Protection in Dangerous Times

16, 17. (a) In 539 B.C.E., what did the Jews need to do in order to survive the fall of Babylon? (b) Likely, what are the “interior rooms” today, and how do they benefit us?

¹⁶ Jehovah’s servants always need his protection. Soon, though, he will stretch out his hand for the last time against Satan’s world, and his worshipers will need his help as never before. (1 John 5:19) Regarding that dangerous time, Jehovah warns us: “Go, my people, enter into your interior rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for but a moment until the denunciation passes over.

Isaiah 26:20,

This warning showed the Jews how to survive the fall of Babylon in 539 B.C.E. Those who heeded it would have stayed in their houses, safe from the conquering soldiers out in the streets.

¹⁷ Today, the “interior rooms” of the prophecy likely have to do with the tens of thousands of congregations of Jehovah’s people around the world. Such congregations are a protection even now, a place where Christians find safety among their brothers, under the loving care of the elders. (Isaiah 32:1, 2; Hebrews 10:24, 25) This is especially true in view of the nearness of the end of this system of things when survival will depend on obedience.​—Zephaniah 2:3.