spiritually vigilant so that we will not be caught unprepared on that great day.  This is another metaphorical picture telling followers of Jesus to stay spiritually awake and alert, clothed in the righteous garments of Christ.  The image of physical nakedness is a symbol of spiritual shame brought on by idolatry (Revelation 3:18; 17:16).  We are victorious at Armegeddon when we don’t listen to the false media, philosophies and world system who would have you believe that Christ will not return.  We are more than conquers when we are steadfast against the deceptive lies of the world telling us to make all the things of this de-Godded world system acceptable and normal and all the teachings of Jesus Christ strange, ignorant and hateful.  Once again, there is no reason to fear Armegedon, it is a beautiful teaching that shows that we are more than conquerors in Christ!  No matter what may come… aliens, zombies, meteors, global warming, WWIV, etc.  God’s purposes will absolutely win all the time.  Live victoriously!

Revelation 16:15 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!

Prayerfully,  Steve