Revelation 16:12: And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared.

Revelation 16:12 describes a second preparatory stage in the spiritual battle of Armageddon that won't begin until Revelation 16:13.¹ The first preparatory step for Spiritual Armageddon begins with the fifth Vial Plague in Revelation 16:10-11, where an angel pours out spiritual darkness on the seat of the beast to restrict the power of evil spirits on earth.² These evil spirits are the hosts of hell that will battle the hosts of heaven called the kings of the east during Spiritual Armageddon. This spiritual battle must occur to cleanse the earth of all evil spirits before the millennium. During this spiritual cleansing, disembodied spirit sons of perdition will be banished to the lake of fire and unembodied spirit sons of perdition will be bound in the bottomless pit during the seventh Vial Plague.³ The kings of the east are the hosts of heaven that fight against these unembodied and disembodied spirit sons of perdition during Spiritual Armageddon.

The kings of the east prepare for Spiritual Armageddon as the sixth Vial Plague is poured out upon the great river Euphrates in Revelation 16:12.⁴ This symbolic imagery parallels the same imagery found in Revelation 9:14, where the sixth trumpet angel loosed four angels from the Euphrates River to begin Physical Armageddon of the Second Woe.⁵ The sixth trumpet angel and sixth Vial Plague share the imagery of the Euphrates River,⁶ but they are two very different events. This is made clear in the Joseph Smith Translation of Revelation 9:14, which describes the start of Physical Armageddon. In the Joseph Smith Translation of that verse, the Prophet changed the words Euphrates River to the bottomless pit.⁷ He made this change to show that the darkness of evil spirits from the bottomless pit during the First Woe⁸ will cause mortal armies and wicked nations of the world to engage in Physical Armageddon during the Second Woe. The Prophet did not change the words Euphrates River in Revelation 16:12 that pertains to Spiritual Armageddon. No change was made to this later verse because the kings of the east are the righteous hosts of heaven. Their origin is the symbolic Euphrates River not the bottomless pit that is the source of evil spirits in Revelation 9:14.

In Revelation 16:12, the great river Euphrates symbolizes the ancient boundary‒and modern spiritual boundary‒between Israel and Babylon.⁹ In the context of the sixth Vial Plague, the symbol of the Euphrates River as a dried up riverbed¹⁰ alludes to several historical events.¹¹ The Israelite crossing of the Red Sea on dry ground in the days of Moses is the first and most obvious foreshadow.¹² Another foreshadow occurred when Joshua¹³ led the Israelites across the Jordan river to conquer the indigenous people¹⁴ in the land promised to Abraham.¹⁵ When Joshua began that ancient conquest, the Jordan river miraculously dried up¹⁶ and 600,000 Israelites¹⁷ entered the land of promise from the east¹⁸ without restraint.¹⁹ The Israelites carried the ark of the covenant in front of their army²⁰ to symbolize Jehovah's divine presence leading them to victory.²¹ John's vision of the sixth Vial Plague closely mirrors this ancient event at the Jordan river, but John identifies the great river Euphrates as the dried up river because the Euphrates River was the eastern border of the actual land promised to Abraham.²² Abraham literally crossed the Euphrates River with his household to take possession of his promised land when he left the Ur of Chaldees enroute to the promised land of Canaan.²³

Fast forward to the Second Coming when Jesus Christ will come as King of kings to conquer the earth.²⁴ The 144,000 Servants who are redeemed and exalted members of the house of Israel will accompany him after they stand with Christ on heavenly mount Zion in Revelation 14:1.²⁵ In Revelation 16:12, the 144,000 Servants are called the kings of the east because they are subordinate kings of Christ who is the King of these kings.²⁶ These kings symbolically cross the dried up Euphrates Riverbed from the east with Christ at their head.²⁷ They include exaltation-worthy saints still living at the Second Coming who will be temporarily quickened by the Holy Ghost to a translated or transfigured state,²⁸ and others who will be changed in the twinkling of an eye to a resurrected state so they can be caught up to descend with Christ at his Second Coming.²⁹ The kings of the east do not include the general assembly of the Church of the Firstborn, which consists of celestial-worthy, but unexalted people.³⁰ Members of the general assembly won't be resurrected, nor will they return to earth until shortly after Christ's Second Coming.³¹

The exaltation-worthy kings of the east will battle all the evil spirits on earth during the seventh and final Vial Plague.³² Therefore, the sixth Vial Plague is preparatory only. Revelation 16:12 specifically states that the great river Euphrates will dry up so that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared. In this time of final preparation, all the spirit sons of perdition³³ will gather to Armageddon³⁴ where they will face defeat during the seventh Vial Plague.³⁵

The kings of the east symbolically come from the direction of the rising sun³⁶ in the east³⁷ because they will accompany Christ, whose Second Coming is also like the rising sun from the east.³⁸ When Christ and the kings come from the east and cross the great river Euphrates, the riverbed will be dry to symbolize that the kings of the east will not meet with any resistance from evil spirits during Spiritual Armageddon.³⁹ The evil spirits of the earth will be completely defenseless against⁴⁰ Christ and the conquering kings of the east.⁴¹ The battle will end quickly⁴² as Babylon the Great falls to Christ and these kings of the east in a single day.⁴³

Jeremiah dualistically describes Christ's future victory over Modern Babylon with images from the past. He described the defeat of ancient Babylon by an army from the north country.⁴⁴ The word north is a cardinal direction that has an evil connotation when used symbolically.⁴⁵ However, north also means heaven.⁴⁶ Thus, the kings of the east in John's vision come as a heavenly host from the north or heaven as the antitype for an army that literally attacked Jerusalem from the north in Jeremiah's vision.

Evil spirits are an integral part of Modern Babylon and their sudden defeat by the kings of the east is foreshadowed⁴⁷ by the sudden fall of ancient Babylon.⁴⁸ The ancient city of Babylon fell in a single night to king Cyrus, who was a type of Christ.⁴⁹ He led the armies of Media and Persia from the north and east in the sudden conquest of ancient Babylon.⁵⁰ The massive walls of Babylon were built over the Euphrates River⁵¹ and Cyrus captured Babylon without resistance⁵² when he diverted the waters of the Euphrates away from the city so that his army could enter the city beneath the massive walls on a dry river bed.⁵³ John alludes to this historical event during his vision of the sixth Vial Plague when the Euphrates River dries up in Revelation 16:12.⁵⁴

The great river Euphrates is a large river with many waters.⁵⁵ In one symbolic sense, the many waters of the Euphrates River will dry up like evaporating water that boils away during the burning fires of Christ's Second Coming.⁵⁶ Additionally, since the ancient city of Babylon was built over the Euphrates River it was literally a city that sat on many waters.⁵⁷ Modern Babylon is called the Great Whore and, in Revelation 17:1, she sits upon many waters.⁵⁸ The many waters represent the wicked people and nations that support the Great Whore.⁵⁹ With these further images in mind, the sixth Vial Plague will dry up the waters of the great river Euphrates to symbolize that the Great Whore of Modern Babylon will no longer have a multitude of wicked people or evil spirits to support her.⁶⁰