Friday, February 14, 2020

The War to End All Wars (Amended Version of a Talk)

Jehovah is the God of peace, but during the war of Armageddon, he will become an awe-inspiring warrior: Jehovah and his Son will conduct the war to end all wars. One reason that God becomes a warrior at times is because of unrighteous conditions on the earth. If peace will ever fill the earth, the wicked must not be here (Psalm 37:10, 11). Proverbs 21:18 proclaims that the wicked serve as a ransom for the righteous. Destroying the wicked is a last resort for Jehovah since he desires that all people attain to repentance (2 Peter 3:9), but yet not all people choose to repent.

For us to learn more about the war to end all wars, let us read Revelation 19:11, 14-16.

In vision, the apostle John saw the glorified Jesus Christ riding on a white horse and along with him were angels also seated on white horses. This vision signifies the righteous and just warfare that Jesus Christ will wage on Jehovah's behalf. Earlier, John depicted Christ riding a white horse in Revelation 6:2-8: this figurative ride of the Lord will end with the conquest of his enemies (1 Corinthians 15:24-28).

Notice how this point is emphasized in Revelation 19:19-20.

John now sees the seven-headed, ten-horned wild beast from the sea, which represents Satan’s political organization, being destroyed, and along with the beast goes the false prophet, the seventh world power. In what sense are they thrown into the lake of fire while still alive? Is this a literal lake of fire? No, especially since the wild beast and the false prophet are not literal animals. Rather, the lake of fire depicts complete and final destruction, a place of no return. Remember that death and Hades, as well as the Devil himself, later will be hurled into the same figurative lake (Revelation 20:10-15). The very idea of eternal torment is something detestable to Jehovah (Jeremiah 7:31).

Not only will the religious and political elements of Satan's system be destroyed, but so will all humans who oppose God’s sovereignty.

Read Revelation 19:21

All others who were not directly part of government but who were nevertheless an irreformable part of this corrupt world of mankind are likewise “killed off with the long sword of the one seated on the horse.” Jesus will pronounce them deserving of death. Will these people have a resurrection since Revelation does not say they're cast into the lake of fire?

Nowhere are we told that those executed by Jehovah’s Judge at that time are to be resurrected. As Jesus himself stated, all those who are not “sheep” go off “into the everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels,” that is, “into everlasting cutting-off.” (Matthew 25:33, 41, 46) These events culminate in “the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.”

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