The Watchtower, July 15, 1943
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“THE ONLY LIGHT” TESTIMONY PERIOD
Through the darkness now covering the earth the divine command comes to all those enlightened with the truth to “arise and shine” and reflect the rays of “The Only Light” upon the ignorant and blinded. The month of August has been designated as “The Only Light” Testimony Period Jehovah’s witnesses and all persons of good-will will then specially exert themselves in compliance with the heavenly command. During this midsummer month the ‘arising and shining’ will be done mainly by renewed efforts with the book The New World and the booklet Fighting for Liberty on the Home Front, on a contribution of 25e Many can arrange their vacations to spend all their time or more of it than usual in this grand work of enlightenment. Will you join m letting your light shine! Your participation will be welcomed, and we shall be glad to furnish references to any wanting to associate with the nearest company of Jehovah’s witnesses in action. When the month’s testimony is over, send in your report of work accomplished and the results.
“WATCHTOWER" STUDIES
Week of August 22: “Kingdom Sign of the Servants," fl 1-20 inclusive, The Watchtower July 15, 1943.
Week of August 29: “Kingdom Sign of the Servants,” fl 21-41 inclusive, The Watchtower July 15, 1943.
"THE WATCHTOWER”
The Watchtower is a magazine without equal in the earth, and is conceded this rank by all that have been faithful readers thereof during its more than sixty years of publication. The Watchtower has increased in importance with the progress of the years, and never has it been more valuable than today, at this world crisis. when the destiny of each intelligent human creature is being decided. The getting of correct information and instruction, just such as is required for the times, to decide your course wisely to a happy destiny, was never more vital than now, for “where there is no vision, the people perish”. Informed persons well acquainted with the consistent contents of The Watchtower agree that those who want to gain life in peace and happiness without end should read and study it together with the Bible and in company with other readers. This is not giving any credit to the magazine’s publishers, but is due to the great Author of the Bible with its truths and prophecies, and who now interprets its prophecies. He it is that makes possible the material that is published in the columns of this magazine and who gives promise that it shall continue to publish the advancing truths as long as it continues to exist for the service of the interests of his Theocratic Government. Carefully and prayerfully read this issue of The Watchtower. Then do not delay to mail in your subscription, that you may receive it regularly, twice a month, twenty-four copies the year. It is $1.00 in the United States; $1.50 elsewhere.
Vol. LXIV July 15,1943 No. 14
KINGDOM SIGN OF THE SERVANTS
"And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations: and then shall the end come. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?”—Matt. 24:14,45.
JEHOVAH is the Everlasting King, who holds universal domination. "The Lord is the true God, he is the living God, and king of eternity: at his wrath the earth shall tremble, and the nations shall not be able to abide his indignation." (Jer. 10:10, marginal reading) Jehovah God is the Author of the kingdom that shall rid all creation of every rebel against his universal domination.
2 Thousands of years ago the universal King fixed unchangeably the time for the establishment of the Kingdom in the hands of his Son, Christ Jesus. The Royal Record definitely shows that such time was to be at the end of the uninterrupted rule of this world by Satan the Devil. At that same time the uninterrupted “seven times" of the Gentile domination of this globe would expire. Such end was reached in the autumn of A. D. 1914. There the Lord God Almighty took to himself his great power and began reigning, and the kingdom of the promised new world became the active, operating kingdom of our Lord Jehovah and of his Christ. (Rev. 11: 15-18, Am. Rev. Ver.) You ask: ‘What are the proofs of this! To what signs can you point?’
3 Signs are necessary to discern this wondrous fact. We cannot see with our naked eyes Jehovah God himself reigning on his exalted throne of the universe. When, long ago, the prophet Isaiah had simply a vision of the Lord God seated upon his throne in the temple, the prophet was deathly afraid that his destruction was impending. He cried out: “Wo to me, for I have been silent, for a man—unclean of lips am I, and in midst of a people unclean of lips I am dwelling, because the King, Jehovah of Hosts, have my eyes seen.” (Isa. 6:1-5, Young's translation) The great King of Eternity has ever been “dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting”. (1 Tim. 6: 16) His Son, to whom Jehovah gives the kingdom of the new world, is the One “by whom also he made the worlds; who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; being made so much better than the angels”.—Heb. 1: 2-4.
1 What is Jehovah's relationship to all the living universe?
2 As fixed by Jehovah God, at what time was the establishment of the Kingdom to take place, and at that time what took place?
3 Why are signs necessary to discern that wondrous fact?
4 It is equally impossible, and ever will be impossible, for human creatures on this earth to see with the naked human eye Jehovah’s resurrected Son, Christ Jesus, on his Kingdom throne. It is possible, however, to perceive or discern that fact by the eye of faith, faith in God’s Word as backed up by the signs of our day. But those lacking love of God’s kingdom and blinded by selfishness and admiration of human vanities refuse to exercise faith and see, just as selfish men failed to see or discern that Christ Jesus is King when he was among them on earth as a man. “Therefore they could not believe, because that Esaias [Isaiah] said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their heart; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them. These things said Esaias. when he saw his [Jehovah’s] glory, and spake of him.” (John 12:39-41) Consequently, amid the battle clouds of Armageddon it will become necessary for Christ to make every eye see or discern the fact that he has come into his kingdom. When all ‘those who pierced him’ and all kindreds of the earth are forced to see that fact they will see they are fighting against Jehovah’s reigning King and that the war clouds of divine wrath are thundering destruction for them. Then they will all wail, in bitterness, but not in repentance. —Rev. 1: 7.
SIGNS
5 Since Jehovah’s anointed King and his Theocratic kingdom are invisible to man’s physical eyes, God in his grace and helpfulness provides abundant and overwhelming signs in proof that Satan’s uninterrupted rule or world has ended and the Government of the new world has been established. Those who see the signs and who wisely heed their portent will zealously serve the King and the Kingdom. Those who selfishly blind themselves to the signs and defy their meaning will show indifference to the Kingdom interests and will drunkenly indulge themselves in the things of this world and hypocritically oppose the Kingdom and its servants. In fact, among the signs speaking most loudly of the end of the world and of the invisible presence of Christ in the Kingdom is the visible sign of two opposing servants, a “faithful and wise servant” and “that evil servant”. The existence of these servants and their activities must plainly appear when Satan’s world rule ends and Jehovah’s Kingdom begins. Those servants are visible today, in conjunction with the many other foretold signs. This is strong, indisputable evidence that Satan's rule has been interrupted and the Kingdom has begun.
4. What is It that keeps men from discerning that fact? and when and how will they be forced to bee that fact?
5 What is the course of those who heed and those who do not heed the signs’ and what particular sign speaks most loudly today?
6 According to the King’s own prophecy we should expect and be looking around now to spot the two servants. Why? Because the servants were foretold to take the stage of action after the World War. Every informed person knows that World War I began in A.D. 1914 and ended with a truce in 1918. And when Christ Jesus was asked, “When shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming [parousia, or presence], and of the end of the world?” did he not reply: "Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows”? In that first world conflict whole nations, geared entirely for war, rose up against other nations likewise totally geared. Then food-shortages and rationing and the devastating plagues and destructive earthquakes came and added to the slaughter of war among the noncombatants and neutrals. The sorrows there begun upon Satan's world organization have not ceased even at this date, twenty-nine years later. Certainly the nations were not then fighting for the setting up and advancement of the kingdom of God; the postwar world has had no likeness to the kingdom of God on earth. In fact, all the nations hated and afflicted those who gave their full and undivided devotion to the kingdom of Jehovah God by his Christ.—Matt. 24:3-9.
7 In order for those who profess to be Christians and Jews to make an intelligent and responsible choice either for the Government of the new world or against it, it is necessary that the good news of the Kingdom be published to inform them what it means. At least they must be put in the way of getting such vital information. If they refuse such information, the responsibility for their willful ignorance and opposition is their own. “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? and how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom. 10: 13-15,17) That the people would not be left in ignorance, but that there would be a mighty publicity campaign to spread the good news that Jehovah’s kingdom was set up in A.D. 1914 and that the old world is on its way out, Christ Jesus expressly predicted.
6 Why should we now be expecting end looking around to spot the two “servants”?
7 In order for Christians and Jews to make an intelligent and responsible choice respecting the Kingdom, what is necessary, and was such necessary thing predicted?
8 After detailing the sorrows of world war and the persecution of his faithful disciples Jesus added: “But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” (Matt. 24:13,14) And has there not been a tremendous preaching of Jehovah’s Messianic kingdom for a witness to all the nations of the world since A.D. 1914, or more particularly so since the end of World War I in 1918? Yes, there has. And by whom? Not by the religious organizations of “Christendom” and Jewry with their plans of bringing in the Messianic kingdom by world conversion. No; not by them, but by Jehovah’s witnesses, who have persistently called at the homes of the people, year in and year out, to bear witness directly to the people concerning Jehovah’s establishment of the Theocratic Government of his dear Son, Christ Jesus. Such witnesses have been comparatively few, a small minority indeed against a background of millions of Catholics and Protestants and other religionists. Yet their continuous efforts since 1918, in the teeth of mounting opposition and persecution, has resulted, to date, in the placing of more than 400 million copies of books and booklets, in over eighty different languages. Add to this other hundreds of millions of magazines, free tracts and pamphlets distributed, and countless Bible lectures on the public platform, over the radio, and by phonograph recordings and sound cars and boats.
9 To Jehovah God and Christ Jesus is given the credit for such unheard-of accomplishment. It had to have divine backing, because the divine prophecies had foretold such a Kingdom witness, and the prophecies must never fail, but be fulfilled exactly at the right time. The prophecies are not yet completely fulfilled; and so the witness work goes on, and will go on, till the final end of the sorrows of the nations comes, at Armageddon.
8 What was Christ’s particular prediction on this, and how and through whom has it been fulfilled?
9 To whom must the credit for such accomplishment be given, and why?
“FAITHFUL AND WISE SERVANT”
10 The foregoing facts are unimpeachable and unassailable. They are irremovable signs testifying that Satan's “world" or uninterrupted rule ended in A.D. 1914 by the birth of the kingdom of Jehovah God and of his Christ. After foretelling such now established facts Christ Jesus pointed forward to other impressive signs of the invisible Kingdom and of his coming to the temple for judgment. His coming into the Kingdom power was in A.D. 1914, but the prophecies foretold his coming to the temple thereafter to execute judgment, first toward his professed followers and then toward all the nations of the world. (Mal. 3:1-4; Hag. 2: 6, 7; Zech. 3: 8, 9; Rev. 11:18,19) In his prophecy on the end of the world Jesus was speaking to his consecrated disciples when he warned: "Therefore be ye also ready: for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh. Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season? Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods. But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming; and shall begin to smite his fellowservants, and to eat and drink with the drunken; the lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”—Matt. 24:44-51.
11 With such phrase the great Prophet was not giving advance notice of the appearing of two individual persons prior to his coming to the temple for judgment of his servants. Christ Jesus is the only individual whom the sacred prophecies have foretold. John the Baptist was only a miniature fulfillment of certain prophecies, besides which he himself served in a prophetic role. Otherwise, the Bible prophecies treat of classes or organizations of individuals. The apostles to whom Jesus directly uttered his prophecy were members of Jehovah’s covenant people, the nation of Israel. They were also the foremost ones of a small remnant of the Israelites who accepted Christ Jesus as the Messiah at his first coming. Says the apostle Paul on this: “Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.” (Rom. 11:5,7) This remnant foreshadowed how at the establishment of the Messianic government and the Lord’s coming to the temple there should likewise be merely a remnant that would prove to be his true and faithful disciples. These are Israelites, not after the flesh, but after the spirit. They are Jehovah’s covenant people, not by virtue of the law covenant he made with the natural Israelites through Moses as mediator, but by virtue of the new covenant which Jehovah makes with spiritual Israelites through the Greater Mediator than Moses, Christ Jesus.
10 Of what are the foregoing facts signs’ and besides foretelling them, what sign of warning did he foretell respecting service?
11 (a) Why was Jesus not foretelling of two individual persons? (b) Who of the Israelites accepted Christ Jesus at bis first advent, and what does this foreshadow?
12 Those whom the heavenly Father Jehovah accepts and begets by his spirit to become his spiritual children with Christ Jesus constitute his spiritual Israelites, “the Israel of God.” (Gal. 6:15,16) Jehovah God adopts them and makes them members of his royal house of sons of which Christ Jesus is the Head. Why? Because they believe Jehovah's message and make Him their God and accept Christ Jesus as their Ransomer and King. Then they prove their faith by their works. How? By making a consecration of themselves to God through the meritorious sacrifice of Christ Jesus and then seeking to fulfill their consecration by faithfully doing God's will as set forth in his written Word. Before He takes such ones into the covenant with him by sacrifice, Jehovah God makes them acceptable to himself by justifying them through the merit of Christ’s sacrifice. After taking them into the covenant by sacrifice to die a sacrificial death with Christ Jesus, God begets them to a hope of life in the spirit. (1 Pet. 1:3,4,14-23) Such spirit-begotten ones as manifest faithfulness under test, he then anoints with his spirit of power to be his appointed witnesses, preachers of the good news of his kingdom, and joint heirs with Christ Jesus in that kingdom. It is written to them: “Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts.”—2 Cor. 1: 21, 22.
13 The prophet Isaiah looked down to the end of the world and to the small remnant of spiritual Israel who take their stand, not with the chief men of this world, but for Jehovah’s established kingdom. Then he said: “But thou, Israel, art my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the seed of Abraham mv friend. Thou whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, and called thee from the chief men thereof, and said unto thee, Thou art my servant; I have chosen thee, and not cast thee away.” (Isa. 41: 8, 9) Have in mind now that Jesus foretold that all the nations would hate the remnant of his consecrated followers, and that false prophets and false Christs would rise up and make predictions of things to come. In line with this the prophet Isaiah further spoke, to identify those who are truly God’s servant: “All the nations are gathered together, yea, there is an assembling of peoples; who among them can tell this, and things in advance can let us hear? Let them set forth their witnesses that they may get their right, or let them hear and say, Truth! Ye are my witnesses, declareth Jehovah, and my Servant whom I have chosen, ... I have told and will save and make known, that there is among you no strange one; and ye are my witnesses, declareth Jehovah, that I am God. A people which I have fashioned for myself, my praise shall they record.” (Isa. 43:9,10,12,21, Roth.) “Do not ye dread, nor yet be alarmed; have I not from olden time told thee and declared? So that ye are my witnesses, whether there is a God besides me? or is no Rock—I know of none! Remember these things, O Jacob, and Israel, for my Servant thou art, I have fashioned thee; a Servant of mine thou art.”—Isa. 44:8,21, Roth.
12. By what course of action and by what divine dealings with them do such ones become spiritual sons of God and his anointed witnesses?
13. What prophecies did Isaiah make concerning God's servant and the identity thereof?
14 In the light of those prophecies which focuses on the time concerning which Jesus prophesied, it is clearly discernible that our Lord’s prophecy of a “faithful and wise servant” was not foretelling some individual man. He was foretelling a class, a people, namely, the remnant of Jehovah’s witnesses. Nineteen centuries ago, after only a remnant of the natural Jews denied themselves and took up the stake of reproach to come after Christ Jesus as their Leader and King, Jehovah God turned to the non-Jewish nations to select from them the remaining members of the “body of Christ”. Simeon, whose surname was Peter, was the first apostle whom God sent to such Gentile nations. “Simeon hath declared how God at the first did visit the Gentiles to take out of them a people for his name.”—Acts 15:14.
15 Such taken-out people must serve Jehovah God as witnesses for his name, that is, as Jehovah’s witnesses. Throughout the centuries since then and till now the Lord God has been taking out from the worldly nations this “people for his name”, spiritual Israelites, upon whom the name of Jehovah is called. These, as a people, make up God’s servant, and Christ Jesus is Jehovah’s Chief Servant among them and is their Head. For that reason Jesus on earth charged the people whom he healed that “they should not make him known: that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by Esaias the prophet, saying, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen; my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased: I will put my spirit upon him, and he shall shew judgment to the Gentiles. And in his name shall the Gentiles trust”. — Matt. 12:14-18, 21.
14 In such prophetic light what is the ‘‘faithful and wise servant” discerned to be, and of what people is such “servant" a part?
15 As what, therefore, must such people serve, and who according to the prophecy of Isaiah is their head?
preparing the servant
16 The time of Christ’s coming to the temple is a time of judgment, when he makes manifest who is the “faithful and wise servant” and who is “that evil servant”. Malachi’s prophecy, chapter three, announces that before the arrival of this great Messenger at Jehovah’s spiritual temple there should be a preparatory work, that Jehovah’s faithful people might be taken out and might walk in the way that leads to the Kingdom, and in order that the Lord’s Messenger at the temple might be received by a devoted remnant of such “people for his name”. Authentic history does record such preparatory work, beginning about forty years before the Messenger’s coming.
17 About 1878 a small band of consecrated Christians, wholly devoted to Jehovah God and seeking to know his will and to serve him, were meeting together for study of the Scriptures, in search of “meat in due season”, apart from all religious sects. In the following year the Lord God caused the “meat in due season” to begin to be served to the spiritually hungry ones by means of the publication of a magazine, first called “Zion’s Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence”. In its first issue, as of July, 1879. the Watch Tower said respecting its purpose: “As its name indicates, it aims to be the lookout from whence matters of interest and profit may be announced to the ‘little flock,’ and as the 'Herald of Christ’s Presence,' to give the ‘meat in due season to the ‘household of faith.’ . . . We understand that the object of the present witnessing is ‘To take out a people for His name’—the Church—who at Christ’s coming are united to him.”
18 Later (in 1909) the magazine was called “The Watch Tower and Herald of Christ’s Presence”. It was the first magazine to publish and prove that Christ’s second coming must be in the spirit, invisible to human eye, and that his coming would be followed by his presence, or parousia (mistranslated “coming”). The purpose of the parousia is the gathering of his remnant of faithful followers away from all religious organizations and then the binding of Satan and the destroying of his wicked organization. In the Watchtower issue of June, 1880, page 6, it published that the end of the “seven times” of the Gentiles would fall in A.D. 1914. (Luke 21: 24) This was indeed “meat in due season”. Feeding thereon, God’s consecrated people for his name were put in great expectancy and on the watch.
16 What “servants” must be made manifest at the temple judgment and why must a preparatory work precede Christ’s coming to the temple?
17 Accordingly, what was in progress in 1878, and what was published in July, 1879?
18 What timely truths or “meat in due season” was this magazine the first to publish?
19 In 1884 it was deemed well to establish a corporation for the wider and more effective spreading of the Bible truths by means of tracts, pamphlets, papers, and other documents. Hence the Zion's Watch Tower Tract Society (now Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society) was chartered at Allegheny, Pennsylvania, according to the Corporation law of that State. This legal, non-profit corporation was merely an instrument for publishing the message and for organizing and forwarding the work of those fully dedicated to Jehovah's service. Here, then, was a company, group or body of Christians, a “people for his name’’, wholly detached from all religious systems and unreservedly consecrated and separated to the Lord God, and seeking solely to do his will as revealed in his Holy Word. As such they constituted a servant body of the Lord, wholly subject to his will and commandments. They were looking for their Head and Master to finish the earthly work with his church and to take them unto himself in the heavenly realm. They did not know for a certainty the date or day or hour of their Lord’s coming to the temple for judgment; but they expected marvelous things to occur at the end of the Times of the Gentiles, in 1914. Were such ones prepared as the “faithful and wise servant” class in the years of preparing the way before Christ’s coming to the temple? How shall we determine this?
20 Christ Jesus said: “Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit.” (Matt. 7: 16, 17) The Lord provides the fruit for his fruit-bearers. It is good fruit, being found in his written Word as He makes it understandable. The Lord’s “servant” must hold forth and carry forth those fruits to others who hunger for truth and righteousness. Alongside that note again Jesus’ words: "Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?” (Matt. 24:45) Jehovah God does not have several such; he has only one "faithful and wise servant”, and that “servant” company he makes ruler over his household as to the dispensing of the spiritual food and the conducting of the work of the household members. Jehovah God does not have several organizations, each conflicting with the others and each seeking to be rulers over the whole household or to divide up the rulership and exercise control over a division of the household. “Is Christ divided?” No! “For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body: so also is Christ. For God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints.”—1 Cor. 1: 13; 12:12; 14: 33.
19 (a) What was organized in 1884, and for what purpose? (b) What distinctive body of Christians was thus in evidence on earth, and for what were they looking forward?
20 By what fruit-bearing quahti must the identity of the ‘'faithful and wise servant" be determined, and why should we not search for several suchlike servants?
21 The great God and Father of the household of faith has only one visible organization which he uses as his “servant” channel to convey “meat in due season”. That channel is not religious, forasmuch as religion is not “meat in due season” but consists of the traditional teachings and practices of demonized men which make of no effect God’s Word and commandments. Moreover, “organized religion" is divided and at odds with itself and leads to confusion respecting faith in Jehovah God and his kingdom; it blasphemes and heaps reproach upon his name. Hence it cannot be the “people for his name"; it cannot be the “servant” whom the Most High God has formed to show forth His praise. Religion, and all the conflicting systems thereof, are a part of this world and friendly to it and serve the interests of this world which they are trying to convert and dominate. Such conduct is spiritual adultery: “Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.” (Jas. 4: 4) Judged by its fruits and the present-day results of the people’s eating thereof, “organized religion” could not be that “faithful and wise servant” whom God has made ruler over his household to spread life-sustaining “meat in due season” before them.
22 The real “servant” company or society must be clean from this world and its religion. The “servant” must be entirely devoted to Jehovah’s service, being composed of creatures consecrated to him, exercising full faith in his Word, and serving to others the revealed truths of the Bible to build them up in the “most holy faith”. The “servant” must be composed of those who are begotten of God’s spirit to a heavenly inheritance and who seek first the kingdom of heaven and its righteousness. They must advertise it as the only hope of mankind, and thereby build up good-will toward that righteous Government of God by Christ Jesus. Hence the “servant’s” history becomes open for all to consult. To what conclusion does it lead?
23 The physical facts since A.D. 1878 down to 1918 prove that the small body of consecrated, spirit- begotten men and women who were and are unitedly serving Jehovah God and his Kingdom in conjunction with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society match the prophetic description of the “servant”. Therefore such ones, though bodily spread through out the earth, yet unitedly co-operating by means of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, are the Lord’s “servant” body on earth. That “servant” is wise, because fearing Jehovah God and not demons or men: “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.” “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the Lord shall be safe.” (Prov. 9:10; 29:25) That “servant” is faithful, because showing faith in God’s Word, holding true to him, proving reliable and obedient in his service, and keeping covenant with him in unbroken integrity.
21 . How many visible organizations does Jehovah use as his “servant" channel? and why could this not include "organized religion"?
22 . What, therefore, must be the position of the real “servant" company respecting this world and religion and Jehovah God?
23 . Whom do the physical facts prove to match the “servant's" description, and in what sense is the “servant" wise and faithful?
24 “Blessed is that servant, whom his lord, when he cometh, shall find so doing. Verily I say unto you, that he shall make him ruler over all his goods.” (Matt. 24: 46, 47) Such prophecy makes certain that Jehovah’s “servant” class would prove faithful down till the Lord’s coming to the temple in A.D. 1918. At that momentous date, as is well known, the remnant of Jehovah’s “people for his name” were colaboring with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society as their legal governing body. Also they were the only ones who in the face of world war and the hatred of all nations were persisting in proclaiming Jehovah’s kingdom and announcing its establishment in A.D. 1914. Christ Jesus declared that the “servant” found to be faithful and wise and actively in service at the time of his coming to the temple for judgment would be blessed. So the Lord would entrust him with “all his goods”, that is, all his visible Kingdom interests on earth. Certainly, then, that “servant” would be the one whom the King Christ Jesus would use to fulfill his prophecy falling due after the World War I: “This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” Such gospel of God’s kingdom as born in 1914 has been preached with unparalleled publicity in all the world to all nations since 1918, so much so that all nations of “Christendom” and all religious organizations have risen up in opposition to the Kingdom witness. Actual accomplishment of such testimony to the Kingdom under persecution points unmistakably to the one whom the Lord has chosen as his “servant”, namely, Jehovah’s witnesses, by whom the worldwide witness has been and continues to be given.
25 This is factual proof that Christ Jesus has approved and laid his hands upon the remnant of Jehovah’s witnesses as his visible representatives and that he has united them with himself at the temple. Thus since 1918 they constitute with him and under him the “faithful and wise servant” class. Christ Jesus is Jehovah’s Ruler over all the Kingdom “goods” or interests, and the Ruler has entrusted those interests on earth to the faithful and wise remnant. Their prime responsibility, therefore, is to 'preach this gospel of the kingdom’ to the meek and to bear forth the “meat in due season” which the King supplies to them. This they must supply to the Lord’s “other sheep”, the persons of goodwill scattered abroad throughout all the earth and who must be gathered and fed and brought into the Good Shepherd’s fold before the battle of Armageddon is unleashed.
24 (a) What do Jesus’ words show as to the course of “that servant" down till his coming in 1918? (b) How would that servant be blessed, and to whom does active participation in such blessedness positively point?
25 According to facts, upon whom did the Lord lay hands at his coming, what do they constitute since then, and what is their prime responsibility?
26 To such end Jehovah God has by Christ Jesus anointed the “faithful and wise servant” class with his spirit, in fulfillment of his prophecy relating to the end of the world: “And it shall come to pass afterward [in the last days, saith God], that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days will I pour out my spirit.’’ (Joel 2:28,29; Acts 2:16-18) This outpouring of the spirit of anointing upon the remnant in the flesh, the “faithful and wise servant” class, has specially been manifest since A.D. 1922, when the witness work of advertising Jehovah’s King and kingdom took on increased vitality, activity and efficiency. The Kingdom’s greatest testimony since the time of the first Jehovah’s witness, Abel, has followed from and after 1922. The religionists have looked on in amazement at Jehovah’s witnesses and their intense efforts and unswerving faithfulness to the Kingdom interests and have wondered what it is all about. It is a sign of the Kingdom’s entry into power. Jehovah’s active witnesses are for a visible sign thereof, and all the religionists who brand it man’s work and who fight against it and try to efface the sign are unable to overthrow it. They prove themselves to be fighting against God.
27 This sign was foretold by an ancient witness of Jehovah, saying: “Lo, I, and the children whom Jehovah hath given to me, are for signs and for wonders in Israel, from Jehovah of Hosts, who is dwelling in Mount Zion.” (Isa. 8:18, Young, Heb. 2:13,14) Speaking concerning Jesus Christ, Jehovah’s High Priest and Branch at the temple, another prophet declared: “Hear now, 0 Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at [marginal reading: they are men of sign]; for, behold, I will bring forth my servant, The BRANCH.” (Zech. 3:8) The religionists of “Christendom” despise the sign and refuse to believe it, and rebel against acknowledging the society of Jehovah’s anointed witnesses as his "faithful and wise servant”. Hence they persecute and interfere with Jehovah’s “servant” class and call them false prophets. However, these are the only ones equipped with Jehovah’s “meat in due season” and anointed of him to preach it; and the day is near at hand when Jehovah God will vindicate his faithful “servant” class. “And when this cometh to pass, (lo, it will come,) then shall they know that a prophet hath been among them.”—Ezek. 33: 27-33.
26. What prophecy concerning divine commission has God therefore fulfilled to them, since when has it been particularly manifest, and of what is this a sign?
27. How was this sign foretold by the prophets Isaiah and Zechariah? and why will Jehovah vindicate his faithful “servant" class?
“THAT EVIL SERVANT”
28 Christ Jesus is primarily Jehovah’s ‘Elect Servant’ and is the Head, Leader and Commander of the “faithful and wise servant” class. (Isa. 42: 1; 55: 4) At the time that Jesus on earth rode into Jerusalem and then came to the temple and cleansed it of the religious merchandisers, he had among his apostles an unfaithful, traitorous fellow servant. Just before Jesus came to the temple Judas Iscariot objected to the loving attention paid to Jesus and took offense at it, but in a hypocritical way, saying: “Why was not this ointment sold for three hundred pence, and given to the poor?” “This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.” The next day Jesus rode into Jerusalem and cleansed the temple. (John 12:1-16) Jesus called Judas a “devil” (slanderer), not clean, “the son of perdition,” and lost. (John 6: 70, 71; 13: 10,11, 18; 17: 12) Certainly Christ Jesus did not die as a ransom for Judas and his like!
29 Judas had been entrusted with Kingdom interests, having been commissioned to preach the Kingdom message and to perform miracles of healing. As one of the twelve disciples closest to Jesus he held an intimate and confidential relationship to Jehovah's ‘Elect Servant’. Judas, however, was unfaithful to his trust, was greedy for money that was contributed to the Kingdom service, misused the confidential information that he had of Christ Jesus and his apostles, and sought gain from the enemy to the damage of the visible organization of Jehovah’s people. He hid his traitorous heart and purpose from the unsuspecting apostles down to the end. He brazenly dared to kiss Jesus and greet him with a ‘‘Hail, Master!” while in the very act of betraying him and bringing him into the courts of law of the land, namely, the Supreme Court, or Sanhedrin, Governor Pilate’s and King Herod’s court. (Matt. 26:14-16,47-50, 57-68; Luke 23:1-25) Judas Iscariot is therefore the prototype of “that evil servant” whom Jesus foretold. Who is such “evil servant” in this day?
28. Who Is the head of the faithful “servant” class" and how did judas Iscariot conduct and express himself when Jesus came to the temple at Jerusalem?
29. How did Judas manifest himself as a traitor and unfaithful servant, and of whom therefore is he a prototype?
30 “But and if that evil servant shall say in his heart, My lord delayeth his coming: and shall begin to smite his fellow servants, and to eat and drink with the drunken." (Matt. 24: 48, 49) The expression “But and if that evil servant” does not mean that the “faithful and wise servant” gets careless, arrogant, self-indulgent, and becomes unwise, unfaithful and evil. It does not mean that the remnant society of Jehovah’s witnesses abuse the Lord’s service, pervert it, renounce it and become lawless, oppressive and unfaithful to their trust. The facts today in evidence do not support such a wresting of our Lord’s prophetic words. Contrariwise, Christ Jesus assures us that, having found the servant to be faithful and wise at His coming, he advances him and makes him His visible representative on earth and ruler over all his “goods”, or Kingdom interests. The unequaled accomplishment since 1918 of Jehovah’s witnesses, through the instrumentality of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, in preaching “this gospel of the kingdom” proves the Lord has accounted them “faithful and wise” and has retained them in his service and has entrusted them with his royal goods, or Kingdom interests.
31 The “faithful and wise servant” is not an individual man on earth. Likewise “that evil servant” is not any individual person, but represents a class of persons taking a common course of evil action and sharing a like destiny. “That evil servant” means a class of men and women once servants of Jehovah God and associated with his visible organization. They once devoted themselves to God in consecration and were begotten of his spirit and taken into his household as spiritual sons and were for a time apparently faithful. But they do not endure to the end in God’s service, and turn evil. At the time that the Lord begins judgment at the temple their evil conduct is exposed. So they manifest themselves from and after 1918.
32 Their trouble begins with the heart, the seat of affection and motivation. (Prov. 4: 23) In the heart this class says: “My lord delayeth his coming.” True, this class may claim to believe in Christ’s invisible presence and that his presence, or parousia, began at 1874 according to their understanding of chronology. But in their heart, and by their actions which are motivated by their heart condition, they deny the Lord’s coming and presence. Why so? Because his coming and parousia means the time when he gathers his faithful body-members yet on earth into a unity with him at the temple, making out of them one indivisible service organization. It is the time when the Lord Jesus puts into practice the Theocratic rule and procedure within that organization, establishing over it a unified command and ruling it from the top down and not at the dictation of personal preferences from the bottom up. The “evil servant” class would adhere to such organization and unified command and Theocratic governance and would submit thereto if they in their hearts believed in the Lord’s having come and being present. They would agree that such Theocratic arrangement and such joyful and willing submission are due from them as befitting the time and occasion of his presence. But their selfish-hearted action and their desire to ‘do every man whatsoever is right in his own eyes’ prove that they do not believe that the Theocratic King has come to the temple for judgment. In their secret heart intents they say: “My lord delayeth his coming"; I can follow my own inclination and get by with it.
30 . What have the words “But and if that evil servant” been wrested to mean, but what do the facts prove as to Jehovah's witnesses?
31. Whom, then, does “that evil servant” mean, and when Is that manifest?
32 . What proves, and how, that the “evil servant” class say in their hearts, “My lord delayeth his coming”?
33 The “evil servant” class do not see the Lord’s organization, that it is one and is Theocratic in arrangement and operation, and that Jehovah God ‘hath set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him'. They are heady, headstrong, seeking headship for themselves. They do not appreciate that their fellows in the organization are not under their charge and dictation but are the Lord’s servants. They criticize and judge the Lord’s servants as if such ones were their own, and they “speak evil of dignities”, those whom the Lord God has dignified by placing them in a responsible position in the organized body of Christ. They become meddlers, busybodies in other men's matters, and are ambitious to be independent and higher in position than where the Lord has placed them. They speak evil of the Lord's setup which they do not understand. (See Matthew 25:24-26; 1 Corinthians 4: 1-3; Romans 14: 4: Jude 8-16.)
34 Then this unfaithful group speak evil of their fellow servants by hurling false, malicious charges against their brethren who are discharging their duties as unto the Lord. Thereby they 'smite their fellow servants', and cause suspicions, evil surmisings, disturbance, disruption and divisions within the organization. They proceed lawlessly as respects the Theocratic law, and do not follow the Lord’s rule stated at 1 Corinthians 6:1,2: “Dare any of you, having a matter against another, go to law before the unjust, and not before the saints! Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world! and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters!” They prefer the company of the “drunken”.
35 “The drunken” are those of this world who are in the darkness of its night, careless and indifferent toward the Lord’s coming. Accordingly they fill themselves full with the selfish things of this world, not caring about feeding and watering the Lord's “other sheep”. The “evil servant” class neither keep up with the “meat in due season” which the Lord provides nor do they seek to pass such spiritual food on to others, their brethren and the Lord's “other sheep”. They view themselves as the spiritual class, beside whom the others must wait as to God's favors and spiritual food. So they “feed themselves", ‘eating and drinking’ for selfish desires after the manner of the “drunken” world, particularly the clergy or ecclesiastical element thereof. Shortly before the Lord’s coming to the temple in 1918 such a class associated with the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society began to manifest themselves and to pursue such a course toward Jehovah God, his Christ and their brethren. They did not expect the Lord's arrival at the temple in the spring of 1918.
33 What proves that the “evil servant" class do not see the Lord's organization and its structure?
34 How does this class ‘smite their fellow servants' and act lawlessly? 35 How does the ‘‘evil servant" “eat and drink with the drunken"? and when did such a class begin to show themselves as pursuing that course?
36 “The lord of that servant shall come in a day when he looketh not for him, and in an hour that he is not aware of, and shall cut him asunder, and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 24:50,51) It is the Lord that by his angels puts the “evil servant” out of his organization; and the Lord Jesus at the temple so did from and after 1918. (Matt. 13:41,42) In the temple judgment he does not approve of their lawless, self-willed course nor commit to them "his goods”, but cuts that wicked servant class asunder from his visible organization. Jehovah God did therefore not pour out upon them his spirit and anoint them with the “unction from the Holy One”. That class is not and never was an anointed class. In demonstration of these facts such ones separated themselves from the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society and set up independent organizations of their own, subject to their own control and not Theocratic rule. “They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us: but they went out, that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us. But ye have an unction from the Holv One, and ye know all things.” —1 John 2: 19, 20.’
37 “That evil servant” class may still study the Bible and publish religious documents with Bible quotations, and may still call Christ Jesus “Lord, Lord!” But the King at the temple is not deceived by such flattery and smooth professions of loyalty. Like Judge Jephthah of old, he notes the difference between their message and his Theocratic “meat in due season”; he observes that, like the rebellious Ephraimites of old, they are unable to publish and declare the Theocratic test-word “Shibboleth”, but are pretenders, hypocrites. (Judg. 12:1-6) He is fully aware that they do not do his will by working peacefully and unitedly with his approved “faithful and wise servant” and in obedience to Theocratic rule. Since they do not “gather” with him and his “servant”, they are scattering; since they are not with him, they are against him. They declare to the world the most intimate and confidential matters of the Lord’s organization which they learned while associated with it. Thus they make it public property for the use and advantage of the enemy. In not holding with the Lord’s "faithful and wise servant” organization, but criticizing, condemning and working against it, they line up with the worldly nations and religionists who fight against Jehovah's kingdom and His witnesses.—Matt. 12:30.
36 Who puts that class out of the organization, and how, and what action do they take therefore with respect to the organization?
37 Why do their continued study of the Bible and publication of religious documents not prove they are still serving Jehovah God and gathering with Christ Jesus?
38 As to that “evil servant”, the Judge at the temple does not hesitate to “appoint him his portion with the hypocrites”, and bids that class to depart from him as "workers of iniquity’. He classes them with the religious hypocrites. (Matt. 7:22-24) Inasmuch as they were foreshadowed by Judas and by his prototype, Ahithophel, King David’s traitorous counselor who at last hung himself, the “evil servant” class form part of the apostate "man of sin”, "the son of perdition.” In fact, having once been associated with Jehovah's organized people and enjoyed a confidential relationship with it and then having rebelled and proved untrue, they are the most reprehensible part of the “man of sin” class, seeing that they held a more responsible position as spirit-begotten servants of God than the religious clergy ever held. The expression "son of perdition” points to their final end, destruction.—2 Sain. 15:30-37; 16:23; 17:1-23; 2 Thess. 2:3-8.
39 Before descending into such perdition or destruction, that class give way to "weeping and gnashing of teeth” for the rest of their life. They gnash with their teeth at the "faithful and wise servant” class and express no sympathy with them in the world-wide persecution these undergo. They publicly declare they have never been Jehovah's witnesses, and openly charge that Jehovah’s witnesses are not a Christian organization. They “weep”, not in repentance or remorse, but because of taking offense at the conduct of the faithful and because of being unable to put across their selfish aims and purposes against the faithful, and because of imagined injustices which they claim the Lord’s faithful have committed against them. They profess to be “children of the kingdom”; and doubtless when, Shortly, Almighty God resurrects from the dead the faithful prophets and witnesses of the days before Christ and makes such the visible princely representatives of the kingdom of heaven, the “evil servant” class will weep and grind their teeth. Jesus contrasted them with his “other sheep”, saying: “Many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven. But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 8:11,12) After seeing this, they will go down into perdition at the battle of Armageddon. The “other sheep”, whom they refused to hunt up and serve with the “meat in due season”, will survive that great tribulation and will sit with the Kingdom's princes and partake of the Kingdom’s blessings.—Luke 13: 25-30.
38 With whom does the Lord class them, by whom were they foreshadowed, and of what larger group do they form the most reprehensible part?
39 Why does the “evil servant” class give way to ‘‘weeping", and why and against whom do they 'gnash their teeth’?
40 Other scriptures make it very clear that the “evil servant” class would prominently display itself in the “time of the end”, and the more so the nearer we get to the final end of all of Satan's crowd. Satan’s chief spirit prince, Gog, will specially use the peculiarly informed “evil servant” class in the conspiracy with all his other worldly elements against Jehovah’s faithful remnant and their companions, the “other sheep”. (Ezek. 38:3-23) Thus the "evil servant” class will more openly betray their evil co-operation with all other elements of Satan's organization, religious, political and commercial, and unmistakably show they are one with these, “eating and drinking” with them as a part of this world. The sign of the two “servants” must therefore become sharper and more pronounced.
41 The “faithful and wise servant” is a visible symbol of Christ's side of the great issue, the side in favor of Jehovah's universal domination over all living creatures. “That evil servant” is a visible symbol of the opposing side in this primary issue. Both “servants” are now active, each in behalf of his respective side of the issue. The hour of decision is here. The choice must be either to become companions with the “faithful and wise servant” and loyally serve Jehovah and his Kingdom with his “servant”, or to join the “evil servant” class and ‘weep and gnash the teeth’ against God’s visible organization and at the last suffer fiery destruction, perdition. For the admonition of those who seek to worship God in spirit and in truth Jehovah God prophetically contrasts the two opposing “servant” classes and their destinies now, at Isaiah 65: 13-16. Read that prophecy, and then heed with wisdom the Kingdom sign thus given.
40. When must the “evil servant” class display itself more prominently, and why?
41. (a) Of what is each of these “servant” classes a symbol, and what decision must now be made with reference to them? (b) In this respect what prophetic description does Jehovah God give for our admonition, and what should we therefore do?
GILEAD GRADUATES FIRST CLASS OF STUDENTS
FEBRUARY 15 of this year The Watchtower made the stirring announcement of the opening of the Watchtower Bible College of Gilead, This came as a pleasant surprise to persons of good-will all over the world. “Gilead,” the beautiful building erected on Kingdom Farm of 701 acres at South Lansing, New York, in 1940, was to house this New World undertaking and to become the home for the preparing of Theocratic ministers who will, by the Lord's grace, pile up in all parts of the earth a heap of witness to The Theocracy.
On Monday, February 1, the college was dedicated in an impressive service by the president and some directors of the Society.
From the very opening of the classes immediately thereafter, the student body of one hundred men and women, all ordained ministers, put their hearts and souls into their studies. Within a few days the students and faculty had completely adjusted themselves to their new schedule of life in the Watchtower Bible College, which from the start operated as any long-established institution.
The college founders had arrangements made for the housing and feeding, as well as for the educational training. The household of Gilead was organized to operate identically as the Bethel home of the Watchtower Society, in Brooklyn. Bethel household instructions and routine, having been well consummated over a period of fifty years’ experience in New York, aided greatly in settling the students as to their daily life, association and work.
The college day, Monday to Friday, began at 8 a.m., after which followed five periods of instruction in the morning, of 40 minutes each, with 10-minute intermissions, and two similar periods in the early afternoon. These periods of instruction included classroom recitations and lecture periods. From 3 to 6 p.m. each day all the students were assigned duties of assisting in the operation of the household and the farm. The sisters work in the laundry, kitchen, sewing room, dormitory housecleaning, and garden work. The brothers work on the land, in the machine shop, construction, and in the woods All such extracurricular activity was found to be a great blessing to the students. It enabled them to relax their minds from study and at the same time to gain practical knowledge, experience and exercise.
After but the first month of college, these are some of the remarks made by the students: “What I have learned this past month I count priceless.” “The quality of schooling here is beyond expectation.” “I find myself a bit more rusty than I expected.” “Spanish and English are my hardest subjects.” “I realize it is the Lord's will for me to dig hard while I am privileged to stay here.” “Concentration is my biggest battle.” “We thought we knew the Bible, but now realize how little we really knew.” “I count this the greatest privilege ever extended to me in my long years of pioneer service.”
The college term of five months having been divided into two semesters of ten weeks each, the directors of the Watchtower Society thought it well to schedule examinations in each course at the close of each semester. Following the first semester's examinations of April 10, it was found that six of the students were unable to continue their studies. The remaining ninety-four qualified to complete the college term The Society set high scholastic standards, and even though some students might pass in the various courses, yet such would not qualify them to receive a diploma. Only those passing with merit so qualify. At the close of the second semester final examinations were held, to fully ascertain the extent of knowledge all had received during the entire period of twenty weeks’ study. Every student realized the import of these final examinations and made extensive review of all the subjects. The preparations for examinations were taken so seriously and earnestly that for days prior thereto students were busy studying until late at night and some thought it necessary to rise at four o’clock in the morning June 18 the long-looked-for closing examinations began, and covered four days. We are pleased to report that all the ninety-four students passed in their courses, and, of these, eighty-four passed with merit, thus qualifying them to receive diplomas. In these final examinations the brethren demonstrated that they really knew what they had been taught during the past five months. When one considers the vast amount of material covered in the brief period of the college term, material which embraced in its scope an exhaustive study of the entire Bible, a searching study of all leading doctrines taught in the Scriptures, a practical working knowledge of law and international relations, some necessary history, a thorough study of Bible speaking, a comprehensive study of Theocratic organization instructions and practical field ministry, a study of college English, mathematics, and a speaking and reading knowledge of Spanish, surely only those wholly devoted to The Theocracy could have accomplished the consolidation of this wide range of knowledge. In secular schools this would have comprised a two-year curriculum.
Applied missionary service, on which a grading was given, included the actual application in the field of the knowledge and training received in the school. In addition to their heavy studies and farm and household duties, the students averaged more than twenty-five hours of actual field service each month. All the territory within a radius of thirty miles of Gilead was effectively reached and served with the Kingdom message. Every phase of the work was participated in, such as back-calls, model Bible studies, magazine street work and house-to-house work.
Wednesday, June 23, marked a historic event, the first graduation at the New World college. Promptly at 8:30 a.m. the exercises began, being opened by an appropriate prayer to Jehovah God. The college president served as chairman of this assembly, to which not only the students had been invited but also all members of the Kingdom Farm family. Approximately 160 were in attendance in the beautiful auditorium of “Gilead”. The first speaker to be introduced by the chairman was W. E. Van Amburgh, the aged secretary-treasurer of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society. He rendered some wise and able counsel for the edification of the students. Then followed a brief talk by the Kingdom Farm servant, who expressed his appreciation for the splendid co-operation given by all the students, both in work and in their domestic association and life at Gilead. Then each of the instructors spoke a few words of farewell and blessing upon the graduates.
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