Facing the “Great Tribulation” with Confidence

“Jehovah himself will prove to be, in effect, your confidence.”​—Prov. 3:26.

1, 2. What interest do all people have, and how do many display it?

ALL mankind are very much interested in the future. To be concerned about what has not yet occurred is a natural, human trait. People may be working hard in their day-to-day activity, but so often it is with the future in view. They are constantly laying plans for the future. Their longings and desires, their expectations and hopes are in large measure based on what they believe the future will bring with it. To be happy, they need to have confidence about the future.

² This human desire to know about coming events before they occur causes many people to consult those claiming to know the future​—the spirit mediums, soothsayers and astrologers. More and more persons are consulting their horoscopes and Ouija boards in an effort to learn what the demon-inspired oracles say will happen.

3. In respect to the future, how do Jehovah’s Witnesses differ from other people? (Deut. 18:10-12)

³ There is one very great difference, however, between those who serve Jehovah and those who do not, when it comes to this inborn desire to know the future. Never do God’s people go to the fortunetellers, stargazers or spiritistic prognosticators to learn of coming events. Neither do they consult other demonic sources in an effort to know the future. There is a very good reason why they do not.

4. What is the basis for the great confidence Jehovah’s people have when viewing the future?

⁴ It was in the ninth century before this Common Era that the following truth was recorded in the Bible by the prophet Amos, in Am chapter 3, verse 7: “The Sovereign Lord Jehovah will not do a thing unless he has revealed his confidential matter to his servants the prophets.” These prophets, in turn, relate to Jehovah’s people in general what to expect in the future, and this is the basis for the confidence of Jehovah’s people.

5, 6. (a) Describe the situation in Jerusalem in the first century C.E. (b) But why did Christians of that time not entertain the same viewpoint as that of others?

⁵ Consider the situation in the city of Jerusalem in the first century of our Common Era. The people in general and their leaders acknowledged that conditions were far from satisfactory. Yet, what were the wise men and leaders of the people predicting about the future? Some were quite satisfied with the status quo and would be happy for it to continue, with little change. Others advocated revolt and revolution against the rule of Rome and its taxations, claiming that such a road would lead to greater freedom, peace and prosperity. None, however, of that city’s wise men, advisers and counselors were foretelling that Jerusalem would be completely destroyed in a great tribulation​—and within that generation. Any such eventuality was farthest from their thoughts!​—Acts 5:36 37.

⁶ Did first-century Christians put their trust and confidence in those worldly-wise men and their predictions? No, not at all. Jehovah had revealed ahead of time to his Great Prophet, the Lord Jesus Christ, something altogether different, something that He had determined would shortly occur within that generation. That true prophet of God sounded the warning, saying: “The days will come upon you [Jerusalem] when your enemies will build around you a fortification with pointed stakes and will encircle you and distress you from every side, . . . and they will not leave a stone upon a stone in you.” Indeed, “there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.”​—Luke 19:41-44; Matt. 23:36-38; 24:2, 21.

7. How were Christians living in the vicinity of Jerusalem able to face the future with confidence?

⁷ In the face of such a coming tribulation, did Christians living in and around Jerusalem have any reason to face that foretold disaster with confidence? They certainly did. For God’s true Prophet also told them how they would know when it was about to occur and what action they should take to ensure their safety. He said. “When you see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, then . . . let those in Judea begin fleeing.”​—Luke 21:20, 21.

PARALLEL SITUATION TODAY

8. What parallel conditions exist in Christendom today?

⁸ Today there is a parallel situation in Christendom’s religions​—forming a hypocritical organization that corresponds to the unfaithful city of Jerusalem. People of the modern world consult their political soothsayers, economic advisers, religious prophets, as well as their wise men of science, and they get back in answer all kinds of predictions as to what the future will bring with it. While these advisers are generally quick to acknowledge that the present state of affairs is deplorable, at the same time they predict that some day, somehow, in some way “better times are coming.”

9. Do you put your confidence in the predictions of world leaders?

⁹ However, do you put your faith and confidence in the speculations of these human advisers? Not if you are a firm believer in the Bible and its prophecies. And why not? Because these opinions of men are not what Jehovah has revealed by the mouth of his prophets concerning the near future.

10. How have Jehovah’s Witnesses shown their confidence in the Bible’s predicted future?

¹⁰ For years Jehovah’s Christian witnesses have been most active in telling others what the Bible says about inescapable coming events. From the “house-tops,” so to speak, God’s people have proclaimed to all the world what Jehovah has revealed concerning the coming “great tribulation,” which climaxes in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty,” at the place “called in Hebrew Har–Magedon.”​—Matt. 10:26, 27; Rev. 7:14; 16:14, 16.

11. What erroneous opinion of the future catastrophic destruction do many have?

¹¹ Make no mistake about this war at the place called Har–Magedon. This will not be an all-out nuclear war among the nations in which they attempt to deploy their present stockpile of nuclear bombs​—said to be large enough to kill off the world’s population of around 4,000,000,000 many times over! Such a nuclear war is not the “great tribulation” of the future that Jehovah warns us about.

12, 13. How does the popular opinion of most people contrast with that of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and why?

¹² Well, does this fact reduce the danger threatening mankind in general? As in any war, this depends entirely on which side we stand, the winning side or the losing side. To be sure, the world of mankind, alienated as they are from Jehovah, have every reason to fear the war at Har–Magedon. This is because they have willingly or unwillingly aligned themselves with “the kings of the entire inhabited earth” and are therefore being gathered along with such kings to the “war of the great day of God the Almighty.”

¹³ But not so Jehovah’s faithful people! As individuals they have taken their stand solidly, uncompromisingly on the winning side, God’s side. They are therefore able to face the foretold “great tribulation” with full confidence and trust in Jehovah.

THE GREATEST OF ALL TRIBULATIONS

14. According to Matthew 24:21, how great is the “tribulation” that is coming upon the world in the near future?

¹⁴ How great will this coming unparalleled tribulation of the future be? Using the tribulation upon Jerusalem in the year 70 C.E. as a prophetic illustration, Jesus said it would be one “such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now,” and then, lest we minimize it, he added for emphasis, “nor will occur again.” Well, that means a tribulation greater than World Wars I and II in which tens of millions of people lost their lives. Yes, greater than the globe-enveloping deluge of Noah’s day that wiped out an entire world system!

15. What is a particular shocking aspect of the “great tribulation,” and why so?

¹⁵ What magnitude, then, will this coming “great tribulation” have that will make it surpass all other tribulations of human history? First of all, it will have the capability of destroying the whole world empire of false religion, both Christendom’s and heathendom’s religious organizations, called in the Bible mystic “Babylon the Great”! (Rev. 17:5) This certainly will be shocking beyond comprehension to earth’s inhabitants who have supported this “mother of the harlots,” Babylon the Great.

16. What other feature of the coming “tribulation” does Revelation 19:19-21 foretell?

¹⁶ But that humiliation and destruction of the world empire of false religion is only Part I of the “great tribulation.” As Part II, the “kings of the earth who committed fornication with [Babylon the Great] and lived [with her] in shameless luxury” will be dealt with next, and they shall not escape destruction. (Rev. 18:9; 16:14) Further, the prophecy of Revelation chapter 19, verses 19-21, says: “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 [the glorified Lord Jesus Christ] and with his army. . . . While still alive, they . . . were hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulphur.” Re Chapter 20, verse 14, explains that “this means the second death, the lake of fire.”

17. How does Jeremiah 25:31-33 give a sample idea of what will come in this greatest of all tribulations?

¹⁷ Yes, it will be on a scale even vaster than that described by another prophet of Jehovah, Jeremiah, who wrote of a tribulation then approaching: “Those slain by Jehovah will certainly come to be in that day from one end of the earth clear to the other end of the earth. They will not be bewailed, neither will they be gathered up or be buried. As manure on the surface of the ground they will become.”​—Jer. 25:33.

18. What will follow this “tribulation,” making it far different from any of the past?

¹⁸ But there is still something else to follow that “great tribulation,” something that did not even occur after the first world, ‘the world of Noah’s day,’ was destroyed. This will be the seizing and binding of Satan and his demons with a “great chain,” and the hurling of them into an abyss.​—Rev. 20:1-3.

19, 20. (a) How are you facing the greatest of all tribulations? (b) In what way may you really show a confident attitude?

¹⁹ Well, now, do you believe Jehovah and what he has said by the mouth of these, prophets concerning this “great tribulation” that all mankind is facing? If so, do you face this inescapable tribulation with strong assurance and a complete confidence? It is one thing to say that you do; it is quite another matter to prove it by your actions.

²⁰ Consider briefly some of the examples of those who had complete trust in Jehovah in the past, and notice particularly how these individuals demonstrated their confidence.

PAST DISPLAYS OF CONFIDENCE

21. Describe how Noah and his family demonstrated confidence in Jehovah’s word.

²¹ Noah proved that he had complete reliance on Jehovah’s warning by the way he lived day by day. He did not physically isolate himself, although he remained politically and socially separate from the system. At the same time he worked hard at his God-given assignment of constructing the ark, and in preaching to others and warning them of impending destruction. And all the time he demonstrated that he had absolute trust and confidence in the ability of his God, Jehovah, to protect and deliver him during this greatest time of trouble ever experienced until then.​—Gen. 6:9; Heb. 11:7; 2 Pet. 2:5.

22. What important lessons can we learn from those who left wicked Sodom before it was destroyed?

²² There was also Lot. Warned ahead of time to leave Sodom, and at the urging of angelic forces, four of that household left the city, but only three of them lived to tell about it. Why only three instead of four? Jesus answered: “Remember the wife of Lot.” Contrary to instructions, when in flight out of Sodom she looked back, evidently for some selfish reason.​—Gen. 19:1-26; Luke 17:32; 2 Pet. 2:7, 8.

23. What was necessary on the part of the Israelites and their companions at the Red Sea and that resulted in their deliverance?

²³ In those instances only a few persons survived. But Jehovah can just as easily deliver a great multitude of persons to a place of safety. This was demonstrated in the case of the nation of Israel, and their companions, at the Red Sea. “By faith they passed through the Red Sea as on dry land,” the apostle Paul says. Their faith and confidence were demonstrated by their obedience, as we read: “So all the sons of Israel did just as Jehovah had commanded Moses and Aaron. They did just so.”​—Heb. 11:29; Ex. 12:37, 38, 50.

SOME ESCAPED “TRIBULATION” ON JERUSALEM

24-26. (a) What was required of Christians living in Jerusalem in the sixties of the first century C.E.? (b) Relate the succession of events showing that those whose confidence was in the divine warning were not disappointed.

²⁴ Faithful Christians in the sixties of the first century had to have similar confidence in Jehovah and his prophet, the Greater Moses, the Lord Jesus Christ. They had to act also on faith and show that they really believed what they had been told ahead of time about the coming destruction of Jerusalem. The warning was that, when they saw a “disgusting thing that causes desolation standing where it ought not,” then they were to waste no time in getting out of Jerusalem and the surrounding province of Judea.​—Mark 13:14.

²⁵ In time, this “sign” became so plain to the discerning ones! There it was, the “disgusting” Roman army under General Cestius Gallus surrounding the holy city of Jerusalem, “standing where it ought not,” and it even began to undermine the very walls of the temple area itself!​—Matt. 24:15.

²⁶ So as soon as those Roman forces temporarily withdrew from their siege​—suddenly, unexpectedly and with no apparent military reason—​believing Christians made haste to get out before the Romans returned. Those without faith and confidence in Jesus’ prophetic warning hung on until the invading armies under General Titus again laid siege to the city, bringing death to the great majority, and slavery to the few that survived.

27, 28. In a parallel situation today, how are followers of the King, Christ Jesus, exercising complete confidence in Jehovah?

²⁷ Faith no less than that of first-century Christians is shown today by those having implicit confidence in the written Word of God. They saw how the churches of Christendom hailed the League of Nations as “the political expression of the kingdom of God on earth,” and now they see the United Nations being idolized as man’s ‘last hope of peace.’ They see radical elements of the U.N. teaming up in readiness to invade Christendom’s realm of operation and supposed rights, her “holy place.” There it is, the United Nations, acting in defiance of the Prince of Peace, earth’s rightful Ruler, the Lord Jesus Christ, and poised also to stand in the place that Christendom considers “holy”! (Rev. 11:15; 12:10) Yes, indeed, the United Nations is the modern-day “disgusting thing that causes desolation” to Christendom in the coming “great tribulation.”​—Matt. 24:15, 21.

²⁸ Seeing this persistent obvious “sign,” those with confidence in Jehovah’s Word have gotten out of Babylon the Great, the principal part of which is Christendom.​—Rev. 18:4, 5.

29. With deliverance from impending destruction in mind, what steps have more than 2,000,000 persons taken?

²⁹ If you are one of the more than 2,000,000 who have already fled Babylon the Great before her destruction and have become one of Jehovah’s clean worshipers, then you are in a position similar to that of Noah’s family who entered the ark, like that of Lot and his two daughters who fled Sodom, like that of the Israelites who left Egypt under the command of Moses. Yes, you are like the first-century Christians who escaped from Jerusalem before its destruction.

30. What questions is it appropriate to ask yourself?

³⁰ But finding yourself in such a favorable position at present, how will you face the future? Will you remain in the ark-like spiritual paradise into which you have entered? Having left the world empire of false religion, do you look forward to the destruction of Babylon the Great in the coming “great tribulation” with eager anticipation and with total confidence? As you ponder these questions, please consider the following article.

Build Up Your Confidence Now for the Future

1, 2. (a) In what condition in general, is the world of mankind? and why? (b) But, in contrast, what confidence is displayed by many?

WE ARE now deep in the twentieth century, with every indication that the present system of things will pass away with this fading generation. Men alienated from God have suffered an increase in fear with the passing of each succeeding decade of this century. This is just as the great prophet Jesus Christ said it would be. In reply to the question: “When will these things actually be, and what will be the sign when these things are destined to occur?” he answered, saying among other things, “There will be . . . on the earth anguish of nations, not knowing the way out . . . while men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth.”​—Luke 21:7, 25, 26.

² It is therefore not surprising that the majority of the world of mankind, who have no faith or confidence in Jehovah or his Word, the Bible, are languishing in a mental state of fear of what the future will bring. In contrast, and as pointed out in the previous article, there are more than 2,000,000 persons around the world today who are facing the future with great optimism. They are very confident that this present wicked system of things will shortly be replaced by a new and righteous order​—God’s kingdom for which Jesus taught Christians to pray.​—Matt. 6:9, 10.

3. What appropriate warning does the apostle Paul give?

³ At the moment you may be one of these persons, and you may feel quite confident of your position and of what you are facing in this time of the end. But the apostle’s warning is: “Let him that thinks he is standing beware that he does not fall.” (1 Cor. 10:12) If we heed this counsel, there are a number of things that we can do now to strengthen our state of confidence.

4, 5. How may we strengthen our confidence in the future?

⁴ First of all, we should remember what the Proverbs say, that one’s confidence in Jehovah must be based on knowledge of him and his past dealings with mankind, as well as knowledge of his present and future purposes.​—Prov. 14:26; 22:19.

⁵ This emphasizes the importance of personal study and group study in the congregation. Learn all you can about this Grand Creator, not only from his Word, the Bible, but also by observation of the material creation around you. The apostle Paul said to the people of Lystra: “Indeed, [Jehovah] did not leave himself without witness in that he did good, giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts to the full with food and good cheer.” (Acts 14:17) And to the Roman Christians, Paul wrote: “For [God’s] invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship.”​—Rom. 1:20.

6. How does study and observation of the physical universe build up one’s faith and confidence in its Creator?

⁶ In addition to observing the created things here on the earth, we should turn our attention toward the physical heavens. In answer to the question: “Who has created these things?” Isaiah 40:26 says: “It is the One who is bringing forth the army of them even by number, all of whom he calls even by name. Due to the abundance of dynamic energy, he also being vigorous in power, not one of them is missing.” What a vast and impressive witness the cosmic bodies of the heavens present​—countless billions of stars all testifying to the eternal greatness of Jehovah! David expressed it beautifully when he said: “The heavens are declaring the glory of God; and of the work of his hands the expanse is telling.”​—Ps. 19:1.

7-9. (a) What occurred in Hezekiah’s day that demonstrated the power of angelic creatures? (b) How does this strengthen our confidence in the future?

⁷ Then there are the invisible angelic creatures, numbering into the myriads. (Heb. 12:22; Jude 14, 15) Recall how the ancient worshiper of Jehovah, King Hezekiah, was taunted by the Assyrians: “What is this confidence in which you have trusted? . . . in whom have you put your trust, that you have rebelled against me [Sennacherib]?” But soon those pagan ridiculers were to learn why faithful King Hezekiah had put his trust and confidence in Jehovah and His angelic forces, for, as the record says, “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.”​—2 Ki. 18:19, 20; 19:35; compare Isaiah 36:1 to 37:38.

⁸ Well, such a historical account as this should certainly give the one fearing Jehovah today great confidence. It is written: “The angel of Jehovah is camping all around those fearing him, and he rescues them.”​—Ps. 34:7; compare Psalm 91:11, 12.

⁹ If a single angel of Jehovah is so powerful that he can wipe out 185,000 men, we should certainly put our complete confidence in this same Jehovah and his angelic forces under the direct command of the Lord Jesus Christ today. And let us remember​—this Lord Jesus Christ is no longer the ‘babe in the Bethlehem manger.’ This is the one who is now the mighty “King of kings and Lord of lords,” the one who is able to say, “All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth,” the one who is riding at the head of the armies of heaven, a force composed of no less than 100,000,000 angels!​—Matt. 28:18; Rev. 5:11; 19:14-16.

MODERN EVIDENCE BUILDS UP CONFIDENCE

10. What did the anointed remnant of Christ’s followers set out to do in the year 1919, and with what backing?

¹⁰ It is with such divine encouragement and angelic backing that a small “remnant” of Christ Jesus’ anointed followers in the year 1919 set out and undertook to preach “this good news of the kingdom . . . in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.” (Matt. 24:14) Over the intervening years since that work began, a “great crowd” of persons “out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues” have responded. They are described as “the ones that come out of the great tribulation.”​—Rev. 7:9, 10, 14.

11. What has occurred in the past sixty years to give the remnant and the “great crowd” confidence in Jehovah?

¹¹ Now today as this faithful “remnant” look back over the years they can say, as Psalm 71:5 expresses it: “For you are my hope, O Sovereign Lord Jehovah, my confidence from my youth.” One only has to read the history of Jehovah’s Witnesses for the past sixty years to see why this “remnant” and the “great crowd” have such confidence in Jehovah. It seems that Satan the Devil and his demons put every device and obstacle in the way to hinder and impede their work. They were made the special target of various political and religious organizations in many nations around the world. Dictatorships proscribed their work and banned their preaching activity. Even in the so-called “free nations” religious and patriotic zealots ‘framed trouble by decree’ and resorted to mob action and boycotts, all in an effort to silence God’s people.a (Ps. 94:20) Evolutionists, critics of the Bible and that “man of lawlessness,” the clergy of apostate Christendom, attempted to interfere with the disciple-making work of God’s faithful witnesses.

12. What assurance does Isaiah 54:17 give?

¹² Such past experiences have impressed upon Jehovah’s Christian witnesses the truthfulness of Isaiah 54:17, which says: “‘Any weapon whatever that will be formed against you will have no success, and any tongue at all that will rise up against you in the judgment you will condemn. This is the hereditary possession of the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness is from me,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.”

13. What additional facts are faith-strengthening?

¹³ Look, too, at the worldwide growth and spiritual prosperity enjoyed by God’s people in spite of all the demon-inspired opposition! Certainly the tremendous expansion of this preaching work could not have been accomplished except by Jehovah’s protection, blessing and spirit upon his people. This too strengthens the confidence in God’s people for the future.

WHY FREEDOM FROM FEAR IS POSSIBLE

14, 15. What distinction must we not overlook when considering possible survival of the “great tribulation”?

¹⁴ But, really, if the “great tribulation” will be as devastating and destructive as the Scriptures indicate, is it possible for those serving God to look forward to its coming without fear and trepidation? We must keep in mind that there is a vast difference between the “great tribulation” that Jehovah God himself will bring upon Satan’s beastly organization and all those clinging to it, and the tribulation that Satan now brings upon Jehovah’s faithful witnesses in the form of persecution, bans, mob action and similar overt acts of violence.

¹⁵ This latter type of trouble originates with Satan and cannot be escaped if one serves Jehovah, for it is written: “All those desiring to live with godly devotion in association with Christ Jesus will also be persecuted.” “In fact, the hour is coming when everyone that kills you will imagine he has rendered a sacred service to God.”​—2 Tim. 3:12; John 16:2.

16. Examples of past Satanic persecutions are of what encouragement to God’s people today?

¹⁶ Now, such personal suffering at the hands of misinformed and deluded persons certainly is not a pleasant experience that is longed for, hoped for and enjoyed when it comes. Jehovah’s people have no desire to be victims of persecution. Even Jesus prayed three times to his Father that, if it were possible, he might be spared having to drink the “cup” of being made to appear as a blasphemer of God and a violator of his Law by being impaled on a torture stake. Yet, ‘not my will be done but God’s will,’ he said. (Matt. 26:39-44) However, when the storm of affliction has passed over and one has endured under persecution, one can rejoice because one has proved faithful like Job and other godly men and women of old when under trial. In the end, you recall, Job was richly rewarded for his suffering. (Job 42:10-17) This was also the experience of the apostles when they were severely beaten at the order of the religious court. Afterward they “went their way from before the Sanhedrin, rejoicing because they had been counted worthy to be dishonored in behalf of his name.”​—Acts 5:40, 41.

17. When faced with such trials from Satan, what should we not forget?

¹⁷ So, even when facing trials and tribulations at the hand of the Devil, we should have confidence in Jehovah’s willingness and ability to bring us through completely victorious. (Rom. 8:37) Remember the encouraging words at 1 Corinthians 10:13: “God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear, but along with the temptation he will also make the way out in order for you to be able to endure it.” Otherwise stated, “we are persecuted, but not left in the lurch; we are thrown down, but not destroyed. Always we endure everywhere in our body the death-dealing treatment given to Jesus.”​—2 Cor. 4:8-10.

18, 19. (a) How does the “great tribulation” differ from the persecutions suffered by God’s servants? (b) So for what do God’s servants pray, and with what assurance?

¹⁸ The “great tribulation,” foretold in Matthew 24:21, 22, is, on the other hand, something altogether different from the trouble and persecution engineered and inflicted, both in the past and in the present, by the Devil upon God’s servants. The “great tribulation” is a tribulation from God that will befall the Devil’s entire crowd in vindication of Jehovah and all those on God’s side. Just as it is written at 2 Thessalonians 1:6: “It is righteous on God’s part to repay tribulation to those who make tribulation for you.”

¹⁹ For these reasons God’s people have a deeper love and appreciation for Jehovah, and this, in turn, gives them a confidence free from any weakening or morbid fear. Awesome as the “great tribulation” may prove to be, these lovers of Jehovah are looking forward with eager anticipation to being eyewitnesses at that grand execution of divine judgment. (Ps. 89:7; Hab. 3:16, 18) And so they continually pray for God’s kingdom to come and for his will and purpose to be accomplished​—a prayer they offer ‘in full confidence through faith.’ “This is the confidence that we have toward him,” the apostle John says, “that, no matter what it is that we ask according to his will, he hears us.”​—1 John 5:14; Eph. 3:12; Matt. 6:9, 10.

NEVER MISPLACE YOUR CONFIDENCE

20. With a buildup in confidence, what pitfall must be avoided, and how?

²⁰ With the “great tribulation” coming on apace, now is no time to be overconfident or self-reliant. We must never lean on our own understanding or that of other men, be they political statesmen, economic adviser, social counselor or religious prophets. (Prov. 3:5, 6; Ps. 146:3) The person misplacing his confidence ‘in earthling man and actually making flesh his arm’ is “cursed” according to the book of Jeremiah. In contrast, it is written there in Jeremiah 17:5-8: “Blessed is the able-bodied man who puts his trust in Jehovah, and whose confidence Jehovah has become.”

21. How does the Bible warn against misplacing one’s confidence in material possessions?’

²¹ The person whose confidence is placed in Jehovah puts God’s kingdom first in his life, and thus avoids many of the anxieties caused by the economic squeeze. (Matt. 6:25-34) He does not forget what Jesus also said, that “even when a person has an abundance his life does not result from the things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15) How foolish, then, to hoard up material provisions and trust them to see one through the fury of the “great tribulation”! Says Proverbs 11:4, 28: “Valuable things will be of no benefit on the day of fury. . . . The one trusting in his riches​—he himself will fall.” Faithful Job was careful not to misplace his confidence in material possessions, saying: “If I have put gold as my confidence, or to gold I have said, ‘You are my trust!’ . . . I should have denied the true God above.”​—Job 31:24, 28.

22. Will the “great tribulation” come on this system of things due to its internal structural weaknesses?

²² Stock markets and prices may fall and heads of governments may topple, but these are not barometers that determine or measure the closeness of the storm of the “great tribulation.” Keep in mind that when world powers of the past were destroyed by Jehovah, they did not collapse because of internal weakness or from corruption within their own framework. They were going concerns at the apparent height of their power when God deposed them by external forces.

23. Faced with various calamities, even death, how can we individually look to the future with confidence?

²³ While individuals among the Lord’s people may be killed between now and then (and the Scriptures indicate that some will be [Matt. 10:21; 24:9]), yet Jehovah’s people as a class will survive the “great tribulation.” Even if you personally should prove to be one who suffers great hardships and calamities​—such as the collapse of your health, a death in your family, loss of children or material possessions, or economic disasters—​yet, in spite of what occurs, you should never suffer the loss of your faith and confidence in Jehovah. Never doubt the promises of your God. Never grow fearful and run in a cowardly way for cover; never deny your God or compromise your integrity. And never allow your vision to become dim as regards angelic backing of those holding to their dedication to Jehovah.​—2 Ki. 6:14-17; Hab. 3:17, 18.

24. With the “great tribulation” coming on apace, what mental attitude will Jehovah’s people have, as indicated by the Scriptures?

²⁴ There is no question about it: “Happy is the one who has the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in Jehovah his God.” (Ps. 146:5) So rejoice in Jehovah and in the help, guidance, protection and spiritual prosperity that he has granted and is bestowing upon his faithful witnesses in this time of the end!​—Luke 21:28; 2 Tim. 1:7.

25. For whom are the promises of Proverbs 3:25, 26 of special comfort and encouragement?

²⁵ As Jehovah’s publicity agents, let us be fearless and bold, and keep on warning people of the day of God’s vengeance. (Ezek. 3:17) Let us keep on praying for God’s kingdom to come in all its fury against Satan’s wicked system, that it may be smashed to pieces and ground to powder. (Matt. 6:9, 10; Dan. 2:44; Mal. 4:3) As Jehovah’s Witnesses face the destruction of the Devil’s entire organization, oh, how encouraging do they find God’s promise at Proverbs 3:25, 26: “You will not need to be afraid of any sudden dreadful thing, nor of the storm upon the wicked ones, because it is coming. For Jehovah himself will prove to be, in effect, YOUR CONFIDENCE”!

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