Waging War Against The Holy Ones

The wily Satan had plans for manipulating the wild beast to his own ends. John explains this: " And a mouth speaking great things and blasphemies was given it [the seven-headed beast], and authority to act forty-two months was given it. And it opened its mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme his name and his residence, even those residing in heaven. And there was granted it to wage war with the holy ones and conquer them, and authority was given it over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. And all those who dwell on the earth will worship it; the name of not one of them stands written in the scroll of life of the Lamb who was slaughtered, from the founding of the world." -Revelation 13:5-8.

The 42 months mentioned here appear to be the same as the three and a half years during which the holy ones are harassed by a horn arising from one of the beasts in Daniel's prophecy. (Daniel 7:23-25; see also Revelation 11:1-4) Thus, from the latter part of 1914 on into 1918, while the warring nations were literally tearing at one another like wild beasts, citizens of those nations were pressured to worship the wild beast,to indulge in the religion of nationalism, even to be ready to die for their country. Such pressure led to intense suffering on the part of many of the anointed ones, who felt that their higher obedience belonged to Jehovah God and his Son, Christ Jesus. (Acts 5:29) Their trials came to a climax in May 1918, when they were 'conquered.' In the United States, prominent officers and other representatives of the Watchtower Society were wrongly imprisoned, and the organized preaching by their Christian brothers was greatly hindered. Having authority "over every tribe and people and tongue and nation," the wild beast clamped down on God's work worldwide.

This seemed like a victory for Satan and his organization. But it could bring them no long-term benefits, since no one in Satan's visible organization had his name written in "the scroll of life of the Lamb." Figuratively, this scroll contains the names of those who will rule with Jesus in his heavenly Kingdom. The first names were written in it at Pentecost 33 C.E. And in the years since then, more and more names have been added. Since 1918, the sealing of the remaining ones of the 144,000 Kingdom heirs has been proceeding to completion. Soon, the names of all of them will be written in that scroll. So any apparent victory these may have over "the holy ones" is an empty one, merely temporary.

John now calls upon those with discernment to listen very carefully: "If anyone has an ear, let him hear." Then he goes on to say: "If anyone is meant for captivity, he goes away into captivity. If anyone will kill with the sword, he must be killed with the sword. Here is where it means the endurance and faith of the holy ones." (Revelation 13:9, 10) Jeremiah wrote words quite similar to these in the years preceding 607 B.C.E., to show that there was no turning back of Jehovah's judgments for the unfaithful city of Jerusalem. (Jeremiah 15:2; see also Jeremiah 43:11; Zechariah 11:9) In his time of great trial, Jesus made it plain that is followers must not compromise when he said: "All those who take the sword will perish by the sword." (Matthew 26:52) Similarly, now in the Lord's day God's people must hold fast to Bible principles. There will be no final escape for unrepentant ones who worship the wild beast. All of us will need endurance, along with unshakable faith,in order to survive the persecutions and trials that lie ahead. -Hebrews 10:36-39; 11:16.

Next time: The Two-Horned Wild Beast