1. The Wedding Feast of the Lamb and Preparation for the Battle of Armageddon Revelation 19:1-21
“After this I heard what seemed to be a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God, for his judgments are true and righteous, for he has judged the great prostitute who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged the blood of his servants at her hand.’ Then he said a second time, ‘Hallelujah!’ And the smoke went up forever and ever.” (Revelation 19:1-3).
Before the throne of God of the resurrected saints and the raptured saints
In 1 Thessalonians 4:17, it says that we will meet the Lord in the air. Why does the Lord come down in the air? It is to meet the bride in the air. In Genesis 24:62-65, we will introduce the scene where Isaac came out to meet his bride Rebekah in the wilderness when Abraham’s faithful servant Eliezer brought his bride Rebekah from Paddan-aram.
“Now Isaac came from Beer-lahai-roi, for he lived in the Negev. He went out to meditate in the field in the evening. And he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, camels were coming. Rebekah lifted up her eyes and saw Isaac. Then she got down from the camel and said to her servant, ‘Who is that man walking in the field and coming to meet us?’ And the servant said, ‘It is my master.’ Then Rebekah took a veil and covered herself.”
Just as the groom Isaac came out to meet his bride Rebekah, Christ, the groom, came out to meet his bride in the air to lead her to the Father’s house, the wedding house. So we all enter the Father’s house together with the Lord. In the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25:1-8, the ten virgins prepared lamps and flasks of oil to meet the bridegroom who was coming to the bride. The five wise virgins went to the banquet hall to meet the bridegroom. At that time, in Matthew 25:6, they heard a voice saying, “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him,” and they went out to meet the bridegroom and entered the banquet hall. Here, the voice of the bridegroom’s friends in Matthew 25:6 is likely the “… voice of the archangel” in 1 Thessalonians 4:16. The archangels will shout to the saints, “Behold, the bridegroom is coming; go out to meet him.”
The five wise virgins going out to meet the bridegroom with their lamps and meeting him refers to the saints being raptured, and meeting the bridegroom and entering the banquet hall with the bridegroom refers to meeting the Lord in the air and entering heaven. After the Lord and the raptured saints meet the Lord in the air, they enter heaven and meet God the Father.
Then, how can we prove that they entered heaven in Revelation 19? It is easy to prove that. We can easily find out in Revelation 19:4-9. In verse 4, we can see that there are 24 elders and four living creatures, and we can also see that the saints entered heaven from the words that they worship God on the throne. Therefore, in Revelation 19:6, we see that the saints who were raptured entered heaven and met people who were happy to see each other. We can see the scene of them meeting their parents, brothers, sisters, friends, and pastors and saints who had been living their lives of faith in the same church, greeting each other and having a happy conversation. ‘And I heard what seemed to be the voice of a great multitude and the sound of many waters’ means that all the saints met and talked to each other, and the sound was loud and like the sound of many waters. At this time, they saw the Lord’s face, face to face. 1 Corinthians 13:12 says about this time. “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face.” There is also a similar verse in 1 John 3:2.
2. The Wedding Feast of the Lamb
“And a voice came from the throne, saying, Praise our God, all you his servants, and you who fear him, both small and great. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and the sound of many waters, and the sound of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah! For the Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give him glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. Fine linen, bright and clean, was granted to her to be arrayed—the fine linen represents the righteous acts of the saints.” (Revelation 19:5-8).
And then we enter the wedding feast of the Lamb with God the Father. When our Lord came to earth and ministered, He often spoke of the parable of the wedding feast. I imagine that He probably thought of Revelation 19. It may also be to encourage us to participate in this wedding feast of the Lamb. For example, in Matthew 22:2, it says, “For the kingdom of heaven is like a king who prepared a wedding feast for his son.” This means that God the Father prepared a wedding feast in heaven for His Son. In Revelation 19:7, it says that we rejoice and are glad. It says that the bride, dressed in fine linen, has made herself ready, so she is adorned. Also, in Matthew 25, the parable of the ten virgins shows a wedding feast.
In heaven, the wedding feast of the saints will last for three and a half years, and on earth, there will be a harsh judgment of God for three and a half years. Along with this three and a half year wedding feast, the awards judgment of the saints will also take place at this time. It says that the Lord will make us wear bright and clean fine linen. You can only wear it if the Lord tells you to wear it. And this bright and clean fine linen is the righteous conduct of the saints. Righteous conduct means that the reward is given according to how well you served God and the saints, how much you loved and were loyal, how much you sacrificed for the Lord, how well you endured persecution, and how much you triumphed in faith while living in this world. At that time, all the saints will be judged according to their righteous conduct. And at that time, they will receive the crown of life, the crown of glory, the crown of righteousness, the crown of gold, and the crown that never fades. In particular, the martyrs will reign with Christ in the millennial kingdom.
It is said that the saints will have their own glory when they go to the kingdom of God. In 1 Corinthians 15:41, it is said that the glory of the resurrected saints is different: “There is one glory of the sun, another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for one star differs from another in glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead… ”
3. The Lord Returns on a White Horse
“Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes were like a flame of fire, and on his head were many crowns, and he had a name written that no one knew except himself. He was clothed with a robe dipped in blood, and his name is called The Word of God. And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean. From his mouth went a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations; and he would rule them with a rod of iron. And he treads the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of God Almighty. And on his robe and on his thigh he had a name written, KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS.” (Revelation 19:11-16)
The heavens are now opening. Up until now, the gates of heaven have been opened, but now the heavens are opening. The heavens, not the gates of heaven, opened for the great mobilization of the heavenly army, the army of saints and the host of angels, dressed in clean white linen, to go out to the earth for the war of Armageddon. And now the Lord and saints are preparing to wage war, which is preparation for the coming to the earth. The second coming to the earth is for the war of Armageddon, the final war of mankind. In Revelation 19:11-16, we see the Lord riding a white horse. We see the majestic appearance of the Lord riding a white horse. The armed appearance of the Lord, the supreme commander, going out to war. The description of the majestic and majestic appearance of the King of kings and Lord of lords is shown in verses 11-13, and the description of the heavenly army that will follow the Lord is also shown next. This army is none other than the saints. It is you and me who have been resurrected. Because they are wearing clean linen and riding on white horses to follow the Lord (14). And the host of angels.
God the Father has given the order to go out to the earth. The Lord on a white horse leads the way, and our saints wearing the white clean linen also follow the Lord on white horses. It is the moment of the Second Coming to the earth. It is the very moment that all mankind has longed for since Adam sinned. And this leads to Revelation 16. Revelation 19:11-14 shows the situation in which the armies of Jesus Christ in heaven are preparing for the Battle of Armageddon. Revelation 16 shows the situation in which the armies on earth are preparing for the Battle of Armageddon.
First, let’s go to Revelation 16:12. This is the scene of the sixth bowl disaster. This is the Earth. It shows the situation of the ground forces of Satan and the Antichrist preparing for the Battle of Armageddon. The sixth bowl was poured out on the great river Euphrates, and its waters were dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Then three frog-like spirits came out of the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast, and the mouth of the false prophet. These were said to be demonic spirits. The work of these demonic spirits was to go around the world to all the kings and gather their armies for the battle on the great day of God Almighty. The gathering place was Armageddon. Satan knew that the Battle of Armageddon would take place, so he sent demons to the rulers of all the nations of the earth to convince them that aliens would soon invade the Earth from heaven, and that they should gather their armies at Armageddon to protect and defend the Earth from these aliens. We can see that the ones who foretell this war of Armageddon and gather the army is Satan, the Antichrist, the false prophet, the Trinity of Satan. This is a spiritual war, the final war, and a cosmic war.
The sixth bowl disaster does not refer to the war of Armageddon itself, but rather the preparation period for carrying out that war. The earth defense force is drafted from all countries, and the West and the East will be dispatched to carry out the war of Armageddon. The Euphrates River, which blocks the path of the army coming from the East, dries up, making it easier for the army coming from the East to gather at the battlefield of Armageddon. It will take several months because the enormous army will be gathered from the ends of the earth. In the meantime, the seventh bowl judgment disaster will cause the entire earth to be destroyed by earthquakes and large hail.
The War of Armageddon, the Last War of Mankind Revelation 19:14-21
1. The Cause of the War of Armageddon
2. Who is the war of Armageddon against whom?
3. The location of the War of Armageddon
4. The result of the War of Armageddon, the aftermath of the War of Armageddon
1). The Cause of the War of Armageddon
When the seventh trumpet, the last trumpet of the first three and a half years of the seven-year tribulation, is blown, the saints are raptured, and the dragon, the antichrist, and the false prophet focus their attention on the strange phenomenon of people disappearing from the earth. This is the event of the Second Coming of the Lord Jesus Christ in the air in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, 17. When the Lord Jesus Christ calls and descends on a cloud with the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God, and the angels gather the saints from one end of the earth to the other, and from heaven to the end of the earth, the saints who participate in the first resurrection are resurrected, and the survivors are also transformed and raptured. At that time, all the media outlets on Earth reported this event, saying that the Earthlings were evaporated into the sky. And when the Earthlings were evaporated into the sky, those who remained on Earth thought that the Earthlings were kidnapped by aliens, spacemen. This is because people witnessed the scene where the Lord Jesus Christ came down to the sky on a cloud with a shout and the voice of the archangel and the trumpet of God. And this scene will continue for some time as the Earthlings witness it.
Those who remained thought it strange and concluded that the spacemen had kidnapped the Earthlings. The authorities of the world’s single government will claim that it is to defend the Earth and the Earthlings from the spacemen who have invaded the Earth, but Satan clearly knows. He knows that Christ has returned to the sky and that this fact is his end, so Satan, the antichrist, and the false prophets prepare countermeasures for the final battle. This situation is shown in Revelation 16:12-14, 16. ‘The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. Then I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and of the beast and of the false prophet. They are spirits of demons, performing miracles, and they go out to the kings of the whole world to gather them for the battle of the great day of God Almighty.’
In this passage, the three spirits of demons coming out of the mouth of the dragon, the mouth of the beast and the mouth of the false prophet perform miracles and go to the kings of the whole world to announce the great day of God, the battle of Armageddon, and gather their armies. Why did these spirits of demons have to perform miracles in front of the kings? As shown in Exodus, Moses performed great miracles in front of the king so that they would believe that God had sent Moses and would liberate the people. And it was to make them realize who Moses and the God of Israel were. Likewise, in order to move the hearts of the kings and gather their armies to the battlefield, they would have had to show the power of Satan to the trembling kings. This would have been a means of threatening the kings to send their armies to Armageddon.
2). Who is the war between whom in the war of Armageddon?
The war of Armageddon is a cosmic war. It is a war between spacemen and earthlings. These spacemen are the Lord Jesus Christ, the resurrected and transformed saints, and the heavenly host of angels. The reason why they can be called spacemen is because they come from outside the earth and have different constitutions from earthlings. The reason they have different constitutions is because the resurrected saints are spiritual beings. They are not fleshly. They are immortal and eternally living spirits. These spacemen, Christ, and the raptured saints are in war with Satan, the beast, the false prophet, and the earthlings who still follow him and have flesh. In Revelation 19:11, “Then I saw heaven opened, and behold, a white horse; and he that sat upon it was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he judgeth and maketh war.” The leader of the universe is the Lord Jesus Christ riding on a white horse, and in Revelation 19:14, “And the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and clean.” Here, those who were clothed in fine linen and rode on white horses are the redeemed martyrs who follow Christ.
The reason they are saints is because they are wearing white linen. In Revelation 19:7,8, “… For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to be clothed in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.’ Also in Revelation 7:9, ‘After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands.’ In Revelation 7:14, ‘…these are the ones who came out of the great tribulation, and they washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.’, it is clearly proven that the crowd wearing white linen and riding on white horses following the Lord are the resurrected saints. Of course, the heavenly hosts and angels will also follow the Lord at that time. In Revelation 19:19, “And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war with him who sat on the horse, and with his army,” the cosmic war began between Satan, the beast, the false prophet, the kings of the whole world, and their armies, and the Lord Jesus Christ coming down from heaven, the saints in linen, the hosts of heaven, and the angels.
3). The location of the Armageddon war
Who decided the location of the Armageddon war, and how was it decided? In Revelation 16:16, “And the three spirits gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon,” it seems that Satan, the beast, and the false prophet already knew that there would be a war at that place. The spirits of the three demons are gathering the armies of the earth to Armageddon. This is because they must have realized it from the Old Testament or the words of Revelation 16:16. Zechariah 14 describes the war of Armageddon. Because in Zechariah 14:4, it says that Christ will come to the Mount of Olives. In Zechariah 14:12, it says, “And this is the plague that the LORD will bring on all the people who have fought against Jerusalem: Their flesh will decay while they stand on their feet, their eyes will decay in their holes, and their tongues will decay in their mouths. In that day the LORD will cause them to tremble greatly; they will take each other’s hand and lift up hand against each other. Judah will also fight at Jerusalem….” It shows that the Battle of Armageddon will be in the Megiddo area and its vicinity.
4). The Results of the Battle of Armageddon
“Then I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair, ‘Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, the flesh of commanders, the flesh of mighty men, the flesh of horses and their riders, and the flesh of all, free and slave, both small and great.’ Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him who sat on the horse and his army. The beast was captured, and with him the false prophet who had worked miracles before him, by which he had 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 burning with brimstone. The rest were killed by the sword that came out of the mouth of him who sat on the horse. And all the birds were filled with the flesh.”
When we look at the situation of the Battle of Armageddon, we see that the Lord alone is carrying out the war. We see that the army of the saints riding on the white horse is following only behind the Lord. With the strange sword that comes out of the Lord’s mouth, all these armies of Satan are killed. Here, all the kings, generals, warriors, armies, and all the soldiers who participated in the war of Armageddon will be killed by the sword that comes out of Christ’s mouth. In particular, the beast, the Antichrist and the false prophet will be captured alive and thrown into the lake of fire. The Antichrist and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire alive. The lake of fire is the second death and the prison of eternal punishment. The meaning of being thrown into this place alive is that just as the saints who believed while alive when Christ came again in the air were instantly transformed into spiritual beings and taken up into the air, the Antichrist and the false prophet will also be instantly transformed into spiritual beings without dying and will be thrown into the lake of fire alive.
The rest of the unbelievers’ souls will be in Hades after death, and after the millennium, they will be resurrected in their bodies and judged at the Great White Throne Judgment Seat and all will be thrown into the lake of fire. The Antichrist and the false prophet will be thrown into the lake of fire without being judged. This means that it is the most severe punishment place in the lake of fire. With this Armageddon War, the dead soldiers of the armies that participated in the Armageddon War, those who died due to the population reduction policy of the single government authorities during the seven trumpet plagues, and those who died during the third world war during the sixth trumpet plague and the seven bowl plagues, the population of the Earth will have decreased significantly. It will have decreased by much more than two-thirds of the Earth’s population. These people will enter the Millennium Kingdom with their bodies.
In conclusion, God said “It is finished” three times in the Bible. It was when the Lord came the first time and died on the cross, saying “It is done” (Mark 19:30), and when the Lord came again to earth with the saints to fight the Armageddon War, He also said “It is finished” (Revelation 16:17). The words “It is finished” and “It is done” are the same thing. When He said on the cross, “It is finished,” He meant that He had completely taken upon Himself the sins of mankind. When He said in the Book of Revelation, “It is finished,” He meant the last of the seven bowl plagues. Through the Lord’s second coming to earth, there will be the Battle of Armageddon, and because of this, the salvation of mankind will be completed, and therefore it is finished. Therefore, the words, “It is finished,” in Mark 19:30 and Revelation 16:17 are in the same context. And finally, the words, “It is finished,” in Revelation 21:6 mean that the salvation of mankind by selecting the sons of God has been completely completed. Through this, we, the saints, the true sons of God, will enter the eternal world and live forever with God the Father and the Lord.
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