Coming Storm
At the end of the age, Satan and his minions will launch the final “war” against the saints, the followers of the Lamb.
Several times the book of Revelation describes
“the war,” the final assault by Satan and his earthly vassals against
the followers of Jesus, the “saints.” In each case, “war” is singular,
and in the Greek text, its noun form is accompanied by the definite article. It
is “THE war.” And both the Greek noun and its verb form are applied to
the same future event.
In
part, the language is derived from the book of Daniel, specifically, the
description of the war against the saints by the malevolent figure known as the
“little horn”:
- “I beheld, and the same horn made war with the saints and prevailed against them until the Ancient of days came, and judgment was given for the saints of the Most-High, and the time came that the saints possessed the kingdom” – (Daniel 7:21-22).
In
Revelation, this “war” is found in the vision of the “two
witnesses,” and its description uses language from the passage from Daniel.
After the “two witnesses” complete their “testimony,” the “beast”
ascends from the Abyss to “wage war with them
and overcome them and kill them.” And the “witnesses” are
identified as “two lampstands,” and elsewhere in the book, “lampstands”
represent churches – (Revelation 11:7).
This same war is described from another perspective in the twelfth
chapter. John saw “war in heaven” between Satan and “Michael and his
angels.” The Devil was represented as the “great red dragon” with
seven heads, ten horns, and “crowns” on each of his seven heads. He was
defeated and expelled from heaven.
But Satan was not out of the picture. Consigned to the earth, the “dragon”
set out to destroy the “woman clothed with the sun,” but he was thwarted
from doing so. Next, he waged “war” against the woman’s “seed,”
and once more, the conflict was described with the same clause from Daniel
– “And the dragon waxed wroth with the woman and departed to make
war with the rest of her seed, they who keep the commandments of God,
and have the testimony of Jesus.” And as before, the targets of his assault were the followers of
the “Lamb” – (Revelation 12:17).
This last vision ended with Satan standing on the seashore summoning
his “seed” to execute his “war” against the “seed of the woman,”
the “beast from the sea” and the “beast from the earth,” the
latter also identified as the “false prophet.”
John saw the first “beast ascending from the sea,” an image
that parallels its previous “ascent from the Abyss.” It possessed ten
horns and seven heads, with a “crown” on each of its ten heads. This “beast”
had all the political authority of the “dragon,” which it used to “wage
war against the saints and overcome them.” And once again, the
passage echoes the same words from Daniel.
For his part, the “false prophet” used religious deceit by
mimicking the “Lamb,” along with economic control and sanctions to
compel men to render homage to the first “beast”
– (Revelation 13:1-16).
The “war” is described again when the angel
emptied the sixth bowl of wrath “on the great
river, Euphrates.” The
water was dried up so the “kings of the east” and their armies
could attack. The intended target of their assault is not identified in the
passage.
Demons released from the mouths of the “dragon,”
the “beast,” and the “false prophet” orchestrated the “gathering
together” of these “kings” to “the war of the great day of God, the
Almighty” at Armageddon, where this
force was destroyed. And the sixth bowl was part of the series of judgments
that “completed the wrath of God” and concluded with the final
destruction of the world city, “Babylon the Great.” Her downfall resulted
in terrestrial and celestial upheaval, the end of the present age – (Revelation
16:12-21).
In chapter 17, the “ten horns” of the “beast”
represent “ten kings” who give their political authority to the “beast”
so it can “wage war against the Lamb.” However, Jesus as the “Lamb”
will overcome
them, “for he is Lord of lords, and King of kings,” along with those who are with him, the “called and chosen and faithful.” This picture anticipates the victory of the one who
was “riding the white horse” and his “army” in the nineteenth
chapter - (Revelation 17:14).
And
in chapter 19, Jesus is the “rider on the white horse” who was followed
by his “armies in heaven.” On his thigh the designation was written, “King
of kings and Lord of lords.” The resulting battle is described with
language from Ezekiel that originally applied to the army of “Gog and
Magog” and its attack on Israel. Just as the “kings of the earth”
were “gathered together” to Armageddon for destruction, so
the “beast and the kings of the earth and their armies” were “gathered
together to make war” against the one sitting on the “white
horse” – (Revelation 19:10-21).
The
passage provides no descriptions of the actual battle, only its aftermath when
the “beast” and “false prophet” are thrown alive into the “lake
of fire,” and the rest of their unholy force was destroyed by the “sword
of him that sat upon the horse.”
Finally, in chapter 20, Satan was released from
the “Abyss.” His release is conceptually parallel to the “ascent”
of the “beast from the Abyss,” as well as its “ascent from the sea.”
The Devil then “gathered together” the nations “from
the four corners of the earth to the war, Gog and Magog.” Here, the link to Ezekiel’s vision is explicit.
And once again using language from that same vision,
Revelation describes this force as “ascending over the breadth of the earth to
surround the camp of the saints.” The extent of this final assault is global, not
regional. And as in chapter 19, no description of the actual battle is
provided. The passage simply states that “fire
came down out of heaven and devoured them.” This was followed immediately by the final judgment at the “Great
White Throne.”
The verbal parallels in chapter 20 with the
preceding passages are clear. This is the same “war” portrayed in
chapters 16 and 19, only here, the targeted victims of this final assault are identified,
the “saints,” the same group persecuted previously by the “beast from
the sea” – (Revelation 13:7).
The use of the same language from Daniel and Ezekiel
to describe this “war” in these several passages, the verbal links (e.g.,
“gathered together”), the conceptual parallels (e.g.,
ascent/release from the “Abyss”), and the identity of Satan’s victims
(the “saints,” those who have the “testimony of Jesus”), all
demonstrate that the same final “war” is in view.
Prior to the end of the age, Satan will launch his final assault
against the “saints,” those who “follow the Lamb wherever he goes,”
that is, the church. This “war” will include deception and deceivers
active within the church, economic pressure from without, and outright
persecution, including martyrdom. It will be the Devil’s last-ditch effort to
destroy the people redeemed by the “blood of the Lamb,” which is the
only way he can wage an effective war against Jesus.
