David:     Karen, I was nine years old when World War II ended back in 1945. You couldn’t get news back then by way of television even, or iPhones or the internet. So, what were the primary ways people were informed about what was happening?

Karen:     Well, I was only two years old when the Second World War ended, but my response to your question is that people stayed informed probably by means of radio and newspapers. My right, that’s pretty much where their information came from.

Intro:      Welcome to the Before We Go Podcast featuring Dr. David Mains and his wife, noted author Karen Mains. Here’s David and Karen Mains.

David:     The most famous of the war broadcasters was Edward R. Murrow. He actually had a number of team members who worked with him from various strategic foreign locations. Old timers like me still remember names like Robert Trout and Ned Calmer. Then totally separate from the Edward R. Murrow team, there were also independent radio news reporters like Gabriel Heater. What a name, huh? Gabriel Heater. I remember him for always starting his broadcast with the words, “There’s good news tonight. The Yanks are giving it to the enemy.”

Karen:     So, in our series on the book of Revelation, we have been in some tough chapters. Can I assume that’s going to change now for the better?

David:     Yep, nothing but good news from the front. Now to the end of the book, which means that for this visit about Revelation as well.

Karen:     Can I up front give our sentence for these chapters?

David:     Yes, sure, go ahead.

Karen:     Knowing ahead of time the outcome of the critical global battle of Armageddon, Christians should not only stand tall, but also bow low before their incomparable leader.

David:     Lots of material to cover, five chapters. Let’s get right into it, okay? In Revelation chapter 16, seven angels are given seven bowls of God’s wrath to pour on the enemy. And that’s what they proceed to do. Please read verse two of chapter 16 as the first example.

Karen:     “The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land. An ugly and painful source broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.”

David:     Okay, we’re going to skip the verses describing God’s bowls of wrath number two to number five. But this bad news concerns the enemy. And let’s pick up the narrative at verse 12 of Revelation 16.

Karen:     “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.”

David:     Okay, now he explains what those are. Go ahead.

Karen:     “They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.” Let’s skip a couple of verses here. Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

David:     So, this evil trio, they’re trying to trick so they get all the military might of the world to gather at this one place. The primary source I’ve been using to help me in this series has been Professor George Elden Ladd of Fuller Seminary. He’s with the Lord now, but he wrote, “The word Armageddon is difficult.” The Hebrew equivalent would translate the mountain of Megiddo. The problem is that Megiddo is not a mountain. But it’s a place located between the Sea of Galilee on the east. And then if you go west, you’re going to hit what?

Karen:     The Mediterranean.

David:     Yeah. So, it’s this part of the valley that was called Jezreel, and it was a famous battleground in the history of Israel. You can see that on a map of Israel, even now, right? Whatever the derivation of the name, it’s clear that John meant by Armageddon, the place where the final struggle between the powers of evil and the kingdom of God take place. I’m going to read verses 18 to 21, then we will talk about them. Okay, kind of picture this in your mind.

“Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts and the cities of the nations collapsed.”

This is bigger than just the Armageddon area. “God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away, and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people and they cursed God on account of the plague of hail because the plague was so terrible.” God isn’t playing by the rules of modern warfare.

Karen:     It’s interesting that we have this present-day news report of Iran that experienced that earthquake that took down those huge buildings. I mean it’s kind of a parallel illustration in a way. How interesting is that? So that but this will be much, much larger than that.

David:     This is worldwide in scope. This is rivaling what happened in Egypt when God slayed all the firstborn of the whole great nation. God is quite creative in a way he does things. He is not limited in his imagination.

Karen:     God wanted to get humankind’s attention. He seems to use nature quite a bit because he commands it totally and fully.

David:     Yeah. He sends it an army of locusts. He sends fire. Elijah says okay show who you are. A couple other things as far as I’m thinking how God works sometimes. The plagues of Egypt. Frogs, gnats. He sends snakes into Israel. Darkness. Mountains that can’t be found. I knew there was a mountain over there but where is it? Or islands that are gone. This is huge what is taking place, but it gives you a feel in terms of the scope of it. The Armageddon scene is massive. Now we’re going to change and we’re leave that scene and come to a new chapter. Go ahead.

Karen:     Okay so we’re into a new chapter and a new topic. This is Revelation chapter 17 and I’m reading verses 1 and 2. That’s Apostle John  again. This is a vision he’s having. “One of the angels who had the seven bowls of God’s wrath came and said to me, ‘Come I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters’.”

David:     So, this is the new topic. The great prostitute who sits on many waters. So, she’s sitting on many waters but these waters you saw where the prostitute sits. What are they?

Karen:     Verse 15 of this chapter gives clarification. There are “peoples, multitudes, nations and languages” and what does that sound like to you?

David:     Well, it doesn’t sound like a rural scene. You know a babbling brook and birds chirping and soft rain. These are kind of big city descriptions or sounds. Noise, confusion, people on the go, many languages, hustlers, whatever. Ok?

Karen:     “With her,” this great prostitute, “the kings of the earth committed adultery. Then the angel carried me away in the spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names.”

David:     Oh man, man, I know who this is. Keep going.

Karen:     “And he had seven heads and ten horns.”

David:     Do you understand who or what’s being described here?

Karen:     Well, I think it’s the antichrist she’s sitting on, am I right?

David:     Yes.

Karen:     She’s either sitting with or on. Yeah, anyway…

David:     Yeah. This woman is in cahoots with the unholy trio, with Satan, the antichrist, and the false prophet. They’re in cahoots.

Karen:     So, there’s a description of her. “The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and was glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls.” So, she’s kind of an attractive image in a rough way. “She held a golden cup in her hand filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead: Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Prostitutes, And Of The Abominations Of The Earth. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.”

David:     Not somebody you want to have over your house to have a conversation.

Karen:     Yeah, ominous, right.

David:     “Then the angel said to me: ‘Why are you so astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides”, the antichrist, “which has the seven heads and the ten horns.”

Unfortunately, her explanation isn’t all that easy to follow in this short amount of time we have, so I’m going to make it a rabbit trail that we can chase down maybe another time. But I want us to read the last sentence in the chapter. This “woman you saw”, this prostitute, “is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” What city does that sound like to you?

Karen:     Well, given when this was written by John after Christ’s death, I’m thinking that the city that rules over the kings of the earth sounds to me like he meant Rome.

David:     Yeah, I think everyone would pretty much agree with what you’ve just said. This scarlet woman is a synonym for Rome and not only for Rome, Imperial Rome, the whole of the Roman Empire. That’s the subject of chapter 18 and the first half of 19. So, we’re going to hear what will happen to this great city and we’re going to read directly from the scriptures. Okay, started out.

Karen:     “After this, I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice, he shouted, ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the great!’” I can hear that air resounding with a cry.

David:     Then it’s a great angel saying it.

Karen:     Yeah. “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a dwelling for demons in a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries. Then I heard another voice from heaven say, ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues, for her sins are piled up to heaven and God has remembered her crying’.”

David:     Yeah, there’s very strong verses continuing, again, reading directly from God’s word. “Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow. I will never mourn’. Therefore, in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

Karen:     And then we have this Jubilee, sort of. “Rejoice over her, O heavens! Rejoice, you people of God, rejoice apostles and prophets. For God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.”

I want to say, Hallelujah. Going back to the text. “After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants’.” And again this is no choir.

David:     Go for it.

Karen:     “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder shouting, ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns, let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready’.”

David:     When he says the wedding of the lamb has come, it means okay, we’re at the end of the world. But in all of this, something hasn’t happened. That is, the Jesus hasn’t come back. I think it’s kind of neat in Revelation. You have no word of the King coming back because when that happens, if it’s written down, then people will plan ahead. You know, they got it on the calendar. No one knows, but now that fact is going to be established. And I think when you read these verses, you will say, that sounds like a continuation of that battle of Armageddon, and all the terrible things that happened after that. Continue going, Karen.

Karen:     “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True.” And again, white represents virtue or Christ.

David:     That’s good. Yeah, I said good news. This is good news. Okay.

Karen:     “With justice, he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty on his robe and on his thigh. He has this name written: King Of Kings And Lord Of Lords.”

David:     Yeah, I love it. This short paragraph then follows, “And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the”, and you don’t expect this next word, “he cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair. ‘Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty of horses and their riders and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great small”, got a big menu tonight. Yeah, go ahead.

Karen:     Okay, we know now that some battles, days and weeks and months, right?

David:     Okay.

Karen:     This one is over rather quickly. “Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies gather together to wage war against the rider and the horse and his army. But the beast was captured and with it, the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf, with these signs, he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worship its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.” And we all say yay.

David:     Yeah, we laugh, whistling. Okay.

Karen:     “The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider and the horse and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.”

David:     Yeah, okay. And all the birds got the treat they were promised. It kind of leaves you breathless, doesn’t it? What was the summary sentence we wrote out here and here it is again, okay? Knowing ahead of time the outcome of the critical global battle of Armageddon, Christians should not only stand tall but also bow low before their incomparable leader.

Thing is, we get to be on the winning side of what’s going on when the world as we know it comes to an end. Wow. History is headed inexorably toward a bloody global showdown between the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, Christ and the Antichrist, God and Satan, which the devil wins, however, only temporarily. Followers of Jesus need to understand this and prepare themselves accordingly. How many times have I read that sentence over and over again through this series?

Karen:     Next visit we will conclude the book of Revelation as we talk about chapters 20, 21, and 22.

David:     Yeah, that’s the whole judgment, the white throne judgment. And then the beauty of the New Jerusalem coming down to heaven.

Karen:     Wonderful. Yeah.

David:     People will like that. I said there was going to be all good news. To quote Gabriel Heater: “There’s good news tonight. Front line, good news. The enemy is taking a pummeling.” How’s that for an ending?

Karen:     I think in closing I’d like to quote a well-known radio man too. He came a bit after those you referred to earlier and it’s Paul Harvey and the line he used so often was, “And now you know the rest of the story.”

David:     Thank you.

Outgo:     You’ve been listening to the Before We Go podcast. And if you would like to write to us, please send us an email at the following address, hosts@beforewego.show.   If you’ve enjoyed this podcast, please remember to rate, review, and share on whatever platform you listen. This podcast is copyright 2023 by Mainstay Ministries, Post Office Box 30, Wheaton, Illinois 60187.

David:     Karen, I was nine years old when World War II ended back in 1945. You couldn’t get news back then by way of television even, or iPhones or the internet. So, what were the primary ways people were informed about what was happening?

Karen:     Well, I was only two years old when the Second World War ended, but my response to your question is that people stayed informed probably by means of radio and newspapers. My right, that’s pretty much where their information came from.

Intro:      Welcome to the Before We Go Podcast featuring Dr. David Mains and his wife, noted author Karen Mains. Here’s David and Karen Mains.

David:     The most famous of the war broadcasters was Edward R. Murrow. He actually had a number of team members who worked with him from various strategic foreign locations. Old timers like me still remember names like Robert Trout and Ned Calmer. Then totally separate from the Edward R. Murrow team, there were also independent radio news reporters like Gabriel Heater. What a name, huh? Gabriel Heater. I remember him for always starting his broadcast with the words, “There’s good news tonight. The Yanks are giving it to the enemy.”

Karen:     So, in our series on the book of Revelation, we have been in some tough chapters. Can I assume that’s going to change now for the better?

David:     Yep, nothing but good news from the front. Now to the end of the book, which means that for this visit about Revelation as well.

Karen:     Can I up front give our sentence for these chapters?

David:     Yes, sure, go ahead.

Karen:     Knowing ahead of time the outcome of the critical global battle of Armageddon, Christians should not only stand tall, but also bow low before their incomparable leader.

David:     Lots of material to cover, five chapters. Let’s get right into it, okay? In Revelation chapter 16, seven angels are given seven bowls of God’s wrath to pour on the enemy. And that’s what they proceed to do. Please read verse two of chapter 16 as the first example.

Karen:     “The first angel went and poured out his bowl on the land. An ugly and painful source broke out on the people who had the mark of the beast and worshiped his image.”

David:     Okay, we’re going to skip the verses describing God’s bowls of wrath number two to number five. But this bad news concerns the enemy. And let’s pick up the narrative at verse 12 of Revelation 16.

Karen:     “The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. Then I saw three evil spirits that looked like frogs; they came out of the mouth of the dragon, out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet.”

David:     Okay, now he explains what those are. Go ahead.

Karen:     “They are spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world, to gather them for the battle on the great day of God Almighty.” Let’s skip a couple of verses here. Then they gathered the kings together to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.

David:     So, this evil trio, they’re trying to trick so they get all the military might of the world to gather at this one place. The primary source I’ve been using to help me in this series has been Professor George Elden Ladd of Fuller Seminary. He’s with the Lord now, but he wrote, “The word Armageddon is difficult.” The Hebrew equivalent would translate the mountain of Megiddo. The problem is that Megiddo is not a mountain. But it’s a place located between the Sea of Galilee on the east. And then if you go west, you’re going to hit what?

Karen:     The Mediterranean.

David:     Yeah. So, it’s this part of the valley that was called Jezreel, and it was a famous battleground in the history of Israel. You can see that on a map of Israel, even now, right? Whatever the derivation of the name, it’s clear that John meant by Armageddon, the place where the final struggle between the powers of evil and the kingdom of God take place. I’m going to read verses 18 to 21, then we will talk about them. Okay, kind of picture this in your mind.

“Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since mankind has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts and the cities of the nations collapsed.”

This is bigger than just the Armageddon area. “God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away, and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones, each weighing about a hundred pounds, fell on people and they cursed God on account of the plague of hail because the plague was so terrible.” God isn’t playing by the rules of modern warfare.

Karen:     It’s interesting that we have this present-day news report of Iran that experienced that earthquake that took down those huge buildings. I mean it’s kind of a parallel illustration in a way. How interesting is that? So that but this will be much, much larger than that.

David:     This is worldwide in scope. This is rivaling what happened in Egypt when God slayed all the firstborn of the whole great nation. God is quite creative in a way he does things. He is not limited in his imagination.

Karen:     God wanted to get humankind’s attention. He seems to use nature quite a bit because he commands it totally and fully.

David:     Yeah. He sends it an army of locusts. He sends fire. Elijah says okay show who you are. A couple other things as far as I’m thinking how God works sometimes. The plagues of Egypt. Frogs, gnats. He sends snakes into Israel. Darkness. Mountains that can’t be found. I knew there was a mountain over there but where is it? Or islands that are gone. This is huge what is taking place, but it gives you a feel in terms of the scope of it. The Armageddon scene is massive. Now we’re going to change and we’re leave that scene and come to a new chapter. Go ahead.

Karen:     Okay so we’re into a new chapter and a new topic. This is Revelation chapter 17 and I’m reading verses 1 and 2. That’s Apostle John  again. This is a vision he’s having. “One of the angels who had the seven bowls of God’s wrath came and said to me, ‘Come I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters’.”

David:     So, this is the new topic. The great prostitute who sits on many waters. So, she’s sitting on many waters but these waters you saw where the prostitute sits. What are they?

Karen:     Verse 15 of this chapter gives clarification. There are “peoples, multitudes, nations and languages” and what does that sound like to you?

David:     Well, it doesn’t sound like a rural scene. You know a babbling brook and birds chirping and soft rain. These are kind of big city descriptions or sounds. Noise, confusion, people on the go, many languages, hustlers, whatever. Ok?

Karen:     “With her,” this great prostitute, “the kings of the earth committed adultery. Then the angel carried me away in the spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names.”

David:     Oh man, man, I know who this is. Keep going.

Karen:     “And he had seven heads and ten horns.”

David:     Do you understand who or what’s being described here?

Karen:     Well, I think it’s the antichrist she’s sitting on, am I right?

David:     Yes.

Karen:     She’s either sitting with or on. Yeah, anyway…

David:     Yeah. This woman is in cahoots with the unholy trio, with Satan, the antichrist, and the false prophet. They’re in cahoots.

Karen:     So, there’s a description of her. “The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet and was glittering with gold, precious stones, and pearls.” So, she’s kind of an attractive image in a rough way. “She held a golden cup in her hand filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead: Mystery, Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Prostitutes, And Of The Abominations Of The Earth. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus. When I saw her, I was greatly astonished.”

David:     Not somebody you want to have over your house to have a conversation.

Karen:     Yeah, ominous, right.

David:     “Then the angel said to me: ‘Why are you so astonished? I will explain to you the mystery of the woman and of the beast she rides”, the antichrist, “which has the seven heads and the ten horns.”

Unfortunately, her explanation isn’t all that easy to follow in this short amount of time we have, so I’m going to make it a rabbit trail that we can chase down maybe another time. But I want us to read the last sentence in the chapter. This “woman you saw”, this prostitute, “is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth.” What city does that sound like to you?

Karen:     Well, given when this was written by John after Christ’s death, I’m thinking that the city that rules over the kings of the earth sounds to me like he meant Rome.

David:     Yeah, I think everyone would pretty much agree with what you’ve just said. This scarlet woman is a synonym for Rome and not only for Rome, Imperial Rome, the whole of the Roman Empire. That’s the subject of chapter 18 and the first half of 19. So, we’re going to hear what will happen to this great city and we’re going to read directly from the scriptures. Okay, started out.

Karen:     “After this, I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice, he shouted, ‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the great!’” I can hear that air resounding with a cry.

David:     Then it’s a great angel saying it.

Karen:     Yeah. “Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the great. She has become a dwelling for demons in a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal. For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries. The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries. Then I heard another voice from heaven say, ‘Come out of her, my people, so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues, for her sins are piled up to heaven and God has remembered her crying’.”

David:     Yeah, there’s very strong verses continuing, again, reading directly from God’s word. “Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself. In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen. I am not a widow. I will never mourn’. Therefore, in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine. She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.

Karen:     And then we have this Jubilee, sort of. “Rejoice over her, O heavens! Rejoice, you people of God, rejoice apostles and prophets. For God has judged her with the judgment she imposed on you.”

I want to say, Hallelujah. Going back to the text. “After this I heard what sounded like the roar of a great multitude in heaven shouting: ‘Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God for true and just are his judgments. He has condemned the great prostitute who corrupted the earth by her adulteries. He has avenged on her the blood of his servants’.” And again this is no choir.

David:     Go for it.

Karen:     “Hallelujah! The smoke from her goes up forever and ever. Then I heard what sounded like a great multitude, like the roar of rushing waters and like loud peals of thunder shouting, ‘Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns, let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory. For the wedding of the lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready’.”

David:     When he says the wedding of the lamb has come, it means okay, we’re at the end of the world. But in all of this, something hasn’t happened. That is, the Jesus hasn’t come back. I think it’s kind of neat in Revelation. You have no word of the King coming back because when that happens, if it’s written down, then people will plan ahead. You know, they got it on the calendar. No one knows, but now that fact is going to be established. And I think when you read these verses, you will say, that sounds like a continuation of that battle of Armageddon, and all the terrible things that happened after that. Continue going, Karen.

Karen:     “I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse whose rider is called Faithful and True.” And again, white represents virtue or Christ.

David:     That’s good. Yeah, I said good news. This is good news. Okay.

Karen:     “With justice, he judges and wages war. His eyes are like blazing fire and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but he himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. He will rule them with an iron scepter. He treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty on his robe and on his thigh. He has this name written: King Of Kings And Lord Of Lords.”

David:     Yeah, I love it. This short paragraph then follows, “And I saw an angel standing in the sun, who cried in a loud voice to all the”, and you don’t expect this next word, “he cried in a loud voice to all the birds flying in midair. ‘Come, gather together for the great supper of God, so that you may eat the flesh of kings, generals, and the mighty of horses and their riders and the flesh of all people, free and slave, great small”, got a big menu tonight. Yeah, go ahead.

Karen:     Okay, we know now that some battles, days and weeks and months, right?

David:     Okay.

Karen:     This one is over rather quickly. “Then I saw the beast and the kings of the earth, and their armies gather together to wage war against the rider and the horse and his army. But the beast was captured and with it, the false prophet who had performed the signs on its behalf, with these signs, he had deluded those who had received the mark of the beast and worship its image. The two of them were thrown alive into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.” And we all say yay.

David:     Yeah, we laugh, whistling. Okay.

Karen:     “The rest were killed with the sword coming out of the mouth of the rider and the horse and all the birds gorged themselves on their flesh.”

David:     Yeah, okay. And all the birds got the treat they were promised. It kind of leaves you breathless, doesn’t it? What was the summary sentence we wrote out here and here it is again, okay? Knowing ahead of time the outcome of the critical global battle of Armageddon, Christians should not only stand tall but also bow low before their incomparable leader.

Thing is, we get to be on the winning side of what’s going on when the world as we know it comes to an end. Wow. History is headed inexorably toward a bloody global showdown between the forces of good and evil, light and darkness, Christ and the Antichrist, God and Satan, which the devil wins, however, only temporarily. Followers of Jesus need to understand this and prepare themselves accordingly. How many times have I read that sentence over and over again through this series?

Karen:     Next visit we will conclude the book of Revelation as we talk about chapters 20, 21, and 22.

David:     Yeah, that’s the whole judgment, the white throne judgment. And then the beauty of the New Jerusalem coming down to heaven.

Karen:     Wonderful. Yeah.

David:     People will like that. I said there was going to be all good news. To quote Gabriel Heater: “There’s good news tonight. Front line, good news. The enemy is taking a pummeling.” How’s that for an ending?

Karen:     I think in closing I’d like to quote a well-known radio man too. He came a bit after those you referred to earlier and it’s Paul Harvey and the line he used so often was, “And now you know the rest of the story.”

David:     Thank you.

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