The Watchtower — November 1, 1970

Does the Bible Really Teach It?

THE Bible is the world’s oldest religious book. For Christians it contains the only remaining record of what Jesus Christ taught. For Jews it preserves Moses’ law. Even “unbelievers” read it as great literature. Thus, more copies of the Bible have been distributed than of any other book in the history of the world.

Yet, there are more false ideas about what the Bible teaches than there are about any other book!

What the Bible really teaches about such basic ideas as who God is, how earth was created and what happens when we die, is far different from what many religions teach today.

IS GOD A TRINITY?

Take, for example, the basic idea of who God is. For centuries Christendom has taught that God is a Trinity. People have been told that “the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God.” According to this doctrine, none of the three is greater, none is older, and none is more powerful than the others. If, as The Catholic Encyclopedia says, this is “the central doctrine of the Christian religion,” you would expect it to be explained specifically in the Bible. However, this is not the case.

The New Catholic Encyclopedia says that today “Trinitarian discussion, Roman Catholic as well as other, presents a somewhat unsteady silhouette.” Why? It says this is because of the modern return to “the primitive sources, chiefly the Biblical.” No doubt to the great surprise of many of its readers, it says that there is a recognition among Biblical scholars, “including a constantly growing number of Roman Catholics, that one should not speak of Trinitarianism in the New Testament without serious qualification.”a

It was not during the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ, but, according to this encyclopedia, it was as late as “the last quadrant of the 4th century” that the teaching of “‘one God in three Persons’ became thoroughly assimilated into Christian life and thought.” This means, of course, that the current idea about the Trinity was not explained by Christ to his apostles, but was added centuries after his death.

Among Protestants, The New Bible Dictionary admits: “The word Trinity is not found in the Bible, and, though used by Tertullian in the last decade of the 2nd century, it did not find a place formally in the theology of the Church till the 4th century.”

Thus, these persons who teach the doctrine of the Trinity are forced to admit that it is not found in the Bible. It developed after Jesus’ earthly ministry, and therefore was not a part of his teaching. He explained his relationship with the Father in an entirely different way. Rather than claiming to be equal with him, Jesus said: “The Father is greater than I am.”​—John 14:28.

The Bible is clear in its teaching about Jesus. It says he existed in heaven before coming to the earth​—that he had glory with his Father “before the world was.” (John 17:5) But it does not say that, like God, he had no beginning. Instead, the Bible calls him “the first-born of all creation,” and “the beginning of the creation by God.”​—Col. 1:15; Rev. 3:14.

The inspired Bible writers made a careful distinction between God and Jesus. The apostle Paul was very specific in this matter. He wrote: “There is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him; and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him.” (1 Cor. 8:6) Who did he say God is? The FATHER!

In view of such Biblical statements, it is no wonder that the New Catholic Encyclopedia says modern “Trinitarian discussion, Roman Catholic as well as other, presents a somewhat unsteady silhouette.” But this discussion about God is only a beginning. Many other ideas commonly thought to be from the Bible are not found there at all. Read on; some of these may surprise you.

[Footnotes]

It Is Not in the Bible!

MANY ideas commonly thought to come from the Bible are not found there at all. Check over the points discussed below​—see if you thought the Bible teaches them. Then, examine what it really says. Doing this may sharpen your interest in that book, and in what it means for us today.

“GOD MADE THE EARTH IN SEVEN TWENTY-FOUR-HOUR DAYS”

A common objection raised against accepting the Bible’s account of creation is the belief that it says God made the earth in seven twenty-four-hour days. You might want to read this account, which starts on the very first page of your Bible, at Genesis 1:1​—2:4 chapter 1, verse 1, and goes through chapter 2, verse 4.

After reading it, did you find anything at all that said the “days” referred to there were limited to twenty-four hours? The word “day” could not always mean a twenty-four-hour period in this passage, for at the end of the account the entire period, including all the “days” referred to there, is called “the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.” (Gen. 2:4) Obviously the word “day” does not here mean twenty-four hours, for it includes the entire creative period.

The word “day” can also mean “age.” We use it in referring to “Noah’s day,” “Caesar’s day,” or other epochs that were far longer than twenty-four hours, but were marked with a specific beginning and a definite end.

It should be noted that these seven great creative “days” do not include the creation of the universe, but only the preparation of earth for man. The Bible does not say when the sun, stars, planets, even the earth, were created. Genesis 1:1 states: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” But it does not say when that “beginning” was, or how much time passed between the creation of the universe and the beginning of the first of the seven “days,” mentioned in the next Ge 1 verse 2.

Another important point is that the first six days came to an end​—but not the seventh! The report of the first six days closes with a statement similar to the one for day six: “And there came to be evening and there came to be morning, a sixth day.” (Gen. 1:5, 8, 13, 19, 23, 31) But this concluding expression does not appear for the seventh day, on which God rested.

More than 4,000 years later, the apostle Paul understood that this seventh day, the rest day, was still continuing. He referred specially to this rest day mentioned in Genesis, and said: “Let us therefore do our utmost to enter into that rest.” (Heb. 4:4, 11) It is only logical that the peaceful thousand-year reign of Jesus Christ (who is identified in Matthew 12:8 as “Lord of the sabbath”) also be part of God’s great Sabbath, or rest day. Thus, the great “seventh day” of God’s resting from material creation on earth would include the nearly 6,000 years of Biblical history since Adam, plus the 1,000 years of Christ’s reign that Revelation 20:1-6 shows is yet to come. So, if the other six of this group of seven great creative “days” are as long as the last one, then each one must have been 7,000 years long!

The great creative epochs described in Genesis thus were periods lasting thousands of years, during which, the Bible says, specific steps were taken in the divine preparation of the earth for man.

“SEX IS THE ‘ORIGINAL SIN’”

Was Eve’s “original sin” the seduction of Adam, as many persons seem to think? Not according to the Bible!

The Bible says God made Eve as a “helper” or “complement” to Adam. The Biblical record calls them “the man and his wife.” (Gen. 2:20, 25) Their relationship was neither fornication (relations between persons not married) nor adultery (relations between persons married to someone else). Instead, their marriage relationship was holy, for God had instructed them to have children. He said: “Be fruitful and become many and fill the earth and subdue it.”​—Gen. 1:28.

What, then, was their sin? Precisely what the Bible says it was​—the simple act of eating a literal fruit (the Bible does not say it was an “apple”) that God had told them not to eat. This was a simple thing, but it was extremely serious. It was a flouting of divine authority. Eve chose to decide for herself what was “good and bad”​—what she should or should not do—​rather than accepting God’s decision on the matter. Adam’s sin was in following her in this course of disobedience.

“JESUS DIED ON A ‘CROSS’”

“I know Jesus died on a cross,” one may say. “I’ve read it many times.”

But, much to the surprise of many persons, there is nothing in the Bible that indicates that the stake on which Jesus was executed had a crossbar. In fact, the evidence is to the contrary. Louis Réau, the famed French authority on religious art, wrote: “The Gospels tell us nothing specific about the shape of the cross. The Greek word stauros can mean a simple post, and does not imply, as the Latin crux does, the crossing of two beams. It seems that originally Christ was represented attached to a post.”​—See Acts 5:30; 10:39.

The “cross” was a religious symbol long before the time of Christ. A French Catholic dictionary admits: “It cannot be denied that the cross had been employed as a religious symbol by the pagans. It is found in different forms on a large number of Asiatic, European, and even American monuments.”

Since the Bible gives no description of its shape, and the Greek words the Bible used meant “stake,” “post” or “tree,” rather than “cross,” then the burden really rests upon those who say that the post that Christ died upon had a crossbeam to prove that it did. And since no “cross worship” was described in the writings of Jesus’ apostles, but this was a “sacred” symbol to the pagans, its worship cannot be recommended for true Christians today.

“PRIESTS SHOULD NOT MARRY”

This controversial subject is fraught with emotion today​—particularly for those who have a close relative who has made a sacrifice in this regard.

Roman Catholic scholars point out that the apostle Paul did not command celibacy. Catholic scholars, writing in the Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible, say: “Most, if not all the apostles had been married, as Peter certainly was.” In evidence of Peter’s marriage, this Catholic book cites two texts: Matthew 8:14 and 1 Corinthians 9:5. The first speaks of Peter’s “mother-in-law.” In the second Paul says: “Have we not . . . the right to take a Christian woman round with us, like all the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas?”​—The Catholic Jerusalem Bible.

As indicated in this Bible verse, who had wives? “The other apostles.” “The brothers of the Lord.” “Cephas.” Who was Cephas? None other than the apostle Peter, who the Catholic religion teaches was the first pope. And Paul said Peter was married!

The Bible did not command celibacy for the priests in Israel, nor for the overseers in the Christian congregation. Thus, the Roman Catholic Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Bible, referring to the Bible writings of Jesus’ apostles, says: “St. Paul makes it quite clear that no Christian is obliged to practice v. [virginity].” It adds: “Celibacy of the clergy is nowhere demanded or even supposed in the NT [New Testament].”

“JESUS HAD A NAME​—GOD DOES NOT”

God’s Son has a name: Jesus. But does the Father?

“God” is not his name. Rather than being a name, the word “god” is more nearly a title. It applies to ‘anything worshiped by man as a deity,’ including idols and other men. (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary, 1960 ed., p. 355) Does the Almighty Creator have a name that distinguishes him from all such false gods?

Yes. In the original Hebrew language in which some three quarters of the Bible was written, the great Creator of heaven and earth is identified thousands of times by his name. This fact is readily admitted by religious scholars, both Catholic and Protestant, though many members of their churches know little about this name.

The Encyclopedia of the Bible says: “Jehovah, or rather Jahweh, is the actual, strictly personal ‘proper name’ of God of Israel.” The Protestant New Bible Dictionary states: “Strictly speaking, Yahweh is the only ‘name’ of God. In Genesis wherever the word shem (‘name’) is associated with the divine being that name is Yahweh. When Abraham or Isaac built an altar ‘he called on the name of Yahweh.’”

The French Dictionnaire de la Bible (Dictionary of the Bible), edited by the Catholic priest F. Vigouroux, says: “Jehovah, the personal name of God in the Old Testament. No divine name is so frequently used in the Hebrew Bible. It is repeated about 6000 times, either alone or with another divine name.”

Jehovah, Jahweh, Yahweh​—these are various ways in which the divine name is rendered from the Hebrew Tetragrammaton into English. This name was used in normal conversation in ancient times, to distinguish the true God from false gods. Except at Psalm 83:18 and a few other verses, the King James translation of the Bible generally uses the word “LORD” instead of God’s name. However, a number of Bible translations correctly retain God’s true name wherever it appeared in the language in which the Bible originally was written, spelling it either “Jehovah” or “Yahweh.”

WHAT DOES THE BIBLE TEACH?

Yes, what the Bible really says is far different from what often has been taught about it. Does not that fact stir your curiosity? Would you not like to know what the Bible really teaches, and the magnificent hope it holds out for the future of mankind?

Ask one of Jehovah’s witnesses, perhaps the one who passed you this magazine, for a free home Bible study. This is a course in basic Bible doctrines, offered for a period of six months, an hour a week, at no cost to you, in the privacy of your own home.

You will learn the answers to such moving Bible questions as: Why do we grow old and die? Where are the dead? Why does God permit wickedness? Do Christendom’s churches really teach what the Bible contains? What do the present troubled world conditions really mean? What does the future hold for you and your family?

More than one million families already are benefiting from this free weekly study. They are learning what the Bible really does teach. And they are becoming so enthusiastic about it that, by the tens of thousands, they are going out to tell it to their neighbors.

If you do not know one of Jehovah’s witnesses, write to the publishers of this magazine. One of Jehovah’s witnesses in your neighborhood will call to show you how you, too, can learn the thrilling facts that are contained in God’s Word the Bible.

Whether you now practice a religion or not, you owe it to yourself to know what truths really are found in that ancient inspired book. You may even find that this thrilling knowledge moves you to the kind of zeal, activity, and personal commitment that was long ago shown by first-century Christians!

‘Making Disciples’ by Leaps and Bounds in Brazil

EVERY hour, on the average, someone in Brazil becomes a baptized witness of Jehovah. In the ten months ending June 30 of this year 7,170 new students of the Bible offered themselves for baptism in evidence of their dedication to God. This means, on the average, almost 24 persons are being baptized every single day of the year, compared with last year’s 17!

Back in 1945 the work of making true disciples of Jesus Christ had scarcely begun in Brazil. There were only 344 active ministers of Jehovah’s witnesses. Today there are more than 60,000. They are organized in 1,080 congregations and 250 isolated groups. Truly the work of making disciples and baptizing them, as Jesus commanded, is going ahead by leaps and bounds in Brazil.​—Matt. 28:19.

PEOPLE WHO NEED HELP

How timely this discipling campaign! In Brazil many are sorely confused in religious matters. Elderly people will say: “Before, everything was sinful. Now, nothing is sinful anymore. Nobody knows what to do.” It is also quite common to hear Catholics say: “I believe in God, but I don’t like the priests.” One lady, accepting Bible literature, declared: “Since this business of ‘rock ’n’ roll’ mass began, I do not go to church. I say my prayers at home.”

The belated move by some priests to clear out image worship plus the pope’s downgrading of a number of the church’s “saints” are having repercussions. In Rio de Janeiro a Catholic woman said: “The pope can impeach whoever he wants. As for me, I will keep my little saints.” And a farmer in Campo Alegre, Santa Catarina, was heard to threaten: “Our priest is trying to remove all images from our church. Why, that’s all we have left! The day that happens, we will charge the church, take off his frock and throw him out of our city.”

In Rio de Janeiro, a young Methodist woman said: ‘In my church people speak a lot about morals and love, but they do not practice it.’ An elderly Baptist lady affirmed: ‘The only time our preacher spoke with enthusiasm was when he called those who didn’t pay their tithes “thieves.”’ Tired of paying for nothing, she accepted a free home Bible study from Jehovah’s witnesses.

In Rio Branco, deep in the Amazon jungle, an elderly woman, who hated the Witnesses and always called them bad names, happened to see her priest throwing church images in the garbage can. When the next Witness called on her, she readily accepted the provision of a Bible study in her home. When invited to the Kingdom Hall, she said: “How can I go there, after calling them all kinds of names?” However, she went and was received like an old friend. She has not missed a meeting since.

HELPING THE PEOPLE

In the cities particularly, the discipling work goes on apace. São Paulo, for example, has 130 congregations, one Witness for about every 500 of its population of six million. Still, many persons in isolated areas are yet to be helped to learn ‘all the things that Jesus commanded.’ (Matt. 28:20) Just as was the situation in the first century of our Common Era, strong Christian congregations are sending workers to preach farther afield. One congregation in Salvador, Bahia, even rented and eventually purchased a house in Irará, some one hundred miles away. They furnished a large room with sixty chairs, and put ten beds and thirty straw mattresses in other rooms. Every week a group of Witnesses travels to Irará to conduct Bible studies and meetings for interested persons; and once in a while the entire congregation goes there. At one of their latest public meetings, 110 persons were present. Now they have eleven persons sharing the good news, some already baptized. Some gladly walk twelve miles or more to attend these meetings.

In one month, April 1970, the Witnesses spent 961,819 hours in helping others to learn and observe the commands of the Lord Jesus. Many of these hours were spent conducting 53,591 Bible studies with interested persons. They also placed 632,650 copies of the magazines The Watchtower and Awake!, these journals greatly aiding people to become conscious of their spiritual needs.

Seeing the urgent need to help others to learn the commands of Christ, many Witnesses have increased their time for the discipling work. For example, of the 62,740 who engaged in the public ministry in April 1970, nearly 6 percent were at it full time. Missionaries and special pioneers, totaling 829, devote 150 hours per month in discipling. And 1,635 Witnesses devoted between 75 and 100 hours to public teaching of the Bible during April; another 1,200, as regular pioneer ministers, spent 100 or more hours in the ministry.

The combined efforts of all Witnesses in Brazil resulted in a vast distribution of Bible literature during the past ten months​—350,000 Bibles and hardbound Bible study aids and more than 40,000 new subscriptions for the Watchtower and Awake! magazines.

DISCIPLING PEOPLE OF ALL KINDS

People in great variety are being discipled. One young woman in Campo Alegre, Santa Catarina, for ten years the local priest’s “right hand,” showed interest in the Kingdom message. On his deathbed the priest admitted to her: “We know we are wrong, but it is too late now to change everything.” She is now an enthusiastic Witness.

Many are searching for the true organization of Christ’s followers. One man traveled a long way from Indaiatuba, São Paulo, for the purpose of finding the branch office of the Watch Tower Society in Rio de Janeiro, only to learn that it had been moved. Meantime he kept watching for a newer issue of Awake! magazine in which, as he eagerly hoped, he would find the new address. When he did visit the branch for literature he forgot to inquire about the address of a Kingdom Hall in his own neighborhood. In vain he inquired of the police, his workmates and others. Finally, he obtained the address through the telephone company. When he arrived at the Hall, it so happened that the large sign had been removed temporarily for repairs. However, he waited anyway, until some Witnesses showed up. From that time he has been a regular attender, and after three weeks he even began sharing in the discipling of others.

In Cabedelo, Paráiba, a Witness, in the house-to-house ministry, met a man who practiced voodooism. The Witness saw spiritistic images of all kinds on the walls of this man’s house, and there was also a big altar full of such images. A Bible study was started, and the subject “Worshiping God ‘with Spirit and Truth’” was considered. After the study, the man said he was going to follow the Bible’s teachings. He destroyed one image, as he said, ‘to see what would happen.’ Next week they considered the topic “Keep Free from Every Form of Spiritism.” Afterwards, the man said he would destroy all his images at the next study, with the help of the Witness. However, by the time the Witness arrived that next week, the job had been thoroughly done. Now the man is attending all meetings of the local Witnesses.

A young Witness in the full-time preaching work was refused permission to visit the occupants of an apartment building. Apparently annoyed, the porter would not even allow her to leave magazines for the tenants. When she asked what he had against the Witnesses, he replied: “You did not understand me, Miss. You have the truth. Everything the magazines say is right. They are just too good for these people. The last time you left magazines I collected them all from the garbage cans and kept them in my home.” He readily agreed to having a Bible study conducted in his home.

People from all walks of life are being discipled in Brazil. Most of them are ordinary people, but they were heretofore the cream of all false religions. (1 Cor. 1:26-29) At the recent “Peace on Earth” District Assembly in Fortaleza, Ceará, for example, candidates for immersion included many housewives, a fisherman, a weaver, a mechanic, a shoemaker, an office worker, a radio telegraphist, a former sailor, a teacher, a university student, and a chemist.

MEETINGS OF WITNESSES APPRECIATED

Appreciating the need for meeting together to study God’s Word, the Witnesses in Brazil spare no effort to provide adequate meeting places. In Salvador, Bahia, two congregations were using the same hall, and it was quite inadequate. Men of responsibility in the congregations urged the Witnesses to pool their resources, selling everything superfluous. Items of all kinds came out of trunks and other storage places. Among the items were wedding gowns, dresses, suits, scrap iron, antique figurines, and so forth. With the proceeds they built a fine Kingdom Hall.

Meetings at Kingdom Halls in Brazil often have an attendance 100 percent more than the number of local Witnesses. At sixteen district assemblies in 1969, there was a combined attendance of 114,927. The annual celebration of the Lord’s Evening Meal, too, is outstanding for its excellent attendance. This year one congregation in Fortaleza, with 85 Witnesses, had 285 persons present. In the extreme south, at Rio Grande, a congregation with 110 Witnesses had 345 persons attend; another congregation, with 45 Witnesses, had 195 in attendance. The total attendance at the Lord’s Evening Meal mounted to 164,436​—nearly two other persons for each Witness present!

In view of all this, the magazine Realidade, in an eight-page report in its June issue, was moved to exclaim about the discipling organization of Jehovah’s witnesses: “A perfect organization . . . they are not selfish: they know the world is going to end and want everybody to be saved”​—at least, everybody who loves the true God and seeks His righteousness. Truly, the discipling work in Brazil goes forward by leaps and bounds.

“Your Sins Are Forgiven”

An article specially designed for parents to read with their children

IT MAKES you feel good when you do what is right, doesn’t it? You know that your father and mother are pleased, and that Jehovah God is too. But no matter how hard we may try, sometimes we do what is wrong, don’t we? When we do what God says is wrong, this is sin.

The Great Teacher, Jesus Christ, showed that sin has a bad effect on all of us. He showed this when he did one of his wonderful acts or miracles. Let me tell you about it.

Jesus was staying in a town near the Sea of Galilee. A crowd of people came to see him there. So many people came that there was no more room for others to enter the house. No one else could even get near the door.

But more people kept coming. One group of people brought a man who was very sick. He was paralyzed. It took four men to carry him on a little bed or cot, because he could not walk.

Do you know why they wanted to bring this sick man to Jesus?They had faith that Jesus could help him. They believed that Jesus could heal him from that sickness.

But, with all those people in the house, how could they get the paralyzed man to Jesus? The men found a way. They climbed up onto the roof. It was a flat roof. And they made a big hole in it. Then they lowered the sick man on his cot right through that hole and into the room below. What faith they had!

All the people in the house were surprised when they saw what was happening. The paralyzed man on his cot came right down into their midst. Was Jesus angry because of what the men had done? Not at all! He was glad to see their faith. He said to the paralyzed man: “Your sins are forgiven.”

Some of the people did not think it was right for Jesus to say that. They did not think that he could forgive sins. So, to show that he really could, Jesus said to the man: “Get up, pick up your cot, and go to your home.”

When Jesus said that, the man was healed! He was not paralyzed anymore. Now he did not need other people to carry him about. He was able to get up all by himself and walk.

The people who saw this miracle were amazed. Never in all their lives had they seen anything as wonderful as that. They praised Jehovah for giving them this Great Teacher who could even heal people from their sickness.​—Mark 2:1-12.

What do we learn from this miracle? We learn that Jesus had the power to forgive sins and to make sick persons well. But we also learn something else. We learn that people get sick because of sin.

Have you ever been sick? Since we can all get sick, does this mean that we are all sinners? Yes, the Bible says that we are all born in sin.

Do you know what it means to be born in sin? It means that we are all born imperfect. We all do things wrong sometimes even though we don’t want to. We got this way because the first man and woman, Adam and Eve, did not obey God. They sinned when they broke God’s law. And we all got sin from Adam.

Do you know how we got our sin from him? Let me try to explain it in a way that you can understand. Maybe you have made mud pies in a pan. What will happen to the mud pies if you make a dent in the pan? Do you know? That same mark will show on all the mud pies you make in that pan, won’t it?

Adam was like that pan. He became imperfect when he broke God’s law. It was as though he received a dent or a bad mark. So when he had children, what would they be like? All his children would receive this same mark of imperfection.

Most children are not born with some big imperfection that you can see. They do not have an arm missing, or a hole in their side. But the imperfection they have is big enough so that they become sick and, in time, die.

Of course, some persons get sick more often than others. Why is that? Is it because they are born with more sin?

No, everybody is born with the same kind of sin. We are all born imperfect. So everybody can have some kind of sickness sooner or later. Even people who try to obey all of God’s laws and do nothing really bad can get sick.

Then why do some people get sick more than others? There are many reasons. It may be because they do not have enough food to eat. Or they may not eat the right kind of food. They may eat too much cake and candy.

Another reason may be that they stay up too late at night and do not get enough sleep. Or they may not dress warmly enough before they go out in the cold. So there may be many reasons why some people are sick more often than others.

Will there ever be a time when we will not get sick? Will we ever get rid of sin? Well, what did Jesus do for that paralyzed man? He forgave his sins, and healed him. In this way Jesus showed what he is going to do in a complete way for all those who try hard to do what is right.

If we show that we do not like sin, that we hate what is wrong, he will heal us. He will remove from us the imperfection that we now have. He will do this for us soon by means of the kingdom of God.

Sin will not be removed from us all at once. It will be taken away over a period of time. Then, when our sin is finally gone, we will never get sick again. We will all have perfect health. What a blessing that will be!

Do They Pay Attention?

● In Belgium a mother who is one of Jehovah’s witnesses was listening to a public Bible lecture with her child, about three years of age, sitting next to her. It seemed that he was not paying any attention to what the speaker was saying. The talk was dealing with marriage. When the speaker read 1 Corinthians 7:38: “Consequently he also that gives his virginity in marriage does well, but he that does not give it in marriage will do better,” the little boy leaned over, looked at his mother and asked, “Mother, why did you get married?”

Taking Final Advantage of the “Year of Goodwill”

“He has sent me . . . to proclaim the year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah and the day of vengeance on the part of our God; to comfort all the mourning ones.”​—Isa. 61:1, 2.

1. In what way is having someone else’s goodwill a desirable thing?

GOODWILL on the part of someone else is a thing that we all like to have, especially the goodwill of someone who can help us and do us good. The ancient proverb of wise King Solomon still rings true today: “In the light of the king’s face there is life, and his goodwill is like the cloud of spring rain.”​—Prov. 10:1; 16:15.

2. How can it be shown that there is no goodwill on the part of the elemental forces of “nature”?

² Goodwill cannot be expected from the elemental forces of “nature,” for they are blind, unintelligent, undiscriminating forces. They operate in accord with certain laws set for them by an invisible Intelligence. Thus certain conditions in the atmosphere give birth to the hurricane that laughs at human control and guidance and roars and rips through a stretch of land, heartlessly laying low man, beast, properties and growing things. Floodwaters, born of excessive rainfall or of the melting of the great accumulations of snowfall, sweep like sheets or in channels to swell the creeks and the rivers, pouring and swirling through low-lying regions, overwhelming everything animate and inanimate in their path. Natural earthquakes, tremendous in power, cause large structures built by man to move and sway, or open up great cracks in the ground, endangering living creatures in the neighborhood. Streams of radioactive particles from the fiery flares on the sun’s surface silently speed on their way to the earth, and men are obliged to feel their ill effects. Ah, no, there is no goodwill shown on the part of these elemental forces.

3. The having of whose goodwill counts in our behalf, and so what do thoughtful persons search out?

³ What, though, about the Creator of these natural forces? For our comfort, goodwill can be shown on his part. He is intelligent and has moral qualities, and we are all dependent upon him. Hence our having His goodwill is what counts in our behalf. On coming to appreciate this vital fact, thoughtful persons are led to search regarding how they may gain the goodwill of this all-powerful Creator of the universe, even our own Creator.

4. (a) Why do right-minded persons interest themselves in the “year of goodwill” on the part of the Creator? (b) Real wisdom lies in seeking what, and why so?

⁴ If we are right-minded persons, we will interest ourselves in an anciently announced “year of goodwill” on the part of this Creator. That expression “year” evidently stands for a limited time period, just as any calendar year is. This would indicate that the goodwill that marks this special year is also limited. After the “year” has ended, something opposite to goodwill is to be expected. What? The meting out of justice, without mercy, to those who have spurned the divine goodwill. Recorded history has actually proved this to be true. A universal “act of God” is now impending, not in the form of a mere local hurricane, inundation or earthquake. It is a personally willed and directed act on the part of God the Creator, and all the inhabitants of the whole earth stand in danger of it. Having God’s goodwill during the operating of his “act” could mean our life and survival. Do we want that? Real wisdom lies in now seeking His goodwill.

5. To what kind of time period does the “year of goodwill” refer, and how long-lasting is its goodwill?

⁵ No, the “year of goodwill” does not mean this year 1970, nor 1971. As far as this year 1970 has already run, the “year of goodwill” has included this first year of the 1970’s. But the critical “year of goodwill” has already been running for more than three hundred and sixty-five days, even for many years. It is a symbolic year and really represents a much longer time than a solar year or a lunar year. Such a literal year ends sometime, and so this symbolic “year of goodwill” may not be indifferently brushed aside with the idea that it will go on indefinitely​—who knows for how long? Like a literal year, it is a marked, calculable period of time, with a beginning and an ending. All indications are to the effect that the “year of goodwill” is near its end! When that goodwill ends with the “year,” then look out!

THE TYPICAL “YEAR OF GOODWILL”

6, 7. (a) By whom was this “year of goodwill” called attention to in those specific terms? (b) What coming comfort was this one inspired to foretell, and why?

⁶ Who was it that first called our attention to this “year of goodwill,” in those specific terms? It was a married man, the father of two or three sons, and he lived in the eighth century before our Common Era. His name was Isaiah, a name that Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance of the Bible says means “Jah Has Saved.” He is a historical character mentioned in historical books outside his own book of prophecy. (2 Ki. 19:2 to 20:19; 2 Chron. 26:22; 32:20, 32) He was the prophet who had a vision of Jehovah God in his temple at Jerusalem and who, in response to Jehovah’s question, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” answered: “Here I am! Send me.” He was sent to deliver a message from Jehovah God concerning the coming desolation upon Jerusalem and the land of Judah (Judea). This desolation, when it came, would really cause mourning among true worshipers of Jehovah God, who loved the land of His people and the holy city where the temple of his worship was located. (Isa. 6:1-13) But Jehovah God used Isaiah to foretell a coming comfort for such mourners by inspiring him to proclaim:

⁷ “‘Comfort, comfort my people,’ says the God of you men. ‘Speak to the heart of Jerusalem and call out to her that her military service has been fulfilled, that her error has been paid off [that accepted is her punishment, Rotherham; that accepted hath been her punishment, Young]. For from the hand of Jehovah she has received a full amount for all her sins.’”​—Isa. 40:1, 2.

8. According to Isaiah 61:1-4, the prophet was inspired to speak as if he were who, and what did he there say?

⁸ Later, under further inspiration, the prophet Isaiah spoke as if he were the Anointed One of the Most High God, saying: “The spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, for the reason that Jehovah has anointed me to tell good news to the meek ones. He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to those taken captive and the wide opening of the eyes even to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah and the day of vengeance on the part of our God; to comfort all the mourning ones; to assign to those mourning over Zion, to give them a headdress instead of ashes, the oil of exultation instead of mourning, the mantle of praise instead of the downhearted spirit; and they must be called big trees of righteousness, the planting of Jehovah, for him to be beautified. And they must rebuild the longstanding devastated places.”​—Isa. 61:1-4.

9. (a) What themes did that “good news” include? (b) How did the Greek translation (LXX) render the part about the “year” and the “day”?

⁹ Was that not “good news” to tell to the meek and mourning ones? And such good news included the “year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah.” Even the coming of the “day of vengeance on the part of our God” against the desolators and devastators of Zion or Jerusalem would be good news to those mourning over what had been done by enemies to the center of Jehovah’s worship. Years before our Common Era, when Greek-speaking Jews of Alexandria, Egypt, translated those words about the “year of goodwill,” they rendered the verse into the Greek to say: “to proclaim an acceptable year of [Jehovah] and a day of retribution. To comfort all who are mourning.”​—Isa. 61:2, LXX, Thomson.

10. (a) How did those Jewish translators word it to show what kind of year it was? (b) Yet what other thought would this even include in harmony with the Hebrew text?

¹⁰ Thus those Jews understood Isaiah’s Hebrew words to speak about what kind of “year” it was, “an acceptable year,” rather than to speak about the attitude of Jehovah, “goodwill on the part of Jehovah.” To those Jewish translators it was a year “acceptable” to Jehovah, a year that found favor in his eyes. But even this would suggest that this was a year “acceptable” to Jehovah for doing something favorable, especially so since “an acceptable year” is set in contrast with “a day of retribution.” So “an acceptable year” would include the idea that it is a time for Jehovah to show goodwill or favor. It is his “year of acceptance,” when he will be disposed to accept or receive. (Rotherham) When we see how this symbolic “year” works out in actual history, we are enabled to appreciate the full, correct sense of it. So now to the history of the matter and its application to our time!

START OF THE PROCLAIMING OF THE “YEAR”

11. (a) Who that was sent from heaven could describe best Jehovah’s attitude toward that “year”? (b) How was he given an earthly name, and how does it correspond with the name of the giver of the prophecy?

¹¹ When God’s due time came, “when the full limit of the time arrived,” Jehovah God sent from heaven to earth his own beloved Son “to proclaim the year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah.” (Gal. 4:4) What person, aside from this Son from heaven, could better describe the attitude of his Father during this symbolic “year”? When on earth this Son was given a name that quite corresponds with the name of the prophet who gave the prophecy about the Anointed One. At God’s command to his earthly mother, he was given the name “Jesus.” This shortened form of the name Jehoshuah means “Jehovah Has Saved,” whereas the name Isaiah means “Saved Has Jah (or, Jehovah).” Harmoniously with this, the prophet Isaiah was in a number of cases a type or prophetic figure of Jesus the Messiah or Christ.​—Luke 1:30-33; Matt. 1:20, 21.

12, 13. (a) For Jesus to become Messiah and officially proclaim the “year,” what was necessary? (b) From what after his baptism did Jesus know he had Jehovah’s goodwill, in harmony with what prophecy?

¹² Since Isaiah’s prophecy said, “The spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me, for the reason that Jehovah has anointed me,” Jesus had to be anointed with Jehovah’s spirit before he would really be the Messiah, Christ, or Anointed One, and before he could officially “proclaim the year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah.” He was thus anointed with Jehovah’s spirit after John baptized him in water and he came up out of the baptismal waters of the Jordan River. The descent of Jehovah’s spirit upon the baptized Jesus was symbolized visually to John the Baptist by the miraculous appearing of a dove that came to a resting position over Jesus. Added to this, John heard God’s voice from heaven saying: “This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved [Or, This is my Son, my Beloved, on whom my favour rests, New English Bible].” (Matt. 3:11-17; John 1:32-34) Jesus now positively knew that he had the goodwill or favor of Jehovah, just as it was foretold in Isaiah 42:1:

¹³ “Look! My servant, on whom I keep fast hold! My chosen one, whom my soul has approved [my soul hath accepted, Young]! I have put my spirit in him. Justice to the nations is what he will bring forth.”

14, 15. (a) On what, then, did Jesus’ continuing to have Jehovah’s goodwill depend? (b) How did Jesus explain to the people of Nazareth his being no longer a carpenter among them?

¹⁴ Jesus knew that to continue to have Jehovah’s goodwill or favor he must carry out the commission to which he was anointed, as stated in Isaiah 61:1-3. He recognized his anointing as the Christ and also the divine commission that went with his anointing. He publicly acknowledged this at Nazareth where he had grown to thirty years of age, and thus he explained to the people of Nazareth why he had not been any longer a carpenter among them for more than the past six months. As regards this we read:

¹⁵ “And he came to Nazareth, where he had been reared; and, according to his custom on the sabbath day, he entered into the synagogue, and he stood up to read. So the scroll of the prophet Isaiah was handed him, and he opened the scroll and found the place where it was written: ‘Jehovah’s spirit is upon me, because he anointed me to declare good news to the poor, he sent me forth to preach a release to the captives and a recovery of sight to the blind, to send the crushed ones away with a release, to preach Jehovah’s acceptable year.’ With that he rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant and sat down; and the eyes of all in the synagogue were intently fixed upon him. Then he started to say to them: ‘Today this scripture that you just heard is fulfilled.’”​—Luke 4:16-21; Matt. 2:21-23; 4:12, 13.

16, 17. (a) Evidently in what language did Jesus read Isaiah 61:1, 2, but in what language did Luke put the reading? (b) So in what time period were those Nazarenes living, but did they take advantage of it?

¹⁶ Doubtless Jesus read the words of Isaiah 61:1, 2 in their original Hebrew and so read about the “year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah” or “the year of the Lord’s favor.” (An American Translation; Moffatt; American Standard Version; Revised Standard Version; also New English Bible at Luke 4:19) But the historian Luke, writing in Greek, quotes the words as read by Jesus as they have been translated in the Greek Septuagint Version (LXX), so that Jesus is presented as reading about “Jehovah’s acceptable year.”

¹⁷ Whatever is the case, Jesus there at Nazareth made known his divine commission from Jehovah to preach or proclaim that special “year,” both as being an “acceptable” year and as being a year “of goodwill” or of favor on the part of Jehovah. Since he said to those Nazarenes, “Today this scripture that you just heard is fulfilled,” this meant that this marked “year” had already begun, that those Nazarenes were then living in it. Would they take advantage of it? Evidently not, if their soon taking him out of their synagogue and trying to kill him means anything. (Luke 4:22-30) They were not a good example for us today.

18. In what way did a remnant of faithful Jews experience the “year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah” back in 537 B.C.E.?

¹⁸ In what way, then, had the “acceptable year” or “year of goodwill” begun and when would it end? Had not Jerusalem and its temple built by Solomon been destroyed in the year 607 B.C.E., or more than a hundred years after Isaiah’s prophecy of Isaiah 61:1-3? Yes, that is true, and the city and the land of Judah had lain desolate and devastated for seventy years, until the year 537 B.C.E., when the faithful Jews who were held captive in Babylon were released and returned to the land of Judah and began to rebuild Jerusalem and its temple. And now, when Jesus was baptized and anointed, sixty-nine “weeks” of years, or 483 years, had passed since the Jewish governor, Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah, had begun to repair the walls of rebuilt Jerusalem. (Dan. 9:24-27) And so did not the restored Jews experience the “year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah” away back there at the reconstruction of Jerusalem and were not the mourners comforted at the rebuilding of the temple at the holy city? Yes, but only in a typical way.

19. (a) What was the vital thing missing back there in 537 B.C.E.? (b) Whose very presence on earth was a great evidence of Jehovah’s goodwill, and over what were the captive worshipers mourning?

¹⁹ That was indeed a period of Jehovah’s goodwill or favor and of immense comfort for mourning worshipers. But the vital thing missing was the presence of the foretold Anointed Proclaimer, the One who was authorized to point to Isaiah 61:1-3 and speak of it as being fulfilled in Him! The baptized Jesus, anointed with no mere vegetable oil but with Jehovah’s spirit, was the first one to meet the requirements of the prophecy fully and therefore the first one able to “proclaim the year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah.” What greater evidence of Jehovah’s goodwill or favor could there be at that time than the very presence on earth of the anointed Son of God, for those Jews who would receive him as the divinely promised Messiah? There was then need also of having good news preached to the meek ones, and Jesus Christ had such good news and he preached the good news of God’s kingdom. There was need to comfort the mourning worshipers, mourning, not over a desolated Jerusalem and temple, but over the broken-down state of pure worship of Jehovah. There were captives to be freed, not from ancient Babylon, but from a corrupt religious system.

20. (a) Rather than their material well-being, what was to be cared for in the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1-3 to Jehovah’s people? (b) What was the objective of this as regards them and God?

²⁰ The material well-being of Jesus’ own people was not the essential thing to call for the fulfillment of Isaiah 61:1-3. The things that were set out there in the commission to Jehovah’s anointed one were to be fulfilled in a spiritual way. Jehovah’s goodwill needed to be expressed in providing things more essential than material things. Not liberation from ancient Babylon as in the year 537 B.C.E., but releasing the captives from oppressive religious bondage was what Jehovah offered to his chosen people through his anointed Son Jesus. Not deliverance from subjection to the pagan Roman Empire, but deliverance from subjection to sin and its penalty death was what Jehovah in his favor held forth through the sacrifice of his Son Jesus Christ. These were the real things over which to cease mourning, to be joyful and to praise Jehovah as God. Then they could bear the fruitage of righteousness, like big trees planted by Jehovah, in order for him to be beautified in the fruitful lives of these liberated, godly persons.

21. (a) Who got the benefit of that “goodwill on the part of Jehovah” through the Messiah? (b) In what work were they commissioned to share from Pentecost of 33 C.E. onward?

²¹ Who got the benefit of that “goodwill on the part of Jehovah”? Not the Jewish nation, although the opportunity was wide open for them to take advantage of it; but the really “meek” ones, the religiously mourning ones, the ones who felt their captivity to a false religious system, these ones who became the baptized followers of Jehovah’s Anointed One, Jesus. They were the ones that also received the anointing with God’s spirit, just as their spiritual Head and Leader Jesus had received it. They were thereby commissioned like him to share in the telling of the good news to other meek ones, and in bringing release to the blinded captives of false religion and in comforting those mourning because of a lack of God’s blessing. The day of Pentecost of the year 33 C.E., with its outpouring of holy spirit upon Jesus’ reunited followers at Jerusalem, gave miraculous evidence that Jehovah’s goodwill or favor was toward them, not to the self-righteous, unbelieving nation.​—Acts 1:12 to 2:47.

“THE DAY OF VENGEANCE ON THE PART OF OUR GOD”

22. (a) Why were Jesus’ anointed followers eager to proclaim the “year of goodwill”? (b) To what time length could that goodwill be limited, and so what was there reason for the imperiled people to do?

²² Those faithful anointed followers of Jesus the Messiah were very eager about the proclaiming of the “year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah.” They knew that there was also coming a “day of vengeance on the part of our God,” and that this meant that the “year of goodwill” was therefore limited and due to end, yes, within their generation! There was real discernment of the limited period of time when Jesus described the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and added: “This generation will by no means pass away until all these things occur.” (Matt. 24:34) Similar appreciation of the limited time available was voiced when Peter the apostle said to more than three thousand Jewish observers of the outpouring of the holy spirit on the day of Pentecost: “Get saved from this crooked generation.” (Acts 2:37-40) The duration of the “year of goodwill” could accordingly be limited to the length of a human generation, and that fact would make the “year” not too long. This fact furnished all the more reason for the imperiled people to take advantage of the “year of goodwill” without procrastination. Delay could be fatal!

23. (a) The ceasing of Jehovah’s goodwill meant the beginning of what, according to Jesus’ prophecy in Luke 21:22, 23? (b) In agreement with that, what did Paul say about the Jewish persecution?

²³ The ceasing of God’s goodwill could mean only the beginning of his wrath. When Jesus spoke prophetically about the siege of Jerusalem and her destruction by the Roman legions in 70 C.E., he said: “These are days for meting out justice, that all the things written may be fulfilled. . . . For there will be great necessity upon the land and wrath on this people.” (Luke 21:22, 23) Thus Jesus was fulfilling his commission as Jehovah’s Anointed One to “proclaim . . . the day of vengeance on the part of our God.” It was God’s vengeance against those who refused to take advantage of his “year of goodwill.” Not choosing to gain God’s goodwill and favor in his loving way, they did things to increase his enmity toward them all the more. Said the apostle Paul concerning the Jewish persecutors: “They try to hinder us from speaking to people of the nations that these might be saved, with the result that they always fill up the measure of their sins. But his wrath has at length come upon them.” (1 Thess. 2:16) Thus those who hypocritically pretended to be his chosen people were the ones to perish on the “day of vengeance” on God’s part.

24. During the “year of goodwill,” how was God’s attitude reflected by what Paul wrote in Romans 10:1-4?

²⁴ During his “year of goodwill” God’s attitude toward the nation of Israel was reflected by that of the Jewish-Christian apostle Paul, when he wrote: “Brothers, the goodwill of my heart and my supplication to God for them are, indeed, for their salvation. For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God; but not according to accurate knowledge; for, because of not knowing the righteousness of God but seeking to establish their own, they did not subject themselves to the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the Law, so that everyone exercising faith may have righteousness.”​—Rom. 10:1-4.

25. What was the reaction of Jews in Antioch of Pisidia to Paul’s display of goodwill of heart?

²⁵ But although the apostle Paul showed his goodwill of heart toward his own nation, he found them not disposed to accept the message of salvation, just as in his experience in Antioch of Pisidia, concerning which we read: “When the Jews got sight of the crowds, they were filled with jealousy and began blasphemously contradicting the things being spoken by Paul. And so, talking with boldness, Paul and Barnabas said: ‘It was necessary for the word of God to be spoken first to you. Since you are thrusting it away from you and do not judge yourselves worthy of everlasting life, look! we turn to the nations.’” (Acts 13:45, 46) Possibly some of those opposing Jews went to the Passover celebration in Jerusalem of 70 C.E., but only to perish there.

26. Like a calendar day compared with a year, how did the “day of vengeance” compare with the “year of goodwill” lengthwise?

²⁶ Like a day in comparison with a year, the “day of vengeance” in the spring and summer of the year 70 C.E. was short in comparison with the forty years of the period of goodwill from Messiah’s appearing in the year 29 C.E. down till the siege of Jerusalem began in 70 C.E. And yet that longer period of divine goodwill ended, not accidentally, but at God’s marked time. His “year of goodwill” was longer than the time of the executing of his vengeance, which fact makes clear how patient and forbearing he is.

27. Because of our nearing the end of what period of time can we not afford to act how toward God’s patience and forbearance?

²⁷ Inasmuch as God holds to his appointed time for expressing his vengeance, we cannot trifle with his patience and forbearance. We should take advantage of it in harmony with the purpose for which it is shown, namely, our salvation. We owe it to ourselves to consider the question put by the apostle Paul to professed Roman Christians: “Do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and long-suffering, because you do not know that the kindly quality of God is trying to lead you to repentance?” (Rom. 2:4) Our deciding and acting now on this question is urgent, for we today are nearing the end of Jehovah’s “year of goodwill.”

[Picture on page 656]

At Nazareth Jesus read from Isaiah 61:1, 2, making known his commission to proclaim the “year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah”

Proving Ourselves to Be “Men of Goodwill”

1. (a) What did an army of heavenly angels unitedly say at the human birth of “Christ the Lord”? (b) What indicates that there must be a few of such “men” today, and so what question arises?

AT THE human birth of “Christ the Lord,” who was to be the One anointed to “proclaim the year of goodwill on the part of our God,” an army of heavenly angels unitedly said: “Glory in the heights above to God, and upon earth peace among men of goodwill.” (Luke 2:13, 14) Doubtless, down through the nineteen centuries since then to this day those “men of goodwill” have proved to be few. They have been the “men whom [God] favours” (Moffatt), the men who have the goodwill or favor of Jehovah God. Few they must be indeed, because, particularly since the year 1914 C.E. till now, there has been little peace on earth and more and more persons betray that they do not have the “peace of God that excels all thought.” (Phil. 4:7) How, then, in this late day is it possible for us to become God’s “men of goodwill”? We want to be such, do we not?

2. What kind of lesson should we take from the Jews of the first century C.E., and why?

² We should take a warning lesson from the Jews in Palestine during the first century of our Common Era. Their disastrous experience was not only historical but also pictorial, typical, exemplary. Says the inspired apostle Paul: “Now these things became our examples, . . .Now these things went on befalling them as examples, and they were written for a warning to us upon whom the ends of the systems of things have arrived.” (1 Cor. 10:6-11) Certainly with the coming, the human sacrifice, the resurrection and the heavenward ascension of Jesus Christ back there the ends of long-standing systems of things arrived, just as it is written, in Hebrews 9:26: “But now he has manifested himself once for all time at the conclusion of the systems of things to put sin away through the sacrifice of himself.” We today are living in a corresponding conclusion of a system of things. This is very manifest since 1914 C.E., just as Bible prophecy and world events and conditions prove beyond a doubt. For us, then, the typical examples recorded in the Bible were written in warning.

3. (a) Like the Jews in the apostolic days, we have been living in the time of what? (b) What part of the “sign . . . of the conclusion of the system of things” has been taking place world wide, since when and by whom?

³ Like the Jews during the apostolic days of the first century C.E., we too have been living in the time of divine favor, “the year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah.” (Isa. 61:1, 2) Like them, too, we have been living in the conclusion of a system of things. When giving his prophecy concerning the “sign . . . of the conclusion of the system of things,” Jesus Christ said to his apostles: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.” (Matt. 24:3, 14) Is not this “good news of the kingdom” being preached world wide today? Yes, according to all facts and figures. This has been true particularly since the year 1914 C.E., when, just as calculated by the International Bible Students Association, the Gentile Times, “the appointed times of the nations,” ran out and God’s due time came for him to install his Messianic kingdom in the heavens for the deliverance of mankind. Since then, not God’s coming kingdom, but God’s established kingdom, could be preached as good news world wide. And it has been thus preached! By whom? By Jehovah’s witnesses.

4. (a) As in the first century C.E., this preaching of the good news is an evidence of what attitude on God’s part? (b) Why should we take advantage of this?

⁴ In the first century the preaching of the divine message, “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near,” was a proof of God’s goodwill toward the Jewish nation. (Matt. 3:1, 2; 4:12-17; Isa. 9:1, 2) Likewise, today, the preaching of God’s established kingdom since 1914 C.E. has been an evidence of God’s goodwill. This is plainly so, inasmuch as, when this Kingdom preaching is finished, “then the end will come,” and that end of the present system of things means the “day of vengeance on the part of our God.” Forasmuch as the preaching of “this good news of the kingdom” still goes on, and this on an increasing scale on the part of Jehovah’s witnesses, this is evidence that we of this generation are still living in the “year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah.” After all this time of Kingdom preaching, that “year” must be running out, and we should take advantage of the “year of goodwill” before there breaks upon this whole system of things “the day of vengeance.” Have we done this, or shall we?

5. To those in a position like that of us today Paul wrote what in 2 Corinthians 5:21 to 6:2, and how long before Jerusalem’s destruction?

⁵ We are living in the time of opportunity, and our life is at stake. Shall we ignore the opportunity and thereby let the divine goodwill be extended to us in vain or shall we miss its purpose, thereby failing of salvation? To those who were in a like position as ours today the apostle Paul pleaded that it should not be so. In making his point he quoted from Isaiah 49:8, where we read: “This is what Jehovah has said: ‘In an acceptable time [or, in a time of goodwill (approval), marginal reading] I have answered you, and in a day of salvation I have helped you.’” (New World Translation, 1958 edition) Hence the apostle Paul writes: “The one [Jesus Christ] who did not know sin he made to be sin for us, that we might become God’s righteousness by means of him. Working together with him, we also entreat you not to accept the undeserved kindness of God and miss its purpose. For he says: ‘In an acceptable time I heard you, and in a day of salvation I helped you.’ Look! Now is the especially acceptable time. Look! Now is the day of salvation.” (2 Cor. 5:21 to 6:2) Paul wrote that about the year 55 C.E., or about fifteen years before Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 C.E.

6. (a) Why are we today facing something worse than what befell the Jews in 70 C.E.? (b) As far as we are concerned, what do we not desire to be the case with respect to God’s exercise of goodwill?

⁶ With no less urgency the inspired argument of the apostle Paul applies today so far along in this “year of goodwill.” We are facing something far worse and more stupendous than the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple in 70 C.E. ever was. It is no mere national system of things that is approaching its calamitous end in the “day of vengeance on the part of our God,” but is the worldwide, international system of things, involving all peoples, tribes, races and unscriptural religions. If we desire prayer to the one living and true God to be acceptably heard and answered, now for a little while longer is the “time of goodwill” for it. If we wish to have divine help to escape being executed on the “day of vengeance,” now is the “day of salvation” for this. It is according to God’s undeserved kindness that the “year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah” is still with us. If we value the opportunity for everlasting life in happiness we will not want to miss the purpose of God’s undeserved kindness or to have his goodwill extended toward us in vain.

HOW TO MAKE THE PROOF

7. (a) Therefore for all lovers of everlasting life what question arises, and from what can it be answered? (b) To what course of action did John the Baptist, Jesus Christ and his disciples urge the Jews?

⁷ For all lovers of everlasting life in a righteous new system of things, the question arises at this critical time, How can I become one of God’s “men of goodwill,” or, How can I prove myself to be one of them? Either question can definitely be answered from the written Word of the great Life-giver, the God of goodwill. In the first century the call went out by John the Baptist and then by Jesus Christ and by his apostles: “Repent, for the kingdom of the heavens has drawn near.” After Jesus’ resurrection from the dead and shortly before he ascended to heaven, he said to his disciples: “In this way it is written that the Christ would suffer and rise from among the dead on the third day, and on the basis of his name repentance for forgiveness of sins would be preached in all the nations.” (Luke 24:45-47) On the following day of Pentecost, when many Jews asked, “What shall we do?” the apostle Peter said: “Repent, and let each one of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for forgiveness of your sins.”​—Acts 2:37, 38.

8. When God admitted the uncircumcised non-Jews into the Christian congregation, what did Jewish Christians say that He was granting to the nations?

⁸ More than three years later, when Jewish Christians at Jerusalem heard that uncircumcised non-Jews of the nations had been admitted to the Christian congregation, they said: “Well, then, God has granted repentance for the purpose of life to people of the nations also.”​—Acts 10:1–11:18.

9. What step must follow repentance, and how did Peter stress this step in talking to a Jewish crowd in Jerusalem’s temple?

⁹ However, mere repentance, in the sense of heartfelt grief and sorrow at being a sinner and having committed sin, is not enough. This must be followed by action, by conversion or a turning away from sin and going in the way of righteousness, by a producing of fruits that are befitting to repentance. The apostle Peter stressed this additional step by saying to a crowd of Jews at the temple of Jerusalem: “God has fulfilled the things he announced beforehand through the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer. Repent, therefore, and turn around so as to get your sins blotted out, that seasons of refreshing may come from the person of Jehovah and that he may send forth the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven, indeed, must hold within itself until the times of restoration of all things of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old time.” (Acts 3:18-21) Turning away from the sins repented of would insure the forgiveness of such sins by Jehovah God.

10. How does a person, after his repentance and conversion, become one of God’s “men of goodwill”?

¹⁰ This conversion or turning away from sin must be followed by baptism in water, whether in the case of natural Jew or in the case of uncircumcised Gentile. When the resurrected Jesus told his disciples to go and make disciples of people of all the nations, he added: “baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit.” (Matt. 28:19) The baptism in water is a symbol that repentance and conversion have already taken place and that now the baptismal candidate has fully presented himself or has dedicated himself unreservedly to the Father, God, through the Son, Jesus Christ. In this way a believing person becomes a disciple of Christ, and for this reason he at the same time becomes one of God’s “men of goodwill,” or, “men whom he favours,” or, “men on whom his favor rests,” and toward whom he extends his peace.​—Luke 2:14, Moffatt; New English Bible.

11. In thus coming to God, whose example do we follow, when the fulfillment of what prophecy took place?

¹¹ By thus coming to do God’s good pleasure they are not only obeying Christ’s command but also imitating his worthy example. When Jesus presented himself to God at the time of his baptism in the Jordan River at the hands of John the Baptist, the prophetic words of Psalm 40:7, 8 went into fulfillment, the words thereof being the expression of Jesus’ heart: “That being so, I said: ‘Here I have come, in the roll of the book it being written about me. To do your will [pleasure, margin; Young; good-pleasure, Rotherham], O my God, I have delighted, and your law is within my inward parts.’”​—New World Translation, 1957 edition.

12. (a) Where are those prophetic words of the psalmist applied to Jesus on a certain occasion? (b) Likewise, at baptism what do we come to do, to gain God’s goodwill?

¹² The inspired writer, at Hebrews 10:5-9, applies those words of the psalmist to the time of Jesus’ baptism, saying: “Hence when he comes into the world he says: ‘“Sacrifice and offering you did not want, but you prepared a body for me. You did not approve of whole burnt offerings and sin offering.” Then I said, “Look! I am come (in the roll of the book it is written about me) to do your will, O God.”’ After first saying: ‘You did not want nor did you approve of sacrifices and offerings and whole burnt offerings and sin offering’​—sacrifices that are offered according to the Law—​then he actually says: ‘Look! I am come to do your will.’” That will of God was a good “will”; it was his good pleasure, or what pleased him. So, by coming at the time of baptism to do that divine will, Jesus came to do God’s good pleasure and God was well pleased in him. Likewise, when we undertake to do God’s will or good pleasure, we gain His goodwill, His favor.

13. (a) As “men of goodwill” we become associated with a people under a king belonging to whom? (b) How do they happily join in the “joyful shouting”?

¹³ As God’s “men of goodwill” we become associated with his people over whom his enthroned Son, Jesus Christ, now rules in the heavens as King. Prophetically it is written regarding this people, in Psalm 89:15-18: “Happy are the people knowing the joyful shouting. O Jehovah, in the light of your face they keep walking. In your name they are joyful all day long and in your righteousness they are exalted. For you are the beauty of their strength; and by your goodwill our horn is exalted. [Why?] For our shield belongs to Jehovah, and our king belongs to the Holy One of Israel.” Because their King belongs, not to any of the unpeaceable earthly nations, but belongs to Jehovah God, they happily join in joyful shouting. They enthusiastically join in preaching “this good news of the kingdom” in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations, that these nations might be notified of the only rightful government before their end comes on the “day of vengeance on the part of our God.”

14. What do these “men of goodwill” prefer instead of having the King rage at them, and on what side of him are they anxious to be in this time of separating people?

¹⁴ They desire to abide in the favor of this King who belongs to Jehovah. They do not care to hear his growling and raging on the “day of vengeance” on the part of his God. They do not want to feel the heat of his wrath, but prefer the cooling refreshment of his favor. They have in mind Proverbs 19:12: “The raging of a king is a growling like that of a maned young lion, but his goodwill is like the dew upon the vegetation.” The sheeplike disciples are anxious to be on his right hand in this “time of the end” when he is separating the people of the worldly nations just as a shepherd separates his sheep from the goats.​—Matt. 25:31-46.

KEEPING OURSELVES IN JEHOVAH’S GOODWILL

15. After having become the people whom God favors, what must we persist in doing, according to Proverbs 11:20, 27?

¹⁵ Once having become men whom God favors, we need to continue proving ourselves to be his “men of goodwill.” This requires us to persist in seeking his goodwill, being upright in heart. The Proverbs put the matter straight for us, saying: “Those crooked at heart are something detestable to Jehovah, but the ones blameless in their way are a pleasure to him. He that is looking for good, will keep seeking goodwill; but as for the one searching for bad, it will come upon him.” (Prov. 11:20, 27) In the uprightness of our hearts we keep searching God’s Word to know how to enjoy his goodwill now and forever. We dread to become something detestable to Jehovah and to have bad come upon us in the “day of vengeance” that rapidly comes on apace.

16. To assure themselves of Jehovah’s continued goodwill, for what must they wait, and where, and what must they do, according to Proverbs 8:34, 35 and Psalm 143:10?

¹⁶ If we continue seeking heavenly wisdom and act according to it, always being on the wait at wherever it can be gained, we shall assure ourselves of Jehovah’s goodwill. This will result in endless happiness to us. In Proverbs 8:34, 35 Wisdom personified speaks to us, saying: “Happy is the man that is listening to me by keeping awake at my doors day by day, by watching at the posts of my entrances. For the one finding me will certainly find life, and gets goodwill from Jehovah.” It therefore means happiness and life and divine goodwill toward us if we go to places where Jehovah’s “men of goodwill” meet together and wait regularly at the posts of the entrances there in order to go inside to hear the discussion of God’s written Word of wisdom, away from the wisdom of this world. With the psalmist they pray to Jehovah: “Teach me to do your will [pleasure, margin; good pleasure, Young; Rotherham], for you are my God. Your spirit is good; may it lead me in the land of uprightness.” (Ps. 143:10, edition of 1957) They know that if they do His good pleasure, they will enjoy his goodwill.

17. We need to meet with whom, and in order to be incited to do what, in order that we may thereby gain what from Jehovah, according to Proverbs 12:2, 22?

¹⁷ As the “day of vengeance” gets closer, more and more does it become advisable for Jehovah’s “men of goodwill” to meet together, with the motive of doing good to one another. Just as it is recommended to us in Hebrews 10:24, 25: “Let us consider one another to incite to love and fine works, . . . encouraging one another, and all the more so as you behold the day drawing near.” This course will strengthen us to persist in doing the things that are good in Jehovah’s sight and to be faithful in proclaiming the truths of his Word. Never let us forget these proverbial words of wisdom: “One that is good gets approval [favour, Young; Rotherham] from Jehovah, but the man of wicked ideas he pronounces wicked. False lips are something detestable to Jehovah, but those acting in faithfulness are a pleasure to him.”​—Prov. 12:2, 22.

18. Along with what kind of sacrifices will our prayers be acceptable to Jehovah?

¹⁸ If we maintain ourselves within Jehovah’s goodwill we can be confident that he will hear our prayers. This is especially true if we offer our prayers together with offering to him the “sacrifice of praise” and the sacrifices of the “doing of good and the sharing of things with others,” the sacrifices that are described in Hebrews 13:15, 16. Then Jehovah will be pleased with our prayers, just as we are assured in Proverbs 15:8: “The sacrifice of the wicked ones is something detestable to Jehovah, but the prayer of the upright ones is a pleasure to him.”​—Jer. 6:20.

19. Since when recently and how has Jehovah’s spiritual temple been shown to be a “house of prayer for all the peoples,” and in what words was this foretold?

¹⁹ During this still continuing “year of goodwill on the part of Jehovah” his spiritual temple has been made a house of prayer for all the peoples. This has particularly been true since the year 1935 C.E., when he began to bring to his spiritual temple a “great crowd” of worshipers “out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues” to render to him sacred service alongside the remnant of anointed disciples of the Lamb Jesus Christ. (Rev. 7:9-15) By keeping spiritually clean and by remaining loyal to his Messianic kingdom they have the joy of knowing that He accepts their sacrifices of praise and of doing good and of unselfishly sharing with others. For their encouragement it was long ago prophetically written: “I will also bring them to my holy mountain and make them rejoice inside my house of prayer. Their whole burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be for acceptance upon my altar. For my own house will be called even a house of prayer for all the peoples.”​—Isa. 56:7.

20. Our prayer heavenward is for us to be remembered with what, and therefore we keep in the company of those of what kind of speech?

²⁰ It is a great joy today for one to be associated with Jehovah’s “men of goodwill.” We desire to keep clean enough and faithful enough to be considered worthy to be numbered among them. Therefore our constant prayer heavenward is: “Remember me, O Jehovah, with the goodwill toward your people. Take care of me with your salvation.” (Ps. 106:4) When in the company of these ones, we hear speech that is pleasing to Jehovah. “The lips of the righteous one​—they come to know goodwill, but the mouth of the wicked ones is perverseness.”​—Prov. 10:32.

21, 22. (a) How does being under Jehovah’s goodwill contrast with the time when we were under his anger? (b) For what length of time do we want our being under His goodwill to be, and accompanied with what kind of cry?

²¹ Once we were under divine anger because of our failure to do the will or good pleasure of Jehovah God. But now that we have taken advantage of his “year of goodwill,” that past experience seems as having been for a moment, as a dismal, darkening evening that is past. It calls to mind the expression of the psalmist David after he had been recovered from the divine displeasure: “Because being under his anger is for a moment, being under his goodwill is for a lifetime. In the evening weeping may take up lodging [with us], but in the morning there is a joyful cry.” (Ps. 30:5) By taking final advantage of Jehovah’s “year of goodwill” we have been delivered from the momentary evening of weeping under divine anger and we have entered into the morning of his goodwill with “a joyful cry.”

²² May we make our being under Jehovah’s goodwill, not for one mere morning, but “for a lifetime.” We have the opportunity to make that for a “lifetime” of eternity. Then we shall always be appreciatively giving a “joyful cry” because of being under Jehovah’s goodwill, and our cry will be one of thanksgiving and of praise to Him through Jesus Christ.

Assyrian Kings and Israel

◆ Various Assyrian kings, such as Shalmaneser and Sennacherib, were involved in military action against Israel, and the Bible records this information. (2 Ki. 17:1-6; 18:9-16) It is also interesting to note that many records of Assyrian kings from this general period of time have now been unearthed. These records mention at least eight of the Judean and Israelite kings that are named in the Bible, including Hezekiah, Ahaz, Manasseh, Omri, Jehu, Menahem, Pekah and Hoshea.

“Of Course You Can, Kayoko. I Did!”

As told by Gladys Gregory

THE subject of our conversation was one that is dear to my heart​—pioneer service, that is, full-time preaching under direction of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society. Kayoko, a young Japanese girl, was keenly interested.

“‘Do you really think I could become a pioneer?” she asked.

“Of course you can, Kayoko. I did when I was about your age.”

“It’s such a great privilege to be able to spend all your time in the service of God’s kingdom! But I’m afraid I do not have the self-confidence.”

“Well, as I remember, I didn’t have much self-confidence either. But I did have confidence in Jehovah that if I put him and serving him first in my life he would take care of me materially and spiritually. And he really has. I have never regretted taking that important step​—becoming a pioneer minister.”

“Gregory-shimai,a you have been in the pioneer service for a long time, haven’t you?”

“Not so long when compared to the record of some faithful ones I know. Some have served fifty years as pioneer ministers and are still going strong. I first learned the true message of the Bible in Roanoke, Virginia, through my aunt, Edna Fowlkes, back in 1940. It was not until 1944 that I entered the pioneer ministry. My mother had been Christadelphian, but she truly loved the Bible, and so, soon after I began to associate with Jehovah’s witnesses, she and my sister Grace followed suit. From the first, Grace and I had pioneer service as our goal. However, support of our mother necessarily occupied our immediate attention.

“About that time two zealous young Witnesses, having left their home in Georgia because of severe family opposition, came to Roanoke so as to be free to serve Jehovah more fully. They were Fred Rusk and his sister Mary. That made four of us who were working toward the goal of pioneer service. And we all made it! My brother Grey, not yet a Witness, but kind and cooperative, came home from the army and offered to take care of mother. It was like a miracle! Jehovah had opened the way for us! And Fred and Mary Rusk got started too, he being eventually invited to the Society’s Brooklyn headquarters, where he still serves.”

“It sounds so thrilling! And the young folks here in our congregation feel the same way, don’t they? Almost all of the younger ones are either pioneers or planning toward that goal.”

Yes, the pioneer spirit permeates the congregations of Jehovah’s witnesses in Japan. And Kayoko, who only a year ago had been a quiet, reserved girl when she started to study the Bible with us, blossomed into a bright, lively, enthusiastic publisher of the Kingdom, bubbling over with joy at knowing about God’s loving purposes. Now, newly dedicated, she too caught the pioneer spirit!

THOSE EARLY PIONEER YEARS

Reminiscing with Kayoko took me back to those early years of our own pioneer service. In the spring of 1946 Mary Rusk, Grace and myself were assigned to Loudoun County, Virginia. Pulling our trailer with a dilapidated 1936 car, we embarked on two years of full-time preaching ministry packed with experiences, some trialsome, many good, many amusing​—but altogether a blessed time. The county had not been visited by Witnesses for some time, and three girls occupying a trailer parked at a filling station raised some eyebrows as well as arousing various kinds of interest. Only by getting out the Bible and witnessing to everyone who came near did we convince them that we meant business.

We located many interested people and started some fine Bible studies. We organized a series of outdoor public talks in Mrs. Kelly’s cow pasture that summer, speakers coming from some of the nearest congregations. There were many interested attenders. That fall we first met Bob and Jane Harris. News of us had spread and so when we walked up to their house one hot day Bob came in from wheat threshing to see what, as one of the men working with him had called us, “those no-hell women” wanted. He told Jane: “Take the books if you want to. If they’re about the Bible they are bound to be good.” They agreed readily to have a Bible study, and when a congregation was formed in the following spring, meetings were conducted in their kitchen.

That summer we had a peak of thirty active Witnesses in that small congregation, all country people. Then, in the winter, our invitation to attend the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead for training as missionaries arrived. The Harris’ eight-year-old Connie said: “Mother, we can’t just drop our meetings and our Kingdom-preaching work because they are leaving!” And, of course, they did not. There are now two congregations, each with its Kingdom Hall, in that territory.

So closed one chapter in our full-time service, but we still rejoice to hear of fruitage from the seeds planted back then. The filling station where we parked was owned by Calvin and Lucille Athey. Though kind, they had never shown any deep interest in our message. But sixteen years later in Japan I received a letter from Lucille in which she said: “You won’t believe it but I am now your Christian sister.” It made me very happy.

GILEAD SCHOOL AND AFTER

Attending the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead was a rare and marvelous experience. We did not know there was such a wealth of Bible knowledge to be had. Gilead, then, was up in the Finger Lakes region of New York state. Its green lawns and quiet streams moved Asano Asayama, one of the first Japanese graduates of Gilead, to declare: “It is like a piece of Paradise!”

Eight of us who were originally of the twenty-five graduates assigned to Japan were later assigned to Korea. Things happened fast. It took two months for the trip from New York to Korea, with many interesting sights and encounters along the way. Then three months after we got there war started, and that meant our evacuation by the army to Japan. We were first in Kobe for three months and then ended up, in October 1950, in Nagoya. That was an action-packed year!

None of us will ever forget that short stay in Korea. I have never seen zeal to surpass that of the Korean Witnesses. Materially destitute, many of them refugees who had fled Communist North Korea, they would usually have among the meager remnants of their possessions a well-worn Bible. Great numbers of these people came to our public lectures, and when each meeting was over they would crowd around every missionary present with their Bible questions. They would be satisfied only when the answer was read from their Bibles.

At the time of evacuation I can recall we were almost as concerned about having to part with our Korean fellow Witnesses as about the actual physical danger. The memory of their saying good-bye with tears streaming down their faces will long be with us. Indeed, it made it difficult for us to settle down to work in Japan for a time. Of our group only Don Steele and his wife could get back into Korea for quite a while. Meantime, it was suggested that, since we had begun to learn Japanese, we might as well stay in Japan. Other missionaries would be sent to Korea as and when they were permitted to enter.

“Gregory-shimai, your pioneer service took you around the world. Not everyone who goes into the pioneer ministry has such privileges, does he?”

“Pioneer privileges are varied. Some never leave their own country, Kayoko. And the need is so great in Japan right now that I don’t think anyone would want to leave this fruitful field.”

JAPAN​—STUDY IN CONTRASTS

In my twenty years here I have witnessed many changes. From a war-torn, impoverished land, Japan has been transformed into one of the most advanced countries in the world. The people are truly industrious, and are eager for education and to try new ideas.

At the first, Kingdom-preaching produced little result. With our limited knowledge of the language and a very small supply of suitable literature, this is not surprising. Nevertheless, some stuck with us, and as they matured in knowledge of the Bible, we became more proficient in their language. Some of those early students are still faithfully serving in Japan today.

Our language blunders were frequent. There is the one, for example, of the missionary who found that, because of a slight error in choice of a word, he had been saying “I am a Christian streetcar.” On one occasion I recall telling someone quite solemnly that “Christ Jesus came to earth to declare Jehovah’s name and address.”

We had many new customs to learn. We had to get used to sitting on our feet. Even now at most of my Bible studies with newly interested ones I still do. But everything is made so easy by the never-tiring patience of the Japanese people.

Despite the modernization of much in Japanese life, there is still much of the old to be seen. The kimono and the miniskirt are equally noticeable on the city streets. Japan ranks second in number of computers in use, yet almost no private homes have central heating. The usual equipment is a low table with a blanket over it and heat under it, so one’s hands and feet are warm while one’s back freezes. The Japanese are almost 100 percent literate, but there is much superstition.

While on the one hand Japanese youth are rebelling and campus riots are common, still 70 percent of the marriages in Japan are arranged by the family. Truly, Japan is a study in contrasts.

THRILLING PROGRESS

If the growth of interest in our Christian work here was slow at first, it has made up for lost time. It took ten years to produce the first thousand publishers of the Kingdom. Now, ten years later, there are over 9,000 regularly sharing in the house-to-house preaching ministry, of whom well over 1,000 are pioneer ministers. How is that for a success story? Fifteen of our original group of missionaries are still here, and what a joy and privilege to have shared in all this expansion!

The same qualities that have contributed to the economic progress here have exerted varied influences on the Kingdom activity. Industriousness is certainly commendable, but some people here who have come to know the real reason for present-day conditions allow themselves to be prevented from making Christian progress because of the long-established custom of putting secular work and ambition ahead of everything else.

Though people are education-minded and ready to accept literature, the deep-seated Buddhist religious influence still operates to maintain some form of ancestor worship. There is nothing in their background that provides basis for understanding the existence of God the Creator. So, with modern scientific education, most people under sixty and some over that age tell us that they are atheists.

However, there are meek, teachable ones, and some of these have made remarkable progress. As everywhere else, it is the right heart condition that counts.

Pioneer service, most of it in the missionary field, has certainly given me a large, loving family, true to the promise of Christ Jesus. (Mark 10:29, 30) Recently a young Witness, new in Tokyo Bethel (the Watch Tower Society’s branch headquarters), said, “Do you remember me?” Happily his face had not changed much. I recalled that he was attending primary school at the time when I was studying with his mother in Nagoya. Three in another family with which I studied are now special pioneer ministers.

A young man with whom I had conducted a Bible study during his school years introduced his twelve-year-old daughter who was being baptized that day in symbol of her dedication of her life to God. Some of my spiritual children have graduated from the Watchtower School of Gilead and gone on, some to serve as traveling representatives of the Society, others to serve at Bethel.

For myself I must say that Jehovah’s protection and guidance are never felt so strongly as when one is engaged in the full-time service. He adds a joy that makes it possible to know both “how to be full and how to hunger, both how to have an abundance and how to suffer want.” (Phil. 4:12) In the twenty years since I came to Japan I have been back to America three times, always with help extended through the Society from generous Witnesses around the world. The last time I had the privilege of attending the “Peace on Earth” International Assembly of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Atlanta and visiting my brother and sister and many friends whom I had not seen for eleven years. What a joyous reunion!

Nonetheless, Japan is my home now! I look forward to continuing on here through Armageddon and beyond, somehow busied in the worship and service of Jehovah. And as to Kayoko? She has been a special pioneer minister now for three years. A letter from her the other day reported that she is conducting ten home Bible studies, and one with whom she had studied is already a regular pioneer minister. I think she must have told that one, just as I told her: “Of course you can become a pioneer. I did!”

[Footnotes]

By Love and Obedience Not Forgetting Jehovah

What and whom were the Israelites not to forget?

One meaning of forget is “to lose the remembrance of; to let go from the memory.” This is the meaning of “forget” as used in God’s commands to the sons of Israel. At Deuteronomy 4:9 they were commanded not to forget “the things that your eyes have seen” in the way of the mighty works Jehovah performed on their behalf.

Then again, they were commanded not to forget Jehovah God himself, “who brought [them] out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slaves.” (Deut. 6:10-12) The danger of doing this would exist after they had entered the land of promise, flowing with milk and honey, and were enjoying all its good things. So Jehovah warned them against becoming materialistic and forgetting him.

Jehovah God by Moses gave his people still something else for them not to forget, at Deuteronomy 25:19: “It must occur that when Jehovah your God has given you rest . . . you should wipe out the mention of Amalek from under the heavens. You must not forget.”a Why were they to do this? Because Amalek “met you in the way and proceeded to strike in the rear of you all those straggling after you while you were exhausted and weary; and he did not fear God.” In due time Israel did “wipe out the mention of Amalek from under the heavens.”​—Deut. 25:18.

What are some of Jehovah’s doings that Christians today should not forget?

David said, “Bless Jehovah, O my soul, and do not forget all his doings.” (Ps. 103:2) Among these doings, as Jesus and the apostle Paul reminded their listeners, is His making provision of the sunshine and rain, the air we breathe and the food we eat. All we need in the way of material things comes from him.

Nor should Christians ever forget that their God Jehovah has provided all the necessary spiritual things. He has given his servants his Word, the Holy Bible. He has given them generously of his holy spirit. He gave them his Son, Jesus Christ, to be their Savior. And Jehovah has given mankind the hope of his kingdom.

Moreover, Jehovah has given his servants the honor of representing him as his witnesses. And he has provided a visible earthly organization, “the faithful and discreet slave,” to feed, direct and care for his people.

How can Christians show that they are not forgetting Jehovah?

By loving obedience to all his commands, such as to “offer to God a sacrifice of praise, that is, the fruit of lips.” (Heb. 13:15) They can offer praise by means of their prayers. They can offer it also by having family studies and family Bible conversation. What opportunities there are not to forget Jehovah when Christians meet together at their local congregations! Both by giving rapt attention to what is said about God from the platform and by contributing with public declaration as opportunity affords, they show that they are not forgetting God. (Heb. 10:23-25) And when Christians happen to be together, as when traveling or in social gatherings, what an ideal time to help one another not to forget Jehovah, by talking about interesting field experiences or about new things learned!

Further, God’s servants can show that they are not forgetting Jehovah by being lovingly obedient to all His requirements regarding personal conduct. And, above all, they can show this by telling others, from house to house and at other times, about the good things Jehovah God has done for humankind and all he will soon do.

What rewards come to those not forgetting God?

Those who, by love and obedience, do not forget Jehovah can be certain that he will not forget them. They will be able to call upon him when in distress and he will hear and rescue them. (Ps. 91:15) By not forgetting Jehovah they will have joy, peace of mind, contentment even now in the midst of this world’s turmoil, violence and wickedness. And they will have the blessing of Jehovah that makes rich and that has no regrets, sorrow or pain connected with it. (Prov. 10:22) More than all this, they can have the assurance and firm hope that they will, in Jehovah’s due time, enjoy the blessings of everlasting life in happiness in God’s new system of things so near at hand.​—Isa. 65:17-25.

[Footnotes]

Let Jehovah’s Purposes Guide Your Way of Life

THAT people in this twentieth century can let Jehovah’s purposes guide their way of life, just as was done by the apostles of Jesus Christ, has been demonstrated by the seventy persons who made up the forty-ninth class of Gilead School. These students from six different countries placed their worship and service of Jehovah, the Creator, in a position of primary importance in their personal lives. They demonstrated this recently by completing five months of intensive schooling to prepare them for missionary work in twenty different countries.

On September 13, 1970, these seventy dedicated persons were graduated from Gilead School, at which time they received upbuilding admonition. For example, one speaker reminded them that the only wise course to take is that of always wanting to please God. He quoted Jude 20 and 21, where the admonition is given to ‘build up yourselves on your most holy faith’ and to “keep yourselves in God’s love.”

The vice-president of the Watchtower Society observed in his talk to the graduating class that they were taking on a new designation, that of “missionary.” But there are some countries that do not want them because they know that the word “missionary” means a person who is sent to win people over to a certain line of thinking, and they do not want that. They think, he said, “you are in their land as missionaries of communism or have been sent by some foreign enemy land having a sinister purpose in their country. Missionaries of Christendom have made a bad face for Christianity in such countries.” He then noted that the word “evangelizer” accurately indicates what they will be doing.

Quoting 2 Timothy 4:5, according to the New World Translation, the speaker stressed the point of being an evangelizer. It says: “You, though, keep your senses in all things, suffer evil, do the work of an evangelizer, fully accomplish your ministry.” He told the graduates that this means being a bearer of good news.

In conclusion, the vice-president of the Society said: “Today you are graduating, and I am reminded of this, that it is not what you start that matters but what you finish. Ecclesiastes 7, verse 8 says: ‘Better is the end afterward of a matter than its beginning.’ Now your beginning today as graduates of the Watchtower Bible School of Gilead is a good thing, but is the matter going to become better? It can be made better if you will do what the apostle Paul himself did and what he told Timothy to do​—‘fully accomplish your ministry.’”

The president of the Watchtower Society brought the series of talks to a conclusion by giving his parting admonition to the class. He stressed Jehovah’s purpose for them to preach the good news of the Kingdom. He reminded them that Jesus was sent by Jehovah to get the good news of the Kingdom preached, and Jesus trained others to preach. Just before he ascended into the heavens Christ Jesus gave them definite instructions that they would be witnesses of him “in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria and to the most distant part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8) The speaker then went on to point out that Jesus’ disciples did get out and preach in all these places and more.

On the day of Pentecost Christ’s disciples, particularly Peter, spoke to people of at least fifteen nationalities, and 3,000 of them accepted Jesus Christ and were baptized, becoming his disciples. The Society’s president also commented that when some of these people went back to Egypt and Libya, from where they had come, the message of the Kingdom was taken there with them. Thus the good news was preached in Africa in the first century C. E. He then observed that some of the students in this forty-ninth class of Gilead received assignments to go to Africa and to preach the good news there. In the year 1942 there were only about 10,000 of Jehovah’s witnesses doing this preaching in Africa. In April, 1970, the preaching was being done there by 242,000 Witnesses. World wide, there are now 1,453,000 sharing in this work as Jehovah’s witnesses.

Then the speaker drew attention to what is written at Hebrews 12:25, which says: “See that you do not beg off from him who is speaking.” As part of his concluding comments, he said: “This is not a time to beg off from carrying on the work that God has given us to do.”

With the conclusion of the talk by the Society’s president, the seventy students filed past him to receive their diplomas and his warm congratulations. But the program was not over, for the students had prepared for the audience a fine Bible drama based upon the Bible book of Ruth.

Following this stirring drama the entire class sang along with the audience of 2,022 the lovely song “Be Steadfast like Ruth.” Then a heartwarming prayer by the Society’s president brought their graduation exercises to a close. The graduates and all present departed with the satisfied feeling of having been spiritually uplifted and with the determination to continue letting Jehovah’s purposes guide their way of life.

Announcements

YOU CAN UNDERSTAND THE BIBLE

There is no need for the Bible to be a closed book to you. What is written down in God’s Word is provided for the guidance of all mankind. So, knowledge of the Bible, its meaning and its instruction for our day, is available to anyone who is willing to study it with open mind and accept its principles and guides for living. You can be one of such. How?

The enlightening book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life is designed to make the Bible an open book to you. Its direct and clear-cut outline of the basic Bible teachings is easy to read and understand. It helps you to open your Bible in your own home and locate the Bible texts that answer the perplexing questions that have arisen in this world of violence, hatred and fear. It directs you to texts that explain God’s purpose for this earth, why he has permitted wickedness and how relief is sure to come in our own generation.

Free home Bible study courses are being conducted in multitudes of homes with the help of this book. The course lasts for six months. At your request, one of Jehovah’s witnesses will gladly aid in arranging for such a discussion in your household.

You may obtain a copy of the book The Truth That Leads to Eternal Life from Jehovah’s witnesses, who will be offering it in their house-to-house ministry during November. You can also obtain it at the Kingdom Hall nearest to you. Or, you may write the publishers of this magazine, and the book will be sent to you postpaid for only 25c.

“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES FOR THE WEEKS

November 29: Taking Final Advantage of the “Year of Goodwill.” Page 653. Songs to Be Used: 27, 109.

December 6: Proving Ourselves to Be “Men of Goodwill.” Page 660. Songs to Be Used: 84, 55.