Turkey the Flash-Point by Percy T. Magan

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Oct 7, 1909

Turkey the Flash-Point

By Percy T. Magan

PERCY T. MAGAN

In the last issue of the Review, under the title “The Great Sign Plague,” it was made clear from the Word of God that the sixth in order of the seven last plagues is the only one that can be seen taking shape and coming into being. It was further established that this plague has to do with the operations of “the kings of the East,” or, as the Revised Version reads, “the kings that come from the sunrising,” and with “the kings of the earth and of the whole world,” and that all of these are to be gathered to “the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” And again it was made manifest that the lining up of the world powers for the final fray constituted God’s great sign that human probation is about to close, that opportunity for salvation is soon to cease.

It is therefore all-important that every point in the Scripture bearing upon this plague be thoroughly and clearly understood. I quote again the story of this plague as it is in the Scripture:—

“And the sixth poured out his bowl upon the great river, the river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sunrising. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits, as it were frogs: for they are spirits of devils, working signs; which go forth unto the kings of the whole world, to gather them together unto the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (Behold, I come as a thief. Blessed is he that watcheth, and keepeth his garments, lest he walk naked, and they see his shame.) And they gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon.” Rev. 16:12–16, R. V.

Now notice that the closing scene in this plague is the “war of the great day of God,” and that by means of the agency of unclean spirits, “the kings that come from the sunrising,” and “the kings of the whole world,” are gathered together for the battle of Armageddon. And notice again that the starting point of this entire drama, the opening scene in the plague, is laid around the river Euphrates,—is the drying up of the water of the great river Euphrates.

Whatever this is, it is the flash-point of the whole international situation. It is the thing which touches off the powder in the world-wide magazine. For it is when the water of the great river Euphrates is dried up that the way of the kings that come from the sunrising is made ready—made ready for them to do battle with “the kings of the whole world.”

What, then, does the prophet mean by saying that the water of the great river Euphrates is to be dried up? and what is portrayed in the expression, “the great river, the river Euphrates”?

The Euphrates River plays a prominent part in Bible history. It is called “the river” (Ex. 23:31), and “the great river” (Deut. 1:7). The breadth of this stream varies from two hundred to four hundred yards, and the general depth of its upper waters is approximately eight feet. “It is shallow enough in some places for loaded camels to pass in autumn.” See Bible Encyclopedia, edited by Rev. Samuel Fallows, Art. “Euphrates.”

Now this literal river Euphrates, which rises in the Armenian mountains and empties into the Persian Gulf, has been crossed and recrossed by kings and their armies times without number. Eight feet of water could not for a moment be expected to check the onward march of a twentieth-century army, with all the modern bridge equipments. There is no reason why “the kings that come from the sunrising” should be stopped for any appreciable length of time by this river.

Does the prophecy, then, refer to the literal flowing waters of the Euphrates?—We think not. Many things referred to in the book of Revelation are referred to by means of symbols. The book is largely one of signs and symbols. This is made clear from the first verse of the first chapter:—

“The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave unto him, to show unto his servants things which must shortly come to pass; and he sent and signified it by his angel unto his servant John.”

The word “signified” is only signified. Signifying is letting a person know a certain thing by means of a sign. Is it fair interpretation, then, to hold that the “great river, the river Euphrates,” and the drying up of the water thereof, are symbolic, rather than literal terms?

First, is a river ever taken in the Bible to represent the nation, or power, or empire, which occupies the territory contiguous to its waters? That this is a fact can be proved from a number of scriptures. It can be shown in the case of several rivers, and of none more clearly than of this very river Euphrates. Note the following texts:—

“And now what hast thou [Israel] to do in the way of Egypt, to drink the waters of Sihor? or what hast thou to do in the way of Assyria, to drink the waters of the river?” Jer. 2:18. In this text the expression “the waters of Sihor” is clearly synonymous with Egypt. Sihor was the ancient name for the river Nile. Therefore the waters of the river Nile are taken to represent the Egyptian nation. And the same principle is seen in the latter part of the verse—“Or what hast thou [Israel] to do in the way of Assyria, to drink of the waters of the river?” Here again the Assyrian nation is referred to as “the waters of the river.” And the great river of the land of Assyria was the Euphrates. But note again:— “Now therefore, behold, the Lord bringeth up upon them [Israel] 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 over all his banks: and he shall pass through Judah, and 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.” Isa. 8:7, 8.

There can be no possible question as to the meaning of the expression, “the waters of the river, strong and many,” in this verse, for it is explained immediately after its use by the words, “even the king of Assyria, and all his glory.” This is so clear on the face of it that it scarcely needs any comment.

And the same characteristic of Scripture imagery is seen in the following:—

“Let not the swift flee away, nor the mighty man escape; they shall stumble, and fall toward the north by the river Euphrates. 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; and he saith, I will go up, and will cover the earth; I will destroy the city and the inhabitants thereof.” Jer. 46:6–8.

Here again the words “river” and “flood” and “waters” are taken to describe the Egyptian nation. And from all these it must be clear that the practise of signifying a country and nation by the name of its great river was a common custom in that elder day. There is, therefore, nothing strange in the fact that the book of Revelation should describe the nation and people dwelling in the territory contiguous to the Euphrates River as “the great river, the river Euphrates.” Indeed, the term can hardly be truthfully described as symbolical. It is simply the use of a very common piece of Bible imagery.

But even if this be not proof sufficient, let it be noted that “waters” are plainly stated in the very next chapter of the book of Revelation to signify “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” Rev. 17:15. And therefore, from all of the above, it is evident that the word “waters” in this plague signifies the people and the power which dominate the territory adjacent to the Euphrates River. Now these people are none other than the Turks, and this power no other than the Ottoman Turkish empire.

It is this Ottoman empire, then, which is to be “dried up.” It is this power which is to come to an end in order that “the way might be made ready for the kings that come from the sunrising.” It is the drying up of this Turkish empire which is the signal for the coming of these kings from the rising of the sun to do terrific battle with the kings of the earth and of the whole world. In other words, it is the passing of the Turk which acts as the flash-point, and brings about the long-looked-for universal war.

In all seriousness let it be asked, Are there signs in the political and diplomatic world that the Turkish empire is liable to come to an end almost any day? And are there also signs that the kings from the rising of the sun are preparing for world-shaking combat with the powers that lie to the west of the Turkish empire? Are the mutterings of battle-storm to be heard in the far East,—in the lands of the rising of the sun? Did not the deathless fame of Nanshan, the splendid victory of Liao-yang, the Mukden triumph which set the world aquivering; the failure of Muscovite against Japanese at Port Arthur, and the annihilation of the Russian battle fleet in the Straits of Tsu Shima,—did not one and all of these cause the heart of every child of the Orient to leap, and to believe to the very depths of his soul that the verdict of the battle of Marathon had at last been reversed, and that it had now been demonstrated that Orientals could conquer Caucasians, and that the hour for the yellow men and the brown men, and for all the dusky sons of the East, to come into their own had at last struck on the great clock of time?

Madison, Tenn.