“And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet… these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire…” (Revelation 19:17-21, NASB)

Don’t you just love a good ending where good guys win and the bad guys lose? This is precisely how things turn out in the end in the book of Revelation. This is what will happen at the second coming of Jesus Christ. The good guys, Christ and the armies which are in heaven will be victorious, and the antichrist and his armies on earth will be wiped out. Today’s passage describes their end. It says,

“And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried out with a loud voice, saying to all the birds which fly in midheaven, ‘Come, assemble for the great supper of God; in order that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of commanders and the flesh of mighty men and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them and the flesh of all men, both free men and slaves, and small and great.’ And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, assembled to make war against Him who sat upon the horse, and against His army. And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone. And the rest were killed with the sword which came from the mouth of Him who sat upon the horse, and all the birds were filled with their flesh.”

Their end? The antichrist and the false prophets were thrown alive into the lake of fire, and their followers were destroyed by the sword that came out of Christ’s mouth. It appears that they thought that they had a chance of winning because it says that the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war with Christ who was coming out of heaven riding on a white horse with his army.

On earth, not all good guys win, but in God’s world His Son and His army will always prevail over Satan and his army. Many times, when we look at things from earth’s perspective, it appears that Satan has the upper hand and he is winning the battle. It appears he is control and has God tied up or something like that. This is far from the truth. A setting for a great battle is being prepared even now for the battle at the Valley of Megiddo or also known as the Armageddon. After the seven years of Tribulation Period, the antichrist and the false prophet will gather their armies to have a final faceoff with Jesus who will be returning to the earth. Unlike many apocalyptic movies depicting Armageddon, it will not be a meteor, an alien invasion, or nuclear war. It will be a battle between the army of earth and the army in heaven, the antichrist and his followers and the Christ and his saints.

Furthermore, based on today’s passage, the army of antichrist will not be using the weapons and technologies of modern warfare as some believe, but it will be a more primitive weapons of warfare consisting of horses and swords. The angel who called the birds to feast on the flesh of dead soldiers said, “Come, assemble for the great supper of God; in order that you may eat the flesh of kings… and the flesh of horses and of those who sit on them…” There will be “fleshes of horses” rather than tanks, armored cars, drones, bombers, battle-fleets, fighter jets? Yes. Consider all that will happen on earth during the Tribulation Period—earthquakes, stars falling from heaven, a third of the earth and water destroyed, sun scorching men with fire, huge hailstorm about 100 pounds each, demonic army attacking people, angels killing people with plagues. Do you think our current technologies based on electricity, gas, oil, and water will still exist after all that? I think not. In my opinion, the people on earth will go primitive very quickly. Still, whether the antichrist will have weapons of modern warfare at his disposal or not, the result will still be the same. The good guys win and the bad guys lose. Christ will always be victorious, and the antichrist and his armies will be wiped out.

• What do you think? Do you think that the antichrist and his armies actually believe that they can defeat Christ and his armies coming down from heaven?
• Why does the angel use the word “horses,” and what does that say about technology of warfare on earth during the Tribulation period?
• How does it encourage you that Christ and his followers will be victorious in the end?