Revelation 16:12-21 – The Battle Belongs to the Lord
If you play word association and say “Revelation,” I wouldn’t be surprised if many people respond “Armageddon.” It’s sort of like the mark of the beast; everyone knows that Armageddon is the epic battle between good and evil that devastates the world. There’s just one question: is that really what Armageddon is?
This passage describes the events that happen as the sixth and seventh bowls are poured out to wreak God’s wrath upon creation as he purges it of evil and sin. The sixth bowl is poured out on the Euphrates River, which dries up to prepare the way for the kings of the east. That one sentence should spark several Scriptural allusions in your mind. The drying up of the Euphrates River to make way for an invading army is similar to how the flow of the Jordan River was stopped so that Joshua and the Israelites could enter the Promised Land and fight the battle of Jericho. “Preparing the way” for a king sounds a lot like Isaiah 40, a passage frequently used to describe Christ’s coming into the world. And the “kings of the east” may make you think of the magi of the Christmas story. I don’t know if John wanted to remind us of these things, but if he did, he turns the positive images inside out. The river is dried up, not to make way for God’s army, but for an army led by evil spirits. The way is prepared not for the Messiah, but for Satan’s minions. The kings of the east don’t bear gifts but bring warfare. They lead the armies of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Scythia, and the other eastern empires and hordes that swept into the Holy Land. The army is led by the unholy trinity of the dragon, sea beast, and land beast that we met in Chapters 12 and 13. Evil spirits that look like frogs pop out of the dragon and beasts; they are reminders of yet another of the plagues of Egypt that these bowls echo. I understand these frog-spirits to be the epitome of the evil that the dragon and beasts carry. Verse 14 reminds us of the miracle-working abilities of evil that we saw in Chapter 13. Remember: just because someone performs a miracle doesn’t mean that they’re from God. The frog-spirits gather all the armies of the earth together to fight against God. The battle they’re itching for is a repeat on earth of the battle in heaven that we read about in Revelation 12:7-8. Satan lost that battle against Michael. Apparently he thought he could wind this one. Or, it may just be his desperate last-ditch effort.
Verse 15 is an interesting insertion. It’s the admonition that Jesus gave in Matthew 24:43, which Paul develops further in 1 Thessalonians 5:2. Jesus’ coming will be unexpected, just as the robber who breaks into your house doesn’t give an advance notice. We are admonished to be alert and ready for action. Keep your clothes on and don’t fall asleep. After the plagues of Egypt, the Israelites were told to be ready to move out on a moment’s notice: eat food prepared quickly, don’t sit down to eat, and be packed up and ready to leave. It’s also a reminder of how John failed Jesus, together with Peter and James, as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane when the forces of evil were gathering to confront him. John fell asleep and didn’t stay awake.
The next verse is a simple but evocative statement: the evil spirits gathered the armies of the earth at Armageddon. We can probably assume that this is the same gathering of armies that we’ll meet again at the end of Chapter 19. This is the only place where the name “Armageddon” shows up in the entire Bible. But if we take the hint and read it in Hebrew, it makes perfect sense. “Armageddon” = “har Meggido” in Hebrew, which is “the hill or mountain of Meggido” in English. And Meggido is a strategically and historically significant place in Israel. To understand it, we first need a geography lesson, and then a history lesson. Here’s the geography: the land of Israel is a long strip between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Jordan River valley to the east. Running north and south in between is a big mountain ridge. However, there’s a gap in the mountains about a third of the way down. It’s large flat plain called the Valley of Jezreel. And Meggido is a town perched on a hilltop just at the edge of the plain. The Valley of Jezreel was strategically important, because it was the best way to get from the Mediterranean side of the mountains to the Jordan River side, and to the lands to the east beyond it. It was a heavily traveled trade route, and armies used it as well. A number of significant battles were fought in the Jezreel Valley, in the shadow of Meggido. But the most significant happened in the days of Josiah, king of Judah. And that’s our history lesson.
Josiah was the most devout and faithful king the nation had ever known, and is credited for doing amazing things to root out pagan practices and revive the worship of the Lord after generations of neglect. Under Josiah, the kingdom began to regain some of its lost glory and appeared to be on the way to becoming as powerful and prosperous as it had been during the Golden Age of David and Solomon. But Josiah made a tragic and devastating miscalculation of international relations. His kingdom stood in between three great empires: Egypt to the south, Assyria to the north, and Babylon to the east. Josiah learned that Egypt’s army was going to march through the Jezreel Valley to link up with the Assyrian army, so that together they could attack Babylon. The Egyptians didn’t have a beef with Josiah and the kingdom of Judah; they were just passing through. It’s the same thing that US troops are doing when they land in Tajikistan to get into Afghanistan. We’re not fighting the Tajiks; we just go through their land to get to our enemies. Now, the kingdom of Judah had suffered under the heel of the Assyrians for decades, so Josiah didn’t really think to kindly of them. He didn’t like the idea of Egypt helping the Assyrians take on the new upstart kingdom of Babylon. So he attacked the Egyptian army as they passed through the valley near Meggido. It was a devastating loss for Josiah and his army. In fact, Josiah was mortally wounded and died shortly after being taken off the battle field. His gambit did succeed in a way, however. His attack against the Egyptians slowed them down enough that they couldn’t join the Assyrians in the battle against the Babylonians, and the Assyrians lost. But the news wasn’t really all that good. Yes, the Assyrians used to be a powerful and cruel empire. But they were fading away. The Babylonians’ victory helped them to become the next great superpower. And soon, the Babylonians would be the ones laying siege to Jerusalem. Even worse, of course, was the death of Josiah. Judah lost its dynamic reformer-king at the time when it needed a strong king the most. The nation slid back into paganism, and eventually the Babylonians wiped it from the face of the map. The tragedy of Josiah’s battle is that it was unnecessary. He could have kept out of the way and let the big nasty foreign armies tackle each other and save his strength, and life, for another day. We get no indication that God wanted Josiah to fight the Egyptians. He fought and died for nothing.
That’s the sad story of the first battle of Armageddon. Now, in John’s vision, we see the armies of the nations gathering for a repeat performance. The first battle reversed the fortunes of a godly king. Now, Satan wants to take on God himself. It’s another battle of international super-heavyweights. So what happens? Well, it seems as though John’s vision leaves us hanging. The armies gather together, but there’s no description of a battle. Or at the very least, we have to wait until Chapter 19 to see it.
Or, is something else going on? The seventh bowl gets poured out, and the angel tells us that the work is done: it’s finished! The earth convulses like it never has before. There’s an unbelievable hailstorm, with the hail measured not by inches in diameter but by the hundreds of pounds of weight (by the way, a reminder of yet another of the plagues of Egypt). It is absolute, total destruction that removes even the mountains and the islands. Once more, however, the mountains and islands are symbols. Mountaintops were the sites of pagan worship in the Old Testament, and for John’s readers they may have represented the seven hills of Rome, the mighty empire of their time. The islands could remind us of Patmos, the prison island where John had been exiled.
Most important of all is the collapse of “the great city.” This isn’t Jerusalem, but Babylon. Yes, the same Babylon that the Assyrians and Egyptians were fighting. The same Babylon that came to represent the worst of human oppressive power. We’re going to learn more in the next chapter about the doom of Babylon.
And what does this have to do with us? Hopefully, we can learn a lesson from Josiah’s fate at the first battle of Meggido and not repeat it. He got involved in a fight that wasn’t his. Yes, we are to be God’s agents at work to fight evil and make the world a better place. But we need to exercise discretion and learn to pick our battles. Who knows how history would have been different, and the fate of Judah could have changed, Josiah didn’t die in battle and Babylon had been defeated? The armies gathering at Armageddon are destroyed, but not by some mighty Christian army that faces them across the battle line. They are destroyed by earthquake, lightning, and hail. They are destroyed by God’s wrath and power. We don’t need to get involved sometimes: just sit back and watch what God will do.
This passage describes the events that happen as the sixth and seventh bowls are poured out to wreak God’s wrath upon creation as he purges it of evil and sin. The sixth bowl is poured out on the Euphrates River, which dries up to prepare the way for the kings of the east. That one sentence should spark several Scriptural allusions in your mind. The drying up of the Euphrates River to make way for an invading army is similar to how the flow of the Jordan River was stopped so that Joshua and the Israelites could enter the Promised Land and fight the battle of Jericho. “Preparing the way” for a king sounds a lot like Isaiah 40, a passage frequently used to describe Christ’s coming into the world. And the “kings of the east” may make you think of the magi of the Christmas story. I don’t know if John wanted to remind us of these things, but if he did, he turns the positive images inside out. The river is dried up, not to make way for God’s army, but for an army led by evil spirits. The way is prepared not for the Messiah, but for Satan’s minions. The kings of the east don’t bear gifts but bring warfare. They lead the armies of Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Scythia, and the other eastern empires and hordes that swept into the Holy Land. The army is led by the unholy trinity of the dragon, sea beast, and land beast that we met in Chapters 12 and 13. Evil spirits that look like frogs pop out of the dragon and beasts; they are reminders of yet another of the plagues of Egypt that these bowls echo. I understand these frog-spirits to be the epitome of the evil that the dragon and beasts carry. Verse 14 reminds us of the miracle-working abilities of evil that we saw in Chapter 13. Remember: just because someone performs a miracle doesn’t mean that they’re from God. The frog-spirits gather all the armies of the earth together to fight against God. The battle they’re itching for is a repeat on earth of the battle in heaven that we read about in Revelation 12:7-8. Satan lost that battle against Michael. Apparently he thought he could wind this one. Or, it may just be his desperate last-ditch effort.
Verse 15 is an interesting insertion. It’s the admonition that Jesus gave in Matthew 24:43, which Paul develops further in 1 Thessalonians 5:2. Jesus’ coming will be unexpected, just as the robber who breaks into your house doesn’t give an advance notice. We are admonished to be alert and ready for action. Keep your clothes on and don’t fall asleep. After the plagues of Egypt, the Israelites were told to be ready to move out on a moment’s notice: eat food prepared quickly, don’t sit down to eat, and be packed up and ready to leave. It’s also a reminder of how John failed Jesus, together with Peter and James, as he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane when the forces of evil were gathering to confront him. John fell asleep and didn’t stay awake.
The next verse is a simple but evocative statement: the evil spirits gathered the armies of the earth at Armageddon. We can probably assume that this is the same gathering of armies that we’ll meet again at the end of Chapter 19. This is the only place where the name “Armageddon” shows up in the entire Bible. But if we take the hint and read it in Hebrew, it makes perfect sense. “Armageddon” = “har Meggido” in Hebrew, which is “the hill or mountain of Meggido” in English. And Meggido is a strategically and historically significant place in Israel. To understand it, we first need a geography lesson, and then a history lesson. Here’s the geography: the land of Israel is a long strip between the Mediterranean Sea to the west and the Jordan River valley to the east. Running north and south in between is a big mountain ridge. However, there’s a gap in the mountains about a third of the way down. It’s large flat plain called the Valley of Jezreel. And Meggido is a town perched on a hilltop just at the edge of the plain. The Valley of Jezreel was strategically important, because it was the best way to get from the Mediterranean side of the mountains to the Jordan River side, and to the lands to the east beyond it. It was a heavily traveled trade route, and armies used it as well. A number of significant battles were fought in the Jezreel Valley, in the shadow of Meggido. But the most significant happened in the days of Josiah, king of Judah. And that’s our history lesson.
Josiah was the most devout and faithful king the nation had ever known, and is credited for doing amazing things to root out pagan practices and revive the worship of the Lord after generations of neglect. Under Josiah, the kingdom began to regain some of its lost glory and appeared to be on the way to becoming as powerful and prosperous as it had been during the Golden Age of David and Solomon. But Josiah made a tragic and devastating miscalculation of international relations. His kingdom stood in between three great empires: Egypt to the south, Assyria to the north, and Babylon to the east. Josiah learned that Egypt’s army was going to march through the Jezreel Valley to link up with the Assyrian army, so that together they could attack Babylon. The Egyptians didn’t have a beef with Josiah and the kingdom of Judah; they were just passing through. It’s the same thing that US troops are doing when they land in Tajikistan to get into Afghanistan. We’re not fighting the Tajiks; we just go through their land to get to our enemies. Now, the kingdom of Judah had suffered under the heel of the Assyrians for decades, so Josiah didn’t really think to kindly of them. He didn’t like the idea of Egypt helping the Assyrians take on the new upstart kingdom of Babylon. So he attacked the Egyptian army as they passed through the valley near Meggido. It was a devastating loss for Josiah and his army. In fact, Josiah was mortally wounded and died shortly after being taken off the battle field. His gambit did succeed in a way, however. His attack against the Egyptians slowed them down enough that they couldn’t join the Assyrians in the battle against the Babylonians, and the Assyrians lost. But the news wasn’t really all that good. Yes, the Assyrians used to be a powerful and cruel empire. But they were fading away. The Babylonians’ victory helped them to become the next great superpower. And soon, the Babylonians would be the ones laying siege to Jerusalem. Even worse, of course, was the death of Josiah. Judah lost its dynamic reformer-king at the time when it needed a strong king the most. The nation slid back into paganism, and eventually the Babylonians wiped it from the face of the map. The tragedy of Josiah’s battle is that it was unnecessary. He could have kept out of the way and let the big nasty foreign armies tackle each other and save his strength, and life, for another day. We get no indication that God wanted Josiah to fight the Egyptians. He fought and died for nothing.
That’s the sad story of the first battle of Armageddon. Now, in John’s vision, we see the armies of the nations gathering for a repeat performance. The first battle reversed the fortunes of a godly king. Now, Satan wants to take on God himself. It’s another battle of international super-heavyweights. So what happens? Well, it seems as though John’s vision leaves us hanging. The armies gather together, but there’s no description of a battle. Or at the very least, we have to wait until Chapter 19 to see it.
Or, is something else going on? The seventh bowl gets poured out, and the angel tells us that the work is done: it’s finished! The earth convulses like it never has before. There’s an unbelievable hailstorm, with the hail measured not by inches in diameter but by the hundreds of pounds of weight (by the way, a reminder of yet another of the plagues of Egypt). It is absolute, total destruction that removes even the mountains and the islands. Once more, however, the mountains and islands are symbols. Mountaintops were the sites of pagan worship in the Old Testament, and for John’s readers they may have represented the seven hills of Rome, the mighty empire of their time. The islands could remind us of Patmos, the prison island where John had been exiled.
Most important of all is the collapse of “the great city.” This isn’t Jerusalem, but Babylon. Yes, the same Babylon that the Assyrians and Egyptians were fighting. The same Babylon that came to represent the worst of human oppressive power. We’re going to learn more in the next chapter about the doom of Babylon.
And what does this have to do with us? Hopefully, we can learn a lesson from Josiah’s fate at the first battle of Meggido and not repeat it. He got involved in a fight that wasn’t his. Yes, we are to be God’s agents at work to fight evil and make the world a better place. But we need to exercise discretion and learn to pick our battles. Who knows how history would have been different, and the fate of Judah could have changed, Josiah didn’t die in battle and Babylon had been defeated? The armies gathering at Armageddon are destroyed, but not by some mighty Christian army that faces them across the battle line. They are destroyed by earthquake, lightning, and hail. They are destroyed by God’s wrath and power. We don’t need to get involved sometimes: just sit back and watch what God will do.
posted by Rev. Peter de Vries, Old Union Presbyterian Church @ 5:41 PM
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