The Watchtower, June 15, 1942
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“WILLING VOLUNTEERS” TESTIMONY PERIOD
During the month of June all those willing volunteers who delight to do Jehovah’s will and who have made a covenant with the Lord will go forward in the proclamation of the Kingdom message. The “Willing Volunteers” Testimony Period will be devoted to the distribution of the book Children and seven booklets on the contribution of 35c. All servants of the Lord going forward during this campaign will have a good supply of this literature on hand as they go from place to place, visiting the people of good-will, those who love righteousness. This literature will afford many the opportunity of getting a clearer knowledge of the truth, and they should be given this opportunity during the “Willing Volunteers” Testimony Period. The usual field-service reports will be made to the company servant if the publisher is associated with a company; the pioneers, direct to the office; and those readers of The Watchtower who have as yet not been in the field-service work, namely, going from door to door with the Kingdom message, may inquire of the Watchtower the address of their nearest company. You will enjoy being associated with them.
"CHILDREN STUDY QUESTIONS”
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“WATCHTOWER" STUDIES
Week of July 19: “Micah” (Part 11), 1-18 inclusive, The Watchtower June 15, 1942.
Week of July 26: "Micah” (Part 11), 19-36 inclusive, The Watchtower June 15, 1942.
“JEHOVAH’S SERVANTS DEFENDED”
The release of this valuable booklet was a feature of the St Louis Assembly last summer. The Assembly received it with great appreciation and thankfulness. It has been received in like manner by thousands who are interested in, if not also participating in, the fight which Jehovah’s covenant people are putting up in the exercise of the God-given and Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms, to wit, of assembly and of publication and of open speech in the worship of Almighty God and in proclaiming the joyful news of his Theocratic Government. In this booklet you will find the expressed rulings of the highest courts of the United States in support of Jehovah’s witnesses and in defense of their rights and liberties in His service. The 32 pages of this important documentary matter are enclosed in a neat and strong cover. It is 5c a copy, mailed postage prepaid.
No. LXIII June 15, 1942 No 12
MICAH
PART 11
"And it shall come to pass in that day, that the Lord shall set his hand again the second time to recover the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria, and from Egypt, and from Pathros, and from Cush, and from Elam, and from Shinar, and from Hamath, and from the islands of the sea.” — Isa. 11:11.
JEHOVAH is interested in a remnant of people and promises to do great things for them, while the world looks on. Can you afford to be uninterested just because a remnant is small and seemingly of no importance? Those who are wise and who measure the real value of things do well to consider with lively interest this remnant. Not that those of the remnant are important in themselves, but it is because they are Jehovah’s “remnant of his people” and he deals with them differently from his manner of action toward all the nations and peoples of the world. By the consideration of these things now in the days of great combat between “the king of the north” and "the king of the south” over world domination, and by not letting the turn of such combat take your attention off the all-important things, great truths are learned which mean peace, comfort, joy, life and security, if followed. The term “remnant” points to something greater of which the remnant are but a part remaining visible on the earth. What is significant is that the remnant are part of or are in line for Almighty God’s organization Zion. Zion occupies the place as capital over all God s universal organization, and which capital is his Righteous Government called “The Theocracy’’. It is in the great “day of Jehovah”, beginning in A.D. 1914, that His Theocratic Government under its King Christ Jesus comes to the fore and takes power. From then on all other governments must wane in power and finally disappear. At the same time, however, Jehovah does great things for the remnant on earth who represent that Theocracy. Hence it is of exceeding value and importance to watch the movements of the remnant under Jehovah’s direction. Why? Because such are visible proofs to the eye that the heavenly Theocracy has come into power and rules. All must submit themselves and render allegiance to it, if they would live for ever.
2 From the fateful day in Eden when perfect man willfully rebelled by disobedience against the Theocratic rule of his Maker, Satan the Devil has known of Jehovah’s purpose then expressed to set up The Theocratic Government in the hands of The Seed, His Christ, whom Jehovah would bring forth from his “woman” or universal organization. (Gen. 3:15) Satan failed in his murderous efforts to destroy that Seed and also those followers in Christ's footsteps who have already proved their faithfulness unto death and who are now associated with him in the heavenly glory of The Theocracy. The great Theocrat Jehovah has designated 144,000 as the full number to be united with the King Christ Jesus in The Theocracy in the heavens. The full number thereof have not yet been transferred from earth to the invisible heavens. A remnant are yet on earth to visibly represent and make known The Theocracy and its immediate acts which now affect the life and destiny of all individuals, organizations and nations of the world.
3 For that reason Satan the Devil hates the remnant even as he hates their Leader and King Christ Jesus. The “remnant” are the Israelites after the spirit. They are made up of those who have consecrated their lives to Jehovah God through faith in the Savior Christ Jesus, and whom God has justified to life and begotten of his spirit to be his sons. Out of all those in “Christendom” professing covenant relationship with God these continue to keep their covenant with him and to be faithful to His kingdom. Satan tried to destroy and prevent the organizing of the remnant for the service on earth of The Theocracy. At the beginning of that Government in this “day of Jehovah” Satan stirred up the world war (1914-1918) waged by “the king of the north” on the reactionary side and “the king of the south” on the progressive, democratic side. Using such conflict as an excuse, Satan by his religious agents on earth stopped the Kingdom proclamation by God’s consecrated ones and caused them to be scattered, disorganized, and restrained in all lands of “Christendom”. This included the nations composing “the king of the north” (pictured by ancient Assyria north of Palestine) and those nations composing “the king of the south’’ (pictured by Egypt, which land is now allied with Britain and America).
4 The great enemy of The Theocracy has been foiled in his efforts to prevent the unifying and organizing of Jehovah’s remnant for Theocratic service. Again the Almighty God has made good his word and proved the truth thereof by bringing to pass Micah’s prophecy in our time, to wit: “In that day [the day of Jehovah, beginning 1914] also he [the remnant] shall come even to thee from Assyria, and from the fortified cities, and from the fortress even to the river, and from sea to sea. and from mountain to mountain.” (Mic. 7: 12) It is the remnant that comes from all these scattered places from and after A.D. 1918, when the armistice was declared between “the king of the north” and “the king of the south”. Their coming means that Zion, God’s capital organization, has been built up, for it is unto Zion that the remnant comes for service. “For Jehovah hath, built up Zion; he hath appeared in his glory. He hath regarded the prayer of the destitute [remnant], and hath not despised their prayer. This shall be written for the generation to come; and a people which shall be created shall praise Jehovah.” (Ps. 102: 16-18, Am. Rev. Ver.) “And the ransomed [remnant] of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.” (Isa. 35:10) The nations making up the "king of the north” combine had part in the scattering of those making up the remnant; but the Lord God has delivered them from the power of that “king”, the religious part of which combine has its headquarters at Vatican City, Italy.
5 It is no new thing that is seen being carried on today by “the king of the north”, to wit, the transfer of whole populations of states or provinces away to distant and separated parts in order to have the exclusive use and control of the territory of such states or provinces. Assyria and its successor in power, Babylon, did that very thing six centuries before Christ. They desolated the land of Israel and transplanted the Israelite inhabitants afar off to the heathen lands of the conquerors to be the slaves of the “master race”. That ancient world power of Assyria, and thereafter Babylon, was the instrument of the Devil. His purpose in removing the Israelites far off from their own borders and dispersing them was to wipe out the typical Theocracy over the Jews and to prevent their ever reorganizing again. Thereby the Devil established himself as “the god of this world”. He boasted that he had proved his power in the great issue between himself and Jehovah God, of universal domination. The Devil received a setback when Jehovah overturned Babylon and brought back the remnant of faithful Jews to his Holy Land and rebuilt the temple and also the city of Jerusalem and surrounded her with strong walls of protection. Then that remnant, as a pattern of the remnant of spiritual Israelites today, sang: “Jehovah hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.” (Ps. 126: 3, Am. Rev. Ver.) Today in the sight of this modern world Jehovah has repeated this performance of supremacy over the enemy Satan and his world organization. Since 1918 Jehovah has brought forth the remnant to be a “people for his name”.—Acts 15: 14.
6 “And from the fortified cities” the remnant comes also. From “the cities of Mazor”, reads the Jewish Leeser translation. Since the name “Egypt”, or Miznaim (Hebrew), is derived from “Mazor", the Rotherham and American Revised Version renderings read: “And from the cities of Egypt.” This agrees with the fact that in 1918 the lands of "the king of the south”, which includes the United States, took the final action in scattering Jehovah's consecrated servants who were proclaiming the coming of His kingdom under Christ. The expression "fortified cities” marks that as a time of the world being armed for war, followed by merely an armistice or temporary laying down of arms, as is proved by the physical facts of 1942. Jehovah again demonstrated his power over the “god of this world” and stopped the world conflict in 1918. He removed all barriers to the regathering of his devoted ones and the organizing of his remnant. He sent them forth as his witnesses before the tribulation breaks again at Armageddon and the final end of the nations comes. This ‘shortening of the days of tribulation for the sake of His elect’ is meant in the following prophecy (Isa. 11: 15,16): “And the Lord shall utterly destroy the tongue of the Egyptian sea [as a barrier] ; and with his mighty wind shall he shake his hand over the river, and shall smite it in the seven streams, and make men go over dry-shod. And there shall be an highway for the remnant of his people, which shall be left, from Assyria; like as it was to Israel in the day that he came up out of the land of Egypt.”
7 “And from the fortress even to the river.” “And from Mazor” (Leeser); “yea. from Egypt” (Rotherham); “and from Egypt even to the River” (Am. Rev. Ver.). The river here meant is the river Euphrates, upon which both Assyria and Babylon were situated. It was mentioned in God’s promise to Abraham, to wit: “In the same day, the Lord made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt [MizRaim] unto the great river, the river Euphrates.” (Gen. 15: 18) That great river was used as a symbol of the “peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues” upon which the great “whore”, Babylon, Satan’s organization, sits in control and is borne up by such peoples alienated from Jehovah God. (Rev. 17 :1,15) Beside that great symbolical river have been held God’s consecrated spirit-begotten ones whom he frees from the oppressive power of the “great whore” sitting on those waters. Then He calls them to be his message bearers to the nations. This was pictured in the symbols of Revelation when it was commanded to “the sixth angel which had the trumpet, Loose the four angels [messengers] which are bound in the great river Euphrates. And the four angels were loosed”. (Rev. 9:14,15) At the same time the corresponding prophecy began to be fulfilled: “And the sixth angel poured out his vial upon the great river Euphrates; and the water thereof was dried up, that the wav of the kings of the east might be prepared.” —Rev. 16:12.
8 The drying up of Euphrates’ water is accomplished by turning the people having good-will toward God away from flowing to the support of Babylon and her religious organization. That the “four angels” symbolizing the remnant had been loosed from Babylon's power and were now messengers of his Kingdom is marked by the fact: In 1927, in Toronto, Canada, an international assembly of thousands of Christians, Jehovah’s witnesses, from many countries was held. On the closing day thereof the speech “Freedom for the Peoples” was delivered to the visible audience and also to millions in an invisible audience by a network of 53 radio stations, the greatest radio chain till then. Thereafter that message of freedom was printed and published by the millions of copies, and was instrumental in freeing many and turning them aside from Babylon and her religion and unto the truth, which truth “shall make you free”. Those freed were not only of the remnant class, but also of persons of good-will who devote themselves to God and his Kingdom and become the Lord’s “other sheep”. Whence come they?
9 “From sea to sea, and from mountain to mountain,” says Micah. This means the seven seas, together with their multitude of isles. (Ps. 97:1; Isa. 42:12; 11:11; 51:5) Jehovah’s work by his remnant of anointed witnesses has had as wide a sweep as that. Now for some time the people of good-will have been leaving the “sea” of peoples which are alienated from God and subject to Satan’s unclean organization: and the numbers coming to Zion are increasing. This has come under the notice of both “the king of the north” and “the king of the south”. Daniel 11:45 foretells the desperate action shortly that all nations going totalitarian will take to hold persons of good-will away from The Theocracy, symbolized by Mount Zion: “And he [the totalitarian combine] shall plant the tabernacles of his palace between the seas [and] the glorious holy mountain; yet he shall come to his end, and none shall help him.” (Young's translation) Jehovah also gathers his “sheep” from the mountains which are the backbone of Satan's visible earthly organization. To those mountains the people are taught by the clergy to look for protection and safety and a stable world. By Jehovah's Theocratic message widely proclaimed by his remnant he opens the eyes of his “other sheep” to see the truth: “Truly in vain is salvation hoped for from the hills, and from the multitude of mountains; truly in the Lord [Jehovah] our God is the salvation of Israel.” (Jer. 3: 23) These “other sheep” have been scattered by the false shepherds over all these “mountains” or ruling powers of the world. (Ezek. 34:6) After those who are yet scattered the Lord God sends his witnesses as hunters to do a thorough searching work, to locate the strayed and misled ones that desire to come into the fold under the protection of his Theocracy, Mount Zion, and its King, Christ Jesus, the Good Shepherd. “And after will I send for many hunters, and they shall hunt them from every mountain, and from every hill, and out of the holes of the rocks. For mine eyes are upon all their ways.”—Jer. 16:16,17.
10 In connection with the gathering of the sheep the Lord says: “Notwithstanding, the land shall be desolate because of them that dwell therein, for the fruit of their doings.” (Mie. 7: 13) 'Whose land? If it refers to the earthly condition of Jehovah's servants during the affliction of 1914-1918. then the marginal reading of the text is the correct one: “After that it hath been desolate” ; that is, after that the remnant shall come to Zion from Assyria, Egypt, etc. Their desolate condition due to the enemy action is referred to at verse 9 of the chapter, where the remnant says: “I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me.” (See the preceding article, Part 10, of this series.) The indignation of the Lord against the remnant passed by 1922 and. though now sorely persecuted by the enemy, never again shall the remnant be desolated by them.
11 Other translations make the word “land” to apply to “the earth” outside of the condition occupied by the remnant and their companions which is “the holy land". Since this is so, it concerns and should interest all peoples. “Yet shall the land be desolate” (Am. Rev. Ver.); “While the land (of the nations) shall be made desolate because of its inhabitants, for the fruit of their doings.” (Leeser) This includes particularly “Christendom”, and shows the sharp difference between her condition and that of the remnant. The remnant bear the fruits God puts into their hands, the fruits of the Kingdom, the life-giving truths thereof, and which the remnant have borne to the dying peoples by word of mouth, by printed page, by recorded speech and sound equipment, by radio, and by all means of publication and distribution. The remnant's condition has been and is a fruitful one, whereby Jehovah God and his Theocratic Government have been glorified. (John 15:8) “Christendom's” fruit is anti-Theocracy and has developed into the political-religious counterfeit for God’s Kingdom, to wit, “the abomination of desolation.” “Their doings” are all for the world domination by “both these kings” aforenamed, and are in opposition to The Theocracy, and they hatefully persecute those witnessing to that Righteous Government. “Christendom,” contrary to her claim to be God’s kingdom, has not brought forth fruit unto God, but is like the deceitful fig tree which Christ Jesus cursed and which thereafter withered in death. “Be not deceived: God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Gal. 6:7) “Christendom” claiming to be God's, it is inescapable that her reward should be according to her works judged according to whether her works are for or against His Theocratic Government by Christ Jesus. (Rev. 22:12) To her Jehovah says: “I will punish you according to the fruit of your doings.” (Jer. 21:14) “Say ye to the righteous, that it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked! it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” (Isa. 3:10,11) “Christendom" is desolate, without fruit unto God now. The Kingdom interests have been taken away from her, and at Armageddon she shall be completely desolated, destroyed.
THEOCRATIC RULE
12 The prophecy then voices the prayer of the remnant that God’s rule be put into operation among his organized people on earth. His rule is not “popular rule”, but is Theocratic rule. “Feed thy people [(Rotherham) Shepherd thou thy people] with thy rod, the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily in the wood, in the midst of Carmel: let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old." (Mic. 7: 14) This request for feeding and shepherding is addressed not to the religious clergy, who speak of their congregations as “my flock”, nor to “elective elders” over companies of the consecrated, but to the Great Shepherd, Jehovah. (Ps. 23:1) “Know ye that the Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves: we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.” (Ps. 100:3) Jehovah’s “rod” is his Mighty One, Christ Jesus, “the Chief Shepherd.” He has now come to the temple and judges first “the house of God” and thereafter all the nations, the people of which he divides as “sheep” and “goats”. (1 Pet. 5: 4; 4: 17; Matt. 25: 31, 32) His “rod of iron” is reserved for the anti-Theocratic nations, to dash them to shivers; but as for the remnant of Jehovah’s “little flock” it is written: “Thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” (Ps. 23:4) Concerning Jehovah's “Rod”, the One who majestically represents God's authority, it is prophesied: “He shall stand, and shall feed his flock in the strength of Jehovah, in the majesty of the name of Jehovah his God: and they shall abide; for now shall he be great unto the ends of the earth.” — Mic. 5:4, Am. Rev. Ver.
13 Hence it is positively assured the remnant: “For the rod of the wicked shall not rest upon the lot of the righteous; lest the righteous put forth their hands unto iniquity.” (Ps. 125: 3) The “king of the north's” religious crowd would like to get in by the use of “fifth column” dupes, but the angels watch the entrances to God’s spiritual temple and Holy City. (Ezek. 40: 9,10; Rev. 21:12, 27) The wicked may try the rod of regimentation, but Jehovah's covenant people who have given him their word will not modify the routine of their lives and change from God’s work and way and conform to the totalitarian way. They continue to do the one thing stated in the Lord's commission to them, to preach this Kingdom gospel The wicked may persecute, but that does not affect the internal order of the organization, nor break up the unity of spirit and purpose and action, nor stop the submission and obedience to “the Higher Powers", God and Christ Jesus. Only the Lord's “rod” stays placed. The “elective elders” have been cleared out from “'being lords over God’s heritage'’. (1 Pet. 5:3) The faithful remnant and companions put forth theii hand to no iniquity, but only to God’s prescribed work.
14 The firstfruits belong unto God. His “little flock” are a “kind of firstfruits of his creatures”. “These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.” (Jas. 1: 18; Rev. 14:4) This flock is therefore God’s “heritage". It is a serious thing, therefore, for Satan’s organization Babylon to try to destroy Jehovah's heritage and prevent Him from having it for his use and purpose. It is his Theocracy under Christ Jesus Concerning Babylon of the land of the Chaldeans Jehovah says: “Chaldea shall be a spoil: all that spoil her shall be satisfied, saith the Lord. Because ye were glad, because ye rejoiced, O ye destroyers of mine heritage.” (Jer. 50:10-13) Let the persecutor nations be advised that Jehovah “will also gather all nations, and will bring them down into the valley of Jehoshaphat, and will plead with them there for my people and for my heritage Israel, whom they have scattered among the nations, and parted my land”. (Joel 3:1, 2) “They break in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage.”—Ps. 94:5.
15 The prophet describes the singular condition of Jehovah’s covenant people during the affliction of 1918: “the flock of thine heritage, which dwell solitarily m the wood, in the midst of Carmel.” “Cannel’ means a planted “field (garden, orchard, vineyard or park)” and is elsewhere translated “fruitful (plentiful) field”. Hence Rotherham renders the text: “Dwell thou alone a jungle in the midst of a fruitful field.” (See Isaiah 37:24, margin.) Round about the then unregulated, disorganized condition of God’s consecrated ones the Devil’s organization seemed to bloom and be fruitful with success and prosperity. But such is merely the forerunner of its destruction: “When the wicked spring as the grass, and when all the v orkers of iniquity do flourish, it is that they shall be destroyed for ever.” (Ps. 92: 7) Now, opposite to that former condition under God’s indignation, the prophetic prayer says: “Let them feed in Bashan and Gilead, as in the days of old.”
16 Bashan and Gilead lay east of the Jordan and were occupied by the tribes of Reuben and Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh, because being excellent sections of the Holy Land for flocks and cattle. (Deut. 3:12,13; Num. 32:1,16, 33) The prophet speaks of Jehovah’s remnant as a “flock”, “the flock of thine heritage,” and here therefore he fittingly mentions only the sheep-raising regions. But those two regions, Bashan and Gilead, being part of the Holy Land, stand representatively for the whole of it. For God's flock to be freed from Babylon and placed at liberty in God’s organization “as in the days of old” means as in the days when Christ Jesus and the apostles were still alive and active on earth. Then they freely and boldly preached throughout the land, “The kingdom of heaven is at hand!” Then the Good Shepherd personally led and fed the “little flock". However, the prophecy may also mean as during the forty-year period prior to 1918 known as the “Elijah period” because foreshadowed by the prophet Elijah’s activities against the priests and prophets of religion. During that “Elijah period” Jehovah’s Messenger was preparing the way for the Lord's coming to the temple for judgment. (Mal. 3:1-4) Letting the restored remnant feed thus means a great spread of the Kingdom witness work “in all the world for a witness unto all nations”. (Matt. 24:14) For years the Lord’s visible instrument for directing the witness, to wit, the Watch Tower Bible & Tract Society, had forty branches in key cities throughout the world. That was before Catholic dictator Hitler’s blitzkrieg got under way destroying democratic rights and liberties and fighting The Theocracy. But Hitler and his Axis partners of the totalitarian religious “abomination of desolation” have not been able to prevent portions from the Great Shepherd’s table from going to his faithful sheep even in the Axis-dominated lands, and they continue to give the witness to the Kingdom according to the way that the Lord has arranged. Consequently there also the Lord's “other sheep” continue to be gathered.
17 The Lord responds to the prayer of the remnant: “According to the days of thy coming [forth] out of the land of Egypt will I shew unto him marvellous things.” (Mic. 7 :15) This statement of Jehovah himself shows that the ten plagues upon Egypt, the Jews’ passover there, their deliverance from that house of bondage, the crossing of the Red sea and the engulfing of the pursuing Egyptian chariots and armies were typical, that is, prophetic patterns of far grander things to come to pass in this “day of Jehovah”, when He makes a name for himself and vindicates it. The prophet Moses back there foreshadowed Jehovah's great Prophet, Christ Jesus, to whom the covenant people of God must now hearken or else be destroyed. That Greater Moses has come to the temple, and the judgment is on. The choice is set before creatures, Obey, and live; fail or refuse to obey, and die! — Deut. 18:15-18; Acts 3:22,23; 7:37; Deut. 30:15, 19.
18 By the hand of that Greater Moses Jehovah commands and leads his people forth into liberty from antitypical Egypt, Satan's world. The preliminary nine plagues upon Egypt correspond with the judgment message from the Lord God exposing Satan's world and its official elements, and that “strange work” by Jehovah through the Greater Moses and the remnant of his brethren on earth has been going on since A.D. 1922. Then also the plagues foretold in Revelation 16 began to be poured out particularly on “Christendom”. The tenth plague, the destruction of the firstborn of antitypical Egypt, is a visible part of Jehovah’s "strange act”. It will strike them at the battle of Armageddon. The Lord God used his remnant under Christ and their companions to perform a part in the “strange work” of pouring out the preliminary plagues, and thereafter in His due time he has opened their eyes to understand the significance and how they had a part in the fulfilling of prophecy. Thereby he has shown unto them "marvellous things”. By his revealed prophecies they see by faith his marvellous “strange act’ at Armageddon to the eternal glory and vindication of his name. Then they shall sing as did the Israelites standing delivered on the other side of the Red sea. They shall see the salvation of Jehovah. - Ex. 15:1-21; 14:13.
19 “The nations shall see and be confounded [(Am. Rev. Ver.) The nations shall see and be ashamed] at all their might: they shall lay their hand upon their mouth, their ears shall be deaf.” (Mic. 7 :16) The might and valor of Jehovah’s remnant in his “strange work”, which is destructive to religion, has been seen by all the nations, particularly “Christendom”, and they have been put to shame by such zeal for Jehovah. The religionists do not have the zeal that is peculiar to the Lord’s house and they are forced to admit that fact. (Ps. 69: 9) Concerning Jehovah’s anointed remnant and their companions carrying on the Kingdom proclamation under stiff opposition and demoniacal persecution the prophecy said aforetime: '‘But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.” (Dan. 11: 32) Their strength and might are in Jehovah and his King, and they are valorous and courageous because of the backing of those '“Higher Powers”. During the enforced restraint upon Jehovah's covenant people in 1918 the religionists of all the nations opened their mouths wide in selfcredit for the seeming triumph, and in bragging, and in praise to the “‘god of this world”. Jehovah’s delivery of his people and thereafter using them to declare his name and kingdom throughout all nations where they had been persecuted and suppressed completely surprised the cocky religionists. It silenced their boasts and self-congratulations. They were terrified. (Rev. 11:10-12) "If thou hast done foolishly in lifting up thyself, or if thou hast thought evil, lay thine hand upon thy mouth.” (Prov. 30:32) '‘The righteous shall see it, and rejoice: and all iniquity shall stop her mouth." (Ps. 107:42) Let this not be understood to mean, however, that the enemy have ceased to reproach Jehovah God and to misrepresent, slander, falsely accuse, and taunt his faithful witnesses and their companions in service. In wild desperation the enemy indulge in that more viciously than ever. The Lord shall stop their wagging tongues in due time. At Armageddon "their tongue shall consume away in their mouth".—Zech. 14:12.
20‘‘Their ears shall be silent.” (Rotheham) Their ears itched to hear self-praise and good reports of progress in keeping Jehovah’s people under and out of action; but have now been deafened by the turn of events due to the Lord. Much as their ears have been tickled by hearing self-praise and flattery over past successes against the publishers of Jehovah's kingdom by Christ Jesus, now their ears are closed to such because the witness work moves on in spite of mobs, mischief framed by law, violent Catholic Action, and other forms of persecution and opposition. Their honors with the world count for nothing as long as Jehovah’s witnesses are loose and active; as the newly-honored Amalekite Haman said of Jehovah's faithful witness Mordecai: “Yet all this availeth me nothing, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate." (Esther 3:13) The ears of the modern Haman class and their allies have already been deafened by the success of Jehovah's "strange work”, but His "strange act” against them is just ahead, at Armageddon. Then the booming of God’s supernatural artillery, the pealing of his wartrumpets, the victory shouts of the hosts of heaven as they sweep forward conquering all opposers, will deafen the enemies’ ears. In confusion they shall be deaf to commands from their own superior officers and employers. At the terrific demonstration of Jehovah’s power used in war action the religious, commercial and political elements and their supporters will be both deaf and dumb with amazement, uncanny fear, shame and bitter disappointment at their final defeat. Compare Habakkuk 3:9-16.
21 “They shall lick the dust like a serpent, they shall move out of their holes like worms of the earth: they shall be afraid of the Lord our God, and shall fear because of thee.” (Mic. 7 :17) They are the “seed” of the Serpent that strike behind the back and at the heel. There is no food in dust, but it represents the low, dry, worthless things, without life. Licking the dust means their debasement to the level of the devilish enemy of God sentenced by Jehovah God to destruction under the heel of The Seed of God s “woman”. (Gen. 3:14.15) “Dust shall be the serpent meat.” (Isa. 65:25) "They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him [The Seed, Jehovah’s Vindicator-King]; and his enemies shall lick the dust.” (Ps. 72:9) Concerning their groveling humiliation Jehovah taunts those who belittle him and reproach his name: “Hide thee in the dust, for fear of the Lord [Jehovah], and for the glory of hm majesty. The lofty looks of man shall be humbled, and the haughtiness of men shall be bowed down : and the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day. - Isa. 2:10,11
22 In disdain of the Lord's provision for safe at Armageddon the religionists and fellow rulers of “Christendom” with much self-conceited reliance on their wisdom and ability to defend themselves say “We have made a covenant with death, and with hell are we at agreement; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us for we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid ourselves.” (Isa. 28:14.15) Jehovah is he that “sitteth upon the circle of the earth, and the inhabitants thereof are as grasshoppers" (Isa. 40 22), and of the scornful enemy he says "Like crawling things of the earth they shall come trembling out of their close places [their fastnesses].” (Am. Rev. Ver.; Rotherham) Before their destruction they shall be openly disgraced before the eyes of righteous, God-fearing creatures in heaven and earth and shall drag their bellies on the ground like vermin. No more such bold, stiff fronts and hurling defiance at Jehovah and his law in order to make an awe-inspiring impression upon creatures who are ensnared by the fear and reverence of men. Instead, now, they will exhibit cowardly, craven fear because of being proved liars, hypocrites, breakers of God’s law, now called to account before the Supreme Court of the universe. Their refuge of lies and their hiding-place of falsehood, their claimed agreement with hell (pit or grave), and all their hidden strongholds in Satan’s visible earthly organization they will find to be no effective place in which to hole up from execution. They shall have to squirm and wriggle out therefrom and to grovel and wipe up the dust with their gawdy, jewel-bedecked religious vestments and official robes, and their bellies like King Eglon's scraping the ground. With the terror of exposed crooks they will look upon the manifestation of Jehovah's power and glory in battle fire against them. (Isa. 28:17-21) Their hoar heads shall not go down to Gehenna in peace. Conscious of their present power and dignity they have treated Jehovah's servants with as little consideration as to worms, but now to his witnesses whose integrity is not broken by such reproach Jehovah says: “Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.” (Isa. 41:14) These face Armageddon with joyful expectation.
23 When the prophecy says of the foes of The Theocracy, "They shall come with fear [in dread] unto Jehovah our God” (Am. Rev. Ver.; Leeser), it does not mean their repentance. It is impossible to convert these willing opposers and their hangers- on that they might be spared and preserved from execution at the great Battle. Their “fear” then is not the beginning of wisdom and of life-giving knowledge for them. It is their dread due to being at last brought to know that Jehovah is God Almighty and that it is He whom they fought and at whose hand they must now die and perish like beasts. Their fear is what Jehovah by his demonstration, his "strange act”, compels them to manifest. He breaks their stubborn pride and disdain, their stiff, unbending backs, and then lets his faithful servants put their feet upon the necks of these as they bite the bitter dust in death. They will be forced to see the vindication of Jehovah’s name and the proof of his supremacy and universal domination, and be compelled to admit such before their destruction. “As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me. and every tongue shall confess to God.” (Rom 14:11) "I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, That unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear.” (Isa. 45: 23) Those doing so unwillingly shall perish. Longing for such vindication of Jehovah's name and word, the lovers of The Theocracy pray: "Make thy name known to thine adversaries, that the nations may tremble at thy presence!”— Isa. 64:2
CONSIDER
24 Samuel was one of the faithful prophets of old who testified concerning the establishment of Jehovah’s Theocratic Government. His return to life to be one of the “princes” in the “new earth” shall shortly be brought to pass by God's power. At a critical time Samuel stood firm for The Theocracy and exhorted the covenant people of God to a course of faithfulness and holding fast their integrity toward Jehovah. Said he: “Only fear the Lord, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.” (1 Sam. 12:24) At this late date and so near the Final end Jehovah's anointed remnant and their companions should carefully consider, and all other interested persons of good-will should consider, what great things the Lord God has done for those who have taken their stand on the side of his kingdom and held fast thereto with integrity and fulfilled their covenant obligations to him. Consider especially what great things he has done since 1925, when they discerned Jehovah's purpose to make a name for himself and they determined thenceforth to honor Jehovah’s name and to declare it through all the earth. Since then, how Jehovah has unfolded to their wondering gaze the prophecies "written aforetime” showing just how he will make this everlasting name for himself and vindicate it! — Isa. 63:12: 1 Chron. 17 : 20. 21.
25 All such great things thus far Jehovah has done to his faithful remnant and his "other sheep” for his name’s sake, to the honor of which name they are devoted. The issue is universal domination, to be established in vindication of God’s name. That is proved by Micah, who represents Jehovah’s witnesses and who says: “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy.” (Mic. 7:18) This expresses the heart attitude of Jehovah’s remnant of spiritual Israel today with the history of his dealings with them since the setting up of his Theocracy in 1914 to be considered and its meaning to be studied. Satan, the "god of this world”, is enraged at the established Theocracy. He is out to effect the destruction of even his own demon crowd and all his devotees on earth when he himself goes down at Armageddon. “Rule or ruin,” is his merciless purpose. He shows no mercy to any, but brings great woes upon the peoples of earth to make them all curse God and turn away from his place of refuge and thereby lose all divine protection during the '‘battle of that great day of God Almighty”. To the direct contrary, Jehovah in his mercy to the remnant of his elect ones shortened the tribulation in 1918. He did this that these might be recovered from their iniquity of lip and the uncleanness of the fear of men and might serve him anew as his witnesses and thereby receive salvation from God. Proving God’s mercy Christ Jesus said: “For then shall be great tribulation [beginning upon Satan’s organization with the ‘war in heaven’ and his being cast out], such as was not since the beginning of the world to this time, no, nor ever shall be. And except those days should be shortened, there should no flesh be saved: but for the elect’s sake those days shall be shortened.”— Matt. 24:21, 22.
26 The Devil having been cast out and down to the earth, Christ Jesus did not press the “war in heaven” further to the immediate destruction then of Satan and all his organization, demon and human, but has permitted him to remain. At Armageddon, and at the signal from the great Commander-in-Chief Jehovah, he will renew the battle and bring the final end of the tribulation upon all the enemy crowd visible and invisible. During this shortening of the days in the middle of the tribulation period Jehovah sends forth his remnant, whose iniquity he has pardoned. These, having received such great mercy, show mercy to others in danger of destruction. They publish to all having hearing ears Jehovah’s kingdom message of salvation, warning the ones in danger to flee from religion and to seek refuge under His Theocratic Government by Christ Jesus. “Forasmuch as there is none like unto thee, O Lord: thou art great, and thy name is great in might. Who would not fear thee. O King of nations [that is, the Holy nation’ and the nations composed of the ‘great multitude’]?”—Jer. 10:6,7.
27 All the physical facts since 1918 considered, it is manifest that “Christendom" has committed and continues to commit unpardonable sin against Jehovah and his Theocracy. On the other hand, He has pardoned the iniquity of his repentant servants and passed over the transgression of the “remnant of his heritage’’, reinstating them in his service, anointing them, equipping them with his message of salvation and of vengeance, calling them by the “new name”, “Jehovah’s witnesses,” and then sending them forth as such to the performance of his “strange work” against religion. Concerning their restoration from Babylon to the Holy Land of his organization and service Jehovah said aforetime: “And I will bring Israel again to his habitation, and he shall feed on Carmel and Bashan, and his soul shall be satisfied upon mount Ephraim and Gilead. In those days, and in that time, saith the Lord, the iniquity of Israel shall be sought for, and there shall be none; and the sins of Judah, and they shall not be found: for I will pardon them whom I reserve [the godly remnant of spiritual Israelites].” (Jer. 50:18-20) This pardon is according to the terms of Jehovah’s new covenant, which he inaugurated toward his “people for his name” in 1918: “Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah; . . . for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31:31-34) “And so all Israel [including the remnant] shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness [religion] from Jacob [surnamed Israel] : for this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.” (Rom. 11:26,27) The rule Jehovah announces in this day of judgment at the temple is: “But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, . . . all his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him: in his righteousness that he hath done he shall live.”—Ezek. 18: 21-28.
28 What if Jehovah had retained his anger and displeasure against his consecrated ones who yielded to the enemy organization in 1918 to the neglect of the work God assigned them? Had he retained his anger till Armageddon those consecrated ones in the flesh would not have been saved, but destroyed. Concerning the remnant who turned to him confessing their failure and offering themselves as willing volunteers for his work yet to be done on earth, “he hath not held fast perpetually his anger.” (Rotherham) As to the bold and public service to Jehovah’s name that followed, the Lord said concerning the restored remnant: “And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me." (Isa. 12:1) This the Supreme Judge has done “because he delighteth in mercy”, that is, toward those repentant and with purified hearts. “For One who delighteth in lovingkindness is he!” (Rotherham) The remnant, and now also their beloved companions, can of actual experience say: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide; neither will he keep his anger [at his servants under discipline] for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities. For as the heaven is high above the earth, so great is his mercy toward them that fear him.” (Ps. 103:8-11) “With the merciful [toward the spiritually hungry people of good-will] thou wilt shew thyself merciful." - Pss. 18:25; 103:17,18.
29 The creature is not important, but all such mercy Jehovah displays for his own name’s sake. His name has long been reproached by the Devil, who charges that Jehovah cannot put a man on earth who will hold fast his blamelessness and faultlessness toward God under assault and test by the Devil. By such the adversary seeks to cause the fall of Jehovah’s servants and thus give cause and occasion for all God’s enemies to reproach God and doubt his supreme power. (Ezek. 36: 21-24) It is a mercy to his faithful servants for Jehovah to destroy the wicked. “Thou, therefore, O Lord God of hosts, the God of Israel, awake to visit all the heathen [the nations forgetting God] : be not merciful to any wicked transgressors.” ‘‘And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.” (Pss. 59:5; 143:12) Jehovah is merciful to those who are determined not to turn again to foolishness of this world but to be faithful to the end. Such prayed in 1918: “Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people may rejoice in thee? Shew us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord will speak: for he will speak peace [of forgiveness] unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.”—Ps. 85:6-8.
30 The prophetic words have been brought to pass upon the faithful consecrated ones from and after 1918: “He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities: and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea.” (Mic. 7:19) To “turn again” means repetition or renewal; hence the text is also rendered: “He will again have compassion upon us” (Rotherham); “he will again have mercy on us” (Leeser). “He will tread our iniquities under foot.” (Am. Rev. Ver.) In his compassion Jehovah again did as in the time of old toward the remnant of natural Israel, and this time he delivered the spiritual remnant from Babylon. Their iniquities he trod under foot as though enemies. Such he did by the purging power of the truth. “By mercy and truth iniquity is purged: and by the fear of the Lord [and not of creatures] men depart from evil.” (Prov. 16:6) Upon those approved at the temple judgment Jehovah poured out a “double portion” of Elijah’s spirit, which was as a purifying “live coal”, ‘taken by the angel with the tongs from off the altar.’ (Isa. 6: 6, 7; 2 Ki. 2:9, 10) This treading down meant also the subduing of those in the congregation who promote iniquity or lawlessness toward God’s work. Thereby Jehovah caused a separating-out of the “workers of iniquity”, the “evil servant” class: “And I will purge out from among you the rebels, and them that transgress against me: I will bring them forth out of the country where they sojourn, and they shall not enter [with the remnant] into the land of Israel; and ye shall know that I am the Lord [Jehovah].” (Ezek. 20:38; Matt. 13:41) When such of the “evil servant” class tried to get in the way of the Lord’s work, the faithful remnant trod right over them and went ahead, and the four wheels of Jehovah’s great “chariot” or organization rolled on irresistibly over all of Satan’s human scotch-blocks. - Ezekiel 1.
31 The “sins” that are drowned in the depths of the sea are not those which are due to inheriting weakness and frailty from the sinner Adam, but were those of failing to do the things that the Christian is commissioned to do, and hence the coming short in the fulfillment of his covenant obligations toward God. Such “sins” the consecrated were guilty of in 1918 and for a short time thereafter, due to fear of men and being overreached by the enemy organization which was mistakenly considered as “the Higher Powers”. The prophet Isaiah, as a prototype, confessed to suchlike sins, and then the Lord in his loving-kindness purged him. The “depths of the sea” serves to show the submerging of “all their sins” without any trace left, out of sight and beyond recovery of the deepest-going deep-sea divers. The enemy accuser cannot bring them up before God to condemn the faithful remnant to His face. Those sins are beyond recovery just as much as Babylon will be when Jehovah’s mighty angel lifts her up from her entrenched position and hurls her “like a great millstone, . . . into the sea. saying. Thus with violence shall that great city Babylon he thrown down, and shall be found no more at all". (Rev. 18:21) The remnant can assuredly say: “As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us." (Ps. 103:12) According to the terms of the new covenant Jehovah says: 'And I will remember their sin no more.” (Jer. 31: 34: Heb 8:12) Therefore the members of the Lord's faithful remnant put from among them all religious things of belief and practice, and that beyond recovery, just as the Lord God has done with their sins.
TRUTH AND MERCY
32 The truth of the greatest importance in the Bible, and which God sets foremost therein, is that concerning his kingdom, The Theocracy. This is so because it is that capital organization of Jehovah which vindicates his name and destroys all opponents to his universal domination as the Supreme Ruler Jehovah God is the great Theocrat, the Father and Creator of The Theocratic Government. Of Him the patriarch Abraham was a “friend”. Hence Abraham was used as a type of Jehovah God. God’s firstborn and only begotten Son he gave to be the King of that promised Theocratic Government. That beloved Son entered into the covenant of sacrifice and was faithful therein toward Ins God and Father, even unto the death. Therefore Christ Jesus was foreshadowed by Abraham's son Isaac, whom Abraham offered in figure in sacrifice to Jehovah God Isaac was thereby used to picture The Seed or Timocratic King whom Jehovah mentioned in his covenant with Abraham: “And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed: because thou hast obeyed my voice.” (Gen. 22:18) Isaac had twin sons. Jehovah chose the younger, Jacob by name, who was faithful to God, and to him Jehovah renewed the promise concerning the coming Theocratic Government and The Seed who rules therein. Therefore Jacob pictures not merely Christ Jesus The Seed, but also the brethren of Christ Jesus associated with him in the Theocratic Rule, and concerning these brethren he says: “Behold I and the children which God hath given me.” (Heb. 2:13; Isa. 8:18) By these three faithful men, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, therefore, is pictured that Theocracy whose universal domination shall be for ever.
33 Jehovah was not obliged to do it. It was out of his loving-kindness, hence his mercy, that he made provision for this wonderful Government that shall extend God’s mercy to sinful creatures on earth who desire to come into harmony with him that they might live and use their lives eternally to the glory of the great "Father of mercies and the God of all comfort”. Therefore Jehovah said to Abraham concerning The Seed of the promise: “So [by faith and obedience] shall all the nations of the earth bless themselves in thy seed.” (Gen. 22:18, Rotherham) “Thy seed, which is Christ.” (Gal. 3:16) Those whose destiny is involved in the promise as heirs thereof, and all others of good-will who desire the fulfillment of God’s promise, may be fully assured of the truth and faithfulness of his promise. Jehovah swore thereto with an oath by the greatest and highest personage in the universe, His own self. — Heb. 6:13-20.
34 With unwavering confidence, therefore, Jehovah's inspired prophet said: "Thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob [the Christ, Head and body], and the mercy to Abraham, which thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old.” (Mic. 7: 20) Abraham, Jacob and the other faithful men of old are not yet brought back from the dead in a “better resurrection"; they are not yet made “princes in all the earth” under that Theocratic Government, but the truth and mercy God expressed to Jacob and Abraham he has fulfilled. The oath with which he swore to the fathers of Christ Jesus from the days of old Jehovah God has kept inviolate. His mercy, truth and faithfulness are upheld and shall shortly at Armageddon be completely vindicated.
35 The Theocratic Government is here, it having begun with Jehovah's enthronement of the King thereof in A.D. 1914. Since his coming to the temple and being presented as King to all the universe, including the earth, there are now associated with him the faithful followers that finished their earthly course faithfully and who at his coming were raised, being changed from human to spirit, and given 'glory, honor and immortality'. (1 Cor. 15:51-54; Rom. 2:7) Yet on earth for God’s purpose there remain the faithful remnant who are in line to be of that Greater Jacob’s body members, The Complete Christ of which Jesus is the Head. They serve on. awaiting also their change in Jehovah’s due time. “Thou wilt show faithfulness unto Jacob” (Leeser); “Thou wilt grant the faithfulness to Jacob.” (Rotherham) That, therefore, and let it be known to all. the persons of good-will and the persecutors alike, is the reason for Jehovah’s merciful and faithful dealings with his devoted remnant in this day of our Lord Jesus Christ. “O ye seed of Abraham his servant, ye children of Jacob his chosen. He is the Lord our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He hath remembered his covenant for ever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations: . . . He suffered no man to do them wrong; yea. he reproved kings for their sakes; saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.” (Ps. 105: 6-15) Jehovah's reproof has for some time now been administered to the “kings”, both “of the north” and "of the south”, and also the ruling factors of all the world. The continued persecution upon Jehovah’s anointed ones and their inseparable companions shows that the religious-political factors and their supporters have hardened their necks. They “shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy”. — Prov. 29: 1.
36 Not for very much longer shall the people mourn because such stiff-necked wicked ones bear rule. The glorious day of the triumph of Jehovah’s Theocracy by his Seed, Christ Jesus, is at hand, and then, “when the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice.” (Prov. 29: 2) The rejoicing has already begun among those enlightened by God's prophecy and who with the eye of faith see Jehovah’s Righteous Kingdom begun. Their rejoicing shall never end. It shall reach its height of jubilation at the smashing grand climax of the “battle of that great day of God Almighty’, Armageddon. Therefore let the remnant and then- devoted companions not flinch under increasing opposition, reproach and persecution Let them continue to move on in unbreakable unity, fighting shoulder to shoulder against the enemies of Jehovah and his King. Let their heart’s affection be fixed immovably upon The Theocracy, and let the love of Christ hold them faithful to their covenant with Jehovah God unto the end, all for the vindication of his glorious and holy name. Blessed be that name for evermore!
(Conclusion)
Jehovah reigneth; he is clothed with majesty; Jehovah is clothed with strength; he hath girded himself therewith: the world also is established, that it cannot be moved. Thy throne is established of old: thou art from everlasting. Thy testimonies are very sure: holiness becometh thy house, O Jehovah, for evermore. — Psalm 93 :1, 2,5, A. R. V.
HID DURING THE INDIGNATION
FOR our day it was providently written “Come, my people, enter thou into thy chambers, and shut thy doors about thee, hide thyself as it were for a little moment, until the indignation be overpast. For, behold, the Lord cometh out of his place to punish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity: the earth also shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her slain.’’—Isa. 26:20. 21.
Manifestly this prophecy does not refer to the resurrection of the dead, but to the fact that the Lord God will lay bare the bloody record of Satan’s visible organization, particularly the totalitarian-religious powers of aggression, and will call universal attention to the fact, as well as take note thereof himself, and will bring the guilty ones to account. No more can the Roman Catholic Hierarchy and other clergy of the totalitarian lands hide their hypocrisy by declaring the bloody acts of the aggressors a “crusade” against ungodliness and for Christianity.
The prophecy is proof that the clergy who have taken ti e name of the Lord God and misrepresented him are a part of the Devil's organization Jehovah comes out of his place to express his indignation against the evildoers, and, at Isaiah 27: 1, immediately following the above-quoted prophecy, it is said "In that day the Lord, with his sore, and great, and strong sword, shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent [the gliding, fleeing or elusive monster (marginal reading A.R.V, and Roth.)], even leviathan that crooked serpent, and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.”
The leviathan is a monster in the sea, and clearly pictures the “red dragon”, the Devil's organization (Compare Revelation 12:9; 20:2.) The entire organization of Satan has been elusive, even to the point where the people have been made to believe that there is no Devil, and many who claim to be of Christ have been unable to detect or see the Devil’s organization. What part of his organization, therefore, is the most elusive? Undoubtedly the ecclesiastical or religious element, made up of the clergy and "principal of the flock”.
When Jesus was on the earth he referred to the clergy, calling them a “generation of supers” or serpents. This shows that these are the seed of the Serpent, Satan, and are a part of his wicked organization They are the chief instruments used in persecuting the faithful witnesses of Jehovah who are followers of Christ Jesus “They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent; adders’ poison is under their lips.” (Ps. 140.3) From the time that they are hatched out of the theological schools they are active members of the wicked organization “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray as soon as they be bora, speaking lies. Their poison is like the poison of a serpent; they are like the deaf adder that stoppeth her car.” (Ps. 58: 3, 4) That element of Satan’s organization, deaf to cries of righteousness and truth, unceasingly fire their venomous darts at the faithful witnesses of God and his Theocratic Government. At the same time they glide among the people, exalting their own virtues, falsely claiming to represent God.
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