17. What critical situation faces mankind, and what words will we soon remember?

¹⁷ We know, of course, that the battle is not over. And we continue to preach the good news​—even to opposers. (Matt. 24:14, 21) However, the opportunity now open to such opposers to repent and gain salvation will soon come to an end. The sanctification of Jehovah’s name is far more important than human salvation. (Read Ezekiel 38:23.) When the nations combine in the foretold earth-wide effort to destroy God’s people, we will remember these words of the psalmist’s prayer: “O may they be ashamed and be disturbed for all times, and may they become abashed and perish.”​—Ps. 83:17.

18, 19. (a) What awaits determined opposers of Jehovah’s sovereignty? (b) How does the approaching final vindication of Jehovah’s sovereignty affect you?

¹⁸ A humiliating end awaits determined opposers of Jehovah’s sovereignty. God’s Word reveals that those who “do not obey the good news”​—and for this reason are executed at Armageddon—​will suffer “everlasting destruction.” (2 Thess. 1:7-9) Their destruction and the survival of those who worship Jehovah in truth will be convincing evidence that Jehovah is the only true God. In the new world, that great victory will not be forgotten. Those who come back in the “resurrection of . . . the righteous and the unrighteous” will learn of Jehovah’s great act. (Acts 24:15) In the new world, they will see convincing evidence of the wisdom of living under Jehovah’s sovereignty. And meek ones among them will quickly be convinced that Jehovah is the only true God.

“This Is Indeed God’s Most Holy and Great Name”

Nicholas of Cusa made that statement in a sermon he gave in the year 1430.a He was a man of many interests, focusing his attention, for instance, on the study of Greek, Hebrew, philosophy, theology, mathematics, and astronomy. At the age of 22, he became a doctor of Roman Catholic canon law. In 1448 he was appointed cardinal.

About 550 years ago, Nicholas of Cusa founded a nursing home for the elderly in Kues, now known as Bernkastel-Kues, a town located about 80 miles [130 km] south of Bonn, in Germany. This same building now houses Cusa’s library of more than 310 manuscripts. One of them is the Codex Cusanus 220 in which Cusa’s sermon of 1430 can be found. In that sermon, In principio erat verbum (In the Beginning Was the Word), Nicholas of Cusa used the Latin spelling Iehoua for Jehovah.b Folio 56 contains the following statement regarding God’s name: “It is God-given. It is the Tetragrammaton, i.e., the name composed of four letters. . . . This is indeed God’s most holy and great name.” Nicholas of Cusa’s statement agrees with the fact that God’s name appears in the original text of the Hebrew Scriptures.​—Ex. 6:3.

This codex from the early 15th century is one of the oldest extant documents in which the Tetragrammaton is rendered “Iehoua.” This written testimony is further evidence that forms of God’s name similar to “Jehovah” have been the most common literary transcription of God’s name for centuries.