The Warrior-King Triumphs At Armageddon

Armageddon-a fearsome word to many! But to lovers of righteousness, it betokens the long-awaited day when Jehovah will execute his final judgment on the nations. It is not man's war but "the war of the great day of God the Almighty" -his day of vengeance against the earth's rulers. (Revelation 16:14, 16; Ezekiel 25:17) with the desolating of Babylon the Great, the great tribulation will already have started. Then, urged on by Satan, the scarlet-colored wild beast and its ten horns will concentrate their attack on Jehovah's people. The Devil, more wrathful than ever at God's womanlike organization, is determined to use his dupes in waging war to a finish with the remaining ones of her seed. (Revelation 12:17) This is Satan's last opportunity!

The Devil's vicious assault is vividly described in Ezekiel chapter 38. There, the debased Satan is called "God of the land of Magog." Jehovah puts figurative hooks in God's jaws, drawing him and his numerous military force to the attack. How does he do this? By causing Gog to see His witnesses as a defenseless people "gathered together out of the nations, one that is accumulating wealth and property, those who are dwelling in the center of the earth." These hold the center stage on earth as the one people to have refused to worship the wild beast and its image. Their spiritual strength ans prosperity enrage Gog. So Gog and his numerous military force, including the wild beast out of the sea with its ten horns, swarm in for the kill. Unlike Babylon the Great, however, God's clean people enjoy divine protection! -Ezekiel 38:1, 4, 11, 12, 15; Revelation 13:1.

How does Jehovah dispose of Gog and all his crowd? Listen! "'I will call forth against him 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.' " But neither nuclear nor conventional arms will avail in that strife, for Jehovah declares: "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; 39:11; compare Joshua 10:8-14; Judges 7:19-22; 2 Chronicles 20:15, 22-24; Job 38:22, 23.

Next time: The One Called "Faithful And True"

Revelation Its Grand Climax At Hand! Watchtower Bible And Tract Society, 1988