<p>19:19 <em>And I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse, and against his army</em>- We have already had several visions of the total destruction of the beast; this may be another one, going back to explain how the blessed situation spoken of earlier in this chapter has been achieved. Or it could be that Babylon has been destroyed, but the beast apparently still exists; just as the dragon loses power in chapter 12 but re-emerges in the form of the other beasts. It could be that her capital city is destroyed but the wider system still exists. Or it could be that such a reading is still too much within space-time constructs, and it seems these dimensions will be somewhat collapsed in the events around the Lord's coming, making chronological sequences of events worthless to predict.</p><p>The horns on the beast are &ldquo;the kings of the earth&rdquo;, but these kings and the beast arise out of the earth and the sea the nations around the earth; and in line with Daniel 7, this is the land promised to Abraham. The connection with 2 Chron. 20 and the other references to Israel's neighbouring enemies 'gathering together' invites us to see the beast as a primarily Arab organization.&nbsp;If there is a detailed allusion here to the 2 Chron. 20 scenario, Jehoshaphat (against whom the opposing kings initially gathered together) would represent Jesus, and Jehoshaphat's army would tally with the resurrected saints.&nbsp;&nbsp; In this case, the final onslaught will be after the return of Jesus. We saw this in chapters 11 and 12; the dragon is cast out of political power, but with just a short time left, goes forth to make war with the woman. In passing, note the differentiation between the leaders in this conflict and their armies:&nbsp; &quot;The kings of the earth, and their armies... him that sat on the horse (Jesus) and against his army&quot;. This would suggest a specific hatred of the Lord Jesus which is separate from, although in addition to, their antipathy towards Israel and the Christian believers.&nbsp;It may also be possible to see in the separation between &quot;the kings of the earth, and their armies&quot; a certain degree of coercion, or difference of motivation, between leaders and people.</p><p>Christ goes out to make war (:11), and the Beast and his armies go out to make war against Him- head on conflict. We have gone back in time, as it were, to have another vision of the final conflict, although this has been presented in various ways in earlier visions. This is war with Christ- He is already crowned, 19:12. Likewise the invasion of Ez. 38/9 is after Christ's return, when Israel dwell safely, and we have the Psalm 2 scenario of the Lord enthroned in Jerusalem being attacked by armies. Perhaps the revived beast wants to recapture Babylon-Jerusalem from Him after it has been destroyed (see on 16:19). In this case, we see the limited value of visible miracles; they will have seen plenty of them, but are so blinded by materialism that they wish to still defy the Divine and attempt to recapture Jerusalem.</p><p>The beast, the kings of the earth and their armies 'gather together' to fight against Christ. This may be the gathering of 16:13,14; they are gathered together by the power of the false miracles despite all the evidence of true miracles before their eyes. Thus v. 20 mentions how &quot;the false prophet that wrought miracles before the beast&quot; is captured with the beast- the scene of 16:14.</p>