REVELATION LESSON 38

REVELATION

LESSON 38

Are We Living in the End Times?

Revelation 16:11   ¹¹ And blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.

God is good and he is the God of heaven. He deserves praise and exaltation. These people will curse and blaspheme God and everything he is and does. They blame God for their situation, even though he plainly told them not to take the mark of the beast.

They will not blame themselves for their sins or admit that these judgments are fair retribution for their wrong doing. Instead of repentance, they will choose continued blasphemy and in spite of their misdoings they will continue to follow the antichrist and his false prophet.

Because they repented not of their deeds represents the fact that the heart of man is so corrupt that even the fiercest judgments fail to affect their attitude, spirit or conduct.

Revelation 16:12   ¹² And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

When this sixth angel pour out his vial upon the great river Euphrates this body of water dries up is referring to preparations for the coming battle of Armageddon. This great river will dry up during the tribulation period. Why?  It is a barrier that divides the east from the west. It prevents the kings of the east from moving their great army into the west.

When the sixth angel pours out his bowl, the river will dry up the barrier will be gone and the kings of the east will be able to move their two hundred-million-man army against Israel in the battle of Armageddon.

Notice the word Kings is plural. This will likely be an alliance of all the eastern nations. No one knows who the kings of the east are, but to build an alliance this large it is a good guess to think it would include China, North Korea and perhaps India, Japan and others.

China alone has more than 200 million men of military age and the number increases by more than ten million each year. However, the word says Kings (Plural).

In less than a generation China’s oil wells will be dry and she is investing heavily in the middle east; building ships and vehicles to transport her troops. Upgrading her weapons and communications systems and threatening her neighbors not to help the United States if she gets into a war with America.

This great battle will probably start in the early last half of the tribulation period. It will cover large portions of the earth but it will wind up in the middle east with nations coming together to attack Israel.

Revelation 16:13   ¹³ And I saw three unclean spirits 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.

John is saying that three evil spirits will come forward during the tribulation period. One from the mouth of Satan, one from the mouth of the antichrist and one from the mouth of the false prophet. This is where we get the term False Prophet.

While John saw these demon spirits in his vision, they will be invisible to all others. These invisible creatures are functioning presently on earth. Even as they have since the fall. There is only one power that affects them and that is the name of Jesus.

The unclean spirits like frogs concerns the fact that this ungodly trio connives to secure the help of other nations regarding the coming battle of Armageddon.

Revelation 16:14   ¹⁴ For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.

For they are spirits of devils refers to a flood of demonic spirits working in conjunction with three unclean spirits which will probably be done through the false prophet and others, proclaims that the fact that all miracles are not necessarily from God.

As is obvious here, there are nations the antichrist doesn’t control whose help he will seek. While he thinks all of this is his plan, God Almighty is actually orchestrating all the events. The antichrist will think to destroy Israel, but God will destroy them.

Revelation 16:15   ¹⁵ Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.

I am coming as a thief, refers to the meaning of the coming of Jesus as a surprise and it cannot be the rapture, because by this time that would have already occurred. Who will be surprised? It can’t be the church because they were resurrected in the rapture.

This is in reference to the second coming of Jesus at the end of the tribulation period. The antichrist has been so successful with his propaganda that very few in the world at that time will actually be expecting Christ to return.

The unclean spirits will gather the armies of the world at Armageddon and only then will Jesus return and catch them by surprise.

Blessed is he who keeps his garments points to those on earth who worship and serve the Lamb, and that they must be constantly vigilant and loyal to him. Those who refuse the mark of the beast will be blessed but those who take it will be exposed.

Until our next lesson

Stay in the word.

Brother Andy