WHAT THE WATCHMAN HAS TO REPORT

15. The command given after the prophetic description of Belshazzar’s feast indicates what concerning ancient Babylon and her counterpart?

¹⁵ Why, though, does Isaiah give us that advance look into Belshazzar’s feast on that painful night of 539 B.C.E.? It was because of what was to follow, namely, the reporting of that outstanding event of the century to Jehovah’s covenant people, who would rejoice over the fall of “the treacherous dealer.” Isaiah 21:5, 6 shows what would follow upon the heels of Babylon’s fall, saying: “Get up, you princes, anoint the shield. For this is what Jehovah has said to me: ‘Go, post a lookout that he may tell just what he sees.’” Aha, there was to be world publicity on the event! So, too, the fall of Babylon the Great must make the news headlines!

16. What can be said about the “lookout” posted in the case of ancient Babylon and the one posted in the case of Babylon the Great?

¹⁶ Isaiah was the one told to post the “lookout” to report on what he was due to see. Isaiah did not live on to be an eyewitness of what he foretold and of which he gave us a written account. So someone else from Isaiah’s own people would have to serve as the posted lookout. In the then far-off days of the impending fall of Babylon the Great a similar lookout has been posted. It proves to be the class anointed with Jehovah’s spirit, a class appropriately associated with the magazine that still bears the name Watchtower. The evidence is at hand to show that by means of Jesus Christ Jehovah God has appointed that “lookout” class. It has served in this capacity down to this portentous hour of the “night” that is casting its gloom over the whole world. (Matt. 24:45-47) What, now, may we expect this “lookout” to tell us at the due time?

17. What did the posted “lookout” see, and what did this represent?

¹⁷ Isaiah’s prophecy concerning the “lookout” goes on to say: “And he saw a war chariot with a span of steeds, a war chariot of asses, a war chariot of camels. And he paid strict attention, with much attentiveness.” (Isa. 21:7) Those chariots are evidently approaching with the speed of fast Persian post horses or steeds and are coming from “the [conquered] wilderness of the sea.” There are likely columns of war chariots. The column of chariots drawn by asses represents the Median forces under Darius the Mede. The column of chariots drawn by the larger animals, camels able to outrun horses, represents the Persian forces under Cyrus the Great.b This Persian was in fact in command of the combined forces of the Medes and the Persians. Not Darius the Mede, but Cyrus the Persian was the conqueror of whom Jehovah by means of Isaiah said that He would call him by his personal name. Before this Cyrus, Jehovah God would open the metallic gates and doors of Babylon for him to ascend up from the bed of the Euphrates River and break into the heavily walled city of Babylon.​—Isa. 44:27 through 45:4; compare Daniel 8:1-4, 20.

18. According to Isaiah 21:8, 9, what kind of watchman would the posted “lookout” be, and has it been so?

¹⁸ How faithful and dependable would the posted lookout be as a watchman? Isaiah 21:8, 9 indicates by saying: “And he 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 here, now, there is coming a war chariot of men, with a span of steeds!’” Wide awake, he stuck to his post until his piercing eyes saw the meaningful sight for which he had been tirelessly watching. Likewise the “watchman” class of today has roared forth loudly and fearlessly in discharge of its God-given mission by means of the Watchtower magazines and other theocratic publications and public lectures. By Jehovah’s unfailing power it will keep on doing so until it can make the long-desired announcement.

Here the Greater Cyrus, Jesus Christ, the “King of kings,” will step in and destroy the former backers of the U.N. in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon. Jehovah’s anointed “watchman” class and the “great crowd” that has responded to the information shouted out by that composite “watchman” will survive that final war under divine protection, for the vindication of Jehovah God as Sovereign of all heaven and earth.

25. In view of the impending fall of Babylon the Great, why more than ever before is it the time for Jehovah’s “people” to sound out his command, with what end in view?

²⁵ In view of the impending fall of Babylon the Great, now more than ever before it is the time for the “watchman” class and the “great crowd” to sound out the divine command: “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.” (Rev. 18:4) Yes, “get out of her,” not to join her political paramours or the faithless anti-God forces of this world, but to become part of “my people,” Jehovah’s dedicated people. (Jer. 51:45) Act now upon Isaiah’s “pronouncement against the wilderness of the sea.”​—Isa. 21:1-10.

26. For what do we owe thanks to “Jehovah of armies,” and what blessed hope do those heeding it have?

²⁶ All thanks, then, to “Jehovah of armies, the God of Israel,” for raising up and posting a “watchman” class and for giving it such a marvelous report to sound out far and wide! All those heeding the God-given report have the blessed hope of surviving the horrifying “night” upon this world and of welcoming the glorious “morning” of the righteous new system of things under the reign of the Greater Cyrus, Jesus Christ the Liberator. This will be to the pleasing and praise of “Jehovah of armies,” our Sovereign Lord.