The Watchtower, April 15, 1942
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‘‘CHILDREN OF THE KING” TESTIMONY PERIOD
The spring month of April is a favorable time for the "Children of The King” Testimony Period. and which is therefore a world-wide period of united action by those advertising the King and the Kingdom. In all the earth not only those of the anointed remnant, but also all those hoping to become the earthly "children of the King”, will take part, and if any such want references to companies organized for this testimony let them without delay write the office in their respective countries. Much advance preparation for this campaign is required. April being the close of the three-month Watchtower Campaign, the servants and children of the King will continue offering the special combination, namely, a year’s Watchtower subscription, together with the ... of the book Children and the new booklet Hope, and all this for the regular subscription rate of $1.00 in America, and correspondingly in the other lands. Let this be your best month of the campaign. and at the end thereof you will with joy turn m your report of activities and the fruits thereof.
“HOPE”
With pleasure the Society announces publication of a new booklet, Hope – for the Dead – for the Survivors – in a Righteous World. The theme itself impresses one that the booklet meets a very present need, when millions of hearts need to be infused with new hope both for the living and for the newly dead; and the contents, in an up-to-date setting, will delight you. It is a 64-page booklet, self-covered, but having a very engaging cover design Date of its release for general circulation in the field is announced elsewhere, but you will first desire to read and enjoy it yourself and thereby know how best to present and use it in ‘comforting all that mourn’. You may obtain your personal copy now, contributing 5c therefor.
“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES
Week of May 17: “Micah” (Part 7), 1-14 inclusive, The Watchtower April 15, 1942.
Week of May 24: “Micah” (Part 7), 15-28 inclusive, The Watchtower April 15, 1942.
Week of May 31: “Micah” (Part 7), 29-41 inclusive, The Watchtower April 15, 1942.
USE RENEWAL SUBSCRIPTION BLANK
The blank sent you one month before expiration of your Watchtower subscription should be filled out and returned to the Brooklyn office or to the Branch office in the country where you reside. Servants in the companies, and individuals, when sending in renewals for The Watchtower, should always use these blanks. By filling in these renewal blanks you are assured of the continuation of your Watchtower from the time of expiration, and without delay. It will also be a great help if you sign your name uniformly, and note any recent change of address, on the renewal slip.
No. LXIII April 15, 1942 No 8
MICAH
PART 7
"When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in hear will be done, as in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy so in earth.”—Luke 11:2.
JEHOVAH is the Father to whom prayer must be directed. His beloved One, his only begotten Son, is the one appointed to give instruction in prayer, and the one in whose name the prayer is authorized to be offered and heard. Following His word of instruction, the petitioner will not pray amiss. Jehovah is the Heavenly Father of every faithful one who is in the way of life and who is in a covenant for membership in the kingdom of heaven. It is the Father’s name Jehovah that must be hallowed. Because of the reproaches that religion has heaped upon that holy name, it must be vindicated before all creation. The Kingdom will do that. That righteous Government will clear out all religion and all religious practitioners from heaven and earth. In place thereof it will cause God’s will to be done on earth by all creatures that live even as it is done above by the King at God’s right hand and by the “angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him”. (1 Pet. 3:22) The Kingdom shall settle everlastingly the issue of universal domination.
2 Many centuries ago God established a typical Theocratic government over the twelve tribes of Israel, and anointed and installed his faithful witness, David, as the king thereof. The anointed king, as representative of the invisible Supreme Ruler, “sat on the throne of Jehovah.” (1 Chron. 29:23, Am. Rev. Ver.) With the help of the great Theocrat, Jehovah, King David made Zion his capital. Then he fought against all God’s enemies and extended the power and dominion of that typical Theocracy to the farthest limits ordained by Jehovah. That was a prophetic pattern of how Jehovah’s real Theocratic Government by his beloved Son will put down and destroy all enemies everywhere and will establish the domination of the glorious Theocracy universally, including our earth. As a type of Jehovah’s Anointed One, Christ Jesus, David was born of the tribe of Judah and in the little city of Bethlehem, which is also called Ephratah: “Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem.” (Gen. 35:19) When all enemies of the typical Theocracy had been subdued and the government had been established in peace, which peace was continued during the reign of Solomon, King David prayed to the great Theocrat: “Blessed be thou, O Jehovah, the God of Israel our father, for ever and ever. Thine, O Jehovah, is the greatness, and the power, and the glory, and the victory, and the majesty: for all that is in the heavens and in the earth is thine; thine is the kingdom, O Jehovah, and thou art exalted as head above all. ... Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.”—1 Chron. 29:10-13, Am. Rev. Ver.
3 Jesus, who sprang out of David's tribe of Judah, was anointed with God’s holy spirit after baptism in Jordan. Immediately Christ Jesus began preaching, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand,” because he, the One anointed from heaven to be King, was present. He taught his disciples the model prayer to ever keep their minds and hearts’ desire upon the coming of the Kingdom. By giving all that he had in heaven and earth, even life itself, Christ Jesus bought the right to and ownership of the Kingdom and all who shall be included in that Kingdom. God raised him out of death and to the place of chief favor and power in heaven, next to Jehovah: “But he, when he had offered one sacrifice for sins for ever, sat down on the right hand of God; henceforth expecting till his enemies be made the footstool of his feet.” (Heb. 10:12,13, A.R.V.; Ps. 110:1) Since then, and while Christ Jesus must wait in expectation of entering actively upon his Kingdom rulership, Jehovah has been taking out from among all nations believing and faithful creatures, just 144,000 of them, to be associated with Christ Jesus in the heavenly Kingdom, The Theocratic Government, Zion. — Rev. 14:1, 3.
4 Jehovah acknowledges that Theocratic Government as his own. He is the source of its life and power, and he by his spirit begets each one who gains office in that Theocracy. It is therefore his offspring and is pictured under the symbol of a perfect “man child”. The Head of that Government is Christ Jesus, who is called ‘-'The Son of man”. All the members of that Theocratic Kingdom being first taken out from Jehovah’s holy universal organization, His universal organization is the “mother” of the “man child” Government and is therefore pictured as a pure and devoted “woman”, whose maker, Jehovah, is her husband. (Isa. 54:5) The entering in by Christ Jesus upon the active duties of the Government is therefore pictured as the woman’s giving birth to the “man child”. The wicked demon organization under Satan is symbolized as a fiery- red dragon which is opposed to universal domination by The Theocracy and therefore seeks to devour it at the moment of its birth, in A.D. 1914. This occasioned a great war in heaven, accompanied by world war on earth, and wherein Satan and his demon hosts were defeated and cast down. Maddened with the outcome of this "war, Satan and the demons brought great “travail” upon God’s “woman” by persecuting all her “children” on earth who are in line for the Kingdom and who are but a “remnant of her seed”. (Rev. 12:1-13,17) In olden time when David was installed as anointed king on Mount Zion the Philistines and other anti-Theocratic enemies opposed him and he must war against them to destroy them. Likewise after the birth of the “man child" in 1914 the travail of war and of enemy persecution came upon God’s “woman” and her “children”. Before the birth of the “man child” the faithful Christians on earth had with earnest desire and prayer looked forward to that foretold event. Now because of the successful birth duly announced to the nations from and after 1914 the faithful Kingdom publishers were “hated of all nations”, as prophesied by Christ Jesus. They w’ere made to cry out to God due to persecution. (Matt. 24:7-9) God by his prophet Micah foretold these events.
5 “Nowt why dost thou cry out aloud? is there no king in thee? is thy counsellor perished? for pangs have taken thee as a woman in travail.” (Mic. 4: 9) That the birth of the Government would precede this tribulation upon God’s “woman” was further confirmed by another prophet living in Micah’s day, saying: “Before she travailed, she brought forth [the man child]; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child [The Theocracy under Christ Jesus].” (Isa. 66:7) Many consecrated Christians had been led to think that immediately the birth of the “man child” occurred they would be transferred from earth by death and an instantaneous resurrection “change” from human to spirit and a glorification in the heavenly Kingdom. They were disappointed and, under the stress of persecution besides, they cried out, “How long, O Lord?”
6 The Lord has since revealed to them that Christ Jesus the King is the essential one of The Theocracy. He needs no associates with him to begin the Government born at God’s due time, to wit, in 1914, because He bought the Government and is entrusted with all power in heaven and earth. Only by the grace of God are his faithful followers, the members of “the body of Christ”, associated with him in the Kingdom, and that first after his coming to the temple, when he raises the sleeping saints from death. The remnant on earth, judged and approved, he anoints and brings into the covenant of faithfulness for the Kingdom. Thus, after the tribulation of God’s organization came, those of the remnant were brought forth by Zion and acknowledged by Jehovah as his children, his other children besides the “man child” born in 1914. Therefore God’s prophet exclaims under inspiration: “Who hath heard such a thing? who hath seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? or shall a nation [The Theocracy] be born at once? for as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children [from and after 1918, when Christ Jesus came to the temple].”—Isa. 66: 8.
7 To the persecutors and enemies of The Theocracy it appeared that God’s kingdom had not begun in 1914, despite the physical facts fulfilling Bible prophecy proving that event. They took it for granted that there was no King in the midst of Jehovah’s covenant people. Why? Because the King is the ‘image of his Father’s person’, a divine Spirit, invisible to human eyes and discerned only by the eye of faith. Also there were spirit-begotten ones that proved unfaithful and became the “evil servant” class. By their course of conduct these say: “My Lord delayeth his coming.” (Matt. 24:48-51) They have joined the religionists in the persecution of those standing faithful to the Kingdom and seeking to publish it. Jehovah had indeed set his King Christ Jesus on his holy hill of Zion and had sent him forth to rule in the midst of his enemies, but the faithful remnant of those in line for the Kingdom were left on earth. Moreover, the enemy was permitted to express hate against them in all nations, to persecute them, and to take them captive and imprison them and practically stop their publication of the newly set-up Kingdom. They were as without a protecting King and as though cut off from being a part of the “new nation”, the New Government.
8 Further, concerning the remnant, there were spots and soils of religion upon their garments of identification, and in the stress of those days of world war between “the king of the north” and “the king of the south” there seemed to be no counselor to give counsel as to what course Jehovah’s persecuted ones should take. They were not clear as to God’s will, their eyes not yet being opened to the fact that the political governments that persecute and declare illegal the publication of God’s kingdom are not “the higher powers” “ordained of God”. Jehovah God and Christ Jesus are truly “The Higher Powers” according to God’s own ordination, and Christ Jesus is God’s Minister authorized to bear the sword for the execution of all evildoers against The Theocracy. (Rom. 13:1-4) Christ Jesus, whose “name shall be called Wonderful Counsellor”, had not yet come to the temple as Teacher. Much of the counsel hitherto received was the thoughts of a man or of men, and such failed and perished because it did not stand them in good stead in their time of need. But those with pure hearts continued to look unto the Lord for guidance and they continued faithful although they suffered “pangs” keen as those of a “woman in travail”.—Jer. 30:6, 7.
9 At the appointed time God’s “woman” brought forth the “man child” Government quietly in heaven. It was God’s will that from then on there should be war against the foes of the new Government and that Satan’s rule, hitherto uninterrupted, should now be interfered with and destroyed. This caused Satan to bring great tribulation on those of God’s organization on earth. Hence to his organization Zion Jehovah prophetically said: “Be in pain, and labour to bring forth, 0 daughter of Zion, like a woman in travail: for now shalt thou go forth out of the city, and thou shalt dwell in the field, and thou shalt go even to Babylon; there shalt thou be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.” (Mic. 4:10) This shows, therefore, that it was not Jehovah’s will to remove the last members of “the body of Christ” from the earth at the birth of the “man child” and to then glorify them in heaven. Christ Jesus being alone in the Government at its birth, he was in effect “the man child”. But besides the “man child” God’s organization must bring forth her other children to be members of God’s royal family in The Theocracy. Therefore the bringing forth of the “remnant of her seed” must come after the travail of the war in heaven and after the casting of Satan and his demons out of heaven. First then would such “remnant” be acknowledged of God and approved as his representatives on earth and sent forth to bear witness to the birth of the new Government and also witness to the final end of Satan’s government of the world at Armageddon.
10 The remnant on earth must undergo a trial of their faith and devotion in order to be approved, accepted and anointed as "children of Zion”. The experiences from the birth of the Kingdom to the Lord’s coming to the temple and incidental to the World War provided that test. (Matt. 24: 7-13) During those years of war and persecution (1917-1919 particularly) Jehovah’s covenant people were forced by the religionists and their political allies to “go forth out of the city”, that is, out of their organized condition of serving Jehovah as proclaimers of his Kingdom gospel. Then their condition was as if they were without city walls to restrain and keep out the persecutors and interferers with the work of God's people. Figuratively, they were made to “dwell in the field”, dragged forth there as captives to the enemy power and exposed to the spite and vengefulness of Zion’s enemies. They were unwillingly separated from God’s continuous worship and service, and were brought to “Babylon” to there be held captive and imprisoned and thus restrained from the organized service to God. Babylon is Satan’s organization, being symbolized by the city of Babel or Babylon built by that totalitarian, demon-worshiping dictator, Nimrod, the mighty hunter.
11 Jehovah keeps his promises, both in the typical or prophetic picture and also in fulfilling the promise in completion: “There shalt thou [the remnant] be delivered; there the Lord shall redeem thee from the hand of thine enemies.” In the type Jehovah appointed Cyrus king of Persia to overthrow Babylon and let God’s people go free to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the temple on Zion. In A.D. 1919 God used the Greater Cyrus, Christ Jesus the King, to break the power of the enemies over the 'remnant of the seed’ of Zion and to free them from the restraint of the forces of religion. He restored them to God’s organization and the temple service and to the pure worship of God in spirit and in truth, cleansed from all religion. Referring to Babylon, which lay to the north, and calling to the captives of Zion there, Jehovah says: “Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, . . . Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.” —Zech. 2: 6, 7.
12 The obedient ones longed to serve Jehovah aright and responded. From and after 1919 they came forth from Babylon’s restraints, and Jehovah revived them in his service to be his witnesses. (Rev. 11:11,12) This he did in answer to the prayers of his chastened ones and for the sake of his name. His name was upon them and was now due to be declared throughout all the earth before Jehovah’s exhibition of power over Satan and his organization at the battle of Armageddon. “Thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy name’s sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned among the heathen.” (Ezek. 36:22,23) “Not unto us, 0 Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake. Wherefore should the heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens; he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.” (Ps. 115:1-3) The redeemed ones now fulfill the purpose of their deliverance, to bear witness to Jehovah’s name and show forth its praises throughout the earth.
13 The Babylonish religionists and governing factors of “Christendom” were greatly vexed. They were terrified at the deliverance of God’s “remnant” and the going forth of these with boldness and fearlessness in God’s “strange work” against religion. Therefore, under the influence of the demons now cast down from heaven to the earth they conspire together. They unite together in an anti-Theocracy or antiJehovah federation of nations to stop the work of the visible part of God’s organization Zion. “Now also many nations are gathered against thee, that say, Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion.” (Mic. 4:11) In 1918 the World War was stopped by God’s power, but the gathering of all nations against God’s true servants and Theocratic representatives did not stop. (Zech. 14:1,2) The warning is given to His people, at Revelation 12:13,17, that after Satan’s ousting from heaven his dragon organization would go forth to make war upon the remnant of God’s woman Zion. God is gathering together by Christ Jesus all things in heaven and earth into one, and the remnant on earth have been gathered to the place or condition of assembly of God’s troops, which place is signified by the name “Armageddon”. The demons, making great noise like bullfrogs by their propaganda agencies upon the earth, particularly religion, are now engaged in influencing and maneuvering “the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty”. The demons gather such armies round about and against the place of the assembly of God’s troops, including the remnant. So the fight is called “the battle of Armageddon”.—Rev. 16:13-16.
14 The enemy seeks the defilement of Zion, as represented by the remnant. The object is to unfit her for God’s use in his Theocratic Government and to make good Satan’s wicked charge that God cannot put on earth creatures who under the severe test by Satan will maintain their integrity toward God. To this end Satan and his demons engage in turning all nations totalitarian. Therefore they bring forth the totalitarian-religious “abomination of desolation”, composed of the religious Hierarchy allied with and riding upon the arbitrary dictators. The purpose is to regiment all people into the worship of Satan’s “beast” organization and by threats and force and punishments make them submit to the ‘mark of the beast and his image’. Thereby also they hope specially to stop the work of Jehovah’s witnesses and their loyal companions and to coerce them to ‘touch the unclean thing' by compromising with and taking part in the works of Satan’s organization. (2 Cor. 6:17; Isa. 52:11) Such defilement of the earthly part of Zion would in the eyes of the demons defile the heavenly part, because such would make it seem that the heavenly invisible part was unable to protect and sustain the visible part. But the remnant know the issue is God’s supremacy and universal domination, and they now refuse to violate their covenant with God and to cease from his worship and service. Their purpose is to prove Satan a liar and God true. Therefore they resist the demons and absolutely refuse to break their integrity toward God and to be forced into playing the hypocrite like religious “Christendom”.
15 The preliminaries in the great contest for universal domination are on. Jehovah promises the victory to Zion, his beloved organization under Christ Jesus. Nothing would give the enemy more pleasure than for their eyes to feast upon Zion destroyed, at least the remnant thereof on earth. Zion is The Theocracy, and the remnant are in line for a place therein. The demonized, totalitarian “abomination of desolation” crowd maliciously cry: “Let her be defiled, and let our eye look upon Zion”; meaning, “Let our eye see our desire upon Zion” (Am. Rev. Ver.); “let our eye look with pleasure on Zion.” (Leeser) Their slogan is: “Down with Theocracy! On with demon rule! Long live religion!” In utter contempt of Jehovah God they seek to destroy the remnant and their devoted companions, so as to make it appear that Jehovah does not exist or is impotent against those of Satan’s organization. As they persecute Jehovah’s witnesses they taunt them, saying: “Where is the Lord thy God!” (Mic. 7:10) The modern Edomites are the religionists, particularly the Roman Catholic Hierarchy and including the “evil servant” class. Spitefully these rejoiced at the banishing of the work of Jehovah’s covenant people in 1918, and now they would repeat that triumph and this time make it complete. Warning such Edomites why He will repay them with destruction Jehovah says: “But thou shouldest not have looked on the day of thy brother in the day that he became a stranger [a banished exile]; neither shouldest thou have rejoiced over the children of Judah in the day of their destruction; neither shouldest thou have spoken proudly in the day of distress.” (Obad. 12) This time they will not get away with it.
GOD’S THOUGHTS
16 The thoughts of Jehovah concerning his enemies and The Theocracy’s enemies are set down in his written Word, and he says: “The Lord of hosts hath sworn, saying, Surely as I have thought, so shall it come to pass; and as I have purposed, so shall it stand.” (Isa. 14: 24) The nations of “Christendom” could have known Jehovah’s thoughts by a consecrated study of his Word, but their paid clergy have failed to express God’s recorded thoughts, not believing such themselves. They have also stubbornly fought against the public expressing of His thoughts by Jehovah’s witnesses and have so remained willingly ignorant. “But they know not the thoughts of the Lord, neither understand they his counsel: for he shall gather them as the sheaves into the [threshing] floor.” (Mic. 4:12) This denotes a turning of the tables upon those that seek the defilement and destruction of Jehovah’s Theocracy, Zion. Unlike the Nazi-Fascist-religious method of attacking without warning, Jehovah by his obedient witnesses has offered them good counsel: “Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord [Jehovah] with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son [the King of The Theocracy], lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little.” (Ps. 2:10-12) However, the “many nations” of “Christendom” have willfully objected to understanding Jehovah’s counsel.—Prov. 1: 30, 25.
17 If they understood God’s counsel, the pope would not be praying for his Nazi-Fascist-religious “new order founded upon moral principles”. The bishops of Germany would not be praying for the dictator and the triumph of the totalitarian armies. The politicians would not be joining with their clergy allies in presumably offering prayer to God for his blessing upon their numerous political-religious schemes, which plans they without consideration of God’s Word have fixed up and which they want God to endorse and back up. “There are many devices in a man’s heart; nevertheless, the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.” (Prov. 19:20,21) “The Lord bringeth the counsel of the heathen [the nations] to nought; he maketh the devices of the people of none effect. The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.” (Ps. 33:10,11) “Therefore hear ye the counsel of the Lord that he hath taken against Babylon [the nations gone totalitarian like Babylon of old], and his purposes that he hath purposed against the land of the Chaldeans [the religious-totalitarian crowd].” (Jer. 50:45) Jehovah has taken counsel to give the antiTheocracy enemies the worst drubbing they shall ever have had.
18 By the proclamation by His remnant and their companions of and concerning The Theocracy and the day of God’s vengeance Jehovah has gathered his enemies into a conspiracy and united opposition against his Theocratic Government and its witnesses. The two world powers, “the king of the north” and “the king of the south”, may fight each other over world domination, but they are both united in antagonism to The Theocracy. Both have indignation against the “holy covenant” thereof. (Dan. 11:30,40) Like “goats”, they have been separated from the “sheep”, who favor The Theocracy. They have been gathered to the unfavorable side of the King who sits upon his glorious throne judging. (Matt. 25:32,35-45) The “day of [God's] preparation” is about up, the final end of Satan's rule is very nigh, the maneuvering of all enemies into the position for their destruction is about done, and at the time Jehovah gives his last and emphatic warning tidings, the gathering of all the goatish enemies will be complete, immediately before Armageddon is due to begin. They have long trampled down and crushed Jehovah’s faithful people and their Kingdom message. Now their turn comes to be trampled, torn, pounded, mashed, dragged, and beaten, mercilessly, as by the hoofs of a mighty horned beast driven around and around and around on God's threshing-floor.
THRESH!
19 Jehovah gives his mighty Field Marshal Christ Jesus the signal to begin the battle, at the day and hour which only He himself has known: “Arise, and thresh, O daughter of Zion: for I will make thine horn iron, and I will make thy hoofs brass; and thou shalt beat in pieces many people; and I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.” (Mic. 4:13) Concerning the Devil’s organization it is written: “For thus saith the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, The daughter of Babylon is like a threshingfloor [like the harvested sheaves upon it], it is time to thresh her: yet a little while, and the time of her harvest shall come.” (Jer. 51: 33) By authority from the Lord God the remnant and his “other sheep” make advance announcement and warning of the coming threshing upon the enemy, now before it begins.
20 In Scripture the ox is a symbol of power and strength to work with endurance; the horn is a symbol of power to push against the enemy and destroy them. (Ezek. 1:10; Rev. 4:7) Christ Jesus is the Head of the “daughter of Zion” or Theocracy. In the ancient tabernacle sacrifices he is likened to a bullock for God’s altar, but at the time to thresh Satan’s organization his strength against the enemy is likened to that of a mighty ox against the dry grain stalks on the floor. “God brought him forth out of Egypt [the world]; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn [or wild ox].” (Num. 24: 8) “His horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth.” (Dent. 33:17) “Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band . . . because his strength is great?” (Job 39:10, 11) Says God’s anointed King: “All the workers of iniquity shall be scattered; but my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.” (Ps. 92:9,10) “He also exalteth the horn of his people, the praise of all his saints, even of the children of Israel, a people near unto him. Praise ye the Lord.”—Ps. 148:14.
21 Satan’s organization, both visible and invisible parts thereof, presents an appearance of terrible strength. The visible part is pictured as the iron legs and feet of the terrible image seen in the king of Babylon’s dream, whereas the invisible demon powers which bear immediate rule over the earth are pictured as the brass thighs and belly thereof. But the greater and invincible strength of The Theocracy is pictured as The Stone of adamantine hardness, which Stone smites Satan’s idolized organization and grinds to pieces its “iron” and “brass” and other parts, including the gold head, Satan himself. Concerning that Stone it is written: “It shall break in pieces and consume all these kingdoms, and it shall stand for ever.” (Dan. 2: 31-45) To Christ, Zion’s King in command of God’s heavenly hosts, Jehovah says concerning the threshing of the enemy: “I will make thine horn [to push and gore the enemy to death] iron [tougher and stronger than the material of an ox’s natural horn], and I will make thy hoofs [to bruise the head of Satan the Serpent and all his organization] brass [harder than the horny or tough fibrous material of an oxhoof].”—Mic. 4:13.
22 The enemies have been made the footstool of Christ Jesus, and he shall pound the Devil’s organization good and heavy and thoroughly under foot at Armageddon. “And thou shalt beat in pieces many people [many peoples (Am. Rev. Ver.)].” Such beaten ones are the kings of the earth and their armies and their subjects, all gone totalitarian, and regimented into a combined opposition to the King of kings and Lord of lords. They despise The Theocracy and expect to squish it like a worm. They strive to strike great fear into the remnant and their companions who stand unflinchingly and immovably for The Theocracy. For the comfort of these Jehovah says to his spiritual Israelites: “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel. Behold, I will make thee [to be] a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains [kingdoms], and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan [winnow] them, and the wind shall carry them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the Lord, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.”—Isa. 41:14-16.
23 Jehovah’s witnesses and their companions do not carry on the testimony work for self-gain. The small contributions they receive from those who accept the printed message they apply in the Lord’s service to the printing of more books and delivery of such to other spiritually hungry ones. Christ Jesus does not fight the battle of Armageddon to seize the enemies’ booty for self-enrichment, but to unselfishly vindicate and hallow Jehovah’s name. Hence as Head of Zion he says: “And I will consecrate their gain unto the Lord, and their substance unto the Lord of the whole earth.”—Mic. 4:13.
24 Satan’s organization was the firstborn rebel organization. Likewise its earthly symbol, Babylon, was the firstborn rebel totalitarian government set up on earth, by Nimrod after the Flood. It cannot be redeemed, but is cursed, and hence assigned to destruction. It is filled with “their substance”, “their ill-gotten gain” (Leeser); “their unrighteous gain” (Rotherham). Such they coveted and gained by plundering the people in the name of and with the blessing of religion. Like the plunder of the accursed city of Jericho, it may not be seized upon for personal glory and selfish gratification. Those like Achan coveting any of it are condemned and destroyed. (Josh. 6:18,19; 7:10-26) The battle of Armageddon is not for self-gain or self-glory of creatures, but is consecrated to the glory of Jehovah, “the Lord of the whole earth.” The fight is for the vindication of His name and the settling of the issue of universal domination in His favor. All spoils of the battle belong to Him by whose invincible power the victory is won. Satan the Devil shall no more be the invisible overlord of the earth, but “the Lord of the whole earth” has appointed Christ Jesus to that place. Thus Jehovah avenges his own elect who have cried out aloud unto him for deliverance and the vindication of his name. (Luke 18: 7, 8) Jehovah’s covenant people are all for the vindication of his name! Unselfishly, and by faith anticipating the execution of his righteous judgment upon the unclean enemy organization, they join with the heavenly hosts in singing alleluias of praise to Jehovah and by Christ Jesus.—Rev. 19:1.
time of war
25 From the time Jehovah’s King was enthroned on Zion down to the casting of Satan the Devil into the bottomless pit at Armageddon is a period of war, both in heaven and in earth. In 1918 Jehovah stopped the World War on earth, and thereby ‘shortened the days of tribulation’. It was for his elect’s sake, that they might proclaim the message of salvation by Jehovah’s Theocratic Government and that ‘some flesh might be saved’ through the battle of Armageddon, which brings the final end on Satan’s organization. The temporary ceasing of hostilities on earth between “the king of the north” and “the king of the south” did not mean for God’s faithful remnant a time of freedom from assault by Satan and his demons and his dupes on earth. Satan and his demons, exceedingly wroth at being cast out of heaven, intensified the persecution of God’s “woman” and the war upon the “remnant of her seed”. (Rev. 12:13,17) Nevertheless, God’s “strange work” must be carried on. It is a war against entrenched religion and her refuge of lies and her hiding-place of falsehood. In this war Jehovah assigns a part to his devoted remnant, and, later on, their earthly companions. Hence the command to the remnant of Zion’s seed: “Now gather thyself in troops, 0 daughter of troops; he hath laid siege against us; they shall smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek.” (Mic. 5:1) This means that Zion is a daughter of a Warrior, to wit, Jehovah of hosts (armies), and that the Captain of Zion’s troops is Christ Jesus. (Rev. 19:14,15) Now since his coming to the temple and awakening the sleeping saints these resurrected members of “his body” are all at his disposal in the war, and also all the angels which fought under him in the fight to oust Satan from heaven. (Rev. 12:7-12) Next he organizes the remnant on earth for the fight against demonism and equips them with “the whole armour of God”. — Eph. 6:11.
26 The offensive weapon of the remnant is not carnal, but is “the sword’ of the spirit, which is the word of God”. They fight not with flesh and blood, but with the demons. (Eph. 6:12-18) The gathering and organizing of them in troops was noticeably from 1922 on. Then Jehovah poured out his spirit upon all his remnant in the flesh, and this battalion of Zion’s troops were organized into a unified company for service in the field, to proclaim Jehovah's name and Kingdom and the day of his vengeance against the enemy. Particularly was their organizing as troops marked after the “new name” was revealed and adopted, to wit, “Jehovah’s witnesses.” After receiving that “new name” the organized groups of Kingdom publishers became known as “companies”, as indicated at Psalm 68:11: “The Lord gave the word; great was the company [(Hebrew) tsaba; meaning host, army] of those that published it.” Exactly seven years later, to wit, October 1, 1938, the Theocratic rule of organization was applied to the company of Jehovah’s remnant and their companions. Furthermore, since December 1, 1941, the responsibility of each one of Jehovah’s troops on earth is increased because conditions require the application of God’s order that “every man shall bear his own burden”. (Gal. 6: 5) Now as at no time in the past Jehovah’s visible army moves forward in the war, boldly following their heavenly Leader and Captain, Christ Jesus. They present an unbroken front to the demonized enemy and let neither persecution nor death of any in the ranks stop them from pressing the battle to the gates of the stronghold of religion. They are like the irresistible onward swarming locusts described in Joel 2:4-11, and though small, comparatively, in number, they are wise with heavenly wisdom: “The locusts have no [earthly] king, yet go they forth all of them by bands [gathered together].”—Prov. 30:27.
27 In the days of King Hezekiah of Jerusalem the typical Theocracy underwent a siege. Babylon had then not become the dominant world power, and the king of Assyria was the most prominent and powerful representative of Satan’s visible organization. In the grab for world domination King Sennacherib of Assyria must do away with the typical Theocracy; hence he besieged Jerusalem. Strengthened by Jehovah, King Hezekiah refused to compromise with the devil-religionists, and that night Jehovah’s angel went forth and slew at one stroke 185,000 of the besiegers and forced Sennacherib back to his capital, Nineveh, and to his death. That historic siege and its outcome shall have complete fulfillment in this “time of the end”.
28 The totalitarian world power of Assyria foreshadowed the nations gone totalitarian and contending against Jehovah’s Theocratic Government for world domination on earth. The king of Assyria pictures their invisible ruler, Satan, “the god of this world.” He uses his demon hosts under his chief prince, Gog, to marshal both the rulers of the earth and their regimented peoples against the place of assembly of Jehovah’s troops, called “Armageddon”. The most exposed and vulnerable part is the remnant, together with their valiant companions. Hence the demons and their human dupes make these their target and direct their fire against them. They lay siege against them to wear them out and make them break their covenant with God and their integrity toward him and forsake their uncompromising stand for The Theocracy. Against them the totalitarian religionists set up their “abomination of desolation” in defiance of God’s holy Kingdom. They employ the totalitarian Nazi-Fascist-Roman Catholic dictatorship and its “strong-arm squad”, also organized Catholic Action, and priest-led mobs, and anti-Theocratic legislation, and other illegal, unconstitutional and un-Christian means aimed at making Jehovah’s covenant people yield and deny Jehovah’s supremacy.
29 Jehovah’s appointed Judge is Christ Jesus. (John 5:22, 27) He came to the temple in 1918 and began judgment at the house of God, which is spiritual Israel. (1 Pet. 4:17) Then he extended his judgment to “Christendom", which professes to be the house of God, and finally to all nations, dividing the people thereof as “sheep” from the “goats”. (Matt. 25: 31, 32) Christ Jesus, “the judge of Israel,” sends forth the remnant to declare the “judgment written” against “Christendom” and the rest of the worldly nations. Jesus warns the anti-Theocratic, totalitarian-religious crowd: “Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” But that crowd is out for world domination and they reject Jehovah’s Theocracy and its King and refuse to acknowledge Christ Jesus as their judge. Instead, the rulers “give their kingdom unto the beast”, unto the “abomination of desolation” on which the great whore of religion sits, and with their scepter or rod of power they persecute Jehovah’s witnesses and companions who proclaim the judicial decisions of Christ Jesus. Thus doing unto Christ’s brethren, to silence them, if possible, they show their insulting contempt for Christ and thereby “smite the judge of Israel with a rod upon the cheek”. The record does not state that He turns the other cheek and stops the proclamation of Jehovah’s judgments; nor do the remnant of his body members on earth do so. The blow on the cheek fills them with righteous indignation and stirs up in them greater bitterness against religion and greater zeal in the active worship and service of the Higher Powers, God and Christ. — Ezek. 3:14.
RULER OUT OF BETHLEHEM
30 By the prophecy of Micah Jehovah foretold the earthly birthplace of that “judge of Israel’’. That prophecy not only had a miniature fulfillment at the birth of Jesus in Bethlehem nineteen centuries ago, but also has a major and complete fulfillment now in the “time of the end”. “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” (Mic. 5: 2) The names here are significant and identify the organization meant. Jehovah’s organization is the Greater Bethlehem Ephratah, which name means “House of Bread with Fruitfulness”. The typical city being in the tribe of Judah, it was the same as “Beth-lehem-judah” (Ruth 1:1), which name means “The House of Bread with Praise”, that is, praise to Jehovah. God’s capital organization Zion is The House of Bread whereby God supplies abundantly the life-giving spiritual bread by Christ Jesus, greater than Joseph in famine-stricken Egypt. Zion holds forth to the dying people the life-sustaining fruits or truth of God’s kingdom, and Christ Jesus, Zion’s Head, is chief in giving praise to Jehovah. He is the “Lion of the tribe of Juda”, bold in praises.
31 “Judah” meaning “praise”, the “thousands of Judah” picture the “thousand thousands” and “ten thousand times ten thousand” of all the holy angels, cherubim and seraphim in Jehovah’s universal organization who praise him. (Dan. 7:10) Compared numerically with them, Jehovah’s capital organization Zion is “little”; it is composed of a limited number, Christ Jesus and his “little flock” to whom Jehovah gives the Kingdom. (Luke 12: 32) Their number is exactly 144,000 and One, Christ Jesus being the Head One and the others the members of “his body”, associates with him in The Theocratic Government. Though little, yet out of Zion comes forth unto Jehovah his “ruler in Israel”, whether Satan’s organization likes it or not. Referring to spiritual Israel, including the remnant, it is written: “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob [the remnant].” (Rom. 11:26) In 1914 Jehovah enthroned him on Zion as “ruler in Israel”, and the Government is upon his shoulder. (Isa. 9:6) Nineteen centuries ago he rode into Jerusalem and went to the temple and offered himself as King, which was three and one-half years after his anointing with God’s spirit. A like time after his enthronement, the “ruler in Israel” arrived in 1918 at the greater temple for judgment and ‘came forth’ and appeared, by causing his remnant to discern by the fulfilled prophecies his presence there as judge and ruler.
32 His “goings forth [origin] have been from of old, from everlasting”; and this proves that Christ Jesus is a creation, having a beginning or origin. When on earth he said: “Before Abraham was, I am.” (John 8: 58) “I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me.” (John 8:42) This shows that long before his human birth in the manger in Bethlehem-judah, he was created, and his life was in due time transferred from his heavenly glory to the womb of a virgin of Judah that he might become “The Son of man”. He calls himself “the beginning of the creation of God”, “the firstborn of every creature.” (Rev. 3:14; Col. 1:15) Hence his creation preceded that of Lucifer. The time of his creation as “The Word of God” being unrevealed, he is “from everlasting” or “from the days of eternity” (Hebrew). This pre-eminence over all other creatures Christ Jesus maintains as the Head of God’s capital Zion.
33 By Jehovah’s determination of the times and due seasons for events, the human birth of Jesus in the typical Bethlehem must be a long time prior to his coming forth from the antitypical House of Bread. For this reason the prophet says: “Therefore will he give them up, until the time that she which travaileth hath brought forth; then the remnant of his brethren shall return unto the children of Israel.” (Mic. 5:3) Ten days after the ascension of Christ Jesus to God’s right hand in heaven came Pentecost and the outpouring of the Lord’s spirit upon the disciples. From and after Pentecost Jehovah carried forward the gathering of spiritual Israel, the 144,000 to be united with Christ Jesus on Mount Zion. (Rev. 7:4-8; 14:1,3) These must bear testimony to the coming Kingdom. The birth of that Theocratic Government being a long way off, Jehovah gave his faithful witnesses up to be tested as to their integrity by being buffeted by Satan’s agents, particularly the religionists, imitation Christians, the “tares” whom Satan sowed in overwhelming numbers throughout “Christendom”. (Matt. 13:24-30) It was not yet God's time to make such enemies the footstool of his King Christ Jesus.—Ps. 110:1.
34 At the end of the Gentile Times in 1914 the waiting period ran out and promptly God’s “woman”, his universal organization, brought forth the new and acting Ruler, the New Government. Thereafter Zion’s travail of war against the opposing forces of Satan began. “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to his throne. And there was war in heaven.” (Rev. 12:5,7) “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child.” (Isa. 66:7) In 1918, having now come to the temple, the King who is “ruler in Israel” and “judge of Israel” came forth out of the antitypical “Bethlehem Ephratah”. Then he delivered from the restraining power of Satan’s organization “the remnant of his brethren” yet on earth, who are other children of Zion. These he sanctified or set to doing their part in connection with Jehovah’s “strange work”, and concerning this it is written: “For both he that sanctifieth and they who are sanctified are all of one [Jehovah]: for which cause he [Christ Jesus] is not ashamed to call them brethren.” (Heb. 2:11) These returned from their state of restraint, were purged for God’s service, and were made a part of God’s Theocratic organization, “the children of Israel.” The sleeping saints of spiritual Israel had been raised out of death by the Lord in the temple, and thus the returning remnant yet in the flesh on earth became associated with their resurrected brethren of spiritual Israel in the “strange work”. There is now unity of all spiritual Israelites, all of the ‘body of Christ”, whether in heaven or on earth. —Eph. 1:10; John 17:21-23; 1 Thess. 4:16,17.
35 Now the majestic King at the temple stands up in his power and feeds his remnant on earth with spiritual nourishment from the House of Bread and Fruitfulness and leads them in singing praises to the great Theocrat, Jehovah. “And he shall stand and feed in the strength of the Lord [Jehovah], in the majesty of the name of the Lord his God; and they shall abide; for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.” (Mic. 5:4) In 1914 and at God’s command to rule in the midst of his enemies he stood up as acting King, one of whose official titles is “Michael”. That name means “Who is like God?” Christ Jesus raises that question in defiance of the contenders for world domination and goes forth to settle it: “And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a time of trouble, such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time: and at that time thy people [the remnant of spiritual Israel] shall be delivered, every one that shall be found written in the book.” (Dan. 12:1) Jehovah sends forth the rod of Christ’s strength out of Zion to rule amidst his enemies (Ps. 110:2), and he appears at the temple as the Chief Shepherd. He spreads a table for the remnant of his “little flock” in the presence of their enemies and feeds them and revives them continually with new strength in Jehovah’s “strange work”. As the Vindicator of his Father’s name he is clothed with excellency, “the majesty of the name of the Lord his God,” and he causes his remnant and their companions to declare Jehovah’s name and purpose throughout all the earth.
36 The remnant having returned to Zion and being strengthened for the fight by food from the hand of her great Shepherd-King, all efforts of the enemy shall fail to dislodge them from the temple where they serve God: “and they shall abide,” faithful. Overcoming all efforts of the totalitarian modern Assyrians to break them loose from The Theocracy, to them the promise shall be fulfilled: “Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God; and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.” (Rev. 3:12) Bearing the “new name” with Christ Jesus, they make known his greatness as King and Vindicator by preaching unto the ends of the earth “this gospel of the kingdom” “for a witness unto all nations” before the final end gets here. The meek or teachable persons of good-will toward God, who have waited for a government of righteousness, hail the good news. They hail and salute Jehovah’s enthroned King and ascribe the greatness of the Kingdom unto him, and thus among these “other sheep” of the Lord is he “great unto the ends of the earth”. After Armageddon, the enemies being then cleared out, “he shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.”— Ps. 72:8.
37 “And this man shall be the peace [(Rotherham) So shall this one be Prosperity], when the Assyrian shall come into our land; and when he shall tread in our palaces, then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.” (Mic. 5: 5) The demon forces now put forth desperate efforts to break up the peace and unity and prosperity that exist within the land or earthly condition of God’s remnant and their companions. Concerning the totalitarian crowd, symbolized by “the Assyrian” from north of the Holy Land, it was prophesied and is now in fulfillment: “And he shall enter into the countries, and shall overflow and pass over. He shall enter also into the glorious land [the Kingdom interests and privileges on earth of God’s remnant], . . . And he shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas in [against] the glorious holy mountain [the remnant representing the glorious Mount Zion]; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” (Dan. 11: 40,41, 45) This invasion is under the demon leadership of Gog, the chief prince or understudy of Satan, as shown at Ezekiel 38: 8,16. The demon forces and totalitarian crowd even “tread in our palaces”, the abiding-places of Jehovah’s witnesses in peace and prosperity and which represent The Theocracy; as, for example, when the arbitrary religion-inspired forces invaded the branch offices of the Watch Tower Society and closed them down and declared their gospel preaching “illegal” and “subversive to the State”. Do Jehovah’s covenant people then hole up and quit witnessing?
shepherds, principal men
38 “Then shall we raise against him seven shepherds, and eight principal men.” Those shepherds know how to fight the totalitarian giant as the shepherd boy David did. Christ Jesus is “the Chief Shepherd”, and his rod is for the protection of his sheep. The nations going totalitarian he shall feed with death and destruction: “Ask of me and let me give nations as thine inheritance, and as thy possession the ends of the earth: thou shalt shepherd them with a sceptre of iron, as a potter’s vessel shalt thou dash them in pieces.” (Ps. 2: 8, 9, Roth.; Rev. 12: 5, Roth.) “Seven” represents spiritual completeness, and the “seven shepherds” must represent the complete number of those in the covenant with Christ Jesus for the Kingdom and who overcome religion and are conformed to his image: “And he that overcometh, and keepeth throughout my works, I will give unto him authority over the nations; and he shall shepherd them with a sceptre of iron, as vessels of earthenware are dashed in pieces.” (Rev. 2:26, Roth.) Therefore the besieged and assaulted remnant and their companions make the Greater David, Christ Jesus, their shield and protector against the invading Assyrian. They look for victory to their “Chief Shepherd”, who represents the Great Shepherd, Jehovah, and they say: “Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Ps. 23:4) Meantime the remnant continue feeding his “other sheep”.
39 Who are the “eight principal men” raised up? Eight is one more than seven. In the Hebrew, “eight” has the thought of plumpness, as if to denote a surplus above the perfect number “seven”. Quite properly “eight” are raised up, because now is the time when the totalitarian “abomination of desolation” is brought forth, to wit, the symbolic “beast” with the great whore of religion on its back as spiritual guide. Concerning that beast it is prophesied that it makes its appearance after the seventh world power (British-American world co-operation): “And the beast that was, and is not, even he is the eighth, and is of the seven [which turn totalitarian in opposition to The Theocracy], and goeth into perdition.” (Rev. 17:9-11) Satan’s chief prince, Gog, of the demon land of Magog, is specially the prince controlling that totalitarian “abomination of desolation” beast, and by the religious whore he drives it to the assault against those who represent The Theocratic Government.
40 The “eight principal men” are “eight anointed ones of men” (Hebrew text), or, “eight princes of mankind” (Rotherham). The remnant are still in the flesh as men and have been anointed with the spirit of the Lord to be in line for the Kingdom. (Joel 2:28) Hence the “eight principal men” may mean the complete number of the remnant together with the pre-eminent One, their anointed Head, Christ Jesus, “The Son of man,” he being the Eighth One above the seven or complete number. However, the Scriptures strongly indicate that toward the beginning of Armageddon Christ Jesus, the King- Father, will resurrect from their long sleep of centuries the faithful men of old and will give them life as his children, as perfect men, and these he will “make princes in all the earth”. (Ps. 45:16; Heb. 11:35) He will doubtless bring forth and present to the remnant and their companions these “princes” among men at a time of dire crisis for his covenant people. Such future “princes” died standing up against the demon rule in the times before Christ. They will be delighted to again face the demon forces at Armageddon and see such wiped out. Whether the “eight principal men” means or includes those resurrected faithful men of old remains to be seen. The main point of instruction in this is that the complete number of God’s faithful covenant people on earth boldly face the totalitarian monstrosity and present a united front against such and persistently carry on in the war against religion and the demons and for The Theocracy.
41 Which way does the tide of battle flow? and shall the remnant survive and have work to do on earth after the battle of Armageddon? The Lord that we might continue with patient endurance in gives an indication in the further part of the prophecy which is written to admonish and comfort us that we might continue with patient endurance in his "strange work” unto the final end.
(To be continued)
ROOT OF THE WORLD EVIL
“THE silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith I the Lord of hosts.” (Hag. 2:8) "Which shall men love and worship, the material thing of value, or the great Owner of such thing?
For those who love him the Lord of hosts, whose name is Jehovah, has provided complete refuge, but for no others. These “last days” are strenuous and fraught with great danger, because the climax is at hand. The enemy is bending every effort to accomplish the destruction of those who love and serve the Lord of hosts. Rather than see any human serve Jehovah, Satan the adversary would now destroy the entire human race. His wrath is especially directed against those who bear witness to Jehovah God of hosts, because they are bringing the testimony of the truth to the people in obedience to God’s commandments. The great adversary shall fail in his total war.
What shall befall those who do not love the Lord God of hosts? Note this historical example: Almost all of the nation of Israel turned away from Jehovah God because that people did not love God; and r ecessarily that people as a nation suffered destruction, and the remnant thereof to this daj- are scattered to the ends of the earth. Likewise the nations called “Christendom” are against Jehovah God because they do not love him; and they shall suffer destruction. (Ps. 9:17) The one thing that the wise persons do and will continue to do is to love God, “whose name alone is JEHOVAH.”—Ps. 83:18.
The great commandment, which is first in time and first in importance, is that the creature must love Jehovah God. This question was once propounded to the Son of God: “Master, which is the great commandment in the law!” The answer of Christ Jesus proves that there is one primary commandment: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:36-40) This commandment Jehovah made of paramount importance, and it is emphasized by the wicked challenge flung into the face of Jehovah by Satan the Devil. It was at the time when God had led the Israelites out of Egypt that he gave this commandment to his people, that they must love him if they would live. Then he added: ‘Ye shall not go after other gods, as ye shall be diligent to keep the commandments of the Lord your God.’ (Deut. 6:5-17) Secondary to the great commandment, says Jesus, is: “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself”; no more and no less. All the law and the prophets depend upon these two commandments, because a failure to keep these would make the keeping of others of no real value.
Often the phrase is used, “We must love God supremely.” That expression is unscriptural, for the reason that there is no qualification or limitation to the love the creature must have for Jehovah. Love means to be unselfishly and wholly devoted to Jehovah God without qualification or compromise. There can be no division of one’s love, part being given to Jehovah, and part to a creature. If one’s own self stands in his way or interferes with his love for Jehovah, then self must be put on the side. If one’s neighbor or any creature stands in the way of complete devotion to Jehovah, that neighbor or other creature must be put aside. No one can please God who permits love for husband, wife, parents, children, or others to interfere with complete devotion to Jehovah God. No one can have a part in the vindicating of Jehovah’s name unless that person loves Jehovah; and only those who vindicate his name shall live.
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