Mother of all Wars

September 11 changed the world. The threat of terrorism has reduced our freedom, increased our insecurities. Retaliation against terrorism led to war in Afghanistan, fear of it was responsible for war in Iraq, the “mother of all wars.” The Bible describes a battle that truly will be “the mother of all wars.” It will end with the coming of Jesus and will be quite different from any war before it.

1 What forces are involved?
(Revelation 16:13-16) At that time, “[John] 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. 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 . . . to the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.”

The frog symbol is reminiscent of the of the 10 plagues that fell on Egypt just prior to the Israelite Exodus, of which the last seven fell on the Egyptians only. While Egyptian sorcerers could duplicate the miracles of Moses up to and including the plague of frogs, they were powerless after that (see Exodus 8:18). So, here, the creative powers of demons are finite in their attempts to deceive people. And God’s people will not be deceived.

2 Against whom is the war fought?
(Revelation 17:14) “They [the kings of the earth] will make war against the Lamb, but the Lamb will overcome them because he is Lord of lords and King of kings—and with him will be his called, chosen and faithful followers.”

3 Who is symbolised as “the great dragon”?
(Revelation 12:9) “The great dragon . . . that ancient serpent called the devil, or Satan, who leads the whole world astray. He was hurled to the earth, and his angels with him.”

The beast and the false prophet (the lamb-like beast that speaks like a dragon) are Satan’s henchmen (end-time Babylon) to help him in his attack on God’s people and symbolise a coalition of secular politics and false Christianity (Revelation 13).

4 What are the issues of this war that make it quite different from any previous war?
(Revelation 13:12) “He [lamb-like beast] . . . made the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast, whose fatal wound had been healed.”

5 How does this “lamb-like beast” make the world worship the first beast?
(Revelation 13:13, 14) “He performed great and miraculous signs, even causing fire to come down from heaven to earth in full view of men . . . [and] deceived the inhabitants of the earth.”
He sets up an image of the beast and causes all who refuse to worship it to be killed and threatens with economic sanctions those who refuse to receive the mark of the beast.

6 The Bible mentions the river Euphrates (16:12) that flows through Iraq. What does the river symbolise according to the New Testament?
(Revelation 17:1, 15), and who is the “prostitute” who sits astride it? “The waters you saw . . . are peoples, multitudes, nations and languages” (v 15).

In Scripture, a prostitute symbolises false worship (see Ezekiel 23:7), in this instance spiritual Babylon, the final manifestation of the antichrist. In the last conflict Babylon will seek to impose a false gospel and worship on the world in opposition to true Christianity.

7 What does the figurative drying up of the Euphrates mean?
(Revelation 16:12; 17:1, 15, 16) “The beast and the ten horns you saw will hate the prostitute. They will bring her to ruin” (v 16).
The ancient city of Babylon straddled the river Euphrates. Babylon fell when the Medes and Persians from the east besieged the city, diverted the river and marched soldiers under the city wall while Belshazzar, the last king, was having a drunken feast (see Daniel 5).

In the last-day setting, the moment of truth is the moment when millions of people around the world suddenly see through the hypocrisy of their false spiritual leaders and loathe them. This results in the withdrawal (or “drying up”) of popular support from the end-time counterfeit system of worship—“Babylon.”

8 This evaporation of popular support prepares the way for the coming of the so-called kings of the east (Revelation 16:12). What event is this?
(Matthew 24:27, 31) “For as lightning that comes from the east is visible even in the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet call, and they will gather his elect.”

The east is symbolic of God’s intervention (see Ezekiel 43:4; Revelation 7:1-3). The “kings from the east,” in contrast to the “kings of the whole world,” represents Jesus coming with all His holy angels to deliver His people (Revelation 19:11-16).

Jesus, when He comes at the end the battle of Armageddon, will come in all His glory and power and rescue all those who have faith in Him—and who have been faithful.

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