The Watchtower — November 15, 1968

God’s Provision for Blessing Mankind

HOW loving the provision that Jehovah has made through his Son for blessing persons of all races and nations! He has promised deliverance from oppression, sin and death. What a glorious prospect! But how can such a marvelous deliverance be realized? How will God bless mankind?

It is vital for us to appreciate that these blessings will come to mankind only through Jesus Christ. For this reason, God inspired the apostle Peter to say of Jesus: “There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must get saved.” (Acts 4:12) By gaining accurate knowledge of this provision and by exercising faith in God’s purpose in connection with Christ, you may put yourself in line for the grand blessings of eternal life.

ANTICIPATION OF THE DELIVERER

For thousands of years men of faith have awaited the fulfillment of this hope, and the promises of God gave them good reason for doing so. To the Hebrew family head Abraham, Jehovah made the promise that “all nations of the earth” would be blessed through his “seed.” (Gen. 22:18) That “seed” proved to be primarily Jesus Christ. The Scriptures clearly explain this, saying: “Now the promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. It says, not: ‘And to seeds,’ as in the case of many such, but as in the case of one: ‘And to your seed,’ who is Christ.”—Gal. 3:14-16, 28, 29.

God also provided for a priesthood and sacrifices under the Law given to Israel. These too pointed forward to Jesus. “Consequently the Law has become our tutor,” the Bible says, “leading to Christ.” (Gal. 3:24) The priestly functions under the Law directed attention to Jesus as the great High Priest. They pointed to the sacrifice of his own human life as the means to take away sins forever and bring deliverance even from death. It is for this reason that John the Baptist pointed to Jesus and said: “See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world!”—John 1:29; Heb. 9:11, 12.

Furthermore, Jehovah God foretold that the one through whom eternal peace would come to humankind would be of King David’s family line, and that he would rule forever as king. The angel Gabriel, in announcing Jesus’ human birth to Mary, said: “This one will be great and will be called Son of the Most High; and Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father . . . and there will be no end of his kingdom.” (Luke 1:32, 33; Isa. 9:6, 7) But unlike David’s reign, which was limited to just a small section of earth, Jesus would become the king of God’s heavenly kingdom and would rule over the entire earth. The Bible prophecy concerning his reign says: “He will have subjects from sea to sea and from the River to the ends of the earth.”—Ps. 72:8; Dan. 7:13, 14.

Yes, the entire Word of God focuses attention on Jesus Christ as the one through whom Jehovah God will administer the blessings of eternal life to mankind. No wonder men of faith have looked forward with keen anticipation to the fulfillment of the promises regarding him. But where and when did this one originate?

PREHUMAN EXISTENCE

Did you know that Jesus had a glorious existence long before he was born as a human here on earth? The Bible informs us that he is God’s “first-born” Son. This means that he was created before the other sons of God’s family. He is also God’s “only-begotten” Son, in that he is the only one directly created by Jehovah God; all other things came into existence through him as God’s Chief Agent. Thus, before being born on earth as a male child he served in the heavens, where he was known as “the Word,” God’s spokesman.—John 1:3, 10, 14; Col. 1:15-17.

Jesus could therefore properly say: “Before Abraham came into existence, I have been,” and, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven.” And he could ask: “What, therefore, if you should behold the Son of man ascending to where he was before?” (John 8:58; 6:51, 62) Referring to the high position he had held in heaven, he prayed: “Father, glorify me alongside yourself with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was.”—John 17:5.

HIS LIFE ON EARTH

In harmony with God’s purpose for blessing men of faith, the due time arrived for this heavenly Son to become a man on earth. This required a miracle of God. Jehovah, by his holy spirit or active force, transferred the life of Jesus from heaven to the womb of a Jewish virgin girl named Mary. Announcing this to Mary in advance, the angel Gabriel said: “Holy spirit will come upon you, and power of the Most High will overshadow you. For that reason also what is born will be called holy, God’s Son.”—Luke 1:35.

It was well within the power of the Creator to do this. Certainly the One who formed the first woman with the ability to produce children could cause a woman to conceive a child without a human father. God himself was directly responsible for the life of the child. This child, Jesus, was not God, but God’s Son. He was a perfect human, free from the sin of Adam. How was that possible? Because, as the angel said, the “power of the Most High” was responsible; it even guided his growth while in the womb of Mary.

As foretold centuries before, Jesus was born in King David’s city, Bethlehem of Judea. (Mic. 5:2) He lived with his mother and his foster-father Joseph, working at the trade of carpentry until he was about thirty years of age. He was raised as a member of a large family, and this was known in his home territory, for later it was observed regarding him: “Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And his sisters, are they not all with us?”—Matt. 13:54-56.

When he was thirty years of age God’s time came for him to do work other than carpentry. So he went to John the Baptist to be baptized or dipped completely under the waters of the Jordan River. (Luke 3:21-23) This showed that he was presenting himself to God to carry out the work that God had sent him to earth to do. By submitting to baptism Jesus set an example for all who exercise faith in him, and later he commanded that all who became his disciples should be baptized.—Matt. 28:19, 20.

However, something else happened to Jesus at the Jordan. The heavens opened, God’s spirit came upon him, and God himself spoke from heaven, saying: “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved.” (Matt. 3:16, 17) There was no mistake about it; this was the one whom all of God’s prophets had foretold! There at the Jordan, by means of holy spirit, Jesus was anointed by God to be the foretold great high priest, the king of God’s kingdom, and to preach while here on earth. (Luke 4:16-21) There was work for him to do.

For three and a half years Jesus preached concerning God’s kingdom throughout the land, and he taught his disciples to do the same. This was a work for which he came to earth, as he explained: “Also to other cities I must declare the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this I was sent forth.” And he kept busy at this work, “journeying from city to city and from village to village, preaching and declaring the good news of the kingdom of God. And the twelve were with him.”—Luke 4:43; 8:1.

Though others in those days superstitiously avoided using the personal name of God, Jesus did not hold back from making God’s name Jehovah known. In prayer to his Father he said: “I have made your name manifest to the men you gave me out of the world. . . . I have made your name known to them and will make it known.” (John 17:6, 26; Ps. 83:18) Jesus always spoke the truth, whether it was popular or not. In what he did he provided an example that we should follow if we want to please God. But he also accomplished more than that.

RELIEF FROM SIN AND DEATH

Jesus knew that his coming to earth as a man was a direct part of God’s arrangement for releasing humankind from sin and death. So he said: “The Son of man came . . . to give his soul a ransom in exchange for many.” (Matt. 20:28) Exactly what does that mean? Well, a ransom is the price paid to obtain deliverance from captivity. In this case, Jesus’ perfect human life offered in sacrifice was the price paid to obtain mankind’s release from bondage to sin and death. “It was not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, that you were delivered,” the Bible explains. “But it was with precious blood, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, even Christ’s.” (1 Pet. 1:18, 19) Why was such a release needed?

This was because Adam, the forefather of us all, had sinned against God. Thus, Adam became imperfect and lost the right to life. As a willful violator of God’s law, he came under its penalty of death. God had also established laws of heredity, which assure that we all receive physical characteristics and other traits from our parents. According to these laws, Adam could pass on to his offspring only what he himself had; so we received from him an inheritance of sin and death. (Rom. 5:12) All mankind therefore has been dying in payment of the penalty of sin. How could this death penalty be lifted and the requirements of justice still be met?

God did not weaken and compromise as to his own laws. This would have merely encouraged further lawlessness by a bad example. Yet he did not turn his back on mankind and leave them without hope. While sticking to his laws, God lovingly provided relief, not for the willful sinner Adam, but for Adam’s offspring, who, without any choice in the matter, suffered the effects of his wrong. God did this in harmony with a legal principle that he later included in the Mosaic law, namely, “soul will be for soul.” (Deut. 19:21) Let us see how that principle applied in the ransom provided through Jesus.

The “living soul” Adam, who forfeited life for mankind, was a perfect human. In exchange for what he lost, another human soul, equal to Adam, was needed, one who would offer his own perfect life as a sacrifice on behalf of mankind. (1 Cor. 15:45) No offspring of Adam qualified for this, because all were born imperfect. As a result they all die because they are sinners, and they have no right to human life that they can sacrifice on behalf of others.—Ps. 49:7.

So, God sent his own Son, who had been with him for millenniums in heaven, to earth. Jesus was born as a human, because it was a human life that was required. But he was born without the aid of a human father, so that he would be perfect as Adam was. God alone was the Father of the human Jesus, as he had also been Adam’s Father. (Luke 3:38) Thus Jesus was fully qualified to offer his life as a “corresponding ransom.”—1 Tim. 2:6; Eph. 1:7.

On Nisan 14 of the year 33 C.E. Jesus’ enemies put him to death on a torture stake. He could have resisted, but he did not. (Matt. 26:53, 54) He willingly laid down his life in sacrifice for us. As his apostle Peter tells us: “He himself bore our sins in his own body upon the stake, in order that we might be done with sins and live to righteousness. And ‘by his stripes you were healed.’”—1 Pet. 2:24; Heb. 2:9.

That was indeed a marvelous expression of God’s love for mankind! The Bible helps us to appreciate it, saying: “God loved the world so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16) If you are a parent who has a dearly loved son, no doubt you can appreciate, at least to some extent, what that meant to God. It surely should warm our hearts toward him to realize that he cares for us so much.—1 John 4:9-11.

Jehovah God did not leave his Son dead in the grave, but raised him to life on the third day. He was not given human life again, because that would have meant that he was taking back the ransom price. But he was “made alive in the spirit.” (1 Pet. 3:18) During a period of forty days after his resurrection he appeared visibly to his disciples a number of times, in materialized bodies, to prove that he really had been raised from the dead. Then, with the disciples looking on, he ascended heavenward and was caught out of sight in a cloud. He returned to heaven, there “to appear before the person of God for us” bearing the value of his ransom sacrifice as the great high priest. (Heb. 9:12, 24) The requirements of divine justice had been met; relief was now available for mankind.

Even now we may benefit greatly from the ransom. By exercising faith in it we can enjoy a clean standing before God and come under his loving care. (Rev. 7:9, 10, 13-15) When, due to imperfection, we commit a sin, we can freely seek forgiveness from God on the basis of the ransom, with confidence that he will hear us. (1 John 2:1, 2) Furthermore, the ransom has opened up the way for preservation through the end of this present wicked system of things. It makes possible the resurrection of the dead. And it provides the basis for gaining eternal life in God’s new system of things, where it will be applied to mankind in order to wipe away all the effects of inherited sin.—1 Cor. 15:25, 26; Rev. 7:17.

RULER OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

Before Jesus’ birth the angel Gabriel told Mary that Jesus was to be a mighty king. Throughout his earthly ministry Jesus preached about God’s kingdom of which he was to be ruler, even teaching his followers to pray to God: “Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth.” And he urged them to “keep on, then, seeking first the kingdom.” (Matt. 6:10, 33) The kingdom of God was the theme of his preaching.

During his ministry Jesus also performed miracles of healing and raising the dead to show on a small scale what will take place on earth under the kingdom of God. Of one instance, the Bible says: “Great crowds approached him, having along with them people that were lame, maimed, blind, dumb, and many otherwise, and they fairly threw them at his feet, and he cured them; so that the crowd felt amazement as they saw the dumb speaking and the lame walking and the blind seeing.” (Matt. 15:30, 31; 9:35) Imagine the happiness when, under Christ’s rule, blind eyes will be opened, deaf ears unstopped, and crippled arms and legs will be healed. All sickness and suffering will be things of the past. What a blessing that will be!—Rev. 21:3, 4.

Although Jesus is the one anointed by God as ruler of the Kingdom, when he returned to heaven following his resurrection from the dead it was not the due time for him to exercise that kingly power. He needed to await his Father’s appointed time. (Acts 2:34-36) Yet, he pointed forward to the time when he would return with Kingdom power, saying: “When the Son of man arrives in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another, just as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.”—Matt. 25:31, 32.

We are living in that time of separating now. Soon Christ on his heavenly throne will use his kingly authority to destroy the wicked and deliver meek, sheeplike ones who will inherit the earthly realm of the Kingdom. The Bible prophecy long ago foretold: “For evildoers themselves will be cut off . . . and the wicked one will be no more; and you will certainly give attention to his place, and he will not be. But the meek ones themselves will possess the earth, and they will indeed find their exquisite delight in the abundance of peace. The righteous themselves will possess the earth, and they will reside forever upon it.”—Ps. 37:9-11, 29; Matt. 25:34, 41, 46.

By means of Jesus Christ blessings are available to all mankind, but we must exercise faith in him in order to receive them. (John 3:36) We must become his disciples and submit ourselves to him as our heavenly king. Will you do that? There are opposers who want to hinder you, but if you put your full trust in Jehovah you will without fail receive the blessings that God has in store for those who love him.—Ps. 62:7, 8.

The Bible and Egyptian History

CONCERN is sometimes expressed over the difficulty in harmonizing the historical passages of the Bible with the system of chronology founded on ancient records—those of Egypt, for example. Naturally, such concern can be justified only if the secular annals are factual, exact and consistently reliable. Where, then, do we stand in this respect? Does Egypt’s early history offer a reliable standard? Of more than passing interest, too, is the question, How does the Bible record compare with those secular annals?

Egyptian history, as Bible readers know, was directly related to Biblical history over a considerable period—from the time of Abraham’s early visit to Egypt right through to the time the Jews fled there after Jerusalem’s fall to Babylon. That period included the astonishing series of calamitous blows that came upon Egypt in swift succession and the subsequent march of the Israelites to freedom in face of the overwhelming power of Pharaoh and his army. The Bible’s account is set forth clearly and factually. But what about the records of Egypt?

EGYPTIAN HISTORY

For information on ancient Egyptian history modern historians rely principally on certain documents in the form of Egyptian king lists. Among these are: the fragmentary Palermo Stone, listing what are supposed to be the first five dynasties of Egyptian history; the Turin Papyrus, very incomplete and giving a list of kings and their reigns from the time of the “Old Kingdom” into the “New Kingdom”; and miscellaneous lists inscribed in stone, none of which are in a really complete state. In order to coordinate these fragmentary records and set up a chronological sequence, historians depend heavily on the writings of Manetho, an Egyptian priest of the third century B.C.E.

But the trouble is, Manetho’s writings have not survived to our day. We have to rely on references to and quotations from his work in the writings of later historians, such as Josephus of the first century C.E., Sextus Julius Africanus of the third century C.E., Eusebius of the fourth century C.E., and Syncellus of the eighth or ninth century C.E. And what makes matters even more difficult, those historians were frequently inaccurate in their quotations. According to Professor W. G. Waddell, their quotations from Manetho are “fragmentary and often distorted,” with the result that “it is extremely difficult to reach certainty in regard to what is authentic Manetho and what is spurious or corrupt.”

After showing that Manetho’s source material included some unhistorical traditions and legends, often without regard to chronological order, Professor Waddell says: “There were many errors in Manetho’s work from the very beginning: all are not due to the perversions of scribes and revisers. Many of the lengths of reigns have been found impossible: in some cases the names and sequence of kings as given by Manetho have proved untenable in the light of monumental evidence.”—Manetho (1940), pages vii, xvii, xx, xxi, xxv.

This matter of king lists is a knotty problem, for when all are taken into account the years of Egyptian history are magnified into an incredible total. Thus, The Encyclopædia Britannica (1965 ed., Vol. 5, pp. 722, 723) says of these lists: “ . . . they have to be used with caution when attempting to reconstruct the chronological framework of Egyptian history; in certain epochs, for instance, it appears that rival kings or even whole dynasties, listed consecutively by Manetho, were ruling at the same time.”

RECONSTRUCTING EGYPTIAN HISTORY

Thus it has been necessary for Egyptologists to reconstruct and revise their views of Egyptian history, not once, but often, during the past hundred years or so. Note, now, how various authorities on Egyptology, generally contemporary, have arrived at widely different conclusions on the date of the first ruling dynasty, supposedly begun by the unification of Egypt under King Menes.

According to 1st Dynasty Begins

Champollion 5867 B.C.E.

Mariette 5004 “

Lauth 4157 “

Lepsius 3892 “

Breasted 3400 “

Meyer 3180 “

Wilkinson 2320 “

Palmer 2224 “

Add to this variety the date presently popular among historians of about 2900 B.C.E.

The Egyptians developed astronomy to some extent, and we have Egyptian texts dealing with lunar phases and the rising of the Dog Star (Sothis). These have been pressed into service, by combining these with other fragmentary data, to build up a chronological table giving approximate dates for the various dynasties as follows:

Predynastic Cultures c.3000-2850 B.C.E.

Dynasties I to VI c.2850-2200 “

Dynasties VII to XII c.2200-1786 “

Dynasties XIII to XX c.1786-1085 “

Dynasties XXI to XXXI c.1085-332 “

While it might be hoped that the use of astronomical data would give a precise chronology, this is not the case. The rising of the Dog Star (used to calculate the years of a “Sothic period”) is not constant in retardation. A slight miscalculation of one day can throw a date off about a hundred and twenty years. The observations based on the naked-eye observance of the Egyptians were certainly not as accurate as modern-day telescopic observations and could easily have been a day wrong.

Why do Egyptian records fail to provide any information about the Exodus and the stirring events that preceded it? This is really not surprising, since, as Professor of Egyptology J. A. Wilson states, “Egyptian records were always positive, emphasizing the successes of the pharaoh or the god, whereas failures and defeats were never mentioned, except in some context of the distant past.” (The World History of the Jewish People, 1964, Vol. I, pp. 338, 339) The Egyptians were not above destroying records of a previous reign if the information was distasteful to the pharaoh then in power. Thus, after the death of Queen Hatshepsut, Thutmose III had her names and representations chiseled out of the monumental reliefs.

The pharaoh who ruled at the time of the Exodus is not named in the Bible; hence, efforts to identify him are based on conjecture. This, in part, explains why modern calculations of the date of the Exodus among secular historians vary from 1441 B.C.E. to 1225 B.C.E.—a difference of more than two hundred years. And it becomes quite evident that in their present state secular calculations relative to Egyptian chronology can in no way pose any serious challenge to the Bible’s count of time.

THE CASE FOR THE BIBLE

The whole approach of the Bible writers testifies to their consciousness of the importance of time measurement. Note, for example, the genealogical record in the fifth chapter of the Bible book of Genesis 5. How thoroughly each generation is tied in with the next! Nothing is left to chance. We learn the age of each one listed, both at the time of fathering his heir and at the time of his death. There is nothing comparable to this in Egyptian annals.

Contrasting with the laboriously built-up chronology of Egypt, the Bible gives an outstandingly coherent and detailed history stretching through thousands of years. It presents a graphic, true-to-life account of the nation of Israel from its birth onward, portraying with candor its strengths and its weaknesses, its successes and failures, its right worship and its rank apostasy into pagan religion, its blessings and its calamities. And, while this honesty does not of itself ensure the accuracy of its chronology, it does give sound basis for confidence in the integrity of its writers.

Often overlooked is the fact that the Bible writers cite in support of some of their facts historical annals such as “the book of the Wars of Jehovah” (Num. 21:14, 15), “the book of the affairs of the days of the kings of Israel” (1 Ki. 14:19; 2 Ki. 15:31), “the book of the affairs of the times of the kings of Judah” (1 Ki. 14:29; 2 Ki. 24:5), “the book of the affairs of Solomon” (1 Ki. 11:41), as well as fourteen or more references to similar annals or official records cited by Ezra and Nehemiah. So Bible writers were not depending on memory or oral tradition. There is evidence that their data were carefully researched and documented.

There were factors, too, that operated to keep Bible writers, and all Israelites, for that matter, ever conscious of the count of time. The Mosaic law featured many events that called for accurate timing: the Atonement Day, the numerous feast days, the sabbath and Jubilee years. Days, months, years, seven-year and fifty-year periods were all carefully noted as long as the nation adhered to the Law. After all, individual Israelites, who had fallen into poverty and had been forced to relinquish their landed property, could repossess such property on that fiftieth year.—Lev. 25:2-5, 8-16, 25-31.

Another powerful reason for Bible writers and the people in general to keep track of time features was the frequent pronouncement of prophecies inspired by their God—prophecies specifically relating to some date in the future. People would mark and wait for the fulfillment of those events. At the time of Jesus’ birth we may be sure that the man Simeon was not the only one of whom it might be said that he was “righteous and reverent, waiting for Israel’s consolation.”—Luke 2:25.

But some may object that the Bible’s original documents are not available, that in the course of time much copying and revising may have seriously affected the accuracy of the record. On this score we do well to recall how extremely meticulous were the Bible copyists and scribes who multiplied available copies of the Scriptures. To them it was a matter involving God’s favor or disfavor, life or death. They had to check and double-check, even going to the extent of counting lines, words and letters on each page of copy.

Graphically illustrating the essential accuracy of the Bible books as they have come down to us in this twentieth century, we have the recent find of scrolls in the Qumram caves near the Dead Sea. One of these is a well-preserved copy of the entire Bible book of Isaiah, recorded on seventeen pieces of parchment. Before its discovery, the oldest Hebrew text of Isaiah was one dating from the tenth century C.E. Here now was a scroll from about the first century C.E., and yet the amazing fact is that, when compared with our modern texts of Isaiah, only very minor differences appear, differences of negligible importance.

NO REAL COMPARISON

It should be evident that Egypt’s secular annals in the form in which they have come down to us fail to qualify as a standard for measuring the accuracy of Bible timekeeping. The care, the truthfulness and the integrity of the Egyptian scribes are by no means above suspicion. Says Professor J. A. Wilson (in The World History of the Jewish People, 1964, Vol. I, pp. 280, 281): “A warning should be issued about the precise historical value of Egyptian inscriptions. That was a world of . . . divine myths and miracles.” Then, after suggesting that the scribes were not above juggling the chronology of events to add praise to the particular monarch in power, he adds: “The historian will accept his data at face value, unless there is clear reason for distrust; but he must be ready to modify his acceptance as soon as new materials put the previous interpretation in a new light.”

The chronological structure that modern historians have built up from Egyptian sources is still very shaky. As Egyptologist E. A. Wallis Budge observed: “The information which has been obtained from native Egyptian monuments as to dates is, at present, insufficient to enable us to correct the mistakes in the figures of Manetho’s List which are due to the carelessness or ignorance of copyists, and until some other means of doing this is found, it is idle to shuffle and torture his figures, as many writers on Egyptian chronology are pleased to do.” (A History of Egypt, 1902, Vol. I, Preface, p. xvi) A half century later, historians admit that “Egyptian chronology is still in a state of flux, . . . .” (Pritchard’s Ancient Near Eastern Texts, 1955, Introduction, p. xvii) Professor J. A. Wilson states that it is only after 663 B.C.E. that Egyptian chronology becomes “fairly precise” and that the “farther back one goes, the greater the margin of disagreement [among scholars] becomes.”—The World History of the Jewish People, 1964, Vol. I, p. 268; The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible, 1962, Vol. II, p. 43.

There is, then, no reason to feel doubt about the accuracy of the Biblical chronology simply because certain secular records do not harmonize with it. To the contrary, only when the secular chronology harmonizes with the Bible record may we rightly feel a measure of confidence in the ancient secular dating. This is certainly true regarding the records of ancient Egypt.

The Happiness of the “Nation Whose God Is Jehovah”

“Happy is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people whom he has chosen as his inheritance.”—Ps. 33:12.

1. (a) What might older people think of the world before 1914? (b) What has been the state of affairs since that year?

HAPPINESS today? Is there any nation on earth that is happy today? Really, what nation could be happy with the world in the situation in which it finds itself today? Older people might look back to earthly conditions before the outbreak of world war in the summer of 1914 and exclaim: “Those were the happy days!” And, indeed, back there before that first world conflict there were some nations that were as a whole disposed to be happy, or at least gay. But not so today. For since 1914 C.E. the nations have continually been in a state of unsettlement, unrest, insecurity, suspicion and fear, and mounting distress, with the political rulers and the religious leaders not knowing the way out of the international mess and humanly unsolvable problems. For the younger generation of today, whose hopes should be bound up with the future, the outlook is becoming more and more hopeless. What pleasure may be got out of life, they feel they need to get out of the present, and so now is the time for them to have a fling!

2-4. (a) Despite world problems, is there indeed a happy nation today, and who may some have thought that nation to be? (b) What problems have faced that particular nation since the inauguration of its thirty-fourth president?

² Despite all of this, unbelievable as it may seem, there is a happy nation to be found, and its happiness and joy increase as the world situation moves to its unavoidable climax. People now attaching themselves to that favored nation find happiness now. What is that nation, and what is the reason for its happiness?

³ No, it is not the most powerful and prosperous nation on earth today. However, that it was a happy nation and would be such may have been suggested by what took place on an inauguration day of one of its presidents at the national capital, Washington, D.C., January 20, 1957. The nation’s thirty-fourth president was being inaugurated for his second term in office. Following the custom, he was being sworn in with his right hand resting upon an open Bible. This Bible was not the British King James or Authorized Version Bible, but was the American Standard Version of the Bible as published in the year 1901 C.E. This particular copy had been given him by his God-fearing mother when he was about to graduate from the national Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1915, the second year of World War I. His hand purposely rested at Psalm 33:12, which, in the American Standard Version, reads as follows: “Blessed is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” In the later published version, An American Translation, of 1939, this Ps 33 verse 12 opens up saying: “How happy is the nation . . . ”—See the New York Times of January 21, 1957.a

⁴ By this gesture the reinaugurated president may have been suggesting that the United States of America was that blessed or happy nation or that he would serve in the presidency to make it such. But during his two terms in the presidency did he lead his nation into the blessedness or happiness spoken of in Psalm 33:12? Well, during his first term in office his nation became involved in the political struggles of North Vietnam and South Vietnam. (See The Americana Annual, 1956, page 356, about Indochina and under the subheading “Principal Events, 1955.”) Nor did difficulties with North Korea cease. Other troubles of the nation, both internal and external, domestic and foreign, have multiplied since. Why, then, has the blessedness, the happiness, for which the president hoped on his second inauguration in 1957, not been realized since? Why has the nation not proved itself entitled to such happiness?

5. (a) What is the secret to the nation whose happiness is spoken about in Psalm 33:12, and so what pertinent questions are asked? (b) Does any other earthly government qualify as God’s happy nation?

⁵ Some basic requirement has been overlooked, ignored. If we reexamine Psalm 33:12 we can easily see what is the real key to happiness for a nation. The secret is its God and its being his chosen possession. The verse plainly says, not, ‘Happy is the most prosperous and most militarily powerful nation,’ but: “Blessed [or, Happy] is the nation whose God is Jehovah, the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.” (AS; AT) So, quite properly, we ask: Did the nation’s thirty-fourth president lead his nation into choosing Jehovah as its God? By the Supreme Court of the United States of America this nation has been designated as a “Christian nation,” but has it worshiped Jehovah as its God and has it proved itself to be “the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance”? Where are the facts in favor of the answer Yes! even though the United States of America is the leading nation in Christendom? Such facts cannot be found. Nor can they be found for any other of the 197 nations among whom the name of Jehovah has been proclaimed by his witnesses for many years, not even for the Republic of Israel.

6. As borne out in Psalm 33:10, 16, 17, on what does God’s “happy” nation not depend, thus eliminating whom as qualified to be God’s “happy” nation?

⁶ If we examine the neighboring verses of Psalm 33:12, we note these further striking details about the happy nation: “Jehovah himself has broken up the counsel of the nations; he has thwarted the thoughts of the peoples. There is no king saved by the abundance of military forces; a mighty man himself is not delivered by the abundance of power. The horse is a deception for salvation, and by the abundance of its vital energy it does not afford escape.” (Ps. 33:10, 16, 17) That is to say, the “happy” nation did not depend upon the military forces of this world, but its deliverance from the hostile counsel of the nations and the malicious thoughts of the peoples was by its God Jehovah, not by mighty men of war and energetic war horses. Such features do not distinguish the nations and peoples of this world in this most heavily armed period in all human history. The nations and peoples groan under the burden loaded upon them because of the expenses and demands of their military, naval and air force departments. Regardless of the prayers of their popes, priests, and other religious clergymen and orders, they do not find that without militarism Jehovah God delivers them.

7. How can we be helped in determining who the happy nation of Psalm 33:12 is, and what do we find the Bible tells us on the matter?

⁷ In these days when nationalism and patriotic pride are sweeping all over the earth, what nation can point to itself as the nation and people in whom Psalm 33:12 is fulfilled today? Who, indeed, is the “happy” nation, the “chosen” people? It will help us to find out if we look back at the nation of whom the inspired writer of Psalm 33 was a member, for he wrote concerning his own nation. From the beginning of its national history it had been favored with miraculous deliverances by this God who alone bears the name Jehovah. What a dramatic deliverance that was at the very birth of the nation, when it was delivered from captivity and slavery in Egypt after its celebration of the Passover in the year 1513 B.C.E., followed not many days later by that astounding deliverance across the dried-up bed of the Red Sea to the Sinai Peninsula, whereas the militarized forces of the Egyptians were drowned like rodents in the returning waters of the sea! No other nation in ancient or modern history can point to such a deliverance or anything like such in its national history. The eastern bank of the Red Sea was the scene of great happiness for the miraculously rescued nation. Truly Jehovah God had chosen them!—Ex. 12:1 to 15:21.

8. When were the people under Moses organized as a nation, and what was the first command given them by God?

⁸ In the third month after their deliverance from Egypt, this people under the leadership of the prophet Moses were gathered to the foot of Mount Sinai in the Arabian peninsula. There they were really organized into a nation, separate and distinct from all the other nations of the earth. There they were favored by hearing a voice from God declaring the famous Ten Commandments and afterward given those Ten Commandments in written form on stone tablets, the writing of these being done, not by the prophet Moses, but by the “finger of God.” These Ten Commandments were the first laws of the legal contract or covenant that was made between the nation and its heavenly Deliverer. The First of these Ten Commandments insisted that He must be their God. It read: “I am Jehovah your God, who have brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. You must not have any other gods against my face.” No other god had shared in their deliverance and so Jehovah had a right to demand their exclusive devotion.—Ex. 19:1 to 20:18.

DEATH AND REBIRTH OF A NATION

9. How was this nation able to continue in a happy state, and how did Jehovah help them?

⁹ As long as the nation held to Jehovah as its God they were made happy. As long as they carried out their national contract or covenant as mediated by the prophet Moses they prospered in the land flowing with milk and honey into which their God brought them, in 1473 B.C.E. It was when they broke the laws and commandments of their national covenant and turned to worshiping the false gods of the nations roundabout that they got into difficulty. Faithful to his covenant, Jehovah God raised up special judges to deliver them out of the hand of their enemies. He raised up his fearless, plain-speaking prophets to warn them of the foolishness of a wrong course and of the terrible consequences to come from it. Because of wavering between the worship of the one living and true God and the false demon gods, the nation had its ups and downs. Because of the goodness of God to the nation, their second king, namely, David the son of Jesse of Bethlehem, wrote: “Happy is the people whose God is Jehovah!”—Ps. 144:15.

10. When did the happiness of this nation reach its peak, but what events led to the nation’s fall as God’s “happy” nation?

¹⁰ This happiness of God’s chosen people reached its peak during the reign of David’s son and successor, King Solomon of Jerusalem. (1 Ki. 4:20-25) This happiness of the nation was lost by the surrender of the rulers and people to the worship of idols and demons. Short-lived recoveries from such relapses into false worship did not prove to be thorough enough to save the nation from the disaster of which Jehovah God had forewarned them in the terms of his solemn covenant with the nation. At his own stated time he himself maneuvered the overthrow of its chosen line of kings, the destruction of the capital city Jerusalem and desolation of its national territory, the destruction of its renowned temple built by King Solomon at Jerusalem, and the deporting of a remnant of survivors to the faraway land of Babylonia.

11. What efforts did Jehovah make to save his people, but what attitude did they take?

¹¹ Jehovah cannot be mocked for time without limit, even by the nation and people that professes to have him as its God. This fact is emphasized in 2 Chronicles 36:15-21, which describes the last days of the free, independent nation. There we read: “And Jehovah the God of their forefathers kept sending against them by means of his messengers, sending again and again, because he felt compassion for his people and for his dwelling [the temple]. But they were continually making jest at the messengers of the true God and despising his words and mocking at his prophets, until the rage of Jehovah came up against his people, until there was no healing.

12. Describe the end of that nation that had God’s blessing.

¹² “So he brought up against them the king of the Chaldeans, who proceeded to kill their young men with the sword in the house of their sanctuary, neither did he feel compassion for young man or virgin, old or decrepit. Everything He gave into his hand. And all the utensils, great and small, of the house of the true God and the treasures of the house of Jehovah and the treasures of the king [Zedekiah] and of his princes, everything he brought to Babylon. And he proceeded to burn the house of the true God and pull down the wall of Jerusalem; and all its dwelling towers they burned with fire and also all its desirable articles, so as to cause ruin. Furthermore, he carried off those remaining from the sword captive to Babylon, and they came to be servants to him and his sons until the royalty of Persia began to reign; to fulfill Jehovah’s word by the mouth of Jeremiah, until the land [of Judah] had paid off its sabbaths. All the days of lying desolated it kept sabbath, to fulfill seventy years.”—Compare with 2 Kings 24:20 to 25:26.

13. What effect did the destruction of Jerusalem have on Jehovah’s name and upon the people of God?

¹³ With that overthrow of their kingdom, the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple of worship, the desolation of all the land of Judah, and the carrying of the remnant of survivors into exile in Babylon, the nation died. Because its God had been internationally known to be Jehovah, the God of Abraham, of Isaac and of Jacob, this national disaster brought great reproach upon the name and reputation of Jehovah. As far as the exiles in Babylon were concerned, their hopes became like a valley filled with dry, disassembled skeletons, with no human power for a resurrection. (Ezek. 37:1-12) Their national homeland in Judah and Jerusalem was no longer the “land” of a people with nationhood and accordingly bearing the name of “the land of Judah.” It became a land under a taboo, shunned by superstitious outsiders, the haunt of wild animals and birds, a wilderness and a jungle. This had been foretold in the warning messages of the prophets Jeremiah and Micah.—Jer. 32:43; 33:10, 12; Mic. 3:9-12; Jer. 26:18.

14. What questions are now asked about this nation, and what did Bible prophecy say?

¹⁴ Would this reproach against the name of Jehovah as a national God ever be lifted and his name as the Universal Sovereign be again clothed with glory? Would the nation that was associated with his name and rulership ever be reborn? Would the tabooed, shunned, jungle-overgrown land ever be brought forth again from its state of ruin and desolation and be internationally known as the land of Judah? Well-nigh impossible as it may have seemed to the pagan nations, especially to Babylon, this rebirth of land, nation and Jehovah’s temple worship was within the purposes of Jehovah God! It was written down in the Bible prophecies of Jehovah God!

15, 16. What was Isaiah moved to foretell about Jerusalem, and what promise did Jehovah make regarding his people?

¹⁵ The prophet Isaiah was one who was inspired to foretell in express terms the miraculous rebirth. For the consolation of the small remnant that stuck to the pure worship of Jehovah God, the prophet Isaiah was moved to foretell how God sitting as Judge in 607 B.C.E. would cause the uproar of invasion and destruction to fill Jerusalem and her temple and thus repay to all Israelite enemies of his worship what they deserved, but thereafter, in a remarkable way, the destroyed nation and land would be reborn. Said Isaiah:

¹⁶ “Hear the word of Jehovah, you men who are trembling at his word: ‘Your brothers that are hating you, that are excluding you by reason of my name, said, “May Jehovah be glorified!” He must also appear with rejoicing on your part, and they are the ones that will be put to shame.’ There is a sound of uproar out of the city, a sound out of the temple! It is the sound of Jehovah repaying what is deserved to his enemies. Before she began to come into labor pains she gave birth. Before birth pangs could come to her, she even gave deliverance to a male child. Who has heard of a thing like this? Who has seen things like these? Will a land be brought forth with labor pains in one day? Or will a nation be born at one time? For Zion [Jerusalem] has come into labor pains as well as given birth to her sons.”—Isa. 66:5-8.

17, 18. When did the “rebirth” take place, and how was it like the miracle of giving birth before birth pangs?

¹⁷ To the surprise of all the pagan nations who despised Zion or Jerusalem, this marvelous “rebirth” took place in the year 537 B.C.E., or seventy years exactly after the desolation of the land of Judah and of Jerusalem or Zion. The rebirth came very quickly as if not preceded by any birth pains, as if occurring before birth pangs had time to rack the body of the mother. How?

¹⁸ Babylon, which refused to release the Judeans from exile, held on to its world domination until the night of Tishri 16 (or October 5-6) of the year 539, the sixty-ninth year of the foretold seventy years of desolation upon Judah and Jerusalem or Zion. In the first half of the seventieth year, about springtime, Cyrus the Great, the Persian conqueror of Babylon, issued his decree permitting and encouraging the Judean exiles to return to their former homeland to rebuild the temple of Jehovah in a rebuilt city of Jerusalem or Zion. By the end of that seventieth year in early autumn of 537 B.C.E. [Tishri 1, 537 = Sept. 28-29, 537 B.C.E.] the faithful remnant were back and settled upon their beloved homeland, settling at the sites of many former cities.—Ezra 1:1 to 3:6.

19. What happened to Jerusalem after just a few months of liberation?

¹⁹ Thus there was no long period of birth pains in the form of any painful uprising on the part of the “children” of Zion (or Jerusalem) to break loose from Babylonian exile and fight their way back to their desolated land and reestablish themselves as a nation. Within a few months after the liberation decree of Cyrus the Great a remnant of true worshipers of Jehovah God were back in the land, which was no longer under Jehovah’s taboo. It became the land of a people with a local government, having a descendant of the Judean king David as its governor, and with a high priest authorized by Jehovah God. In this way, with its own territory and its own territorial government, the nation of the worshipers of the one living and true God was reborn. There was again a Zion or Jerusalem as a national government, and this Zion had its “children” or inhabitants and subjects clearing and recultivating her territory, the land of Judah. Worship of her God was restored there.

JEHOVAH GOD NOT FRUSTRATED

20, 21. “In one day” and “at one time,” what had Jehovah accomplished, and in vindication of what?

²⁰ Who had ever heard of a thing like that? Who had ever seen things like those national, religious developments? It all occurred so suddenly, so unexpectedly, and without precedent. Why, without the trouble of birth pangs, Jehovah’s earthly organization Zion delivered into the realm of actuality the “male child” in the form of a national body of people. Quickly, as “in one day,” a land with a national designation was brought forth from desolation. “At one time” Almighty God Jehovah caused an organized nation of people in a covenant with him to be born, yes, reborn. As at the very time for labor pains to start Jehovah’s organization Zion gave birth to “her sons,” those who made up the “male child” nation. What else was this but the fulfillment of Jehovah’s prophecy, in vindication of his never failing word? He was responsible for this birth on the part of his earthly organization Zion. It had to come, without any miscarriage or stillbirth, just as he had foretold, saying in the next Isa 66 verse 9:

²¹ “‘As for me, shall I cause the breaking through and not cause the giving birth?’ says Jehovah. ‘Or am I causing a giving birth and do I actually cause a shutting up?’ your God has said.”

22. Who actually appeared on the scene at this astounding event, and to be the blessing of whom?

²² In harmony with those words of Isaiah 66:9 there was to be no frustrating of Almighty God Jehovah at the last and critical moment. And recorded history proves that there was not. At this astounding event no one else but Jehovah appeared on the scene of international affairs for rejoicing on the part of those “who are trembling at his word.” Whereas their religious haters and persecutors were put to shame, what true cause for unspeakable happiness there was on the part of the reborn nation “whose God is Jehovah”! The “joy of Jehovah” came to be their fortress.—Neh. 8:10.

[Footnotes]

Reasons for National Happiness

1, 2. (a) What shows that Jehovah’s blessing was with this reborn nation for over 600 years after its rebirth? (b) How did Paul before Agrippa affirm that the Jews in his day indeed constituted a nation?

FOR more than 605 years after such a miraculous rebirth in 537 B.C.E. Israel continued its existence. During that period of time Jehovah God saw good to send further prophets to it, and almost to the end of that period the nation held a unique position of favor with him. Almost six hundred years after the nation’s rebirth a circumcised Pharisee named Saul of Tarsus, of the tribe of Benjamin, summed up the favored privileges of the nation of which he was a member by birth, saying: “What, then, is the superiority of the Jew, or what is the benefit of the circumcision? A great deal in every way. First of all, because they were entrusted with the sacred pronouncements of God.” “In behalf of my brothers, my relatives according to the flesh, who, as such, are Israelites, to whom belong the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the sacred service and the promises; to whom the forefathers belong and from whom Christ sprang according to the flesh.” (Rom. 3:1, 2; 9:3-5) What reasons for happiness!

² Speaking of his people as being a “nation,” this same writer said to King Agrippa in the city of Caesarea: “Indeed, as to the manner of life from youth up that I led from the beginning among my nation and in Jerusalem, . . . according to the strictest sect of our form of worship I lived a Pharisee. And yet now for the hope of the promise that was made by God to our forefathers I stand called to judgment; whereas our twelve tribes are hoping to attain to the fulfillment of this promise by intensely rendering him sacred service night and day. . . . Why is it judged unbelievable among you men that God raises up the dead? . . . I continue to this day bearing witness to both small and great, but saying nothing except things the Prophets as well as Moses stated were going to take place, that the Christ was to suffer and, as the first to be resurrected from the dead, he was going to publish light both to this people and to the nations.”—Acts 26:4-8, 22, 23.

3. For what reasons could the reborn nation of Israel be happy?

³ Great and many, then, were the reasons for the reborn nation of ancient Israel to be happy. They had the pure worship of the one living and true God, Jehovah, their Life-giver, and were therefore protected by Him from the spirit demons under the “prince of the demons,” Satan the Devil. Jehovah was not only their God but also their heavenly Judge and Statute-giver. (Isa. 33:22) They were the natural descendants of Jehovah’s friend Abraham and of Isaac his son and of Jacob his grandson and of Jacob’s twelve sons. They were thus all interrelated according to the flesh and so were indeed one big family or nation of brothers and sisters, truly one “people,” one “nation.” Because they were directly descended from Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, all of whom had God’s promise, and also because they had been ransomed by Jehovah God from slavery in the land of Egypt, this nation was his chosen possession or heritage. They really belonged to Jehovah God.

4. (a) What did being the “seed of Abraham” mean to this nation? (b) What other outstanding blessings were to come through this nation, culminating in what event in 33 C.E.?

⁴ They were directly in line to be the “seed of Abraham” by means of whom all the nations of the earth would forever bless themselves. (Gen. 22:18; 26:2-5; 28:13, 14) They alone were entrusted with the “sacred pronouncements” or oracles of Jehovah God, by having the Holy Scriptures of the Law and the Prophets and the Psalms. They had the privileged opportunity of being educated in all these “sacred pronouncements of God” with the wonderful divine promises and hopes contained in them. Through the prophet Moses they were in a national contract or covenant with their God; and through God’s special covenant with the royal line of faithful King David they had God’s promise of an everlasting kingdom under his Messiah or Christ. In fact, this Messiah or Christ was promised to come directly to them, being born into their nation. (Dan. 9:24-26) Their Messiah King was promised to come riding to their capital city Jerusalem, to bring peace and salvation to them. (Zech. 9:9) According to history, he actually did so and exactly on time, in the year 33 C.E.—Matt. 21:1-14; John 12:12-18.

5. What terrible thing happened to this nation in 70 C.E., raising what disturbing questions?

⁵ In spite of being so highly favored this nation according to the flesh was destroyed in the summer of the year 70 C.E. For the second time the capital city of Jerusalem was destroyed, its precious temple of worship was razed to the ground, and the land of Judea was desolated, this time by the military legions of Rome. The Jews surviving this disaster were carried off captive and sold into slavery into all nations. Why was this? Why did this nation of Israel according to the flesh come into such unhappiness?

6. What relation was there between the reason for the first destruction and the second one?

⁶ Well, why did the first national disaster of such kind come upon them? Since the happiness of the nation had been due to their having Jehovah as their God, it was because they had drawn away from the worship of this God, Jehovah their Savior, Blesser and Protector. So the second disaster to the same nation was due to the same cause. Under the influence of human traditions and precepts of men, they hardened their hearts in unbelief and rejected the “sacred pronouncements of God.” As a crucial climax to this they refused the promised Messiah, the Son of God. Thus they lost their basis for being the “happy” nation of Jehovah.

7. (a) Now what critical questions are posed? (b) Why is there no need for a reborn nation of natural Israel?

⁷ Now the critical questions arise, For the fulfillment of the divine promises of the Holy Bible, must there be a rebirth again of this fleshly nation of Israel, of natural circumcised Jews? Is the birth of the Republic of Israel on May 15, 1948, the modern fulfillment of the prophecy, and is Jehovah’s promise made to Abraham concerning the blessing of all the families and nations of the earth to be fulfilled in this democratic Republic of Israel? According to the Holy Scriptures, the answer is No! There is no need for such a rebirth of the nation of natural, circumcised Israel. Why not? Because thirty-seven years before the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in the year 70 C.E. Jehovah God had already brought forth the real nation in whom the further prophecies of his “sacred pronouncements” are to be fulfilled with benefit to all mankind, living and dead.

THE BIRTH OF SPIRITUAL ISRAEL

8, 9. (a) When did the birth of spiritual Israel take place? (b) Relate the events that occurred in Jerusalem from and after Zion’s King, Christ Jesus, rode into the city in fulfillment of Zechariah 9:9?

⁸ The birth of this nation took place at Jerusalem on the 6th day of Sivan of the year 33 C.E., the day that the natural circumcised Jews call “Shabuoth” (meaning “Weeks”), but which the Greek-speaking Jews called “Pentecost” (meaning “Fiftieth”).

⁹ In harmony with the meaning of the name Pentecost, the birth of that nation came on the fiftieth day from the resurrection of Jesus the Messiah or Christ from the dead, from a tomb very close to Jerusalem. He was Zion’s King who had ridden into Jerusalem in fulfillment of the prophecy of Zechariah 9:9, but several days later the unbelieving religious leaders of Jerusalem had him killed at the hands of the Roman soldiers. Yet, on the third day from his death, Almighty God Jehovah resurrected him and exalted him to heavenly life as the Messiah or Christ, the everlasting Heir to the kingdom of David with whom God made the Kingdom covenant. Before ascending to heaven, Jesus the Messiah or Christ told his faithful disciples to remain in Jerusalem until the holy spirit of God should descend upon them.—Acts 1:1-15.

10. (a) How was the prophecy of Joel 2:28, 29 fulfilled on the festival day of Pentecost, and of what was the fulfillment an evidence? (b) What firstfruits did Jesus Christ now offer to Jehovah?

¹⁰ The disciples had to wait only ten days from then, till the festival day of Pentecost. On that day about one hundred and twenty of them were met together in an upper room in Jerusalem. All of a sudden God’s holy spirit was poured out upon them, in fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel 2:28, 29. Besides the noise as of a rushing wind and the tongues of fire that were seen to hover above their heads, they all began speaking in foreign languages that they had not learned before. This was evidence that Jesus Christ had arrived in God’s heavenly presence and was now seated at God’s right hand as “Lord and Christ.” (Acts 2:1-36) This being the prophetic day of Pentecost, when the high priest of Israel at the temple in Jerusalem offered to God the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, Jesus Christ as God’s High Priest offered to God spiritual firstfruits. What? The Christian congregation as represented by those 120 disciples assembled that day in Jerusalem. (Ex. 34:22-24; Lev. 23:15-21) They were begotten by God’s spirit to “be a certain first fruits of his creatures.”—Jas. 1:18.

11. How do we know that these events marked the birth of a new nation, and whose place did it take?

¹¹ In this way, on the day of Pentecost of 33 C.E., the new nation was born, with the heavenly Lord Jesus Christ as its King. (Col. 1:13) The apostle Peter, who was there that day and who gave the opening speech under the power of the outpoured spirit, calls it a nation. Writing his first letter to members of this spirit-begotten congregation, Peter said: “These [fleshly circumcised Jews] are stumbling because they are disobedient to the word. To this very end they were also appointed. But you are ‘a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy NATION, a PEOPLE for special possession, that you should declare abroad the excellencies’ of the one that called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” (1 Pet. 2:8, 9) Since Jehovah God rejected the nation of natural, circumcised Israel because of their rejection of Jesus as Christ and Lord, this new Christian nation took the place of it with God.

12. After the first three years and four months of this nation’s existence, who began coming into it as citizens of that nation?

¹² For the first three years and four months of its existence, this “holy nation” was composed exclusively of persons who were natural Jews or persons who had Judaized and been circumcised and become adopted into natural Israel, so-called “proselytes.” (Acts 2:5-11, 33-42) But in early autumn of the year 36 C.E. Jehovah God began showing no further partiality to the circumcised Jews and proselytes, but sent the apostle Peter to Caesarea to convert the Italian centurion Cornelius and his God-fearing friends to faith in Jesus as Jehovah’s Messiah or Christ. These believing Gentiles then received holy spirit from heaven and began prophesying under its operation upon them. (Acts 10:1 to 11:18) From then on those who were uncircumcised Gentiles and who became believers in Jehovah’s Messiah were taken into the “holy nation,” thus enlarging the membership of this new nation, “the Israel of God.”—Gal. 6:16.

13. Show how Paul viewed the Gentile believers who became citizens of this “holy nation.”

¹³ In explaining that these Gentile believers became fellow citizens in this “holy nation,” the apostle Paul wrote: “You were people of the nations as to flesh; ‘uncircumcision’ you were called by that which is called ‘circumcision’ made in the flesh with hands—that you were at that particular time without Christ, alienated from the state of Israel and strangers to the covenants of the promise, and you had no hope and were without God in the world. But now in union with Christ Jesus you who were once far off have come to be near by the blood of the Christ. For he is our peace, he who made the two parties one and destroyed the wall in between that fenced them off. . . . And he came and declared the good news of peace to you, the ones far off, and peace to those near, because through him we, both peoples, have the approach to the Father by one spirit. Certainly, therefore, you are no longer strangers and alien residents, but you are fellow citizens of the holy ones and are members of the household of God, and you have been built up upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, while Christ Jesus himself is the foundation cornerstone.”—Eph. 2:11-20.

14. What were the ties that bound this new nation together, and where was their citizenship?

¹⁴ Since race and nationality of a person according to the flesh no longer determined whom God could induct into this new nation, the ties that bound these members together as fellow citizens of one nation were spiritual. It was a spiritual nation. It was not only anointed with God’s holy spirit to proclaim everywhere the good news of God’s kingdom but also begotten of God’s spirit to be God’s spiritual children, with the hope and promise of membership in God’s heavenly kingdom with Jesus Christ. For that reason the apostle Paul could write to them and say: “As for us, our citizenship exists in the heavens, from which place also we are eagerly waiting for a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” (Phil. 3:20) This “holy nation,” therefore, is the spiritual Israel of God.

15. Why was there no need for Jehovah to give another rebirth to natural Israel after 70 C.E.?

¹⁵ By the year 70 C.E., thirty-seven years after the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the members of this spiritual nation of Israel had multiplied by the thousands in and outside the Roman Empire. Consequently, when the Roman legions under General Titus destroyed Jerusalem and its temple and devastated the land of Judea and thus the nation of natural, circumcised Israel was destroyed, there was no need for Jehovah God to give a rebirth to that rejected nation, either back there or today. At the destruction of the Jewish nation in the year 70 C.E. Jehovah God had already had for thirty-seven years his “holy nation” of spiritual Israel.

16. Upon whom, then, are Bible prophecies being fulfilled today, bringing what to the “nation whose God is Jehovah”?

¹⁶ It is upon this spiritual Israel and through it that the Bible prophecies continue to be fulfilled, down till today. Till this present day natural, fleshly Jews of the destroyed nation of Israel have survived, and so how much rather should not members of the true spiritual “Israel of God” have survived till today? To the praise and glory of Jehovah God and owing to his protection and preservation, a remnant of this spiritual “Israel of God” does exist today, and it is experiencing the unspeakable happiness of the “nation whose God is Jehovah.”—Ps. 33:12; Gal. 6:16.

[Picture on page 693]

On the day of Pentecost 33 C.E., the new nation was born

The Rebirth of the Happy Nation

1. Who resent the fact that God has a “nation,” and what efforts have been made to destroy that nation of God?

SATAN the Devil and his worldly organization resent the fact that God should have a “nation” in the earth that is called by his name and that worships Jehovah as God. As prophetically stated in Psalm 83:4, the enemies of the nation whose God is Jehovah have said to fellow conspirators: “Come and let us efface them from being a nation, that the name of Israel may be remembered no more.” Bible history and secular history record how the enemies, including even leading members of natural Israel, tried to wipe out spiritual Israel in the first century of its existence. In spite of the fierce persecution and efforts to exterminate them, the people of spiritual Israel survived and remained a nation supremely happy because the God whom they worshiped and served was Jehovah.

2. How does what occurred in 537 B.C.E. give us confidence in Jehovah’s power and ability to save his people at any time?

² All the enemies in heaven and on earth simply cannot wipe out Jehovah’s nation. When the enemies have seemingly succeeded in doing so, the Almighty God Jehovah can even resurrect a nation, if necessary! Did the world of the sixth century before our Common Era think that such a thing was impossible? Had they heard of such a thing before? Had they seen such a thing before? No! And yet in the year 537 B.C.E. they saw the resurrection, the rebirth, of the one nation back there whose God was Jehovah, just as had been foretold in Isaiah 66:7, 8. This God could repeat the miracle, and he has actually done so. By his permission, in the first century of our Common Era, the enemies, Jewish and Gentile, put to death the Head and King of the “holy nation” of spiritual Israel, but on the third day (Nisan 16, 33 C.E.) the God of this nation raised him from the dead and thereafter exalted him to power in heaven. On the fiftieth day from resurrecting the King, Jehovah God gave to him a newborn nation, spiritual Israel, “the Israel of God,” doing this by begetting with his holy spirit the faithful disciples of Jesus Christ on earth at Jerusalem. The enemies were foiled!

3. (a) To whom was Jesus referring when he spoke of a ”nation” in Matthew 21:43, 45, and what fruitage has that nation produced? (b) How have the nations felt about this “nation”

³ This is the nation whom Jesus Christ meant when he said to the Pharisees and chief priests of Jerusalem: “The kingdom of God will be taken from you and be given to a nation producing its fruits.” (Matt. 21:43, 45) From the day of Pentecost of the year 33 C.E. this favored “nation” has produced the required fruits, proclaiming the kingdom of God, not with David as its king, but with the royal descendant of David as its king, namely, Jesus Christ, now exalted to the right hand of Jehovah God. (Acts 2:36; 8:12; 14:22; 19:8; 20:25; 28:23, 30, 31) This producing of the fruits of the kingdom of God is the thing that makes this “holy nation” of spiritual Israel an object of hatred by all the Gentile nations and peoples, even the nations of Christendom. (Matt. 10:22; 24:9) What wonder, then, that these haters of the kingdom of God try to destroy the nation producing its fruits!

4, 5. (a) Who dealt the fatal blows to God’s nation in 607 B.C.E., and in this twentieth century? (b) How did statements in the official magazine of the dedicated remnant of sprit-begotten Christians recognize their nationhood under Jehovah?

⁴ In the year 607 B.C.E., at the destruction of Jerusalem and the desolating of the land of Judah, it was ancient Babylon that dealt the fatal blow in hatred of the nation whose God was Jehovah. But in this twentieth century of our Common Era, during the throes of World War I, it was Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, and her political lovers that dealt a seemingly fatal blow to the nation of today whose God is Jehovah. Here, right in our own modern world, was a remnant of dedicated, baptized, spirit-begotten Christians earnestly studying the Holy Bible and recognizing their spiritual nationhood. In the second number (that of August 1879) of its official magazine it confessed Jehovah as its God, saying on page 4: “‘Zion’s Watch Tower’ has, we believe, JEHOVAH for its backer, and while this is the case it will never beg nor petition men for support.” Recognizing its nationhood, its official magazine, under date of August 15, 1893, said to its readers:

⁵ “‘Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.’—1 Pet. 2:9. . . . Truly such a people, such a nation, are we under Christ Jesus our King, and our interests are indeed one: they are the interests of the truth concerning the establishment of Christ’s kingdom in all the earth. Our national policy is aggressive, and contemplates the complete subjection of every other power; but its object, unlike that of all other ambitious powers, is . . . the establishment of universal peace and happiness. Every loyal citizen of this nation is deeply interested. . . . ”—Pages 250, 251, under the title “A Peculiar People.”

6. What stand by this spiritual nation showed they were whole-souled for God’s kingdom?

⁶ True to this spiritual nationhood as spiritual Israel, this dedicated remnant kept themselves from being a part of this world, just as Jesus Christ and his twelve apostles themselves did. (John 15:19; 17:14-16; Jas. 1:27) For this reason they refused to have any part with the nations in World War I, bearing no carnal weapons and declaring their neutrality. By the official magazine and other publications of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society they had pointed to the year 1914 as the year marked in the Bible for the ending of the “times of the Gentiles,” when Christ’s kingdom should come to full power; and the outbreak of World War I in that very year confirmed their Scriptural conviction. They preached that thereafter all the nations of this world would meet their Armageddon in the “battle of the great day of God the Almighty” and be utterly destroyed. Christ’s kingdom was therefore the only hope of mankind.

7. What persecution did Babylon the Great bring upon this holy nation, and how did she view the matter?

⁷ For taking this course during World War I (1914-1918) the small remnant of the “holy nation” of spiritual Israel became, just as Jesus had foretold in his prophecy on the conclusion of this system of things, “objects of hatred by all the nations on account of my name.” (Matt. 24:3-9) Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, stirred up her political lovers to take action against the remnant of the nation whose God is Jehovah. Also, the spirit of nationalistic patriotism was appealed to to inflame the masses of the people and the legal courts of the land. Violent persecution followed. Various forms of governmental suppression of the remnant followed in various nations, even to the extent of banning these International Bible Students and banning all or part of the Watch Tower Society literature that they used in studying Jehovah’s written Word. Finally, Babylon the Great thought she had triumphed forever over this “nation whose God is Jehovah” when, near the climactic close of the world war in 1918, she saw the very president, the secretary-treasurer, and two other members of the Editorial Committee and three other leading agents of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society lodged in federal penitentiary sentenced to imprisonment for twenty years!

A NATION “BORN AT ONE TIME”

8. (a) While feeling the deathblow had been administered to this nation, what had Babylon the Great forgotten? (b) What dramatic rebirth took place in 1919, and what occurred thereafter?

⁸ From the standpoint of Babylon the Great and her political paramours, the deathblow had been dealt to the “nation whose God is Jehovah.” But they forgot or overlooked what this God had done back in the year 537 B.C.E. They did not figure or believe that this same God could do it again, in a final and complete fulfillment of Isaiah 66:7, 8. But he did do so! The very next year, the first postwar year of 1919, Babylon the Great and her political paramours saw the rebirth of the “nation whose God is Jehovah” at “one time,” together with the bringing forth of its “land” of religious existence and activity as “in one day”! Suddenly those dynamic leading representatives of the Watch Tower Society were released from imprisonment, never to return under false charges. The international organization was reconstructed, the first postwar international convention was held at Cedar Point, Ohio, and a new magazine, auxiliary to the still continuing Watch Tower magazine, was published. Dramatically, as if arising from the dead, the persecuted remnant of the “nation whose God is Jehovah” strode fearlessly upon the world stage of action.

9. (a) Who had happiness now that this nation had its rebirth? (b) Who had unhappiness and experienced a great fall?

⁹ Once again, by the reviving power of God’s outpoured spirit, the remnant were on the scene livelily producing and bearing the fruits of the kingdom of God, which they thenceforth proclaimed as having come to power in the heavens at the close of the Gentile Times in 1914. O how happy the “nation whose God is Jehovah” could be, not only the remnant thereof still in the flesh on this earth, but also its King Jesus Christ and the other resurrected members of the “holy nation” in heaven! (Ps. 33:12) But how unhappy Babylon the Great, including Christendom, had reason to be at this powerful evidence that she had fallen from her position of power against Jehovah’s “nation” and had come under his adverse judgment that will shortly be executed in absolute destruction! Like her prototype of ancient times that fell before Cyrus the Great in 539 B.C.E., so Babylon the Great must have fallen or otherwise the remnant of the “nation whose God is Jehovah” could not have gone free in the year 1919. (Rev. 14:8) How happy the reborn nation could be over this fall of Great Babylon!

10. What great happiness awaits all 144,000 of that reborn nation, both now and in the future?

¹⁰ Since that rebirth of the “nation” and its deliverance from Babylon the Great in 1919, the number of members of the remnant increased, much to the happiness of the nation. Its God Jehovah has predestinated that the full number of its citizen body must be 144,000 members with the King Jesus Christ in the heavens. (Rev. 7:4-8; 14:1-3) Happy, indeed, will that nation of spiritual Israel be when its remnant yet on earth finishes its course faithfully and is united to all the other members of the nation in heaven and then the entire 144,000 reign in glory with their King Jesus Christ for the vindication of the universal sovereignty of their God and for the everlasting blessing of all the families of the earth, living and dead. But even now while yet on earth in this “time of the end” of the anguished Gentile nations, the remnant of the “nation whose God is Jehovah” has unique reasons for being happy. Lovingly it endeavors to share this happiness with others.

HAPPINESS SPREADING

11. Who have now associated themselves with that nation, and what have they become?

¹¹ More and more of distressed humanity are taking steps to share in this happiness, the only true happiness now on earth. Particularly since the year 1935 the “great crowd,” foretold in Revelation 7:9-17, has left off being a part of this world and has associated itself with the nation of spiritual Israel. (Zech. 8:20-23) They have become like “alien residents” dwelling within the “gates” of spiritual Israel and enjoying the benefits of thus residing with them. (Ex. 20:10) As this “great crowd” is foretold to be without any predestinated number, its number has kept increasing steadily, year after year, till now. With the nation of spiritual Israel they have become like “one flock” under “one shepherd,” Jesus Christ the King.—John 10:16.

12. Because of their great happiness, who can it truly be said is the God of both the spiritual nation and the “great crowd,” and how do they worship their God?

¹² What happiness they all continue enjoying together despite the worsening conditions among the Gentile nations! By their full dedication and water baptism as followers of Jesus Christ, this “great crowd” has the same God as the nation of spiritual Israel, namely, Jehovah. The Christian apostle Paul called him “the happy God,” and so why should not his worshipers on earth be happy with Him? (1 Tim. 1:11, NW; Ro; NEB) If they were not happy, Psalms 33:12 and Ps 144:15 would make it doubtful that Jehovah was their God. There is no happiness in blindly worshiping false, demonic gods, but what ground for being happy is one’s having as the object of one’s exclusive worship and devotion the only living and true God! What a privilege to worship him “with spirit and truth”!

13. What added happiness is just ahead for God’s people?

¹³ To his nation of spiritual Israel Jehovah says: “You are my witnesses.” (Isa. 43:10-12) What added reason to be happy is it for the “great crowd” as associates of the nation also to be witnesses of Jehovah! When Babylon the Great, including Christendom, shortly goes into destruction with all her false gods, how happy these witnesses will be that they were privileged to bear testimony to the true and immortal God Jehovah, who will then be triumphant over his longtime enemy, the world empire of false Babylonish religion! Then it will be the time to shout Hallelujah!—Rev. 19:1-3.

14. What has been the good news since the end of the Gentile Times, and what are Jehovah’s witnesses doing about it in spite of persecution?

¹⁴ At the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 the long-promised Messianic kingdom of Jehovah God was brought to birth in the heavens. (Rev. 12:5-9) Since then this world has furnished no good news, but the heavenly Father of the newborn kingdom has provided his nation and associated worshipers with the best news that mankind has ever heard, “this good news of the kingdom,” the newborn kingdom. How happy they are, not alone to have this good news, but also to have the honor and privilege to fulfill Jesus’ prophecy and preach this good news of the Kingdom in all the earth for a witness before the end of this system of things comes at Armageddon! (Matt. 24:14; Mark 13:10) What does it matter that this brings international persecution upon them? In his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said that their being persecuted for this reason is an occasion for us to be happy. (Matt. 5:11, 12) This persecution will soon end with the violent end of all our persecutors!

15. With true appreciation, what can we say with the psalmist?

¹⁵ Most happy, then, are the sure prospects just ahead of us. Yet happy is our earthly estate even now in our spiritual paradise. We know this. We feel this. It is no self-delusion. With true appreciation welling up in our hearts to our God and his reigning King Jesus Christ, we can joyfully join the psalmist in exclaiming: “Happy is the nation whose God is Jehovah.”—Ps. 33:12.

A Drummer Becomes a Happy Witness

● In the Central African Republic a minister of Jehovah’s witnesses regularly passed by the home of a drummer. The drummer had been told by his priest to ignore Jehovah’s witnesses.

After some time, the drummer was reduced to extreme poverty. He even lost his shoes in a gambling game. But there was this same Witness passing by his home with a smile on his face and with shoes on his feet. The drummer began to do some serious thinking. “Why is it that I, a good Catholic, have nothing but problems, and this witness of Jehovah is always so happy?” A few days later he waited for the Witness on the road and asked him, “Why is there such a difference between us?” The minister gladly explained how Bible principles protect one. Now the drummer is a changed man, for he is one of Jehovah’s witnesses. He has cleaned up his life, legalized his marriage and, oh, yes, he is wearing shoes again.

Jehovah God, My Hope and Trust

As told by Benno Burczyk

“FOR you are my hope, O Sovereign Lord Jehovah, my confidence from my youth.” The words of this psalm well express my sentiments, for I sincerely believed and trusted in God from my childhood, even though I was thirty years old before coming to an accurate understanding of his wonderful qualities and of his loving purposes for mankind.—Ps. 71:5.

I was born in the year 1889, seventy-nine years ago, in the village of Tannenberg, in the Ore Mountains of Saxony, Germany. Home training and schooling were Lutheran, with a strong emphasis on Bible reading and trust in God, and as a young child I learned to pray. Being quite frail, I was sent by my parents at the age of twelve to live and work with a middle-aged childless peasant couple. They were devout believers in God and were very kind to me. My day’s work began at five o’clock in the morning and continued until eight o’clock in the evening seven days in the week, including four hours of school, six out of the seven days. My one recreation was playing my accordion when I had the time, my favorite music being hymns. This couple with whom I lived greatly helped me in my hope and trust in God.

After four years, in 1905, I went to the city of Leipzig, but city life did not make me happy. Wanting to learn the French language, in the spring of 1908 I went to Paris, where I got a job in a restaurant. But in Paris I was very unhappy. While there I learned about Canada, a new country with great opportunities, and so I emigrated to that land. In those days the trip from Le Havre, France, to Quebec, Canada, third class, cost but 140 francs or 28 dollars. There I found employment with an English farm family in Quebec whose church I joined.

In the year 1910 I received a letter and newspaper item from my parents in Germany telling that I was to be court-martialed by the German army for not returning to Germany for military service. Because of this I was advised by the farmer I worked for to take out Canadian citizenship papers so as to be free from the obligation of going back to Germany for military service, which I did. When World War I broke out, the farmers just could not understand why people of Christian nations would hate and kill one another like that, but their preachers told them it was God’s will to fight for their country. During this war, in 1917, being a Canadian citizen, I was drafted into the Canadian or British army. At that time I received a letter from my father through the Red Cross saying that he was stationed with the German army at Lille in France, facing the British army. Not wanting to be found trying to kill my own father, I pleaded opposition to the war, and the Canadian government granted me military exemption.

In November 1918 after some ten years of farm life I felt I needed a change. Tears came into the eyes of the old farmer when I said good-bye to him after having worked for him and together with him during those years.

THIS WAS IT!

I went westward to Ontario and got a job in a factory, but again I did not find happiness there. Unable to find a home at which to stay, I slept in one place and ate in restaurants. The city was no place for me. And so I wrote to the Canadian government at Ottawa, applying for one of the 160-acre homesteads they were offering settlers. The government promptly sent me all the necessary papers and instructions. However, about the same time an elderly man who worked in the same factory had heard that I was looking for a home at which to stay, and he came to me and said in a very loving voice, “You come to our home!” That was the nicest and the greatest and the best thing that ever happened to me. Why? Because that was the home of one of the fully dedicated Christian Bible Students, as Jehovah’s witnesses were called in those days. It was the beginning of really living and true happiness for me. It came over me so quickly and strong. I at once ended my membership to the Lutheran Church where I was a Sunday School teacher and also dropped the idea of settling on that 160-acre homestead. God’s Word of truth and his work were the all-important things for me now.

The truth of God’s Word as explained to me by these Bible Students was all so reasonable and so satisfying. It showed our dear heavenly Father as so loving and kind that at times tears of gratitude would come to my eyes as I prayed to him. This was it! Now I was satisfied! No longer was I seeking, hoping for something, not really knowing what, as when I made one change after another in my life. It was all so clear now: The warring nations were not Christian as they claimed; God’s Word, the Bible, clearly proved that. In fact, our dear Lord Jesus, pointing to the things that were happening on this earth since 1914, said, “When you see these things occurring, know that the kingdom of God is near.” (Luke 21:31) At the same time a wonderful heavenly hope was held out, to be one of the remaining ones to fill out the number of the 144,000 called from the human race to rule as kings and priests with Jesus Christ as described at Revelation 14:1-3 and Re 20:5, 6, and whom our dear Lord Jesus calls his brothers, at Matthew 25:40, 45.

In November 1919 I dedicated myself to do God’s will and was baptized. There was so much to do in God’s work, and I felt like the prophet Isaiah when he said, “Here am I; send me.” (Isa. 6:8, AS) There was a lot of reading and studying of the Bible to do with the help of Bible literature, for there was so much to learn. The local congregation needed help, and there was door-to-door witnessing to be done. At the time we were busy getting subscriptions for the magazine The Golden Age, now Awake! We hired a theater to show the highly interesting production, consisting of slides and motion pictures, called the “Photo-Drama of Creation.” We also rented halls to give a Bible lecture pointing to the kingdom of God and announcing that “millions now living will never die.” All the time I was supporting myself by working for a tire company.

In 1922 I wanted to attend the great convention of Bible Students at Cedar Point, Ohio. But when I asked for time off to attend this convention, my employer told me that he could not let me have the time as he would have to hire someone else to do my work. I told him, “All right, I give up my job,” and I did. There were no regrets for my having done so, as that convention was truly a great feast of spiritual food and marked a milestone for Jehovah’s people. At that time I made application to serve at the Watch Tower Society’s headquarters in Brooklyn, New York. Being single and unencumbered, I felt I could be doing more.

Early in 1923 the Watch Tower Society asked for volunteers to open up the witness work for God’s kingdom in French-speaking Quebec. Since I had learned some French in Paris, I volunteered and was joined by two other young Canadian Bible Students, Brothers Deachman and Robinson. We served as full-time preachers or colporteurs, as they were called in those days. After witnessing in such towns as Joliette, Grand’Mère and Shawinigan Falls and in the rurals for about six months, I received a letter from the Watch Tower Society’s headquarters in Brooklyn, telling me to come to Brooklyn to work at the headquarters where they had two months’ work for me. I had forgotten all about my having applied for such service, and now not wanting to leave my two companions, I wrote the Society that I could not come, explaining why. The Society was not taking No for an answer, but replied with a telegram telling me to come at once. So between the three of us we decided that the best thing for me to do was to go and to return after those two months of work. So about October 1, 1923, I came to Brooklyn.

BETHEL SERVICE

My immediate assignment was to help build the Society’s radio station WBBR on Staten Island. But when the work was completed I was asked to help in the Society’s printing plant at 18 Concord Street. Although I had intended to go back to Canada to join my two colporteur companions, I took this direction to work in the Society’s printing plant as God’s will for me, and through the years it has surely had God’s blessing.

My job in the bindery was embossing or stamping the gold letters on the covers of such books as the seven volumes of the Studies in the Scriptures, The Harp of God, Deliverance and Creation. When doorstep preaching with the phonograph opened up, I was put in charge of the work of building phonographs. When that method of preaching was discontinued, I went back to embossing book covers. After some thirty years at my embossing job I received a change of work, and younger brothers were put on that job. I am now assigned to the export shipping department, where there is always very much to do. It is a great joy to me to send Bible literature and many other things such as the phonograph recordings of our new Kingdom songs to our dear brothers all over the earth.

While my activity in the factory has been my chief joy for the past forty-five years, I have also received much pleasure and happiness in sharing with all other Christian Witnesses in congregational activities and in the field ministry, as well as in attending the large assemblies. For a number of years I had the privilege of serving as overseer of the German congregation of Jehovah’s witnesses in Brooklyn. But early in the 1930’s the foreign-language congregations were largely dissolved, to encourage immigrants to learn and use the English language.

For some fifteen years now I have been associated with one of the congregations that meet in the Kingdom Hall that is located in one of the Society’s factories here in Brooklyn. We have seen a steady increase, several congregations being formed from our increase during that time. Recently we moved into the new Kingdom Hall in the Society’s newest factory in Brooklyn, and what a beautiful Kingdom Hall it is! When you come to visit the Society’s printing plant in Brooklyn, be sure to see that Kingdom Hall.

The territory for my field ministry is not far from Bethel, where I live. The only way for me to get to that territory is to walk, and it takes me about half an hour each way. But I am very glad for that, for walking is very healthful. The people that I meet there are largely low-income Negro families, who also comprise most of the Fort Greene congregation with which I am associated. I consider it a great privilege to witness to these humble people and to serve with them. It makes me so happy to be with them. Christian love unites us all as brothers and sisters, even as our dear Lord Jesus said would be the case with his true followers.—John 13:34, 35.

I would also like to mention the time the Watch Tower Society arranged for all those who had been serving at its headquarters for twenty years or more, to take in the European assemblies in 1955. We had a most delightful trip across the Atlantic Ocean by chartered ship, and we were able to attend the assemblies in London, Paris, Rome and Nuremberg. It was my privilege and joy to give a short discourse in the German language at the Nuremberg assembly to more than 93,000 Witnesses in attendance. I had not been back to Germany since I left in 1908 to go to Paris.

KEEPING BUSY AND HAPPY

Though now I am seventy-nine years old, I am still able to do a man’s work, five and a half days each week. While my evenings are now limited to personal study and attending congregational meetings, I still manage to enjoy the field ministry every Sunday, going from door to door with the good news of God’s kingdom, making return visits and assisting newer ones in this blessed work.

Every day I ask our dear heavenly Father in prayer for help and wisdom to keep myself spiritually as well as physically healthy and strong so that I can keep on doing his holy will. During these past forty-nine years in Jehovah’s service I have indeed enjoyed a happy, rewarding and blessed way of life. And with Jehovah’s undeserved kindness I am looking forward to continued service to his honor and glory and to the blessing of his people. When the Israelites were rebuilding Jerusalem in 455 B.C.E., back in Nehemiah’s time, they ran into much opposition, but Nehemiah strengthened them, saying, “The joy of Jehovah is your stronghold.” This joy of Jehovah helps me to keep up the good fight of faith, looking forward to the time when Jehovah’s enemies are no more and all the earth is filled with his glory.—Neh. 8:10; Num. 14:21.

Truly, as I look back upon my life, I can say that Jehovah God, my Sovereign Lord, has indeed been my confidence from my youth.

Questions From Readers

● What is the “one baptism” referred to at Ephesians 4:5? Is it the same as the baptism spoken of at Matthew 28:19?—E. B., U.S.A.

Yes, it is essentially the same. The apostle Paul was referring to acceptable water baptism when he wrote: “One body there is, and one spirit, even as you were called in the one hope to which you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all persons.”—Eph. 4:4-6.

When Paul was in Ephesus in 55 C.E. he wrote to the Christians in Corinth. One of the points he stressed was that they should not be divided, attaching themselves to leading men, including the person who baptized them in water as if they were his followers. Those who were baptized in Corinth were not baptized in the name of Paul or Apollos or Cephas; they were baptized in water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit, as directed by Jesus.—Matt. 28:19; 1 Cor. 1:10-16.

Some five years later, or about 61 C.E., Paul wrote to his beloved spiritual brothers in Ephesus. One of the important points he stressed in this letter was unity, just as in his letter to Corinth. He showed that the division between Jew and Gentile had been abolished. Now all believers could unitedly approach Jehovah. They all could have holy spirit and form part of the spiritual temple, “a place for God to inhabit by spirit.”—Eph. 2:13-22.

Continuing this point of unity, he explained that together they constituted one spiritual body. They all received of the holy spirit. With the spirit as a token of what was to come, they had a heavenly hope. (Eph. 4:4; 1 Cor. 12:13; 2 Cor. 5:5) They had all believed on the same Lord, Jesus Christ, and they all exercised faith in the same divine provisions so as to be acceptable to God.—1 Cor. 8:6; 2 Cor. 4:13.

Then, before commenting that they were united by having one God and Father, Paul mentioned that they had “one baptism.” How true that was! All who were Christians had undergone water baptism.

The majority of those who were then Christians had been baptized as disciples after Pentecost 33 C.E. Prior to that time, some, such as the apostles who traveled with Jesus, had been baptized by John the Baptist in what was then a God-ordained and acceptable baptism. These did not later need to be rebaptized. When once the Christian congregation was established on Pentecost 33 C.E., John’s baptism was no longer acceptable. Those being properly baptized from that time forward would be baptized “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit,” as Jesus said.—Matt. 28:19.

This matter of being united by being acceptably baptized in water would have had particular meaning to those in Ephesus. It was in that city that Paul met some who had not heard of Jesus’ baptism. Apparently they had been baptized in “John’s baptism” after that ceased being an acceptable baptism. They would have already known about God, so Paul explained about Christ and holy spirit and “they got baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.” (Acts 19:2-6) Thus they could join with all the baptized Christians in Ephesus and elsewhere in serving Jehovah. And probably most, if not all, of the other Christians in Ephesus had been baptized after Pentecost 33 C.E. as disciples of Jesus.

Being acceptably baptized in water was thus an experience that Christians shared in common. Paul could appropriately draw upon this as an example of the oneness that Christians should have.

● Had Judas Iscariot left already when Jesus instituted the celebration of the Lord’s Evening Meal?—J. D., Uruguay.

Yes, the Scriptural evidence is that Judas was present for the Passover celebration with Jesus on Nisan 14, 33 C.E., but that he left before Christ instituted the memorial of his death.

Of the four Gospel accounts, the only one that might lead a reader to a different conclusion is Luke’s. First, Luke mentioned the regular Passover celebration, in which Judas as a Jew would share. (Luke 22:15-18) In the next two verses, Luke 22:19, 20, he presented some of the comments Jesus made when instituting the new arrangement, the annual memorial of his death. Then Luke showed that sometime that evening Jesus indicated that one of the twelve apostles was a betrayer, which comment caused them to wonder whom he meant (Luke 22:21-23) If Luke’s presentation were accepted as being in chronological sequence, it would indicate that Judas was there when the bread and wine of the Lord’s Evening Meal were served.

Let us remember, though, that even though Luke set out to present his Gospel in “logical order,” he did not always follow a strictly chronological order. (Luke 1:3) This can easily be seen from Luke 3:18-21. While this in no way limits the value of Luke’s Gospel, it being an inspired account, it becomes evident that the other Gospels should be taken into consideration to establish chronological sequence. Furthermore, Luke does not tell us precisely when Judas left the group. Surely it was before Jesus said: “You are the ones that have stuck with me in my trials.” (Luke 22:28) So let us turn to the other Gospels to determine when the betrayer left.

Both Matthew and Mark explain that a questioning arose among those gathered to celebrate the passover. Jesus had indicated that one of the apostles was a betrayer, and they wanted to know his identity. Both accounts indicate that this occurred “while they were eating” the Passover meal. (Matt. 26:20-25; Mark 14:17-21) While John’s Gospel does not cover many of the points already provided in the three Gospels that were written earlier, it does mention this questioning about the betrayer. John amplifies the matter by relating that Jesus identified Judas by giving him a morsel. Then what happened? John writes of Judas: “After he received the morsel, he went out immediately.”—John 13:21-30.

With this expanded view of the questioning about the betrayer and the exit of Judas, we turn back to Matthew and Mark. Both go on to explain that then Jesus instituted the Lord’s Evening Meal. (Matt. 26:26-29; Mark 14:22-25) Consequently, the order of events appears to have been: The group, including Judas, ate the Passover meal. During the meal Jesus mentioned that one of the twelve was a betrayer, a questioning over his identity arose and Jesus definitely identified him. Immediately Judas Iscariot left to betray Christ. Following this, Jesus instituted the celebration of the Lord’s Evening Meal among the remaining eleven apostles, who had ‘stuck with him during his trials.’

Announcements

“1969 YEAR BOOK” AND CALENDAR

The most encouraging report of the preaching of the good news ever released is to be found in the 1969 Yearbook of Jehovah’s Witnesses. From the opening words of the Society’s president, through the detailed report of service activity in all lands where the preaching is carried on, down to the Bible texts and Watchtower comments for each day of 1969, this report is the best yet! And, of course, you will want the beautiful 1969 calendar illustrating the new year’s theme. The Yearbook is 50c. The calendar is 25c. Order after November 27.

FIELD MINISTRY

Bible prophecy and current events indicate that little time remains for this wicked system of things. How vital, then, for people to remember their Creator now, while there is opportunity! (Eccl. 12:1) Jehovah’s witnesses are wisely using their time in order to help others remember their Creator. An outstanding way they do this is by conducting home Bible studies. During the month of November they will be offering help to interested people by means of a free home Bible study. Additionally, as an aid in these Bible discussions, they will offer the fine new book that presents Bible truths so clearly—The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life—on a contribution of 25c.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

December 8: The Happiness of the “Nation Whose God Is Jehovah,” ¶1-22, and Reasons for National Happiness, ¶1-5. Page 684. Songs to Be Used: 2, 29.

December 15: Reasons for National Happiness, ¶6-16, and The Rebirth of the Happy Nation, ¶1-15. Page 691. Songs to Be Used: 72, 40.