And all those of the army of the heavens must rot away. And the heavens must be rolled up, just like a book scroll; and their army will all shrivel away, just as the leafage shrivels off the vine and like a shriveled fig off the fig tree.”​—Isaiah 34:1-4, NW; Je.

28. In this prophecy, the expression “all those of the army of the heavens” refers to what, and what happens to them?

²⁸ By the prophet’s expression, “all those of the army of the heavens,” he does not mean the stars and planets of our skies such as the sun, the moon and the milky way, and the far distant galaxies of stars. Rather, the governments over mankind are, because of their loftiness as superior authorities, likened to a heavens over earthly human society. (Romans 13:1-4) So the “army of the heavens” would be the combined armies of these heavenlike governments of mankind. This “army,” seemingly the strongest part of the heaven-high governments, will “rot away,” molder away, like something perishable. The literal heavens above us seem to be arched, curved, like an ancient book scroll, the writing on which was generally on the concave side, the inner side. The sun, moon and stars of our skies appear on the stretched-out arch of our skies, like the things written upon the inner side of a book scroll.

29. How do the symbolic heavens prove to be “just like a book scroll” and “like a shriveled fig”?

²⁹ When the material written on the inner side of the scroll has passed before the eyes of the reader, then the finished scroll is rolled up and put away. Similarly, “the heavens must be rolled up, just like a book scroll,” in that the heavenlike governments whose “army” has played its part visibly on the pages of human history must come to their end, must come to the last page of their history, and, hence, must be brought to their finish, done away with, put away and with no further permission from God to exist. Those of their impressive-looking “army” lose the freshness of life and fall, disappear from sight of those who have read their history, just like shriveled leaves that fall off the grapevine and like the shriveled fig that drops off the fig tree. Their season is over.​—Compare the language of Revelation 6:12-14.