Bloodguilty Ones Cannot Escape God’s Judgment

SINCE the outbreak of World War I in 1914 C.E., men, women and children have been slaughtered on a scale never witnessed before in the history of mankind. Certainly tremendous bloodguilt rests upon the nations. This is especially true of those of Christendom, for they have played a leading role in the bloody conflicts of this century. Their claim of being Christian will not spare them from the adverse judgment of Jehovah God. He hates, yes, detests, bloodguilty ones.​—Ps. 5:6; Prov. 6:16, 17.

Though bloodguilty men and nations may flourish for a time, they cannot forever escape having God’s judgment executed against them. The pages of ancient history confirm this. Consider, for example, what happened to the inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem toward the close of the seventh century B.C.E.

CLAIMED RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD NO PROTECTION

By reason of their special covenant relationship with God, the inhabitants of Jerusalem felt safe. They also thought themselves secure because of the city’s strong fortifications and their alliance with the military power of Egypt. So when Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar began the siege of Jerusalem toward the end of December in the year 609 B.C.E., they did not fear that their city would become a complete desolation. What they failed to see was that Jehovah God had abandoned Jerusalem. It was his purpose to settle accounts with the bloodguilty inhabitants.

The very day that Nebuchadnezzar began the siege of Jerusalem, Jehovah God, through his invisible active force or spirit, revealed this to his prophet Ezekiel, then in Babylonian exile. (Ezek. 24:1, 2) Ezekiel was also instructed to depict what would happen to Jerusalem. In the Bible book bearing his name, we read:

“Compose a proverbial saying concerning the rebellious house, and you must say concerning them, ‘This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said: “Put the widemouthed cooking pot on; put it on, and also pour water into it. Gather pieces in it, every good piece, thigh and shoulder; fill it even with the choicest bones. Let there be a taking of the choicest sheep, and also stack the logs in a circle under it. Boil its pieces, also cook its bones in the midst of it.”’”​—Ezek. 24:3, 4.

Jerusalem was thus likened to a widemouthed cooking pot. The stacking of the logs underneath and the setting of them afire would therefore represent the siege of Jerusalem. That siege would gradually make it hot like boiling water for those inside the city. The pieces of flesh put into the pot would picture those inside Jerusalem, including the refugees that fled to it from before the advancing Babylonian armies. The good pieces put in would picture those of the better social class of the city, especially the king and his princes. Since the bones make up the framework that supports the fleshly body, the “choicest bones” would picture those that held up the structure of the national organism, namely, the military commanders and their staff of officers. All were to “cook” during the siege.

The bloodguiltiness of Jerusalem’s inhabitants made them deserving of such calamity. Jehovah through Ezekiel declared:

“Woe to the city of deeds of bloodshed, the widemouthed cooking pot, the rust of which is in it, and the very rust of which has not gone forth from it! Piece by piece of it, bring it out; no lot must be cast over it. For its very blood has come to be right in the midst of it. Upon the shining, bare surface of a crag she placed it. She did not pour it out upon the earth, in order to cover it over with dust. In order to bring up rage for the executing of vengeance, I have put her blood upon the shining, bare surface of a crag, in order that it may not be covered over.”​—Ezek. 24:6-8.

The moral scum and filth within the symbolic cooking pot, bloodguilty Jerusalem, clung tenaciously to its sides and caused rust to form. That scum and filth could simply not be washed or scoured out. Jerusalem’s regard for human blood was so low that she did not even pour out the blood of her victims and cover it over with dust. She did less for her human victims than what God’s law commanded to be done in the case of the blood of an animal killed in hunting. (Lev. 17:13, 14) Jerusalem shamelessly poured out violently shed blood upon the shining, bare surface of a crag for it to be openly exposed as a testimony to her criminality. This contempt for human blood stirred up Jehovah’s rage. He was determined not to let her bloodstained record be covered over but to expose it to public gaze like blood on a dustless, shining, bare surface of a crag. The criminals in Jerusalem would be brought out to justice indiscriminately, “piece by piece.” No selective lots would be cast over them.

Providing further details about the siege, Jehovah’s word through Ezekiel continues:

“Woe to the city of deeds of bloodshed! I myself also shall make the pile great. Make the logs many. Kindle the fire. Boil the flesh thoroughly. And empty out the broth, and let the bones themselves become piping hot. Stand it empty upon its coals in order that it may get hot; and its copper must become heated up, and its uncleanness must be liquefied in the midst of it. Let its rust get consumed. Troubles! It has made one tired, but the great amount of its rust does not go forth from it. Into the fire with its rust!”​—Ezek. 24:9-12.

Jehovah saw what the gory, scummy city deserved. It must be enveloped in a big blaze as from a great pile of logs. Due to the long-continued cooking at the boiling point her military commanders and officers must get unbearably hot with the increasing intensity of the Babylonian siege, and the other inhabitants, like overcooked flesh, must be reduced to a state like broth with no texture or stability. The city would be emptied completely at its fall to the Babylonian besiegers. It would be put like an emptied cooking pot of copper upon the fire of destruction, because of the scum-covered rust still clinging to its sides. The whole symbolic cooking pot (Jerusalem) would be melted down to separate the dross from it.

There was no possibility for Jerusalem to escape. Her record of bloodguilt and uncleanness testified against her. As Jehovah declared through Ezekiel:

“There was loose conduct in your uncleanness. For that reason I had to cleanse you, but you did not become clean from your uncleanness. You will become clean no more until I cause my rage to come to its rest in your case. I myself, Jehovah, have spoken. It must come, and I will act. I shall not neglect, neither shall I feel sorry nor feel regret. According to your ways and according to your dealings they will certainly judge you.”​—Ezek. 24:13, 14.

The start of the Babylonian siege proved that Jerusalem, the capital of the Kingdom of Judah, had refused to be cleansed from spiritually loose conduct. In fact, her uncleanness would not end until Jehovah brought his rage to rest by having the bloodguilty city destroyed. He would feel no regret for taking this extreme measure.

STUNNING EFFECT PRODUCED BY JERUSALEM’S DESTRUCTION

The destruction of Jerusalem would indeed have a stunning effect upon the prophet Ezekiel’s fellow exiles. That destruction would mean the wrecking of the magnificent temple built by Solomon, a structure that the Jews looked upon as a charm against disaster. (Jer. 7:1-11) It would also mean that some of the older Jews at Tel-abib would be bereaved of sons and daughters whom they were forced to leave behind in Jerusalem at the time of their being taken into exile. The prophet Ezekiel was instructed to dramatize the effect Jerusalem’s destruction would have on them. He was told:

“Here I [Jehovah] am taking away from you the thing desirable to your eyes by a blow, and you should not beat your breast, neither should you weep nor should your tears come on. Sigh without words. For the dead ones no mourning should you make. Your headdress bind on yourself, and your sandals you should put upon your feet. And you should not cover over the mustache, and the bread of men you should not eat.”​—Ezek. 24:15-17.

The one desirable to the eyes of Ezekiel proved to be his own wife, who died less than twenty-four hours later. In obedience to Jehovah’s command, thirty-four-year-old Ezekiel exercised self-control over his natural human emotions. He did not offer any visible or audible sign of grief over the death of his wife. He put on his headdress, all neatly tied up, and did not let any of it hang down over his face and cover his upper lip. He did not go barefoot in grief nor did he allow sympathizers to prepare a consolation meal for him. This caused wonderment among his fellow exiles. They asked: “Will you not tell us what these things have to do with us?” (Ezek. 24:18, 19) Ezekiel replied:

“The very word of Jehovah has occurred to me, saying, ‘Say to the house of Israel: “This is what the Sovereign Lord Jehovah has said, ‘Here I am profaning my sanctuary, the pride of your strength, the thing desirable to your eyes and the object of your soul’s compassion, and your sons and your daughters whom you people have left behind​—by the sword they will fall. And you will have to do just as I have done. Mustaches you will not cover over, and the bread of men you will not eat. And your headdress will be on your heads, and your sandals be upon your feet. You will not beat yourselves nor will you weep, and you will have to rot away in your errors, and you will actually groan over one another. And Ezekiel has become for you a portent. In accord with all that he has done, you will do. When it comes, you will also have to know that I am the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.’”’”​—Ezek. 24:20-24.

The faithlessness of the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the Babylonian exiles was such that it would take a blow in the form of the destruction of holy city, temple and children before they would come to know that Jehovah was not going to tolerate bloodguilt and moral filth. They could not bring themselves to believe that Jehovah would profane his own sanctuary by letting pagan, idolatrous Babylonians capture, loot and destroy Solomon’s temple that had stood for 420 years. Jehovah, however, would not spare what he described to the exiles as ‘the pride of their strength, the thing desirable to their eyes and the object of their soul’s compassion’ (either Jehovah’s sanctuary at Jerusalem or their sons and daughters there). At the time of the fulfillment of his word in such a stunning way these exiles would have to know that the One who said he would do such a thing and the One who actually did it were one and the same Person, Jehovah.

BLOODGUILTY CHRISTENDOM CANNOT ESCAPE

As Jehovah God did not put up indefinitely with bloodguilty Jerusalem, so he will not continue to tolerate bloodguilty Christendom. Though Christendom may claim to be serving God, her actions show otherwise. She is not God’s congregation or the temple that he inhabits by spirit. (1 Cor. 3:16) Her profession to be that temple will no more save her than did the presence of Solomon’s temple in Jerusalem. That profession will be exposed as false when she is utterly destroyed.

No one should think that this destruction will not come, for Jehovah God has not changed his view of bloodguilt and moral filth. (Mal. 3:5, 6) The events of the future and the news reports that will come through will prove true what the anointed remnant of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses have been proclaiming regarding the end of Christendom. When the “great tribulation” begins upon Christendom the anointed remnant will know it and will have no question about its outcome. What they will have proclaimed already by that time regarding the outcome of that tribulation will be enough. They will have no message of hope for Christendom.

The situation with the anointed remnant will then correspond to that of Ezekiel, who was told:

“As for you, O son of man, will it not be in the day of my taking away from them their fortress, the beautiful object of their exultation, the thing desirable to their eyes and the longing of their soul, their sons and their daughters, that in that day there will come to you the escaped one for making the ears hear? In that day your mouth will be opened to the escaped one; and you will speak and be mute no longer; and you will certainly become to them a portent, and they will have to know that I am Jehovah.”​—Ezek. 24:25-27.

By the time the siege of Jerusalem began, Ezekiel had already said enough to his people. There was no need for him to add much more in order to make the divine prophecy sound more convincing. So until the day of the coming of the authentic report of verification Ezekiel was to be mute, that is, speechless as regards further prophesying about the disaster to befall Jerusalem and the Kingdom of Judah. Till the escaped one with the report about Jerusalem’s destruction finally arrived, the Jewish exiles in Babylon could think over what Ezekiel had prophesied to them. If they so chose, they could remain unbelieving. But their unbelief would in due time be blasted to pieces by the arrival of an authentic eyewitness of Jerusalem’s downfall.

Ezekiel would then be in position to speak from a better background of events. He would have a new, fresh message. His authority as a true inspired prophet of Jehovah would have been established. As a “sign” man or as a “portent” of what was fast impending, he had not proved false.

As the destruction upon bloodguilty Jerusalem came, so destruction will without fail come upon bloodguilty Christendom. Reports that will come pouring in from all parts of the world where Christendom now obtains will stamp as true that the modern Ezekiel class, the anointed remnant of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses, was a timely “portent” from the Sovereign Lord of the universe. People will then have to come to know Jehovah as the God who does not leave acts of violence and bloodshed unpunished. Would it, therefore, not be the wise course now to give ear to what Jehovah’s Christian witnesses are proclaiming so as to escape bringing calamity upon oneself when Christendom comes to a violent end?

[Picture on page 123]

The siege of Jerusalem as depicted by Jehovah