With two global wars in the past and many other regional wars and conflicts that have taken place in the decades since, there is little doubt to truth- enlightened students of prophecy that the terrible climax of the final Armageddon struggle of the world is near. What will be the position of the Lord’s people in the final phase of this “time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation”? Will all the unrighteous be destroyed in Armageddon?

Referring to the signs of his presence, Jesus said, “When ye see these things, … then look up, lift up your heads, for your redemption [deliverance] draweth nigh.” (Luke 21:28) This seems clearly to refer to the deliverance of the last members of the little flock, the church, in the first resurrection, that they might live and reign with Christ in his kingdom, which, after Armageddon, will begin to bless all the families of the earth. This deliverance is referred to in Psalm 46:5, where the promise is that the Lord will help his people, “and that right early.” The marginal translation reads, “when the morning appeareth.”

What about the remainder of mankind, the unbelievers, the unrighteous, those whose eyes of understanding are blinded by the “god of this world”? (II Cor. 4:4) When Jesus prophetically described the final phases of Armageddon, the great time of trouble, he said that unless those days be shortened “no flesh would be saved.” But he gave assurance that those days would be shortened, indicating clearly that some flesh would be saved, that all would not perish in Armageddon.— Matt. 24:22

In the 46th Psalm we have one of the Bible’s most graphic descriptions of Armageddon, revealing the Lord’s hand in the struggle through to the end, and to the full exercise and manifestation of divine authority throughout the earth. Verse 6 declares, “The heathen raged, the kingdoms were moved: he uttered his voice, the earth melted.” Then follow words of assurance to those of the Lord’s people who would see the beginning of this trouble, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge.” We have the refuge of the truth and the glorious promises that, if faithful unto death, we will live and reign in the Lord’s kingdom.

Verse 8 of Psalm 46 gives a further description of the time of trouble of Armageddon. It reads, “Come, behold the works of the Lord, what desolations he hath made in the earth.” It is after this Armageddon destruction, after this desolation which the Lord makes in the earth, that he speaks to the people, saying, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.”—vs. 10

The Hebrew word here translated “heathen” literally means “foreign nations.” In the Scriptures it is used generally to describe all non-Israelites. The Israelites were the Lord’s chosen people, and all others were foreign to him. It is these nations and peoples of the earth, who are foreign to the Lord because alienated from him through wicked works, who are shown to be living on earth after Armageddon and to whom he speaks, saying, “Be still and know that I am God.”

If these were a righteous people, the Lord would have no need to speak to them in this way. The fact is that the vast majority who pass through Armageddon will not be righteous. That is why, after the symbolic earth is devoured with the fire of God’s jealousy, it will become necessary to turn to them a “pure language,” that thereby they may be drawn to the Lord and be given the desire to “serve him with one consent.”—Zeph. 3:9

However, the fact that millions of the unrighteous will pass through Armageddon does not mean that there is any guarantee that certain individuals will be thus favored above others. One scripture says, “Seek righteousness, seek meekness, it may be that ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” (Zeph. 2:3) This says, “may” be. It is no guarantee against death. Indeed, for millions it will be a blessing to fall asleep in death, to be awakened after the Armageddon struggle is over. This would be a wonderful way to be “hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.”

Will this mean that the wicked who may die will remain dead forever, that they will “sleep a perpetual sleep”? This expression is used in Jeremiah 51:57, where it is applied to the princes and other mighty ones in Babylon. The Lord asserts that he would make them “drunk,” so that they would sleep with a “perpetual sleep.” The thought is clear. They are rendered helpless and inactive, as in a drunken sleep. Death seems not to be referred to here at all. And even if it were, the word “perpetual” is translated from the Hebrew word olam which signifies merely for an age, or to a completion. It does not mean eternity. The lords of symbolic Babylon are rendered helpless to perpetuate this unholy system, and it is destroyed in Armageddon, together with all other unrighteous institutions; but the individuals associated with it will be among those to whom the Lord will later turn a “pure language,” that they too may call upon the name of the Lord to serve him in the right way, if they will.—Zeph. 3:8,9