The Watchtower — January 15, 1967

How to Be a Wife Your Husband Loves

ONE of the greatest human needs is to be loved. Observed one perceptive physician after forty years of medical practice: “Whether they think they do or not, all people, you, I, every human being wants love.”

This desire and need for love is particularly strong in women. They thrive on love, and usually look forward to marriage in order to realize its fulfillment. Unfortunately, however, many wives are disappointed. The love of their mates soon cools off; husbands cease to heed the Bible’s counsel: “Continue loving your wives.” (Eph. 5:25) What can you, as a wife, do to prevent this from happening? How can you be a wife that your husband loves?

Beauty of face or form, while perhaps a factor in attracting your husband, will not alone make you desirable to him. Of greater importance are unseen qualities that spring from a good heart. A cheerful disposition, an even temper, modesty, friendliness, gentle kindness, sympathetic understanding​—these are things that will endear you to your husband.

God created man and woman and designed them for their roles as husband and wife. So he knows best what makes a wife appealing to her mate. And notice where God’s Word says a wife should place emphasis relative to her appearance: “Do not let your adornment be that of the external braiding of the hair and of the putting on of gold ornaments or the wearing of outer garments, but let it be the secret person of the heart in the incorruptible apparel of the quiet and mild spirit.”​—1 Pet. 3:3, 4.

Can wives actually put on this priceless, precious garment​—“the incorruptible apparel of the quiet and mild spirit”? What is required to do so? The Bible shows by next saying: “For so, too, formerly the holy women who were hoping in God used to adorn themselves, subjecting themselves to their own husbands, as Sarah used to obey Abraham, calling him ‘lord.’ And you have become her children, provided you keep on doing good and not fearing any cause for terror.”​—1 Pet. 3:5, 6.

What particularly endears a wife to her husband is her willing subjection, cooperating with him and supporting his decisions. Although beloved Sarah may not have personally liked her husband’s frequent decisions to move from place to place, she supported Abraham in whatever he did. This cooperative, helpful spirit is more beautiful in a husband’s eyes than any costly, bejeweled clothing that a wife might wear.

Women were designed by God for this role as assistants and supporters of their husbands. After creating man and giving him an assignment of work, God said: “I am going to make a helper for him, as a complement of him.” (Gen. 2:18) How beloved and precious is the wife that fulfills her role by working along with her husband, helping him to accomplish what he has to do!

Today a wife generally is not directly involved in her husband’s secular work. Nevertheless, sympathetic understanding of the problems, trials and tensions your husband experiences in today’s highly competitive world can be of tremendous aid to him. You can supply him invaluable emotional support by being a willing listener to his triumphs, his disappointments, his mistakes and his fears. He will love you for the understanding and interest you show.

What will also make you a wife your husband loves is capableness in handling the many tasks necessary for the smooth operation of a household. Of such a capable wife, the Bible says: “Her value is far more than that of corals. In her the heart of her owner has put trust, and there is no gain lacking. She has rewarded him with good, and not bad, all the days of her life.” (Prov. 31:10-31) Skill in cooking, in managing a household and in keeping a clean home​—these are things greatly appreciated by a husband, and they are certain to endear you to him.

But there is a need for caution, for feelings of love can turn to resentment if a wife assumes too much and operates independently of her husband. A young wife observed: “I used to congratulate myself for the smooth way things were going. The children came to me for all decisions and permissions​—it was just second nature to them. I was so accustomed to it that I wouldn’t think to say, ‘Ask Daddy.’”

What was the result? Why, her husband began to feel more and more left out. “Finally, he exploded, and I was shocked to find out how bitterly he resented it,” the surprised wife explained. Wisely, she took corrective measures. “I made an abrupt effort to change,” she said, directing the children on more important issues to look to their father as head of the house, and relations in the family soon improved. “Underneath, I was really glad,” she concluded.

This underscores the fact that a wife’s role is properly that of helper to her husband. She should not push ahead and handle family matters without his approval, or independent of his direction. For you to be truly loved by your husband you must imitate godly Sarah, who subjected herself to her husband Abraham. Should a husband tend to shirk his manly responsibilities, a discreet wife will tactfully help him see that it is his place, and not hers, to be the man of the house.

A wife who desires her husband’s love will especially keep in mind the importance of God in her life: “The woman that fears Jehovah is the one that procures praise for herself.” (Prov. 31:30) This fear of God does not involve fanatical, superstitious worship, nor will it allow your ministering to others to prevent the performance of family obligations. Rather, it means living a Bible-based faith​—being kind, considerate, generous, forgiving, and helping others to know and serve Jehovah God. Such genuine expressions of love for other persons will usually be returned, and that by your husband, too.

Heavens and Earth Declare: ‘God Is Alive!’

How convincing is their message? Do they really disprove the claim that God is dead?

PROMINENT theologians and clergymen of today assert: ‘God is dead.’ Some believe that he has actually died; that he no longer exists. “The God of the Bible was once alive,” declared Thomas J. J. Altizer, a professor of religion at a Methodist school in the United States, “then he died.”

Other theologians apparently mean that God is absent, he does not see, he has left the land and is no longer concerned with man and the earth. Explained William Hamilton of Colgate Rochester Theological School: “We are not talking about the absence of the experience of God but about the experience of the absence of God.”

Although such ‘God is dead’ views are considered revolutionary, resulting in much discussion and debate, they are by no means original. Over 2,500 years ago, just prior to the fall of the Judean kingdom to Babylon, many were saying practically the same thing. Note how the Bible closely links their ‘God is dead’ philosophy with the immorality and wickedness then practiced: “The error of the house of Israel and Judah is very, very great, and the land is filled with bloodshed and the city is full of crookedness; for they have said, ‘Jehovah has left the land, and Jehovah is not seeing.’”​—Ezek. 9:9.

Years later, while Rome was still at the zenith of power, similar views and attitudes were popular among people of that immoral and wicked city. The Christian apostle Paul was, therefore, prompted to condemn the detestable sexual immorality and other forms of unrighteousness practiced by those people. And, at the same time, he argued against their ‘God is dead’ philosophy, saying: “For [God’s] invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world’s creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made, even his eternal power and Godship, so that they are inexcusable.”​—Rom. 1:20-32.

DECLARATION OF THE HEAVENS

Is the Bible correct? Do “the things made,” for example, the heavens, with their billions of glistening, jewellike stars, declare that God is alive? Long ago the appreciative Bible psalmist answered, Yes. “The heavens are declaring the glory of God; and of the work of his hands the expanse is telling. One day after another day causes speech to bubble forth, and one night after another night shows forth knowledge.”​—Ps. 19:1, 2.

But skeptics may argue that the psalmist David was not a trained scientist and, therefore, was not in position to interpret properly the evidence of the heavens. Yet, one of the greatest scientists to live, Sir Isaac Newton, agreed with the psalmist, saying: “This most elegant system of suns, planets and comets could only arise from the purpose and sovereignty of an enlightened and mighty being.”

Today scores of trained scientists, equipped with far greater knowledge of the heavens, also marvel at the orderliness and precision with which the starry bodies move. Cecil Boyce Hamann, an outstanding scientist and a research participant, Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies, commented:

“Lifting our eyes to the heavens, we surely must exclaim with wonder at the orderly sweep of the stars. Night after night, season after season, year after year, century after century the worlds of outer space have followed their courses through the sky. They return so regularly in their orbits that eclipses may be predicted centuries in advance. . . . If they were subject to no laws, would men put their faith in them to guide them across the seven seas or through the unmarked paths of the sky?”

Another scientist, Marlin Books Kreider, a member of the American Society of Professional Biologists, reasoned soundly regarding the testimony of the heavens, saying:

“Evidences of the existence of God equally as strong as those often accepted as proof in many fields of rational, scientific thought can be found . . . Our first body of evidence is found in cosmology, in the existence of a universe which is governed by precise forces of Nature and an orderliness which suggests an arranger or organizer. This precision is so great that the path of planets and, more recently, the artificial satellites can be predicted in advance. . . . Such order, according to common human experience, is a result of an orderly mind. Chaos rather than order emerges unless a designing or controlling force is functioning.”

Yet some prominent ‘God is dead’ theorists would claim that this proves only that the “God of the Bible was once alive”; he created the heavens, but “then he died.” They would argue that the heavens declare merely that God once lived. Is this conclusion based on sound reasoning?

HEAVENS DECLARE GOD STILL LIVES

Think about the significance of this for a moment. They say that the One who created the billions of galactic systems with their innumerable stars and organized them so that they orbit in such split-second precision that man sets his timepieces by them​—this One died. Is it reasonable that someone so powerful could die? What do you think?

Undoubtedly you will agree with the prophet of old who, under inspiration of God, declared: “Art not thou from of old, O LORD, my holy God? Thou diest not!” (Hab. 1:12, AT; NW; Mo; Ro) Yes, God cannot die! He is immortal, “the King of eternity.” (1 Tim. 1:17) The psalmist Moses exclaimed: “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou art God.” (Ps. 90:2, AS) It is simply unreasonable, as well as unscriptural, to believe that the God who created this marvelous universe died sometime in recent history!

The law and order that continue to govern the movement of the heavenly bodies testify that God still exists, that he now lives. This is so because, when laws are in effect and being enforced, a sovereign or government must still be operating. Consider, for example, traffic laws that control and direct the movement of vehicles through a city’s streets. What does their existence prove? Why, that there is a civil authority in existence that established and is sustaining or enforcing these laws!

Well, then, is the One who established the laws that control the movement of heavenly bodies still sustaining and enforcing these laws? He definitely is! Every time scientists shoot off a rocket into space they are counting on the fact that these laws will be sustained and perform according to the exact specifications of their Maker. And when a rocket goes off course, it is always due to some human failure, never because the laws governing the universe failed to function consistently. The heavens most certainly declare: ‘God is alive’!

DECLARATION OF EARTHLY THINGS

But what about things upon the earth? Do they also declare that God is alive? Do they indicate that he is concerned with humankind and is interested in their welfare?

Yes, indeed! The Christian apostle Paul was moved to exclaim: “God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all the things in them . . . did not leave himself without witness in that he did good, giving you rains from heaven and fruitful seasons, filling your hearts to the full with food and good cheer.” (Acts 14:15-17) Also, Jesus Christ said that God “makes his sun rise upon wicked people and good and makes it rain upon righteous people and unrighteous.”​—Matt. 5:45.

God’s provision of the sunshine, the rain, the delicious foods to eat, and even “life and breath and all things,” testifies that he is alive. (Acts 17:25) Daily he is furnishing things for the sustenance and good cheer of humankind. He is not absent from the earth or man; he is not without witness that he is a living God.

Consider the marvelous way that He feeds and sustains life on earth. All our food comes as a result of His wonderful food-making process that man calls photosynthesis. Although it appears so basic, so simple, the most learned human scientists are amazed at it. Green plants combine energy from light with water and carbon dioxide, and thus miraculously produce food. Marvelous laws beyond human perception and comprehension control the process. Science News Letter of April 6, 1957, describes the steps involved in this way:

“Carbon dioxide in the air enters a leaf or other green part of a plant through minute openings. Once inside, the carbon dioxide dissolves in the water lying between the cell walls of the plant. The solution now readily passes through the cell walls to small bodies within the cells which contain chlorophyll, the substance that gives plants their green color.

“It is here that the ‘deities’ perform their miracle. Sunlight provides energy for the great chemical change, and chlorophyll acts as the ‘switchboard’ that controls the reaction. Under the influence of these two, the carbon dioxide and water now combine to create the basis of all food, a simple sugar. All the numerous fats, proteins and carbohydrates used by plants and animals must be created later from this sugar.”

How incredible! In what a simple, and yet wonderful and efficient way God provides! Consider also that in this miraculous food-making process oxygen is manufactured in the plants and released to the atmosphere. Man and beast take in this oxygen​—they require it to ‘live and move and exist’—​and, in turn, give off carbon dioxide, a key material used in plants for food-making. What a marvelous cycle in which both plants and animals cooperate!​—Acts 17:28.

Many other wondrous processes for the sustenance of life have been provided by God for mankind’s benefit. For example, the nitrogen cycle.

Nitrogen is one of the substances necessary for life in plants and animals. It is a gas that comprises about 78 percent of the air we breathe, but, unlike oxygen, we cannot assimilate it from the air into our bodies. However, in the nitrogen cycle, thunderstorms, as well as certain bacteria, introduce nitrogen into the soil in the form of nitrates that can be absorbed by plants. We then get the necessary nitrogen by eating the plants, or by eating animals that have eaten them. As plants and animal matter decay they release nitrogen to the atmosphere, thereby completing the cycle.

GOD LIVES!

To what does this amazing order and harmony that we see all around us testify? Merlin Grant Smith, a prominent mathematician and university professor, pointed to the marvels of creation that confound skeptics and observed:

“All Nature functions according to fixed laws. New laws are being discovered right along. . . . Shall we accept the theory that they are of material origin? The multitude of them, the harmony of them, the very nature of them, make that completely impossible. These laws are of higher origin than the universe in which they operate. There is, to my ordinary, common-sense mind, but one plausible answer, and that is that these laws demand belief in a Lawgiver, which I again call God.”

Many ‘God is dead’ theorists may agree that God did initiate these laws, but would claim that he is now either out of existence or completely uninterested in mankind. Yet, how could this be? If he is dead, then what force or power is sustaining the intricate laws and incomprehensible food-producing processes? For these laws and processes to continue to function, there must logically be someone enforcing and supporting them.

Although it is popular to assert that God is dead, all the evidence, instead, supports the Bible statements that God lives, that he is “King of eternity,” that he does not die, that he is “from everlasting to everlasting.”​—1 Tim. 1:17; Hab. 1:12; Ps. 90:2, AS.

WHY THEIR SKEPTICISM?

What, then, is the reason for the foolish claim that God is dead? No doubt there are a number of factors involved. A prominent one is that such persons do not wish to be accountable to God’s laws. They want to be free to pursue their selfish, independent course without the restrictions that God’s laws would place upon them. Like the wicked immoral peoples of times past, they say, ‘God has left the land, he is not seeing,’ yes, he is dead. (Ezek. 9:9) But in taking this position they show themselves to be fools. “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”​—Ps. 14:1, AS.

Another factor is that skeptics, in their pride, usually want God to act as they see fit. And when he does not, they presumptuously criticize, find fault with God, and even attack his existence. They are not willing patiently to learn how and when God will remedy man’s ills, in His own time and in His own way. By their lack of faith and Bible knowledge, they reveal themselves to be counterparts of the religious leaders to whom Jesus Christ said: “You know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.”​—Matt. 22:29.

Yet, no matter how many people may ignore the evidence in the Scriptures and the power and majesty of God so apparent in his material creations, the fact remains, HE LIVES. The heavens and earth do indeed declare: ‘God is alive.’

Making Grateful Use of a “Penny”

“And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny.”​—Matt. 20:9, Av; Dy.

1. Who since 1919 have gratefully used the “penny,” and in accord with what prophetic rule has this occurred?

WHO are the ones that have made grateful use of this valuable “penny”? They are the “last ones” on earth that the first-class religious leaders of Christendom would expect! Reliable records since the year 1919 indicate this. Though this was against the general expectation, it was in full accord with the rule prophetically laid down long ago: “In this way the last ones will be first, and the first ones last.”​—Matt. 20:16.

2. What has taken place finds it pattern where, and how does our examining this pattern help us to understand how the rule was applied in our day?

² What has taken place in our time really finds its pattern in what took place nineteen hundred years in the past. What occurred back there fulfilled this rule about the reversal of the positions of the first and the last. Also, that fulfillment was an illustration of what was to take place in our times as a double fulfillment of this prophetic rule. Naturally, if we examine how the rule worked out the first time that it was applied, it helps us to understand what has occurred in the application of this rule during our day of strange happenings and surprises. We are enabled thus to see who are the ones whose positions were reversed, in accord with the rule. So let us turn back the pages of history.

3, 4. (a) What was the problem of the rich young ruler who ran up to Jesus over in Perea? (b) What did Jesus say about goodness, and what commandments did he tell the young man to keep?

³ The Jewish passover of the year 33 C.E. was approaching. The great Preacher of the kingdom of God, Jesus Christ, was on his way to that festival at Jerusalem, but at the time he was on the east side of the Jordan River in the region called Perea. A young man came running up to him. He was a rich man, and also a ruler among the Jews. As such, he was among the first or foremost ones of his people, especially as he was such a conscientious keeper of the Law of God’s covenant with the nation of Israel. What was his problem? This, as his words to Jesus disclosed: “Teacher, what good must I do in order to get everlasting life?” In answering, Jesus showed that God is really the embodiment of goodness, of generosity. He said to the young ruler: “Why do you ask me about what is good? One there is that is good.” Jesus meant Jehovah God.

⁴ After reminding the rich young ruler of who the Good One is, Jesus proceeded to say: “If, though, you want to enter into life, observe the commandments continually.” The rich young ruler asked Jesus: “Which ones?” Jesus now referred to the Ten Commandments as given to the nation of Israel through the prophet Moses. He said: “Why, You must not murder, You must not commit adultery, You must not steal, You must not bear false witness, Honor your father and your mother, and, You must love your neighbor as yourself.”

5. As stated by Jesus, how could the young man become perfect?

⁵ The rich young ruler replied: “I have kept all these; what yet am I lacking?” Jesus suggested to him that all his good efforts at Law keeping had not brought him human perfection, by answering: “If you want to be perfect, go sell your belongings and give to the poor and you will have treasure in heaven, and come be my follower.” Thus he would distribute the money to the poor who could not repay him and then come and be a disciple of Jesus. Instead of continuing to be a highly respected rich man, one of the first people among the Jews, he would alter his situation and become a materially poor follower of the generally despised Jesus.

6. At the young man’s reaction to this, what did Jesus say about rich men?

⁶ That was too high a cost for gaining the perfection of which Jesus spoke. “When the young man heard this saying, he went away grieved, for he was holding many possessions. But Jesus said to his disciples: ‘Truly I say to you that it will be a difficult thing for a rich man to get into the kingdom of the heavens. Again I say to you, It is easier for a camel to get through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to get into the kingdom of God.’”

7. At this, what question did the disciples ask, and what did Jesus reply about the possibility of getting into God’s kingdom?

⁷ Well, now, if a law-observing person like this rich young ruler, one of the first people of the land, could not get into the kingdom of God, who else could, especially common, ordinary persons like the twelve apostles of Jesus, such as Simon Peter the former fisherman? No wonder that there was surprise! “When the disciples heard that, they expressed very great surprise, saying: ‘Who really can be saved?’ Looking them in the face, Jesus said to them: ‘With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.’” This was so, not only because God is almighty, but also because he is the Good One, generous, loving.

8. As regards those who had left all to follow Jesus, what did he say that they would have, and then what rule did he announce?

⁸ The rich young ruler had refused to leave all material things behind and follow Jesus as one of his disciples, but Simon Peter and the others of the twelve apostles had done so, and they had already had some experiences with Jesus. But what would be the final outcome? Simon Peter was anxious to know. “Then Peter said to him in reply: ‘Look! We have left all things and followed you; what actually will there be for us?’ Jesus said to them: ‘Truly I say to you, In the re-creation, when the Son of man sits down upon his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also yourselves sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone that has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or children or lands for the sake of my name will receive many times more and will inherit everlasting life. But many that are first will be last and the last first.’”​—Matt. 19:16-30; Mark 10:17-31; Luke 18:18-30.

9, 10. (a) How did that rule apply to the rich young ruler? (b) How would that rule apply with regard to Jesus’ disciples?

⁹ There you have the prophetic rule applied from this standpoint. The rich young ruler was among the first people among the Jews. Moreover, he was such a faithful observer of the commandments of God as contained in the Law covenant into which the nation of Israel had entered with God. He was, therefore, such a promising young man; much was to be expected in regard to him.

¹⁰ But in his observing of the Law he was trying to justify himself, to work out merit for himself as a righteous Jew. He was also materialistic. Under such circumstances it was easier for a camel to get through the eye of a sewing needle than for him to get into God’s kingdom and sit on a throne with Jesus Christ, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. In reverse of this, Peter and his fellow disciples were the last ones that a self-righteous Jew would think of as gaining a throne in God’s kingdom. Yet the disciples of Jesus Christ, who belonged to the people of the land, the ʽam ha-arets, as the superior Jewish Pharisees called them, would gain a foremost position, namely, a throne in God’s kingdom. That would be in the coming system of things. Besides that, in the present period of time they would get a hundredfold more than what they had left behind, along with persecutions, of course. (Mark 10:29, 30; Luke 18:29, 30) What a reversal of matters this was!

11. What did Jesus tie in with the stated rule, and why finally did he repeat the rule?

¹¹ Now, is that the way Jesus meant it when he said: “Many that are first will be last and the last first”? Yes, because at once he went on to illustrate this prophetic rule with a parable. He tied in this parable with the stated rule by beginning the immediately following parable with the conjunction “for.” He said: “For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard. And when he had agreed with the labourers for a penny [the Roman penny] a day, he sent them into his vineyard.” (Matt. 19:30 to 20:2, AV; Dy) The fact that the parable is meant to illustrate the prophetic rule is further proved by Jesus’ finishing the parable and then adding the words: “So the last shall be first, and the first last.”​—Matt. 20:16, AV.

12. Why did that parable come to mean something to the disciples?

¹² Since the parable of the vineyard was called forth by the circumstances and experiences of Jesus Christ at the time, it is evident that the parable had a fulfillment in the days of the twelve apostles to whom Jesus stated and illustrated the rule. Otherwise, it would have meant nothing to them, and they would not have had the rule actually work out in their own personal case. How, then, did it work out according to Jesus’ parable?

THE “VINEYARD”

13, 14. (a) Who was the “householder” of the parable, and what was the vineyard? (b) As to the identity of the vineyard, what prophecy of Isaiah may Jesus have had in mind?

¹³ The “householder” of the parable of the vineyard is Jehovah God, the Owner of the great symbolic vineyard. The vineyard is the nation of Israel, which was then in a national contract with Jehovah God through the covenant of the Law that the prophet Moses had mediated at Mount Sinai in the year 1513 B.C.E.

¹⁴ When speaking of this symbolic vineyard, Jesus doubtless had in mind the words of Isaiah 5:1-4, 7, where Jehovah God says: “Let me sing, please, to my beloved one a song of my loved one concerning his vineyard. There was a vineyard that my beloved one came to have on a fruitful hillside. And he proceeded to dig it up and to rid it of stones and to plant it with a choice red vine, and to build a tower in the middle of it. And there was also a wine press that he hewed out in it. And he kept hoping for it to produce grapes, . . . And now, O you inhabitants of Jerusalem and you men of Judah, please judge between me and my vineyard. What is there yet to do for my vineyard that I have not already done in it? . . . For the vineyard of Jehovah of armies is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are the plantation of which he was fond.”

15. (a) Where did Jehovah plant the vine that he took out of Egypt? (b) How did the Roman “penny” (denarius) come to circulate there, and what value did it then have?

¹⁵ Jesus may also have had in mind Psalm 80:8-11, in which the psalmist Asaph addresses himself to Jehovah God, who delivered the nation of Israel from slavery in Egypt, and says: “You proceeded to make a vine depart from Egypt. You kept driving out the nations, that you might plant it [in Palestine]. You made a clearing before it, that it might take root and fill the land. The mountains were covered with its shadow, and the cedars of God with its boughs. It gradually sent forth its boughs as far as the sea, and to the River [Euphrates] its twigs.” In Jesus’ day the Jews were still occupying their God-given land, but subject to the Roman Empire. So the Roman “penny” or (literally) denarius began to circulate throughout the land, this denarius equaling about eight pence and two farthings in British money in the days of King James I of England or 17 cents American money. In Jesus’ day this amount of money had such a value that it was paid as a wage for the work of a day of twelve hours. Consequently, in the fulfillment of Jesus’ illustration the “penny” pictures a value of no little worth.

16. What was to be the reward for their serving as the fruitful vineyard of Jehovah God?

¹⁶ Jehovah God brought laborers into his vineyard to work there by bringing them into the Law covenant as mediated by the prophet Moses and assigning to various ones their duties. What was to be the pay or reward for serving as the fruitful vineyard of the Most High God? Jehovah God mentioned this at the time that he proposed this Law covenant to the forefathers of the Jews of Jesus’ day, for God said: “Now if you will strictly obey my voice and will indeed keep my covenant, then you will certainly become my special property out of all other peoples, because the whole earth belongs to me. And you yourselves will become to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.” (Ex. 19:5, 6) Thus, by keeping the Law covenant the Jews would not only gain everlasting life as human creatures but also become a “kingdom of priests” for God’s use in blessing all the rest of mankind.

17. (a) What relationship did Jesus have with the Law covenant, and how was he marked by it? (b) Why was it fitting for Jesus to speak of his heavenly Father as a Vine Cultivator?

¹⁷ Jesus, the Son of God from heaven, was born into the Jewish nation and under the Law covenant. He was the only Jew that kept it perfectly. Therefore, he was not condemned by the Law of that covenant as all other Jews were, but he was marked by that Law as a perfect man, absolutely free from sin, one who had not forfeited the right to everlasting life. For his keeping that Law covenant perfectly, he deserved to be a king and priest in an earthly way. Because, by birth, he belonged to the Jewish “vineyard” planted by Jehovah God, it was quite appropriate for Jesus to compare his heavenly Father, Jehovah God, to a vine cultivator, saying to his apostles: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the cultivator. Every branch in me not bearing fruit he takes away, and every one bearing fruit he cleans, that it may bear more fruit. I am the vine, you are the branches.” (John 15:1, 2, 5) However, unlike the imperfect Jews under the Law covenant, Jesus and his “branches” are a spiritual vine that does not fail to bear much fruit to the great Cultivator Jehovah God, that he might be glorified.

18-20. (a) Did those hired first into the “vineyard” live in Moses’ day or in whose days? (b) Who specifically were those hired first, and what words of Jesus show they considered themselves to be such “first” ones?

¹⁸ The Jews of Jesus’ day were brought into the Law covenant by descent from their forefathers, whom Jehovah God brought out of Egypt and planted in the land of Palestine. Since Jesus’ parable of the vineyard had its first fulfillment in the days of Jesus’ twelve apostles, it could not apply to those ancient forefathers with whom the Law covenant was personally made through Moses. Consequently, those whom the great Householder hired “early in the morning” to work for twelve hours in his “vineyard” could not be those Jewish forefathers of the sixteenth century B.C.E. So the laborers who were hired at sunrise or about six o’clock in the morning pictured Jews living in the days of the apostles.

¹⁹ Their being twelve-hours-a-day laborers would mean that they were full-time laborers at the things of God, unlike the apostles Peter, Andrew, James and John, who had been fishers up till the spring of the year 30 C.E. Those full-day laborers would therefore picture the religious leaders of the nation of Israel, such as the high priests Annas and Caiaphas, and the underpriests, also the temple Levites, the official scribes, those of the sects of the Pharisees and the Sadducees, and those versed in the Law of Moses. Because of being occupied continually in the Jewish religious service in Israel, they would be the ones first hired. They would also be the foremost or first-ranking people of the nation. That they looked upon themselves as being such is indicated by Jesus’ words:

²⁰ “The scribes and the Pharisees have seated themselves in the seat of Moses. They like the most prominent place at evening meals and the front seats in the synagogues, and the greetings in the market places and to be called Rabbi by men.”​—Matt. 23:2, 6, 7.

21, 22. (a) Who, then, were the part-time workers? (b) How did Jesus’ parable show that how much pay the part-time workers would receive was uncertain?

²¹ They expected full pay for a full day’s work, and on this basis they agreed to serve in Jehovah’s vineyard of the nation of Israel. All others brought into the service of Jehovah God after them, or in a rank lower than that of the full-time workers, would be merely part-time workers. Hence their likelihood of receiving the full reward was not made certain. That is why Jesus’ parable of the vineyard says of the Householder:

²² “Going out also about the third hour, he saw others standing unemployed in the market place; and to those he said, ‘You also, go into the vineyard, and whatever is just I will give you.’ So off they went. Again he went out about the sixth and the ninth hour and did likewise. Finally, about the eleventh hour he went out and found others standing, and he said to them, ‘Why have you been standing here all day unemployed?’ They said to him, ‘Because nobody has hired us.’ He said to them, ‘You too go into the vineyard.’”​—Matt. 20:3-7.

THE LAST OR “ELEVENTH HOUR” LABORERS

23. Who were the eleventh-hour laborers, and why had nobody hired them prior to that hour?

²³ Those hired at the eleventh hour, or about five o’clock in the afternoon (an hour before sundown), were the last to be hired. By the religious leaders of the nation of Israel, those pictured by the eleventh-hour laborers were considered the last ones whom God would employ in his service. They would be the ones the least likely to be called into God’s service. So, up till that eleventh hour, as far as the religious leaders of Israel were concerned, ‘nobody had hired them.’ The contemptuous attitude of the religious leaders toward those lowly people was betrayed in their saying: “Not one of the rulers or of the Pharisees has put faith in him [Jesus], has he? But this crowd that does not know the Law are accursed people.” (John 7:48, 49) They were willing to work in God’s service, but because of the blinded religious leaders they were not told the right things to do nor put to work at them. After wasting practically all day, they had to look for someone to come who saw how they could be used in God’s service and who would assign them to some service in God’s religious “vineyard.”

24, 25. (a) When and how did the great Householder call the eleventh-hour laborers into service? (b) How was God’s Steward used to send laborers into the “vineyard,” and for how long did they work in it?

²⁴ The day of working in the vineyard of Israel under the terms of the Mosaic Law covenant was nearing its end. Jehovah God the great Householder and Vineyard Owner knew that, and through representatives whom he sent to Israel he called those eleventh-hour laborers into service in his “vineyard.” In the spring of 29 C.E. he sent John the Baptist “to get ready for Jehovah a prepared people.” (Luke 1:13-17) About six months later the great Householder sent his own Son Jesus, who became like a steward, foreman or “man in charge” with reference to God’s “vineyard.”

²⁵ Jesus received the disciples gathered by John the Baptist and also did further gathering of disciples, whom he set to work in the Israelite “vineyard.” For instance, besides the twelve apostles, Jesus Christ also sent seventy evangelizers into the “vineyard” work. He instructed them all to go preaching the heavenly kingdom of God, telling the people: “The kingdom of God has come near to you.” (Luke 9:1-6; 10:1-11) Even women came along with Jesus and his apostles in their preaching work and offered help by “ministering to them from their belongings.” (Luke 8:1-3) In this way they spent some time in Jehovah’s Kingdom service while the nation of natural circumcised Israel was still the “vineyard” of Jehovah God. They were the last vineyard laborers to be employed by the Owner, and they labored in Israel till Jesus’ death in the year 33 C.E.

26. (a) At the close of the day’s work the time came for what, according to God’s Law? (b) At all events, what would the part-time laborers get?

²⁶ The work under the Law covenant in the “vineyard” of natural Israel came to a close, like the work of a twelve-hour day. Then came pay time for the laborers. Because of the immediate daily needs of the common people, it was God’s law under the old Mosaic covenant that workers should be paid at the close of the day’s work, not at the end of the week or end of the month. (Lev. 19:13; Deut. 24:15) Those who had put in full time, working in the “vineyard” during the twelve hours of daylight, were sure of receiving a “penny” according to the agreement made with the Householder. What would the later, part-time workers get? Whatever it would be, it would be “whatever is just,” according to what the Householder told those whom he engaged for work at the third hour of the workday. Ordinarily, the laborers employed for only the twelfth hour of the day could expect to receive very little pay.

27. In what order were the workers in the parable paid, how much, and with what reactions by some?

²⁷ Well, pay time turned out to be a time of surprises, and the unusual rule enunciated by Jesus was put into operation. Note this fact, as Jesus’ parable goes on to say: “So when even was come, the lord of the vineyard saith unto his steward, Call the labourers, and give them their hire, beginning from the last unto the first. And when they came that were hired about the eleventh hour, they received every man a penny. But when the first came, they supposed that they should have received more; and they likewise received every man a penny. And when they had received it, they murmured against the goodman of the house, saying, These last have wrought but one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, which have borne the burden and heat of the day. But he answered one of them, and said, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a penny? Take that thine is, and go thy way: I will give unto this last, even as unto thee. Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? Is thine eye evil, because I am good? So the last shall be first, and the first last.”​—Matt. 20:8-16, AV; Dy.a

EVENING AND PAY TIME

28. In the parable’s first fulfillment, when did the “evening” come, to close the day’s work?

²⁸ In the first fulfillment of the parable the evening came and brought the workday to a close when Jesus Christ was arrested on Passover night of the year 33 C.E. and died on the torture stake at Calvary the following afternoon. Jesus had prophetically indicated this when, about six months before his death, he said to his apostles: “It was in order that the works of God might be made manifest in his case. We must work the works of him that sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no man can work. As long as I am in the world, I am the world’s light.” (John 9:3-5) When Jesus was dead for parts of three days (Nisan 14-16, 33 C.E.), he could not work as a man in God’s “vineyard” of Israel. (Eccl. 9:5, 10) Neither could his eleven faithful apostles, for they were scattered like sheep without a shepherd. When they met together, it was behind closed doors, for fear of the hostile Jews. (John 16:32; Matt. 26:31; Mark 14:27; Zech. 13:7; John 20:19, 26) They did not resume any public work until Pentecost came.

29. (a) At Jesus’ death natural Israel ceased to be what, and why? (b) Despite extended favor to Israel for three and a half years’ time afterward, what did the great Vineyard Owner now have?

²⁹ Jesus Christ was put to death at the instigation of the Jewish religious leaders, the “first” people of the nation. Then the nation of Israel ceased to be God’s “vineyard.” Jesus’ death on the stake was God’s means for bringing the Law covenant with the nation of Israel to an end. By means of his death as a ransom sacrifice the “Law of commandments consisting in decrees” was abolished. The “handwritten document against us, which consisted of decrees,” was blotted out; it was taken out of the way by being nailed, as it were, to Christ’s torture stake, in cancellation thereof. (Eph. 2:15; Col. 2:14) True, for three and a half years after that, Jehovah God continued his special favor to natural Israel, giving them the first opportunities for the Kingdom, but the nation ceased to be His “vineyard.” God now had begun a spiritual “vineyard,” in which his Son Jesus Christ was the Vine and his disciples were the branches. (John 15:1-8) Indeed, then, the twelve-hour workday in God’s vineyard of natural Israel came to a close at Jesus’ death at Calvary.

30. When did the pay time come, and how did God use his Steward to deal out the pay?

³⁰ This being so, when did pay time come? At Jesus’ resurrection from the dead on the third day, Nisan 16, 33 C.E.? No, even though Jesus did appear exclusively to his disciples for forty days thereafter, making exclusively them witnesses of his resurrection. (Acts 1:1-8; 10:40-42) But there was no open display of these favored disciples of Jesus, even for ten days after he ascended to heaven. Then came the festival day of Pentecost, 33 C.E., and with it pay time. It was then that the lord or master of the vineyard, namely, Jehovah God, told his steward, foreman or “man in charge,” to pay the workers. God used the glorified Jesus Christ in heaven as his steward or “man in charge,” for God used him to pour out the holy spirit upon the workers on the Pentecostal day. (John 1:32-34; 14:16, 17; 15:26; 16:7; Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4-8; 2:32, 33) In paying the workers their wage, Jesus Christ up in heaven followed the unusual rule that he had declared down here on earth.

31. At Pentecost, who were the first ones to be paid, and how had they till then been ranked?

³¹ Who, then, were the first ones to be paid at Pentecost? The outpouring of the holy spirit upon those who were there in Jerusalem on that Pentecostal day of the firstfruits of the wheat harvest revealed this. It was the “last” ones who had been sent into the vineyard of natural Israel, and who had worked with the “man in charge,” the Steward Jesus Christ. These were also the “last ones” whom the religious leaders of the nation of Israel would expect to receive a full day’s wage, a symbolic “penny,” from the great Householder and Master of the vineyard, Jehovah God.

32. The proof of who had been paid first of the workers was made known how, and who came together to witness this?

³² Contrary to Jewish expectations, the first ones paid were the despised twelve apostles of Jesus Christ and the rest of the congregation of 120 disciples that were meeting quietly together in an upper room, withdrawn from the multitude of Jews and proselytes who were celebrating Pentecost at the temple of Jerusalem. Nevertheless, the proof of who was paid first of the workers in God’s “vineyard” was made known by a miracle. It occurred in conjunction with the outpouring of the holy spirit upon the 120 disciples, and over three thousand Jews and proselytes came to the place to witness this strange spectacle.​—Acts 1:5; 2:1-13, 41.

33. How did Peter explain what they were beholding taking place, and how many sought to avail themselves of the gift of the spirit?

³³ Well, “different ones laughed at them and began to say: ‘They are full of sweet wine.’” So the apostle Peter was first to get up and explain that Christ’s disciples, filled with spirit, were not drunk but that this was the fulfillment of Joel’s prophecy (Joe 2:28, 29). Also, that the resurrected Jesus Christ, exalted to God’s right hand in the heavens, had received the promised holy spirit and had poured it out upon his disciples on earth in fulfillment of Joel 2:28, 29. Then all twelve of the apostles explained that this promised gift of the holy spirit was available also for the rest of the Jews, if they repented and got baptized in the name of Jesus Christ and became his disciples. About three thousand of the observers and hearers did so and became part of the congregation of spiritual Israel, God’s new “vineyard.”​—Acts 2:37-42.

34. What, then, was the “penny,” and when and where was it to be used by the receivers?

³⁴ Thus the symbolic “penny” was not the gift of the holy spirit in itself. It was the privilege that went with the receiving of the holy spirit, namely, the privilege of being a member of spiritual Israel, authorized to prophesy in fulfillment of Joel 2:28, 29, anointed to preach the good news of God’s Messianic kingdom. Thus they would be fruit-bearing branches in Jehovah’s spiritual vine, the Lord Jesus Christ. They were taken into the new covenant, which Jesus Christ mediated between Jehovah God and the congregation of these symbolic vine branches. (Jer. 31:31-34; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6; Heb. 8:6 to 9:15) The symbolic “penny” was, therefore, something that meant their livelihood, their everlasting life in God’s new order. It was something for their use here on earth, not up in heaven.

35. What did the ones hired “early in the morning” hear and see, and how was the “penny” available for them also?

³⁵ How about those who were hired first, “early in the morning,” as it were, to work in God’s vineyard of natural Israel? These “first ones,” the Jewish high priests, underpriests, Levites, scribes, lawyers versed in the Mosaic law, soon heard and observed that Jesus’ disciples had been paid for their late work in God’s vineyard of natural Israel. They saw them using the symbolic “penny.” The full day’s wage was available for them also, particularly since Jehovah God continued to deal with the nation of Israel exclusively for about three and a half years after that.

36. (a) Through whom, however, would they have to accept the “penny”? (b) Accepting it thus would cost them what things hitherto enjoyed?

³⁶ However, such religious leaders had to accept the full day’s pay, the “penny,” through God’s Steward, namely, the glorified Jesus Christ. But to do this would mean their doing what the Lord Jesus Christ had told the rich young ruler to do. (Matt. 19:21) It would mean their giving up their places of honor, importance, power and material income in the temple of Jerusalem, in the synagogues and in the sánhedrins, their sitting in the “seat of Moses,” their being called Rabbi, and their having a place and position that was recognized and allowed by the Roman government. Such things had been coming to them as good pay for their services in God’s “vineyard” of Israel down till Pentecost of 33 C.E. True, they had agreed with the great Householder, the Owner of the “vineyard,” for the gift of the holy spirit in fulfillment of Joel 2:28, 29. But now, to give up all their hitherto religious advantages in Israel and to receive the holy spirit outpoured by Jesus Christ and thus be anointed to do the work of disciples of Jesus Christ along with his apostles, people of the “last” rank, eleventh-hour workers, all this would cost them too much.

37. So were they satisfied to receive just the “penny,” and how did their attitude express itself toward the “last” laborers?

³⁷ In their pay from God they wanted more than the holy spirit and its miraculous gifts and its associated Kingdom privileges. So they wanted more than the symbolic “penny.” Hence these “first” laborers murmured against the Owner of the “vineyard” and were loath to accept just the “penny,” just as doubtless the rich young ruler did in contrast with the apostle Peter. Their murmuring and objections took the form of persecuting Christ’s disciples, the “last” laborers to be engaged in the “vineyard.”​—Matt. 20:10-12.

38. What shows whether all those “first” laborers refused the “penny,” and at what did some prefer to keep working?

³⁸ Of course, there were some temple Levites, like Joseph Barnabas of Cyprus, that accepted the “penny.” (Acts 4:36, 37) And even after the twelve apostles were imprisoned and tried by the Jerusalem Sánhedrin for using the “penny” in God’s service, the report in Acts 6:7 informs us, “the word of God went on growing, and the number of the disciples kept multiplying in Jerusalem very much; and a great crowd of priests began to be obedient to the faith.” Even Saul of Tarsus, a personal friend of the Jewish high priest, accepted the “penny,” even though he had been a Pharisee. (Acts 9:1-22; Phil. 3:4-6) But most of these “first” laborers, these religious leaders of Jewry, kept on working at their hitherto religious privileges in natural Israel and getting their regular pay for this as allowed by the Law of Moses, refusing the “penny.”

39. How long did they keep at this type of religious service, but what did Jesus’ disciples keep using?

³⁹ They kept up this type of religious service until the year 70 C.E. Then their temple in Jerusalem was taken away from them. They lost their jobs there and the Romans came and took away both their place and their nation, not because of accepting Jesus Christ, but because of rejecting him and refusing the “penny.” (John 11:47, 48) Their eye was wicked because Jehovah God was good toward the disciples of Jesus Christ. As for these disciples, including the apostle John, they continued using their “penny” to accomplish God’s Kingdom service and to gain their own everlasting life, despite the persecution.​—Mark 10:29, 30; Rev. 1:9.

[Footnotes]

[Picture on page 44]

A Denarius

[Picture on page 45]

“You too go into the vineyard”

[Picture on page 48]

“They each received a denarius”

The Modern Fulfillment of the “Penny”

1. Because of what happened on the day of Pentecost in 33 C.E., why must there be a final fulfillment of the parable of the “penny”?

SOMETHING similar to the experience of the workers in the “vineyard” of the ancient nation of Israel nineteen centuries ago has happened in these last days with regard to what is called Christendom. The ancient “vineyard,” the nation of Israel in the Mosaic Law covenant, was typical; many of its experiences were prophetic “shadows” of things to come. (1 Cor. 10:1-6, 11; Col. 2:16, 17; Heb. 10:1) Moreover, the prophecy of Joel 2:28-32, which the apostle Peter quoted on the day of Pentecost, when the symbolic “penny” was paid, was not completely fulfilled back there nineteen hundred years ago. Hence there must be a larger and final fulfillment of Joel 2:28-32. This would mean that there would be a further and final fulfillment of Jesus’ parable of the “penny” in these “last days” of this system of things. (Acts 2:17, 18; 1 Tim. 3:1-5) There are facts to prove this.

2, 3. (a) When did use of the “penny” begin to fall off? (b) What has Christendom claimed to be, and in what service have its clergy considered itself to be, and why so?

² As foretold in the prophecy of Isaiah 5:1-7, Jehovah God rejected his typical “vineyard” of natural, circumcised Israel nineteen centuries ago. He has since been cultivating a spiritual “vineyard” of which Jesus Christ is the Vine, the central stock, and his true followers are the branches. (John 15:1-8) He now has a spiritual “Israel of God,” not under the old Law covenant that was abolished at the time of Jesus’ death, but under the new covenant of which Jesus Christ is the heavenly Mediator. (Matt. 26:26-28; Luke 22:19, 20; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6) After the death of all the apostles of Christ by the end of the first century C.E., the use of the symbolic “penny” paid out at Pentecost began to disappear. In the first half of the fourth century C.E. the religious organization of Christendom was established. It has since grown to worldwide proportions, with many religious denominations presided over by religious leaders or clergymen, Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant.

³ This Christendom has a clergy and a laity and is split up into religious sects, just like the religious organization of Israel in the days of Jesus Christ and his apostles. Christendom has claimed to be the spiritual Israel of God and therefore to be in the new covenant with God by the Mediator Jesus Christ. She has likewise claimed to be the spiritual “vineyard” of God, with her many religious sectarian churches serving as “branches” in the Vine Jesus Christ. Thus Christendom’s religious clergy, made up of her ordained priests and preachers, claims to be working in the “vineyard” of the Most High God. By their respective religious denominations they have been ordained formalistically to their clergy posts over the religious flocks of the laity. They have made their positions and responsibilities of clergymen their profession, a full-time job, so that they have considered themselves to be in the full-time service of God. And once ordained, they have considered themselves as remaining clergymen for the rest of their lives, even after being retired from active work.

4. By their claims, where have Christendom’s clergy put themselves in being hired into God’s vineyard, and where have they put dedicated, baptized Christians not of clergy rank?

⁴ By their religious claims the clergy have been “first” to be hired for work in God’s “vineyard” of spiritual Israel, for a full day. Persons taking up part-time service in religious circles have been considered inferior to them and deserving of less pay. Any dedicated, baptized Christians who have taken up the preaching of God’s kingdom without being schooled in their seminaries and ordained by them with a title and degree and an assignment to their pulpits have been despised by these first-ranking clergymen. Losing sight of the fact that all individual dedicated, baptized Christians are branches in the Vine Jesus Christ and are to bear fruit as spiritual “priests” of God, those ordained clergymen of Christendom have looked down on them. They have considered these to be the “last” ones to have any valid assignment in God’s service, to work in God’s spiritual “vineyard.” The pulpits of Christendom were generally barred to such dedicated ministers of God, who were viewed as being mere untrained, unschooled “laymen.”

5. Among those thus viewed was what Christian group recently organized, and what did the clergy succeed in having done to them during World War I?

⁵ Among those thus viewed by the ordained clergy of Christendom was a dedicated Christian group that has kept itself separate from Christendom and yet has become very prominent in this twentieth century. In the last half of the nineteenth century they got organized, at first a small group. In 1884 they established what is now the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania as their publishing and administrative agency. They came to be known as International Bible Students. Christendom’s clergymen despised these Bible students as preachers and expounders of God’s Word, and opposed and hindered their zealous preaching of God’s kingdom. This continued on until finally, during the frenzy of World War I, they succeeded in having the president and secretary-treasurer of the Watch Tower Society and a number of their editorial associates imprisoned in a Federal prison of the United States of America. Also, their religious literature was banned, in whole or in part, in various places.

NOT THE “PENNY”

6. Why did these Christians appear to be the “last ones” hired, and what did they themselves think about the “eleventh hour”?

⁶ Because of their late, unorthodox appearance on the world stage of religious affairs, these dedicated Christian Bible students appeared to be the “last ones” whom the great Householder, Jehovah God, hired for work in his spiritual “vineyard” of the real, true organized Christianity. Especially was this so in view of the fact that the Gentile Times ended in the year 1914, in which year World War I broke out. (Luke 21:24) In harmony with their understanding of prophecy regarding the end of this system of things, and in view of the worsening conditions of mankind during World War I, it seemed to these Christian international Bible students that the last hour, “the eleventh hour,” for work in the spiritual “vineyard” of Jehovah God was ending. They had long been interested in Jesus’ parable of the vineyard and the penny, reference having been made to this parable and the “eleventh hour” away back in the issue of Zion’s Watch Tower as of April of 1881, on page 7, under the heading “Wanted 1,000 Preachers,” which called for workers.

7. What book did the Society publish in July of 1917, and what relationship was it said to bear to the symbolic “penny”?

⁷ So in July of the midwar year of 1917 the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society published (only in English)a the book entitled “The Finished Mystery,” this book being the seventh and last one of a series of seven volumes of Studies in the Scriptures. Because the heavenly glorification of the faithful remnant of the Christian church was believed near, this Bible-study aid The Finished Mystery along with accompanying service privileges was thought to be the symbolic “penny,” coming as a reward to the faithful “vineyard” laborers before they departed from this earth. In fact, on page 2, the Publishers’ page, of this book there was printed an enlargement of a coin like a penny. The inscription on it read: “To the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords This Work Is Dedicated in the Interest of His Consecrated Saints Waiting for the Adoption and of ‘all that in every place call upon the Lord,’ ‘the household of faith’ and of the groaning creation; travailing and waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God.” Also, in that same year, the October 1, 1917, issue of The Watch Tower, on page 293, carried a heading that said “The Penny” and it spoke of the book The Finished Mystery and the associated “honor” as the symbolic “penny.”b

8. (a) However, when this meaning was given to the “penny,” what did the Publishers not foresee? (b) What events in Canada and the United States followed the publication of The Finished Mystery?

⁸ However, when that meaning of the “penny” was given to The Finished Mystery, the Seventh Volume, no one expected or foresaw that World War I would end in the following year (1918) and that there would be an extended peace period thereafter with the anointed remnant down here on earth, instead of up in heavenly glory. An organization of 7,000 Bible students was built up for distributing The Finished Mystery from house to house.c But by the spring of 1918 this book was banned both in the United States and in Canada. Yes, this book was used by the United States government, then at war with Germany, to put the leading ones of the International Bible Students in Federal prison in Atlanta, Georgia.

9. After World War I, what occurred in connection with The Finished Mystery, and finally what became apparent about it in connection with the “penny”?

⁹ Thus the work of these Christian Bible students was badly crippled by government action, clergy opposition, religious persecution and wartime disruptions. In the spring of 1919 the imprisoned representatives of the Watch Tower Society were permanently released from Federal prison, connections with the Watch Tower Society’s branch offices were reestablished, and in 1920 the ban was removed from the Seventh Volume and thus The Finished Mystery was allowed to be circulated again in the United States of America. But in 1927 The Finished Mystery and the other six volumes of the Studies in the Scriptures ceased to be published, and they were replaced by new, postwar Bible-study aids. So in ten years’ time it became manifest that the Seventh Volume and the honorable service that went with it was not really the penny.

10. By 1925, what began to be appreciated about Jehovah’s name, and how did this appreciation reach a climax in 1931?

¹⁰ In the meanwhile, in the year 1925 it began to be appreciated by these Christian Bible students that the vindication of God’s name Jehovah by means of his newborn Messianic kingdom was God’s leading purpose. In fact, from 1922 onward reference was repeatedly made to Isaiah 43:10-12 to prove that they must be witnesses of the Lord God during the remainder of their days on earth.d The work of bearing witness to his name became more dominant among them. This reached a grand climax in the year 1931, when, at the international convention in Columbus, Ohio, these much-maligned Bible students adopted a resolution by which they embraced the name suggested by Isaiah 43:10-12 (AS), namely, “Jehovah’s witnesses.”

11. Since matters regarding The Finished Mystery had proved not to be the “penny,” what now began to be thought regarding the conferment of the name “Jehovah’s witnesses,” and why?

¹¹ The work of gathering the anointed remnant of the heirs of God’s heavenly kingdom appeared to be nearing completion. Hence, this bestowal of a Biblically supported name upon them in 1931 seemed to come as a reward for having engaged in twelve years of hard Christian work since 1919. The book The Finished Mystery and the honor of distributing it had proved not to be the “penny.” So now, then, could not the conferment of the new name upon the International Bible Students be the “penny”?

12. Near the close of the year 1933, what did The Watchtower say with regard to the “penny”?

¹² In the year 1933, in the November 15 and December 1 issues of The Watchtower and Herald of Christ’s Presence there appeared the leading article (in two parts) entitled “Laborer’s Wages.” This dealt with Jesus’ parable of the vineyard. The second paragraph of Part One of this article said: “The laborers are those at the temple for judgment, and who engage in the service of the kingdom; the hire or penny is the honor of being given the new name which Jehovah gives to his people.” (Page 339) Paragraph 21, on page 344, said: “No greater wage could be paid to creatures on earth than that of receiving a name at the mouth of Jehovah God, and which name shows the close and confidential relationship between Jehovah and his faithful people. Never before has he given such a wage to creatures.”

13. By 1937, what began to be appreciated about the matter of being witnesses of Jehovah, and with whom did The New World of 1942 class the “great crowd” of the “other sheep” of today?

¹³ However, in the year 1937 it became more fully appreciated that the faithful prophets and men of integrity from John the Baptist back to the first martyr Abel were also witnesses of Jehovah, “so great a cloud of witnesses.” (Heb. 11:1 to 12:1, AV) Later the book entitled “The New World,” published in 1942, indicated that the “great crowd” of the “other sheep” foretold in Revelation 7:9, 10 were also witnesses of Jehovah. (Pages 368, 369, 375) Today the “great crowd” of these “other sheep” that have been gathered into association with the anointed remnant are regularly included among Jehovah’s witnesses. If, since the year 1935, they have not proved themselves to be Jehovah’s witnesses, then by all the facts of history what have they proved themselves to be? Who are they, if not Jehovah’s witnesses of modern times?

14. Thus what came to be seen regarding the title “Jehovah’s witnesses,” and what about such a “new name” on Pentecost of 33 C.E.?

¹⁴ Thus the title “Jehovah’s witnesses” is now seen as not applying exclusively to the anointed remnant, and so this new name for Christians could not be the symbolic “penny” of Jesus’ parable. The “new name” was not the “penny” back in the year 33 C.E. on that day of Pentecost, inasmuch as those Jewish disciples of Jesus Christ were already Jehovah’s witnesses by being from birth members of Jehovah’s chosen people of Isaiah 43:1-12.

15. (a) How can our understanding of the “penny” be cleared up today? (b) Modernly, when did the “even” and close of the day’s work in the vineyard come, and how?

¹⁵ It is now thirty-four years since 1933 and the beginning of the terrible persecutions of Jehovah’s witnesses under the Nazi regime of Adolf Hitler. Today our understanding of the “penny” can be cleared up by looking back at the first fulfillment of Jesus’ parable of the vineyard in the days of his apostles nineteen centuries ago. In the modern-day fulfillment of the parable, the “evening” and the close of the twelve-hour day’s work came during World War I, which war marked the close of the Gentile Times in the autumn of 1914. The full-time laborers, the ones “first” hired, the clergy of Christendom, turned their efforts to the war activities of the nations at war. The work of the ones hired “last” was crippled and practically stopped in 1918 by the banning of Watch Tower literature and the imprisonment of the official representatives of the International Bible Students. This stoppage corresponded with Jesus’ death and scattering of his disciples.

USE OF THE “PENNY” TILL NOW

16. (a) When, therefore, was pay time to be expected? (b) How was the spring of 1919 like a day of Pentecost for the “hired” ones?

¹⁶ World War I stopped on November 11, 1918, and now world attention turned to peace and reorganization in the postwar period. The League of Nations was proposed as an instrument for preserving world peace and security. As regards religious affairs, evidently pay time had come for those who had either professedly or actually labored in Jehovah’s spiritual vineyard! What would be the “penny” given to them in the postwar epoch? The spring of 1919 was like a day of Pentecost for those hired “last” to work in the “vineyard.” For the Christian international Bible students it was like a resurrection of the dead. On March 26, 1919, their official and editorial representatives were released from prison, the postwar work was at once planned, the “vineyard” laborers were reorganized world wide, the first convention at Cedar Point, Ohio, was held September 1-8, 1919, and was attended by 7,000 at the public meeting, and, besides The Watch Tower, a new magazine The Golden Age (today known as Awake!) began to be published October 1, 1919. Such a reactivation of the International Bible Students in the religious field caused amazement and dismay in Christendom.

17. What, then, did the “penny” prove to be for the laborers hired “last”?

¹⁷ Here, then, as on the day of Pentecost nineteen centuries ago, was the payment of the “penny” to those last hired in Jehovah’s spiritual “vineyard.” God’s Messianic kingdom had been born in the heavens at the close of the Gentile Times in 1914, and the “penny” paid to the vineyard laborers was the privilege and honor of serving as anointed ambassadors of God’s newborn Messianic kingdom from that time on till the coming “battle of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon. This ambassadorial service was carried out with the help of God’s holy spirit. In harmony with this, they were ushered into the privilege of fulfilling Matthew 24:14, preaching this good news of God’s newborn Messianic kingdom in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations before the end of this system of things comes. (Rev. 16:14-16; Mark 13:10) What a wonderful value such a “penny” has meant to them!

18. At that development, who murmured, and finally to what extent?

¹⁸ The clergy of Christendom, which claims to be God’s vineyard, murmured at this way of paying spiritual wages, and their murmuring took on the form of persecuting these Kingdom preachers. The clergy could have joined in this Kingdom witness, but they rejected God’s newborn kingdom by preaching in favor of the League of Nations as “the political expression of the kingdom of God on earth.” They kept up friendly relations with worldly politicians.

19. Who are proving to be the “last ones” to accept the “penny”?

¹⁹ The anointed remnant of Kingdom heirs, including those whom Jehovah God has added since 1919, are grateful for the “penny” paid to them. Since the payment of it in the year 1919 they have used it with growing appreciation of its value. The clergy of Christendom are proving to be the “last” ones to accept the precious “penny,” if they accept it at all before Babylon the Great (including Christendom) is destroyed at that great and fear-inspiring day of Jehovah now near.​—Joel 2:31, 32; Acts 2:20, 21.

20. How have these paid laborers already been rewarded for their grateful use of the “penny” down till now?

²⁰ Particularly since the year 1935 the “penny” has been used in gathering the “great crowd” of sheeplike persons foretold in Revelation 7:9-17. These have accepted the Kingdom message as preached by the anointed Kingdom ambassadors, and to date around a million of them all around the earth have separated themselves from Babylon the Great and are joining the anointed remnant in praising Jehovah God and his Messianic King, Jesus Christ. What a reward this has already been to the Kingdom ambassadors for their grateful acceptance and use of the “penny” at Jehovah’s hands!

[Footnotes]

“For many years we have been promised the Seventh Volume. All have looked for it, expecting the last coming into the truth would be classed equally with the first in receiving it. The parable shows that some would murmur and complain. In harmony with this parable we see some murmuring and rejecting Volume Seven. Hence they are not satisfied with the penny​—the honor that the Lord has offered them of having part in this wonderful closing work of the harvest. Such are not engaged now in the harvest, but are more particularly engaged in murmuring, in finding fault and in trying to hinder the work.”

“How to Proceed

“The organization that handled the Seventh Volume work proved a wonderful success. Seven thousand of the friends were engaged in that special work. We are asking the classes everywhere to revive that organization and put it in proper form.”

“Why, then, deliver the message to those who do not understand? Will any one hear? The Prophet of the Lord answers: ‘Bring forth the blind people that have eyes, and the deaf that have ears. Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the people be assembled: who among them can declare this, and show us former things? Let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, It is truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen; . . . therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, that I am God.’​—Isaiah 43:8-12.

“Thus we see that those of the temple class are clearly designated as the Lord’s witnesses at this time, to bring a message of consolation to the people that the kingdom of heaven is here, and that millions now living will never die. Thus it is seen that God purposes that his name shall be magnified, that the people shall know that he is Lord. Thus we see that God purposes to have a people in the earth in this time of stress, clearly marked as separate and distinct from all others, standing as his witnesses, fearlessly crying out the message: ‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand!’”

[Picture on page 53]

From “The Finished Mystery”

[Picture on page 56]

Making Use of the Privilege of Being Ambassadors of the Kingdom of God

As Age-Old Institutions Crumble, Is Survival Possible?

WHEN the spirit of the people is affected it has a shaking effect upon governments, educational institutions, religions and established ways and customs. No matter how old and venerable they may be, they are seriously altered or crumble into ruin.

In previous issues of The Watchtower the spirit of the world has been defined as the frame of mind, the inclination of the mind, the persistent tendency that controls the world of mankind. It moves the world to certain characteristic conduct, namely, to speak, to think and to take certain attitudes and viewpoints and to decide and act in a certain way that follows a definite pattern.

The Bible speaks of the Devil, the source of this spirit, as “the spirit that now operates in the sons of disobedience,” and shows that the ruler of the authority of the air motivates people to act disobediently toward God. (Eph. 2:2) This ruler is described as the “god of this world,” as the wicked one in whose power the whole world lies and as the Devil and Satan, who is misleading the entire inhabited earth.​—2 Cor. 4:4; 1 John 5:19; Rev. 12:5.

WHAT THE SPIRIT OF THIS WORLD PRODUCES

There is no doubt that the spirit of the world has lately been stirred up to bring about sweeping changes. We find it expressed in the spirit of uncertainty, the spirit of unbelief and of rebellion, the spirit of doing just what one desires without any restraint or consideration of the rights of others. Donald Thorman, publisher of the National Catholic Reporter, described the attitude of Roman Catholics today to be free to deny or ignore doctrine and yet to count themselves as good members of the church;a he said this is an “age of unbelief that has finally begun to hit the church in America.” Philosopher Michael Novak believes that the Roman Catholic Church faces “a cultural crisis of the first order of magnitude.” We see similar attitudes expressed by students of universities and colleges, also by the professors and teachers, lawlessness increasing in greater percentages than the population and governments falling or being changed often and almost overnight. Old, established standards of morality are forsaken for loose morality. Coups d’etat, that is, unconstitutional changes in government, take place about once a month.

God is, of course, displeased with the spirit of this world. The Bible book of Revelation shows that he expresses his indignation against it by pouring out one of the seven plagues or bowls of his anger upon it. This is bound to stir up Satan and also to stir up the spirit of the world, to cause it to become more active, more violent and destructive and more obviously and definitely against God. The plague reveals how God views men influenced by the spirit of the world and also portrays the actual results to them of his anger carried out against them.

At Revelation 16:17-21 we read: “And the seventh [angel] poured out his bowl upon the air. At this a loud voice issued out of the sanctuary from the throne, saying: ‘It has come to pass!’ And lightnings and voices and thunders occurred, and a great earthquake occurred such as had not occurred since men came to be on the earth, so extensive an earthquake, so great. And the great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give her the cup of the wine of the anger of his wrath. Also, every island fled, and mountains were not found. And a great hail with every stone about the weight of a talent [around a hundred pounds] descended out of heaven upon the men, and the men blasphemed God due to the plague of hail, because the plague of it was unusually great.”

GOD MAKES KNOWN HIS ANGER

When Jehovah’s witnesses are used to announce or declare these plagues they have no part in enforcing the effect of them or of carrying out God’s judgments; God himself does this. At a convention of God’s people in Detroit in August 1928, a marked declaration of this plague upon the spirit of the world was expressed.b Revelation 16:18 says in connection with the seventh plague: “And lightnings and voices and thunders occurred.” These were, of course, not literal lightnings, thunders and heavenly voices, but symbolic ones. On August 1 of the Detroit convention the Society’s president delivered a Bible talk on “God’s Lightnings.” Since then there have been other flashes of spiritual enlightenment, other thunderings of divine judgments and other voicelike proclamations or publications of Bible truth.

A prominent fulfillment of this occurred at the 1953 international assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses at Yankee Stadium, New York city, on Thursday, July 23, when the address on the subject “New World Society Attacked from the Far North” was delivered to an audience of 112,000. It revealed that “Gog of the land of Magog,” foretold in Ezekiel, chapters 38 and 39, is Satan the Devil. Since he has been thrown out of the heavens, as described in Revelation 12:5-10, his spirit has violently affected the spirit of the whole world. He can fight God by fighting those on earth who represent His kingdom. He is foretold to make a final assault upon the peaceful New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses. This will bring God’s invisible protective hosts in full fury against Satan’s organization on earth, to destroy it completely. Satan is very busy cultivating his spirit among the nations in order to lead them to this fight, which will prove so disastrous to them.

EARTH’S MOST TREMENDOUS SHAKE-UP

The description of the effects of the plague continues: “And a great earthquake occurred such as had not occurred since men came to be on the earth, so extensive an earthquake, so great.” Earthquakes are the most destructive of the natural forces that man has experienced, and they are increasing in frequency in our times. One of more than average intensity took place at noon on September 1, 1923, and left Tokyo, Japan, and adjacent cities in ruins. The death toll was 100,000, and 43,000 remained missing. The violence was such that in some fields potatoes were thrown out of the ground. The depth of Sagami bay was increased in places a maximum of 690 feet and decreased as much as 820 feet. The earthquake that destroyed Lisbon, Portugal, in 1903 was said to have shaken an area four times as large as Europe.

What, then, would happen to man’s works if an earthquake should shake the entire earth? Revelation’s earthquake, however, is symbolic, though literal quakes may well be used by Jehovah in the final part of the shaking. Revelation’s vision therefore symbolizes a colossal shaking to come. It is more than a shaking of institutions merely because of the spirit of the world being stirred up. It is a shaking from the Almighty God as an expression of his anger against that spirit in the people.

The shaking is greater than the shaking now taking place due to the proclamation of the Kingdom message. The publication of the established kingdom of God does not destroy this world. It causes consternation, especially in Babylon the Great, shaking its member religious organizations, shaking out from the nations the “desirable things.” That is, it causes to come forth from the world to Jehovah’s organization the people who love God and who fear him and want to serve him. God is interested in lives, and these right-hearted persons are the really valuable things in God’s eyes. (Hag. 2:6, 7, 21, 22) The earthquake here described will bring the cities of the nations crashing down in ruins and the national governments of this world will be shaken to destruction with them. Only God’s heavenly kingdom and the kingdom interests in the earth will remain standing. This earthquake pictures the world’s final trouble, the climax of the great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.​—Matt. 24:21; Heb. 12:20-28.

BABYLON THE GREAT IRREPARABLY SMASHED

“And the great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations fell; and Babylon the great was remembered in the sight of God, to give her the cup of the wine of the anger of his wrath.” The “great city” has reference to Babylon the Great, spoken of in Revelation 17:18 as “the great city that has a kingdom over the kings of the earth.” It is a religious kingdom and represents the world empire of false religion. The number three is used in the Bible many times, representing emphasis. Babylon’s being split into three parts symbolizes a very serious, thorough breaking up of it.

From this we can see what a tremendous shaking the world empire of false religion will undergo and how it will be torn apart and will fall beyond repair or recovery. While the rulers, as the Bible indicates, will have to do with the destruction of false religion, yet it is really from Jehovah God that this destruction comes, for the Revelation says that it is God who gives her the cup of the wine of his wrath. This cup of his wrath first exposes her, then causes her to be destroyed. It will make her so drunk with woe and shame that she will never recover from its effects and wake up. God has not ignored her centuries of wickedness. He has seen and has kept a record. All the wickedness that she has done has been “in the sight of God” and he pays her back with destruction.

“Also, every island fled, and mountains were not found.” To destroy a mountain or an island would be greater than destroying a city, but the coming world earthquake of trouble at God’s hands will affect the sea and land tremendously. Nothing will be too distant or isolated, as an island in the sea, or too lofty and sturdy like a mountain in Satan’s visible organization, to escape destruction. The age of the institutions will make no difference. Some institutions have been able to survive turbulent times and the raging of the sea of revolutionary, radical, nihilistic elements for hundreds of years. But in this earthquake there will be no escape, none able to withstand the shaking at God’s hands. Only those supporting his Kingdom will find refuge.​—Ps. 46:2, 3.

AT THE LAST, A DEVASTATING HAILSTORM

The seventh plague poured out upon the air or spirit of this world accomplishes these things and also much more, because it affects the atmosphere itself. Therefore Revelation 16:21 continues: “And a great hail with every stone about the weight of a talent descended out of heaven upon the men, and the men blasphemed God due to the plague of hail, because the plague of it was unusually great.” So from the atmosphere there crash down hailstones on men, hailstones of tremendous size, weighing ninety-six pounds avoirdupois. They fall with great speed and cause stupendous destruction. Since hailstones are congealed water, this hailstorm pictures that heaven would send down upon worldly mankind a barrage of hard Biblical truths. Jehovah’s witnesses are now preaching a message of deliverance and salvation for those who will take refuge in the Kingdom, which cannot be shaken. But the hailstones picture, not a message of deliverance, but the hard, unyielding proclamation of God’s vengeance against Satan’s visible organization. Jehovah’s witnesses will at the last deliver this stinging message, presaging the destruction of the men upon whom it falls.

The men who are affected by this hailstorm are those who did not call upon the name of Jehovah for salvation, but who blasphemed him at hearing the judgment messages and the execution of these. They refused in the past to hear the message that would have meant salvation for them and now they especially hate this condemning declaration. (Joel 2:32; Rom. 10:13) The fact that the plague of it was unusually great foreshows that at the last there will be an unusually great proclamation of God’s vengeance by Jehovah’s witnesses.

That the seventh plague will indeed finish the anger of God upon the world is illustrated in the picture here given in Revelation. It indicates that those who survive the symbolic earthquake will without fail be destroyed by the accurately aimed executional hailstones from the heavens. Not that the truths themselves kill them, but the judgments that God executes in harmony with the truths expressed.​—Job 38:22, 23; Ps. 148:7, 8; Isa. 28:2-17.

CAN ANYTHING REMAIN?

But what about survival? Is it possible to live and experience something better than the present situation? It is true that this judgment will be severe indeed on those who hate God and who blaspheme him, but it will be good for those who love God and who want to see righteousness in the earth. Such persons will escape this last plague by studying his Word. They must now apply themselves to the cultivation of God’s spirit to produce the fruitage of the spirit, which constitutes the things that bring good into the lives of men. They are “love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness, self-control.” (Gal. 5:22, 23) They are the exact opposite of the things produced by the spirit of this world, which things do good to no one, namely, the works of the flesh: “fornication, uncleanness, loose conduct, idolatry, practice of spiritism, hatreds, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, contentions, divisions, sects, envies, drunken bouts, revelries, and things like these.”​—Gal. 5:19-21.

The questions clearly set for decision before each one who hears the proclamation and reads and understands these things are, Which fruitage do you want? Do you want to live a short time in a world filled with works of the flesh and then die forever, or do you want everlasting life in a world filled with the fine fruitage of God’s spirit? Right now, when this seventh and last plague is being poured out, the time is fast being reduced during which there is an opening for one to receive salvation from the earthquake and the unusually great rain of hailstones. Act quickly to escape the final crash. Even though you may look upon a religion, a government or an institution or ideology as age-lasting, forsake it now for the only lasting thing, God’s kingdom by Christ.

[Footnotes]

Why So Much to Do?

NO QUESTION about it, today the Christian witnesses of Jehovah have much to do. There is reading and studying of the Bible and Bible literature. There are five weekly meetings of the congregation to prepare for and attend. There are all the various features of the Christian field ministry, preaching from house to house, making return visits and conducting Bible studies in the homes of the people. There is also the need to assist their Christian brothers, as well as preparing for parts on the various programs, and so forth. And those who are servants in the congregations have still more duties to discharge.

Much to do? No doubt about it! But have you ever considered the fact that in having much to do Christian ministers are not altogether unique? Such professional men as general practitioners, the GP’s, often have much to do. A conscientious general practitioner may devote as much as seventy hours or more a week to his profession, all because of the demands made upon him by his patients. And, additionally, he has much reading to do so as to keep up with progress made in medicine.

If the conscientious medical practitioner has reason to be busy, has much to do, Jehovah’s Christian ministers have even more reason to be busy. How so? Because theirs is a far more important work, that of spiritual healing, which leads to everlasting life, and, what is more, everybody is in need of the kind of healing that they offer. However, their work requires much time and patience because they must first show the people how sadly they are in need of spiritual healing and how serious spiritual sickness is, for most persons are not conscious of their spiritual plight.

THE URGENCY OF OUR TIMES

Another reason for such ministers being so busy, having so much to do, is that there is so little time left in which to do spiritual healing. We are, indeed, living in urgent times. Jesus likened our urgent times to the days of Noah, and we know that Noah had much to do, caring for his household, preaching, building the ark, gathering the animals and storing away a year’s supply of food for all. (Gen. 6:13–7:5; Matt. 24:37-39) And remember Gideon and his band that put the Midianites to flight? They had an urgent task before them if they were to clinch the victory, and so we read of their being “tired but keeping up the pursuit.”​—Judg. 8:4.

As Christians we are in a spiritual warfare, opposing the forces that cause spiritual sickness. It keeps us busy and at times we get tired; but we keep up the pursuit, as it were. We keep on going because we know that lives are involved.

Jesus said on one occasion: “We must work the works of him that sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no man can work.” Such a night came upon Jesus. But today Armageddon is coming, which cannot be far away, since the 1914 generation will not pass away before it comes! No question about it, time is running out! Is it not fitting, then, that we have much to do as Armageddon gets closer?​—John 9:4; Matt. 24:34.

A PROTECTION FOR US

Actually, “having plenty to do in the work of the Lord” is a protection, a blessing for us. (1 Cor. 15:58) In what way? In that, since we are no part of the world, having much to do protects us from its temptations and snares that beset us on every hand. It is thoughtful on the part of the “faithful and discreet slave” to provide us with plenty to read and study, with many meetings to attend and with much to do in the field ministry. By keeping busy with these things we will find our minds filled with the things that are upbuilding. This protects our minds against the spirit of this world, and ourselves from being occupied with the works of the flesh.​—Gal. 5:19-23; Phil. 4:8.

Take a lesson from King David. He would never have made the most heinous mistake of his life had he kept busy. Once King David stayed at home, apparently deciding to “take it easy.” Had he been busy fighting the sons of Ammon at Rabbah, along with his general, Joab, David would never have been exposed to that temptation to which he succumbed, afterward to regret it O so bitterly! Can you not look back and see how at times having much to do may have kept you from making a serious mistake?​—2 Sam. 11:1; Psalm 51.

PROVISIONS TO ACCOMMODATE EVERYONE

The fact that the “faithful and discreet slave” provides us with so much to do in the field ministry does not mean that each one is expected to do all that everyone else does. For example, the local congregation may provide for Tuesday evening prestudy field service; for Wednesday night back-call activity; for midweek daytime witnessing and Saturday magazine work as well as Sunday house-to-house and back-call service. These arrangements are not made with the thought that everyone must get out in service practically every day in the week. The meetings for service are for our convenience, to help us.

For Christian housewives whose husbands are not believers and who want them home Sundays, there is the midweek witnessing. Then, again, one may be able to share in the Tuesday prestudy activity; another may not, but is able to get out on Wednesday evening. Then, again, another may be able to engage in the Saturday magazine work, but another may only be able to get out Sundays for the field ministry. By our having many arrangements there is opportunity for all to have a share according to their conditions and circumstances, and no one needs to feel pushed or pressured to get out at a time not possible for him to do so.

Then, again, not all have the same strength or energy. Some may be able to devote only one or two hours instead of three on Sunday mornings or afternoons. Better to spend that one hour than not to go out at all. Here one can take encouragement from the widow with her coins of very small value. The point is that she gave all she had; she did not give little because of lack of desire to give more.​—Luke 21:1-4.

So each one of us can examine his own position. If we are wholehearted in Jehovah’s service, we have reason to rejoice. But if we hold back on service because we prefer other activity, then we need to improve our spiritual outlook.

ENOUGH SPIRITUAL FOOD FOR ALL

The same principle applies to our reading the publications of the Watch Tower Society. Some have more time to read than others; some read faster than others; some can grasp things more quickly than can others. We might liken our spiritual provisions to a great banquet being spread for many guests, old and young, large and small. Not all can eat the same amount of food, but there is an abundance for all. So it is with our spiritual food.​—Isa. 25:6.

Not everyone may be able to read all that the Society publishes. But certainly all should endeavor to find time to read the Bible regularly and to read the Society’s official journal, The Watchtower, from cover to cover. If we find that we are not doing this we may well ask ourselves, Are we making the best possible use of the time at our disposal? Could it be that we are spending time reading worldly magazines that could be spent reading The Watchtower? Or are we spending more time than we should with the daily paper or watching television?

What about reading the Awake! magazine? So as to appeal to many different kinds of people it contains a great variety of different articles. A sister may not be interested in what it has to say about mechanical care for autos and a brother may not be interested in an article about sewing. But there is something for everyone, a wide variety of subjects for persons in varying circumstances.

However, do not minimize the value of Awake! If you can, read each issue from cover to cover. Awake! protects us from the creature worship that worldly magazines encourage by featuring personalities, and at the same time it gives us the theocratic perspective on everything it discusses. For example, worldly magazines may tell of the rise of “situational ethics,” but they do not give us God’s view regarding these. They may have interesting accounts about haunted houses but they have no idea what is back of it all. Awake! articles are prepared by God’s organization, which is interested in our spiritual welfare.​—Rom. 8:6.

As Christian witnesses of Jehovah, we do have much to do in the way of personal Bible reading and study of Bible literature, meetings to attend and field ministry to perform. But if we appreciate why we have so much to do​—because of the importance of our work and the urgency of our times—​we do not complain. Having so much to do is a real safeguard for us. And by using the spirit of a sound mind we can strike a happy balance between what there is to do and what we are able to do, to Jehovah’s praise and to our own well-being.

“Disciple-making” District Assemblies

Memories of the “God’s Sons of Liberty” District Assemblies held during 1966 have not yet faded. In fact, in South America and the Caribbean those assemblies are still in progress. Those who attended any of these assemblies were deeply moved by the things that they saw and heard and they are looking forward to the next assemblies arranged by the Watch Tower Society. So the question is already being raised: Where will we have our assemblies during 1967?

Arrangements for these assemblies have been under way for some time now, and we are glad to pass on to you the details now available concerning the dates and cities. The assemblies will be spread throughout the entire period of the northern summer, and they are conveniently located so that every reader of The Watchtower should find it possible to attend. We encourage you to make plans now to be sure that your vacation dates include one of the 1967 “Disciple-making” District Assemblies.

Each assembly will open on Thursday afternoon and conclude on Sunday evening at about 6 p.m. Will you be present all four days? We encourage you to do so. Those who came to the assemblies only for the weekend last year were disappointed to find that they had missed some of the choicest portions of the program. We feel confident that, with Jehovah’s blessing, the program this year, right from the first day, will be just as delightful and spiritually upbuilding as was the one in 1966.

Unless otherwise indicated, the programs for the assemblies listed below will be in English, but, as you will note, some of the assemblies in the United States will provide a program in Spanish.

UNITED STATES

June 22-25: Kalispell, Mont.; Stockton, Calif.

June 29–July 2: Aberdeen, S.D.; Amarillo, Tex. (Spanish also); Galveston, Tex.; Sedalia, Mo.; Utica, N.Y.

July 6-9: Allentown, Pa.; Asheville, N.C.; Lansing, Mich.; Salina, Kans.; Taunton, Mass.; Tucson, Ariz.; Waco, Tex.; West Palm Beach, Fla. (Spanish also)

July 13-16: Laredo, Tex. (Spanish only); San Jose, Calif.; Savannah, Ga. (tentative); Trenton, N.J.

July 20-23: Manchester, N.H. (tentative); Ogden, Utah; Springfield, Mo.; Tuscaloosa, Ala. (tentative)

July 27-30: Fresno, Calif.; Madison, Wis.; Pittsburgh, Pa.; Yakima, Wash.

August 3-6: Eugene, Ore.; Grand Island, Neb.; Jersey City, N.J. (Spanish also); Pomona, Calif. (Spanish also); Raleigh, N.C.

August 10-13: Columbus, Ga.; Peoria, Ill.; Sault Ste. Marie, Mich.; South Bend, Ind. (tentative)

August 17-20: Costa Mesa, Calif.; Orlando, Fla.; Worcester, Mass.

August 24-27: Jackson, Mich. (tentative); Laurel, Md. (tentative)

Tentative; No Dates Set: Chicago, Ill. (Spanish only); East St. Louis, Ill.; Evansville, Ind.; Hattiesburg, Miss.; Lafayette, La.; Rochester, Minn.; Vicksburg, Miss.

BRITISH ISLES

June 29–July 2: Romford, Essex; Charlton, London; Torquay, Devon.

July 6-9: Reading, Berks.

July 13-16: Oxford, Oxon.

July 20-23: Swindon, Wilts.; Peterborough, Northants.

July 27-30: Barnsley, Yorks.

August 3-6: Blackburn, Lancs.

August 10-13: Newcastle-on-Tyne, N’land; Brighton, Sussex.

August 17-20: Dundee, Angus, Scotland; Hamilton, Lanarks, Scotland.

August 31–September 3: Wood Green, London.

September 7-10: Swansea, Glams., Wales.

Note: It is hoped that two more assembly locations will be added to this list.

CANADA

July 6-9: Saskatoon, Sask.

July 27-30: Sarnia, Ont.

August 3-6: Truro, N. S.

August 10-13: Barrie, Ont.; Oshawa, Ont.

August 17-20: Moncton, N. B.

Note: It is hoped that eleven more assembly locations will be added to this list. Plans are being made for two assemblies in French.

Announcements

FIELD MINISTRY

Jehovah’s witnesses carry on their ministry in an organized way, under the direction of their Fine Shepherd and Jehovah’s Principal Servant, Jesus Christ. In harmony with Jesus’ own instructions, those in the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses who take the lead are not an exalted clergy class, but the servants of their Christian brothers. Together, as a united group, they cooperate in announcing Jehovah’s kingdom. During January they will be doing this from house to house by offering to interested persons this Bible magazine, The Watchtower, which, as its front cover shows, is devoted to “Announcing Jehovah’s Kingdom.” A year’s subscription, along with three Bible booklets, will be offered for $1.

HOW DO YOU VIEW THE BIBLE?

How long has it been since you heard someone belittle the Bible or try to minimize its value? More and more such expressions are becoming commonplace. But if you are one of the many sincere persons whose faith has remained unshaken by the materialistic trend of this world, you will be glad to know that this magazine you are holding, The Watchtower, is still an outstanding champion of the Bible and of our Creator’s Godship. The Watchtower remains steadfast in its determination to bring you the truth from God’s Word and to help you appreciate this Book of Books’ practical value in our day. Read it regularly. Send now and receive free three timely booklets on vital Bible subjects. One year, $1.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

February 19: Making Grateful Use of a “Penny.” ¶1-34. Page 41. Songs to be used: 58, 103.

February 26: Making Grateful Use of a “Penny,” ¶35-39, and The Modern Fulfillment of the “Penny.” Page 49. Songs to be used: 55, 34.