Aside from the necessary direction given to ancient Israel to defend and protect itself from violent and perverse adjoining tribes, there are four events in scripture where Jehovah/Jesus directly cause the deaths of significant numbers of people. Two were (or will be) global. Two were local.
The first of the two global events took place at the time of Noah. In that generation a mass killing happened at Jehovah’s hands. People separated themselves. On the one hand, there was a city of peace and righteousness, called Zion. “the Lord called his people Zion because they were of one heart, and of one mind, and dwelled in righteousness, and there was no poor among them.” (RE Gen. 4:14)
On the other hand, “there were wars and bloodsheds among them,” and “God saw that the wickedness of man had become great in the earth. And every man was lifted up in the imagination of the thoughts of his heart, being only evil continually.” (RE Gen. 4:14; 5:9) Jehovah saved the righteous, and killed the wicked.
The second global event will take place in very similar circumstances and for very similar reasons. That future event will happen at Jesus Christ’s hands. It is described in one section of the T&C as follows: “And with one heart and with one mind gather up your riches that you may purchase an inheritance which shall hereafter be appointed you, and it shall be called the New Jerusalem, a land of peace, a city of refuge, a place of safety for the saints of the Most High God. And the glory of the Lord shall be there, and the terror of the Lord also shall be there, insomuch that the wicked will not come unto it. And it shall be called Zion.
“And it shall come to pass among the wicked that every man that will not take his sword against his neighbor must needs flee unto Zion for safety, and there shall be gathered unto it out of every nation under heaven, and it shall be the only people that shall not be at war one with another. And it shall be said among the wicked, Let us not go up to battle against Zion, for the inhabitants of Zion are terrible, wherefore we cannot stand. And it shall come to pass that the righteous shall be gathered out from among all nations, and shall come to Zion singing with songs of everlasting joy.” (T&C 31:14-15)
Contemporaneous with this separation there will come destruction of the wicked: “For behold, the day comes that shall burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that comes shall burn them up, says the Lord of Hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of Righteousness arise with healing in his wings, and you shall go forth and grow up as calves of the stall. And you shall tread down the wicked, for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet in the day that I shall do this, says the Lord of Hosts.” (Mal. 1:10)
Of the two local destructions, the first was at the hand of Jehovah. “The Lord said unto us, Because the cry of Sodom and Gomorrah is great, and because their sin is very grievous, I will destroy them.” (Gen. 7:37) “the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah, for the angels called upon the name of the Lord for brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven. And thus they overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground.” (Gen. 7:43)
The second was at the hand of Jesus Christ: “And the city of Zarahemla did take fire; and the city of Moroni did sink into the depths of the sea and the inhabitants thereof were drowned. And the earth was carried up upon the city of Moronihah, that in the place of the city thereof, there became a great mountain. And there was a great and terrible destruction in the land southward. But behold, there was a more great and terrible destruction in the land northward; for behold, the whole face of the land was changed because of the tempests, and the whirlwinds, and the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the exceeding great quaking of the whole earth.” (3 Ne. 4:2)
Jesus Christ explained why He caused this destruction, “it is because of their iniquity and abominations that they are fallen. Behold, that great city Zarahemla have I burned with fire, and the inhabitants thereof. And behold, that great city Moroni have I caused to be sunk in the depths of the sea, and the inhabitants thereof to be drowned. And behold, that great city Moronihah have I covered with earth, and the inhabitants thereof, to hide their iniquities and their abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come up anymore unto me against them. And behold, the city of Gilgal have I caused to be sunk, and the inhabitants thereof, to be buried up in the depths of the earth; yea, and the city Onihah and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Mocum and the inhabitants thereof, and the city of Jerusalem and the inhabitants thereof. And waters have I caused to come up in the stead thereof, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints shall not come up anymore unto me against them. And behold, the city of Gadiandi, and the city of Gadiomnah, and the city of Jacob, and the city Gimgimno — all these have I caused to be sunk, and made hills and valleys in the places thereof; and the inhabitants thereof have I buried up in the depths of the earth, to hide their wickedness and abominations from before my face, that the blood of the prophets and the saints should not come up anymore unto me against them.” (3 Ne. 4:6)
Jesus Christ then explained that He never wanted any of this to have happened. Instead, He offered a different outcome: Zion. He would have gladly gathered them under His arms, as He had done with Enoch’s people, but they refused to come embrace Him: “O ye people of the house of Israel, how oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you! And again, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, yea, O ye people of the house of Israel who have fallen! Yea, O ye people of the house of Israel, ye that dwell at Jerusalem as ye that have fallen, yea, how oft would I have gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens, and ye would not! O ye house of Israel whom I have spared, how oft will I gather you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings if ye will repent and return unto me with full purpose of heart! But if not, O house of Israel, the places of your dwellings shall become desolate until the time of the fulfilling of the covenant to your fathers.” (3 Ne. 4:9)
Following the destruction, and His explanation for it, Jesus Christ descends to teach the survivors the Sermon at Bountiful (which mirrored the Sermon on the Mount). Destroying the wicked did not make Him any less kind, nor make His teaching any less noble, inspiring and edifying.
As I read the scriptures, and note the choices people make and the response from Jehovah/Jesus, I can see no difference. They both will exalt and welcome the righteous. They both will prevent the despoiling of this creation. They both permit the freedom of choice for mankind. They both enforce the consequences of those free choices. They both put limits on what mankind will be permitted to do when they become depraved and violent. They appear to me to be “one”– or more correctly, to be the same individual, as I read the scriptures.