Chapter 19
The Impending “War of the Great Day of God the Almighty”
1. (a) What will the nations soon oblige Almighty God to write in “the book of the Wars of Jehovah,” and what was that book? (b) With what war will that book reach a grand climax?
THE NATIONS have at long last come to the time when they are obliging Almighty God to write the grand finale to “the book of the Wars of Jehovah.” (Numbers 21:14) That literal book was a record of the wars that Jehovah fought on behalf of his people. Evidently Moses read it. The book may have had its beginning with Abraham’s successful warfare against the kings who captured Lot, with Jehovah fighting for Abraham. (Genesis 14:1-16, 20) Soon now, “the book of the Wars of Jehovah” will be brought to a grand climax with a new chapter added—the account of his most glorious victory. That will be “the war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon, the finale with regard to this system of things. (Revelation 16:14, 16) The entire “book” will show that Almighty God has never lost a fight, or battle.
2, 3. (a) Since the beginning of Christianity, what has been true as to Jehovah’s fighting military “wars”? (b) What will provoke Jehovah into fighting for his servants in our time?
2 True, from the beginning of Christianity until now, Jehovah has safeguarded his people by means other than military wars. Never has Jehovah fought for his Christian witnesses as he did for Israel under the Mosaic Law. But the time will come in the near future when he will militarily fight for his devoted servants of modern times. What will provoke that war at Armageddon?
3 Prior to the outbreak of God’s war, Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, will have been destroyed. Satan the Devil and the irreligious political demolishers of Babylon the Great will resent the fact that Jehovah’s Witnesses will be the only religious group to survive. World rulers will not have attained their goal of a godless world. So, now, forward to the all-out attack upon the worshipers of Jehovah, whose universal sovereignty they deny and defy! Thus they will actually be fighting against God.—Revelation 17:14, 16; compare Acts 5:39.
“Jehovah of Armies” Resumes Military Activities
4. (a) How does Jehovah respond to Gog’s attack? (b) What will that response prove, in harmony with the name “Jehovah of armies”?
4 Satan the Devil, the symbolic Gog of Magog, will mastermind this attack on Jehovah’s people. When Gog uses his atheistic hordes to attack Jehovah’s people, to plunder and destroy them, Jehovah will step in and fight for his people, as foretold at Ezekiel 38:2, 12, 18-20. Jehovah’s response is also foretold at Zechariah 14:3: “Jehovah will certainly go forth and war against those nations as in the day of his warring, in the day of fight.” In this way the God of the Bible will give a witness to all the modern nations that he still is a Warrior God, just as he was in the days of ancient Israel, when, as recorded in the Hebrew Scriptures, he was described as “Jehovah of armies” 260 times.—Psalm 24:10; 84:12.
5, 6. (a) What war now breaks out, and who leads the heavenly armies into battle? (b) What account does the apostle John give of the heavenly armies going into battle?
5 When “the great day of God the Almighty” arrives, it will be the time for “the war” that will mark that day. Jehovah signals his Field Marshal, Jesus Christ. In the name of Jehovah, he and the heavenly armies of myriads of angels plunge into the battle, as if riding upon war horses. (Jude 14, 15) Like a war correspondent, the apostle John gives us an advance account of the smashing victory that Jehovah’s Field Marshal will gain in “the war of the great day of God the Almighty”:
6 “I saw the heaven opened, and, look! a white horse. And the one seated upon it is called Faithful and True, and he judges and carries on war in righteousness. His eyes are a fiery flame, and upon his head are many diadems . . . Also, the armies that were in heaven were following him on white horses, and they were clothed in white, clean, fine linen. And out of his mouth there protrudes a sharp long sword, that he may strike the nations with it, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron. He treads too the winepress of the anger of the wrath of God the Almighty. And upon his outer garment, even upon his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.”—Revelation 19:11-16.
7. What does the treading of the symbolic winepress of the anger of God signify for the nations?
7 The royal Field Marshal, Jesus Christ, leads the heavenly armies in a victorious charge against all the combined enemies at Armageddon. He turns that battlefield into a huge winepress! Since the King of kings “treads too the winepress of the anger of the wrath of God the Almighty,” this signifies that the nations will be thoroughly squashed. They will be dumped like ripe grapes into the tremendous “winepress,” where “the anger of the wrath of God the Almighty” will be brought to bear upon them with crushing effect. The heavenly armies will join in the treading of “the great winepress of the anger of God.”—Revelation 14:18-20.
8. How does Jehovah describe his war tactics?
8 Jehovah’s Witnesses on earth do not take up the “sword” against Gog’s hordes, but Jehovah does. This is his fight! And now at last the nations of this scientifically advanced world will see him fight! Listen as he describes his war tactics: “‘I will call forth against him [Gog] throughout all my mountainous region a sword,’ is the utterance of the Sovereign Lord Jehovah. ‘Against his own brother the sword of each one will come to be. And I will bring myself into judgment with him, with pestilence and with blood; and a flooding downpour and hailstones, fire and sulphur I shall rain down upon him and upon his bands and upon the many peoples that will be with him. And I shall certainly magnify myself and sanctify myself and make myself known before the eyes of many nations; and they will have to know that I am Jehovah.’”—Ezekiel 38:21-23.
Divine Weapons Used Against the Enemy
9. What are some of the weapons of warfare that Jehovah will use against his enemies?
9 As weapons of warfare, Jehovah will wield the forces of creation: flooding cloudbursts of rain, hailstones of death-dealing size, downpours of streaking fire and sulphur, spouting waters from deep within the earth, and crackling lightnings. At the flashing of God’s means of death to his enemies, the light will be so intense by day and by night that the natural sun and moon will appear to be no longer needed for illumination. It will be as if they stood still, not functioning as light bearers but letting Jehovah’s radiant missiles put on a display of illuminating power. (Habakkuk 3:10, 11) Jehovah has an abundance of natural phenomena at his disposal for fighting.—Joshua 10:11; Job 38:22, 23, 29.
10. According to Zechariah 14:12, what else will Jehovah use in the coming “day of fight”?
10 In the coming “day of fight,” Jehovah will also use pestilence and “the scourge.” The prophet Zechariah wrote about this: “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.
11. What will happen when “the scourge” hits the warriors who are attacking Jehovah’s people?
11 Whether “the scourge” will be literal or not, it will silence the mouths that are opened to let out terrifying threats! Tongues rotted away! Powers of vision will cease, so that the fierce-eyed attackers can only strike out blindly. Eyes rotted away! Muscles of mighty warriors will lose strength while they stand on their feet—not while they are lying on the ground as corpses. Flesh that clothes their skeletal structures rotted away!—Compare Habakkuk 3:5.
12. How will “the scourge” affect the enemy’s military camps and equipment?
12 “The scourge” hits suddenly at their military camps. Mobile equipment for the attack is helplessly immobilized! (Zechariah 14:15; compare Exodus 14:24, 25.) Indicating how useless their military equipment will be are the words of Zechariah 14:6: “It must occur in that day that there will prove to be no precious light—things will be congealed.” No heavenly light of divine favor will shine upon them. Artificial lights of modern science will not remove the darkness of divine disfavor. Operational things will be immobilized, as if stiffened by cold—congealed.
13. What will add to the terror that Jehovah stirs up among the attackers?
13 All of this is terrifying enough! But adding to the terror is the confusion that God will stir up among the attackers. Their unitedness of action against Jehovah’s Witnesses will be broken up. Like gladiators with a blinding helmet over their heads in a Roman arena, they will strike at one another sightlessly. The death-dealing confusion will become widespread as they engage in mutual slaughter.—Zechariah 14:13.
14. (a) How extensive will the slaughter be at that time, and how will the birds and the beasts share in the benefits of Jehovah’s victory? (b) What attitude will the survivors have toward “those slain by Jehovah”?
14 The mass slaughter on that day of days will be enormous, for the forces lined up on Gog’s side in that battle will be tremendous. (Revelation 19:19-21) That will indeed be a global conflict, for no section of the earth will escape the destruction. Moreover, those slaughtered at Armageddon will not be laid in graves with markers to memorialize them. Birds of every sort and beasts of the field will share in the benefits of God’s triumph and, at the same time, help cleanse the earth of the many carcasses that will lie strewed upon the ground like fertilizer, unlamented, unburied, abhorred by the survivors. (Ezekiel 39:1-5, 17-20; Revelation 19:17, 18) “Those slain by Jehovah” will have earned eternal infamy for themselves.—Jeremiah 25:32, 33; Isaiah 66:23, 24.
Jehovah’s Name Beautified
15. What outstanding event will then have been accomplished, and with what effect on Jehovah’s name?
15 Thus, “Jehovah of armies” by means of his Field Marshal, Jesus Christ, will gain undying glory for himself. The greatest event of universal history will then have been accomplished—the vindication of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and the sanctification of his sacred name. (Ezekiel 38:23; 39:6, 7) Jehovah will make a name for himself surpassing anything that was described in “the book of the Wars of Jehovah” and in the Hebrew Scriptures of the Holy Bible. (Compare Isaiah 63:12-14.) How beautiful a name Jehovah will make for himself by his awe-inspiring victory in “the war of the great day of God the Almighty”! Jubilantly all lovers of that name will then laud it forever, singing forth its praises!
16. In view of the impending “war of the great day of God the Almighty,” what prayer is offered in behalf of the “great crowd”?
16 Forward, then, into battle action, O Jehovah of armies, with your royal Son Jesus Christ at your side! (Psalm 110:5, 6) Let your faithful witnesses on earth become the joyous witnesses of your peerless victory by means of your King Jesus Christ at “the war of the great day of God the Almighty.” Let the “great crowd” exultantly “come out of the great tribulation” to be your earthly witnesses forever. (Revelation 7:14) Under your loving care, let them survive into the warless Millennial Reign of your victorious “Prince of Peace.” Let them be a visible testimony to the resurrected dead in vindication of the sovereignty that is rightly yours over all the universe. Thank you for writing the grand finale to “the book of the Wars of Jehovah.” To an eternity of time, let this account of your matchless victory remain in the annals of universal history!
[Picture on page 156, 157]
“Jehovah of armies” will war against the nations