Will you please explain Rev. 16:12, "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"? Who are the kings of the East?
H. G. W.
The river Euphrates, it is generally understood, typifies the land through which that river flows, the great Euphrates Valley, terminating in the Gulf of Persia. That land is at present held by Turkey nominally, in broader term perhaps by Germany, who holds a concession for a railway down through the Euphrates Valley extending to six miles on either side of the river. The drying up of that river, it is generally held, will be the destruction of the power that controls that valley. If the power that holds that valley were a strong power, they would prevent the kings of the East from passing over to the great war of Armageddon which will be fought out in its final conflict in Palestine. The kings of the East doubtless are the kings of the great Oriental nations. They may include Japan, China, and India. Evidently they are made up of those great heathen Oriental nations which will be at the last great battles to be fought in the great world center of Palestine.
