Revelation Chapter 16

“Behold, I Come as a Thief”

The thief like presence of Verse 15 should not be confused with the secret presence or Parousia of the Lord, which began in October 1874. Verse 15 is an admonition interjected between the sixth and the seventh plagues. Double attention is called to this insertion in that it is also interposed—and very obviously so—between Verses 14 and 16, interrupting the flow of thought within the sixth plague message itself.

The placement of Verse 15 before the already gathered forces of Armageddon at the field of battle— that is, immediately before the conflict begins—testifies that this coming as a thief is Jesus’ coming to steal Jehovah’s crown jewels from planet earth (Mal. 3:16,17). God will spare this class “as a man spares his own son that serves him.” They will not be spared from trial and persecution any more than Jesus was spared from crucifixion and death, but the jewel class are to be spared from Armageddon. Like Abraham, they will not experience what Lot and his family went through—the unnecessary lingering behind into the great Time of Trouble and anarchy. Such trouble would be sickening and discouraging to the righteously inclined as it was for righteous Lot, who was vexed with the conditions that existed in his day (Gen. 19:1–11; 2 Pet. 2:7,8).

Today’s society is already headed in a direction similar to that which existed in Sodom. Of all the inhabitants of Sodom and Gomorrah, only four were not wholly corrupt with perverted desires. Current public standards are rapidly deteriorating, so that whatever is pleasurable to the flesh is less and less considered sin.

The Little Flock’s hour of temptation will be more along the line of doctrinal deception and persecution, for all but the Very Elect will be deceived. The world’s hour of temptation will follow, and it will be equal to and even surpass the conditions of evil that existed in Lot’s Day and that prevailed immediate to the Flood in Noah’s day.

“Blessed Is He That Watches, and Keeps His Garments”

The Lord warns his people to be especially alert along two lines:

First, to be aware of, and have a prophetic interest in, the times (to Watch! To be awake!);

Second, to be circumspect in personal conduct and morals (Keep thy garments lest thou “walk naked, and they [orthodoxy] see . . . [thy] shame”—Verse 15). There seems to exist a peculiar relationship here, fraught with danger, that Jesus referred to in a parable concerning an individual (representing a class) found in the marriage guest-chamber who was not wearing a wedding garment (Matt. 22:11–14), and that parallels the Master’s betrayal by Judas in the Gethsemane Garden (Matt. 26:47–50). The time setting of both incidents (as types) occurs at the very end of the age. Also, one is reminded of the Apostle Peter’s admonition: “Seeing then that all these things [the present evil society or world order] shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation [conduct] and godliness” (2 Pet. 3:11).

Another point is worthy of notice. The sudden intrusion of Verse 15 into the flow of the narrative bespeaks the imminence of the “marriage of the Lamb” (Rev. 19:7).

Gathering to a Place Called Armageddon

Armageddon is a Hebrew word signifying “Hill of Megiddo” or “Mount of Destruction.” Megiddo occupied a very marked position on the southern edge of the Plain of Esdraelon and commanded an important pass into the hill country; the Plain of Esdraelon embraced Jezreel and Mount Gilboa. The great battleground of Palestine, this locality was the scene of many famous battles in Old Testament history. There Gideon and his little band alarmed and discomfited the Midianites, who destroyed one another in their flight (Judg. 7:19–23). There King Saul was defeated by the Philistines (1 Sam. 31:1–6). There King Josiah was slain by Pharaoh-Necho in one of the most disastrous conflicts in the history of Israel (2 Chron. 35:22–24). There also King Ahab and his wife Jezebel lived, in the city of Jezreel, where Jezebel afterwards met a horrible death (2 Kings 9:30–37).

These battles were in a sense typical. The defeat of the Midianites released the people of Israel from bondage to Midian; thus, Gideon and his band typified the Lord and the Church, who are to release mankind from their bondage to sin and death. The death of King Saul (the Papacy) and the overthrow of his kingdom by the Philistines (the unruly anarchist masses) opened the way for the reign of David, who typified Messiah. King Josiah typified Protestantism. King Ahab typified civil government, symbolically called the “dragon” in Revelation. Queen Jezebel symbolically foreshadowed the great harlot, Babylon, and as such she is mentioned by name:

“Thou suffer that woman Jezebel, which calls herself a prophetess, to teach and to seduce my servants” (Rev. 2:20).

In the Scriptures the Lord associates the name of this famous battlefield, Armageddon, with the great controversy at the end of the Gospel Age between truth and error, right and wrong, and God and mammon. The “place called . . . Armageddon” (Verse 16) refers not to a literal arena but to the figurative site on which the “battle of that great day of God Almighty” (Verse 14) is soon to occur.

Continued with next post.