Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #15 of Revelation, chapter 16, and we are going to be reading Revelation 16:12-14:
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. 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. For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.
Last time we were looking at verse 12 and we saw that the great river Euphrates represents Babylon and the drying up of the water points to the drying up of the Gospel waters all over the world, because Babylon is a figure of the kingdom of this world that Satan had ruled over since the Garden of Eden.
God dried up the water of Babylon and just to confirm that we are correct in our understanding, let us go back to Jeremiah 50, a chapter that goes into detail about the fall of Babylon and God’s judgment upon it. It says in Jeremiah 50:35-40:
A sword is upon the Chaldeans, saith JEHOVAH, and upon the inhabitants of Babylon, and upon her princes, and upon her wise men. A sword is upon the liars; and they shall dote: a sword is upon her mighty men; and they shall be dismayed. A sword is upon their horses, and upon their chariots, and upon all the mingled people that are in the midst of her; and they shall become as women: a sword is upon her treasures; and they shall be robbed. A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols. Therefore the wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever; neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation. As God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighbour cities thereof, saith JEHOVAH; so shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.
There are a couple of interesting things in this passage. God says, “A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up,” and this agrees with our verse in Revelation 16:12, where it says the great river Euphrates is dried up.
But, notice that it says because of the drought, “The wild beasts of the desert with the wild beasts of the islands shall dwell there, and the owls shall dwell therein: and it shall be no more inhabited for ever,” and God compares it to the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah. Then He adds, “So shall no man abide there, neither shall any son of man dwell therein.” This language lets us know that the Spirit of God had left; the Spirit of God that had saved sinners has departed out of the world, leaving it a dry place that is only fit for the wild beasts of the desert and wild beasts of the islands and owls.
Notice in the next chapter, in Jeremiah 51, that God continues the detailed discussion of His judgment on Babylon, which represents this world. He says, in Jeremiah 51:35-36:
The violence done to me and to my flesh be upon Babylon, shall the inhabitant of Zion say; and my blood upon the inhabitants of Chaldea, shall Jerusalem say. Therefore thus saith JEHOVAH; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.
Because Babylon came against Judah, which pictured Satan coming against the churches, God will contend for His people and take vengeance against Satan and His kingdom of this world. What will that act of vengeance consist of? He said, “I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.” It goes on to say in Jeremiah 51:37:
And Babylon shall become heaps, a dwellingplace for dragons, an astonishment, and an hissing, without an inhabitant.
Again, we find the language “without an inhabitant,” and the inhabitant in view is Eternal God. It is as though Babylon is without the presence of God. Of course, God is everywhere, but insofar as God doing His work of salvation, He is not present and this matches the language in Isaiah, chapter 13. Remember that chapter starts out by speaking of “the burden of Babylon,” and then it does not take long before God is speaking of the “day of JEHOVAH” in Isaiah 13:9 and then it says in Isaiah 13:10-11:
For the stars of heaven and the constellations thereof shall not give their light: the sun shall be darkened in his going forth, and the moon shall not cause her light to shine. And I will punish the world for their evil…
So God is referring to the “burden of Babylon” and then He quickly speaks of judgment on the entire world because that is what Babylon represents. Then after He makes that shift, He transitions back to Babylon toward the end of the chapter and He says in Isaiah 13:19-22:
And Babylon, the glory of kingdoms, the beauty of the Chaldees' excellency, shall be as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. It shall never be inhabited, neither shall it be dwelt in from generation to generation: neither shall the Arabian pitch tent there; neither shall the shepherds make their fold there. But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.
Remember what we read in Jeremiah 50, in verses 35 through 40? When God dries up the water of Babylon, then it will be a wilderness and a place for these wild beasts of the desert and owls, and so forth. So, in Isaiah 13, where God speaks of the judgment on the world, He gives this same language of Babylon as a wilderness and a desolate place where the wild beasts dwell and it indicates there is no Gospel water in all the world. This, of course, fits in with Revelation, chapter 18, which we will get to soon, Lord willing. It says in Revelation 18:2:
And he cried mightily with a strong voice, saying, Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen…
We have learned that when we see that key phrase, “Babylon the great is fallen, is fallen,” it indicates the end of the Great Tribulation and the beginning of judgment on this world and Satan’s kingdom of Babylon. It goes on to say in Revelation 18:2:
… and is become the habitation of devils, and the hold of every foul spirit, and a cage of every unclean and hateful bird.
The hateful birds would be birds like the owls that we read about earlier. Babylon becomes a dry land and a wilderness, fit only for the beasts of the desert and these unclean birds.
Let us go back to Revelation 16 and can see when God says that the water of the great river Euphrates was dried up, it relates to Judgment Day on the kingdom of Satan. Then it says at the end of Revelation 16:12:
…that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.
The “way” is prepared through the drying up of the river Euphrates. Jesus, said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” This is what the Father had determined: the only “way” to enter into the kingdom of God and live for evermore is through the salvation of Christ. Christ has made a “way” through the offering up of Himself from the world’s foundation for all of His elect. The completion of their salvation will come when they all receive their new resurrected bodies. Now, at this point, God has saved everyone that was to become saved. Each one of God’s elect has received the “first resurrection” of the soul, but the vast majority of them still need to have a new resurrected body. Most of them are still presently living on the earth in this Day of Judgment or they have died and their bodies are in the ground and need to be resurrected.
All of this will take place on the last day of earth’s existence and there is a strong likelihood that the day will be October 7, 2015, which would be 1,600 days from the beginning of judgment on May 21, 2011. It would be the 10,000th overall Day of Judgment, completing the judgment of God upon unsaved mankind. Judgment began at the house of God on May 21, 1988 and God judged the churches for 8,400 days; then He will judge the world (Babylon) for 1,600 days. Then we would have a sum total of 10,000 days, which is “10 x 10 x 10 x 10” or “4 to the 10th power.” The number “4” points to the furthest extent of whatever is in view and, in this case, it would be the furthest extent of Judgment Day. Also, the 1,600 days of judgment on the world is “40 x 40” or “4 x 10 x 4 x 10.” These numbers also represent “furthest extent” (the number 4) and “completeness” (the number 10). As far as the number “40,” God had laid down a law in the Book of Deuteronomy that a judge may not administer more than 40 stripes to a criminal (or more than 4 x 10). This is a Law of God and God is under His own Law and, of course, this would mean that God would never create a place called “Hell” where He would punish sinners without end – that would contradict and break God’s Law which He established in the Book of Deuteronomy that 40 stripes shall not be exceeded. God does use the language of administering “stripes” in the Day of Judgment, in Luke, chapter 12.
Anyway, on October 7, 2015, the furthest extent of Judgment Day is reached: 1,600 days or 40 x 40. It is also the completeness of judgment or the 10,000th day of judgment (10 x 10 x 10 x 10). There are other instances of the number “4” coming into play, as the 1,600 days is 4 years, 4 months and 16 days; and the 16 days is also “4 x 4”. Someone also mentioned to me that October 7, 2015 falls on a Wednesday, which is the fourth day of the week, so there is an enormous emphasis on the number “4” on that particular day. And, if we are correct, since that would be the last day of Tabernacles and the last day of harvest, it would be the day the Lord raises up His people in the rapture and the resurrection. It all takes place on the last day, as it says in John 6:44: “And I will raise him up on the last day.” It is very likely that God’s people, the kings of the east, are going through this dry wilderness without an inhabitant (the Son of man) and going through this Day of Judgment as across the dry river Euphrates; it is the “way” God had predetermined that must come to pass in order for His people to get to that very last day and then they have made it through the “trial of faith.” The fiery test which has been put to them has not burned them up. It has only burned the “wood, hay, stubble,” but since the elect are the “gold, silver precious stones,” they come through purified and in a more glorious condition. Then God takes them into His glorious kingdom and they will experience all that God has promised will take place at the end of this world. God will show His people that they have not believed and trusted Him in vain.
Can you imagine how the weak, the tired, the afflicted, the troubled of mind and body and the cast down in spirit will feel in that day? It is as though we are trudging across this dry riverbed, one foot in front of the other, day by day and it has been a very difficult path to travel in our sojourn to heaven, but it is the way God has chosen according to His will. The people of God are definitely weary. They are definitely greatly tried and troubled due to the terrible increase in sin in the churches and in the world and the Law of God is being tossed aside and dismissed without concern, like never before in history. It is a grievous thing to the people of God and, yet, they continue to trust God’s Word, the Bible, and they continue to look ahead with hope and great expectation that this is all being done by the perfect will of God. Then they finally reach that final day and God lifts them up and brings them through. Speaking of the “balm of Gilead,” what a tremendous healing medicine it will be when God lifts the veil of this life and destroys this earth and causes His people to forget the very memory of it because it is so tainted and corrupted by sin that even the memory of it would be affected by sin. God will equip His people with their new spiritual bodies to match their souls. Just as He saved our souls by His action, God will perform that perfecting action in our bodies and the children of God will reach the kingdom of heaven. There will be no more tears, no more sorrow, no more disease, no more death and no more problems. There will be perfect beauty, perfect righteousness, perfect peace and perfect love; everything is perfect because God is perfect and dwells among His people. This is the hope that we have. Remember what God says concerning this hope in Hebrews, chapter 11. After going through a list of the people of God that had suffered so much for the kingdom of heaven, God concluded the chapter by saying, in Hebrews 11:36-40:
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of bonds and imprisonment: They were stoned, they were sawn asunder, were tempted, were slain with the sword: they wandered about in sheepskins and goatskins; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (Of whom the world was not worthy:) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth. And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.
This is what awaits the child of God – perfection. God commands perfection: “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Yet, we cannot while we have this body, but one day soon God will change our bodies. He has sown His Word in our corruptible bodies, but it will be raised incorruptible; He has sown it in dishonor and He will raise it in honor. In 1Corinthians 15, God speaks of those two things being sown in this world in our bodies, but raising them as new spiritual bodies. That is the language of harvest and October 7, 2015 is not only the Feast of Tabernacles but it is the last day of the Feast of Harvest. It would be an excellent day for God to bring His people up to keep the Feast of Tabernacles and to raise them up and gather in the final harvest of Ingathering that comes at the spiritual end of the year and to complete all things He has spoken of in His Word. It is that 10,000th day, a day that points to completeness.