Avatar and the Battle of Armageddon

We have discussed many issues regarding the movie Avatar and the symbols used in the movie to move the people to an emotional and spiritual experience. Perhaps one of the most powerful symbols in the movie is the final great battle between the Mining Company and the Na’vi and Eywa. This battle is of such a nature that Armageddon seems to be a title that people could use easily. Armageddon is a word and it is a symbol of something that God has predicted will come just before Jesus arrives. So lets explore the idea a bit more.

Armageddon is a term used only one time in the Bible and is also in the book of Revelation. In Revelation 16 we are informed about the 7 last plagues that will be imposed upon a rebellious Earth. Just as God warned the people in Noah’s day to get ready for the flood, so in these last days God is warning mankind that they need to get ready for these last plagues. One of these plagues, the sixth one, is referred to as the Battle of Armageddon. In Revelation 16:12-16 we have the following:

12 And the sixth angel poured 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.
13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet.
14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
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.
16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.

God put this story in the Bible to be a warning to us to be on the right side of this battle at all costs. The only way to make it through is to have a relationship with Christ.

This story retells the story of the destruction of the city of Babylon in Daniel 5. The nation of Babylon had deteriorated morally, just as America is today, and the time came that the nations around Babylon concluded that another stronger nation could rise up and take over the city of Babylon and takes it’s lands. That nation was the peoples of the Medes and Persians. They surrounded Babylon but could not get through its great walls or through its soldiers. It seemed that Babylon could not be conquered. But God had told how the city would be taken in Isaiah 44:27-45:13. God even named the Persian general who would be the conqueror – his name was Cyrus. God informed Cyrus of His prophecy, most likely through Daniel. Central in the prophecy was the concept of drying up the river Euphrates, the life source, and protector of Babylon. When Cyrus and his soldiers diverted the waters of the Euphrates river they found that the Babylonian soldiers had left the brass gates under Babylon open and the Medo-Persian soldiers came through and took the city just as God had foretold.

God says that the conquest of modern spiritual Babylon (Revelation 17-18), that consortium of people united against God and all that He teaches and all that He loves (Genesis 11:1-9), will occur similarly to what happened way back in Daniel 5. God’s people have taught the truths of His Word, and have lived out these truths in their lives so that all can see. Satan, and his people, will gather together with the intent of killing off all of God’s people, to keep them from telling them about their rebellion and their need of surrender to Jesus. They will gather to confront God’s people as they did in the time of Elijah at Mount Carmel in I Kings 18 and when they gathered together against Jesus at Mount Calvary. All of the people had chosen whom they would serve, God to go to heaven, or Satan to stay on Earth. When this battle occurs God’s people will have no defense but God Himself. God will come to fight this battle (Revelation 19) just as He had come to the defense of helpless Israel in the Red Sea. Exodus 14-15. God will win this battle just as He had against Satan in heaven, at Egypt in the Red Sea, and every other time that God and Satan have fought over this world. God will win.

It is our privilege to be on the winning side, just as Jake Sulley was on the winning side in the physical and spiritual battle in the end of the movie Avatar. We can choose to be on God’s side and He will take care of us better than what happened on the imaginary planet of Pandora. Will you choose Him today?