This transcript is taken from a Stand in the Gap Today program originally aired on 2/15/23. To listen to the program please click HERE.
Sam Rohrer: Hello and welcome to our bi-monthly emphasis on Israel and prophecy. Today, Dr. Carl Broggi, Senior Pastor of Community Bible Church in Beaufort, South Carolina, will be joining me again for part six in what may likely end up being a 10-part series on God writing history before it happens.
Now, listening to these programs in order, and all of which are available on our website at standinthegapradio.com, I really firmly believe will provide for all who do that a remarkably concise format, an accurate foundation, and it will give you a good understanding of the big picture of prophecy, why God devoted over 30% of scripture to prophecy, for instance, and in studying them, I know that God will help to edify and enlighten your eyes, and my eyes too, and that’s why I’m focusing on this as well, to help us better understand what’s unfolding in these latter times right now, right before us, and that’s going to be part of the subject here today.
Now, today we’re going to consider the most famous battle in the history of the world. And that’s a battle that has not happened but has yet to happen. And as we do this program today, right now, literally, today as I put together the program, the world is literally on the verge of World War III. You’re out there, if you’re looking at stuff, you see that it’s happening. Russia having appeared earlier last night, for instance, have begun a major offensive there in Ukraine. They’ve been building up for it for a long time. And with the United States pushing NATO, as an example, to war and in engaging in this battle in Europe, Russia has just forged and announced, I saw yesterday, an even tighter relationship and alliance with Iran. China and the United States are about to go to war. You can see that happening. And even last night, I read a report of another major attack of some type inside Iran, with some assuming Israel was the attacker, but that’s not out there quite yet.
But war is terrible, it really is, it’s devastating, but you know God uses war to bring judgment to evil nations and correction to nations who once knew God but walked away, as did Israel of old, and as America is doing and has been doing for a generation or more. But though a just God can enact justice through a great flood, which has happened, or as fire from heaven with Sodom and Gomorrah, he will use the spectacle of war in the world’s largest and perhaps maybe fastest battle ever, and it’s this great battle toward which I personally believe we are rapidly approaching. There’s another reason why in our ongoing series on prophecy we’re making today this next effort the battle of Armageddon, preparing the way for the second coming of Christ. So stay with us for what I believe will be a very practical and helpful program. With that, Dr. Carl Broggi, thanks for being back with me today.
Carl Broggi: A pleasure to be here, Sam, always, to open God’s word together.
Sam Rohrer: Carl, this area is a major area. It’s misunderstood by a lot of people, but it’s amazing to me how many, if you just Google Armageddon, it’s out there. Games have been named after Armageddon. Whenever a big hurricane comes and there’s some devastation left over, it looks like Armageddon. The world seems to know the word Armageddon, and it’s generally connected with apocalypse or bad, but I don’t think they really know what it is. So that’s why we’re going to look at this today, because it’s a big event prophetically too. So to get us going here, would you first define the word Armageddon, the phrase “the battle of Armageddon”, and if you can define, describe and then also tie in geographically where that battle will occur, according to scripture.
Carl Broggi: Well, Sam, as you know, there’s three great battles that will take place at the end of time, the battle of Gog and Magog, the battle of Armageddon that we’re discussing, and then a third battle at the end of the millennium. But Armageddon, without a doubt, is most famous in the minds even of unbelievers. And it’s mentioned in Revelations 16, I’ve opened my Bible there, and it says, “They gathered them together to the place which in Hebrew is called [foreign language 00:04:10].” And so [foreign language 00:04:11] is the Hebrew word for mount, so we could speak of [foreign language 00:04:15] Carmel or [foreign language 00:04:17] Olivette, Mount Olivette. [foreign language 00:04:21] is a place, a juncture, where there’s a small mountain known as Megid’do. In fact, people go there today, it’s called Tel Megid’do, and that it grew as a mountain over all the civilizations that have lived there and been destroyed. And it oversees the Jezreel Valley, or in Greek, the valley of Esdraelon, and it’s been called by many, Napoleon included, the world’s greatest natural battlefield.
And so there’s this location that was at the juncture of really three major ways and if you controlled it, you controlled trade and commerce in that part of the world. So strategically, it was important in Israel’s history. And so here at Mount Megid’do, where you can oversee this great valley, you have this valley that’s about 14 miles wide, 20 miles long, and it’s just the staging place, so to speak, where the troops of the world are going to meet. It will be headquarters for the greatest battle that is going to be attempted to take place.
We speak sometimes of the valley of Armageddon, but there’s technically no such valley. That’s what I would call Christianese, but it is over the Jezreel Valley. And this battle known as [foreign language 00:05:41] will happen, and it’s a such a famous word because of our own history with Christianity, where our nation at one time was somewhat soaked in the scriptures. They knew something about it. And so today it’s become a by word for any catastrophic event as you mentioned.
Sam Rohrer: That’s excellent. Now there are many people, I don’t know how many, there are a lot of our listeners I think, who probably maybe have visited Israel before. You’re talking about this 20 mile long, 14 mile wide valley, more or less. Can you describe a little bit more, just describe verbally, where is that in proximity, say to, for instance, to the capital of Jerusalem?
Carl Broggi: Yeah, so if you’re on a tour bus and you wanted to drive to Megid’do, it’d be about a 40-minute ride in the bus. When you’re standing on Megid’do and the Mount of Megid’do, of course, it’s a place of other decisive battles and judges for, that’s the place where Barack under a word of prophecy from Deborah, where key fought the Midianites were conquered through Gideon in the same valley. So it’s a strategic place that when you’re on the top, you can see the Mediterranean Sea and you can see a number of other key geographical sites that are located there. But, again, it’s just a staging ground because in the same book of Revelation, it speaks of this 200 mile stretch of troops. And so it becomes kind of the headquarters where they’re going to march ultimately against the city of Jerusalem, which is a half day’s march and it appears at this point in human history, it will be about march. It won’t be on tanks, it won’t be on vehicles and armored cars. It will be literally on horses as you read the Revelation of the judgment that have come…
Sam Rohrer: Oh, okay, that’s great, Carl. I’m going to break away. Excellent. Ladies and gentlemen, that’s just the beginning of where we’re going today, the battle of Armageddon, preparing the way for the second coming. I’m going to come back now, my special guest, Dr. Carl Brogue, and I will continue. We’re going to talk about the when this is going to occur and why.
Well, if you’re just joining the program today, this is actually the sixth in a series going all the way back to August of prophecy that we’re entitling God writing history before it happens. Today’s emphasis, the Battle of Armageddon, world’s most famous battle yet to occur. And the battle of Armageddon preparing the way for the second coming. And again, the guest all the way through on all this has been Dr. Carl Broggi, he’s the senior pastor of Community Bible Church in South Carolina and he has been on a very, very long series of prophetical sermons with his large church that God has blessed him with for many, many months now.
And just because I think, as he does, that the understanding of biblical prophecy is so critically important to understanding and interpreting what we otherwise would see around us as confusion and falling apart is actually, when properly understood, are watching things actually fall into place. And that’s a big deal. That’s a big difference and we as believers ought not be struggling and walking around disoriented and confused like the world is, but to the contrary. So that’s why we do this.
Now while the word Armageddon, which brother Carl Broggi defined in the last segment, while it appears only one time in scripture, Revelation 16:16, it says this, I’m going to cite it two different ways, the King James says, “And he gathered them together into a place called, into Hebrew, Armageddon.” Now in the English standard it says this, “And they assembled them together in the place called the Hebrew Armageddon.” So logical question is who is it that’s doing the gathering or the assembling? And then we’re going to go from there next.
So Carl, let me ask you specifically identify here before we get into the chronological “when” of this, can you just briefly answer that? Why the difference between King James, he and they and put that together, who is doing the gathering and why?
Carl Broggi: Well, there’s two great “who’s” in the 16th chapter who participates and who gathers. And the translation difference is minor in terms of how you’re trying to translate the Greek, but it does have the idea they gathered. Well, who are the they? Well, he tells us in verse 13, “And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits.” So God presents this unholy trinity. The dragon of course, whom we’re told is Satan in the Revelation, the beast here, the antichrist, and then his false prophet who assists him.
And he uses three unclean spirits that are like frogs. And frogs, of course, were reprehensible to Jewish people. It was forbidden in Deuteronomy 14 for them to eat them. Frogs were a symbol of the occult, like in Egypt where we’re told that one of the judgments God brought, he used frogs for one of the false gods that they worshiped. In either case, they’re not frogs, but they’re like frogs and they’re unclean spirits. And these demons are deceptive. They convince the armies of the world that they can go against Israel. And as we might discuss, Israel’s Christ, Israel’s Messiah, that somehow they can be victorious. And so what they do, what Satan does is just the opposite of what Christ did. Christ expelled unclean spirits. What does the devil does? He sends these unclean spirits and he sends them out to deceive so that they will participate in this campaign.
Sam Rohrer: And as far as the why goes that of coming down to Jerusalem to worship, ultimately they’re coming down to destroy it, again, the counter part of it. So we can pick up more on the why, probably just a bit more and add to it if you want. But let’s go here to the when, because I think from a chronological perspective, a lot of folks listening say, “All right, well then when does this actually occur?” So however you want to go back, to Christ first come the incarnation, whatever, build that up and then go into when it occurs. And then if we have time, we’ll go back and fill in some more of those little details.
Carl Broggi: Okay, so in terms of the big picture, obviously, the next great event is the rapture, the church. God removes his people. He promises that the church will not be here for the time of tribulation that will come upon the whole earth. And then that seven year period known as the time of Jacob’s trouble and the New Testament, the great tribulation unfolds. Divided into two halves, the first half the people of Israel are protected by this false Messiah. Their eyes are opened up when he commits the abomination of desolation with a false image, they know it’s idolatry. He can’t be the Messiah. Then they’re persecuted. And at the end of that seven year period, we will have seen 21 judgments, sealed judgments in the first half, trumpeted in bold judgments in the second half. And towards the end of the bold judgments the kings of the world, and that’s whom these frogs, like frog demons are deceiving, they will march against Israel and the battle will be culminated with Christ’s literal second coming to the earth.
But, again, he’ll be deceiving the kings of the earth twice over in Revelation 16 again in Revelation 19, because the kings of the earth and their armies assembled to make war. They hate Israel. They hate Israel’s God. Jesus is the Jew of all Jews. They recognize as they confess that what they’re witnessing is the wrath of the lamb. They recognize at this point that most of Israel is converted. They hate Israel, they hate God’s Messiah. And so they form this massive army to attack Israel. Ultimately, as Zacharia the prophet unfolds, Israel’s capital Jerusalem.
Sam Rohrer: Okay, that’s excellent. Let me pick up on something you said earlier, Carl, that is this. You referred to horses. The scripture talks about horses. You talked about it more of like a long march rather than a battle in this valley of 14 miles wide, 20 miles long. Would you build that out a little bit as to why is that significant or not significant? I mean, are they coming there with major military weapons of war? Build out what we know from scripture.
Carl Broggi: So when you read the actual judgements, these 21 judgements, some are in the sky above, and I think they would emulate EMTs that would basically shut down structurally a lot of the communications and even the weaponry we have in our day. And so when the Lord speaks of horses, I think he’s speaking here of literal horses, and it Ezekiel, excuse me, Zacharia elaborates on it in Ezekiel 12, he speaks of this coming army where the horses will be with the riders on it, they’ll experience this delusion, they’ll be fighting one another. The blood will be everywhere. Revelation says up to the horse’s bridle. In other words, the ground will be so soaked with blood just like you’d see a horse galloping through a muddy field and the mud comes all the way up to the bridle. The earth will be so covered in blood with slaughter that the blood will be splattered up to the bridle of the horses. And so it perfectly dovetails with what this prophet Zacharia says.
Sam Rohrer: Scripture give us any indication of how many may be involved in these armies who come at this time?
Carl Broggi: Well just as the kings of the whole world. And so in the parallel passage it says the nations of the world. And so there’s always been a spirit of anti-Semitism, but it’s going to come to a peak during the final expression of this seven year period where they’re going to be so hateful towards Israel, they’re going to march against her. And so yeah, I think there’s literal horses and literal kings. We don’t have an actual number. Sometimes people have pulled some other numbers from Revelation that are in reference to demons, but not to literal people and armies, but the world will be represented here. All the nations of the world. It would be the peak expression of anti-Semitism like we’ve never seen. And it’s growing in our day. There’s been more dictates put against the nation of Israel and the United Nations than any other single nation on the face of the earth. And it continues to grow and to multiply but it will peak out after the restraining influence of the spirit and the church is removed and Israel will be hated like no other nation in all of history.
Sam Rohrer: Okay, now this is interesting, Carl, so I want you to answer this as well. The why part of the demonic frog-type characters that are pulling the nations and the leaders down, this is now at the end of the seven-year period, they have been experiencing the judgment of God for, well, the first three and a half years and then the second three and a half, so this is a hardened group against God. But would you put in here from now the why question, why from God’s perspective? Why the tribulation? Why the battle of Armageddon?
Carl Broggi: Well, one of the functions, as you mentioned in the opening of judgments that God brings, however they unfold, whether they’re cataclysmic judgments like in Noah’s day or in [inaudible 00:17:53] day, they’re always designed to get man’s attention, to bring repentance. Even Noah, when he built the arc, Peter tells us he was a preacher of righteousness. And so God was sounding mercy in that day that people might repent.
In either case, one of the designs of the time of Jacob’s trouble is that in their distress, they’ll turn towards him and their eyes will be open and they’ll recognize that [foreign language 00:18:20], or in English, Jesus, is Lord. They’ll believe Jesus is the savior of the world and he’ll use 144,000 missionaries or evangelists who are all Jewish men to bring the gospel to the whole world. Jesus said, “This gospel, the kingdom will go to the whole world and then the end will come.” And the world will see that witness during that time because God loves people.
Sam Rohrer: Okay.
Carl Broggi: He doesn’t take pleasure…
Sam Rohrer: Okay. And we’re going to leave it right there. God loves people, ladies and gentlemen. He’s a God of justice. And we’ll build this out a little bit more when we get into the final application in the last segment. But when we come back in the next segment, we want to move to the idea of now what do we know about the names of these nations and actually what happens in that battle.
As the Bible lays out on the record of prophesied events, starting from Genesis 3:15 to the closing verse of the book of Revelation, the promise of a redeemer and the promise of judgment on the head of Satan, the enticer of Eve, the one who brought sin into the world, the father of lies, Lucifer, the great dragon, all those names, that individual, Satan, the entirety of scripture then unfolds. But what’s it unfold?
Well, we talk about a lot here, but it really wraps itself up in prophecy. The scripture is the great unfolding of God’s promised plan of redemption. Redemption on the one side, for those who heed what God says, judgment for those, like the devil, who reject what God says. Now in God’s written word, he demonstrates his power, his justice, his mercy and his love. And he brings them all together entirely in his plan, fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
Well, today we’re right now living in these latter days, these times that they’re unfolding right before our eyes. What God really, as we say, in this prophecy is God’s writing history before it happens, we’re actually watching unfold what God has written. We can look back at what has happened for many things, but yet look right immediately ahead or down the road, depending, of what will yet happen.
So when it comes to those scriptures referring to the battle of Armageddon where the word occurs only one time we talked about, other passages in scripture must be identified and connected in order to fill out that picture somewhat.
So Carl, in this segment, just take it from here and go now. Can you identify the names or the people? In the last segment, we referred to them as “them”, these demonic spirits gather them, these nations all represented of the world, they gather them there. But what does scripture tell us? Does it give us any names, any nations that could clue us into perhaps where we are today?
Carl Broggi: Well, in this particular battle, God doesn’t give a specific name of a nation. Contrary, say, to the battle of Go and [inaudible 00:21:23] where the actual nations are given five great nations. This is broader. It’s different from that battle. And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth. So this is worldwide in scope. That’s what Revelation 19 affirms. “And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth in their armies assembled to make war.” So this is a worldwide battle. The deception is so great, these demons, these lying spirits basically go out and Satan will say, “Mesmerize these kings.” And God will even prepare the way through the sixth bowl. They’ll dry up the river Euphrates so that even the kings of the East will have access right into the valley of Jezreel. And they will gather there and they will march corporately.
It’s called, in scripture, in Revelation, the great day of God, the Almighty. God is going to use this as a judgment for all of their hatred, all of their anti-Semitism, some to somewhat picture it where the kings of the earth gather against God’s anointed. And so this battle is not only just against Israel, it’s against God’s anointed, it’s against God’s Christ. And they somehow think through the delusion of Satan. And of course because Paul writes that God will send a diluting influence. They’ll believe it. This will be all part of the diluting influence because men heard the truth and they reject it they’re going to believe what’s false. And then this final assault, they’re going to go against the people of Israel. Zacharia says, “I’m going to make Jerusalem a cup that causes reeling to all the peoples around.” So he describes Jerusalem as a cup that brings dizziness, a cup of drunkenness depending on your translation. And he says he’ll make Jerusalem, which of course is the capital of Israel, a heavy stone for all the peoples. That again involves all the peoples and then he adds in all the nations of the earth will be gathered against it.
So this is a worldwide battle. Doesn’t mean obviously that every person in the world is there, but every nation, every ethnic is represented. And so of course these people are going to be exterminated when Christ comes back. He comes back, Revelation 19, describing the same battle though not using the word Armageddon with a sword from his mouth, he’ll basically say, “Drop dead.” And all the nations of the world will literally be dead and the vultures of the world will gather and they will literally actually eat the flesh of kings. And so the remaining people, the non-combatant people, at that point will begin to face a number of different judgments that God unfolds.
So this is a judgment against those who have come against God’s people, Israel, you don’t want to be an anti-Semite living in this day. In fact, you don’t want to be an anti-Semite in any day. And of course the scripture says in Zechariah, God says, “I will strike every horse with bewilderment and his rider with madness,” Zechariah 12:4, “And I will watch over the house of Judah while I strike every horse of the peoples with blindness.” And so this calvary has got to fall so very, very quickly when Jesus comes back.
Sam Rohrer: That’s a great overview. And then without getting into, I think the next program that we will do in a few weeks, Carl, will be on the second coming itself because that is the next event that comes right after this battle that you are talking about right now. But at this point in time, when this battle occurs, based on what we know is the impact on the world’s population during the seven years prior, there are a lot of people who are here at the beginning of the tribulation period who are not there because things have happened to them through the various judgments of God. What has actually happened to the world’s population prior to this great battle of Armageddon?
Carl Broggi: Well, it’s interesting because the judgments are like a [inaudible 00:25:36] that God turns up. And so when you read of the sealed judgments, the first judgments that come, it speaks of a quarter of the population, quarter of this, quarter of that. And then as you move into the trumpet judgments, it speaks of a third of the population. And then the worst of all the judgments of course come in the bold judgments. It’s estimated by most Bible scholars that about half the world is dead by the time Jesus comes back. And Jesus basically quotes the prophet Daniel in the 12th chapter in Matthew 24, and he said, “Unless these days had been cut short, no flesh would’ve survived,” but for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short because God wants people to go into his literal physical kingdom, we’ll be there in our resurrected bodies, but those who survived the tribulation, known as tribulation saints, they will enter in in their natural bodies in rule and reign and God will fulfill the promises that he gave to Israel of a coming kingdom.
But it’s a vicious day. It’s a terrible day. It’s a day that, as Revelation 3 underscores, encompasses the whole world. Even with the world wars that we’ve had in the past, there’s never been a time in all of human history where the entire world from end-to-end has been engaged in turmoil. But that’s the time of the coming tribulation. And you don’t want to be here for it. We don’t have to if we call upon Christ in faith.
Sam Rohrer: So just pick up that phrase right there, there’s a question that I know that people have posed before, you cited it. These days will be so incredibly destructive. When God pours out wrath, it pours out wrath. But if these days were not shortened, there’d be no life left. A lot of people posture is what that means. Do you have any idea what it means if those days were not shortened? Is it less than seven years ultimately or do we have any idea what that means?
Carl Broggi: Well, he says here in Matthew 24:21, “For then there will be a great tribulation.” And of course the trigger that moves this statement that Jesus makes is the midpoint when the anti-Christ goes into a rebuilt temple and he commits the abomination of desolation. And then Jesus warns the Jewish people, who are alive in Jerusalem, to flee into the wilderness, don’t even go back into the house and get any belongings you need to take off because then there will be great tribulation. So the first three and a half years are a time of the wrath of the lamb as described in Revelation 6, it’s a time of tribulation. But they haven’t seen anything yet. When the midpoint happens with the abomination of desolation, then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the beginning of the world until now, nor ever will and unless those days had been cut short, no life would’ve been saved. But for the sake of the elect, those days will be cut short.
He cut the days short because he made some promises to Israel concerning a coming kingdom and they are going to literally experience that kingdom. If God just let it go, there wouldn’t be any human life left on the earth. So it’s a day of horror that’s unprecedented. And if someone just were to read at face value, Revelation 4 through 18 where God descriptively spells it out, you can’t spiritualize those passages. There are people who say, “Well, all this happened before [inaudible 00:29:09],” but they are allegorizing the scripture. They have no freedom to interpret prophecy in that fashion. Dr. Pentecost used to always tell us in our class on prophecy at Dallas Seminary, “When the plain sense makes good sense, don’t seek any other sense or you’ll come up with nonsense.” And so the plain reading of scripture, we’re not dismissing figures of speech or symbols, but God with scripture interprets the figures of speech into symbols and the picture here is devastating.
Sam Rohrer: Okay, ladies and gentlemen, okay, we’re talking about the battle of Armageddon. Now, all of these things that we’re talking about today, all right, what do we do with this when we come back? I’m going to talk with Carl about lessons for today. What should the knowledge of prophecy do for us? I’ll ask him that question. And then what should the specific knowledge of this battle of Armageddon, which concludes the age, what should that motivate us to think and to do.
Well before we enter into our final segment here, and I’m going to ask Dr. Carl Broggi who has been the guest, now this is part six actually in a, so far, six part series, I envision it probably going to 10, on God writing history before it happens. Dr. Broggi does have all his sermons that he has done for a long time on all of these areas we’ve touched on and the way I’m putting together in these programs are not the same as he presents them in his sermons. He has a lot more detail in it, but you can find them if you would be interested at searchthescriptures.org, searchthescriptures.org.
So that being said, also, let me just read one note if I can. Always so glad to get notes from listeners. This one here was particularly important because it’s applicable to our discussion today. This is from a new listener here in Pennsylvania where I’m from, and she says this, her name was Donna. She says, “Please accept this modest donation to further your God-inspired ministry. I have truly been blessed by listening to your broadcast,” and she names the call letters here of a station that covers Eastern Pennsylvania, WBYNFM. And she said, “And I also visit regularly your websites and on YouTube.” So that’s very good because all of those places are places you can find material that comes from this program and other programs.
She goes on to say this, “Thank you for speaking the truth of God’s word,” and this is key, “And not adding anything to it or taking anything away from it.” Donna, that is so wonderful, she goes on and says, “May God continue to use your ministry as an instrument to reach the lost and provide for the needs of the less fortunate.” And then she concludes, “May we all humble ourselves and pray and seek his face and turn from our wicked ways and turn back to the unadulterated truth of God’s word as Jesus is soon to return.”
Now that really puts it together, ladies and gentlemen, I hope that inspires you. It goes to the heart of why we do this emphasis and where we’re going to go Now in this segment when I ask Carl, what should all of this information we presented, how should it change our thinking and our actions and our choices?
So let me go there Carl. So as a reminder, a lot of this is a reminder to the true child of God, the saint as we defined and talked about in our last program. What response should the knowledge of biblical prophecy overall, then we’ll go to the Armageddon next, but what response should the knowledge of biblical prophecy create within every true believer?
Carl Broggi: Well, Sam, the great commandment is to love God with our whole heart, mind, and soul. And the great commission is an overflow of that. And so if we’re really loving God and we’ll love the things that God loves, Christ said, “I came to seek and to save that which is lost.” And he is commissioned every born again believer to do the same. It’s not just a job for pastors or evangelists, but every Christian and the day is coming and our eyes have to be almost blind not to see what is happening in the world. We know we’re in the final, final timeframe of human history cause God said he’d gather Israel in the land at that time. Were here along with the days of Noah, the days of law. And so time is running out. No one knows the day or the hour, but we need to evangelize because once that law is won, the antichrist is revealed.
The scripture warns the one who’s coming is in a accord of the activity of Satan. Antichrist will come with powers and signs and wonders with all the deception of wickedness [inaudible 00:34:01]. He said, “Those who did not love the truth so as to be saved will be diluted.” In fact, he says, “For this reason, because they didn’t respond to the gospel, God will send upon them a diluting influence.”
God is sovereign, but we have a human responsibility. We are the voice box of God to call people to a change of mind, to call upon Jesus for salvation because the only people during the great tribulations who are saved are those who have never heard the gospel before in clarity and empower. God alone can measure that. I can’t. But there are people listening maybe even today who have heard the gospel, but they’ve never responded in their heart. And if they think they’ll have an opportunity after the rapture, it says, “No, God will send a diluting influence that they might believe what is false.” Why? Because they didn’t receive the love of the truth so as to be saved.
So there’s coming two great suppers here in this chapter, of Revelation 16 or Revelation 19. There’s a marriage supper of the lamb that all true believers will participate in. And then there’s this supper of God that is in conjunction with the battle of Armageddon and God will call one of his angels and he’ll gather all the birds of the world and they’ll come down and you’re either going to be enjoying a supper or you’ll be the supper where you are literally physically eaten. And so we have a responsibility to carry the gospel. That’s one of our two ways in which we can glorify the one who came and gave us the privilege to do that.
Sam Rohrer: All right, Carl, that is good. The emphasis there, I think you made, and we could spend a long, we just don’t have time on it as much as this, but a person in this life listening in this age before the rapture having come into contact with the gospel, and again, you say, God measures that and he does. But if there is a rejection or a not an acceptance in true faith, the belief that some would have, “Well, I’ve got a second chance,” you’re saying that is not there scripturally. So that should be a motivation for us to not just witness ladies and gentlemen to our neighbors next door, but to don’t just take what they say but actually walk with them kind of along the way. Do they really exhibit true faith? And so much of those who say they’re Christians in America today, we know they do not manifest true faith. This is the big deal in conclusion. Is there anything specific now about the battle of Armageddon we talked about today that the knowledge of that, the way it ends up, the way it goes forward, what should that create if anything in their hearts and minds?
Carl Broggi: Well, we’re just reminded, Sam, that God is true and faithful to his word. Just as he literally fulfilled every prophecy for the first coming, he’ll do the same for the second. And the fact that God looks down on the Carters of time, he revealed to his church, people who’ve been reading this for 2000 years, millions of believers who’ve died and gone on to heaven, they’ve read these very passages that we’ve discussed and they’ve benefited from them because all scripture is profitable as a reminder that God is on his throne in heaven, that he has an endgame. And in the end he shouts, “We win,” his son wins. The world may organize together against God’s anointed. And the Lord looks from heaven and he laughs and he thinks, “How deceived they are.” And these are choices that they are making when they suppress what they know to be true of God and creation and conscience, and they mock God with their sin.
And we’re seeing it in our day like never before through the perversion, through the murder of the innocent babies, through the mutilation of little children and teenagers, we’re told they can change their gender, where we’re told that homosexuality is an acceptable form of behavior, where fornication and adultery is nothing wrong with it as long as you’re not hurting anyone. This is the day we live in and we almost have to be blind because these are the very things that will precede the battle of Armageddon. So our eyes should be wide open. God wrote this here for a reason so that God’s people wouldn’t grow weary in doing good, that we would not get discouraged with the events around us coming together for the return of his son. And he wrote this here for us so that we can see it.
Sam Rohrer: And thank you so much, Dr. Carl Broggi for being with me today. Again, ladies and gentlemen, his sermons you can find at searchthescripture.org. That’s Dr. Carl Broggi and this program on all of those we put into archive form at standinthegapradio.com or off your app, if you haven’t downloaded to yet, please do Stand in the Gap, download, you can access everything. You can communicate to us, partner with us in prayer, you can partner with us in finances, all of which are important. But until tomorrow, stand in the gap for truth.
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