such a “woe” to the “third of the men,” Christendom’s flock.

“THE THIRD WOE”

45. What worldly reaction to the “second woe” made it fitting for John to announce the “third woe”?

⁴⁵ Nineteen centuries ago the apostle John saw that the “second woe” did not turn the “rest of the men” from their sinful worldly ways. Neither has the infliction of the “second woe” in these modern days made such an impression on mankind as to turn either Christendom or the rest of the people from the course that leads to destruction in the day of God’s vengeance. They refuse to come to peace with God. (Rev. 9:20) The apostle John saw the need of a third woe to deal with all these unrepentant people. At the right moment he reported: “The second woe is past. Look! The third woe is coming quickly.” (Rev. 11:14) What would this third woe be? It would be seen after the seventh angel heralded it.

46. What does John describe as immediately following the blowing of the seventh trumpet?

⁴⁶ John writes: “And the seventh angel blew his trumpet. And loud voices occurred in heaven, saying: ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will rule as king forever and ever.’ And the twenty-four older persons who were seated before God upon their thrones fell upon their faces and worshiped God, saying: ‘We thank you, Jehovah God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun ruling as king. But the nations became wrathful, and your own wrath came, and the appointed time for the dead to be judged, and to give their reward to your slaves the prophets and to the holy ones and to those fearing your name, the small and the great, and to bring to ruin those ruining the earth.’”—Rev. 11:15-18.

47. (a) What is thus seen to be the “third woe”? (b) When did the Lord God take his power and begin reigning, and how?

⁴⁷ What is here seen to be the “third woe”? It is the “kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ.” It is the joint kingship of the Lord God Jehovah and of his Messiah or Christ. It is the Messianic kingdom of God over all the world of mankind. Jehovah God the Almighty has himself taken his great power and begun to reign, and rightly so, because all the earth is his and he made both it and its inhabitants. He waited till the lease of rulership that he had granted to the non-Jewish or Gentile nations had run out in the year 1914 C.E. At that time the Gentile nations refused to recognize the end of the “times of the Gentiles,” and refused to seat Jehovah’s Messiah or Christ as a king over them. Did Jehovah God leave it to the Gentile nations to decide matters with regard to the earth? No, but he in his almightiness took his great power and exercised it. How? By enthroning his own Son, Jesus, as the Messiah or Christ, in the heavens. By this governmental stroke he established his Messianic kingdom.—Luke 21:24.

48. (a) What questions arise as to whether this Messianic kingdom is a “woe”? (b) How did the earthly nations prove themselves to be enemies of peace with God?

⁴⁸ How, though, is God’s Messianic kingdom a “woe,” the most emphatic woe? Is not this kingdom appointed to bless all the world of mankind? Do not Christ’s followers offer the prayer that he taught them: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth”? (Matt. 6:9, 10) Yes, all this is true. But at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 the worldly nations did not see their rulers imitate the course of the “twenty-four older persons who were seated before God.” The worldly kings did not fall down from their thrones and worship God and say: “We thank you, Jehovah God, the Almighty, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun ruling as king.” (Rev. 11:16, 17) Just to the contrary: “the nations became wrathful,” and they expressed their wrath by persecuting the anointed “ambassadors substituting for Christ,” who were preaching the good news of God’s Messianic kingdom. Being wrathful toward God’s Messianic kingdom, those nations proved themselves to be enemies of peace with God.

49. (a) What therefore must God’s Messianic kingdom become to the nations? (b) For what course alone do those nations deserve to be ruined?

⁴⁹ On that basis, the “kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ” must become Woe to the nations. God’s wrath must come upon the hostile nations. They are the ones who really are “ruining the earth.” In a very real sense they are ruining the literal earth by the way they are exploiting the earth and making it uninhabitable for mankind and threatening to ruin it still more by their nuclear, bacteriological and radiological warfare in a third world conflict. For this ruinous work alone they deserve to be ruined themselves, even if God the Almighty did not take into account their wrathfully persecuting the anointed ambassadors of his Messianic kingdom.

50. What will be the grand climax of this “third woe” upon the nations?

⁵⁰ Let the ruinous nations make no mistake about the matter: They will have to settle accounts with Jehovah God the Almighty against whom they are wrathful for taking over the “kingdom of the world.” He will bring them to ruin in the war of all wars, namely, “the war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon. (Rev. 16:14-16) This will be the grand climax of this third and last woe. God’s kingdom of his Messiah is his means by which he visits this woe upon the wrathful nations. After it another woe will not be needed.

51. (a) For whom will that Messianic kingdom be a joy? (b) Why will the nations be unable to charge God with failing to give them advance notice and warning?

⁵¹ What is a woe to the worldly nations and to their invisible ruler and god, Satan the Devil, will be a boundless joy to all those in heaven and on earth who thank Jehovah God the Almighty that he took his great power at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 and began ruling as King forever by means of his Messiah who was then enthroned. That Kingdom’s taking on the nature of a disastrous woe to the wrathful, ruinous nations at Har–Magedon is what these thankful ones pray for in the prayer taught by Jesus Christ: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come.” (Matt. 6:9, 10) The nations have been notified. God cannot be accused of having failed to be fair in giving them advance notice and warning. His seven heavenly angels have sounded their trumpets in this “time of the end.” The events announced and introduced by those trumpet blasts have come to pass in fulfillment of the things seen in vision by the apostle John almost nineteen centuries ago. The effect of those things will shortly reach its culmination in the “day of vengeance on the part of our God” upon all enemies of peace with God.

52. (a) When will it be the due time for the prophecy to be true concerning God, “Your own wrath came”? (b) How will God thus bring peace to earth, and in keeping with the earnest desire of whom?

⁵² When that day breaks, the nations will express their wrath to the limit. It will then become the fitting time for the long-patient Jehovah God to give them their recompense. As Revelation 11:18 puts it, “Your own wrath came.” He will not forever hold back his wrath, but will express it in his due time against the nations who challenge his right to kingship of the world. Since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 those nations have been squatters on the earth. Since then Jehovah God the rightful King has had the legal right to oust them. Now will have come his time to do so. His having to do this in wrath will signify their destruction. Only by thus annihilating these enemies of peace with God will he bring peace to this earth, the lasting peace that people who are reconciled to God desire so earnestly. Only such peace lovers who are reconciled to Him through his Messiah or Christ will be spared alive during that time of catastrophic woe to the wrathful nations.

53. (a) Therefore with whom will God start the new peaceful system of things? (b) How will the greatest peace disturbers be dealt with, and what will all earthly creation then do?

⁵³ God’s wrath is not against those who have peacefully sought reconciliation with him. Such reconciled ones will be the earthly subjects with whom he will start his peaceful new system of things for all redeemed mankind. Satan the Devil and his demons, the greatest peace disturbers, will be enchained in the completely shut abyss of isolation and restraint, no longer being a wicked “heavens” over the world of mankind. The “new heavens” of God’s kingdom of his Messiah will rule. All earthly creation, no longer being ruined or polluted, will rejoice in peace and brotherly love and give praise and thanks to God.

Declaration

[At the conclusion of the foregoing discourse, “Final Woes to Enemies of Peace with God,” at the “Peace on Earth” International Assemblies of Jehovah’s Witnesses of 1969, the following Declaration was presented to the audience for adoption:]

1. Jehovah’s witnesses, gathered in the “Peace on Earth” Assembly took it as the favored occasion to do what publicly?

WE, Christian witnesses of Jehovah, gathered together in the “Peace on Earth” Assembly in (name of city and land), this (date), take this favorable occasion to set forth our position and attitude in this most turbulent and perilous period of human history:

2. (a) What is the key to enduring peace for mankind, and what is required to be children of God? (b) We disclaim all connection with whom, and why?

² PEACE WITH the Creator of heaven and earth, by means of his long-promised kingdom of his Messiah—this is what we hold to be the key to an enduring peace for all the world of mankind. When we keep our peace with God, we can never be at war with our neighbors who are fellow creatures of God; peace with God and peace with our fellowman go together. In order to be children of God and loyal subjects of his Messianic kingdom we are obliged to be peacemakers. (Matt. 5:9) We therefore disclaim all connection with the professed Christian realm known as Christendom, for her history proves her to be a fomenter of carnal warfare between even fellow religionists, staining her skirts with their blood. She has persecuted with torture and violent death those who have differed from her in religious conscience. She has not promoted the interests