Soon, the king of the north will conduct an offensive campaign that will be triggered by “reports that will disturb him, out of the sunrising and out of the north.”

A Report Out Of the Sunrising

16. (a) What outstanding event must happen before Armageddon? (b) Who are “the kings from the rising of the sun”?

¹⁶ Before the final battle, Armageddon, a great enemy of true worship must be destroyed​—harlotlike Babylon the Great, the worldwide empire of false religion. (Revelation 18:3-8) Her destruction is foreshadowed by the pouring out of the sixth bowl of God’s wrath on the symbolic river Euphrates. The river dries up “that the way might be prepared for the kings from the rising of the sun.” (Revelation 16:12) Who are these kings? None other than Jehovah God and Jesus Christ!a

17. (a) What does the Bible tell us about the destruction of Babylon the Great? (b) What may the report “out of the sunrising” prove to be?

¹⁷ The destruction of Babylon the Great is graphically described in the book of Revelation: “The ten horns that you saw [the ‘kings’ ruling in the time of the end], and the wild beast [the scarlet-colored wild beast, representing the United Nations organization], 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.” (Revelation 17:16) Truly, the nations ‘destroy much flesh’! (Daniel 7:5) But why will the rulers, including the king of the north, destroy Babylon the Great? Because ‘God puts it into their hearts to carry out his thought.’ (Revelation 17:17) The report “out of the sunrising” may well refer to this act of Jehovah, when, in a way that he chooses, he puts it into the hearts of human leaders to annihilate the great religious harlot.​—Daniel 11:44.

The angel told Daniel: “There will be reports that will disturb him [the king of the north], out of the sunrising and out of the north, and he will certainly go forth in a great rage in order to annihilate and to devote many to destruction.