Epilogue
Today we see the nations of the world starting to gather again in the Middle-East. It may well be in our lifetime that we will see the armies of the nations gather on the plains of Megiddo at a place called Armageddon for their final onslaught on the city of Jerusalem. This is the army that the Apostle John saw in his vision in the book of Revelation.
John writes; “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river, the Euphrates; and its water was dried up, so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs; for they are spirits of demons, performing signs, which go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (“Behold, I am coming like a thief. Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes, so that he will not walk about naked and men will not see his shame.”) And they gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon (Armageddon).” (Revelation 16:12-16) Now in these verses of scripture we see several things…
The River Euphrates has dried up.
This is happening now in the Middle-east as water for crops will become scarce causing wide-spread famine. Many Middle-Eastern countries rely upon the River Euphrates for their crops. Once there is no water there is no bread and this may well be the catalyst for a war itself in the Middle-East. This is the rider on the black horse of famine starting his last ride across the pages of this current age.
The Kings of the East will cross this river.
Some say this is China yet others an Islamic army, however, it is a satanically inspired army and its destination is Jerusalem. This army may well travel down the ancient trade route called the Silk Road which starts in China, crosses the Euphrates River and ends in Israel. Satan wants to destroy Jerusalem because he knows that the promise of Jesus’ Second Coming depend on God’s promises to Israel. Of course Satan will not succeed. It would also seem that there is a satanic trinity involved. It will be Satan empowering the two beast empires of revelation chapter thirteen which together identify the last beast empire.
Faithfulness required on the part of the saints.
In the middle of this impending war to end all wars the Lord Jesus calls on His followers to stay alert spiritually and to keep their garments of Salvation on as apostasy will be rampant in the Church. Those who stay faithful at this time will be blessed by the Lord Jesus. Only those with the oil of the Holy Spirit in the lamp of their spirits will be able to see in the darkness and be ready for the Bridegrooms return!
“200 million, I heard their number!”
This army John saw will have so much firepower at its disposal that its weaponry will kill a third of mankind. John writes; “Then the sixth angel sounded, and I heard a voice from the four horns of the golden altar which is before God, one saying to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, “Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates.” And the four angels, who had been prepared for the hour and day and month and year, were released, so that they would kill a third of mankind. The number of the armies of the horsemen was two hundred million; I heard the number of them.
And this is how I saw in the vision the horses and those who sat on them: the riders had breastplates the colour of fire and of hyacinth and of brimstone; and the heads of the horses are like the heads of lions; and out of their mouths proceed fire and smoke and brimstone.
A third of mankind was killed by these three plagues, by the fire and the smoke and the brimstone which proceeded out of their mouths. For the power of the horses is in their mouths and in their tails; for their tails are like serpents and have heads, and with them they do harm. The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, so as not to worship demons, and the idols of gold and of silver and of brass and of stone and of wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk; and they did not repent of their murders nor of their sorceries nor of their immorality nor of their thefts.” (Revelation 9:13-21) This is the same army John sees in his vision in Revelation Chapter sixteen.
They are seen at the Euphrates River and will kill a third of mankind.
This connects this same army to the army in Revelation chapter nine. It is the one and the same army. They will kill a third of mankind with their firepower. When you look at the nuclear arsenal today and the flashpoint in the Middle-East you have the prime recipe for an all-out nuclear war! Once Iran goes nuclear they will use their power. Some time ago the Iranian regime released two propaganda video clips on the internet clearly showing their intent to destroy Israel and Saudi Arabia with very powerful missiles.
200 million!
The ‘horseman’ number 200 million. Today an army from China or Islam could field this number of soldiers. Most probably this is the Islamic army headed by the Antichrist accompanied by many other nations. Once again their ultimate destiny is Jerusalem. These ‘horses’ they ride it would seem does not describe literal horses but modern armoured tanks with machine guns and mobile missile launchers and they are like the locusts that cover a vast land mass that destroy everything in their path.
They are part of God’s wrath
They are part of God’s wrath. His wrath will be for a world that has rejected the Lord Jesus the Messiah and His salvation yet people still refuse to repent! The things they persist in are conspicuous features in the world today. John lists them; Idolatry and the worship of demons, materialism, violence and murder, the occult, widespread immorality and theft. This then is the same army mentioned in Revelation Chapter sixteen.
The situation in the Middle-east today
Turkey and Russia may well be heading towards a ‘face-off’ at some time in the future. Historically there have been a considerable number of wars between Turkey and Russia and history has a way of repeating itself. Iran is now threating to destroy Saudi Arabia. Several years ago Russia had planned on sending 150.000 troops into Syria to support Iran. Russia has been known for supplying weapons to Hezbollah. The Obama Administration brokered a nuclear agreement with Iran clearly showing his indifference to Israel’s security in the region. President Trump has put a stop to these previous traitorous activities aligned with Iran by Obama and his henchmen from hell. Millions of dollars for weaponry were sent by the Obama Administration to the so called Syrian Freedom Fighters but ended up in the hands of ISIS. Even the UN in the past has been called upon to send troops into Syria.
Turkey and Iran
Erdogan of Turkey is set on bringing about the rebirth of the Turkish Ottoman Empire with himself as the Supreme Caliph of Islam. The whole Muslim world is crying out for the Mahdi of Islam! The Middle-East Quartet consisting of Russia, America, the United Nations and the European Union with their ‘two-state’ solution from hell once again want to pursue their agenda to divide up the Land of Israel. President Trump is a friend of Israel but will this stop the quartet’s plans? President Trump has made good on his promise to Israel to relocate the US Embassy to Jerusalem.
Added to this the current Trump administration has put the brakes on dealing with Iran and has scrapped the Iranian Nuclear Deal. Now with Biden on the scene if he is inagurated as President where will it all end? It will end with Armageddon that’s where it will end! The final event will be the Second Coming of our Lord Jesus the Messiah! Israel will ultimately be blamed for all of the world’s trouble and the largest army ever fielded in history will advance like locusts across the mountains and plains of Israel determined to destroy Jerusalem. The prophet Joel saw this in His vision from the LORD!
The war against the Lamb
This last great battle for Jerusalem will not be nation against nation or kingdom against kingdom but against the Lord Jesus the Messiah Himself. This vast army of 200 million will most probably be an Islamic federation of 10 Muslim states or countries that will follow the Turkish Empire of the Antichrist. They will go to war with the Lord Jesus Christ.
John also saw this in his vision. He writes; “The ten horns which you saw are ten kings who have not yet received a kingdom, but they receive authority as kings with the beast for one hour. These have one purpose, and they give their power and authority to the beast. These will wage war against the Lamb, and the Lamb will overcome them, because He is Lord of lords and King of kings, and those who are with Him are the called and chosen and faithful.” (Revelation 17:12-14)
The war against Jerusalem and the nation of Israel will be in reality a war against God and His Son our Lord Jesus the Messiah and against the saints. However, the LORD will have the last laugh!
Why do the nations rage?
The Psalmist wrote; “Why are the nations in an uproar And the peoples devising a vain thing? The kings of the earth take their stand And the rulers take counsel together Against the Lord and against His Anointed, saying, “Let us tear their fetters apart And cast away their cords from us!”
He who sits in the heavens laughs, The Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger And terrify them in His fury, saying, “But as for Me, I have installed My King Upon Zion, My holy mountain.” “I will surely tell of the decree of the Lord: He said to Me, ‘You are My Son,
Today I have begotten You. ‘Ask of Me, and I will surely give the nations as Your inheritance, And the very ends of the earth as Your possession. ‘You shall break them with a rod of iron, You shall shatter them like earthenware.’”
Now therefore, O kings, show discernment; Take warning, O judges of the earth. Worship the Lord with reverence And rejoice with trembling. Do homage to the Son, that He not become angry, and you perish in the way, For His wrath may soon be kindled. How blessed are all who take refuge in Him! “(Psalm 2)
“Let them Roar!”
Isaiah the prophet also cries out; “Alas, the uproar of many peoples Who roar like the roaring of the seas, And the rumbling of nations Who rush on like the rumbling of mighty waters! The nations rumble on like the rumbling of many waters, But He will rebuke them and they will flee far away, And be chased like chaff in the mountains before the wind, Or like whirling dust before a gale. At evening time, behold, there is terror! Before morning they are no more. Such will be the portion of those who plunder us And the lot of those who pillage us.” (Isaiah 17:12-14).
The Battle for Jerusalem.
There have been many battles for the city of Jerusalem throughout its long and troubled history. Satan has always wanted to destroy the Jewish people because, through the seed of a teenage Israeli woman, God brought forth our Lord Jesus, the Saviour of the world and the Messiah of Israel. Satan also hates women because of the virgin birth of the Lord Jesus. Islam is a prime example of this hate where women have no recognition or place in its ideology.
God’s promises to restore Israel spiritually and nationally is tied in to the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus the Messiah who is destined to physically reign on David’s throne at Jerusalem. Satan thinks that if he can destroy Israel then he will have destroyed God’s prophetic purposes and stop Jesus’ Second Coming. He will never succeed of course. His agent the Antichrist will meet his demise in Israel.
An everlasting kingdom
The prophet Daniel spoke about this when he wrote; “He (the Antichrist) will speak out against the Most High and wear down the saints of the Highest One, (faithful Jews and Christians) and he will intend to make alterations in times and in law; and they will be given into his hand for a time, times, and half a time (three and a half years). But the court (of God) will sit for judgment, and his dominion will be taken away, annihilated and destroyed (on the mountains of Israel) forever. Then the sovereignty, the dominion and the greatness of all the kingdoms under the whole heaven will be given to the people of the saints of the Highest One; His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all the dominions will serve and obey Him” (Daniel 7:25-28).
The Antichrist will invade Israel and there in Israel he will die! As Daniel also writes: “He (the Antichrist) will pitch the tents of his royal pavilion between the seas and the beautiful Holy Mountain; yet he will come to his end, and no one will help him.” (Daniel 11:45) Satan had his first defeat at Jerusalem and he will have his last one there as well!
A possible scenario!
Reading Psalm 83, although it is not set within a specific time frame, seems to describe a future local war that Israel will have with their immediate Islamic neighbours. It would seem that it is more than just a Hebrew prayer for the peace of Jerusalem and Israel as a nation. Israel is no stranger to local warfare
In 1948 Israel was attacked by the Arabs and defeated them. Then in 1967 Israel once again defeated their immediate Islamic neighbours in the six-day war. Then in 1973 they defeated Egyptian forces and Arab forces in the Yom Kippur war.
In Psalm 83 they are attacked again by their immediate Islamic neighbours. The ‘Palestinians’ will be among those attacking Israel. In this future local war, if it happens, Israel will defeat the forces of Islam temporarily and the beast empire of Islam will retreat for a time to lick its wounds.
During this war Israel will once again retake Gaza and destroy Hamas and Hezbollah and possibly ISIS if they are still around and consequently Israel will repossess most of the land of Israel. This will not be the Ezekiel 38 invasion that will see the armies of the nations surrounding Jerusalem as this will involve major Islamic nations along with many nations accompanying them.
The Psalm 83 war will bring Israel into prominence and the nations of the world for a time will broker some kind of peace deal. Israel will recommence trade with the nations. When Israel dwells as a land restored from war, without gates or bars and dwelling securely (a self-confident security, a false peace also called a covenant with death) the major offensive will happen. (Ezekiel 38-39) (Joel 3) (Zechariah 12 & 14). Possibly we see this starting to form in the current Arab nations seeking to normalise their relationship with Israel. The time will come when suddenly and without any prior warning Israel will be attacked by Turkey, Iran, Ethiopia, Sudan, Libya Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan. Afghanistan and pakistan could also be part of this territory. All of these Islamic nations are dominated by Islam Add to these the “many nations” also mentioned in Ezekiel 38 and you could easily have 200 million soldiers in the field.
Israel will be decimated to the point where they will look only to the LORD and He will then deliver them out of the Time of Jacob’s Trouble. (Jeremiah 30:1-7). This may well happen in the very near future if there is a sudden migration of Jews back to Israel due to rabid antisemitism as there are still many Jews living in the nations. Already anti-semitism is rearing its ugly head throughout Europe and in America. The Jews must be back in Israel before the Lord Jesus comes back. However the gathering of the nations once again in the Middle-East is setting the scene for the final invasion of Israel and their decimation but also the deliverance of Jerusalem. The last Great War to end all wars will be fought over the City of Jerusalem. The nations may rage against the LORD and His Anointed One our Lord Jesus Christ but in the end the Rider on the White Horse wins! This is an event you can place your bets on and will not lose!
“Man proposes but God disposes!”
(Zechariah 12:1-5) “The burden of the word of the Lord concerning Israel. Thus declares the Lord who stretches out the heavens, lays the foundation of the earth, and forms the spirit of man within him, “Behold, I am going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around; and when the siege is against Jerusalem, it will also be against Judah.
It will come about in that day that I will make Jerusalem a heavy stone for all the peoples; all who lift it will be severely injured (ripped or torn). And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it. In that day,” declares the Lord, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness.
But I will watch over the house of Judah, while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness. Then the clans of Judah will say in their hearts, ‘A strong support for us are the inhabitants of Jerusalem through the Lord of hosts, their God.’”
