The Watchtower, April 15, 1943
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“CALL TO ACTION" ASSEMBLY
Three hundred cities from coast to coast have been selected for the nation-wide gathering of Jehovah’s people durning the “Call to Action” Testimony Period, in the month of April. The Assembly days are Saturday and Sunday, April 17 and `8, 1943, just before the date for celebrating the memorial of Christ’s death. In line with transportation and fuel restrictions, this spreading of assembly points will obviate all need of long-distance traveling and will make the Assembly accessible to everyone making a little effort to attend Because of the importance of each feature, all gatherings will follow identically the same program, with like materials for presentation. It will be two days of edifying association together m field service, worship, special exhortation and instruction. All persons bearing good-will should be urged and helped to attend This will be a most worthy preliminary to observing the Lord’s supper the next day. Get in touch with the local company of Jehovah’s witnesses for fuller facts, or, if necessary, write us for assembly-point addresses nearest to you.
“WATCHTOWER" STUDIES
Week of May 16: “Suffering Precedes First Resurrection,” 1-14 inclusive, The Watchtower April 15, 1943.
Week of May 23: “Suffering Precedes First Resurrection,” fl 15-29 inclusive, The Watchtower April 15, 1943.
Week of May 30: “Preaching to Spirits in Prison,” fl 1-20 inclusive, The Watchtower April 15, 1943.
“CALL TO ACTION” TESTIMONY PERIOD
The three-month Watchtower campaign is now in its final month (April), which month is designated “Call to Action” Testimony Period Certainly with ail evidences multiplying in the earth that the world is in its “time of the end” this is no time for inaction on the part of those who seek to survive into the new world. Psalm 147 emphatically shows it is time for action in praising Jehovah God, who provides the new world and its Theocratic Government. With spring beginning, all Kingdom publishers and Watchtower readers should arouse themselves to united activity in this educational campaign. Let as many people as possible have the opportunity to take advantage of the special offer, of a whole year’s Watchtower subscription and the book The New World and the booklet Peace—Can It Last? on a contribution of but $1.00 Obey the divine call to praise Jehovah and to let his word run swiftly through the earth. (Ps. 147: 15) We shall welcome inquiry from every interested subscriber or reader who wants to share in this united testimony here in America and elsewhere where this magazine may still be circulated. We shall be glad to put any such m touch with the local company of Kingdom publishers with whom to join in action.
“FIGHTING FOR LIBERTY ON THE HOME FRONT"
The front cover of this new 32-page booklet will strike your eye, as it attractively depicts the several vital and greatly (Continued on page 127)
Vol. LXIV April 15, 1943 No 8
SUFFERING PRECEDES FIRST RESURRECTION
"Do good; and dwell for evermore. For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever."—Ps. 37:27,28.
JEHOVAH is good and upright, because he is righteous. Mercifully he points out the right way to those who have erred. “Good and upright is the Lord: therefore he pointeth out to sinners the right way.’’ (Ps. 25:8, Leeser's translation) Those who realize they have taken the wrong way and who are afflicted in spirit because of it Jehovah invites to “taste and see that the Lord is good”. He assures them that the young lions depend upon their own strength and might and yet do suffer hunger, but that they that seek after the Lord shall not want any good things’. (Ps. 34: 8,10) Such as seek him find that Jehovah’s goodness and mercy follow them all the days of their life, though they be in the midst of the enemies of truth and righteousness. (Ps. 23: 6) Such goodness, experienced while yet wickedness prevails in the earth and causes so much suffering, is merely a foretaste of Jehovah's boundless goodness which those who “do good" shall forever enjoy in the New World of righteousness. Therefore all those who love life and want to see good for many days must now depart from evil-doing and must do well.—Ps. 34: 12-14.
2 How can Almighty God be good when he permits cruel oppression upon the people, besides which they are afflicted with war, famines, earthquakes, pestilences, storms, floods, and other large-scale deathdealing forces? Can God be good when he looks on while those who seek to do right and to live in harmony with the Bible suffer persecution and death at the hands of lawless, selfish and violent men? Yes; and the end of the matter proves it overwhelmingly. His permission of such deeds and conditions is no reason for charging Jehovah God with being the source of such and being responsible therefor. The Devil and his demons are the chargeable ones. Religion has greatly blasphemed and defamed God’s name by telling men that by such distressing means God is punishing them in order to turn them to religion and to obedience to its priests. In so instructing the people religion shows it is not of God, but is of God’s enemies, the wicked demons. Religion never succeeds in bringing the people to God. It brings them into the clutches of the clergy and under the power of a demonized priesthood, and increases the mental distress, confusion and bondage of the people. Despite the accusations by religion, God’s goodness stands out beyond denial: “The living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein: who in times past suffered all nations to walk in their own ways. Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.” —Acts 14:15-17.
1 (a) What does Jehovah point out to repentant sinners, and into what revelation of himself does he invite them? (b) Of what is this goodness now a foretaste, and what must those do who want to enjoy many days?
2. Why is God’s goodness not disproved by his permission of evil and wickedness, and how does religion expose itself ou tins question?
3 God might justly have been more severe before now. Why? His own Word declares: “For there is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not.” (Eccl. 7:20) “The Lord looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.” (Pss. 14: 2, 3; 55: 2, 3) “For we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no. not one.” (Rom. 3: 9,10) Then the one who honestly sees the plight of humankind cries out: “If thou, Lord. shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.” (Ps. 130: 3, 4) Hence, instead of his long- suffering toward imperfect, selfish, wayward mankind the Creator might have taken more drastic action and wiped the earth clean of them all. Remember the flood of more than four thousand years ago, 1,656 years after the creation of man upon this earth. It operated to cleanse the earth that was filled with violence and extreme wickedness of men whose every imagination was only evil continually. Only God’s promise now stands against repeating such flood.
4 No human could have survived the deluge except by being forewarned and then being miraculously protected and preserved throughout the one year and ten days that the floodwaters were upon the earth until the great sea basins were formed to take care of them. In fairness and mercy Jehovah God did give many years of warning by a preacher of righteousness, Noah. Then, while a whole world was being destroyed about them, God displayed his power to preserve a handful of humans, who believed his word and feared his power to execute the wicked. Eight humans survived that world disaster, in an ark built at God’s command and according to His design.
3. Why, and with what Scriptural illustration to show in support, could God justly have been more severe toward humankind before 1943?
4. How was it that any humans could survive that deluge, and why?
5 Were it not for the survival of those eight souls by God’s direct provision there would not be any human race on earth now, except by his producing a new race descended from new parents of God’s direct creation. When the flood struck, no ransom had yet been paid to God to redeem what rebellious Adam had lost, and hence no resurrection of any of the antediluvian dead would have been possible. It was first more than two thousand years later that Jehovah God sent his only begotten Son to earth and provided through him the ransom. Why, then, Almighty God did not wipe out all humans at the flood or before, and why he has shown such forbearance with the race till now, will transpire as this subject unfolds. Suffice it to say that His unimpeachable goodness stands revealed in bringing Noah and his family alive out of the ark into an earth wherein was no violence or wickedness. Those that engaged in such things had been removed from the face of the ground. Then while Noah and his household were worshiping their Savior free from all molestation by such violent and wicked ones, there came from heaven this divine mandate: "Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.” (Gen. 9: 1, 7) Noah's sons and their wives fulfilled this mandate only in a typical way, foreshadowing its complete fulfillment by men of good-will on earth in the New World. The time for this is near at hand.
6 Through Noah’s household the good Lord God gave the second righteous start to the human family. The original start God gave in Eden's garden, and it was a perfect as well as righteous start. Hence it is written: “Lo, this only have I found, that God hath made man upright; but they have sought out many inventions.” (Eccl. 7:29) Also the prophet Moses declares: “Ascribe ye greatness unto our God. He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. They have corrupted themselves, their spot is not the spot of his children: they are a perverse and crooked generation.” (Deut. 32: 3-5) Jehovah God created the first man and his mate perfect, innocent, sinless. To them He gave the law of life everlasting. Not only they, but their offspring, might enjoy that life everlasting in an Eden on earth. To Adam and Eve God sent forth this divine mandate: “Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over fish of the sea, and over fowl of the heavens, and over every living thing that is creeping upon the earth.” (Gen. 1:28, Young’s) There was then peace on earth. No wickedness existed; and the lower animal creation were all subjected to a perfect human master.
5. (a) How does it come that there is a human race on earth today, and how does Jehovah’s goodness stand revealed therein? (b) What was then issued to Noah and household that accounts for the race today?
6. What kind of start did God originally give the human race, and how so?
7 Take sharp notice of this, then, that God did not purpose that earth should be a place of war, calamity, suffering, and death to man. Neither did God purpose that suffering of any kind should be a condition before man could gain everlasting life on earth. Adam and Eve had perfect conditions under which to fulfill the divine mandate to the ends of the earth. They had the divine law and the warning against disobeying it. They had the right to perfect life on earth. They could make that right to life permanent by keeping their integrity or innocence toward their Maker, lovingly obeying his law under the painless test of obedience, which test God laid upon them. God gave them the truth, and there was no religion on earth. Hence there were no wicked ones to persecute Adam and Eve or to make them suffer unjustly for keeping God’s law blamelessly and worshiping Him as holy, true, supreme and almighty.
8 Certainly, then, the sufferings of the human family can in no wise be traced to Jehovah God. The race has its first parents to blame for being plunged into imperfection, sin and wickedness, and death, amid evil conditions on earth. (Rom. 5:12; 1 Cor. 15: 21, 22) Man has religion to thank for such, which religion Adam and Eve adopted in Eden in place of continuing to worship Jehovah God. (Gen. 3:1-5; 2 Cor. 11: 3, 13-15) Moreover, for almost six thousand years, from martyred Abel forward, Jehovah God has raised up his witnesses to testify against religion and its sins and to point the people to the worship of God in spirit and in truth. Had mankind heeded these Jehovah’s witnesses and not scoffed at them, despitefully used them and religiously tried to destroy them and their message from God, the situation on earth would be far different today. Instead of totalitarian oppression, a government of God’s own establishment and operation, that is, a Theocracy, would be the accepted rule of the people throughout the earth. Its blessings would be abounding to a people free from want, free from war, dictatorship and aggression, free from demon rule and religious confusion, and free from even the fear of death. (Matt. 23:34-38; Ps. 2:10-12; Jer. 23: 22) But it is not so now. Why, then, has God permitted Adam and Eve to start a fallen race outside of Eden, and then permitted this race to exist on and to suffer these thousands of years! Not only that, but, Why has Jehovah God permitted lovers of right and truth, his own witnesses, to suffer wicked abuse, persecution and martyrdom unjustly at the hands of the fallen, disobedient, religionized race? God's Word answers.
7 How did conditions in Eden show it was not God's purpose that earth should be a place of suffering for man?
8 To whom and what, then, must suffering of the human family be traced, and what would be their earthly condition today had they heeded Jehovah’s witnesses?
THE ISSUE
9 The Devil, not God, forced suffering upon humankind. God has permitted the suffering of his faithful creatures on earth solely to serve the loftiest purpose. A serious issue of the greatest importance has been forced, which issue affects the well-being and good of the entire universe and not merely of man. Its settlement requires suffering of creatures on earth. From eternity past and until man’s rebellion in Eden there was no question of Almighty God’s supremacy and universal domination. Man did not raise it. Who did? Man's invisible overlord, Lucifer, the “anointed cherub”. He was in Eden and was stationed over man by Jehovah God for man’s good and to maintain Jehovah’s domination representatively in the earth. It was a Theocratic arrangement, and it was good. This mighty spirit creature, Lucifer, was unseen to the eyes of Adam and Eve. There is no record that he materialized in flesh and manifested himself to them. As a creation and son of Jehovah Lucifer was perfect and glorious. To him these words are addressed: "Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God; . . . Thou art the anointed cherub that covereth [God's interests in connection with man]; and I have set thee so: . . . Thou wast perfect in thy ways from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found in thee. . . . Thine heart was lifted up because of thy beauty, thou hast corrupted thy wisdom by reason of thy brightness.” (Ezek. 28: 13-17) Lucifer's name means “brightness”. Being lifted up with pride, he fell into condemnation as a devil.—1 Tim. 3: 6.
10 Lucifer knew of God’s law issued to Adam and his wife: "Of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, thou shalt not eat of it: for in the day that thou eatest thereof thou shalt surely die.” (Gen. 2:17) As “cherub” or invisible overlord appointed by Jehovah, Lucifer was obligated to enforce that law. He must act as God’s executioner should man break it by disobedience. Faithfulness required Lucifer to uphold the majesty of God’s law and act according to it as supreme. Would Lucifer rule that humankind should obey it rather than any creature? Lucifer chose to flout God’s law and to substitute for it his own law or ruling. In Eden he stood at the fountainhead of the human race. He saw the opportunity to set himself up over the race as god and to dominate it as God Jehovah dominates the universe. For Lucifer the gaining of control of the earth would be the start of a movement to usurp universal domination out of the hands of Jehovah. Lucifer was sure he could awaken selfishness in others and thereby win others to his side both in earth and in heaven. Anyway, reasoned he, what right has Jehovah to the universal domination, especially if someone stronger than he shows up? Why should not Lucifer make himself the totalitarian ruler of earth and all the universe? To this nefarious ambition against his Father and God Lucifer yielded and set out upon a course of aggression. Thereby he made himself God’s adversary, or, “Satan.” (See Isaiah 14:12-14.) Man became the first victim of Lucifer’s aggression. He challenged the supremacy and universal domination of Jehovah. That now became the issue.
9 Who forced suffering upon humankind, and by reason of what issue? and what was the setting in Eden at the time?
10 Because of his position, what was Lucifer obligated to uphold and enforce, and upon what course of aggression did be set out?
11 By means of a demonized serpent Lucifer, now Satan, hacked away first at the dignity of God's law and questioned its application to humankind. He argued it was misframed, invalid on its face, discriminatory. Man, even judging for himself, should see that it was wrong and oppressive, depriving man of his rights and liberties. Satan, by the serpent, induced Eve to believe this. He thus maligned God's name as the Supreme Judge and Lawgiver, and represented God’s word as a lie and falsity. He challenged God’s right to domination in the earth, and hence in the rest of the universe. Knowing of his own authority as God’s executioner, traitorous Lucifer said to Eve: “Ye shall not surely die." So “the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty”, and she selfishly broke the perfect and supreme law of God. Adam, confronted with the situation, refused to prove Satan a serpent and liar, or to uphold Jehovah’s universal domination, the supremacy of His law, the truth of His word, and the honor and holiness of His name as God. Rather than be estranged from his wife and possibly be deprived of her by execution of the penalty of God’s law, Adam chose to retain her selfishly and maintain peace in the family by adopting together with Eve the religion of Devil worship. Adam sinned.
12 Having thus gained man to his side of the issue of universal domination, renegade Lucifer then set himself up as a law unto himself. He refused to fulfill his office as a subject of Jehovah, whom he now defied. He refused to punish sin and disobedience against God and execute the wicked. His failure to put Adam and Eve to death that day was the first case of non-feasance in office. Lucifer chose not to act as executioner of God, in order to give the lie to God’s law which fixed the penalty, death. Jehovah God must enforce his own law. He executed it against Adam and Eve, first depriving them that “day” of their right to life and then driving them out of Eden to die before a “day” or period of one thousand years was up. (2 Pet. 3: 8) Hence, instead of serving as executioner of God, Lucifer’s work became that of a murderer, because he was the inducer to the sin which brought man's death.—John 8: 44; 1 John 3:12,15.
11 How did Satan argue to Eve concerning God's law and malign God's name and position? and with what result?
12. How did the renegade Lucifer set himself up as a law unto himself, and what must Jehovah God then do toward Adam and Eve?
13 Lucifer’s wicked course and his success with Adam and Eve set in doubt the integrity of Jehovah's entire intelligent living universe. His established government over the Edenic earth had been corrupted, and his name and universal domination had been set on issue thereby. Immediately therefore, at Eden, Jehovah made the promise that out from his “woman” or universal organization of faithful creatures He would bring forth a Government, a “Seed”; and that Government would remain faithful to Jehovah God, even though it would be permitted to suffer bruising in “his heel” by Satan and his “seed” or government. Moreover, the Government of God’s “Seed” would execute God’s law against sinners and rebels, including Satan the Serpent himself and his wicked government over earth. —Gen. 3:15.
14 For this compelling reason Jehovah did not at once destroy Satan there at Eden, nor did he destroy the government Satan had set up over humankind; nor did he immediately destroy the subjects of that government, Adam and Eve, to prevent their having offspring. To the “Seed” or Government that would issue forth from his “woman” Jehovah God assigned that privilege of executing Satan and his government and all the wicked, and thereby vindicating God’s name. For like reason Jehovah did not stop all efforts of Satan to extend his power in the heavens and thereby show how far he could succeed toward universal domination. Many angels were tested thereby and were seduced and became demons under Satan. But to his promised “Seed” Jehovah assigned the honor and duty to stop Satan and his wicked organization with destruction in God's due time. First, though, the test of Satan's power to accomplish his ends must be permitted that his ultimate failure might prove him a liar and false god before all creation.
15 Satan the Serpent caught the force of God’s prophecy. (Gen. 3:14,15) He saw it meant in the end his debasement from heaven to the earth to a position like that of a snake crawling upon his belly, and then being crushed to death. He saw too that God was allowing to him the wide-open opportunity to bruise painfully the “heel” of the “Seed”. In burning enmity or hatred of that promised thing, the “Seed”, Satan determined to do his worst against it, whenever it should appear. Hence Satan challenged God to put on earth creatures belonging to His organization (or “woman”), and especially that “Seed”, and then let Satan test them as to their ability to stand suffering and remain faithful in their integrity toward God. Satan bragged that by temptation and by bruising them or causing them painful suffering for God's name's sake he could turn or force every one of them out of God’s organization and onto Satan’s side, to God’s reproach. Satan had refused to punish the pair of sinners against God, but henceforth he would punish those who refused to sin against God. Not human salvation, therefore, but these all-important things of concern to heaven and earth were at issue. Salvation is secondary.
13. What was set in doubt and on issue by Satan's success with Adam and Eve, and what promise did Jehovah then make as to the issue?
14. For that reason what did Jehovah refrain from doing, and what assignment of service did he make to the promised Seed?
15. In God’s promise what did Satan perceive concerning his own self, and therefore what did he challenge God to do, so making it an issue?
16 In order that the issue might be fully determined by a test of power over a limited but sufficient length of time God permitted the adversary to remain, and then the end of Satan’s uninterrupted rule should come, the end of his world. Then Jehovah God would establish his “Seed” as his capital organization over the universe, including the earth, and Satan's world organization would be crushed lifeless to the earth. Hence the Lord God permitted the human race to develop from Adam and Eve and to exist until now in order for Satan to turn it all totalitarian in opposition to the Lord God and his promised Government. In spite of all this Almighty God would prove to Satan and his worshipers this fact: God can place faithful creatures upon earth and let Satan bring all manner of suffering upon them unjustly, even violent death itself, and yet such creatures will hold fast to their integrity toward the true God and his universal domination.
17 Satan’s power, which God has till now permitted Satan to wield, to inflict such suffering, including death, is not power as God’s executioner. Satan holds no office from or for God, but God grants him freedom to exercise such power, including that of death, to prove his insolent boast and challenge to God. If Lucifer had exercised the power of death upon disobedient Adam and Eve, it would have meant Lucifer’s acting as God's executioner to execute everlasting destruction or extinction upon that unfaithful pair. Now, however, the power of death such as Satan has been permitted to exercise in many cases against God’s servants and witnesses extends only to the killing of the body. It does not mean the destruction of their soul, their worthiness and right to life in the New World ruled by God's “Seed’’. In the case of Job Jehovah God did not permit Satan to exercise the power of death against Job himself, but against his seven sons and three daughters. Job’s was an outstanding case of testing integrity toward the Most High God. Satan repeated his impudent challenge to God respecting Job, and God let Satan try to break down Job’s integrity by causing him extreme suffering and reproach. God triumphed in the test case. Satan lost. His defeat there is a sure prophecy of his ultimate complete defeat in the centuries-old struggle over the issue of universal domination. — Job 1, 2, 42.
16 To determine the issue, therefore, what did Jehovah purpose to permit and thereby to show?
17 (a) Had Lucifer faithfully executed the power of death in what capacity would he have done so? and how does Satan now use this power? (b) How did Satan come to exercise his power toward Job, and what was the outcome of that test case?
SUFFERING FOR WELL-DOING
18 It is now clear why Almighty God in his long- suffering has let the sinful, imperfect human race remain till now and suffer in sin. Their sufferings, however, are not for righteousness’ sake, to vindicate God’s name, but are due to their continuance in sin and their choice of Satan's world and its religion. History, both Biblical and profane, records that men and women devoted to God have suffered in a manner distinct from that of the human race in general, namely, for righteousness sake. For no other reason than that they have not gone in the way of the world, but have engaged in well-doing according to the law of Jehovah God, they have suffered gross injustices, even unto death. This they did rather than forsake God and become part of this world and its religion, politics and commerce. Abel, whose worship was acceptable to Jehovah God, was the first to be violently murdered by Satan's earthly seed, Cain. In this year 1943 Jehovah's witnesses continue to be thus murdered and subjected to sufferings at the hands of the seed of religion, polities and commerce. Why? Because they refuse to follow in Adam and Eve's course, but declare Jehovah’s name as supreme and obey his commandments rather than those of opposing men, and stand for God's New World.
19 Since the climax is here, the question obtrudes itself more forcefully than ever before: Is it not better to go in the way of this world and suffer with it in its evil-doing and defiance of God than to come out from this world, take a stand for Jehovah God and the Kingdom under his Son Christ Jesus, and suffer unjustly for worshiping and obeying Jehovah and his King? The vast majority of mankind under demon rule yields to the increasing power and demands of totalitarian rulers to avoid suffering at their hands, and cries out, Yes! On this vital question, should not the weight of the majority decide the correctness of the answer, and should not therefore all humans fall in line and march on meekly into the totalitarian “New World order founded on moral principles” under religion's domination? The small minority, Jehovah's faithful people, answers boldly, No! and their unswerving devotion to him and his witness work under the hatred and persecution of all nations backs up their answer as sincere.
18 Are the sufferings of the human race for righteousness sake or for other cause? and how and why have certain men and women suffered for a cause different from that of the human race?
19 What questions as to the advisability of suffering therefore arise, and how does the majority of mankind answer, and bow Jehovah's witnesses?
20 Why, however, should their voice carry any weight or be heeded by any serious person? Because it echoes and finds support in the infallible authority of God's Word. One of the faithful witnesses of Jehovah, the apostle Peter, writes specifically in answer to the question. He declares himself a “witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed”. (1 Pet. 5:1) Writing for the special benefit of the remnant of Jehovah's witnesses at the end of Satan’s world, where we are now, the apostle exhorts them to be unafraid of the terror of the enemy and to continue on in giving witness to Jehovah's name and kingdom, and then adds: “For it is better, if the will of God be so, that ye suffer for well doing than for evil doing.” (1 Pet. 3:17) Why is it better? Because the suffering for well-doing according to the will of God is for the vindication of Jehovah’s name. It is in support of his side of the issue of universal domination, and it results in the lasting blessing of the one who thus suffers for a good conscience. How can it be Jehovah’s will that they should suffer unjustly who serve him in well-doing, keeping his commandments? Because thereby they must prove their integrity under the test at Satan's violent hands and must prove him a blasphemer and Jehovah God true. Were God to shield them from the sufferings, he would be sparing them the test and hence would be depriving them of a part in vindicating his name.
21 Suffering according to God’s will, when faithfully endured even to the death, results to the greatest good of the sufferer who keeps his integrity. The apostle cites the greatest proof possible of this, saying: “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the spirit.” (1 Pet. 3: 18) Whereas Job’s reward long ago was merely temporary and was part of a prophetic drama of things to come, Christ Jesus was and is the first to receive the permanent reward for his sufferings for doing well on earth.
22 Jesus was “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners”. For no sins of his own did he suffer, neither did he die for such. Many ancient manuscripts of authority render 1 Peter 3: 18, that he “died for sins once”; for example: “Because Christ also once for all concerning sins died.” (Rotherham; Douay; Am. Rev. Ver., margin) It was because of sins committed against him and his Father Jehovah God that he died after keen suffering. That was what directly produced his sufferings and death. The test was that, while suffering, he must retain his integrity and blamelessness toward God. He must not sin under the sufferings by abandoning Jehovah God in bitterness or by yielding to fear and selfishness and compromising with his persecutors just to get relief. He must endure the suffering uncomplainingly, proving himself faithful to Jehovah God and the kingdom which he came into the world to preach, even unto martyrdom.
20 (a) Why should the voice of Jehovah’s witnesses carry weight and be heeded? (b) Why is it better to suffer for well-doing, and why is it God’s will that it be so?
21 In what does such suffering result to the sufferer who faithfully endures it? and what is the greatest proof thereof?
22 In what sense, and to prove what, did Christ 'die once for all concerning sins’?
23 Jesus recognized it was the will of God for him to suffer reproacb.es and shame, ending up with disgraceful death on the tree. Jesus confessed this. Not desiring that he should be the means of bringing reproach upon God’s name he prayed in the garden of Gethsemane: "Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me: nevertheless, not my will, but thine, be done." (Luke 22:41,42) Because of the issue involved, God's will was for Jesus to suffer unjustly at the hands of Satan’s organization: "it pleased the Lord to bruise him; he hath put him to grief.” (Isa. 53: 10) By enduring the reproaches and suffering without yielding sinfully to the Devil and his organization, Jesus could fulfill the picture of the “scapegoat" or "goat for Azazel” and could perform the part of the sin-bearer to bear away the sins of those who repented and converted and devoted themselves to God. (Lev. 16: 8, 20-22, margin; Isa. 53:4-9) Hence “Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us [God's covenant people] to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit”. — 1 Pet. 3:18, Am. Rev. Ver.
24 The suffering imposed by Satan and his organization upon Christ Jesus was more severe than upon any creature before or after him upon the earth. Satan raised to the most intense degree of heat the flames of persecution which he concentrated upon Jesus. Why? Because this One was the promised “Seed”. He was the Son of God, “the beginning of the creation of God.” He had been a mighty spirit creature in heaven, serving there in a responsible position before Jehovah God, namely, as “The Word of God”, the official mouthpiece and executive of God’s word. (Rev. 3:14; Col. 1:15; John 1:1-3) Satan had known him in heaven as ever faithful to God under the favorable conditions there; but now. to serve for the vindication of Jehovah's name, the “Word of God” had laid aside his heavenly glory and had come to earth and been “made flesh”. Satan now proposed to prove whether the “Word of God" would remain obedient and faithful under the most unfavorable conditions which Satan and his demons would produce in his world.
23 At Gethsemane, what did Jesus confess was God's will concerning him. and, by complying, what tabernacle picture did Jesus fulfill?
24 For what reasons did Satan impose upon Christ Jesus suffering more severe than upon any creature before or since on earth?
25 Jesus, by baptism in water, symbolized his consecration to be dead and buried to his own will and alive to God the Father’s will. After his baptism he was begotten of his Father's spirit that he might return to that life in the spirit which he had left on coming to earth. He was at the same time anointed with God’s spirit to be the King of the Theocratic Government of the righteous New World. Satan doubtless heard when God’s voice came from heaven and acknowledged the baptized and spirit-begotten Jesus as His beloved Son. (Matt. 3:13-17) Therefore Satan saw that, to foil God's purpose, he must, if possible, turn aside this One above all from his integrity and so bring about his destruction at God’s hands, to God’s reproach. In this Satan failed, both by his subtle temptations of Jesus in the wilderness and also by the years of wicked persecutions that followed till the flesh of Jesus hung limp in death on Calvary’s tree.
26 As to Jesus’ strict obedience and faithfulness to God under reproach and mistreatment it is written: “Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered; and being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him.” (Heb. 5:8,9) Satan exercised his power of death against the Son of God only in the last effort to make him break his integrity and violate his covenant relationship with God. The faithful death of Jesus was the perfect answer to Satan’s challenge to God and was a triumph over Satan. It was a forerunner of the final victory over Satan when the Son of God, whose violent death Satan accomplished,’ will himself execute God’s judgment of death upon the adversary. Hence, concerning the Son of God, who was “made flesh”, it is written: “Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Heb. 2: 14) Or, “that through death he might bring to nought him that hath the power of death, that is, the devil.” (Am. Rev. Ver., margin) But Jesus’ faithful death was only the first triumphant step toward the ultimate bruising of the Serpent’s head.
25. Immediately after Jesus' water baptism how did God deal with him, and what did Satan then proceed to do in order to foil God's purpose by Jesus?
26. What power did Satan finally use against Jesus, and how was Jesus’ faithful death an important step toward bringing Satan the Devil to nought?
THE “FIRST RESURRECTION”
27 After the Son faithfully finished his earthly course in the flesh, Jehovah gave the greatest demonstration of the truth that it is better to choose to do well as a witness for Jehovah according to Jesus’ example and to suffer for it than to go along with the world and compromise with its evil-doing in opposition to God and his kingdom. Satan could kill only the body of Jesus; but Jesus, on the tree, just before dying, prayed to his God to whom he had been faithful: “Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.” (Luke 23:46) Thereby he entrusted his power of life everlasting to his Father, that his heavenly Father might restore him to life again on the third day. As he had previously said: “Therefore doth the Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. ... I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment received I from my Father.” (John 10:17,18, Am. Rev. Ver.) That right to life eternal, which right was maintained by Jesus’ keeping his integrity faultless, Satan's power of death could not destroy. Then for Jesus’ superb part in vindicating his Father's name by suffering faithfully to death God rewarded him most highly. Not only did he restore him to life by a resurrection from the dead, but he raised him to life, no more as a human of flesh, but as a spirit, heavenly, immortal, divine. Of this first miracle of its kind it is written concerning Jesus: “Being put to death indeed in the flesh, but enlivened in the spirit.” (1 Pet. 3: 18, Douay) “Being put to death indeed in flesh, but made alive in spirit.” — Rotherham.
28 That was the first resurrection from the dead to life eternal. Therefore it is written: "And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead: that in all things he might have the pre-eminence.” (Col. 1:18) “Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth.” (Rev. 1:5) “God . . . hath raised up Jesus again; as it is also written in the second psalm. Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee.” (Acts 13:33) Jesus’ was the beginning of the “first resurrection”, it being “first” as to time and also as to importance. Jesus is the “head of the body, the church”. All his body members, who copy his example and prove faithful in their integrity, suffering even unto death, shall share with Jesus in that “first resurrection”. By it they are changed from flesh or human to spirit, that is, they are raised to life in the spirit in the heavenly courts with Jesus. Concerning this church “body”, the “body of Christ”, it is written: “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption.” (1 Cor. 15: 44, 49, 50) Thus for Jesus and his faithful “body” members the suffering for Jehovah’s vindication precedes a share in the first resurrection.—Rev. 20: 4, 6.
27 (a) How far did Satan's power of death extend with respect to Jesus and what therefore did Jesus on the tree commend to his Father? (b) How did God then demonstrate that it is better to choose to suffer as His witness rather than to go along with the world?
28 How was that the first resurrection to life, and who are they that share in that class of resurrection, and how?
29 Prior to Jesus’ death and resurrection all God’s faithful witnesses, from John the Baptist back to Abel, suffered to maintain their integrity toward Jehovah God. Respecting the resurrection or restoration to life with which Jehovah will shortly reward them it is stated, at Hebrews 11:35: “And others were tortured, not accepting deliverance [by a compromise with the enemy]; that they might obtain a better resurrection.” Their awakening to this “better resurrection” to be made “princes in all the earth" under the heavenly Kingdom is in the near future. The faithful Jonadabs, or “other sheep” of the Lord, who now prove their integrity to death before Armageddon may also hope for an early resurrection to life on earth under these "princes”. (Ps. 45: 14-16) All this will be additional proof that, it being God's will for the vindication of his name, it is better to suffer for well-doing as a servant and witness of Jehovah.
29 (a) What resurrection will the faithful witnesses preceding Jesus have, and what resurrection hope is there for the Lord's 'other sheep' faithful unto death? (b) Of what truth concerning suffering is such rewarding an additional proof?
PREACHING TO SPIRITS IN PRISON
ON EARTH, down to his court trial before Pontius Pilate on the day of his death, Jesus faithfully continued “preaching the gospel of the kingdom”. (Matt. 4:17, 23; 9:35; John 18:36,37; Luke 23: 38, 42, 43) While he lay in death the Kingdom preaching was stilled. Then Jehovah by his stupendous power raised his victorious Son to life in the spirit, and the resurrected Jesus resumed speaking about the Kingdom. To thus speak to his faithful disciples he materialized human bodies of flesh and bone on different occasions in order to appear and be visible to them: “unto whom he also presented himself alive after he had suffered by many sure tokens, throughout forty days, making himself visible unto them, and speaking the things concerning the kingdom of God.” (Acts 1: 3, Rotherham) Additionally, the apostle Peter, after stating that Jesus was “made alive in the spirit”, adds: “By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison.” (1 Pet. 3: 19) As Jesus, by his resurrection, was again spirit, he could, during the forty days before his ascension to God’s right hand, go and preach to other spirit creatures, those “spirits in prison”.
1 (a) What did Jesus continue to do down till his death and how was it made possible for him to resume it? (b) To whom did he then preach, as disclosed by the apostle Peter?
2 Preaching means a proclaiming aloud, as a herald, a declaring or making known publicly. It does not appear to mean so-called “preaching by example”; the apostle Peter does not use such expression when he admonishes wives that they may by their faithful behavior gain their unbelieving husbands without the spoken word. (1 Pet. 3:1-6) In all sixty-one times of its use throughout the Greek Scriptures the word “preach” (Greek: keryssein) has the sense of publishing and proclaiming abroad by the spoken or declared word; as at Mark 13:10: “The gospel must first be published among all nations.” (Also Matthew 24:14.) Also at Revelation 5:2: “And I saw a strong angel proclaiming with a loud voice.” In fulfillment of his anointing or commission, Christ Jesus, when on earth in the flesh, preached by word of mouth, “to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound.” (Isa. 61:1; Luke 4:18) After his death and then his resurrection to life in the spirit it would be possible for him to proclaim a like message to those in the spirit realm who longed for deliverance. Who, then, are these “spirits in prison”?
3 The Catholic Douay Version translation carries a footnote comment on “spirits that were in prison”, as follows: “See here a proof of a third place, or middle state of souls: for those spirits in prison, to whom Christ went to preach, after his death, were not in heaven, nor yet in the hell of the damned: because heaven is no prison: and Christ did not go to preach to the damned.” On this Catholic comment it must be remarked that neither did the resurrected Jesus go to “Purgatory”, because there is no such place for humans after death. All they that have “done evil” and have died and are “in the graves” are dead; they must await the resurrection of the dead under the established kingdom of God, which kingdom is set up at the Lord’s return. (John 5: 28, 29) From his death on the tree to his resurrection on the third day, Christ Jesus himself was dead, not alive anywhere. During that time he was lifeless, unconscious, inactive, in “hell” or “Hades”, which signifies the death state, symbolized by the grave. However, his “soul” or life was not left a prey to hell, Hades, the death state; the “gates of hell” did not prevail to hold him in death. By his resurrection on the third day to life in the spirit, “his soul was not left in hell,” says Peter. (Acts 2:31; Ps. 16: 10; Matt. 16:18) Hence, while in “hell”, Christ Jesus could not preach to anyone. Also the expression “spirits in prison” has no reference to humans or those who were once human on earth.
2 Literally, what does the original word for ‘‘preaching" mean, and how do the Scriptures show the sense of the word?
3. How does the Catholic Bible footnote interpret the expression "spirits that were in prison", but how does this compare with the Scriptures concerning the state of the dead, including Jesus?
4 The apostle Peter identifies these “spirits” by adding concerning them: “Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved by water.” (1 Pet. 3:20) How were those spirits disobedient in Noah’s day, and what did they have to do with conditions then? The sacred record, at Genesis 6:1,2, informs us: “And it came to pass, when men began to multiply on the face of the earth, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of God saw the daughters of men that they were fair; and they took them waves of all which they chose.” In the celebrated Alexandrine Manuscript of the Bible, of the fifth century, is the Greek Septuagint Version translation of the Hebrew Scriptures, and at Genesis 6: 2 it reads: “the angels of God” instead of “the sons of God”. This indicates how the expression was then understood by Christians and Hebrews. At the foundation of the earth “the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy”. (Job 38: 4-7) Those spirit “sons of God” were interested in the earth.
5 During Noah’s six hundred years of life down to the flood men were multiplying on the earth, but it was not in fulfillment of the divine mandate, because the multiplying was done in unrighteousness. Hence many of the “sons of God” sought to intervene in the situation on earth. Being still “sons of God” more than a thousand years after the rebellion of Lucifer and his earthly dupes in Eden, these angelic spirits could not be the demons under Satan that had forsaken Jehovah’s universal organization and joined Satan in his scheme for universal domination. Such spirit “sons of God” were still in harmony and relationship with Jehovah God their Father. Their intentions toward the human race were well meant However, for them to take wives of the fair daughters of men and to cohabit with them would require leaving their assigned positions in the invisible heavenly realm and to materialize in flesh as men, and this action was a step of disobedience toward God. It would not serve to the fulfillment of the divine mandate in righteousness, though such “sons of God" were righteous. Originally, the divine mandate was to be carried out under the invisible supervision of Lucifer, and it is reasonable that the self-perverted Lucifer, Satan, had something to do with this disobedient step of the “sons of God”.
4. How does the apostle Peter identify those "spirits in prison" and also the book of Genesis throw light thereon?
5. In Noah’s day, what did those "sons of God" mean to do and what relation did it have to the divine mandate to Adam in Eden?
6 The marriage of the materialized “spirits” and human daughters produced a hybrid offspring; “they bare children to them, the same became mighty men which were of old, men of renown.” (Gen. 6:4) At that time also “there were giants in the earth in those days”. These were the “Nephilim", demons of Satan’s organization who also materialized and used their superior power and strength to fell men and to coerce them to do unrighteousness against Jehovah God. By this they drove humankind far from God in order to reproach God and bring on their destruction. (Gen. 6:4, Am. Rev. Ver.) Even the “mighty men”, the offspring of “the sons of God” and human wives, did not resist those Nephilim in behalf of righteousness, but they also turned to evil, corruptness and violence. The “sons of God” had no restraining influence with them. Amidst all this "Noah walked with God”, and in the last one hundred years before the flood he brought up his three sons “in the nurture and admonition of the Lord”. The Lord therefore made Noah his witness, gave him the warning concerning the flood, and set him and his grown, married sons to building the ark of survival.
7 Noah faithfully witnessed and was a “preacher of righteousness", but there is no record that those "sons of God” heeded him or helped him in the preaching of the end of that “world of the ungodly”, the “world that then was”. (2 Pet. 2:5; 3:5,6) They continued on with their marital and domestic affairs with their wives and offspring. Likely they thought that by their course they could stay the pursuit of unrighteousness and violence by the race and finally cause God to repent and spare the human race and their hybrid offspring from destruction. They were wrong, and their disobedience deprived them of the great privilege of sharing with Noah in delivering Jehovah’s message. In fact, they were working against Noah and the effect of his preaching. They are an example of how leaning to one’s own understanding and not following God's instructions and rules to accomplish his purpose results in disobedience and failure and captivity to the Devil.
8 The ark was complete, and Noah and the seven members of his household were gathered in, together with the animals. Then the long-suffering of Jehovah which had waited and extended a welcome “while the ark was a preparing” ended. The flood descended. The materialized "sons of God”, as well as the demon Nephilim, being outside the ark and in the flesh, were obliged to dematerialize and return to the spirit. Were those “sons of God” now permitted to return to the holy courts of God’s heavens in company with the obedient holy angels! There is no record that they were sentenced to death for their misguided course, but they were punished with imprisonment. By whom? By the inventor of prisons, jails and torture chambers and concentration camps, namely, Satan, “the prince of the demons.” Likewise, centuries thereafter, Jehovah permitted his covenant people of Israel many times to become prisoners or captives to their demonized enemies because of repeated disobedience to God.—Judg. 10:7; 1 Sam. 12:9.
6 (a) Who were the "giants” in those days, and what did the “sons of God” and their offspring accomplish toward such giants? (b) Why and how did God then make Noah his witness?
7 What course did the “sons of God” take toward sharing in the witness with Noah, and why?
8 When the flood descended, how did the "sons of God” and the Nephilim proceed, and how did Jehovah punish those "sons of God"?
9 When on earth Jesus did not preach to the demons, but cast them out of demonized persons on numerous occasions, and hence he would not preach to them after his resurrection from the dead. Their destiny was already fixed. On the other hand, the fact that, after his resurrection, Jesus according to God’s will “preached to the spirits in prison” serves as a symbol of hope for such spirits. The preaching of Jesus was not purposeless, just to do a lot of talking and display knowledge, learning and oratory, or to taunt the unfortunate. All his preaching in the flesh on earth was to testify to the Father name and coming kingdom, and then to lead men to repentance. (Matt. 4:17) What Jesus in the spirit preached to the “spirits in prison” is not recorded, but it must have been on the all-important theme, the Kingdom, which vindicates Jehovah’s name.
10 Now, nineteen centuries later, the Kingdom has come. The Scriptures mark A. D. 1914 as the time when Satan's uninterrupted rule ended and the Lord God took his great power and enthroned his faithful Son to rule in the midst of his enemies. The New World is at hand. “And when he again bringeth in the firstborn into the world he saith, And let all the angels of God worship him.” (Heb. 1:6, Am. Rev. Ver. ) The demons decline to worship God’s enthroned King, but continue to hold to Satan their prince. (Rev. 12: 7-9) However, what now about the “spirits in prison”? Will they defy the demons and take their stand for Jehovah and his King and worship him, regardless of what suffering it may cost? Will they do so, remembering what the resurrected Jesus preached to them? To the body of Christ the apostle Paul has written: “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? . . . Know ye not that we shall judge angels?” (1 Cor. 6:2,3) It is a time of judgment for the “spirits in prison”. To continue in disobedience means destruction. To the repentant converts Jehovah’s great Elect Servant opens the prisons and he brings them forth to light and life.—Isa. 42:1, 7.
9. Why did Jeans preach to those imprisoned spirits, and not to the demons, and what must have been the theme of his preaching?
10. In view of such preaching, how have those imprisoned spirits come under judgment due to the events of A. D. 1914?
BAPTISM UNTO THE GREATER NOAH
11 Those “spirits in prison” were eyewitnesses to the demonstration of Jehovah’s almighty power to destroy a wicked world and to reward with salvation from destruction the obedient ones who suffer for well-doing. By entering into the ark meekly and in faith Noah and his house, “eight souls, were saved through water.” (1 Pet. 3:20, Am. Rev. Ver.) That flood is a type prophetic of the end of “this present evil world”. Noah is therefore a figure prophetic of Christ Jesus. (Matt. 24:37-39: Luke 17:26,27) By going unto Noah into the ark his sons and their wives were baptized unto Noah, with whom they had been engaged in righteously preaching the end of the old world. (Compare 1 Corinthians 10: 1, 2.) Noah, under Jehovah, was in command of the ark, and the great boat therefore pictured Jehovah’s organization under Christ Jesus. In the ark under Noah and under God’s protection Noah’s household were saved through the water to life in the succeeding world. The ungodly scoffers outside were baptized with destruction. “Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished.”—2 Peter 3:6.
12 To escape the great deluge of destruction at the battle of Armageddon it is now necessary to be baptized unto the Greater Noah, Christ Jesus. Through the remnant of his body members yet on earth this greater “Preacher of Righteousness" has called attention to the signs or evidences of the “end of the world”. He has served warning on the rulers and the people of the fast-approaching “day of vengeance of our God”. To the Greater Noah the people of goodwill must flee. They must place themselves under his leadership and protection, and must comply with the instructions which he sends through the Theocratic organization, the antitypical Ark. Make all speed, urges the Greater Noah to those who see the signs of the end, and, “prav ye that your flight be not in the winter, neither u ; the sabbath day," when escape from tribulation will be impossible.—Matt. 24: 20, 21.
13 This is not meaning that there is no such thing as baptism in water for believers. It is pointing out that the waters of the destructive flood of Noah's day were not a type of the water in which the Christian believer is immersed or dipped. Jehovah God sent John the Baptist ahead of Jesus to baptize with water, whose baptism was confined to one nation, the Jews. Thereafter Christ Jesus sent forth his disciples with the command: “Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy spirit: teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you.”—Matt. 28:19, 20, Am. Rev. Ver.
11 By going into the ark unto Noah, what did his household experience, but what befell those outside in contrast?
12 In a like manner, what must those who will escape the deluge of Armageddon now do, and why do that speedily?
13 What does this show or point out concerning water baptism as practiced by John the Baptist and commanded by Jesus?
14 The mere water itself has no power to wash away sins or any other miraculous potency. Baptism in water is merely a symbol, not of something to follow, but of that which has already taken place in the baptized one’s heart. It symbolizes that he has believed on Jehovah as God and Author of salvation and has accepted his Son Jesus Christ as the gift of God, the ransom sacrifice, and that he has proved his faith by consecrating himself or dedicating himself wholly and completely to Jehovah God for all time, to do His will. God’s will is that all consecrated ones should follow his Son Jesus Christ, keeping God’s commandments as he did and holding fast their integrity by keeping the obligations of the covenant which they have symbolized by water baptism.
15 It is clear, then, that, by water baptism, a creature is not joining any earthly or human organization. He is not joining the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society (that is a legal corporation), nor joining Jehovah’s witnesses (they are not incorporated and have no membership rolls). The creature is simply giving an outward sign, according to God’s commandment through Jesus Christ, and before witnesses, a sign of what has taken place in the heart, namely, unconditional and unreserved consecration to God through his Son.
16 Thenceforth, for the rest of his life, the devoted one is bound to fulfill his vow of consecration to be on the Lord's side and to please him and serve him always. Such one must therefore be “pure in heart” and clean in his course of conduct. He may no longer copy the world’s ways and drown himself in its immoralities. self-indulgences and pleasure-seeking, with indifference toward God’s kingdom. This would be wasting time, misusing his capacities to serve the Lord, consuming his energies injuriously to himself and others, and bringing him into unbreakable bondage to sin and the power of the demons. Hence it would interfere with the performance of his solemn consecration and would result in his failure to do God's will and in unfaithfulness to Him. Such course brings great reproach upon God’s name, and supports the Devil’s challenge, and ends up in everlasting destruction of the covenant-breaker, at the latest at Armageddon. To the honor of God’s name and to your own everlasting benefit, shun even the beginnings of such a course and with heartfelt devotion abide faithful to God and his Righteous Rule.
17 Now the final end of Satan’s world organization is very nigh. “This gospel of the kingdom” has for all these years since 1914 been preached by Jehovah’s witnesses. (Matt. 24: 14) Hence the following words apply with special force now: “Wherein [that is, In the ark] few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water: which also after a true likeness [(or, marginal reading) which also in the antitype] doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting away of the filth of the flesh, but the interrogation [inquiry; appeal] of a good conscience toward God, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ; who is on the right hand of God, having gone into heaven; angels and authorities and powers being made subject unto him.’’—1 Pet. 3: 20-22, Am. Rev. Ver.
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