The Watchtower — April 15, 1968

What the Future Holds for You

Mankind faces the threat of annihilation. Yet, to what future can you confidently look?

“MANY signs are appearing on the international horizon which are reminiscent of what happened before the outbreak of World War II,” noted an editorial in the U.S. News & World Report of October 9, 1967. A few months before, United Nations Secretary-General U Thant observed: “I’m afraid we are entering today the first phase of World War III.”

The world situation is unquestionably dangerous, and is fast becoming more so. Preparations for war go on at an accelerated rate, and as more nations acquire atomic weapons, the danger increases. In addition to the peril of war, the present population explosion poses a threat of even greater food shortages and widespread starvation. In their new book, Famine—1975!, two noted food experts, William and Paul Paddock, make this forecast for the future, on page 61:

“By 1975 civil disorder, anarchy, military dictatorships, runaway inflation, transportation breakdowns and chaotic unrest will be the order of the day in many of the hungry nations—all because hunger will turn inexorably into starvation and starvation will become widespread famine.”

No wonder there is great anxiety and bewilderment as people contemplate the future. But is the situation really so critical? Does the World actually face disaster? What does the future hold for you?

UNPRECEDENTED TRIBULATION AT HAND

Jesus Christ, God’s greatest prophet, pointed forward to a period of unusual distress, and his description matches perfectly conditions prevailing since World War I in 1914. For instance, among other things, he foretold: “Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be food shortages . . . in one place after another.” Wars of unprecedented scope and widespread famine! And of what are such conditions a sign? Jesus explained that they were to mark his invisible presence in Kingdom power, and “the conclusion of the system of things.”—Matt. 24:3-14; Luke 21:7-33.

Thus, the fulfillment of Jesus’ prophecy, currently being experienced, indicates that the complete end of this system of things is at hand! Jesus compared the destruction that is soon to occur with what actually happened once before in human history. He said: “For just as the days of Noah were, so the presence of the Son of man will be. For as they . . . took no note until the flood came and swept them all away, so the presence of the Son of man will be.” (Matt. 24:37-39) Yes, Jehovah God actually brought a world of wicked mankind to ruin in Noah’s day.

Whether men choose to recognize the fact or not, this system soon faces a similar destruction. It will occur at what the Bible calls “the war of the great day of God the Almighty,” or Armageddon. (Rev. 16:14-16) At that time the tribulation upon ungodly mankind will exceed any ever before experienced. In the course of God’s execution, all political organizations and alliances will be broken down. There will be wild confusion. Every man’s hand will be against his neighbor. (Ezek. 38:21; Zech. 14:13) The disorder, terror and strife will surpass even that experienced when the floodwaters rose above the heads of those struggling to escape in Noah’s day.

Jesus indicated this when he said: “For then there will be great tribulation such as has not occurred since the world’s beginning until now, no, nor will occur again.” (Matt. 24:21) Happily, however, there will be survivors, even as there were Flood survivors. Jehovah’s executional forces will bring their executional swords down only “upon those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus.”—2 Thess. 1:7-9.

DESTRUCTION OR PRESERVATION?

The future, therefore, is clear-cut. Faced with Armageddon, people today are going in either one of two directions. They are either supporting this system of things and stubbornly refusing to lean about Jehovah God or they are showing that they truly love Him by taking up His service in imitation of Jesus. There are just the two courses—one leads to everlasting life and the other to eternal destruction. “Jehovah is guarding all those loving him,” the Bible says, “but all the wicked ones he will annihilate.”—Ps. 145:20.

Which course of action are you taking? Do you put Jehovah God and his interests first, or do you selfishly pursue the pleasures and comforts of the world, making them your chief concern? Do not try to deceive yourself. You cannot be on both sides.—Matt. 6:24.

The Bible shows clearly that Satan the Devil is “the ruler of this world.” It is under his control. (John 12:31; 1 John 5:19) And its entertainment, its pleasures and its attractions are all designed to win your affection. But beware, for making yourself a friend of the world will earn God’s enmity, and will eventually lead to your sharing its fate of destruction. (Jas. 4:4) Therefore, heed the inspired warning recorded at 1 John 2:15-17:

“Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world. Furthermore, the world is passing away and so is its desire, but he that does the will of God remains forever.”

A GLORIOUS FUTURE

As a reward for their faithfulness, Jehovah God will see that his servants have a place of security during the destruction of the wicked world of mankind. This is indicated by his prophetic invitation: “Go, my people, enter into your interior rooms, and shut your doors behind you. Hide yourself for but a moment until the denunciation passes over. For, look! Jehovah is coming forth from his place to call to account the error of the inhabitant of the land against him.”—Isa. 26:20, 21.

After surviving that unparalleled tribulation, what a glorious future will be enjoyed by those who have placed their trust in Jehovah! Imagine living in a new system where all persons love God and have genuine affection for one another, yes, where all exhibit the fruits of God’s spirit—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness and other such qualities. (Gal. 5:22, 23; Col. 3:12-14) No others will be permitted by God to live in His new system.

The sublime peace and pleasantness that exist among those who manifest the fruits of God’s spirit today will obtain everywhere in God’s righteous new system of things. The prophecy says: “They will have to beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning shears. They will not lift up sword, nation against nation, neither will they learn war any more. And they will actually sit, each one under his vine and under his fig tree, and there will be no one making them tremble; for the very mouth of Jehovah of armies has spoken it.” (Mic. 4:3, 4) Would you like to dwell under such peaceful circumstances?

Do you long for a future when all crime and maliciousness are eliminated, and the danger of being raped, robbed or even cheated will no longer exist? Do you desire the time when locks on doors will be unnecessary, and jails and policemen obsolete? Do you yearn never again to see a city slum with overcrowded buildings? Do you sincerely want to see the manufacture of weapons halted, and an end to the senseless carnage of war? Then you will love God’s Kingdom rule, for it will usher in these desirable conditions earth wide.—Prov. 10:30; Isa. 65:21-23; Ps. 46:8, 9.

But this is not all. Under the reign of God’s kingdom the earth will be restored to paradisaic beauty. It will produce abundantly good things to eat, so that never again will a human inhabitant go hungry. The Bible promises: “There will come to be plenty of grain on the earth; on the top of the mountains there will be an overflow.” “The earth itself will certainly give its produce; God, our God, will bless us.”—Ps. 72:16; 67:6.

Would you like to live under such conditions forever, enjoying perfect health, with never so much as a toothache? This is no wishful dream. Such a future in God’s new system of things is certain. The blind will then see, the dumb will speak, the deaf will hear, the lame will walk and the maimed will be restored. During his earthly ministry Jesus Christ performed such miraculous physical healings to demonstrate what will be accomplished earth wide in God’s new system. (Matt. 15:30, 31) Even the graves will be emptied as the resurrection brings thousands of millions back to life!—John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15.

ACTION THAT IS NOW URGENT

If you truly desire to enjoy this grand future, if you desire to survive the imminent end of this system of things, then without delay seek to win the favor of Jehovah God. Since destruction will befall all “who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus,” do not hesitate to begin a regular Bible study in your home to become better acquainted with these purposes of God. A local minister of Jehovah’s witnesses will be happy to assist you in such a study. (2 Thess. 1:7-9; John 17:3) See how clearly the Bible prophecies identify this as the time of the end for this system. And rejoice in the assurances of survival into a grand new system of indescribable happiness.

Also, endeavor to mold your life in harmony with the principles of God’s Word. Cultivate the fruits of the spirit in your life. Be meek, teachable and ready to obey. (Jas. 3:17) Do not allow yourself to become involved in the affairs of this world of wicked mankind—in its ambitions, its hopes, its desires for sensual pleasures and its overemphasis on material comforts. Heed the Scriptural injunction: “Seek Jehovah, all you meek ones of the earth . . . Seek righteousness, seek meekness. Probably you may be concealed in the day of Jehovah’s anger.”—Zeph. 2:3.

God Has an Organization

DOES the God and Father of the Lord Jesus Christ have a visible organization representing him on the earth in these days? If so, which is it? Certainly, he would not have many organizations, all teaching doctrines and dogmas at variance with one another. “God is a God, not of disorder, but of peace,” wrote Christ’s apostle Paul. (1 Cor. 14:33) So, which is the organization that most evidently reflects the God of peace and truth?

As we examine the claims of the various religious sects, we do well to keep in mind Jesus’ warning that not all professing to worship God as his followers would prove to be truly servants of God. Said he: “Many will say to me in that day [of judgment], ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and expel demons in your name, and perform many powerful works in your name?’ And yet then I will confess to them: I never knew you! Get away from me, you workers of lawlessness.”—Matt. 7:22, 23.

The whole imposing façade of Christendom’s religious sects, great and small, does indeed appear to be outwardly beautiful, with its claims to sanctity and to be doing the work commissioned by Christ. But what results from investigation behind that front? Do Christendom’s church organizations stand up under the searching light of God’s requirements? Have the powerful works they have performed been done in harmony with the principles of righteousness and truth?

THE CRITERION

Christ Jesus did not leave his followers without a dependable test whereby profession of Christianity could be determined to be true or false. The identifying mark of true Christianity, the criterion by which religious organizations may be properly judged, was expressed by Jesus, as recorded at John 13:35: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”

Here is a test we can justly apply to every religious group that professes to be subject to Jesus Christ! Would you say that persons who go out on the battlefields and kill fellow church members because they happen to be of a different nationality meet that test? Is it a demonstration of love among themselves? You must agree that it is not. Then, ask yourself if members of your denomination have been and are guilty of such conduct. If yes, then they fail to measure up to the standard set by Christ. And organizations that condone such lack of love do not represent the God of peace.

And what about those religious groups whose members ignore the Bible’s direction to avoid friendship with the world and get involved in the feuds and rivalries of political parties? (Jas. 4:4) Members of the same religious group belong to opposing parties and by their very membership condone the fights and the name-calling that mark the scramble for political office. Do members of your congregation engage in such political skirmishing against one another? If they do, then the organization in which they claim to worship cannot be the congregation of Christ, the Prince of Peace, who declared of his genuine followers: “If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you.”—John 15:19.

There are other groups of so-called followers of Christ who withdraw from the world, it is true, but who indulge in a religion of contemplation, whether within the walls of a monastery or outside. But, are they obedient to the mandate given by Christ to all true Christians: “Go therefore and make disciples of people of all the nations”? (Matt. 28:19) If they fail to obey this commandment, then it is manifest that they do not love Christ. (John 14:15) And it follows that they are no part of the organization under Christ that represents God on earth today.

IDENTIFYING GOD’S ORGANIZATION

But is there an organization among men that does measure up to the requirements of God’s Word, the Bible? Is there an organization whose members are drawn together in love for one another, in total disregard of class, race, nationality, language or other distinctions? And does such organization engage in a worldwide preaching and teaching program, extending to the poorest citizens the opportunity to advance in Bible knowledge? Yes, there is such an organization—only one! It is the organization of Jehovah’s witnesses, well known by their preaching work in 197 lands.

What are the facts to prove this? Consider a few of them. Within the congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses in any area there is no class distinction. The poorer and the more prosperous members mingle freely and serve together as preachers and teachers of God’s Word. All Witnesses have equal opportunity to speak up in congregational Bible discussions. When the Witnesses come together for their large assemblies they eat together, worship together and associate as one great happy family—just as though they had known one another all their lives. People on the outside marvel at the fact that they ‘have love among themselves.’

In another respect the Witnesses conform to what the Bible presents as the true image of the organization that would be doing God’s will on earth. They are engaged in preaching the good news of God’s kingdom world wide, stressing that that Kingdom—and not the United Nations or any other human organization—is the sole hope for suffering humankind. Besides heralding this hope to the ends of the earth as foretold (Matt. 24:14), Jehovah’s witnesses are also busied in the work of teaching appreciative persons about Christ’s commands, making disciples of them. This public ministry, too, was foretold as a vital service of Christ’s genuine followers.—Matt. 28:19, 20.

Thus it may be seen that the Witnesses are not a group of people who come together once a week to listen to a brief sermon and then go home and forget all about it. No, they are an active people, each one a minister of the good news, having a keen sense of his personal responsibility to preach and teach. They do not leave it to one in their congregation to do all the preaching. They know it is God’s purpose that each one preached to should, in turn, become a preacher of the good news to someone else. They fully appreciate these words of the apostle Paul: “The things you heard from me . . . these things commit to faithful men, who, in turn, will be adequately qualified to teach others.”—2 Tim. 2:2.

People are amazed at how even young men and women are trained in the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses to know and use their Bibles effectively. These young people have not spent several years at a college studying theology and human philosophies. But they can explain to people what is God’s will for men and show them how to apply God’s Word in their lives. They credit God as their Teacher, shunning all pride in human learning.—Isa. 54:13.

Should not the whole congregation of Christians on earth today be witnesses of God and of Christ? Christ Jesus himself devoted his life to witnessing about God and his purposes—so much so that he received the official title “the Faithful Witness.” (Rev. 1:5) He, in turn, informed his disciples: “You will be witnesses of me . . . to the most distant part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) This is precisely the work to which Jehovah’s witnesses, collectively and individually, are devoted. They have dedicated their lives to God, and so they have taken upon themselves the obligation to be his witnesses.—Isa. 43:10-12.

Yes, Jehovah’s witnesses in their congregations around the world fit the description in the Bible of the organization on earth that would be representing God and Christ in these critical “last days.” (2 Tim. 3:1) But are you one of them? You can be, but the opportunity is now greatly reduced, for the time is short. It is urgent for you to act so that you may be aligned with the people who are serving the interests of God’s kingdom today, because soon God’s judgment is to be executed upon the wicked and all impostors who profess to be God’s servants. (2 Tim. 3:13) Delaying to act will prove to be fatal. But swift action can open up for you many happy privileges in the service of God’s earthly organization, as well as hope of survival through the Armageddon crisis that now confronts the whole human race.

What God’s High Priest Will Do for the People

“Such a high priest as this was suitable for us, loyal, guileless, undefiled, separated from the sinners, and become higher than the heavens.”—Heb. 7:26.

1, 2. What reactions are there to the flight of so many persons from the priesthood, and what timely questions are asked about this condition?

TODAY there is a flight from the priesthood, especially so in that religious realm called Christendom. Already there is a shortage of priests in her. The day is coming in the foreseeable future when there will not be a man on earth serving as a priest. What does this mean to you? Well, to many religious people such a thought is very disquieting. Will the world of mankind be able to get along without priests on earth? “Yes!” shouts the atheist, and adds: “Good riddance to the priests!” Yet such a hostile outcry against priests hurts the feelings of many religious people of all faiths who still have affection for what priests they have left. Will these religious people be hurt, will they be missing something absolutely vital when there is no longer a human priest on earth?

² According to the highest authority, this priestly situation is what faces the race of mankind in the future. Since the office of priest always carries with it the idea of “God,” will this coming situation leave a godless world? Will it leave the human race forever floundering about in its weaknesses, imperfections, injurious habits, diseased and dying condition, till the human race dies off of its own impurities, imperfections and self-destructive tendencies or is destroyed by some universal catastrophe from outer space? Whatever may be our attitude toward priests, these are serious questions that touch upon the welfare of us all.

3. What has history shown about priests and man-made gods?

³ Students of history today well know that for thousands of years men have set up their own gods and have made their own priests to offer sacrifice to these man-made gods. The ancient Babylonians had their gods and man-made priests attending upon these. The ancient Egyptians had their gods, together with magic-practicing priests. The ancient Assyrians had their gods and priests. So did the ancient Persians and Medes. So did the ancient Greeks. So did the ancient Romans. The pagan inhabitants of the ancient Middle East known as Canaanites had their gods, together with priests who even offered up human sacrifices. Those gods are dead. In testimony to this fact, their temples and altars lie in ruins today. Not unreasonably the questions pop up in the modern mind, of what use anyhow were those priests of lifeless gods to mankind? What good did those priests really do for the people? The records of human history give no praiseworthy answer!

4. Though the Hindu and Buddhist priesthoods serve millions of people, what do we ask about those being served, and is the answer favorable for these priesthoods?

⁴ The Hindu priesthood came into existence centuries before our Common Era, which some persons mistakenly call the Christian era. Likewise the Buddhist priesthood was introduced long before this Common Era. Hindu priests and Buddhist priests still serve for hundreds of millions of religious people, but the same question must be asked with reference to them. What have these priests done for the people, particularly their own people holding to Hinduism and Buddhism? The present-day condition of these people gives a better answer than one that we can put into words. The answer is one that is not favorable to the gods of these priests.

5. Which religious group has become strongest in our day, and what queries do we have to make about them?

⁵ Has Christendom anything to brag about over the so-called heathen or pagan realm? No! In the history of world religion the priests and clergymen of Christendom have come to be the strongest religious organization today. For centuries they have had a commanding voice in world religious affairs. Even to this year their religious denominations include over nine hundred million members. Among these religious denominations, if not also among all religious organizations of the world, the Roman Catholic Church is the most numerous and strongest. For this reason they have held a most responsible position in this world, and they can be held accountable for much. Out of fairness to the so-called heathen religionists we are obliged to ask, What have these priests of Christendom, Catholic and Protestant, done for the people? Have they made the so-called Christian nations a model worthy of being copied by the thousands of millions of “pagans” whom they have tried to convert? Have they brought the one living and true God to the people or have they brought the people to the one living and true God? Who will say Yes to those questions?

6. Since God’s true priesthood has been misrepresented, how do many feel about God, but is this really the proper attitude to take?

⁶ Certainly, when we look at the record of the priests and clergymen, who claim to represent him to the people, we see that God has been misrepresented to mankind as a whole. Not only that, but the true priesthood of the one living and true God has been misrepresented to humankind. It is no wonder that God has died to the hearts and minds of countless persons, and it may be said that to them God is dead. They do not want to have anything to do with God or his true priesthood. But their lack of discernment and faith, due to man-made priests, does not deny or disprove that there is a living, most high, almighty, all-wise God. Neither does their lack of faith and understanding knock out of operation the loving purpose that this supreme, all-powerful God is carrying forward today for the blessing of all mankind. Their lack of knowledge of the truth does not put out of office God’s self-sacrificing High Priest; it merely blinds people just now to all the good that God’s High Priest will do for the needy people, in addition to all that he has already done.

7. (a) Rather than becoming cynical, what are persons called on to do? (b) Who is the first priest of God mentioned in the Bible?

⁷ Let persons who have been disappointed at the many kinds of man-made priests not become cynical, sneering at the record of history. The one living and true God has had true priests on earth and these have really done good things for the people and have been effective agents acting for God in behalf of mankind. The record of such worthy priests is contained in that sacred book now circulating all around the globe in more than one thousand two hundred languages, the Holy Bible or Sacred Scriptures. The name of the first appointed priest of God on record is very meaningful. Do you know what it is? It is mentioned in the very first book of the Bible. It is Melchizedek, and this name means “King of Righteousness.” A very fitting name indeed, for this priest of the twentieth century before our Common Era was at the same time the king of Salem, an ancient city in the mountains of the Middle East. Evidently the city of Jerusalem, over which there is such international and religious dispute today, marks where ancient Salem stood.

8. (a) How might one who has lost faith feel about this information on Melchizedek? (b) How should we view this information?

⁸ “So what? Who cares? Melchizedek lived three thousand eight hundred years ago! He does not live in our day to benefit us.” So someone who has lost faith in the existence of any true priests of God might exclaim in boredom. But we all ought to care. There is good reason for caring. That first officially designated priest of God to be mentioned in the Holy Bible is a prophetic figure. He pictures God’s High Priest, his High Priest of today. This is what God himself tells us in his inspired written Word, the Holy Bible. That is why we can raise the question, “What will God’s High Priest do for the people?” Because he is a priest after the likeness or manner of ancient Melchizedek, the people have cause for expecting much, yes, everything, from him.

MELCHIZEDEK SETS THE PATTERN

9. Who was Abraham, and who was Abraham’s God?

⁹ Back there in that twentieth century before our Common Era two highly important figures met. One was priest Melchizedek, the king of Salem. The other was Abraham the son of Terah. Who was this Abraham? Ask the Moslem Arabs today, and they will tell you about him. Also, ask the monotheistic Jews, and they likewise will tell you about this Abraham. Abraham’s burial place in Hebron in the Middle East is held sacred by both Moslem Arabs and Jews. Both races claim him as their forefather. Unlike many people of our day, this Abraham believed, had faith in the one living and true God. In worship Abraham called upon the name of this God, and the name Abraham called him is found in Abraham’s own words as recorded in the American Standard Version Bible, in Genesis 14:22. Let us quote for you that Ge 14 verse 22 from the American Standard Version Bible, as follows: “I have lifted up my hand unto Jehovah, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth.” These words were spoken shortly after Abraham met Melchizedek at Salem.

10, 11. Why was Abraham called “Jehovah’s friend,” and what covenant did Jehovah make with Abraham?

¹⁰ Either because he was a descendant of Eber (the great-great-grandson of Noah) or because he came from the other (eastern) side of the Euphrates River, Abraham is called “the Hebrew.” (Gen. 10:21; 11:16; 14:13; Josh. 24:3) Because of his faith and obedience toward God, Abraham came to be called “the friend of God,” or “Jehovah’s friend.” (2 Chron. 20:7; Isa. 41:8; Jas. 2:23, AS; NW) To this faithful friend Jehovah God made a marvelous promise, and, although it was made in the twentieth century B.C.E., it takes in us people of the twentieth century C.E. Before Abraham came over from the other side of the Euphrates River into the Promised Land, God made this promise or one-sided covenant. The American Standard Version Bible records this event, in Genesis 12:1-3, in the following language:

¹¹ “Now Jehovah said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto the land that I will show thee: and I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and be thou a blessing: and I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse: and in thee shall all the families of the earth be blessed.”—Gen. 12:1-3, AS.

12. (a) How can a person share in the blessing of Abraham by God? (b) Under what circumstances did God confirm his promise of blessing Abraham?

¹² Are you one of the “families of the earth”? Then you are one who is to be blessed in God’s friend Abraham, provided, of course, you do not curse Abraham, for then God will curse you. God will bless those who bless Abraham. This Abrahamic promise that takes you in was later confirmed to Abraham by God’s own solemn oath. This was about fifty years later, after God had proved that Abraham was willing even to sacrifice his specially loved son Isaac by offering him as a sacrifice to God. Here is the way the American Standard Version Bible, in Genesis 22:15-18, describes how God made his sworn statement through his angel: “And the angel of Jehovah called unto Abraham a second time out of heaven, and said, By myself have I sworn, saith Jehovah, because thou hast done this thing, and hast not withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heavens, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice.”—Gen. 22:15-18, AS.

13. Why is the promised blessing assured, and why does the world of mankind need the blessing?

¹³ Are you a member of one of the “nations of the earth”? Then you of this twentieth century C.E. may entertain the hope of being blessed in or by means of the Seed of Abraham. Should you not be interested? Remember that this is according to the sworn oath of Jehovah God. He will not perjure himself. He will not prove false to his oath, which he backed up by swearing by himself because he could swear by nobody higher. So the blessing of all the families and nations of the earth is bound to come. Certainly the world of mankind today needs this blessing, for they have never received such a blessing through their man-made priests. Be of good hope. Exercise the faith in God that Abraham had, for the blessing is yet to come through God’s High Priest. It is at hand!

14, 15. (a)How did Jehovah give evidence that he indeed was blessing Abraham? (b) Who was Melchizedek, and what occurred when he met Abraham?

¹⁴ As an evidence of God’s blessing upon Abraham, God gave him a military victory over invading kings from around Mesopotamia who plundered the country and made off with Abraham’s nephew Lot and Lot’s family. It was after rescuing Lot and his family that Abraham, homeward bound, met Melchizedek at the city of Salem. Who was this Melchizedek? The inspired Bible record does not say that he was a Hebrew. Certainly he was not a Jew or an Israelite. Even through his inspired prophet Moses, God did not reveal the family relationship of Melchizedek. Neither does the Bible make any mention of the death of Melchizedek. He is brought into the Bible account because of what he was and what he did when meeting victorious Abraham and because he was a prophetic picture of God’s eternal High Priest. Here is the brief account about him:

¹⁵ “And Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine, and he was priest of the Most High God. Then he blessed him and said: ‘Blessed be Abram of the Most High God, Producer of heaven and earth; and blessed be the Most High God, who has delivered your oppressors into your hand!’ At that Abram gave him a tenth of everything.”—Gen. 14:18-20.

16. (a) Who besides Abraham was included in the blessing by Melchizedek? (b) Whom did Abraham recognize Melchizedek to be, and so what did Abraham do?

¹⁶ Melchizedek blessed, he did not curse, Abraham, and thus he confirmed God’s blessing upon Abraham. In so doing Melchizedek also blessed Abraham’s yet unborn “seed” in whom all the nations of the earth will be blessed. Melchizedek laid the credit for Abraham’s military victory to “the Most High God, Producer of heaven and earth.” He blessed the Most High God because He had delivered the oppressors of Abraham into his hand. Abraham took note of that fact, and for that reason he felt indebted to the Most High God. He recognized Melchizedek as being “priest of the Most High God.” On this account he gave to Melchizedek a tithe or tenth part of the spoils of victory over the oppressive enemies. All the recaptured goods Abraham returned to the original owners. Thus no person on earth could claim that he had made Abraham materially rich. He trusted in the blessing that the “priest of the Most High God” had pronounced upon him.—Gen. 14:21 to 15:1.

PRIEST “ACCORDING TO THE MANNER OF MELCHIZEDEK”

17. (a) Though Melchizedek dropped from sight after this event, how do we know Jehovah remembered him some four hundred years later? (b) After the passing of another four hundred years, and more, of whom was Melchizedek made a model by God?

¹⁷ After that meaningful event of the twentieth century B.C.E. Melchizedek king of Salem dropped abruptly out of sight. He had no line of successors; he established no dynasty of kings and priests to keep his name in remembrance. The priests of the false gods of Babylon, Assyria, Egypt and Canaanland went on ministering to their deities, but Melchizedek disappeared from their midst in mystery. But the Most High God did not forget his priest, the king of Salem. More than four hundred years later he caused the brief record of Melchizedek “priest of the Most High God” to be written down in the Torah, the inspired book written by Moses, in that part thereof now known as Genesis. More than four hundred years after that (or about 1070 B.C.E.) Jehovah God the Most High called Melchizedek to mind in a most surprising way. He held Melchizedek forth as the model of the coming High Priest of God who will really do something for the people, something of eternal value. How did the Most High God do this, and just when was it?

18, 19. (a) Where did King David set up his capital city? (b) What did Jehovah inspire David to write that now appears as the 110th Psalm, and who of special interest to us is there mentioned?

¹⁸ It was in the days of the first King David, the king of Jerusalem. David was a descendant of the patriarch Abraham, “the friend of God.” King David was a lover and worshiper of Jehovah, the God of Abraham. Jehovah the Most High God had enabled King David to capture Mount Zion, the citadel of Jerusalem, about the year 1070 B.C.E. There on that ancient Mount Zion King David set up his capital city, and built his royal palace, and there he brought the most sacred piece of religious furniture, the ark of Jehovah’s covenant, the symbol of Jehovah’s presence with his chosen people. (2 Sam. 5:4 to 6:19) Thus King David, ruling on the earthly Mount Zion, was the visible lord over all twelve tribes of Jehovah’s chosen people. Sometime after this Jehovah inspired King David as a prophet and moved him to write down a psalm. It is now numbered as the 110th Psalm in the Bible’s book of Psalms, Hebrew edition. In it Jehovah God foretold someone to come who would be a Lord even over King David. So in the psalm King David acknowledges the lordship of this coming one and foretells what office he will hold, and where, and what he will do. David said, in the language of the American Standard Version of Psalm 110:1-4:

¹⁹ “Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Jehovah will send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies. Thy people offer themselves willingly in the day of thy power, in holy array: out of the womb of the morning thou hast the dew of thy youth. Jehovah hath sworn, and will not repent: Thou art a priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek.” (Marginal reading of “manner” for “order.”)—Ps. 110:1-4, AS.

20. Who was to be of even greater importance than Melchizedek, and what position would this one come to have?

²⁰ Can we now see why that Melchizedek “the priest of the Most High God” of more than three thousand eight hundred years ago was so important? Yet, however important the original Melchizedek may be in the history of true priests of the one living and true God, even still more important is the one whom Melchizedek prefigured or the one whom Jehovah God swore to make a priest “after the manner of Melchizedek.” He means much more to us today. This priestly one like Melchizedek was to be Lord even over King David, who in his day ruled over the Middle East from the Euphrates River to the river of Egypt. This coming one, a descendant of King David, was not only to be King but also to be priest, namely, a “priest of the Most High God” like Melchizedek. Not only was he to be higher than King David in lordly rank, but he was also to sit at the right hand of Jehovah God in the heavens. So the Zion out of which the royal rod of his strength was to be sent forth was, not the earthly, but the heavenly Zion. Just who, then, is this one?

21, 22. What circumstances in the days of Jesus caused Psalm 110 to come under discussion in Herod’s temple in Jerusalem, and what difficult question did Jesus ask in connection therewith?

²¹ For more than a thousand years after King David wrote Psalm 110 under inspiration of God’s spirit Melchizedek is not named in the Holy Scriptures of the Bible. Then because of remarkable events in the Middle East in the first century of our Common Era Psalm 110, involving Melchizedek, is brought up for religious discussion, right there at Jerusalem, the successor of Salem where Melchizedek used to be king and priest. It occurred there in the magnificent temple that had been built by King Herod the Great. In the discussion a thought-provoking question is put up. If you had been back there having part in the discussion, could you have then answered the question? The best brains of the religious sects of the Sadducees and the Pharisees could not answer it. The question was put by Jesus, a true descendant of King David, and it was about the Messiah or Christ.

²² Here is an eyewitness account of the discussion, in Matthew 22:41-46: “Now while the Pharisees were gathered together Jesus asked them: ‘What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?’ They said to him: ‘David’s.’ He said to them: ‘How, then, is it that David by inspiration calls him “Lord,” saying, “Jehovah said to my Lord: ‘Sit at my right hand until I put your enemies beneath your feet’”? If, therefore, David calls him “Lord,” how is he his son?’ And nobody was able to say a word in reply to him, nor did anyone dare from that day on to question him any further.”

23-25. (a) When was the question raised by Jesus due to be answered? (b) What occurred on the day of Pentecost to show it was time to understand the fulfillment of Bible prophecy?

²³ This discussion took place on Tuesday, Nisan 11, of Jerusalem’s religious calendar, of the year 33 of our Common Era. Yet, only fifty-four days later, on the morning of the religious festival of Shabuoth, or Pentecost, on Sivan 6 at Jerusalem, that question of high importance to us today was authoritatively answered, under inspiration of the Most High God. Before then this controversial figure Jesus had been nailed to a stake till dead on Friday, Nisan 14, and had been resurrected from the dead on Sunday morning, Nisan 16, and had ascended to heaven forty days from then, on Thursday, Iyyar 25. There are many more than the two or three eyewitnesses to the truthfulness of all this. But ten days after Jesus’ ascension to heaven came that most outstanding day of Pentecost, Sunday, Sivan 6, 33 C.E. Before nine o’clock that morning a miracle occurred. God’s holy spirit was poured out, with a visible manifestation, upon one hundred and twenty disciples of Jesus who were waiting in an upper room in Jerusalem. In further evidence of this, they all began speaking in many foreign, non-Jewish languages, telling about the magnificent things of God.—Acts 2:1-4; 1:1-15.

²⁴ As news of this got around Jerusalem, thousands of Pentecost celebrators gathered to become eyewitnesses of the miraculous spectacle. They did not understand that the ancient prophecy of Joel 2:28, 29 was being fulfilled before their eyes. Then one of the 120 disciples of Jesus got up and explained that the eight-hundred-year-old prophecy was beginning to be fulfilled concerning the pouring out of the spirit of Jehovah God upon all sorts of flesh. Then the speaker, Simon Peter of Galilee, went on to say:

²⁵ “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus the Nazarene, a man publicly shown by God to you through powerful works and portents and signs that God did through him in your midst, just as you yourselves know, this man, as one delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you fastened to a stake by the hand of lawless men and did away with. But God resurrected him by loosing the pangs of death, because it was not possible for him to continue to be held fast by it. For David says respecting him.”

26, 27. (a) What was Peter’s explanation by holy spirit of Psalm 110:1-4? (b) Why, therefore, is any application to popes of Rome of the title “Melchizedek in Order” incorrect?

²⁶ After applying David’s words written in Psalm 16:8-11 as being fulfilled in this Jesus the Nazarene, the disciple Simon Peter concluded his speech, saying: “This Jesus God resurrected, of which fact we are all witnesses. Therefore because he was exalted to the right hand of God and received the promised holy spirit from the Father, he has poured out this [spirit] which you see and hear. Actually David did not ascend to the heavens, but he himself says, ‘Jehovah said to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I place your enemies as a stool for your feet.’” Therefore let all the house of Israel know for a certainty that God made him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you impaled.”—Acts 2:5-36.

²⁷ Consequently this resurrected Jesus, who is David’s Lord and who is also the Christ or Messiah of God, is the one to whom the rest of Psalm 110 applies. He is the one concerning whom Jehovah God has sworn that he should be a priest forever “according to the manner of Melchizedek.” (Ps. 110:4) He is, like Melchizedek of old, without a successor. Therefore the title “Melchizedek in Order” has wrongly been applied to the popes of Rome and Vatican City. This is a man-made title and is false, and the popes have done nothing for the people to deserve such a title.a The length of time for Jesus Christ to serve God as the antitypical Melchizedek did not end with the installation of Pope Leo I, for Jesus Christ is a “priest for ever after the manner of Melchizedek.” Nobody else shares this priestly glory with him. (Ps. 110:4, AS, margin) This is very important for the people of earth.

WHAT HE HAS BEEN ABLE TO DO FOR THE PEOPLE

28. What priesthood, at one time approved by God, did Jesus put our of business?

²⁸ Because of what has already been done for the people by Jesus Christ as God’s High Priest “according to the manner of Melchizedek,” he put another priesthood out of business. How was that? Had you ever noticed that, after the priesthood of Jesus Christ as the antitypical Melchizedek came into operation, the priesthood of the Jewish people went out of operation? This was not accidental, but was according to the will of the Most High God. But why? Was not the priesthood of the Jewish people established by the Most High God, the one alone whose name is Jehovah? Yes! That ancient priesthood was established in the family of the Levite Aaron, the brother of the prophet Moses. Aaron became the first high priest and his sons became the underpriests. This Aaronic priesthood was put in office in the year 1512 B.C.E., after Jehovah God delivered his chosen people from slavery in Egypt. It served the nation of Israel according to the national contract or covenant that Jehovah God made with that nation through Moses as mediator.—Ex. 28:1 to 29:44; 40:1-32.

29. How long did the Aaronic priesthood operate, and what brought about its end?

²⁹ This priesthood kept on functioning in Israel for 1,581 years, from the year 1512 B.C.E. down into the year 70 C.E. Its first high priest was Aaron the Levite; its eighty-third and last high priest according to the historic record was Phannias, or Phinehas,b whose term of office came to an abrupt end in the year 70 C.E. How so? Because of the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in that year, during which destruction High Priest Phannias (Phinehas) doubtless perished. After that the genealogical records of the priests and of their temple servants, the Levites, were lost. The Hebrew word for priest is Cohen; and there are many Jews today who are named Cohen, and also other Jews whose family name is Levi. But none of these can positively prove by genealogical records that he is a descendant of the priestly family of Aaron or of the tribe of Levi.

30. Why would the priesthood of Aaron be of no value today?

³⁰ Even if such a Mister Cohen or Mister Levi could identify himself as of priestly or Levite descent, it would be of no real value to him today. Why not? Because their place of business is gone. Ever since 70 C.E. no temple to the name of Jehovah has been built on the temple mount in Jerusalem. Today, on the once sacred spot, there stands the Mohammedan mosque, the Dome of the Rock.

31. While Jesus did not denounce the Jewish priesthood, what did he denounce and predict when speaking on this matter, and when did the prediction come true?

³¹ The Jewish religious leaders of Jerusalem tried to put Jesus Christ out of existence as the Messiah and as the antitypical Melchizedek by killing him through the hands of the Romans. However, he never did denounce the Jewish priesthood, for he knew it had been ordained of Jehovah God. He did denounce the scribes and Pharisees and Sadducees, the Jewish sects to which the priests, Levites and religious rulers belonged. (Matt. 23:1-36; 22:23-34) Three days before his death at Calvary Jesus Christ foretold the destruction of Jerusalem and her temple by the Roman legions. This, of course, was also a prediction that the Jewish priesthood of the family line of Aaron would be forced out of their priestly service. Ever since that frightful destruction in 70 C.E. no Aaronic high priest has served the nation of Israel. (Matt. 23:27 to 24:3, 15-20) Thus no people, either Jew or Gentile, can expect any real, lasting help from any Jewish religious leaders of today.

32. Since when is Jesus Jehovah’s High Priest, and for how long?

³² Did the destruction of the Jewish priesthood leave the God of the Holy Bible without a high priest? No, by no means! On the resurrection day of Nisan 16 in the year 33 C.E. God raised up from the dead his everlasting High Priest, Jesus Christ, who Jehovah God has sworn would be a “priest to time indefinite according to the manner of Melchizedek!” So he survived the year 70 C.E.

33, 34. (a) What did Jehovah know about the Aaronic priests and their sacrifices? (b) Of what were the Aaronic priesthood and the sacrifices a prophetic picture?

³³ Jehovah God really has the interest of the people at heart. He knew that the Aaronic priests whom he had ordained in ancient Israel were all imperfect men, subject to death. He knew that the sacrifices that he had appointed them to offer on his temple altar were mere animals and birds, whose life value was less than that of a human creature. He knew that these animal and bird sacrifices could never, by the shedding of their blood, take away human sins and cancel out the condemnation of death that rested upon all sinful mankind. Thus the blood of those animal and bird victims could never open up the way for the people to enter into everlasting life on earth under a perfect heavenly government. (Heb. 10:1-4) What, then, did he do?

³⁴ From the year 1512 B.C.E. down to 33 C.E., Jehovah God used the Aaronic high priest as a prophetic figure or type of the coming perfect High Priest who would really provide the sacrifice to God to take away the sin of the world of mankind. He used those animal and bird sacrifices as a picture of the perfect, sin-removing sacrifice that God’s true High Priest would provide. That is why Jesus’ forerunner, John the Baptist, pointed to Jesus Christ and announced to the people: “See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29) Jesus Christ is God’s High Priest not by being in the family line of Aaron the Levite, but he is the immortal High Priest by virtue of the sworn oath of Jehovah God. (Ps. 110:4; Heb. 7:15-17) He is far higher and more valuable than Aaron the Jewish high priest and all his successors down till 70 C.E. This was pictured when the ancient priest Melchizedek, king of Salem, blessed Abraham, the forefather of Aaron the Levite. Thus Aaron, as yet unborn in the loins of Abraham, was blessed by Melchizedek, and thus Aaron was proved inferior or less than the priest Melchizedek.—Heb. 7:4-10.

35. Why is no earthly temple needed by Jesus, Jehovah’s High Priest, and what sin-removing presentation did he make to Jehovah?

³⁵ Jesus Christ needs no material earthly temple such as the Aaronic high priests used in offering sacrifices in ancient Jerusalem. After laying down his own perfect human life as a sacrifice in innocence, he was raised from the dead on the third day and ascended into heaven to appear in the actual presence of God. Up there he presented to the one living and true God the full value of his perfect human sacrifice in behalf of the people. The Aaronic high priests carried merely the blood of bulls and goats into the Most Holy of the earthly temple, which blood was only pictorial and could never take away human sins forever. But Jesus Christ ascended into God’s heavenly presence with the merit of his own blood, the value of a perfect human life.—Heb. 9:22-26.

36, 37. What was Jesus willing to do to vindicate his Father’s name and sovereignty, and in proof of Jesus’ innocence what did Jehovah God do for him?

³⁶ Just as ancient Melchizedek was higher than Abraham and his yet unborn descendant, Aaron the Levite, so Jesus Christ, Jehovah’s High Priest “according to the manner of Melchizedek,” is higher than the ancient Jewish high priest. He is, in fact, the Son of God, whom his heavenly Father sent down from heaven to become a perfect human. This was a tremendous humiliation for the Son of God, but he was glad to humble himself for the vindication of God’s name and universal sovereignty. As a man, he was subjected to the greatest temptations by Satan the Devil and also to rabid persecution by the religious leaders of his own nation, including the Aaronic high priests. Despite all of this he kept his integrity in absolute loyalty and obedience to God, preaching God’s kingdom and doing good to the people such as the religious priests of all nations could never do. Because of his perfect obedience to God and unswerving devotion to God’s kingdom, he was put to death, an absolutely innocent man but falsely charged with blasphemy and political sedition. In this manner he died as a perfect human sacrifice entirely acceptable to God.

³⁷ In proof of his Son’s innocence, Almighty God raised Jesus Christ from the dead on the third day. Hence the apostle Peter writes of him as “being put to death in the flesh, but being made alive in the spirit.” (1 Pet. 3:18) In this state he ascended as a spirit person directly into God’s presence in heaven to present to the God of justice the full value of his perfect human sacrifice for redemption of the people. Jehovah God, therefore, had no reason to repent for having sworn that his Son Jesus Christ should be a “priest to time indefinite according to the manner of Melchizedek!”—Ps. 110:4; Phil. 2:5-11; John 3:15-17.

NO PRIEST LIKE HIM

38. What claims do some priests in Christendom make, but what can they not do?

³⁸ Tell us, now, What earthly priest, Jewish or otherwise, has been able to do that for the people? There are certain priests of Christendom who claim that by repeating the words of Jesus at his institution of the Lord’s supper they literally change mere bread and wine into the literal blood and flesh of Jesus Christ to be sacrificed over and over again. They also claim that he is God and not merely the Son of God. Then they claim that they eat the flesh and drink the blood of Christ by eating the bread and drinking the wine at their church ceremony. This would make cannibals out of them. And, as one observer of this practice of these priests of Christendom said, “The God whom they create they eat.” Even if we were to suppose that such priests actually re-created the body and blood of Jesus Christ, to offer such in sacrifice, which one of those priests ever ascended to heaven into God’s presence to present to him in heaven the value of that religious sacrifice? Not a single one! Therefore, the people get no real benefit from such repeated religious “sacrifices” by their priests. Their priests cannot do what Jesus did for the people.

39. Why is the claim of priests of Christendom that the sacrifice of Jesus needs repeating shown to be false?

³⁹ The Jewish priests had to repeat each year their animal sacrifices, because those sacrifices were subhuman and did not have enough value to ransom mankind. The priests of Christendom repeat daily their sacrifices because they claim that the sacrifice of Jesus Christ was only of limited value in itself and needed to be repeated, by means of earthly priests. But contrary to this, God’s written Word plainly declares repeatedly that the perfect human sacrifice was completely adequate and satisfactory and needs not to be repeated anymore. (Heb. 9:27, 28; 10:10) On this account the Christian apostle Paul states that “Christ, now that he has been raised up from the dead, dies no more; death is master over him no more,” not even in the religious sacrifice of the Mass. (Rom. 6:9) He is now a heavenly priest immortal, and because of his deathlessness he remains a High Priest forever. At all times he is able to serve personally for the everlasting salvation of the people for whom he laid down his perfect human life.—Heb. 7:19-28.

A HIGH PRIEST BRINGING DELIVERANCE

40. What now is the value of all other sacrifices, animal or human, by priests of false religion?

⁴⁰ What, then? Well, since the presentation of Christ’s sacrifice in heaven in the year 33 C.E., all other sacrifices, animal or human, by priests of the world empire of religion have become valueless, unacceptable to God. In harmony with this, Jehovah God let the sacrifices rendered by the Aaronic priests of Israel come to a tragic end in the year 70 C.E., when the pagan Romans destroyed Jerusalem and its temple, never to be built again.

41. What have the priests of Christendom done to show they are not underpriests of Jesus Christ?

⁴¹ Jesus Christ is not the High Priest of the priests of Christendom, and they are not his underpriests. Let not the people misjudge Jesus Christ by the actions of those who claim to be his vicars and vicegerents and ecclesiastical priests in Christendom. The religious clergy of Christendom have formed unions of Church and State, and have themselves mixed in politics and encourage their church people to do so. They have blessed the nations of Christendom when at war with one another and have blessed their church people for taking part in such carnal warfare. But do they represent Jesus Christ, God’s High Priest, in doing so?

42. What did Jesus avoid when on earth, and so what do his followers avoid?

⁴² Jesus Christ mixed in no earthly politics, not even in the attempted Jewish politics of his day. (John 6:14, 15) Rather than preaching even an earthly Jewish kingdom, he took up the words of John the Baptist and preached: “The kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” (Matt. 4:12-17) When standing before the Roman governor Pontius Pilate on the false charge of sedition, Jesus said: “My kingdom is no part of this world. If my kingdom were part of this world, my attendants would have fought that I should not be delivered up to the Jews. But, as it is, my kingdom is not from this source.” (John 18:36) For this powerful reason the true attendants of Jesus Christ likewise preached only “the kingdom of the heavens,” “the kingdom of God.” They have not become responsible for any of the bloodshed that has stained the earth because of the conflicts of the kingdoms of this world.—2 Cor. 10:3, 4.

43, 44. Besides being a High Priest, what other role does Jesus fulfill, and what will he do to the wicked?

⁴³ Today the peoples are groaning under the oppressions carried on by the kingdoms of this world. Let them remember that, just like the ancient Melchizedek, Jesus Christ is not only the High Priest of the Most High God but also a King, the King anointed with the holy spirit of the Most High God. As a heavenly King he has a role to fulfill. The 110th Psalm graphically foretells this. Right after saying, “Jehovah has sworn (and he will feel no regret): ‘You are a priest to time indefinite according to the manner of Melchizedek,’” the 110th Psalm continues on to say:

⁴⁴ “Jehovah himself at your right hand will certainly break kings to pieces on the day of his anger. He will execute judgment among the nations; he will cause a fullness of dead bodies. He will certainly break to pieces the head one over a populous land.”—Ps. 110:4-6.

45. How does Revelation 19:11-21 describe the activity of Jehovah’s High Priest and King?

⁴⁵ In the twentieth century before our Common Era Jehovah God was certainly at the right hand of faithful Abraham when he fought against the marauding kings and rescued God’s servants from their grasp, and then returned and received a blessing from Melchizedek king of Salem. (Gen. 14:13-20; 15:1; Heb. 7:4-10) No less so, according to the prophetic Psalm 110, Jehovah God will be at the right hand of his High Priest and King, Jesus Christ, in the “war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Armageddon. (Rev. 16:14, 16) The last book of the Holy Bible, in Re chapter nineteen, describes how, through Jehovah God, this High Priest and King will “break kings to pieces” on that day of God’s anger; how he will “execute judgment among the nations” and remove the oppressors; how because of the worldwide opposition to God’s kingdom he will “cause a fullness of dead bodies” all over the earth, letting no enemy escape; and now no ruler, no matter how populous and mighty the land over which he is the head one, will avoid being broken to pieces for the relief of the distressed people. (Rev. 19:11-21) The people need him to do this for them.

46, 47. (a) What does the name Melchizedek mean? (b) So what will the Greater Melchizedek do that could not and cannot be done by the League of Nations or the United Nations?

⁴⁶ What will the result of this be for the people? This is suggested in the name of the city over which ancient Melchizedek was king in the Middle East. On this the inspired statement in Hebrews 7:1-3 says: “This Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God, . . . is first of all, by translation [of his name], ‘King of Righteousness,’ and is then also king of Salem, that is, ‘King of Peace.’ . . . having been made like the Son of God.”

⁴⁷ Ah, yes, Jesus Christ the Greater Melchizedek will not be King of any Salem over in the Middle East on earth, but will be a heavenly King of Peace, for the name Salem means “Peace.” To this day the United Nations as successor to the League of Nations has not brought and maintained peace and security for the world of mankind; and no human international organization for world peace and security ever will do so. But the Greater King of Salem can and will and is appointed to do so. No small wonder, then, that Psalm 110 foretells that Jehovah God, through him, had to break in pieces all the ruling elements of the earth that disturb the peace and threaten the security of the people.

48. Who are to be with Jesus in his heavenly kingdom, and what will be their position?

⁴⁸ According to the generosity of Jehovah God, his Son Jesus Christ will not be alone in the heavenly kingdom. He will have a definite, foreordained number of associates in that heavenly government, 144,000 of them according to the last book of the Bible. (Rev. 7:4-8; 14:1-3) Concerning these faithful footstep followers of Jesus Christ, Revelation 20:5, 6 says: “This is the first resurrection. Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years.” Thus it is Biblically established that, after the war of Armageddon and the binding of Satan the Devil and his demons, Jesus Christ, the Greater Melchizedek, will rule as heavenly King and serve as God’s High Priest for a thousand years in behalf of the people on earth.—Luke 22:28-30; 2 Tim. 2:11, 12.

49. What is to happen to the priests of the Babylonish world empire of false religion, and who will serve for man’s everlasting blessing?

⁴⁹ When, by the “first resurrection” of these Christians who have been faithful to death, they are transferred to the heavens to “be priests of God and of the Christ” and to “rule as kings with him for the thousand years,” this will leave no ordained priests of Jehovah God here on earth. The priests of the false Christianity of Christendom, yes, all priests of the Babylonish world empire of false religion, will have been put out of office and executed in the approaching day of Jehovah’s anger, when he executes judgment among the nations. (Ps. 110:4-6) As a result the people on earth will have only God’s High Priest and his true underpriests to serve in their behalf in heavenly power, in direct contact with God. What an everlasting blessing that will be for all the people, for God’s High Priest and his heavenly underpriests are truly that promised “seed” of Abraham, whose number was once unknown just like the number of the stars and in whom all nations of the earth will be eternally blessed! (Gen. 22:17, 18) They will apply the benefits of Christ’s sacrifice to all.

50. How, then, will sins truly be forgiven, and what may then accompany such forgiveness?

⁵⁰ Then the sins of mankind will be really forgiven, not by their going into some confessional box in a religious building and confessing to some imperfect, sinful priest, but by repenting and going to God privately in prayer through his High Priest Jesus Christ and asking forgiveness. (Matt. 6:9-12; 1 John 1:9; 2:1, 2) Their sins will really be forgiven in heaven. Healing benefits to the human body may even accompany such forgiveness from heaven.

51. (a) What did Jesus do to show one man had his sins forgiven? (b) What were some obligations of the high priest and underpriests in Israel, and so what can we look forward to under the Greater Melchizedek?

⁵¹ Remember how once Jesus Christ on earth healed a man of his infirmity in expression of the forgiveness of his sins. (Matt. 9:1-8) Remember, also, that among God’s chosen people under the law of the prophet Moses Jehovah’s high priest and his underpriests watched over the healthful conditions of the people and applied the sanitary provisions of God’s law. (Lev. 13:1-8; 14:1-32; Matt. 8:1-4; Luke 17:11-19) In a more powerful and effective way God’s High Priest like Melchizedek will watch out for the health of the people here on earth under his kingdom. The God-fearing, obedient ones will be blessed with gradual restoration to full perfect human health and bodily completeness as all their sinfulness is taken away through Christ’s blood and righteous discipline.

52. (a) What thoughtful, loving question is now asked? (b) How have the priests of Christendom shown they are of no help to the people?

⁵² “But is there not something missing?” you may ask, and then add: “All of that is unspeakably grand and beautiful for all men of goodwill who will survive the war of the great day of God the Almighty at Armageddon, but—but what about the thousands on thousands of millions who have died and returned to the dust of the earth ever since sin and its penalty death entered the earth about six thousand years ago?” A very thoughtful, loving question indeed! How helpless the priests and clergymen of Christendom and the priests of the so-called pagan world would be, were they faced with such an earthly situation! Believing in the immortality of the human soul, they have preached the dead ones immediately into a spirit world where angels or demons are, and they have performed religious ceremonies for them or even offered some sort of “sacrifice” for the dead, such as the “sacrifice of the Mass,” not without some costs to the surviving relatives. By this, what have they really done for the people? But what about God’s High Priest?

53, 54. What will Jehovah’s great High Priest do for the dead in the graves?

⁵³ Jesus Christ, the Greater Melchizedek, laid down his perfect human life in sacrifice, not only for the redemption of the survivors of the battle of Armageddon and the binding of Satan and his demons, but also for all who have died before then because of inheriting imperfection and sin from their original earthly parents, who sinned in the garden of Eden. (Rom. 5:12-18) During his serving as King and High Priest for the foretold thousand years he will see to it that all these coming under the benefit of his ransom sacrifice get the full benefit thereof. But how? By resurrecting them from the dead to life on earth under the heavenly kingdom. He himself said so when on earth, and, to illustrate his power to do so, he raised a number of persons from the dead, and so did his faithful apostles. (John 5:28, 29; Acts 24:15) Thus the opportunities for attaining to everlasting perfect life on a cleansed, paradisaic earth will be opened to these resurrected ones. Finally, there will be fully realized God’s promise of Revelation 21:4:

⁵⁴ “He will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning nor outcry nor pain be any more. The former things have passed away.”—Compare Isaiah 25:7-9.

55. What standard, spoken of in Malachi 2:7, did Jesus measure up to, and what, then, are the prospects for the future under God’s High Priest, Jesus Christ?

⁵⁵ Do the priests inside and outside Christendom teach the people these comforting things today? You can answer for yourself. You know whether such priests measure up to God’s standard for a priest as set out in the last Hebrew prophetic book before the first coming of Christ, in Malachi 2:7, in these words: “The lips of a priest are the ones that should keep knowledge, and the law is what the people should seek from his mouth; for he is the messenger of Jehovah of armies.” On earth as a man Jesus Christ measured up to that standard. In heaven as God’s High Priest he will not fail the people in this respect. All shall be taught about the one living and true God and his provision for the people’s deliverance from sin and death. Their taking in this knowledge and obediently living in harmony with it will mean for the people everlasting life in an earthly paradise of peace and happiness under the heavenly kingdom of Jehovah God and his High Priest.—John 17:3; Isa. 11:9.

[Footnotes]

Expanded Facilities for Printing the Word of God

GOD’S Word the Bible is inseparably linked with the history of printing. For it was apparently the first book to come off Johann Gutenberg’s newly invented printing press, using movable type, in Germany about 515 years ago. Observes The World Book Encyclopedia: “The publication of this Bible in the 1450’s marked the beginning of the history of the modern book.” How significant! For, in all the years since, no other book has come close to matching the number of Bibles printed.

In just the printing plants of Jehovah’s witnesses in Brooklyn, New York, nearly fifteen million copies of the Bible in seven languages have been printed in the last twenty-five years. Over nine million of these have been complete Bibles, including the King James Version, the American Standard Version and the modern-language New World Translation. No other people on earth are more interested in printing and distributing the Word of God than are Jehovah’s witnesses.

For this reason, Wednesday, January 31, 1968, was a very special day in their lives, especially for those who are associated with the headquarters organization in Brooklyn, where most of the printing is done. For on that afternoon a new eleven-story printing factory with 226,000 square feet of floor space was dedicated. How greatly this newly completed structure expands the facilities for printing Bibles and aids to understanding the Bible!

Jehovah’s witnesses were already using to capacity three large factory buildings totaling 436,000 square feet of floor space. So now the total floor space in the four factories equals about 15.2 acres! Perhaps another way to help visualize this 663,000 square feet of area is to compare it to a standard football field, which is 360 feet long and 160 feet wide. There is floor space equal to more than eleven such football fields in the Watchtower Society’s Brooklyn factory buildings!

THE DEDICATION PROGRAM

The dedication program was held in the three dining rooms of the home called Bethel, at the international headquarters of Jehovah’s witnesses. This Bethel home includes two attractive twelve-story redbrick buildings overlooking famous New York harbor. These are just a ten-minute walk from the factories. Here, and in quarters nearby, live the nearly 600 factory workers, and the more than 250 persons who work in the offices, laundry, kitchen and other departments of the Bethel home. Living and going to school in this home are also the 101 students who attend the five-month Gilead missionary school course, and the 50 students of the two-week Kingdom Ministry School course for congregation representatives of Jehovah’s witnesses. How happy these more than a thousand persons were to be present at the dedication program!

The three dining rooms are connected by closed-circuit television, so all could both hear and see the program. After a morning of regular work, at 12:15 p.m. a special meal was served to the family. Afterward, while everyone relaxed at his seat, the Watch Tower Society’s president, Nathan H. Knorr, opened a delightfully interesting two-hour program. The entire session focused attention on the expansion of the facilities for printing and distributing the Word of God. How clear it is that the blessing of Jehovah God has been on this growth!

SMALL BEGINNINGS

With the visual aid of old photographs, N. H. Knorr gave a brief description of the modern beginnings of the organization of Jehovah’s witnesses in Allegheny, Pennsylvania. He showed pictures of the Bible House, a structure built by the Watch Tower Society in 1889, which was used for their headquarters for twenty years. He also showed a copy of the first Watchtower magazine of July 1879, originally known as Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence. In those early days almost all printing for the Society was done by commercial publishing houses.

Fred W. Franz, the vice-president of the Watch Tower Society, was then called upon to tell about the Society’s early days in Brooklyn following World War I. In 1920, the very year he arrived at Bethel, F. W. Franz noted, the Society began printing magazines on their own rotary press. Lloyd Burtch who worked on this press told some of his experiences. The whole space available for factory operations was then only 3,000 square feet in a building at a location just a few blocks from the present Watchtower factories.

As the program progressed, N. H. Knorr observed that, when he came to Bethel in September 1923, the Society’s small printing establishment had been moved a few blocks away, to 18 Concord Street. Soon, however, even these larger quarters were too small, and plans were made to build the first of the present-day Watchtower factories. This eight-story building was completed in 1927, and contained 70,000 square feet of floor space.

CONTINUED EXPANSION

Grant Suiter, the Watch Tower Society’s secretary-treasurer, was called upon to continue the story of the expansion. Significantly, neither he, nor any of the other speakers, credited the remarkable growth of the organization to the wisdom or ingenuity of any man or groups of men. Rather, they all gave credit to Jehovah God and his angelic forces for making possible the expansion of facilities for printing and distributing Bibles and Bible literature.

G. Suiter gave a brief, yet comprehensive, report on the purchase of property and its subsequent use. In 1937, he observed, a small four-story addition was made to the 1927 factory building. But this was only a start, he explained. In 1949 a large, nine-story addition was tied into the factory, filling out the entire city block. But increased demand for Bible literature necessitated further major expansion of the printing facilities. In 1956 a thirteen-story factory, including 192,000 square feet of floor space, was completed. And in October 1958 the nine-story building on an adjoining city block was purchased; it is presently being used almost exclusively for paper storage. Max Larson, factory manager, also gave some most interesting experiences on some of the problems in getting paper during wartime. To keep a large factory in operation is a task.

As you can well imagine, feeding the staff of workers and the students, a total of more than 1,000 persons, three times a day is no small task. George Couch, the Bethel Home supervisor, was called upon to talk about this. He explained that the family will eat one steer at a meal, three hogs, or 165 chickens, depending on the meat being served. Also, he added, the family consumes 12,000 eggs, 1,000 gallons of milk and 400 pounds of butter a week! This food is provided by the nearby Watchtower Society farms, which presently total about 2,100 acres.

A DEDICATED FAMILY

All of those who live at Bethel or work on the farms are ordained ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses. And, like their more than a million fellow ministers world wide, they are keenly interested in seeing the message concerning God’s kingdom printed and distributed “in all the inhabited earth,” as Jesus Christ prophesied that it would be. (Matt. 24:3, 14) For that reason they have volunteered to serve as members of the Bethel family, and count it a privilege to perform any task to advance that preaching work. They do not work for monetary gain, but each one is provided food and shelter and an allowance of $14 a month for personal necessities. A fine expression of appreciation of what the Bethel family enjoys daily was made by Karl Adams. He said what everyone present felt.

A highlight of the dedication program was the showing of a 1926 photograph of the Bethel family, thirty-one of whom are still serving at Bethel today. True, their outward appearances may have changed considerably, but their heartfelt desire to have a share in printing and distributing the Word of God remains as strong as ever, even after forty-two years of Bethel service.

It was encouraging for these older ones, as well as the newer members of the family, to consider evidence presented during the dedication program showing that Jesus’ prophecy is presently finding fulfillment. Yes, the Kingdom message found in the Word of God truly is being printed and proclaimed on a scale that Jesus had foretold for this time—“in all the inhabited earth”!

All were now eager to get over to tour the new factory and view the expanded facilities for spreading the Kingdom message earth wide.

[Picture on page 249]

Watchtower Society’s Brooklyn printing plant with new addition at the front left

Inspecting the Expanded Facilities

WHAT an impressive sight the new four-million-dollar factory is! On entering it, those who had just attended the dedication program were directed to the left into a 65-foot-long, 25-foot-wide Kingdom Hall, which is already being used as a regular meeting place by two local congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses. How beautiful are the deep-blue carpeting, the gold-colored drapes and the light-brown wood paneling!

Further surprises were in store on the floor above, where the shipping department had been moved. How different it is! Attention is immediately drawn overhead, where a 115-foot track circles. It has a moving, motor-driven chain to which boxes, specially shaped for handling the various sizes of literature, are suspended. Then, all around beneath, is a maze of waist-high roller tracks, a total of 450 feet of them, upon which the specially shaped boxes and cartons of literature are moving along.

Located right at hand, with a roller track before them, are shelves of literature from which the orders are filled. Once this is done, a conveyer belt takes the filled orders upward several feet, and then gravity carries the literature down over roller tracks to one of the five packing tables. There the orders are double-checked, and the cartons are sealed and labeled for shipping to various ones of the 5,317 congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses in the United States. Some 45,000 orders consisting of nearly ten million Bibles, books and booklets were shipped to these congregations last year! Now, with this improved method of handling orders, even a much greater number of them can be taken care of with ease.

But this is only part of the story, for from another section of the department even a greater amount of literature is shipped. Yes, more than eleven million Bibles, books and booklets were sent to ninety-five foreign branches of Jehovah’s witnesses in every part of the world last year! Bible literature is stocked in a total of 115 languages in the shipping department. As they saw cartons of literature labeled for shipment to all corners of the globe, those making the tour were impressed by the fact that the Kingdom message is indeed being distributed “in all the inhabited earth.”—Matt. 24:14.

The tour then moved up to the third floor, which is used principally for the storage of literature. One thing that everyone noticed was how clean and fresh everything looked. The factory walls are an attractive two-tone green, a gray-green around the lower part and a lighter green above. And the ceilings are an off-white. How pleasing!

THE BOOK BINDERY

What a change there is in the bindery, on the fourth and fifth floors! Why, some $500,000 worth of new machinery has been installed in just the past year! How impressive is that battery of thirty-three sewing machines! Then there are the five casemakers, five embossers, and five complete lines, including rounder, backliner, casing-in machine and standing press.

Truly there is a lot involved in the binding of a book! It is no simple process. Yet, here finished books are being turned out by the thousands every hour! Last year over one million Bibles and more than seven million other books in more than a score of languages were bound. Now, with expanded facilities, including two complete new lines of rounder, backliner, casing-in machine and standing press, production should increase considerably.

An average day’s production is now about 50,000 books, and already a peak of 82,464 was reached in one day. If this peak day’s production of books, of the size of the book “Things in Which It Is Impossible for God to Lie,” were stacked up, it would reach a mile into the sky, some four times the height of the Empire State building! In a recent month, 1,140,459 finished books were turned out.

THE PRINTING PRESSES

To produce literature in such quantity a great deal of printing must be going on, and it is. But to what extent are there plans to expand the printing facilities?

With anticipation aroused, the tour moved up to the spacious, high-ceiling sixth floor of the new building, now totally empty. Here they were reminded by a spokesman that on the adjoining sixth floors of the other factories, which are interlinked by bridges, there are presently eighteen large rotary presses.

However, it was explained that on this specially reinforced floor of the new factory, and on the one above like it, there is space for twenty-three more of these large rotary presses. Four of these are scheduled for delivery this summer, and four more next year, so that by the end of 1969 the total number of rotary printing presses should be increased to twenty-six! The Society also has sixteen smaller flatbed and job presses that are used for printing handbills, tracts, programs, forms and other such items.

THE PRINTING ACCOMPLISHED

Since floors seven, eight, nine and ten in the new factory are presently empty, the tour proceeded across the sixth-floor bridge into the sections of factory built in 1927 and 1949.

Here they were surrounded by massive printing presses, the largest of which weigh over fifty tons and consume 1,600-pound, fifty-nine-inch rolls of paper in forty minutes. The eighteen presses use an average of about 100 rolls of paper each day. Together, these weigh about forty tons and cost some $10,000. This clearly is no small printing operation!

Three of the larger presses can produce an average of 25,000 completed thirty-two-page magazines an hour, or well over a half million a day between the three of them! The other fifteen smaller rotary presses can average about 12,500 magazines an hour. Last year the Society’s pressroom produced a total of 154,681,710 Watchtower and Awake! magazines, more than double the production of 1955.

It was explained that the reason why so many printing presses are required is that the Watchtower Society prints in such a great number of languages. Why, over the years, printing has been done here in 146 languages! The Watchtower is regularly printed at the Brooklyn factories in about thirty languages each issue, and the Awake! in more than a dozen languages each issue. Printing in so many languages requires much extra time and effort.

It is noteworthy, too, that the Watchtower Society is a pioneer in one feature of the printing industry. And that is in the matter of printing Bibles on rotary presses. Back in the early 1940’s it was an unheard-of thing to attempt to run thin Bible paper on these fast-moving rotary presses. However, the Society made an arrangement to get experimental rolls of lightweight paper, and, in time, a satisfactory type of paper was developed. Now other printing establishments, too, have gone to printing Bibles on rotary presses, instead of the slower flatbed presses.

By this time the tour had crossed a second sixth-floor bridge into the factory completed in 1956. Here the rest of the rotary presses are found. Many could not help but think what a big operation it must be to mail out the more than 150 million magazines printed each year.

SUBSCRIPTION AND MAILING DEPARTMENTS

Appropriately, an elevator at hand transported the tour to the thirteenth floor, to the subscription department. There they stepped out into a spacious, well-lighted office, where many desks and some ninety dark-green cabinets for filing subscription stencils are arranged to receive a maximum of natural light from the windows.

The visitors were informed by large signs that about 1,250,000 individual English stencils were filed in the larger battery of cabinets on one side of the floor. And over on another side, a sign explained that some 350,000 stencils for magazine subscriptions in thirty-three other languages were filed in the cabinets located there. Featured prominently on the floor is an appealing display of The Watchtower in the 74 languages in which it is printed, and the Awake! in its 26 languages.

Below, on the tenth floor, the ones on tour were fascinated by the speed at which the bulk rolls of magazines were prepared for mailing to the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses. The magazines come up to the floor from the pressroom on large skids, 32,000 magazines to the skid. From the skid they are fed into a trimmer, at a rate of about 40,000 an hour, to be neatly trimmed.

They come out of the trimmer on a conveyor belt in stacks of about eighty magazines, which pass by a battery of six persons rolling magazines. These persons pick up the passing magazines, roll them in wrappers with amazing speed, and toss them onto another fast-moving conveyor belt. At the end of this belt, labels are put on the wrapped magazine rolls, and they are placed in mailing sacks for delivery to the post office. What a speedy operation!

On the other end of the tenth floor, magazines are individually wrapped for mailing to the more than a million and a half subscribers. To accomplish this operation, the Society has four wrapping machines that can each wrap and address magazines at the rate of about 6,000 an hour. The tour was reminded that these complex machines were designed and built by the members of the Bethel family who work in the machine shop.

PAPER STORAGE AND THE MACHINE SHOP

Passing through the eighth floor, filled with rolls of paper, the tour noted a large sign that explained that the Society carries more than a six-month inventory of paper. This means that there are over 5,000 tons of paper stored, or more than 200 train carloads of 25 tons each!

There was one more department that most of the visitors did not want to miss in this factory. That is the machine shop down on the fifth floor. The forty ministers who work here do a fine job of keeping all the machinery in the factories running smoothly. Among their major projects have been the complete overhaul of several of the older rotary presses.

Returning to the sixth floor, and traveling back across the bridge to the 1927-1949 factory, the tour walked upstairs to see the linotype machines, and the composition and plate-making departments, all located on the seventh floor.

PREPARATION FOR PRINTING

A first step in preparing written material for printing, the visitors were reminded, is to set it up in lines of lead type. This is done on a linotype machine. The Society has thirty-two of these, exactly four times the number they had in 1948, twenty years ago.

After watching the lines of metal type being cast by these machines, the tour proceeded over to the composition department. Here the compositor takes the lines of metal type, and, with spacing material, makes this up into a page for printing. When these pages are clamped tightly together in a steel frame, they can be used just as they are to print on a flatbed press. However, other steps are necessary to make a curved metal plate for printing on a rotary press.

First, heavy dampened cardboard-like paper is placed over the metal chase, in which the pages are locked, and these are put under a mat press. Here, under heat and pressure, the metal pages of type are impressed into the cardboard-like paper, and an exact duplication of the printed page is reproduced in it.

On the other end of the floor, in the plate department, this heavy mat, or cardboard-like paper, then is placed in a curved casting box. The visitors watched with fascination as hot liquid metal was pumped into the top of this box. This liquid, some eighteen pounds of it, settles into the impressions in the mat and solidifies to form a curved rotary printing plate. Then, after this plate has been coated with a thin layer of nickel in the nickeling tanks, it can be used to print over a million impressions.

INK ROOM AND CARPENTER SHOP

The tour had yet to visit the ink room and carpenter shop, located on the lower floors of the building. The Watchtower Society annually saves tens of thousands of dollars by manufacturing its own printing ink, just last year producing some 140 tons of it. Ink, however, is not the only product manufactured in the ink room. Last year over 20 tons of soaps and detergents were produced for keeping the Bethel home and factories clean, about 1,000 gallons of paint were made, and some 95 tons of adhesives were produced for use in the bindery and mailing departments.

The more than two-and-a-half-hour tour reached its conclusion down on the second floor in the carpenter shop. Here, too, the Society saves tens of thousands of dollars by building their own furniture for the Bethel home. Since 1960, 422 beautiful formica dressers, 381 formica desks and 293 formica bookcases have been built.

What a grand tour! What a memorable day! That was the feeling of all who had attended the dedication program and had now just completed an inspection of the factories. How wonderfully the facilities have been expanded for printing the Word of God! But the expansion has not been limited to Brooklyn.

PRINTING FACILITIES WORLD WIDE

When passing the ink room and seeing a large shipment of ink prepared for Germany, many of the visitors were reminded that printing has also expanded tremendously in Watch Tower Society branches outside the United States. All together, last year over 96 million Watchtower and Awake! magazines, in more than forty languages, were printed in other countries. Why, that is more than the total number printed in Brooklyn less than twelve years ago!

The two rotary presses in Germany turned out nearly 27 million magazines last year, and their bindery produced over a quarter of a million books. In England, 21 million magazines were printed; in Canada, over 16 million; and in Switzerland, nearly 11 million. The three Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden and Finland also produced over 10 million Watchtower and Awake! magazines last year. And down in South Africa these magazines were printed in ten languages.

Truly, Jesus’ prophecy is having a remarkable fulfillment in these last days, for, without question, the message concerning God’s kingdom is being printed and distributed “in all the inhabited earth.”—Matt. 24:3, 14.

Questions From Readers

● I have been reading The Watchtower for a few months now, and I would appreciate your counsel. Recently I sued for a divorce on what I understand to be grounds that are in harmony with the Bible. Is it Scripturally wrong for me to “date” or seek the attention of one of the opposite sex other than my ex-mate before the divorce is final?—U.S.A.

It would first be good to have fixed clearly in mind what the Bible has to say about divorce. According to God’s Word, the only ground for divorce that frees one for remarriage is adultery by one’s mate. (Matt. 19:9) Jesus did not say one can divorce his mate if he ‘strongly suspects’ that adultery was committed. There has to be real evidence of adultery, such as the mate’s confession, or proof that the mate stayed all night with a person of the opposite sex under improper circumstances.—Prov. 5:8-11.

A legal divorce obtained where there is no proof of adultery might end a marriage legally, but in God’s sight it does not free one for remarriage. (Mark 10:9) If one got a legal divorce without proof of the mate’s adultery, remarriage would amount to adultery in Jehovah’s eyes. We read: “Whoever divorces his wife [without evidence of adultery] and marries another commits adultery against her, and if ever a woman, after divorcing her husband, marries another, she commits adultery.”—Mark 10:11, 12; compare Matthew 19:9.

Now, assuming that one actually has a Scriptural basis for the legal divorce that is being obtained, he still is not in position to “date” or “court” someone else if the divorce is not final. He is still married. Divorce laws differ from place to place. In some lands and states the parties to a divorce action are completely and legally free immediately. In other places the divorce does not become effective for six months. In yet other places, the divorce does not become final for quite a period, such as a year, after a temporary or interlocutory decree is granted.

Concerning this last type in one state, a lawbook says: “Interlocutory decree is entered after trial if the court finds that a divorce should be granted. . . . This stands for one year, during which time the parties are still husband and wife. . . . The final judgment restores the parties to the status of single persons.” Thus a period of time is allowed in order that a reconciliation may be worked out, if that is possible. If that fails, the parties become legally free only after the final decree has been entered.

In the case giving rise to the question, the divorce has not become final, so both parties are still legally married, and the court is allowing time to see if they can be reconciled. So it should be obvious that one in such a position is not free to act as if he were a single person able to “court” and marry another person. To do so would only be courting trouble, both legally and Scripturally. (Heb. 13:4) Only after a divorce becomes final, and a final decree is entered, if that is necessary according to law, will one be at liberty to act as a single person and be free to remarry.

One in this circumstance who is interested in doing what will have God’s approval would do well to note what Jehovah has counseled about marrying, in case he wants to remarry after the present marriage ends legally and Scripturally. God commanded his servants that they should not consent to a marriage between a true worshiper and one who did not worship Jehovah in accord with the truth of his Word. (Deut. 7:3; Neh. 10:30) Marrying an unbeliever can lead to God’s disapproval, as it did with King Solomon of Israel. (1 Ki. 11:4, 9) God’s Word says that true Christians are to marry “only in the Lord,” or only other true Christians. (1 Cor. 7:39) Though that limits one’s association with marriage in view, it can work to one’s everlasting good by helping one to secure a place in the paradise that God will soon establish on earth.

By continuing to study the Bible and Scriptural publications one can learn what Jehovah’s will is and how one can serve Him acceptably in company with his Witnesses. At present, the questioner is yet a married person and should resist any temptations to develop emotional attachments to some single person. And if after the divorce is final he is interested in remarriage, he should be sure to seek a mate who will serve Jehovah faithfully. Such a course will have heaven’s blessing.—Prov. 10:22.

Announcements

WHAT DOES YOUR FUTURE HOLD?

What will the future bring you? Will it bring you peace of mind and security? Will it bring you faith and favor with God? It can! Regular reading of the Bible and following its teachings closely will bring you this and more. To ensure your full appreciation and understanding of what you read you need The Watchtower also. Study it with your Bible and receive the greatest benefit from what lies ahead. Send at once and receive three timely booklets on Bible subjects. One year, $1.

FIELD MINISTRY

Festivals are happy occasions. To the faithful Jews of ancient Israel, the annual festivals were reminders of their blessed lot as God’s people, carrying on worship in purity and truth. Today true Christians celebrate those festivals in an antitypical way. They celebrate the festival of unleavened cakes, for instance, by keeping pure, by avoiding the leaven of unrighteousness and by holding to the truth of God’s Word. (1 Cor. 5:8) To help others hold to the truth that means everlasting life, Jehovah’s witnesses freely teach others the Bible. As a further aid to interested persons during April, they will be offering a year’s subscription for this fine Bible-study aid The Watchtower, with three booklets, for just $1. Take advantage of the opportunity to obtain it.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

May 12: What God’s High Priest Will Do for the People, ¶1-27. Page 233. Songs to Be Used: 46, 19.

May 19: What God’s High Priest Will Do for the People, ¶28-55. Page 240. Songs to Be Used: 74, 84.