Your Will Be Done On Earth (1958)
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YOUR WILL
"Our Father in heaven, your name be revered! Your kingdom come!
Your will be done on earth as well as in heaven!"
—Matthew 6:9, 10, An American Translation.
COPYRIGHT, 1953 by Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society of Pennsylvania
First Edition
ONE MILLION COPIES
PUBLISHERS
Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Inc. International Bible Students Association Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A.
Made in the United States of America
DEDICATED
to uUan’s Roving Ciieatoii, wko kas
a pe/t^ect goue/inment /tigkteousness oue/i the eaiitk.
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
AV - Authorized or King James Version of 1611
JPS - The Holy Scriptures according to the Masoretic Text, A New Translation, by The Jewish Publication Society of America
Le - The Twenty-four Books of the Holy Scriptures, by Isaac Leeser
LXX - Greek Septuagint Version of the Hebrew Scriptures, in an English translation
Mo - A New Translation of The Bible, by James Moffatt
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
Ibidem, Latin, meaning “In the same place.”
Any quotation not followed by any specific abbreviation is from the New World Translation of the Holy Scriptures. (NW) Other versions of the Bible are quoted or cited, but not with the name of the translations abbreviated.
CONTENTS
CHAPTER PAGE
1 Whose Will?
2 Why It Must Be Done on Earth
3 The Need of a Sanctuary
4 Foregleams of God’s Kingdom
5 The March of World Powers
6 The King for Enforcing the Supreme Will 128
7 The Holy Ones Who Will Govern
8 The “Little Horn” in Opposition
9 Restoring the Sanctuary to
Its Rightful State
10 The North Against the South
11 “The Appointed Time of the End” 264
12 The “Prince” of the Sanctuary Stands Up 308
13 The Present Happiness at the Sanctuary 324
14 Earthly Blessings When His Will Is Done 341
15 Whose Will Do You Favor?
Chronological Chart of World Powers 365 Maps: Babylonian Empire
Persian Empire
Grecian Empire
Roman Empire
Palestine in the Maccabean Period 245 Communist-dominated Countries 296
Hellenic Empires
British Empire
Subject Index
Index to Scriptures Cited
CHAPTER 1
UMANKIND is swiftly moving toward a new world. Soon the great troubles that have disturbed this world since the year 1914 will reach their
Armageddon* climax. This old world will not be able to endure that overwhelming trouble, the like of which man has never before gone through since the beginning of human existence. The worst ever, yet it will be the last world trouble, and the thankful survivors of it will enter into a new world that gives promise of wonderful things.
2 For important reasons there has to come a new world. Things cannot go on as they are and on the same foundations. There has to be an allembracing change. This change has to come by powers other than those who are responsible for mankind’s woes for these thousands of years. That change will make all things new. The world, the whole system of things, will be healthily new. As we think about this desirable new world, some vital questions arise. Will that new world be fashioned and built by human scientists of today or of the future? During that world, which will always stay new, whose will is it that must be done and will be done on earth? Is it to be the will of some imperfect, selfish, dying human creature? Or is it to be the will of someone unselfish, perfect, undying, someone higher and more powerful than the most outstanding human creature? Is it to be the will of someone on earth or of someone in outer space or of someone beyond outer space?
3 Particularly since October of 1957 all informed men and women have interested themselves in outer space. They have been expressing themselves from a new viewpoint, that of cosmic space. They say we have entered into the nuclear space age. They say we must conquer outer space with the use of nuclear energy, the mighty energy
* See The Holy Bible, at Revelation (Apocalypse) 16:16.
1. Why Is humankind rapidly moved toward a new world?
2. Why must a new world come, and what questions arise about it?
3. Since 1957, why have informed persons interested themselves in outer space ?
bound up in the nucleus of the atoms of which all matter is made up, the terrific energy that has been made known to us by the explosion of fiendish bombs of scientific invention. But why conquer outer space? That the conquerors may gain control of man’s everlasting home, this planet earth. They say that the point of control is somewhere out there in outer space. For them, the so-called ultimate weapon of war is not enough; the “ultimate position” is supremely necessary. To the shock of many, one noted lawmaker said:
4 “There is something more important than any ultimate weapon. That is the ultimate position— the position of total control over earth lies somewhere out in space. This is the future, the distant future, though not so distant as we may have thought. Whoever gains that ultimate position gains control, total control, over the earth, for purposes of tyranny or for the service of freedom.”*
5 That ringing statement, spoken to wake up the threatened people to the “peril of the hour,” expressed the fear of a one-sided “spatial imperialism” by some political, military world power. The will of the world power that gained the “ultimate position” along with the “ultimate weapon” would then be the controlling will of the earth. So comes the question, Who should control outer space? Believing that now the “sky is the limit” for men, worldly-wise men suggested that the members of that international organization, the United Nations, should all rule out an “ultimate position”
* Statement by American Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, the Senate majority leader and chairman of the Preparedness subcommittee to a meeting of Democratic Senators on January 7, 1958, as quoted by the New York Times of January 8, 1958.
4. What did one noted lawmaker say regarding outer space?
5. What fear did that statement express, and hence what answer is given to the question as to who should control outer space? for any nation and that all member nations should unite in a drive to conquer space for the purposes of world peace. Said one editorial writer: “Control of outer space may well be the key to the future; and for the sake of world peace, even human survival, this must be a matter not of national prestige but of collective security.”* International control was seen as the only practical answer to all the questions that man’s invasion of outer space with rockets and man-made moons had raised. International law, a “law of the world,” was seen to be needed for keeping man’s conquest of space from being misused by any nation or group of nations.
8 Religion has stepped into the discussion of the opportunities and dangers of man’s space age. One week after the Soviet Union launched its first satellite. Sputnik No. 1, to orbit around our globe, the Vatican newspaper “The Roman Observer”! encouraged exploration into outer space. Under date of October 11, 1957, it said: “God has no intention of setting a limit to the efforts of man to conquer space.” It said that the Roman Catholic Church’s viewpoint on outer space had not changed since its Pope Pius XII addressed an astronautical congress in Rome, Italy, in 1956. “On that occasion,” said the Vatican newspaper, “Pope Pius XU told 400 delegates from twenty-two nations that ‘the more we explore into outer space, the nearer we become to the great idea of one family under the Mother-Father God.’ Yet facts to date reveal that the exploration of outer space in man’s
* The New York Times as of January 16, 1958, editorial page.
t In Italian L’Osservatore Romano.
t According to an Associated Press dispatch from Rome, dated October 11, 1957, and published in the American press.
6. (a) What did one religious newspaper say on the conquering and exploring of outer space? (b) But whom has such exploration put foremost ?
way brings the physical scientists foremost to view. A paid newspaper article entitled “Will We Do the Job in Science?” paid a compliment to the Russian scientists and then spoke of our being on “the threshold of a space age in which the side that is strongest in science will inherit the earth— or what’s left of it.”*
T Those words cast a doubt on the third beatitude of Jesus Christ’s famous Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.”! Yet, can it possibly be that someday soon the meek or mild-tempered ones will actually inherit this earth under oppression of no kind? For an answer that question, like other vital ones, depends upon whose will is to be done on earth in the oncoming new world.
8 Amid their fears, anxieties and ambitions the nations of this world are forgetting something. What? There is a power that already has the “ultimate position,” not the ultimate position toward merely this tiny earth but that toward all the planets, moons and suns of the immeasurable universe that telescopes can bring to our view. It is the intelligent, divine Power that created the earth and man and beast and bird upon it, yes, that created all the stars, the sun and the moon that shine down upon us here at the earth. Selfcentered, self-reliant man does not want to think of this intelligent, divine Power or of any responsibility that man owes to this almighty Power as his Creator. Man tries to laugh off the existence of such an intelligent creative power, because man’s tiny, short-lived satellites or sputniks have
* Quoted from page 38 of the New York Times as of March 26,1958.
t Quoted from The Holy Bible, Matthew 5:5, Authorized Version of 1611. See AV on page 3.
7. On what beatitude did those words cast a doubt, and upon what does fulfillment of that beatitude depend?
8. As regards the “ultimate position,’’ what are the nations forgetting?
not run into him while orbiting about us in outer space. How foolish! For His ultimate position is not somewhere out in distant space as far as human scientists could shoot their farthest satellite or sputnik.
9 Let unreasoning man know that the all-scientific, almighty Creator’s ultimate position is in the invisible realm, into which man with all his science cannot rocket himself. Necessarily the Creator holds the “ultimate position” because he is the Most High, the Supreme One over all the universe. He is the living, creative Center around which all creation revolves. He rightfully holds the spatial imperialism everywhere, for he is Sovereign over all heaven and earth and over all the space between them. With no nation or group of nations will he divide and share his spatial imperialism. Against him no disdainful earthly nations can win. He is God!
A SYMBOLIC VISION OF HIM
10 Although we cannot see him, yet we dare not ignore the Most High, the almighty Sovereign God. We cannot escape his laws in any part of the boundless universe, including the law that no man of dust can see him and keep on living. God could not break this law even to favor his prophet Moses, through whom he gave the matchless Ten Commandments. When Moses asked God to cause him, a mere man, to see the divine glory, God told Moses: “You are not able to see my face, because no man may see me and yet live.”* That rule has held true regardless of how scientists have tried to discover the secret of life. God is not created matter, as man is. He is spirit, impossible for
* Quoted from the sacred Bible, Exodus 33:20.
9. Where does the Creator hold the ultimate position, and why does he hold the spatial imperialism everywhere?
10. Why may we not dare to ignore God, and why can we not see him? earthly eyes to see, even aided by the most far-seeing telescope or the most powerful electronic microscope.
11 Centuries ago Jesus Christ explained it to a Samaritan woman, saying: “God is a Spirit, and those worshiping him must worship with spirit and truth.”* Despite his invisibility in the spirit realm, human creatures can intelligently worship him with truth and get the unspeakable blessing out of it. One man who worshiped this great unseen One as divine Ruler immortal exclaimed: “Now to the King of eternity, incorruptible, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever.”t Taking this prayerful exclamation seriously, how can we dare to leave God out of mind?
12 “No man has seen God at any time,” wrote a follower of Jesus Christ nineteen centuries ago.i He was a personal friend of Jesus and leaned on his bosom; yet he had not seen God. Since no man, not even John the son of Zebedee who thus wrote, has seen God, we have no description of what he is like. We cannot imagine what he is like. For us to paint a picture or to sculpture an image to stand for him would mean to fool ourselves and to belittle him and to insult him. It would pull him down in our esteem rather than lift us up in a pretense at worshiping him. It would not be worshiping him with spirit, which is not materialistic like an image; nor worshiping him with truth, which is not imaginary. But this all-glorious, unseeable God helps us to understand and appreciate things about himself by likening them to things that we see and know well. He even speaks about
* See The Holy Bible, John 4:24.
t Ibidem, 1 Timothy 1:17.
t Ibidem, John 1:18.
11. How must we and can we worship him?
12. Since we have no description of God, how does he help us to understand and appreciate things about himself? himself as if he had a nose, eyes, a mouth, ears, hands and feet, and a pulsating heart. Thus he may give a vision of himself by the use of symbols. He gave John the son of Zebedee an awe-inspiring vision of himself, that John might describe the vision to us and let us, as it were, into the very presence of God in his “ultimate position” in heaven.
13 John saw more and learned more than all the modern-day scientists have learned or could learn by all the satellites or sputniks that they rocket up into outer space, equipped with scientific measuring instruments, radiocasting apparatus and televising sets. John saw farther than into outer space with its visible suns and planets, galaxies and meteors and comets, and its cosmic rays. John was then the last living of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. What he saw was a revelation, made possible not by modern-day scientific instruments but only by the operation of God’s invisible active force or spirit. The book in which John describes this miraculous vision is called The Revelation to John. It is put last in the books of the Holy Scriptures, The Holy Bible. John was then suffering for being a Christian, “for speaking about God and bearing witness to Jesus,” John says. He was being kept as a prisoner on the penal island of Patmos, not far from the coast of Asia Minor, now Asiatic Turkey. (Revelation 1:9) What did John see that is of value and importance to us in this nuclear space age?
14 From the glorified Jesus Christ in heaven John had just received seven messages for seven Christian congregations in Asia Minor. “After these things I saw, and, look! an opened door in heaven, and the first voice that I heard was as of
13. How did John see and learn more than all modern-day scientists?
14. Into what was John invited, and by following him where do we get and what may we see? a trumpet, speaking with me, saying: ‘Come on up here, and I shall show you the things which must take place.’ ” (Revelation 4:1) By following John through this opened door that led beyond outer space, where man-made moons orbit around the earth, we enter as if into the presence of the supreme, almighty Sovereign God. Knowing that no man can see God’s face and keep living, we do not expect to see his shape or any of his features. We could not endure the actual sight of him any more than we could endure a hydrogen bomb explosion close up. What we do see through John’s vision is glorious, brilliant, dazzling. We are also shown things that must take place in universal history.
15 As soon as John answered the invitation to come up through the opened door in heaven he came under the operation of God’s active force or spirit, to see what we humans cannot normally see. “And, look! a throne was in its position in heaven, and there is one seated upon the throne.” The position of this throne is the ultimate for superiority. It is the throne of the Most High, who dominates all creation seen and unseen, upon whom all creation depends for existence and for universal orderliness. It is the throne of the King of eternity, a perpetual King higher than all emperors, kings, dictators and rulers of the earth, who perish.
16 What is he like? Like a man in figure, in shape? No! “And the one seated is, in appearance, like a jasper stone and a precious red-colored stone, and round about the throne there is a rainbow like an emerald in appearance.” He is like highly polished gems, precious, glowing, beautiful, that attract the eye and win delighted admiration.
15. Under what force did John come, and whose throne did he see ?
16. What was the enthroned One like in appearance, and what do these things call to our attention?
There is nothing horrifying about him, nothing fiendish that would even suggest that he would torture his earthly creatures, human souls, forever and ever in conscious torment in a fiery hell. He is lovely in appearance and pleasant to look at, causing one to lose oneself in wonderment. About his throne there is further glory, the appearance of calmness, serenity. The appearance of a perfect rainbow of emerald indicates that, reminding one of the enjoyable, quieting calm that follows a storm. It reminds one of the first rainbow that God put into the sky after the global flood to serve as a heavenly sign to Noah and to all of us his descendants, to signify that never again would there be a global deluge. That was when God said: “No more will the waters become a deluge to bring all flesh to ruin. And the rainbow must occur in the cloud and I shall certainly see it to remember the covenant of eternity between God and every living soul among all flesh that is upon the earth.” (Genesis 9:12-16) Human scientists who want to control the weather on earth from an “ultimate position” in outer space will never be able to destroy God’s covenant symbolized by the rainbow.
17 Before God began creating he was all alone in space, from time without beginning. But whom of his creatures did God choose to call into his presence? With whom does he surround himself? In the close-up vision John tells us: “And round about the throne were four and twenty thrones: and upon the thrones I saw four and twenty elders sitting, arrayed in white garments; and on their heads crowns of gold.” (Revelation 4:4, AS) Who are these “elders,” these twenty-four persons of advanced age, enthroned around God’s own throne? John knew of “elders” in the Jewish community, in the congregation of ancient Israel. Fifteen centuries before John, when the prophet Moses re-
17. With whom was God seen to surround himself, and why did these not picture the “apostles of the Lamb”? ceived the Ten Commandments from God, Moses had associated with him seventy of the older men or “elders” of the nation of Israel. (Exodus 24: 1, 9, AS) John, however, was an “elder” or older man of the Christian congregation. He was a special “elder,” because he was one of the “twelve apostles of the Lamb [Jesus Christ],” who served as twelve foundations for the Christian congregation, like twelve foundation stones of the walls of the new Holy City. (Revelation 21:14) But those crowned and enthroned “elders” whom John saw sitting around God’s throne could not picture the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, for they were twenty-four in number, or twice the number of the twelve apostles.
18 In the congregation of ancient Israel “elders” were representatives of the entire congregation of Israelites. Likewise since John’s day the Christian “elders” have stood for the entire congregation of Christians or spiritual Israelites. According to this rule, the twenty-four “elders” seated on thrones about God picture the entire congregation of Christians who prove faithful till death and who are rewarded with a resurrection out of death to life in heaven and to a throne in the heavenly kingdom of God.*
19 This congregation of faithful Christians who win the heavenly reward finally becomes 144,000 in number, or six thousand times twenty-four. John himself is used to give us this final number of them, in Revelation 7:1-8; 14:1-5. John was
* Twenty-four was the number of the divisions into which King David divided the priests of the nation of Israel to serve at Jerusalem’s temple. The Christian congregation will be a “royal priesthood.”—1 Chronicles 24:1-19; Luke 1:5-24, 57-67; 1 Peter 2:9; Revelation 20:6. See The Watchtower in its issue of April 15,1956, pages 253-256.
18. Whom do the twenty-four "elders” represent?
19. How great in number does this congregation finally become, and what promises has Jesus Christ given them? used to pass on to them these messages from the glorified Jesus Christ in heaven: “Prove yourself faithful even with the danger of death [or, faithful till death], and I will give you the crown of life.” “He that conquers will thus be arrayed in white outer garments, and I will by no means blot out his name from the book of life, but I will make acknowledgment of his name before my Father and before his angels.” “To the one that conquers I will grant to sit down with me in my throne, even as I conquered and sat down with my Father in his throne.” (Revelation 2:10; 3:5, 21) What these twenty-four “elders” say and do in this vision to John further proves that they symbolize the 144,000 who make up the final congregation.
20 It was only nineteen hundred years ago that the Christian congregation was begun, on earth. As regards the presence of any members of it in heaven, their presence in heaven could date only from after the setting up of God’s kingdom, for which faithful Christians have prayed during all these centuries. Despite these facts, God views the members of the congregation as “elders” or persons of advanced age in comparison with all others of his intelligent creation in heaven and on earth. It is clear, therefore, that it is not the years of actual life of the members of the congregation but their advancement in knowledge, in official training and in loyal godly devotion that has paved the way to their being clothed in white, crowned and enthroned as “elders” around God’s throne.
21 How have they been chosen to be “elders” in God’s own presence? Certainly this has been by no democratic election carried on by any nation or people on earth, in the east or in the west. It has been by God himself, for God does not see the
20. Are they "elders” in years toward all creation, and what has paved the way to their being enthroned as persons of advanced age?
21. Mow have they been chosen to be "elders” in God’s presence? way any man or nation sees, but by his own standards God chooses who is to be given a seat within his immediate circle. So these symbolic “elders” are chosen theocratically, from the supreme place of authority above, and not from the people below on earth.
22 Since God surrounds himself with a circle of twenty-four symbolic elders, does this mean he has what might be called a Senate, an intimate Council of heavenly officers with whom he goes into consultation and takes counsel, asking their advice and acting according to the majority opinion or vote? No; for he is all-wise. He needs no counsel from any of his creatures. The prophet Isaiah rightly asked concerning this great Creator: “Who has taken the proportions of the spirit of Jehovah, and who as his man of counsel can make him know anything? With whom did he consult together that one might make him understand, or who teaches him in the path of justice, or teaches him knowledge, or makes him know the very way of real understanding? Look! The nations are as a drop from a bucket; and as the film of dust on the scales they have been accounted.” (Isaiah 40:13-15) The Christian congregation represented by the twenty-four “elders” have therefore only the honor of serving as foremost heavenly officials of the Ancient of Days, the Creator.
23 In the vision to John, God and his twenty-four “elders” sat enthroned in a setting like the interior of the temple of worship in the ancient city of Jerusalem. From the description that is written down in the Bible, John knew that there were ten golden lampstands in the holy chamber of the temple that King Solomon had built a thousand
22. Does God therefore have a Senate, and as what do the twenty-four “elders” have the honor of serving?
23. According to the things before God and the “elders,” what kind of interior was suggested to John? years before. Five lampstands were to the right and five to the left before the innermost room or Most Holy. In the courtyard of the temple there was also a great copper basin of water, so large that it was called a sea. (1 Kings 7:23-26, 44, 49) With water from it the priests washed their hands or the sacrifices.
24 Relative to God’s throne John says: “And out of the throne there are lightnings and voices and thunders proceeding; and there are seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, and these mean the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there is, as it were, a glassy sea like crystal.” In King Solomon’s temple of long ago God did not sit enthroned in its Most Holy, but there was a miraculous light that hovered above the sacred golden chest or ark that contained the two stone tablets upon which the finger of God had written the Ten Commandments. However, in the vision to John, God is seen as if seated enthroned in his heavenly temple.
25 The flashes of lightning from his throne aptly reminded John that “God is light.” At earth’s creation He was the One that said: “Let light come to be.” (1 John 1:5; Genesis 1:3) From his power go forth not only the actual lightnings but also all the flashes of enlightenment, of knowledge, of understanding and of wisdom to his creatures in heaven and on earth. From the One sitting upon the divine throne the power of voice comes, also the sound waves produced by the organs of speech, and especially divine messages that are carried by the voice. Sometimes the divine messages thunder in their impressiveness and in pronouncing judgment upon his enemies. “The glorious God himself has thundered.” (Psalm 29:3)
24. How did God's sitting enthroned here differ from what was true of King Solomon's temple of long ago?
25. As pictured by what John saw and heard, what things go forth from God's throne?
His prophecies of things to come have foretold of his coming to his great spiritual temple for the purpose of judging men.—Malachi 3:1.
26 God’s spirit or active force is invisible to human eyes, but it can cause creations to move and to work. It can produce results that our feeble eyes can see and that our other senses can perceive. By his spirit or active force God can cause enlightenment, revealing things that no ordinary human mind could think up or understand, through light shed on long-hidden sacred secrets. His spirit is like “seven lamps of fire” burning before God in his heavenly temple, not to give him light but to make things light for those who come into his presence. Those seven lamps of fire, John says, “mean the seven spirits of God.” Not that seven spirit persons are meant by these seven spirits, but that the spirit or active force of God is to be looked upon in a sevenfold way. Seven being the Bible number that stands for spiritual completeness or perfection, the seven spirits denote the complete fullness of God’s spirit. The fully needed amount of his spirit or active force he uses for enlightening those who serve him in his spiritual temple. In their turn, these enlightened ones reflect the spiritual light to other creatures to bring them a knowledge of God’s truth.
27 Those seven symbolic lamps of fire must have shed their light upon the “glassy sea like crystal,” at which priests could wash. So, too, the sevenfold spirit of God works only through an organization or group of creatures that is clean in his eyes. His spirit operates through a cleansed organization and helps the members to keep the organization and its offerings to God clean. Remember’ that the great “sea” of King Solomon’s temple
26. What is meant by the “seven lamps of fire,” and why should lighted lamps be before him?
27. Upon what did those seven lamps shine, and what did this fact picture?
could hold about 19,600 gallons of water and was “for the priests to wash in it.” (2 Chronicles 4: 2-6) Like clean water, God’s truth is cleansing and purifying in its power. Those who are admitted into God’s presence, like the twenty-four elders, need such water of truth, in order to carry out their priestly duties acceptably to God and for the good of all men of good will. True to this picture, the congregation of 144,000 faithful followers of Jesus Christ are spoken of as receiving from him a cleansing “with the bath of water by means of the word, that he might present the congregation to himself in its splendor, not having a spot or a wrinkle or any of such things, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:25-27) God believes in religious cleanness. He has near him what is clean.
JUSTICE, POWER, LOVE AND WISDOM IN HIS CREATURES
28 Let us not be surprised at what we see further in the vision to John. Let us not think that in heaven there are animals that are found on earth. The dog Laika that lived for a few days imprisoned in the Russian Sputnik No. 2, rocketed into outer space on November 3, 1957, got no higher than the orbit in which this man-made satellite zoomed around the earth till it fell to destruction on April 14, 1958. But in God’s holy presence there are creatures that have qualities pictured by certain animals here on earth. We see these as John tells us more details of his marvelous vision. “And in the midst of the throne and around the throne there are four living creatures that are full of eyes in front and behind. And the first living creature is like a lion, and the second living creature is like a young bull, and the third living creature has a face like a man’s, and the
28. What four living creatures were seen at God’s throne? fourth living creature is like a flying eagle.”—Revelation 4:6,7.
29 Being in the midst of God’s throne and around his throne, these four living creatures symbolize an organization of God’s creatures having the four prominent qualities or attributes that were found first in the Creator himself and that he put in creatures whom he made in his image and likeness. The Holy Bible tells specially of God’s four principal qualities or attributes, which are justice, power, love and wisdom, in perfect balance and harmony. These are live or Jiving qualities, not existing separate or detached, but embodied in God himself and also in all his godlike creatures. Since the living creatures full of eyes before and behind are four in number, they together would picture God’s organization of godlike creatures in the perfectness of a square, with its four sides equal and in perfect balance, right-angled.
30 All these creatures are marked by a combination of the four outstanding godlike qualities. These set them apart from mere brute beasts of the earth. The fact that the first living creature is like a lion pictures that God’s properly balanced organization has courageous justice. Jesus Christ, God’s first creation, is spoken of as God’s righteous or just one, and he is called “the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah.” (John 5:30; Acts 3:14; 7:52; 22:14; Revelation 5:5) The fact that the second living creature was like a young bull points to the power or strength with which God has filled the organization of his godlike creatures. In keeping with this fact the apostle Paul said: “For all things I have the strength by virtue of him who imparts power to me.” And to Christians he wrote: “Finally, go on acquiring power in the Lord and
29. What do these living creatures symbolize, and to what does their number four point?
30. What does the first creature’s likeness to a lion picture, and the second creature’s likeness to a young bull? in the mightiness of his strength.”—Philippians 4:13; Ephesians 6:10.
31 As regards the third living creature, it had a “face like a man’s.” Now it is said of man’s Maker: “God is love.” (1 John 4:16) Man, who is made in God’s image and likeness, should correspondingly be love, expressing love above all other things of which he is capable. So the man’s face on the third living creature symbolizes that God’s organization of faithful sons has love and hence works no evil to fellow creatures. “He that does not love has not come to know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:8) Combined with this love and with justice and power is wisdom, heavenly wisdom; and this is pictured by the flying eagle that the fourth living creature resembles. The eagle flies high in the heavens and is farsighted. “An eagle flies upward” and “builds its nest high up, . . . far into the distance its eyes keep looking.” (Job 39:27-29) “For a foolish one true wisdom is too high,” but not for the farsighted, high-aiming ones of God’s faithful organization. They are swift like the eagle in acting according to God’s wisdom.—Proverbs 24:7.
32 The symbolic four living creatures were full of eyes in front and behind. In like manner those who are members of God’s just, powerful, loving and wise organization are awake, alert, on the watch. They especially take note of God in all things and observe all his indications of what he wants them to do. This remarkable feature about them is made noticeable in the further description of them: “And as for these four living creatures, each one of them respectively has six wings; round about and underneath they are full of eyes. And they have no rest day and night as they say:
31. What did the third creature’s having a face like a man's picture, and the fourth creature's being like a flying eagle?
32. What is pictured in that the four living creatures have many eyes in front and behind and declare Jehovah’s holiness day and night ?
‘Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah* God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is coming.’ ” (Revelation 4:8) From this it is plain that these four many-eyed living creatures picture those who can talk and who recognize God and appreciate his holiness, his almightiness and his purposefulness, and who, besides, know his name.
33 Long before John, the prophet Isaiah also had a vision of God at his temple. At that time Isaiah saw heavenly creatures called seraphs standing above God’s throne. Like the four living creatures, these also had three pairs of wings. How did they use these wings? “With two he kept his face covered, and with two he kept his feet covered, and with two he would fly about. And this one called to that one and said: ‘Holy, holy, holy is Jehovah of armies. The fullness of all the earth is his glory.’ ”—Isaiah 6:1-3.
34 Manifestly, with three pairs of wings, the four living creatures whom John saw could either fly or speed up their movement forward; they could either cover parts of themselves or cover other creatures protectively; and they would have plenty of vision to know how to use those wings that were full of eyes round about and underneath. Such peculiarities speak of similar powers of swift movement, protectiveness and awakeness, awareness, on the part of God’s faithful servants pictured by the four living creatures. For example, we are told by Psalm 34:7: “The angel of Jeho-
* Nine Hebrew translations of the book of Revelation have the name “Jehovah” or “Yahweh” here, instead of the title “the Lord.” These Hebrew translations, listed as J7’ s>16'18, are identified for us on pages 31, 32 of the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures. See therein the footnote a on Revelation 4:8.
33. What equality in wings did the prophet Isaiah see in his vision of Jehovah in his temple?
34. What did the four creatures’ having each three pairs of wings make possible, also the wings’ being full of eyes? vah is camping all around those fearing him and he rescues them.” Day and night God’s just, powerful, loving and wise organization can render any needed service. Why? Because they “have no rest day and night” as they tell continually, with a threefold emphasis, how holy Jehovah God the Almighty is. So we should appreciate God’s universal organization.
35 The true Christian congregation is in full harmony with what the symbolic four living creatures do and say. John shows that when telling us more of what he saw in vision. He says: “And whenever the living creatures offer glory and honor and thanksgiving to the one seated upon the throne, the one that lives for ever and ever, the twenty-four persons of advanced age fall down before the one seated upon the throne and worship the one that lives for ever and ever, and they cast their crowns before the throne, saying: ‘You are worthy, Jehovah,* even our God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, because you created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created.’ ”—Revelation 4:9-11.
36 Do the political rulers of today, or do even the religious rulers of today, inside and outside Christendom, fulfill that symbolic vision? Do they take off their crowns, their diadems, their miters, their official turbans or headdress and cast them before the One sitting in the “ultimate position” on the supreme throne of the universe, the
* Six Hebrew translations of the book of Revelation have the name “Jehovah” or “Yahweh” here, instead of the title “the Lord.” In the New World Translation of the Christian Greek Scriptures these are listed as ji, 8, is, 14, io, is. gee therein the footnote b on Revelation 4:11, and pages 31, 32.
35. How did the twenty-four elders show that the Christian congregation is in agreement with what the living creatures do and say?
36. Having in mind those twenty-four elders, what questions do we ask concerning political or even religious rulers on earth today ? immortal One, who lives and reigns forever and ever? Do they get down off their thrones or official seats and fall down before this God and Creator and surrender to him their governing power and authority, confessing that He is the one worthy to receive the glory, the honor and the power, because he is the Creator of all things? Do they thus copy the twenty-four “elders”? Or do they try to make heroes and gods out of themselves for people to idolize and worship, requiring them to ‘give to Caesar what belongs to God’? Do they seek to gain the “ultimate position” in outer space and to seize world domination and to enforce their will on the peoples of the earth? Or do they show willingness to hand over national or tribal sovereignty to the supreme, everlasting kingdom of God? The worldly events of our day give the unprejudiced, unmistakable answers to these pointed questions.
37 Those who are really symbolized by the twenty-four “elders” honestly declare that all power comes from God the Creator and that they deserve no glory or honor. God the Creator they acknowledge as worthy of receiving glory, honor and power and therefore worthy of receiving worship, submission and obedience. Since he is Creator of all things, he is also our Creator. In no other way did we come into existence. We did not will ourselves into existence on this earth. No; but as the twenty-four “elders” said to God on his throne: “Because of your will they existed and were created.” Since it is because of God’s will that we were created and have existence today, then we were created for God’s will. We exist only for his will, all of us. Quite properly we should desire and try to learn what his will is and then do it. Otherwise we shall disastrously miss the purpose of our creation and existence.
37. To whom do those pictured by the “elders” give the glory, and why should we try to learn what his will is and to do it?
38 The greatest man ever on earth appreciated that very fact. He was a man of prayer to God. His name was Jesus. His father was not a Hebrew, an Israelite or a Jew, but was God himself, as the facts to be discussed herein will show. For that reason he called no man his father but spoke of God as his heavenly Father. Because Jesus, when thirty years old, was anointed and received the spirit of God he was called Jesus Christ. In The Holy Bible we find written the “book of the history of Jesus Christ,” “the good news about Jesus Christ.” (Matthew 1:1; Mark 1:1) He was the greatest teacher ever on earth. He had learners or disciples, and he sent out special disciples to preach. These he called apostles, or sent-forth ones.—Mark 3:7, 9, 13, 14.
39 Jesus taught his disciples to pray to God in an acceptable way. The simplest, yet greatest pattern of prayer that he taught them is given in his well-known Sermon on the Mount. He told them not to pray hypocritically or according to mere form: “But when praying, do not say the same things over and over again, just as the people of the nations do, for they imagine they will get a hearing for their use of many words. So, do not make yourselves like them, for God your Father knows what things you are needing before ever you ask him.” (Matthew 6:5-8) In this way he taught them to recognize God as their Creator and Life-giver, hence as their Father, the Provider of what things they are needing. Then he added:
THE MODEL PRAYER
40 “This, therefore, is the way you are to pray: ‘Our Father in heaven, your name be revered!
38. Who as the greatest man ever on earth appreciated that fact, and whom did he send out to preach ?
39. In what way did he tell them that they should pray, and to whom?
40. What was the model prayer that he taught them?
Your kingdom come! Your will be done on earth as well as in heaven! Give us today bread for the day, and forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors. And do not subject us to temptation, but save us from the evil one.’ ”—Matthew 6:9-13, An American Translation.
41 In Jesus’ day on earth the Caesar of the Roman Empire ruled a large part of the inhabited earth, including the Middle East, where Jesus lived. Jesus did not teach his learners, his disciples, to pray to a nameless divine Person, an unnamable God, a God who as soon as his title “God” is mentioned is recognized in the same way by everybody, regardless of which one of the millions of so-called gods that a person may be worshiping. Jesus Christ many times spoke of the personal name of God his Father. Before he began to preach in a meeting place in his home town of Nazareth he took the book of Isaiah and read to his listeners chapter 61, verses 1 and 2, which say: “The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah is upon me; because Jehovah hath anointed me to preach good tidings.” (AS; Luke 4:16-21) From this it is seen that God has a personal name.
42 God has a name that sets him apart from every other person or thing that is called by the title “god.” He honors and respects his own name and will allow nobody to live forever that speaks wrongly of his name or that shames his name. He puts his own name behind the promises, the prophecies, the statements of purpose that he makes, so that he may not be mistaken for anyone else whom men worship as a god. In regard to his 41. Was it to a nameless God that he taught them to pray, and how did he personally show the answer to this question?
42, 43. How does God set himself apart from every other one that Is called “god,” and with what Hindu statement does his Word disagree in this matter? name his written Word, the Bible, disagrees with the following recent statement: “
43 “Names of gods do not make religion any more than the names of men and women make up their personality. Names are originally given and used without any idea of comparison or contrast with other names. . . . Whether it be God, Jehovah, Bhagwan, Ishwar, Allah, Hari, Siva or Rama, it is the same Being that in vague manner is recalled by every devotee when he utters the name which he has been brought up to associate with the mystery of the universe and the idea of worship.”
44 To the contrary, Jesus taught his disciples to pray, not to a so-called Mother-Father God,t or to a nameless God, but to a God whose name Jesus himself knew and the Israelite high priests knew. If God’s personal name, which is Jehovah, did not count, why did Jesus open the model prayer, teaching: “Our Father in heaven, your name be revered [or, be sanctified, NW]”? Those listening to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount were believers, not in the gods of India or other lands like it, but in the God whom Jesus himself worshiped. Christ’s own name honors the name of this God and heavenly Father, for the name Jesus means “Jehovah is Salvation.”—Matthew 1:21.
45 This Jehovah was the One to whom Jesus’ disciples were to pray as “Our Father in heaven.” God gave himself this name before ever there was an Abraham, an Israelite, a Jew or a Christian; and God has stuck to that name ever since. The
* Quoted from the book Hinduism—Doctrine and Way of Life, by C. Rajagopalachari (1956), printed at the Hindustan Times Press, New Delhi, page 3, paragraph 1.
t See page 8, paragraph 6.
44. What was known about the God to whom Jesus was teaching his disciples to pray?
45. (a) Who gave God that name, and how long have men known and used it? (b) When will it be revered and sanctified, and why? first man and woman on earth knew and mentioned his name. (Genesis 4:1) More than five hundred years before the flood of Noah’s day men in general were using God’s exclusive name. Yes, for during the days of the first man’s grandson they were doing so: “Then began men to call upon the name of Jehovah.” (Genesis 4:26, AS) In the new world toward which humankind is rapidly moving, the name of Jehovah will be revered, hallowed, sanctified or held sacred by all human creatures that survive into that coming world. Jesus Christ taught his disciples to pray that it might be so. For nineteen centuries since then his faithful, obedient disciples have prayed that it might be so. It will be so, because the heavenly Father who respects his own name will answer the prayer that his beloved Son and the disciples of his Son have prayed continually in faith.
46 But one important question before leaving this prayer. It is this: Who will rule the planet earth and decide what the people on earth must do? The answer to that question will determine whose will is to be done on earth. There is an answer to the question, and it will be given by an able government. Whose government? God’s own government. Addressing the model prayer to his own Father and the Father of his disciples, Jesus prayed: “Your kingdom come! Your will be done on earth as well as in heaven!”
47 During the coming new world this earth will not be governed by some government from this earth, from men. It will not be governed by some government of great wealth, power and scientific achievements that gets control of man’s “ultimate position” in outer space, and that with this advantage forces the peoples of earth to do its will
46. According to Jesus’ model prayer, what will make certain whose will is to be done on earth ?
47. Why will the government of the new world not be one from outer space?
or else take the consequences from outer space. Earth will be governed by a government higher than man’s “ultimate position” in outer space. It will be governed by a truly heavenly government, by God’s kingdom, in answer to the prayer of all lovers of a righteous, perfect, sinless government, a theocratic government.
48 Since there are so many who are called gods today, how could we know whose government God’s kingdom really was unless we knew the name of this God, this Father in heaven to whom Jesus addressed the model prayer? But no uncertainty exists as to whose kingdom is prayed for. It is the kingdom of the great Life-giver in heaven, whose name is to be revered and hallowed. That heavenly King is Jehovah God the Almighty, whom the twenty-four symbolic “elders” called worthy to receive the glory, honor and power. The earth and man upon it were created because of Jehovah’s will. It is right and inescapable that his will should be done on earth. His will is being done up in heaven, where he reigns as Sovereign of the universe. On earth his will is not being done by men whom the Creator has permitted to live. His will is done up in heaven, which is so immeasurably bigger than our small earth. During the new world his will is certain to be done on earth just as it is done on a vaster scale in heaven.
49 When the will of that One is done on earth whom John saw in his inspired vision, the One who is so radiantly beautiful in himself and who surrounds himself with an organization of creatures acting with justice, power, love and wisdom, how grand it will be on earth in the new world! For thousands of years the changeless, irresistible purpose of Jehovah God has been working to that 48. Because of the many so-called gods, how is it known whose government personally the Kingdom is, and why is it inescapable that his will should be done on earth?
49. To what grand end respecting the earth has God been working, and what will its realization mean for the earth ?
grand end. Regardless of what has been the turn of events on earth, he in his all-might has always been in command of the situation. He has always been ahead of man and devil. He has permitted nothing to interfere with the perfect outworking of his purpose, his will.
50 Knowing the end of his works from the beginning of them, he has seen thousands of years ahead of his creatures. (Isaiah 46:10) From the beginning he has worked steadily, unswervingly toward his goal. The end is now plainly in sight. By making a swiftly moving survey of the known events of human history over thousands of years in the light of prophecies given over God’s own name, we shall appreciate more his faithfulness to his promise and prophecy, and his perfect foresight and ability to carry out his righteous purpose. As never before we shall understand the meaning of what is now occurring on earth. Through this we shall receive still greater assurance that the will of Jehovah God will be done on earth as well as in heaven.
50. Why has God seen thousands of years ahead of humans, and how shall we receive greater assurance that his will is going to be done here?
“Be On
Santk
QIVING on this earth is becoming more and more dangerous for mankind, not only physically but also morally and spiritually. This ought not to be
so. But it is so. Yet there is no other place for mankind to move to. Mankind cannot move away from the trouble to the much smaller moon or to the other planets such as men have named Venus, Mercury and Mars. The earth’s moon and the planets of our solar system were not prepared for man to live there in comfort, happiness and eternity. Boast as men may of shooting a rocket to or around the moon, or of sending a manned, atom-powered spaceship there and beyond, no nation is prepared to evacuate its people from this earth to the moon or any other planet of our solar system. Besides, what sane man wants to live there or could live there? Man is bound to this planet. He will have to stay here when the danger reaches its highest pitch. He will find himself trapped in a destructive trouble that is largely of his own making.
2 Because of the advances of worldly science the nuclear space age suddenly broke in upon mankind. Because it was practically forced upon us by ambition, rivalry and fears of a grasping, greedy enemy, not by love, it has not proved to be such a wonderful time to live in for people of this world. Any spreading of modern conveniences, any lifting of the people’s standard of living, any increases in the number of scientists, any enlargement of man’s understanding of the secrets of outer space and of the structure of our earth, all this has left the more important situation still unchanged. It is still a split-up world. More than just a chasm divides East and West. In numberless ways the people are divided as to whose political, social and religious will they want to rule them. Dictatorial powers or systems of rule take control of the people in large areas; even popular
1. Why is there no other place for man to move to, and how will he find himself trapped in destructive trouble ?
2. Why is this nuclear space age not such a wonderful time in which to live, and what has scientific advance left unchanged?
34 “YOUR WILL BE DONE ON EARTH” governments find it necessary to take over more power in order to keep operating or to protect themselves. So the people find themselves forced to bow down to the will of distracted, powerfully armed and heavily financed rulers.
3 Despite protests, the test explosion of atomic and nuclear weapons of war continued, polluting the air and the sea, even the rainfall and the snow. Nations are willing to call a halt to the production and testing of further weapons of holocaustic destruction of human lives only because they feel overstocked with them, or feel they have reached the ultimate weapon and no further testing is needed. Fear of radioactive fallout from nuclear explosions spreads around the globe and stirs unrest among the helpless, who feel victimized. For the sake of security and to get surprises ready for the suspected enemy, the invention and making of more hideous weapons of destruction continues. With the ICBM (intercontinental ballistic missile) or with the atomic or modernized submarine equipped to hurl IRBM’s (intermediaterange ballistic missiles) from underneath the water and able to conceal itself under the polar icecap, the “splendid isolation” of any continent is a thing of the past. All continents are within range of war missiles, all civilian populations also. Strategic bombing of population or industrial centers is just as vital to winning a hot war as tactical bombing of people in the war camp or on the firing lines. In the unavoidable total warfare and regimentation of the citizenry all the people supporting and supplying the men in uniform must suffer equally with those firing the scientific weapons of war.
4 To add to the scare, the control of the weather
3. Why is the isolation of any continent now a thing of the past, and why in further total warfare must all the people as well as the firers of weapons suffer?
4. What possibility does control of the weather take on as compared with nuclear weapons ?
takes on the possibility of being more deadly than nuclear warfare. The chairman of the American Advisory Committee on Weather Control warned that control of the weather by the enemy could work more disastrous results to the United States of America than atomic discoveries. About the same time the director of the Laboratory of Earth Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology backed that warning up, saying: “International control of weather modification will be as essential to the safety of the world as control of nuclear energy is now.” And he urged America to keep ahead or abreast of Soviet Russia.*
5 A peaceful coexistence has been recommended for nations that follow radically different political ideas and systems. Coexistence does not mean brotherly love between nations. It means a risky putting up with each other while the rivalry and race for worldly advantages and domination goes on in ways less noisy than launching deadly missiles armed with atomic and nuclear warheads. Merely the temperature of the war is different— cold. At the World Conference of Religions in New Delhi, India, during November of 1957, Jawaharlal Nehru as India’s Prime Minister mentioned to the delegates that the world had taken a “mighty turn” toward the adventure of interplanetary travel. He said no one was sure how the new forces would at last be put to use. One thing had become clear to him, though, and that was that if the “cold war” kept on it would be a hard thing for this world to survive.! Other voices besides his have been raised in warning.
* Howard T. Orville and Dr. Henry G. Houghton, respectively, as reported in the New York Times under date of January 28,1958.
t The New York Times as of November 18, 1957, page 3.
5. What does coexistence of opposed nations really mean, and how hard would “cold war’’ at last make it for this world?
6 If mankind and animalkind are yet to be preserved on an earth fit to live in, a will higher than that of the selfishly divided, suspicious nations needs to be carried out on earth. It must be the will of more than just anyone in the spirit realm who is higher and more powerful than earthly nations. Why so? Because the Holy Bible warns us that the nations are in the grip of the worst enemy of man and of man’s Creator, namely, Satan the Devil. He is, in fact, the invisible “ruler of this world,” “the god of this system of things.” (John 12:31; 14:30; 2 Corinthians 4:4) What, then? For the survival of man and animal on earth as an everlasting home the supranational will that has to be done on earth is that of God the Creator, who says: “I am Jehovah. That is my name; and to anyone else I shall not give my own glory, neither my praise to graven images.” (Isaiah 42:8) His will must be done on earth if man and beast are to enjoy life on earth forever. In this way his purpose in creating man and animals on earth will have to be proved just, righteous, good and loving. His purpose will thus have to be vindicated, justified, to his immortal glory. Those praying the model prayer that Jesus taught pray for God’s purpose to be vindicated by his will being done on earth as well as in heaven.
THE EARTH EVERLASTING
7 How, though, can we make sure that it is the Creator’s will for the earth to stay in existence to eternity and for it to remain an inhabited planet always? We cannot make sure of this by going to the contradictory religions of Christendom. We can positively make sure of it by going to the Creator’s own written Word, the Holy Bible. By 6. For man’s preservation on earth, whose supranational will must be done here, and how will that affect the purpose in man's creation ?
7. How can we make sure that it is the Creator’s will for the earth to exist forever? his spirit or active force he is the Creator of the Bible, even though he did use faithful men of God in the producing of it. “For 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) Religious priests keep the Bible from the people and interpret or misinterpret it according to their creeds or man-made statements of belief. However, God produced the Bible for all the people to read or to have read to them, to know for themselves what God himself says in his Book.
8 Jesus Christ had the thirty-nine books of the Hebrew Scriptures, from the book of Genesis to the book of Malachi, which had been written under inspiration of God’s spirit before Jesus lived on earth. From those books Jesus knew what God’s will for this earth was and what his purpose was in creating it and putting man on it. In harmony with this knowledge from those Hebrew Scriptures Jesus composed the model prayer for his followers. He told them to pray to the Father in heaven: “Your kingdom come! Your will be done on earth as well as in heaven!” Let us ask ourselves, then: Is Jesus here teaching men to pray for the earth to be destroyed by fire or any other means and to be emptied of human and animal creatures? Since the heavenly Father’s kingdom is to come to this earth in answer to Jesus’ own prayer, why should this earth be destroyed at that time or at any time afterward? God’s kingdom comes to stay here for all future time. He does not need to destroy the earth on account of the people on it. No, not when God’s will is then being
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