The Watchtower, April 1, 1947
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'They shall know that I am Jehovah?
-Ezekiel 35:15.
Vol. LXVIII
Semimonthly
No. 7
APRIL 1, 1947
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CONTENTS
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Resurrection to a New World .. Is the Same Body Raised f............
Time of Resurrection .....................
To Life or to Judgment ................
Destruction of Hell and of Death
Willful and Unintentional Treated Differently ...............
99 100 102 104 106
Elisha, Receives of a Double Portion 109
Field Experiences................
“Shining in the Kingdom”
Testimony Period ........
Memorial Celebration ........
London Convention ............
“Watchtower” Studies ......
National Assembly of
Jehovah’s witnesses ....
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Published Semimonthly By
WATCH TOWER BIBLE & TRACT SOCIETY 117 Adams Street - - Brooklyn 1, N.Y., U.SA.
Orriczss . .
N. H. Knobs, president Grant Suiter, Secretary
•‘And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children.” • Isaiah 54:13.
THE BIBLE CLEARLY TEACHES
THAT JEHOVAH Is the only true God, from everlasting to everlasting, and is the Maker of heaven and earth and Giver of life to his creatures; that the Word or Logos was the beginning of his creation and his active agent in creating all other things; and that the creature Lucifer rebelled against Jehovah and raised the Issue of His universal sovereignty;
THAT GOD created the earth for man, made perfect man for the earth and placed him upon It; that man yielded to unfaithful Lucifer, or Satan, and willfully disobeyed God’s law and was sentenced to death; that by reason of Adam’s wrong act all men are born sinners and without the right to life;
THAT THE LOGOS was made human as the man Jesus and suffered death in order to produce the ransom or redemptive price for obedient men; that God raised up Christ Jesus divine and exalted him to heaven above every other creature and clothed him with all power and authority as head of God’s new capital organization;
THAT GOD’S CAPITAL ORGANIZATION is a Theocracy called Zion, and that Christ Jesus Is the Chief Officer thereof and is the rightful King of the new world; that the faithful anointed followers of Christ Jesus are Zion's children, members of Jehovah's organization, and are His witnesses whose duty and privilege it is to testify to Jehovah’s supremacy and declare his purposes toward mankind as expressed in the Bible;
THAT THE OLD WORLD, or Satan’s uninterrupted rule, ended A.D. 1914, and Christ Jesus has been placed by Jehovah upon the throne, has ousted Satan from heaven, and now proceeds to vindicate His name and establish the “new earth";
THAT THE RELIEF and blessings of the peoples can come only by Jehovah's kingdom under Christ, which has begun; that His next great act is to destroy Satan’s organization and establish righteousness completely in the earth; and that under the Kingdom the people of good-will surviving Armageddon will carry out the divine mandate to “fill the earth” with righteous offspring, and that the human dead in the graves will be raised to opportunities of life on earth.
ITS MISSION
HIS journal is published for the purpose of enabling the people to know Jehovah God and his purposes as expressed In the Bible. It publishes Bible instruction specifically designed to aid Jehovah’s witnesses and all people of good-wilL
It arranges systematic Bible study for its readers and the Society supplies other literature to aid in such studies. It publishes suitable material for radio broadcasting and for other means of public instruction in the Scriptures,
It adheres strictly to the Bible as authority for its utterances. It is entirely free and separate from all religion, parties, sects or other worldly organizations. It is wholly and without reservation for the kingdom of Jehovah God under Christ his beloved King. It is not dogmatic, but Invites careful and critical examination of its contents in the light of the Scriptures. It does not Indulge In controversy, and its columns are not open to personalities.
Notice to Subscribers: Remittance* should be sent to office In your country In compliance with regulations to guarantee safe delivery of money. Remittances are accepted at Brooklyn from countries where no office Is located, by international money order only. Subscription rates In different countries are stated below in local currency. Notice of expiration (with renewal blank) is sent at least two Issues before subscription expires. Change of address when sent to our office may be expected effective within one month. Send your old as well as new address.
Please address the Watch Tower Society In every case.
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ALL SINCERE STUDENTS OF THE BIBLE who by reason of infirmity, poverty or adversity are unable to pay the subscription price may have The Watchtower free upon written application to the publishers, made once each year, stating the reason for so requesting it. We are glad to thus aid the needy, but the written application once each year i required by the postal regulations.
Printed in the United States of America
Entered as second-class matter at the post office at Brooklyn, N. Y., under the Act of March S, 1879.
“SHINING IN THE KINGDOM” TESTIMONY PERIOD
April, set aside as “Shining in the Kingdom” Testimony Period, will close the four-month-long subscription campaign for the magazines The Watchtower and Awake! Seeing that both these magazines are published in many languages, those of many nations wanting to let shine the light of God’s kingdom as reflected on the pages of said magazines will be able to offer them both together along with two premium books published by our Society. They will continue to make this joint offer at the regular subscription rate of $2.00. New ones desiring to participate, write for information.
MEMORIAL CELEBRATION
The time for observing the Memorial this year will be after sunset or after 6 p.m., Standard Time, of Sunday, April 6. Each company of Jehovah’s witnesses should meet that night at an annot iced hour, both those of the anointed remnant and all persons of good-will. Before those of the remnant partake of the Memorial emblems, some competent brother should present a brief speech extemporaneously or read some pertinent paragraphs from the most up-to-date Watchtower articles on the subject. Ab shown in the February 15, 1947, issue of The Watchtower both emblems should be served together, seeing that the partaking of the broken unleavened bread and the red wine together show forth the one thing. All companies meeting together in observance of the Memorial will please report to this office, stating the total attendance and indicating the number of partakers. Song and prayer should close the observance.
LONDON CONVENTION
Earls Court, London, has been booked for the national convention from July 3 to 6, at which the Society’s president, N. H. Knorr, and other official representatives from America will serve on the program. Announcement of this is here made in brief in order that the British brethren and foreign brethren may make the earliest arrangements- to be in attendance. Further information will be published in due course.
“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES
Week of May 4; “Resurrection to a New World,” fl 1-21 inclusive, The Watchtower April 1, 1947. Week of May 11: “Resurrection to a New World,” fl 22-41 inclusive, The Watchtower April 1, 1947.
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES
At the Cleveland assembly, the president of the Society, N. H. Knorr, told the brethren of the plans for a convention in California, in 1947, following his world tour; We are now pleased to say that this will be- held in California, with assembly in Wrigley Field, August 13 to 17, inclusive, Los Angeles being the city. Brethren making plans to go should arrange their vacations accordingly. Later announcement will be made as to rooming and other information. This notice now will aid those who plan to attend the California assembly to make their arrangements well in advance.
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ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH’S KINGDOM
Vou LXVin
April 1, 1947
No. 7
RESURRECTION TO A NEW WORLD
"He has fixed a day on which he will judge the world justly by a man whom he has destined for this. And he has given proof of this to all by raising him from the dead"—Acts 17:31, Moffatt.
JEHOVAH God, in building the promised new I world of righteousness, has control over whom to J resurrect from the dead and when to resurrect them. He observes order with regard to the resurrection. The foundation member of the new world is his firstborn Son, the Messiah. Jehovah guaranteed the coming of that desirable world by raising the Messiah out from a martyr’s death and exalting him to sit down at His right hand in the highest heavens. Once upon a time King David on his throne at Jerusalem wrote concerning this and said: “Jehovah saith unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. Jehovah will send forth the rod of thy strength out of Zion: Rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.”—Ps. 110:1, 2, Am. Stan. Ver.
2 This One, whom King David under divine inspiration called “my Lord”, will be Jehovah’s King over the new world. In this royal capacity he will be the Judge, and by him Jehovah God will judge both the living and the dead. He has the power of endless life, immortality, and therefore God has said to him: “Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Mel-chizedek.” (Ps. 110:4) A new’ world without end under an immortal King is fully possible and is on the way. The judgment of the dead as well as the living is unavoidable, and that carries along with it, necessarily, the resurrection of the dead that are in the graves.
3 In his firstborn Son, who became the Messiah, the great Creator laid the foundation of the universe that has been created, visible and invisible. This is true because his firstborn Son was the first of God’s creations. Then ■with him as His active agent God went on to-create everything else that has been brought into existence. He was the “beginning of the creation of God”, not that he was the author of creation, but that he was the first one whom God made and whom God made without the co-operation of anyone else. (Rev. 3:14) So it is but reasonable that with this same one Jehovah God should start the new world of righteousness to replace the “present evil world” of his enemies. For the sake of the righteous new world God’s firstborn Son presented himself in sacrifice and submitted to a violent death on earth, and for this reason he is honorably called “the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world”. (Rev. 13:8) With him as the new world’s foundation, the proposed world is sure to be righteous and ever faithful to Jehovah God.
‘Altogether rightly, then, God raised him up out of death and exalted him to position higher than what he had had before since the time of his creation. It is now written of this highly, exalted Son: “Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: for by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist. 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 preeminence.”—Col. 1:15-18.
6 Jesus Christ was the first one to be distinguished with a resurrection to everlasting life. This makes his resurrection different from that of the sons of certain women of old times before Christ. Those women “received their dead by a resurrection” at the hands of the prophets Elijah and Elisha. (Heb. 11:35, Am. Stan. Ver.) The sons of these women were not resuscitated to everlasting life, but died off in the course of time, because Jesus Christ had not yet become the “Lamb slain” that takes away the sin of the world. They were still subject to death. But concerning Jesus Christ the facts are that “Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him”.—Rom. 6:9.
’ Even before his own death and resurrection Jesus Christ raised several persons to life. These
1. By what miracle did Jehovah guarantee the coming of the new world? 4, To that end what did Jehovah do in that one’s behalf’
2. Whom will Jehovah’s King judge? and what does this necessarily 5. How is his resurrection different from that of the sons of certain
carry along with it? . women in ancient times?
3. Who is the foundation of the new world? and Is it reasonable for 6 How was Jesus’ being raised to life different from that of those such one to be that? whom he or his disciples raised to life?
were Jairus’ daughter, who had died just before Jesus’ arrival; the widow of Nain’s son, who was being carried to the burial place when Jesus stopped the funeral procession; and the brother of Mary and Martha, namely, Lazarus, who had been dead four days and whose body had begun to stink in its stone-covered cave. Jesus sent out his twelve apostles to preach and to heal, commanding them also to “raise the dead”. When sending word to John the Baptist in prison Jesus gave as one of the proofs that he was the One sent of God the fact that the dead resurged or were “raised up”. All those raised up by him or his disciples returned to corruption and the dust of the earth. “But he, whom God raised again, saw no corruption. And as concerning that he raised him up from the dead, now no more to return to corruption, he said on this mse, I will give you the sure mercies of David. Wherefore he saith also in another psalm, Thou shalt not suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” That is the apostle Paul’s declaration at Acts 13: 37, 34, 35. Jesus thus could speak of himself as “the first and the last, which was dead, and is alive”. He said: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.”—Rev. 2:8; 1:18.
7 For such reasons Moses and the other prophets were correct in foretelling what should happen, namely, “that the Christ must suffer, and that, by being the first to rise from the dead, he would proclaim light.” (Acts 26:22,23, Rev. Stan. Ver.) Also the apostle John correctly declared that his message was from “Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead”. (Rev. 1:5) He was the first and the last to rise by God’s direct power without the intervention of any creature. He has the pre-eminence as to the miracle of the resurrection, and his was the beginning of the “first resurrection”, in which Christians share.—Rev. 20: 5, 6.
IS THE SAME BODY RAISED?
8 After being raised from the dead and from hell (the grave), the first thing Jesus proceeded to do was to show himself alive to his disciples by many infallible proofs, and to speak further to them pertaining to the kingdom of God. To do this he had to appear in a visible material body for their eyes to see. However, by so doing he was not trying to prove he had reassumed that fleshly body that he had laid down in death as a‘sacrifice. He once said that he was the bread from heaven and that the bread which he would give for the life of the new world was his flesh, which was “meat indeed”, or real food. Hence he would not mock the world by taking his flesh back and leaving them to die, but would let his flesh remain as a sacrifice forever. Then the world could
7. How, tnen, does be have pre-eminence hr to resurrection?
8. Why at resurrection did he not reassume his former human body? feed on its value and could gain everlasting life. By sacrificing his flesh, he could ascend to heaven and present the value of his human life as a ransom price for all those of mankind who should believe on him. —Acts 1:1-3; John 6:51-58; Heb, 9: 24-26.
’ During the forty days between his arising from death and his ascending to heaven Jesus was invisible to his disciples most of the time. Why? Because he had returned to’ the spirit realm of life. Peter, who saw Jesus during these forty days, tells us he was put to death in the flesh and made alive, no, not again in the flesh, but “in the spirit”. For this reason Jesus’ disciples could not see him unless he manifested himself. (1 Pet. 3:18, Douay Version) As Paul says in the fifth chapter of his second epistle to the Corinthians, the “earthly house of this habitation” had been “dissolved” in the case of Jesus, that his human life might remain as a sacrifice. When Jesus appeared to his disciples behind closed doors or elsewhere, he materialized human bodies and the new clothing upon them, in order to let them see an outward manifestation of him and converse with him. Having been impaled on the tree at Calvary, he had the right, on at least two occasions, to materialize bodies like the one in which he died on the tree. For anyone else of the spirit world to materialize such a body would have been a fraud. When he appeared to his disciples, the bodies they saw were bodies of flesh and bone, and not a so-called “ghost”. When Jesus vanished from their sight, he dissolved those bodies and became unseen to them as a spirit.
10 Those disciples could not see the glorious spiritual body with which God raised Jesus from the dead. From his appearances in flesh-and-bone bodies the religionists are wholly in error in thinking and teaching that the resurrected Jesus has been destined through all eternity to parade around in heaven such a body marked with unhealing scourge-wounds and with gaping nail-holes and spear-gash in his side. Ordinarily, wounds constantly open would gangrene; and to keep them open forever would be contrary to the self-healing power of live flesh. Such a body would not be a glorious body worthy of faithful Jesus; and to require him to wear it to all eternity would be humiliating him, not glorifying him. (1 Pet. 1:21) In such a body he could not be the “express image” of his heavenly Father’s person, but would be forever the express image of a condemned criminal slave whom Rome had put to open shame on a tree. (Heb. 1: 3) Furthermore, such a bruised body of flesh and blood would be an impossible thing in the heaven of God’s presence. The apostle Paul, in
9. Why was he unseen to his disciples most of the time, and how did he manifest himself to them on occasions?
10. Why are religionists in error in thinking Jesus must parade around his crucified body in heaven to all eternity? his discussion of the resurrection, straightly tells us that “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God”. No man, who is flesh and blood, can see Jehovah God and live. (1 Cor. 15: 50; Ex. 33: 20) Hence, when Jesus was seen by his disciples to ascend from the mount of Olives east of Jerusalem and to disappear into the heavens, it was because he dissolved the material body in which he had been visible to them for the occasion.—Acts 1:1-9.
11 Jesus’ ascension and disappearance was like that of the angel that appeared to Samson’s father and mother; concerning which we read': “It came to pass, when the flame went up toward heaven from off the altar, that the angel of Jehovah ascended in the flame of the altar: and Manoah and his wife looked on; and they fell on their faces to the ground. But the angel of Jehovah did no more appear to Manoah or to his wife. Then Manoah knew that he was the angel of Jehovah.” (Judg. 13:20,21, Am. Stan.Ver.) Having disappeared from his disciples’ eyes, Jesus ascended invisibly as a glorified spirit to the heavenly presence of his Father, Jehovah God. In harmony with this fact, the angels that appeared in human bodies to the watching disciples did not say that this same Jesus would so come back again in like body as they had seen him go up into heaven. The angels said he would come again “in like manner”, that is, unobserved by the world at large, for the world will visibly see him in flesh no more. —Acts 1:10,11; John 14:19.
12 In answer to the question concerning the Christian dead, “How are the dead raised up? and with what body do they come?” Paul replied: “Thou fool! that which thou sowest is not quickened, except it die: and that which thou sowest, thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased him, and to every seed his own body.... So also is the resurrection of the dead.” Just as Jesus was put to death in a fleshly body but was made alive in a spiritual body, so it is true of the company of his faithful followers, his church: “It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” (1 Cor. 15:35-44) The members of the Christian church have had only fleshly, natural bodies upon this earth, and the reason for their transformation or change in the resurrection is this: Jehovah God begot them by his spirit to become spiritual children of his and he set a heavenly inheritance in reserve for them. Hence in order for them to inherit the heavenly inheritance Jehovah God by Christ Jesus raises them as a spiritual body in the resurrection so that they are like their glorified
11. How, then, did Jesus ascend to heaven, and how will he come again? 12, How are the members of the Christian church raised in the resurrection, and why?
Head, Christ Jesus. So it is one’s destiny that determines what kind of body a person will have in the resurrection; and God will give each individual person the body that it pleases him to give as Creator.
13 Jesus’ identity in the resurrection was not dependent upon his having the same body in which he died on earth as a man. Likewise, his being the same only-begotten Son of God while on. earth was not dependent upon his having the same body that he had had in heaven from the time he was created as “the beginning of the creation of God”. So, while down here on earth as a man with a fleshly organism, he could say, “Before Abraham was [nineteen centuries previously], I am.” Very evidently, then, what made this only begotten Son the same person, both after he laid aside his heavenly glory and became man, and then after he sacrificed his human nature and was resurrected to spirit life once more and forever, was the preserving of his personality. In the resurrection Jehovah God recreated the personality of Jesus. That included all the qualities of perfected obedience and fully tested integrity that Jesus had acquired through his faithful course on earth. It included all his memories of his existence clear through his earthly life and all the way back through his prehuman life in heaven. The body that Jesus got in the resurrection was the one that pleased his Father Jehovah, and the Holy Scriptures assure us that it is more glorious and exalted than what he had before he became man.
14 Speaking of the resurrection of Christ’s followers who compose his church, the apostle Paul says they will be changed: “We shall all be changed.” Not by an evolutionary process, but “in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet [God’s signal] shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality”. (1 Cor. 15: 51-53) The human body is not immortal, and this fact in itself is proof that in the church’s resurrection they do not experience any so-called “resurrection of the body” by a reunion of their soul and former human bodies. In the resurrection the faithful church is given the reward of immortality, the same as Jesus was given it at his resurrection. They are given it in spirit bodies invisible, so that their resurrection is invisible to human eyes, as Jesus’ was. The apostle Paul says here: “And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.” (1 Cor. 15:45) The first Adam was created a living soul or human creature. However, this last Adam, who is Jesus Christ, was not made a human creature at his resurrection but
13. How, despite the resurrection body, was Jesus' identity preserved? 14. In the resurrection how are the church changed, and like whom? was made a spirit, which fact accounts for his invisibility.
15 Likewise with the church of which Jesus Christ is the heavenly Bridegroom. The personality of each member is combined with the resurrection body that God is pleased to give, and thus each Christian is recreated. They are not recreated as living human souls like Adam their earthly forefather. Not at all; for these Christians were begotten by God’s spirit to a spiritual inheritance and were given the conditional right to heavenly life, dependent on their faithfulness to God down to the death. For this we call Peter to our support, who writes to these Christians : “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope [or, living hope] by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you.” (1 Pet. 1:3,4) Hence, in the church’s resurrection, God gives the faithful members thereof a life and body in harmony with the heavenly spiritual hope to which they were begotten. At the same time he recreates their personality with all the faithful Christian qualities that they acquired on earth by following Jesus’ footsteps. In that way they are the same persons in spite of not being resurrected with the same bodies in which they were martyred on earth.
16 To such ones the apostle Paul’s words, at Philip-pians 3: 20, 21, are now directed: “For our citizenship is in heaven; whence also we wait for a Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall fashion anew the body of our humiliation, that it may be conformed to the body of his glory, according to the working whereby he is able even to subject all things unto himself.”—Am. Stan. Ver.; Diaglott.
TIME OF RESURRECTION
"Almighty God, by his power through Jesus Christ, will raise all the dead in the graves, including the Christian church. “God moreover hath both raised up the Lord, and will raise us up from among the dead through his power.” (1 Cor. 6:14, Rotherham) When is this to be? The prophet Daniel was told he would stand up for his lot in the new world “at th.o ©nd. of tlio days”; and Jesus told His disciples^ four times in one discourse, that he would raise the dead “at the last day”. For instance, he said: “Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day. No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. ... every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on
15. Though changed, how is the church’s identity preserved?
16. How does Paul refer to their change, at rhliippians 3:20, 21? 17. At what time, according to Daniel and Jesus and Paul, Is this resurrection to be? him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.” (John 6:54,44,40,39) This makes it certain that, down to the said ‘last day”, the faithful ones of the Christian church did not go to heaven instantaneously at their death in the flesh, but they slept in death in the grave waiting for Jesus to restore them to life by his God-given power and authority. Paul did not expect to go to heaven any sooner than that, for he himself said nineteen centuries ago: “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”—2 Tim. 4:6-8; 1 Pet. 4:5.
18 In that connection Paul tells us when that day of getting one’s reward at the hands of the Judge appointed by Jehovah God will be. A few verses earlier Paul says: “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick [the living] and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom.” (2 Tim. 4:1) Before the dead are raised from their graves God’s kingdom must be established and his Judge Jesus Christ must be installed upon the judicial bench. The need of the Kingdom to be in operation is further proved, at Revelation 11:15-19, by these words: “And there followed great voices in heaven, and they said, The kingdom of the world [the new world] is become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ: and he shall reign for ever and ever.... We give thee thanks, 0 Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast; because thou hast taken thy great power, and didst reign. And the nations were wroth, and thy wrath came, and the time of the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and to them that fear thy name, the small and the great; and to destroy them that destroy the earth. And there was opened the temple of God that is in heaven; and there was seen in his temple the ark of his covenant.”—Am. Stan. Ver.
18 At that time is when Jesus Christ comes, that is, comes into possession of the Kingdom, and Jehovah sends the rod of his power out of the heavenly capital, Zion, and makes this earth feel its power. Those Christians who survive on earth till that wondrous time are not at once taken to heaven to reign with Christ in the Kingdom. Such surviving Christians on earth have a work to do on earth then. What it is Jesus told us in his prophecy on the sign
18. What must be already established and In operation when such resurrection tales place, and what scriptures show It?
19. How does Christ “comeM then, and why are the “dead in Christ” raised before the Christian remnant surviving on earth? by which we should know we have reached the “end of the world” and are in its “time of the end”, namely: “This gospel of the kingdom [established] shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end [the finale of this time of the end] come.” In the preceding sentences of his prophecy Jesus foretold how the nations would at that same time be wroth or angry, fighting nation against nation and kingdom against kingdom and hating and persecuting his faithful followers in an effort to destroy them. (Matt. 24:7-14) We have reached such events. We are now living in the days of the Christian remnant. Hence the dead Christians in the graves must be raised in a spiritual resurrection to heavenly life and immortality before ever this surviving remnant on earth will finish their earthly course, die and be raised to life immortal in the heavens. This is God’s announced time-order and arrangement. In proof, we quote from 1 Thessalonians 4:13-17:
20 “We would like you, brothers, to understand about those who are asleep in death; you must not grieve for them, like the rest of men who have no hope. Since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then it follows that by means of Jesus God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For we tell you, as the Lord has told us, that we the living, who survive till the Lord comes, are by no means to take precedence of those who have fallen asleep. The Lord himself will descend from heaven with a loud summons, when the archangel calls and the trumpet of God sounds; the dead in Christ will rise first, and then we the living, who survive, will be caught up along with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we shall be with the Lord for ever.”—Moffatt.
21 Of course, the Lord’s descent is in spirit, and hence unseen, quiet, and undiscerned by any except his faithful followers. It is therefore “in like manner” as when he ascended to heaven. Christ Jesus, as Chief of the angels accompanying him at his descent, is plainly that “archangel”. He is exalted far above them all as the Chief Messenger of God. The dead in Christ hear the “loud summons” to awake and rise to heavenly life in the spirit. What form the trumpet sound of God takes for them we do not know, but they hear it, together with the archangel’s call. We Christian survivors also hear the loud summons and the archangel’s call and the sound of this last trumpet. How? Through the fulfilled and revealed Word of God and with the hearing of faith in that Word. (Gal. 3:2; Heb. 4: 2) Because we thus hear, we obey the Lord’s Word detailing to us what the surviving Christians must do at this “time of the end”. With
20. With what accompanying events will the Lord Jesus descend?
21. (a) How are the archangel's call, the loud summons and the trump of God heard? (b) How has the Lord descended, and do we see it? eyes of faith we see that the Lord Jesus Christ has descended by turning his attention downward to this earth as the scene of action and then proceeding to order and direct the things that are to be done here at this earth. We discern his descent in the light of the prophecies which are going into fulfillment. He is at the opened temple of God in heaven, judging, and in view of the anger of the nations he prepares to “destroy them that destroy the earth” at the final war of Armageddon, which is now shaping up.
22 At his ascension to heaven nearly two thousand years ago the Lord Jesus was in the air and the cloud hid him from the disciples’ view or “received him out of their sight”, rendering him invisible. Now at his descent his being in the invisible air and with clouds symbolizes that he is invisible to human eyes. Hence the meeting of the risen Christians with him up there is an event undetected by the eyes of men on this earth. Likewise the meeting with him by the surviving Christians of today after their death and immediate resurrection from the dead is invisible. It is a meeting with the Lord and Judge at his temple in heaven, which is unseen to men’s eyes. Accordingly, today’s Christians, when experiencing their resurrection change to heavenly life and activity with Jesus Christ at his temple, are “caught up” away from life and service on earth. Then their eternity of companionship and fellowship with him in heaven begins. True, these survivors do not get off this earth as soon as the resurrected Christian dead, because the dead in Christ are first to rise. Yet the union of these surviving Christians with him after their finishing of his work on earth occurs “at the same time” as the resurrected Christians meet him. How so? Because it occurs in this same timeperiod, “that day” of which Paul spoke, expecting to get a crown of righteousness then.
23 The resurrection of all these faithful members of the Christian church is “the first resurrection”, which started with the resurrection of Jesus Christ. Its priority in time of taking place as well as its superiority over the resurrection of all other dead ones in the graves stamps it as “first”. It is a powerful resurrection, being like the resurrection Christ had. It is the particular awakening from death that the apostle Paul strove to win, saying: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.”—Phil. 3:10,11.
24 The superiority of this special resurrection makes those favored with it extremely blessed. Calling attention to the sufferings of these prior to their death and then their awakening to life, Revelation
22. How are the surviving remnant “caught up” with the dead In Christ to meet the Lord in the air and with clouds?
23. Of what resurrection is this a part? , ,
24. How does Revelation 20: 4-6 speak of their blessedness ?
20:4-6 says: “Then I saw thrones prepared for those to whom judgment was committed; I saw the souls of all those who went to execution for love of the truth concerning Jesus, and of God’s word, and all who would not worship the beast, or its image, dr bear its mark on their foreheads and their hands. These were endowed with life, and reigned as kings with Christ for a thousand years; but the rest of the dead remained lifeless while the thousand years lasted. Such is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is his lot who has a share in this first resurrection ; over such the second death has no power, they will be priests of God, priests of Christ; all those thousand years they -will reign with him.”—R. Knox, Roman Catholic.
25 In harmony ■with all facts, Biblical and worldly, the “first resurrection” is now in progress respecting the true church. For that reason Christians now surviving on earth have a special blessedness ahead of them. Seeing that Jehovah God the Almighty has assumed his power to reign over all the earth, and his King Christ Jesus now stands up in power on his capital organization, Mount Zion, and the “everlasting gospel” of this kingdom is now being preached in “every nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people”, something unusual follows. The surviving Christians, on completing their earthly work and dying in their integrity toward God, do not need to sleep on in the graves to await the Lord’s descent and his call to the Christian dead to awake and arise. He has descended. The “dead in Christ” have already risen as first in order. So now the surviving remnant of Christians are at their death as humans resurrected at once thereafter to spirit life in union -with their glorified Savior. Did not Paul say to Christians: “Behold, I shew you a mystery; We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed”? (1 Cor. 15:51) So here, in these surviving Christians we find those who do not sleep in death in the graves, but are at death raised forthwith to the reward in heaven for their works on earth. Well could John write of these present-day survivors: “Here is the patience of the saints: here are they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus. And I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours; and their works do follow them.” —Rev. 14:1-13.
TO LIFE OR TO JUDGMENT
28 The church takes part in the “first resurrection”, and this does not take place with them until after God’s kingdom is set up with Christ at his right
25. What particular blessedness awaits this surviving remnant? and why “from henceforth”?
20, 27. (a) In view of the first resurrection, why could not the dead not of the church have gone to heaven’ (b) who will raise them? hand. It is certain, then, that all the human dead in the graves (outside of the faithful church) have not gone to heaven at death nor into any kind of spirit world. They all went to the grave, which is the “hell” meant in the Bible and to which hellish grave Jesus went at death in order to redeem humankind and gain possession of the “keys of hell and of death”. (Rev. 1:18; Acts 2:24-32) To execute judgment upon such ones Jesus Christ must use the keys of hell and of death and must raise them from the sleep of death. Jesus will perform this miracle. He himself said so, in these words: “As the Father raiseth the dead and giveth them life, even so the Son also giveth life to whom he will. For neither doth the Father judge any man, but he hath given all judgment unto the Son; that all may honor the Son, even as they honor the Father. He that honor-eth not the Son honoreth not the Father that sent him.
27 “Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth him that sent me, hath eternal life, and cometh not into judgment, but hath passed out of death into life. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The hour cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God; and they that hear shall live. For as the Father hath life in himself, even so gave he to the Son also to have life in himself: and he gave him authority to execute judgment, because he is a son of man. Marvel not at this: for the hour cometh, in which all that are in the tombs shall hear his voice, and shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of judgment.”—John 5: 21-29, Arn. Stan. Ver.
28 That there should be a restoring of the just or doers of good is readily accepted. In teaching unselfishness to the poor J esus said: ‘When thou makest a feast, -call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind: and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee: for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:13,14) But Jesus also taught the resurrection of the evildoers, and Paul did likewise, declaring: “There shall be a resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust. On this account I also exercise myself to have a conscience void of offence toward God and men always.” (Acts 24:15,16; Am. Stan. Ver., margin) Paul did not want to come into the class of evildoers or unjust. Near his death he declared his expectation of a part in the resurrection of the just, a resurrection of life, like that which Jesus had. When Jesus Christ as Judge at the temple calls, the first ones to hear of the dead are those of his church. Having done the good works of their heavenly Father in faithful obedience until death, they come
28. (a) Besides the just, of whom also is there a resurrection? (b) Hou do the church come forth to a “resurrection of life”? forth “unto a resurrection of life”. They are raised up from the graves as spirit creatures like the glorified Jesus and are immediately clothed upon with immortality. This hope is according to the “revelation of the righteous judgment of God; who will render to every man according to his deeds: to them who by patient continuance in well doing seek for glory and honour and immortality, eternal life”. (Bom. 2:5-7) On arising out of death they instantaneously enter into perfection of life as spirit creatures in heavenly glory with Jesus Christ.
29 Now, what about those to whom the apostle Paul refers in chapter eleven of Hebrews, from Abel down to the last of the prophets before Jesus? Paul says they looked ahead to the resurrection and even endured the most painful tortures and hardships “that they might obtain a better resurrection”. (Heb. 11:35; see The Watchtower of March 15, 1947) Seasonably they would not be included in the resurrection of the unjust, the evildoers. They cannot be accounted of as having “done evil”, because Paul speaks of them all as having “had witness borne to them through their faith”. They must, then, be included among those due to have a “resurrection of life”. They were not members of the Christian church that began with Christ Jesus. So they cannot be sharers in the “first resurrection”, which is to heavenly life and glory. Consequently their having a “better resurrection” could not mean having one better and sooner than that of the faithful church. The apostle so assures the Christians, when he describes the severe testing of the faith of the devoted servants of Jehovah God before Christ, and then says: “And these all, having had witness borne to them through their faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing concerning us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” (Heb. 11: 39,40, Am. Stan. Ver.) Although not a heavenward resurrection, their resurrection is better than that of the remainder of mankind because it is one “of life”, and not one “of judgment”. It sets them at once in the way of eternal human life.
30 Does this mean, then, that no others of mankind will have any opportunity for eternal life on earth except those faithful ones of whom Paul speaks at Hebrews, chapter 11? In other words, is there no possibility that some of those who come forth “unto a resurrection of judgment” will gain the gift of God of “eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord”? —Rom. 6:23.
31 Happily, a “resurrection of judgment” does not mean they are resurrected from the grave to an instantaneous condemnation without a trial. It does
29. (a) In whose resurrection are those having a '‘better resurrection” included? (b) How is their resurrection a “better” one?
30. What question comes up regarding those in the “resurrection of judgment”?
31. How does the fact of being in the tombs or graves make the outlook hopeful for those in the “resurrection of judgment”? not mean they have no further testing amid the favorable and helpful conditions under the kingdom of the new world, and then possibly changing their course in the right direction. The very fact that Jesus speaks of these evildoers as being “in the graves” or “in the tombs” indicates something hopeful for them. In the Scriptures Gehenna symbolizes everlasting destruction, and if they were in it they would not come forth in a resurrection from the death state. Proverbs 10:7 declares: “The memory of the just is blessed: but the name of the wicked shall rot.” Obadiah 16 says concerning the irrecoverable wicked ones: “They shall be as though they had not been.” Jeremiah 51:57 says: “They shall sleep a perpetual sleep, and not wake, saith the King, whose name is Jehovah of hosts.” (Am. Stan. Ver.) But the word grave or tomb (Greek: mne-meion) includes the thought of remembrance, and for that reason these evildoers are remembered by Christ the Judge. In due time he directs his voice to them in the graves bidding them come forth in a resurrection, to judgment. Now the question is, When?
82 After describing the first resurrection, that of the faithful church to live and reign with Christ a thousand years, the Revelation says: “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished.” (Rev. 20:5) Roman Catholic commentators would interpret this to mean they never came to life during the thousand-year reign of Christ with his church, nor ever afterward. But what about the faithful ones of old who, although not of the Christian church in glory, obtain a “better resurrection”? They are not in any legendary limbo, but are in the graves, the tombs, and will hear the voice of Jesus the Judge and come forth to a “resurrection of life”. As to the resurrection of the “rest of the dead” Revelation 20:11-15 tells us this in the apostle John’s words:
38 “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne; and books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of the things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead that were in it; and death and Hades [or hell] gave up the dead that were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and Hades [or hell] were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, even the lake of fire. And if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire.”—Am. Stan. Ver.
32, 33. Until when does Revelation 20:6 say the rest of the dead did not live, and how is their resurrection described?
DESTRUCTION OF HELL AND OF DEATH
84 This resurrection of such dead from the sea, death and Hades or hell evidently comes about or after the end of this world'in the final war of Armageddon. Why? Because the description says that "the earth and the heaven fled away” from the face of the Judge sitting upon the judgment throne, and no more place was found for such earth and heavens. They are the wicked earth and heavens of this present evil world, meaning the visible and invisible parts of the Devil’s organization. They are followed by the new world with the “new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness”. (2 Pet. 3:10-13) Hence the picture begins fulfillment about the time of Armageddon in which the Devil’s entire ■organization is destroyed as in a fiery destruction. Roman Catholic priests say that “purgatory” and “limbo” are part of hell; but notice that the Revelation does not say that any of the dead are given up by such places. All those taking part in this resurrection come from sea, death and hell. They are brought back to earth as human creatures, recreated as human souls, with their same identity as when they died.
35 The death that delivers up the dead in it is the death that Adam brought upon all mankind by his willful sin in Eden before any of his offspring were born. “And so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.” (Rom. 5:12) But now, under the Kingdom, “since through a man [Adam], there is death, through a man [Christ Jesus], also, there is a resurrection of the dead.” (1 Cor. 15:21, The Emphatic Diaglott) The multitude of persons of good-will today living who will survive the world’s end in the battle of Armageddon are plainly here meant or included. Death traceable to Adam gives them up because Jesus, who has the keys of death and of hell, tasted death for them and relieves them now of any need to descend into death and the grave because of being offspring of Adam.
36 Hell delivers up no tormented souls from fiery tortures, but delivers up “the dead” which were in it, because hell denotes the unconscious state of death in the grave. (See the Bible's marginal reading of the word hell.) “Hell” means “the hidden place”, or “unseen place”, such as a covered pit or filled-in grave, and is thus associated with the earth. Concerning the creation of our earthly globe we read: "And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.” (Gen. 1:10) The great sea, which covers most of our globe, has been the place for many to lose life, and so it as well as hell gives up the dead that are in it. Those who perished in the
34. When does the picture of their resurrection begin fulfillment? 35. What death is it that delivers up its dead, and who are they? 30. What are the hell and the sea that give up the dead in them? depths of the sea as well as those sleeping in the dust of the dry ground are thus restored to conscious existence on earth.
” Then they enter into judgment, according to “those things which were written in the books”. These are not books of each one’s personal record, but are symbols of the laws and word of the Lord God which will be published and put in force on earth by His kingdom in that new world. (Isa. 2: 2-4) The evildoers or unjust will be judged, and so theirs is a resurrection to judgment, “according to their works.” Not according to their past works of before the end of Satan the Devil’s world, but according to their works thenceforth under God’s kingdom in the new world. Then Jesus’ words will apply: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die.” (John 11:25, 26) Those who believe in him as reigning King and as Ransomer and then obey him in harmony with the things written in the opened books of God’s word and law will be justified to everlasting life in that new world without end and thus “never die”. Their names will be written in "another book” “which is the book of life”.—Rev. 20:12.
38 “Then death and Hades were flung into the fiery lake. This is the second death—the fiery lake. Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was flung into the fiery lake.” (Rev. 20:14,15, An Amer. Trans.; Moffatt) The fiery lake does not symbolize eternal, conscious torment for persons not found worthy to be recorded in the "book of life”, but does symbolize "second death”. It is death not due to inheritance from Adam but due to a sinner’s willful and irreformable disobedience under God’s kingdom. Since Jesus Christ does not die a second time for all mankind, there is no redemption or recovery from this “second death”. The lake of fire or “second death”, then, pictures complete and everlasting destruction by God, “who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna.” (Matt. 10: 28, Am. Stan. Ver., margin) Even the Devil and his idolatrous organizations go into this destruction for ever and ever. (Rev. 19:20; 20:10) The destruction of all such in the symbolic fiery lake of second death comes after the end of Christ’s thousand-year reign, when the Devil is loosed for a little season in order to give a final test of the integrity toward God of all those then upon the earth. Those then yielding to Satan the Devil in rebellion against God’s kingdom will be destroyed with him. Those resisting Satan’s temptations and staying faithful to the Kingdom will have their names recorded in the "book of life”
37. What are the books and works according to which they are judged, and how may these judged ones never die?
38. What Is symbolized by the 'lake of fire'1, and when finally are all those fit for It cast Into It? and will continue on into endless life on a perfect earth in the new world.
38 Thus death due to Adam and death’s companion, Hades or hell, are destroyed, but the “lake of fire” remains because of the eternalness of the destruction upon all the intentional, uncorrectable wicked. Concerning *the “first resurrection” of the church the apostle Paul wrote: “So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is thy sting? O grave [or, hell], where is thy victory? But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor. 15: 54, 55, 57) So, too, when the dead are brought out from under the Adamic death and are delivered from Hades, hell, or the unconscious death-state, then these are destroyed forever with respect to mankind on earth. Such destruction of them is pictured as the casting of death and hell (but not the sea, of course) into the lake of fire, the second death. There they are swallowed up and destroyed by God’s victory through Christ over the Adam-induced death. Those thenceforth perishing for their own self-chosen wickedness will not go down into Adamic death or into Hades or hell, but go down into the destruction from which no resurrection is provided or promised.
40 The statement, at Revelation 20: 5, “But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished,” does not mean that the dead aside from the Christian church do not arise from the graves before the thousand years are finished. It simply means that those finally judged worthy of everlasting life will not have their names written in the “book of life” until the end of the thousand years
39. How are death and hell cast into the “lake of fire”?
40. Do the “rest of the dead” not rise until the end of the thousand years, or what is meant by their living not till theu? and after the final test by Satan the Devil loosed for a little season. There are Scriptural reasons to think that those who in ancient times kept their integrity in order to obtain a “better resurrection” will be raised from the grave near the beginning of Christ’s thousand-year reign. Almighty God, in his absolute control by Christ Jesus over the resurrection of the dead, will bring forth the others at the proper time to get the benefits of the thousand-year rule of man’s Ransomer and Redeemer. According to Jesus’ words to the repentant malefactor alongside him on a tree at Calvary, paradise will have been restored to earth when such evildoers like this thief will be resurrected from the grave. (Luke 23:42,43, Rotherham; Lamsa) But neither such thief nor other evildoers coming forth in a resurrection to judgment will have their names recorded on the “book of life” until the end of the thousand years, if they pass the final, deciding test of integrity then. If availing themselves of the uplifting and perfecting help of the Kingdom, they should then be able to pass the test.
41 And so the words of Jesus concerning those dead in the graves will be realized: “The children of this world marry, and are given in marriage: but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection from the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage: neither can they die any more: for they are equal unto the angels [who have been living continuously since long before man’s creation]; and are the children of God, being the children of the resurrection.” (Luke 20:34-36) They will be God’s children, not because of having been born of any human parents, but because of being resurrected from the graves and entering into the way of life in the endless new world. They obtain such everlasting life from Jehovah God through our Lord Jesus Christ.—Rom. 6: 23.
41. How will they be equal unto the angels and be God's children, being children of the resurrection?
WILLFUL AND UNINTENTIONAL TREATED DIFFERENTLY
TIUTH concerning the destiny of the enemies of God must not be shunned to be declared. Let us face, then, this divine law that applied to those who fled to the ancient “cities of refuge” in the land of Israel: “But if any man hate his neighbour, and lie in wait for him, and rise up against him, and .smite him mortally that he die, and fleeth into one of these cities: then the elders of his city shall send and fetch him thence, and deliver him into the hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die. Thine eye shall not pity him, but thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from Israel, that it may go well with thee.”—Deut. 19:11-13.
Christians who are part of God’s Theocratic organization and who are mature and hence elders must not compromise in any way with the deliberate manslayers or persecutors of today who are part of the Devil’s organization. They must not try to shield them, nor have any sympathy for them as against the executing of God’s vengeance upon them at the coming battle of Armageddon. Christians who are mature in knowledge and understanding must not only separate themselves from the Devil’s worldly organization but also be in full heart accord with God’s determination to execute his vengeance upon such at Armageddon. Christians must be consistent with the Bible and must pray God that his declared purpose to destroy the wicked in that battle shall be carried into operation. Thus they will show their full sympathy with and heart devotion to Jehovah God and to his purposes. Therefore these faithful ones must continue to declare boldly to all the world the “day of vengeance of our God”, because this is a part of the commission given to His anointed or commissioned ones according to what is written at Isaiah 61:1, 2.
In 1947 throughout the land of Christendom are millions of persons of good and honest heart who do not wish to share the guilt of blood innocently shed. Ignorantly, hence unintentionally and unawares, they have been drawn into the Devil’s trap and been made to commit many wrongful deeds against others. In God’s law, ignorance of it is an excuse if one repents and turns to righteousness. In order for such unintentional wrongdoers to escape penalty, however, they must show their devotion to Jehovah God and his kingdom when they come to learn of his provision for the human race. But, like elders of the manslayer’s city, they must not safeguard the willfully guilty ones, but must be in accord with God’s executional officer at Armageddon, namely, Christ Jesus. This does not mean that they should participate in the violent execution of any wicked creature, but it does mean they must not hesitate to declare the truth when opportunity comes, and they must not refrain from doing so in order to hide someone else. They must not be frightened by the Roman Catholic Hierarchy who howl and complain that Jehovah’s witnesses attack them. Such complaint is wholly untrue. God lays the obligation upon his people to declare the truth, that others may know of God’s purposes. It is the truth that exposes the wicked, but the truth is really declared for the benefit of those who wish to do right and to avoid the wicked.
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