This article is a summary of the various articles dealing with different aspects of the sixth plague.
EUPHRATES DRIED UP
The sixth plague is described in five verses. The first verse reads as follows:
16:12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl
on the great river, the Euphrates;
and its water was dried up,
so that the way would be prepared for the kings from the east.
Literal interpretations sometimes assume that this refers to the literal Euphrates that will literally dry up to allow literal kings from the east to attack the literal city of Babylon. Given the modern ability to send unmanned aircraft and missiles to the remotest parts of the world, this would indeed be a strange interpretation. Rivers have deterred armies in the time when Revelation was written, but certainly not today.
The article – The great river, the Euphrates – discusses:
What is the great river, the Euphrates?
What is the drying up of the Euphrates?
In summary, it concludes as follows:
EUPHRATES
Since the first five plagues are worldwide and since there are no indications in the plagues of portions, as one finds in the seals and the trumpets, the Euphrates River is also worldwide. This, of course, also means that the drying up of the waters of the Euphrates is a global event.
Revelation uses the Euphrates as a symbol for the peoples of the world. This conclusion is based on two components:
Revelation uses the names Euphrates and Babylon several times, but nowhere does it define a relationship between them. However, Revelation does say that Babylon sits on many waters. Since we know from history that the Euphrates River flowed through the ancient city of Babylon, by inference, the many waters is another name for the Euphrates.
(Many waters = Euphrates)
Revelation explicitly defines the many waters as the peoples of the world.
(Many waters = Peoples)
Therefore: Many Waters = Euphrates = Peoples of the world
DRIED UP
Hundreds of years before Christ, the water of the literal Euphrates was literally dried up to prepare the way for literal kings from the east; Cyrus and the kings of the Medes and the Persians. Since Revelation uses a historical event to describe this a future event, the drying up of the Euphrates is symbolic language.
As mentioned above, Babylon “sits” on the Euphrates. That is explained by Rev 17:2 as: “Those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.” Babylon is the false system of religion that has existed for all of human history. That she sits on the peoples of the world symbolizes her intoxicating influence on the world.
Babylon has also fully infected Christianity. As discussed in a previous article, the throne of the beast is particularly Christian religious authority. The enemy of God in Revelation is not other religions in general, but the Christian version of Babylon in particular.
“Dried up” then means that false Christianity will lose its hold on the people of the world. These concepts are explained in more detail in the above-mentioned article – The great river, the Euphrates.
KINGS FROM THE EAST
The article – Kings from the East – shows that these kings are a symbol of Christ and His angels. In summary, that article offers the following proofs:
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- There are TWO GROUPS OF KINGS in the sixth plague. Since the kings of the whole world make war against God, the kings from the east are on God’s side.
– - In Scripture, God comes from the EAST.
– - The sixth plague uses language from the DELIVERANCE OF GOD’S PEOPLE from ancient literal Babylon. This implies that this plague describes God’s deliverance of His end-time people, which He will do through Christ.
– - The sixth plague does not describe either of the two groups of kings, but both are DESCRIBED IN CHRIST’S RETURN. In the Return of Christ, we see the kings of the world gathered and God’s kings moving towards them. Satan is represented, in both the sixth plague and the Return of Christ, by 4 categories: The dragon, the beast, the false prophet and the kings of the world.
- There are TWO GROUPS OF KINGS in the sixth plague. Since the kings of the whole world make war against God, the kings from the east are on God’s side.
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WAY PREPARED
The drying up only prepares the way for the kings from the east. The high-level analysis of chapters 16 to 19 in the article – Kings from the East – shows that chapters 17 and 18 are an interruption and that the seventh plague continues in Revelation 19 with the Return of Christ. In other words, the seventh plague terminates in the Return of Christ. The sixth plague is, consequently, the preparation, but the seventh plague is “the war of the great day of God” (16:14) – Armageddon.
ARMAGEDDON
According to the final verse of the sixth plague, the demon-spirits gather the kings of the world “to the place which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon” (Rev 16:16). This place Har-Magedon is identified in the article Armageddon, which is how this place is usually called. In summary, that article concludes as follows:
There is no place called Armageddon (Har-Magedon in the NASB).
Interpreters offer many solutions to identify a specific geographical location, but none of these proposals are especially persuasive. For this reason, we should interpret Armageddon figuratively. Other reasons to prefer a symbolic interpretation include the following:
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- The SYMBOLIC context of the plagues;
- MODERN WARFARE does not allow for a world war limited to one specific geographical location.
- The GLOBAL nature of the other plagues.
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ARMAGEDDON REPEATED
The book of Revelation describes Armageddon in many other places without using the word Armageddon:
There are many similarities between Armageddon in the Sixth Plague and the Return of Christ in Revelation 19. For example, in both there are two groups of kings, with the kings of the world are gathered together for war in one place while the other kings move towards them.
Both the harvest at the end of Revelation 14 and the war at the Return of Christ in Revelation 19 refer to the treading of the winepress.
The sixth seal is the “GREAT DAY of their wrath,” similar to the “GREAT DAY of God” in the Sixth Plague.
The sixth plague is the only place in the Bible where we find the exact phrase “the great day of God,” but outside Revelation variations of it appear in nearly 30 verses. Armageddon is, therefore, the same as the “Day of the Lord,” which is found all over the Bible.
Since Armageddon is mentioned repeatedly in Revelation and since it is the same as the Old Testament war of the “Day of the Lord,” it cannot be a world war between the nations of the world that is limited to one geographical location on the globe.
CONCLUSION
The kings of the earth are not gathered in a physical place, but the spirits of demons will unite world leaders in mind and spirit against God. Armageddon will be a physical war, but it will be worldwide, and it will be a war between God and man.
WHY THE WATERS DRY UP
According to Revelation 16:12—the first verse of the sixth plague—the waters of the Euphrates River have to dry up to prepare the way for the Kings from the east. As discussed above:
The Euphrates River symbolizes the people that support false Christianity. Drying up means that the people’s support for false Christianity dries up. This will happen after false Christianity suffers a lethal blow to its authority during the first five plagues (See Fifth plague).
The Kings from the East have been interpreted as Christ and His angels at His return.
According to verses 13 to 16, after false Christianity loses its popular support, it receives renewed strength in the form of “spirits of demons, performing signs” (16:14). These demon spirits enable the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet to gather the kings of the world at Armageddon (16:16).
This is discussed in the article, Why the Euphrates dries up to prepare the way for the Kings from the east. A summary of that article is as follows:
The demon spirits mean that God allows Satan direct control.
PEOPLE WITH THE MARK OF THE BEAST
The people with the Mark of the beast are similar to the Pharisees of Christ’s day. They are Bible-believing, church-going Christians, but for them, the traditional teaching of the church is more important than the truth. In reality, Satan is their god. In their view, God is cruel and quick to judge, for they ascribe Satan’s character to God. Then they interpret the Bible accordingly.
However, through the first five plagues, they come to realize that they are serving Satan; not God. But they do not change, for they have become so hardened that they are unable to repent.
When Satan sends his demons to gather the kings, the people with these modern Pharisees accept this new power with the full knowledge that this power is from Satan.
QUESTION
Why must the waters dry up to prepare the way for the kings from the east? Literally speaking, why must false Christianity realize that it is false before may Christ return?
GOD’S JUDGMENT QUESTIONED
The rebellion against God on earth actually began in heaven when a huge number of God’s HOLY angels joined Satan.
God condemned Satan and his angels to hell. To defend himself, Satan accused God of unfair judgment. God also sentenced the people with the Mark of the Beast to death. Satan, therefore, similarly accuses God of bad judgment with respect to the people with the Mark of the beast.
Due to Satan’s enormous intellect and skill, many of even the sinless heavenly beings do not know whether Satan is telling the truth!
PURPOSE OF THE PLAGUES
God wants all intelligent beings to trust Him fully. In particular, He wants all intelligent beings to understand His judgments. For that reason that He pours out the plagues, even after the eternal destiny of every person on earth has been permanently fixed. Through the plagues, He will shows, to all of God’s intelligent creatures, throughout the universe, that His judgment is correct.
In particular, the plagues reveal to the on-looking universe the true nature of these modern Pharisees. To do that, the plagues will reveal to the modern Pharisees that they are deceived and that they are, in reality, followers of Satan, persecuting God by persecuting His people. This is done so that all the universe can see how the modern Pharisees respond. Through the refusal to repent it becomes clear that they really are committed to Satan’s principles, which confirms God’s judgment of them, namely that they must die the second death.
SPIRITS OF DEMONS / SPIRITUALISM
The last four verses of the sixth plague read as follows:
16:13 And I saw coming
out of the mouth of the dragon and
out of the mouth of the beast and
out of the mouth of the false prophet,
three unclean spirits like frogs;
14 for they are spirits of demons, performing signs,
which go out to the kings of the whole world,
to gather them together
for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty.
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16 And they gathered them together to the place
which in Hebrew is called Har-Magedon.
The dragon is Satan (12:9). The beast came from the sea (13:1) and is identified in the article on the Seven-Headed Beasts of Revelation. The false prophet is the beast from the earth (compare 13:12 to 19:20).
“The war of the great day of God” is “Har-Magedon,” also known as Armageddon. That article identifies Armageddon, NOT as a physical place, but an event, namely the Day of the Lord. The spirits of demons will unite the world leaders; not in a place, but against God in mind and is spirit.
MOUTHS
In Revelation, many things come out of mouths, such as “fire, smoke and brimstone” (9:15-17; 11:5), “water like a river” (12:15) and “a sharp sword” (19:15). These are not literal things coming out of literal mouths. What comes out of the mouth symbolizes what the being does. For example, the Image of the beast will “speak and cause as many as do not worship the image of the beast to be killed” (13:15; cf. 13:5; 11-13). The mouth, therefore, is not important. What is important is WHAT comes out of the mouth, for that symbolizes the will and deeds of the being.
FROGS
Some believe the demons are “like frogs” (16:13) because frogs catch their prey with their tongues. Others see some symbolic meaning in the fact that the frogs were the last plague on Egypt which the Egyptian wizards were able to replicate. The view here is that simply the frogs must be understood like the “unclean and hateful birds,” which are also mentioned in 18:2 with unclean spirits. “Like frogs” then simply highlights the repulsive nature of the unclean spirits in God’s sight.
SPIRITUALISM
SPIRITS OF DEMONS come out of the mouths of the evil trio. This indicates an escalation of Satanic power which allows the evil trio to perform extraordinary deeds (signs).
Previously the false prophet deceived mankind to make an Image of the beast by “great signs, so that he even makes fire come down out of heaven to the earth in the presence of men” (Rev 13:13-14). Now the dragon, beast, and false prophet perform signs to gather the kings of the whole world together for the war of the great day of God, the Almighty – Armageddon (16:14, 16). Through these miracles, Satan will succeed to unite the world behind him and against God.
One often hears Christians claiming miracles. That does not prove that these things are by God’s power. The “lawless one … whom the Lord will … bring to an end by the appearance of His coming,” will come “with all power and signs and false wonders” (2Th 2:8-9). Jesus also said, “false prophets will … show great signs and wonders” (Mt. 24:24 cf. Mark 13:22).
False Christianity receives this renewed strength IN RESPONSE TO THE SETBACKS of the first five plagues, which resulted in the waters (human support) drying up, but that strength comes from Satan. They receive the persuasive ability to lead men to an unconditional commitment to the cause of evil.
SECRET RAPTURE
Does the phrase, “coming like a thief” in Revelation 16:15, support a secret rapture?
This article discusses the rapture-like language in Revelation 16:15. It is not intended to discuss the rapture in general, but only whether this verse, in particular, supports the rapture concept.
In the middle of the sixth plague, immediately after God’s enemies have received renewed power from demon spirits to enable them to gather together the kings of the world for the battle of Armageddon, Jesus warns:
“Behold, I am coming like a thief.
Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes,
so that he will not walk about naked
and men will not see his shame.” (Rev. 16:15)
SUMMARY OF THIS ARTICLE
Dispensationalism proposes that, seven years before Christ’s visible return, there will be an invisible and inaudible secret rapture that will remove the church from the earth.
The phrase, “coming like a thief,” in the sixth plague, is sometimes interpreted to refer to this secret rapture. There are, however, a number of passages in the Bible that mention Jesus coming like a THIEF, and it nowhere means that the relevant event will be inaudible or invisible. It always means that nobody can predict WHEN Jesus will return.
Jesus comes like a thief on THE DAY OF THE LORD, which, in the sixth plague, refers to as THE WAR OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD, the Almighty. On that day there will be sudden destruction. The heavens will pass away with a roar and the earth and its works will be burned up. It does not like a secret event.
The same warning which Jesus gave in 16:15, namely that His people must keep their clothes, He gave to the seven churches. This implies that the church is still on earth during the plagues.
But there is a difference. The sixth plague urges God’s people TO KEEP their clothes while the Laodiceans are advised TO BUY white garments. Jesus’s warning is, therefore, only intended for God’s people; not for the world in general. This firstly confirms, as discussed in the Introduction to the Plagues of Revelation, that when the plagues fall, the time for repentance has passed.
SECRET RAPTURE
Does “coming like a thief” in Revelation 16:15, support a secret rapture?
This article discusses the rapture-like language in Revelation 16:15. It is not intended to discuss the rapture in general, but only whether this verse supports the rapture concept.
In the middle of the sixth plague, immediately after God’s enemies have received renewed power from demon spirits to enable them to gather together the kings of the world for the battle of Armageddon, Jesus warns:
“Behold, I am coming like a thief.
Blessed is the one who stays awake and keeps his clothes,
so that he will not walk about naked
and men will not see his shame.” (Rev. 16:15)
Dispensationalism proposes that, seven years before Christ’s visible return, there will be an invisible and inaudible secret rapture that will remove the church from the earth.
The phrase, “coming like a thief,” in the sixth plague, is sometimes interpreted to refer to this secret rapture. There are, however, a number of passages in the Bible that mention Jesus coming like a THIEF, and it nowhere means that the event will be inaudible or invisible. It always means that nobody can predict WHEN Jesus will return.
Jesus comes like a thief on THE DAY OF THE LORD, which the sixth plague refers to as THE WAR OF THE GREAT DAY OF GOD, the Almighty. Then there will be sudden destruction. The heavens will pass away with a roar and the earth and its works will be burned up. It will not be a secret event.
The same warning which Jesus gives in 16:15, that God’s people must keep their clothes, He gave to the seven churches. This implies that the church is still on earth during the plagues.
But there is a difference. In the sixth plague, God’s people are urged TO KEEP their clothes while the Laodiceans are advised TO BUY white garments. Jesus’s warning is only to God’s people; not to the world in general. This confirms that, when the plagues fall, the time for repentance has passed. This is consistent with the proposal that the church is still on earth.
AVAILABLE ARTICLES ON REVELATION
INTRODUCTORY
Why is the title of this website Revelation BY Jesus Christ?
Every main part of Revelation begins in the temple in heaven.
Are events described in chronological sequence?
Is a consistently literal interpretation appropriate?
Does Revelation present Jesus as God?
God’s throne – the center of the universe.
SEVEN SEALS
Revelation 4
Revelation 4:1-8 – Verse-by-verse
The 24 elders are human beings that rule under God.
Revelation 4:8-11 – Worship in God’s presence
Revelation 5
Revelation 5 is Christ’s enthronement after His ascension.
The sealed book is the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Why can God not explain His judgments?
Revelation 5 verse by verse
The Sixth Seal concludes with Christ’s Return.
Does the seventh seal include the seven trumpets?
Seven seals explained
Introduction to the Seven Seals – What book is this?
BABYLON
Babylon; the mother of harlots – main article
Babylon’s merchants are her false prophets.
Babylon is not the reconstructed ancient city of Babylon.
Babylon is the driving force behind the beast.
SEVEN-HEADED BEASTS
The Seven-Headed Beasts of Revelation identified
The three beasts are three of the seven heads.
The Seven Heads identified
REVELATION 13
13:1-2 – The Beast relates to Daniel 7.
13:3-4 – The fatal wound
The beast of Revelation is the Mainstream Church of Christendom.
SEVEN PLAGUES
The Plagues of Revelation – 16 articles
For further reading, Jon Paulien’s commentary is recommended. For general discussions of theology, I recommend Graham Maxwell, who you will find on the Pineknoll website.
Next: Seventh Plague
For further reading on Revelation, I recommend Jon Paulien’s commentary. For general discussions of theology, I recommend Graham Maxwell, who you will find on the excellent Pineknoll website.
The second angel poured out his bowl into the sea,
Normally, the sun warms and cheers men, stimulates plant growth, and regulates climate and many other processes necessary to maintain life. But now it sends forth an excess of heat that torments men and destroys life. But, somehow, God’s people will be protected from this scorching fire (Rev 16:2).
As discussed, the beast of Revelation is