Consummation of the Age

“The seventh [messenger] poured out his bowl upon the air; and there came forth a great voice out of the temple, from the throne, saying, It is come to be: and there came to be lightnings, and voices, and thunders; and there came to be a great earthquake” (Revelation 16:17‑18, Scriptures from RVIC except as otherwise noted).

The seventh vial/bowl poured out implies the Church is coming to completion, “It is come to be,” or “It is done” (ASV), like our Lord’s last words on the cross, “It is finished” (John 19:30). The Church’s completion is immediately followed by the battle of Armageddon.

Jesus said to us, “Ye are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). It follows logically that as the Church approaches completion, the light is to be dimming down; so, when the Church is complete there will be great spiritual darkness in the world. That can then loose Armageddon.

Implications for the Faithful

For the Church to approach completion, there must be many more finishing their courses than those entering the consecrated way. This implies the faithful may become fewer and mainly older. It might suggest there will be fewer in their families able to care for them. Consecrated youth may find a larger part of their time being consumed in caring for the elderly. Yet the younger may feel it a privilege to have an important part in completing the Church.

While older age may decrease one’s ability for private and public witness, the opportunities are expanded by the Internet and teleconferencing. As the faithful become progressively more scattered, teleconferencing makes it easier to lift and encourage one another, even when they are on different continents.

Overcoming the Laodicean Spirit

We are alerted to temptations, especially in “the last day” (Revelation 3:14‑20). The mention of Jesus as “the faithful and true witness” suggests that there are false witnesses today. Jesus is called “the beginning of the creation of God,” which suggests there are many who deny it.

If there are many who are “lukewarm,” we should be either “hot” (like a healing tea) or “cold” (like a refreshing drink of water). Many today have the means to live comfortably, so there is a temptation to put our God and our Lord into the background and to ignore our sinful condition. (Sinless? Do we hear ads that lure us by saying, It’s not your fault!) Each of us needs to pursue the pure gold of incorruption and the white garments of a righteous life. Eye salve implies we need to see ourselves as we really are, and that we need to be watching the fulfilment of His prophecies so as to act in accord with them.

In this Laodicean period, we are no longer told, “I come quickly,” but “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” In the time of Christ’s Second Presence (Parousia), we are each to have a personal relationship with our Lord, not official membership in a specific organization.

Heed the Call

Christ’s return is a call to action, not a sudden event to end everybody’s road. Revelation 18:1‑5 begins, “I saw another angel coming down out of heaven,” which elsewhere also means Christ’s return (Revelation 10:1, 20:1, 1 Thessalonians 4:16). He calls, “Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons,” then “Come forth, my people, out of her, that ye have no fellowship with her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues” (Revelation 18:4, Jeremiah 51:6‑9).¹

Not all will recognize what “Babylon” is, nor see its sins, at the same time. Nor should any who recognize the sins, and themselves come out, urge all others to come out immediately. (Consider a short article, “Do Not Urge the Unready to Come Out of Babylon,” ZWT June 15, 1905, or R3593.)

What are the sins of Babylon? Many are moral sins. In recent years, the news has told of some priests, preachers, elders, and others, who profess morality but do not practice it. Some even hide their immorality by publicly denouncing it. We must each seek to please our God and not people.

Some sins may lurk in theology. For example, in 1 Timothy 2:6, many deny that Jesus Christ died “once for all” (perhaps by adding “who believe”) and then conclude that one does not have to act kindly towards the vast majority who do not believe (however “believing” might then be defined). Thus, thousands of “heretics” have been burned at the stake. Yet, if Jesus Christ died “once for all,” should not all benefit? (Hebrews 7:27). And if each should benefit in his own time, does it not give us a reason to now have love even for our current enemies?

Watching Prophecy Being Fulfilled

Ezekiel 38‑39 prophesies for us the world conditions leading up to, and into, Armageddon. The Eastern Bloc of nations is to be headed by “Gog,² of the land of Magog.” Its allies are to be: Armenia (Meshech), Georgia/Kartveli (Tubal), then Iran (Persia), Sub‑Saharan Africa (Cush), North Africa (west of Egypt) (Put), Germanic and Slavic nations (Gomer), and Turkic nations (Togarmah). The Western Bloc is to be headed by Arabia (Sheba and Dedan), then Western Europe (Tarshish) and its former colonies (“all the young lions thereof,” as the Americas, and maybe Australia and New Zealand). These alliances continue to form before our eyes.

Such knowledge can be beneficially applied. Currently, we see Russia and Ukraine exhausting their military youth generation. It suggests that Armageddon may await for yet another generation. So let us be eager to preach Ransom and Restitution to the world for many more years to come. If, as the faithful Church approaches completion, our numbers may become fewer, we may use more the Internet and other hi‑tech means to tell the world of the good news to come.

(1) The 5th (of 7) last plague of Exodus 10:1‑20 (east wind brings locusts, then west wind drives them out) may symbolize the East vs. West communist period, 1945‑1989. Then the 6th plague of darkness which kept people home would likely symbolize COVID‑19 shutting down international borders, 2020‑2022. Pharaoh’s change from capturing youth to opposing sacrifice (Exodus 10:8‑11) suggests today an ensuing Deep Depression, to make Christian financial support difficult or impossible (Revelation 16:12). The lesson for us would be, Let us do what we can while we can.

(2) In Hebrew, sagab is a verb meaning “to lift up.” A gag is that which is lifted up, “roof.” Thus, Gog is the “high people,” appropriate to a people originally centered in the Caucasus mountains. A Hebrew prefix of m‑ means going out from; thus Magog is the tribe of which Gog is the government. (In Genesis 10:2, Lamsa translates Magog as Mongolia; the Mongols are related to the Great Russians.) Thus, it is not difficult to understand Magog as the Great Russians and many smaller related tribes: Samoyeds, Uzbeks, Kazakhs, Mongols, Yakut, Koreans, etc. In Eastern languages “Gog” is Saka; the Yakut still call themselves Sakha. In ancient times they were called Saka‑Ta, or Scythians; also Ma‑Saka‑Ta (Greater Saka Hordes), or Massagetae. From the Caucasus the capital moved north, now in Moscow.