The Watchtower — May 15, 1952

Missionary Work Spreads Liberty and Love

Gilead’s eighteenth class graduates

TWENTY-SIX centuries ago the prophet Isaiah wrote his belief in missionary work in these words: “Say to the prisoners, Go forth.” The same Bible writer willingly volunteered himself for such liberating activity wherever needed, saying, “Here am I; send me.” (Isa. 49:9; 6:8) Today, in New York state’s scenic Finger Lakes region near Ithaca, the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead stands as a modern testimony to this same conviction. Heathen lands in complete darkness to the purposes of the true God are served by its missionary graduates, but activity is not at all limited to these lands. Christendom’s self-righteousness merely masks her own pagan beliefs and reveals her spiritual need.

Hence, Jehovah’s witnesses train their full-time ministers at Gilead to carry out Christ’s command to ‘disciple all the nations’. (Matt. 28:19) Who will deny that spreading knowledge of God and love for God and man is most practical in today’s strife-torn world? This purpose was made clear at the graduation of Gilead’s eighteenth class on February 10, 1952.

By 9 a.m. that Sunday morning the largest crowd ever to attend a wintertime Gilead graduation was seated in four different halls. Activities began when the farm servant and the school’s four instructors successively offered their parting counsel and farewells. Then telegrams were read expressing congratulations from Christians the world over whose thoughts were turned toward Gilead that day. Then N. H. Knorr, president of the school and of the Watchtower Society, began his talk on the theme, “Working Together with Him.”

Brother Knorr had just returned from an extended service tour in which he had talked with the Society’s missionaries in lands as far distant as India. It was evident to observers that he wished to impart something close to his heart, something gained from his intimate contact with the great expansion of true worship being carried on in the world field. In perhaps the most pointed and direct graduation talk in the school’s history he proceeded to enlarge on the true minister’s unique position as a “substitute” for Christ serving the spiritual needs of persons of good will. Basis for the discussion came from the apostle Paul’s letter, Second Corinthians, chapters five and six.

“You have had a most wonderful opportunity to study and equip yourselves,” he said, “but are you going to work together with Him? Will you really be a substitute for Christ, to help his sheep reach maturity? What part are you going to play? You may have much knowledge, but if you do not express love from your heart you will not be of any use to the Lord. You will not do any good for the honest people in these other lands.”

He continued, showing how greater knowledge might wrongfully bring pride. “Much responsibility is on you. Much, much more will be expected of you by your brothers in the field. Are you going to take the lead in expressing love?” Sad to relate, some missionary graduates have not, and a contrast was made between them and the many who have, showing that it is possible for pride, haughtiness, or cold, unfeeling indifference to come in and cause one to harm rather than aid the Lord’s sheep.

With a strong appeal to all present to carefully study the apostle’s letter, especially 2 Co chapter six, the speaker outlined twenty-eight points listed by Paul as essential to prove one a real, mature minister of Christ. Finally he summarized the essence of his talk by reading the following brief personal note which was found in an envelope handed to each graduate:

“DEAR GRADUATES OF THE EIGHTEENTH CLASS OF GILEAD:

“Today you are considered qualified to engage in educational work and devote your efforts in behalf of permanent peace among all peoples loving righteousness. A great deal is expected of you on the part of your brothers everywhere. They believe that now that you have finished the course at Gilead School you are mature. Your brothers expect you to set a proper example in word and deed. You have the knowledge. You have had the opportunity to make your mind over considerably during the five months of study.

“Will this training reflect itself in your daily actions? Are you going to show love and patience toward your brothers? Are you going to be long-suffering in helping the babies in the truth to grow up? Briefly stated, Are you going to show your maturity in the Lord’s organization? ‘Of him that has much the more will be required.’

“Never for a moment treat any future assignment in the Lord’s organization lightly. There is so much expected of you by your brothers in all parts of the world. Don’t fail them. Show real devotion and sincere love toward all your brothers; and say to those who are still prisoners, ‘Go forth.’

“Here is a little gift to help you get started now that you are leaving school. Use it wisely to keep in the work. Plan your affairs to keep really busy in preaching the gospel. Our prayers are for you in this behalf. We love our brothers worldwide, and we want you to share in that love of helping them. Our best wishes go with you.

WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY

N. H. Knorr, president.”

February 10, 1952

Until that morning the students did not know where they would be sent. Imagine, then, the excitement as Brother Knorr called them forward according to missionary assignment groups and announced where each was going! Ninety-five of the ninety-nine graduates received diplomas of scholastic merit and all received assignments which will carry them to twenty-five countries. This class will assist in setting free spiritual captives in the United States, Quebec, Bahamas, Central and South America, parts of Europe and the Near East, India and Africa.

Just before dismissal, a member of the class presented a resolution in which the students acknowledged their new responsibilities and vowed to live up to them to the best of their abilities. This produced response from the large audience. A closing prayer concluded the formal exercises and unleashed the eager throng’s pent-up enthusiasm. Future prospects occupied the conversation the remainder of the day. It is a long way from Gilead’s peaceful campus to the site of their coming new activities. However, the eighteenth class starts forward well equipped for its task of bidding willing listeners of many lands, “Go forth.”

Do You Have Hearing Ears?

TODAY, in 121 lands and isle of the sea, the good news of God’s kingdom is being preached. This good news tells that the one true God is Jehovah, that he is from everlasting to everlasting, the fountain of life, and that he is a God of wisdom, justice, love and power. (Ps. 36:9; 62:11; 83:18; 89:14; 90:2; Prov. 2:6, 7; 1 John 4:8) It further tells that God’s kingdom is now established, and that it soon will end all unrighteousness and usher in a new system of things; a world wherein man will learn war no more, a world wherein every man will sit under his own vine and fig tree with none to molest him or make him afraid; a world without sorrow, pain or crying; a world where, instead of people dying, the dead will be coming back to life. (Mic. 4:3, 4; John 5:28, 29; Rev. 11:17, 18; 21:4) One would think that such good news would set atingling the ears of everyone who hears it. But does it? Far from it! Only a few give ear. Why?

Why do men turn a deaf ear to the good news God is having brought to them? First of all, because of lack of faith. Men refuse to accept the evidence presented by the Bible, and God’s other book, the book of nature, showing that God does indeed exist. They are unwilling to accept the vast amount of proof, both circumstantial and direct, that the Bible is inspired, that it is indeed the Word of God. So they fail to benefit from the good news because of their lack of faith.—John 17:17; Rom. 1:20; Heb. 4:2.

Others turn a deaf ear to the truth because of not being open-minded, not being willing to take the time to hear the proof that this good news is indeed true. They are unwilling to investigate, to prove all things by God’s inspired Word, and so show themselves to be fools by answering a matter before they hear it. They ignore God’s invitation to come and reason together. (Prov. 18:13; Isa. 1:18; Acts 17:11) Prejudice, religious or of another form, keeps their ears closed.

The truth also falls upon deaf ears if their owners do not have a love for righteousness. Above all else, the truth of God’s Word magnifies the righteousness of God. It tells of a God who is the Preserver of all that is good and right and the Destroyer of all that is wicked. This very ring of justice and righteousness, which so attracts the lovers of righteousness, repels many because, whether they realize it or not, they prefer that which is selfish, unjust and sinful to that which is just and righteous.

Not only does it require faith, a willingness to reason and a love of righteousness to have a hearing ear for the good news of the Kingdom, but it also requires humility. Many reject the good news because of pride. They do not want to be set straight, to be corrected. Even the most ignorant men can be proud, and persons that are proud depend upon themselves for salvation, or else cling to the religious ideas they were previously taught. Putting their trust in human leaders, they do not feel lowly enough to confess that these are wrong, and themselves as well. They are too proud to accept the truth, because it is unpopular, because it is not in harmony with popular science and popular religions. Like Nathaniel, they say, “Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” but unlike him, they are not willing to “come and see” whether or not these lowly witnesses of Jehovah do have something “good”, the truth. Such ignore Jehovah’s counsel: “Hear ye, and give ear; be not proud; for Jehovah hath spoken.”—Jer. 13:15, AS; John 1:46-50.

TICKLING THE ITCHING EARS

Instead of hearing ears, today the vast majority of mankind, inside of Christendom as well as outside of it, have itching ears. Speaking of these the apostle Paul wrote: “For there will be a period of time when they will not put up with the healthful teaching, but, in accord with their own desires, they will accumulate teachers for themselves to have their ears tickled, and they will turn their ears away from the truth, whereas they will be turned aside to false stories.”—2 Tim. 4:3, 4, NW.

Among the false stories that the false shepherds tell their flocks, the financiers, the politicians and the common people, are the following: that the political rulers are the “higher powers” of Romans 13:1-4; that the United Nations organization is man’s only hope; that it is up to the people to bring in the kingdom of God by means of moral-uplift schemes; that man has an immortal soul; that all good church members will go to heaven at death; that their deity is a mysterious trinity. All of which tickles the ears of the listeners.

On the other hand big business gives financial support to its religious leaders, the politicians give them adulation and prominent seats in their assemblies, and the common people grovel before their shepherds with “Ah, Father!” “Reverend!” and “Rabbi!” and other flattering titles on their lips. Thus priest and people tickle each other’s ears in one great mutual-admiration society.—Jer. 5:31.

THE HEARING EARS

Men who love righteousness, are humble and have faith are not satisfied with the “false stories” of such shepherds. Their ears will try what they hear to determine whether or not it has the ring of genuine truth from the reliable Source. (Job 34:3) They listen for the voices of the true Shepherds and will respond only to them. Speaking for these sheeplike ones the psalmist says: “Jehovah is a great God, and a great King above all gods. For he is our God, and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.” When they hear his voice they do not close their ears or harden their hearts.—Ps. 95:3, 7, 8, AS.

These also recognize Christ Jesus as their Shepherd. “He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has got all his own out, he travels before them, and the sheep follow him, because they know his voice. A stranger they will by no means follow but will flee from him, because they do not know the voice of strangers.”—John 10:3-5, NW.

After having learned to distinguish between the voices of the false shepherds and the voices of the true Shepherds, if we are wise, we will continue to show humility and submissiveness to the true Shepherds. We will not rebel just because what they tell us shows us where we are wrong and reproves us. Rather we will appreciate that all this is necessary to guide us in the pathway of life. We sincerely want to live forever, and that to the glory of God, do we not? Then why despise our life interests by manifesting stubbornness? Let us rather accept with meekness what they tell us and stay wise. “The ear that heareth the reproof of life abideth among the wise. He that refuseth instruction [or, correction] despiseth his own soul: but he that heareth reproof getteth understanding.”—Prov. 15:31, 32.

These wise and loving Shepherds may at times use a human agency to administer a reproof to us. If we have understanding we will not take offense at such a one and avoid him with ill feeling. Not at all! Instead, we will view such a one as an adornment to us. “As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.”—Prov. 25:12.

To accept instruction and reproof includes more than merely giving mental assent to its wisdom. If we fully understand and appreciate the importance of what is brought to our attention we will act upon it, bringing our lives into harmony with it, for hearing also means obeying. Only then can we be considered wise. “Therefore everyone that hears these sayings of mine and does them will be likened to a discreet man, who built his house upon the rock-mass. And the rain poured down and the floods came and the winds blew and lashed against that house, but it did not cave in, for it had been founded upon the rock-mass.”—Matt. 7:24, 25, NW.

Whether or not our ears remain open to the reproof and instruction that leads to life depends upon our hearts. “Apply thine heart unto instruction, and thine ears to the words of knowledge.” (Prov. 23:12; 18:15) Unless the good and honest condition of our hearts keeps our powers of audition open and keenly sensitive to the divine Word, our ears will be as if heavy, dull of hearing. Then there will be no ready, interested reception of the divine message, and so no fruit from our hearts.

HEARING MEANS SALVATION FOR US AND OTHERS

To those to whom he sends his message Jehovah says: “Hear, and your soul shall live.” (Isa. 55:3) Here again, more is meant than merely hearing the sound of God’s message with our physical ears. It means entertaining the message, accepting it, believing it and obediently acting upon it. If we want God to hear, help and deliver us in times of need and reward us with eventual salvation, we must listen to him now. Those who turn a deaf ear to what God now has to say to them will find him turning a deaf ear to them when they call upon him in adversity. (Prov. 1:20-33) “He that turneth away his ear from hearing the law, even his prayer is an abomination.”—Prov. 28:9, AS.

The good and honest heart that receives the message must bring forth fruit, and that fruitage can be attained only by preaching. The message of salvation that encounters a hearer must go from the ear to the heart and then to the lips, even as the proverb shows: “Bow down thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips.” (Prov. 22:17, 18) Yes, the truth must make a circuit in us, from ears to heart to lips.

Preach, preach, preach, says God’s Word to us hearers. Yes, to gain life not only must we ourselves obediently hear but we must let others hear the truth that leads to life. In all cases obedient hearing precedes salvation. “For ‘anyone that calls upon the name of Jehovah will be saved’. However, how will they call upon him in whom they have not put faith? How, in turn, will they put faith in him of whom they have not heard? How, in turn, will they hear without someone to preach?”—Rom. 10:13, 14, NW.

So it becomes plain to us how important the work of preaching is. Preaching leads to hearing, and hearing to salvation. For this reason no other activity on earth is more important to humankind than preaching, regardless of how the worldlywise view the matter. “God saw good through the foolishness of what is preached to save those believing.”—1 Cor. 1:21, NW.

The situation in the world today invites us to preach, and happy are we if we accept and act upon the invitation. When Paul heard the Macedonian cry for help he promptly responded to the invitation as being from the Lord, and the book of Acts tells of the many privileges and blessings he enjoyed because of his thus responding. Likewise shall we enjoy many privileges if we respond to the invitations coming from countries, lands, states, counties, provinces and territories where there is a need for Kingdom publishers. But we not only have an invitation from these, but God himself commands us: “Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. . . . let them hear, and say, It is truth.”—Isa. 43:8, 9, AS.

And as we respond to the invitation and obey the command to preach let us make sure that we give the message in the language that the people understand, not only in their tongue, but also on their level of intelligence. “For truly, if the bugle sounds an indistinct call, who will get ready for battle? In the same way also, unless you through the tongue utter speech easily understood, how will it be known what is being spoken? You will, in fact, be speaking into the air.” (1 Cor. 14:8, 9, NW) If we do not want to be speaking into the blank space, we must give the witness to the people in their understood language and in terms they can grasp.

True, in spite of our earnestness, in spite of our efforts to make the truth simple and easily understood, many will turn deaf ears to our message. But what of that? Many also refused to listen to Christ Jesus, the greatest Preacher of all time; and the slave is not better than his Master, is he? (John 6:60; 15:20) Shall the general indifference and unresponsiveness of the people, or shall the divine command, determine what we will do? Jehovah’s word to Ezekiel answers: “Thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they will forbear.”—Ezek. 2:7.

While many will refuse to hear and thus show themselves to be worthy of destruction, the Lord’s Word assures us that some will hear: “In that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book.” “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. . . . and the tongue of the dumb sing.” (Isa. 29:18; 35:5, 6) The physical facts show that an ever-increasing number are hearing with understanding, are letting the truth go from their ears into their hearts and come upon their lips. Like the sound of many waters and as the sound of heavy thunders, the voices of this great crowd are saying: “Praise Jah, you people, because Jehovah our God, the Almighty, has begun to rule as king.” (Rev. 19:5, 6, NW) Do you have ears that hear? Then let that which has entered your heart also be upon your lips that others also may hear.

Religious Fog and Concealment

“When people just broadly approve of ‘God,’ ‘faith,’ ‘prayer,’ etc., it is about as vague as fog, gives no direction to their lives and no fuel for going anywhere.”—“Rev.” George F. Tittman, rector, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Arlington, Va.

“As it now functions, the church represents a false God and a false Christ but more tragically it conceals the true God and the true Christ.”—“Rev.” Dr. Paul T. McClurkin on resigning from the First Congregational Church, Hadley, Mass.

Part 4—The Quran—of God or of Man?

ACCORDING to orthodox Islam the Quran “is uncreated and eternal [and] was written from the beginning in golden rays on a magnificent tablet in heaven and was communicated to Mohammed by the angel Gabriel . . .” (1942 ed. of Ency. Amer., Vol. 16, under “Koran”) In the effort to place the Quran above all else and as equal with God himself, Muslim tradition has a paradox on its hands; for how could the Quran be eternal and uncreated and yet written on a magnificent tablet? Written by whom—if coeternal with God?

In the previous articles of this series we have seen that the giving of the Quran was not accompanied with miracles, as was the case with the giving of the Law and the gospel, and have found the position taken by Muslim scribes that the Quran is a literary miracle to be untenable. We also found that its claim to be confirmatory of previous Scripture was without foundation and that the blame for its failure to do this could not be placed on the Bible but must rest on the Quran. Further, we have seen that the message itself could not be used to prove its divine origin, as above all else divine truth must be consistent with itself, whereas we found much discrepancy in the Quran. All of which argues against the Quran’s being of God.

THE BIBLE FORETELLS MUHAMMAD’S WORK?

Among other arguments that Muslim scribes use to prove the inspiration of the Quran is that Muhammad and his work were foretold in the Bible. According to a footnote on Sura 46:10, Ali, (n.4783) “in the Quran and its Prophet [is found] a true confirmation of the previous scriptures . . . Islam [being] a fulfillment of the revelation of Moses himself! (See Deut. XVIII, 18-19)”

But how could that be? At Mount Sinai Jehovah told Moses: “I will raise them up a prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee; and I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak unto them all that I shall command him. And it shall come to pass, that whosoever will not hearken unto my words which he shall speak in my name, I will require it of him.”—Deut. 18:15-19, AS.

Certainly it cannot be justly argued that Muhammad, who was a descendant of Ishmael, was of Moses’ brothers. Nor did Muhammad speak in the name of Jehovah God, as did Moses. The fact is that centuries before Muhammad was born the apostle Peter, in addressing the bona fide brothers of Moses, the Jews, applied this text to Christ Jesus, and the facts show that this prophecy does apply to him.—Acts 3:20-23.

Another prophecy which Muslim scribes apply to Muhammad is that of Jesus regarding the coming of a “helper” or “comforter”. Says Ali, in his footnote comment on Sura 3:81: “In the New Testament as it now exists Muhammad is foretold in the Gospel of St. John 14:16; 15:26; and Joh 16:7. The future Comforter cannot be the Holy Spirit as understood by Christians, because the Holy Spirit already was present, helping and guiding Jesus.”

However, note that Jesus said that his going away would make his apostles orphans, but not for long, as the “spirit of truth”, the paraclete, the “helper” or “comforter”, was to come. He further told them that they would be baptized with this spirit of truth “not many days after this” and that they were to remain in Jerusalem until this spirit came. Surely all these promises and commands would not make sense if the apostles were to wait six centuries until Muhammad came!

True, the holy spirit was upon Jesus, but it is very apparent that, until it was given to them at Pentecost, without Jesus his apostles were very much like lost children. They went back to their fishing business; they presumed to elect an apostle to take the place of Judas; they had no message for the Jews. With the spirit’s outpouring at Pentecost all this changed! From then on the apostles confidently went forward with the work of preaching, making converts by the thousands. (John 21:3; Acts 1:4, 5, 15-26; 2:32-36, 41; 4:4) Clearly such misapplication of Scripture cannot prove the divine origin of the Quran!

THE QURAN PROPHETIC?

In further efforts to prove the Quran inspired Muslim scribes point to its prophetical element. No question about it, such would be strong claim to its divine origin, as the strongest circumstantial evidence that the Bible is indeed God’s Word is the fulfillment of its many prophecies. Moses foretold ever so many things regarding Egypt and his people which were fulfilled. (See Exodus chapters 7-14; Leviticus chapter 26; Deuteronomy 17:14, 15; 31:6-8.) Two hundred years in advance Isaiah foretold the deliverance of the Jews from captivity and even gave the name of the one who was to release them, namely Cyrus. (Isa. 44:28; 45:1-7) Jeremiah accurately foretold that the land would lie desolate seventy years. (Jer. 25:11; Dan. 9:2) Daniel correctly foretold the succession of world empires, as well as giving the exact year that Messiah the prince would come. (Daniel chapters 8 and 9) Upward of thirty outstanding events in the life of Jesus were accurately foretold; and unquestionably Jesus’ own prophecy, recorded at Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21, is finding its fulfillment today. And all these specific as to details.

But what are the prophecies of the Quran, the fulfillments of which would stamp it as inspired? The foremost one to which Muslim theologians refer is that found at Sura 30:1-3: “The [Roman Empire has been] defeated by a land hard by. But after their defeat they shall defeat their foes in a few years.” (Ali; Rodwell) This is taken to foretell the defeat the Romans administered to the Persians some ten years after having been defeated by them. However, any shrewd observer could have hazarded the guess that the Roman Empire would eventually win out. Besides, when the Quran was originally written, no vowel points were used and so the passage could just as well have been translated “they shall be defeated” as “they shall defeat”. And this is generally quoted as the foremost example of prophecy in the Quran.

On the other hand, a Quranic prophecy that has signally failed is that Islam will be “victorious over every other religion”. (Sura 9:33, Rodwell) Muslims can account for but some 11 per cent of the world’s population, whereas Hindus claim 12 per cent, so-called Christians 30 per cent, etc. Islam has engaged in one holy war, Jihad, after another, in obedience to the command: “Fight therefore against them until . . . the only worship be that of God.” (Sura 2:189, Rodwell) Yet, even then, Islam has not triumphed, has not been victorious over all other religions. Her armies were stopped in France A.D. 732 by Charles Martel, and at the gates of Vienna for the last time in 1683. So we see that on the basis of the prophetical element the Quran cannot claim divine origin.

INTERESTING PARALLELS

In view of all the foregoing, what alternative is left us as regards the question: “The Quran—of God or of Man?” However, rather than specifically answering this question, let us consider some very interesting parallels that history has recorded between the message of Islam and the customs and beliefs of the people with whom Muhammad came in contact at the end of the sixth and the beginning of the seventh century A.D.

The Quran proclaims that Allah is the one true God, that the faithful will be rewarded after death by being taken to paradise and that the wicked will be punished by torment. It also repeatedly condemns the Arabic practice of burying alive their infant daughters. All this was likewise preached by a group of reformers in Muhammad’s native city, Mecca, the Hanifs, with whom he was well acquainted.

The Quran commands the worship of the Kaaba stone, the pilgrimage to Mecca, the fast during the month of Ramadhan, and it also teaches a fatalism regarding the present life. All of this was part of the pagan religion of the Arabs in Muhammad’s day.

The Quran’s graphic portrayals of heaven and hell; its instructions regarding a kebla or direction in which one should turn when praying; its rules regarding prayer and purification; the idea of the use of balances on the judgment day and of Al Araf or purgatory; the opening prayer of all suras except the ninth, “In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful”; its angelism and demonology, all find their close counterparts in the Talmud of Judaism and the Avesta of Zoroastrianism.

The Quran tells of Jesus’ speaking as an infant. This account is likewise found in the apocryphal Gospel of the Infant. It also tells that as a small child Jesus made birds out of clay and caused them to become alive. The same story is found in the Gospel of Thomas, the Israelite, as well as in the Gospel of the Infant. The Quran claims that Jesus was not nailed to a stake, “crucified,” and was not put to death at the instance of the Jews (and at the hand of the Romans). This belief was also held by the sect of the “Manichaeans” and others, and is found in certain apocryphal writings, such as the Travels of the Apostles.

The Quran was produced in Arabia. Its appeal is to the preferences and prejudices of the Arabs. Repeatedly it emphasizes the fact that it was sent in pure Arabic and to Arabs. “A book whose verses (signs) are MADE PLAIN—an Arabic Koran, for men of knowledge.” (Sura 41:2, Rodwell. See also Sura 12:2; 13:37; 16:105; 42:5, Rodwell.) If the Quran were of God and for the peoples of all languages, what difference would it make what its original language was?

The same may also be said regarding the Quran’s prohibition of wine on the one hand and the permission to “marry women of your choice, two, or three or four”; both of which are contradictory to what has been man’s experience in the rest of the world regarding what is best for society, although seemingly practical for the inhabitants of the Arabian peninsula.

Finally, note the many interesting parallels between immediate local circumstances and the contents of certain suras. Muhammad’s uncle and aunt were most skeptical of Muhammad’s claim to be the prophet of Allah. Sura 111 is devoted to pronouncing a curse on them. As Islam grew in strength and engaged in wars for booty or conquest we find suras such as Nos. 2, 3, 8, etc., containing admonition to engage in war, rebuke for those failing to do so, and explanations for the outcome of certain battles.

An unpleasant rumor involved Muhammad’s favorite wife, Ayesha, in an affair with a young Muslim warrior. Sura 24 deals with this incident and condemns the scandalmongers. Muhammad was perplexed about marrying the divorced wife of his adopted son Zaid. Sura 33 grants him an exception so that he can marry her even though among the Arabs an adopted son was considered the same as one’s natural son and the Quran had forbidden the wife of one ever to become the wife of another. In another instance one of Muhammad’s wives had discovered him in her apartment with his Coptic concubine. This caused such a furor among his wives that Muhammad voluntarily denied himself having any relations with this concubine. Sura 66 assures him that he need not consider the objections of his wives in regard to his relations with the dusky Coptic concubine.

Yet all this, we are gravely assured, existed coeternal with God himself, in his presence, awaiting the time when need would cause the angel Gabriel to bring it down and transmit it to Muhammad! Could credulity be stretched any farther?

So what is our conclusion? This: Without a doubt the religion which Muhammad brought his countrymen in the Quran and forced them to accept was far superior to that which most of them were practicing; and without a doubt Muhammad started out fully convinced that he had a message from God (Allah) for the people of his day. Nevertheless his message did not come from God. It may not altogether have had human sources; his fear that the voices he heard were those of evil spirits, wicked Jinns, may have been closer to the truth than his wife’s assurances that these were those of good spirits.

Nor should this surprise us, for the Bible tells us that “Satan himself keeps transforming himself into an angel of light” and that as the “god of this system of things [he] has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through”.—2 Cor. 11:14; 4:4, NW.

Does such an observation seem too severe? Then ask: Is it reasonable to conclude that after Jehovah God used Christ Jesus to bring in a system of things far superior to the law arrangement under Moses, seven centuries later he would use Muhammad to go back to Moses and ever farther with ceremonial cleansings, fasts, prohibition of certain foods, not to say anything about the worship of the Kaaba?—Jer. 31:31-34; Matt. 5:21-48; Heb. chaps. 9, 10.

In one respect, however, Muhammad set a good example for all to follow. Under the conviction that his message was true he proclaimed it, although, for some years at least, it made him very unpopular, subjected him to ridicule, severe punishment and even caused his life to be threatened. And regarding the cardinal doctrine of the Quran, that there is but one true God, he did not change.

The Bible tells us: “Come . . . let us reason together.” (Isa. 1:18) And we are also admonished: “Buy the truth, and sell it not.” (Prov. 23:23) To arrive at the truth we must be willing to reason on the facts presented and be willing to pay the price for it, for the truth is no more popular today than it was in times past. Check the foregoing arguments by the Quran, the Bible and the facts of history, and then be convinced in your own mind as to which book is the divine revelation. Be willing to receive instruction as to what constitutes divine truth and what God requires of those who would gain salvation, eternal life in happiness. And then act accordingly.

Following Apostolic Footsteps to Cyprus

Continuing the report by the Society’s president of his recent extended service tour. The last Installment left N. H. Knorr and his secretary as they prepared to leave Turkey for Cyprus.

CHRISTIANS have long thrilled to the Scriptural accounts of the exploits of Paul, Barnabas and others of the early Christian church. It is a pleasure to relate from personal experience that their labors were not at all in vain. Even today in the very lands where these men lived and worked, true Christianity goes forward successfully. True, it is hemmed in by opposition from some of the fraudulent unchristian imitations that plague the work of Christians elsewhere, but this does not deter the true ministers of God.

Upon our arrival in Cyprus after an air journey southward across Turkey, Brother Henschel and I recollected how Paul and Barnabas had sailed to Salamis, an ancient city on the east coast, and how Paul had crossed the island to the city of Paphos where he talked to the governor of the island and converted him to Christianity. (Acts 13:4-12) This, our first visit to Cyprus, was to be highlighted by a large Christian assembly which the brothers there had arranged in the island’s walled capital city, Nicosia. The Royal Cinema, a modern theater in the residential section, was booked for three days and the city’s most prominent theater, the Pallas Cinema, for the public talk Sunday morning. According to Cyprus law, a permit was secured from the town’s commissioner, a measure necessary there for religious meetings held outside churches.

An extensive effort was made to properly advertise the assembly to Nicosia’s 50,000 inhabitants. Four large banners were prepared in both English and Greek and mounted on the side of the Royal Cinema. There were 25,000 handbills and 200 posters printed in Greek and English. Advertisements concerning the public meeting were flashed on the screens in the largest cinemas. One English, three Greek and two Turkish newspapers carried announcements of the talk, “Will Religion Meet the World Crisis?” The island’s leading Communist newspaper and the leading nationalist newspaper, both published in Greek, refused to insert the advertisements. The Communists said it was against their party line, and the nationalists said they must first have the approval of the archbishop. We did not need their publicity anyway, because when Jehovah’s witnesses got in town and started talking and going from door to door, an even greater witness would be given.

Almost at once this activity produced a division in the populace when intolerant opposers, overanxious to prevent others from hearing, tore down many of the posters. We learned of other instances of groundless opposition to the truth. Children of Jehovah’s witnesses living in the villages are subject to expulsion from school for their refusal to make the “sign of the cross”. Priests use their influence against those who show interest in our work, trying to have them fired from their employment. However, such tactics are not stumbling real truth seekers.

APPEALING SCENERY, HISTORIC LANDMARKS

On a journey to visit the Society’s branch office and missionary home at Famagusta, we had opportunity to view part of the scenic countryside. To the one side the horizon was fringed with snowcapped mountains, and to the other lay a rocky, almost treeless plain. The shepherds and their fat-tailed sheep moved across the scene. Oxen were pulling wooden plows. Heavily laden camels were on their way to the capital. A commoner sight was the humble peasant arrayed in baggy trousers, a turbanlike head covering and sitting astride the famous Cyprus donkey. We passed through several Greek and Turkish villages with their houses made from bricks of mud and straw dried in the sun. A few were plastered over on the outside, but most of them were the color of the earth around them. Near Famagusta the landscape becomes greener.

After finishing our work at the branch home, our ride back to the capital took us by the ancient town of Chittim, famous for its ships in Bible times. In the distance we saw the “Mountain of the Cross” where a Greek Orthodox monastery is perched on the summit. Tradition holds that a relative of Emperor Constantine visited the island, bringing with her a piece of the “cross” which she left on the mountain, thus giving it its name. Monasteries are plentiful in Cyprus, and it should be added that they are great landowners, renting land to the poor farmers and adding to their poverty by their collections. Another interesting landmark is the conical-shaped hill where it is said the ancient worship of Aphrodite (Latin: Venus), goddess of love and beauty, was carried on. According to the legend of the island, Aphrodite was born off the foam of the sea near Paphos. It is said that her worship had its origin in Cyprus, and excavations show that she was worshiped extensively throughout the island.

The assembly opened the following day. Everyone thrilled to the talks presented and rejoiced too in the telegrams received from London and Australia. No sign of trouble appeared during the opening sessions, but the opposers of truth and free worship became evident on the next day, Saturday.

FALSE RELIGION INSPIRES MOB ACTION

The false religionists became very much disturbed when nearly 200 brothers and sisters began advertising the public lecture by means of placards. During the day no serious disturbance occurred. On Saturday evening, however, we learned how the Greek Hierarchy really felt. Young men attached to the Greek Orthodox Church were out on the streets with leaflets “exposing” Jehovah’s witnesses. Their printed material was headed: “ATTENTION, KEEP AWAY FROM THE MILLENNIALISTS.” Part of the leaflet’s contents follows:

“Again the men of error have arisen and try to draw you away. They can never be reformed and are unrepentant. But they also never get tired of advertising their false ideas. They are the famous Millennialists. They are the ones who call themselves ‘Jehovah’s witnesses’.

“Be careful lest they draw you away. Close your ears to their nonsense.

“Do you see? They have invited a stranger also to uphold them. . . .

“They are wolves in sheep’s clothing who come to devour the sensible sheep of Christ. For this reason drive them away and tear in front of them the books and leaflets which they offer you.

“The Millennialists are the greatest heretics.

“Do not approach them, don’t give them any attention. Ignore them, maybe they will come to their senses and be corrected.

From THE HOLY ARCHBISHOPRIC”

22. 12. 1951

That very night the hoodlums inspired by this spiteful source cut down the four banners advertising the public talk and took them away. The brothers prepared at once for further trouble.

The police too, on hand throughout the assembly, were out in good numbers when the public lecture began at 10:30 Sunday morning. As anticipated, a mob of ruffians mingled with the crowds and tried to gain admission. However, the brothers recognized them from previous occasions and prevented all but a handful from getting in. These few that did get into the hall were not bold enough to cause any trouble. Outside, the frustrated mobsters banged on the doors. The police quickly halted this. But they could not prevent the troublemakers from milling about. Some tried to sneak in singly with others of the public, but they were always ferreted out. Shortly after the talk began there were 420 persons present inside, including a large number of strangers. They listened attentively and were happy to receive a free booklet at the close of the meeting.

On learning that the meeting had concluded, the mob of Greek Orthodox fanatics, whose activities had evidently been instigated by “The Holy Archbishopric”, crowded into the arcade or entranceway. Apparently their scheme was to force the exiting crowds to mill through their midst. The brothers, seeing the situation, opened other exits at the side and in a few minutes all the audience was out on the streets. Whatever the mob had planned was thus put to nought; in fact, everyone was out of the theater before the mob in front of the place knew what had happened. The brothers rejoiced in this victory for theocratic worship.

APOSTLE’S PLANTING REAPS INCREASE

The assembly’s closing sessions that afternoon passed quickly and brought near the termination of our joyful visit to Cyprus. It would be fitting to mention that on our way from Famagusta back to the capital before the assembly, we had made a point to stop at the ruins of ancient Salamis visited by the apostle Paul. While there, our minds went back to the time when that energetic traveling missionary preached the message there that Jehovah’s spirit had directed. His work, like that of God’s modern-day witnesses, centered on declaring Jehovah’s supremacy and purposes. Some heard and accepted then, while others opposed. Still, the good news of the Kingdom fell on much fertile ground and other ministers took up the work.

How would Paul feel if he could visit the Kingdom publishers in Cyprus today? Five years ago, when the Society sent its first missionary, there were but 33 publishers in the entire island. In 1951 the report showed an average of 272 active in the work, with a peak of 337! They had realized a 33 per cent increase in 1950. Typical of their energy and zeal is the elderly pioneer minister who has been in the full-time service for fifteen years and says he has visited all but three cities and villages on the island. There is reason for confidence that the 450,000 “Cypriotes”, as the islanders are called, will receive a thorough witness concerning the Kingdom. Paul’s planting work was not wasted.

A large turnout of the brothers, anxious to send their love and best wishes to their companion Kingdom publishers in other parts of the world, was on hand to watch us board our plane. The growth of technical science since Paul’s day made possible a much quicker and easier departure from the island for us than was possible for him. But as respects the work of preaching Jehovah’s kingdom, only in this, as well as in the growth and maturity of the true Christian worship, have conditions changed in Cyprus since that time.

[Map on page 301]

(For fully formatted text, see publication)

PAPHOS

NICOSIA

SALAMIS

Dedication to God and Consecration

“Then said I, Lo, come: in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.”—Ps. 40:7, 8.

1-3. Who are being marked today, and where, and in fulfillment of what prophecies?

YOU are being marked today in your forehead or in your right hand. No matter whether you are man or woman, boy or girl, white or colored, you are no exception. It is your mark of destiny, and your opportunity for life in a clean, righteous new world depends upon it. We are living in the days of the fulfillment of strange prophecies, and it is this fact that makes it appropriate to speak of a symbolic mark on the forehead or hand.

² The aged exile on the prison isle of Patmos saw a gathering of 144,000 on top of Mount Zion around their King and they all had their Father’s name written in their foreheads. Due to this fact it is said: “They will rule as kings for ever and ever.” (Rev. 14:1, 3; 22:4, 5, NW) This same exile saw in his series of visions the formation of an “image of the wild beast” in these postwar years and the people everywhere being put under compulsion to worship it and thus to receive a “mark in their right hand or upon their forehead, and that nobody might be able to buy or sell except a person having the mark, the name of the wild beast or the number of its name”. Woe for such marked ones! They are destined to “drink of the wine of the anger of God that is poured out undiluted into the cup of his wrath”.—Rev. 13:15-17; 14:9, 10, NW.

³ Seven centuries earlier another exile, a Hebrew prophet at Babylon, saw the prototypes of the detestable things today being done in Christendom, dooming her and her worshipers to destruction. However, a man, a scribe clothed in linen, saved the day for some few men, women and children. He went on ahead and set a mark on their foreheads that they might be spared by the six executioners with slaughter weapons who closely followed him with divine orders to cut down every unmarked person, old man, young man, maid, little child and woman, in front of their temple or anywhere else in the city. (Ezek. 9:1-7) Today you, yes, you, come without fail within the purview of one or other of these prophecies. So, how are you being marked, for life or for death? See that it is for life.

4. Down to the present how are certain ones distinguished by literal markings, and which mark means doom, and which one life?

⁴ To this present time sectarian marks are put upon the foreheads, arms, or other parts of the body among the Hindus and other devotees in India. By this mark it is plainly shown who is a follower of the god Vishnu, who of Siva, who of Brahma, and who of some other of the multitude of gods. It is an old custom for the worshipers of particular idols to have their idol’s mark upon a part of the body plainly seen. In Bible times it was also customary to set marks on servants and slaves, to distinguish them from others. Now, you may not mark yourself or submit yourself to being marked with such a literal mark on your person, but, just the same, you cannot escape being marked in the Bible sense to a certain destiny. To God, the Judge of your destiny, this mark is just as plainly visible and decipherable as was the mark he set or prescribed for Cain lest anybody should take the law in his own hands and kill him as a murderer of Abel. (Gen. 4:15) Because it is popular and finds favor with the mighty ones in power in this world, you may be proud of the mark you now wear. It may win you approval, privileges and advancement in this world, but it may doom you to destruction in the eyes of the Supreme One who determines the fate of the nations and governments of this world. To be marked in the way that he approves means life for you. It opens up the way for you to survive through the coming world catastrophe of Armageddon into the new world which he creates.

5. How may we be marked to a destiny of life in the new world?

⁵ How can you and the rest of us be marked to a destiny of a prosperous life in the righteous new world? It is by being the slaves, the devoted servants, of the God of the new world. It is by having the identification mark which unmistakably shows everybody we meet that we belong to the Most High God, whose name alone is Jehovah. (Ps. 83:18) His great adversary is the “god of this system of things”, whose name is Satan the Devil, so that if you are serving the cause of this selfish, corrupt old world you are serving its god. (2 Cor. 4:4, NW; John 12:31) Our choice must be between these two opposing gods, the mighty god of this old world and the Almighty God of the everlasting new world. Whose service is bound to pay the best wages, to afford the worth-while reward? Why, of course, that of the living and true God, Jehovah, who will destroy the adversary god and his old world and permanently establish the new. Deciding to be marked for life in that new world, it is now urgent upon us to devote ourselves to Jehovah God and belong to him. How? By dedicating ourselves to him through his Son and High Priest, Jesus Christ. There is now no other way to approach God and be introduced into his service.

6. Whom did Psalm 40:7, 8 have in view, and whom did the law covenant make priests for the nation of Israel?

⁶ God’s Son and High Priest is the One whom the spirit of prophecy had in view when it caused the psalmist David to pen the words quoted at the head of this article. David, of the tribe of Judah and king of Jerusalem, was speaking there, not of his own coming to do God’s will, but of his descendant who would become High Priest as well as King and so be David’s Lord, namely, Jesus Christ. King David and all Israel needed to have such a High Priest come. They lived under the old covenant which Jehovah God had made with the nation of Israel through the prophet Moses. That covenant appointed the male members of the family of Aaron, Moses’ brother, to be the priests for the nation. The rest of the men in the tribe of Levi were officially called Levites and were appointed to serve the Aaronic priesthood. They regularly offered animal sacrifices and the blood of bulls and of goats for the sins of the nation of Israel so as to keep them in the law covenant with God.

7. Why were the Jewish priests unsatisfactory, and how was the suitable high priest raised up?

⁷ None of those Jewish high priests could offer to God a perfect human sacrifice able to cancel mankind’s debt to God, because all the Jewish priests were sinful and imperfect, being descendants from the original human sinners Adam and Eve. Only the one who offered such a perfect sacrifice could become God’s true High Priest. Only a miracle could bring about the humanly impossible. So God sent his Son in human form into this world. He did not come in the tribe of Levi and in the family of Aaron, but in David’s royal tribe of Judah. Since the old law covenant did not provide a satisfactory high priest in the family of Aaron the Levite, God raised up his acceptable High Priest in the royal line of David to present his own perfect human body as a sacrifice to God. By means of this suitable sacrifice his High Priest could act as mediator between God and men to establish a new covenant, using his own blood as the means by which to put the new covenant into force and give it the power to bring about true, permanent forgiveness of human sins. Explaining how the new High Priest Jesus Christ entered upon this life-saving work, the apostle Paul quotes from David’s psalm and goes on to say:

8. What does Hebrews 10:4-10 have to say about his coming?

⁸ “It is not possible for the blood of bulls and of goats to take sins away. Hence when he comes into the world he says: ‘“You did not desire sacrifice and offering, but you prepared a body for me. You did not approve of whole burnt-offerings and sin offering.” Then I said, “Look! I am come (in the roll of the book it is written about me) to do your will, O God.”’ After first saying, ‘You did not desire nor did you approve of sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt-offerings and sin offering’—sacrifices which are offered according to the Law—then he actually says, ‘Look! I am come to do your will.’ He does away with what is first that he may establish what is second. By the said ‘will’ we have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all time.”—Heb. 10:4-10, NW; Ps. 40:6-8, LXX.

THE COURSE FOR US TO IMITATE

9. How was Jesus already holy at the time of such coming, and so what should we call his stepping out thus to do God’s will?

⁹ Now, what shall we call the step which Jesus there took in coming to do God’s will in the body which God had prepared for him to use on earth? Well, by birth as a Jew Jesus already belonged to a nation holy to God, being God’s chosen people, the descendants of his ancient friend Abraham. Also as a forty-day-old babe Jesus was presented to Jehovah God at his temple because he was Mary’s firstborn son. The record on this reads: “Also when the days for purifying them according to the law of Moses came to the full, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to Jehovah, just as it is written in Jehovah’s law, ‘Every male opening a womb must be called holy to Jehovah,’ and to offer sacrifice according to what is said in the law of Jehovah, ‘A pair of turtledoves or two young pigeons.’” (Luke 2:22-24, NW) Regarding his very birth the angel who announced it to Mary said: “Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son.” (Luke 1:35, NW) Jesus was holy and devoted to God by virtue of all these things. So what could we call his stepping out to do God’s will as written down in the roll of the book, the inspired Hebrew Scriptures? It was his presenting himself for divine service, and it required determination on his part. It was thus a dedication of himself to do whatever proved to be God’s will from then on.

10, 11. How did we use to speak of this step on Jesus’ part, and what place does that word or term occupy in the Christian Scriptures?

¹⁰ For many years it has been customary to speak of this as Jesus’ consecration of himself to God. According to the broad general sense in which the words “consecration” and “consecrate” are used in English today, this expression might pass. But it confuses matters in the Bible, as the Bible does not speak of it this way. It hides and takes away from what the Bible more specifically speaks of as consecrating or consecration. In the Christian Greek Scriptures of the Bible, according to the English King James Version, the word “consecrate” is a rare word, occurring only twice, as follows: “For the law maketh men high priests which have infirmity; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore.” (Heb. 7:28) “By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh.”—Heb. 10:20.

¹¹ The New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures does not contain the word “consecrate” at all in its main text, and hence the word is not used to describe anything that Jesus or any of his disciples did. In the above verses it reads: “For the Law appoints men high priests having weakness, but the word of the sworn oath that came after the Law appoints a Son, who is perfected forever.” (Heb. 7:28, NW) “Which he inaugurated for us as a new and living way through the curtain, that is, his flesh.” (Heb. 10:20, NW) Even the Catholic Douay Version does not use the word “consecrate” in translating the Christian Greek Scriptures; and the American Standard Version uses it only in the marginal readings at John 10:36 and Joh 17:17, 19, as follows: “Say ye of him, whom the Father consecrated and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God?” “Consecrate them in the truth: thy word is truth. And for their sakes I consecrate myself, that they themselves also may be sanctified in truth.” So now the Revised Standard Version of 1946 says “consecrate” and “consecration” where the former American Standard Version said “sanctify” and “sanctification”. However, both these modern versions still use the word “saints” instead of “consecrated ones”. From all this we can see that in all Bible versions the word “consecrate” is kept for something else than our initial step toward doing God’s will.

NOT SELF-CONSECRATED

12. Did Jesus make himself high priest, and why would he not exercise presumption in this matter?

¹² In proof of this we now ask, Did Jesus make himself God’s High Priest to offer sacrifice as Aaron did and to rule as the ancient priest Melchizedek the king of Salem did? The Scriptures themselves answer No. That was not Jesus’ privilege, even though he was God’s holy Son. Hebrews 5:1-6 (NW) declares: “Every high priest taken from among men is appointed in behalf of men over the things pertaining to God, that he may offer gifts and sacrifices for sins. . . . Also a man takes this honor, not of his own accord, but only when he is called by God, just as Aaron also was. So, too, the Christ did not glorify himself by becoming a high priest, but was glorified by him who spoke with reference to him: ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’ Just as he says also in another place: ‘You are a priest forever after the likeness of Melchizedek.’” Before Jesus’ time men who tried to consecrate themselves or appoint themselves to the priesthood of Israel received due punishment from God for their presumption. Call to mind the cases of the Levite Korah and King Saul and King Uzziah. (Num. 16:1-35; 1 Sam. 13:1-14; 2 Chron. 26:16-21) Jesus was not of the tribe of Levi nor of the priestly family of Aaron. So he did not presume to install himself in the royal priesthood like that of Melchizedek and thus dictate to God what his will for Jesus should be to satisfy some personal ambitions.

13. According to the Scriptures how did Aaron and his sons come into the priesthood, and who consecrated them?

¹³ Let us examine the record about Aaron and his sons and let us determine whether they chose themselves for the priesthood or installed themselves in that office. When Jehovah sent Moses in before Pharaoh of Egypt, “Jehovah said unto Moses, See, I have made thee as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron thy brother shall be thy prophet.” Later Jehovah let Aaron accompany Moses up into the forbidden mountain of Sinai, and just before inaugurating the law covenant with Israel he let Aaron and two of his sons and seventy elders enter the mountain’s sacred premises. (Ex. 7:1; 19:23, 24; 24:1, 2, 9-14, AS) Then when he was in private conference with Moses atop Sinai Jehovah specifically designated Aaron to be Israel’s high priest and his four sons to be underpriests, and he commanded priestly garments to be made for them: “And thou shalt put them upon Aaron thy brother, and upon his sons with him, and shalt anoint them, and consecrate them, and sanctify them, that they may minister unto me in the priest’s office.” (Ex. 27:21 to 28:41, AS) From this we see that these men were not authorized to take over the priesthood of God’s law covenant on their own accord. No, but first they had to be called and chosen, and then it was God who consecrated them to their office by means of his visible agent or servant, Moses.

14. How do Exodus, chapter 29, and Leviticus, chapter 8, employ the terms “consecrate” and “consecration”?

¹⁴ In Exodus, chapter 29, as well as in Leviticus, chapter 8, Moses recorded the ceremony of consecration by which Aaron and his sons were to be installed in office. One of the rams that was then to be sacrificed was called the “ram of consecration”, not meaning it was a consecrated ram but that it was a ram used for consecrating Aaron and his sons. The basket that held the bread which was used together with this ram was called the “basket of consecration”. So, after robing Aaron in his glorious priestly garments and then anointing him as high priest and then after clothing Aaron’s sons with priestly garments, Moses had to proceed with the installation ceremony: “And thou shalt consecrate Aaron and his sons.” Concerning Aaron’s successors God told Moses: “And the holy garments of Aaron shall be for his sons after him, to be anointed in them, and to be consecrated in them. Seven days shall the son that is priest in his stead put them on, when he cometh into the tent of meeting to minister in the holy place.” (Ex. 29:9, 22, 34, 29, 30; Lev. 8:22, 28-31, AS) According to this the word “consecrate” had a meaning restricted to installing men into the priesthood; and Jehovah God did the installing of his priests in his way.a

15. What is the original Hebrew expression here, how is it translated by various ones, and what does it mean?

¹⁵ Our English word “consecrate” really translates a group of Hebrew words which literally mean “fill the hand”, that is to say, put full power in the hand of those who are to serve in office. In picture of this the ram of consecration was killed and cut up and parts of it together with certain baked goods from the basket of consecration were put by Moses upon the hands of Aaron and his sons and were waved before Jehovah. After that the things waved were burned “on the altar upon the burnt-offering: they were a consecration [an installation-offering, AT] for a sweet savor: it was an offering made by fire unto Jehovah”. (Ex. 29:19-25; Lev. 8:22-28, AS) The Greek Septuagint translation literally renders the Hebrew expression, “fill (or complete) the hand”; but modern translators or translations like Moffatt, An American Translation, Crampon and Byington are inclined to render it “install”. The Latin Vulgate, the Catholic Douay Version, and Young render it “consecrate the hand”. When God chooses and calls us for his service and then fills our willing hands and puts power in their possession, so empowering us, we have authority indeed from the right source and we can act with confidence, for God backs us up.

16. How long did the typical installation ceremony last?

¹⁶ The typical installation ceremony back there lasted seven days. Moses was told: “Thus shalt thou do unto Aaron, and to his sons, according to all that I have commanded thee: seven days shalt thou consecrate them. And every day shalt thou offer the bullock of sin-offering for atonement: and thou shalt cleanse the altar, when thou makest atonement for it; and thou shalt anoint it, to sanctify it. Seven days thou shalt make atonement for the altar, and sanctify it: and the altar shall be most holy; whatsoever toucheth the altar shall be holy.”—Ex. 29:35-37, AS.

17. When and how was the installation ceremony carried out, and what evidence was given of divine acceptance of the priesthood?

¹⁷ The installing of Aaron and his sons took place on the first seven days of the next year after the Israelites left Egypt. On the first day of the ceremony Moses said to the priestly candidates there in the courtyard around the sacred tabernacle or tent: “Ye shall not go out from the door of the tent of meeting seven days, until the days of your consecration be fulfilled: for he shall consecrate you seven days. As hath been done this day, so Jehovah hath commanded to do, to make atonement for you. And at the door of the tent of meeting shall ye abide day and night seven days, and keep the charge of Jehovah, that ye die not: so I am commanded.” They met this requirement, so that it took seven days complete to install them. On the eighth day these priests themselves could offer sacrifices without Moses’ assistance. After Aaron had then finished offering the sacrifices and blessing the people, then, we read, “Moses and Aaron went into the tent of meeting and came out, and blessed the people: and the glory of Jehovah appeared unto all the people. And there came forth fire from before Jehovah, and consumed upon the altar the burnt-offering and the fat: and when all the people saw it, they shouted, and fell on their faces.” (Lev. 8:33 to 9:24, AS) This miraculous demonstration from heaven was visible proof that the installing or consecrating of the Aaronic priesthood had been successfully completed and that Jehovah God had accepted them and their services.

FORMER LOOSE USE OF WORDS

18. Of what was that entire occasion prophetic?

¹⁸ That entire occasion was prophetic of the consecrating of God’s true priesthood during this Christian era which some still incline to call “the Gospel Age”. The anointed Jesus is the Head or Chief One of that priesthood. His anointed followers are his underpriests, and to these it is written: “Consequently, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest whom we confess—Jesus.”—Heb. 3:1, NW.

19. How did Zion’s Watch Tower in its first year of publication speak of this consecrating Israel’s priests for seven days?

¹⁹ In its very first year of publication Zion’s Watch Tower discussed the meaning of this installation ceremony and its lasting for seven days. In its issue of March, 1880, page 1 (¶3), it said: “The consecrating of the priesthood includes all the members of his body [Christ’s body or congregation of 144,000], and requires all of the Gospel Age to complete it.” A month previous, in the issue of February, 1880, Zion’s Watch Tower discussed Leviticus, chapter 8; and in the last two paragraphs under the subheading “Consecrating the Priests” (page 2) it said: “The seven days of consecration . . . shows again that we are consecrated to God’s service, not part of our time only, but all of it, for seven is the complete number in scripture and signifies all or the whole of whatever it is applied to. . . . Le 8 Verse 36 shows completion of the work of consecration. . . . And if we fail to be among the priests now during the time of consecration, we cannot expect to be one with them when they begin their service for the people in the ‘ages to come’—when these same Priests (now despised of men but a ‘sweet savor to God’) shall have the title of King added, and with their head—Jesus, rule and bless all nations. . . . If so, be fully consecrated now, for ‘If we suffer with him we shall also reign with him.’—2 Tim. ii. 12.”

20. How did the practice grow up of speaking of consecrating ourselves? What instance of this did Zion’s Watch Tower give in 1882?

²⁰ However, due to failing to keep in mind that it is God who consecrates, installs or empowers us, the practice grew up and still persists of speaking of consecrating ourselves to God through Jesus Christ. For example, take this statement published seventy years ago: “God’s word is, that whosoever [consecrates] cometh unto God by Jesus is accepted. (Heb. 7:25) Then, the first question to ask yourself is, Did I ever fully consecrate myself to God—my life, my time, talents, influence, all? If you can candidly answer before God—Yes, I gave myself wholly to him; then I assure you on the authority, not of your feelings, but of God’s Word, which, unlike your feelings, is unchangeable, that you then and there instantly became a child of God—a member, a branch of the true vine. (John 15:1) This is an evidence that you have joined the true church, which is Christ’s body. . . . Afflictions and troubles come upon the world as well as upon the Lord’s saints, but are not marks of sonship except to those who have fully consecrated to his service. . . . To be of this class, requires a full consecration; and these are the overcomers deemed worthy of being joint heirs with Jesus Christ their Lord, whose footsteps they thus follow.”—Zion’s Watch Tower of July, 1882, page 6, ¶¶ 3, 4.

21. How did Zion’s Watch Tower define “consecrate” in 1888?

²¹ Another example reads: “So then we see that only those who after believing in the only name, Saviour, followed on and consecrated themselves, took up the cross and sufferings of Christ and shared them,—only such were accepting of the liberty to become Sons. . . . But are not all believers under Christ’s robes? even those who do not consecrate themselves? No; only the consecrated. . . . Many have consecrated (that is, resolved on complete submission to the will of Christ at any cost) who do not fulfill their consecration, . . . ”—Zion’s Watch Tower of February, 1888, page 5, under the subheading “Only the Consecrated Are Sons”.

22. How does Exodus 32:29 not conflict with the fact that it is God who consecrates persons to his special service?

²² Since it is the Lord God that empowers or consecrates a person for his special service, what shall we do with such a text as that at Exodus 32:29? It reads: “Moses had said, Consecrate yourselves to day to the LORD, even every man upon his son, and upon his brother; that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day.” Note, please, that this was said to the sons of Levi or Levites after all Israel had been brought into the law covenant at Mount Sinai and after Jehovah God had designated the Levite Aaron and his sons to be consecrated to the priesthood. The rest of the tribe of Levi were therefore to be the temple servants of those Aaronic priests. So when Moses called out, ‘Who is on Jehovah’s side?’ and the sons of Levi took their stand alongside Moses, then Moses told them to use the swords in their hands and give an expression of their being consecrated to Jehovah God by slaughtering the apostate Israelites who had turned to the worship of the golden calf. Hence Moffatt renders Exodus 32:29: “Then said Moses, ‘Be installed as priests to the Eternal this day, for every man’s hand has been against his own son and his own kinsman—that the Eternal may bestow the blessing of the priesthood on you this day.’” Months later, during the first week of the following year, the Aaronic priesthood was consecrated and installed.

23. What, now, about 1 Chronicles 29:5 as regards consecration?

²³ But what about 1 Chronicles 29:5? Here King David asked: “Who then is willing to consecrate his service this day unto the LORD?” Or: “Who then offereth willingly to consecrate himself this day unto Jehovah?” (AS) Or: “Who now is willing to consecrate his hand this day unto the LORD?” (Le) This was said, not to uncircumcised heathen, but to an assembly of Israelites who were already God’s chosen people under his law covenant through Moses. They were then faced with making contributions toward the building of a gorgeous temple to their God at Jerusalem. So here was merely a call to circumcised people of God to fill their hand with a contribution for his cause and to offer it in expression of devotion to him.

24. Also, how about a 2 Chronicles 29:31? And so, to what conclusion do we come from our examination?

²⁴ Centuries later that temple built by Solomon became defiled with a lot of rubbish and King Hezekiah had the Aaronic priests and Levites cleanse that sacred building and sanctify it. Then the people gathered there to offer the proper sacrifices and praises to God in his purified temple. “Then Hezekiah answered and said, Now [that] ye have consecrated yourselves unto the LORD, come near and bring sacrifices and thank offerings into the house of the LORD. And the congregation brought in sacrifices and thank offerings; and as many as were of a free heart burnt offerings.” (2 Chron. 29:31) So this consecrating of themselves was not done by uncircumcised foreigners who were not in the law covenant. It was the putting of Jewish hands to the work of keeping Jehovah’s house clean and of renewing the sacrifices and worship there according to their covenant obligations. In Ezekiel’s vision of the restored temple we read: “Seven days shall they purge the altar and purify it; and they shall consecrate themselves.” (Ezek. 43:26) But modern translation reads: “Seven days shall they make atonement for the altar and purify it; so shall they consecrate it.” (AS; Le; Mo; AT; Ro) From all this examination we see that consecration is not Scripturally applied to a person’s taking his first step to become God’s servant, giving himself to God through Christ.

NOT A “COVENANT BY SACRIFICE”

25. Among the Israelites was there an individual covenant by which a person consecrated himself, and what kind of covenant was theirs?

²⁵ All the consecrations considered in the preceding paragraphs were of persons who were under the law covenant. Moses the mediator had inaugurated this covenant at Mount Sinai between Jehovah God and the Israelites, over the blood of animal sacrifices. Concerning this we read: “Whereupon neither the first testament was dedicated without blood.” Or, to quote the New World Translation: “Consequently neither was the former covenant inaugurated without blood.” (Heb. 9:18; Ex. 24:1-8) According to this covenant inaugurated at Sinai certain consecrations took place, God himself consecrating or installing his priesthood. There was no individual covenant with God by which a person consecrated himself, but the covenant was made with the entire nation of Israel through an individual mediator, Moses. It was God’s covenant, proposed and offered by him, and he speaks of it as “the covenant which I made with their forefathers in the day when I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt”. So he speaks of the entire nation as being his wife and he their husband by virtue of this law covenant.—Heb. 8:8, 9, NW; Jer. 31:32.

26. Besides “consecration”, what was the step of giving oneself to God also called, and how was this spoken of?

²⁶ We already noted that the step of giving oneself to God used to be spoken of as a consecrating of oneself. Correspondingly, at least till 1946b, it used to be called making a covenant with God by sacrifice, because it was taken for granted that the one giving himself to God was due to be sacrificed with Jesus; so he was sacrificing all earthly things by his so-called “self-consecration”. He would apply to himself in a personal way Psalm 50:5: “Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.” The sacrifice here was understood to mean the sacrifice of each one thus making a self-consecration. This covenant by sacrifice was taken to mean an individual’s act, something distinct from the ancient law covenant and from the new covenant which God promised to make through Jesus Christ as Mediator. For instance, away back in the issue of November, 1880, there was an article entitled “Beyond the Vail”, discussing the tabernacle and its veils or curtains. And in paragraph 5 it said: “Those who pass through this first ‘vail’ into the ‘holy place’ are the ones who fulfill their ‘covenant by sacrifice’ called saints. All believers coming through the ‘curtain’ are ‘called to be saints,’ but only those who obey the call and yield themselves sacrifices ‘make their calling and election sure’.” So it came about that each believer spoke about making a covenant with God at the time of consecrating himself. This has caused confusion of mind.c

27. What did Jehovah mean by a “covenant with me by sacrifice”?

²⁷ The “covenant with me by sacrifice” is not a personal covenant each believer makes, but is an organizational covenant. By this expression Jehovah meant his new covenant with his new nation of spiritual Israel and for which Jesus Christ is the Mediator, the Greater Moses. To quote Rotherham’s translation of Psalm 50:5: “Gather yourselves unto me—ye my men of loving-kindness, who have solemnised my covenant over sacrifice.” It is not over the sacrifice of each saint or person of loving-kindness that this covenant is solemnized, but it is over the one sacrifice of the Mediator Jesus Christ, and the covenant is a national covenant. It is the new covenant made with the new theocratic organization, the Christian congregation. At Ps 50 verse 16 of the psalm God speaks of it as his covenant, saying to the wicked hypocrites and apostates: “What hast thou to do to declare my statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy mouth?”

28. How does a person get into this covenant with God by sacrifice?

²⁸ But those who have set themselves apart to God he begets with his spirit and so makes them his spiritual sons and a people for his name. These saints or holy ones, these people of loving-kindness, Jehovah God brings into the new covenant through the Mediator Jesus. He forgives them their sins through Jesus’ sacrifice, and he consecrates them or installs them into his service as priests, underpriests whose High Priest is Christ Jesus. He anoints them with his spirit to be such consecrated priests.d From then on they are obligated to offer the sacrifices of praise and obedient service to God all their days in the flesh on earth, “seven days,” so to speak.

29. What, then, should we call Jesus’ coming to do God’s will, and why?

²⁹ Returning, now, to the question raised in paragraph 9 above, as to what we should call the step Jesus took when he came to do God’s will, Zion’s Watch Tower once stated: “In being born of a virgin, Jesus had taken ‘the seed of Abraham’ and so continued until he was 30 years of age when, in baptism, he consecrated his being to God a living sacrifice. He was accepted, and from that moment, being begotten of the spirit and sealed as a new creature, he is a partaker of the divine nature, the human nature (Abrahamic seed) being the thing sacrificed.” (May, 1881, page 2, under “Some Better Thing for Us”, ¶ 2) But now we appreciate more clearly that Jesus, at the time he presented himself to John to be baptized in Jordan river, did not consecrate himself to the priesthood and install himself in the sacrificial office. It was God who glorified him by making him a royal High Priest. God did this by the sworn oath which he had prophetically given at Psalm 110:4: “Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek.” (AS, marginal reading; Heb. 5:4-6; 7:15-17, 20-22) Since Jesus was miraculously born one of God’s chosen people and was then presented to God in babyhood by Mary as her first-born son, we can avoid confusion by calling Jesus’ coming to do God’s will his dedication of himself to God.

30. What evidence did Jesus receive of the acceptance of his dedication and of his being consecrated to God’s special will?

³⁰ Immediately after he symbolized this dedication by being baptized in Jordan’s stream, Jesus received the evidence that God had accepted his dedication and was now consecrating him to his spiritual service as High Priest. In what way? Just as Moses on the first day of the consecration ceremony decked his brother Aaron in glorious priestly robes and anointed him with the holy anointing oil to be the high priest, so God anointed Jesus with the holy spirit (symbolized by a dove descending upon him) and he let his voice be heard from heaven saying: “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.” (Matt. 3:13-17, NW) By dedicating himself it was not something which Mary had done for him in his infancy before he had knowledge and understanding to appreciate it. No, but now at thirty years of age it was something which Jesus willingly did for himself. By it he placed himself at God’s disposal, whatever God might reveal according to what was written in the roll of the book.—Luke 3:21-23; 4:14-21.

31. To what, finally, did Jesus’ dedication lead, and so what kind of way is a dedication of ourselves to God?

³¹ For three and a half years Jesus served on earth in the role of High Priest to which God had consecrated him. Then he laid down his human sacrifice in death. But that was not the full end to which Jesus’ dedication to God led. That he might continue to serve as High Priest in heaven God resurrected him from death to heavenly life as an immortal spirit creature. As such this glorified High Priest entered into the holy place, heaven itself, into God’s presence, presented the redeeming value of his human sacrifice and proceeded to mediate the new covenant for his faithful followers on earth. To them it is written: “Therefore, brothers, since we have boldness for the way of entry into the holy place by the blood of Jesus, which he inaugurated for us as a new and living way through the curtain, that is, his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us approach with sincere hearts in the full assurance of faith.” (Heb. 10:19-22, NW) So it is now through this High Priest that we can imitate him and dedicate ourselves to God sincerely and with faith. As in Jesus’ case, so in ours it is a living way, a way to gain life.

32. To what life is it a way for those consecrated as underpriests, and to what life for those of the “great crowd” today coming to God?

³² Those dedicated ones whom God chooses to consecrate and make underpriests to serve with Jesus and reign a thousand years with him, God marks in their forehead with his name. That means they belong to him as a “people for his name” and that he has “purchased [them] from among mankind as a firstfruits to God and to the Lamb”. (Rev. 14:1-5; 22:3-5, NW) This marks them for life in heaven by a spiritual resurrection. But today, besides these 144,000 consecrated underpriests, there are hundreds of thousands who see the privilege of dedicating themselves to God through his High Priest, placing themselves at God’s disposal to do with as he wills. For these this way of dedication to God is a living way, too, but not to life immortal in heaven. God does not will to consecrate them and anoint them to priesthood with Christ according to the new covenant. He assigns them to live on earth in the new world. So they will remain on earth, to which paradise will be restored. In view of this God will even carry an unnumbered “great crowd” of them safely through the coming universal war of Armageddon, in order that humanity may continue on earth with an unbroken existence from the start and forever. To enjoy any possibility of surviving Armageddon into the endless new world, it is necessary that each one take the initial step of dedicating himself to God through Christ. You will get the mark for life that way.

Consequently, I entreat you by the compassions of God, brothers, to present your bodies a sacrifice living, holy, acceptable to God, a sacred service with your power of reason. And quit being fashioned after this system of things, but be transformed by making your mind over, that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and complete will of God.—Rom. 12:1, 2, NW.

[Footnotes]

“All these start on the same narrow way, and being fully consecrated to God are begotten of the Spirit through the word of truth. Hence all are ‘new creatures’—spiritual—their old nature (the human) being doomed to certain destruction by their own free will and covenant. . . . Only a minority of all who in good faith make the consecration, run with patience to the end—in all only a ‘little flock’. With many, courage begins to fall, and they need to be spurred onward by the chastening rod of him who has become our surety (Heb. 7:22) to guarantee that we fulfill our covenant, though our own efforts should fail; otherwise, the end of such must be death. In love, therefore, special afflictions are sent upon the consecrated, when needed, to wean the affections from earthly things, and to draw the heart again into closer sympathy and communion with God in fulfillment of its covenant of sacrifice. A few only run patiently in the way of sacrifice, rejoicing at the privilege of winning so great a prize at such small comparative cost.”

The King James Version renders still another Hebrew word, nahzár, by the word “consecrate”, at Numbers 6:11, 12. But again Young’s translation shows a distinction and renders nahzár by “separate”.

Dedication for Life in the New World

1. How have dedication of persons and things taken place till now, and what dedication leads really to a holy life?

DURING all time people have dedicated themselves to many causes, and they have dedicated many other things besides themselves. The law of Moses let a drafted man dedicate a house which he had built, before he was inducted into the theocratic army of Israel. King David dedicated his house, and a psalm was composed for the occasion. (Deut. 20:5; Psalm 30, title) The Israelites dedicated the house of their God and its altar. After the restoration of Jerusalem they dedicated the city’s rebuilt walls. (Num. 7:10, 11, 84, 88; 2 Chron. 7:9; Ezra 6:16, 17; Neh. 12:27) Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, dedicated the golden idol which he set up on the plains of Dura, and some parents dedicated their children to some purpose. (Dan. 3:2, 3; Prov. 22:6; Gen. 4:17; 5:18, 22) The dedication of a person or thing initiates the person or thing into some way, course or use, but it does not necessarily mean putting such to a holy or sacred employment. However, when we dedicate ourselves to the living and true God, then we do set ourselves apart to a holy life, a life separate, that is to say, different from the course of this world, a life that is not common but that is set apart not to be touched and used for worldly purposes. Consequently, such a dedicated person obligates himself to practice the clean and undefiled religion, which means to “keep oneself without spot from the world”.—Jas. 1:27, NW.

2, 3. In the Christian Greek Scriptures is dedication of consecration urged in those terms, and what formula did the disciples use?

² Searching through the Christian Greek Scriptures we do not find either the word dedication or the word consecration used to designate this step of giving oneself exclusively to God through Jesus Christ. When reading of the early adopters of Christianity we merely find it said that they believed or exercised faith. The formula that those used who urged people to adopt Christianity was, “Repent and be converted,” or, “Repent and turn around.” Also, “Repent and be baptized.”

³ On the day of Pentecost, when the perplexed people asked Christ’s apostles, “Brothers, what shall we do?” Peter answered: “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the free gift of the holy spirit. . . . Get saved from this crooked generation.” Some days later at the temple Peter said to another crowd: “Repent, therefore, and turn around so as to get your sins blotted out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the person of Jehovah and that he may send forth the Christ appointed for you, Jesus.” (Acts 2:37-40; 3:19, 20, NW) When the conscience-stricken jailer at Philippi, Macedonia, asked Paul and Silas, “Sirs, what must I do to get saved?” they replied: “Believe on the Lord Jesus and you will get saved, you and your household.” Then they “spoke the word of Jehovah to him together with all those in his house”, after which “one and all, he and his were baptized without delay”.—Acts 16:30-33, NW.

4. What are the Scriptural expressions to describe the step by which they became Christians in apostolic times?

⁴ How, then, does the inspired record say they became true Christians and a people for God’s name? By consecrating themselves? No! It was by believing or becoming believers, by exercising faith and resting their faith in God’s revealed purpose and arrangement. Read for yourself: After Pentecost, “all those who became believers were together in having all things in common.” “More than that, believers in the Lord kept on being added, multitudes both of men and of women.” “To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone putting faith in him gets forgiveness of sins through his name.” “Furthermore, the hand of Jehovah was with them, and a great number that became believers turned to the Lord.” “When those of the nations heard this, they began to rejoice and to glorify the word of Jehovah, and all those who were rightly disposed for everlasting life became believers.” “Thus Paul left their midst, but some men joined themselves to him and became believers.” “But Crispus the presiding officer of the synagogue became a believer in the Lord, and so did all his household. And many of the Corinthians that heard began to believe and be baptized.” “And many of those who had become believers would come and confess and report their practices openly.” So such taking up of belief or faith according to God’s newly revealed purpose and will was what made them Christians, God’s people.—Acts 2:44; 4:4; 5:14; 10:43; 11:21; 13:48; 17:33; 18:8; 19:18, NW.

5. Where, then, did dedication of self to God come in, and how was it shown?

⁵ Where, then, is the dedication of self to God through Jesus? It is included in such belief or exercise of faith. James 2:17, 24 (NW) tells us: “Faith, if it does not have works, is dead in itself. You see that a man is to be declared righteous by works, and not by faith alone.” Dedication to God through Christ is one’s putting life into his faith, activating it, making it a producer of works, and leading to the practice of righteousness. As we note from the record above quoted, those who exercised faith or became believers performed works. They submitted to water baptism so as to give a symbolic testimony to their faith, and thus they imitated Jesus. They turned away from the world and turned to him as Jehovah’s Anointed One or Messiah, whom Jehovah had made their heavenly Lord. They joined themselves to Jehovah’s visible organization and kept together as a united congregation. They confessed and reported their past practices openly and showed they had repented or changed their minds about such things and that they had converted or turned around and were now going in God’s way in the footsteps of Jesus. This was how they showed that they were “rightly disposed for everlasting life” in the new world.

6. How did they confess their faith, to their salvation?

⁶ The book of Acts tells how they confessed their faith openly to all people by preaching God’s Word and its fulfillment in Jesus Christ and in his congregation. This meant salvation for them. So the apostle Paul wrote, at Romans 10:4, 8-10 (NW): “Christ is the accomplished end of the Law, so that everyone exercising faith may have righteousness. But what does it say? ‘The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart’; that is, the ‘word’ of faith which we are preaching. For if you publicly declare that ‘word in your mouth’, that Jesus is Lord, and exercise faith in your heart that God raised him up from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one exercises faith for righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation.”

7. What prominence are “faith” and “believe” given in the Hebrew Scriptures and in the Christian Greek Scriptures?

⁷ The words “faith” and “believe” appear to be words of hardly any prominence in the ancient Hebrew Scriptures, “faith” appearing only twice and “believe” only 46 times in the King James Version. (Deut. 32:20; Hab. 2:4) But in the Christian Greek Scriptures these words come into due prominence, and “faith” receives an excellent definition at Hebrews 11:1, and we read how people of old had it.

8. What Scriptural assurance have we that, when dedicating ourselves, God hears, pays attention and holds us to it?

⁸ When we prayerfully, either silently or audibly to ourselves, dedicate ourselves to him to do his will from then on and forever in whatever realm of life God may choose for us, does God in the high heavens really hear us or pay attention? His Word assures us that he does, and we must exercise faith that he does, so as to hold us to our decision. To Cornelius just before being converted to Christianity Jehovah’s angel said: “Your prayers and gifts of mercy have ascended as a remembrance before God.” “Your prayer has been favorably heard and your gifts of mercy have been remembered before God.” And when Cornelius and his fellow hearers accepted Peter’s message and silently exercised faith in their hearts, thus dedicating themselves to this new belief, God observed and poured out his holy spirit upon them, conveying to them the gift to speak prophecies. (Acts 10:3-7, 30-32, 44-48, NW) Long prior to this Hannah was heard, though she prayed and made her vow concerning Samuel under her breath, only her lips moving. She took her vow seriously and paid it to Jehovah God. (1 Sam. 1:9-28) King Solomon at dedicating the temple prayed for God to hear the stranger of good will who would pray to him, directing his prayer toward the holy temple. Today Jehovah God is hearing such prayer on the part of multitudes of strangers of good will.—1 Ki. 8:41-43.

9, 10. Do these strangers of good will dedicate themselves to God, and what does God do about them?

⁹ Such strangers of good will show a likeness to sheep and are identical with those whom the King Jesus Christ pictures as sheep in his parable of the sheep and goats and whom he gathers to his right hand. (Matt. 25:31-46) These aforetime strangers have seen their privilege of giving themselves to God through the King Jesus Christ, and it is by this dedication that they become the King’s sheep. So they do more than merely do kind things toward the King’s spiritual brothers. While God does not consecrate these other sheep to be priests with his royal High Priest, Jesus Christ, still he does something for them as regards his organization and service. He has his Right Shepherd Jesus fulfill his words of long ago to them: “I have other sheep, which are not of this [priestly] fold; those also I must bring, and they will listen to my voice, and they will become one flock, one shepherd.”—John 10:16, NW.

¹⁰ Through his visible organization the One Shepherd marks the other sheep in their foreheads as his property. He grants them the privilege of colaboring with the organized remnant of his spiritual brothers. So they have the opportunity and obligation to carry forward the clean, undefiled worship in the earth. By thus proving themselves faithful witnesses of Jehovah they retain the identification mark in their forehead. (Page 304, ¶ 3) By this mark they confess openly their dedication to God and his universal sovereignty. As only such other sheep have the divine assurance of being spared during Armageddon as Noah’s sons and daughters-in-law were during the deluge, the mark really becomes one of security for them. Surviving Armageddon with the mark, they will enter the new world fully dedicated to God and ready and willing to do his revealed will on earth from that glorious time forward.

11. How should one undertake dedication, how should he regard it after undertaken, and how impress it upon his heart?

¹¹ So after dedicating yourself in faith to God hold your word sacred, inviolable, untouchable by any change. Your vow to be his and do his will is forever binding. So, “be not rash with thy mouth, and let not thy heart be hasty to utter anything before God; for God is in heaven, and thou upon earth: therefore let thy words be few. When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou vowest. Better is it that thou shouldest not vow, than that thou shouldest vow and not pay. Suffer not thy mouth to cause thy flesh to sin; neither say thou before the angel, that it was an error: wherefore should God be angry at thy voice, and destroy the work of thy hands? . . . but fear thou God.” (Eccl. 5:2, 4-7, AS) So let dedication be your personal step, of your own decision. Parents or guardians cannot do it for you and obligate you to abide by it if you are not willing. Be sure that you have calculated the cost of taking this step, so that you are determined to keep on in this way to ultimate success, cost what it may now and in the future. (Luke 14:26-33, NW) Impress your dedication to God upon your own heart by publicly symbolizing it with water baptism in obedience to Jesus Christ our Exemplar, to help you never to forget it.—Matt. 28:18-20, NW.

12. What Scripture warning proves God holds one to his dedication, and to what does living up to it lead?

¹² Be certain that God, who cannot lie and who loves no lie, holds you irrepealably to your vow. Do not be “without understanding, false to agreements”. Remember the “righteous decree of God, that those practicing such things are deserving of death”. (Rom. 1:31, 32, NW) Living the dedicated life faithfully according to God’s will assures you of everlasting life in the new world.

Questions From Readers

● Paragraph 3, page 269 of the May 1, 1951, Watchtower says: “They are to pray over him, so that he can hear what they pray and can show he agrees, with his ‘Amen!’” Does this mean that after one has prayed at a meeting or meal table all those listening should say “Amen” to show their agreement?—A. B., Gold Coast.

No, that would be an unwarranted lifting of the statement from its setting. The Watchtower was discussing a spiritually sick one over whom the older men of the congregation were to pray. Their prayer would be for the purpose of building up and strengthening the ailing one, presenting his problems and offering Scriptural counsels and procedures for coping with them, and petitioning the help of Jehovah on behalf of the spiritually sick one. But would the afflicted one permit himself to be helped? Would he acknowledge his failures, the causes for his spiritual distress, the wisdom of the counsels given, the necessity of following the suggested procedures for recovery? Or had he strayed so far from the right path and become so weakened spiritually that he would not respond to the prayerful assistance? In such a case there would be some question as to the individual’s reaction to the prayer and its contents. So a definite expression from him would be in order, and an “Amen” audible or in the heart would be the way to show agreement with the prayer.

The situation is different in the case of prayers at meetings or mealtimes. There is no reason to question the agreement of all listeners. Proper prayer on such occasions will not stir disagreement, and no expression of agreement is required. However, there is no objection to listeners’ adding an audible “Amen” to the conclusion if they desire to do so. The people voiced their “Amen” at the close of one of David’s psalms of thanksgiving, and on other occasions the Israelites showed agreement by use of the expression. (Deut. 27:14-26; 1 Chron. 16:7-36; Rev. 5:14) When discussing prayer in an unknown tongue Paul said: “How will the man occupying the seat of the ordinary person say Amen to your giving of thanks, since he does not know what you are saying?” (1 Cor. 14:16, NW) We do not speak in unknown tongues today, but some who pray do not always show consideration for their human listeners by speaking out clearly and with sufficient volume to be easily heard. Such praying does not edify or build up the listeners, and they cannot join in the prayerful spirit of the utterances or indicate agreement by either silent or audible “Amens”.

The expression “Amen” also indicates to listeners that a conclusion has been reached. (Ps. 41:13; 72:19, 20; 89:52; Rom. 16:27; Gal. 6:18; Jude 25) For this reason it is proper for the one praying aloud to always conclude with a clearly audible “Amen”. In that way he will indicate that he has finished, and the listeners with bowed heads can resume their normal postures. So then the one praying aloud should say “Amen” at the end; and the listeners may or may not do so, as they wish.

● Is it proper to propose or to drink toasts to God or Christ or the Kingdom?—J. S., Pennsylvania.

Sometimes toasts are proposed, and members of the group feel obliged to join in. This practice is rooted far back in paganism. The Babylonians drank toasts to their gods, and ended up drunk. The Bible gives an account of one such instance. In 539 B.C. Belshazzar ordered the holy vessels of the Hebrews’ temple service brought out, and from them he and his party of revelers “drank wine, and praised the gods”. (Dan. 5:1-4) Such toast-drinking is in no way comparable with the drink offerings Jehovah God prescribed for his temple service. When the Greeks gave entertainments and got tipsy thereat, it was for pious reasons: they were drinking deeply in honor of their pagan gods. After the Greeks, the Romans followed similar pagan religious customs of drinking toasts to the gods. Of course, they had so many gods that everyone was drunk before the ritual ended. Also, human heroes were toasted as well.

The Scandinavians before conversion to Christ gathered for drinking bouts, and toasted Odin, Njord and Frey. Christian missionaries were unable to abolish these customs, but the toasts were shifted to “honor” God and Christ and various patron saints, and to gain salvation for their souls. The future state of bliss was associated with constant drinking and much intoxication. Jehovah God and Christ Jesus are not honored by having pagan customs of toasting switched to them, or to humans. God’s Word the Bible instructs us in the way to honor him, and we do not add to his Word on this point, and especially not when the addition comes from pagan customs. In shunning this custom of toasting, along with many other objectionable customs, we may appear narrow-minded to worldlings. So we are. But never forget for a moment that our Christian narrowness is our salvation, just as the world’s broadness is its destruction.—Matt. 7:13, 14.

● Does the Society approve of well-meant showers held preceding weddings or childbirths? Should the gifts be displayed along with an identification of the givers?—M. F., New York.

The Society does not disapprove of properly conducted showers. But it is not good to get shower-minded, and involve the Lord’s people in a spree of them. It is easy for one or two to touch off a series that can become an endless circle of showers. It can burden the brothers, take their time, and their money for gifts they cannot always afford. You may say no gifts are necessary, but the custom calls for gifts and the majority will bring them, and it would be embarrassing to come empty-handed. Now there is certainly nothing wrong with giving gifts. Done spontaneously, it is commendable brotherly kindness and sometimes shows real Christian concern. There is some Scriptural obligation to note those of our brothers who are in need and to help them. We may use a shower as an occasion to help, but we do not have to wait for such occasions, we do not have to fit our giving into such customary times and seasons. Help is sometimes needed at other times. We should give when the need arises, and to those for whom the need is acute, and do so spontaneously, unsolicited by shower invitations that obligate us to give, whether the recipient is in need or not.

Should the givers be identified with their gifts? Why should they? Surely those giving the more expensive gifts do not seek public acclamation. It might embarrass the poorer brothers who must give more modest gifts, and perhaps cause them to spend more than they can really afford. So why magnify the rich and humble the poor, even if it is unintentionally done? (Jas. 2:1-4) It is not Scriptural, this publicity to gift and giver. “When you start making gifts of mercy, do not blow a trumpet ahead of you, just as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be glorified by men. Truly I say to you, They are having their reward in full. But you, when making gifts of mercy, do not let your left hand know what your right is doing.” (Matt. 6:2, 3, NW) If anonymous giving were practiced, would the gifts be as expensive? Would the giver spend beyond his means, if he were not identified with the gift? That would truly measure the unselfishness behind the gift. Such giving pleases God.

One final point of utmost importance, whether it is a shower or wedding or reception or just a friendly gathering of witnesses. Control the activities so that some edifying results. Silly games are for babyish people; mature Christians have advanced beyond them, left them behind. Sexually suggestive or passionate dancing to blaring jazz is not for Christians, though proper dancing and music cannot be condemned. When Jesus attended a wedding feast he used the occasion to glorify God, performing his first miracle, the turning of water into wine. (John 2:1-11) And we can be sure that he did not get in any line to kiss the bride either—so we leave such woman-exalting practices back in the creature-worshiping world, where they belong. Instead of any such looseness of conduct or excessive use of food or drink, we should control activities and regulate entertainment into profitable channels, such as the singing of Kingdom songs, playing Scriptural quiz games, relating field experiences, and so forth. Not only will such things be a proper relaxation for us and get us better acquainted with one another, but they will be helpful to persons of good will that may be present and impress them favorably with Jehovah’s people.

So we say that there is nothing wrong in properly planned showers, and those who attend should not be criticized by those who stay away, and vice versa. Be moderate in the number held, the giving, the enjoyment of material food and drink while there, and make them spiritually upbuilding. Always remember Christ is our model. (1 Pet. 2:21) He did not consume too much time on such things, did not make a showy display of giving, did not become gluttonous or drunk on such occasions, or at any other time. When at social gatherings he used the occasions to God’s glory, but he did not book up his evenings with parties and exhaust himself socializing. It was his zeal for Jehovah and the preaching work that consumed his time and energy. So it should be with us, balancing our various activities proportionate to their importance.

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“STRONG REFUGE” WITNESSING PERIOD

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” (Ps. 46:1) So spoke a God-fearing man some two thousand years ago at a time of great crisis. So, too, may God-fearing persons express themselves today, when there is “anguish of nations, not knowing the way out”. God, “whose name alone is Jehovah,” has proved himself again and again a secure refuge in times of stress. His watchful eyes scan the earth and take note of those who are devoted to him, in order that he may show his strength in their behalf. Such ones, knowing that his special purpose for these days is to make known his name, are anxious to let others hear of this great and powerful refuge. During the “Strong Refuge” Witnessing Period, occupying all of the month of June, there will be hundreds of thousands telling others about and seeking to aid them to find this refuge, by presenting the books What Has Religion Done for Mankind? “This Means Everlasting Life”, and any other bound book, on a contribution of $1.50. You, too, are invited to have a share in this blessed work.

THE COMMON VERSION BIBLE

A popular version of the Holy Scriptures, known to the majority of our readers, is the widely used King James or Common Version of 1611. The Watchtower edition of this Bible is well worth having in your home. In addition to the familiar text, it contains an excellent array of marginal references; an index of proper names, expressions and their meanings; a concordance; and a collection of selected Bible references on vital subjects grouped under appropriate headings. As an aid to the reader in his research and his study of the treasures of the Word of the almighty Creator of the universe, Jehovah God, it is unique. Bound in attractive maroon leatherette and with a gold-embossed title, it measures 7 1/4ʺ x 5ʺ x 1 1⁄8ʺ. Sent postpaid for a contribution of only $1.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES

Week of June 22: Dedication to God and Consecration, ¶ 1-24.

Week of June 29: Dedication to God and Consecration, ¶ 25-32; also, Dedication for Life in the New World.