‘The great river Euphrates’, as God’s Word states in Genesis 15:18, Deuteronomy 1:7, Joshua 1:4, Revelation 9:14 and Revelation 16:12, the longest river in Western Asia and the fifteenth-longest in Asia with its length of approximately 2800 km (1700 mi) and a depth that varies between 3 and 32 feet (0,92 m to 9,75 m), dries up and “only in the last few years the river water was almost completely drying up”, the website www.thearhaelogist.org confirmed on June 2, 2023.
In his book “Daniel and the Revelation”, the Christian Adventist writer Uriah Smith wrote in 1882 that the drying up of Euphrates river in Revelation 16:12 was a symbol of “consumption of the Ottoman power”. Just for comparison, in June 2018 one US dollar equaled 4.5 Turkish liras, while in June 2023 one dollar was exchanged for more than 23 Turkish liras, a decline by more than 80 percent over the past five years.
However, the fulfillment of the biblical prophesy has its optimistic meaning as well: the coming true of the signs given by Christ shows the nearness of Christ’s second coming - “When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.” (Luke 21:28). In addition, our consolation is that the salvation of Christ, our Lord, comprises persons “from every nation, tribe, people and language” (Revelation 7:9), including US-Americans and Japanese, Spanish and Arabs, Russians and Ukrainians, even Turks and Bulgarians, because “the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving…” (James 3:17)
The Euphrates River, a photo by the website www.thearhaelogist.org.
Written by Margarit Zhekov
