======================================================================== THE VALLEY OF PROPHECY (ARMAGEDDON) by Keith Malcomson ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon emphasizes the importance of being spiritually prepared for the end times, focusing on the significance of the Valley of Armageddon as a gathering place for the final battle. It urges believers to stay vigilant, keep their spiritual garments clean, and be ready for the imminent return of Jesus Christ as a thief in the night. Topics: "Spiritual Preparedness", "Vigilance in Faith" Scripture References: Revelation 16:15, 1 Thessalonians 5:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:8, Joel 3:14, Isaiah 52:1 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon emphasizes the importance of being spiritually prepared for the end times, focusing on the significance of the Valley of Armageddon as a gathering place for the final battle. It urges believers to stay vigilant, keep their spiritual garments clean, and be ready for the imminent return of Jesus Christ as a thief in the night. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I want you here this morning to turn with me to a particular book in the Bible, and I've got a very specific message. We're almost coming down to the end of this series on the God of the valleys, that God is the God of the valleys. And I hope you realize by now, God is just as much, if not more so, the God of the valleys as he is of the mountaintop. It's vital you understand that. And here this morning, we're coming down to the end, and so my subject also nearly comes down to the end. Last week we dealt with the Valley of Blessing, a place of great rejoicing. This valley is almost a contradiction of that. It can't be further away from last week, and yet they have a strange connection. And when I tell you what this says, you're going to say, how can this have a connection with last week? And yet I can prove it to you, and I will before the end of the message. They are so interlocked, I don't even know what to make of it. It's strange, and yet they're radically not the same. The valley I'm going to preach to you on this morning, I don't want you to go there. I don't want you to be there. I certainly don't intend to go there. I don't ever intend to be there unless it's in a certain way. I intend to be a latecomer to this valley. In fact, a very latecomer. I hope to be the last amongst a multitude to get towards this valley. I don't want to be there first. I don't want to be leading the way. I want to be very slow to get there. Now, you're really wondering what this valley is. I want you to turn with me to Revelation and chapter 16. Revelation and chapter 16. My message this morning, I've called the Valley of Prophecy. The Valley of Prophecy. And the actual name in the Bible of this valley is called the Valley of Jezreel. Or let me give it another classic name, and I'm going to explain this. The Valley of Armageddon. So I hope you understand immediately where we're going here this morning. But let's read from Revelation chapter 16 and verse 1. And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, go your ways and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. And the first went. Then jump with me down to verse 12. Verse 12. And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates. And the water there was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 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 the great day of God almighty. And please notice this next verse. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments. Lest he walk naked and they see his shame. And he gathered them together to a place called in the Hebrew tongue, Armageddon. Let's pray. Father, I do pray that you'd show us, oh God, this valley here this morning, this immense valley, this great valley, this notable valley, this infamous valley, this valley like no other valley in the entire Bible. Lord God, I pray that we as a church might even possess this valley, a knowledge about it and an awareness of the sovereignty of God, of the kingship of the Lord Jesus Christ, of the authority of our God over the nations of the world and over the armies of all nations. My God, I pray that we might inherit, Lord God, this valley as our valley. Lord God, know that you are going to finally triumph over the nations of the world, that we are going to return with you again. We are going to come with you again as the redeemed of the Lord to that great marriage feast of the Lamb. And Lord God, thank you, God, that you're going to put everything right, that you're going to put down all power and principality, that you're going to break the power of nations and of men and of kingdoms. And oh God, that you're going to establish and set up an everlasting kingdom that shall never come to an end. And Lord God, we pray even as we meditate on these few verses, open this valley before our eyes, anoint our eyes that we might see. And oh God, inspire us, oh God, to trust you, to live for you. Lord God, to walk with you, to be clothed right this morning, to not be ashamed, to not be asleep in this gathering this morning. But oh God, to be alive unto God by your grace and mercy. In Jesus' mighty name, amen. My message, the valley of prophecy, or as I said, the valley of Jezreel, which it's called. In the Bible, in 2 Chronicles 35, in verse 22, we read about King Josiah going to a certain place and fighting a war. Listen to what it calls it, the valley of Megiddo, the valley of Megiddo. Or over in Zechariah 12 and 11, there's another prophecy about a place called the plain of Megiddo. Again, in Joshua chapter 17, we read about the valley of Jezreel. Or if we read in Judges about Gideon, we read about the valley of Jezreel. The valley of Jezreel is the valley of Megiddo. So Megiddo is called a valley, but it's also called the valley of Jezreel. And this is a remarkable and a unique place on the face of the earth. There is nowhere else like it in the entire world. In fact, Jezreel is a city or a town in the middle of this entire valley. And so Jezreel is a city, but it's called a plain or a valley as well. That entire valley was called Jezreel at times. But then to the west of that valley is a city or a town called Megiddo. Megiddo is a town. And yet we're actually told that a valley is called after that Megiddo as well. So whether city of Jezreel or the city of Megiddo, when they controlled or had power, they gave their name to that immense general area or that city. This is a remarkable thing that we're dealing with. Let me give you a brief description of this valley for a moment. Listen to this valley. It is bordered on the north by highlands of the Lower Galleon region, to the south by the Sumerian highlands, to the west and to the southeast by the Mount Carmel range, and to the east by the Jordan Valley, with Mount Gilboa marking the southern content. What you have in this entire plain, it is an open valley. It is a remarkable valley. It is a wide flat plain. And what you have surrounding it on every single side is mountainous regions encompassing it. It is a remarkable thing. Literally this valley or this open plain called Megiddo or Jezreel, it has always been the hub of international trades and routes. There are four main accesses into the valley and out of the valley. And yet on every single side, there are hundreds of separate unique little routes in and out of that valley, little routes that pass through mountains that are very famous. I could actually name many of those mountains to you here, and you'd know them immediately. There's Mount Gilboa. There's Mount Carmel. There's Mount Tobar. There are hundreds of mountains that I could stand. And if we are standing in that valley this morning, I could point to Mount Carmel and told you what happened there. I could point to Gilboa and tell you, this valley is surrounded by many prominent historic spots. Also what happened here in this open plain, you'd be shocked how many biblical things have happened here, as well as historic things throughout secular history. Now this isn't an immense valley. It's about 20 miles long and seven miles at its widest point. At its narrowest point, it's only three miles wide. And yet this valley is one of the most best known spots in our entire world. You see, every sinner out there knows the name of Armageddon or Megiddo. Every single sinner, just like 666, every sinner knows about it. They may not know the gospel. They may not read the Bible. They may not know about the cross, but they know about 666. So every sinner knows about Armageddon. Armageddon is more than a valley. Armageddon is more than a battle. Armageddon is more than a place or a city. Armageddon is within the psyche of our entire world, the political world, the social world, the military world. Worldwide history has noted Armageddon. And now all our world leaders talk about the third world war or Armageddon coming. Do you realize how much Armageddon is a vital part of our world psyche? It is everywhere. Now when you come to Revelation chapter 16 and the word Armageddon, it is actually the correct name of this place is Hormageddon, Hormageddon. In other words, that means the hill or the mount of Megiddo. You see, Megiddo as a city is called a hill or a mountain. If you go there today, you'll see that it's lifted up. It's raised up in the middle of this plain. But can I tell you it's not a mountain and it's not a hill. It's actually been a city for some 5,000 years of history, going all the way back 5,000 years ago. It is one of the old ancient cities of world history. Do you know why there's a mountain there? Because it has been destroyed as a city so many times. There are at least 20 levels of ruin of previous cities. And so it keeps getting built up until it's a mound. It's a hill. It's known as Armageddon or the Mount of Megiddo. You have a history, a remarkable history of that very spot from the year 3,000 BC through to 300 BC. It was continually occupied. And do you know what? In the ancient world, whoever controlled Megiddo, the city, controlled the valley. Whoever controlled the valley controlled trade in the Middle East. And that was one of the most fought over cities in the world, the most prominent battlefields in the entire world. And no wonder that our entire world, secular history, as well as religious, know about Armageddon. If I could take you and I wish I could carry you here this morning, if I could lift you and carry you, you'd be shocked. Then it's actually a valley. Jezreel means the planting of the Lord or a place that is beautiful in its surroundings. If I could take you there, it is one of the most fruitful spots in Israel. It is beautiful. It is fruitful. It is unexcavated. Although they've been excavating there for 120 years, archaeologists, one of them, I listened to him on this. He said it's a gold mine for archaeologists. It is so untapped. Everywhere you walk in that valley, you are walking over thousands of millennia of history and nobody's tapped into it. It is one of the richest archaeologists sites in all of Israel. All of the Middle East and all of the world because all the world's armies have crossed through there at some point in the past. Now, as I said at the beginning, we will not gather there. Now you understand why I said that, why I don't want to gather there, where I will not be the first to get there, but I'll get there eventually. I want to tell you along this route because there is coming a fight there. It's not for me to pass through this valley. And yet this valley, the knowledge of it is to be your inheritance. I want you to know what happens at that valley. I want you to understand God's mind because it's that that we inherit. I'm not going there. I'm not staying there. But I must know about the valley of prophecy that we're dealing with this morning. I want a knowledge of it. I want to possess it. I want to walk into the full fruit of it. And I'm going to one day, I assure you. It's going to affect our entire world, every nation, every army in our entire world. To possess this means you possess the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. I've got four things I want to preach here from Revelation chapter 16. Just let me expound these scriptures very simply. You know, I'm desperate to teach and expound the whole book of Revelation. I am desperate to do a whole teaching. I've sat on this for 30 years. One of these days I'm going to teach. But all I'm doing is dipping in here. I'll have to control myself lest I preach the whole book this morning. But we're dealing with a valley in our valley series. And I want you to see when we deal with Armageddon, Megiddo, Jezreel. Do you know why I'm preaching this? I want you to see that our God is the God of the valleys. My God is the God of the plain, Megiddo, Armageddon. And when you realize that your God is the God of Armageddon. I'm not scared of nuclear warfare. I'm not scared of bombs and bullets. I'm not scared of the armies of this world. I'm not scared of the great generals or politicians. When you see Armageddon, do you know what you see? Our God, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the God of the valley of Armageddon. Can you say amen this morning? I'm telling you, when you begin to possess this, you see that our God is not only the God of the mountaintops, but he is the God of the valleys. Let me give you these four points. Number one, the pathway prepared. The pathway prepared to Armageddon. Look with me again at Revelation 16 and 12. And it says here, And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates. And the water thereof was dried up on the way of the kings of the east, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. This is the sixth vial. And I want you to notice this very carefully. When you come to the book of Revelation, you have seven seals. Then you have seven trumpets. Then you have seven vials or bowls of judgment. Let me put it in its order. We go through systematically the seven seals. You get to the seventh seal. And what is the seventh seal? You systematically work through them in Revelation. You come to the seventh seal. The seventh seal has the seven trumpets in it of the wrath of God. The wrath of God is in the seventh seal, not the sixth, the fifth, or the fourth. It's in the seventh. That's where the seven trumpets are. That is the wrath of God. Then after the seven trumpets, you have the seven bowls of the wrath of God. I'm not going to prove it this morning, but I'm just telling you what I believe. I believe the seven trumpets and the seven vials are parallel. They all systematically join together. The first trumpet is the same as the first vial. And here we are dealing with Armageddon. I believe when you come to this sixth vial, you have Armageddon. You have the Euphrates. You have these armies. When you go back to the sixth trumpet, guess what? You get the Euphrates. You get Armageddon. You get the armies of the east. You get the exact same thing in the sixth trumpet and in the sixth vial. And so my first point here is the pathway prepared. What is the pathway prepared to Armageddon? What is the route that leads to Armageddon? You see, God initiates this because he is leading men to Armageddon. This is not men having their way. It's not demons having their way. It's not Antichrist having his way. This is at the end of the great tribulation. And what do you have? You have a pathway prepared to lead all nations back to that point and that time. It's a remarkable time. Let me tell you what it says in Revelation chapter 9 and verse 13, speaking about the sixth angel that sounds. Verse 14, saying to the sixth angel, which had the trumpet, listen carefully, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. When that sixth trumpet begins to blow, you know what God is saying? Do you know what the angel is saying? There are four angels bound right now, right now in the river Euphrates, not under the river, in the river, in that river. There are four angels presently bound. Can I tell you, elect angels, good angels are not bound. They're not bound. That shows these are evil angels. These are fallen angels. These are punished angels and they are trapped. They are imprisoned. They are hindered. They are held back. These are four fallen demonic angels. These are four that fell with Lucifer. And you know what? Something they done in the past made God to bind them, to put them in a prison house that is the river Euphrates. They're spiritual beings. It's a physical river. And yet they are bound there. They are held as prisoners. They are restricted. They can't function. They cannot work. And you know what the Bible tells us here in Revelation 16, concerning this vial or this cup of wrath that's poured out on the river. Do you know what happens when this vial is poured out? It says the water thereof is dried up. Now I want you to know the pathway to Armageddon is when the Euphrates begins to dry up. Everyone's been talking about, I think for the past two years, the Euphrates is beginning to dry up. Then that's not it just yet. But I'm telling you, that's a warning of how close we are. For the first time in history, suddenly areas, not the entire river, certain areas are drying up right at this very present time. It's not happened before. You know why? Because men are playing around with it. And so the Euphrates is beginning to dry up. It shows man can shut off that entire river any moment, any time. But I promise you, God is going to be behind it. And so we see this vial being outpoured upon it. And once it's saved, when that river dries up, why would God bring a judgment or say this is his wrath? Why would you dry up the river? Why would you dry up the Euphrates? What is it that this Euphrates is holding back? And what is it that these four demonic fallen angels are going to be released to do? We are told that when they get released, these four angels says, the water therefore have dried up and the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. Now notice that that's what the judgment is. That river has to be dried up. It's going to be dried up. It's going to come to nothing. And it is God's vial and timing within it. You know why? Because all the kings of the east have to cross this river to go to Armageddon. They've got to come there. And you know what? God is behind this. This is the pathway to Armageddon. This is where it all begins. But listen to what it says back in chapter nine with the trumpet. It says these four angels are held captive in the Euphrates and the four angels were loosed. Notice what happens when they're loosed, which were prepared. If you say that word prepared. So in Revelation 16 with the vial, they're prepared. In Revelation nine with the trumpet, they're prepared. Both places it has this word. There is a preparation under God's hand going on. And listen to what it says. Which were prepared for an hour, a day, a time and a year to slay a third of men. Or in Revelation 6 verse 12, what does it say? It says these kings are being released. Why are they being released? Why are these four demonic angels being released? Why is it they're crossing the Euphrates? Why is it drawn up? You know why? They're going to Armageddon. And the Bible says that one third of all men are going to die as a result of this. They are being released. A massive army is going to cross the Euphrates and it's going to advance on Armageddon. Now this river Euphrates is one of the oldest rivers in the entire Bible. We read about Euphrates first in Genesis chapter two. It was one of four rivers that flowed out of the garden of Eden. The four original rivers. Now the river after Noah's day is not the same, but it carries the same name. This is the most historic river in our world. In both places it calls it the great river Euphrates. In other words, this river is great. It is magnificent. It's about 1800 miles long. That makes it great. But more than that, its history being the oldest river and one of the last rivers mentioned in our Bible apart from the river in the new heaven and the new earth. This river is the oldest. It'll be the last. It's the most notorious river. So no wonder it is called that great river. It has its source in Armenia where the Ark came to rest on Ararat. Now listen to what it says. We are actually told the number of those that get released out across. It says in the number of the army of the horsemen. This is chapter 19 verse 16. Says the number of the army of the horsemen were two hundred thousand thousand. So when these kings of the east come, who are the kings of the east? That's kings, leaders, generals to the east of Euphrates. Do you know what it includes? It includes China, it includes India and all of those Asian countries. You're talking about masses of military power that are going to be released in this hour. And this time, do you know how many this is? Soldiers, 200 million Asian soldiers from the east are going to come flooding over this. You know, at the present time in China, China has a population of 1.4 billion, 1.4 billion. India now has 1.4 billion. And now shortly they're saying India's population is going to explode way beyond China. And India become the most populous country in the entire world. Look at these two countries and this is only two. So they have almost 3 billion people out of 8 billion people in our world from two countries east of the Euphrates. This is a massive, massive population. You know, I believe that this is not just spiritual. You cannot spiritualize all that is happening here. It is a literal war. It's going to happen. You're talking about an actual river drying up. You can't spiritualize that. It's going to actually happen. If we actually took the numbers here, this army, 200 million of an army, and that's not considering those all come from the west or those in the Middle East. It's only saying about the kings of the east, 200 million. You know what that would be today? If this happened today, it would be one out of every 40 people in our world's population is going to march across the Euphrates. It would mean that 2 billion people are going to die as a result of this. This is utterly remarkable. When you go into history, you can actually read that the biggest army that ever gathered in world history was Xerxes' army of 2.5 million that gathered against the Greeks, that marched against Greece. You know, world historians say it's impossible. They must have made a mistake. They can't fathom that an army over a million would gather and march in the ancient world. But I want to tell you, 200 million soldiers are going to come across. And you know what? It doesn't say they're going to come and fit. It begins to describe how they travel. It says, and I saw horses in the vision. Notice what the horses are like. A man that sat on them having breastplates of fire. I believe this taunt about our contemporary military powers, a breastplate of fire. How could you have a breastplate of fire? It says, and of chasinth and brimstone. And the heads of the horses were the heads of lions. And out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. I believe this shows 200,000 soldiers amassing, crossing that with all the military technology. And it actually shows that their weapons are going to inflict worldwide destruction, with one third of men worldwide dying as a result of this great gathering. But it's very important. Do you know China has never marched on the Middle East in world history? Do you know that? Do you know how important this is? When it was written, China was never known to march into the Middle East. It didn't happen. It hasn't happened in all world history. Even now, China is careful. Oh yes, it has its own dominion, its own power. But it's not marching into other countries. It's a liar. It's sneaky. It's very careful. It's covert. But this has never happened. It is going to happen very soon. I'm going to tell you. And so there's going to be prepared an entire major army. You know, as in the first Gulf War, and it was remarkable, millions gathered to do warfare. It says here, this is the pathway being prepared. This is a thorough preparation. It's absolute. To be prepared means to be adjusted, brought into the right place, at the right time, to do the right thing. This is God adjusting everything. This is God's vial being outpoured. This is God saying, I'm going to judge all the nations of the world. I'm going to judge all the great armies. I'm going to judge all their military power. I am going to bring destruction. I'm going to pour my wrath out. There's no mercy at this point. There's no love anymore. There's no forgiveness anymore. There's no grace anymore. You know what? I will not be on the earth at this point. This is the outpouring of God's wrath. You do not want to be here when the wrath of God is outpoured. I'd rather have the wrath of Satan. I would rather have the wrath of man. But you do not want to have the wrath of God. And even when you experience the wrath of God here, you still have the wrath of eternity yet to come. It's terrible enough to get the wrath of God on earth, but there's more. My second point, the timing and the technique. The timing and the technique, not only the pathway of preparation, but the timing and the technique. It says in chapter 16 and 13, 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. Do you see that? That there's three demonic spirits coming out of the mouth of the dragon. Who is the dragon? That's the devil. That is the devil, Lucifer. See at this actual point, we have the timing. There's an actual hour set for this. The hour is set already. The day is set. The month is set. The year is set in God's calendar. God has set a time. The devil can't release a frog out of his mouth until God says. But at the right time, the dragon, out of his mouth come an unclean spirit like a frog. It's talking about a devil, a demon. It's talking about demonic power. It comes out of the mouth of the dragon. The beast, who's the beast? That's a political leader. That's the antichrist. And thirdly, the false prophet. All three of these leaders, a trinity of evil, political power, religious power, and Lucifer himself are going to release three spirits, unclean spirits. Unclean spirits doesn't mean sexual immorality in the Bible. It doesn't mean that. It never meant that. Today, people are demonology mad. They say, you've got a demon of nicotine. Where do you get that in your Bible? There's no demon of nicotine. So you've got an unclean spirit. You're immoral. Where do you get that in your Bible? You need to be very careful of contemporary teaching. Here, what you have is the power that's been let loose on our world for three and a half years. The dragon has ruled with power. But here come three lying, deceiving spirits out of these three beings, out of these three persons. And those spirits go forward, listen, working miracles. Do you see very shortly, miraculous power, demonic power is going to be released in an unparalleled way. You think the world's bad now. Do you know all of this immorality, all of this stuff being taught in our schools, the Irish schools are being flooded. Parents wake up to hear me this morning. If you're sitting casually at this time and you've got your kid in a school, you need to wake up this morning. You need to get a grip of things. They are marching for your kids. We taught a series on this. They are marching. They are educating your kids. If you don't go and bang on the door of your teacher, you're negligent. You're handing your children over. You're not looking after your children. Don't give me excuses. You need to defend your children. Not just stand on your own and say, well, we're careful what they watch on television and we're not going to let anything in here. That is not sufficient. You need to pursue this. Saints of God, I know what I'm saying here. You're talking about all of this is the preparation for what's going to come. Saints of God, this is why God's going to hand this world over. 2 Thessalonians 2, he hands this world over very soon to a great delusion. See, I can handle deception from the devil. I can handle that. And you know what? If you tell me I can always discern, I always see through someone, I can discern what's of the devil, then that's not discernment. Because you know what? Discernment, real discernment is supernatural. And you know what? Deception is such, you don't see it coming. You need the grace of God. You need the spirit of God. And no one has that in their back pocket, I want to tell you. But you know, in this hour, it's one thing to deal with deception. But you know what's about to get released? It's God's delusion. God is going to, in 2 Thessalonians 2, he is going to release a delusion upon those who do not believe the truth and those who have not received a love for truth. Do you love truth here this morning? Do you believe the truth? Because if you don't, you're in a very vulnerable place. One of these days soon, God is going to hand men over. And you know what that delusion is? To follow Antichrist, to be deceived by what I'm telling you about. But here, at the very end, these three creatures send forth these fallen spirits looking like frogs. You know why those are sent? To work miracles, supernatural miracles. And you know what? It's going to convince China. The leaders of China, they're going, we're not going to Armageddon to fight. Oh, yes, you are. Miraculous power, supernatural power, demonic influences from the pit of hell. Angels out of Euphrates being released to bring these armies over. Do you see what is operating here? Thank God for the grace of God. Thank God for salvation in the Lord Jesus Christ. It says here they go forth unto the kings of the east. These spirits working miracles go forth. They have a target. You know what? Those kings of the east, they're very reluctant to cross out Euphrates and come to Armageddon. Send out these spirits. We've got to gather all armies to the Middle East. Even those that are reluctant, the Irish are probably already there for three and a half years. They'll be at the forefront of this system. But China has to be dragged there and brought there. I told you I was in the first Gulf War. Saddam Hussein had the fifth largest army in the world, 950,000. This is going to be an army of 200,000, only twice as big as Saddam's army. Don't tell me it's not possible. It is possible. In that first Gulf War in 1993, I think it was, loose track, the U.S. sent a million soldiers into Saudi Arabia to fight that war. So you're looking at an immense army, one million American soldiers, one million in Saddam's army. You've got 200 million already. It's remarkable. That's the size of this army. In that Gulf War, it was 38 nations joined together to fight Saddam. And you know what? I was only 18 years old, right in the midst of it, crossed over that border into Iraq, seeing all that was going on and happening. Well, you know what? It's about to happen again in the days ahead. God actually has set a time. He's got a technique. He has gathered those kings of these. Listen, to gather them to the battle of that great day of Almighty. Do you know the Bible never talks about the battle of Armageddon? Not once in the entire Bible. It's not a biblical statement. Do you know what the Bible does call it? God has a name for it. Men call it Armageddon, the third world war, or some other name. What does God call it? God calls it the battle of the great day of God Almighty. You see, he's gathered all these armies, all these nations for one last grand finale. It's not Armageddon. It's not about nuclear warfare. Do you know what this is about? God is using demonic power, even the beast, the dragon, the false prophet. These frog demonic spirits, he's using it all. Draw them into the valley of Megiddo. You know why? I am going to judge all nations. Saints of God, this is a valley you need to understand about. You may be scared today. What's going to happen with our world, our young people? What's happening to our nation, our laws, our politics? What's going to happen to our freedom and liberties? I want to tell you about a valley where God is going to sit in judgment of all nations. This is going to be the battle of all battle. It is going to be a mega battle, a remarkable campaign. But let me tell you something about it. Armageddon is not fought at Armageddon. I'm going to shock you now. Let me dispel what you think about Armageddon. All, if not most of you think Armageddon is fought in this valley. It's not fought in this valley. The valley isn't even big enough. The Bible never says this war is going to be fought in Armageddon. In fact, it's going to be fought over a 200 mile region. And it's not going to be fought in one place at one time. It's fought over a period of time. Not in one place. It's not one battle. It's not one army. It's actually a whole region. But do you know what the Bible says? This is going to be the staging area. Let me come to my third point here. Armageddon, a raid, are set in place. Verse 16. I'm coming back to verse 15. I'll finish on that. Armageddon, a raid. And he gathered them, verse 16, and he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon. It's a gathering place. This valley is a gathering place, a staging place to gather all armies that are reluctant to come. You know, at this point, armies from around the world have been in Israel, surrounding Jerusalem, besieging it for the past three and a half years. Do you know the besiegement of Jerusalem begins with the abomination of desolation and it continues to this point for three and a half years? All nations, armies of the world are going to surround Jerusalem. They're going to be there encamped for three and a half years. This is now the end of that time. You know what God is doing? He's bringing up all of their military power, all of their strength, all of their technology, all of their might to one place. Make sure no country's left out. Bring their best, bring their all, bring them down here. Do you see God bringing them all here? It must look terrible in this hour. It must seem like this is an annihilation, but it's not the annihilation you think. The world is not going to get destroyed by nuclear power. I believe there is going to be release of nuclear power. You know, the Bible even talks at, sorry to tell you this, but at Gog and Magog, when Russia invades Israel with the Islamic coalition, here are one of the things that says that the fire is going to fall on the isles of the sea. Sorry to tell you that. There's going to be casualties at a distance. There's going to be weapons that are fired that are even going to touch the isles of the sea. Now you mummies, you forget that and you go to bed and sleep tonight. You just pray, love the Lord Jesus, tell your kids they need to be born again. Don't you get distracted with what I just said there. But there's only one place in the world where this is going to happen. Armageddon is the gathering place. It's not a battle there, but God gathers them all for this last conflict. Let me tell you just a little bit about Armageddon as a battlefield in world history. There's a book being written by a professor, a top archeologist, a secular man on Armageddon. He recorded in that book very recently, 34 historical battles that have been fought in Armageddon in this valley that we're talking about. He goes back some 5,000 years and from 5,000 years ago begins to record that this is the mother of all battlefields. No other spot in our entire world has had more battles than Armageddon, none in our entire world. That's why it's within the psyche of our world. And he traces all the way through to 1973 when Israel fought a war in that same valley. When you go back into the valley, back in the scripture, you begin to read lots of extraordinary things about this valley that are utterly remarkable. When you go into the Bible, you read there that Deborah and Barak defeated the Canaanites in Judges 4 and 5. Gideon triumphed over the Midianites in Judges chapter 7. In 1 Samuel 31, Saul and Jonathan fight in the Philistines there, fall in battle and die. Then again in 2 Kings chapter 9, King Ahazai was slain by Jehu. And there even in 2 Kings 23, we read of Josiah who was slain as the Egyptians evade and he fights a war. So time and time and time again, you read in the Bible of what happens in the valley of Megiddo. It is an extraordinary place when you begin to read about who died there. We read in the Bible of the first night campaign in all the world history. You may think it's normal too. The SAS fight at night and other special forces and military power fight at night. Do you know that never happened in world history? The first recorded night battle was Gideon when he attacked the enemy in the middle of night. It had never happened in world history until Gideon done it. It was an extraordinary act. Do you know as well the Mongols that came from the East, they actually swept through all of Asia into Europe. Do you know where they got defeated? The only battle the Mongols lost in all of their long history. They were tyrants. They slaughtered everyone. Guess where they got defeated? Megiddo. That's where they come to ruins. That's where they actually were defeated. When you go through history, Napoleon fought a war there. He said, this is the best place to fight a world war. Churchill as well in the Second World War. He was being pushed back across the North of Africa. Rommel and his forces were advancing. Then the Germans were coming down through Greece, sweeping around the Mediterranean. You know what Churchill done? He knew his Bible. He said, oh no, I can see what's happening. We are being forced back to Megiddo. He said, I know what's going to happen. I know what the Bible says. You know, often Churchill mentions Megiddo, the battlefield of Armageddon. And even at the end of the Second World War, he said, I've got a fear that Armageddon is coming. We're going to fight Russia. And in that fight, it's going to be the third world war, the worst war that's ever come. The Catholic Crusades fought there. Napoleon, Churchill, many others. They all came to that one place. Do you know, saints of God, we are looking at a very remarkable place. Back in 1918, a man called General Allenby, again taught in the scriptures. Do you know Allenby knew he had read the prophecy books of Henry Grant and Guinness, who preached out on this high street. He started a riot here. And the man who shot his mom's first husband was O'Connell, who O'Connell Street's mentioned after. And there's a statue of him down there. It was one of the last jewels in this nation of ours, where O'Connell shot his mother's first husband. If that doesn't confuse you. Sorry, I've got all of these facts rolled around in my head. I've got to get them out some stage. Saints of God, it was Henry Grant and Guinness' books given to Allenby that he believed the Bible. Do you know where he fought his great battle? Megiddo, the battle of Armageddon. Let me finish. I've got much to say in this, but I think we need a series. I want to finish on this fourth and final point. Clothed Christians. Listen again carefully. Number one, the pathway prepared. Number two, the timing and the technique. Number three, Armageddon arrayed. But fourth and lastly, let me apply this spiritually to you. We're on a Sunday morning. I don't want to leave you with Armageddon. I don't want to leave you with all of this in your mind. Let me make it very personal to you. Does God have a message in revealing this valley? Armageddon, Megiddo, Jezreel. Is there any spiritual value for us on a Sunday morning? Is there any word from the Holy Spirit? Is there any issue of holiness here or of salvation? What is God's message in revealing this and saying, I want you to own knowledge-wise this valley. It's important you know about this valley. I get tired of these Christians who say, we won't be here for that. We don't need to know about it. It's in the Bible. It's taught by the Holy Spirit. How dare you say we don't need to know things because we're not going to have to go through it. That is ignorance, gross ignorance. And I'm telling you as consequence with that sort of attitude, we learn, we study all that the Holy Spirit gives us. I studied Antichrist just like I studied Christ. You know why? The Bible does, the apostles do, the Holy Spirit does. Don't tell me that studying Antichrist or warning takes our eyes off Jesus. I'm a Christ-centered man. I'm a Christ-centered preacher, but I'm going to preach these things because it's biblical. But fourth and lastly, clothed Christians. Verse 15. Notice here, verse 14 is about Megiddo. Verse 16 is about Megiddo. The verse after this and the verse before it is about Armageddon. But here you have a verse, verse 15 for you in this room right now, today, this morning. Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked and they see his shame. Oh, I'm not going to be here. Neither am I. I will not be here when this vial of wrath, this bowl of wrath is poured out. I'm not going to be here. Saints of God, I'm going to be coming. I hope on a white steed. I am going to be coming with a number of redeemed saints behind one called the Lord Jesus Christ. You know where the battle happens? It actually happens. I forgot to mention one thing. You're going to wonder and I'll get a question about this. I've got to do this. Let me just insert this before we go to this. I said there was a connection to last week's message, didn't I? Remember I talked about Jehoshaphat last week, didn't I? And I told you it's got a connection to this Armageddon. Would you mind connecting Jehoshaphat that was several hundred years before Christ or more? How would I connect that? Remember I said Armageddon isn't fought at Armageddon, but over the whole region of Israel. I can take you to cities and places and areas where this end day battle is fought out. When you go to Joel chapter three, you read about this last battle. You remember it talks about the valley of Jehoshaphat or the valley of decision and how God is going to bring everyone down into that valley of decision. And it's called the valley of Jehoshaphat. And most Bible teachers on YouTube and on commentaries in olden days, they'll all tell you that the valley of Jehoshaphat is the valley Kidron outside of Jerusalem. I'm glad none of you said amen or nodded, but you know that can't be because we dealt with the valley of Jehoshaphat last week. It's south of Jerusalem, some 10 miles. You remember what the valley of Jehoshaphat was? It's where he won his great battle. How can Kidron be the valley of Jehoshaphat? It can't be. Do you know that was invented that idea in the fourth century? Took them four centuries to create that idea. You can't call Kidron the valley of Jehoshaphat. Do you know what the valley of Jehoshaphat is? It's a valley we dealt with last week. And do you know why I believe this battle is called the valley of Jehoshaphat? Remember, because you won't need to fight in this. I'm going to fight. I'm going to destroy the enemy. I'm going to annihilate the enemy. Settle that. Now, let me finish here with this last fourth point, clothed Christians. Right in the midst of this, being aware of Armageddon, being aware of God's pouring out of his wrath. Now, the Holy Spirit speaks to you and says, behold, that means wake up. Stop, take notice. Listen to me. Open up your eyes. Some of you need to stand. You're losing. I'm just telling you what's in the text. Behold, I come as a thief. When Jesus Christ comes, and he is going to come, he's going to come as a thief. He is coming as a thief. What is a thief? You don't expect him. You're sleeping in your bed. The thief comes in the middle of the night, breaks in, steals everything. He's gone, and you're still sleeping. In other words, he comes and he goes, and you're not even aware of it. You're not conscious of it. You have missed Jesus Christ. You know what? He comes as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth. You better make sure you watch. Who keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked. That means if the thief catches you off guard, if you're not ready for this thief, you're going to walk naked. You're going to be ashamed. Listen again to some other statements in our Bible. Revelation 3 and 3 to the church at Sardis. Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and repent. If therefore thou shalt not watch. See, if you're not watching, you really need to repent this morning. I will, and this Jesus speaking to the church in the first century, if you will not repent, if you will not watch, I will come on to thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know what hour I will come upon thee. Talking to a church, mean Jesus coming to a church, and you're asleep. You're not repentant. You're not walking right. You're going to be in serious trouble. Can you imagine Christ coming, and you're fast asleep. You're living in sin. You're walking in rebellion. You need to repent. Wake up, church of God. Wake up, church of God. Those who live sinfully and say, I'm okay, I'm saved. They're in deception. The devil's taking your eyes out. Or listen to what it says in 1 Thessalonians 5 and 1. But of the times and of the seasons, brethren, you have no need I write unto you, because you're going to know this. These Christians are saved less than two years. Sure you know about the times and the seasons. Then he goes further, for yourselves know perfectly that the day of the Lord, notice that the day of the Lord. What's the day of the Lord? It's the day of the coming of his wrath. It's the beginning of his wrath. It's the beginning of the pouring out of his wrath. It's the beginning. It's when man's day is over. The armies of this world are finished. It says the day of the Lord, so cometh as a thief in the night. Do you hear that? The day of the Lord comes as a thief in the night. Then verse four, but ye brethren, you're not in darkness. That that day should overtake you as a thief. Do you know, Jesus isn't coming as a thief in the night for me. He might be coming for you as a thief in the night. He's not coming for me as a thief in the night. I'm not looking for Jesus to come as a thief in the night. He's not coming as a thief in the night for me. If you're in darkness, he's coming as a thief in the night. If you're asleep, if you're on repentance, then he's coming as a thief. He's not coming for me as a thief. That's what the Bible actually says here. Why? Ye are all the children of light and the children of the day. We are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore, let us not sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep, sleep in the night, and they that be drunken are drunken in the night. But let us that are of the day be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet, the hope of salvation. For God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, it says in Peter chapter three, verse 10, for the day of the Lord, the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens and the earth shall pass away with great noise, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. Saints of God, what am I telling you here this morning? Here is a valley in Israel that you and I are to possess. We are to understand it. We are to be aware of it. We are to know that there's a day when God is gonna put everything right. There is an hour when Jesus Christ is coming. There's a people right now, today, here in this room who are getting ready. We are warned Jesus is gonna come as a thief in the night. We are warned that he's coming, but not to those that are in the light, not to those who have righteousness on, not to those that are looking for his coming, who love him, who believe in him. He's not coming as a thief in me. I'm not scared of missing him. He's not gonna come unexpectedly. I'm looking for him. I'm longing for him. I'm desiring him. I'm making myself ready. Are you ready to meet the Lord Jesus Christ? And so the entire battle of Armageddon shows us an entire world left destitute, naked, ashamed. What's it say? To watch and keep your garments. Are you keeping your garments here this morning? Remember on Wednesday night, we dealt with the covenant exchanged, the robe of Jonathan given to David, which was a picture of our righteousness given by Christ to us as believers. And we're gonna go further on this Wednesday night. Isn't it very apt we're dealing with this between two messages on the robe of righteousness? Here we are in the light of all that's gonna happen in our world. And we're on the threshold. Do you know in the Bible over 25%, 27%, one quarter of the Bible's prophecy, 67% of that is already fulfilled. Over 30% has yet to be fulfilled. And do you know what? It's gonna happen in one generation. No, mostly in a period of seven years. We're in the threshold of prophecies being fulfilled. Everything's about to happen. It's all suddenly gonna happen in a short period of time. Do you know what his message to you? Keep your garments. Have you been protecting your garments from spot, from wrinkle, from stain, from sin, from sleep, from casualness? Are your robes white? Are they washed in the blood of the lamb? Is your lamp burning? Do you have oil in your lamp? Are you ready for the Lord Jesus Christ? Are you looking for him earnestly? Or is that a fear for you here this morning? Are you sitting here saying, please delay your coming? Are you here saying, Maranatha, even so come Lord Jesus. I so wanna see you. I can't wait to get out of here. You know, every day it's my prayer. Lord, why'd I have to stay and you took my wife? How come she gets to be up there and I have to stay here? It's not fair. Can I go home? I'm ready to go home. Are you ready to go home and to meet the Lord Jesus Christ? Saints of God, the Valley of Armageddon has a message for you. Watch, do not sleep. Keep your garments. Please stand with me. Lord Jesus, prepare us. Let's begin to pray here. Let's open our hearts. Let's just seek him here. Thank you, Lord Jesus. My God, we need to be ready in this hour. Lord God, as we come and approach the end of this series, we also realize that we're approaching the end of time. This truly is the Valley of Prophecy. Lord God, we want to have an understanding. We want to have a clear vision and a clear view. We're asking for the work of your Holy Spirit this morning. We don't want to be ashamed as a church. We want to be awake as a church. Even all those online that are listening right now. All of those that are going to listen later. My God, we're praying wherever they are. Bring an awakening of hearts. Stir up their hearts. My God, that they might keep and guard. Their garments. That they might watch over the robe of righteousness. My God, we're praying that in this evil, dark, wicked hour. Lord God, start a revival in our midst. Lord God, pour out your Holy Spirit. Let us be a bride that is burning with passion and desire. Lord God, with a single eye, saying, even come Lord Jesus. We want to have a heart that is longing for you. That is desiring you. We want to be pure and holy, oh God. We want to be, oh God, a bride that is making herself ready for the Lord Jesus Christ. And oh God, this morning I pray. Lord God, help our robes to be perfectly white. Lord God, our robes of salvation. Our robes of praise and adoration. Lord God, that you might be glorified in Jesus' name. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/8AJwvwur1HU.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/keith-malcomson/the-valley-of-prophecy-armageddon/ ========================================================================