Increased Light? On What?

[Gibs]

I would just add that the Salvation issue is the by far out in front the important issue to know for sure we have right without any deceptions as in this present world deceptions are the rule of the day.

Man and modern church preachers have made the road great big and wide that any are in the way. Well it is not what Jesus tells us and Jesus is your sure guide.

Mt 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat:

Mt 7:14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Jesus came to this world as one of us taking no power but we can have to be overcomers and walk as He walked when upon this earth. Christ in you is the same power to overcome as the Father in Him.

Repent and full surrender of the will and He dwells within and you have power to overcome and it is expected for sure.

It was the Father in Him that did the works and it is Christ in you that does the works.

Jo 4:4 ¶ Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

[Samie]

And I would add that we need increased light on our understanding of the gospel.

Our Savior specified that when the gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world, then shall the end come. And the coming of that end starts upon the setting up of the abomination of desolation in the holy place. This He stipulated in Matt 24:14,15.

Sadly, the brand of gospel being preached now is NOT what Scriptures specify. Scriptures declare that because of sin man is dead, spiritually. Because of sin, man is separate from God and can do nothing good. Yet the brand of gospel being preached now, requires man to first accept Christ before he can be made spiritually alive. That is just impossible because how can the dead do anything? How can man do anything good if he is still dead in sin? The fact that man can now do spiritual acts like accepting, believing, repenting, etc. is proof enough he had been made spiritually alive! And this was done on the cross.

The everlasting gospel has 3 dimensions: 1) the past tense of salvation - salvation from the curse or penalty of sin; all sins forgiven. This is God's work for man, for all descendants of Adam & Eve, no one exempted nor left out; all grace, no human participation; consummated at the cross; 2) the present tense of salvation - salvation from the power of sin; sin committed not imputed since all sins had been forgiven on the cross and Christ continually intercedes. God, through the Holy Spirit works in man so man may overcome by responding positively to the leading of the Holy Spirit; and 3) the future tense of salvation - salvation from the presence of sin, that ultimate salvation where only the overcomers inherit life eternal and lives with God for all eternity. Rewards according to what each has done are to be given to every man starting at the 2nd Coming: Eternal life for the righteous, God's wrath for all others.

This is the everlasting gospel which need to be preached in all the world. And then shall the end come.

[skyblue888]

Through His humble instrument the Lord revealed the matter of salvation to be just as simple as ABC: "How long will you hate and despise the messengers of God's righteousness? The Lord has given them His message. They bear the Word of the Lord: There is salvation for you but ONLY through the MERITS of Jesus Christ. The grace of the Holy Spirit has been offered to you again and again." Testimonies to Ministers,97.

She explains: "The only faith that will benefit us is that which embraces Him as a personal Saviour: which appropriates His merits to ourselves." Desire of Ages,347.

And how do we appropriate His merits to ourselves? By claiming them.

"Unless he makes it his life business to behold the uplifted Savior and to accept the MERITS which it is his PRIVILEGE to CLAIM, the sinner can no more be saved than Peter could walk upon the water unless he kept his eyes fixed steadily upon Jesus." T.M.93.

And why is it that it is our privilege to claim the merits of Jesus Christ by which we receive the grace of the Holy Spirit which is to work in us both to will and to do God's good pleasure?(Phil. 2:13)

Because "He was treated as we deserve that we might be treated as we deserve." Desire of Ages,25.

Makes sense, doesn't it?

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[skyblue888]

correction: Because "He was treated as we deserve that we might be treated as He deserves." Desire of Ages,25.

[skyblue888]

Once again Babylon will have control of the whole world and will have the physical ascendancy over the people of God. Once again she will have come to the pinnacle of supreme self-exaltation. The whole world will be at her feet.

She will see herself as king of kings and lord of lords, and, as the death decree is in the very moment of being put into effect, it will be that only an instant of time remains before the total annihilation of the people of God. Should she achieve this, then she will emerge the winner in the battle. Satan will be the triumphant in the great controversy, for, "If (at this time) he could blot them (the faithful people of God) from the earth, his triumph would be complete." Great Controversy,618.

It will be at this point that she will see herself as being in complete command. The whole world will be at her feet and doing her bidding, and the people of God are about to be destroyed. It is then that she will proudly say, "I am a queen, and am no widow, and shall see no sorrow." Rev.18:7.

But, exactly as it was in the days of ancient Babylon, the moment of greatest apparent security and triumph is the moment of total and sudden destruction. It will be a destruction so absolute that from it she will never rise again forever.

The change in her position will be from the one extreme of power and glory and unanimous support, to the opposite extreme of shame, defeat, and utter desertion from her of all those who had a moment before stood so loyally for her. Never will there have been a fall so great and so terrible as the fall of Babylon the Great in the last days.

The history of the past is to receive so striking a fulfillment in the events of the future that it will be essential to keep these things in mind as we enter now into a detailed study of the verses in the Scripture which describe the coming battle of the great day of God Almighty.

to be continued

There is the true original King of the North, Jesus Christ. Babylon was and is the counterfeit or pseudo King of the North. Therefore, the great controversy is the struggle between the true King of the North, Jesus Christ, and the fase one, Satan.

That controversy which was waged between the Person, Christ, and the person, Satan up in Heaven, is continued on earth through the representatives of each of them. Thus, if there were two kings of the North in Heaven, there must be two below. The one will be the true, and the other will be the false. The one will be the agent of Christ and the other will be the agent of Satan.

Without a doubt, Babylon, as the agency of Satan, was the false King of the North. It is now to be seen that Cyrus, the King of the Persians, represented the role of Christ as the true King of the North who will bring about the final and total destruction of Babylon.

It is to be emphasized here that because Cyrus was an earthly monarch devoted to the ways of earthly rulers, his representation of Christ as the true King of the North is not a perfect and a complete one. For instance, the way of Cyrus as a destroyer of Babylon, is very different from the way of Christ in bringing about the total end of Babylon.

While Cyrus came against Babylon with weapons of destruction in his hand, Christ, in the ultimate simply leaves Babylon to reap that which she has sown.

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[skyblue888]

"He has planted the tabernacles of his palaces between the seas and the glorious holy mountain." Dan.11:45.

The "seas" are the multitudes of this earth.(Rev.17:15) The "glorious holy mountain" is where God is.

In other words, "Satan has planted his satanic throne between the human worshiper and the divine Father." MR 7,215.

"In this world he has set up a kingdom of darkness, of which he, the leader in guilt, is prince. He desired to usurp the throne of God. Failing in this, he has worked in darkness, in crookedness, in deception, to usurp his place in the hearts of men. He has set up his throne between God and man, to appropriate the adoration that belongs to God alone." E.G. White, 6 B.C.1119.

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[skyblue888]

"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 they (spirits of devils) gathered them together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." Rev.16:12-16.

The geographical interpretation counts for nothing in the identification of the powers listed in those verses.

The first act in the drama of the sixth plague is the drying up of the River Euphrates that the way of the Kings of the east might be prepared. No reference is made to Babylon directly in this passage, but there is but little need, for the picture is so clearly a repetition of what happened in that ancient city that it is self-evident.

The sixth and the seventh plagues are expressly the description of the physical fall and destruction of modern Babylon. Failure to realize this is to miss the whole message contained in these verses.

We know that the River Euphrates was in the fall of the first Babylon. It was a physical river of literal water which flowed under the walls and through the city of Babylon.

The question arises as to what the River will be in the final scenes.

to be continued

[skyblue888]

The River Euphrates was that river which the Babylonians considered to be their river of life, and it was such up to a given point of time. Then the very waters which had been up till that time, a life support for them became the channel by which the enemy entered the city and caused its complete, final, and eternal overthow.

In one night the role of the river was changed from that of life to that of death.

So it will be in the very last days when the last Babylon comes to her final and everlasting end. In Revelation 17, it is so clearly revealed that the very powers of the earth which had given their support to the woman and the kingdom which was hers and is symbolized by the image beast (second beast of Rev.13) turn upon the whore (first beast of Rev.13) and destroy her. Thus they occupy first of all the role of a supporter and life sustainer, and then turn to the opposite role of destroyer of the very power they firstly upheld.

So it is written: "And the ten horns which you saw upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire." Rev.17:16.

Thus Babylon will fall at the hand of her supporters. They will turn upon one another as did the enemies of Israel every time they went forth in faith and allowed the Lord to gain the victory for them. When Gideon and his tiny band appeared before the Midianites, when Jonathan and his armor bearer went up against the Philistines, and when Jehoshaphat went forth against the Edomites, their enemies turned their weapons one against the other and destroyed themselves, so that when the people of God came upon the scene, the battle was over and finished.

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[skyblue888]

To Babylon, Euphrates was indeed the river of life. It flowed with unfailing certainty throughout the entire year, bringing them all the water they needed for vegetation, for drinking, for bathing, and for their animals. The city was dependent upon that river, not only for the continuance of the life processes, but also as a protection from their enemies, for it kept the moat around the city walls continually full. While that river ran, the city was secure and could not fall. The walls were impenetrable and unscalable, and the water supply ensured that they could never be starved into submission.

So it will be with modern Babylon.

The peoples of the earth will be the modern Euphrates which provides the life support for that great city.(Rev.17:15) The time is coming when this Scripture will be fulfilled: "And all the world wondered after the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? who is able to make war with him?... And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world." Rev.13:3,4,8.

In that day there will be but the two classes of people. There will be the kings of the earth and the people under their command who will give their unqualified allegiance to the woman, who is Babylon the Great, and there will be the faithful few who will give their loyalty to the God of Heaven and will stand upon His side in the conflict.

From the great masses of the earth, the final Babylon will draw her vast financial and material support. She will feed from this river, which is a river of life to her. Furthermore, they will provide her with the protection which she needs against any possible foes, who, once the whole world is at her feet, can only be the powers of Heaven. Not only will they be her supposed protection from the powers of Heaven, but they will join with her in her direct warfare against the God of Heaven.

So it is written, "These shall make war with the Lamb, and the Lamb shall overcome them: for He is Lord of lords, and King of kings, and they that are with Him are called, and chosen, and faithful." Rev.17:14.

These kings are symbolized by the ten horns upon the head of the beast. As such then, they make up the sum of the peoples who are symbolized by the beast at the time when the woman rides upon it in the last times. These people give their powers to the woman in her struggle against the Lamb, but they will be defeated utterly and entirely.

to be continued

[skyblue888]

In the erroneous view of Armageddon, which depends so heavily upon geographical interpretation, the picture is that the eastern nations of Japan, China, Russia, and so on gather together against the western nations on the plains of Esdraelon in Palestine. As the western nations are the supporters of the papacy, the day of judgment against Babylon is accomplished by the attack made upon her and her supporters by the powers of the east. They are, it is argued, the instruments in the hands of God to destroy Babylon the Great and her supporters.

However in Revelation 17:12-17 it is clearly written that THOSE POWERS OF THE ENTIRE WORLD, which firstly give their support to Babylon the Great, are the very ones who SUDDENLY REVERSE THEIR ALLEGIANCE and turn upon her and destroy her. Thus she is not destroyed by those against whom she goes forth to war, but by those with whom she goes forth to war!

This turning of the enemies of God against each other is the work of the Lamb. He does it not with the weapons of carnal warfare, but by the presentation of righteousness at its best, through the lives of the 144,000. Of this there will be more to say.

Thus the word of God makes it clear as to what the great River Euphrates in the last days is. The name is very significant, and there will will be more to learn about this river.

to be continued

[skyblue888]

It is to be seen with great clarity that the River Euphrates, as that river is seen in relation to the events of the last days, is symbolic of the people of the whole world who give their support to Babylon the Great.(Rev.16 & 17)

But to gain something of the full significance of the symbolism of this river, it is necessary to find the earliest river called by that name. It is found in Genesis 2:10-14;

"... and the fourth river is Euphrates."

The original Garden of Eden is to find its counterpart in the Eden restored in the eternity yet to come. In the Eden yet to come there will be the tree of life, the very same tree of life which was in the original Garden of Eden.

"After the entrance of sin, the heavenly Husbandman transplanted the tree of life to the paradise of God." E.G. White, 7 B.C.989.

Not only was the tree of life transplanted to Heaven, but the entire garden was:

"When the tide of iniquity overspread the world, and the wickedness of men determined their destruction by a flood of waters, the hand that had planted Eden withdrew it from the earth. But in the final restitution, when there shall be 'a new heaven and a new earth,' it will be restored more gloriously than at the beginning." P.P.62.

Just as the tree of life is an inseparable part of the Garden of Eden, so is the river of life. In the Eden restored it will flow forth from the throne of God to water the world with life. The tree of life will stand on either bank to bear its life-giving fruit.

So there has to be a river of life in the original Garden, and there was. While it is not directly called the river of life there, yet it is clear that this is indeed what it was, for this river in an inseparable part of the Garden of Eden. The Eden to come is but a restoration of the original.

As that river flowed as a single stream from the original Garden, it divided into four branches so that its life could be distributed to the four corners of the earth. This river of life had its fountain in God, who alone is the Source of all life and therefore the only One who can give life. One of the four branches of the river was called Euphrates.

But it was not upon this River Euphrates that the city of Babylon was built. That was another Euphrates which did not find its source in the Garden of Eden, and, while it was a river of life of a kind and was certainly regarded by the Babylonians as being such, it was not the river of life in fact. Rather, it proved to be a river of death.

to be continued

[skyblue888]

In order to appreciate what is the drying up of the River Euphrates in the context of the battle of Armageddon, we need to study the fifth and the sixth plagues.

The day will have come when the time for the death decree will be drawing very near and, the peoples of the earth will have decided to exterminate in one night the hated ones whom they imagine have brought all the trouble upon them. It is at this point that the chapter "God's People Delivered" in The Great Controversy, opens:

"When the protection of human laws shall be withdrawn from those who honour the law of God, there will be, in different lands, a simultaneous movement for their destruction. As THE TIME APPOINTED IN THE DECREE draws near, the people will conspire to root out the hated sect. It will be determined to strike in one night a decisive blow, which shall utterly silence the voice of dissent and reproof." p.635.

It is important to understand that the people of God are not at this time gathered into one place on the earth, but are scattered throughout the length and breadth of it. This is further verified by this statement from the Review & Herald, Nov.19,1908:

"Then in the day of fierce trial he will say,'Come, My people, enter into your chambers, and shut your doors about you; hide yourself as it were for a little moement, until the indignation be over past.' What are the chambers in which they are to hide?--They are the protection of Christ and holy angels. The people of God are not all in one place at this time. They are in different companies, and in all parts of the earth; and they will be tried singly, not in groups. Every one must stand the test for himself."

So it will be, that all over the world in different places, the wicked will be preparing for the work of death planned to sweep the righteous out of existence. Thus the stage is set for the final attempt by the forces of evil to win the battle against truth and righteousness. In this dark hour of temptation the Lord will interpose to deliver His people. The moment agreed upon by the wicked comes, and they rush madly on to destroy the righteous entirely.

"With shouts of triumph, jeering, and imprecation, throngs of evil men are about to rush upon their prey, when, lo, a dense blackness, deeper than the darkness of the night, falls upon the earth." G.C.635.

[skyblue888]

It is to be noted that the wicked have conspired to strike the blow at night. No doubt they had determined the hiding places of the saints previously, and surrounded them in the daylight hours to wait impatiently until the hour agreed upon by them for the slaughter. Then in the mid-night hour they rush upon their prey; no doubt carrying lighted torches to illuminate the work of death and destruction.

The whole plan goes successfully forward until that moment when the weapons are raised to cut down the people of God, at which instant the darkness of the fifth plague falls upon the earth. It is a darkness so dense that everything is blotted from view, despite the lights they carry, and it will be so sudden that the upraised weapons will never fall on their intended victims to destroy. This absolutely unexpected event will serve to completely upset the plan of the wicked to destroy the people of God. That is what will make it a plague of fearful proportions and significance for Babylon the Great.

The devil, the real king of Babylon, knows at this time that everything now depends on his being able to destroy the people of God from off the face of the earth.

For six thousand years he will have been battling for such a situation as this, and here he will have come to the very point when success is but the blow of a weapon away, when the darkness stops the whole thing, with the saints still living--by being safely hidden from view in the depths of an impenetrable darkness; far deeper than the darkness of the night itself.

Can we even begin to imagine the agony of frustration, the terror occasioned by the implications of this defeat, and the horror which will overspread the wicked and their leaders as they see what this is all going to mean to them? It is no small wonder the Bible says: "And they gnawed their tongues for pain." Rev.16:10.

to be continued

[skyblue888]

The wicked servants of the woman Jezebel, the great apostate system of ecclesiastical oppression, have been thoroughly convinced by the priests and leaders that the plagues which have swept away all they have and reduced them to such terrible straits, are caused by the refusal of the HATED MINORITY to yield to the Sunday sabbath, and that there is no hope of any relief and return to temporal prosperity until these are destroyed. Glad anticipation of this relief will spur them on to the work of murder, only to find in the last moment that their prey eludes them in the dense darkness.

On the other hand the leaders know that all hope for final supremacy rests in the destroying of the people of God, as does also their master, the devil, and likewise they are dismayed to desperation and horror by this development.

For the people of God, the experience is equally terrible at first. There they are bowed in prayer, pleading the merits of Christ for deliverance (P.P.203) with every appearance telling them that their last moment has come. They are aware of the uplifted weapons, and they brace themselves for the blow. The wicked are screaming in their hatred and rage. All is terror and confusion with bright lights flashing on them. They are expecting death in the next instant, and in that next instant they are plunged into impenetrable darkness in which everything is blotted out of sight.

That is exactly the experience of the martyrs of old. They were hunted and pursued until the weapons were raised aloft above their heads. The next instant there descended upon them the impenetrable darkness of death. Thus the one hundred and forty-four thousand will experience death without actually dying. In fact, it will be worse than that which the martyrs experienced, for the darkness for them was the cessation of consciousness and, therefore, of experience, but for these last martyrs, they will retain consciousness in the midst of the darkness.

Therefore they will think that they are dead, and at the same time experience the fearful sense of horror at the thought of it. It will mean to them that all is lost, for they, too, understand that everything in that final victory depends upon their retaining life till the very end.

Thus the fifth plague of dreadful suffocating darkness is a terrible experience for all concerned. But it does mark the turning point for the people of God and the beginning of the great awakening for the wicked, which leads to their completely withdrawing their support from Babylon the Great, whereby her total and final fall is accomplished. But, while Babylon's suffering is the coming to the end of her existence, for the righteous, the suffering is but the birth agonies into the life eternal.

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[skyblue888]

The inky, impenetrable darkness of the fifth plague marks the beginning of quite dramatic changes in the whole scene of the closing events of this earth's history. For the wicked, it means the complete frustration of all their plans to exterminate the people of God and thus gain the victory for the devil, which for six thousand years he has worked to achieve. The darkness so completely hides the righteous from the view of the wicked that they cannot find them to do them harm at all.

But this is not all. There appears a shining rainbow encircling each of the praying companies as the witness of the special regard and consequent protection which the Lord has for His people. This is no ordinary rainbow, for it is written that it shines with the glory of God. The wicked are conscious of the supernatural nature of this glory, and as a result, they are absolutely stopped in their tracks, and, unable to move, they witness THE DIVINE RECOGNITION OF THE HATED OF ALL THE EARTH. The paragraph which told of the coming of the darkness is the paragraph which goes on to tell of the arresting of the wicked in their onrush to destroy the saints. To gain the connection, the entire paragraph will be quoted:

"With shouts of triumph, jeering, and imprecation, throngs of evil men are about to rush upon their prey, when, lo, a dense blackness, deeper than the darkness of the night, falls upon the earth. Then a RAINBOW, shining with the glory from the throne of God, spans the heavens and seems to encircle each praying company. The ANGRY MULTITUDES (the waters of Rev.17:15 upon which Babylon the Great sits and whose symbolic name is Euphrates) are suddenly arrested. Their mocking cries die away. The objects of their murderous rage are forgotten. With fearful forebodings they gaze upon the symbol of God's covenant, and long to be shielded from its overpowering brightness." G.C.636.*parenthesis supplied.

Thus for the wicked, the darkness is followed by even greater dismay and terror as they see that the very ones whom they were taught to be the cause of the judgments of God upon the earth are, instead, the ones whom the Lord loves and is protecting. Thus the great onrushing river of vengeful humanity is stopped in its flow. The great River Euphrates is dried up, so far as its intended course is concerned, to roll back as a great destroying flood upon Babylon the Great herself.

But that which for the world is terror and confusion, for the people of God it is the opening of a new day of hope and expectation. In fact this is the point of time when the agony of Jacob's trouble comes to its end; they are released from that into the joy of their eternal deliverance. The impenetrable darkness, having been followed by the celestial glory of the rainbow, is now followed by the voice from Heaven directing them to look above to the glory of the heavens where they see the Son of man seated on His Father's throne:

"By the people of God a voice, clear and melodious, is heard, saying,'Look up,' and lifting their eyes to the heavens, they behold the bow of promise. The black angry clouds that covered the firmament are parted, and like Stephen they look up steadfastly into Heaven, and see the glory of God, and the Son of man seated upon His throne. In His divine form they discern the marks of His humiliation; and from His lips they hear the request, presented before His Father and the holy angels, "I will that they also, whom Thou hast given Me, be with Me where I am.' Again a voice, musical and triumphant, is heard, saying, They come! They come! holy, harmless, and undefiled. They have kept the word of My patience; they shall walk among the angels;' and the pale quivering lips of those who have held fast their faith, utter a shout of triumph." G.C.636.

to be continued

[skyblue888]

While it would be true that the wicked are not able to see all that the people of God can see, yet they see enough to make them realize the implications of the terrible and eternal loss which they are now to sustain. For them, this is the great moment of revelation of the truth of things as they actually are.

In the chapter under consideration in The Great Controversy, the subject being considered is the experience of the people of God, while the next chapter, "The Desolation of the Earth," carries us along over the same ground but this time from the point of view of the experience of the wicked. On page 654, reference is made back to a point of time mentioned in the previous chapter, from which the above quotations have been taken.

"When the voice of God turns the captivity of His people, there is a terrible awakening of those who have lost all in the great conflict of life." 654.

On page 655 this awakening is described in these words:

"The people see that they have been deluded. They accuse one another of having led them to destruction; but all unite in heaping their bitterest condemnation upon the ministers. Unfaithful pastors have prophesied smooth things; they have led their hearers to make void the law of God and to persecute those who would keep it holy. Now, in their despair, these teachers confess before the world their work of deception. THE MULTITUDES ARE FILLED WITH FURY.'We are lost!' they cry,'and you are the cause of our ruin;' and they turn upon the false shepherds. The very ones that once admired them most will pronounce the most dreadful curses upon them. The very hands that once crowned them with laurels will be raised for their destruction. The swords which were to slay God's people are now employed to destroy their enemies. Everywhere there is strife and bloodshed."

This is the time for the angel of death which is the sixth plague, as represented in Ezekiel 9:

"The mark of deliverance has been set upon those 'that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done.' Now the angel of death goes forth, represented in Ezekiel's vision by THE MEN WITH THE SLAUGHTERING WEAPONS, to whom the command is given:'Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women; but come not near any man upon whom is the mark; and begin at My sanctuary.' Says the prophet:'They began at the ancient men which were before the house.' Ezekiel 9:1-6. The work of destruction begins among those who have professed to be the spiritual guardians of the people. The false shepherds are the first to fall. There are none to pity or to spare. Men, women, maidens, and little children perish together." p.656.

This is the drying up of the River Euphrates and thus the battle of Armageddon ends followed by the seventh plague, the special resurrection and the appearing of Jesus with His saints (kings of the East) in the clouds of Heaven.

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[skyblue888]

So it becomes clear that "the men with the slaughtering weapons" represented by the "angel" of death of Ezekiel 9 are "throngs of evil men" the "seas" of Rev.17:15 which moments before were supporting Babylon the Great.

[skyblue888]

Let us go over it one more time.

As the fifth plague is about to fall, we see the vast multitudes of all the earth rushing in one predetermined night upon the true people of God to effect their destruction.

Like a mighty, destructive flood, this torrent of humanity bears down upon its prey. This is the time when Babylon the Great holds full sway over all the world as a result of her having deceived all nations, and kindred, and tongues, and peoples, into giving to her their sustenance and support.

But there will be this one class of people, few in numbers, scattered throughout the whole world and despised of all nations, who will have refused to bow to the supremacy of Babylon, and, who, because of the power of God within them, threaten the security of Babylon through their power to unmask the deception by which she alone is able to continue.

Therefore this great mass of people who are doing the will of Babylon, thereby provide her protection and her support, and, therefore, are those waters which symbolically are called Euphrates. This is the water to be dried up under the sixth plague to make way for the coming of the Kings of the East. But, at this moment, Babylon will be very confident that so vast and so united a stream of loyal humanity, opposed by so few, could never be dried up, so she will exult that complete victory is within her grasp.

Then, in the very last possible moment of time remaining, wherein the blow will not yet have fallen upon the saints of God, the darkness blots the whole scene from view. The wicked are unable to direct their weapons, and the people of God escape from the death, which a moment before would have seemed to have been so certain.

Then, in the next moment, there appears the rainbow, shining with that glory from the throne of God, which not one of the wicked would either dare or have the power to penetrate.

"The angry multitudes are suddenly arrested. Their mocking cries die away. The objects of their murderous hatred are forgotten. With fearful forebodings they gaze upon the symbol of God's covenant and long to be shielded from its overpowering brightness." G.C.636.

to be continued

[skyblue888]

The great river is suddenly drained of all forward motion, just as it was when Cyrus diverted its flow into the side trenches which led to the marshes.

But worse is to come.

Upon their startled senses, scene after scene passes in rapid succession, each one, in turn, arousing new awareness in their mind. At first the suspicion is implanted that maybe they have made a terrible and fearful mistake, that they are the subjects of a mighty deception.

Then, as they hear strange voices from heaven, obviously in communication with those whom they had but the moment before been determined to kill; as they see the lighting up of the countenances of those who were but so recently the subjects of the most bitter persecution; as they hear the shouts of victory; as they see the sun appear at midnight; the complete reversal and upheaval of all nature; the streams ceasing to flow; the dark angry clouds rolling in violent clashings and thunderings against one another, there in the midst of the heaven--that one clear space of indescribable glory--the voice of God like the sound of many waters is heard proclaiming that all is accomplished.

By the time they have been witnesses to all this, suspicion has developed into the firm and terrible conviction that they are totally lost and all because of the fearful deceptions practiced upon them by Babylon. So obvious is the fact of this, that even the ministers frankly confess their work of deception.

Now the fury of the multitudes will know no limits as with bloodthirsty and revengeful violence they turn upon the ministry--the prime servants of Babylon.

Euphrates will again have dried up and Great Babylon comes to her end, and finds that she has none to help her.(Dan.11:45; Rev.17:16) She has turned away from the power of God, so she can find no help there. She has basely deceived the nations into helping and sustaining her, and now that they see the deception practiced upon them to their utter ruin, they withdraw all their help from her, leaving her nakedly exposed to their vengeance.

There is no one else to turn to; nowhere else to go and no place to hide. All is lost and as the millstone which the angel flings into the deepest depths of the ocean sinks to rise no more, so does Babylon the Great go down to rise no more at all.

It is worthy of note that the very river which was to Babylon both protection and sustenance became, in turn, the medium of her destruction, for it provided the very way into the heart of Babylon by which she fell.

So again, those very peoples who will be providing both the sustenance and the support of Babylon will become the very means whereby she is brought to final destruction, for it will be the weapons in their hands which will slay the ministry.

Next: The Kings of the East.

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We have seen that that great river Euphrates of these last days (Rev.17:15;16:12) is dried up to make the way of the preparation for the coming of the Kings of the East. This, then, raises the question, Who are the Kings of the East?

Those who look to geographical interpretation look to the nations in the east such as India, China, and Japan as the ones who are to fulfill this prophecy. But the fact is, that in the last days all the kings of the whole earth will be united under the banner of the papacy. There will be that one vast confederacy of evil, that one united front against God. If, then, the whole world is in the one camp, then what nations of the earth are left to come from the East? The answer must be that there will be none.

The only way to understand who are the kings from the East in the final battle is to go back and study the character and work of the kings of the east back there.

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The Bible has quite a deal to say about king Cyrus before he was even born. Such divine predictions are to be found in Isaiah 41 and 45.

First, the question is asked in reference to Cyrus: "Who has raised up one from the east, whom he called in righteousness and made him rule over kings? he gave them as dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow." Isaiah 41:2.

"Thus says the Lord to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him; and I will loose the loins of kings, to open before him the two leaved gates, and the gates shall not be shut... I have raised him up in righteousness, and I will direct all his ways; he shall build My city, and he shall let go My captives, not for price nor reward, says the Lord of Hosts." Isaiah 45:1,13.

Here, then, are given to us a list of the details concerning him who was the king from the east in the old time. And because that king was the type of the final King from the East, then what was said concerning him, so far as he was the type, will be true in regard to the King in the end.

Could the non-Christian nations of the far east today ever fulfill those specifications as laid down in the type? No!

Who is the anointed of the Lord who alone in these last days has the power to dry up the waters of the Euphrates (Rev.17:15) and take away her dominion forever and ever? Who alone can build the church of God, and who alone can set free the captives of Babylon the Great without price or reward? The One called in righteousness from the East, Christ the Wonderful Redeemer. He is the great King from the East who will do all these things in the end and in righteousness.

But the Scriptures use the plural. It does not say that the way of the King of the East is prepared but that the way of the Kings of the East will be prepared. The fact is, that Christ will not come alone. With Him will be other kings, such as Elijah, Moses, Enoch, and the others who were raised when He was raised.

All of these are kings in Heaven now, as all the redeemed will be in the eternity to come. Does not the Word say, that "If children, then heirs; heirs of God, and join heirs with Christ..." "And has made us kings and priests unto God..." "To him that overcomes will I grant to sit with Me in My throne, even as I overcame, and am set down with My Father in His throne." Rom.8:17; Rev.1:6; 3:21.

These Scriptures, along with others, make it very plain that the saints of God will be kings when they go to Heaven, therefore, Moses, Enoch, Elijah are most certainly kings in the kingdom of heaven at this very time. Equally certain is the fact that when Jesus comes again, they will come with Him. So it will not be the one King coming from the East, but it will be a number of kings.

Those kings cannot come until the purpose of the great controversy has been fulfilled. That purpose is the revealing of the character of Satan on the one hand to the point where all forsake him, and the character of God on the other where all men see that He is just and kind and good.

In the drying up of the Euphrates, all the peoples of the earth see that they have been deluded and the ministry even confess their work of deception, which means that Satan has not one single follower to stand by him.(Dan.11:45)

The purpose of the controversy thus being fulfilled, there is nothing further to delay the coming of the Saviour, and He will then come; it being in this sense that the drying up the Euphrates makes way for the coming of the Kings of the East.

Thus it will be, that the sixth plague will bring about the end of Babylon the Great so that she will rise no more forever.

to be continued

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The Apostolic church entered upon the era after the cross with every promise and prospect of spiritual triumphs. Equipped with the truth of God and the power of God, she went forth conquering and to conquer. Her connection with the great River of Life which flowed from the throne of God was close and very real.

But a change came. The Spirit and power of God began to die away out of her midst. Formalism took the place of living experience. Men lost sight of the merits and righteousness of Christ until the Lord walked in her midst no more, and she found herself powerless to reach the masses in the world. The great River of Life, the original and only valid Euphrates, had dried up and the church had fallen.

As surely as she had, then, bereft of the power of God, she turned to another source of power--the power of the sword as it is held by the State.(Rom.13) They were now building upon that other Euphrates, upon which Babylon always builds.

A.T. Jones observes this very clearly in his study on the history of the past:

"The church was fully conscious of her loss of the power of God before she sought the power of the State. Had she not been, she never would have made any overtures to the imperial authority, nor have received with favor any advances from it. There is a power that belongs with the Gospel of Christ, and is inseparable from the truth of the Gospel; that is, the power of God. In fact, the Gospel is but the manifestation of that power, for the Gospel 'is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.' As long, therefore, as any order of organization of people professing the Gospel of Christ maintains in sincerity the principle of that Gospel, so long the power of God will be with them, and they will have no need of any other power to make their influence felt for good wherever known. But just as soon as any person or association professing the Gospel loses the spirit of it, so soon the power is gone also. Then, and only then, does such an organization seek for another kind of power to supply the place of that which is lost."

"Thus was it with the church at this time. She had fallen, deplorably fallen, from the purity and the truth, and, therefore, of the power of the Gospel. And having lost the power of God and godliness, she greedily grasped for the power of the State and of ungodliness. And to secure laws by which she might enforce her discipline and dogmas upon those whom she had lost the power either to convince or to persuade, was the definite purpose which the bishopric had in view when it struck that bargain with Constantine, and lent him the influence of the church in his imperial aspiration." A.T. Jones, Great Empires of Prophecy,472.

So it was that the old Babylon was built, after a spiritual fall, upon a river which symbolized man's trust in his own powers. The end result was a second and final fall into ruins.

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In the self-same way will be developed the image of the beast in the last times, and in the self-same way will the great River Euphrates, to which man looks in his blindness, will dry up to bring about the final fall of that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth.

"It was apostasy that led the Early Church to seek the aid of the civil government, and this prepared the way for the development of the papacy--the beast. Said Paul,'There shall come a falling away first and that man of sin be revealed.' So apostasy in the church will prepare the way for the image of the beast." The Great Controversy,443,444.

The development of this is before our eyes at this moment. Conscious of their loss of spiritual power, the churches are laying firmer and firmer hold upon the power of the arm of flesh in which is held the word of force and compulsion. All the while the forces of crime, political unrest, and natural disasters are eroding more and more deeply into the life of human society.

Both the state and the church find themselves more and more completely powerless to answer these problems to the restoration of moral and material stability and security.

Little realizing that the very crime which blights the land is the direct result of their own rejection of the law of God and the power of God, they continue to step further and further away from the great River of Life to build more and more definitely upon the spurious one. This serves to increase the wickedness in the land with the result that the Spirit of God is being more and more withdrawn from the earth.

The presence of the Spirit of God is a very definite protection from the destructive forces waiting to engulf the world in total ruin. As the Spirit of God thus withdraws, Satan is left with more and more control of the earth.

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Satan does not miss the opportunity of exercising what power he can in the realm of human morals and in the world of nature. The result is an ever increasing crime rate, and a mounting record of devastation, as storms, conflagrations, earthquakes, tidal waves, tornadoes, and volcanic eruptions destroy the works of man and deny him the fruit of his harvests. Satan has surprising knowledge of the secrets of nature, and he uses this to bring the world to a point of desperation.

The churches and the state will see in this the need to unite as one body to combat these emergencies. This will be the motivation which will first of all lead the churches into unity one with another. When this is done they will seek unity with the State so that, as this union is formed, it will be acclaimed as the heralding at last of the long expected millenium of peace and universal prosperity.

But, as Satan, through this means, leads the world into utter and complete dependence on the principles of his kingdom, he will have become the master architect in the building of the modern Babylon on the great River Euphrates of human power and wisdom. It will be the grandest and most universal of all the substitutions of human power for divine power. It will thus be the greatest demonstration of trust in the wrong River Euphrates--the river of death.

But, standing in the way of total success in this grand scheme to build this great Babylon will be the LITTLE COMPANY of God's true people who will be standing in the light and depending fully upon the other River--the true River of Life flowing from the Throne of God. Satan will marshall the whole world to destroy the people of God. Like a mighty torrent of destruction, the peoples of the earth--the last great Euphrates--will roll in like a flood-tide toward the apparently defenseless saints.

It will be an awe-inspiring moment as all this power rolls on in seeming invincibility. In all her glory Babylon will ride on the very crest of the wave. It will be the moment of greatest darkness over the minds of men, and fittingly at the same point of time, the fifth plague will immerse the entire world in darkness of such density as to defy any visual penetration whatsoever.

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The mighty river of death will stop in its very flow and then, with unlimited savagery, will roll back against the very Babylon which a moment before was being carried to triumph. Babylon the Great's fall at this point will not be a spiritual fall. That has already taken place, as described in Revelation 18:1-5, when the law of God is made void by enforcing Sunday as the day of worship.

This (fifth and sixth plagues) is her physical and material fall. This is her overthrow. This is her end. This is that which is described in Daniel 11:45 and Rev.17:15,16.

It is by the understanding of the symbolic role of the two rivers that God is able to portray before our very eyes the result of the rejection of the true River of Life for the substitution of the counterfeit river of death. The witness of the rivers is clear. Let each, then, build upon the banks of the River of Life which flows from the throne of God and have no part of the great river of death, with its illusory promises of life, upon the banks of which Babylon the Great is building with such pride today, as the prelude to her fall and the fall of all those who build with her. From that fall they are never to rise again--forever, while those who build on the banks of the River of Life will rise to stand with God--forever.

Next: The 144,000 vs the Great Multitude.