Let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah

A continuation of the Micah series

“In the final part of the days, the mountain of the house of Jehovah will become firmly established above the top of the mountains, and it will be raised up above the hills, and to it peoples will stream. And many nations will go and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah and to the house of the God of Jacob. He will instruct us about his ways, and we will walk in his paths.” For law will go out of Zion, and the word of Jehovah out of Jerusalem.”

The opening verses of the fourth chapter of Micah, which is repeated verbatim in the second chapter of Isaiah, is perhaps one of the most frequently cited passages of the Hebrew prophets by the Watchtower. It has special meaning for Jehovah’s Witnesses because the Watchtower teaches that the final part of the days began in 1914 and the steady numerical increase of Jehovah’s Witnesses is believed to be the fulfillment of peoples of the nations streaming to it.

It is a compelling notion to be sure. After all, the prophecy goes on to foretell that they will beat their swords into plowshares and the nations will not learn war anymore: “He will render judgment among many peoples and set matters straight respecting mighty nations far away. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, nor will they learn war anymore.”

The conscientious objector status of Jehovah’s Witnesses is well known, particularly during times of compulsory military conscription. But is that it? Is the prophecy fulfilled because a few thousand young men among Jehovah’s Witnesses have refused to go to war? Not to be overlooked, there are a few other Christian sects that call themselves pacifists; namely the Amish and Quakers.

We might naturally ask though, in what way has God rendered judgment among the nations? Has the antiwar stance of JWs or the pacifism of the Amish and Quakers brought about the situation where nations have no longer lifted up the sword in warfare? Hardly!

Since 1914, when the final part of the days supposedly began, the nations have waged war on an unprecedented scale. Two wars were so extensive—drawing in nations from all over the globe—they have been called world wars. And now there is fearful talk of a third world war between antagonists that all possess arsenals of nuclear weapons.

If the present number of Jehovah’s Witnesses, which is about 8 million, are the only ones to have converted their implements of war into productive tools of peace, it has had no impact on the nations where they reside. And if the prophecy applies to Jehovah’s Witnesses at this present time it seems unreasonable, even far-fetched that God would refer to them as “mighty nations far away.”

As far as law and instructions emanating from Zion and Jehovah setting matters straight, Christians in the modern era have had free access to the counsel, instructions and law contained in the pages of the Bible. Nothing more has been needed, other than the guiding Helper, the holy spirit, to help Christians apply the Bible’s instructions and obey the law of the Christ.

If we are honest and modest, we will recognize that the work sponsored by the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society has involved publishing the basic doctrines and instructions for Christian living recorded long ago in the Holy Scriptures. Nothing more. Jehovah has not directly asserted Himself into human affairs. Of course, God’s holy spirit has been covertly involved, just as it was in the first century when the good news was widely preached. Jesus assured his faithful disciples that he would be with them all the days until the conclusion of the system or final part of the days. Then what?

Elsewhere in prophecy, the final part of the days is revealed to be the time when Jehovah intervenes in the world’s affairs to commence the judgment. For example, Jeremiah 23:19-21 states: “Look! The windstorm of Jehovah will burst out in fury; like a whirling tempest it will whirl down on the head of the wicked. The anger of Jehovah will not turn back until he has carried out and accomplished the intentions of his heart. In the final part of the days you will clearly understand this. I did not send the prophets, yet they ran. I did not speak to them, yet they prophesied.”

In the typical fulfillment of the prophecy of Jeremiah, the whirling tempest came in the form of the Chaldean military juggernaut. Following the pattern, in the final part of the days the symbolic windstorm of Jehovah will come in the form of human armies. To confirm that, the prophecy of Joel describes an onrushing locust-like army of the “northerner” as Jehovah’s military force. Interestingly, the last chapter of Joel proclaims the opposite, calling upon all the nations to prepare for war: “Proclaim this among the nations: ‘Prepare for war! Stir up the mighty men! Let all the soldiers draw near, let them advance! Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning shears into spears. Let the weak one say: “I am powerful.”  Come and help, all you surrounding nations, assemble together! To that place, O Jehovah, bring down your powerful ones.” — Joel 3:9-11

Since all prophecy is harmonious the final part of the days cannot simultaneously be a time of peace and a time of war. Jehovah’s Witnesses likely assume that the windstorm of Jehovah will burst out in fury when the war of Armageddon brings an end to Satan’s world. If that is the case though, why do both Isaiah and Micah present the final part of the days as a time when God sets matters straight and brings an end to wars between nations?

First, take note that Micah and Isaiah foretell that the nations will not lift up the sword against nation. Joel, however, is a call to all the nations to unite and prepare for war against God! Those “powerful ones” are the newly resurrected 144,000 kings along with Christ and his angels who will come down to the figurative place called Armageddon.

Obviously, the final part of the days will begin before the war of Armageddon. Jesus foretold that Jehovah will intervene in a big way during the great tribulation. Divine intervention will be necessary or else all of mankind will be extinguished. Jesus assured us that those days of unimaginable destruction will be cut short on account of the chosen ones.

Ah, could it be that the mountain of the house of Jehovah will be lifted up above the hills and mountains at such a time—during the great tribulation?

As it stands presently, the Anglo-American empire is waging an undeclared war against Russia. Russia, by the way, is no Iraq or Libya—two nations that have been crushed by the American war machine; no, Russia possesses more nuclear warheads than its Anglo antagonist. Not only that, Russia has deployed hypersonic missiles capable of delivering multiple warheads that streak through the heavens so fast—zigging and zagging as they go—they are virtually indefensible.

During the Cold War, the Anglo empire and the Soviet Union avoided nuclear catastrophe because sober minds realized that any conflict would result in mutually assured destruction (MAD). However, such a sane nuclear avoidance policy fails to consider a very powerful outside influence—Satan the Devil.

Scoffers may consider the existence of Satan as a Dark Age myth believed by superstitious fools. True Christians know better. The prophecy of Revelation reveals that when the Kingdom of Christ comes to power, which is when the mountain of the house of Jehovah will be lifted up about all other institutions, Satan and his legion of demons will be forcibly ejected from the highest realm and confined to the vicinity of our earth. Regarding this monumental development, the scripture says: “On this account be glad, you heavens and you who reside in them! Woe for the earth and for the sea, because the Devil has come down to you, having great anger, knowing that he has a short period of time.” (12:12)

The Watchtower’s 1914 teaching is not tenable. These past 108 years since the Devil is believed to have come down in a great rage has also been a time of relative peace and prosperity—especially since the end of World War Two. It is not credible that during the Devil’s century-long “short period of time” the world’s population has grown from just over a billion in 1900 to 8,000,000,000 souls now.

During this past century though, men under Satan’s influence have discovered the principles of physics and unlocked the secrets of the atom, and developed the industrial means to mass produce and stockpile the most horrendously destructive weapons and delivery systems imaginable. The stage is now set for the finale—otherwise known as the final part of the days.

Given the relentless and reckless warmongering and provocations on the part of the Anglo beast—driven by the certain knowledge that the financial system over which it presides is in a state of terminal bankruptcy and only supported by greater and greater emissions of increasingly devaluing money and that a new power bloc of nations and new economic system is emerging centered in Asia—global war is inevitable.

Bible prophecy reveals that the earthly seven-headed beast is merely a reflection of a symbolic seven-headed dragon that represents Satan the Devil and his many angels. That is why the nuclear-avoidance doctrine known as MAD does not really work. Satan and his demons know that their “short period of time” will end with them being incarcerated and ultimately executed. What do they care if the world over which they have reigned these past 6,000 years is rendered into a radioactive cinder devoid of all life? It is their preferred outcome.

Jesus referred to Satan as the “wicked one.” Why should it seem strange that the evil god of this world intends to destroy every human soul on earth when Christ moves against him? It will be a hostage situation of global dimensions involving evil superhumans bent on unleashing the fire of the gods!

How might the mountain of the house of Jehovah be lifted up above the hills and mountains?

According to the book of Revelation, the opening of the sixth seal will result in the crash of the present system. In apocalyptic symbolism, the apostle John wrote: “And I saw when he opened the sixth seal, and a great earthquake occurred; and the sun became black as sackcloth made of hair, and the entire moon became as blood, and the stars of heaven fell to the earth as when a fig tree shaken by a high wind drops its unripe figs. And the heaven departed as a scroll that is being rolled up, and every mountain and every island was removed from its place.” — Rev 6:12-14

So, juxtapose the two prophecies. Jehovah’s mountain ascends as Satan’s earthly dominion suffers an unprecedented cataclysm. Surely, the opening of the sixth seal will result in the collapse of the global system. And that is when God will cut short the catastrophe on account of the chosen ones.

Will God’s intervention be obvious? Yes, at least to those who will be spiritually alive and awake. There are over 13,000 nuclear bombs in existence—enough to destroy the planet many times over. Talk about overkill!

The detonation of just a few devices will strike terror into mankind as nothing else before. In the event of a limited nuclear exchange, it is possible, even likely, that each warring nation will launch all their missiles from atomic submarines, stealth bombers, and underground missile silos. That would, of course, mean the end of the world. Did not Jesus foretell that men will become faint out of fright in dread of the horrors coming upon the world? Indeed, the powers of the heavens will be shaken!

But what if a barrage of missiles—each carrying multiple warheads—are defused by angels in mid-flight and crash to the earth unexploded? “Preposterous,” you say? It would be a dramatic entrance upon the world’s stage for the one who has kept himself hidden for eons. There is no question such an intervention would be an act of salvation beyond anything imaginable and would undoubtedly reveal the presence of the one who long ago was introduced to mankind by a certain baptizer as the Savior of the world. It would surely be irrefutable evidence that God’s Kingdom had, at last, come to power.

At that point, God, through Christ, will proceed to set matters straight and put an end to the wars of nations. Then is when people will begin streaming to the mountain of the house of Jehovah. Then is when law and instruction will come directly from Christ, the one who will be called Mighty God and Wonderful Counselor.