You May Survive Armageddon Into Gods New World (1955)
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You may SURVIVE
I ARMAGEDDON
info Gods Rew World
Chicago, Illinois, June 25, 1955
Dear Triumphant Kingdom Announcers:
It is wonderful to know that “you may survive Armageddon into God's new world." All of us desire to keep his ordinances, seek righteousness and meekness and be hidden in the day of Jehovah's anger. What a gracious provision Jehovah has made for lovers of righteousness at this timel
You will enjoy this book. After you have read it you will want to proclaim its good news of Jehovah's kingdom more than you ever have before. You will want to get this publication into the hands of people of good will. You will want to study it with them. You will want to show them how to praise Jehovah and carry on true worship.
Think of the responsibility that faces every individual inside and outside Christendom. Each must make a decision to follow along with that system of things and continue to grope in its darkness, because of Christendom's failing to bring light to the nations, or he must make a complete turn about and follow the “light of the world," Jesus Christ and now his faithful followers, Jehovah's witnesses.
This is not a day to be gambling with the remaining time before Armageddon. Christendom has failed its own followers as well as heathendom. But our joy, privilege and responsibility are to make haste in announcing the triumphant kingdom of Jehovah God and show people how to survive Armageddon into God's new world. Let us all help those who so desire to turn about toward the light, and thus we shall see the “desire of all nations" come still more abundantly into the New World society.
May you have happiness in giving out this good message.
Your fellow announcers of the good news,
THE PUBLISHERS
You May
Survive Armageddon into
God’s New World
“Before the day of Jehovah’s anger come upon you. Seek ye Jehovah, all ye meek of the earth, that have kept his ordinances; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye will be hid in the day of Jehovah’s anger.”
—Zephaniah 2:2, 3, American Standard Version.
PUBLISHERS
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society, Inc. International Bible Students Association Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
First Edition
ONE MILLION COPIES
COPYRIGHT, 1955 by
Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society
Made in the United States of America
DEDICATED
to the triumphant Kingdom of God, Cor building up the kope of all who want to live
in His incoming new world..
Abbreviations of Bible versions quoted or cited In this book
AS - American Standard Version, by the American Committee of Revision
AT -An American Translation, by J. M. P. Smith and E. J. Goodspeed
Da - The ‘Holy Scriptures,' a New Translation, by J. N. Darby ED - The Emphatic Diaglott, a translation of "what is commonly styled the New Testament," by Benjamin Wilson
Mo -A New Translation of The Bible, by James Moffatt NW - New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures
Ro - The Emphasised Bible, a New Translation, by J. B. Rotherham
RS - Revised Standard Version, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America
So - Books of the Hebrew Bible, by the Soncino Press, London and Bournemouth, England
Yg - The Holy Bible, translated by Robert Young
Any quotation not followed by any specific abbreviation is from the Authorized or King James Version. Other versions of the Bible are quoted or cited, but not with the name of the translations abbreviated.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
1 Proclaiming the Good News
2 The Victorious Fighters at Armageddon . . 18
3 The Basis for Survival
4 The Universalness of the Conflict
5 Building the Armageddon-surviving Temple . 68
6 A do-nay' Comes to His Temple
7 Shortening the Days for the Chosen Ones’ Sake 107
8 Raising the Signal to All the Nations . . .
9 Separating the Peoples for Life or Destruction 159
10 Gathering the Great Crowd to the Temple . .
11 Gathering of the Nations to Armageddon . .
12 Executioners of the Divine Vengeance . . .
13 The Chief Executioner Takes a Wife . . .
14 The Flight to Safety
15 Fighting for Life Now as Jehovah’s Witnesses 245
16 The “Desire of All Nations” Comes In . . . 260
17 Living Now in the New World Society . . . 273
18 Constructive, Lifesaving Activities
19 Benefits Flowing from the Temple
20 Awaiting the Attack by Gog of Magog . . . 315
21 The Universal War of Armageddon Breaks Out 331
22 God’s New World After the Battle
23 Individual Decision Now for Surviving Armageddon
List of 42 Types and Prophecies of the Earthly Heirs of the New World
You May Survive Armageddon into God’s New World
CHAPTER I
Proclaiming the Good News
SUNDAY afternoon, July 26, 1953, the sun shone brightly on the home of the permanent headquarters of the United Nations at New York city. On a marble wall that faces on the United Nations Plaza stood carved in large letters the words: “They shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”
2 Those striking words had not originated with any of the framers of the United Nations. They are words far older that have echoed down through the previous twenty-six centuries from the lips of an ancient prophet of the Near East, Isaiah the Hebrew. The designers of the United Nations buildings had merely taken the words to themselves from the prophet’s book found in that sacred volume known as The Holy Scriptures, The Holy
1,2. (a) What words of Isaiah stand carved upon a wall of the United Nations structures in New York city, and for what reason? (b) Was it therefore from there that the good news was to be proclaimed to people from 97 lands Sunday, July 26, 1953?
Bible. Without authority they had copied them and carved them into the marble of the United Nations structures as symbolizing the United Nations’ purposes “to maintain international peace and security: and . . . develop friendly relations among nations and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace.’’ Halfway round the world, at Panmunjom, Korea, Monday, July 27, was already dawning, and that day representatives of the United Nations armies were preparing to sign with the Communist army representatives a truce to end the three-year-old Korean war that had come dangerously near to embroiling the nations in a third world war. However, it was not from this international organization’s buildings there on the East River water front, between 42d Street and 48th Street, of New York city that the good news was to be proclaimed to representatives from ninety-seven lands this memorable Sunday afternoon.
3 The number of visitors that afternoon to the United Nations buildings paled into insignificance in comparison with the tremendous throng gathered six air-line miles to the northwest at the world-famous sports stadium, the Yankee baseball park. There it was the eighth and last day of an international assembly that had changed Yankee Stadium from a popular sports arena into an assembly place for matters of far grander importance to all mankind. There that same Sunday morning at the climax of a speech on Haggai 2:7 those same words of the prophet Isaiah had rung out: “They shall forge their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-knives: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.”* The speaker applied them,
* Quoted from Isaiah, chapter 2, verse 4 (Da), in the 10: 15 a.m. speech entitled “Filling the House with Glory.”
3. How did those words of Isaiah happen to be applied at Yankee Stadium that Sunday morning?
not to the United Nations, but to a New World society.
4 But now four o’clock in the afternoon had come. Never had there been seen at Yankee Stadium the sight that now greeted the eye, from the ground, from the spectator stands and from the airplane that wheeled above taking pictures. The baseball diamond had been transformed into a small paradise-like scene around the speaker’s stand. The three-level spectator stands and the bleachers surrounding the playing field on every side were filled to the last seat. Outside the stadium vast overflow tents were filled with 25,240 persons anxious to hear by loud-speakers. But the crowd that turned out to hear the good news was too large; there was
4. By 4 p.m. that Sunday afternoon how did Yankee Stadium come to be filled to overflowing with people?
not enough room in the tents and in the stadium stands. So a few minutes before the announced hour the gates were thrown open and thousands of men, women and children streamed in and onto the green playing field to seat themselves m well-ordered groups on the green grass to listen, swelling the crowd inside the stadium to 91,562 persons.
5 Many other conventioners were listening elsewhere. At the assembly’s “Trailer City” forty miles to the west in the neighboring state of New Jersey there was another record crowd of 49,027, to listen by direct wire connection with Yankee Stadium, making a total visible audience of 165,829. Besides that, by means of remote control, one of New York city’s pioneer radio stations, WBBR, was daily broadcasting the convention’s features over an area occupied by some fifteen million people, and it now stood ready to beam out to an uncountable invisible audience at their radio sets the good news to be proclaimed. Accountable for this record turnout was the tremendous advertising both before and during the convention—the millions of folders and handbills distributed, the thousands of window cards placed to view, the thousands of placards worn by information walkers on the city streets, the thousands of signs on the bumpers and sides of automobiles, and two placards in each and every subway car of New York’s three subway systems.
6 What was the good news to be proclaimed that brought together such a crowd on a hot July afternoon? It was the good news summed up in the intensely advertised subject, “After Armageddon —God’s New World.” The speaker was the presi-
5. How was the total visible audience raised to a record crowd of 165,829, how was an invisible audience served, and what was accountable for this record turnout?
6. What was the good news to be proclaimed that afternoon, and what opening words of the speaker drew applause?
dent of an organization represented in 143 lands at the time, far more lands than the sixty members of the United Nations. The speaker’s very first words were applauded: “Armageddon will be the worst thing ever to hit the earth within the history of man. God’s new world will be the best thing ever to come to distressed mankind and will never pass away.” He went on: “For us to know that the best immediately follows the worst gives us courage to consider the subject of our discussion. ... So if we have yet to endure Armageddon, it will be better for us to face it with understanding, in the hope of surviving and entering into a new world of God’s making, a world altogether different from the one mankind has known now for thousands of years, to its sorrow. Armageddon will prove a great blessing in disguise.”
7 Toward the close of his speech the speaker emphasized this “hope of surviving” by these words: “Just a while ago we said that the vast majority of the subjects of the new world’s King will be people restored to life on earth by the resurrection of the dead. Why only the ‘vast majority,’ and not all? Because there is a great crowd of people of good will today living who will survive the world catastrophe of Armageddon and enter the world of new heavens and new earth without going down into the grave or ever afterward having the need to die and cease to exist. That means that Armageddon is so near at hand it will strike the generation now living.” Then after an explanation came the encouragement to be among the Armageddon survivors: “Avoid perishing with this old world in the ‘war of the great day of God the Almighty.’ Get ready now to live after Armageddon in God’s new world!” With these words the president of the Watch Tower Bible & Tract
7. How was encouragement finally given to be Armageddon survivors, and after the speech what were all in the visible audience given?
Society closed his prepared speech to that 1953 international assembly of Jehovah’s witnesses in Yankee Stadium, after which all the 165,829 in his visible audience were offered free printed copies of the speech.
8 Never before in these twenty centuries of the so-called “Christian era” had there been such a stupendous witness on one occasion concerning this war with the ominous name Armageddon and concerning what it really means to mankind, especially the generation in which we are now living. With the passing of the years since then the warning witness regarding the real Armageddon has been greatly expanded world-wide. The seriousness of it deserves the greatest possible witness to all the nations. Its steady approach and its certainty to break forth at an unguarded hour for mankind inside this generation make it urgent that it be proclaimed on the greatest possible scale and that without letup.
9 Faced with what the world faces from its own mad course, even men of this world take seriously their ideas of what Armageddon means and talk about it without embarrassment. Into the pages of the very Congressional Record of the United States Congress there have gone these words uttered on the Senate floor by the junior senator from the state of Vermont under date of March 9, 1954: “In very truth the world seems to be mobilizing for the great battle of Armageddon. Now is a crisis in the agelong warfare between God and the Devil for the souls of men.” (Pages 2726-2727)
10 Such men of this world, politicians, military
a. How did that witness concerning Armageddon compare with any previous, and why does it deserve the greatest possible witness?
9. How do even men of this world talk concerning Armageddon, according to their ideas of it?
10. How did this all-surpassing war come to be named, and how was its thieflike coming foretold by the greatest prophet ever on earth?
men and religious leaders, have not told the true facts about Armageddon, but have merely made the people familiar with the name as meaning something frightful that is stealing up on the human race. Long ago a prophet from heaven, the greatest prophet ever on earth, named this allsurpassing war and warned of its thieflike coming, in a revelation to his faithful follower, who wrote: “And I saw three unclean inspired expressions that looked like frogs come out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the wild beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet. They are, in fact, expressions inspired by demons and perform signs, and they go forth to the kings of the entire inhabited earth, to gather them together to the war of the great day of God the Almighty. Look! I am coming as a thief. . . . And they gathered them together to the place that is called in Hebrew Har-Magedon [or, Armageddon].” That revelation was given in order to show “the things that must shortly take place.”—Revelation 16:1316; 1:1,W?
11 That revelation having been given and written down about A.D. 96, it is now about nineteen centuries since the warning of the war was given by name, and we are at least that much nearer it. But the passing of all those centuries does not in itself argue that the surprise outbreak of Armageddon is near. Rather, the conditions and the events of the world in fulfillment of the great prophet’s predictions, the noticeable going forth of the three unclean, froglike expressions inspired by the demons to the kings of the entire inhabited
♦ NW stands for the New World Translation of the Bible. See page 5 for the list of abbreviations of Bible translations used herein.
ii. Aside from the passing of time since the warning, what makes it certain that the world catastrophe is not far off?
14 YOU MAY SURVIVE ARMAGEDDON INTO GOD'S NEW WORLD earth followed by the noticeable gathering of the kings to a modem Armageddon, and the irrepressible giving of a foretold witness concerning Armageddon on a globe-encircling scale, make it certain that this unequaled world catastrophe is not far off. It is a time of all times to consider the evidence at hand.
12 This is not calamity-howling. The Holy Scriptures or Bible, which contains the warning and description of the war of Armageddon, is not a calamity-howling book. God’s new world, which it foretells as certain to follow Armageddon, is no calamity. Armageddon will be a calamitous catastrophe, not for the winners, but for the losers. The winners will enter God’s new world. In this sense those who examine into Armageddon need not fear like those who dread a third world war and for whom the terrible question is, “not who will win a big war if ever there is one, but who will be on hand—and in what condition—after such a war is over?” All will lose, they fear, winner as well as loser. But such is not the question and conclusion for those who inform themselves on the real Armageddon. They are assured that there will be people on earth after the war of Armageddon, and they will be in a blessed condition.
13 Ordinarily, for us to think of trouble is not pleasant and we shrink from it. But the consideration of Armageddon, rightly understood, is inviting and beneficial. No part of the earth will escape this war. There will be no neutrals in this war; each one will have to be on either the one side or the other. Happy will those be who find themselves on the winning side. Only those who favor and uphold the winning side may have any hope of surviving this greatest of all wars. It is possible now to know
12. For what reasons is this not calamity-howling?
13. What is it that invites us to a consideration of Armageddon and of what follows it, and how do we show ourselves wise concerning it?
the winning side and take one’s stand in advance on it. And this is what invites us to a consideration of Armageddon and of God’s new world that will follow it. That is why we are wise if we are thoughtful and consider the overwhelming evidence of the nearness of it. The proverbs of wisdom advise us against acting hastily without knowledge and taking a disastrous course: “It is not good for a man to be without knowledge, and he who makes haste with his feet misses his way. A prudent man sees danger and hides himself; but the simple go on, and suffer for it.” (Proverbs 19:2; 22:3, RS) So do not consider this mere calamity-howling, scoff at it and go on in simplicity and suffer. “How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge?” “A scoffer is punished.” (Proverbs 1:22; 21:11, RS) Face the facts, understand them, and then choose the way of survival.
14 The Bible is the only book on earth that tells us about the war of Armageddon and about God’s new world to follow it. This is one of the many things that make the Bible the outstanding book among all the ancient books that are reputed to be sacred. We are under sheer necessity to go to the Bible if we want to know the truth about this important subject. Although its sixty-six books were completed almost nineteen hundred years ago, the Bible is not old-fashioned and out of date. It is of practical value today. It is far in advance of any other book on earth, no matter how recently written, and its prophecies that pierce into the future are actually history written in advance, so certain are they of being fulfilled. Its foreknowledge of the future, its sound rules for happy living, its view of life, its explanation of the cause of mankind’s imperfect, dying condition and of the
14. For the truth about this important subject to what book are we under sheer necessity to go, and what proves that this book comes from a mind higher than that of its writers?
16 YOU MAY SURVIVE ARMAGEDDON INTO GOD'S NEW WORLD one remedy, and its showing us the road to salvation from this unsatisfying old world into a new world of endless life without torment of any kind, all this proves that the Holy Bible comes to us from a good and loving Mind far higher than that of the thirty-five or more men who were inspired to write its sixty-six books.
15 “Inspired to write”? Yes; for its very writers confessed that they did not write of their own accord. Peter, a writer of two books of the Holy Scriptures bearing his name, reminds us: “You know this first, that no prophecy of Scripture springs from any private release. For prophecy was at no time brought by man’s will, but men spoke from God as they were borne along by holy spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20, 21, NW) King David of the ancient nation of Israel, who wrote many prophetic songs or psalms, showed where and how he got his information, saying: “The spirit of Jehovah it was that spoke by me, and his word was upon my tongue. The God of Israel said, to me the Rock of Israel spoke.” (2 Samuel 23:2, 3, NW) That is why the Holy Bible tells the truth and gives us information we can get from no other source. That is why it, above all other books, is worthy of our enjoyable study and of our fullest confidence. The more we know of it the more heartily we join in the confession to its great Author: “Your word is truth.”—John 17:17, NW.
16 We need not be filled with fear, dread and horror as we take up an examination of Armageddon and what will follow. No matter how terrible that war will be, we can know its righteous purpose, and always we can let ring in our inner con-
15. Due to being written in what way does the Bible tell the truth and give us information we cannot get elsewhere?
16. Because of what special possibility for us need we not be filled with fear as we examine Armageddon and what follows it?
sciousness the cheering thought: “I may survive Armageddon into God’s new world!” This thought is no self-deceiving dream. The same inspired Word that unerringly foretold many centuries ago the very situation that we face up to in this generation also drew many pictures, staged many prophetic dramas and presented many direct prophecies of the ones to be protected all through the war of Armageddon.
17 It sharpens our interest to consider that unavoidable war from the standpoint of those who will live through it into the grandeurs of God’s new world. In fact, it becomes an absorbing, delightsome, thrilling consideration for us. To share this delight with our readers, we hope in following pages to look into at least forty-two of these typical pictures, prophetic life-dramas and direct prophecies regarding the Armageddon survivors.* All these are very instructive and vital for us to consider now, for they show us in one way or another things that we should wisely do now in order to be of the favored class. “For all the things that were written aforetime were written for our instruction, that through our endurance and through the comfort from the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Romans 15:4, NW) “Consequently, we have the prophetic word made more firm, and you are doing well in paying attention to it as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until day dawns and a daystar rises, in your hearts.” (2 Peter 1:19, NW) For our part, we are thankful thus to carry forward the proclamation of the good news, in the hope that you, our reader, may be one of Armageddon’s survivors, to enjoy forever God’s new world afterward.
* See the list on pages 367, 368.
17. From whose standpoint does a considering of Armageddon sharpen our interest, and so what does the book hope to do, and why?
CHAPTER II
The Victorious Fighters at Armageddon
NO ONE can gain victory over an almighty fighter, nor can an almighty fighter ever lose. The prize of victory at Armageddon is so great, the issues that are to be fought out are so universal, that the war calls for the Almighty God of the universe himself to go into action. That explains why the war fought at Armageddon is Scripturally called ‘'the war of the great day of God the Almighty.” (Revelation 16:14, 16, NW) Those who are on his side can there say without national self-conceit, “God is with us.”
2 No one but the Almighty could take on a fight against all who array themselves against us and be certain to overcome all those that are against him. Against him there are now arraying themselves not only the “kings of the entire inhabited earth” but also the invisible demons who inspire the expressions that irresistibly gather all the earth’s political rulers and their armies to the battlefield. That means also the great rebel against all divine authority, who is called the “ruler of the demons.” Religious men contemptuously called him “Be el'ze bub,” but his God-given names and titles are “the great dragon . . . the original serpent, the one called Devil and Satan, who is mis-
1 . Why is Armageddon Scripturally called “the war of the great day of God the Almighty”?
2 . Who will be arrayed against us and Him so that only the Almighty could take on the fight and overcome all such opponents?
leading the entire inhabited earth.” (Matthew 9:34; 12:24-28 and Revelation 12:9, NW) He is not merely the “ruler of the demons.” He is even the “ruler of this world,” for which reason he claims “all the kingdoms of the inhabited earth,” and “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” (John 12:31; 14:30; Luke 4:5-7 and 1 John 5:19, NW) The seven great world powders taken note of in Bible history have all been subject to his domination—Egypt, Assyria, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece, Rome and the British-American imperial power, together with an eighth world power that stems from the preceding seven, namely, the present United Nations, successor to the League of Nations. In his mighty position as world ruler Satan the Devil can use his superhuman demons to maneuver the kings of the whole inhabited earth onto his side and against Almighty God.
3 Does the Almighty God have a name? Yes, and at the showdown fight at Armageddon all men of the nations will come to know the name of Him against whom they are fighting. The prophetic psalm prays to God, saying: “Let them be put to shame and dismayed for ever; yea, let them be confounded and perish; that they may know that thou alone, whose name is Jehovah, art the Most High over all the earth.” (Psalm 83:17,18, AS; Da; Yg; Ro) Jehovah comes out on top.
4 Armageddon will therefore be a battle of gods, gods invisible and spiritual and persons among men who are addressed as “gods” or divinities. Besides being the “ruler of this world,” Satan the Devil is Scripturally called “the god of this system of things.” This means that those who are a part of this world and who uphold this system of things
3. At Armageddon what will men of all the nations come to know concerning the Almighty God?
4, 5. What scriptures show that Armageddon will be a battle of gods, human as well as invisible spirit gods?
20 YOU MAY SURVIVE ARMAGEDDON INTO GOD'S NEW WORLD worship, in fact, Satan the Devil, regardless of how religiously they may deny this. (2 Corinthians 4:4, NW; Romans 6:16) The sacrifices that many tribes and nations offer to idols and images they really offer to the demons and to their ruler, Satan the Devil. Says an inspired writer on this: “I say that the things which the nations sacrifice they sacrifice to demons, and not to God, and I do not want you to become sharers with the demons.” (1 Corinthians 10:20, NW) Besides demon gods, there are today men to whom are given the honors, praises, adulation and worship due only to the one living and true God. Recognizing that such are mighty ones among men, who claim to be sons of the Most High God, the inspired psalmist said: “I say, ‘You are gods, sons of the Most High, all of you; nevertheless, you shall die like men, and fall like any prince.’ ”—Psalm 82:6, 7, RS.
5 Jesus Christ quoted this psalm to his enemies and said: “Is it not written in your Law, ‘I said: You are gods’? If he called ‘gods’ those against whom the word of God came, and yet the Scripture cannot be nullified, do you say to me whom the Father sanctified and dispatched into the world, ‘You blaspheme,’ because I said, I am God’s Son?” (John 10:34-36, NW) Different peoples may have their particular gods, but to the adherent of the Holy Bible Jehovah is the one Most High and Almighty God. “There is no God but one. For even though there are those who are called ‘gods’, w’hether in heaven or on earth, just as there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’, there is actually to us one God the Father, out of whom all things are, and we for him, and there is one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things are, and we through him.” (1 Corinthians 8:4-6, NW) So at Armageddon Satan the Devil, the mighty “god of this system of things,” with all his host of so-called “gods,” will face Jehovah the Almighty God of the new world.
6 All the earth will be the scene of action. The more the astronomers with their mighty telescopes peer toward the outward reaches of our visible expanding universe, now reckoned to be about 4,800,000,000 years old,* the more our tiny planet earth shrinks in size by way of comparison; the more, too, its main inhabitant man shrinks in importance. How is it, then, that the Most High and Almighty God, who alone bears the name Jehovah, tangles with the mighty adversary Satan the Devil in battle with reference to our earth? It is not because earth or man upon it is so important, but because the chief issue of all, the issue of universal sovereignty, is tied in with this earth and must now be settled once and for all time. “Sovereignty” means more than supremacy. It means supreme and independent power in government and thus one’s dominating all below as a sovereign lord. Jehovah God is the Creator of all things seen and unseen. The opening chapter of the Holy Bible says: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth,” and then goes on to give us a day-by-day description of the ordering of our planet and of all life upon it, including man. (Genesis, chapter 1, NW) This earth and its inhabitants belong to Jehovah God. So his universal sovereignty rightly extends to earth also, by reason of his being Creator. He is the great Sovereign, A-do-nay' or “Lord” over all, including this earth, no matter how small it is.
7 By the way men and nations carry on they deny Jehovah’s sovereignty over the earth. If they
* See the New York Times of February 26, 1955, page 17, last column.
6. Is it because of earth or man’s importance that Jehovah tangles in battle with reference to our earth? And how does the matter of creation help us to see the reason for it?
7. Why is it at the earth that Jehovah’s universal sovereignty must be vindicated, and so why will Armageddon outrank all previous battles?
could carry into reality their proposed space ships and land on other planets they would extend their defiance of His sovereignty there also. There is one creature that has no space ship and needs none and who has had entry into the heavens, into the very presence of God, and who has tried to stir up the defiance of Jehovah’s sovereignty in all the heavens as well as in the earth. That rebellious creature is the “god of this system of things,” Satan the Devil. It was here at the earth that he began his treason against the true and rightful Sovereign of the universe. Here he turned unfaithful to his trustworthy position in which the great Creator had placed him over man and he incited the first man and woman rebelliously to break the commandment of God as not being their Sovereign. His universal sovereignty having first been set in doubt here, and men and demons at this earth still challenging and defying the sovereignty of Jehovah, it is here that the chief issue must be put to rest and Jehovah’s universal sovereignty be vindicated. The earth is now the “hot spot” of the universe, and the settling of the main question in dispute here will result in his vindication and glory and in the blessing of all men who take his side in the great controversy. The six-thousand-year-old issue will finally be settled at Armageddon, and that is why the battle there will outrank all previous battles.
8 Since the “whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one,” practically all of mankind are lining up at Armageddon in opposition to the universal sovereignty of Jehovah God. Invisibly behind them are the legions of demons under their ruler, Satan the Devil. However, the Almighty God has had an invisible, heavenly, spiritual organiza-
8. Who in heaven will stand loyal and true to Jehovah’s sovereignty at Armageddon, and what will the one in the foremost battle position there do to the “original serpent”?
tion that has stood loyal and true to him, just like a faithful, devoted wife. Jehovah God speaks of this inseparable organization as his “woman,” his wife, who acknowledges and obeys him as Sovereign Lord. To demonstrate to all intelligent creation that he commands the love and unswerving allegiance of his wifely organization, yes, the allegiance of the chief and highest member of it, Jehovah has called into combined action with him in the war of Armageddon his first and most beloved Son, now known as Jesus Christ. At his right side in the battle the great Sovereign Lord Jehovah will fight: “The Lord \_A.donay'} at thy right hand shall strike through kings in the day of his wrath.” (Psalm 110:5) Assigning this Chief Member or Seed of his wifely organization to this foremost battle position at Armageddon, Jehovah said to the first rebel, “the original serpent,” there in the garden of Eden almost six thousand years ago: “I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.” (Genesis 3:15, NW) In demonstration of his love and unwavering allegiance to the universal Sovereign, Jesus Christ as a heavenly Warrior will display his full enmity against the “original serpent” and his seed. He will bruise him in the head by a decisive victory over the enemy in vindication of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty. Many battle survivors on earth will witness that glorious triumph.
9 Associated with the Son of God, the Seed of God’s woman, in that issue-settling fight will be many angels. They will be a match for all the demons on the side of the “original serpent.” This is made sure by a number of prophecies. Speaking of himself as “the Son of man,” Jesus Christ prophe-
9. Who do the prophecies show will be associated with him in that issue-settling fight, and so why will Armageddon be a universal war?
sied of his coming into his heavenly kingdom and said: “When the Son of man arrives in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit down on his glorious throne.” (Matthew 25:31, NW) In heaven he has always been known as “The Word of God,” because of being God’s Chief Spokesman. Therefore the following symbolic description of the forces of righteousness riding into battle applies to him and his angelic armies: “The name he is called is The Word of God. Also the armies that were in heaven were following him on white horses, and they were clothed in white, clean, fine linen. And out of his mouth there protrudes a sharp long sword, that he may smite the nations with it, and he will shepherd them with a rod of iron. He treads, too, the press of the wine of the anger of the wrath of God the Almighty. And upon his outer garment, even upon his thigh, he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.” (Revelation 19:11-16, NW) The taking part by Almighty God and his enthroned Son and the holy angels in the fight at Armageddon against rebellious spirit hosts will make Armageddon a universal war, involving heaven as well as earth. Never will there have been anything like it.
10 There mankind will come to know Jesus Christ as they have not known him before. Christendom has no faith to look forward in the light of Bible prophecy but prefers to look back nineteen centuries and remember the Son of God as the selfsacrificing Jesus, yielding himself to be slaughtered like an unprotesting lamb. In the garden of Gethsemane, when he was being betrayed by one of his own twelve apostles, and when Peter struck with a sword in his defense against the soldiers, Jesus miraculously healed the wounded man and said to Peter: (^Return your sword to its place, for 10. How was Jesus different in conduct nineteen hundred years ago from what he will be at Armageddon, and why?
all those who take the sword will perish by the sword. Or do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father to supply me at this moment more than twelve legions of angels? In that case, how would the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must take place this way?” (Matthew 26:48-54, NW) In order for the inspired prophecies to be fulfilled that foretold his sacrificial death, Jesus showed his unbreakable allegiance to Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and his loving submission to the universal Sovereign’s will. Thus he kept his integrity to his universal Sovereign down to the death, the shameful, painful death on a torture stake before the public eye at Calvary. His faithfulness until such a death in obedience to the divine will served as a vindication of Jehovah’s universal sovereignty and showed His sovereignty to be the rightful thing to govern our lives. At the same time his death served as a means to give up his perfect human life as a repurchase price to buy back all obedient humans from the slavery of sin and its penalty death.
11 But that was nineteen centuries ago. Now in order to fulfill other prophecies that foretold the future work he had to do, Jesus comes in royal heavenly glory, no more as a self-sacrificing Son of man, but as a mighty, unconquerable Fighter accompanied by many legions of angels, to rid the universe of all the enemies of Jehovah God and his universal sovereignty. Christendom may not expect to escape. All the hypocritical Christians in her will be executed along with all those who openly defy the universal sovereignty of the Most High God. Christendom does not like to think of God and Christ from the standpoint of divine justice, which requires that the enemy and the hypocrite be executed. She prefers to view God and
11 . (a) But how does Jesus come now, and why that way? (b) Why may Christendom not expect to escape?
26 YOU MAY SURVIVE ARMAGEDDON INTO GOD'S NEW WORLD Christ his Son only from the standpoint of her favorite Bible verses: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.” (John 3:16,17) But God is just even as he is loving, and his love does not overstep or set aside his justice. He must be just with himself as well as loving to undeserving sinners. “He cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13) He cannot be untrue to the eternal facts about himself. He cannot deny or ever renounce the fact that he is Sovereign of all the universe of which he is the Creator. He cannot let any of his creatures forever deny that all-important fact without finally being called to account for such willful denial.
12 The all-transcending issue before all creation is the universal sovereignty of Jehovah the Most High and Almighty God. The foremost act of justice is to vindicate, to justify, his universal sovereignty before not only this earth but all the universe. That is overwhelmingly more important than the mere saving of earthly creatures who were justly condemned to death because of their imperfect, sinful condition. Jesus Christ loves Jehovah God more than man or any other creature, for the commandment to love God with everything we are and have is first and the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves is second. (Matthew 22:35-40; Deuteronomy 6:5; Leviticus 19:18) Jesus Christ loves Jehovah God his heavenly Father. Although he knew he faced a cruel martyr's death here on earth he said to his loyal apostles: “In order for the world to know that I love the Father, I am even doing just the way the Father has given
12 . What is the foremost act of justice, and how does Jesus show his love in connection with it?
me commandment to do.” (John 14:31, NW) Jesus loves the vindication of his heavenly Father’s universal sovereignty because that vindication is just and right and deserved; and Jehovah God has commanded Jesus Christ the Seed of His “woman” to be the Chief One in carrying out that vindication. Therefore the battle of Armageddon must come, although it means the greatest destruction of human life, for it is by this supreme conflict that the chief issue of all time will be forever settled, the universal sovereignty of Jehovah God the Creator and King of eternity.
13 At that battle the once self-sacrificing Son of God must, out of his supreme love of God, play a different part, that of a Fighter bruising the original Serpent in the head and destroying the “kings of the entire inhabited earth” and all their patriotic backers. Then will occur the “revelation of the Lord Jesus from heaven with his powerful angels in a flaming fire, as he brings due punishment upon those who do not know God and those who do not obey the good news about our Lord Jesus. These very ones will pay the penalty of everlasting destruction from before the Lord and from the glory of his strength, at the time he comes to be glorified in connection with his holy ones.” The fight at Armageddon will be righteous on the part of God and of Jesus Christ, even if it does mean the greatest tribulation since the world’s beginning. “It is righteous on God’s part to repay tribulation to those who make tribulation for you.”—2 Thessalonians 1:6-10, NW; Matthew 24:21.
14 Nineteen centuries ago God’s love was so great that he gave his only-begotten Son that the
13. So what part does Jesus play at Armageddon, and why will it be a righteous war despite its being a tribulation?
14. Nineteen centuries ago how great was God’s love for the world, and so what may he be expected to do at Armageddon for those he loves?
believers in him might not perish but have everlasting life. It was these believers that God loved so much as to make this unselfish provision for them, and at Armageddon Jehovah God by his Son Jesus Christ will fight for those he loves. Jehovah God has long been known as a Fighter. From the time that he fought to rescue the nation of Israel from slavery in ancient Egypt down till the religious leaders of Israel called for Jesus Christ to be killed on a torture stake out
side Jerusalem, Jehovah loved that chosen people of his and he was their God. During those fifteen centuries he fought violently for the people of Israel out of love for them, so that his victories in war are recorded in these words: “Jehovah the God of Israel it was who was fighting for Israel.” “They heard that Jehovah had fought against the enemies of Israel.”—Joshua 10:42 and 2 Chronicles 20:29, NW.
15 Sentimental Christian religionists pretend to recoil in horror and disgust at the historic fact of
15. How do sentimental Christian religionists blaspheme Jehovah respecting his ancient war record, but what kind of God do they show they worship when their nation gets involved in war with another nation?
Jehovah’s fighting with such destruction to the enemies of his loved people. They call him a “tribal God,” a “big bully,” “cruel,” “bloodthirsty” and “vengeful.” They indulge in all such blasphemy of Jehovah God only till their political government and nation gets into war with another nation. Then what do these same Christian religionists do? Led by their clergymen, Catholic and Protestant, they pray to God that He should be with their armies and help them to
shed the blood and destroy the lives and property of their enemies to gain the victory, even though these national enemies are of the same religious faith, Catholic or Protestant. They will even offer such prayers to God after they have called in heathen armies and ungodly Communists to help them as allies to gain the victory. What kind of God is it that such war-mad Christian religionists then worship? And do they then look upon Jesus Christ as a warrior fighting at the head of their armies with weapons of wholesale destruction?
16 Christendom’s armies have fought for world
16. For what have Christendom’s armies not fought, and why have God and Christ not taken part in Christendom’s wars?
domination as regards the earth, but not for the universal sovereignty of Jehovah God. There is no inspired record that either Jehovah God of ancient Israel or Jesus Christ his Son has taken part in any of the wars of Christendom and fought for any of her nations. The prophetic Scriptures of the inspired Bible declare that Jehovah God and Jesus Christ his glorified Son have reserved their fighting for the field of Armageddon, when Satan the Devil and all his spirit demons and the kings of the entire inhabited earth and all their armies and peoples are unitedly challenging the universal sovereignty of Jehovah God and rejecting the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ. Concerning that time the prophecy says: “Then shall Jehovah go forth, and fight against those nations, as when he fought in the day of battle. And Jehovah shall be King over all the earth: in that day shall Jehovah be one, and his name one.” (Zechariah 14:3, 9, AS) Past wars of man have settled nothing, but Armageddon will settle the biggest issue before all creatures in heaven and earth, universal sovereignty, and that in favor of Jehovah. Then the new world, in which His will is to be done everywhere, will follow.
17 In the face of all this, do not miss the point that is vital for you. Your frail life, sinful as it is, is as nothing compared with justifying Jehovah God to his rightful place in the universe. At Armageddon your life will count for nothing if you are against His sovereignty over all creation. If you want to survive that most terrific war of all time you must love Jehovah’s universal sovereignty, just as his Son Jesus Christ does; you must uphold it and proclaim it and remain true to it at all costs until it is vindicated. Only then may you survive Armageddon, receiving this consideration from the victorious Fighters there.
17. In view of universal sovereignty’s being foremost, what vital point must we not miss?
CHAPTER III
The Basis for Survival
NOT just to live through the coming universal war and to die afterward, but to continue living afterward in God’s new world—that is the solidly based opportunity set before people of this generation. That means that many will not die off the face of this earth. They will keep living to enjoy the earth in a paradise condition forever. This earth has had many generations of humankind live upon it; and the inspired saying has been true: “A generation goes, and a generation comes, but the earth remains for ever.” (Ecclesiastes 1:4, RS) Here the generations have been literal, and so the “earth” here meant is also literal. Many of the present generation of mankind may have the privilege of remaining on earth as long as the earth remains—forever. Up till now the reason for the coming and going of generation after generation has been a death to which all the race of man has been condemned. Wars have killed off countless multitudes, but those surviving the violence and hardships of such wars have sooner or later fallen victim to the inescapable condemnation resting upon all men and have died. They have had to die, without exception. So the basis for any to survive Armageddon and to enjoy living on a transformed earth forever must be the removing or lifting of the condemnation of death that has cut short all human life till now.
1. What is the solidly based opportunity set before people of this generation, and what is the basis for such opportunity?
2 Animals lower than man do not have the life value of man. The Creator did not make them to live forever. (2 Peter 2:12) Man was created to live forever as a man on earth. This was why Jehovah created the first man in human perfection, in God’s image and according to His likeness, and put him in a perfect garden spot, a paradise. There food supplies grew in their perfection to keep man going in perfect condition forever. If after a test man proved himself worthy of God’s justifying him to the right to live in this earthly paradise forever, man was to be granted the privilege to “put his hand out and actually take fruit also of the tree of life and eat and live forever.” (Genesis 3:22, NW) That the man might have satisfying companionship and raise a family to fill the entire earth with perfect, uncondemned children, Jehovah God gave the man a perfect wife, made of the man’s perfect flesh and bone. (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25) God made no mention to the man of dying, except if the perfect man acted against Jehovah’s sovereignty over man’s life and did so by the simple act of eating of one fruit prohibited at that time, the fruit of the “tree of the knowledge of good and bad.” Eating from that tree before the Creator lifted the prohibition was to be punished with death at God’s hand. (Genesis 2:15-17, NW) The test upon the perfect man was that of perfect submission to the universal sovereignty of his Creator, in even the smallest thing, submitting out of perfect love to his heavenly Father, the God whom he imaged as a “son of God.”—Luke 3:38.
3 Now rebellion against Jehovah’s universal sovereignty broke out, not first on earth among man-
2. For how long was perfect man created to live, and what was the test upon him shown to be?
3. How did Jehovah name the first rebel against his universal sovereignty, and how is his sentence against the rebels vindicated?
kind, but in heaven among invisible sons of God. To name the spirit son of God properly who led off in this rebellion the Sovereign of the universe called him by the new name “Satan,” which means “resister” or “opposer.” To mark the way by which Satan proceeded to lead mankind to rebel with him, Jehovah God gave Satan the title “the Devil,” which means “the Slanderer” or “the False Accuser.” He also called him “the original serpent,” because of the use Satan made of the serpent in paradise to slander God or falsely accuse him. (Revelation 12:9, 13-17; 20:2, NW) God told the first man Adam he would die if he ate from the forbidden tree of the knowledge of good and bad. Satan the Devil by means of the serpent told Adam’s wife: “You positively will not die. For God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be opened and you are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad.” (Genesis 3:1-5, NW) Satan thus brought reproach upon God’s name by saying that God was a liar, unable to carry out the penalty for breaking his law, and was afraid of having Adam and Eve become like God, able to decide for themselves what is good and bad, right and wrong. God now pronounced the sentence of death upon the three rebels. In vindication of Jehovah’s sovereignty and of the truth of his law, Adam and Eve did die, Adam at the age of 930 years, Eve at an unstated age. Satan the Devil will also die everlastingly, about seven thousand years after his rebellion, after God’s purpose in letting him live that long has been served.—Genesis 5:1-5; Hebrew’s 2:14; Revelation 20:7-11,14,15.
4 In pronouncing sentence upon Satan, the original Serpent, Jehovah set his own beloved, only-
4. In pronouncing sentence upon Satan, the original Serpent, what arrangements did Jehovah make, and what had to be done to fulfill the prophecy?
34 YOU MAY SURVIVE ARMAGEDDON INTO GOD'S NEW WORLD begotten Son against the great Serpent, and the heavenly organization of holy angels under his beloved Son against the future organization of the great Serpent. Jehovah spoke of his heavenly organization as a fruitful woman and said to the original Serpent or Deceiver: “Because you have done this thing, you are the cursed one . . . And I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel.” (Genesis 3:14, 15, NW) For this prophecy to be fulfilled, the heavenly Son of God had to come forth from God’s woman (or universal organization) and be born as a perfect baby on earth. His heavenly Father had to perform the miracle of transferring his Son’s life from the spirit realm of God’s universal organization to the egg cell in the womb of a virgin maiden who was a descendant of King David. (Isaiah 7:14; Matthew 1:22, 23) To be bruised in the heel, God’s Son as a perfect man had to suffer death at the hands of Satan the Devil, but only temporarily. To bruise the original Serpent in the head and destroy him thus, it became necessary for the Son of God to undergo another miracle of God by being resurrected or raised from the dead, not as a man to live again on earth, but as a divine, immortal, spirit Son of God to live again in the invisible heavens where the original Serpent, Satan the Devil, was living. —1 Peter 3:18, RS; also NW; Ro; AT; Mo.
5 By not taking back human life Jesus the Son of God sacrificed that perfect humanity that he had enjoyed on earth for thirty-three years and a half. He could now use the value of his sacrifice for the benefit of human creatures who wanted to become perfect sons of God on earth as Adam had
5. By not taking back human life what was Jesus able to do, and what is the bruiser of his heel also called at Leviticus 16:8?
been in the paradise of Eden. Thus he was to be able to rescue the human race and also bruise the original Serpent. “Therefore, since the ‘young children’ are sharers of blood and flesh, he also similarly partook of the same things, that through his death he might destroy the one having the means to cause death, that is, the Devil, and might emancipate all those who for fear of death were subject to slavery all through their lives.” “The Devil has been sinning from when he began. For this purpose the Son of God was made manifest, namely, to break up the works of the Devil.” (Hebrews 2:14, 15 and 1 John 3:8, NW) As a bruiser of the heel of this Seed of God’s “woman” the Devil is also called “Aza'zel,” which is understood to mean “powerful against God.”—Leviticus 16:8, 10, 26, NW; AT; Mo; RS; Ro.
e God called his Son Jesus Christ to this course of sacrifice on earth and thus made him his High Priest. “So, too, the Christ did not glorify himself by becoming a high priest, but was glorified by him who spoke with reference to him: ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father.’ Just as he says also in another place: ‘You are a priest forever after the likeness of Melchizedek.’ ” “Seeing, therefore, that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold onto our confessing of him.” (Hebrews 5:5, 6; 4:14, NW) He was to act as God’s High Priest in behalf of mankind, for it was a human sacrifice, himself as a perfect man, that Jesus Christ offered up to God.
7 This was necessary because God is just. For sin and its penalty death to be canceled, he requires a corresponding ransom or price of release. All mankind find themselves sinful and therefore
6. Who made Jesus Christ a high priest, how, and to act in whose behalf?
7. Why are all mankind now in sin, and for its penalty to be canceled what did God’s justice require?
36 YOU MAY SURVIVE ARMAGEDDON INTO GOD'S NEW WORLD under God’s condemnation of death. The true reason for this is stated in these inspired words: “Thy first father sinned, and thy teachers [interpreters] have transgressed against me.” Our first human father was Adam, not when he was perfect in the paradise of Eden but after he had sinned and was driven out under sentence of death. “Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned—. For . .. death ruled as king from Adam.” (Isaiah 43:27, AS; Romans 5:12-14, NW) Mankind could not inherit perfect life from sinful Adam through his sinful wife Eve. It therefore became necessary for the perfect Son of God on earth to surrender his sinless human life in behalf of Adam’s descendants. This was in satisfaction of God’s just law: “You must give soul for soul, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot, branding for branding, wound for wound, blow for blow.”—Exodus 21:23-25, NW.
8 Jesus was born a Jew or Hebrew, a member of the ancient nation of Israel. As such he was a descendant of God’s friend, Abraham the Hebrew, to whom God said: “I shall bless you and I will make your name great; and prove yourself a blessing. And ... all the families of the ground will certainly bless themselves by means of you.” “By means of your seed all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves due to the fact that you have listened to my voice.” (Genesis 12:2, 3; 22:18, NW) But Jesus Christ is God’s High Priest, not for just the Jews or Israelite nation, but for all mankind who are to bless themselves by means of him as the promised Seed of Abraham. (Galatians 3:8,16) The Jews or Israelite nation had their priestly family, of whom Aaron the brother of the
8. How was Jesus born as a descendant of faithful Abraham, and how was he, in spite of his birth in the tribe of Judah, to be like ancient Melchizedek?
prophet Moses was made the first Israelite high priest. The male members of Aaron’s family, his sons, were made underpriests. Aaron was of the tribe of Levi, and all the male members of the tribe of'Levi were made sacred servants of the priestly family of Aaron. Aaron offered sacrifices for the nation of Israel; and these sacrifices consisted of clean, acceptable animals. However, Jesus was born, not in the tribe of Levi or in the family of Aaron, but in the tribe of Judah and in the family of King David. So Jesus was born to be, not a priest for the nation of Israel, but a king; and God his Father also called him to be a high priest for all mankind. Jesus was therefore to be a King-Priest, like ancient Melchizedek. He did not offer up animal sacrifices, but offered up his perfect human life on earth.—Hebrews 7:14-27; Psalm 110:4, AT; Mo.
9 In sacrificing himself, however, Jesus was typified or prefigured by Aaron the high priest of Israel. For more than fifteen centuries Jehovah God dealt with the nation of Israel and used them to make types of things to come in the future. A type is a prefiguring symbol, that is, a symbol that prefigures or pictures beforehand something that is to occur in reality in the future. The Old Hebrew Scriptures set out many types, but the Christian Scriptures written in Greek set out the fulfillment of many of such types. The fulfillment of the type is called the antitype.
10 Types foreshadowed things to come. For that reason a type is sometimes spoken of as a shadow, and the antitype as the reality that was foreshadowed. Thus Aaron the Israelite high priest was a type. Jesus Christ whom Aaron typified was the
9. In what way was Jesus typified by high priest Aaron, and what is a type and what an antitype?
10. How can a type also be called a shadow, and what nation did Jehovah use to make many shadows or types, and why?
antitype. In other words, Aaron as sacrificing high priest foreshadowed Jesus the Son of God who sacrificed himself. That Jehovah God used the nation of Israel to provide many types or shadows is stated in these words respecting Israel: “Now these things became our examples [or, types], for us not to be persons desiring injurious things, . . . Now these things went on befalling them as examples [or, for a typical purpose] and they were written for a warning to us upon whom the accomplished ends of the systems of things have arrived.” (1 Corinthians 10:6, 11, NW, marginal reading) Also, concerning the Law that God gave to Israel and the animal sacrifices that Aaron offered up, it is written: “Since the Law has a shadow of the good things to come, but not the very substance of the things, men can never with the same sacrifices from year to year which they offer continually make those who approach perfect.” (Hebrews 10:1, NW) Hence the perfect human sacrifice of Jesus was necessary to make those who approached Jehovah God through Jesus Christ perfect.
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