Jehovah's Wrath Against "The Earth"

The first angel goes into action! "And the first one went off and poured out his bowl into the earth. And a hurtful and malignant ulcer came to be upon the men that had the mark of the wild beast and that were worshiping its image." (Revelation 16:2) As in the case of the first trumpet blast, "the earth" here symbolizes the stable-looking political system that Satan began to build here on earth back in Nimrod's time, over 4,000 years ago. -Revelation 8:7.

In these last days, many governments have demanded what amounts to worship from their subjects, insisting that the State must be exalted above God or any other loyalty. (2Timothy 3:1; compare Luke 20:25; John 19:15) Since 1914 it has become common for nations to conscript their youth in order for them to fight, or be ready to fight, the kind of total warfare that has so bloodied the pages of modern history. During the Lord's day, the nations have also produced, as a substitute for God's Kingdom, the image of the beast - the League of Nation and its successor, the United Nations. What Blasphemy to proclaim, as recent popes have done, that this man-made body is the nations' sole hope for peace! It staunchly opposes God's Kingdom. Those who worship it become spiritually unclean, ulcerated, just as the Egyptians who opposed Jehovah in Moses' day were plagued by literal sores and ulcers. - Exodus 9:10, 11.

The contents of this bowl strongly emphasize the choice that lies before humans. They must suffer either the world's disapproval or Jehovah's indignation. Mankind has been put under compulsion to accept the mark of the wild beast, with the intent that "nobody might be able to buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of its name." (Revelation 13:16, 17) But there is a price to pay for this! Jehovah regards those who accept the mark as being stricken with "a hurtful and malignant ulcer." Since 1922 they have been marked in public as having rejected the living God. Their political schemes have no success, and they suffer anguish. Spiritually, they are unclean. Unless they repent, this "hurtful" illness will be terminal, for it is now Jehovah's day of judgment. There is no neutral ground between being a part of the world's system of things and serving Jehovah on the side of his Christ. -Luke 11:23; compare James 4:4.

Next time: The Sea Becomes Blood