Before John's vision moved towards its climax, the unveiling of the Lord Jesus Christ as the light of the heavenly city, the scene is set on earth. The Warrior King, Jesus Christ, emerges from heaven to confront the world rulers (Revelation 19:11-16). They have been incited to fight the Lord by the beast, the Antichrist, with the false prophet performing miraculous signs as evidence that his false religion can be trusted (Revelation 19:20), and Jesus Christ must be rejected as the Sovereign Ruler of everything.

As the beast summons a global army, an angel, silhouetted against the sun, summons all the birds to assemble. There is going to be a banquet. It will be so unlike the wedding supper of the Lamb (Revelation 19:9) which will be the cause of great rejoicing. This bird-supper will be the dead, dying and decaying flesh of the armies that will be totally defeated by the Lord (Ezekiel 39:17-20). The language sounds very Old Testament, but those were real narratives of the acts of judgement God inflicted upon wicked, unbelieving and disobedient nations. The final battle will be no less decisive.

Although Armageddon is the venue, it will be a global army against Jesus. There is no suggestion anywhere in Revelation that God's people will take up arms to fight the Antichrist and false prophet. The Lord is the Lord of Hosts - used 261 times in the Old Testament (in some modern translations that is changed to 'Lord Almighty'). It means the God of the armies of heaven (2 Kings 6:17). The servants of Christ are to stand still (Ephesians 6:13-14) and see the salvation of the Lord (Exodus 14:13). The battle will be the Lord's alone (Isaiah 2:17-18). The judgement will not spare the powerful commanders, nor the conscripted slaves. All who have accepted the mark of the beast will be defeated (Revelation 14:9-11). The only beneficiaries will be the birds who will gorge themselves on the human remains.

This kind of passage may make some believers feel uneasy. They would like a rather more sanitised end to evil. They point to verses about 'loving our enemies' and 'turning the other cheek'. Others wrongly assume that the church will physically retaliate against the provocation: it will not (Romans 12:19). God has been extraordinarily patient with this sinful world – His long-suffering is borne out of a loving desire that people will repent, receive Christ and be saved (2 Peter 3:9-10). But there will come a time when the last chance is gone, when salvation is finally spurned, and judgement must take its course. It is because of the certainty of judgement that the gospel is such good news (1 Thessalonians 1:10). It is the only route to heaven and away from hell. It is the powerful message through which the Holy Spirit convicts people of sin: as they repent and welcome the salvation offered they are made children of God (Romans 1:16). This is the message of God's grace through which we were saved: it is the message we must offer to our friends and colleagues lest they arrogantly defy the Lord or sleep-walk into God's wrath (John 3:36). As Acts 4:12 says about Jesus, "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved."