INTERLUDE: KINGS
OF INHABITED EARTH PROCEED TO HAR-MAGEDON
Now
between the sixth and seventh bowls of wrath is this interlude. (As I have
pointed out, there is interlude, an hiatus, between the sixth and seventh
features of each series of seven—with the exception of the seven
performers.) It is a break for the filling in of details.
And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of
the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the
mouth of the false prophet.
For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles,
which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty [Rev. 16:13–14].
And I saw (coming) out of the mouth of the dragon, and
out of the mouth of the wild beast, and out of the mouth of the false
prophet, as it were frogs. For they are spirits of demons, working signs;
which go forth upon the kings of the whole inhabited earth, to gather them
together to the war of the great day of the God, the Almighty.
This is Armageddon (more correctly spelled Har-Magedon).
It is not to be a single battle but a war, the war of Armageddon.
It will be triggered, I believe, by the coming down of
Russia from the north sometime around the middle of the Tribulation Period.
The campaign extends the length of Palestine to the Valley of Jehoshaphat
and the mountains of Edom. It will continue for approximately three and one
half years. It will be concluded by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ from
heaven to establish His kingdom. The Sun of Righteousness will arise with
healing in His wings.
Here we are introduced to the trinity of hell—Satan,
Antichrist, and the False Prophet. They act in unison in forcing the nations
of the world to march against Israel in an attempt to destroy God’s purposes
on earth. God gave certain promises to Abraham and to those who would come
after him. He made certain covenants with the Hebrew people, and those
covenants are going to stand, just like John 3:16 stands for believers
today.
I want to say carefully and kindly that there is a system
of theology abroad today that passes as conservative, but it takes the
position that God is through with the nation Israel, that all of God’s
covenants with Israel are negated, that God does not intend to make good any
of His promises to Israel—yet there are literally hundreds of them in the
Old Testament. This theological system simply spiritualizes these promises,
and the proponents do so with no scriptural grounds whatsoever. Origen, one
of the early church fathers who came from North Africa, started this method
of spiritualizing instead of liberalizing the Scriptures. We need to
remember that the Bible is a literal book. It is the purpose of Satan to
destroy God’s covenants with Israel, and that is the reason Satan moves in
and brings the whole world against this little nation. This will happen
during the Great Tribulation.
As the study of prophecy develops, it is my conviction
that this spiritualization of prophecy, although presently accepted, by, a
great many expositors, will become a heresy in the church. I may not be
around to see it, but just remember that McGee said it would happen.
Now let’s look at the tremendous scene before us.
“As it were frogs.” The question is: Will they be literal
frogs? Well, they were literal in Egypt, and they could be literal in this
case, but I am willing to accept them as a symbol. Perhaps you are saying,
“Wait a minute, McGee, I thought you didn’t accept a symbol unless it was
clearly a symbol.” Yes, that is right, and notice that John says, “as it
were frogs”; he doesn’t say they were frogs. It seems to me that John is
always very careful to give us an accurate picture of what he sees.
J. A. Seiss, in his book,
The Apocalypse, Lectures on the Book of Revelation,
comments on the frogs in a vivid manner:
They are spirits; they are
“unclean spirits;” they are “demon spirits;” they are sent forth into
activity by the Dragon Trinity; they are the elect agents to awaken the
world to the attempt to abolish God from the earth; and they are frog-like
in that they come forth out of the pestiferous quagmires of the universe, do
their work amid the world’s evening shadows, and creep, and croak, and fill
the ears of the nations with their noisy demonstrations, till they set all
the kings and armies of the whole earth in enthusiastic commotion for the
final crushing out of the Lamb and all His powers. As in chapter
9,
the seven Spirits of God and of Christ went forth into all the earth to make
up and gather together into one holy fellowship the great congregation of
the sanctified: so these spirits of hell go forth upon the kings and
potentates of the world, to make up and gather together the grand army of
the Devil’s worshippers.
In our own day we have seen that the news media can
become a propaganda agent to carry out the purposes of men who are in the
background. The news media can brainwash the public. This is exactly what
the trinity of evil will do. They will brainwash the nations of the world
into marching against Israel.
The Lord Jesus is the only One who can stop this.
Israel’s help does not come from the north or the south or the east or the
west—that’s where their trouble
is coming from. Their help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and
earth.
McGee, J. Vernon: Thru the Bible
Commentary. electronic ed. Nashville : Thomas Nelson, 1997,
c1981, S. 5:1025-1027