Assyria

The prophetic books of Jonah and Nahum are devoted exclusively to Assyria and Nineveh, its capital city, and strikingly foretell a state of the Devil’s organization in which a political class will be in the saddle and adopt and follow a false religion because it is thought expedient in carrying out the political purposes.

Concerning the offensive action and carrying of the war into the enemy territory Jehovah by his prophet foretold: “And they shall waste the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in the entrances thereof: thus shall he deliver us from the Assyrian, when he cometh into our land, and when he treadeth within our borders.” (Mic. 5:6) It was the first totalitarian dictator Nimrod that organized religion and built Nineveh, the chief city of Assyria. Hence the land of Assyria is called “the land of Nimrod” and pictures the nations now going totalitarian.

Jehovah’s faithful witnesses brandish the “sword of the spirit” and expose the ‘desolating abomination’ of modern Assyria as a demonic counterfeit of God’s holy Kingdom.

Likewise, the modern Assyrians of religious-political totalitarian rule, in committing their depredations against Jehovah’s witnesses on earth, have really been offending against Jehovah’s capital organization Zion, and against Zion’s King, Christ Jesus.

King Hezekiah’s aggressive opponent, Sennacherib, pictured Satan the Devil, whom Sennacherib worshiped and served in the interest of Satan’s world domination.

It is used in the Bible as a symbol or picture of the Devil's world, Satan the Devil being himself pictured by the mighty king of Assyria.

Just as Nahum had the divinely given vision of the utter destruction of Nineveh and the Assyrian, and proclaimed it, likewise Jehovah’s witnesses today have in God’s Word the written record of His inspired visions and prophecies which give them the assurance that Jehovah will completely destroy the modern-day Assyrian, Satan, and his entire organization.

In course of time the spirit prince over Assyria, represented by the second head of the Dragon's wild beast, became dominant and began attacking the northerly tentribe kingdom of Israel.

The second head of the wild beast, Assyria, tried to take the entire people of Israel captive but succeeded in capturing and leading into exile only ten unfaithful tribes of that people.

It is a composite organization, for its seven heads symbolize the seven world powers of human history, namely, ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and the Anglo-American dual world power.

That is why Revelation, chapter thirteen, pictures this symbolic wild beast as having seven heads, to represent seven world powers in succession, namely, (1) Egypt, (2) Assyria, (3) Neo-Babylonia, (4) Medo-Persia, (5) Greece, (6) Rome, and (7) the dual world power of Britain and America.

The battle against the modern-day Assyrian aggressor under the unseen leadership of Gog of Magog has continued beyond the end of World War II in 1945.

King Hezekiah's aggressive opponent, Sennacherib, pictured Satan the Devil, whom Sennacherib worshiped and served in the interest of Satan's world domination.

Such a refusal would certainly move the Assyrian "ax" of today to take drastic action against the Society and the Christian witnesses of Jehovah whom the Society represents and serves.

Also, we should remember that those prophecies are very much alive today, and that their climactic fulfillment hastens on. It is not for a mere historical record that Jehovah, the living God, has preserved them down to this day. Those ancient nations have their modern-day counterpart, particularly in the Assyria-like politico-military powers that boast in their armed might.

It is noteworthy that the Bible does name five world powers in the Hebrew Scriptures, namely, Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, and Greece, while the Greek Scriptures name a sixth, Rome, ruling in John's day.

So the seven heads of the symbolic wild beast stand for world powers —Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome, and the Anglo-American combine of Britain and the United States of America.

Following the pattern of Nimrod, the rulers of the world powers did not worship Jehovah, a fact reflected in their cruel, violent deeds. These world powers are symbolized in Scripture by wild animals, and through the course of the centuries, the Bible identifies six of them that had a powerful impact on Jehovah's people. These were Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, and Rome.

Some of these nations are like Assyria, heavily militaristic. Other nations are more liberal, perhaps like Egypt—at one time "the king of the south" in Daniel's prophecy. (Daniel 11:5, 8) Millions of individuals from the militaristic nations and the more liberal nations have taken up the way of true worship. Thus, people from all nations are united in 'rendering service.'

The citizens of ancient Jerusalem were attacked by the Assyrians. In the near future, Jehovah’s apparently vulnerable people will come under attack from the modern-day “Assyrian,” whose intent will be to wipe them out.

In these cases, does the Bible give us enough information to determine that Jehovah sentenced all those individuals to eternal destruction, with no hope of a resurrection? No, it does not.