What is Armageddon?
(Rev. 15 & 16; Ex. 7-11; Psa. 91:3-10; Isa. 53:3-10; Matt. 26:39-42; Rom. 1:18-32) Blog Mar. 10-16, 2019
Prepared by Richard A. Marin: Present Truth PO Box 700, Fallbrook CA 92088-0700 USA
REVIEW: The book of Revelation reveals Jesus as he works to recover his lost bride. The candlesticks symbolize the work of the Holy Spirit in the church. The table of showbread symbolizes the throne of God the Father from which God’s Word works to restore the bride to the Son. The altar of incense symbolizes Jesus ministering the prayers of his people as they bring earth’s inhabitants to God. These three articles of the Holy Place of the sanctuary depict parallel events during the Christian era, from Pentecost to Paradise. In Revelation 11:19 the scene turns to the Most Holy Place where the marriage covenant will be made. Chapters 12-19 give a curriculum vitae for each of the attenders at the marriage – first the bride and the dragon, then the sea beast and the land beast, followed by the Groom on Mount Zion.
The Wrath of God (Rev. 15:1-8; Isa. 53:3-10; Matt. 26:39-42; Rom. 1:18-32; James 2:13)
1. What attender at the marriage of the Lamb is introduced in Revelation 15?
2. According to Romans 1:18 against what does God manifest his wrath”?
3. While Jesus still intercedes in heaven’s sanctuary for sinners how is God’s wrath manifested?
4. After Jesus ceases his intercession in what is God’s pre-millennial wrath summed up?
5. What is represented by the sea of glass mingled with fire on which God’s people stand?
6. To whom do God’s people give credit for having gotten the victory and for passing God’s judgment?
7. What is the meaning of Revelation 15:8?
8. When Jesus drank the cup of God’s wrath what did he experience?
The First Plague (Rev. 16:1-2; Psa. 91:3-10; Isa. 1:1-6)
9. To what kind of people does Isaiah refer as being filled with sores?
10. Upon whom do the seven last plagues not fall?
The Second Plague (Rev. 16:3)
11. What is the meaning of the second plague?
12. What literal meaning could the second plague have?
The Third Plague (Rev. 14:4-7, Prov. 5:1-23)
13. If rivers and fountains symbolize the reproductive organs what must the third plague involve?
14. What should we learn from the statements made by Jesus and the waters angel in Revelation 16:5-7?
The Fourth Plague (Rev. 16:8-9)
15. Symbolically what must the fourth plague involve?
16. Literally what might the fourth plague involve?
17. What do the seven last plagues do and NOT do for those who receive them?
The Fifth Plague (Rev. 16:10-11; Exodus 7-11)
18. What is the meaning of the fifth plague?
19. What similarities and differences exist between the plagues of Egypt and those of Revelation 16?
The Sixth Plague (Rev. 16:12-16; Isa. 14:13; 45:1-7; Dan. 5; 11:45; Matt. 27:35, 46)
20. Since the Euphrates was the lifeblood of Babylon who were and who will be “the kings of the east”?
21. Who was naked and suffered the wrath of God that we might not be found naked during the plagues?
22. What is Armageddon?
The Seventh Plague (Rev. 16:17-21; 13:15; Isa. 28:17)
23. Whose is the great voice in Revelation 16:17 and what does it accomplish?
24. What does the seventh plague accomplish?
ANSWERS: 1. God the Father; 2. All ungodliness and unrighteousness of men; 3. By letting people go their own way – first in immorality, then in homosexuality, & finally in a reprobate mind; 4. The seven last plagues; 5. Sea refers to the lavar in the outer court of the sanctuary which was made of brass (used for a looking glass [mirror]) which is a symbol of Christ’s righteous life while fire refers to the infilling of the Holy Spirit – thus depicting God’s people on earth trusting in the righteousness of Christ & filled with his Spirit; 6. To God, & not to any attainment of their own; 7. That Jesus has finished his mediation in heaven’s sanctuary & having left it there remains no more chance of salvation for the lost; 8. The gathering of hostile armies, an unjust death sentence, unquenchable thirst, scorching sun upon open wounds, utter darkness with extreme pain, the gathering of political rulers against his naked body, the voice of God saying “It is finished,” abandonment by God the Father, & lightnings, thunderings, & a great earthquake; 9. Rebellious children, laden with iniquity; 10. God’s people who are sealed in Christ, having not worshipped the beast nor his image; 11. That there is NO saving (life-giving) blood throughout the sea of humanity; 12. That earth’s oceans could develop a red tide making all seafood death producing; 13. The disfunction of the reproductive organs of those who worship the beast; 14. That God’s wrath poured out in the seven last plagues is entirely just; 15. Extreme destructiveness of the forces of nature; 16. Solar radiation causing extreme pain; 17. They harden their hearts against God while not bringing them repentance nor giving glory to God; 18. That great darkness (spiritual confusion) will fall upon the Papacy; 19. They are similar in that God’s power is manifest, God’s people are exempt (protected), both include changing water to blood, sores, darkness, hail, & frogs, the seventh includes hail in both, while they are different in that those of Revelation are only seven, not ten (locusts already came under the fifth trumpet & eternal death awaits the end of the millennium), & in Egypt God’s plagues soften some hearts while in Revelation only hardening of hearts takes place; 20. They were Cyrus & his army that conquered Babylon & they will be Jesus & the armies of heaven who will conquer false religion; 21. Jesus the Christ; 22. It is the “mount if the congregation” (heaven’s Most Holy Place [the glorious, holy mountain] where Satan desires to reign – the place where God’s people gather on the Day of Atonement – Mount Zion) against which Satan attacks & God defends in earth’s last battle; 23. It is the voice of God, the Father, & when he speaks God’s people are delivered from their enemies who have gathered all earth’s powers against them, even with a death decree; 24. It breaks up Babylon’s three-fold union of Spiritism, Catholicism, & Pentecostalism, exposing all their lies (the action of hail) & leaving every earthly institution unable to help the lost, thus ushering in Christ’s second coming.
