Revelation Chapter 16

VERSES 12 -16 continued “And the sixth (angel) 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 east (or sunrising) …”

VERSE 13 — AND I SAW: Our focus is now directed elsewhere. In essence, the sixth plague is entirely reported in Verse 12.

Verse 13 is John turning his head and NOTICING A REACTION to the diversion of the waters. The picture is strong. The events of Verse 12 cause something to happen — something designed to help to bolster up the threatened old order (Babylon).

And who do you think would wish the old order to remain as is?

Who has the most to lose if the present system should fall?

That’s right the Adversary!

COMING OUT OF THE MOUTH: Interestingly, this phrase is repeated so that we have it a total of the three times.

IT MUST BE IMPORTANT!

A mouth is a message or doctrines or proclamation — an order from a superior. (It may indicate that it is from the leaders – the spokesmen or mouth — of these entities that these messages come.)

OF THE DRAGON: — the civil power (government). This is the most long-lived of the three entities. The other two (the beast and false prophet) will be destroyed in Rev 19:20 — at the end of this age. The dragon, however, is merely BOUND for a thousand years (Rev 20:2) to make a final entrance at the end of the Millennium before joining the beast and false prophet in the lake of fire (Rev 20:7-10).

OF THE BEAST: — apparently the 10-horned beast of Chapter 13 with its notable “little horn” of Papacy — by this time a beast which has lost its seventh head. (17:10)

OF THE FALSE PROPHET:

This symbol is of far greater difficulty of interpretation. It is a complex symbol, which makes its first appearance in Revelation in this verse as if we should know who it is.

That is part of the help in identifying it. Looking forward to Rev 19:20 we can learn more.

Verse 20 tells us that this false prophet is, at least in part, the 2-horned beast of Rev 13:12-14.

Verse 20 also shows us that, for some reason, the “image” does not exist as the image at the end. It does this by showing that “these two (beast and false prophet) were thrown alive into the lake of fire.”

Where is the third part, the image?

The implication is very strong that when the 2-horned beast gives “breath” to the image (Rev 13:15), the combined authority of the 2-horned beast plus the vitalized image EQUALS THE FALSE PROPHET.

This, in turn, strongly suggests that this “breath” (or vitalization) even though first mentioned in the 13th Chapter of Revelation takes place sometime during the sixth plague.

Note closely that the image was still called the image in the first plague.

THREE UNCLEAN SPIRITS LIKE FROGS: It is not clear whether there are three separate SPIRITS (teachings, a message, proclamation or order from some recognized or accepted authority,) or one, coming from each of the three mouths. In any case, cooperation is shown between church and state to counter the threat, which the dividing of the people is causing.

Some attempt will be made to unite the “Christian” (the nominally professing Christian world) against its perceived threats. (Both internally as well as externally. To Christendom, the professing church this may possibly be the encroachment of Islam, but is seems more likely that the thing which threatens Christendom, and the powers that be the most, is approach of the new kingdom, the Kingdom of God, this is especially true of the un-seen powers that be, the spirits or rulers of darkness, the Kingdom of God is most definitely a threat to their rule.)

It seems clear that this is the likely time for the fulfillment of the Elijah type of the smiting of the Jordan (2 Kings 2:7-11).

“Now Elijah took his mantle, rolled it up and struck the water; and it was divided this way and that… (Verse 8)

The act of dividing the waters (typifying the people) is very much similar to the sixth plague concepts, so much so as to make the two prophecies most compatible.

The work of Rev 16:13 is clearly an attempt to re-unite or re-focus the divided waters.

These “spirits” (or teachings — See 1 John 4:1) are said to be LIKE frogs. Under the Law, frogs are unclean animals – food no kosher person would approach.

Thus, it should be clear to all truly consecrated saints that these directives or orders, when they happen, are beyond the conscience of a true Christian.

Three typical characteristics of frogs may help in identifying the fulfillment of this prophecy when it appears:

1) They are puffed up (pompous and proud).

2) They have inordinately large mouths. (They will speak with too much authority.)

3) They have huge eyes. (They will want to appear very wise and authoritative.)

Almost appears how the governments of the world acted during first outbreak of COVID-19 and still continue in some instances.

We move on to Verse 14 in our next post.