When the Euphrates Dries Up

 

Revelation chapter eight ends with the sobering words, "And I saw, and I heard an eagle, flying in mid heaven, saying with a great voice, Woe, woe, woe, for them that dwell on the earth, by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, who are yet to sound" (Rev. 8:13).  Three woes would come upon "them that dwell on the earth."  The doomsday prognosticators would have us believe that John is describing some far off event in which the world and all mankind will be engulfed in a catastrophe too horrible to describe; an event that would immediately precede the return of Christ.  They view the apocalypse through the eyes of a materialistic mind-set and fail to grasp the message God intended for the readers of this book.   In keeping with the figurative language of the book of Revelation, John warns those who are earthly in their thinking, who seek not the things that are above, that they will, if they persist in their sin, bring upon themselves sorrow and woes of indescribable nature. Such are those who "dwell on the earth."   The "woes" of chapter nine are self inflicted and come upon humanity as a result of their rejection of God's word and/or their obstinate rebellion against the Father.  The "smoke out of the abyss" (9:2-3) is John's way of describing the woes that come upon men as a consequence of their determination to allow error and false philosophy to blind them to the truth (cf. 2 Cor. 4:3-4).  Once blinded, all that awaits is the horrible "sting" of sin from the "locusts" that will descend upon them.  Satan and his allies will rush down upon those who have turned their back on God and His word like horsemen prepared for war, and the final outcome will be complete defeat for those ill prepared to meet the onslaught of the devil and his forces.   

 

The second woe in Revelation chapter nine envisions a situation in any given society wherein the righteous element is no longer strong enough to ward off the devil and his evil intentions.  The preserving element will have disappeared and the only thing that awaits a nation at that point is God's complete wrath.   At that point the "four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates" will be "loosed," and divine judgment will descend upon men (Rev. 9:13-15).  There are those who would suggest that the "Euphrates" represents the dividing line between the people of God and the people of the world. That river was the eastern most boundary of the Promised Land.  Once the Euphrates dried up, the enemy would have easy and unrestricted access into the land where God's people once dwelt.  In like manner, our "Euphrates" is the holiness of God's people.  Our "Euphrates" is the line of demarcation that separates us from the world, a line that marks us as being distinctive, holy, and the "peculiar" people God so desires us to be.   When our "Euphrates" is breeched, there is nothing to hold back the full release of sin and the onslaught of the enemy.  If we take this position then this sixth woe describes a world where that dividing line between God's people and the people of the world is no longer distinguishable.  The righteous "remnant" is no longer able to hold back the evil that would engulf the world with this horrible "woe."  The same kind of situation existed when God destroyed the word with the flood (cf. Gen. 6:5).  Prior to the destruction of evil men in the flood, the "Euphrates" (figuratively speaking) had been dried up, and the world had reached such a state of evil that God's longsuffering finally ran out.  Wicked men had turned so far away from God that the thoughts and intents of their hearts were only evil continually.  When men reach such a state of ungodliness, God's wrath will no longer be restrained. 

 

I wonder – has the "Euphrates" dried up in America?  Has the "preserving element" that allows God's mercy to forego divine judgment in hopes that men will repent disappeared?   Is the church having a leavening influence upon society?  Or have we allowed the word to corrupt the church?  Have we become so much like the world around us that for all practical intents and purposes we have allowed the Euphrates to dry up?  Yes, I wonder!

 

by Tom Wacaster