The “Ax” and the Chopper

“Will the ax enhance itself over the one chopping with it?”​—Isa. 10:15.

1, 2. (a) What use of individuals or nations is not uncommon in history? (b) What instances do we have of this use of humans as tools?

IT IS nothing unusual for one person to be used as the tool of another person to get something done. It is nothing unknown in human history for an entire nation to be used as a tool by some person in authority who is looked up to as being superior to the ruler of the nation used as a tool.

² For instance, there is the case of King David of Jerusalem. He used his Field Marshal, General Joab, as a tool in having the faithful Hittite military officer, Uriah, abandoned to certain death in battle. Thus Uriah died in ignorance of the fact that King David had violated his wife, Bathsheba. (2 Sam. 11:1 through 12:9; 1 Ki. 15:5) Then there is the case of Pope Hadrian (Adrian) IV, an Englishman by birth. In the year 1155 C.E., he made England under King Henry II his tool to start the subjecting of all Ireland in order to bring the Irish religious leaders under the control of the papacy of Rome.a

3, 4. (a) In ancient times, what nation was used as a mere hand instrument? (b) In what prophecy of Isaiah is the name of the One using the Assyrian nation as a tool embedded?

³ In ancient times, centuries before the submission of the Irish Church, there was an instance of where a mighty, highly militarized nation was employed as a tool or an instrument by a still greater power. That ancient nation was Assyria, at the time that it was the world power of the day, the second world power of Bible history. What, though, was the greater power that was able to use the Assyrian World Power as a mere tool or hand instrument? The identity of that greater power was made known to men sometime before the Assyrians under King Sennacherib invaded the land of the Kingdom of Judah in the year 732 B.C.E. The identification of the power superior to the Assyrian Empire was imbedded among the following words:

⁴ “Will the ax enhance itself over the one chopping with it, or the saw magnify itself over the one moving it back and forth, as though the staff moved back and forth the ones raising it on high, as though the rod raised on high the one who is not wood? Therefore the true Lord, Jehovah of armies, will keep sending upon his fat ones a wasting disease, and under his glory a burning will keep burning away like the burning of a fire. And Israel’s Light must become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it must blaze up and eat up his weeds and his thornbushes in one day. And the glory of his forest and of his orchard He will bring to an end, even from the soul clear to the flesh, and it must become like the melting away of one that is ailing. And the rest of the trees of his forest​—they will become such a number that a mere boy will be able to write them down.”​—Isa. 10:15-19.

5, 6. What does Isaiah say later on about the capability of Jehovah to use Assyria as a mere tool?

⁵ Those words were recorded by the inspired prophet, Isaiah the son of Amoz, who completed writing his marvelous book of prophecy about the year 732 B.C.E., the year in which the Assyrian invasion of the land of Judah took place. Thus Isaiah declares that the Great Power using the tool is “the true Lord, Jehovah of armies,” yes, “Israel’s Light . . . and his Holy One.” Is this Holy One capable of using an entire nation as a mere tool? For an inspired answer to this question let us hear what the prophet Isaiah says, later on, about “the true Lord, Jehovah of armies,” as follows:

⁶ “Who has measured the waters in the mere hollow of his hand, and taken the proportions of the heavens themselves with a mere span and included in a measure the dust of the earth, or weighed with an indicator the mountains, and the hills in the scales? . . . Look! The nations are as a drop from a bucket; and as the film of dust on the scales they have been accounted. Look! He lifts the islands themselves as mere fine dust.”​—Isa. 40:12-15.

THE SYMBOLIC AX

7. So, in comparison with Jehovah, the nations are like what, and, in Isaiah 10:15, He likens himself to what?

⁷ In comparison with the “true Lord, Jehovah of armies,” all the nations, including Assyria, are like a tiny drop of water falling from a bucket or like the film of dust on the scalepans. With the greatest of ease, then, he can use any nation that he chooses as his tool in carrying out his divine purpose. So, in Isaiah 10:15, he likens himself to a chopper, a sawyer, a wielder of a staff, a brandisher of a rod. He declares that He is “not wood.” No, he is not the handle of the ax, or the staff or the rod. He is the living God, the almighty Handler of these symbolic instruments. What, then, is the symbolic ax with which he does a chopping work?

8. Exactly who is “the Assyrian” spoken of in Isaiah 10:5, 6?

⁸ Earlier in the same tenth chapter of Isa Isaiah’s prophetic book Jehovah himself identifies what the symbolic ax is. So, in Isaiah 10:5, 6, we read these words of Jehovah: “Aha, the Assyrian, the rod for my anger, and the stick that is in their hand for my denunciation! Against an apostate nation I shall send him, and against the people of my fury I shall issue a command to him, to take much spoil and to take much plunder and to make it a trampling place like the clay of the streets.” Ah, yes, the symbolic instrument that Jehovah uses in the carrying out of his stated purpose is “the Assyrian.” This designation does not mean an individual Assyrian, not even the imperial king of Assyria. It means the entire nation of Assyria, the Second World Power of Bible prophecy. No individual Assyrian, not even the king himself, could single-handedly carry out the work that Jehovah has assigned to “the Assyrian.” This is indicated by the fact that, after calling the Assyrian the “rod for my anger,” Jehovah addresses the “stick that is in their hand for my denunciation!” (Isa. 10:5; note Isa 10 verse 24.) From this it is clear that a composite Assyrian is meant, namely, the whole nation of Assyria, and particularly its military forces.

9. In what way does fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 10:5, 6 affect us today, and how does the apostle Paul indicate this?

⁹ However, of what interest is that ancient prophecy about “the Assyrian” to us today? It is of much interest. It is not a prophecy that belongs just to the long-dead past. It is a living prophecy, the fulfillment of which in our day will affect all of us. In our own generation it must have its large-scale, final, complete fulfillment! The application of the prophecy was not all over with at a fulfillment of it in the eighth century before our Common Era. Why, look! the Christian apostle Paul quoted Isa 10 verse twenty-two of that same tenth chapter of Isaiah and applied it to his own day in the first century of our Common Era. True to Isaiah’s prophecy, a bare remnant of the Jews accepted Christianity, for which reason the apostle Paul went on to say: “Moreover, Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ‘Although the number of the sons of Israel may be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that will be saved. For Jehovah will make an accounting on the earth, concluding it and cutting it short.’”​—Rom. 9:27, 28. Also, see Romans 15:4.

10. How is the identification of the “apostate nation” and “the people of my fury,” as spoken of by Jehovah in Isaiah 10:6, made sure?

¹⁰ What ancient nation was it against whom Jehovah of armies used the Assyrian as a “rod” and an “ax”? The reason why such a question concerns all of us today is that the ancient nation foreshadowed modern Christendom! Jehovah called the ancient nation “an apostate nation” and “the people of my fury.” (Isa. 10:6) By those words Jehovah meant the nation and people that made up the ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel, with its capital at Samaria. It had broken away from the kingdom of David, which had its capital in Jerusalem. The breakaway had taken place after the death of King Solomon the son of David. Testifying to the religious apostasy of the ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel, “the Assyrian” himself speaks contemptuously of the capital city Samaria and “her valueless gods.” (Isa. 10:11) Since, in the year 997 B.C.E., that kingdom of Israel apostatized from the worship of Jehovah as God, how could the gods introduced by the apostate kings of the nation be anything else but “valueless gods”? After Israel persisted for more than two hundred and fifty years in rejecting Jehovah as God, He was fully justified in speaking of them as “the people of my fury,” upon whom to use the “rod for my anger.”​—1 Ki. 12:25 through 13:6; 16:8-33; Isa. 10:5, 6.

11. What religious organization today matches the apostate ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel, and why do we not want to be found now in that organization?

¹¹ How well Christendom of today matches the apostate ten-tribe nation of Israel! Christendom’s apostasy from true Christianity was more than merely foreshadowed by ancient Israel’s rebellion against Jehovah as God. It was also distinctly foretold by Jesus Christ and his apostles. (Matt. 13:24-43; Acts 20:29-31; 2 Thess. 2:1-12; 2 Tim. 4:3, 4) All believers in the Bible may confidently expect, therefore, that, at the due time, Jehovah of armies will use the symbolic “rod” for His anger, yes, the symbolic “ax” upon this modern-day “people of my fury.” We certainly do not want to be found among such people as that! That being the case, it will be good for us to learn what today is symbolized by the “rod” and the “ax.”

12. (a) How did Jehovah use “the Assyrian” as an “ax” with respect to ancient Israel? (b) At that time, what was Assyria’s relationship with Jehovah’s organization?

¹² In the days of the prophet Isaiah, Jehovah wielded the Assyrian World Power just like a “rod” in dealing the final blow to the apostate ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel. The fatal year was 740 B.C.E. Then Jehovah used the Assyrian World Power as his “ax” to chop down the idol-worshiping nation of Israel. This He did by letting the Assyrian armies climax their three-year-long siege of the capital of Samaria by capturing and making it like a miry trampling place. (2 Ki. 17:7-23; 18:9-12) Here let us be careful to note one particular thing. What? This: Although Jehovah used the Assyrian World Power as his implement for destruction upon apostates from His worship, Assyria was not a part of Jehovah’s organization. It was a part of the visible organization of Satan the Devil. The land of Assyria was called “the land of Nimrod.” This was the Nimrod who founded the city of Nineveh, which became the capital of Assyria. The founder became notorious as “Nimrod a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.” (Mic. 5:6; Gen. 10:8-12) Here, another fact for us to note is this: Although Jehovah used Assyria as his “rod” and “ax,” that world power did not thereby become a part of Jehovah’s visible organization. It did not take up His worship!

THE “AX” TRIES TO ENHANCE ITSELF OVER THE CHOPPER

13. What was the attitude of “the Assyrian” toward being used as Jehovah’s instrument?

¹³ Ancient Assyria never had the idea of serving Jehovah and had no desire to continue to serve His purpose for his vindication and glory. That is why He went on to say concerning “the Assyrian”: “Though he may not be that way, he will feel inclined; though his heart may not be that way, he will scheme, because to annihilate is in his heart, and to cut off nations not a few.”​—Isa. 10:7.

14. (a) Although the way in which “the Assyrian” was used was merely as an instrument, how did he himself “feel inclined”? (b) In keeping with that inclination, what is it in his heart to do, and why?

¹⁴ “The Assyrian” felt inclined in a direction in which he was not meant to go. At that time Jehovah meant for “the Assyrian” merely to be an instrument in the divine hand, to serve the divine purpose in administering discipline to a wayward nation. But, contrariwise, “the Assyrian” felt inclined to be something else, something in line with his own ambition. Yes, he schemes, but is it because his heart lovingly moves him to serve as a tool in the hand of the God against whom the mighty hunter Nimrod had set himself in opposition? No, his heart is not that way; that is not how his heart is. It does not move him to purpose and plan in harmony with Jehovah’s righteous purpose. He schemes to annihilate and cut off nations merely for the sake of doing so, with the zest of a hunter who likes to kill animal life wantonly. Thus he hopes to please his own false gods, and not Jehovah. He is purely out for world conquest. He does not want to be what Jehovah chooses him and commissions him to be, that is, to be a disciplinary agency. The further course of “the Assyrian” demonstrated this to be the case.

15. To whom does “the Assyrian” give the credit for his conquest, and how do his words recorded in Isaiah 10:8-11 indicate this?

¹⁵ Because “the Assyrian” does not recognize the Almighty God who uses him like a mere tool, he does not give any credit to Jehovah but takes all the credit to himself. It is easy for us to note this attitude of “the Assyrian” as he approaches the overthrow of the ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel and the capture of its capital city Samaria. That Israelite kingdom was one of the nations that “the Assyrian” was determined to annihilate and cut off: “For he will say, ‘Are not my princes at the same time kings? Is not Calno just like Carchemish? Is not Hamath just like Arpad? Is not Samaria just like Damascus? Whenever my hand has reached the kingdoms of the valueless god whose graven images are more than those at Jerusalem and at Samaria, will it not be that just as I shall have done to Samaria and to her valueless gods, even so I shall do to Jerusalem and to her idols?’”​—Isa. 10:8-11.

16. Against whom were those words of “the Assyrian” words of blasphemy, and despite what religious forces had he become “King of kings”?

¹⁶ What blasphemous words these are, for they are aimed contemptuously at the one living and true God, Jehovah! To “the Assyrian,” the cities to which his hands reach out to conquer will prove to be just like the cities that he has already conquered. The territories that he had conquered had been ruled by local kings. Now he had made them vassal princes. So his princes were in reality “kings,” and for this reason he could boast of himself as being “King of kings.” “The Assyrian” noted the fact that the cities whose kings he had overpowered had many “gods” along with many man-made images, in fact, many more than those of Samaria and of Jerusalem. And yet, despite the numerousness of all such gods and artificial images of those non-Israelite cities, “the Assyrian” had conquered those pagan cities. Did this not prove him to be more powerful than all those gods? To himself “the Assyrian” answered Yes!

17. So why did “the Assyrian” reason that Samaria and Jerusalem would be conquered easily?

¹⁷ Those “gods” were just as valueless as nonentities! Hence, the capital cities of Samaria and Jerusalem ought to be conquered easily, because these cities had fewer gods and graven images than those non-Israelite cities that had bowed in subjection to “the Assyrian.” That is how “the Assyrian” King of kings reasoned.

18. “The Assyrian’s” ability to conquer Samaria was owing to what vital things?

¹⁸ At that time the ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel had become an apostate nation, a religious renegade! It had gone over to the worship of golden calves, yes, even of the pagan Baals. Samaria did not have Jehovah as its God. Instead, it had valueless gods and man-made idol images. Little wonder, then, that “the Assyrian” crowned his three-year-long siege of Samaria with the capture of it in 740 B.C.E.! At this exploit “the Assyrian’s” arrogance would be built up still more, and, likewise, his insolence toward the worship of Jehovah in Jerusalem. For the military victory over Samaria and for plundering it and making it a “trampling place like the clay of the streets,” the Assyrian conqueror took the glory to himself. He prided himself on his seemingly irresistible war machine. How little did he realize that he was being used as an executional tool in the hand of the God from whom Israel had apostatized!

19. So what question now bobs up?

¹⁹ Now a very interesting question bobs up. It is this: Since Christendom was foreshadowed by Samaria and the ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel, are we in our day going to see the duplicate of apostate Israel’s experience in connection with present-day Christendom?

AN ACCOUNTING WITH THE IMPERIALIST PROMISED

20, 21. Why should Jehovah be interested in what “the Assyrian” has to say, according to Isaiah 10:12-14?

²⁰ What do we think? When a city upon which the name of Jehovah has been placed is spoken of in a threatening way, ought He himself to be interested? Naturally so! Hence, by his prophet Isaiah, Jehovah breaks in upon the self-glorifying monologue of the Assyrian empire-builder and says:

²¹ “And it must occur that when Jehovah terminates all his work in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, I shall make an accounting for the fruitage of the insolence of the heart of the king of Assyria and for the self-importance of his loftiness of eyes. For he has said, ‘With the power of my hand I shall certainly act, and with my wisdom, for I do have understanding; and I shall remove the boundaries of peoples, and their things stored up I shall certainly pillage, and I shall bring down the inhabitants just like a powerful one. And just as if a nest, my hand will reach the resources of the peoples; and just as when one gathers eggs that have been left, I myself will gather up even all the earth, and there will certainly be no one fluttering his wings or opening his mouth or chirping.’”​—Isa. 10:12-14.

22. In order to make his conquest earth wide, what prize of war would “the Assyrian” have to take?

²² From such speech out of the mouth of “the Assyrian” it is plain that the Assyrian World Power would not be satisfied with capturing Samaria. It would want to “gather up even all the earth.” Jerusalem and the land of Judah would be nice eggs for it to gather up. The Assyrian imperialist would think that he had the power, the wisdom and the understanding to make his conquests earth wide.

23, 24. (a) In what way would “the Assyrian’s” gathering up all the earth be as one gathering eggs from an abandoned nest, as he thought? (b) Why did Jehovah feel that he had something to say about this?

²³ Presumably this would be an easy thing for “the Assyrian,” just like picking out eggs from the nest that has been abandoned by the parent bird in fright. There would be no fluttering of the wings to beat back the aggressive hand that reaches out for the eggs. There would be no opening of the mouth in protest. There would not be even a chirp of complaint at the plundering and spoiling and the deportations carried on by the Assyrian war machine. So “the Assyrian” would do what he pleased with the conquered territories, changing or wiping out the boundary lines or deporting people from their native land, just as when “the Assyrian” deported the surviving Israelites from the God-given land of Israel to Assyria and repeopled the emptied land with other national groups.

²⁴ Jehovah knew that the specially coveted prize of “the Assyrian” was Jerusalem and the land of Judah. That was the last remaining stronghold of Jehovah’s worship on earth. Rightly He should have something to say about that. He was obliged to act in such a case!

25. Why, at that time, was there a work for Jehovah to do in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem?

²⁵ At that critical time in the eighth century B.C.E. Jehovah, as “Israel’s Light . . . and his Holy One,” had a work to do in Mount Zion and in Jerusalem, which was located on Mount Zion. (Isa. 10:17) During the reign of apostate King Ahaz the land of Judah, including Jerusalem, had become polluted with pagan idolatry. But early in the reign of his son, Hezekiah, Jehovah’s spirit moved the new king of Jerusalem to cleanse the land of the worship of false, valueless gods and to restore the pure worship of Jehovah on Mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, where Jehovah’s temple stood. Hezekiah began to reign five years before “the Assyrian” overthrew Samaria. He ruled in righteousness for twenty-nine years, till 716 B.C.E.

26. What did Jehovah now find the occasion ripe for doing, and what particular Assyrian king was involved?

²⁶ King Hezekiah broke off the political alliance that his father, King Ahaz, had made with Assyria. This brought on a confrontation between “the Assyrian” and Jehovah, the God of Hezekiah. Under such circumstances it was that Jehovah found the occasion just ripe to punish the God-defying king of Assyria, thereby to “make an accounting for the fruitage of the insolence of the heart of the king of Assyria and for the self-importance of his loftiness of eyes.” (Isa. 10:12) The particular king here involved was Sennacherib, the son of Sargon II. His long name means “Sin Has Multiplied The Brothers,” or, “May Sin Replace The (Lost) Brothers,” the word “Sin” being the name of the Assyrian moon god.

27. Without interfering with Assyria’s internal organization, how could Jehovah nonetheless use it as his symbolic “ax”?

²⁷ Sennacherib has his counterpart in our day. Just how Jehovah handles the modern-day antitypical “ax” with which he will do some chopping provides us now a interesting subject for consideration. As we undertake this study, let us keep in mind that Jehovah let the ancient Assyrian Empire have its own organization. He did not interfere with its own internal arrangements. Still it was possible for him to use the Assyrian World Power as his “ax.” How? By his directing its blows, by his guiding where the symbolic “ax” should strike. In that way Jehovah caused to be chopped down what he wanted to be chopped.b

[Footnotes]

The Coming Deliverance from the Anti-Religious “Ax”

1. What fact about religion will have to be demonstrated to many people, and how?

ONE thing hard for many people today to understand is that there can be and there is only one true religion. Why do they rebel against such fact? It is because this would mean that all the other religions are false, and this would include their own religion. Hence, they will need to have the true fact demonstrated to them forcibly. This will be done in the near future, for then, in the midst of the world’s greatest tribulation, all false religions will be wiped out and only the one true religion will survive. It will be delivered from the most tremendous anti-religious movement in all human history.

2. What must Jehovah now do to banish all religious wars?

² Whom does the Sacred Bible present as the only One for all mankind to worship? It is the Most High and Almighty God, whose name is given as Jehovah. (See Exodus 6:3; Psalm 83:18; Isaiah 12:2 and Isa 26:4 in the King James Authorized Version of the Bible.) Just as there is one living and true God, there can be only one right religion, the pure and undefiled religion that He has revealed in the Sacred Bible. (See James 1:27.) Mankind started out with the one pure religion. Now the time has come for the Almighty God to unite all mankind in the one correct form of worship of Him and thus banish all religious wars.​—Zeph. 3:8, 9; Eph. 1:9, 10; 4:4-6.

3. How was it that the crucial time for both the Kingdom of Israel and the Kingdom of Judah came during the reign of King Hezekiah?

³ The destruction of all false religion was foreshadowed in the eighth century before our Common Era. At that time the Assyrian Empire, with capital at Nineveh, was the world power. In the progress of this empire’s expansion, the ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel, with capital at Samaria, was destroyed and the adjacent two-tribe Kingdom of Judah, with capital at Jerusalem, came under terrific attack. The crucial time for both of those kingdoms came during the reign of King Hezekiah of Jerusalem, who began to reign in the year 745 B.C.E. Five years later, or in 740 B.C.E., the ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel fell to the Assyrian aggressors. It then appeared that the neighboring Kingdom of Judah would be next to fall, and that right soon! Yet, eight years passed, with Hezekiah still on the throne at Jerusalem. Also, Sennacherib, the son of Sargon II, had become king of the expanding Assyrian Empire.

4. Why were the military conquests of the nations, including that of Israel, an anti-religious campaign by the Assyrian Empire​—in an indirect way?

⁴ The line of Assyrian kings that was involved in this course of world conquest made a exposure of the falsity of the gods of the conquered kingdoms and nations, for it showed them to be no-gods, nonentities, “valueless gods.” (Isa. 10:10, 11; 2 Ki. 18:33-35; Isa. 36:18-20 and Isa 37:12, 13) Such demoting of the gods of the worldly nations reached its climax in the overthrow of Samaria and the false gods that it had adopted in place of Jehovah, the God of their forefathers Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The reason why all those gods failed to rescue their respective nations from the mighty hand of the Assyrian World Power was that, as King Hezekiah said in prayer to Jehovah, “they were no gods, but the workmanship of man’s hands.” (Isa. 37:18-20) By so many military victories over the “no gods” of the nations, what an anti-religious campaign that was on the part of the Assyrian World Power​—in an indirect way!

THE MODERN ANTI-RELIGIOUS AGENCY

5. In spite of occurring so long ago, why does that anti-religious campaign of Assyria have a bearing on our day?

⁵ Unknown to the Assyrian World Power, Jehovah God was behind that anti-religious campaign, particularly so when it struck the apostate Kingdom of Israel. Jehovah was using the Assyrian World Power as his symbolic “ax” or “rod.” (Isa. 10:5, 15) All that was so, so long ago, and yet what it prophetically foreshadowed must be brought to reality. This must occur in the near future, inside our generation. The agency, the symbolic “ax” or “rod” that Jehovah will use in wrecking all false religion​—what is it? Like in the ancient past, the agency is not a part of Jehovah’s visible organization, not a worshiper of Him as the one living and true God. The last book of the Bible describes it. Revelation, chapter seventeen, pictures it as a scarlet-colored “wild beast” with seven heads and ten horns, and which is ridden by the international religious harlot, Babylon the Great. According to Revelation 17:7-12, that “wild beast” must be the Eighth World Power, the international organization for world peace and security, the United Nations.

6. Whom does the rider of the “wild beast” picture, and why is the destruction of Christendom embraced in that of the rider?

⁶ In the Revelation picture, the “wild beast” destroys its rider, this symbolic “woman” that, figuratively speaking, has had immoral sexual relations with all the political rulers of the world. What else could the “woman” picture but the world empire of false Babylonish religion? This religious empire includes Christendom, the modern-day counterpart of the ancient apostate, renegade Kingdom of Israel, which had its capital at Samaria. To this day Christendom has refused to obey God’s command to part company with the world empire of false Babylonish religion: “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. For her sins have massed together clear up to heaven, and God has called her acts of injustice to mind.” (Rev. 18:4, 5) Hence, the destruction that befalls Babylon the Great as a whole will embrace Christendom, just as surely as destruction befell the apostate Kingdom of Israel and its capital city of Samaria.

7, 8. (a) What pictorial preview does the apostle John give us of the destruction of the world empire of false religion? (b) To whom does Heaven give the glory for that destruction, but what remains on earth after that start of the “great tribulation”?

⁷ We today get a preview of what the ten-horned “wild beast” will do then to the world empire of false religion, when God’s angel says to the apostle 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 [now the United Nations]. . . . 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.”​—Rev. 17:12-16.

⁸ Unrecognized by the United Nations “wild beast,” Jehovah will use it as his symbolic “ax” in destroying Babylon the Great, yes, in destroying hypocritical Christendom, the modern-day organization that corresponds with the ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel and its capital Samaria.a This is why the credit for the destruction of all of Babylon the Great is given to Jehovah. In heaven the cry will ring out: “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.” (Rev. 19:1, 2) Jehovah’s execution of judgment upon the international religious harlot, Babylon the Great, starts off the foretold “great tribulation,” without equal in human history. (Matt. 24:21, 22) This “tribulation” does not end with the destruction of Christendom and all the rest of Babylon the Great. There will still remain the seven-headed, ten-horned, scarlet-colored “wild beast,” the symbolic “ax” that Jehovah God uses in chopping down all parts of the world empire of false Babylonish religion.

9. Why is it proper to ask the question as to whether the United Nations becomes a part of Jehovah’s organization because of its executional work, and from whom can we get the answer?

⁹ Here, as in the case of ancient Assyria, we can ask the question: Because of being used as Jehovah’s “ax,” does the United Nations “wild beast” become a part of His visible organization? We properly ask this question. Why? Because, back in December of 1918, the forerunner of the United Nations, namely, the League of Nations, was hailed as “the political expression of the kingdom of God on earth.” By whom? By the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America. The failure of the League of Nations with respect to World War II created the need for it to be succeeded by the present-day world organization, the United Nations. (Rev. 17:8) The pope of Rome has declared it to be “the last hope of the world.” Are we to say, then, that the United Nations is a part of the visible earthly organization of Jehovah God? For an answer, all we have to do is to ask the half of the 144 member nations that do not profess to be Christian. As far as they are aware of it, they do not want to be or become part of Jehovah’s organization.

10. After being used as an “ax” by Jehovah, what will be the attitude of the “wild beast” organization toward Him, as indicated by Revelation 17:13, 14?

¹⁰ After the United Nations “wild beast” is used by Jehovah as his “ax” in chopping down Babylon the Great, what attitude will that “wild beast” organization take toward the Wielder of the “ax”? Will its attitude be in favor of Jehovah God and his Christ or not? For an advance answer we go to Bible prophecy. Vividly the prophecy depicts how the worldly nations give their united support to the international organization for world peace and security. They thus present a united front against the heavenly kingdom of Jehovah’s anointed Son, Jesus Christ, “the Lamb of God.” Revelation 17:13, 14 says regarding the “wild beast” and its “ten horns”: “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.”​—See also Revelation 19:19-21; John 1:29.

11. Why does this match, duplicate, the attitude assumed by the Assyrian World Power after overthrowing Samaria?

¹¹ There we have the answer to our question. There we have prophetically portrayed to us the attitude that is adopted by the symbolic “ax” that Jehovah God wields when executing judgment upon Babylon the Great. The “ax” turns against its heavenly Wielder and tries to enhance itself over Him! In unitedly fighting against Jehovah’s anointed Lord of lords and King of kings, the nations fight against Jehovah God himself in an organized way. Why? In order to maintain their national sovereignties on earth. How remarkably this matches, duplicates, the action taken by “the Assyrian” in the eighth century before the birth of Jesus, “the Lamb of God”! Insolent self-enhancement was the attitude assumed by the Assyrian World Power after it had overthrown Samaria and had deported the surviving Israelite apostates to Assyrian territories.

12. How did the Assyrian “ax” then act in the days of King Sennacherib, and to what extent did he at first make a threat to Jerusalem?

¹² In that ancient time the symbolic “ax” took to itself alone the glory and credit for its conquests and turned itself upon its User. This course reached its height of arrogance and insolence in the days of Sennacherib as emperor of Assyria. With his mighty military machine he invaded the land of the two-tribe Kingdom of Judah. (2 Ki. 18:9-25) His very invasion route is realistically mapped out in Isaiah 10:28-32, which tells how Sennacherib’s army spread terror as it advanced, unopposed, from place to place, toward Jerusalem upon Mount Zion. Surely that city’s inhabitants must have heaved a sigh of relief as the Assyrian army moved past Jerusalem, merely making a threatening wave of the hand toward it.

13, 14. What commission did Sennacherib claim to have, and what was the purpose of voicing such a claim to Jerusalem’s inhabitants?

¹³ Yet, Sennacherib’s chief aim was that of bringing to ruin the holy city where King Hezekiah sat upon “Jehovah’s throne.” (1 Chron. 29:23) So, in order to frighten Jerusalem’s inhabitants into revolting against King Hezekiah and handing over the city to Sennacherib, a delegation backed by a sizable Assyrian military force stood before Jerusalem’s walls. A Hebrew-speaking Assyrian officer openly made the claim that Sennacherib had a commission from Jehovah and was the agent of Jehovah in subduing Jerusalem. For the sake of the Jews atop Jerusalem’s wall, Sennacherib’s mouthpiece presumptuously said:

¹⁴ “Now is it without authorization from Jehovah that I have come up against this place to bring it to ruin? Jehovah himself said to me, ‘Go up against this land, and you must bring it to ruin.’”​—2 Ki. 18:9-25.

15. According to Isaiah 10:15, what was Sennacherib presuming to do by threatening to make a ruinous attack on Jerusalem?

¹⁵ For solid reasons, then, in his prophecy against the Assyrian, Jehovah exposed the God-defying purpose of the king of Assyria and asked: “Will the ax enhance itself over the one chopping with it, or the saw magnify itself over the one moving it back and forth, as though the staff moved back and forth the ones raising it on high, as though the rod raised on high the one who is not wood?” (Isa. 10:15) In other words, is the symbolic “ax,” the Assyrian World Power, now going to use as its implement Jehovah God, who is not a carved wooden image for use in idolatry? The answer is No! And yet the Assyrian king was presuming to do so by threatening to make a ruinous assault upon Jerusalem and its temple.

16. In order to assure His people that Assyria would not succeed, what did Jehovah say that he would do, according to Isaiah 10:16-19?

¹⁶ In order to give his people the assurance that the Assyrian World Power would not successfully enhance itself over Jehovah, the One chopping with the symbolic ax, he continued on to say: “Therefore the true Lord, Jehovah of armies, will keep sending upon his fat ones [Assyria’s stout, sturdy ones] a wasting disease, and under his glory [or, plenty] a burning will keep burning away like the burning of a fire. And Israel’s Light must become a fire, and his Holy One a flame; and it must blaze up and eat up his weeds and his thornbushes in one day. And the glory of his forest and of his orchard He will bring to an end, even from the soul clear to the flesh, and it must become like the melting away of one that is ailing. And the rest of the trees of his forest​—they will become such a number that a mere boy will be able to write them down.”​—Isa. 10:16-19.

17. The use of such figurative language by Jehovah raises what questions, both for back there and for the near future?

¹⁷ Jehovah of armies was “Israel’s Light” and “his Holy One.” So how was He going to burn down Sennacherib’s ground troops like numerous weeds and thornbushes and bring the Assyrian military officers to an end like upstanding trees of a forest or of an orchard? How would Jehovah reduce the number of the treelike officers of Sennacherib’s army so that the number of those who remained would be so small that a mere boy would be able to write down the number of them after counting upon his ten fingers?b Also, how will the modern parallel of all of this be accomplished by Jehovah the Almighty God in the near future? Interesting questions these are, and they now deserve consideration.

THE ANTITYPES OF SENNACHERIB AND HEZEKIAH

18, 19. What identification of whom Sennacherib and Hezekiah pictured, as given in earlier issues of The Watchtower, still holds good?

¹⁸ Inasmuch as that prophetic drama of the eighth century B.C.E. has a modern fulfillment, whom, then, did King Sennacherib portray and whom did King Hezekiah foreshadow? Their identification still stands good as given in the article entitled “Jehovah’s Universal Sovereignty Vindicated,” published in The Watchtower under date of April 1, 1945. In its opening paragraph, on page 102, this article said: “Christ Jesus is the Greater Hezekiah; that is, he is the reigning King foreshadowed by Hezekiah but greater than Hezekiah. King Hezekiah’s aggressive opponent, Sennacherib, pictured Satan the Devil, whom Sennacherib worshiped and served in the interest of Satan’s world domination.” This identification was in line with the earlier issue of The Watchtower, that of September 1, 1942. In its article entitled “No Come-Back for Religion,” on pages 270, 271, when discussing the removal of Shebna and the appointing of Eliakim to be the royal steward of King Hezekiah, the fourth paragraph from the end said:

¹⁹ “The change of stewardship made by King Hezekiah was in preparation for the approaching crisis which was to take place at the time of the attack of Sennacherib against Jerusalem. Sennacherib pictures the Devil with his organization in an assault upon Jehovah’s covenant people after the Lord’s coming to the temple and when he puts down the unfaithful and bestows his favor upon the faithful servants.”​—See Isaiah 22:15-25.

20. Whom, then, do the inhabitants of Jerusalem under King Hezekiah picture?

²⁰ Who, then, were pictured by the inhabitants of Jerusalem when Sennacherib’s military delegation stood before Jerusalem’s walls and tried to downgrade King Hezekiah and to get the surrender of the city without a siege? Since that was about eight years after the Assyrian armies had destroyed the apostate ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel, King Hezekiah’s loyal subjects inhabiting Jerusalem pictured Jehovah’s Christian worshipers who have come out of modern-day Babylon the Great, including the modern counterpart of apostate Israel. They have taken their stand for Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom under his Greater Hezekiah, Jesus Christ.​—Rev. 18:4.

21. What point of time in the fulfillment of the prophetic drama is here pictured, with Jehovah’s Christian witnesses yet on the scene?

²¹ This pictures a specific time in the modern fulfillment of the prophetic drama. The time is when the world’s “great tribulation” will have been in progress. Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, including Christendom, will have been destroyed by means of Jehovah’s symbolic “ax.” Because Jehovah’s Christian witnesses have obeyed the divine command and have come out of Babylon the Great (including the modern-day counterpart of the apostate ten-tribe Kingdom of Israel), they do not share in the sins of Babylon the Great and therefore do not suffer any part of her “plagues” during the coming “great tribulation.”

THE ATTEMPT OF THE ANTI-RELIGIOUS “AX”

22. The nations will then begin fighting for whom and against whom, and what question of the eighth century B.C.E. will Jehovah again properly raise?

²² Here we need to remember that it is the Dragon, Satan the Devil, who gave “power” and “throne” and “great authority” to the symbolic “wild beast,” to which a political “image” has been made since 1919 C.E. So the time of Sennacherib’s threat to Jerusalem pictures the time when the nations that make up the “image” of the wild beast begin to battle for Satan the Devil and against the “Lamb of God,” the Lord of lords and King of kings. (Rev. 17:14; 19:19-21) It is the dawn of the “great day of God the Almighty” upon the world situation called Har–Magedon. (Rev. 16:14-16) What does that betoken? It betokens that world developments have gone so far that Jehovah can once again properly raise the question first raised in the eighth century B.C.E.: “Will the ax enhance itself over the one chopping with it, or the saw magnify itself over the one moving it back and forth, as though the staff moved back and forth the ones raising it on high, as though the rod raised on high the one who is not wood?”​—Isa. 10:15.

23. Why will Jehovah’s Christian witnesses not cooperate with the modern-day counterpart of “the Assyrian” against Babylon the Great, and why neither the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania?

²³ By then Jehovah God the Almighty will drop the symbolic “ax” as being of no further use to Him. He now finds added reason for destroying it. (Isa. 10:16-19) It was never a part of His organization, and His temporary use of it as a symbolic “ax” does not make it a part of his theocratic organization. For that powerful reason Jehovah’s Christian witnesses will never cooperate with the violent hordes of the modern-day “Assyrian” in destructive work against the world empire of false religion during the coming “great tribulation.” Neither will the religious corporation that has long been associated with Jehovah’s witnesses, namely, the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, do so. This Society will not do so, even though since its incorporation in December of 1884 it has uncompromisingly exposed Babylon the Great and has pointed forward to its destruction at God’s hand.

24. (a) How has Jehovah used the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania as his instrument in a manner unlike the way in which he uses the modern-day “Assyrian” as an “ax”? (b) Has this Society ever in its history tried to imitate the ancient “Assyrian” in self-enhancement, or will it do so in the “great tribulation”?

²⁴ In a way far different from how He uses the modern-day Assyrian “ax,” Jehovah has used as his instrument the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania. Jehovah has used it as his agency in laying bare Scripturally the falsity of the religion of Babylon the Great, including Christendom. Jehovah has used this Society in warning all peoples (especially professed Christian people) to get out of that world empire of false religion before He executes judgment upon it. The publications of the Watch Tower Society have gone out to the whole world in the hundreds of millions of copies, in now more than 160 languages. Never in all its operations for now more than ninety years has this instrument in Jehovah’s hand tried to imitate the ancient “Assyrian” and “enhance itself over” the One using it, namely, the unreachably High One, the Sovereign Lord Jehovah.c (Isa. 10:15) At the outbreak of the “great tribulation” the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania and its Branches around the earth will refuse to join the United Nations “wild beast” in its violent anti-religious actions against Babylon the Great.

25. (a) The refusal to unite with the modern “Assyrian” ax in self-enhancement will result in what ? (b) What will anti-religious political authorities be able to dissolve, and what not?

²⁵ Should the Society survive that violent destruction of Babylon the Great (including Christendom), the Society will absolutely refuse to unite itself with the modern-day Assyrian “ax” in enhancing itself or magnifying itself over the One chopping with that “ax.” Such a refusal would certainly move the Assyrian “ax” of today to take drastic action against the Society and the Christian witnesses of Jehovah whom the Society represents and serves. Such international action against these announcers of Jehovah’s kingdom by Christ would be the way in which the United Nations “wild beast” fights against the “Lamb,” the Lord of lords and King of kings. (Rev. 17:14) It would be the form in which the modern-day Assyrian “ax” tries to enhance itself over the One who will have done some chopping with it. The anti-religious political authorities of the earth will be able to dissolve religious corporations that were legalized by the former law of the land, but never will they be able to dissolve the worldwide brotherhood, “the whole association of brothers,” Jehovah’s Christian witnesses, who are not incorporated as a religious body by worldly law.​—1 Pet. 2:17; 5:9, NW; Authorized Version.

DELIVERANCE BY THE WAR AT HAR–MAGEDON

26, 27. (a) Words similar to what words of the ancient “Assyrian” may Jehovah’s Christian witnesses hear at that time? (b) What words of encouragement, as recorded at Isaiah 10:24-26, will the upholders of Jehovah’s sovereignty then call to mind?

²⁶ Since we Christian witnesses of Jehovah are pictured by the inhabitants of Jerusalem under King Hezekiah, let us recall the insolent words of the Assyrian delegation back there before the walls of Jerusalem in 732 B.C.E.: “Who are there among all the gods of the lands that have delivered their land out of my hand, so that Jehovah should deliver Jerusalem out of my hand?” (2 Ki. 18:35) When that ancient prophetic drama is fulfilled in the latter half of the impending “great tribulation,” are words similar to those going to be heard by the faithful remnant of spiritual Israelites and the “great crowd” of their loyal earthly companions? Rather than capitulate at that critical time to the modern-day Sennacherib, Satan the Devil, and his presumptuous earthly agents, we, as upholders of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty, will call to mind his words of encouragement to Jerusalem on Mount Zion:

²⁷ “Do not be afraid, O my people who are dwelling in Zion, because of the Assyrian, who with the rod used to strike you and who used to lift up his own staff against you in the way that Egypt did. For yet a very little while​—and the [divine] denunciation will have come to an end, and my anger, in their wearing away. And Jehovah of armies will certainly brandish against him a whip as at the defeat of Midian by the rock Oreb; and his staff will be upon the sea, and he will certainly lift it up in the way that he did with Egypt.”​—Isa. 10:24-26; Judg. 7:12 through 8:21; Ex. 14:1-31.

28. When the situation looked blackest back in 732 B.C.E., what did King Hezekiah do, and what was Sennacherib put on notice to expect?

²⁸ When the situation becomes blackest for Jehovah’s witnesses as the world’s “great tribulation” nears its climax, what is to be expected? Back in 732 B.C.E., Sennacherib went to the limit in ridiculing Jehovah, as if He were no more powerful than the false gods of the idol-worshiping nations. (2 Ki. 19:10-13) Then King Hezekiah took the matter to Jehovah in his temple at Jerusalem. Jehovah not only gave reassurance to Hezekiah through the prophet Isaiah but also sent a defiance to Sennacherib, who was then at Libnah, some miles distant from Jerusalem. (2 Ki. 19:8, 14-34) Thus the blasphemous Sennacherib was put on notice to expect disastrous defeat at the hands of the God whom he defied. Then action by Jehovah followed for vindication of Him as a real God!

29, 30. (a) How may Sennacherib have felt after receiving that rebuke from Jehovah through Isaiah? (b) What then happened?

²⁹ After such humiliating notification from Jehovah through the prophet Isaiah, how did Sennacherib sleep? Likely after such a rebuff, he determined that, next day, he would show this God, Jehovah, something! With his army of around 200,000 troops Sennacherib would see to that! But first some sleep for him! Suddenly a strange stillness occurred that could be felt. It settled down over the Assyrian troops who were spread out like weeds and thornbushes over the area. Their sleep was not normal! What had happened?

³⁰ “And it came about on that night that the angel of Jehovah proceeded to go out and strike down a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the camp of the Assyrians. When people rose up early in the morning, why, there all of them were dead carcasses. Therefore Sennacherib the king of Assyria pulled away and went and returned, and took up dwelling in Nineveh. And it came about that as he was bowing down at the house of Nisroch his god, Adrammelech and Sharezer, his sons, themselves struck him down with the sword, and they themselves escaped.”​—2 Ki. 19:35-37.

31. In fulfillment of that ancient drama, how will the modern Assyrian “ax” fail to enhance itself successfully against the One chopping with it?

³¹ Aha! The Assyrian “ax” had failed to enhance itself successfully over the One chopping with it! Like that it will be during the coming “great tribulation” when the modern counterpart of Sennacherib and his army tries to enhance itself over the same God by threatening to wipe out His witnesses from the earth. What will follow in fulfillment of the ancient prophetic drama The Watchtower under date of April 1, 1945, pages 108, 109, explains:

. . . Then Jehovah’s witnesses, sheltered within his Theocratic organization, will be under siege and will seem threatened with destruction by the overwhelming hosts of the antitypical Assyrian, Satan the Devil. Yet be not anxious of such a future: Jehovah will fight the battle for his remnant and their companions. He will perform his “strange act” at Armageddon, as he did thousands of years ago in the land of Judah, ‘for his own sake and for the sake of his beloved King.’ Doubtless by that same Son of God who served as the angel to slay 185,000 of Sennacherib’s hosts and send him reeling back to his own violent death, namely, by his reigning King-Son, Christ Jesus, will Jehovah God go forth to battle and will wreak destruction upon the wicked challenger’s world-organization. Like Sennacherib, Satan the Devil will see his visible organization on earth utterly laid low in death. Next he will see his invisible organization of demons dissolved in destruction, and will finally himself be wiped out violently. No demon power will be able to save him.

32. Why do we not need to be anxious ahead of time or fear when Jehovah begins wielding the symbolic “ax”?

³² So, then, one of these days in the near future, we faithful witnesses of Jehovah will see the anti-religious “ax” being wielded in the almighty hand of our God against Babylon the Great. Terrible will it be in its execution of destruction upon that world empire of false religion! Do we need to be anxious at that time when the world’s political element turns anti-religious and expresses hatred for the great international “harlot” with which it used to have immoral relations? No! The world already hates us, but Jehovah God and Jesus Christ do not. And when Jehovah starts swinging the anti-religious “ax,” it will not be against us his loyal witnesses. Great will be our privilege of beholding Babylon the Great chopped down and burned with fiery destruction! We know now that, after that destruction, the anti-religious “ax” will try to enhance itself over its User, Jehovah. This will pose a fear-inspiring threat to our existence. But we need not then succumb to fear of the men who hate our God. May Jehovah then be our fear!

33. What angel will Jehovah send forth to execute adverse judgment, and what will the outcome be for us witnesses and for Jehovah?

³³ At that awesome time the nations will have arrived in full force at Har–Magedon, the field for the final decisive battle between men and God. (Rev. 16:14-16) The time will have arrived for Jehovah’s greatest execution of adverse judgment. It will be upon that anti-religious “ax,” then discarded by Jehovah. Never will that anti-religious “ax” be able to move itself with effectiveness to hack us to pieces. Jehovah of armies will send forth his greatest Angel, the Archangel Jesus Christ, to strike down all the attack forces of the Greater Sennacherib, Satan the Devil, and will plunge them into a sleep from which they will never wake up! What a deliverance for us that will be from the anti-religious “ax” at the climax of the “great tribulation”! But, most importantly, what a glorious vindication that will be for “the true Lord, Jehovah of armies,” by means of his ever-faithful agent, Jesus Christ, the Greater Hezekiah!

34. What will come to pass with regard to the true religion and will regard to us who practice it now?

³⁴ Take courage, then, all zealous witnesses of Jehovah! Never will the true religion, the Scriptural form of worship that we practice, be swept off the face of the earth. With this worship of the one living and true God, Jehovah, whose active witnesses we now are, we shall be safeguarded through the violent end of the entire wicked system of things and shall be introduced into Jehovah’s indestructible new system of things. There his pure worship will flourish forever under the Greater Hezekiah, the King Jesus Christ.

[Footnotes]