The Watchtower — October 15, 1959

God’s Ways or Man’s?

THAT God’s ways should differ from man’s should not surprise us at all. Does not his Word tell us that man is unable to direct his own steps, that the bent of man is bad from his youth up and that the human heart is deceitful? And does it not also show that Satan the Devil has misled all mankind? Yes!

Certainly Noah’s building the ark at God’s command appeared strange to the antediluvians, even as did Abraham’s picking up and leaving his native land to the natives of Ur. What puzzled expressions must have been on the faces of the Egyptians as they watched the Israelites sprinkle blood on the sideposts and across the tops of their entrances!—Gen. 6:14, 22; 12:1; Ex. 12:7.

Many of the things Jesus taught at first seemed exceedingly strange to his followers; in fact, so much so that on one occasion some of them called Jesus’ words shocking and quit following him. However, those whose hearts were right inquired as to the meaning of the strange things Jesus said.—John 6:60-69.

When the apostle Paul was in Athens, preaching the good news about Christ, certain philosophers “laid hold of him and led him to the Areopagus, saying: ‘Can we get to know what this new teaching is which is spoken by you? For you are introducing some things that are strange to our ears. Therefore we desire to get to know what these things purport to be.’” Here we have an example of persons who pursued the wise course, even if some were but idly curious. While some mocked and others patronizingly, no doubt, said, “We will hear you about this even another time,” still “some men joined themselves to him and became believers, among whom also were Dionysius, a judge of the court of the Areopagus, and a woman named Damaris.”—Acts 17:19, 20, 32-34.

Likewise today, the mere fact that the message of Jehovah’s kingdom that Christian witnesses are bringing to the peoples of all nations may seem strange to us is no valid reason for despising it or dismissing it with a shrug of the shoulders. What does matter is whether it finds support in the Scriptures and reason or not. Some may find that what God says at Isaiah 55:7, 8 about his ways and thoughts not being men’s ways and thoughts applies to them. So in the light of God’s Word and reason, let us “make sure of all things; hold fast to what is right.” Then we will not go wrong, for the greatest Teacher of all time said of God’s Word, “Your word is truth.”—1 Thess. 5:21; John 17:17.

When God Speaks Peace to All Nations

This public address was heard by 318,434 persons at assemblies throughout the United States, Canada and Great Britain during the summer of 1959, and it is scheduled for presentation at further assemblies this fall in all parts of the world.

“And I will cut off the chariot . . . and the battle bow shall be cut off; and he shall speak peace unto the nations: and his dominion shall be from sea to sea.”—Zech. 9:10, AS; Da; AV; JP; Le.

1, 2. What voice do lovers of peace long to hear, and how have the League of Nations and the United Nations shown lack of ability to speak with it?

LOVERS of peace with justice and happiness long to hear the voice strong enough to command peace upon all nations. Today in man’s most critical time there is no voice on earth with power enough to command peace world-wide. The voice of the League of Nations is dead. While the League lived its twenty-six years of existence, it proved unable to keep the peace even among its more than fifty members. It failed to halt territory grabbing and to prevent the outbreak of the second world war.

² “The League of Nations is dead! Long live the United Nations!” cried out Britain’s aged Lord Cecil in the assembly at the League’s palace in Geneva, Switzerland, in April of 1946. The United Nations for lessening the likelihood of war still lives. Its membership has swollen to more than eighty nations, but its voice has proved very weak. Since its creation after World War II ended there have been disturbances of the peace by aggression and by armed conflict in various parts of the earth. Cold war between the two great blocs of nations, the communistic and the democratic, has kept the world near a nervous breakdown. Fear of a hot, shooting war keeps mounting in the hearts of the people. The United Nations is not depended upon to keep World War III from wrecking civilization and raining down death upon mankind. It is doomed to go the way of its forerunner, the League of Nations. Certainly the voice of someone more powerful has to command peace to all nations.

3. (a) Concerning the absolute need now of peace among the nations, what did a French writer say? (b) And a British lawmaker?

³ Looking at matters from a perfectly natural standpoint, informed men and women have become convinced that now peace among the nations is an absolute necessity. Said the French writer, Raymond Avon, in his book “On War” (De la Guerre): “Mankind has entered an unprecedented phase in which, for the first time in history, the great powers are getting ready for a war that they do not want to fight.” The problem facing the democratic bloc of nations is that it “has failed to find a substitute for total war, aside from peace itself.” This is because of what total war, using the ultimate weapons of warfare, will mean to all inhabitants of the earth. The lawmakers of the nations know what it will mean. On February 11, 1959, in the British House of Lords, Earl Bertrand Russell called attention to something that he looked upon as the first practicable move “in a long campaign to ensure the continued existence of the human race. . . . Hitherto we had thought of nuclear weapons as being in the possession of the east and west, with the east being a threat to the west and the west being a threat to the east. This was not a sensible way to look at it. Nuclear weapons were a threat to mankind, and against this threat man ought to unite. They would unite if it was the Black Death, in order to take the sanitary measures to avoid this appalling evil. . . . We had got used to war. We had to get unused to it and it was not an easy effort. Unless we did [get unused to it], those who could not make the effort were contributing their little bit to the extinction of our [human] species.”—The London Times, February 12, 1959.

4. What did a full-page ad in the New York Times say about the danger that we are facing?

⁴ One day not long ago the readers of the New York Times came to a full-page advertisement and had these bold headlines stare them in the face: “We are facing a danger unlike any danger that has ever existed.” What kind of danger? Paragraph 7 of this full-page ad repeated the headline and replied: “In our possession and in the possession of the Russians are more than enough nuclear explosives to put an end to the life of man on earth.” This paid ad was published by the National Committee for a Sane Nuclear Policy, its headquarters being in New York city.—New York Times, November 15, 1957.

5. What did a former secretary of the United States Air Force say regarding the absolute necessity of a certain world system?

⁵ Something has to be done about meeting this danger. So men prominent in public life have said. Among these was the former secretary of the United States Air Force. When speaking at Cleveland, Ohio, November 19, 1958, this Mr. T. K. Finletter warned that “the danger of war is steadily on the increase. . . . United States policymakers . . . are now faced with a ‘new imperative’: the ‘absolute necessity’ of creating a world system that will exclude war from human affairs.” Said he: “We had better stop talking about disarmament and indeed about peace.”—New York Times, November 20, 1958.

6. What did a former British prime minister say about survival?

⁶ Suggesting such a world system for excluding war, Earl Attlee, the former prime minister of Great Britain, spoke in favor of a “world federation” in order to preserve civilization. In his speech at the Newark State College in Union, New Jersey, he said: “The price of survival will be a willingness to unite with the rest of the world.”—New York Times, February 24, 1959.

7. Why would any such world system be unworkable, and of what help have the clergy of Christendom been in behalf of peace?

⁷ Whatever world system the desperate national leaders may at last be driven to unite in creating, it would be nothing more than an old-world system, no more workable than any other man-made thing in the past. We fool ourselves if we expect that suddenly an accidental break-through will occur and the great obstacle will be overcome and man will happily create his own arrangement for a lasting, unbreakable peace. The religious clergy of Christendom have worked along with the politicians, but have proved to be of no help at all. History plainly shows that they have never stood firm as unmovable pillars of peace. No; but in time of test they have wielded their vast religious influence over hundreds of millions of churchgoers against the interests of international peace. They have not spoken with the authoritative voice that has commanded peace upon the nations, for the clergy have never maintained peace even within their own religious ranks.

8. Why does the spirit abroad in the world not allow for peace?

⁸ The spirit now abroad in the world does not allow for any peace. In itself this spirit reveals the thing or the person really behind the continual disturbance and clash of selfish interests. Certainly it is not the spirit of love. It is the spirit of worldly wisdom, because the political, commercial and religious leaders are following the philosophies, diplomacies and aims of this world.

9. What shows that this spirit is not good, and who was it that identified the source of this spirit for us?

⁹ From whom does this spirit issue? By its very effects this spirit of worldly wisdom shows that it is not good. Hence it is not from a good source. There can be no doubt as to its source, and a writer of nineteen hundred years ago identified the source for us. This was James, who is reported to have been martyred in the city of Jerusalem for his Christian faith, being stoned to death at the sentence of the Jewish Supreme Court of Jerusalem.a In his inspired letter he calls himself “James, a slave of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,” and he asks and answers a question that Christendom and its professed “Christian” politicians have not taken to heart. Here is what James wrote under inspiration:

10, 11. What does this James say regarding worldly wisdom and the source of disturbance among professed Christians?

¹⁰ “Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show out of his right conduct his works with a meekness that belongs to wisdom. But if you have bitter jealousy and contentiousness in your hearts, do not be bragging and lying against the truth. This is not the wisdom that comes down from above, but is the earthly, animal, demonic. For where jealousy and contentiousness are, there disorder and every vile thing are. But the wisdom from above is first of all chaste, then peaceable, reasonable, ready to obey, full of mercy and good fruits, not making partial distinctions, not hypocritical. Moreover, the fruit of righteousness has its seed sown under peaceful conditions for those who are making peace.

¹¹ “From what source are there wars and from what source are there fights among you? Are they not from this source, namely, from your cravings for sensual pleasure which carry on a conflict in your members? You desire, and yet you do not have. You go on murdering and coveting, and yet you are not able to obtain. You go on fighting and waging war. You do not have because of your not asking. You do ask, and yet you do not receive, because you are asking for a wrong purpose, that you may expend it upon your cravings for sensual pleasure. Adulteresses, 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.”—Jas. 3:13 to 4:4.

12, 13. (a) What do James’ words explain regarding clergy prayers? (b) From whom does he indicate that this wisdom issues, and why, therefore, do worldly-wise men not see the true key to peace?

¹² Such words of James to his fellow Christians explain something. What? Why Christendom’s clergymen, who pronounce blessings upon battleships and other instruments of war, pray to Heaven for world peace and have never had an answer to their prayer and never will have. Why not? Because God does not listen to men who are the fast friends of this world, who are therefore the enemies of God. He does not answer the prayers or bless the arrangements of men who reject the wisdom that comes down from God and who accept and follow the spirit of this world. The Christian disciple James bluntly says that this wisdom, with all its world-disturbing effects today, is not the heavenly, Godly wisdom, but “is the earthly, animal, demonic,” the devilish. It is the wisdom that issues from the unseen ruler of this world, who came against the man Jesus Christ and had him put to death on a torture stake nineteen centuries ago. Just some hours before his death Jesus said: “The ruler of the world is coming. And yet he has no hold on me. . . . the ruler of this world has been judged.” (John 14:30; 16:11) That ruler is Satan the Devil. Little wonder, then, that the worldly-wise ones of Christendom are blind to the true key to universal peace. The devilish god of this world, the prince of the demons, has blinded their minds. To this effect the Christian apostle Paul writes:

¹³ “If, now, the good news we declare is in fact veiled, it is veiled among those who are perishing, among whom the god of this system of things has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, that the illumination of the glorious good news about the Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine through.”—2 Cor. 4:3-5.

THE KEY TO PEACE

14. (a) Because of such mental blindness, what do world leaders recommend for peace? (b) In wartime how is a pretense made of honoring Christ on December 25?

¹⁴ Because the god of this system of things has veiled the minds of the perishing world leaders by his demonic wisdom, they recommend the United Nations, disarmament conferences, policed control of atomic arms tests or even abolition of all nuclear weapons, increased world trade, cultural exchanges between nations engaged in the cold war, a “world federation,” and other worldly-wise means as the key to lasting peace and prosperity. This mental blindness afflicts not only the atheistic Communist nations but also the professed Christian nations, the realm of Christendom. During the time of a hot, shooting war, it is customary to halt all firing of guns and killing of human lives on December 25 in order for soldiers at the front to celebrate the traditional Christmas. At that time it is the religious practice to sing Christmas carols that incorporate the words, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” (Luke 2:14, AV) In this way the nations of Christendom think they are honoring Jesus Christ and carrying out the spirit of those immortal words. But as soon as the hilarious Christmas celebration is over, the fighting and killing are started anew, and the ill will between nations brushes aside the hypocritical “Christian” mask. Such one-day profession of Christianity has proved to be merely a bit of sentimentalism, emotionalism, allowing for a good time.

15. By whom were those words concerning peace and good will first chanted, and after what joy-bringing announcement?

¹⁵ “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men” were the words that the angels chanted on the night of Jesus’ birth at Bethlehem, the birthplace of ancient King David of Jerusalem. Just before the peaceful shepherds heard the multitude of angels chant that prophetic message, an angel appeared in glory and said to them: “Have no fear, for, look! I am declaring to you good news of a great joy that all the people will have, because there was born to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in David’s city. And this is a sign for you: you will find an infant bound in cloth bands and lying in a manger.”—Luke 2:8-14.

16, 17. What notice concerning peace did that angelic chant contain, and how did Gabriel’s words to Mary identify the one to be born?

¹⁶ Hence the prophetic chant of the angels is notice from God to us that there can be no enduring peace on earth apart from the one who was born in Bethlehem that night. He was really one who had been sent down from heaven in behalf of a peaceful earth for all mankind. God’s angel Gabriel, who had appeared to Jesus’ mother nine months before then, said to her: “Look! you will conceive in your womb and give birth to a son, and you are to call his name Jesus. This one will be great and will be called Son of the Most High, and Jehovahb God will give him the throne of David his [fore]father, and he will be king over the house of Jacob forever, and there will be no end of his kingdom.”—Luke 1:30-33.

¹⁷ Thus, on the authority of God’s angels from heaven, that one then born in Bethlehem was “Son of the Most High,” the Son of God. He was the promised Savior, Jesus Christ the Lord, the Messiah whom inspired Hebrew prophets had foretold for thousands of years.

18. If we want to enjoy “peace on earth,” what do we have to respect concerning him, particularly something said by Isaiah?

¹⁸ It matters not that Jesus Christ, the everlasting Heir to King David’s throne, was born as long as nineteen centuries ago. A lasting “peace on earth” beginning in our own day cannot be separated from Him. All prophecies concerning Him have to be respected if we want to enjoy the ever-enduring peace that good-will people of all nations may enjoy. The present-day political and war maneuvers of the nations will not be able to block the fulfillment of divine prophecies given over God’s own name, Jehovah. Foretelling the world-important future of the One whose birth at Bethlehem was heralded by holy angels, the prophet Isaiah wrote these words, according to the American Standard Version of the Holy Bible: “For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and of peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to establish it, and to uphold it with justice and with righteousness from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of Jehovah of hosts will perform this.” (Isa. 9:6, 7, AS) How, then, can there ever be an inviolable “peace on earth” without this Prince of Peace?

19, 20. (a) Why can no clergyman prove that Isaiah’s prophecy has been fulfilled in Christendom? (b) Why may Heathendom not expect an arrangement for enduring world peace through Christendom?

¹⁹ This does not mean we can have no permanent peace on earth without Christendom and hence the communistic nations had better stop trying to overturn Christendom. Christendom has existed now for sixteen centuries. Yet no clergyman can successfully argue and prove that Isaiah’s prophecy of the increase of Christ’s government and of peace endlessly has been fulfilled in Christendom. Every history student knows that there has been no increase of Christlike government and of peace with Christendom! Every history book testifies that the two world wars of this century started in the very heart of Christendom between rulers who the clergy said ruled “by the grace of God,” and that the first two atomic bombs were dropped on two cities of heathendom by a people whose Supreme Court had declared it in 1892 to be a Christian nation.c Christendom has not proved itself to be the basis for world peace.

²⁰ So-called Heathendom, therefore, has no reason to expect Christendom to provide the successful arrangement for enduring world peace. Heathendom has no reason to respect the voice of Christendom as able to command peace upon all nations. According to God’s rule, as Christendom has sown, she must reap. (Gal. 6:7) God has not been mocked, but as Christendom has sown throughout her war-filled sixteen centuries, she is reaping in this day of the judgment of all nations. She has sown the wind; she must reap the whirlwind. (Hos. 8:7) Not through Christendom, but through the Prince of Peace himself and through the princely rule that rests upon his personal shoulder will God’s prophecy by Isaiah be fulfilled toward men of good will.

21, 22. (a) Through whom will Jehovah’s zeal carry out Isaiah’s prophecy? (b) Through what prophecy has Jehovah declared so?

²¹ Therefore let all peace-loving peoples of earth be notified that it is through his foretold Prince of Peace that the zeal of Jehovah of hosts will carry out Isaiah’s prophecy and that, as the living and true God, he will speak peace to all nations. He has declared so, through his prophet Zechariah, in the sixth century before the Christian era, in these words addressed to Jerusalem (or Zion), which had been recently rebuilt:

²² “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy king cometh unto thee; he is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, even upon a colt the foal of an ass. And I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim [of Northern Israel], and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off; and he shall speak peace unto the nations: and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River [Euphrates] to the ends of the earth.”—Zech. 9:9, 10, AS.

23. Who says directly that the first part of Zechariah’s prophecy was historically fulfilled, and how does Christendom profess to celebrate that fulfillment each year?

²³ The fulfillment of the first part of this prophecy is historically recorded. During the three years of Jesus’ public ministry he and his faithful followers preached up and down the land of Palestine, “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” (Matt. 4:12-17; 10:1-7; Luke 10:9) Finally the time came for Jerusalem to identify God’s anointed King, the Prince of Peace, and to accept him if she desired to. Long before that time Solomon, son of David, seated on a mule, had ridden to his crowning as king. Later Zechariah’s prophecy associated God’s appointed King with an ass. So, outside the city of Jerusalem (or Zion), Jesus had his disciples bring him an ass colt on which to ride into the capital city. The Christian historian Matthew writes: “This actually took place that it might be fulfilled what was spoken through the prophet, saying: ‘Tell the daughter of Zion, “Look! your King is coming to you, mild-tempered, and mounted upon an ass, yes, upon a colt, the offspring of a beast of burden.”’” Down to this year the nations of Christendom profess to celebrate Jesus’ triumphal ride into Jerusalem each year on what they call Palm Sunday.

24. How does Matthew describe that first fulfillment?

²⁴ Concerning that ride the historian Matthew says: “So the disciples got on their way and did just as Jesus ordered them. And they brought the ass and its colt, and they put upon these their outer garments, and he seated himself upon them. Most of the crowd spread their outer garments on the road, while others began cutting down branches from the trees and spreading them on the road. As for the crowds, those going ahead of him and those following kept crying out: ‘Save, we pray, the Son of David! Blessed is he that comes in Jehovah’sd name! Save him, we pray, in the heights above!’ Now when he entered into Jerusalem, the whole city was set in commotion, saying: ‘Who is this?’ The crowds kept telling: ‘This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee!’”—Matt. 21:1-11.

25, 26. (a) Whose united testimony proves that Zechariah’s prophecy must be fulfilled by the rider of the ass? (b) How could this fulfillment come about, inasmuch as Jesus was put to death on a stake?

²⁵ Other historians, Mark, Luke and John, record this fulfillment of divine prophecy. Thus the testimony of all four furnishes the historical proof that, according to Zechariah’s prophecy, Jesus Christ the descendant of King David is the one by whom Jehovah God will speak peace to all nations and whose dominion must be from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth, that is to say, earth-wide. But how could this come about, when, back there, the religious clergy of Jerusalem ignored Zechariah’s prophecy and rejected Jesus Christ, turned the people against him, arrested him, handed him over to the Roman governor for execution and forced him to fulfill their demand that Jesus be put to death on a stake? It will come about because now Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace is a heavenly King, at God’s own right hand. God’s own prophecies in the sacred Hebrew Scriptures had foretold that Jesus Christ would be raised from the dead in glory and would be elevated to sit at God’s right hand on the heavenly throne.

²⁶ To fulfill the prophecies and lay the foundation for an endless peace on earth in due time, Almighty God Jehovah resurrected his Son Jesus Christ on the third day of his death and clothed him with heavenly glory and said to him: “Sit at my right hand until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.” All needed power in heaven and in earth has been given to Jesus Christ, so that now he occupies a stronger position to speak and command peace to the nations than when he was here on earth as a man and he commanded the stormy sea of Galilee: “Hush! Be quiet!”—Ps. 16:10; 110:1; Matt. 28:18; Mark 4:39.

27, 28. (a) In what city do we have a warning example of how peace cannot come by rejecting God’s Prince of Peace, and how was she favored? (b) Before whom did she reject him, and so what did God speak to her?

²⁷ That there can be no peace and security on earth by man’s rejecting of God’s Prince of Peace and his princely rule, we have a solemn warning example in history. That was in the case of Jerusalem itself. She was favored with having the complete Hebrew Bible of that day, of thirty-nine books from Genesis to Malachi, and she was honored with being the first to have the opportunity to accept the Prince of Peace as Jehovah’s anointed King. Yet Jerusalem rejected him. Her priesthood led the fanatical mob in crying out to the Roman governor, Caesar’s representative: “If you release this man, you are not a friend of Caesar. Every man making himself a king speaks against Caesar. . . . We have no king but Caesar.” From the prophecies Jesus foreknew that he would be rejected. (John 19:12-15) So in his triumphal ride toward Jerusalem he paused and wept over it and said: “If you, even you, had discerned in this day the things having to do with peace—but now they have been hid from your eyes. Because the days will come upon you when your enemies will build around you a fortification with pointed stakes and will encircle you and distress you from every side, and they will dash you and your children within you to the ground, and they will not leave a stone upon a stone in you, because you did not discern the time of your being inspected.”—Luke 19:35-44.

²⁸ God let Jerusalem have Caesar, instead of Jesus, as king, but God did not speak peace to Jerusalem. Even by Jesus Christ, besides by previous prophets, Jehovah God spoke a war of destruction for Jerusalem. It came upon her A.D. 70. Then Jerusalem, who rejected Jesus Christ as king, was destroyed by armies of Caesar her king.

29, 30. (a) Whom did antichrist Jerusalem prophetically picture, and for whom did she claim to wait? (b) As in Jerusalem’s case, how has Christendom had God’s reigning King presented to her?

²⁹ Antichrist Jerusalem became a prophetic picture of Christendom since the end of World War I in the year 1918. Ancient Jerusalem was in a covenant with Jehovah God through the law of Moses the prophet, and she claimed to be waiting for her Messiah, or Christ. Christendom claims to be in a covenant or in a contractual relationship with God through Jesus Christ as Mediator, and she professes to be waiting for his return and his kingdom.

³⁰ Ancient Jerusalem had Jesus Christ riding on an ass amid a shouting throng presented to her as King in fulfillment of prophecy, but she rejected him. Christendom had World War I and the famines, pestilences, earthquakes and international distress that went along with the war and also followed it. By this fulfillment of Jesus’ own prophecy Christendom had visible proof that he had been enthroned in his heavenly kingdom in 1914, at the end of the Gentile times, which end was marked by the raging of the Gentile nations in World War I. Since the stopping of World War I in 1918 Christendom has had proclaimed to her the good news of the establishment of God’s kingdom by his Messiah-Christ. That fulfills the following prophetic words of Jesus: “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) Those preaching this good news of the Kingdom for the purpose of a witness to all nations have been and are witnesses of God’s kingdom. By all the means of publicity and communication available in our modern days these Kingdom witnesses have preached publicly and from house to house and from nation to nation, so that today they are preaching in 175 lands of the globe and in more than 120 languages. They have been like the great throng shouting and waving palm branches that accompanied Jesus’ triumphal ride into Jerusalem. In such a dramatic, prophecy-fulfilling manner Christendom has had God’s reigning King presented to her.

31. (a) How has Christendom rejected the Prince of Peace? (b) When did Jerusalem’s destructive trouble come, and after more than forty years what does Christendom find herself suffering?

³¹ Despite her taking Christ’s name and celebrating Palm Sunday each year, Christendom has rejected the Prince of Peace. She has chosen Caesar as king by choosing first the League of Nations and now the United Nations, and by persecuting the very ones bearing witness to God’s kingdom under Jesus’ command. As in Jerusalem’s case, Christendom has not discerned the time of her being inspected, nor the things having to do with her peace. After Jerusalem’s rejection of Jehovah’s Prince of Peace it took thirty-seven years before siege, famine, pestilence, violence and destruction came upon that then unholy city. Now, more than forty years after Christendom’s refusal to have the enthroned Jesus Christ as king, Christendom finds herself suffering the fulfillment of Christ’s prophecy concerning the end of this wicked system of things, namely, “There will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth anguish of nations, not knowing the way out because of the roaring of the sea and its agitation, while men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth; for the powers of the heavens will be shaken.”—Luke 21:25, 26.

A WAR WORSE THAN INTERNATIONAL NUCLEAR WARFARE

32. What danger do men see, but what worse danger is more real than that, and why so?

³² Under the terror of these times men view the future from the purely human standpoint and publish the warning, “We are facing a danger unlike any danger that has ever existed.” They see only the danger of international nuclear war, the mere radioactive fallout from which would rain down a stealthy, noiseless death upon all mankind for generations to come. That is disastrous enough. However, Jesus Christ and the other prophets of Jehovah God forewarned of a danger worse than what our most advanced scientists or most discerning statesmen have envisaged. It is the danger of what the last book of the Holy Bible calls “the war of the great day of God the Almighty,” for which the kings of the entire inhabited earth and their armies are described as being gathered to the symbolic place called Armageddon. (Rev. 16:14-16) The danger is very real, as real as Almighty God is real, as real as Christ the King of kings and Lord of lords is real, as real as Christendom’s refusing to have him but adopting the United Nations is real. It is more real a danger than international nuclear war, because the war of Armageddon is written and foretold in the infallible prophecies of the Holy Bible over God’s own irreproachable name Jehovah.

33. (a) Concerning the certainty of the fulfillment of Jehovah’s stated purpose, what does Isaiah 14:24-27 say? (b) What divine purpose does Isaiah 34:1-4 set forth for this space age?

³³ In Isaiah 14:24-27 we read: “Jehovah of armies has sworn, saying: ‘Surely just as I have figured, so it must occur; and just as I have counseled, that is what will come true, . . . ’ This is the counsel that is counseled against all the earth, and this is the hand that is stretched out against all the nations. For Jehovah of armies himself has counseled, and who can break it up? And his hand is the one stretched out, and who can turn it back?” In the face of this certainty that Jehovah will carry out his purpose, Isaiah 34:1-4 declares: “Come up close, you nations, to hear; and you national groups, pay attention. Let the earth and that which fills it listen, the productive land and all its produce. For Jehovah has indignation against all the nations, and rage against all their army. He must devote them to destruction; he must give them to the slaughter. And those of them slain will be thrown out; and as for their carcasses, their stink will ascend; and the mountains must melt because of their blood. And all those of the army of the heavens must rot away. And the heavens must be rolled up, just like a book scroll; and their army will all shrivel away, just as the leafage shrivels off the vine and like a shriveled fig off the fig tree.” No space warplanes and missiles will avail then.

34. Concerning what faces particularly Jerusalem’s modern counterpart, what did Jesus prophesy concerning the sudden tribulation?

³⁴ Pointing to what faces the nations, more particularly Jerusalem’s modern counterpart Christendom, Jesus prophesied concerning the end of this system of things and said: “Then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again. In fact, unless those days were cut short, no flesh would be saved; but on account of the chosen ones those days will be cut short.” “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as people were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.”—Matt. 24:21, 22, 36-39.

35. Why is the danger unlike any that farsighted men discern, and how will man survive into a new system of peace?

³⁵ The danger of the things here prophetically foretold is a danger unlike any that farsighted men can discern or picture. It is a danger of things much worse than nuclear war between man and man. It is the danger of war between God and man, war between Christ and the invisible ruler of this world, Satan the Devil, with all his demon hosts and earthly armies. It means the complete end of this world-wide system of things, in the same way that the flood of the days of Noah spelled the end of the corrupt, violent system of things before the global deluge. Since the danger today is so unusual, the means for providing for man’s survival into a new system of things of everlasting peace must be just as unusual as Noah’s building of an ark of tremendous size. By them some flesh will be saved.

[Footnotes]

Concern for Man’s Survival into Peace

1, 2. (a) Who today are showing the most concern for the continued existence of humanity? (b) How are they showing this concern, and why?

WHO, then, of all peoples on earth are showing most concern for the continued existence of humanity in this nuclear, missile, space age? Is it politicians and philosophers like the prominent men whom we have already quoted, who see serious danger from only human sources? No, it must be those who see facing the people of Russia, China, Britain, America, France, Germany and all the other nations the one danger greater than a third world war with nuclear weapons, and who have been incessantly warning all mankind about it for more than eighty years now.

² They are the ones today faithfully following and obeying Jesus Christ, who nineteen centuries ago was so concerned for the continued existence of the human family that he was willing to die a cruel death, to lay down his perfect life as a ransom sacrifice for whoever of mankind would believe and accept it. He was so concerned for God’s earthly creatures that he also left instructions for his true followers who would be living at this most crucial time of human history. He instructed them to show the greatest concern for mankind’s continued existence by their warning men concerning the real danger and by preaching God’s kingdom as the one and only means for enjoying protection and preservation. These Kingdom witnesses of today know that not only is the life of the people during this condemned old system of things involved but also their personal everlasting life in God’s new system of things. The people need to know the safe course to take in order not to be destroyed forever with this old system of things when it is destroyed like the antediluvian world of Noah’s day. They need to hear God speak peace.

WHEN AND HOW?

3. When and how does God speak peace to all nations, but why is there continual disturbance internationally?

³ Since the nations inescapably face the long-foretold destruction in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty,” just ahead, when is it that God speaks peace to all nations? And how? The fulfillment of Bible prophecy shows that the time has already begun. It is now! And God speaks peace by means of his enthroned King, Jesus Christ the Prince of Peace. No, we are not speaking in self-contradiction. The political governments and nations of this world do not hear God speak peace. They suffer continual disturbance, fears and perplexity. Their being in this disquieting condition is not because Jehovah God is not now speaking peace. It is because they have shut their ears to hearing him speak peace.

4. How have the nations been trying to get peace, and how do the results show that they are wicked?

⁴ Jehovah is called the God of peace. Hence we read: “The God who gives peace will crush Satan under your feet shortly.” (Rom. 16:20) Continuous, perfect peace can come only from Jehovah God, and the nations under Satan the Devil have been striving to get such peace without God. How? By international alliances, by nonaggression pacts, by disarmament conferences, by circulating peace petitions, by cultural exchanges between nations, and by other worldly-wise means, yes, by every means except by God’s kingdom through Christ. The results of their desperate efforts show into which of the two classes described in Isaiah 57:19-21 the political governments and nations fall. Isaiah says: “‘Continuous peace there will be to the one that is far away and to the one that is near,’ Jehovah has said, ‘and I will heal him.’ ‘But the wicked are like the sea that is being tossed, when it is unable to calm down, the waters of which keep tossing up seaweed and mire. There is no peace,’ my God has said, ‘for the wicked ones.’”

5. What kind of language will God at last speak to them, and why?

⁵ These refusing God’s peace talk, then the only kind of language from God that the political governments and nations can understand must be war. Hence war, not peace, is what Jehovah God will speak to them at Armageddon, in the “great day of God the Almighty.” That kind of divine speech will bring their eternal destruction.

6. Who, however, hear what God speaks now, and what kind of approach does his speech make to them?

⁶ However, among all nations to whom the good news of God’s kingdom has gone since 1918 there have proved to be multitudes of meek, peace-loving, sheeplike individuals. These humble themselves to keep quiet and hear what Jehovah God has to say through his Kingdom witnesses. They desire to hear what He has to speak now, before he speaks war to their nations at Armageddon. The very approach that God’s speech now makes to these sheeplike individuals is one imparting peace, for when Jesus Christ sent out disciples to preach from house to house he said: “Wherever you enter into a house say first: ‘May this house have peace.’ Also, wherever you enter into a city and they receive you, . . . go on telling them: ‘The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”—Luke 10:5, 8, 9.

7. How do these people show themselves to be friends of peace, and with whom do they then associate themselves, and why?

⁷ The sheeplike people in all nations show themselves to be friends of peace with God, for they detect the speech of God in the good news that his Kingdom witnesses preach and they joyfully accept the Kingdom message. These friends of peace see that there is no peace between the political nations and that these nations do not enjoy peace with God. At the same time they see it is among God’s Kingdom witnesses that the prophecy of Psalm 85:8-10 is even now being fulfilled, namely: “I will hear what The true God Jehovah will speak, for he will speak peace to his people and to his men of loving-kindness, but let them not return to self-confidence. Surely his salvation is near to those fearing him, for glory to reside in our land. Loving-kindness and trueness themselves have met each other; righteousness and peace themselves have kissed each other.” So by associating themselves with Jehovah’s people and his men of loving-kindness these sheeplike individuals enter into peace.

8, 9. (a) Why does Jehovah have no war to fight with the Kingdom witnesses? (b) How does he speak peace to them and fulfill Zechariah 9:10 toward them?

⁸ The Kingdom witnesses, Jehovah’s people, have no part with Christendom in rejecting Jehovah’s anointed King, Jesus Christ, and in choosing the man-made agency for peace, the United Nations. No, but as representatives of the heavenly Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, they fulfill Zechariah’s prophecy. How? By rejoicing greatly and shouting in acclaim to Jehovah’s King, who has come riding along to his coronation, “just, and having salvation.” Therefore Jehovah God has no war to fight with them. True, they have come from nations that are often at war with one another, in cold war, hot war, economic war. But God unites these sheeplike people from all nations around his one anointed King, Jesus Christ, and speaks peace to them. He teaches them the art of godly peace. He commands peace among their ranks. He fills them with “the wisdom from above,” which is “first of all chaste, then peaceable, reasonable, . . . not making partial distinctions, not hypocritical.” (Jas. 3:17) He instructs them to be “earnestly endeavoring to observe the oneness of the spirit in the uniting bond of peace.” (Eph. 4:3) In this manner he cuts off war from their congregations and assemblies and fulfills to his spiritual people in a modern way Zechariah’s prophecy to those who now accept Jehovah’s King:

⁹ “I will cut off the chariot from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem; and the battle bow shall be cut off; and he shall speak peace unto the nations: and his dominion shall be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth.”—Zech. 9:10, AS.

10, 11. (a) How do the facts respecting them match Zechariah 9:10? (b) In 1958 what did they adopt and begin to distribute in support of what prophecy by Isaiah?

¹⁰ Do the facts match this prophecy? Yes! Examine the international organization and the affairs of the Kingdom witnesses, who are Jehovah’s witnesses. They are found today in more than 175 lands; yet you will find that in their Christian congregations and international assemblies there exists no tribal warfare or international warfare such as once raged between the tribe of Ephraim, the leading tribe in the northern kingdom of Israel, and Jerusalem with its king of the tribe of Judah. There are no international or interracial jealousies, rivalries, competitions, prejudices, which things are a sign of earthly, animal, demonic wisdom. At the Divine Will International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses in New York city in 1958, attended on Friday, August 1, 1958, by 194,418 from 123 lands, and at subsidiary Divine Will assemblies in ninety other cities outside the United States, Jehovah’s witnesses adopted a stirring Resolution, 72,348,403 copies of which were printed in fifty-three languages to be distributed free throughout the earth. By adopting and distributing this Resolution they vowed before Jehovah God and his reigning King Jesus Christ to carry out now the prophetic description of godly, peace-loving people, in Isaiah 2:2-4:

¹¹ “It must occur in the final part of the days that the mountain of the house of Jehovah will become firmly established above the top of the mountains, and it will certainly be lifted up above the hills, and to it all the nations must stream. And many peoples will certainly go and say: ‘Come, you people, and let us go up to the mountain of Jehovah, to the house of the God of Jacob, and he will instruct us about his ways and we will walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion law will go forth, and the word of Jehovah out of Jerusalem. And he will certainly render judgment among the nations and set matters straight respecting many peoples. And they will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. Nation will not lift up sword against nation, neither will they learn war any more.”

12. What could they honestly declare in that Resolution, and why?

¹² Both during World War I and ever since then Jehovah’s witnesses have taken no part in fighting “against blood and flesh” with death-dealing instruments. (Eph. 6:12; 2 Cor. 10:3, 4) Hence in their International Assembly Resolution they could honestly say: “That, figuratively speaking, we have beaten our swords into plowshares and our spears into pruning shears and, although of so many nationalities, we will not lift up sword against one another because we are Christian brothers and members of the one family of God, neither will we learn to war against one another any more, but we will walk in God’s paths in peace, unity and brotherly love.”

13. When, therefore, is Isaiah 2:2-4 being fulfilled, and why is there virtue or merit in its being fulfilled then?

¹³ Remarkably, therefore, Isaiah’s prophecy that the worshipers of Jehovah of one nationality would not lift up sword against His worshipers of another nationality and would not learn war any more is not waiting to be fulfilled after the war of Armageddon, but is being fulfilled now. It is now that Jehovah is speaking peace to his people and instructing them about his ways. It is now that they are walking in his paths, obeying his law out of heavenly Zion, abiding by his judgment and accepting matters in the way that he sets these straight. It is now, during the greatest international arms race of human history, that they are learning the art of true Christian peace and obeying Jehovah’s Prince of Peace, now when it is left to one’s free choice to do so and now when there is virtue or merit in doing so, without one’s being forced to do so.

14, 15. (a) What beatitude of the Sermon on the Mount do they enjoy, and why do they not fear Armageddon? (b) How will Jehovah do what disarmament conferences failed to do, and who will see him do it?

¹⁴ Now they cherish the beatitude set forth in Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount: “Happy are the peaceable, since they will be called ‘sons of God.’” (Matt. 5:9) They know now the happiness of the “sons of God,” because they are at peace with God and with the kingdom of his dear Son. For this reason they do not fear the battle of Armageddon, even though it is the greatest danger that has ever existed for all nations. They know that at Armageddon Jehovah God will continue to speak peace through his great Shepherd King to all his sheeplike people out of all nations. He will defend and preserve them, whereas he will speak a war of annihilation against all those on earth who have not now sued for peace with Him and his King. By destroying these hostile ones Jehovah God will do what international disarmament conferences have failed to do: wipe out international war from a blood-drenched earth. The happy peaceable ones, who are the “sons of God,” will prove to be the ones to whom Psalm 46:8-11 is addressed:

¹⁵ “Come you, behold the activities of Jehovah, how he has set astonishing events on the earth. He is making wars to cease to the extremity of the earth. The bow he breaks apart and does cut the spear in pieces; the wagons he burns in the fire. ‘Give in and know you that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.’ Jehovah of armies is with us; the God of Jacob is a secure height for us.”

16. Why will these have to take no hand in the war of Armageddon?

¹⁶ The survivors of this “war of the great day of God the Almighty” will indeed behold the activities of Jehovah in setting astonishing events on the earth, wiping out all peace disturbers. These prospective survivors are already committed to peace and friendship with God and will have to take no hand in the universal war of Armageddon. Their course is dictated for them in the prophetic words: “As for you, do not be afraid or be terrified because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.” For this reason they do not now have to arm and train for that war of Armageddon.—2 Chron. 20:15.

17. (a) After Armageddon, over whom will the millennial reign begin? (b) How does Isaiah verify the enduring of peace then?

¹⁷ When Armageddon ends, the millennial reign of the Prince of Peace will begin over a loyal, peaceable people on earth, saved out of all the present nations. His dominion will be from sea to sea, and from the River to the ends of the earth; hence it will embrace all the earth. Concerning his reign this prophetic prayer was recorded: “Let the mountains carry peace to the people, also the hills, through righteousness. In his days the righteous one will sprout, and the abundance of peace until the moon is no more.” (Ps. 72:3, 7) The prophet Isaiah verifies this enduring of peace under the One whose name is to be called Prince of Peace, saying: “To the abundance of the princely rule and to peace there will be no end.” (Isa. 9:6, 7) As God’s Mouthpiece he will speak peace to all nations, to his surviving subjects out of all nations.

18. How will the historical prophecy of the rainbow after the Flood be fulfilled, and into what will the earth be converted?

¹⁸ Thousands of years ago a symbol of God’s peaceful purpose, a rainbow, appeared to Noah and his family after the ancient world of the ungodly was destroyed by the global flood. Fulfilling that historical prophecy, peace like a glowing rainbow will arch itself over all the earth and its inhabitants, after the storm of Armageddon destroys this present war-racked system of things and cleanses the earth for the peaceful, righteous new system of things. Then those who begin living on earth under Christ’s reign will build confidently without fear that what they construct will be destroyed or seized by armed invaders or that their productive fields will be overrun and ruined by maneuvering troops or heavy engines of destruction. They will build and plant in the stimulating assurance that they will occupy, reap and enjoy the products of their labors. The ruiners of the earth being annihilated, the earth will be converted by God’s blessing through his King into a perfect paradise home.

19. How will peace be established between man and animal life, and how may all enjoy “peace on earth” as God’s “men of good will”?

¹⁹ In this earthly paradise all the animal life will be tamed by God’s power and will be at peace with man, who will exercise God-given dominion over them. “And a mere little boy will be leader over them.” (Isa. 11:6) Perfect health will become obedient mankind’s possession, and bodily perfection will make them beautiful creatures, made in God’s image, according to His likeness. Moreover, all those sleeping in the memorial tombs will be awakened by the voice of the King and will come forth by resurrection to opportunities for everlasting life in perfection on earth under his rule as an Everlasting Father. To these he will speak peace. By forever worshiping Jehovah God and obeying his Savior King all earth’s inhabitants may, to the glory of God in the heights above, enjoy “peace on earth” as “men of good will,” men whom the God of peace approves and to whom he speaks peace.

Be a Man—Shoulder the Responsibility

“A POOR writer blames his pen.” That adage points out the common human failing of wanting to shirk responsibility when it comes to shouldering blame. In this respect every one of us, whether man, woman or child, should strive to be manly, to “carry on as men.” While friends can help us bear our burdens in times of distress, when it comes to responsibility or blame, then “each one [must] carry his own load of responsibility.”—1 Cor. 16:13; Gal. 6:2, 5.

Often our attempts to get out from under the blame make about as much sense as did Aaron’s on a certain occasion, betraying befuddled thinking. While Moses was up in the mountain for forty days the people grew impatient and returned to their idolatrous Egyptian ways. Bringing their jewelry to Aaron, they asked him to make them an idol. The record expressly states that then Aaron “took the gold from their hands, and he formed it with a graving tool and proceeded to make it into a molten statue of a calf.”—Ex. 32:4.

When Moses returned from the mountain and saw what had been done and in righteous indignation asked Aaron about it, did Aaron accept his responsibility in the matter? He did not. He was trying to get out from blame when he said to Moses: “I proceeded to throw [the gold the people gave me] into the fire and this calf came on out,” apparently by itself he would have Moses believe! Could anything be more preposterous? Yes, often our attempts to excuse or justify ourselves make about as much sense as that!—Ex. 32:22, 24.

While our trying to avoid blame may be due to befuddled thinking, when we try to shift the blame upon others, more likely than not there is something wrong with our hearts, revealing pride, dishonesty and selfishness. In doing so we are but following the bent we inherited from our first parents. Adam, instead of manfully owning up to having disobeyed by eating of the forbidden fruit and shouldering the blame, justified himself by blaming others: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree and so I ate it.” Yes, ‘why blame me? If you had not given me that woman and if she had not handed me the fruit, why, I would never have eaten of it!’ And Eve followed Adam’s example. Instead of shouldering her responsibility, she shifted it: “The serpent deceived me and so I ate.” By their shifting the blame Adam and Eve showed that they were not repentant and so were undeserving of any mercy being extended to them.—Gen. 3:12, 13.

King Saul showed the same bad heart condition on at least two occasions. When censured by Samuel for presumptuously offering a certain sacrifice, Saul gave excuses: “I saw that the people had been dispersed from me, and you—you did not come within the appointed days, and the Philistines were being collected together at Michmash . . . So I compelled myself and went offering up the burnt sacrifice.” He had three excuses, but they carried no weight with Jehovah.—1 Sam. 13:11-13.

King Saul manifested the same heart condition on the occasion of his being commanded to wipe out the Amalekites, sparing neither man nor beast. When Samuel pointed out to Saul that he had failed to carry out God’s command, Saul replied: “The people had compassion upon the best of the flock,” “the people went taking from the spoil,” he even insisting, “I have obeyed the voice of Jehovah.” When reminded that “to obey is better than a sacrifice,” he at last admits, “I have overstepped the order of Jehovah,” but still blames the people, adding, “because I feared the people and so obeyed their voice.” However, Saul also had failed to devote King Agag to destruction and for that he certainly could not blame the people! Saul’s bad end is a warning to all who make a practice of refusing to accept the blame, of shifting it upon others.—1 Sam. 15:13-33.

How different the course of King David and the apostle Peter! They also, at times, made serious mistakes, but they accepted the responsibility for them. David did not make excuses or blame others when Jehovah’s anger came against him for having numbered the people capable of bearing arms: “Was it not I that said to make a numbering of the people, and is it not I that have sinned and have unquestionably done bad? As for these sheep, what have they done? O Jehovah my God, let your hand, please, come to be upon me and upon my father’s house, but not upon your people, for a scourge.”—1 Chron. 21:17.

Likewise when David transgressed in the matter of Uriah’s wife, he blamed neither Bath-sheba nor the circumstances but humbly confessed: “I have sinned against Jehovah.” Psalm 51 reveals the sincerity of David’s repentance, and what comfort that psalm has given ever since to servants of God overtaken by a serious transgression! That David, unlike Adam, did not blame the woman can be seen from the fact that he chose her son Solomon, of all the sons he had, to be his successor on the throne of Jehovah.—2 Sam. 11:4; 12:13; 1 Ki. 1:17.

The apostle Peter manifested a like right heart condition. When overtaken in his denial of his Master, did he try to justify himself or to blame others? No, but he humbly and contritely “went outside and wept bitterly.”—Luke 22:62.

If, like Aaron, we have a weakness along this line, let us be on guard and strive to overcome it lest we get to be like Adam, Eve and King Saul. Remember, trying to shift the blame upon circumstances or upon others is an indication of some form of selfishness, moral weakness, pride or dishonesty. If we guard our hearts we can please God in spite of our weaknesses: “He that is covering over his transgressions will not succeed, but he that is confessing and leaving them will be shown mercy.” So be a man! Be like David, like Peter—shoulder the responsibility!—Prov. 28:13.

Prophetic Temple Rebuilding by the “Sons of the Exile”

FAITHFUL Jews languishing in Babylonian captivity had much reason to mourn. “Because of the sins of her prophets, the errors of her priests,” we read, ‘Jehovah had rejected his altar. He had spurned his sanctuary.’ Yes, their land lay waste, their temple was a heap of ruins and they themselves were the laughingstock of the nations. No wonder their psalmist wrote: “By the rivers of Babylon—there we sat down. We also wept when we remembered Zion.”—Lam. 4:13; 2:7; Ps. 137:1.

Those unhappy exiles, however, not only wept but they also prayed, and Jehovah heard their prayer, in keeping with Solomon’s petition some five hundred years before: ‘In case they sin against you (for there is no man that does not sin), and you have to be incensed at them and abandon them to the enemy and their captors actually carry them off captive and they indeed come to their senses and make request to you for favor, and they indeed return to you with all their heart, then you must hear from the heavens and must execute judgment for them.’—1 Ki. 8:46-49.

Since the king of Babylon would not let God’s people go, Jehovah caused his world rule to be toppled over by an empire that would co-operate with the divine will, the Medo-Persian. Thus it was that toward the end of the foretold seventy years of desolation, in 537 B.C.—exactly on time—Cyrus issued his memorable liberation decree. Jehovah no doubt put this into Cyrus’ heart by having Daniel point out to Cyrus what divine prophecy had to say about him. Cyrus not only permitted Jews to return to build the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem and urged Jews not returning to contribute toward temple rebuilding, but he himself aided by restoring all the temple utensils that Nebuchadnezzar had carried off to Babylon. In passing it might be observed that although Cyrus’ decree sounds as if he had become a proselyte to Jehovah’s worship, such was not the case. Rather, it was merely in keeping with his policy of freedom of religion.—Ezra 1:1-8; Isa. 44:28; Dan. 9:1, 2.

ZERUBBABEL REBUILDS TEMPLE

About fifty thousand devoted servants of Jehovah took advantage of this liberation decree of Cyrus, while many others assisted by making contributions. Heading the returning exiles were Governor Zerubbabel of the tribe of Judah and Joshua the high priest. Among the very first things Joshua and his brother priests did was to erect an altar for the offering of the daily morning and evening sacrifices. As they began with the temple building, no doubt they were able to use the very stones that had been part of Solomon’s temple, and so we do not read of their quarrying any stone. But with the timbers it was different. The Babylonians had burned the temple, and so we read that the returned Israelites paid the Sidonians and Tyrians to cut cedars of Lebanon and ship them to Joppa, even as Solomon had paid King Hiram’s men to do the same. In the second year of their return the foundation of the temple was laid, which called for appropriate ceremonies praising Jehovah. While some of the old men who had seen Solomon’s temple wept, the rest shouted for joy.—Ezra 3:1-13.

“When the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the sons of the Exile were building a temple to Jehovah the God of Israel, they immediately” offered to help, saying that they were serving the same God. Because their offers of help were refused these adversaries so slandered the Jews—rather libeled them, as their charges were put in writing—to the Magian Gaumata, who pretended to be Smerdis and who became ruler of Persia for a short time, that he issued a decree forbidding further temple construction. Doubtless it was with malicious glee that these adversaries, by strength of arms, forced the Jews to stop rebuilding the temple. How insincere they thereby showed their claim to be of worshiping the same God as did the Jews!—Ezra 4:1-24.

Did this action on the part of their adversaries relieve the sons of the Exile from their responsibility to rebuild Jehovah’s house? Zerubbabel and those with him apparently thought so, for they became so engrossed in materialistic pursuits as to stop temple building. To show them the seriousness of the situation Jehovah withheld material blessings from them and sent his prophets Haggai and Zechariah to drive this fact home to them. These prophets rebuked their fellow Jews for their materialism, pointed out to them in no uncertain terms that their spiritual prosperity was to come first and that, in fact, their material prosperity depended upon it, and they spurred them on to temple building.—Ezra 5:1, 2; Hag. 1:1-15.

Again their adversaries sought to stop them by libeling them to the Persian government, at this time Darius I (Hystaspes) being on the throne. The sons of the Exile, however, fought back, pointing to the decree of Cyrus authorizing them to rebuild the temple, and as a consequence the action of their enemies boomeranged. Not only did Darius permit the Jews to continue with their temple rebuilding and decree death for any that would interfere, but he ordered these very adversaries to supply materials for temple construction! What a victory that was! So it was that in a little more than four years, in 516 B.C., the temple was completed.—Ezra 5:1 to 6:15.

According to the decree of Cyrus the house of Jehovah at Jerusalem was to be ninety feet (sixty cubits) wide and as high. It is likely that these were outside measurements and that therefore this temple was not much wider or higher than that of Solomon. Be that as it may, it is certain that as to material splendor, Zerubbabel’s temple did not compare with Solomon’s. More than that, it was also inferior as to spiritual treasures, as it was without the Ark of the covenant, the tables of the Law and the supernatural Shekinah light, indicative of Jehovah’s presence.

Nor does it appear that the inauguration of Zerubbabel’s temple was comparable to that of Solomon’s, when doubtless upward of a million Israelites crowded into Jerusalem. In fact, less than one percent as many cattle and sheep were offered in 516 B.C. as in 1027 B.C. Neither is there any record of a cloudlike glory filling the latter house as it did the former and of a fire from heaven consuming the sacrifices and burnt offerings.

Though inferior as it most likely was in all these respects, Zerubbabel’s temple nevertheless did serve Jehovah’s purpose as the place of meeting between Jehovah and his covenant people. Particularly did it hold an honorable position in the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. Artaxerxes I (Longimanus) generously decreed at that time regarding “the priests and the Levites, the musicians, the doorkeepers, the Nethinim [temple slaves], and the workers of this house of God,” that “no tax, tribute or toll is allowed to be imposed upon them.” At their assemblies the people would crowd into the temple courts and Ezra would make public declaration and prayer in front of the sanctuary or temple proper.—Ezra 7:24.

A CHECKERED EXISTENCE

Zerubbabel’s temple had a checkered existence, even as did that of Solomon, although at no time was it as grossly defiled by Israelite hands, for at times they had set up idols in the courts of Solomon’s temple and once even nailed its doors shut. Still, even in Nehemiah’s day—while he was away at the Persian court—the Jews showed lack of appreciation of their temple. Thus we read that upon his return he found the Levites and priests working their farms instead of attending to temple duties, because the people failed to bring in the tithe as they had solemnly agreed to do earlier in Nehemiah’s governorship.—Neh. 10:32, 33; 13:10, 11.

Chief of the pagan defilers of Zerubbabel’s temple doubtless was Antíochus Epíphanes, a fanatical Syrian ruler. Frustrated in his ambition to extend his domains, it is said, he tried to satisfy his vanity and lust for power by embarking on a crusade to Hellenize his subject peoples. Determined to eradicate the religion and customs of the Jews, he invaded Jerusalem in 170 B.C. and robbed the temple of many of its treasures. Two years later he showed the degree of his contempt for Jehovah’s house by sacrificing a sow upon its great altar, at which time he also established a garrison in Jerusalem to see to it that his pagan policies were carried out.

This religious oppression sparked the revolt of the Maccabees. Three years later, to the very day of that initial defilement of the temple by Antíochus, the Maccabean general Judas Maccabeus entered Jerusalem at the head of a victorious army, cleansed the temple and rededicated it. (The record of all this is found in the book of First Maccabees, the only one of the Apocrypha historically reliable.) In commemoration of this event the feast of dedication was celebrated annually, reference to which is made in the Scriptures: “At that time the feast of dedication took place in Jerusalem. It was wintertime.”—John 10:22.

Some hundred years later, in 63 B.C., a Roman army under General Pompey attacked the temple area of Jerusalem from the north, resulting in a great massacre of Jews in the temple courts. In 54 B.C. the plundering Roman politician Crassus robbed the temple of some ten million dollars worth of treasures. In 37 B.C. King Herod, in his war with the Jewish Asmonean rulers, the dynasty that resulted from the success of the Maccabean revolt, stormed the temple and destroyed some of its halls. Then about twenty years later, or after standing five hundred years, Zerubbabel’s temple gradually made way for its successor, Herod’s temple.

PROPHETIC PATTERNS

The Scriptural record of temple rebuilding by the sons of the Exile is part of the “all things that were written aforetime” for our instruction. Contained therein are forceful lessons in appreciation of Jehovah’s manner of dealing with his servants, as well as striking prophetic patterns or parallels that throw light on our roadway, making clear the divine will for us.—Rom. 15:4.

As the Israelites back there, because of their derelictions, were permitted by God to be taken captive by ancient Babylon in 607 B.C., so God permitted his people in modern times, for similar reasons, to be taken captive by modern spiritual and mystic Babylon, the world organization of the Devil, during World War I. And as back there in 537 B.C., after seventy literal years of captivity, Jehovah gave a marvelous display of his loving-kindness by having Cyrus set free the Jews (even as Jeremiah had foretold), so in 1919, after a symbolic seventy years, as it were, Jehovah gave a like display of his loving-kindness by having his Greater Cyrus, Jesus Christ, set his people free.—Lam. 3:22-24.

The Scriptures further show that Jehovah caused the sons of the Exile back there to return primarily for his name’s sake. So also today his words apply: “I do not this for your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy name, . . . and the nations shall know that I am Jehovah.” Then again, as Zerubbabel back there directed temple rebuilding, so today Jehovah has a Greater Zerubbabel, Jesus Christ, who is directing temple activity. And as back there Jehovah blessed the Israelites because of holding their ground and fighting for their rights in the days of Darius I (Persian), so today Jehovah is blessing his people as they fight to defend and legally establish the pure worship of Jehovah at his temple. Where they do not have recourse to the courts they continue underground until forcibly restrained, even as the sons of the Exile in the days of the pretender Smerdis kept on building until forcibly restrained by their adversaries.—Ezek. 36:22, 23, AS.

A valuable lesson also may be drawn regarding the snare of materialism. Back there Jehovah’s blessing was withheld because of materialistic tendencies, which caused temple building to be delayed for many years, as well as temple service to be neglected in Nehemiah’s day. So today we cannot expect Jehovah’s blessing upon our efforts if we give his temple service second place in our lives because of the snare of materialism. And as back there the Jews were under obligation to support temple worship with the tithe or tenth, so we today must give, not a literal tithe but a spiritual or figurative tithe, which stands for all that we can directly give to Jehovah’s service as a token of our having dedicated ourselves to Him.

Last, but by no means least, is the striking and heart-cheering prophecy uttered back there but which is being fulfilled for the first time in our day: “I will shake all nations; and the precious things of all nations shall come; and I will fill this house with glory, saith Jehovah of hosts.” (Hag. 2:7, AS) Some five hundred years after that prophecy was given Paul quoted from its context and applied it to the future. Fulfillment of Bible prophecy shows that this shaking began in 1914 with the birth of God’s kingdom.—Heb. 12:27, 28; Rev. 12:1-12.

The announcing of this fact, together with all its implications, has had a world-shaking effect, resulting in the bringing of the precious things of all nations to God’s temple. What or who are these precious things? Not the material wealth, neither the high and mighty of the nations. No, the most precious or desirable things of all nations from God’s standpoint are the men of good will toward God, lovers of righteousness, who are separating themselves from this wicked world’s religious, political and commercial organizations and are associating themselves with Jehovah’s spiritual temple, the remaining ones of the Christian congregation of God. These are filling God’s house with glory by bringing to it their heartfelt devotion and service. Truly the account of the rebuilding of Zerubbabel’s temple and the restoration of pure worship at Jerusalem is filled with striking prophetic patterns and valuable admonition for God’s people today!

Part 24—“Your Will Be Done on Earth”

Jehovah’s sanctuary is now a living one, made up of “living stones,” the spirit-anointed followers of the Foundation Cornerstone, Jesus Christ. In 1918 the “little horn” of Daniel 8:9, the Anglo-American dual world power, had cast down the place of this spiritual sanctuary, and in 1926 it together with other nations committed the “transgression that makes desolate” in connection with the League of Nations. This marked the beginning of the count of the 2,300 “evenings and mornings” mentioned in Daniel 8:14, at the end of which period of time Jehovah’s sanctuary was to be restored to its rightful state. This period of six years four months and twenty days ended on October 15, 1932, when “The Watchtower,” the official journal of the sanctuary class, published the evidence that the sanctuary class on earth had been cleansed and the sanctuary restored to its rightful state by the abolition from the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses of the democratically elected “elders” and by the theocratic appointment of service directors to the congregations for preaching the Kingdom good news. Thus theocratic rule took precedence in the congregations of Jehovah’s anointed remnant.

49. What thereafter did the Watchtower issues of June, 1938, declare, and what resolution did it propose for adoption?

⁴⁹ That was only a right beginning, for the sanctuary had to be made theocratic in all respects. Six years later The Watchtower published the article “Organization,” Part 1 in its issue of June 1, 1938, and Part 2 in its next issue of June 15. This article opened, saying: “Jehovah’s organization is in no wise democratic. Jehovah is supreme, and his government or organization is strictly theocratic.” This article also proposed a resolution for each congregation to adopt, the resolution recognizing that “God’s government is a pure theocracy” and requesting “The Society” as his visible representative to organize the congregation for God’s service and to appoint theocratically from the visible top the various servants of the congregation.—Part 2, ¶15.

50. What action followed on this resolution, what reorganization then took place, and in what did this result?

⁵⁰ This theocratic resolution was adopted and acted upon by the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses wherever found; and the visible governing body at the Society’s headquarters in Brooklyn, New York, proceeded with theocratically organizing all willing congregations. All new congregations established since then have been organized theocratically in this manner from their very start. This has resulted in a better, more peaceful and more productive organization of Jehovah’s dedicated people, in fulfillment of Isaiah 60:17. This theocratic organization went through World War II, terrifically persecuted indeed by the seventh world power and its allies and its enemies. But in no way did the theocratic organization bow fearfully in slavish bondage to dictatorial or regimented governments and in no way did it cease to render to Jehovah God the daily, continual or constant burnt offering of praise to him and his kingdom.

51. What has the sanctuary in its rightful state continued to do, and to what fulfillment of prophecy does it look?

⁵¹ Cleansed, vindicated and in its rightful theocratic state, the sanctuary continues rendering divine service till now, regardless of what the symbolic “little horn,” the “king of fierce countenance,” may yet do. The sanctuary class look to the complete fulfillment of the angel Gabriel’s explanation to Daniel concerning this cunning political “king”: “By his cunning he shall make deceit prosper under his hand, and in his own mind he shall magnify himself. Without warning he shall destroy many; and he shall even rise up against the Prince of princes; but, by no human hand, he shall be broken. The vision of the evenings and the mornings which has been told is true; but seal up the vision, for it pertains to many days hence.”—Dan. 8:25, 26, RS.

52. What has been the seventh world power’s most flagrant mistake, and hence what must happen to it?

⁵² The Anglo-American dual world power still holds its position as the active seventh world power of Biblical prophecy. It has not yielded place to the threatening Communist bloc, which has openly boasted that it will establish itself at last in the world domination. The most flagrant mistake that the seventh world power has made is in high-mindedly standing up against the Prince of princes, Jehovah God, who took to himself his power in 1914 (A.D.) and who is the Most High over all the earth and its princes, including the “king of fierce countenance.” (Ps. 83:18, AV) For especially this reason the seventh world power will shortly be broken, not by the hand of world communism, but by superhuman hand or power.

53. What is now the state of the “vision of the evenings and the mornings” after the “many days,” and what is yet to be expected?

⁵³ God’s kingdom, against which the seventh world power has committed the abominable “transgression,” will strike it during the progress of the “war of the great day of God the Almighty,” just as the stone cut out of the mountain in Nebuchadnezzar’s dream struck the symbolic image of successive world powers on its feet and ground it to a powder for winds to blow away. The vision of the evenings and the mornings is no more shut up. After the “many days” of thousands of years, it has been opened up. The greater part of the vision has already been fulfilled. The symbolic “king of fierce countenance” is yet to be broken by divine hand. Then Jehovah God, who dwells by his spirit in his sanctuary, will be vindicated as Universal Sovereign. His will must be done on earth.

CHAPTER 10

THE NORTH AGAINST THE SOUTH

1, 2. (a) How does Daniel’s final vision present the conflict now on between the two great blocs of nations? (b) How did Porphyry view the book of Daniel, but how is his foolishness stripped naked?

SINCE World War II the tension and “cold war” between the two great blocs of nations have been said to be between the East and the West. The final prophetic vision that was given to Daniel presents it as a climactic conflict between the North and the South. The vision is so accurate in prophetic detail that unbelievers have denied that Daniel received and wrote down the description of the vision. Porphyry, a Greek philosopher of the third century (about 233-304 A.D.), who produced a work called Against the Christians in fifteen volumes, was one of these.

² Porphyry recognized Jesus Christ merely as an outstanding philosopher but did not agree with him that Daniel was the author of the Bible book bearing his name. Because Daniel’s last vision seemed to describe so closely the Syrian King Antiochus IV Epiphanes, Porphyry could not accept it as history written in advance by inspiration, but looked on it as a history written after it happened. Hence Porphyry viewed the author of the book of Daniel as a fraud, putting on the appearance of being a prophet to whom Jehovah God sent angels and revealed visions. However, the foolishness of Porphyry and of skeptics like him is stripped naked. How so? Because the vision is found to have foretold events really happening in this twentieth century and Daniel has not been here to write them down after they have happened. Truthfully the angel had told Daniel: “I . . . came to make you understand what is to befall your people in the latter days. For the vision is for days yet to come.”—Dan. 10:13, 14, RS.

3. Who were in unseen charge of past world powers, and how did the angel disclose this fact to Daniel?

³ From no one else but an angel of Jehovah God the seventh world power, the Anglo-American dual world power, should learn that world powers prior to it have had demon princes in unseen charge of them. The angel of God that came in answer to Daniel’s prayer was held up three weeks by one such demon prince. He explained his delay, telling Daniel: “The prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; but Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, so I left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia . . . Do you know why I have come to you? But now I will return to fight against the prince of Persia; and when I am through with him, lo, the prince of Greece will come. But I will tell you what is inscribed in the book of truth: there is none who contends by my side against these except Michael, your prince.” This angelic appearance to Daniel was on the twenty-fourth day of Nisan in the third year of Cyrus king of Persia.—Dan. 10:1-4, 10-14, 20, 21, RS.

4. To be a supporter and stronghold, to whom did this angel stand up in the first year of Darius the Mede, and what is there to show an effect of this?

⁴ Darius the Mede, the uncle of Cyrus and the first ruler of the Medo-Persian world power, had now passed off the scene. But the angel refers back to him in starting off his wonderful prophecy concerning Daniel’s people in days yet to come, down to the “latter days.” He said: “And as for me, in the first year of Darius the Mede [539-538 B.C.], I stood up to be a supporter and a stronghold unto him.” (Dan. 11:1, JP) This pagan ruler Darius the Mede was not the one whom Jehovah’s angel had stood up to confirm and strengthen, but it was Michael. The angel had just spoken of Michael as contending by his side. In view of Jehovah’s purposes that had to be carried forward concerning Daniel’s people, over whom the heavenly chief prince Michael was the prince, this angel stood up to offer his strength and aid to Michael as against the demon prince of the Medo-Persian world power. Darius had to be maneuvered in harmony with Jehovah’s purposes, as, for instance, when Jehovah sent his angel to “shut the lions’ mouths” from devouring Daniel. So King Darius was glad to take Daniel out of the lions’ den into which the envious enemies had forced King Darius to lower him. As a result of this deliverance of Daniel, one of the three presidents of Darius’ kingdom, Darius the Mede of his own accord made a decree for all his subjects to “tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for he is the living God, enduring for ever; his kingdom shall never be destroyed, and his dominion shall be to the end.” Thus it was that “this Daniel prospered during the reign of Darius and the reign of Cyrus the Persian.”—Dan. 6:21-28, RS.

5. Whom would Bible students be slighting by passing over any part of this final vision as unimportant now, and what is the value of understanding the first part of it?

⁵ What now follows in the prophecy to Daniel is important, all of it. It is God’s own message through an angel associate of Michael the prince. It is in answer to Daniel’s prayer for three weeks. It is no mere heavily detailed prophecy of political intrigues and fighting between ancient rival kings, that is not worthy of our time-consuming study and examination today. Since God’s own angel took time and fought for the opportunity to bring the prophetic message to Daniel because God had sent him with this message; also since God inspired Daniel to write the vision down just as given by the angel, then we should be slighting God and his angel and Daniel were we to pass over any part of the prophecy as unessential or unimportant to us in these critical days. Why so? Because our study of the events that match the prophecy shows the accuracy of Jehovah God’s foresight and vindicates him as the great Prophet. Hence our study and proving of the first part of the prophetic vision strengthens our faith and confidence in the certainty of fulfillment of the last part of the prophecy. Yes, it fortifies our faith in all the prophecies of God’s Word as being true and reliable.

6. Who were the three kings of Persia that were yet to stand up, and who was the fourth one foretold?

⁶ Having referred to Darius the Mede, the first Medo-Persian world ruler, Jehovah’s angel went on to say: “And now will I declare unto thee the truth. Behold, there shall stand up yet three kings in Persia; and the fourth shall be far richer than they all; and when he is waxed strong through his riches, he shall stir up all against the realm of Greece.” (Dan. 11:2, JP) The three kings of Persia that were to “stand up” or assume world rulership were (1) Cyrus the Great, (2) Cambyses (530-522 B.C.), the conqueror of Egypt, and (3) Darius Hystaspes (521-485 B.C.), the son-in-law of Cyrus. In listing these three, no count is made of the usurper, the Magian named Gaumata, who pretended to be Smerdis Bardija the brother of Cambyses. He reigned less than eight months and was discovered to be false and was put to death by the Persian Darius I (Hystaspes). Under orders of this Darius an invasion of Greece began in 499 B.C. During a second invasion the Persians were routed at Marathon, September 28-29, 490 B.C., and their army was obliged to retreat to Asia Minor. Five years later Darius I died and was succeeded by the “fourth” king, Xerxes I.

7. Why and how did this fourth rich king stir up all against the realm of Greece?

⁷ The Persian defeat at Marathon called for revenge. So Xerxes, having become strong through his riches, made empire-wide preparations for humbling the Greeks. He is understood to be the Ahasuerus who took Esther the Jewess as wife and who ruled over 127 provinces from India to Ethiopia. (Esther 1:1) Collected from all these provinces, his host of troops included East Indians and Ethiopians. The Phoenicians furnished 1,200 warships with crews, besides which there were 3,000 ships for transport of his grand mixture of troops. The historian Herodotus says there were 1,700,000 footmen, 100,000 horsemen and 510,000 sailors and marines, a total of 2,310,000 men. In the spring of 480 B.C. this huge war machine moved against Greece.

8. How were the invading Persians obliged to leave Greece?

⁸ A heroic Greek delaying action at Thermopylae, Greece, was overcome at great cost to the Persians. They ravaged Athens, but at Salamis these Persians met with terrible defeat, for here the Greeks had determined to make their last stand. Another victory for the Greeks at Plataea the following year proved decisive. Greece was no place for the Persians, and back to Asia Minor King Xerxes fled. Even Byzantium, the capital of Thrace, was wrested from the Persians by the courageous Spartans from southern Greece.

9. Why do higher critics say that the angel erred regarding the kings of Persia, but why did the angel mention only four kings and proceed to the next world power?

⁹ Despite this ouster from Greece, the Persian Empire continued as the fourth world power for about 150 years longer. Consequently seven more Persian kings followed Xerxes, namely, Artaxerxes I, Xerxes II, Darius II (Ochus), Artaxerxes II, Artaxerxes III, Arses and Darius III. For this reason “higher critics” say that the angel erred in telling Daniel: “Now I will show you the truth.” But not so, for the angel did not say that the “fourth” Persian king would be the last or that Xerxes I would be the fourth and last world ruler counting from Cyrus the Great. He merely stops with this “fourth” Persian king who was to make such an all-out, vengeful campaign against Greece, only to meet with bitter defeat and loss of prestige. He was the last Persian emperor to carry war into Greece. So the angel condensed history by passing over the succeeding reigns of the seven remaining Persian kings and by taking a prophetic preview of the European king who reversed matters and carried the war into Persia. The angel was therefore historically right as he now said:

10. Who was the “mighty king” that then stood up, and where?

¹⁰ “And a mighty king shall stand up, that shall rule with great dominion, and do according to his will.” (Dan. 11:3, JP) This was in 336 B.C., in the same year that the eleventh and last Persian world ruler counting from Cyrus the Great was crowned. In that year the Macedonian Alexander ‘stood up,’ being crowned king of Macedonia as successor to his father, Philip II, after whom the Biblically famous city of Philippi was named. This twenty-year-old ruler did prove to be a “mighty king” and came to be called Alexander the Great.

11. How did Alexander come to “rule with great dominion,” and do “according to his will”?

¹¹ Fired with the scheme originated by his father, he launched out on the conquest of Asia and met with speedy success. He seized the Persian provinces in the Middle East and in Egypt, where he founded the city that exists to this day, Alexandria. Turning northward, he crossed the Euphrates and Tigris Rivers to meet Darius III on the field of battle at Gaugamela near where Nineveh the ancient capital of Assyria lay moldering in ruins. Alexander’s phalanxes and cavalry, 47,000 strong, dashed against Darius’ host of 1,000,000 warriors and scattered them. Darius III fled, only to be murdered, thus bringing to an end the rule of the Achaemenian dynasty that had begun with Darius I. With the Persian Empire now under his sway, Alexander the Great did “rule with great dominion” and did do “according to his will.” He married Roxana, the daughter of the conquered Bactrian king, and also Statira, a daughter of the Persian King Darius III. By Roxana he had a son who was named Alexander (Allou). By a certain Barsine he had an illegitimate son named Heracles (Hercules).

(To be continued)

Condemned Man Finds Hope in Paradise

NINETEEN hundred years ago, when Jesus was dying on the torture stake, he was flanked by two criminals, one on either side. They were robbers, and were suffering the penalty for their crimes. Could God’s mercy embrace such men? One joined with the crowd and the scribes in reproaching Jesus. However, the other expressed himself in this way: “We are receiving in full what we deserve for things we did; but this man did nothing out of the way.” Then he said: “Jesus, remember me when you get into your kingdom.” Jesus replied: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise.” Jehovah God, who reads the hearts of men, and who provided a ransom from death through His Son, held out through that same Son, Jesus, the hope of a resurrection at the time Paradise is restored to this earth.—Matt. 27:44; Luke 23:39-43.

Now turn your attention to this twentieth century. It is postwar Japan. After the mass murder of World War II, in which millions of Japanese, as well as other nationals, had been slaughtered, Japan lay crushed in defeat. Violence and confusion were carried over, at least for a time, into the postwar years. It was in this atmosphere that a young man, barely eighteen years of age, was paid by another person to commit a double murder. He was apprehended, and the court sentenced him to death by hanging. That was ten years ago. For eight years he languished in his prison cell, awaiting the execution that might come any day.

During his long confinement in prison his thoughts turned to religion, and he took instruction from a missionary of one of the nominal Christian sects. Though he read and reread and enjoyed the Bible and developed a great love for it, he found that his religious instructor could not explain it to him. One day a friend of the prisoner happened to obtain the Watchtower magazine in the street, and not being interested himself, he sent it to the young man in prison. As soon as he read The Watchtower, understanding flashed into his mind. All that he had been reading in the Bible came alive. He wrote the Tokyo Branch of the Watch Tower Society for further information, and arrangements were made for a pioneer minister of Jehovah’s witnesses to call on him.

Even though visits were limited to fifteen minutes at a time, regular weekly Bible studies were held. The visiting minister found that the prisoner already knew the text of the Bible very well, and that he could locate individual texts with the greatest of ease. After two or three studies he was showing great zeal for the truths he had learned and started preaching the good news by mail to all whom he knew. A few months passed and he expressed the desire to be baptized. The baptism was held, by kind permission of the prison authorities.

As his studies progressed and his appreciation deepened he showed this by preaching to the prison guards and fellow prisoners. Many of these laughed at him, saying, “Fancy you, a murderer, trying to tell us what is right and what is wrong!” These and other taunts did not deter him, and he continued to tell the good news. Moreover, the prison authorities were surprised at his complete change of attitude since becoming one of Jehovah’s witnesses. The change from frequent violent outbursts and moody silences, to an attitude of joy and of tolerance toward other prisoners, plainly showed his Christian progress toward maturity. The warders frequently commented on the complete change in their prisoner.

His preaching began to expand, not only by letter to former associates in Japan, but even to a Japanese person in the United States. He wrote many letters to pioneer ministers throughout Japan, containing warm encouragement, and he also wrote to congregation publishers, encouraging them to progress to maturity. He became one of the most zealous of the Kingdom ministers in the young congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses in Fukuoka, Japan. By mail he told the good news to the family of the persons he had killed, and they expressed some interest. He has witnessed extensively to his own family too. His father attended the Divine Will District Assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses and has since become a Kingdom publisher. The condemned man also studied braille. He transcribed the book “Let God Be True,” the booklet “This Good News of the Kingdom” and Watchtower and Awake! articles into braille and had them distributed to different parts of Japan, including schools for the blind.

Often he would say to visitors, “When I see the blue sky through my cell window, how I wish I could be out there helping you preach! But on the other hand, had I not been in here, would I have ever heard the truth?” He said that reading experiences concerning faithful brothers who became Christians after committing like deeds helped his own determination to follow a like faithful course until the day for execution of his sentence. These experiences did help him when that day finally came. Percy Iszlaub, missionary in Fukuoka, who had brought the condemned man much comfort through his regular visits at the prison, tells the final chapter of this real-life story:

“One morning, early, a police car stood at the gate of the missionary home. The officer told me that he had come to take me to the prison, at Mr. Nakata’s request. Mr. Nakata was to be executed that morning. I was the only one, outside of government officials and prison authorities, allowed to accompany him to the place of execution. His father was not even notified until after the execution. I arrived at the prison a little after eight o’clock, and at 9:30 I was called to see Brother Nakata. On arriving in the yard, I saw Brother Nakata flanked by four officers on either side. He was handcuffed. There was no private meeting between us, this not being permitted.

“As soon as Brother Nakata saw me, he smiled and said ‘Hullo’ very cheerfully. He went on to say, ‘Today I feel strongly confident in Jehovah, and in the ransom sacrifice and the resurrection hope. Never have I felt stronger in my life than I do today. For a long time I have prepared for this day and I am unafraid.’ I could believe it, and indeed I felt the weaker of the two of us. To see such confidence after ten long years in prison!

“We were then taken to the place of execution, and after the officials had finished questioning Brother Nakata, I was permitted to speak with him again just prior to his execution. It was there that he gave a very good witness to all present. We sang a Kingdom song, and then read scriptures concerning the resurrection hope and restoration of paradise. Then we had a final prayer. There were ten to twelve officials who heard our discussion, and they were astounded at Brother Nakata’s calmness and confidence.

“Brother Nakata then told me that he wanted his warm and heartfelt thanks conveyed to Jehovah’s wonderful organization for bringing him the truth, and also to those who had visited him and written to him, helping him to gain a further knowledge of Jehovah’s purposes. Appreciation was shining in his face. He asked me to keep on encouraging all of Jehovah’s witnesses to continue faithful and to maintain integrity to the end, and his Scriptural expression was magnificent. He spoke of his desire to meet all of Jehovah’s people in the paradise of the new world. His face reflected this wonderful hope that he held. As he was led away through the door to the gallows, he looked over his shoulder, and said, ‘For a little while I will sleep, and if it be Jehovah’s will I shall meet you all in paradise.’

“So it was that, with calm confidence in that hope, on the 10th day of June, 1959, he died.”

Questions From Readers

● At Psalm 127:3, why does the New World Translation use the word “belly” instead of “womb” as other translations do?—W. P., U.S.A.

The scripture reads, in the New World Translation: “Look! sons are a possession from Jehovah; the fruitage of the belly is a reward.” The New World Translation uses the expression “fruitage of the belly” in this place because the Hebrew text uses a different word from that for the womb. This Hebrew word is consistently rendered “belly” throughout the New World Translation of the Hebrew Scriptures. The New World Translation is without fault in rendering consistently “belly” here because it is in the belly of a female that the womb is found, and thus children are the fruitage of the female belly.

● When 1 Corinthians 6:19 says, “Do you not know that the body of you people is the temple of the holy spirit within you which you have from God?” does it mean that the mortal human body of a Christian is the temple?—F.S., U.S.A.

In the preceding verse 1Co 6:18 the apostle Paul warns: “Flee from fornication. Every other sin which a man may commit is outside his body, but he that practices fornication is sinning against his own body.” Here he clearly refers to misuse of one’s fleshly organism. Then in 1Co 6 verses 19 and 20 he is reminding them that as a group they occupy a special place in Jehovah’s purpose. It is not the body of just one member of the congregation that is the temple, but he says: “Do you not know that the body of you people is the temple of the holy spirit within you which you have from God?” This use of the expression “body of you people” is in agreement with the statement in 1 Corinthians 10:17, directed to the 144,000 members of the body of Christ and which says: “Because there is one loaf, we, although many, are one body, for we are all partaking of that one loaf.”

The apostle Peter under inspiration described Jesus Christ as the foundation cornerstone of the temple and his 144,000 body members as “living stones,” and he said: “You yourselves also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house.” (1 Pet. 2:4-6) There are not 144,000 such spiritual houses, or temples, but just one, made up of many members. However, Christ Jesus could properly refer to himself as the temple of God because he is the prime member, the foundation cornerstone of God’s one spiritual temple.—John 2:19-22; Rev. 21:22.

Other scriptures support this understanding of the matter: “Do you not know that you people are God’s temple and that the spirit of God dwells in you? . . . for the temple of God is holy, which temple you people are.” He speaks of one temple, not many. “We are the temple of the living God.” (1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 2 Cor. 6:16) Ephesians 2:19-22 shows how all the members fit into the one spiritual temple, when it says to the 144,000 members of the body of Christ: “You have been built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, while Christ Jesus himself is the foundation cornerstone. In union with him the whole building, being harmoniously joined together, is growing into a holy temple for Jehovah. In union with him you, too, are being built up together into a place for God to inhabit by spirit.”

Thus the Scriptures make it very clear that it is not the mortal body of the individual Christian that is the temple of God, but that the members of the Christian congregation as spiritual stones are built on Christ Jesus the foundation cornerstone as one spiritual temple of God.

● Although it is unscriptural for a Christian to accept another person’s blood in transfusion, would it be allowable for a dedicated Christian to have some of his own blood removed and then put back into his body during an operation?—W. D., U.S.A.

According to the method of handling blood prescribed by the Bible, blood when taken from a body was to be poured out on the ground as water and covered over with dust. (Lev. 17:13, 14; Deut. 12:16, 23, 24; 15:23; 1 Chron. 11:18, 19) This is because life is in the blood and such shed blood is held sacred before Jehovah God. The covenant regarding the sanctity of blood stated after the Flood is still binding today, and it covers both animal and human blood, whether one’s own or another’s. Consequently, the removal of one’s blood, storing it and later putting it back into the same person would be a violation of the Scriptural principles that govern the handling of blood.—Gen. 9:4-6.

If, however, hemorrhaging should occur at the time of an operation and by some means the blood is immediately channeled back into the body, this would be allowable. The use of some device whereby the blood is diverted and a certain area or organ is temporarily bypassed during surgery would be Biblically permissible, for the blood would be flowing from one’s body through the apparatus and right back into the body again. On the other hand, if the blood were stored, even for a brief period of time, this would be a violation of the Scriptures.

The use of another person’s blood to “prime” any device employed in surgery is objectionable. In this case the blood would circulate through the system of the patient, becoming mixed with his own. Again, if one’s own blood would have to be withdrawn at intervals and stored until a sufficient amount had accumulated to set a machine in operation, this too would fall under Scriptural prohibition. The ones involved in the matter are in the best position to ascertain just how the blood would be handled and must bear responsibility before Jehovah for seeing that it is not handled unscripturally.

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“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

November 22: When God Speaks Peace to All Nations, ¶1-28. Page 612.

November 29: When God Speaks Peace to All Nations, ¶29-35, and Concern for Man’s Survival into Peace. Page 619.