The Watchtower, April 15, 1976
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WATCHTOWER
WHO IS
SO THAT WE ALL NEED HIM?
ANNOUNCING JEHOVAH'S KINGDOM
WATCHTOWER
April 15,1976
Vol. 97, Number 8
A watchtower enables a person to see far into the distance and announce to others what is coming. Can a magazine serve similarly in our day? Yes, from its first issue (July 1879) onward, The Watchtower, published by Jehovah's witnesses, has done just that.
How can it benefit you? Consider: Do you long for a better world, one of true justice and free from sorrow, hatred and war? Do you want to live at a time when genuine peace and love prevail among people of all races? Then this magazine can aid you. Using God's Word, the Bible, as its authority, it points out the clear evidence that the present wicked system of things will soon end, destroyed by God. But it also announces the coming in of a righteous new order. There, under the rule of God's kingdom, his heavenly government, people will enjoy life forever in true peace, health and happiness on a paradise earth.
Faithfulness to the Word of God lifts The Watchtower above the contradicting religious teachings and philosophies of men. It stays strictly neutral as regards political affairs. It wholeheartedly upholds the highest moral standard—that of man's Maker, Jehovah God. From this source, it shows solutions to the problems of daily life.
We know that many sincere persons would appreciate a discussion of these things in their own home with a qualified person. One of Jehovah's witnesses will be glad to call on you free of charge. To arrange for this, simply write the publishers of this magazine or contact Jehovah's witnesses locally.
PUBLISHED BY
WATCH TOWNE TO CONTACT SOCIETY
OF PENNSYLVANIA
117 Adams Street, Brooklyn, N.Y. 11201, U.S.A.
N. H. KNORE, President
GRANT SUITE, Secretary
IN THIS ISSUE
Is It Possible to Know About God?
Patience Pays a Fine Reward
Insight on the News
Who Is Jesus Christ, so that We All Need Him?
Why We Need the Kingdom of Jesus Christ
What Was the Length of Jesus' Ministry?
I Lived to Fly
Why "Many Diadems"?
Job—Key to Why God Permits Evil
Questions from Readers
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Is it possible to
KNOW ABOUT GOD?
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IT IS a generally accepted fact that if there is a God who created the universe, he must be invisible and far superior to man. Would this mean that humans cannot understand him at all? Is God so lofty that He has little or no interest in man whom He put on earth? Is it impossible to learn why we humans are here, and why things occur as they
do? Or, can we find out what God has in mind for us?
Yes, we can find out. First of all, we have evidence of God in the creation around us. One of the Bible writers called attention to this fact, saying: "For [God's] invisible qualities are clearly seen from the world's creation onward, because they are perceived by the things made." (Rom. 1:20) In considering the creation of the universe, and this earth with life upon it, we see tremendous power manifest, as well as surpassing wisdom. Also, we can discern great love on the part of the Creator in the way that things work together to sustain life, and to make life enjoyable for us. Observing these qualities in the Creator should draw us to learn more about him.
Another thing making plain that God is interested in us and wants us to live in a way that is beneficial is the fact
that He has given every man a conscience that constantly monitors his decisions and actions, to help him to take a right, moral way. Furthermore, everyone has a natural desire to find out about himself, why he is alive on earth and what his future will be. Men also have an innate urge to worship someone. Is it at all logical that an intelligent God would not let his intelligent creation know about him? Not at all.
Note what the apostle Paul said in this regard when speaking to an audience gathered in the Court of Areopagus in Athens. He spoke of God's purpose for men to "seek God, and, it might be,
touch and find him; though indeed he is not far from each one of us."—Acts 17:27, New English Bible.
So God is not hard to find. He had the Bible written in plain language that is easily understood. His Son said: "Ask, and you will receive; seek, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened." (Matt. 7:7, NE) This promise assures that, when a person finds parts of the Bible difficult to understand, he can receive help. But he must first really want to know about God and his purpose, then he must ask God and show his sincere desire by looking into the Bible. He can be assured that God wants to and will help him to understand and to take the life-giving course. Says the Bible: "The Lord is good and upright;
therefore he teaches sinners the way they should go. If there is any man who fears the LORD, he shall be shown the path that he should choose.
The Lord confides his purposes to those who fear him."—Ps. 25:8, 12, 14, NE.
On his own part, God's concern is so great that he has sent people to help others to learn of him, though he has had to bear them up through many difficulties. Foremost among these, God's own Son Jesus Christ was most vigorous in telling and instructing others about God's purposes. More than that, Jesus underwent the greatest of opposition and persecution
ties spoke intelligently in reply, the account says: "Observing the self-assurance of Peter and John, and realizing that the speakers were uneducated men of no standing, the questioners were amazed. Then they recognized these men as having been with Jesus." (Acts 4:13, NA) Yes, though they were not prominent men at all, they had received education through Jesus Christ so that they knew God and could explain his purposes to others.
from his own countrymen, though a number of them became his disciples. These disciples, in turn, experienced all manner of hardships, privations, cold, hunger, even shipwreck on behalf of the good news. But they were faithful in making known God's purpose to provide a righteous rule over the earth, with health and life for mankind.—2 Cor. 11:24-27.
This helping people to learn about God should we expect it to come from world leaders or through the major news channels of the world? No. And the facts bear out this conclusion. The world leaders, in
Education in knowledge of God is what God is making available for the people. People who have desired such education and who have looked to the Bible for it are engaged in this educational program. They are not doing it so much as a duty, but willingly, and certainly they are not seeking material gain, but they are happy to have found that God really cares. (Ps. 110:3) They have learned that he has beneficial purposes for humankind, and promises to deliver them from oppression, insecurity, sickness and death. So they want to tell others.
stead of acknowledging God's promises and announcing his Kingdom purpose to halt injustice and suffering, advocate political, commercial and scientific means to cure the world's ills. Those whom they allow prominence before the public support such worldly aims. Therefore, assistance to learn about God is not furnished through these channels.
From where does help come in knowing God, which, as Jesus said, was essential? He declared: "Eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God, and him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ." (John 17:9-10)
This helpful educational work is what Jehovah's Witnesses are doing. They can help the sincere seeker to learn what God has in mind for mankind. You can begin to learn by reading the Bible, and by getting the free help of these people, who are sincere students of the Bible. You may have a humble and inquiring mind, as did the man in the first century who was reading the Bible and was approached by one of Christ's disciples. The disciple asked him: "Do you really grasp what you are reading?" "How can I, the man replied, 'unless someone explains it to me?'" The
17:3, New American Bible) You will note in reading the Bible that, for the most part, God used as his agents common men, lacking worldly prominence. Two of the foremost apostles, Peter and John, were interrogated by the Jewish leaders, the priests, the elders, and those versed in the law governing that nation. When the apos-
disciple, Philip by name, in a Bible study helped the man to understand clearly what he was reading. (Acts 8:30-35, NA) You can avail yourself of such help, without cost. The knowledge that you can receive by understanding what God has in mind can give you renewed hope, peace of mind and a purpose in life.
THE WATCHTOWER—APRIL 15,1976
PATIENCE
PAYS A FINE REWARD
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IN THIS world dishonesty, injustices, oppression and other unfavorable circumstances abound. As a result, many people become highly incensed. Faced with a distressing situation, they tend to become impatient, wanting immediate relief. But what is really accomplished by becoming angry or impatient?
Surely our becoming disturbed or impatient will not change the world or remove human imperfection. As long as this system continues to exist, there will be troubles and problems. By getting ourselves unduly upset about this time and again, we can actually hurt ourselves. We can become unhappy and may eventually ruin our health.
The wiser course is to follow the counsel of the Christian disciple James: "Exercise patience . . . Look! The farmer keeps waiting for the precious fruit of the earth, exercising patience over it until he gets the early rain and the late rain."—Jas. 5:7.
patience the prophets, who spoke in the name of Jehovah. Look! We pronounce happy those
When it comes to needed rain, the farmer cannot control matters. He can plant and try to keep the cultivated field comparatively free of weeds. But his worrying about rain will not help him to have a better harvest. Undue worry could, in fact, rob him of a measure of strength and joy in doing his work. So the farmer simply has to show patience.
When it comes to patience, God's ancient servants set a fine example. The disciple James, after giving the illustration of the farmer, pointed to the faithful prophets: "Brothers, take as a pattern of the suffering of evil and the exercising of
who have endured. You have heard of the endurance of Job and have seen the outcome Jehovah gave, that Jehovah is very tender in affection and merciful."—Jas. 5:10, 11.
The prophets who were sent to the nation of Israel often encountered unfavorable response. The Bible tells us: "Jehovah kept warning Israel and Judah by means of all his prophets and every visionary, saying: 'Turn back from your bad ways and keep my commandments, my statutes, according to all the law that I commanded your forefathers and that I have sent to you by means of my servants the prophets'; and they did not listen." (2 Ki. 17:13, 14) Besides facing unresponsiveness, many of the prophets were reviled, physically abused and even killed. Because of this shameful record of mistreatment, Jesus Christ could speak of the capital city Jerusalem as "the killer of the prophets and stoner of those sent forth to her." (Matt. 23:37) Still these prophets remained faithful to God, patiently enduring persecution.
Did their patience bring a reward? Yes. Above all, these prophets maintained a clean conscience before God and men. They had the joy of knowing that their service was pleasing to Jehovah God. And, though now dead, they live from God's standpoint, as it is his purpose to resurrect them. (Rom. 4:17) They will see fulfilled toward themselves the words spoken to the prophet Daniel: "You will rest, but you will stand up for your lot at the end of the days."—Dan. 12:13.
As the disciple James wrote, the case of Job well illustrates that the Most High has tender affection for those who endure patiently. Jehovah expressed his love for Job by acknowledging him as his approved servant. To Job's three false companions, he said: "You men have not spoken concerning me what is truthful as has my servant Job. And now take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job, and you men must offer up a burnt sacrifice in your own behalf; and Job my servant will himself pray for you. His face only I shall accept."—Job 42:7, 8.
Jehovah showed not only love but also mercy toward Job. In his compassion the Most High offset the calamity that he had allowed Satan to bring upon this faithful man. And, although Job, according to his own acknowledgment, failed to glorify his God to the full, he was shown abundant mercy because of his repentant attitude. (Job 42:2-6) The Bible reports: "Jehovah began to give in addition all that had been Job's in double amount. . . He blessed the end of Job afterward more than his beginning."—Job 42:10-12.
Even if a person were not to experience a complete reward for his endurance during this lifetime, as did Job, he would not miss out on Jehovah's blessing. He still has the prospect of a resurrection to life under righteous conditions. It was firm faith in this reward that enabled many in the past to remain loyal when their lives were threatened. Says Hebrews 11:35: "Men were tortured because they would not accept release by some ransom [some compromise], in order that they might attain a better resurrection." Because there is a resurrection, absolutely nothing can prevent a person's being rewarded for patient endurance.
Besides being certain of a future reversal of all unfavorable circumstances, the person who patiently puts up with unpleasantness even now experiences rewards. He preserves a good conscience and is happy that he is doing what is pleasing to the Creator. Also, his keeping himself restrained when provoked can prevent violent quarrels. As Proverbs 15:18 states: "An enraged man stirs up contention, but one that is slow to anger quiets down quarreling."
But what is the secret of remaining patient under severe stress? The disciple James posed a similar question and then gave the answer. He wrote: "Is there anyone suffering evil among you? Let him carry on prayer."—Jas. 5:13.
By appealing to Jehovah God for help, we 'throw our burden upon him.' As to the result of doing this, Psalm 55:22 says: "He himself will sustain you. Never will he allow the righteous one to totter." Study of God's Word, coupled with prayer, gives us insight as to the reason things are the way they are in this present system. This enables us to avoid needless upsets about things that cannot be changed. Furthermore, by means of his spirit, Jehovah God brings back to our minds points we have considered from his Word, giving us the spiritual comfort we need to exercise patience under difficulty. Should the problem intensify to the point where the situation appears hopeless, Jehovah may use his spirit to motivate others to come to our aid. As long as we rely upon him, we can be certain that he will never allow us to experience spiritual ruin and to lose out on the reward of patient endurance.
May we, therefore, continue to exercise patience in a lawless world. Thereby we can preserve a good conscience before God and men, quiet down quarreling, maintain joy despite unfavorable situations and avoid ruining our health because of our becoming unduly disturbed about matters that we cannot change. Then, too, we can look ahead to the marvelous prospect of endless life under righteous conditions. Truly, being patient pays a fine reward.
THE WATCHTOWER - APRIL 15, 1976
Insight on the News
The Vatican's Swiss Guards have now added tear gas to their arsenal, according to
Pontiff's Protection
a recent Associated Press report. The ninety-man force was said to want some protective weapon "less harmful" than their submachine guns and bayoneted rifles,
or the combination spear and battle-ax with which they stand guard. But why should Vatican City have such armed guards in the first place? "Their principal function is the protection of the person of the pontiff," says the "New Catholic Encyclopedia." However, what of the one whom this pontiff as the "vicar of Christ" claims to represent? Jesus Christ said to Roman Governor Pilate: "Mine is not a kingdom of this world; if my kingdom were of this world, my men would have fought to prevent my being surrendered to the Jews"—for execution. For this reason, Christ's "men" did not need an arsenal. But theope apparently feels that his "men" do. It seems that neither his faith, courage nor "kingdom" matches that of Christ.—John 18:36, Catholic "Jerusalem Bible."
Forensic (criminal) medicine may soon make it possible to reconstruct the personality
Blood Tells All
image of every person who leaves behind a bloodstain, according to English criminologists who spoke at a meeting of the International Juridic Scientists in Zürich, Switzerland. As reported in
the German newspaper "Die Welt," researchers have found that each person's blood carries a great variety of disease antibodies accumulated throughout life that mark the blood of that person as distinct from all others. "It is today accepted that every person has his own specific type of blood with which no other blood can compare exactly," notes the paper. Information about where a person has lived, his approximate age, his allergies, even something about his occupation and sexual habits, is coming within the scope of blood analysis. "In short there seem to be no limits to the possibilities of reconstructing a 'recognizable' person together with his life's history and his environment," the article concludes. Truly it can be said that, in more ways than one, "the THE WATCHTOWER — APRIL 15, 1976
life of every living creature is the blood." —Lev. 17:11, 14, "New English Bible."
The recent Guatemalan earthquake affected even some of those already dead. "Time" magazine reports that "several mourners who went to bury their dead in family plots found that the coffins of long-dead relatives had been uncovered by the quake." Something similar oc- Event Clarifies Bible
curred during an earthquake in the Jerusalem area at Jesus' death. At that time, dead bodies were customarily placed in vaults or chambers cut from Palestine's soft limestone rock, often in hillsides. A report in the Bible, as translated by Johannes Greber, says that when Jesus died, "the earth quaked, and the rocks were shattered. Tombs were laid open, and many bodies of those buried there were tossed upright. In this posture they projected from the graves and were seen by many who passed by the place on their way back to the city." Hence, rather than a resurrection, as some Bible translations imply, there appears to have been merely an exposure of the dead to observers, as in Guatemala.—Matt. 27:51-53.
India's Cardinal Joseph Parecattil, president of the Catholic Bishops Conference, has urged
Bad Precedent
individual Joseph Parecatti, president
that Catholicism in that country strive to develop into "an
Indian Church." At a general
he emphasized the need,
as reported in the Indian "Express," of 'drawing on the vast resources of Indian religions, thought and systems of philosophy' for this purpose. As a precedent, he referred the bishops to 'the first four centuries [after Christ, when] Christian theologians were open to constructive dialogue with other faiths.' Of course, the only 'other faiths' were non-Christian, but that did not hinder the cardinal from pleading that, as in the first four centuries, 'this absorption of terms and thought patterns from local cultures should be an ongoing process in the church.' Thus Cardinal Parecatil confirms the accuracy of the Bible's warning about "the apostasy," and that its beginnings were "already at work" from the first century onward.—2 Thess. 2:3, 7.
WHO IS
JESUS CHRIST,
SO THAT
WE ALL
NEED HIM?
"There is no salvation in anyone else, for there is not another name under heaven that has been given among men by
which we must get saved." Acts 4:12.
A WORLD SAVIOR—that is what the world of mankind needs so urgently today. A rescuer of the whole human family! We are all of the same flesh and blood, with one common start. We are all on the same spaceship—this planet earth. If this ship were to sink, we would all have to go down with it into the bottomless sea of unfathomable space. Is this going to happen to us? From the way things are going on our planetary spaceship, it looks as if this global catastrophe is much nearer than modern scientists calculate. But is such a horror going to occur? Who and where is the world savior that can prevent it? More and more people would like to know.
2 The world savior is not over in New York city today—with its building complex of the United Nations. The 144 nations that are members of that organization for world peace and security are having a hard time in keeping themselves individually afloat. The world savior is not over in Moscow, Russia, where a succession of dictators has ruled with an iron hand and with the vision of a world turned Communist. The world savior is not over in Jerusalem, Israel, where three leading religions of the world have long-standing interests, but in conflict with one another. Neither can the world savior be found in any other city of past or present world importance. The continued anguish of the nations and the increased groaning of the people demonstrate this fact.
3 The world situation may be totally unpromising in its plain meaning. Yet people who follow the modern way of thinking are dead set against admitting the truth. What truth? That the needed world help will have to come from a source higher than men. They balk at giving up their confidence in men, the only powerful, intelligent helpers that they can visualize in their materialistic minds. If we follow their line of thinking, we are left without a sense of direction. We get nowhere. But regardless of how prominent such worldly-minded persons may be, we know for ourselves that we are neither the creators nor the creatures of ourselves.
We are too marvelously designed and made and gifted to be of mere human construction. Our Designer and Constructor, who put us on this planetary spaceship, must be superhuman. He must be as high above us as the heavens are higher than our earthly spaceship. As marvels of His workmanship He ought to be interested in us. It may not be modernistic, but it is reasonable and sensible to look to Him as being able to produce a world savior for us.
4 Well, then, is it likely that this Creator of us is the One that inspired in human breasts the hope of the rescue of all mankind? By some world savior? Yes! From where else could such a bold, magnificent idea come? Over seven centuries before our Common Era, yes, more than a century before the Buddhist Era, that One had the statement put down in writing: "Turn to me and be saved, all you at the ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no one else. By my own self I have sworn—out of my own mouth in righteousness the word has gone forth, so that it will not return—that to me every knee will bend down, every tongue will swear, saying, 'Surely in Jehovah there are full righteousness and strength. All those getting heated up against him will come straight to him and be ashamed.'" —Isa. 45:22-24.
1 Salvation by Jehovah can reach to the far ends of the earth and take in all the world of mankind. He is the One to whom to turn in hope of everlasting salvation and with a confident request for it. The world's hatred for the name Jehovah should not make us feel ashamed and turn us in a direction away from him. All of those who get heated up against him will be the ones to come direct to Him and be
ashamed. They will fail to get the salvation reserved for those who, under no compulsion, turn to him for salvation.
*Jehovah's invitation to turn to him as the only God of salvation was written down in the twenty-third book of the Holy Bible. That book contains the inspired prophecies of the Middle Eastern man named Isaiah the son of Amoz, a resident of ancient Jerusalem. That the divine invitation would get a worldwide response is foretold in the sixty-sixth and last book of the Holy Bible called Revelation or Apocalypse and written in the first century of our Common Era. In chapter seven, verses nine and ten, the inspired writer, John the son of Zebedee, describes the prophetic vision that he saw. Showing that, in our own time, an innumerable crowd of people would turn to Jehovah God for salvation, John writes: "Look! a great crowd, which no man was able to number, out of all nations and tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, dressed in white robes; and there were palm branches in their hands. And they keep on crying with a loud voice, saying: 'Salvation we owe to our God, who is seated on the throne, and to the Lamb.'"
THE WORLD SAVIOR IDENTIFIED
'Why, though, does this crowd made up of persons of all races, nations and colors confess to owing their salvation, not only to God, but also "to the Lamb"? Can we accurately find out the identity of this one who is figuratively called "the Lamb"? Yes!
8Certainly we need to identify him. In the first place, the designation "the Lamb" is not used as a term of endearment, as when we say to someone dear to us, "My little lamb!"
Rather, the designation calls attention to sacrifice, to a most necessary sacrifice in behalf of us all. In the book of Revelation the designation "Lamb" (or, "Lamb's") is applied to this needed one twenty-seven times. These references to "the Lamb" begin in chapter five, where the writer John was told of the vital role that "the Lamb" was to play. John was told: "Stop weeping. Look! The Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David, has conquered so as to open the scroll and its seven seals." (Rev. 5:5)
When John stopped weeping what did he see? He says: "I saw standing in the midst of the throne . . . a lamb as though it had been slaughtered."
9Who, now, is this Lamb whom the Holy Bible identifies as the "Lion that is of the tribe of Judah" and as a life-giving "root" to the first Judean king of Jerusalem, named David? It is Jesus Christ, the fleshy descendant of the patriarch Abraham and of King David of the tribe of Judah. (Gen. 49:9, 10; Matt. 1:1-6) His being called "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah" means that he was the "Shiloh" who was to come and to whom "the obedience of the peoples will belong." This meant that he was to be the King (as his forefather David had been) of a real government to which all the peoples of the earth would have to be subject for their own good. As David had been anointed as king and was therefore an anointed one, so his royal Descendant would be an anointed one, whom the Hebrews called "Messiah" but whom the Greek-speaking Jews called "Christ." That is why we have the expression "Jesus Christ" (Jesus An Anointed One) or "Christ Jesus" (Anointed Jesus). But if he is likened to a kinglike Judean lion, why is he also likened to a "lamb"?
16 The writer John explains why, as he tells us what he further saw and heard, saying: "And when he took the scroll, . . . they [sang] a new song, saying: 'You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slaughtered and with your blood you bought persons for God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth.'" —Rev. 5:8-10.
11 So this kingdom-making "Lion that is of the tribe of Judah" was slaughtered in sacrifice, just the same as God's Law given to the nation of Israel through Moses provided for the sacrifice of an unblemished lamb for sins. He was the righteous "servant" of Jehovah, concerning whom the inspired prophet Isaiah made the following predictions: "He was hard pressed, and he was letting himself be afflicted; yet he would not open his mouth.
He was being brought just like a sheep to the slaughtering; and like a ewe that before her shearers has become mute, he also would not open his mouth. . . . he poured out his soul to the very death, and it was with the transgressors that he was counted in; and he himself carried the very sin of many people, and for the transgressors he proceeded to interpose."—Isa. 53:7, 12; Acts 8:30-35.
12 This brings to the fore a strong reason why we need Jesus Christ. We need him like a sacrificial Lamb that was offered up to Jehovah God, the Creator of man. Isaiah's prophecy just quoted speaks
of sinners and transgressors. Now people in general do not like to be called sinners and transgressors. All the same, none of us can deny that we all have defects and tendencies toward wrongdoing. We got these things from somewhere. We can all lay the blame upon our parents. But they, in turn, got imperfection and wrongful tendencies from
their parents. And so we can go back all the way in an unbroken chain to the first married couple, whom the Holy Bible calls Adam and Eve. The charging of parents with giving to their offspring imperfection and wrongful inclinations stops with Adam and Eve. Why so? Because Adam and Eve did not get their imperfection and sinfulness from God, their Creator and heavenly Father. "Perfect is his activity."
and Eve perfect, inasmuch as they were created in his own image.—Deut. 32:4; Luke 3:38; Gen. 1:26-28.
13 For the past six thousand years, none of us were born in paradise, that is, in the Garden of Eden. But Adam and Eve were created and put there. (Gen. 2:7-25) Of course, that original earthly paradise would not be able to hold all of us comfortably today; it would have to be expanded to embrace all the globe. Still, why were we not all born in an earthly paradise of global size? Yes, and why were we all born imperfect, subject to bad tendencies, sickly and dying? The only reasonable explanation could be that the first human couple, from whom all of us descended, went wrong. Well, the true-to-fact historical record in the Holy Bible agrees with such a reasonable expla-
nation.
Before ever Adam and Eve had children they went wrong. This means that they did not do what God told them to do. They disobeyed him, their heavenly Father. Thus they sinned or aimed away from the mark of human perfection.
44 Can we blame God for sentencing Adam and Eve to what he said would be the sure penalty for the slightest act of rebellion against him as the Supreme Lawgiver and Judge? We could not justly do so. But can we blame God for driving them out of their paradise? No! As Creator of the Garden of Eden he has property rights. He has the perfect right to decide who should be tenants on his property. Look at how selfish, thoughtless people reduce fine housing projects to something resembling ghettos and slums. Look at how the human race in general is ruining the earth as a whole, threatening it with nuclear warfare, with all the ruination and pollution that this would signify for earth's surface. When we come to think about it, it is a wonder that God permitted sinful Adam and Eve to take up living outside the paradise of Eden, so as to people the earth to the extent that it is populated today. Certainly it was merciful on God's part to let Adam and Eve continue living so as to bring forth children, so that now we find ourselves alive on earth six thousand years later.—Gen. 3:1 through 4:2.
15 When under temptation to sin along with his wife Eve, Adam had to decide what kind of father he would be to his offspring, whether a God-fearing father, perfectly obedient to his heavenly Father and in unbroken relationship with Him, or a father in rebellion against his Life-Giver and under sentence to death, the penalty
for sin. (Gen. 2:15-17) Adam chose to be the latter kind of father to us. So we cannot charge our imperfection and sinfulness to God the Creator of man. We ourselves cannot help it, but it is now just as the first-century Bible writer, the Christian apostle Paul, wrote, saying: "Through one man sin entered into the world and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men because they had all sinned." (Rom. 5:12) Since God planted reproductive seed in the first man, all of us his descendants were in his loins when Adam sinned. Thus all of us sinned inside him and, as a result, we have all been born sinners, under the condemnation of death.
14 Here let us not fall to note one important thing taught in God's Holy Bible. What is that? This: That just as God holds the one man Adam responsible for all the sin and its penalty death in the world today, so he can hold one other man, the equal of Adam, responsible for canceling the sin of the world and lifting the penalty of sin from off the sinfully born world of mankind. With such a wise, merciful arrangement, the scales of divine justice balance perfectly. This is something that all of us needed, and this is what we are assured of in God's Holy Bible, in 1 Corinthians 15:21, 22, in these words: "Since death is through a man, resurrection of the dead is also through a man. For just as in Adam all are dying, so also in the Christ all will be made alive."
17 What a wonderful and economical arrangement this proves to be, and all so simple! All that we needed was just one man, the equal of Adam when in his human perfection and sinlessness. How could such a man be produced on earth, inasmuch as not one of us descendants of the first human couple was born as the equal of Adam in his innocence in Eden?
The needed man could be provided only by a miracle of God the Almighty. This divine miracle did occur toward the end of the first century before our Common Era. It resulted in the appearing of the one whom the Revelation repeatedly calls "the Lamb." Although lamblike, this one proved to be "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah" and "the root of David." All the testimony of God's Holy Bible points to this one as being Jesus Christ, born in David's city of Bethlehem in the early fall of the year 2 B.C.E. In fine accord with his becoming like a sacrificial lamb, his birth was announced by God's angel to God's chosen witnesses, to shepherds watching over flocks of sheep by night.—Luke 2: 4-18; Matt. 2:1-18.
18 All of this was, as the Christian apostle Paul calls it, "good news, which he promised aforetime through his prophets in the holy Scriptures, concerning his Son, who sprang from the seed of David according to the flesh, but who with power was declared God's Son according to the spirit of holiness by means of resurrection from the dead—yes, Jesus Christ our Lord." —Rom. 1:1-4.
19 Now as regards one's being in a real sense a son of God, well, according to the fleshly genealogy of Jesus Christ as given in Luke 3:23-38, the first man Adam was a "son of God." But he disobeyed his heavenly Father and died and brought sin and death upon us all. He is still dead; he has not been resurrected from the dead. He lost his sonship of God. But Jesus
Christ has been resurrected on the spirit level and has thus been declared anew to be God's Son with power greater than what he had on earth. But even when he was on the earthly level, and even though he was born as a fleshly human through the Jewish virgin named Mary, Jesus was a Son of God. There is no reason for us to question that fact. Why not?
20 At that time the needs of the situation required a "son of God" to be available on earth. Jesus Christ proved to be the needed Son of God. When he became full-grown at the age of thirty years, he got baptized in water by John the Baptist, the son of a Jewish priest named Zechariah. Whom did John publicly declare Jesus Christ to be? John the Baptist told his disciples that Jesus Christ was God's Son. John knew this, not just out of his own reasoning on matters. Why so? Because immediately after he baptized Jesus, John heard God's voice saying out of heaven: "This is my Son, the beloved, whom I have approved." (Matt. 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21, 22) So, in public, John said: "I have seen it, and I have borne witness that this one is the Son of God."—John 1:34.
21 However, Jesus' sonship of God did not begin with his human birth through Mary, the Jewish virgin. Since Jesus was born of a virgin who had not had any sexual relations with a male descendant of Adam, He could not have had a human, fleshly father. No angel was his father, for Mary did not have sexual relations with a materialized angel like in the case of the mothers of those notorious Nephilim in the days of the ark-builder Noah. (Gen. 6:1-4) The angel Gabriel, who appeared to Mary and explained to her how in a miraculous way she would become the mother of Jesus, was not the father of Mary's firstborn son.
(Luke 1:26-38; Matt. 1:18-25) Modern science today may dispute the virgin birth of Jesus on the claim that it is impossible, but the angel Gabriel removed any possible question from Mary's mind by saying: "With God no declaration will be an impossibility." (Luke 1:37) Accordingly God confessed before all the universe his Fatherhood of the baby Jesus in David's line.
22 All of that is true, but was Jesus' birth in Bethlehem-Judah the start of his existence as a Son of God? No! John the Baptist, who was born about six months before Jesus, said publicly regarding the Jesus whom he had baptized: "See, the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world! This is the one about whom I said, Behind me there comes a man who has advanced in front of me, because he existed before me." (John 1:29, 30) Now, since Jesus did not exist as a man on earth before John the Baptist, where had he existed before John? It was up in heaven. There he had existed as a Son of God. There he had personal contact and association with his heavenly Father. This accounts for it that, on the night before he suffered death as a martyr outside the walls of Jerusalem, he said in prayer to his heavenly Father: "I have glorified you on the earth, having finished the work you have given me to do. So now you, Father, glorify me alongside yourself with the glory that I had alongside you before the world was."—John 17:4, 5.
23 So, the one who became Jesus Christ, "the Lamb of God," had existed as a Son of God alongside his heavenly Father in the invisible spirit realm. Hence, in order to become the human Son of God under the name Jesus Christ, he had to let Almighty God transfer his life from heaven to the human ovum in the body of the Jewish virgin. In this way God continued to be his Father at his birth in Bethlehem. It could be only from heaven that God transferred the life of his Son miraculously and thereby "sent" his Son, just as Jesus Christ told the Jewish ruler Nicodemus: "God loved the world [of mankind] so much that he gave his only-begotten Son, in order that everyone exercising faith in him might not be destroyed but have everlasting life. For God sent forth his Son into the world, not for him to judge the world, but for the world to be saved through him."—John 3:16, 17.
24 In this way we see how God provided the one man whom we needed for our everlasting salvation, the one man who was the equal of Adam during his perfection and sinlessness in the Garden of Eden. This man alone was able to offer himself to God to be sacrificed as "the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29) Because this includes our sin, we need him.
ONE important thing we notice about the Son of God who was on earth as a man during the first century of our Common Era. He was not born into some Hindu family in India. He was not born into some Buddhist family in Tibet, nor into the royal family of ancient China, nor into the family of
which family the priests of Israel were taken. He could be born in David's tribe of Judah and still be a perfect, sinless man suitable for sacrifice acceptable to God because of being perfect and unblemished by sin.
THE KINGDOM OF JESUS CHRIST
the imperial Caesar of Rome. (Esther 1:1; Luke 2:1, 2) Rather, he "sprang from the seed of David according to the flesh." (Rom. 1:3) This was not accidental. There was need for this Son of God to be born as the "seed of David." This was the reason why God chose a Jewish virgin girl who was of the fleshy line of David of Bethlehem to become mother to Jesus Christ. (Luke 1:26-32) This Mary was a worshiper of the God who made her fertile miraculously, and so her son was not born as the son of some Hindu god or of some Buddhist deity or of the Roman Jupiter or of the Grecian Zeus.—Luke 1:34-55; Acts 14:12, 13.
2In ancient Israel, King David's tribe was that of Judah, a tribe from which no priests were taken to offer sacrifice. Nonetheless, Jesus Christ could be born as "the seed of David" of the tribe of Judah and still become "the Lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world." (John 1:29) He did not need to be of the tribe of Levi and of the priestly family of Aaron, from
The perfection and sinlessness that he had maintained as the Son of God in heaven continued with him when he was sent to earth to become the man absolutely equal to the perfect, sinless Adam at the
day of his creation in the Garden of Eden. Jesus Christ needed to be such in order to 'give himself as a corresponding ransom for all.' (1 Tim. 2:5, 6; Matt. 20:28) He poured out his blood as a sinatoning sacrifice on Passover Day of 33 C.E., the day when the Jews sacrificed the Passover lamb and ate its roast flesh in celebration of their nation's deliverance from ancient Egypt.
3In God's covenant with ancient Israel he said the following words, as found in Leviticus 17:11, 12: "The soul [or, life] of the flesh is in the blood, and I myself have put it upon the altar for you to make atonement for your souls, because it is the blood that makes atonement by the soul [life] in it. . . . 'No soul of you must eat blood and no alien resident who is residing as an alien in your midst should eat blood.' " So, in pouring out his blood in sacrifice to God, Jesus Christ was pouring out his life as an atonement sacrifice for all of us descendants of the sinful Adam. He presented the lifeblood of his perfect human sacrifice to God in heaven, and so we cannot eat or drink Jesus' blood in order to get the benefit of it.
We must exercise faith in it as fully atoning for our death-dealing sins to benefit from Jesus' lifeblood.—Heb. 9:11-14, 24.
4 One of the first-century Jews who believed in the atoning value of Jesus' blood was Simon Peter, once a fisherman on the Sea of Galilee. When writing to his fellow believers, Simon Peter said: "It was not with corruptible things, with silver or gold, that you were delivered from your fruitless form of conduct received by tradition from your forefathers. But it was with precious blood, like that of an unblemished and spotless lamb, even Christ's." (1 Pet. 1:18, 19) So, now, we can appreciate the fitness of the book of Revelation in continually featuring Jesus Christ as "the lamb," the one that was "slaughtered." (Rev. 5:6) All we of mankind certainly need such an atoning Lamb who, with his blood, can cleanse us from our sins and lift from us the condemnation of death. Without life through the sacrifice of this Lamb none of us could enjoy anything in the future with a clean conscience before God. For a fact, then, we cannot do without this Lamb!
In offering himself up as a sacrificial Lamb, Jesus Christ served as God's High Priest who was foreshadowed by Israel's first high priest, namely, Aaron of the tribe of Levi. All the further sacrificial high priests of ancient Israel descended from this Aaron the brother of Moses. That is another reason why all mankind needs Jesus Christ, for him to serve as the antitype of Israel's high priests in taking the blood of the sacrifices into the Most Holy of the temple on the annual Day of Atonement, Yom Kippur.
e The resurrected Jesus Christ carried
out this Atonement Day picture when he ascended from earth back to heaven, to appear in God's presence and offer the merit or value of his perfect human sacrifice in atonement for the sins of all mankind. That is why the Christianized Jews were told to look no longer to the Aaronic high priests but to the antitype thereof, in these words recorded in Hebrews 3:1, 2: "Consequently, holy brothers, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest whom we confess—Jesus. He was faithful to the One that made him such, as Moses was also in all the house of that One."
SOMETHING MORE THAN A HIGH PRIEST NEEDED
'In explaining further to Christianized Jews how Jesus Christ as High Priest serves more effectively than did Aaron and his successors, the book of Hebrews goes on to say, in chapter seven, verse twenty-six: "Such a high priest as this was suitable for us, loyal, guileless, undefiled, separated from the sinners, and become higher than the heavens." The book of Revelation, chapter one, verses twelve through eighteen, pictures the glorified Jesus Christ as serving as High Priest for the Christian congregations. However, chapter five pictures him as being more than God's High Priest. This points up the fact that we all need Jesus Christ for another reason besides his being a sacrificial Lamb and our High Priest.
8 Revelation 5:5, 6 identifies the Lamb who was slaughtered as being "the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah, the root of David." Such titles indicate something regarding the Lamb Jesus Christ. Verses nine and ten give additional emphasis to this. In those verses it is said to the Lamb:
"You are worthy to take the scroll and open its seals, because you were slaughtered and with your blood you bought persons for God out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation, and you made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God, and they are to rule as kings over the earth."
To what, then, does all of that have reference besides priesthood? Why, of course, to government, to kingdom. Ah, yes, we all need a perfect, righteous government over all the earth.
According to the prophecy in Genesis 49:9, 10, the Lion that is of the tribe of Judah was to have a scepter and a commander's staff, and the obedience of all the peoples was to belong to him rightfully. That meant government for the Lion of the tribe of Judah. David was of the tribe of Judah, and for forty years he ruled as king over the Israelites. Jesus Christ had to be "the root of David," for to King David of Jerusalem God had promised a dynasty of successors in his family that would have a kingdom forever.
10 That is to say, as a reward to King David for his unswerving exclusive worship of Jehovah as the one living and true God, Jehovah made a covenant with David for an everlasting kingdom in his family line. (2 Sam. 7:1-17) That is why the angel Gabriel, when announcing the coming birth of Jesus to Mary, who was of the tribe of Judah, said: "Jehovah God will give him the throne of David his father, and he will rule as king over the house of Jacob [Israel] forever, and there will be no end of his kingdom."—Luke 1:26-33.
11 What, now, if we pray to Jehovah God as Jesus instructed his disciples to pray: "Our Father in the heavens, let your
name be sanctified. Let your kingdom come. Let your will take place, as in heaven, also upon earth?? Well, thereby we are admitting to God that we need the kingdom of his Son Jesus Christ.—Matt. 6:9, 10.
12 So-called Christendom has never been God's kingdom by Christ. Christendom has failed in her attempt to convert the governments of the world to be really Christian governments. How, then, are we ever to have Christ's kingdom over the earth when all these political governments are around and running earth's affairs? We cannot under those circumstances. That is why we need to have these imperfect failing governments of men put out of the way, cleared off the earth. This cannot be done by human power. For that reason we need the kingdom of Jesus Christ for this job. It will carry out this job, according to God's prophecy in Daniel 2:44, which says: "In the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite."
15 This violent removal of the political governments of today will be accomplished at the height of the coming "great tribulation" at what Revelation 16:14, 16 calls Har-Magedon. There will be human survivors of that "war of the great day of God the Almighty" at Har-Magedon. These will need to have more than an earth rid of the corrupt, incapable governments of sinful, dying men. What more than that will they need? Nothing less than the removal of all the invisible wicked superhuman intelligences that have masterminded these political governments.
But what are those unseen superhuman intelligences? Modern science will not believe it when we answer, Satan the Devil and his demon angels. But let Jesus Christ himself, not modern science, be found true. He said that Satan the Devil is "the ruler of this world." Certainly Jesus Christ, whom God sent from heaven, ought to know.—John 12:31; 14:30.
Also, in the vision that the glorified Jesus Christ transmitted to the Christian apostle John he pointed out that Satan the Devil is the one "who is misleading the entire inhabited earth." (Rev. 12:9) So it will require a heavenly spiritual government to dislodge Satan and his demon angels from their controlling position over all earth's inhabitants. The kingdom of Jesus Christ is just such a heavenly government powerful enough to bring this relief to mankind. This, too, is why we need that kingdom. After its victory in the war at Har-Magedon, it will bring about the imprisonment of Satan the Devil and all his demon angels in an abyss far away from the vicinity of our earth. Their imprisonment will last for the thousand years of Christ's kingdom.—Rev. 19:11 through 20:3.
15 During this millennial reign of Jesus Christ, life-giving benefits will flow like a river to all those on earth for whom he gave his life as a sacrificial Lamb. This is beautifully pictured in the last chapter of Revelation. In it the apostle John shows the source of the provisions for the everlasting life of the human family. John says: "And he [an angel of God] showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, flowing out from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of [the city's] broad way. And on this side of the river and on that side there were trees of life
producing twelve crops of fruit, yielding their fruits each month."
14 Then, to show that such blessings find their source in the royal throne of God and of the Lamb Jesus Christ, the apostle John adds these words: "And no more will there be any curse. But the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his slaves will render him sacred service." (Rev. 22:1-3) God's kingdom by Christ is one for blessing mankind, and not for a curse upon them. God's Son, Jesus Christ, will see to it that affairs on earth are carried on in righteousness so as to result in blessings.
NEED OF THE KINGDOM BY THE HUMAN DEAD
"First to partake of those life-giving provisions from God's throne through Christ will be the "great crowd" of worshipers who are survivors of the "great tribulation" in which the kingdoms of this world are crushed. (Rev. 7:9-14; Dan. 2:44; Matt. 24:21, 22) Well, then, will there be other partakers of the symbolic river of water of life and symbolic trees of life? Yes, inasmuch as Jesus Christ died as "the Lamb of God" for more humans than just those tribulation survivors. Let us recall what Jesus said not far from a burial tomb at Bethany near Jerusalem in the year 33 C.E. At that time he said: "I am the resurrection and the life. He that exercises faith in me, even though he dies, will come to life; and everyone that is living and exercises faith in me will never die at all. Do you believe this?" Martha, the sister of dead Lazarus, answered: "Yes, Lord; I have believed that you are the Christ the Son of God, the One coming into the world." (John 11:25-27) Now what about us today? Can our ourselves give the same answer of faith to that question?
18 We have solid reason for answering Yes, because Jesus then supported his remarkable words by resurrecting his friend Lazarus although it was on the fourth day of that one's death. (John 11:28-45) Not long after that, the time came for Jesus himself to be resurrected from the dead. He died on Passover Day. On the third day therefrom he was raised from the dead by the almighty power of his heavenly Father. On the fortieth day therefrom, he ascended into heaven from a place near Bethany on the Mount of Olives. (Luke 24:50-53; Acts 1:1-12) In heaven the glorified Jesus Christ can still say: "I am the resurrection and the life." That he is authorized by God his Father to raise the dead, he assures us by his words in the Revelation vision to John: "I became dead, but, look! I am living forever and ever, and I have the keys of death and of Hades." —Rev. 1:18
19 Jesus Christ was the first one to be resurrected from the dead to live as a resurrected person forever. So he is correctly called "the firstborn from the dead" and "the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep in death." (Col. 1:18; 1 Cor. 15:20) Even his friend Lazarus and others whom he and his apostles raised from the dead succumbed thereafter to death and were buried in the common grave of mankind, that is to say, in Hades. Their earlier release from death and Hades had been only temporary. Hence, "the gates of Hades" must remain closed upon such ones and upon all the other ransomed human dead until the establishment of Christ's kingdom in the heavens at God's appointed time.—Matt. 16:18; Isa. 38:10, 18.
20 World history in our twentieth century furnishes us the fulfillment of Bible prophecy and indicates that Christ's kingdom was born in the heavens at the close of the Gentile Times in the year 1914 C.E. (Luke 21:24; Ezek. 21:25-27) In heavenly Kingdom power Jesus Christ would direct his attention first to his dead faithful disciples, such as his apostles and other disciples who were called to the heavenly kingdom with him. These he would resurrect to immortal heavenly life, in order for them to be a "kingdom and priests to our God," as stated in Revelation 5:10. Thus would be fulfilled what the apostle John tells us in Revelation 20:4-6:
21 "And I saw thrones, and there were those who sat down on them, and power of judging was given them. Yes, I saw the souls of those executed with the ax for the witness they bore to Jesus and for speaking about God. . . . And they came to life and ruled as kings with the Christ for a thousand years. . . . This is the first resurrection. Happy and holy is anyone having part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no authority, but they will be priests of God and of the Christ, and will rule as kings with him for the thousand years."
22 During his millennial reign Jesus Christ as High Priest as well as King will use the "keys of death and of Hades" in behalf of the rest of dead mankind. These dead will hear his voice and will come forth, just as he himself foretold in his words recorded in John 5:28, 29. Then the "great crowd" who live through the "great tribulation" and the binding and abyssing of Satan and his demons will witness a miracle without any equal. They will witness the return to life on earth of all the human dead for whom the High Priest Jesus sacrificed his perfect human life as "the Lamb of God."
(John 1:23; 1 Tim. 2:5, 6; Heb. 2:9) Eventually the number of resurrected ones will mount up into the billions, all these being descendants of sinful Adam from whom they inherited imperfection, sinfulness and condemnation to death. Never will there have occurred anything like this on earth. The apostle John was given a brief vision of this marvelous miracle of God through Christ, and John describes it in Revelation 20:11-14.
23 Was John dismayed at the sight? Did he see the earth overfilled with people? Not at all! Jehovah God made the earth to be comfortably filled with men and women in human perfection, with no condemnation of death resting upon them but with the right to everlasting life granted to them in reward for unbreakable devotion to Jehovah God. All will live in a global paradise! (Gen. 1:26-28) So, when the last one of the ransomed human dead has been called forth through the opened "gates of Hades," the common grave of mankind will exist no more. Hades will have been cast into the "lake of fire," to its own eternal death. And when all those living on earth under Christ's millennial kingdom have responded to its discipline and thus been freed from all sinfulness and healed of all human imperfections, they will then indeed be alive, fully so. Then "death," the death that mankind inherited from Adam, will join Hades in the "lake of fire." (Rev. 20:14) At that glorious accomplishment men will see fulfilled the words of 1 Corinthians 15:26: "As the last enemy, death is to be brought to nothing." Any who are destroyed thereafter with Satan and his demons for willful disobedience will suffer "the second death," from which there is no resurrection.
24 Time would fail us to bear witness to Jesus Christ and tell all that he means to us as members of the fallen human family. Never will we be disappointed in him. "For the Scripture says: 'None that rests his faith on him will be disappointed.'" (Rom. 10:11; Isa. 28:16) We need never be ashamed to bear witness to Jesus Christ by word of mouth or by printed page. Increased appreciation of how much we need him moves us to join angels in bearing witness to him for the glory of Jehovah God and for the sake of mankind in its present desperate plight.
28 Let us remember what the angel said when the apostle John gratefully fell at his feet to worship him: "All I am is a fellow slave of you and of your brothers who have the work of witnessing to Jesus. Worship God; for the bearing witness to Jesus is what inspires prophesying." (Rev. 19.10) So no credit should go to us humans as though the substance of the witness to Jesus Christ originated with us. It is Jehovah God who saw our dire need and helplessness and who lovingly provided his heavenly Son to become the man Jesus Christ in behalf of us all. Furthermore, God by his active spirit inspired all the Bible prophecies concerning Jesus Christ that, by them, we might be directed to "the Lamb of God," to this High Priest of God, to this Messianic King who will give long-misruled mankind finally a perfect, righteous government.
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