Revelation 16:12 Commentary and Bible Study

We now come to Armageddon, the great battle that Scripture tells us will take place at the end of the world. It will be frustrating, for it does not tell you what happens at Armageddon. The sixth angel pours out his vial on the river Euphrates. This river was the eastern border of the land which God gave to the descendants of Abraham (Deuteronomy 1:7-8). The image is taken from a time when rivers were hard for armies to cross over and acted as natural obstacles. The battle is pictured in terms of the situation of national Israel surrounded by enemies, but Israel is a figure for the church of Jesus Christ. The result is that the water of the river dries up, and in this symbolic picture the way is open for those enemies to advance on the people of God. Who are our historic enemies? The devil, the beast out of the sea, the beast out of the earth. These will finally come against the people of God when God’s restraint is removed. Until then he holds back these forces but at the end they will be released. Not that we are being judged, but that the plan of God deliberately allows these enemies to prevail, although only for a limited time. Armageddon represents the climax of godlessness. They now move in a more determined way than before. The enemies will advance, but they are in fact heading for judgement and complete destruction. Armageddon is not a long fight. It will be over almost as soon it begins. It is their last destructive effort against the church. We might expect to see things getting worse and worse. When will this happen? Right before the seventh final vial is poured out, last judgement. Who is the waring side in this battle? Is it one unbelieving army against another as if the vision describes the removal of peace and a great final war in which all nations confront each other? Or is it a battle in which the nations combine together to attack the people of God, a battle which is ultimately between Christ and the devil? Parallel passages in Revelation, and the reference to the historic battle of Armageddon argue in favour of the latter. Revelation 20 describes the gospel age (as notes on that chapter will show), and at the end Satan will be allowed to gather the nations of the world for a final assault on the church: ‘And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, ⁸ 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. ⁹ 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’ (Revelation 20:7-9). The same scene is shown in Revelation 19:19, ‘And I saw the beast, and the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against him that sat on the horse, and against his army’ (Revelation 19:19). Revelation 11 points to the same event: ‘And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them’ (Revelation 11:7). The great battle between Christ and the devil comes to a head and takes on visible form as the devil manipulates the world to achieve his purpose in destroying the church. Although in all these passages this last battle is described as a localised battle, we need not think of it as taking place in a single location. This is merely a device which is necessary to employ Old Testament imagery. It takes the language of national Israel and applies it to the church, expecting us to make the necessary transformation in the figure in order to interpret it. The people of God do not now live in a single land, but are called from every nation of the world and live scattered throughout the nations. They do not have a recognisable physical border. So then, if we take the language of Israel’s enemies who come pouring over the borders and surrounding the camp of the saints, and if we translate this language into its New Testament equivalent, what do we have? We have a worldwide persecution of the saints and a final attempt by the devil to crush and annihilate the church of Jesus Christ. This fits with all the other passages considered, where the attack is said more explicitly to be made on the saints of the Lord.