Chapter Thirty-Two/God's Anger Brought to a Finish - The Gathering to Armageddon

 John tells us: "And I saw three unclean inspire expressions that looked like frogs come out of the mouth of the wild beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are, in fact, expressions inspired by demons and perform signs, and they go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together for the war of the great day of the Almighty." (Revelation 16:13, 14) In Moses' day, Jehovah brought a loathsome plague of frogs on Pharaoh's Egypt, so that the land began to stink." (Exodus 8:5-15) During the Lord's day, there has also been a disgusting froglike visitation though from a different source. It consists of Satan's "unclean inspired expressions, "clearly symbolizing propaganda designed to maneuver all human rulers, "kings into opposition to Jehovah God. Satan thus makes sure that they are not swayed by the pouring out of the bowls of God's anger but are firmly on Satan's side when "the war of the great day of God the Almighty" begins.

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Chapter Thirty-Two/God's Anger Brought to a Finish -The River Euphrates Dried Up - Conclusion

 Who are these kings? In 539 B.C.E, they were Darius the Mede and Cyrus the Persian, who were used by Jehovah to conquer the ancient city of Babylon. In this the Lord's day, the false religious system of Babylon the Great will also be destroyed by human rulers. But again, this will be a divine judgment. Jehovah God and Jesus Christ, "the kings from the rising of the sun, will have put into the hearts of human rulers the "thought" to turn on Babylon the Great and destroy her utterly. (Revelation 17:16, 17) The pouring out of the sixth bowl proclaims publicly that this judgment is about to be executed! 

These first six bowls of Jehovah's anger carry a sobering message. God's earthly servants, supported by the angels, have been busy publicizing their contents on an earth-wide scale in this way, due warning has been served on all sectors of Satan's world system. And Jehovah has provided individuals an opportunity to turn to righteousness and keep living. (Ezekiel 33:14-16) Still, one more bowl of God's anger remains. But before telling us about it, Revelation reveals how Satan and his earthly agents are trying to counteract the publicizing of Jehovah's judgments. 

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Chapter Thirty-Two/God's Anger Brought to a Finish - The River Euphrates Dried Up - Continue

 Babylon the Great "sits on many waters." According to Revelation 17:1, 15, these symbolize "peoples and crowds and nations and tongues"-hordes of adherents that she has regarded as protection. But the "waters" are drying up! in Western Europe, where formers she had great influence, hundreds of millions have openly ignored religion. In some Eastern European lands, there is a declared policy to try to destroy the influence of religion. The masses in those lands have not risen up on her behalf. Similarly, when the time comes for Babylon the Great to be destroyed, the dwindling number of her adherents will prove to be no protection at all. (Revelation 17:16) Though she claims a membership of thousands of millions, Babylon the Great will herself defenseless against "the kings of the rising of the sun." 

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Chapter Thirty-Two/God's Anger Brought to a Finish - The River Euphrates Dried Up

 The sixth trumpet blast heralded the releasing of the "four angels that are bound at the great river Euphrates." (Revelation 9:14) Historically, Babylon was the great city that sat of the river Euphrates. And in 1919 the real release of the symbolic four angels accompanied a significant fall of Babylon the Great. (Revelation 14:8) It is noteworthy, then, that the sixth bowl of God's anger also involves the river Euphrates: "And the sixth one poured out his bowl upon the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, that the way might be prepared from the kings of the rising of the sun." (Revelation 16:12) This too is bad news for Babylon the Great!

In ancient Babylon's heyday, the abundant waters of the Euphrates were a major part of her defense system. In 539 B.C.E. those waters dried up when they were diverted from their course by the Persian leader Cyrus. Thus, the way was open for Cyrus the Persia and Darius the Mede, the kings from "the rising of the sun" (that is, the east), to enter into Babylon and conquer it. In the hour of crisis, the river Euphrates failed in the defense of that great city.  (Isaiah44:27-455:7; Jeremiah 51:36) Something similar is due to happen to modern Babylon, the worldwide system of false religion.

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Chapter Thirty-Two/God's Anger Brought to a Finish -Darkness and Gnawing Pain

 As world ruler, Satan has caused much unhappiness and suffering. Famine, wars, violence, crime, drug abuse, immorality, sexually transmitted diseases, dishonesty, religious  hypocrisy-these and more are the hallmarks of Satan's system of things. (Compare Galatians 5:19-21.) Even so, the public exposure of Satan as the god of this system of things caused pain and embarrassment to those who live by his standards. "They began to gnaw their tongues for their pain," especially in Christendom. Many resent that the truth exposes their lifestyle., Some find it threatening, and they persecute those publish it. They reject God's Kingdom and revile Jehovah's holy name. Their religiously diseased, ulcerous condition is laid bare, so that they blaspheme the God of heaven. No, they do "not repent of their works." So we cannot expect a mass conversion before the end of this system of things. - ISAIAH 32:6.

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Chapter Thirty-Two/God's Anger Brought to a Finish -Darkness and Gnawing Pain - Continue

 The fifth trumpet blast is not exactly the same as the fifth bowl of God's anger, since the trumpet blasts heralded a plague of locusts. But notice that at the release of that plague of locusts, there was a darkening of the sun and the air.  (Revelation 9:2-5) And at Exodus 10:14, 15, we read concerning the locusts with which Jehovah plagued Egypt: 'They were very burdensome. Before them there had never turned up in this way locusts like them, and there will never turn up any in this way after them. And they went covering the visible surface of the entire land, and the land grew dark." Yes, darkness! Today, the world's spiritual darkness has become all too evident as a result of the sounding of the fifth trumpet and the pouring out of the fifth bowl of God's anger. The stinging message proclaimed by the modern-day locust swarm brings torment and pain to those wicked ones who "have loved the darkness rather than the light." - JOHN 3:19. 

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Chapter Thirty-Two/God's Anger Brought to a Finish - Darkness and Gnawing Pain

 The kingdom of this wild beast has been in spiritual darkness ever since its beginning.  (Compare Matthew8:12; Ephesians 6:11, 12.) The fifth bowl brings intensified public announcement of this darkness. It even dramatizes it, in that this bowl of God's anger is poured out upon the very throne of the symbolic wild beast. "And the kingdom became darkened, and they began to gnaw their tongues for their pain, but they blasphemed the God of heaven for their pains and for their ulcers, and they did not repent of their works." - REVELATION 16:10b, 11. 

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Chapter Thirty-Two/God's Anger Brought to a Finish - The Throne of the Wild Beast - Conclusion

How is this relationship between Satan and the nations maintained? When Satan tempted Jesus, he showed him all the kingdoms of the world in a vision and offered "all this authority and the glory of them." But there was a condition-Jesus first had to perform an act of worship before Satan.  (Luke 4:5-7) Can we imagine that the governments of this world received their authority at a lesser price? Not at all. According to the Bible, Satan is the god of this system of things, so that, whether the nations are aware of it or not, they serve him. (2 Corinthians 4:3, 4) This situation is revealed in the makeup of the present world system, which is built on narrow nationalism, hatred, and self-interest. It is organized the way Satan wants it-to keep mankind under his control. The corruption in government, the lust for power, the lying diplomacy, the armaments race-these reflect Satan's debased personality. The world subscribes to Satan's unrighteous standards, thus making him its god. The throne of the wild beast will be overthrown when that beast suffers extinction and the Seed of God's woman finally abysses Satan himself. 

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Chapter Thirty-Two/God's Anger Brought to a Finish - The Throne of the Wild Beast

 Upon what does the next angel pour his bowl? "And the fifth one poured out his bowl upon the throne of the wild beast." (Revelation 16:10a) "The wild beast" is Satan's governmental system. It does not have a literal throne, any more than the wild beast itself is literal. Mention of a throne, however, shows that the wild beast has exercised royal authority over mankind; this is in harmony with the fact that each of the beast's heads bears a royal diadem. In fact, "the throne of the wild beast" is the foundation, or a source, of that authority. The Bible reveals the true situation of the royal authority of the wild beast when it says that "the dragon gave to the beast its power and its throne and its authority. " (Revelation 13:1, 2;1 John5:19) Thus, the pouring out of the bowl upon the throne of the wild beast involves a proclamation revealing the true role that Satan has played and still plays in supporting and promoting the wild beast. 

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Chapter Thirty-Two/God's Anger Brought to a Finish - Scorching Men With Fire - Conclusion

 After the first world war, the rulers of this world formed a League of Nations in an effort to solve the problem of world security, but this failed. So other experimental types of rulership were tried, such as Fascism and Nazism. Communism continued to expand. Rather than improve mankind's lot, the sunlike rulers in these systems began to 'scorch mankind with great heat.' Local wars in Spain, Ethiopia, and Manchuria led up to the second world war. Modern history records that Musolini, Hitler, and Stalin as dictators become responsible directly and indirectly, for deaths of tens of millions, including many of their nationals. More recently, international or civil conflicts have "scorched " the people of countries such as Vietnam, Kampuchea, Iran, Lebanon, and Ireland, as well as countries in Latin America and Africa. Add to this the ongoing struggle between the superpowers, are those horrendous nuclear weapons are capable of incinerating all mankind. In these days, humanity has surely been exposed to a scorching "sun," its unrighteous rulers. The pouring out of the fourth bowl of God's anger has pinpointed these historic facts, and God's people have proclaimed them throughout the earth. 

Jehovah's Witnesses have consistently taught that the only solution to mankind's baffling problems is God's Kingdom, through which Jehovah purposes to sanctify is name. (Psalm83:4, 17, 18; Matthew 6:9, 10) Mankind, however, as a whole turned a deaf ear to this solution. Many who reject the Kingdom also blaspheme the name of God, even as Pharaoh did when he refused to acknowledge Jeehovah's sovereignty. (Exodus 1:8-10; 5:2) Having no interest in the Messianic Kingdom, these opposers choose to suffer under their own torrid "sun" of oppressive human rulership. 

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