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Who Will Survive the Day of Jehovah?The Watchtower—2002 | May 1
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Who Will Survive the Day of Jehovah?
“The day is coming that is burning like the furnace.”—MALACHI 4:1.
1. How does Malachi describe the end of this wicked system?
THE prophet Malachi was inspired by God to record prophecies of awesome events that will take place in the very near future. These events will affect every person on earth. Malachi 4:1 foretells: “‘Look! the day is coming that is burning like the furnace, and all the presumptuous ones and all those doing wickedness must become as stubble. And the day that is coming will certainly devour them,’ Jehovah of armies has said, ‘so that it will not leave to them either root or bough.’” How complete will be the destruction of this wicked system of things? It will be like a tree the roots of which have been destroyed so that it can never grow again.
2. How do certain scriptures describe Jehovah’s day?
2 You may ask, ‘What “day” is the prophet Malachi foretelling?’ It is the same day spoken of at Isaiah 13:9, which declares: “Look! The day of Jehovah itself is coming, cruel both with fury and with burning anger, in order to make the land an object of astonishment, and that it may annihilate the land’s sinners out of it.” Zephaniah 1:15 provides this description: “That day is a day of fury, a day of distress and of anguish, a day of storm and of desolation, a day of darkness and of gloominess, a day of clouds and of thick gloom.”
“The Great Tribulation”
3. What is “the day of Jehovah”?
3 In the major fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy, “the day of Jehovah” is a period of time characterized by “great tribulation.” Jesus foretold: “Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” (Matthew 24:21) Think of the distress the world has already seen, especially since 1914. (Matthew 24:7-12) Why, World War II alone took over 50 million lives! Yet, “the great tribulation” will see calamities that will dwarf such troubles. That event, the same as the day of Jehovah, ends with Armageddon, bringing to a close the last days of this wicked system.—2 Timothy 3:1-5, 13; Revelation 7:14; 16:14, 16.
4. When the day of Jehovah concludes, what will have happened?
4 By the end of that day of Jehovah, Satan’s world and its supporters will have been annihilated. First to go will be all false religion. Then Jehovah’s judgment will be expressed against Satan’s economic and political systems. (Revelation 17:12-14; 19:17, 18) Ezekiel prophesies: “Into the streets they will throw their very silver, and an abhorrent thing their own gold will become. Neither their silver nor their gold will be able to deliver them in the day of Jehovah’s fury.” (Ezekiel 7:19) Regarding that day Zephaniah 1:14 says: “The great day of Jehovah is near. It is near, and there is a hurrying of it very much.” In view of what the Bible says about Jehovah’s day, we should be determined to act in harmony with God’s righteous requirements.
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Who Will Survive the Day of Jehovah?The Watchtower—2002 | May 1
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9. How did Malachi’s prophecies have a preliminary fulfillment?
9 Those words also had a fulfillment in the first century C.E. A remnant of Jews served Jehovah and became part of a new “nation” of spirit-anointed Christians, which came to include Gentiles. But the vast majority of natural Israel rejected Jesus. Jesus therefore told that nation of Israel: “Look! Your house is abandoned to you.” (Matthew 23:38; 1 Corinthians 16:22) In 70 C.E., as foretold at Malachi 4:1, a “day . . . burning like the furnace” came upon fleshly Israel. Jerusalem and her temple were destroyed, and it is reported that over one million people died as a result of famine, power struggles, and attacks by the Roman armies. However, those who served Jehovah escaped that tribulation.—Mark 13:14-20.
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