Revelation Chapter 16
VERSES 12 -16 continued “And the sixth (angel) poured out his bowl upon the great river, the [river] Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up…”
THAT THE WAY MIGHT BE PREPARED FOR THE KINGS FROM THE EAST:
Who are these?
The traditional Bible student position is that this is The Christ, head and body. This interpretation deserves respect and may be the correct answer. In its support are the facts that:
(1) The defection of the people from the support of the old order does prepare the way for a new order. It creates a hunger for it.
(2) The marginal reading for “east” is literally “rising of the sun” -- a distinctly good description of Jesus. (Mal 4:2)
(3) The Berkeley translation reads: “… so that the highway of the kings of the east might be made ready”, a phrase sounding much like Isa 35.
“For the earnest expectation of creation eagerly waits the revealing of the sons of God” (Rom 8:19)
Why?
Because unto them has “the ministry of reconciliation” been committed, the At-one-ment between God and man. (2 Cor 5:18) Until the Church is complete, and the great Mediator begins this work of reconciliation, the whole creation remains in the bondage of sin and death.
However there is another thought to this verse which also deserves our consideration:
As we look at the late 20th Century, a remarkable religious occurrence is happening -- an occurrence which is threatening Babylon’s borders. The incursion of Islam and its problems into western events is a daily new item. It has been well suggested that the kings of the east MIGHT refer to this threat to Babylon from the Moslem world. This is an eastern religion.
Persia (Iran) itself is dominated by it; and was it not Persia, which invaded Babylon in Daniel 5?
“Peres”, according to the rabbis, can mean Persia, added to this also is the fact that the Euphrates was long the border of Persia. This possible interpretation must be given consideration since today’s history is so dominated by problems with Islam. It is not unlikely that this plague is explaining this to us -- that Islam is ONE of the factors, which will weaken the old order. IF, however the people had supported the old order (Babylon) as they used to, they would go to war with the Islamic threat – even as they used to do (during the Crusades). This is not the case – thus another evidence of the drying up of the Euphrates, the lack of popular support.
Additionally, the world’s greatest power in the world today, the United States, has been encroached by Islam. We see it practiced more and more by many; another interesting sidelight is the encroachment also of Buddhism and Hinduism into the American culture. Many of the educators in our Universities and Colleges today are of the Hindu persuasion, and we see more and more Hindu practices such as Yoga being accepted and practiced, along with the so-called New-Age meditation philosophies, which are grounded in Hinduism. The Bible has been removed from the classrooms while pagan religious philosophies are accepted.
Thus, we might say that the “King(s) of the east” these various intrusions upon Babylon are already here i.e., they have already arrived.
We continue with Verse 13 in our next post.
