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Identification of the Kings of the East

The Kings of the East scriptural reference comes from Revelation 16:12 which is dealing with a vast military force in the Tribulation Period.  This vast military force will start a move towards Israel, as a result of the sixth bowl of wrath, to be at the Battle of the First Armageddon Event where initially it is to fight against the Antichrist's army. 

The "Kings of the East" clearly identifies a power coming from Eastern Asia, because:

• The scriptures use the reference point of Israel as the geographical center.
• The Kings of the East come across the River Euphrates to the battle of the First Armageddon Event at the end of the Tribulation Period. 
• The "great river Euphrates" will be dried up to enable the Kings of the East passage across it.

There are some older Biblical commentaries that have identified the "Kings of the East" was the country of Japan because of the power that Japan once had in Eastern Asia.  Partially this is also because Japan being known as the country of the rising sun flag, were rising sun is a connotation of the East.  Other more recent Biblical commentaries have been pointing out that the reference is China, but this also is too myopic.  The "kings" reference is plural, thus meaning more than one country.

Today it is not hard to believe in China as a military and economic world-power, and Japan only an economic power, where the leaders could be called kingly.  Regarding China, for a long time in history up until not too many decades ago, the country of China was an easy target for conquering by the Scythians, Mongols, Europeans and most recently by the Japanese in World War II.  This led older Biblical Commentaries to discount China as a candidate in the Kings of the East prophecy.

Within the last few decades, Biblical Scholars began to improve on the interpretations because of the word "kings" in Revelation 16:12.  This indicates the most likely interpretation that it will be multiple Eastern Asian countries including China, and most likely lead by China.  Other countries that surround the country of China are becoming more dependent and falling under the political control of China. 

There are most likely many more countries in the "Kings of the East" military group that are perceived today.  Some considerations:

1. There are encompassing countries that are currently under Russian control or influence, which will be freed to join the Kings of the East:
   (a) After the future failed Gog and Magog invasion attempt, which precedes the Tribulation Period, will severely weaken the Russian military capabilities and influence. 
   (b) There are also additional judgments at that time by God on Russia, which will severely weaken the infrastructure of the Russian Federation countries.
2. India, more specifically India's military, cannot be ruled out as joining the Kings of the East. 
   (a) Some Biblical Commentaries have speculated that India would be wiped out by the King of the East military as they head towards the First Armageddon Event.  As discussed further in this topic, because of logistic support reason that will be required for the Kings of the East's military, along with the land size, the support of India will possibly be required initially. 
   (b) India, as a country today, has been rising steadily in intellectual computer types of technology, along with manufacturing and also possesses nuclear weapons.  India, will be under the control most likely of the Four Angels bound and released from the River Euphrates, Revelation 9:13-16, where India will desire to have a stake in the outcome of world events going on because of the Antichrist's attempts on world domination.
   (c) There is a possibility, that this author hasn't seen any Biblical Commentaries, but it is my belief that the Kings of the East will set up a false peace with India, just like the Antichrist has done with Israel, where:
   (c.1) Once the Kings of the East military starts moving then the peace agreements with India's government will be broken.
   (c.2) Before the Kings of the East military starts moving it will secretly have agreements with India's top military to form a "Coup" or "Military Coup d' tat", which will then lead to India's government losing power and human causalities, that is explained further in this topic.  A "Coup" is a revolt against the government, usually done by the military throughout out history.

In recent decades, China has been extending its political influence through economic and military means to many countries that are in southeast Asia.  A possible list of the Kings of the East as of 2021 are: China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, Myanmar and North Korea.  There are other countries such as Taiwan, which China doesn't recognize as independent, along with Indonesia that are in the possible list of countries to control.  All of these countries may contribute to the Kings of the East prophecy.

Triggering Event

There will be Four Fallen Angels that are released from being bound at a spiritual location at the "great river Euphrates", as referenced in Revelation 9:14.  The scriptural passage of Revelation 9:13-18 indicates the Four Angels will control the Kings of the East Army through demonic possession, 

The release of the Four Fallen Angels event is part of the "Second Woe of Three" that starts in Revelation 9:13-18.  Some Biblical Scholars, including this author, believe the

• Four Angels have been bound at the spiritual location of the river Euphrates as part of the judgmental consequences against them that lead to the Nephilim in the times of Noah. 
• Additionally, these Fallen Angels were most likely almost equivalent in rank and power to Lucifer.

The scriptural tie to the river Euphrates is the river was the eastern boundary of ancient Israel (Genesis 15:18), and also the eastern boundary of the Roman Empire at different points in history.  The Fallen Angel spiritual realm is a territorial realm with princes and rulers as explained in the Fallen Angels topic.  It might be possible the action of being imprisoned on the outside of the eastern boundary connotes a specific type of additional judgment against the Fallen Angel spiritual realm's jurisdiction of the old Roman Empire that has now been reborn under the Antichrist. 

The Antichrist's rule in the Tribulation Period is over the same area of the ancient Roman Empire as given in the prophecies in Daniel Chapter 2 concerning the Statue in King Nebuchadnezzar's dream:

Map of the Euphrates Location in relation to Israel and the other countries in the Middle-East geographical area:

Size of the Army Commanded by Kings of the East

This is a number that was completely unimaginable in the minds of anyone reading this scripture reference up until the last century.  Even with information on the total numbers of military personnel of east Asian countries in the world today, shown below, it is hard to image a military the size of 200,000,000.  

The Equation in Revelation 9:16 can be calculated by:

• First having 10,000 multiplied by 10,000 which equals 100,000,000  
• Second have 100,000,000 multiplied twice which equals 200,000,000

As of 2021, there is no country in the world currently that has a military force comprised of 200,000,000 soldiers.  The areas of east Asia, if required to create an army of that size, could do so based on their current population size.  While this is feasible, it would require a period of time to train citizens of a country to become military personnel required.

As of 2021, according to International Institute for Strategic Studies on the wiki site, the following table shows proposed countries that might make up the Kings of the East military force. 

Points of the statistical table above:

1. The current estimated size of the army that could be assembled is only 14.3% of the needed 200,000,000.
2. The yellow highlighted areas shows that China is very capable of creating a military group of the required size by drafting 14% of its citizens to report for duty and training.

Because of the "Kings" plural reference in Revelation 16:12, this means other countries can contribute to the military force, which will happen based on the prophecy.

Note as of 2023, India and China are at peace but there have been many border skirmishes along with aggression from China where there was a war in 1962, which India lost in a humiliating defeat.  There have been other skirmishes such as Depsang in 2013, Chumar in 2014, Gawan Valey in 2020 and Tawang in 2022,  Currently, as of 2023, China is now using a tactic called "Salami-Slicing" to take land from areas in Tibet which are contest lands between India and China.

This author believes that India's military will most likely be part of the great 200,000,000-person army either by choice, deception or coercion, which is discussed further in this topic in the "Logistics of Movements" section that will result in the death of one third of mankind.

Mission

The end of the mission of the Kings of the East is to be at the valley of Armageddon, with many others at the end of the Tribulation Period.  Along the way, they and when arriving before their purpose is changed, they will have the mission "to kill a third of mankind". 

At the valley of Megiddo, the Kings of East's armies are gathered there to initially fight different groups representing:

• The Antichrist' military force.
• A group comprised of nations in Africa.

At some point, that is not determined in the scriptures, they gather to fight against God, which has scriptural corroboration from Psalm 2 and other scriptural passages in the Gog and Magog prophetic verses. 

Some Biblical Scholars and this author have the theory that the Antichrist and Lucifer will persuade all the military groups at the First Armageddon Event that they need to fight against an Extraterrestrial Entity from somewhere else in the universe.  This can be theorized by:

• Events going on now on Earth with the agnostic reincarnation beliefs that the Earth is a prison planet.
• Revelation 16:14 "spirits of demons performing miraculous signs, and they go out to the kings of the whole world" that will be deceiving the people at the First Armageddon Event and everyone else on the planet who has the Mark of the Beast.

Revelation 16:12-17 is detailing the Seventh Seal's part containing Seven Angels blowing seven trumpets, where this is the Seventh' trumpet that contains seven bowls of wrath.  In this passage the sixth and seventh angel are pouring out the last two bowls of wrath from God.  The seventh bowl of wrath is against the entire Fallen Angel and Demon world on Earth.

The following is an excerpt from the Tribulation Period Topic, which contains scriptural reference/inferences to the Kings of the East during the Tribulation Period:

There will be a similar event at the end of the 1,000 Millennial Kingdom of God, where Lucifer is released from chains in Lower Sheol, to "deceive the nations" as given in the Revelation 20:5-10.  The difference is the entire Earth's armies will march towards Jerusalem once again, as "the camp of God's people, the city He loves" reference below indicates.

Logistics of Movements of the Military that Kills 1/3 of Mankind

In times of natural disasters, such as a hurricane or typhoon, there have been attempts to evacuate a few million people from the affected areas.  During the Evacuation Process, all of the major roads and highways become completely useless as vehicles try to continually enter roads causing widespread traffic stoppages.  Civil disobedience, road-rage, theft of gasoline, looting of food stores and much worse have historically happened when people become stuck in their vehicles, not moving, with the need of gasoline, food, medical help and even a place to use a toilet / bathroom.

Many countries have attempted to devise evacuation routes, all of which have proven to be very inadequate for people that are grossly fewer in number than the 200,000,000 person Kings of the East military force, where the Kings of the East will be comprised of large-scale transport and military machines.  Military transport vehicles are often twice or even much larger sizes than normal transportation vehicles.

With a military force that is composed of land, sea and air power, along with satellite space weapon systems, there is not the strict requirement of roads.  Regardless, the military force requirements of transporting a massive amount of military personnel will mean the use of enormous land transportation systems and groups.  Removing hindrances such as trees, buildings and even water crossings will mandate most likely mutual and forced coordination from countries that are in the path of the Kings of the East. 

Some theoretical points concerning the Kings of the East military movement that will have the scriptural destiny "to kill a third of mankind":

1. During this point in the Tribulation Period, the "Third Woe" and the "Seven Bowl" judgments are underway which results in a great deal of death, with extreme food and water shortages everywhere on the Earth.  There are filtration systems to get water from blood (Rev. 16:5-6 discussed above), but not everyone will have equipment.  It is this author's opinion that human cannibalism, will be an established common process to obtain meat and to obtain liquids.  This will be a necessity for the Kings of the East's military force to have the required food for a 200,000,000-person military force.
2. The "great river Euphrates" will be dried up to enable the Kings of the East passage across it as read in Revelation 16:12, but this also means there is no water "that was turned into blood" (Revelation 16:5-6) to have for the 200,000,000 person military to convert into drinking water.
3. Planning by the Kings of the East invasion force will be done with secrecy.  
4. Countries, that will be on the pathways of the Kings of the East, will either be joining or coerced into joining the military force so that the pathways in those countries will not be destroyed or set up with obstacles. 
5. The Kings of the East will have found through bribery, cyber espionage or satellite weaponry the ability to neutralize or destroy nuclear weapon defense systems on their pathway to the First Armageddon Event.
6. Large population group areas with the civilians, in ALL the Kings of the East countries and on the pathway, will not be told by their governments of what is about to happen, and even when it is happening, because this would cause wide spread panic and fighting by civilians against the Kings of the East military groups.  (Note: Most countries of the world do not allow civilians to own weapons, which is another interesting design of multiple purposes that allow governments to control people.) 
7. Once the Kings of the East's military force starts its move toward Israel to fight against the Antichrist's military force, then the great loss of life will because of:
   (a) People being targeted as a food source as explained in point 1 in this section.
   (b) People's food provisions will be targeted to steal.
   (c) Militias, factions of countries armies and people will be fighting against the Kings of the East's military force when their families are killed, homes and businesses are being destroyed during the progression.
   (d) Upon arrival at the plains of Megiddo, there will be a great deal of death from fighting between all the military forces as they logistically start to establish themselves before uniting to fight against Jesus Christ, who they will be deceived to believe is someone else as explained in the Great Lie topic.
   (e) When Jesus Christ arrives at the end of the Tribulation Period, He will cause all of the military forces at the plains of Megiddo to die with the power of His Word.  The number of those killed at that moment will be part of the "to kill a third of mankind's total life lost.   The corpses of those at Megiddo will require seven months of cleanup according to Ezekiel 39:12-13 during the Millennial Kingdom period.
8. The invasion force of the Kings of East will take any action to guarantee forward momentum, which will absolutely result in a great deal of collateral damage and loss of life along the pathways to the First Armageddon Event.

Raping, Pillaging, Destruction, Murder and Killing

1. As the vast military group moves, there will be no regard for life under the dominion of Four Fallen Angels released from being imprisoned at the "Great River Euphrates".  People in the pathway of the Military Force will be seen as a food source.
2. As in the worst of history, during times of war, there will be no respect, dignity and value for:
   (a) Human life.   (Example: In WWII, German armies invading Russia often killed men, women and children along their pathway.  There was a group that was known as the German Killing Squads.  Japan also participated in this activity against China.)
   (b) Private property with the taking of souvenirs along the way.
   (c) Taking of food provisions, that will include cannibalism.
3. Any and all sexual deviancy and perversion will be occurring. 
4. Governments, in league with the Kings of East, will use (or let) the massive military force kill large areas of their own population that:
   (a) Are drain on the country's resources.
   (b) Consist of no perceived supplemental value for the country.
   (c) To gain ecological land ownership.
   (d) To settle disputed country borders.

Armageddon Destiny

At the First Armageddon Event, there will be no battle against the Kings of the East and other Armies at the Event.  There also will be no battle against God as read in Psalm 2 and Revelation 19:19-21.  The following will happen:

1. The Antichrist (Beast) and False Prophet will be thrown alive into the Lake of Fire.
2. Jesus Christ will speak a Word that will kill every military person of all of the different countries that are present at the event.

What to read next?

We have eternal life.  Evolution is not real.  When a Christian suffers is there benefits from it.  Rewards in heaven.  Do we Tithe?  What does the 3rd Commandment tell us?  What is Salvation?  What is Grace and Mercy?  Is there an Age of Accountability?