judge the productive land with righteousness and the peoples with his faithfulness.” (Isa. 26:9; Ps. 96:13) Yes, the war of Armageddon will clear the earth of the enemies of God and man. Of the reign of his Warrior-Son, who will also be the everlasting King, Jehovah himself has prophesied: “To the abundance of the princely rule and to peace there will be no end, upon the throne of David and upon his kingdom in order to establish it firmly and to sustain it by means of justice and by means of righteousness, from now on and to time indefinite. The very zeal of Jehovah of armies will do this.”​—Isa. 9:6, 7.

Peter​—Colorful Apostle Who Took the Initiative

OF THE twelve apostles that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, chose to accompany him, Peter was by far the most colorful. Warmhearted and impulsive, frank and outspoken​—we cannot help liking him. It is easy for us to put ourselves in his place; to feel for him.

Peter was a man of action, quick to speak his thoughts, quick to act out his feelings. Because of his emotional nature he readily went from one extreme to another. As a result it was his lot to know the extremes both of sorrow and of joy. His was the joy to hear his Master highly commend him for having said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” and to receive the keys of the kingdom of the heavens. But his was also the keen grief of seeing his Master give him a look of reproach and sorrow for having denied him three times.​—Matt. 16:16-19; Luke 22:61, 62.

Above all else, Peter had a good, honest heart. He was as far removed from the hypocritical scribes and Pharisees of his day as one could possibly be. To steal secretly from the common treasury of Jesus’ intimate group, as did Judas, would have been unthinkable for Peter. And because of Peter’s good heart God granted him repentance and recovery, things denied the dishonest traitor, Judas. God not only restored Peter to his favor, after his denial of Jesus, but greatly used him thereafter.​—John 12:4-6.

Peter was the son of John. He is first shown as residing at Bethsaida, on the Sea of Galilee near the Jordan River. Later we read of his being in Capernaum, where he and his brother Andrew were in the fishing business, he having his own boat. Though the religious leaders referred to Peter and the apostle John as “unlearned and ordinary,” they, as businessmen who had dealings with both Jews