Revelation 16:12 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.

(Before the old testament Babylon fell, the river Euphrates had flowed under its mighty walls, and was diverted by Cyrus.

That portion of the Euphrates dried, allowing the Medes and Persians, under Cyrus, to enter Babylon, by the river bed.

Is it a coincidence, that right before new testament Babylon falls, in the next two chapters, that the Euphrates is dried up?)

Jeremiah 50:38 A drought is upon her waters; and they shall be dried up: for it is the land of graven images, and they are mad upon their idols.

Jeremiah 51:32 And that the passages are stopped, and the reeds they have burned with fire, and the men of war are affrighted.

  36 Therefore thus saith the LORD; Behold, I will plead thy cause, and take vengeance for thee; and I will dry up her sea, and make her springs dry.

Isaiah 44:27 That saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers:

  28 That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid.

(Here, the river may be dried up from its source, in the Armenian Highlands, including the mountains of Ararat, where the ark rested.

The drying up of the Euphrates will greatly affect Turkey, Syria, Iraq, and Iran, and the Ishmaelite nations of northern Arabia.

It says that it was dried up, “that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared”.

I had always heard and read that this “made a way for the kings of the east”, but it doesn’t say that.

As if it was saying, “now that it’s dry, they can move across it”, as if the Euphrates stands in their way.

If that was true, then why wouldn’t the Tigris, i.e. the Hiddekel river, also need to be dried up for them as well?

Also, I had always heard or read that the kings of the east are China, North Korea, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, etc.

However, the scriptures use “the east” to describe those much closer to Israel than that:)

Genesis 29:1 Then Jacob went on his journey, and came into the land of the people of the east.

Judges 6:33 Then all the Midianites and the Amalekites and the children of the east were gathered together, and went over, and pitched in the valley of Jezreel.

Job 1:3b  so that this man was the greatest of all the men of the east.

Isaiah 41:2 Who raised up the righteous man from the east, called him to his foot, gave the nations before him, and made him rule over kings? he gave them as the dust to his sword, and as driven stubble to his bow.

Jeremiah 49:28b Arise ye, go up to Kedar, and spoil the men of the east.

Ezekiel 25:4a Behold, therefore I will deliver thee to the men of the east for a possession,

Daniel 11:44 But tidings out of the east and out of the north shall trouble him: therefore he shall go forth with great fury to destroy, and utterly to make away many.

Matthew 2:1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,

  2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

(These were the nations east of Israel, but yet still east of Ammon, Moab, and Edom.

They were the various Ishmaelite nations of northern Arabia, including Kedar; also the nations between the Tigris and Euphrates:

Mesopotamia, Shinar, Chaldea, and Ellasar; as well as nations west of the Tigris: Parthia, Media, and Elam.)

Acts 2:9 Parthians, and Medes, and Elamites, and the dwellers in Mesopotamia, and in Judaea, and Cappadocia, in Pontus, and Asia,

(The kings of the east came together, before, to attack the Jordan valley, in the days of Abraham:)

Genesis 14:1 And it came to pass in the days of Amraphel king of Shinar, Arioch king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of nations;

  2 That these made war with Bera king of Sodom, and with Birsha king of Gomorrah, Shinab king of Admah, and Shemeber king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela, which is Zoar.

  3 All these were joined together in the vale of Siddim, which is the salt sea.

(So, the kings of the east will come together, to attack the land, once again, in the tribulation.)

(After all those scriptures, the temptation is still to think China is the fulfillment, because they are in the headlines.

Even if China was to send their armies to Israel, they wouldn’t march them all the way across thousands of miles of desert and mountains.

They would transport them by ship and by plane.

Infantries can only march about 20 miles per day in good conditions.

It could take over a year to march armies all the way from bases in China, and they’d be sitting ducks the entire time.

Also, the Tigris, or Hiddekel, river is not dried up, and it would be in as much of a way as the Euphrates is.

No, the phrase, “that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared”, may have a different meaning than that.

It is more likely that these neighboring historic nations east of Israel, are provoked by the drying up of the Euphrates.

For some years now, Turkish dams on the Euphrates considerably diminish the downstream flow to Syria and Iraq.

This is devastating to farmers, businesses, and cities that depend upon that water to survive.

The drying up of the Euphrates could cause the salinity of the Persian Gulf to rise significantly, perhaps like the Dead Sea.

If the water was completely stopped, it could be a major cause for war, especially if the Jews are somehow blamed for it.

Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain, UAE, Abu Dhabi, and Oman, could be furiously provoked.

i.e. the drying up of Euphrates prepares the way for their entry into the war that the antichrist is making against Israel.)