the end” of the king of the north. He will not stop them!

72. In his purpose to destroy, where will he pitch his palatial campaign tents, according to Jehovah’s angel?

⁷² The king of the north will sally forth to destroy and to exterminate many, but how far will he get with his destructive purpose? Where does he establish his base of operations? Jehovah’s angel prophesied that the king would pitch his palatial campaign tents “between the seas and the beauteous holy mountain.”—JP.

73. According to this campaign base, what would be the main point of attack by the king of the north, and by whom will he be finally joined in this attack?

⁷³ From Daniel’s viewpoint, this tent location would be between the Mediterranean, the Great Sea, and the holy mountain of Jehovah’s sanctuary or temple. Because of its excelling greatness in comparison with the Palestinian Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee, the Mediterranean could, in Hebrew, be spoken of as “seas.” The king’s camp would therefore be in the land of Jehovah’s dedicated people, the “beauteous land,” and the king’s main point of attack would be against the “beauteous holy mountain,” where Jehovah’s sanctuary is and where his “holy nation” together with aliens of good will worship him. Plainly the king of the north is set to wipe out Jehovah’s worship, the sanctuary of which the king of the north profaned and trampled upon in times past. Its persistent survival and its unchecked growth, even in underground ways, irritates the king. The reports that the sanctuary class and the worshiping “other sheep” announce from house to house and publicly and unpublicly underground disturb the Communist dictatorial power. A campaign against these Kingdom publishers becomes more important than the king’s aggressive campaign against the king of the south. The relations between the king of the north and the king of the south are not so serious and threatening. In fact, the unseen mastermind, the symbolic Gog of Magog, maneuvers both kings into joining him in a final, full-scale assault upon Jehovah’s “beauteous land.”

74. Why is the goal of his attack the “beauteous holy mountain,” and what does prophecy say about the success of his attack?

⁷⁴ The mountain upon which Jehovah’s material temple stood till A.D. 70 and which the kingdom of Jordan held fast because the Mohammedan Dome of the Rock has stood there is no longer holy to Jehovah God. Hence this earthly mountain in the Middle East is not the real goal of the infuriated king of the north. It is Jehovah’s remnant of the sanctuary class and the great crowd of “other sheep.” These worship Jehovah and refuse to worship the “image of the beast” or the self-deifying king of the north or the political State or the “god of the fortresses.” Will the king of the north succeed? Will he put an end to this disapproved, condemned banned worship? The voice of prophecy answers: “And he will come to his end, without one to help him.” He reaches his “time of the end,” and it comes at the “time appointed.”

75. Why does he carry his fighting too far, and why will he have none to help him?

⁷⁵ He has not believed the “reports out of the east and out of the north” warning him of his destruction for fighting against Jehovah God and his kingdom. He carries his fighting too far in making his attack under Gog’s leadership upon Jehovah’s sanctuary at his “beauteous holy mountain.” He meets his end, his Armageddon, at Jehovah’s appointed time for it. He has none to help him, not even the king of the south, for this king also is destroyed at Armageddon: “he shall be broken without hand.” (Dan. 8:25, JP) The demonic Gog of Magog, Satan the Devil, together with all his demons, will prove unable to help the king of the north in his last fight of history, for Gog himself will be crushed in defeat.

76. How do we learn why he must “come to his end” at Armageddon in utter helplessness?

⁷⁶ Why will this two-thousand-year-old “king of the north” thus “come to his end” there in utter helplessness? The continuing angelic prophecy gives the grand, inspiring answer.

(To be continued)

Furthering Reconciliation with Perfect Government

NEVER before has this earth seen so much strife, confusion and dishonesty within and between nations as today. What is the remedy? What is needed is a perfect world government with the power to enforce its perfect decrees.a

As Christian witnesses of Jehovah we know that God alone is the provider of such a world government for man. It is the kingdom for which men have been praying for nineteen centuries. Jehovah will see to it that men of good will toward him someday will be able to enjoy to the full such a government. His Word leaves no question about that. In fact, Jesus’ very prayer is a guarantee that God’s kingdom rule will hold sway over this earth. All who would enjoy its benefits must become its loyal subjects.—Matt. 6:9, 10.

Fulfillment of Bible prophecy shows that God’s kingdom has been ruling in the midst of its enemies since 1914. Shortly now, within this generation Jesus assures us, God’s kingdom will make an end of all opposition, both invisible and visible, and establish a righteous rule upon earth. It is therefore extremely urgent that all men of good will toward God be informed about His perfect government so that they can become reconciled to it before it is too late, before that perfect government destroys all enemies of God at Armageddon.

Whose privilege and responsibility is it to tell all about this perfect government and reconciliation with it? All those who already have been reconciled with it, as we read: “We are therefore ambassadors substituting for Christ, as though God were making entreaty through us. As substitutes for Christ we beg: ‘Become reconciled to God.’”—2 Cor. 5:20.

What good news we bear in this ministry of reconciliation! Here is a perfect government that will do everything perfectly: It will bring in perfect peace upon earth, perfect weather, perfect food, and an abundance of it. Its mental and physical health programs will give to mankind perfect bodies, perfect minds and even perfect dispositions! And, above all, everyone will be united in the perfect religion, worshiping the one true God Jehovah and loving his neighbor as himself. Then, too, instead of men dying, they will be coming back from the grave.—Isa. 11:9; John 5:28, 29; Rev. 21:4.

Surely, in view of such a message and in view of the urgency of the time we are living in, everyone that knows that these things are true will do all he can to further reconciliation with that perfect government. All should ask themselves, Am I truly doing all I can, buying out the opportune time, both for regular field ministry and incidental preaching? What about the quality of my preaching? Am I truly a teacher? During March let all of us make the most of all our opportunities to further reconciliation with God’s perfect government.