‘And the sixth poured out his bowl on the great river, the River Euphrates, and its water was dried up in order that the way may be made ready for the kings who come from the sunrising. And I saw coming out of the mouth of the monster and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits as it were frogs. For they are spirits of devils, working signs, which go forth to the kings of the whole world to gather them together to the war of the great day of God, the Almighty. (Behold I come as a thief. Blessed is he who watches and has his garments ready lest he walk naked and they see his shame). And they gathered them together to the place which is called in Hebrew ‘Har-Magedon'.'
The sixth bowl, like the sixth seal and the sixth trumpet, has in mind the final days of the age (in contrast with the remainder). Here now things are coming to a head. It is noteworthy that the monster, the Beast and the False Prophet have continued on through the centuries, as Satan has used both secular powers and religious powers to attack the people of God.
The drying up of the River Euphrates parallels the drying up of the Jordan for Joshua to cross (Joshua 3:13-17) and of the Reed Sea for Israel to cross (Exodus 14:21-22). Then it carried forward God's purposes of deliverance. Now it will carry forward God's final judgment (compare Isaiah 11:15; Zechariah 10:10-11). That the mighty Euphrates should be dried up would have been viewed with the greatest horror by the people of the area. It was a symbol of their life blood being destroyed. There is an indication here of water shortage on a vast scale. But the drying up may also symbolise the final destruction of the great powers who depended on the Euphrates for provision, who are also seen as ‘dried up' (Zechariah 10:10-11).
The kings who come from the sunrising (that is, from the distant East) represent kings from the furthest parts of the earth. The judgment that is coming is to have worldwide effects. All will gather (or be gathered) for the final judgment. They are in direct contrast with the angel who ascended from the sunrising who sealed the people of God on their foreheads, preserving them from the wrath of God. These kings from the sunrising will contribute to the world's judgment.
‘The monster, the beast and the false prophet'. These represent firstly the monster of Revelation 12:3, Satan himself, secondly the Beast from the abyss, the scarlet beast (Revelation 17:3), which incorporates within itself the beast of chapter 13, and thirdly the false prophet who incorporates within himself the second beast of chapter 13. Nothing is said after this about the false prophet apart from that he accompanied the beast (Revelation 19:20), but it is clear that there is an assumption that he is the continuation of the second beast. The latter was not actually called the false prophet. He was the beginnings of which the False Prophet was the end. But Revelation 19:20 makes a clear identification. It is obvious therefore that the assumption is made that the beast throughout history continues to have at his side a false prophet (Revelation 19:20) like the second beast (Revelation 13:11-17). The secular and the religious ever go hand in hand. The false prophet therefore refers to those who continue religiously to promote the cause of the beast. (That the first beast had seven heads and ten horns and the second beast had two horns (chapter 13) demonstrates clearly that we are considering more than one person. The beasts represent empire and false religion following in continual succession side by side until the end of time).
The bringing up of ‘frogs' by the unholy trinity, the three arch deceivers, compares with the production of frogs by the magicians of Egypt (Exodus 8:7). They were false signs but in the end they were futile and ineffective. And they were the production of lies and deceit. Similarly will these evil spirits use false and deceitful signs to achieve their purposes (compare Revelation 13:13-14), whether by astrology, necromancy, sorcery or any other method. We see in our own day the growth of interest in the occult, even in children's books, preparing for these events. But we need to remember that contact with the occult can only result in deceitful and lying messages, and what is worse, it can result in possession by evil spirits. Just as the days before the Flood were highlighted by the presence of fallen angels (Genesis 6:1-4), so the days before the final judgment will see a predominance of evil spirits.
Thus the deceived world will gather to battle with God, the Almighty. This battle must not be taken too literally. All pictures of it are highly symbolic. When Christ comes in His splendour the nations will cower before Him and seek to hide from his presence (Revelation 6:15). None can stand before the power of the final Word of God (Revelation 19:13). What the picture is saying is that the deceit of Satan and his minions has built up final resistance against God and His claims, but that the coming of Christ will shatter all resistance. Armageddon will not be so much a war as an abject surrender to His authority and power. The Judge will not really need to fight. Any warfare will be between the nations. The point is that the enemies of God are as it were ready to fight because they have not understood the power of the opposition, but find that they are totally deceived.
Har Magedon - the Mount of Megiddo. There was no specific Mount Megiddo that we know of but the city of Megiddo looked out over the valley of Esdraelon where many decisive battles were fought, for it was the way for the kings of the East, thus John may be referring to the mountain overlooking the plain. It may be paralleled with ‘the valley of Jeho-shaphat', the ‘Valley of Yahweh Judges'. There Joel saw the final scene of judgment as the nations were gathered, the sickle was put in, the winepress was trodden and the multitudes were gathered in the valley of decision (Joel 3:11-14). Either way we have a vivid picture not to be taken too literally geographically. It is the idea that matters.
But in the midst of this powerful scenario a word from the Lord is slipped in, a word of warning. He is coming like a thief, suddenly and unexpectedly. Let each beware and ensure that they have their garments ready so that they will not be found naked. This has in mind the words spoken to the church of Sardis (Revelation 3:3-4) and the words to Laodicea (Revelation 3:17-18) and the parables describing servants waiting for the coming of their Lord, especially Luke 12:35 onwards. His people are to live in readiness for His coming.
2 Corinthians 4:1-6 is very apposite here. Paul did not want to be deceived by the god of this world and be found naked, rather He wanted to be clothed with his resurrection body, as a result of seeing the light of the good news of the glory of Christ Who is the image of God, and responding to Him. So those to whom John is writing must recognise in Him the glorious Saviour and live in readiness so that they are not caught out by that day coming as a thief with the result that they are found naked (1 Thessalonians 5:2-4 compare Matthew 24:43; 2 Peter 3:10).
So as with the sixth seal and the sixth trumpet, the sixth bowl brings things to a close and is followed by the final judgment. This may raise the interesting question as to whether the number of the beast, 666, has partly in mind these three sixes, the six seals, the six trumpets and the six bowls, each of which leads up to the seventh. Over each series of six the Beast carries on his activities, only to be brought to a sudden halt in each case by the judgment of God. The seventh in each case signals the triumph of God. In each series Satan fails in the end.