So from antiquity, to the modern era, to the end of time the Euphrates river will play a role.
Coming back to Revelation the water of this great river would have been spoiled by the wrath from the third angel, but that does not mean water flow was stopped. It was there, maybe flowing, maybe stagnant, surely unpleasant in some manner. Perhaps even the bloodied waters had become less bloody since that bowl was poured. We don’t really know, but in any event the river was there and God dried this one up.
Why the drying? “Take away make a way”
There is little mystery as to why the river was dried for John told us in his writings. It was to make a way for the kings of the east. See a great migration was on the schedule (see verses 14 & 16). This will be a migration to the biggest war of all time: Armageddon. In Western culture, so molded by the Biblical narrative, the word Armageddon is entrenched as a desperate, terrible, end of all things type word.
While speculation is always a thing done on shaky ground it seems we can carefully wade into the waters of what these bowls have been doing. By the time of this 6th bowl a lot of things are in bad shape:
- The people have harmful sores
- The oceans are dead and with it the atmosphere is faltering
- The rivers had been turned to blood
- The environment has been heated up tremendously
- Technology has been thwarted as implied by the Kingdom of Babylon’s being in darkness
This drying we are told was less about a specific punishment, as on the river and river culture people, and more about a way for the armies of east. God has been in the business of drying up rivers to make a way for a people group for a long time now. He did it twice with his people. Once in getting them out of Egypt, another time in getting them into Canaan.
It could be said that the Euphrates provided some natural barrier the east of Zion to an invading force. It was not particularly close to Zion, but extensive enough to slow down an army who may be on foot. Well, God “solved” that one drying it up to make a way for armies to make their long march to Zion.
How did they learn of Armageddon?
The evil trinity is seen to make a spiritual move in verse 13. In some manner the Dragon and the two beasts exist in a visible, earth oriented format. While they have spirits they are not disembodied; not invisible.
Something invisible happens on the earth though, but what is invisible on the earth is visible in heaven. John saw it. From the mouths of the members of the evil trinity came demons shaped like frogs. These were dispatched to the leaders of the world to assemble humanity for its final battle.
Leave a Reply