Revelation 9:14

14. The great river Euphrates Literal Greek, in the river, the great Euphrates. Alford notes that this river-symbol has been the puzzle of commentators. It certainly will be insoluble to any one who looks to the literal Euphrates, or to any Eastern locality, for the meaning. It was upon that great real river, illustrious in profane and sacred history, that Babylon was founded. But in our Apocalypse, Babylon is symbolically antichrist’s capital. And we are expressly told that the waters upon which Babylon “sitteth” “are,” (Revelation 9:15,) “peoples and nations.” That is, they are the human supporters of antichrist universally, without regard to locality. And thus while the locustine influences come upon the earth from the bottomless pit and from Abaddon, the tumults and blood-sheds of war spring up from the masses of men; from the lust of the flesh and the wild ambitions of the depraved heart. The four angels are the war-spirits in and among those “peoples and nations.” They are four, the cosmical number, implying that no particular war is meant, but the sum total of wars during the Christian ages. These are bound by divine restraint until the hour determined by divine justice. Then the word goes forth, Loose! and the four war- angels spring in all directions on their mission of vengeance.