The Drying of the Euphrates

History reveals that the Euphrates River ran through the great city of ancient Babylon. It was its lifeblood. In 539 BC, the Medo-Persians, led by Cyrus the Great, took the supposedly impenetrable metropolis not by mere force but by ingenuity. Digging channels upstream, they diverted the Euphrates, creating a dry road for the army to march unobstructed beneath the city walls. In Daniel 5, the Bible recorded this invasion from the opposite perspective of the heedless Babylonians.

The events of that fateful night, which spelled the end of the Babylonian Empire, are referenced in today’s verse. Whereas the Medo-Persians dried up the literal Euphrates, in Bible prophecy, water is a symbol for many “peoples” (Revelation 17:15). We’ve also learned that the devil, through the agency of the two beasts, has gleaned the support of nearly the entire world (13:8, 12). Thus, when the sixth plague “[dries] up” the Euphrates, it means that his lifeblood, his popularity, his global support, dies.

“Those who dwell on the earth” (v. 14) will abandon the devil’s symbolic Babylon, realizing that his counterfeit system in which they once put their faith is incapable of saving them.

Just as the drying up of the riverbed cleared the way for Cyrus, Darius, and the army, so will this metaphorical draining of the waters usher in “the kings from the east.” Interestingly, the Bible labels Cyrus as a type of Christ.

He was called God’s “shepherd” (Isaiah 44:28) as well as “His anointed” (45:1). Jesus is “the good shepherd” (John 10:11) as well as the “Messiah” (Daniel 9:25), which means “Anointed.” Cyrus was also seen as Israel’s deliverer, freeing the Jews from captivity to return to Jerusalem (2 Chronicles 36:22, 23; Ezra 1:1–4). Jesus is, of course, the Deliverer of the world, freeing us from the prison of sin (Romans 6:22) and leading us to salvation in the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21).

Thus, it follows that God the Father and Jesus Christ are “the kings” who will come to deliver their people (Daniel 7:9, 13, 14; 1 Timothy 6:15; Revelation 3:21). An interesting footnote: Because of multiple dams built upstream in Turkey and Syria, the government of Iraq estimates the Euphrates will be virtually dry in Iraq by 2040.

King of kings, may I not be like the ancient Babylonians, unprepared for judgment day, but may I herald Your glorious procession at the end of time.

For Further Study: Isaiah 61:1, 2; Daniel 11:44; Revelation 9:14

Key Bible Texts

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. (Revelation 16:12 KJV)