Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship's Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #27 of Revelation, chapter 9, and we are going to be reading Revelation 9:14-15:

Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, 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.

In our last study, we had been looking at the word “Euphrates.”  We saw that God does use this river as a boundary limit for the Promised Land of Canaan.  For instance, it says in Genesis 15:18:

In the same day JEHOVAH 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:

The Promised Land given to Abram and his seed were set between two rivers.  Were the rivers part of the Promised Land and, therefore, identify with Israel?  Well, no, and we can see that because one of the rivers is referred to as the “river of Egypt;” it belonged to Egypt and, yet, it was a boundary for the Israelites.  Likewise, with the great river Euphrates, it is a boundary limit and when we search the Bible, we find that the Euphrates belongs to Babylon.  It is the river of Babylon.  We see this when we turn to Jeremiah 51:61-64:

And Jeremiah said to Seraiah, When thou comest to Babylon, and shalt see, and shalt read all these words; Then shalt thou say, O JEHOVAH, thou hast spoken against this place, to cut it off, that none shall remain in it, neither man nor beast, but that it shall be desolate for ever.  And it shall be, when thou hast made an end of reading this book, that thou shalt bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of Euphrates: And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil that I will bring upon her: and they shall be weary. Thus far are the words of Jeremiah.

In these verses, God is telling the prophet Jeremiah to speak to Seraiah and Seraiah is to travel to Babylon and read the Words of the Book of Jeremiah; after reading all the Words, he is to bind a stone to the writing and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates River.  We have two references to Babylon in these few verses and that helps us to realize that the Euphrates is a part of Babylon.  Verse 61 says: “When thou comest to Babylon,” Seraiah is to read the Book, then the Book is to be bound to a stone and cast into the Euphrates; all this is to take place when he comes to Babylon.  Obviously, the river Euphrates must be in Babylon in order that Seraiah be able to carry out the Words of the Lord via Jeremiah. 

Secondly, in verse 64, it says: “And thou shalt say, Thus shall Babylon sink.”  So when the writing of Jeremiah is cast into the river Euphrates, it is a vivid illustration of Babylon being cast down.  The Euphrates is representative of Babylon itself.  We can understand the Euphrates to be a synonym for Babylon.

Let us just look at one other place in the New Testament.  The word “Euphrates” is only found twice in the New Testament.  One time is in our verse in Revelation 9:14 and the second place is in Revelation 16, where we read of the seven last vials of the seven last plagues of the wrath of God.  It is picturing Judgment Day throughout that chapter, and it says in Revelation 16:12:

And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates…

The reference to the “great river Euphrates” matches our verse in Revelation 9:14, so the vial was poured on the great river Euphrates, and then it says in Revelation 16:12:

…and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

The Euphrates is a synonym for Babylon and Babylon represents the kingdom of Satan or the kingdom of this world.  God used Babylon, in a figure, to destroy the churches and congregations during the Great Tribulation period – those twenty three years when judgment began at the house of God.   Now it is Judgment Day, which began on May 21, 2011, which was the day of transition when the judgment which began at the house of God expanded to include all the earth. 

So, here, God is focusing the “vial” in this particular verse upon the “great river Euphrates.”  This would point to the “water of the world.”  Remember God ended His salvation program within the churches and no one was being saved within them for twenty three years.  After the 2,300 evening mornings of the first part of the Great Tribulation, the Lord set His hand again to evangelize the earth outside of the churches and congregations, so there was “much water,” we could say, in Babylon (in the world) as God was sending forth the latter rain outside the churches.  But now it is the Day of Judgment “and the water thereof was dried up.”  This is the water that was upon Babylon (the world) and the Gospel water that was once abundant as the knowledge of the Lord covered the earth as the waters cover the sea, is now dried up.  And God did this “in a moment.”  He did this immediately – from one day to the next.  He ended His salvation program.  He finished it and He stopped pouring out the latter rain, so, immediately, the abundant water was as though it was dried up.

Notice that it says at the end of Revelation 16:12: “…that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.”  This is really beautiful language that God is using here.  It relates to the exodus when the Israelites came out of Egypt.  Remember they were delivered; they had been “bound” in Egypt as slaves, but then God wrought those mighty works among the Egyptians until, finally, Pharaoh let the Israelites go.  Then he changed his mind and pursued them unto the Red Sea, but that all fit in with God’s plan to destroy the Egyptians.  He parted the sea and dried up the water and the Israelites went over “as on dry ground.”  That is what this part of the verse is a reference, to, and it lets us know that we are on the right path when we understand that God brought Judgment Day on May 21, 2011, in the form of shutting the door of heaven, putting out the light of the Gospel or “turning off” the evangelistic waters – the waters that had been flowing so greatly in the world outside of the churches.  God dried up the waters, just as He dried up the Red Sea as a path prepared for the Israelites to go over.  Likewise, in Revelation 16:12: “the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.”

This reference to “the kings of the east” is a reference to the true believers.  God likens those He saves to “prophets, priests and kings.”   We are “kings of the east” because that is the direction which identifies with the Lord Jesus Christ; He is often associated with the East.  So we can see that God, in drying up the Gospel waters (as far as salvation is concerned) of the world, has done this in preparation for the final “crossing over” of the people of God, the “kings of the east,” just as Israel crossed the Red Sea.  That crossing of the Red Sea pictures the entering into heaven and into the kingdom of God.  Likewise, spiritually, when God’s people leave this world, they will leave it as though they crossed over on dry land, because the Gospel waters have dried up.  This is a wonderful picture and we will look more at this when we reach Revelation, chapter 16, as we continue to study the Book of Revelation.

But, right now, let us go back to our verse in Revelation 9:14:

Saying to the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels which are bound in the great river Euphrates.

Now that we have looked at the word “Euphrates” and we realize it is a synonym for Babylon, this changes everything as far as this verse is concerned, because it really did not make any sense that “four angels were bound in the great river Euphrates.”  What can we learn from that?  We would just sort of scratch our heads.  But once we realize that the “great river Euphrates” can be synonymous with that great city Babylon, things begin to make much more sense.  So let us read it with that understanding: “Loose the four messengers which are bound in the great city Babylon.”  Now that makes much more sense because is it not the case that God’s people were bound in Babylon?  Can we find that kind of language in the Bible?  Yes, we find a good deal of that kind of language. 

Once we make the substitution of “Babylon” for “Euphrates,” the statement really begins to resonate with us: there are four messengers bound in Babylon.  Babylon is the place where God commanded His people to go into captivity.  When you are a captive, you are “bound.”  You are a prisoner.  That is what “binding” points to and, in once sense, God’s people were “bound” in Babylon; all were commanded to come out of the churches and go into the world.  But also there was a great multitude to be saved and they were already “bound” in Babylon because they were unsaved; they were in Satan’s kingdom of darkness in the Babylonian captivity. 

When we look at this command to “Loose the four angels which are bound,” we find that often the language of “loosing” and “binding” relates to salvation.  I am going to read a few verses where we will see both Greek words that are translated as “loosed” and as “bound,” used in the setting of salvation.  It says in Luke 13:16:

And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the sabbath day?

Now, historically, this is an account where the Lord Jesus had just performed a healing.  The woman is healed and “loosed” from her infirmity and Jesus uses this occasion as a way of expressing that she was “bound” to Satan.  Everyone in their sins is “bound” to Satan until they are “loosed” by the Word of God – salvation in Christ.  This is what all the healings that Jesus performed pointed to.  So we find this language of a woman “bound” by Satan and “loosed” by Christ.

It says in Matthew 18:18:

Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

Here, the Lord Jesus is giving one of those defining statements that really help us understand the workings of the Gospel or the workings of the people of God that carry the Gospel.  The proper “tense” would read like this: “Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall having been bound in heaven; and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall having been loosed in heaven.”  The proper tense shows that the action is a prior action of God:  “You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you.”  God predestinated certain individuals before the foundation of the world to become saved, so there is the “prior action,” and then Christ did take their sins upon Himself from the foundation of the world and made payment for them.  Thereby, every thing, in a sense, was prepared.  Everything was finished except to bring the Gospel and apply the Word of God to their hearts so God could bless His Word and apply the redemptive work that had already been completed from the foundation of the world.  So, again, the “binding” and “loosing” is the language of salvation. 

Now, of course, “binding” and “loosing” is not always the language of salvation.  We could point to Satan who was “bound a thousand years” and then loosed, and that would be an example where salvation is not in view.  But, normally, there is the “binding” or captivity and then “loosing” or freedom, so when that recipe is applied to the context we have seen, it does involve salvation.

Also, it says in Matthew 21:1-2:

And when they drew nigh unto Jerusalem, and were come to Bethphage, unto the mount of Olives, then sent Jesus two disciples, Saying unto them, Go into the village over against you, and straightway ye shall find an ass tied, and a colt with her: loose them, and bring them  unto me.

The Greek word translated as “tied” here is the identical Greek word that we have been seeing translated as “bound.”  So it could say, “Ye shall find an ass bound, and a colt with her: loose them and bring them unto me.”  Once again, we find the language of being “bound” and “loosed.”  And keep in mind that an “ass” or a “donkey” in the Bible can typify men.  We know from the Book of Exodus that every firstling of an ass was to be redeemed, and if it were not redeemed, it was to have its neck broken.  There are other verses, too, that spiritually identify “asses” with men.  So, here, we have an ass that is bound and a colt with her and the Lord Jesus commanded they be “loosed” and brought unto Him.  Then it says, in Matthew 21:3-5:

And if any man say ought unto you, ye shall say, The Lord hath need of them; and straightway he will send them. All this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying, Tell ye the daughter of Sion, Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a colt the foal of an ass.

This is a beautiful spiritual picture of salvation.  Christ “loosens” the prisoner.  He “looses” the one which was “bound,” like this donkey, and a donkey is a good animal to typify man because it is a stubborn creature, just as men are stubborn.  So even in this seemingly casual historical reference, “Loose them, and bring them unto me,” we find God using this occasion to illustrate salvation; the once “bound” creature is “loosed” and then Christ sits upon her.  Remember, in the Bible, “to sit” is to rule, so when Jesus takes his seat upon the ass and the colt, the foal of an ass, He is picturing what He does in the life of a sinner, like that woman that was “bound” eighteen years to Satan and then Christ “loosed” her.  He has “loosed” the ass and now He takes His seat.  He rules in the life of that person; He rules over the sinner; He is now the one that is in charge of that person’s life.

There is a verse in the Old Testament I want to mention that also fits this spiritual picture in Isaiah 58, where God speaks of what it means to spiritually fast.  He says in Isaiah 58:6:

Is this not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

This is what all the language we have been looking at is pointing to – it is “loosing” the bands of wickedness and letting the captive go free.  Letting the prisoner go free, free to be a servant to the Lord Jesus Christ.

Let us just look at a couple more verses with “binding” and “loosing” in view.  In John, chapter 11, we read of Lazarus who had been dead for four days and then the Lord Jesus comes and raises him to life.  It says in John 11:43-44:

And when he thus had spoken, he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead came forth, bound hand and foot with graveclothes: and his face was bound about with a napkin. Jesus saith unto them, Loose him, and let him go.

Here, again, we have a very wonderful and glorious historical parable.  This was a true, historical event.  The Lord Jesus did raise Lazarus from the dead.  That took place in history.  Yet, notice he was “bound” with graveclothes and Christ commands, “Loose him, and let him go.”  The rising of Lazarus from his physical death is spiritually pointing to the work of God in salvation.  Sinners are “bound” in their sins; they are “bound” in spiritual death.  They are held fast and captive, “bound” to sin and Satan and “bound” in Babylon, the kingdom of Satan.  Yet, in salvation, the Lord “looses” them. 

What happened to that great multitude of souls that were all over the face of this earth and all over this spiritual Babylon?  Well, God had a plan to save the great multitude and to bring them out of great tribulation.  They had been “bound” in Babylon to sin and Satan, who is the king of Babylon, but we read in Revelation 9:14: “Loose the four messengers.”  Remember how the Lord Jesus typified salvation when He was speaking to Nathaniel in John 1.  He spoke of “the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.”  They were not really angels.  They were men; they were God’s elect and once they were saved it was as though they rose up into heavenly places to be seated with Christ Jesus, and then descended as an angel, or messenger, because they now had to carry out the task of going forth with the Gospel.

Here in our verse, God is referring to four messengers that were “bound” in Babylon and “four” represents the universal nature of these messengers – they are all over the earth, the four points of the compass.  They are “loosed” from the great river Euphrates; they are loosed in salvation and we read in Revelation 9:15, “the four angels were loosed,” and why were they loosed?  They were “prepared for an hour, and a day, and a month, and a year, for to slay the third part of men.”