The subject at hand in Revelation chapter 16 is really the climax of a battle that has been going on since the Garden of Eden. The Bible clearly presents that there is an ongoing warfare waged in the spiritual realm between Satan and his followers, and God and those who are his servants. The issue is, who will be God? Who is God? who will be worship back in the book of Isaiah chapter fourteen. We see the beginning of this conflict. Let me just review it with you. Isaiah in the fourteenth chapter of the chapter that has some significance for events that we are moving into in the book of Revelation. Also, because it talks about the destruction of Babylon more about Babylon and its identity in our next study. This is a taunt against the king of Babylon in Isaiah chapter 14 and verse 4. And in the midst of this message regarding Babylon, attention is drawn to the spiritual ruler of the Babylonian system as well as the Babylonian city, that one being Lucifer or Satan. In Isaiah chapter 14, verse 12, we read, How have you fallen from heaven, O star of the morning, sun of the dawn? I take it that he is drawing attention here to Lucifer and the fall of Lucifer from his exalted position in heaven. Verse 13, But you said in your heart, I will ascend to heaven, I will raise my throne above the stars of God, and I will sit on the mount of the assembly in the recesses of the north. I will ascend above the heights of the clouds. I will make myself like the Most High. And here you see the sin of Lucifer. the exaltation of himself to the point at the end of verse 14, I will make myself like the Most High. I will be like God. That was the driving passion in his sinful rebellion against God. Evidenced in the temptation of Christ in Matthew chapter 4, when Satan came to Christ and offered him all the kingdoms of the world with one condition, if you will fall down and worship me. And that desire to be God and to be worshipped at God was the cause of the fall of Satan. That conflict between Satan and God is carried out down through the angelic realm. And the angels split over this issue. We saw this in Revelation, chapter 12, with a great host of angelic beings joining Satan in his rebellion against God. With a whole host of holy angels remaining faithful to God. Then down into the Garden of Eden, where Satan was successful in luring Adam and Eve into rebellion against God. And the fall of the human race occurred so that mankind joined Satan in his rebellion against God. Turn over to the Gospel of John and the eighth chapter. The Gospel of John and the eighth chapter. And here Jesus draws out the conflict there is. between God and Satan. And God and the followers of Satan, in verse 34, Jesus said to them, truly, truly, I say to you, everyone who commits sin is the slave of sin. And the Bible says all have sinned. And so we are enslaved to sin as fallen beings. The only hope for freedom from sin is verse 36. If therefore the sun shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. There is no true freedom from sin and bondage to sin apart from personal faith in Jesus Christ. Jesus goes on to address these religious people and says to them in verse 41, you are doing the deeds of your father. Verse 42, Jesus said to them, if God were your father, you would love me. Verse 44, You are of your father, the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. So you see, the warfare between Satan and God continues on. And now you have fallen sinful humanity, joining Satan in his rebellion and hatred of God. And by the grace of God, some are released from bondage to sin and become the children of the living God through faith in Christ. The warfare is continually waged between God, between the fallen angels, between the unfallen angels, between fallen sinful humanity and redeemed humanity. Look over in John chapter 15, verse 18, Jesus is speaking shortly before his crucifixion. If the world hates you, John 15, 18, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. But because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Jesus says to his followers, you are involved in this ongoing, relentless spiritual war. The world hates you. Why? Because the world hates Christ. Why? Because the world hates God. The allegiance of fallen humanity is to Satan, the enemy of God, and only the redemption that's found in Christ can change that. Verse 23 of John 15, he who hates me hates my father also. The end of verse 24, now they have both seen and hated me and my father as well. They have done this in order that the word may be fulfilled that is written in their law. They hated me without a cost. You see how strong the enmity is? It is a relationship of hate. And it's not only a hate between Lucifer and God, it is a hate between the people of Satan and the people of God. And the source of that enmity is spiritual in nature. At the end of that chapter, Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will come, be an encourager and a helper to them. and will able them to witness on his behalf. But you know what will happen? As they bear witness for Jesus Christ, the enmity of the world will be turned against them. And so the majority of these disciples are going to die a martyr's death because the world cannot stand God and his truth. Now, when we come over to Revelation 16 again, we are coming to the climax of this ongoing spiritual war. In fact, Revelation chapter 16 presents the final judgments of this spiritual warfare. And we build to the climax and we have the seven bold judgments, the last seven judgments of the seventieth week of Daniel. And with the seventh bold judgment, we will come to the return of Christ to earth at Armageddon and the final defeat of the enemies of God. There will be one later rebellion at the close of the thousand-year millennium, which will be quickly put down with the destruction of God's enemies. But through this period of time, we are building to the climax of Armageddon. And following Armageddon, Satan will be bound and the kingdom of Christ will be established on the earth. Now, what we have in chapter 16 of Revelation is a magnifying of what is going on in the world today. The more clearly God manifests His character and His truth, the more intense is the hatred and opposition of those who don't belong to God. In the judgments of the bulls in Revelation 16, God is fully displaying His righteous character. And fallen sinful man is just as fully and clearly manifesting his hatred and opposition to God. So we saw in verse five, the angel declares, you are righteous. the one who is and the one who was, O holy one, because you did judge these things. Verse 7, Yes, O Lord God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judgments. This is a display of the righteous character of God. His truth is being displayed. The response of man, verse 9, they blasphemed the name of God. Verse 11, they blasphemed the God of heaven. Verse 21, Men blaspheme to God, and so we see the climax of what is taking place in our very day. The more clearly the truth of God is presented, the more clear you are in your identification with Jesus Christ and your testimony for him, the more intense will be the opposition and persecution in your life. The more open and clear our stand as a church is for the truth of God, And the proclamation of the righteous character of God, the more intense will be the animosity that is directed toward this body of believers. We sometimes ask ourselves, well, what is wrong? Why do people not like us? Well, if you stand for the truth, if you're identified with the living God, Jesus said in John chapter 15, the world hates you. The world will persecute you. Why? Because they hate me, Jesus said, because they hate my father. The reality of this spiritual warfare continues down to the climax that is unfolding in Revelation chapter 16. The seven bowls are a series of seven judgments following one after another. The first bowl, in verse 2, was a loathsome sore, an open malignant sore, a very painful sore, perhaps sore as it covered the body of these people. Job had boiled like this. from the top of his head to the sole of his feet. These are like the sores that afflicted the Egyptians under the plagues as God delivered Israel from Egypt. They are only poured out upon those who receive the mark of the beast and worship his image. At the end of verse 2, that seems to be characteristic of all of these final judgments. At the end of Revelation chapter 12, we're told that during the last three and a half years of the God will provide a place of refuge for believing Israel in the Transjordan region. Evidently, that region will be spared the judgments that we're talking about in Revelation 16. Here we're told that the source come only upon the worshipers of the Antichrist. And that seems to be the pattern of the other judgments as well. We'll note some of that as we move through these. The second and third bowl judgments we've also looked at. The second bowl turned the waters of the oceans to blood. The third bowl judgment turned the rivers and springs, the freshwater to blood. And obviously, this will have dramatic consequences for the people of the world as saltwater and freshwater alike is turned to blood. This is a righteous judgment. People say, I want God to be fair. I want justice. You can be sure the God of all the earth will do right, will do justly. So in verses five to seven, you have that declaration of the justice of God. Unbelievers are bloodthirsty, they have persecuted and killed the prophets through this time of the seventieth week of Daniel, they have martyred those who have believed in Jesus Christ. You're bloodthirsty, you get blood to drink. as God judges them righteously and fairly." We're ready to pick up with the fourth bowl in verse 8 of Revelation 16. These bowls are poured out one after another without much explanation, but they are going to bring a level of suffering on the people of the world that has never been experienced before. The fourth bowl, poured out by the fourth angel, strikes the sun. and the heat of the sun is intensified, so that the people of the world are scorched with fire. Not so intense to burn them up completely and destroy them, but to bring them to the brink of being consumed with fire. Verse 9 begins, men were scorched with fierce heat. Now, there is a fitness in this judgment as well. Remember back in chapter 14, verse 10 and verse 11? We were told that those who are the worshipers of the Antichrist are destined to the eternal fire of hell, where they will be tormented in fire day and night forever and ever. Now they're getting simply a foretaste of that with the intense burning heat of the sun. And verse 9 begins, men were scorched with fierce heat. Literally, it says, men were scorched with great scorching. And at the end of verse 8 and the beginning of verse 9, there is an intense emphasis on the suffering by the burning of the sun that we're talking about. We're talking about people being burned within an inch of their life. You know, about bad, bad sunburn. And what's the escape? When I was younger and we lived near the ocean, it was a great thought on a hot, burning day, we'll go to the ocean. Well, something lost when you say we'll go down and jump in the ocean and it's all blood, like that of a dead man. Just put some ice cubes in a nice, big, tall glass of water. Will blood do? And you see what's happening here? The intense heat of the sun, the suffering of this is magnified by the fact that the water has been turned to blood, which is intensified by the fact that these people are covered with open, running sores over their body. And the suffering is going to be unbelievable. And we find ourselves saying, boy, could a holy, loving God really do this? Remember, we saw that in verses five to seven. A holy, loving God has to be righteous, and because He is holy, He must deal with sin. And we see the character of the people being dealt with here, because what is the response to being scorched with heat in verse 9? They blasphemed the name of God who has the power over these plagues. They did not repent so as to give Him glory. Isn't it amazing how stubborn man is in his sinfulness? Like Pharaoh in Egypt, he will allow Egypt to be destroyed, but he will not bow his knee before God. Men are so stubborn and hardened in their sin, they will fight God to the very end. It's a frightening picture of how sinful we really are. And don't forget, this is you. This is me in our very nature. But for the grace of God, we would remain unbowed in our defiance of God. They blaspheme God because of the place. They have no question that the plagues are the result of God. No one is sitting there giving explanations like all just the course of nature. You know, they see the hand of God in this as the Egyptians did. They told Pharaoh this is the finger of God. They did everything but repent. So, these people will say, this is the hand of God bringing this awful suffering on us. And they blaspheme him. And they did not repent of their deeds. Back in Revelation chapter 2, the reminder, something we've already looked at. Revelation chapter 2, verse 4. Do you think lightly of the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance, but because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God. So what happens? We live in a day to day when God's kindness, God's patience is being displayed towards sinful men. But men don't repent. They scorn the kindness of God. They blaspheme the patience of God. They do not repent of their sins. They don't turn from their sin to God. They persist in their sin and their stubborn rejection of God, even though he's displaying overwhelming kindness and love toward them. Now, in the seventieth week of Daniel, they are exposed to the awful wrath of God. But their hardened heart is the same. They are unmoved and unrepentant. They will not turn from their sin. And, you know, back in Revelation 16, the issue is repenting of their deeds. People try to define repentance as simply a decision in the mind. Repentance always involves your action. Not just change your mind about something, but change your life. And that means you turn from your sin and submit yourself to the living God. And cry out to him for mercy, but hardened sinners. are unwilling to do it. You know, I mentioned that I don't believe that the believing remnant of Israel is affected by these plagues. And we may have an example of that on this fiery burning with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the fiery furnace in Daniel chapter three, where that fire scorched and burned the servants of Nebuchadnezzar. But Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were unaffected by it. I don't know how God will spare his people during this time. But it is no great thing for God and his power to deliver his people from the suffering he intends for his enemies. The end of verse nine of Revelation 16, it says they did not repent, so as to give him glory. Remember the gospel that is being preached through the world during these days back in Chapter 14, verse seven, fear God, give him glory, worship him. They will not repent. They don't fear God. They won't turn from their sin and honor Him as God. When a man or a woman bows themselves before Almighty God, acknowledges their sinfulness and His perfect righteousness, and casts themselves upon His grace for mercy, God is exalted. He is glorified. Men will not give God the glory. They refuse to repent of their sins. So we move to the next bowl judgment, verse 10. And the fifth angel poured out his bowl upon the throne of the beast and the kingdom became darkened. Fifth bowl judgment is thrown out upon the throne of the beast. We come to the center of his kingdom and it's over his domain. This is similar to the ninth plague in Egypt and turn back to Exodus, chapter 10, just to note something about this plague. Exodus, chapter 10, verse 21. Then the Lord said to Moses, Stretch out your hand toward the sky, that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt." Now note this, even a darkness which may be felt. This darkness is so intense you can feel it. And Moses did so, and the land of Egypt was in darkness for three days. They did not see one another, nor did anyone rise from his place for three days. But all the sons of Israel had light in their dwelling. You see, God has spared his people from the plague that he places upon his enemies. You know, the darkness is so intense here, nobody even gets out of bed. Well, if you can't see your hand in front of your face, how are you going to move about? You could certainly crawl in your own house where you might feel your way around and be somewhat familiar, but you're not going anyplace. Now, keep in mind, these are people that are covered with open running swords. than nothing but blood to drink, that have been burned within an inch of their life by scorching sun. Now they're enveloped in a complete and total darkness. You know, this is a fitting punishment. Just like you like to shed the blood of my servants, I'll give you blood to drink. Turn over to John's Gospel, chapter 3. John's Gospel, chapter 3 and verse 19. John 3, 19. And this is the judgment, that the light is come into the world, and the light is Jesus Christ. And men loved the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. They blasphemed God. They would not repent of their deeds. They loved the darkness. You love the darkness? I'll give you the darkness. What a fitting punishment for those who love darkness. Verse 20, everyone who does evil hates the light, does not come to the light, lest his deed should be exposed. When you're involved in sin, you don't want to have the light of God reflected on you. You hate that light. But he who practices the truth comes to the light. The light reveals us as we are. Sinful people love the darkness. That is why the intensity is there when you open the Word of God and tell them they're They're lost. They're on the way to hell. Adultery is sin. Homosexuality is sin. Lying is sin. They don't like that. They hate you for it. They love the darkness. Don't turn the light on me in my sin. People don't want to sin in light. They don't want to commit adultery out in the light with everybody watching. Oh, I run to the darkness. You love the darkness, God says. You love living in the darkness. You're in spiritual darkness. I'll give you physical darkness. And this is also another foreboding of what is to come. The sun scorches them with burning heat, and these are people on their way to the fires of hell. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 25 and verse 30, to gather that unbelieving one up and what? Cast him into outer darkness. And hell will not only be a place of burning fire, it will be a place of intense blackness. And here is a reminder of the destiny of these who are suffering so greatly on the earth. Come back to Revelation 16. Things are really bad, we might say. Look at the last statement of verse 10. And they nod their tongues because of things. No other statement like this in the scripture. They nod their tongues for pain. All of us at one time or another have been chomping away on our gum or something and bit our tongue. Oh, does that hurt? Somebody looking at you sees the pain on your face. Oh, I bit my tongue. That really hurts. Can you imagine being in such intense pain that chewing on your tongue feels good? When you bite on your tongue, that hurts. There's no way of saying the pain is so overwhelmingly intense that what you identify as painful today is nothing. They'll gnaw on their tongues for relief. We have a summary in simple statements here of awful judgments that you and I cannot conceive of the depths of the suffering and pain that people are going to be undergoing. They'll be brought to their knees and say, God, I'm but dust, have mercy. God, you'll destroy me, be merciful to me, the sinner. But read verse 11. And they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and they did not repent of their deeds. What is a righteous God to do? Put it down in a simple picture. One of your children is disobedient. You turn him over your knee and give him a spank and he turns around, grits his teeth, smiles and spits in your eye. You say, oh, I wish you hadn't done that. Go get an ice cream cone. No, you don't say, wait a minute, what this defiance. So you intensify the punishment, but the reaction is the same. People say, oh, God ought to just give up and let people do this, then what turned heaven into hell. where indeed I can declare myself as God and fight for the worship of creation and God should not do anything about it. The whole idea is absurd. It could only come from a depraved heart and mind. You see why the angel says up in verses five to seven, the end of verse six, they deserve it. These punishments are just. They come from a righteous God. who is doing what is right in dealing with sinful people. There is one thing worse than their pain. That is their sin. I'm suffering. The pain is unbearable. I'm gnawing on my tongue. But I will not bow the knee before God. No question. He's the one bringing the plagues. The sores that are covering my body have been brought on me by God, and I blaspheme him for it. But I will not turn from my sin. I saw just a brief blurb of a special on AIDS interviewing people involved in San Francisco and the homosexual population practicing what they call unprotected sex. They don't care. And this is what I am. It's frightening, believe even the people doing the newscast, a little bit in awe of people who are so defiant. Well, not to be surprised, it's building because the more clearly God reveals himself, the more closely men are moved toward the climax of history, the more open and vehement will be the display of their hatred toward God and the people of God. They blaspheme the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores. That's an important statement, verse 11. The sores came under the first bowl judgment, but they haven't gone away. Reminder, even though these judgments come one after another, the previous judgment doesn't stop. So here they are, under the fifth bowl, still plagued with the sores over their bodies. And enduring the intense blackness that God has brought, they did not repent of their deeds. Does not this intense blackness reveal something of the condition of their darkened heart? And their hatred of the God who is light and in him who there is no darkness of any kind at all. Verse 12, the sixth angel poured out his bowl upon the great river, the Euphrates. We are nearing the climax. There are only seven bowls. The sixth bowl really prepares the way for the seventh and final, which will bring us to Armageddon and the return of Christ to earth. This bowl was poured out on the river Euphrates, the great river. It formed the eastern boundary of the Roman Empire. It is the eastern boundary of the land promised to Abraham and his descendants in Genesis chapter 15. It is also the place of Babylon, capital of the world. We'll be talking more about Babylon in our next study as we prepare for chapter 17 and 18. The impact of this bowl on the Euphrates River is the river Euphrates dries up. This will prepare the way for the kings, literally, from the rising of the sun, which means the kings from the east. So you see, there is a preparation being undertaken here. The Euphrates River dries up so that the way for the kings traveling from the east is facilitated. Because, as we'll see, all the armies of the world are being gathered at Armageddon for a final conflict with God. What is involved in preparing the way for the kings of the east, we can't say for sure. I mean, what is bringing them? to Armageddon. We'll know the spiritual reason in verses 13 and following, but there may be physical things going on. Some connect this back to Daniel chapter 11, just noted with you without going into detail now. Daniel chapter 11, beginning with verse 40 of Daniel 11, we have described something of the career of the Antichrist in the 70th week of Daniel. Down in verse forty four, we read in eleven forty four, but rumors from the east and from the north will disturb him and he will go forth with great wrath to destroy and annihilate many. And some connect Daniel eleven forty four rumors from the east with the Revelation sixteen twelve, the drying up of the Euphrates to prepare the way for the kings of the east. And perhaps the armies of the Orient are going to mount a challenge. to the reign of the Antichrist, and so he may be troubled by that, and they may be drawn under the guise of conflict among themselves to Armageddon. And we know conflict among the people of Satan is not an unusual thing, so that's a possibility. Whether that's the connection or not, we can't finally say. Another possibility, in light of the verses which follow, this is simply part of God's plan in gathering these armies to Armageddon. and to facilitate their coming for this final climactic battle. Come back to Revelation 16. In the overview, verses 13 to 16 with you. Verses 13 to 16 are really an elaboration on verse 12 and a fuller explanation of the sixth bowl, which will prepare the way for the seventh and final bowl in Armageddon. Verse 13, And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon Out of the mouth of the beast, out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. Here we have the satanic trinity. We have Satan, trying to replace God the Father. We have the Antichrist, presenting himself as the false messiah. And we have the false prophet, functioning like the Holy Spirit, directing the worship of the world to the Antichrist. Incidentally, this is the first place in the book of Revelation that the false prophet is called the false prophet. He was called the beast out of the earth, the second beast in Revelation 13, the first time that we have him called the false prophet. I believe he'll be called the false prophet two more times in the book of Revelation. Now, this satanic trinity is the source of three unclean spirits like frogs coming out of their mouths. Coming out of the mouth evidently indicates it's their authority that's behind it. And this is a teaching and propaganda that will deceive the world. They are unclean spirits like frogs. Verse 14 tells us they are demons. Spirits of demons is a way of saying demonic spirits. Demons are spirits. And so we're talking about demon spirits here. Unclean spirits. Reference the way demons are identified in the Gospels. Somebody had an unclean spirit. They had a demon dwelling with them. They are like frogs. Now, why frogs are used, we're not told. In Leviticus chapter 11, verse 10, frogs are among the unclean animals. And so, unclean spirits identified with frogs would be a logical connection. Also, the plague in Egypt, which brought frogs on the land in Exodus chapter 8, verses 2 and 3, particularly. The frogs that came on Egypt permeated everything. They were in their ovens, they were in their beds, they were in their kneading troughs. And they indicate here, in light of what verse fourteen says, that these unclean spirits go throughout the whole world to draw all the kings of the earth to Armageddon, that there is a connection with that plague of frogs in Egypt, in Exodus chapter eight. These are not frogs, they are like frogs. But in the same way, the frogs of Egypt permeated Egypt. So these unclean spirits will permeate the world with their work in drawing the kings of the world to Armageddon. So you see the active involvement here of demonic spirits with Satan and using the people of the world in opposition against God. So, we're building to the climax, and what you have is Satan, his false Christ, his false Holy Spirit, now gathering all of his resources from the world together for one final climactic battle with God. Why doesn't he just read Revelation chapter 16, jump over to chapter 19, fall on his knees and repent? The same reason multiplied millions of people on Earth don't do that today. They're hardened in their sin and deceived by their sin to think, I'll pull it off. It won't come out like this at all. I just can't believe that. You know why? We don't realize how hardened in sin we really are, but for the grace of God. Verse fourteen, they are spirits of demons performing signs which go out of the kings of the whole world performing signs. They're doing miracles. So the doctrine of the propaganda they're spreading is supported by miraculous signs. With this wall and tail, we don't know, but it will be effective in drawing all the kings of the world to Armageddon. Perhaps the Antichrist is doing something of a nature. that will convince the king of the world that he will be able to be victorious over Christ and the armies of heaven when they show up. We don't know, but whatever it is, it's supernatural and it is effective. They are gathering the kings of the whole world. The end of verse fourteen, to gather them together for the war of the great day of God, the almighty. That's Armageddon. Forming sign. In Mark, chapter 13, verse 22, Jesus said, Don't believe them if they tell you the Christ is here or there. There will be false Christ and false prophets deceiving, doing signs and wonders. This will be the culmination of that. That's why the Antichrist may be putting on a display here because the people of the world to believe he is really God. and they're coming to align with him in battle against the returning Christ. This work of the deceiving spirits is as a forerunner in the Old Testament. First Kings, Chapter 22. I find it fascinating, the glimpses the Bible gives us about the work of demons in the spirit world. In the first Kings chapter 22, God intends to draw Ahab, king of Israel, to Ramoth-Gilead for a conflicted war. And God's intention is that Ahab will be killed at Ramoth-Gilead. How this will be accomplished is through the ministry of a demonic spirit. In first Kings chapter 22, verse 19, And Micaiah, a prophet of God, said, Therefore, hear the word of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne and all the host of heaven standing by him on his right and on his left. And the Lord said, Who will entice Ahab to go up and fall at Raim of Gilead? One said this, another said that. Then a spirit came forward and stood before the Lord and said, I will entice him. The Lord said, How? He said, I will go out and be a deceiving spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. Then he said, You are to entice him and prevail. Go and do so. You know, Micaiah told Ahab this ahead of time. Ahab still went. on the advice of his prophets to Raymond Gilead and died there. So here we have written in Revelation 16, demonic spirits will go out into the world and entice people to come to Armageddon to be destroyed by God, and they will come just as the Scripture says back in Revelation chapter 16. This is called the great day of God, the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. This is the final, complete display of God's wrath on the armies of the world. They say there'll be one other final conflict following the kingdom. But this is what history has been building toward. And it is called the war of the great day of God. He is the one in charge. Demonic spirits are working, but this is within the overall plan of God, even as that demonic spirit in First Kings 22 was working, but it was within the overall plan of God accomplishing his purposes. God is called the Almighty because here his absolute sovereign majesty will be displayed, that he has control and power over all. Here there is a break. And a word of encouragement to believers, behold, I am coming like a thief. A warning that is given several times through the scripture, blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his garments, lest he walk about naked and then see his shame. Word to be on guard and encouragement to believers not to grow weary in well-doing. Warning to unbelievers. Christ is coming. If you haven't believed in him, you will be spiritually naked, similar to the advice given to the church at Lodacy in chapter three, verse 18, where Christ counseled them. I advise you to buy from me gold refined by fire that you may become rich white garments that you may clothe yourself. The shame of your nakedness may not be revealed. You must be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. So, a word of encouragement, as well as a word of warning here. Christ is coming. Similar to the parable of the ten virgins in Matthew 25. Five prepared, five not prepared. The prepared ones go into the kingdom. The unprepared ones are closed out of the kingdom. Verse 16 of Revelation 16. They gathered them together to the place which in the Hebrew is called Armageddon. Or, as we more familiarly know it, Armageddon. The Mount of Megiddo, or the Plain of Megiddo, the Plain of Israel, the final climactic focal point of the war between God and his forces and Satan and his forces. There will be no resolution of this conflict until Jesus Christ returns. You and I are not to delude ourselves into thinking we can make some kind of peace with the world. Peace with the world is enmity against God. This wringing our hands and saying, oh, why don't people like us? Why do they say all these nasty things about maybe we're doing something wrong? Maybe we're doing something right. We are to be a light set on a hill, reflecting the character of God, proclaiming his truth. And everywhere that light is given off, it will stir animosity and hatred. The more intense the testimony, the more intense the opposition. Now, within that, by God's grace, he's drawing out some to himself.