Now we’re ready to continue in chapter 16 with verse 13. In the last lesson we looked at the first 6 bowl judgments. Verses 13-16 contain another parenthetical passage, again, having to do with Armageddon. “Then I saw three loathsome spirits that looked like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. These are actually the spirits of demons that perform signs. And their purpose is to go forth to the leaders of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them together for war on that great day of God the Almighty. Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is he that stays alert and keeps his clothes with him, so he will not be naked and bear the shame of being exposed. And they gathered them together to a place which in the Hebrew language is called Armageddon.”
OK. The dragon is Satan. He’s joined with the beast (the Antichrist) and the false prophet and has given them both supernatural powers as we’ve learned in previous lessons. By the way this passage is worded we can draw several conclusions. The first is that the deception these three (and multitudes of others) are under is incredible. As we saw in the last lesson, the bowl judgments only intensified their resistance and rebellion against God (16:11). Now, even in light of the fact that neither Satan, the Antichrist or the false prophet have ever been able to do anything to stop what God has been doing during this time, they still persist in their folly. To me this simply shows the helpless desperation of these three and those who follow them. When you think back on all that has happened up to this point, how could they possibly think they could beat God?
The text says the purpose of these demon spirits is to perform “signs”. Again, this is from the word semeion and we’ve talked about it before, miracles that have a specific purpose. Jesus performed signs to illustrate His relationship with the Father (John 2:11, 3:2). Satan does the same thing to deceive (II Thessalonians 2:9). These “frogs” are Satan’s imps, working miracles designed to deceive others into thinking the combination of Satan, the Antichrist and the false prophet have the power to defeat God.
We also see the words oikoumene holon, translated “of the earth and of the whole world” in the KJV. This is somewhat redundant. Oikoumene is “inhabited or inhabitable earth” and holon simply means, “whole” – together it should be “whole inhabited earth”. This is one of those few verses in Revelation that shows the worldwide affect of the tribulation events. As I’ve mentioned several times before, although the specific events (particularly, the judgments) are limited to the area around the Mediterranean Sea, the whole world will be affected in many ways. This verse tells us there will be many world leaders willing to join in this rebellion.
At this point we should look at the big picture. What’s at stake here? What are the events and circumstances leading to this great, desperate battle? For starters let’s go back to Revelation 12:12 “Woe to the inhabitants of the earth and of the sea! For the devil has come down to you with great anger, because he knows he has only a short time left.” This is a revealing verse, “he knows he has only a short time left”. I don’t know how much Satan knows. Does he know every detail? Or did God let him in on just enough that he understands the general, overall plan. Or does he only know what we know from the Scriptures (and that’s quite a bit)?
Regardless, there is one thing that is obviously clear. It spells doom for Satan and those who follow him. It’s getting near at this point and he knows it. What is Satan desperate to prevent? For his own survival he has to prevent Christ from coming back and taking charge of the earth. The second coming of Christ and His Millennial reign is the end of Satan’s long domination of the earth and its people (John 8:44, II Corinthians 4:4). So what is his plan? It seems to be the same as it’s always been – he going to play the numbers game.
When you look at the history of the earth and Satan’s relation to it, it seems as though he has always wanted to believe that whoever has the most on their side will win in the end. The Scriptures make it abundantly clear that there are many more going to hell than to God. But fortunately, Satan doesn’t make the rules, God does. And He has determined (and proven over and over in the past) that it is His righteousness that will win. However, it is also clear that Satan will not go down without a fight and he intends to take as many with him as he possibly can. So, these imps are going all over the world performing miracles to persuade world leaders to join the cause. And the indication is that many will.
Now I don’t want there to be any confusion, so we need to deal with the statement found in verse 15, “Blessed is he that stays alert and keeps his clothes with him, so he will not be naked and bear the shame of being exposed.” The context of this is Christ’s second coming and the fact that it will happen quickly and no one knows exactly when. The language is illustrative or symbolic, not literal. There are religious groups that go to extremes to make sure they are never naked, because of this verse.
But let’s apply a little common sense and Scripture to it. If you just read Paul’s description of the rapture in I Corinthians 15:51-54, you’ll see the changes that take place at that time. The dead are raised and the living transformed. The change is from physical to spiritual. Both the dead and the living will be found in every conceivable condition and circumstance. But there is one common result: they are all destined to end up in the presence of God clothed in white. This is true of the rapture and those martyred during the tribulation (Revelation 3:4, 5; 4:4; 7:9, 13; 19:8, 14). But not of those who follow God and are loyal to Him and are alive on the earth at the time of His second coming. They are not changed; they simply live on through the millennium and into the eternal earth, as long as they maintain that loyalty (much more on this later when we study the Millennium).
So, what does this statement illustrate? Simply this: keep yourself alert, be prepared, you’ve been warned and should know what’s going to happen, so do what you need to do or you’ll be sorry.
Then finally we come to the last part of this passage, “And they gathered them together to a place which in the Hebrew language is called Armageddon (harmegedon).” This may be a little premature; I could wait until we get to Revelation 19, but thought you might be curious. Are you wondering just about now, just where is this place called Armageddon? Well, if you look at a modern map of Israel, this is how to locate it (it may or may not be identified). On the northern coast locate the port city of Haifa. Just south of the city you’ll see Mt. Carmel and the Carmel mountain range running southeast from there. Above that is the Kishon River running parallel to the mountains. That river valley is identified on some modern maps as the Valley of Jezreel. Depending on the map, you may see the town of Megiddo. This is Armageddon. If you’re looking at a map of Palestine in Bible times, again, in the northern part you’ll see Mt. Carmel and the Kishon River and the Valley of Esdraelon just above Megiddo.
Megiddo was the capital of that portion of Canaan given to Joshua (Joshua 12:12, 17:11 and Judges 1:27). It overlooked this valley, which was the entrance to a pass across the Carmel mountain range that was the main highway between Asia and Africa, the key position between the Euphrates and Nile rivers. It has been the site of hundreds of important battles throughout history.