Posted by Elana Janson on April 03, 2012 at 14:38:14:
What does the position of the word “gather“ in Revelation reveal about the end time?
I have said on this website that I am not a prophet, but I do believe that through the Devine intercession that I experienced that I have been given insight into the understanding and interpretation of the words of the book Revelation. Once again I must stress that every word in Revelation has been placed in a specific position and it is through this placement that I believe the ultimate message of Revelation is revealed.
The Devine intercession took place on 22 August 1996. I believe that through this intercession the times of the opening first four seals were revealed to me as well as the knowledge that we are ‘near’ to the end time – hence the name of my book and this website “How Near Armageddon”. When 9/11 happened and the War in Iraq it seemed that ‘Armageddon’ was upon us. I now believe that these happenings are part of a ‘gathering’ to Armageddon for the tension in the Middle East has not abated.
The word “gather” appears five times in Revelation. Significantly it is used in Rev 16:14 and 16:16.
Rev 16:12 -16 “And the sixth angel poured out his vile upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. 13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty. 15 Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watches, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame. And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.”
I understand Rev 16:12 “And the sixth angel poured out his vile upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared” to mean:
Upon the great river Euphrates, and the water thereof was dried up
The Euphrates flows from its origins in Turkey through Syria and into Iraq. While the Euphrates River flows through the three countries, most of the water, about 88 percent, originates in Turkey. There was an area in the flow of the waters of the Euphrates that dried up altogether, namely, the marshlands in Southern Iraq. The marshlands region lies between the lower reaches of the Tigris and the Euphrates Rivers. After the Gulf War ended in 1991, the Iraqi regime, began an ambitious civil engineering project aimed at draining the marshes. Through a series of dams and irrigation works the flow of the waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers were diverted. The waters of the Euphrates were almost totally diverted to the so-called Third River Canal, bypassing most of the marshes. The Tigris was channeled into tributary rivers, their artificially high banks prohibiting water seeping to the marshlands.
The drying up of these marshlands is historically important because we know that the inhabitants of this area have for the last 5000 years subsisted through farming, fishing and hunting, from the water supply of the natural flow of the Euphrates river. Ironically this now dry area is the region of the ancient Sumerians. They were one of the earliest recorded peoples to divert water through a system of irrigation canals to their lands in order to provide food for their cities.
With our knowledge of the time measurements of Revelation we must take particular note of the time of the drying up. It was the time 1991 to about 2003. This time span confirms the time of “Euphrates”, for by April 2005 large areas of the marshes were once again flooded with water.
Symbolism
The words “the water thereof was dried up” also have a symbolic meaning. They mean that in the time of the “short season” and thereafter it is a secular ideology that is propagated to the area of the Middle East and the ‘living waters’ would further dry up.
That the way of the kings of the east might be prepared
These words relate to the kings of the east who saw the star of Bethlehem and followed to see and worship the King of the Jews. The Euphrates River was the eastern boundary of the land that God gave to Abram. It must be remembered that it was the happenings of 11 September 2001 that led to the war in Iraq. The happenings since 2003 in the area of the Euphrates River, was war, a ballot for the rule of men and much violence.
From what has happened in North Africa and the Middle East since the war in Iraq seems to be revealed in Revelation that the Arab spring would happen. As the wise men of the east came into contact with the Christ child, the Arab nations would crave and fight for freedom under the now world–wide accepted international laws of democracy (the rule of man). (Remember Rev 13:3”And all the world wandered after (followed) the beast”). The meaning of “that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared” I believe means that through the democratization of the east some will come into contact with Christianity.
From the symbolism and the time measures of Revelation it will be in the time of what happened since 1991, and is happening at the very present time in the area of the Euphrates River that the prophecy of Revelation will be revealed. Likely the greater contact between west and east through the World Wide Web since the war in Iraq is a “way” or a preparation (“prepared”) to believers in the east that the Return is at hand.
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Rev 16:13 And I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet. 14 For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
The word “unclean” in Revelation relates to promiscuous (‘anything goes’) living outside the Christian moral code.
The meaning of “frogs” is derived from the analysis of Rev 13:15 “And he had the power to give life”. These words in total analysis of the “beast out of the earth” relates to the time 1952 –1953, which was the time that a species, that is, frogs, could be cloned for the first time. I believe that the above verse (Rev 16:13) wishes to reveal that in 2012 the influence of the “dragon” (out of the mouth of the dragon), the influence of the “beast” of Revelation (out of the mouth of the beast), had succeeded in influencing man to place the will of humanity before the laws of God (out of the mouth of the false prophet). The ‘false prophet’ is a concept that developed through centuries. It is man’s outlook that began to focus more on humanity than on spiritual matters.
It not only brought about a separation of the Christian Church and state it brought to some people a rebelling against all that is linked to the Christian Church. This attitude was accompanied with a rebellion against all authority. It is a tendency that we also see today. This attitude has its roots in the spirit of the French Revolution. Revelation brings this “rebellion” in relation to the discovery of the human genome and the cloning of frogs in the time 1952. By 1952 the nations were “worshipping” the rule of “man”, anything was acceptable in the name of science and together with this man was becoming ever more promiscuous. The advancement of biological science in the latter half of the twentieth, brought advancements such as contraceptives that further influenced the nations into thinking that man no longer had to heed to the basic laws of Scripture. The advancement of all the sciences and all the blessing that has come with that unfortunately made man believe that he determine his destiny without a higher Being. This outlook would culminate in 2004 in the acceptance of a law to allow cloning.
In 2012 man’s ability to create new forms of life through biological engineering is accelerating all over the globe. Where in the past genes were taken from one organism and added to another, scientists are now creating their own new genes which are made up artificially and putting them to use. The synthetic genes are inserted into a bacterium which has had its own DNA stripped out and man creates an organism that does what man wants. It seems that Revelation is revealing that God is only going to allow this up to a point in time that seems to be near in the future.
In verse 14 Revelation reveals that the influences of the “dragon” and of the “beast” have driven man away from the faith (false prophet). The words “false prophet” are used in Rev 16:13, for it is the time of a turning away from the faith. (This meaning comes from Acts 13:8 where the ‘false prophet’ turned the deputy away from the faith. The deputy wished to hear the word of God from Saul and Barnabas).
In 2012 the turning away from the faith has reached proportions that will lead the nations to a final battle. Rev 16:14 “For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.”
Rev 16:15 Behold, I come as a thief, Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.
In Revelation Jesus Christ says that he will return to earth nine times: once in the letter to the church in Ephesus, once in the letter the church in Pergamos, and once to the letter to the church in Philadelphia. They are told to repent for the Return will be “quickly” (Rev 2:5 and 16) and to the church in Philadelphia that they must keep the faith so that ‘no man’ should take their ‘crown’, meaning that they should not be influenced by the philosophies of men, but adhere to the words and message of Christ that brings everlasting life (Rev 3:11). In Rev 2:25 “But that which you have already hold fast till I come”. Rev 3:3 “I will come on thee as a thief”.
In Chapter 22, which is the last chapter of Revelation Christ says three times that he will come “quickly” (verses7,12 and 20).
Therefore it is of significance that in Rev 15:16 the Return is mentioned and that it will be unexpected (I come as a thief). It is of significance for it seems that the Return will be in the time that man will be taking biological engineering too far and in the time that the nations are gathering to Armageddon.
This verse relates to the time of extreme weather conditions where people are caught unawares and have no time to fetch their clothing. Figuratively that people should protect their bodies which are according to the words of Christ, the temples of God. These words also relate to the realization of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden who realized their nakedness in the sight of God. This is how it will be at the Return.
Rev 16:16 And he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.
This verse comes at the end of the pouring of the sixth vial.
I believe that Revelation connects the time of Rev 16:16 to Rev 19:17,19:19 and 20:8 through the words “gather together”.
So what is Revelation bringing together with the repetition of the word “gather”?
Firstly a number of activities of mankind are going to culminate at a certain point. Man is going to take his expertise to create forms of life too far because he no longer believes that there is a God in control and that he is free to do as he pleases with his acquired knowledge.
God will not allow this for these activities are going to be culminated by a gathering to Armageddon.
Rev 1917 “And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls that fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great God.”
I believe that this verse indicates that the culminating of circumstances is going to follow the verification of time measures of Revelation by the activity of the sun
Rev 20:8-9 “And shall go out (Satan) to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog to gather them together to battle the number of which is as the sand of the earth. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.”
It seems that the nations of the earth are going to gather across the breadth of the earth to battle in the area of the Middle East and that there is going to be a rocket with likely a nuclear device. How do I know this? The same words are used in Rev 20:8-9 and Rev 13:13, namely “fire come/came down from”. Rev 20:9 “And fire came down from God out of heaven” which I believe means that God allows man to use nuclear expertise. Rev 13:13 “He maketh fire come down from heaven” is from the verses that reveal the number 666,namely the” beast out of the earth”. Rev 13:13 refers to the year 1866 when dynamite was discovered “maketh fire” and 1932 when an English physicist succeeded in bombarding the light element lithium with protons and splitting the atom. (There as of course no harm in the discovery as Rev 13:11 reveals: “two horns like a lamb, and he spoke as a dragon”) What Revelation reveals is the delusion that would follow man’s discoveries, namely that he can place himself above the truths of the Bible. The splitting of the atom would lead to the development of the atomic bomb “maketh fire come down from heaven to earth”).
Now you may well ask, but why does Revelation mention the Return (Rev 16:15 “Behold,I come as a thief”) before the final gathering to Armageddon? It seems that there will be a sure sign before Armageddon that the Return is going to happen. Is it going to be the Return and Judgment? Is Armageddon necessarily going to have to take place despite the Return? It seems that the final battle and the Return might be simultaneous for the final battle wipes out all the delusions of mankind that the world and universe evolved and man alone is in control of his own destiny. Rev 19:20 “And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image”. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. 21 And the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth:and all the fowls were filled with their flesh.”