The Watchtower — March 15, 1965

Do You Discipline Yourself in Little Things?

A MIDDLE-AGED Christian minister was standing on a busy street corner of Brooklyn’s fashionable Heights section, handing out invitations to hear a Bible lecture entitled “Do You Value Discipline?” As he offered the invitations with a friendly smile most persons readily accepted them, but one smartly dressed matron refused, emphatically stating to her lady companion, “I don’t want discipline!”

By her response that woman showed she was laboring under a popular misconception regarding discipline, namely, that discipline is synonymous with chastisement, punishment or scourging. True, sometimes it is used in this sense, as when the wise King Solomon counseled parents: “Do not hold back discipline from the mere boy. In case you beat him with the rod, he will not die.” “Foolishness is tied up with the heart of a boy; the rod of discipline is what will remove it far from him.”—Prov. 23:13; 22:15.

However, discipline also has other meanings. The word itself comes from the Latin disciplina, literally, “teaching, instruction.” So Webster defines discipline also as “training or experience that corrects, molds, strengthens, or perfects, especially the mental faculties or moral character.” Thus one writer observed that one “needs the discipline of hard work and early rising”; and another spoke of the person who “will submit willingly to severe discipline to acquire some coveted knowledge or skill.”

True, discipline of itself is not pleasant or easy; it is not following the lines of least resistance. The Bible makes that point clear when it states: “No discipline seems for the present to be joyous, but grievous; yet afterward to those who have been trained by it it yields peaceable fruit, namely, righteousness.”—Heb. 12:11.

Yes, to accept discipline, whether in the form of training or punishment, is the course of wisdom. But it is even greater wisdom to discipline oneself, to heed the counsel: “Take hold on discipline; do not let go. Safeguard it, for it itself is your life.” And the place to begin is in little things.—Prov. 4:13.

Why? Because if we discipline ourselves in little things it will be easier to do this in big things, things upon which our very lives may depend. For example, if you discipline yourself in line with Jesus’ words at Matthew 5:28 by not keeping on looking upon a woman with passionate thoughts, it is not likely that you will become guilty of serious immorality. If you heed the implied counsel at 2 Corinthians 10:5, bringing every thought into captivity to godly principles, there is little danger that you will grossly transgress in word or action. Here also the principle applies, “The person unrighteous in what is least is unrighteous also in much.”—Luke 16:10.

Ever so much can be said in favor of self-discipline in little things. In view of the foregoing it certainly makes for good relations with our Maker. Are we inclined to be careless about fulfilling our vows to God? Then we should discipline ourselves, for we are told: “The true God is in the heavens but you are on the earth. That is why your words should prove to be few.” The apostle Paul said he disciplined himself lest he should be disapproved by God.—Eccl. 5:2; 1 Cor. 9:27.

Again, self-discipline makes for good relations with ourselves. With ourselves? Yes, in that it makes for self-respect. There are joy and satisfaction in the realization that we have disciplined ourselves and made ourselves do something we knew we should do instead of putting it off. Even such a little thing as getting up when the alarm clock rings instead of lazily lying in bed until the very last minute shows discipline. In fact, there is a sense of well-being or strength that comes with each act of disciplining oneself in little things rather than yielding to one’s inclinations and indulging oneself.

Further, self-discipline in little things is the course of wisdom in that it makes for good relations with others. Take the comparatively little thing of our manner of speech. Undisciplined speech is either too loud or too soft, too harsh or too sweet, or it may be downright slovenly, all of which creates a poor impression upon others, if not also offending them. You can even offend by not saying a word, by the way you listen or fail to listen when others speak to you. It takes self-discipline to give respectful attention, to stop reading or whatever else you are doing, to give the speaker your ear, but it pays. The same must be said about disciplining yourself at the table; not taking too much food at a time, not eating too fast or too noisily, all requires self-discipline.

How important self-discipline in little things is as regards one’s health! The cigarette is a little thing, but the more fully you discipline yourself, refraining from using it, the less likely you will be to acquire lung cancer, not to say anything of a host of other ills. What about posture? Good posture requires self-discipline, but it certainly pays off in improved health, not only in physical health but also in confidence and poise; yes, and even in the impression you make upon others!

Nor to be overlooked is the value of self-discipline in the matter of recreation. It takes self-discipline to turn off the television set when it is time to go to bed or when worthless programs come on the screen, but does it not save a lot of time and energy? It likewise takes self-discipline to leave a social gathering at a reasonable hour so as to get a good night’s rest, so necessary to do justice to the next day’s duties. Also, sports are beneficial for a little, the Bible tells us—but only if we discipline ourselves to pursue them in moderation.—1 Tim. 4:8.

No question about it, it is the course of wisdom to discipline ourselves in little things! Not without good reason does the Bible tell us to ‘take hold of discipline and not let go of it’!

Who Will Be Resurrected—Why?

“Now if Christ is being preached that he has been raised up from the dead, how is it some among you say there is no resurrection of the dead?”—1 Cor. 15:12.

1. (a) How did Jesus speak of the death condition of his friend Lazarus? (b) According to 1 Corinthians 15:20, on what does the awakening from death depend?

WHEN Lazarus of the town of Bethany died in the year 32 of our Common Era and was buried in a tomb before which a big stone was rolled, his friend Jesus Christ was about four days’ journey distant. On hearing the sad news, Jesus said to his disciples: “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but I go to awake him out of sleep.” How did Jesus do this? On the fourth day of Lazarus’ death, Jesus reached the tomb and resurrected Lazarus from the dead. (John 11:1-44, RS) Now, just because Jesus Christ used such language, we cannot take up the language of some religious clergymen of Christendom and call Jesus a “soul sleeper.” It is a fact that the Holy Bible repeatedly speaks of those dead persons who are in line for a resurrection as being asleep. Their resurrection or awakening from the sleep of death in Haʹdes or Sheol depends upon the resurrection of Jesus Christ. For this reason it stands written in 1 Corinthians 15:20, Revised Standard Version Bible: “But in fact Christ has been raised from the dead, the first fruits of those who have fallen asleep.” This is why many will be resurrected. But who?

2, 3. (a) What hope of a future does God’s Word hold out for those executed in the battle of Armageddon? (b) Concerning his coming to this executional battle, what did Jesus say in Matthew 24:36-39?

² Those whom Almighty God destroys, both body and soul, are not spoken of as asleep in death in Haʹdes, for there will be no awakening of them out of their destruction. (Matt. 10:28) Hence God’s written Word holds out no hope of a resurrection for those fighters against God who are executed in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty,” at Armageddon. (Rev. 16:14, 16; 19:11-21) Concerning the coming of the Son of God, Jesus Christ, to the executional battle of Armageddon, Jesus spoke in his prophecy on the conclusion of this wicked system of things. Jesus said:

³ “Concerning that day and hour nobody knows, neither the angels of the heavens nor the Son, but only the Father. For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as they were in those days before the flood, eating and drinking, men marrying and women being given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered into the ark; and they took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.”—Matt. 24:3, 36-39.

4. At the Flood, what happened to the people outside Noah’s ark?

⁴ At the Flood all those people outside Noah’s ark, namely, the men, the women, the children and babies, the Nephilim or the hybrid offspring from the marriage of disobedient angels and human daughters of men, all such then living were suddenly executed by God’s direct act and were thus destroyed forever. So it will be with all persons on earth who are not in harmony with God’s kingdom at the fast-approaching battle of Armageddon.

5. (a) What hope of a future does 2 Peter 3:6, 7 indicate for those who died in the Flood? (b) In the fulfillment of Revelation 20:11-13, will death give up such ones?

⁵ Speaking of Noah’s day, 2 Peter 3:6, 7 says: “The world of that time suffered destruction when it was deluged with water. But by the same word [of God] the heavens and the earth that are now are stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.” Apparently there is no hope of a resurrection for those dying in that executional flood. Hence, when Revelation 20:11-13 is fulfilled, such destroyed ones will not be given up when sea, “death and Haʹdes” give up those dead in them who will be judged before the “great white throne” during Christ’s thousand-year reign over our earth.

6. How was Methuselah distinguished, and what hope of a resurrection is there for him?

⁶ Noah had a grandfather by the name of Methuselah. This Methuselah was the son of Jehovah’s prophet Enoch. (Gen. 5:21-24) Methuselah had the privilege of living longer than any other man on earth, as far as Bible records indicate. Methuselah’s son, Lamech, died five years before the great flood. By living nine hundred and sixty-nine years, Methuselah outlived his son Lamech and died in 2370 B.C.E., the very year that the Flood began. The Flood began in November, but the Bible says that Methuselah “died,” not got drowned in the Flood and suffered execution by this “act of God.” (Gen. 5:25-32) There is therefore hope of a resurrection out of Haʹdes or Sheol for Methuselah, and also for his forefathers back to Seth and the other antediluvians who died before the Flood broke. But does that include Adam and Eve and Cain?

7. Why is Abel the brother of Cain certain of a resurrection?

⁷ Hundreds of years before the Flood executed the “world of ungodly people,” Cain the first son of Adam died. He was “cursed in banishment from the ground” because he had murdered his godly brother Abel out of jealousy at God’s approval of Abel’s sacrifice. (Gen. 4:1-24; 2 Pet. 2:5) Abel is certain of a resurrection to life on earth under God’s Messianic kingdom, for he died as one of the “so great a cloud of witnesses” that included such others as Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, Moses, Samson and David and other persons of faith who proved worthy of a “better resurrection.” (Heb. 11:4 to 12:2) But as regards Cain we read:

8, 9. (a) How does 1 John 3:10-12 class Cain? (b) In Matthew 23:33-36, with whom did Jesus class Cain?

⁸ “The children of God and the children of the Devil are evident by this fact: Everyone who does not carry on righteousness does not originate with God, neither does he who does not love his brother. For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should have love for one another; not like Cain, who originated with the wicked one and slaughtered his brother. And for the sake of what did he slaughter him? Because his own works were wicked, but those of his brother were righteous.”—1 John 3:10-12.

⁹ Cain is thus classed as one of “the children of the Devil,” and, as such, Cain “originated with the wicked one.” So he was one of the seed of the great Serpent, Satan the Devil. (Gen. 3:15) As such, Cain deserved to suffer the same end as his spiritual father, the Devil, who will be hurled into the symbolic “lake of fire and sulphur,” where he will stay forever in “second death.” (John 8:44; Rev. 20:10) Thousands of years after Cain died the hypocritical Jewish scribes and Pharisees were called “serpents, offspring of vipers.” Thus Jesus Christ warned them that they were liable to the “judgment of Gehenna,” and he spoke of the murders that they would yet commit. He also linked up their spilling of righteous blood with the “blood of righteous Abel.” (Matt. 23:33-36) As Cain was the murderer who spilled the “blood of righteous Abel,” Jesus thus classed Cain in with those scribes and Pharisees who were liable to the “judgment of Gehenna.”

10. May Christians who become like Cain hope for a resurrection?

¹⁰ So Cain would not be among those whom death and Haʹdes will give up during the thousand-year Judgment Day. (Rev. 20:11-13) All those Christians who become like Cain may not hope for a resurrection from the dead to a heavenly inheritance.—Jude 11.

WHAT HOPE FOR ADAM AND EVE?

11. What questions arise as to Adam and Eve and a resurrection?

¹¹ The Sacred Scriptures hold out no hope of a resurrection for Cain the murderer, but what about Cain’s father and mother, Adam and Eve, our own first human parents? This is a much discussed question today. Do Adam and Eve deserve a resurrection? Do they come within the loving provision of God for the resurrection of the human dead? What, if anything, stands as an irremovable bar to their being raised from the dead under God’s kingdom? Since Jesus Christ “gave himself a corresponding ransom for all,” do not our first human parents have a right to some benefit from that “ransom for all”?—1 Tim. 2:5, 6.

12. To whom does Adam bear a resemblance, according to Romans 5:14?

¹² In Romans 5:14 the Christian apostle Paul writes: “Nevertheless, death ruled as king from Adam down to Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of the transgression by Adam, who bears a resemblance to him that was to come.” That is to say, Adam the first man on earth bears a resemblance to Jesus Christ, whose coming had been promised in the garden of Eden when Jehovah God the Judge was about to sentence Adam and Eve for the transgression in which both of them were sharers.

13, 14. How does Paul, in 1 Corinthians 15:45, 21, 22, show a further resemblance between Adam and Jesus, and so through whom must we gain everlasting life?

¹³ Pointing further to that resemblance between Adam and Jesus Christ, the apostle Paul writes in his matchless chapter on the resurrection: “It is even so written: ‘The first man Adam became a living soul.’ The last Adam became a life-giving spirit. For since death is through a man, resurrection of the dead is also through a man. For just as in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all will be made alive.”—1 Cor. 15:45, 21, 22.

¹⁴ So, just as all of us humans had to depend upon the first man Adam for the earthly life that we enjoy today, so now all of us who are dying have to depend, one and all of us, upon Jesus Christ, “the last Adam.” There will not be another person on earth like Adam; so, if we desire to gain everlasting life on earth, we shall have to gain it through this “last Adam,” Jesus Christ.

15. How do Adam and Jesus resemble each other as to sonship?

¹⁵ When on earth, as previously in heaven, Jesus Christ was a Son of God. Adam, to whom he bears a resemblance, also started out as a “son of God,” but an earthly son. When it traces the earthly descent of Jesus Christ back through King David and the patriarch Abraham and the prophet Noah, the genealogical table given us in Luke 3:24-38 ends up by saying: “The son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.” Like Jesus Christ, Adam was created a perfect son of God almost six thousand years ago.

16, 17. How was a wife provided for Adam, and what was God’s stated will for them?

¹⁶ In order to provide a suitable earthly companion for Adam, Jehovah God created a wife for Adam by using a rib taken from Adam’s side as a basis from which to proceed. So the resulting woman Eve was bone of Adam’s bone and flesh of Adam’s flesh. In fact, just as Jesus Christ himself said concerning other human married couples, Adam and Eve were not two, but were “one flesh.” (Gen. 2:7-23; Matt. 19:4-6) Then God their Creator-Father stated his will for them, just as we read it, in Genesis 1:28:

¹⁷ “God blessed them and God said to them: ‘Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it, and have in subjection the fish of the sea and the flying creatures of the heavens and every living creature that is moving upon the earth.’”

18. According to God’s will, what was not to spread from Adam and Eve to all the world of mankind?

¹⁸ Thus a world of mankind was to be produced. Not sin and imperfection, but righteousness and human perfection were to spread from this first couple to all mankind. If they did not sin, then death, which is the penalty for sin, would not enter into the world and spread to all their offspring. God had warned Adam, when still a single man in the garden of Eden: “As for the tree of the knowledge of good and bad, you must not eat from it, for in the day you eat from it you will positively die.”—Gen. 2:17.

19. What penalty for sinful disobedience was held out to Adam, and, if he sinned, would it be due to ignorance?

¹⁹ Here is a fact not to be overlooked. God did not tell Adam that, if Adam disobeyed this divine command and died, he did not have to worry, inasmuch as God his heavenly Father would provide a ransom for Adam and resurrect him from the dead to another opportunity to gain everlasting life on earth in the garden of Eden. What if God had held out such an expectation to Adam? Well, then, it would have been an encouragement to sin when Adam was tempted. It would weaken the force of God’s warning about the death penalty for the sin of disobeying God. In harmony with that fact, the Bible shows that only death, without any hope of relief, was held out to Adam if he sinned. His sin would be without excuse. Sin by him would not be a sin of ignorance.

20. Why could sin become chargeable to Adam, and what would be the proper penalty for this?

²⁰ In Romans 5:13 the apostle Paul writes: “Sin is not charged against anyone when there is no law.” But back there, in the garden of Eden, there was a plainly stated law given by the Supreme Lawgiver. Hence, if Adam broke that law, he became a sinner. Sin would have to be charged to him, and he would properly pay the penalty, eternal death, nonexistence in the ground from which he had been taken.

21. (a) What two possibilities were set before Adam? (b) If they sinned, what kind of death could it have been for Adam and Eve?

²¹ Accordingly Adam had two possibilities set before him, one of eternal life on earth, and the other of eternal death in the dust of the ground. (Gen. 3:19; 2:7) Furthermore, if Adam and Eve sinned before they had any children, there was no promise held out to them that they would be spared from an immediate death but would be allowed to live long enough for them to bring children into existence and thus give a start to the human family. So the death of Adam and Eve for sin could have been even a childless death, no promise being made to them of a prolonged life in prison of nine months or more until children should be born to them under the condemnation of death.

22. Did Adam plan his sin, or how did Adam come to sin, and that willfully?

²² Adam did not plan his sin. The Bible shows that. The Great Tempter, a fallen angel of the invisible heavens, was the one who prevailed upon Adam to sin. First, by deception, he misled Eve, Adam’s wife, into transgression. Then by means of the now sinful Eve, the Tempter induced Adam to transgress, joining his wife Eve in sin and consenting to her sin. When Adam stood before the Supreme Judge to answer for his sin Adam said: “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree and so I ate it.” (Gen. 3:12) Adam, created in God’s image and according to God’s likeness, was intelligent enough to know that he was sinning against the plainly stated law of God. He was willful.

23. According to 1 Timothy 2:13, 14, why did Adam justly deserve eternal death?

²³ As a proof that Adam’s sin was willful, the apostle Paul wrote: “Adam was formed first, then Eve. Also, Adam was not deceived, but the woman was thoroughly deceived and came to be in transgression.” (1 Tim. 2:13, 14) Therefore Adam justly deserved death, eternal death, without any hope of a resurrection.

24. According to Genesis 3:17-19, what was the sentence pronounced upon Adam, and did it offer hope of a resurrection?

²⁴ When God the Supreme Judge sentenced Adam, he did not soften down the sentence with the hope of a resurrection, but said to Adam: “Because you listened to your wife’s voice and took to eating from the tree concerning which I gave you this command, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground on your account. In pain you will eat its produce all the days of your life. And thorns and thistles it will grow for you, and you must eat the vegetation of the field. In the sweat of your face you will eat bread until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken. For dust you are and to dust you will return.”—Gen. 3:17-19.

25. Was any hope offered to Adam by what God said to the serpent, in Genesis 3:15?

²⁵ What God meant by what he said to the serpent, Adam did not understand and never learned to understand. Apparently to just the serpent alone God said: “I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.” (Gen. 3:15) So Adam, not understanding, looked forward to eternal death.

26. (a) How did God clothe the sinful Adam and Eve, and what about a symbolic meaning to this? (b) Why did God drive Adam out of the garden of Eden?

²⁶ The sinful Adam and Eve now felt shame at being naked in God’s presence and before each other. So it was a merciful act on God’s part when he did what is described in Genesis 3:21: “Jehovah God proceeded to make long garments of skin for Adam and for his wife and to clothe them.” This substantial clothing replaced the less durable fig-leaf coverings. There is no need to put a symbolic meaning on God’s clothing them with the skins of some animals (deer, bear, goat, sheep, or other large animal), as if God were prophetically picturing that he would cover over their willful sin by a propitiatory sacrifice, the blood of which would be shed. God merely clothed Adam and Eve more properly before he drove them out of the Paradise garden of Eden, away from the “tree of life.” God drove Adam out “that he may not put his hand out and actually take fruit also of the tree of life and eat and live to time indefinite.” (Gen. 3:22, 23) So evidently God drove Adam and Eve out that they might die “to time indefinite.”

27. (a) What is there to show whether Adam died as a forgiven sinner? (b) At his death, did Haʹdes or Sheol come into existence?

²⁷ In the garden of Eden, did Adam repent and ask forgiveness from God for himself and his wife? If not, why would God cover over Adam with skin clothing in order to picture a sin-atoning covering? There is not even a suggestion in the Bible that Adam repented and asked for divine mercy for himself and his wife, even with some faith in the promised seed of the woman that was to bruise the serpent in the head. After Genesis 3:20 tells us that “Adam called his wife’s name Eve,” there is no record of anything that Adam said thereafter or of how he felt, except that he called a son of his by the name Seth. In the account of Adam’s history, it merely says: “So all the days of Adam that he lived amounted to nine hundred and thirty years and he died.” (Gen. 5:1-5) No Bible record being to the contrary, Adam died a willful sinner. When he died, Sheol or Haʹdes, which is the common grave of dead mankind in the ground, was already in existence, but did it receive Adam?

28. (a) When did Sheol or Haʹdes come into existence? (b) At that time did Adam speak as Jacob did later on, in Genesis 37:35?

²⁸ Sheol or Haʹdes came into existence at the latest eight hundred and one years before Adam’s death, since Adam’s son Seth was born when Adam was a hundred and thirty years old and since Seth was conceived shortly after the death of Abel, who was killed by his older brother Cain. (Gen. 4:1-11, 25, 26; 5:4) Unless deaths from various causes occurred prior to Abel’s martyrdom, Sheol or Haʹdes came into existence at Abel’s death. Abel died as a faithful worshiper and witness of Jehovah God, and the Bible promises him a resurrection from the dead. (Heb. 11:4 to 12:3, 24) But there is no record that at the death and burial of Abel, Adam his father said what the patriarch Jacob said at the disappearance of his dear son Joseph: “I shall go down mourning to my son into Sheol [Haʹdes, LXX]!” (Gen. 37:35) True, at his martyr’s death righteous Abel went down into Sheol (Haʹdes), but his father Adam did not join him there eight hundred years later, for Adam as well as his wife Eve went into total destruction, pictured by Gehenna.

29. How may someone argue on the basis of Eve’s words in Genesis 4:1, but why were those words only appropriate?

²⁹ In objection to Eve’s destruction, someone may refer to the sayings of Eve in which she spoke of God as acting in favor of her. For example, when her first son was born, she spoke of God’s name and help. Genesis 4:1 says: “Now Adam had intercourse with Eve his wife and she became pregnant. In time she gave birth to Cain and said: ‘I have acquired a man with the aid of Jehovah.’” But it was proper for Eve to say this on the basis of the words of God’s sentence upon her because of her sin: “I [Jehovah] shall greatly increase the pain of your pregnancy; in birth pangs you will bring forth children, and your craving will be for your husband, and he will dominate you.” (Gen. 3:16) Jehovah did not pronounce those words in a blessing upon Eve; and certainly it was not in her own power, by an evolutionistic development, that Eve brought forth her first son and later other children.

30. In agreement with Eve’s words then, what had Jehovah God permitted, and what was he fulfilling upon her?

³⁰ Certainly, too, if God had at once executed Adam and Eve instead of letting them die gradually over many years of time and of pregnancy by Eve, she could never have brought forth even that first son Cain. And if, by her words at Cain’s birth and at her naming him, she betrayed any idea of her being the woman whom God mentioned to the serpent, Eve was greatly mistaken. (Gen. 3:15) God was merely fulfilling his words of sentence upon Eve, that is, to increase the pain of her pregnancy.

31. According to Eve’s words in Genesis 4:25, was God using her as his first prophetess, and how does 1 Timothy 2:12-14 affect the answer?

³¹ As to Eve’s words after the death of Abel, we read in Genesis 4:25: “Adam proceeded to have intercourse again with his wife and so she gave birth to a son and called his name Seth, because, as she said: ‘God has appointed another seed in place of Abel, because Cain killed him.’” It was hardly likely that Jehovah God was using Eve here as his first prophetess, inasmuch as she was a sinner under sentence of death and inasmuch as she was a deceivable woman, as the apostle Paul said, in 1 Timothy 2:12-14: “I do not permit a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence. For Adam was formed first, then Eve. Also, Adam [the man] was not deceived, but the woman [Eve] was thoroughly deceived and came to be in transgression.” When Eve ate the forbidden fruit, she rejected God’s first prophet, Adam.

32, 33. (a) Since all mankind’s line of descent runs back to Seth, does that prove Eve’s words regarding him prophetic? (b) Was Eve alone in naming Seth, and do her words show her to be in line for future salvation?

³² It is true that mankind’s line of descent runs back to Seth rather than to Abel; but that is no proof that Eve was uttering an inspired prophecy as God’s prophetess at Seth’s birth and naming. By being permitted to live longer and by not losing her reproductive powers at a hundred and thirty years of age, Eve could properly attribute to God her bearing of Seth, especially in the light of God’s words of sentence upon her.—Gen. 3:16.

³³ Very properly Eve could accept the boy who was born right afterward as a replacement for Abel and accordingly call his name Seth, which means “Set; Put; Appointed.” We must bear in mind also that Genesis 5:3 says: “And Adam lived on for a hundred and thirty years. Then he became father to a son in his likeness, in his image, and [Adam] called his name Seth.” Hence Eve’s words at the naming of Seth cannot be used in an absolute way to argue that Eve spoke as a prophetess and thus showed herself to be in line for future salvation by God’s provision and not destruction.

34. (a) What does 1 Timothy 2:14 indicate as to Eve’s excusableness for having been “thoroughly deceived”? (b) But what question do Paul’s next words in 1 Timothy 2:14, 15 raise?

³⁴ It is true, as the apostle Paul says, that Eve was “thoroughly deceived” by the serpent in the garden of Eden, but that does not excuse her, for Paul goes on to say that Eve “came to be in transgression.” She was still a transgressor against God’s law, which law her words to the serpent prove that she well knew. (1 Tim. 2:14; Gen. 3:1-3) But what about Paul’s next words? Do they not prove that at least Eve will yet be saved, if not also her husband Adam? Paul says: “The woman was thoroughly deceived and came to be in transgression. However, she will be kept safe through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and sanctification along with soundness of mind.” (1 Tim. 2:14, 15) Here, though, when Paul says: “However, she will be kept safe [or, shall be saved, AV] through childbearing,” Paul does not mean Eve. Why not?

35. By using the pronoun “she” there, why does Paul not mean Eve?

³⁵ Paul had just been discussing the place of woman in the Christian congregation. So only in that connection he made a reference to Eve, in order to show why he did not permit a woman to be a teacher in the congregation. Paul said: “Let a woman learn in silence with full submissiveness. I do not permit a woman to teach, or to exercise authority over a man, but to be in silence.” So after using Eve to illustrate his reason for debarring a woman from teaching in the congregation, Paul refers back to the debarred “woman” or womankind and says that she will be kept safe spiritually “through childbearing,” through motherhood, rather than by teaching in the congregation.

36, 37. What modern Bible translations show that the reference in 1 Timothy 2:15 is not to Eve?

³⁶ In harmony with that we note the following modern translations of 1 Timothy 2:15: An American Translation renders the verse: “But they will be saved through motherhood, if they continue to have faith and to be loving and holy, and sensible as well.” A New Translation of the Bible, by Dr. James Moffatt, reads: “However, women will get safely through childbirth, if they continue to be faithful and loving and holy as well as unassuming.”

³⁷ The Holy Bible Revised Standard Version reads: “Yet woman will be saved through bearing children, if she continues in faith and love and holiness, with modesty.” The Holy Bible from Ancient Eastern Manuscripts, by George M. Lamsa, reads: “Nevertheless, if her posterity continue in faith and have holiness and chastity, she will live, through them.” The New Testament A Translation in the Language of the People, by Chas. E. Williams, reads: “But women will be saved through motherhood, if they continue to live in faith, love and purity blended with good sense.” The New Testament in Plain English, by Charles Kingsley Williams, reads: “But woman shall be saved by child-bearing, if she continues in faith and love and holiness with modesty.”—1 Tim. 2:15.

DOES THE RANSOM APPLY?

38. What question in relation to Adam and Eve arises from 1 Timothy 2:5, 6?

³⁸ It is plain that the above-discussed Bible texts that have been applied in behalf of Eve and her salvation under God’s kingdom give no definite proof of another opportunity for everlasting life for Eve. Hence Adam does not stand to benefit from any attempted arguments in favor of Eve. However, do not both Adam and Eve stand to benefit from the ransom sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ, “the last Adam”? In 1 Timothy 2:5, 6 the apostle Paul says: “A man Christ Jesus, who gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.” So do not Adam and Eve, about whom Paul speaks later in 1 Timothy, chapter 2, verses 13 and 14, justly have a right to a share in the benefits of that “corresponding ransom”? Many persons argue Yes.

39, 40. (a) What is a ransom, and what did Jesus say about it in Matthew 20:28? (b) With what law given by God through Moses concerning ransom was Jesus acquainted?

³⁹ A ransom is something of value that is delivered or paid over to a person or organization that is holding something captive, subject or in possession, in order to gain the release of what is thus held. As regards the Lord Jesus Christ, in giving himself in sacrificial death he gave a “corresponding ransom,” which means that the valuable thing given corresponds exactly with the thing held, the thing that is to be freed, released or bought back. According to Matthew 20:28, Jesus said: “The Son of man came, not to be ministered to, but to minister and to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many.” Jesus was fully acquainted with God’s law given through his mediator Moses to the nation of Israel, namely:

⁴⁰ “If a fatal accident should occur, then you must give soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, branding for branding, wound for wound, blow for blow. . . . if a bull [not kept under guard] . . . did put a man or a woman to death, the bull is to be stoned and also its owner [who heeded no warning] is to be put to death. If a ransom should be imposed upon him, then he must give the redemption price for his soul according to all that may be imposed upon him.”—Ex. 21:23-30.

41. What did the Son of God have to do in order to get into position to furnish a “corresponding ransom”?

⁴¹ To furnish a “corresponding ransom” for mankind, the Son of God from heaven had to become a perfect man exactly like or corresponding to the perfect Adam in Eden’s garden. To this end he was born as a human child of a virgin Jewish girl, Mary, Jehovah God continuing to be his Father. He was thus miraculously born perfect and sinless; and the sin from Adam did not spread to him. As a man of thirty years of age, when he got baptized in water by John the Baptist to symbolize his dedication to God to do the divine will, Jesus was the full equivalent in a human way of the sinless, perfect Adam in the garden of Eden. He was thus in a position to offer his human life or soul as a “corresponding ransom” for the release of humankind from sin and its penalty death.

42. Are the many descendants of Adam and Eve to benefit from Jesus’ “corresponding ransom,” and does this ransom not apply first to Adam and then to Eve?

⁴² That the many descendants of Adam and Eve are to benefit from this “corresponding ransom” of Jesus Christ and are to have a resurrection from Sheol or Haʹdes to an opportunity to gain human perfection on a Paradise earth, the Bible plainly teaches. But what about Adam and Eve? Since Jesus’ human body and soul corresponded exactly to that of the perfect Adam in Eden, would not the “corresponding ransom” paid by Jesus apply first of all to Adam himself and secondarily to Adam’s wife Eve? Not necessarily!

43, 44. (a) For whose benefit were the cities of refuge in Israel, and in what way? (b) What did this law say about the intentional manslayer, in Numbers 35:18-21, 30-32?

⁴³ To illustrate: In Jehovah’s law given to the nation of Israel through the prophet Moses, He made provision for six “cities of refuge,” at strategic or convenient locations throughout the land of Israel. These were for the man who became guilty of manslaughter by sheer accident. The accidental manslayer could escape the death penalty by beating the avenger of blood to the most convenient city of refuge and remaining inside until the death of the Levite who was then serving as Jehovah’s high priest. (Num. 35:9-29) But what about an intentional or deliberate manslayer, a murderer, an assassin? On this, God’s law of refuge cities says:

⁴⁴ “Without fail the murderer should be put to death. The avenger of blood is the one who will put the murderer to death. When he chances upon him he himself will put him to death. And if in hatred he was pushing [the man murdered] or he has thrown at him while lying in wait that he might die, or in enmity he has struck him with his hand that he might die, without fail the striker should be put to death. He is a murderer. The avenger of blood will put the murderer to death when he chances upon him.” “Every fatal striker of a soul should be slain as a murderer at the mouth of witnesses, and one witness may not testify against a soul for him to die. AND YOU MUST TAKE NO RANSOM FOR THE SOUL OF A MURDERER WHO IS DESERVING TO DIE, for without fail he should be put to death. And you must not take a ransom for the one [the accidental manslayer] who has fled to his city of refuge, to resume dwelling in the land before the death of the high priest.”—Num. 35:18-21, 30-32.

45. How should we view Jehovah’s refusing to accept a ransom for the willful manslayer?

⁴⁵ Jehovah God the Giver of all life was within his right and also within the limits of justice in refusing to accept a ransom for the willful manslayer and refusing to let him live on under the protective shadow of the Jewish high priest.

46, 47. (a) Concerning Adam as the responsible one, what do Romans 5:12-14 and; 1 Timothy 2:14 say? (b) Besides getting sentenced, what might Adam by his sin have killed off?

⁴⁶ Likewise in the case of God’s dealings with Adam and Eve. Concerning Adam as the main responsible one, Romans 5:12-14 says: “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned—. . . . Nevertheless, death ruled as king from Adam down to Moses, even over those who had not sinned after the likeness of the transgression by Adam.”

⁴⁷ Through Adam sin and its penalty death entered into the world of mankind. Adam thus became responsible for the sinfulness and death of all his descendants, with all the reproach that this has brought upon the holy name of his Maker, Jehovah God. This was not accidental on Adam’s part; “Adam was not deceived.” (1 Tim. 2:14) He knew that he was breaking God’s law against the eating from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and bad. He knew that he was taking the course that meant his death at God’s hand, and he might have expected that his death by execution would take place on that very twenty-four-hour day before he had the opportunity to become a father. He might thus have killed all opportunity for life, or even a start in life, for all his offspring. When, by God’s undeserved kindness, Adam did start off his family, he started all of them off in sin and under the condemnation of death and with no right to life.

48. (a) What can be said about God’s refusing to accept any ransom in Adam’s behalf? (b) What about this with regard to the offspring of Adam and Eve?

⁴⁸ Because Adam, despite God’s full warning, willfully brought death upon all his offspring, he was a willful murderer, and Eve shared with him in this willful transgression. So Jehovah, acting in harmony with his later law concerning the Israelite “cities of refuge,” would refuse to accept any ransom in Adam’s behalf and in Eve’s behalf, not letting them come under the ministration of his High Priest Jesus Christ. But as regards the human family that descended from them, God could justly accept the ransom sacrifice of his High Priest Jesus Christ in their behalf, because their sinfulness that merited death was only accidental, it not being willed by them but being due only to birth from Adam.

49. What about the ransom benefits and Cain the son of Adam?

⁴⁹ In the case of Cain, the first son of Adam, God justly withholds the benefits of Christ’s ransom sacrifice from Cain because Jehovah God directly warned Cain and yet he wickedly assassinated his godly brother Abel. For Cain as well as for his parents Adam and Eve we reasonably expect no resurrection from the dead.

[Picture on page 169]

Adam and Eve driven out of Eden

Our Own Twentieth-Century Generation and the Resurrection

1, 2. (a) Will all those of our twentieth-century generation come within God’s provision for a resurrection? (b) What does Jesus’ parable show regarding those likened to “goats”?

MANY persons of our twentieth-century generation are dying who come within the provision made by Jehovah God for a resurrection under the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ.

² However, among our own generation there are many who will share the final destiny of Satan the Devil and his demons. These will be those whom Jesus Christ compared to goats. He gave a prophecy on the conclusion of this wicked system of things and closed this prophecy with his parable of the sheep and the goats. This parable or illustration is found in Matthew 25:31-46. In our generation the symbolic “goats” are people from all the present-day nations, and they are separated from the righteous class of persons whom Jesus likened to sheep. Both these “sheep” and the “goats” are earthly classes of people; that is to say, they have no call from Jehovah God to the heavenly inheritance with his Son Jesus Christ but are earthly-minded.—Matt. 25:31-33.

3. From whom does Jesus differentiate both the “sheep” and the “goats,” and how?

³ Jesus differentiates both “sheep” and “goats” from his spiritual “brothers,” his 144,000 joint heirs who have a heavenly inheritance with him. Jesus pronounced his “sheep” to be those who have his heavenly Father’s blessing. The reason for this is that they have done good to his spiritual brothers, even to “the least of these my brothers.” (Matt. 25:34-40) The reason for Jesus to pronounce the “goats” to be a cursed class is that they have failed to do good to his spiritual brothers, even to “one of these least ones.” Thus the “goats” failed to do anything good for the One whom these brothers represented, namely, the Lord Jesus Christ.

4. When sending away the symbolic “goats,” to whom did Jesus make reference, and in what respect?

⁴ In his parable Jesus pointed forward to the fact that Satan the Devil and his demon angels will be hurled into the “lake of fire and sulphur,” which symbolizes the “second death.” Jesus did so when he said to the “goat” class: “Be on your way from me, you who have been cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.”—Matt. 25:41-45; Rev. 20:10, 14.

5. When will the King Jesus Christ say those words to the symbolic “goats”?

⁵ The King Jesus Christ has been reigning in the heavens since the end of the “times of the Gentiles” in 1914 C.E. (Luke 21:24) So, when will he say those words to the people whom he classes as “goats”? It will be at the destruction of Babylon the Great and in the battle of Armageddon that immediately follows Babylon the Great’s destruction, that is to say, in the “ war of the great day of God the Almighty.” (Rev. 17:1, 2, 15, 16; 16:14, 16; 17:14) The “goats” then executed will include all those persons on earth who are not among the blessed “sheep” class.

6. How do the symbolic “sheep” show themselves to be such?

⁶ The “sheep” are a class of people who demonstrate their support of the King Jesus Christ by positively doing good to his spiritual brothers and joint heirs. The “sheep” have forsaken Babylon the Great (the world empire of false Babylonish religion). They have dedicated their lives to God through Christ and have been baptized in water and thereafter they share with Christ’s spiritual brothers in giving that final earth-wide witness to God’s kingdom, as foretold earlier in Jesus’ prophecy, in Matthew 24:14. These “sheep” do not march with the “kings of the entire inhabited earth” and their armies to Armageddon to fight against God.

7, 8. Whom do the “goats” executed as “cursed” persons include?

⁷ Contrariwise, the “goats” who are to be executed as “cursed” persons will include the religionists who stay inside Babylon the Great till she is destroyed forever; also, the religionists who are the modern-day part of the composite “man of lawlessness,” “the son of destruction”; also, the symbolic “tares,” that is, the “weeds,” “the sons of the wicked one” (Matt. 13:25-30, 38-42); also, those political “kings,” their military commanders, their cavalrymen, the freemen and the slaves, the great and the small, all of whom are lined up at Armageddon, but not on the side of the King of kings and Lord of lords.—Rev. 19:18-21.

⁸ The “goats” would also include those husbands and wives who have believing marriage partners but who, in spite of the good example of their believing marriage mates, are found to be still unbelievers in the day and at the hour of the execution of God’s judgment against this enemy world; also, the children of a believing parent or the children of believing parents (fathers and mothers), which children were once “holy” as minors, as unresponsible children, but who have grown up to responsible years and have refused to become dedicated, baptized believers by the time that divine execution upon the “goats” begins.—1 Cor. 7:12-16.

9. Who would those “goats” then be, by differentiation from whom?

⁹ In other words, at the time of the execution of divine judgment the “goats” would be all those persons, young and old, who have not become “sheep” and who have not been gathered into the “one fold” under the “one shepherd,” where the small remnant of the Shepherd’s spiritual brothers are.—John 10:16; Rev. 7:9-17.

10. What is the treatment to be given to children of the goatlike people, and how was this illustrated prophetically?

¹⁰ The undedicated children of goatish people will not be spared from execution and being sentenced to Gehenna just because they are themselves minor, unresponsible children. This hard fact is illustrated in the orders that Jehovah God issued to his executioners when apostate Jerusalem was to be destroyed. To his executioners he said: “Pass through the city after him [the man who marked the ones to be spared] and strike. Let not your eye feel sorry, and do not feel any compassion. Old man, young man and virgin and little child and women you should kill off.” And that is what they did, as illustrated in Jerusalem’s destruction, 607 B.C.E.-Ezek. 9:5-7.

11. What spiritual class will be executed along with such “goats”?

¹¹ Executed along with the “goats” at Armageddon will be the remnant of the “evil slave” class, the “wicked and sluggish slave” class, who were once Christ’s spiritual brothers but who cease to be such because of turning unfaithful and traitors. They will have no heavenly resurrection.—Matt. 24:48-51; 25:24-30.

12, 13. (a) Where do those executed “goats” go? (b) What does their punishment with something everlasting mean, and how is this indicated by Jesus’ words?

¹² Where do the executed “goats” go when sent out of the King’s presence? Not into Haʹdes or Sheol, where Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and other faithful witnesses of Jehovah God are. No; they go into the symbolic “everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.” (Matt. 25:41) This “everlasting fire” is certainly not found down in Haʹdes or Sheol. Even Jesus’ parable of the rich man and the beggar Lazarus does not prove that the Gehenna fire or the “fiery lake that burns with sulphur” is in Haʹdes or Sheol. (Luke 16:19-31)a What, then, does this punishment with something everlasting mean? It means the very opposite of everlasting life. In other words, it means the everlasting punishment of endless destruction. That it means such endless destruction is indicated by Jesus’ closing words regarding the unrighteous “goat” class:

¹³ “And these will depart into everlasting cutting-off [or, everlasting punishment], but the righteous ones into everlasting life.”—Matt. 25:46, NW; AV.

14. Into what will those “goats” not go, and what will they not have?

¹⁴ Such “goats” who get executed at the destruction of Babylon the Great or in the battle of Armageddon will not go into “everlasting life” in any form, nor even in endless conscious torment. Being destroyed as by fire, they will have no resurrection.

15. Who of those on their way to “everlasting life” will not need a resurrection, and why not?

¹⁵ The righteous “sheep” class among men are on their way to everlasting life in God’s new order of things under Christ. A “great crowd” of them will survive the coming battle of Armageddon. As they thus enter into the reign of Jesus Christ for a thousand years over the earth, they will not need a resurrection. (Rev. 7:9-17) By the faithful course they pursue then under that Messianic kingdom they will avoid being executed in the “lake of fire,” the “second death,” and will never die as human creatures. They will never go to Haʹdes or Sheol and need to be resurrected.

16. So, at the beginning of Christ’s millennial reign, who will there not be on earth, and why not?

¹⁶ However, it will not be so with the “goat” class of our twentieth-century generation. At the destruction of Babylon the Great and in the battle of Armageddon they will be executed with an everlasting punishment and will never be resurrected from the dead, for they will go into the “second death.” Consequently, at the beginning of Christ’s millennial reign, there will be no “goat” class on hand to interfere with that righteous rule.

17. (a) Who will then not be able to interfere in the invisible realm, and why not? (b) For what will the “sheep” class on earth prepare?

¹⁷ Neither will there be any invisible Devil and his invisible demon angels to interfere with the operation of Christ’s kingdom. Why not? Because right after the battle of Armageddon they will be bound into helplessness and be pitched into the abyss and sealed off from all contact with others in the living universe. (Rev. 20:1-3) So without wicked interference the “sheep” who survive Armageddon will prepare for the coming resurrection of the earthly dead from the sea and from Haʹdes or Sheol.

[Footnotes]

See also The Watchtower as of February 15, 1951, pages 113-126, and as of March 1, 1951, pages 141-156.

So the “rich man’s” being “in anguish in this blazing fire” is pictured as taking place with him in Haʹdes or Sheol. As he talks to Abraham across a gulf, he is pictured as being where the dead Abraham is.

Earthly Opportunity Opened Up by Resurrection

1. When will the resurrection of the earthly dead take place, and why will this have to be prepared for?

THE resurrection of the earthly dead from the sea and from Haʹdes or Sheol will begin after the “war of the great day of God the Almighty and the binding and confining of Satan the Devil and his demons in the abyss for a thousand years. At that time the “former heaven and the former earth” will have fled away and will have been replaced altogether by a “new heaven and a new earth.” (Rev. 20:1-3, 11-15; 21:1) Certainly the return of such dead ones will need to be prepared for, inasmuch as it will mean a steady increase in the population of the earth, as in the case of feeding the resurrected daughter of Jairus.—Luke 8:55.

2. (a) After due preparation, whom will the sea and Haʹdes or Sheol give up? (b) Whom will the “righteous ones” include?

² When the proper preparations have been made, the King Jesus Christ will cause the sea and Haʹdes or Sheol to begin giving up the dead people in them. This will include good and bad, as the apostle Paul told the Roman Governor Felix in court. (Acts 24:15) There will be the “resurrection of the righteous ones,” and doubtless such righteous ones will be given earlier consideration, especially those belonging to the pre-Christian “cloud of witnesses” from John the Baptist all the way back to righteous Abel. This would include also any of the modern-day “other sheep” who died in righteousness before the battle of Armageddon. (Luke 14:14; Heb. 11:4-40; 12:1; John 10:16) This resurrection will not be confined, as some orthodox Jews believe, to their Holy Land, the land of Palestine. It alone will not be the “land of the living,” but all the earth will become the land of the living ones under God’s Messianic kingdom. In due time there will also be the resurrection of the unrighteous ones, whom Haʹdes and the sea will give up and many of whom the Bible identifies.

3. Why will not only the unrighteous ones but also the righteous ones benefit by having a resurrection on earth?

³ Not only the unrighteous ones but also the righteous ones will benefit from having the resurrection to an opportunity to live on earth under the all-powerful, perfect, heavenly kingdom of God’s dear Son, Jesus Christ, their Redeemer. As Isaiah 26:9, 19 assures us: “When there are judgments from you for the earth, righteousness is what the inhabitants of the productive land will certainly learn. Your dead ones will live. A corpse of mine—they will rise up. Awake and cry out joyfully, you residents in the dust! For your dew is as the dew of mallows, and the earth itself will let even those impotent in death drop in birth.” Even the resurrected “righteous ones” will not become perfect instantly; and Hebrews 11:39, 40 is not correctly interpreted to mean that.

4. Why not let the people remain in ignorance, since the “unrighteous” ones are to have a resurrection as well as the righteous ones?

⁴ Because there will be a resurrection of the unrighteous as well as the righteous (Acts 24:15), some may ask, What is the need for all this preaching of God’s kingdom? Why not let the people remain in ignorance, unbothered by the Kingdom message, inasmuch as they will have a resurrection with an opportunity for salvation anyhow? In answer we must say, The Kingdom preaching must be carried out in fulfillment of Bible prophecy. (Joel 2:28-32; Acts 2:16-21; Matt. 24:14; Mark 13:10) God’s prophecy must come true.

5. Because of what danger must warning be given by God’s “watchman”?

⁵ Furthermore, the warning of the coming execution of God’s vengeance upon the symbolic “goats” must be given before Babylon the Great is destroyed and before the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” is fought at Armageddon, when those not acting on the warning will be wiped out everlastingly in “second death.” As Jehovah God told his watchman, the prophet Ezekiel: “‘As I am alive,’ is the utterance of the Lord Jehovah, ‘I take delight, not in the death of the wicked one, but in that someone wicked turns back from his way and actually keeps living. Turn back, turn back from your bad ways, for why is it that you should die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezek. 33:11) So there is danger of execution, even of ignorant ones.

6. (a) Is there salvation, or even resurrection, because of ignorance? (b) Since Jesus’ ministry on earth, has God wanted mankind everywhere to remain in ignorance?

⁶ Consequently, it is Scripturally wrong to think that there is salvation through ignorance. There will indeed be a resurrection of many ignorant people, the vast majority of dead mankind; but their ignorance is not what makes them worthy of a resurrection and of eternal life. Considerable ignorance obtained throughout the earth during the more than two thousand years prior to the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ in the years 29-33 of our Common Era, and God winked at such ignorance of the peoples and nations who were not God’s chosen race. In proof of this the apostle Paul told the ignorant Athenians: “True, God has overlooked the times of such ignorance, yet now he is telling mankind that they should all everywhere repent. Because he has set a day in which he purposes to judge the inhabited earth in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and he has furnished a guarantee to all men in that he has resurrected him from the dead.” (Acts 17:30, 31) The man appointed was Jesus Christ, whom God resurrected in 33 C.E.

7. Will there be ignorance on the part of the “righteous ones,” and, if so, to what extent?

⁷ The ignorance of the resurrected dead, righteous and unrighteous, will be relative ignorance. Even the righteous ones of the “so great a cloud of witnesses” of those four thousand years before Christ’s resurrection will be ignorant in a number of respects. They will be ignorant of many things about the outworking of God’s purpose and his provision for salvation through Jesus Christ, whom God resurrected and appointed to be the Judge of the living and the dead. Even they will have to learn much, at least what is contained in the twenty-seven books of the Christian Greek Scriptures, from Matthew through Revelation. They will also have to be tested with regard to this knowledge.

8. What will that impaled evildoer who got the Paradise promise from Jesus have to learn after his resurrection?

⁸ Even the evildoer who was impaled alongside Jesus, who at first began to reproach Jesus but afterward became sympathetic toward Jesus, will have much to learn. At least there on the stake he learned about Jesus’ coming kingdom and asked Jesus to remember him when Jesus came into that kingdom. But the evildoer did not know that it would be a heavenly kingdom. In fulfillment of Jesus’ words to him: “Truly I tell you today, You will be with me in Paradise,” that evildoer will have a resurrection to life on earth under Christ’s reign, the earth then being made a Paradise. (Luke 23:43) Yet the resurrected evildoer will have much to learn about the way of salvation, and he will have to walk intelligently in that way.

9. Through what will there be salvation, as indicated by Jesus in John 17:3?

⁹ Hence salvation will not be through ignorance, but will be through knowledge. That is one of the reasons why there has to be a resurrection of the dead, that they may learn. Knowledge of the truth is one of the vital things needed for salvation, whereas ignorance is death-dealing. In prayer to his heavenly Father, Jesus Christ said in the presence of his faithful apostles: “This means everlasting life, their taking in knowledge of you, the only true God, and of the One whom you sent forth, Jesus Christ.”—John 17:3.

10. (a) Will the resurrection of the earthly people mean their final salvation? (b) In all cases, through what is their salvation, and what is needed with regard to this?

¹⁰ The resurrection of people, the unrighteous as well as the righteous, will not mean their final salvation. It will merely open up to them an opportunity for everlasting salvation. Salvation of mankind on a Paradise earth is in no case through ignorance. It is through the ransom sacrifice of Jesus Christ in all cases, and concerning this ransom sacrifice there has to be accurate knowledge. This knowledge has to be given in full measure to all the resurrected dead, and this will be done by God’s Messianic kingdom in the hands of Jesus Christ and his 144,000 associate kings and priests during his reign of a thousand years.

11. For salvation to be made everlasting, what will be necessary on the part of the saved ones?

¹¹ Then, for salvation to be made everlasting, there has to be an acceptance of this ransom sacrifice. (1 Tim. 2:3-6) This must be followed by full, loyal, unswerving obedience forever to God’s anointed King Jesus Christ and to God’s eternal universal sovereignty, even to and through the final test. (Rev. 20:7-10) All who rebel against this requirement will be destroyed.—Rev. 20:15.

A PRIESTHOOD FOR HUMAN SALVATION

12. (a) What work of God has been going on during the past nineteen centuries? (b) How is the accomplishment of this to result in the blessing of mankind in general?

¹² Thus, under God’s kingdom by Christ for a thousand years, there will be for the first time world conversion Up till this millennial reign of Christ, Jehovah God has never been attempting world conversion, not even using Christendom to try to do so. To the contrary, during these past nineteen centuries of our Common Era God has been taking out of all the nations a people for his name Jehovah. These taken-out ones will finally number 144,000 joint heirs of Jesus Christ who will all be “happy and holy” by having part in the “first resurrection.” (Acts 15:14; Rev. 20:4-6) As these 144,000 are to be priests of God and of Christ and are to reign with Christ in heaven for a thousand years, the remainder of mankind, living and dead, are to be blessed through them. Jesus Christ himself will be the High Priest of God.—Heb. 3:1.

13, 14. (a) Who are “those under the ground” spoken of in Philippians 2:8-11? (b) How will they be enabled to bend the knee and openly acknowledge Christ as Lord?

¹³ Only because of including a resurrection of the dead, of the righteous and of the unrighteous, can there be a fulfillment of the apostle Paul’s words, in Philippians 2:8-11, concerning Jesus Christ: “When he found himself in fashion as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient as far as death, yes, death on a torture stake. For this very reason also God exalted him to a superior position and kindly gave him the name that is above every other name, so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend of those in heaven and those on earth and those under the ground, and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.”

¹⁴ By Paul’s expression “those under the ground” are meant the dead who are in Sheol or Haʹdes awaiting a resurrection. Whether they will have known it before the resurrection or not, they will thereafter know that “Jesus Christ is Lord.” If they want everlasting life in God’s righteous new system of things, they will then have to treat or act toward Jesus Christ as Lord, and their tongues will have to acknowledge that fact openly. Also, in the name of Jesus Christ the Lord they will have to bend the knee in prayer and worship to God the heavenly Father.

15. (a) As God’s High Priest, what did Jesus Christ give, and what did he come into the world to save? (b) Hence of whom must there be a resurrection on earth, and how?

¹⁵ Jesus Christ, as God’s High Priest, “gave himself a corresponding ransom for all.” (1 Tim. 2:5, 6) The purpose of this is nicely stated by the apostle Paul in these words: “Faithful and deserving of full acceptance is the saying that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Of these I am foremost.” (1 Tim. 1:15) That is why there will be a resurrection of sinners, which will include the unrighteous as well as those who are relatively righteous. God’s High Priest Jesus Christ would come far short of his priestly work if he did not do something for the benefit of the earthly dead. So, to this end, there must be a resurrection of the sinners for whom he died in order to provide a “corresponding ransom.” To raise the dead he will use the “keys of death and of Haʹdes.” (Rev. 1:17, 18) Thus Haʹdes or Sheol will have to give up the dead that are in it. It will thus be destroyed forever.

16. God decreed Jesus Christ to be the judge of whom, and what will the carrying out of the judgment require to take place?

¹⁶ The High Priest Jesus Christ 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 10:42, 43; 17:31; 2 Tim. 4:1) In order that there may be a righteous judgment of the dead as well as of the sheeplike people who live through the battle of Armageddon, the dead must be resurrected from Haʹdes or Sheol.

17. (a) In the fulfillment of Revelation 20:11-15, is final judgment pronounced as soon as people are resurrected on earth? (b) What full benefit does God’s High Priest have in view for the resurrected ones?

¹⁷ This need of a resurrection is the point that Jesus argued in John 5:28, 29. However, in Revelation 20:5, 11-15 Jesus Christ gave us a prophetic picture of the millennial judgment day and its final results toward those of mankind who do not have part in the “first resurrection.” The High Priest and Judge Jesus Christ does not pronounce final judgment upon the earthly dead as soon as they are resurrected on earth or as soon as the sea and Haʹdes or Sheol gives them up. The resurrected humans as well as the sheeplike survivors of Armageddon must first get the benefits of his kingdom and of his sacrificial priesthood for a thousand years. The full benefit that God’s High Priest Jesus Christ has in view is the cleansing and lifting up of all the willing and obedient to human perfection and sinlessness on a Paradise earth.

18. What will the heavenly High Priest be able to do for those on earth that Jewish priests and sacrifices could not do for worshipers?

¹⁸ As the apostle Peter said, in the words quoted above, “everyone putting faith in him gets forgiveness of sins through his name.” Jesus Christ, when on earth as a perfect man, healed the crippled, the blind and the deaf, and cured the sick and even raised the dead. During his millennial reign as the heavenly High Priest, Jesus will be able to do the same things. He will really remove sin from human flesh and bring about human perfection, something that all the Jewish priests and all their animal sacrifices could never do under the law of Moses, either on Atonement Day each year or during all the 1,545 years that the Mosaic law covenant was in force between Jehovah God and the nation of Israel.—Heb. 10:1-4.

19. At the end of the thousand years, how will people prove whether theirs has been a “resurrection of life” or a “resurrection of judgment”?

¹⁹ At the close of this thousand years of kingly and priestly aid comes the loosing of Satan and his demons from the abyss, to test all these perfected inhabitants of the earthly Paradise. By their conduct under this final, deciding test, the determination will be made of the two classes, (a) those who deserve everlasting destruction in “second death,” and (b) those who are worthy of the guaranteed gift of everlasting life in the Paradise earth. In this manner those then under test will themselves prove whether theirs has been a “resurrection of life” or a “resurrection of judgment” (condemnatory judgment).—John 5:28, 29.a

THE POWER OF THE RESURRECTION HOPE

20. (a) How may we living today be yet dependent upon the miracle of the resurrection? (b) How, therefore, should we live each day?

²⁰ The divine purpose of the resurrection of the dead through Jesus Christ will be fully realized to Jehovah’s eternal praise. What a miracle of divine mercy is the resurrection of the dead! How much all of us should appreciate God’s loving provision for the resurrection of the dead! Even we, who are today alive but who are living so close to the outbreak of the “war of the great day of God the Almighty,” may yet have to depend upon God’s fulfillment of the resurrection of the dead in our behalf. If we should die during this short interval before Almighty God executes judgment and destroys all the enemies of his kingdom, we shall have to get the benefit of the resurrection. Otherwise, there will be no future life for us through the reign of God’s kingdom by Christ. Each day, therefore, we should live in such a manner that, should the enemy death overtake us by some means, we shall not be judged by God as unworthy of resurrection through Christ.

21, 22. (a) How did Paul’s appreciation and hope of resurrection help him? (b) In Philippians 3:8-11, how did Paul show the extent to which he valued the resurrection?

²¹ The Christian apostle Paul was one who deeply appreciated God’s provision for the resurrection of the dead. It was a hope that sustained him and strengthened him to face even a martyr’s death. It especially stimulated him to keep a good conscience toward God and man, as he himself expressed it in these words: “In this respect, indeed, I am exercising myself continually to have a consciousness of committing no offense against God and men.” (Acts 24:15, 16) And in expression of the extent to which he valued the resurrection, particularly the “first resurrection,” above all other things, Paul said, when writing from prison:

²² “I do indeed also consider all things to be loss on account of the excelling value of the knowledge of Jesus Christ my Lord. On account of him I have taken the loss of all things and I consider them as a lot of refuse, that I may gain Christ and be found in union with him, having, not my own righteousness, which results from law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness that issues from God on the basis of faith, so as to know him and the power of his resurrection and a sharing in his sufferings, submitting myself to a death like his, to see if I may by any means attain to the earlier resurrection from the dead.”—Phil. 3:8-11, NW; Ro.

23. (a) As to faith in the resurrection, whom do we do well to imitate? (b) In what respects do we want the resurrection hope to help us, and for what do we give thanks to God?

²³ We do well to imitate the apostle Paul. But primarily we imitate the Lord Jesus Christ, who also rested his hope in the power of Almighty God to resurrect him from the dead on the third day and who now himself has been entrusted with the power of raising the dead during his kingdom. Imitating both Jesus Christ and his apostle, may we by the resurrection hope be made courageous like them. May the resurrection hope comfort us respecting those who have fallen asleep in death for whom there is reserved an awakening. May the resurrection hope spur us to continue on doing the work of the Lord God, even in the face of death now before Armageddon, because we know that, because of the resurrection of the dead, our faithful “labor is not in vain in connection with the Lord.” Thanks be to God Almighty who gives us the victory over death through our Lord Jesus Christ!—1 Cor. 15:57, 58.

[Footnotes]

A War Between Gods

IT IS a fact of interest that pagan nations of ancient times, particularly Babylonia, believed that each city had its own tutelary deity, to which its temple was dedicated and its people were devoted.a So when there was a war, it was considered a battle not only between the armies involved but more particularly between gods. The god of the victorious army was looked upon as achieving victory over the god of the defeated army or city. The gods of these nations were worthless idol gods that could actually do nothing. Sacrificing to these idols, the nations were actually making sacrifices to invisible demons, wicked spirits under Satan the Devil, “the god of this system of things.” By means of these gods Satan could keep people in servitude and away from worship of the true God.—Ps. 96:5; 1 Cor. 10:20; 2 Cor. 4:4.

God’s prophet Isaiah told his nation, the Jews, that, because of their wickedness and rebellion, Jehovah had decreed that he would chastise them by allowing them to become captive down in Babylonia, a land full of idol gods. Isaiah also foretold their release from Babylon after a period of discipline. When the time should come for Jehovah to liberate his people, the demons would oppose, and any fight that would ensue to deliver God’s people would be looked upon as a fight between Jehovah, the true God, the God of Israel, and the gods of Babylon, chief of whom was Bel, which name means “Lord.” He was the same as Merodach or Marduk, or he came to be identified with Marduk.

At the time Cyrus overthrew Babylon he did not have knowledge of Isaiah’s prophecy concerning him, calling him by name and foretelling that Jehovah would use him as his instrument in defeating Babylon. Cyrus was a Zoroastrian, but he was superstitious and had a desire to please the gods of the various nations that he conquered. So in his ignorance of the prophecy of Isaiah, which showed the true source of his victory, he may have ascribed his success to the false gods of Babylon, just as it is indicated on the cuneiform document, the Cyrus Cylinder:

The totality of all lands he surveyed . . . inspected. He sought a righteous prince according to his heart’s desire who would grasp his hands. Cyrus, the king of Anshan, whose name he uttered, he proclaimed for lordship over everything. . . . Marduk, the great lord, the protector of his people, looked joyfully upon his pious deeds and his righteous heart. He decreed his march upon his city, Babylon, and caused him to take the road to Babylon. Like a friend and companion he went by his side.b

His widespread troops, whose number like the waters of a river is not known, put on their weapons and advanced at his side. Without encounter and battle he caused him to enter into the midst of Babylon, his city. He saved Babylon from need. . . .c

Cyrus may have reached this conclusion, partly because Nabonidus, the first ruler of Babylonia, who was an enthusiastic religionist, sought to centralize the religion of the kingdom in Babylon. The images and shrines of the various divinities he collected in Babylon, whereas throughout the history of Babylonia each city had its own patron deity. In doing this he may have alienated the Babylonian priesthood. For this reason Cyrus may have been led to think that the god Merodach (Marduk) helped him take Babylon.d

JEHOVAH THE REAL VICTOR OVER BABYLON

However, when Cyrus entered the city and Daniel was able to show him the prophecy of Isaiah written almost two hundred years beforehand, what could Cyrus say? Whom could he correctly acknowledge as giving him the victory?

Furthermore, that Cyrus’ victory was from Jehovah God is shown by the following facts: Babylon and Jerusalem had been age-old enemies from the time of Abraham and King Melchizedek of Salem, which later became Jerusalem. And enmity had existed between Jehovah God and Babylon from the time of the Tower of Babel, shortly after the flood of Noah’s day. The Babylonians greatly rejoiced over their capture of Jerusalem in 607 B.C.E. and considered their god Marduk as the great victor. They hated Jehovah’s people and certainly did not want to let them go. So it could not be due to the action of any of the false gods of Babylon, but, as Jehovah himself stated, it was his own action in releasing his people from Babylon and empowering them to go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, to his glory. This brought glory to his name and defeat to the false gods of Babylon. And if Bel (or, Marduk) was, as the Cyrus Cylinder said, “the protector of his people,” he failed ignominiously in fulfilling this role, for many Babylonians were slain, and all Bel’s subjects in Babylonia came under subjection to the foreign ruler, Cyrus of Persia. Moreover, Babylon never afterward reinstated herself to the position of world domination.

GODS OF BABYLON DISGRACED

Nebo, whose name means “Speaker, Announcer, Prophet,” was another important god of Babylon, once more important than Marduk. He was the god of vegetation and came to be identified with the heavenly planet Mercury. Through Isaiah God prophetically foretold the disgrace that would come upon these gods of Babylon: “Bel has bent down, Nebo is stooping over; their idols have come to be for the wild beasts and for the domestic animals, their loads, pieces of luggage, a burden for the tired animals. They must stoop over; they must each alike bend down; they are simply unable to furnish escape for the burden, but into captivity their own soul must go.”—Isa. 46:1, 2.

Therefore, when Babylon was defeated, Nebo and Bel themselves, “their own soul,” had to go into captivity and their worshipers became subjects of Cyrus. They were really no gods at all, and what a disillusionment and embarrassment it was to the worshipers of Bel and Nebo when even these, the greatest gods of the Babylonians, had to stoop in shameful defeat before the true God, Jehovah. The idols the Babylonians worshiped as gods could not carry themselves, much less their worshipers, to escape from the armies of Cyrus. These lifeless images were for the wild beasts, the lion and the dragon (the sirrush), to carry off into the country, if they could. Or they were loaded onto domestic animals and their dead weight caused these animals to bend down as beasts carrying mere luggage. It was not the usual annual parade for these false gods down Babylon’s Procession Street to the temple of Ishtar, to be admired and praised by their worshipers, but a humiliating flight for safety. Beasts carrying the Babylonian gods in an attempted escape! What a disgrace!

NO GOD COMPARABLE TO JEHOVAH

Jehovah does not permit any image to be made of him, because he is the living God. (Ex. 20:4, 5) He is the One who carries his people in his mighty arms, and not in any hasty or panicky flight. He foretells that he would deliver them, not only from Babylon, but from its good-for-nothing gods Nebo and Bel. Jehovah says to his people:

“Listen to me, O house of Jacob, and all you remaining ones of the house of Israel, you the ones conveyed by me from the belly, the ones carried from the womb. Even to one’s old age I am the same One; and to one’s gray-headedness I myself shall keep bearing up. I myself shall certainly act, that I myself may carry and that I myself may bear up and furnish escape.”—Isa. 46:3, 4.

Jehovah is different from the idol gods. He is not only able to bear himself up, because he is timeless and without beginning or end, consequently never grows old or tired; he is also inexhaustible in energy, able to defend his people, to defeat the enemy, including their gods, and carry his people and bear them up. Even though Israel would be more than a thousand years old from the death of the patriarch Jacob in 1711 B.C.E., Jehovah is everlasting, always at the zenith of his strength and ability to bless them—assurance to them of deliverance from Babylon.—Ps. 90:1, 2; Jas. 1:17.

Jehovah follows a very simple line of reasoning with his people when he says: “To whom will you people liken me or make me equal or compare me that we may resemble each other? There are those who are lavishing out the gold from the purse, and with the scale beam they weigh out the silver. They hire a metalworker, and he makes it into a god. They prostrate themselves, yes, they bow down. They carry it upon the shoulder, they bear it and deposit it in its place that it may stand still. From its standing place it does not move away. One even cries out to it, but it does not answer; out of one’s distress it does not save one.”—Isa. 46:5-7.

So when the Israelites would later come into captivity to Babylon they must not fear the gods that are powerless, but they should turn to Jehovah, with whom no other god can compare. They should remember that he foretold by name the very military leader that would deliver them from Babylon. This would give them courage to endure, awaiting his liberation of them.

NO OTHER GODS CAN CHANGE JEHOVAH’S PURPOSE

Jehovah went on to say to them: “Remember this, that you people may muster up courage. Lay it to heart, you transgressors. Remember the first things of a long time ago, that I am the Divine One [El] and there is no other God [Elohím], nor anyone like me; the One telling from the beginning the finale, and from long ago the things that have not been done; the One saying, ‘My own counsel will stand, and everything that is my delight I shall do’; the One calling from the sunrising a bird of prey, from a distant land the man to execute my counsel. I have even spoken it; I shall also bring it in. I have formed it, I shall also do it.”—Isa. 46:8-11.

When in captivity, the Israelites should remember what Jehovah did for them and for their forefathers in the distant past. He existed before all other gods and he knew from the beginning what the finish of his program would be. No demons or other false gods could block the decreed outcome of it. As far back as his first recorded statement of prophecy, at Genesis 3:15, and since, he told of things that had not yet come to pass. The Israelites had experienced the fulfillment of many of the things that he told them in advance. Jehovah did not need help to determine or execute his program. He did not need counsel or wisdom from anyone. He was not carrying out the counsel of some other god as adviser, or acting under anyone’s influence, but his own counsel, his own purposes, and these have stood and have come to pass, as he declared they would.

We have a record of what Jehovah delights in, in his written Word, and he has done these things in which he delights, regardless of whether it pleased anyone else. He called Cyrus, and what Cyrus did was not the carrying out of his own counsel, but Jehovah’s. Cyrus was not a Judean. He was from the sunrising, from the east, from a land far distant from the land of Judah. He was from Persia, which lay east of Babylon and the Tigris River, even east of Elam and the Persian Gulf. He is spoken of as a bird of prey, and it is interesting that the ensign of Cyrus was a golden eagle, a bird of prey. Jehovah called upon Cyrus to pounce down upon Babylon swiftly, like that bird of prey, the eagle.e

Even as Jehovah had spoken it, he formed the counsel and shaped the circumstances in human affairs to carry out his counsel by means of Cyrus, the symbolic “bird of prey,”f and historical records, sacred and secular, prove it. This exalts Him as being the One who overcame the gods of Babylon and the One responsible for giving Cyrus the strength to overthrow that mighty city.

Now Jehovah addresses himself in a prophetic way to the Babylonians. He knew that they were going to destroy Zion or Jerusalem out of hatred for Jehovah and his people: “Listen to me, you the ones powerful at heart, you the ones far away from righteousness. I have brought near my righteousness. It is not far away, and my own salvation will not be late. And I will give in Zion salvation, to Israel my beauty.”—Isa. 46:12, 13.

It was Jehovah who had determined that his people Israel should go into captivity to Babylon because of their unrighteousness and rebelliousness, but it was also his own counsel that they should in time be saved from Babylon’s power. Viewed from Jehovah’s standpoint of eternal existence, and since a thousand years is as a day with him, salvation from Babylon was not far away. (2 Pet. 3:8) It would come exactly in God’s time. He would not be unreasonable in his punishment of his people and would not allow Zion to lie desolate excessively long. In not too much lapse of time he would give his beauty to Israel, the beauty of being saved by Jehovah from the Babylonians. God would bring near his righteousness, because he would vindicate himself soon. It would be an act of righteousness on his part, for all the defamation brought on his name by the Israelites’ servitude to Babylon would be wiped out by Jehovah’s defeat of all Babylon’s gods.

The Babylonians, who were “powerful at heart,” boastful in their gods Bel and Nebo, should have paid attention to this notice and warning, so that they should not have acted too haughtily and cruelly toward God’s people Israel while they held them in captivity.

In 539 B.C.E., only two years before the prophesied seventy years of desolation were due to be completed, God sent his swiftly flying bird of prey, Cyrus of Persia, to fly against Babylon to execute his divine counsel on it. (Jer. 25:11) But Babylon was a mighty walled city, considered impregnable. Could Babylon’s gods behind her mighty defenses hold out for years and thereby prevent Jehovah from executing his counsel in his foretold time? Would the two years be enough time for Cyrus to bring about Babylon’s fall and, besides that, be able to get around to the business of liberating the Jews?

Jehovah’s word and name were at stake. It would be a war, not merely between Jehovah and Babylon, just for the sake of his people Israel. It was a war between gods. Jehovah would show his supremacy over these idol gods, which were no gods, and bring them down to the dust in disgrace and defeat. It would be a crushing defeat for Satan and his wicked demons, a foretaste of the defeat and destruction of these opposers of God and the complete vindication of Jehovah against all the gods of all the nations. Therefore the fall of Babylon must happen at God’s appointed time. In the next issue of this magazine we shall follow some of the events of the fatal night of Babylon’s fall.

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 184]

The Sirrush, “Dragon of Babylon”

A Land Prized for Bdellium Gum

◆ Gold and onyx you may know, but do you know what bdellium gum is? The land of Havilah had all three. (Gen. 2:11, 12) It was obviously precious, being mentioned with the onyx stone and gold. It must have been known to the Israelites, because Moses compared the appearance of manna to bdellium gum. (Num. 11:7) This aromatic gum was very much prized in antiquity, being held in high esteem by both Jews and Gentiles. The gum came from a tree, and, according to Pliny, was transparent, waxy, and oily to the touch. It was fragrant to a considerable distance around, having an aroma and taste like that of myrrh but weaker. When burned, bdellium gum diffuses a balsamic odor. The ancients used it like myrrh—in perfumes, incense and medicine.

Most Ancient Dyestuff on Record

◆ It was not so easy in Bible times to dye a cloth a certain color, for no synthetic dyes were then known. Some of the materials used by the Israelites for the Tabernacle were dyed “coccus scarlet.” (Ex. 25:4; 26:1; 35:6) This phrase is used in the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures, rather than just the word “scarlet,” and refers to what some authorities believe to be the most ancient dyestuff on record. It comes from a small scale insect that lives on the Kermes oak, a dwarf, often shrubby, evergreen oak in the Mediterranean regions, very common in dry places. The males are capable of flight but the females are wingless, living the greater part of their lives almost motionless. The bodies of the females swell after mating, and, at this time, before the eggs are extruded, the round, pea-like insects were collected in great numbers and then dried. When put in water, these dried insects made a beautiful, deep-red dye. The Greeks used this insect dyestuff under the name of kokkos (coccus) and the Arabians under the name of kermes, whence is derived the English word “crimson.” The kermes or coccus scarlet was long used as the most brilliant red dye known.

Too Old, Too Young, Too Weak, Too Strong?

THE saying “You’re never too old to learn” is taking on larger meaning in the more than twenty thousand congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses throughout the world. Thousands of persons of all ages every year are being taught to speak from the platform to large groups as well as being equipped to deliver short Bible sermons to strangers at their homes. Most of them, if you were to ask, would say they never would have believed it could be done, and all will agree that the Theocratic Ministry School is largely responsible.

But, “Me go to school again, at my age?” you might ask. Suppose we pay a brief visit to the local Kingdom Hall and see how this School makes it possible for so many to benefit. As we enter we are introduced to the one in charge of the Theocratic Ministry School, which is the first of the two meetings scheduled this weekday evening. This man is called the Theocratic Ministry School Servant, we are told, the designation “servant” being applied to all those who preside individually over some feature of the work of assisting the other ministers who compose the congregation.

“Isn’t this sort of congregational training a bit unusual for a religious group?” we ask.

“Yes, it is,” the School Servant replies. “But we are a society of ministers and all five of the meetings that we conduct in our Kingdom Hall train us for our ministry in the homes of the people, where our preaching is done. So all in the congregation participate in the meetings. Most of them are enrolled in our Theocratic Ministry School, for example, and all who are enrolled take turns in preparing and delivering short sermons to the congregation.”

NO ONE GRADUATES

“Why do you call it a ‘School,’ and how long does each term last?”

“We call it a school because it provides systematic instruction and progressive training in the art of public Bible speaking. But the course is a continuous one and has been since 1943, when the School was organized. A few in our congregation have been in the School since it started. That gray-haired man there is one of them. I’d like you to meet him because he is scheduled to give our first talk tonight.”

The man referred to appears to be in his early fifties. He is standing just inside the doorway of a little anteroom at the rear of the Kingdom Hall and is leafing through a book, which we see, on approaching, is a bound volume of The Watchtower for 1960. A boy in his teens and a middle-aged woman are seated at a table, each intent on several books and the Bible in front of them. We learn, on being introduced to the older man, that this little room is used as the School library, where various editions of the Bible, Bible dictionaries and other Bible reference books are available to anyone in the congregation for preparing talks.

We ask our new acquaintance: “Aren’t you getting a little discouraged at not ‘graduating’ from the School in over twenty years? The School Servant tells us that you are giving the first talk tonight. Don’t you think you have just about covered the field by now?”

“Well, if I never ‘graduate’ I’ll never stop learning, will I?” he replies. “Of course, we do become thoroughly familiar with the basic principles of speech after a time, but we can always improve in our ability to use them. Besides, we are always getting something new in the way of study material.” He puts the bound volume of The Watchtower back in the bookcase and takes down another book about the same size but thinner and in a dark-blue cover.

“This is the current textbook we are using in addition to the Bible, and I wouldn’t miss studying it in the School for anything. It is called ‘All Scripture Is Inspired of God and Beneficial,’ and when we have completed it in another couple of years or so we will have read the Bible through completely and will have discussed each book of the Bible individually from many viewpoints. Every week I leave the Kingdom Hall aware of new things that I have learned.”

“That sounds like reason enough to keep going. What are you going to talk about tonight?”

“My talk is on the Bible book of Joshua. In fact, the entire congregation was assigned to read the first twelve chapters of Joshua in preparation for tonight’s session. I have selected as my theme ‘Implicit faith and obedience are essential for Jehovah’s blessing.’ Since this is our first week on the book of Joshua, my talk will examine the setting of the book, its writer, the time of writing, the period covered, and so on. I also expect to apply its contents and some of its principles to our day and show how the book affects our lives even in this twentieth century. It is a fifteen-minute talk called the ‘Instruction Talk’ because it is usually given by the School Servant or one of the older students. Next week I will conduct the regular five-minute Oral Review on this material so those in the congregation can comment on what they have learned. Tonight, though, the Oral Review will cover some of the questions we had last week on our Written Review.”

JOY AND ACHIEVEMENT

“Written Review? You mean you have written examinations in the School too?”

“Not really examinations; we call them Written Reviews because everyone grades his own paper and no record of grades is kept. It just helps us mark our own progress better. For instance, one of our missionaries in American Samoa reports that some of the persons with whom she conducted home Bible studies were prompted by curiosity to attempt several Written Reviews, but soon realized they would need to attend the School sessions at the Kingdom Hall in addition to their home study. From then on the Reviews were ‘a source of joy and achievement for them.’ But I see that the School Servant is preparing to open the meeting, so we will want to take our seats now.”

After a song by the congregation and a prayer from one of its members, the School Servant begins his résumé of the Written Review, and we are forced to ask ourselves, How many of these questions could we answer? “Name at least four of the many legal precedents recorded in Deuteronomy that are found in the laws of modern-day society. Why was Israel ‘not to preserve any breathing thing alive’ in the cities of the Promised Land they were about to conquer? What responsibility is laid upon parents at Deuteronomy 11:19? True or False: The entire book of Deuteronomy emphasizes that Jehovah exacts exclusive devotion from his people?” And so on. But the answers come readily enough from members of the congregation, most of them not even checking the written answers on their papers from the week before.

INSTRUCTION AND COUNSEL

The Instruction Talk follows, and then the first student speaker is introduced. He is a young man in his late teens and appears a little nervous at first, but this is immediately forgotten as his introduction arouses our interest in his narration of Joshua 3:1 to 5:12. As he plunges into his theme, “Joshua leads the nation of Israel into the Promised Land,” we can to mind some of the points driven home in the Instruction Talk on implicit faith and obedience, and the book of Joshua comes alive as we see in our mind’s eye a confident and trusting people of God walk dry shod through the miraculously parted waters of the Jordan River and then sanctify themselves by circumcision within the borders of their new homeland. The School Servant, in counseling the student, commends him for being informative and speaking with proper volume. He says, too, that the student is already well on his way to demonstrate the next qualities of speech he will be working on, “Clear and understandable” and “Use of pausing.”

The next two talks are given by women, but not directly to the audience. Each one speaks to another student on the platform with her. The first one develops the theme “The ‘great crowd’ delivered through faith in Jehovah,” and the second emphasizes “Wrong desire leads to death.” The first woman, well into middle age, pretends she is speaking to her married daughter and encourages her by using the example of Rahab, a woman of Jericho whose life was spared because she showed faith in Jehovah, the God of the Israelites, and protected the lives of the two Israelite spies who came into her home. The second woman is younger and speaks as though she is addressing a woman considering dedication and baptism and uses the account of Achan at Joshua 7:1-26 to give her a friendly word of caution as to certain practices the woman has admitted in connection with her secular employment. Each woman is counseled after her talk, and both women are commended by the School Servant for their practical handling of their assignments, the first one particularly for emphasizing her subject theme and the second one on her convincing argument and her warmth and feeling.

The fourth and last student is introduced. The School Servant says the speaker has been assigned the theme “Be courageous, for Jehovah gives the victory” and, in developing it, has selected as his supposed audience a small group of young people from the Jewish Community Center who saw the Broadway stage play “The Deputy” and asked him, as one of Jehovah’s witnesses, to explain the reference made to the work of Jehovah’s witnesses as a resistance movement to Hitler. The speaker answers the question, explaining the neutral position of Jehovah’s witnesses as to politics and briefly highlighting their spiritual warfare in upholding God’s rightful rule, but he places emphasis on the example of faith and courage of Joshua, the stalwart ancestor of the make-believe audience. Joshua’s course and the victory it brought him from Jehovah God stand as a memorable example to us, the speaker concludes.

The School Servant counsels the final student and brings to a close the School session, but our minds go back over this past hour and those minutes preceding it. We allow the import of this experience to sink in. These men and women whom we have just heard, some young, some old, are no different in appearance from those who live next door. But something in the way they speak makes them different. Their confidence and poise on the platform, the conviction in their voices and their evident pleasure in being able to say something of real significance and benefit to their audience, make us realize that here are people who are not afraid to apply themselves to learning, yet are not so concerned with their own ability or advancement that they are unmindful of the need in others to hear ‘this good news of God’s kingdom.’

As we thank the School Servant for his assistance in connection with our visit, his parting comment seems to epitomize our evening here: “These people are taking seriously the counsel of the apostle Paul: ‘Pay constant attention to yourself and to your teaching. Stay by these things, for by doing this you will save both yourself and those who listen to you.’ Can anyone say: ‘I’m too old, too young, too weak, too strong’ to share in a schooling program like this?”

Questions From Readers

● Have there been witnesses of Jehovah on earth in every period of human history? What about the Dark Ages?

It does not appear wise to answer these questions dogmatically. However, it does seem that reason and the facts of history, together with what God’s Word has to say, allow for the conclusion that there have been witnesses of Jehovah on earth in every period of human history.

The mere fact that only three Witnesses are mentioned by name before the Flood does not mean that there may not have been others. It is quite probable that Abel was married at the time he was a faithful Witness and so his wife could have continued being a Witness after his death. And then there was Lamech; for him to utter the inspired prophecy about his son Noah he also must have been a witness of Jehovah.—Gen. 5:29.

After the Flood we find faithful Shem surviving until Abraham’s day. And were not Isaac, Jacob, Joseph and Job faithful witnesses, even as must have been the parents of Moses? With the forming of the nation of Israel the entire nation became a nation of witnesses, even as Jehovah shows at Isaiah 43:10-12. That nation continued as witnesses of Jehovah until 36 C.E.

That Jehovah has also had witnesses on earth from Christ’s time until our day seems to be indicated by Jesus’ parable of the wheat and weeds as recorded at Matthew chapter thirteen. Therein Jesus stated that both the wheat and the weeds would continue growing together until the harvest, when a separation would take place. This parable may be taken to imply that during all this time, from the first sowing until the harvest, there would be some genuine Christians, “wheat,” even though at times their number might be exceedingly small.

Thus throughout the centuries there have been professed Christians who rejected the error of the trinity, usually called “Arians.” There were those who closely followed primitive Christianity and who were known as quartodecimans because of celebrating Christ’s memorial on Nisan 14, holding out against the paganizing trend of Rome. Then there were the Paulicians from the seventh century onward, whose teachings have been termed “genuine apostolic Bible-Christianity.” They stood solely by the “New Testament,” practiced adult baptism, believed that God in his love had sent an angel to earth who at his baptism became God’s Son. They rejected unscriptural tradition, had no clergy-laity distinction, refused to revere the cross.

Then there were the Waldenses from the twelfth century forward, who had much in common with the previous Paulicians in rejecting all false tradition such as purgatory, the mass, and so forth, and adhering closely to the Bible, although they did not limit themselves to the so-called “New Testament.” The only two ceremonies they recognized were baptism and the Lord’s evening meal. They strictly followed Bible principles regarding morality and refused to celebrate popular religious holidays such as Palm Sunday, Easter, All Saints’ Day, and so forth. Typical is the statement of one of them, who was martyred, that ‘the Cross should not be prayed to but loathed as the instrument of the Just One’s death.’

Many were the Arians, Paulicians and Waldenses, not to mention others, who because of their Bible-based religion suffered martyrdom. Not that this in itself or together with their beliefs, as noted in the foregoing, indicated that all of them had God’s approval. Why not? Because time and again not a few of these took up the sword to defend themselves against Roman Catholic crusades in violation of Matthew 26:52.

The foregoing facts therefore would appear to demonstrate two things: (1) That through all the centuries from the time of Abel to modern times there were those who adhered so closely to God’s Word as to be considered God’s witnesses that had his approval. (2) That the number of them must have been small. This would be in keeping with the limited number composing the body of Christ as well as with the fact that comparatively large numbers of these appeared at the sowing and at the harvesttime.

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