Posted by Elana Janson on February 21, 2007 at 14:28:26:
The “Euphrates River” in Revelation in 2007
As mentioned in my previous post on global warming, the understanding of the prophecy of Revelation reveals that we are living in the time of the final season, a time that can no longer be measured by man. Readers of my books and this website will know that I believe that the entire Revelation plays out within a time frame of a bit more that two thousand years. The time frame starting at the time of the coming of the Christ. I believe that the prophecy of Revelation is being fulfilled in a profound way and yet it is at a time that many are turning away from prophecy or are in denial that there is a God in control of what is taking place on earth.
Great Euphrates River
In the light of what was said in my previous post, it is of the greatest significance that Revelation brings the time of the “release” of the “four angels” in Rev 9:15 in relation to the “Euphrates River”. In other words, I believe, Revelation is telling us that at the present time that we see the sign of increased wind storms in the far reaches of the globe there are significant happenings in the vicinity of the Euphrates River. I cannot place enough emphasis on the fact that these two happenings are brought into relation with the coming together of the time measures of Revelation.
Obvious weather changes are making people think that the normal seasons of the year are being effected. Many do not know how the problems in Iraq (the river Euphrates flows largely through Iraq) are going to be resolved, but they just cannot consider that this is all related to prophecy of Revelation.
The words “Euphrates River” appear twice in Revelation and in combination with the word “great”. Rev 9:14 -15 “Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed, which were prepared for an hour, and a day and a month and a year, for to slay the third part of men.” I believe that these words relate to the present time. In the time that we see greater wind storms it is also the time that the time measures of Revelation are coming together.
The casting of the seven vials
In Revelation, chapter 16, we are told about the casting of the seven vials. There are seven vials, the first four vials relate to the physical earth and significantly man’s connection to earth and sea; the last three relate to God (the Trinity). The first angel poured out his vile on the “earth”, the use of the word “earth” brings the casting of the first vile into relation with the “beast out of the earth”. The second vile is cast on the “sea”. Through the word “sea” Revelation brings the casting of this vile in relation to “the beast out of the sea” and the “great whore” in Revelation chapter 17, who “sitteth on many waters”. The third vile is cast on the rivers and the fountains (Rev 16:4). Man “shed the blood of the saints and prophets” (Rev 16:6). The words “rivers and fountains” therefore relate to the symbolic “waters” of everlasting life that have dried up because of the ideologies of man that deceived the nations. This was discovered in the understanding of the “beast out of the sea”.
It is for this reason that the casting of the sixth vile says concerning the Euphrates River “And the sixth angel poured out his vile on the Euphrates River and the water thereof was dried up.” These words have at the beginning of the twenty-first century both a literal and a figurative meaning. The waters of the Euphrates were literally dried up in certain areas at the end of the previous century, but have subsequently been largely restored. (For the full explanation readers should refer to an earlier post on this Forum.)
The fourth bowl of vile is cast on the sun. I believe that the vile cast on the “sun” relates to man’s endeavours to harness not only the powers of the earth but also has knowledge of the powers of the universe. The words that follow in verse 9 “And men were scorched with great heat” reveals man’s knowledge of the atom, nuclear fission and nuclear fusion. In other words the ultimate weapon of the twenty-first century.
In the casting of the final three vials God indicates the final status quo in the twenty-first century. The time that the measures of Revelation are brought together. These time measures also show how man was misled and in the final time the last generation has to cope with the culmination of the deception of man. The three last plagues are very apparent at the present time. The fifth vile is cast on the “seat of the beast.” This means that that the ruling of the nations (“seat”) that moved from the rule of the Christian kings to the rule of man and the ideologies of man (“beast”), will have to cope with the anti-Christian consequences that this rule has brought about in the beginning of the twenty-first century. The sixth plague has to do with the area of the Euphrates River and the culminating situation in the Middle East at the present time that is ultimately going to lead to Armageddon. The symbolism of the sixth vile also indicates why the world faces the present crisis in the Middle East. Refer to the explanations of Rev 16:13-14 on this web site.
The nations shall see that we are in the time of the end through that which is taking place in the vicinity of the Euphrates River. I say this for the sixth angel casts his vile on “the great river Euphrates”. It is also in the casting of the sixth bowl of vile that the nations gather to Armageddon (Rev 16:14).
Therefore the fifth, sixth and seventh bowls of vile seem to relate to the coming together of the signs of the end: the ruling of the nations through an ideology of man (“seat of the beast” Rev 16:10), the gathering of the nations to Armageddon (Rev 16:16) and as discussed in the previous post the great earthquake and the global warming (the seventh vile being cast into the “air”).
Great
I believe that it is through the repetition of the word “great” in Revelation and particularly in the casting of the seventh vile that Revelation indicates the present time. The word “great” appears seven times in the casting of the seventh vile Rev 16:17-21. As mentioned in a previous post “great” not only means literally great in magnitude, but figuratively “God is great and God is now in control of the signs that we are seeing”. The word “great” relates to the following. The words “great voice” in Rev 16:17 means that God is speaking through the fulfilment of the prophecy of Revelation to man. “Great earthquake” in Rev 16:18 refers to the Sumatra –Andaman earthquake that came at a specific time prophesied in Revelation. This is substantiated by the words “so mighty an earthquake and so great”. The word ”mighty” is used in Revelation to indicate the might of God in the time that the beasts of Revelation are very powerful in luring men away from the faith. In Rev 10:1 we are told that God sends the “mighty angel” in the time of the understanding of the seven thunders (Rev 10:4), that is the present time. The words “great city” and “great Babylon” are symbolic of the world–wide economic connections of the nations of the earth in the twenty-first century. Economic priorities that have become paramount in the ruling of nations. Jeremiah 51:42 “The sea is come up upon Babylon she is covered with the multitude of the waves thereof.”
Stone
The words ”great hail” refers, I believe, to the increased storms at the present time, which occur in all parts of the globe. Global warming is regarded by men without faith as the result of human enterprises, mismanagement and neglect. This is true and why I say this will be explained in a following post. They do not however realize that this was the inevitable result of the doings of man and that it was all prophesied in Revelation. This is revealed through the words “every stone about the weight of a talent”.
Stone
One can only understand these words with the full understanding of the use of words in Revelation. The word “stone” has the function of bringing certain revelations in Revelation together. Words of Revelation have a symbolic function - that means that a word has more than one meaning through references in Scripture. The word “stone” relates to the “Euphrates River” through the reference in Jeremiah 51:63 ‘and it shall be when thou has made an ending of the reading of this book that thou shall bind a stone to it and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates.” In other words through the word ”stone” it is revealed that when the time has come that the book has been read, that is the time that the prophecy of Revelation is understood, it is also the time of happenings relating to the “Euphrates River”. Revelation brings the time of the casting of the seventh bowl of vile in relation to the present time: “every stone” relating to “hail” (global warming). (The word “about” (“about the weight of a talent”) relates back to Revelation 8:1 “about the space of half an hour” that reveals the time of the “short season” in the end time.)
In Revelation 18:21 Revelation brings the word “stone” in relation to “violence”. “And a mighty angel took up a stone like a great millstone, and cast it into the sea, saying: Thus with violence will that great city, Babylon be thrown down, and shall be found no more at all. This is very true of the present time and all the violence that is taking place in the area of the Euphrates.
The word “talent” has the function of revealing that in the last short season man has, as far as his spiritual knowledge is concerned, buried his “talent” in the earth. The words “a talent” having the function of revealing the meaning of “a talent” as in the parable of Matthew, chapter 25.
“Plague thereof was exceedingly great” in Rev 16:21 refers to the plagues at the time of global warming. I believe the meaning of these words lies in the word “exceedingly”. Gen 13:13 “But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners before the Lord exceedingly”. Dan 7:7 “A fourth beast strong exceedingly”. It is the time that plague is brought upon mankind for the deceptions of the nations by the beasts through the centuries past have reached culmination point. It is the time that the powers of the symbolic beasts of Revelation (as explained on this web site) are finally misleading the nations. Deception that has brought about the wrath of God and the final time.
It must be remembered that Revelation reveals that God has been in control of both good and evil. Man has sinned and for these sins the deceptions of Satan came upon him. Through the saints and the prophets the Word was spread and the goodness of mankind could be maintained. God has been in control of the ruling of the nations, and both good and evil, but we have reached the point that the given time for the Faith to reach the ends of the earth is now drawing to a close. Therefore the signs of the end.
I say all of this with the knowledge of the importance of the repetition of words in Revelation. The word “great” in Revelation therefore has the function of indicating the coming together of a number of happenings in the present time. The fact that happenings in the vicinity of the “Euphrates River” seem to be escalating may already be the gathering to Armageddon.
Great Babylon
It must be noted that it is in the casting of the seventh vile that Revelation refers to “the great city” and “great Babylon”. Rev 16:19 “And the great city was divided into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell: and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”
I believe that Revelation 16:19 reveals that in the final time, the time of the blowing of the winds, the confrontation of nations in the vicinity of the Euphrates River, and the time of global warming it will also be the time that man becomes aware that God is in a process of showing his wrath to the nations of the earth for becoming increasingly arrogant. The punishment of the nations that have become arrogant is revealed in the words “to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of his wrath.”
In order to understand what is meant by “the great city” and “great Babylon” in Rev 16:19 we have to go to all the positions that the word “Babylon” appears in Revelation and to the Old Testament where the words “Babylon is fallen” that appear in Revelation, Isaiah, and Jeremiah.
In Revelation the word “Babylon” and “the great city” relates to the world of the twenty-first century that is driven by the importance of economies of the nations and world–wide trade. Economic priorities in the prosperity and good functioning of the nations have meant that in practice the nations are ruled by the merchants of the earth. (Rev 18:23 “For thy merchants were the great men of the earth”). In Revelation the words “great men” mean the elected leaders of the democratic form of government that followed the rule of the anointed kings of the past. 18:3 “And the merchants of the earth are waxed rich through the abundance of her delicacies.”
Isaiah 21:9 “And behold here cometh a chariot of men, with a couple of horsemen, And he answered and said, Babylon is fallen, is fallen: and all the graven images of her gods he has broken unto the ground.” From this reference in Isaiah we know that the Babylon of Revelation is going to be destroyed because of “images”. In order to understand what these “images” are we have to go to Revelation to where the word “image” is used. The word “image” appears in Revelation in numerous positions but is always linked to the “beast”.
Through the time measures of Revelation and the time measure of the number “666” we know that “image” in Revelation relates to “freedom”. There is of course nothing wrong with freedom; it only becomes evil in the sight of God when freedom transgresses the laws of God. It has often been explained on this website that the discovery of the meaning of “freedom” as the “image” of Revelation is through the knowledge of the time measures of Revelation. (Readers should refer back to the posts and the Q&A on this web site concerning the time measure of the “beast out of the earth”.)
Therefore when Revelation mentions Babylon in the casting of the seventh bowl of wrath, it means that in the time of the windstorms, global warming and happenings in the area of the Euphrates River, it is also the time that we shall see consequences in the world economy.
I believe that because ancient Babylon was situated near the Euphrates River, and because Revelation brings “Babylon” to bear in the casting of the seventh bowl of wrath, it is possible that if the situation in the area of the Euphrates River is not resolved, there may be repercussions in the world economy. This may be the result of a clash of the nations or a nuclear stand-off.
The Great River Euphrates and Abram
One cannot ignore the meaning of the “Great Euphrates River” in the context of the area that God promised to Abraham. Gen 15:18 “In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abram, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river Euphrates. It is of importance at present time that this covenant that relates to “Euphrates River” is key to Israel’s position in the Middle East. A position that is being challenged at the present time. These opposing views have to be resolved for peace to be found.
Nuclear capability
We cannot ignore the fact that the fourth vile was cast on the “sun” and “men were scorched with great heat” at the present time that the nations have as the ultimate weapon the nuclear bomb. A reader wished to know whether it was possible that the words” abomination that causes desolation” that appears in Daniel 12:11 and in Matthew 24:15 and relates to the last short season, could refer to the nuclear bomb. As I have often explained on this web site, I believe that these words relate to a spiritual desolation that has come about by man moving from a society ruled by an anointed king to a society ruled by an ideology of man. As I have often said this transition was sanctioned by God for a certain period of time. Rev 17:17 For God hath put it in their hearts to fulfil his will, and to agree and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God shall be fulfilled.” This would be a figurative meaning. Do these words have a literal meaning? It is not impossible for we all know the great desolation that is brought about by a nuclear bomb. It is also significant that at the present time, which I believe to be the last season, the nuclear issue is also gaining greater prominence in the tensions between the United States and Iran. At the present time the position of the Euphrates River in this context (Anbar province to the west where there is an American presence and Iran to the east) is phenomenal.