(Disclaimer: This transcript is auto-generated and may contain mistakes.)

All right this evening we start with chapter 19 of the book of Revelation and of course we went over chapter 17 and 18 a couple weeks ago. You Do I have to repeat everything I just said? All right well I'm just joking. It was on mute. You guys heard me but YouTube did not hear me so they just seemed to be like. So anyways what was I saying here? True and righteous are his judgments. Now what do we see in chapter 18? We see the decimation of Babylon and God destroys it in one hour right and here he says true and righteous are his judgments. Was it wrong for God to destroy Babylon? Was it wicked for him to do that? Was it unrighteous? Was it unjust? Absolutely not. True and righteous was that judgment that he laid upon that nation and it says for he has wrought judgment excuse me for he had judged the great whore which did corrupt the earth with her fornication and hath avenged the blood of his servants at her hand. So how did God show his people that he loved them? By judging the unrighteous people right. More specifically Babylon he says and again they said hallelujah and her smoke rose up forever and ever and the four and twenty elders and the four beasts fell down worshiped God that sat on the throne saying amen hallelujah. Now what does hallelujah mean? It means praise God. So throughout this we see praise God that Babylon was destroyed. Praise God that God avenged you know the blood of his saints upon this wicked nation hallelujah praise God. It says and a voice came out of the throne saying praise our God all ye servants and ye that fear him both small and great. Why are they praising him? Because they were finally avenged right of the wicked deeds of those who hated them and hated the Lord. Says and I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude and as the voice of many waters and as the voice of mighty thundering saying hallelujah for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Now this mass destruction of Babylon really is the event that rolls out the red carpet so to speak. It's one of the last wars that the world will ever see. It's one of the most exciting wars actually and this is known as the battle of Armageddon. That's basically what chapter 9 is about okay. The final war between Jesus Christ and the anti-Christ you know his false prophet and his army the new world order versus God's order right and this is known as the battle of Armageddon. We caught a glimpse of this declaration of this war back in chapter 16 you don't have to turn there. It says in Revelation 16 verse 15 behold I come as a thief blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see a shame. And he gathered them together into one place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. Now we've seen a literal foreshadowing of this throughout the Old Testament okay. This is a pretty big event. Why is the battle of Armageddon so important in the Bible? Why is such a big emphasis placed on it? Well because of the fact that this is the time when Jesus Christ comes to establish his millennial reign. If you remember when he came the first time this is what his disciples thought he was going to do right. That he was going to establish his reign, his kingdom, that he was going to overthrow the government, that he was just going to rule and reign at that moment. Many people sought to make him a king at his first coming but that wasn't his plan. His plan was to come to seek and to save that which is lost to pay for the sins of the world to be a propitiation for all men right. But we know that at his second coming was the rapture this would be considered his third coming when he actually comes and establishes his millennial reign. Very very important okay. Now when we think of Armageddon we automatically associate Jesus Christ coming to basically wipe out all his enemies right and establish that earthly reign. And the reason I say this is a foreshadow excuse me the reason I say that the foreshadowing of this is throughout the Bible is because we see this in Psalm chapter 2. We see this in the book of Joshua, the book of Judges. We see this in Jeremiah chapter number 6. Now go to Jeremiah chapter 6 if you would, Jeremiah chapter 6 or should I say we see this trying to be accomplished throughout the Bible okay. Now what is exactly that God is trying to do well let me read to you from Psalm 2 verse 1 it says, Why do the heat enrage and the people imagine a vain thing? The kings of the earth set themselves and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord and against his anointed saying, Let us break their bands asunder and cast away their courts from us. Now I don't know if this is what literally they're going to say in the end times but this is basically the attitude that the antichrist in this army is going to have against God right. Somehow he's going to send such a strong delusion or have such a strong delusion upon the people he's going to deceive them to the very point that he can convince a great army to think that they could actually fight against God and win. So he sets his battle in array against Jesus Christ and he's saying, Let us break their bands asunder, cast away their courts from us. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. Think about that because it's funny right. It's like God's looking down and he's like, You really think you're going to beat me? This is funny. You're going to go, you're going against God. You can have all the tank, all the military, the best weapons, the best tanks, the best missiles and none of them are in comparison to God's power. You can't fight against God. So you wonder like why is God laughing? Because it's funny. It's childish. It's like an ant going against a human being, no match. It doesn't matter if, you know, it's like a, I was going to say a hundred ants but maybe a hundred ants, you know, could probably do some damage. It's more minuscule than that, you know. He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. By the way, God has a sense of humor. When someone asks you, Does God have a sense of humor? You say yes and point them to Psalm chapter two, you know, people will get mad when we laugh at certain things. It's just like you think I laugh at, you know, something inappropriate that you would deem inappropriate. What about this? I'm not saying this is inappropriate. This is what the world would say is inappropriate, right? It says, He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh. The Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall he speak unto them in his wrath and vex them in his sore displeasure. Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree the Lord has sent unto me, thou art my son. This day have I begotten thee. Ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance. Isn't that what's going to take place in the millennial reign? He's coming to establish his millennial reign and he's taking the heathen for his inheritance. And the uttermost parts of the earth for that possession. Thou shall break them, look what it says, with a rod of iron. Which is exactly what Jesus Christ is coming to do. He's ruling with a rod of iron. Thou shall break them with a rod of iron. Thou shall dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Does this look like he's taking a vote? Like all right, let's hold a campaign and election, you know, and let's just see if the world wants me to be their king. He's coming with the, he's coming, he's coming as a dictator. People may not like that, but it's true. He's coming to dash them in pieces like a potter's vessel. Dash who in pieces? Those who don't want to subject themselves to him. Be wise now, therefore, all ye kings. He's like, you better think about whether you want to fight against God or not. He instructed you, judges of the earth, serve the Lord with fear and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the son, lest he be angry and ye perish from the way. What is he saying? When Jesus Christ comes to set up his millennial reign, don't make him mad. You better be on your best behavior. In fact, you better kiss him. Lest ye perish from the way, yet and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled, but a little. Oh, man. What does that mean? He's just like, don't even get him a little mad. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. What is he talking about? Safe people. Because we're on the, we're on the other side. You know, we shall not come into condemnation. We shall not fall under the wrath. We're delivered from that, you know. He's our lamb. He's their lion, okay. Now look at Jeremiah chapter 6. So I thought that was really, I love reading Psalm 2 in light of what we're looking at in Revelation chapter 19. Very powerful. Just to give you a glimpse of how his ruling is going to be. He's not going to come nicely. He's coming with a rod of iron. Now what is it that God has sought to do with his nation? Now obviously in the Old Testament, you had a physical nation that ruled, right, the nation of Israel that were his people. And what he sought to do with his nation is that there would be a light unto the world, that they would rid themselves of wicked people, okay. And throughout the generations that have existed in the nation of Israel in the Old Testament, you would have, you know, generations that would not serve the Lord. They would serve other false gods. They would serve idols and bow down themselves unto them. And they would kindle the wrath of God upon them. And this is why God's judgment would fall upon them, right. He would allow them to basically be carried away and be, be carried away to a different nation and to be carried away captive. We see that throughout the Bible. Look at Jeremiah 6 and verse 28, it says, they are all grievous revolters, referring to the nation of Israel, walking with slanders. They are a brass and iron, they're all corruptors. The bellows are burned, the lead is consumed of the fire, the founder melteth in vain, for the wicked are not plucked away. What is he saying? I'm judging the nation of Israel so that they would remove wicked people from their nation. The wicked leadership, these people who hate the Lord, who are serving false gods. You know, I'm trying to judge you and I'm sending fire to basically purify you to get rid of the impurities of the land. And he says there, but it's in vain because the wicked are not being plucked away. You're not getting rid of these people. You're still serving them. You're still allowing them into your land. Verse 30, reprobate silver, shall men call them because the Lord hath rejected them. So we see that even though God's judgment was poured upon the nation of Israel, he melted them, he sent fire upon them, he sent judgment upon them, they still were not willing to get rid of the wicked out of the land and therefore God said, you're reprobating silver. I'm rejecting you just completely. This generation failed, right? The Bible tells us in Proverbs chapter 25, take away the dross from the silver and there shall come forth a vessel for the finer. Take away the wicked from before the king and his kingdom can be established in righteousness. That is a principle that works all across the board for any king that ruled during that time. He's saying, look, you need to make sure you get rid of the wicked people out of the land so that your kingdom can be established in righteousness so that God can bless your land. But let me say this, this is a principle that is based upon what's going to take place in Revelation chapter 19, okay? Now go to Judges chapter number 1 if you will, Judges chapter 1. So we see examples of this. For example, you know, we have Solomon who when you read the story of Solomon, he came and he was wiping people out. He was taking out Shimei. He's taking out all these wicked people who were under the rule of David. And at the end, it tells us in 1 Kings 2, 46, so the king commanded Benaiah, the son of Jehoiada, which went out and fell upon him that he died and the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. So we see that what did he have to do in order to establish his authority? What did he have to do in order to establish his kingdom? He needed to get rid of all the wicked people. And it wasn't until he got rid of all the people who were doing wickedly, who God did not approve of, you know, it wasn't until then that his kingdom can now be established. That is a foreshadowing of what we see in Revelation chapter 19. Now the word Armageddon is basically, it says in the Hebrew word, but it's a New Testament rendition of the word Megiddo, which was a city that was frequently named in the Old Testament, okay? Now here's the significance of that. Look at Judges 1 verse 25. And when he showed them the entrance into the city, they smote the city with the edge of the sword, but they let go the man and all his family. And the man went into the land of the Hittites and built the city and called the name thereof Luz, which is the name thereof unto this day. Neither did Manasseh, Manasseh is one of the tribes of Israel, drive out the inhabitants of Bethsheand and her towns, nor Tanach and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Dorah and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Ibliam and her towns, nor the inhabitants of Megiddo and her towns, but the Canaanites would dwell in that land. And it came to pass when Israel was strong, that they put the Canaanites to tribute and did not utterly drive them out. So what do we see? God tells the children of Israel, go into Canaan land and wipe out all the inhabitants. Get rid of all these wicked people. What did Manasseh do? He didn't. They put them under tribute. They didn't wipe them all out. They didn't get rid of the wicked people of that land. And didn't they have problems because of that? So it's interesting that this city that we see here in the Old Testament is a rendition of what's known as Armageddon. Now I'm not saying that Armageddon is that literal location that we see in the Old Testament, but there is a significance to the fact that they're both, they both have that similar name because of the fact that in light of what we saw in Revelation chapter 19, comparison to Judges chapter 1, basically what this is showing us is that in Revelation 19, Jesus is going to execute what these people could not do. He's going to do what Israel could not for generations on end. In fact, he's going to do not only what they could not, but sometimes what they would not. He's going to do what Manasseh failed to do. He's going to do what Judah failed to do. He's going to do what Israel failed to do, and he's going to rid, not just the nation of Israel, he's going to rid the world of all the wicked inhabitants thereof. You can't send a boy to do a man's job, right? And look, there's some men in the Bible who did a good job purging out the land, but at the end of the day, nothing in comparison to Jesus Christ our Savior, who is as thorough as the day is long. And he's not going to put anybody to tribute, he's only, he's basically going to wipe out his enemies. And look, there's going to be people who go into the millennial reign who are not enemies of God. Okay? They're not enemies of God. They basically, they're not saved. Some of them are, but some of them are not. Those who are not, they have a choice whether they want to submit to the king, okay? And if they don't, there's consequences to that. So this is the parallel that we see here, is that what is Revelation 19? Revelation 19 is Jesus Christ fulfilling what all the tribes failed to do. When they failed to pluck away the wicked from before the king, when they failed to get rid of all of the inhabitants, when they failed to get rid of all the evil and idolatry and all the reprobates out of the land, Jesus Christ comes and he's going to do it perfectly. Okay? Go back to Revelation chapter 19. That is what Armageddon is all about. Armageddon is about Jesus Christ coming to take away the dross from the silver. He's going to be thorough. Verse 7 says, let us be glad and rejoice and give honor to him for the marriage of the lamb has come and his wife hath made herself ready and to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. This is referring to all believers. Okay? There's a weird doctrine out there that teaches, you know, this concept of Baptist writers. And they'll often say, you know, the only people who get to partake in the marriage supper of the lamb, you know, or the only one who gets to be the bride of Christ are those who were in a specific church that can basically trace their lineage all the way back to the first church that's found in the book of Acts or from the New Testament. It's like, it doesn't exist. You know, that's a weird doctrine. You can't find that in the Bible. This is referring to just all believers. And by the way, verse eight reinforces the fact that we're saved, not by works of righteousness, which we have done. Right? And in fact, the Bible tells us that, you know, our righteousness are as filthy racks. This is why it's important that we understand and the people understand is that we don't do good works to go to heaven. We don't keep God's laws to go to heaven. We don't repent of our sins to go to heaven. What do we have? What must we do to be saved? Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And He imputes His righteousness upon us. We can't get to heaven without the righteousness of Jesus Christ, only the righteousness of Jesus Christ. He hath made it to be sin who knew no sin that we might be made the righteousness of Christ, of God in Him, the Bible says, okay? You know? Yeah, but it says right there, pastor, and to her was granted, you know? Yeah, but it also says that Jesus Christ hath made us accepted in the beloved as well. Okay? It's only through Him. And so we see that there. Now we also know that because in verse 14 it says the armies which were in heaven followed Him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. You say, why? Well, who is this referring to first and foremost? Well, the army is referring to us, okay? You know? We're raptured in Revelation chapter 6. We see the rapture take place in chapter 7. We're there for about three and a half years, then we come back with Jesus Christ. You say, man, are we coming to fight? Are we coming to do something? No, we're just coming to just watch. We're just coming to watch Jesus Christ clean house, wipe everyone out. We don't need to do anything. He doesn't need our help, okay? Fine linen, by the way, is symbolic of purity, right? The Bible tells us in 1 Peter 1-22, seeing you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that you love one another with a pure heart fervently, okay? Verse 9, look what it says, and he saith unto me, write, blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb, and he saith unto me, these are the true sayings of God. What is the supper? We'll skip down to verse 17. And I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together into the supper of the great God, that ye may eat the flesh of kings, and flesh of… This is morbid. Not many pastors like talking about this stuff. This is pretty morbid here, but this is what God's telling him to do. The flesh of captains, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. You say, why would he do that? Why doesn't he just like throw them onto the lake of fire or something? Why must he call upon the fowls, meaning birds, of the air to come and feast upon this army of God haters? Why is he doing that? Well, I'll tell you why. Because with what measure you meet, it shall be measured to you again. And if you remember, there's a little detail in Revelation 6 that people miss. In fact, go to Revelation 6, if you would. Revelation chapter 6 is where we find the beginning of sorrows along with the tribulation of the seals, right? And we see different forms of what the antichrist is going to do, the four horsemen of the apocalypse, and how they're going to carry out their agenda in order to establish a new world order. We see death on a massive scale. They're creating this crisis, correct? And look what it says in verse number 8, it says, And I looked, and behold, the pale horse and his name that sat on him was Death, and hell followed with him, and power was given unto him over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with the sword and with hunger and with death. And look what it says, and with the beasts of the earth. Now, I don't know how that's going to play out, but it says what it says. So this means that somehow, you know, the antichrist and his, you know, and his henchmen are going to utilize animals of some sort to basically kill people. And is this, is this, is that weird? No, we see that in history, the Roman Colosseum, where they would feed Christians to lions, allow them to be killed and eaten and mauled to death. Well, it's no different than what we see here. So why is God allowing the fowls of the air to come and eat their flesh? Because we're measuring your meat, it's going to be measured to you again. You cause my people to suffer at your hand by the beasts of the earth, then I'm going to make a dinner, a great feast, and you're going to be the main course. It shows you that God is mad, you know. And look, this is, I mean, when you think about this, this is war. If you think of World War I, and the images they show you of World War I and the trenches of those who died and literally rats walking about eating the flesh of the soldiers and they walk around with fat bellies, you guys know what I'm talking about? It would feast on that, this is war, okay. The difference is here is that this is sanctioned by God himself for this great feast, okay. Look at verse 10, it says, back to Revelation 19, excuse me, Revelation 19, it says, And I fell at his feet to worship him, and he said unto me, See thou do it not, I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus worship God. So this is referring to the fact that this person who is expounding this information to him that is showing him these things is a saint, okay, is a safe person, someone who's given the privilege to basically usher John into these visions to allow him to see these great things. So it says there, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus worship God, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Now what does that mean, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy? What this means is this, is that preaching, prophesying, should always end up, start with, in the middle, and end up with who, Jesus. You know, when we go out and preach the gospel, we're not preaching our righteousness, you gotta keep the law, we're preaching the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We preach Christ and him crucified, right? But even then, when you're saved and you come to church, we learn about the Bible, but who are we learning about? Jesus. It is Jesus that said, search the scriptures, for in them you think you have eternal life, and they are what testify of me. I've heard pastors say, don't study the Bible, all you gotta do is know Jesus. Don't study the Bible. You can't study the Bible without knowing Jesus, you can't know Jesus without studying the Bible. The whole Bible's about Jesus. You know, he told the Pharisees, for if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me, for he wrote of me. You know, when he was on the road to Emmaus, and he's talking to those two disciples, the Bible tells us that he rebukes them, and he says, oh ye fools and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken, and beginning of Moses and all the prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself. Why? Because it's all about Jesus. He went through all the Psalms, all the prophets, he started at Moses, and he showed every single aspect of him where it just talked about him. You know what the Bible's about? It's about Jesus. Let me read this to you from Luke 24, verse 44, he says, and he said unto them, these are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses and in the prophets and in the Psalms concerning me. Then open heed their understanding that they might understand the scriptures the Bible says. Okay? So, when you talk about the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy, what that means is this, don't give me the Bible, don't give me preaching if it doesn't have Jesus in it. Right? Even when we read the Bible just in general in our daily Bible reading, we should be seeking Jesus, a foreshadowing of Jesus, a symbolic nature of Jesus, because it's all about Jesus. You know, years ago when I was about 18, 17, I attended that cult called La Luz del Mundo. You guys have told the story many times before. I went there for a girl, okay, just to let you guys know, I was not interested in that congregation at all, it was for a lady. And she was attending there, so I went there and I was just like, this place is weird. You know, ladies sit on one side, guys sit on the other side, no instruments, weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth the entire time. You know? And anytime they would preach, they would talk about, because they believe in a modern day apostle, which by the way is a pedophile, okay, he's a wicked person. And I remember as an unsafe person, like I would hear them preach all the time and I'm like, man, all they talk about is the apostle, that's all they talk about. And I remember like after service, I'm like, are we ever going to like talk about Jesus? And I remember one of the people, one of the leaders said, well, if it wasn't for the apostle, we wouldn't know about Jesus. I'm like, well, you haven't even talked about Jesus, though. Like all I've heard is the apostle, what about Jesus Christ? You know? And I had heard you have to believe on Jesus to be saved, but you know, no one really expounded that unto me. I didn't really understand, you know, what that really meant. I wasn't saved. And I remember, because they would say, hey, this guy can save you. You know, this is, we need the apostle. He's necessary for salvation. And I told them, I was like, well, what if like someone like in Africa or something like that, I gave that example to them. And I thought, what if someone in Africa like just believes in Jesus, but they've never heard of the apostle? Did they go to heaven? And he said, well, if that person believes in Jesus, he doesn't believe the apostle, he will go to, the only reason he would go to heaven is because the apostle knew him. Oh, man, there's all these equations, it's like, what in the world, are you serious? But you know what? They weren't preaching Jesus because they didn't have the spirit of prophecy. Spirit of prophecy is centered around Jesus Christ, around his testimony, right? Around his teaching, okay? And it's interesting that he says that here, that the spirit of Christ is the spirit of prophecy because the Bible tells us in Matthew 10, 34, think not that I am come to send peace on earth, I came not to send peace, but a sword. Now the spiritual application to that, right, is the fact that, you know, doctrine divides, right? Doctrine separates us from other people sometimes, where people don't want to associate with us, people don't like us, people hate us because of the doctrines that we believe. So we basically took the sword of God's word and we divided relationships with it, which is exactly, well, we're not the one dividing, it's God who's dividing, it's Jesus, right? Because we have to side with Jesus, okay? But this is also something that's very literal, because guess what? In Revelation 19, he's not coming to send peace on earth, he's coming with the sword. What sword? His mouth. And it doesn't say peace, it's not flower power. Make love, not war. This is not the slogan of Christ, right? Because look, after he says that, he says in verse 11, and I saw heaven open and behold a white horse and he that sat upon him was called faithful and true and in righteousness, he doth judge and make war. He doesn't need a pistol, he doesn't need a Mossberg, he doesn't need a 45, he's got the sword of his mouth that just will decimate anybody who goes against him. His mouth is just a one-way ticket to hell, right? In righteousness, he doth judge and make war. Now I want you to notice that he comes on a white horse, right? And I've heard people like when I preach to Revelation 6, Revelation chapter 6 with the opening of the first seal, you have the antichrist coming, and the Bible says that behold a white horse and he that sat on him had a bow and a crown was given unto him, he went forth conquering and to conquer. Look folks, it's pretty obvious that that's referring to the antichrist, okay? And I've heard people tell me like, that's ridiculous, I can't believe you said that, that's Jesus. And I just like look at them like, you're one of those people who is going to be like deceiving others in the end times, like keep an eye on you, you know? They say, that's Jesus, that's Jesus because he's coming on a white horse in Revelation 19 too, you know? But here's the thing, here in Revelation 19, he's coming with many crowns, right? And those many crowns is not that he's wearing many crowns just for him to have many crowns, it's to, you know, distribute them to his saints because they're about to take over. So he's coming with his many crowns because he's about to just decimate the world and then he's going to distribute authority to all of his saints because we're taking over. It's a new, you know, new management, there's going to be a banner over the world that said under construction, under new management, okay? This is not the same person in Revelation chapter 6 folks, okay? Verse 12 says, his eyes were as a flame of fire and on his head were many crowns and he had a name written that no man knew but he himself. Look what it says here. And he was clothed with the vesture dipped in blood and his name is called the word of God. Whoa. This doesn't sound like his first coming, folks. First coming is coming lowly, right, on a fold, right? And he's coming humbly here, he's still humble, he's still the same person who came the first time but now he's coming to make war. He's coming with his clothing dipped in blood. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen and white and clean 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 and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of almighty God and he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written king of kings and lord of lords. So I love this because he's not, like I said, he's not taking a vote, he's just saying I am the king of kings. I'm your king whether you want me to be your king or not. I'm your lord whether you want me to be your lord or not. I'm the king of kings. I'm the lord of lords, okay? And it says he has a sharp sword out of his mouth. This is what he smites the nations with. I don't know how that looks like and I don't want to see how that looks like. It's probably a devastating sight for someone who's on the receiving end, the recipient of that sword to see that. It's power. I mean this is the same mouth that created the universe, right? This is the same word of God that made the universe, the planets, the stars, everything. This is the same mouth and when you just condense all that power into just destroying one person it's pretty amazing. Think about it. Verse 17 says, and I saw an angel standing in the sun and he cried with a loud voice saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, come and gather yourselves together into the supper of the great God that he may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of them that sit on them and the flesh of all men both free and bond, both small and great. We went over that. Look at verse 19, I saw the beasts and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse and against his army. So picture this sight. You have the antichrist, somehow he knows now is the time. We're going to make war with Jesus Christ. He's coming now and he knows who Jesus is. Somehow he's deceived these nations. He's deceived the masses into following him to fight against Jesus. They're waiting there at Armageddon. They're waiting for the third coming of Christ as he descends. He once again breaches the realm between eternity and the physical realm. He's coming on a white horse. His eyes are a flame of fire. His vesture is dipped in blood. His name is the word of God. He has an army behind him. He's coming through. This is a huge war. The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians 2, 7, for the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only he who now letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. And then shall that wicked be revealed whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming. So what does the destruction look like? Because we don't really see details in that regard here in Revelation 19. But use your imagination, folks. It tells us here that the Lord will consume them with the spirit of his mouth, right? The spirit of prophecy. And shall destroy them with the brightness of his coming. They're blasting him. They're shooting him. And he just comes in his brightness. The spirit of his mouth just completely disintegrates his enemies. What a sight to see. No match whatsoever. By the way, notice that it says the spirit of his mouth, and earlier we saw that it stated that it talks about the spirit of prophecy. So when we preach the word of God, spiritually speaking, that's what we're doing. We're dissolving doubts. We're destroying strongholds, right? Using the word of God to do so, but this is just like a manifestation of that when he actually comes. The greatest preacher that ever lived. So he destroys the antichrist. Look what it says in verse 20. And the beast was taken, and with them the false prophet and the rotten miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. So I mean, there's a lot that's not said here, but we can basically conjecture what's taking place. Because it says in 2 Thessalonians that he destroys them with the brightness of his coming, with the spirit of his mouth and the brightness of his coming. So he just disintegrates them and simultaneously, I mean, he's snatching their souls right out of their bodies to cast them into the lake of fire. Now this is something I was thinking about, and I was wondering like, because it says right there that they both, these both were cast alive into the lake of fire, burning with brimstone. And I'm like, I thought we were in Armageddon, though. Obviously we understand that hell is in the center of the earth, right? And the lake of fire is a separate location of hell, okay? So if he's coming with his army, and he's confronting the antichrist, he's destroying them, and it says there these both were cast alive into the lake of fire. How were they so quickly transferred to that lake of fire? How does that even work? Like, is the lake of fire here on like earth or something like that? Has anybody ever thought about it, or am I the only one who's ever thought about that? I'm the only one who's ever, okay, well, you're thinking about it now. Where does the lake of fire come from is the question, right? Go to Daniel chapter seven, hold your place there. I'm going to show you where the lake of fire comes from, and why is it that when he comes to destroy these armies, he just so quickly transferred the antichrist and his false prophet to the lake of fire right then and there, okay? The lake of fire is also referred to as hell, okay? And it's just a much larger hell, so to speak, okay? No one is currently in the lake of fire now. Anybody who's ever died without Christ is currently in the center of the earth, which is referred to as hell. In Revelation chapter 20, at the great white throne judgment, the damned, who were not saved, those who had not trusted Christ as their savior, they're going to be resurrected, so to speak, in order to be judged by the books and to see, to basically condemn them to the lake of fire. So this is the only window of time that they get any kind of relief. But even then, it's not relief because you're standing before the judge, okay? Talk about anxiety. Takes them out of hell, judges them, and you cast them into the lake of fire. So you wonder, like, well, if the white throne judgment is in heaven, but they're cast into the lake of fire, but in Revelation 19, they're in Armageddon, and the beast and the false prophet are cast into the lake of fire, how does that work? Where is it? Look at verse 9 of Daniel chapter 7, and let me just say this, is that obviously we never want to use the Old Testament to interpret the New Testament, but they work in tandem, right? They give information that maybe the New Testament doesn't have, and God, you know, the New Testament doesn't give, and God often does that just because you should assume that you know what already took place in the Old Testament and fit the pieces of the puzzle together, right? Look at verse 9. I beheld, this is referring to what we're reading in Revelation 19, I beheld till the thrones were cast down, and the ancient of days did sit, whose garment was white as snow, and the hairs of his head like the pure wool, his throne was like a fiery flame, and his wheels as burning fire. I want you to notice verse 10, a fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Thousands, thousands ministered unto him, and 10,000 times 10,000 stood before him. The judgment was set, and the books were opened. We're going to get into it in a little bit, but then later on, you see that the antichrist and his false prophet are cast into that stream. Where does the lake of fire come from? It comes from God himself, because it says it's a fiery stream, and look, folks, a stream feeds a lake. The stream feeds the lake. So guess what? Wherever God is, there's a one-way ticket to the lake of fire. You say, whoa, that's kind of crazy, perhaps from here, like to even say that. Well, hold on a second. Our God is a consuming fire, and his wrath is being issued from his own bosom. Hell is not some separated, you know, separation from God, as they say, right? It's a separation from God. No, hell comes from God. The lake of fire comes from God. It's the express manifestation of his wrath that issues from him. A fiery stream issued and came forth from before him. Why? Because he's judging. He just tosses them into that stream, which feeds the lake of fire. Scary thought, folks. You ever seen those images where they literally put like a lake of fire, and people are, you know, they're being tossed, and I don't know, and they're like just, it's somewhat accurate. The only difference is that at the beginning of that stream, you have God. That's why he's able to just come, destroy them, and they're immediately located to the lake of fire. Why? Because the stream of fire that's coming forth from him, that's where they're being tossed into, and they go straight into the lake of fire. Look, God is everlasting. He has no beginning. He has no end. This is why the lake of fire will never go away. This is why they shall burn forever in the presence of the lamb. Why? Because it comes from him. Sit on that for a while. Think about that for a while. You know what that should make you do? It should make you think. It should make you understand like the depth of his love, but also the exceeding depth of his wrath. The Bible tells us in 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 7, and to you who are troubled, rest with us when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord. Isn't that interesting? And from the glory of his power, it's not saying that you're going to be away from the presence of God. It means the presence of God is what's destroying you, and the glory of his power when he shall come to be glorified in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe because our testimony among you was believed in that day. Go back to Revelation. Actually, stay there in Daniel, Daniel chapter 7, because we're going to look at one more thing. I'm going to read to you from Revelation 19, verse 21. We're almost done. It says, and the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse. So now, you know, he just, he just, I mean, just completely destroys the Antichrist, right, and his false prophet throws him into the stream, and then the leaders are done. These are the leaders, right? The head's cut off. So now he just looks at everyone else. It's like, oh, man. It says, the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth, and all the fowls were filled with their flesh. This works in conjunction with what we see in Daniel 7, verse 11. And I beheld then, after he talked about this fiery stream, and I beheld them because of the voice of the great words which the horns spake, I beheld even till the beast was slain and his body destroyed and given to the burning flame, as concerning the rest of the beasts, I believe this is referring to those ten kings, right, they had their dominion taken away. Yet their lives were prolonged for a season and a time. Now, I'm not sure exactly what this means. If I were to conjecture, I would say that basically, he's basically measuring to them the judgment that they met out. In other words, they ruled the world, right? They ruled with the Antichrist for a season. So now it's just like, here's your mop, here's your bucket. You ruled this world. You persecuted my people. You killed that guy right over, you see that guy right over there? This is the guy you put to death? He's actually going to rule over you now. They're allowed to continue for a short space. And I don't know if this means they go into the millennial reign and that's when they're executed. We don't know, but he definitely subjugates them, okay? That's it. We'll get into the other stuff later because this basically, you know, he destroys everybody. I thought I had more. But the Lake of Fire stuff was good, though, I enjoyed that part. You know? Chapter 20, we get into the actual millennial reign itself. Man, I can't wait for that day. Sometimes I feel like I'm ready for this thing to end. I'm ready for that day. And you know what? We got to think about those days now. We got to think upon those days because, you know, the millennial reign, if we're not careful, seems but a fantasy, but a world away, you know? But this is a reality. It's going to happen. We will be there one day. And that hope that we have should cause us to labor more, to love more, to hang in there a little longer because it is coming, amen? The next, actually on Sunday, Sunday morning, I'm going to go over Revelation chapter 20. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word. And Lord, thank you for the promise of the millennial reign, but thank you for the promise of this judgment that we're going to see one day. You wrote it, and it's true, Lord. And we're thankful that you will avenge us of our enemies, Lord, those who have persecuted us. We're thankful that you're going to judge Satan, the accuser of the brethren. He who sought to devour us, he who sought to make war with us and to wear us out, you will recompense him upon his own head. And thank you so much for that promise, Lord. Thankful to be saved. Thankful that we have salvation in Christ and that, Lord, we have this promise of not only eternal life, but to be able to rule and reign with you as well. I pray that you bless the rest of our evening. In Jesus' name we pray, amen. Amen.