The Watchtower — October 1, 1961

When God Speaks, Do You Listen?

WHEN a political chief speaks, the entire nation listens. When scientists comment on the latest scientific achievements, the world sits up and takes notice. When foremost figures in the entertainment field talk, their every word is treasured. But when God speaks, do the people listen to him? Does the entire world sit up and take notice and treasure his every word? When God speaks, do you listen?

Relatively few people personally see the political chief, scientist or entertainer speak, but they listen to what he says through the media of radio, television, cinema or the newspaper. Likewise no human has ever seen God, yet one can hear him speak through his written Word, which he has preserved and had translated in over one thousand languages, so that today more than 90 percent of earth’s population can hear God speak in their own language. God also speaks today through his visible organization that he uses to carry the message of his written Word.

According to Zechariah’s prophecy, Jehovah God by means of his enthroned Son, Christ Jesus, “will actually speak peace to the nations.” (Zech. 9:10) Micah’s prophecy foretold that Jehovah’s word would go forth, and the nations would respond by beating “their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. They will not lift up sword, nation against nation, neither will they learn war any more.” (Mic. 4:2, 3) Has any worldly nation listened to and obeyed God’s speech by completely disarming itself of destructive weapons and by walking in God’s paths of peace, unity and brotherly love? Not one! Their activity shows that they have not listened to God. Therefore they cannot expect God to listen to them, for the proverb says: “He that is turning his ear away from hearing the law-even his prayer is something detestable.”—Prov. 28:9.

For failure to listen to God’s peace talk the nations face destruction. Soon God “will speak to them in his anger and in his hot displeasure he will disturb them.” However, from among all these worldly nations there is being gathered a society of people responding to God’s speech concerning peace. In these the above prophecies find their fulfillment. To them the words of the psalmist also apply: “I will hear what the true God Jehovah will speak, for he will speak peace to his people.” Do you listen to God’s speech regarding peace? Do your thoughts, words and actions conform to God’s speech, identifying you as being among God’s people to whom he speaks peace?—Ps. 2:5; 85:8.

One must be careful that he does not allow personal feelings to cause him to turn away his ear when God speaks. The Bible records an example of how this can happen. Cain, Adam’s first-born son, had become jealous because of God’s favor upon his brother Abel. Resentment smoldered within Cain, causing hatred to well up in him. God spoke peace to Cain, encouraging him to correct his way and do good. “Jehovah said to Cain: ‘Why are you hot with anger and why has your countenance fallen? If you turn to doing good, will there not be an exaltation? But if you do not turn to doing good, there is sin crouching at the entrance, and for you is its craving; and will you, for your part, get the mastery over it?’” It was because of personal feelings that Cain became hardened and refused to listen to God. He had lost prestige in the family, and, since he reasoned it was all Abel’s fault, he rebelled at God’s talk about changing his way and following the example of his younger brother. As a result of failing to listen when God spoke, Cain committed the first murder and was cast out as an exile.—Gen. 4:6, 7.

Never do we want to allow ourselves to become hardened, like Cain, and turn our ear away when God speaks. We do not want to be like Israel of old that “did not listen, neither did they incline their ear, but they went walking in the counsels in the stubbornness of their bad heart.” Yet it can happen so easily, almost without our realizing it. Do you find yourself harboring resentment against some Christian brother or sister because you feel that one wronged you or because he receives privileges or commendations that you feel you should receive? Does such jealousy cause you to turn your ear from God’s instruction to “seek peace and pursue it”?—Jer. 7:24; 1 Pet. 3:11.

Perhaps one of God’s servants pointed out to you by the use of God’s Word that you held an improper view or that you were following a wayward course. Did you listen when God spoke through his servant? Were you happy to be corrected by what God said? Or, like Cain, did you harbor resentment and turn your ear away? It is not always easy to listen and obey when God speaks, but it is a wise course, making Jehovah’s heart rejoice. It preserves the peace of God’s organization.

Some persons are selective listeners. When God speaks some things they listen, but when he speaks others they do not. However, the apostle pointed out that “all Scripture is inspired of God and beneficial . . . that the man of God may be fully competent, completely equipped for every good work.” Does not this indicate that one should read the entire Bible, from Genesis clear through to Revelation? Yes, God speaks in every book, chapter and verse of his written Word. We should want to listen to “all the counsel of God.” When receiving a letter from a loved one or sweetheart, do we not find time to read it, listening with keen interest to every word that one has to say? Develop such a love for Jehovah by making the reading of his Word a habit. Soon you will look forward with eagerness to the time when you sit down and listen to your heavenly Father speak to you.—2 Tim. 3:16, 17; Acts 20:27.

God is now speaking peace to his people, who are composed of persons out of all nations. In response they have beaten their swords into plowshares, clothing themselves with a mild and peaceable disposition. Identify yourself with God’s people by listening to God when he speaks. Then obey, yes, obey his command to share the good news of peace with others.

The Custom of Praying for the Dead

It is practiced both in Christendom and in the Orient. Does God approve?

ALONG the Bay of Bengal Hindus kneel in the pounding surf praying for those in heaven, purgatory or hell. They believe prayers will hasten reincarnation of the dead, who once more can try to reach Nirvana, spiritual reunion with Brahma.

No less devoted is the Buddhist family in whose home you may see a shelf bearing wooden tablets that contain the “heavenly names” of the dead. The names are revealed by Buddhist priests, who will say masses to happify the departed.

A strong family solidarity is noted between the Chinese and their ancestors. Many Chinese believe the dead wander in purgatory for two years and must be assisted into heaven. Ancestors are said to depend upon the prayers of the living to renew family ties. Elaborate funerals and memorial services are conducted to insure that the dead become friendly spirits rather than hostile demons. In return for these oblations the dead are expected to promote the good fortune of the living.

In Jewish households the familiar Kaddish prayer is recited for eleven months following the death of a loved one, as well as on the “Yahrzeit” or anniversary of death. Some say that, strictly speaking, Judaism knows no prayers for the dead, that the Kaddish praises God and does not mention death. Yet there are Jews who do believe that prayers can assist their dead into heaven. The Kaddish was originally a teacher’s doxology that evolved into a prayer for use at the burial of scholars. To avoid embarrassment it was later deemed appropriate for all Jewish funerals. In time some Jews credited it with the power to redeem loved ones from the supposed sufferings of Gehenna.

The Protestant world generally minimizes prayers for the dead. They consider prayers for those in heaven unnecessary; those for the damned, futile. That is why Protestant prayers for the dead are usually limited to the funeral service, where a clergyman is careful to commend the soul to heaven—a stratagem designed to put both the living and the dead at rest. Annual memorial services may occur afterward in honor of the dead.

More closely related to the Orient are Roman Catholic prayers for the dead. Catholics believe in a heaven, hell and purgatory and a Chinese-like family solidarity called the “communion of saints.” This threefold spiritual unity embraces the “church militant” on earth, the suffering souls in purgatory and the “church triumphant” in heaven. A sincere obligation is felt by many Catholics toward the suffering souls. This sense of duty is expressed by the poet: “What if to fault of ours those pains be due, to ill example shown, or lack of counsel true?”

Devout Catholics believe their least good work, shortest prayer and slightest mortification can vicariously assist the souls in purgatory into heaven. The entire month of November with its All Souls’ Day is particularly dedicated to prayers and masses for the dead. The sacrifice of the mass is said to be the most prevailing. According to the Society of St. Paul, however, many Catholics “forget that, as St. John Chrysostom says, at the moment when the Sacrifice of the Mass is offered the angels present fly to open the prisons of Purgatory and to execute all that God has been pleased to grant. They forget the consoling statement of St. Jerome that when the Holy Sacrifice is offered for a soul in Purgatory, it ceases to suffer during the time Holy Mass lasts.”

A few Catholic theologians have suggested that prayers unwittingly offered for souls who, unknown to the living, are among the damned, might possibly bring some temporary easing of torment. Other Catholic theologians consider this notion rash and unwarranted, but the church has never reprobated it. Catholic theologians do agree that purgatory will not endure beyond “the last day.” By what means God will quickly cleanse the remaining stains of souls still in purgatory at the end of the world is a mystery. Notwithstanding, Catholics generally find comfort in the belief that, as Cardinal Gibbons put it, “the golden link of prayer unites you to those who ‘fall asleep in the Lord,’ and that you can still speak to them and pray for them!”

A BIBLE CUSTOM?

The earth-wide devotion rendered the dead would lead one to suppose the custom is based on the Holy Scriptures or is at least in harmony with them. This is not the case. The Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge declares without hesitation that “no Old-Testament passage can be quoted in favor of the custom.” The Catholic Encyclopedia concedes there is “no clear and explicit Scriptural text in favour of prayers for the dead” in any of the sixty-six Bible books mutually recognized by Protestants and Catholics.

Catholics say belief in purgatory naturally implies the utility of praying for the dead. Practically the sole textual authority is said to come from the episode related at Second Machabees 12:39-46, where Judas Machabeus is reported to have sent silver to Jerusalem “for sacrifice to be offered for the sins of the dead, thinking well and religiously concerning the resurrection.” The report concludes: “It is therefore a holy and wholesome thought to pray for the dead, that they may be loosed from sins.”

Can it be said Judas was requesting masses for souls in purgatory? He was a Jewish patriot; the slain were Jews, not Chinese or Catholics. His concern for the dead idolaters was that God would forgive their sin and grant them a resurrection. This is explicit in verse forty-four: “For if he had not hoped that they that were slain should rise again, it would have seemed superfluous and vain to pray for the dead.” Important also is the comment of The Jewish Encyclopedia: “The reference to such offerings is, however, without parallel in Jewish literature, and nothing is otherwise known of such offerings being made at the Temple in Jerusalem.”

Pertinent is the fact that Jews and early Christians rejected the books of the Machabees as apocryphal or spurious. Neither Jesus nor the apostles quoted from them. Of the four books of Machabees—some say five—even the Catholic Bible contains only two. Jerome, hailed by Pope Pius XII as “the greatest Doctor in the exposition of the Sacred Scriptures,” warned: “All apocryphal books should be avoided; . . . they contain much that is faulty.”

Those who ignore that warning should at least take note of the inspired books of the Bible whose genuineness is recognized by Catholics and Protestants. Solomon says the dead cannot be either friendly or hostile. He writes: “As for the dead, they are conscious of nothing at all . . . Also their love and their hate and their jealousy have already perished.” (Eccl. 9:5, 6) The apostle Paul agreed with Moses’ statement that at Adam’s creation the “man came to be a living soul.” (Gen. 2:7; 1 Cor. 15:45) Life as a soul is far different from possessing an “immortal soul,” which is not a Biblical term. On the contrary, the prophet Ezekiel writes: “The soul that is sinning—it itself will die.” (Ezek. 18:4) The Christian writer James confirms this in saying: “He who turns a sinner back from the error of his way will save his soul from death.” (Jas. 5:20) Next to God, Christ is identified by Paul as “the one alone having immortality.”—1 Tim. 6:16.

Many cannot resist the temptation to say that death in the above instances refers only to the body, not the “soul.” Jesus warned that God “can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna,” from which extinction none will ever receive a resurrection. (Matt. 10:28) This also contradicts the theory that souls can be prayed from Gehenna into heaven. Of man’s death the psalmist truthfully wrote: “In that day his thoughts do perish.”—Ps. 146:4; Ps. 145:4, Dy.

The custom of saying repetitious prayers was singled out by Jesus for censure: “When praying,” he cautioned, “do not say the same things over and over again, just as the people of the nations do, for they imagine they will get a hearing for their use of many words.” (Matt. 6:7) Jesus did not teach the living to pray for the sins of the dead. He did teach that God purposed to resurrect, along with the righteous, those amenable to righteousness who through ignorance had led sinful lives. “The hour is coming,” he said, “in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” (John 5:28, 29) There God’s Son called our attention to the true hope of countless dead.

When thoughts of those who sleep in death rush into your mind and you recall their ways and fond personality, remember this: If your imperfect memory can recreate them, how much easier will God’s perfect mind and almighty hand bring them back from the memorial tomb. Let that wonderful promise move you to offer to Jehovah God an earnest prayer of thanks for his loving provision of the resurrection hope.

Money Problem

Kenneth Scott, vicar of Midsomer Norton, Somerset, is quoted as having said: “It is time the Church announced that sixpences are no longer accepted, except from children. From others, sixpence today is an insult to God. Two shillings or 2s. 6d. should be a minimum. Five shillings and 10s. should be usual.”

Loyalty with a Unified Heart

“O do guard my soul, for I am loyal . . . Instruct me, O Jehovah, about your way. I shall walk in your truth. Unify my heart to fear your name.”—Ps. 86:2, 11.

1, 2. (a) What is looked for in a leader, and what nations are looked to for political leadership today? (b) What other leadership is called for, and so what question arises?

IN THIS world of uncertainty, change and perplexity peoples, yes, nations, are looking for leadership. They want to line up behind a reliable, unwavering leader with a well-defined policy that promises good results. The leader must show prestige through success, through achievement, through rank, through courage of conviction, through maturity of judgment. He must be someone inspiring loyalty in his followers, because he, in turn, is loyal to his followers and to fixed purposes and rules of action.

² So, in this world divided by “cold war,” some spokesmen of the nations call upon the United States of America to take the leadership in world affairs, especially in behalf of the democratic nations of the West. Because of America’s bigness, wealth and power they feel that she should assume the leadership for which destiny seems to have fashioned her. Other nations, those of the Communist bloc, look to Moscow of Red Russia for leadership and publicly avow their loyalty to her. Loyalty is being demanded even though there is no persuasion of the heart. Added to the cry and insistence on political leadership, there is the call for religious leadership. All this complicates the question of loyalties in these days. To whom should we give our loyalty with a unified heart?

3. (a) What struggle is now on between political and religious powers, and in what is loss of confidence growing? (b) What message, however, rings true, and why?

³ As never before true, this is the day of propaganda. By all the means of reaching the people through the eyes and ears, the struggle is on between the political powers and the religious powers to capture the minds and the loyalties of the people. Confusion and division have resulted. Loss of confidence in what is seen and heard keeps growing because so much of it proves to be “lying propaganda.” A large measure of it is part of the “cold war” now raging. But through all the clash and din of the propaganda battle there is heard one message that has the ring of truth. It has the backing of unimpeachable authority and does not leave one disillusioned. It is the message of the good news of God’s kingdom. It is a message that does not deceive or lead us into slavery to men and men’s systems, for it comes from “God, who cannot lie.” (Titus 1:2) “It is impossible for God to lie.”—Heb. 6:18.

4, 5. (a) How do we know that it is through no mere accident or human invention or scheme that this Kingdom message now sounds forth? (b) In answer to what question, and as proof of what fact, was this foretold?

⁴ Through no mere accident, through no mere human invention and scheme, this message of God’s kingdom has sounded forth to all the world since A.D. 1914. It was long ago foretold, and today it sounds forth in fulfillment of prophecy. Nineteen centuries ago the greatest preacher of God’s kingdom ever on earth foretold it as a mark of our times. Telling in advance the history of our generation, this Kingdom preacher, Jesus Christ, described the first world war, which marked the year 1914 as the turning point in human history, together with the food shortages, pestilences, earthquakes, disloyalty, lawlessness, religious persecution, and international perplexity and fear of the future that have characterized our epoch since 1914.

⁵ But Jesus Christ did not leave the forecast of the future all dark. He also said: “And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.” (Matt. 24:3-14) All such things he foretold in answering the question as to how we were to know when he would be present in the throne of God’s heavenly kingdom and when the final chapter, the conclusion, of this old earthly system of things would be written. In the final chapter of old-world history since 1914 there has been written the fulfillment of this heart-cheering feature of Jesus’ prophecy, namely, the preaching of the good news of the Kingdom world-wide. But by whom?

6, 7. (a) By what class of people would it reasonably be expected that the Kingdom’s good news would be preached? (b) Whom does modern history show to be the ones doing the predicted preaching?

⁶ Of course, not by enemies of God’s kingdom, although the enemies do by their published attacks upon it and its preachers simply advertise the Kingdom all the more. The preaching has been done by the same class of people that preached God’s kingdom in the days of Jesus and his twelve apostles, by dedicated, baptized footstep followers of his. In any political campaign, say, in America, who is it that preaches the Democratic party and its platform and campaign promises? Why, the Democrats, of course! Who is it that preaches the Republican party and its policies and promises? Why, the Republicans, of course! Who is it that preaches the Socialist party and its political purposes and candidates? Why, the Socialists, of course! Who, then, would be the ones that, in harmony with Jesus’ prophecy, would preach “this good news of the kingdom in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations”? Why, the followers of Jesus Christ, of course! These are entirely in favor of God’s kingdom and are loyal supporters of it. These are doing as Jesus said to his disciples in his sermon on the mount: “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness.”—Matt. 5:1, 2; 6:32, 33.

⁷ Does this mean that all those 869 millions today who claim to be Catholic and Protestant Christians are the ones fulfilling Jesus’ prophecy of preaching the good news of God’s kingdom during the conclusion of this system of things? Not at all. The history of our day proves that since 1914 it has been done and is still being done by those dedicated, baptized Christians known as Jehovah’s witnesses.—See The Americana Annual 1961, page 396, column 2.

8, 9. (a) What questions about witnessing for the Kingdom must we now answer? (b) What people will not enter into the Kingdom’s blessings, and why, then, are Jehovah’s witnesses the ones used to preach the good news?

⁸ This Kingdom preaching had to be done in our day, because God foretold it by Jesus Christ, and God cannot lie and has not proved to be a liar. Since the Kingdom preaching for a witness is going on now in fulfillment of inspired prophecy, we must each one face and answer a big question. It is: Will we be merely those preached to for a witness and doing nothing favorable about it, or will we be among those doing the preaching and witnessing and thus showing that we loyally advocate that kingdom as the only hope and remedy of all mankind? If we profess to be Christians, then what about our hearts? Are our hearts divided because we are actively engaged in the politics of this world, thinking that the “kingdom of God” is merely a heart condition now and that a Christian will only get active about God’s kingdom when he dies and goes to heaven?

⁹ People whose loyalties are divided will never enter into the blessings of God’s kingdom. In the last book of the Bible, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, says: “Because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am going to vomit you out of my mouth.” (Rev. 3:16) Not people merely witnessed to, but people who do the preaching and witnessing—these are the ones who will be kept alive through the end of this system of things and enter into the Kingdom blessings after the “great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” (Matt. 24:21, 22) This is why the Christian witnesses of Jehovah are the ones whom God is using to fulfill the prophecy by preaching the good news of the Kingdom.

THE UNIFYING OF THE HEART

10. (a) Is it reasonable that Kingdom preachers should be persecuted? (b) Why do the nominal Christians merely let themselves be witnessed to?

¹⁰ Even in political battles, men who advocate one form of government as against another have their opponents and are spoken against. Is it reasonable, then, that those who preach and advocate God’s kingdom as the rightful rulership and as the only hope of mankind should be opposed, maligned, even persecuted? Yes, according to Jesus’ own prophecy on the “conclusion of the system of things.” To his listening disciples Jesus said immediately after foretelling the world war: “Then people will deliver you up to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be objects of hatred by all the nations on account of my name.” (Matt. 24:9) By how many nations? “By all the nations,” said Jesus, thereby making it certain that all the political nations would be against God’s kingdom and would hate its preachers. This is the reason why most of the people, even Catholic and Protestant Christians, let themselves be merely witnessed to rather than do the witnessing themselves.

11. What quality does Kingdom preaching call for, and so for what does a true Christian pray?

¹¹ The preaching of the good news of the Kingdom calls for heart loyalty to God’s kingdom. But what true Christian wants to be disloyal to God’s kingdom for which Jesus Christ died? A true Christian yearns to be loyal to that glorious kingdom for which he has prayed in the Lord’s Prayer, even though it means being persecuted and hated by all nations. He prays to be loyal to God’s kingdom, just as David did, who was anointed to sit “upon Jehovah’s throne” over the nation of Israel.—1 Chron. 29:23.

12. (a) What quality did David show toward God, and what did he expect God to show, in return? (b) When and why, can we expect God to be loyal to us?

¹² In the eighty-sixth Psalm, in which he tells of being persecuted, David says: “Incline, O Jehovah, your ear. Answer me, for I am afflicted and poor. O do guard my soul, for I am loyal. Save your servant—you are my God—that is trusting in you.” (Ps. 86:1, 2, 14, 17) David had loyal love to Jehovah God, in whose kingdom he had been anointed to serve as the chief executive. In harmony with his own loyalty, he trusted in Jehovah God. He expected God to be loyal to him and to those who suffered with him for the kingdom. In Psalm 18:25 David said to God: “With someone loyal you will act in loyalty.” (2 Sam. 22:1, 2, 26) So, if we are dedicated to the interests of God’s kingdom and are seeking it first, then we too, like David, will strive to be loyal to God, whose kingdom it is. In that case we can be sure of God’s loyalty to us. How wonderful it is to think that God is loyal to us! Yet, despite its wonderfulness, we read: “‘I am loyal,’ is the utterance of Jehovah.” (Jer. 3:12) It is right for us to be loyal to God, who is loyal to us.

13. From what organ does loyalty proceed, and so what must we do as regards loyalty?

¹³ Loyalty is from the heart. We cannot be loyal if our hearts are divided in their affections, their love, their attachment. We cannot be loyal if we fear anyone who opposes the object of our love and devotion and who persecutes us for this reason. Our persecutors and opposers act as servants of Satan the Devil, and their purpose is to break our loyalty to God and his kingdom. If we want to seek first his kingdom and to preach it as Jesus Christ did, it becomes necessary for us to cultivate loyalty and always to nurture it, feed it, and to put away the fear of the enemy. David indicated for us how to do this when he said, in Psalm 86:10, 11: “You are God, you alone. Instruct me, O Jehovah, about your way. I shall walk in your truth. Unify my heart to fear your name.”

14. (a) What does the expression “Unify my heart” suggest as to the heart condition? (b) Why did King Saul prove disloyal?

¹⁴ What a singular expression, “Unify my heart”! That suggests that the heart is not in a condition of oneness, that it is divided in itself with regard to its affections and its fears. It seems to confess that there is some fear of man in the heart, which takes away something from the complete fear of God. “Trembling at men is what lays a snare,” says Proverbs 29:25; and such a snare means being captured for our death at the hands of those who want to devour or destroy us. David’s persecutor, King Saul, was one who feared men; and because of such fear he forgot his fear of God and overstepped God’s orders and commands. King Saul said to God’s prophet Samuel: “I have sinned; for I have overstepped the order of Jehovah and your words, because I feared the people and so obeyed their voice.” (1 Sam. 15:24) Such fear led to disloyalty to Jehovah God.

15. When sending out his apostles to preach, what instruction in this regard did Jesus give them, and why?

¹⁵ David did not want to yield to such fear. When Jesus Christ, the Son of David, sent out his twelve apostles as missionaries to preach, saying: “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near,” he warned them against such fear of men. It would keep them from boldly preaching the Kingdom. Jesus said: “Do not become fearful of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; but rather be in fear of him that can destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” (Matt. 10:5-7, 27, 28) To this One it was therefore correct for David to pray: “O do guard my soul, for I am loyal.”

16, 17. (a) What did Jehovah have to do to unify David’s heart to fear His name? (b) On having His name brought to the attention of Jehovah’s witnesses, why does fear envelop their whole heart, and to what does this lead?

¹⁶ David’s inspired psalm was preserved for our benefit today. What, then, are we to understand by David’s prayer to Jehovah: “Unify my heart to fear your name”? What did Jehovah God have to do to answer that prayer? It meant for God to remove all other fear that would divide David’s heart and obstruct his fear of Almighty God, who can destroy both soul and body in the Gehenna of annihilation. It meant to make David’s heart all one in fearing the name of Jehovah. Men of this world may have impressive names or reputations, and the bare mention of their names might strike terror to the heart of anyone who did not know a higher fear. Today men do not tremble at the mention of God. But threateningly mention to them the name of some gangster boss, or some dictator, some witch doctor, and they grow sober; they tremble; they fear for life and body.

¹⁷ But not so for David three thousand years ago! Not so for Jehovah’s witnesses today. Let the name of Jehovah God be brought to their mind, let his name be mentioned to them, and they think of all his glory with which he has crowned that name. They call to mind all his marvelous deeds and exploits in the past and all the prophecies that he is causing to come true in these twentieth-century days. The bare mention of his name calls to their minds all the punishments and destructions that he executed in judgment upon his enemies and upon those unfaithful to him. Yes, how he destroyed a whole world of people in Noah’s time. (2 Pet. 2:5; 3:6) Then their fear of Jehovah dominates over all other possible fears. The fear of his name envelops their whole heart as one and directs the unified heart in the way of loyalty to the fear-inspiring God.

18. Why is this no cowardly fear?

¹⁸ This is no craven fear, no cowardly fear. Says Psalm 19:9: “The fear of Jehovah is pure, standing forever.” It keeps one from being a coward before men and leads to purity of life. It takes away all indecision as to whether to obey God as ruler rather than men. With a heart unified in its fear of God one is no longer an “indecisive man [literally, a two-souled man], unsteady in all his ways.” (Jas. 1:8, margin, NW, 1950 edition) So it is the course of wisdom for us to be wholehearted in our fear of the Most High God.

19. What does David show to be necessary for God to do to unify the heart?

¹⁹ A person dedicated to Jehovah God prays for this unification of the heart; but how does God answer the prayer? What does the Christian thus praying do in harmony with that prayer, to work together with God’s operation? Right before this prayer, David tells us of God’s part in the matter and then of his own part, saying: “For you are great and are doing wondrous things; you are God, you alone. Instruct me, O Jehovah, about your way. I shall walk in your truth.” (Ps. 86:10, 11) It was necessary for Jehovah to give instruction about his way; it was also necessary for David to walk in Jehovah’s way and truth. The same thing is necessary today.

20. Praying to God to instruct us means also what on our part?

²⁰ If we pray, as David did, for Jehovah to instruct us, then it means that we are willing to be instructed, ready to be instructed, seeking to be instructed, all about his way. This has been the prayer of Jehovah’s witnesses like David over the many centuries.

21. In answer to our prayer, what has Jehovah provided in vaster quantity than what David had?

²¹ In answer to that prayer Jehovah has provided a vast amount of instruction, vaster than what David had in his day. David had only the first eight books of the Bible, with possibly the book of Job, if written by Moses. Today we have the complete Bible, of sixty-six inspired books. What a wealth of instruction it contains, instruction that never goes out of date so that a new religious textbook has to be written for the Christian congregation in this space age!

22. (a) What concerning God’s prophecies reveals his way to us? (b) So, for instruction about his way, what must we first do?

²² Besides the many prophecies that the Bible itself records as being fulfilled, what an array of its prophecies have been fulfilled since the Bible was completed nineteen hundred years ago! These fulfillments also are for our instruction today, and reveal to us God’s way about which we pray to be instructed. Our way to co-operate with God for the answer to our prayer is therefore clear. If we pray to him to instruct us about his way, we must first of all go to his Book, his written Word, which tells us more about his ways than any other book in existence, even the so-called Book of Nature. God does not set his own Book aside and instruct us directly. We must do even as his own Son on earth did, study God’s written Word. Jesus said: “Here I have come, in the roll of the book it being written about me. To do your will, O my God, I have delighted, and your law is within my inward parts.”—Ps. 40:7, 8; Heb. 10:5-9.

23. What does a search through the Bible do for us respecting God?

²³ For us to receive instruction about his ways there is no other course for us than to undertake a study of his precious written Word. We must search through its pages for information. That is no dull, boring religious drudgery, but is as exciting and rewarding as a hunt for hid treasure. “The wise are the ones that treasure up knowledge.” (Prov. 10:14) It acquaints us with God and his ways. It builds up our confidence in him and our respect for him. It induces in us a pure, wholesome fear of him. That this is the effect of the true knowledge of him is nicely stated in Proverbs 22:17, 19: “Incline your ear and hear the words of the wise ones, that you may apply your very heart to my knowledge. For your confidence to come to be in Jehovah himself I have given you knowledge today, even you.”

24. What fact did Jesus make certain for us in John 17:3?

²⁴ Our eternal life depends upon our intimate knowledge of God, a fact that Jesus Christ made certain by saying: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the one whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.” (John 17:3) The solemn fact that the final decision concerning our everlasting life or our everlasting destruction rests with Jehovah God should be enough to unify our hearts to fear his name.

25, 26. (a) What must be done in addition to making a personal Bible study, and why? (b) What is the kind of people that Jehovah wants in his new world, and so through whom will we seek instruction?

²⁵ However, our being instructed about Jehovah’s way is not all done by making a personal private study of his written Word. The “wondrous things” that he has done in Bible history and the way that he has followed in fulfilling Bible prophecy since the Bible was finished have always been in connection with his people, with his witnesses. To get the full instruction, to get the firsthand instruction, we simply have to get into association with his people, his witnesses. Those who want their hearts given over in completeness to the fear of Jehovah do not study and stand off independently of one another. They get together. “At that time,” says Malachi 3:16, “those in fear of Jehovah spoke with one another, each one with his companion, and Jehovah kept paying attention and listening. And a book of remembrance began to be written up before him for those in fear of Jehovah and for those thinking upon his name.”

²⁶ If they are thinking about his name, they will be speaking about it to one another and will thus be enlarging each one’s appreciation of that name. This is the kind of people Jehovah wants in his new world. Hence this is the kind of people that he promises to preserve alive through the “great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah,” which is getting closer all the time. So in harmony with his way marked out in the Bible, his organized people, the fearers of his name, are the ones through whom he gives further instruction that throws light upon his written Word and that helps to make the Bible more understandable in many respects. Hence if our prayer for Jehovah to instruct us about his way is sincere, we will be willing to get instruction through his organized people. We will be eager for it.

27. How does one put to use the instruction received and walk in God’s truth?

²⁷ David does not end the matter with praying for instruction. He immediately adds: “I shall walk in your truth.” In this manner one puts to use the instruction received; one follows it. In this way one walks in God’s truth. One lives the truth. One brings one’s life into harmony with that truth about God and his kingdom. One abandons the lies, traditions, ceremonies, practices and holy days that were received from the false religions of this world. One preaches the truth and bears witness to it by word and action, as Jesus did, this being the purpose for which Jesus was born as a human creature.

28. How does the truth free us, and how does walking in the truth affect our hearts?

²⁸ Through the truth one loses his enslaving superstitions and his fears of the false gods and demons. The fear of the one “living and true God” comes to control and shape one’s life. It is thus through accepting instruction from Jehovah about his way and then walking in his truth that Jehovah answers our prayer to unify our hearts to fear his name. What a relief, what a freedom, such a unified heart brings into our lives!

29. What condition of men marks this as the “time of the end,” and how do ambitious men take selfish advantage of this and bring a test of loyalty?

²⁹ This is a day of international fears to an extent unknown before. It is a fear that marks this as the world’s “time of the end,” or “the conclusion of the system of things.” The state of affairs is as Jesus foretold: “Men become faint out of fear and expectation of the things coming upon the inhabited earth.” (Luke 21:25, 26) Such fear and frightful expectation makes the uninstructed people take cover or refuge in human organizations that offer promise of protection, security and preservation. They look about for a competent leadership. So it is not strange that there are men and organizations who take advantage of the desires and fears of the people and who assume the leadership and then demand the loyalty of the people. All this sharpens the question as to whom or to what to give our loyalty without making the mistake of giving our loyalty to the wrong one and suffering for it without remedy.

30, 31. (a) Who do not share the world’s fears, and what do they do? (b) Of what outcome does our being loyal assure us, and so what present reward does God give the loyal ones?

³⁰ We, that is, those who have their hearts unified to fear the name of Jehovah, do not share the fears and terrible expectations of the peoples and nations of this old world. Rather than share their fears, we do as Jesus told us to do at this particular time: “As these things start to occur, raise yourselves erect and lift your heads up, because your deliverance is getting near.” (Luke 21:28) Not to some human organization or political dictator, but to Almighty God we say, in the psalmist David’s words: “O do guard my soul, for I am loyal.” (Ps. 86:2) By being loyal to Jehovah God and his kingdom we cannot go wrong and suffer for it beyond repair. We trust in his making good his promise to direct our steps in the right way. Of him it is written: “The feet of his loyal ones he guards; as for the wicked ones, they are silenced in darkness, for not by power does a man prove superior.”—1 Sam. 2:9.

³¹ What a steadying force to our hearts and nerves that promise is! This promise also: “For those walking in integrity he is a shield, by observing the paths of judgment, and he will guard the very way of his loyal ones.” (Prov. 2:7, 8) What a present reward this is for our being loyal to Jehovah God with a heart unified in the fear of his name! He rewards us even now because he desires us to enjoy a lasting reward in his new world, which will be inherited and inhabited by all those who are forever loyal to him.

Prophesying with the Loyal Organization

1. (a) What related loyalty is called for in our loyalty to God? (b) In giving loyalty to what religious organizations are people not giving loyalty to God?

LOYALTY to God who created and organized heaven and earth calls for loyalty to his organization. Today many persons think that by their loyalty to a religious organization they are loyal to God. But they can be wrong about this. Among things foretold to appear in our day are people and organizations described as being “lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power.” (2 Tim. 3:1, 4, 5) These make religious claims; they pretend to be devoted to God; they go through man-made religious ceremonies conducted by men who are ordained as priests, bishops, deacons, reverends and doctors of divinity. At the same time they go in for material things, the satisfying of the flesh rather than the spirit, and thus they betray that they are not God’s true organization. They betray themselves as loving the pleasant things and sports, games and gambles of this world, and they do not show the power of true godly devotion in their lives. Their conduct belies the sincerity of their outward godly devotion. Their loyalty is to a false organization, and not to the “God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (Eph. 1:3) Their loyalty is to a religious organization that is false to God, an organization that God does not own as his organization.

2, 3. (a) To which organization does God command us to be loyal, and what day nineteen centuries ago decided this for us? (b) That day how was the Christian congregation shown to be the organization to which to be loyal?

² The visible organization to which God commands us to be loyal is the one upon which he has poured out his holy spirit. More than nineteen centuries ago, on the festival day of Pentecost of A.D. 33, the Jewish congregation in Jerusalem thought that they were God’s visible organization. For this reason fifty-two days previously their priests and religious rulers had forced the Roman Governor Pontius Pilate to nail Jesus Christ to a stake to die like a criminal slave. But what happened on that day of Pentecost proved whether their thinking was right or wrong. The disciples of Jesus Christ testified that he had been resurrected from the dead on the third day after his death and that he had appeared to them on a number of occasions, during forty days after his resurrection, and that they also had witnessed the beginning of his ascension to heaven. Were these disciples who had been outcasts by the Jewish organization the new visible organization of Jehovah God? The day of Pentecost decided the question in an authoritative way.

³ That day God’s holy spirit was poured out upon his approved congregation, no, not upon the Jewish congregation celebrating Pentecost at their temple in Jerusalem, but upon the disciples of Jesus Christ who were gathered in an upper room outside the temple precincts. These one hundred and twenty disciples all became filled with holy spirit and miraculously began to speak in foreign languages about the magnificent things of God. When Jehovah God had previously poured out his spirit upon Jesus of Nazareth, he said from heaven: “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.” Likewise, when he poured out his spirit upon that first Christian congregation in Jerusalem, it was the visible, audible evidence that he had approved them but had rejected the Jerusalem congregation of Jews who bore a community responsibility for the murder of Jesus Christ. There remained no question as to which one was the organization to which Jehovah’s worshipers must from then on be loyal. It was the Christian congregation, not the Jewish religious organization.

4. Of what prophecy was that a fulfillment, and how did those in that upper room prophesy?

⁴ That outpouring of the holy spirit with all its effects was a miraculous fulfillment of divine prophecy. The apostle Peter, who was one of those anointed and filled with the holy spirit that day, said it was the fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32, which reads: “After that it must occur that I shall pour out my spirit on every sort of flesh, and your sons and your daughters will certainly prophesy. As for your old men, dreams they will dream. As for your young men, visions they will see. And even on the menservants and on the maidservants in those days I shall pour out my spirit. . . . before the coming of the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah. And it must occur that everyone who calls on the name of Jehovah will get away safe.” (Acts 2:1-21) That was why all those in that upper room in Jerusalem prophesied, that is, spoke about the magnificent things of God for other persons to hear.

5. How did Peter’s remarks show whether the outpouring of the spirit was to be limited to the one hundred and twenty in that room?

⁵ That pouring out of the spirit was not limited to those one hundred and twenty there in that upper room in Jerusalem. Peter said that God had used Jesus Christ at his own right hand in heaven to pour out the holy spirit. So if the several thousands of Jews who heard the explanation that Peter gave of the miracle wanted to get the holy spirit in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, they would have to repent and get baptized in water in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of their sins. Then they would “receive the free gift of the holy spirit.”—Acts 2:22-40.

6. According to the Bible record, how did the spirit continue to be poured out, but has this continued into our own century?

⁶ About three thousand guilty Jews and proselytes repented and got baptized in Jesus’ name, and afterward they received the holy spirit the same as the original hundred and twenty disciples had that same day. About three and a half years later a group of uncircumcised Italians who heard Peter preach and who became believers received holy spirit and began prophesying in foreign languages. (Acts 10:1-46) Sixteen years later, A.D. 52, or nineteen years after Pentecost, the apostle Paul preached to a group of twelve believers at Ephesus in Asia Minor and they got baptized in the name of Jesus Christ; after which Paul laid his hands on them and the holy spirit was poured out upon them and they began prophesying in foreign tongues. (Acts 19:1-7) We must not assume, therefore, that the outpouring of the holy spirit, which was followed by prophesying in fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy, was all accomplished on the day of Pentecost, A.D. 33. It has continued over the years. Well, then, has the outpouring of holy spirit accompanied by prophesying continued into this twentieth century? Yes; and by means of this test we can ascertain what is the organization to which to be loyal now.

7. In what days are we living according to prophecy, and will Christendom get away safe in the coming day of Jehovah?

⁷ In the light of world events since A.D. 1914 as viewed from the standpoint of Bible prophecy, the evidence is overwhelming that we are living in the foretold “last days.” Nineteen centuries ago it was the “last days” for the national Jewish organization with its temple and a priesthood at Jerusalem. Since A.D. 1914, the year of the outbreak of World War I in the very center of Christendom, it has been the “last days” for Christendom, which claims to be the spiritual Israel of God. So, as in ancient Jerusalem’s case, there must be for Christendom the “coming of the great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah.” Will Christendom “get away safe” in that day when the entire wicked system of things goes down in destruction in unparalleled trouble? No; for Christendom does not call upon the name of Jehovah. Her heart has not been unified to fear the name of Jehovah. She is unified in the fear of atheistic Communism.

8. In determining upon Christendom’s churches as deserving of our loyalty, how do we know whether the miraculous speaking with foreign tongues is the right test or not?

⁸ Well, then, are the religious churches of Christendom, Catholic and Protestant, the organizations for true, dedicated, baptized Christians to be loyal to down to the very death? We must answer by asking: Do those organizations have the Pentecostal proof that they are the approved religious organization of God? Now by this we do not mean that they must speak with foreign tongues like certain so-called Pentecostal churches of Christendom. Today the speaking miraculously in foreign tongues is not the test. The gift of speaking with foreign tongues was imparted in the presence of the twelve apostles of Christ or by the laying on of their hands. Hence the miraculous gift of speaking or interpreting foreign tongues passed away with the death of the twelve apostles, just as the apostle Paul said that it would. (Acts 8:14-19; 19:1-7; 1 Cor. 13:1, 6-11) And in the list of eight services performed with God’s spirit in the Christian congregation in his day Paul lists prophecy second and the speaking with different tongues as eighth and last.—1 Cor. 12:27-31.

9. What effect of the outpouring of God’s spirit was it to which Joel’s prophecy referred, and who or how many share in this effect?

⁹ Let this fact not be overlooked: It was not the miraculous speaking with foreign tongues that Joel’s prophecy on the last days foretold; it was the outpouring of God’s holy spirit accompanied by prophesying. This particular prophesying was not the special gift of prophecy that was inspired, a gift that was not shared by all Christians. It was the declaration publicly of the “magnificent things of God,” and this prophesying was shared by all receivers of God’s outpoured spirit, from Pentecost forward.—Acts 2:5-11.

10. (a) What question should we ask today concerning Christendom’s churches with regard to prophesying? (b) What should be the “magnificent things of God” to be prophesied about today?

¹⁰ Since we are living in the time marked by the Scriptures as “the last days” (Acts 2:16, 17), the test upon the religious systems of Christendom today is, Have they had the spirit of Jehovah God poured out upon them through Jesus Christ? And, in proof of it, are they doing the foretold prophesying? Not merely their ordained clergy, but all members of the congregation along with their clergy? But what should they prophesy about today? What are the “magnificent things of God” that must be prophesied today like the magnificent things that were prophesied or preached on Pentecost, A.D. 33? Then the apostle Peter preached that the slain and resurrected Jesus had been made Lord and Christ at God’s right hand in the heavens. As for today, not what we ourselves say, but what the prophecy of the Bible says should be the “magnificent things of God” to talk about in prophesying under the power of God’s spirit.

11. According to Matthew 24:14, what should be the “magnificent things of God” about which to prophesy today?

¹¹ Jesus Christ while yet in flesh on earth foretold these “last days” and the evidences by which we should know that we are living in the “conclusion of the system of things.” Among the evidences he said this: “And this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.” (Matt. 24:3, 4, 14) Accordingly, the “magnificent things of God” about which to prophesy today are the things about God’s kingdom since A.D. 1914, when the Gentile Times (”the appointed times of the nations”) ended. God then caused the birth of his promised kingdom in the hands of Christ the Lord. The newborn kingdom at once warred against Satan the Devil and his demons and cast them out of the heavens down to this earth’s neighborhood. Jehovah God then revived his persecuted witnesses on earth to initiate the greatest Kingdom witness of all times. Next he began gathering before his throne a “great crowd” of upholders and proclaimers of his newly established kingdom. Many other related things are also set forth, particularly in the last book of the Bible, A Revelation.

12, 13. (a) How do the clergy answer as to whether they are doing the foretold prophesying, and what does this prove as to the holy spirit? (b) Why, then, is the clergy’s organization not the one that will be saved?

¹² These are “magnificent things of God.” But are the religious systems of Christendom, even their clergy, prophesying about these foretold things? Are they preaching this good news of the Kingdom in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, in the knowledge that the end of this system of things is coming? Are they doing this preaching and prophesying as the apostles and their fellow believers did from the day of Pentecost forward, namely, “publickly, and from house to house”? (Acts 20:20; 2:46; 5:40-42, AV) Their own confessions made verbally and in their printed publications answer No! Well, then, what does their failure to do so argue in the light of the prophetic Scriptures? This: That the holy spirit has not been poured out upon them and it is not fulfilling its mission through them.

¹³ Their failure to carry out Jesus’ prophecy of Matthew 24:14 under the incitement of God’s spirit proves that they have failed God’s kingdom in this time of all times, amid this grandest world situation in which to do it. For this failure they could not have God’s approval. They are not the organization that will be saved; “for with the heart one exercises faith for righteousness, but with the mouth one makes public declaration for salvation.” (Rom. 10:10) This fact holds good for organizations as well as for individuals. An organization that does not confess God’s kingdom before men will not be confessed or acknowledged by God’s kingdom in which Jesus Christ serves.—Matt. 10:32, 33.

14. What is Christendom not giving the people today, and hence what does it not deserve from us?

¹⁴ Christendom with all her jumble of religious sects is not the organization that is giving true, safe leadership to the people of the world today. It is not the organization to which to give our loyalty as a practical expression of our loyalty to God. We must turn elsewhere to find the organization loyal to God.

15. In fulfillment of Joel 2:28, 29, what must be true of the organization today loyal to God?

¹⁵ That organization for which we must look is the one that gives the proof of having God’s spirit poured out upon it in these “last days” by doing the foretold prophesying, the ‘preaching of this good news of God’s kingdom in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.’ As foretold, this preaching or prophesying is being done by every sort of flesh in the organization, by male and female, by sons and daughters, by old men and young men, by the menservants and the maidservants, by all those on whom the spirit has been poured out.

16. (a) In this regard, to whom does the record of 1914-1918 point? (b) How did Jesus picture this class in Matthew 24:45-47, and what did the appointment of this class include?

¹⁶ Since the end of the Gentile Times in 1914, and more particularly since the end of World War I in 1918, the record has been made for all the world to study so as to come to an unprejudiced, objective conclusion. The record points to the anointed remnant of Jehovah’s Christian witnesses. In the prophecy on the evidences of the “conclusion of the system of things,” Jesus foretold this anointed remnant as being the loyal servant class, pictured as a “faithful and discreet slave,” whom he finds serving the due spiritual food at the time he returns and whom he appoints over all his royal belongings on earth. (Matt. 24:45-47) This appointment includes the assignment to do the foretold Kingdom preaching; and notably since 1919 the anointed remnant have done it and are still doing it.

17. Who today have recognized God’s appointed organization, and what proof are they giving of this fact?

¹⁷ Already hundreds of thousands of persons who have had the Kingdom witness given to them in now 144 languages in 181 lands have recognized God’s appointed organization that is loyal to his kingdom and that therefore deserves to be given their Christian loyalty, support and co-operation. This is just what these hundreds of thousands out of all nations are doing in obeying Jesus’ counsel to seek first God’s kingdom and his righteousness. In proof of this they have got baptized in symbol of their full dedication of themselves to God and are wholeheartedly taking part with the remnant in the prophesying or preaching of the good news.—Zech. 8:20-23.

18, 19. (a) What does God’s poured-out spirit cause or induce in what is prophesied by his approved organization? (b) What did Zechariah 13:2, 3 have to say about this?

¹⁸ God’s holy spirit when poured out upon the remnant of spiritual Israel causes or induces only the prophesying or preaching of the truth, God’s own truth. Jesus once spoke of it as “the spirit of the truth.” (John 15:26) The spirit of the God of truth can be expected to cause a purification of the things that are preached by God’s approved loyal organization. His spirit would not allow for anyone to prophesy falsehood, the preaching of lies and errors under the cloak of religion. Such a cleansing as carried on inside the organization of God’s restored loyal remnant and of their loyal companions is foretold in the prophecy of Zechariah 13:2-6. In Zec 13 verses two and three we read:

¹⁹ “‘And it must occur in that day,’ is the utterance of Jehovah of armies, ‘that I shall cut off the names of the idols out of the land, and they will no more be remembered; and also the prophets and the spirit of uncleanness I shall cause to pass out of the land. And it must occur that in case a man should prophesy any more, his father and his mother, the ones who caused his birth, must also say to him, “You will not live, because falsehood is what you have spoken in the name of Jehovah.” And his father and his mother, the ones who caused his birth, must pierce him through because of his prophesying.’”

20. Of what was the foregoing a prophetic illustration, and what does it show must be the condition of our hearts?

²⁰ Here we have a prophetic illustration of the loyalty that would mark those within the organization of Jehovah’s anointed remnant upon whom he has poured out his spirit in these “last days.” That spirit is a spirit of loyalty to Jehovah God and the kingdom of his Messiah, the Christ, a spirit in favor and support of the universal sovereignty of the Most High God. Hence those of the anointed remnant recognize that their loyalty must go above and beyond human relationships by natural ties. It must transcend the natural affections that one has for one’s own parents or one’s own children or other close flesh-and-blood relatives. When it comes to loyalty to God and to the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ, there can be no division of our hearts; there can be no compromise.

21, 22. (a) How can some children offend against dedicated parents in connection with Matthew 24:14? (b) What must be the action of such dedicated parents toward their child who is offending?

²¹ The prophecy of Jesus makes it certain that this is the time for the good news of God’s kingdom to be preached in all languages, in all places. This is the very heart of the prophesying that must be done now. What, then, if the son of a family that is within God’s visible organization should oppose this prophesying concerning the Kingdom? What if the son should begin to proclaim or prophesy something contrary to the Kingdom message and try to influence others in the organization wrongly, doing this in the name of Jehovah? What should the dedicated, baptized father and mother do? They dare not let their affections run wild; they dare not spare even this dear one whose natural birth they caused.

²² They must declare to him the mortal sinfulness of his false prophesying or opposition to Kingdom prophesying. They cannot endure to have even their own child speak falsehood in the name of Jehovah. They must pierce him through because of his false prophesying. They must consider him as spiritually dead to themselves, as one with whom to have no religious association and fellowship and whose prophesyings are to be rejected. They must not hinder his being disfellowshiped from the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses. It is a situation in which to remember the words of Jehovah’s King, Jesus Christ: “He that has greater affection for son or daughter than for me is not worthy of me.”—Matt. 10:37.

23, 24. (a) With whom else may such a test with respect to loyalty take place within the organization? (b) How does Zechariah 13:4-6 picture it?

²³ However, the case is not always one of having to deal with unfaithfulness or disloyalty to truth and organization right within our natural family circle. The false, disloyal prophesying may occur on the part of someone with whom we have come into intimate friendship within the organization of Jehovah’s restored remnant. Verses four through six of Zechariah, chapter thirteen, foretold what must be the outcome of such a situation within God’s loyal organization.

²⁴ We read: “And it must occur in that day that the prophets will become ashamed, each one of his vision when he prophesies; and they will not wear an official garment of hair for the purpose of deceiving. And he will certainly say, ‘I am no prophet. I am a man cultivating the soil [a·da·mahʹ], because an earthling man [a·damʹ] himself acquired me from my youth on.’ And one must say to him, ‘What are these wounds on your person between your hands?’ And he will have to say, ‘Those with which I was struck in the house of my intense lovers.’”

25, 26. (a) What is it that makes these would-be prophets get ashamed of their visions, and how can the penalty be enforced? (b) What must those who have been intense lovers of the offender do, and why?

²⁵ What makes such prophets among Jehovah’s restored remnant get ashamed of their visions? What keeps them from going around advertising themselves as certified prophets as if they were wearing an official garment of hair to make the deception easier? It is the treatment that these disloyal would-be prophets get even in the house of those who have intensely loved them as Christian associates, their natural parents being likely the most intense lovers. In ancient theocratic Israel such false prophets were to be tried before witnesses, exposed and stoned to death. (Deut. 13:1-11) Today the true Christian congregation may not enforce such a death penalty for prophets of deception who try to induce disloyalty to God and his kingdom. But the congregation can give them a spiritual smiting or striking with the truth of God’s Word, even wounding them sorely at heart and in spirit.

²⁶ The very ones who have intensely loved them must strike and wound them in order to demonstrate their own principled loyalty to God and to his organization and to safeguard his loyal visible organization. Let the false prophets be made ashamed! “Stop associating with him, that he may become ashamed,” says 2 Thessalonians 3:14. “Keep on exhorting . . . showing uncorruptness in your teaching, seriousness, wholesome speech which cannot be condemned; so that the man on the opposing side may get ashamed,” says Titus 2:6-8. What if this spiritual treatment does make a wound? “The wounds inflicted by a lover are faithful,” says Proverbs 27:6.

27. Why is it good for the offender to become ashamed of his visions, and in his shame what should he confess in honesty?

²⁷ Make it so that the one whom we are endeavoring to recover from false prophesying will have to testify to our faithfulness to God’s Word with which we struck and wounded him. It is good for that one to become ashamed of his visions that are out of harmony with God’s Word. Then he will not try to parade around among us any more as a special prophet of God with direct individual connections with God. Instead of laying claim to the high office of a special prophet of something new and different, he will have to admit that he was not prophesying under the influence of God’s outpoured spirit. He was not a spiritual man. In making such false prophecies he was merely a groundling, an earthly “natural man,” like a farmer, one who is a slave to a farmer that got possession of his service from his boyhood onward. He never was an accredited prophet. Make him see that he can get nowhere within Jehovah’s cleansed organization whose members love God more intensely than dear earthly friends.

28. (a) Of what is the true prophesying an outward evidence, and by what ones is it carried on? (b) How will the unifying of each one in the organization result?

²⁸ If we are against false prophets within the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses and must expose them, then certainly we must also expose Christendom’s false prophets who claim to speak in God’s name as though they were ordained and sent by him. It is this very keeping of false prophets out of the loyal organization of the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses that shows that it is His loyal organization with which He does the prophesying foretold.

29. What, then, should be our action toward Christendom’s prophets?

²⁹ The true prophesying is the outward evidence of the outpouring of Jehovah’s spirit. This prophesying, which is now engaged in not by a select few but by all members of whatever sort of flesh, is the foretold preaching of “this good news of the kingdom.” We are safe when within the organization that is loyal to Jehovah God, filled with his spirit and doing his ordained prophetic work. To Him each one of us should pray that he would unify our hearts to fear his name. The unifying of the heart of each individual to fear Jehovah’s name will make for the unifying of the entire loyal organization. All those in the organization will then speak with one mouth. (Rom. 15:6) Thus we shall be “standing firm in one spirit, with one soul fighting side by side for the faith of the good news, and in no respect being frightened by [our] opponents. . . . a proof . . . of salvation for [us]; and this indication is from God.”—Phil. 1:27, 28.

30. For being loyal to him, how will God act toward us with goodness?

³⁰ For being loyal to God, he will be loyal to us. He will fulfill our united prayer: “Work out with me a sign meaning goodness, that those hating me may see it and be ashamed.” (Ps. 86:17) To their shame, but as a sign of goodness to us, Jehovah God will use us in completing the foretold prophesying, the preaching of the good news of his kingdom, using us thus with his loyal organization, down till the very end comes and he is fully vindicated.—Matt. 24:14.

Work Whole-souled for New World Interests

“WHATEVER you are doing, work at it whole-souled as to Jehovah.” Note the underlying principle of these words addressed to slaves. Although they were working for earthly masters, they should do their work as if they were working for Jehovah.—Col. 3:23.a

What does it mean to work whole-souled at something? It means to work with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength. It means to be wholehearted, zealous and fully devoted to one’s work, doing it with all one’s power.

What are the New World interests at which we are to work hard? They include everything that one must do in order to gain life in the new world and to help others to do the same. Included, therefore, are individual Bible study, attendance at and participation in congregational meetings, the various features of the Christian field ministry, and caring for any assignment one may have as a servant or in some full-time capacity. Not to be overlooked are the New World interests of one’s own family.

Do you eagerly and enthusiastically care for the New World interests committed to you, or do you need to be reminded of your opportunities, your privileges, your obligations? Do you need to be coaxed, urged or humored to contribute your part toward making known the God, the King, the requirements and the blessings of the new world? Working whole-souled means to be looking for and making opportunities to serve and being willing, yes, anxious to do what we can.

True, some of us have more obstacles to contend with than do others, but should not these be viewed as merely an added challenge to be successfully met, thereby giving greater proof of love and appreciation? Surely! Look at the examples in the Scriptures of those who let nothing interfere with their whole-souled service to Jehovah God. Read chapters six and eleven of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians and see what obstacles he overcame! Let his example of faith and love inspire you to do likewise!

If any work deserves being done whole-souled it is the work of caring for the New World interests given us by Jehovah God.

[Footnotes]

United Worshipers District Assemblies

WHAT a happy demonstration of unity—the 1961 international series of United Worshipers District Assemblies of Jehovah’s Witnesses! The chain of thirteen six-day assemblies began with the one held at Yankee Stadium, New York city, June 20-25, this assembly setting the pattern for the whole series, not only as to the program of rich spiritual provisions, but also as to the grand demonstration of Christian unity with which each assembly was crowned.

In keeping with the theme of the assembly series was the title of the public talk that climaxed each one: “When All Nations Unite Under God’s Kingdom.” The Watch Tower Society’s president, N. H. Knorr, delivered this heartening address first in New York city to an audience of 89,853, with an additional 3,048 persons attending the Spanish public meeting. At the seven assemblies in North America and the six in Europe, a total attendance of more than 400,000 persons heard this inspiring lecture. Spotlighted was the only true unifying force today—not the United Nations but the established kingdom of Jehovah God!

Each assembly opened with the chairman’s address: “Welcome! All You United Worshipers,” and this talk stressed the reasons for the world-wide unity of Jehovah’s witnesses: Their worship of the one true God, Jehovah, and their living by the one textbook of Unity, the Holy Bible.

HELPFULNESS OF ASSEMBLY RELEASES

Whether the assembly was held in New York, Houston, Vancouver, Copenhagen, Hamburg, Turin, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Oklahoma City, Omaha, Milwaukee or San Francisco, those that attended were overjoyed by the helpfulness of the literature releases. Foremost among the helpful aids was the complete one-volume New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. The Society’s president released the Bible following his talk “United Publishers of the ‘Word of Life’” in which he stressed the importance Jehovah’s witnesses attach to the Bible. How helpful the Bible’s convenient size and its concordance of “Important Bible Words for Quick Reference”! At Yankee Stadium and at other assemblies a gasp went throughout the delighted audience as the price of the Bible was announced: Just $1! And just what publishers of the Word of life needed!

Most helpful also were the other assembly releases. The conventioners everywhere applauded the Sermon Outlines as a great aid to Kingdom ministers, enabling them to enter the field of interest of any householder. Another release of major helpfulness was the Watch Tower Publications Index, 1930-1960, a volume that is a master key for unlocking treasures of Biblical knowledge. The volume testified to the fact that all of Jehovah’s witnesses are ministers, all being interested in doing Biblical research for the enlightenment of others. Another outstanding help was the new booklet Blood, Medicine and the Law of God. How helpful for enlightening doctors and other persons as to the reasons why Jehovah’s witnesses shun blood in any form! Documented medical evidence is presented concerning the hazards of blood transfusions, spotlighting the Bible’s wise counsel: ‘Keep yourselves free from blood.’ (Acts 15:29) Another release of tremendous helpfulness was the new book “Let Your Name Be Sanctified.” This volume was released to enthusiastic audiences following the talk “Nations in Fear at the Name Called upon Us.” In this talk the Society’s president stressed how important it is for Jehovah’s name to be sanctified. The new book shows how the work of the prophets Elijah and Elisha has prophetic meaning for our day, in connection with the sanctifying of Jehovah’s name. Completing the list of helpful releases was the new booklet When All Nations Unite Under God’s Kingdom, a copy of which was given free to all persons attending the public talk at any assembly.

Just as the literature releases were so helpful, so were the many assembly talks. How helpful the counsel given in such talks as “Unified Worship in the Family Circle,” “Unity in Worship by Meeting Attendance,” “Improving Personal Study,” and “Joyfulness All the Day Long”! What an aid to unity was the counsel on greeting and encouraging brothers and interested persons and how to welcome back those who may have missed meetings or strayed from the fold! How encouraging the talk by the Society’s vice-president, F. W. Franz, on “United Against Nations in the Valley of Decision,” concerning the symbolic plague of locusts! Outstanding was the talk by the Society’s president on “Loyalty with a Unified Heart,” showing that Jehovah’s witnesses are not only united with one another but that they must be at unity individually, never allowing materialism or selfish desires to give them a divided heart.

SOME “BIGGEST YET” ASSEMBLIES

Vancouver, British Columbia, was the scene of the largest theocratic assembly in Canadian history, with 28,952 persons at the public meeting. Remarkably fine weather favored this assembly, the assembly’s last three days having cloudless skies. The conventioners feasted spiritually against a background of the Canadian Rocky Mountains, towering in all their glory, streaked with snow.

The Houston, Texas, assembly, was the largest yet for the big state of Texas. Previous assemblies had been held in Dallas, Corpus Christi and Fort Worth and also in Houston, but this year’s assembly broke a record for Texas, with 19,141 persons attending the English meeting and 2,159 the Spanish. Spanish-speaking persons welcomed the release, in the Spanish language, of Sermon Outlines, “Your Will Be Done on Earth,” Blood, Medicine and the Law of God and When All Nations Unite Under God’s Kingdom.

The United Worshipers International Assembly at Copenhagen proved to be the largest theocratic assembly in Denmark’s history. Thousands of Witnesses from Norway, Sweden and Finland flocked to Copenhagen’s Idrætsparken for a most thrilling assembly. Several thousand English-speaking Witnesses also attended this international assembly, since thirty-two chartered airplanes from the United States and Canada brought about 3,000 Witnesses to Europe, to attend the European assemblies. Five speakers’ platforms and simultaneous programs in five different languages testified to the international atmosphere that made the Copenhagen assembly so stirringly memorable for those privileged to attend. Signs were not merely in Danish but also in Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and English. Programs were printed in five different languages. New literature releases in Norwegian, Swedish, Finnish and Danish thrilled the thousands of Witnesses attending. Despite chilly blasts of wind and rain for the first few days of the assembly, the outcome was successful. Fine weather prevailed the last two days and the public meeting was attended by 33,513 Witnesses and other interested persons. Copenhagen, a sophisticated city where religion is largely frowned upon, had long ignored assemblies of Jehovah’s witnesses; but at this remarkable assembly the press, radio and TV gave fairly good reports for the first time.

Typical of the friendly helpfulness shown to the visitors from thirty-four lands that attended the Copenhagen assembly is the experience of a Finnish Witness. He got lost trying to find the assembly location. He stopped his car near a small shop. Using sign language, he asked the shopkeeper the direction. When the shopkeeper tried to explain, it did not help, because neither could understand the other’s language. So the shopkeeper left his store, got into the Witness’ car and drove with him to the stadium, the shopkeeper then returning by tram to his store.

“Never on a summer’s day have the stands at Twickenham been so crowded”—so stated the Reynolds News of July 30, 1961, concerning the London United Worshipers Assembly. Held at the Rugby Union Ground, Twickenham, the assembly teemed with united worshipers of Jehovah. This stadium was also the scene of the 1955 Triumphant Kingdom Assembly, during which 41,970 persons attended the public meeting. Would the assembly this year exceed that peak figure? Indeed it did, for 48,070 persons thronged to Twickenham to hear the public talk. The platform at Britain’s biggest-ever assembly was built to represent a sheep pen, in fitting symbol of the 1961 yeartext of Jehovah’s witnesses, “In unity I shall set them, like a flock in the pen.”—Mic. 2:12.

Italy also was to go on record with its largest assembly of united worshipers of Jehovah God, 6,372 persons attending the public meeting at Turin. It was the first time that a six-day assembly had been held by Jehovah’s witnesses in Italy and the first time that the assembly site, the Palazzo delle Esposizioni had been used for religious purposes. It was also the first time that a theocratic assembly had been publicly advertised in Italy. Not only handbills were used but also twelve large street banners, located at strategic places throughout the city. The assembly was held underground, although not secretly, the exhibition hall having been built underground, above which was a large park. Skylighting provided illumination, and the facilities proved to be adequate and spacious. The assembly proved to be international, with representatives from seventeen nations attending. Remarkable for decoration was the gold-lettered Tetragrammaton that was emblazoned on a red curtain at the back of the stage. Great enthusiasm marked this assembly, and the Italian Witnesses thrilled to the release, in the Italian language, of “Your Will Be Done on Earth,” Sermon Outlines and When All Nations Unite Under God’s Kingdom.

The assembly in Amsterdam turned out to be the largest assembly of Witnesses ever held in the Netherlands, with 23,708 persons attending the public meeting. The enthusiasm manifested by the Dutch Witnesses was appreciated by all the speakers, and the releases in the Dutch language were heartily applauded by the conventioners.

Paris, too, went on record with France’s largest New World Society assembly! The peak attendance in 1955, at the Paris Triumphant Kingdom Assembly, had been 16,500; so the French Witnesses wondered what would happen this time, especially since no publicity was to be given the convention in view of the Algerian crisis. What joy, then, when the attendance figures showed a total of 23,004 persons!

This was not only the largest assembly for many French-speaking Witnesses, but Spanish, Polish and Portuguese talks were held simultaneously with the French. The French Witnesses spared no effort, going to considerable expense to accommodate and provide transportation for their Christian brothers from Spain and Portugal.

A remarkable feature of the Paris assembly was the number of those who symbolized their dedication to Jehovah God by water baptism—1,203 persons, about 9 percent of those present up to that time! A very high average. A total of more than 9,000 persons, at all the assemblies, symbolized their dedication by water baptism to do Jehovah’s will as his united worshipers.

INGENUITY AND ADAPTABILITY

To hold this series of assemblies many problems had to be overcome. The Copenhagen assembly, for instance, presented complex problems in the sound system. The assembly was held in a stadium surrounded on four sides by stands. The Norwegian-, Swedish- and Finnish-speaking persons each had a side. The fourth side was a three-deck grandstand, the ground floor and mezzanine section being for the Danish people; the topmost section was for the English-speaking persons. Talks were to be given simultaneously in five languages. Five talks at one time? “Impossible,” said electronics engineers in Copenhagen. Through ingenuity and adaptability, Jehovah’s witnesses worked on the sound system for one year; it was ready and worked excellently at the assembly.

A beautiful flower arrangement on the grass of the stadium required many containers for the flowers. A giant rectangle made up of hundreds of boxes of multicolored flowers was planned. The problem of containers was solved by using 315 boxes that once were containers for ammunition. When small flower containers were needed to be affixed to the railing on all levels of the stadium, the problem was solved by using hard-pressed containers for mortar shells.

In London the Witnesses preparing for the assembly needed some boilers. Where could they find them? They heard that Britain’s last great battleship, the Vanguard, was being dismantled and that it had a number of boilers. The Witnesses interviewed the firm involved and were able to obtain the use of the boilers at a very reasonable rate. Thus, in solving problems, as well as by their peaceful living, the Witnesses lived up to Isaiah 2:4, concerning true Christians’ turning swords into plowshares and spears into pruning shears.

The problem of sound was uniquely solved at the London assembly, eliminating reverberation or echo. How was this possible at a stadium? Because all the speakers were directed from the back of the stands outward instead of being placed on the ground, facing the audience. This meant that one heard the sound from the rear, and it did not bounce back from the walls of the various parts of the stadium.

The Hamburg assembly presented no small problem, and the heart of the problem was the fact that the assembly location was merely a large, beautiful green in Hamburg’s biggest park. Before the assembly there was not a facility there. Working from nothing, using space as an asset, the Witnesses constructed a mammoth stage structure, 180 feet long by 80 feet wide and 15 to 18 feet high. It was simulated stone. The orchestra was in a semicircular shell recessed into the stage. So large was the stage that it housed all the executive convention departments. Outstanding among stage decorations were the gigantic painting of flowers that looked realistic, and an immense circle, on a steel frame, on which was the Tetragrammaton, with simulated rays of light emanating from it. Thus the brothers in Hamburg, as well as in Turin, working independently, used the Tetragrammaton as a most impressive and fitting decoration for an assembly in which one of the major releases was the book “Let Your Name Be Sanctified.”

Being held in the open, the Hamburg assembly had no shelter for the seats. What would happen if it rained? It did rain, every day of the assembly at that! But the downpours did not wash out the assembly. Having been advised to prepare for bad weather and to come with warm clothing, umbrellas and low-heeled shoes, the conventioners obeyed; and the assembly went on according to schedule. As soon as it began to rain there appeared a sea of umbrellas.

Since the Hamburg assembly site was basically an open field, the matter of sanitation was a problem. Before the assembly, tests were made as to how many toilet accommodations would be needed if nearly 100,000 persons attended. (On Sunday 88,338 persons did attend.) It was figured that 1,300 toilets would be adequate. So Witnesses laid a sewage system of pipes in the green; and several months before the assembly, large tents were erected and adequate provisions made for 1,300 stalls with flowing water. City sanitation officials appeared about the second day of the assembly, concerned lest there be waiting lines for the water closets. It was explained that 1,300 toilets had been installed and that no one was waiting in line. The amazed officials said: “You have entirely demolished our objection.”

Another problem solved by the ingenuity of the brothers at Hamburg was the providing for acoustic material to line the back of the orchestra shell. The Witnesses worked hard, and the result was that one rarely heard richer, fuller music from microphones at an assembly. The secret? Egg cartons! The cardboard layers or egg cartons, with their cup-shaped recesses, were used, the young folks of Jehovah’s witnesses collecting them from various sources. By the hundreds these were nailed side by side throughout the whole back of the orchestra shell, resulting in most marvelous acoustic material.

At the Paris assembly tents were needed for the cafeteria. To have rented them would have cost from $30,000 to $40,000. So the Branch office bought 5,000 square meters of canvas, and the members of the Bethel family worked evenings and weekends sewing it into the huge tents needed. It was estimated that about $30,000 was saved by the brothers’ making their own tents! Similar expense problems had to be overcome for the sound system. With the talks being given in French, Polish, Portuguese and Spanish, a complicated sound system was needed. A commercial firm placed the cost for renting equipment at $6,000. So, instead, all the circuit sound equipment was called in and more purchased. The additional equipment was later sold to the circuits and the $6,000 saved in its entirety.

Toward the close of the Paris assembly the stationmaster at the railroad station used by the conventioners remarked to a reporter: “I have never seen such a well-disciplined crowd. Even at the peak hours everybody kept calm. What a difference from when there is a football match! They all seemed happy, regardless of their race and nationality. You people seem to have found the unity that the world needs.”

Yes, the 1961 series of United Worshipers Assemblies was indeed a grand demonstration of unity on a global scale and as such, regardless of weather or other problems, was crowned with splendid success, all to the glory of the Great Unifier, Jehovah God.

The Good News According to Matthew

THE term “gospel” literally means “good news.” The announcement that “the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near” was indeed good news for the Jews. They were chafing under the distasteful yoke of Rome as well as under the harsh yoke their religious leaders had fastened upon them, not to say anything about the still heavier yoke that they, in common with all mankind, had to bear because of father Adam’s transgression.—Matt. 4:17.

That the kingdom of the heavens was at hand meant that the King, the Messiah, was at hand. Ever since man’s fall into sin Jehovah God had been giving men of good will toward him hope of a deliverer. First stating it in the garden of Eden, God reiterated it to Abraham, also to David. David called the promised deliverer God’s Anointed One or Messiah, and so did Daniel, in whose prophecy the very year the Messiah would appear was indicated. No wonder that in the time of John the Baptist the people were in expectation of the Messiah.—Gen. 3:15; 22:17, 18; 2 Sam. 7:12, 13; Ps. 2:2; Dan. 9:24-27; Luke 3:15.

At long last the Messiah had come, the promised Deliverer! What good news this was! To help spread the good news about his kingdom the Messiah chose twelve men to be his intimate associates and sent-forth ones or apostles. Among these there were a number of fishermen and a tax collector, whose name was Matthew, meaning “gift of Jehovah.”—Matt. 9:9.

Matthew fully appreciated this honor. He celebrated receiving his call with a feast to which he invited all his friends so that they might meet Jesus Christ, his Master. This lowly tax collector—yet by no means lowly as regards faith in God and love of righteousness, nor in education and thinking ability—came to be the first to put the good news about the Messiah into written form. That is the consensus of all the early church historians. As Origen puts it: “The first Gospel was written by Matthew and arranged for believing Jews in the Hebrew language.” As to the exact year, there is some difference of opinion. The best evidence points to not later than A.D. 50 and perhaps as early as A.D. 41.—Matt. 9:10-13; Luke 5:29.

This privilege was no small responsibility, but with the help of God’s holy spirit Matthew proved equal to the challenge it represented. Yes, true to Jesus’ promise, the holy spirit brought back to Matthew’s mind all the things that God wanted recorded by Matthew of what Jesus had said.—John 14:26.

In passing, let it be noted that if it were not for Matthew’s own statement we would not have known that he had been a tax collector, which was a profession despised by the Jews. Mark and Luke term him Levi, his other name, when telling about his tax-collecting profession. Matthew’s candor obligated him to mention it; the love and loyalty of the others permitted them to gloss over it, no harm to the truth being done by not mentioning this unfavorable fact regarding Matthew. This honesty and love strengthens our faith in what such men wrote—a further proof, it may be averred, of the reliability of the Scriptures.—Mark 2:14-17; Luke 5:27-32.

CHARACTERISTICS

Matthew wrote his Gospel first in Hebrew, so it was definitely not written first in the universal language of the day, koine Greek. The fact that its Greek version reads so smoothly is no valid argument against its being a Greek translation, but would merely lend weight to the opinion that it was Matthew himself who, after writing for his own people, the Jews, realized at once the need to put his message into Greek and so proceeded with the task. That Matthew wrote his Gospel first in Hebrew is apparent from the fact that careful examination of all his quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures shows that he quoted directly from the Hebrew and not from the Septuagint version. Had he written his Gospel first in Greek he most likely would have quoted from the Greek Septuagint. In both the original Hebrew and in Matthew’s Greek version of his Gospel it is reasonable to conclude that the name “Jehovah” appeared frequently, as he would be no more affected by the superstition against its use than was his Master Jesus Christ.

Matthew having been a tax collector, reference to money and figures would be quite natural to him, at least more so than to a physician or to fishermen. So we find him making more references to money values than do the others and being more explicit with his numbers. Thus he breaks up his genealogy of Jesus, in chapter one, into three sets of fourteen generations. He lists seven petitions in the Lord’s prayer, seven illustrations in chapter 13, as well as seven woes in chapter 23.

He is not content with mentioning but one if more than one are involved, as are Mark and Luke. In the temptation in the wilderness he speaks of “stones” and “loaves,” while Luke speaks of a “stone” and a “loaf.” Matthew mentions two demoniacs and two blind men being healed where both Mark and Luke mention only one. Likewise, Matthew tells of the two robbers impaled with Jesus both mocking him, one later changing his mind, as is apparent from Luke’s account.—Matt. 4:3; 8:28; 20:30; 27:38.

The Gospels of Matthew and Luke have well been termed complementary. Thus Matthew tells of the magi coming from afar to see the king of the Jews, whereas Luke tells of shepherds coming to see the Savior of all mankind. Matthew records the angelic appearances to Joseph; Luke tells of the angel appearing to Elizabeth and to Mary—quite likely in all instances the angel Gabriel. Much has been written about the two differing genealogies, but in view of the characteristics of each of these Gospels it is reasonable to conclude that Matthew gives the legal genealogy, Abraham, David, Solomon and Joseph, whereas Luke gives the actual or natural genealogy, from Adam down through Abraham, David, Nathan and Mary’s father Heli. The fact that these differing genealogies caused no discussion or question in the first century would seem to indicate that they presented no difficulties to those familiar with the facts.

More than 40 percent of Matthew’s Gospel is unique with him. Because so much of the rest is also found in Mark’s Gospel some hold that Mark’s came first and that Matthew copied from Mark’s account. But not so. There are altogether too many fine distinctions that stamp Matthew as independent of Mark. Besides, did not Jesus promise that the holy spirit would bring these things to the minds of his apostles? So we should expect them to be similar; which they are far more in regard to the direct quotations than in their narrative portions. An interesting explanation has been offered in this regard, namely, that Matthew’s Gospel being written early, Peter had access to it and used it in his preaching. Mark, who was a close companion of Peter, in taking notes for his Gospel on Peter’s preaching would therefore be taking down much that was Matthew’s, yet with the many fine points added by Peter.

MATTHEW’S VIEW OF THE GOOD NEWS

Matthew’s Gospel has well been described as the bridge between the Hebrew and the Christian Greek Scriptures. No doubt he himself meant it to be, as can be seen from his opening words, his at once giving the genealogy of Jesus, and his emphasis on the Messiah. Its being a bridge is also apparent from the many quotations and references Matthew makes to the Hebrew Scriptures, upward of a hundred, more than any other of the Gospel writers. In keeping therewith he quotes Jesus’ saying that he did not come to destroy the Law but to fulfill it.—Matt. 5:17.

Matthew’s theme is the Kingdom and so we find him mentioning the Kingdom more than any of the others—55 times. In view of the plight of his people, the good news of God’s kingdom was the very best of good news; Matthew fully appreciated its appeal, and he particularly had his people in mind when writing his Gospel. True, their initial interest may have been in gaining political freedom, but as they became disciples and dedicated followers of Jesus they came to enjoy a freedom far more precious, a spiritual freedom.

After telling of Jesus’ genealogy, birth, flight into Egypt and return, and the visit of the magi, Matthew reports on the ministry of John, Jesus’ baptism and wilderness temptation. Then comes Jesus’ thrilling announcement: “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” Jesus called his first disciples and “then he went around throughout the whole of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues and preaching the good news of the kingdom and curing every sort of disease and every sort of infirmity among the people.”—Matt. 4:17, 23.

Matthew next provides us with the Sermon on the Mount, and how comprehensively he recorded it! What sweet comfort in its opening nine “Beatitudes” (more correctly termed “Felicities,” since the Greek word Matthew there uses means “happy,” not “blest”)! Yes, happy are those conscious of their spiritual need, those who mourn, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the mild-tempered, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peaceable as well as those persecuted for righteousness’ sake, since the kingdom of the heavens belongs to them, since they will inherit the earth, will see God, and so forth. Throughout this sermon the Kingdom is kept to the fore: Do this or do that and you will or will not enter the Kingdom. Pray, “Let your kingdom come,” and, “Keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom and his righteousness.” Included also are Jesus’ best-known words, the so-called Golden Rule: “All things, therefore, that you want men to do to you, you also must likewise do to them; this, in fact, is what the Law and the Prophets mean.”—Matt. 6:10, 33; 7:12.

After this report Matthew gives us two chapters of Jesus’ activities, miracles and Kingdom preaching, and then in chapter 10 Jesus’ commission to the twelve as he sends them forth by twos to preach the Kingdom. And what a comprehensive record it is, with such gems as, “You received free, give free,” “Prove yourselves cautious as serpents and yet innocent as doves.”

More on Jesus’ miracles, preaching and denunciation of the wicked follows, after which Matthew again highlights the Kingdom theme by presenting seven illustrations relating to the Kingdom: the sower, the harvest, the mustard grain, the leaven, the treasure in the field, the pearl of high value and the dragnet; all in chapter 13.

In the next four chapters, among other things, Matthew touches on the beheading of John the Baptist, the feeding of 5,000 men and 4,000 men besides women and children, Peter’s confession, “You are the Christ,” and the transfiguration vision by means of which three of Jesus’ disciples saw “the Son of man coming in his kingdom.” Then follows Jesus’ loving admonition in chapter 18. In it we have his counsel on how brothers should straighten out their difficulties, his promise that he would be wherever two or three of his followers met together and his command to forgive seventy-seven times, illustrating it all by means of another Kingdom parable.

THE CLIMAX

Thus far Matthew had arranged his material according to his theme and effectiveness, but for his last ten chapters Mt 19-28 he follows the chronological arrangement. As we read them we sense how the tension between Jesus and his adversaries increases. In chapter 19 we learn of their trying to trip Jesus up on the matter of divorce, and in chapter 20 Jesus again warns his disciples of what lies ahead for him, as his end was getting close.

The last eight chapters Mt 21-28 of his Gospel Matthew devotes almost entirely to just eight days of Jesus’ earthly sojourn. First comes the triumphal ride into Jerusalem and the cleansing of the temple. How the hatred of his foes must have increased because of these incidents! When they ask him by what authority he did these things, Jesus turns tables on them by asking by what authority John baptized, thereby exposing their insincerity. Next he tells them that the tax collectors and harlots will enter into God’s kingdom ahead of them, and, by his illustration of the cultivators who put the heir to death, dares them, as it were, to proceed with their murderous conspiracy; and they realized, Matthew tells us, that Jesus was speaking of them.

In chapter 22 we see a heightening of the tension. In another parable Jesus tells of a certain king’s wedding feast and of his executing certain murderers. Then we read of Jesus’ besting his opponents in the questions on paying taxes, the resurrection and the greatest commandment, and of his then silencing them: “Nor did anyone dare from that day on to question him any further”—after his asking them how David’s son could be his Lord. Then in chapter 23 we have the dramatic finale of Jesus’ public ministry: his woes directed at those who refused to enter the kingdom of the heavens themselves and would not permit those on their way in to go in, his grief at his people’s rejection of him and his pronouncing their house abandoned to them.

Next we note a slight breathing spell, as it were, in which Matthew tells of Jesus’ giving his great prophecy on the time of his second presence privately to several of his disciples on the Mount of Olives just outside of Jerusalem. This prophecy has found striking fulfillment in the events occurring since 1914: wars, earthquakes, food shortages, and, among other things, the preaching of the good news of God’s kingdom world-wide. Then Matthew gives us three more Kingdom parables, of the ten virgins, the talents and the sheep and the goats.

Now follow quickly Matthew’s description of Jesus’ institution of the “Lord’s supper,” his trial and death—events familiar to all our readers. Then comes the stirring climax with Jesus’ resurrection, in chapter 28—the best of news; for without Jesus’ resurrection all would have been in vain. And since a conclusion is that which is the most likely to be remembered, Matthew wisely closes his Gospel with Jesus’ world-wide commission to his disciples and his assurance of remaining with them: “All authority has been given me in heaven and on the earth. Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, teaching them to observe all the things I have commanded you. And, look! I am with you all the days until the conclusion of the system of things.”

Matthew’s Gospel is indeed good news. His effective selection and arrangement of the events of Jesus’ earthly ministry show the effect of the holy spirit on a keen and appreciative mind. A bird’s-eye view of it certainly increases our appreciation of it. May we be better Christians by reason of that increased appreciation!

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

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TO KEEP YOU INFORMED

Never has mankind in general been better informed. By radio, television, the printed page and by specialized schools and employment training programs, men are not only better equipped for their role in life but are better acquainted with rapidly occurring events. Yet how much of this vast area of education is designed to inform us of the outcome of this world’s affairs? No man can foretell the future, but the Bible holds the key, and its counsel is regularly being transmitted to inquiring persons through the pages of Awake! In this journal, along with other publications of the Watchtower Society, is found education that will equip you for life in God’s new world. Keep informed with information that counts for life. Read Awake! each issue. Send only $1. You will receive free three timely booklets on Bible subjects.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

October 29: Loyalty with a Unified Heart. Page 584.

November 5: Prophesying with the Loyal Organization. Page 591.