And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
SURROUNDED THE CAMP OF GOD’S PEOPLE / REVELATION 20:9
The battle of Armageddon (Revelation 16:16; 19:19) is not the final conflict of good and evil. One last battle at the end of the millennium will seal the eternal doom of Satan and his followers. Nations will be deceived into marching against and surrounding Jerusalem, intent on being free from Christ’s rule. Like the confrontation at the beginning of the millennium, this battle is not much of a contest and the outcome is never in doubt. God will intervene, and the rebels will be destroyed by fire. His judgment will result in their total destruction.
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And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog, and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
DECEIVE THE NATIONS / REVELATION 20:8
This is the last rebellion against God in history. Many of those born during the millennium will choose to reject Christ’s authority and choose instead to believe Satan’s lies. How and why will so many be deceived into rebelling against God, even after experiencing the perfection of Christ’s reign? The fact is that human nature will be the same. Some people will likely be convinced that they have missed out on something or did not truly have freedom under Christ’s rule. People with weak commitments or insincere motives will always deny or defy God when faced with temptation. Only when people have joined Christ for eternity – changed in body and spirit – will they be rid of the sinful nature. (Note that those who were resurrected or came form heaven to reign with Christ during the millennium will be immune to Satan’s temptations. His deception will occur only among those who were born during the millennium Revelation 19:21).
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And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
SATAN WILL BE RELEASED / REVELATION 20:7
At the close of the millennium, Satan will be released.
It seems that God will allow Satan to test those who have lived under the ideal conditions of Christ’s millennial reign. They will have opportunity to prove their allegiance to God or to follow the pull of their carnal (unspiritual) hearts and rebel against Him. Ironically, countless people (Revelation 20:8) who experienced Christ’s peace will be deceived and will join themselves with Satan and his final evil army.
Satan himself, full of vengeance following his confinement and still deceived in believing he can yet defeat God, will be allowed to deceive those who desire to rebel against Christ’s rule. He will gather a multitude of such rebels – “like the sand on the seashore” (Revelation 20:8) to launch a final assault on God’s people.
“Gog and Magog” (Revelation 20:8 derived from Ezekiel 38 – 39, but not necessarily a reference to the same nations) represent all the nations of the world and their spirit of rebellion against God and righteousness.
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For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
SPIRITS OF DEMONS PERFORMING MIRACULOUS SIGNS / REVELATION 16:14
During the tribulation, rulers of the nations will be greatly influenced and controlled by demons. Deceived by Satan through miracles, they will enter into an insane alliance with the antichrist. By following his schemes, they will plunge the entire world into a great holocaust.
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And 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.
FROGS / REVELATION 16:13
These evil spirits are demons who can work miracles and deceive the nations in order to support evil, sin and the antichrist. The “dragon” must be identified with Satan (Revelation 12:7-9) and the “beast” with the anti-christ (Revelation 13). The fact that they come out of the mouths of the unholy trio may indicate some sort of communication or lying message to the world. However, these particular spirits do not focus on common people; their attention is on manipulating world rulers.
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7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels fought against the dragon; and the dragon fought and his angels,
8 And prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in heaven.
9 And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.
WAR IN HEAVEN / REVELATION 12:7-9
The tribulation will involve not only great spiritual conflict on earth, but also war in heaven. Battling against Michael (whom Jude calls the archangel, or “chief angel”) and his angels, Satan and his angels will put forth a final effort to defeat God’s angels and his ultimate plans. Up to this time, Satan and his demons have been rulers of authority in the spirit world with significant realms of influence. They have been “powers of this dark world” and “spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms: (Ephesians 6:12). Yet, Michael goes on the offense and launches the attack on Satan, giving a sign that the devil’s wicked rule is about to end. Satan’s power is no match for the angels who have always remined loyal to God.
Satan is defeated, hurled down to earth (Luke 10:18) and allowed no further access to heaven.
Heaven rejoices (Revelation 12:10-12), for Satan is no longer a spiritual force in heavenly places (Ephesians 6:12). At the same time, this event causes “woe” to those on earth (Revelation 12:12-13), where he will still have power. However, his time at this point is short and his final defeat is very near. This fall of Satan may begin the great tribulation – the latter half, and most intense part, of the seven years before Christ’s return to earth. At the end of the tribulation time, the antichrist will be defeated and thrown into the lake of fire and Satan will be bound and thrown into the Abyss, freeing the world of his evil schemes for a thousand years (Revelation 20:1-3). Following that time, Satan will be released briefly to deceive those who are not completely devoted to Christ and to make a final assault against the godly. But in the end, he will be defeated completely and thrown into the lake of fire for eternity (Revelation 20:7-10).
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(KJV) Revelation 12:4 And his tail drew the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon stood before the woman which was ready to be delivered, for to devour her child as soon as it was born.
A THIRD OF THE STARS / REVELATION 12:4
This action and symbolism is like that of the small horn (the Syrian ruler, Antiochus Epiphanes) in Daniel 8:9-10. Some believe that this is a description of the angel Lucifer’s (Satan’s) original rebellion against God and fall from heaven along with the angels who followed him (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 1:6). Others simply view this as a sign of Satan’s ruthless and destructive power over those who oppose him. Satan is unsuccessful in his attempt to destroy Jesus as an infant (Revelation 12:5; Matthew 2:16-18).
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And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
FALSE PROPHET … THE MIRACULOUS / REVELATION 19:20
John again describes the false prophet by one primary characteristic: he deceived many by performing miraculous signs (Revelation 13:13-15; 2 Thessalonians 2:9-10). Since Satan can only imitate the genuine things of God, these miracles will be full of lies and deception, just as in all that Satan does (John 8:44). In the last days, those who desire to remain faithful to Christ and His Word (Revelation 14:12) must not base their perception and evaluation of truth and reality solely on the appearance of success or miracles. The Lord Himself warns: “For false Christs and false prophets will appear and perform great signs and miracles to deceive even the elect – it that were possible” (Matthew 24:24).
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(KJV) Revelation 6:1 And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see.
THE LAMB OPENED / REVELATION 6:1
Jesus Christ Himself – the only one with the authority and worthiness opens all the seals (Revelation 5:12), which reveal God’s devasting end-time judgments on the world (Revelation 6:1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 12). Throughout the book of Revelation, the plagues and judgments are called God’s “wrath” (His justified anger, judgment and punishment, Revelation 6:16-17; 11:18; 14:10, 19; 15:1-7; 16:1, 19; 19:15).
THE FIRST OF THE SEVEN SEALS
Some interpreters understand the opening of the first seal as the beginning of the seven-year tribulation – the future time of unprecedented suffering and judgment leading up to Christ’s second coming to destroy the forces of the antichrist and reign on earth (Daniel 9:27; 12:1; Jeremiah 30:7; Revelation 6:17; 7:14). Others believe that the seals describe a final three and one-half years on the seven-year tribulation, often called the great tribulation. Still others see the seals as the beginning of the sequence of God’s judgment toward the end of the age. God’s judgments are revealed in three successive series. The first series is the seven seals (Revelation 6); the second, the seven trumpet judgments (Revelation 8-9; 11:15-19); and the third, the “seven bowls of God’s wrath” (Revelation 16; Revelation 8:1).
Note, however that while the releasing of the various plagues and judgments is described in sequence, these descriptions are not necessarily meant to convey a strict chronological order of events. That is to say, the visions do not mean that each plague lasts only until the next is released or that each catastrophe follows the completion of the one before it. once unleased, it is likely that the effects of several plagues or disasters are going on at the same time and may linger throughout much of the tribulation period. Some of the events described with the opening of the seals (the fifth seal) clearly seem to anticipate or preview things that will be fully revealed or executed in later judgments. The sixth seal actually appears to give an overview of the entire period of judgment yet to come. It is quite possible that nothing is actually happening on earth until the seventh seal is broken. Up to that point, as each of the preceding seals is broken, John simply receives a vision of what will happen after the final seal is broken and the entire scroll can be opened, revealing what is to come. From that point on (Revelation 8:1, 7), God’s direct judgments will begin to throw the visible universe out of its natural order, eventually leading to the destruction of the present world system and ushering in Christ’s millennial (thousand-year) reign of peace on earth to close out time as we know it (Daniel 2:34-35, 44-45; Revelation 6:12).
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