p. 1

[close]

p. 2

[close]

p. 3

studies in the scriptures the path of the just is as the shining light which shineth more and more unto the perfect day series iv the battle of armageddon digital edition and the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river euphrates and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared and i saw three unclean spirits the spirits of devils working miracles go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of god almighty and he gathered them together into a place called in the hebrew tongue armageddon revelation 16:13-16 2009

[close]

p. 4

copyright 1912 watch tower bible tract society brooklyn n.y u.s.a written in 1897 by pastor russell [formerly the day of vengeance now with armageddon sermon]

[close]

p. 5

to the king of kings and lord of lords in the interest of his consecrated saints waiting for the adoption and of all that in every place call upon the lord the household of faith and of the groaning creation travailing and waiting for the manifestation of the sons of god this work is dedicated to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in god wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence having made known unto us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself that in the dispensation of the fulness of the times he might gather together in one all things under christ eph 3:4,5,9;1:8-10 n b this volume can also be supplied in the german swedish danonoerwgian french and greek languages.

[close]

p. 6

[close]

p. 7

5 the battle of armageddon the authors foreword t he first edition of this volume was published in 1897 it relates to the closing epoch of this gospel age the overlapping between it and the new dispensation a period which brings to the world wonderful blessings which in turn because of unpreparedness of heart more and more become causes of friction discontent trouble if the blessings of the last 43 years were to continue at the present rate of increase the discontent of humanity would likewise increase and the very purpose of god in the establishment of messiahs kingdom and the blessing of mankind through it would be frustrated for this cause god permits the millennial dawn to come upon the world gradually as men are awakening from the stupor of the past they do not consider the lord or acknowledge his grace in connection with the blessings present and coming we have estimated that these 43 years have brought to mankind a thousand times as much wealth as was created during the six thousand years preceding the improved conditions of all mankind in civilized lands the shortening of hours of labor etc are offset by greater knowledge and a discontent which comes therewith this is in harmony with the lords declaration respecting this time describing our day in the prophecy of daniel he says many shall run to and fro and knowledge shall be increased the wise shall understand and there shall be a time of trouble such as was not since there was a nation `daniel 12:1-4,10 in other words the increase of knowledge is responsible for the increase of discontent and fear which are bringing armageddon or the day of vengeance of god upon the whole world in the present great war we see that the large nations have been fearful of each others prosperity although

[close]

p. 8

6 foreword all have been growing fabulously rich all are more discontented than ever before and more fearful that something will occur to hinder their enrichment and to turn the streams of wealth to the ports of the competitor their fear of each other determined that the war must come and the present was chosen as the most favored opportunity before the weaker became too strong the same spirit is manifest everywhere ingratitude for the present and the past fearfulness for the future and a selfishness which pays little heed to the golden rule the conflict between capital and labor is along this line and we are to expect that such things will go rapidly from bad to worse the debts of the warring nations are authoritatively stated to amount to fifty-five billions of dollars a sum which of course can never be paid in gold and everybody knows that there is not sufficient gold to pay the interest on the debts of the world this spells bankruptcy as soon as the war shall end and the issuing of bonds shall cease to provide money for the payment of the interest on other bonds the nations are thus falling into the chasm of bankruptcy but it is with them as with a human being falling the sensations are not so bad until the falling ceases in a demoralizing concussion evidently the war will not stop from lack of men to shoot and be shot but either from lack of food or from financial weakness that it will be the latter is the authors opinion already the kings political and financial and their advisers are in great perplexity respecting what shall be done after the close of the war to prevent a world-wide revolution of the discontented twenty millions of men now under arms will need employment suppose that one-fourth of them are retained in the army what will be done with the remaining three-fourths that is the question that is puzzling many of the worlds wise men the world is getting along without them now and also manufacturing vast quantities of military stores and

[close]

p. 9

foreword 7 ammunition evidently it could get along without those twenty millions of men altogether reckless of human life they will be more or less of a menace in every land the british are making preparations to induce their surplus to become farmers in canada and australia other nations are undoubtedly pursuing a similar course to the extent that they are able but they all realize that they will have their hands full to cope with the situation the bible points out that about this time the nominal church systems of the world will rise to great prominence again in connection with the civil powers we can readily see the grounds for this all the kingdoms financially weakened will realize the necessity for keeping a dominating grip upon the public and preventing anything akin to socialism and anarchy they will naturally look to the great religious institutions called churches to support them to threaten the people with future torments and in general to help keep the ship of state from being overturned the churches also will be ready and glad for such an opportunity already they are rolling together as a scroll the one side catholic the other protestant opposed and yet connected each side united and federated to the best of its ability but the bible declares that this reign as a queen will be a short one and that the fall of babylon will be tremendous -like a great millstone cast into the sea it will be during the power of this so-called queen for a little season that the world will be under a great strain as respects any presentation of the truth and those found loyal to god and to principle will doubtless suffer therefore at the time of babylons fall the mighty ones of the earth financial and political princes and kings will stand afar off keeping clear of too close an affiliation with her although they will greatly lament her destruction realizing that it forebodes their own then very shortly will come the complete overthrow and destruction of the present

[close]

p. 10

8 foreword gentile governments symbolically represented in the bible as a great conflagration which will consume the whole earth all institutions religious social political and financial considering that this volume was written twenty years ago none need be surprised to find that some of its statements although startlingly strong come short now of the full truth for instance the wealth of the world has greatly multiplied in these twenty years the combinations of capital have greatly increased in capitalization power and influence it is estimated that during the past four years the capital of the united states has increased at the rate of ten billions a year in this volume it was pointed out that although the trusts at the time of the writing were beneficial rather than injurious nevertheless these giants born of avarice and built up in self-interest would eventually become a menace a danger to the people and their interests we have reached that time and many are realizing that the danger is upon us nothing evil may be done so long as the machinery is working well and under control but when the moment shall come that the interests of the managers and capitalists will be in the reverse direction from the interests of their employees and the public then look out remember the inspired word that this is to be a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation how glad we are that mans extremity in this time of trouble will be the lords opportunity he is waiting to be gracious he is wishing to pour out upon mankind the blessings of the millennial kingdom for one thousand years for their uplift out of sin and death conditions back to the image and likeness of god he foreknows that they must first have their lessons he has shown this already to those who have seeing eyes by granting more than forty years of the dawning period which however instead of bringing blessings and happiness to the world have brought more and more of

[close]

p. 11

foreword 9 discontent the lord will allow mankind now to go their length in carrying out their own plans and schemes he will allow them to demonstrate the futility of all these schemes and that nothing but divine interposition will save them from wrecking the entire fabric of society indeed he will permit the wreck and then reorganize humanity under messiah for he promises that his kingdom shall be the desire of all nations `haggai 2:7 your servant in the lord charles t russell brooklyn n.y october 1 1916

[close]

p. 12

[close]

p. 13

the battle of armageddon and the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river euphrates and the water thereof was dried up that the way of the kings of the east might be prepared and i saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet for they are the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of that great day of god almighty behold i come as a thief blessed is he that watcheth and keepeth his garments lest he walk naked and they see his shame and he gathered them together into a place called in the hebrew tongue armageddon `revelation 16:12-16 a rmageddon is a hebrew word signifying the hill of megiddo or the mount of destruction megiddo occupied a very marked position on the southern edge of the plain of esdraelon and commanded an important pass into the hill country this locality was the great battleground of palestine on which were fought many of the famous battles of old testament history there gideon and his little band alarmed and discomfited the midianites who destroyed one another in their flight judges 7:19-23 there king saul was defeated by the philistines 1 sam 31:1-6 there king josiah was slain by pharaoh-necho in one of the most disastrous conflicts in the history of israel 2 chron 35:22-25 there also king ahab and his wife jezebel lived in the city of jezreel where jezebel afterwards met a horrible death `2 kings 9:30-37 these battles were in a sense typical the defeat of the midianites released the people of israel from bondage to midian thus gideon and his band typified our lord and the church who are to release mankind from their bondage to sin and death the death of king saul and the overthrow of his kingdom by the philistines opened the way for the reign of david who typified messiah king ahab typified the civil government symbolically

[close]

p. 14

ii the battle of armageddon called the dragon in the revelation queen jezebel symbolically foreshadowed the great harlot babylon and as such she is mentioned by name thou sufferest that woman jezebel which calleth herself a prophetess to teach and seduce my servants `rev 2:20 in the scriptures the lord has evidently seen fit to associate the name of this famous battlefield armageddon with the great controversy between truth and error right and wrong god and mammon with which the gospel age will close and the messianic age be ushered in he has purposely used highly symbolic language in the last book of the bible evidently with a view to hiding certain important truths until the due time for their revealment but even in the due time none of the wicked shall understand but the wise shall understand dan 12:10 none who are out of heart harmony with god shall know but only the wise among his people the wise virgin class of the masters parable `matt 25:1-13 when we consider our text therefore we are not to expect any gathering of the people literally to the hill of megiddo rather we are to look for that which is symbolized by that mountain many things are being called the battle of armageddon this phrase is being used in many ways and from many standpoints but christians realize that this word armageddon specially belongs to the bible where it is used in a spiritual sense if therefore the present is an opportune time in which to consider the battle of armageddon from a political standpoint it surely is the proper time to consider the term from its true religious point of view we all know that the book of revelation is full of symbols god seems to have placed this book last in the bible with the intent of covering up great and important truths that it contains valuable truths is the opinion of all bible students yet so skillfully has god covered those truths that his people in times past have not been able fully and clearly to discern them bible students believe that this has been the divine intention not only because these truths were not due to be understood but because god intends to keep certain features of his truth from the world mankind have always misunderstood the

[close]

p. 15

the battle of armageddon iii divine plan for god in his wisdom wishes to have them misunderstand the truths recorded in the revelation are not for the world nor for nominal christians but for the church the body of christ the saintly ones the church of the first-borns which are written in heaven to these the knowledge will become meat in due season the wise shall understand the scriptures abound with allusions to armageddon our lord jesus calls it great tribulation such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time no nor ever shall be matt 24:21 the prophet daniel describes it as a time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time dan 12:1 closely in connection with this statement daniel declares that gods representative michael shall stand up the great prince which standeth for the children of israel the word michael signifies he who is like god the godlike one he will stand up for the salvation of gods people for the rectification of error and wrong for the establishment of right and truth to bring to the world of mankind the great kingdom of god which has been preached from the days of abraham time for the establishment of messiahs kingdom the revelation of st john being a book of symbols will not be understood by the world god himself has said that only at a certain time may even the church expect to understand when the prophet daniel inquired concerning the meaning of his vision the angel replied go thy way daniel for the words are closed up and sealed till the time of the end not the end of the world but the end of the age the end of this dispensation the earth abideth forever `eccl 1:4 st peter tells us that this age is to end in a great conflagration -symbolical of the time of trouble in which present institutions will be swallowed up 2 pet 3:8-13 elsewhere in the scriptures this terrible time of trouble is symbolically represented as a storm as a whirlwind as a fire to consume everything after the present order shall have passed away in the great time of trouble god himself

[close]