God's Anger Brought to a Finish -Conclusion of The Gathering to Armageddon

Conclusion of The Gathering to Armageddon

What, though, is implied by the warning that those found sleeping would be shamed by losing their "outer garments"?  In ancient Israel, any priest or Levite on guard duty at the temple had a heavy responsibility.  Jewish commentators tell us that  if anyone was caught sleeping on such duty, his garments could be stripped from him and burned, so that he was publicly shamed.

Jesus here warns that something similar can happen today.  The priests and Levites foreshadowed Jesus' anointed brothers.  (1 Peter 2:9) But Jesus' warning applies by extension to the great crowd too.  The outer garments have referred to identify the wearer as a  Christian witness of Jehovah.  (Compare Revelation 3:18; 7:14)  If any allow the pressures of Satan's  world to lull them to sleep or into inactivity, they are likely to lose these outer garments-in other words, lose their clean identification as Christians.  Such a situation would be shameful.  It would put one in danger of losing out completely.

The need for Christians  to stay awake becomes even more pressing as the next verse of Revelation comes closer to fulfillment:  "And they  [the expressions inspired by demons] gathered them[the earthly kings, or rulers] together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon."  (Revelation16:16) This name, more commonly rendered Armageddon, occurs only once in the Bible. But it has fired mankind's imagination.  Would leaders have warned of a possible nuclear Armageddon?  Armageddon has been linked  also with the ancient city of Megiddo, the site of many decisive battles in Bible times, and some religious leaders have therefore speculated that the final war on earth will take place in that limited area. In this, they are wide of the truth.

The name Har-Magedon means "Mountain of Megiddo."  But rather than being a literal place, it represents the world situation into which all nations are gathered in opposition to Jehovah God and where he will finally destroy them.  This is global in extent.  (Jeremiah 25:31-33; Daniel 2:44)  It is similar to "the great winepress of the anger of God" and "the low plain  of the decision," or "the low plain of Jehoshaphat," where the nations are gathered for execution by Jehovah.  (Revelation 14:19; Joel 3:12,14) It is also related to "the soil of Israel" where the satanic armies of Gog of Magog are destroyed and that location "between the grand sea and the holy mountain of Decoration"  where the king of the north comes "all the way to his end"  at the hands of Michael the great prince. -Ezekiel 38:16-18, 22, 23; Daniel 11:45-12:1. 

Next time: God's Anger Brought to a Finish -"It Has Come to Pass!"

From the Book of Revelation