Luke 21:8

Christian, Be Not Deceived!

CHAPTER XXV.

THE "TESTIMONY OF JESUS" REVEALS THE INTERPRETATION OF THE DRYING UP OF THE WATER OF THE EUPHRATES AND THE COMING OF "THE KINGS FROM THE SUN-RISING." Rev. 16:12.

CONTENTS:

1. The River Euphrates in Biblical History: The Boundary of the Land of Israel.
   
2. The River Euphrates is referred to as "the Flood."
   
3. Other Scriptural References to the flooding of the Euphrates.
   
4. The Euphrates in Rev. 16:12 is not a Symbol of a Nation Through whose Territory it Runs.
   
5. The Euphrates—a symbol of invading forces.
   
6. To understand any subject go back to the Beginning.
   
7. The Significance of the number four in Scripture.
   
8. The necessity of studying the context and association. 
   
9. Not all the seven last plagues will be universal.
   
10. The plagues will be literal.
    
11. The Interpretation of the Euphrates in Rev. 16:12 not to be determined by Rev. 9:14.
    
12. The Assyrian invasion of Judea symbolized by the overflowing of the Euphrates.
    
13. Cyrus a Type of the Messiah.
    
14. Who are "the kings from the sun-rising" mentioned in Rev. 16:12?
    
15. The Spirit of Prophecy and the Seven Last Plagues: The Time Element involved in the 6th and 7th Plagues.
    
16. The Book of Isaiah and the Third Angel's Message.
    
17. Isa. 59:19 and the promise of deliverance from the flooding Euphrates.

"The Testimony of Jesus" is the united testimony of the whole of the Word of God. Not by isolated texts, but by comparing Scripture with Scripture, we arrive at the full revelation of God upon any theme. If we would know the true interpretation of the Euphrates in Rev. 16:12 we should investigate the significance of the meaning in other portions of the Scripture of this ancient Biblical river.

We are not saved by heeding an isolated verse or two, neither are we to build our beliefs upon isolated verses of Scripture. Jesus says, "Search the Scriptures" (John 5:39). He also says: "If ye continue in My word, then are ye My disciples indeed." John 8:31. The reason so many erroneously interpret the Scriptures, and particularly the prophecies, is because they do not "continue" in searching the Word of God.

This chapter illustrates how the Holy Spirit leads us in the study of the Word of God. Our present study of the river Euphrates illustrates how we should "search the Scriptures" to obtain "the Testimony of Jesus" upon any Biblical subject. As we follow certain words through the Scriptures we are led to analyse the contents of various books. We are led to see that there is an indissoluble link between certain books. In this way we are trained by the Spirit of God to take a more comprehensive view of the books of the Bible, and to notice the similarity of contents. Our decisions then become founded upon unshakable faith because we know that our beliefs are supported by so much Scriptural testimony. Continuing in Christ's Word in order to obtain His "testimony" on the understanding of the river Euphrates in Rev. 16: 12 we go back to the Old Testament (where we should commence our study of any theme in the Book of Revelation) and see the way the Holy Spirit has inspired the writers to bring the river Euphrates into the sacred narratives.

(1).THE RIVER EUPHRATES IN BIBLICAL HISTORY: THE BOUNDARY OF THE LAND OF ISRAEL.

The river Euphrates is mentioned 21 times, or 3 times 7, in the Bible. See Gen. 2:14; 15:18; Deut. 1:7; 11:24; Josh. 1:4; 2 Sam. 8:3; 2 Kings 23:29; 24:7; 1 Chron. 5:9; 18:3; 2 Chron. 35:20; Jer. 13:4-7; 46:2, 6, 10; 51:63; Rev. 9:14; 16:12. In 7 of these references the Euphrates is definitely said to be the boundary of the promised land. See Gen. 15:18; Deut. 1:7, 8; 11:24; Josh. 1:4; 2 Sam. 8:3; 1 Chron. 5:9; 1 Chron. 18:3. These facts show that the Holy Spirit superintended the writing of the records of Scripture and employed the Euphrates in the sacred Book in a significant manner. Therefore, as we study the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will reveal to us the full significance of the use of the Euphrates in Rev. 16:12, which is the last occasion the word is found in Holy Writ.

The Holy Spirit has seen fit to emphasise that the Euphrates is the boundary between the two centres which are brought so prominently before us in the study of the Book of Revelation—namely, God's house in Jerusalem, in the land of Israel; and "the synagogue of Satan" (Rev. 2:9) in Babylon. That the Euphrates is brought to view in Rev. 16:12 as Babylon's river will become apparent as we continue to search the Scriptures for its significance in the Bible.

In addition to the 21 times, or 3 times 7, that the Euphrates is mentioned in the Bible, and the 7 times it is definitely stated to be the boundary line of the land of Israel, the fact of it being the boundary is repeatedly kept before us even in those passages where the name Euphrates does not occur (but about which there cannot be the slightest doubt that the Euphrates is meant) and also in these texts where the word appears without the boundary aspect being definitely stated. Notice the following verses which, for the sake of brevity, are quoted in the fewest possible words:—"From the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the land of Egypt." 1 Kings 4:21. "From the river even unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt." 2 Chron. 9:26. "All the region this side of the river . . . over all the kings on this side of the river." 1 Kings 4:24. "To the river Euphrates." 2 Kings 23:29. "From the river of Egypt unto the river Euphrates." 2 Kings 24:7. "Unto the entering in of the wilderness from the river Euphrates." 1 Chron. 5:9. "And David smote Hadarezer King of Zobab unto Hamath, as he went to establish his dominion by the river Euphrates." 1 Chron. 18: 3. "The Syrians that were beyond the river" (1 Chron. 19:16)—the context shows that the Euphrates is the river referred to. See 1 Chron. 18:3; 19:6, etc., etc.

"Solomon in all his glory" (Matt. 6:29) was a type of Jesus the "greater than Solomon" (Matt. 12:42). Particularly in the early part of Solomon's reign, when heavenly wisdom was revealed and peace prevailed everywhere, we see typified the eternal and glorious reign of the Lord Jesus. From this, and the other typical teachings associated with Israel's typical land and the Euphrates as the boundary of that land, we see the significance of the inspired statement that Solomon reigned over the whole land of Israel reaching to the Euphrates: "For he had dominion over all the region on this side the river . . . over all the kings on this side the river: and he had peace on all sides round about him. And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon." 1 Kings 4:24, 25.

Throughout Scripture constant mention is made of the land God gave Israel for an inheritance, and some invaluable instruction in the understanding of the Scriptures is to be found in noting the significant manner in which the Holy Spirit has caused the Bible writers to draw our attention to these illuminating statements. However, it would take us far beyond the scope of this present book if we were to include all of interest and importance regarding "the land of Israel." It is sufficient for our present purpose to point out that God said: "I will remember the land." Lev. 26:42. He called it "My land." 2 Chron. 7:20; Isa. 14:25; Jer. 16:18; Ezek. 38:16; Joel 1:6; 2:18; 3:2. It is said to be the land of "Immanuel" (Isa. 8:8), "a land which the Lord thy God careth for." Deut. 11: 12. In contrast to "the land of Egypt . . . the house of bondage" (Ex. 20:2, etc.). Israel's land was to be the land of liberty in the service of God. The importance of the land in the Scriptures is seen by the fact of it being included in the fifth Commandment "the first Commandment with promise." Ephes. 6:2, 3; Ex. 20:12. God's eyes were to be "always upon it, from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year." Deut. 11:12. And in this land Israel was to be blessed: "the Lord shall greatly bless thee in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it." Deut. 15:4; 28:8, etc.

Because of the disobedience of His professed people God declared that He would "root up Israel out of this good land . . . and shall scatter them beyond the river." 1 Kings 14:15. In fulfilment of this threatened judgment God's people were removed from the promised land to the land of their Babylonian captivity beyond the Euphrates. The historical narrative recorded in 2 Kings 17:18-23 states, three times, that when Israel was removed from their land of promise and taken beyond the river Euphrates God had "`removed them out of His sight." See 2 Kings 17:18, 20, 23. In the study of the Book of Jonah we also notice a similar expression, stated three times, namely, that Jonah "fled from the presence of the Lord." Jonah 1:3, 10. God's shekinah glory was manifested between the cherubim above the mercy seat in the temple at Jerusalem, in the land of Israel—the boundary of which is clearly stated (in the texts previously given) to be "from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." Gen. 15:18. It is not without reason that the heathen people referred to Israel's God as "the God of the land." This expression is found three times—see 2 Kings 17:26, 27.

God's blessings to national Israel were associated with their national existence in the land of promise. Jonah fled from God's presence manifested in the promised land. Israel was removed from God's sight beyond the boundary of the promised land, namely, the Euphrates. We know, of course, that actually God's presence and His sight were not limited to the territory within the river of Egypt and the river Euphrates, for Jonah, and Israel in captivity, were sustained by the presence of the Lord, though out of the promised land. Much more could be said in regard to these facts in relation to the vital subject of the sanctuary and God's plan of salvation, but we can pause only to point out that these things were significantly recorded in the manner in which they appear in the Old Testament because of their typical teachings. To obtain God's blessing we are not to go over to the land of the enemy, but we are to stay by the bleeding Lamb of God whose redemption is wrought out for us in connection with the ministry in the sanctuary in the land of promise. Other antitypical lessons could be pointed out, but we cannot digress any further to discuss them in our present study of the significance of the use of the river Euphrates in the Scriptures.

As we have shown in the chapter dealing with the meanings of Bible names, Esau's descendants—the Idumeans—are mentioned in the Scriptures as the enemies of Israel. Esau nursed a spirit of hatred against Jacob, and his descendants also bore enmity against the children of Israel. They had refused to permit the Israelites to pass through their land to the land of promise—see Num. 20:14-21—and represent those who are opposed to the progress of the Israel of God to the heavenly Canaan. The Edomites joined in with the Babylonians in destroying Jerusalem—see Ps. 137:7, 8; Obad. 10-18—and are typical of the enemies of Israel who ally themselves with Babylon. Thus the prediction of the burning of the land of Idumea (see Isa. 34:5-11) is employed as the basis of the imagery used by the Revelator in describing the destruction of those who are allied to Babylon and oppose the remnant of spiritual Israel, See Rev. 14:9-11; 19:3; 20:10. The destruction of the Edomites typifies the annihilation of the unsaved. Obad. 18, etc. Thus the Edomites, in Mal. 1:4, are said to be "the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever."

God ordained that Israel's land should have for its boundaries the river Euphrates and the land of Babylon at one end, and, at the other end, the land of Edom. See Num. 34:1-3. The Israelites were not to have "not so much as a foot breadth" of Esau's land. Deut. 2:5. In God's denunciation of the Edomites He declared that the Israelites would refer to the Edomite boundary adjoining the land of Israel as "The border of wickedness, and the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever. And your eyes shall see, and ye shall say, The Lord will be magnified from the border of Israel." Mal. 1:4, 5. Thus God's blessing is said to rest upon the land of Israel, while His curse rested upon those lands wherein dwelt the enemies of Israel. The land of Israel is the place of God's blessing; outside it rests the curse of God. As it was typically in the days of national Israel, so it is in a spiritual sense to-day—God's blessing rests everywhere His obedient people dwell.

The first time the Euphrates is mentioned in connection with the typical land it is stated to be the boundary of "the land of Israel." See Gen. 15:18. Rom. 4:13 interprets the promise regarding "the land" to mean "the world." As "the land of Israel" is world-wide in its present spiritual application so, likewise, must its boundary to-day have a world-wide spiritual significance. The following extract from Ellicott's Commentary on Revelation, pp. 127, 128, 195, shows how this fact has been somewhat realized, though not properly applied, by some Bible students:

"The whole tenor of the Apocalypse keeps before us Jerusalem, the temple, and its surroundings (Rev. 11:1, 8), and Babylon, with its might and opulence, as two opposing cities; and it is out of all scriptural analogy to interpret Jerusalem allegorically, and Babylon allegorically, and then to claim the privilege of understanding Euphrates literally. In fact, the inconsistency and arbitrariness of interpreters is tested by these three names, Babylon, Jerusalem, Euphrates. Some will have Jerusalem to be literal, and Babylon and Euphrates mystical; others will have Babylon mystical; and Jerusalem and Euphrates literal. Surely those who hold all three to be literal are more consistent. But if Babylon be mystical and Jerusalem mystical, it is hard to see why Euphrates should not be so also. . . .

"It is in this war between the mystical Jerusalem and the mystical Babylon that the great river Euphrates is to play an important part. . . . Babylon is the great foe of Israel and the Euphrates was the great river or flood which formed a natural boundary between them. 'The other side of the flood' (i.e., Euphrates) was the phrase which pointed back to the early life of Abraham before he had entered upon the life of pilgrimage and faith; the Euphrates was the rubicon of his spiritual history. The Euphrates was the great military barrier also between the northern and southern nations; it occupied a place similar to the Rhine and the Danube in modern history. The advance of the Egyptian army to the banks of the Euphrates threatened the integrity of the Assyrian empire (2 Kings 23:29). The battle of Carchemish established the supremacy of the Chaldean power to the west of the Euphrates (2 Kings 24:7) ; such a preponderance of Babylonish influence threatened the safety of Jerusalem. . . . The drying up of the Euphrates signifies the annihilation of the protecting boundary. Such a frontier line between the spiritual city and the world city does in practice exist. . . . In the great age-long struggle between the kingdoms of Christ and the world the Euphrates represents the great separating boundary between the two kingdoms, as the literal Euphrates formed the barrier between Israel and the hostile northern and eastern kingdoms."

When in Babylon, Abraham was on "the other side of the flood" or the Euphrates. He had to come across, or leave the region of, the Euphrates, in order to live in the typical land. Abraham is a type of the faithful. His coming out of Babylon and crossing the Euphrates to the land of Israel is the initial type of the Third Angel's Message, which calls people out of spiritual Babylon. Rev. 14:8; 18:4, etc. As Babylon, the land of Israel, and Jerusalem are typical in connection with spiritual Israel and her enemies, so the Euphrates must have a spiritual signifIcance when employed in relation to Jerusalem, Israel, and Babylon. And this is the setting in which the Euphrates is employed in Rev. 16:12.

Jerusalem and Babylon are both spiritually employed in the Apocalypse in a world-wide sense. The Euphrates, which, in Gen. 15:18, is introduced in Scripture in connection with the boundary of Israel's land, is employed in its last reference (Rev. 16:12) in as wide a symbolic sense as "the land of Israel," "Jerusalem," or "Babylon."

The call out of Babylon of Abraham, the father of the faithful, is a type of the call out of Babylon of all God's children. The crescendo plan which appears in Scripture-truths is seen in this. Centuries later, when the Israelites came out of Babylon, they were duplicating the experience of their father Abraham—only in a much larger way. The call out of Babylon to-day is larger still, and now comprehends the people of God from all sections of error in the world-wide Babylon.

The books of Ezra and Nehemiah—the books setting forth the restoration of the temple service in Jerusalem and the rebuilding and repairing of the walls of Jerusalem after their Babylonian captivity—illustrate, in a physical way, the work which spiritual Israel will accomplish after its call out of spiritual Babylon. These facts are so fully dealt with in the Spirit of Prophecy and accepted among us that there is no need for me to labour to prove anything further in relation thereto. But the point to which the reader's attention should be turned is that the Euphrates is referred to as "the river" over which those called out of Babylon had to cross to return to the land of Israel.

The expression "'this side the river" occurs 8 times in Ezra. See Ezra 4:10, 11, 16; 5:3, 6 (twice), 6:13; 8:36. The number eight, as shown in my "Christ Conquers," pp. 123-139, is the number for the new life in Christ—the resurrection life. "This side the river" illustrates the new life in Christ—the new world—in which one lives with Christ the King of Israel, in the land of Israel. Those on the other side of the Euphrates are those born of the flesh, who "war" or persecute those on "this side the river." Facts given elsewhere concerning the new life, the new birth, the new world, and the use of the number eight in Scripture, show conclusively the correctness of the application made here of the 8 times "this side the river" occurs in the book of Ezra. The Spirit of Prophecy applies the historical pictures of Israel's work of rebuilding Jerusalem and there restoring the service of God as types of our work to-day, after we have come out of spiritual Babylon into the spiritual land of Israel, after passing over the boundary—the spiritual Euphrates.

The term "beyond the river" occurs 7 times in Ezra. See 4:17, 20; 6:6 (twice), 8; 7:21, 25. Seven is the number for completion, or continuity to the end, and Babylon will exist till the end. There will be a "beyond the river"—the place of the worship of false gods—until Babylon is overthrown in the final destruction of Armageddon.

There are three historical books which come prominently to view in regard to Israel and deliverances in connection with the Babylonian captivity—namely, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther. There were three calls out of Babylon away from the river Euphrates. Zerubbabel and Joshua headed the first return to Jerusalem (Ezra 1 and 2) ; Ezra led the second (Ezra 7) ; and Nehemiah the third.

The experiences of Israel coming out of Babylon, from the Euphrates into the land of Israel—and what they did, or did not do, in Palestine—is applied by the Scriptures and the Spirit of Prophecy in an antitypical way to our work in all the world—the antitypical land of Israel. Babylon and Israel's land are constantly kept before us in the Book of Revelation and in the Spirit of Prophecy. We need to remember that it is in this setting that the Euphrates is mentioned in Rev. 16:12.

(2) THE RIVER EUPHRATES IS REFERRED TO AS THE "FLOOD."

The first time the Euphrates is referred to as "the flood" is in Joshua 24. Dr. Strong's definition of the original word here translated "flood" is "a stream (including the sea, especially the Nile, Euphrates, etc., flood, river)".

No one doubts that the "flood" mentioned in Joshua 24:2, 3, 14, 15 means the Euphrates. But we need to note the significance of the fact that these verses describe the Euphrates as the boundary line between Israel's land—the land of the worship of the true God—and Babylon—that land of false gods and false worship. Notice how this fact is significantly emphasised by the Holy Spirit in the first time the Euphrates is introduced in Scripture as "the flood." God says: "Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods. And I took your father Abraham from the other side of the flood. . . . Put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the flood . . . and serve ye the Lord . . . choose ye this day whom we will serve; whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the flood...."

The first time the Euphrates is mentioned in Scripture it is said to be the fourth river emerging from Eden—the world-wide significance of this fact will be shown later. The second time the Euphrates is mentioned by name is in Gen. 15:18, which is the first of the 7 times it is explicitly stated to be the boundary of the promised land of Israel. The law of first mention, operating both in its connection with the number four—the world-wide number—and also in its connection with the boundary of the land of Israel, shows that the world-wide symbolical application of the Euphrates is that which is the proper, or normal, antitypical one.

The promise of the land given in Gen. 15:18 where the Euphrates is first mentioned as the boundary of the promised land, is the third time that promise was given to Abraham. The previous promises are found in Gen. 12:1-7; 13:14-17.

It is interesting to note that the last occasions the word "flood" occurs in the Scriptures are the only 3 times the word occurs in the Apocalypse. See Rev. 12:15 (twice), 16. The Variorum Bible, the Revised Version, Dr. Strong, etc., have "river, stream" for "flood" in Rev. 12:15, 16—the same meaning that Dr. Strong gives for "flood" ("the flood" is the Euphrates) in Josh. 24.

As we all know, Rev. 12:15-16 pictures the hateful work of Satan when he tried to drown the church in the waters of persecution. What was done in the "war" against the saints in the dark ages (Dan. 7:21; Rev. 13:7) illustrates the kind of "war" with which earth's final scenes will be characterised, As the "war" with the saints was pictured by a mighty "flood" with which Satan hoped to sweep the church away in complete destruction, so the final phase of the same "war" (Rev. 12:17) is likened to a "flood." And as the river Euphrates is first introduced as a "flood" in Josh. 24—as the dividing line between the land of the true worship and Babylon the land of false worship; the line of demarcation between Israel's God and the gods of Babylon—so, when the final "flood" or "war" against the saints, or the remnant, takes place, the Euphrates is chosen to represent that flooding of the antitypical land of Israel.

The action of Satan's assault on the church in the dark ages is described: "that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood." Rev. 12:15. Dr. Strong says of the Greek word for "flood": "overwhelmed by a stream—carried away of the flood." In Josh. 24 the Euphrates is said to be "the flood"—and there it is the boundary line between Israel's land and Babylon's land. When the "flooding" takes place it is from Babylon over the land of Israel. As the "flood" of Dan. 9:26 referred to the invasion of Palestine by the Romans, and their destruction of the temple, Jerusalem, and the Jewish nation, so the final "flood" will be when spiritual Babylon, with its centre in the territory of literal Rome, makes "war" (which is the other word employed for the "flood" of persecution in the dark ages) on the remnant church. But the river upon which literal Babylon was built was the literal Euphrates: spiritual Babylon is built upon the spiritual Euphrates.

(3) OTHER SCRIPTURAL REFERENCES TO THE FLOODING OF THE RIVER EUPHRATES.

The river Euphrates was not only the divinely-prescribed boundary for the land of Israel (Gen. 15:18, etc.), but it was that river which so many of their northern enemies crossed in order to invade Israel's land and attack God's people. In Gen. 14; Judges 3:8; 2 Kings 15:19 etc., we see that Palestine had, for many ages, been subject to invasion by formidable hosts from the region of the Euphrates, which is so often presented in Scripture as the scene of battle. See 2 Sam. 8:3; 2 Kings 23:29; 24:7; 1 Chron. 18:3; 2 Chron. 35:20; Jer. 13:4-7; Jer. 42:2, 6, 10. Jeremiah had predicted that destruction would come to Judah and Jerusalem from the north. See Jer. 1:13-15; 4:6; 6:1; 25:9, etc. This "north country" was "by the Euphrates." See Jer. 46:2, 6, 10, 20, 24; 47:2; 25:9; 1:15. The synopsis at the heading of Jer. 13 reads: "In the type of a linen girdle, God pre-figureth the destruction of His people." In this chapter trouble is pictured as coming from the Euphrates, and in fulfilment of this prophecy the literal Babylonians did come from the Euphrates and wrought destruction upon God's literal Israel because they were not keeping the covenant with their God.

Thus we see that the invasion of the land of Israel and the attack upon the people of God is likened to the flooding of the land of Israel by the waters of the Euphrates. See Jer. 46:6-10; Jer. 47:2; 25:9-11, 15- 26. Jer. 25:27-33 couples up the destruction of the Jewish nation and all the other surrounding nations by the hand of the Babylonians (and, later, the destruction of the Babylonians themselves) with the final slaughter of the Lord at Armageddon, when the wicked will be slain from one end of the earth unto the other end. This passage of Scripture—Jer. 25:27-33—is quoted in G.C. 655, 656, in connection with the destruction of all the wicked at the end of the world—the false "shepherds" of Jer. 25:34-38 are applied in the Spirit of Prophecy to the preachers who have deceived their flocks over the Sabbath. So we see that this prophecy ends where the other predictions concerning Israel and her enemies end, namely, in the final conflict over the Sabbath versus the mark of the beast, which is not a Palestinian matter but something which affects every person upon the entire globe.

"Who is this that cometh up as a flood, whose waters are moved as the rivers? Egypt riseth up like a flood, and his waters are moved like the rivers." In this way Jeremiah described the movements of the Egyptian army which threatened to overthrow the Babylonians. But they were to be destroyed "in the north country by the river Euphrates." See Jer. 46:2-10. The rest of the chapter shows that overwhelming destruction awaited the Egyptians—from the greater overflowing—the waters of the mighty Euphrates would be greater than their "flood."

Then, Jer. 47-49 outlines the overthrow of various nations by the Babylonians. Chapters 50-51 portray the doom of Babylon after she had brought disaster to Israel and the other nations.

From chapter 45 Jeremiah outlines, in detail, the destruction of the various nations which he has already enumerated in chapter 25. The reader will notice that they are the same nations—and given in much the same order. Judah and Jerusalem and the surrounding nations were to suffer calamities from a Babylonian invasion of their countries. Jer. 13:4-14 (where the name Euphrates is employed three times) shows that the destruction awaiting Israel (and the surrounding nations) would come from the Euphrates. Jer. 46:2-10 (where the word Euphrates is again mentioned three times) speaks of "the north by the river Euphrates." Vs. 6, 10. The coming of the Babylonians from "the north by the river Euphrates" to bring destruction upon Israel and the surrounding nations is likened, in Jer. 47:2, to a "flood"; "Behold, waters rise up out of the north [the "river Euphrates"], and shall be an overflowing flood, and shall overflow the land." Thus, rebellious Israel, and the nations surrounding her, were to be destroyed by the Babylonian overflowing of the Euphrates.

These pictures of the overflowing of the Euphrates by the Babylonian invasion should be kept in mind when interpreting the Euphrates—Babylon's river—in Rev. 16:12. In Rev. 16:12 the reference to the Euphrates (which throughout Scripture is the boundary line between Israel's land and Babylon) in connection with the overthrow of spiritual Babylon has for its background Isa. 8:7, 8; 7:20 in regard to the Assyrians coming from the Euphrates to destroy Israel in Jerusalem; and Jer. 13:4-14; 25:1-26; 46:2- 10; 47:2 in regard to the Babylonians coming against Israel (and other surrounding nations) at the commencement of the Babylonian captivity. The drying up of the waters of the Euphrates when Cyrus marched along the drying up river-bed of the Euphrates into the heart of Babylon to bring about its final doom and thus deliver Israel from Babylon (Isa. 44:27; Jer. 50:38; 51:36; 50:33, 34) forms the historical basis for the drying up of the water of the Euphrates mentioned in Rev. 16:12.

As Babylon's invasion of the land of Israel and destruction of Jerusalem and the Jewish nation in the time of Nebuchadnezzar was represented by the "flood"—the overflowing Euphrates—so the Roman invasion of Israel's land, and their destruction of the temple, Jerusalem, and the Jewish nation—finally and irretrievably—was predicted in Dan. 9:26: "shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood."

In the last days spiritual Israel—the church (God's dwelling place and holy city)—will be threatened with overwhelming disaster by the flooding of the spiritual (Babylonian) Euphrates. God could not dry up the waters of the Euphrates overflowing Israel's typical land in the days of the Babylonians, and at time of the Roman invasion, because the Jews had then departed from God. God did dry up the waters of the Assyrian invasion and attack upon Jerusalem because, led by Hezekiah, the people sought God to avenge them against their enemies. The helpless woman—the widow—of Christ's parable (Luke 18:1-8) represents the church in the last days—without any earthly husband to support her(without any support from the state, or any kindly power on earth), crying to God for help. "Shall not God avenge His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him, though He bear long with them? I tell you that He will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" Vs. 7, 8.

In the final flooding of the Babylonian-Roman Euphrates the waters will be dried up (Rev. 16:12) by the King of glory—the great antitypical Cyrus, the shepherd king, the liberator of Israel—coming from the east with all His royal retinue to deliver His people from Babylon's grasp. The remnant of Israel will be pure (Zeph. 3:13.: Rev. 14:3-5; Matt. 25:1-13, etc.), and so God will be able to manifest the fulness of His almighty power in the deliverance of His faithful, spiritual Israel, who will be in all the world—the spiritual land of Israel.

The Holy Spirit's superintendence over the writing of the Bible is apparent in many marvellous ways—the deeper one studies the more apparent this becomes.

To the deep student of Holy Writ there is such a blending of all the prophecies into one complete pattern that one stands amazed at the wonder of it all.

(4) THE EUPHRATES IN REV. 16:12 IS NOT A SYMBOL OF A NATION THROUGH WHOSE TERRITORY IT RUNS.

Our study of the Euphrates clearly reveals that it is not a symbol representing the Turkish or Mohammedan nations living near it, nor is it a symbol of the nation through whose territory it runs. We have seen that in its geographical setting it is the boundary between the land of Israel and the land of Babylon, and it is employed as a symbol of Babylonian armies flooding over the land of Israel, threatening to destroy the people of God. This, we have seen, is the constant use which is made of the Euphrates throughout the Old Testament Scriptures, and its last use in Rev. 16:12 must, according to laws of interpretation previously dealt with, be a world-wide, spiritual application in connection with the invasion of the antitypical land of Israel by the waters of the Euphrates (the "multitudes" who support the Babylonian whore—see Rev. 17:1, 15; G C. 635, etc.) threatening to destroy the people of God. Even in Rev. 9:14, where the Euphrates is employed in a limited, national setting, it directs us to the Ottoman Empire which invaded the territory of the Roman Empire and thus brought the final extinction of the remnant of that empire. Even in Rev. 9:14 it refers to an invading, destroying force—it is not mentioned in order to point out that the Ottoman Empire occupied territories through which the Euphrates ran but to point out this nation (which emerged from the region of the. Euphrates) as the invader of Roman territory and the destroyer of the last portion of the Roman Empire.

In the Old Testament the Euphrates was not employed to represent Assyria and Babylon as nations occupying the territory through which it ran, but they were symbolized by it ONLY WHEN THEY BECAME INVADING, DESTROYING NATIONS—the enemies of Israel.

The history of the Euphrates in the Bible proves to be in harmony with the meaning of its name—"to break forth; rushing"—Dr. Strong. Isaiah, who has likened the invasion of the land of Israel to the rushing of the waters of the Euphrates, describes the woes of Israel's enemies: "Woe to the multitude of many people ... and the rushing of nations, that make a rushing like the rushing of mighty waters! The nations shall rush like the rushing of many waters [Isa. 8: 7 refers to the Assyrians' invasion as "the waters of the river (Euphrates), strong and many"]: but God shall rebuke them." Isa. 17: 12, 13. As shown elsewhere, at the time of the outpouring of the 6th plague, God's "rebuke" dries up the rushing, persecuting waters of the Euphrates—the enemies of spiritual Israel.

(5) THE EUPHRATES—A SYMBOL OF INVADING FORCES.

The figure of flooding waters is often used in Scripture to picture the invasion of a country, or an assault on certain people. Water is a symbol of "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues." Rev. 17:15. "The wicked are like the troubled sea." Isa. 57:20. Dan. 11:22 says, "And with the arms of a flood shall they be overflown before him." David said, "When the waves of death compassed me, the floods of the ungodly men made me afraid." 2 Sam. 22:5. David prayed: "I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. Let me be delivered from them that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the waterflood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up." Ps. 69:1, 2, 14, 15.

When God pictured the invasion of the territory of the northern ten tribes of Israel by the armies of the Assyrians coming from the region of the Euphrates, He said: "The Lord hath a mighty and strong one [to punish Ephraim for his pride and sin], which as a tempest of hail and a destroying storm, as a flood of mighty waters overflowing, shall cast down to the earth with the hand." Isa. 28:1, 2.

When God pictured the invasion of Judah He likened it, also, to the overflowing of "the waters of the river [Euphrates], strong and many, even the king of Assyria." Isa. 8:7, 8.

When God foretold the end of the Jewish nation and the downfall of Jerusalem in A.D. 70 He said,: "And the end thereof shall be with a flood."

Thus we see that the employment in Rev. 16:12 of the waters of the Euphrates as the symbol of the "peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues" who, under Babylonian instruction, seek to overwhelm the people of God in the final struggle between the forces of good and evil is that which is the normal application running throughout all the Scripture.

A correct reading of the Spirit of Prophecy shows that this interpretation is the one which is given in the writing of the servant of God. For further reference see my "What is Armageddon?" pp. 45-53.

(6) TO UNDERSTAND ANY SUBJECT GO BACK TO THE BEGINNING.

Bible students recognize the significance of the first mention in the Bible of a place, name, number, etc. The last time it is mentioned brings to view a fuller significance of the first occasion. For instance, things appearing in the first chapters of Genesis re-appear on a grander scale in the closing chapters of Revelation. (See previous chapters for a full consideration of this principle.)

The first time the number thirteen occurs is in Gen. 14:4: "And in the 13th year they rebelled." From then, the number thirteen is associated with the great rebellion against God. As we have shown in "Christ Conquers," pp. 116-118, Megiddo occurs 13 times in Scripture—the 13th is given (Rev. 16:16) in the description of the final rebellion against God, and the subsequent slaughter of Armageddon. The last, or 13th, time Megiddo occurs is thus seen to definitely repeat—but in connection with a world-wide rebellion—the significance of the first time the number thirteen is used in Scripture—it describes the slaughter of those who have rebelled against the authority of God by joining with Satan in his great rebellion.

In the same manner the key to the understanding of the last time the Euphrates occurs in Scripture is found in the first time it is mentioned in the Bible, namely, Gen. 2:14, where we read:—"And the fourth river is Euphrates."

(7) THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE NUMBER FOUR IN SCRIPTURE.

The number four is used throughout Scripture as the number for the world:

There are 4 kingdoms in this world—mineral, vegetable, animal, spiritual.

On the 4th day the material world was created—on the fifth day God began the creation of animal life.

There are 4 regions of earth—4 main points of the compass—north, south, east and west.

There are 4 seasons of the year—spring, summer, autumn, winter.

The 4th book of the Bible—Numbers—gives the history of Israel in the wilderness, and is a type of the Christian in the world, marching to the evergreen Canaan.

Gen. 13:14—North, south, east, and west are interpreted in Rom. 4:13 to be the world.

1 Cor. 15:39—There are 4 kinds of flesh in the world–man, beast, fish, birds.

Rev. 7:1—Four angels, four corners, four winds, mean the whole world—therefore, those who limit the sealing of the twelve tribes of Israel, brought to view in Rev. 7, are out of harmony with the use the Holy Spirit makes of the number four as the symbol number for the whole world. The troubles to come, represented by the four winds coming from the four corners of the earth, are not Palestinian troubles, but world-wide disasters.

Gen. 9:13, 14, 16; Ezek. 1:28—The rain "bow" sign which God gave to Noah—and to us—that He would never again destroy the world by water is found 4 times in the Old Testament.

Matt. 13:4—There are 4 kinds of soil—wayside, stony, thorny, good—in the field, which is the world. V. 38.

Daniel's book has 4 Gentile kings mentioned therein—Nebuchadnezzar, Belshazzar, Darius, Cyrus.

Dan. 2—Four world empires—and only 4—would rule the earth.

Dan. 7—Four winds, 4 beasts—only 4 universal empires to rule the earth.

Rev. 1:1—Gods last message, which is for the whole world–and not, as Futurists affirm, merely for the literal Jews in Palestine—comes from God, Jesus Christ, His angel, to John. Four rivers emanated from Eden to water the earth, and there are 4 avenues through which the waters of life flow to the world.

Matt. 1:3, 5, 6—Four women come into Christ's genealogy—He is the Saviour of the world.

John 14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7—Four times, in His last discourse, Christ spoke of the coming of the Comforter—the Paraclete—who would have charge of the world-wide work of the church.

Four Gospels explain to the world about God's love and Christ's life, work, death, and resurrection. They also depict 4 sides of Christ's life.

Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6—Four times the 7 Spirits of God are mentioned in Revelation.

Rev. 5:11, 12—When the heavenly angels give ascription of praise to the Deity, it is sevenfold—power, riches, wisdom, strength, honour, glory, and blessing.

Rev. 5:13—But when earthly beings give an ascription of praise, it is fourfold—blessing, honour, glory, and power.

Rev. 5:8-10. The "four and twenty elders" were redeemed from the earth,

Rev. 2 and Rev. 3—In each of the messages to the churches, the Word says, "He that bath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches," but in 4 of them the promise of the reward comes before this injunction to "hear." In the other 3 the injunction comes before the promise of the reward. For the 3 with the injunction preceding the promise of reward. See Rev. 2:7, 11, 17. For the 4 in the reverse, see Rev. 2:26-29; 3:5, 6; 3:12, 13, 21, 22. A close study of the churches will reveal that 4 of them—the last 4—are presented as yielding to the world. While Philadelphia does not appear to be blamed yet she has only "a little power." In the messages to the last 4 churches, the second coming of Christ is brought to view. Rev. 2:25; 3:3, 11, 20.

Often in the Apocalypse the number four is conspicuous in such prophecies as the 4 horsemen of Rev. 6; the 4 trumpets and the 3 woe trumpets, etc.

In the Lord's prayer, there are seven factors—three pertaining to God, and four concerning man on earth.

Then follow another 3 things belonging to God—Kingdom, Power, Glory.

The bottomless pit is mentioned 7 times in Revelation—3 times in reference to the Arabian desert—Rev. 9:1, 2, 11. and 4 times in reference to the arsenal of Satan—the world—Rev. 11:7; 17:8; 20:1, 3. From the numeric measure we can see that the bottomless pit is this earth.

Rev. 20:2—When Satan is chained to this earth, called here the bottomless pit, he is given a four-fold description—dragon, serpent, devil, Satan.

Mark 13:35—When Christ spoke of the unknown hour of His second advent to the earth, he gave 4 times—even, midnight, cockcrowing, morning.

Mark 13:3—When Christ gave His sermon concerning His coming to earth again, there were 4 disciples present—Peter, James, John, Andrew.

Acts 1:8—When Christ commanded His church to take the Gospel to the world, He used 4 places—Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, and the uttermost parts of the earth.

Rev. 19:1, 3, 4, 6—In their triumph over the world, the redeemed say "Alleluia" four times.

Rev. 19:1—The redeemed use a four-fold ascription of praise to God—Salvation, Glory, Honour, and Power unto the Lord our God.

Rev. 20:8—Gog and Magog come from the 4 quarters of the earth. This in itself shows that the invasion of the land of Israel (Ezek. 38-39) by Gog's army (which is supposed, by some, to refer to Russia) cannot possibly be restricted to Palestine. Only a world-wide application will meet the requirement of the numeric system which operates throughout Scripture.

The 4th clause in the Lord's prayer is the one which mentions the "earth."

The 4th Commandment, by the numeric system of the Bible, is definitely a command which is for the whole world—not merely for the Jews or Palestine, as some have taught.

Gen. 10:5, 20, 31—In the account of the peopling of the earth, a four-fold description is given—different terms may he employed on each occasion, but only 4 are used at a time.

Rev. 5:9; 7:9; 10:11; 11:9; 14:6; 17:15—The Revelation uses the same four-fold description as given in Genesis. Nothing but a world-wide application of the things in the Apocalypse pertaining to Israel will fit the numeric standards of Scripture.

The Apocalypse uses expressions occurring in Genesis, as illustrated in the above four-fold description of the peoples of the whole earth. In the same way we notice that the tree of life is mentioned 3 times in the Book of Genesis—Gen. 2:9; 3:22, 24. The tree of life occurs 3 times in the Book of Revelation—Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14. A balance of thought is noticeable. In the same way the river Euphrates occurs twice in Genesis (Gen. 2:14; 15:18), and it also occurs twice in the Apocalypse—Rev, 9:14; 16:12. The first time it is mentioned in the Scriptures is in connection with the rivers which commenced in Eden and wended their ways to water the earth: "The fourth river is Euphrates." Gen. 2:14.

There are words, phrases, etc., which are significantly mentioned 4 times in different ways in Scripture, but the simple instances which have been given will serve the purpose we have in mind in connection with the river Euphrates, which is introduced in the Bible as the fourth river. In the study of the numeric system operating throughout Scripture, we learn to note the world-wide implication of the first—and also the last time—the Euphrates comes into the sacred Record, for the number four is the number for the world.

In this connection it is interesting to note that the second time this river occurs in the Bible, it is used in reference to the promise to Abraham regarding the land promised him and his seed:—''In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates." Gen. 15:18. The Divine comment, or interpretation of this promise, is given in Rom. 4:13, "For the promise, that he should be heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith."

In the original promise God had said:—"Unto thy seed will I give this land" (Gen. 12:7). In Gen. 13:14 the fulness of this promise is seen:—"And the Lord said unto Abraham . . . Lift up now thine eyes, and look from the place where thou art northward, and southward, and eastward, and westward: for all this land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever." The four points of the compass mentioned in this promise to Abraham are taken in Rom 4:13 to mean the whole world. And the third time this promise is made to Abraham the Euphrates is mentioned as the boundary of the promised land. The typical land had the river Euphrates as its boundary, and the antitypical land of Israel also has the Euphrates for its boundary—in all the world.

In its final use (the 21st, or 3 times 7) in Scripture (Rev. 16:12), in connection with the great battle between good and evil, the Euphrates (mentioned 7 times as the boundary of Israel's land) is definitely linked with the Third Angel's Message, the centre of which is the 7th day Sabbath.

There are other factors which establish the truth that the Euphrates is employed in Rev. 16:12 in a spiritual, world-wide sense, just as Babylon, which was anciently seated upon the Euphrates, is employed in a spiritual, world-wide sense.

The Euphrates—"the fourth river" (Gen. 2:14)—is the symbol of the world-wide forces of Babylon, as, similarly, "the valley" of Jehoshaphat, mentioned 4 times in Joel 3:2, 12, 14, symbolizes the world-wide valley of God's judgment in which those forces of Babylon meet their doom.

(8) THE NECESSITY OF STUDYING THE CONTEXT AND ASSOCIATION.

Every passage of Scripture has to be studied in the light of its context and association. Care needs to be exercised that the symbols of Scripture be interpreted according to Biblical rules. For instance, a lion in Holy Writ is used to represent the Assyrians (Nah. 2:11-13), the kingdom of Babylon (Dan. 7), the princes of Israel (Ezek. 19:2-7), Satan (1 Pet. 5:8), Christ (Rev. 5:5), the righteous (Prov. 28:1), etc. But the contexts show why the same symbol is fittingly employed to represent entirely different persons or kingdoms. See my "What is Armageddon?" pp. 57-60, for further instances where the same symbols or illustrations are employed in different ways. The association and the context indicate the use in each case—this is true of any part of the Bible, but is especially true of the book of Revelation. As God's servant has written of the Apocalypse: "This book demands close, prayerful study, lest it be interpreted according to the ideas of men, and false construction be given to the sacred word of the Lord which, in its symbols and figures, means so much to us."

A woman in Bible symbols represents a church. But it would not do to assume that the woman of Rev. 12 represents the same church as the woman of Rev. 17. The setting of the prophetic outline in each case reveals that the woman of Rev. 12 is not the same as the woman of Rev. 17. Similarly, the factors involved show that the Euphrates of Rev. 16 is not to be interpreted in the same national, restricted way, as in Rev. 9.

In the Apocalypse stars represent: "The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches" (Rev. 1:16, 20; 2:1 ); Jesus (Rev. 22:16; 2:28) ; the twelve Apostles of the Christian church (Rev. 12: 1) ; Satan working through Mahomet (Rev. 9:1, 11); the angels of God (Rev. 12:4): political lights in the Roman heavens (Rev. 8:12). After obtaining the interpretation of any one of these examples of the use of "stars" we are not to assume that the same interpretation will apply to the others. Each time the same symbol is employed we must examine the context and the association to discover the true interpretation.

Rev. 9:1 and Rev. 12:4 both refer to the falling of stars unto the earth. By the contexts we know that those stars refer to persons. Rev. 6:13 also says: "And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth." Because of the use of stars in the other passages referred to above some expositors have maintained that these falling stars mentioned in Rev. 6:13 also refer to people—that is, they interpret these falling stars symbolically, and not literally.

The belief that Rev. 6:13 predicts the literal meteoric showers which have fallen within recent centuries is not founded upon supposition, but is supported by the context, the right understanding of which is based upon such Old Testament passages as Zech. 6:1-7; Ps. 45:3-5; Joel 2:30-31; Matt. 24-29, etc. The context and the association show why the falling stars in Rev. 6:13 refer to literal meteoric showers, whereas the stars mentioned in Rev. 12:4, where we read that "the third part of the stars of heaven" were "cast to the earth," refer to the coming to this earth of the angels who had joined with Lucifer in his revolt against God.

To illustrate the importance of observing the laws of context, association, and type and antitype, attention is directed to the earthquake mentioned in Rev. 11:13. This is to be symbolically interpreted because it is definitely grouped with "the city," or spiritual Babylon. See Rev. 16:19; 17:18; 18:10, 16. 18, 21. But it was not a world-wide earthquake, for it is limited by the expression "and the tenth part of the city fell."

Similarly, by the laws of context and association we know why the sun in Rev. 6:12 and Rev. 16:8 refers to the literal sun, but in Rev. 8:12; 12:1 to a symbolic sun; why a literal earthquake is referred to in Rev. 6:12 and Rev. 16:18, but a symbolic earthquake in Rev. 11:13; why the waters in Rev. 12:15, 16; 13:1; 16:12; 17:1, 15 are symbolic, but the waters in Rev. 16:3, 4 are literal; why the moon of Rev. 8:12 does not have the same symbolic meaning as the moon in Rev. 12:1; why the "bottomless pit" of Rev. 9:1, 2, 11 is limited to the regions of the Arabian desert, but in Rev. 20:1-3 refers to the whole world; why the waters of the second and third plagues (Rev. 16:3, 4) are literal, and the water of the Euphrates in the 6th plague is symbolic. The teaching that the water of the Euphrates in Rev. 16:12 represents Turkey or other nations is a symbolic interpretation. The teaching that the water of the Euphrates in Rev. 16:12 represents the people of spiritual Babylon is also a symbolic interpretation—the difference being that the former applies it in connection with purely national events of a restricted character, whereas the latter applies it in connection with the world-wide conflict between Christ and Satan. Thus there is agreement that, although the waters of the second and third plagues are to be understood literally, the water of Rev. 16:12 is to be understood symbolically. But Biblical laws of interpretation show that the water of the Euphrates in Rev. 16:12 does not symbolize a nation or nations adjacent to the Euphrates.

It should be noted that, although the plagues are literal, the people of Babylon who are affected thereby are mentioned under symbols. Notice the following symbols brought to view in the seven last plagues: the mark of the beast, his image, the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, the waters of the Euphrates, Armageddon, great Babylon. The dragon in Rev. 16:13 represents the "kings, and rulers, and governors" who enforce Sunday laws. See T.M. 39, 62. The seven last plagues fall upon spiritual Babylon (Rev. 16:19), and the symbols employed in picturing the plagues which bring about her doom represent the people and things of Babylon. As Babylon is world-wide, so, also, the people and the things symbolized in connection with Babylon are, in their widest sense, world-wide.

This interpretation is sustained by the law of association in the Book of Revelation itself, but it is primarily supported by the fact that the things mentioned in the Old Testament concerning the overthrow of literal Babylon have a world-wide spiritual application in the Apocalypse. By the law of type and antitype, the allusion in Rev. 16:12 to the overthrow of ancient Babylon by Cyrus, who employed the strategy of drying up the waters of the Euphrates, has a world-wide, symbolical application. The water of the Euphrates definitely symbolizes the people of spiritual Babylon. See Jer. 51:13, which is quoted in Rev. 17:1, 15.

(9) NOT ALL THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES WILL BE UNIVERSAL.

That the plagues will be world-wide is evident from the fact that they fall upon those who worship the beast in the homage paid to it by the observance of Sunday. Rev. 14:9-11 contains the warning of the Third Angel's Message against the "beast" (the adherents of which are scattered throughout the world) "and his image (i.e., wherever church and state unite in enforcing Sunday laws), and "whosoever receiveth the mark of his name" (i.e., all who wilfully persist in observing the false sabbath—Satan's day)—these will be found in all parts of the globe.

It is true that GC. 628 says: "These plagues are not universal, or the inhabitants of the earth would be wholly cut off. Yet they will be the most awful scourges that have ever been known to mortals."

Perhaps Webster's definition of the word "universal" will assist us to understand the use which the Spirit of Prophecy makes of that word:—Universal: "Extending to, including, or affecting, the whole number, quantity, or space, unlimited, general, all-reaching, all-pervading."

If the plagues were universal every one, without exception, would receive the plagues. As these terrible scourges will result in vast numbers of deaths, it would mean that the first plagues would destroy so many that there would be few, if any, left to receive the plagues that follow. But not all the unrighteous of the world will be simultaneously afflicted with the plagues "or the inhabitants of the earth would be wholly cut off." The plagues will be world-wide, for the Third Angel's Message is world-wide. Rev. 14:6- 14; 7:1-4, etc. That message warns the world regarding the coming of God's wrath in the plagues—the world would not be warned if the world was not to suffer the plagues. 6T. 18 informs us that:—"As America, the land of religious liberty, shall unite with the Papacy in forcing the conscience and compelling men to honour the false sabbath, the peoples of every country on the globe will be led to follow her example." This means that in "every country on the globe" the beast and his image will be worshipped and the mark of the beast enforced—against which the Third Angel's Message warns. Consequently, the plagues will fall upon "every country on the globe,”for there "the image of the beast" and "the mark of the beast" will operate. We need to draw a distinction between "world-wide" and "universal." Because "every country on the globe" receives the plagues, we speak of them as being world-wide, but some are not universal in regard to each individual of "every country on the globe." GC. 627 speaks of these plagues as "extensive judgments which are to fall upon the world before the final deliverance of God's people."

The Spirit of Prophecy differentiates between world-wide and universal. Notice the following extract taken from P.K., p. 171: "Yet this apostasy, widespread as it has come to be, is not universal. Not all in the world are lawless and sinful; not all have taken sides with the enemy." In this extract the servant of the Lord refers to widespread" apostasy which, as yet, "is not universal" because "not all in the world ... have taken sides with the enemy."

Elsewhere, we have pointed out that "the false prophet" refers to more than the United States of America for "the false prophet" symbolizes apostate Protestantism which is led in the work of enforcing Sunday laws by the example set by the United States: "The Sabbath question is to be the issue in the great final conflict in which all the world will act a part." 6T. 18, 19. "The substitution of . . Sunday in place of the Bible Sabbath is the last act in the drama. When this substitution becomes universal, God will reveal Himself, He will arise in His majesty to shake terribly the earth." 7T. 141.

(10) THE PLAGUES WILL BE LITERAL.

The seven last plagues will be literal. However, although the plagues themselves are to be literal, symbols are employed to represent or to distinguish the people who receive them.

That symbols are used in the prophecy concerning the plagues is very evident when we remember that the first plague is poured out upon "the men which had the mark of the beast, and upon them which worshipped his image." The fifth plague is poured out upon the "seat of the beast." Then, in the events associated with the 6th plague, the dragon, the beast, the false prophet, the water of the Euphrates, and Armageddon, are mentioned. Other symbols are brought to view in Rev. 16:19: "And the great city was divided into three parts . . . and great Babylon came in remembrance before God to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath." "The beast," "his image," "the dragon," "the false prophet," "the water" of the "Euphrates," "the great city," "Babylon," symbolize the people of the three sections of spiritual Babylon. The "mark of the beast," "cup," "wine," and "Armageddon," are symbols associated with the people of Babylon. The mark of the beast is the sign of allegiance to Babylon; the cup and wine denote the wrath of God to be poured out upon the people of Babylon. Thus, all the symbols in the seven last plagues either represent, or are associated with, the people of Babylon. Literal plagues fall upon people or organizations who are symbolized in the prediction. The plagues are literal, though the people upon whom the plagues fall are represented in the prophecy under symbols.

Regarding the symbols given in the description of the seven literal plagues one feature which deserves our close attention is the world-wide nature of all of them. "The beast," "his image," "his mark," "the great city" with its "three parts," "the dragon," "the false prophet." the "water" of the "Euphrates," "Armageddon," "Babylon," the "cup" of the "wine" of God's wrath, are all symbols of world-wide import. Most of the interpretations give the drying up of the water of the Euphrates a symbolical meaning. Some say it refers to the ending of the Turkish nation; others, to the ending of the Mohammedan peoples living in, or adjacent to, the territory drained by the Euphrates. But to take the river Euphrates from among the other symbols which are recognized as being world-wide in character and give it a regional meaning is to conspicuously force it to have a limited, regional, and national application in contrast to the other symbols.

There is a similarity—though they are not identical—between some of the seven last plagues and some of the plagues which fell upon Egypt. God's servant says:—"The plagues upon Egypt . . . were similar in character to those more terrible and extensive judgments which are to fall upon the world just before the final deliverance of God's people." G.C. 627. These similar plagues will be world-wide in harmony with the Biblical law that the local in the Old Testament is world-wide in the Apocalypse; but these are not to be interpreted spiritually because, in the Old Testament, there is no mention of them in connection with the overthrow of Babylon. Those things which are mentioned in the Old Testament regarding the downfall of literal Babylon are brought into the Revelator's spiritual imagery depicting the overthrow of spiritual Babylon.

The symbols employed in the description of the plagues are to be interpreted spiritually because they are Babylonian; whereas the other features are literal because nowhere are they said to be Babylonian. When things are definitely linked with Babylon they, too, become spiritual and world-wide. The Euphrates is spiritual Babylon's river. To apply the Euphrates in the plagues to something of a military nature—a non-Babylonian feature—is out of alignment with the fact that all the other symbols mentioned in the plagues are definitely Babylonian symbols—it would be the only feature in the plagues which would be interpreted militarily, and the only symbol not a Babylonian one.

It is evident that both the Euphrates and Armageddon are employed as symbols of world-wide import in connection with the people of Babylon. A great slaughter follows the drying up of the Euphrates. That slaughter is real, though the events that lead to or are associated with it are symbolized by the drying up of the Euphrates. That slaughter is real, though it is pictured under the symbolic name of Armageddon.

(11) THE INTERPRETATION OF THE EUPHRATES IN REV. 16:12 NOT TO BE DETERMINED BY REV. 9:14,

Some of the expositors of Holy Writ who lived before the rise of the Advent movement in 1844 (and others who have unthinkingly followed their expositions) thought that, because the Euphrates in Rev. 9 symbolized the Ottoman Empire, the Euphrates in Rev. 16:12 must have the same meaning. They did not apply the laws of context and association, or of type and antitype, but merely assumed their interpretation that the Euphrates in Rev. 16:12 symbolized the Ottoman Empire which they thought must be dried up to enable the Jews to return to Palestine. As the Ottoman Empire no longer exists, and as it does not hinder the return of the Jews to Palestine (whose return to Palestine of course, is not God's plan), it is impossible, even along this line of reasoning, to give the Euphrates in Rev. 16 exactly the same meaning as in Rev. 9.

In my "Armageddon—The Time of Spiritual Israel's Deliverance," pp 3, 4, I summarized as follows: "There are some similarities between the seven trumpets (Rev. 8, 9) and the seven plagues (Rev. 16), and it was because of this outward similarity that some of the earlier commentators assumed that the same things were meant in both prophecies. Thus the Euphrates in the Plagues was given the same meaning as in the Trumpets, but the analysis of the features brought to view in the Trumpets and the Plagues shows the error of this interpretation. In prophetic understanding all the facts must harmonize.

"The trumpets present the overthrow of the literal Roman Empire; the seven plagues deal with the overthrow of the spiritual Roman Empire—Babylon. The sun, moon, and stars mentioned in the trumpets are there employed as national symbols of a very restricted character. The bottomless pit of Rev. 9:1, 2, 11 also has a limited application because of the national setting; whereas in Rev. 20:1-7 it refers to the whole world, which is the territory of spiritual Babylon. There are other factors—the earth (Rev. 8:7), the sea (Rev. 8:8), rivers and fountains of water (Rev. 8:10), the Euphrates (Rev. 9:14)—mentioned in the trumpets which are limited (because national) in their application which, when applied in Rev. 16 in connection with the overthrow of spiritual Babylon, have a world-wide meaning." For a fuller presentation see my "What is Armageddon?" pp. 57-60.

To obtain the interpretation of the Euphrates in Rev. 16:12 we should not merely look to Rev. 9. We should examine this question in the same manner as we prove the truth concerning the Sabbath or any other theological question, namely, go back to the commencement of the Bible and trace the subject through the "testimony of Jesus" until we are positive that we have the truth. We should enquire, "Before its occurrence in Rev. 9 is the Euphrates used in a significant manner? Are there earlier uses in the Old Testament which reveal the principles governing its interpretation?"

It cannot be too strongly emphasised, in this connection, that Rev. 9 is neither the first occasion the Euphrates is symbolically employed in the Scriptures, nor is it given the full application of that river as a symbol: therefore it is not to be taken as the complete guide for its after use in Rev. 16:12. In Rev. 9 the Holy Spirit draws from His own armoury—the Word of God—and uses in a limited application this symbol which otherwise is employed in its full application in a world-wide capacity. In Isa. 8 the Euphrates is used as a symbol of the Assyrians invading the typical land of Israel—its antitypical application is a world-wide one. The "double" application is never limited as in its typical use; the antitypical application is world-wide. The use of the Euphrates as a symbol in Rev. 9 is that of an accommodated, limited use of that which otherwise has a world-wide symbolical meaning.

The use of the river Euphrates in Rev. 9:14, which is applied there to the Ottoman Empire (G.C. 334) in connection with the destruction of the literal Roman Empire, should not guide us when considering the downfall of Babylon, the spiritual enemy of the church. The Ottoman Empire has no Old Testament imagery and, therefore, no typical significance. Babylon not only is mentioned in the Old Testament, but is there presented also, as in the Revelation, as the rival city of Jerusalem; the place of captivity for Israel: the city of confusion and error, in contrast to Jerusalem the city of peace and truth. As things associated with old Jerusalem had a typical world-wide meaning, so the things linked with ancient Babylon likewise have a spiritual, world-embracing application. Hence, in the Revelator's description of the overthrow of Babylon (Rev. 16:19) the river Euphrates (Rev. 16:12), the seat of ancient Babylon, must refer to something world-wide in character. Unfortunately, expositors have been guided by the use of the Euphrates in Rev. 9—there used in connection with a power having no Old Testament imagery and without an Israel-Old Testament association—in their understanding of the river Euphrates in Rev. 16, where it is associated with Babylon, which has abundant Old Testament typical meaning. Babylon in the Old Testament is definitely 
connected with Israel in a typical way. The Ottoman Empire was not connected with Israel, and thus has no typical value. In other words, the river Euphrates in Rev. 9:14 is used in a different sense from that in Rev. 16:12 where its use associated with Babylon gives it as wide an application as modern, mystical Babylon itself.

(12) THE ASSYRIAN INVASION OF JUDEA SYMBOLIZED BY THE OVERFLOWING OF THE EUPHRATES.

When interpreting the meaning of the Euphrates in Rev 16 some quote Isa. 8:7, 8 in an endeavour to prove that a nation or people living near the Euphrates is referred to by this symbol. But such a position is based upon false premises. It would be incongruous to restrict the interpretation of the Euphrates in Rev. 16:12 to Turkey—a small nation—and then give Babylon, built upon that river, a world-wide, spiritual meaning. We should notice the use made in Isaiah 8 of the river of the Assyrians. This is one of a number of instances when the Euphrates is not named (perhaps for the numeric reason of restricting the use of that name to 21 times—or 3 times 7—in the Bible), but commentators agree that the Euphrates is the river referred to. In Isa. 8:7, 8 the reference to the River Euphrates is that of the Assyrians coming front their own parts and invading Israel and Judah. "The Lord bringeth upon them the waters of the river, strong and many, even the king of Assyria, and all his glory; and he shall come up over all his channels, and go up over all his banks. And he shall pass through Judah; he shall overflow and go over; he shall reach even to the neck; and the stretching out of his wings shall fill the breadth of thy land, O Immanuel."

Thus the Euphrates is employed to represent the Assyrians, not because they possessed the territory through which it ran, but it is employed to represent the Assyrians invading Israel and Judah. The Assyrians were represented by the overflowing of the Euphrates—"the waters of the river"—because they were "strong and many."

"The Assyrians are called the waters of the river, because they came from the river Euphrates in great multitudes, and wasted and destroyed the nations and the countries whithersoever they came. V. 8. The Assyrian army ravaged the whole of the land of Judea in a rapid and resistless manner (where Immanuel was born, lived, and died), up to Jerusalem the capital." Brown's Bible.

"The waters of the Euphrates, great, rapid, and impetuous; the image of the Babylonian empire, which God threatens to bring down like a mighty flood upon all these apostates of both kingdoms." Dr. Clarke.

In the synopsis of Isa. 8, Dr. Clarke's commentary states: "Israel . . . is threatened to be overflowed by the great river of Assyria, manifestly alluding by this strong figure to the conquests of Tiglath-pileser and Shalmaneser over that kingdom. V. 5-7. The invasion of the kingdom of Judah by the Assyrians under Sennacherib foretold. V. 8."

Dr. Clarke's comment on "He shall reach even unto the neck" is: "He compares Jerusalem, says Kinchi, to the head of the human body. As when the waters come up to a man's neck, he is very near drowning (for a little increase of them would go over his head); so the king of Assyria coming up to Jerusalem was like a flood reaching to the neck—the whole country was overflowed, and the capital was in imminent danger. Accordingly, the Chaldee renders 'reaching to the neck' by 'reaching to Jerusalem'."

Under Sennacherib the Assyrians invaded the whole of the typical land, and were about to destroy Jerusalem when they met their doom. See 2 Chron. 32; 2 Kings 18, 19. (Similar pictures regarding Israel's enemies are presented in such prophecies as Ezek. 38-39; Joel 3; Zech. 14 and Rev. 16:12-16; 20:8, 9.) It was through "Immanuel," Isa. 8:8; 7:14—"God with us," Matt. 1:23 (given in the Var. Bible on Isa. 7:14: "God (is) with us")—that Jerusalem and its inhabitants did not fall before the "strong and many" murderous Assyrians. The destruction of Sennacherib's army resulted from God's intervention. The Assyrians trusted in their gods to crush the people of God in Judah.

Said God at the time of the crisis, "And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall yet again take root downward, and bear fruit upward. [PK. 22, 703 applies similar passage to mean the church]. For out of Jerusalem shall go forth a remnant, and they that escape out of Mount Zion.... For I will defend this city to save it for mine own sake." Isa. 37:31-35; 2 Kings 19:28-34. The figure of the overflowing of the Euphrates representing the invasion of the hosts of the enemies of God's people can be carried to its full meaning: God stopped the invading waters of the Euphrates; He did more; He dried them up by the destruction of the army by the angel of the Lord.

The remarkable deliverances in the experiences of the Jews are typical of the experiences of the remnant church. Joel 2:32: "For in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem shall be deliverance . . . and in the remnant whom the Lord shall call." In EW., p. 142, 143 (and in other publications), this verse is interpreted to refer to the remnant church in the final struggle, and is coupled with Rev. 12:17 where the dragon is pictured as making "war with the remnant" of the church. This application, that Joel 2: 32 refers to the deliverance of the remnant church, must also be made to Isa. 37:32 and 2 Kings 19:31, for the three texts each refer to the deliverance of the remnant in connection with Jerusalem.

The experiences of the people of God when the Assyrians came as the flooding of the Euphrates to bring destruction to the children of the Most High are typical of what will be the experiences of the remnant against whom Satan will make war. The literal city, Jerusalem, or Zion, of the Old Testament is interpreted in the New Testament to mean the church in all the world, around which the battle will rage between God and His angels and Satan with his angels assisted by evil men. The winepress will be trodden "without the city" (Rev. 14:20) the church.

Commenting on the Assyrian invasion, in Prophets and Kings, p. 339, the servant of God has written that it was "to be demonstrated before the nations of the world whether the gods of the heathen were finally to prevail."

It was to be a test of power between God and Satan. Thus it will be in the last great battle—Satan determined to slaughter the remnant, but God determined that they shall be preserved. Around the church will be waged this warfare: the winepress will be trodden "without the city." God will triumph, and His church with Him.

Sennacherib, king of Assyria, sent this message by Rabshakeh: "Thus saith the king ... neither let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, The Lord will surely deliver us: this city shall not be delivered into the hand of the king of Assyria. . . . Hath any of the gods of the nations delivered his land out of the hand of the king of Assyria? . . . Who are they among all the gods of these lands, that have delivered their land out of my hand, that the Lord should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?" Isa. 36:13-20. When Sennacherib heard the decision of the Jews to trust in their God to deliver them he wrote "letters to rail on the Lord God of Israel, and to speak against Him, saying, As the gods of the nations of other lands have not delivered their people out of mine hand, so shall not the God of Hezekiah deliver His people out of mine hand." 2 Chron. 32:17.

"When the king of Judah received the taunting letter (2 Kings 19:10-13), he took it into the temple, and 'spread it before the Lord,' and prayed with strong faith for help from heaven, that the nations of the earth might know that the God of the Hebrews still lived and reigned. The honor of Jehovah was at stake; He alone could bring deliverance." PK., p. 355.

And the decisive way in which God demonstrated His care and protection over Jerusalem then is typical of how He will care for His tried remnant when surrounded by those led on by demons to destroy them. As the angel of the Lord slew the hosts of the Assyrians, so the hosts that try to kill God's remnant church will be destroyed by angels executing the divine command. As the overflowing of the Euphrates of Isa. 8:7-8 represented the invasion of Judea by the Assyrian hosts, so their destruction was the drying up of those waters.

That the drying up of the waters of the Euphrates has an application to the remnant church becomes obvious when we study the rest of Isa. 8. Verses 7-8 prophesied the invasion of the Assyrians under the figure of the overflowing of the Euphrates, but the remaining portion of the chapter plainly points to the last days. 6T. 17; TM. 463; 7T. 153; 5T. 691; GC. 452; 6T. 332; GC. 593, 559; EW. 59, etc., give ample proof of our belief that Isa. 8 contains messages for the remnant church. "Bind up the testimony, seal the law among my disciples" (verse 16) is the sealing message of Rev. 7:1-4. Isa. 8:17 shows that verse 16 refers to the people who are waiting for the coming of Christ. Verses 19-20 predict the work of evil spirits in leading men away from the law and the sealing message. Verse 20 tells us to test the spirit-possessed miracle workers by "the law" and "the testimony." Verses 9-12 prophesy concerning the last-day confederacies, 6T. 17; TM. 463; 7T. 153, etc. It is the combination of spiritualism with these confederacies which brings about the overflowing of the Euphrates in its allegorical meaning in relation to the people of God in the last days. Hence the association of the Assyrians, under the figure of the overflowing of the Euphrates, with the remainder of the chapter dealing with the enemies of the remnant church.

The Lord's people were nearly drowned by the waters of the Euphrates—only their heads remained out of the water. Only a slight rise of the inundating river and they would have perished. But Israel's God took complete charge of the situation; the Assyrians were destroyed—the waters of the river, "strong and many," were "dried up."

In harmony with the laws governing the interpretation of the typical imagery used in Old Testament prophecies, the river Euphrates employed in Rev. 16 in connection with Babylon must have a world-wide, antitypical application. It must, in the last days, refer to an attack by spiritual Babylon upon spiritual Jerusalem. The people of that antitypical, spiritual region of the Euphrates are to overflow their banks and to inundate the land of Israel and surround Jerusalem (the church), As spiritual Babylon is worldwide, so the symbolic Euphrates ("the image of the Babylonian empire"—Dr. Clarke) must likewise be world-wide. As the invading flood of Assyrian troops was dried up—destroyed—by the miraculous intervention of Immanuel ("God (is) with us"), so the antitypical waters of the Euphrates—the hosts emerging from the region of Babylon to destroy the remnant in Jerusalem (the church)—will he "dried up" by that Immanuel Who will save His people from the designs of Satan and the hordes of Babylon. Just as God intervened at the last moment to save Jerusalem falling before the invading Assyrians, so God's intervention will come at the last moment to save His remnant church. This fact is clearly taught in the Spirit of Prophecy.

From the foregoing it is clearly seen that ancient Babylon situated on the literal river Euphrates has its counterpart in the spiritual, world-wide Babylon on the symbolical world-wide Euphrates. With Rev. 17:1 compare Jer. 51:13.

(13) CYRUS A TYPE OF THE MESSIAH.

It is generally accepted that the outstanding personalities of the Bible—such as Adam (1 Cor. 15:45-49), Melchizedek (Heb. 7:1-21), Isaac (Gen. 22:2-18; Gal. 3:16; 4:28), Joseph (Acts 7:9-13), Moses (Heb. 3:2-6; Deut. 18: 15-18; Acts 3: 22; 7: 37-40), Aaron (Ex. 28: 1; Heb. 5: 4, 5), David (Matt. 1: 1; Luke 1:32), etc.—in their characteristics or in the work which they accomplished typified the Messiah.

Because of his work of overthrowing Babylon and of liberating God's people from their captivity Cyrus is also presented in the Scriptures as a Messianic type. Notice the significant words of the prophecy: "Thus saith the Lord ... That saith of Cyrus, He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him."  Isa. 44:24-28; 45:1.

In Brown's Bible, under the heading "A collection of the names and titles given to Jesus Christ," the name of Cyrus appears and Isa. 45:1 is quoted for proof. In overthrowing Babylon Cyrus prefigures what Christ will do in the destruction of modern Babylon.

Isa. 41:2 declares that God "raised up the righteous man from the east." (See also v. 25; 46:11, etc.) The Annotated Paragraph Bible, commenting on Isa. 41:2, says:—"Heb., 'who raised up righteousness,' meaning the instrument of righteousness. The deliverances which God achieves for His people are called 'His righteousness.' See Isa. 45:8; 46:13; Rom. 3:21, 22. Cyrus might be thus described as God's agent for punishing idolaters and for delivering Israel. See Isa. 44:27, 28; 45:1-7. But the connection (see Isa. 42:1-7) forbids us to restrict the application to him."

The overthrow of idolatrous Babylon and the liberation of the Jews prefigured the final overthrow of spiritual Babylon and the glorious liberation of God's people at the end of human history.

In Dr. Clarke's commentary the synopsis at the commencement of Isa. 41 reads:

"The prophet, having intimated the deliverance from Babylon, and the still greater redemption under it, resumes the subject."

Isaiah's use of the destruction of Babylon and the liberation of Israel by Cyrus to picture "the still greater redemption couched under it" is the normal way all the prophets have written. It was the custom of the prophets to employ local, literal, national events in a "double" application in picturing world-wide, spiritual events.

(14) WHO ARE "THE KINGS FROM THE SUN-RISING" MENTIONED IN REV. 16:12?

Throughout the Scriptures Christ is said to be the "Dayspring," or "Sun-rising." See Luke 1:78, margin; Mal. 4:2, etc. He is declared to be "the Light of the world." See John 9:5; 1:5, 9; 3:19; 8:12; 12:35, 46; Ephes. 5:14; 2 Pet. 1:19; Rev. 2:28; 22:16; etc. These oft-repeated, explicit statements should guide Christ-loving Bible students when interpreting Rev. 16:12.

When interpreting Rev. 16:12, expositors of Holy Writ should not heed Japan's blasphemous claim to be "the light of the world"—the Japanese or the Chinese are not "the kings from the sunrising," even though some may think that their national emblems may be taken as an indication that they are. Actually their flags do not show a sun rising, but a sun risen. Jesus is "the Sun-rising" mentioned in the Bible. Japan is not even referred to in Scripture. The Scriptural way to prove an interpretation is not by comparing a verse of Scripture with a nation's flag, but by "comparing spiritual things with spiritual." (1 Cor. 2:13.) "In the mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be established." The use of only one Scriptural or other kind of witness is not sufficient, according to the Word of God. See Num. 35:30; Deut. 17:6; 19:15; Matt. 18:16; John 8:17; 2 Cor. 13:1; Heb. 10:28. We should follow the pen of inspiration from Genesis to Revelation in order to know the teaching of God's Word.

THE "EAST" IN RELATION TO ISRAEL SINCE JERUSALEM CEASED TO BE GOD'S CENTRE.

We must not assume that the kings of the "east" mentioned in Rev. 16:12 refer to nations to the east of Jerusalem. Since the rejection of Jerusalem as God's centre no prophet has written a prediction with the directions of the compass centring in Jerusalem. Jerusalem is brought into the Revelation always in a symbolical setting (except at the end of the 1,000 years: this exception-an important key in the understanding of the Revelation—is explained in a later chapter) and, consequently, the literal directions of the compass cannot literally apply in relation to a symbolical city. For a fuller consideration see my "What is Armageddon?" pp. 61-70.

In the Revelation, in describing pre-adventual events, the "east" is the only point of the compass mentioned by John. As shown in a later chapter, the second advent terminates "the dispensation of the Holy Spirit" (T.M. 511)—the dispensation when the "things" (1 Cor. 2, etc.) of Israel are spiritually applied. But even in describing post-adventual events the geographical directions in Rev. 20:8; 21:13 are mentioned only as they pertain to Israel.

The word "east" occurs three times in the Apocalypse—Rev. 7:2; 16:12; 21:13. The first reference shows that the Sabbath Message comes from Jesus "the Sun-rising" (the Sabbath is the "sign" or "seal" between God and Israel, Ex. 31:13-18) ; the second refers to the coming of Christ to deliver Israel from their Babylonian oppressors, and the third to the gates of the New Jerusalem through which "the Israel of God will pass into their everlasting rest in the promised land. The words "Israel" (Rev. 2:14; 7:4; 21:12) and "Jerusalem" (Rev. 3:12; 21:2, 10) are also mentioned three times in the Apocalypse. In the Revelation the Lord employs the word "east" only in connection with spiritual Israel.

The Revelation applies in a spiritual sense to the church the experiences of ancient Israel. The "east" played an important part in Old Testament history and in the economy of literal Israel. When God prepared the earth for man He "planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there He put the man whom He had formed." Gen. 2:8. When Adam yielded to the great deceiver God "drove out the man; and He placed at the east of the garden cherubims . . . to keep the way of the tree of life." Gen. 3:23, 24. Driven from the "garden eastward in Eden" our first parents and their children worshipped God "at the east of the garden of Eden." God commanded that the sanctuary be erected facing the east. See Ex. 26:16-22, 35; Num. 2:3, 10, 18, 25, 34. Thus, in the daily ministration of the sanctuary, priests who entered to serve came by way of the gate and the veil that faced the east; and the people in bringing their sacrificial offerings were also obliged to enter into the "court" by the "gate" that faced the east. Ex. 27:9-16. But on the day of atonement the "east" came into added prominence by the fact that the blood of the sacrifices was to be sprinkled "upon the mercy seat eastward." Lev. 16:14, 15.

As the "east" was brought into prominence in the services of the Day of Atonement (the last of the yearly round of typical services) so, in the antitypical Day of Atonement (during the closing work of the heavenly ministry of Jesus, Israel's great High Priest), the "east" is brought prominently to view in the Revelator's description of God's last-day Message, which comes "from the east" (Rev, 7:2) to "the tribes of the children of Israel." Rev. 7:4-8.

Before their Babylonian captivity, the children of Israel had so departed from the true worship of God that Ezekiel was shown the High Priest and his twenty-four associate priests "with their backs toward the temple of the Lord and their faces toward the east; and they worshipped the sun toward the east." Ezek. 8:16. God had ordered the tabernacle to be built facing the east. To worship the rising sun (an important feature of sun-worship), therefore, meant to turn one's back upon the Lord. See Ex. 26:18, 20, 22, 36; Ezek. 8:16.

In Ezek. 10:19; 11:1, 22, 23, the glory of the Lord is said to have departed from the Lord's house by the way of "the east gate." Israel's sins had caused God to withdraw His presence from the temple, and as the "east" gate was the normal entrance to the sacred structure God, accordingly, withdrew His presence through the "east" gate. However, God did not leave His people without hope, but encouraged them with the thought that He would return. The promises concerning the magnificent temple brought to view in Ezek. 40-48 were provisional, and it is generally recognized that the proper interpretation of those chapters now relates to the Christian church. This is the interpretation given in the Spirit of Prophecy. The river of life which emerges "from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east" (Ezek. 47:1-3) is applied by the Spirit of Prophecy to the work of the church proclaiming the Third Angel's Message. AA. 13-16; 7T. 24; 9T. 96, etc. The "east" of this temple is thus definitely connected with the proclamation of God's last-day Message. In Ezek. 44:1-3 reference is made to "the gate of the outward sanctuary which looketh toward the east . . . the Lord, the God of Israel, hath entered in by it. . . . It is for the prince .. . he shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate, and shall go out by the way of the same." In Ezek. 46:1-3 we read that "the inner court that looketh toward the east shall be shut the six working days; but on the Sabbath it shall be opened, and in the day of the new moon it shall be opened. And the prince shall enter by the way of the porch of that gate ... and he shall worship at the threshold of that gate, likewise the people of the land shall worship at the door of this gate before the Lord in the Sabbaths and in the new moons." The importance of the "east" in the service and worship of the God of Israel on the Sabbath and the new moon is thus clearly emphasised. Referring to these important services, Isaiah points forward to the time in the new earth when "all flesh" will worship before the Lord "from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another" (Isa. 66:22, 23). God's last-day Sabbath Message (pictured in Rev. 7:1-4 as coming from the east to the tribes of Israel) calling attention to the sanctuary services is inseparable from the "east," which was so definitely connected with the worship of God in Israel's sanctuary services (see Ex. 26:18, 22, 35; 27:9-16; Num. 2:3, 10, 18, 25, 34; Ezek. 8:16; 10:19; 11:1, 22, 23; 44:1-3; 46:1-3; 47:1-3; etc.)—and, in a special manner, with the worship of God on the Sabbath (Ezek. 46: 1-3, etc.), and on the day of Atonement. Lev. 16:14, 15.

In vision Ezekiel was shown God's return to His holy temple—from which He had withdrawn His presence, departing through the east gate. Ezekiel declares: "Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward the east: And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east, and the earth shined with His glory." Ezek. 43:1, 2. These verses are applied spiritually in Rev. 18:1, for there we read: "and the earth was lightened with His glory." This, we know, describes the loud cry of the Third Angel's Message. Thus, at its commencement, God's last-day Message is said to come from the east (Rev. 7:2 ) and, in picturing it being proclaimed with "great power" at its close, John applies Ezek. 43:1, 2, which speaks of the glory of God coming from the east. The God of Israel is said to enter or depart from His temple by the east gate.

As shown elsewhere, the "things" of Israel which are spiritually applied in this "dispensation of the Holy Spirit" have a literal application when referring to the eternal kingdom established at the second advent. The spiritual east in the services and predictions pertaining to spiritual Israel becomes the literal east at the second advent.

In describing the second coming of Christ the servant of the Lord in E.W., p. 285. quotes Ezek. 43:2: "The voice of God like many waters." The servant of the Lord also saw Christ's glory coming from the east. EW., p. 15; G.C., p. 640. Ezek. 43:2 reads: "The glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and His voice was like a noise of many waters."

As I have pointed out in my book, "Christ Conquers," sunworship was fostered through Satan's perversion of the Lord's Old Testament teaching regarding the importance of the east in the worship of God.

In the Old Testament times things concerning the worship and service of God were on the basis of the literal: literal nation, literal priests, literal temple, etc.—including the literal east. Since the rejection of the Jewish nation the things of Israel have their spiritual application, and, in the prophecies now applying to spiritual Israel, the "east" is to be regarded (until the second advent) as a spiritual east. The fact that in Mal. 4:2 we read: "But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings," shows that a spiritual application of the sun rising in the east was made even in Old Testament times. As the literal sun arose in the east and scattered the darkness, so Jesus, spiritually, arises and shines upon our spiritual darkness, and gives us light. 2 Pet. 1:19. Satan uses the things of Christ to deceive, and he caused the people to worship the literal sun in the literal east. Not content with the sun and the east as symbols, they became idolatrous and worshipped the sun, paying respect to the literal east. Mosheim says: "Nearly all the people of the east, before the Christian era, were accustomed to worship with their faces directed toward the sun rising." Then he proceeds to state that Christians in the early church "retained" this custom.

"How extensive and comprehensive the Christian worship toward the east was, Dr. Dodgson shows in a note to Tertulian's Apology, chapter 16:—'Christians prayed to the east, as the type of Christ the Sun of Righteousness, whence also in baptism they turned to the east to confess Christ. and their churches were towards the east.' " "History of the Sabbath," p. 320. In my "Christ Conquers" other extracts are given showing the popularity of this custom, and also how Sun-day keeping more easily obtained an entrance into the Christian church because the sun and the east were regarded in a literal sense, instead of as God's symbol of light and truth. Papal and last-day errors—including the teaching of a Palestinian, military "Armageddon"—are based on exactly the same erroneous principle of applying literally, instead of spiritually, the things of Israel.

Cruden says: "The east is the first of the four cardinal points of the horizon, where the sun is seen to rise when in the equinoctial." In the appointment of the locations of the tribes around the sanctuary, which was erected "in the midst of the camp" (Num. 2:17), God gave first consideration to the east. He appointed the tribe of Judah to pitch his "standard with the ensign [the lion] of their father's house . . . on the east side toward the rising of the sun." Num. 2:1-3. In the Revelation (Rev. 5:5) Jesus, the Son of David, is declared to be "the Lion of the tribe of Judah." As the tribe and standard of Judah were "on the east side toward the rising of the sun," we know that the Revelator's reference to "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" keeps before us the connection of the east with Jesus, as "the Lion of the tribe of Judah" Who leads His people across the sands of the desert to the promised land. In the Scriptures the lion is employed as the symbol of strength to destroy one's enemies, and when Jesus comes the second time He is pictured as Israel's "strong Redeemer" (Jer. 50:34) coming from the east "from the rising of the sun"—like Cyrus (whose name meant "the sun") to liberate Israel from the bondage of Babylon. Jer. 50:33; Isa. 41:2, 25; 45:1, 13; 46:11.

JESUS, AND THE "EAST," OR "SUN-RISING," OF REV. 7:2 AND REV. 16:12.

The same Greek word for "east" ("anatole") is employed in Rev. 7:2, and Rev. 16:12. Dr. Strong gives the meaning of this word as "a rising of light, i.e., dawn (fig.); impli. the east (also in plur.):—dayspring, east, rising."

The same word "anatole" is also employed in Luke 1:78, where Jesus is definitely termed "the Dayspring," or "Sunrising." Zacharias declared "The Dayspring [margin, "Sunrising"] from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace."

At His first coming, Jesus was declared to be "the Sunrising from on high," and the prophet, in Rev. 16:12, has employed the same word when writing of His second coming. "Anatole" is used also in Rev. 7:2 in the description of the coming of the Sabbath Message from "the east," or "the sunrising." Malachi (Mal. 4:2) declared that "the Sun of righteousness" would "arise with healing in His wings." In the Sabbath Message "the Sun of righteousness" has arisen with "healing in His wings." The Third Angel's Message has come from the Source of light.

Jesus is the Source of spiritual light, comfort and growth of the soul as the sun is the source of the literal light, warmth and growth of all living things on this world. Without the light of the sun all earthly life would perish; without the light of Jesus all spiritual life would perish. This truth is well expressed in the words of the hymn written by John Wesley, "Christ, Whose Glory" (Advent Hymnal, No. 457); and in such hymns as "Sun of my Soul," "Jesus, the Light of the World," etc.

Christ is said to be "the light of men," "that light," "the true light." John 1:4, 7, 8. John declares that "God is light." 1 John 1:5. James states that God is "the Father of lights." James 1:17. The Psalmist says: "The Lord God is a sun." Ps. 84:11. Isaiah assures us that "the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." Isa. 60:20, 21. "The Lord is my light." Ps. 27:1. "The light dwelleth with Him." Dan. 2:22. Jesus came to be "a light to lighten the Gentiles." Luke 2:32. "Christ shall give thee light." Ephes. 5:14. "Come, let us walk in the light of the Lord." Isa. 2:5. "And in Thy light we shall see light." Ps. 36:9. "The saints in light." Col. 1:12. "The light of the gospel." 2 Cor. 4:4. "His marvellous light." 1 Pet. 2:9. The gospel church is likened to "a woman clothed with the sun." Rev. 12:1. "The law is light." Prov. 6:23. "Thy word is a lamp, and a light unto my path." Ps. 119:105. "The entrance of Thy words giveth light." Ps. 119:130. "The path of the just is as the shining light." Prov. 4:18. These are a few of scores of such expressions to be found throughout the Word of God. Christ's kingdom is depicted in the Scriptures as the kingdom of light (Luke 16:8, etc.), and Satan's kingdom as the kingdom of darkness. Ephes. 6:12; Col. 1:13, etc. It should be emphasised that the light from Jesus, "the Light of the World," "The Sun of righteousness," comes to the believer as the sun rising in the eastern skies, scattering the darkness and giving light to those who previously were in darkness. "His going forth is prepared as the morning." Hos. 6:3. "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning." Isa. 58:8. "Until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." 2 Pet. 1:19. "But unto you ... shall the Sun of righteousness arise." Mal. 4:2. "I am . . . the bright and morning star." Rev. 22:16.

The blessings of the light of the gospel come from the spiritual east. "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." Isa. 60:1-3. Upon a world of spiritual darkness the light of the Third Angel's Message is now shining. Commencing in the spiritual east (Rev. 7:1-4), its glory is now being shed with increasing power throughout the earth. Soon "the earth" will be "lightened with His glory." Rev. 18:1.

The spiritual light of the Sabbath Message precedes the literal light of the glory of the second advent. The law of the "triple application" of the things of Israel (dealt with in a later chapter) shows that things of the literal kingdom of glory have a spiritual application in "this dispensation of the Holy Spirit"—that is, the spiritual application precedes the literal fulfilment. Thus the Scriptures refer to the spiritual light of the Sabbath message coming "from the east" or "from the sunrising," and also refer to the literal glory of Christ coming "from the east" or "from the sunrising."

Speaking of the New Jerusalem, the Revelator says: "For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." Rev. 21:23. "The Lord God giveth them light." Rev. 22:5. The church, the spiritual Jerusalem, receives her spiritual light from God and the Lamb. And the remnant church received her message of the Sabbath from "the God of glory" (Acts 7:2); from the "Dayspring," the "Sunrising."

The god of this world has worked through "Babylon the great" to exalt the sun-day anciently dedicated to the sun. According to Biblical laws of interpretation, the fact that "the Lord's Day" (Rev. 1:10) is mentioned in the commencement of the Book of Revelation indicates that it is around this "seal" of the eternal king that "the final conflict" will rage in its fury. But before the King of Light comes to execute judgment upon the rejectors of His Sabbath, He sends the light of the Third Angel's Message: hence the same word to describe the origin of the Sabbath Message in Rev. 7:2, and the coming of the Lord of the Sabbath in Rev. 16:12.

The angel bearing God's message comes from the east (Rev. 7:2)—the same place as the "kings" mentioned in Rev. 16:12, namely, "from the sun-rising"—see Young's Literal Translation; Fenton's Modern English Translation; the Douay version; the American Standard version; Emphatic Diaglott; Rotherham, etc. God's message comes from Jesus in heaven—hence it is said to come "from the sun-rising," for every thing or person coming from heaven will, on account of the rotundity and rotation of the earth, appear to earth-dwellers to come from the east. After the Sabbath Message has been given (Rev. 7:1-3), the Lord of the Message will come (Rev. 16:12) "as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west." Matt. 24:27. In Matt. 24:27; Luke 1:78; Rev. 7:2; 16:12 the same Greek word "anatole" occurs, and in each case it refers either to our Lord, His Message, or His coming.

The following extract (which is really an explanation of Rev. 7:2) gives the words spoken by Sister White in a vision at the home of Brother Otis Nichols, near Dorchester, Mass., November 18, 1848. She said: "He [God] was well pleased when His law began to come up in strength. That truth [the Sabbath truth] arises, and is on the increase, stronger and stronger. It's the seal!

It's coming up! It arises, coming from the rising of the sun, like the sun, first cold, grows warmer, and sends its rays. When that truth arose, there was but little light in it; but it has been increasing. Oh, the power of these rays!"—"Questions on the Sealing Message," by J. N. Loughborough, page 15.

S, H. Lindt, of the Department of Oriental Studies in the Walla Walla College, Washington, U.S.A., in his "The Kings of the East. A Detailed Study of the Sixth Plague," states:—

"The Hebrew of the Old Testament has a word for sun-rising which is a close synonym of the Greek word referred to above. This Hebrew word occurs in the Old Testament a total of seventy-three times, and, like its Greek synonym, it is used in literal narrative frequently where its natural meaning is the east, or the sunrising. The Hebrew word is pronounced mitzrach. It is also used a few times in symbolic prophecy, and in such instances it is applied to Christ just like the Greek word in the New Testament. Two sample verses illustrating this fact can be found in Isaiah 41:2, 25; where 'the righteous man from the east,' or 'from the rising of the sun,' can be no other than Christ Himself."

CYRUS, "THE SUN," A TYPE OF JESUS, "THE SUN OF RIGHTEOUSNESS."

The name "Cyrus" means "the sun," and Cyrus in his work of destroying Babylon and liberating Israel typifies Jesus "the Sun of righteousness." Mal. 4:2. To captive Israel Cyrus brought light and freedom; to His people in spiritual Babylon Jesus, the Light of the world, brings light and freedom from the bondage of sin. Thus we see that the references to Cyrus coming "from the east," "from the rising of the sun," is a play upon the meaning of his name (as well as a reference back to the Lion of the tribe of Judah encamped "toward the rising of the sun"), just as there is a spiritual play upon the designation of Jesus as "the Sun of righteousness" Who arises "with healing in His wings." Peter declares that the purpose of prophecy is to lead us "out of darkness into His marvellous light." 1 Pet. 2:9. "Until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts." 2 Pet. 1: 19. The name Lucifer meant, "Day Star." See Isa. 14:12, margin. But Lucifer became "Satan" "the Adversary," the bringer of spiritual darkness. Jesus is the true "Day Star," "the Day dawn," "the Dayspring" or "the Sun-rising," "the Light of the world."

"The Sun-rising from on high" came "to give light to them that are in darkness." Luke 1:78, 79, margin; Isa. 9:2; 42:6, 7.

At His second advent He will again come "from on high" and, therefore, will appear to come from the east.

Cyrus, whose name is explicitly stated, is called by God, "My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure. . . . Thus saith the Lord to His anointed, to Cyrus." Isa. 44:28; 45:1. In Isa. 41:2 he is spoken of as "the righteous man from the east," and in verse 25 we read: "from the rising of the sun shall he call upon My name." Isa. 46:13 speaks of him as the avenger of Israel coming like a "ravenous bird from the east," alighting upon and destroying Babylon. He would free the captives of Israel (Isa. 45:13), and enable them to return to their own land to rebuild the temple and Jerusalem and enjoy the true worship of God. He would come "from a far country" (Isa. 46:11) and would be given "the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places." Isa. 45:3. Obviously these things concerning Cyrus typify the "greater redemption" to be wrought out by the greater Cyrus, the greater "Shepherd-King," God's "Anointed" or "Messiah," the Deliverer of spiritual Israel.

After having introduced Cyrus in Isa. 41, verses 1-7 of chapter 42, etc., outline the work of God's "servant"—the coming Messiah—who would "bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house." Isa. 42:7. As Cyrus, the Lord's "anointed" (Isa. 45:1), set captive Israel free, so the greater Cyrus, the Lord's "Anointed" (Isa. 61:1), would "proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound." Isa. 61:1. Isa. 43 points us to our Creator–Redeemer Who says: "I, even I, am the Lord; and beside Me there is no Saviour." V. 11. Thus the Messiah's work of redemption is described in connection with the prophecy concerning the work of Cyrus in liberating Israel from their Babylonian captivity.

The expressions "from the east" (Isa. 41:2; 43:5, 46:11) and "from the rising of the sun" (Isa. 41:25; 45:6;. 59:19) are each employed three times in the book of Isaiah in connection with Israel's deliverance. The same Hebrew word, "Mizrach," is employed in these expressions "from the east" and "from the rising of the sun." Thus it occurs six times in connection with the coming of the destroyers of Babylon, whose number in Scripture is six. See my "Christ Conquers," pp. 113-122.

The first time the Hebrew word "Mizrach" is used in Isaiah's prophecies of Israel's deliverance it has definite reference to the coming of Cyrus to overthrow literal Babylon. Isa. 41:2, 25; 45:6; P.K. 557. The sixth reference (Isa. 59:19) concerns the coming of Israel's King to overthrow spiritual Babylon, after probation has closed (Isa. 59:16-18) and the time has come for Him to "put on the garments of vengeance." Isa. 59:17. Then "He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies." V. 18.

"When the enemy shall come in like a flood" then "His glory from the rising of the sun" (Isa. 59:19) will be seen, and those who have sought to destroy the church will perish: the waters of the Babylonian Euphrates will be completely "dried up." Rev. 16:12.

The star which heralded the first coming of Christ was seen in the east (Matt. 2:1, 2, 9) by the wise men from the east. "The east" is mentioned three times in Matthew's narrative of this event. just as the sign of the Saviour's first advent was seen in the east so, at His second advent, "the sign of the Son of man in heaven" (Matt. 24:30) will also be seen in the east.

"Soon our eyes were drawn to the east, for a small black cloud had appeared, about as large as a man's hand, which we all knew was the sign of the Son of man." EW. 15.

"Soon there appears in the east...." GC. 640. "For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be." Matt. 24:27.

Writing of the glory of the second coming of Christ being seen in the east, Ezekiel says: "And, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east: and His voice was like a noise of many waters: and the earth shined with His glory." Ezek. 43:1, 2. At His second advent the whole earth will be ablaze with the fire of His presence. After directing us to the east for the first appearance of the glory of the second advent, the prophets then depict the dazzling splendours which will envelope the earth. In harmony with the prophets of the Bible. the servant of God turns our attention to the east for the first appearance of the glory of the second advent, and then describes the celestial brilliance of the Saviour's return to earth:

"Soon our eyes were drawn to the east.... We all in solemn silence gazed on the cloud as it drew nearer, and became lighter, glorious, and still more glorious. . . . The bottom appeared like fire." EW. 15.

"Soon there appears in the east . Jesus rides forth a mighty conqueror . . . 'in righteousness He doth judge and make war.' And 'the armies in heaven follow Him.' . . . No human pen can portray the scene, nor mortal mind is adequate to conceive its splendour. 'His glory covered the heavens. . . . And His brightness as the light.' . . . His countenance outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun. . . . The King of kings descends upon the cloud, wrapped in flaming fire." GC. 640, 641.

"THE KINGS FROM THE SUNRISING." REV. 16:12.

The plural expression the "kings" of the east (Rev. 16:12) refers us back to the overthrow of literal Babylon. Cyrus, King of Persia, came from the east, leading other "kings." Predicting the downfall of ancient Babylon, Jeremiah said: "Many kings shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth." "The kings of the Medes . . . Prepare against her the nations with the kings of the Medes, the captains thereof, and all the rulers thereof." Jer. 50:41; 51:11, 28.

"The kings of the east" (Rev. 16:12) are the enemies of spiritual Babylon, and bring about her downfall as Cyrus, coming from the east with other "kings" under his command, overthrew literal Babylon. This is the only interpretation which is in harmony with the principles of prophetic interpretation and the Spirit of Prophecy.

In his tract, "The Kings of the East," p. 14, S. H. Lindt states: "The kings of the east are set forth in contra- distinction to the kings of the earth in Rev. 16, indicating that they are a separate and a distinct group and cannot be considered a part of this world because the kings of the earth and the whole world are included in the words of verse 14."

One of the foremost scholars and writers of the Advent Movement says:—"It does seem reasonable that the 'kings of the east' must be the antagonists of 'the kings of the whole world'; for the latter are under the control of the evil spirits, and hence the former must be the ones on the Lord's side, and must be the ones employed for the destruction of the spirit-led enemies."

Other prominent Bible scholars and ministers loyal to the Message in Australia and other countries now believe that Rev. 16:12-16 refers to the final conflict between the forces of good and evil, and the overthrow of spiritual Babylon.

After reaching my conclusions from a study of the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, it was interesting to discover that some of the most learned and spiritual men of the Christian church also taught that "the kings of the east" of Rev. 16:12 refer to those on God's side in the spiritual conflict: some definitely taught that "the kings of the east" refer to the coming of Christ with His vast retinue of angels and saints.

Notice the following comment on Rev. 16:12 from the "New Larger Type Edition Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible," by Robert Jamieson, D.D., A. R. Faussett, A.M., David Brown. D.D.: "The drying up of the Euphrates, I think, is to be taken figuratively, as Babylon itself, which is situated on it, is undoubtedly so (ch. 17:5). The waters of the Euphrates (c.f. Isa. 8:7, 8) are spiritual Babylon's, i.e., the apostate churches (of which Rome is the chief, though not exclusive representative) spiritual and temporal powers. The drying up of the waters of Babylon expresses the same thing as the ten kings stripping, eating and burning the whore. The phrase 'way may be prepared for' is that applied to the Lord's coming (Isa. 40:3; Matt. 3:3; Luke 1:78). He shall come from the east (Matt. 24:27; Ezek. 43:2); not alone, for His elect transfigured saints of Israel and the Gentiles shall accompany Him, who are 'Kings and priests unto God' (ch. 1:6). As the anti-christian ten kings accompany the beast; so the saints accompany as Kings the King of kings in the last decisive conflict.

"But as Babylon refers to the apostate church, not to Mohammedanism, the drying up of the Euphrates (answering to Cyrus' overthrow of literal Babylon by marching into it through the dry channel of the Euphrates) must answer to the draining off of the apostate churches' resources.

"The Kings of the Earth who are earthly (v. 14) stand in contrast to the kings from the East, who are heavenly .. .

"Working miracles—Greek 'signs'—go forth unto or 'for,' i.e., to tempt them to battle with Christ. 'Kings of the whole habitable world,' who are 'of this world' in contrast to the 'Kings of (from) the East' (the sunrising), v. 12.

"Battle—Greek 'war'—the final conflict for the Kingship of the world described in Rev. 19:17-21, Rev. 16:14. The gathering of the world-kings with the beast against the Lamb is the signal for Christ's coming."

Notice the comment upon Rev. 16:12 by Christopher Wordsworth, D.D., a devout and spiritual scholar: "And, as the great River, the River Euphrates, the glory and bulwark of Babylon, became a road for Cyrus and his victorious army when he besieged the city... .

"And so the drying up of that spiritual Euphrates will prepare a way for the Kings of the East (Rev. 16:12, compare Isa. 44:27, 28; 45:1; Jer. 50:38; 51:36), that is, for Jesus Christ, and for His children of Light, who are faithful soldiers, and who will be permitted to share in the royal splendour of the Mighty Conqueror, the King of Glory, Who is the Dayspring from on high—the Light of the world—the Sun of righteousness, with healing in His wings (Luke 1:78; John 8:12; Mal. 4:2). May all who read these lines be of that blessed company through Jesus Christ our Lord! Amen." "Miscellanies Literary and Religious," Vol. 1, p. 437, 438.

"The Pulpit Commentary" remarks concerning Rev. 16:12:—

"The 'Kings of the East' are certainly ranged on the side of God. Many writers see an allusion to Christ and His saints. The sun is a frequent figure of Christ in the Scriptures (cf. Mal. 4:2; Zech. 3:8; 6:12, LXX., Luke 1:78, also Rev. 7:2; 12:1; 22:16). The Kings of the East may thus be identified with the armies of Rev. 19:11-16."

T. W. Christie, B.A., in his "The Book of Revelation" (p. 273) says: "East is ever connected with Christ and His children. 2 Pet. 1:19; Rev. 22: 16; Mal. 4:2; Isa. 60:20."

In his "The Book of Revelation," p. 269, W. Milligan, D.D., comments on Rev. 16:12-16:—"We have also met at Rev. 7:2 with the expression 'from the sunrising,' and it is there applied to the quarter from which the angel comes by whom the people of God are sealed. In a book so carefully written as the Apocalypse, it is not easy to think of anti-christian foes coming from a quarter described in the same terms. These kings from the sun-rising are not said to be part of 'the kings of the whole inhabited earth' immediately afterwards referred to. They are rather distinguished from them. The 'preparing of the way' connects itself with the thought of Him whose way was prepared by the coming of the Baptist. The type of drying up the waters of a river takes us back, alike in the historical and prophetic writings of the Old Testament, to the means by which the Almighty secures the deliverance of His people."

Rev. 16:12 contains a message of thrilling import to the church in its last great hour of peril. Soon Christ's faithful followers will meet the forces of Babylon in "the great conflict in which all the world will act a part." To encourage His people with the knowledge that the vast armies of heaven would come to their aid, and that He would deliver them, Christ inspired John to write Rev. 16:12.

In song, the Advent people, for many years, have expressed their faith in this precious promise:—

Christ is coming, "and all the holy angels with Him." Matt. 25:31. In Rev. 5:11 we are told that there are "ten thousand times ten thousand [100,000,000], and thousands of thousands" of angels. "An innumerable company of angels," declared Paul in Heb. 12:22. One angel is as bright as lightning (Matt. 28:2, 3)—who then can visualize the glory and the splendour which will burst upon the world from the eastern skies and then spread over the face of the heavens at the coming of Christ? "And then shall that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming." 2 Thess. 2:8. See also 2 Thess. 1:7-9.

The New Testament, alone, contains 318 references to the second advent. Every twenty-fifth verse, on an average, directs us to the return of Jesus: thus, every twenty-fifth verse points us to the eastern skies where the glory of the returning Lord will be seen. All the heavenly bodies appear to rise in the east because the earth rotates upon its axis from west to east. Therefore, as Christ descends from heaven, His coming will appear first in the east—from the place of sunrise. Just as our sun passes overhead and, because of the rotation of the earth, is seen by all the world, so Christ, with all His vast retinue, will be seen by all the world.

"Behold, He cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see Him." Rev. 1:7.

Myriads of shining angels will accompany Christ, and with Him, also, will be those saints who were resurrected at His resurrection (Matt. 27:50-53) and who went to heaven at the time of His ascension. See Ephes. 4:8, margin; Ps. 24:7-10; D.A. 833. These saints who are now assisting Christ in His mediatorial capacity, are distinctly said to be "kings" (see Rev. 1:6; 4:4; 5:10), and are pictured as sitting on thrones ("seat" comes from the same original word as "throne"), "and they had on their heads crowns of gold."

All saints are said to be "kings," Rev. 1:6; "a royal priesthood." 1 Pet. 2:9. "The Saviour invests them with the insignia of their royal state." G.C. 645. Study also Rev. 3:21; 2:26, 27; Ps. 149:7-9. The saints share Christ's throne (Rev. 3:21; 20:4, 6 ) and His triumphs, and in this way, only, can it be said of each saint: "He that overcometh . . . to him will I give power over the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of My Father." Rev. 2:26, 27. Concerning Jesus, the Scriptures state: "And He shall divide the spoil with the strong." Isa. 53:12. No doubt the "kings"—saints—now sitting on thrones and wearing crowns of gold and assisting Jesus in His heavenly ministry will accompany Christ, the "King of kings" (Rev. 19: 16), and His angels (who are also said to sit on thrones—see Isa. 14:13—"as having kingly power" Cruden) at His coming.

Daniel's last prophecy commences with Cyrus (Dan. 10:1) who, leading other "kings" inferior in rank, came from the east and liberated God's ancient people from the oppression of literal Babylon. At the time the Babylonians were praising their gods (Dan. 5:3-5), the judgment of God, working through Cyrus and his army from the east, was drying up the Euphrates preparatory to the utter downfall of that proud city.

The Revelator, in chapter 16, verse 12, points us to the time when spiritual Babylon will be boasting of her power (Rev. 18:7, 8) ; but God's judgments will dry up the waters of the spiritual Euphrates (compare Jer. 51:13 with Rev. 17:1 and Jer. 50:38 with Rev. 16:12; 17: 1, 15), and, suddenly, Babylon's final destruction will come. Isa. 47:11; 1 Thess. 5:3; Rev. 18:8, 10, 17.

Thanks be to God, Babylon's power is soon to be broken forever. Soon our Lord Jesus Christ will return to deliver His remnant people. But, before their deliverance, God's people must go through their time of trial. Rev. 3:10, 11. The nearer we draw to the great hour of conflict, and particularly during "the time of Jacob's trouble" (Jer. 30:7), God's people will more and more earnestly look for the coming of the great Deliverer Who will appear in glory in the eastern heavens, bringing complete destruction to Babylon, and everlasting salvation, joy and freedom to His waiting people.

(15) THE SPIRIT OF PROPHECY AND THE SEVEN LAST PLAGUES: THE TIME ELEMENT INVOLVED IN THE 6th AND 7th PLAGUES.

"The Great Controversy," pp. 627-644, deals with the seven last plagues. While giving only brief references to the first four plagues, God's servant dwells at great length on the events of the 6th and 7th. Pages 627, 628, describe the affects of the first, second, third, and fourth plagues. On page 635 reference is made to the literal darkness of the 5th plague which falls upon the beast and his world-wide kingdom: "A dense darkness, deeper than the darkness of the night, falls upon the earth." In Rev. 16:10 we read: "And the fifth angel poured out his vial upon the seat of the beast; and his kingdom was full of darkness; and they gnawed their tongues for pain." This last clause is a reference back to Zech. 14:12, which reads: "And this shall be the plague wherewith the Lord will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem [the church]; their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet ... and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth." The next verse (Zech. 14:13) then describes the awful scenes of carnage when God pours out His final judgments upon the persecutors of His church: the false shepherds, then unmasked, will be slain by the people who, knowing that they are lost, turn with maddened fury upon each other.

In GC., p. 657, and EW., p. 289, the description of Zech. 14:12, 13 is applied to the very last events occurring at the time of the second coming of Christ. Thus the 5th plague of darkness, when the false shepherds and people ("the beast and his kingdom") who "have fought against Jerusalem" (the church) will be "gnawing their tongues for pain," is poured out but a very short while before the second advent, and is associated with the events occurring at the coming of Christ. The fifth, sixth and seventh plagues, therefore, are really parts of one picture giving the final acts in the great drama. Apart from the fact that the darkness of the 5th plague falling "upon the earth" would prevent a literal gathering of nations to Palestine, the events of the 5th, 6th, and 7th plagues, as described by the Bible and the Spirit of Prophecy, occur within a very short space of time.

While the servant of God does not quote the 6th plague, yet her description of events following the first four plagues, and also before the commencement of the 7th, is undoubtedly the true interpretation of the drying up of the waters of the Euphrates. (See earlier in this book; also "What is Armageddon?" pp. 45-52.) After describing the earlier plagues, the servant of the Lord describes the severe trial coming to the remnant people of God before the 6th plague brings them deliverance from their Babylonian persecutors, who are symbolized in Rev. 16:12 by the "rushing" waters of the Euphrates.

In "The Great Controversy" we read:—

"Yet to human sight it will appear that the people of God must soon seal their testimony with their blood ... it is a time of fearful agony. Day and night they cry for deliverance." The angels "are waiting the word of their Commander to snatch them from their peril. But they must wait yet a little longer. The people of God must drink of the cup, and be baptized with the baptism." The death decree is about to be executed. "In all ages, God has wrought through the holy angels for the succor and deliverance of His people."

"With earnest longing, God's people await the tokens of their coming king . . . Light is gleaming upon the clouds above the mountain tops [the eastern horizon]. Soon there will be a revealing of His glory [coming "from the sun-rising"—like Cyrus, "the sun"]. The Sun of Righteousness is about to shine forth.... The heavens glow with the dawning of eternal day . . . the words fall upon the ear, 'Stand fast to your allegiance. Help is coming' . . . Glorious will be the deliverance of those who have patiently waited for His coming." GC. 630-632. "Soon there appears in the east . . . Jesus rides forth a mighty conqueror . . . 'in righteousness He doth judge and make war.' And 'the armies in Heaven follow Him.' .. . His glory covered the heavens . . . and His brightness as the light ... His countenance outshines the dazzling brightness of the noonday sun." GC. 640, 641.

"The voice of God turns the captivity of His people." GC. 653. "It is at midnight that God manifests His power for the deliverance of His saints. . . . Signs and wonders follow in quick succession. In the midst of the angry heavens is one clear space of indescribable glory, whence comes the voice of God like the sound of many waters, saying, 'It is done' (Rev. 16:17, 18)." GC. 636. Thus, in the description of the last few days of earth's history, given by the Lord's servant, we find that the Babylonian "multitudes" (the waters upon which the Babylonian whore sitteth, Rev. 17:1, 15; Jer. 51:13) are sweeping toward the people of God, threatening to engulf them in irretrievable ruin. "Evil men are about to rush [the meaning of the word "Euphrates" is "to break forth; rushing"] upon their prey, when, lo, a dense darkness deeper than the darkness of the night, falls upon the earth [the fifth plague is poured out] . . . . The angry multitudes are suddenly arrested" (G.C. 635, 636)—the sixth plague is poured out upon the persecuting waters of the Babylonian Euphrates, and the voice of God is heard saying, "It is done" (mentioned in Rev. 16:17, 18 in connection with the 7th plague).

In bringing us down to the time when the remnant church will long for their deliverance, God's servant declares that the deliverance of the saints from the persecuting "multitudes" will be followed by the coming of Jesus—the rising of the "Sun of Righteousness" Who "is about to shine forth. . . . The heavens glow with the dawning of eternal day." Thus the Spirit of Prophecy, in describing the final scenes, presents what we have previously shown to be the interpretation of Rev. 16:12: God's judgments in the 6th plague fall upon the waters of the Babylonian Euphrates—the persecuting "multitudes" "rushing" to destroy the people of God—bringing deliverance to His people; followed by the coming of the kings "from the sun-rising"—the coming of the "Sun of Righteousness" ("the Light of the world," "the Daystar," "the Dayspring") with all the kingly angels, and the royal children of the living God who have assisted Christ in His heavenly ministry.

The many details presented in the abovementioned pages of "The Great Controversy" are to be found in the Scriptures. The principles of interpretation which we have previously enunciated enable one to obtain these details from the Old Testament. "The written Testimonies are not to give new light, but to impress vividly upon the heart the truths of inspiration already revealed.... Additional truth is not brought out; but God has through the Testimonies simplified the great truths already given." 5T. 665.

By carefully studying any Bible theme from Genesis to Revelation, we shall see better that the writings of the servant of the Lord are in harmony with the Word of God, being definitely based upon the whole of the Bible. The Scriptural interpretation of the Revelator's description of the events coming under the 6th and 7th plagues is that which is also described in the pages of "The Great Controversy" given above.

A careful study of the description given in the Spirit of Prophecy, together with the true interpretation of the Scriptures, reveals that the last three plagues occur within a very short space of time, as parts of one dramatic climax.

In the "Order of Events in the Travels of the Advent People to the Holy City," drawn up by Pastor E. L. Pingenot and published by "The Signs Publishing Co.," he suggests from his reading of the Spirit of Prophecy, that "Events from 6 to 10" (on his chart) will occur "perhaps within the compass of a few days." The first event Pastor Pingenot gives under number six is "the deliverance of the living saints." This, we have previously shown, occurs during the 6th plague, when the waters of the spiritual Babylonian Euphrates (Rev. 17:1, 15)—"the angry multitudes" (GC. 635)—are "dried up" (Rev. 16:12), as similarly, the waters of the literal Babylonian Euphrates were "dried up" (Jer. 50:38) when Cyrus turned them out of their accustomed channel. Isa. 44:27, 28, etc.; P.K. 531.

Pastor Pingenot places the deliverance of the saints at the opening of the seventh plague." In a general sense this is true, because their deliverance is an introduction to the 7th plague, for the 6th plague quickly merges into the 7th. Very little time elapses between the outpouring of the 6th and 7th plagues, and the 6th plague does not terminate with the outpouring of the 7th, for, after "the angry multitudes" have been turned from their intention of slaying God's people, they turn and slay each other. See Zech. 14:13; 1 Sam. 14:15, 16; Judges 7:22; 2 Chron. 20:23; Ezek. 38:21, etc.

"After the saints had been delivered by the voice of God, the wicked multitude turned their rage upon one another. The earth seemed to be deluged with blood, and dead bodies were from one end of it to the other." E.W. 290. "The swords which were to slay God's people are now employed to destroy their enemies. Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed." "The work of destruction begins among those who have professed to be the spiritual guardians of the people. The false watchmen are the first to fall. There are none to pity or to spare. . . . 'And it shall come to pass in that day that a great tumult from the Lord shall be among them; and they shall lay hold every one on the hand of his neighbour, and his hand shall rise up against the hand of his neighbour' (Zech. 14:12, 13). In the mad strife of their own fierce passions, and by the awful outpouring of God's unmingled wrath, fall the wicked inhabitants of the earth—priests, rulers, and people. . . . 'And the slain of the Lord shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth' (Jer. 25:33)." GC. 655-657. "And the remnant were slain with the sword of Him that sitteth upon the horse." Rev. 19:21. Thus the waters of the Babylonian Euphrates will be completely "dried up," and Babylon entirely destroyed.

The 6th and 7th plagues are parts of one picture–the final judgments which complete the destruction of spiritual Babylon. The events to transpire from "the deliverance of the living saints" by the outpouring of the 6th plague until the coming of the Lord, will all occur within a short period—"perhaps within the compass of a few days."

The belief of a Palestinian "Armageddon" requires considerable time to elapse between the outpouring of the 6th plague and the coming of Christ. But, as we have pointed out, after the outpouring of the 6th plague, there is not sufficient time for a literal gathering of the nations "of the whole world" (Rev. 16:14) to Palestine. Writing of events after the outpouring of the first four plagues God's servant declares: "The end will come more quickly than men expect." GC. 631. A simultaneous gathering of all nations of "the WHOLE WORLD" (Rev. 16:14) to Megiddo could be accomplished only by mutual agreement and assistance, and only after much planning and organization.

If the drying up of the Euphrates referred to the ending of Turkey (or other nations adjacent to the Euphrates)—a belief which is without support from the Word of God—and the gathering of the nations is to be caused by the subsequent scramble to gain possession of her territory, then the gathering would occur between the outpouring of the 6th and 7th plagues. Modern warfare requires a vast amount of materials, and though the preparation of these is a tremendous problem, the transportation of continuous supplies of guns, ammunition, vehicles, petrol, oil, food, medical apparatus, etc.—amounting to over 3,000,000 separate items, and weighing millions of tons—is a prodigious task. Before raking on an offensive in some near-at-hand sector, it takes time to build up huge supplies. What time, then, would be required to transport vast armies and enormous supplies of war materials to Megiddo after the ending of Turkey! If the drying up of the Euphrates is interpreted to mean the ending of Turkey (or other nations), "that the way of the kings of the east [misinterpreted to mean Japan and China, etc.] might be prepared," what time, then would elapse before these and other distant nations—"the kings of the earth and of the whole world"—could gather to Megiddo!

A literal, "military," Palestinian interpretation of Rev. 16:12-16 raises such problems as the transportation of large armies by sea when, by the second plague, the sea is rendered poisonous and thick, as "the blood of a dead man" (Rev. 16:3), and is littered with the decaying carcasses of myriads of all forms of marine life. Transportation by huge 'planes would also present many problems. There would also be the problem of the gathering taking place in the literal, impenetrable darkness which "falls upon the earth" under the 5th plague (Rev. 16:10)—"A dense darkness, deeper than the darkness of the night." GC. 635.

Rocket bombs, atomic bombs, and the extensive battlefields of modern warfare out-date and further show the incongruity of the old belief of a literal gathering of nations to Megiddo.

There is no need for Seventh-day Adventists to wrestle with the many unnecessary problems the erroneous teaching brings to them. It is impossible to harmonize the truth of the Third Angel's Message with the fallacious teachings of Futurism, of which the Palestinian "Armageddon" is definitely a part.

The Third Angel's Message teaches that Christendom is to be the dominating force in the world in the last days. The prophecies show that the United States of America will lead the world in enforcing the Papal Sunday. "Every country on the globe will be led to follow her [America's] example." 6T. 18, 19. This shows that the nations of Christendom—not Japan, etc.—will have the power to influence and lead in world events. Only because they enforce the Papal Sunday are nations brought into the Revelator's portrayal of the final conflict: only because they are the enemies of the remnant church.

The teaching of the Spirit of Prophecy concerning "the final conflict" is also the "testimony" of the Bible.

(16) THE BOOK OF ISAIAH AND THE THIRD ANGEL'S MESSAGE.

As we further study the book of Isaiah we recognize that much of the language and imagery of Isaiah is employed in the Revelator's description of God's last-day Message: "And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in his forehead, or in his hand the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of His indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb; and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever; and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name." Rev. 14:9-11.

We notice that these verses giving the warning of the Third Angel contain four expressions taken from Isaiah:—

1. Drink the wine of God's wrath from the cup of His indignation.
2. Fire and brimstone in the punishment.
3. Smoke ascendeth up for and ever.
4. No rest day nor night.

As Isaiah's prophecy of the drying up of the Euphrates by Cyrus in his overthrow of literal Babylon—and the consequent liberation of national Israel—is used by the Revelator in describing the overthrow of spiritual Babylon and the time of spiritual Israel's deliverance, so these other expressions of Isaiah are employed in the Message of the Third Angel in describing the doom of those who reject that Message.

1. The cup containing the wine of God's wrath is for Babylon. This cup is mentioned 3 times in the Book of Revelation. Rev. 18:6; 16:19; 14:10. It was at the time that Jeremiah prophesied the invasion of Judah and Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezar, king of Babylon (Jer. 25:1-11), that God also predicted the overthrow of ancient Babylon (v. 12-14) and, later, the destruction of all worldly kingdoms. See vs. 15-33. That destruction was figured by the drinking of the wine of God's fury out of the cup of His anger—Jer. 25:15- 33. In Isa. 63:6 we read. "And I will tread down the people in Mine anger, and make them drunk in My fury." This picture of the wicked drinking of God's fury is mentioned here in connection with Edom and Bozrah and the treading of the winepress of God's anger. Isa. 63:1-6. Thus the destruction of spiritual Babylon is associated with prophecies concerning Edom and Bozrah and the winepress there. Compare Isa. 63:1-6; 34:1-6 with Rev. 14:18-20; 19:15. (For further consideration, see chapter dealing with the meaning of Bible names mentioned in connection with Armageddon.)

2. The "fire and brimstone" of Rev. 14:10 is taken from Isa. 34:9, where the doom upon Edom, or Idumea, and Bozrah, is prophesied. See v. 5, 6, 9. Thus, once more, we see that the destruction of spiritual Babylon is couched in the Book of Revelation under imagery borrowed from Isaiah.

3. "The smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever." This statement in Rev. 14:11 is taken from Isa. 34:10: "It [the land of Idumea, v. 5, 6, 9] shall not be quenched night nor day; the smoke thereof shall go up for ever: from generation to generation it shall lie waste; none shall pass through it for ever and ever." The destruction of spiritual Babylon is set forth in Isaiah's pictures of the destruction of Idumea. Idumea was distant from literal Babylon. Literally, there is no connection between them, but John uses distant literal places and merges them into one spiritual imagery depicting the doom of spiritual Babylon. He uses the picture of the smoke of Idumea going up for ever in describing the end of Babylon.

Three times it is said to be "the smoke of her burning"—Rev. 18:9; "the smoke of her burning," v. 18; "And her smoke rose tip for ever and ever," 19:3. The last reference connects up definitely with the "for ever and ever" of Isa. 34:10. In this connection it may be helpful to point out that the literal land of Idumea has been lying "waste" "front generation to generation," as predicted by Isa. 34:10. During the millennium this earth will likewise lie "waste." In the present desolation of Edom, or Idumea, is fore- shadowed the state of the earth following the overthrow of spiritual Babylon.

We must always remember that the prophets saw the literal, near-at-hand, local settings of their predictions, and commingled these with forecasts having world-wide applications at the end of time. Therefore, when John quotes Isaiah's description of the desolation of Idumea in his prophecy of the overthrow of spiritual Babylon, we must avoid the exact literality of the actual wording as it pertained to Idumea, but must catch the imagery he uses. The desolation "from generation to generation," "for ever and ever," has reference, first, to the literal state of Idumea, which has existed down through the centuries. But from the fulfilment of Isaiah's prediction the Revelator saw the fate of the wicked. The fate which befell Idumea was certain and complete, and John declared that the destruction of the wicked will be just as certain and final. Isaiah, too, looked beyond Idumea's desolation to the fires of God's destruction, which seemed to him to be burning in the very land from whence, and about which, his local setting pertained. Hence there is a coupling together of the limited local pertaining to Idumea and the future world-wide. The Revelator borrows this picture which coupled the local and the world-wide and with it forecasts the end of spiritual Babylon. We must be careful to note how the local was fulfilled—Idumea has lain waste for generations, and this part of the prediction does not refer to the burning of the wicked from generation to generation, but refers to the desolations of the earth following the doom of spiritual Babylon, and also to the complete annihilation of the wicked after the fires of God's wrath have accomplished their work at the end of the millennium.

4. "No rest day nor night." This expression, found in Rev. 14:11, is taken from Isa. 34:10: "It shall not be quenched night nor day." The comments just given concerning the land of Idumea apply with equal force to the expression, "No rest day nor night." During the outpouring of the seven last plagues there will be no "rest" for those who have rebelled against God Night and day the hand of wrath will rest heavily upon the world until the second advent. Since the land of Idumea was laid desolate it has lain waste night and day. The hand of God's curse has not been lifted from it for a day nor a night. During the millennium there will be no respite; no blessing for the earth during that long period. And when the wicked are eventually destroyed by the fires of wrath they will never be resurrected for a night nor a day. Their death will be endless. Isa. 34:10 says of the burning of the land of Idumea, "It shall not be quenched." This is the origin of the Saviour's statement found in Mark 9:43-48. Isa. 66:24 is also the source from whence the Lord quotes. Isa. 34:10 introduces the expression; Isa. 66: 24 repeats it. In the Third Angel's warning of Rev. 14:9-11 the expressions are drawn from the prediction of Isaiah concerning the destruction of the Idumeans. Jesus says 3 times, "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." See Mark 9:44, 46, 48. In the New Testament three Greek names of places—Hades, Tartarus, Gehenna—are used in connection with the consequences of sin against God.

The Third Angel's Message warns the world of the final outcome of sin: the Book of Isaiah also points to the results of sin. The last 27 chapters of Isaiah are divided into three divisions, with nine chapters to each. The first section commences with Isa. 40:1, which is a distinct break in the previous part of Isaiah—Comfort ye, comfort ye, My people," and ends 9 chapters later with, "There is no peace, saith My God, to the wicked." Isa. 48:22. The next portion opens with "Listen, O Isles, unto Me," and ends nine chapters later, "There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked." Isa. 57:21. The third division begins, "Cry aloud" (Isa. 58:1), which is the third message (for each part has been introduced with a call from God, and each ends with the sad results of rejecting that message), and ends with the terrible fate of those who heed not the three messages which God in mercy has sent. See Isa. 66:24, where we read: "their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched."

Thus, the Saviour's use three times, in Mark 9:44-48, of the latter expression (which is the third of the 3 statements concerning the fate of the wicked found in the last 27 chapters of Isaiah, where the final overthrow of evil, and the misery of the wicked are depicted) is seen to be a reference to the 3 times Isaiah predicts the fate of the wicked. Isa. 48:22; 57:21; 66:24. Isa. 66:24 is connected up with Isa. 34:10 which, in turn, is linked up with the Third Angel's Message of Rev. 14:9-11. Three times Jesus spoke of Satan as "the Prince of this world." John 12:31; 14:30; 16:11.

The end of the wicked is spoken of as "the second death." This term occurs 3 times, and refers to the destruction of the wicked at the end of the 1,000 years. Rev. 20:6, 14; 21:8. The third of these references states that sinners "shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone." The expression "fire and brimstone" also connects us with the Third Angel's Message for Isa. 34:9, 10, from whence comes the expression regarding the "fire and brimstone," is the passage used in the Third Angel's warning. Rev. 14:10, 11. "Brimstone" is mentioned six times in the Book of Revelation. Rev. 9:17, 18; 14:10; 19:20; 20:10; 21:8. Thus Babylon, whose number is six, is definitely associated, not only with the Third Angel's Message, but also with the predictions of Isaiah concerning the overthrow of Idumea, the land of the ancient enemies of Israel.

Three times the expression "lake of fire burning with brimstone" occurs. Rev. 19:20; 20:10; 21:8. The first of these 3 references is connected with the Third Angel's Message, for it refers to the beast and the false prophet who reject that message of warning.

In obtaining the imagery employed in the Book of Revelation to describe the overthrow of spiritual Babylon, John quotes from Isaiah's predictions concerning the three enemies of Israel—the desolation of Idumea, or Edom; the invasion of the Assyrians under the figure of the overflowing of the River Euphrates; and the overthrow of Babylon by the drying up of the Euphrates by Cyrus.

When interpreting the Revelation never once should we fail to see the source of its imagery. Japan, China, Turkey, or the people living adjacent to the literal Euphrates are not the powers specified in Rev. 16:12. These powers and people are entirely irrelevant to the book of Isaiah and should not appear in our consideration of the doom of spiritual Babylon.

Notice the following brief outline of some of the salient features of Isaiah:—

• Isa. 7:14—Virgin's son, Immanuel, to be born to troubled Judah.
• Isa. 7:17—Prediction of an impending invasion of Judea.
• Isa. 8—Prediction of the Assyrian invasion.
• Isa. 8:7, 8—Likened to the overflowing of the Euphrates. 8: Immanuel again mentioned. Israel's hope—"God with us."
• Isa. 9:6—Israel to be delivered—a Divine Child to be born
• Isa. 10:5—The Assyrians coming.
• Isa. 10:20-23—The remnant escape.
• Isa. 10:24—"O My people that dwellest in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrian."
• Isa. 10:25—''Mine anger in their destruction."
• Isa. 10:26—The Assyrians to be destroyed like the Amalakites, the first nation to attack liberated Israel. Ex. 17:8-16; Num. 24:20, margin. What God said of the first nation to attack Israel:—"I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven" (Ex. 17:14) applies likewise to the last nations to attack His people.
• Isa. 11:11—The gathering of Israel—impossible to be fulfilled literally nowbeing fulfilled spiritually. See E.W. 74-76, chapter "The Gathering Time," etc.
• Isa. 11:16—Jews not in Assyria now. The northern tribes went there after the Assyrian invasion. The God-fearing returned after the decrees of Cyrus, etc. But the prophecy speaks of them being there. God's people to-day are coming out of spiritual Babylon and spiritual Assyria.
• Isa. 12:2, 3—God is my salvation. "Salvation" used three times in this chapter.
• Isa. 12:6—"Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion; for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee."
• Isa. 13—The downfall of Babylon by the Medes is foretold. The army of Cyrus, a type of the Lord's army in the day of God's wrath. See verses 3-19. The language of the prophecy shows that the prophet looked past the overthrow of the literal Babylon to the doom of world-wide Babylon. The doom and desolation of the city of Babylon is connected up with the desolation of the entire world at the second advent.
• Isa. 14 4—The doom of the king of Babylon foretold.
• Isa. 14:12-15—Lucifer is the king of Babylon.
• Isa. 14:18-23—Babylon is to be destroyed.
• Isa. 14:24-26—Assyria to be destroyed in the land of Israel—"I will break the Assyrian in My land, and upon My mountains tread him under foot." V. 24. In the same prediction both Babylon and Assyria are prophesied to be destroyed.
• Isa. 31:4, 5—So shall the Lord of hosts come down to light for Mount Zion." "The Lord of hosts will defend Jerusalem; defending also He will deliver it; and passing over will preserve it."
• Isa. 31:8—"Then shall the Assyrian fall with the sword." "Saith the Lord. Whose fire is in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem."
• Isa. 34—The land of Idumea to be desolate. Idumeans to be slain. The language used shows that more than Edom is intended. The destruction of the Assyrians, and Babylon, and Edom foretold in Isaiah forms the basis of John's imagery in the Book of Revelation. These three enemies of Israel are brought to view by John in connection with the final scenes of the people of the Third Angel's Message.
• Isa. 36; 37 gives the account of the invasion of Judea by Sennacherib.
• Isa. 37:36 records the slaughter of the Assyrian army, which was planning to come against Jerusalem to destroy God's people. The historic record of the slaughter of Sennacherib's army is found three times in Scripture: -2 Kings 19:35; 2 Chron. 32:21; Isa. 37:36. Thus is foreshadowed the destruction of those who seek to slay the people of the Third Angel's Message.

This brief outline of chapters 7 to 37 of Isaiah helps us to appreciate the imagery which John uses in the Book of Revelation regarding the overthrow of the antitypical ldumeans, Assyrians, and Babylonians—the 3 enemies of Israel whose end is predicted by Isaiah. But John does not refer to them as separate people. Idumeans, Assyrians, and Babylonians of the Book of Isaiah are grouped together as one people in the Book of Revelation. One name designates the three—namely, Babylon. And the references in Isaiah to these three enemies of Israel converge into one description by John. The burning of the Idumeans refers to the destruction of the wicked—the spiritual Idumeans, the spiritual Babylonians. The overflowing of the Euphrates at the time of the Assyrian invasion, and its consequent drying up by the intervention of God, form part of the typical background for the imagery employed in Rev. 16:12 in connection with the overthrow of spiritual Babylon. Rev. 16:19. And the destruction of literal Babylon (Isa. 47, etc.) forms a basis for the pictures in Rev. 18 of the overthrow of spiritual Babylon.

Continuing with the Book of Isaiah we see that chapter 38 records Hezekiah's sickness and recovery, which brought over the ambassadors from Babylon.

Isa. 39 describes how Hezekiah showed them all his precious things. Isaiah is then inspired to tell Hezekiah that the Babylonians would come and take these valuables, and that God's people would go into the Babylonian captivity. V. 4-7.

Commencing with Isa. 40 we are led to look beyond the captivity of Babylon to the restoration of Israel- to both the literal return from Babylon, and the spiritual deliverance to be wrought by Israel's Redeemer—"God with us." This deliverance was to come from the Deliverer Who would dry up the waters of the Euphrates, and thus bring about the final overthrow of Babylon. The Revelator uses "Babylon" as the general name for the three enemies of Israel. In John's descriptions of the final overthrow of spiritual Babylon the imagery pertaining to Idumea, Assyria, and Babylon blend into one—the Revelator uses Babylon as the general name for these three enemies of Israel. This blending into one is also seen in the Revelator's reference in Rev. 16:12 to the drying up of the Euphrates which takes us back to the drying up of the flooding Assyrian Euphrates (Isa. 8:7, 8), and the drying of the waters of the Euphrates by Cyrus at the time he entered into Babylon and brought about its downfall. Isa. 44:27; Jer. 50:38; 51:36.

This same blending we have seen in the description of the destruction of Idumea by fire (Isa. 34:9, 10) and the destruction of Babylon (Rev. 14:10-11; 18:9. 18; 19:3), also concerning the winepress in Idumea and Bozrah (Isa. 63:1-6) and the destruction of Babylon (Rev. 14:18-20; 19:15).

In Fenton's Bible, at the head of Isa. 40, we read, "Prophecies fortelling the Restoration of Israel and the Coming of the Messiah." The heading of Isa. 41 in this translation reads:—"The Call of Cyrus." Isa. 45:1 is translated, "Thus saith the Lord to His Messiah, to Cyrus."

Isa. 40 commences that part of the prophecies of Isaiah which deal with the coming of Israel's Almighty Saviour Who will redeem His people from the yoke of the oppressor and will destroy those oppressors.

The account of the overthrow of the literal city and empire of Babylon by Cyrus from the east was intended to be merely incidental to the main purpose of the prophecy, namely, the coming of the strong Redeemer of Israel who would completely overthrow Satan's Babylonian kingdom and bring "everlasting salvation" to His people.

Isa. 40 contains good news for Jerusalem. The Redeemer is coming! V. 1-9. This coming Messiah possesses almighty power. V. 12-31. Isa. 41 contains the prophecy of one coming from the east to liberate Israel from Babylon. coupled with assurances from the Redeemer that He will sustain His people and destroy their enemies. Isa. 42:13: "The Lord shall go forth as a mighty man, He shall stir up jealousy like a man of war." Isa. 43:14 foretells the destruction of Babylon. The manner in which Babylon's destruction would be brought about, namely, by the drying up of the river Euphrates by Cyrus, whom God calls "My shepherd," "His anointed," or "Messiah," is forecast in Isa. 44:27-28. Compare with Jer. 50:38; 51 36. Isa. 45:1-6 foretells the entrance of Cyrus through the river-gates which led to the heart of Babylon. He reached these gates by the bed of the dried up river Euphrates. Verse 13 presents the liberation of Israel, and verse 16 the confusion of the Babylonian idolators. Verses 17 and 25 then state:—"But Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation; ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded world without end." "In the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified, and shall glory."

We are not left to human conjecture regarding the coupling of the overthrow of Babylon and the deliverance of Israel by Cyrus with the glorious deliverance of the church from spiritual Babylon by the greater Cyrus, "that great Shepherd of the sheep" (Heb. 13:20), for Isa. 45:17, and verse 25 just quoted, are those referred to by Paul in Eph. 3:21: "Unto Him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end. Amen."

The prediction of Isaiah concerning Israel Paul quotes in connection with the church. Isa. 46 predicts that the doom of Babylon would come because the gods of Babylon, Bel—another form of Baal, or sunworship—and Nebo, would not be able to save the Babylonians. Verse 11 again refers to the coming of Cyrus from the east to overthrow Babylon.

Isa. 47 is devoted to almost a complete picture of the doom of Babylon. Particularly from this chapter, and also from Jer. 50; 51, John, in Rev. 18, draws so much of his imagery in describing the overthrow of spiritual Babylon. See margins Rev. 18. See also my "Christ Conquers," pp. 104-109. Thus a survey of the prophecies of Isaiah relating to the coming of the Almighty Saviour of Israel to bring in "everlasting Salvation" and "the world without end" are linked up with Cyrus, the Lord's "Anointed" ("Messiah"), who destroyed literal Babylon. Before that eternal world can come and Israel enjoy "everlasting salvation." Babylon must be completely overthrown. That is the teaching of Isaiah, and that is also the teaching of the Revelator.

John obtained his imagery regarding spiritual Babylon from Isaiah's forecasts of the destruction of literal Babylon by Cyrus, who is the type of Christ. Brown's Bible, commenting on Isa. 41:25 where Cyrus is predicted coming from the north, and "from the rising of the sun," says: "This has been interpreted as descriptive of Cyrus coming from Media.... But is it not rather spoken of the Messiah? . . . And is it not prophetic of His coming as King, in providential power and judgment, to smite the nations for their rebellion against His authority?—Ps. 2:9-12."

The order of events in the Old Testament predictions of ancient Babylon, and the New Testament prophecies of spiritual Babylon deserve our attention:—

1. The call out of Babylon. Isa. 48:20. Three calls out of Babylon are given. See Jer. 50:8; 51:6, 45.
2. The drying up of the river Euphrates, referred to 3 times in Jer. 50:38; 51:36, Isa. 44:27.
3. The coming of Cyrus, leading "the kings of Media and Persia" from the east, Isa. 41:2, 25; 45:6; 46:11; Dan. 8:20: 5:28. Jer. 50:41; 51:11, 28 speak of "many kings" who would be in the army of Cyrus who came from the east---hence the allusion in Rev. 16:12 to the "kings of the east." In the margin of Isa. 41:2, the translators ask us to compare with Isa. 46:11 and Rev. 16:12.
4. The final doom of Babylon brought around thereby, Isa. 47.

In the New Testament the order is just the same:—

1. The call out of Babylon. Rev. 18:4. Three calls out of Babylon are given in the three angels messages. See Rev. 14:6-12.
2. The drying up of the waters of the Euphrates, Rev. 16:12.
3. The coming of the antitypical Cyrus, "that Great Shepherd of the sheep," the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords, leading down the eastern skies the angels, and "the kings and priests" unto God (Rev. 1:6; 4:4; 5:10; 20:4; 1 Pet. 2:9)-the saints taken to heaven to assist Christ in His heavenly ministry. Ezek. 43:2; EW. 15; GC. 640; Matt. 24:27; Luke 1:78 margin; Mal. 4:2. Cyrus—"the sun"—came from the "sunrising"—Jesus, "the Light of the world," Himself, "the sun-rising from on high" (Luke 1:78, margin), will appear in the east, the place of "the sunrising." Rev. 7:2; 16:12.
4. The final doom of Babylon brought around thereby. Rev. 16:19; 18; 19:11-21.

Examine it as we will there can be no doubt as to the imagery employed by the Revelator in his description of the overthrow of modern, spiritual Babylon. He draws all his pictures from the Old Testament predictions concerning the downfall of ancient Babylon, but always gives those pictures a spiritual world-wide meaning. To apply the Euphrates mentioned in Rev. 16 in the account of the destruction of spiritual Babylon to any locality or nation is to destroy the beautiful imagery employed all through Scripture and, particularly, in the Book of Revelation, regarding Israel and Jerusalem, and her enemies. Such application is entirely unscriptural.

The Annotated Paragraph Bible has this note on the drying up of the waters of the river Euphrates of Rev. 16:12:—"This figure seems to have reference to the fall of ancient Babylon; when Cyrus, at that time one of 'the kings of the east,' laid dry the bed of the Euphrates, and so obtained an entrance into the city. This drying up of the Euphrates. therefore, would seem to indicate the removal of some impediment in the way of the executioners of Divine judgment upon the spiritual Babylon."

It is evident, too, that the translators were of the belief that John used the drying up of the river Euphrates in the taking of ancient Babylon to obtain his imagery for the overthrow of spiritual Babylon for, in the margin of Rev. 16:12, they have placed Jer. 50:38; 51:36, which prophesied the drying up of the river Euphrates. And that they regarded the reference to the kings of the east as referring back to the overthrow of ancient Babylon by Cyrus is evident by the fact that they placed Isa. 41:2, 25, which predicted the coming of one "from the east," "from the rising of the sun," in the margin of Rev. 16:12. In Isa. 44:24-28; 45:1, Cyrus is set forth as a type of the Messiah. Cyrus overthrowing the literal, ancient Babylon after the drying of the Euphrates, is a type of Christ overthrowing spiritual Babylon after drying up the flooding, persecuting waters of modern Babylon by the manifestations of His "fury" (Ezek. 38:18), which arrest the attempt of the murderous throngs to slay the remnant of Israel.

(17) ISA. 59:12 AND THE PROMISE OF DELIVERANCE FROM THE FLOODING EUPHRATES.

The great Sabbath reform movement is brought to view in Isa. 58:12-14. Isa. 59:16-19 points us to the close of probation, the perils to the remnant because of their loyalty to God's Sabbath, and the promise of deliverance. We read: "There was no intercessor" "For He [Christ] put on righteousness as a breastplate, and an helmet of salvation upon His head [the warrior's garb for conflict]; and He put on the garments of vengeance for clothing [Rev. 19:11-15; Isa. 63:1-6] . . . according to their deeds, accordingly He will repay, fury to His adversaries, recompense to His enemies. .. . So shall they fear the name of the Lord [as did Sennacherib when his army was slain by the angel of God—PK. 361; Isa. 37:36-38; 2 Chron. 32:21 ] from the west, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." Notice—"no intercessor," "the garments of vengeance," "according to their deeds," "fury to His adversaries," "His glory from the rising of the sun," "when the enemy shall come in like a flood." After the close of probation the enemy will come in like a flood, and the glory of the Lord will come from the rising of the sun—or from the east. The coming of the Assyrians was likened to the Euphrates flooding over the people of God; but God dried up that flood by the destruction of the hosts of Assyrian soldiers. The Book of Revelation, in describing the combined forces of evil against the remnant church, calls that combination, or confederacy (to use the term employed in Isa. 8), "Babylon." Babylon was built upon the Euphrates, the waters of which were predicted to dry up. Jer. 50:38; 51:36; Isa. 44:27. This prediction provides the Revelator with the expression which he uses in Rev. 16: 12 regarding the drying up of the waters of the Euphrates to prepare the way of "the kings of the east"—or "the kings from the sun-rising."

The expression "from the rising of the sun," which is employed in Isa. 45:6 in reference to Cyrus (PK. 557), who is a type of Christ, is used in Isa. 59:19 in prophesying of the coming of the Deliverer to deliver His people from spiritual Babylon "when the enemy shall come in like a flood." In E.W., p. 60, writing of the perils of the last days, God's servant says:—"God's watchful eye is ever over Israel for good, and He will protect and save His people." Isa. 59:19 is then quoted. Thus the Spirit of Prophecy definitely applies Isa. 59:19 to the remnant church.

Bible themes are connected by a series of chain texts. Rev 12:15 is one of the links connected with Isa. 59:19. The references in the margins of these texts show that the translators recognized this connection. Rev. 12:15-16 says, "And the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood, after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon cast out of his mouth." In various ways this was fulfilled at the time of the reformation. Satan tried to destroy the church by stirring up fierce persecution. Wave after wave of the waters of hate, cruelty, and blood-lust swept over the people of the living God. Millions were destroyed in the devastating "flood." Then political conditions in countries accepting the work of reformation, together with the discovery of, and migration to the shores of the New World, "helped the woman." By the destruction of the Spanish Armada, and political reverses among the nations supporting the papacy, "the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon cast out of his mouth." Both Isa. 59: 19 and Rev. 12:15, 16 use the expression "the flood." But Isa. 59:16-19 predicts specifically of the events after the close of probation, when there will be "no intercessor," and when Christ will don "the garments of vengeance," and "will repay fury to His adversaries." At that time "the enemy will come in like a flood," and then "the Spirit of the Lord shall put him to flight," margin.

In Rev. 13:7 and Dan. 7:21, 25 we are informed that the persecution of the saints in the dark ages was a "war," This "war with the saints" is stated in Rev. 12:15, 16 to be "the flood." As the "war" of Rev. 13:7 is stated in Rev. 12:15, 16 to be "the flood," so the term "the flood" would also be descriptive of the final phase of the "war" (Rev. 12: 17) over the Sabbath. The waters of the spiritual Babylonian Euphrates—the waters upon which spiritual Babylon sits (Rev. 17:1, 15, compare with Jer. 51:13)—will "flood" over the people of God as did the flooding of the Euphrates in the days of the Assyrians (Isa. 8:7, 8). But, as then, God will deliver His people by destroying their persecutors.

The prophet Daniel predicted the downfall of the Jewish nation. He said: "And the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof shall be with a flood" (Dan. 9:26). In giving the disciples the last sign before the destruction of Jerusalem, Jesus said: "And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh." Luke 21:20. As recorded in Matt. 24:15 and Mark 13:14 Jesus, when speaking of the coming of the Roman armies ("the flood"), referred to that which was "spoken by Daniel the prophet." God's servant has connected this "flood" of Roman soldiers surrounding Jerusalem with the enforcement of Sunday laws, which is to be the last sign before the close of human probation, followed by the destruction of the world, typified by the destruction of the Jewish nation and their capital city. See 5T., pp. 451, 464; G.C. 26, 37, 38.

Isa. 59:16-19 refers to the events to take place after the close of probation when there will be "no intercessor." Then the enemy will come in "like a flood"—"as a flood of mighty waters overflowing," Isa. 28:2 (which was predicted concerning the overthrow of the northern ten tribes of Israel by the Assyrians)—as in the Assyrian invasion of Judea; which was likened to the overflowing of the Euphrates. Isa. 8: 7, 8. As Isaiah had already written so much concerning the attack upon the people of God under the figure of the flooding of the Euphrates over the land of Israel we know that his reference, in Isa. 59:19, to the "flood" must be concerning the overflowing of the waters of the Euphrates which are dried up under the sixth plague (Rev. 16:12), when there is "no intercessor."

On account of a scarcity of rainfall the river Euphrates was essential to the existence and prosperity of Babylon. It was the occasion of their pride and added to their feeling of security. God's servant, in "Prophets and Kings," p. 523, mentions that Babylon was "protected by the river Euphrates." Christopher Wordsworth, D.D., wrote of "the river Euphrates, the glory and bulwark of Babylon." "Miscellanies Literary and Religious," Vol. I, pp. 437, 438. John wrote concerning the Babylonian whore "that sitteth upon many waters." Rev. 17:1, 5, 15. This is a quotation from Jer. 51:13, which reads: "0 thou that dwellest upon many waters." In commenting on Jer. 51:13, the Annotated Paragraph Bible says: "the Euphrates and its numerous canals, which passed through and near the city."

In Rev. 16:12, the waters of the Euphrates are the symbol of the people who add to Babylon's glory by assisting her spiritually, as the literal Euphrates added to Babylon's prosperity and safety. Just immediately before the outpouring of the sixth plague the people who do the bidding of the Babylonian leaders will be about to destroy God's people. The crisis will come at the time of the sixth plague. The description in E.W. 283-285; G.C. 635-637 applies to the climax hour just before the outpouring of the sixth plague when "every appearance" will be against the church. "It is now, in the hour of utmost extremity, that the God of Israel will interpose for the deliverance of His saints." The sixth plague will then be poured out upon the Babylonian Euphrates—the "multitudes" (Rev. 17:1, 15). The demonstration of the mighty power of God on behalf of His people turns the hostile crowds from their murderous intentions—"the angry multitudes are suddenly arrested" (see G.C. 635)—and they commence slaying each other. "And the water thereof was dried up" (Rev. 16:12) is a quotation from Jer. 50:38 and refers to the overthrow of Babylon.

The reference in Rev. 12:15, 16 to the flooding of the Babylonian Euphrates in connection with the church in the dark ages and the reformation shows that Isaiah's picture of the "national" flooding of the Euphrates over national Israel is applied by the Revelator to the persecution of spiritual Israel by her spiritual enemies. Thus the Revelator shows us that the flooding of the Euphrates now means persecution against the church; and, consequently, the drying up of the water of the Euphrates (Rev. 16:12) by the judgment of God (the sixth plague) is the intervention of God which causes the persecution to cease and brings deliverance to His people. This is the teaching of the Spirit of Prophecy. See G.C. 635, 636, etc. As the persecution of the church in the dark ages was likened to a flooding of the Babylonian Euphrates, and as the remnant is to go through a similar persecution, the same figure is continued. But there is an important difference. In the days of the reformation church, "the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed up the flood, which the dragon had cast out of his mouth." But in the days of the final flooding of Satanic wrath the earth will not help the woman; the earth will not open and swallow up the flood which the dragon will cast out of his mouth.

In the days of the Assyrian overflowing of the Euphrates, Judah and "Jerusalem were without human help. In Prophets and Kings we read:—"The long-expected crisis finally came. The forces of Assyria, advancing from triumph to triumph, appeared in Judea. Confident of victory, the leaders divided their forces into two armies, one of which was to meet the Egyptian army to the southward, while the other was to besiege Jerusalem. Judah's only hope was now in God. All possible help from Egypt had been cut off, and no other nations were near enough to lend a friendly hand."

When the dragon casts out of its mouth the final flooding of the Euphrates the remnant will have the whole world against it. "Romanism in the Old World, and apostate Protestantism in the New, will pursue a similar course toward those who honour all the divine precepts." GC. 615. No Protestant countries to champion the cause of the remnant, no migrating to a new world away from persecution, as when the dragon cast out waters as a flood in those days of the reformation church. Without human support the remnant people of God will meet the final outpouring of Satan's anger—the last great flood of the Euphrates, the river of Assyria and Babylon.

But the promise of Isa. 59:19 is for that day when there is "no intercessor," for the day of Christ's "vengeance" and "fury" (in this connection see Ezek. 38:18: "When Gog shall come against the land of Israel, saith the Lord, that My fury shall come up in My face"). "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall put him to flight." God, Himself, will vindicate His authority and demonstrate His superiority over the gods of the "Assyrians."

In pointing to the time of the defeat and overthrow of the forces of spiritual Babylon who have sought to destroy spiritual Israel, Zechariah says: "In that day there shall be a great mourning ... as the mourning of Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon." Zech. 12:11. Concerning this "Hadadrimmon in the valley of Megiddon," Alfred Jones, M.A., says: "Rimmon was a god of the Syrians; the invocation of the god Rimmon." "Hadad," according to A. Jones, M.A., means: "Chief, most eminent, a title of the kings of Syria. The god of Rimmon was styled Adad. It was originally a title of the sun. It signified THE FIRST." Lucifer the "Day Star" (Isa. 14:12), in his mad ambition to be THE FIRST in his controversy with the "Sun of righteousness," and in defiance of the explicit Commandment of God, exalted Sunday the first day of the week as the day dedicated to his honour. Hence we can see the significance of mentioning in connection with the great battle of Armageddon the mourning of those who, heeding not God's last-day Message, cling to the observance of Sun-day the first day of the week—the day dedicated to the worship of the sun by the ancient Babylonians and Syrians. Modern followers of the Syrian god Rimmon will, by the threat of death, seek to force spiritual Israel to keep Sun-day. But in vain will they call upon Lucifer, the once proud "Day Star," who endeavoured to be THE FIRST, to protect them from the wrath of God which falls upon those seeking to destroy His people. All their efforts to destroy the faithful remnant will come to nought:—"The time had nearly come when He was to manifest His mighty power, and gloriously deliver His saints. For His name's glory He would deliver everyone of those who had patiently waited for Him . . . God would not suffer the wicked to destroy those who were expecting translation, and who would not bow to the decree of the beast or receive his mark. I saw that if the wicked were permitted to slay the saints, Satan and all his evil host, and all who hate God, would be gratified. And oh, what a triumph it would be for his satanic majesty, to have power, in the last closing struggle, over those who have so long waited to behold Him Whom they loved." EW. 284.

The promise of Rev. 16:12 is that at the time of the final flooding of the Euphrates, God will send His judgment upon "the flood"—"and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared."

Just as the drying up of the Euphrates prepared the way of the kings of the east to bring complete destruction to Babylon, so the drying up of the waters of spiritual Babylon will prepare the way for the kings of the east to bring complete destruction to modern Babylon. And as the drying of the flooding waters of the Euphrates in the days of Sennacherib meant the intervention by God and the subsequent destruction of the hosts about to attack Jerusalem, so the sixth plague will terminate the attack on spiritual Jerusalem. the church, by God intervening and bringing destruction to the enemies of the remnant. Armageddon—"the mountain of destruction" or "the mountain of slaughter"—follows the drying up of the Babylonian Euphrates. As the wicked surround the church, God manifests His power to deliver His people. The Babylonian throngs are arrested in their murderous intent, God puts them- to confusion, and they turn and slay each other. The angels of God—the divine executors—also slay the wicked who have sought to kill God's people. This is the Armageddon destruction, or slaughter, which will follow the drying up of the Babylonian Euphrates which has rushed (this is the meaning of the word Euphrates) "as a flood after the woman, that he [Satan] might cause her to be carried away of the flood." Rev. 12:15.

As the valley of Jehoshaphat is used for the significant meaning of its name—the valley of God's judgment; as Armageddon is used for the significant meaning of the Hebrew name of the place—the mountain of slaughter; as Jerusalem is used because of the significance of it being the city of peace and of truth (Heb. 7:1-2; Zech. 8:2, etc.); as Babylon is used for the significant meaning of its name—confusion, Gen. 11:9; so, also, Euphrates is mentioned because of the meaning of its name. Dr. Strong says of the Hebrew origin of the name Euphrates:—"From an unused root meaning to break forth; rushing." The Euphrates, in Rev. 16:12, meaning to "break forth; rushing," is a fitting designation for the devil-led world which breaks forth to kill God's people; a fitting name to describe the people of Babylon who "rush" upon the remnant of Israel to destroy them.

In describing the actions of the "multitudes" who are represented by the Babylonian Euphrates (Rev. 17:1, 15; 16:12) the Spirit of Prophecy uses the very word which is the meaning of the name "Euphrates":—"The wicked rushed upon the saints to slay them; but angels in the form of men of war fought for them:" E.W. 283.

The things pertaining to national Israel were recorded in the Old Testament to set forth typically the experiences of spiritual Israel. "For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning." Rom. 15:4.

We should give full heed to the inspired declaration concerning the experiences of national Israel that "all these things happened unto them for ensamples [or types, margin]: and they are written for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come." 1 Cor. 10:11. See also v. 6, margin.

A close study of the Scriptures reveals that a belief in God's last-day Message, including the Spirit of Prophecy, is based upon the irrefragable foundation of the whole Bible.

But the point which must again be emphasised is that the things which occurred in the land of Israel have their spiritual counterpart in all the world. Thus the Euphrates in Rev. 16 must be interpreted in connection with the world-wide Armageddon slaughter of the forces of spiritual Babylon.

Daniel's last long prophecy commences with Cyrus (Dan. 10:1)—who came from the east or the sun-rising leading lesser "kings" (Jer. 50:41; 51:11, 28), overthrowing Babylon by drying up the waters of the Euphrates, and bringing deliverance to God's people—and ends with Michael, Jesus, the Almighty Son of God—Who comes from the east or from the sun-rising to bring deliverance to His people in the hour of extremity (see Dan. 12: 1; GC. 635-637; E.W. 283-285) by drying up the persecuting waters of the Euphrates and completely destroying spiritual Babylon. God’s wrath will be poured out upon the persecuting people of Babylon: and "the King of kings," with all the triumphant hosts of angels and leaders of other worlds who were here when this world was created, together with the saints who had been resurrected and translated to be "kings and priests unto God" in association with Christ in His heavenly ministry, will be seen in the radiant, eastern skies. "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." "Even so, come, Lord Jesus." All persecutors, and workers of evil, will be destroyed in "the battle of that great day of God Almighty." "And at that time Thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book."