Let’s set the stage and see what the world is going to be like, and then bring it altogether in Revelation 16. First of all let’s go to Isaiah 13:6. Let’s see where it talks about the day of the Lord, and this is the day of the Lord, which He is going to execute upon the earth. Now it talks about the burden of Babylon in verse 1. So this is Babylon the great, as it’s called there in Revelation 18. Babylon the great.

Verse 6, “Howl ye; for the day of the LORD is at hand; it shall come as a destruction from the Almighty. Therefore shall all hands be faint, and every man’s heart shall melt: and they shall be afraid: pangs and sorrows shall take hold of them; they shall be in pain as a woman that travaileth: they shall be amazed one at another; their faces shall be as flames. Behold, the day of the LORD cometh, cruel both with wrath and fierce anger, to lay the land desolate: and He shall destroy the sinners thereof out of it.” As we have seen before this is going to be so fantastic that, like it confirms here in verse 10, “For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world…” Now I want you to understand and grasp that all of this is a world-wide setting. “…I will punish the world for their evil, and the wicked for their iniquity; and I will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease [and that is personified in the beast and the false prophet], and will lay low the haughtiness of [men] the terrible. I will make a man more precious than fine gold; even a man than the golden wedge of Ophir. Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the LORD of hosts [the wrath of God is contained in the seven last plagues], and in the day of His fierce anger” (Isa. 13:6-13). And so God is going to execute His wrath.

Now as we’ve talked about, let’s come here to Joel 2 and let’s see where it describes the armies of Revelation 8 and 9, and then that leads up to where we will be in Revelation 15 and 16 again. So we need to set the stage so we know what is going on here. But notice the warning that is given. Joel 1 talks about the Day of the Lord. And the Feast of Trumpets is the Day of the Lord to execute His vengeance.

Joel 1:15, “Alas for the day! for the day of the LORD is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.” This is from God. This is not from man. But this is from God. We saw how men have their armies, how the things take place in Revelation 6. Then Revelation 8, it’s the angels of God against Satan and the demons. And now here, God set’s His hand. That’s what it’s going to culminate in. Now then, it talks about this army that comes from the east - the army of 200 million.

Now it talks about the Day of the Lord. Joel 2:1, “Blow ye the trumpet in Zion, and sound an alarm in My holy mountain: let all the inhabitants of the land tremble: for the day of the LORD cometh, for it is nigh at hand;…” And that’s why we have to have the Feast of Trumpets so that we know, we understand that Christ is going to return. The Day of the Lord is coming, and it needs to be a warning for us that we get our lives right. And a warning for the world that they are going to know that it is God Who’s intervening. The very God they rejected, the very one that they have despised, the very one that they figure is going to be a nice meek little lamb is coming and returning in power and glory and authority such as the world has never, never seen in the most awesome and profound way that will ever be. There will never be another day like this. We need to understand it, brethren. God has called us to participate in some awesome things.

Now let’s continue here in Joel 2. “…A day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick darkness, as the morning spread upon the mountains: a great people and a strong; there hath not been ever the like, neither shall be any more after it, even to the years of many generations” (Joel 2:1-2). That means all the way down through the millennium. Of course when Christ is here ruling during the millennium nothing like this is going to happen. This is the culmination and the end of the rule of man and Satan the devil, and it is coming in such a way that it is literally going to destroy almost everything on the earth. You see, the great cities of the nations need to be destroyed. All their temples, all their idols, everything that men have made is going to be destroyed. And so we’re going to have quite a job rebuilding this earth. It is going to be something. I want us to have a little broader scope and understanding of what’s going to take place. This is going to be God directly intervening and doing it.

Now then it talks about the army. And it’s very interesting, the army comes and runs upon the walls and climbs in the houses. You know they have uniforms right now that they are developing for soldiers that will actually give medication to their bodies instantly when they are wounded so they can keep on going and fighting. And it sounds much like what they have here. And who knows what will happen. Will they develop an army where they implant chips? Will they put it into them and program them to go fight a battle and the generals are back there and the commanders are back there running all of these by remote controls? You know, all of these things are possible. We need to think about these things. This is going to be something.

Now let’s ask the question: where will the sea of glass finally come and be stationary? That’s going to be over the area of Palestine. How big will it be? I’ve asked the question before, and I’ve asked it to myself many times because I’ve been thinking on this. Now Ben Ambrose wrote a very wonderful paper. He got together with a mathematics instructor and figured out the math of what it would take for every eye to see the return of Jesus Christ; how far out it would have to be when the sign of the Son of man is first seen; and how close it comes to the earth, and so forth. And he has the question: how big will the sea of glass be? Well it’s going to have to be big enough to accommodate all the saints down through all the history of the world. So who knows how big that is going to be. Is it going to be fifty by fifty miles? Now that’s pretty big. And what is the world going to think when they look up there and see this? And how do we know that it’s going to be over Palestine? Right over Jerusalem? Well Joel 3 tells us.

Joel 3:2, “…I will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for My people and for My heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations,…” He’s going to bring them down to the valley of Jehoshaphat. That is in the land of Palestine. We also will see a little later that that is called Armageddon. And it shows in other prophecies that the blood is going to run up to the horses bridle. You can figure blood being six to eight feet deep in the valley of Jehoshaphat. God is going to bring about a slaughter that is going to be just almost unreal. But that’s the only way that God is going to be able to conquer this earth, get rid of Satan the devil, get rid of the demons, get rid of the armies, get rid of all of the things that man has done against God.

Now let’s come here to Revelation 15. Now when they see the sea of glass up there and they begin to experience some of the things that God is doing to them, we’re going to see what they’re going to do. Now if you haven’t seen the movie “Independence Day” you be sure and see that, because that shows how that in the midst of aliens from outer space coming to this earth, that all the nations get together and rescue the earth.

Let’s come back to Revelation 15 and see how this is going to happen. Now we’re going to change views. Now we’re going to be looking at it from God’s point of view down on the earth, rather than on the earth just seeing what is here. We’re going to see it all and we’re going to see how God is going to do it. This is going to be something. And this is going to fulfill another promise that God has given to all the saints where God has said, “Vengeance is Mine, says the Lord.” And He’s going to execute it.

Before we get into Revelation 15 let’s come back to Psalm 149. This is quite a verse when you understand what it’s saying here. And I believe this is talking about the time being on the sea of glass. Psalm 149:1, “Praise ye the LORD. Sing unto the LORD a new song, and His praise in the congregation of saints.” Well, when is the congregation of the saints going to be all congregated together? At the resurrection. And where is that? On the sea of glass. “Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him: let the children of Zion be joyful in their King. Let them praise His name…” And isn’t that what it says we do back in Revelation 15? We sing the song of Moses, the song of the Lamb, and here’s another one we’re going to sing. “Let them praise His name in the dance: let them sing praises unto Him with the timbrel and harp. For the LORD taketh pleasure in His people: He will beautify the meek with salvation.” And that salvation is to be in glorified form, isn’t it? And we receive that and we’re on the sea of glass. “Let the saints be joyful in glory:…” You’re going to look at your new body, you’re going to look at your new self and we’re going to be joyful in that. God is going to give us something marvelous. “…Let them sing aloud upon their beds. Let the high praises of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand; to execute vengeance upon the heathen, and punishments upon the people; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute upon them the judgment written: this honour have all His saints. Praise ye the LORD” (Psa. 149:1-9). So we’re going to do it.

Now let’s go to Psalm 2 and let’s look down on the earth and God’s perspective and see what’s happening. “Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?” To even imagine that they can fight against God and win - is anything more vain than that? “The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against His anointed,…” So they’re going to say, “Look, if we can turn back these aliens, which are up here on whatever kind of apparatus this is,…” And I imagine that they’re trying to shoot rockets up there, they’re trying to shoot off other things to try and destroy it and it just bounces off as if it’s nothing. They are really going to be really raging. This is going to be something indeed.

“…Saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast away their cords from us. 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 hath said 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, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession. Thou shalt break them with a rod of iron; thou shalt dash them in pieces like a potter’s vessel” (Psa. 2:1-9).

Now let’s come back to Revelation 15 and see how that’s going to be, because that’s exactly what we’re looking at here. Viewing now from the sea of glass, here’s what’s going to take place. Verse 5, “And after these things I looked, and behold, the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven was opened.” So here the saints are going to see all of that. “And the seven angels who had the seven last plagues came out of the temple; they were clothed in linen, pure and bright, and girded about the chest with golden breastplates.” Quite a thing, isn’t it? Here are these angels to do the will of God. This is how God is going to fight against them - directly from Him. Right out of His temple. “And one of the four living creatures gave to the seven angels seven golden vials, full of the wrath of God, Who lives into the ages of eternity. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from His power; and no one was able to enter inside the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled” (Rev. 15:5-8, FV).

Then Revelation 16:1, “Then I heard a loud voice from the temple say to the seven angels, ‘Go and pour out the vials of the wrath of God onto the earth.’ And the first angel went and poured out his vial onto the earth; and an evil and grievous sore fell upon the men who had the mark of the beast, and upon those who were worshiping his image.” Now, it’s going to be something because the mark of the beast is not just an accounting system, and buying and selling system. It is for total control. And so when these people give up their free moral agency to Satan the devil they are going to pay the price. And so this grievous sore, whatever it’s going to be … I don’t know if it’s going to start where the mark of the beast is and spread to the whole body – on their hand or on their forehead - it doesn’t tell us. But that is their just punishment. Probably most of them will die.

Verse 3, “And the second angel went and poured out his vial into the sea; and it became blood, like that of a dead man; and every living soul in the sea died.” The whole ocean is going to become a petrifying stench of dead fish, and dead whales, and dead men, and sunken ships. It’s going to be awesome. See, when Satan and men get together and defy God, and think that they can turn back the hand of God then God has to intervene and let them know Who is in charge. And notice all of these weapons God can use at any time. These are the same weapons that He used back when He fought against Pharaoh, right? Remember in the book of Exodus? Yes, indeed.

Verse 4, “And the third angel poured out his vial upon the rivers, and into the fountains of waters; and they became blood.” Now what’s this going to do to all the eco-freaks out there? Environmental Nazis. You see, God is going to destroy it. We need to understand that. We need to understand this: the only thing worth saving on this earth will be Israel, and the people that repent. Otherwise God would utterly destroy it all. But because He says He won’t, He’s not going to.

Now, how did the angels view this? How should we view this kind of destruction? There are going to be some people who say, “Well, that’s not the Jesus that I worship.” Well let me tell you something. If the Jesus you worship is not Almighty and can’t do these things, he is not the true Jesus Christ of the Bible.

Here’s how the angels view it. “Then I heard the angel of the waters say, ‘You are righteous, O Lord, Who are, and Who was, even the Holy One, in that You have executed this judgment. For they have poured out the blood of saints and of prophets, and You have given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.’ ” So there is the complete vengeance of God. “And I heard another voice from the altar say, ‘Yes, Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are Your judgments.’ ” True and righteous – that God says, “Yes, the men on this earth deserve this.” This is His judgment. Well, that’s why Jeremiah said that the dead are going to be strewn from one end of the earth to the other end of the earth, as far as the eye can see.

“And the fourth angel poured out his vial upon the sun; and power was given to it to scorch men with fire.” And notice the attitude of all these things coming. You would think that they would repent. You would think that they would have some fear of God, wouldn’t you? No, they don’t. What happens? “…They blasphemed the name of God, Who has authority over these plagues, and did not repent to give Him glory.” That’s quite a thing.

Now then, to show how profound and evil that the beast, and the false prophet, and Satan are, “…the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the throne of the beast; and his kingdom became full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues because of the pain,…” So can you imagine having the mark of the beast, the grievous sore, having blood to drink instead of water, having been scorched by the sun, and now it’s so dark, probably just like it was back there in Egypt, that they felt the darkness. Back then they stayed in bed for three days. Couldn’t go out. And yet, it says, “…they did not repent of their works.”

Now here’s the last ditch effort that’s going to take place. You talk about Satan deceiving to the very end, and men being gullible to believe it. Let’s read it here. “And the sixth angel poured out his vial into the great river Euphrates; and its waters were dried up, so that the way of the kings from the rising of the sun might be prepared.” So the armies are still there. You see, God hasn’t done this to everybody, everywhere. The armies are still going to come. “Then 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; for they are spirits of demons working miracles, going forth to the kings of the earth, even of the whole world, to gather them together to the battle of that great day of the Almighty God.” So they’re all being gathered for this battle. And this is the final climactic battle of all the disasters and wars and holocausts that have taken place in the great tribulation. This is the finality, and that’s what this day of Trumpets pictures – the final battle, the final war, the final end of these things.

And then He gives a little warning here. “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is the one who is watching [now this is a warning for us] and is keeping his garments, so that he may not walk naked and they may not see his shame.” In other words, here’s a warning to the Laodiceans when they’re reading these things that they better get their lives squared around. Instead of being lukewarm and ho-hum, and all glad-handing and all socializing and all of this thing, brethren, we have got a tremendous mission ahead of us. We’ve got the greatest thing to look forward to that has ever been since the creation of the world, and we are going to be a part of all of these events that are going to culminate in the end of the rule of man and Satan the devil. Now that’s something. And when you read back there in Romans 8, the world is waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God. That’s us. The first thing they’re going to do though, is fight against God.

Now verse 16, “And he gathered them together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon [valley of Jehoshaphat].” Now they’re all there. They’re all ready to fight, and God ends it quickly. “Then the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and a loud voice came out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, ‘IT IS FINISHED.’ And there were voices and thunders and lightnings; and there was a great earthquake, such as was not since men were on the earth, so mighty an earthquake, and so great.” That’s something. You read through the book of Revelation – this earth is going to be shaken, and shaken, and shaken, and shaken, and shaken, over and over again all during that last three and a half year period. And here’s the greatest earthquake that has been.

“And the great city was divided into three parts; and the cities of the nations fell;…” All their buildings are going to collapse. Everything in these big cities is going to be utterly ruined and destroyed. “…And Babylon the Great was remembered before God to give her the cup of the wine of the fury of His wrath. And every island disappeared, and no mountains were found;…” So there’s no place to go hide. God is going to make it: you either repent and get right with Him or the end is here. “…And great hail, each stone the weight of a talent [180 pounds], fell down from heaven upon men; and men blasphemed God because of the plague of the hail, for the plague was exceedingly great” (Rev. 16:1-21, FV). What an awesome thing that this is. That’s how Christ is going to return. It is going to be something. It is going to be absolutely just the most fantastic thing that we could ever imagine.

Now let’s come to Revelation 19 and we’ll see the finale. Verse 1, “And after these things I heard the loud voice of a great multitude in heaven,…” That is on the sea of glass, up in the clouds, in the first heaven – not the third heaven. But Christ is coming down. God the Father will come down, perform the marriage and the time of giving rewards to the saints and all of this sort of thing, so we understand what we’re going to do and how we’re going to do it and so forth. And after the seventh last plague is poured out the great multitude in heaven saying, “ ‘…Hallelujah! The salvation and the glory and the honor and the power belong to the Lord our God [now this is the hymn we’re going to sing]. For true and righteous are His judgments; for He has judged the great whore, who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and He has avenged the blood of His servants at her hand.’ And they said a second time, ‘Hallelujah! And her smoke shall ascend upward into the ages of eternity.’ ” In other words that smoke is going to go up and go out into the vastness of the universe and there will be specks of it just going on clear out through the whole galaxy and the universe.

“And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God, Who sits on the throne, saying, ‘Amen. Hallelujah!’ And a voice came forth from the throne, saying, ‘Praise our God, all His servants, and all who fear Him, both small and great.’ And I heard a voice like that of a great multitude, and like the sound of many waters, and the sound of mighty thunderings, saying, ‘Hallelujah! For the Lord God Almighty has reigned. Let us be glad and shout with joy; and let us give glory to Him; for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.’ ” Now this is the beginning of the salvation of the world. So know and understand this: when God sets His hand to save the world He’s going to save it. But in order to save it, it’s going to have to be nearly destroyed.

“And it was granted to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, pure and bright; for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints. And he said to me, ‘Write: Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb.’ And he said to me, ‘These are the true words of God.’ ” So they are going to take place. They are going to come to pass. And see, the world won’t know this because they don’t keep the feasts of God. They don’t keep the Sabbath, the Passover, Unleavened Bread, Pentecost, Trumpets, Atonement, Tabernacles, or the Last Great Day. They don’t know what God is doing. But God has revealed that to us – His mystery and His secret plan that He has proposed in Himself. And we are an intricate part of this. So brethren, see, these words are the true Words of God.

“Then I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, ‘See that you do not do this! I am a fellow servant of yours, and of your brethren, who have the testimony of Jesus. Worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.’ And I saw heaven open; and behold, a white horse; and He Who sat on it is called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He does judge and make war.” Now the final battle comes. This is going to be awesome indeed.

“And He eyes were like a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written that no one knows except Him. And He was clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and His name is The Word of God.” Now that goes right back to the beginning of the Gospel of John. “And the armies in heaven were following Him on white horses;…” That’s going to be us. So we’re going to be given a spiritual horse. We’re going to get on it and we’re going to go. “…And they were clothed in fine linen, white and pure.” Now Christ is going to do the fighting. “And out of His mouth goes a sharp sword, that with it He might smite that nations; and He shall shepherd them with an iron rod; and He treads the winepress of the fury and the wrath of the Almighty God.” See, God is saving up all of this for one last final battle. And it’s going to be something.

“And on His garment and on His thigh He has a name written: King of kings and Lord of lords. Then I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in the midst of heaven, ‘Come and gather yourselves together to the supper of the great God so that you may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of chief captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of those who sit on them, and the flesh of all, free and bond, and small and great.’ And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, gathered together to make war with Him Who sits on the horse, and with His army.” So here John was looking down and seeing that. That’s what we’re going to see when we start coming down off the sea of glass, and we’re on those white horses and we’re coming down with Christ and here are the birds flying, circling, coming for all this flesh that is going to be. And here we’re coming down out of the clouds with Christ on our horses. And so that’s going to be quite a thing.

Let’s go back to the book of Zechariah now and let’s pick up some more, as Paul Harvey would say “the rest of the story.” Now let’s see what’s going to happen to those that fight against Christ. This is going to be quite a thing. There’s no defense for this. It doesn’t matter what kind of army that you think you have. It doesn’t matter what weapons you think you may have. No one’s going to be able to fight against this. Zechariah 14:12 (hold your place there when we’re done with it because we’ll come back there again in a minute), “And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem;…” That’s where He’s gathered them, right? Yes. “…Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth.” In other words the flesh is just going to fall off their bodies, and the flesh is just going to collapse and the skeletons fall over, and that’s the end of the enemy. Now you tell me what man has any power against God to stop that? No man has.

Now let’s come back to Revelation 19. The first thing that needs to be done is you need to get rid of the leaders. Verse 20, “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet who worked miracles in his presence, by which he had deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. Those two were cast alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone;…” So God preserves them alive. Their flesh doesn’t fall off them like the others. But they just look at their armies and see all of this going on and all of their soldiers just becoming like crumpled heaps of rotten flesh and bones, and blood spewing everywhere, and guts spewing everywhere. You know, this is going to be an awesome sight. “And the rest were killed by the sword of Him Who sits on the horse, even the sword that goes out of His mouth; and all the birds were filled with their flesh” (Rev. 19:1-21, FV).

Now back to Zechariah 14. Here’s what’s going to happen, because we are coming back to this earth. Christ is going to stand on the Mount of Olives. Now remember, when Christ ascended into heaven, from where did He ascend? From the Mount of Olives. So He’s coming right back to the Mount of Olives. And what did the angels say when the apostles were looking up and wondering what was happening to Him? He said, “Why are you gazing up into the heavens? This same Christ is going to return in the same way” (Acts 1:11, paraphrased). Yes, and to the same place. Amazing, isn’t it?

Now let’s pick it up in verse 3. “Then shall the LORD go forth, and fight against those nations, as when He fought in the day of battle. And His feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley;…” So the whole geography is going to change, isn’t it? Yes indeed. So much for the Temple Mound. That’s going to be utterly destroyed, isn’t it? Yes indeed. “And ye shall flee to the valley of the mountains; for the valley of the mountains shall reach unto Azal: yea, ye shall flee, like as ye fled from before the earthquake in the days of Uzziah king of Judah: and the LORD my God shall come, and all the saints with Thee.” We’re going to put our feet on the mount of Olives with Him. Now notice verse 9, “And the LORD shall be King over all the earth:…” (Zech. 14:3-5, 9). That’s what it’s going to be.

Now the rest of the story is continued with the next holy day – the Day of Atonement, because there is yet one more judgment that needs to be taken place, and that is to get rid of Satan the devil.

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