SCOURGE AND CONFUSION UPON THE ATTACKING ENEMIES

54, 55. Why does it make one shudder to think of what is prophesied to happen to the eyes and tongues of those attacking the heavenly Jerusalem?

⁵⁴ When the nations of earth make their coming final attack upon the “heavenly Jerusalem,” they will irreligiously scorn Jehovah’s Christian witnesses on earth and their tongues will doubtless abuse and blaspheme that most holy name. But not for long will their tongues wag in their mouths and their eyes look with disdain upon those who are proclaiming the kingdom of the “heavenly Jerusalem.” It makes us shudder to hear what will befall those attackers:

⁵⁵ “And this is what will prove to be the scourge with which Jehovah will scourge all the peoples that will actually do military service against Jerusalem: There will be a rotting away of one’s flesh, while one is standing upon one’s feet; and one’s very eyes will rot away in their sockets, and one’s very tongue will rot away in one’s mouth.

Zechariah 14:12-15.

56. Why could it not be with sincerity that the peoples of Christendom should express shock at the account of that scourge?

⁵⁶ Frightful? Gruesome? Sadistic? Ghoulish? Fiendish? Bible readers in Christendom may express shock at that inspired battle account! But would it not be hypocritical for them to do so? How can they sincerely be shocked, when the so-called “Christian” nations that they so patriotically support now stand prepared to fight the final war with the flaming napalm bombs dropped from airplanes, with liquid fire belched forth from guns, with corrosive chemical gases, with explosives that will blast away a person’s face so that the surviving victim needs to wear a mask and be fed intravenously, with nuclear bombs of such enormous power as to make tens of thousands of human creatures disappear into thin air? How can the supporters of such wartime viciousness find fault with Jehovah of armies? Let them rather be shocked, horrified, at themselves!

57. In reflecting on the severity of the scourge, what is the seriousness of the attack by the nations upon heavenly Jerusalem that we have to take into account?

⁵⁷ As we reflect upon the severity of the “scourge with which Jehovah will scourge all the peoples that will actually do military service against Jerusalem,” we need to bear in mind the seriousness of the action that the peoples and nations are taking. (Zechariah 14:12) In doing military service against the “city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem,” they are striking at the capital organization of the Great Theocrat, the Sovereign of the universe. What brazen impudence could be greater? What defiance could be more extreme, reach to greater heights? What an insult to the highest and greatest Personage in all the realm of existence! Such impudent, defiant, insulting revolters against the universal sovereignty of the Great Theocrat need to learn to know with whom they are dealing. “For our God is also a consuming fire.” “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 12:29; 10:31) It is into his hands that they are plunging when they hurl themselves in godless military service against what Jehovah says is like “my eyeball.”​—Zechariah 2:8.

58. In what way will the spiritual “Judah” be “warring at Jerusalem,” who will be warring alongside of them, and from what will they therefore be spared?

⁵⁸ The strike of the religiously disillusioned nations and peoples will be against that which visibly represents the “heavenly Jerusalem,” namely, the anointed remnant of spiritual Israelites “who have been enrolled in the heavens.” (Hebrews 12:22, 23) This is indicated when the prophecy says: “And Judah itself also will be warring at Jerusalem.” (Zechariah 14:14) With this anointed remnant who are warring spiritually for the interests of Jehovah’s theocratic capital city will be the “great crowd” of those individuals out of all nations, tribes and peoples who have taken their stand on the side of Jehovah’s theocratic government. (Revelation 7:9-17) Being warriors in defense of what the “heavenly Jerusalem” stands for, they will be spared from the “scourge with which Jehovah will scourge” all the attackers.

59. Whether applied literally as described, or not, what will be the effect of the scourge upon the attack forces?

⁵⁹ Whether the “scourge” will be literally as described in the prophecy, or not, silenced will be the mouths that are opened to let out terrifying war cries and threats! Tongues have rotted away. Powers of vision will suddenly go black, so that the fierce-eyed attackers can only strike out blindly against the object of their attack. Eyes have rotted away! Muscles and sinews of highly trained, physically developed warriors will lose strength, resilience, moveableness, as they stand on their feet ready for do-or-die action, not while they are lying on the ground as dead corpses. Flesh that clothes their skeletal structure has rotted away!