With the conclusion of the bowl judgments we’re right at the end of the Great Tribulation. Now we’ll back up a little and get the detail on Babylon’s Destruction. Remember the verse from Rev. 16:19? God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Well, chapters 17-18 will give us the blow-by-blow. Almost since the beginning of time, the story of man on Earth has been the Tale of Two Cities, Babylon the city of man, and Jerusalem the City of God. It’s no coincidence that the final days of the Age of Man are taken up with a battle involving these two cities.

Revelation 17
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute, who sits on many waters. With her the kings of the earth committed adultery and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries.”

Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead:
MYSTERY

BABYLON THE GREAT

THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES

AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.

I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished. (Rev 17:1-6)

As I said in our last segment, there are three facets to the Babylonian world system that have enslaved men through the Ages.  They are religious, commercial, and governmental in nature.  We’ll deal with the religious first, characterized here by the woman.

A woman, identified as mystery Babylon, the mother of prostitutes, will be riding a beast.  The rider always controls the animal, and the third mention of seven heads and ten horns indicates that this is the same beast that came out of the water in Rev. 13, the one empowered by Satan, the dragon from Rev. 12.  This tells us that the anti-Christ will initially derive his power through his association with religion.

The woman and the beast are not the same, but for a time will appear to be in league with each other. The woman, being the rider, will actually be the dominant partner at first.  But as Rev. 17:16 tells us, the anti-Christ and his associates will actually hate the woman, and acting on God’s orders will destroy her. More about that later.

Having fought for most of the past century to divest himself of his relationship with the one true God, man will embrace this false religion.  Speaking of the anti-Christ and his false religion, Jesus said, “I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him (John 5:43).

The Woman is called mystery Babylon because she’s not in Babylon, as we’ll soon see. But the Babylonian religion is literally the mother of all the cults and mythologies that have been set up in opposition to the Gospel.

Briefly, back in the time of Genesis 10, when Nimrod founded Babylon, his wife Semeramis sowed the first seeds of false religion by claiming that her son Tammuz was the supernatural offspring of the Sun God, counterfeiting the promise first disclosed in the Garden that the seed of the woman would redeem mankind.

According to tradition, when Tammuz was killed in a hunting accident, she went into 40 days of mourning. Near the end of this time she burned a yule log (yule means child in the Babylonian language) as the Sun slowly died. After the longest night of the year, the winter Solstice, Tammuz came back to life in the world’s first counterfeit resurrection.

In joy, she decorated an evergreen tree, a symbol of life, and passed out pastries with her son’s initial on top to commemorate the event. Today we call these pastries hot cross buns, since the Babylonian “T” looks like our “X”.  As if to validate this celebration, the sun began coming back to life as well.

She memorialized the 40 days of mourning (which we now call Lent) by forming a celibate priesthood to lead the people in the worship of her risen son. She declared the high priest to be infallible and herself to be the Queen of Heaven.

Every mythology from that time forward has carried elements of this story. In the Egyptian version she was known as Isis, in neo-Babylon as Ashteroth or Ishtar, in Canaan as Astarte, in Greece as Aphrodite and in Rome as Venus. She’s variously called the goddess of love and fertility. Her main objective has always been to usurp God’s role as the sole Giver and Sustainer of Life.  (Some traditions hold that far from being the Virgin of the Sea, as she once called herself, Semiramis was the madam of a brothel when she first met Nimrod. If so, she really was the “mother of prostitutes”.)

Then the angel said to me: “Why are you astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides, which has the seven heads and ten horns. The beast, which you saw, once was, now is not, and will come up out of the Abyss and go to his destruction. The inhabitants of the earth whose names have not been written in the book of life from the creation of the world will be astonished when they see the beast, because he once was, now is not, and yet will come. (Rev. 17:7-8)

The inhabitants of the Earth will be astonished to see the Beast because he was once, now is not, and yet will come. The Greek word translated astonished here means to marvel at, or hold in admiration.

Some believe that the phrase once was, now is not, and yet will come means that the anti-Christ will be a figure from the past, someone who had lived before John’s time, was dead when John wrote the book of Revelation, but will come back at the End of the Age as the anti-Christ. The most popular candidates are Antiochus Epiphanes who died in 163BC, the Roman Emperor Nero who died in 68 AD, and Judas Iscariot who died in 32AD. Antiochus Epiphanes and Nero are two of the most specific historical models of the anti-Christ, and Jesus called Judas the son of perdition (John 17:12) the same title by which Paul referred to the anti-Christ (2 Thes. 2:3)

“This calls for a mind with wisdom. The seven heads are seven hills on which the woman sits. They are also seven kings. Five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come; but when he does come, he must remain for a little while. The beast who once was, and now is not, is an eighth king. He belongs to the seven and is going to his destruction. (Rev 17:9-11)

The traditional view of this passage is that it refers to Rome, known around the world as the City on Seven Hills. But some believe this is not true to the Greek rendering of Rev. 17:9 which actually speaks of seven mountains.  The Greek word for hills is different and only appears twice in the New Testament, both in Luke’s gospel.  You can see the difference in Luke 23:30 where both oros, the word for mountain, and bounos, the word for hill, are used in the same sentence.  If John was using the word mountain  symbolically, they say, he would be speaking of governments not topographical elevations. This would have the woman seated atop seven governments.

But since the word for mountain is used in the illustration of the city on a hill (Matt. 5:14) and in describing the Mount of Olives (Matt. 26:30), others say the translation of Rev. 17:9 as seven hills is appropriate.  This is one of several points of contention between those who believe the End times world government will be a revival of the Biblical Roman Empire, and those who say it will be an Islamic Caliphate.  Caliphate proponents rightly claim that Rome never held all the territory of the Babylonian, Persian and Greek empires, but a previous Caliphate (the Ottoman Empire) did.  They also point out how hard it is to justify the two legs of the statue in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream (Daniel 2:31-43) as pointing to the eastern and western legs of the Roman Empire because the legs had their beginning in the Greek Empire (belly and thighs of bronze) that preceded it, and the two divisions of Rome only existed together for a short time.  Therefore, they say notion that the feet and toes must be an extension of Rome is similarly suspect.

At the time of John’s writing, history had noted the passing of five kings, representing Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Persia, and Greece. The king ruling in John’s day was the Roman Emperor.  Everyone agrees on that.  But depending on your point of view, the one that had not yet come in John’s time could either be head of a revived Rome or the Islamic Caliphate.

Rev. 17:11 makes it clear that the beast (anti-Christ) is a king and not a kingdom.  We know this because the Greek word for king is in the masculine gender, while kingdom is a feminine word.  John has just said the seven heads are seven kings.  This eighth king is not specifically identified with any of the seven, but in his goals and ambitions he will be like all of them. This could be a hint that the anti-Christ will not have previously held a leadership position in world government, and may even come from outside the world’s political structure.

“The ten horns you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but who for one hour will receive authority as kings along with the beast. They have one purpose and will give their power and authority to the beast. They will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.” (Rev. 17:12-14)

The 10 horns represent those who will assume leadership of the world’s government under the headship of the anti-Christ, eventually massing all the armies of man to oppose the return of the Lord with His Church. The three words used to describe the Lord’s followers (called, chosen, and faithful) are always and only used of the Church.  That means He’s coming with us, not for us.

Then the angel said to me, “The waters you saw, where the prostitute sits, are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages. The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin and leave her naked; they will eat her flesh and burn her with fire. For God has put it into their hearts to accomplish his purpose by agreeing to give the beast their power to rule, until God’s words are fulfilled. The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” (Rev 17:15-18)

This is the destruction of religious Babylon foretold in Rev. 14:8. Although the anti-Christ will come to power through the influence of  the Babylonian religion, this very religious system will become a barrier to his ultimate goal of being worshiped exclusively.  In 2 Thes. 2:4 Paul said he will exalt himself above everything that is called god or is worshiped.  And so he and his cohorts will turn on religious Babylon to destroy it. Notice that it’s God Who puts them up to this. For “one hour” (the time of the Great Tribulation) the Beast and his 10 kings get power over Earth just so they can destroy the “woman” who made their rule possible, thereby fulfilling God’s purpose to destroy the false religion that has done so much harm to His creation.

Revelation 18
At some point along the way, the headquarters of these three world systems will be consolidated in Babylon. Zechariah 5:5-11 speaks of a woman in a basket, representing the iniquity of the world, being carried from her current position to a place prepared for her on the plains of Shinar, a reference to Babylon’s location in modern day Iraq. Women with the wings of storks, unclean birds, lift the basket into the air and carry it there.

Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon had been conquered by the Persians nearly 100 years before Zechariah’s prophecy. Within 200 more years the Persians would lose it to Alexander who intended to dredge the Euphrates and make Babylon into a giant river port for ships from the Persian Gulf and points East. Alas, he died before he could start it. When one of Alexander’s successors built his dreamed of port in a natural harbor on the neighboring Tigris River and named it Bagdhad, Babylon dwindled to a town of 10,000, it’s massive walls cannibalized for building blocks.

Current conditions in Iraq may just be leading us toward the fulfillment of the Bible’s prophecy to restore Babylon to a mighty city in preparation for its ultimate and complete destruction. No other city except Jerusalem is given as much mention in the Bible as Babylon, and in the 6 chapters devoted to its destruction (Isaiah 13-14, Jeremiah 50-51, and Rev. 17-18) it has never been so completely overcome as these passages require. In fact, one of the great surprises from the Gulf War was the vision of Babylon, having undergone a billion dollar reconstruction, sitting there tall and proud on the banks of the Euphrates.

As tempting as it is to read these passages figuratively and see them as representing New York or some other city, and as much as we can all agree that such punishment is certainly warranted for them, there’s simply no Biblical reason to do so. The plains of Shinar is a specific geographical location in Iraq, and after the center of pagan religion moved from Babylon to Pergamum during the time of the Greek Empire it never came back there as Zechariah’s prophecy requires.  And remember, we not just talking about religion here.  The Babylonian system includes government and commercial components as well.  This will be confirmed through out Rev. 18.  There’s no single city in the world today that houses the headquarters of all three.

After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted:

“Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great! She has become a home for demons and a haunt for every evil spirit, a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”

Then I heard another voice from heaven say:

“Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues; for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes. Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Mix her a double portion from her own cup. Give her as much torture and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself.

In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit as queen; I am not a widow, and I will never mourn.’ Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

“When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry:

” ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, O Babylon, city of power! In one hour your doom has come!’ (Rev. 18:1-10)

The Babylonian religion was destroyed in Rev. 17. Now Babylon itself will be reduced to ruins, burned in the fire of righteous judgment, a haunt for demons. World leaders who have enriched themselves through this corrupt system will weep and mourn in terror.  The governmental systems from which they’ve gained their unjust wealth at the expense of their subjects is no more. Next comes the commercial component.

“The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more— cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.

“They will say, ‘The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.’ The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn and cry out:

” ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet, and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls! In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!’

“Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, ‘Was there ever a city like this great city?’ They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out:

” ‘Woe! Woe, O great city, where all who had ships on the sea became rich through her wealth! In one hour she has been brought to ruin! Rejoice over her, O heaven! Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets! God has judged her for the way she treated you.’ “

We could devote much time to a discussion on the details of Babylon’s destruction, but a quick review of Isaiah 13-14 and Jeremiah 50-51 will make it obvious that never in history has this evil city and all it represents been so totally brought down. And even if the city itself had been dashed to the ground and its refuse dumped into the sea, the systems created there have certainly survived to this day.

What I’d like us to focus on here is the insidious nature of the world’s commercial system and how it’s enslaved mankind to an extent that actually surpasses the religious oppression we’ve discussed because by its nature, it closes the door to God’s truth. Consider these words from the Lord in His Kingdom Parables.

The one who received the seed that fell among the thorns is the man who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful. (Matt. 13:22)

From my studies, I’ve concluded that with the rise of the anti-Christ the world’s religious, political and economic systems will all be consolidated under one authority, and this authority will be headquartered in Babylon. It will be the Vatican, Mecca, the UN, the stock and commodities markets and the monetary exchanges of the world all rolled up into one.

Today many of us don’t realize the extent to which we’ve become enslaved. It isn’t until you opt out of the system that you begin to realize the hold it’s had on you. His American audiences used to roar in laughter when Charles “Tremendous” Jones, one of my favorite humorists accused them of “spending money we don’t have, to buy things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like.” The accusation was all too true, but it seems like all we can do about it is laugh at ourselves.

The secret to success was once identified as the ability to find a need and fill it. Now the advertising industry promises, “Bring us a product, and we’ll create the need for it.” Promotional costs can add 30-50% to the price of the things we buy, and yet we willingly pay the premium, because we’ve been convinced that we need what the advertisers are selling.  And then we have to add in the cost of financing our purchases because we don’t really have the income to support the lifestyle we’ve been manipulated into. So we borrow from the future to pay for the present.

Also, each year a cost of government day is calculated to show how much of the average person’s income goes to support our various levels of Government.  In 2012 that day came on July 15 for US citizens. It means every dollar that we earned from January 1 to July 15 was required to pay the various taxes levied against us by our government. For most, the hidden costs of promotion and credit will more than consume the rest.

So it should come as no surprise that for years Americans have spent up to 125% of their annual incomes, accumulating trillions of dollars in consumer debt just to appear more successful than reality would permit because the advertising industry makes it sound like the right thing to do, and because our government requires so much of us. And we think we’re free.

Similar statistics can be cited for much of the so-called developed world, though they’re often obscured by the ridiculous promise of their governments to take care of them. (Don’t they realize that governments don’t produce wealth, but consume it?) For the rest, wages counted in pennies keeps people in a state of poverty you can actually feel, while those who pay them often enjoy lives of obscene luxury.

So whether he thinks he’s rich or knows he’s poor, the average human being is economically enslaved for life. As much as God hates false religion, He hates the economic enslavement of His people no less. And so when it comes time to visit His vengeance on those responsible, there’s no holding back. Cries of excessive force and improper lack of restraint will fall on deaf ears this time. Commercial Babylon and its worldwide system of enslavement will oppress mankind no more, and those who’ve been enriched by it will lament its loss.

Then a mighty angel picked up a boulder the size of a large millstone and threw it into the sea, and said:

“With such violence the great city of Babylon will be thrown down, never to be found again. The music of harpists and musicians, flute players and trumpeters, will never be heard in you again. No workman of any trade will ever be found in you again. The sound of a millstone will never be heard in you again. The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world’s great men. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray. In her was found the blood of prophets and of the saints, and of all who have been killed on the earth.” (Rev. 18:11-24)

Everyone of Earth’s current evils had its origin in Babylon, and finally the utter and permanent destruction man’s religious, governmental and commercial systems has come.  Next time we’ll see what God has ordained to replace them as the fifth kingdom of Daniel 2 arrives.  And this one will never be destroyed or left to another, but will endue forever (Daniel 2:44).  See you then.

The time of the Bowl Judgments is upon us. The full fury of God’s Wrath, begun in chapter 6, is coming. It’s been building in stages to give all those who will, the opportunity to seek and find Him before it’s too late. But now the climax is at hand. Upon the completion of the Bowl Judgments, God’s righteous requirement for judgment upon those who have rejected His earnest and unceasing pleas for reconciliation will have been satisfied. At long last Planet Earth will be ready to receive Her King, and enjoy the peace He alone can bring.

Revelation 15
I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God’s wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb:

“Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages. Who will not fear you, O Lord, and bring glory to your name? For you alone are holy. All nations will come and worship before you, for your righteous acts have been revealed.” (Rev. 15:1-4)

What I’ve said before bears repeating. God’s wrath doesn’t begin here. It began with the seal judgments as indicated by Rev. 6:17 and will end with the coming  bowl judgments of Rev. 16.

Jews and Gentiles who’ve been martyred for refusing the mark of the beast begin showing up in heaven.  They’re the ones who will be reunited with physical bodies in Rev. 20:4.  Just like the multitude from Rev. 7 who serve in God’s Temple but are never called priests, these martyrs will reign with Christ but are never called kings. Only the Church can be Kings and Priests.

The conformity of man’s will to God’s, so long resisted, will finally be achieved. Following the certain and total defeat of the anti-Christ and his allies, every knee in Heaven, on Earth, and under the Earth will bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.  (Phil. 2:10-11)

After this I looked and in heaven the temple, that is, the tabernacle of the Testimony, was opened. Out of the temple came the seven angels with the seven plagues. They were dressed in clean, shining linen and wore golden sashes around their chests. Then one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden bowls filled with the wrath of God, who lives for ever and ever. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power, and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed. (Rev. 15:5-8)

The fact that these angels are clothed in spotless linen means that the judgments are righteous. The Earth deserves every bit of what’s coming and it won’t be a pretty sight. The King of the Universe will shut Himself inside His temple to mourn the necessity for all this, and once again we’re shown that He’ll do nothing to either shorten the duration or lessen the impact of these final judgments. They’re going to run their course and no one can change that.

Revelation 16
The Seven Bowls of God’s Wrath
Then I heard a loud voice from the temple saying to the seven angels, “Go, pour out the seven bowls of God’s wrath on the earth.” The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land, and ugly and painful sores broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image. (Rev. 16:1-2)

Everyone was warned about the dire consequences that would attend taking the mark. (Rev. 14:9-12) But as usual where God’s word is concerned, lots of people ignored the warning. They have only themselves to blame for what’s happening to them.

The second angel poured out his bowl on the sea, and it turned into blood like that of a dead man, and every living thing in the sea died. (Rev. 16:3)

One third of the sea had been struck in the Trumpet judgments. Now the rest is contaminated.

The third angel poured out his bowl on the rivers and springs of water, and they became blood. Then I heard the angel in charge of the waters say:

“You are just in these judgments, you who are and who were, the Holy One, because you have so judged; for they have shed the blood of your saints and prophets, and you have given them blood to drink as they deserve.”

And I heard the altar respond:

“Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and just are your judgments.” (Rev 16:4-7)

And again the fresh water supply is also attacked. Partially poisoned earlier (Rev. 8:11), it now turns to blood like the sea.

For the second time, there’s no “is to come” in God’s name. But now the Name also indicates the plurality of the Trinity. (Some translations add the “is to come” phrase and some don’t.) Those under the altar cry out in support of these judgments. It’s their blood the angel in charge of the water is talking about.  They had asked the Lord how long they would have to wait until their blood was avenged, and now their wait is over. (Rev. 6:9-10)

The fourth angel poured out his bowl on the sun, and the sun was given power to scorch people with fire. They were seared by the intense heat and they cursed the name of God, who had control over these plagues, but they refused to repent and glorify him. (Rev. 16:8-9)

In the USA 2012 is the hottest summer on record so far. Thousands of high temperature records have been equaled or broken.  The number one cause of this is the increasing temperature of the Sun. Regardless of man’s pathetic effort to legislate a reversal of our changing climate, this trend will continue until the day when people will actually burst into flame if they’re directly exposed to its heat.

The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and his kingdom was plunged into darkness. Men gnawed their tongues in agony and cursed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, but they refused to repent of what they had done. (Rev. 16:10-11)

Now it’s getting personal. Having plunged the Earth into Spiritual darkness, the anti-Christ will now be treated to physical darkness, adding further discomfort to the sores and the burns. No lamp, no fire, not even the Sun will provide relief from darkness so thick you can almost feel it. Satan’s effort to turn the truth into a lie has been so effective that men curse God for their plight, hardening their hearts even further against repentance. Believing that God is their enemy and that Satan’s trying to save them, they resolve to stand firm in their loyalty to the anti-Christ.

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. Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are spirits of demons performing miraculous 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.(Rev. 16:12-14)

The Great Border between East and West will finally be removed and the coalition of victors from the Eastern Wars of Rev. 9:13-16, their minds stirred up by the evil spirits, will come rumbling toward the Middle East for the final showdown.

Before we go on, it’s time for a brief history lesson, courtesy of Daniel 11:40-45. When Alexander the Great died in 323 BC, the Greek Empire was divided up among his four generals. Cassander took the Eastern European territories around the Adriatic Sea. Seleucus took Turkey, Iraq and Syria. Lysimachus got the Eastern provinces stretching from Iran to India, and Ptolemy got Egypt.  Cassander is not mentioned in Daniel 11, and Seleucus later defeated his friend Lysimachus, acquiring Iran and the Eastern Empire in the process. The story throughout Daniel 11 is of the Kings of the North (the Seleucids) and the Kings of the South (the Pyolemys) fighting each other for control of the known world over a 150 year period. These are the Kings in view in Daniel 11:40-45.

Of course when Daniel wrote chapter 11 in about 539BC these men hadn’t even been born yet, and Alexander’s Kingdom was still 200 years away. But in an overwhelming demonstration of God’s knowledge of the future, there are 135 historically verified fulfilled prophecies in the first 35 verses of Daniel 11, all written from 200-400 years before the fact. That lends credibility to what He had Daniel write about the end times beginning in verse 36. But for now, we’ll focus on verses 40-45.

At the same time that the Kings of the East from Rev. 16:12 begin their march, another large force from the North begins mobilizing. Earlier, the King of the North, (mainly Iran, Iraq, Turkey and Syria) will  have joined up with the King of the South (Egypt) to oppose the anti-Christ’s move to control the Middle East, but he will overcome them. Only Jordan, the hiding place of the Jews, will remain unscathed. (Daniel 11:40-43) So this new threat from the north can’t be the already defeated King of the North.

Reports of the movement of this huge combat force from the East and North will greatly alarm the anti-Christ. What are they up to? Is this a Russian Chinese alliance that the world has long feared? Or is it going to be every man for himself?

Setting up his headquarters in Jerusalem the anti-Christ readies his troops to meet them in the last great battle for planet Earth. (Daniel 11:44-45) By some estimates, up to 400 million combatants will be involved before it’s all over. The blood from their slain forms the river that flows from Megiddo in central Israel all the way to Petra in Jordan, about 175 miles away. (Rev. 14:20)

“Behold, I come like a thief! Blessed is he who stays awake and keeps his clothes with him, so that he may not go naked and be shamefully exposed.”

Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon. (Rev. 16:15-16)

This warning is the second indication (the first was in Rev. 14:12-13) that Tribulation believers will be responsible for maintaining their own salvation, symbolized by keeping their clothes with them. It also confirms three statements in Matt. 24-25 that believers on Earth at the end of the Great Tribulation won’t know exactly when the Lord will return. (Matt, 24:42-44, Matt. 24:50 & Matt. 25:13)

If you’re familiar with the symbolic reference to clothing, you know what this verse means. If not, let’s review it. Isaiah 61:10 says, I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

Just as clothing provides physical covering, righteousness provides spiritual covering. At the first moment of belief God clothed the Church in His own righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21) and sealed the Holy Spirit within us guaranteeing our salvation (Ephes. 1:13-14).

But in the Book of Revelation, there’s no indication of the indwelling Spirit guaranteeing the security of Tribulation believers like He does during the Church age. As was the case with Old Testament saints, they have to stay awake and alert and look after their position before God constantly.  Here they are cautioned to stay alert and keep their righteousness intact because the time is very short and if they’re not careful they’ll be caught unawares.

The name Armageddon comes from the Hebrew phrase Har Megiddo, or Mt. Megiddo. It’s a place in central Israel at the western entrance to the Jezreel Valley. King Solomon had massive stables there, and Napoleon called this valley the most ideal battlefield on Earth. Here it’s used as the staging area for the troops amassed against Jerusalem.  It’s the only place on Earth God has claimed for Himself (2 Chron. 6:5-6), so naturally the forces opposed to Him want it for themselves.

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 man 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 of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible. (Rev 16:17-21)

This passage defies description. God has given Planet Earth His most severe judgment ever. Any more and the planet would literally cease to exist.

Earthquakes level every city. Babylon, God’s ancient enemy, is singled out for special treatment that we’ll tackle next time. The entire Earth is being re-formed in this final cycle of judgment, partly to eradicate every trace of man’s evil intentions, and partly to complete its restoration in preparation for the Kingdom Age (Acts 3:21).

The Biblical penalty for blasphemy is death by stoning. (Lev. 24:10-16) The anti-Christ and the people of Earth have been blaspheming the Name of God since the beginning. Now comes the penalty phase. 100 pound balls of ice come crashing down out of the sky causing unparalleled devastation.  God is stoning the people of Earth for their blasphemy. And still they curse Him.

Next time, we’ll cover the destruction of the three powerful forces that make up Babylon the Great, and that have oppressed and enslaved mankind through out most of his history. They are religious, commercial, and governmental in nature and each is treated to a special measure of God’s wrath. See you then.