Advent II – C

December 6^th, AD 2009

Meadowvale Lutheran Church, Mississauga

Pastor Peter Lisinski

“THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON”

(Sermon No. 2 of 3 on Revelation)

Last week we learned that the book of Revelation is structured around the symbolic use of numbers – especially the number 7, which represents fulfillment.  Four times John repeats the story of God’s unfolding salvation through 7 stages in the history of Israel, beginning with Adam and Eve and concluding with the death of Jesus.  And in his fourth, and final, retelling John describes perhaps his best known, and probably least understood, of all his apocalyptic visions.  The battle of Armageddon.

The name ‘Armageddon” comes from the Old Testament name ‘Megiddo’ – the site of many important battles in the history of Israel.  I suppose we could say it was the ancient equivalent of Dieppe, Vimy Ridge, or the Plains of Abraham in Canadian history.  At Megiddo, the Israelites defeated the Canaanites to complete their conquest of the Promised Land.  Also at Megiddo, Josiah, the last of Israel’s kings, was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, whose army went on to destroy Jerusalem and lead the survivors to exile in Babylon.  Israel’s battles at Megiddo were decisive turning points in its rise and fall as a nation.

In the book of Revelation, Armageddon symbolizes the site of human history’s most decisive battle of them all.  At Armageddon, all the forces of sin, evil and death are united in a war against God.  But John’s vision of the Battle of Armageddon is neither a literal, nor a future event.  Listen carefully as he describes his vision:

“I saw demonic spirits go abroad to assemble the kings of the whole world for battle on the great day of God at the place call Armageddon.  Then the seventh angel (remember the number seven represents fulfillment) poured his bowl into the air, and a loud voice came out of the temple, saying, ‘It is done!’  Then there came flashes of lightning, peals of thunder, and a violent earthquake, such as had not occurred since people inhabited the earth…”  (Rev. 16:13-16)

John’s references to “the great day of God”; to a voice from the temple announcing mission accomplished, and to a violent earthquake, are clear connections to Jesus’ crucifixion.  According to Revelation, Good Friday is the great day of God’s judgment – the seventh, and final, stage in the unfolding history of God’s salvation; and the death of Jesus Christ is its ultimate moment of fulfillment!  Contrary to literal interpretations of the Battle of Armageddon as a future nuclear holocaust from which the faithful followers of Jesus will be raptured in advance – as many fundamentalist Christians believe – the book of Revelation reveals that human history’s most decisive battle of all has already been fought at the cross of Jesus Christ.

The place named Golgotha in Hebrew, and Calvary in Greek, is Armageddon, the site of the greatest holocaust the world has ever seen – the deicide of God’s own divine Son.  At the cross of Jesus Christ the demonic sprits of John’s vision – whom the Apostle Paul calls “the cosmic powers of darkness” and “spiritual forces of evil” (Ephesians 6:12) – assembled to wage war on God!  And when the Roman soldiers removed Jesus’ tortured and lifeless body from the cross, and as his devastated followers carried him to his resting place, it seemed obvious to all that they had won!

Not so, says Paul!  “By his cross, Jesus Christ has disarmed all the kings and authorities” – all heads of church and state, all army generals and war lords, all captains of industry and titans of business in this world united in opposition to God’s word and will – “and made a public example of them, triumphing over them in his death!”  (Colossians 2:15)  What looks to all the watching world like Jesus Christ’s sure defeat, Christian faith perceives as his certain victory!  “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great,” Revelation announces!  “Alas, alas, the great and mighty city Babylon!  For your hour of judgment has come” (Rev. 18:2-3).

Babylon is the book of Revelation’s symbol for the ancient Roman Empire.  But imperial ambition did not begin in Rome; nor has it ended in Rome.  The corrupt political, religious and economic powers that conspired to execute Jesus were active in Pharaoh’s Egypt a thousand years B.C.  – before his crucifixion; and they were active in the Holocaust of Hitler’s Third Reich, two thousand years after his crucifixion.  And they remain active within, among and around us today.

Yes, by all appearances, the world hasn’t changed a whole lot since the death of Jesus.  But, in spite of all appearances, Christian faith believes and proclaims God’s whole new world.  By his death on the cross, Jesus Christ has defeated the powers of sin, evil and death, once and for all!  And by his resurrection from the dead, has freed us and all God’s beloved children from their lethal grip, now and forever!

Amen!  Come, Lord Jesus!