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| The East |
23 August 2022: It's been twelve years since the original The Kings of the East was published on Eschatology Today, so with recent events (strong rumors of war) an update would be most appropriate. The above link is for your reference to that original, and to contrast with this update.
Before beginning a series of notations, none of these notes have been at the forefront of any eschatological treatment published to date and to my knowledge. These notes are things that have come to mind, rather swiftly out of the blue in the past couple of days. I asked the Lord, "What have I missed? How can this subject possibly be updated?" Swiftly came His response, praise God!
The first thing to note is that the prophetic reference is to multiple kings of the east. This reference does not indicate just the Communist Chinese of the People's Republic of China (PRC) even though that nation remains the most militant threat to nations on the Pacific Rim.
The second thing to note is that the word "kings" is plural, indicating several countries of the eastern hemisphere are involved, and their involvement in the events of the 70th Weeks of Years is specific to that time.
Thirdly, and most importantly to note is the God-breathed Biblical defining from the text of The Apocalypse of Jesus Christ, is that these multiple kings (a grouping of Asian nations) all exist to the east of the River Euphrates. Even a cursory glance at a world map will illustrate how many nations exist on the continent of Asia to the east of the Euphrates River.
There is also a fourth note to make, all too briefly touched upon in the original linked posting above. That is the prophetic fact that their involvement in Middle Eastern or even global conflict, occurs at a minimum of two specific points in the span of the seven years of the 70th Weeks of Years. The first point is at the start of the Megas Thlipsis (Great Tribulation), or three and one-half of the 70th Week.
We see this in Daniel 11:40-44, when the Western antichrist commences his empowerment in the final 42 months. Here the antichrist is at war with the king to the South and the king of the North. And then again at the end of those 42 months when the Euphrates has been dried up to prepare the passing of the massive army under the command of the kings of the East. This is the final battle at Har Megiddo (Armageddon).
Also worthy of being noted: there is no mention of the kings of the East within the context of Ezekiel 38/39. This is true even though some of the allied nations with Gog of Magog are, by geographic definition, found in Central Asia. Russia itself is both a European and an Asian nation as we've noted previously in the Ukraine war SITREPs.
Hopefully, this SITREP will have put some meat on the bare bones of what has been put forward thus far regarding the prophetic kings of the East.
