Vindication 1 (1931)
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VINDICATION
The name and word
of the Eternal God proven and justified by
EZEKIEL’S PROPHECY
and revealing what must speedily come to pass upon the nations of the world.
Comments by J. F.
Rutherford
Author of
CREATION
DELIVERANCE
RECONCILIATION
GOVERNMENT PROPHECY LIGHT and other books
BOOK ONE
First printing
1,000,000 copies
Publishers
WATCH TOWER
BIBLE AND TRACT
SOCIETY International Bible Students Association
Brooklyn,
New York,
U. S. A.
Also
London, Toronto,
Strathfield, Cape Town, Berne, Magdeburg, and in other countries
TO
JEHOVAH
THE KING ETERNAL
This
Book Is Dedicated
“But the Lord is
the true God, he is the living God, and an everlasting King: at his wrath the
earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his
indignation.” – Jer. 10:10.
“Let thy name be
magnified for ever.” – 2 Sam.
7:26.
Copyrighted 1931
by
J. F. RUTHERFORD
Made in U. S. A.
PREFACE
JEHOVAH
caused to be written, more than 2500 years ago, what in the Bible is called
Ezekiel’s Prophecy. During the centuries that prophecy has been a mystery
sealed to all who have sought to unlock it, God’s due time has come for the
prophecy to be understood. He has brought to pass events disclosing its
meaning, and these events, well known to millions of people, placed beside the
prophecy, make it plain.
The
miniature fulfilment of the prophecy was upon Jerusalem and the nations there
round about. Its greater and complete fulfilment is upon “Christendom” and the
other nations now of the world. In this day of great distress and perplexity it
opens to the vision of godly men the things that must speedily come to pass and
guides the obedient into the right way.
Its
testimony now due to be given is notice and solemn warning to “Christendom” and
to all the world. It announces God’s judgments already written against the “man
of sin”, against “Christendom”, her rulers, and chief men, and against all who
have defamed the name of the Most High. It makes known the great tribulation
just ahead for the world, and how some may be shielded and protected and
carried through that trouble and blessed.
Its
message is that of comfort and encouragement to the faithful followers of
Christ Jesus who are now on the earth. It tells when and how Jehovah God will
prove, exonerate and vindicate his word and holy name, uplift and bless his
obedient creation, and make the world a place of everlasting peace and joy.
Every intelligent creature should know its contents. Read it and profit
thereby.
THE
PUBUSHER
VINDICATION
CHAPTER I
HIS NAME
JEHOVAH’S
NAME is of far greater importance than all things. The time must come when
Jehovah’s name will be upon every creature, and then everything that breathes
will extol and honor his name. Only those who come to a knowledge of Jehovah
and who honor his name will be given life everlasting. Jesus so stated when he
was on earth, but only a few to this day have believed that his words are true.
The defaming of God’s name was begun by the traitor Satan, and the entire
organization which the enemy builded has continued to reproach his holy name.
The removing of Satan and his organization will result in clearing Jehovah’s
name, and then all intelligent creatures may learn without hindrance the way to
life.
The
truth must be made known to the end that the name of Jehovah may be vindicated.
It is the expressed will of God that all creation shall be brought to a
knowledge of the truth and that then those who believe and obey and practice
the truth shall live. All others will be destroyed. The origin of man, the
course man has followed, how man may be recovered and granted life everlasting,
is truthfully stated in the Bible. It is found nowhere else except in
publications that base every doctrine upon the Bible testimony. Jehovah is true
and his Word is the truth. Every man that is brought into harmony with God must
learn the truth. Concerning those who will please God, Jesus said:
"Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth."–John 17:17.
That
which is the very opposite of truth is a lie. Satan is the author or father of
lies. (John 8:44) He began his lies by disputing the word of God and by
bringing reproach upon God’s name. That first lie led perfect man into the way
of wickedness and brought upon the entire human race sorrow, sickness,
suffering and death. In the centuries past Satan has pursued his course of
lying and wickedness without hindrance and has builded a mighty organization in
the earth by which he has brought reproach upon the name of Jehovah God and has
turned the mass of the people away from God. To accomplish his wicked purposes
Satan has resorted to all manner of lying, fraud and deception. The chief
element of his organization, by which he has defrauded the people and
reproached God’s name, is the religious element. This he started with Babylon,
and from then till now the name Babylon has attached to all religions used by
Satan to bring reproach upon the name of God.
The
greater the deception practiced, the greater the reproach; and so-called
"organized Christianity”, or “Christendom”, stands at the very head of all
hypocritical religions that have been used to deceive the people and to defame
God’s holy name. True Christianity means to truly and faithfully follow Christ
Jesus and to honor God’s name. “Organized Christianity,” or “Christendom”, has
taken the name of Christ Jesus but has practiced everything hut the truth. Just
enough of the Bible has been used to mislead and deceive the people.
“Christendom,” or “organized Christianity”, has therefore become the greatest
of all refuges or hiding places of lies. God has abided his own due time to
expose and to destroy all hypocritical and wicked organizations. Now his time
has come to uncover the lies, and expose the false religions and every other
part of Satan’s organization; and this he declares he will do by and through
the truth made known to mankind. The time is therefore come when lies shall be
torn from the place of power and authority; and truth enthroned will continue
to rule forever; and this will be a vindication of God’s word and name.
By his
prophet Jehovah says: “Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried
stone, a precious corner stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not
make haste. Judgment also will I lay to the line, and righteousness to the
plummet; and the hail [hard truths] shall sweep away the refuge of lies, and
the waters [flood of truth] shall overflow the hiding place.” (Isa. 28:16,17)
Zion here mentioned is God’s organization, and Christ Jesus the King of glory
is the chief corner Stone mentioned by the prophecy. Already God has placed
Christ Jesus upon his throne and presented him as King of the world, and thus
the corner Stone has been laid. Now Christ Jesus the great Judge has come to
the temple of God for judgment and the judgment is in progress; hence the time
is at hand for the hard and plain truths to be told and, thus continuing, the
truth, like a flood of water, shall arise, exposing the lies by disclosing their
hiding place, and will sweep away all hindrances to the people in gaining the
truth.
The
campaign to make known the truth of God’s Word to the people is now in
progress. In this work the Lord is employing the radio and many books
containing the explanation of the Bible, and these are put in the hands of the
people that they may know the truth. The work of vindicating God’s name has
begun, and will go on until every man, from the least to the greatest, shall
know that Jehovah is the only true God. Then never again will the truth be
bedraggled and hid from the view of God’s creatures.
HIS
NAME
The
Israelites were God’s covenant people chosen by him and used chiefly to make
pictures which foreshadow his purposes. Such pictures are made understandable
to men in due time in order that the anointed people of God may have hope and
in order that the rulers and the people in general may be served with notice of
what God is about to do to make a name for himself.
Jehovah
sent his prophet to the king of Israel and caused him to say: “I will set up
thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish
his kingdom. He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the
throne of his kingdom for ever.” (2 Sam. 7:12,13) By those words Jehovah stated
the importance of the kingdom in connection with the vindication and the honor
of his name. The “seed” there mentioned undoubtedly means Christ Jesus, the
beloved of God who was foreshadowed by King David. The King of glory Jehovah now
has placed upon his throne. (Ps. 2: 6) “An house for my name” means the
organization of Jehovah of which Christ Jesus is the Head and Chief. That which
will lead to the exaltation of the name of Jehovah in the minds and hearts of
all his creatures is a knowledge of and obedience to the truth. God has taken
out from the world “a people for his name”, which people are the first ones to
be favored with a knowledge of the truth.
It is
fitting that God used David, who forehadowed his beloved King Christ Jesus, to
write and say to the people taken out for his name: “Give unto the Lord the
glory due unto his name; worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” (Ps.
29:2) And thus the people so taken out for God’s name speak to one another. It
is the expressed will of Jehovah that ‘the people taken out for his name’ shall
bear to the world the message of truth that Jehovah is the only true God, and
thus be the witnesses of Jehovah at this time. (Isa. 43:10-12; 42: 6) Jehovah caused
his holy prophets to write concerning the vindication of his name, and now his
due time has come for his “faithful servant” to understand the meaning of the
prophecies, and the “servant” is directed to serve notice upon the rulers and
the people of and concerning God’s purposes as the prophets long ago wrote.
Ezekiel
was one of the holy prophets of God. Heretofore his prophecy has not been
understood, manifestly because it was not God’s time for it to be understood.
The theme that runs throughout the entire book of Ezekiel is that of the
vindication of Jehovah’s name. The phrase, “Know that I am the Lord [Jehovah],”
occurs at least forty-six times in the prophecy. More than any other book in
the Bible the prophecy of Ezekiel mentions this great and all-important truth.
The opening chapters give a setting for the understanding of the book when the
due time arrives for its understanding, and for that reason these chapters
should be carefully considered. Prophecies are not always fulfilled in the
order in which they are set down in the Scriptures, but a proper setting is
necessary for the harmonizing of the entire prophecy.
PROPHECY
How may
we know when we have a proper interpretation of a prophecy? At the very outset
we must understand that “no prophecy of the scripture is of any private
interpretation’’. (2 Pet. 1:20) If man gives a private interpretation to a
prophecy, that interpretation is merely his private opinion and is without
value, because no man is authorized by the Word of God to give such an opinion.
Many attempts have been made to interpret prophecy, and failure has resulted
because the rules laid down by the Lord have been ignored. Since no prophecy is
of private interpretation, it follows that the Lord God himself interprets
prophecy by causing to come to pass events in fulfilment of what he has
foretold; hence it is impossible for man to understand prophecy until such
events have come to pass showing at least a partial fulfilment of the prophecy.
Until God’s due time to understand prophecy it is not understandable. Then it
is first understandable by the covenant people of God who have his spirit.–1
Cor. 2:10.
To
determine whether a prophecy (and the prophet speaking it) is false or true
Jehovah made these rules: That the prophet must speak in the name of Jehovah,
thus indicating authority to speak; his words of prophecy must tend to turn the
hearer to Jehovah and to the honor of his name; and the prophecy must at some
time come to pass. (Deut. 18: 21, 22; 13:1-5; Jer. 28:13-17) The fulfilment of
a prophecy would necessarily be in harmony with these rules. The events coming
to pass must be in harmony with the prophecy as it is written, must tend to vindicate
the name of Jehovah, and must honor and exalt his name and not honor and exalt
the name of any human creature. If the interpretation tends to laud and magnify
the name of man, then such is not a true interpretation, because it is contrary
to the Word of God. (Job 32:21,22; Luke 16:15) In carrying forward his purposes
God uses his duly constituted agencies, but all honor is due to Jehovah, and
not to the agency.
Aside
from Jesus Christ no individual is foretold or foreshadowed in the selection
and development of the members of God’s organization. It necessarily follows
that in the fulfilment of God’s prophecy no individual among God’s covenant
people is or will be identified. It would be contrary to the Scriptures to
single out some individual and say that such individual is fulfilling prophecy.
It would be like the eye saying to the hand, I am all-important and you are
nothing.–1 Cor. 12:12-22.
Jehovah’s
‘elect servant’ is his Christ, and he deals with the “servant” as one. Members
of the body are therefore considered collectively, and not individually.
Jehovah God is the Master, and the “servant” is his instrument used for his
purpose, and all honor is due to the great Master. It is Jehovah the Master who
says to his ‘elect servant’: “Behold, the former things are come to pass
[meaning, some prophecies which I showed you have been fulfilled], and new
things do I declare; before they spring forth I tell you of them.” (Isa. 42:9)
When a prophecy is partially fulfilled and is in course of fulfilment Jehovah
permits his covenant and anointed people to see the meaning thereof, and these
in turn must declare the meaning to others who might have an ear to hear. Some
prophecies have been fulfilled, and some are in course of fulfilment; and, by
the rules laid down governing the fulfilment of these, by his grace and his
spirit God makes known to his ‘elect servant’ some things that are shortly to
come to pass, and thus the “new things” he now declares to them “before they
spring forth”.
Prophecy
was written aforetime for the specific benefit of God’s covenant and anointed
people. (Rom. 15:4) It follows, therefore, that the fulfilment must take place
and be made known to some of these anointed ones while on the earth, because
otherwise the announced purpose would be defeated. The anointed will not need
comfort and hope after they have been received into glory and made in the
likeness of the glorified Christ Jesus. Comfort and encouragement arc for their
benefit while they are on the earth, and particularly for the remnant on earth
“in the last days”. Since the purpose of prophecy’s being fulfilled is to vindicate
the name of Jehovah, its fulfilment must involve the people whom he has taken
out of the world for his name and must also identify the class that is opposed
to God and his purposes.
When
events come to pass and are known, we call these the physical facts. If such
events coming to pass involve God’s covenant people and distinguish them from
God’s enemies, and the events tend to honor and vindicate God’s name and they
fit the things foretold in the prophecy, then we may know that we have God’s
interpretation of the prophecy and therefore the right interpretation. For that
reason prophecy cannot be understood until God’s due time to understand it and
until it is fulfilled or in course of fulfilment. However, prophecy already
fulfilled or in course of fulfilment enables God’s anointed people to
understand the meaning of other prophecies written in harmony therewith and
foretelling what shall come to pass in the very near future.
Elsewhere
(See Prophecy, pp. 71-76) the Scriptural proof has been submitted showing that
the coming of the Lord Jesus to the temple of God took place in the spring of
1918. The early chapters of Ezekiel’s prophecy fit and confirm the work that
God’s organization has been doing since that date. That which the prophet sets
forth is of the keenest interest to the anointed of the Lord when viewed in the
light of recent events and the one coincides with the other. This shows why the
prophecy of Ezekiel could not be understood prior to 1918. It was then that
‘the heavenly temple was opened’ and God’s faithful covenant people were
permitted to have a vision of heavenly things and to see them in the light of
events coming to pass in the earth before their eyes. After using his covenant
people in connection with the fulfilling of prophecy, and without their
knowledge and understanding thereof, the Lord gives them an understanding. To
be able to look back and see how the faithful ones have been used by the Lord
in having a part in the fulfilling of prophecy is a real encouragement and
comfort to them and brightens their hope for the greater things set before
them.
It
seems hardly necessary to set out in full the text of Ezekiel’s prophecy here,
because almost everyone has a Bible, wherein is found the full text of the
prophecy. The student should carefully read the book of Ezekiel, as set forth
in the Bible. Herein the chapters of the Bible record will be indicated, and
those chapters as indicated should be carefully studied in connection with
these comments.
JEHOVAH’S
ORGANIZATION
(Ezekiel, Chapter 1)
Ezekiel
was twenty-five years of age when carried away with other Israelites as captive
to Babylon. His name means “God will strengthen” or “the strength of God”. True
to his name, he was strengthened of the Lord and hence well pictures the company
of God’s covenant people who are devoted to Jehovah and who are “strong in the
Lord and in the power of his might”. These are “strengthened with might by his
spirit in the inner man”. (Eph. 6:10; 3:16) It was in the fifth year of the
captivity that the word of the Lord came to Ezekiel and he had his first
vision. (1:2) He was then thirty years of age, that being the age required to
be attained to do the work of the priesthood.
It
seems quite probable that Ezekiel and Daniel were in the same company of captives,
for it seems that they were carried away captive at the same time, to wit, in
the year 617 B.C. The divine record shows that they were both pleasing to
Jehovah; hence they were not carried away as captives because of their own
wrongdoing, but to serve the purpose of God and to foreshadow things that must
come to pass in “the last days”. This was the first captivity from Jerusalem to
Babylon. “And he carried away Jehoiachin to Babylon, and the king’s mother, and
the king’s wives, and his officers, and the mighty of the land, those carried
he into captivity from Jerusalem to Babylon. And all the men of might, ... all
that were strong and apt for war, even them the king of Babylon brought captive
to Babylon.”–2 Ki. 24:15,16.
It is
interesting to here note and compare with this scripture some facts that came
to pass in 1918 and 1919 as heretofore written in The Watch Tower. “From 1918
to 1919 was a period of great travail and suffering. At that time the church
was practically in captivity to Babylon, which is one of the names for Satan’s
organization.” (See Watch Tower, Dec. 15, 1928, page 373.)
The
year 617 B. C., when Ezekiel was carried away captive, very well corresponds
with the year 1914 (A.D.), the beginning of the World War. There was an effort
made by Satan’s organization to commandeer all religious organizations for the
purpose of winning the war, and those of God’s covenant people were not only
threatened but many of them were forced into the war and the work of
proclaiming the truth was hindered everywhere. Not until 1919, or five years
after the beginning of the war, was the way again open to freely witness to the
truth. The year 1919, therefore, corresponds with the year 612 B.C., which was
the time that Ezekiel received the vision and was commissioned by the Lord to
act as a priest and to represent God as a prophetic witness.
This
apparent correspondency in dates would tend to prove that the ‘Elisha work’ of
God’s covenant people was due to begin, and did begin, in the year 1919 with
the assembling of that people in convention at Cedar Point, Ohio. That was the
time The Golden Age magazine was launched and the work of giving witness of the
truth to the people was revived. It was then and there that God made his
covenant people aware of the fact that he had commissioned them to ‘preach this
gospel of the kingdom to all the nations as a witness’, and it was there called
sharply to their attention that God had begun his reign through Christ Jesus,
earth’s rightful King. On the fifth day of September, 1919, that covenant
people of God was given a vision or understanding of the distinction between
the ‘Elijah work’ and the ‘Elisha work’ of the church; that is to say, that the
experiences of Elijah had foreshadowed a certain work to be done, which was now
completed, and the experiences of Elisha foreshadowed another work to be done
by the same people, which work had to begin at that date. (See Watch Tower,
1919, page 292.) As ‘the hand of the Lord was upon Ezekiel’, so was the spirit
and the power of the Lord upon his people when they saw for the first time the
work marked out for them to do and which had been foreshadowed by the
experiences of the Prophet Elisha. The work of God’s “servant”, broken up
during the war, now began to take on new life, the first of which was to begin
the organization and then go forward with the work.
The
year 606 B.C. marks the date of the desolation of Jerusalem. The year 606 B.C.
would correspond with 1925, when “organized religions’’ were plainly seen to be
in bondage to Satan, and a part of Satan’s organization, and to have been for
ever cast away from the Lord. Shortly thereafter the book Deliverance appeared,
exposing Satan’s organization and particularly the hypocritical religion
thereof. Also about that time God revealed to his people the delusion of
“character development” as a necessary qualification for the kingdom, and also
the “prisoners” in Babylon were identified. (See Watch Tower, May 1, 1926, and
November 15, 1926.)
“Chebar”
was the name of the river by the side of which Ezekiel got his first vision. It
means ‘‘length’’, that is, “extent of time,” and seems to indicate that the
fullness of God’s time had now come and his kingdom must now be established and
that the work of announcing that kingdom, as foreshadowed by Elisha, must
begin. Daniel had a vision at the river, and probably the very same river, at
which the dates 1914, 1918 and 1926 were foreshadowed, and confirms Ezekiel’s
prophecy.
Ezekiel’s
first vision was had five years after he was taken captive. That vision
represented and foreshadowed the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ to the temple
of Jehovah for judgment upon the true house of God and upon the professed house
of God, which judgment results in the destruction of the latter, or “organized
religion”. The Israelites had misused and abused God’s temple, and Jehovah
caused Ezekiel to prophesy of the destruction of Jerusalem. Nominal spiritual
Israel, or “organized Christianity”, so called, has misused and abused God’s
temple, and God’s judgment of destruction is pronounced against it. The first
chapter of Ezekiel’s prophecy is a description of Jehovah’s organization as it
appeared to the prophet. The description thereof, and its meaning, has been
published elsewhere, and hence is not here repeated. (See Prophecy, pages
116-123.)
The
vision of Ezekiel shows the Lord God Almighty sitting upon his throne over and
above all the forces of his organization and coming out of the north and moving
forward to the destruction of the city. Concerning this Ezekiel says: “And
above the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as
the appearance of a sapphire stone; and upon the likeness of the throne was the
likeness as the appearance of a man above upon it. And I saw as the colour of
amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it, from the appearance of
his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I
saw as it were the appearance of fire, and it had brightness round about. As
the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud in the day of rain, so was the
appearance of the brightness round about. This was the appearance of the
likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell upon my face, and
I heard a voice of one that spake.” – 1: 26-28.
The
duty of pronouncing God’s judgment and of the execution thereof is laid upon
Christ Jesus, who is God’s chief executive Officer. That this refers to the
time of the coming of the Lord Jesus to the temple of Jehovah for judgment is
further supported by what the prophet later saw and about which he wrote, to
wit: “Afterward he brought me to the gate, even the gate that looketh toward
the east; and, behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the
east, and his voice was like a noise of many waters; and the earth shined with
his glory. And it was according to the appearance of the vision which I saw,
even according to the vision that I saw when I came to destroy the city
[prophesy that the city should be destroyed, margin]; and the visions were like
the vision that I saw by the river Chebar; and I fell upon my face. And the
glory of the Lord came into the house, by the way of the gate whose prospect is
toward the east. So the spirit took me up, and brought me into the inner court;
and, behold, the glory of the Lord filled the house.”–43:1-5.
At the
time of this, his first vision, Ezekiel pictured and foreshadowed those in the
covenant with God and in line for the kingdom and whom the Lord Jesus Christ
found faithful upon coming to his temple and to whom he committed his kingdom
interests on the earth, and to which class he refers as the “faithful and wise
servant”. (Matt. 24:45,46) This “faithful servant” class had its vision made
clear concerning the Elijah and Elisha works of the church in the autumn of
1919. This was five years after Jehovah had placed his anointed King upon his
holy hill in Zion and the “man child”, the new government, had been born. That
new government was a part of God’s universal organization, and it was then,
through the functioning of that government, that Jehovah began his reign over
the earth. This was particularly shown by Jehovah’s being seated upon his
throne above all his organization, as described by Ezekiel. Therefore, five
years after the beginning of the kingdom the “servant” class of the Lord on
earth began to dearly see that God had another work for the “faithful servant”
to do before the end. The kingdom had begun, and the first great work would be
the clearing out of Satan’s organization, and before the Lord would do that he
would cause the members of the “faithful servant” class on earth to give notice
by a world-wide campaign of testifying to the Lord’s purposes. It is thus seen
that the physical facts exactly fit the prophecy and show that Ezekiel had his
first vision five years after his captivity and that the “faithful and wise
servant”, whom Ezekiel foreshadowed, had his vision of the kingdom-Elisha-work
five years after the King was enthroned.
For a
number of years God’s people had waited for the vision to speak. Since about
1889, when Volume II of Studies in the Scriptures was issued and it was seen
that there was a typical significance attached to Elijah and his work, the faithful
had waited, expecting the year 1914 to mark the complete fulfilment of the prophecy.
They had expected Armageddon to follow immediately after 1914 and the church to
be glorified. Of course it was not due time until after 1918 to have a clearer
vision of the prophecy. Like the Prophet Habakkuk, God’s covenant people had
waited, and, while waiting, there were some curious speculations indulged in by
them, which were mere guesses, of course, and therefore not true, because it
was not God’s time for them to understand. It was after 1914 that ‘the vision
spoke and did not lie’, to wit, after the coming of the Lord to his temple in
1918. Habakkuk, referring to the “servant” class, wrote: “I will stand upon my
watch, and set me upon the tower, and will watch to see what he will say unto
me, and what I shall answer when I am reproved. And the Lord answered me, and
said, Write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that
readeth it. For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it
shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely
come, it will not tarry. ’ - Hab. 2:1-3.
It was
in 1919 that the vision spoke to the “faithful servant” class and that class
began to see the significance of the Elisha work. The “servant” more fully saw
in 1922 the meaning thereof. It was in that year that God’s covenant people
came to a realization that they had been negligent in giving the testimony to
the Lord’s name and that ‘the Lord was angry with them’, but that the time had
come to ‘turn away his anger’. (Isa. 12:1) In that year the faithful saw the
Lord had come to his temple, and with joy and zeal peculiar to the house of the
Lord they went forward to do the Elisha work in advertising the King and the
kingdom. The vision was so marvelous and awesome to Ezekiel that he ‘fell down
upon his face, and heard a voice of one speaking to him’.– Ezek. 1:28.
When
the Lord, through the columns of The Watch Tower, disclosed the vision of the
Lord’s coming to the temple, and its meaning, the faithful appreciative ones,
designated as God’s “young men”, like Ezekiel, fell down and worshiped in
devotion to Jehovah. To these faithful ones the vision continued to increase in
beauty and grandeur, and they have seen and now see that the great work of
God’s anointed people on earth is to make a proclamation of the truth looking
to the vindication of Jehovah’s name. The “faithful servant” has since
continued to hear the voice of the Lord and to joyfully respond thereto in
going forward with the work committed into their hands.
DIVINE
COMMISSION
(Ezekiel, Chapter 2)
While
the young man Ezekiel was prostrated before the Lord he heard a voice of one
saying to him: ‘‘Son of man, stand upon thy feet, and I will speak unto thee.”
(2:1) “And the spirit entered into me when he spake unto me, and set me upon my
feet, that I heard him that spake unto me. And he said unto me, Son of man, I
send thee to the children of Israel, to a rebellious nation that hath rebelled
against me: they and their fathers have transgressed against me, even unto this
very day.” (2: 2, 3) Then and there Ezekiel was given a commission to bear a
message to the people of Israel. Since anointing is symbolic of a commission
granted and bestowed upon the anointed ones, this would represent the anointing
of the faithful ones who were approved and taken into God’s organization. Those
whom the Lord found faithful at the examination upon coming to the temple, as
pictured by the parable of the talents, would here be pictured as receiving the
anointing or commission.–Matt. 25: 21.
When
the Lord came to his temple in 1918 he found two classes of servants: one that
was moved by a selfish desire to be honored in the kingdom, and another
unselfishly devoted to the Lord in doing his will. The first he later
designates as the “evil servant”, and the other as the “faithful and wise
servant”. It is after the divison and separation takes place that the “faithful
and wise servant” is known and designated as "the remnant". The
"faithful and wise servant" is anointed and commissioned to care for
the interests of the kingdom, and this is designated by the words of Jesus that
‘he would make him ruler over all his goods’. (Matt. 24:47) This prophecy would
indicate that such anointing took place in 1919; and that the general pouring
out of the holy spirit, according to the prophecy of Joel, occurred in 1922,
when all in the earthly division of the organization of the Lord were
commissioned to go forth with the message of truth. – Joel 2: 28,29.
Ezekiel
saw the Lord approaching to destroy Satan’s organization, and the
"faithful servant" class saw in 1919 that the church, pictured by
Elisha, must now do a vigorous slaying work in connection with the Lord’s
destruction of "organized Christianity”. Shortly thereafter The Golden Age
magazine was issued, and No. 27 of that magazine laid bare the wicked deeds of
"organized Christianity”. Several million copies of this number of the
magazine were placed in the hands of the people. The "faithful
servant" class then got on its feet and went to work. The anointing was a
commission to speak God’s vengeance against those who had reproached his name.
In the commission given to Ezekiel "there was written therein
lamentations, and mourning, and woe". Likewise God’s anointed and
commissioned people were now commissioned to speak the vengeance of Jehovah
against those who had reproached his name. (2:10) The anointed people of the
Lord were therefore commissioned to publish these truths so that they could be
heard and read and understood.
Time
was required for the organizing of the work, and it seems certain that the
“servant” class might have been more energetic than they were. Doubtless many
were held back because of fear and something was required for such that they
might have their eyes fully opened to the responsibility of the work they were
commissioned to do. It is well known that some of the classes of Bible Students
at that time hesitated to distribute No. 27 of The Golden Age magazine,
manifestly because of fear. It exposes the duplicity of the clergy, and some
feared to incur their displeasure. In the latter part of 1919 the Watch Tower
Bible and Tract Society began the distribution of the message contained in No.
27 of The Golden Age. Classes that failed or refused to distribute that message
lost the privilege, and others were sent into their territory to make the
distribution. By 1922 God’s people had come to a clearer understanding of their
duties and the work took on a greater impetus, and those who were privileged to
do it went at it zealously and fearlessly.
REBELLIOUS
NATION
Jehovah
sent his prophet Ezekiel to the nation of Israel, a rebellious people that were
impudent and stiffhearted. (2: 3, 4) He warned Ezekiel not to be afraid to
speak to them nor to be afraid of their words. “And they, whether they will
hear, or whether they will forbear, (for they are a rebellious house,) yet
shall know that there hath been a prophet among them. And thou, son of man, be
not afraid of them, neither be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns
be with thee, and thou dost dwell among scorpions; be not afraid of their
words, nor be dismayed at their looks, though they be a rebellious house. And
thou shalt speak my words unto them, whether they will hear, or whether they
will forbear; for they are most rebellious. But thou, son of man, hear what I
say unto thee: Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house; open thy
mouth, and eat that I give thee.’’ – 2: 5-8.
This
well corresponds to the truth that the Lord permitted his people to understand
in 1919, that they were to go forward to “organized Christianity” with the
message of truth and to deliver it fearlessly, ‘whether they were heard or
whether they were not heard.’ It was also a warning to the “servant” class to
be not rebellious before the Lord as Christendom was and as some who were then
in the truth were, but that those who would please the Lord must be bold and
fearless in the proclamation of his message of truth. The Watch Tower warned
the leaders in the ecclcsias against a rebellious course and pointed out the
necessity of fearlessly engaging in the Lord’s service, and where some showed
fear and refused to do the work the opportunity to do it was given to others.
About
the autumn of 1922 the organization of God’s people on earth was more fully
completed, and it was then, at a general assembly of his people at a convention
in Cedar Point, Ohio, that they got a better vision and appreciation of God’s
purposes concerning them and their commission, and then they went to the work
with a real zeal. Isaiah’s vision seems clearly to have foreshadowed this
particular time. Isaiah had a vision of the Lord at his temple and came to a
realization that he as a servant of the Lord was a man of unclean lips, and he
cried unto the Lord, and the
Lord
sent to him his invisible messenger with a coal of fire from off the altar with
which Isaiah’s lips were made clean. Concerning this it is written: “And he
laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine
iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged. Also I heard the voice of the Lord,
saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send
me. And he said, Go, and tell this people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not;
and see ye indeed, but perceive not.”–Isa. 6: 7-9.
From
1919 to 1922 others had come to a knowledge of the truth and had responded to
the call for the kingdom. It was on the occasion of the assembly above
mentioned that all the faithful who were present saw the opportunity and necessity
of carrying the message of the kingdom to the people, and there was a
tremendous response such as never to be forgotten by those who witnessed the
demonstration. The spirit and zeal of the Lord were upon that people. It was
doubtless about that time that ‘the holy spirit was poured out on all flesh’,
meaning that all who had responded to the call for the kingdom, and who were
brought into the temple, were commissioned and commanded to carry the message
of truth to the people, regardless of sex or previous position in the church.
(Joel 2: 28, 29) The cleansing received by Isaiah foreshadowed the fact that
God’s “faithful servant” class would come to a realization that the proper zeal
had not been shown in proclaiming the truth and thus the sin was upon their
lips. The cleansing of Isaiah’s lips by a coal of fire pictured the fact that
God cleansed the lips of his people and sent them forth to do his work of
witnessing to the truth, and that all then who were faithful were anointed of
the Lord, and that these constituted thereafter God’s “faithful servant”,
otherwise called “the remnant”.
Prior
to the Lord’s coming to his temple for judgment there were a number who had
received the truth and responded to the call for the kingdom but who because of
selfishness had rebelled against the light and began to fall away. The
“rebellious” ones mentioned in the prophecy therefore would include all such
who began to fall away about 1917 and who were gathered out and formed the
“evil servant” class. Such claimed to be Jews (that is to say, devoted to God’s
praise and service of his King), and, says the Lord, ‘They are not, but are of
the synagogue of Satan.’ (Rev. 2:9; 3:9) ‘They are those that rebelled against
the light.’ (Job 24:13) It was the duty of The Watch Tower to speak with
plainness to such, and by the Lord’s grace this was done. Those who failed to
heed the Lord’s warning found themselves in the “evil servant” class and the
“man of sin”.
The
commission to Ezekiel, and therefore to the “faithful servant” class, was also
to warn those of the “great multitude” (Rev. 7:9-14), “such as sit in darkness
and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they
rebelled against the words of God, and contemned the counsel of the Most High.”
(Ps. 107:10-16) As Ezekiel was commanded by the Lord to warn the rebellious
Israelites, so God’s “faithful servant” class is commissioned to warn those who
profess to be the children of the Lord and who are rebellious. When the warning
to such rebellious ones was published in The Watch Tower the prophecy of
Ezekiel was not then understood. (See Watch Tower, 1926, pages 323-328, 339,
340; 1929, pages 134,147.) This is mentioned here as further evidence that the
Lord uses his people to fulfil prophecy and afterwards advises them thereof by
revealing the meaning of the prophecy. It is an evidence that the Lord feeds
his people upon food convenient for them and directs the way they shall go, and
to the Lord is due all glory. God commissions his people to do his work and
sends the obedient ones forth upon that mission; and he directs their way,
using them as his instruments, and all in the temple give him glory therefor
and sing forth his praises.–Prov. 3: 5, 6; Ps. 29:9.
As
further proof that the truth is not the product of the “servant” class or of
any man, but that all truth proceeds from the Lord, it is written, by the
Prophet Ezekiel: “And when I looked, behold, an hand was sent unto me; and, lo,
a roll of a book was therein; and he spread it before me; and it was written
within and without; and there was written therein lamentations, and mourning,
and woe.”(2:9,10) God’s due time had come to send forth his message; and 'a
roll of a book in a hand’ shows that this truth comes by the spirit and power
of God, and not by any creature, and that it is God’s product. The roll or book
spread out before Ezekiel shows that the time had arrived for God to send forth
his “servant” to deliver a message to his people. This time especially dates
from and after 1922, when the Lord had provided his people with a means for
witnessing to the truth. When the prophecies are understood it will be found
that they are all in exact harmony; which is another proof that they all
proceed from God.
The
statement of Ezekiel is in exact harmony with Revelation 10:1,2, which says:
“And I saw another mighty angel come down from heaven, . . . and he had in his
hand a little book open.” Thus is shown that God’s time had come to make known
his purposes and he sent forth his message of truth to his people. (See Light,
Book I, page 174.) God’s judgment written must be declared before the execution
thereof. “Organized Christianity,” or Christendom, pictured by Jerusalem, must
be told the truth and be warned of God’s impending judgment against her. Also
those who had been in line for the kingdom and had fallen away must be warned.
"Organized Christianity,” or Christendom, is pictured by Jerusalem and is
more reprehensible than the heathen nations; hence God’s judgment is written
against her.
The
roll of the book exhibited to Ezekiel contained the message of ‘the day of the
vengeance of God’ against Israel; and likewise now that which the Lord reveals
to his people contains the truth concerning the day of the vengeance of our
God, which must be declared to Christendom. (Isa. 61:2) Let the fearful and
rebellious refuse to declare God’s righteous indignation against Satan’s
organization, if they will; but all who are of the “faithful servant” class
without hesitation will declare God’s truth and expose to view the enemy and
the hideous agencies of his organization. Those who were once in line for the
kingdom and who fail and refuse thus to do put themselves in the class with
God’s enemies. (2:3) It is comforting and gratifying to see how Jehovah uses
his people to do his work and then later shows them what he has done, and this
is further proof that prophecy was written to make brighter the hope of those
who are in the covenant for the kingdom and who obey the terms of that
covenant. (Rom. 15:4) For several years God’s faithful people on earth have
been doing, and are now doing, a work which was foretold by the prophet and the
meaning of which the Lord is now pleased to reveal to his faithful ones.
It is
observed that almost a hundred times the Lord addresses Ezekiel as “son of
man”. That is one of the titles given to Jesus Christ; henee the class whom
Ezekiel pictured and foreshadowed must of necessity be those who are of the
body of the anointed One. The title does not apply to any individual, but
applies to the body members of Christ and takes in all the faithful anointed
ones of the earth. It is this class that the Lord uses in proclaiming his Word
and also in connection with the fulfilment of his prophecy.
SENT TO
CHRISTENDOM
(Ezekiel, Chapter 3)
The
third chapter opens with the statement: “Moreover he said unto me, Son of man,
eat that thou findest; eat this roll, and go speak unto the house of Israel.”
(3:1) In harmony with this God first causes his own people to feed upon his
truth and to grow strong thereby, and then their strength must be used in
obedience to his commandment to the glory of the Lord by speaking these truths
to others. This is in harmony with Revelation 10:8,9: “And the voice which I
heard from heaven spake unto me again, and said, Go and take the little book
which is open in the hand of the angel which standeth upon the sea and upon the
earth. . . . And he said unto me, Take it, and eat it up.” These prophecies of
Ezekiel and Revelation concerning the eating of the roll or book symbolically
represent God’s anointed servant receiving the truth to be used to the glory of
the Lord.
This is
further corroborated by Jehovah’s words to the Prophet Isaiah. Isaiah also
pictures the ‘‘faithful servant” class to whom the Lord Jehovah says: “I have
put my words in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand,
that I may plant the heavens, and lay the foundations of the earth, and say
unto Zion, Thou art my people.” (Isa. 51:16) The message of the Lord he puts in
the mouth of his ‘‘servant” not merely to feed upon for his own benefit, but
that it might be used in accordance with God’s commandments by proclaiming it
to others. ‘‘So I opened my mouth, and he caused me to eat that roll. And he
said unto me, Son of man, cause thy belly to eat, and fill thy bowels with this
roll that I give thee. Then did I eat it; and it was in my mouth as honey for
sweetness.’’ – 3: 2,3.
These
words last quoted from Ezekiel picture the faithful people of the Lord who were
hungry for a further revelation of his Word, whom the Lord Jesus began to feed
when he came to the temple of God. It took some time to fill them up and for
them to digest the food before they were ready for the fight, and when the time
came they were made strong in the Lord and went forth in obedience to his
commandments. This is in exact accord with Revelation 10:10,11, which says:
‘‘And I took the little book out of the angel’s hand, and ate it up; and it was
in my mouth sweet as honey; and as soon as I had eaten it, my belly was bitter.
And he said unto me, Thou must prophesy again before many peoples, and nations,
and tongues, and kings.” Thus is shown God’s provision and his preparation of
his people for a campaign that shortly thereafter began, and is now in
progress, the purpose of which is to proclaim the King and his kingdom and to
announce the day of God’s vengeance.
When
Ezekiel had eaten, then the Lord gave command to him: ‘‘And he said unto me,
Son of man, go, get thee unto the house of Israel, and speak with my words unto
them. For thou art not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard
language, but to the house of Israel.” (3:4,5) The Prophet Ezekiel thus
pictures God’s “servant” class of today who are sent to deliver a message to
Christendom, because this people have professed to be acquainted with the
Scriptures and the language thereof. So today the “servant” class carries the
message of truth to so- called “organized Christianity”, or Christendom, not to
a people of an unknown tongue; nor is it spoken in the terms of a heathen
religion; but they inform Christendom in their own language as to what God’s
Word has to say. If the anointed “servant” class does not now diligently engage
in proclaiming the truth of God’s purposes, those so doing would quickly cease
to be of the Lord’s servants and he would raise up others, because his time is
here when his message must be delivered.
The
purpose of delivering the message of truth is not to convert the world, as many
have foolishly thought; and this is proven by the words the Lord spoke to
Ezekiel: “But the house of Israel will not hearken unto thee; for they will not
hearken unto me; for all the house of Israel are impudent and hard-hearted.
Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces, and thy forehead
strong against their foreheads. As an adamant, harder than flint, have I made
thy forehead; fear them not, neither be dismayed at their looks, though they be
a rebellious house.” (3:7-9) Likewise the Lord tells the faithful “servant”
class that he has made their heads harder than those of the rebellious ones and
therefore they are not to fear those who are rebellious; hence they must go and
speak the truth with plainness and the Lord himself will take care of the
result.
Jehovah
then tells Ezekiel, and therefore the “faithful servant” class, to receive his
words in the heart and in the ears and then go and tell them to the people
whether they hear or not. (3:10, 11) God’s people could not today be faithful
unless they respond gladly and eagerly in carrying the message of truth to Christendom.
This is being done vigorously and zealously by those who love the Lord.
Ezekiel
then states that the spirit took him up and he heard behind him a voice of
great rushing, saying: “Blessed be the glory of the Lord from his place.”
(3:12) On the day of Pentecost, when the spirit was poured out upon the
followers of Christ Jesus, there was the sound like the rushing of a mighty
wind; and in like manner the spirit came upon Ezekiel, foreshadowing that the
spirit of the Lord would come upon his people after the coming of Christ Jesus
to the temple of Jehovah. “I heard also the noise of the wings of the living
creatures that touched one another, and the noise of the wheels over against
them, and a noise of a great rushing. So the spirit lifted me up, and took me
away, and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; but the hand of the
Lord was strong upon me. ’ ’–3:13,14.
This
foreshadowed that the Lord puts his spirit upon his people and reveals to them
a sufficient amount of the truth to enable them to discern God’s organization,
and the wicked organization of Satan in opposition to the Lord, and the great
privilege that they have of being in Jehovah’s organization and going into
action against the enemy and his agencies. When they see the hideousness and
wickedness of Satan’s organization these go in the heat of the spirit and with
bitterness against the enemy, because the enemy is God’s enemy. Such is not a
malicious hatred, of course, but a sincere and earnest desire to see the enemy
and his organization destroyed that God’s name might be exalted.
WATCHMAN
It
required some time after 1919 for the “servant” class to get clearly in mind
the meaning of the Elisha work. At first it would appear that the work must go
on as it had gone in the past, and that efforts should be made to bring as many
as possible into the truth and get them ready for the kingdom; but in time the
“servant” class saw that such is not the chief purpose of the Elisha work.
Ezekiel was then at Tel-abib by the river Chebar (“extent of time”), which
would indicate that the fullness of God’s time had come for a new era in his
field of service. “Tel-abib” means “hill of green growth” or “hill of Abib”.
The first month of the Jewish year was Abib, the same as Nisan, that being the
springtime, when the earth was covered with green growth. Even so it was ‘the
springtime of the kingdom’, the “hill of green growth” marking the time of a
new era. Many who had made a covenant to do God’s will and had been brought
forth as his sons had turned away into Babylonish captivity. God’s covenant
people must now have a watchman, and this was foreshadowed by what the Lord
said to Ezekiel: “And it came to pass at the end of seven days, that the word
of the Lord came unto me, saying, Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto
the house of Israel; therefore hear the word at my mouth, and give them warning
from me.”–3:16,17.
The
“watchman” is not one man, but is the entire company of anointed ones on earth
making up the “faithful and wise servant” class. Some have advanced the thought
that the “watchman” is an individual ; but this is entirely wrong and contrary
to the Scriptures. The anointed class constitute the “watchman”, and each member
thereof watches for the other and watches out for the interests of the kingdom,
all of which are now committed into the hands of the “servant” class.
Concerning this same “watchman” Isaiah wrote: “Thy watchmen shall lift up the
voice; with the voice together shall they sing: for they shall see eye to eye,
when the Lord shall bring again Zion.” The faithful watchmen must give warning
to all who claim to be the people of God. Therefore they say to each other:
“Thy God reigneth!”– Isa. 52:7,8.
The
Lord has laid great responsibility upon the watchmen, to wit, his “faithful servant”
class. He makes it obligatory that such shall warn those who start in the way
of wickedness. The wicked are not those who never knew of the truth, but are
those who, having once been enlightened, to some degree at least, concerning
the truth of God’s purposes, have then turned away therefrom and render service
to the enemy. As Jehovah commanded Ezekiel, so he commands now the one whom
Ezekiel foreshadowed, his watchmen, his “servant” class, saying: “When I say
unto the wicked, Thou shalt surely die; and thou givest him not warning, nor
speakest to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; the same
wicked man shall die in his iniquity; but his blood will I require at thine
hand. Yet if thou warn the wicked, and he turn not from his wickedness, nor
from his wicked way, he shall die in his iniquity; but thou hast delivered thy
soul.” (3:18-20) The “watchman” class could not perform its proper duty unless
it sounded the warning to those who have once been connected with the Society;
and this has been done, even though it has brought down upon the Society many
harsh criticisms. (See Watch Tower, 1928, pages 196, 323, 339, 355; 1929, pages
163, 179.)
It is
not the prerogative of The Watch Tower, nor of any forming a part of the
“servant” class, to announce its judgment; but it is the duty of such to call
attention to God’s judgments as they are written, and this must be done as a
warning. Also, it is the duty of such to call attention to God’s judgments as
they are written against the “evil servant”, and this must be done as a
warning. Also, it is the duty of the “servant” class, by any other means the
Lord has provided, to give warning to all Christendom by calling attention to
the judgments of the Lord as they are written. This was foreshadowed by the
words of the Lord to Ezekiel: “Nevertheless, if thou warn the righteous man,
that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because
he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul. ” (3:21) In harmony with this
commandment given to Ezekiel God’s judgment is: “ He that is unjust, let him be
unjust still; and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still; and he that is
righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy
still.”–Rev. 22:11.
Those
of the temple class who bear the message of the Lord must be clean, and to this
end must separate themselves from all who are out of harmony with God’s
organization. (2 Cor. 6:15-17) In harmony with this plain statement of the
Scriptures the Lord commanded Ezekiel to separate himself and go into the
plain, that the Lord might talk with him there. “And the hand of the Lord was
there upon me; and he said unto me, Arise, go forth into the plain, and I will
there talk with thee. Then I arose, and went forth into the plain; and, behold,
the glory of the Lord stood there, as the glory which I saw by the river of
Chebar; and I fell on my face.” (3:22,23) The “faithful servant” class must be
separate from Christendom, from the “evil servant” class, from the “wicked”,
and from the “prisoner” class, and, in fact, from all not in complete harmony
with God’s organization. The “faithful servant” must stand out separate and
alone as the target of the enemy and as the witness for the Lord. These
faithful ones gather themselves together unto the Lord in a condition of
separateness, and the Lord’s glory appears unto them. The facts show that since
1922 the Lord has illuminated his “servant” class and laden their table with an
abundance of spiritual food and has illuminated their minds as never it came to
pass before. The vision of God’s organization is there before them, because the
spirit of the Lord is upon them even as it was upon Ezekiel.
"Then
the spirit entered into me, and set me upon my feet, and spake with me, and
said unto me, Go, shut thyself within thine house. ” (3:24) The ‘‘house’’
mentioned in this scripture is God’s place of security provided by him for the
"faithful servant” class. It is "the secret place of the Most High”
where the "servant” is pictured as being invulnerable to the assaults of
the enemy. Jehovah, by his prophet Isaiah, refers to the same house, saying:
"Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee;
hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast.
For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the
earth for their iniquity; the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no
more cover her slain.”– Isa. 26: 20, 21.
The
"faithful servant”, being separate from the enemy and under the hand of
the Lord Jehovah, is in the place of security; but in this place of security
the "servant” is not to be idle. He beholds the enemy and his activities and
the enemy’s desire to slay the "servant”; yet he knows that he is secure,
because the Lord has so promised him, and in this security the "servant”
goes forth with a zeal to the work which the Lord has provided and put in his
hands. (Ps. 91:1-11) "For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his
pavilion; in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up
upon a rock. ” (Ps. 27:5) Since the beginning of the campaign from and after
1922 until now God’s “servant” class has gone steadfastly on in his service,
while the enemy has warred against the “servant” of the Lord and sought his
destruction. The activities of the enemy, however, have not disturbed the
“servant”. Jehovah is the strength and song of his “servant” class and the
power of their salvation, and therefore the “servant”, in obedience to God’s
commandment, continues to sing forth the praises of the Most High, while
telling of his wondrous works and his loving provision for the children of men.
If the
rebellious ones, meaning the professed Christians of Christendom, and the “evil
servant” class, the “man of sin”, had their way they would stop the work of
God’s “faithful servant” and completely silence all who speak the truth of and
concerning the Devil’s organization. But as God said to Ezekiel, so now he says
to the “faithful servant” whom Ezekiel foreshadowed: “But thou, 0 son of man,
behold, they shall put bands upon thee, and shall bind thee with them, and thou
shalt not go out among them. And I will make thy tongue cleave to the roof of
thy mouth, that thou shalt be dumb, and shalt not be to them a reprover; for
they are a rebellious house. But when I speak with thee, I will open thy mouth,
and thou shalt say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, He that hcareth, let him
hear; and he that forbeareth, let him forbear; for they are a rebellious
house.’’ – 3:25-27.
The
“servant” is not to tell his own message. Jehovah has made his “faithful
servant” the “watchman”, and only as the Lord God directs the “servant” to
speak he does speak, having always a “Thus saith the Lord” for every part of
the message that is delivered. The work of the “servant” is not to make converts
to get them to join an organization, but to give a witness to the truth. The
hearers must either accept or reject the message, and take the responsibility.
“He that hath an ear, let him hear what the spirit saith.” (Rev. 3: 22) Jehovah
brings his “servant” into action and uses him for his purposes while he moves
forward to the vindication of his name. The opposition by the rebellious house
of Christendom or by the “evil servant” will in no wise prevent the truth from
being told as God purposes it shall be told.
ORGANIZED
CHRISTIANITY BESIEGED
(Ezekiel, Chapter 4)
Jehovah
continues to instruct Ezekiel what he shall do. In chapter four God took
Ezekiel and made him a sign-man to the professed people of God, first to Israel
after the flesh, and thereafter to Christendom. “Thou also, son of man, take
thee a tile, and lay it before thee, and pourtray upon it the city, even
Jerusalem: and lay siege against it, and build a fort against it, and east a
mount against it; set the camp also against it, and set battering rams against
…