“Get Out of Her, My People”

“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.

1. When did the call to get out of Babylon the Great sound forth, and why was this call then fitting?

“GET OUT of her, my people.” That call has been sounded out since 1919, the year in which the nations fighting in the world war of 1914-1918 signed the peace treaty. Organized religion of the world had backed up that global fight. What about those whom the Bible’s God calls “my people”? These peaceful Christians had come under bondage, even to imprisonment, to Babylon the Great and her political paramours who were engaged in World War I.

2. What similar call was earlier issued through Jeremiah?

² The call to “get out of her” had been set down in Revelation 18:4. There was a like call set down earlier in Jeremiah 51:45: “Get out of the midst of her, O my people, and provide each one his soul with escape from the burning anger of Jehovah.”

3, 4. (a) According to Jeremiah 50:8-10, their “escape” was to be from where? (b) By the time for fulfilling this latter prophecy, did Babylon have the same relationship with Jehovah as during Nebuchadnezzar’s rule? Why?

³ “Escape” from where? Jeremiah 50:8-10 plainly answers: “‘Take your flight out of the midst of Babylon, and go forth even out of the land of the Chaldeans, and become like the leading animals before the flock. For here I am arousing and bringing up against Babylon a congregation of great nations from the land of the north, and they will certainly array themselves against her. From there she will be captured. . . . And Chaldea must become a spoil. All those making spoil of her will satisfy themselves,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.”

⁴ By the time those prophetic words were to take effect, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon would be dead. One of his royal successors, namely, Belshazzar, the son of Nabonidus, would be ruling in the Babylonian Empire, in 539 B.C.E. So by then what Babylon had symbolized prophetically from the start of Nebuchadnezzar’s rule in 625 B.C.E. had changed. Jehovah had called Nebuchadnezzar “my servant.” (Jer. 27:6) Also, during the exile of the Jewish prophet Daniel in Babylon, Jehovah had had dealings with Emperor Nebuchadnezzar in connection with two important prophetic dreams. (Dan., chaps. 2 and 4) Even down to the year 592 B.C.E., King Nebuchadnezzar’s exploits were foretold in prophecy. (Ezek. 29:17-20) So during those years at least the Babylonian Empire under Nebuchadnezzar was used as Jehovah’s instrument to deal out His vengeance to the disloyal kingdom of Judah and the neighboring nations. Nebuchadnezzar’s work in harmony with Jehovah’s will pictured the work of Jesus Christ during this “time of the end,” where we are now.

5. According to Isaiah 44:28, through 45:7, by the time of Babylon’s fall the work of Jesus Christ was prefigured by whose work, and how did Daniel’s explanation of the handwriting on the wall harmonize with what Isaiah foretold?

⁵ According to Isaiah 44:28 through 45:7, during the time when the fall of Babylon was impending, the work that prefigured what the glorified Jesus Christ would do during the “time of the end” was taken over by Cyrus the Great, the ruler of the Medo-Persian Empire. On the very night that Babylon fell in 539 B.C.E., the prophet Daniel interpreted the handwriting on the wall that had appeared to King Belshazzar: “PERES [the singular number of the third word of the cryptic handwriting], your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and the Persians.” Daniel’s eyewitness account goes on to say: “In that very night Belshazzar the Chaldean king was killed and Darius the Mede himself [as the associate of Cyrus] received the kingdom.”​—Dan. 5:28-31; 9:1, 2.

6. (a) What Babylon pictured in Belshazzar’s day is set out in what Bible book and is what today? (b) Who founded that symbolic Babylon, and this takes in what religions?

⁶ What ancient Babylon pictured in her last days as mistress of the world is set out in the book of Revelation as written by the inspired apostle John about 96 C.E., when the remains of old Babylon were still standing. From what John wrote in Revelation 16:12 through 19:3, it becomes plain that the doomed Babylon of Belshazzar’s day pictured the world empire of false religion that still exists. That empire, now comprising all the religions of the doomed world, was started by “a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.” He was Nimrod, a great-grandson of Noah, and he founded the city of Babel on the Euphrates River. (Rev. 16:12; Gen. 10:8-10) The empire now called Babylon the Great takes in all the religions “in opposition to Jehovah” and is now in its “time of the end.”​—Dan. 12:4.

7. (a) When did the “escapees” get out of ancient Babylon? (b) When do the escapees get out of Babylon the Great, and why then?

⁷ From that worldwide religious empire, Jehovah’s people are called to “get out,” and this without delay. That empire is what was prefigured by the Babylon about which Jeremiah spoke in Jer chapters 50 and 51. In the case of the ancient Babylonian Empire, the exiled Jews and their companions could not “get out” until after it fell to the Medes and the Persians in 539 B.C.E. (Isa. 14:12-17) However, what about this 20th century? What about those whom Jehovah today calls “my people”? These are commanded to “get out” of modern Babylon the Great before she is destroyed in the coming “great tribulation” foretold by Jesus Christ. (Matt. 24:21, 22; Rev. 1:1; 7:14, 15) The reason for this is that these escapees need to avoid being plagued and destroyed with Babylon the Great, the still-standing world empire of false religion.​—Rev. 18:4.

8. The getting out of those called out of Babylon the Great since 1919 betokens what, and who was instrumental in this connection?

⁸ There will be no getting out of Babylon the Great after her former political lovers turn upon her and blot her out of existence. (Rev. 17:15-18) Jehovah’s dedicated people have gotten out of her since the postwar year of 1919 C.E. This betokened that in some sense Babylon the Great had already fallen. How so? In a figurative way. In 1919 her enslaving power over Jehovah’s people was broken. Since then they have never again come into religious bondage to Babylon the Great, as they did during the world war of 1914-1918. Their liberation is to be credited to the One who inspired Jeremiah to foretell it as part of His purpose. That One is Jehovah. To that end he used his Greater Cyrus, the glorified Lord Jesus Christ. This antitypical Cyrus began to reign in the heavenly kingdom in 1914, after the close of the “seven times” as foretold in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream. (Dan. 4:1-37) Since 1919 the reigning Greater Cyrus has liberated millions of seekers of religious freedom from Babylon the Great. Remaining faithful to his kingdom, they will be kept safe, well protected by him. Neither the clergy of Christendom nor the leaders of non-Christian religions control them.

RETURN TO THE MOUNTAINTOP CAPITAL FORETOLD

9, 10. Was the liberation of the remnant from Babylon the Great in 1919 accidental, and what does Jeremiah 50:4, 5, 28 show was the objective of it?

⁹ Now more than 60 years later let no one imagine that the religious liberation of a small, despised remnant of Jehovah’s people was merely accidental. It came in fulfillment of his own Bible prophecies. In his prophecy, given by means of Jeremiah in 614 B.C.E. to foretell Babylon’s fall in 539 B.C.E., we read:

¹⁰ “‘In those days and at that time,’ is the utterance of Jehovah, ‘the sons of Israel, they and the sons of Judah together, will come. They will walk, weeping as they walk, and for Jehovah their God they will seek. To Zion [the mountaintop capital site] they will keep asking the way, with their faces in that direction, saying, “Come and let us join ourselves to Jehovah in an indefinitely lasting covenant that will not be forgotten.” [For what purpose?] There is the sound of those fleeing and those escaping from the land of Babylon to tell out in Zion the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance for his temple.’”​—Jer. 50:4, 5, 28.

11. Does Jeremiah’s prophecy have reference to the Jewish Zionist Movement, and what do the facts today indicate?

¹¹ This has no reference to the Zionist Movement organized by the Austrian Jew Theodor Herzl in 1897. The Jerusalem that the Jews today occupy they gained by force of arms in the Six-Day War of 1967, and the temple mount is topped by the Islamic “Dome of the Rock” that does not call attention to the name of Jehovah. To which “Zion” has the remnant peacefully returned since 1919?

12. To what Zion has the remnant peacefully returned since 1919?

¹² It is the Mount Zion that the Christian apostle John saw in vision 26 years after Jewish Jerusalem was totally destroyed by the Roman legions in 70 C.E. Regarding this, he writes: “And I saw, and, look! the Lamb standing upon the Mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty-four thousand having his name and the name of his Father written on their foreheads. . . . and the sound that I heard was as of singers who accompany themselves on the harp playing on their harps. And they are singing as if a new song before the throne [of God] and before the four living creatures and the elders; and no one was able to master that song but the hundred and forty-four thousand, who have been bought from the earth. . . . These are the ones that keep following the Lamb no matter where he goes. These were bought from among mankind as firstfruits to God and to the Lamb.”​—Rev. 14:1-4.

13. (a) A few verses later, what does the apostle John report with reference to Babylon the Great? (b) Because of what in 1919 did she get a shock?

¹³ Interestingly, just a few verses after giving us that description, the apostle John writes: “And another, a second angel, followed, saying: ‘She has fallen! Babylon the great has fallen, she who made all the nations drink of the wine of the anger of her fornication!’” (Rev. 14:8) Despite committing religious fornication with all the politicians of the nations, Babylon the Great suffered a shocking fall in 1919, as far as influence and power are concerned. It shocked her when the Greater Cyrus, the Lamb Jesus Christ, secured the liberation of the remnant of spiritual Israelites and set them to work on spiritual reconstruction.

14. (a) Did the liberated remnant act in harmony with the slogan that “religion is the opium of the people” or what was claimed for the proposed League of Nations? (b) To what mountaintop capital did they direct themselves?

¹⁴ Revolutionaries who had by 1919 gained the political ascendancy in eastern Europe acted according to their slogan, “Religion is the opium of the people.” But theirs was not the way for Jehovah’s remnant, then liberated from religious Babylon the Great, to go. Also, a League of Nations had been proposed for consideration and adoption at the 1919 Peace Conference, and the Federal Council of the Churches of Christ in America favored it, calling it “the political expression of the kingdom of God on earth.” Did Jehovah’s remnant consider that the way for them? No! When they held their general convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, U.S.A., on September 1-8, 1919, they exposed it as a counterfeit kingdom of God and publicly declared that it would fail. Rejecting all substitutes proposed by men, they directed themselves to the heavenly Mount Zion, for there they saw by faith the Lamb of God, Jesus Christ, standing as reigning King.​—Rev. 14:1-3; Heb. 12:22.

15. Why was it with weeping that the remnant sought the spiritual Zion, and from what fresh standpoint did they study the Bible?

¹⁵ So with tears of “weeping” for joy the liberated remnant turned away from Babylon the Great and sought the spiritual Mount Zion, where their heavenly King had been standing reigning since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914. In agreement with their theocratic purpose, they studied the Bible from a fresh, new standpoint, for now they could see the fulfillment of an increasing number of Bible prophecies that had a bearing on God’s kingdom by Christ.

16. How could the vengeance that the remnant proclaimed be said to be that “for his temple,” and what “deeds of righteousness” could they recount in a prospective way?

¹⁶ Fearlessly the restored remnant began to declare “the vengeance of Jehovah our God, the vengeance for his temple.” (Jer. 50:28) They themselves were part of a spiritual temple of his, a figurative temple made up of Jesus Christ the Chief Cornerstone and the 144,000 members of the temple class under him. (1 Cor. 3:16, 17; Eph. 2:19-22) During World War I the remnant of the temple class had been badly treated, and this wicked attempt to destroy them furnished a valid reason for Jehovah to express in due time his vengeance against Babylon the Great and her paramours. Then he will carry out Jeremiah’s lengthy prophecy against Babylon to a completion. With dynamic faith that the further features of Jeremiah’s prophecy are certain to be fulfilled, that they are as good as carried out, the restored remnant take up the words of Jeremiah 51:10 and say: “Jehovah has brought forth deeds of righteousness for us. Come and do let us recount in Zion the work of Jehovah our God.”

17. For what work of repayment does Jehovah have his own timely agency in readiness?

¹⁷ As the Avenger, Jehovah has his own agency in hand and he announces his purpose to use it in these words of Jeremiah 51:24: “‘And I will pay back to Babylon and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their badness that they have committed in Zion before the eyes of you people,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.”

18. Because of all the reproach upon the divine name, from whose standpoint may the remnant utter a right desire respecting the violence and bloodshed of Babylon the Great?

¹⁸ Let us call to mind all the reproach that the Babylonish world system of religion has brought upon the name of the one living and true God, especially by persecuting dedicated persons who revere and bear his name. Then we can appreciate why it is Jehovah’s own purpose justly to wipe out that earthly agency that has been mainly used by his chief adversary, Satan the Devil. So those on earth who represent the heavenly Zion merely adopt Jehovah’s own viewpoint of matters and agree with his stated purpose when they say: “‘The violence done to me and to my organism be upon Babylon!’ the inhabitress of Zion will say, ‘And my blood be upon the inhabitants of Chaldea!’ Jerusalem will say.”​—Jer. 51:35.

19. How does the cruelty in such prayers as objected to by anyone compare with what Jehovah says, speaking for himself in Jeremiah 51:36, 37?

¹⁹ Let no objector who attaches cruelty to such prayers of Zion and Jerusalem imagine that Jehovah God would be unrighteous in answering them against Babylon the Great of today. He does not overlook the historical fact that she has resorted to violence against worshipers of Jehovah, even to shedding their innocent blood. Let him speak for himself in the words of Jeremiah 51:36, 37: “Therefore this is what Jehovah has said: ‘Here I am conducting your legal case, and I shall certainly execute vengeance for you. And I will dry up her sea [of commercial traffic], and I will make her wells dry. And Babylon must become piles of stones.’”

20. To what does the present state of things at the site of ancient Babylon testify as to Jehovah’s doing?

²⁰ Such a prophecy, as proclaimed in 614 B.C.E., or 75 years before Babylon was captured, seemed then impossible of realization. In 614 B.C.E. Babylon was rising to the zenith of its power and glory. But today, the place where ancient Babylon haughtily stood at the Euphrates River testifies to the fact that Jehovah did not err in prophecy. There are only a few of Babylon’s original stones left there. Jehovah’s assurance to his mistreated people proved true. He did take up their “legal case” in the court of the universe; he did execute divine vengeance for them. He justly saw to it that accounts were balanced.

21, 22. According to Psalm 137:8, 9, what happiness will the Greater Cyrus have in the near future?

²¹ In the near future happy will be the official service of the antitypical Cyrus, the glorified Jesus Christ, to see to it that accounts are settled with Babylon the Great of today. Worshipers of Jehovah who have suffered at her hands take the divine view of justice and so can join the inspired psalmist in saying:

²² “O daughter of Babylon, who are to be despoiled, happy will he be that rewards you with your own treatment with which you treated us. Happy will he be that grabs ahold and does dash to pieces your children against the crag.”​—Ps. 137:8, 9.

23. Will earthly agencies be used in the overthrow of Babylon the Great, and yet who takes the responsibility for it?

²³ In due time earthly human agencies will be given free rein to wreck Babylon the Great. (Rev. 17:15-18) But Jesus Christ will be happy to take the responsibility for blotting out that world empire of false religion. Bible prophecy credits him as the Greater Cyrus with the deserved overthrow of Babylon the Great. He, when on earth as a man, and also his footstep followers have suffered at her violent hands.​—Rev. 18:24.

24. (a) How does Babylon the Great show herself presumptuous with regard to rulership? (b) Whose “daughter” is she, and what calamitous things will come soon upon her, and how?

²⁴ Babylon the Great has been the personification of Presumptuousness. (Jer. 50:31, 32) Not now the earthly Jerusalem or Zion where the Islamic “Dome of the Rock” stands, but the heavenly Mount Zion she considers to be her rival, for there the Greater Cyrus reigns as King. To show such rivalry, she says: “I sit a queen.” (Rev. 18:7) If she is to be called a “daughter” as ancient Babylon was called, that she really is to Satan the Devil. (John 8:44; Jer. 50:42; 51:33) Upon this religious fornicatrix two disastrous things are foretold to come speedily: “Loss of children and widowhood.” (Isa. 47:9; Rev. 18:7, 8; Jer. 50:9) Either the members of her religious organization will be killed off in the coming “great tribulation” or they will become dead to her by renouncing her, confessing no religion at all. This will make her mourn!

25. If any of us do not want to be classed among those Babylonish “children” that are to be dashed “against the crag,” what must we do without delay?

²⁵ Does any one of us want to be numbered among the religious “children” of Babylon the Great when God’s appointed time comes for them to be dashed “against the crag”? If we do not want to be so classed, especially if we claim to be among those whom God calls “my people,” then what? Nothing short of taking advantage of the remaining time and obeying the merciful command from God through his Word: “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; Jer. 50:8.

The Calamity Facing All Religionists of the World

1. What is the religious population estimated to be, and what impact will the fall of that religious empire have upon nations?

THE religious population of the world is enormous. The 1980 World Almanac puts it as high as 2,511,417,750. It numbers among these those who claim to be Christians, Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, Hindus, and others. When that internally divided religious empire goes down, it will astonish the most of surviving mankind. The disconcerting impact of this is foretold in these words: “At the sound when Babylon has been seized, the earth will certainly be set rocking, and among the nations an outcry itself be heard.” “Listen! There is an outcry from Babylon, and a great crash from the land of the Chaldeans, for Jehovah is despoiling Babylon, and he will certainly destroy out of her the great voice, and their waves will actually be boisterous like many waters. The noise of their voice will certainly be given out. For there must come upon her, upon Babylon, the despoiler, and her mighty men will certainly be captured. Their bows must be shattered, for Jehovah is a God of recompenses. Without fail he will repay.”​—Jer. 50:46; 51:54-56.

2. (a) With what kind of “voice” did ancient Babylon speak toward the nations, but how was her “voice” drowned out? (b) What does Revelation picture her modern counterpart as riding, and what will it do to her?

² The fulfillment of this will be a world-changing event, the like of which was never heard of before. (Jer. 51:2, 60, 64) As the Third World Power of ancient history, Babylon spoke with the “great voice” of authority. But in 539 B.C.E. her “voice” was drowned out by the boisterous waves of conquering invaders. Her modern-day counterpart, Babylon the Great, has spoken with an even more domineering “voice.” The whole world has listened. The Bible book of Revelation, chapter 17, pictures her as wantonly perched on top of a seven-headed wild beast, this scarlet-colored beast symbolizing a world organization. Its seven heads picture the seven world powers in their succession down to the Anglo-American World Power of today. (Rev. 17:1-6) The beast’s 10 horns “mean ten kings.” (Rev. 17:12) The third of the seven heads pictured the Babylonian Empire and the fourth pictured the Medo-Persian Empire. Religious Babylon the Great has played the harlot with all seven world powers. She has tried to ride them all as their mistress. They have drunk the religious mixture contained in her golden cup. Tiring of her, they will finally hate her and dump her off their backs.

3. (a) What did Jehovah declare he would bring against the ancient prototype of Babylon the Great, and from where? (b) Why was it that the Medes were presented so outstandingly?

³ Adding to the argument in favor of our getting out of Babylon the Great promptly, Jehovah declares his purpose to bring up against her ancient prototype “a congregation of great nations from the land of the north” to attack it. Because the “congregation” was to be a combined military force under one command, it could be termed also a “nation . . . from the north.” (Jer. 50:3, 8, 9) The prophecy was correct in predicting that “the kings of the Medes” would be outstandingly among that “congregation” of nations. (Jer. 51:11) Persians were not mentioned as being among the congregation. This was not an accidental oversight, for Cyrus the Great, who assumed supreme command of the “congregation,” did have some Median blood in him. After he conquered the kingdom of the Medes, he incorporated mainly Median soldiers in his army. Cyrus came to power after Jeremiah’s day.

4. After Babylon’s fall, who first began reigning in that city, and how was Daniel correct as to who would come to the top in the Medo-Persian Empire?

⁴ At Babylon’s fall in 539 B.C.E., Darius the Mede who began to reign there was 62 years old. (Dan. 5:30, 31) With regard to the Medo-Persian Empire, Daniel 8:3 was correct in showing that the Persian part would come to the top afterward. It was Cyrus the Persian who decreed the return of exiled Jews to their homeland.​—Ezra 1:1-4.

5. (a) With what direction is Jehovah associated with reference to deeds of destruction? (b) Whom did he declare he would use as her club in dashing nations and kingdoms to pieces?

⁵ As in the case of Jerusalem’s destruction earlier in 607 B.C.E., destruction was to come upon Babylon from out of the “north.” (Ezek. 1:4; 9:2; Jer. 50:41; 51:48) As respects direction, Psalm 75:6, 7 apparently associates God with the north when saying: “Neither from the east nor from the west, nor from the south is there an exalting. For God is the judge. This one he abases, and that one he exalts.” By way of the northern route, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon came in 609 B.C.E. against Jerusalem and her rebellious king, Zedekiah. Two years later “the inhabitress of Zion” could exclaim: “Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon . . . has swallowed me down like a big snake [or, dragon].” (Jer. 51:34, 35) As to Jehovah God’s connection with Jerusalem’s destruction, Jeremiah quotes him as saying back in 614 B.C.E. the following words regarding Nebuchadnezzar as his executional tool: “You are a club for me, as weapons of war, and by you I shall certainly dash nations [Judah, Egypt, Moab, Ammon, Edom, and others] to pieces, and by you I will bring kingdoms to ruin. . . . and by you I will dash governors and deputy rulers to pieces.”​—Jer. 51:20-23.

6. After the foregoing words, what did Jehovah declare he would pay back to Chaldea’s inhabitants?

⁶ After that, what, O Jehovah? “I will pay back to Babylon [not to Nebuchadnezzar] and to all the inhabitants of Chaldea all their badness that they have committed in Zion [or, Jerusalem] before the eyes of you people.”​—Jer. 51:24, 59, 60.

7. What war cry did Jehovah raise against Babylon in 614 B.C.E., and who responded?

⁷ In the days of Nebuchadnezzar and his successors, the Median Empire lay beyond the Tigris River and to the east and north of the Babylonian Empire. To fulfill prophecy, Cyrus the Great, accompanied by Median King Darius, came from the north against the land of the Chaldeans and its capital, Babylon. These spoilers of Babylon responded to Jehovah’s war cry already issued in 614 B.C.E.:

“Lift up a signal in the land, O men. Blow a horn among the nations. Sanctify against her the nations. Summon against her the kingdoms of Ararat, Minni and Ashkenaz [to the north]. Commission against her a recruiting officer. Make the horses come up like bristly locusts. Sanctify against her the nations, the kings of Media, its governors and all its deputy rulers and all the land of each one’s dominion. And let the earth rock and be in severe pain, for against Babylon the thoughts of Jehovah have risen up to make the land of Babylon an object of astonishment, without an inhabitant.”​—Jer. 51:27-29.

8. Whom does Jehovah sanctify for service against Babylon the Great, and when does her destruction come? After whose release?

⁸ Jehovah proceeded to “sanctify” the Persian Cyrus the Great for His military service against ancient Babylon. Jehovah’s words at Isaiah 44:28 through 45:7 speak of Cyrus by his personal name as “my shepherd” and as an “anointed one.” He pictured Jehovah’s Greater “Shepherd,” Jesus Christ, by means of whom Jehovah destroys what ancient Babylon pictured, namely, Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. Already by means of his Greater Cyrus, Jehovah has released his dedicated people from bondage to imperial Babylon the Great, from the year 1919 onward. Her utter destruction will come by means of this same Greater Cyrus in the coming “great tribulation” foretold in Revelation 7:13, 14.

THE FAILURE OF THE “GODS” AND “GODDESSES”

9. What deities did ancient Babylon have, and the way in which they met the calamity upon her foreshadows what with regard to Babylon the Great in the “great tribulation”?

⁹ Ancient Babylon had its deities, such as Bel, Merodach (Marduk), Succoth-benoth, Nebo, the goddess Ishtar (Ashtoreth), and others, besides the magic-practicing priests. (Jer. 50:2; 51:44; 2 Ki. 17:30; Isa. 46:1, 2) Why did they not come to the rescue of old Babylon? The answer is that those idolatrous deities were no gods. (1 Cor. 8:5, 6) Their failure foreshadows the inability of all the deities of Babylon the Great to save her from the calamity that is scheduled to befall her in the “great tribulation.” She has no lack of gods and goddesses. In the case of Hinduism, there are reported to be 330,000,000 deities, including the trinity of Brahma, Vishnu and Siva. (The Americana, page 196, edition of 1929) Then there are the gods of the African tribes and voodooists, the deities of the Buddhists and Confucianists, not to be overlooked being the “trinity God” of Christendom. They have no power of salvation.

10. In the coming display of godship, who will prove to be the real possessor of it?

¹⁰ In the coming display of Godship, it will be a case of the Almighty God Jehovah against all those gods and goddesses of the world empire of Babylonish false religion. Satan the Devil, the invisible god of this system of things, will not be able to prove all the deities of Babylon the Great to be the deities to look to for salvation. (Eph. 2:2; 2 Cor. 4:4) Jehovah alone will remain victorious in the field of contest as the one living and true God, the Savior.

11. Whom does Jehovah use visibly in the destruction of Babylon the Great, and what does Revelation 17:11 say about that agency?

¹¹ At the coming ‘contest of the gods,’ Jehovah will not use his Greater Cyrus, Jesus Christ, visibly for overthrowing Babylon the Great. He will let the visible representatives of the Eighth World Power of Bible history act aggressively against Babylon the Great. That latest world power is the agency that worldly nations have devised and used since 1919 in trying to preserve world peace and security, now the United Nations. This man-made institution has at present behind it a “congregation” of 152 nations. It is caricatured as a scarlet-colored wild beast with seven heads and 10 horns atop, concerning which Revelation 17:11 says: “It is also itself an eighth king, but springs from the seven [heads], and it goes off into destruction.” Before its destruction in “the war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon, he lets this Eighth World Power chalk up a stunning victory for itself, but not against him.​—Rev. 16:14, 16.

12. Since being voted into existence in 1919, the “wild beast” had whom steer it, but according to Revelation 17:15-17, what will the “beast” do to its rider?

¹² Since the symbolic scarlet-colored beast was voted into existence in the postwar year of 1919, it has let the religious “harlot,” Babylon the Great, ride on its back like a queen to steer it. (Rev. 17:18) During the “great tribulation” and when God’s hour for it strikes, a go-ahead signal may be drawn from his words at Revelation 17:15-17: “The waters that you [John] saw, where the harlot is sitting, mean peoples and crowds and nations and tongues. 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. For God put it into their hearts to carry out his thought, even to carry out their one thought by giving their kingdom to the wild beast, until the words of God will have been accomplished.”

13, 14. (a) What does Jehovah, according to his foreknowledge, let the political elements do to the “harlot”? (b) Right afterward, what will those victors over her do about Jehovah’s Witnesses, and what will be the outcome of their course?

¹³ As thus predicted, the nations that joined it gave first to the League of Nations and then to its successor, the United Nations, a deterring power in behalf of preserving world peace and security. Jehovah did not move them to do so, but, thinking ahead, he expressed his foreknowledge in his written Word. He has further foretold that those nations, in combine like a “congregation,” would tire of the burden of that international meddler in political affairs, the harlot Babylon the Great. When she is dumped off the back of that international peace-keeping body and finally burned with fire, the Christian witnesses of Jehovah will not be frightened by that “calamity” to her. From God’s Word they know that, on earth, they represent the heavenly “Lord of lords and King of kings,” Jesus Christ, and that, for this very reason, the victory-flushed conquerors of Babylon the Great will turn upon them as the last remaining obstacle to their exercising earth-wide domination. Jehovah’s Witnesses are given advance notice of that in this prophecy of Revelation 17:13, 14:

¹⁴ “These [political elements represented in the United Nations] 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.”

15, 16. (a) That final clash over world domination means, in effect, what? (b) What preview does the apostle John give us of this event, with what outcome?

¹⁵ This military engagement means the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at the world situation called Har–Magedon. (Rev. 16:13-16) Under Jehovah’s protection his witnesses on earth will witness the “war” as described in Revelation 19:11-21. In a preview of this final clash over the issues of world domination, the Christian apostle John describes the outcome of the war, writing:

¹⁶ “I saw 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 [Jehovah’s field marshal, Jesus Christ] and with his army [of heavenly angels]. And the wild beast was caught, and along with it the false prophet [the Anglo-American World Power] that performed in front of it the signs with which he misled those who received the mark of the wild beast and those who render worship to its image [the United Nations]. While still alive, they both were hurled into the fiery lake that burns with sulphur. But the rest were killed off with the long sword of the one seated on the horse, which sword proceeded out of his mouth. And all the birds [mentioned in Re 19 verses 17, 18] were filled from the fleshy parts of them.”

17. What does this calamity upon the atheistic political elements terminate, and then what takes place toward unseen elements?

¹⁷ That destruction of all the atheistic elements of this Devil-controlled system of things will terminate the “great tribulation” mentioned in Revelation 7:14. This will be followed by the binding and abyssing of the invisible world ruler, Satan the Devil, and all his demon angels for the next 1,000 years.​—Rev. 20:1-3.

18. What does God’s Word show as to whether that war of all wars will leave our earth entirely depopulated?

¹⁸ Will that war of all wars at Har–Magedon leave an earth totally bereft of all human life? The end of the ancient world of Noah’s day by the deluge did not depopulate the earth, for eight human survivors rode out the earth-wide flood. (2 Pet. 2:5) Noah’s God, Jehovah, formed the earth “even to be inhabited.” (Isa. 45:18) Through the prophet Isaiah, Jehovah foretold the Persian conqueror, Cyrus the Great, by his personal name, and this liberator of the exiled Jews was raised up to picture the Greater Liberator, Jesus Christ. In the coming “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon, Jesus Christ will gain the victory over all the earthly enemies of Jehovah and of his people, killing off those enemies of God’s kingdom. Jesus Christ will not do this executional work at the expense of every member of the remnant of his spirit-begotten, anointed followers yet on earth, for in that case there would be no complete victory for the side of God’s kingdom. Furthermore, what about the “great crowd” of faithful associates of that anointed remnant? Revelation 7:9-15 plainly states that this “great crowd” will survive the “great tribulation” climaxing at Har–Magedon.

NOTICE OF THE COMING “CALAMITY” SERVED

19, 20. (a) Before the world calamity, upon whom must notice be served? (b) How did Jehovah illustrate this serving of notice in Jeremiah’s day?

¹⁹ World calamity is just ahead! Notice of this has to be served upon that world-dominating figure, Babylon the Great. This serving of notice upon her was illustrated away back in the prophet Jeremiah’s day, yes, back in 614 B.C.E. Of this, he tells us:

²⁰ “The word that Jeremiah the prophet commanded Seraiah the son of Neriah the son of Mahseiah when he went with Zedekiah the king of Judah to Babylon in the fourth year of his being king; and Seraiah was the quartermaster. And Jeremiah proceeded to write in one book all the calamity that would come upon Babylon, even all these words written against Babylon. Furthermore, Jeremiah said to Seraiah: ‘As soon as you come to Babylon and actually see her, you must also read aloud all these words. And you must say, “O Jehovah, you yourself have spoken against this place, in order to cut it off so that there may come to be in it no inhabitant, either man or even domestic animal, but that she may become mere desolate wastes to time indefinite.” And it must occur that when you will have completed reading this book, you will tie to it a stone, and you must pitch it into the midst of the Euphrates. And you must say, “This is how Babylon must sink down and never rise up because of the calamity that I am bringing in upon her; and they will certainly tire themselves out.”’”​—Jer. 51:59-64.

21, 22. How was that action of Seraiah imitated prophetically in the book of Revelation, and with what accompanying words?

²¹ What Seraiah, the brother of Baruch, the son of Neriah, was commanded to do in order to illustrate the overthrow of ancient Babylon was copied in the book of Revelation. The writer, the Christian apostle John, first describes the destruction of the international religious “harlot,” Babylon the Great, and then he goes on to say:

²² “And a strong angel lifted up a stone like a great millstone and hurled it into the sea, saying: ‘Thus with a swift pitch will Babylon the great city be hurled down, and she will never be found again. . . . no voice of a bridegroom and of a bride will ever be heard in you again; because your traveling merchants were the top-ranking men of the earth, for by your spiritistic practice all the nations were misled. Yes, in her was found the blood of prophets and of holy ones and of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth.’”​—Rev. 18:21-24.

23. (a) Why will the rejoicing of the atheistic conquerors of Babylon the Great be short-lived? (b) So what will those atheists then attempt, and with what consequences?

²³ The rejoicing to which the atheistic “kings” or political rulers will give way after plunging Babylon the Great into the sea of destruction will be short-lived. Still confronting them will be many surviving worshipers of the living God Jehovah, these being the anointed remnant of the Jeremiah class and also their loyal companions, the “great crowd” foreseen by the apostle John. These will have to be dealt with. When those political rulers try to obliterate all worship from the earth by touching the remnant and their companions, it will be the same as touching their heavenly Master, Jesus Christ, the Greater Cyrus. This will spell war with him at Har–Magedon. The war that will then erupt will surpass the radiological warfare that the nations are now trying to prevent among themselves, for from the invisible realm Jesus Christ and his army of heavenly angels will deal out destruction to these presumptuous assailants of Jehovah’s Witnesses.

24. Who will have the privilege of being eyewitnesses of that “war of the great day,” and without having to take part in it, but with what reaction?

²⁴ What a great privilege it will be to be an eyewitness of that “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon! Under his protection and without having to take part in the fighting, the remnant of the Jeremiah class and their devoted companions will enjoy that privilege right here on earth, the battleground. Thus their having proclaimed “the day of vengeance on the part of our God” will be amply rewarded; it will not have been in vain. (Isa. 61:2) Who can now measure the extent of their jubilation then, along with that of all the holy angels of heaven under Christ?

25. (a) Into what opportunity will the “great crowd” of survivors be ushered after the “war”? (b) The prospect of such grand things should give what incentive now to Jehovah’s people?

²⁵ Radiant with joy, these living examples of Jehovah’s preserving power will move forward into his new system of things on a cleansed earth. The opportunity to start the rebuilding of a global paradise will then open up, this to be enjoyed by the faithful “great crowd” forever and ever. What incentive should the prospect of all these grand things give to all those who desire now to be numbered among “my people,” Jehovah’s people? The incentive to obey his ringing command to “get out” of presumptuous Babylon the Great without further delay, and then to hold fast to Christian neutrality toward all her political paramours, uncompromisingly upholding Jehovah’s kingdom by Christ to the glorious day of victory!

(This concludes the series of studies on Jeremiah’s prophecy.)