In this message we come to the war at Armageddon (19:11-21). After His wedding feast, Christ will come as a fighting General with His Bride, the overcoming believers who are His army, to fight Antichrist, the kings under him, and their armies at Armageddon. Although the third party, the great prostitute, will have been annihilated, the Lord will still have three enemies: Satan, the dragon; Antichrist, the beast out of the sea; and the false prophet, the beast out of the land. These three will continue to oppose Him. Under the instigation of Antichrist, man will even wage war directly against the Lord of lords and the King of kings. Antichrist, the false prophet, and the ten kings and their armies will make war against the Lamb. How terrible! If this were not recorded in the Bible, I would not be able to believe that man could actually declare war on God.
In 19:11-21 we see that the Bridegroom comes to fight against His enemies with the help of His Bride. The Bridegroom is the Commander-in-chief, and the Bride is the army. What a honeymoon this will be! During His honeymoon Christ will clear up the universe. Antichrist and the false prophet will be cast into the lake of fire, and Satan will be bound and cast into the abyss. At that time Christ will be happy, and we, His Bride, shall also be happy as we enjoy a wonderful honeymoon with our Bridegroom.
Before the war at Armageddon, a number of important events will take place within a short period of time. These events will include the raptures of the firstfruit, the man-child, the late overcomers, the majority of the saints, and the gleanings; the destruction of Catholicism and the termination of Judaism; the judgment at the judgment seat of Christ in the air to determine who will be qualified to be the Bride during the millennium, to attend the wedding feast, and to fight with Christ against the enemy; the wedding in the air; and possibly the destruction of material Babylon. After all these things have been completed, one more thing will still remain—the war at Armageddon. Christ’s enemies will become all the more evil, even declaring war against Him. Therefore, Christ, the Bridegroom, will come with His Bride to fight against them.
In chapter nineteen the wedding and the war are put together. We may even entitle this chapter, “The Wedding and the War.” Immediately after the wedding, Christ will come to fight against the enemy. He will not wait even one day.
The war at Armageddon will remove all the obstacles to the coming millennial kingdom. Before we can have a feast, we must clean up the feasting room. The entire universe will be the feasting room, and Christ and His Bride will work together to sweep away the dirt, which will be put into the “trash can,” the lake of fire. God’s sweeping in the universe began in Genesis chapter one. Firstly, God swept the dirt into the sea (Gen. 1:2); for at that time the sea was the “trash can” in this universe. Eventually, all the dirt will be put in the ultimate “trash can,” the lake of fire. In Matthew 25:41 the Lord Jesus says, “Go from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.” Because the “goats” followed the Devil, they will be cast into the lake of fire prepared for him and his angels. God has prepared the lake of fire as a “trash can” to dispose of all the trash in the universe. Antichrist, the false prophet, and their armies will be swept into the “dust pan” and then dumped into the lake of fire. After the millennium, Satan himself will join them there. After the judgment at the great white throne, all the dead unbelievers will also be cast into the lake of fire. From that time onward, there will be no more dust. In the New Jerusalem, there will be no dust; there will be only gold, pearl, and precious stones. The Lord’s fighting in the war at Armageddon will actually be a sweeping of dirt into the universal “trash can.” The Lord may say to Antichrist, “What are you doing here? Have you declared war on Me? This gives Me the perfect opportunity to sweep you away. My Bride will cooperate with me in doing this.”
Praise the Lord that we are not trash—we are a treasure! Instead of being cast into the lake of fire, we shall be gathered into the New Jerusalem. In order for the Lord to enjoy a pleasant honeymoon and the thousand-year kingdom, all the trash must be swept away. I am looking forward to participating in this cleaning work. How pleasant it will be!