THE EASTERN QUESTION AND THE SIXTH PLAGUE
By B. G. Wilkerson
In studying any one of the plagues, the living issue is always before us. But in none of these does that deep-moving conflict arise to the surface in so recognizable a form as in the sixth plague. We stand as it were before the dreadful specter which silently points to the world's approaching doom. The first five angels poured out their vials upon transgressors whose guilty acts lay almost hidden from the human eye. But while these punishments were falling, yes, even before the first came, great movements were astir, whose columns would soon join the scenes of the sixth plague. We behold the terrific energy of demon spirits working on in silence; the restless surges of nations are thrown before our eyes. And then, when all the forces have brought forth the finishing condition, the crowning act is executed by the sixth angel. “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 whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God 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 he gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon.” The record of this plague is different from that of the other plagues. It contains what they do not: it contains two scenes. In the first, John sees the angel pouring out his vial upon the river Euphrates; in the second, he beholds the springing forth and the gathering work of three evil spirits. The fact of these two scenes calls forth an important question. EDITORS' NOTE: This is the seventh in the series of eight studies on The Plagues. The next article will be “Experiences of God's People under the Plagues.” Your friend should read these articles. Invest twenty-five cents in a two-months' subscription for him. If you can invest fifty cents to send these eight articles to TWO friends, so much the better. We can furnish the back numbers. You may pay the postage stamps if you wish. Regardless of the order followed in the Scripture, which scene, in point of time, occurs first? If the angel pours out his vial before the evil spirits begin to gather the kings of the East, then, since that has not yet occurred, much must still be done before Christ's coming. But if the kings of the world are mustered into action before the sixth vial is emptied, then we see that warlike movement in plain progress; then we know that the preparation for the sixth plague is proceeding, and that we are rushing into the scheduled hour for the falling of the first plague. The latter understanding is the truth for the reasons:— 1. I have already explained that the warning to keep the garments lest they be lost, reveals probation as still open. But since there is no probation under any of the plagues, the open probation must be before the first; and that therefore for the beginning of the work of the evil spirits we must go back to the time before the first plague. 2. Because the other view would make the sixth plague an unimportant act. It would say that the steps to the disastrous battle of Armageddon were, first, the emptying of the first angel's vial; secondly, the wider work of the evil spirits, since they would gather all kings except those of the East; and, lastly, the great battle. If that were so, then the work of the sixth angel would not be worthy of being called a plague. For then the evil spirits would produce the plague. They would do the finishing work, and become the greater cause of the result. But the seventh chapter of this book presents the angels of God as holding in check the winds of strife. Just as the pressing air seeks an entrance into a vacuum, so do the raging forces of the nation throw themselves against the barrier of God's angels. Let them but remove the restraint, and as air rushes into an opened vacuum, so would the armies rush together. No; first, the assembling work of the evil spirits brings up the nations around the angels' barrier. Then the second scene follows, in which the work of the sixth angel is to drop the bar, and this is not the first, but the last, act in bringing on the plague. 3. It will take time to convert the kings of the world into the kings of the East. The little space of time under the sixth plague will not be sufficient for the evil spirits to bring the powerful monarchs of earth to the shores of the East. For long centuries these nations have done like the Jews worshiping in the temple—they have turned their backs on the East. Westward has been the progress. Long after John wrote the Revelation, there lay to the west a great continent, waiting the coming of man to inhabit its empty plains. Over its broad territories there was to arise a monarch as powerful as any of the ten kings who inherited the Roman Empire. God, through His prophet, had declared that these ten kings would be reigning when Jesus returns. Among them, when Christ comes, will be found the universal supremacy formerly possessed by the empires from Babylon to Rome. These ten kings, with the one to arise on the new continent, could only rightfully be called kings of the West. Before the record of the sixth plague, Inspiration has never informed us that these same powerful chiefs have reversed their policy, and turned toward the East. So we conclude that it is evidently unreasonable to expect that they will be thus persuaded during the little period of the actual time of the sixth plague. Therefore, in order to accomplish this conversion, the evil spirits must begin their work before the drying up of the Euphrates is introduced, and consequently some time before the first plague. 4. Another reason that the work of the evil spirits must be regarded as preceding the drying up of the Euphrates is the fact that it must necessarily take time for the evil spirits to secure a hearing. When Satan, the chief himself, devised this plan, he well knew that the acceptance of manifestations from the spirit world had largely disappeared from among men, especially from among the kingdoms of the West. For there Christianity held its gracious sway. To present ancient sorcery, even in a new dress, would require time. Men must be tempted to grieve away the Spirit of God, which enlightens and protects against such snares. The Bible must be neglected, and God's law disregarded. These departures must occur before the whispering communications of demons would be received. But when people, statesmen, even kings, had been won over, then, with free sway, the evil spirits could bring the kings to Eastern alignment, there to take the field upon the removal of the barring Euphrates by the sixth angel. The battle of Armageddon has not yet occurred, but the work of these evil spirits is before our eyes. Too much can not be said upon that great delusion, Spiritualism. Starting barely half a century ago, Spiritualism has made gigantic conquests. Teaching its hearers belief in manifestations from those who have died, it has opened a door for the entrance of evil spirits. Quietly yet surely it has invaded nearly all the churches of Protestantism; it has completed its former half acceptance by Catholicism, while it was gladly welcomed by its old relatives, the religions of heathendom. It has secured the ears of kings, has strengthened the perplexed souls of statesmen, and has led the common people to accept, in their trials, its offered comforts. To-day its work is about finished. Evil spirits have now gained access to the command of untold millions. Not much more time is needed to make all nations ready for the outpouring of the sixth vial. Therefore the proofs given show clearly that the scene in which John saw the evil spirits gathering the nations occurs before the actual act of the sixth angel. These very proofs show also that the gathering of the nations is now going on. A closer examination of the record will reveal more definitely who these nations are. The German version, agreeing better in this case with the Greek, translated, reads: “For they are the spirits of devils, who work signs, and proceed forth to the kings over the whole circle of the world.” The idea is conveyed a trifle better by the marginal reading of the Revised Version: “The kings of the whole inhabited earth.” In the day when John wrote, the emperors of Rome were the kings of the whole inhabited earth. But in the next chapter the aged apostle saw that power hurled from his regal chair; and the Roman domain parceled out to ten kings. These ten kings were to continue until “in the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom.” Dan. 2:44. No other kingdom arises strong enough to displace the ten until it is done by the glorious personal reign of Christ's kingdom. Then surely it is these ten kings whose forces are led to the East by the miracle-working demons. These kings are presented in another form by the ten horns upon the head of the first Beast in chapter 13. But another power, another kingdom, arises. This is the second Beast of the same chapter. In the days of the apostle there lay, further westward, an unknown continent, containing territories larger than those over which Rome ever ruled. In this continent has arisen a nation, the young republic of the West. All statesmen agree in equaling the power of this new nation to any one of the ten kingdoms carved out of the ruins of imperial Rome. Is it possible that God would present the history of the ten kings, and leave unnoticed this great new power?—No; on the contrary, He has made prominent in its career two facts relating to the present issue: First, that it is the second Beast of Revelation 13, and therefore it shares the world-power with the ten kings; and secondly, that it takes great part in the gathering of the nations. One feature alone is sufficient to pin down the American Republic as this second Beast. In coming up, that animal, the prophet saw, “had two horns like a lamb.” The reference to the lamb is sure. Though worldly nations, in the Scriptures, have been likened to different beasts, God has never spoiled the figure of the Lamb. That is Christ. Before this text there goes this statement: “Whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb”—the Lamb here we know means Christ. After comes a similar, in Rev. 14:1: “And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the Mount Zion,” evidently42Christ. So set in between these two statements where Christ is the Lamb, to say that the Beast, when coming up, “had two horns like a lamb” can only mean that it is a nation which arose having a government like Christianity. Now we know that the United States is the only nation that had such a Christian beginning, and otherwise could answer to the prophecy. But the prominent part it plays in the gathering of the kings: It is the false prophet, the last of the three beasts, from whose mouth come forth the three evil spirits; because in Rev. 19:20 it says: “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.” The power that wrought these miracles to deceive is none other than the second Beast of chapter 13. His early Christian advantages had availed him nothing. These God-given opportunities are used to deceive the people, and to seduce them back into papal darkness. And when the departure from Christianity is complete, this favored nation becomes a black region, from whose depths issue forth the dark demons to fill the earth with fatal strife. The evidences of this work are before us. Those who witnessed the Spanish-American war, then saw the American Republic become complicated in the circle of world-ruling monarchs; and by taking possession of the Philippines, she became a king of the East, and so enters China and abides as one of the most prominent of these. Let no one doubt that prophecy has little left of earthly history to be fulfilled. The manifest preparation for the sixth plague is a settled fact. We could only wish that God's people were as surely prepared. The appointed hour for the falling of the first plague is almost here. When that occurs, in rapid succession the vial angels will deliver their punishments upon a guilty world. When the sixth is reached, the river Euphrates will be dried up, and the nations will consume one another in disastrous conflict. What is the river Euphrates? It can not be a literal river; for John saw that its “waters were dried up.” Now these can not be literal waters, as the plague of the third angel had turned the rivers into blood. Then they must be symbolical waters. The use of waters as a symbol is explained in Rev. 17:15: “The waters which thou sawest . . . are people, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues.” Furnished with this Bible interpretation, one can readily see that the waters of the Euphrates would be the peoples and nations filling the territories of that river. A glance on the map will fix the attention upon the Turk as occupying those territories now. But not much longer will he be tenant of those lands. The decree of God has gone forth. The Turk, with all others who bar the path, will be wiped away before the invading hosts as they draw toward the plains of Armageddon. And as surely as Cyrus dried up the literal waters of this river, that through its territory he might march under the city's walls to overthrow Babylon, so surely will the sixth angel dry up the symbolical Euphrates, that the kings of the East may meet to consume one another in the battle of that great day of God. And thus will modern Babylon, the mother of iniquity, be destroyed. May present events deliver this sure warning to all who are now within Babylon: “Up, get you out of this place; for the Lord will destroy this city.”