The Watchtower — April 15, 1959

The Age of Violence

A FLOOD of violence fills the earth. We see it almost everywhere. Throughout the world thieves and thugs terrorize cities. The streets of many a city are unsafe at night, and some not very safe during the day.

“It is not just the numbers of crimes and delinquents that bother us,” recently said Philadelphia’s police commissioner. “It’s the growing evidence in many instances of a wanton disregard for human life that seems to go with many of these robberies—almost as if there were a deliberate desire to kill or maim.”

And what of children in this age of violence? They no longer merely play at forms of violence. The gang warfare of teen-agers, with the resultant violence, has become a critical problem in many cities.

The greatest source of large-scale violence has come from governments and political aspirants. Wars have claimed the lives of millions of persons and have brought hideous violence upon the civilian population. Some governments have even legalized violence and terrorism, such as did Nazi Germany and now Communist Russia and Red China. Torture and brainwashing by secret police are glaring examples of the inhumanity of this age of violence.

Why so much violence in the world? False religion is largely responsible. It has not escaped our notice that the clergy of many religions have either supported or condoned the violence of their political rulers. The fact that World Wars I and II were fought mainly by professed Christians points the finger of guilt at the religious leaders.

Discussing the violence in the world, the New York Times of November 22, 1958, said editorially: “There is no general outcry in revulsion, as there ought to be, against the stabbings in the back, the bomb throwings and the violent deaths of innocent civilians that have been going on. . . . The shooting down of civilians, including women, in cold blood on the streets of Cyprus should horrify the world. . . . Yet Archbishop Makarios says in New York this week that ‘I cannot condemn violence.’”

What are we to think of a world that has plunged into the abyss of violence, with the teachers of religion doing little to prevent it? We can think what God thinks. “Jehovah himself examines the righteous one as well as the wicked one, and anyone loving violence His soul certainly hates.”—Ps. 11:5.

The Perfect Government for All Mankind

“To him was given dominion and glory and kingdom, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him; his dominion is an everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom one that shall not be destroyed.”—Dan. 7:14, RS.

1, 2. (a) How are our lives all bound up with one another, and therefore what is needed for us? (b) What common danger for the future do men recognize, but what will be worse and yet beneficial?

NOTHING should be plainer today than that a perfect government is needed for all mankind. The fact that mankind is all one on every continent and island of the seas is undeniable. The fact is also true that we are, all, as human creatures, confined to this one earthly home, our terrestrial globe, so that we must all live together. No other planet in the universe will provide living space for us. More than ever now, the lives of each and all of us overlap one another. Our lives are all bound up with one another, particularly so in this modern day.

² There is no isolation anywhere on earth today. Like it or not, all of us are subject to one common danger. This is recognized by the human leaders of the day as being World War III, which will be global in its consequences. But aside from this global nuclear war, which is so much dreaded and which many are convinced cannot be avoided in the near future, there is another conflict that will be more terrible in its consequences. That will be the act of the God of heaven himself. It cannot be ignored any longer: the great Creator of heaven and earth is going to perform an act. This will be beneficial, however, to all men of good will who take their stand on his side. That will mean life for them. All of us as human creatures have one common craving, and that is to live happily and to live here in harmony with Heaven and the divine power that heaven represents. To have our craving fulfilled, we need a world government, and this government must be perfect.

3. (a) Is such a perfect government possible? (b) When will it come, and how, according to the best authority?

³ Is a perfect government possible? It is a pleasure to say here at the outset that a perfect government is possible, and it is certain to come. How, though, is such a perfect government to come, and also when will it come with the relief that it is sure to bring to all men of good will? Again it makes us happy to say that this perfect government for all mankind is due to come in our own time, within this generation, so that we have something very pleasurable to which to look forward. Will it come by means of the political scientists among men? No! Political scientists have been experimenting for the past millenniums. If we had to wait upon the political scientists to develop a perfect government for us by the method that they have apparently been trying, the method of trial and error, how long it would be before they would ever get anywhere near success! In the meantime men all around the globe would be obliged to keep on suffering from the continued imperfection and the further mistakes and bungles of human governments, always keeping us in difficulties. This is not desirable. But on the authority of the greatest Book in the world, the book of authentic prophecy, it can here be stated that this perfect government is going to come by no one else than by the glorious act of the One who created our universe.

4. Our examination of the heavens and its shining bodies raises what question concerning law and order for the earth?

⁴ As we look into the heavens by means of our mighty telescopes and even by the naked human eye, we can see the perfection that crowns this universe, with all the celestial bodies that shine down from outer space upon this earth, to give light and warmth and life to mankind. As we examine into the intricate relationship of all the heavenly bodies, we can see that there is perfect order prevailing among them according to universal law. It does not take modern science to show us that the law by which these heavenly bodies function is perfect. This harmonizes with what the psalmist of ancient times, the prophet King David, said regarding the heavens: “The heavens are declaring the glory of God, and of the work of his hands the expanse is telling.” David also says in that very same connection that the law of Jehovah God is perfect. (Ps. 19:1, 7) The operations of the universe bear out this fact, that God’s law is perfect. If, now, we have perfection of law and order throughout the universe, which is beyond mankind’s scope, why, then, should we not have perfection of law and order right here upon this earth among mankind? It is only reasonable that we should.

5. (a) Of what is that perfection of universal law a proof? (b) What is the Source of this law named?

⁵ The perfection of the law functioning throughout the universe toward all created things is a proof that there is an intelligent, supreme, all-governing and all-controlling Lawgiver, an Almighty Creator, who is the Source of all life that is enjoyed in all creation in the invisible realms of his own abode and in the visible realm of man’s abode. He is God. The Holy Bible says his name is Jehovah. This great God of perfection is the One from whom emanates this law that so beautifully governs all the universe.

6. (a) Why is he able to estimate or evaluate what is a perfect government? (b) What questions concerning him does our own dissatisfaction with human government raise, and to what conclusion do we come?

⁶ When it comes to the matter of government, this great God of perfection certainly must be able to estimate or evaluate what is a perfect government. That he is perfect and that he believes in things perfect is stated in the prophecy of Moses, in Deuteronomy 32:3, 4: “I shall declare the name of Jehovah. Do you attribute greatness to our God! The Rock, perfect is his activity.” Since he is the God of perfection, what must his conception be of the governments by man upon this earth? Could we ever think that this God of perfection is any more satisfied with the human governments on this earth than we people are who live under such governments? Could we ever think that he could be satisfied with imperfect man-made governments, when we ourselves, who are imperfect, are not satisfied with them? He is wiser than all the political parties in the various nations that are quarreling among themselves and that are criticizing the governments of the different political parties and that oust one another from the seat of control in government by the elections that are carried on every now and then. If mankind throughout the ages has been dissatisfied with the governments that men have established over the nations, no government throughout all human history has been satisfactory to the great God of perfection. He will not let his dissatisfaction go on forever.

7. What history of human governments does the Bible give, and, according to this, how does God regard such governments as respects their quality?

⁷ The Bible record gives the history in brief of all the governments that have had to do with God’s people. The Bible was completed nineteen centuries ago, and yet it foresaw also the governments future from the time of completing the writing of the Bible. Thus the Bible shows that God Almighty in heaven, whose name is Jehovah, foresaw all the human governments down to our own day and that he determined the value of them, also the nature of them. According to the estimation or evaluation of this great God, who is perfect in wisdom, justice, love and power, all of such earthly governments in their long procession throughout the centuries till now have been beastly governments. Regardless of man’s national pride, the Holy Bible describes the governments of man’s creation as wild beasts. Even the very last book of the Holy Bible, the Revelation or the Apocalypse, pictures the human governments down to this day as beastly in their nature. In proof of this, read for yourselves Daniel’s prophecy, Da chapter seven, and Revelation, chapters thirteen and seventeen.

8. (a) Because of their beastliness, what has God decreed for these human governments? (b) What governments have already ended up under God’s disapproval, and for what main reason?

⁸ Because of the beastliness of the human governments as betrayed by the carnage and sacrifice of precious human life and all the havoc that they have wrought among the nations, Jehovah God the Governor of the universe has decreed the end of all the man-made governments in his own chosen time. In the past he has brought governments to ruin in fulfillment of his word. Read the Bible accounts of Egypt, of Assyria and of Babylon. In each case we find that Jehovah God, who controls the affairs of humankind, even declares himself responsible for bringing those animalistic governments of antiquity to their disastrous end. As regards the later governments, the Medo-Persian Empire, the Grecian Empire and the Roman Empire, the Bible also foretold their coming. These, too, have had their day and, under God’s disapproval, have ended up with calamity. The main reason has been that all these imperfect governments have been under the invisible power and control of God’s chief enemy, Satan the Devil, the unholy god of this wicked world.—Luke 4:5, 6; 2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 5:19.

9. What has been the greatest empire dominating the earth, and why are all governments of today, regardless of type, to have their end?

⁹ Of all the empires to dominate this globe, the Anglo-American dual world power has been the greatest of human history. The Bible also foretold it and the international organization for which it is chiefly responsible, the United Nations. However, the plain-speaking Bible states that even these governments of today, magnificent though men may consider them to be, are to have their end, whether they be of the Communist type or of the noncommunist type. They are all imperfect governments; and things that are imperfect are not going to last here forever according to the will of the God of perfection, the Creator of our earth.

10. What government will God not knock out of existence or operation, and to what end will it remain forever?

¹⁰ There is one government that has come into existence in our day that Jehovah God Almighty will not knock out of operation and out of existence. That is the perfect government, the government of his Messiah, the government of his Christ, the government of his heavenly Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Instead of knocking out this government, God Almighty will use it to knock out all the imperfect human political systems that are causing such distress among the peoples and kindreds and tribes of our time. In the approaching war over universal domination the perfect government will prove victorious and will remain forever to God’s praise and honor and to the everlasting blessing of humankind.

11-13. (a) Without what can a perfect government not be possible? (b) How is the importance of a ruler or body of rulers to good government stated in the judicial opinion on the State of Idaho vs. Raymond Brungardt?

¹¹ A perfect government, we must all agree, cannot be possible without a perfect ruler, or a perfect body of rulers, and, furthermore, without a perfect God. All human governments past and present have acknowledged a god. The gods that they have acknowledged have been unable to give their worshipers a perfect government. The fact that a perfect government depends upon the ruler or body of rulers who wield the power of control is conceded by all reasonable persons. Here at hand is a legal opinion that has been handed down by an American judge, a District Judge, within the State of Idaho. The judge gave this opinion on April 8, 1958, in the case known as the State of Idaho vs. Raymond Brungardt. In it he said:

¹² “William Penn, over two hundred years ago, he, to whom the Crown [of England] gave the State of Pennsylvania when he established his Quaker colony here in this new land, his colony of Friends, and for whom the State of Pennsylvania was named, taught:

¹³ “‘Governments, like clocks, go from the motion men give them, and as Governments are made, moved by men, so, by them they are ruined, too. Wherefore, Governments rather depend upon men, than men upon Governments. Let men be good, and the Government cannot be bad. If it be ill they will cure it, but if men be bad, let the Government be ever so good, they will endeavor to warp and spoil it to their turn.’”—Page 6 of the printed opinion.

14. In regard to what governmental principle does this opinion agree with the Bible?

¹⁴ This agrees with the Bible, the Word of God, that the perfect government is dependent upon a perfect ruler, the one whom God himself will provide for all mankind.

ORIGIN OF GOVERNMENT

15, 16. How have human governments come into operation and power since the old Babylonian Empire?

¹⁵ How have human governments come into existence? Why have they gone bad and failed? Histories written by men inform us that governments have come into operation and power by various methods. The first government after the flood of Noah’s day four thousand years ago was a grab by a dictator named Nimrod. Without the approval of Noah or of Jehovah God but with the approval of Satan the Devil, Nimrod grabbed ahold of the government that was set up in the Middle East, in the land of Mesopotamia. It was the dictatorial kingdom of Babylon. Nimrod was an enemy of God, “a mighty hunter in opposition to Jehovah.” He carried on military expeditions against the people in the neighboring lands in order to establish the old or first Babylonian Empire. (Gen. 10:8-12) Since then, mankind has had many forms and types of government ruling over various areas of the earth.

¹⁶ These governments have come into being by various means, by seizures of power, by rebellion of the masses of the people, by conspiracy of those who have thirsted for power over the people, by usurpation by one strong character who ousted another ruler and seated himself. And then, as in the United States of America, man has set up a government not merely in a revolt, a rebellion, against a political power abroad, but by a Constitutional convention, such as the Constitutional convention that drew up the Articles of Confederation in 1777 for the thirteen American colonies of the British Empire. Those Articles of Confederation controlled the colonies for a number of years, until the Constitution that today rules the nation was inaugurated in the year 1788.

17. (a) As to government, what do men not desire God to do? (b) What answer must be given as to whether God can set up a government on earth, and what was his first demonstration?

¹⁷ Men do not desire the God of heaven, Jehovah, to set up a government over all mankind. Their running ahead of him and their self-willed actions show that they doubt God’s ability to set up on earth a government. Nevertheless, can God set up a government over all mankind? To this question simple reason answers: If imperfect human creatures can establish a government by various means, why could not their Creator, God Almighty, who governs and controls the entire universe and rules angels, have the power to organize, set up and operate a government over men on earth? He does have this power. In times past he demonstrated his power to establish the best of governments. The first king on earth that had God’s approval was a man named Melchizedek, who was both a priest and a king. He ruled in the city called Salem, which was later called Jerusalem. Melchizedek blessed the patriarch Abraham in the name of the Most High God. His government in Salem passed out of existence—just how, it is not known. The Bible record is silent upon the matter. (Gen. 14:18-20) But this government of the priest-king Melchizedek is used in the Bible prophecy as a prophetic type or prefigurement of the perfect government that God will establish over all mankind in the hands of a perfect ruler, like Melchizedek.—Ps. 110:1-4; Heb. 5:10; 6:20; 7:1-17, 28.

18. What was the next government that God set up on earth, and in what way was it a kingdom?

¹⁸ The next government that God set up on earth was that of Israel in the sixteenth century before the Christian era. Through the leadership of the prophet Moses he brought out his chosen people of Israel from the land of Egypt, where they were unwilling slaves. He brought them into the wilderness, to the foot of Mount Sinai, on the Arabian peninsula. There he established a government over them with himself as their invisible heavenly King. The basis of that government was the well-known Ten Commandments. (Ex. 20:1-17) To these Ten Commandments Jehovah God added hundreds of other laws and these became the God-given laws by which the nation of Israel was to be governed. In due time, at their request, God established a visible kingdom over the nation of Israel. This was hundreds of years after he had brought them into the Promised Land of Canaan and settled them there and had driven out the wicked, demon-worshiping inhabitants of that land.—1 Sam. 8:4-22; 10:17-26; 12:1-14.

19. In what way was Israel’s government a theocratic one, and why was it the finest on earth till that day?

¹⁹ The government that God established over Israel was the finest government that the world had known till that day. Because it had God-given laws, it was a theocracy, that is, it was a government, a nation, that was ruled by Jehovah God. Therefore the government was a theocratic one, even though the nation did have a visible representative of God down here on earth as its human leader. The Bible tells us that the nations back there marveled at the set of laws that Israel had, and said, ‘What nation has such righteous regulations and judicial decisions and such a God as this great nation of Israel has?’ And Jehovah God promised the Israelites that if they carried out these laws and worshiped and obeyed him as their God, then he would make them the head of the nations instead of the tail and they would be on top of the nations instead of being on the bottom of the nations, as the nation of modern Israel is today.—Deut. 4:5-8; 28:13, 14.

20. What did the reign of King Solomon illustrate concerning a government established by Jehovah God?

²⁰ The heights of glory and of splendor and of blessing to which this government established by Jehovah God in Israel was capable of reaching was illustrated during the peaceful reign of the wise king Solomon. All the world has heard of the wisdom of Solomon. In the holy Book, the Bible, we have some of the marvelous wisdom of King Solomon preserved to our day. In Solomon’s day men from all the kings of the earth came to Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Even the queen of Sheba came, as it were, from the very ends of the earth in order to hear the wisdom of Solomon and to see the glory of his kingdom in Israel. (1 Ki. 10:1-10; 4:34) The Bible account tells us of the blessings that the Israelites enjoyed under this kingdom. It says that from Dan to Beer-sheba the children of Israel were feasting, every man sitting under his own vine and fig tree, and rejoicing in the goodness of their God and in the government that he had put over them.—1 Ki. 4:20, 25.

21. Of what was the government of King Solomon a foreshadowing, and why will it be something greater?

²¹ Yet, glorious and splendid though it was, and even as great a blessing as it was to the subjects of the kingdom, that government of Solomon was merely a prophetic foreshadowing of the perfect government to come under which all the families and nations of the earth will be blessed in God’s due time. It will have a grander ruler, a wiser ruler, than King Solomon. Nineteen centuries ago there stood a man in the land of Israel and he said to the Jews that the queen of Sheba came from the southern ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and that she would be raised up in the time of judgment with that generation of Jews. Why? Because, although she had come from afar to hear the wisdom of an imperfect man, yet there in the midst of the Israelites of that day there was someone who was greater than Solomon, someone who was more than Solomon, and yet the Israelites refused to listen to this one. They even had him killed. (Matt. 12:42) It is this one, who is something greater than Solomon, something more than Solomon, who is going to be in charge of the perfect government that Jehovah God will establish at his appointed time in full power over the earth.

22. How about the blessings to be enjoyed under the government of this Ruler greater than Solomon?

²² Now, if the Israelites under the reign of King Solomon enjoyed the blessings of peace, prosperity, happiness and godliness, how much more will all mankind enjoy like blessings under this mighty Ruler, this perfect Governor, who is someone greater than wise King Solomon of ancient time! They will be the blessings of everlasting life, of enduring peace, of undiminishing happiness and of ever-abounding prosperity together with godliness.

23. Why did the Israelites back there not enjoy perfection of government, even with kings seated on “Jehovah’s throne”?

²³ Today we have every reason to look forward confidently to this coming perfect government. Away back there the Israelites lived merely under the typical kingdom of God under human kings that were anointed by his high priest, so that those kings were said to sit in “Jehovah’s throne”; and yet those Israelites did not enjoy perfection of government. All of them, king and subjects alike, found themselves unable to carry out the perfect laws of God. Why was this? Because they were all descendants of Adam and Eve. The Word of God tells us that from Adam and Eve all of us inherited sin and imperfection. Correctly the Christian apostle Paul said: “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” (Rom. 5:12) We have all been born in sin. In fact, we have been conceived in iniquity by our mothers. This was true of the Jewish nation even under their theocratic government. King David himself admitted this sad fact. (Ps. 51:5) So both their rulers, their anointed kings, and the people themselves were imperfect and dying.

24. What fact did God purpose that his law through Moses should teach the Israelites, and what question and answer by Job showed why they did not have perfection of government?

²⁴ Jehovah God purposed that the law that he gave through the prophet Moses should teach his people Israel that they were sinners, that they were imperfect. As the apostle Paul, formerly a Jewish Pharisee, said: “By works of law no flesh will be declared righteous before [God], for by law is the accurate knowledge of sin.” (Rom. 3:20) Whereas we try to keep God’s law, we find that we cannot do so, which fact shows us that we were born imperfect, and our imperfection results in our being sinners. So the honest Jews learned to appreciate, and God’s law helped them to appreciate, that they were sinners and hence could not have a perfect government, inasmuch as sinful men were serving as their rulers, as their anointed kings. Here the question is quite appropriate that the prophet, the patient Job, asked: “Who can produce someone clean out of someone unclean?” What mother, being imperfect herself and conceiving by imperfect man, has been able to bear a perfect child? Job answered: “There is not one.” (Job 14:4) Hence, men being imperfect and supplying rulers of government, how could we expect them ever to bring forth a perfect government? They cannot do it. God’s law through Moses served to impress that fact upon the faithful, believing Israelites.

25. What is necessary to the bringing forth of a perfect government, and so what other fact was God’s law through Moses meant to show the Israelites?

²⁵ In order for a perfect government to come forth there has to be a perfect source of the government. The only perfect source is God. The law of God as given to the Israelites through Moses was meant to show the Israelites more than that they were imperfect, sinners needing redemption by the perfect human sacrifice that God would provide through his Son. God’s law through Moses was meant also to show the Israelites that they needed a perfect government. That divine law was meant to point the Israelites not only to the Redeemer whom they needed to lift them out of sin, imperfection and death, but also to their King. God’s law through Moses ordered them: “You should without fail set over yourself a king whom Jehovah your God will choose.” (Deut. 17:14, 15) “Shout aloud, O daughter of Jerusalem! Lo, your king comes to you,” says the prophecy of God.—Zech. 9:9, RS.

26. Besides a perfect government, what else can God provide, and when did he promise to do this?

²⁶ God, the perfect Source, can not only bring forth the perfect government but can also provide the necessary perfect ruler for that government. He has promised to do this. More than nineteen centuries before the Christian era he called the faithful patriarch Abraham out of the Mesopotamian land of Chaldea into the Promised Land in the Middle East. God said to faithful Abraham that he would make Abraham a blessing to all the families of the earth and that in him and in his seed, in his offspring, all the families and nations of the earth should be blessed. (Gen. 12:1-3; 22:17, 18) It was when Abraham was a hundred years of age and his wife Sarah was ninety years of age that God miraculously gave the patriarch Abraham a son named Isaac. Isaac never became a king. But when God told Abraham that he was going to give him this son by his wife Sarah, God said that Sarah was to become the ancestress of kings, yes, rulers, governors, royal monarchs: “I will bless her and she shall become nations; kings of peoples will come from her.” This was why her name was changed to Sarah, meaning Princess. (Gen. 17:15, 16) So this Seed whom God said he would in due time produce and in whom all the families and nations of the earth would be blessed was to be a royal Seed; it was to be a King! There was to be a royal government!

27. Whom did Jehovah form into a nation with an established government, and through which section of this nation was the promised King to be brought forth?

²⁷ The patriarch Abraham had twelve great-grandsons. These produced the twelve tribes of Israel, and Jehovah God formed these into a nation. He established a theocratic government over them. As their divine King and Lawgiver, he gave them the Ten Commandments. (Deut. 33:1-5) Out of those twelve tribes of Israel God selected a particular tribe through which he would bring forth his ruler for blessing all mankind. It proved to be the tribe of Judah when this blessing was pronounced by his father upon Judah: “The scepter will not turn aside from Judah, neither the commander’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh [the great Peaceful One] comes, and to him the obedience of the people will belong.” (Gen. 49:10) So, which descendant of Judah would become King?

28. In whom did God’s royal promise to Abraham and Sarah really begin to be fulfilled, and what did God’s solemn contract with this one really mean?

²⁸ The promise that God made to Abraham and his wife Sarah, that eventually kings would come from her, really began to be fulfilled in David, the shepherd lad of the little city of Bethlehem. David was the eleventh in the line of descent from Judah. In due time David was anointed king over the twelve tribes of Israel. Soon he established his seat of government in the holy city of Jerusalem. God’s holy ark of the covenant was brought there and lodged near King David’s palace. Then God made a covenant or a solemn contract with King David, that the kingdom would never depart from his family, from his lineage, from his house, from his line of descent. (2 Sam. 7:12-16) In the 89th Psalm God said that he had made this covenant with David and that he would never profane it, for which reason the perfect king that would come forth from David would have a throne that would endure just as long as the sun and the moon would endure, that is, it would be eternal, never having an end, never needing to have a successor in government.—Ps. 89:3, 4, 19-37.

The Perfect Ruler for Man’s Government

1. How, without a kingdom today at earthly Jerusalem, does God nevertheless have his promised King, and why was he born where he was?

WHAT, then, about this perfect eternal king that was promised to come in the line of descent from King David of Jerusalem? After these thousands of years of human experiment in government, we see today no kingdom at the city of Jerusalem in the land of Israel. Nevertheless, God has his promised King! Also, he has come through the royal line of King David. In support of this fact we turn from the Hebrew Scriptures to the Christian Greek Scriptures, and the very first words that we find in them read this way: “The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham.” (Matt. 1:1, AS) Ah yes, this line of descent of kings that was to run down from Abraham through King David found its climax in Jesus Christ and goes no farther than him. Not by accident, this Jesus was born in the same city where King David had been born, in the city of Bethlehem. This was in fulfillment of Jehovah’s prophecy.—Mic. 5:2; Matt. 2:1-16.

2. How was this one born there really a “Son of Heaven,” and how was he then identified as the one to become the promised King?

² True, this Jesus had the patriarch Abraham and King David as his ancestors, but he really had a heavenly Father, and his virgin mother was, of necessity, human. She was the one who was in the line of descent from Abraham and through David. (Luke 3:23-34) So this Jesus who was born in Bethlehem in fulfillment of Bible prophecy was really the “Son of Heaven”; he was really the Son of God, whom his heavenly Father sent down to earth by a miracle in order to provide a perfect ruler for mankind. No perfect king was to be found from among imperfect, sinful, dying mankind itself. Let us recall that when this child Jesus was born in Bethlehem the angel from heaven announced to the shepherds out in the fields: “There was born to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in David’s city.” That angel who brought “good news of a great joy that all the people will have,” called this child who was there born the Christ. That is to say, he was the Messiah, the Anointed One; he was the one to become king in fulfillment of prophecy.—Luke 2:8-11.

3. Where did this child grow up, and what did he become there?

³ This child escaped being killed by King Herod, who reigned in Jerusalem as representative of the Roman Empire. After Herod’s death Jesus was taken to the city of Nazareth. There he grew up to manhood. He became, not a shepherd as his ancestor King David had been, but a carpenter. He lived and worked in the city of Nazareth, in obscurity, leading, as it were, an underground existence.

4. What got Jesus out of his shop, and how was his next step shown to be not a false one?

⁴ What, then, was it that called Jesus out of his carpenter shop? What set him on the road to the kingdom over all mankind? Ah, it was the proclamation of God’s kingdom. At that time Jehovah God had raised up the prophet John the son of Zechariah, and in due time John the Baptist came preaching repentance of sins and baptism in symbol of such repentance. He told the Jews to repent because God’s government was at hand. John’s proclamation was: “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” As soon as the news of John’s proclamation reached Jesus there in the carpenter shop at Nazareth, he gave up shopwork. He laid down his tools and went to John the Baptist and was baptized by him. This was no false step by Jesus of Nazareth, for as soon as he came up out of the water following his baptism in the river Jordan, there was an announcement from the heavenly King of eternity, Jehovah God. Picture the scene as the faithful Record says: “After being baptized Jesus immediately came up from the water; and, look! the heavens were opened up, and he saw descending like a dove God’s spirit coming upon him. Look! also, there was a voice from the heavens that said: ‘This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.’”—Matt. 3:1-6, 13-17.

5, 6. (a) How did Jesus’ anointing differ from that of David? (b) What did selfish Jews want to make Jesus, and why did he refuse?

⁵ Centuries before that, David had been anointed with oil to be king over Israel; but this Jesus was anointed from heaven with the spirit of God to be the king in the promised kingdom, the perfect government for all mankind. The apostle Peter reports: “God anointed him with holy spirit and power, and he went through the land doing good and healing all those oppressed by the Devil, because God was with him.” (Acts 10:38) He was acknowledged by his followers to be the “Son of God,” the “King of Israel.” (John 1:49; Matt. 16:16) He went through great tests. He endured great opposition at the hands of the leaders of Israel.

⁶ In spite of all this opposition and persecution, he stayed faithful to the true kingdom of God. He refused to let men, even the Jews themselves, make him king over them, even as he had refused to let Satan the Devil make him king over all mankind. (Luke 4:5-8) We remember the time that he freely fed 5,000 men together with women and children, multiplying a little boy’s lunch of five loaves and two fishes to feed the whole crowd. When the Jews saw that Jesus had this miraculous power to feed a nation, they selfishly wanted to make him king. But the Record says that just as soon as Jesus saw that they wanted forcibly to make him king over them, he withdrew from them and went into the mountain all alone. (John 6:1-15) Why? Jesus wanted God to make him king. He waited upon God to crown him king of the perfect government over all mankind in God’s appointed time. Cannot we be glad for this?

7, 8. (a) Why would Jesus not be satisfied with less than a perfect government to come over mankind? (b) To that end, what course did Jesus pursue, and hence where was he given a seat?

⁷ As for Jesus’ ability to become a faultless ruler, he lived a perfect life on earth amid tremendous temptations. To the Jews who accused him Jesus said: “Who of you convicts me of sin?” (John 8:46) As a perfect man he prayed and taught us to pray for a perfect government from a perfect source, saying: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come.” (Matt. 6:9, 10) Always praying for the perfect government, Jesus would never be satisfied with less, and neither should we.

⁸ To that end, Jesus remained a perfect man to the death, always bearing witness to the true kingdom of God. When he stood trial before Governor Pontius Pilate he corrected the governor’s misunderstanding, saying: “My kingdom is no part of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, my attendants would have fought that I should not be delivered up to the Jews. But, as it is, my kingdom is not from this source.” (John 18:36; 1 Tim. 6:13-16) With his human perfection unmarred by sin, Jesus Christ died as a faithful martyr to the kingdom of God. Because of the perfection of his integrity and loyalty toward God, the heavenly Father raised him up from the dead and took him back home to heaven and seated him at his own right hand, far above angels. There God told him to wait till God’s time to make him king, at which time God would give him all the nations, yes, the very ends of the earth, as the realm of his dominion.—Ps. 2:6-9; Dan. 7:13, 14; Ps. 110:1, 2.

9. Whom does God take into the government with Jesus, and what is the prospect of a remnant of these yet remaining on earth?

⁹ Consequently, Jehovah God, the heavenly Source of perfect government, has his perfect Ruler for the kingdom that he has promised for the blessing of all mankind. However, he takes into the government with Jesus Christ faithful followers of the perfect Ruler. While Jesus was yet on earth as a man he began calling these followers after him. To the faithful ones he said that he was making a covenant for the kingdom with them, even as God his Father had made a covenant for the kingdom with him, in order that they might sit down with him on thrones in his kingdom and eat and drink at his table in his kingdom and judge the twelve tribes of Israel. (Luke 12:32; 22:28-30) Since then the calling and the testing of the full number of 144,000 faithful associates of the perfect Ruler Jesus Christ has been going on. By now the majority of these have proved their faithfulness to God and his perfect Ruler to the very death and have been perfected in the heavenly kingdom by a resurrection in heavenly glory. Only a remnant of these Kingdom associates remain and are seeking to prove their faithfulness to the death, and they look forward to their being perfected in the heavenly kingdom with the perfect King of kings, Jesus Christ.

THE TIME FOR THE PERFECT GOVERNMENT

10. What day had to come in fulfillment of God’s promise to Mary, and what tangible proof do we have as to when it came?

¹⁰ Now we are living in a most wonderful time. The day had to come when God must fulfill the words of his angel Gabriel in announcing the coming birth of Jesus to his virgin mother Mary: “This one will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will be king over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of his kingdom.” (Luke 1:26-33) The day came in the early fall of the year 1914, when the “appointed times of the nations” to dominate the earth without interference of God’s kingdom ended. True, this is for humanity a time of unparalleled distress. Never has mankind gone through a tribulation as we have gone through since the year 1914. But this great time of tribulation is a tangible proof that the perfect government for all mankind promised by God is at hand.

11. Why should we now have no doubt about the Kingdom’s being here, and what climactic occasion in preaching was reached last year?

¹¹ The kingdom is here, established in the heavens to take over the rulership of all mankind. We should have no doubt about it, for, as a prophet, Jesus foretold the evidences by which we should know the time of the establishment of the promised government. He said that this “time of the end” of the nations of this world would start with world war and be accompanied by famines, pestilences, earthquakes in one place after another, and by the persecution of his followers. He also said that the good news of the established kingdom of God would be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and first then would the end of the imperfect governments of men come. (Matt. 24:7-14; Mark 13:8-10) The preaching of the good news of God’s kingdom by Jehovah’s witnesses has become more widespread every year. A climactic occasion in the Kingdom preaching that arrested the attention of all the world was when Jehovah’s witnesses held their eight-day international assembly in Yankee Stadium and the Polo Grounds in New York city, where, at the public meeting on Sunday, August 3, 1958, there were 253,922 persons who listened to the hour-long address on the subject “God’s Kingdom Rules—Is the World’s End Near?” The world’s complete end is near, the speaker said, but so, too, is the beginning of the righteous new world under God’s kingdom by Jesus Christ the perfect Ruler.

12. (a) To what are the nations marching, and to what experience? (b) This is a compelling reason for Jehovah’s witnesses to do what, and their doing this adds to what evidence?

¹² Unquestionably we are living in the “time of the end” of the nations. They are marching to the battle of the great day of God the Almighty, the universal war, which is called Armageddon. (Rev. 16:14-16) There they will be destroyed by the heavenly government of the Son of God, just as Daniel 2:44 (RS) announces: ‘In the days of these kings shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which shall never be destroyed. And that kingdom shall not be left to another people, but break in pieces and bring to an end all these kingdoms, and it shall stand forever.’ That is the compelling reason why Jehovah’s witnesses, the wide world over, in 170 or more lands are today proclaiming the good news of the established kingdom. This preaching amid unprecedented world distress adds to the evidence that we are living in the end of this world under the domination of Satan the Devil, the imperfect, sinful “god of this system of things.” (John 12:31; 2 Cor. 4:4) That is why we are on the threshold of a new world that is to be ruled by perfect government for all mankind, the government in the hands of the perfect Ruler Jesus.

PERFECT BENEFITS

13. In the days of the government of God’s perfect Son what will mankind enjoy earth-wide, and what prophecy of Isaiah will be fulfilled?

¹³ This heavenly government will accomplish for the human race things that no political government by imperfect human creatures on earth has ever accomplished. Divine prophecy tells us that in his days mankind is going to have perfect peace earth-wide, yes, no wars going on in any part of the earth at any time, and no war industries or armies. At last all humankind is going to have full disarmament, with no nation lifting up sword against nation; neither will men learn war any more, for people of all nationalities will be under the rule of the all-powerful, faultless government of a perfect Ruler. In the days of this government of God’s perfect Son Jesus Christ, the righteous people will flourish and peace will abound as long as the moon endures. (Ps. 72:7, 8) There will be a fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah 9:6, 7: “His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Father for eternity, Prince of Peace. To the abundance of the princely rule and to peace there will be no end.”

14. In what way will he fulfill the name “Father for eternity,” and how will his government prove itself a perfect one by what it does to its faithful subjects as regards body, mind and heart?

¹⁴ This perfect Ruler will not only be the Prince of Peace greater than peaceful King Solomon, but also be the Father for eternity to all men of good will who bow the knee in subjection and allegiance to him as their God-given Ruler. He will be the eternal Father of them due to the fact that he will give them everlasting life. He can do so in love and justice, for he is the one who died for the inherited sins of all mankind. The prophet John the Baptist pointed to him and said: “See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) This lamblike King, by virtue of the value of his human sacrifice paid over to God, will be able to take away the sins of all his obedient subjects. Taking away their sins, he will lift from them the condemnation of death that rests so heavily upon mankind today. In a wonderful way, instead of his faithful subjects getting more and more decrepit in their imperfection and weaker and eventually going down into the grave, they will be uplifted gradually out of their weakness, imperfections, infirmities and sicknesses. The uplift will not halt till it reaches human perfection, where obedient men will be in the image and likeness of God as the first man Adam was when put in the garden of Eden. Thus this eternal Father, the Prince of Peace, opens up to his subjects the prospect of everlasting life in perfect peace. Only a perfect government could rule in such a manner as to make its faithful and obedient subjects perfect in body, mind and heart.

15. What are imperfect rulers doing to the earth today but what, in fulfillment of his dying promise, will the perfect Ruler do after Armageddon?

¹⁵ Along with that perfect benefit, this perfect Ruler will give his subjects a perfect home here on this earth. Today the imperfect rulers of the nations are ruining the earth in various ways. They are even polluting the atmosphere about the earth with the fallout from their atomic and nuclear explosions. They are threatening to make this earth a place uninhabitable for mankind, particularly by a third world war. But not so the perfect Ruler Jesus Christ in the heavenly throne. After the universal war of Armageddon he will transform this earth into a paradise, from the east to the west, from the North Pole to the South Pole. “You will be with me in Paradise,” he said to the sympathetic evildoer who was dying alongside him on a torture stake at Calvary nineteen hundred years ago. (Luke 23:43) In fulfillment of that dying promise the Lord Jesus, now having come into his kingdom, will restore on earth the paradise that the first man Adam and his wife Eve forfeited for us because of rebelling and sinning against God their Creator.

16. What transformation will take place in various respects regarding this earth, and in what way will living conditions for obedient man be ideally perfect?

¹⁶ With a perfect eye for beauty and in a wholesome respect for God’s creation, the King Jesus Christ will repair and cultivate the earth and bring it to a state of paradisaic perfection. There will then be no storms or hurricanes or floods to destroy the dwelling places of mankind and to wreak havoc with the products of their work that are growing in the fields. Then half of mankind will no more be on the brink of starvation. Food shortages and famines and droughts will be no more to afflict mankind. Earth’s weather will be regulated to perfection, and the earth will produce plenty and variety, and prosperity will abound for all obedient humankind. The perfect government will make peace, happiness and human well-being surpass that of the days of King Solomon, and the living conditions for obedient mankind will be ideally perfect, with no disturbers around, not even Satan the Devil and his demons in the invisible spirit realm. At the supreme moment of the battle of Armageddon those wicked spirit forces will have been bound and put into an abyss of complete restraint.—Rev. 19:11 to 20:3.

17, 18. (a) How will the reign of that government be not only for the living but also for the dead? (b) In what words did a divine voice from the heavenly throne foretell this?

¹⁷ God’s sure Word guarantees that a great multitude of people of good will of today will survive the battle of Armageddon and live right on into that new world with its perfect government for all mankind. However, the reign of that government will be not only for the living, the survivors of Armageddon, but also for the dead members of the human family, including Abraham, Moses, King David and John the Baptist. The King Jesus Christ, who when on earth raised people from the dead, will again exercise that life-restoring power from heaven as the Redeemer who died for all mankind. As the King to whom has been given the authority to judge, he will bring to pass his promise: “The hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:27-29) Under the perfect government all those who have survived Armageddon and all those who have been brought back from the memorial tombs will be taught righteousness and truth in a perfect manner. Finally, by a course of unswerving obedience toward the perfect Governor Jesus Christ and toward Jehovah God, the Source of this perfect government, the obedient ones will receive the gift of everlasting life in God’s image and likeness on the paradise earth.

¹⁸ Foretelling this, the divine voice from the throne of God said, as recorded in the last book of the Bible: “Look! the tent of God is with humankind, and he will reside with them, and they will be his peoples. . . . And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away.” “And the one seated on the throne said: ‘Look! I am making all things new.’”—Rev. 21:3-5.

19. By doing all such things for the human family, what will God’s promised government display?

¹⁹ What government set up by man under Satan’s rule has ever been able to do such things or even promise to do such things for mankind? No man-made government! But the government that has Jehovah God as its Source and that he has bound himself by prophecies pronounced over his own name to set up will display its perfections toward mankind by doing all such wonderful things in behalf of the human family, so that they may live on a perfect earth forever, enjoying their Creator and God and glorifying him.

20. If we should like to see that government come in, what is it now the time for us to do?

²⁰ In view of such oncoming things, now is the time for preparing ourselves for this perfect government for all mankind. We should like to see it come in, when the battle of Armageddon rids the earth of the Devil’s invisible rule and of the imperfect governments of selfish politicians, should we not? Indeed, we should like to see that God-given government come in. If we want to see it come in and to enjoy its blessings without dying, we have to prepare ourselves now before Armageddon to live under it. So now, before Armageddon strikes suddenly, is the time for us to study God’s holy Word, the Bible, and see what his requirements are to survive into the new world under the reign of Jesus Christ the perfect Ruler.

21. Why are Jehovah’s witnesses eager to help each one to study the Bible, and how should we harmonize our activities with Jesus’ prayer for the perfect government?

²¹ Jehovah’s witnesses are eager to help each one to study this life-giving Book, to understand it and to know what God’s requirements are in order that each one may have His protection and blessing during the great tribulation that is yet to come, reaching its terrific climax in the universal war of Armageddon. As we study God’s Word, let us pray for his kingdom. The perfect man, Jesus Christ, taught us to pray for that perfect government, saying: “Our Father in the heavens, let your name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will come to pass, as in heaven, also upon earth.” (Matt. 6:9, 10) Furthermore, as we study and pray for that kingdom, let us unselfishly proclaim it to others for their salvation. Thus let us have a part with Jehovah’s witnesses in fulfilling Jesus’ prophecy: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.” (Matt. 24:14) To God’s glory, let us prove ourselves honored representatives of his perfect government for all mankind.

Christianity’s Origin and the Dead Sea Scrolls

IN THE spring of 1947 three Bedouins were going about in the town of Bethlehem trying to sell seven ancient manuscripts. These were in the form of leather scrolls, some containing Biblical and some containing sectarian writings, that the Bedouins had found in stone jars in a cave. The cave being situated in the wilderness of Judah not far from the Dead Sea, the scrolls came to be known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. It took months for the Bedouins finally to dispose of their scrolls, four of them to St. Mark’s Monastery and three to the Hebrew University at Jerusalem. Seven years later the University purchased the other four scrolls, which, in the meantime, had been vainly offered for sale in the United States, for the sum of $250,000. These four included the most prized of them all, a scroll in archaic Hebrew of the complete book of Isaiah, all sixty-six chapters.

Not without good reason these scrolls have been described as the “greatest manuscript discovery of modern times.” They have been definitely dated as of the second century B.C. by experts in the fields of archaeology, paleography (the science of deciphering ancient writing) and the carbon-14 process. Previously the oldest-known Hebrew witness to God’s Word had been the Nash papyrus, which goes back not quite as far and consists of only one small page, in four fragments, and which never was a part of a scroll. Incidentally, it contains the Ten Commandments and two verses of the Shemá or Jewish declaration of faith as found at Deuteronomy 6:5, 6.

Since the year 1951 many other similar discoveries have been made, including tens of thousands of fragments of ancient Bible manuscripts. All these having been found in the same general region, they also are referred to as Dead Sea Scrolls.

Rounding out the story of the Dead Sea Scrolls was the uncovering of the Khirbet (”ruins”) Qumran, located only a mile from the cave where the first scrolls were found. These ruins have been identified as those of a monastery, the headquarters of the sect that had produced the Dead Sea Scrolls, at least those first found. As to the identity of this sect, the “foremost authority on the Dead Sea Scrolls today” tells us that “there is now sufficient evidence . . . to identify the people of the scrolls definitively,” that is, finally and permanently, “with the Essenes,” a Jewish monastic sect that carried on from about the second century B.C. to the destruction of Jerusalem A.D. 70.

Great has been and is the interest manifested throughout the world in the Dead Sea Scrolls. Why? Chiefly because of the claims of some that the Dead Sea Scrolls spell out the human origin of Christianity.

What are the facts? Are, indeed, “the rites and precepts of the Gospels and the Epistles both to be found on every other page of the sect” that produced the Dead Sea Scrolls? Is the Qumran monastery, “perhaps more than Bethlehem or Nazareth, the cradle of Christianity”? Did we have to wait until these scrolls were discovered in order, at long last, to “get some sense to the drama that culminated in Christianity”?

SEEMING PARALLELS

First of all, let it be noted that when scholars fail to differentiate between Christendom today and Biblical Christianity as taught and practiced in Jesus’ day they are bound to err. And secondly, the similarities that appear between what the Bible says about Christianity and what Josephus, Pliny and Philo and the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls have to say about Essenism are wholly superficial. Basically there is as great a difference between the two as between day and night.

One of the claimed similarities is the holding of all goods in common. When a man became a member of the Dead Sea Scroll sect he had to surrender all his belongings to the order, to his very last cent. This has been compared to what took place in the early Christian congregation right after Pentecost, with the emphasis on what happened to Ananias and Sapphira for holding back part of the purchase price. What about this?—Acts 4:32 to 5:11.

The similarity is only superficial. In view of the fact that this matter of having “all things in common” is not mentioned again, either in the book of Acts or in the rest of the Christian Greek Scriptures, it obviously was but a temporary arrangement because of unusual conditions. Further, Christians were not required to surrender their belongings and there was no penalty for failure to do so as there was with the Essenes. Ananias and his wife were not punished for holding anything back but because of playing the role of hypocrites, claiming to have turned over the entire proceeds from the sale of their property when they had actually held back part of it. They thought they could lie to God’s spokesman and get away with it. That was their sin. The having of “all things in common” in the early Christian congregation was temporary and wholly voluntary; the Dead Sea sect’s sharing was permanent and mandatory and failure was severely penalized—all the difference in the world!

A similarity is also claimed in that both Christians and Essenes made use of symbolic ablutions or baptisms. Here again the similarity is only superficial. As instituted by Christ for himself and his followers baptism does not symbolize or result in remission of sins, for he had none. It is a symbol of one’s having dedicated oneself to do God’s will, is administered but once in the life of a Christian and that by another Christian. Among the Essenes it was performed daily, by oneself, and concerned itself with ritual purity. Could there be any greater contrast?—Matt. 3:13-15.

Similar arguments apply to the claim that the Lord’s supper was patterned after the Essenes’ communal meal. The Lord’s supper is properly celebrated but once a year, on Nisan 14, to memorialize the death of Christ and is of purely symbolic significance—the apostle Paul reproving those who viewed the Lord’s supper as an occasion to satisfy one’s hunger. On the other hand, the Essene communal meal was a daily affair and was for the purpose of satisfying one’s hunger.—1 Cor. 11:20-22.

Another similarity is claimed between Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls sect as regards eschatological teachings, those relating to the end of a system of things and the day of judgment. No question about it, the Essenes were expecting the judgment day and the end of the world in their day; indeed, it is because of this belief that they withdrew from all the rest of mankind, so as to be the better able to perfect themselves, much as certain sects in the United States have withdrawn to some mountainous region in expectation of the end of the world. As for the early Christians, while it appears that some endeavored to unduly ‘hasten the day of Jehovah,’ it is also clear that Jesus and Paul in particular gave them to understand that the end of this system of things was a long way off. Did not Jesus say that the good news of the Kingdom would first be preached throughout the whole world before the end came? And did not the apostle Paul in his second letter to the Thessalonians tell them that they were not to think that the day of Jehovah was imminent, for it would not come until first there had been a falling away and the man of sin, the son of perdition, had been revealed? Yes.—Matt. 24:14; 2 Thess. 2:1-12.

Then again, certain scholars have tabulated five hundred ostensible parallels between the Christian Greek Scriptures (New Testament) and the first Dead Sea Scrolls that deal with the Essenes. However, it may well be asked, How many of these would remain if all those found also in the Hebrew Scriptures were eliminated? Since Christianity was foreshadowed in the old Law covenant and the Essenes claimed to live up to Law requirements, it follows that there would be many expressions common to both. As one authority on the Dead Sea Scrolls well expressed it: “It may be questioned, indeed, whether the teachings of Jesus and the beliefs of the Qumran community have anything in common which cannot be found in other Jewish sources also.”

STRIKING CONTRASTS IN TEACHINGS

Stressed more than any other fact in the Hebrew Scriptures is the importance of Jehovah’s name. Pharaoh, Goliath, Sennacherib and other proud men were made to know that the one true God is Jehovah. And Jehovah repeatedly delivered his people for the same reason. (2 Sam. 7:23; Isa. 43:10-12; Ezek. 36:21-23) The importance of Jehovah’s name is also stressed in the Christian Greek Scriptures. (Matt. 6:9; John 12:28; 17:6; Acts 15:14) But no such emphasis do we find in the beliefs of the Qumran community. The thing of paramount importance to them was, not God’s name, but their own salvation.

The need of a sin-atoning sacrifice is highlighted throughout the Scriptures, from Genesis through Revelation; and the one furnishing it is identified as Jesus Christ. (John 1:29; Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6) But we look in vain among the writings of the Qumran community for any reference to salvation because of such a sacrifice, whether by Jesus or another. They strove to gain salvation by ritual cleansings and moral efforts.

Further, the writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls that set out Essene beliefs show they believed in the immortality of the human soul and in eternal torment for the punishment of the wicked. Both of these teachings are in striking contrast to the plain Scriptural teachings that the soul of man is mortal and that extinction, death, is the penalty for sin. (Ezek. 18:4; Rom. 6:23) Then too, this sect believed in the predestination of individuals, whereas the Scriptures tell of God foreordaining only certain requirements and classes of individuals. If the destiny of individuals were predestinated, there would be no point in preaching to them, nor in urging them to endure.—Col. 1:23; Matt. 24:13.

Nor to be overlooked is the fact that the Dead Sea Scrolls sect borrowed from Persian Zoroastrianism. This can be seen from its worship of angels and of the sun and by its emphasis on mysteries. True Christianity has absolutely nothing in common with any pagan religion.—2 Cor. 6:15-17.

STRIKING CONTRASTS IN PRACTICES

Also underscoring how untenable is the theory that the sect of the Dead Sea Scrolls gave birth to Christianity is the striking contrast between the practices of the two. The Essenes proudly separated themselves from their Jewish people. As far as they were concerned, all the rest of the world was going to the Devil. All that mattered was saving their own souls.

How different Scriptural Christianity! Far from secluding himself, Jesus went from city to city and village to village preaching the good news of God’s kingdom. More than that, he sent out twelve and then seventy of his followers to do the same. And just before he left them he commanded them to make disciples of people of all nations and to witness to the most distant part of the earth.—Luke 8:1; Matt. 28:19; Acts 1:8.

In striking contrast to Scriptural Christianity also was the sect’s asceticism. The apostle Paul condemns asceticism as “an appearance of wisdom in a self-imposed form of worship and mock humility, a severe treatment of the body, but they are of no value in combating the satisfying of the flesh.” The clergy of Jesus’ day complained because his disciples did not fast, and they accused him of being “a man gluttonous and given to drinking wine.” Certainly Jesus was far from being an ascetic!—Col. 2:23; Matt. 11:19; 9:14.

Note also the unchristian exclusiveness of this monastic sect. Its members were not allowed to eat any food prepared by outsiders, and it rejected all persons in any way marred physically. It had finely graded distinctions that were continually and rigidly enforced; so much so that if one of high rank, a senior, was touched by a junior he had to bathe himself to be pure again. Also, they shrouded their teachings in great secrecy.

In striking contrast to all this we find that Jesus ate and drank with the despised sinners and tax collectors. He was continually ministering to those suffering from physical handicaps. He taught his followers that they had but one Master and that all of them were to be brothers. And far from shrouding his teachings in secrecy, he published them far and wide and commanded his followers to proclaim them from the housetops!—Matt. 10:27; 15:31; 23:8.

Further, the sectarian Dead Sea Scrolls breathe out bitter hatred against all those not belonging to their sect. What a contrast to the course Jesus commanded his followers to take: “Continue to love your enemies and to pray for those persecuting you; that you may prove yourselves sons of your Father who is in the heavens, since he makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous.”—Matt. 5:44, 45.

NEW WINE IN NEW WINESKINS

Skeptics, such as Unitarians and agnostics, accuse Christians of not being objective in considering the evidence of the Dead Sea Scrolls and of being afraid of it. The foregoing presentation refutes this charge. Just the opposite is the case. Those who would use the Dead Sea Scrolls to prove the human origin of Christianity resort to sensational claims and dogmatic assertions and have justly been censured for making “dubious inferences from obscure texts.” More than that, they have repeatedly made contradictory statements, all of which betrays their own lack of objectivity and that they are even more emotionally involved in proving the Bible wrong than Bible lovers are in proving the Bible right. Of interest in this regard is the typical statement of a Jewish scholar: “I deny the special relationship claimed for the Dead Sea Scrolls and Christianity not because it offends any theology, but because the claims are an affront to sober, prudent scholarship.”

While most serious scholars reject the extreme position that the Dead Sea Scroll community accounted for the origin of Christianity, they feel obligated to find all manner of traces of Essenism in the ministry and teachings of John the Baptist and Jesus Christ. But if that is so, how can we account for the total silence regarding the sect of the Dead Sea Scrolls in the Scriptures? The Pharisees, Sadducees, Herodians and Zealots are mentioned but never the Essenes nor their Qumran monastery. Why?

Had Jesus come in touch with them, no doubt he would have castigated them in even stronger terms than he did the Pharisees, for they excelled the Pharisees in straining out gnats and gulping down camels. If a creature fell into a pit on the sabbath a Pharisee could pull it out but not an Essene. An Essene nurse could not even carry a baby on the sabbath. More than that, an Essene dared eat only such fish as had been ripped open while still alive to drain the blood.—Matt. 23:23, 24; Luke 14:3-6.

John the Baptist did not copy baptism from the Essenes. He himself tells us that it was God who authorized him to baptize. (John 1:33) Jesus brought a new message, likened in the Bible to new wine, entirely different from the “old wine” of Jewish sectarianism, be it Essene or Pharisaic. And he knew better than to try to put this “new wine” into the dried-up old wineskins of sectarian organizations and methods. This “wine” he received from his Father as he confessed: “Most truly I say to you, The Son cannot do a single thing of his own initiative, but only what he beholds the Father doing.” We accept his testimony as true. So we can rest assured that regardless of all the theories of men Christianity originated with God and owes no debt whatever to the Dead Sea Scrolls and their sect.—Luke 5:37-39; John 5:19.

In sharp contrast with the scrolls that contain the philosophy of the Essenes, the Bible manuscripts that have been found in such abundance near the Dead Sea contain God’s Word and stand as an amazing confirmation of the fact that it has not changed, for “the word spoken by Jehovah endures forever.”—1 Pet. 1:25.

Part 12—“Your Will Be Done on Earth”

In this Chapter 4 of “Your Will Be Done on Earth” there have flashed before us “Foregleams of God’s Kingdom” as reflected by the kingdoms of King-Priest Melchizedek of the ancient city of Salem and of Kings David and Solomon on “Jehovah’s throne” at the same city, but enlarged and called Jerusalem. This holy city and its temple to Jehovah were destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon in 607 B.C. How long was Jehovah’s kingdom over earth to continue inoperative, as represented by his overturned typical kingdom at Jerusalem? By the dream concerning a great tree sent to King Nebuchadnezzar and later interpreted by Jehovah’s prophet Daniel, as recorded in the book of Daniel, chapter 4, Jehovah’s kingdom was to continue inactive toward the earth for a period of “seven times” of Gentile supremacy and dominance over the earth. These “seven times,” of 2,520 years’ duration, began at the desolation of Jerusalem and its territory of Judah in 607 B.C. and ended in the historically marked year of 1914 (A.D.). According to the dream of the big tree, as interpreted to Nebuchadnezzar by Daniel, something of universal importance was then due to occur. What?

42. Why would all this mean that in 1914 (A.D.) the domination had to pass into the control of God’s kingdom restored, and what would this show about God?

⁴² What did all this mean regarding world domination at the end of the “seven times” in the fall of the year 1914 (A.D.)? Nothing less grand and wonderful than this, that the domination should pass into the control of the restored kingdom of God, because then had come the “times of restoration of all things of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old time.” (Acts 3:21) The beginning of the “appointed times of the nations” was marked by the ruling of the typical kingdom of God in Judah and by trampling down its capital, Jerusalem, under the Gentile nations. The ending of those “seven times” of 2,520 years had to mark an end to such kingdom ruin and to trampling down its symbolical capital. How? By the re-establishment of God’s kingdom according to the kingdom covenant with David, beyond the power of the worldly nations to trample it down. Then, to show that he rules the kingdom of men, Jehovah the Most High God must give it to whom He wills. He must set over it the lowliest of men.—Dan. 4:17, RS.

43. How was the one to whom Jehovah gave the kingdom the “lowliest of men”?

⁴³ That means He must give it to the anointed Son of David, Jesus Christ, who was considered the basest of men, so base, in fact, that he was wrongly called sacrilegious, a blasphemer, a seditionist, a winebibber and a glutton, and was impaled upon a torture stake like a criminal slave. He lowered himself from heaven to earth by emptying himself of heavenly power and glory and taking a slave’s form and coming to be in the likeness of men. On earth he took God’s yoke upon himself and invited others to take his yoke upon themselves, because, said he: “I am mild-tempered and lowly in heart.” Then “he humbled himself and became obedient as far as death, yes, death on a torture stake.”—Phil. 2:5-8.

44. Because of such manifest lowliness, what did Jehovah have to do to Jesus according to the Kingdom covenant, and now what event approaches?

⁴⁴ Because of such lowliness God must highly exalt Jesus, higher than King David, who reigned on earthly Mount Zion. The Most High God must exalt him to become David’s “Lord” by seating this anointed Son of David at His own right hand, next to himself in the universe. The restored kingdom of God over humankind must therefore be established in heaven, as it were, on a heavenly Mount Zion, not on the earthly Mount Zion in the Middle East. Then Jehovah God must send the rod of his anointed King’s strength out of this heavenly Zion and command him: “Go subduing in the midst of your enemies.” (Ps. 110:1, 2; Rev. 14:1) Then at Jehovah’s orders Jesus Christ must proceed to the bruising of that “original serpent,” Satan, in the head. That event approaches. This kingdom of David’s Son must bless the Most High God, just as restored Nebuchadnezzar did. It must bless all men of good will.

CHAPTER 5

THE MARCH OF WORLD POWERS

1. What march began in 607 B.C., and how do we know that Jehovah God foresaw the march and marchers?

DURING the passing of the 2,520 years of the “appointed times of the nations” men and angels have witnessed the march of world powers in grand parade on earth. The march began in 607 B.C., when the 2,520 years began to count. But long before then the all-wise King of heaven, Jehovah God, foresaw the march and the successive world powers in the line of procession. In impressive proof of his unerring foresight he foretold the march and marchers, even names and characteristics of the marchers, that we might identify them. Marvelously he has had their history written down long ahead of time. Hence his sacred Word, the Holy Bible, contains much history written in advance, history which the later histories written by men concerning past events now astoundingly confirm.

2. From what standpoint only can we understand what has taken place since A.D. 1914, and hence what is just before us?

² It is only from the standpoint of Jehovah’s prophetic Word that we can understand and appreciate what has been taking place on earth since the close of the “appointed times of the nations” in the fall of 1914 (A.D.). The long march of the world powers is nearing its end. World-shattering events are just before us. Jehovah’s history written in advance makes certain of this to us.

3. When did the march of world powers begin with Babylon, and by what line of action on Babylon’s part?

³ The march during the “appointed times of the nations” began with Babylon. Long before this, Babylon had been established in the valley of Mesopotamia by Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah, about 2,239 years before the Christian era. But before becoming a world power that had to do with the witnesses of Jehovah God it was preceded by two other world powers; first, Egypt, and second, Assyria. Only by subduing these rivals to world domination, and then by desolating the kingdom of Jehovah’s people with capital at ancient Jerusalem, did Babylon become a world power, the third world power listed in Biblical history. Assyria conquered Egypt and even tried to prevent the rise of Babylon to dominance by destroying the city. But Babylon was rebuilt and strove for the ascendancy. It destroyed the Assyrian capital, Nineveh, about 633 B.C. It reached the zenith of its power in the days of King Nebuchadnezzar, who destroyed Jerusalem and its sanctuary to Jehovah God.

4, 5. (a) By whom particularly did Jehovah foretell the line of march? (b) With what year of the reign of King Jehoiakim does the book of Daniel begin?

⁴ It was particularly by his prophet Daniel that Jehovah God foretold the line of march of the world powers. The record is to be found in the prophetic book of Daniel. Thirteen years before Jerusalem and its temple were destroyed Nebuchadnezzar came up against Jerusalem and compelled King Jehoiakim of Judah to take an oath of allegiance to him as overlord. That was after Jehoiakim had reigned for eight years on the “throne of Jehovah” at Jerusalem. But Jehoiakim continued reigning as Nebuchadnezzar’s servant for only three years. (2 Ki. 24:1) In this third and last year of his reign as subject to Babylon, King Jehoiakim broke his oath and rebelled.

⁵ In this last year of Jehoiakim’s rebellion the book of Daniel begins its historical account in these words: “In the third year of the reign of Jehoiakim king of Judah, Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon came to Jerusalem and besieged it. And the Lord [Jehovah]a gave Jehoiakim king of Judah into his hand, with some of the vessels of the house of God.” (Dan. 1:1, 2, RS) Rebellious Jehoiakim did not go out in self-surrender to the king of Babylon. He died inside Jerusalem, just as Jehovah had foretold.—Jer. 22:18, 19.

6. (a) How was the legal line of King David according to the kingdom covenant continued through King Jehoiachin? (b) When and how were Daniel and three close companions taken to Babylon?

⁶ His son Jehoiachin (or Jeconiah) succeeded him to the “throne of Jehovah” in Jerusalem, up to which King Nebuchadnezzar had come. Jehoiakim’s body was dragged and cast dead outside the gates of Jerusalem and buried, unlamented; but it was his son Jehoiachin that went out alive to the besieger, Nebuchadnezzar, after reigning merely three months. According to Jehovah’s purpose, Nebuchadnezzar spared eighteen-year-old Jehoiachin’s life and took him along with his household and officials to Babylon. There Jehoiachin had offspring and kept up the legal line according to Jehovah’s covenant with King David for the everlasting kingdom. (2 Ki. 25:27-30; Matt. 1:11-17) As for the vessels of Jehovah’s sanctuary at Jerusalem, Nebuchadnezzar “brought them to the land of Shinar, to the house of his god, and placed the vessels in the treasury of his god.” Nebuchadnezzar made Jehoiachin’s uncle, Zedekiah, king in place of him, but took other members of the royal family and of the nobility to Babylon. This included the youth Daniel and three close companions, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah of the tribe of Judah. This was eleven years before Jerusalem and its sanctuary were destroyed, or in 618 B.C.—Dan. 1:2-7, RS.

7. (a) What did Daniel become in Babylon? (b) How did King Zedekiah come to have none of his children sit upon the throne of Jerusalem?

⁷ In Babylon Daniel and his three companions were given special education and proved to be wiser than the professional wise men of Babylon. Daniel became Jehovah’s prophet in Babylon and continued as such until the third year of the reign of King Cyrus of Persia. (Dan. 1:8-21; 10:1) Meanwhile King Zedekiah broke the oath of allegiance that he had given in Jehovah’s name and began to rebel against Nebuchadnezzar. (Ezek. 17:13-21) So in the ninth year of this rebel, the king of Babylon came for the third time against Jerusalem. About eighteen months the city withstood the siege. Then the Babylonian armies broke through the walls of the famine-stricken city. King Zedekiah escaped from the doomed city but was overtaken by an enemy military force. Blinded after King Nebuchadnezzar had slaughtered his sons before his eyes, Zedekiah was taken in chains to Babylon to die there. This was in the eleventh year of his reign, in the year 607 B.C. Neither he nor his nephew, the former king Jehoiachin (Coniah or Jeconiah), ever had any children of theirs to sit upon the throne of David and rule in Judah.—Jer. 22:24-30.

8. How did the land of Judah and Jerusalem become desolate without man or domestic animal, and when did the “seven times” begin to count?

⁸ The following month, or fifth month (Ab), the Babylonian armies burned the sanctuary of Jehovah and razed the city of Jerusalem to the dust. The sacred ark of Jehovah’s covenant escaped seizure by them, but they took the rest of the sacred utensils of the temple, either whole or broken in pieces, back to Babylon. Two months later, in the seventh month (Ethanim), the poor people who were left behind in the land fled south to Egypt, and the land of Judah and Jerusalem lay desolate without man or domestic animal. There the seventy years of the desolation of the land began. Also, the “seven times” or the “appointed times of the nations” for trampling on desolated Jerusalem began.—2 Ki. 25:22-26.

NEBUCHADNEZZAR’S DREAM OF THE IMAGE

9. (a) When did Nebuchadnezzar begin to reign as visible dominator of the world? (b) When did he have his first prophetic dream, and who proved unable to interpret it for him?

⁹ With the typical kingdom of Jehovah God ruined and with two of its anointed kings imprisoned at Babylon, King Nebuchadnezzar indeed began to reign as visible dominator of the world, as head of the third world power of Bible history without interference of Jehovah the God of Israel. There, in the fall of the year 607 B.C., Nebuchadnezzar started off the “seven times,” which were to run for 2,520 years till the rightful government over mankind should be set up by the Most High God. Of this impressive fact Jehovah God notified the king of Babylon in the second year of his reign as world ruler, or in 606-605 B.C. This he did by sending a dream that the king of Babylon could not recall on awakening, but the terror of the forgotten dream stuck with him. He called for the magicians, the enchanters, the sorcerers, and the professional Chaldeans, all of them servants of Satan the Devil, the “god of this world,” to interpret the dream. They requested first to know what the dream was. Unable to tell them, the infuriated king issued a decree for all the wise men of Babylon to be destroyed. This included Daniel and his three companions.—Dan. 2:1-13, RS.

10. How did Daniel learn the dream and its interpretation, and with what words did he bless Jehovah God?

¹⁰ Face to face with the executioner, Daniel asked to see the king and then asked for a delay of the execution that he might learn the dream and give the king its interpretation. Then Daniel and his three companions joined in prayer to Jehovah God. The answer to prayer came, and the world-important secret was revealed to Daniel in a vision of the night. Gratefully Daniel blessed Jehovah, saying: “Blessed be the name of God for ever and ever, to whom belong wisdom and might. He changes times and seasons; he removes kings and sets up kings; he gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding; he reveals deep and mysterious things; he knows what is in the darkness, and the light dwells with him.” (Dan. 2:12-22, RS) Now to the great secret!

11. How did Daniel give credit to Jehovah before the king, and why is what he now said of highest importance to us?

¹¹ To the salvation of all the wise men of Babylon, Daniel was taken in before the king. What he said is of the highest importance to us today, for, said he, “there is a God in heaven who reveals mysteries, and he has made known to King Nebuchadnezzar what will be in the latter days. . . . To you, O king, as you lay in bed came thoughts of what would be hereafter, and he who reveals mysteries made known to you what is to be.” (Dan. 2:27-29, RS) We are living in the urgent times involved in the fulfillment of Nebuchadnezzar’s dream!

12. What was the dream that Daniel recalled to the king’s mind?

¹² Daniel disclaimed any wisdom of his own as he now recalled this forgotten dream to the king’s mind: “You saw, O king, and behold, a great image. This image, mighty and of exceeding brightness, stood before you, and its appearance was frightening. The head of this image was of fine gold, its breast and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of clay. As you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it smote the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces; then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold, all together were broken in pieces, and became like the chaff of the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away, so that not a trace of them could be found. But the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and filled the whole earth.” (Dan. 2:31-35, RS) Amazed, the king of Babylon recognized the description, but what did it all mean?

13. Whom did Daniel interpret the head of gold to be, and why?

¹³ “This was the dream; now we will tell the king its interpretation,” said Daniel as he spoke for himself and his three companions who had joined him in prayer. “You, O king, the king of kings, to whom the God of heaven has given the kingdom, the power, and the might, and the glory, and into whose hand he has given, wherever they dwell, the sons of men, the beasts of the field, and the birds of the air, making you rule over them all—you are the head of gold.”—Dan. 2:36-38, RS.

14. If Nebuchadnezzar as the symbolic gold head represented an unseen ruler, what would the metal parts of the body represent, and to what extent would this be a prophetic image?

¹⁴ Did this mean that Nebuchadnezzar was personally the head? Or was the interpreter Daniel really speaking past Nebuchadnezzar to someone else, the real head of gold, an unseen ruler represented by the king of Babylon? And did the metallic body underneath the golden head represent the organization of several levels beneath that mysterious behind-the-scenes head, or even such a several-level organization beneath Nebuchadnezzar himself? If so, was that image already all in existence except for, say, part of the iron legs and the feet of iron and clay? If so, then this dream image was mainly a static picture of something already in existence and was not prophetic except in part of the iron legs and in the feet. Furthermore, if Nebuchadnezzar as golden head represented an invisible personality behind the scenes, then the silver breast and arms must have pictured the topmost level of the organization under that invisible head; the belly and thighs of bronze must have pictured the next-lower level of the organization; and the legs of iron and feet partly of iron and partly of clay must have represented the bottom-most level or levels of that organization, this lowest or iron level being already partly developed at least. What, then?

15. Since from that standpoint the golden head would picture Nebuchadnezzar, what would the other metal parts of the image picture?

¹⁵ From that standpoint, Nebuchadnezzar as visible king of kings being symbolized by the golden head, the metallic body under that golden head would symbolize the visible organization under Nebuchadnezzar, an organization already in existence and operating for the most part at least. Hence the silver breast and arms beneath the golden head would symbolize the level of governmental organization immediately beneath Nebuchadnezzar himself; the bronze belly and thighs would symbolize the level of governmental organization subordinate to the silvery level above and not in direct contact with the head of government, Nebuchadnezzar; and the legs of iron and the feet partly of iron and partly of clay would symbolize the lowest level or levels of governmental organization and farthest removed from the governmental head. What, though, would this mean?

16. How, though, would this involve Daniel and his three companions with the image, and thus what part of an invisible organization would they visibly stand for?

¹⁶ This would mean that Daniel and his three companions, possibly along with some few other Babylonian officials, were symbolized by the silver breast and arms. Why so? Because immediately after Daniel interpreted the dream correctly, “the king gave Daniel high honors and many great gifts, and made him ruler over the whole province of Babylon, and chief prefect over all the wise men of Babylon. Daniel made request of the king, and he appointed Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego over the affairs of the province of Babylon; but Daniel remained at the king’s court.” (Dan. 2:48, 49, RS) As a result, Daniel and his three Jewish companions were symbolized by the silver breast and arms of the image that was to be destroyed. In fact, they also visibly represented the topmost silvery level in the mighty organization underneath the invisible ruling power pictured by Nebuchadnezzar, the golden head. This could not be the right understanding or interpretation of the meaning of the metallic image, because Daniel and his three companions are not part of an organization that is doomed to suffer the destruction of the dream image.

(To be continued)

[Footnotes]

Why Jehovah’s Witnesses Are Different

JEHOVAH’S witnesses are different primarily because of the good news of God’s established kingdom that they preach in all the earth. Jehovah’s witnesses are the only organization today announcing that God’s kingdom government is established in heaven. Christ Jesus said, when foretelling the work of true Christians at the world’s time of the end or last days: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for the purpose of a witness to all the nations, and then the accomplished end will come.” (Matt. 24:14) Christendom’s religions are not giving this Kingdom witness; Jehovah’s witnesses are.

In this age of easy religions, Jehovah’s witnesses are different because they really believe the Bible; they really live by the Bible. They do not take a higher critic or modernistic view and use only parts of the Bible. Nor do they water down God’s Word with traditions of men, as did the religious leaders in Jesus’ own day, to whom Jesus said: “You shove aside the word of God for your tradition.”—Mark 7:13.

Jehovah’s witnesses accept the Bible for what it is—God’s instructions, his commandments for man. They give God exclusive devotion, dedicating their lives to him, for the doing of the divine will. They heed Jesus’ commandment: “You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind.” (Matt. 22:37) Such love requires them to be obedient to God.

Why is it that Jehovah’s witnesses seem to be such a happy people?

Because of the hope they have, the hope of everlasting life in God’s new world. The Bible speaks of “new heavens and a new earth that we are awaiting according to his promise, and in these righteousness is to dwell.” (2 Pet. 3:13) “A new earth” does not mean a new planet earth but a new social system of things on the earth. Jehovah’s witnesses show that God’s kingdom will make possible “a new earth.” They show, too, that the vast majority of obedient mankind will gain everlasting life, not in heaven, but right here on the earth. They point out that Jesus really meant what he said in those well-known words from his Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”—Matt. 5:5, AV.

For the meek to inherit the earth, the planet earth must last forever and not be destroyed at a future day, as it is commonly taught. So Jehovah’s witnesses point out the Bible facts about our earth: “This is what Jehovah has said, the Creator of the heavens, He The true God, the Former of the earth and the Maker of it, He the One who firmly established it, who did not create it simply for nothing, who formed it even to be inhabited.” “He has founded the earth upon its established places; it will not be made to totter to time indefinite, nor forever.”—Isa. 45:18; Ps. 104:5.

The new-world hope is real in the lives of Jehovah’s witnesses; it brings true peace of mind and genuine happiness even in the midst of this troubled old world.

Why do Jehovah’s witnesses preach to people who have their own religion?

Because Jehovah’s witnesses want other people to enjoy their hope and their happiness. It would be unloving for Jehovah’s witnesses to keep their source of happiness to themselves. Jesus commanded: “You must love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt. 22:39) Jehovah’s witnesses would not really be loving their neighbor if they kept “this good news of the kingdom” to themselves or limited it just to so-called churchless people. In fact, to be obedient to Christ’s prophecy concerning the Kingdom witness at the end of the world, Jehovah’s witnesses cannot discriminate. Christ did not say that “this good news of the kingdom” would be brought only to those who profess no religion; on the contrary, Christ foretold that the good news “will be preached in all the inhabited earth.” So Jehovah’s witnesses cannot discriminate. All are entitled to hear this best news.

There is also this vital fact: Jehovah’s witnesses know that no other organization is advocating God’s kingdom as the only hope for mankind. So it would be entirely unloving for them to discriminate against persons who profess a religion.

Do Jehovah’s witnesses try to be different in the way they live?

They do not try to be different to be seen of men. When the conduct of Jehovah’s witnesses stands out as different, it is because they are conforming to God’s will and not to the ways of this evil world, just as the Bible commands: “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. 12:2.

In their living so as to do the “complete will of God,” Jehovah’s witnesses sometimes come into the news. The course of action they have taken may not be popular with the world, but the important thing is that it be in harmony with the will of God. Thus Jehovah’s witnesses obey the laws of the country in which they live, except when a man-made law conflicts with divine law. In such a case Jehovah’s witnesses take the course that the early Christians took and say: “We must obey God as ruler rather than men.”—Acts 5:29.

Jehovah’s witnesses believe that right religion is far more than a matter of sincerity. One may be sincerely wrong or he may be sincerely right. Right religion, Jehovah’s witnesses show, involves right motive, right belief and right action. Right action means doing the will of God daily.

Why do Jehovah’s witnesses not seek favor with the world?

Seeking favor with God is what really matters, and God’s will stated at James 4:4 is: “Do you not know that the friendship with the world is enmity with God? Whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.” This same inspired writer also said: “The form of worship that is clean and undefiled from the standpoint of our God and Father is this: . . . to keep oneself without spot from the world.”—Jas. 1:27.

To keep themselves “without spot from the world,” Jehovah’s witnesses do not mix in worldly politics as many religions do. These Christian witnesses are concerned with pleasing God rather than men, just as the apostle of Christ did, the one who declared: “Am I seeking to please men? If I were yet pleasing men, I would not be Christ’s slave.” “We request you and exhort you by the Lord Jesus, just as you received the instruction from us on how you ought to walk and please God.”—Gal. 1:10; 1 Thess. 4:1.

Also, Jehovah’s witnesses know that popularity with the world is not a sign of right religion; for it was Christ himself who warned: “Woe, whenever all men speak well of you, for things like this are what their forefathers did to the false prophets.”—Luke 6:26.

Are Jehovah’s witnesses religious ascetics who do not believe in entertainment?

No, they are not ascetics. They believe in balanced living, because the Bible rule is: “Keep completely balanced.” (1 Pet. 1:13) Jehovah’s witnesses know the value of recreation, but in seeking it they are moderate in habits so that they will not turn into mere pleasure lovers. As to choice of entertainment, Jehovah’s witnesses believe that this is purely a personal matter, but they do believe that the Christian, in choosing, should be guided by Bible principles. In a world of loose morals, Jehovah’s witnesses are different in this matter of entertainment, because they seek that which is wholesome. They then suffer no regrets, no stabbings of the conscience after it. Their recreation, instead of leaving them physically or spiritually devitalized, contributes to their happiness.

What are meetings of Jehovah’s witnesses like?

They are quite unlike orthodox church services. For instance, no collection is ever taken; contributions are wholly voluntary. At the meetings the Bible is studied, in conjunction with Bible study aids. There are upbuilding discussions in which all can participate. No one is looked down upon either because he is a beginner in Bible knowledge or because of economic circumstances. There is no clergy-laity distinction. At the meetings all—men, women and children—learn how they can walk in the footsteps of Christ, sharing their faith and hope with others. Their meetings are not limited to Jehovah’s witnesses. They would like you to know that all persons of good will are welcome. By attending, you will better understand why Jehovah’s witnesses are different and, above all, you will learn more about the Kingdom good news—the only basis for true happiness today.

Questions From Readers

● What is the “scroll of life” referred to at Revelation 20:12? How is one’s name written in that scroll, and when?—B. F., United States.

The “scroll of life” is not a literal one; it is symbolic. It could not refer specifically to the Bible, because the scripture refers to just one scroll or book of life. Yet in the days of the apostle John, who recorded The Revelation, there were already in existence many scrolls, the contents of which were inspired by God and in which were discussed the divine requirements for life. These scrolls had not then been incorporated into one scroll or one book, the Bible, as we have it today. The account does not speak of many scrolls of life, just one. The “scroll of life” refers to Jehovah’s list that he will make up of those human creatures who meet his requirements during the millennium in order to be approved for life everlasting on earth.

Those divine requirements are contained in the other “scrolls” that were opened first, for “the dead were judged out of those things [requirements] written in the scrolls according to their deeds.” (Rev. 20:12) So the names are written into the “scroll of life” at the end of the thousand-year judgment day, when Jehovah justifies those who have met his requirements.—1 Cor. 15:24-28; Rom. 8:33.

● Why does Proverbs 8:24, 25 speak of wisdom as being “brought forth as with labor pains”?—B.G., United States.

Wisdom is there spoken of as being “brought forth as with labor pains” because the Hebrew text here uses a word that is applied to women at the time of childbirth. This Hebrew word lays special emphasis on the matter of pain, indicating the writhing that a woman does when laboring to bring forth a child. Thus the New World Translation shows that Wisdom personified, or the only-begotten Son of God, was brought forth as by birth, as when a woman gives birth to a child. (1 Cor. 1:30; Col. 1:13-15) For all the labor that is entailed, a woman is to be given credit for having given birth to a child. She has reason to rejoice thereafter, as Jesus said. (John 16:21) In Hebrew, by using this word in connection with the bringing forth of Wisdom personified, it shows that God is to be given credit for his production of his only-begotten Son, that his first creation is a work on which much divine consideration was expended. Hence Wisdom personified is to be highly appreciated as the Son of God, the “beginning of his way.”

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