Chapter 30

“Babylon the Great Has Fallen!”

1. What does the second angel announce, and who is Babylon the Great?

IT IS the hour of God’s judgment! Listen, then, to the divine message: “And another, a second angel, followed, saying: ‘She has fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen, she who made all the nations drink of the wine of the anger of her fornication!’” (Revelation 14:8) For the first time, but not the last, Revelation focuses attention on Babylon the Great. Later, chapter 17 will describe her as a voluptuous harlot. Who is she? As we shall see, she is a global empire, she is religious, and she is Satan’s counterfeit system that he uses in fighting against the seed of God’s woman. (Revelation 12:17) Babylon the Great is the entire world empire of false religion. She includes all religions that preserve the religious teachings and practices of ancient Babylon and that manifest her spirit.

2. (a) How was it that Babylonish religion was scattered to all parts of the earth? (b) What is the most prominent segment of Babylon the Great, and when did it emerge as a powerful organization?

² It was at Babylon, more than 4,000 years ago, that Jehovah confused the tongues of the would-be builders of the Tower of Babel. The different language groups were scattered to the ends of the earth, taking with them the apostate beliefs and practices that are the basis of most religions to this day. (Genesis 11:1-9) Babylon the Great is the religious part of Satan’s organization. (Compare John 8:43-47.) Her most prominent segment today is apostate Christendom, which emerged as a powerful, lawless organization in the fourth century after Christ, with creeds and formalisms derived, not from the Bible, but largely from Babylonish religion.​—2 Thessalonians 2:3-12.

3. How can it be said that Babylon the Great has fallen?

³ You may ask, ‘Since religion still exercises great influence in the earth, why does the angel announce that Babylon the Great has fallen?’ Well, what resulted after 539 B.C.E. when ancient Babylon fell? Why, Israel was freed to return to its homeland and restore true worship there! So the restoration of spiritual Israel in 1919 to a radiant spiritual prosperity, which continues and expands to this day, stands as evidence that Babylon the Great fell in that year. No longer does she have power of restraint over God’s people. Moreover, she has come into deep trouble within her own ranks. Since 1919 her corruption, dishonesty, and immorality have been widely exposed. In most of Europe, few people go to church anymore, and in some socialistic countries, religion is regarded as “the opium of the people.” Disgraced in the eyes of all lovers of God’s Word of truth, Babylon the Great now waits on death row, as it were, for the execution of Jehovah’s righteous judgment on her.

Babylon’s Disgraceful Fall

4-6. How is it that “Babylon the Great . . . made all the nations drink of the wine of the anger of her fornication”?

⁴ Let us examine in more detail the circumstances surrounding the disgraceful fall of Babylon the Great. The angel here tells us that “Babylon the Great . . . made all the nations drink of the wine of the anger of her fornication.” What does this mean? It relates to conquest. For example, Jehovah told Jeremiah: “Take this cup of the wine of rage out of my hand, and you must make all the nations to whom I am sending you drink it. And they must drink and shake back and forth and act like crazed men because of the sword that I am sending among them.” (Jeremiah 25:15, 16) In the sixth and seventh centuries B.C.E., Jehovah used ancient Babylon to pour out a symbolic cup of tribulation for many nations to drink, including apostate Judah, so that even his own people were taken into exile. Then, in her turn, Babylon fell because her king exalted himself against Jehovah, “the Lord of the heavens.”​—Daniel 5:23.

⁵ Babylon the Great has also made conquests, but for the most part, these have been more subtle. She has “made all the nations drink” by using the wiles of a prostitute, committing religious fornication with them. She has enticed political rulers into alliances and friendships with her. Through religious allurements, she has schemed political, commercial, and economic oppression. She has fomented religious persecution and religious wars and crusades, as well as national wars, for purely political and commercial reasons. And she has sanctified these wars by saying they are God’s will.

⁶ Religion’s involvement in the wars and politics of the 20th century is common knowledge​—as in Shinto Japan, Hindu India, Buddhist Vietnam, “Christian” Northern Ireland and Latin America, as well as others—​not to overlook the army chaplains’ part on both sides of the two world wars in urging young men to slaughter one another. A classic example of the philandering of Babylon the Great is the share she had in the Spanish Civil War of 1936-39, in which at least 600,000 people were killed. This bloodspilling was provoked by supporters of the Catholic clergy and their allies, in part because the wealth and position of the church was threatened by Spain’s legal government.

7. Who has been the main target of Babylon the Great, and what methods has she used against this target?

⁷ Since Babylon the Great is the religious part of Satan’s seed, she has always made Jehovah’s “woman,” “Jerusalem above,” her main target. In the first century, the congregation of anointed Christians was clearly identified as the woman’s seed. (Genesis 3:15; Galatians 3:29; 4:26) Babylon the Great tried hard to conquer that chaste congregation by seducing it into committing religious fornication. The apostles Paul and Peter warned that many would succumb and a great apostasy would result. (Acts 20:29, 30; 2 Peter 2:1-3) Jesus’ messages to the seven congregations indicated that toward the end of John’s life, Babylon the Great was making some progress in her efforts to corrupt. (Revelation 2:6, 14, 15, 20-23) But Jesus had already shown how far she would be permitted to go.

The Wheat and the Weeds

8, 9. (a) What did Jesus’ parable of the wheat and the weeds indicate? (b) What happened “while men were sleeping”?

⁸ In his parable of the wheat and the weeds, Jesus spoke of a man who sowed fine seed in a field. But “while men were sleeping,” an enemy came and oversowed weeds. Hence, the wheat came to be obscured by the weeds. Jesus explained his parable in these words: “The sower of the fine seed is the Son of man; the field is the world; as for the fine seed, these are the sons of the kingdom; but the weeds are the sons of the wicked one, and the enemy that sowed them is the Devil.” He then showed that the wheat and the weeds would be allowed to grow together until “the conclusion of the system of things,” when the angels would “collect out” the symbolic weeds.​—Matthew 13:24-30, 36-43.

⁹ What Jesus and the apostles Paul and Peter warned about happened. “While men were sleeping,” either after the apostles fell asleep in death or when Christian overseers became drowsy in guarding the flock of God, Babylonish apostasy sprouted right inside the congregation. (Acts 20:31) Soon the weeds greatly outnumbered the wheat and hid it from view. For a number of centuries, it might have appeared that the seed of the woman had been completely engulfed by the voluminous skirts of Babylon the Great.

10. What took place by the 1870’s, and how did Babylon the Great react to this?

¹⁰ By the 1870’s anointed Christians began to make determined efforts to disassociate themselves from the whorish ways of Babylon the Great. They abandoned false doctrines that Christendom had brought in from paganism and boldly used the Bible in preaching that the times of the Gentiles would end in 1914. The chief instrument of Babylon the Great, the clergy of Christendom, opposed these stirrings of restoration of true worship. During the first world war, they took advantage of wartime hysteria to try to stamp out that small group of faithful Christians. In 1918, when their activities were almost completely suppressed, it appeared that Babylon the Great had succeeded. She seemed to have triumphed over them.

11. What resulted from the fall of ancient Babylon?

¹¹ As we previously noted, the proud city of Babylon experienced a disastrous fall from power in 539 B.C.E. Then the cry was heard: “She has fallen! Babylon has fallen!” The great seat of the world empire had fallen to the armies of Medo-Persia under Cyrus the Great. Although the city itself survived the conquest, her fall from power was real, and it resulted in the release of her Jewish captives. They returned to Jerusalem to reestablish pure worship there.​—Isaiah 21:9; 2 Chronicles 36:22, 23; Jeremiah 51:7, 8.

12. (a) In our time, how can it be said that Babylon the Great has fallen? (b) What proves that Jehovah has utterly rejected Christendom?

¹² In our time the cry that Babylon the Great has fallen has also been heard! Babylonish Christendom’s temporary success in 1918 was sharply reversed in 1919 when the remnant of anointed ones, the John class, was restored by a spiritual resurrection. Babylon the Great had fallen as far as having any captive hold on God’s people was concerned. Like locusts, Christ’s anointed brothers swarmed out of the abyss, ready for action. (Revelation 9:1-3; 11:11, 12) They were the modern “faithful and discreet slave,” and the Master appointed them over all his belongings on earth. (Matthew 24:45-47) Their being used in this way proved that Jehovah had utterly rejected Christendom despite her claim to be his representative on earth. Pure worship was reestablished, and the way was open to complete the work of sealing the remnant of the 144,000​—the remaining ones of the seed of the woman, the age-old enemy of Babylon the Great. All of this signaled a crushing defeat for that satanic religious organization.

Endurance for the Holy Ones

13. (a) What does the third angel announce? (b) What judgment does Jehovah make of those who receive the mark of the wild beast?

¹³ Now the third angel speaks. Listen! “And another angel, a third, followed them, saying in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the wild beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he will also drink of the wine of the anger of God that is poured out undiluted into the cup of his wrath.’” (Revelation 14:9, 10a) At Revelation 13:16, 17, it was revealed that during the Lord’s day those who do not worship the image of the wild beast would suffer​—even be killed. Now we learn that Jehovah has determined to bring to judgment those “having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of its name.” They will be forced to drink a bitter ‘cup of wrath’ of Jehovah’s anger. What will this mean for them? In 607 B.C.E., when Jehovah forced Jerusalem to drink “his cup of rage,” the city experienced “despoiling and breakdown, and hunger and sword” at the hands of the Babylonians. (Isaiah 51:17, 19) Similarly, when idolizers of earth’s political powers and their image, the United Nations, get to drink the cup of Jehovah’s wrath, the result will be a calamity for them. (Jeremiah 25:17, 32, 33) They will be utterly destroyed.

14. Even before the destruction of those who worship the wild beast and its image, what must such ones undergo, and how does John describe this?

¹⁴ Even before that happens, however, those with the mark of the beast have to undergo the tormenting effects of Jehovah’s disapproval. Speaking of the worshipper of the wild beast and its image, the angel informs John: “And he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and day and night they have no rest, those who worship the wild beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.”​—Revelation 14:10b, 11.

15, 16. What is the import of the words “fire and sulphur” at Revelation 14:10?

¹⁵ Some have viewed the mention here of fire and sulfur (“fire and brimstone,” King James Version) as a proof of the existence of a hellfire. But a brief look at a similar prophecy shows the real import of these words in this context. Back in the days of Isaiah, Jehovah warned the nation of Edom that they would be punished because of their enmity toward Israel. He said: “Her torrents must be changed into pitch, and her dust into sulphur; and her land must become as burning pitch. By night or by day it will not be extinguished; to time indefinite its smoke will keep ascending. From generation to generation she will be parched; forever and ever no one will be passing across her.”​—Isaiah 34:9, 10.

¹⁶ Was Edom hurled into some mythical hellfire to burn forever? Of course not. Rather, the nation completely disappeared from the world scene as if she had been totally consumed with fire and sulfur. The final result of the punishment was not everlasting torment but “emptiness . . . wasteness . . . nothing.” (Isaiah 34:11, 12) The smoke ‘ascending to time indefinite’ vividly illustrates this. When a house burns down, smoke keeps coming from the ashes for some time after the flames have died down, providing onlookers with evidence that there has been a destructive conflagration. Even today God’s people remember the lesson to be learned from the destruction of Edom. In this way ‘the smoke of her burning’ is still ascending in a symbolic way.

17, 18. (a) What is the outcome for those who receive the mark of the wild beast? (b) In what way is it that worshippers of the wild beast are tormented? (c) How is it that “the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever”?

¹⁷ Those who have the mark of the wild beast will also be destroyed completely, as if by fire. As the prophecy later reveals, their dead bodies will be left unburied for animals and birds to eat. (Revelation 19:17, 18) So, clearly, they are not being literally tortured forever! How are they “tormented with fire and sulphur”? In that the proclamation of truth exposes them and warns them of God’s coming judgment. Therefore they vilify God’s people and, where possible, slyly persuade the political wild beast to persecute and even kill Jehovah’s Witnesses. As a climax, these opposers will be destroyed as with fire and brimstone. Then “the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever” in that God’s judgment of them will serve as a touchstone if ever again Jehovah’s rightful sovereignty is challenged. That issue will have been settled for all eternity.

¹⁸ Who deliver the tormenting message today? Remember, the symbolic locusts have authority to torment the men who do not have the seal of God on their foreheads. (Revelation 9:5) Evidently, these ones under angelic direction are the tormentors. Such is the persistence of the symbolic locusts that “day and night they have no rest, those who worship the wild beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.” And finally, after their destruction, the monumental evidence of that vindication of Jehovah’s sovereignty, “the smoke of their torment,” will ascend forever and ever. May the John class endure until that vindication is complete! As the angel concludes: “Here is where it means endurance for the holy ones, those who observe the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.”​—Revelation 14:12.

19. Why is endurance required on the part of the holy ones, and what does John report that strengthens them?

¹⁹ Yes, “endurance for the holy ones” means their worshipping Jehovah in exclusive devotion through Jesus Christ. Their message is not popular. It leads to opposition, persecution, even martyrdom. But they are strengthened by what John next reports: “And I heard a voice out of heaven say: ‘Write: Happy are the dead who die in union with the Lord from this time onward. Yes, says the spirit, let them rest from their labors, for the things they did go right with them.’”​—Revelation 14:13.

20. (a) How does the promise reported by John harmonize with Paul’s prophecy about Jesus’ presence? (b) Those of the anointed who die after Satan’s ouster from heaven are promised what special privilege?

²⁰ This promise harmonizes well with Paul’s prophecy concerning Jesus’ presence: “Those who are dead in union with Christ will rise first. Afterward we the living who are surviving [those of the anointed ones who survive into the Lord’s day] will, together with them, be caught away in clouds to meet the Lord in the air.” (1 Thessalonians 4:15-17) After Satan’s ouster from heaven, those who were dead in union with Christ rose first. (Compare Revelation 6:9-11.) Afterward, those of the anointed ones who die during the Lord’s day are promised a special privilege. Their resurrection to spirit life in heaven is instantaneous, “in the twinkling of an eye.” (1 Corinthians 15:52) How marvelous this is! And their works of righteousness continue right on in the heavenly realm.

Harvest of the Earth

21. What does John tell us about “the harvest of the earth”?

²¹ Others are also to benefit in this day of judgment, as John goes on to tell us: “And I saw, and, look! a white cloud, and upon the cloud someone seated like a son of man, with a golden crown on his head and a sharp sickle in his hand. And another angel [the fourth] emerged from the temple sanctuary, crying with a loud voice to the one seated on the cloud: ‘Put your sickle in and reap, because the hour has come to reap, for the harvest of the earth is thoroughly ripe.’ And the one seated on the cloud thrust in his sickle on the earth, and the earth was reaped.”​—Revelation 14:14-16.

22. (a) Who is the one wearing a golden crown and seated upon the white cloud? (b) When does the climax of the harvesting take place, and how?

²² The identity of the one seated on the white cloud is not in doubt. Seated on a white cloud, resembling a son of man and with a golden crown, he is clearly Jesus, the Messianic King that Daniel also saw in vision. (Daniel 7:13, 14; Mark 14:61, 62) But what is the harvest here prophesied? While on earth, Jesus likened the discipling work to the harvesting of the world field of humanity. (Matthew 9:37, 38; John 4:35, 36) The climax of this harvesting comes in the Lord’s day, when Jesus is crowned as King and executes judgment on behalf of his Father. Thus, his time of ruling, since 1914, is also the joyful time for bringing in the harvest.​—Compare Deuteronomy 16:13-15.

23. (a) From whom does the word to begin reaping come? (b) What harvesting has taken place from 1919 down till now?

²³ Although he is a King and a Judge, Jesus waits for word from Jehovah his God before beginning to reap. That word comes from “the temple sanctuary” by means of an angel. Immediately, Jesus obeys. First, from 1919 on, he has his angels complete the harvesting of the 144,000. (Matthew 13:39, 43; John 15:1, 5, 16) Next, the harvest ingathering of the great crowd of other sheep takes place. (John 10:16; Revelation 7:9) History shows that between 1931 and 1935 a goodly number of these other sheep began to appear. In 1935 Jehovah opened to the understanding of the John class the real identity of the great crowd of Revelation 7:9-17. Thenceforth, much emphasis was placed on the ingathering of this crowd. By the year 2005, its number had exceeded the six million mark, and it is still increasing. Surely, the one like a son of man has reaped a bountiful, joyous harvest during this time of the end.​—Compare Exodus 23:16; 34:22.

Treading the Vine of the Earth

24. What is in the hands of the fifth angel, and what does the sixth angel call out?

²⁴ With the harvest of salvation completed, it is time for another harvest. John reports: “And still another angel [the fifth] emerged from the temple sanctuary that is in heaven, he, too, having a sharp sickle. And still another angel [the sixth] emerged from the altar and he had authority over the fire. And he called out with a loud voice to the one that had the sharp sickle, saying: ‘Put your sharp sickle in and gather the clusters of the vine of the earth, because its grapes have become ripe.’” (Revelation 14:17, 18) The angelic hosts are entrusted with much harvesting during the Lord’s day, separating the good from the bad!

25. (a) What is indicated by the fact that the fifth angel came from the temple sanctuary? (b) Why is it fitting that the command to begin reaping comes from an angel who “emerged from the altar”?

²⁵ The fifth angel comes from Jehovah’s presence in the temple sanctuary; hence, the final harvest also takes place according to Jehovah’s will. The angel is commanded to begin his work by a message relayed through another angel that “emerged from the altar.” This fact is most significant, since faithful souls underneath the altar had asked: “Until when, Sovereign Lord holy and true, are you refraining from judging and avenging our blood upon those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:9, 10) With the harvesting of the vine of the earth, this cry for vengeance will be satisfied.

26. What is “the vine of the earth”?

²⁶ But what is “the vine of the earth”? In the Hebrew Scriptures, the Jewish nation was spoken of as Jehovah’s vine. (Isaiah 5:7; Jeremiah 2:21) Similarly, Jesus Christ and those who will serve with him in God’s Kingdom are spoken of as a vine. (John 15:1-8) In this setting, the significant characteristic of a vine is that it produces fruit, and the true Christian vine has produced abundant fruit to Jehovah’s praise. (Matthew 21:43) “The vine of the earth,” therefore, must be, not this genuine vine, but Satan’s imitation of it, his corrupt visible system of government over mankind, with its various “clusters” of demonic fruitage produced over the centuries. Babylon the Great, in which apostate Christianity is so prominent, has exercised great influence over this poisonous vine.​—Compare Deuteronomy 32:32-35.

27. (a) What takes place when the angel with the sickle gathers the vine of the earth? (b) What prophecies in the Hebrew Scriptures indicate the extent of the harvest?

²⁷ Judgment must be executed! “And the angel thrust his sickle into the earth and gathered the vine of the earth, and he hurled it into the great winepress of the anger of God. And the winepress was trodden outside the city, and blood came out of the winepress as high up as the bridles of the horses, for a distance of a thousand six hundred furlongs.” (Revelation 14:19, 20) Jehovah’s indignation against this vine has long since been announced. (Zephaniah 3:8) A prophecy in the book of Isaiah leaves no doubt that whole nations will be destroyed when the winepress is trampled. (Isaiah 63:3-6) Joel too prophesied that huge “crowds,” whole nations, would be trampled to destruction in “the winepress,” in “the low plain of the decision.” (Joel 3:12-14) Truly, a stupendous harvest the like of which will never again occur! According to John’s vision, not only are the grapes harvested but the whole symbolic vine is cut down and thrown into the winepress to be trampled. So the vine of the earth will be stamped out and will never be able to grow again.

28. Who do the treading of the vine of the earth, and what does it mean that the winepress is “trodden outside the city”?

²⁸ The visionary treading is done by horses, for the blood trodden out from the vine reaches “the bridles of the horses.” Since the term “horses” usually refers to war operations, this must be a time of war. The armies of the heavens that follow Jesus into the final war against Satan’s system of things are said to tread “the winepress of the anger of the wrath of God the Almighty.” (Revelation 19:11-16) These are clearly the ones that do the treading of the vine of the earth. The winepress is “trodden outside the city,” that is, outside heavenly Zion. Indeed, it is fitting that the vine of the earth should be trodden on earth. But it will also be “trodden outside the city” in that no harm will come to the remaining ones of the woman’s seed, who represent the heavenly Zion on earth. These together with the great crowd will be safely hidden within Jehovah’s earthly organizational arrangement.​—Isaiah 26:20, 21.

29. How deep is the blood from the winepress, how far does it extend, and what does all of this indicate?

²⁹ This vivid vision has a parallel in the crushing of the kingdoms of the earth by the Kingdom stone described at Daniel 2:34, 44. There will be an extermination. The river of blood from the winepress is very deep, up to the bridles of the horses, and it extends for a distance of 1,600 furlongs.a This huge figure, produced by multiplying the square of four by the square of ten (4 x 4 x 10 x 10), emphatically conveys the message that evidence of the destruction will involve all the earth. (Isaiah 66:15, 16) The destruction will be complete and irreversible. Never, no never again, will Satan’s vine of the earth take root!​—Psalm 83:17, 18.

30. What are the fruits of Satan’s vine, and what should be our determination?

³⁰ Living as we do deep in the time of the end, the vision of these two harvests is very meaningful. We have only to look around us to see the fruits of Satan’s vine. Abortions and other forms of murder; homosexuality, adultery, and other forms of immorality; dishonesty and lack of natural affection​—all such things make this world vile in Jehovah’s eyes. Satan’s vine bears “the fruit of a poisonous plant and wormwood.” Its ruinous, idolatrous course dishonors mankind’s Grand Creator. (Deuteronomy 29:18; 32:5; Isaiah 42:5, 8) What a privilege it is to be actively associated with the John class in the harvest of wholesome fruitage that Jesus is bringing forth to Jehovah’s praise! (Luke 10:2) May all of us be determined that we will never be tainted by the vine of this world, and may we thus avoid being trampled with the vine of the earth when Jehovah’s adverse judgment is executed.

[Footnote]

[Box on page 208]

‘The Wine of Her Fornication’

A prominent part of Babylon the Great is the Roman Catholic Church. The church is governed by the pope in Rome and claims that each pope is a successor of the apostle Peter. Following are some published facts about these so-called successors:

Formosus (891-96): “Nine months after his death, Formosus’ body was disinterred from the papal crypt and arraigned for trial before a ‘cadaveric’ council, at which Stephen [the new pope] presided. The deceased pope was accused of inordinate ambition for the papal office and all his acts were declared invalid. . . . The corpse was stripped of pontifical robes; the fingers of the right hand were amputated.”​—New Catholic Encyclopedia.

Stephen VI (896-97): “Within a few months [of the trial of Formosus’ corpse] a violent reaction ended the pontificate of Pope Stephen; he was deprived of the pontifical insignia, imprisoned, and strangled.”​—New Catholic Encyclopedia.

Sergius III (904-11): “His two immediate predecessors . . . were strangled in prison. . . . In Rome he was supported by the Theophylactus family, by one of whose daughters, Marozia, he is supposed to have had a son (later Pope John XI).”​—New Catholic Encyclopedia.

Stephen VII (928-31): “In the last years of his pontificate, Pope John X . . . had incurred the wrath of Marozia, the Donna Senatrix of Rome, and had been imprisoned and assassinated. Marozia then conferred the papacy on Pope Leo VI, who died after 6 1/2 months in office. Stephen VII succeeded him, probably through the influence of Marozia. . . . During his 2 years as Pope, he was powerless under the domination of Marozia.”​—New Catholic Encyclopedia.

John XI (931-35): “Upon the death of Stephen VII . . . , Marozia, of the House of Theophylactus, obtained the papacy for her son John, a youth in his early 20s. . . . As pope, John was dominated by his mother.”​—New Catholic Encyclopedia.

John XII (955-64): “He was hardly eighteen, and contemporary reports agree about his disinterest in spiritual things, addiction to boorish pleasures, and uninhibitedly debauched life.”​—The Oxford Dictionary of Popes.

Benedict IX (1032-44; 1045; 1047-48): “He was notorious for selling the papacy to his godfather and then subsequently reclaiming the office twice.”​—The New Encyclopædia Britannica.

Thus, rather than following the example of faithful Peter, these and other popes were an evil influence. They allowed bloodguilt and spiritual and physical fornication, as well as a Jezebel influence, to corrupt the church they ruled. (James 4:4) In 1917 the Bible Students’ book The Finished Mystery set out many of these facts in stark detail. This was one way that the Bible Students in those days ‘struck the earth with every sort of plague.’​—Revelation 11:6; 14:8; 17:1, 2, 5.

[Picture on page 206]

The enthroned Christ carries out judgment with angelic support

[Picture on page 207]

After Babylon fell in 539 B.C.E., her prisoners were released

Chapter 31

Jehovah’s Works​—Great and Wonderful

Vision 10​—Revelation 15:1–16:21

Subject: Jehovah in his sanctuary; the seven bowls of his wrath poured into the earth

Time of fulfillment: 1919 to Armageddon

1, 2. (a) What third sign does John report? (b) What angelic role has long been known by Jehovah’s servants?

A WOMAN giving birth to a male child! A great dragon seeking to devour that child! Those two heavenly signs, so vividly portrayed in Revelation chapter 12, brought home to us that the agelong controversy involving the Seed of God’s woman and Satan and his demonic seed is reaching its climax. In highlighting these symbols, John says: “And a great sign was seen in heaven . . . And another sign was seen.” (Revelation 12:1, 3, 7-12) Now John reports a third sign: “And I saw in heaven another sign, great and wonderful, seven angels with seven plagues. These are the last ones, because by means of them the anger of God is brought to a finish.” (Revelation 15:1) This third sign also has vital meaning for Jehovah’s servants.

² Notice the important roles that angels again have in accomplishing God’s will. This fact has long been known by Jehovah’s servants. Why, under inspiration the ancient psalmist even spoke to such angels, urging them: “Bless Jehovah, O you angels of his, mighty in power, carrying out his word, by listening to the voice of his word”! (Psalm 103:20) Now, in this new scene, angels are assigned to pour out the seven last plagues.

3. What are the seven plagues, and what does the pouring out of them denote?

³ What are these plagues? Like the seven trumpet blasts, they are scathing judgment pronouncements publicizing Jehovah’s view of various features of this world and warning of the final outcome of his judicial decisions. (Revelation 8:1–9:21) The pouring out of them points to the execution of those judgments, when the objects of Jehovah’s wrath are destroyed in the day of his burning anger. (Isaiah 13:9-13; Revelation 6:16, 17) Thus, by means of them “the anger of God is brought to a finish.” But before describing the pouring out of the plagues, John tells us about some humans who will not be adversely affected by them. Having refused the mark of the wild beast, these loyal ones sing praises to Jehovah as they proclaim his day of vengeance.​—Revelation 13:15-17.

The Song of Moses and of the Lamb

4. What now comes into John’s view?

⁴ A remarkable panorama now comes into John’s view: “And I saw what seemed to be a glassy sea mingled with fire, and those who come off victorious from the wild beast and from its image and from the number of its name standing by the glassy sea, having harps of God.”​—Revelation 15:2.

5. What is pictured by the “glassy sea mingled with fire”?

⁵ The “glassy sea” is the same one that John saw earlier, positioned before the throne of God. (Revelation 4:6) It is similar to “the molten sea” (water container) of Solomon’s temple, where the priests obtained water to cleanse themselves. (1 Kings 7:23) It is thus a fine representation of “the bath of water,” that is, God’s Word, by which Jesus cleanses the priestly congregation of anointed Christians. (Ephesians 5:25, 26; Hebrews 10:22) This glassy sea is “mingled with fire,” indicating that these anointed ones are tested and purged as they obey the high standard set for them. Further, it reminds us that God’s Word also contains expressions of fiery judgments against his enemies. (Deuteronomy 9:3; Zephaniah 3:8) Some of these fiery judgments are manifested in the seven last plagues that are about to be poured out.

6. (a) Who are the singers standing before the heavenly glassy sea, and how do we know? (b) In what way have they “come off victorious”?

⁶ The fact that the molten sea in Solomon’s temple was for the use of the priests indicates that the singers standing before the heavenly glassy sea are a priestly class. They have “harps of God,” and we therefore associate them with the 24 elders and the 144,000, since these groups also sing to a harp accompaniment. (Revelation 5:8; 14:2) The singers that John sees “come off victorious from the wild beast and from its image and from the number of its name.” So they must be those from among the 144,000 who live on earth during the last days. As a group, they do indeed come off victorious. For almost 90 years since 1919, they have refused to accept the mark of the wild beast or look to its image as man’s only hope for peace. Many of them have already endured faithful to the death, and these, now in heaven, doubtless follow with special delight the singing of their brothers who are still on earth.​—Revelation 14:11-13.

7. How was the harp used in ancient Israel, and how should the presence of harps of God in John’s vision affect us?

⁷ These loyal overcomers have harps of God. In this, they are like the temple Levites of old, who worshipped Jehovah with song to the accompaniment of harps. Some also prophesied to a harp accompaniment. (1 Chronicles 15:16; 25:1-3) The beautiful strains of the harp embellished Israel’s songs of joy and prayers of praise and thanksgiving to Jehovah. (1 Chronicles 13:8; Psalm 33:2; 43:4; 57:7, 8) In times of depression or captivity, the harp was not heard. (Psalm 137:2) The presence of harps of God in this vision should whet our anticipation for an exultant, triumphant song of praise and thanksgiving to our God.a

8. What song is being sung, and what are its words?

⁸ That is what John reports: “And they are singing the song of Moses the slave of God and the song of the Lamb, saying: ‘Great and wonderful are your works, Jehovah God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, King of eternity. Who will not really fear you, Jehovah, and glorify your name, because you alone are loyal? For all the nations will come and worship before you, because your righteous decrees have been made manifest.’”​—Revelation 15:3, 4.

9. Why is the song called, in part, “the song of Moses”?

⁹ These victors sing “the song of Moses,” that is, a song similar to one that Moses sang in like circumstances. After the Israelites had witnessed the ten plagues in Egypt and the destruction of the Egyptian armies in the Red Sea, Moses led them in such a song of triumphant praise to Jehovah, proclaiming: “Jehovah will rule as king to time indefinite, even forever.” (Exodus 15:1-19) How fitting that the singers in John’s vision, coming off victorious from the wild beast and being involved in proclaiming the seven last plagues, should also sing “to the King of eternity”!​—1 Timothy 1:17.

10. What other song was composed by Moses, and how does the last verse of it relate to the great crowd of today?

¹⁰ In another song, composed as Israel prepared for the conquest of Canaan, the aged Moses told that nation: “I shall declare the name of Jehovah. Do you attribute greatness to our God!” The last verse of this song also gave encouragement to non-Israelites, and Moses’ inspired words reach right down to the great crowd of today: “Be glad, you nations, with his people.” And why should they be glad? Because now Jehovah “will avenge the blood of his servants, and he will pay back vengeance to his adversaries.” This execution of righteous judgment will bring jubilation to all who hope in Jehovah.​—Deuteronomy 32:3, 43; Romans 15:10-13; Revelation 7:9.

11. How does the song that John heard continue to have a fulfillment?

¹¹ How Moses himself would have rejoiced to be in the Lord’s day now, singing along with the heavenly chorus: “All the nations will come and worship before you”! That transcendent song continues to have marvelous fulfillment today as we see, not just in vision but as a living reality, the millions from “the nations” who are now flocking joyfully to Jehovah’s earthly organization.

12. Why is the song of the victorious ones also called “the song of the Lamb”?

¹² Nevertheless, this is the song not only of Moses but also “of the Lamb.” How so? Moses was Jehovah’s prophet to Israel, but Moses himself prophesied that Jehovah would raise up a prophet like him. This One proved to be the Lamb, Jesus Christ. Whereas Moses was “the slave of God,” Jesus was God’s Son, in effect, the Greater Moses. (Deuteronomy 18:15-19; Acts 3:22, 23; Hebrews 3:5, 6) Hence, the singers also sing “the song of the Lamb.”

13. (a) How is it that Jesus, although greater than Moses, is like him? (b) How may we unite with the singers?

¹³ Like Moses, Jesus publicly sang God’s praises and prophesied about His victory over all enemies. (Matthew 24:21, 22; 26:30; Luke 19:41-44) Jesus too looked forward to the time when the nations would come in to praise Jehovah, and as the self-sacrificing “Lamb of God,” he laid down his human life to make this possible. (John 1:29; Revelation 7:9; compare Isaiah 2:2-4; Zechariah 8:23.) And just as Moses came to appreciate God’s name, Jehovah, and extol that name, so Jesus made God’s name manifest. (Exodus 6:2, 3; Psalm 90:1, 17; John 17:6) Since Jehovah is loyal, his glorious promises are certain of fulfillment. Surely, then, we are at one with these loyal singers, with the Lamb, and with Moses, in subscribing to the words of the song: “Who will not really fear you, Jehovah, and glorify your name?”

The Angels With the Bowls

14. Whom does John see emerging from the sanctuary, and what is given to them?

¹⁴ It is fitting that we hear the song of these anointed conquerors. Why? Because they have publicized on earth the judgments contained in the bowls that were full of the anger of God. But the pouring out of these bowls involves more than mere humans, as John goes on to show: “And after these things I saw, and the sanctuary of the tent of the witness was opened in heaven, and the seven angels with the seven plagues emerged from the sanctuary, clothed with clean, bright linen and girded about their breasts with golden girdles. And one of the four living creatures gave the seven angels seven golden bowls that were full of the anger of God, who lives forever and ever.”​—Revelation 15:5-7.

15. Why is it not surprising that the seven angels emerge from the sanctuary?

¹⁵ As respects the Israelite temple, which contained representations of heavenly things, only the high priest could enter the Most Holy, here called “the sanctuary.” (Hebrews 9:3, 7) It represents the place of Jehovah’s presence in heaven. In heaven itself, however, not only does the High Priest Jesus Christ have the privilege of entering in before Jehovah but the angels do also. (Matthew 18:10; Hebrews 9:24-26) It is not surprising, then, that seven angels should be seen coming out from the sanctuary in heaven. They have a commission from Jehovah God himself: Pour out the bowls full of the anger of God.​—Revelation 16:1.

16. (a) What shows that the seven angels are well qualified for their work? (b) What indicates that others are involved in the great task of pouring out the symbolic bowls?

¹⁶ These angels are well qualified for this work. They are clothed with clean, bright linen, showing that they are spiritually clean and holy, righteous in Jehovah’s sight. Also, they wear golden girdles. Girdles are usually used when a person girds himself for a task to be accomplished. (Leviticus 8:7, 13; 1 Samuel 2:18; Luke 12:37; John 13:4, 5) So the angels are girded for carrying out an assignment. Moreover, their girdles are golden. In the ancient tabernacle, gold was used to represent divine, heavenly things. (Hebrews 9:4, 11, 12) That means that these angels have a precious, divine commission of service to perform. Others too are involved in this great task. One of the four living creatures hands the actual bowls to them. Doubtless, this was the first living creature, which resembled a lion, symbolizing the boldness and indomitable courage needed to proclaim Jehovah’s judgments.​—Revelation 4:7.

Jehovah in His Sanctuary

17. What does John tell us about the sanctuary, and how does that remind us of the sanctuary in ancient Israel?

¹⁷ Finally, completing this part of the vision, John tells us: “And the sanctuary became filled with smoke because of the glory of God and because of his power, and no one was able to enter into the sanctuary until the seven plagues of the seven angels were finished.” (Revelation 15:8) There were occasions in Israel’s history when a cloud covered the literal sanctuary, and this manifestation of Jehovah’s glory prevented the priests from entering there. (1 Kings 8:10, 11; 2 Chronicles 5:13, 14; compare Isaiah 6:4, 5.) These were times when Jehovah was actively involved with developments on earth.

18. When will the seven angels return to make a report to Jehovah?

¹⁸ Jehovah is also deeply interested in things happening on earth now. He wants the seven angels to complete their assignment. It is a climactic time of judgment, as described at Psalm 11:4-6: “Jehovah is in his holy temple. Jehovah​—in the heavens is his throne. His own eyes behold, his own beaming eyes examine the sons of men. Jehovah himself examines the righteous one as well as the wicked one, and anyone loving violence His soul certainly hates. He will rain down upon the wicked ones traps, fire and sulphur and a scorching wind, as the portion of their cup.” Until these seven plagues are poured out upon the wicked ones, the seven angels will not return to Jehovah’s lofty presence.

19. (a) What command is issued, and by whom? (b) When must the pouring out of the symbolic bowls have begun?

¹⁹ The awesome command thunders forth: “And I heard a loud voice out of the sanctuary say to the seven angels: ‘Go and pour out the seven bowls of the anger of God into the earth.’” (Revelation 16:1) Who issues this command? It must be Jehovah himself, since the radiance of his glory and power prevented anyone else from entering the sanctuary. Jehovah came to his spiritual temple for judgment in 1918. (Malachi 3:1-5) It must, then, have been shortly after that date that he gave the command to pour out the bowls of the anger of God. In fact, the judgments contained in the symbolic bowls started to be proclaimed with intensity in 1922. And their proclamation is increasing to a crescendo today.

The Bowls and the Trumpet Blasts

20. What do the bowls of Jehovah’s anger reveal and warn of, and how are they poured out?

²⁰ The bowls of Jehovah’s anger reveal features of the world scene as Jehovah views them and warn of judgments that Jehovah will execute. The angels pour out the bowls through the agency of the congregation of anointed Christians on earth, the ones singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. While proclaiming the Kingdom as good news, the John class have boldly revealed the contents of these bowls of anger. (Matthew 24:14; Revelation 14:6, 7) Thus, their twofold message has been peaceful in proclaiming liberty to mankind but warlike in warning of “the day of vengeance on the part of our God.”​—Isaiah 61:1, 2.

21. How do the targets of the first four bowls of God’s anger correspond to those of the first four trumpet blasts, and wherein do they differ?

²¹ The targets of the first four bowls of God’s anger correspond to those of the first four trumpet blasts, that is, the earth, the sea, the rivers and fountains of water, and the heavenly sources of light. (Revelation 8:1-12) But the trumpet blasts announced plagues on “a third,” whereas an entirety is afflicted by the pouring out of the bowls of God’s anger. Thus, while Christendom, as “a third,” has received first attention during the Lord’s day, not one part of Satan’s system has been exempted from being plagued by Jehovah’s vexatious judgment messages and the sorrows they bring.

22. How were the final three trumpet blasts different, and how do they relate to the final three bowls of Jehovah’s anger?

²² The final three trumpet blasts were different, for they were called woes. (Revelation 8:13; 9:12) The first two of these consisted particularly of the locusts and the armies of cavalry, while the third introduced the birth of Jehovah’s Kingdom. (Revelation 9:1-21; 11:15-19) As we shall see, the final three bowls of his wrath also cover some of these aspects, but they are somewhat different from the three woes. Let us now pay close attention to the dramatic disclosures that result from the pouring out of the bowls of Jehovah’s anger.

[Footnote]

Chapter 32

God’s Anger Brought to a Finish

1. What will have taken place when the seven bowls have been poured out to a finality, and what questions now arise regarding the bowls?

JOHN has already introduced the angels commissioned to pour out the seven bowls. He tells us that “these are the last ones, because by means of them the anger of God is brought to a finish.” (Revelation 15:1; 16:1) These plagues, revealing Jehovah’s sanctions for wickedness in the earth, must be poured out to a finality. When they are over, God’s judgments will have been executed. Satan’s world will be no more! What do these plagues portend for mankind and the rulers of the present wicked system? How can Christians avoid being plagued along with this doomed world? Vital questions, these, and now they are to be answered. All who long for the triumph of righteousness will have keen interest in what John next sees.

Jehovah’s Wrath Against “the Earth”

2. What results from the first angel’s pouring out his bowl into the earth, and what is symbolized by “the earth”?

² The first angel goes into action! “And the first one went off and poured out his bowl into the earth. And a hurtful and malignant ulcer came to be upon the men that had the mark of the wild beast and that were worshiping its image.” (Revelation 16:2) As in the case of the first trumpet blast, “the earth” here symbolizes the stable-looking political system that Satan began to build here on earth back in Nimrod’s time, over 4,000 years ago.​—Revelation 8:7.

3. (a) How have many governments demanded what amounts to worship from their subjects? (b) What have the nations produced as a substitute for God’s Kingdom, and what is the effect on those who worship it?

³ In these last days, many governments have demanded what amounts to worship from their subjects, insisting that the State must be exalted above God or any other loyalty. (2 Timothy 3:1; compare Luke 20:25; John 19:15.) Since 1914 it has become common for nations to conscript their youth in order for them to fight, or be ready to fight, the kind of total warfare that has so bloodied the pages of modern history. During the Lord’s day, the nations have also produced, as a substitute for God’s Kingdom, the image of the beast​—the League of Nations and its successor, the United Nations. What blasphemy to proclaim, as recent popes have done, that this man-made body is the nations’ sole hope for peace! It staunchly opposes God’s Kingdom. Those who worship it become spiritually unclean, ulcerated, just as the Egyptians who opposed Jehovah in Moses’ day were plagued by literal sores and ulcers.​—Exodus 9:10, 11.

4. (a) What do the contents of the first bowl of the anger of God strongly emphasize? (b) How does Jehovah regard those who accept the mark of the wild beast?

⁴ The contents of this bowl strongly emphasize the choice that lies before humans. They must suffer either the world’s disapproval or Jehovah’s indignation. Mankind has been put under compulsion to accept the mark of the wild beast, with the intent that “nobody might be able to buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of its name.” (Revelation 13:16, 17) But there is a price to pay for this! Jehovah regards those who accept the mark as being stricken with “a hurtful and malignant ulcer.” Since 1922 they have been marked in public as having rejected the living God. Their political schemes have no success, and they suffer anguish. Spiritually, they are unclean. Unless they repent, this “hurtful” illness will be terminal, for it is now Jehovah’s day of judgment. There is no neutral ground between being a part of the world’s system of things and serving Jehovah on the side of his Christ.​—Luke 11:23; compare James 4:4.

The Sea Becomes Blood

5. (a) What takes place when the second bowl is poured out? (b) How does Jehovah view those who inhabit the symbolic sea?

⁵ The second bowl of God’s anger must now be poured out. What will it mean for mankind? John tells us: “And the second one poured out his bowl into the sea. And it became blood as of a dead man, and every living soul died, yes, the things in the sea.” (Revelation 16:3) Like the second trumpet blast, this bowl is directed against “the sea”​—the seething, rebellious mass of humanity alienated from Jehovah. (Isaiah 57:20, 21; Revelation 8:8, 9) In Jehovah’s eyes, this “sea” is like blood, unfit for creatures to live in. That is why Christians must be no part of the world. (John 17:14) The pouring out of the second bowl of God’s anger reveals that all of mankind who inhabit this sea are dead in Jehovah’s eyes. By reason of community responsibility, mankind is guilty of gross shedding of innocent blood. When Jehovah’s day of anger arrives, they will literally die at the hands of his executional forces.​—Revelation 19:17, 18; compare Ephesians 2:1; Colossians 2:13.

Giving Them Blood to Drink

6. What takes place when the third bowl is poured out, and what words are heard from an angel and from the altar?

⁶ The third bowl of God’s anger, like the third trumpet blast, has an effect on freshwater sources. “And the third one poured out his bowl into the rivers and the fountains of the waters. And they became blood. And I heard the angel over the waters say: ‘You, the One who is and who was, the loyal One, are righteous, because you have rendered these decisions, because they poured out the blood of holy ones and of prophets, and you have given them blood to drink. They deserve it.’ And I heard the altar say: ‘Yes, Jehovah God, the Almighty, true and righteous are your judicial decisions.’”​—Revelation 16:4-7.

7. What is pictured by “the rivers and the fountains of the waters”?

⁷ These “rivers and the fountains of the waters” picture the so-called fresh sources of guidance and wisdom accepted by this world, such as the political, economic, scientific, educational, social, and religious philosophies that guide human actions and decisions. Rather than look to Jehovah, the Fountain of life, for life-giving truth, men have ‘hewn out for themselves broken cisterns’ and drunk deeply of “the wisdom of this world [that] is foolishness with God.”​—Jeremiah 2:13; 1 Corinthians 1:19; 2:6; 3:19; Psalm 36:9.

8. In what ways has mankind incurred bloodguilt?

⁸ Such tainted “waters” have led men to become bloodguilty, for example, in encouraging them to shed blood on a monumental scale in wars, which in the last century took more than a hundred million lives. Particularly in Christendom, where the two world wars erupted, have men been “in a hurry to shed innocent blood,” and this has included the blood of God’s own witnesses. (Isaiah 59:7; Jeremiah 2:34) Mankind has also incurred bloodguilt by its misuse of huge quantities of blood for transfusions, in violation of Jehovah’s righteous laws. (Genesis 9:3-5; Leviticus 17:14; Acts 15:28, 29) On this account, they have already reaped sorrow by the proliferation, through blood transfusions, of AIDS, hepatitis, and other diseases. Full retribution for all bloodguilt will come shortly when transgressors pay the supreme penalty, being trampled in “the great winepress of the anger of God.”​—Revelation 14:19, 20.

9. What does the pouring out of the third bowl involve?

⁹ In Moses’ day, when the Nile River was turned into blood, the Egyptians were able to keep alive by seeking other sources of water. (Exodus 7:24) Today, though, during the spiritual plague, there is nowhere in Satan’s world that people can find life-giving waters. The pouring out of this third bowl involves proclaiming that the world’s “rivers and the fountains of the waters” are as blood, bringing spiritual death to all who imbibe them. Unless people turn to Jehovah, they reap his adverse judgment.​—Compare Ezekiel 33:11.

10. What does “the angel over the waters” make known, and what testimony does “the altar” add?

¹⁰ “The angel over the waters,” that is, the angel who pours this bowl into the waters, magnifies Jehovah as the Universal Judge, whose righteous decisions are absolute. Therefore, he says of this judgment: “They deserve it.” Doubtless, the angel personally witnessed much of the bloodshed and cruelty fomented over thousands of years by the false teachings and philosophies of this wicked world. Hence, he knows that Jehovah’s judicial decision is right. Even God’s “altar” speaks out. At Revelation 6:9, 10, the souls of those who were martyred are said to be at the base of that altar. So “the altar” adds powerful testimony as to the justice and righteousness of Jehovah’s decisions.a Certainly, it is fitting that those who have shed and misused so much blood should themselves be force-fed with blood, in symbol of Jehovah’s sentencing them to death.

Scorching Men With Fire

11. What is the target of the fourth bowl of the anger of God, and what takes place when it is poured out?

¹¹ The fourth bowl of the anger of God has the sun as its target. John tells us: “And the fourth one poured out his bowl upon the sun; and to the sun it was granted to scorch the men with fire. And the men were scorched with great heat, but they blasphemed the name of God, who has the authority over these plagues, and they did not repent so as to give glory to him.”​—Revelation 16:8, 9.

12. What is this world’s “sun,” and what is granted to this symbolic sun?

¹² Today, at the conclusion of the system of things, Jesus’ spiritual brothers “shine as brightly as the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (Matthew 13:40, 43) Jesus himself is “the sun of righteousness.” (Malachi 4:2) Mankind, though, has its own “sun,” its own rulers who try to shine in opposition to God’s Kingdom. The fourth trumpet blast proclaimed that the ‘sun, moon, and stars’ in Christendom’s heavens are really sources of darkness, not light. (Revelation 8:12) The fourth bowl of God’s anger now shows that the world’s “sun” would get unbearably hot. Those looked to as sunlike leaders would “scorch” mankind. This would be granted to the symbolic sun. In other words, Jehovah would allow this as part of his fiery judgment on mankind. In what way has this scorching taken place?

13. In what way have sunlike rulers of this world “scorched” mankind?

¹³ After the first world war, the rulers of this world formed the League of Nations in an effort to solve the problem of world security, but this failed. So other experimental types of rulership were tried, such as Fascism and Nazism. Communism continued to expand. Rather than improve mankind’s lot, the sunlike rulers in these systems began to ‘scorch mankind with great heat.’ Local wars in Spain, Ethiopia, and Manchuria led up to the second world war. Modern history records that Mussolini, Hitler, and Stalin as dictators became responsible directly and indirectly for the deaths of tens of millions, including many of their own nationals. More recently, international or civil conflicts have “scorched” the people of countries such as Vietnam, Kampuchea, Iran, Lebanon, and Ireland, as well as countries in Latin America and Africa. Add to this the ongoing struggle between the superpowers, whose horrendous nuclear weapons are capable of incinerating all mankind. In these last days, humanity has surely been exposed to a scorching “sun,” its unrighteous rulers. The pouring out of the fourth bowl of God’s anger has pinpointed these historic facts, and God’s people have proclaimed them throughout the earth.

14. What have Jehovah’s Witnesses consistently taught to be the only solution to mankind’s problems, with what response by mankind as a whole?

¹⁴ Jehovah’s Witnesses have consistently taught that the only solution to mankind’s baffling problems is God’s Kingdom, through which Jehovah purposes to sanctify his name. (Psalm 83:4, 17, 18; Matthew 6:9, 10) Mankind, however, has as a whole turned a deaf ear to this solution. Many who reject the Kingdom also blaspheme the name of God, even as Pharaoh did when he refused to acknowledge Jehovah’s sovereignty. (Exodus 1:8-10; 5:2) Having no interest in the Messianic Kingdom, these opposers choose to suffer under their own torrid “sun” of oppressive human rulership.

The Throne of the Wild Beast

15. (a) Upon what is the fifth bowl poured out? (b) What is “the throne of the wild beast,” and what is involved in the pouring out of the bowl upon it?

¹⁵ Upon what does the next angel pour out his bowl? “And the fifth one poured out his bowl upon the throne of the wild beast.” (Revelation 16:10a) “The wild beast” is Satan’s governmental system. It does not have a literal throne, any more than the wild beast itself is literal. Mention of a throne, however, shows that the wild beast has exercised royal authority over mankind; this is in harmony with the fact that each of the beast’s horns bears a royal diadem. In fact, “the throne of the wild beast” is the foundation, or source, of that authority.b The Bible reveals the true situation of the royal authority of the wild beast when it says that “the dragon gave to the beast its power and its throne and great authority.” (Revelation 13:1, 2; 1 John 5:19) Thus, the pouring out of the bowl upon the throne of the wild beast involves a proclamation revealing the true role that Satan has played and still plays in supporting and promoting the wild beast.

16. (a) Whom do the nations serve, whether they are aware of it or not? Explain. (b) How does the world reflect Satan’s personality? (c) When will the throne of the wild beast be overthrown?

¹⁶ How is this relationship between Satan and the nations maintained? When Satan tempted Jesus, he showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a vision and offered “all this authority and the glory of them.” But there was a condition​—Jesus first had to perform an act of worship before Satan. (Luke 4:5-7) Can we imagine that the governments of the world receive their authority at a lesser price? Not at all. According to the Bible, Satan is the god of this system of things, so that, whether the nations are aware of it or not, they serve him. (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4)c This situation is revealed in the makeup of the present world system, which is built on narrow nationalism, hatred, and self-interest. It is organized the way Satan wants it​—to keep mankind under his control. The corruption in government, the lust for power, the lying diplomacy, the armaments race​—these reflect Satan’s debased personality. The world subscribes to Satan’s unrighteous standards, thus making him its god. The throne of the wild beast will be overthrown when that beast suffers extinction and the Seed of God’s woman finally abysses Satan himself.​—Genesis 3:15; Revelation 19:20, 21; 20:1-3.

Darkness and Gnawing Pain

17. (a) How does the pouring out of the fifth bowl relate to the spiritual darkness that has always enveloped the kingdom of the wild beast? (b) How do people react to the pouring out of the fifth bowl of God’s anger?

¹⁷ The kingdom of this wild beast has been in spiritual darkness ever since its beginning. (Compare Matthew 8:12; Ephesians 6:11, 12.) The fifth bowl brings intensified public announcement of this darkness. It even dramatizes it, in that this bowl of God’s anger is poured out upon the very throne of the symbolic wild beast. “And its kingdom became darkened, and they began to gnaw their tongues for their pain, but they blasphemed the God of heaven for their pains and for their ulcers, and they did not repent of their works.”​—Revelation 16:10b, 11.

18. What correspondency is there between the fifth trumpet blast and the fifth bowl of God’s anger?

¹⁸ The fifth trumpet blast is not exactly the same as the fifth bowl of God’s anger, since the trumpet blast heralded a plague of locusts. But notice that at the release of that plague of locusts, there was a darkening of the sun and the air. (Revelation 9:2-5) And at Exodus 10:14, 15, we read concerning the locusts with which Jehovah plagued Egypt: “They were very burdensome. Before them there had never turned up in this way locusts like them, and there will never turn up any in this way after them. And they went covering the visible surface of the entire land, and the land grew dark.” Yes, darkness! Today, the world’s spiritual darkness has become all too evident as a result of the sounding of the fifth trumpet and the pouring out of the fifth bowl of God’s anger. The stinging message proclaimed by the modern-day locust swarm brings torment and pain to those wicked ones who “have loved the darkness rather than the light.”​—John 3:19.

19. In harmony with Revelation 16:10, 11, what does the public exposure of Satan as the god of this system of things cause?

¹⁹ As world ruler, Satan has caused much unhappiness and suffering. Famine, wars, violence, crime, drug abuse, immorality, sexually transmitted diseases, dishonesty, religious hypocrisy​—these and more are the hallmarks of Satan’s system of things. (Compare Galatians 5:19-21.) Even so, the public exposure of Satan as the god of this system of things caused pain and embarrassment to those who live by his standards. “They began to gnaw their tongues for their pain,” especially in Christendom. Many resent that the truth exposes their lifestyle. Some find it threatening, and they persecute those who publish it. They reject God’s Kingdom and revile Jehovah’s holy name. Their religiously diseased, ulcerous condition is laid bare, so that they blaspheme the God of heaven. No, they do “not repent of their works.” So we cannot expect a mass conversion before the end of this system of things.​—Isaiah 32:6.

The River Euphrates Dried Up

20. How do both the sixth trumpet blast and the pouring out of the sixth bowl involve the river Euphrates?

²⁰ The sixth trumpet blast heralded the releasing of “the four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates.” (Revelation 9:14) Historically, Babylon was the great city that sat on the river Euphrates. And in 1919 the release of the symbolic four angels accompanied a significant fall of Babylon the Great. (Revelation 14:8) It is noteworthy, then, that the sixth bowl of God’s anger also involves the river Euphrates: “And the sixth one poured out his bowl upon the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun.” (Revelation 16:12) This too is bad news for Babylon the Great!

21, 22. (a) How did the protective waters of the river Euphrates dry up for Babylon in 539 B.C.E.? (b) What are the “waters” that Babylon the Great sits on, and how are these symbolic waters even now drying up?

²¹ In ancient Babylon’s heyday, the abundant waters of the Euphrates were a major part of her defense system. In 539 B.C.E. those waters dried up when they were diverted from their course by the Persian leader Cyrus. Thus, the way was open for Cyrus the Persian and Darius the Mede, the kings from “the rising of the sun” (that is, the east), to enter Babylon and conquer it. In the hour of crisis, the river Euphrates failed in the defense of that great city. (Isaiah 44:27–45:7; Jeremiah 51:36) Something similar is due to happen to modern Babylon, the worldwide system of false religion.

²² Babylon the Great “sits on many waters.” According to Revelation 17:1, 15, these symbolize “peoples and crowds and nations and tongues”​—hordes of adherents that she has regarded as a protection. But the “waters” are drying up! In Western Europe, where formerly she had great influence, hundreds of millions have openly ignored religion. In some lands, for many years there was a declared policy to try to destroy the influence of religion. The masses in those lands have not risen up on her behalf. Similarly, when the time comes for Babylon the Great to be destroyed, the dwindling number of her adherents will prove to be no protection at all. (Revelation 17:16) Though she claims a membership of thousands of millions, Babylon the Great will find herself defenseless against “the kings from the rising of the sun.”

23. (a) Who were the kings from “the rising of the sun” in 539 B.C.E.? (b) Who are “the kings from the rising of the sun” during the Lord’s day, and how will they destroy Babylon the Great?

²³ Who are these kings? In 539 B.C.E. they were Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian, who were used by Jehovah to conquer the ancient city of Babylon. In this the Lord’s day, the false religious system of Babylon the Great will also be destroyed by human rulers. But again, this will be a divine judgment. Jehovah God and Jesus Christ, “the kings from the rising of the sun,” will have put into the hearts of human rulers the “thought” to turn on Babylon the Great and destroy her utterly. (Revelation 17:16, 17) The pouring out of the sixth bowl proclaims publicly that this judgment is about to be executed!

24. (a) How have the contents of the first six bowls of Jehovah’s anger been publicized, and with what result? (b) Before telling us of the remaining bowl of God’s anger, what does Revelation reveal?

²⁴ These first six bowls of Jehovah’s anger carry a sobering message. God’s earthly servants, supported by the angels, have been busy publicizing their contents on an earth-wide scale. In this way, due warning has been served on all sectors of Satan’s world system, and Jehovah has provided individuals an opportunity to turn to righteousness and keep living. (Ezekiel 33:14-16) Still, one more bowl of God’s anger remains. But before telling us about it, Revelation reveals how Satan and his earthly agents are trying to counteract the publicizing of Jehovah’s judgments.

The Gathering to Armageddon

25. (a) What does John tell us about unclean, froglike “inspired expressions”? (b) How has there been a disgusting froglike visitation of “unclean inspired expressions” in the Lord’s day, and with what result?

²⁵ John tells us: “And I saw three unclean inspired expressions that looked like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the wild beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are, in fact, expressions inspired by demons and perform signs, and they go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty.” (Revelation 16:13, 14) In Moses’ day, Jehovah brought a loathsome plague of frogs on Pharaoh’s Egypt, so that “the land began to stink.” (Exodus 8:5-15) During the Lord’s day, there has also been a disgusting froglike visitation, though from a different source. It consists of Satan’s “unclean inspired expressions,” clearly symbolizing propaganda designed to maneuver all human rulers, “kings,” into opposition to Jehovah God. Satan thus makes sure that they are not swayed by the pouring out of the bowls of God’s anger but are firmly on Satan’s side when “the war of the great day of God the Almighty” begins.

26. (a) From what three sources does satanic propaganda come? (b) What is “the false prophet,” and how do we know?

²⁶ The propaganda comes from “the dragon” (Satan) and “the wild beast” (Satan’s earthly political setup), creatures that we have already met up with in Revelation. What, though, is “the false prophet”? This is a newcomer in name only. Previously, we were shown a wild beast with two horns like a lamb that performed great signs before the seven-headed wild beast. This deceptive creature acted like a prophet for that wild beast. It promoted worship of the wild beast, even causing an image to be built to it. (Revelation 13:11-14) This wild beast with two horns like a lamb must be the same as “the false prophet” mentioned here. Confirming this, we read later that the false prophet, like the symbolic wild beast with two horns, “performed in front of [the seven-headed wild beast] the signs with which he misled those who received the mark of the wild beast and those who render worship to its image.”​—Revelation 19:20.

27. (a) What timely warning does Jesus Christ himself give? (b) What warning did Jesus give when he was on the earth? (c) How did the apostle Paul echo Jesus’ warning?

²⁷ With so much satanic propaganda around, the next words that John records are indeed timely: “Look! I am coming as a thief. Happy is the one that stays awake and keeps his outer garments, that he may not walk naked and people look upon his shamefulness.” (Revelation 16:15) Who is coming “as a thief”? Jesus himself, coming at an unannounced time as Jehovah’s Executioner. (Revelation 3:3; 2 Peter 3:10) While still on earth, Jesus also likened his coming to that of a thief, saying: “Keep on the watch, therefore, because you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. On this account you too prove yourselves ready, because at an hour that you do not think to be it, the Son of man is coming.” (Matthew 24:42, 44; Luke 12:37, 40) Echoing this warning, the apostle Paul said: “Jehovah’s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night. Whenever it is that they are saying: ‘Peace and security!’ then sudden destruction is to be instantly upon them.” Satan is behind any such false proclamation of “Peace and security!”​—1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3.

28. What warning did Jesus give about resisting worldly pressures, and what is “that day” that Christians do not want to be upon them “as a snare”?

²⁸ Jesus also warned of the kind of pressures that this world, saturated with propaganda, would put on Christians. He said: “Pay attention to yourselves that your hearts never become weighed down with overeating and heavy drinking and anxieties of life, and suddenly that day be instantly upon you as a snare. . . . Keep awake, then, all the time making supplication that you may succeed in escaping all these things that are destined to occur, and in standing before the Son of man.” (Luke 21:34-36) “That day” is “the great day of God the Almighty.” (Revelation 16:14) As “that day” of the vindication of Jehovah’s sovereignty approaches, it becomes ever more difficult to cope with the anxieties of life. Christians need to be alert and watchful, staying awake until that day arrives.

29, 30. (a) What is implied by Jesus’ warning that those found sleeping would be shamed by losing their “outer garments”? (b) What do outer garments identify the wearer as being? (c) How might a person lose his symbolic outer garments, and with what result?

²⁹ What, though, is implied by the warning that those found sleeping would be shamed by losing their “outer garments”? In ancient Israel, any priest or Levite on guard duty at the temple had a heavy responsibility. Jewish commentators tell us that if anyone was caught sleeping on such duty, his garments could be stripped from him and burned, so that he was publicly shamed.

³⁰ Jesus here warns that something similar can happen today. The priests and Levites foreshadowed Jesus’ anointed brothers. (1 Peter 2:9) But Jesus’ warning applies by extension to the great crowd too. The outer garments here referred to identify the wearer as a Christian Witness of Jehovah. (Compare Revelation 3:18; 7:14.) If any allow the pressures of Satan’s world to lull them to sleep or into inactivity, they are likely to lose these outer garments​—in other words, lose their clean identification as Christians. Such a situation would be shameful. It would put one in danger of losing out completely.

31. (a) How does Revelation 16:16 stress the need for Christians to stay awake? (b) What speculation have some religious leaders made regarding Armageddon?

³¹ The need for Christians to stay awake becomes even more pressing as the next verse of Revelation comes closer to fulfillment: “And they [the expressions inspired by demons] gathered them [the earthly kings, or rulers] together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har–Magedon.” (Revelation 16:16) This name, more commonly rendered Armageddon, occurs only once in the Bible. But it has fired mankind’s imagination. World leaders have warned of a possible nuclear Armageddon. Armageddon has been linked also with the ancient city of Megiddo, the site of many decisive battles in Bible times, and some religious leaders have therefore speculated that the final war on earth will take place in that limited area. In this, they are far wide of the truth.

32, 33. (a) Rather than being a literal place, what does the name Har–Magedon, or Armageddon, represent? (b) What other Bible terms are similar to “Armageddon” or related to it? (c) When will it be time for the seventh angel to pour out the final bowl of the anger of God?

³² The name Har–Magedon means “Mountain of Megiddo.” But rather than being a literal place, it represents the world situation into which all nations are gathered in opposition to Jehovah God and where he will finally destroy them. This is global in extent. (Jeremiah 25:31-33; Daniel 2:44) It is similar to “the great winepress of the anger of God” and “the low plain of the decision,” or “the low plain of Jehoshaphat,” where the nations are gathered for execution by Jehovah. (Revelation 14:19; Joel 3:12, 14) It is also related to “the soil of Israel” where the satanic armies of Gog of Magog are destroyed and that location “between the grand sea and the holy mountain of Decoration” where the king of the north comes “all the way to his end” at the hands of Michael the great prince.​—Ezekiel 38:16-18, 22, 23; Daniel 11:45–12:1.

³³ When the nations have been maneuvered into this situation by the croaking propaganda originating with Satan and his earthly agents, it will be time for the seventh angel to pour out the final bowl of the anger of God.

“It Has Come to Pass!”

34. Upon what does the seventh angel pour out his bowl, and what proclamation issues “out of the sanctuary from the throne”?

³⁴ “And the seventh one poured out his bowl upon the air. At this a loud voice issued out of the sanctuary from the throne, saying: ‘It has come to pass!’”​—Revelation 16:17.

35. (a) What is “the air” of Revelation 16:17? (b) In pouring out his bowl upon the air, what does the seventh angel express?

³⁵ “The air” is the final life-sustaining medium to be plagued. But this is not the literal air. There is nothing about the literal air that makes it deserving of Jehovah’s adverse judgments, any more than the literal earth, sea, freshwater sources, or sun deserve to suffer judgments at Jehovah’s hand. Rather, this is “the air” Paul was discussing when he called Satan “the ruler of the authority of the air.” (Ephesians 2:2) It is the satanic “air” breathed by the world today, the spirit, or general mental inclination, that characterizes his whole wicked system of things, the satanic thinking that permeates every aspect of life outside Jehovah’s organization. So in pouring out his bowl upon the air, the seventh angel expresses God’s wrath against Satan, his organization, and everything that motivates mankind to support Satan in defying Jehovah’s sovereignty.

36. (a) What do the seven plagues constitute? (b) What is indicated by Jehovah’s proclamation: “It has come to pass!”?

³⁶ This and the previous six plagues give the sum total of Jehovah’s judgments against Satan and his system. They are a declaration of doom for Satan and his seed. When this final bowl is poured out, Jehovah himself proclaims: “It has come to pass!” There is nothing else to say. When the contents of the bowls of God’s anger have been publicized to Jehovah’s satisfaction, there will be no delay in his executing the judgments proclaimed by these messages.

37. How does John describe what takes place after the pouring out of the seventh bowl of the anger of God?

³⁷ John continues: “And lightnings and voices and thunders occurred, and a great earthquake occurred such as had not occurred since men came to be on the earth, so extensive an earthquake, so great. And the great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and Babylon the Great was remembered in the sight of God, to give her the cup of the wine of the anger of his wrath. Also, every island fled, and mountains were not found. And a great hail with every stone about the weight of a talent descended out of heaven upon the men, and the men blasphemed God due to the plague of hail, because the plague of it was unusually great.”​—Revelation 16:18-21.

38. What is symbolized by (a) the “great earthquake”? (b) the fact that “the great city,” Babylon the Great, is split into “three parts”? (c) the fact that “every island fled, and mountains were not found”? (d) “the plague of hail”?

³⁸ Once again, Jehovah acts unmistakably toward mankind, this being signaled by “lightnings and voices and thunders.” (Compare Revelation 4:5; 8:5.) Mankind will be shaken in a way that has never happened before, as if by a devastating earthquake. (Compare Isaiah 13:13; Joel 3:16.) This blockbuster shaking will shatter “the great city,” Babylon the Great, so that it splits into “three parts”​—symbolic of its collapse into unredeemable ruin. Also, “the cities of the nations” will fall. “Every island” and “mountains”​—institutions and organizations that seem so permanent in this system—​will go. “A great hail,” much greater than that which afflicted Egypt during the seventh plague, with each hailstone weighing about a talent, will pummel mankind painfully.d (Exodus 9:22-26) This punishing downpour of congealed waters likely pictures unusually heavy verbal expressions of Jehovah’s judgments, signaling that the end of this system of things has arrived at last! Jehovah could well use literal hail too in his destructive work.​—Job 38:22, 23.

39. Despite the pouring out of the seven plagues, what course of action will most of humankind take?

³⁹ Thus, Satan’s world will meet up with Jehovah’s righteous judgment. To the end, most of humankind will continue to defy and blaspheme God. As with Pharaoh of old, their hearts will not be softened by the repeated plagues or by the final death-dealing culmination of those plagues. (Exodus 11:9, 10) There will be no last-minute, large-scale change of heart. With their dying breath, they will rail against the God who declares: “They will have to know that I am Jehovah.” (Ezekiel 38:23) Nevertheless, the sovereignty of Jehovah God the Almighty will have been vindicated.

[Footnotes]

[Box on page 221]

“Into the Earth”

The John class has publicized Jehovah’s wrath against “the earth” with statements such as the following:

“After centuries of effort, political parties have proved their inadequacy to meet the present conditions and to solve the distressing problems. Economists and statesmen, studying the question diligently, find that they are able to do nothing.”​—Millions Now Living Will Never Die, 1920, page 61.

“There is not a government on earth today that satisfies any reasonable proportion of the world. Many of the nations are ruled by dictators. The whole world is practically bankrupt.”​—A Desirable Government, 1924, page 5.

“Bringing an end to this system of things . . . is the only way to rid the world of evil and make room for peace and righteousness to flourish.”​—“This Good News of the Kingdom,” 1954, page 25.

“The present world arrangement has distinguished itself by increasing sin, unrighteousness and rebellion against God and his will. . . . It is unreformable. Therefore, it must go!”​—The Watchtower, November 15, 1981, page 6.

[Box on page 223]

“Into the Sea”

The following are just a few of the statements published over the years by the John class proclaiming God’s wrath against the restless, rebellious “sea” of ungodly mankind alienated from Jehovah:

“The history of every nation shows that it has been a struggle between the classes. It has been a few against the many. . . . These struggles have resulted in many revolutions, great suffering, and much bloodshed.”​—Government, 1928, page 244.

In the new world, “the symbolic ‘sea’ of the restless, rebellious, ungodly peoples out of whom the symbolic wild beast ascended long ago for the Devil’s use will be gone.”​—The Watchtower, September 15, 1967, page 567.

“The present human society is spiritually sick and diseased. None of us can save it, for God’s Word shows its sickness is leading to its death.”​—True Peace and Security—​From What Source?, 1973, page 131.

[Box on page 224]

“Into the Rivers and the Fountains”

The third plague has exposed “the rivers and the fountains of the waters” by statements such as the following:

“The clergy, who claim to be teachers of [Christ’s] doctrines, have sanctified war and made it a holy thing. They have delighted to have their portraits and statues exhibited side by side with those of bloody warriors.”​—The Watch Tower, September 15, 1924, page 275.

“Spiritualism [spiritism] is founded on a great untruth, the lie of survival after death and of the immortality of the human soul.”​—What Do the Scriptures Say About “Survival After Death?,” 1955, page 51.

“Human philosophies, political theorists, social organizers, economic advisers and advocates of religious traditions have resulted in no real life-giving refreshment . . . Such waters have even led the drinkers to violate the Creator’s law concerning the sacredness of blood and to engage in religious persecutions.”​—Resolution adopted at the “Everlasting Good News” International Convention, 1963.

“Not the scientific salvation, but the destruction of the human race is the thing to be expected from man himself. . . . We cannot look to all the psychologists and psychiatrists of the world to change mankind’s way of thinking . . . We cannot depend upon any international police force to be formed . . . and make this earth a safe place in which to live.”​—Saving the Human Race—​In the Kingdom Way, 1970, page 5.

[Box on page 225]

“Upon the Sun”

As the “sun” of human rulership has “scorched” mankind during the Lord’s day, the John class, with statements such as the following, has drawn attention to what is happening:

“Today Hitler and Mussolini, the arbitrary dictators, threaten the peace of the whole world, and they are fully supported in their destruction of freedom by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy.”​—Fascism or Freedom, 1939, page 12.

“Throughout history the policy followed by human dictators has been, Rule or ruin! But the regulation now to be applied to all the earth by God’s installed King, Jesus Christ, is, Be ruled or be ruined.”​—When All Nations Unite Under God’s Kingdom, 1961, page 23.

“Since 1945 more than 25 million persons have been killed in some 150 wars fought around the globe.”​—The Watchtower, January 15, 1980, page 6.

“The nations around the world . . . care little about international responsibility or rules of conduct. To reach their ends, some nations feel fully justified in using any means that they consider necessary​—massacres, assassinations, hijackings, bombings, and so on . . . How long will the nations put up with one another in such senseless and irresponsible conduct?”​—The Watchtower, February 15, 1985, page 4.

[Box on page 227]

“Upon the Throne of the Wild Beast”

Jehovah’s Witnesses have exposed the throne of the wild beast and publicized Jehovah’s condemnation of it with statements such as these:

“The rulers and political guides of the nations are influenced by malicious superhuman forces that are irresistibly driving them on in a suicidal march to the decisive conflict of Armageddon.”​—After Armageddon—​God’s New World, 1953, page 8.

“The ‘wild beast’ of untheocratic human government got its power, authority and throne from the Dragon. So it must hew to the party line, the Dragon line.”​—After Armageddon—​God’s New World, 1953, page 15.

“The Gentile nations can locate their own selves only on . . . the side of God’s Chief Adversary, Satan the Devil.”​—Resolution adopted at the “Divine Victory” International Convention, 1973.

[Box on page 229]

“Its Water Was Dried Up”

Even now, support for Babylonish religion is drying up in many places, indicating what will happen when “the kings from the rising of the sun” make their attack.

“A nationwide survey found that 75 per cent of those who live in municipal areas [of Thailand] do not go to Buddhist temples to listen to sermons at all, while the number in the countryside who visit the temples is steadily declining to about fifty per cent.”​—Bangkok Post, September 7, 1987, page 4.

“The magic has gone out of Taoism in the land [China] where it was founded some two millennia ago. . . . Deprived of the magical devices by which they and their predecessors used to gain large followings, members of the priesthood find themselves without successors, facing the virtual extinction of Taoism as an organized faith on the mainland.”​—The Atlanta Journal and Constitution, September 12, 1982, page 36-A.

“Japan . . . has one of the world’s largest concentrations of foreign missionaries, nearly 5,200, yet . . . less than 1% of the population is Christian. . . . A Franciscan priest working here since the 1950s . . . believes that ‘the day of the foreign missionary in Japan is finished.’”​—The Wall Street Journal, July 9, 1986, page 1.

In England during the past three decades, “nearly 2,000 of the 16,000 Anglican churches have been closed because of disuse. Attendance has fallen to among the lowest of avowedly Christian countries. . . . ‘It is not now the case that England is a Christian country,’ [the Bishop of Durham] said.”​—The New York Times, May 11, 1987, page A4.

“After hours of heated debate, [Greece’s] Parliament approved legislation today, enabling the Socialist Government to take over huge estates held by the Greek Orthodox Church . . . Moreover, the law gives nonclerics control of church councils and committees responsible for the administration of prized church investments including hotels, marble quarries and office blocks.”​—The New York Times, April 4, 1987, page 3.

[Pictures on page 222]

The first four bowls of the anger of God bring plagues similar to those resulting from the first four trumpet blasts

[Picture on page 226]

The fifth bowl exposes the throne of the wild beast as being the authority Satan has given to the wild beast

[Pictures on page 231]

Demonic propaganda is gathering earth’s rulers to the focal situation, Har–Magedon, where Jehovah’s judgments will be poured out upon them

[Picture on page 233]

Those motivated by Satan’s polluted “air” must suffer the execution of Jehovah’s righteous judgments

Chapter 33

Judging the Infamous Harlot

Vision 11​—Revelation 17:1-18

Subject: Babylon the Great rides a scarlet-colored wild beast that finally turns on her and devastates her

Time of fulfillment: From 1919 to the great tribulation

1. What does one of the seven angels reveal to John?

JEHOVAH’S righteous anger must be poured out to completion, seven bowls of it! When the sixth angel emptied his bowl at the location of ancient Babylon, it fittingly symbolized the plaguing of Babylon the Great as events move swiftly toward the final war of Armageddon. (Revelation 16:1, 12, 16) Likely, it is this same angel that now reveals why and how Jehovah executes his righteous judgments. John is struck with wonderment at what he next hears and sees: “And one of the seven angels that had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying: ‘Come, I will show you the judgment upon the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, whereas those who inhabit the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.’”​—Revelation 17:1, 2.

2. What evidence is there that “the great harlot” (a) is not ancient Rome? (b) is not big business? (c) is a religious entity?

² “The great harlot”! Why so shocking a designation? Who is she? Some have identified this symbolic harlot with ancient Rome. But Rome was a political power. This harlot commits fornication with the kings of the earth, and this evidently includes the kings of Rome. Besides, after her destruction, “the kings of the earth” are said to mourn her passing. Therefore, she cannot be a political power. (Revelation 18:9, 10) Additionally, since she is mourned also by the world’s merchants, she could not picture big business. (Revelation 18:15, 16) We read, however, that ‘by her spiritistic practice all the nations were misled.’ (Revelation 18:23) This makes it clear that the great harlot must be a worldwide religious entity.

3. (a) Why must the great harlot symbolize more than the Roman Catholic Church or even all of Christendom? (b) What Babylonish doctrines are to be found in most Oriental religions as well as in the sects of Christendom? (c) What did Roman Catholic cardinal John Henry Newman admit regarding the origin of many of Christendom’s doctrines, ceremonies, and practices? (See footnote.)

³ Which religious entity? Is she the Roman Catholic Church, as some have maintained? Or is she all of Christendom? No, she must be even larger than these if she is to mislead all the nations. She is, in fact, the entire world empire of false religion. Her origin in the mysteries of Babylon is shown in that many Babylonish doctrines and practices are common to religions around the earth. For example, belief in the inherent immortality of the human soul, in a hell of torment, and in a trinity of gods is to be found in most Oriental religions as well as in the sects of Christendom. False religion, spawned more than 4,000 years ago in the ancient city of Babylon, has developed into the modern monstrosity that is called, appropriately, Babylon the Great.a Why, though, is she described by the repugnant term “the great harlot”?

4. (a) In what ways did ancient Israel commit fornication? (b) In what outstanding way has Babylon the Great committed fornication?

⁴ Babylon (or Babel, meaning “Confusion”) came to its peak of greatness in Nebuchadnezzar’s time. It was a religio-political state with more than a thousand temples and chapels. Its priesthood exercised great power. Though Babylon has long since ceased to exist as a world power, religious Babylon the Great lives on, and after the ancient pattern, she still seeks to influence and mold political affairs. But does God approve of religion in politics? In the Hebrew Scriptures, Israel was said to prostitute herself when she got involved with false worship and when, instead of trusting in Jehovah, she made alliances with the nations. (Jeremiah 3:6, 8, 9; Ezekiel 16:28-30) Babylon the Great also commits fornication. Outstandingly, she has done whatever she deems expedient in order to gain influence and power over the ruling kings of the earth.​—1 Timothy 4:1.

5. (a) What limelight do religious clergymen enjoy? (b) Why is a desire for worldly prominence a direct contradiction of the words of Jesus Christ?

⁵ Today, religious leaders frequently campaign for high government office, and in some lands, they share in government, even holding cabinet posts. In 1988 two well-known Protestant clergymen ran for the office of president of the United States. Leaders in Babylon the Great love the limelight; their photos are often to be seen in the public press as they consort with prominent politicians. In contrast, Jesus shunned political involvement and said of his disciples: “They are no part of the world, just as I am no part of the world.”​—John 6:15; 17:16; Matthew 4:8-10; see also James 4:4.

Modern-Day ‘Harlotry’

6, 7. (a) How did Hitler’s Nazi Party come to power in Germany? (b) How did the concordat that the Vatican made with Nazi Germany help Hitler in his push for world domination?

⁶ Through her meddling in politics, the great harlot has brought untold sorrow to mankind. Consider, for example, the facts behind Hitler’s rise to power in Germany​—ugly facts that some would like to expunge from the history books. In May 1924 the Nazi Party held 32 seats in the German Reichstag. By May 1928 these had dwindled to 12 seats. However, the Great Depression engulfed the world in 1930; riding in its wake, the Nazis made a remarkable recovery, gaining 230 out of 608 seats in the German elections of July 1932. Soon after, former chancellor Franz von Papen, a Papal Knight, came to the Nazis’ aid. According to historians, von Papen envisioned a new Holy Roman Empire. His own short tenure as chancellor had been a failure, so now he hoped to gain power through the Nazis. By January 1933, he had mustered support for Hitler from the industrial barons, and through wily intrigues he ensured that Hitler became Germany’s chancellor on January 30, 1933. He himself was made vice-chancellor and was used by Hitler to win the support of Catholic sections of Germany. Within two months of gaining power, Hitler dissolved parliament, dispatched thousands of opposition leaders to concentration camps, and began an open campaign of oppressing the Jews.

⁷ On July 20, 1933, the Vatican’s interest in the rising power of Nazism was displayed when Cardinal Pacelli (who later became Pope Pius XII) signed a concordat in Rome between the Vatican and Nazi Germany. Von Papen signed the document as Hitler’s representative, and Pacelli there conferred on von Papen the high papal decoration of the Grand Cross of the Order of Pius.b In his book Satan in Top Hat, Tibor Koeves writes of this, stating: “The Concordat was a great victory for Hitler. It gave him the first moral support he had received from the outer world, and this from the most exalted source.” The concordat required the Vatican to withdraw its support from Germany’s Catholic Center Party, thus sanctioning Hitler’s one-party “total state.”c Further, its article 14 stated: “The appointments for archbishops, bishops, and the like will be issued only after the governor, installed by the Reich, has duly ascertained that no doubts exist with respect to general political considerations.” By the end of 1933 (proclaimed a “Holy Year” by Pope Pius XI), Vatican support had become a major factor in Hitler’s push for world domination.

8, 9. (a) How did the Vatican as well as the Catholic Church and its clergy react to the Nazi tyranny? (b) What statement did the German Catholic bishops issue at the start of World War II? (c) In what have religio-political relationships resulted?

⁸ Though a handful of priests and nuns protested Hitler’s atrocities​—and suffered for it—​the Vatican as well as the Catholic Church and its army of clergy gave either active or tacit support to the Nazi tyranny, which they regarded as a bulwark against the advance of world Communism. Sitting pretty in the Vatican, Pope Pius XII let the Holocaust on the Jews and the cruel persecutions of Jehovah’s Witnesses and others proceed uncriticized. It is ironical that Pope John Paul II, on visiting Germany in May 1987, should glorify the anti-Nazi stand of one sincere priest. What were the other thousands of the German clergy doing during Hitler’s reign of terror? A pastoral letter issued by the German Catholic bishops in September 1939 at the outbreak of World War II provides enlightenment on this point. It reads in part: “In this decisive hour we admonish our Catholic soldiers to do their duty in obedience to the Fuehrer and to be ready to sacrifice their whole individuality. We appeal to the Faithful to join in ardent prayers that Divine Providence may lead this war to blessed success.”

⁹ Such Catholic diplomacy illustrates the kind of harlotry that religion has engaged in over the past 4,000 years in wooing the political State in order to gain power and advantage. Such religio-political relationships have fostered warfare, persecutions, and human misery on a vast scale. How happy mankind can be that Jehovah’s judgment upon the great harlot is at hand. May it soon be executed!

Sitting on Many Waters

10. What are the “many waters” that Babylon the Great looks to for protection, and what is happening to them?

¹⁰ Ancient Babylon sat on many waters​—the Euphrates River and numerous canals. These were a protection to her as well as a source of commerce producing wealth, until they dried up in one night. (Jeremiah 50:38; 51:9, 12, 13) Babylon the Great also looks to “many waters” to protect and enrich her. These symbolic waters are “peoples and crowds and nations and tongues,” that is, all the thousands of millions of humans over whom she has dominated and from whom she has drawn material support. But these waters are also drying up, or withdrawing support.​—Revelation 17:15; compare Psalm 18:4; Isaiah 8:7.

11. (a) How did ancient Babylon ‘make all the earth drunk’? (b) How has Babylon the Great ‘made all the earth drunk’?

¹¹ Further, Babylon of old was described as “a golden cup in the hand of Jehovah, she making all the earth drunk.” (Jeremiah 51:7) Ancient Babylon forced neighboring nations to swallow expressions of Jehovah’s anger when she conquered them militarily, making them as weak as drunken men. In that respect, she was Jehovah’s instrument. Babylon the Great, too, has made conquests to the point of becoming a worldwide empire. But she is certainly not God’s instrument. Rather, she has served “the kings of the earth” with whom she commits religious fornication. She has gratified these kings by using her lying doctrines and enslaving practices to keep the masses of the people, “those who inhabit the earth,” weak as drunken men, passively subservient to their rulers.

12. (a) How was a segment of Babylon the Great in Japan responsible for much bloodshed during World War II? (b) How were “waters” in support of Babylon the Great withdrawn in Japan, and with what result?

¹² Shinto Japan provides a notable example of this. The indoctrinated Japanese soldier regarded it as the highest honor to give his life for the emperor​—the supreme Shinto god. During World War II, some 1,500,000 Japanese soldiers died in battle; almost to a man, they looked at surrender as dishonorable. But as a consequence of Japan’s defeat, Emperor Hirohito was compelled to renounce his claim to divinity. This resulted in a notable withdrawing of the “waters” supporting the Shinto segment of Babylon the Great​—alas, after Shintoism had sanctioned the shedding of buckets of blood in the Pacific war theater! This weakening of Shinto influence also opened the way in recent years for more than 200,000 Japanese, the great majority of whom were formerly Shintoists and Buddhists, to become dedicated, baptized ministers of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.

The Harlot Rides a Beast

13. What amazing sight does John see when the angel carries him in the power of the spirit into a wilderness?

¹³ What more does the prophecy disclose as to the great harlot and her fate? As John now relates, a further vivid scene comes to view: “And he [the angel] carried me away in the power of the spirit into a wilderness. And I caught sight of a woman sitting upon a scarlet-colored wild beast that was full of blasphemous names and that had seven heads and ten horns.”​—Revelation 17:3.

14. Why is it fitting that John was carried into a wilderness?

¹⁴ Why is John carried into a wilderness? An earlier pronouncement of doom against ancient Babylon was described as being “against the wilderness of the sea.” (Isaiah 21:1, 9) This gave due warning that, despite all its watery defenses, ancient Babylon would become a lifeless desolation. It is fitting, then, that John should be carried in his vision to a wilderness to see the fate of Babylon the Great. She too must become desolate and waste. (Revelation 18:19, 22, 23) John is amazed, though, by what he sees out there. The great harlot is not alone! She is sitting on a monstrous wild beast!

15. What differences are there between the wild beast of Revelation 13:1 and that of Revelation 17:3?

¹⁵ This wild beast has seven heads and ten horns. Is it, then, the same as the wild beast that John saw earlier, which also has seven heads and ten horns? (Revelation 13:1) No, there are differences. This wild beast is scarlet-colored and, unlike the previous wild beast, is not said to have diadems. Rather than having blasphemous names on its seven heads only, it is “full of blasphemous names.” Nevertheless, there must be a relationship between this new wild beast and the previous one; the similarities between them are too pronounced to be coincidental.

16. What is the identity of the scarlet-colored wild beast, and what has been stated as to its purpose?

¹⁶ What, then, is this new scarlet-colored wild beast? It must be the image to the wild beast that was brought forth under the urging of the Anglo-American wild beast that has two horns like a lamb. After the image was made, that two-horned wild beast was allowed to give breath to the image of the wild beast. (Revelation 13:14, 15) John now sees the living, breathing image. It pictures the League of Nations organization that the two-horned wild beast brought to life in 1920. U.S. President Wilson had envisioned that the League “would be a forum for the dispensation of justice for all men and wipe out the threat of war forever.” When it was resurrected after the second world war as the United Nations, its chartered purpose was “to maintain international peace and security.”

17. (a) In what way is the symbolic scarlet-colored wild beast full of blasphemous names? (b) Who is riding the scarlet-colored wild beast? (c) How did Babylonish religion link itself with the League of Nations and its successor right from the beginning?

¹⁷ In what way is this symbolic wild beast full of blasphemous names? In that men have set up this multinational idol as a substitute for God’s Kingdom​—to accomplish what God says his Kingdom alone can accomplish. (Daniel 2:44; Matthew 12:18, 21) What is remarkable about John’s vision, though, is that Babylon the Great is riding the scarlet-colored wild beast. True to the prophecy, Babylonish religion, particularly in Christendom, has linked itself with the League of Nations and its successor. As early as December 18, 1918, the body now known as the National Council of the Churches of Christ in America adopted a declaration that declared in part: “Such a League is not a mere political expedient; it is rather the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth. . . . The Church can give a spirit of good-will, without which no League of Nations can endure. . . . The League of Nations is rooted in the Gospel. Like the Gospel, its objective is ‘peace on earth, good-will toward men.’”

18. How did Christendom’s clergy show their support for the League of Nations?

¹⁸ On January 2, 1919, the San Francisco Chronicle carried the front-page headline: “Pope Pleads for Adoption of Wilson’s League of Nations.” On October 16, 1919, a petition signed by 14,450 clergymen of leading denominations was presented to the U.S. Senate, urging that body “to ratify the Paris peace treaty embodying the league of nations covenant.” Though the U.S. Senate failed to ratify the treaty, Christendom’s clergy continued to campaign for the League. And how was the League inaugurated? A news dispatch from Switzerland, dated November 15, 1920, read: “Opening of the first assembly of the League of Nations was announced at eleven o’clock this morning by the ringing of all the church bells in Geneva.”

19. When the scarlet-colored wild beast made its appearance, what course of action did the John class take?

¹⁹ Did the John class, the one group on earth that eagerly accepted the incoming Messianic Kingdom, share with Christendom in paying homage to the scarlet-colored wild beast? Far from it! On Sunday, September 7, 1919, the convention of Jehovah’s people in Cedar Point, Ohio, featured the public talk “The Hope for Distressed Humanity.” On the following day, the Sandusky Star-Journal reported that J. F. Rutherford, in addressing nearly 7,000 persons, had “asserted that the Lord’s displeasure is certain to be visited upon the League . . . because the clergy​—Catholic and Protestant—​claiming to be God’s representatives, have abandoned his plan and endorsed the League of Nations, hailing it as a political expression of Christ’s kingdom on earth.”

20. Why was it blasphemous for the clergy to hail the League of Nations as “the political expression of the Kingdom of God on earth”?

²⁰ The dismal failure of the League of Nations should have signaled to the clergy that such man-made organs are no part of a Kingdom of God on earth. What blasphemy to make such a claim! It makes it seem as though God was a party to the colossal botch that the League turned out to be. As for God, “perfect is his activity.” Jehovah’s heavenly Kingdom under Christ​—and not a combine of squabbling politicians, many of them atheists—​is the means by which he will bring in peace and have his will done on earth as in heaven.​—Deuteronomy 32:4; Matthew 6:10.

21. What shows that the great harlot supports and admires the League’s successor, the United Nations?

²¹ What of the League’s successor, the United Nations? From its inception, this body has also had the great harlot riding on its back, visibly associated with it and trying to guide its destiny. For example, on its 20th anniversary, in June 1965, representatives of the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, together with Protestants, Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, and Muslims​—said to represent two thousand million of earth’s population—​assembled in San Francisco to celebrate their support and admiration of the UN. On visiting the UN in October 1965, Pope Paul VI described it as “that greatest of all international organizations” and added: “The peoples of the earth turn to the United Nations as the last hope of concord and peace.” Another papal visitor, Pope John Paul II, addressing the UN in October 1979, said: “I hope the United Nations will ever remain the supreme forum of peace and justice.” Significantly, the pope gave very little attention to Jesus Christ or to God’s Kingdom in his speech. During his visit to the United States in September 1987, as reported by The New York Times, “John Paul spoke at length about the positive role of the United Nations in promoting . . . ‘new worldwide solidarity.’”

A Name, a Mystery

22. (a) What kind of beast has the great harlot chosen to ride? (b) How does John describe the symbolic harlot Babylon the Great?

²² The apostle John is soon to learn that the great harlot has chosen a dangerous beast to ride. First, though, his attention turns to Babylon the Great herself. She is richly adorned, but, oh, how repulsive she is! “And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and was adorned with gold and precious stone and pearls and had in her hand a golden cup that was full of disgusting things and the unclean things of her fornication. And upon her forehead was written a name, a mystery: ‘Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.’ And I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the holy ones and with the blood of the witnesses of Jesus.”​—Revelation 17:4-6a.

23. What is the full name of Babylon the Great, and what is its significance?

²³ As was the custom in ancient Rome, this prostitute is identified by the name on her forehead.d It is a long name: “Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth.” That name is “a mystery,” something with hidden meaning. But in God’s due time, the mystery is to be explained. In fact, the angel gives John enough information to allow Jehovah’s servants today to discern the full significance of this descriptive name. We recognize Babylon the Great as being all of false religion. She is “the mother of the harlots” because all the individual false religions in the world, including the many sects in Christendom, are like her daughters, imitating her in committing spiritual harlotry. She is also the mother of “disgusting things” in that she has given birth to such revolting offspring as idolatry, spiritism, fortune-telling, astrology, palmistry, human sacrifice, temple prostitution, drunkenness in honor of false gods, and other obscene practices.

24. Why is it appropriate that Babylon the Great is seen to be dressed in “purple and scarlet” and is “adorned with gold and precious stone and pearls”?

²⁴ Babylon the Great is dressed in “purple and scarlet,” the colors of royalty, and is “adorned with gold and precious stone and pearls.” How appropriate! Just reflect on all the magnificent buildings, rare statues and paintings, priceless icons, and other religious paraphernalia, as well as astronomical amounts of property and cash, that this world’s religions have accumulated. Whether at the Vatican, in the TV empire of evangelism centered in the United States, or in the exotic wats and temples of the Orient, Babylon the Great has amassed​—and at times lost—​fabulous wealth.

25. (a) What is symbolized by the contents of the “golden cup that was full of disgusting things?” (b) In what sense is the symbolic harlot drunk?

²⁵ Look now at what the harlot has in her hand. John must have gasped at the sight of it​—a golden cup “full of disgusting things and the unclean things of her fornication”! This is the cup containing “the wine of the anger of her fornication” with which she has made all the nations drunk. (Revelation 14:8; 17:4) It looks rich on the outside, but its contents are disgusting, unclean. (Compare Matthew 23:25, 26.) It contains all the filthy practices and lies that the great harlot has used to seduce the nations and bring them under her influence. Even more revolting, John sees that the harlot herself is inebriated, drunk with the blood of God’s servants! In fact, we later read that “in her was found the blood of prophets and of holy ones and of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth.” (Revelation 18:24) What massive bloodguilt!

26. What evidence is there of bloodguilt on the part of Babylon the Great?

²⁶ Over the centuries, the world empire of false religion has shed oceans of blood. For example, in medieval Japan, temples in Kyoto were transformed into fortresses, and warrior-monks, invoking “the holy name of Buddha,” battled one another until the streets ran red with blood. In the 20th century, the clergy of Christendom marched with the armies of their respective countries, and these slaughtered one another, with the loss of at least a hundred million lives. In October 1987 former U.S. president Nixon said: “The 20th century has been the bloodiest in history. More people have been killed in the wars of this century than in all the wars fought before the century began.” The religions of the world are judged adversely by God for their share in all of this; Jehovah detests “hands that are shedding innocent blood.” (Proverbs 6:16, 17) Earlier, John heard a cry from the altar: “Until when, Sovereign Lord holy and true, are you refraining from judging and avenging our blood upon those who dwell on the earth?” (Revelation 6:10) Babylon the Great, the mother of the harlots and of the disgusting things of the earth, will be deeply involved when the time comes to answer that question.

[Footnotes]

Rather than sanctify such idolatry, “Jehovah the Almighty” admonishes Christians: “Get out from among them, and separate yourselves, . . . and quit touching the unclean thing.”​—2 Corinthians 6:14-18.

[Box on page 237]

Churchill Exposes ‘Harlotry’

In his book The Gathering Storm (1948), Winston Churchill reports that Hitler appointed Franz von Papen as German minister to Vienna for “the undermining or winning over of leading personalities in Austrian politics.” Churchill quotes the U.S. minister in Vienna as saying of von Papen: “In the boldest and most cynical manner . . . Papen proceeded to tell me that . . . he intended to use his reputation as a good Catholic to gain influence with Austrians like Cardinal Innitzer.”

After Austria had capitulated and Hitler’s storm troopers had goose-stepped into Vienna, Catholic cardinal Innitzer ordered that all Austrian churches fly the swastika flag, ring their bells, and pray for Adolf Hitler in honor of his birthday.

[Box/​Picture on page 238]

This item appeared in the first edition only of The New York Times, December 7, 1941, the same day Nazi Germany’s ally Japan attacked Pearl Harbor

‘WAR PRAYER’ FOR REICH

Catholic Bishops at Fulda Ask Blessing and Victory

By Telephone to THE NEW YORK TIMES

FULDA, Germany, Dec. 6

The Conference of German Catholic Bishops assembled in Fulda has recommended the introduction of a special “war prayer” which is to be read at the beginning and end of all divine services.

The prayer implores Providence to bless German arms with victory and grant protection to the lives and health of all soldiers. The Bishops further instructed Catholic clergy to keep and remember in a special Sunday sermon at least once a month German soldiers ‘on land, on sea and in the air.”

[Box on page 244]

“Blasphemous Names”

When the wild beast with two horns promoted the League of Nations after World War I, its many religious paramours immediately sought to give a religious sanction to this move. As a result, the new peace organization became “full of blasphemous names.”

“Christianity can furnish the good-will, the dynamic behind the league [of nations], and so change the treaty from a scrap of paper into an instrument of the kingdom of God.”​—The Christian Century, U.S.A., June 19, 1919, page 15.

“The League of Nations idea is the extension to international relationships of the idea of the Kingdom of God as a world order of good will. . . . It is the thing all Christians pray for when they say, ‘Thy Kingdom come.’”​—The Christian Century, U.S.A., September 25, 1919, page 7.

“The Cement of the League of Nations is the Blood of Christ.”​—Dr. Frank Crane, Protestant minister, U.S.A.

“The [National] Council [of Congregational Churches] supports the Covenant [of the League of Nations] as the only political instrument now available by which the Spirit of Jesus Christ may find wider scope in practical application to the affairs of nations.”​—The Congregationalist and Advance, U.S.A., November 6, 1919, page 642.

“The conference calls upon all Methodists to uphold and promote highly the ideals [of the League of Nations] as expressed by the idea of God the Father and God’s earthly children.”​—The Wesleyan Methodist Church, Britain.

“When we consider the aspirations, the possibilities and the resolutions of this agreement, we see that it contains the heart of the teachings of Jesus Christ: The Kingdom of God and his righteousness . . . It is nothing less than that.”​—Sermon by the Archbishop of Canterbury at the opening of the League of Nations Assembly in Geneva, December 3, 1922.

“The League of Nations Association in this country has the same holy right as any humanitarian missionary society, because she is at present the most effective agency of the rule of Christ as the Prince of peace among the nations.”​—Dr. Garvie, Congregationalist minister, Britain.

[Map on page 236]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

False doctrines believed all around the world have their origin in Babylon

Babylon

Trinities or triads of gods

The human soul survives death

Spiritism​—talking with the “dead”

Use of images in worship

Use of spells to placate demons

Rule by a powerful priesthood

[Picture on page 239]

Ancient Babylon sat on many waters

[Picture on page 239]

The great harlot today also sits on “many waters”

[Picture on page 241]

Babylon the Great sitting upon a dangerous wild beast

[Pictures on page 242]

The religious harlot has committed fornication with the kings of the earth

[Pictures on page 245]

The woman is “drunk with the blood of the holy ones”

Chapter 34

An Awesome Mystery Solved

1. (a) How does John react at seeing the great harlot and her fearsome mount, and why? (b) How does the John class today react as events unfold in fulfillment of the prophetic vision?

WHAT is John’s reaction at seeing the great harlot and her fearsome mount? He himself answers: “Well, on catching sight of her I wondered with great wonderment.” (Revelation 17:6b) Mere human imagination could never conjure up such a sight. Yet, there it is​—away out in a wilderness—​a debauched prostitute perched on a gruesome, scarlet-colored wild beast! (Revelation 17:3) The John class today also wonders with great wonderment as events unfold in fulfillment of the prophetic vision. If people of the world could see it, they would exclaim, ‘Incredible!’ and the world’s rulers would echo, ‘Unthinkable!’ But the vision becomes a startling reality in our day. God’s people have already had a remarkable share in the vision’s fulfillment, and this assures them that the prophecy will move right on to its astounding climax.

2. (a) In response to John’s amazement, what does the angel tell him? (b) What has the John class had revealed to it, and how has this been done?

² The angel notices John’s amazement. “And so,” John continues, “the angel said to me: ‘Why is it you wondered? I will tell you the mystery of the woman and of the wild beast that is carrying her and that has the seven heads and the ten horns.’” (Revelation 17:7) Ah, the angel will now unravel the mystery! He explains to the wide-eyed John the various facets of the vision and the dramatic events that are about to unfold. Likewise, as it serves under angelic direction today, the watchful John class has had revealed to it the understanding of the prophecy. “Do not interpretations belong to God?” Like faithful Joseph, we believe that they do. (Genesis 40:8; compare Daniel 2:29, 30.) God’s people are placed, as it were, center stage as Jehovah interprets to them the meaning of the vision and its impact on their lives. (Psalm 25:14) Right on time, he has opened up to their understanding the mystery of the woman and of the wild beast.​—Psalm 32:8.

3, 4. (a) What public talk was given by N. H. Knorr in 1942, and how did it identify the scarlet-colored wild beast? (b) What words spoken by the angel to John were discussed by N. H. Knorr?

³ From September 18 to 20, 1942, at the height of World War II, Jehovah’s Witnesses in the United States held their New World Theocratic Assembly. The key city, Cleveland, Ohio, was tied in by telephone with more than 50 other convention cities, for a peak attendance of 129,699. Where wartime conditions permitted, other conventions repeated the program around the world. At the time, many of Jehovah’s people expected that the war would escalate into God’s war of Armageddon; hence the title of the public talk, “Peace​—Can It Last?,” aroused much curiosity. How could the new president of the Watch Tower Society, N. H. Knorr, presume to talk about peace when the very opposite seemed to be in store for the nations?a The reason was that the John class was paying “more than the usual attention” to God’s prophetic Word.​—Hebrews 2:1; 2 Peter 1:19.

⁴ What light did the talk “Peace​—Can It Last?” throw on the prophecy? Clearly identifying the scarlet-colored wild beast of Revelation 17:3 as the League of Nations, N. H. Knorr went on to discuss its stormy career on the basis of the angel’s following words to John: “The wild beast that you saw was, but is not, and yet is about to ascend out of the abyss, and it is to go off into destruction.”​—Revelation 17:8a.

5. (a) How was it that “the wild beast . . . was” and then “is not”? (b) How did N. H. Knorr answer the question, “Will the League remain in the pit?”

⁵ “The wild beast . . . was.” Yes, it had existed as the League of Nations from January 10, 1920, onward, with 63 nations participating at one time or another. But, in turn, Japan, Germany, and Italy withdrew, and the former Soviet Union was dropped from the League. In September 1939 the Nazi dictator of Germany launched World War II.b Having failed to keep peace in the world, the League of Nations virtually plunged into an abyss of inactivity. By 1942 it had become a has-been. Neither before this nor at some later date​—but right at that critical time—​did Jehovah interpret to his people the full depth of meaning of the vision! At the New World Theocratic Assembly, N. H. Knorr could declare, in line with the prophecy, that “the wild beast . . . is not.” He then asked the question, “Will the League remain in the pit?” Quoting Revelation 17:8, he answered: “The association of worldly nations will rise again.” That is just how it proved to be​—in vindication of Jehovah’s prophetic Word!

Ascending out of the Abyss

6. (a) When did the scarlet-colored wild beast climb out of the abyss, and with what new name? (b) Why is the United Nations actually a revival of the scarlet-colored wild beast?

⁶ The scarlet-colored wild beast did indeed climb out of the abyss. On June 26, 1945, with noisy fanfare in San Francisco, U.S.A., 50 nations voted to accept the Charter of the United Nations organization. This body was “to maintain international peace and security.” There were many similarities between the League and the UN. The World Book Encyclopedia notes: “In some ways, the UN resembles the League of Nations, which was organized after World War I . . . Many of the nations that founded the UN had also founded the League. Like the League, the UN was established to help keep peace between nations. The main organs of the UN are much like those of the League.” The UN, then, is actually a revival of the scarlet-colored wild beast. Its membership of some 190 nations far exceeds that of the League’s 63; it has also taken on broader responsibilities than its predecessor.

7. (a) In what way have earth’s dwellers wondered admiringly at the revived scarlet-colored wild beast? (b) What goal has eluded the UN, and what did its secretary-general say in this regard?

⁷ At first, great hopes were expressed for the UN. This was in fulfillment of the angel’s words: “And when they see how the wild beast was, but is not, and yet will be present, those who dwell on the earth will wonder admiringly, but their names have not been written upon the scroll of life from the founding of the world.” (Revelation 17:8b) Earth’s dwellers have admired this new colossus, operating from its imposing headquarters on New York’s East River. But true peace and security have eluded the UN. For much of the 20th century, world peace was maintained only by the threat of “mutual assured destruction”​—MAD, as it is abbreviated—​and the arms race has continued to escalate astronomically. After almost 40 years of effort by the United Nations, its then secretary-general, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, lamented in 1985: “We are living in another age of fanatics, and we don’t know what to do about it.”

8, 9. (a) Why does the UN not have the answers to the world’s problems, and what will shortly happen to it according to God’s decree? (b) Why do the UN’s founders and admirers not have their names recorded in God’s “scroll of life”? (c) What will Jehovah’s Kingdom successfully accomplish?

⁸ The UN does not have the answers. And why? Because the Giver of life to all mankind is not the UN’s life-giver. Its life span will be short, for according to God’s decree, “it is to go off into destruction.” The UN’s founders and admirers do not have their names recorded in God’s scroll of life. How could sinful, mortal men, many of whom mock God’s name, achieve through the UN what Jehovah God has declared he is about to accomplish, not by human means, but through the Kingdom of his Christ?​—Daniel 7:27; Revelation 11:15.

⁹ The UN is actually a blasphemous counterfeit of God’s Messianic Kingdom by his Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ​—to whose princely rule there will be no end. (Isaiah 9:6, 7) Even if the UN were to patch up some temporary peace, wars would soon erupt again. This is in the nature of sinful men. “Their names have not been written upon the scroll of life from the founding of the world.” Jehovah’s Kingdom by Christ will not only establish eternal peace on earth but, on the basis of Jesus’ ransom sacrifice, raise the dead, the righteous and the unrighteous who are in God’s memory. (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15) This includes everyone who has remained steadfast despite the attacks of Satan and his seed, and others who have yet to show themselves obedient. Obviously, God’s scroll of life will never contain the names of die-hard adherents of Babylon the Great or of any who continued to worship the wild beast.​—Exodus 32:33; Psalm 86:8-10; John 17:3; Revelation 16:2; 17:5.

Peace and Security​—A Vain Hope

10, 11. (a) What did the UN proclaim in 1986, and what was the response? (b) How many “religious families” assembled at Assisi, Italy, to pray for peace, and does God answer such prayers? Explain.

¹⁰ In an effort to bolster the hopes of mankind, the United Nations proclaimed 1986 to be an “International Year of Peace,” with the theme “To Safeguard Peace and the Future of Humanity.” Warring nations were called upon to lay down their weapons, at least for one year. What was their response? According to a report by the International Peace Research Institute, as many as five million people were killed as a result of wars during 1986 alone! Though some special coins and commemorative stamps were issued, most of the nations did little about pursuing the ideal of peace in that year. Nevertheless, the world’s religions​—always anxious for a fine rapport with the UN—​set about publicizing the year in various ways. On January 1, 1986, Pope John Paul II praised the work of the UN and dedicated the new year to peace. And on October 27, he assembled the leaders of many of the world’s religions at Assisi, Italy, to pray for peace.

¹¹ Does God answer such prayers for peace? Well, to which God were those religious leaders praying? If you asked them, each group would give a different answer. Is there a pantheon of millions of gods that can hear and grant petitions made in many different ways? Many of the participants worshipped Christendom’s Trinity.c Buddhists, Hindus, and others chanted prayers to gods without number. In all, 12 “religious families” assembled, being represented by such notables as the Anglican Archbishop of Canterbury, Buddhism’s Dalai Lama, a Russian Orthodox metropolitan, the president of Tokyo’s Shinto Shrine Association, African animists, and two American Indians decked out in plumed headdresses. It was a colorful group, to say the least, making for spectacular TV coverage. One group prayed unceasingly for 12 hours at one time. (Compare Luke 20:45-47.) But did any of those prayers reach beyond the rain clouds that hovered over the gathering? No, for the following reasons:

12. For what reasons did God not answer the prayers for peace of the world’s religious leaders?

¹² In contrast with those who “walk in the name of Jehovah,” not one of those religionists was praying to Jehovah, the living God, whose name appears some 7,000 times in the original text of the Bible. (Micah 4:5; Isaiah 42:8, 12)d As a group, they did not approach God in the name of Jesus, the majority of them not even believing in Jesus Christ. (John 14:13; 15:16) None of them are doing God’s will for our day, which is to proclaim worldwide God’s incoming Kingdom​—not the UN—​as the real hope for mankind. (Matthew 7:21-23; 24:14; Mark 13:10) For the most part, their religious organizations have been involved in the bloody wars of history, including the two world wars of the 20th century. To such, God says: “Even though you make many prayers, I am not listening; with bloodshed your very hands have become filled.”​—Isaiah 1:15; 59:1-3.

13. (a) Why is it significant that the world’s religious leaders should join hands with the UN in calling for peace? (b) The cries for peace will culminate in what divinely foretold climax?

¹³ Further, it is deeply significant that the world’s religious leaders should join hands with the United Nations in calling for peace at this time. They would like to influence the UN to their own advantage, especially in this modern age when so many of their people are abandoning religion. Like the unfaithful leaders in ancient Israel, they call out, “‘There is peace! There is peace!’ when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14) No doubt their cries for peace will continue, rising in support of the climax concerning which the apostle Paul prophesied: “Jehovah’s day is coming exactly as a thief in the night. Whenever it is that they are saying: ‘Peace and security!’ then sudden destruction is to be instantly upon them just as the pang of distress upon a pregnant woman; and they will by no means escape.”​—1 Thessalonians 5:2, 3.

14. What form could the cry of “Peace and security!” take, and how can one avoid being misled by it?

¹⁴ In recent years, politicians have used the phrase “peace and security” to describe various human schemes. Do such efforts by world leaders constitute the beginning of the fulfillment of 1 Thessalonians 5:3? Or was Paul referring only to a specific event of such dramatic proportions that it will claim world attention? Since Bible prophecies are often completely understood only after they are fulfilled or in the course of fulfillment, we will have to wait and see. Meanwhile, Christians know that whatever peace and security the nations may appear to have achieved, basically nothing will have changed. Selfishness, hatred, crime, family breakdown, immorality, sickness, sorrow, and death will still be here. That is why no cry of “peace and security” needs to mislead you, if you remain awake to the meaning of world events and heed the prophetic warnings in God’s Word.​—Mark 13:32-37; Luke 21:34-36.

[Footnotes]

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The “Peace” Paradox

Though 1986 was proclaimed by the UN to be the International Year of Peace, the suicidal armaments race escalated. World Military and Social Expenditures 1986 supplies these sobering details:

In 1986 global military expenditures reached $900 thousand million.

One hour’s global military expenditure would have sufficed to immunize the 3.5 million that died annually from preventable infectious disease.

Worldwide, one person in five lived in gnawing poverty. All these starving people could have been fed for one year at the cost of what the world spent for armaments in two days.

The explosive energy in the world’s stockpile of nuclear weapons was 160,000,000 times greater than that of the Chernobyl explosion.

A nuclear bomb could have been delivered having an explosive power more than 500 times as powerful as the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945.

Nuclear arsenals contained the equivalent of more than one million Hiroshimas. They represented 2,700 times the explosive energy released in World War II, when 38 million people died.

Wars had become more frequent and more deadly. War deaths totaled 4.4 million in the 18th century, 8.3 million in the 19th century, 98.8 million in the first 86 years of the 20th century. Since the 18th century, war deaths have increased more than six times faster than the world’s population. There were ten times as many deaths per war in the 20th century as in the 19th.

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As prophesied about the scarlet-colored wild beast, the League of Nations was abyssed during World War II but was revived as the United Nations

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In support of the UN’s “Year of Peace,” representatives of the world’s religions offered up a babel of prayers at Assisi, Italy, but not one of them prayed to the living God, Jehovah

Chapter 35

Executing Babylon the Great

1. How does the angel describe the scarlet-colored wild beast, and what kind of wisdom is needed to understand the symbols of Revelation?

IN FURTHER describing the scarlet-colored wild beast of Revelation 17:3, the angel tells John: “Here is where the intelligence that has wisdom comes in: The seven heads mean seven mountains, where the woman sits on top. And there are seven kings: five have fallen, one is, the other has not yet arrived, but when he does arrive he must remain a short while.” (Revelation 17:9, 10) The angel is here conveying wisdom from above, the only wisdom that can give understanding of the symbols in Revelation. (James 3:17) This wisdom enlightens the John class and its companions as to the seriousness of the times in which we live. It builds in devoted hearts appreciation of Jehovah’s judgments, now about to be carried out, and inculcates a healthy fear of Jehovah. As Proverbs 9:10 states: “The fear of Jehovah is the start of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Most Holy One is what understanding is.” What does divine wisdom reveal to us about the wild beast?

2. What is the meaning of the seven heads of the scarlet-colored wild beast, and how is it that “five have fallen, one is”?

² The seven heads of that ferocious beast stand for seven “mountains,” or seven “kings.” Both terms are used Scripturally to refer to governmental powers. (Jeremiah 51:24, 25; Daniel 2:34, 35, 44, 45) In the Bible, six world powers are mentioned as having an impact on the affairs of God’s people: Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome. Of these, five had already come and gone by the time John received Revelation, whereas Rome was still very much a world power. This corresponds well with the words, “five have fallen, one is.” But what of “the other” that was due to come?

3. (a) How did the Roman Empire come to be divided? (b) What developments took place in the West? (c) How is the Holy Roman Empire to be viewed?

³ The Roman Empire endured and even expanded for hundreds of years after John’s day. In 330 C.E., Emperor Constantine moved his capital from Rome to Byzantium, which he renamed Constantinople. In 395 C.E., the Roman Empire was split into Eastern and Western parts. In 410 C.E., Rome itself fell to Alaric, king of the Visigoths (a Germanic tribe that had converted to the Arian brand of “Christianity”). Germanic tribes (also “Christian”) conquered Spain and much of the territory of Rome in North Africa. There were centuries of upheaval, unrest, and readjustment in Europe. Notable emperors arose in the West, such as Charlemagne, who formed an alliance with Pope Leo III in the 9th century, and Frederick II, who reigned in the 13th century. But their domain, though named the Holy Roman Empire, was much smaller than that of the earlier Roman Empire at its zenith. It was more of a restoration or a continuation of this ancient power than a new empire.

4. What successes did the Eastern Empire have, but what happened to much of the former territory of ancient Rome in North Africa, Spain, and Syria?

⁴ Rome’s Eastern Empire, centered at Constantinople, endured in a somewhat uneasy relationship with the Western Empire. In the sixth century, Eastern emperor Justinian I was able to reconquer much of North Africa, and he also intervened in Spain and Italy. In the seventh century, Justinian II recovered for the Empire areas of Macedonia that had been conquered by Slavic tribesmen. By the eighth century, however, much of the former territory of ancient Rome in North Africa, Spain, and Syria had come under the new empire of Islam and thus passed from the control of both Constantinople and Rome.

5. Though the city of Rome fell in 410 C.E., how is it that it took many more centuries for all traces of the political Roman Empire to pass from the world scene?

⁵ The city of Constantinople itself endured somewhat longer. It survived frequent attacks from Persians, Arabs, Bulgars, and Russians until in 1203 it finally fell​—not to Muslims but to Crusaders from the West. In 1453, though, it came under the power of the Muslim Ottoman ruler Mehmed II and soon became capital of the Ottoman, or Turkish, Empire. Thus, although the city of Rome fell in 410 C.E., it took many more centuries for all traces of the political Roman Empire to pass from the world scene. And even then, its influence was still discernible in religious empires based on the papacy of Rome and the Eastern Orthodox churches.

6. What brand-new empires developed, and which one became the most successful?

⁶ By the 15th century, however, some countries were building brand-new empires. While some of these new imperial powers were found in the territory of former colonies of Rome, their empires were not mere continuations of the Roman Empire. Portugal, Spain, France, and Holland all became seats of far-flung domains. But the most successful was Britain, which came to preside over a huge empire on which ‘the sun never set.’ This empire spread at different times over much of North America, Africa, India, and Southeast Asia, as well as the expanse of the South Pacific.

7. How did a kind of dual world power come to exist, and how long did John say that the seventh ‘head,’ or world power, would continue?

⁷ By the 19th century, some of the colonies in North America had already broken away from Britain to form the independent United States of America. Politically, some conflict between the new nation and the former motherland continued. Nevertheless, the first world war forced both countries to recognize their common interests and cemented a special relationship between them. Thus, a kind of dual world power came to exist, made up of the United States of America, now the world’s wealthiest nation, and Great Britain, seat of the world’s largest empire. Here, then, is the seventh ‘head,’ or world power, that continues into the time of the end and in the territories of which the modern-day Witnesses of Jehovah first got established. Compared with the long reign of the sixth head, the seventh remains only “a short while,” until God’s Kingdom destroys all national entities.

Why Called an Eighth King?

8, 9. What does the angel call the symbolic scarlet-colored wild beast, and in what way does it spring from the seven?

⁸ The angel further explains to John: “And the wild beast that was but is not, it is also itself an eighth king, but springs from the seven, and it goes off into destruction.” (Revelation 17:11) The symbolic scarlet-colored wild beast “springs from” the seven heads; that is, it is born from, or owes its existence to, those heads of the original “wild beast . . . out of the sea,” of which the scarlet-colored wild beast is an image. In what way? Well, in 1919 the Anglo-American power was the ascendant head. The previous six heads had fallen, and the position of dominant world power had passed to this dual head and was now centered in it. This seventh head, as the current representative of the line of world powers, was the moving force in establishing the League of Nations and is still the major promoter and financial support of the United Nations. Thus, in symbol, the scarlet-colored wild beast​—the eighth king—​“springs from” the original seven heads. Viewed in this way, the statement that it sprang from the seven harmonizes well with the earlier revelation that the wild beast with two horns like a lamb (the Anglo-American World Power, the seventh head of that original wild beast) urged the making of the image and gave it life.​—Revelation 13:1, 11, 14, 15.

⁹ Additionally, original members of the League of Nations included, along with Great Britain, governments that ruled in the seats of some of the previous heads, namely Greece, Iran (Persia), and Italy (Rome). Eventually, governments ruling the territory controlled by the previous six world powers came to be supportive members of the image of the wild beast. In this sense, too, it could be said that this scarlet-colored wild beast sprang from the seven world powers.

10. (a) How can it be said that the scarlet-colored wild beast “is also itself an eighth king”? (b) How did a leader of the former Soviet Union express support for the United Nations?

¹⁰ Notice that the scarlet-colored wild beast “is also itself an eighth king.” Thus, the United Nations today is designed to look like a world government. At times it has even acted like one, sending armies into the field to resolve international disputes, as in Korea, the Sinai Peninsula, some African countries, and Lebanon. But it is only the image of a king. Like a religious image, it has no real influence or power apart from what is invested in it by those who brought it into existence and worship it. On occasion, this symbolic wild beast looks weak; but it has never experienced the kind of wholesale abandonment by dictator-oriented members that sent the League of Nations reeling into the abyss. (Revelation 17:8) Though holding radically different opinions in other areas, a prominent leader of the former Soviet Union in 1987 joined the popes of Rome in expressing support for the UN. He even called for “a comprehensive system of international security” based on the UN. As John soon learns, the time will come when the UN will act with considerable authority. Then it, in its turn, “goes off into destruction.”

Ten Kings for One Hour

11. What does Jehovah’s angel tell about the ten horns on the symbolic scarlet-colored wild beast?

¹¹ In the previous chapter of Revelation, the sixth and seventh angels poured out bowls of the anger of God. Thus we were advised that earth’s kings are being gathered to God’s war at Armageddon and that ‘Babylon the Great is to be remembered in the sight of God.’ (Revelation 16:1, 14, 19) Now we will learn in greater detail how God’s judgments on these are to be executed. Listen again to Jehovah’s angel as he speaks to John. “And the ten horns that you saw mean ten kings, who have not yet received a kingdom, but they do receive authority as kings one hour with the wild beast. These have one thought, and so they give their power and authority to the wild beast. These will battle with the Lamb, but, because he is Lord of lords and King of kings, the Lamb will conquer them. Also, those called and chosen and faithful with him will do so.”​—Revelation 17:12-14.

12. (a) What do the ten horns depict? (b) How is it that the symbolic ten horns ‘had not yet received a kingdom’? (c) How do the symbolic ten horns have “a kingdom” now, and for how long?

¹² The ten horns depict all the political powers that presently hold sway on the world scene and that support the image of the wild beast. Very few of the countries that now exist were known in John’s day. And those that were, such as Egypt and Persia (Iran), today have an entirely different political setup. Hence, in the first century, the ‘ten horns had not yet received a kingdom.’ But now in the Lord’s day, they have “a kingdom,” or political authority. With the collapse of the great colonial empires, particularly since the second world war, many new nations have been born. These, as well as the longer-established powers, must rule with the wild beast for a short period​—just “one hour”—​before Jehovah brings an end to all worldly political authority at Armageddon.

13. In what way do the ten horns have “one thought,” and what attitude toward the Lamb does this ensure?

¹³ Today, nationalism is one of the strongest forces motivating these ten horns. They have “one thought” in that they want to preserve their national sovereignty rather than accept God’s Kingdom. This was their purpose in subscribing to the League of Nations and the United Nations organization in the first place​—to preserve world peace and thus safeguard their own existence. Such an attitude ensures that the horns will oppose the Lamb, the “Lord of lords and King of kings,” because Jehovah has purposed that his Kingdom under Jesus Christ will shortly replace all these kingdoms.​—Daniel 7:13, 14; Matthew 24:30; 25:31-33, 46.

14. How is it possible for the rulers of the world to battle with the Lamb, and what will be the outcome?

¹⁴ Of course, there is nothing that the rulers of this world can do against Jesus himself. He is in heaven, far out of their reach. But Jesus’ brothers, the remaining ones of the woman’s seed, are still on earth and apparently vulnerable. (Revelation 12:17) Many of the horns have already demonstrated bitter hostility toward them, and in this way they have battled with the Lamb. (Matthew 25:40, 45) Soon, though, the time will come for God’s Kingdom to “crush and put an end to all these kingdoms.” (Daniel 2:44) Then, the kings of the earth will be in a fight to the finish with the Lamb, as we shall soon see. (Revelation 19:11-21) But here we learn enough to realize that the nations will not succeed. Though they and the UN scarlet-colored wild beast have their “one thought,” they cannot defeat the great “Lord of lords and King of kings,” nor can they defeat “those called and chosen and faithful with him,” which includes his anointed followers still on earth. These too will have conquered by keeping integrity in answer to Satan’s vile accusations.​—Romans 8:37-39; Revelation 12:10, 11.

Devastating the Harlot

15. What does the angel say about the harlot and the attitude and action of the ten horns and the wild beast toward her?

¹⁵ God’s people are not the only objects of the enmity of the ten horns. The angel now draws John’s attention back to the harlot: “And he says to me: ‘The waters that you saw, where the harlot is sitting, mean peoples and crowds and nations and tongues. And the ten horns that you saw, and the wild beast, these will hate the harlot and will make her devastated and naked, and will eat up her fleshy parts and will completely burn her with fire.’”​—Revelation 17:15, 16.

16. Why will Babylon the Great not be able to rely on her waters for protective support when political governments turn against her?

¹⁶ Just as ancient Babylon relied on her watery defenses, Babylon the Great today relies on her huge membership of “peoples and crowds and nations and tongues.” The angel appropriately draws our attention to these before telling of a shocking development: Political governments of this earth will turn violently upon Babylon the Great. What will all those “peoples and crowds and nations and tongues” do then? God’s people are already warning Babylon the Great that the water of the river Euphrates will dry up. (Revelation 16:12) Those waters will finally drain away completely. They will not be able to give the disgusting old harlot any effectual support in her hour of greatest need.​—Isaiah 44:27; Jeremiah 50:38; 51:36, 37.

17. (a) Why will the wealth of Babylon the Great not save her? (b) How will the end of Babylon the Great be far from dignified? (c) Besides the ten horns, or individual nations, what else joins in the rampage against Babylon the Great?

¹⁷ Certainly, the immense material wealth of Babylon the Great will not save her. It may even hasten her destruction, for the vision shows that when the wild beast and the ten horns vent their hatred on her they will strip off her royal robes and all her jewelry. They will plunder her wealth. They “make her . . . naked,” shamefully exposing her real character. What devastation! Her end is also far from dignified. They destroy her, “eat up her fleshy parts,” reducing her to a lifeless skeleton. Finally, they “completely burn her with fire.” She is burned up like a carrier of the plague, without even a decent burial! It is not the nations alone, as represented by the ten horns, that destroy the great harlot, but “the wild beast,” meaning the UN itself, joins them in this rampage. It will give its sanction to the destruction of false religion. Many of the 190-and-more nations within the UN have already displayed, by their voting pattern, a hostility toward religion, especially that of Christendom.

18. (a) What potential for the nations to turn against Babylonish religion has already been seen? (b) What will be the basic reason for the all-out attack on the great harlot?

¹⁸ Why would the nations treat their former paramour so outrageously? We have seen in recent history the potential for such a turning against Babylonish religion. Official government opposition has tremendously reduced the influence of religion in lands such as the former Soviet Union and China. In Protestant sectors of Europe, widespread apathy and doubt have emptied the churches, so that religion is practically dead. The vast Catholic empire is torn by rebellion and disagreement, which her leaders have been unable to calm. We should not, though, lose sight of the fact that this final, all-out attack on Babylon the Great comes as an expression of God’s unalterable judgment on the great harlot.

Carrying Out God’s Thought

19. (a) How can the execution of Jehovah’s judgment against the great harlot be illustrated by his judgment on apostate Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E.? (b) What did the desolated, uninhabited condition of Jerusalem after 607 B.C.E. prefigure for our day?

¹⁹ How does Jehovah execute this judgment? This may be illustrated by Jehovah’s action against his apostate people in ancient times, concerning whom he said: “In the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen horrible things, committing adultery and walking in falsehood; and they have strengthened the hands of evildoers in order that they should not return, each one from his own badness. To me all of them have become like Sodom, and the inhabitants of her like Gomorrah.” (Jeremiah 23:14) In 607 B.C.E., Jehovah used Nebuchadnezzar to ‘strip off the garments, take away the beautiful articles, and leave naked and nude’ that spiritually adulterous city. (Ezekiel 23:4, 26, 29) Jerusalem of that time was a pattern of Christendom today, and as John saw in earlier visions, Jehovah will administer to Christendom and the rest of false religion a similar punishment. The desolated, uninhabited condition of Jerusalem after 607 B.C.E. shows what religious Christendom will look like after being stripped of her wealth and shamefully exposed. And the rest of Babylon the Great will fare no better.

20. (a) How does John show that Jehovah once again will use human rulers in executing judgment? (b) What is God’s “thought”? (c) In what way will the nations carry out their “one thought,” but whose thought will really be carried out?

²⁰ Again Jehovah uses human rulers in executing judgment. “For God put it into their hearts to carry out his thought, even to carry out their one thought by giving their kingdom to the wild beast, until the words of God will have been accomplished.” (Revelation 17:17) What is God’s “thought”? To arrange for the executioners of Babylon the Great to band together, in order to destroy her completely. Of course, the rulers’ motive in attacking her will be to carry out their own “one thought.” They will feel that it is in their nationalistic interests to turn upon the great harlot. They may come to view the continued existence of organized religion within their boundaries as a threat to their sovereignty. But Jehovah will actually be maneuvering matters; they will carry out his thought by destroying his age-old, adulterous enemy at one stroke!​—Compare Jeremiah 7:8-11, 34.

21. Since the scarlet-colored wild beast will be used in destroying Babylon the Great, what will the nations evidently do with regard to the United Nations?

²¹ Yes, the nations will use the scarlet-colored wild beast, the United Nations, in destroying Babylon the Great. They do not act on their own initiative, for Jehovah puts it into their hearts “even to carry out their one thought by giving their kingdom to the wild beast.” When the time comes, the nations will evidently see the need to strengthen the United Nations. They will give it teeth, as it were, lending it whatever authority and power they possess so that it can turn upon false religion and fight successfully against her “until the words of God will have been accomplished.” Thus, the ancient harlot will come to her complete end. And good riddance to her!

22. (a) At Revelation 17:18, what is signified by the way the angel concludes his testimony? (b) How do Jehovah’s Witnesses respond to the unraveling of the mystery?

²² As if to emphasize the certainty of Jehovah’s execution of judgment on the world empire of false religion, the angel concludes his testimony by saying: “And the woman whom you saw means the great city that has a kingdom over the kings of the earth.” (Revelation 17:18) Like Babylon of Belshazzar’s time, Babylon the Great has “been weighed in the balance and found wanting.” (Daniel 5:27, The New English Bible) Her execution will be swift and final. And how do Jehovah’s Witnesses respond to the unraveling of the mystery of the great harlot and of the scarlet-colored wild beast? They show zeal in proclaiming Jehovah’s day of judgment, while answering “with graciousness” sincere searchers for truth. (Colossians 4:5, 6; Revelation 17:3, 7) As our next chapter will show, all who are desirous of surviving when the great harlot is executed must act, and act quickly!

[Pictures on page 252]

The Succession of Seven World Powers

EGYPT

ASSYRIA

BABYLON

MEDO-PERSIA

GREECE

ROME

ANGLO-AMERICA

[Pictures on page 254]

“It is also itself an eighth king”

[Picture on page 255]

Turning their backs on the Lamb, “they give their power and authority to the wild beast”

[Picture on page 257]

Christendom as the principal part of Babylon the Great will resemble ancient Jerusalem in utter ruin

Chapter 36

The Great City Devastated

Vision 12​—Revelation 18:1–19:10

Subject: The fall and destruction of Babylon the Great; the marriage of the Lamb announced

Time of fulfillment: From 1919 until after the great tribulation

1. What will mark the start of the great tribulation?

SUDDEN, shocking, devastating​—such will be the demise of Babylon the Great! It will be one of the most catastrophic events in all history, marking the start of the “great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.”​—Matthew 24:21.

2. Though political empires have risen and fallen, what kind of empire has endured?

² False religion has been around for a long time. It has existed without a break since the days of bloodthirsty Nimrod, who opposed Jehovah and set men to building the Tower of Babel. When Jehovah confused the tongues of those rebels and scattered them over the earth, Babylon’s false religion traveled with them. (Genesis 10:8-10; 11:4-9) Since then, political empires have risen and fallen, but Babylonish religion has endured. It has taken many shapes and forms, becoming a world empire of false religion, the prophesied Babylon the Great. Its most prominent part is Christendom, which grew out of a fusion of early Babylonish teachings with apostate “Christian” doctrine. Because of the long, long history of Babylon the Great, many people find it hard to believe that it will ever be destroyed.

3. How does Revelation confirm the doom of false religion?

³ It is therefore appropriate that Revelation should confirm the doom of false religion by giving us two detailed descriptions of her fall and subsequent events leading to her total desolation. We have already seen her as “the great harlot” that is finally devastated by her erstwhile lovers of the political realm. (Revelation 17:1, 15, 16) Now, in still another vision, we are to view her as a city, the religious antitype of ancient Babylon.

Babylon the Great Takes a Tumble

4. (a) What vision does John next see? (b) How may we identify the angel, and why is it fitting for him to announce the fall of Babylon the Great?

⁴ John continues the account, telling us: “After these things I saw another angel descending from heaven, with great authority; and the earth was lighted up from his glory. And he cried out with a strong voice, saying: ‘She has fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen.’” (Revelation 18:1, 2a) It is the second time that John hears that angelic announcement. (See Revelation 14:8.) This time, however, its significance is emphasized by the magnificence of the heavenly angel, for his glory lights up the whole earth! Who can he be? Centuries earlier the prophet Ezekiel, reporting on a heavenly vision, stated that “the earth itself shone because of his [Jehovah’s] glory.” (Ezekiel 43:2) The only angel to shine with glory comparable to Jehovah’s would be the Lord Jesus, who is “the reflection of [God’s] glory and the exact representation of his very being.” (Hebrews 1:3) In 1914, Jesus became a heavenly King, and since that time he has been exercising authority over the earth as Jehovah’s associate King and Judge. It is fitting, then, that he should announce the fall of Babylon the Great.

5. (a) Whom does the angel use in heralding the fall of Babylon the Great? (b) When judgment began on those professing to be “the house of God,” how did Christendom fare?

⁵ Whom does this angel with great authority use in heralding such amazing news before mankind? Why, it is the very people that are released as a result of that fall, the remaining anointed ones on earth, the John class. From 1914 to 1918, these suffered greatly at the hands of Babylon the Great, but in 1918 the Lord Jehovah and his “messenger of the [Abrahamic] covenant,” Jesus Christ, began judgment with “the house of God,” those professing to be Christians. Thus apostate Christendom was brought to trial. (Malachi 3:1; 1 Peter 4:17) Her tremendous bloodguilt incurred during the first world war, her complicity in persecuting Jehovah’s faithful witnesses, and her Babylonish creeds did not help her in the time of judgment; nor did any other part of Babylon the Great merit God’s approval.​—Compare Isaiah 13:1-9.

6. Why can it be said that Babylon the Great had fallen by 1919?

⁶ So by 1919 Babylon the Great had fallen, opening the way for God’s people to be released and restored, in one day as it were, to their land of spiritual prosperity. (Isaiah 66:8) By that year, Jehovah God and Jesus Christ, the Greater Darius and the Greater Cyrus, had maneuvered matters so that false religion could no longer keep a hold on Jehovah’s people. No more could it prevent them from serving Jehovah and making known to all who might hear that harlotlike Babylon the Great is doomed and the vindication of Jehovah’s sovereignty is at hand!​—Isaiah 45:1-4; Daniel 5:30, 31.

7. (a) Though Babylon the Great was not destroyed in 1919, how did Jehovah view her? (b) When Babylon the Great fell in 1919, what resulted to Jehovah’s people?

⁷ True, Babylon the Great was not destroyed in 1919​—any more than the ancient city Babylon was destroyed in 539 B.C.E. when it fell to the armies of Cyrus the Persian. But from Jehovah’s viewpoint, that organization had fallen. She was judicially condemned, awaiting execution; therefore, false religion could no longer hold Jehovah’s people in captivity. (Compare Luke 9:59, 60.) These were released to serve as the Master’s faithful and discreet slave in providing spiritual food at the proper time. They had received a judgment of “Well done” and were commissioned to get busy again in Jehovah’s work.​—Matthew 24:45-47; 25:21, 23; Acts 1:8.

8. What event does the watchman of Isaiah 21:8, 9 proclaim, and who today is foreshadowed by that watchman?

⁸ Millenniums ago Jehovah used other prophets to foretell this epoch-marking event. Isaiah spoke of a watchman who “proceeded to call out like a lion: ‘Upon the watchtower, O Jehovah, I am standing constantly by day, and at my guardpost I am stationed all the nights.’” And what event does that watchman discern and proclaim with lionlike boldness? This: “She has fallen! Babylon has fallen, and all the graven images of her gods he [Jehovah] has broken to the earth!” (Isaiah 21:8, 9) This watchman well foreshadows the wide-awake John class today, as it uses the Watchtower magazine and other theocratic publications to sound abroad the news that Babylon has fallen.

Decline of Babylon the Great

9, 10. (a) The influence of Babylonish religion has suffered what decline since World War I? (b) How does the mighty angel describe the fallen condition of Babylon the Great?

⁹ Ancient Babylon’s fall in 539 B.C.E. was the start of a long decline that ended in her desolation. Similarly, since the first world war, the influence of Babylonish religion has declined remarkably on a global scale. In Japan, Shinto emperor worship was proscribed following the second world war. In China, the Communist government controls all religious appointments and activity. In Protestant northern Europe, most people have become indifferent to religion. And the Roman Catholic Church has recently been weakened by schisms and internal dissent in its global domain.​—Compare Mark 3:24-26.

¹⁰ All these trends are doubtless part of the ‘drying up of the river Euphrates’ in preparation for the coming militaristic attack on Babylon the Great. This ‘drying up’ is reflected, too, in the pope’s announcement of October 1986 that the church must “again become mendicant”​—because of huge deficits. (Revelation 16:12) Particularly since 1919 has Babylon the Great been exposed to public gaze as a spiritual wasteland, just as the mighty angel here announces: “And she has become a dwelling place of demons and a lurking place of every unclean exhalation and a lurking place of every unclean and hated bird!” (Revelation 18:2b) Soon she will be literally such a wasteland, as desolate as Babylon’s ruins in modern Iraq.​—See also Jeremiah 50:25-28.

11. In what sense has Babylon the Great become “a dwelling place of demons” and ‘a lurking place of unclean exhalations and of unclean birds’?

¹¹ The word “demons” here is likely a reflection of the word “goat-shaped demons” (se‘i·rimʹ) found in Isaiah’s description of fallen Babylon: “And there the haunters of waterless regions will certainly lie down, and their houses must be filled with eagle owls. And there the ostriches must reside, and goat-shaped demons themselves will go skipping about there.” (Isaiah 13:21) It may not refer to literal demons but rather to shaggy-haired, desert-dwelling animals whose appearance made onlookers think of demons. In the ruins of Babylon the Great, the figurative existence of such animals, along with stagnant, poisonous air (“unclean exhalation”) and unclean birds, signifies her spiritually dead condition. She holds forth no life prospect whatever for mankind.​—Compare Ephesians 2:1, 2.

12. How does the situation of Babylon the Great match Jeremiah’s prophecy in chapter 50?

¹² Her situation also matches Jeremiah’s prophecy: “‘There is a sword against the Chaldeans,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘and against the inhabitants of Babylon and against her princes and against her wise ones. . . . There is a devastation upon her waters, and they must be dried up. For it is a land of graven images, and because of their frightful visions they keep acting crazy. Therefore the haunters of waterless regions will dwell with the howling animals, and in her the ostriches must dwell; and she will nevermore be dwelt in, nor will she reside for generation after generation.’” Idolatry and chanting of repetitious prayers cannot save Babylon the Great from a retribution resembling God’s overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.​—Jeremiah 50:35-40.

Passion-Arousing Wine

13. (a) How does the mighty angel call attention to the broad extent of the harlotry of Babylon the Great? (b) What immorality that was rife in ancient Babylon is also found in Babylon the Great?

¹³ The mighty angel next calls attention to the broad extent of the harlotry of Babylon the Great, proclaiming: “For because of the passion-arousing wine of her fornicationa all the nations have fallen victim, and the kings of the earth committed fornication with her, and the traveling merchants of the earth became rich due to the power of her shameless luxury.” (Revelation 18:3) She has indoctrinated all nations of mankind in her unclean religious ways. In ancient Babylon, according to Greek historian Herodotus, each maiden was required to prostitute her virginity in temple worship. Revolting sexual corruption is portrayed to this day in the war-damaged sculptures at Angkor Wat in Kampuchea and in the temples at Khajuraho, India, which show the Hindu god Vishnu surrounded by disgusting erotic scenes. In the United States, the disclosures of immorality that shook the world of TV evangelists in 1987, and again in 1988, as well as the revelation of the widespread practice of homosexuality by ministers of religion, illustrate that even Christendom tolerates shocking excesses of literal fornication. Yet, all the nations have fallen victim to an even more serious kind of fornication.

14-16. (a) What spiritually illicit religio-political relationship developed in Fascist Italy? (b) When Italy invaded Abyssinia, what statements did bishops of the Roman Catholic Church make?

¹⁴ We have already reviewed the illicit religio-political relationship that catapulted Hitler into power in Nazi Germany. Other nations also suffered because of religion’s meddling in secular affairs. For example: In Fascist Italy, on February 11, 1929, the Lateran Treaty was signed by Mussolini and Cardinal Gasparri, making Vatican City a sovereign state. Pope Pius XI claimed that he had “given Italy back to God, and God back to Italy.” Was that the truth? Consider what happened six years later. On October 3, 1935, Italy invaded Abyssinia, claiming that it was “a barbarous land which still practises slavery.” Who, really, was being barbarous? Did the Catholic Church condemn Mussolini’s barbarity? While the pope issued ambiguous statements, his bishops were quite vocal in blessing the armed forces of their Italian “fatherland.” In the book The Vatican in the Age of the Dictators, Anthony Rhodes reports:

¹⁵ “In his Pastoral Letter of the 19th October [1935], the Bishop of Udine [Italy] wrote, ‘It is neither timely nor fitting for us to pronounce on the rights and wrongs of the case. Our duty as Italians, and still more as Christians is to contribute to the success of our arms.’ The Bishop of Padua wrote on the 21st October, ‘In the difficult hours through which we are passing, we ask you to have faith in our statesmen and armed forces.’ On the 24th October, the Bishop of Cremona consecrated a number of regimental flags and said: ‘The blessing of God be upon these soldiers who, on African soil, will conquer new and fertile lands for the Italian genius, thereby bringing to them Roman and Christian culture. May Italy stand once again as the Christian mentor to the whole world.’”

¹⁶ Abyssinia was raped, with the blessing of the Roman Catholic clergy. Could any of these claim, in any sense, that they were like the apostle Paul in being “clean from the blood of all men”?​—Acts 20:26.

17. How did Spain suffer because its clergy failed to “beat their swords into plowshares”?

¹⁷ Add to Germany, Italy, and Abyssinia another nation that has fallen victim to the fornication of Babylon the Great​—Spain. The Civil War of 1936-39 in that land was sparked, in part, by the democratic government’s taking steps to reduce the huge power of the Roman Catholic Church. As the war got under way, the Catholic Fascist leader of the revolutionary forces, Franco, described himself as “the Christian Generalissimo of the Holy Crusade,” a title that he later dropped. Several hundred thousand Spaniards died in the fighting. Apart from this, according to a conservative estimate, Franco’s Nationalists had murdered 40,000 Popular Front members, while the latter had murdered 8,000 clerics​—monks, priests, nuns, and novices. Such is the horror and tragedy of civil war, illustrating the wisdom of heeding Jesus’ words: “Return your sword to its place, for all those who take the sword will perish by the sword.” (Matthew 26:52) How disgusting that Christendom gets involved in such massive bloodshed! Her clergy have indeed failed utterly to “beat their swords into plowshares”!​—Isaiah 2:4.

The Traveling Merchants

18. Who are “the traveling merchants of the earth”?

¹⁸ Who are “the traveling merchants of the earth”? No doubt we would today call them traders, commercial giants, wheeler-dealers of big business. This is not to say that it is wrong to engage in legitimate business. The Bible provides wise counsel for business people, warning against dishonesty, greed, and the like. (Proverbs 11:1; Zechariah 7:9, 10; James 5:1-5) The greater gain is “godly devotion along with self-sufficiency.” (1 Timothy 6:6, 17-19) However, Satan’s world does not follow righteous principles. Corruption abounds. It is to be found in religion, in politics​—and in big business. From time to time the news media expose scandals, such as embezzlement by high government officials and illegal trafficking in arms.

19. What fact about the world’s economy helps explain why the merchants of the earth come up for unfavorable mention in Revelation?

¹⁹ International trading in arms is soaring beyond $1,000,000,000,000 each year, while hundreds of millions of humans are deprived of life’s necessities. That is bad enough. But armaments appear to be a basic support of the world’s economy. On April 11, 1987, an article in London’s Spectator reported: “Counting only directly related industries, some 400,000 jobs are involved in the U.S. and 750,000 in Europe. But curiously enough, as the social and economic role of building weapons has grown, the actual question of whether the producers are well defended has slipped into the background.” Huge profits are made as bombs and other weaponry are traded all over the earth, even to potential enemies. Some day those bombs may come back in a fiery holocaust to destroy those selling them. What a paradox! Add to this the graft that surrounds the arms industry. In the United States alone, according to the Spectator, “every year the Pentagon inexplicably loses $900-million worth of arms and equipment.” It is no wonder that the merchants of the earth come up for unfavorable mention in Revelation!

20. What example shows religion’s involvement in corrupt business practices?

²⁰ As foretold by the glorious angel, religion has been deeply involved in such corrupt business practices. For example, there is the Vatican’s involvement in the collapse of Italy’s Banco Ambrosiano in 1982. The case has dragged on through the 1980’s, the unanswered question being: Where did the money go? In February 1987 Milan magistrates issued arrest warrants for three Vatican clerics, including an American archbishop, on charges that they were accessories to fraudulent bankruptcy, but the Vatican rejected an extradition request. In July 1987, amid an uproar of protest, the warrants were nullified by Italy’s highest Court of Appeals on the basis of an old treaty between the Vatican and the Italian government.

21. How do we know that Jesus had no tie-in with questionable business practices of his day, but what do we see today with Babylonish religion?

²¹ Did Jesus have a tie-in with questionable business practices of his day? No. He was not even a property owner, for he had “nowhere to lay down his head.” A rich young ruler was advised by Jesus: “Sell all the things you have and distribute to poor people, and you will have treasure in the heavens; and come be my follower.” That was fine admonition, for it could have resulted in his getting rid of all anxieties over business matters. (Luke 9:58; 18:22) In contrast, Babylonish religion often has unsavory links with big business. For example, in 1987 the Albany Times Union reported that the financial administrator of the Catholic archdiocese of Miami, Florida, U.S.A., admitted to the church’s owning stocks in companies that make nuclear weapons, R-rated movies, and cigarettes.

“Get Out of Her, My People”

22. (a) What does a voice out of heaven say? (b) What led to rejoicing on the part of God’s people in 537 B.C.E. and in 1919 C.E.?

²² John’s next words point to a further fulfillment of the prophetic pattern: “And I heard another voice out of heaven say: ‘Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.’” (Revelation 18:4) Prophecies of ancient Babylon’s fall in the Hebrew Scriptures also include Jehovah’s command to his people: “Take your flight out of the midst of Babylon.” (Jeremiah 50:8, 13) Similarly, in view of the coming desolation of Babylon the Great, God’s people are now urged to escape. In 537 B.C.E. the opportunity to escape from Babylon caused much rejoicing on the part of faithful Israelites. In the same way, the release of God’s people from Babylonish captivity in 1919 led to rejoicing on their part. (Revelation 11:11, 12) And since that time millions of others have obeyed the order to flee.

23. How does the voice out of heaven emphasize the urgency of fleeing out of Babylon the Great?

²³ Is it really so urgent to flee out of Babylon the Great, withdrawing from membership in the world’s religions and making a complete separation? It is, for we need to take God’s view of this age-old religious monstrosity, Babylon the Great. He did not mince words in calling her the great harlot. So now the voice out of heaven informs John further concerning this whore: “For her sins have massed together clear up to heaven, and God has called her acts of injustice to mind. Render to her even as she herself rendered, and do to her twice as much, yes, twice the number of the things she did; in the cup in which she put a mixture put twice as much of the mixture for her. To the extent that she glorified herself and lived in shameless luxury, to that extent give her torment and mourning. For in her heart she keeps saying, ‘I sit a queen, and I am no widow, and I shall never see mourning.’ That is why in one day her plagues will come, death and mourning and famine, and she will be completely burned with fire, because Jehovah God, who judged her, is strong.”​—Revelation 18:5-8.

24. (a) God’s people must flee out of Babylon the Great to avoid what? (b) Those who fail to flee out of Babylon the Great share with her in what sins?

²⁴ Strong words, those! So action is required. Jeremiah urged the Israelites in his day to act, saying: “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, . . . for it is the time of vengeance belonging to Jehovah. There is treatment that he is paying back to her. Get out of the midst of her, O my people, and provide each one his soul with escape from the burning anger of Jehovah.” (Jeremiah 51:6, 45) In a similar way, the voice out of heaven warns God’s people today to flee from Babylon the Great in order not to receive part of her plagues. Jehovah’s plaguelike judgments on this world, including Babylon the Great, are now being proclaimed. (Revelation 8:1–9:21; 16:1-21) God’s people need to separate themselves from false religion if they themselves do not want to suffer these plagues and ultimately die with her. Besides, remaining within that organization would make them share in her sins. They would be as guilty as she is of spiritual adultery and of shedding the blood “of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth.”​—Revelation 18:24; compare Ephesians 5:11; 1 Timothy 5:22.

25. In what ways did God’s people get out of ancient Babylon?

²⁵ How, though, do God’s people get out of Babylon the Great? In the case of ancient Babylon, the Jews had to make the physical journey from the city of Babylon all the way back to the Promised Land. But more was involved than that. Isaiah prophetically told the Israelites: “Turn away, turn away, get out of there, touch nothing unclean; get out from the midst of her, keep yourselves clean, you who are carrying the utensils of Jehovah.” (Isaiah 52:11) Yes, they had to abandon all unclean practices of Babylonish religion that might tarnish their worship of Jehovah.

26. How did the Corinthian Christians obey the words, ‘Get out from among them and quit touching the unclean thing’?

²⁶ The apostle Paul quoted Isaiah’s words in his letter to the Corinthians, saying: “Do not become unevenly yoked with unbelievers. For what fellowship do righteousness and lawlessness have? Or what sharing does light have with darkness? . . . ‘Therefore get out from among them, and separate yourselves,’ says Jehovah, ‘and quit touching the unclean thing.’” The Corinthian Christians did not have to leave Corinth in order to obey that command. They did, however, physically have to avoid the unclean temples of false religion, as well as spiritually separate themselves from the unclean acts of those idol worshippers. In 1919 God’s people began to flee from Babylon the Great in this way, cleansing themselves of any residual unclean teachings and practices. Thus, they were able to serve him as his purified people.​—2 Corinthians 6:14-17; 1 John 3:3.

27. What parallels are there between the judgments on ancient Babylon and those on Babylon the Great?

²⁷ Ancient Babylon’s fall and eventual desolation was a punishment for her sins. “For clear to the heavens her judgment has reached.” (Jeremiah 51:9) Similarly, the sins of Babylon the Great have “massed together clear up to heaven,” so as to come to the attention of Jehovah himself. She is guilty of injustice, idolatry, immorality, oppression, robbery, and murder. Ancient Babylon’s fall was, in part, vengeance for what she had done to Jehovah’s temple and his true worshippers. (Jeremiah 50:8, 14; 51:11, 35, 36) The fall of Babylon the Great and her eventual destruction are likewise expressions of vengeance for what she has done to true worshippers over the centuries. Indeed, her final destruction is the beginning of “the day of vengeance on the part of our God.”​—Isaiah 34:8-10; 61:2; Jeremiah 50:28.

28. What standard of justice does Jehovah apply to Babylon the Great, and why?

²⁸ Under the Mosaic Law, if an Israelite stole from his fellow countrymen, he had to pay back at least double in compensation. (Exodus 22:1, 4, 7, 9) In the coming destruction of Babylon the Great, Jehovah will apply a comparable standard of justice. She is to receive twice as much as she gave out. There will be no mercy shown because Babylon the Great has shown no mercy to her victims. She fed parasitically on the peoples of the earth to keep herself in “shameless luxury.” Now she will experience suffering and mourning. Ancient Babylon felt that she was in an absolutely secure position, boasting: “I shall not sit as a widow, and I shall not know the loss of children.” (Isaiah 47:8, 9, 11) Babylon the Great also feels secure. But her destruction, decreed by Jehovah who “is strong,” will happen quickly, as if “in one day”!

[Footnote]

[Box on page 263]

“The Kings . . . Committed Fornication With Her”

In the early 1800’s European merchants were smuggling large quantities of opium into China. In March 1839 Chinese officials tried to stop the illegal trade by seizing 20,000 chests of the drug from British merchants. This led to tension between Britain and China. As relations between the two countries deteriorated, some Protestant missionaries urged Britain to go to war, with statements such as the following:

“How these difficulties do rejoice my heart because I think the English government may be enraged, and God, in His power may break down the barriers which prevent the gospel of Christ from entering China.”​—Henrietta Shuck, Southern Baptist missionary.

Finally, war broke out​—the war that is today known as the Opium War. Missionaries wholeheartedly encouraged Britain with comments such as these:

“I am constrained to look back upon the present state of things not so much as an opium or an English affair, as the great design of Providence to make the wickedness of man subserve His purposes of mercy toward China in breaking through her wall of exclusion.”​—Peter Parker, Congregationalist missionary.

Another Congregationalist missionary, Samuel W. Williams, added: “The hand of God is apparent in all that has transpired in a remarkable manner, and we doubt not that He who said He came to bring a sword upon the earth has come here and that for the speedy destruction of His enemies and the establishment of His own kingdom. He will overturn and overturn until He has established the Prince of Peace.”

Regarding the horrendous slaughter of Chinese nationals, missionary J. Lewis Shuck wrote: “I regard such scenes . . . as the direct instruments of the Lord in clearing away the rubbish which impedes the advancement of Divine Truth.”

Congregationalist missionary Elijah C. Bridgman added: “God has often made use of the strong arm of civil power to prepare the way for His kingdom . . . The agency in these great moments is human; the directing power divine. The high governor of all the nations has employed England to chastize and humble China.”​—Quotations taken from “Ends and Means,” 1974, an essay by Stuart Creighton Miller published in The Missionary Enterprise in China and America (a Harvard Study edited by John K. Fairbank).

[Box on page 264]

“The Traveling Merchants . . . Became Rich”

“Between 1929 and the outbreak of World War II, [Bernadino] Nogara [the Vatican financial administrator] assigned Vatican capital and Vatican agents to work in diversified areas of Italy’s economy​—particularly in electric power, telephone communications, credit and banking, small railroads, and the production of agricultural implements, cement, and artificial textile fibers. Many of these ventures paid off.

“Nogara gobbled up a number of companies including La Società Italiana della Viscosa, La Supertessile, La Società Meridionale Industrie Tessili, and La Cisaraion. Fusing these into one company, which he named CISA-Viscosa and placed under the command of Baron Francesco Maria Oddasso, one of the most highly trusted Vatican laymen, Nogara then maneuvered the absorption of the new company by Italy’s largest textile manufacturer, SNIA-Viscosa. Eventually the Vatican interest in SNIA-Viscosa grew larger and larger, and in time the Vatican took control​—as witness the fact that Baron Oddasso subsequently became vice president.

“Thus did Nogara penetrate the textile industry. He penetrated other industries in other ways, for Nogara had many tricks up his sleeve. This selfless man . . . probably did more to infuse life into the Italian economy than did any other single businessman in Italy’s history . . . Benito Mussolini had never quite been able to achieve the empire of which he dreamed, but he enabled the Vatican and Bernadino Nogara to create a dominion of another kind.”​—The Vatican Empire, by Nino Lo Bello, pages 71-3.

This is just one example of the close cooperation between the merchants of the earth and Babylon the Great. No wonder these merchants will mourn when their business partner is no more!

[Picture on page 259]

As humans spread into all the earth, they took Babylonish religion with them

[Pictures on page 261]

The John class, like a watchman, proclaims that Babylon has fallen

[Picture on page 266]

Ancient Babylon’s ruins portend the coming ruination of Babylon the Great

Chapter 37

Mourning and Rejoicing at Babylon’s End

1. How will “the kings of the earth” react to the sudden destruction of Babylon the Great?

BABYLON’S end is good news for Jehovah’s people, but how do the nations view it? John tells us: “And the kings of the earth who committed fornication with her and lived in shameless luxury will weep and beat themselves in grief over her, when they look at the smoke from the burning of her, while they stand at a distance because of their fear of her torment and say, ‘Too bad, too bad, you great city, Babylon you strong city, because in one hour your judgment has arrived!’”​—Revelation 18:9, 10.

2. (a) Since the symbolic ten horns of the scarlet-colored wild beast destroy Babylon the Great, why do “the kings of the earth” grieve over her end? (b) Why do the grief-stricken kings stand at a distance from the doomed city?

² The nations’ reaction may seem surprising in view of the fact that Babylon was destroyed by the symbolic ten horns of the scarlet-colored wild beast. (Revelation 17:16) But when Babylon is gone, “the kings of the earth” will evidently realize how useful she was to them in keeping the people pacified and in subjection. The clergy have declared wars to be sacred, acted as recruiting agents, and preached the youth into the battle lines. Religion has provided a screen of holiness behind which corrupt rulers have operated in oppressing the common people. (Compare Jeremiah 5:30, 31; Matthew 23:27, 28.) Notice, however, that these grief-stricken kings now stand at a distance from the doomed city. They do not get close enough to come to her aid. They are sad to see her go but not sad enough to take risks in her behalf.

Merchants Weep and Mourn

3. Who else regret the passing of Babylon the Great, and what reasons for this does John give?

³ The kings of the earth are not the only ones to regret the passing of Babylon the Great. “Also, the traveling merchants of the earth are weeping and mourning over her, because there is no one to buy their full stock anymore, a full stock of gold and silver and precious stone and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet; and everything in scented wood and every sort of ivory object and every sort of object out of most precious wood and of copper and of iron and of marble; also cinnamon and Indian spice and incense and perfumed oil and frankincense and wine and olive oil and fine flour and wheat and cattle and sheep, and horses and coaches and slaves and human souls. Yes, the fine fruit that your soul desired has departed from you [Babylon the Great], and all the dainty things and the gorgeous things have perished from you, and never again will people find them.”​—Revelation 18:11-14.

4. Why do “the traveling merchants” weep and mourn over the end of Babylon the Great?

⁴ Yes, Babylon the Great was a close friend and a good customer of wealthy merchants. For example, the monasteries, nunneries, and churches in Christendom have over the centuries acquired huge amounts of gold, silver, precious stones, valuable woods, and other forms of material wealth. Further, religion’s blessing has been bestowed on the lavish buying sprees and drunken orgies that accompany the celebration of the Christ-dishonoring Christmas and other so-called holy days. Christendom’s missionaries have penetrated distant lands, opening up new markets for “the traveling merchants” of this world. In 17th-century Japan, Catholicism, which had come with the traders, even became involved in feudal warfare. Reporting on a decisive battle under the walls of Osaka castle, The Encyclopædia Britannica states: “The Tokugawa troops found themselves fighting against a foe whose banners were emblazoned with the cross and with images of the Saviour and St James, the patron saint of Spain.” The victorious faction persecuted and practically wiped out Catholicism in that land. The church’s participation in worldly affairs today will likewise bring her no blessing.

5. (a) How does the voice out of heaven further describe the mourning of “the traveling merchants”? (b) Why do the merchants also “stand at a distance”?

⁵ The voice out of heaven says further: “The traveling merchants of these things, who became rich from her, will stand at a distance because of their fear of her torment and will weep and mourn, saying, ‘Too bad, too bad​—the great city, clothed with fine linen and purple and scarlet, and richly adorned with gold ornament and precious stone and pearl, because in one hour such great riches have been devastated!’” (Revelation 18:15-17a) With the destruction of Babylon the Great, the “merchants” mourn at the loss of that commercial partner. Truly, it is “too bad, too bad” for them. Notice, though, that their reasons for mourning are entirely selfish and that they​—like the kings—​“stand at a distance.” They do not get close enough to be of any help to Babylon the Great.

6. How does the voice out of heaven describe the mourning of ship captains and sailors, and why do they weep?

⁶ The account goes on: “And every ship captain and every man that voyages anywhere, and sailors and all those who make a living by the sea, stood at a distance and cried out as they looked at the smoke from the burning of her and said, ‘What city is like the great city?’ And they threw dust upon their heads and cried out, weeping and mourning, and said, ‘Too bad, too bad​—the great city, in which all those having boats at sea became rich by reason of her costliness, because in one hour she has been devastated!’” (Revelation 18:17b-19) Ancient Babylon was a commercial city and had a great fleet of ships. Similarly, Babylon the Great does much business by the “many waters” of her people. This provides employment for many of her religious subjects. What an economic blow the destruction of Babylon the Great will be for these! There will never be another source of livelihood like her.

Rejoicing Over Her Annihilation

7, 8. How does the voice out of heaven climax its message regarding Babylon the Great, and who will respond to those words?

⁷ When ancient Babylon was overthrown by the Medes and the Persians, Jeremiah prophetically said: “And over Babylon the heavens and the earth and all that is in them will certainly cry out joyfully.” (Jeremiah 51:48) When Babylon the Great is destroyed, the voice out of heaven climaxes its message, saying of Babylon the Great: “Be glad over her, O heaven, also you holy ones and you apostles and you prophets, because God has judicially exacted punishment for you from her!” (Revelation 18:20) Jehovah and the angels will be delighted to see the annihilation of God’s ancient enemy, as will the apostles and early Christian prophets, who by now are resurrected and have taken their position in the 24-elders arrangement.​—Compare Psalm 97:8-12.

⁸ Indeed, all the “holy ones”​—whether resurrected to heaven or still surviving on earth—​will cry out for joy, as will the associated great crowd of other sheep. In time, all the faithful men of old will be resurrected into the new system of things, and they too will join in the rejoicing. God’s people have not tried to avenge themselves on their false religious persecutors. They have remembered Jehovah’s words: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay, says Jehovah.” (Romans 12:19; Deuteronomy 32:35, 41-43) Well, Jehovah has now repaid. All the blood spilled by Babylon the Great will have been avenged.

Hurling a Great Millstone

9, 10. (a) What does a strong angel now do and say? (b) What act similar to that performed by the strong angel of Revelation 18:21 took place in Jeremiah’s time, and what did it guarantee? (c) What does the action taken by the strong angel seen by John guarantee?

⁹ What John next sees confirms that Jehovah’s judgment of Babylon the Great is final: “And a strong angel lifted up a stone like a great millstone and hurled it into the sea, saying: ‘Thus with a swift pitch will Babylon the great city be hurled down, and she will never be found again.’” (Revelation 18:21) In Jeremiah’s time, a similar act with powerful prophetic meaning was performed. Jeremiah was inspired to write in a book “all the calamity that would come upon Babylon.” He gave the book to Seraiah and told him to travel to Babylon. There, following Jeremiah’s instructions, Seraiah read a declaration against the city: “O Jehovah, you yourself have spoken against this place, in order to cut it off so that there may come to be in it no inhabitant, either man or even domestic animal, but that she may become mere desolate wastes to time indefinite.” Seraiah then tied a stone to the book and threw it into the river Euphrates, saying: “This is how Babylon will sink down and never rise up because of the calamity that I am bringing in upon her.”​—Jeremiah 51:59-64.

¹⁰ The throwing of the book with the attached stone into the river was a guarantee that Babylon would plunge into oblivion, never to recover. The apostle John’s seeing a strong angel perform a similar act is likewise a powerful guarantee that Jehovah’s purpose toward Babylon the Great will be fulfilled. The completely ruined condition of ancient Babylon today testifies powerfully to what will befall false religion in the near future.

11, 12. (a) How does the strong angel now address Babylon the Great? (b) How did Jeremiah prophesy concerning apostate Jerusalem, and what did it signify for our day?

¹¹ The strong angel now addresses Babylon the Great, saying: “And the sound of singers who accompany themselves on the harp and of musicians and of flutists and of trumpeters will never be heard in you again, and no craftsman of any trade will ever be found in you again, and no sound of a millstone will ever be heard in you again, and no light of a lamp will ever shine in you again, and no voice of a bridegroom and of a bride will ever be heard in you again; because your traveling merchants were the top-ranking men of the earth, for by your spiritistic practice all the nations were misled.”​—Revelation 18:22, 23.

¹² In comparable terms, Jeremiah prophesied concerning apostate Jerusalem: “I will destroy out of them the sound of exultation and the sound of rejoicing, the voice of the bridegroom and the voice of the bride, the sound of the hand mill and the light of the lamp. And all this land must become a devastated place, an object of astonishment.” (Jeremiah 25:10, 11) As the principal part of Babylon the Great, Christendom will become a lifeless ruin, as so vividly depicted by Jerusalem’s desolate condition after 607 B.C.E. The Christendom that once rejoiced lightheartedly and bustled with everyday noise will find herself conquered and abandoned.

13. What sudden change overtakes Babylon the Great, and what is the effect on her “traveling merchants”?

¹³ Indeed, as the angel here tells John, all of Babylon the Great will change from a powerful, international empire to an arid, desertlike wasteland. Her “traveling merchants,” including top-ranking millionaires, have used her religion for personal advantage or as a cover-up, and the clergy have found it profitable to share the limelight with them. But those merchants will no longer have Babylon the Great as their accomplice. No more will she be hoodwinking the nations of earth with her mystic religious practices.

An Appalling Bloodguilt

14. What reason does the strong angel give for the severity of Jehovah’s judgment, and what did Jesus similarly say when he was on the earth?

¹⁴ In conclusion, the strong angel tells why Jehovah judges Babylon the Great so severely. “Yes,” says the angel, “in her was found the blood of prophets and of holy ones and of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth.” (Revelation 18:24) When on earth, Jesus told the religious leaders in Jerusalem that they were accountable for “all the righteous blood spilled on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel” onward. Accordingly, that crooked generation was destroyed in 70 C.E. (Matthew 23:35-38) Today, another generation of religionists bears bloodguilt for its persecution of God’s servants.

15. How was the Catholic Church in Nazi Germany bloodguilty on two counts?

¹⁵ In his book The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany, Guenter Lewy writes: “When Jehovah’s Witnesses were suppressed in Bavaria on April 13 [1933] the Church even accepted the assignment given it by the Ministry of Education and Religion of reporting on any member of the sect still practicing the forbidden religion.” The Catholic Church thus shares responsibility for consigning thousands of Witnesses to concentration camps; its hands are stained by the lifeblood of hundreds of Witnesses who were executed. When young Witnesses, such as Wilhelm Kusserow, showed that they could die courageously by a firing squad, Hitler decided that the firing squad was too good for conscientious objectors; so Wilhelm’s brother Wolfgang, at 20 years of age, died by the guillotine. At the same time, the Catholic Church was encouraging young German Catholics to die in the army of the fatherland. The bloodguilt of the church is plain to see!

16, 17. (a) What bloodguilt must be charged to Babylon the Great, and how did the Vatican become bloodguilty regarding the Jews who died in Nazi pogroms? (b) What is one way in which false religion is to blame for the killing of millions of people in hundreds of wars in modern times?

¹⁶ However, the prophecy says that the blood of “all those who have been slaughtered on the earth” must be charged to Babylon the Great. That has certainly been true in modern times. For example, since Catholic intrigue helped to bring Hitler to power in Germany, the Vatican shares in a terrible bloodguilt with regard to the six million Jews that died in Nazi pogroms. Further, in our time, well over a hundred million people have been killed in hundreds of wars. Is false religion to blame in this connection? Yes, in two ways.

¹⁷ One way is that many wars are related to religious differences. For example, the violence in India between Muslims and Hindus in 1946-48 was religiously motivated. Hundreds of thousands of lives were lost. The conflict between Iraq and Iran in the 1980’s was related to sectarian differences, with hundreds of thousands being killed. Violence between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland has taken thousands of lives. Surveying this field, columnist C. L. Sulzberger said in 1976: “It is a dismal truth that probably half or more of the wars now being fought around the world are either openly religious conflicts or involved with religious disputes.” Indeed, it has been so throughout the turbulent history of Babylon the Great.

18. What is the second way in which the world’s religions are bloodguilty?

¹⁸ What is the second way? From Jehovah’s viewpoint, the world’s religions are bloodguilty because they have not convincingly taught their followers the truth of Jehovah’s requirements for his servants. They have not convincingly taught people that God’s true worshippers must imitate Jesus Christ and show love toward others regardless of their national origin. (Micah 4:3, 5; John 13:34, 35; Acts 10:34, 35; 1 John 3:10-12) Because the religions making up Babylon the Great have not taught these things, their adherents have been drawn into the vortex of international warfare. How evident this was in the two world wars of the first half of the 20th century, both of which started in Christendom and resulted in fellow religionists’ slaughtering one another! If all who claimed to be Christians had adhered to Bible principles, those wars could never have taken place.

19. What appalling bloodguilt does Babylon the Great carry?

¹⁹ Jehovah lays the blame for all this bloodshed at the feet of Babylon the Great. Had the religious leaders, and particularly those in Christendom, taught their people Bible truth, such massive bloodshed would not have occurred. Truly, then, directly or indirectly, Babylon the Great​—the great harlot and world empire of false religion—​must answer to Jehovah not only for “the blood of prophets and of holy ones” whom she has persecuted and killed but for the blood “of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth.” Babylon the Great does indeed carry an appalling bloodguilt. Good riddance when her final destruction takes place!

[Box on page 270]

The Price of Compromise

Guenter Lewy writes in his book The Catholic Church and Nazi Germany: “Had German Catholicism from the start adhered to a policy of resolute opposition to the Nazi regime, world history might well have taken a different course. Even if this struggle had ultimately failed to defeat Hitler and prevent all of his many crimes, it would in this view have raised the moral prestige of the Church immeasurably. The human cost of such resistance would undeniably have been great, but these sacrifices would have been made for the greatest of all causes. With the home front unreliable, Hitler might not have dared going to war and literally millions of lives would have been saved. . . . When thousands of German anti-Nazis were tortured to death in Hitler’s concentration camps, when the Polish intelligentsia was slaughtered, when hundreds of thousands of Russians died as a result of being treated as Slavic Untermenschen [subhumans], and when 6,000,000 human beings were murdered for being ‘non-Aryan,’ Catholic Church officials in Germany bolstered the regime perpetrating these crimes. The Pope in Rome, the spiritual head and supreme moral teacher of the Roman Catholic Church, remained silent.”​—Pages 320, 341.

[Picture on page 268]

“Too bad, too bad,” say the rulers

[Picture on page 268]

“Too bad, too bad,” say the merchants

Chapter 38

Praise Jah for His Judgments!

1. What words does John hear “as a loud voice of a great crowd in heaven”?

BABYLON THE GREAT is no more! This is truly joyous news. No wonder John hears happy exclamations of praise in heaven! “After these things I heard what was as a loud voice of a great crowd in heaven. They said: ‘Hallelujah!a The salvation and the glory and the power belong to our God, because his judgments are true and righteous. For he has executed judgment upon the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged the blood of his slaves at her hand.’ And right away for the second time they said: ‘Hallelujah!b And the smoke from her goes on ascending forever and ever.’”​—Revelation 19:1-3.

2. (a) What does the word “Hallelujah” mean, and what does John’s hearing it twice at this point demonstrate? (b) Who receives the glory for destroying Babylon the Great? Explain.

² Hallelujah indeed! The word means “Praise Jah, you people,” “Jah” being the shortened form of the divine name, Jehovah. We are here reminded of the exhortation of the psalmist: “Every breathing thing​—let it praise Jah. Praise Jah, you people!” (Psalm 150:6) John’s hearing the exultant heavenly chorus sing “Hallelujah!” twice at this point in Revelation demonstrates the continuity of the divine revelation of truth. The God of the Christian Greek Scriptures is the same as the God of the earlier Hebrew Scriptures, and Jehovah is his name. The God that caused the fall of ancient Babylon has now judged and destroyed Babylon the Great. Ascribe to him all glory for that feat! The power that maneuvered her downfall belongs to him rather than to the nations that he used as instruments in desolating her. To Jehovah alone we must attribute salvation.​—Isaiah 12:2; Revelation 4:11; 7:10, 12.

3. Why has the great harlot been so deserving of her judgment?

³ Why has the great harlot been so deserving of this judgment? According to the law that Jehovah gave to Noah​—and through him to all mankind—​the wanton shedding of blood calls for the death sentence. This was stated again in God’s Law to Israel. (Genesis 9:6; Numbers 35:20, 21) Moreover, under that Mosaic Law both physical and spiritual adultery merited death. (Leviticus 20:10; Deuteronomy 13:1-5) For thousands of years, Babylon the Great has been bloodguilty, and she is a gross fornicatrix. For example, the policy of the Roman Catholic Church of forbidding her priests to marry has resulted in gross immorality on the part of many of them, not a few of these today contracting AIDS. (1 Corinthians 6:9, 10; 1 Timothy 4:1-3) But her major sins, ‘massing together clear up to heaven,’ are her shocking acts of spiritual fornication​—this latter in teaching falsehoods and allying herself with corrupt politicians. (Revelation 18:5) Since her punishment has finally overtaken her, the heavenly multitude now echoes a second Hallelujah.

4. What is symbolized by the fact that the smoke from Babylon the Great “goes on ascending forever and ever”?

⁴ Babylon the Great has been set afire like a conquered city, and the smoke from her “goes on ascending forever and ever.” When a literal city is burned by conquering armies, the smoke keeps ascending as long as the ashes are hot. Anyone who tries to rebuild it while it is still smoking will simply get burned by the smoldering ruins. Since the smoke from Babylon the Great will rise “forever and ever” in token of the finality of her judgment, no one will ever be able to restore that iniquitous city. False religion is gone forever. Hallelujah, indeed!​—Compare Isaiah 34:5, 9, 10.

5. (a) What do the 24 elders and the four living creatures do and say? (b) Why is the Hallelujah refrain far more melodious than Hallelujah choruses sung in Christendom’s churches?

⁵ In an earlier vision, John saw around the throne four living creatures, together with the 24 elders that picture the Kingdom heirs in their glorious heavenly position. (Revelation 4:8-11) Now he sees them again as they thunder forth a third Hallelujah over the destruction of Babylon the Great: “And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God seated upon the throne, and said: ‘Amen! Hallelujah!’”c (Revelation 19:4) This grand Hallelujah chorus is in addition, then, to the “new song” of praise to the Lamb. (Revelation 5:8, 9) They sing now the magnificent victory refrain, ascribing all glory to the Sovereign Lord Jehovah because of his decisive victory over the great harlot, Babylon the Great. These Hallelujahs peal forth far more melodiously than any Hallelujah choruses sung in Christendom’s churches, where Jehovah, or Jah, has been dishonored and despised. Such hypocritical singing that reproaches Jehovah’s name is now silenced forever!

6. Whose “voice” is heard, what does it urge, and who share in the response?

⁶ It was in 1918 that Jehovah began rewarding ‘those fearing his name, the small and the great’​—the first of these being the anointed Christians who had died faithful, whom he resurrected and stationed in the heavenly ranks of the 24 elders. (Revelation 11:18) Others join with these in singing the Hallelujahs, for John reports: “Also, a voice issued forth from the throne and said: ‘Be praising our God, all you his slaves, who fear him, the small ones and the great.’” (Revelation 19:5) This is the “voice” of Jehovah’s Mouthpiece, his own Son, Jesus Christ, who stands “in the midst of the throne.” (Revelation 5:6) Not only in heaven but also here on earth, “all you his slaves” share in the singing, with the anointed John class taking the lead on earth. How exultantly these share in obeying the command: “Be praising our God”!

7. After Babylon the Great is destroyed, who will be praising Jehovah?

⁷ Yes, those of the great crowd are also numbered among these slaves. Since 1935 these have been coming out of Babylon the Great and have experienced the fulfillment of God’s promise: “He will bless those fearing Jehovah, the small ones as well as the great ones.” (Psalm 115:13) When harlotlike Babylon is destroyed, millions of them will join in “praising our God”​—along with the John class and all the heavenly host. Later, those resurrected on earth, whether previously prominent or not, will no doubt sing further Hallelujahs on learning that Babylon the Great is gone forever. (Revelation 20:12, 15) All praise to Jehovah for his resounding victory over the age-old harlot!

8. What incentive should the heavenly choruses of praise witnessed by John give us now, before Babylon the Great is destroyed?

⁸ What an incentive all of this gives us to share fully in God’s work for today! May all of Jah’s servants devote themselves heart and soul to declaring God’s judgments, together with the grand Kingdom hope, now, before Babylon the Great is unseated and destroyed.​—Isaiah 61:1-3; 1 Corinthians 15:58.

‘Hallelujah​—Jehovah Is King!’

9. Why is the last Hallelujah such a full, rich sound?

⁹ There are further reasons for rejoicing, as John goes on to tell us: “And I heard what was as a voice of a great crowd and as a sound of many waters and as a sound of heavy thunders. They said: ‘Hallelujah,d because Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king.’” (Revelation 19:6) This last Hallelujah is the one that makes the proclamation foursquare, or symmetrical. It is a mighty celestial sound, more magnificent than any human choir, more majestic than any earthly waterfall, and more fear-inspiring than any terrestrial thunderstorm. The myriads of heavenly voices celebrate the fact that “Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king.”

10. In what sense can it be said that Jehovah begins to rule as king after Babylon the Great’s devastation?

¹⁰ How is it, though, that Jehovah begins to rule? Millenniums have passed since the psalmist declared: “God is my King from long ago.” (Psalm 74:12) Jehovah’s kingship was ancient even then, so how can the universal chorus sing that “Jehovah . . . has begun to rule as king”? In that when Babylon the Great is destroyed, Jehovah will no longer have that presumptuous rival to detract from obedience to him as the Universal Sovereign. No longer will false religion incite earth’s rulers to oppose him. When ancient Babylon fell from world dominance, Zion heard the victorious proclamation: “Your God has become king!” (Isaiah 52:7) After the Kingdom’s birth in 1914, the 24 elders proclaimed: “We thank you, Jehovah God . . . because you have taken your great power and begun ruling as king.” (Revelation 11:17) Now, after the devastation of Babylon the Great, the cry is again uttered: “Jehovah . . . has begun to rule as king.” No man-made god remains to contest the sovereignty of the true God, Jehovah!

The Lamb’s Marriage Is at Hand!

11, 12. (a) How did ancient Jerusalem address ancient Babylon, setting what pattern with regard to New Jerusalem and Babylon the Great? (b) With the victory over Babylon the Great, what do the heavenly throngs sing and announce?

¹¹ “You woman enemy of mine”! That is how Jerusalem, the location of Jehovah’s temple of worship, addressed idolatrous Babylon. (Micah 7:8) Likewise, “the holy city, New Jerusalem,” made up of the bride of 144,000 members, has had every reason to address Babylon the Great as her enemy. (Revelation 21:2) But at last the great harlot has suffered adversity, calamity, and ruin. Her spiritistic practices and astrologers have been unable to save her. (Compare Isaiah 47:1, 11-13.) A major victory, indeed, for true worship!

¹² With the disgusting harlot, Babylon the Great, gone forever, attention can now be focused on the virgin-pure bride of the Lamb! Hence, the heavenly throngs sing exultantly in praise of Jehovah: “Let us rejoice and be overjoyed, and let us give him the glory, because the marriage of the Lamb has arrived and his wife has prepared herself. Yes, it has been granted to her to be arrayed in bright, clean, fine linen, for the fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the holy ones.”​—Revelation 19:7, 8.

13. What preparation for the marriage of the Lamb has taken place down through the centuries?

¹³ Down through the centuries, Jesus has made loving preparation for this celestial marriage. (Matthew 28:20; 2 Corinthians 11:2) He has been cleansing the 144,000 of spiritual Israel so that “he might present the congregation to himself in its splendor, not having a spot or a wrinkle or any of such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27) With a view to attaining to “the prize of the upward call of God,” each anointed Christian has had to strip off the old personality with its practices, put on the new Christian personality, and perform righteous acts “whole-souled as to Jehovah.”​—Philippians 3:8, 13, 14; Colossians 3:9, 10, 23.

14. How has Satan tried to contaminate the prospective members of the Lamb’s wife?

¹⁴ From Pentecost 33 C.E. on, Satan used Babylon the Great as his tool in trying to contaminate the prospective members of the Lamb’s wife. By the end of the first century, he had sown seeds of Babylonish religion in the congregation. (1 Corinthians 15:12; 2 Timothy 2:18; Revelation 2:6, 14, 20) The apostle Paul describes those who were subverting the faith in these words: “For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into apostles of Christ. And no wonder, for Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light.” (2 Corinthians 11:13, 14) In succeeding centuries, apostate Christendom, like the rest of Babylon the Great, dressed herself in the clothing of wealth and privilege, “purple and scarlet, . . . gold and precious stone and pearls.” (Revelation 17:4) Her clergy and popes consorted with bloodthirsty emperors, such as Constantine and Charlemagne. She was never arrayed in “the righteous acts of the holy ones.” As a counterfeit bride, she was truly a masterpiece of satanic deception. At last, she is gone forever!

The Lamb’s Wife Has Prepared Herself

15. How does the sealing take place, and what is required of an anointed Christian?

¹⁵ So now, after almost 2,000 years, all 144,000 of the bride class have made themselves ready. But at what point of time may it be said that ‘the Lamb’s wife has prepared herself’? Progressively, from Pentecost 33 C.E. on, believing anointed ones “were sealed with the promised holy spirit,” this in view of a coming “day of releasing by ransom.” As the apostle Paul expressed it, God “has also put his seal upon us and has given us the token of what is to come, that is, the spirit, in our hearts.” (Ephesians 1:13; 4:30; 2 Corinthians 1:22) Each anointed Christian is “called and chosen,” and he has proved himself “faithful.”​—Revelation 17:14.

16. (a) When was the apostle Paul’s sealing complete, and how do we know? (b) When will the Lamb’s wife have “prepared herself” fully?

¹⁶ After decades of testing, Paul himself could declare: “I have fought the fine fight, I have run the course to the finish, I have observed the faith. From this time on there is reserved for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, will give me as a reward in that day, yet not only to me, but also to all those who have loved his manifestation.” (2 Timothy 4:7, 8) The apostle’s sealing appears to have been complete, even though he was still in the flesh and would yet face martyrdom. Similarly, the time must come when all remaining ones on earth of the 144,000 will have been sealed individually as belonging to Jehovah. (2 Timothy 2:19) This will be when the Lamb’s wife will have fully prepared herself​—the great majority of the 144,000 having already received their heavenly reward and those still on earth having been finally approved and sealed as faithful ones.

17. When can the marriage of the Lamb take place?

¹⁷ At this point in Jehovah’s timetable, when the sealing of the 144,000 has reached completion, the angels release the four winds of the great tribulation. (Revelation 7:1-3) First, judgment is executed on harlotlike Babylon the Great. The victorious Christ next moves on quickly to Armageddon to destroy the rest of Satan’s organization on earth and, finally, to abyss Satan and his demons. (Revelation 19:11–20:3) If any anointed ones still survive on earth, they will doubtless enter into their heavenly reward soon after Christ completes his conquest and will join their fellow members of the bride class. Then, at God’s due time, the marriage of the Lamb can take place!

18. How does Psalm 45 confirm the sequence of events with regard to the marriage of the Lamb?

¹⁸ The prophetic account in Psalm 45 describes the order of events. First the enthroned King rides forth to the conquest of his enemies. (Verses 1-7) Then the marriage is performed, the heavenly bride being attended on earth by her virgin companions, the great crowd. (Verses 8-15) Next the marriage becomes fruitful, with resurrected mankind being raised to perfection under oversight of “princes in all the earth.” (Verses 16, 17) What glorious blessings accompany the marriage of the Lamb!

Happy Are Those Invited

19. What is the fourth of the seven happinesses in Revelation, and who share in this particular happiness?

¹⁹ John now records the fourth of the seven happinesses in Revelation: “And he [the angel who has been revealing these things to John] tells me: ‘Write: Happy are those invited to the evening meal of the Lamb’s marriage.’ Also, he tells me: ‘These are the true sayings of God.’” (Revelation 19:9)e The ones invited to “the evening meal of the Lamb’s marriage” are the members of the bride class. (Compare Matthew 22:1-14.) All the anointed bridal company share the happiness of having received this invitation. Most of the invitees have already gone to heaven, the place of the marital evening meal. Those who are still on earth are happy, too, that they have the invitation. Their place at the marital evening meal is secure. (John 14:1-3; 1 Peter 1:3-9) When they are resurrected to heaven, then the entire, united bride will proceed to share with the Lamb in that supremely happy marriage.

20. (a) What is the import of the words: “These are the true sayings of God”? (b) How was John affected by the words of the angel, and what was the angel’s response?

²⁰ The angel adds that “these are the true sayings of God.” This word “true” translates the Greek a·le·thi·nosʹ and means “genuine” or “dependable.” Since these sayings are really from Jehovah, they are faithful and reliable. (Compare 1 John 4:1-3; Revelation 21:5; 22:6.) As one invited to that marriage feast, John must have been filled with joy at hearing this and at contemplating the blessings ahead for the bride class. He was so deeply moved, in fact, that the angel had to give him counsel, as John relates: “At that I fell down before his feet to worship him. But he tells me: ‘Be careful! Do not do that! All I am is a fellow slave of you and of your brothers who have the work of witnessing to Jesus. Worship God.’”​—Revelation 19:10a.

21. (a) What does Revelation disclose as to the angels? (b) What attitude should Christians have toward the angels?

²¹ Throughout Revelation a remarkable witness is given to the faithfulness and diligence of the angels. They are involved in the channel of revealed truth. (Revelation 1:1) They work along with humans in preaching the good news and pouring out the symbolic plagues. (Revelation 14:6, 7; 16:1) They fought alongside Jesus to cast Satan and his angels from heaven, and they will fight alongside him again at Armageddon. (Revelation 12:7; 19:11-14) Indeed, they have access to the very person of Jehovah. (Matthew 18:10; Revelation 15:6) Nevertheless, they are no more than humble slaves of God. There is no room in pure worship for worship of the angels or even for relative worship, directing worship to God via some “saint” or angel. (Colossians 2:18) Christians worship only Jehovah, making their petitions to him in Jesus’ name.​—John 14:12, 13.

Jesus’ Role in Prophecy

22. What does the angel say to John, and what do the words mean?

²² The angel then says: “For the bearing witness to Jesus is what inspires prophesying.” (Revelation 19:10b) How so? This means that all inspired prophecy is evoked because of Jesus and the role he plays in Jehovah’s purposes. The first prophecy in the Bible promised the coming of a seed. (Genesis 3:15) Jesus became that Seed. Subsequent revelations built a huge edifice of prophetic truth on this basic promise. The apostle Peter told the believing Gentile Cornelius: “To him [Jesus] all the prophets bear witness.” (Acts 10:43) Some 20 years later, the apostle Paul said: “No matter how many the promises of God are, they have become Yes by means of him [Jesus].” (2 Corinthians 1:20) After another 43 years, John himself reminds us: “The truth came to be through Jesus Christ.”​—John 1:17.

23. Why does the high position and authority of Jesus not detract from the worship we give to Jehovah?

²³ Does this detract in any way from the worship we give to Jehovah? No. Remember the angel’s cautionary advice: “Worship God.” Jesus never tries to rival Jehovah. (Philippians 2:6) True, all the angels are told to “do obeisance to [Jesus],” and all creation must recognize his high position so that “in the name of Jesus every knee should bend.” But notice, this is “to the glory of God the Father” and by his order. (Hebrews 1:6; Philippians 2:9-11) Jehovah gave Jesus his high authority, and by acknowledging that authority, we give glory to God. If we refuse to submit to Jesus’ rule, it is equivalent to rejecting Jehovah God himself.​—Psalm 2:11, 12.

24. What two astounding events do we contemplate, and what words should we therefore voice?

²⁴ So, then, let us unitedly voice the opening words of Psalms 146 to 150: “Praise Jah, you people!” May the Hallelujah chorus thunder forth in anticipation of Jehovah’s triumph over the Babylonish world empire of false religion! And may joy abound as the marriage of the Lamb approaches!

[Footnotes]

[Box on page 273]

“Epistle to Sodom and Gomorrah”

Under this feature heading, London’s Daily Telegraph of November 12, 1987, reported on a motion before the General Synod of the Church of England. This called for ousting homosexual “Christians” from the church. Columnist Godfrey Barker stated: “The Archbishop of Canterbury gloomily opined yesterday: ‘If St Paul were to write an epistle to the Church of England, we might well ask what sort of letter it might be.’” Mr. Barker himself commented: “An epistle to Sodom and Gomorrah is the answer,” and added: “Dr Runcie [the archbishop] fancied it would read like Romans, Ch 1.”

The writer quoted Paul’s words at Romans 1:26-32: “God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurities. . . . Men committing shameless acts with men . . . though they know God’s decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practise them.” He concluded: “St Paul was merely worried about the chaps in the pews. Dr Runcie’s problem is the chaps in the pulpits.”

Why does the archbishop have such a problem? Large headlines in the London Daily Mail of October 22, 1987, had declared: “‘One vicar in three gay’ . . . Campaign to drive out homosexuals ‘would shut Church of England.’” The reports quoted the “reverend” general secretary of the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement as saying: “If this motion were accepted it would wreck the Church, and the Archbishop of Canterbury knows it. As a general figure, we believe between 30 and 40 per cent of Church of England clergymen are gay. And they are the most active people contributing to the ministry of the Church.” The dwindling numbers of churchgoers is no doubt in part a reflection of disgust at that burgeoning homosexual ministry.

What did the church synod decide? An overwhelming majority of 388 members (95 percent of the clergy) voted in favor of a watered-down motion. Concerning this, The Economist of November 14, 1987, reported: “The Church of England is against homosexual practices, but not very much. The general synod, the Church’s parliament, with homosexual clergy in mind, this week decided that homosexual acts, unlike fornication and adultery, are not a sin: they merely ‘fall short of the ideal’ that ‘sexual intercourse is an act of total commitment which belongs properly within a permanent married relationship.’” Contrasting the stance of the Archbishop of Canterbury with the apostle Paul’s forthright statement at Romans 1:26, 27, The Economist displayed a quotation of Paul’s words above the caption “St Paul knew what he thought.”

Jesus Christ also knew what he thought and stated it in explicit terms. He said that it would be “more endurable for the land of Sodom on Judgment Day” than for the religionists who spurned his message. (Matthew 11:23, 24) Jesus was here using hyperbole to show that those religious leaders who rejected the Son of God and his teaching were even more reprehensible than the Sodomites. Jude 7 states that those Sodomites underwent “the judicial punishment of everlasting fire,” meaning eternal destruction. (Matthew 25:41, 46) How severe, then, will be the judgment of so-called Christian leaders who blindly lead their blinded flocks away from the high moral standards of God’s Kingdom into the permissive, debauched ways of this world! (Matthew 15:14) Concerning false religion, Babylon the Great, the voice from heaven calls with urgency: “Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues.”​—Revelation 18:2, 4.

[Pictures on page 275]

Heaven resounds with four Hallelujahs, praising Jah for his final victory over Babylon the Great

Chapter 39

The Warrior-King Triumphs at Armageddon

Vision 13​—Revelation 19:11-21

Subject: Jesus leads the armies of heaven to destroy Satan’s system of things

Time of fulfillment: After the destruction of Babylon the Great

1. What is Armageddon, and what leads up to it?

ARMAGEDDON​—a fearsome word to many! But to lovers of righteousness, it betokens the long-awaited day when Jehovah will execute final judgment on the nations. It is not man’s war but “the war of the great day of God the Almighty”​—his day of vengeance against earth’s rulers. (Revelation 16:14, 16; Ezekiel 25:17) With the desolating of Babylon the Great, the great tribulation will already have started. Then, urged on by Satan, the scarlet-colored wild beast and its ten horns will concentrate their attack on Jehovah’s people. The Devil, more wrathful than ever at God’s womanlike organization, is determined to use his dupes in waging war to a finish with the remaining ones of her seed. (Revelation 12:17) This is Satan’s last opportunity!

2. Who is Gog of Magog, and how does Jehovah maneuver him to attack His own people?

² The Devil’s vicious assault is vividly described in Ezekiel chapter 38. There, the debased Satan is called “Gog of the land of Magog.” Jehovah puts figurative hooks in Gog’s jaws, drawing him and his numerous military force to the attack. How does he do this? By causing Gog to see His Witnesses as a defenseless people “gathered together out of the nations, one that is accumulating wealth and property, those who are dwelling in the center of the earth.” These hold the center stage on earth as the one people to have refused to worship the wild beast and its image. Their spiritual strength and prosperity enrage Gog. So Gog and his numerous military force, including the wild beast out of the sea with its ten horns, swarm in for the kill. Unlike Babylon the Great, however, God’s clean people enjoy divine protection!​—Ezekiel 38:1, 4, 11, 12, 15; Revelation 13:1.

3. How does Jehovah dispose of Gog’s militarized forces?

³ How does Jehovah dispose of Gog and all his crowd? Listen! “‘I will call forth against him throughout all my mountainous region a sword,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. ‘Against his own brother the sword of each one will come to be.’” But neither nuclear nor conventional arms will avail in that strife, for Jehovah declares: “I will bring myself into judgment with him, with pestilence and with blood; and a flooding downpour and hailstones, fire and sulphur I shall rain down upon him and upon his bands and upon the many peoples that will be with him. And I shall certainly magnify myself and sanctify myself and make myself known before the eyes of many nations; and they will have to know that I am Jehovah.”​—Ezekiel 38:21-23; 39:11; compare Joshua 10:8-14; Judges 7:19-22; 2 Chronicles 20:15, 22-24; Job 38:22, 23.

The One Called “Faithful and True”

4. How does John describe Jesus Christ in battle array?

⁴ Jehovah calls forth a sword. Who is it that wields this sword? Returning to Revelation, we find the answer in still another thrilling vision. Before John’s eyes the heavens open to reveal something truly awe inspiring​—Jesus Christ himself in battle array! John tells us: “And I saw the heaven opened, and, look! a white horse. And the one seated upon it is called Faithful and True, and he judges and carries on war in righteousness. His eyes are a fiery flame, and upon his head are many diadems.”​—Revelation 19:11, 12a.

5, 6. What is signified by (a) the “white horse”? (b) the name “Faithful and True”? (c) eyes like “a fiery flame”? (d) “many diadems”?

⁵ As in the earlier vision of the four horsemen, this “white horse” is a fitting symbol of righteous warfare. (Revelation 6:2) And who of God’s sons could be more righteous than this mighty Warrior? Being “called Faithful and True,” he must be “the faithful and true witness,” Jesus Christ. (Revelation 3:14) He makes war in order to execute Jehovah’s righteous judgments. Thus, he is acting in his capacity as Jehovah’s appointed Judge, the “Mighty God.” (Isaiah 9:6) His eyes are fear inspiring, like “a fiery flame,” looking to the coming fiery destruction of his foes.

⁶ Diadems crown the head of this Warrior-King. The wild beast that John saw coming out of the sea had ten diadems, picturing its temporary rulership of the earthly scene. (Revelation 13:1) Jesus, though, has “many diadems.” His glorious rulership is unmatched, since he is “King of those who rule as kings and Lord of those who rule as lords.”​—1 Timothy 6:15.

7. What is the written name that Jesus has?

⁷ John’s description continues: “He has a name written that no one knows but he himself.” (Revelation 19:12b) The Bible already speaks of God’s Son by names such as Jesus, Immanuel, and Michael. But this unstated “name” appears to stand for the position and privileges that Jesus enjoys during the Lord’s day. (Compare Revelation 2:17.) Isaiah, describing Jesus since 1914, says: “His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace.” (Isaiah 9:6) The apostle Paul associated Jesus’ name with His very high privileges of service when he wrote: “God exalted [Jesus] to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every other name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend.”​—Philippians 2:9, 10.

8. Why is it that only Jesus can know the name written, and with whom does he share some of his lofty privileges?

⁸ Jesus’ privileges are unique. Apart from Jehovah himself, only Jesus can comprehend what it means to hold such a high position. (Compare Matthew 11:27.) Therefore, of all God’s creatures, only Jesus can fully appreciate this name. Nevertheless, Jesus does include his bride in some of these privileges. So he makes this promise: “The one that conquers . . . I will write upon him . . . that new name of mine.”​—Revelation 3:12.

9. What is indicated by (a) Jesus’ being “arrayed with an outer garment sprinkled with blood”? (b) Jesus’ being called “The Word of God”?

⁹ John adds: “And he is arrayed with an outer garment sprinkled with blood, and the name he is called is The Word of God.” (Revelation 19:13) Whose “blood” is this? It could be Jesus’ lifeblood, shed for the sake of mankind. (Revelation 1:5) But, in this context, it more likely refers to the blood of his enemies that is spilled when Jehovah’s judgments are executed upon them. We are reminded of the earlier vision in which the vine of the earth is reaped and trodden in the great winepress of the anger of God until the blood reaches “as high up as the bridles of the horses”​—signifying a great victory over God’s enemies. (Revelation 14:18-20) Likewise, the blood sprinkled on Jesus’ outer garment confirms that his victory is decisive and complete. (Compare Isaiah 63:1-6.) Now John again speaks of Jesus’ being called by a name. This time it is a widely known name​—“The Word of God”—​identifying this Warrior-King as Jehovah’s Chief Spokesman and Champion of truth.​—John 1:1; Revelation 1:1.

Jesus’ Fellow Warriors

10, 11. (a) How does John show that Jesus is not alone in the battle? (b) What is denoted by the fact that the horses are white and that the horsemen are clothed in “white, clean, fine linen”? (c) Who make up the heavenly “armies”?

¹⁰ Jesus is not alone in fighting this battle. John tells us: “Also, the armies that were in heaven were following him on white horses, and they were clothed in white, clean, fine linen.” (Revelation 19:14) The fact that the horses are “white” denotes righteous warfare. “Fine linen” is appropriate for the King’s horsemen, and its glistening, clean whiteness indicates a pure, righteous standing before Jehovah. Who, then, make up these “armies”? Doubtless, they include the holy angels. It was early in the Lord’s day that Michael and his angels hurled Satan and his demons out of heaven. (Revelation 12:7-9) Further, “all the angels” will attend upon Jesus as he sits on his glorious throne and proceeds to judge the nations and people of earth. (Matthew 25:31, 32) Surely, in the decisive war, when God’s judgments are executed to a finality, Jesus will again be accompanied by his angels.

¹¹ Others too will be involved. When sending his message to the congregation in Thyatira, Jesus promised: “To him that conquers and observes my deeds down to the end I will give authority over the nations, and he shall shepherd the people with an iron rod so that they will be broken to pieces like clay vessels, the same as I have received from my Father.” (Revelation 2:26, 27) Without a doubt, when the time comes, those of Christ’s brothers already in heaven will have a part in shepherding people and nations with that iron rod.

12. (a) Will God’s servants on earth take part in the fighting at Armageddon? (b) How are Jehovah’s people on earth involved in Armageddon?

¹² What, though, of God’s servants here on earth? The John class will have no active part in the fighting at Armageddon; neither will its loyal companions, those peoples out of all nations who have been streaming to Jehovah’s spiritual house of worship. These peaceable humans have already beaten swords into plowshares. (Isaiah 2:2-4) Yet, they are very much involved! As we have already noted, it is Jehovah’s seemingly defenseless people that are viciously attacked by Gog and all his crowd. That is the signal for Jehovah’s Warrior-King, supported by the armies in heaven, to start fighting a war of extermination against those nations. (Ezekiel 39:6, 7, 11; compare Daniel 11:44–12:1.) As spectators, God’s people on earth will be most interested. Armageddon will mean their salvation, and they will live for eternity as having been eyewitnesses of Jehovah’s great war of vindication.

13. How do we know that Jehovah’s Witnesses are not against all government?

¹³ Does this mean that Jehovah’s Witnesses are against all government? Far from it! They obey the apostle Paul’s counsel: “Let every soul be in subjection to the superior authorities.” They realize that as long as the present system lasts, those “superior authorities” exist by God’s permission for maintaining a measure of order in human society. Thus, Jehovah’s Witnesses pay their taxes, obey the laws, respect traffic ordinances, comply with registrations, and so forth. (Romans 13:1, 6, 7) Further, they follow Bible principles in being truthful and honest; showing love of neighbor; building a strong, moral family unit; and training their children to be exemplary citizens. In this way they pay back not only “Caesar’s things to Caesar, but God’s things to God.” (Luke 20:25; 1 Peter 2:13-17) Since God’s Word shows that the governmental powers of this world are temporary, Jehovah’s Witnesses prepare now for the fuller life, the real life, soon to be enjoyed under Christ’s Kingdom rule. (1 Timothy 6:17-19) Though they will have no part in overturning the powers of this world, the Witnesses experience reverential awe at what God’s inspired Word, the Holy Bible, says regarding the judgment Jehovah is about to execute at Armageddon.​—Isaiah 26:20, 21; Hebrews 12:28, 29.

To the Final Battle!

14. What is symbolized by the “sharp long sword” protruding from Jesus’ mouth?

¹⁴ By what authority does Jesus complete his conquest? John informs us: “And out of his mouth there protrudes a sharp long sword, that he may strike the nations with it, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron.” (Revelation 19:15a) That “sharp long sword” represents Jesus’ God-given authority to issue orders for the execution of all who refuse to support God’s Kingdom. (Revelation 1:16; 2:16) This vivid symbolism parallels Isaiah’s words: “He [Jehovah] proceeded to make my mouth like a sharp sword. In the shadow of his hand he has hidden me. And he gradually made me a polished arrow.” (Isaiah 49:2) Here Isaiah foreshadowed Jesus, who proclaims God’s judgments and executes them, as with an unerring arrow.

15. At this point in time, who will already have been exposed and judged so as to mark the start of what?

¹⁵ At this point in time, Jesus will already have acted in fulfillment of Paul’s words: “Then, indeed, the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will do away with by the spirit of his mouth and bring to nothing by the manifestation of his presence.” Yes, Jesus’ presence (Greek, pa·rou·siʹa) has been demonstrated from 1914 onward by the exposing and judging of the man of lawlessness, the clergy of Christendom. That presence will be strikingly manifested when the ten horns of the scarlet-colored wild beast execute that judgment and ravage Christendom, along with the rest of Babylon the Great. (2 Thessalonians 2:1-3, 8) That will be the start of the great tribulation! After that, Jesus turns his attention to what remains of Satan’s organization, in line with the prophecy: “He must strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; and with the spirit of his lips he will put the wicked one to death.”​—Isaiah 11:4.

16. How do the Psalms and Jeremiah describe the role of Jehovah’s appointed Warrior-King?

¹⁶ The Warrior-King, as Jehovah’s appointee, will make a distinction between those who will survive and those who will die. Jehovah, speaking prophetically to this Son of God, says: “You will break them [earth’s rulers] with an iron scepter, as though a potter’s vessel you will dash them to pieces.” And Jeremiah addresses such corrupt governmental leaders and their lackeys, saying: “Howl, you shepherds, and cry out! And wallow about, you majestic ones of the flock, because your days for slaughtering and for your scatterings have been fulfilled, and you must fall like a desirable vessel!” However desirable those rulers may have appeared to a wicked world, one blow from the King’s iron scepter will shatter them, as if smashing an attractive vessel. It will be just as David prophesied concerning the Lord Jesus: “The rod of your strength Jehovah will send out of Zion, saying: ‘Go subduing in the midst of your enemies.’ Jehovah himself at your right hand will certainly break kings to pieces on the day of his anger. He will execute judgment among the nations; he will cause a fullness of dead bodies.”​—Psalm 2:9, 12; 83:17, 18; 110:1, 2, 5, 6; Jeremiah 25:34.

17. (a) How does John describe the executional action of the Warrior-King? (b) Relate some prophecies that show how calamitous the day of God’s anger will be for the nations.

¹⁷ This mighty Warrior-King appears again in the next scene of the vision: “He treads too the winepress of the anger of the wrath of God the Almighty.” (Revelation 19:15b) In a previous vision, John had already seen the treading of the “winepress of the anger of God.” (Revelation 14:18-20) Isaiah also describes an executional winepress, and other prophets tell how calamitous the day of God’s anger will be for all the nations.​—Isaiah 24:1-6; 63:1-4; Jeremiah 25:30-33; Daniel 2:44; Zephaniah 3:8; Zechariah 14:3, 12, 13; Revelation 6:15-17.

18. What does the prophet Joel disclose as to Jehovah’s judging of all the nations?

¹⁸ The prophet Joel associates a winepress with Jehovah’s coming to “judge all the nations round about.” And it is Jehovah who issues the command, no doubt to His associate Judge, Jesus, and his heavenly armies: “Thrust in a sickle, for harvest has grown ripe. Come, descend, for the winepress has become full. The press vats actually overflow; for their badness has become abundant. Crowds, crowds are in the low plain of the decision, for the day of Jehovah is near in the low plain of the decision. Sun and moon themselves will certainly become dark, and the very stars will actually withdraw their brightness. And out of Zion Jehovah himself will roar, and out of Jerusalem he will give forth his voice. And heaven and earth certainly will rock; but Jehovah will be a refuge for his people, and a fortress for the sons of Israel. And you people will have to know that I am Jehovah your God.”​—Joel 3:12-17.

19. (a) How will the question asked at 1 Peter 4:17 be answered? (b) What name is written on Jesus’ outer garment, and why will it prove to be appropriate?

¹⁹ That will be a day of doom, indeed, for disobedient nations and humans but a day of relief for all who have made Jehovah and his Warrior-King their refuge! (2 Thessalonians 1:6-9) The judgment that started with the house of God in 1918 will have run through to its climax, answering the question at 1 Peter 4:17: “What will the end be of those who are not obedient to the good news of God?” The glorious Victor will have trodden the winepress to a finish, demonstrating that he is the exalted One of whom John says: “And upon his outer garment, even upon his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” (Revelation 19:16) He has proved to be far, far mightier than any earthly ruler, any human king or lord. His dignity and splendor are transcendent. He has ridden “in the cause of truth and humility and righteousness” and has triumphed for all time! (Psalm 45:4) Upon his blood-sprinkled garments is written the name bestowed on him by the Sovereign Lord Jehovah, whose Vindicator he is!

The Great Evening Meal of God

20. How does John describe “the great evening meal of God,” bringing to mind what earlier, but similar, prophecy?

²⁰ In Ezekiel’s vision, after the destruction of Gog’s crowd, the birds and the wild animals are invited to a feast! They rid the landscape of carcasses by eating the dead bodies of Jehovah’s enemies. (Ezekiel 39:11, 17-20) John’s next words bring that earlier prophecy vividly to mind: “I saw also an angel standing in the sun, and he cried out with a loud voice and said to all the birds that fly in midheaven: ‘Come here, be gathered together to the great evening meal of God, that you may eat the fleshy parts of kings and the fleshy parts of military commanders and the fleshy parts of strong men and the fleshy parts of horses and of those seated upon them, and the fleshy parts of all, of freemen as well as of slaves and of small ones and great.’”​—Revelation 19:17, 18.

21. What is indicated by (a) the angel’s “standing in the sun”? (b) the fact that the dead are left lying on the surface of the ground? (c) the list of those whose corpses would be left lying on the ground? (d) the expression “the great evening meal of God”?

²¹ The angel is “standing in the sun,” a commanding position for attracting the attention of the birds. He invites them to be ready to gorge themselves on the flesh of those about to be slain by the Warrior-King and his heavenly armies. The fact that the dead are to be left on the surface of the ground indicates that they will die in public shame. Like Jezebel of old, they will not have an honorable burial. (2 Kings 9:36, 37) The list of those whose corpses would be left lying there shows the range of the destruction: kings, military commanders, strong men, freemen, and slaves. No exceptions. Every last trace of the rebellious world in opposition to Jehovah will be eliminated. After this, there will no more be a restless sea of confused humans. (Revelation 21:1) This is “the great evening meal of God,” since it is Jehovah who invites the birds to share therein.

22. How does John summarize the course of the final war?

²² John summarizes the course of the final war: “And I saw the wild beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to wage the war with the one seated on the horse and with his army. And the wild beast was caught, and along with it the false prophet that performed in front of it the signs with which he misled those who received the mark of the wild beast and those who render worship to its image. While still alive, they both were hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulphur. But the rest were killed off with the long sword of the one seated on the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth. And all the birds were filled from the fleshy parts of them.”​—Revelation 19:19-21.

23. (a) In what sense is “the battle of that great day of God Almighty” fought at “Armageddon”? (b) What warning have “the kings of the earth” failed to heed, and with what consequence?

²³ After the pouring out of the sixth bowl of Jehovah’s wrath, John reported that “the kings of the earth and of the whole world” were gathered by demonic propaganda to “the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” This is fought at Armageddon​—not a literal location, but the global situation that calls for the execution of Jehovah’s judgment. (Revelation 16:12, 14, 16, King James Version) Now John sees the battle lines. There, ranged against God, are all “the kings of the earth and their armies.” They have stubbornly refused to submit themselves to Jehovah’s King. He gave them fair warning in the inspired message: “Kiss the son, that [Jehovah] may not become incensed and you may not perish from the way.” Not having submitted to Christ’s rule, they must die.​—Psalm 2:12.

24. (a) What judgment is executed on the wild beast and the false prophet, and in what sense are they “still alive”? (b) Why must “the lake of fire” be figurative?

²⁴ The seven-headed, ten-horned wild beast out of the sea, representing Satan’s political organization, is tumbled into oblivion, and along with it goes the false prophet, the seventh world power. (Revelation 13:1, 11-13; 16:13) While still “alive,” or still functioning in their united opposition to God’s people on earth, they are cast into “the lake of fire.” Is this a literal lake of fire? No, not any more than the wild beast and the false prophet are literal animals. Rather, it is a symbol of complete, final destruction, a place of no return. Here is where, later, death and Hades, as well as the Devil himself, will be hurled. (Revelation 20:10, 14) It is certainly not an inferno of eternal torture for the wicked, since the very idea of such a place is detestable to Jehovah.​—Jeremiah 19:5; 32:35; 1 John 4:8, 16.

25. (a) Who are those “killed off with the long sword of the one seated on the horse”? (b) Are we to expect that any of those “killed off” will have a resurrection?

²⁵ All others who were not directly part of government but who were nevertheless an irreformable part of this corrupt world of mankind are likewise “killed off with the long sword of the one seated on the horse.” Jesus will pronounce them deserving of death. Since in their case the lake of fire is not mentioned, are we to expect that they will have a resurrection? Nowhere are we told that those executed by Jehovah’s Judge at that time are to be resurrected. As Jesus himself stated, all those who are not “sheep” go off “into the everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels,” that is, “into everlasting cutting-off.” (Matthew 25:33, 41, 46) This climaxes “the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.”​—2 Peter 3:7; Nahum 1:2, 7-9; Malachi 4:1.

26. State in brief the outcome of Armageddon.

²⁶ In this way, all of Satan’s earthly organization comes to an end. The “former heaven” of political rulership has passed away. The “earth,” the seemingly permanent system that Satan has built up over the centuries, is now utterly destroyed. The “sea,” the mass of wicked humanity opposed to Jehovah, is no more. (Revelation 21:1; 2 Peter 3:10) What, though, does Jehovah have in store for Satan himself? John goes on to tell us.

Chapter 40

Crushing the Serpent’s Head

Vision 14​—Revelation 20:1-10

Subject: The abyssing of Satan, the Millennial Reign, mankind’s final test, and Satan’s destruction

Time of fulfillment: From the end of the great tribulation to the destruction of Satan

1. How has the fulfillment of the first Bible prophecy proceeded?

DO YOU recall the first Bible prophecy? It was uttered by Jehovah God when he said to the Serpent: “I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.” (Genesis 3:15) Now the fulfillment of that prophecy comes to its climax! We have traced the history of Satan’s warring against Jehovah’s heavenly womanlike organization. (Revelation 12:1, 9) The Serpent’s earthly seed, with its religion, politics, and big business, has heaped cruel persecution on the woman’s seed, Jesus Christ and his 144,000 anointed followers, here on earth. (John 8:37, 44; Galatians 3:16, 29) Satan inflicted an agonizing death on Jesus. But this proved to be like a heel wound, for God resurrected his faithful Son on the third day.​—Acts 10:38-40.

2. How is the Serpent bruised, and what happens to the Serpent’s earthly seed?

² What about the Serpent and his seed? About 56 C.E. the apostle Paul wrote a long letter to the Christians in Rome. In concluding it, he encouraged them by saying: “For his part, the God who gives peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.” (Romans 16:20) This is more than a superficial bruising. Satan is to be crushed! Paul here used a Greek word, syn·triʹbo, that means to bruise into a jellylike state, to trample down, to destroy utterly by crushing. As for the human seed of the Serpent, this is due for a real plaguing in the Lord’s day, climaxing at the great tribulation in the complete crushing of Babylon the Great and the political systems of the world, together with their financial and military henchmen. (Revelation, chapters 18 and 19) Thus Jehovah brings to a climax the enmity between the two seeds. The Seed of God’s woman triumphs over the earthly seed of the Serpent, and that seed is no more!

Satan Abyssed

3. What does John tell us is going to happen to Satan?

³ What, then, is in store for Satan himself and his demons? John tells us: “And I saw an angel coming down out of heaven with the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he seized the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. And he hurled him into the abyss and shut it and sealed it over him, that he might not mislead the nations anymore until the thousand years were ended. After these things he must be let loose for a little while.”​—Revelation 20:1-3.

4. Who is the angel with the key of the abyss, and how do we know?

⁴ Who is this angel? He must have tremendous power to be able to dispose of Jehovah’s archenemy. He has “the key of the abyss and a great chain.” Does this not remind us of an earlier vision? Why, yes, the king over the locusts is called “the angel of the abyss”! (Revelation 9:11) So here we again observe Jehovah’s Chief Vindicator, the glorified Jesus Christ, in action. This archangel that cast Satan out of heaven, that judged Babylon the Great, and that disposed of “the kings of the earth and their armies” at Armageddon would surely not step aside to let a lesser angel deliver the masterstroke in abyssing Satan!​—Revelation 12:7-9; 18:1, 2; 19:11-21.

5. How does the angel of the abyss deal with Satan the Devil, and why?

⁵ When the great fiery-colored dragon was hurled down from heaven, he was spoken of as “the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth.” (Revelation 12:3, 9) Now, at the point of being seized and abyssed, he is described again in full as “the dragon, the original serpent, who is the Devil and Satan.” This infamous devourer, deceiver, slanderer, and opposer is chained and hurled “into the abyss,” which is closed and sealed off tightly, “that he might not mislead the nations anymore.” This abyssing of Satan is for a thousand years, during which time his influence on mankind will be no more than that of a prisoner in a deep dungeon. The angel of the abyss removes Satan completely from any contact with the Kingdom of righteousness. What a relief for mankind!

6. (a) What evidence is there that the demons also go into the abyss? (b) What can now begin, and why?

⁶ What happens to the demons? They too have been “reserved for judgment.” (2 Peter 2:4) Satan is called “Beelzebub the ruler of the demons.” (Luke 11:15, 18; Matthew 10:25) In view of their longtime collaboration with Satan, should not the same judgment be meted out to them? The abyss has long been an object of fear to those demons; on one occasion when Jesus confronted them, they “kept entreating him not to order them to go away into the abyss.” (Luke 8:31) But when Satan is abyssed, his angels will surely be hurled into the abyss with him. (Compare Isaiah 24:21, 22.) After the abyssing of Satan and his demons, the Thousand Year Reign of Jesus Christ can begin.

7. (a) In what state will Satan and his demons be while in the abyss, and how do we know? (b) Are Hades and the abyss the same? (See footnote.)

⁷ Will Satan and his demons be active while in the abyss? Well, remember the scarlet-colored, seven-headed wild beast that “was, but is not, and yet is about to ascend out of the abyss.” (Revelation 17:8) While in the abyss, it ‘was not.’ It was nonfunctioning, immobilized, to all intents and purposes dead. Likewise, speaking of Jesus, the apostle Paul said: “‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.” (Romans 10:7) While in that abyss, Jesus was dead.a It is reasonable to conclude, then, that Satan and his demons will be in a state of deathlike inactivity for the thousand years of their abyssing. What good tidings for lovers of righteousness!

Judges for a Thousand Years

8, 9. What does John now tell us about those sitting on thrones, and who are such ones?

⁸ After the thousand years, Satan is released from the abyss for a short while. Why? Before giving the answer, John brings our attention back to the beginning of that time period. We read: “And I saw thrones, and there were those who sat down on them, and power of judging was given them.” (Revelation 20:4a) Who are these ones sitting on thrones and ruling in the heavens with the glorified Jesus?

⁹ They are “the holy ones” that Daniel described as ruling in the Kingdom with the One “like a son of man.” (Daniel 7:13, 14, 18) They are the same as the 24 elders who sit on heavenly thrones in the very presence of Jehovah. (Revelation 4:4) They include the 12 apostles, to whom Jesus gave the promise: “In the re-creation, when the Son of man sits down upon his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also yourselves sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.” (Matthew 19:28) They also include Paul, as well as the Corinthian Christians who remained faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:8; 6:2, 3) They would include, too, members of the congregation of Laodicea who conquered.​—Revelation 3:21.

10. (a) How does John now describe the 144,000 kings? (b) From what John earlier told us, whom do the 144,000 kings include?

¹⁰ Thrones​—144,000 of them—​are prepared for these anointed conquerors who are “bought from among mankind as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:1, 4) “Yes,” continues John, “I saw the souls of those executed with the ax for the witness they bore to Jesus and for speaking about God, and those who had worshiped neither the wild beast nor its image and who had not received the mark upon their forehead and upon their hand.” (Revelation 20:4b) Among those kings, then, are the anointed Christian martyrs who earlier, at the opening of the fifth seal, asked Jehovah how much longer he would wait to avenge their blood. At that time, they were given a white robe and told to wait a little longer. But now they have been avenged through the devastating of Babylon the Great, the destruction of the nations by the King of kings and Lord of lords, and the abyssing of Satan.​—Revelation 6:9-11; 17:16; 19:15, 16.

11. (a) How are we to understand the expression “executed with the ax”? (b) Why may it be said that all the 144,000 died a sacrificial death?

¹¹ Were all these 144,000 royal judges physically “executed with the ax”? Likely, relatively few of them were in a literal sense. This expression, though, doubtless is intended to embrace all those anointed Christians who endure martyrdom in one way or another.b (Matthew 10:22, 28) Certainly, Satan would like to have executed all of them with the ax, but, in fact, not all of Jesus’ anointed brothers die as martyrs. Many of them die of disease or old age. Such ones, however, also belong to the group that John now sees. The death of all of them is, in a sense, sacrificial. (Romans 6:3-5) Additionally, none of them were part of the world. Hence, all of them have been hated by the world and, in effect, become dead in its eyes. (John 15:19; 1 Corinthians 4:13) None of them worshipped the wild beast or its image, and when they died, none of them carried the mark of the beast. All of them died as conquerors.​—1 John 5:4; Revelation 2:7; 3:12; 12:11.

12. What does John report about the 144,000 kings, and when does their coming to life occur?

¹² Now these conquerors live again! John reports: “And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4c) Does this mean that these judges are not resurrected until after the destruction of the nations and the abyssing of Satan and his demons? No. Most of them are already very much alive, since they rode with Jesus against the nations at Armageddon. (Revelation 2:26, 27; 19:14) Indeed, Paul indicated that their resurrection commences soon after the beginning of Jesus’ presence in 1914 and that some are resurrected before others. (1 Corinthians 15:51-54; 1 Thessalonians 4:15-17) Therefore, their coming to life occurs over a period of time as they individually receive the gift of immortal life in the heavens.​—2 Thessalonians 1:7; 2 Peter 3:11-14.

13. (a) How should we view the thousand years during which the 144,000 rule, and why? (b) How did Papias of Hierapolis view the thousand years? (See footnote.)

¹³ Their reigning and judging will be for a thousand years. Is this a literal thousand years, or should we view it symbolically as being an undefined, long period of time? “Thousands” may mean a large, indefinite number, as at 1 Samuel 21:11. But here the “thousand” is literal, since it appears three times in Revelation 20:5-7 as “the thousand years.” Paul called this time of judgment “a day” when he stated: “He [God] has set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness.” (Acts 17:31) Since Peter tells us that one day with Jehovah is as a thousand years, it is appropriate that this Day of Judgment be a literal thousand years.c​—2 Peter 3:8.

The Rest of the Dead

14. (a) What statement does John insert about “the rest of the dead”? (b) How do expressions made by the apostle Paul throw light on the term “come to life”?

¹⁴ Whom, though, will these kings judge if, as the apostle John here inserts, “(the rest of the dead did not come to life until the thousand years were ended)”? (Revelation 20:5a) Again, the expression “come to life” has to be understood according to context. This expression can have varying meanings in varying circumstances. For example, Paul said of his anointed fellow Christians: “It is you God made alive though you were dead in your trespasses and sins.” (Ephesians 2:1) Yes, spirit-anointed Christians were “made alive,” even in the first century, being declared righteous on the basis of their faith in Jesus’ sacrifice.​—Romans 3:23, 24.

15. (a) The pre-Christian witnesses of Jehovah enjoyed what standing with God? (b) How do the other sheep “come to life,” and when will they possess the earth in the fullest sense?

¹⁵ Similarly, pre-Christian witnesses of Jehovah were declared righteous as to friendship with God; and Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob were spoken of as “living” even though they were physically dead. (Matthew 22:31, 32; James 2:21, 23) However, they and all others who are resurrected, as well as the great crowd of faithful other sheep who survive Armageddon and any children that may be born to these in the new world, must yet be raised to human perfection. This will be accomplished by Christ and his associate kings and priests during the thousand-year Judgment Day, on the basis of Jesus’ ransom sacrifice. By the end of that Day, “the rest of the dead” will have “come to life” in the sense that they will be perfect humans. As we shall see, they must then pass a final test, but they will face that test as perfected humans. When they pass the test, God will declare them worthy of living forever, righteous in the fullest sense. They will experience the complete fulfillment of the promise: “The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.” (Psalm 37:29) What a delightful future is in store for obedient mankind!

The First Resurrection

16. How does John describe the resurrection experienced by those who rule as kings with Christ, and why?

¹⁶ Returning now to those who “came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ,” John writes: “This is the first resurrection.” (Revelation 20:5b) How is it first? It is “the first resurrection” as to time, for the ones who experience it are a “firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.” (Revelation 14:4) It is also first in importance, since those who share in it become corulers with Jesus in his heavenly Kingdom and judge the rest of mankind. Finally, it is first in quality. Apart from Jesus Christ himself, those raised in the first resurrection are the only creatures spoken of in the Bible as receiving immortality.​—1 Corinthians 15:53; 1 Timothy 6:16.

17. (a) How does John describe the blessed prospect for the anointed Christians? (b) What is “the second death,” and why does it have “no authority” over the 144,000 conquerors?

¹⁷ What a blessed prospect for these anointed ones! As John declares: “Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority.” (Revelation 20:6a) As Jesus promised the Christians in Smyrna, these conquerors that share in “the first resurrection” will be in no danger of harm by “the second death,” which means annihilation, destruction without hope of a resurrection. (Revelation 2:11; 20:14) The second death has “no authority” over such conquerors, for they will have put on incorruption and immortality.​—1 Corinthians 15:53.

18. What does John now say of earth’s new rulers, and what will they accomplish?

¹⁸ How different from earth’s kings during Satan’s tenure of authority! These have ruled at most for a mere 50 or 60 years, and the great majority for just a few years. Many of them have oppressed mankind. In any case, how could the nations benefit permanently under ever-changing rulers with ever-changing policies? In contrast, John says of earth’s new rulers: “But they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.” (Revelation 20:6b) With Jesus, they will form the sole government for a thousand years. Their priestly service, in applying the merit of Jesus’ perfect human sacrifice, will lift obedient humans to spiritual, moral, and physical perfection. Their kingly service will result in building a global human society that reflects Jehovah’s righteousness and holiness. As judges for a thousand years, they, with Jesus, will lovingly guide responsive humans toward the goal of everlasting life.​—John 3:16.

The Final Test

19. What will be earth’s state and mankind’s state by the end of the Thousand Year Reign, and what does Jesus now do?

¹⁹ By the end of the Thousand Year Reign, all earth will have come to resemble the original Eden. It will be a veritable paradise. Perfect mankind will no longer need a high priest to intercede for it before God, since all traces of Adamic sin will have been removed and the last enemy, death, brought to nothing. Christ’s Kingdom will have achieved God’s purpose to create one world with one government. At this point, Jesus “hands over the kingdom to his God and Father.”​—1 Corinthians 15:22-26; Romans 15:12.

20. What does John tell us will happen when it is time for the final test?

²⁰ It is now time for a final test. Will that perfected world of mankind, in contrast with the first humans in Eden, stand firm in its integrity? John tells us what happens: “Now as soon as the thousand years have been ended, Satan will be let loose out of his prison, and he will go out to mislead those nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together for the war. The number of these is as the sand of the sea. And they advanced over the breadth of the earth and encircled the camp of the holy ones and the beloved city.”​—Revelation 20:7-9a.

21. For his last effort, how does Satan proceed, and why should we not be surprised that some will follow Satan even after the Thousand Year Reign?

²¹ How will Satan’s last effort fare? He deceives “those nations in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog,” and leads them to “the war.” Who could possibly side with Satan after a thousand years of joyful, upbuilding theocratic rule? Well, do not forget that Satan was able to mislead the perfect Adam and Eve while they were enjoying life in the Paradise of Eden. And he was able to lead astray heavenly angels who had seen the bad results of the original rebellion. (2 Peter 2:4; Jude 6) So we should not be surprised that some perfect humans will be enticed to follow Satan even after a delightful thousand years of rule by God’s Kingdom.

22. (a) What is indicated by the expression “those nations in the four corners of the earth”? (b) Why are the rebels called “Gog and Magog”?

²² The Bible calls these rebels “nations in the four corners of the earth.” This does not mean that mankind will have been divided once again into mutually exclusive national entities. It merely indicates that these will separate themselves from Jehovah’s righteous, loyal ones and manifest the same bad spirit that the nations show today. They will “think up an injurious scheme,” as did the Gog of Magog in Ezekiel’s prophecy, with a goal of destroying theocratic government on earth. (Ezekiel 38:3, 10-12) Hence, they are called “Gog and Magog.”

23. What is indicated by the fact that the number of the rebels is “as the sand of the sea”?

²³ The number of those who join Satan in his revolt will be “as the sand of the sea.” How many is that? There is no foreordained number. (Compare Joshua 11:4; Judges 7:12.) The final total number of rebels will depend on how each individual reacts to Satan’s deceptive wiles. Doubtless, though, there will be a considerable number, since they will feel strong enough to overcome “the camp of the holy ones and the beloved city.”

24. (a) What is “the beloved city,” and how can it be encircled? (b) What is represented by “the camp of the holy ones”?

²⁴ “The beloved city” must be the city that is spoken of by the glorified Jesus Christ to his followers at Revelation 3:12 and that he calls “the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which descends out of heaven from my God.” Since this is a heavenly organization, how could those earthly forces ‘encircle’ it? In that they encircle “the camp of the holy ones.” A camp is outside a city; therefore, “the camp of the holy ones” must represent those on earth outside the heavenly location of New Jerusalem who loyally support Jehovah’s governmental arrangement. When the rebels under Satan attack those faithful ones, the Lord Jesus regards it as an assault on him. (Matthew 25:40, 45) “Those nations” will try to wipe out all that the heavenly New Jerusalem has accomplished in making earth a paradise. So in attacking “the camp of the holy ones,” they are also attacking “the beloved city.”

The Lake of Fire and Sulfur

25. How does John describe the outcome of the rebels’ attack on “the camp of the holy ones,” and what will this mean for Satan?

²⁵ Will this final effort by Satan succeed? Certainly not​—no more than the attack that Gog of Magog is due to make on spiritual Israel in our day will succeed! (Ezekiel 38:18-23) John vividly describes the outcome: “But fire came down out of heaven and devoured them. And the Devil who was misleading them was hurled into the lake of fire and sulphur, where both the wild beast and the false prophet already were.” (Revelation 20:9b-10a) Rather than being merely abyssed, this time Satan, the original serpent, will actually be crushed out of existence, pulverized, completely annihilated as if by fire.

26. Why cannot “the lake of fire and sulphur” be a literal place of torment?

²⁶ We have already noted that “the lake of fire and sulphur” could not be a literal place of torment. (Revelation 19:20) If Satan were to suffer excruciating torture there for all eternity, Jehovah would have to preserve him alive. Yet, life is a gift, not a punishment. Death is the punishment for sin, and according to the Bible, dead creatures feel no pain. (Romans 6:23; Ecclesiastes 9:5, 10) Moreover, we read later that death itself, along with Hades, is cast into this same lake of fire and sulfur. Surely, death and Hades cannot suffer pain!​—Revelation 20:14.

27. How does what happened to Sodom and Gomorrah help us understand the term the lake of fire and sulfur?

²⁷ All of this reinforces the view that the lake of fire and sulfur is symbolic. Further, the mention of fire and sulfur calls to mind the fate of ancient Sodom and Gomorrah, destroyed by God because of their gross wickedness. When their time came, “Jehovah made it rain sulphur and fire from Jehovah, from the heavens, upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah.” (Genesis 19:24) What befell the two cities is called “the judicial punishment of everlasting fire.” (Jude 7) Yet, those two cities did not suffer everlasting torment. Rather, they were blotted out, obliterated for all time, along with their depraved inhabitants. Those cities do not exist today, and no one can say for sure where they were located.

28. What is the lake of fire and sulfur, and how is it unlike death, Hades, and the abyss?

²⁸ In harmony with this, the Bible itself explains the meaning of the lake of fire and sulfur: “This means the second death, the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:14) It is clearly the same as the Gehenna that Jesus spoke of, a place where the wicked remain destroyed, not tortured forever. (Matthew 10:28) It is complete, utter destruction without hope of a resurrection. Thus, while there are keys for death, Hades, and the abyss, there is no mention of a key for opening the lake of fire and sulfur. (Revelation 1:18; 20:1) It will never release its captives.​—Compare Mark 9:43-47.

Tormented Day and Night Forever

29, 30. What does John say about the Devil as well as the wild beast and the false prophet, and how is this to be understood?

²⁹ Referring to the Devil as well as the wild beast and the false prophet, John now tells us: “And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” (Revelation 20:10b) What could this mean? As mentioned already, it is not logical to say that symbols, such as the wild beast and the false prophet, as well as death and Hades, could suffer torture in a literal way. Hence, we have no reason to believe that Satan will be suffering for all eternity. He is to be annihilated.

³⁰ The Greek word used here for “torment,” ba·sa·niʹzo, means primarily “to test (metals) by the touchstone.” “To question by applying torture” is a second meaning. (The New Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament) In the context, the use of this Greek word indicates that what happens to Satan will serve, for all eternity, as a touchstone on the issue of the rightness and righteousness of Jehovah’s rule. That issue of sovereign rulership will have been settled once and for all time. Never again will a challenge to Jehovah’s sovereignty need to be tested over an extended period of time in order to be proved wrong.​—Compare Psalm 92:1, 15.

31. How do two Greek words related to the one meaning “torment” help us to understand the punishment that Satan the Devil undergoes?

³¹ Additionally, the related word ba·sa·ni·stesʹ, “tormentor,” is used in the Bible to mean “jailer.” (Matthew 18:34, Kingdom Interlinear) In harmony with this, Satan will be imprisoned in the lake of fire forever; he will never be released. Finally, in the Greek Septuagint, which was well known to John, the related word baʹsa·nos is used to refer to humiliation that leads to death. (Ezekiel 32:24, 30) This helps us to see that the punishment that Satan undergoes is a humiliating, everlasting death in the lake of fire and sulfur. His works die with him.​—1 John 3:8.

32. What punishment will the demons undergo, and how do we know?

³² Again, the demons are not mentioned in this verse. Will they be released with Satan at the end of the thousand years and then undergo the punishment of everlasting death along with him? The evidence answers yes. In the parable of the sheep and the goats, Jesus said that the goats would go off “into the everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.” (Matthew 25:41) The expression “everlasting fire” must refer to the lake of fire and sulfur where Satan is to be hurled. The Devil’s angels were cast out of heaven with him. Evidently, they went into the abyss with him at the beginning of the Thousand Year Reign. Consistently, then, they will also be destroyed with him in the lake of fire and sulfur.​—Matthew 8:29.

33. What final detail of Genesis 3:15 will then be fulfilled, and to what matter does Jehovah’s spirit now draw John’s attention?

³³ In this way, the final detail of the prophecy recorded at Genesis 3:15 is fulfilled. When Satan is hurled into the lake of fire, he will become as dead as a snake the head of which has been ground under an iron heel. He and his demons will be gone forever. There is no further mention of them in the book of Revelation. Now, having prophetically disposed of these, Jehovah’s spirit draws attention to a matter of pressing interest to those who cherish an earthly hope: What will result to humankind from the heavenly reign of the “King of kings” and “those called and chosen and faithful with him”? (Revelation 17:14) To answer, John brings us back once again to the beginning of the Thousand Year Reign.

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 293]

The Dead Sea. Possible location of Sodom and Gomorrah

[Pictures on page 294]

“I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel”

Chapter 41

God’s Day of Judgment​—Its Joyful Outcome!

Vision 15​—Revelation 20:11–21:8

Subject: The general resurrection, Judgment Day, and blessings of new heavens and a new earth

Time of fulfillment: The Thousand Year Reign

1. (a) What did mankind lose when Adam and Eve sinned? (b) What purpose of God has not changed, and how do we know?

AS HUMANS, we were created to live forever. If Adam and Eve had obeyed God’s commands, they would never have died. (Genesis 1:28; 2:8, 16, 17; Ecclesiastes 3:10, 11) But when they sinned, they lost perfection and life both for themselves and for their offspring, and death came to reign over mankind as a relentless enemy. (Romans 5:12, 14; 1 Corinthians 15:26) Nevertheless, God’s purpose to have perfect humans live forever on a paradise earth did not change. Out of his great love for mankind, he sent to earth his only-begotten Son, Jesus, who gave his perfect human life as a ransom for “many” of Adam’s offspring. (Matthew 20:28; John 3:16) Jesus can now use this legal merit of his sacrifice to restore believing humans to life in perfection on a paradise earth. (1 Peter 3:18; 1 John 2:2) What grand reason for mankind to “be joyful and rejoice”!​—Isaiah 25:8, 9.

2. What does John report at Revelation 20:11, and what is the “great white throne”?

² With Satan confined in the abyss, Jesus’ glorious Thousand Year Reign begins. It is now the “day” in which God “purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed.” (Acts 17:31; 2 Peter 3:8) John declares: “And I saw a great white throne and the one seated on it. From before him the earth and the heaven fled away, and no place was found for them.” (Revelation 20:11) What is this “great white throne”? It can be none other than the judgment seat of “God the Judge of all.” (Hebrews 12:23) Now he will judge mankind as to who will benefit from Jesus’ ransom sacrifice.​—Mark 10:45.

3. (a) What is indicated by the fact that God’s throne is said to be “great” and “white”? (b) Who will do the judging on Judgment Day, and on what basis?

³ God’s throne is “great,” emphasizing Jehovah’s grandeur as Sovereign Lord, and it is “white,” calling attention to his flawless righteousness. He is the ultimate Judge of mankind. (Psalm 19:7-11; Isaiah 33:22; 51:5, 8) He has, however, delegated the work of judging to Jesus Christ: “The Father judges no one at all, but he has committed all the judging to the Son.” (John 5:22) With Jesus are his 144,000 associates, to whom the “power of judging was given . . . for a thousand years.” (Revelation 20:4) Even so, it is Jehovah’s standards that decide what will happen to each individual during Judgment Day.

4. What does it mean that “the earth and the heaven fled away”?

⁴ How is it that “the earth and the heaven fled away”? This is the same heaven that departed as a scroll at the opening of the sixth seal​—the human ruling powers that are “stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.” (Revelation 6:14; 2 Peter 3:7) The earth is the organized system of things that exists under this rulership. (Revelation 8:7) The destruction of the wild beast and the kings of the earth and their armies, along with those who received the mark of the wild beast and those who render worship to its image, marks the fleeing away of this heaven and earth. (Revelation 19:19-21) Judgment having been executed on Satan’s earth and heaven, the Great Judge decrees another Day of Judgment.

The Thousand-Year Judgment Day

5. After the old earth and the old heaven flee away, who are the ones left to be judged?

⁵ Who are left to be judged after the old earth and the old heaven flee away? Not the anointed remnant of the 144,000, for these have already been judged and sealed. If any of the anointed are still alive on earth after Armageddon, they must shortly thereafter die and receive their heavenly reward by resurrection. (1 Peter 4:17; Revelation 7:2-4) However, the millions of the great crowd who have now come out of the great tribulation stand conspicuously “before the throne.” These have already been counted righteous for survival because of their faith in Jesus’ shed blood, but their judging must continue through the thousand years as Jesus keeps on guiding them to “fountains of waters of life.” Then, having been restored to human perfection and thereafter tested, they will be declared righteous in the fullest sense. (Revelation 7:9, 10, 14, 17) Children who survive the great tribulation and any children born to the great crowd during the Millennium will similarly need to be judged during the thousand years.​—Compare Genesis 1:28; 9:7; 1 Corinthians 7:14.

6. (a) What throng does John see, and what is indicated by the words “the great and the small”? (b) How will the countless millions in God’s memory no doubt be brought forth?

⁶ John, however, observes a throng far more numerous than the surviving great crowd. It will number into the thousands of millions! “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened.” (Revelation 20:12a) “The great and the small” embraces the prominent as well as the less prominent ones of humans that have lived and died on this earth during the past 6,000 years. In the Gospel that the apostle John wrote shortly after Revelation, Jesus said of the Father: “He has given him [Jesus] authority to do judging, because Son of man he is. Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out.” (John 5:27-29) What a stupendous project​—the undoing of the deaths and burials throughout all history! No doubt those countless millions in God’s memory will be brought forth gradually so that the great crowd​—so few by comparison—​will be able to handle problems that may arise because resurrected ones may tend at first to follow their old lifestyle, with its fleshly weaknesses and attitudes.

Who Are Raised and Judged?

7, 8. (a) What scroll is opened, and what takes place thereafter? (b) For whom will there be no resurrection?

⁷ John adds: “But another scroll was opened; it is the scroll of life. And the dead were judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds. And the sea gave up those dead in it, and death and Hades gave up those dead in them, and they were judged individually according to their deeds.” (Revelation 20:12b, 13) A breathtaking spectacle indeed! ‘The sea, death, and Hades’ each plays a part, but note that these terms are not mutually exclusive.a Jonah, when in the belly of a fish and therefore in the midst of the sea, spoke of himself as being in Sheol, or Hades. (Jonah 2:2) If a person is held in the grip of Adamic death, then likely he is also in Hades. These prophetic words give strong assurance that no one will be overlooked.

⁸ There are, of course, an unknown number who will not be resurrected. Among these would be the unrepentant scribes and Pharisees who rejected Jesus and the apostles, the religious “man of lawlessness,” and anointed Christians “who have fallen away.” (2 Thessalonians 2:3; Hebrews 6:4-6; Matthew 23:29-33) Jesus also spoke of goatlike people at the world’s end who go into “the everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels,” namely, “everlasting cutting-off.” (Matthew 25:41, 46) No resurrection for these!

9. How does the apostle Paul indicate that some will be specially favored in the resurrection, and whom do these include?

⁹ On the other hand, some will be specially favored in the resurrection. The apostle Paul indicated this when he said: “I have hope toward God . . . that there is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.” (Acts 24:15) With regard to the earthly resurrection, “the righteous” will include faithful men and women of old​—Abraham, Rahab, and many others—​who were declared righteous as to friendship with God. (James 2:21, 23, 25) In this same group will be those righteous other sheep who died faithful to Jehovah in modern times. Likely, all such integrity keepers will be resurrected early in Jesus’ Millennial Reign. (Job 14:13-15; 27:5; Daniel 12:13; Hebrews 11:35, 39, 40) No doubt many of these resurrected righteous ones will be assigned special privileges in overseeing the tremendous work of restoration in Paradise.​—Psalm 45:16; compare Isaiah 32:1, 16-18; 61:5; 65:21-23.

10. Of those to be resurrected, who are “the unrighteous”?

¹⁰ Who, though, are “the unrighteous” mentioned at Acts 24:15? These would include the great masses of mankind who have died throughout history, particularly those who lived in ‘times of ignorance.’ (Acts 17:30) These, because of where they were born or when they lived, had no opportunity to learn obedience to Jehovah’s will. Additionally, there may be some who did hear the message of salvation but who did not respond fully at that time or who died before they had progressed to dedication and baptism. In the resurrection such ones will have to make further adjustments in their thinking and life course if they are going to benefit from this opportunity for gaining everlasting life.

The Scroll of Life

11. (a) What is “the scroll of life,” and whose names are recorded in this scroll? (b) Why will the scroll of life be opened during the Thousand Year Reign?

¹¹ John speaks of “the scroll of life.” This is a record of those in line to receive everlasting life from Jehovah. The names of the anointed brothers of Jesus, of the great crowd, and of faithful men of old, such as Moses, have been recorded in this scroll. (Exodus 32:32, 33; Daniel 12:1; Revelation 3:5) As yet, none of the “unrighteous” resurrected ones have their names in the scroll of life. So the scroll of life will be opened during the Thousand Year Reign to permit the writing of names of others that come to qualify. Those whose names do not get written in the scroll, or book, of life are “hurled into the lake of fire.”​—Revelation 20:15; compare Hebrews 3:19.

12. What will determine whether a person gets his name written in the opened scroll of life, and how did Jehovah’s appointed Judge set the example?

¹² What, then, will determine whether a person gets his name written in the opened scroll of life at that time? The key factor will be the same as it was in the days of Adam and Eve: obedience to Jehovah. As the apostle John wrote to beloved fellow Christians: “The world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.” (1 John 2:4-7, 17) In the matter of obedience, Jehovah’s appointed Judge set the example: “Although [Jesus] was a Son, he learned obedience from the things he suffered; and after he had been made perfect he became responsible for everlasting salvation to all those obeying him.”​—Hebrews 5:8, 9.

Opening Other Scrolls

13. How must resurrected ones demonstrate their obedience, and what principles must they follow?

¹³ How must these resurrected ones demonstrate their obedience? Jesus himself pointed to the two great commandments, saying: “The first is, ‘Hear, O Israel, Jehovah our God is one Jehovah, and you must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength.’ The second is this, ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mark 12:29-31) There are also Jehovah’s well-established principles that they must follow, such as to repudiate stealing, lying, murdering, and immorality.​—1 Timothy 1:8-11; Revelation 21:8.

14. What other scrolls are opened, and what do they contain?

¹⁴ However, John has just mentioned other scrolls that will be opened during the Millennial Reign. (Revelation 20:12) What will these be? At times, Jehovah has given specific instructions for particular situations. For example, in Moses’ day he provided a detailed series of laws that meant life for the Israelites if they obeyed. (Deuteronomy 4:40; 32:45-47) During the first century, new instructions were given to help faithful ones to follow Jehovah’s principles under the Christian system of things. (Matthew 28:19, 20; John 13:34; 15:9, 10) Now John reports that the dead are to be “judged out of those things written in the scrolls according to their deeds.” Evidently, then, the opening of these scrolls will publish Jehovah’s detailed requirements for mankind during the thousand years. By applying in their lives the regulations and commandments of those scrolls, obedient humans will be able to lengthen their days, attaining finally to everlasting life.

15. What kind of educational campaign will be needed during the resurrection, and how will the resurrection likely proceed?

¹⁵ What an extensive campaign of theocratic education will be needed! In 2005, Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide were conducting, on the average, 6,061,534 Bible studies in various locations. But during the resurrection, countless millions of studies, based on the Bible and the new scrolls, will no doubt be conducted! All of God’s people will need to become teachers and to exert themselves. Resurrected ones, as they progress, will no doubt share in this vast teaching program. Likely, the resurrection will proceed in such a way that those who are alive may have the joy of welcoming and instructing former family members and acquaintances, who, in their turn, may welcome and instruct others. (Compare 1 Corinthians 15:19-28, 58.) The more than six million Witnesses of Jehovah who are active in spreading the truth today are laying a good foundation for the privileges they hope to have during the resurrection.​—Isaiah 50:4; 54:13.

16. (a) Whose names will not be written in the scroll, or book, of life? (b) Who are those whose resurrection will prove to be one “of life”?

¹⁶ With regard to the earthly resurrection, Jesus said that ‘those who did good things come out to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.’ Here “life” and “judgment” contrast with each other, showing that those resurrected ones who “practiced vile things” after being instructed in the inspired Scriptures and scrolls are judged to be unworthy of life. Their names will not be written in the scroll, or book, of life. (John 5:29) This would also be true of any who previously followed a faithful course but who, for some reason, turn aside during the Thousand Year Reign. Names can be erased. (Exodus 32:32, 33) On the other hand, those who obediently follow the things written in the scrolls will keep their names on the written record, the scroll of life, and continue living. For them, the resurrection will have proved to be one “of life.”

The End of Death and Hades

17. (a) What wonderful action does John describe? (b) When is Hades emptied? (c) When will Adamic death be “hurled into the lake of fire”?

¹⁷ Next, John describes something truly wonderful! “And death and Hades were hurled into the lake of fire. This means the second death, the lake of fire. Furthermore, whoever was not found written in the book of life was hurled into the lake of fire.” (Revelation 20:14, 15) By the end of the millennial Judgment Day, “death and Hades” are completely removed. Why does this involve a thousand years? Hades, the common grave of all mankind, is emptied when the last one in God’s memory is resurrected. But as long as any humans are tainted by inherited sin, Adamic death is still with them. All those resurrected on earth, as well as the great crowd that survives Armageddon, will need to obey what is written in the scrolls until Jesus’ ransom merit has been applied in fully removing sickness, old age, and other inherited disabilities. Then Adamic death, along with Hades, is “hurled into the lake of fire.” They will be gone forever!

18. (a) How does the apostle Paul describe the success of Jesus’ rule as King? (b) What does Jesus do with the perfected human family? (c) What other things take place at the end of the thousand years?

¹⁸ Thus, the program that the apostle Paul describes in his letter to the Corinthians will come to completion: “For [Jesus] must rule as king until God has put all enemies under his feet. As the last enemy, [Adamic] death is to be brought to nothing.” What happens next? “When all things will have been subjected to him, then the Son himself will also subject himself to the One who subjected all things to him.” In other words, Jesus “hands over the kingdom to his God and Father.” (1 Corinthians 15:24-28) Yes, Jesus, having conquered Adamic death through the merit of his ransom sacrifice, will hand over a perfected human family to his Father, Jehovah. It is evidently at this point, at the end of the thousand years, that Satan is released and the final test takes place to determine whose names will remain permanently recorded in the scroll of life. “Exert yourselves vigorously” so that your name may be among them!​—Luke 13:24; Revelation 20:5.

[Footnote]

[Picture on page 298]

“Unrighteous” resurrected ones who obey the scrolls opened during the Thousand Year Reign may have their names written also in the scroll of life

Chapter 42

A New Heaven and a New Earth

1. What does John describe when the angel takes him back to the beginning of the Thousand Year Reign?

THIS glorious vision continues to unfold as the angel takes John back to the beginning of the Thousand Year Reign. What does he describe? “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea is no more.” (Revelation 21:1) A captivating panorama comes to view!

2. (a) How was Isaiah’s prophecy about new heavens and a new earth fulfilled upon the restored Jews in 537 B.C.E.? (b) How do we know that there will be a further application of Isaiah’s prophecy, and how is this promise fulfilled?

² Hundreds of years before John’s day, Jehovah had said to Isaiah: “For here I am creating new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be called to mind, neither will they come up into the heart.” (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22) This prophecy was initially fulfilled when faithful Jews returned to Jerusalem in 537 B.C.E. after their 70-year exile in Babylon. In that restoration, they formed a cleansed society, “a new earth,” under a new governmental system, “new heavens.” The apostle Peter, however, pointed to a further application of the prophecy, saying: “But there are new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.” (2 Peter 3:13) John now shows that this promise is fulfilled during the Lord’s day. “The former heaven and the former earth,” Satan’s organized system of things with its governmental structure influenced by Satan and his demons, will pass away. The turbulent “sea” of wicked, rebellious mankind will cease to exist. In its place will be “a new heaven and a new earth”​—a new earthly society under a new government, God’s Kingdom.​—Compare Revelation 20:11.

3. (a) What does John describe, and what is New Jerusalem? (b) How does New Jerusalem ‘come down out of heaven’?

³ John continues: “I saw also the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God and prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:2) New Jerusalem is the bride of Christ, made up of the anointed Christians who remain faithful to death and who are raised to become kings and priests with the glorified Jesus. (Revelation 3:12; 20:6) Just as earthly Jerusalem became the seat of government in ancient Israel, the magnificent New Jerusalem and her Bridegroom make up the government of the new system of things. This is the new heaven. The ‘bride comes down out of heaven,’ not literally, but in the sense of directing attention to the earth. The Lamb’s bride is to be his loyal helpmeet in operating a righteous government over all mankind. A blessing indeed for the new earth!

4. What promise does God make that is similar to the one he made to the newly formed nation of Israel?

⁴ John tells us further: “With that I heard a loud voice from the throne say: ‘Look! The tent of God is with mankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. And God himself will be with them.’” (Revelation 21:3) When Jehovah made the Law covenant with the then new nation of Israel, he promised: “I shall certainly put my tabernacle in the midst of you, and my soul will not abhor you. And I shall indeed walk in the midst of you and prove myself your God, and you, on your part, will prove yourselves my people.” (Leviticus 26:11, 12) Now Jehovah is making a similar promise to faithful humans. During the thousand-year Judgment Day, they will become a very special people to him.

5. (a) How will God reside with mankind during the Millennial Reign? (b) How will God reside among mankind after the Thousand Year Reign?

⁵ During the Millennial Reign, Jehovah will “reside” among mankind in a temporary arrangement, he being represented by his royal Son, Jesus Christ. At the end of the Thousand Year Reign, however, when Jesus hands the Kingdom over to his Father, no royal representative or intercessor will be needed. Jehovah will reside spiritually with “his peoples” in a permanent and direct way. (Compare John 4:23, 24.) What a lofty privilege for restored humanity!

6, 7. (a) What grand promises does John disclose, and who will enjoy the blessings? (b) How does Isaiah describe a paradise that is both spiritual and physical?

⁶ John goes on to say: “And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:4) Once again, we are reminded of earlier inspired promises. Isaiah also looked forward to the time when death and mourning would be no more and grief would be replaced by exultation. (Isaiah 25:8; 35:10; 51:11; 65:19) John now confirms that these promises have a wonderful fulfillment during the thousand-year Judgment Day. First the great crowd will enjoy the blessings. “The Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne,” continuing to shepherd them, “will guide them to fountains of waters of life. And God will wipe out every tear from their eyes.” (Revelation 7:9, 17) But eventually all those who are resurrected and exercise faith in Jehovah’s provisions will be there with them, enjoying a paradise that is both spiritual and physical.

⁷ “At that time,” says Isaiah, “the eyes of the blind ones will be opened, and the very ears of the deaf ones will be unstopped.” Yes, “at that time the lame one will climb up just as a stag does, and the tongue of the speechless one will cry out in gladness.” (Isaiah 35:5, 6) At that time, too, “they will certainly build houses and have occupancy; and they will certainly plant vineyards and eat their fruitage. They will not build and someone else have occupancy; they will not plant and someone else do the eating. For like the days of a tree will the days of my people be; and the work of their own hands my chosen ones will use to the full.” (Isaiah 65:21, 22) So they will not be uprooted from the earth.

8. What does Jehovah himself say with regard to the reliability of these grand promises?

⁸ What magnificent foregleams fill our minds as we meditate on these promises! Wondrous provisions are in store for faithful mankind under heaven’s loving government. Are such promises too good to be true? Are they just the dreams of an old man exiled on the island of Patmos? Jehovah himself answers: “And the One seated on the throne said: ‘Look! I am making all things new.’ Also, he says: ‘Write, because these words are faithful and true.’ And he said to me: ‘They have come to pass! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.’”​—Revelation 21:5, 6a.

9. Why can these future blessings be viewed as absolutely certain of realization?

⁹ It is as though Jehovah himself were signing for faithful mankind a guarantee, or title deed, to these future blessings. Who would dare question such a Guarantor? Why, so certain are these promises of Jehovah that he speaks as though they were already fulfilled: “They have come to pass!” Is not Jehovah “the Alpha and the Omega . . . , the One who is and who was and who is coming, the Almighty”? (Revelation 1:8) Indeed he is! He himself declares: “I am the first and I am the last, and besides me there is no God.” (Isaiah 44:6) As such, he can inspire prophecies and fulfill them in every detail. How faith strengthening! So he promises: “Look! I am making all things new”! Rather than questioning whether these marvels will really happen, surely we should be wondering: ‘What do I personally have to do to inherit such blessings?’

“Water” for the Thirsty Ones

10. What “water” does Jehovah offer, and what does it stand for?

¹⁰ It is Jehovah himself who declares: “To anyone thirsting I will give from the fountain of the water of life free.” (Revelation 21:6b) To quench that thirst, a person has to be conscious of his spiritual need and be willing to accept “the water” that Jehovah provides. (Isaiah 55:1; Matthew 5:3) What “water”? Jesus himself answered that question when witnessing to a woman beside a well in Samaria. He told her: “Whoever drinks from the water that I will give him will never get thirsty at all, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water bubbling up to impart everlasting life.” That “fountain of the water of life” flows from God through Christ as his provision for restoring mankind to perfection of life. Like the Samaritan woman, how eager we should be to drink deep from that fountain! And like that woman, how ready we should be to drop mundane interests in favor of telling others the good news!​—John 4:14, 15, 28, 29.

The Ones Conquering

11. What promise does Jehovah make, and to whom do the words first apply?

¹¹ Those who drink of that refreshing “water” must also conquer, as Jehovah goes on to say: “Anyone conquering will inherit these things, and I shall be his God and he will be my son.” (Revelation 21:7) This promise is similar to the promises found in the messages to the seven congregations; hence, these words must apply in the first place to anointed disciples. (Revelation 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 21) Christ’s spiritual brothers throughout the ages have eagerly anticipated the privilege of being part of New Jerusalem. If they conquer, as Jesus conquered, their hopes will be realized.​—John 16:33.

12. How will Jehovah’s promise at Revelation 21:7 be fulfilled toward the great crowd?

¹² The great crowd out of all nations also look to this promise. They too must conquer, loyally serving God until they come out of the great tribulation. Then they will enter into their earthly inheritance, ‘the kingdom prepared for them from the founding of the world.’ (Matthew 25:34) These and others of the Lord’s earthly sheep who pass the test at the end of the thousand years are called “holy ones.” (Revelation 20:9) They will enjoy a sacred and filial relationship with their Creator, Jehovah God, as members of his universal organization.​—Isaiah 66:22; John 20:31; Romans 8:21.

13, 14. To inherit God’s grand promises, what practices must we resolutely avoid, and why?

¹³ With this grand prospect in view, how important it is that Jehovah’s Witnesses now remain clean from the defiling things of Satan’s world! We need to be strong, resolute, and determined that the Devil will never drag us down into the company that Jehovah himself here describes: “But as for the cowards and those without faith and those who are disgusting in their filth and murderers and fornicators and those practicing spiritism and idolaters and all the liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur. This means the second death.” (Revelation 21:8) Yes, the would-be inheritor has to avoid the practices that have befouled this old system of things. He has to conquer by remaining faithful in the face of all pressures and temptations.​—Romans 8:35-39.

¹⁴ Christendom, though she claims to be the bride of Christ, is characterized by the disgusting practices that John here describes. So she goes down to eternal destruction with the rest of Babylon the Great. (Revelation 18:8, 21) Likewise, any of the anointed or of the great crowd who take up the practice of such evildoing, or start encouraging it, face everlasting destruction. If they persist in these actions, they will not inherit the promises. And in the new earth, any who try to introduce such practices will be destroyed speedily, going into the second death without hope of a resurrection.​—Isaiah 65:20.

15. Who are outstanding as conquerors, and with what vision is Revelation brought to a sublime climax?

¹⁵ Outstanding as conquerors are the Lamb, Jesus Christ, and his bride of 144,000, New Jerusalem. How fitting, then, that Revelation should be brought to a sublime climax by a final, transcendent view of New Jerusalem! John now describes one last vision.

[Pictures on page 302]

In the new earth society, there will be joyful work and fellowship for all