225 - Israel's Regeneration: Armageddon Stages 6 - 7 - 8 [B]

Israel's Regeneration: Stage 6 - 7 – 8

In Revelation chapter 19 we have been focusing on the actual physical return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth at what is called the campaign of Armageddon. All of the human race by now are inspired and energized by Satan and the demonic doctrines of leaders, and their goal and their focus is to destroy Israel. It is Satan's last desperate shot to destroy the nation Israel to prevent God from fulfilling His promises that He made in the Old Testament, and thus is a desperate plea to show that God can't be the God He claims to be, He can't control creatures who have free will and that He really can't bring about His divine plan. That is what the campaign of Armageddon is all about. One of the greatest sins any nation can commit and any individual can commit in history is anti-Semitism. Anti-Semitism has its root in really Satan's reaction to the Abrahamic covenant that God made in Genesis 12:1-3, which is the foundation of how every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ ought to treat the Jews and Israel—not because they are wonderful people or any other factor that they deserve on their own but simply because God chose them and set them apart fro a specific role in history. The covenants were given to Israel, as Paul states in Romans 9:4, and God is going to fulfill those promises.

So we have been looking at this end time scenario that focuses on Israel, and as anti-Semitism has so often clouded and besmirched Christianity down through the last 2000 years—and one of the greatest blights on Christianity has been history of Christian anti-Semitism—this is taken to new heights by the evil of the Antichrist during the last half of the Tribulation that culminates in this campaign. It begins with a gathering of the armies of the Antichrist. They move into the staging area of the Valley of Megiddo after he has been involved in a Military campaign in Egypt and he has heard a rumor from the north and from the east. Then as the eastern forces have come in there has been a battle where the forces of the Antichrist have destroyed Babylon. We are told in Revelation chapter 18 that the kings of the earth mourned over this, yet in chapter 17 we are told that it was the ten horns who are in alliance with the Antichrist who are the ones who burned Babylon with fire. The next is a full-scale assault on Jerusalem to try to completely destroy it and to wipe out all of the Jews that remain there. There is one segment that has stayed in Jerusalem and another that escaped during the past half of the Tribulation and are in hiding in the rugged territory to the south-east of Israel in the area of Jordan today, the ancient kingdom of Edom in the area of Petra or Bozrah. It is there that this remnant of Israel representing the nation turns as a whole, inviting, calling upon Jesus to come and save them.

Joel chapters 2 and 3 is one of the most significant passages that we have in the Old Testament for helping us understand these end times. As the end time comes we are told in Joel 2:32 ^NASB "And it will come about that whoever calls on the name of the LORD Will be delivered…" This is talking about physical deliverance when the nation Israel is on the very point of being wiped out by the Antichrist and by the Gentile armies. So this segment calls upon the Lord. Just as the corporate representatives of Israel at the time of Jesus rejected Him this group will accept Him, call upon Him, and He will come as the Messiah-deliverer of Israel. That is different from their individual salvation as individual believers, and we have to make sure we maintain that distinction because most of these Jews who have escaped into the wilderness have done so because they responded to Jesus' command in Matthew 24 that at the time of the abomination of desolation "when you see these signs occur, flee immediately to the mountains." The only people who are going to respond to that are those who understand that Jesus knew what he was talking about, which implies that they understand that He is God, He is who He claimed to be, the Messiah. So those who flee are those who for the most part are those who have already been regenerated, have already trusted in Jesus as their Messiah. As they come together down in Edom then they corporately call upon the Lord, their sins are corporately confessed, just as Daniel confessed sins for the nation in Daniel chapter 9, and then we have the second coming of Christ. This is His return. The Mount of Olives is the last place He goes, not the first. First He is going to rescue the Jews who are under siege down in Petra. This is the picture that we see in Revelation 19 which summarizes this. He comes riding on a white horse, He is wearing a robe that is dipped in blood, He has the name Word of God written upon His thigh and He has a sword coming out of His mouth which indicates that He is coming in judgment.

The reason He comes to this group is that they have fled there according to Revelation 12:14 which told us that the woman (Israel) fled into the wilderness but God provided her with some sort of miraculous ability to escape the Antichrist, and then there she is provided for by God—"…nourished there for a time, times, and a half a time, i.e. three and a half years. Micah talks about that as like sheep being protected in a sheepfold. Micah 2:12 ^NASB "I will surely assemble all of you, Jacob, I will surely gather the remnant of Israel. I will put them together like sheep in the fold; Like a flock in the midst of its pasture…" The Hebrew word there for the sheep fold is bozrah. It is a picture of these people being placed within an enclosure where they are protected.

Isaiah 34 is a chapter that deals with judgment upon the Gentiles and there is the announcement in verse 1 ^NASB "Draw near, O nations, to hear; and listen, O peoples! Let the earth and all it contains hear, and the world and all that springs from it. [2] For the LORD'S indignation is against all the nations, And {His} wrath against all their armies; He has utterly destroyed them, He has given them over to slaughter." This is a future event, it is God bringing judgment against all nations. "He has given them over to slaughter" is what is a future use of the perfective tense. It is using a past tense to speak of a future event because that event is so certain it is spoken of as if it has already taken place. [3] "So their slain will be thrown out, And their corpses will give off their stench, And the mountains will be drenched with their blood." What we begin to see here is the incredible human slaughter that takes place during this time. The casualties that occur are numbered in the millions. [4] "And all the host of heaven will wear away, And the sky will be rolled up like a scroll; All their hosts will also wither away As a leaf withers from the vine, Or as {one} withers from the fig tree." Cf. Isaiah chapter two and Revelation 6, the sixth seal judgment. This passage isn't talking about either one of those two judgments but it shows that just as some of the previous judgments in the period of the Tribulation there are going to be these things that occur in the heavens. This is this appearance that even the heavens are shaken. The earth is going to be laid waste, there is not really a whole lot left that will be habitable at this point. [5] "For My sword is satiated in heaven, Behold it shall descend for judgment upon Edom And upon the people whom I have devoted to destruction. [6] The sword of the LORD is filled with blood, It is sated with fat, with the blood of lambs and goats, With the fat of the kidneys of rams. For the LORD has a sacrifice in Bozrah And a great slaughter in the land of Edom." The picture here is one of a great sacrifice of these people. This has never occurred historically. [7] "Wild oxen will also fall with them And young bulls with strong ones; Thus their land will be soaked with blood, And their dust become greasy with fat." That fits with the same imagery that we see in Revelation where it speaks of the fact that the blood will flow for an area of 180 miles.

This is a scene of incredible destruction as the Lord Jesus Christ returns to rescue Israel. The same sort of phrase that occurs in relationship to Edom is stated in Isaiah 63:1 ^NASB "Who is this who comes from Edom, With garments of glowing colors from Bozrah, This One who is majestic in His apparel, Marching in the greatness of His strength? 'It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save.'" The author is speaking as he is observing one who has accomplished the judgment at Edom and is returning from this bloodbath. The words "It is I who speak in righteousness, mighty to save" tells us two things. All of this violence and bloodletting is done in righteousness. That strikes the unbeliever, the person who has no understanding of biblical truth, as just a totally incongruous statement, because they operate on a presupposition in many cases where any kind of violence, any kind of massive bloodletting like this is just inherently wrong. These kinds of things today are very difficult for people to understand about what Christians believe because over the last forty of fifty years Satan has really promoted the lie that violence in each and every case is wrong, that God is really a meek and mild passive God who is just going to let everybody get away with whatever they want to get away with. That is difficult for us sometimes in perhaps some witnessing situations because people may raise questions. It is sometimes good to sidestep these things because unbelievers can't understand these things and we can't expect them to. [2] "Why is Your apparel red, And Your garments like the one who treads in the wine press?" This is the same imagery that we saw as we studied in Revelation 14:17-20 ^NASB "And another angel came out of the temple which is in heaven, and he also had a sharp sickle. Then another angel, the one who has power over fire, came out from the altar; and he called with a loud voice to him who had the sharp sickle, saying, 'Put in your sharp sickle and gather the clusters from the vine of the earth, because her grapes are ripe.'  So the angel swung his sickle to the earth and gathered {the clusters from} the vine of the earth, and threw them into the great wine press of the wrath of God. And the wine press was trodden outside the city, and blood came out from the wine press, up to the horses' bridles, for a distance of two hundred miles."

Isaiah 63:3 ^NASB "I have trodden the wine trough alone, And from the peoples there was no man with Me. I also trod them in My anger And trampled them in My wrath; And their lifeblood is sprinkled on My garments, And I stained all My raiment." When the Lord comes back, even though he is accompanied by armies of angels and church age believers, He does the fighting, alone. We are there just as the support team, the heavenly witnesses. [4] "For the day of vengeance was in My heart, And My year of redemption has come." The word "vengeance" is not personal vindictiveness, not seeking personal revenge; the Hebrew word has to do more with the execution of judgment, that which necessarily must pay for a crime. It is a strong, righteous judicial word. [5] "I looked, and there was no one to help, And I was astonished and there was no one to uphold; So My own arm brought salvation to Me, And My wrath upheld Me. [6] I trod down the peoples in My anger And made them drunk in My wrath, And I poured out their lifeblood on the earth." So this refers to this incredible time of bloodletting in Edom.

There is another passage that confirms this in Habakkuk 3:3 ^NASB "God comes from Teman, And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. His splendor covers the heavens, And the earth is full of His praise." Teman and Mount Paran are both located in Edom in the same area as Bozrah and Petra. Teman is thought to have been located in the southern part of Edom. This verse clearly speaks of what God is going to do at the time that he returns to rescue Israel. Matthew 24:30 ^NASB "And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory." Jude 14, 15 ^NASB "{It was} also about these men {that} Enoch, {in} the seventh {generation} from Adam, prophesied, saying, 'Behold, the Lord came with many thousands of His holy ones, to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.'"

Revelation 19:17-21 speaks of the enormity of the violence. ^NASB "Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, 'Come, assemble for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.'  And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh." This fits with the prophecy in Ezekiel 19 where we are told that there is going to be this massive feast of carrion in the end times. Ezekiel 39:17 ^NASB "As for you, son of man, thus says the Lord GOD, 'Speak to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field, "Assemble and come, gather from every side to My sacrifice which I am going to sacrifice for you, as a great sacrifice on the mountains of Israel, that you may eat flesh and drink blood. [18] You will eat the flesh of mighty men and drink the blood of the princes of the earth, as {though they were} rams, lambs, goats and bulls, all of them fatlings of Bashan [Golan Heights area]. [19] So you will eat fat until you are glutted, and drink blood until you are drunk, from My sacrifice which I have sacrificed for you. [20] You will be glutted at My table with horses and charioteers, with mighty men and all the men of war, declares the Lord GOD. [21] And I will set My glory among the nations; and all the nations will see My judgment which I have executed and My hand which I have laid on them." And the purpose for all of this: [22] "And the house of Israel will know that I am the LORD their God from that day onward. Then the rest of the chapter extends to the gentiles, that they will know that God has worked in the house of Israel and has restored them to the land.

Ezekiel 39:25, 26 ^NASB "Therefore thus says the Lord GOD, 'Now I will restore the fortunes of Jacob and have mercy on the whole house of Israel; and I will be jealous for My holy name. They will forget their disgrace and all their treachery which they perpetrated against Me, when they live securely on their {own} land with no one to make {them} afraid.'" There is a future restoration of Israel. There is a gathering in unbelief (occurring now) and one that occurs at the end of the Tribulation at the time of the second coming which is referred to here. [27] "When I bring them back from the peoples and gather them from the lands of their enemies, then I shall be sanctified through them in the sight of the many nations. [28] Then they will know that I am the LORD their God because I made them go into exile among the nations, and then gathered them {again} to their own land; and I will leave none of them there any longer. [29] I will not hide My face from them any longer, for I will have poured out My Spirit on the house of Israel, declares the Lord GOD."

The occasion for Habakkuk is the judgment coming in 586 BC, but chapter 3 goes beyond what happens in that time to a future event.

So following the Lord's return He rescues Israel down in Bozrah and then He is going to destroy the armies of the Antichrist. Then He is going to begin to move north leading this remnant of Israel. There is not a lot indicating this in Scripture but the key passage perhaps is in Zechariah 12. Remember, when these prophets are writing none of them have the whole picture. Later as we come, especially with the book of Revelation and Matthew 24, all these threads are then brought together. In Zechariah 12 there is the announcement from the Lord that Jerusalem will be the center of this conflict: Verse 2 ^NASB "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." Notice it is Judah and Jerusalem. [3] "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. And all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it." There is an assault on Jerusalem but there is a specific mention of Judah because the role of this tribe in the end time army as the Lord Jesus Christ returns. [5] "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.'" So we see the leadership in the tribe of Judah, as they see what is happening, they recognize the danger of the Jews trapped in Jerusalem and that is their motivation and strength, but it is related to the coming of the Lord. He recognizes the Lord of hosts or God. [6] "In that day I will make the clans of Judah like a firepot among pieces of wood and a flaming torch among sheaves, so they will consume on the right hand and on the left all the surrounding peoples, while the inhabitants of Jerusalem again dwell on their own sites in Jerusalem." The Hebrew word translated "firepot" here is the word that is used of the laver. The normal use of this vessel was to hold the water. Now it is going to be used to hold coals. So what is being indicated here is that this isn't the normal function of the tribe of Judah but in this case it will be like taking a fire pan or censor of coals and placing that on dry kindling, igniting it. So it is Judah that is leading in this army that comes up from the south. [7] "The LORD also will save the tents of Judah first [they are out in front], so that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem will not be magnified above Judah." Judah is given this place of honor in their return to Jerusalem because that is the tribe of the Lord Jesus Christ, the tribe of the Messiah.

Zechariah 14:1 ^NASB "Behold, a day is coming for the LORD when the spoil taken from you will be divided among you. [2] For I will gather all the nations against Jerusalem to battle, and the city will be captured, the houses plundered, the women ravished and half of the city exiled, but the rest of the people will not be cut off from the city." Then He leads the fight against the nations. [3] "Then the LORD will go forth and fight against those nations, as when He fights on a day of battle. [4] In that day His feet will stand on the Mount of Olives, which is in front of Jerusalem on the east; and the Mount of Olives will be split in its middle from east to west by a very large valley, so that half of the mountain will move toward the north and the other half toward the south." This is going to allow the remnant that has been trapped in Jerusalem to escape. In the 1948 war for independence that Israel had there were a number of Jews that were trapped in the old city by the Arab armies, and they were there for several months. The Jews kept fighting to try to breech the walls to get into the southern part of the city in order to deliver them and some of the ways they got food in and provided for them was incredible. Finally there was an American General who came along (Jewish by ethnicity) who had been a General in WWII and they cut a new road down where an ancient Roman road had run and ran supplies in. But it was too late and the Jews lost the city of Jerusalem in 1948. When the Arab armies came in they obliterated and destroyed everything in the Jewish quarter of the old city. The Jews had no place to escape. But these Jews will have a place to escape when the Lord returns and he splits the Mount of Olives. [6] "In that day there will be no light; the luminaries will dwindle. [7] For it will be a unique day which is known to the LORD, neither day nor night [because of the sun being darkened and the moon turned to blood, etc.], but it will come about that at evening time there will be light. [8] And in that day living waters will flow out of Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and the other half toward the western sea…" This will be a living river because it is fresh water, and it will restore the Dead Sea. "… it will be in summer as well as in winter. [9] And the LORD will be king over all the earth; in that day the LORD will be {the only} one, and His name {the only} one." Then it goes on to say that the people will be as one and will worship the Lord.

So this takes us to the eighth stage which is the victory ascent on the Mount of Olives. This is the real triumphal entry when Jesus will come on the Mount of Olives, will destroy the armies of the Antichrist, sends him and the false prophet directly to the lake of fire, and He sends Lucifer or the Devil to the abyss where he is chained for 1000 years. He then begins a series of judgments, one of which is the judgment on the nations as identified in Joel 3:14: "Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision [Valley of Jehoshaphat]. [15] The sun and moon grow dark And the stars lose their brightness. [16] The LORD roars from Zion And utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth tremble. But the LORD is a refuge for His people And a stronghold to the sons of Israel. [17] Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, Dwelling in Zion, My holy mountain. So Jerusalem will be holy, And strangers will pass through it no more [invade her]." This has not happened; these are clearly future events.

Revelation 19:11 ^NASB "And I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it {is} called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and wages war." That is what we are saying. He comes at Edom, rescues the Jews there, destroys the armies of the Antichrist that are there. [12] "His eyes {are} a flame of fire, and on His head {are} many diadems; and He has a name written {on Him} which no one knows except Himself. [13] {He is} clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and His name is called The Word of God. [14] And the armies which are in heaven, clothed in fine linen, white {and} clean, were following Him on white horses…. [16] And on His robe and on His thigh He has a name written, 'KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS.'" All of this brings us to the final stage of that victory that the Lord has over the armies of the Antichrist.

Then we see the beginning of the judgments, starting in verse 17. This is, again, just given in a summary fashion in Revelation because the details are given elsewhere in Scripture. We will have to put these together to deal with the different judgments that take place at this time. There is a 75-day interval that comes between the literal return of the Lord and the beginning of the Millennial kingdom. It is during that interval that a number of different things occur, including a cleanup campaign and these various judgments that will take place. Revelation 19:17 ^NASB "Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, 'Come, assemble for the great supper of God…. [19] And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. [20] And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone." Are they cast alive in their mortal bodies? The text doesn't say but, no. If they were cast in their mortal bodies they would just be completely incinerated in seconds. It is obvious that if they are going to continue in the lake of fire in this process that they are going to be given the same kind of body that unbelievers have as they go through the torments and the pain of eternal judgment. [21] "And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat on the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh." That concludes the Tribulation period.

Then we have an interim period where we see these other judgments begin to take place. For example, the first judgment mentioned in chapter 20 is the dragon, the serpent, Satan, is cast into the bottomless pit. A seal is placed on him so that he would not deceive the nations until the thousand years are finished. This gets into the Millennium after the second coming, but there are other things that take place here. 

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