The Fire of Jehovah
Monday, October 19, 2009 at 8:40PM Originally published in 2007
Fire is the most destructive phenomenon known to man. As such it is used throughout the Scriptures to symbolize destruction.
The most common example is that that of Gehenna, which has been wrongly translated as “hell” or even “hell fire” in some Bibles. As Jehovah’s Witnesses know, the original Gehenna was a place called the Valley of Hinnom located outside of Jerusalem proper, which had been a place where the detestable practice of child sacrifice had been carried out, but during the time of Christ had become the site of a common refuse dump. Chunks of sulphur were used to keep the incinerating fires burning in order to consume the refuse. Animal carcasses and even the bodies of men deemed unfit for an honorable burial were pitched into the perpetually burning fires of the city dump. When Jesus was on earth he referred to Gehenna as the place where the maggot never dies and where the fires are always burning and he did so to illustrate the irreversibleness and permanence of God’s judgments against the wicked.
In numerous places in prophecy fire has been used as a symbol of destruction. For instance, according to the 18th chapter of Revelation the iniquitous harlot of Babylon is destined to be “completely burned with fire.”
2 Peter 3:5-7 uses fire as a symbol for the means by which the entire present system will undergo destruction: “For, according to their wish, this fact escapes their notice, that there were heavens from of old and an earth standing compactly out of water and in the midst of water by the word of God; and by those means the world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water. But by the same word the heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.”
Just as the ancient world had the means of its own destruction built into creation in the form of the heavenly ocean (deluge) that God had suspended high above the earth during the second creative “day,” the apostle Peter indicates that the present system, referred to as “the heavens and the earth that are now,” similarly has the means of its fiery destruction already stored up.
The Hebrew prophecies establish a pattern and provide a preview of the judgments to come. Perhaps the most significant (but least understood) prophecies in the Bible have to do with the prophetic shadows cast by the downfall of ancient Tyre and Egypt. The prophecies pertaining to Tyre and Egypt provide a pattern for God’s oncoming judgment.
Ezekiel’s prophecy portrays the king of Tyre as the “anointed cherub that is covering” — “in Eden, the garden of God.” That is, of course, a clear reference to Satan’s original position as the protective cherub (angel) whom Jehovah assigned to watch over Adam and Eve in Eden. Clearly, though, the Garden of Eden no longer existed in Ezekiel’s day. However, Satan the Devil did exist then and he remains the unseen ruler of the nations to this day. Needless to say, too, the downfall of Tyre did not destroy the satanic covering cherub. However, Satan and his demons will be forcefully removed from their place in heaven at the coming of the Lord, Jesus Christ. That being the case, and in view of the striking similarity between ancient Tyre and the modern empire of the City of London, Ezekiel’s prophetic judgments against “the leader of Tyre” clearly have relevance for the judgment to come.
Whereas the king of Tyre is portrayed as the appointed overseer of God’s garden of nations, Egypt is symbolized as the greatest treelike nation in Eden. Taken together the prophecies of Ezekiel and Isaiah are in actuality directed against the Anglo-American dual world power and their satanic overlord. 
What is most significant regarding the overthrow of Tyre and Egypt is that the prophecies describe their fall as affecting all the nations. For example, the fall of Tyre is prophesied to rock all the islands of the earth and cause their kings to step down off their thrones. Ezekiel 26:15-18 says: “At the sound of your downfall, when the fatally wounded one groans, when there is a killing with slaughter in the midst of you, will not the islands rock? And down from their thrones all the chieftains of the sea will certainly come and remove their sleeveless coats, and they will strip off their own embroidered garments. They will put on trembling spells. Upon the earth they will sit down, and they will certainly tremble every moment and stare in amazement at you… Now the islands will tremble in the day of your downfall. And the islands that are in the sea must be disturbed owing to your going out.”
As regards the fall of Egypt Ezekiel 32:10 reads: “And at you I shall certainly cause many peoples to be awestruck, and their kings themselves will shudder in horror at you when I brandish my sword in their faces, and they will have to tremble every moment, each one for his own soul, on the day of your downfall.”
It is evident that the prophecies seem to be overstating the international ramifications of the fall of ancient Tyre and Egypt. After all, the faraway islands that were Tyre’s trading partners would have had no reason to fear being over-reached by Nebuchadnezzar’s sword. However, it would seem to be accurately describing the consternation of the nations if the present Anglo-American dyad were to suddenly fall from their place of preeminence.
Although Tyre and Egypt were both conquered by Nebuchadnezzar’s Babylon the prophecies also describe God’s judgment being manifest in the form of fire from Jehovah. This is because the prophetic patterns pertain to the debasement of Satan and the demons by Christ, at his coming into his kingdom. The overthrow of Satan will set into motion a series of events, the first of which is that the Devil will be compelled to set a match to his own system and then impose a totalitarian world government as an alternative to Christ’s then ruling kingdom.
Passing sentence upon the satanic king of Tyre Ezekiel 28:18-19 says: “Owing to the abundance of your errors, because of the injustice of your sales goods, you have profaned your sanctuaries. And I shall bring forth a fire from the midst of you. It is what must devour you. And I shall make you ashes upon the earth before the eyes of all those seeing you. As for all those knowing you among the peoples, they will certainly stare in amazement at you. Sudden terrors are what you must become, and you will be no more to time indefinite.”
As regards Egypt, Ezekiel 30:8 says: “And they will have to know that I am Jehovah when I set a fire in Egypt and all its helpers are actually broken.”
Further down in verses 13 and 14 Jehovah states: “And I will bring Pathros to desolation and set a fire in Zoan and execute acts of judgment in No. And I will pour out my rage upon Sin, the fortress of Egypt, and cut off the crowd of No. And I will set a fire in Egypt.”
Of course, Egypt and Tyre were not permanently destroyed by the Babylonian conquest. In fact, apparently the island city of Tyre (unlike the mainland city) did not fall to Nebuchadnezzar. The island city was, however, destroyed by Alexander several centuries later. But even at that, the city was rebuilt and existed when Christ was on the earth. Yet, the verse reproduced above states concerning the king of Tyre: “and you will be no more to time indefinite.”
No doubt the fire of Jehovah is presently stored up in the form of the vast nuclear arsenals of numerous nations. Also the debt-bloated financial system has obviously been intentionally rigged to incinerate at the appointed time, undoubtedly soon.
The now-collapsing mortgage bubble and so-called international “credit crunch,” which has apparently only been temporarily ameliorated by a half trillion dollar emergency liquidity injection by the world’s central banks in recent days, demonstrates that the financial system is in a terminal phase – providing the visible manifestation that the fuse is rapidly burning down to the quick, in what will inevitably be the biggest societal implosion, ever. Given such obvious frailties, there is simply no way the already precariously teetering global financial system could survive another 9-11 or an all-out international war.
Although the now-imminent collapse of the system will be brought about by the Devil, following his ouster from heaven, it will ultimately serve as the means by which Jehovah imposes a test of faith upon his own household.
Faithless apostates throughout the organization, but especially those who are as-of-yet deeply embedded within the leadership of Jehovah’s Witnesses, are scheduled to be purged by the very conflagrations of Jehovah, once ignited, even as foretold in the 33rd chapter of Isaiah:
‘“Now I will rise up,’ says Jehovah, ‘now I will exalt myself; now I will lift myself up. You people conceive dried grass; you will give birth to stubble. Your own spirit, as a fire, will eat you up. And peoples must become as the burnings of lime. As thorns cut away, they will be set ablaze even with fire. Hear, you men who are far away, what I must do! And know, you who are nearby, my mightiness. In Zion the sinners have come to be in dread; shivering has grabbed hold of the apostates: ‘Who of us can reside for any time with a devouring fire? Who of us can reside for any time with long-lasting conflagrations?’’”
The letter of James verifies for us that the coming fiery conflagration will consume the present money system and directly impact Christians – as a judgment against them. James 5:1-3 reads:
“Come, now, you rich men, weep, howling over your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted, and your outer garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and silver are rusted away, and their rust will be as a witness against you and will eat your fleshy parts. Something like fire is what you have stored up in the last days.”
Reader Comments (3)
Dear friends , (Psalm 119:63)
The time has come for Jehovah to act . Ps.119:126.
His work (in this days) is to send His prophet Elijah for , "to turn the heart of the fathers to the children , and the heart of the children to their fathers". Malachi 4:5,6.
JEHOVAH God has sent one of His elected ones to do the work "in the spirit and the power of Elijah" Luke 1:17 .
Also , Elijah's work is to "restore all things". Matt.17:11.
His message means the "tidings out of the east and out of the north" that shall trouble the king of the north (man of lawlessnes) ! Daniel 11:44.
His message contains the understanding given through the Spirit of the truth (John 16:13) about the Beast and its "man number" 666 ! ( Rev.13:18 )
Please obtain/get the necessary patience and energy to read these :
http://putinthesickle.blogspot.com/
and
http://www.grupcaleasfanta.ro
See also :Jeremiah 51:9 Zeccariah 2:7 ; 8:1-8 Micah 4:6,7 Amos 3:7
Hosea 4:6 ; 6:1-3,6 ; 14:1-9 2John 1:9 Rev.10:5-7,11 ; 14:3 ; 15:2,3 ; 22:10-15 !
Let Jehovah bless all of you that love HIM and HIS BELOVED SON !
Sincerely , Rus Virgil from Romania .
Jehovah is a consuming fire and it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrews 12:29; 10:31) In his fiery presence, there is one who stands between God and man officiating as High Priest in the heavenly sanctuary. (Hebrews 4:14) After the sealing of the 144,000, the “constant feature,” as represented by Christ’s intercessory office in behalf of mankind in general, will come to an end. Immediately thereafter, the four angels will unleash the winds of the tribulation. –Revelation 7:1-3.
Capping a heavenly scene immediately prior to the tribulation, John reports as recorded in Revelation 8:2-6:
“And I saw the seven angels that stand before God, and seven trumpets were given them. And another angel arrived and stood at the altar, having a golden incense vessel; and a large quantity of incense was given him to offer it with the prayers of all the holy ones upon the golden altar that was before the throne. And the smoke of the incense ascended from the hand of the angel with the prayers of the holy ones before God. But right away the angel took the incense vessel, and he filled it with some of the fire of the altar and hurled it to the earth. And thunders occurred and voices and lightnings and an earthquake. And the seven angels with the seven trumpets prepared to blow them.”
The blowing of the first four trumpets produce calamitous results upon the earth with more woes to come at the sounding of the last three trumpets. This is attested by an eagle, likely the fourth living creature, flying in midheaven, saying in a loud voice: “Woe, woe, woe to those dwelling on the earth because of the rest of the trumpet blasts of the three angels who are about to blow their trumpets!” --Revelation 4:7; 8:13.
Interestingly, John heard earlier the voice of the fourth living creature after the opening of the fourth seal. So the events associated with the blowing of the first four trumpets must relate to the opening of the fourth seal as shown in Revelation 6:7-8:
“And when he opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth living creature say: “Come!” And I saw, and, look! a pale horse; and the one seated upon it had the name Death. And Ha'des was closely following him. And authority was given them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with a long sword and with food shortage and with deadly plague and by the wild beasts of the earth.”
The rider of the pale horse leaves behind him a trail of death as shown by Hades closely following him. This means that the great tribulation will commence at the opening of the fourth seal. Closely observe that events transpiring after the opening of the fourth seal match those of the first four trumpets. So this will be a time of global upheaval whereby Jehovah will shake the whole world of rebellious mankind.
The breaking of the first seal relates to the knowledge that salvation comes through Jesus, not through any man made organization or dogma. The significance of this truth will be a subject of world-wide importance during the tribulation as people take their stand for Christ or else take the mark of the beast, receiving upon themselves Christ’s irreversible judgment. The first three seals have already been opened to prepare people for this eventuality during the great tribulation.
The rider of the red horse (second seal) is given a large sword. This sword is none other than God’s Word that will separate people from one another into two camps, composed of sheep and goats. --Ephesians 6:17.
Jesus said in Matthew 10: 32-39:
“Everyone, then, that confesses union with me before men, I will also confess union with him before my Father who is in the heavens; but whoever disowns me before men, I will also disown him before my Father who is in the heavens. Do not think I came to put peace upon the earth; I came to put, not peace, but a sword. For I came to cause division, with a man against his father, and a daughter against her mother, and a young wife against her mother-in-law. Indeed, a man’s enemies will be persons of his own household. He that has greater affection for father or mother than for me is not worthy of me; and he that has greater affection for son or daughter than for me is not worthy of me. And whoever does not accept his torture stake and follow after me is not worthy of me. He that finds his soul will lose it, and he that loses his soul for my sake will find it.
The symbolic two witnesses of Revelation will be instrumental in terms of bringing people to Christ. During the tribulation, they will be doing a work similar to that of Moses and Elijah, when decisive action for or against Christ’s incoming kingdom must be taken by people all over the globe if they are to enter into the Millennial Kingdom.
After the work of the two witnesses is completed, the harvest of the earth (mankind) will be thoroughly ripe. So when Christ comes in his glory upon the clouds with the holy angels, he comes with his sickle and reward. –Revelation 14:14; Matthew 25:31-46.
The third horseman of the Apocalypse has a pair of scales in his hand symbolizing the judgment seat of Christ, as God has entrusted him with “all power and authority” to bring about the establishment of God’s kingdom on earth.
So without a doubt the fourth seal remains to be opened. It will segue into the great tribulation, during which time Babylon the great city will be at the height of its power. (Revelation 11:7; 13:7) John aptly described the religious component of this city as a prostitute who committed fornication with the kings of the earth and as being drunk with the blood of the holy ones. In her was found the blood of all those who have been slaughtered on the earth.—Revelation 6:9; 18:24.
Under this all-imposing totalitarian system our faith in God will be thoroughly tested as though by fire. Thus in the final analysis when Christ comes to execute vengeance upon those who do not know God, that is the willfully wicked, the concluding harvest will have been accomplished.
Then God will put it in the heart of the wild beast to execute his judgment upon the woman representing false religion; the wild beast and false prophet are destroyed, as though they are thrown into a lake fire and sulphur. Then Satan is put in the abyss and chained for a thousand years that he may no longer mislead the nations.
Rus Virgil::::::
Why are you seeming to project yourself, do you really imagine that the True God YEHOVAH, will "select" one imperfect human being in these last days and 'anoint' him/her as ELIJAH ??? you really do INSULT the True sons of the Kingdom, who believe JESUS words when departing his deciples that the Father would send a "HELPER" through Him, that one will TEACH you & bring back to mind, (in times of need) spiritual food at the proper time.....
If you are calling our "e-watchman" this same 'Elijah' then maybe you should address the subject to him on this blog, instead
of 'hinting that you know WHO this modern-day Elijah if not, the "ELIJAH CLASS"