The Kingdom Is At Hand (1944)
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KINGDOM IS AT HAND"
"And as ye go, preach, saying, THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN IS AT HAND." -Matthew 10:7.
PUBLISHERS WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, INC. International Bible Students Association Brooklyn 1, New York, U. S. A.
3,000,000 Edition
COPYRIGHT, 1944
WATCHTOWER BIBLE AND TRACT SOCIETY, INC. Made in the United States of America
"A great God, and a great KING above all gods." -Psalm 95:3.
AND OF
"King of kings, and Lord of lords." Revelation 19:16.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
I. "The Kingdom Is at Hand" 9
II. Testing the King's Integrity 22
III. Introducing the King 31
IV. The First Kingdom Promise 52
V. Theocratic Kingship 71
VI. The Typical Theocracy 90
VII. Theocratic Judges 106
VIII. Human King Fails 118
IX. Covenant for the Kingdom 129
X. Palace of The Theocrat 142
XI. Reigning Line Interrupted 155
XII. Rise and Fall of Satan's Kingdom 176
XIII. A Remnant Returns 191
XIV. The King at Hand! 205
XV. Bruising the King's Heel 230
XVI. Keys of the Kingdom 255
XVII. The Royal Family 279
XVIII. Theocracy's Ambassadors 306
XIX. Consider the Evidence 317
XX. Subjects of The King 345
XXI. "Jehovah Reigns" 366 "The Kingdom Is at Hand "
"THE KINGDOM IS AT HAND"
CHAPTER I
THE KINGDOM of heaven is at hand!" No such message had ever before been heard on earth. The words electrified the multitude of hearers that lined the stony bank of the Jordan river. The ancient river was still running full from the latter rains of the month, and from the melting snow that fed its upland tributary streams. Springtime had come to Palestine. The April skies gave assurance that the rains of winter had passed and the cold had at last given way to a steady season of warmth to bring all growing things to full fruit. It was a beautiful season for the message of the kingdom of a gracious heaven to blossom forth. In the lowlands the barley was ready to harvest. The flowers were appearing on the earth. The tireless bees were busying themselves in winging from flower to flower, gathering their nectar, and then hastening with their precious loads to crevices in the great rocks, and to hollow trunks of trees, there to store up the scented wild honey. The time, too, of the singing of birds was come. The turtledove had not misjudged its appointed time, but had returned, and its cooing to its mate was heard throughout the land. The fig trees were putting forth their green figs, and the grape vines were running with sap that would soon sprout the tender clusters giving a good smell.
All eyes were fixed on the proclaimer of the unusual message, which sounded like good news. He was a man unusual to behold, as there he stood at ankle depth in the river into which he had backed because of the press of the crowd on shore. He was no man clothed in soft raiment such as is worn in the palace of a kingdom, nor was he any soft, compromising sort of character, suave and yielding, easily shaken like a reed in the wind. Not a drop of wine or strong drink had ever passed his lips. A sturdy man was he, a wild man of the desert from his youth up till this day of his appearing. The people that desired to hear his stirring words were obliged to go out to him into the wilderness of the lower Jordan valley, bordered on the west by the province of Judea. As for the man's raiment, he had a garment made of cheap camel's hair thrown about his body, and this was tightened to his loins by a leather girdle. His food rations were very simple, but very tasty, specially to be mentioned being wild honey and that abundant insect, the locust. What was more delicious than the locust wrapped in honey? For all the world it tasted like the shrimp or prawn that the fishers on the shores of the Mediterranean sea delighted to eat. Whereas shrimp was unclean for eating, according to the law of the great prophet Moses, the locust was decreed to be clean. Despite such limited diet, the man of the wilderness was no weakling, but could lift heavy weights, as he now demonstrated daily.
This strange man appeared to be the introducer of something as new and different as his message, something that easily explained his being at the Jordan river. Because of his practice, those among his listeners who could speak Greek called him the Baptistés or, commonly interpreted, the baptizer or immerser. And why did he lower the bodies of those who became his disciples beneath the waters and then raise them out again? What did this submerging completely in water symbolize? He only could explain. Before submitting themselves to be immersed, the candidates confessed their sins.
Those that came to the Baptistés were Jews according to flesh and blood. They felt a greater responsibility toward Almighty God than did the nations or Gentiles. By birth they had been born into a covenant tie with the Most High God of heaven. This covenant had been made between Him and the fathers of their nation through that mighty prophet Moses about fifteen hundred years previous. Neither they nor their fathers had kept their part of the covenant faithfully, but had broken the God-given laws of the covenant. For that reason they were now a subject people in their own homeland under the hateful yoke of Imperial Rome. According to the baptizer, an event of world importance was at hand, of heavenly origin, and those who felt their sinfulness against the law covenant of God with their nation desired to be found clean and in right standing when the event should occur. Therefore the baptizer preached the baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins against the holy covenant. In earnest tones he cried out: "Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." Their burial in water meant to say that they wanted to be dead to sin. Their being raised out of the water told of their coming forth to a clean life henceforth as regards God's covenant, a reformation of their lives unto obedience to His perfect law. Thus they would be prepared to meet the coming King.
This baptizer had a special attractiveness for the God-fearing ones among the Jewish nation. For well over three centuries no prophet had been sent by God to their nation, and here at last a man appeared that had a prophetic mission from God for them. About eight centuries before that the prophet, Isaiah by name, uttered these inspired words: "The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be brought low; and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways shall be made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God." Now, in this baptizer, the people found a man lifting up his voice in the wild gorge of the Jordan and seeking to prepare the way of the people to meet the coming Representative of their God. The news spread like wildfire. Excited multitudes left the villages and cities, even the holy city of Jerusalem, to see and hear this baptizer. From the province of Judea and all the region round about the river they came, and many heard him and were baptized.
The prophet Isaiah had not foretold the name of the one whose voice should be heard crying, but the man now on the scene evidently fulfilling the office was named John, or Jehohanan. The name was of prophetic significance, for it means "Jehovah is gracious". His father gave him the name under special instructions from Jehovah God through His angel Gabriel. John's father was named Zacharias and was a priest. At the time that Zacharias was doing service within the temple at Jerusalem the angel appeared, announced the gracious gift from Jehovah of this son and foretold the son's work, and added: "And thou shalt call his name John." Why did not John enter in upon the priesthood in the steps of his father? John was now thirty years old. That was the age when the son of a priest, after five years of probationary service, was qualified to be registered fully as a priest. Why was John not up at Jerusalem mingling with the leaders of the Jews' religion, Judaism, and offering up animal sacrifices for sin, instead of being out in the wilderness baptizing repentant Jews for the remission of sins? Why? Because John the Baptist did not resist the directing power of the spirit of the Most High God upon him. Also John's own unflinching declarations to the religious leaders showed that his place was properly out in the wilderness, and not among the religionists who bragged of having Abraham as their forefather.
Many of the strictest of the Jewish religionists, namely, the Pharisees, as well as their rival religionists, the Sadducees, came to John for baptism. When he saw them he gave his view of their religion, saying: "O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? Bring forth therefore fruits meet for repentance: and think not to say within yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up children unto Abraham. And now also the ax is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the holy [spirit], and with fire: whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire." John's language was plain enough. He considered religion as chaff, fit only to be burned with fire that could not be quenched until the chaff was burned to ashes. Unless they, instead of putting on the deceitful show of religion, now produced fruits in keeping with their repentance symbolized by water baptism, they would get the ax. Their claim to be the fleshly descendants of Jehovah God's friend, Abraham, would not count. There was certain to be a purge shortly, and it would be better for them to be baptized with the holy spirit than with fiery destruction.
Hearing John denounce the sanctimonious Pharisees and Sadducees, religionists well known to devour widows' houses and at the same time to make long prayers for a cloak, many asked: "What shall we do then?" John replied: "He that hath two coats, let him impart to him that hath none; and he that hath meat, let him do likewise." Among those coming to him for baptism were the despised publicans, men who acted as agents or who even bought the privilege to gather taxes for the greedy Roman government, and that from their own Jewish brethren, their own nation. "Master, what shall we do?" And John said to them, "Exact no more than that which is appointed you." Even soldiers, off duty, went with the throng to John. Such soldiers were being used to hold down the Pax Romana, the peace of a Roman world-organization backed by an adequate military force. They also had a problem, and asked: "What shall we do?" John's pointed answer was: "Do violence to no man, neither accuse any falsely; and be content with your wages." Deeds of justice and mercy were fruits consistent with their profession of repentance.
In the hearts of the common people John's message of the nearness of the Kingdom aroused a great expectation, the coming of the Messiah, whom the Greek-speaking Jews called Christ. Many persons of John's nation began wondering whether he himself was the Christ. They overlooked that John was of the tribe of Levi, the priestly tribe, and not of the royal tribe of Judah. But John humbly confessed he was merely the forerunner of the King, one who should be far greater than John. Therefore his message continued to ring out: "The kingdom of heaven is at hand." Little did John worry if the substance of his proclamation came to the ears of Pontius Pilate, the governor of the Roman province of Judea, or to the ears of the tetrarch, Herod Antipas, governor of the neighboring province of Galilee. Herod could hardly have missed hearing the report concerning John's astounding message. A kingdom at hand? Well, if it was a kingdom of heaven, Herod was little concerned. He was interested in kingdoms of this earth. He well remembered how his father, Herod the Great, had gotten unduly disturbed when, about thirty years before, several magicians or astrologers came to his palace at Jerusalem and asked about the birth of a new "king of the Jews". Those "wise men" claimed they had seen his star in the east signaling his birth. When those magi disappeared without disclosing to King Herod where or if they had located the supposed "newborn king", then he acted on the suggestion that the Jewish religious heads had given him. He sent his soldiers posthaste to the city of Bethlehem and had all the babes two years old and under slaughtered, among them most likely the baby king-elect.
No, Herod Antipas was not disturbed as his father had been. If though, instead of a heavenly kingdom, John were preaching as a critic of Herod's private affairs, especially of his being in love with the wife of his half-brother, Herod Philip I, the tetrarch of the near-by province of Iturea, and coveting her for his wife, that would change the face of things. It would be a prison offense for the baptist if he should make any damaging comment when Herod Antipas robbed Philip of his wife, Herodias, the mother of that delightful dancer, Salome. Why should John criticize, if the Jewish high priests, Annas and Caiaphas, had nothing critical to say about it in public? Foxy Herod Antipas could easily appease these religionists in other ways by trying to appear as a good proselyte to Judaism, although he was in fact an Edomite hypocrite.
Simply for fear of any man John could not quit preaching. He must continue preparing the way of the Lord God until the mighty Representative of Jehovah God should come. To enable John to identify him and thereafter point him out to the people, the Lord God, who sent John to baptize, said to him: "Upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the holy [spirit]." Six months passed. The summer was drawing to a close, and the dry season would soon be over. The great Jewish celebrations of their seventh month, the national atonement on the tenth day of the month, and the week-long feast of tabernacles from the fifteenth to the twenty-first days inclusive, had brought a sense of release from sin and of restoration to the favor of Jehovah God and his goodness. According to the Roman calendar the month of October had set in. Shortly the shepherds would cease to abide in the fields, keeping watch by night over their flocks in the open country.
According to the historian Luke, in the third chapter of his sacred record, John began preaching and baptizing in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar as emperor of the Roman Empire. Tiberius was the stepson of the famed Caesar Augustus. During the old age of Augustus, Tiberius, then over fifty years of age, remained almost entirely in Italy, from the beginning of A.D. 11 to the time of the emperor's death in A.D. 14. During those four years Tiberius held the position of joint-emperor rather than that of a possible heir to the throne. Nevertheless, the reign of Tiberius is not to be calculated from the time of his close association with Augustus in the business of imperial government. Rather, it is reckoned from the date of becoming actual heir to the throne at Augustus' death on August 19, A.D. 14. Hence the fifteenth year of Tiberius' reign coincided with the year 29, in which year John the Baptist entered upon his prophetic work.
In this year 29, after six months of intense activity, the baptizer had the desire of his eyes fulfilled: the sign from heaven was revealed to him. One day John saw a man from Galilee approaching him. John recognized him. It was his own second cousin, the son of Mary, his mother's cousin. It was the carpenter from Nazareth, named Jesus. Checking by his own age, which was a half year more than that of his second cousin, John knew that this Jesus had just attained the age of thirty years. John watched the approach of that figure of Jesus, stamped by human perfection. He could not do otherwise than admire it and think, "Behold the man!" Still, why should Jesus come to him, a preacher of baptism unto the remission of sins? John knew the circumstances of Jesus' birth. Jesus had been born by the operation of God's spirit and was the Son of God. At Nazareth he had increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and honest men, and he led a life of absolute purity and sinlessness. What did Jesus now want John to do? He could make no royal announcement respecting Jesus unless he saw the sign.
There is no record that any of John's disciples or other interested persons were present to witness what now took place there at the Jordan river. To John's surprise, this perfect one, Jesus, asked to be baptized. John insisted against Jesus' immersion. He did not understand its purpose or meaning. It did not seem right, and John said: "I have need to be baptized of thee, and comest thou to me?" But Jesus stood firm in his request, and said: "Suffer it to be so now: for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Then John consented in obedience to the one who he knew was his superior. They both stepped well out into the Jordan river, and John dipped Jesus backwards beneath the water and then raised him out again. Jesus was praying, but not confessing sins, while this righteous act was being done toward him.
Then the miraculous sign came. "And Jesus, when he was baptized, went up straightway out of the water: and, lo, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him: and lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." Jesus saw this visible manifestation of God's holy power peaceably coming down on him as with the innocence of a dove, and he heard the heavenly voice declaring that he is an approved Son of God and well beloved. John, too, saw and heard. Not just then, but about forty days later John testified to his disciples: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me. And I knew him not: but that he should be made manifest to Israel, therefore am I come baptizing with water. . . . I saw the spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and it abode upon him. And I knew him not: but he that sent me to baptize with water, the same said unto me, Upon whom thou shalt see the spirit descending, and remaining on him, the same is he which baptizeth with the holy [spirit]. And I saw, and bare record that this is the Son of God."
CHAPTER II
TESTING THE KING'S INTEGRITY
THE baptized Jesus did not remain with John nor discuss his future operations. The active force that had streamed down from heaven upon Jesus filled him. Under its power he sought solitude. He struck out for deep in the wilderness, unarmed and without any equipment or provisions. What of the wild animals that haunted that lonely country? Jesus felt no terror of them. Strangely, they did him no harm, were they snakes, or scorpions, or lions. It was as if the prophecy of Jehovah God was applied to him which said: "I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods." Out here in the wilderness this Son of God had no man-made place to lay his head at night. Nor did he live like John on wild honey and locusts. He fasted. Under these conditions he lived for forty days. Familiar with the Holy Scriptures, Jesus' perfect memory recalled how the prophet Moses, the writer of the first book of the Holy Scriptures, once fasted for forty days high up in the mountain of Sinai and received the laws of Jehovah God. To the same mountain the prophet Elijah, fleeing from murderous queen Jezebel, resorted, fasting during the forty-day journey. Also, there was that giant-killer, David, who was obliged to take refuge in the wilderness of Judea; it was when King Saul of Israel pursued after him as after a flea in the wilderness.
Out in the wilderness David received training to become the ruler of the nation of Israel. Hard pressed by Saul, he turned his heart and mind to his only Helper and Deliverer, Jehovah God, and he composed a number of psalms of entreaty and thanksgiving amid that forbidding wilderness. Now Jesus, likely in the same wilderness through which David roamed as a fugitive, turned his heart and his meditations to God his Father. He saw ahead the enemies he must face on leaving the wilderness, enemies more vicious and deadly and venomous than the wild animals of this wilderness. David's prayer in one of his inspired psalms of the wilderness may have come to the mind of Jesus: "Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness." (Psalm 143:10) For that very purpose of instructing his Son, Jehovah anointed Jesus with His holy spirit and opened to Jesus the heavens, not by splitting the skies wide-open or opening a window in them, but by causing him to perceive and understand the things of heavenly meaning. Some of those things he had inquired about when he visited the temple of Jerusalem as a boy of twelve. Under such spiritual illumination from heaven Jesus occupied the forty days of his wilderness fast with studying over his Father's will as it was prophetically foretold in the Bible and as agreed upon before he came down from heaven to become man. That heavenly agreement his Father's spirit now caused Jesus to remember clearly.
Not unexpectedly, Jesus' meditations were broken in upon by an enemy. A great Serpent was out there in the stony wilds. It was the great deceiver. This one presented himself before Jesus, at the close of the forty-day fast when the pangs of hunger gnawed at Jesus' vitals. How he appeared to Jesus is not unveiled; but the hungry man recognized him as Satan, whose name designates him as the opposer of Jehovah God. At what appeared to be Jesus' weakest moment the tempter came to him and sought to stir up in him the spirit of this world, "the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life." His sly, devilish tactics are made bare to us. "And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, and saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God."
Jesus turned back the Devil's twists to Bible scriptures which did not harmonize with the meanings of other scriptures. He did not apply the Scriptures selfishly. Never would he use the miraculous power committed to him for the relief and benefit of himself and make a god of his belly. He refused to make a foolhardy but awe-inspiring demonstration of himself at the temple in order to win the admiration and applause of the populace and draw a large following after himself. Such were not the ways to prove either to himself or to others that he is the Son of God. His obedience to the true sense of his heavenly Father's Word would prove his sonship and that he was determined to hold on to that blessed relationship. If the slanderer, the Devil, thought to stir up doubt in his mind regarding his sonship to God, the Devil had certainly failed. He met a double defeat in trying to move Jesus from his position of subjection as a Son to the will of the Father. Sonship meant the obligation to please the Father. Disobedience meant a forfeiture of a place in God's household, as in the case of Satan the Devil.
One more test remained within Satan's ingenuity to try. This was the most pretentious and spectacular. If Jesus was destined to be a king, then this test would be the one Satan thought most enticing and suited to overcome this Son of God. By powers or means which have not been disclosed to us moderns in these days of the marvels of television, Satan the Devil made a panorama of all the worldly governments flash before Jesus in all their outward glitter and impressiveness. "And the devil, taking him up into an high mountain, shewed unto him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. And the devil said unto him, All this power will I give thee, and the glory of them: for that is delivered unto me; and to whomsoever I will I give it. If thou therefore wilt worship me, all shall be thine." What an opportunity for global domination such as even Emperor Tiberius himself did not wield! Ah, but the wielder of such domination must be subject to the same invisible power that dominated the throne of Tiberius, namely, Satan the Devil. Satan must be the god of the aspiring global ruler. If Jesus came to fulfill the prophecies of Hebrew Writ concerning the ruler that should reign "from the river unto the ends of the earth", here was the chance for him to have it immediately and its glory, without any suffering. The only cost was that the Son of God must deny his own Father as God and must worship Satan as such.
Jesus saw distinctly that the question then for settlement was, Who is God, the "god of this world" or Jehovah? Satan was not disposed to part with his world domination. He was not agreeable to handing over the control of the governments on this globe to Jesus merely to have him deliver them over to his Father. If Jesus would accept the present political and governing powers of earth, it must be on the terms that would not lose for Satan the Devil that one thing. Rather, it must enhance the Devil in the eyes of all living creation and must enable him to hurl further defiance and reproach into the face of Jehovah. A contest for domination was now on. Satan's world domination was pitted against Jehovah's domination over all the universe. Whose domination would Jesus now choose, Satan's or Jehovah's? Who would be winner, and who loser, by Jesus' choice? Whose offer would appeal to Jesus, that of Satan or that of Jehovah God as presented in those prophecies of His written Word which Jesus had been studying with new enlightenment during these past forty days? Not for a moment did Jesus waver from the side of the rightful domination, nor even consider Satan's offer.
"And Jesus answered and said unto him, Get thee behind me, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." Satan could offer Jesus the rulership as a man over all the earth and over sinful, dying subjects; but only Jehovah the Most High God could offer Jesus the "kingdom of heaven". Jesus had been called to that kingdom when the holy spirit of God descended upon him. When he presented himself for baptism by John in the Jordan river he knowingly and willingly committed himself to an unswerving devotion to the universal domination of Jehovah God. He would never go contrary to his consecration to the cause of Almighty God which that baptism symbolized. He would not even tolerate the presence of the chief opposer of his God. 'Be gone, Satan. I turn my back on you, and set Jehovah God always before my face as the One whom I worship and serve and obey regardless of rewards of rulership over others. It is only right and proper to worship and serve Him. All others who make bids for worship toward themselves are mimic gods and are wicked opposers of the universal Sovereign, Jehovah my God.'
With that the great Serpent, who wanted to get his coils around Jesus and devour him like a dragon, slunk away. Then Jesus' fast was broken without violating his Father's law by any self-service; which indicates that the fast was according to God's will, and not self-imposed by Jesus. "Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him." The victory of maintaining his integrity toward his Father in the face of the most probing temptations was more sustaining than the material food now ministered to him by angels. The eternal life of the Son of God was nourished by his uncompromising obedience to the word proceeding out of the mouth of God far more than by the bread of physical nourishment provided by these heavenly messengers. His decision for unquestioning obedience to the true God, Jehovah, whose law he quoted to meet the temptations of the Devil, the Son of God must continue to hold throughout all his days in the flesh on earth; for the Devil had "departed from him for a season" only. Where temptation and persuasion failed, coercion and intimidation must be used; so the Devil thought after these his first defeats.
That fortieth day of Jesus in the wilderness, how crucial it was for the interests of humankind! How greatly those faithful decisions he made affected the destiny of all persons of good-will! How immensely they determined the course of things now happening in this twentieth century! The train of consequences that follows from Jesus' triumphs of faith and obedience in that wild solitude has borne priceless blessings, and it will yet bring in everlasting good things to all seeking truth and life in a new world of righteousness. In the light of the fires of those temptations in the wilderness we get an intimate, heart-revealing close-up of the One chosen by the Most High God to care for the interests of all men of good-will who will live in the new world. The searching tests there caused to stand out sharply that Jehovah's anointed One is the safe one to whom to entrust the highest welfare of the people, and that his rule is certain to be one bringing obedient men into harmony with the Fountain of eternal life, the true and living God.
The outcome of the tests causes our every confidence to be fixed in the Son of God respecting all our good hopes for the future. Only one such as he is worthy to be the Ruler in the "kingdom of heaven". His kingship alone is of divine right. His rule is sure to be for the vindication of the name of the Universal Sovereign, Jehovah God, and for the everlasting unity and peace of all the universe. Every consideration of this tried and tested Son of God argues the importance of our examining his human connections, his singular course on earth, and also the foundations on which his Government rests, and the benefits which will make his kingdom shine above any government that has yet existed or may exist in the postwar era. By such examination we shall know why we do wisely to come over onto the side of his kingdom now.
IMPORTANT: The foregoing chapters quote from the Bible and base themselves upon the historical account as given in the books of Matthew, chapters 1 to 4; Mark, chapter 1; Luke, chapters 1 to 4; and John, chapter 1. Hereafter, unless otherwise indicated, the King James Version or Authorized Version of the Bible will be regularly quoted from, first the book thereof being named, and then the number of the chapter being given, and thereafter the number of the verse in the chapter, as illustrated on page 23, lines 21-24. If any other version of the Bible is quoted from, the name of such version will be given after the verse citation.
CHAPTER III
INTRODUCING THE KING
THE kingdom of heaven is at hand!" The anointed King himself, Christ Jesus, has taken up the proclamation. John the Baptist's voice has been stilled from announcing the King by his imprisonment in one of the dungeons of Herod Antipas, the governor of Galilee. John's public activity lasted only about a year, or about six months after his baptism of Jesus, but it accomplished its purpose. It called attention to the presence of the long-awaited King, and it introduced to the King a people prepared for him as the royal representative of the Lord God. Everything was just as the angel Gabriel had foretold to John's father: "Many of the children of Israel shall he turn to the Lord their God. And he shall go before him in the spirit and power of [Elijah], to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just; to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." And at John's birth his father's tongue was loosed by the inspiration from God and he said: "And thou, child, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest: for thou shalt go before the face of the Lord to prepare his ways; to give knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins, through the tender mercy of our God; whereby the dayspring from on high hath visited us, to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." Luke 1:16,17,76-79.
While Jesus was away in the wilderness John carried on his work with greater conviction than ever that the Kingdom was at hand. He looked forward to a great joy, that of pointing out the King to his baptized disciples, who continued to grow in number. Once he had introduced the King, then John knew his work must decline. As he said respecting Jesus: "He must increase, but I must decrease." While Jesus refused to accept a kingship at the hands of the Devil, so John refused to pretend to be Christ the promised King or to engage in any competition and run ahead of him; he would not be an antichrist. A test on this very point came to John, when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, "Who art thou?" "And he confessed, and denied not; but confessed, I am not the Christ. And they asked him, What then? Art thou Elias? And he saith, I am not." "Art thou that prophet?" By this they meant the one whom the prophet Moses said God would raise up unto his people and who should be like Moses but greater than he, and whom it would mean destruction for anyone to disobey. John answered No.
"Then said they unto him, Who art thou? that we may give an answer to them that sent us. What sayest thou of thyself? He said, I am the voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord, as said the prophet Esaias. And they which were sent were of the Pharisees. And they asked him, and said unto him, Why baptizest thou then, if thou be not that Christ, nor Elias, neither that prophet?" (John 1:19-25) To those men who practiced religion according to the "most straitest sect" of Judaism John did not introduce the King. They were undeserving. They did not believe John's baptism was ordained from heaven, but was of men, and they did not believe his witness as to the "kingdom of heaven". To the shame of those unrepentant religionists, the despised publicans and harlots were honest enough to believe John and to turn to righteousness and prepare to receive the King.—Matthew 21:23-32.
Among those who came and were baptized to become the disciples of John were a number of Galileans. One was a certain Andrew, the son of Jonah; and another was a certain John, the son of Zebedee. Both men were fishermen; in fact, partners in the fishing business along Lake Tiberias, the lake named from the shoreside city of that name, but more commonly known as the sea of Galilee. John had a brother named James, and Andrew had a brother named Simon. All four men were keenly interested in the coming of the Messiah or Christ. On a day when these men were absent, just the next day after the delegation of priests and scribes interviewed John, he beheld Jesus approaching, coming from his forty-day experience in the wilderness. Jesus was making a revisit or back-call upon John. Since John was sent to make ready a people prepared for the Lord God, then Jesus must come to John and seek first among his disciples those to associate with himself. At Jesus' approach, John cried out to the disciples near by: "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom I said, After me cometh a man which is preferred before me: for he was before me." Then John declared him to be the One anointed with the spirit of the living God and through whom there was to be a baptism with the holy spirit. Anointed is Messiah in Hebrew and Christ in Greek. Whether any of John's disciples thereupon attached themselves to Jesus is not recorded.—John 1:28-34.
The next day Andrew and John were standing with John the Baptist when Jesus came along. Turning toward Jesus, John the Baptist said: "Behold the Lamb of God!" It was now Andrew and John's move, and they began following Jesus. "Then Jesus turned, and saw them following, and saith unto them, What seek ye? They said unto him, Rabbi, (which is to say, being interpreted, Master,) where dwellest thou? He saith unto them, Come and see. They came and saw where he dwelt, and abode with him that day: for it was about the tenth hour." What was discussed at their study together of the old Hebrew prophecies is not reported, but that home Bible-study was convincing to Andrew and John. Andrew was fired to service.
"He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone." By interpretation into Greek Cephas is Petros, or Peter. This Simon Peter thereupon followed Jesus, and Jesus was pleased to have him do so.—John 1:35-42.
These events were taking place in the lower Jordan valley, opposite the city of Jericho, and near where the river flows into the Sea of Salt, or Dead sea. The rainy, wintry season was now at hand, and Jesus desired to go north to the province of Galilee, where he had been brought up and had worked as a carpenter. "The day following Jesus would go forth into Galilee, and findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me." Philip came from the Galilean city of Bethsaida, just north of the sea of Tiberias. The two fisherman brothers, Andrew and Peter, were from the same city. Unable to keep the good news to himself, Philip hunted up a certain Nathanael. Another name for this Nathanael seems to be Bartholomew, which name means "son of Tolmai". How did Philip approach Nathanael? With these rousing words: "We have found him, of whom Moses in the law, and the prophets, did write, Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph." "And Nathanael said unto him, Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth? Philip saith unto him, Come and see." Philip did not mean that Moses and the other prophets had declared that Jesus would come from Nazareth and would be the son of Joseph. He meant that the One whom all the prophets foretold now proved to be this Jesus of Nazareth, the so-called "son of Joseph". Was that so? Nathanael must come and see for himself.
Jesus, to whom in the mountain of temptation all the kingdoms of the world were shown in a moment of time, saw this honest searcher drawing near and then said to him: "Behold an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile!" "Nathanael said unto him, Whence knowest thou me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee." Such penetrating vision of Jesus convinced Nathanael. "Nathanael answered and saith unto him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel." This is the first recorded confession by any of Jesus' disciples of his being the promised King of Israel. "Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these. And he saith unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man."—John 1:43-51.
From then on Jesus began to increase. John the Baptist started to decrease as many of his disciples began following the One to whom John bore witness. John had the joy to know that those whom he had prepared by his instruction supplied the first disciples to Jesus. (John 3:26-30) The five above-named men were destined to become members of Jesus' group of twelve apostles or "sent-forth" ones. In the following year, A.D. 30, after the spring passover feast, John fell under the wrath of Herod Antipas of Galilee and was imprisoned by him. John 2:12-25; 3:1, 2, 22-31; 4:1-3.
"From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." It was in Galilee of the Gentiles that this message went out first from the lips of the King, carrying forward the message where John in prison was forced to leave off. "Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God, and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe the gospel." Jesus carried this message even into the synagogues where the people congregated on the sabbath days in the various cities.—Matthew 4:12-17; Mark 1:14, 15; Luke 4:14, 15.
Did those Jews, did even Jesus' disciples, understand what this startling announcement meant? What kind of government was this to be, this "kingdom of heaven"? Was it to be a government simply of heavenly origin but with its king visibly ruling on earth? or was it to be a government ruling from heaven? What should the Jews expect to gain from such a government, and what relationship did they expect to have with it? Why were they in expectation of a new government, so that this message of the "kingdom of heaven" took a strong grip on any of them? Important questions these, and they can be answered satisfactorily only by looking at the ancient background of the Jews. We can do this by turning back the pages of the Bible to the account of their first forefathers.
For the moment the attention is drawn most to the chief spokesman for the "kingdom of heaven". He appears to be the one upon whom heaven has smiled to make him the royal ruler in that government whether with seat in heaven or upon earth. Is he conducting a political campaign by his publicity work for the Kingdom? Just exactly who is he? Is he of the right stock for the King? and what is his past? There seems to be some uncertainty or contradiction as to whence he is, and it is important to have this settled in order to make sure whether he meets the requirements for the high office. Philip spoke of him as the foretold one, but said he was "Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph". Nathanael, however, lifted him to the sublime level and said he was "the Son of God" and hence the "King of Israel". How could both Joseph and God be the father of this Jesus? If Joseph was his father, then he was, like any other man, a descendant of the first human sinner, Adam; and how could he be specially "The Son of God"?
Evidently to the minds of these disciples there was no difficulty about such questions of Jesus' descent, due to the information he gave which completely satisfied them and met the predictions of sacred prophecy. Two of the sacred historians of Jesus' life were inspired to supply us today this information. The one historian, Luke, in chapter three of his record, verses 34-38, gives that part of the ancestry which reaches back from Abraham to "Adam, which was the son of God", as follows: 1. Adam. 2. Seth. 3. Enos. 4. Cainan. 5. Maleleel. 6. Jared. 7. Enoch. 8. Mathusala. 9. Lamech. 10. No'e. 11. Sem. 12. Arphaxad. 13. Cainan. 14. Sala. 15. Heber. 16. Phalec. 17. Ragau. 18. Saruch. 19. Nachor. 20. Thara. 21. Abraham. These names are spelled or pronounced according to the Greek in which Luke wrote, and not according to the Hebrew in which the book of Genesis and 1 Chronicles were written. According to Genesis chapters 10 and 11, and 1 Chronicles, chapters 1 to 3, the Cainan who appears 13th in Luke's account is an insertion and should be omitted.
Historian Matthew's record of the origins of Jesus, that is, his apparent human genealogy, begins with Abraham. Therefore, let us now compare the ancestry lines given by Matthew and Luke from Abraham down till they appear to meet in Jesus, in two columns side by side, as below: (1 Chronicles 1-3 is also taken into account.)
Both genealogies above agree that, according to the flesh, Jesus was a descendant of Abraham (21), and Isaac (22), Jacob (23), and Juda (24), and hence was an Israelite or Jew. Both agree also that he was a descendant of King David (34), and hence he can be rightly called "the Son of David". But after David the two genealogies part company, Matthew's account running through King Solomon, and Luke's through Nathan. But the two ancestral lines meet again in Salathiel (55) and Zorobabel (56), so that Jesus held fleshly descent from both King Solomon and David's other son Nathan.
Whereas Luke gives a full unbroken line, Matthew makes many omissions in the line he follows, selecting only certain prominent ones in the line, just as when God's angel addressed Joseph (76) and said: "Joseph, thou son of David," although about 40 generations came in between David (34) and Joseph (76).—Matthew 1:20.
Does Jesus trace his descent from King David through Joseph (76) as his direct father? If so, then Jesus was actually the son of Joseph. But it is to be noted that when Luke introduced the genealogy of Jesus he tells of the event which marked Jesus' thirtieth birth-anniversary and says: "Now when all the people were baptized, it came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened. And the holy [spirit] descended in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, which said, Thou art my beloved Son; in thee I am well pleased. And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli." (Luke 3:21-23) Luke knew that it was only a human supposition that Jesus was begotten of Joseph, because Joseph was Jesus' fosterfather.
It is plain, therefore, that Matthew's account gives the family tree according to the side of Jesus' foster-father Joseph, while Luke gives Jesus' ancestral line according to his human mother, the Jewish virgin named Mary. Women are not mentioned in the genealogical tables, which, according to the custom of the time, were kept in the public registry of the city of Bethlehem and were open for consultation by the citizens to determine their ancestry. Mary was actually the daughter of Heli (75), and, according to Matthew's account, Joseph was actually the son of Jacob (74). But Joseph married Heli's daughter, Mary, and became son-in-law to Heli. Thereby he legally became the "son of Heli", and Luke lists Joseph as such. In so doing, Luke does not contradict Matthew. Thus Jesus could be the fleshly son of the Jewish virgin and at the same time be "the Son of God". Yet how?
Jesus in the flesh was "the Son of God". This was not because his mother Mary was a descendant of the first man, which man was originally "Adam, which was the son of God". (Luke 3:38) Adam was the son of God because he was created immaculate and sinless or perfect by Jehovah God. Adam, however, committed willful sin in the garden of Eden before ever becoming a father of children. For that reason Mary was a descendant, not of the immaculate Adam, but of the sinner Adam; and she was born in sin as the daughter of the imperfect Jew, Heli, who begot her. To this effect God's Word says: "By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned." (Romans 5:12) Mary was not a daughter of God by any begettal by Him. There was no need for any immaculate conception of Mary in order for her firstborn son, Jesus, to be the Son of God. The fact that Jesus did not have a human father is responsible. How it came about is explained by Luke before he gives the registered genealogy of Jesus, as follows:
It appears that Mary's mother was a member of the tribe of Levi. Her sister, that is, Mary's aunt, married within the tribe of Levi and had a daughter named Elizabeth, who became the mother of John the Baptist by Zacharias her priest-husband. Mary's mother, on the other hand, married out of the tribe by marrying Heli, a man of the tribe of Judah. Thus Mary was born into the tribe of Judah, but her cousin Elizabeth was of the tribe of Levi. About six months after the angel Gabriel's appearance to the priest Zacharias and the conception then of John the Baptist, this is what happened, as we let Luke tell it: "And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
"And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be. And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God. And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name Jesus. He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: and he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end. Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? And the angel answered and said unto her, The holy [spirit] shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren. For with God nothing shall be impossible.
"And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her." Immediately thereafter Mary left Nazareth in the province of Galilee, where Joseph lived, and went south into the province of Judea to the city where cousin Elizabeth lived. "And Mary abode with her about three months, and returned to her own house."—Luke 1:26-56.
It is agreed to by the historian Matthew that all this took place before Mary the virgin was joined to her espoused Joseph in marriage. He writes: "Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ. . . . Now the birth of Jesus Christ was on this wise: When as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph, before they came together, she was found with child of the holy [spirit]. Then Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. But while he thought on these things, behold, the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a dream, saying, Joseph, thou son of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the holy [spirit]. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins. Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet, saying, Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us. Then Joseph being raised from sleep did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife: and knew her not till she had brought forth her firstborn son: and he called his name Jesus." (Matthew 1:16-25) In that manner Joseph became Jesus' foster-father, and Jesus was supposed to be the carpenter Joseph's son.—Matthew 13:55.
The name Jesus was God-given. It does not mean Savior, as generally thought. Jesus is the Greek form for the Hebrew name Joshua, or the full form of the name Jehoshuah. Therefore Jesus means Jehovah the Savior, so that the name of this Son of God was in itself a witness to Jehovah God as well as testifying to the unusual work that Jehovah would use his Son Jesus to do. "He shall save his people from their sins." The remainder of the Scriptures shows that this does not mean that he would save merely Jews or the people of whom he became a member by birth as a Jew, nor does it mean a so-called "universal salvation" of all. It means that those who would become his people, his "sheep", by taking the steps marked out in the Holy Scriptures, and who would remain his people by a faithful following of him as their King, these he would save, by the grace of Jehovah God. Said Jesus later: "I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep. I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine. . . . and I lay down my life for the sheep."—John 10:11, 14, 15.
Did this One named Jesus come first into life through the Jewish maiden Mary? Or did he have existence before becoming born as a man? The unerring Scriptures answer that he existed countless time before ever the first woman was created on our earth. At the time of his beginning of life he was created by the everlasting God, Jehovah, without the aid or instrumentality of any mother. In other words, he was the first and direct creation of Jehovah God. As such he was Jehovah's only begotten Son. He was the start of God's creative work, and all that would next be brought into existence would be after-creations. Jehovah God could use this only begotten Son to create such other things, because this Son was the direct offspring of the Almighty One and hence was a mighty one, or a god. This Son of God was the first one to hear God speak, and God spoke to the Son concerning the creative work. Thereafter Jehovah God used his Son as his Word to speak to the future intelligent created ones. He became called "The Word" or "The Word of God".
The historian, the inspired apostle John, introduces Jesus to us by relating something of that One's antehuman existence, as follows: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with GOD, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with GOD. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.* In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not. There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all men through him might believe. He was not that Light, but was sent to bear witness of that Light. That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made by him, and the world knew him not. He came unto his own, and his own received him not. . . . And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
* See the book "The Truth Shall Make You Free", pages 45-48.
No man hath seen GOD at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in [or, which leans upon] the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." (John 1:1-14, 18) The reader will notice in the above-quoted record that no mention is made by the apostle of any "holy ghost" or "holy spirit", nor of any so-called "third person".
That there may be no misunderstanding of the apostle John's words as to Jesus' relationship to Jehovah God, both Jesus and another of his apostles testify. In Hebrew Amen means truth; and Jesus gave true facts about himself when he said: "These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God." (Revelation 3:14) That Jesus was such "beginning" of God's creatures and that afterward God used his first creation in the producing of all other creations, the apostle Paul writes this concerning Jesus: "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist." —Colossians 1:15-17.
Mary, a creature, was not and could not be the mother of God the Creator, nor of "The Word" whom God used to create all other things. At most, Mary could be only the earthly mother of the Son of God, and could be such only for the time that he was a man on earth. The life-force of Jesus as "The Word" in heaven was transferred from heaven to the ovum or egg-cell in the womb of the unmarried Mary, and thereby she was blessed with the privilege of supplying Jesus' human body. It was a perfect body, because its life was not from the sinner Adam, but was the original life of the Word from the great Life-giver Jehovah God. The holy spirit or active force of Jehovah God kept that body of Jesus holy and free from sin and imperfection, even though nurtured in the womb of the virgin daughter of the sinful Adam. (Hebrews 7:26) Hereby Jesus could serve as "the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world".
A divine miracle occurred when Jesus was "made flesh". He was not an incarnation in flesh, but was flesh, a human Son of God, a perfect man, no longer a spirit, although having a spiritual or heavenly past and background. That the heavenly Word of God divested himself of everything as a God-like spirit except his life-force and that he lowered himself to become no more than a perfect man, his inspired apostle bears witness, writing: "Let this disposition be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus, who, though being in God's form, yet did not meditate a usurpation to be like God, but divested himself, taking a bondman's form, having been made in the likeness of men; and being in condition as a man, he humbled himself, becoming obedient unto death."—Philippians 2:5-8, the Emphatic Diaglott translation; also American Standard Version.
Jesus did not grasp covetously after being superior to Jehovah God, nor even equal to Him in power and glory. Jesus consented to being lowered even beneath what he was as a spirit creature in heaven under the Most High God Jehovah. The Word or Son of God knew that for ever the Lord God Jehovah is and remains all-highest, without equal by any other persons. "To whom then will ye liken me, or shall I be equal? saith the Holy One." (Isaiah 40:25) Only the religious trinitarians are presumptuous enough to claim, without Scripture basis, that two other persons are equal with Jehovah God; but Jesus does not himself claim to be one of such persons. For his humble course Jesus has been exalted even higher than he was before becoming a man, even next to God himself. If Jesus had been equal with God before being "made flesh", then Almighty God could not have further exalted Jesus, because that would have required that Jehovah exalt Jesus higher than Jehovah himself, an impossibility and most unreasonable!
The genealogy of Jesus the Messiah or Christ as "the Son of God" is therefore proved by the Scriptures beyond even the Devil's contradiction. But why should such great care be taken to preserve that genealogy of Jesus according to the flesh? Because it must be demonstrated that the Son of God was born as a man into the tribe of Judah, and that he was a descendant of King David and also of the patriarch Abraham, "the friend of God." This was Jehovah God's loving provision for us that we might know with added certainty that this is the foretold Son of God, the One chosen of God to be the King in the "kingdom of heaven". This genealogical evidence was God's way to safeguard us against being deceived by any religious antichrist or any political antichrist, or counterfeit Christs.
Many of such antichrist sort or counterfeit Christs were foretold to appear, especially in our century marked as it is by global war and by the fruitless efforts of men to maintain total peace under a global government. (Matthew 24:6,7,24) If we follow any, let us follow the only true and God-sanctioned King, the One having real divine right. Therefore, to establish that God is true, and hence in our own interest also, let us turn back in the illuminated pages of the Bible and determine why the King of the new world of righteousness was obliged to become "the son of David, the son of Abraham". (Matthew 1:1) Primarily may our effort be with a desire to vindicate the Word and the holy name of the one true and living God, "whose name alone is JEHOVAH."—Psalm 83:18.
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