Who Is The King Of The East?

There has been much speculation, as is always the case with Bible prophecy, concerning the identity of this major end-time player. - In the final analysis, there are two positions worth mentioning, in my humble opinion.

The first is a conglomerate of Muslim nations in and around the Middle East. - Speaking directly, I do not agree with this position. As to why, here’s just a couple of quick responses:

1.There’s not enough population to make up an army of 200 million (Revelation 9).

2.There’s no organized multi-national military force in place.

3.Some of the nations considered as part of this multi-national conglomerate are west of the Euphrates River.

In short, these Muslim nations, some of which are specifically identified in Ezekiel 38, make up the coalition of forces that will join with “Gog from the Land of Magog” (Russia) which will ultimately come against Israel in what us Bible prophecy guys call the “Ezekiel War”. (NOTE: See Teaching tab - “The Ezekiel War” for more specifics.)

So who is it? Revelation 9:14-16 says,

It said to the sixth angel who had the trumpet, "Release the four angels who are bound at the great river Euphrates." And the four angels who had been kept ready for this very hour and day and month and year were released to kill a third of mankind. The number of the mounted troops was two hundred million. I heard their number.

When John wrote this prophecy in the first century AD, there weren’t even 200 million people on Planet Earth. For centuries, it was a mystery to most people how the Bible could be talking about an army of 200 million soldiers.

The human population exploded in the 20th century. When China’s population passed the one billion mark, end-time writers realized that John’s vision was literally true. In the early ’80’s, I remember being fascinated by Hal Lindsey’s Late Great Planet Earth book that mentioned how it was now possible for China to field an army of this size.

But there was still one problem with China being the “King of the East”. China may have had the manpower, but it lacked the ability to outfit such a large military force. It takes a nation of economic might to organize a large, effective army. For centuries, China was so feeble that it was unable to fend of a host of colonial powers.

The solution came with the Chinese economic miracle. It is the only communist nation on Earth that has been able to prosper. Where once stood mud huts, one can now find modern cities that have so many skyscrapers they put cities like New York and Chicago to shame. Also, she is in the process of building a new and modern military. -- All China needs now is for the four demonic angels to come set them marching westward.

So -- after much study and contemplation, I believe the “Kings of the East” has to be China.

Revelation 16:12 says,

The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up to prepare the way for the kings from the East. 

Until next time,

Red