Posted by Elana Janson on September 19, 2003 at 13:55:17:
The word “Euphrates” appears twice in Revelation, namely, Rev 9:4 (the sounding of the sixth trumpet) and 16:12 (the sixth bowl of wrath). Revelation augments and makes meaning clearer by the repetition of its words. It seems as if the words of Jeremiah 51:63, where the word “Euphrates” appears, must be taken into account. “When thou has made an end of reading this book, that thou shall bind a stone to it, and cast it into the midst of the Euphrates.” Once we have reached the time that what is said in Revelation about the river Euphrates has come to pass, prophecy would have been fulfilled and we will literally see the signs of the end.
The idea of closure is also conveyed in Rev 6:14 “and the heaven departed as a scroll which is rolled together” (the opening of the sixth seal). “Heaven departed “ means figuratively that our knowledge of the heavens will reveal a great Biblical truth, so great a truth, that “the scroll” will figuratively be closed.
The words “sun”, “moon” and “stars” in the opening of the sixth seal and Luke 21:25 substantiates this: “ And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon and in the stars”.
Therefore, we cannot ignore the particularly bright star (Mars) that is currently shining in the night sky. I say this because Revelation 16:12 links “Euphrates” to “kings of the east”: “the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared”. Also Rev 22:16 “I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.” In this verse Revelation is indicating the birth of Jesus Christ in the line of David and the Return, are heralded by a “bright” star – the Beginning and the End.
We know from Matthew 2:1 that wise men came “from the east”. These wise men had the knowledge that the star would indicate the place where the Messiah would be born. In 2003, with our knowledge of the time measurements and the words of Revelation, that when the “seven thunders” (Rev 10:4) are revealed, there is “time no longer” (Rev 10:6).
Rev 9:14-15 “Loose the four angels that 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 a third part of men”. We know from How near Armageddon that an “hour” (24 years), a “day”(288 years) and a “month”(6 years) are time measurements in history, which are measured to a point about the time of the year 2000.
In July 2003 Mars rose as the orange “morning star”. Venus, the morning star could not be seen because it was too near the sun. During August, Mars appeared as a brilliant yellowish light in the southern sky. It looked like a jewel in the sky. Mars remains bright in the evening sky through the end of the year. In the year 2003 man can determine the hour, 9:51(GMT), the day (27 August), the month (August) and the year (2003) that Mars will be slightly nearer to earth than it has been for almost 60 000 years. Man can also determine that it will be as close in the year 2287. Measured from the year 2000, 287 years is about the time of a “day” in Revelation. Through scientific knowledge and technical expertise we also know that about 60 000 years ago man was in the very primitive stages of his development. Through man’s scientific and technical competence (developed largely through the twentieth century), through the time measurements of Revelation and through the “bright” star, Revelation reveals the “day” of Genesis and the “day” in Revelation.
In How Near Armageddon it was illustrated how Revelation measures “three days” in the second millennium. It also showed how the colours of the twelve “precious stones” of the foundations of the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:19-21) were placed on the times of the “three days” to establish how the words of Revelation could be linked to time measurement in history. We know that a “day” is 288 years, a period of time in history.
Ezekiel 28:13 links precious stones, that largely represent those in Revelation, to the creation of man and the “day” that that it took place. “Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God, every precious stone was thy covering, the sardius, topaz, and the diamond, the beryl, the onyx and the jasper, the sapphire, the emerald and the carbuncle and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy pipes was prepared in thee in the day that thou was created. Compare Proverbs 8:27: “When he prepared the heavens…. when he set a compass on the face of the depth….