The Watchtower — January 15, 1962

Why a New World Is Assured

IF THE new world depended upon men, it could never be assured. “The heroic dead will have died in vain unless out of victory shall come a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness,” declared the executive committee of the Federal Council of Churches of Christ in America, after World War I. The committee asked Christians to work and pray “that out of the ashes of the old civilization may rise the fair outlines of a new world.” But now our entry into this age of multimegaton hydrogen bombs has brought mankind closer to the ashes of annihilation, not to the ‘fair outlines of the new world’ that they hoped to create. Man’s efforts cannot assure a new world.

But the new world does not come in by the hands of man; it comes at the hands of God Almighty, who has promised “new heavens and a new earth,” and “in these righteousness is to dwell.” Never will God let his purpose fail. He will vindicate his word, which he has given over his own name. Having such a divine promise, we are assured of a new world, for “it is impossible for God to lie.”—2 Pet. 3:13; Heb. 6:18.

Is there any doubt as to his power to make a new world possible? Not if we reflect upon God’s past exploits that testify to his infinite power to bring in a glorious new world. God’s delivery of Noah and his family into a cleansed earth after a flood of titanic proportions is just one of God’s exploits. God, says the apostle Peter, “did not hold back from punishing an ancient world, but kept Noah, a preacher of righteousness, safe with seven others when he brought a deluge upon a world of ungodly people.” (2 Pet. 2:5) So “a world of ungodly people” is no hindrance to God’s creating a new world; he once removed such a world from existence and he can do it again. No wonder the Most High God told Abraham, some 400 years after the great Flood: “Is anything too extraordinary for Jehovah?”—Gen. 18:14.

Why, even the creation of the heavenly bodies and our planet earth was nothing too extraordinary for God: “By the word of Jehovah the heavens themselves were made, and by the spirit of his mouth all their army. For he himself said, and it came to be; he himself commanded, and it proceeded to stand so.” “He is the Maker of the earth by his power, the One firmly establishing the productive land by his wisdom, and the One who by his understanding stretched out the heavens.” (Ps. 33:6, 9; Jer. 10:12) Why, then, should anyone think a new world impossible, or even hesitate to put faith in the divine New World promise? “With God,” an angel from heaven affirmed, “no declaration will be an impossibility.” Jesus Christ also authoritatively stated: “The things impossible with men are possible with God.”—Luke 1:37; 18:27.

In the beginning God created a righteous world; can he not also re-create one? The first righteous world ended with the rebellion of a spirit son of God and of Adam and Eve, but a righteous world is not to be lost forever. Jesus Christ once told his apostles: “Truly I say to you, In the re-creation, when the Son of man sits down upon his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also yourselves sit upon twelve thrones.”—Matt. 19:28.

What is this “re-creation”? Interestingly, The Holy Bible from ancient Eastern manuscripts, translated by George M. Lamsa, renders Jesus’ words: “In the new world when the Son of man shall sit on the throne of his glory . . .” What Jesus is referring to is the re-creation of a righteous world, and that will be the new world of righteousness that God has promised. The re-creation of it, Jesus showed, would be at the time he would be acting as King upon his throne of heavenly glory. The “new heavens,” the kingdom of God in the hands of Jesus Christ, is the heavenly government to rule the new world.

What specially gives us assurance today of a new world is God’s establishing in heaven his kingdom by Jesus Christ, an event prophetically pointed to by the prophet Daniel: “I kept on beholding in the visions of the night, and, see there! with the clouds of the heavens someone like a son of man happened to be coming; and to the Ancient of Days he gained access, and they brought him up close even before that One. And to him there were given rulership and dignity and kingdom, that the peoples, national groups and languages should all serve even him. His rulership is an indefinitely lasting rulership that will not pass away, and his kingdom one that will not be brought to ruin.” (Dan. 7:13, 14) This event assures for lovers of God’s promises the creation of a new world in righteousness.

With a “rulership that will not pass away” and a kingdom that “will not be brought to ruin,” God’s King, Jesus Christ, makes the New World promise assured of fulfillment. “For no matter how many the promises of God are,” wrote the apostle Paul, “they have become Yes by means of him [Jesus Christ].” (2 Cor. 1:20) What an assuring thought—no matter how many the promises of God or how difficult they appear to be in the eyes of men, they become Yes by means of God’s King, Jesus Christ.

We have, therefore, the greatest assurance of a new world. God’s promise of “new heavens and a new earth” is certain because he cannot lie; his promise is certain because of his unlimited power and past demonstrations of that power, as at the time of the Noachian flood; his promise is reliable because the Most High himself and his Son Jesus Christ testify to the fact that nothing is too extraordinary for God and that the things impossible with men are possible with God. And crowning the divine New World hope with unwavering assurance is the fact that God’s kingdom rules; and its reigning King will soon make that promise to be Yes, to the eternal praise of the new world’s Promiser.

All flesh is like grass . . . the grass becomes withered, and the flower falls off, but the saying of Jehovah endures forever.—1 Pet. 1:24, 25.

Benefiting Now from Christ’s Ransom

THE ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ is one of the greatest blessings ever made available to imperfect human creatures. Happy indeed are all those who avail themselves of it!

Perhaps someone will say, I do not need to be ransomed. I am not in bondage. I am free. I can come and go as I please.

Free? Perhaps, in a limited sense, but not truly free, not altogether free. Are we not in bondage to the workings of sin and death in our bodies? We cannot do perfectly, morally or otherwise; neither can we stave off the dying process, can we? Absolutely not! That is why Job complained: “Man, born of woman, is short-lived and glutted with agitation”; and why the words of David apply to all of us: “Look! With error I was brought forth with birth pains, and in sin my mother conceived me.”—Job 14:1; Ps. 51:5.

How did we get into this bondage? Through the disobedience of our first parent, Adam, even as we read: “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned.” Our first parents ate sour grapes, as it were, and so we all have our teeth set on edge.—Rom. 5:12; Jer. 31:29.

But why should it take a ransom to relieve us of the injustice our first parent did to us? Could not God, simply out of love, forgive mankind their sins, since these are inherited? That is what the modernist clergy hold, but they thereby deny the Bible teaching of the ransom of Jesus Christ for our sins.

No, God could not simply forgive mankind their inherited sins, for that would imply that he made a mistake in sentencing Adam to death; that he did not foresee the consequences of his judicial decision. Besides, if he did that, he would be violating his own just laws and thus lose the fear and respect of his creatures. Sin had resulted in the loss of life and so it took an unforfeited life to cancel out the effects of sin. So we read that “unless blood is poured out no forgiveness takes place,” blood standing for the life.—Heb. 9:22.

However, Jehovah God could lovingly arrange for another to pay the penalty so that those victims of Adam’s transgression could be set free. Of course, to ransom mankind such a one would have to be perfect and possess the right to life. Since not one of Adam’s offspring could do this, God offered the privilege to his only-begotten Son, who gladly accepted it. So God transferred the life of his Son from heaven to earth, to the womb of a virgin. Thus it was that Jesus was born at once human and yet with the right to life, making it possible for him to ransom the human race.—Gal. 4:4.

Fittingly, John the Baptist introduced Jesus with the words: “See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!” By his death on the torture stake Jesus Christ purchased the human race, dying for their sins, as we read: “Christ was offered once for all time to bear the sins of many.” And as Jesus himself testified: “The Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many.” Yes, “there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, a man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.”—John 1:29; Heb. 9:28; Matt. 20:28; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6.

A dead Jesus, however, could not benefit the human race. For Jesus to be able to pay the value of his sacrifice over to God’s justice and receive title to the human race, with the right to set it free from sin and death, and also to be able thus to benefit humankind, it was necessary that he be raised from the dead. This God did, but by raising Jesus as a spirit, or else his sacrifice would have been forfeited. Forty days later Jesus ascended into heaven, to present to God the value of his sacrifice.—Heb. 9:24; 1 Pet. 3:18.

THOSE BENEFITING FIRST AND HOW

The Scriptures show that two separate and distinct classes benefit from the ransom; that is, the ransom results in two kinds of destinies for those of humankind. A comparatively small number, 144,000, will inherit divine life in the heavens, and an untold great number will receive everlasting life upon earth. The smaller number are termed a “little flock,” also the “body of the Christ.” They are the ones “who have been bought from the earth,” to reign with Christ in the heavens.—Luke 12:32; Eph. 4:12; Rev. 14:1, 3; 20:6.

Ever since Pentecost these have been benefiting from Christ’s ransom. How? Upon receiving knowledge of God, his Word, his purposes and Christ’s ransom, these have exercised faith therein. As proof of their faith they have repented of their past selfish course of action, have converted or turned around to follow a course of righteousness, have dedicated themselves to do God’s will and have been baptized. On the basis of their faith and dedication and the ransom God declares these righteous, which means that while they are still in the imperfect flesh he gives them the right to human life. This they sacrifice so as to be able to accept God’s call to a heavenly reward, by means of which God recognizes them as spiritual sons.

These, having been ‘born again by the water of the truth and God’s holy spirit,’ enjoy a most precious relationship with God as his spiritual sons, all based on Christ’s ransom. God is their Father in a distinct and personal way. They have access to him in prayer, and at all times their affairs are his concern. They have the witness in their lives that they are God’s sons, while he is preparing them for life in the heavens. He “makes all his works co-operate together for the good of those who love God, those who are the ones called according to his purpose.” Of course, since the number of these is limited to 144,000 and they began to be chosen at Pentecost, 1900 years ago, it is to be expected that there would be only a few of these on earth at the present time, even as the facts show to be the case.—Rom. 8:28.

OTHERS THAT WILL BENEFIT

Christendom in general knows of only one destiny for those benefiting from Christ’s ransom, namely, heaven, but the Scriptures plainly show that most of those benefiting from Christ’s ransom will receive blessings right here upon the earth. That there would be two classes was foreshadowed on Israel’s annual day of atonement, for on it one sacrifice was made for the high priest and his family or household and another for the rest of the nation of Israel. It is also indicated by the words of the apostle John when he said that Jesus Christ “is a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins, yet not for ours only but also for the whole world’s.”—1 John 2:2; Lev. 16:6, 15.

This fact is further borne out when the Scriptures speak of some as being of the seed of Abraham and as being kings and priests reigning with Christ. Obviously, there must be those who are to be blessed by the seed of Abraham and who are subjects over whom those kings and priests are to reign. That is why Jesus not only spoke of a “little flock” and sheep from “this fold,” but also of “other sheep” that he would gather to himself.—John 10:16; Gal. 3:29.

Since the vast majority of those for whom Christ gave his life as a ransom have died, it follows that there must be a resurrection of the dead if these are to benefit from that ransom. That there will be a resurrection for all in the memorial tombs or in the memory of God, the Scriptures repeatedly state: “Do not marvel at this, because the hour is coming in which all those in the memorial tombs will hear [Jesus’] voice and come out, those who did good things to a resurrection of life, those who practiced vile things to a resurrection of judgment.” “There is going to be a resurrection of both the righteous and the unrighteous.”—John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15.

These will come forth from the tombs during the thousand-year reign of Christ and will have the opportunity to learn of Jehovah, his purposes and his will for them. As they submit to Christ’s righteous rule they will have the benefits of the ransom applied to them, thus gradually attaining to mental, moral and physical perfection. At the end of that thousand-year reign they will receive a final test. Proving faithful under it, they will reap the full benefits of Christ’s ransom, the right to everlasting life in happiness in God’s paradise earth.—Rev. 20:5, 7-9; 21:1-4.

HOW YOU MAY BENEFIT NOW

It is also possible for some, not members of the bride or body of Christ, to benefit from the ransom this side of Armageddon and God’s new world. This opportunity is open to all men of good will today. If you would be of that happy number you must take a course similar to that taken by those who become members of Christ’s body. That is, you must take in knowledge of God, his purposes, Christ’s ransom and God’s will for you and exercise faith therein. This will lead you to acknowledge before God that you were born in sin, and so a transgressor of God’s law, and it will cause you sincerely to repent of your past course of action and abandon the practice of sin and embark upon a course of righteousness by dedicating yourself to the doing of God’s will, giving public testimony of the same by being baptized in water. Taking this course of action, you will become part of the great crowd of whom it was prophetically stated:

“Look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands. And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: ‘Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ . . . ‘These are the ones that come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. . . . the Lamb, who is in the midst of the throne, will shepherd them, and will guide them to fountains of waters of life.’”—Rev. 7:9, 10, 14, 17.

Yes, you will be among those appearing righteous in God’s sight, wearing, as it were, white robes, washed in the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ. On the basis of your faith in the ransom God will forgive your sins, though not granting you the right to life at this time. Because of your faith you may also approach God in prayer and are able to serve him acceptably. As a prospective son of God you may therefore address him as “Father.” More than that, you may ask Jehovah for a measure of his holy spirit with the assurance that he will gladly give it to you.—Matt. 6:9; Luke 11:13.

By means of this holy spirit you will be able to follow a course of righteousness, but not without the additional help of God’s Word and his visible organization. By availing yourself of these you will be able to make your mind over and to put on a new personality. More than that, by reason of your having a measure of righteousness imputed to you, you are worthy of associating with the remaining ones of the body of Christ, who have had righteousness judicially imputed to them, and to share with them in the grand work that Jehovah is having done at the present time, that of ‘preaching this good news of the kingdom in all the earth for a witness to all nations.’—Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23, 24; Matt. 24:14.

But perhaps you will ask, Did not the faithful men of old have righteousness imputed to them? Did not they enjoy friendly relations with God? Did not they have the privileges of prayer and service of Jehovah and receive his holy spirit even though Christ’s ransom had not yet been provided? True. Until the paying of Christ’s ransom God imputed a measure of righteousness to his servants and granted them friendly relations on the basis of their faith, love of righteousness and the offering of animal sacrifices. Such animal sacrifices foreshadowed or pictured Christ’s ransom, but they did not afford permanent cleansing from sin, neither did they give hope of everlasting life. That is why the nation of Israel had to offer up these sacrifices year after year.—Heb. 10:1-4.

But with Jesus Christ’s coming to the earth and dying for man’s sins God provided a better, a lasting basis for forgiveness of sins and friendly relations with God and at the same time decreed that Christ’s ransom be the exclusive means. That is why Jesus said: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” “Ask . . . in my name.”—John 14:6, 13, 14.

Because we are living so near to God’s new world of righteousness, the Scriptures show that all those benefiting from the ransom now may hope to be spared by God during the coming destructive war of Armageddon that will mark the end to the present wicked system of things, even as Noah and his family were spared during the destruction of the ancient world. Thereafter those of the “great crowd” will begin to receive the physical benefits of Christ’s ransom, gradually attaining to perfection of mind and body without first having to go down into death. This means that before them lies the prospect of never dying, even as indicated by the prophetic promise: “Seek Jehovah . . . Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.”—Zeph. 2:3.

Truly, most blessed is the lot of all those who avail themselves of the benefit of Christ’s ransom now!

World Ruler Out of the “House of Bread”

“The remaining ones of Jacob must become in the midst of many peoples like dew from Jehovah . . . among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of a forest.”—Mic. 5:7, 8.

1. How must the qualities of the dew and of a lion be true of a righteous ruler in a corrupt world?

WHAT is more gentle and refreshing in its falling and forming than the dew? What is more mighty and courageous among the fierce beasts than the lion? What a contrast there is between the dew and the lion! So much so that one would hardly associate them together. Yet, for all their oppositeness, they can make a happy combination and a necessary combination. A wise and mighty king of ancient times once said: “The raging of a king is a growling like that of a maned young lion, but his good will is like the dew upon the vegetation.” (Prov. 19:12) In this corrupt world a king of righteous principles must be as courageous and fierce as a lion against the workers of wickedness. But he lets his good will and approval descend as softly and refreshingly as the dew upon his loyal subjects who are striving against wicked fellow men.

2. According to his statements in the prophecy of Hosea regarding Israel, how will mankind at last find such a needed ruler in Jehovah?

² The world of mankind needs desperately a king or ruler of that sort. Mankind will at last find such a ruler in the great King of the universe, the God who bears the distinguishing name Jehovah. In the Bible record of his faithful dealings with his chosen people while they were still in his favor, he said: “I shall become like the dew to Israel. He will blossom like the lily, and will strike his roots like [forest-covered] Lebanon.” (Hos. 14:5) When he was angry with this same people and was about to cast them off, he said: “I shall be like a young lion to Ephraim and like a maned young lion to the house of Judah. I, I myself shall tear to pieces and I shall go and carry off, and there will be no deliverer.” (Hos. 5:14; also Ho 13:7, 8) He is impartial in his justice, but is also merciful to lovers of righteousness who sincerely strive to do what is right. He has promised and arranged to give mankind a kingdom of undeviating righteousness and of mercy and tender compassion.

3. (a) With what are men preoccupied today, and what big fact about government do they therefore ignore? (b) What fact should make this government feel closer to us humans?

³ Today the nations are preoccupied solely with the government of men by men. They think that the big choice lies between democratic government of Western style and Communist government of the Eastern style, although some try to keep to the middle of the road in government policy. The politically minded people of this world never give any thought to the government of God. They ignore the greatest fact in connection with the subject of government: that the Governor of the universe, Jehovah God the Creator, has a government for the earth and its inhabitants. He has already put in power the Ruler for this perfect government over long-misruled mankind. It is not a government unable to understand and sympathize with human problems. Because of God’s appointed Ruler, this government has a close flesh-and-blood tie with us people. Hundreds of years beforehand, in a prophecy by Micah, Jehovah God foretold the very birthplace of this appointed Ruler. It is the most famous birthplace on earth. This makes it plain that the Ruler whom God appoints over mankind was himself once one of us! Once a man! That fact should make this government of God’s provision feel closer to us, more intimate to us, than a mere government by holy angels.

4. What government announcement did Jehovah make in Micah 5:2, and to whom was its fulfillment to be of importance?

⁴ Foreseeing the dire need of righteous government for oppressed mankind, Jehovah God made this government announcement through Micah (5:2): “And you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, the one too little to get to be among the thousands of Judah, from you there will come out to me the one who is to become ruler in Israel, whose origin is from early times, from the days of time indefinite.” Micah said that 350 or more years after King David of Jerusalem was born, in 1107 B.C., in Bethlehem in the tribal territory of Judah. Micah focused the attention of the entire universe upon Bethlehem as the town where a royal descendant of David would be born, who would be a permanent heir to his throne according to God’s covenant with David for an everlasting kingdom in David’s family. (2 Sam. 7:11-16; Matt. 2:4-6; John 7:41, 46) This was to be an event of importance to not only all the earth but also all heaven.

5. In keeping with the importance of the event, how was the Ruler’s birth announced, and to whom?

⁵ So it was simply in keeping with the importance of the event that, when Jesus was born as a descendant of King David in Bethlehem, his birth was announced to God-fearing shepherds by a glorious angel, who said: “Have no fear, for, look! I am declaring to you good news of a great joy that all the people will have, because there was born to you today a Savior, who is Christ the Lord, in David’s city.” After this announcement, “suddenly there came to be with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying: ‘Glory in the heights above to God, and upon earth peace among men of good will.’”—Luke 2:4-14.

6. How is it true that the origin of this Ruler is “from early times, from the days of time indefinite”?

⁶ Those very angels who thus praised God at the birth of Jesus Christ had known him up in heaven as the only-begotten, firstborn Son of God. This fact is evident from the prophecy of Micah 5:2, as it refers to Jesus as the one “whose origin is from early times, from the days of time indefinite.” So that birth in Bethlehem was not the start of him. His life had been miraculously transferred from heaven to earth, from the spirit realm to the human realm, in order that, by natural ties, he might become the everlasting heir to David’s throne over Israel. He had his “origin from early times” in heaven, from when God created him to be the “firstborn of all creation,” “the beginning of the creation by God.” (Col. 1:15; Rev. 3:14) There was no earlier time for creation’s beginning than the creation of this only-begotten Son of God. No date for this is given in God’s written Word. Thus it remains in the indefinite past for us, so that this Son of God who was to become “ruler in Israel” is “from the days of time indefinite.”

7. Such long heavenly experience with Jehovah God should result in what regarding this Ruler, and how was Bethlehem seemingly not in line for such a birth there as His?

⁷ Because of his enjoying so long a past in heavenly association with Jehovah God, what a wealth of wisdom and experience this Ruler who was born in Bethlehem would have, to become the best ruler whom God could place over mankind! And just to think that someone so great should be born in Bethlehem Ephrathah, a town so small and insignificant as not to be reckoned among the thousands or the families of the tribe of Judah! And besides being born in that unimpressive town, he was born in a stable and laid in a manger as his bassinet. (Luke 2:7, 12) But how honored Bethlehem was!

8. In David’s day, whose throne was stationed in Jerusalem, and why would it have been no real elevation for God’s Son to be put upon that throne?

⁸ In a palace on Mount Zion in Jerusalem King David sat upon a material throne called “Jehovah’s throne,” inasmuch as David was Jehovah’s representative on the throne. (1 Chron. 29:23) But Jesus Christ never sat on King David’s throne on Mount Zion, although by his birth in Bethlehem he had a natural human right to that throne. However, since Jesus was from heaven, then if he had actually been made to sit on David’s throne on Mount Zion, that would have been no real elevation for him as the Son of God. Even on David’s literal throne over Israel Jesus Christ would have been a “little lower than angels,” whereas in heaven he had been firstborn among them. (Heb. 2:9; Ps. 8:4, 5) It was a humiliation for this Son of God to have his life transferred from heaven’s glorious realm down to this earth and to be born as a human creature, even though in the royal line of David. (Phil. 2:5-9) Besides that, when he was on this earth as a man, he was greatly humiliated by the enemies of God’s kingdom.

STRUCK ON THE CHEEK

9. Whose kingdom did Jesus Christ preach, but how was his preaching misrepresented?

⁹ Constantly Jesus Christ preached of the kingdom, not David’s earthly kingdom over Israel, but God’s kingdom, “the kingdom of the heavens.” (Matt. 4:17; Mark 1:14, 15) If anyone has a right to kingship over all mankind, it is God. But for preaching God’s kingdom, which was foretold in Bible prophecies, Jesus Christ was accused of being a seditionist, an insurrectionist against the empire of the pagan Caesars of Rome. But Micah’s prophecy had indicated that Jesus the Ruler out of Bethlehem would be dishonored and mistreated.

10, 11. (a) What mistreatment for this Ruler did Micah 5:1 foretell? (b) How was this fulfilled in the case of Jesus Christ?

¹⁰ Right before telling of the Ruler’s birth in that town, Micah said to God’s organization of his people under danger of an invasion: “At this time you make cuttings upon yourself, O daughter of an invasion; a siege he has laid against us. With the rod they will strike upon the cheek the judge of Israel.” (Mic. 5:1) When Jesus Christ was on earth as a man, the rod of human authority was used to strike him insultingly upon his cheek. For preaching God’s heavenly kingdom, which he had been anointed to preach by God’s spirit, Jesus was arrested and brought before the highest religious court of Jerusalem, presided over by the high priest of Israel. Here Jesus was actually struck. Of this we read:

¹¹ “Jesus kept silent. So the high priest said to him: ‘By the living God I put you under oath to tell us whether you are the Christ the Son of God!’ Jesus said to him: ‘You yourself said it. Yet I say to you men, From henceforth you will see the Son of man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven.’ Then the high priest ripped his outer garments, saying: ‘He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of witnesses? See! Now you have heard the blasphemy. What is your opinion?’ They returned answer: ‘He is liable to death.’ Then they spit into his face and hit him with their fists. Others slapped him in the face, saying: ‘Prophesy to us, you Christ. Who is it that struck you?’”—Matt. 26:59-68.

12. How was the force of that stroke on the cheek made heavier, and whose interests were thus served by this stroke?

¹² The force of the insulting stroke on the cheek of Israel’s future judge was made heavier when the religious authorities handed Jesus over to the Roman governor and finally got their way with Pontius Pilate by having Jesus nailed on a stake to die in disgrace, like one accursed by God. (Deut. 21:22, 23; John 18:38 to 19:37) Those religious authorities of Jerusalem were thus serving the interests of the prophetic “king of the north” at that time. (Dan. 11:15, 20-22) But they could not prevail against this Jesus, who, God had decreed, should be the “judge of Israel,” “the ruler in Israel.”

13. (a) According to Peter, how did God prevent their prevailing against the future “judge of Israel”? (b) In comparison with David’s throne, to what did Jehovah elevate Jesus?

¹³ Simon Peter, who was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, said to a soldier, a centurion, in the service of Rome but on duty in Palestine: “We are witnesses of all the things [Jesus] did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem; but they also did away with him by hanging him on a stake. God raised this One up on the third day and granted him to become manifest, not to all the people, but to witnesses appointed beforehand by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after his rising from the dead. Also, he ordered us to preach to the people and to give a thorough witness that this is the One decreed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness, that everyone putting faith in him gets forgiveness of sins through his name.” (Acts 10:38-43) According to this, Jehovah God elevated Jesus Christ to a position higher than to David’s material throne on Mount Zion.

14. Thus what did Jehovah make Jesus with relation to King David?

¹⁴ Jehovah God elevated Jesus Christ to his own right hand in the heavens, to Jehovah’s literal heavenly throne. By this action he made Jesus Christ the Son of David to become the Lord over David, just as it had been foretold in Psalm 110:1, 2.—Acts 2:29-36.

15, 16. (a) What is more deserving of mention than Jesus’ human birth in Bethlehem, and how does 1914 therefore deserve to be remembered? (b) What did Psalm 2:1-9 have to say regarding the Ruler’s installation?

¹⁵ How wonderful all of this is! This made it possible for Micah’s prophecy concerning the great Ruler out of little Bethlehem to be fulfilled on a larger scale, in our own time. Fully worthy of mention in universal history was the Ruler’s human birth in Bethlehem nineteen centuries ago. Yet his coming out of a Greater Bethlehem in the capacity of an installed Ruler in the established kingdom of God in heaven is still more worthy of mention. It is an event of greater importance to the universe, and especially to mankind, whose blood and flesh the Ruler once shared. Timed by accurate Bible prophecies, this far more important event occurred in our own generation, in the year 1914. Far more than being remembered as the year when the disastrous first world war broke out, 1914 deserves rather to be remembered as the year for the end of the Gentile Times or “the appointed times of the nations” and for the birth of God’s kingdom in the heavens, as pictorially foretold in Revelation, chapter twelve. Concerning the worldly nations that then got into a tumult and concerning the kings of the earth that then took a stand against Jehovah and his newly installed Christ or Anointed One, King David long ago said prophetically, in Psalm 2:1-9:

¹⁶ “Jehovah himself will hold them in derision. At that time he will speak to them in his anger . . . , saying: ‘I, even I, have installed my king upon Zion, my holy mountain.’ Let me [the Christ] refer to the decree of Jehovah; he has said to me: ‘You are my son; I, today, I have become your father. Ask of me, that I may give nations as your inheritance and the ends of the earth as your own possession. You will break them with an iron scepter, as though a potter’s vessel you will dash them to pieces.’”

17, 18. (a) At his installation how did Jesus come out of a Greater Bethlehem? (b) According to Jesus’ own statements, what greater bread does all mankind need?

¹⁷ When the foretold Ruler was installed in the Kingdom at God’s right hand, then he came out to Jehovah God from a Bethlehem of an importance greater than that of earthly Bethlehem. The name Bethlehem means House of Bread. Ephrathah, with which Bethlehem is connected, means Fruitful; Fertility. Judah, in the territory of which Bethlehem Ephrathah was located, means [Jehovah-] Lauded. (Gen. 35:19; 29:35; 49:8) For mankind that House of Bread means much, yes, life itself. Mankind needs a minister, a ruler from that Greater House of Bread. What is needed for mankind to live is not mere bread of wheat, barley or rye. Jesus Christ himself emphasized that fact, for, at the close of his forty-day fast, he refused to make miraculous bread for himself, but repeated the words of his heavenly Father and said: “Not by bread alone does man live but by every expression of Jehovah’s mouth does man live.”—Deut. 8:3; Matt. 4:1-4.

¹⁸ When Jesus came to earth as a man he came bringing the expressions of Jehovah’s mouth, which are life-giving. Also, he said to those who came looking for perishable earthly bread: “I am the living bread that came down from heaven; if anyone eats of this bread he will live forever; and, for a fact, the bread that I shall give is my flesh in behalf of the life of the world.”—John 6:51.

19. How was it possible for Jesus to come out of a Greater House of Bread for mankind in 1914, and how do the names Ephrathah and Judah associated with Bethlehem reflect on this House of Bread?

¹⁹ When Jesus returned to heaven and reappeared in God’s presence, he presented the value of his fleshly human sacrifice in behalf of the dying race of mankind. So now, after being installed as King in 1914, Jesus could come forth from a House of Bread, a Bread Supply, that can give to all who eat of it by faith on earth everlasting life in God’s new world. The heavenly House of Bread is all-necessary for mankind. They absolutely need Jehovah’s Ruler from there. It is a fruitful place, a fertile place, as indicated by the associated name Ephrathah; and it produces and holds forth much life-sustaining fruitage. As Bethlehem Ephrathah was located in the territory of Judah, so the House of Bread is located in the holy heavens, where Jehovah is lauded by all his hosts of angels.

20. How is this Greater Bethlehem out of which Jesus Christ comes like the earthly Bethlehem in relationship to the thousands of Judah?

²⁰ Chief among those heavenly praisers of Jehovah God is the Ruler out of Bethlehem. As Ruler he will teach all his subjects on earth to praise Jehovah too. He comes forth to Jehovah God as the representative of a small group, a representative not of earthly Bethlehem but of the house of his spiritual brothers. These are the 144,000 footstep followers who become joint heirs with him in the heavenly Kingdom. (Rev. 7:4-8; 14:1, 3) Among the ten thousand times ten thousand of heavenly hosts, such a group is small indeed, almost too small to be thought worth numbering among the vast host of heavenly praisers. (Dan. 7:9, 10) Yet this small group made up of the Ruler Jesus Christ and his 144,000 joint heirs all become the most important body of people in the heavens. They become God’s capital organization over all His universal organization. They will serve in bringing the “bread of life” to mankind that is starving for eternal life. (John 6:48-50) Jesus Christ, the Ruler out of this Greater Bethlehem, will thus fulfill an important role among the countless thousands of angelic praisers of God in the heavens.

AN INDIRECT STRIKE UPON THE CHEEK

21. Among whom did Jesus Christ begin to reign in 1914, and how was it possible for him to be struck upon the cheek after that?

²¹ Nations today are not grateful for Jehovah’s provisions any more than they were when the “ruler in Israel” came out of the earthly Bethlehem nineteen centuries ago. Hence in a larger fulfillment of Micah 5:1 they have struck this “judge of Israel” upon the cheek. When? How? Not directly, of course; for Jesus Christ is now enthroned at God’s right hand in the heavens, impossible for the nations to reach even by space ships. After his kingdom was born in the heavens in 1914, he at once began ruling in the midst of his enemies. He cast Satan the Devil and his demon angels out of heaven and down to the neighborhood of our earth, never to return to the heavens of God’s holy organization. So the insulting strike upon the cheek of the heavenly “judge of Israel” took place indirectly. How? By being inflicted upon his remnant of faithful followers on earth during World War I. When Jesus sent out his twelve apostles to preach God’s kingdom he said: “He that receives you receives me also.” (Matt. 10:40) Conversely, he that turns away a disciple of Jesus when he brings the Kingdom message turns Jesus away also.

22. What principle did the King Jesus Christ state in his illustration of the sheep and the goats, and so how could a strike upon the cheek be rendered in His case?

²² In his illustration using sheep and goats to picture the judgment of the nations that is now going on, Jesus the enthroned King says to the sheep: “Truly I say to you, To the extent that you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” To the goats he says: “To the extent that you did not do it to one of these least ones, you did not do it to me.” (Matt. 25:40, 45) Hence, in these days, to strike Jesus’ remnant of spiritual brothers on the cheek in abusing the rod of authority means to strike the heavenly “ruler of Israel” on the cheek with insult.—1 Ki. 22:24; Job 16:10.

23, 24. (a) Long before 1914 what had the spiritual remnant preached regarding that year, and what was the attitude toward them on the part of Christendom’s rulers? (b) How did the Ruler out of Bethlehem take such mistreatment of the remnant?

²³ Long before 1914 the remnant of Christ’s spiritual brothers preached in the nations of Christendom that the Gentile Times would end that year and God’s kingdom by Christ would be fully set up in the heavens. This Kingdom preaching they did by distributing books, booklets, magazines and tracts and by public lectures and at last the free public showing of the Photo-Drama of Creation to great crowds. The religious leaders of Christendom were all taken up with the issues in the world war of that time. Neither they nor the warring nations had any regard for the remnant of Christ’s spiritual brothers who preached God’s kingdom as the rightful rulership of the earth now that the Gentile Times had ended in the year 1914.

²⁴ At this message the religious clergy were incensed. Martial law and fanatical, delirious patriotism furnished them an opportunity. They took advantage of it to put the faithful Kingdom preachers in a bad light before people and in a seditious cast before the militarized political governments. Like Jesus, the remnant of his brothers were insulted with the false charge of sedition, conspiracy and obstruction to national welfare. Outrageously the rod of political and judicial authority was viciously swung to strike them on the cheek, as it were, and to imprison them and put them in detention camps and to ban their literature or prohibit their religious meetings. Did this unjust, antichristian action escape the notice of the heavenly “ruler of Israel” out of Bethlehem? No! As these were his spiritual brothers and his Kingdom representatives, he took it as being done to him. To add further insult to injury, Christendom chose the League of Nations instead of Christ’s kingdom, thinking that she could fool him by calling the League of Nations “the political expression of the kingdom of God on earth.”

25. How had Jehovah foretold this in Micah 5:3, and how was this first fulfilled in the case of fleshly Israel?

²⁵ All this unchristian action in rejecting the Kingdom was permitted by Almighty God Jehovah. It served as a disciplinary experience for his remnant, who had faithful hearts. (Heb. 12:4-11) He foretold it in these words of Micah 5:3, right after telling of the coming of the “ruler in Israel” out of Bethlehem: “Therefore he will give them up until the time that she who is giving birth actually gives birth. And the rest of his brothers will return to the sons of Israel.” Of course, the ancient fulfillment of this prophecy was when the sons of fleshly Israel were, because of disobedience to Jehovah God, delivered over to the Babylonians to be taken as captives into exile far away; but after seventy years of desolation of Jerusalem and her temple a faithful remnant were delivered from Babylon and they returned to their homeland to give a rebirth to their nation and to Jehovah’s temple worship. It was as if God’s visible organization on earth, Zion, had given birth to a new Israelite nation. (Isa. 66:7, 8) Similarly with spiritual Israel!

26. How was Micah 5:3 fulfilled in the case of spiritual Israel in 1918 and 1919?

²⁶ Especially in 1918, the climactic year of World War I, the remnant were besieged by rabid religious assailants. They were overwhelmed and taken into bondage and captivity to the worldly organizations at war. This compared with Israel’s Babylonian captivity, while their capital city Jerusalem lay desolate. Because Jehovah God had adopted these dedicated, baptized members of the remnant as his spiritual children, they could say, as did the apostle Paul long ago: “But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.” (Gal. 4:26) The spiritual children of the “Jerusalem above” ought to be free just as their heavenly mother is, and not be exiled slaves of modern-day Babylon. So Jehovah God the heavenly Father caused his “woman,” the Jerusalem above, to give birth in the first postwar year, 1919. He broke the power of the Babylonish captivity. He freed his loyal remnant from their bondage of fear, so that they returned to their proper relationship with him as spiritual “sons of Israel.” Not only did they get free from the many limitations imposed upon free speech, action and worship by a world at war, but they broke out of their bondage to the fear of men.—Prov. 29:25.

27. Thus what spiritual birth was there in 1919, and into what did the world war of 1939-1945 fail to bring the remnant?

²⁷ In fulfillment of Matthew 24:14 they renewed their organized work of boldly preaching the “good news of the kingdom.” It was as if their heavenly mother, “the Jerusalem above,” had given birth in 1919 and had brought forth a new nation, a free spiritual nation, in the land of Jehovah’s worship. Since then the remnant have never again yielded to fear and self-surrender to Babylonian bondage, even during the much worse world war of 1939-1945.

28. What was to be expected regarding such a spiritual birth as regards the nations and peoples among whom it occurred?

²⁸ We would not expect this deliverance and birth of a new spiritual nation in the midst of peoples and nations of this world to occur without important notable effects upon those peoples and nations. How was this surprising, totally unexpected birth of a delivered, restored spiritual nation going to affect such peoples and nations? In a way commanding world attention. Let us see!

Like Dew from God and like a Lion Among Nations

1. Who was the ruler of this spiritual nation born in 1919, and how did the Watch Tower magazine then call attention to this?

WHO was the ruler of the spiritual nation that was born in 1919 for postwar service on earth? Not the president of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, even though the remnant of spiritual Israel do make use of this Society and cooperate with it down to this day. The Ruler out of Bethlehem, the enthroned King Jesus Christ, was their heavenly, invisible King. As the Watch Tower magazine, under date of September 15, 1919, said to its dedicated readers in its article “Announcing the Kingdom” (page 281):

You are an ambassador of the King of kings and Lord of lords, announcing to the people in this dignified manner the incoming of the Golden Age, the glorious kingdom of our Lord and Master, for which true Christians have hoped and prayed for many centuries.

2. In 1919 what did the remnant have evidence enough to prove concerning Jesus Christ, and how was their deliverance that year foreshadowed in 537 B.C. regarding the Jewish remnant?

² The spiritual remnant that survived World War I had Bible chronological evidence as well as circumstantial evidence in fulfilled Bible prophecy that Jesus Christ had returned as he had promised, and that he was invisibly present in the glory of kingly office in which Jehovah God inducted him in 1914. Jesus was the one whom Jehovah God had used to bring about their deliverance from Babylonish bondage in 1919, just as Jehovah had used the Persian emperor, Cyrus the Great, to free the faithful Jewish remnant from captivity in Babylon in 537 B.C.—Isa. 44:26 to 45:7.

3. How was the Lord Jesus Christ like David in tending his liberated remnant of sheep?

³ The heavenly Ruler out of Bethlehem, the Lord Jesus Christ, began tending his liberated remnant of dedicated followers in a loving way, just as David used to tend his flock as a boy at Bethlehem. Jesus is true to his words spoken when he was still on earth: “I am the fine shepherd, and I know my sheep and my sheep know me.” (John 10:14) He does his shepherding of his sheep on earth with a royal dignity and with strength. Pointing forward to the benefits of his shepherdlike work as a Ruler, Micah 5:4, 5 says: “And he will certainly stand and do shepherding in the strength of Jehovah, in the superiority of the name of Jehovah his God. And they will certainly keep dwelling, for now he will be great as far as the ends of the earth. And this one must become peace.”

4. How, since 1914, does he do shepherding work in a twofold way, and in what strength?

⁴ In 1914 Jesus Christ stood up as King, and his second presence, an invisible presence in the spirit, began with respect to his realm, this earth. He entered into a shepherding work in a twofold way, toward his small flock of persecuted followers on earth and toward the persecutor nations, who figuratively strike him with a rod upon the cheek. (Mic. 5:1) Those nations who reject him as King and who try to destroy the remnant preaching his kingdom he must feed with destruction. Hence concerning the birth of the kingdom in which he is God’s anointed Ruler Revelation 12:5 says: “And she [God’s heavenly organization] gave birth to a son, a male, who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod. And her child was caught away to God and to his throne.” In shepherding all the nations with an iron rod he will dash all of them to pieces as though they were earthenware vessels. (Ps. 2:8, 9; Rev. 2:26, 27) This takes strength. But the Ruler out of Bethlehem has strength from Jehovah; “strength belongs to God.” (Ps. 62:11) With this same strength he shepherds his small flock, his faithful remnant on earth.

5. Why does he do shepherding in the name of someone else?

⁵ He knows that the sheep really do not belong to him, even though he surrendered his soul for them as a fine shepherd. They belong to his heavenly Father. This is why the prophecy says that the Ruler out of Bethlehem does “shepherding . . . in the superiority of the name of Jehovah his God.” He shepherds in the name of the real Owner of the sheep, Jehovah his God. In what better name can he serve? The name of Jehovah is the superior name, the greatest name in the universe. The name of Jesus Christ ranks second to that of the Most High God, Jehovah.

6. Where do his sheep keep dwelling, and what does the Shepherd’s care for them mean?

⁶ The Ruler out of Bethlehem is thus in the royal service of the greatest One in heaven and earth. What dignity that adds to him! What responsibility! It is nothing surprising, then, that Micah 5:4 says concerning his sheep as in contrast with enemy nations: “And they will certainly keep dwelling.” Never again will they be uprooted from the “land” to which they have been restored from Babylonian bondage, the land of their peaceful, harmonious, family relationship with Jehovah God. Here in this spiritual land they enjoy the shepherdlike services of his Ruler out of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ. This means proper spiritual food for them, protection for them and faithful leadership in God’s service for them.

7. What is the effect or it that the Shepherd Ruler “will be great as far as the ends of the earth”?

⁷ In whatever part of the earth any of the restored remnant of spiritual sheep may be found, they have the fine shepherding of the Ruler out of Bethlehem. The reason for this is as stated: “For now he will be great as far as the ends of the earth.” He has acted on Jehovah’s own invitation of Psalm 2:8, and Jehovah has given him the ends of the earth as his own possession. All the enemy nations are trying to hold onto their national sovereignty in defiance of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty. Shortly they will have to give way to the Shepherd Ruler out of Bethlehem. Then his kingdom, like a great mountain, will fill the whole earth. Under his kingdom all the sheeplike inhabitants of the earth will dwell peacefully forever.

8. What is the peace referred to when Micah 5:5 says: “This one must become peace”?

⁸ The Ruler out of the Greater House of Bread makes peace between God and men by the power of his human sacrifice nineteen centuries ago. (Rom. 5:1; Eph. 2:14) However, when Micah 5:5 prophesied: “And this one must become peace,” Micah referred to another sort of peace, that of being kept in peace and prosperity despite a formidable attacking foe. In Micah’s day, in the eighth century B.C.E., that enemy was the aggressive world power to the north of Israel, namely, Assyria, in the northern part of the Mesopotamian valley.

9, 10. How did the Assyrian world power rage as a lion toward Israel and its capital Samaria, and Judah’s capital Jerusalem, but how was the Assyrian sent back to his lair?

⁹ In Micah’s own lifetime the Assyrian world power destroyed the ten-tribe kingdom of Israel with its capital in Samaria in 740 B.C.E. Eight years later, in the fourteenth year of the reign of King Hezekiah, who sat on David’s throne, the holy city of Jerusalem was threatened with capture or destruction by the haughty Assyrian emperor, Sennacherib. That was in 732 B.C.E. Storming forth from his capital Nineveh, Sennacherib raged like a lion through the Middle East. But Jehovah’s angel answered the prayers of his representative on “Jehovah’s throne,” King Hezekiah. In one night the angel struck dead 185,000 troops of the Assyrian Sennacherib and sent him scurrying back to his lion’s den, Nineveh, where, in course of time, he was murdered. Using the Assyrian aggressor out of the north as an illustration for our day, Micah 5:5, 6 says:

¹⁰ “And this one [the Ruler out of Bethlehem] must become peace. As for the Assyrian, when he comes into our land and when he treads upon our dwelling towers, we shall also have to raise up against him seven shepherds, yes, eight dukes of mankind. And they will actually shepherd the land of Assyria with the sword, and the land of Nimrod in its entrances. And he will certainly bring about deliverance from the Assyrian, when he comes into our land and when he treads upon our territory.”

11. (a) To whom does Ezekiel liken the one whom the Assyrian aggressor serves? (b) Who has taken on the role of “king of the north” since World War II, but who served in that role before the war?

¹¹ The ancient Assyrian aggressor was a servant of Satan the Devil. In Ezekiel’s prophecy, chapters thirty-eight and thirty-nine, Satan the Devil is pictured as the greedy, aggressive Gog of Magog, who also comes out of the far north. Satan the Devil is invisible, he being the wicked spirit who is the “ruler of this world,” “the god of this system of things.” (John 12:31; 2 Cor. 4:4) But prominently representing Satan the Devil in the earth today is the aggressive, totalitarian bloc of nations whom Daniel’s prophecy, chapter eleven, foretells as the “king of the north.” Since World War II the aggressive Communist bloc led by Red Russia has taken on the role of this prophetic “king of the north.” In its godlessness, its greed for empire, its dictatorialness it threatens not only Christendom but especially Jehovah’s remnant of spiritual Israel (or Jacob) and all who associate with them. Before World War II the role of “king of the north” was played by the Nazi-Fascist bloc. As “king of the north” this bloc acted rather in defense of the Roman Catholic section of Christendom, and for the establishment again of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. But even in that Nazi-Fascist guise the “king of the north” was viciously against Jehovah’s witnesses within his domains and tried to destroy them.

12. How did the prewar “king of the north” act like the Assyrian in invading the land of Jehovah’s people?

¹² Like the ancient Assyrian invader, the modern-day “king of the north” invaded the territory of Jehovah’s people at the time that Hitler rose to power in Germany in January of 1933. Just then not many sheeplike companions were associated with the spiritual remnant, then known as Jehovah’s witnesses less than two years. At the same time with Hitler, Catholic Action began to rage against Jehovah’s witnesses in America in particular, where the Watch Tower Society has its headquarters. This time the remnant of Jehovah’s anointed witnesses did not retreat as during World War I.

SEVEN SHEPHERDS, EIGHT DUKES

13. In what way did the remnant raise up “seven shepherds” against the invading Assyrian?

¹³ Micah said that the remnant themselves would go on the offensive, taking the initiative against the political-religious servants of Gog of Magog, Satan the Devil. Since 1919 Jehovah had put visible shepherds over his people, spiritual shepherds, to whom he had entrusted his flock of dedicated sheep. So, instead of yielding to the devilish encroachments of the modern-day Assyrian invader, the remnant of spiritual Israel raised up against him “seven shepherds.” This meant the full number of their spiritual shepherds, the number seven in the Bible symbolizing perfection, completeness, chiefly in a spiritual way. Under the impact of opposing forces many witnesses of Jehovah fell in death.

14. How does Micah’s prophecy show whether, as the battle kept raging against the Assyrian aggressor, there was a decrease in the number whom the remnant put up in opposition?

¹⁴ As the battle continued to rage against the totalitarian aggressor, first from the Nazi-Fascist-Catholic Action camp, was there a decrease in the number of those put up in defense to halt the totalitarian aggressor against Jehovah’s pure worship and to carry the battle back into his own land? No, says Micah’s prophecy. Jehovah’s remnant would raise up even better than “seven shepherds”; they would raise up “eight dukes of mankind,” even apart from the fact that the Ruler out of Bethlehem, Jesus Christ, is invisibly doing shepherd work among the remnant in the name of Jehovah his God. So Micah’s prophecy intensifies the lower number “seven” by means of using right afterward the higher number “eight,” to show that there was a considerable number, and that there was no decrease in shepherds or dukes, which means dedicated men taking the lead.—Compare Ecclesiastes 11:2.

15. What change in identity of the “king of the north” did World War II work, and what has been done to halt his aggressions against pure theocratic worship?

¹⁵ The battle against the modern-day Assyrian aggressor under the unseen leadership of Gog of Magog has continued beyond the end of World War II in 1945. In that war the “king of the north” under the cloak of Nazism and Fascism was defeated. But Catholic Action has remained, and it is still a partner of the “king of the north.” Since the end of World War II Catholic Action has on its side against Jehovah’s spiritual remnant the “king of the north” in a new guise, that of the totalitarian Communist world imperialists. Against these the remnant raise up and put forward into action the courageous spiritual shepherds, the spiritual dukes of God’s sheep, to halt all encroachments upon the pure theocratic worship of Jehovah and the proclamation of his Kingdom message.

16. How have they shepherded the symbolic Assyria, the land of Nimrod, with the sword and in its entrances?

¹⁶ Have they been shepherding the modern-day “land of Assyria” with the sword, or the symbolic “land of Nimrod,” as Assyria is also called, “in its entrances”? Yes, with the “sword of the spirit, that is, God’s word,” the Bible. (Eph. 6:17) The totalitarian Communist “king of the north” has not intimidated them any more than had the Nazi-Fascist-Catholic Action combine. Since World War II Jehovah’s witnesses have moved out from their activity in sixty-nine lands into one hundred and eighty-five lands today. Their activity and organization continue to expand even behind the Iron Curtain and under dictatorial governments, brandishing the swordlike Word of God in more than one hundred and fifty languages.

17. Why must the fight still go on, and with what mental outlook?

¹⁷ The final assault of the modern-day Assyrian has not yet taken place. The fight must still go on, with no thought of defeat but with the assurance of victory. The swordlike Word of God must keep on spreading. The total assault by the satanic Gog of Magog has not taken place, in which he will use his modern Assyrian aggressor in a supreme effort against those who staunchly stand by the Ruler out of Bethlehem as the rightful Ruler of all the earth and who therefore boldly preach the good news of God’s established kingdom.

18. When will final deliverance be wrought by the Ruler out of Bethlehem?

¹⁸ The Ruler out of Bethlehem has already wrought marvelous deliverances of the worshipers of his God Jehovah. The greatest deliverance, the complete deliverance, is yet to come. That will be when the modern Assyrian joins Gog of Magog in his final, total assault with everything that he has, visible and invisible, against the organization of Jehovah’s worshipers. Then this Assyrian will prove to be no better than overconfident Sennacherib of old time.

19. At that time, with whom besides the Assyrian aggressor will the Ruler out of Bethlehem deal, and with what action?

¹⁹ From His heavenly battle position the Ruler out of Bethlehem strikes down the Assyrian assailant and all his hordes in the battle of Armageddon, the “war of the great day of God the Almighty.” Not merely that, but he will bind the unseen forces behind the Assyrian aggressor, Satan the Devil and all his demons. He will pitch them into the abyss of deathlike inaction and helplessness for the thousand years of his blessed reign over mankind.

REINFORCEMENTS

20, 21. (a) Are the remnant engrossed solely in pushing the offensive against the strongholds of totalitarianism? (b) So when is Micah 5:7 concerning the dew fulfilled?

²⁰ In the meantime the remnant of spiritual Israel (or Jacob) do not engross themselves entirely in pushing the offensive against the strongholds of totalitarianism as it wickedly attempts to wipe out Jehovah’s pure worship from the earth. According to their commission from their God they have the most constructive work to do of any work that is being done on earth today.

²¹ After telling of their successfully resisting the aggressive enemy and turning the tide of battle back into his own country, the prophet Micah (5:7) says: “And the remaining ones of Jacoba must become in the midst of many peoples like dew from Jehovah, like copious showers upon vegetation, that does not hope for man or wait for the sons of earthling man.” This prophecy does not apply to the remnant of spiritual Israel (or Jacob) first in the righteous new world after the remnant have survived the battle of Armageddon, as was once believed.b It is being fulfilled now, and has been under fulfillment since the remnant’s deliverance in 1919.

22. With respect to the land of ancient Israel, why is the use of the figure “dew” very fitting?

²² The land of ancient Israel was heavily dependent upon the dew from Jehovah as well as upon the rains. The rains came during their winter season, from the month of October through March, so that there were the autumn rains and the spring rains. (Joel 2:23; Jas. 5:7) From April and into September there was a period of continuous rainlessness. The land would go completely dry and the vegetation would become utterly parched were it not for the heavy dews that fell at night, in the cool of the day. The dew formed and soaked the vegetation during the months of April and May and August and September. None is mentioned as occurring during June and July.

23. What scriptures remark upon the heaviness of the fall of dew?

²³ The dew thus served to save the crops. This, in turn, saved lives and made for plenty and prosperity in an agricultural country. So heavy were the dews that once when Judge Gideon put a sheep fleece upon the ground at night to test Jehovah God as the Dew Maker, the next morning “he got to drain off enough dew from the fleece to fill a large banquet bowl with water.” (Judg. 6:38) When the Shulammite girl’s shepherd lover came through the night to visit her, he said: “My head is filled with dew, the locks of my hair with the drops of the night.”—Cant. 5:2; 6:13.

24. (a) What was indicated by the withholding of the giving of dew upon the land of Israel? (b) So, in what way were the remnant of spiritual Israel to be like dew from Jehovah?

²⁴ When God cursed the land of Israel in the days of King Ahab, the prophet Elijah said: “There will occur during these years neither dew nor rain, except at the order of my word!” (1 Ki. 17:1) When Jehovah cursed the land because its inhabitants failed to rebuild his temple at Jerusalem, he said to them: “Over you the heavens kept back their dew, and the earth itself kept back its yield. And I kept calling for dryness upon the earth.” (Hag. 1:10, 11) When he promised to bless the remnant for rebuilding his temple, Jehovah said: “The earth itself will give its yield, and the heavens themselves will give their dew.” (Zech. 8:12) He is, as it were, the “father for the rain” and gives “birth to the dewdrops.” (Job 38:28) So when Micah foretold that the remnant of spiritual Israel (or Jacob) would be like dew from Jehovah, he meant that they would be a blessing from God to the people, in a time of continuous heat.

25, 26. (a) In what way is it a hot time for the nations, and who are the ones that receive the refreshment during this time? (b) How do the remnant spread symbolic dew upon these, and how does this differ from the modern means of warfare?

²⁵ This is a hot time for the worldly nations. Not that they are continually having a “hot war,” but the heat of Jehovah’s indignation, denunciation and wrath is against them for their opposition to his kingdom by Christ that they show by hating and persecuting His witnesses. Hence only those persons who accept the Kingdom witness now being given and who turn to it as mankind’s only hope receive refreshment from the spiritual remnant. They look upon these as a dew of blessing from Jehovah God.

²⁶ Among these the remnant spread the dew of God’s truth—O so gently! It is as the prophet Moses said: “My saying will trickle as the dew, as gentle rains upon grass and as copious showers upon vegetation. For I shall declare the name of Jehovah.” (Deut. 32:2, 3) O how refreshing this is to the people who are parched with thirst for God’s favor and kingdom! How life-giving it is, for this dew is really the “word of life”! (Phil. 2:16) It is no deadly fallout from the explosion of lethal atomic bombs or hydrogen bombs or the pouring out of poison gases and bacteriological doses. This life-giving dew from God results in the goodness and pleasantness of brotherly unity and peace. “It is,” says Psalm 133:3, “like the dew of Hermon that is descending upon the mountains of Zion. For there Jehovah commanded the blessing to be, even life to time indefinite.”

27. What responsive action do these take, and like what do they themselves become, and to what extent?

²⁷ The sheeplike peoples who gratefully accept the spiritual remnant as “dew from Jehovah” are revived. Their thirst for truth, righteousness and a perfect government is satisfied. They dedicate themselves to Jehovah God the great Dew Maker and Rain Maker. Then they join these “remaining ones of Jacob” in extending the “word of life” to others. In doing so they themselves become like drops of dew to other parched ones throughout the earth. Since there is an unnumbered “great crowd” of sheeplike persons who are doing this, they are becoming innumerable, like the dewdrops.—2 Sam. 17:11, 12.

28. How, then, do they share in fulfilling Psalm 110:3?

²⁸ In their hundreds of thousands today they have become as reinforcements to the spiritual remnant in proclaiming the Kingdom. They willingly offer themselves as the remnant have done in this day when Jehovah’s enthroned King rules in the midst of his enemies. In beautiful description of this, Psalm 110:3 says to Jehovah’s King: “Your people will offer themselves willingly on the day of your military force. In the splendors of holiness, from the womb of the dawn, you have your company of young men just like dewdrops [for number].”

29. (a) Till when must this life-giving work go on, and how? (b) What quality do we have to exercise now in doing this work, and when will we specially need to exercise it?

²⁹ Until the rising heat of Jehovah’s anger flames forth in the fire of the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” and devours all the foes of his kingdom by Christ, this refreshing life-giving work with the “word of life” must go on, as we invite the people to the symbolic “river of water of life,” saying: “‘Come!’ And let anyone thirsting come; let anyone that wishes take life’s water free.” (Rev. 22:17) But in these days of international hatred and opposition this work that turns away the heat of God’s anger from sheeplike converts requires courage. So let us remember that this is the day of the anointed King’s military force. He faces the gathering armies of the nations who are being gathered by Gog of Magog, Satan the Devil, to the battlefield called Armageddon. (Rev. 16:14, 16) The final assault of the modern-day Assyrian under Gog of Magog will without fail be launched, when Almighty God permits it. Then we shall enter into a most trialsome test of faith and devotion. We must have courage now, but what about then? We will have courage then.

30. How is Micah 5:8, 9 an assurance of our having courage then?

³⁰ Micah 5:8, 9 is our assurance of this, in that it says: “And the remaining ones of Jacob [or Israel] must become among the nations, in the midst of many peoples, like a lion among the beasts of a forest, like a maned young lion among droves of sheep, which, when it actually passes through, certainly both tramples down and tears in pieces; and there is no deliverer. Your hand will be high above your adversaries, and all enemies of yours will be cut off.”

31. (a) How is the Ruler out of Bethlehem a match for the lionlike Assyrian aggressor? (b) How have Jehovah’s people since 1919 been like a lion among nations, and how must we keep our hearts in the future?

³¹ The modern-day totalitarian “Assyrian” comes from the lions’ capital prefigured by ancient Nineveh. (Nah. 2:11, 12) But our Leader is the Ruler out of Bethlehem, the King greater than David, who, as a shepherd boy, slew a lion with Jehovah’s help. (1 Sam. 17:34-37) He is himself the “Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David,” and knows no fear. (Rev. 5:5) Since 1919 the remnant or “remaining ones” of spiritual Israel have been like a lion among nations. They have fearlessly obeyed Jehovah’s command through his Christ and have preached ‘this good news of His established kingdom in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations.’ They have been undaunted by the hatred, opposition and persecution from both the prophetic “king of the north” and the “king of the south.” (Dan. 11:40-45) The hundreds of thousands of dedicated, baptized companions out of all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues have likewise displayed lionlike courage and fearlessness by the spirit of Jehovah. In the future let our hearts never quail with fear at the maneuvers and the numbers of our ferocious enemies.

32. (a) For whom will the “day of Jehovah” be fear-inspiring? (b) According to Micah 5:9, what beckons us onward, and in moving onward what shall we still more become like?

³² As we enter shortly into the great day of Jehovah, it will be fear-inspiring for only our foes, because Jehovah’s execution of His judgment of destruction will be against them, not against us. His hand will be high in triumph above his adversaries, and all these enemies of His will be cut off. That means too that the hand of the fearless remnant and their companions will then be high in victory above our adversaries, and all these enemies of ours will be cut off. Victory beckons us onward in the further Kingdom ministry that lies before us in all the nations under the leadership of the “Lion that is of the tribe of Judah.” “Follow me,” he says. By following him we shall become still more innumerable, like the dewdrops, and be a refreshing blessing from Jehovah God among many peoples for their everlasting life in His righteous new world.

[Footnotes]

Spiritual Prosperity in Colombia

● The press of the United States, and particularly the Protestant press, has had much to say about the persecution of non-Catholics in the strongly Catholic country of Colombia. However, in spite of how strongly Catholic the people of Colombia may be, there are many of them sincerely hungering for the truth about Jehovah God, his Word and kingdom, as the following figures show:

At the last celebration of the Lord’s supper or evening meal, 7,700 were present in Colombia, or three persons of good will for every Witness. At the weekly Bible study of The Watchtower the attendance is 150 percent of the number of Witnesses in the country, or one person of good will for every two Witnesses, taking for granted that all the Witnesses attend every Watchtower study. As for increase in the number of Witnesses: in 1945 there were two in all Colombia, in 1961 a peak of 2,013. During the past ten years there has been an increase of from 11 to as much as 51 percent in a year. Truly there is spiritual prosperity in Colombia among the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses.

“Man” in the Hebrew Scriptures

HOW does God view man? His Word tells us: “Look! The nations are as a drop from a bucket; and as the film of dust on the scales they have been accounted. . . . There is One who is dwelling above the circle of the earth, the dwellers in which are as grasshoppers.”—Isa. 40:15, 22.

Truly, when we consider the matchless Personality, the glorious Person, the exalted position, the eternal existence and the sovereign authority of Jehovah God, the Creator, we must marvel as did the psalmist that He takes note of us.—Ps. 144:3.

Scriptural expressions such as these, showing how God views man, might be multiplied, but our interest at this time is in a certain unique way by which he also reveals this truth to us. And how is that? By the different words used in the Hebrew Scriptures in referring to man.

In the English language “man” simply means man. But in Hebrew a number of different words are used, each viewing man from a certain standpoint. Of these, the four main ones are ish, meaning simply man; adám, meaning human or earthling; enósh, meaning weak or mortal; and geber, meaning a physically strong or able-bodied man.

Many translators ignore the different shades of meaning that these words have, but when we once become aware of them we are struck with the care that the Hebrew Scripture writers time and again exercised in choosing just the right word when they wanted to make a point. For example, most translations render Psalm 8:4 quite like the Revised Standard Version does: “What is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?” Now the Hebrew word most logically translated “man” is ish, but in writing this psalm David did not use ish in either instance. He was making a contrast between Jehovah God the Creator and his creature, mere man, and so he wrote: “What is enósh . . . and adám?” Or, as rendered by the New World Translation, one of the few English translations doing justice to these fine shades of meaning: “What is mortal man that you keep him in mind, and the son of earthling man that you take care of him?” Yes, compared with the almighty, immortal, divine Spirit, what is this weak mortal creature made of earth, that He should take account of him?

“ISH” AND “ISHSHÁH”

Ish, together with its plural form anashím (which at times also serves as the plural of enósh), has primarily the thought of “man,” or a person, an individual. It has no such overtones as human, mortal or able-bodied, although inherent in it is the thought of strength as of a male. The word ish does not appear in the Scriptures until after the word for woman, ishsháh—a man with a womb—appears, for in the strictest sense of the word only then did an ish become apparent; before that he was called the human, adám. When in the Hebrew Scriptures man is mentioned in relation to woman or sexual intercourse, invariably ish is used, some seventy times in all, although the word for “male” is zakhár and occurs seventy-nine times from Genesis 1:27 onward. Typical is Leviticus, chapter 20, dealing with God’s law regarding sex relations.

Ish, with its emphasis on the person, the individual, is the choice of Bible writers when writing about a “man of God,” and a “man of discernment.” When Nathan confronted King David with his sin, Nathan used this word. Did he say, “You yourself are the”—mortal? human? able-bodied man? No, but, “You yourself are [the one] the man!”—Josh. 14:6; Prov. 10:23; 2 Sam. 12:7.

There are times when the other words for “man” simply would not be appropriate. Thus when the psalmist foretold that the names of those of the body of Christ who gain heavenly glory would be known he could use only ish. “‘Each and every one was born in her.’ . . . Jehovah himself will declare, when recording the peoples: ‘This is one who was born there.’” Also Moses, when exulting over Jehovah’s victory at the Red Sea, could not have referred to Jehovah as a weak mortal or a human earthling, and so had to use ish to convey his thought, even as rendered in the New World Translation: “Jehovah is a manly person of war.”—Ps. 87:5, 6; Ex. 15:3.

“ADÁM”

Adám, the human, the earthling, is the choice whenever Hebrew Scripture writers make reference to the creation of man: “I myself have made the earth and have created even man [the human] upon it.” Adám does not denote maleness any more than human does, and so we read that Adam, that is, the human, earthling man, called the first human pair, the ish and ishsháh, the man and the woman.—Isa. 45:12; Gen. 5:1, 2; 6:7; Deut. 4:32; Eccl. 7:29.

Adám, the human, is almost without exception also the word preferred when man is mentioned in the same breath with the lower animals or beasts. This coupling appears in the accounts of creation, the Deluge, the plagues of Egypt and the seventy-year desolation. The psalmist praises Jehovah God for preserving both adám (human) and beast. And it is the human that is shown to be like the beast by the Congregator: “For there is an eventuality as respects the sons of mankind [adám] and an eventuality as respects the beast, and they have the same eventuality. As the one dies, so the other dies; and they all have but one spirit, so that there is no superiority of the man [human, adám] over the beast, for everything is vanity.”—Gen. 1:26; 6:7; Ex. 8:17; Jer. 33:10; Ps. 36:6; Eccl. 3:19-21.

Fittingly, adám, the earthling, human, is also the choice when speaking of the general characteristics of humankind: “The inclination of the heart of man is bad from his youth up.” “There is no man that does not sin.” “Man, born of woman, is short-lived and glutted with agitation.” “Surely every earthling man . . . is nothing but an exhalation,” a breath. “There is no man having power over the spirit to restrain the spirit,” that is, to keep from dying. “I well know, O Jehovah, that to earthling man his way does not belong. It does not belong to man [ish, to one] who is walking even to direct his step.”—Gen. 8:21; 1 Ki. 8:46; Job 14:1; Ps. 39:5; Eccl. 8:8; Jer. 10:23.

Even as adám sets man apart from the lower animals, so it also calls attention to man’s inferiority to the Creator, Jehovah God. Thus Moses was told that no human could see God and live. Samuel was reminded that a human can see only the outside, but God can see the heart. David prayed that he might not fall into human hands but into God’s hands, for having numbered the fighting men of his nation presumptuously. The temple of Solomon, David said, was to be built, not for humans, but for God. Jehoshaphat counseled the judges to remember that they were judging, not for humans, but for God. Elihu refused to give flattering titles to mere humans.—Ex. 33:20; 1 Sam. 16:7; 1 Chron. 21:13; 29:1; 2 Chron. 19:6; Job 32:21.

The psalmist twice asked why the great Creator should take note of mere humans; also, he said that, though certain ones were “gods,” they would die like earthling man. The fear of humans brings a snare, but he that trusts in Jehovah will be safe. Why go down to Egypt for help? The Egyptians are not spirits but mere humans, earthlings. And to highlight the seriousness of the selfishness of the priests in Malachi’s day, God asked: “Will earthling man rob God?”—Ps. 8:4; 144:3; 82:7; Prov. 29:25; Isa. 31:3; Mal. 3:8.

“ENÓSH”

The thought behind enósh, weak or mortal, shows, for one thing, that the Hebrew Scripture writers had no illusions about man’s being immortal. How could they, since they received their “theology,” not from pagan sources, but from God himself, who made plain man’s mortal nature both by warning him of death in the event he sinned and by sentencing him, after he had sinned, to return to the dust from which man had been taken.—Gen. 2:17; 3:19.

Enósh always has an unfavorable connotation and, therefore, is never used in a complimentary sense. Fittingly, it is frequently coupled with adám, human, when man is contrasted with his immortal Maker, Jehovah God. Psalms 8:4 and Ps 144:3 are typical of this coupling of enósh with adám when contrasting man with God. Thus also Moses wrote: “You make mortal man [enósh] go back to crushed matter, and you say: ‘Go back, you sons of men [adám].’” Because of the wickedness of man God warned that he would make ‘enósh scarcer than refined gold and adám scarcer than the gold of Ophir.’ Putting both enósh and adám in their places are the words of Jehovah to Isaiah: “I myself am the One that is comforting you people. Who are you that you should be afraid of a mortal man [enósh] that will die, and of a son of mankind [adám] that will be rendered as mere green grass? And that you should forget Jehovah your Maker, the One stretching out the heavens and laying the foundation of the earth.”—Ps. 90:3; Isa. 13:12; 51:12, 13.

Particularly in the book of Job, which features God’s sovereignty in contrast to man’s puniness, is enósh a favorite term when making this point: “How can mortal man be in the right in a case with God?” “What is mortal man that you should rear him, and that you should set your heart upon him?” “Do you [Jehovah] have eyes of flesh, or is it as a mortal man sees that you see? Are your days like the days of mortal man, or your years just like the days of an able-bodied man?” “As one trifles with mortal man will you trifle with [God]? “ “God is much more than mortal man.”—Job 9:2; 7:17; 10:4, 5; 13:9; 33:12.

From his prayers we can see that David had a like keen appreciation: “Do arise, O Jehovah! Let not mortal man prove superior in strength.” “Judge the fatherless boy and the crushed one, that mortal man who is of the earth may no more cause trembling.” “As for mortal man, his days are like those of green grass.”—Ps. 9:19; 10:18; 103:15.

“GEBER”

The term geber means one able-bodied, well-developed, physically strong, that is, a mighty one in the case of a man. While it has complimentary implications, the way it is used by the Hebrew Scripture writers keeps man cognizant of his inferior relationship to his Maker, Jehovah God. Thus we find that, when at last Jehovah God called patient Job to account because of his mistaken view of things, God twice addressed Job, not as a mere ish, a mere adám or a mere enósh, but he used the term geber: “Gird up your loins, please, like an able-bodied man, and let me question you, and you inform me,” since you were so sure of yourself as not to justify me! How fitting!—Job 38:3; 40:7.

Pharaoh, when beginning to yield under the impact of the plagues, at first only granted permission for the able-bodied men to go into the wilderness to worship. And when the Israelites finally left Egypt we read that 600,000 able-bodied men, above twenty years old and able to fight, left Egypt together with their little ones.—Ex. 10:11; 12:37.

Because an able-bodied man is inclined to be “self-assuming,” trusting in his own strength, he is repeatedly singled out for reminders of the folly of such a mental attitude: “Here is the able-bodied man that does not put God as his fortress.” “What able-bodied man is there alive who will not see death?” “An able-bodied man dies and lies vanquished.” Yes, “cursed is the able-bodied man who puts his trust,” not in Jehovah, but in what is, after all, a mere “earthling man [adám].”—Hab. 2:5; Ps. 52:7; 89:48; Job 14:10; Jer. 17:5.

Geber is frequently used to drive home a point by way of contrast. Thus the psalmist complains: “I have become like an able-bodied man without strength.” It would not have made much of a point had he said he became like a weak mortal, an enósh, because such a one does not have strength to begin with! Making the same point, Solomon observed that it is not good that “an able-bodied man should transgress over a mere piece of bread.” There might be an excuse for an enósh to do so, but certainly not a geber. The bad news he received caused Jeremiah’s bones to shake like “an able-bodied man whom wine has overcome,” hence a violent shaking. He also stressed the wretchedness of the men of Israel by employing this term: “Why is it that I have seen every able-bodied man with his hands upon his loins like a female that is giving birth, and all faces have turned pale?” Yes, this was serious when even able-bodied men, not mere enósh or weak mortals, were affected in this way!—Ps. 88:4; Prov. 28:21; Jer. 23:9; 30:6.

Logically we are told that “one wise in strength is,” not an adám, ish or enósh, but a geber, “an able-bodied man.” A wise geber trusts not in his own strength but in Jehovah: “Blessed is the able-bodied man who puts his trust in Jehovah, and whose confidence Jehovah has become.”—Prov. 24:5; Jer. 17:7.

Truly, to note the way “man” is used in the Hebrew Scriptures strengthens our faith and helps us to get God’s view on man. It is wholesomely instructive to our maintaining our proper relationship with our Creator and gaining his approval and blessing.

The Miracles of Jesus

A MIRACLE, according to Augustine, is an event that happens in a way contrary to the “known”_! processes of nature. The Encyclopædia Britannica says a miracle can be defined as “the supremacy of the spiritual forces of the world to an extraordinary degree over the mere material.” Jesus Christ, who performed marvelous miracles among men, simply called them the “powerful works” of God.—Matt. 11:21.

Jesus indeed worked miracles. He turned water into wine, cured a nobleman’s son, healed an impotent man at Beth.zátha, walked on water, made the eyes of the blind see, the dumb speak and the deaf hear. He fed multitudes with a few loaves of bread, cast out demons and raised the dead to life. But at no time did he resort to vapors, veils or mysteries of any sort to perform his powerful deeds. Sometimes he used a soft gentle voice, at other times he cried out with a loud voice, as he did when he raised Lazarus from the dead. There were occasions when he touched the sick and prayed. Often Jesus would ask: “What do you want me to do for you?” Or, “Do you have faith that I can do this?” After the healing took place, he would say: “Your faith has made you well,” or, “Your faith has saved you.”—Luke 18:41; Matt. 9:28; Luke 8:48; footnote, 1950 edition.

In the instance of a man deaf and with a speech impediment Jesus took him “away from the crowd privately and put his fingers into the man’s ears and, after spitting, he touched his tongue. And with a look up into heaven he sighed deeply and said to him: ‘Ephʹpha·tha,’ that is, ‘Be opened.’ Well, his hearing powers were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he began speaking normally.”—Mark 7:33-35.

On another occasion Jesus “spit on the ground and made a clay with the saliva, and put his clay upon the man’s eyes and said to him: ‘Go wash in the pool of Siloam’ (which is translated ‘Sent forth’). And so he went off and washed, and came back seeing.”—John 9:6, 7.

The Bible says Jesus cured “every sort of disease and every sort of infirmity,” that “he expelled the spirits with a word, and he cured all who were faring badly; that there might be fulfilled what was spoken through Isaiah the prophet, saying: ‘He himself took our sicknesses and carried our diseases.’”—Matt. 9:35; 8:16, 17.

Jesus did not work miracles merely to impress men with his great power. He clearly rejected the idea of becoming simply a wonder-worker. Satan the Devil tempted him to attract attention to himself in this way, but Jesus flatly refused to do so. King Herod had hoped to witness some display of Jesus’ miraculous powers, but Jesus also refused to please him. Jesus was not out to impress the credulous people who were seeking a thrill. In fact, he strongly suggested that it is reprehensible for men to seek after such signs. He said: “A wicked and adulterous generation keeps on seeking for a sign.”—Matt. 12:39; 4:3-7; Luke 23:8.

The miracles of Jesus provoked much thought throughout Israel. Many said: “When the Christ arrives, he will not perform more signs than this man has performed, will he?” “Never was anything like this seen in Israel.” (John 7:31; Matt. 9:33) But those of malicious and prejudiced hearts were affected in a contrary way by his miracles. Some of the Pharisees complained: “This is not a man from God, because he does not observe the Sabbath.” “It is by the ruler of the demons that he expels the demons,” they said. (John 9:16; Matt. 9:34) But not all the people were that gullible. When Jesus healed a man who was born blind, the people remarked: “How can a man that is a sinner perform signs of that sort?” When the blind man was asked: “What do you say about him, seeing that he opened your eyes?” The man replied: “He is a prophet.” (John 9:16, 17) In Jesus’ hometown territory people asked: “Where did this man get these things? And why should this wisdom have been given this man, and such powerful works be performed through his hands? This is the carpenter the son of Mary and the brother of James and Joseph and Judas and Simon, is it not? And his sisters are here with us, are they not?” “So they began to stumble at him.” There was great division. In fact, after Jesus restored a man’s withered hand so that it was sound like the other hand, “the Pharisees went out and immediately began holding council with the party followers of Herod against him, in order to destroy him.”—Mark 6:2, 3; 3:6; Matt. 12:13, 14.

A SIGN FOR WHOM?

The miracles of Jesus Christ were evidence of the fact that the Messiah was in the midst of men. Jesus himself regarded them as fulfillments of the Hebrew Scripture prophecies concerning the Messiah, but, mind you, they were evidences to only those who had faith to see that the kingdom of God had indeed drawn near in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus urged the crowds to exercise faith in him as the One whom Jehovah sent forth, but many of the people refused to believe. Despite the miracles he performed, they kept on asking him: “What, then, are you performing as a sign, in order for us to see it and believe you?” They were calling for some additional supernatural performance on his part, such as leaping off the battlement of the temple, some act that would force their unbelieving, hardened hearts to believe. Jesus, however, refused to accommodate them. Miracles, therefore, became signs only to those who had the insight of faith, and to them they were only additional proof of what they already knew by faith, that is, that Jesus is the Christ.—John 6:30; Matt. 12:38.

The apostle John says: “Although [Jesus] had performed so many signs before them, they were not putting faith in him, so that the word of Isaiah the prophet was fulfilled which he said: ‘Jehovah, who has put faith in the thing heard by us? And as for the arm of Jehovah, to whom has it been revealed?’ The reason why they were not able to believe is that again Isaiah said: ‘He has blinded their eyes and he has made their hearts hard, that they should not see with their eyes and get the thought with their hearts and turn around and I should heal them.’”—John 12:37-40.

LESSONS BEHIND THE MIRACLES

Miracles, properly regarded, assisted faith; they were added evidence that Jesus was the Christ, because God was performing powerful works through him. But miracles are also deeds of divine mercy and compassion, and their merciful and compassionate quality is an important factor. They were not meant to force belief in Jesus as the Messiah, but to quicken understanding of him as the Christ. His miracles were instruments of kindness, unsealing fountains of joy long closed. They gave emphasis to Jesus’ instruction.

In Cana of Galilee Jesus performed his first miracle. He turned one hundred to one hundred and fifty gallons of water into the best of wine. Here Jesus taught men a lesson in hospitality and demonstrated the generosity of God. Good wine grows better with age. So if the quantity was far greater than the need, it would not be wasted. This miracle also tells us that Jesus approved of fermented drinks, or else he would not have made the wine.—John 2:1-11.

It was also in Cana that a certain attendant of the king called on Jesus to heal his son who was at the point of dying in Capernaum. Jesus not only restored the child to his parent, but he sent back a more excellent father to the child. Instead of going to Capernaum with the man, Jesus said to him: “‘Go your way; your son lives.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way.” The father learned later that his son was made well the instant Jesus pronounced his words, even though Jesus was some twenty-five miles away from Capernaum. Thus Jesus demonstrated that the power of God to heal through him is not bound by distance. As a result the man and “his whole household believed.”—John 4:46-53.

In Jerusalem at a pool called Beth·zátha Jesus healed a certain man who had been ill for thirty-eight years. The Jews complained that Jesus was doing these things during Sabbath. Jesus answered their charges by alluding to God’s ceaseless activity on all days alike. “My Father has kept working until now, and I keep working,” he said. (John 5:17) Why should not good be done on the sabbath? Does the sun cease to shine? Do rivers stand still? Does the grass stop growing? Do not fruits ripen and birds sing? Is not God busy? Through all God’s realm the sabbath is a day of active mercy. Why, then, should not the Lord of the sabbath do works of mercy on the sabbath?

Jesus commands the fishes of the sea and they come. He walks on water and stills violent storms. He proves that he has authority, that he has “in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.” He is in truth the Son of man.—Gen. 1:28; Luke 5:4-7; Mark 6:48; Matt. 8:23-27; 28:18; 8:20.

The miracles of Jesus are glowing expressions of a tender sympathy with human suffering, the flashes of light of love and compassion. They are a part of his teaching, his pledges of blessings to come in the new world in which there will be no more sorrow or death. They are ways of impressing men with the truth that Jesus is the Christ.—Rev. 21:4.

The apostle Paul writes: “Seeing, therefore, that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold onto our confessing of him. For we have as high priest, not one who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in all respects like ourselves, but without sin. Let us, therefore, approach with freeness of speech to the throne of undeserved kindness, that we may obtain mercy and find undeserved kindness for help at the right time.”—Heb. 4:14-16.

Gilead’s First Graduation at Brooklyn

MONDAY, November 27, 1961, would be long remembered. “The Bethel family has looked forward to having a Gilead class here,” said President N. H. Knorr to his audience of 720, including the 100 students of Gilead’s thirty-sixth class. “For you it is a very blessed day,” he told the graduates.

Instructor Fred Rusk counseled them to remember Jesus’ words, “If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing.” (John 8:54) “Increased knowledge with love—a wonderful combination,” said instructor Harry Peloyan; “increased knowledge without love—never may that happen to us.” U. V. Glass pointed out that this first class at Brooklyn had “an opportunity that no other class has ever had.” No other class had as many guest lectures from members of the governing body and the Bethel family. They had a close association with the headquarters organization that no previous class had. Registrar Edward Dunlap likened this association to Timothy’s training by Paul, one of the early governing body.

Following the reading of telegrams and congratulations from around the world, the students heard the factory servant, Max Larson, declare that their training in coordinated functioning or organization would help them succeed in their ministry. George Couch, Bethel Home servant, expressed appreciation for their fine example of willingness and cooperation.

The Society’s vice-president, Fred Franz, reminded the graduates that they are in a spiritual war. Highlighting the organizational training received at the headquarters of Jehovah’s visible organization, the graduates were told: “You have been trained here so that in case of emergency you can fill in.” “The time will come when there will be a gap or a breach in the organization,” he said, referring to anticipated efforts of the Devil to “force out prominent individuals in the organization, those who are pillars.” “All the gaps in the front lines have to be filled, and that is a privilege and opportunity for which you have been training here.”—Isa. 58:12.

Brother Knorr then spoke on the need for courage and hearts unified in Jehovah’s fear. “The Devil will want you to compromise,” said the speaker, pointing to the threat from imprisonment or any efforts at internal corruption of the organization. “Many of you will be acting as special servants. As overseer you will have to take your ministry very seriously.” He told the graduates: “You don’t want to be afraid of the position of service given to you. Thank Jehovah for it.” They were urged to copy the humility of Jesus and the willingness of Paul to work in order to carry on his ministry. ‘What if you are cut off from communication with the Society; will you carry on?’ he asked. The students were admonished to encourage their brothers, build them up and take the lead. ‘Carry out the responsibility that goes with your assignment.’ “Let Jehovah give the blessing.” “Your faith has been increased,” said the president. “Just as you have greater faith, so the Society has greater faith in you. We believe that you will accomplish more.”

Certainly this thirty-sixth class had received splendid training for organizational duties in branch offices, for supervising the field ministry, organizing new congregations, and opening up new fields. They had studied the history of religion, true and false, and had made a verse-by-verse interpretative analysis of the entire New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. So equipped, they now came forward to accept assignments to fifty-three nations as missionaries, pioneers, members of Bethel families, circuit, district and branch servants. In a resolution presented by graduate Leo Greenlees, the class expressed its determination to continue to do the things they had learned. Then Brother Knorr announced intermission for the evening meal.

A condensed Watchtower study was conducted beginning at 7:30 p.m., with selected students commenting on the subject “Bearers of the Fear-inspiring Name.” The president then called on student representatives from forty-four lands for brief farewell talks. With hearts overflowing with love and thanks to Jehovah, the graduates expressed appreciation for their ten-month training. The first student said Jehovah’s organization gets more beautiful the closer you look at it. All were grateful to have attended the new Gilead School.

The interesting program of experiences and impressions of life at Gilead was concluded at 11:30 p.m. with a closing song, and prayer by Brother Knorr. Gilead’s first graduation at Brooklyn had been an occasion blessed by Jehovah.

Questions From Readers

● How can we account for animals in isolated lands when the Flood is said to have covered all the earth and the only land animals that survived were those in the ark?—P. G., England.

The presence of certain forms of animal life on Australia and New Zealand, for example, is no valid argument against the Bible account that all life on earth was wiped out in the Flood, except that of Noah and those with him in the ark. How might these animals have migrated from Mount Ararat, where the ark landed, to other continents and to islands? By means of land ridges. Oceanographic studies reported on by Dr. René Malaise and published in the Swedish geographical magazine, Ymer, tell of findings that indicate that there was once a “Mid-Atlantic Ridge,” crossing that ocean above the surface. (New York Times, September 23, 1956) It is possible that there were also other ridges, and animals could have migrated by means of these before such ridges sank below the surface of the ocean.

Nor is that the only possible explanation. Other oceanographic studies have turned up evidence that once there existed a huge South Pacific continent that took in Australia and many of the South Sea isles. If such was the case, then, of course, the animals had no difficulty in migrating to those lands.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

The man who builds to the future following Bible counsel will enjoy peace. (Ps. 37:37) An outstanding aid to Bible study, now published in sixty-two languages and helping millions to build to the future in a proper way, is the Watchtower magazine, a copy of which you have in your hand. During January Jehovah’s witnesses will offer a year’s subscription for this journal, with three booklets, for only $1.

GOOD CHEER THROUGHOUT THE YEAR

How many times do you spend a dollar in a year? How many of those dollars bring you something of value that lasts all year? The way you can insure the most for just one dollar is by subscribing now for The Watchtower and receiving all twenty-four issues published throughout one year. Its message of comfort and good cheer is taken directly from the Bible and will equip you to face this year’s problems with new courage. Send now and receive free the booklets God’s Way Is Love, God’s Kingdom Rules—Is the World’s End Near? and “Look! I Am Making All Things New.”

WATCH TOWER PUBLICATIONS INDEX

Information is useful only as it is available. To assist you in locating the wealth of specific material contained in The Watchtower over the past year, the Watch Tower Publications Index for 1961 has been published. The Index contains a comprehensive listing of all subjects and scriptures discussed in the twenty-four issues of the 1961 Watchtower, and covers also Awake! for 1961, the book “Let Your Name Be Sanctified,” the booklets Blood, Medicine and the Law of God and When All Nations Unite Under God’s Kingdom, the Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses for both 1961 and 1962 and appendix material in the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, 1961 edition. Specific entries cover both major discussions and brief comments of particular value. Send 10c for your copy of the Index today.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

February 25: World Ruler Out of the “House of Bread.” Page 41.

March 4: Like Dew from God and like a Lion Among Nations. Page 48.