Armageddon - Revelation 16

16:1-21 - Here are the seven angels standing outside of the temple of God holding these vials of plague, and out of the temple comes a voice telling the angels “Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth.” The first angel pours out his vial on the earth “and there fell a noisome and grievous sore upon the men” who worshipped Satan, or more likely refused to repent because they liked their wicked lifestyle too much. The IM refers to one of the plagues called down upon Egypt by Moses as recorded in Exodus 9:8-12. The second angel pours out his vial “upon the sea; and it became as the blood of a dead man: and every living soul died in the sea.” I don’t know if “soul” means person, like all those who were on the sea died or if it’s referring to all the animals that were living in the sea, but probably animals. The third angel pours out his vial “upon the rivers and fountains of waters: and they became blood.” This angel is particularly eloquent because he comments that God is just in his judgment “for they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink.” That’s a pretty apt punishment for those who kill the prophets. One of the ideas that I had back when we were studying the Book of Mormon was, at what point is a people so wicked that they need to be destroyed. And the answer that I came up with based on my observations in the scriptures was that, a people are usually considered past the point of no return when they start killing the prophets. Before that, when they just think he’s wrong, whatever, they can make more spiritual process alive on this earth than dead, but after they start to kill the prophets, then there is no more they can do for their spiritual salvation while alive in the world. The IM gives numerous scriptural examples of prophesies concerning the people who kill the prophets, then says, “It seems that safety in times of judgment is directly connected to the acceptance of prophets.” Again, there is not distinction between Church members and non-members, the distinction is between wicked and righteous. Right now the world views the office of prophet in our Church as that of an obscure old man saying things that aren’t necessarily popular with today’s society. It’s just interesting to consider that there will come a point when everyone who is not wicked will look to our prophet for guidance and do what he says. The fourth angel pours out his vial “upon the sun; and power was given unto him to scorch men with fire. And men were scorched with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God… and they repented not.” To be honest, all this sounds like climate change. Oceans animals all dying, running out of fresh drinking water, deadly heat, and a disease with sores, maybe one from a virus that infected people after thawing out of the permafrost due to global warming? The fifth angel pours out his vial “upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain, and blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.” That is pretty intense. The word “darkness” is cross-referenced with the meaning “spiritual darkness” which is what happens when the Spirit of God is removed from among the people. It sounds like for the wicked, the Spirit will leave and left up to his own devices, Satan will destroy his own people. It’s like when all the righteous people leave you, then all you’re left with are non-righteous people. Gnashing their tongues because of the pain is quite intense, it begs the question, if the pain is that severe, what would someone with the Spirit do? I’ve only been in extreme pain a couple of times in my life, but when it happened, at some point there is no logic left, it’s all visceral reaction. But I guess that it also depends on what type of pain we’re talking about. These people left with Satan might have more spiritual pain than physical and that would make a lot more sense about the tongue gnashing. The sixth angel pours out his vial “upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.” I don’t know what this means, if it’s a bunch of different countries coming to converge on that spot and fight or what exactly. John also sees something interesting, “three unclean spirits like frogs,” that came out of the mouths of the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet and these frog looking unclean spirits “are the spirits of devils, working miracles,” going forth to the different kings of the world “to gather them to the battle… into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” Concerning Armageddon, the IM says, “The name Armageddon is derived from the Hebrew Har Megid-dib, meaning the ‘mountain of Megiddo.’ The valley of Megiddo is in the western portion of the Plain of Esdraelon, fifty miles (eighty kilometers) north of Jerusalem, and is the site of several crucial battles in Old Testament times. A great and final conflict that will take place near the time of the second coming of the Lord is called the battle of Armageddon because it will begin in the same locale. The battle that will begin at Har Megiddo will spread to Jerusalem.” I’ve always been confused on when all these events will take place, before or after the Millennium, but it sounds like Armageddon will happen before Christ comes again, which would mean that the battle would only be fought by wicked people, there would be no righteous component in there. Finally the seventh angel pours his vial into the air and it is a “great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done.” Then there are great voice, and thunderings, and lightnings, and a “great earthquake” bigger than anything that has happened “since men were upon the earth.” The “great city” was divided into three parts, but at the same time “the cities of the nations fell.” All the islands “fled away, and the mountains were not found.” There is a great hail storm, “every stone about the weight of a talent,” which google says a talent would weigh anywhere from 71-126 pounds. Could you imagine what it would be like to have a hail storm with rocks weighing 100 pounds? It’s like certain death. This plague of hail is so great that “men blasphemed God.” A lot of “Nephites right before destruction” vibes going on here. Concerning the physical changes of the earth, the IM quotes President Joseph Fielding Smith as teaching, “the notion prevails quite generally that the dividing of the earth in the days of Peleg was a division politically among the people, but from this word of the Lord we gain the idea that the earth itself was divided and that when Christ comes it will again be brought back to the same conditions physically as prevailed before this division took place. The sea is to be driven back into the north. The land is to be brought back as it was originally and the lands of Zion (America) and Jerusalem (Palestine and all the land pertaining unto it) will be restored to their own place as they were in the beginning. The Savior will stand in the midst of his people, and shall reign over all flesh. We have discovered in our study that the wicked, or all things that are corruptible, will be consumed and therefore will not be permitted to be on the earth when this time comes.” We know now about Pangea, all the continents squished together, but it would be wild to see them put back into that state suddenly and in one earthquake. I wonder if that’s what he’s talking about. When he says that “all things that are corruptible,” does he mean physical structures, animals, etc? Will they all be destroyed off the earth when the Savior comes back? What about all the temples? I’m under the impression that the temples we build now will still be used to complete ordinances during the millennium, but they are physical structures in a fallen world, so what does that mean? I’m not going to read too much into it because ultimately it doesn’t matter. No matter what happens when, it makes no difference to me if I’m not spiritually prepared. Knowing the timeline doesn’t make it easier to endure when it comes, it doesn’t change my time line for life or death when it comes. I could know everything about what’s coming and still not be ready for it. Conversely, I could know nothing about what’s coming and be prepared enough spiritually to be ok and to help others be ok too. It’s like Jesus says in verse 15, “Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.” The IM comments on this something that is quite applicable to us today, saying, “In a spiritual sense, keeping one’s garments symbolizes the spiritual readiness that results from living in spiritual watchfulness and receiving the blessings of the temple. Many other scriptures exhort people to live with watchfulness.”