The Watchtower, January 1, 1944
Download: PDF — The Watchtower, January 1, 1944
“FEED THE FLOCK” TESTIMONY PERIOD
February, expected to be the blackest month of the Northern winter for food supplies, will not want for spiritual nourishment. The month has been named "Feed the Flock” Testimony Period. Great effort to reach the scattered sheep with “meat in due season” will be made by Jehovah’s witnesses and their companions February will open a great three-month house-to-house campaign whereever the magazine is permitted circulation, to increase the subscription list of The Watchtower A special offer will be authorized of a year’s subscription for this journal, together with a copy of “The Truth Shall Make You Free" and Freedom in the New World as a premium, at the regular subscription rate of $1.00 For anyone’s part in this special campaign considerable preparation will be required. Jehovah’s witnesses and companions will accordingly begin planning and preparing now to launch out at the opening of the campaign fully equipped and instructed, eager to exceed anything that has been attained heretofore in such an effort for 100,000 new American subscribers.
“WATCHTOWER” STUDIES
Week of February 6: “Divine Education of the Servant,” 1-22 inclusive, The Watchtower January 1, 1944.
Week of February 13: “Divine Education of the Servant,” 23-47 inclusive, The Watchtower January 1, 1944.
1944 MEMORIAL DATE
Due to the interrupted or delayed communications with other countries under conditions of total war, the Memorial date for this year, namely Saturday, April 8, 1944, after 6 p. m., Standaid Time, is here given early announcement.
1944 CALENDAR
The Watch Tower Society's 1944 calendar features the yeartext; namely, “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God.” (Psalm 143:10) The up-to-date animated picture accompanying (in color) conforms to the text and illustrates how it is being carried out by those who now make the text their own. The calendar pad announces the bimonthly Testimony periods of 1944, and also the service themes and supporting scriptures of the alternating months. The calendar is now available, and will be mailed on a contribution of 25c a copy, or 5 copies to one address on a $1.00 contribution.
1944 YEARBOOK OF JEHOVAH’S WITNESSES
Despite the unfavorable conditions, the 1944 Yearbook of Jehovah’s witnesses has been produced covering the world-wide accomplishments of these Bible educators during this past service year of 1942-1943. The stirring report thereof has been prepared by the president of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society, and it sets out also the key-features and objectives of the work immediately
(Continued on page 16)
Vol LXV
January 1, 1944
No. 1
DIVINE EDUCATION OF THE SERVANT
"Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God"—Ps. 143:10.
JEHOVAH teaches His servant in the time of great stress and affliction at the hands of enemies. The servant is bound to do the good pleasure of his divine Master and Lord at all times, and at whatever cost. Under the pressure from the enemies the servant may cast about in his mind what is the course for him to take. The faithful and devoted servant does so, desiring to please his Lord and hence to do God’s will in an approved manner.
2 Particularly since 1918 the great issue which confronts all the world is, Whom will you serve, Jehovah God and his kingdom or the great adversary and his organization? The servant has chosen to serve the God of truth and righteousness undividedly. For him there is no turning aside or back with divine approval. To show integrity he must keep fidelity and preserve unbreakable his attachment to the Lord of his choice. The enemy opposition simply furnishes the servant the opportunity to demonstrate obedience to the Lord under fire. By thus manifesting unquenchable love for Him, he honors the Lord as the Worthy One to whom service is due. It is not his own pleasure and will that he seeks to do, nor that of the enemies or any other creatures. It is his Lord's will and pleasure that are all-important to carry out. The Lord God backs up his servant, and deals with the enemies as deserving. He enlightens his servant as to His good pleasure, because He delights in his servant’s willingness and loyalty and is glad to keep him in His service.
3 Psalm 143 is a melody of Jehovah’s servant, and is entitled “A Psalm of David”. It was inspired of God. The Lord God brought the psalmist into a setting that was prophetic. Also by the holy spirit God caused him to utter and write down things that are a prophecy. (2 Sam. 23:1-3) The psalm was composed by an individual, a prophet, but, aside from God’s Chief Servant, Christ Jesus, it could have personal application to no individual. It applies to a class of persons of whom Christ Jesus is the Head, because these follow in his footsteps. Hence instead of having personal fulfillments many times in the lives of individuals walking in Christ’s steps all down through the centuries, the psalm begins fulfilling at a certain point of time, and that upon a body or group of his faithful followers. That time is from and after A. D. 1914. At that date Jehovah set up his Theocratic Government under his Elect Servant, Christ Jesus, and then had him hurl the unfaithful servant Satan out of heaven.
1. When and why does Jehovah’s servant cast about in his mind as to what course to take, and who teaches him?
2. Under what requirements and conditions does the servant show his position on the great issue of service since 1918? and why does his Lord back him up?
3. What is Psalm 143 in fact, under what circumstances was it written, to whom does it apply, and since when?
4 Christ Jesus applied the psalms of David to himself. As concerns individuals, he is the only one typified singly by the psalmist. (Luke 24:44,45; Acts 4:24-28) In a fleshly way he was related to David through the Jewish maiden Mary and was thereby of the tribe of Judah; but that was not the main reason why Jesus was called “the Son of David”. His sonship was not simply to mark him as a human descendant of David, but was to identify Jesus as the heir to the divine Government as foreshadowed by the typical Theocratic government in which David reigned over the nation of Israel. Such was the reason why at his triumphal ride into Jerusalem the multitudes that hailed him cried out: “Hosanna to the son of David: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest.” “Blessed be the King that cometh in the name of the Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.” (Matt. 21:9; Luke 19:38) According to fleshly descent he was David’s son, but by his appointment from Jehovah God to be the King in Jehovah’s government of universal domination he was David’s Lord or Master.—Matt. 22:41-46.
5 About seven or eight years before David’s birth the Lord God by his prophet Samuel said to disobedient King Saul: “Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people.” (1 Sam. 13:13,14) No mere chance was it, then, that at the child’s birth his father Jesse called him “David”. The name means “beloved; dear”. It was proper to call thus the one who would prove to be a “man after [God’s] own heart”. However, the name was also given for the stronger reason that David was to be a type or prophetic pattern of the One respecting whom God would speak from heaven at his baptism and his transfiguration, saying: “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” (Matt. 3: 17; 17: 5) In a flawless and perfect sense Jesus on earth was the “man after [God’s] own heart”. (Acts 13:22,23) He was the servant of the Most High God that never deflected from his Father’s will in the shadow of a degree or for an instant. Such prophetic relationship of David to Christ Jesus makes the 143d Psalm, therefore, one of heightened importance and interest to us.
4. In what aspects was Jesus the “son of David", and how was he also David's Lord or Master?
5. In the light of Samuel’s words to unfaithful Ring Saul, why was the psalmist well called "David", and why does the name specially befit Christ Jesus?
FERVENT APPEAL
6 The psalm breaks forth with an appeal to the Lord God Jehovah: “Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications: in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness. And enter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.” (Ps. 143: 1,2) Can such be the words of God’s Elect Servant Christ Jesus from and after 1914, at which time he was crowned in the heavens to reign as King for Jehovah in The Theocratic Government, his first act then being to cast the unfaithful servants, Satan and his demons, out of heaven and down to the earth? How can such words have any relation to the reigning King triumphant over his foes? In the following way.
7 The great Theocrat Jehovah purposed to give Christ Jesus a body of associates, 144,000 in number. Christ Jesus would be their Head. As these would sit down in the throne with him and reign with him, he would be “Lord of lords, and King of kings”, or “Prince of the kings of the earth”. (Rev. 7:4-8; 14:1, 3; 17: 14; 1:5; Ps. 89: 27) At his coming in the flesh about two thousand years ago he began selecting these body members. The first ones thereof were his faithful apostles. Only a minority of the Jewish nation believed and accepted him and became members of the “body of Christ”. Hence to complete the “body” Jehovah God in due time “did visit the Gentiles [non-Jewish nations], to take out of them a people for his name”. The selecting of the body members and fitting them for the Kingdom has continued from that time till this. It appears that the majority of the members of the “body of Christ” have been taken from among the Gentiles.—Acts 15:14; 13:45-48; Rom. 12:4,5; 1 Cor. 12:12,13,18,27.
6. With what appeal does Psalm 143 break forth? and what questions as to application thereof arise, and why?
7. How did Jehovah purpose to make Christ Jesus a "Lord of lords and King of kings"? and when did the needed work of selection begin, and from among whom?
8 In 1918 came the time for the Lord to come to the temple for the judgment of the house of God. Those elect body-members who had died faithful to him and who were in the graves awaiting his coming into his kingdom he raised from the sleep of death. These, having been judged as worthy, were given the reward of bearing his heavenly likeness, being raised to life in the spirit, immortal, and were united to him at the temple. There were still living on earth a remnant, who are candidates to be members of his glorious heavenly “body”. These are children of God by his “woman”, Zion, his organization. Concerning such of Zion’s children Revelation 12:9, 13, 17 reads: “And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, called the Devil, and Satan, which deceiveth the whole world: he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him. And when the dragon saw that he was cast unto the earth, he persecuted the woman which brought forth the man child. And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.”
9 The remnant of body-members “have the testimony of Jesus Christ” and represent him, their Head. Persecution upon them is as though done to the King himself. The apostle Paul testifies that when he, as Saul of Tarsus, was tracking down the body-members of Christ then the Lord miraculously appeared to him and said: “Saul, Saul, why perse- cutest thou me! it is hard for thee to kick against the pricks.” “And I said, Who art thou, Lord! And he said, I am Jesus whom thou persecutest.” (Acts 26:14,15) Moreover, Jesus told in advance of the time when he should reign on the throne, and concerning those who at that time should do anything to his last body-members or spiritual brethren he said: “Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.” (Matt. 25:31-40) Such statement must be because the King is represented on earth by his last body-members, the remnant.
10 Persecution by the dragon organization against the faithful remnant causes Psalm 143 to undergo its complete and final fulfillment. Unquestionably, then, David of old was used to picture the faithful remnant of Christ’s followers at the end of the world, where we have been since A. D. 1914. His footstep followers are also beloved of God; for it is written to them: “Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God.”—1 John 3:1,2.
8. At his coming to the temple Ln 1918. how were the faithful bodymembers then in death rewarded, and what action did the Devil take toward the remnant thereof yet on earth?
9. Why was such persecution done to Christ Jesus, in effect?
10. Whom, then, does David, as expressing himself in Psalm 143, picture, and why. too, is his name appropriate?
---11 God’s time of sufferance of the treacherous servants, Satan and his demons, to operate in heaven expired in 1914. Then, in faithfulness to His promise, God brought forth his Elect Servant as King, set up the Theocratic Government with him, and banished Satan’s crowd from heaven. Having been unable to devour the new Theocratic Government at its birth, the dragon, Satan and his crowd, went after the ones on earth in line for the Kingdom, Jehovah’s servants, who were following the steps of his Chief Servant, Christ Jesus. Both through the Bible and through the epoch-making events fulfilling Bible prophecies concerning the Kingdom God informed this servant company of the Kingdom’s establishment in 1914. So now God’s commandments to announce the Kingdom’s beginning to all the nations of the earth applied to them, and they must obey. The “testimony of Jesus Christ” was always and is regarding the kingdom of God, and they must keep it by bearing witness to all peoples.
12 Satan purposed to censor the news that should go to the people whom he had deceived. Lest any of the people should forsake his own world organization and choose Kingdom service he tried to obscure the fact of the Kingdom’s establishment. He tried to stamp out all proclamation of the good news by destroying or muzzling Jehovah’s servants, who were active to keep God’s commandments. He caused them to be hated of all nations, using World War I as a goad to the nations to suppress the Kingdom proclamation. In the vicious persecution that followed some were killed and others were put in grisly prisons. The rest were put in an effective condition of restraint by mobs, raids, martial law and legislative bans and proscriptions. The hounding and afflicting of Jehovah’s consecrated people reached its climax in the United States in 1918.
13 Thus the year that marked the halting of World War I also witnessed the beloved David class of Jehovah God lying inactive, hemmed in on all sides by the enemy, and under sore bonds restraining them from their accustomed Kingdom proclamation. The worldly element that caused such sincere followers of Christ to be driven out from their freedom of worship was the same as caused Jesus’ own Kingdom proclamation to be silenced by murder, namely, the religious clergy, who chose worldly rulers as king instead of Christ. Such religious clergy are the chief visible representatives of the Dragon organization. In dogging the steps of the remnant of the seed of God’s “woman” Zion, the dragon uses the religious clergy as chief persecutors and instigators of persecution. In 1918, and for some time afterward, the restrained and outcast servant class of Jehovah raised the appeal: “0 Jehovah, hear my prayer, give ear unto my supplication, in Thy faithfulness answer me—in Thy righteousness. And enter not into judgment with Thy servant, for no one living is justified before Thee.” (Ps. 143:1,2, Young) Being viewed and treated as the filth and offscouring of all the world, they could pray and look only to Jehovah God for help and deliverance. — 1 Cor. 4:13.
11. Why did Satan and his demons go after these Kingdom representatives on earth? and why must these bear testimony concerning the Kingdom?
12. How did Satan try to censor the Kingdom news to the people, and, as a consequence, what experiences were thrust upon God's consecrated people down to 1918?
13. Hence the year 1918 witnessed them in what condition, and due particularly to whom of the Devil's agents, and therefore what appeal did God's servant class raise to him?
14 That appeal is not the voice of complaint or faultfinding toward God. It is an earnest entreaty that the most high and holy God should account them worthy to have their prayer and supplications heard and answered in due time. It expresses belief in God’s faithfulness and that He will do the right thing. He has given his Word; and these in trouble put confidence in his Word and call upon him to fulfill his reliable promises, and not their desires. They cry to him out of no unrighteous motives, but that the answer of God may be in right keeping with the servant’s relationship to his Lord. Rather than cast off all his ties and spoil his reliability and integrity toward his Lord; rather than quit His service because of the suffering to which it leads, the servant cleaves unshakably to his Lord and asks for some helpful recognition from the Lord that he is still retained as His servant.
15 The world does not recognize the Lord’s servant as such, but the religionists scoff at him, because esteeming themselves to be God’s favorites due to the success of their conspiracy against Jehovah’s servant. They condemn the servant class as unpatriotic, as seditious conspirators, and unbearable nuisances, and costly parasites on human society, and exceptionally unworthy of freedom of worship. The servant class confess that they are not perfect, being born like others in sin and shapen in iniquity as descendants of rebellious Adam. On the basis of human perfection they could no more justify themselves before God than the religionists or any other human creatures. But they know that their inborn sinfulness and physical imperfections are not the deciding thing or reason for their restraints and persecutions, inasmuch as they have access to the blood of Jesus Christ to have their unwilling sins forgiven and washed away. Hence they ask God not to enter into judgment with them as to perfectness of conduct. They say: “If thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall standi But there is forgiveness with thee, that thou mayest be feared.” — Ps. 130: 3, 4; Rom. 3: 9,10.
14 It not complaint or faultfinding, what does this appeal express, and why does the servant want some recognition from the Lord?
15 How does the world view and apeak of the servant class? and why do they ask God not to enter Into judgment with them on the basis of perfectness of conduct as being the deciding factor?
16 The real issue and cause for judgment is whether the servant is in a covenant or sacred contract with God to serve him, and whether in his heart the servant is denying that covenant and willingly breaking or failing to carry it out. The vital question is one of covenant-keeping, the fulfilling of one’s consecration to do the will of the Lord and Master. “Christendom” is made up of religionists guilty of not living up to their implied covenant with God, whom they profess to worship. Their wicked effort toward the servant class is to force them to be covenant-breakers like themselves. Yielding to this enemy effort would mean everlasting destruction to Jehovah’s covenant people. (Rom. 1:31,32) Due to the heavy combined onslaught of the enemy in 1918, God’s consecrated servants on earth became affected with ‘iniquity of lip’, like when the prophet Isaiah confessed to being a “man of unclean lips” because the seraphim of God at the temple were declaring His holiness and glory but the prophet’s lips were silent because of the people among whom he dwelt. Continued silence and iniquity of lip would finally be fatal for God’s servants. So they desired from him, not adverse judgment, but a purging of lip to declare again his Kingdom truth. Only by being faithful to their covenant obligations as His servant could they properly beseech him to answer them in faithfulness and righteousness. To deny him would lead him to deny them.—2 Tim. 2:12,13.
RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE
17 Well realizing it is not the time to justify themselves before God or men, but is the time to justify and honor the Lord, the servant class state the reason for asking his answer to their pleadings. “For the enemy hath persecuted my soul; he hath smitten my life down to the ground; he hath made me to dwell in darkness, as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is desolate.” (Ps. 143:3,4) The intent of enemy persecution is to heap reproach upon Jehovah, to whom the servant class are consecrated and whose name they bear.
18 When David uttered the above words of the psalm he was an outlaw in Israel. He was such, not according to the law of the Most High God, but according to the arbitrary decree and mischievous law framed by King Saul. David was no lawbreaker or disorderly person, nor a conspirator against the interests and the highest welfare of the nation. It was Saul’s jealousy and his obsession by demons that drove him to hate and persecute David. Because of Saul’s presumptuousness and his disregard of God’s commandments, even before David’s birth, God canceled the continuance of the kingdom in Saul’s family, and later sent the prophet Samuel to anoint David as lang-elect. With David’s anointing the Lord’s spirit came upon him, and the Lord removed his spirit from Saul. Thereafter David, using but a stone in a sling, went forth in Jehovah’s name and slew the Philistine champion, the giant Goliath. For his military exploits in Saul’s service that followed David received superior praise from the people. Saul then tried to bring about David’s death at Philistine hands, and himself made two personal attempts at David’s life. David escaped and fled for his life. He finally took refuge in the darksome bowels of the earth, in the cave Adullam, located in the mountainous Judean wilderness toward the Dead sea. In this retreat 400 men, including David’s father’s household, joined him.—1 Sam. 22:1, 2.
16 What is the real issue or cause for judgment respecting the servant? and why did they need the Lord to answer them in faithfulness and righteousness?
17. That reason does the servant class give for asking God’s answer to their plea?
18. On what basis was David an outlaw in Israel, what caused him to come into that status, and where in Judah did be take refuge?
19 Doubtless, like Psalm 142, this succeeding psalm now under study was composed by David at the cave. Separated from free intercourse with the rest of God’s covenant people and living in a hole in the earth, Jehovah’s anointed servant felt like a dead man, long interred and forgotten. But there was one in Israel who did not forget and who was noteworthy for standing up against King Saul in behalf of David. That man of good-will was Saul’s own son, Jonathan. For acting in good-will he put his life in danger at Saul’s hand; and he helped David escape. While David was in the cave Jonathan’s sympathies and thoughts were with God’s anointed servant, and after David’s whereabouts were reported Jonathan secretly hunted him up. “And Jonathan Saul’s son arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God. And he said unto him, Fear not: for the hand of Saul my father shall not find thee; and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and that also Saul my father knoweth. And they two made a covenant before the Lord.” (1 Sam. 23:16-18) Truly Jonathan, whose name means “Gift of Jehovah”, was like a gift of God to David for help and comfort.
20 King Saul, David’s persecutor, pictures “Christendom’s” religious clergy and those who are the “evil servant” class toward God. All such together make up the “man of sin” or “son of perdition” class. This class are the enemies and persecutors of Jehovah’s consecrated servant who proclaims God’s kingdom as the rightful rule of the earth and as man- kind’s only hope. The spirit of the Lord God is upon the servant class, but the spirit of the demons is upon the religious “man of sin” class. The servant class, begotten of God’s spirit, are in line for a place in the Theocratic kingdom and are his commissioned publishers of that kingdom. For this reason the envious religious leaders, who now try to rule as spiritual lords and kings on earth and who claim superior rights to the kingdom of heaven, hate Jehovah’s servant class and persecute them. They seek thus to cause destruction to their soul. Thereby the clergy seek to prevent their own fraudulent claims of being God’s ordained representatives and anointed heirs of the Kingdom from being exposed. They cause Jehovah’s servant to be outlawed, banned, and their literature to be proscribed by the political governments, and thus drive them underground. They hope to keep them in the darkness, out of the limelight and out of the public eye and mind, and so to suppress the Kingdom message. They try to quench Jehovah’s spirit in them and to desolate their hearts of all love for God. This they apparently succeeded in doing during World War I, and especially during 1918. Then Jehovah’s consecrated people were like the valley of dry bones seen in the vision of Ezekiel. (37:1-14) In that condition they said, like David: “And my spirit hath fainted upon me, in the midst of me astounded is my heart.”—Ps. 143:4, Rotherham Pss.
19. (a) Why did David speak of himself as made to “dwell in darkness" and as “those that have been long dead"? (b) To whom, however, was David not as dead and out of mind, and how was this shown?
20 . (a) Whom does King Saul picture, and what spirit is upon such? (b) What does that class attempt resisting God's servant class, so that these speak in the language of Psalm 143:4?
21 David’s state of confinement provided time for meditation, and meditation led to hope. “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.” (Ps. 143: 5, 6) David was familiar with God’s Word, that is, the books thereof written by Moses, and Joshua, and the Judges. He was a man of faith and therefore believed in that sacred Record of Jehovah’s deliverances of his faithful people by his mighty acts of old. Meditating upon such acts stirred up the hope that the same Almighty God would work like acts of deliverance for the servant now in distress. In entreaty David stretched forth his hands to God, the God of deliverances, because David was like a land weary of waiting for rain and needing refreshment in order to bring forth fruitage to God’s glory. He thirsted for this visible expression of God’s mercy and goodness to him, in order that he might come to life again in the free and active service in behalf of Jehovah’s Theocratic rule over his covenant people.
22 Such was the yearning attitude of the servant class of the Lord God in 1918 and for a short time thereafter. Time for reflection was afforded them by their restrained condition. Their hearts were on God’s work, but their lack of understanding of his Word had caused them perplexity. It had let them submit to being unrighteously deprived of their liberty and privileges of serving the Lord. So they meditated on God’s Word, particularly his prophecies that had forecast His work for these days. They refreshed themselves with the record of God’s acts of liberation in ancient time and hoped for an antitypical or modern-day fulfillment of such toward themselves. They got an understanding of the prophetic meaning of Elijah’s relationship to Elisha, and of Elisha’s becoming prophet in the room of his predecessor Elijah. (See The Watchtower August 1 and 15, 1919.) This led them to see that the Lord God had a further work to do, like Elisha’s, and that he would use his faithful servant class in His hand to do it. They were weary of idleness as to the Kingdom proclamation, idleness resulting in no bearing of the Kingdom fruits to God’s praise or for the nourishment of those seeking life eternal. They stretched forth their hands to God that he might rescue them from this barren condition, like Jerusalem’s seventy years of desolation, and make them fruitful again in His service.
21. In his confinement, upon what did David meditate, what did this awaken in him, and for what did he thirst?
22. How was the like true regarding the servant class in 1918 and for a short time thereafter?
23 “Hear me speedily, O Lord: my spirit faileth: hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning; for in thee do I trust: cause me to know the way wherein I should walk; for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me. 0 Lord, from mine enemies: I flee unto thee to hide me.” (Ps. 143: 7-9) The time seemed long to David. For speedy deliverance he asked, because he felt as if the spirit within that was sustaining him to fortitude and endurance could not hold out much longer. He needed to see the face of Jehovah’s favor again, that he might not be like one hopelessly trapped in a deep pit which the enemy had dug. This severe disciplining from God at the hands of the malicious enemy was like a night of darkness, and David longed for the blackness to break and for the morning of God’s evident lovingkindness to dawn. He was “perplexed, but not in despair”. (2 Cor. 4:8) He was anxious to make a move and get away from being holed up; but what way should he take! Should he retreat, or should he boldly advance into the open and engage in a battle of wits with the enemy as to strategy of movement! If he took the offensive defiant of the enemy and fearless of what they might do to him, Almighty God could even then deliver him. - 1 Sam. 23: 25-28.
24 The servant needs not retreat into a literal cave and hole up for safety if he flees to Jehovah to hide him. Even while active in the open and surrounded by watchful enemies, yet God can cover him in the shadow of his hand and preserve him.—Pss. 91:1; 31: 23; Isa. 51:16.
23 Why did David pray God to hear him speedily, lest he be as in a pit? and why ask God to cause him to know the way wherein he should walk?
24 Why does one fleeing to God to hide him not need to bole up unseen to secure safety?
25 The situation of Jehovah’s servant class in A.D. 1918-1919 was like that. They knew their outcast and outlawed position before human society was due to the religious leaders like King Saul. The enemies thought they had driven them out for good, and that henceforth they could divide and conquer them in their unfortunate condition and destroy them in such pockets. If ever these tried to stage a comeback, the enemies aimed to be quick to fly at them and hold them under repression. The servant class desired the Lord to manifest his favor by not letting the enemies triumph over them permanently: “By this I know that thou favourest me, because mine enemy doth not triumph over me. And as for me, thou upholdest me in mine integrity, and settest me before thy face for ever.”—Ps. 41:11, 12.
26 The servant class were looking for a way out of their barren, inactive condition, but which way to move was the burning question. Hence the prayer: “Let me know the way wherein I should walk, for unto thee have I uplifted my soul.” (Ps. 143:8, Roth. Pss.) They were willing to go forth and resume God's service. They prayed that, when so doing, the Lord God should snatch them from the enveloping movement by the enemy and be their hiding-place and refuge. They discerned that it was a lack of faith in his protection and guidance for anyone to hole up in the ground in fear, slacking the hand from his service and letting the enemies boast themselves against their God Jehovah. Their prayer was: “Bring my soul out of prison, that I may praise thy name: the righteous shall compass me about; for thou shalt deal bountifully with me.” (Ps. 142: 7) They uplifted their souls, that is, they presented their bodies a living sacrifice, to the Lord for his reasonable service.—Rom. 12: 1.
27 David, having thus prayed for guidance as to his way, did not stay holed up in the cave of Adullam. He moved out to a natural fastness or stronghold. “And the prophet Gad said unto David, Abide not in the hold; depart, and get thee into the land of Judah. Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hareth.” Later Jonathan came to him. (1 Sam. 22:5; 23:15-18) Thus Jehovah answered David’s prayer and disclosed that he was guiding the way of his anointed servant. Though now David was at large and more exposed to successful pursuit by the enemy, his God could now show He was the Deliverer and Preserver of his servant and that the servant’s real refuge is in the Most High God, the “Rock of ages”. — Prov. 18:10.
25 In 1918-1919 what were the enemy's future plans against the outlawed servant class, and what kind ot manifest expression of favor did the servant class desire from God?
26 Why did the servant ciass pray to be let known the way in which to walk, and how did they uplift their souls unto God?
27 Having prayed, what move did David make, and bow did Jehovah answer his prayer and show himself David's preserver?
28 In A. D. 1919 Jehovah answered the prayer of his faithful remnant. He had sent his Elect Servant, Christ Jesus, to the temple to judge his consecrated ones, to purge the faithful ones from religious uncleanness and iniquity of lip, and to show them the way to go. (Mal. 3:1-4) Stay holed up? No! Retreat then? No, again! God’s pleasure for them, as he caused them to know it through his unfolding Word, was and is for them to go forward and push through the waters of the peoples, as Elisha passed through the smitten waters of the Jordan river and took up the work of the prophet Elijah. In March, 1919, the officers of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society were released from penitentiary, being admitted to bail. Then immediately, long before the enemy’s trumped-up case against them was thrown out of court and their conviction reversed (May 5, 1920), the servant class began their preparations to move forward with the fearlessness of Elisha.
29 Such bold offensive meant by no means that henceforth they would be immune from attack and persecution by the foe, no more than in David’s case. David knew that if he left the hide-out of Adullam while King Saul still lived and held the reins of government he would be spotted by Saul’s spies and be more subject to pursuit than theretofore. Hence David petitioned the Lord further: “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good; lead me into the land of uprightness.” Or: “Teach me to do thy pleasure, for thou art my God, let thy good spirit lead me in a level land.” (Ps. 143: 10; Roth. Pss.) The Lord’s anointed king-elect looked up to Jehovah God as his Teacher. He was not bent on pleasing himself, but desirous of doing the divine good pleasure. He did not seek to wreak any personal vengeance against his persecutor, King Saul. Should the Lord’s maneuvering of events bring Saul into David's power, yet David would refuse to lift sword or spear against him, but would abide God’s time to take Saul out of the way. (1 Sam. 24: 1-12; 26: 1-12) That was the good spirit of the Lord upon his servant David.
30 David trusted in the guidance of the good spirit of the Lord God and prayed that it would lead him into the right land, a plain country, a level land, wherein he would be certain his course was upright. Shortly afterward Abiathar escaped destruction at Saul’s hands and fled to David. Abiathar came with a priest’s ephod used in ascertaining God’s will. David inquired from him as a priestly representative of Jehovah God and received instruction as to the wav he should go pleasing to his divine Master. (1 Sam. 22:17-23; 23:1-12; 30:6,7,8) Jehovah was his Teacher, and His spirit did not forsake David. His spirit was even in David’s tongue and spake by him and caused him to speak God’s inspired message, like Psalm 143.
28. When did Jehovah answer the prayer of the servant class what did be show was the way to go, and when did they prepare to take it?
29. What did such bold move mean as to exposure to attack and persecution, and why did David pray to be taught to do God’s will and to have God's good spirit?
30 Whither did David trust God's spirit to guide him, and what special provision did God then make to teach David his will?
31 David was then only about twenty-five years old. In later life he said: “O God, thou hast taught me from my youth: and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.” (Ps. 71:17) In his psalms he asked for God’s continual teaching: “Shew me thy ways, O Lord; teach my thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way.” (Ps. 25: 4, 5, 9) Repeatedly he prays God: “Teach my thy statutes.” (Ps. 119:12, 26, 64, 68, 124, 135) “Teach me good judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments. Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word. ... O Lord, and teach me thy judgments.” (Ps. 119:66,67,108) Concerning the benefits of such divine education he says: “Thou through thy commandments hast made me wiser than mine enemies: for they are ever with me. I have more understanding than all my [human] teachers: for thy testimonies are my meditation. I understand more than the ancients, because I keep thy precepts.” (Ps. 119: 98-100) Jehovah’s course of instruction does not fail his servant in the midst of the fight: “He teach- eth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.” “Blessed be the Lord my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight.” (Ps. 18:34; 2 Sam. 22:35; Ps. 144:1) Only by such education from God, and taking heed thereto, was David able to remain a “man after [God’s] own heart”, free from religion.
DIVINE TEACHERS
32 He who prays to God to teach him to do the divine good-pleasure or will shows the spirit to learn and obey. While praying thus, he must search the written Word of God, wherein the divine will is recorded, trusting God by his spirit to reveal His will through those sacred pages. (2 Tim. 2:15) Keep in mind, however, that it is the servant class, not an individual person, that prays to be taught to do God’s will. Hence the revelation of God’s will must therefore be, not for an individual, but for the entire company of his faithful remnant. It is not an individual student of God’s Word that reveals His will, nor is it for an individual to presume to interpret God’s Word to make plain His will. “No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the holy [spirit].”—2 Pet. 1: 20, 21.
31 (a) From when on had God been teaching David, and what prayers did David continually make for God to teach him? (b) What are the benefits of such divine education in peace and war?
32 (a) Praying to be taught to do God's will shows what spirit? and what action must accompany such prayer? (b) Who is it that prays such recorded prayer? and what does this show as to the revelation and interpretation of God's will?
33 Jehovah God is the sole Interpreter of his Word and is the Teacher of highest education. That his teaching would not be for an individual who imagines himself to have direct personal dealings with God, but is for the entire company of God’s people, Jesus showed when he quoted Isaiah 54:13 and said: “It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God.” Isaiah’s prophecy was addressed to God’s “woman”, the Theocratic organization, Zion, and says to such organization: “And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord [Jehovah]; and great shall be the peace of thy children.”
34 Consequently, Jehovah’s teaching comes now through no individual on earth, but through his organization which He uses as his servant. It is for the education of the entire organization, in order that all members thereof may do the divine will in unity and harmony. The Head of that servant organization is Jehovah’s Chief Servant, Christ Jesus, and in teaching his visible organization on earth Jehovah associates this beloved Son with him. David of old approached Jehovah God through the priestly organization represented by Abiathar, who had the ephod; and a servant of Jehovah today must likewise look to God’s visible organization to learn His will.
35 When Jehovah’s Messenger and Teacher came to the temple in 1918 he observed a remnant of consecrated, spirit-begotten ones sincerely praying to be taught to do the will of God. He gathered them together into unity and organized them as God’s servants at the temple to render sacrifice to Him and to speak of his glory. Jehovah anointed them with his spirit, and thus he constituted this approved and cleansed remnant as his visible organization, or The Society. Under Christ Jesus it became the class foretold to appear at the end of the world, the “faithful and wise servant”. “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.” (Matt. 24: 45-47) Multiplied facts disclose that Jehovah God by Christ Jesus has used this servant body or Society as his visible organization through which to teach his people to do His good pleasure. Wisely, that consecrated Society of the anointed remnant have used as their agency or legal servant the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society for publishing the will of God as He taught it and for directing His people in the doing of it unitedly throughout the earth.
33. Who is the Interpreter and teacher, and for whom la the teaching?
34. Through what channel does the teaching come, for whose education Is it. and who is associated with God in the teaching?
35 At his coming to the temple, whom or what did Christ Jesus deny with as God's visible organization? and what agency has such organization used as its servant in the doing of God's will as taught?
36 As a reproof to any religionists who object at this positive identification of God’s visible organization today, the Lord says this parable: “The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my [professed] people doth not consider.” (Isa. 1: 3) During the years since 1918 the wise have looked to Jehovah God and Christ Jesus as their Teachers in Zion. They now know that Jehovah has answered their prayer, “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God,” through his organization of the anointed remnant, these using the legally constituted Watch Tower Society. This is because The Society teaches no religion, serves none, and is devoted to no religious organization. That is proved by the fact that it is persecuted by all religious organizations (King Saul) for serving Jehovah and for being chosen and anointed to serve Him.
37 When the officers of the Watch Tower Society were released from prison cells in 1919 by God’s marvelous overruling of religious opposition, what did he teach his faithful remnant to do as his will and good pleasure? This: To be his witnesses by proclaiming as never before his Word, fearlessly, asking of no man first for permission to preach God’s Word at His command. (The Watchtower August 1 and 15, and September 15, 1919) Fearlessness was specially required because they must “declare the day of vengeance of our God” against “Christendom” and all the world. They must proclaim the message of the Kingdom to all nations, as foretold and commanded at Matthew 24:14. and that message must be of the Kingdom as having been established in A. D. 1914. This must be done before the final end comes on the world at Armageddon.—See The Watchtower July 1, 1920.
38 Before the great Teacher came to the temple in 1918 Jehovah’s consecrated people had thought that all their work before the final end was to be devoted exclusively to the spiritual ones, namely, those consecrated to God and begotten by his spirit to heavenly life. Now, however, beginning in 1923, the Teacher at the temple began to reveal that there is an earthly class who become the Lord’s “sheep” and whom he gathers now before Armageddon’s war to the right side of His throne. From then on, step by step, the heavenly Teacher opened the understanding of the spiritual remnant to see that such “other sheep” must be witnessed to and served with the Kingdom message and thereby enabled to take their stand for God’s kingdom. So doing, these may pass alive through Armageddon into the New World. They are the ones who were pictured by David’s devoted lover and fellow warrior, Jonathan, and they become the companions of the faithful remnant in this time of persecution by the King Saul class.
36. What Scriptural reproof is given to objectors to such Identification of the servant? and through what channel do the remnant how know Jehovah has answered their prayer, and why through It?
37. From and after 1919 what did God teach the faithful remnant as being bis will for them to do?
38. Beyond what had been believed before 1918, what did Jehovah God reveal to the remnant from 1923 on as to those to whom to minister, and by what friend of David were such ones pictured?
39 This wonderful course of education by the Wise Counselor and Teacher at the temple continued, and now his “other sheep” as well as the remnant of the "little flock” were privileged to attend the Lord’s schooling and receive education for everlasting life, which entails the doing of God’s will now. It was a sublime revelation when the perfect Educator opened the Textbook, the Bible, and in 1925 revealed that the name of Jehovah must have its proper place; that his Kingdom was born in 1914 and Jehovah’s purpose by it is to ‘make a great and lasting name for himself’ at the battle of Armageddon; and that such battle is not a fight between capital and labor, conservatives and radicals, or any human parties and nations, but is God’s fight against the entire Devil’s organization invisible and visible; and that his servant class on earth have no part in that fight, but must only warn of its coming.—2 Sam. 7:23: Isa. 63:14.
40 The teaching on this subject continued. In 1929 it was revealed that Jehovah’s purpose primarily is the vindication of his name, and hence the greatest Bible doctrine is that of the Kingdom, because the Kingdom is His instrument to effect that vindication. The privilege of the remnant of those anointed ones in the covenant for the Kingdom is to have a part in that vindication, and their obligation now is to honor and publish His name. This was made very plain as being God's good pleasure for them to fulfill faithfully.
41 Parallel in time with the above instruction, Zion’s Teachers, Jehovah God and Christ Jesus, progressively taught the remnant and their increasing number of companions what the Kingdom really is, and also the kind of visible organization by which the Kingdom must be advertised world-wide. In that organization Jehovah God and his King are “the Higher Powers”. (Rom. 13:1) The organization is not a loose-jointed one, of self-governing units or companies whose local activities are to be decided upon and supervised by so-called “elective elders”. It must have a centralized control and direction; and by 1938 this fact was fully appreciated when the great Teachers taught the servant class that God’s organization is Theocratic. It obeys God rather than men, and hence must be governed and operated from the Supreme One, Jehovah, down, and not from the servants on earth upward d la democratic. How patiently and wisely Jehovah God was developing the understanding of his servant class to do his will according to Theocratic instructions through his visible organization!
39 Who also were then privileged to attend the Lord's schooling, and what sublime revelation was made by the perfect Educator io 1925?
40. What teaching of primary importance was given in 1929?
41. What teaching, reaching a climax in 1938, was also given as to the kind of organisation Jehovah God and his King use to accomplish the divine will?
42 Jehovah gave them practical training. He appointed world-wide Testimony periods at regular intervals through the year and taught them unity of action under a unified command. After years of stupendous radio broadcasting by them in the face of religious opposition he provided them with portable phonographs with recorded Bible lectures and taught them to make back-calls on hungry “other sheep” and to conduct home Bible studies. He let them be brought before rulers, courts, police, and law-and-order authorities and trained and developed them to give effective witness in such places. He taught them how “every man shall bear his own burden” and how to endure the most rabid persecution and defeat it by faithfulness. He provided them with magazines and showed them how to publish the Kingdom message on street corners and pavements and on routes. He has made them know their commission (Isa. 63:1-3), that they are ordained ministers of the Kingdom gospel and that their sole mission on earth now is to be “Jehovah’s witnesses”. Their chief obligation is to be a Kingdom publisher. In this they are not on the defensive nor beating a retreat, but must follow God's King in his offensive against religion. To aid them thereto be has established among them schools of “advanced course in Theocratic ministry" and also established the Watch Tower Bible College of Gilead to train special publishers to push the offensive on weak fronts or on untouched foreign fields. Thus has he answered the prayer of his servant in a most marvelous manner that could be only “the Lord’s doing”, and not the wisdom and ingenuity of any man-built organization.
FUTURE COURSE OF INSTRUCTION
43 It is God’s spirit, his invisible energy, upon his people that has helped them to accomplish his work thus far. As they have followed its leadings through his Word, the servant class have been led into the “land of uprightness”, the condition of willingly and lovingly doing His will according to Theocratic rule. The Theocratic instruction makes the “land” a plain and level one, where there need be no stumbling over what to do and how to do it, though in the midst of the enemies of God’s kingdom, The Theocracy.
42. What practical training as to doing bis will has Jehovah God given us down to this very year?
43. By what has God worked through them and led them, and in what sense have they been led into "the land of uprightness”?
44 The “strange work” which precedes God's “strange act” at Armageddon is not yet done. So many of the “other sheep” are yet scattered and in danger of perishing, and need to be fed. We stand at the threshold of 1944. It is certain to be a crucial year. Whether it brings either sudden or speedy close to the conflict between “the king of the north” and “the king of the south” is immaterial. The postwar era must come with its human efforts and machinery for global peace. That will bring its own tests of the faith and faithful endurance of Jehovah’s servant class and their companions, because Satan and his demons will be relentlessly marching all nations to the climax at Armageddon. The fervent prayer that went up in 1918, “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God,” needs to be continued by the servant class. In view of the momentous period ahead, with its steadily broadening regimentation of all peoples to carry out the will of “both these kings” as a certain prospect, the words of the above prayer, of Psalm 143:10, have been provided as the yeartext for 1944. They appear on the Society’s service calendar.
45 The anointed David not only prayed to be taught God’s will, but also asked for the strength to do it because of the opposers. He prayed: “Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name’s sake: for thy righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble. And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul: for I am thy servant.” (Ps. 143:11, 12) In faithfulness and according to righteousness Jehovah responded to the prayer of his anointed servant, not for mere David’s sake, but for His name’s sake. His anointing to the kingdom was put upon David not in vain; it must mean a right-hearted man must come to Israel's throne that the Theocratic rule might be carried out to the glory of Jehovah’s name. Though it took some thirteen years to cut off all enemy interferers with God’s purpose, Almighty God brought his disciplined servant David to the throne of the typical Theocracy, so foreshadowing glorious things to come.
46 In 1919 the “valley of dry bones”, seen in Ezekiel’s vision, God quickened into living organisms in his Holy Land by power of His spirit. (Ezek. 37: 3-14) The intense activity of Jehovah’s witnesses now in the midst of global war and under totalitarian aggressions and encroachments is self-evident proof that Almighty God revived his servant class, raising them from the pit of 1918. They had pleaded that, for His own name’s sake, he enliven them again to his service and open the way to it. He did so, because it was his purpose to have his name declared throughout all the earth before he shows his power over all enemies at Armageddon. So the Lord God made the servant class his witnesses and put his name upon them. He called them by the foretold “new name”, that is, “Jehovah’s witnesses.” All inward trouble and perplexity that they felt back in 1918, well, the Lord God has lifted them up out of that. The trouble that the religious Saul class brings upon them does not disturb them inwardly or disrupt their peace with God. They know that such enemy trouble is permitted for a test of their integrity and that they may have a part in vindicating God’s name by faithfulness.
44 Why at the threshold of 1944. does the prayer of Psalm 143:10 need to continue as the prayer of God's servant class? and what visible aid has been provided thereto?
45 Besides to be taught, for what did David also pray as respects himself and his enemies, and how did God work out the answer?
46. How did Jehovah quicken his servant class for His name's sake? and bow is it true that they have been brought out of trouble?
47 Like David, God’s servant class and their companions do not pray for the malicious enemies, except that these should be exterminated. Those enemies show no mercy to Jehovah’s witnesses and their fellow sufferers; and so mercy to them can be expected only from God by his destruction of the afflicters who seek to bring about the soul-destruction of His faithful people. Jehovah’s witnesses make such earnest request, not for heartless, selfish reasons, but because, say they, “I am [Jehovah’s] servant.” Their wholehearted service to Him first, last and all the time is the essential cause of their being assaulted by demons and wicked religionists. Because they are Jehovah’s servant, persecution and punishments inflicted upon them are an affront to God and a reproach to his name. Therefore in the final vindication of his name at Armageddon he will vindicate his seiwant class by the called-for destruction of all enemies that afflict them. (Luke 18: 7,8) With that prospect we are content to keep on serving Him as he is pleased to teach us to do his will.
47. (a) What does the servant class, like David, pray as recards the enemies, and because of what personal relationship to God? (b) How does such relationship make the affliction by their enemies a most serious matter, and why are we content to keep on serving God?
CALAMITIES - FROM WHOM AND WHY?
A CALAMITY is an evil because it results in suffering, distress and loss to those upon whom it falls. A calamity may be either from the Devil or from Almighty God. At stated times God sent calamities upon certain ancient peoples, and in each instance that evil was a righteous act of judgment. Consider now that upon Egypt. The Israelites, God’s chosen people, were for a time in Egypt. God had greatly favored the Egyptians by saving them from starvation in a time of famine in the days of Joseph, the Israelite prime minister of Pharaoh. Because of that, and because God’s people were in that land, the Egyptians and their ruling powers had reason to know the great Jehovah God and to know of his name. The Egyptians oppressed Jehovah’s people and continued to increase their burdens. The Egyptians therefore wrongfully afflicted the Israelites with evil in defiance of Jehovah God.
God heard the cries of the Israelites, and he sent Moses and Aaron to appear before the ruler of Egypt and request that the Israelites be permitted to depart from that land. This request was refused by Pharaoh, who arrogantly replied. “Who is Jehovah, that I should obey his voice?’’ Then God sent certain plagues or calamities upon the peoples of Egypt, which resulted in evil to them, and finally he completely overthrew the Egyptian military hosts in the Red sea and caused the then ruling power to perish. Such calamity was a very great evil upon the Egyptians, but it was a righteous evil that fell upon them. Why did God bring that evil upon the Egyptian people? Was it to teach them the sinfulness of sin? Was it for the purpose of venting ill-will against them? The Lord caused the proper answer to these questions to be written in his Word when he said: “And what one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name?” (2 Sam. 7:23) Satan the enemy had defamed Jehovah’s name and turned the people away from him and caused those who should have known better to defy him. Jehovah God’s expressed purpose was to keep his name before mankind until his own due time to completely vindicate his word and name.
Just before the seventh plague upon Egypt Jehovah God, by his prophet Moses, said to Pharaoh the oppressor. “Even now I might have stretched out my hand, and I might have smitten thee and thy people with the pestilence, and thou wouldst have been cut off from the earth; but for this cause have I allowed thee to remain, in order to show thee my power; and in order that they may proclaim my name throughout all the earth.” (Ex. 9:15,16, Leeser’s translation) This agrees with the inspired statement at Proverbs 16:4: “Jehovah hath made everything for its own end [purpose (margin)] ; yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.” (Am. Rev. Ver.) Or, according to Leeser “Every thing hath the Lord wrought for its destined end: yea, even the wicked for the day of unhappiness.” Note that this does not say that the Lord Jehovah made or created the wicked, because wickedness does not find its origin or creation with Jehovah; “his work is perfect.” (Deut. 32.4) “His work is honourable and glorious: and his righteousness endureth for ever.” (Ps. 111: 3) But whereas Jehovah God did not make or create the wicked, he did make the destiny for the wicked. In permitting the wicked to come into existence and to remain for a time in existence, God destined or made “even the wicked for the day of evil". As God said to Pharaoh the servant of Satan, so also God had permitted Pharaoh’s lord, Satan, to remain “for the day of evil”, that there in that day Jehovah God might show his power over Satan the Devil by visiting upon him the calamity of destruction. “All the wicked will he destroy.” (Ps. 145:20) “There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.” — Isa. 57 :21.
…